Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It is the propriety of Kishimoto.
Hello everyone. I know that 2 months has passed since I last updated, but several things come up and even now I am still not doing so well. Sorry for the late update. I will try to publish a chapter every month at least from now on. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of review I got for the first chapter. That is why I decided to continue this story. I hope you will like the second chapter. Thanks everyone. Also I am sorry if the text isn't well designed, but fanfiction's editor doesn't seems to work for me. If anyone has a solution for this...
Chapter 1: Investigations
Naruto sat in front of a campfire. He looked at the flames in contemplation. Earlier that day, he had fled from the snake sannin with his teammates and his prize Kabuto. Being the only one awake, he wasn't able to reach Konoha although he had passed fire country border long ago. Because of the lack of noise nearby, Naruto was immediately aware of someone waking up. He looked over his shoulder to see Yamato scratching his eyes in a sleepy manner.
After a while, Yamato looked around himself and noted that he was in a forest, probably in fire country as he was used to the kind of trees found there. Panic suddenly held him as he remembered the situation he was in before losing consciousness. While assessing his surrounding and formulating a possible plan to escape, he took notice of his subordinate Naruto calmly looking at him. He was at first afraid that Naruto was captured alongside them but then he remembered that he was in Fire country. He took a deep breath to reign in his warrior instincts and looked at Naruto.
"How long was I out?"
"About 5 hours" Naruto replied still looking at his leader. He was waiting for the questioning that would come. Fortunately he already had a cover story planned.
Surprisingly, the first thing that Yamato did wasn't to question him like he expected. Instead he rose from the ground with great difficulty as he hadn't recovered all of his motor skills and rummaged through his pants looking for something. Upon finding what he was after, he removed it from his pocket showing to Naruto wire strings. While searching for those, he walked toward the third member of the rescue team and now he stood above Sai. He then proceeded to bind the latter in a way that would restrict most of his movements.
Naruto looked at the proceeding with a surprised look. He didn't understand what was going on and why Yamato was treating Sai like a prisoner and was quick to voice his questions.
"What is going on Yamato – sensei?"
With his back facing Naruto, Yamato continued what he was doing. "I am binding Sai so he won't make a run for it when he wake up."
"I can see that you know! My question is why are you doing this?"
Yamato looked back at Naruto surprised by the question before a look of understanding came to his face. "Ohh, I forgot you weren't with us when this happened. You see, this ninja..." He pointed at Sai as he said that. "...Betrayed us when you were fighting against Orochimaru. Apparently he had another mission given to him by someone other than hokage – sama. He will have to explain himself to Tsunade – sama upon our return. That is why I am restraining him in case he tries to escape before we are back home."
He wasn't sure if he understood completely what Yamato said but Naruto nodded all the same. Once Yamato finished restraining Sai, he walked back toward the campfire before taking a sit in front of Naruto, the fire being the only thing keeping them apart.
"Where are we right now and for that matter, how did we get here?" Yamato finally asked after a minute of silence.
'Here we go. Let's see if I am still as good an actor as I was in my youth' Naruto thought while looking at Yamato in the eyes.
"We are inside Fire country and to answer your second question, I carried the three of you with the help of my clones."
"What happened then?"
"When I woke up I found myself in an underground hideout. I didn't know how I came to be there so I got out of there and looked for you. It was several hours later that I found Sai, Sakura and you in a crater. So I took the three of you with me and ran back to Konoha as I didn't know what was going on and felt that it would be safer to be back home than in the wilderness."
Naruto finished while looking at Yamato questioningly. "Why was I alone in that hideout? Did you and the team abandon me there?" He asked with anger freely visible on his face.
Yamato seeing where this conversation was going quickly replied. "No we did NOT abandon you. When I left I created a clone to keep you safe until you came back to your senses. We needed to follow Orochimaru, as it was the only lead we had to the Uchiha, we couldn't afford to waste such opportunity. Something must have happened to my clone while we were gone. That is the only reason I can find to explain you waking up alone. Sorry if that scared you."
Naruto's eyes softened a little at that. "I understand." He finally said slowly. The truth though was that he was laughing in his mind at the ease with which he manipulated Yamato. 'A little show of anger and distress and they quickly lose their cool.' He thought while Yamato continued his questioning.
"You said you found us in a crater, yes?" Naruto nodded. "Did you find anything else? We were fighting against Sasuke there and I am ashamed to admit that he outclassed us easily. So you understand my surprise as what you said imply that he left us alive just like that."
Naruto's eyes got big as saucers when he heard Yamato said that. "Sasuke beats the three of you? Easily? How is that possible?"
"I know it is surreal but it is the truth. I don't know what kind of training he endured but he is that good. We greatly underestimated him and his improving rate for that matter."
"I don't know if there was anything out there. When I saw you unconscious, the only thing I thought was to get you to safety. I admit I was also afraid that someone would suddenly appear out of nowhere." He finished while scratching his hairs in his embarrassed signature reaction and grinning stupidly.
Yamato nodded at that, understanding what Naruto must have went through. So blaming him was the last thing on his mind, instead he was blaming himself for being weak. 'I have been a ninja longer than the Uchiha, yet he easily outdid me. I can't even use the excuse of not having a bloodline like him with my Mokuton jutsus. The truth is that I became complacent in my ability, thinking I was above others by being an anbu captain. Seems like I will have to correct that mistake once back home.'
It was at that moment that Sakura woke up and joined them around the campfire. She looked at Yamato and nodded at him in respect, but when she laid her eyes on Naruto a tension immediately rose in the air. The first thing that came to her mind was to blame Naruto for this and voice her thoughts of him, but that quickly went out of her mind when she saw something she had never seen in Naruto's eyes: contempt.
This surprised her. Naruto's look was that of a predator waiting for his prey to make a mistake. In this case she felt that SHE was the prey and not the other way around.
"Evening Sakura" Naruto said softly to Sakura who nodded slowly.
Yamato found nothing strange about the way Naruto greeted his teammate and chose to go back to his introspection. Because he didn't know them well enough he couldn't have noticed the subtle change in Naruto's way of greeting Sakura.
Sakura did.
Tired as she was, she didn't comment on it, as she wasn't in the mood for a verbal fight with Naruto. A fight she wasn't sure she would win with the way Naruto looked back at her, so she did the next best thing and asked Yamato what happened since losing consciousness.
Upon being filled in she couldn't stop the depressing sigh that escaped from her. Like Yamato she was thinking about the earlier fight and found herself lacking. 'I couldn't even do something against him. I am labeled back home as a prodigy when it comes to my chakra control but I couldn't even notice that I had been trapped in a Genjutsu. What kind of apprentice to the hokage get beaten like that.'
She cringed though when she remembered what Tsunade told her not even a few months ago.
Flashback
Tsunade stood in front of her student in her private training ground. She just finished her training session with Sakura who sat on the ground exhausted.
"You are weak!" Tsunade said to a shocked Sakura who looked at her mentor. "Granted that you are well above regular ninjas, you are still too weak to be considered my successor."
"But Tsunade – sama, I am one of the best in the village when it comes to healing, I followed all your advices to the letter. How can you say that?" Sakura asked incredulously.
