Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and any pop culture homage in this chapter.
Part I: Senju
Chapter 2: Red
"Though we are in the bowels of Hell, we shall have the eyes of angels."
Clive Barker, Coldheart Canyon
The first sign that all had gone as planned was when he was abruptly moved out of the stone infirmary and into a different though smaller but of obviously superior quality room in a different section of the Senju clan's underground fortress.
It was a private cinder-block quarter connected to what he now dubbed the hospital wing by a maze of corridors and through-chambers. As they entered the room he could glimpse the blue-clad back of his neighbour. The Senju insignia proudly inked on the cloth. The room was spartan in its decoration. There was a single framed window through which he could see a hint of sun light and smell the ghost of fresh air. A bed rose from the cold ceramic-tiled floor; a stool and a low table huddled near the window and a nondescript door led to what was probably a personal washroom.
It wasn't much but it told him things. Small things but of extreme significance to any person in his position. Like the fact that the Senjus now thought him of a bit greater importance. Now he was no longer another living corpse waiting to rot away to a communal death amongst the phantasm of a hundred others who had undoubtedly perished in that same stone room, perhaps on that same bed. Or the underlying trust that had allowed him the sight and layout of their inner quarters as he was carried to his new room. Tactical information he knew would be valuable enough to cost the lives of several jounins in time of war. After all, they could have just blinded his eyes or simply moved him to one of the adjacent private wards.
Small yet significant details. And they all told him of one thing: a bargain had been made.
The Senjus had accepted him among them, had let him live next to their kinsmen and not alone on a hospital bed. Whether he could make a full recovery now depended entirely on how far he could wing their trust and how hard he could push himself. And of that, Naruto had full confidence he'd succeed. He simply had no other choice. It was this or die. Die a meaningless, worthless death after the hefty price he had paid just to get to this point. Unacceptable.
Yet as all this happened, there was one thing that stood out, somehow becoming even more important in his mind than all the others put together.
There was a tree. A Konoha red oak.
.
.
.
On the heels of the initial shock of their encounter, Naruto couldn't recall whether he sensed, or saw, or smelled the tree first. Whichever way it was, its effect was the same.
If there was one word to describe it, it would be: squalid.
It stood alone in a courtyard sandwiched between two wings, spanning a humble height of a bit over six feet. Not nearly enough to be considered a proper sapling yet its mould-dusted bark spotted a filthy mud brown that wouldn't look out of place on withering old oaks. Thin, brittle branches lifted skyward. The effect gave it the image of a dog lifting his head sniffing the air for a whiff of sun light, the lack of which was probably the reason why it was so stunted in the first place.
Yet as pathetic as it was, the oak boasted its own cloud of leaves.
His eyes had followed the tree, turning his head a full one-eighty as the servants carried him through then away the indoor courtyard, until he could see it no more.
The vivid green of the leaves burned an after image on his retina.
By the time they reached their destination, he was a shivering mess. If the servants noticed, they probably thought it related to his ailment.
He waited simply because there was nothing else he could do, one arm clutching the other in a bruising grip, hoping that it would protect him somehow. The servants milled about the room, some moving in bandages and water bottles, some checking on the facility. None of them were aware of the hazy gray mist that had settled over them.
Why weren't they leaving? If they would just leave. He hated it when his freakishness was on full display. He'd always preferred to deal with his demons in private.
He drew in a shaky breath when the mist descended on him. Cold air pressed down on his body like the feel of a thousand invisible hands. Their touch as intimate as a lover's.
He didn't quite succeeded in stifling back a gasp and for this a nearby servant casted him a quizzical look before closing the top of a med box. They were nearly done now. Already, some were finished and at the door.
Just another minute. He told himself, staring in unease at the gray air veiling around him, not sure of what it was, but knew without a doubt that normal mist didn't move around like that...like it was sentient.
At least it's not doing anything aside from touching now. He consoled himself as he eyed the leaving servants, trying to appear as calm as possible.
What was this thing? Why couldn't anybody see it? Was it related to his demonic tenant? Or was it related to the nature energy he was currently emitting instead? If it was, then it was nothing like he had ever seen before. It was brought on by a tree, a measly tree, not even nearly deserving of its own name. But could there be something special about that scrawny oak? Chakra-fed by Hashirama Senju himself perhaps. But if that was the case then why was it so...pathetic?
The last servant was nearly through the door, his broad back blocking the frame, casting a long shadow that reached the foot of his bed. For a moment, Naruto wanted to call out, to ask for the Senju clan heir. Whatever this was, the Senju could help, and from the look when he was leaving after his father, willing too. But the moment passed in silence. He watched the man closed the door after him, throwing the room into shadow save for a single globe of yellow lamp light.
"It", too, seemed to know that they were finally alone with only each other for company.
He flinched as an airy hand settled on his collar bone. Another's fingers were crawling up his belly. He could feel its blunt tip digging into his flesh. One was cupping his left ear and cheek, trailing cool tingles down to his lips, then stopped, fingers poised to thrust in.
He lashed out his arm, spiking it with chakra. He tried squirming away. He even tried forming a half-grown Rasengan. The mist remained fastened to him. It did not wind its length over his mouth and nose. Its tendrils were on his neck, but the grip was more loving than choking. It was doing nothing other than touching him though it was obvious it could do more if it so wanted.
"What are you?" He hissed after a full fifteen minutes of quiet struggling. "It" didn't even pause.
Hashirama. Should he call for that Senju boy? But what could he do now? He was probably still tied down with his father and if he weren't, wouldn't asking for his help now the equivalent of showcasing Naruto's weakness? Him, the ill and helpless woman, waiting to be rescued. Ninjas detested the weak. He needed the Senju clan's respect and assistance. He couldn't just call the clan heir on a whim now.
So it was just him and "it" in that gray cinderblock room.
"For fuck's sake. .?" He was met again with only silence. Tingles ghosted the curve of his hip before disappearing down to where he could no longer feel them.
A minute passed. He laid motionlessly on the bed, listening to the wet staccato of his breaths. Shoop, shoop, hoo shoop. Bed sheets bunched around his flailing limps, their cotton threads moistened with sweats.
"...Kami, look what I've been reduced to..." molested by...what? air? And completely helpless...
What would anyone see if they were in the room now? A sad and deranged woman cursing thin air? It was suddenly hard to believe that he was holding the greatest tailed beast, the most destructive power ever witnessed in history, within this little husk of flesh.
His body lay lopsided after the struggle, curved in a half-moon arc. From this position he could see, for the first time since waking up, the stumps of meat that were his legs sticking out from the hem of his bunched up yukata. Unlike his right arm and torso, they weren't bandaged. Their unmarred creamy skin was on full display. Slender ankles. Small feet. Toes in neat rows and pinkies with little snubs on it. The nails clean. Somebody had apparently been taking good care of them.
In all manners of speaking, these feet were lovely.
However, there used to be a scar...
In one of his numerous run-ins with the unleashed Bijus, he'd received a scar on his left feet, courtesy of the Nibi's flame whip. It was the worst kind of scars, boasting scaly red nubs in a slash from the base of his foot to the middle of his inner ankles. It was one of the few injuries that had survived his regeneration, it being delivered by another Biju. He'd cherished it for the simple reason that it was the same kind his friends had worn. By the last leg of the war, they were all walking exhibitions of wounds, scars and missing bits. Ugly yes. But it was their particular brand of saying 'hey, we're the same.' The monster's family.
