Disclaimer: I do not have rights to Naruto
For the Love of my Friends
Chapter Two: The Stolen Jutsu
by Foxie
Before the beginning of the war, twenty thousand people permanently populated Konoha.
After one year, the deaths due to the war whittled down the population by two thousand people.
Year Five of the war, the population was only eight thousand.
Year Ten.. there was seventy people.
In one day, seventy people decreased to nine.
They escaped from the Hyuuga mansion to a safe house a few blocks away. It was about the size of a closet. They all huddled together inside.
Hyuuga Neji sat against the door, eyes shut. He had been on the second floor of the mansion training when the explosions started. He had seen them a second before it hit the room and performed a Heavenly Spin. It saved him for the most part, but he had horrible burns on his arms.
Sakura and Lee sat next to him on either side. They had been sitting by the unlit fireplace. The bricks barely held. They both were cut and scratched up, but other than that, they looked fine. Sakura had her arm around a sobbing Ino. She hadn't stopped crying since they left the house.
Next Lee, looking tiny compared to the rest of them, sat Inari and Konohamaru. They had been raiding the kitchen for some food with Chouji. The first explosion had knocked the swinging doors off the hinges. Realizing something was horribly wrong, Chouji had pushed Inari and Konohamaru into one of the cabinets. They were shielded by his bulk when the second and third explosions rocked the room. The brave ninja went down only when the last bit of debris had stopped flying around.
Gaara sat next to Inari, his face impassive. Both of his siblings had been killed. Inari let out a muffled sniffle. His mother had brought him to Konoha when Orochimaru had taken over the Wave Country. She had went back to her country to help, and never came back for Inari. The boy shoved his fist in his mouth to stop crying. A light pressure on his head made him look up.
Gaara didn't look at the boy, just kept his hand lightly on Inari's head.
"It's going to be alright.." he said, no change in expression. Inari swallowed harshly, and nodded. He attempted to copy the stotic expressions of most of the ninjas around the room, but found it to be very difficult.
Konohamaru stared blankly at his hands, the only show of emotion from him was the flexing of his fingers. No one could tell what he was thinking, or if he was thinking. But Lee could only guess at what types of thoughts were running through the young chuunin's head. He kept a firm hand on the boy's elbow,making sure thathe didn't end up doing something stupid, like running out in the open and attempting to find the sound nins that attacked them.
The Hokage sat next to Ino, her face grim. She had dropped a pencil underneath the desk she had been sitting at, and had went down on her hands and knees to retrieve it. The explosion had knocked the table to the side of the wall, with her still underneath it. The floor weakened from the stress, collapsed underneath it and the Hokage. Only her ninja reflexes kept her from being squashed under the heavy slate table.
Narutosat between Gaara and the Hokage. He glared at his lap, hands tensing in his flak jacket. It was only shit luck that saved us,he thought angrily. How the hell did they find us!
Their hideout was hidden by illusions and a powerful jutsu that Naruto himself had put up. One who wished to harm anyone within in the sealed area could not find the Hyuuga mansion. Even if they had lived there before, or knew where it was, all they would see was debris and feel a strong urge to look elsewhere.
Even if there was a spy.. he thought, eyes flashing red at the thought. No one should have be able to find us! He shook, partly in anger, and partly in fear. Someone had broken his jutsu.. If that person came now, he would not be able to protect his precious people.
You could..stop the war from even happening.. The Kyuubi mused from the back of Naruto's mind. Naruto felt his anger grow.
That wasn't funny then, and it sure as hell isn't funny now, fox! he shouted mentally. There was a slight shift in the demon fox's chakra, an almost mental shrug.
Look at the blond insect.. the fox muttered. Naruto's eyes shifted almost immediately to Ino. She had stopped crying, and was staring vacantly at the wall. Her hand was curled over her stomach, where her baby was still growing. She needs Shikamaru.. he thought, oddly detached. This can't possibly be good for the baby.
Look at your so called 'precious people'. You refuse to listen to listen to a small amount of hope. You hypocrite.. the Kyuubi snarled. Naruto paled. I give you a chance to redo the wrongs.. the things that lead to the demise of your comrades.
The Kyuubi began throwing mental images at his vessel.
Kakashi showing up three hours late, a sheepish smile hiddenon hismasked face and his perverted book in one hand, to shrill shrieks of 'you're late!'.
Iruka ordering him to clean up his graffiti on the Hokage monument, then treating him to ramen afterwards.
The accidental kiss with Sasuke before they were genins, and the brutal beating he got from the Uchiha's fan girls.
Shikamaru visiting him in the hospital and trying to teach him how to play chess.
