A/N: I was surprised at the turn out for the prologue, so I got right to work on this, but school and work interfered or it would have been out sooner. Read & Review
The Fox and the Flute
Chapter One: A New Life
"So you kept her alive in order to get information on Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes, and Kakashi here believes she'll be important in the future," Tsunade replied while glancing toward Kakashi.
Jiraiya turned to Kakashi and asked, "Oh really, how so?"
Kakashi sighed as he became the center of attention in the room. "I can't really explain it, it's just this feeling I got when I saw her," Kakashi replied vaguely.
"Do you have anything to support that?" Jiraiya asked with a serious expression and tone.
Kakashi thought about the strange lightning he had seen the night before, hesitating to mention it. He sighed before replying, "Well…I asked Minato-sensei to give me a sign that I made the right choice…I think I got one." When he saw they were waiting for him to say what it was he continued, "I saw two bolts of lightning: one was golden yellow, the other was crimson red. They coiled around each other before vanishing; there was no thunder clap to accompany the lightning."
"And what do you think this sign meant?" Jiraiya asked seriously, Tsunade glanced warily at him in silence, concerned by his seriousness.
"I believe that this was Minato-sensei and Kushina trying to tell me I made the right choice in this," Kakashi said with confidence.
Jiraiya stared intently at Kakashi for several moments, the tension in the room building. Suddenly Jiraiya's face shifted to a goofy expression and he exclaimed, "Well that's good enough for me!" He was immediately hit over the head Tsunade and exclaimed, "Ow! What was that for?!"
"For making me worry by pretending to be angry about this you idiot!" Tsunade yelled at him.
"It was a joke, you know: hahaha," Jiraiya argued in response.
"It wasn't funny! I thought you were gonna say we were wrong in keeping her alive," Tsunade stated as she hit him again.
They carried on like this for several moments as Kakashi silently watched them with a dead-pan expression. "They're like an old married couple," he mumbled to himself.
Unfortunately for Kakashi, Tsunade has exceptional hearing. She stopped her punishment of Jiraiya, and turned her wrathful gaze on Kakashi. "What did you say?" she asked in a dangerous tone as she stepped towards Kakashi.
Kakashi backed away nervously while waving his arms defensively. He saw Jiraiya pointing at him and laughing quietly; he sent the older man a glare.
Just as Tsunade was about to strike Kakashi, Shizune opened the door and said, "Naruto just woke up."
"Alright, let's go find out what exactly happened when he fought Sasuke," Tsunade stated as she turned towards the door, Jiraiya and Kakashi following.
"You lucky bastard; nobody ever shows up to distract her when she's about to hurt me," Jiraiya whined to Kakashi.
"Well I have to get lucky every now and then don't I?" Kakashi asked with his trademark eye-smile. Jiraiya only growled in response as they made their way to the hospital.
Naruto was sitting quietly on his hospital bed, having adjusted it to a reclining position. When he woke up Shizune had said to wait for her to go and get Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi. The fight against Sasuke kept replaying in his mind, and a feeling of failure began to settle in.
'I failed…I promised Sakura that I'd bring him back and I failed. Damn it Sasuke, you were my best friend…you were like a brother to me,' he thought to himself. He wanted to get out of the hospital and start training again, even if it was too late to save his friend, he wanted to be strong enough to kill Orochimaru.
The door then opened and Tsunade and company walked into the room, firmly shutting it behind them. "Good to see you awake Naruto, though I expected you to up soon," Tsunade said as she walked up to the bed. Jiraiya perched himself on the windowsill, Shizune remained by the door to watch for anyone else, and Kakashi stood near Jiraiya.
"Yeah, I heal pretty fast…thanks to you know who," Naruto replied solemnly.
"You had me worried Naruto, when I felt your chakra drop that low…I thought that I was too late and lost another important person," Kakashi said as he shifted his weight to the other foot.
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei, I guess I did come kinda close to dying huh?" Naruto replied with a strained smile.
"If that wound on your chest had been inflicted a little higher or to the left, you might not have made it," Tsunade stated.
Everyone was silent for a few moments before Jiraiya spoke up, "Naruto…we need to know exactly what happened. It's easier to get it out of the way as soon as possible, trust me on that." As he said this he had a reflective, pained expression on his face.