The skin on his feet now were sleekly taut, no scar anywhere.
He stared at it as though to confirm. The feet, still no scar, stared back.
Fuck...fuckfuckfuck this!
He gave a dry choke once before balling into himself. Torso curled down so that he could look at nothing but his lap. Arms wrapped around knees. With the last bit of his fleeing control, he cocooned himself with chakra. The sizzles of youki overrode the ghostly touches on his skin.
'Endure' he commanded himself. For the sake of his friends, he'd survive this.
Before the door even opened, he knew it was Hashirama Senju on the other side. It was not because he recognized his footsteps or his smell – his senses were still too disoriented for those fancy stuffs - , but because of the promptly disappearing mist and his involuntarily relaxing body.
He uncurled himself from his half foetal position, turning his head so that he could see the boy coming in. After the mist, the hands, the dark gray-painted room, the sight of the Senju heir walking through the door, despite the shadow under his eyes, his sweat stink and his dragging feet, was perhaps the most welcoming sight ever since Naruto's awakening.
"You're back." He greeted, unable to keep that definite note of joyful relief from his voice. If Hashirama noticed, he didn't comment on it.
"How's your father?"
"He's fine. Tired but fine." Good. That'd make them pay attention when he started bargaining for his life.
In three long strides, the Senju was by his bed, looking down with dark sunken eyes. He didn't bother pulling a stool, but instead dropped himself right down on a side of the bed. Naruto watched without commenting, wondering if this sudden lax of formality was brought on by his obvious exhaustion.
"Mnhmm...and how's your clan affair?"
Hashirama looked up at this, clearly surprised by the question. Had Naruto passed the line? Was that classified clan info of this time?
"Peace" he brought his hand up, palm forward. "I'm just concerned. Things tend to get pretty rowdy in my ...clan if the leader is missing for too long." And rowdy here could be another case of Tsunade again, with its full entourage of coup, foreign invasion and angry daimyos. "Anyway, aren't you the acting leader now?" He held back the 'Since your father probably wouldn't be up and about for some weeks at least.'
"I am."
"Shouldn't you be somewhere else instead of here?"
That got him a rose eye brow and a snort from the Senju.
"Does your clan let their guests interrogate them too?"
"Guest, sure. But not prisoners. Tell me. Am I your prisoner?"
They stared, both not entirely startled, but still watching intently for the other's reaction.
Hashirama was the one to break contact, turning his eyes to the window, to the door, then back to Naruto again. He was quiet for a moment.
"No..." He laid a finger on the back of Naruto's hand. Though the point of contact was small, the chakra sync was clear. There was not even a hint of disturbance. "...No. You're not a prisoner." He was not lying. Or at the very least, Hashirama didn't think he was lying and his chakra reflected that.
Naruto had no reply to that. Half because he couldn't quite believe the boy's words just yet, half because he was caught off guard. He'd only meant to use the bold enquiry as a dive test. The Senju heir was still young after all, and he'd have much more leeway with him than any other clan members. He never thought he'd get this sort of full-on honesty for an answer. And underneath that, there was something he couldn't quite catch. It seemed, just for a second there, something was revealed but it was in a language he couldn't understand.
Just as sudden as his bold declaration, the Senju heir withdrew his hand from Naruto. His back suddenly ram rod straight; face closed off as though he was mortified by his previous openness. Still keeping his eyes on Naruto, he stated.
"My father is the leader of the Senju clan..." It was a fact Naruto already knew. "You saved his life. Therefore, it is my duty to see that you are well taken care of. That said, if there's anything you want now..."
Again, with the formality. But perhaps that was to be expected from clan heirs of this time.
"Apparently, you saved my life. There's no debt between us."
"Nevertheless..." Said Hashirama in a voice that brook no argument.
Naruto eyed the Senju heir's posture. With his hands firmly planted on his knees, chin up and shoulders squared, Hashirama looked as though he wasn't going to budge an inch until he'd pulled at least one demand from Naruto.
In itself, this wasn't bad. But the truth was he was waiting to speak with the current clan leader. His demand wasn't trivial things like food, better rooms, or even money. His demand wasn't something to be decided on a whim, acting clan leader or not.
Other than that, he had no...well, he did want something, but even for Naruto, who had never had any qualm about letting his demands known regardless of the other party's lofty position, anything along the line of 'tie yourself to my bedpost until I figure out what the hell is wrong with me' was probably not going to be well received by just about any sensible person. Though this was a period far removed from his own, Naruto was aware of the stifling customs of old, at least enough to know not to go and trample all over this period values of virtue. Even if the boy in question was young, too young, just a few metaphorical steps from childhood. Perhaps if he were still in a man's body, but not even then.
That determined, how should he reply? Or should he reply at all.
For a while, he toyed with the idea of letting his portable suppression seal in human form stay until he was simply fed-up and left when an idea hit him.
He turned back to a still patiently waiting Hashirama and spoke before he could change his mind.
"Take me outside..." then added after some consideration "...all these stones are suffocating me."
He had half a mind that this request would be refused but much to his surprise, the Senju heir merely nodded, as though he hadn't a care that he was going to reveal the location of his clan – which was truly hidden in this time - to a complete stranger.
Hashirama stood, stretched his limbs then leaned over Naruto, hands held out above his head.
"I'll need to bind your eyes."
Naruto already expected that.
The image of a set of hand-seals flashing before his eyes was the last he saw before he was suddenly plunged into darkness.
A sound, like the rustling of cloth.
He felt a hand gently pushing him up to sitting. Another rustle and something was draped over him. A coat. Was it winter outside?
Then he was lifted cleanly of the bed. Naruto blinked once, his eyes open but still unseeing. This body must be either smaller or lighter than his old body to be so easily carried around like this.
They went out.
He felt the door of his room by the rustle his yukata sleeve made against the wood frame.
It turned out that it was chilly outside. The stonework of the underground fortress only enhanced the biting cold. He wondered why he never noticed it. Probably because he was too distracted by the demon mist thing earlier.
Naruto concentrated on the sounds around him, trying to find navigation in the genjutsu Hashirama had put him under.
The footsteps were obvious but beyond it, there were others. The whistling wind in the nooks and crannies of the man-made cave. His and Hashirama's quiet inhales exhales. The heartbeat against which he rested his head. The drip-dropping of some near-by water source.
Somewhere past where he guessed the runty oak was, he felt a slight tilt. The footfalls suddenly grew cautiously slower and somewhat heavier. They were walking up a stair.
It was a long way up, with twists and turns that indicated the stair intersected with several others into a virtual air-born maze. The air itself grew lighter and warmer the higher they went.
Naruto wondered what was above ground. A village? A barrack? Or just a few shacks of houses for show and for the occasional guests? He wondered if he'd get to see.
The moment the stair became flat ground, a cacophony of noises rippled toward them. The pitter-pattering of other feet running. Clik-clakking of wood doors. The steel twang and hisses of swords against each other. The chomping, cracking, shouting, swallows and murmuring. Splashing of water. Sizzles of kitchen fire. Peals of roaring laughter. Whispers of a hundred voices. The rumbles of horseshoes on a field far away.
All of these the sounds of a human settlement, muffled though layers of walls and locked doors.
Naruto listened to them as though he was listening to the ghost of a distant memory. Close enough to not be entirely forgotten but too far to be clearly recalled.
He felt Hashirama stopping, fumbling with his hands. A door clicked and slid open.
