Chapter :One: A Boy
There once lived a boy.
A boy lived in a cell.
A cell in the dark room.
The dark room in the depths.
The depths beneath the great tree.
Was that boy Naruto?
...Perhaps
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, six hundred and seventy...)
The sounds of footsteps echoed through the darkness reaching their ears of the only other occupant of the room.
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, six hundred and seventy-eight...)
The footsteps drew closer.
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, six hundred and eighty two...)
Before each footstep, came the sound of a single key hitting against its key ring.
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, six hundred and ninety...)
From the sounds it made, this was a particular dense key which had indentations in its-
"Prisoner Number Zero-Zero-Six-A," A deep voice cut through the swathe of darkness,
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, seven hundred and one...)
"Your skills have been commissioned by the Lord General Shimura..." it droned on and on about something or another.
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, seven hundred and fifteen...)
"If your adrenaline spikes, your restraints will be tightened to cut off your air supply..." As the chain door swung open, the prisoner refocused on the key,
(...five million, two hundred and fifty-two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three...)
"The sensory dampeners will be put back on if you stay silent for too long..." the indentations running through the key's shaft slid into place into a keyhole near him.
A click.
The prisoner shook free as the final root slid off. Two pops were heard – one from the prisoner and the other from his jailer, killing one and freeing the other's stiff neck.
(Kill... by catastrophic cervical fracture... time since last kill... sixty days and nineteen hours...)
The prisoner started to walk away from the quickly cooling corpse.
(...one...two...three...four...five...six...)
The day was a day like any other in Ta no Kuni – wet and warm like the paddy fields the lands derived its namesake from. The rains made the golden town of Kin no Machi look grey and unwelcome under the golden canopy of roofs. The pitter-patter of rainfall on the rooftops had gradually increased to a deafening roar.
Bolts of lightning threw their weight around in the sky; the accompanying thunder roared their rivalries in tune. The storm had been sudden and had trapped many citizens in temporary shelters. It had also watered down the sound of an explosion.
A mother and her child walked through the streets of the town underneath a bronze umbrella. They had opted to leave the safety of the grocery store in an attempt to run home. Halfway across the street, an automated carriage tore through a street corner heading straight towards them.
Before it hit them however, their bodies were pulled out of the way by an unseen entity grabbing them by their collars and dropped them out of harm's way. The mother and child stared shocked at the carriage speeding away. Above them, three blurred figures chased the rapidly speeding carriage.
Their conversation was transmitted over the tiny devices lodged in their ears.
"Do you want to be buried here, do you?! We have one last job Metero, one last kill!" A pale man yelled as powerful wiry legs carried him between golden tiled roofs.
His voice carried through the shared communicator device each member of his team wore, annoying both of them.
"Would you be quiet Setsuna?!" One of the look-alikes running behind him whispered back harshly as they chased a carriage through the rain, "Your mouth is what got us into this mess, the least you can do-"
"My...? That psycho killed everyone in the hotel. We were going to be next." The thin man, Setsuna, shot back.
"He wouldn't have known we were there if you hadn't broken rank!" The trio slowed down as they approached the town's bridge. "Shit! He can't cross that bridge or we lose the contract."
The more collected of the twins went through a series of hand seals as they ground to a halt on their last roof. When the chain ended, a pressurized ball of super-heated air shot out of the mercenary's mouth.
It struck the bridge ahead of the carriage instead, having been set off course by the turbulent winds. Its impact caused a huge explosion, causing the driver to tilt the carriage in an effort to avoid the new hole in the bridge. The vain effort was rewarded with the death of the driver as the carriage flipped over and sent him headfirst into the ground at a fatal angle.
The lucky passenger crawled out of the wreck clutching at his flabby arm. It was coated in blood and seemed to be unresponsive to the world, hanging limply behind him as he struggled away.
The trio of assassins stared pitilessly at the "blue-blooded" man crawling away.
"They're really all the same once you take away the clothes and the gold and add a dash of blood." A foreign voice rang in their heads. There was a split second before the realization hit but it was enough for poor Setsuna to lose his head.
The twins paid no heed to the headless corpse beside them, instead opting to speed away from the rooftop thus narrowly avoiding losing their lives in a similar fashion. However, it was only once they were on the bridge that they realized the corner they had backed into.
By now the rain had let down but the townspeople knew better than to be spectators for the bloodbath that was about to follow. Every window facing the bridge on every building nearby was either shut, locked or barred down. Even the people under open shelters clamored into the nearest hidden space.
Back on the bridge, the slow retreat of the twins had joined paces with the predatory advance of their would-be killer. Each step back was mirrored by a step forward till it became a sure rhythm. Even the crawling noble had managed to keep his adrenaline fueled escape attempt going.
