*Chapter 2*: Chapter One: Jigsaw
Naruto: Rogue Fox
Axenome
Chapter 1: Jigsaw
It has been two months since Naruto went nuke-nin with the Forbidden Scroll. The Sandaime Hokage has done all he could to set people's minds at ease and perform damage control, but I know the real person at fault here — myself. At first, when he came back after a month and a half, I was overjoyed. I felt guilty for him running away, for him being alone, for many things I could have said or done differently. If only I'd said fully what was in my heart that day, after Naruto fought and killed Mizuki — killed him to save my life — but I was frozen, shocked at his actions, his ability. I failed him.
The spookiest part of his return was how it happened. One day he was still missing, being tracked by ANBU corps, and the next, he was walking out of his, till then, abandoned apartment as though he'd been there all along. When he was brought before the Sandaime Hokage, who demanded to know the whereabouts of the Forbidden Scroll, Naruto replied that he'd long since put it back where it belonged. They even checked for it, right then and there, and found it where nobody had thought to look: the same place it had been taken from. Nobody had known when it had been returned; was it only just before he got back, or just after he left? No warning, no notice. Naruto had penetrated the most heavily guarded building in Konoha with nobody the wiser.
They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, and Naruto's eyes now terrify me. His eyes are even a different color now. They were once a shining, brilliant blue; but now they're a stormy, pearlescent grey. They are eyes with a terrible depth; a hypnotic set of eyes that peer bleakly from across a gaping chasm of pain. Eyes with a broken faith in them. Eyes of someone whose innocent belief in the goodness of others is lost.
I understand the Hokage's request… and his reluctance. Why it has to be me to kill Naruto: because he trusts me more than any other in the village. It isn't fair to me and, most of all, it isn't fair to Naruto. Since only the day after his birth, he has been despised and outcast through no fault of his own. No family. No friends. Not even the care of the orphanage whose indifference was still kinder than the treatment he received after he was given an apartment of his own. He saved my life — at the cost of his innocence, nearly at the cost of his dream of being shinobi from me — and I am repaying him by taking his life.
But as a shinobi, I must cut out my own heart. And I do this for Konoha; for we cannot let the Kyuubi take full control of Naruto. If it does, it will finish Konoha for its imprisonment within the Yondaime's Seal. And none are now left that may seal it away again.
-Diary of Umino Iruka, final entry
The paper in Sasuke's hands still said the same thing, no matter how many times he reread it. He shook his head in disgust. "Reassignment to Team Seven."
Neji favored Sasuke with a smirk. "Well, it couldn't last forever."
Sasuke regarded Neji with the beginnings of a smirk of his own. "It's alright. I learned a lot from you guys. Besides, I'd rather you weren't in the line of fire for this one. Just in case..." Sasuke trailed off, fell silent.
Neji and Rock Lee also went silent. After Naruto had gone missing for six weeks, word had gotten around to the younger generation about what had been sealed away inside of Naruto. And now, with the mysterious disappearance of Irukasensei, all of the genin teams were being shuffled. Again.
"So who is going to replace you on Team Gai?" Rock Lee asked.
"Ah! But even though we've been parted, the power of YOUTH has brought back our Tenten! YOSH!"
The trio sweat-dropped as they looked up to see Gai-sensei standing there in his most dazzling nice-guy pose, accompanied by a glint of sunlight off of his perfect, white teeth.
"Reassignment to Team Seven," read Shikamaru aloud. "Man, what a pain! Why can't I just stay here?"
Sakura pouted. "It's not fair! Why couldn't it be me?"
Choji shook his head, popping an octopus ball in his mouth. Between chews, he commented, "You don't wanna go."
Munch, munch. "I heard already who the third member of Team Seven is gonna be." Munch, munch, swallow. "Uzumaki
Naruto."
Sakura shuddered. "You mean, the demon boy."
Shikamaru sat down on a patch of grass next to a tree, letting out a sigh as he looked up at the sky to watch the clouds.
"Man, I don't wanna hafta do this."
I don't like this, thought Kakashi. This has all the earmarks of being a complete disaster.
The offices of the Hokage were plain, functional. None of the traditionally flashy trophies and comforts of such a position were evident. Sarutobi just wasn't that kind of person.
"I don't like it at all, Kakashi," the Sandaime said. "Were I twenty, even ten years younger, I would do it myself. As it is, should it become necessary, I want you in position to eliminate him."
Kakashi's right eye closed. "So, it's true then. …About Iruka."
The Hokage grimaced. "Yes. Yes it is. And I've regretted acceding to the Council's demands on this matter ever since the moment the words left my mouth."
