JEP.V2
Author's note at bottom of page.
Chapter one
Cool winds blew through the tiny civilian village located on the outskirts of the land of earth, bringing with it the beginnings of winter.
Normally at this time, the villagers would be up and about, enjoying what few establishments that gave the village its nightlife. Others would be in their homes, taking pleasure in the fruits of their labour in a hard earned dinner with a warm and loving family.
There had not been a war in years; Konoha had seen to that. Here even Iwagakure was scared of starting even a skirmish so close to the border of the land of fire. Still, telling it straight to the face of an Iwagakure shinobi was close to suicide.
The village had enjoyed prosperous peace for a long time.
Until tonight.
On this fateful night, the villagers were reminded of the fear that gripped their souls when they felt the ground shake from titanic forces that collided with each other, when they heard the shriek of sharp blades slide against each other, when they heard the roar of explosions and lastly the shrieks of a dying man.
It was for this reason that what could be considered their red-light district was empty except for two people, while every home and shelter had been locked up tight, the windows shut and the lights put off to give the pretense of being devoid of any souls, all the while the villagers were praying for a reprieve from this madness.
This was not their fight and they did not want it to be their fight.
As a local tavern crumbled to the ground, a dark haired shinobi walked out, a ninja covered in numerous cuts and burns, but he still walked with his back straight and head held high, his gait belying the wounds on his being. He dragged the body of his foe behind him, along the rough scorched ground.
On him was the attire native to the Hidden Leaf's Anbu Black Ops corps, with the mask of a fox hiding his face. His cloak over the armor had been reduced to a bunch of threads hanging loosely together while the short sleeved shirt he wore under the black torso armour had numerous tears were a blade had cut through.
One man who had dared to peek through his window to catch a glimpse of the battle found that perhaps the most unusual thing about this ninja was that he was shorter than his own fifteen year old son by a few inches. Unless that ninja was midget, that had to make him at least thirteen or twelve years old.
He watched as a red thick haze enveloped the boy for all of three seconds, before thinning into wisps that were absorbed back into the boy's body. The man was sure the boy now stood a little straighter. He was also sure there had been a bleeding cut on the boy's arm, but all of a sudden there was no blood flowing down his skin.
A demon then?
A demon in the skin of an adolescent boy?
He was prevented from pondering that question when the boy simply turned his head in the man's direction, an action that was enough to make the man collapse back from his window and paralyze him with fear.
The air whistled as something sharp cut through it and the boy barely flinched as a long bladed and long staffed scythe embedded itself into the ground beside him.
The weapon of his target; the man had been a pain to kill, both literally and figuratively. He had been a target the shinobi had been prepared to kill for months and only now that Danzou had lured him out to this village with no other shinobi presence for miles had the mission been fulfilled.
Tap…Tap…
The shinobi was assaulted by drops of rain, an assault that steadily grew in intensity until he was thankful for the mask that did not expose his eyes to the element. Every drop that hit exposed skin felt like a prick from a needle made of ice.
Strange, he only now noticed that the stars had been hidden from view, covered by a lumpy blanket of clouds.
He had to leave soon. Any Iwa ninja were probably still a long way off, but he would rather not leave it to chance.
"Oh, fuck everything! We finally find the bastard and it starts to fucking rain?! Kakuzu, I told you we should have come here before cashing in your bounty!"
"Shut up, Hidan. Your rituals did not help either."
The boy immediately turned to face the newcomer. An Iwa ninja? Was it pure chance that had drawn them here?
Down the road, two people, shrouded in darkness faced him.
"Are you sure that's him, man? I told you there was something wrong with that info bastard of yours."
"No mistaking it, that red chakra can only belong to a jinchuriki. It appears we've stumbled onto another one."
"Lucky us eh? NOT! Rain like this taints the blood I use for my ritual!"
No, they were not Iwa ninja. He barely made out the outline of the black cloaks with what looked like red clouds imprinted all over. Even with the dim light, a three- bladed scythe gleamed in the hands of one.
