Scorpion's Masterpiece
Chapter 1
Success
– Land of Whirlpools –
"Are you certain it's alright to let him go alone like this?" Was the question Kabuto posed to Sasori, hours after Naruto left, piloting a puppet-manned boat back to the Land of Fire.
"Yes. What's the use of making a masterpiece if no one sees it?" Sasori replied. "And besides, he has his plans." Kabuto couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.
"Konoha won't know what hit them."
"And in any case, this place will require some work to become a suitable base."
"Ah yes, Naruto-kun's charming little idea: Yūgure."
"I imagine it will be quite the surprise for Akatsuki."
– One Month Later, Konoha –
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, sighed, setting down the pen in his hand and rubbing his nose for a moment before glancing briefly out the window.
The invasion three years ago had been harsh on Konoha. While most, if not all of the civilian population had been evacuated to the shelters in time, many shinobi had fallen in defense of the city, significantly reducing their capability to produce revenue through missions, as most had been chunin suited for C- to A-rank missions, a valuable range that brought in the largest block percentage of money through a combined medium of quantity and quality of pay. Sure, jonin drew the higher-paying missions, but they were also numbered less than the chunin, and many of them were further involved in training genin teams.
Fortunately enough, there had been enough genin in circulation that proved themselves capable enough to be either field-promoted or participate in any one of the five Chunin Exams since and fill the gap.
At the moment, Sarutobi found himself wondering as to how five specific chunin were.
And the thought of them then turned his thoughts to one genin, gone for three long years, making the Hokage sigh as he returned to that most foul of evils, paperwork.
In a way, Sarutobi thought he'd failed Naruto. After all, it was due to his influence, disappointed in the jinchuuriki, that had driven the boy to seek teaching from everyone he could find, ranging from Anko…to the infamous missing-nin, Sasori of the Red Sands. And it was his negligence that had seen him completely overlook all the initial signs, until Kakashi had brought up Naruto's astonishing – and unsettling – growth, upon which he'd assigned Anko and her newly-promoted friend Kurenai to find out just where Naruto got his new skills.
Unfortunately, that assignment had practically failed before it had started. Naruto had proven to be paranoid, and perfectly justified given the circumstances, the pair completely unable to find any hint as to his mysterious instructors through indirect means, which had meant they needed to be more up-front in their search for information. From what Kurenai, and later Anko, reported, they had planned to ambush the blond immediately after the second phase of the Exam.
That had been trashed by both the appearance of Anko's old teacher, Orochimaru of the Sannin and Hiruzen's student, upon which she'd given chase and was literally beat into a coma; and the last-minute arrival of Naruto's team. And then was The Incident.
Sarutobi had trusted that Hyuuga Hiashi knew his daughter and nephew well enough when he'd made that deal to pair them off in the preliminaries, pitting Hyuuga Hinata of the Main House against Hyuuga Neji of the Branch House of the Hyuuga clan.
He'd been wrong. Oh, so wrong.
Rather than the weak wilting flower that Hiashi had thought her, Hinata had proven to be skilled in her own way, and Neji for all his genius, proved to be much less composed than Hiashi had supposed. Instead of being summarily trounced and in one move both give Hinata a wake-up call and appease Neji's anger for and hatred of the Main House, Hinata had stood up to Neji proudly, and the enraged genius had struck at her with a lethal blow to her heart, dealing a near-instantly fatal injury.
Having one Hyuuga slay another in the Exams was bad enough, but Hinata had been one of the closest friends of Naruto. Naruto, who was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, most powerful of the Tailed Beasts. Naruto, who had proven to be far more capable than anyone had previously guessed, with med-nin training and a mastery of seals. Naruto, who was obviously furious and clearly intended to murder Neji, regardless of the consequences.
Put simply, it was a mess of enormous proportions, and Sarutobi had to take steps to ensure it was dealt with. First, by isolating Neji and Naruto from each other. Second, by sending Naruto far away on a halfway bogus mission to find and retrieve another of the Sannin, Tsunade, with Jiraiya, the last of the three, and Yakushi Kabuto, Naruto's tutor in medical techniques. He'd hoped Jiraiya would be able to drag the mission out long enough that the Chunin Exams would end before Naruto returned and had the chance to fight and kill Neji.
And then he'd received a message from Jiraiya, telling him that Orochimaru ambushed and attacked him and his team in a village a few days walking speed away from Konoha. Hiruzen had set out immediately, intending to deal with his traitorous student once and for all. When he'd arrived, the area was torn apart, with gouges and trenches carved into the earth, craters that were filled with water or frozen over in ice, and enormous scorch marks all over. And in the middle of it, was Orochimaru, standing with the resurrected corpses of the First and Second Hokages; facing off against Jiraiya and a strange red-headed boy with a dozen unsettlingly human puppets, one who resembled Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, and one the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure.
