Between Worlds
Chapter 2 – Sacrifices
By: volrath77
Disclaimer: Naruto™ and Naruto: Shippuden™ (including its characters, places or whatever stated in the manga, anime, movie, etc.) is/are owned by Masashi Kishimoto (or Kabushiki Kaisha Shūeisha [Shūeisha, Inc.] whichever is relevant) and not me. This piece of work is only for purposes of entertainment…and for some exercises in creative expression with no profits derived from it in any way whatsoever.
10 minutes earlier, outside the sacred sealing cavern…
"RAIKIRI!" yelled Hatake Kakashi as he slammed the crackling mass of lightning between his fingers into the ground and watched in satisfaction as the blots arced and shattered yet another row of the stone warriors. He had already used two out of his daily maximum of four uses of his original jutsu but it had been justified.
The stone warriors of the demon Mouryou's yurei guntai, while obviously lacking any sort of agility due to being made entirely of hard rock, were truly only one step short of being miniature, human-sized juggernauts. Possessing the ageless strength of the earth from which they were created, they were practically invulnerable to common weapons, blows or low-level jutsu.
There was also the fact that each and every one of the animated statues was armed. All of them carried edged weapons in the form of swords, spears, glaives and axes. All made from the same stone and capable of inflicting fatal damage, in the form of cutting, cleaving or crushing blows, to any human regardless whether he was armored or not or whether he was a hardened shinobi or merely a simple farmer, especially when each of those weapons were driven by the unfeeling, relentless force behind them.
Straightening from the crouch with which he had assumed to send his second Raikiri into the ground seconds ago, the white-haired Jōnin's keen sight quickly located the forms of his friends and allies in the seemingly unending horde of the stone army. Even with his Sharingan eye covered, he could easily determine that there were nearly five hundred of the stone warriors which were still moving on the battlefield.
It was definitely not what Kakashi would have called as good odds. At the very least, his comrades still fighting on Hi no Kuni's borders had the advantage of the environment from the landscape and abundance of vegetation to bolster their positions both strategically and tactically against the advancing yurei guntai. Had Team 7 and their support been in a similar environment, even the seven of them would have been able to either rapidly decimate or at least considerably slow down the stone warriors.
However, on the open rocky plains of the valley at the foot of the mountain where the tunnel to the sacred sealing cave was located, there was no such advantage to be had for the seven ninjas and it was only the fact that the stone warriors moved so sluggishly that prevented them from totally overwhelming the seven shinobi that currently stood against the horde on the field.
Unfortunately, notwithstanding that the stone warriors were not completely invulnerable and could be destroyed either by application of jutsu or brute force or both, it would be a matter of time before the shinobi would find themselves in desperate straits. For every stone warrior that the six Konoha shinobi and their single ally brought down, their replacement simply emerged from the ground by the power of the demon and joined the battle.
Kakashi had itched with the desire to run into tunnel to see what was taking his former student so long in completing his assigned task before coming to the realization that the success of the mission at that point did not rest on the shoulders of the hyperactive genin but the Oni no Kuni priestess that they had escorted here.
A loud kiai shout rang across the battlefield drew Kakashi's attention and his gaze landed on bowl-cut, green-spandex clad pair of Maito Gai and Rock Lee. The Copy Ninja snorted in amusements at the sight of the teacher-student pair as they dove in and out of the grouped automatons, spinning and jumping as they avoided various assortments of weapons strikes, jabs and thrusts aimed at them while at the same time kicking and punching, pummeling any of the unliving statues unlucky enough to cross their paths into chunks of broken granite.
Adding to all the chaos was the concerted yells of either 'Flaming Power of Youth' or 'Explosion of Youth' or their colorful variants in Gai's loud bass or Lee's higher pitched voice. A fifty to one odd would be have been terrifying to any shinobi but to the two Green Beasts of Konoha, one Beautiful, the other Noble, it was akin to an extended training session…a really busy and noisy extended training session.
"Huh. Those two are enjoying this too much." Kakashi snorted beneath his mask and sighed but was not able to suppress a grin either. He was tempted to say of how troublesome the entire thing was but that would be stealing a certain pineapple-haired Chūnin's favorite line. With that in mind, he turned around, trying to locate Shikamaru in the midst of the chaos when Maito Gai's excited baritone caught his attention.
"FIFTY-THREE!" Spying his long-time rival in the midst of the free-for-all, Gai extricated his foot from a stone warrior he had just demolished into a pile of pebbles and wasted no time in assuming his trademark 'good guy' pose along with a thumbs-up and flashed his trademark smile. A glint of light emanated from those overly white teeth even as he bellowed, "COME! A CONTEST, KAKASHI! SHOW YOUR MOST YOUTHFUL SPIRIT OF FIRE ON THESE UNWORTHY OPPONENTS!"
Putting up his best unflappable expression, Kakashi turned his head slowly back towards the ranting Maito Gai. "Eh? Did you say something, Gai?"
"GAAAHHH! YOU AND YOUR HIP ATTITUDE, KAKASHI! I– "Gai's rant was abruptly cut as one of the stone warriors lunged towards the spandex-clad taijutsu master. However, the lunge was cut short as Gai deftly twisted and planted a chakra-powered Gōken Ryū punch into the statue's centre of mass, shattering it. Another came with its arms raised high, a stone katana poised for a downward cleave. However, this time Rock Lee darted in like a launched cannonball to intercept the incoming blow, his well-aimed Konoha Senpū turning the automaton as well as another next to it into explosions of dust and rock shards.
"Fifty four, Gai-sensei!"
"YOSH! WELL DONE, LEE! GO FORTH! SHOW THEM THE EXPLOSION OF YOUR YOUTH!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei! If I cannot defeat one hundred of them, I will run backwards all the way back to Konoha! And if I can't–"
Tuning out the overlapping shouts and leaving the two Green Beasts to their own shenanigans, Kakashi distanced himself from the melee and leapt on the nearest rock outcropping to the highest vantage point possible as he sought to determine the condition of his allies on the battlefield. A quick scan and he found the person he was initially looking for.
Apparently, he hadn't needed to worry at all. Nara Shikamaru, despite being the least physically capable of the group, was hard at work intelligently using his Kage Mane no Jutsu to immobilize multitudes of the walking statues while Sabaku no Temari dealt the finishing blows using her Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai to devastating effect. Every stone warrior already caught within the paralyzing web of shadow strands controlled by the heir of the Nara clan stood no chance whatsoever as they were severed and strewn into pebbles by the slashing winds generated by the Suna kunoichi's battle fan and Kamatari, the one-eyed sickle wielding weasel summoned by her jutsu.
Nodding to himself, Kakashi had to admit that he was impressed by the teamwork shown by the unlikely pair and the two had effectively controlled their portion of the battlefield. Satisfied, the Copy Ninja's attention left the 'not boyfriend and girlfriend' and focused next upon the most recently minted Jōnin of the group, Hyūga Neji. To Kakashi's trained eyes, the young Hyūga Jōnin did not look at all comfortable against the stone hordes advancing steadily upon him and was practically surrounded on all sides.
Kakashi was about to leap from his perch to come to the rescue but then he saw the figure of his former student closing in on the embattled Hyūga. He chose to wait and observe.
Despite keeping his cool exterior, Neji found much to his chagrin that the basic strikes of his Clan's vaunted Jūken, proven to be devastating against soft living targets, were woefully deficient against his unliving opponents and he had, at several times, been hard pressed to keep the stone warriors off his back. His Byakugan prevented him from being totally overwhelmed but he still remembered his initial shock when his chakra-enhanced fingers failed to do anything and simply slid off against the cool granite chest of one of his attackers.
He had even resorted to using a kunai once but the staple weapon was quickly proved to be useless as it failed to even make a nick and had simply bounced off the hard stone on impact.
Finally, it took forceful chakra strikes using his Hakke Kūshō that he was able to actually destroy several of his opponents, most of it from colliding the stone warriors against another due to the directed force of chakra but it was tedious work. He had been forced to rely more on evasion and footwork as Jūken emphasized more on hand strikes instead of kicks and he found out, again, that having to come perilously close to opponents that could simply shrug off his blows and land heavy and devastating blows of their own was an unnerving experience…very unnerving as a matter of fact. But then again, regardless whether he used his hands, arms or legs, he would still need to come well within striking distance of the weapons carried by the stone warriors.
His Hakke Hazangeki was more effective, allowing him to down several in one strike, some from the sheer force generated by the strike and others from the subsequent collision against each other or from being impacted by high speed fragments propelled by the jutsu but its rapid use was tiring him rapidly. On top of that, he had had to execute his Hakkeshō Kaiten a few times simply to gain some breathing space causing further drain on his already strained reserves.
Loud clanking sounds appeared on his right and Neji had to duck a vicious cut by one of the warriors before quickly bending backwards to avoid yet another one that suddenly stepped in his front. He had barely recovered from his evasion before finding himself desperately sidestepping to his left to avoid the thrust of stone glaive only to slam his back square against the hard chest of yet another stone warrior which had somehow managed to move in his blind side. Without thinking, he spun on his heels and executed yet another Kaiten, shattering the statues and launched them away before any one of them could land a fatal blow.
He was rewarded with a loud curse. Wait…those stone abominations couldn't curse, could they?
"OW!" An irritated female voice following by a boom and the sound of several loud impacts as well as pulverized stones floated through the din of battle. Relieved, the Jōnin dropped his hands to his knees and panted, sucking down precious air as he calmed down in the effort to allow his depleted stamina to recover a little. A lithe figure suddenly dropped from the air in front of him and a stone warrior was sent flying into the air by a hard punch while another was broken cleanly in two at the waist by a kick. The two separated halves flew into two more whole warriors, turning both into piles of rubble as well.
Before Neji could gather his wits, two chakra-enhanced hands planted into his chest and he was shoved hard. He skidded along the ground from the force of it before coming to a stop in what appeared to a cleared area of the battlefield…for the moment. He heard another curse and a growl followed by more sounds of shattered stones. The figure then jumped, using one of the warriors as a stepping stone, before doing a graceful somersault and landed in the midst of a few surviving statues. All of them stepped forward to engage in battle, their weapons raised high but all of them were turned into pieces of flying debris before the power of the rampaging kunoichi.
Sakura leapt again and crossed the distance to the recovering Hyūga with a single jump.
"Hyūga Neji! Watch where you're sending those things flying!" The pink-haired kunoichi wasted no time in berating her team mate. "…And what on earth do you think you're doing?!"
Neji drew a few deep breaths before slowly straightening back to his full height while keeping his expression under control. He had just been rescued by a girl during a moment of weakness and his Hyūga pride stung. "Thank you, Sakura-san. I was merely gathering energy for my next assault. That is all." He said stiffly.
"Really?" Came the question delivered in the disbelieving tone complete with hand-on-hip and tapping foot pose that would have, in another time or situation, often caused one Uzumaki Naruto to immediately launch into a frenzied explanation.
YES! Neji snapped loudly in his head. He threw an icy glare at his pink-haired teammate.
"Don't give me that look! Speaking of which, actually you look a little pale, Neji. Are you all right? You look exhausted." Haruno Sakura's face shifted into one of concern. After all, she was the team medic and it would be a failure of her position in the team if any of her team mates were fighting in less than optimum condition and she failed to help them when it counted.