For several minutes, the human noises were deafening in his ears. But the moment Hashirama took a step through the door, they dimmed down to hushes. It was as though the occupants of the room were trying to keep a polite facade in the presence of the clan heir. Or at least, it was what Naruto thought.
There was a thick musk in the air, an olfactory gruel of rancid male sweats, sword oils, pungent alcohol and freshly cooked food. He caught snatches of shop talk here and there, interspersing with deliberately quiet chewing, gulping, and spitting. Some people calling for more onigiri, others discussing about a certain Ichi who had apparently gotten himself into a bind with the local gambling lords. A mess hall of sort, but the size was huge given the fact that Hashirama had kept a quick pace since coming in and they hadn't yet reached the other end of the room after five minutes of walking.
Aside from a few greetings, no one approached them, no one asked who was the woman or where they were going. Naruto found this incredibly strange. Again, he revisited his prior thought. Attempted assassination of the clan leader, Hashirama's strange behaviour, and now this seeming detachment toward the clan heir. Something was going on with the Senju. Dissension among the ranks? Infighting? But he wasn't sure. Because of Hashirama's genjutsu, he couldn't see now. For all he knew, they could have been nodding or even making hand conversations with the Senju heir. It wouldn't be impossible. After all, he was the outsider here.
Naruto tilted his head to where he knew the crowd was located, in the center of the room and along the side of the wall opposite to where they were headed. He stared into the darkness from which the noises originated, running question after question in his head. If he could see now, what would be the vision? Cool, calm faces? Distrusting eyes?
All of a sudden, the dins died down, leaving an abnormal silence in its place. Saved for the steady footfalls of Hashirama, there was not a single sound in the mess hall. His eyes moved instinctively to take survey. What was going on?
He heard several sharp intakes of breath and the scuffle of someone falling down. His body tensed in preparation.
As if to placate his tension, the arm that was supporting his back shifted. The hand moved upward to close on his open eyes before gently but firmly coaxing him away from the crowd. Hashirama's voice sounded somewhere above his head.
"You'll get in trouble if you keep looking at them like that."
Like what? Naruto wanted to ask. Like a non-Senju? Or like a woman in a barrack full of shinobi? But this was neither the time nor the place to make a scene so he kept quiet, pushed his indignant irritation and his unease down, and let the Senju tucked his head in the crook of his arm.
They carried onward. The Senjus, seemingly satisfied that he was no longer staring at them, resumed their noise making.
Aside from this incident, the rest of their walk was uneventful. Naruto counted several layers of gates they'd passed, some guarded, some merely booby-trapped. Sometimes after they passed the 7th gate, the air cooled. A breeze picked up, blowing feathery kisses on his cheeks. They were outside he realized.
It was then that Hashirama changed his pace. Tightening his hold on Naruto, the Senju started making huge leaps. Jumping forward, right, then up, up, up.
Blades of leaves crowed as they flew pass the canopy higher, higher. He heard rocks falling, felt the pull of gravity on his body. His grip on Hashirama's arms tightened.
Higher still...until finally, they stopped.
"We're here?"
But where is here exactly?
They were obviously on a mountain of sort, with a forest below and open grass field far away. The geographic layout was similar to the plains of Hi no Kuni. But were they really in the land of Fire?
Hashirama took several steps in circles, as though looking for a place to sit down. When he finally found it, he settled down promptly. Naruto, unable to stand or sit unsupported, was in a half recline with back resting on one of Hashirama's arms. With the other arm free, he released the genjutsu.
Naruto blinked once, twice, then opened his eyes wide.
The Senju heir was speaking, saying something that sounded like 'I come here often' and 'it's a nice spot', but Naruto paid him no mind. In fact, Naruto could hardly pay anything attention. He was finding it hard to breath.
It was sundown on the forest. The light of dusk poured red, purple, and orange on the trees. A sea of green fire, burning far as the eyes could see. A fiery sunset. Up above, a hawk cried mid flight.
Naruto knew this scene. He'd dreamed about it.
It was the forest of Death.
He turned his head slowly, holding his breath in the back of his throat. If below was the forest of Death, then this mountain...
There it was, pass the face and the blinking eyes of Hashirama Senju. It was different. There were no gigantic stone faces carved into it, not yet. The trees here were younger, and the forest below still held claims over the rich earth before the coming of Konoha had cleared them off to make space for the stone faces and the guard towers. It was the difference of a hundred years time yet all the same; it was undeniably, unmistakably the Hokage mountain.
Naruto sat, unable to do anything but stare. His head was suddenly empty, a perfectly blank canvas of the mind.
He didn't know how long he stayed like that until a sensation broke through that canvas. A touch, skin on skin, on his cheek. He blinked, eyes following the sudden movement on reflex. A finger, attached to a hand inches away from his face. Wet. And a face beyond the hand, marred with a frown.
"You're crying."
Crying? Him?
He eyed the hand, brought his own hand up to his face. It came down wet and trembling.
From a corner in his mind, a thought resounded like well-trained reaction. Stop the water work, honey. Shinobis don't cry. But the voice was small and above it, there were a hundred others, all vying for his attention.
The trees beckoned, green with life. The night of his inauguration, they made merry. Barefoot girls danced in the moonlight.
Sakura, leaning by an oak trunk, wringing river water from her wet hair. He kissed the arch of her naked back, telling her he'd loved her forever.
In the forest where they made their stand, Kurenai was giving birth. The first cry of a child welcomed to life by the roar of a thousand soldiers as they tethered to their death. She kissed her baby goodbye as he sewn up her ruptured uterus, stumbling on bare feet back to the front line. His assistant handed him a leaf, as big as a man's arm. "Wipe the blood off." He said, half to the baby. "We ran out of bandages."
With tremendous effort, he managed to yank himself back to reality. Hashirama waited for him patiently.
"I..." He made the first attempt, laughing a bit through the tear. " ...I haven't been home for...for nine years now." There, that was better. That sounded half right, not like he was snivelling all over the Senju clan heir.
"They burned my home to the ground..." he stopped there, unsure of how to go on, unsure of why he was telling this in the first place.
He focused on Hashirama's face then. So young. In a few years, he'd grow into the face that had...would make history.
Sitting there, looking at the Senju heir, a sudden thought entered him. Its entrance like a red thread in the muddled water of his mind.
Kill him.
He went still, for a while disbelieving. But the thought crooned, its voice a sweet seduction.
Kill him.
He breathed in, leaning lightly toward Hashirama. He could smell the boy's breath now, hear the pump of his heart. On his neck, the vein stood out, glistened with sweat.
...killhimkillhim...
A heat lighted in his belly, unwinding its length like a snake. He felt a strange feeling rise from within, an alien resentment he never knew he possessed... Closer... That was it! It was this little wretch. It was this bastard's fault. If he'd just finished his job with Madara. If he hadn't let those sons of bitches daimyos ride them ninjas like cheap whores for one hundred fucking years. If he hadn't up and give off the Bijus to the other villages. Hoping for what? For bloody lies. Like some needy market cunt begging for a good fuck.
That was it. He should...kiilll hiimmmm...
He was close now. If he turned he could touch the Senju's face.
Release his youki. Let them devour the boy. Let them burn him inside out. Pull him down. Bite his neck. Claw his heart out. Tear off his tongue. Hear his cry. Eat his fear...sweeeeet ecstasy...Hold him. Hold him. Let him writhe to death in his embrace.