"Do you really think that I was chosen as the Godaime hokage only for my healing art? There is a reason my teammates and I were considered a legendary team during the second shinobi war you know! And this had nothing to do with my healing skills. In our team each of us were very powerful in an area. Orochimaru was our Ninjutsu and Kinjutsu expert. Jiraiya was our seals, information gathering and trap-making expert. And finally I was the Taijutsu expert."
She looked at the wide-eyed Sakura with a smirk. "Surprised, aren't you? People always assume that Jiraiya is the Taijutsu expert but they are wrong. I know many assume that the only thing I have is my super strength and that by being able to dodge it they can beat me easily." She looked pointedly at Sakura. "Even you for that matter." For her defense, Sakura looked ashamed of thinking like that of her sensei. "But I can understand why they think like that. But the truth is that my strength is just the first level of my true technique, the reason why even the current raikage is wary of fighting me."
"Your TRUE technique?" Sakura questioned.
"What? Did you think that I was that feared back then only because of my strength? These days, no one – except those that fought in the second shinobi war – remember why I was so feared like my teammates. That is because I haven't used that particular technique in a long time now."
She looked at her student with a cold gaze. "Right now you are not ready to learn that technique and thus be considered my successor. You and Shizune have the same problem. And this is what makes me angry. Few people know this but there has always been a big rivalry between the sannin. With Orochimaru and Jiraiya having taken an apprentice, I don't want to be left behind by them. Along the same lines, I won't accept anything less than you being able to fight toes to toes against Sasuke or Naruto if not outright defeat them."
With that said, Tsunade turned her back on Sakura and went away, not before leaving a parting word. "When the times comes I will teach you to fight and not to heal."
End Flashback
At first she had wondered what kind of rivalry her sensei was talking about, but she found nothing indicating this to be the truth. With time she forgot the discussion she had with Tsunade and now she couldn't help but apprehend seeing the look she will be given once she comes back home.
After a while though, Yamato looked at Naruto. "Now that we are awake, you can rest too. We will take care of the watching."
Naruto nodded before he went to his sleeping bag. Even if he hid it well, he was tired from the earlier events and a good night of sleep wouldn't be so bad for him.
The next day, we found the team of four jumping from trees to trees. Yamato was in the front holding a knocked out Sai in his arm. The latter awakened last night but was knocked out again immediately after. Sakura was in the middle while Naruto closed the formation by standing behind them.
Because of the tension of having failed a mission, they didn't talk to each other as they contemplated the consequences of their failure. In Naruto case though, it was more about thinking of his next course of action regarding the matter of his clan's destruction. Already Yamato was sending him curious glances once in a while. Fortunately he knew why the latter was doing that. Apparently Yamato couldn't sense the Kyuubi's chakra circulating through his system and that worried him. Naruto told him that the sealing he used to get him back to his senses might be the cause. Thankfully Yamato had never used the technique on a Jinchuuriki before so he didn't know what to expect.
The real reason was that Naruto had stopped assimilating Kyuubi's dimension as his mind. This had the side effect of reducing the amount of Kyuubi chakra going through him. There was still some but it was so minimal that Yamato couldn't sense it. Naruto knew this but didn't explain it to Yamato.
He looked in front of him as he jumped to another tree. Used to this method of transport, he didn't even bother to look at the next tree to know where he needed to go. 'Right now, what I lack the most is information. It is a shame but I don't even know the geographical position of most of the countries. I should have learned those during my academy years but a combination of several factors made me miss them. So first thing should be to learn everything I missed.'
He looked as Yamato glanced in his way again but upon seeing Naruto looking at him, he quickly looked back in front of him. 'I also need to know how the village really works. This will point me in the direction I need to take to learn about my clan.'
This time his face changed and freely expressed his anger. 'And finally I need to find out who in Konoha could have put in my mind the barrier that blocked the Kage Bunshin ability.'
He had a guess that it was a member of the Yamanaka clan as the rumors had it that they were well versed in the kind of techniques that affected the mind, but he couldn't be so sure. After all, it was explained during one of the few classes he didn't miss that the Yamanaka and Nara techniques weren't bloodlines but were easier to use for them. It was possible for someone outside the clan to have learned these techniques so he couldn't blame them without proofs.
'I will be damned if I become like the villagers. That doesn't mean I won't take my revenge on those guilty though.'
"We are finally there!"
He heard Yamato said in front of him, so he quickly cooled his features and prepared himself for the confrontation that will soon happen.
Tsunade was sitting behind her desk. In front of her stood Yamato, Sakura, Naruto and Sai. The last one was still restrained but unlike before he was awake now. She was specifically looking at Yamato, as he was the leader of the team.
"I assume by the lack of the target's presence that the mission was a failure."
"Unfortunately hokage – sama. Things happened during the mission that weren't accounted for."
"Like what?" Tsunade wondered curiously. "No wait, I would prefer a complete debrief on the mission from the get to go."
Yamato nodded at his leader request and began the process of explaining everything that happened since the day they got out of Konoha. He took great care of highlighting everything of importance and whenever there was an event where he wasn't directly present like the fight between Naruto and Orochimaru, he left the concerned take care of it.
Meanwhile, Tsunade looked attentively at her ninjas. When she heard about Naruto and Orochimaru fight, she looked pointedly at him. She noticed that the latter was rather calm unlike the boasting ninja she was used to. 'He is still as emotional as before if he lost his control against Orochimaru's taunting, granted that snake is rather good at getting under the skin of his opponents.'
But upon hearing the way Sakura made herself useless, she frowned deeply and looked right at her student. The look she gave her was enough for the latter to know that she was in trouble.
Half an hour later, Yamato had finished recounting everything that happened and was now waiting for his leader's reaction. Tsunade frowned as she looked at Sai before she made a gesture with her hand. Immediately afterward, an anbu with a rat mask materialized beside her.
"Rat, I want you to take Sai to Ibiki. Tell him he has free reign to get this young ninja to tell us everything he knows."
The anbu nodded before moving quickly toward a non-plussed Sai and roughly grabbed the latter by the shoulder. Moments later, the two of them had disappeared in a puff of smoke.
'That Danzo... I should have known that something like that would happen. You give an arm and they take the whole hand' She thought furiously as she contemplated on the way she could use it to her advantage.
Tsunade coughed to get back the attention of her ninjas. "You said that Orochimaru spared you or at least you think so?" Yamato nodded at that. "Curious. I wonder why he would do that but knowing him, he must have seen something in you that made you more valuable alive than dead. But just to be sure, Sakura and you will have to be searched for anything that snake could have done to you." She finished looking at Yamato and Sakura clearly implying that they couldn't be trusted for now.
"As for you Naruto..." she looked at him with contemplating eyes. "You are to rest until your team is free to go."
Naruto nodded slowly as he feigned being tired from the mission. This didn't go unnoticed as Tsunade dismissed them.
Naruto went toward his apartment while Sakura was led by an anbu to the hospital. Yamato stayed behind, as he didn't finish his report.
"Is there something else Yamato?"
"Indeed hokage – sama. I didn't want to mention it in front of the others – especially Naruto – because of its importance."