Despite his curiosity, Hiruzen had focused on his old, traitorous student. A minute's banter was followed by a ferocious combat, wherein the redhead's puppets cornered and pinned the resurrected Hokages long enough for Jiraiya to tear the control talisman away from the First, and Hiruzen to remove the talisman from the Second, his own teacher. At that point, with Naruto and Kabuto joining in the battle, it had become blatantly obvious even to the prideful Orochimaru that he'd been outmatched, and the Sannin attempted to flee.
That had been roughly curtailed by everyone surrounding him, attacking from all angles, until a blow from Hiruzen finally forced Orochimaru into his true form: That of a Great White Serpent, composed of hundreds of smaller snakes, and topped by a grotesque facsimile of the Snake Sannin's face. Orochimaru had boasted of immortality. In response, Hiruzen and Jiraiya had sealed him into a sake jug, of all things.
That should have been the end of it. They should have celebrated their victory, and returned to Konoha.
But Hiruzen had to know who the puppeteer was. And when he'd turned to question him, he'd found the redhead joined by Kabuto, a puppet with a human head, the genin from Suna, and Naruto. Apparently, the look on Hiruzen's face sufficed as a question, and the apparent boy had explained that he was the one who'd taught Naruto much of what he knew, of seals and puppetry. And then, the boy had asked Naruto to desert Konoha, and join him!
There had been a brief moment, where Hiruzen had hoped he would hear the answer he hoped for. But, Naruto said yes.
A part of Hiruzen wasn't surprised, given how the council and other powers-that-be in Konoha had conspired to limit Naruto, even before he graduated from the academy. And the suspicion and mistrust that followed him after the incident with the Land of Waves…
Before they left, Naruto had told Hiruzen and Jiraiya of a method to heal Anko, and then they'd left, using a cloud of dust to cover their escape.
It was…quite a shock. Naruto, the boy Hiruzen had watched over since he was born, who he considered his second grandson…had deserted the Leaf.
It was almost like another Orochimaru.
And then, they'd returned to find Konoha in shambles. Orochimaru had planned for the invasion to completely destroy Konoha in his absence, with him dealing with both Jiraiya and Hiruzen. However, he hadn't counted on the experienced shinobi being perfectly capable of carrying out the appropriate measures in the absence of their Hokage. At that point, Hiruzen had been engulfed in the process of rebuilding the village and planning for the future. And then, after all the rush and hub-bub of reconstruction, he had to face the truth of Naruto's defection, and decide how to deal with it.
After hours of agonizing over the dilemma, in the end, he couldn't do it. He couldn't label Naruto, the boy who'd practically his second grandson, a traitor and missing-nin. Instead, he'd stated, officially, that Naruto had been sent on a three-year training trip with a special instructor, in order to better serve his village.
Part of it wasn't a lie.
But the three years were up now, and he hoped the five he'd chosen to go retrieve Naruto were ready. Because if they weren't…
Naruto could very well rip them to pieces.
– The Forest of Death –
The Forest of Death, a popular place for Konoha to hold the second portion of its hosted Chunin Exams and officially known as Training Ground 44 (more unofficially called, 'Oh Kami-Sama, my spleen!') was currently playing host to what sounded like the entire ANBU Demolitions Corps.
Really, it was five chunin, a special jonin, and one of the sannin.
Amid explosions from explosive tags, rigged wire-traps and time-detonated bombs, the five chunin of the Naruto Retrieval Team ducked and dodged around kunai, senbon, and ninjutsu techniques of many different varieties. The kunai came from Anko, and they knew from experience that the flying blades were liberally coated in any one of dozens of venomous cocktails, with some attached explosive tags for variety. The senbon and various ninjutsu came from Jiraiya.
This screwed up version of a general open combat exercise was intended to train the NRT against Naruto's style of warfare, the tricky, indirect kind that saw a person landing on a tree branch only for it to explode, or for them to trip over a series of cunningly concealed ninja wire-traps and fall into an open pit was provided by Anko, while Jiraiya generally threw in different kinds of ninjutsu, ranging from sweeping, slicing breezes to explosions of earth and stone that sent shrapnel careening through the forest. They had no idea just what kind of skills Naruto might pick up, so they had to be prepared for anything.
The one thing no one could simulate was Naruto's potential abilities as a jinchūriki. They had no idea what powers the Nine-Tails might give him, beyond his clearly enormous reserves of chakra.