Visibility was extremely poor so he had to resort to a little body augmentation. He blinked and the blue in his eyes was replaced by a bloody red while his pupil narrowed to a slit. Now their faces were a little clearer. The taller one's entire face was covered with light blue cloth except for his eyes. A metal plate with the Takigakure symbol with a line scratched over it was stitched to the cloth over his forehead. The shorter one had white hair and eyes that gleamed with insanity. A hitai-ate with the symbol of Yugakure hung from his neck.
Missing-nin? From different villages but apparently affiliated here?
He let go of the body he had been planning to take back. It appeared Danzou would just have to take his word for it that the mission was complete.
"Goddamn it! It's fucking freezing and I'm wet. Let's just do this and get the fuck out of here." Hidan raised his scythe and pointed it at the boy.
If that was not enough of a clue, the crazed killing intent filled with bloodlust cleared any doubt and suspicions. He was their target.
Visibility was poor and he was pretty sure he could see better than them. A distraction of suitable magnitude would allow him the opportunity to escape. A shadow clone would do.
It was as he was forming the hand seal for that technique when they struck. Hand seals were a ninja's strength and weakness. While giving the ninja ability to perform feats worthy of legend, taking even a second longer than usual, was inviting a killing strike that would end a battle as fast as it begun.
This Kakuzu apparently had enough experience to know that, and had his fist already inches away from the boy's face.
The Kage bunshin fortunately only requires one hand seal.
The clone burst into existence, and smoothly deflected the strike past its face in one motion. However, Kakuzu's longer reach ensured that a precious few moments longer than necessary was needed to counterattack.
The clone still tried, but before his fist could reach Kakuzu's body, the missing-nin's other hand grabbed it by its head and slammed it into the wet earth face first. He received a satisfying pop for his efforts as the clone was destroyed.
The clone had bought its creator some time however. In those moments, the boy kicked at the scythe beside him, the part of the shaft next to the blade so that it flew into the air, spinning end over end. He snatched it out of the air and swung.
The blade cut through the air and rain, slicing drops of water in two. Kakuzu was spared from this fate, honed instincts making him jump back at the last second.
The shinobi earned no reprieve however, for Hidan yelled as he came down on top of him, swinging his own scythe with all his might.
The boy held his own weapon overhead and blocked, knowing enough to move so that the blade did not dig into his back.
"Oi brat, you sure you should be using a weapon you just picked up?" Hidan asked menacingly, the sneer plain as day in his voice, "If you aren't careful, you might just fucking get cut!"
Instinct told the boy Kakuzu was behind him and he pushed Hidan off with a heave. His hands gripped the staff of the weapon by the middle and it spun forming a pseudo barrier around him, daring anyone to come near him at the risk if being sliced and diced.
Kakuzu dared, and the scythe was brought to a jarring halt, his grip on the staff like iron.
Hidan's scythe whistled in the air, and the boy leaned back until he was lying on the narrow staff of his own scythe. Hidan's scythe sought his legs out next, and he flipped up to stand on the scythe which was now wholly in Kakuzu's hands. In the same motion, his hand went into the pouch on his back and drew out an explosive note.
Kakuzu's eyes widened and he reached out but it was already too late.
The frightened shrieks of a babe were drowned out by the explosion that rocked the village.
Hatake Kakashi sprinted across the bare soil of earth country, doing his best not to slip on the thin mud while keeping up the fastest pace he could.
His heart beat a furious rhythm and he could feel the pulse pounding in his ears.
An explosion. The thunder was intense on this night, but the roar of an explosion had won out for a second. Visibility was poor, so he had to rely on his dog-like hearing and the sharingan hidden behind his Anbu mask.
And in the slim hope that the resounding boom he had heard and the clods of mud he had seen fly into the air in the distance would lead him to his sensei's son.
His mind was ill at ease. An opportunity like this did not come often; where he had an alibi and Naruto was out of touch with any of Danzou's agents…no, moments like these were few and far in between.
He had to make it count.
The mask gave off no emotion, even as the blade of his scythe was trapped between the blades of Hidan's own and shattered with a cruel twist. He wasted no time, using the momentum of Hidan's own move to swing the other end of what was now just a pole into Hidan's face. The only thing he hit was rain drops, as the insanely religious shinobi side-stepped the blow with almost laughable ease and with an insane cackle to go with it.