Tsunade crossed her arms under her breasts and waited for the ninja to continue. "As you know, I used your grandfather's technique to subdue Naruto when he lost control. What I didn't mention is that afterward, I couldn't even feel a trace of the beast chakra in Naruto."
Yamato explained slowly to his leader who thought about the possible implications of such things. "Is it a side-effect of the jutsu?"
Yamato answered negatively. "I am not sure. Being the first time I used it on a Jinchuuriki, I don't know if it is the case or not."
"Will it have negative consequences?"
"Again, none that I can think of. In a few days, the beast chakra will come back, I think. I just thought I should warn you of this development just in case hokage – sama."
Tsunade sighed at that. "You are dismissed then."
"But..." Yamato protested but he was stopped by a glare from Tsunade.
"But what? You are telling me that the Kyuubi chakra isn't in Naruto's system and won't be for an undetermined amount of time. You don't know if it is good or bad. In short you gave me nothing except speculation. What do you want me to do with this information anyway?" She looked at him with a glare.
"I have enough problem to deal with so I would prefer you don't waste my time with speculation. What I want is fact. If you think there might be a problem with Naruto, then investigate it and comes to me later with proofs of your conclusion. Now I have work to do."
Recognizing it as what it was, Yamato bowed before getting out of the room all the while thinking of keeping an eye on Naruto for the few days to come.
Meanwhile, Naruto was absently walking in an alley. He looked around to be sure that no one nearby. Upon confirming that, he put his hands in his favorite handseal and muttered in his mind "Kage Bunshin no jutsu". In a poof of smoke several clones appeared.
He looked at all of them. "All of you, you have until the night to find all the information I missed during my academy years."
The clones only nodded at their creator before using the henge to change in random people, from children to adults. Afterward they left toward Konoha public library knowing that it held the information they needed.
Naruto looked as they left and was ashamed to admit that he should have done this a lot earlier in his training. Even if he didn't have access to the clone technique, he should have at least done something to improve but he was too frightened to act on his impulse and assume his real personality. Figuring that he had other matter to attend to, he slowly got out of the alley and went toward an area that he knew very well. An area that was so well guarded that despite his pranking streak, he had never been able to get close to the entrance, let alone infiltrate it.
This area was the KONOHA ARCHIVES.
Few people even knew that it existed; it was only a myth either in the village or outside it. Only the most graded ninja knew of its existence and even then, they weren't allowed inside. The only reason he knew of it was because people always dismissed him as inconsequential. It was by luck that he overhead the Sandaime talk about it with one of the elders. At the time, they had needed something from the place, for what? He didn't know.
Supposedly, the place was where every missions, events and records was kept. Most other villages preferred to destroy such things as if it were to fall in enemy hands it would be disastrous for them. But Konoha used it in a completely different way. With it, they could blackmail powerful people in the event that they needed to do so.
For Naruto this was the perfect place to find information about his dead clan, information that hadn't been censored before being released to the public.
It wasn't long before he reached the area he knew the archives were. In front of him, stood a tall building. It looked simple enough that it didn't catch the attention of the onlookers if there was any. The last time he went there, he didn't found anything worthwhile. Of course he didn't enter the building as his instincts warned him against doing that. Now with his experience as a ninja, he concentrated and discreetly looked around in case he was observed, and found... NOTHING.
Naruto did a double take at that and scowled. 'I know that I suck at feeling others but what the hell? Not even a trace of chakra?' He thought while he looked around. He couldn't enter the building because if he was detected, then the guards would reinforce the protection and when the times came for him to really infiltrate the building, it would be even harder.
He resigned himself and backtracked from there. 'This just means I have to train my sensor ability.' He thought as he calmly walked back toward the village. Midway from there, he stopped abruptly. 'I have nothing to do in the village right now. I should use this time to get other things done.'
He sighed knowing that what he needed to do right now wasn't something he looked forward to. Without any indication or handseals, Naruto disappeared from his last position. The only indication being the deafening sound that was heard as he broke the sound barrier again. Fortunately no one was around to hear it.
Kabuto stirred in his sleep as if he was having a nightmare. And like any nightmare it ended with the dreamer jumping from his sleeping position. He tried at least, as he soon noticed upon opening his eyes that his hands and feet were bound tightly with metal wire. He immediately assessed his situation by trying to unbind himself but to no avail. Not deterred, he tried to use one of the basic jutsu taught at the academy to slip through the binding but as he suspected it didn't work. The last thing he tried was to use his chakra but discovered to his horror that he couldn't even feel it.
'Shit! Chakra bindings?' He questioned himself with a scowl. If there was one thing that made every ninja angry was being caught by these kinds of binding. They were the worst as they completely stopped the prisoner from using his chakra as long as the latter was in contact with them.
Knowing that escape was impossible... for now, he tried to remember how he came to be in this unfavorable position. But he didn't get far as a crack was heard behind him. Like a snake, he turned his neck to see who it was. Upon seeing the male that approached him, he widened his eyes as he remembered everything that happened.
"I see you are awake! Good." Naruto said as he walked with measured steps until he stood in front of Kabuto. He was satisfied to see the shock written on his prisoner's face. He saw as Kabuto schooled his features and carefully analyzed his surroundings. After a while Kabuto's gaze settled on Naruto's. "Finished trying to come up with an escape plan?" But the interested didn't reply.
"You don't want to talk I see! That is fine too; after all I don't need you to speak, not yet anyway. I will do all the speaking for the both of us."
Like a good soldier, Kabuto kept his mouth shut and just looked at his captor. One of the first they learned to resist interrogation was to keep their mouth shut for as long as they could. Despite knowing that no one could resist interrogation indefinitely, he still kept to his training. He also knew that he was lucky to have to face Naruto as the interrogator knowing that the latter didn't possess the skills to make him talk. He believed that at least. A shudder ran through his spine at that.
"I am sure you remember our first fight. After all it was at that time that you made your first attempt at killing me." Naruto continued not minding whatever Kabuto was doing. He still looked at Kabuto though and was impressed that the latter didn't even flinch at the accusation. "During that fight, you couldn't stop yourself from showing off your superiority to me, calling me an idiot, someone that would never amount to anything."
Seeing that Kabuto still didn't react he continued. "Of course you also compared me to Sasuke, the genius, the elite or whatever you call him this day. Fuckmate wouldn't be far from the truth I guess..." No matter the training he had, Kabuto wasn't able to hide the distaste he felt at hearing the last thing Naruto said about him and Sasuke. He may have questioned morality concerning human beings but he could say at one hundred percent that he was straight. So implying that he wasn't was a blow to his ego. He knew not if it was the fact that he still underestimated Naruto or something else, but he finally chose to speak.
"What it is, a new interrogation technique? If so, then it is lame." He commented scathingly. "Putting me in a clearing devoid of anything. If you are trying to confuse me in the location, then you failed. Obviously I am somewhere in Konoha, possibly the forest of death. Now whoever is in charge sent you to do the talking hoping to take me off guard? Again it didn't work. I can at least congratulate you on thoroughly binding me, but it is the only thing you did right." Naruto just looked at Kabuto amused.
"You think it is a ruse of Konoha?"