Leading the five through their flight was Sasuke, dressed in standard shinobi-style pants with a kunai/shuriken pouch on the left leg, dark blue shirt under a chunin flak vest with a tanto sheathed on his back, the Sharingan's six tomoe spinning as he looked ahead, leading the team past the deadlier traps and dodging areas that would leave them more exposed to one of their instructors.
Just behind him was Kiba, wearing a black variant of his original outfit that replaced the coat with a leather form fitting black jacket, as one of the more close-combat focused members of the team that would engage any enemies that appeared in front; not to mention their best direct tracker with his now-large dog Akamaru at his side.
Behind him, in the middle of their traveling formation, were Ino and Sakura. One might think this to be sexist, placing the only two girls in the most protected position, but it was actually quite logical given their respective specialties. Sakura, as one who specialized in genjutsu and…unorthodox uses of ninjutsu, was placed third in line because her general style needed a bit of range, and line of sight, and perfectly positioned her to support Sasuke and Kiba. Her shoulder-length pink hair was done up in a ponytail, keeping it out of her eyes, and she wore a red sleeveless top with black gloves, boots, and shorts under a grey combat apron.
Ino, as one who had taken to Anko's tutelage well enough for it to be genuinely terrifying, was fourth in line so she could do as Anko did: unleash kunai dripping with many different poisons and toxins, or use her clan's Mind-Body Switch Technique on a given target, allowing her to control said target at the cost of her body being left inert and lifeless, requiring guarding. Fortunately, she hadn't completely taken after Anko: the only inspiration from her obscene tutor was the trenchcoat, the rest of her outfit was the same typical clothing she'd worn since the academy – minus the stomach wraps.
Which was why Shino took the rearguard position. Shino wore the typical Aburame clan fashion: A concealing green coat with a hood over a longer black coat with a large collar that obscured his lower face, sunglasses blocking view of his eyes. With his kikai bugs giving him a nearly unparalleled awareness and his strong taijutsu making him an effective combatant, even disregarding his use of his clan's kikai-centric techniques, he was a perfect choice, being able to simultaneously watch over Ino and Sakura and keep an eye out for anyone pursuing the team.
Like, say, an enormous ten-meter serpent with twelve-centimeter-long fangs that dripped with disturbing clear venom.
At times, Shino wondered whether this was truly to prepare them for any growth Naruto might have, or for Anko to take out her life-long frustrations and anger on them.
Then Sasuke made a quick hand-sign, informing the team of a trap ahead that they needed to avoid, before ducking under a branch and leaping to the side. The others followed his path perfectly, keeping to their formation even with the explosions, the kunai, and the snake. Soon, they passed over a river, just as they planned.
"Hidden Mist Technique." Sakura intoned, after rapidly going through a series of hand seals. The water in the river virtually exploded upward and puny droplets of liquid spread out over the area, covering it in a dense, chakra-laden mist. It was even thick and cold enough to throw off the snake's heat sensors.
And thus, with only minimal trouble provided by a small minefield, they made it to the tower.
"Well, that wasn't too hard." Sasuke commented off-handedly, leaning against the stone wall. Over the years since Naruto's defection, and the Invasion, he'd loosened up quite a bit, going from the stuck-up arrogant Uchiha to a rather more balanced, and experienced chunin of Konoha. He still had problems, and was still focused on killing his brother to an unhealthy degree, but everyone found him rather more agreeable now. While most of them had straightforward reasons for joining the NRT, Sasuke's reason was especially blunt: He wanted to fight Naruto. The Third had told them about the events surrounding Naruto's defection, including Jiraiya's account of 'Akatsuki', the group chasing jinchūriki and Naruto, whom his brother Itachi was a member of. Naruto, who was Itachi's target apparently, would serve as a good milestone to see how he was progressing in terms of power and ability, and how close he was to killing Itachi.
"It's still not as bad as anything Naruto put us through." Kiba said. As an Inuzuka, the pack was everything to Kiba – well, the pack and his position in it, but the point still stood. To an Inuzuka, betraying the pack was an unforgivable sin – and Naruto had done just that, and worse, he was Kiba's friend, which made the betrayal especially damning.
"I believe the objective difficulty of this exercise is higher than anything Naruto did three years ago." Shino intended to find Naruto, and drag him back to Konoha no matter what. They'd made a promise, to change Konoha for the better, and he'd be damned before he let Naruto forget it.
"He's probably gotten better at his traps though." Sakura mused absently. Her reason was the more complex of them. For some reason, she thought that she was responsible for Naruto's defection. Her early personality, as one of the many Uchiha fangirls, had been…rough, to say the least, and she'd never really given Naruto a chance as a team-mate and…as a friend, until it'd been too late.
"Doesn't matter." Ino declared. "We're bringing him back, one way or another." Ino, if anyone asked, just wanted one of her friends back, and save him from the consequences of his bad decisions. And then beat the crap out of him for leaving.