The back-kick that slammed into the mask a moment later earned Hidan a grunt, but the mask remained stoic in its punishment.
The boy turned with the blow and saw the danger that had sought to take him from behind. He threw himself to the ground, yet before he touched the wet soil, a block of earth that probably weighed a tonne sped through the air over him, only slightly brushing strands of his hair.
The shriek of pain that could only have come from Hidan told him that the overly large projectile had at least found one target.
What a strange way of fighting these two had.
The boy had had all manner of jutsu tossed at him from the Taki nuke-nin, from all elements and all of them high-level destructive techniques. Kakuzu apparently had no regard for the health of his teammate.
Considering that Hidan still knocked the boy around when it came to taijutsu, he had come to the conclusion that Kakuzu did not even need to care.
No matter, that last one was meant to crush every bone in the body and anybody, if they could, would take a while to stand up after that, Hidan included.
But with the withdrawal of Hidan, meant that Kakuzu would step up to the frontlines and he did not disappoint.
"Doton: Domu!" (Earth spear)
A fist, that was tougher than the block of earth just thrown at him, slammed down on the position he had been standing on a moment ago. The boy had dodged, just barely, by performing a bicycle kick, the flipping motion of the move just carrying him above the fist that would have turned his inner organs to mush. He completed the motion by slamming his foot down on Kakuzu's head with all the strength and chakra he could muster in that moment.
The mask showed no disappointment when the man's head did not even budge an inch.
Kakuzu's hand came up in a parry that knocked the boy's foot away and set his airborne body spinning. His aim was true this time, as his fist slammed into the boy's stomach with unyielding force. At the same moment however, the boy's arm was stretched out and with his hand in Kakuzu's face, he sent forth a stream of flame.
A wall came apart even more as the boy's back slammed into it with bone-crushing force. He lay sprawled on the ground and watched as the blood that seeped through the space between his face and mask mixed with dirty rain-water, forming an even darker colour.
He would stand up though, despite the pain, despite the overwhelming odds.
The reason was simple.
It was all he knew. All he cared to know.
A step forward, even after many steps back.
The abyss behind him that he would fall into should he give up on taking any more steps was perhaps the only thing that scared him.
He finally cared to look up. That punch had brought unimaginable pain, enough to make him lose control of his chakra completely. As a result, the illusion was dispelled and it was wet red - albeit a dirty colour with specks of mud - hair that now stuck to his forehead.
Kakuzu took slow calcaulated steps towards him. He'd turned his head at the last moment, thus at least his eyes had not melted out of his skull. They had still somewhat been exposed to the searing heat and it hurt like something out of Hidan's Jashinism rituals. Soothing the rain may have been, but his eyesight was even worse off now. His hood had been burnt off and black threads that could not possible qualify as hair fluttered about in the harsh winds.
This was the moment Kakashi chose to strike.
A bolt of lightning struck the earth before Kakuzu, splitting the ground apart in an explosion of mud and rocks. Accompanying this blue light was not the booming clap of thunder but rather the deafening scream of a thousand chirping birds. From the ground the silver-haired ninja Anbu nin emerged, holding the very rage of nature in his hand.
Kakuzu did not stand a chance.
A lifeless doll slumped in Kakashi's loose embrace, as the new arrival removed his hand from the hole he had just created. He let go and Kakuzu hit the ground, splashing them with muddy rainwater.
"Uzumaki-san, are you alright?" Kakashi asked, his voice showing the barest traces of concern.
"Hatake…senpai," Naruto knew not why the man was here, but he would be lying if he said he did not feel even a little relief. This was one of the few people he could trust after all.
He was loathe to do this, yet if it worked out it would be a load off his chest. The red chakra surged through his body for the third time in the last hour. His original target had forced one round of healing out of him and the two missing nin the next one.
Two was his limit.
As if to reinforce this fact, the chakra burst into his mind, slamming itself into the gates he had built to hold back natural instinct, madness and insanity. With savage fury, he forced it back down into his gut, behind the seal so carefully woven by his father.