"What else would it be? But I digress. I shouldn't have interrupted you. Go ahead and talk to your heart content about our fight." Kabuto finished smiling predatorily. One would wonder if he really was the prisoner or the other way around.
Naruto looked at Kabuto contemplatively. He was asking himself if he should tell him that Konoha didn't even know that Naruto had him in his possession. In the end, he chose not to and kept it for a later time.
"As I was saying before you interrupted me, you talked during our fight... a lot. You mentioned something very interesting about your abilities though." This time, Kabuto was more attentive as he had an idea where this conversation was going. After all, he was the one who made these kinds of remarks and usually what followed next was he dissecting the person on a table.
"If I remembers correctly, you said that you could regenerate dead cells, thus healing yourself for as long as you had the chakra needed to do so. You also bragged a lot about the fact that unlike Tsunade's own regenerative technique, yours didn't age the user as you didn't create new cells but brought them back to life instead. Am I correct so far?" Kabuto didn't reply much to Naruto disappointment.
"Now I won't beat around the bush as I am sure you already guessed what I am after. I want you to teach me that technique."
Gone was the smiling Naruto, in his place was a serious ninja who wouldn't hesitate to kill to get what he wanted, and Kabuto knew that as well. 'But if I give him what he want, I won't have any use for him left.' He thought but Naruto didn't finish his speech.
"And before you think of using a bloodline as an excuse, I suggest you rethink your strategy, as I know for a fact that you have no bloodline." Kabuto looked at him curiously prompting him to reply. "How I know this little tidbit of information isn't yours to concern with."
"I don't need such excuse when I simply know that this isn't something you can learn. Someone with such little knowledge of the medicinal art would never be able to grasp the concept being my jutsu. So you must have understood that it isn't that I don't want to, but I cannot teach you this." He finished with a satisfied smiled because of two facts.
The first was that he had brought Naruto to a stop all the while questioning his intelligence. The second was that if Naruto really wanted to learn that jutsu, then he would have to keep him alive. This increased his chance of escaping as Naruto was bound to make an error sooner or later. When he looked at Naruto's face though, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something very important, something that would come back to bite him hard.
For his part Naruto was lost in his thoughts as he contemplated what he had to do. On one hand Kabuto's analysis of the situation was right. If the jutsu involved deep knowledge of the medicinal arts then he couldn't learn the technique... or at least the Naruto from before his 'rebirth'. Kabuto didn't know the ability he had access to now so he couldn't have anticipated that he could acquire knowledge at a fast rate. So he could go ahead with Kabuto's implied tutoring and learn the technique after a while. But that would make him reliant on an enemy, something he didn't want in the least.
On the other hand he could simply take the information he needed by force, but even he had to admit that he was no interrogator. Of course he could senselessly hurt Kabuto until he got what he wanted but there was no way to say if it would work and how long it would take. That left him with limited options to find a sure way to get information.
The first thing that came to his mind was ironically the mind attacks possessed by the Yamanaka clan. If he were to learn them, he could easily invade Kabuto's mind and get what he wanted. His mind made up, he carefully went outside of Kabuto sight, behind the trees where two teams of Naruto's clones waited. The clones were there to keep an eye on Kabuto for the time being. Naruto replaced them every twelve hours to be sure that they didn't dispel from lack of chakra.
The Naruto that led the interrogation nodded at them before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, knowing that the original would get the information or lack of and decide what to do next.
A FEW DAYS LATER –
Like always, Tsunade was sitting behind her desk working tiredly on... paperwork. You would think that a ninja of her stature wouldn't waste her time doing such menial task. Unfortunately it was a requirement of the position she held. While she could easily delegate the work to several of her underlines, she would still need to check whatever those subordinates of hers did. After all, most of the paperwork was about day-to-day management of the village. She wouldn't be surprised if someone took advantage of it if they could.
Sighing she looked at the 'drawers' under her desk where she kept her stash of alcohol. What she wouldn't do to get a glass right now.
"Still as drunk as always!" A voice was heard coming from the window on her left.
She replied by throwing a handful of papers at the intruder who easily dodged it.
"Jiraiya! How many times did I tell you to use the door like a civilized person?"
"I am hurt you compare me with a simple human being. After all I am not just about anyone." Completely disregarding the deadpan expression on Tsunade, Jiraiya kept at it. "From the most known to the most hidden lands of the elemental countries, from mother to daughter, I am known from all as the gallant Toad sennin Jiraiya." By the end of his introduction, flowers were falling behind him to enhance the display much to Tsunade's dismay.
After much theatrics, Jiraiya finally became serious again as he looked at Tsunade. "I heard that Naruto lost control in his last mission." The latter nodded knowing that it was more of a statement than anything. "How bad was it?"
Tsunade gave him a summary of the mission to answer his question. By the end of it, Jiraiya frowned. "He just let them alive? And you let them wander around the village?"
Tsunade slammed her hand on the table at that. "Of course not, they were thoroughly checked for anything suspicious that snake could have done to them. The result was negative so I let them go."
Jiraiya nodded ignoring the earlier outburst in favor on piecing together what could have happened in that mission. Finding nothing worthy of note he decided to explain the real reason of his visit.
"I have finally found him."
"Who?"
"The leader of Akatsuki." Jiraiya replied softly to a wide-eyed Tsunade.
"Then who is it?" She snapped at him, impatient on knowing who was behind most of her headaches.
"Unfortunately I don't know his identity. I only know that he is in the hidden Rain village."
At that, Tsunade looked suspiciously at her teammate. "You plan on confronting him, don't you?" But the latter didn't respond, instead he just looked outside, gazing at the village.
"I didn't know you were worried about me." He finally said smiling but before he could comment further on it, the door was slammed open by a ninja who seemed to be out of breath.
As one person, Jiraiya and Tsunade turned to look at the person that seemed so alarmed. In less than a second they recognized the person as Yamato, the only survivor of Orochimaru's experiment to obtain the bloodline of the Shodaime hokage. They left him regain his breath which in itself didn't take that much time.
Yamato having calmed himself quickly noticed that Tsunade wasn't alone in the office, but upon recognizing the second ninja in the room, he felt much better. "Jiraiya – sama, Tsunade – sama, sorry for interrupting you like that but the situation is dire."
This immediately put the two sannins on guard and expecting the worse.
"Hokage – sama, like you suggested after our last meeting, I kept an eye on Naruto to see if anything was wrong."
"Why would you keep an eye on my student?" Jiraiya asked dangerously to the anbu who seemed to shrink under the intense gaze of the senior ninja. Thankfully Tsunade was present and quickly made him aware of the side effect of subduing Naruto when he was under the influence of Kyuubi chakra.
After being allowed to continue Yamato did just that. "I have been observing him for a few days now. I was expecting the beast chakra to come back since then but it wasn't the case. Earlier I went to his apartment to see if there was any change but I witnessed something that shocked me."
"Get over it boy!" Jiraiya snapped.
"Naruto... he disappeared in a puff of smoke, as if he was a clone."
"So what? You know that he can use the shadow clone technique so what is the big deal?"
"That is just it, the whole time it was a clone because I searched the whole village for him and found nothing. I even went to the barrier squad and asked them if they could feel him in the village and they said NO. I am telling you that for several days Naruto wasn't in the village."