"Alright kiddies! Time to report back!" Anko shouted cheerfully as she entered the room. And then she became solemn. "The Hokage wants you in his office for the mission briefing."
– Hokage's Office –
"Jiraiya tells me you five have been doing exceptionally well." The Hokage began, addressing the NRT and their teachers.
"I'm glad to hear that Hokage-sama." Sakura said sourly. "Perhaps, though, we'd have advanced much faster if he'd stop ogling our other instructor." That was the cue for Anko to not-so-subtly knee the Toad Sage in the groin.
"Quite. At any rate, you know why you're here." The mood instantly took a drop into solemn. "It's been three years since Naruto defected. I hope that, after all this time, he's had time to cool down, and mature enough to reconsider his…hasty decision." The NRT as a whole looked determined, something Sarutobi considered a good thing.
"Alright brats," Jiraiya started, ducking under a kunai Ino threw at him, "We think we know where Naruto is, at the moment. There's been word in the mercenary community of a bounty hunter called the 'One-Man Orange Platoon'. Apparently, he's a puppeteer who paints his puppets in particularly garish shades of orange, and is effective enough to have accounted for around forty C- to A-class missing-nin bounties over the past year." That drew mixed reactions from the team. Sasuke looked somewhere between furious and eager. "Considering that Naruto was last seen in the company of Sasori of the Red Sands, among others, we think this mercenary is him."
"Not to mention the orange." Sakura muttered.
"Using reports of his movements, my spies have managed to pin his general location somewhere near the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire. That's around one week's traveling time, depending on how fast we move."
"Remember, while you are to use any means to get him to return, this is officially an escort mission." Hiruzen reminded them. "And don't let anyone else think otherwise." If anyone caught wind of what actually happened with Naruto, someone might get word to the Fire Daimyo, and then all of Hiruzen's politicking would be for nothing: the Daimyo would unseat him, and Danzo had enough support amongst the council to get himself the Hokage hat.
And while Hiruzen respected Danzo both for his past accomplishments and his sacrifices, Konoha under his rule would see the Will of Fire extinguished.
"Alright brats, meet me at the northern gate in two hours." Jiraiya said, before hopping out the window. The group didn't move for a few long moments, everyone trapped in contemplation.
"I…I can barely believe it." Sakura whispered. "After three years…we're finally going after him."
"Yeah…let's go get him." Said Ino, determination apparent in her voice.
"Do not take this mission lightly." Shino admonished. "Naruto was a tricky and clever opponent, and not to offend Hokage-sama, but it's highly unlikely he'll want to return willingly, considering Neji." That drew a wince from everyone. "Naruto will more than likely fight our attempts to capture him with all his might, and considering his likely level of ability, we'll be hard-pressed to succeed. He's not just going to say 'sure, let's go'."
– One Week Later, Grass-Fire Border –
"Sure, let's go!" Naruto shouted, cheerful grin spread wide across his face.
The NRT stared.
They'd made quick time, traveling northwest from Konoha at their best speed, and reaching the border of the Land of Grass within five days.
Jiraiya underestimated just how motivated they were.
They'd spent a day searching along the border until Shino's kikai detected smoke – a lot of smoke that had soon enough become apparent in the smell of the air after moving towards the source.
And just like that, they found Naruto, in the middle of what looked like was once an encampment of a group of missing-nin sheltered in the midst of orange-leafed trees, but was now a blasted ruin marked by pieces of corpses and craters. There he was, standing in the middle of the carnage, the once-short genin now grown taller than Sakura, only a few centimeters shorter than Sasuke.
I thought he stopped wearing stuff like that! Ino thought, glancing at the horrid jumpsuit he was wearing, black on the shoulders and down the center to the waist, but orange pretty much everywhere else. He had a pair of brown sandals, a kunai pouch belted to his right thigh, and his forehead protector (unscratched) was on a black headband that he tied around his head, loose ends fluttering freely.
In short, it was as though he'd regressed back to the little kid he was before he changed, just bigger!
"W-wait, what?" Kiba gaped. "That's it?"
"Well, yeah." Naruto at least had the sense to look sheepish. "Master Sasori taught me everything he could, so I'm done training and can go back now."
Alright, there was definitely something up here. The whole situation stank to high heaven. Naruto had left in the company of a known missing-nin, a spy, and the jinchūriki of Sunagakure…where were they? And despite their hopes, they hadn't dreamed that Naruto would actually be willing, and apparently, eager,to return. But, despite their misgivings; it was their mission to bring him back…
"Er…you guys aren't going to attack me…are you?" The blond asked, looking a bit nervous.
"What? Oh! No, not at all." Sakura assured him, smiling.