"A little. I must admit, fighting opponents that are immune to anything I have but high-level Jūken strikes is somewhat…disconcerting."
"Oh, I see. Heh, makes you feel like you want to go hug Gai-sensei right now…well, maybe after we finish this and ask him to teach you everything about his Gōken, don't you? You know…that Power of Youth thing and all that?"
"That is ridiculous!" Neji shot back harshly but then involuntarily shrank from the glow in Sakura's emerald-green eyes. He suddenly remembered that he was addressing a kunoichi who was not only an accomplished iryō-nin but also the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage and had practically inherited not just the female Sannin's medical jutsu but also the latter's notorious chakra-enhanced superhuman strength and fiery temper.
In addition, despite his outburst, the young Jōnin had to admit that his teammate had, from her remarks, although delivered in a light manner, made a valid point and had unknowingly and indirectly pointed the deficiencies of the his clan's revered taijutsu. He also did not need to be pointed out on the efficiency with which Sakura had easily demolished his opponents. Perhaps, there was some use to resorting to brute force. After all, he had seen the handiworks of his former sensei and teammates first hand and knew how effective they could be.
"Hey! I'm just kidding, all right? You don't need bite my head off! You might be a Jōnin but I can still smack you around!" Sakura raised her fist in a ready position while letting a small growl escape her throat.
Neji took a deep, calming breath while raising a hand up in a placating gesture. "I apologize, Sakura-san. It is not my intention to be rude."
"Forget it." Sakura shrugged and quickly rifled through her supply kit before finding what she was looking for. "Here, take a few of these with you but you know how this works right? Take it only when you really have to and don't overdo it."
Neji nodded but ultimately declined the offer of the pills. He needn't be told on how the ration pills worked. One of the small black pills contained enough nutrients and stimulants to enable a shinobi to fight for three days and nights as well as replenish and boost chakra reserves but any overuse of the pills would result with a heavy price. He had heard of stories of ninjas who had literally fought and drove themselves to death due to extreme physical and chakra exhaustion after overusing the pills.
"Thank you but I will not need it."
"Just keep it. I have spares here enough for everyone…not that blond stamina-freak will need it anyway…" Sakura's voice trailed as she turned her gaze towards the tunnel where her teammate had vanished into minutes ago.
"You are concerned about Naruto." Neji didn't have to voice it as a question as Sakura nodded in answer.
"I…he…you know how he is, Neji. He jumps into danger without even thinking twice. No, make that without even thinking once…some times…He could've waited for us…"
"But the sealing ceremony cannot be delayed or the demon would be free from its imprisonment. Naruto did the right thing by accompanying Shion-sama."
"B-but he'll need to protect Shion-sama as well as himself at the same time and they're not fighting something which we are used to…" Sakura stopped mid-sentence, her hands twisting the hem of her shirt in worry. "Who knows what things are lurking in that mountain and that baka just jumped into it without us."
"Naruto will be fine. He had faced enemies stronger than himself and prevailed." The Hyūga Jōnin gave a soft smile and laid a reassuring hand on the kunoichi's shoulder. He was not worried. After all, when it comes to the blond genin's tenacity, he had first-hand experience of it and at the receiving end no less. "Now, if you are that concerned on Naruto's wellbeing…or behavior since he is, of course with Shion-sama, I would suggest that we finish this battle as quickly as possible and join Naruto and Shion-sama in that sealing chamber."
"Mou…it's not that kind of 'concerned'" Sakura blushed before nodding quickly. Her teammate was right. The sooner they finish the battle, the sooner they would be able to join Naruto and take the fight directly against their real enemy, the demon Mouryou.
"Come. Let us find Kakashi-senpai. We should ask him. If he says we can join Naruto and the rest can handle the army, we can go to assist Naruto."
Sakura nodded again and together they were off in search of the one-eyed Jōnin.
Just as Hyūga Neji and Haruno Sakura found Hatake Kakashi moments later to get their next orders, it was then that the beginnings of the disaster struck.
Without warning, the ground shook violently causing all the shinobi on the battlefield, both Konoha and Suna, to lose their footing and stumble on the ground. All the stone warriors engaging suddenly ceased moving, the bright yellow glow in their eyes winked out and stood motionless as if whatever evil sorcery that had powered them before was abruptly cut off.
A loud cracking sound erupted from the mountain causing all the shinobi to automatically turn as one to witness a large fissure open on the mountain side. Then, before their very eyes, a pulse of energy burst forth from the mountain and expanded outward like shimmering dome which then turned rapidly into near-translucence akin to a blast pressure which often accompanied the detonation of a high-powered Katon jutsu.
Eyes wide, the allied shinobi instinctively crossed their arms before them to cover themselves against the shockwave pulse but it passed over them without so much as even a pause. Instantly, Kakashi and the rest were driven to their knees from the sheer pressure leaving them temporarily disoriented and gasping for breath. So powerful was the pulse that the near-translucent dome travelled onwards without showing signs of slowing down and the stone warriors that had been frozen in their place mere moments ago simply collapsed and crumbled into pieces as the pulse passed through them, marking the destruction of their creator.
The gathered shinobi slowly rose unsteadily to their feet with the hairs on the back of their necks standing on end from the sensation of immense amounts of chakra carried by the shockwave.
"Kakashi-senpai, I can sense Naruto and another…not evil…very likely Shion-sama in that pulse. But there are two others chakra with them and I…" Hyūga Neji began but was immediately silenced by the raised hand of the Copy Ninja.
Kakashi merely nodded and turned his wary gaze back on the mountain. He glanced towards his only remaining student left on the field, Haruno Sakura and she nodded in affirmation. Both of them had felt Naruto in that pulse and the other presence which Neji was referred to. He hadn't met the priestess personally but he trusted the young Jōnin's assessment.
As for the other two presences mentioned by the young Hyūga, both of them reeked of pure malevolence but Kakashi knew one of them from personal experience of what it was and he knew that any one or perhaps everyone on the field had experienced it one way or another in the past knew it as well.
Kyūbi.
"Neji, can you see them with your Byakugan?" Neji immediately activated his kekkei genkai upon the request but he shook his head as soon as he trained the enhanced sight of his Byakugan on the mountain wall.
"No, Kakashi-senpai. The walls are too dense and thick–"Neji's words were cut short as a low rumbling sound began ominously. Sensing what was to come, all the shinobi channeled their chakra to their feet to help their footing but their efforts were for naught as a sharp tremor rocked the entire plateau, driving all of them to their knees for the second time. That first tremor was then followed by another and another in rapid succession causing fissures to rapidly open in the ground around them.
Seconds later, an acrid smell of sulfur and rotten eggs wafted across the shattered battlefield, stinging the noses of the seven shinobi still trying to get back to their feet while their eyes water from the invisible fumes released by the ground fissures.
"Volcanic gasses…this is bad." Kakashi muttered. He quickly turned to address the teams. "Everyone listen! This is not a normal mountain but a volcano!" He then turned towards his long-time rival. "Gai! Lead the others out of here. Get as high as possible above the valley. We don't know how long before this volcano erupts so we have to be quick!"
"Kakashi-sensei, I'm coming with you and don't you dare say no!" Sakura quickly interjected, her voice muffled as she cupped her hand tightly over her nose and mouth. There was no way she would follow Gai and the others while leaving Naruto behind.
"This is not the time to argue, Sakura! Both of you go and follow Gai. NOW!" Kakashi's voice heightened a few decibels. Indeed, there was absolutely no time to argue about the matter, not when a volcano was about to explode right on top of their heads.
Sakura simply dug her heels in response and refused to budge. "No! I am not going! Not without that baka Naruto and I swear-"
The Copy Cat Ninja quickly repressed the urge to grab hold and shake some common sense into his former student. "Listen to me, Sakura! Neji, take-"
"While I should follow your order on the basis of your seniority, Kakashi-senpai, this is my mission and I am still the commanding Jōnin of my team. Both Naruto and Shion-sama are my responsibilities. My team was sent here to defeat Mouryou and we do not know the current situation with Naruto and Shion-sama. You were sent here to support our team. Your mission has been completed. Ours is not. You may report my insubordination to Hokage-sama later." The Hyūga calmly stated his response.
"Aaa…" Kakashi raised a finger but his shoulders were already slumped. He truly hated stubborn subordinates…but then again, he had trained two of them in Team 7. If Sakura was counted in, that would be three of them…
"There is also the possibility that you may need my Byakugan in that tunnel."
Sakura quickly took Kakashi's indecision to issue orders of her own as befitting her prerogative as the team iryō-nin and withdrew two thick rolls of cloth normally used as field bandages from her pouch. "Everyone! Try to avoid breathing the gasses or ashes as much as you can. They're poisonous." She threw one of rolls over into the waiting hands of Maito Gai. "Here, take this and share. Make a thick mask or wrap it around your head. Make sure to cover your nose and mouth!"
Gai nodded and began to herd Lee, Shikamaru and Temari away back in the direction of the pathway leading to the valley cliffs, one by one voicing their wishes of luck and success to the three before speeding off.
Satisfied, Sakura turned back and unrolled a long strip of the cloth before ripping it off and made her own makeshift mask. She handed the remaining balance of the roll to Neji who followed suit and made his own mask. He offered the same to Kakashi but the latter pointed to his own double mask.
Kakashi relented. "Very well but you two will follow me closely. No heroics. We go in, get Naruto and Shion-sama and we get out. Fast." Both Sakura and Neji nodded their agreement. Truly, there would be no time for heroics as the one-eyed Jōnin had pointed out.
Satisfied with their preparation, as little as it was under the circumstances, the three remaining Konoha shinobi then ran across the now empty field, jumping across fissures and crevices as they raced towards the tunnel.
Seconds later, in the present…
"This. Is. Not. Good."
Kakashi very rarely spoke in the manner of explicitly pronouncing words one at a time but as he stood before the tunnel that would lead him and his two companions into the sacred sealing chamber, he would be lying if he was to say that he was not at all disturbed. He didn't need to even turn around to confirm whether Sakura and Neji behind shared his anxiety. Right now, he could literally feel the same emotions flowing off the two younger shinobi.
The large opening of the tunnel loomed before them and seemed to beckon them onwards towards the rescue of their comrade and shared charge. However, it was as if something beyond the tunnel was literally sucking the very air outside into the tunnel at high speed, producing an eerie whistling sound. If that was not bad enough, the tunnel was literally shrouded in darkness as torches fixed along its walls were long doused when it was turned into an impromptu wind tunnel.
It was at that moment that Kakashi knew that once he entered the tunnel, not even his Sharingan would be able to fully penetrate and see clearly within the confines of the tunnel and was thankful that Neji had joined in the rescue attempt. His thoughts were cut short when a sharp tremor rocked the ground, punctuating the urgency of the situation.
"Neji, take the front. We need your Byakugan. I'll take middle position. Sakura, you're in the rear. The winds inside the tunnel will very likely be fierce so channel your chakra to your feet. We move now."
Without waiting for acknowledgement of readiness from his comrades, Neji moved into position and took only a second to activate his kekkei genkai before he stepped forward and vanished into the tunnel with Kakashi and Sakura following closely behind.
Drip…Drip…Drip…
Uzumaki Naruto did not need to be told to know that he was back in his mindscape, standing in the same slightly flooded tunnel that would eventually lead to the chamber containing the massive prison for the demon fox. However, instead of the silence that typically greeted him whenever he was pulled into his own mind for an audience with his prisoner, this time it was as if some demented person had set off one exploding seal after another in the distance and the incessant sounds of explosions echoed loudly along the corridors.