Tsunade and Jiraiya widened their eyes as several theories flashed through their minds for an explanation, but before they could think further on it, a blazing alarm sounded through the village making the two sannins faces stricken in horror. They weren't terrified because they could be under attack right now. No that wasn't something that would scare them like that. What scared them was that particular alarm was only used when the ARCHIVE HAD BEEN BREACHED.
A FEW MINUTES EARLIER –
A figure stood at a treetop. He silently observed his surrounding before looking straight at a lone building that was well hidden by the giant trees that covered the area. If you didn't already know where this building was, you wouldn't be able to find it. Only through extreme luck would you stumble upon it.
The figure had spiky yellow hairs held by a black tap. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to dull depending on the amount of light. He wore black pants with a pocket on the right thigh, a black shirt with a black vest above it. To sum it up he looked like a true ninja that strived in the shadows and only went in the light to kill his next victim.
Even if a ninja were to specifically search him by his chakra, he wouldn't be found. That was because during the last few days, Naruto used his clones to train on several specifics attributes. One of those was the ability to hide his chakra. Because he had too much chakra, he couldn't use the regular method to hide it. Or at least it didn't work very well with him. Instead he did something else, something that would be expected from an unpredictable ninja like him.
He created his own method of hiding his chakra.
It was very efficient, even more so than the regular method, but it wasn't without its flaws. Instead of compressing his chakra in a tight ball around his chest, Naruto left it as it was. He only learned how to change his chakra signature to simulate that of the nature around him. Because of this, everyone trying to sense his chakra would only sense the energy that could usually be felt in the nature. And even then, few people could sense natural energy, so that reduced the number of people able to sense him drastically. Unfortunately, because he didn't stop his chakra from flowing around him like those who used the compressing method, a possessor of a dojutsu could easily see his chakra flowing.
Naruto looked in front of him and muttered to himself. 'It is now or never.' Before he let himself fall forward from the tree. Despite falling to his death he thought nothing of it. It was only before colliding with another tree that his body vanished without any trace whatsoever.
A hundred meters away from there, he reappeared in a crouching position on the rooftop. He wisely chose not to use the obvious door that served as the only entry point of the building as he knew not what was behind it. He could still feel the lingering chakra of the barrier that surrounded the building but paid no mind to it. 'Exactly like the one surrounding the whole village. Effective but completely useless against me.' He thought. Indeed the barrier was useless against him because it worked by detecting any disturbances on the barrier and the chakra signature causing the disturbance. If let says a bird where to go through it, its lack of human chakra signature would classify it as a harmless intruder. This was done so the ones in charge of monitoring the barrier wouldn't be distracted by animals. This was a weakness that Naruto used as the way he concealed his chakra classified him as an animal.
Without wasting any time, Naruto raised his hand and a Rasengan was formed. He slammed it on the roof creating a hole large enough for him to get through. He jumped through it and found himself in a room bare of anything. A door was in front of him, but he could already heard people moving through the corridor thanks to his sharpened hearing. 'Probably alerted by the ruckus I caused' He thought while he quickly searched for a spot to hide.
Not long after that the door was slammed open and kunais sailed through it toward no particular target. Following the flying weapons was a ninja garbed like an anbu. Upon entering the room, he quickly took position in the center of the piece while looking behind the door for anyone that might be hiding there.
He found no one.
A voice coming from the door said. "Did you find anything?"
"No! Whoever caused this must have fled the room before we came here." The ninja inside the room said as he looked at the hole on the far end of the piece.
Upon saying that, the second ninja cautiously got inside the piece to confirm what his fellow ninja said. He too looked inside the room and found nothing. He even tried to disrupt his chakra flow in case they were under a Genjutsu but to no avail. He turned to the first ninja to speak when a shadow fell from the ceiling and he felt a hand holding his face and quickly turns it in the other direction breaking his neck.
The second ninja still analyzing the hole on the ceiling didn't even notice his fellow ninja death before he choked on his own blood. He had time to look at his torso to see the tip of a kunai protruding from his chest before he felt on the ground. Time seemed to get back to normal as the two bodies fell on the ground at the same time with Naruto standing in the middle looking disappointed at his victims. 'They always ignore the ceiling as a potential hiding spot' He thought before moving toward the corridor and closing the door behind him.
Knowing that he had few minutes before the others guards wonder where his last victims are, he quickly and silently moved through the level he was on in search of the stairs leading to the ground floor. He knew that the archives must be enormous, so it was simply impossible to keep them on any of this building's floors. That meant the only place they could be was underground, so he had to go down.
It wasn't long before he found the stairs and quickly went down, only stopping at the first floor where he sent four clones to take care of those staying at that floor. He didn't want to be boxed from all side after all, so it was easier to incapacitate everyone in his path. Without opening the door leading to the corridor of the ground floor, he felt five ninjas standing all the way. He scowled at that as that meant at least one ninja would detect him. He could only hope that none of them possessed a device to activate whatever alarms was in place.
On the ground floor stood five anbu standing at about five meters from each others. They were positioned in a way that they would be immediately alerted if one of them was attacked. Of course they had never been attacked before as few people even knew this place existed so they weren't worried that much. But still orders were orders so they kept their guard up no matter how boring the task seemed.
Unfortunately nothing could ever prepare them for what happened in just about a few seconds. The ninja standing at the end of the corridor saw everything in slow motion. Without warning, the door leading to the stairs was blow toward them. Fortunately the closest ninja easily dodged it by jumping above it but in a blur a shape appeared under him waiting for him to fall on the ground. Not one to disappoint, he felt to the ground but at the same time he swung his short sword toward the figure who side stepped to the left and retaliated with a backhand to the ninja arm and disarmed him.
The second ninja seeing this moved in a zigzag pattern toward the two fighting. Naruto looked at him and with deadly accuracy, kicked the first ninja toward the second. The two ninjas were slammed on the wall, groaning from the pain.
Naruto only had time to look at the other ninjas in the floor to see a cloud of weapons flying at him. Most of them pierced him before he felt on the floor. The anbu looked closely at Naruto dead body to confirm his death when it erupted in smoke.
'Shit!' The anbu swore, as he had to jump backward to dodge an axe kick that slammed on the ground, leaving a dent on it. Before he had time to retaliate, Naruto vanished from his spot and appeared under the ninja. He cut his legs off the ground and with a reverse kick, kicked him toward the ceiling.
The fourth ninja had been moving through handseals for a jutsu when he found himself face to face with Naruto who appeared above him, and slammed his head on the floor with a backflip. He vanished again and appeared behind the ninja that he sends earlier toward the ceiling. He surrounded his waist with his arms and rotated on himself before slamming the ninja head first on the ground in a perfect mimicry of Lee's Lotus attack.
The last ninja who saw all this widened his eyes and moved through handseals for a jutsu that would be impossible to dodge in such narrow corridor. A dragon made of fire erupted from his mouth and charged at the still airborne Naruto. An explosion later and smoke from the impact point, the ninja looked with barely concealed anticipation as the smoke was lifted. But before he could clearly see, a bluish hand made of chakra erupted from it and pierced his belly. He only had time to widen his eyes before he felt on the ground dead.