"That's good. I'd hate to kill you."
"Eh?" Naruto made a motion, and the 'leaves' all detached from their trees, fluttering around like a flock of butterflies…
Wait…
A moment's closer inspection revealed that they 'leaves' were, in fact butterflies…with explosive seals painted on their wings.
He had us the whole time…Jiraiya thought, as Naruto retrieved a scroll, unrolling it as the whole swarm flew towards him. As each insect contacted the scroll, they disappeared, leaving a seal on the parchment. As soon as they all were gone, he rolled it back up and put it back.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Naruto grinned, and to the whole team, it looked a lot more malicious than happy.
And as they left, the Naruto Retrieval Team forming around Naruto, none of them noticed the hooded figure watching them from atop the branches of dead trees.
– Five Days Later, Konoha –
The trip back was just as uneventful as the trip out. The entire team kept an eye on Naruto, sleeping in shifts to ensure not only a proper outer guard, but an inner one. And despite their suspicions, he never made a single move.
In fact, he went out of his way to show just how trustworthy he was, hitting all of them up at some points for conversation.
Well, except for Jiraiya. He, Naruto seemed perfectly happy to infuriate with the newly invented name of 'Ero-Sennin'. The NRT quickly decided to use the name as well.
It was startling how easy things seemed to slip back into how they were prior to Naruto's…departure. Soon enough, he'd gotten Ino to spill all their personal details that had changed since before, he had Sakura visibly restraining from punching him head-first into the ground, and he and Shino were quietly discussing the various merits of certain species of arthropods over others. The only two he hadn't managed to suck back into his social sphere were Sasuke and Kiba, the latter of which stubbornly refused to talk to Naruto at all, still holding a grudge; and the former who was somewhat furious that he hadn't gotten a chance to fight the blondie.
Keeping the same rate of travel, they arrived at Konoha's gates. However, as they approached, they couldn't help but note a sudden grin spreading across Naruto's face.
A particularly foxy grin, one might say.
Oh shit.
– Hokage's Office –
"…Anko, why are there ANBU dancing on the rooftops?"
"Heck if I know, but they sure know how to Caramelldansen!" Anko cackled, moving her hips to the beat the ANBU apparently were.
Hiruzen was about to yell for one of his chunin assistants when the door swung open, and in stepped the Naruto Retrieval Team…with Naruto. The blond had a wide grin that only grew wider as he saw Hiruzen's exasperated expression before it turned into shock at his sight. Both special jonin and Hokage stared at the orange-suited jinchūriki, before the former piped up with:
"What, already? Dammit brat, I thought you'd give them more of a workout. Especially after all those years I spent training them to beat you!"
"Aw, but Anko-chan," said Naruto, in a particularly sweet voice that when combined with who he was addressing sent the NRT subtly scooting for cover, "If I fought them that would just make it take so much longer to get back to you."
"Oh, you missed me brat?"
"Like an old rash." The two outcasts stared at each other, each with their own toothy grin, as Anko's hand slipped down her leg for one of her 'special' kunai.
"Enough you two." Hiruzen ordered. Within a moment, the air was filled with a tension, as he stared at Naruto, whose grin had slipped a little. And then it returned to full-force, only now apparently filled with joy and directed at the Hokage.
"How ya been Old Man?"
Hiruzen's jaw slackened, gaping somewhat as he stared at the indubitably changed Naruto. Then he composed himself, planting his ages-old 'good boy' smile on his face.
"I've been well, thank you Naruto, although getting a bit on in years. Tell me, how has your training been?"
They knew. Ooh, did they know. Naruto wanted something. Why else would he so blatantly act like this, and return to Konoha so easily? And despite even their best hopes, their minds all turned to the most cynical option: Neji. He wanted to kill Neji.
"Well, Master Sasori took me all over the Great Shinobi Nations. Said he wanted me to learn about other villages and such while he trained me in his techniques." Naruto replied with a wide grin still stretching his lips.
"I see…and where is Sasori now?" At this question, the expression on the blonde's face turned somewhat sheepish.
"Well, I…don't know, strictly speaking. About three months ago, he told me he taught me everything he knew and told me to go out and make my own art or something like that. I left, and haven't seen him since."
"Hmm…You say he taught you everything he knows?"
"Well, that's what he told me, but I think he was holding out on me." With that, Naruto assumed a pouting expression, crossing his arms. "Damn expressionless bastard." That brought a round of chuckles. Most of them were faked.
"In any case Naruto," Hiruzen said after ending his own false chortle, "We need to test you, see where you are skill-wise so we can see whether or not you can be a chunin." Naruto's eyes widened.
"Chunin! Really Old Man!" He asked excitedly.