Naruto was burning. His body shook, wavering to and fro. He saw his hand - pale slender fingers - tracing Hashirama's collar bone, going up, up, to his neck. The nails sharp, like claws.
He was going to kill h...
A hand laid on top of his, ice cold on his furnace skin. A tendril of nature chakra spread like cool mist over him.
Hashirama looked at their entwined hands. He peeled them off his neck.
For a minute, they were silent until Hashirama moved. He laid both hands on Naruto's face, wiping his tears away, not knowing that death stood right behind him.
"Don't cry." He said softly, looking at him with wood brown eyes. Eyes like Tsunade's, that curved and lifted at the corners like Tsunade's. "I don't know what to do with crying women."
If he could, Naruto would have laughed right there. But for now, he was numb all over. Hashirama was still speaking, voice soft and slow like he was speaking to a child.
"If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay."
He pulled at Naruto's pliant body, situating him so that he was facing away from him and toward the forest, his head leaning on Hashirama's shoulder.
"Don't think about it. Just watch the sunset."
Watch the sunset? Alright. Naruto did as he told. He concentrated on the sun, the beautiful sun setting gloriously over the tree line. He could not pretend that nothing happened. Not after the extremities his emotional roller coaster had gone through in the last ten or so minutes. But for now, he'd just watch the sun and not think about how he'd nearly lost himself back there. Or how he'd very nearly killed Tsunade's grandfather. Tsunade, nagging at him for not taking care of his laundry at twenty-two years old and Hokage for six years running, who was like a mother and a sister both to him. Or how he was an inch away from destroying the future of the ninja villages.
For now, at least, he'd rest and recuperate, and pretend that it wasn't Hashirama Senju who was holding him but instead Sakura. His beloved Sakura.
They went back in after the sun had fully disappeared and the sky had darkened into a starless veil.
For the next several days, a routine was developed. Every day, he was fed three meals and bathed twice in his personal washroom. A female servant accompanied him with each bath, brushed his hair afterward and clothed him in a new clean set of yukata. They had taken off the bandages since he appeared to no longer need them. Hashirama visited him once every day, always in the late afternoon or early evening, and almost always garbed in full armour. Sometimes he'd take Naruto outside. Sometimes they stayed in and kept each other company.
Not wanting a repeat of the incident on the Hokage mountain, Naruto had kept his distance since then. He stayed close enough to feed off of the calming effect of Hashirama's chakra but just about. Their conversations remained short and to the point and never ventured to the personals. Naruto did not know if it was because the Senju heir was humouring him or because of the etiquette of this time, but either way Hashirama never started asking more than a few simple 'how are you?' or 'what would you like to do today?'. On his part, Naruto was just plain grateful that he didn't need to offer up any excuses.
On some of the days when they didn't go out, Hashirama brought books to his room and shared them with him. On others, he brought clay, and – sitting on a stool and table next to Naruto's bed – he started moulding little figurines. A bird. A tree. Dogs and little children. On one occasion, when he seemed to have run out of things to mould, he'd glanced at Naruto with dark dark eyes. The clay yielded in his muddy fingers, forming a lying figure.
For three weeks, counting the days by Hashirama's daily visits, the routine continued. On the start of the fourth week, the guest Naruto was waiting for came. The Senju clan leader.
Despite his hope, this meeting wasn't a good one.
At first glance, he could see that the Senju leader seemed to have gained ten years in the span of three weeks. He came in through the door, followed by Kenji the medic and a retinue of body guards, all men with their faces hidden by pale porcelain masks, showing only gleaming dark eyes. His strides were deliberately long and slow to hide the minute trembling displayed once every few minutes. The pale skin on his face sagged from his carved out cheek bones. The full armour he wore drooped a centimetre from his shoulders. They left the door open as they came in. Light, both from the torches and the sun-reflecting bronze mirrors, poured in over his back, painting his front in a mosaic of shadows that didn't help at all with his appearance.
Yet despite all these signs of slow decay, he stood almost too proudly staring down at the lying Naruto with hawk like eyes.
"I am Yoshizawa Senju." He spoke in a tone that made it clear that Naruto should already know of this. "And you are..."
"No one." Perhaps if the Senju leader had been speaking to someone else, someone that was not Naruto Uzumaki who neither was impressed nor had any tolerance for prideful power figures, he'd have received a better response. On his part, Naruto was holding back. If he were his usual self, he'd have no doubt given a far more flippant answer – like "your mama" for instance – but instead, he found himself refraining.
The obvious reason would be he was already in a tight enough bind and he really didn't need to add his ass getting booted from the Senju fortress on the charge of freely expressing himself. But beyond even that, the one real reason that stopped him in his track was the man, Yoshizawa, himself. His face was frozen in a perpetually stern expression, betraying nothing but his pride. It was strange seeing such expression for the mere reason that Yoshizawa's face, despite the pepper-sprayed beard and the harshness that seemed permanently carved onto it, looked like it could have been a carbon copy of a younger Sandaime Hokage.
Either cousin or close relative. He didn't even want to think about the alternative. He wasn't here to dig up dead people's mud.
"As I said, sire. The woman is..." Said the medic, shooting the Senju leader a look.
"The woman is what?" said Naruto, voice breezy as though he was talking about the weather. Then, he turned back to Yoshizawa. "My family are all dead. The name of a dead clan is of no matter to you. What matter is... what are you going to do to me now?"
Yoshizawa didn't react. His subordinate did the job for him. The body guards tensed. Kenji looked as though he just saw a woman for the first time in his life. Their eyes made clear their suspicion of him. Naruto, on the other hand, was completely unperturbed by their reactions. Women of this time obviously didn't talk like him. However, with men like Yoshizawa, Naruto knew, there was no use in playing yarn balls with pretty words. He'd be better off clear and upfront.
The man considered Naruto for a moment before opening his mouth. Before he could say anything however, they were interrupted by a rumble of noises from the hall. The thudding of feet running and someone's voice yelling incoherently. In a minute, Hashirama Senju burst through the door, two men hot on his heels. He still had his armour, smeared with dirt and scratches and red stains, on. With a nod, Yoshizawa sent the two men retreating.
Hashirama looked at the guards, to his father, and finally Naruto who was calmly watching the unfolding scene. He addressed Yoshizawa.
"Father...you're...alright?"
The Senju leader gave a dry snort.
"You should at least look at me when you're asking my health instead of at that woman."
"You're going to kill her." It wasn't a question.
Naruto tensed. His youki grumbled underneath his skin. He was right after all. Things were obviously not pretty in the Senju clan and he better prepared for it. With the fingers on his shielded hand, he drew a pattern on the sheet. This close to Hashirama, he had just about enough control for this but not much else. Luckily, with all their attention on the young Senju and his helpless appearance right now, no one would notice what he was trying to do.
"Yes. Maybe? That'd obviously give us less thing to worry about wouldn't it?"
"She saved your life." Hashirama snarled, his usual courtesy long gone.
"And you saved hers." Yoshizawa fingered the hilt of the ninjato on his waist, deliberately standing between Hashirama and the bed. "It will be quick. It will be mercy for her and less trouble for us." He wasn't even looking at Naruto as he said this. "Better that than the half life she's living now."
"I won't..." The Senju heir moved to reach his father and Naruto but stopped when four ninjatos screeched open from their scabbards. The Senju leader's personal guards had spread to a wide circle. They hadn't yet closed in on the clan heir but the warning was clear.
"Stand back! This is my personal concern." Yoshizawa bit out before turning back to his son. "You won't? Won't what?" He let the rest of the sentence hang as if daring the Senju heir to complete it.