The smoke lifted, Naruto looked around himself and checked that the other ninja were out of it. Finding none of them alive, he moved toward the end of the corridor that the ninjas seemed to protect. There, he found a trap that led underground but above it was a seal that protected the entry. Thanks to the little lessons he got under Jiraiya tutelage, he was able to determine that it was like the barrier that protected the village. Except this one was a physical one.
'It seems that it absorbs physical energy and rejects it at the one that produced the energy in the first place.' He swore as he finished his analysis. He wasn't a seal master like Jiraiya, so he couldn't create a counter seal for this. Every solution he had in mind would immediately alert everyone in the vicinity of his intrusion. He could live with that, as he had planned to alert Konoha anyway to facilitate his other mission in the village, but he would have preferred to do so in his own terms.
Sighing, he went about the process of destroying the seal. 'No time like the present.' He muttered before gathering chakra on his palm and force-feeding it to the seal. This was a method Jiraiya showed him to counter a seal. Unfortunately it wasn't efficient as you usually needed a shit load of chakra even for the basic seals, not to mention that by using that much chakra you became a beacon for anyone, thus alerting them of your presence and position.
And as if on cue, a blazing alarm sounded through the building 'and probably in the village too.' Naruto thought with a scowl.
'Taking into account the time needed to cross the village and reach this spot and the time for Tsunade to put together a team to get here, I have at most ten minutes before they are here.' He thought just as the seal broke under the pressure, giving him access to the trapdoor.
BACK TO THE VILLAGE –
Back to Tsunade's office, things were getting serious as several ninjas mostly anbus were coming to her office. For most of them, they had never heard of this kind of alarm. Usually the alarm was followed by a specific series of distinctive sounds that gave the instructions they were supposed to follow. But this time, they were acting blind, which is why they were going to the hokage tower to receive their instructions.
Yamato too didn't know what this specific alarm meant and was looking around panicked. At first he looked at the two sannins for guidance but quickly found that they were even less useful than him. That was because Jiraiya and Tsunade knew very well what that meant and had every reason to be afraid.
'The archive is under attack? How is that possible? No one even knows of its existence. That shouldn't be possible at all.' Tsunade was thinking, more like denying the possibility of such a thing happening.
'It had to happen when I am back in the village.' Jiraiya thought a scowl replacing his earlier horror stricken face. 'I told sensei that keeping such thing would come back to bite us later on, but of course he didn't listen to me. Now we are in this situation. If those information fall into the wrong hands then we are as good as dead, politically speaking.'
Their introspection over, Tsunade immediately took charge.
"Cat!" A ninja with a cat mask appeared in front of her. "I want you to dispatch the anbu everywhere in the village to protect every sensible spot."
The anbu nodded before disappearing to execute his mission. He knew that the anbu had to protect places like the hokage tower, the hospital, the academy and several places of interest in case they were under attack.
Another anbu appeared in front of Tsunade. This one had a rat mask and had a slender figure indicating that she was a woman.
"Gather all the jounins and chuunins and have them cover every exits of the village. I want Konoha on lockdown. No one is allowed to get in or out until the matter is resolved."
Having his order, the ninja went away. Another one quickly replaced her.
"As for you, have the genins evacuate the civilian to safety and stay with them for added protection."
Tsunade finished as the last ninja disappeared leaving Jiraiya, Yamato and her alone in the office. Jiraiya looked at her with a serious gaze. If the situation wasn't precarious he would have commended her on her quick thinking. After all, he knew just like her that no protocol was in place to react under this situation. This was done because no one was supposed to know of the existence of the archives. Even now they couldn't send their ninjas toward the area it was situated, as they would ask too many questions afterward. Only those that were in the confidence were allowed to get there. 'And they are here it seems.' Jiraiya thought as he felt several chakra signatures enter the office in their fighting gear.
The first one had long dark brown hair and featureless white eyes. He was wearing the standard uniform of a Konoha jounin and a forehead protector on his forehead. This was none other than Hyuuga Hiashi, the leader of the Hyuuga clan.
The next one to appear had long red hairs and markings on his cheeks. Unlike Hiashi, he wore a black suit completed with armor with the kanji for 'food' on it. He also wore a rope belt, hand guards and a piece of cloth tied around his head. This was Akimichi Choza, leader of the Akimichi clan.
Directly on the left of Choza stood another ninja with dark hairs tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes as well as a goatee. A deerskin coat was over his standard Konoha uniform. This was Nara Shikaku, leader of the Nara clan.
The final ninja that appeared had long blond hairs. He wore the standard uniform with a sleeveless red coat above it. This was Inoichi Yamanaka, leader of the Yamanaka clan.
Upon seeing the four ninjas that appeared, Tsunade gave a thin smile. "I see you remember protocol!" The only reply she got was serious nod from the four of them.
"I won't enter into any details concerning the situation we are facing as even myself don't know everything that is going on. I have already dispatched the ninjas all over the village in case the intruders escape..."
Shikaku interrupted her. "Do you have an idea on the identities of the intruders?"
"I have one, but we will talk about it while we move toward the place." She replied before she turned toward Yamato who was still in the room looking at the happenings. "You are coming with us. I have the feeling you will be invaluable soon."
Without letting Yamato answer, she turned around and vanished. Jiraiya and the four ninjas that came in the room followed her. Yamato was hard pressed to follow them as despite being one of the most powerful anbu right now, it seemed that each of the clan head were well above his level.
While every ninjas in Konoha was going toward their assigned position, a lone ninja was stealthily moving through the shadow of the buildings to reach his target. The person had been assigned a mission by his master and he wasn't about to fail. Before long he reached a compound that belonged to one of the clans of Konoha.
Because of the emergency, there were only the minimum guards protecting the compound. Without difficulties, he bypassed the guards, as he made sure they couldn't sense his chakra. Then he moved through the different houses with a particular one in mind.
Upon reaching the house he easily broke in and searched what he wanted. A few minutes later, he found it.
It was a big scroll with a clan symbol on it.
He knew that the blood of a member of the clan was needed to open it. Fortunately he acquired it earlier in the day.
Satisfied with a successful mission, he quickly exited the room and escaped using another path. He also made sure that he left no trace of ever being there before going.
The guards in front of the compound would not know that someone got through them without them knowing. It would be a long time before they notice the missing scroll, as they didn't use it often.
It took ten minutes for the special team formed by Tsunade to reach the archives location. That was including the time needed for her to give orders to her ninjas. If it wasn't for this they would have been here earlier but there was nothing they could have done about it.
They stopped just in front of the building Naruto entered just minutes before they came here. Yamato looked at the building and found nothing noteworthy about it. 'Appearances are deceiving' He repeated it to himself and quickly waited for his orders.
Tsunade on the other looked at the building in deep though. If she was right about the identity of the intruder, having Yamato present when they confronted him would be advantageous for them. At the same time, she didn't think that the anbu was ready to learn what was inside that building. She didn't have to make a decision as the resident strategist of the village took it from here.