"Well, of course. After all, most of your comrades have advanced."
"Yeah, I kind of noticed. So, what do I have to do?"
"Fight Sasuke." The Uchiha perked up at that, with a small grin of his own.
– Training Ground 7 –
Apparently, despite wishes to the contrary, word of the test spread wide and far, meaning that by the time they reached Training Ground 7, there was already a crowd made up of Naruto's entire graduating class, their jonin instructors, and pretty much everyone Naruto had known. Hiruzen actually spotted his grandson Konohamaru and his genin team, staring coolly at Naruto.
Which only reminded him of the drastic change in the young jinchūriki, considering that Konohamaru became like that directly due to his interactions with the genin.
"Naruto-kun! Your flames of youth seem brighter than ever!" Oh Kami-Sama, not Gai…The 'Sublime Green Beast of Konoha' stood before them, in all his green spandex-clad horror. Well, at least his mini-me wasn't-
"Naruto-san! It is good to see you again!" Shinigami take me now. Was the thought shared by pretty much everyone on the field.
"Gai-san, Lee-san…hehe." Naruto's grin definitely looked strained. "How have you been?"
"Quite well Naruto-kun! Lee's hard work has seen him stoke his flames of youth to ever-greater heights!" Gai shouted, clapping his hand on his pupil's shoulder. "Tell me Naruto-kun, have you kept up with your training regimen!"
"Er…yeah…I have…" Hiruzen had no doubt that whatever physical training Naruto did, it was nothing like Gai's intense workout. "And er…about that Gai-san…"
"Yes Naruto-kun?"
"Er…well…aren't you getting a bit old to be so hyper-active?" Gai froze. "I mean…it can't be healthy for an old man like you to be pushing yourself so hard…" For ten, long seconds, everyone held their breath as the infamously active Gai was apparently rendered catatonic…and then everything went back to normal.
"Haha! Don't worry about me Naruto-kun! My flames of youth shall burn for a long time yet!" And then he disappeared in the flash of green that was so common around him.
"Nice work, handling Gai like that." Naruto turned to see Team 7's instructor, Kakashi behind him. The jonin was virtually unchanged since he'd last seen him, with the same silver gravity-defying hair, the forehead protector slung low over his left eye, and the ever-present mask that defied all attempts to see his face.
"What do you mean? I was just voicing a concern." Naruto replied in an innocent voice.
"Sure, sure. Now, you may have been gone three years for special training," Kakashi had never been informed of the truth of Naruto's departure, although Hiruzen suspected the jonin knew anyway, "but Sasuke has been training just as long too, so don't take him lightly."
"Aw, it's just Sasuke!" Naruto muttered, moving to stand in the circle that the crowd formed, just as Sasuke stepped out at the other end.
"Don't take me lightly Naruto." Sasuke growled, hearing that remark. Naruto just flashed a cocky grin in response.
"Alright, let's get this started." Jiraiya, serving as the proctor, said. "This match will last for ten minutes, or until one of the combatants has been immobilized, rendered unconscious, or forfeits. At the end of the match, Naruto's performance will be evaluated by the Hokage. Now, are you two ready."
"You bet I am!" Naruto shouted, grinning. Sasuke, his own expectant grin obvious, just nodded.
"Alright then…Start!"
The moment the words left Jiraiya's mouth, Sasuke darted forward, his eyes reddening with the Sharingan and his body falling into his customary taijutsu stance. He lashed out with his right fist, intending to provoke Naruto, and then use his superior reaction speeds and close-combat ability to defeat him. And Naruto did react to his blow…but Sasuke didn't see it coming.
The blonde's hand jerked into position, deflecting Sasuke's punch without any visible muscle movement, completely defying the Sharingan's predictive ability. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. There was something…off…about Naruto. But before he could contemplate the mystery, the jinchūriki attacked, pushing on in an offensive that Sasuke, despite the relative uselessness of his bloodline, easily countered. The fight went on like that for the next minute, Sasuke's suspicions growing more and more, until he was stuck by a bolt of inspiration.
He's using Earth Armor! Kakashi had introduced Sasuke to the technique months ago, giving an example of the kinds of defenses the Chidori had been designed to counter. The Earth Armor Technique was especially effective against the Uchiha, the stony covering preventing them from seeing the chakra flow and muscle tension that allowed them their great reaction time, and also being completely proof against fire-element ninjutsu.
Well, this Uchiha had a counter.
Sasuke fell back, hand seals forming rapidly before he clenched one hand around the other's wrist.
"Chidori!" Chakra, channeled through his arm, erupted out of his hand in the form of lightning that constantly sparked and crackled, creating a sound like the chirping of a thousand birds.