The other adults looked at Jiraiya sympathetically: he was talking about when Orochimaru fled Konoha and he had failed to stop him and bring him back.
Naruto grimaced at the thought of explaining what had happened, but began to speak anyway, "Alright. After Bushy Brows showed up to keep that bone guy busy, I went after Sasuke. I caught up with him at The Valley of the End. When he turned to face me, his curse mark was active and his left eye had changed colors."
"What do you mean changed colors?" Jiraiya asked.
"The iris had turned yellow, and the white of his eye was black. When he deactivated his curse mark it changed back to normal," Naruto replied.
"That goes along with what Shikamaru and the others said about the Sound shinobi: they all had curse marks as well and when they entered the 'second stage' they took on demonic looking forms with yellow and black eyes," Tsunade provided from the reports she had gotten from the conscious members of the team and the Sand trio.
"Gaara's here?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, along with Kankuro and Temari," Kakashi answered.
"Please continue Naruto," Jiraiya said after a moment.
"I tried to convince him to come back, to forget about going to Orochimaru to gain power. I told him that Orochimaru would just use him for his own purposes…but he wouldn't listen. He told me that he couldn't afford to waste time 'playing ninja' here in Konoha. He told me he had to gain the power to kill Itachi, no matter what the cost. He said that he thought of me as his best friend, and that by killing me, he'd get stronger," Naruto replied, his voice cracking a few times through the explanation.
Kakashi gasped at this last revelation, causing the others to face him. "What is it Kakashi?" Tsunade asked.
Kakashi hesitated before replying, "It sounds like Sasuke was trying to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan…the idea was probably put in his head by Itachi."
"Mangekyou Sharingan?" Naruto asked.
"It's a legendary doujutsu, only a handful of people in the entire history of the Uchiha clan have achieved it. It's said that the power and abilities it grants the wielder make the normal Sharingan look like nothing. It's also rumored that Itachi has achieved it," Jiraiya explained.
"That's correct, and the reason why only a few have achieved it is because of the method to obtain it: in order for an Uchiha to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan…they must kill the person who is emotionally closest to them," Kakashi stated.
Naruto was stunned by this, 'He was going to kill me…just to make himself more powerful?!'
"Naruto, I know you must be shocked by this, but you need to continue," Jiraiya said with sympathy in his voice.
"Right…we started fighting, I told him I'd bring him back even if I had break all his bones and drag him myself. When he started using the Sharingan I had to start drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra…but then his Sharingan changed, it had three marks in each eye and I couldn't even touch him. After a bit more fighting he slammed my head into the valley floor, which probably should've killed me. The Kyuubi channeled even more of its power to me; the chakra took the shape of a fox with one tail around me. After a while of not being able to fight back, Sasuke changed, it must have been that second stage of the curse mark," Naruto explained.
"What did he look like when he changed?" Shizune asked, joining the conversation for the first time.
"His skin got darker, his hair got longer and lighter, he grew claws and fangs, and the whites of his eyes turned black. After I attacked him, he grew hand-like wings. We attacked each other with the Rasengan and Chidori," Jiraiya and Kakashi both slumped their shoulders at this, "We collided, the last thing I remember was his hand piercing my chest and me putting a scratch though the symbol on his forehead protector," Naruto finished the story.
Everyone was silent for a few moments before Jiraiya spoke up, "Naruto, Sasuke is safe for at least three more years, that's how long Orochimaru has to wait before he can take Sasuke's body as his own. Kakashi, I would like to take Naruto on as my apprentice."
"You want to train me Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked in surprise.
"Stop calling me that, and yes. If it's alright with Kakashi that is," Jiraiya stated as he turned to him.
"It's alright with me, but can I ask why?" Kakashi asked.
"Akatsuki is going to come for Naruto in a few years; I want him to be prepared for them. I think the best way to be sure of that is for me to personally train him until then," Jiraiya explained.
"Well that sounds good, I'll allow it, but I have a mission in mind for Naruto," Tsunade said as she turned towards the door. She said to the others, "Come on, let's let him get some rest, he looks tired."
"Wait, what kind of mission?" Naruto asked.
"Can't tell you yet, not sure about whether or not to assign it to you, but you'll know within a few days one way or the other," Tsunade said as she and Shizune left the room.