"It would be better for you" Shikaku looked at Tsunade "and Jiraiya to go inside the building, along with Yamato just in case, while we stay outside to stop anyone from escaping. We don't know what the intruders have done to the building; you and Jiraiya are more likely to escape any traps they may have put in place. Hiashi will stay with us and scan the area with his Byakugan, to warn us of anyone getting in or out of the perimeter."
Tsunade just nodded at the plan, as she couldn't find a better one. Jiraiya just nodded absently as he contemplated what he would do if it really was his student down there. He went after Tsunade and Yamato as they entered the building, going directly toward the trapdoor. Upon reaching it, Jiraiya noticed the burn marks around the seal that used to block the passage and a chill went up his spine. He was the one that taught Naruto how to destroy a seal after all. He knew that the latter was brash enough to counter a seal by overloading it with chakra.
If it was the work of another village, they would have prepared for such protection and got through this more subtly. The farther they went inside the underground maze, the clearer it was that Naruto was behind this. He could see grinding marks left by what could only be a Rasengan.
The three ninjas cringed though when they saw the devastation that was left behind Naruto's wake. Dead ninjas laid on the path. Because of the amount of defeated ninjas, they were beginning to think that Naruto wasn't alone. They simply couldn't conceive that Naruto reached such level that he was able to dispatch a whole garrison of elite ninjas that held the advantage against him as they knew this place like the back of their hands.
But the proof was there. No one seemed to have survived.
Before long they reached a huge door that led to the main room. Readying themselves, they pushed open the door and got inside the room, careful not to ignite any traps. But what they saw inside the room wasn't something they expected.
Inside the room sat a lone figure on a table. They quickly recognized him as Naruto, not that the latter was doing anything to hide his features. What surprised them was the fact that the shelves were bare. Every scroll had been removed and put somewhere else. They didn't know where but supposed Naruto had a hand in it.
Another big surprise was that Naruto seemed to have been waiting for them to come as he sat on the table with his right leg crossed over the left.
He looked at them and said slowly. "You took your time to get here, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Yamato" The way he talked increased the bad feeling the three had, but they were ninja for a reason.
Tsunade, quick to anger, was the first to speak while Jiraiya and Yamato chose to observe. "Naruto!" she yelled.
"I am not that far you know! You don't need to yell at me." Naruto answered looking at her dead in the eyes.
Not perturbed in the least, Tsunade spoke again. "What is the meaning of this? Have you finally lost your mind? You attacked and killed several members of the Konoha forces. Then you infiltrate a protected area?"
Naruto took his time to reply to these questions. "For your last question, there was no sign that said it was banned from entering this building, so you will excuse me if I didn't particularly feel the need to ask for permission." Tsunade gnashed her teethes at that, wanting nothing more than to smash the brat mouth.
"Concerning the killing of the Konoha forces, they shouldn't have attacked me in the first place. I could even claim self-defense for that one. How was I supposed to know that they weren't enemy disguised in Konoha ninjas send to capture me in an unknown area of the village?"
They couldn't fault the logic of the kid and if it weren't for the change in personality and the earlier suspicion toward him, they would have been inclined to believe his story but as it was, they knew that it was load of crap.
"Do you really think we will believe such story?" Tsunade asked incredulously.
"Not really, but I wanted to try it anyway. No loss on my side." Naruto nonchalantly added to a fuming Tsunade. "But enough with the jokes, I am sure you have a busy schedule to follow just like me, so I will get to the point."
Naruto rose from the table and observed amusedly as the bodies of the Konoha ninjas tensed. "What happened to the Uzumaki family?"
To Yamato, the question was an easy one and he found nothing suspicious about it while the two sannins immediately tensed at that. The reaction wasn't lost on Naruto's part and it reinforced the impression he got about the two of them.
"Mind you, I am not asking for the cover story that is recorded in the public library for anyone to see. I want the truth." He added.
Tsunade briefly looked at Jiraiya for guidance before she looked back at Naruto with anger clear in her eyes. "Are you telling me that you infiltrated this place just to learn this? Did it ever occur to you that you could simply have asked us?"
"Do you think I would ask you something like that after discovering that someone – probably a Konoha ninja – had tampered with my mind to stop me from learning the full ability of the shadow clone technique?" Naruto shot back, shocking the sannin, from the knowledge that his mind had been tampered with or that he now knew the secret of the shadow clone technique, only they knew.
"I knew this place existed since a long time but I never saw the need to get inside the building. Recently though, I learned that several things had been hidden from me by this village. The very village I was ready to lay my life for. If you think that I won't do everything I can to get what I want then you are sorely mistaken. This village owe me and I intend to collect it." Naruto continued with venom in his voice.
They could see a vindictive satisfaction in his eyes, but they couldn't determine where it comes from. Jiraiya wanting to diffuse the situation and save his student from Tsunade opened his mouth to speak but his teammate beat him to the punch. "Jiraiya I don't want any of your excuse right now. I don't care if he is your apprentice but he has gone too far this time. He will have to answer to the council for this. This time I won't protect him from them."
Jiraiya just dropped his head, as he knew that Tsunade was right. She had already done so much for the kid even though he didn't knew it, but this time he knew that the boy had gone too far. They wouldn't be able to protect him from the council, especially not from them. If only he had told him about his family earlier.
Naruto saw Jiraiya's reaction but thought nothing of it. He didn't know what they were talking about and frankly he didn't care. He wanted the truth; he wanted to know what happened to his family and why it was hidden from him in the first place. Nothing would stop him from discovering that.
"You should have fled from here why you still could." Tsunade said as she cracked her knuckles.
"Why should I?"
"Because you would have stood a chance at escaping. At least for a little while until the hunter nins would have caught with you." She said as she made a coded signal for Yamato for him to get ready. She looked at Jiraiya and knew that he wouldn't be of use to them, as he didn't seem to want to fight his own student. She could understand that but fortunately Naruto wasn't her student. She considered him like a little brother sometimes but he would never replace Nawaki and that was the end of it.
"You seem awfully confident in your capacity to subdue me if not kill me. I cannot say I am surprised, after all, this village has always underestimated me." Naruto said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest not even preparing for an attack from his enemy.
Tsunade scowled at that. "I have the right to be confident gaki, unlike you."
Without warning, she charged at Naruto and punched him in the face. Or at least tried as the latter ducked under the punch and retaliated with his own. It was easily blocked by Tsunade who caught it in a firm grip and launched him toward one of the shelves.
Before he collided with it, he regained his balance and softly landed on it, looking down at the Konoha ninjas. Tsunade's scowl deepened, surprised by Naruto recovery. She smirked though when a tree broke through the shelves and forced Naruto to jump toward her. She immediately prepared herself to punch Naruto but she could only widen her eyes as the latter vanished too fast for her to follow.
What she did felt was the pain that erupted on her belly. She was violently launched to a set of shelves with the chakra from the Rasengan surrounding her body. Jiraiya could only look in shock at what he had witnessed, while Yamato, true to his position as an anbu captain, kept attacking Naruto with plants.
Before the wood could reach him though, a hand made of chakra was formed behind Naruto and went through the wood, completely destroying it in the first place. Yamato only had time to dive to the side as the hand passed by the position he once stood at. But the hand didn't stop there as it turned around and charged at the still downed Yamato who could only look in fright at the mass of chakra.