"Sasuke! No!" Kakashi yelled, but was too far away to interfere. And at any rate, Sasuke didn't intend to kill Naruto. A last minute side-step, moving the Chidori in a slash would create an opening in the Earth Armor, and a following strike through said opening would land a solid blow on Naruto.
That was the plan, at least. At the last instant, as Sasuke closed in, Naruto, instead of dodging like anyone would, stepped forward, taking the Chidori-encased hand right in his chest. Sasuke stood; his arm ran right through Naruto, and his face frozen in shock.
Someone screamed.
And then, Naruto's arms encircled Sasuke, crushing him against the blond with all the force of a vice.
"You're still too direct, Sasuke." The blonde said…except…that his voice changed as he spoke…becoming…wooden.
The spectators watched in confusion and fear, as Naruto's skin and clothing flaked off, in clods of dirt and pieces of stone, revealing an inhuman figure. Oh, it was certainly humanoid, four limbs, a torso and a head, but its body was made of wood instead of flesh, hair woven straw, and blue eyes of glass over a carved nose and mouth.
A puppet.
"What the –" Sasuke's shocked curse was interrupted when the ground beneath him exploded upwards in a geyser of soil, sending him flying five meters into the air. And as he flew, white strips of cloth emerged from the cloud of dirt, winding around him and the false Naruto until he was well-wrapped as a mummy. The bound Uchiha fell to earth with a thud, followed instantly by someone landing seated onto him.
"Cloth Binding Technique: Success." The person intoned in a dull, dead voice. As all the ninja in the crowd reacted, drawing weapons, clapping hands together in preparation for seals, they studied the figure now sitting atop Sasuke.
First, was the longcoat that was buckled at the waist and zipped up, colored a dark shade of orange, something like burnt or alloy orange. It split at the person's waist into nine separate tails that slowly faded into a deep blood red at the tips. A hood covered the man's hair, shadowed his face. The back bore the kanji for 'Orange Platoon' atop of an Uzu Spiral, which also decorated the shoulders. The front of the coat had loops holding twelve scrolls, kunai bandoleers were wrapped around the elbow-length sleeves, and bandages emerged from under those sleeves covering his arms up to the wrist. He wore pants that cut off just below the knee, giving way to bandages that disappeared into the standard shinobi sandals on his feet. The figure lifted his head, revealing a set of brilliant blue eyes under a forehead protector marked with the spiral leaf of Konoha, and over a scarf colored similarly to the coat that wound around his lower face that split into four strips from one end, and into five from the other, the tails patterned into orange and red flames.
The man glanced around, scanning the crowd before his gaze fell on the Hokage, Jiraiya, and the NRT. He raised his hand…
"Yo."
"Naruto! Is that you?" Sakura queried, her hands set to fly into any combination of seals that could either trap him in a genjutsu or blast him with any number of flame techniques. In response, the man pulled his hood down, revealing a man of spiky blond hair and bangs that framed his face. A finger pulled the scarf down so it wrapped around his neck, revealing the whiskered features of one Uzumaki Naruto.
"W-wait, wait…so, what were we escorting this whole time?" Kiba was, quite simply befuddled.
"A Puppet Earth Clone." Naruto said, some life coming into his voice as the corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. "Tricky little technique I've been working on since Kakashi-sensei taught us the Earth Clone technique."
"Oh so that's what you were doing." Kakashi muttered, still a little in shock.
"I see." Shino said. "You destroyed the encampment, and when you detected us approaching, you left a puppet inside of an earth clone to fool us, and followed us using the Underground Fish Technique."
"Pretty much." Naruto confirmed. "So, Old Man, do I pass or what?" Almost as one, the crowd's heads turned to face the Hokage. Suddenly put on the spot, Hiruzen coughed once, before speaking.
"Yes, well…Considering that Naruto managed to fool an entire team of chunin," And you, thought everyone, "And his rapid incapacitation of chunin Uchiha, I've decided that genin Uzumaki certainly qualifies for a field promotion." And with that, Jiraiya pulled out a traditional chunin flak jacket. This one was different, however, in that it was fitted with tracking seal arrays.
"Alright! But you can keep the jacket Old Man." Naruto grinned. "I've already got a good coat."
I figured it wouldn't be that easy. "Yes, well, do you think you could release Sasuke?"
"Oh yeah." Naruto snapped his fingers as though he'd forgotten, standing up and reaching down to grab the bandages that confined the Last Uchiha, yanking hard. The cloth unraveled, spinning and leaving a severely disoriented chunin lying on the ground under a puppet. The newly-promoted chunin flicked a finger, and the puppet clambered back to its feet, tugging Sasuke up with it.
"Damn it Naruto…you dope…" Sasuke muttered.