There was a tense moment as father and son stared at each other. Kenji, seemingly the only vulnerable one among the Senjus in the room, had retreated to a far corner. The guards held their position. In the silence, an unspoken conversation went between the two Senjus, one young one old. Though he hadn't yet said a word, it was clear from his stance that Hashirama wasn't walking away. Yoshizawa too was solemnly quiet. His face showed nothing of what he was thinking of his son's defiance. They stayed like that for about a minute.
Surprisingly the Senju leader was the first to look away. He took a leisurely step back, eyes roaming the room layout. When he spoke, his voice, a rumbling basso, was in stark contrast with his pleasant words.
"You chose a good room." He made a gesture with his hand. "Nice air flow, not too hot but not too cold either. Close to all exits and to your own room. It must be easy to keep an eye on her. And servants..." He rapped a hand on the table, looking out through the window. "Two? Three? Or more?"
"If it weren't for this person you'd have died. The least I could do is be courteous..." Hashirama paused before adding. "...in your place."
"In my place? I see. I see..." He nodded once, twice before looking back at his son. "You're a smart boy. You've always been a fast learner. A mere three weeks and you're ordering your father around. What's next, Hashirama? A knife to my back? Poison in my water?"
And that was when the first crack appeared in Hashirama's expression. He started. "I..." But Yoshizawa had already turned his back on him.
"There are rules in the clan. Rules that not even clan heirs are allowed to break." He stopped then, his gaze landed on the watching Naruto.
"Woman...hah...hahah...Are you looking at him? Are you worried? My son. He goes out and kills every day yet he dreams of peace, of living peaceably." He spat out 'peace' as though it was a curse word. "That either makes him a delusional fool or a hypocrite."
Yoshizawa seemed to have forgotten other presences in the room. He was focused solely on Naruto and his son now. Though his face was unnervingly calm, his voice was not, and he was making a fist with his hand, squeezing it as if to make a statement.
"The clothes you wear. The food fed to you. This bed. This room. They are all bought on blood. Do you understand? We make our living on blood. What is a shinobi that doesn't kill? Or is that too low for you now?"
He didn't stop there. It wasn't because he didn't remember or he was too angry but because he didn't care that the medic, his guards and one outsider woman were watching, some more uncomfortable than others. From the way his eyes inspected his son's darkening face, the Senju head knew exactly the sort of damage he was pounding on him. It was all deliberate.
Naruto watched this unfold with a sort of shameful horror. There could have been anger too but he wasn't sure. He wasn't simply lying on the bed any more but on the side of his body, one arm propped up, the other hidden still hidden behind his back. He had his eyes pasted on the Senju heir who was staring down at his feet, his body unnaturally stiff.
According to history texts, Hashirama Senju was touted to be the strongest shinobi of his time, a wise and charismatic leader unanimously loved by his people. Well, according to Naruto, history books were a load of croak. People looked for perfect idols to worship, so naturally they never see what they didn't want to see, and even if they saw it, they erased it or claimed it lies and propaganda. Of this, Naruto had personal experience. By the second year of his tenure, the population of Konoha had experienced a sort of mass amnesia. No one seemed to be able to remember he used to be a sad lonely child who wore neon orange and the same neck-dirt for weeks just so people would notice him. They put it down in their books that he was under the secret tutelage of Sannin Jiraiya since he was five, never mind the fact that he didn't even manage to pass his Genin test for three years in a row. Two lies told for the sake of the nation and no one needed to remember that they were there; they watched history in the making and never bothered.
So why the surprise that the Senju's family life was apparently historically incorrect? Why the shame and the anger and the revulsion and why was it that he couldn't decide which one he was feeling more?
Was it the simple fact that it was the Shodaime Hokage, Konoha's first Hokage, that was getting chewed out for the legend he'd create later in his life? And by a bloke who never even made a paragraph in the course of history.
Or the sound of Yoshizawa Senju's rant itself. That certain rhythm and tone that suggested that this had happened before, more than once. And he hadn't guessed it coming with all the clues he had had until now.
Or the emotion behind it. That eerie combination of parental worry-induced anger and sheer relish that accompanied each verbal blow, all of them carefully calculated and delivered from father to son.
Or the disappointment. Oh, yes the disappointment. That Hashirama Senju was not at all the prodigal and beloved clan heir he was supposed to be but just a boy, a not-yet man, trying hard to survive and find himself at the same time. A dreamer who had that bad habit of dreaming all the right dreams at the wrong time. Dreams that were simultaneously horrible and wonderful in their promises.
If Naruto had a guess, he'd say a combination of all of them. He couldn't care less however. All he wanted to do, right there, was to crawl out of that bed, crawl out on all four if need be, and beat the living shit out of the motherfucker who thought playing mind game with his own child was funny.
Pity he couldn't do that.
Neither the crawling nor the beating.
For all he wanted to do to Yoshizawa Senju, now was not the time for emotions, no matter how well-deserving those emotions were. Now was the time for reasons and actions. And the one action Naruto knew he needed then was a change of plan before all things went to hell. If the Senju head wasn't going to play nice – and it was obvious that he wasn't doing that any time soon -, then by all rules of the game, Naruto didn't need to play nice either.
With that thought out, he adjusted himself, got a better grip on the bed frame, then let loose his youki on the unsuspecting Senjus.
"Don't talk like that. It makes you sound pathetic."
The youki spike did its job. He had the room's full attention.
"Too big words for you? Then how about this. Shut-up-old-fart."
Naruto gave the nastiest grin in his arsenal, relishing on Yoshizawa's reddening face and Hashirama's wide open eyes.
The guards moved, obviously trying to defend their master's honour but it was then that they saw what they had missed. Black lines covered the floor, spreading from under the blanket to converge on the sandaled feet inside the room, and from several startled shrieks, outside too.
"Kage Fudo no Fuin. Too slow to be used in combat but pretty nifty in situations like this eh. You won't move an inch without my saying so."
Technically speaking, they could still make some small movements and talk, and there were some loopholes they could take advantage of. But none of those would afford the Senju any threats against him. It was a seal he'd created himself based on the Nara clan's ninpo so there was little worry of a seal master of this time breaking it.
The medic made a half-moan, half-shriek sound as he eyed the vines climbing up his legs, desperately squirming in his spot in the corner. He, alone, possessed neither the expertise to know what it was nor the mental preparation to deal with it.
Naruto snapped.
"Zip it, Kenny." Then at the rest of the staring Senjus. "Now listen."
Then he laughed, suddenly realized what all this must look like. Four elite ninjas and a clan head, trapped like rats and at the mercy of a woman who couldn't even leave her bed unassisted. It was their ignorance and their blind assumption – that he was only a weak sickly woman swathed in cotton and wool blankets - that landed them on this spot. Too bad, Senjus, joke's on you.
"I don't give a damn about your clan rules. And as far as I'm concerned, fighting for your dreams, no matter how insane it sounds, is still better than playing lapdogs for the daimyos any day. So don't think I'm going to listen to your barking."
Yoshizawa's face reversed their coloration from rapidly reddening to rapidly whitening as though someone was forcing a fist-sized ball down his throat and he was choking on it. Still, he remained silent, waiting for Naruto's next word.
"I'm bad at this diplomacy stuff so I'm going to make a long speech short. My clan is dead." So I've got no one to spy on you for. "My enemy is dead." So no one is going to come knocking on your door, asking for trouble. "Now the question is: are you going to die too?"