Sarutobi stood up, walked to the window. "The Yondaime was his father, you know." He sighed, a deep and disconsolate sound. "He wanted Naruto to be viewed as a champion, as a hero to the village. But the villagers chose not to see him that way. And with his disappearance and as long as he was gone, the village Elders overruled my protests. They forced the assignment through. Still, it was my decision to send Iruka."
"Why Iruka?" asked Kakashi.
"Because, of everyone in the village, Naruto trusted Iruka," said the Hokage softly. He turned his head to look Kakashi in the eye. "It was a terrible mistake. But in order for you to understand why it was such a mistake, I must tell you about the Forbidden Scroll. Do you know why it is forbidden?"
"It contains techniques of terrible power that are often deadly to the user or otherwise corrupt in some way or another," Kakashi replied neutrally. There is more here than merely what I have been told, he thought to himself.
"A few of them are like that, yes," the Hokage confirmed, before sitting back down in his chair. "But the Scroll serves a second purpose. It also contains records of the Kekkei Genkai in the village. All of them. And how to implant them in a bloodline."
"How much of the scroll involves Kekkei Genkai?" Kakashi asked after a second of assimilation.
"About a third of it. But, most significantly, a thing we had learned from this mission is that Naruto has at least one Kekkei Genkai of the village," Sarutobi sighed. "The Sharingan."
"So this is why you have him in my—" Kakashi choked off his sentence as a buried memory resurfaced.
"Yes, you understand, don't you, Kakashi?" replied the Sandaime, as Kakashi's hand twitched, as though to reach up to his eye. "I sent Iruka, Naruto's best — his only — friend in the entire world, to kill him. And he already possessed the Sharingan."
Kakashi closed his visible eye. "How much of the rest of the Scroll?"
Sarutobi shrugged. "How much did he master? Who can say?" he countered. "He'd only had possession of the scroll for a few short hours before dawn and by mid-morning Naruto had mastered Kage Bunshin. How long was the scroll missing? Can we believe he returned it immediately? No; take the question one step further. What if he returned it on the day he came back?" Sarutobi grimaced, his expression a mixture of pride in the young boy and apprehension. "Let's go a little further with it — after all, the boy mastered the Kage Bunshin, a technique based off of his weakest skill, a jounin level technique — in mere hours. Six weeks? At that sort of a pace? He might well have mastered it all."
Kakashi frowned. "How is it possible to impant the Sharingan into him? He couldn't have stolen the eyes, there are none left."
"The only way possible is through the knowledge on the Forbidden Scroll. The massive amounts of chakra required to imbue it into a bloodline necessitates the donation of chakra from dozens of healthy, vigorous people. Either he stumbled onto a group of people to assist him with this endeavor, or..." Sarutobi trailed off.
"Or he accessed and controlled the chakra of the Kyuubi," finished Kakashi. "As unlikely as the first sounds, I truly hope it isn't the second."
"I have faith in him. His spirit is wounded, but I believe that he may still be saved. He is at least loyal and reliable." The Hokage sat up in his chair, pulling out a stack of papers and handed it to Kakashi. Each of them was a mission form, each of them was for a solo mission, with Anko supervising and Naruto performing, and every one was completed to the satisfaction of the petitioner. There were at least thirty forms there; all of them within the last twelve days. "Naruto has been sent on a number of D-rank missions, supervised by one Mitarashi Anko. So far, his behavior has been exemplary. Not only has he stopped his pranks, but has done every mission he has been given without complaint, hesitation, or failure. He's taken at least two per day, even on the weekends. His performance has been good, and I've brought this before the
Council as well."
Kakashi waited quietly as the Hokage continued, "They've grudgingly allowed me to rescind the order for his termination, and have allowed me to extend his probationary genin status to permanent. With his status now full-fledged shinobi, he needs a team. I'm giving you the two brightest of this year's rookies. One, especially, is well suited to this task. He, of all the Genin, may have the most in common with Naruto. If anyone can repair the wounds to that child's soul, it is he. And he may, himself, find the comfort and companionship to shake the darkness from his own soul." Sarutobi took a form from his desk and handed it to Kakashi. "This is the mission I would like to send your team out on first. It is a fairly simple, C-rank mission, an escort..."
Sasuke leaned back against the wall. "He's late."
Shikamaru smiled, eyes closed, nibbling at a piece of grass. "Yep."
Sasuke shot a glance at the team wild card. Naruto acted like he didn't notice, but Sasuke knew better. He ran over his memories of the dobe, class clown, prankish and clueless, and the laughing idiot whose smile seemed to push back any troubles he might have had.