He took a step forward and another booming explosion thundered. This time he could feel the vibration caused through his feet despite the thick soles of his sandals.
Kuso! What is that bakayaro kitsune is up to now!
Clasping his heads over his ears to hopefully partially block out the cacophonous booming noises and howls, unfortunately Naruto discovered that his actions were of no avail as the noises seemed to penetrate the meager cover his hands made and decided to run all the way to the chamber. If that bastard fox was making all these noises simply to attract his attention, the fox had certainly gotten it and the blond genin silently swore to himself that he would hurl every scrap and shades of verbal blasphemies he had learned in the fifteen short years of his life (most of it learned during the two and a half years of training under his beloved Ero-Sennin) or those he could think of to his prisoner regardless of any physical, spiritual or mental harm to himself later.
However, after crossing the small archway connecting the sewer-like corridors to the prison chamber in his mindscape, nothing prepared the teen for the sight of the gigantic yōkai repeatedly hurling itself against the massive bars of the imposing prison gates, the representation of the Shiki Fūjin in his mind. The darkness that was once ever present within the confines of the prison and hid the demon fox from view (except the times where he was able to see the fox's blood-red eyes, or its snout or teeth or claws) was now internally lit with an infernal bright crimson glow.
For the first time in his life, Naruto gazed fully upon the imposing and terrifying form of his prisoner, Kyūbi no Yōko. Silhouetted by the glow of thick amorphous and bubbling streams of the foul energies swirling off its body, the demon fox stood in stark contrast from the background and nine long tails flailed in all directions. The front portion of its body was lower than the back, positioned in a crouching posture that made it clear to the observing blond that the fox was actually rearing to charge again at the gate.
And before Naruto could even think to back up from the gate, the demon fox actually charged and slammed full force against the bars, throwing yet another burst of its energy through the gates and knocked down the genin on his butt onto the floor covered with ankle-deep water made rancid from Kyūbi's acidic drool and poisonous youki…and the sound of the fall accented by the splashing waters alerted Kyūbi to the presence of its jailor.
"YOU…STUPID…GAKI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! YOU HAVE KILLED US BOTH!!!"
"W-what?! What are you talking about?" Naruto stammered as he climbed back to his feet. He had never ever seen his prisoner this agitated…this desperate before.
The ancient demon fox ignored the boy and continued its efforts against its prison bars, somehow trying to do what was supposed to be impossible. Breaking through the barrier of the Shiki Fūjin by brute force alone. Another thunderous boom reverberated throughout the chamber and the force of the body slam exploded against Naruto, lifted him up his feet and hurled him against the far side of the wall next to the archway from which he had entered.
Despite the walls which constituted the chamber being nothing more than yet another representation of the seal that kept the demon fox imprisoned, the face of the wall which the blond teen connected spider-webbed from the violence of the impact.
Naruto felt as if his entire body was on fire and he slid from the small indentation in the wall to land face first on the flooded floor. Chikusho! It HURTS! This is all supposed to be in my HEAD! He slowly rose back to his feet on wobbling knees, feeling suddenly extremely light-headed from the pain and staggered towards to the prison bars.
"S-stop it, Kyūbi! J-just stop it! You're not getting out!" Naruto shook his head a few times to clear his mind but it only served to increase his headache and added a swift sensation of vertigo on top of it. His vision began to blur and spin and he knew that if it was in the real world, he would be close to passing out.
A savage, throaty growl escaped from the demon fox and it spat venomously on the floor. "I WILL GET OUT! I…WILL…BE…FREE! I WILL NOT DIE LIKE SOME…INSECT!!!"
"GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, BAKA KITSUNE! Y-YOU'RE WRONG! I'M NOT GOING TO DIE AND YOU'RE NOT GETTING OUT!"
Somehow in the midst of its frantic attempts to escape, Kyūbi stopped to momentarily regard its jailor and its former expression of abject fear shifted into one which could only be described as sheer incredulity.
"You have no any idea what you have done, do you?" The grating voice of the demon fox was a mixture of disbelief, contempt, and somehow above it all…the overshadowing tone of triumph. Its look then changing into one of cruel mirth, Kyūbi broke into a sinister grin before the prison chamber suddenly thundered with demon's laughter. "My poor prison…truly, an idiot to the end!" The demon laughed again, this time harder and Naruto was forced to block his ears with his hands from the ear-splitting sound.
It was then that Naruto took full cognizance of the monolithic gates before him and noticed for the first time the small piece of white paper bearing the kanji 'Seal' stuck on the central seam of the gates. In his previous visits, that piece of white paper was pristine and unblemished, a reassuring sight…a guarantee that as long as it existed, the greatest of all bijū would continue to remain restrained behind it. Now, its color had turned into shades of brown and to the horror of the blond genin, he could see the frayed edges, cracked in some places while a ghostly bluish-black fire seemed to dance and flicker around and along the edges.
But the most alarming sight of all to the blond genin was that the top right corner of the paper seal had somehow partially peeled and folded slightly upon itself. No…
As if on cue, Naruto now noticed that his right hand, arm and shoulder began to hurt abominably. In his eyes, there was no injury whatsoever to his right hand and arm. No gaping wounds or even blood but despite appearances to the contrary, even the simplest of movements or tensing of perceived muscles, if they were at all flesh and blood within the mindscape, caused blinding pain unlike anything he had felt. It flared from the entirety of the appendage and shot mercilessly throughout his body. The young genin dropped to his knees gasping for breath and his face scrunched in response to the intense pain as he immediately brought his left hand to cradle the seemingly injured arm protectively.
Then, as if the dizzying pain in his arm was not enough on its own, a red-hot sensation emanated from his stomach and Naruto suddenly found that he had to struggle to breathe.
"W-what's going on…" Then he remembered. The battle against the demon Mouryou, his near brush with death, his desperate attempt to save the priestess Shion, their Chō Chakra Rasengan and Mouryou's dying scream…
"What is going on? You are asking me what is going on?! Come closer then and I will tell you." The crimson eyes of the demon fox gleamed in invitation and its black lips drew back into a sadistic grin revealing the monstrous incisors.
"Heh, you…you think I'd trust you? I still remember what you did the first time we met…" Naruto huffed even as he took a hissing breath against the stabbing pain which now threatened to overwhelm his consciousness. He briefly wondered what it would be like to be comatose in his own mind and decided that notwithstanding that it would be a respite from the pain, he would rather not find out of what would happen if he passed out in his mindscape. "So sorry to disappoint you, baka kitsune but it's not going to happen."
"A pity… however, I am feeling generous at this moment so I will tell you. You have killed us both or perhaps…I should say you would have killed us both. Do you see that?" The demon fox nodded in an obvious gesture towards the paper seal which still hung, albeit partially, on the seams of the gates. The ghastly grin grew wider into what would have been a full blown smile…the smile of a fox about to raid and ravage a coop full of chicken.
Naruto nodded slowly, the feeling of dread pooled in the pit of his stomach.
"You broke the seal, boy! Partially at least but it is enough. It will be fully broken by the time I am done with it. Look at it! That is my freedom and your death!"
"SHUT UP!" Naruto rose again unsteadily to his feet. "I-I…Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, everyone…they're all out there…Shion …" He stopped. The very thought that his new friend dying upon the claws and teeth of the massive yōkai sickened him to the core of his being. More than that, he felt the same level of protectiveness towards the young priestess as what he felt towards Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Iruka and he knew the reason why.
He had seen her memories through the charm. More than that, he had felt it as keenly as if they were his own. Just like him, Shion had faced the same isolation from her own people and the subsequent loneliness after the death of her mother, to be unjustly feared and ignored because of her powers of foresight. Despite it all, she remained spirited, strong and tenacious yet retaining a gentle soul despite it all.
Empathic to the sufferings of others due to what he himself had endured through his own childhood, Naruto had instinctively come to regard the young priestess as a kindred spirit, a part of his short list of 'precious people' and he would not have her blood or the blood of any of his friends on his hands because of his monstrous prisoner. Not if he could help it.
"Yes…your friends…your 'precious people'. They would make a fitting meal in celebration of my freedom. Me! Kyūbi no Yōko! The greatest of all bijū! Free once more to walk upon the earth!" The fox's grating laughter boomed throughout the prison chamber.
"BAKEMONO!!! YOU'RE NOT GETTING OUT AND THAT'S IT! IF I'M GOING TO DIE HERE, THEN YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!"
"SILENCE!!!"
With that imperious command, the gargantuan form of Kyūbi no Yōko gave off a soul-chilling roar, charged and slammed into the gates once again. This time, the resulting explosion from the impact and the flood of bubbling crimson chakra, a flood to end all floods, erupted from the gates and slammed into the still dazed Naruto. The titanic wave enveloped the boy who struggled with all his might to lift his head above the choking tides but it lifted him off his feet all too easily, washing him away from the chamber and back into the sewers of his mind.
Caught in his own struggles, Naruto did not manage even once to catch a glimpse of a shimmering ghostly figure before the gates, garbed in a flowing white coat with red flame patterns, with his hands pressed firmly against the failing seal desperately trying to contain a walking calamity from being unleashed upon the earth. Overwhelmed from all sides by the toxic energy, the stricken genin failed to hear the faint whisper that was drowned out by the deafening sound of the surging energies.
"Be safe…my son…"
And so Naruto was borne away from the chamber by the torrent like a dying Leaf that had fallen into, and caught in, the merciless currents of a raging river.
In a flash, Naruto was rudely returned back to the waking world. He found himself lying facedown on hard ground, his left hand stretched before him, grabbing desperately on a small crack in the hard stony surface of the ground. Disoriented from the sudden transfer between his mindscape to the real world, he blinked again to get his bearings after the nightmarish audience with his prisoner and he began to come to full awareness. He was still in the sealing chamber where Mouryou was destroyed.
If that was not enough, he felt as if fire coursed through every fiber of his entire body. The seal of the Shiki Fūjin on his stomach burned red hot. He didn't need to be told on what it was for he had experienced it enough. His infernal prisoner's chakra was leaking out and he was aware that he was seeing the world in red through the boiling shroud it created. He could hear the voice of the demon fox raging in his mind and that added yet another fold to his misery. The pounding headache added to the severe disorientation of the forced ejection from his mind. To top it all, he could feel the bloodlust rising within.
Cursing Kyūbi, Naruto took a heaving breath and with it…came agony. The pain that he had felt in his mindscape multiplied ten-fold. His right arm was laid flat against his side and other than the continuous stabbing sensation all over and inside his arm; he found that he could not move. If anything, he couldn't even feel his arm. It was as if it was no longer part of his body. He tried once again to move the arm and the simple muscle contractions from the act sent lances of pain and almost caused him to faint from their sheer intensity.
He coughed...hard…the spasms further punished his already wrecked body and with that, he became aware of the coppery taste of his own blood filling his mouth. Not only that, he found that he was slowly becoming soaked…with his own blood which had formed a small puddle beneath him. He was no iryō-nin, never had any training in that art but he had been injured more than enough throughout his career as a shinobi to realize that whatever injuries he had sustained this time, both internal and external, they were severe and extremely so. He knew that he was dying.