The reaction was instantaneous.
"Are you threatening me, woman?"
"Threatening you? Why would I need to do that? Somebody else seems to be doing a good job so far. Tell me. How long did it take to get all those worms outta you? Those need years to cultivate and is even harder to administer. But they aren't the worst. Someone out there wants you dead pretty badly. They failed this time but they'll try again."
Then he turned to the medic.
"And if lil' Kenny here can't help you the first time, what makes you think he'll be able to when they send nastier worms your way?"
All of a sudden, Yoshizawa was calm. He'd caught onto where Naruto was heading, and for him, this was good. This was familiar water. He spoke, voice cultured.
"You're proposing a deal. Your help for ours, is that it? So that we'd keep you alive and well-fed."
Naruto didn't much care for the well-fed part, but the Senju head was close. He started slowly, gauging Yoshizawa's reaction.
"I can heal mysel- Hey, buster! I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Too late. The furthest ninja from him cried hoarsely as the Kage Fudo built-in defence seared through his chakra core. A shuriken dropped from his limb hand, landing on the tile floor with noisy clanks.
"Geeze, didn't I tell you? But that's what men do isn't it? Never listen to women. Well, this woman wants to be listened to. Now!"
Exactly at the "now!", he released the chakra equivalent of an electric shock at all the Senju saved Hashirama. Two grunted, the rest was stoically quiet. It was needed after all, just to get his point across. Plus, he was getting antsy at the weak resistance they put up.
"So, are you paying attention now? Or are we going to play 'zap the mole' until I've got all of you fried up?"
"Alright! Talk, woman."
He ignored the slur.
"Just to make it clear, old man. I'm not planning on dying any time soon. I can heal myself." A soft gasp in the corner. "But I cannot do it alone."
"That...that's not possible! I checked you myself. Your thoracic vertebrae are..." The medic sputtered, but his last word was not 'broken'. "...twisted."
For a moment, he debated explaining what he planned to do to the medic but ultimately decided against it. Now was not the time. His first priority was to secure an understanding with the Senjus.
"It is possible." He pointed at the side of his waist and at a bump on his back. "Make a hole here and here. Use chakra scalpel to cut through, then reset the root nerves." Like how incorrectly set bones were reset. Break it new, then set it again and let it heal. Except this wasn't just any bone but the vertebrae, the crown of a human neural system. If he were optimistic, he'd say he had about 30 % chance of success. But at this point, he was past caring about chances.
The medic's eyes shone, like that of jackals scenting blood in the air. But at the same time, there was a crazed quality to it. It was a look that was greedy, in awe, fearful, amazed all at once.
With great difficulty, Naruto dragged his body up, upper back leaning against the wall for support. He pulled back the sleeve, exposing his left arm.
"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that's not possible. I must be lying because no one could do that. Or even if anyone could, the patient would die anyway. It will be easier if I just show you."
Chakra spiked on his right hand, forming a visible glove of purplish light.
"...chakra scalpel..." Kenji breathed. The word holding a tone that seemed more fitting for 'holy grail' instead of a required medical tool of iiryo nins of his days.
Naruto nodded absentmindedly, making a quick but deep cut on his arm. There was about a full minute of red blood oozing from the inch deep wound. When they slid off his arm, his skin was revealed – to the surprise of the Senjus – smooth and whole. Good as new.
"Understand now? I will not die. Not because of something like this. Others will but I won't."
That was a complete lie, but the Senju didn't need to know about that.
"So, now that you're convinced. This is what I want. One, put this seal on me."
He flicked a finger, The Kage Fudo shifted, drawing out a seal array that took up most part of the room. He ignored the speculative looks thrown his way. It was a chakra suppression seal. Not the most powerful he knew, but the most maneuverable. On other ninjas, it would reduce them to mere civilians, but on him, it would work as a stabilizer.
"You can keep it if you want. It's great for keeping ninjas prisoner. Free of charge. And two, give that man to me."
"...me?"
"Yes, you. You will be the one. In two months, I'll have you ready for the operation."
"Two months? That is...that is too short. That is crazy! I cannot..." The medic sputtered, obviously at great pain to admit his inability.
"You will learn." Said Naruto. "Or I'll turn you into a puppet."
"Puppet?"
"Like this." He wiggled his fingers. On cue, the medic pounced into a frenzied jig. "This is for short term. If I want it longer, I'll take your brain from your head and set a pattern to it. A bit messy but it works fine." Actually, it wouldn't. But from the medic's greening complexion, it worked great as incentive.
Finally, he turned back to the Senju head, waiting for his answer.
Yoshizawa stared back at him. He looked calm. His face held none of his anger, nor did it hold any inkling to what the man was thinking. He simply stared.
This way, the Senju could only profit and he knew that they all knew it. Not only would they be able to ascertain their leader's safety but they'd also learn an A-class suppression seal –which did not exist in this time -, and a multitude of powerful healing techniques unheard of before. What was the cost of taking care of an ill woman compared to that?
But Naruto had a guess, and if his guess was correct...
"I refuse." Came Yoshizawa's reply. The man was carefully watching Naruto's face for his reaction.
If the Senju head had been expecting surprised expression, indignant and uncomprehending yells or even anger from Naruto, he'd have been disappointed because Naruto gave none of these. In reply, he merely laughed.
"You...you are soooo predictable. You reacted exactly as I thought you would."
He put a hand to his mouth to staunch his laughter. The genuine surprise in their eyes was pure entertainment for him after the long weeks of solitude in his room. But this was not yet the bomb he was going to drop.
"I think you misunderstood me. I didn't offer you a deal. What I did. What I did is giving you an order."
Complete silence. But he was not at all perturbed.
"Lemme see if I got it right. You figured there's no need to agree. Because isn't it strange for a complete strangers to pop up right before your failed assassination, conveniently knowing the cure to your problem? Sure she said her clan was dead, but that's what she said. She's just a harmless invalid before but now she says she can fix it. So the result is: somehow this woman's gotten herself into the heart of your clan, gotten you indebted to her, and will soon be not so invalid anymore. Coincidence?"
He curled a finger into a question mark.
"Is she a spy? A sleeper agent? Or really just chances? You don't know. But you don't want to take the risk. Sure she's got you trapped here, but it won't be long. After all, this is your home turf. Your territory. She cannot kill you. Embarrass you maybe. Hurt you, sure. But if she kills you, she's as good as dead. So you figured you could just stall until she either runs out of chakra or your relatives to take notice and jump in. Whichever comes first. Maybe they're already here, just waiting for your command."
The Senju head opened his mouth but Naruto stopped him with a raised index finger.
"Oh, yes... Then there's the little problem of your attacker. Tricky one. Is it true? You think. Will they come for you again? Maybe. But it doesn't matter. You aren't the type to worry about being killed in combat. And whatever poison they send, this woman obviously knows the cure. And you have her in the palm of your hand, don't cha? After all, it's not like she can run away from you. Making her cooperate would be easy. Withdrawing food or the likes. I'm sure you're creative enough. In the end, you concluded. There's no need to agree to this deal. She's got nothing on you. You just have to keep her alive, keep her docile, keep her harmless. Like how they keep dogs for added security and for emergency meat. Am I right?"
The Senju head said nothing, but the corners of his eyes held a stiffness that declared to all that Naruto was spot on. He snorted, giving his first commentary on the Senju head's plan.
"I'd rethink that strategy if I were you."