Gai punching Lee, then with a scary show of sparkly lights and a background of a setting sun, the two hugging each other with tears running down their faces.
Tenten and the other kunoichis giggling in front of a book store.
Kiba and Shino sparing while he and Akamaru watched.
And you refuse to think about it! the fox sneered. The insect that sealed me in you cared more about his friends than you do.. You would have made a terrible Hokage..
Shut up! Naruto said to him. I would do anything for them! I would die a thousand times for a single smile out of any one of them! There was a surprised silence, then the fox chuckled.
Well, you don't need to go that far. One jutsu will do. Kyuubi said amused. He then gave his vessel all the directions needed to do the jutsu. Naruto frowned at the complexity of it.
He tried to remember the hand seals that Kyuubi showed him. Inu, Tora, Saru, Ousu-buta.. Kyuubi sighed in annoyance. The kitling had a horrible memory for such things.
I'll take care of the hand seals.. Even with the information of how the jutsu worked, the Anbu couldn't help but be a little excited.
The jutsu had been created before Kohona was even built, in a time where ninjas roamed free, without bounds to a certain village, and deaths were just a daily occurrence. A man was looking for a way to bring his son back to life, and sought his answer in the past. He created a jutsu that would take him back to a time before the death of his son. He would meld with his past self, and with the knowledge of what was to come, prevent his son's death. According to legend, he used the jutsu, and died of stamina depletion before he even reached the past. Many had tried to use it after him, but were said to have died of the same reason.
Or they could have made it! he thought happily, stubbornly ignoring all of the possible horrible outcomes.
The jutsu had been forbidden by the Tsuchikage and sealed in a cave for hundreds of years. However, in the Kyuubi's reign of terror, the seal had been pulled off, and the scroll had disappeared. But when the blood thirsty fox started to attack the ninja villages, the jutsu was least of their concern.
What do you get out of this? Naruto wondered, not for the first time. It made sense that the Kyuubi would lend him chakra in his times of need, because if he died, so do the Kyuubi. All the Kyuubi had to do in the time of war was make sure his vessel was safe. He did not have to reveal a jutsu that could save the lives of his friends as well.
Why are you so eager to do this? he asked suspiciously. The Kyuubi coughed.He sounded embarrassed.
When one has.. paws, it is decidingly difficult to complete a jutsu using hand seals like you insects. Kyuubi coughed again. Think of this as a request from a.. handicapped connoisseur.
Yeah.. sure. Connoisseur, my ass. Naruto thought amused. He didn't believe the fox. Though he believed that Kyuubi wouldn't purposely put him in danger if he could help it, after being with each other for so long and developing a sort of companionship, he knew that the fox wouldn't hesistate to lie.
Fine. Don't believe me.. The Kyuubi sounded highly offended, but Naruto got the feeling that the fox was pretending. But get moving on those hand seals before I change my mind.
Naruto smirked, then performed the hand seal for dog, then tiger. With the Kyuubi barking out what hand seals to perform and how to gather his chakra, he all but forgot everyone else in the closet space.
"W-what are you doing, bro?" Konohamaru asked in surprise of his almost sibling. Naruto paused before making the last seal. The Hokage leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.
"That jutsu has a death rate of 7:1.." she murmured, her knowledge in jutsu surpassing anyone of the last leaf ninjas. Naruto nodded, not surprised that his ancient granny knew exactly what he was doing. He already knewthat she was tempted andwould have gone over to Orochimaru's side to bring back her boyfriend and her little brother. He would have figured that, in her grief, she would have researched any and all ways to bring them back, including the time travel jutsu.
"W-what is he doing, Hokage-sama!" Sakura asked, her voice leaning toward a pleading tone. She did not want to loose another comrade.
The Hokage was silent for a moment. "A.. time traveling jutsu.." Everyone tensed. Neji was the first one to relax, with a heavy sigh.
"Hmph.. As usual, he jumps in head first without preparations." was his only reply.Gaara stared at Naruto was his unnerving teal gaze.
"You... looking for a death wish, Uzumaki Naruto?" he murmured. Naruto said nothing, keeping his gaze on his knees.
"A jutsu of that kind.. is much more different than others. Aburame clan, for instance.." the Hokage said, closing her eyes. They all thought of Shino, dead for the last three years. "Offered chakra to their bugs. If the bugs were satisfied with the offering, they would stay with the offerer, and be used as their tools. If not.. the bugs would eat them alive." Lee shifted uncomfortably, and turned a round eyed gaze to his blue eyed friend. Naruto-kun..