He could feel the demonic chakra of his prisoner frantically trying to fix the damage, knitting broken and shattered bones and torn flesh; trying to buy enough time for the monster in his belly to make good its promise and escape his body but even that was struggling to do so.
The ground shook, the force of it jostling his bones and debris rained down on him. The sealing chamber…it's going to come down crashing… Heh, no wonder that baka kitsune panicked… Despite his condition, Naruto chuckled mirthlessly and in spite of his condition, channeled whatever chakra of his own that he had left to the seal, trying to reinforce it as best as he could. But…you're not getting out. Do you hear me, Kyūbi? You're not getting out…The internal monologue was apparently heard for his head was suddenly assaulted with various images of glowing red-slitted eyes, gnashing teeth and monstrous form while the demon's grating voice promising not only his death but the eternal torment of his soul.
He took another breath, coughed again and blood spurted from his lips, staining the ground before him. He felt tired…so tired and the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness had never looked more tempting to him than ever before. His eyelids drooped…
SHION! The name suddenly appeared in his mind and despite his overwhelming need to fall to sleep, Naruto's eyelids snapped back open. He had totally forgotten about the priestess! Forcing himself back to the surface of awareness against the rapidly encroaching darkness, he looked around anxiously until his senses - sight, hearing, smell and chakra sense, enhanced by the power of Kyūbi, located the girl, huddling behind a boulder near the cavern wall, miraculously uninjured.
Gritting his teeth and focusing his mind in trying to ignore the pain, Naruto dug his fingers securely in the hard ground and began to drag his body forward. It was only then that he became aware of another sensation – as he tried to crawl forward, something else pulled him backwards. He gave it no attention and forged onwards. The ground shook once again and his weak grasp on the ground slipped causing him to slide backwards towards whatever it was that generated the pulling force. However, a red giant claw made of Kyūbi's chakra slammed into the baked earth in front him and followed by another, stopping his motion. He could feel the third one anchoring itself in the ground behind him and another one was forming…
Naruto desperately clawed inside himself to whatever scrap of chakra he still had to send more to the seal. He knew that if he transformed any further, he would lose the battle. His friends still fighting outside, the priestess who cared so much that she was willing to trade her own life over his own, his beloved Tsunade-baachan and Ero-Sennin, the people of Konoha, the innocents in all the hidden villages and Elemental Countries, the world at large…all would be lost. None of them, good or evil, deserved to suffer the fury of his prisoner released…
He found some of his own chakra left, nearly overwhelmed as it was by Kyūbi's but it was there nonetheless, waiting to be used. Not much was left but it would have to do. If he could not save himself this time, not without the risk of setting the yōkai free, he could use whatever he had left to buy him time enough to fulfill his promise to Shion and accomplish his mission.
Channeling the last remaining chakra to the seal, Naruto began to drag himself back towards Shion's location; the chakra claws somehow obeyed his mental commands, aiding him with every torturous heave across the ground. As he did so, the beginnings of a practical joke, his last perhaps, emerged in his mind…a perfect counter to Kyūbi's earlier remark. He sent a thought to his still struggling prisoner.
Oi Kyūbi! Thanks for chakra! The seal on his stomach pulsed, sending another torrent of white-hot fire through his veins. He slammed his forehead into the ground and gritted his teeth again, stifling the overwhelming urge to scream. The pain then receded and he continued. I know it's not much and all and we're really running out of time but…oi, what do you say about us doing some charity…you know, a good deed…like helping Shion…and if we still got some time after that, maybe help our friends outside before we go, neh? He envisioned his trademark mischievous fox-grin in his mind, the best one yet, and projected it towards the seal.
A seemingly endless litany of threats and curses, the blackest yet ever hurled by the fox, invaded his mind and Naruto found himself almost sobbing and pounding the ground in laughter at the hilarity of actually feeling his prisoner's rage and distress. He managed a small chuckle though and continued to slowly drag his brutally battered body to the boulder where the priestess Shion was now taking refuge.
Back in the tunnel…
"Neji! Are we there yet?!" Kakashi yelled through the keening wail of the gale winds as he took slow deliberate steps on the treacherous floor of the tunnel. He had thought that the darkness was bad but the rough, uneven floor made it worse. Of course, he had not anticipated the floor to be smooth and unbroken since it appeared to have been carved into the very mountain but this was plain ridiculous.
"I-I am not sure, Kakashi-senpai. Something is blocking my Byakugan. I can only see clearly to a hundred feet, maybe a bit more but I cannot see anything beyond it." The smooth voice of Neji floated faintly from the front.
"What did you say, Neji? I can't hear you."
"I said I cannot see clearly, Kakashi-senpai. It is too thick with chakra…and something else. We must move closer!"
"Great, just great! Kakashi-sensei, can't we just run?" Sakura inquired and as she was the last in the line, her voice was carried on clearly by the wind to her two companions in the front. A thick rain of dust and pebbles suddenly rained down upon her from the tunnel roof, forcing her to close her eyes to keep herself from being blinded. Thankfully, she was already wearing her makeshift mask. Otherwise, she would have been choking from the resulting dust cloud which was quickly carried away by the wind currents.
"No! No running! Keep your chakra steadily flowing to your feet. Stick to the ground and the wall. Otherwise, the wind will blow you over and carry you down the tunnel. We don't know what's at the end of it!"
The ground had not ceased shaking ever since they had entered the tunnel while the darkness and the winds sucked into the tunnel by whatever it was at the end of it had forced the three shinobi to literally stick to the wall and the floor, forcing them to keep their depleted chakra flowing to their feet and hands to prevent themselves from being picked up by the fierce winds and being blown away. It was a precarious balance between speed and caution. Had it been in another, calmer situation, it would have made an excellent chakra control exercise.
They continued forward, shouting back and forth along the way as they try to alert each other of their situations and positions by the second. The trek seemed interminably long and they knew that the volcano they were in now would spew its vengeance at any second. They were running out of time…
A large tremor suddenly ripped sharply through the tunnel and with it, a sizeable chunk of earth crashed down from the roof. Boulders of various sizes fell rolling in all places and it was only due to the keen senses of the Konoha shinobi that they managed to avoid the small cave-in in time by throwing themselves flat against the wall, enough the keep them from being flattened by the debris. The angle of the tunnel, which already started in a gentle downward slope, became steeper and the rocks began to roll forward as they were propelled by wind and gravity, avoiding a build-up that could have blocked the tunnel and consequently, the way out for the shinobi.
The darkness gradually lightened as slivers of red-orange light slipped through the thick dust carried by the winds. Unfortunately, the winds themselves grew stronger and it took everything for Neji, Kakashi and Sakura to keep their feet planted firmly on the floor. They had no doubt that once they arrived where the tunnel opened into the sealing chamber, whatever disaster it was that was causing all this would be revealed.
"Kakashi-senpai, Sakura-san! I can see the end of the tunnel. We are close!"
"Neji, what do you see?" Sakura jumped into the question and nearly slammed into Kakashi's back in her haste as she tried to rush forward before the Jōnin could even open his mouth. Both cursed as they nearly slipped from the collision and was almost swept off their feet by the winds but Kakashi managed to recover quickly and positioned himself as a barrier in front of Sakura, allowing his former student to grab hold of his vest as she stabilized her footing back on the floor.
"I can see Shion-sama…she…appears to be behind a boulder…a large one…near a wall. She is close by." The Hyūga prodigy squinted as he strained to see through the clouds of dust and the disturbance that was swirling unchecked at the centre of the cavern which even now was playing havoc with his Byakugan.
"What about Naruto? Do you see him?"
"I-I cannot see him anywhere, Kakashi-senpai. There is a disturbance at the centre of the sealing chamber. I cannot see clearly…" Neji stopped as something crawled into range of his vision. "Wait, I see Naruto…he…he is seriously injured…and…" Neji stopped cold. He saw the image clearly through his Byakugan…the blurred, ghostly image of a giant nine-tailed fox suspended in the air above his teammate…
"What is it?! Neji, report!"
"Kyūbi…Kakashi-senpai, it's Kyūbi." So shaken was the Hyūga Jōnin that the contraction involuntarily crept in for the first time in his previously ordered speech since the beginning of the mission.
"What?! No…Kami-sama, not now…" Kakashi was about to curse in frustration before he was cut short.
"Kakashi-sensei, is Naruto alright? Neji-san, what's going on?" Sakura's voice sounded meekly from behind Kakashi. Although she could not see what was happening, she was stressed nonetheless at her squad leader's report and just like Neji but in reverse, she reverted to the use of the polite suffix automatically indicating her own distress.
"Wait! It's only an image…it's not real…not yet. I can see Naruto clearly now. Three tails…Naruto has three tails." Neji took a shuddering breath of relief. His teammate and the object of his mission were not lost to him yet. He moved forward once more with a new determination. Despite the new situation, Kakashi and Sakura too breathed their own sigh of relief.
"He can still be saved and they're both close. Good work, Neji. We move fast now. Keep sticking to the floor no matter what. Neji, Sakura, once we clear the tunnel, go and extract Shion-sama. I'll get Naruto. Am I clear?" Kakashi fumbled with his vest pockets before finding the reassuring feel of the chakra suppression seal given to him by Jiraiya. He had always carried the paper seals in his pocket, a safeguard he always had in store ever since the mission to rescue Gaara, a needed precaution in case the demon fox reared its ugly head. Satisfied at his find, he turned to his companions to see them nodding their agreement.
"Good. Now move!"
In the sealing cavern…
Not far from the chaos which was now raging in the middle of the sealing chamber, the priestess Shion sat huddled and crying in the shadows of the large boulder she had taken refuge behind after she was flung away from Naruto after the jutsu generated by the blond genin with her help had utterly decimated the demon Mouryou. She had no sure recollection how she was thrown away from the blast caused by the impact except that she had somehow landed relatively unharmed with the exception of a badly sprained shoulder and ankle.
However, she was unconcerned by her injuries, painful as they were. At the moment, they were nothing more than mere inconveniences. She barely even felt the pulsing ache emanating from her shoulder and ankle. She was even protected from the heat emanating from the countless pools of molten rock all over the sealing cavern by her own powers. None of those mattered however. However, she was literally shaking from head to toe, sick with fear. Partially for herself and partially for Naruto, the brave Konoha genin that had sworn to protect her and one that she had grown to deeply care for in their travels.
After she was thrown away, she had managed to crawl behind the boulder and had witnessed what had immediately transpired afterwards after the impact of the Chō Chakra Rasengan. Naruto was injured, so much so that the right arm which he had used the jutsu was nothing more than a lump of raw battered flesh, the bones broken and shattered. Some of the fractured bone shards had pierced through flesh and protruded out of his skin and through his jacket from the inside, turning the black sleeve of the boy's jacket sodden with blood. She could not see any other injuries he had sustained but from his condition, she was sure that Naruto had sustained far more damage than indicated merely by his arm.
Then, she saw the result of what their combined jutsu did to Mouryou. The demon was destroyed but in its place, in the pit where the demon had once been was a mighty vortex, swirling around what appeared to be jagged tear, a rift suspended in mid-air exactly in the middle of a massive hole in the ground where the centre of the sealed platform and the gigantic body of Mouryou used to be. Black and foreboding, the rift seemed to suck everything that wasn't anchored down towards it whether chunks of earth, loose rocks, magma, even light itself and it whipped the once still air in the cavern into hot gale-force winds.