That boy seemed to be gone. Sasuke hadn't seen a smile on his face at all today. Indeed, in the few glances he'd seen of him since he'd returned, Naruto had not smiled, not even once. His eyes were darker, colder, appraising everything around him at once with an icy gaze that pierced to the bone.
Naruto suddenly shot a look at Sasuke. "What do you want?" he asked.
Sasuke paused. "Who says I want anything from you?" he shot back. "Not like the dobe is worth my time."
Naruto's eyes half closed, and his lips thinned into what might have led to a smile on any other face. "I meant, what do you want from life?"
Sasuke gave him a troubled look. "I don't... think I understand the question," he admitted.
Naruto shook his head. "Shikamaru. What do you want?"
Shikamaru didn't bother to open his eyes. "I want to take it easy. I'm not really interested in fighting; I just want to relax. Do a few easy missions, get married, have a couple kids. That what you had in mind?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, pretty much." He turned his gaze back to Sasuke.
Sasuke regarded Naruto for a long moment before going on the offensive. "What about you? What do you want?"
Naruto favored him with a slight shrug. "Pretty much the same thing I've always wanted — to protect the village, to be the strongest, to become Hokage. Someday."
Shikamaru opened one eye. "So, what part is different?" Sasuke shot a questioning look at Shikamaru.
"Maybe another time," said Naruto. "Your turn, Sasuke."
The conversation was interrupted by the door opening, Kakashi following it into the room. "Sorry I'm late, I left my kunai—" "Didn't bother me," Shikamaru said, snickering softly.
Kakashi stopped and regarded his three genin for a moment. They all seemed more or less comfortable with one another, more so than Kakashi would have believed any of the kids could get with Naruto, at any rate. "Well, then, on to business. I'd have preferred you all cut your teeth together on something easier, but the Hokage felt that you three could handle this mission just fine."
Sasuke sat impassively, his elbows on his knees while his folded hands supported his chin. Shikamaru scowled and closed his eye again, while Naruto fidgeted but stayed still. Kakashi nodded. "I'd like to introduce you to Tazuna."
The door opened, and the three looked over to the door expectantly. Their eyes were greeted by an older man wearing work clothes, carrying a wine jug and leaning on the door frame. "So where are my bodyguards? Who are these snotnosed brats?"
Shikamaru just shrugged and leaned back against the wall, covering his eyes with his arm.
Kakshi sighed. "Tazuna-san, it is true that they are young; but they are full-fledged shinobi. Each has a distinguished record of completed missions, and I can assure you they are quite capable of doing their job."
"Ha!" scoffed the older man. "They must be pretty well disguised. They certainly don't look like much. Especially the midget; he looks like a complete idiot."
There was a moment of silence as the three absorbed this. Then Sasuke smirked and Shikamaru laughed, while Naruto's eyes narrowed angrily. Their humor vanished as Naruto drew a Kunai.
Shikamaru's shadow leaped forward and caught Naruto as he lunged, but abruptly his shadow was loose again as Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Bunshin!" snapped Sasuke.
All their eyes darted to Tazuna, where Naruto stood, a kunai point angled up under Tazuna's ribcage, the point just a fraction of an inch from touching his shirt. "Don't underestimate me," he growled softly, putting the kunai away and walking back to his prior position.
Tazuna gaped for a moment, before sputtering, "You insolent little—" Naruto froze in his tracks, before looking over his shoulder at the man.
"Aren't you glad," he said slowly, "that I'll be coming along to keep you alive?"
Tazuna fixed him with a steely stare. Kakashi had to admit, the old man had nerve. "You'd better keep me alive. Until I am safely back in my own country, where I'll be completing my next bridge, you'll all be expected to protect me... Even if it costs you your lives."
Naruto leaned back against the wall, meeting Shikamaru's gaze. At the questioning look Shikamaru gave him, Naruto flicked his eyes towards the ceiling above the door, where a small spider sat waiting.
He's a doppleganger too, mused Shikamaru. The real Naruto has been hanging there on the wall this whole time.
Naruto, the perpetual screw-off. The Joke. The three time loser.
Naruto the Kyuubi. He'd certainly been cunning in that exchange. Somehow, Shikamaru suspected, we haven't even seen the beginning of what he can do. He's a hundred miles ahead of us.
Why's he being stuck in a team of genin? No, scratch that. Why are WE the genin he's being teamed with? And Kakashi himself as our cell leader?
Shikamaru gave it a few more moments thought. Then, he began formulating every strategy he could think of. Our only chance is to catch him off guard. But... is he ever actually off guard? I need to know more about what he can do.
End Chapter One
Chapter One revised and Preread. R&R as you like.
-AXENOME