She continued. "This sort of jutsu needs an offering of stamina. The very energy that we are using right now to stay awake.. to even think. Most taijutsu specialists have an abnormal amount of stamina, as taijutsu only requires the usage of that. But even so, this jutsu defies Space and Time. The offering of stamina needed to make this even half way work.. is much more than a taijutsu specialist can even offer. Thus, the high death rates."
The big chested woman.. is quite smart. Naruto nodded, holding the chakra in place so she could finish explaining. It would be rather rude to die on them when they were still confused about his motives.
"Naruto always had an abnormal amount of stamina in the first place. It could work!" Sakura said, a gleam of hope lighting up her dulled and defeated eyes.
"Yeah old woman, the deaths were of normal ninjas.." Naruto smiled, a gleam of something predatory in his expressive eyes. "I.. am far from normal."
"What do you mean by that, Naruto-kun?" Inari asked. Sure, he wasn't a ninja. He barely understood half of the conversation. But it seemed like a lot of people who did what Naruto-kun wanted to do died.. But Naruto-kun always defied the laws of reality! He could do it!
"Why, Inari you ask? Because.. I am a vessel.. like Gaara." Naruto said sadly. Kyuubi shifted in his mind, reminding him that he needed to hurry this conversation up so he could perform the jutsu. "The vessel.. of the Kyuubi."
"W-what!" was the general response of those around him.He smiled sadly to himself. He knew this would happen. His friends would fear him.. and thus hate him. Only Tsunade, Sakura, and Gaara, the ones who were already aware of the Kyuubi's presence in him,would continue to look at him the same way. It didn't matter. Soon, he would be in the past, saving them anyway, because he-
"I already knew." Low and quiet, the last Hyuuga spoke out strongly, jarring Naruto from his thoughts.
-Loved them. He looked at Neji, mouth agape.
"W-what? When.. How..?" he stuttered. The Hyuuga opened his eyes, a brief fit of amusement twisting the corners of his mouth up.
"That you are the vessel to a demon. The first Chuunin Exam we both entered in. My eyes." Neji shifted, that same calm look on his face, a darker emotion turning the pearly whites of his eyes to a somber grey.
"She knew too." he said sadly. "Hinata.. she knew long before I." he frowned, amending his answer. "Maybe not of the demon directly, but she knew something was different about you, something that made all of the adults fear you.But instead of fearing you because of it, she respected you for keeping that smile on your face. She.. loved you. And she died for you, Naruto."
Tears came to Naruto's eyes. Hinata-chan..
"You are.. a friend Naruto." Ino said unexpectedly. She swallowed harshly, shadowed blue eyes meeting his own."You are.. an ally. You are.. a brother. You are not an enemy."
"Orochimaru is an enemy. Even Sasuke was an enemy.." Sakura said, picking up after her friend. She smiled gently at her last team mate."But.. you seem to think that even after all this time, we would abandon you."
"Besides," Lee said, his bandaged covered hand rising to his chin. "I guess having a demon in you is like.. having a bloodline, right?" He looked at Neji. The Hyuuga nodded.
"A really really cool bloodline." Kohonamaru said, nodding to himself. He remembered clearly when his role model had suddenly sprouted claws and hadblood red eyes, and suddenly was a hundred times stronger and faster.Inari grinned.
"Demon or not, a dumb blond is still a dumb blond." Naruto glared at him for that comment,thoughthe corners of his mouth twitched up slightly despite hisattempt to look mad.Inari laughed, then covered his mouth. It wouldn't due to have the sound ninjas find them all cramped in a corner.
"I love you guys.." Naruto said, face brightening up. "That's why I'm going to save you. Even if I die in the process."
Gaara felt an odd sense of deja vu. In his mind's eye, he saw a twelve year old boy, glaring at him, his face streaked with blood and dirt. The proud blond said that if Gaara hurt anyone of his precious people, he would kill him. The boy had battled against the Sand's strongest shinobi and lived. Barely having enough strength to stand, he still was ready to fight for them. To die for them.
"Gaara.." the boy in his vision, only ten years older looked to him. He looked a little uncertain. "If.. anything goes wrong..." He bit his lip, not knowing how the others would react if they heard him say that the only one he trusted to keep them safe was Gaara himself.
"I will take care of your precious people." one demon vessel said to the other. The blond smiled, relieved beyond measure.
"Thank you..." After waiting what seemed like forever, he performed the dragon seal. Naruto watched as the people in front of him faded, the dark background changing to red. His skin became hot, as the feeling of weightlessness increased.
He was falling too fast, he realized, and started panicking. Strength was torn from his body, he started to feel weaker and weaker.
The last thing he saw before the world faded to black was something large and of a darker red, catching him, and leading him to safety.