But none of those were the true cause of her fear. Not even after she witnessed the strange red chakra emanating from Naruto's body and formed itself into a cocoon around the blond genin's body complete with three tails. It was not his feral looks, the lengthened fangs, the blackening of the whisker-like birthmarks, none of that at all. No…it was her accursed vision. She had seen what was to come. More than that, she had seen multitudes of what was to come. In all her visions of the potential futures, she saw his death or more accurately, it was supposed to be her death but in all of them, Naruto had come to replace her and then died in her place.
No…no…this can't be…is destiny truly unchangeable? Shion mulled silently, truly sickened to her core. Her throat felt tight and she tried to breathe…to speak…to scream at the unfairness of it all but the only thing she managed was to choke on her own tears.
All around her, the awakened volcano began its death throes and the sealing cavern started to came crashing down on itself one part at a time. Defeated but determined to once again save Naruto, Shion looked up to see what she knew would happen next.
The quake caused a large section of the roof to crack and fell down directly upon the priestess. According to the last future that she had seen, she was supposed to run and avoid the falling stones. This would cause her to move out from behind the boulder she was taking shelter which then would cause her to be swept up by the winds and the pulling force of the rift only for Naruto to catch her with one of those chakra tails and then had thrown her away to his waiting companions when they appeared at the tunnel opening. This was how Naruto was supposed to replace her when the platform he was on collapsed into the rising lake of molten rock.
She refused to move from her spot away path of the falling boulders. She reasoned that if she died then, Naruto would turn his attention to surviving, to get himself out of the cavern, making his way to safety with his teammates. He would survive.
However, it was here that Shion learned a terrible and bitter lesson. Time, space and destiny were sometimes separate and sometimes intertwined like great rivers flowing into one. Sometimes it branched and forked into tributaries creating new timelines and new destinies. As she had told Naruto before in the forest during their journey to Numa no Kuni, the power of foresight was used to protect the priestess possessing it. At the moment of the priestess's untimely demise, her soul would separate from her body and travel back in time to show the image of her death to her past self. She would see those who were with her at the time of the supposed death and it was those people who would then replace the priestess, displacing her death with their own thus ensuring her continued survival.
In a sense, the line of priestesses of Oni no Kuni had lived through multiple timelines, walked through multiple destinies and survived…through the sacrifices of others.
However, just like rivers, the great network of tributaries sometimes merged back into a single great stream and now, as Shion was about to discover to her great despair, the actions of one Uzumaki Naruto, hell bent on fulfilling the promise he had made to protect her, effectively forced and unified all the forking tributaries of time and destinies back into one.
Naruto had crawled roughly a quarter of the distance between his original position and the boulder where he sensed Shion was, making his way slowly along the winding passageways from the ruined centre of the cavern, when his heightened senses alerted him to the priestess' distress. Despite his severely weakened condition, it took only a thought for him to shape one of his chakra tails into a massive claw and sent it streaking towards the falling boulders. The claw swerved in a mid-air swipe and impacted with murderous force, shattering the stones like they were made of fragile glass.
Their swift destruction coupled by the explosive force of the blow however turned the rocks into countless jagged fragments which were then propelled by the explosive blow at high speeds.
Startled by the sudden appearance of the giant chakra claw above her head and the resulting explosions, Shion was temporarily scared out of her wits and immediately dove for cover on the ground. Her sealing chakra flared around her in an instant forming a protective layer like a second skin around her body. However, in attempting to escape from the falling debris and fragments, she had practically moved outside the protective cover of the boulder she had hidden behind and it took only seconds for the swift eddy currents of the gale-force winds swirling around the cavern generated by the vortex to lift her body off the ground and yanked her towards the gaping maw of the rift.
However, despite the agonizing spasms racking his body from both his injuries and the potent chakra of Kyūbi coursing through his veins, Naruto was alert to the priestess's predicament even before she screamed. He retracted the chakra claw which he used to destroy the falling piece of the roof and tried to grab her in mid-flight but it missed. Undaunted by the failure, he willed the second tail to shoot forward and transform into yet another claw even as the first one was receding back to his side.
However, this caused his fragile hold on the ground to weaken and he found himself being pulled backwards as the single chakra tail driven deep into the ground proved inadequate to keep him fixed to the ground. He too began to be lifted up by the winds and he frantically willed the first claw to drive itself into the ground instead of returning back. The claw smashed into a relatively undamaged passageway and held.
The second claw which he had sent to grab Shion stretched and succeeded in grasping hold of the girl right before she shot pass him. It was nonetheless a loose hold as her sealing chakra was still active, flowing over her skin becoming a thin layer of purple light that repelled the demonic chakra to a certain extent. That and Naruto was hesitant to will the claw to grasp any tighter. He knew how toxic Kyūbi's chakra was to normal humans and he wasn't keen on accidentally killing Shion while trying to save her.
Despite the precarious situation they were both in, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. For the time being, he had managed to achieve the impossible. He had saved Shion and prevented Kyūbi from bursting through his stomach. He could attempt to crawl all the way to tunnel opening but he had no way of knowing how close the cavern was to collapsing and he did not in any way intend to consider the option considering that he was fighting to stay conscious through the haze of pain and there was Shion to consider. Her sealing chakra was protecting her at the moment but just like impending collapse of sealing chamber, there was no telling when her reserves would suddenly give out and expose her to the full force of Kyūbi's toxic chakra.
He considered launching a chakra claw to the walls closest to tunnel and hope for the best but it would further tax his body and with it, his consciousness. If he went out cold in or during the attempt, the chakra that he was supplying to reinforce the seal on his stomach would automatically cut off and he had no intention whatsoever of letting his newfound friend face the fury of his released prisoner. He would rather die before that happened. That and he had already experienced first hand that with one tail holding Shion, if he launched a claw towards the nearest wall, the time lapse would already be enough to cause him to loose his precarious hold.
Now what? Naruto furiously thought to himself as he closed his eyes, racking his brain for a solution. He turned his head to look at the priestess who was now suspended in the grasp of the claw some ten feet away to his left, noting her tear-streaked face and the terrified expression, committing it all to memory. At the same time, he prayed as he had never before in his life for his teammates to come to the rescue. Everyone, please hurry. I…I can't hold on much longer…
However at the same time, in another reality and time far away, the dark intelligence that had driven Mouryou to its own destruction was watching intently through the rift. A part of its agenda was already completed, unwittingly fulfilled by the human boy, and the soul of Mouryou which it ripped away at the last split second when the resurrected body was destroyed was returning to it at last. It sighed internally in content as the soul of the almost destroyed Mouryou was absorbed into its own essence and with that the fraction of its own power returned.
With that power, it had then suppressed the awakened volcano through the rift, prevented from the entire mountain from caving in and continued to watch the two humans struggling for their lives through the rift. It was obvious that one of the two would still be needed. After minutes of watching their struggles, it decided that the girl would be useless. Her powers were inadequate to serve its needs and not only that, hers was in opposition to its own. However, as for the boy, his powers were another matter altogether and it decided then that the boy would do to serve the role it had in mind, one way or another.
Another minute passed and finally, the time had come to set the plans in motion.
The dark entity began to focus its thoughts and energies through the rift, difficult as it was due to the ever shifting nature of the realms it was forced to cut through to form the connection as well as the utter chaos of dimension it now called home but to the entity, with the soul of Mouryou rejoined to its own, it had enough power at the moment to spare. Power enough to manipulate the fabrics of space and time through the unimaginable distance between the realms connected through that single rip in reality.
The maw of the rift began to shift and its pull focused on the boulder which the girl had once taken shelter against. The empty space around the massive stone rippled and the boulder moved. Its bulk dragged slowly before it too lifted into the air in obedience to the command of an entity far removed from the world. The space rippled again and the boulder spun before it shot forward and its speed accelerated as it was pulled inwards by the winds and the rift itself, heading straight towards Uzumaki Naruto.
"NARUTO, LOOK OUT!"
At Shion's warning scream and the look of horror on her face, Naruto turned his head in the direction she was looking at and as he did so, he only managed to see the smooth face of the hurtling rock before it slammed right into his face. Such was the force that the stone shattered upon connecting with the chakra shroud into a million pieces which then sprayed in all directions away from the genin.
Despite being shielded by the shroud, the sheer momentum transferred from the hit caused Naruto to lose his own grip on the ground, lifted him off the floor and then toppled him to lie flat on his back. One of the two chakra claws embedded in the ground ripped free, taking large chunks of earth with it. With only one claw holding him on to the floor, Naruto found himself sliding backwards at an alarming speed towards the rift. He found himself losing consciousness fast but somehow, despite it all, he had managed not to lose his grip on his charge who continued to watch him with the same fearful look she had since he caught her in the grip of the chakra claw.
The claw that had ripped free managed to pierce the ground once again and took root, stopping Naruto's backward slide towards the rift and for the moment, he was safe. However, the proximity to the rift was such that wisps of the blood-red chakra forming the shroud began to float free from the demon fox shroud.
Further bloodied and battered by the collision and the subsequent shower of fragments despite the protection of the demon fox shroud, Naruto coughed weakly, fighting a desperate battle to keep the darkness at the edges of his vision from clouding his eyes but he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up his awareness. He blinked slowly, taking deep calming breaths as he tried to suppress the new waves of agony shooting throughout his body before looking up, taking the fair visage of his charge who was stunned into silence at the lengths he had gone through…all for one simple promise.
Beneath him, the awakened volcano began to rumble once more, louder than anything it has produced before and the remaining passageways snaking all over the sealing cavern began to crumble one by one into the ever widening magma lake around them.
Spurred on by the last quake which shook the tunnel and feeling the heat through the very walls they were holding themselves on, the two members of Team 7 and Kakashi made their way as fast as they could towards the end of the tunnel. Seconds passed, seemingly like eternity, before they saw the bright glow and they rushed towards it, paying little heed to the shower of dust, pebbles and earth torn loose and carried by the wind stream that pelted them only to emerge before a wide and open hellish landscape – the sacred sealing cavern itself or what it used to be.
For the first time, they laid their eyes on the massive roiling pools of molten rock, the cracked and crumbling passageways which snaked all over leading to the centre of the chamber, the gaping chasm at the centre of what must had been a large flat platform in the middle of the cavern and the madly churning vortex suspended in the air like a suspended tornado within the chasm itself. Mesmerized by the sight before them, the three stopped in their tracks.
Is that the cause of all this? Kakashi thought to himself. Beneath his hitai-ate, his Sharingan itched. As he reached for to lift the cloth covering his right eye, Neji moved beside him. Having shut down his Byakugan moments earlier upon sighting the end of the tunnel, the veins around his eyes bulged as he activated his kekkei genkai again…and blanched as his enhanced vision pierced the thick clouds. Simultaneously, the young Jōnin felt as if his eyes were burning. Shutting his eyes in all haste, he reeled back from the sheer disorientation caused by both the sharp pain and the image of what he saw in the middle of the vortex until his back hit the wall where he leaned on for support.
Still standing at the front of the group, Kakashi had also felt the same burning sensation after looking at the vortex with his Sharingan. So sharp and sudden was the pain that the Copy Ninja was forced to pull down the cloth cover back over the eye. However, the Sharingan was unlike Byakugan and as such, he was not able to see into the very centre of the shifting whirlwind. Shifting his gaze to land on the still recovering Neji and the pale complexion, Kakashi was struck by the realization that perhaps he was fortunate of not being able to see right into the very heart of the chaos.