Any more and he would lose his mind.
Kakashi was beside him now, holding him upright. "Can you move?"
Naruto gasped. The red chakra fought against his will. It was so hard to speak. He had something important to say.
"There are two…Hatake…two…of them."
Kakashi tensed.
Naruto winced in pain, the sudden movement making his injury all the more worse. He did not mind though because otherwise they would both have been cut down by the madman.
Hidan stepped out of his swing, before looking to the body of his teammate. "Oi, idiot. Get the fuck up."
Kakashi calculated the odds in his mind. He did not know what the man was doing, talking to a dead partner, but he knew the man's attention was on them. Naruto did not look good at all, and judging by this man's sneak attack, he was incredibly fast. No, Kakashi thought if they took off now, the man would definitely catch up with them.
He thought all of this for two seconds before the body that should have been dead, stood up, without any pause or struggle, as if awakening from a refreshing nap. Needless to say, the gears in his brain ground to a halt from the sheer shock of the events he was witnessing.
"Hatake-senpai…need to…leave!" Naruto's words broke him out of it.
"You'll pay for that, Kakuzu; slamming a two-tonne rock into me. Do you know how much that fucking hurt?!"
"Shut up. Our opponent is a jinchuriki and Hatake Kakashi, the copy nin. If you're not serious, you'll die." Kakuzu dryly replied.
"Retard, how could I die? I'm fucking immortal!"
Naruto wheezed, "Speaks…truth."
Kakashi's mismatched eyes narrowed behind his mask. Escape was their only option then.
"Hatake Kakashi," Kakuzu called, "that Raikiri of yours is famous. Think you can catch me with it a second time?"
The tension between the two was so thick, a knife could not cut through it.
"Oi, Oi, OI! I liked this tavern, ya' kno'?" a gruff deep and obviously drunken voice said, announcing the arrival of a third party. A man, or rather, a giant of a man stood up out of the rubble of the recently destroyed tavern.
Naruto recognized him immediately as one of the patrons of this tavern he had seen while waiting for his target to show. A patron who had practically drowned himself in alcohol before passing out.
Clad in samurai-style armour that shone a dull red in this dim lighting, it was as if his mere size of his presence generated a gravitational pull that drew all attention towards him.
This was just what Kakashi and Naruto had been waiting for though.
"Humans, tch," the man scoffed as he watched the two flee, "already scared of me, I see."
Hidan's foot pushed against the ground, ready to take off after them when Kakuzu's hand fell on his shoulder. "Wait Hidan," he said, "that is our original target."
"Huh?! Him? Damnit, I'll have to beg for forgiveness for letting those heathens go." He spun his scythe in a circle. "One jinchuriki is as good as the other I guess. Your blood shall be used to serve the lord!"
Underneath the red helmet, an eyebrow rose. "Oh?" he said, with the hiss of steam accompanying his voice.
It was a few hours later, behind the safety of the land of Fire's borders, that Naruto took the chance to catch his breath.
They had left the rain behind them, and traded hard earth for rough bark and woody trees. The red-head sagged against a branch, his breathing coming out in ragged gasps.
Kakashi stood before him. "Ash," he addressed him with the codename assigned to him. Apparently, if Konoha was a forest that burned to the ground the night the Kyuubi attacked, Danzou believed Naruto to be the ash on the ground that a new forest would push through and grow into the sky.
He was a strange man, Kakashi honestly thought. Strange and cruel, even if his heart was in the right place.
"Ash, take off your mask. It has to be filthy with all the blood you've spit out."
The youth matched the taller man's stare with one of his own, but he had no strength to be stubborn at the moment.
The white fox mask with only three whisker-like marks on each cheek to serve as any form of decoration was pulled off with ease, only to reveal another mask beneath.
It always took Kakashi a moment to realize that this mask was also an actual face.
Kushina's round face and hair, with a more boyish look, whisker marks to make him appear all the more inhumane, the mind of his father and the expression of the yellow flash as he slaughtered the majority of Iwa's forces in five seconds. Kakashi knew the last part of that equation should have no place on the face of a thirteen year old child.