An explosion occurred where he stood. Smoke rose from the ground and concealed him. When the smoke was lifted though, Naruto scowled at what he saw. Standing between the hand and Yamato was Tsunade with her right hand impacting with the chakra arm. Slowly, the arm dissolved as he stopped sustaining it with his chakra and saw Tsunade look at him with a serious gaze, something he only saw when she fought against Orochimaru three years ago.
"Yamato go beside Jiraiya. It seems that your talent won't be needed in this fight after all." Tsunade said coldly all the while keeping an eye on Naruto in case he tried anything.
Yamato did as he was ordered. He wasn't willing to get involved in what seemed to be a battle way out of his league.
Once her subordinate was away from what had become an arena Tsunade focused entirely on her opponent. She never would have thought that the brat would progress this much. From Jiraiya's reactions she could tell that the techniques he used weren't something taught to him by her teammate and that worried her greatly. If Jiraiya didn't know them then Naruto had been able to fool a sannin for a long time and that wasn't something that could be done so easily without tremendous skills. She was now reviewing everything she knew about Naruto but couldn't find how it was possible.
"Are you wondering how I am this strong?" Naruto asked not really expecting an answer.
Tsunade just scowled at him. 'I am at a disadvantage right now. Because of this enclosed area, I can't do too much damage to the ground and wall unless I want to bury us all. That means I have to be careful with my super strength. Also whatever speed technique he used is very dangerous. I didn't see it enough to create a counter for it and he is using it sparingly. Maybe so I won't understand how it works.' She thought, analyzing the situation she was in.
"Be grateful brat. You will get to witness something that few in this world have." She said while closing her eyes in concentration. She knew that Naruto would be curious enough to let her finish charging her technique even though it was stupid.
And like she thought, Naruto looked curiously at the technique and waited until it was ready.
On the sidelines, Jiraiya widened his eyes at that. 'Is she really going to use it against Naruto? Does she think he is really that much of a threat to use something as deadly as that?' He wondered. He knew that technique was something even more dangerous than her super strength. Something that he didn't want to face even with his sage mode activated.
Before long Tsunade's body was shining from a bright light coming from her body. She opened her eyes and looked at Naruto with a smirk on her face. "You shouldn't have let me finish this technique. Now it is over."
Upon saying this, she vanished at about the same speed Naruto used earlier. It was close to the sound speed and that shocked Naruto greatly. Fortunately he was able to dodge the initial strike, or so he thought as Tsunade changed the direction of her arm at the last moment and slammed her hand on his face.
He was slammed on the ground and rolled for several meters before stopping on the wall at the far end of the room.
Tsunade was upon him in an instant and with a series of punches and kicks, she lifted him off the ground.
Naruto could only see darkness around himself, as Tsunade pummeled him. In a desperate attempt, chakra erupted from his body causing an explosion. Tsunade was forced to get back, giving him time to recover as much as he could but the damage was already done.
When Tsunade looked at him once the smoke was lifted she saw that Naruto had trouble standing on his feet. Blood was freely rolling from his mouth. But what satisfied her more was the pure hate that radiated from his eyes. 'Finally I am getting a reaction from you' She thought. She had been getting frustrated with the dull face Naruto showed them.
Naruto looked at her and if look could kill, Tsunade would dead several times over. He was hurt very badly because he didn't have the regeneration granted to him by Kyuubi anymore. He was sure that if it had gone for longer, he would have died.
'She must be thinking that the Kyuubi will heal whatever damage I receive, that is why she isn't holding back. Even now that beast is ruining my life.' He thought with a scowl.
Not one to be outdone, he immediately activated his speed technique and vanished in a sonic boom, shocking those present especially Jiraiya who was reminded of his late student. 'How?' Jiraiya muttered in a mixed feeling of pride and shock.
Tsunade on the other hand stayed calm. Of course she was surprised that the brat was even faster than before but she had a surprise for him in reserve. And just like she thought she felt a ball of chakra touch her back. In a reaction time that would render even the yondaime raikage green with envy, she rotated on herself and kicked the offending arm to the side. Before Naruto could retaliate, another punch was slammed on his belly.
In a puff of smoke, Naruto was replaced with a log was destroyed from the impact. He reappeared on another shelve in the room, looking down at Tsunade with a calculative look.
Tsunade, confident as ever looked at him with a smirk. "You see just how hopeless it is, don't you? You may be faster than me, but it doesn't matter in the end. You may have escaped this time by luck but you will eventually get caught."
"Do you really think it was luck that made me switch with a log on time?" Naruto asked coldly. Gone was joking Naruto, this time he was really getting into it.
"Despite the techniques I showed you, you still underestimate me. Then let me make you reconsider." Suddenly 3 chakra arms formed around Naruto with one of them a little above his head.
"When I made my chakra explode around me, I noticed something, something that was far more dangerous than the improvement in speed that you displayed. I am sure you showed me that speed improvement on purpose to hide the true nature of your technique."
Yamato looked in wonder while Jiraiya clenched his fists. 'He noticed it so fast?'
"Once the chakra touched your skin, you quickly moved outside the range of the blast. I wasn't sure at first so I tried to confirm it by attacking you with something that you couldn't see. And just as I thought your body immediately reacted once I touched you. What the technique really does is increase your reaction time to a godly level. The speed improvement is only a side effect of this. Am I right?"
Naruto finished to a stunned Tsunade who couldn't understand how Naruto, a ninja with the attention span of an insect could have analyzed her technique so easily. But Naruto wasn't finished.
"You really did a number on me and like I said earlier, I have a schedule to follow. So you will have to excuse me."
"You really think that I will let you escape now that you are boxed in? What do you intend to do? You may have pierced my technique but that doesn't mean you can counter it." Tsunade said smugly.
Naruto just looked impassively at her and suddenly chakra begins to pour toward the chakra arm that was above his head, forming a Rasengan of epic proportion.
'The concentration of chakra on that attack will destroy everything around here. Does he want to bury us all here?' Yamato thought in fright at the jutsu.
"I wonder, can you escape a blast that will cover this whole building?" Naruto asked with a coldness that froze the Konoha ninja.
Just Outside the building, Hiashi, Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi had been monitoring the surrounding when they felt a huge discharge of chakra, before a violent explosion was heard. The explosion was so huge that the shockwave send them flying toward the trees knocking them down.
The smoke that was lifted could be seen from the village as it went so high into the sky.
A few minutes later, enough smoke was lifted to allow those present to see around them. What they saw was the huge crater that was formed where the building once stood.
At the edge of the crater, Naruto stood, surrounded by chakra arms. In the middle of the crater, a huge toad and a slug stood. After a while, the two animals opened their mouth to let Tsunade, Jiraiya and Yamato out.
They only had time to see Naruto look at them with the same hate that he displayed earlier and vanish like he was never there in the first place. They still heard his parting words though.
"I am sure that I will find my answer in those archives. But should Konoha has been involved in the destruction of my clan, MARK MY WORDS, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN TO THE LAST ONE!"
Author's notes:
I hope you liked the infiltration scenes. Anyway if you liked it or if you have a comment, review. Until next time everyone.