He didn't wait for their reply. He had too little time as it was. Right at the end of his line, he released all the locks on his youki, pushing it – boiling, gurgling, quivering, gloriously crowing in the light of freedom – out into the open. If he had let it out like that, he knew he could cause a few weaker-hearted ninjas to die from the pressure alone (and probably go berserk in the process). But it was let out for only a single second before he firmly yanked it back in. The presence of Hashirama Senju in the close vicinity only made it easier for him.
For the Senju ninja the result of this one second exposure was a terrible whiplash to their core. He could see their faces, the bare necks under their masks paling, cold sweats running down. Their breaths became hushed ragged pants. Their eyes wide and shaken. Already, he could see one of them sagging bonelessly in the hold of his Kage Fudo.
He gave them a few minutes to collect themselves before continuing.
"Get it? I am dying."
He got a couple of uncomprehending blinks for that.
"A goodbye gift from my enemy. It's turning my chakra into slow poison. I'm holding it back consciously but it won't be long now..." Then he paused, looking inquisitively at the Senju leader. "You...ever seen a C bomb before? No? I'll tell you. It's like fire crackers. Except it's bigger. Got more fire. And it's bigger still if you put more chakra to it. A clan in Stone makes them. Their biggest one is C0. It can take out whole mountains easy but you don't get to see it very often cause once it blows, they blow with it too. Give it all their chakra. Kamikaze style. Now I'll tell you a secret. I'm that C0 right now. All of me."
He paused again to let them swallow it, let them remember just how much chakra he'd shown.
"So... how big is your mountain, dear? How big is it?"
A horrible realization dawned on their faces, too strong and too abrupt to be pressed down by protocol emotional restraint. He watched them. He didn't take relish in it. He just watched. And see if his message got through. He was ruthless. He wouldn't stop until they've got all the stuff he said lodged all the way to the back of their brain.
They were silent for maybe a minute until Yoshizawa spoke, somehow still keeping his voice even.
"The seal."
Naruto grinned, clapping his hand.
"Nice one! You actually listened." Then he stopped clapping. "Now that you know, we can get back to business. You thought you could refuse me. But it's not this little C-graded paint job that you're stuck with. I...am the living seal that you can't escape. So, what can you do? Think. What can you do?"
He held up three dainty fingers, reading out loud the Senju head's thoughts.
"One, kill her. Two, put a seal on her. Three, throw her out, as far away as you can. That's good theory, but you're not sure, are you? You can kill her but you don't know if that'll put a stop to the bomb. You can put a seal on her, but putting a seal on a seal master is like throwing kunais at a weapon master and hope that they won't come back and bite you. Your last option then is to throw her out. But how far? How far till the fire won't reach you? How fast can your shinobis run? How fast does it compare to her when she's not holding it back? When she's pushing it with all her might cause she doesn't want to die and she doesn't want to die alone."
Again, silence. And he knew he had some extra guests, stuck in the rim of his seal, screaming and squealing. Finish this, fast!
"Out of all three options. I think the third gives you the best chance. But. But...that would be war, between us. That'd be you and me in a fight. And...Yoshizawaaa..."
He spoke the Senju leader's name for the first time. Not so much spoke it but purred it, the way lovers might do. Up close and personal, as intimate as skin on skin, leaving no space for even a hint of lie. He truly wasn't lying there. His words came out slow and heavy.
"I'm a person who's got nothing left to lose. Do you really want to fight me? Do you really think you can win?"
They stared at each other. On one side, a man standing at perhaps 6 feet 7, decked out in full chainmail and armour, looking down. On the other, a woman sat among a swathe of cotton and linen blanket and bed sheet.
It was then that Yoshizawa saw Naruto for the first time. Not the usual systemized process of look-register-dismiss but actually saw. And this, alone, put on his face an expression that stopped his guards from hurling insults at the imbecilic woman the moment she dared to insinuate that someone like him could lose a fight to her.
He was momentarily unsure of what to do. All his options had been read out to him and skewered right on spot. He looked at her, at her breezy cotton yukata, the soft creamy skin of her neck, the inviting curve and incline of collar bones peeking out from under the hem line.
"So, what's it gonna be, big daddy? Are you going to play balls with me or are we going to sit back and watch the spectacular fireworks on your ass?" She taunted. He saw the tip of her tongue, a glistening pink, peeking out from the crevice of her lips.
Then he felt a red surge of anger so sudden it surprised even him.
This frail, glass-like creature – who didn't even look like she could lift a clan standard issued sword off the ground – had threatened him. And he had felt it. Felt it! All the way through layers of mental armours he'd imposed on himself since he was a mere boy. He'd heard it like she wasn't on the other side of the room, on that bed, looking like a wet kitten stuck in blooms of cotton wool, but right beside him, telling him, right by his ear. So close he could imagine his hand reaching out to that slender neck and squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed, and laughed as he squeezed some more, and watched that blue blue eyes of her dimmed to a milky gray and...
He drew a breath in, tasting the soup-like texture of air clogging his nostrils, his throat.
The woman was still looking at him – with eyes that weren't milky gray – and she wasn't the only one looking. His clansmen waited for him, for either his command or his answer. And he shall give them one.
He turned his head and growled out. "Get out." Then remembered they were still held in place by the alien seal. "Let them out." He told her. "I'll speak to you. Alone."
And when they were alone, he spoke. "Woman." Look-register-dismiss. Unfeeling. Safe. It was good after all that he didn't know her name. He felt his anger drained, felt himself crystallized into his usual calm rationality. Good. That was good.
"I'll do what you ask, on one condition. Once you're fully healed, you'll leave. Leave this land and never return. Even under threat of death."
She smiled that smile again. The smile that cut, like glass, like ice, like she'd expected this except he didn't think she did.
"No problem, poppa!" She said, almost mocking.
He was out of the room before she could blink. The idea that he'd have to house this woman made his skin crawl, made him want to curl up and scream. He hadn't felt that since...since ten years ago. Tobirama is almost nine now. No matter, he'd have her out of his home. She can't play her suicidal card for long. She'd have to cave eventually. Out and never back again.
About five minutes after the Senju head left, Naruto released the seal on others. Immediately he heard the scuffles of people suddenly losing their balance, then footfalls, out and away. One going in.
In a few minutes, Hashirama Senju was standing at his door, casting a long shadow over the floor. He was looking at Naruto as though he'd just seen him for the first time, eyes holding a certain cool edge. And that made Naruto ached something badly.
This boy was the only link to his home whether he wanted it or not. This boy would hold his future.
He'd purposefully left him out during his confrontation with Yoshizawa. The seal had held him but he wasn't touched by any of its more painful aspects. And Naruto was sure that he was immune to his youki. He sure looked like he wasn't affected while others around him were shaking to their knees.
But now. Now, he would choose his side and he would surely choose his family.
Idly, Naruto wondered what he thought of him now. He asked.
"Are you afraid of me now?"
To Naruto's surprise, Hashirama shook his head. He walked, slowly, to the bed, then he laid a hand on Naruto's forehead and it was only then that Naruto realized he was sweating. His youki was trembling delicately under his skin, chased away by the Mokuton nature chakra. The seal and the confrontation had taken out from him more than he realized. He was obviously out of shape. He let himself slide down the bed.
Hashirama spoke then, and what he had to say was like a slap to Naruto's face.
"You were lying the whole time."
Naruto breathed in. He tried to keep it light.
"...you sensed my chakra."