The situation seemed so hopeless that both twins made the decision to sacrifice themselves so the other could live. Then either noticed the glint in the other's eye and realized neither would concede the right to live. It developed into a simple three way impasse before...
"Gurk!" The dead-eyed assassin spat out a glob of blood as knife dug itself into his back. Both Metoro and Etoro, having been broken out of their shared reverie by the sudden attack on their hunter, looked shocked as the hunter was stabbed again and again by a civilian holding a tantō.
Once their hunter had stopped shivering and finally died, Metero took a second glance at their civilian rescuer and noticed...
Absolutely nothing.
That evening, at the brothers' temporary base in the town's Banjo Inn, they found themselves bent over a game of Go while awaiting someone. Unbeknownst to either of them, said person had entered twice under the guise of housekeeping.
The third time was much more obvious as there was a gust of wind from the window heralding his arrival. The brothers leaped to their feet, sacrificing their competitive game and ruffling their sleep mats.
"Who the fuck–" Etoro found his brother's hand stopping his question and opted to follow his lead instead of retaliating in kind.
"Konoha-san?" The unassuming man nodded a reply to Metero before holding out an envelope, "Don't... don't you want a debriefing?" There was a long stare and the envelope went down with a shrug. Etoro glared at his brother for costing them a quick leave. Metero just looked confused.
"Well... the Konjiki brothers are officially reporting the successful assassinations of the–"
(How long will this take I wonder...)
"–our signature was left at the site of the hotel but the explosion was delayed, allowing the last target, Sōsuke Fukuda-"
(I wonder if the black will take its advantage once they resume their game...)
"–there is also the issue of compensation for the added danger of all this due to the fact that a mercenary hunter from–"
(Shake my head? Why...? ...Okay, done. Now will he stop talking?)
"–shut up Etoro... it's how business is done... Konoha-san?"
(Oh now he wants the envelope...)
The man again lifted the envelope to shoulder height before fiddling with a particular bone white key.
Metoro grabbed the envelope and began to count in the peaceful silence that filled the room after his debrief. He was soon reminded that his brother and silence didn't agree when the scarred man asked their handler,
"So... how about Setsuna's cut?" Etoro groaned internally but listened close for the answer.
"Setsuna? Who's that?" The man's voice was more than a whisper but it floated away on the wind just as soon as it was heard.
"Ah, you're keeping it for–"
"It's all here Konoha-san, five million ryō and the added two thousand. WE will be taking our leave now." Etoro glared at the nondescript man whose eyes followed him blankly till he was pulled out the doorway by his brother.
When they were gone, the man faded away.
An ornate cup of black tea sat smugly in the bony fingers of a man known as Shimura Danzō. It shimmered its way to a cool temperature as its drinker sipped it at regular intervals. If the cup of tea was sentient, it would've noticed the pressure placed on its fragile body by seemingly frail hands. It would've known this was a sign of the cadaver's growing impatience.
If the cup had been any more aware, it would've heard the slight creaking of the large door opposite the throne in the room and seen the man that walked in. It would however, have looked over him in an attempt to notice something less dreary. For the man was dressed in a garb so mundane it made Danzōs shirt and robe look fashionable.
If it had ears it would've heard their conversation which consisted of a harsh scolding from Danzō,
"This is the third time you've threatened our interest with your ineffectiveness boy. And what are you wearing in my presence?"
The man became a boy, shedding his clothes, height and hair color before them. The cup had no sense of color but if it did it would have noticed the stark white skin and blood red hair that seemed to be tipped in black pain. It would have noticed the network of thin gray scars travelling across his torso or the large green and gray pupils in his eyes.
With any more sentience, it would have registered the tense nonchalance on the boy's expression as scars on his back were ripped with such precision that they revealed the nerves underneath. Then it would have registered the cracking of that facade to reveal a broken child in pain.
But the cup of tea was simply that and so heard nothing of this and saw nothing.
Not even Danzō sealing the boy in a large sarcophagus and calling two agents to carry him along.
It instead sat in the cold dark till its contents had long since gone cold. Nobody would find it for a very long time and it went untouched at peace.
Seeing nothing.
Hearing nothing.
Doing nothing.
Uzumaki-dono, that was a very weird tale with the tea cup.
Was it? I thought it was quite clever...
What happened to Naruto after?
Oh yes...
"Hokage-sama, listen to me! This is not the right step to take. Allow Shimura-san to finish his work." A frail woman chased after a much more vibrant blond. She struggled to keep her steps in pace with his long strides and was reduced to hobbling along after him.