Oblivious to the two however was Sakura who was busy looking left and right for her best friend. She saw them and her shout alerted Kakashi and Neji to the two small figures near the centre of the chamber, literally hanging for dear life, at the edge of the vortex's maw.
They saw everything. The transformed Naruto lying on his back, the priestess Shion above him caught in the grip of a chakra claw and the two remaining tails buried into the remaining patch of hard rock which looked like it was ready to collapse into the slowly rising sea of magma. They also saw the thin wisps of Kyubi's chakra being pulled away from Naruto. At that point, Sakura could not hide her worry concern for the blond genin anymore.
"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs and almost made her way onto the nearest passageway before a large quake tore through the cavern and nearly caused her to tumble forward straight into the molten lake before her. However, Kakashi was near enough to grab the collar of her blouse and sharply yanked her backwards, eliciting a squeak of surprise from the kunoichi. She quickly turned and nodded towards the one-time sensei in a gesture of gratitude before a loud cracking noise shifted her attention back.
The rocky path which she had almost set her foot upon crumbled. As she looked, the same happened to almost all the other pathways, cutting them off from the stricken blond and priestess. She saw Shion turning towards the sound of her voice and despite the distance, she saw the priestess's eyes widen in recognition before turning back to the seemingly non-responsive Naruto.
Sakura almost shouted for her best friend's name again when she saw movement. Naruto hadn't moved from the spot where he was lying on but the chakra arm holding Shion moved and brought the priestess closer to him almost face to face. She could not see clearly due to the combination of dust and earth whipping about by the winds as well as the thick mirage-like condition caused by all the air heated by the magma lake let alone the tears that were threatening to spill out but she saw enough to make stop in her tracks. It seemed that her teammate was talking or handing something over to the priestess.
She almost screamed Naruto's name again, attempting to rouse him into action but the blond did explode into action…or rather, the chakra claw holding Shion did. It extended at an impossibly fast rate towards the tunnel opening where she, Kakashi and Neji were standing and almost threw the girl at breakneck speed but luckily the one-eyed Jōnin read the angle of approach correctly and intercepted the priestess into his arms before she slammed into the tunnel wall. The purple aura which surrounded her winked out the moment she was free from the grasp of the claw.
Sliding back a few feet backwards, Kakashi grunted from the impact as he channeled more chakra to his feet to stabilize his footing while utilizing his body to cushion and soften the blow to both himself and the stunned girl.
As for Shion, she stood unmoving in the Jōnin's embrace for a few seconds before she came to her senses and started to struggle, all the while mumbling incoherently until she was crying and shrieking hysterically. Despite his considerable strength, it nearly took Kakashi all his concentration to prevent the girl from ripping free from his arms and back the way she came.
"No, no, NO!!!" Shion kicked, squirmed and struggled but Kakashi held firm.
"Shion-sama, stop this! We're going after Naruto-" Kakashi tried to calm down the frantic girl but almost got himself bloodied twice as her head nearly slammed into his nose and something the girl held in her hand nearly jabbed him in the face.
"LET…ME…GO!" Shion kicked again but to no avail as she was almost lifted off her feet. "THIS...IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE MY SACRIFICE! MINE! NOT HIS!" She screamed and thrashed again but Kakashi's grip was like steel. "NARUTO!!!"
During the commotion, Neji had recovered from his own disorientated state and moved swiftly. His index finger moved in a basic Jyuken strike and grazed the panic-stricken priestess at the base of her neck. Her tenketsu struck, Shion fell unconscious immediately and Kakashi could only let out a sigh. He handed the girl over to the Hyūga who accepted his charge stoically with barely a nod. Satisfied with the situation, Kakashi moved towards the ledge, his mind whirling as he tried to assess the best solution to get to his former student stranded in the middle of the glowing lake. His hand reached into his vest pocket and drew the chakra suppression seal out. He was ready.
Meanwhile, horrified by the revelation that she had just heard, Sakura whirled back and was looking frenziedly around, seeking any avenues to reach Naruto but while they were occupied with Shion, all the pathways leading to the central platform had already collapsed. The volcano roared and it was then she heard him scream.
A massive geyser of nearly white-hot liquefied rock shot up near the very centre of the cavern where Naruto was, temporarily obscuring him from view. The fountain crashed back into the furiously bubbling lake and revealed the very thing the three Konoha shinobi dreaded: the fourth tail was forming and Naruto was jerking in spasms on the ground, undoubtedly from the potent force of the demon fox's chakra running through his veins.
Sakura stood still, transfixed by the sight, even as her brain told her to move, to do anything to help her friend. Kakashi fidgeted beside her as he looked around, the single eye roamed left and right, helpless to aid his former student. All three winced as they heard Naruto scream again and this time the hoarse scream had taken on an unnatural feral growl behind it.
Another glowing pillar shot up from the lake but a chakra tail, thicker and darker than the last, burst forth through it directly towards the three shinobi and the still comatose Shion. All of them tensed as the tail morphed into a taloned claw and drew nearer before it swerved at the last second and slammed high into the face of the wall directly above the tunnel.
Kakashi, Sakura and Neji were puzzled for the moment and stood with their mouths gaping before the tail flexed and the claw raked the wall face, bringing down a crushing shower of boulders, each easily as big and tall as Kakashi himself. It was at that point that Kakashi understood all too painfully what his former student was trying to do. In his mind's eye, it was a repeat of his memory of his long gone team mate, Uchiha Obito all over again, a painful reminder which he understood all too well.
Naruto would not be coming back.
Acting purely out of razor-honed reflex, Kakashi yanked Sakura back for the second time from ledge out of the way of the falling stones back into the tunnel and almost slammed into Neji and the now comatose Shion.
The boulders from the destroyed wall fell to the ground with a thunderous crash and threw up a mighty cloud of dust, completely blocking the tunnel opening and plunged the four immediately in darkness. The screaming winds died down immediately. However, both Neji and Kakashi saw just before the final block of stone completely covered the opening that the chakra claw had abruptly vanished.
"NOOO!!!" Sakura let out a strangled cry, rose from the ground and rushed blindly towards the newly created barrier. Half blinded by the darkness and the twin streams of tears flowing freely, she managed to feel her way directly to and cocked her fist to deliver a devastating strike but Kakashi had already moved to intercept and somehow his hand grasped the wrist of the pink-haired kunoichi with preternatural accuracy. He gritted his teeth as he exerted his own strength to counter the chakra-enhanced strength already accumulated in that slender forearm.
"Sakura!" The Copy Ninja shook the hysterical girl. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"LET ME GO! I'M NOT LEAVI-" Her voice rose in disbelief, grief and rage.
"LISTEN TO ME, SAKURA! LISTEN!" Sakura found herself being shaken by her former sensei's vice-like grip like she was nothing more than newly graduated genin. "Naruto…he…" Kakashi found that he could not continue. He felt his eyes threatening to water and he knew it was not from dust cloud created by the cave-in.
Through it all and despite having just recovered from his disorientated state earlier, Neji had activated his Byakugan again and mercifully interrupted his senior. "Senpai, Naruto…He…he's gone…"
Nodding in the darkness even if no one would be able to see him the darkness, Kakashi continued, pleading for his sobbing ex-student to listen to reason. "Sakura, there's nothing more we can do. Naruto gave his life for the mission…for her…for US!" He emphasized the final word and shook her again just in case the message hadn't yet sunk in the grieving kunoichi. "Please, don't let it be a needless sacrifice."
Trying to make one last argument, Sakura opened her mouth but the continuous shaking of the volcano since the cave-in, as if underscoring Kakashi's plea grew more intense if that was even more possible and the temperature in the tunnel began to rise sharply. A faint hissing sound floated through the still air and the three Konoha shinobi watched in alarm as a thick glob of magma trickled and dropped to the floor, trailing fire in its wake as it was squeezed through the tiny gaps between massive piled boulders by the immense pressures building up behind it.
"RUN!" Having ripped off one of the long sleeves of his traditional Hyūga uniform and made it into a makeshift mask over the unconscious priestess's nose and mouth earlier, Neji had already adjusted his charge into a more comfortable carrying position and ran like a bat out of hell, his Byakugan activated at full intensity as his eyes fixed on the trail of the tunnel, avoiding all obstacles in his path.
Lacking the Hyūga kekkei genkai and knowing that he had very little time before the once dormant volcano spewed out its fury on top of their heads, Kakashi opted for a light source. He extended his hand and gathered his chakra. The blue chakra swirled in the tell-tale spin before the Rasengan formed three seconds later. With the soft glow emanating from the orb, he grabbed Sakura and shoved her in front of him.
"Run, Sakura! Run and don't look back!"
Furiously wiping her tears, Sakura began to run, initially stumbling several times on the debris cluttered all over the tunnel floor but managed to pick up her pace and ran as swiftly as she could aided by the light of the Kakashi's Rasengan with the Jōnin following closely behind.
The chakra suppression seal, which had fallen from Kakashi's fingers, lay forgotten on the ground until the small piece of paper burst in fire as more molten rock started to pool and crept closer.
High up on the mountain valley and safely far away from the volcano which was now furiously vomiting its innards, Maito Gai and Rock Lee were literally wearing the ground as they paced back and forth with their fists clenched and faces twisted in concerned frown as they watched the mighty column of ash rose steadily from the volcano. Luckily the winds were blowing the ash cloud towering above the column away from their direction. Otherwise, it would have been raining ash and they would have been covered in the grey substance by now.
Nearby, Nara Shikamaru and Sabaku no Temari had opted to seat themselves on a small outcropping of rocks and as they watched the rising ash column and the jagged lightning bolts flashing within and around the clouds, they were no less worried about the fates of the comrades they had left behind.
More than twenty minutes had passed since they had last seen Kakashi, Sakura and Neji and even more than that since they had last seen the hyperactive blond knucklehead. Judging from the chakra shockwave that had pulsed through the battlefield which had then proceeded to demolish Mouryou's yurei guntai into smithereens, they could only surmise that the battle between Naruto, the priestess Shion and the demon Mouryou had been nothing short of titanic.
However, since the first tremors hit and the subsequent violence inflicted by the awakened volcano on the surrounding landscape, the crevices and chasms as the ground splintered and cracked, the poisonous gasses and finally, the tremendous explosions and rivers of glowing lava to the point until it seemed as if the volcano was bleeding from every orifice it had, the assembled shinobi grew restless as minutes seemed to stretch interminably with their departed comrades being nowhere in sight.
Low rumbles alerted the four and they watched a portion of the volcano's fiery rim directly facing them tumbled inward and a section of the ash column which rose precisely from the said portion wavered and collapsed towards the sides of the volcano. Amidst the new magma flow from the crater, the fallen section spread into an avalanche which streamed at great speed over the volcano's flanks.
Instead of a massive cloud of white, grey and black, the failing light of day nearing dusk as it was, coupled with the ash blotting out the setting sun revealed the ash cloud avalanche to be what it really was: glowing dull red in the approaching dark and the four shinobi currently on top of the valley winced collectively knowing that nothing would survive in the path of the glowing cloud. Everything would be incinerated.