"No. I didn't. You were too far away and I'm not a sensor...I just know."
Just know? What the hell sort of answer was that? How could anybody just know? And if he knew then why the hell didn't he tell his father? He narrowed his eyes at the boy.
The Senju heir was unaffected. Instead, he kept on speaking.
"You made it hard for yourself."
Naruto snorted.
"No, really. He wasn't really going to kill you. He was angrier with me. He took it out on you. Well, he's angry with you too now."
That made Naruto laughed. Because of how young Hashirama sounded. But there was no humour in his laughter.
"And if your father really was going to kill me? If I didn't do anything and he really wanted to kill me. What would you do then?"
What would you do, huh, little boy? He thought in his head, waiting for the answer. What would you do? Would you keep playing your honour game? Going against your father? Against your clan? Is it your faith? Is it strong enough for that or was it just teenage rebellion?
But what he found in the answering gaze of the Senju heir was neither faith nor rebellion. It was something else entirely.
Hashirama withdrew his hand, then he answered, all of sudden sounding not so young anymore.
"I would ask my father for the honour of killing you myself." A long, long pause. "...then I'd sneak you out."
Naruto was speechless.
End chapter 2.
Initially I planned to finish part 1 of the story with this chapter but wasn't able to. This chapter you just read ended at about a half of the 'planned chapter' which was quickly ballooning to 25 k words size. I guess I really underestimated the story length. And to think when I was writing chapter 1 I wanted to finish the whole 'Senju part' in 1 chapter (that would be 35 k words for first chapter.) I probably would have died or broke my fingers if I really did that.
Anyway, with that out of the way, there's one thing I want to address with you guys. I'm pretty sure many have asked this. Why did I not put the warning of Fem Naru in the summary? There are 2 main reasons for this.
1/ I hate being stereotyped and I hate it even more when it's stories that are being stereotyped. I know full well what sort of reputation most Fem naru stories have to bear. The thing I found most people mistook is that Naruto being a woman is only an element of the story (though it is a pivotal element). It is not the whole story. I knew that if I had put Femnaru in the summary, people would immediately started labelling all sorts of unfounded thing on it without actually knowing what it's really about. Some people said (a bit more like yelled to my face but you get the idea) that Femnaru really just isn't their thing and their reading this story without being warned about it is like being duped (I'm sorry?). Others (a bit calmer) told me that Femnaru is like yaoi the easy way. I have to disagree. Personally, I think the premise of a gender bender is very promising but as of yet remained very under-developed. The obvious reason would be the majority of fanfic writers who wrote with this premise are prepubescent girls (if you're a boy, raise your hands). Hence their understanding of its underlying complexity is also 'prepubescent'. Anybody studying gender politics and sexuality would know the issues beneath its normal comedic face value. It's not just a guy suddenly growing boobs. It's a person being robbed of his identity. Every one of us was born either male or female and developed our personae and sexual identity accordingly but if you suddenly found yourself being robbed of your original body, then how do you cope? Do you change your identity accordingly? Do you change your body so that it fits your identity (as the case with many transvestites)? Or do you straddle somewhere in between? That's the drama underlying the issue. It's not comedic like how people usually write it to be, it's actually more horror of a psychosexual kind (one of the oldest and the most primal fear of human is of the monstrous feminine for a reason and that's what Naruto would have to deal with here) and of being erased (or in this case, castrated) by the new 'body'. And that's the direction I intend to take this story to.
This is why I wrote this chapter referring to Naruto as 'he'. I've always found fics writing the gender-bender character immediately after the change as she (or he for the other variety) to be unrealistic (gender bender aside). A person who has lived his life as a male for 26 years isn't just going to 'poof' into a woman overnight. Though he wore a female body, in his head he's still a guy especially in this case when Naruto can't walk, he hasn't yet felt the full damage. This body now is still just a torso with a bit of fat on the chest to him (he doesn't yet feel his missing 'man stuff'). And since I want to write this story as realistically as possible, the change will have to be gradual itself (and don't think Naruto is just going to warp into a girly 'lady'. His base characteristics need to be the same regardless of his sex). Other people saw him as a woman and he knew this, but instinctively and emotionally, Naruto himself doesn't acknowledge it. I think you already saw glimpses of this in this chapter: in between his interaction and his power relation (underlying sexual politics) with Hashirama Senju (a male no matter how young) and his memory of making love to Sakura (in which he is obviously a man...with intact 'man stuff'), in the scenes where I switched between the point of view of Yoshizawa Senju and Naruto without any warning or page break (going from he one moment to she the next). It was hard to adapt my writing (had to use an extremely fluid style of writing) to these inconsistencies between the characters but that's what makes it so interesting (and mega-migraine-causing). Consequently this makes the story a one-of-a-kind (I don't know about you, but I'm just up to my throat with all these time-turner story where Naruto goes back to the pass and kicks major asses and be all buddy-buddy with the mojos –Yondaime, Sandaime, Nidaime, Shodaime – of the past and does the hanky-panky with some swanky past ladies. This sort of story has already been done to dead, so lets just leave it where it should be. Which is dead dead DEAD!). Lastly (for this point), though I know that not everyone is a fan of Femnaru (and believe me many people have made sure I know this in the past 2 months), we are all fans of a 'good story' so...how about we all turn down the melodrama and the condescending attitude and just enjoy a nice read?
2/ I used the Femnaru revelation of the first chapter as a reader filter. When I started writing the draft for this story, I knew already that I was going to get the quacks for it. I've always wanted to write a story that really pushes the envelope, a story which deals with all kinds of taboos and perversions that others rarely dared to address and yet still possess a certain charm (as you can see, I'm literary auteur of sorts, the sort of Takashi Miike if you know him. I hate the ordinary). The problem is: I don't want to deal with a bunch of people on my head, screaming about how dare I write about these Satanic things, tagging along with the whole story. You see, these people are censors, agents of the status-quo so to speak. There's a bunch of them out there, and though they may have different agendas, they all basically want the same thing: for you to see the world they see...or to at least shut up about what you do see that is different (Imagine that! A world where everyone is the same...like mass produced dildos. Thanks for the offer but I'd bite my tongue). I don't want to deal with them. Period. That is why I wrote the first chapter relatively vanilla with only the gender revelation as the shocker. I found that this tends to turn them away pretty fast and leave me to my peace and enjoyment. That said, I want to make this clear to you. I'm an independent working adult. I don't write (seldom anyway) the kittens and fluffy variety of stories (or the power trip, harem and dick-lit variety but you get the idea) that are the trend, ruler, and majority of this fandom (more like gangrenous cancer but ignore me mumbling mumbles please). The gender crisis is just the beginning. Hence why I used it as a filter. If somebody can't get over the fact that the main character's body is screwed up then they can't deal with the rest of the story (horror and dark fantasy). It's just better for both of us that we part way in the first chapter (or second if you found that you can't stomach it).
That said, you'll see that already this chapter is turning to be much edgier than the first chapter. It is much closer to the tone of the story, real and raw and full of teeth. And I have already changed the rating to the highest (I'd rather use NC20 but they don't have it here). So, if you found this chapter turning your stomach, you have your choice. Hit the back button. And both of us would be much happier.
But for the rest of you who's finding it hitting your groove. Then I'm all yours.
Sythe.
P.S: I sincerely want to improve my writing so all critics are welcomed. If it is possible, please tell me which scene you like best and which scene you hate, and why.
And lastly, check out the new concept sketches.