"Get some rest some Naruto; do you want me to tell the others that you're awake?" Kakashi asked him as he moved from his spot near Jiraiya.
"No, not yet…I wanna be alone for a little while," Naruto replied solemnly.
"Alright, here…I think you should have this," Kakashi said as he removed Sasuke's forehead protector and held it out to Naruto.
Naruto hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking it and said, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi left without saying another word.
"Naruto, listen to me," Jiraiya said seriously. When Naruto turned to him he continued, "I was in a similar position as you are when Orochimaru left Konoha. Trust me when I say this: you're better off not trying to bring Sasuke back." He then left the room to leave Naruto to his thoughts.
Early the next morning, Tsunade walked through the halls of the hospital doing a check up on the members of Shikamaru's team. She checked on Naruto and saw that he was sound asleep and continued on to her last stop.
She had left Shizune to watch the girl in case she woke up, Tsunade wanted to be the first to speak with her. She entered the room and asked Shizune, "Has she woken up yet?"
"No, but she's been muttering in her sleep. From what I've heard she has quite a colorful vocabulary," Shizune replied.
"Hmm, well if she's talking in her sleep she might wake up soon. So I'll wait here for a while before going to my office," Tsunade replied as she sat beside Shizune.
For almost an hour she waited for the girl to wake up, growing steadily more impatient and fidgety the whole time. Just as she was about to get up and leave, the girl's eyes began to open. "Well she has good timing, I'll give her that," Tsunade muttered to Shizune.
"I feel like fucking shit…where the fuck am I?" the girl muttered while looking around, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the bright white room.
"Well you had a couple tons of wood dropped on after being sliced up; it's natural that you'd feel like shit even after being mostly healed. And you are in the hospital in Konoha," Tsunade answered as she stood and walked to the food of the bed.
The girl glared at the woman before asking, "Who the hell are you?"
"It's usually more proper to introduce yourself first before you ask somebody their name," Tsunade said in a scolding tone.
The girl continued to glare for a moment before she replied, "My name is Tayuya."
"It's nice to meet you, I am Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage," Tsunade stated.
"The Tsunade? Orochimaru's former teammate?" Tayuya asked in surprise.
"That's right, Orochimaru and I go way back," Tsunade replied.
Tayuya took note of her legs in casts, and her right arm in a sling before asking, "So you assholes brought me here and healed me so I could be a fucking prisoner?"
"That's entirely up to you Tayuya," Tsunade answered, confusing Tayuya.
"What do you fucking mean it's up to me?" she asked.
"It's exactly what it sounds like. You have two options here: you can accept my offer, or you can be treated as a prisoner which means you'll be handed over to the Interrogation and Torture department until they find out what we want to know, and then be executed," Tsunade replied.
"What's the offer?" Tayuya asked after a moment.
"In exchange for the information we want, we will grant you total amnesty. You'll be able to start a new life here in Konoha with a clean slate, you could even become a shinobi of Konoha if you so choose. We will also protect you from Orochimaru should he try to take you back. And before you say anything about that last part: I know how Orochimaru is, if you stay here and start over, you won't be living everyday with the fear of your leader killing you for some small failure," Tsunade explained in a calm manner.
"That's one hell of an offer. How long was I out?" Tayuya asked as her eyes started closing again.
"You've been here for two days. Get some rest Tayuya, sleep on it and let me know your decision when I come back tonight," Tsunade said as she started to walk towards the door. "Let Shizune know if you need anything," she added as she reached the door.
Before she could open the door Tayuya spoke up, "Wait a minute. You're a real shithead if you think I need to take time to fucking think about it. I'll take your offer; I'm not a fan of being fucking tortured until I talk and then being killed."
Tsunade smiled as she replied, "Glad to hear that, we won't force you to tell us everything at once, but we'll start tomorrow when you've got some more energy."
"Gotcha," Tayuya mumbled as she drifted off to sleep once again.
A/N: That's it for this chapter, sorry the story is a bit slow at the moment, but hey, the two main characters are still hospitalized. The next chapter should be out by Sunday or early next week, so until then I hope you enjoyed this, Please Review.
As a favor to a friend and fellow Fanfiction author: Daemen of the shadow, I'm recommending the Naruto fic he is writing. It is called Prelude to the Madness. He has been having trouble getting people to read his story, though in my opinion is it great, so please check it out.