"Just be glad I didn't use any of my poisons." Naruto countered. "I've got some really good ones."
"Ooh! Anything from Kusa? They've got some really nice ones that I couldn't get my hands on…"Anko pounced – almost literally – on Naruto, gleefully engaging him in a discussion about foreign poisons, toxins and venoms. Jiraiya and the Hokage retreated from the crowd, leaving Naruto to bask in attention and reconnect with old friends.
"You noticed, didn't you? How much he –"
"Looks like Minato, yes, I did." Hiruzen interrupted. "Looks just like him at that age."
"…I wonder if he knows…"
"Doubtful. Only a handful of people know, and they're all in Konoha."
"Yeah, but it's not exactly hard to look at him and see the resemblance! Any half-way intelligent person could connect the dots, and from what I've heard, Sasori is a genius."
"That may be true, but at this point I don't think it matters. If Naruto does know, he's mature enough and smart enough to keep it to himself. We have bigger problems…"
Quite simply, there were many different possibilities, each with their own set of options. First, Naruto's training may have happened exactly as he told them: Sasori training him in his arts until he judged him proficient enough to be left. It was, however, extremely unlikely. Second: Naruto was lying, and Sasori had sent him back to Konoha in order to spy on the village. For whatever reason, Hiruzen couldn't quite guess, but it was still a threatening option. Third, and the one he felt most likely, Naruto had indeed split off from Sasori, but was infiltrating the village for his own reasons, most likely to find and kill Neji, in order to fulfill his revenge.
At this point, only Naruto knew the real reason.
– That Night, Naruto's Mindscape –
"You know kit, that they suspect you."
"What have I told you about calling me that?" Once, the insides of Naruto's mind had resembled that of a sewer, with a cage that dominated the center, locked by a large paper seal. Then, after he trained, he turned it into a facsimile of the Hokage's office, walls covered with diagrams of puppets and seals, the window serving as the symbolic seal.
Now, it was a battlefield. Bloodstains, craters, deep gouges in the earth decorated the mindscape, with broken puppets littering the field. The boundaries of the seal here were marked by a line formed by two ranks of puppets, ranging from the clearly humanoid to the horrendously monstrous. Naruto was well within this boundary, face-to-face with the Kyuubi no Kitsune itself. And between them…
Was what amounted to an enormous shogi board, with the pieces represented by life-sized puppets.
"Fine, fine, Naruto, but you know that they're not going to accept–"
"Yes, I know. It doesn't matter. By the time they figure out what I'm after, if they ever figure out what I'm after, I'll have already gotten what I need. Rook to E-9."
"You slimy human bastard…Pawn to C-5. At any rate, do you know where he is?"
"Not really, but it's not too hard to guess where. There's only a few places the Hokage would put someone like him. Knight to A-2." A deep rumbling growl emanated from the Kyuubi's throat as the puppet knight kicked over his gold general before tossing the limp body back towards Naruto's collection of captured pieces.
"Grrrrr…Silver General to D-7."
"Rook to B-5. Checkmate."
"Shinigami take your soul!"
"Now, now, don't be a sore loser." Naruto grinned. "In any case, who knows? Maybe I'll be able to get what I need without them figuring out. Hell, maybe I'll become Hokage!"
"Whatever. Just make sure to get in a big battle soon, I want some blood!"
"Alright, alright, I'll ask the Old Man for an assignment. You'll get your blood soon, Kurama-san."
And with that, Naruto disappeared, leaving the mindscape to get some sleep.
– The Author –
Well, here we go, into the breach!
To start, this story is obviously not going to be as slow to build up as Disciple was, I kind of don't have the patience for it…so, just leaping into events.
Now, obviously, Naruto has plans, and those who were told about his defection at the end of Disciple are suspecting him – only too natural, given how things went. The thing is no one besides Naruto and Kurama actually know his plans – not even Sasori, who's taking a bit of a back-seat here.
Speaking of Kurama (The Kyuubi), he and Naruto are obviously a bit friendlier to each other than in canon – the way I see it, the foundation for this relationship was built up in Disciple, and it was solidified off-screen during the three-year trip. At this point, I'd say their relationship is something like a mix of Shukaku/Gaara and Hachbi/Killer Bee.
Now, before the replies, does anyone think Naruto should get a Summon? I already have the animal in mind, but I'm not sure whether or not he should get it, considering that he's already teetering too close to 'God-mode' as it is, or so I think…
Review Replies:
ShadyBlaze: Nobody102 did a very good story, I'm just building off of it.
Ex10: Long wait.
Exactly what I was aiming for.
Orchamus: Thank you for your confidence, I'll try and live up to it.
Tikky Mikk: It was definitely one of the best I read.
bakapervert: Isn't it?