"Tch! Where ARE they! Naruto, what did you do this time?" Shikamaru muttered at the awesome sight and partially rose from his seat before he felt the smaller hand of his companion slipped into his and gripped gently. He turned and saw the teal eyes of Temari watching him worriedly. Unable to reply to her unspoken question and knowing that she too was just as concerned as he was for the situation involving his friends and team mates, he merely squeezed her hand softly before resuming his seat. The Suna kunoichi scooted closer and leaned her head on the shoulder of her 'not boyfriend' as she too took in the spectacle of the glowing cloud racing down the volcano's flanks in the distance.
The day grew darker and the two Beasts of Konoha fidgeted more and more but before the two were able to do something rash, a trio of bedraggled shinobi covered from head to toe with grey ash slowly walked into their view. Gai and Lee cheered and whooped in joy while Shikamaru and Temari, still hand in hand, rose simultaneously and grinned.
In his gladness over seeing his surviving team mates, Gai spoke first, his booming voice drowning even the sounds of the far-away explosions of the volcano. "YOSH, MY ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI! YOU SUCCEEDED! TRULY YOU ARE GIFTED WITH THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!" He reached forward to slap the shoulder of the Copy Ninja in congratulations and so was Lee but before he was about to do so, he noticed the grim face on his rival, Neji and the conditions of his crush, Haruno Sakura.
"Ano…Sakura-san, why are you crying? Kakashi-sensei, you have Shion-sama with you but…where is Naruto-kun?"
Shikamaru was about to reply with this standard 'Troublesome' and then proceed to surmise that their resident blond troublemaker was just behind and perhaps trying to do one of his grand entrances before he too took stock of the situation and immediately recognized the gloomy atmosphere for what it was: something wrong had happened, very wrong.
Sakura had already crumpled on the ground and her shoulders shook as she cried inconsolably. Nearby, Neji had reclined against the outcropping Shikamaru and Temari sat, eyes closed while huffing in exhaustion as his reserves were nearly depleted from running at full speed up the valley wall's steep incline. His grim expression, if it was even possible, turned even grimmer.
"Where's Naruto?" Shikamaru's question went unanswered and realizing the implications of the silence, the four stood rigid, heads bowed down in sorrow.
The one-eyed Jōnin found that he was unable to answer. None needed to be said anyway. Shaking his head slowly as he passed through Shikamaru, Temari, Gai and Lee, Kakashi carried the still unconscious Shion, having relieved Neji of the priestess along the way due to the younger Hyūga's smaller chakra reserves, and kneeled to set the girl down on the earth gently. Wiping the caked ash from the girl's face to ensure that she would not choke to death even with the mask on, he was shocked to find that despite being out cold, the girl was still crying and calling out to Naruto in her sleep.
He turned towards the priestess's right hand, still gripping whatever it was in her hand in a death grip, and softly pried it open. What he found made him curse softly. There it was on her palm – Naruto's hitai-ate, the black headband burned and charred in various places, the metal plate dull and marked with numerous scratches. There was another item – the necklace of Senju Hashirama, the Shodai Hokage…Tsunade's necklace. The pale green crystal, splotched with dried blood, shone dimly in the dying light of dusk.
Shinobi Rule number 25: No matter what the situation, a shinobi must keep his emotions on the inside. You must make the mission your top priority and you must possess a heart that never shows tears.
Hatake Kakashi mentally repeated the rule multiple times like a sacred invocation. Kami knew that he had clung to it with zealous dedication. It had kept him sane and unyielding throughout the horrors he seen and done but somehow this time, the saying ran hollow in his mind. As he continued to gaze at the scratched and burned hitai-ate as well as the necklace beside it and the girl who continued to hold on to them as if hanging to life itself, his vision blurred. He felt the hand of his 'eternal' rival on his shoulder, a gesture of sympathy, but he ignored it.
He looked up to the heavens and could only offer a silent plea for apology. I've failed to protect your legacy. Minato-sensei, forgive me. Then his head bowed down again and the dam finally broke. For the first time in more than twenty years since the death of his father, Hatake Kakashi cried once more silently, the hot tears dropped and splattered on the cold metal plate.
Hours later…Konoha, early morning
Letting out a big yawn, hard heels clicking against the hard floor of the Hokage Tower, Shizune made her way slowly from Communications with the latest field report. She had stayed up for hours at her mistress's orders waiting for the field communications but none had come with the exception of one she was holding. Just like the previous report, it was from Sarutobi Asuma, the commanding Jōnin for the defending Konoha force currently situated on the borders of Hi no Kuni.
The message was not encrypted, well, victory messages were rarely encrypted or obfuscated with seals anyway and she was able to skim through the contents. Apparently, the yurei guntai had completely stopped from continuing their advance across the borders. They had been destroyed but not through the efforts of the combined force of Konoha and Hi no Kuni's Daimyo. Rather, the army simply stopped in their relentless march and crumbled where they stood into bits and pieces of earth and stone before the very eyes of the combatants present.
The combined shinobi and samurai had then kept their vigilance for hours but none of the unliving juggernauts rose back and with that, Asuma had seen it fit to declare the threat over for the moment but as per protocol, he requested further instructions from the Hokage's office including requests for medical extractions of wounded shinobi and samurai back to Konoha for medical treatment.
Fighting the drowsiness and wanting to deliver the report as fast as she could considering that she got the early shift in Konoha hospital in the morning, Shizune quickened her steps until she finally stood in front of the door of Tsunade's office. Judging from the light streaming beneath the closed door, Tsunade was still in her office and with that in mind, she knocked softly and waited for her mistress's summons.
Hearing nothing from behind the door, she carefully turned the knob and peeked through the gap. Tsunade was half sprawled on her desk amidst the paperwork littering her desk, deep in sleep. Soft snores and sighs escaped the older woman once in a while and a stream of drool had formed a small puddle underneath her cheek.
Fighting the urge to yell and startle her mistress from her sleep (which had always proved to be a painful experience to the person doing so as her loudmouthed, orange-clad, ramen-loving surrogate brother would readily testify), Shizune rolled her eyes at the scene before deliberately coughing to get the snoring Hokage's attention.
Tsunade jerked up and woke as if someone had poured cold water on her face. "Huh? Who…wha..Oh, it's you, Shizune." The blond peered blearily on the puddle and wiped the remnants from the corner of her mouth. In doing so, she discovered that a piece of note paper had stuck to her cheek, glued by her own drool. Snorting in irritation, she ripped the offending paper away, took a look at it, shrugged and crumpled it as if it contained nothing important.
The Godaime Hokage stretched, causing her robes to tighten around her impressive bosom, enough to give a certain self-proclaimed Super Pervert a nosebleed and gave a rather big unladylike yawn before turning her full attention to her assistant.
"Well, what is it or did you came here just to wake me up?" Tsunade reached out to her desk clock and looked at it. "It's three in the morning, do you know that?" She asked with an air of irritation but the young iryō-nin standing before her desk knew better.
Shizune bowed hastily. "Ano…Tsunade-sama, you said you wanted to know when any new field report comes in. We received this from Asuma-san just now." She handed the scroll over to the older woman who took it and began to devour the contents.
"Five hours ago…" Tsunade murmured, not even noticing her apprentice nodding in agreement. It was the length of time needed for a messenger bird to travel form the border to Konoha. "It says here that the army was suddenly decimated…every stone warrior destroyed where they stood. Hmm… requests for further instructions…request for medical evacuations…"
The thin, delicate eyebrows arched and she looked up to look at her apprentice square in her eyes. "I don't know about you Shizune but it would appear that Team 7 had succeeded. What do you think?"
"Uhh…ano…it would seem to be so, Tsunade-sama." The younger woman agreed.
"But we shouldn't take it as simple as that. Just because they seem to be done and gone doesn't mean they'll stay that way…" Reaching for an empty scroll, the blond took her brush and inkwell and began to write while mumbling softly to herself. "…Maintain border watch…hmm….six, no, make that twelve hours…report every three…increase patrol and team rotation…evacuate any genin and the injured back to Konoha…" The brush held in the slender fingers danced rapidly on the parchment.
Shizune however wasn't finished with handing over the field report. She fidgeted a bit knowing that her mistress would not take this particular report kindly. "Uhh…umm…Tsunade-sama, I know that you've asked before but…we still have no word from Team 7 or Team Gai."
The brush snapped in half.
Tsunade looked irritably at the misshapen stroke caused by the snapped brush, dropped it into waste basket beneath her desk, looked up at her apprentice, leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms beneath her chest with her eyes definitely glowering. "Three summoners…THREE!...on such an important mission and no field report. None! Would it kill them to send one just to update their Hokage on the mission progress? Nooo…"
"Tsunade-sama, only Naruto-kun and Kakashi-san know Kuchiyose no Jutsu…" Shizune started before her mistress could go into a full-blown rant but Tsunade quickly interrupted the younger woman.
"Three. Four actually if you include Temari but she's from Suna and it's neither her duty to report nor is her summons useable for messenger duties. As for the third, Gai has a contract with Ninkame." She paused. "Usually, Ninkame are not usually used as messengers since they're…well…they're not known for speed. But it's not unheard of for them to be used as messengers if one is in a pinch. If you want to count Gai out, that still leaves that gaki and Kakashi. Both should have the sense to send a field report."
"Umm…Neji-san is leading Team 7, Tsunade-sama. Shouldn't it be his responsibility to direct Naruto-kun?"
"Yes, it's his responsibility. Still, Kakashi has seniority and should have been able to direct Naruto or do it himself when necessary. I will address this during their debriefing when they return." Tsunade nodded and returned her attention to the scroll. There were some smudges and a large blot when she snapped the brush earlier but not to the point that it made her orders illegible to Asuma. It did make the scroll somewhat untidy however but it was good enough. Stamping the scroll with her seal, she sealed it and handed it over to the waiting Shizune. "Get it over to Communications and get some rest."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama but I have the early shift-"
Tsunade waved her off. "No. Take that to Communications and get some rest. That's an order. I can see that you're tired anyway. I'll take over your shift. It's about time I do some rounds in the hospi-" She stopped abruptly and snatched the broken brush with lightning speed before hurling it straight towards the window only for it to be caught and twirled between large fingers before it smashed through the fragile glass.
Hearing the sudden commotion but unable to react fast enough, Shizune let out a squeak before she too turned to face the intruder.
The shaggy white-haired countenance of the Gama Sennin peeked through the window and grinned at the now alert Godaime Hokage. "Huu…can't we greet each other like normal people, Tsunade-hime?" Jiraiya asked in his usual cheeky tone before climbing over the pane and let himself into the office.
"Only after you learn to come in here through the door like other people instead of using the window all the time…Ero-Oyaji!" Tsunade shot back, trying to retain a gruff demeanor but her eyes brightened. It was always good to see her old friend.
"Tch! Naruto disrespects me. You don't appreciate me. People think I'm a pervert! What is world coming to nowadays?" Jiraiya whined before assuming his pout.
"Don't whine! You're not a little boy anymore and you ARE a pervert!"
"I'm not a pervert!"
Still seated, Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the sheer incredulity of her former team mate's exclamation. She did, however, covered her chest more fully with her robes.
"I'm a super pervert!" Said joyous exclamation was also accompanied by Jiraiya's trademark lecherous grin with his hands held before him, the fingers moving suspiciously in the manner as if they were kneading soft, supple flesh and unfortunately they were aimed in the general direction of the twitching blond…
Tsunade was out of her chair in a flash. Jiraiya's face turned green in a split second after realizing his mistake. "Uh oh…"
The sound of a chakra-powered fist crashing against hard skull, the accompanying scream and the wet sound of a body impacting the floor surely would have awakened the sleeping citizens of Konoha within a hundred feet from the Hokage Tower, not to mention sending patrolling ANBU on alert and scurrying in all haste to protect their Hokage.