Dull eyes, like circular blocks of ice, stared down at the blood-stained mask.
Kakashi took off his own mask and sighed a sigh that came from the depths of his soul, dragging up all the grief and regrets he held in this life. "How healed up are you? If you can move some more, we can reach this stream where you can clean your mask."
"I'm fine. I've been directing the chakra for a while now to the injury and in three minutes, give or take, I'll be completely healed albeit greatly weakened." The boy replied. "If you still have your mission to complete, then I'd recommend you move on from me. In this condition, I can make it to Konoha alone, though I will probably be a bit slow in getting there."
"Oh, that makes things simple then."
Naruto's breath caught in his chest as he witnessed Kakashi's fingers blur in their formation of hand seals. Suddenly, a hand whose fingers burned with a purple flame, yet emanated no heat, was being thrust towards his stomach.
The Raikiri's scream echoed across the land for the second time that night.
It was not Kakashi's hand that glowed this time though.
Kakashi would have had trouble fighting down a smirk, had the circumstances been different. He held Naruto's glowing blue hand above the boy's head, pinning it against the tree. His other hand was pressed against Naruto's stomach and the blue flames disappeared into the younger ninja's body.
"Gogyo Fuuin," he said solemnly.
"Hatake…senpai…" the red-head croaked before his face which had been scrunched up in pain finally relaxed into a dreamless sleep.
"This kid huh," Kakashi sighed as he stood up over the boy, "He's already managed to turn Chidori into a sealless jutsu." He looked up into the stars that watched over the land with his mismatched eyes. "Don't worry Naruto-kun. We finally got a chance to save you."
"We won't let it go to waste."
The Hokage's office was busy at any time of the day. Five o'clock in the morning was no exception. The old man sat diligently behind his desk looking over the first forms for the day. It was a hellish job, that seemed to reward ungodly hours at the desk with even more ungodly hours, but this was his lot in life and for the sake of putting a smile on another denizen of his village, he had no choice but to endure.
A cool morning breeze rolled in from the open window behind him, doing its job of keeping him awake by tickling the skin on his neck.
A slight shift in that flow of air made him look up from the report he was so keenly skimming through.
His top Anbu was on one knee before him, head bowed in an obvious sign of respect.
"Rise, Kakashi. Is it done?" he asked, his tone grave, betraying none of the hope he held in his heart.
"Yes," Kakashi replied, "despite a few complications, all mission parameters were met."
A raised eyebrow. "Complications? Explain." He commanded.
Kakashi's report was brief, yet no detail was left out. He told of the two shinobi he had encountered Naruto going up against; their manner of dress and what he had seen of their abilities.
"So it is true," Sarutobi Hiruzen observed. He ran a hand through his grey hair, before reaching for his tobacco pipe. "An organization that is hunting the jinchuriki, or rather, the tailed beasts they house. This has the potential to be very disastrous for us."
Kakashi bowed his head. "With your permission, Hokage-sama, I can go back and try and pick up the trail of those two."
"Hmm…you probably could. If what you said is correct, they found themselves facing Han of Iwa after you left. He is the jinchuriki of the five tailed dolphin horse. A fearsome opponent during the last war. The land would probably have more than a few scars."
The pipe was lit, and the old man breathed out a ring of smoke. "However, to go after tailed beasts is more often than not a suicide mission, a very much deserved S-rank. Their might is known throughout the land and only an extraordinary shinobi would be sane to undertake such endeavors. Your description of their abilities, strange as they are, can only lead me to believe these are S-rank shinobi."
"You are strong indeed, Kakashi, but I'd rather not throw such promising shinobi of mine to the wolves. Besides, another matter has come up. Kakashi, hand me your mask."
A slight twitch was all Sarutobi needed to see the confusion and hesitation that plagued his subordinate. Nevertheless, Kakashi followed all his Hokage's orders to the letter and he did not intend to stop now. He pulled it off his face and handed it to his leader.
Then he watched as it was chucked it into the air, drawing an arc before landing right into the rubbish bin.