"Hokage-sama, I must agree with my colleague here! It is Shimura-san's organization that has allowed us to tap into the potential of the outer clan's filth." An equally frail man lumbered behind alongside the woman, only able to keep better pace due to his long legs. "If he advices this path, we should trust he knows what he is–"
"Koharu-san, Homura-san, tell me, do you know how many Bijū Iwagakure has?" The blond in front of them slowed imperceptibly to speak over his shoulder.
"T-two... According to updated intelligence, they have two, Hokage-sama." Koharu answered while Homura interjected,
"Hokage–"
"And... what of our friends to the north, Kumogakure?" The man questioned yet again in velvet tones.
"Two... sir..." They both answered realizing his agenda.
"Do you think their Bijū are being buried below prisons in an effort to train their Jinchurki?" Silence answered the mostly rhetorical question as both elders simmered in the wake of their scolding. "I thought not."
The blond man waved his elders off his trail and walked towards the core of the detention center he was in.
Given that most of the detention center was built around the widened crater of a live volcano, a large pool of lava sat in its center. Three extendable walkways hung above it connecting to a circle bridge built into the inner walls of the volcano. Each door that was not an exit was the door to a prison cell built into the mountain. As such the walls of the crater were lined with row of cell doors facing the lava.
Hanging over the controlled bowl of lava was a sarcophagus filled with one redhead and a lot of spikes to prevent struggling. At least in theory, the redhead inside had impaled his body on the spikes repeatedly in an attempt to escape the human shaped coffin. It leaked a stream of black blood that evaporated before they could hit the face of the lava below.
With the amount of shaking that happened, Danzō was starting to doubt the chakra draining feature of the sarcophagus was in effect. The more analytical side of the man's brain registered the increased desperation in the struggle while the more basic part realized the malevolence leaking from the coffin. But Danzō had not come this far in his career by ignoring his instincts.
He knew what the Hokage wanted from him and he had been unable to convince the youngling otherwise. Diplomatic though the man might be, he was also much smarter and distrustful of his elder advisors than his predecessor, Hiruzen. His rational side had told him the Hokage had a serious valid point, but his lizard brain knew the jinchuriki could not be controlled.
That mother of his had done something to make him more than they could handle. He remembered the bitterness at the Uzumaki whore's ingenuity but he wouldn't be bested. He was a Shimura and he would bury the boy no matter what happened.
His plan was solid, as always, it even took into play the Hokage's timed entrance and his advisor's failure to stop. All he had to do was wait for the sarcophagus to be called back and then he could give the signal for his disguised agent to push it over.
It could be misconstrued as a bitter pawn of the Kuge or a mistaken gesture by a stupid guard. And the best part was, that wasn't the only plan. Contingencies included the chakra explosive under the walkway, a long-range attack disguised as an assassination attempt and even the boy's own struggle tearing the ropes which held him up.
As fate would have it, the turbulence below it was way more than the ropes could handle and yet it an ironic twist, it gave up its load just as the Hokage walked into the room. Thus, when he stepped on the bridge, the first thing the Hokage saw, in standard dramatic slowed motion, was the snapping of all five ropes holding the coffin.
That was followed by a dismayed yell from Danzō as the sarcophagus fell towards the lava. In an instant, he was upon Danzō with a hand reared to strike the old man for his treasonous act. He barely managed to quell the instinctual anger as the sarcophagus hit the lava and started to sink.
"What have you done Danzō?" The man received no reply as Danzō looked back at him stunned, mentally lamenting the most latest Uzumaki-style subversion of his plans.
At least this time it didn't completely grow to fruition and he could still-
Danzō felt a familiar warping of space around the outline of his body and saw his surroundings shift from the rapidly disappearing volcanic crater to the grey of the sky above. When the old man opened his eyes, the pool of lava was directly below him but it was vastly shrunken. The detention center previously hidden within the volcano was exposed to the skies from which they fell and most of it seemed to have been eaten away leaving a round ring of the remnants.
He looked at the Hokage's shocked face and back to the new perfectly hemispherical crater beneath them. When he spotted the slightly melted sarcophagus below them, his mind clouded with rage and he bit his tongue in an attempt to stop a scream and over the whipping winds, he heard the Hokage faintly ask something but knew nothing except unconscious rage.
If the sarcophagus was mostly untouched that meant...
The Uzumaki was still alive.
But... how did he survive? did he survive? He fell into a volcano Uzumaki-sama...
Well...
Kuge - Noble (Class)
Ta no Kuni - Land of Rice Fields
Kin no Machi - Golden Town [loosely]
That's a wrap folks.
Questions? Critique? Comments? Tell it all in the reviews or in a PM.
To returning readers, as I said, I'm adding content and fine tuning so you'll have to bear with me for the next week.
Till next time,
TGE.
