Disclaimer : Naruto does not belong to me because my name is not Masashi Kishimoto.
Summary : Three years after the destruction of Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure no Sato, a young blond Hokage and his repenting companion must journey back to the past to salvage another future – save Uchiha Itachi and destroy Uchiha Madara.
Path of Repentance by kailynx
Chapter 1 : Flight From The Dark
o…oOOo…o
Naruto quickly prepared himself when the golden vortex enveloping them dissipated completely, leaving he and Sasuke clearly exposed to everyone in the vicinity.
"Hn… crap indeed. Leave it to you to dump us in a situation like this," Sasuke said casually, though there was hint of amusement mixed with the usual annoyance in his tone. He didn't look surprised or alarmed at all that they had landed in the middle of a battlefield. In fact, he looked like he had expected it to happen.
And that was why he had taken a precautionary measure just a few seconds earlier. Once he had regained his senses and whatever discomfort caused by the time-traveling gone, his Sharingan eyes quickly took stock of the situation. Nimble fingers flashed through a series of seals as his foot dug into the ground, and in the midst of shock and confusion, his targets froze as the jutsu hit them and took effect. Then, as the haze cleared, Sasuke swiftly turned, catching the eyes of another group of ninja with his before moving on, crimson irises now black again.
The usually stoic man smirked mockingly when he saw Naruto giving him a dirty look, but soon raised one eyebrow curiously as he noticed the absence of whisker marks on his friend's face. Not only that, the blond's features suddenly looked more pronounced, as if he had gained a few years of age in a matter of seconds.
'Got some creative plan already?' he wondered as he glimpsed at their immediate surroundings and the mostly stunned potential enemies. His smirk widened a little in understanding. "Well, it's good to see that we don't land in the ladies' hot spring or something this time around. I'd rather be called a spy or a killer than a pervert, you know."
"Oh, just shut your trap. At least I'm pretty sure right now that we've arrived somewhere in the past," Naruto retorted half-heartedly, he couldn't help but recall a few of the countless failed attempts in their early experiments.
Due to certain miscalculations on his part, or maybe that fate simply wanted to make his life miserable, they tended to get dumped in the weirdest places. One such occasion had almost started a war between Suna and Konoha, when he and Sasuke suddenly appeared in a conference room during a council meeting, putting both of them in a very difficult situation.
It seemed that a few of the more aggressive and snobbish Suna council members had claimed that he and Sasuke had been caught red-handed in the barrier jutsu set up to trap intruders and spies, although Naruto had rather disdainfully countered that no barrier could stop him were he trying to infiltrate a place, and that it was ridiculous for a Hokage to spy on his allies in such an underhanded way.
It took another two hours of an ad hoc meeting to convince the council members that Hi no Kuni was neither planning to breach their peaceful alliance nor trying to initiate hostility between the two nations. Thankfully, Gaara and Kankuro had been there to save their butts – and Konoha, since the treaty was hanging precariously in the balance – but he had to confide to them on his suspicious action personally afterwards.
The outcome wasn't so bad actually. It had brought the Kazekage, and Kankuro by default, in on Naruto's crazy plan and they had been very helpful.
There was one time when both of them had burst into the ladies' hot spring in Konoha, and again, no thanks to a certain pink-haired kunoichi, Naruto found himself in hot water.
"And you just sound like a pervert in denial. I remember someone who got a nosebleed staring at a half-naked Sakura. How come she got all shy and blushing and didn't say one word about you seeing her in all her glory, but I almost got pummeled to death for doing the same thing?" he shuddered at the traumatic mental images of an enraged Sakura punching the living daylights out of him. Pushing that scary thought aside, he glanced around at their immediate surroundings. His time-travel jutsu had dispatched them to a desolate and rough terrain area, with a few sparse trees shading the land, and a low range of rocky hills in the distance.
'Tsuchi no Kuni… Looks like we're in their territory now.'
Sasuke opened his mouth to correct Naruto that he did have the nosebleed, but only after they had escaped the hot spring area, not before. However he simply decided that it wasn't worth it; Naruto would probably just come up with another stupid and annoying comment, which later would make him look foolish too. Heaven forbid if he would ever tarnish his Uchiha pride and self-control by something as trivial as having stupid nosebleed because of some half-naked female, no matter how gorgeous she was in that skimpy two pieces bathing suit. Shaking off the unhealthy direction of his thoughts, he quickly amended, well, at least never in public.
Involuntarily, he recalled that some of the females there were totally naked, but strangely they didn't affect him as much. And most of them were blushing and spluttering too. A few even went as far as trying to invite both of the confused and surprised visitors to join them, but before Naruto could explain anything, Sakura was screaming bloody murder and already trying to kill the poor blond.
He was contemplating why Naruto often let himself get beaten up by Sakura when an enemy's forced movement suddenly snapped him to attention. Hell, here they were wedged between two clashing parties in a combat zone and he was thinking about a hot spring incident, of all things?
But Naruto's moronic nature was so contagious that he couldn't resist adding his own two cents.