"I am grateful for your continued service all these years, Kakashi. As of this moment, you are relieved of your duties as a member of the Hokage's Anbu. You will be reassigned to the general shinobi forces as a jounin."
If only that mask was not in the way, this moment would be perfect, Sarutobi thought with a smirk.
When Kakashi was still trying to process what he had just heard after ten seconds, Sarutobi added, "You have accomplished a great many important missions for this village, Kakashi, but this was more important than all of them to you. Your own sensei would have appreciated this much more than the rest."
Those words lightened the mood considerably, enough for the silver-haired shinobi to reply with a broken, "Yes…he would," in a voice lighter than any Sarutobi had heard in previous years.
The mood was shattered into pieces however, when the door to the office was opened. Slamming the door open could not have had a bigger effect, considering who stepped into the room a moment later.
It was Danzou, complete with robe, cane, bandages and arm in a sling and the bad attitude he had seen fit to bring with him.
"Sarutobi," he began, in a voice that sounded the epitome of civil and calm. The Hokage however, thought the war hawk was doing poor job of holding back the venom. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Our worst fears have been realized, Danzou," Sarutobi replied, doing his best not to sound smug. He thought he was probably doing a bad job of it too. "There is indeed an organization out there after the tailed beasts. Our jinchuriki is probably the worst prepared."
Kakashi stood off to the side, wondering just when the room had become so warm.
"Where is he?"
Is he slamming his cane harder into the ground with every step?
"Halfway to Kumo by now, I believe. Do not worry, my three students are escorting him. They should be enough to put off any risk of pursuit or interception."
"These new talks with Kumo are barely a month old. What brand is it that you are smoking that would make you trust them with one of our greatest assets?"
The Hokage barely held the smirk off his face. "You are wrong, Danzou. Twice I believe."
"One: these talks were initiated by my successor years ago. The unfortunate incident that took his life just happened to stall it for a while. But now that they understand that we still have a common interest with them, they were all too happy to pick up where he left off. Two: Naruto was never an asset. He has always been one of Konoha's loyal shinobi."
"Not to worry though," Hiruzen interrupted, as the war hawk opened his mouth, "we are not entirely defenseless. Kumo was gracious enough to send us one of their own two shinobi to fill the gap left by Naruto-kun. Nii Yugito, you should know of her."
The grinding of Danzou's teeth finally settled.
"As Naruto-kun trains to master his power in Kumo's skilled hands, she will hold down the fort here."
"And if Kumo betrays you? Nine tails has always been better than two." Danzou retorted. The old man was a fool, a damned fool.
Sarutobi's slight cheer disappeared, to be replaced by a bored frown, as if this conversation no longer interested him. "That? Oh, I'm not too worried about that happening." He said nonchalantly.
Danzou turned away his back ram-rod straight for his age as he made his way out of the office. "This false peace has made you slow and unguarded Hiruzen. Hopefully it will not prove to be your undoing." A threat, disguised as advice, but wholly and completely a threat.
Kakashi's eyes followed the man with thinly veiled contempt. When the door was shut he said, "He will make a move on the two-tailed jinchuriki just as he did on Naruto."
"Don't say that, Kakashi. He might not."
The old man blew, and a smoky leaf floated into the air before dispersing into grey wisps.
"I really hope he does though."
This is just what it sounds like; a reboot of the earlier Jinchuriki Exchange Program that I have currently lost complete interest in. The reason being that I cannot do an idiot main character like original Naruto any justice. Ironic huh? But it's not all too uncommon a problem given how many authors on this site make their Naruto a badass. He won't be too cool ('PWN Everything in sight' cool). I do plan to make him somewhat relatable.
I got the idea for this one off of a popular Light novel series that just got its anime airing. Apparently, it's still going strong. Kudos if you point it out by end of next chapter.
Hopefully, I have disappointed none of you. If I have…meh, authors like Ld 1449 have way better stories. THIS WILL NOT BE A 'BY THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP' FIC.
If you are interested in this one, read and review. I'll gladly accept advice/criticism. I'll pick up the original once I'm sure I can do that Naruto some justice. The next chapter will be uploaded immediately after this one to give a bigger impression of where this story is going.