"That'll teach you a lesson for showing your perversions before me, hentai! Repeat that one more time and I'll finish the job I started before." Tsunade grumbled before returning back to her chair.
Shizune had to fight to urge to giggle…no…laugh out loud after witnessing the elderly shinobi sprawled on the floor by the furious punch of her incensed mistress. Ever since she had known them, their antics and bickering, especially the older man's perversions towards her mistress and the resulting punishment on his person never ceased to amaze her.
Jiraiya pushed himself up from floor and rubbed the bump on his head while flashing a sheepish grin towards the two women in the room.
"Jiraiya-sama, you've returned. We thought it would be days before you get the recall message." Shizune bowed respectfully before the venerable member of the Sannin. The man might be a world-renowned pervert through his actions and his lewd Icha-Icha series but he was still one of the strongest shinobi ever in the history of Konoha.
Tsunade nodded to the chair in front for her desk in an obvious gesture for the Gama Sennin to sit down.
"You mean you sent out a messenger bird? It'll come back." Was the casual reply from the self-proclaimed super-pervert as he folded his tall frame onto the chair and leaned back with his hands behind his head.
"You didn't get the message?" Tsunade leaned forward before remembering that her apprentice was still in the room. "Shizune that will be all. Get that scroll to Communications and then go to sleep. You'll take the afternoon shift."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama." The dark-haired woman bowed and left the room, her robes swishing noiselessly around her.
"Good girl…I wonder if she has any boyfriend yet-"
"Don't you even think of going there. She's my apprentice and like a little sister to me. Kami help me, if you do anything perverted to her, I'm going to put you in traction…permanently." The Godaime cracked her fist menacingly.
"Now now, settle down Tsunade. I'm not thinking of anything like that…" Jiraiya started to explain but Tsunade cut him off.
"Enough small talk. You said you haven't received the recall message."
The lecherous mien disappeared as sudden as it had appeared and Jiraiya was all business-like. "Yes and no. No, I haven't received the message you sent but yes, I did…in a way." He noted the delicate eyebrows arched. "Oi Kosuke! Come in!"
A small toad the size of a housecat with black goggles around its neck leapt into the room from the window and landed on top of the desk. "Hi, Jiraiya!" It waved furiously at the chuckling Gama Sennin before turning to face Tsunade with a wide grin on its face.
"A messenger toad, of course. Kosuke, is it? A pleasure to meet you." Tsunade nodded to the toad whose grin widened even more. She sighed. "So, you've been watching me."
The man mulled his answer for a moment before turning towards the waiting toad on the desk. "It's alright, Kosuke. You can go now and please give my regards to Ma and Pa." Kosuke nodded and jumped off the desk before vanishing in a puff of white smoke.
Jiraiya turned back to his waiting friend. "Well, I do know about the mission Naruto is going on. I'm not a spymaster for nothing, you know? Also, let's just say I anticipated what that yōkai would do. What Mouryou did with that stone army is both a basic diversionary tactic and a pre-emptive strike rolled into one…and I've seen them in action on my way back here. They're quite tough, if I may say so. Honestly...did you really expect me to leave you and the village alone, Hime?"
"Jiraiya…" Tsunade trailed and her eyes softened as she took in the visage of her long-time friend before remembering what she had in mind. "Did you ever teach Naruto to summon and use messenger toads?"
"Huh? Oh, yes I did…amongst many other things but you know how that gaki does things. All he thinks is ramen, jutsu, more ramen and more jutsu. As for the latter, the more destructive the jutsu is the better. And then he bounces around…huu…he makes me wish sometimes I had never taken another apprentice. If you think he's a handful in the village, you don't know the things he pulled during our training trip. He drives me crazy at times." Jiraiya let out a barking laugh before letting out a sigh. "Don't worry, I'll have a talk with him after he returns from the mission."
A forlorn look fell over Tsunade's face as she looked at the man seated before her. "I had a feeling, you know? Like something bad had happened but I can't provide any help because I don't know what it is I'm supposed to help with."
"They'll be fine, Tsunade. They've all grown up. We were at their stage once and our elders entrusted the future to us. From one generation to another. Now, it's our turn to do the same, just like Shodai, Nidaime, Sarutobi-sensei, Minato and all the great shinobi of this village did. We entrust our future to them and hope for, -no, we wish them the best." Despite his reputation, at that point and from the perspective of his former team mate, Jiraiya was nothing but a wise, old man who had seen everything there was to see in the shinobi world.
So absorbed was the elderly shinobi in his own speech that he failed to notice the fond expression on the blond Hokage's face.
Tsunade cleared her throat and Jiraiya turned back, giving her his full attention. "You're right and well…since you mentioned that you're going to talk to Naruto when he gets back, please do so before…no wait, I think I'll speak with the knucklehead first after the debriefing. After all, he made me worry unnecessarily…" Tsunade cracked her knuckles and smiled an evil smile. "…and that deserves some punishment."
Jiraiya almost face faulted at the one-eighty turn his beautiful but volatile former team mate did and snorted in amusement.
"Heh. Give him some slack, Tsunade. All that hitting him around isn't going to do him much good. What are you? His stepmother?"
"Quiet you! I haven't hit him lately and the village's gone quiet without hearing that gaki scream for a while. See that desk clock? I used to throw it to his head every time he steps in here and calls me 'Baachan'. If you want, I can give you a demonstration."
"I'll pass but hitting that gaki, really? I get the feeling you just want to hug him silly when he gets back." Jiraiya shot back.
Tsunade stood and glowered, her arms akimbo and she seriously considered of making good on that demonstration but with the heavy paperweight on top of the paperwork stack instead of the desk clock. "You…" She could not finish however as the casual remark had really hit the mark spot-on.
"Shut up, Hime and while we wait for the morning, pass me those bottles of sake you're hiding in that drawer…the left one, thank you…and a cup." Jiraiya interrupted with a knowing smirk.
My secret stash! Kuso! How did he know? Tsunade considered venting on the still smirking Jiraiya but decided against it. She needed a drink anyway.
"Freeloader…" The Godaime Hokage grumbled beneath her breath, deliberately loud enough for Jiraiya to hear which elicited a chuckle from her friend but she still moved to the indicated drawer before opening it and drew out the requested goods.
Shizune blinked blearily as she made her way to the Communications office. It was quite a distance away from Tsunade's office which also required a climb on a long flight of stairs which added further to her exhaustion. It couldn't be helped anyway as the Communications office also served as the nesting place of the various messenger birds used by the village and thus, would logically need to be housed in one of the tallest buildings available in Konoha.
Arriving at her destination, she knocked on the door and stepped in without waiting for acknowledgement from the occupants within. As soon as she walked through the threshold, the Chūnin on duty greeted her and whisked her to the room lined from floor to ceiling with bird cages. She watched as the man selected a bird, a young falcon and nodded in agreement at the choice.
She handed the scroll over and waited as the Chūnin fastened the scroll harness to the fidgeting falcon.
"Will there be anything else, Shizune-san?"
"No, this is the last one, Kyotaro-san. I'm going back to my house to rest after this…Tsunade-sama's orders."
The Chūnin, Hachibana Kyotaro, nodded. He had just reported in for his shift minutes ago but the attendant Chūnin he had relieved had told him to expect the Hokage's apprentice with further orders to deliver. The woman in front of him must have been awake since the incident at the border started and he could see she was nearly asleep on her feet. "I see. Well then, have a good rest, Shizune-san. If there's any more communication coming in from the border or from Team 7, I'll personally deliver them to Hokage-sama."
Shizune bowed gratefully, exited the office and made her way back to her house, the thoughts of warm bed and blanket hurried her onwards like a siren call and the letter from Tanzaku Gai, still undelivered and unmentioned to Tsunade, lay folded and forgotten in her pocket.
Ramblings:
(Formerly Notes)
Sorry for the delay. I had planned to make it a monthly update but unfortunately, real life work caught up with me and I was up to my nose in them. That and I was already starting on the third chapter - Aftermath - so I kind of forgot to post this chapter up on time as intended.
So far, I think everything's going as planned. I know there's a lot of description in this chapter and not so much on dialogue but it's just to set what I had planned in motion. Based from all the going-on so far, there'd be lots of dialogue in next chapter.
Speaking of this chapter, I just hope I don't have to go back and make more minute changes like what I did to the first chapter. I'm still getting used to the publication interface back then and I hope those that put my story in their alert list won't be receiving a sudden deluge of alert emails. If you guys received any emails on these corrections I made, I'm so, so sorry about that. It's not my intention to do that at all.
It's just that sometimes when I look back at the posted chapter, sudden new ideas for additions came up, areas needing some patching or I noticed typo errors and what not…and with it, my fingers get all twitchy and editing/amending things just came automatically. I don't know…maybe I'm just trying too hard to make a good impression…which very likely won't be helped at all if you guys receive spam mails on chapter revisions/updates, I know. Again, if that happened, I'm really, really sorry about it. I'll try to minimize it in the future, hopefully to zero. Hopefully…
Ageant & Zarcade: Thanks for the feedback on the question. I was thinking on how to fit that angle but I'm not sure how to do it though so it may or may not be added to the next chapter. Maybe a better idea will come up. Anyway, thanks again.
Also, thanks to Ageant for helping me as the beta reader on this chapter. I hope you'd like to be my beta on this story…if you're free to do so of course. :)
Ok then, looks like it's time to get back to refining the ideas for and continuing the next chapter: Aftermath. See you guys later. Bye!
Notes:
I was quite interested in the explanation given by Shion about her powers of foresight in the movie. It seemed to give the impression that it was not an actual farseeing ability but rather a localized time travel where the priestess actually dies and her spirit travels back to warn her past self of the impending death.
With that point above, I initially intended to make it something like multiple/parallel timelines but decided against it since that would induce one hell of a headache trying to sort things out later. That and the 'river & tributaries' analogy actually work IMHO so…there it is in the chapter.
Glossary:
Bakayaro – Stupid bastard
Bakemono – Monster
Bijū (alt. spelling bijuu) – Tailed Beasts
Chūnin – Middle ninja
Ero-Sennin – Perverted Hermit
Gōken Ryū – Strong Fist
Hakke Hazangeki - Eight Trigrams Mountain Crusher
Hakke Kūshō - Eight Trigrams Empty Palm
Hakkeshō Kaiten - Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin
Iryō-nin – Medical ninja
Jōnin – High ninja
Jūken – Gentle Fist
Kage Mane no Jutsu – Shadow Imitation (Mimicry) technique a.k.a. Kage Shibari no Jutsu – Shadow Bind technique
Katon – Fire Release
Kitsune – Fox
Konoha Senpū – Leaf Whirlwind
Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai – Summoning: Double Slashing Dance / Quick Beheading Dance (if spelled 'Kirikirimai', it seems to translate into 'Whirl')
Kusogaki – Damned brat
Kyūbi no Yōko (alt. spelling Kyuubi no Youko) – Nine-Tailed Demon Fox
Ninkame – Ninja turtle
Oyaji – Old man
Sabaku – sand
Shiki Fūjin – Dead Demon Consuming Seal