"Whatever… But it wasn't me who aggravated the ladies by acting stupid. You should thank me for dragging your sorry ass out of that place before she castrated you," the dark-haired man said offhandedly, ignoring Naruto's protest at that remark.
"Hey, at least it wasn't me frozen like a statue in that damn hot water, you closet pervert! You're lucky that she likes you so much, or maybe she just loves using me as her punching bag. You sure took your sweet time rescuing me, by the way."
The only reply for his whining was a short 'hn' from Sasuke, who didn't even bother trying to deny those accusations.
The blond man turned his head towards his companion on his left and spoke somewhat awkwardly, "Heh, I guess we can always save that topic for later." Suddenly his tone changed a little, exuding dangerous vibes when he saw most Iwa-nin around them struggling to break free from Sasuke's paralysis technique, "Right now, let's get busy."
Sasuke agreed silently, his left hand rose to shield his face from the hot wind gusting suddenly past them. He could see Naruto doing the same from his peripheral vision before returning his focus on the shinobi around them. It was easy to determine their ninja village from the hitai-ate or uniforms worn by those shinobi. There were at least twenty living Iwa-nin scattering about in various positions approximately fifteen meters from his left side, but Sasuke was pretty certain that only fourteen were real. The rest could be tsuchi bunshin, if the duplicate appearances were of any indication. This was shortly confirmed when six clones popped out of existence one by one due to lack of control from three of the paralyzed users.
Farther on his and Naruto's right, there was no mistaking four Konoha ANBU in their standard uniforms and stance, none of them that he had ever met before. His keen eyes detected that the battle vests were of an old design; the forces under his command had been issued with better and improved ones more than a year ago.
Secretly he was glad of his choice of attire right now, which he usually wore whenever he wasn't in his ANBU outfit. It looked almost like the one he had worn when he was in Orochimaru's lair, but the purple rope on his waist had been replaced with an obi of the same color over the blue cloth which was now stitched neatly to cover his abdomen, and he had started wearing a black undershirt beneath his yukata quite some time ago. In a way, he was glad that it had reduced the unwanted stares from the female population at his previously open torso. He still had his ANBU fingerless gloves, and his kusanagi was strapped firmly within hand's reach at the back of his waist.
The fact that he could recognize all of his subordinates back then proved that Naruto had made it this time, but they still needed some confirmation. If only the idiot knew how to land at a less crowded place…
They weren't physically crippled like the Iwa-nin, but Sasuke had immediately caught them in his non-harming genjutsu as soon as he had sensed them, mostly to give Naruto and him some time to plan on their next move. One lay unmoving on the ground, seeming heavily wounded, while another knelt down beside him, both sporting cracked masks. Almost all of them were injured at one point. Although he couldn't really see their expression beneath the porcelain masks, he was aware that three of them were observing Naruto intently, surprise and acknowledgement obvious in their tired but maintained composure.
'Good. Focus on him. Don't really care about me here. Simply assume that I'm an ally... and we'll make sure that everything is alright.'
He surveyed the landscape. There were six mutilated bodies on the battle-ravaged ground, none of their outfits or visible hitai-ate resembling any of Konoha standard issues. A part of him felt relieved somehow. No matter how emotionless a shinobi could be, watching a comrade die was always a devastating experience. He quickly looked for any signs of planted explosives, and was glad to find a few which were placed strategically on the battleground. The trail of soil particles where the bombs and exploding makibishi were hidden was still fresh and quite easy to point out, and he wouldn't be surprised if those ninja had emerged from underground themselves.
"From the look of things, it seemed that the four ANBU had engaged earlier with jounin teams, probably two standard 4-man squads. The two survivors over there," Sasuke's head tilted to their direction, where two injured Iwa-nin trapped in squatting position near one of the corpses, "they might have sent some beacon signal for reinforcement."
"Three fresh elite squads, huh? It seemed that the Black Ops there could hold their ground pretty well, but not for long. Good thing we arrive here, too," Naruto concluded, noting the masks and uniforms worn by the Iwa-nin. They looked a little bit similar with the standard grey and black Konoha ANBU's, but with lighter shades and different designs.
"And blow up our own mission before it even gets started? What is it about being inconspicuous? Dobe, I hope you realize that more will turn up sooner or later… our entrance here was flashy enough."
"Geez, no need to keep pointing that out. There's some changes in plan, we'll talk about it later. Teme, release them whenever you're ready, but maintain that thing on our guys. I want some information."
"Hn, whatever. Just don't screw up."
Naruto grinned. "Heh, don't steal my line."
Sasuke smirked, glad that Naruto had decided to get serious rather than continue their usual back and forth barbs. He shifted his open-toed sandal on the rough ground, cutting off the lightning chakra that he had surged constantly in a very small amount at his feet to supply a cobweb-like paralyzing jutsu, which could cover an applicable surface up to twenty meters in radius. It was inspired from the Kanashibari no Jutsu he had learned in ANBU, but he didn't really have to move to strike any of the opponents' nervous system in order to make it work. Any contact from the jutsu would automatically paralyze the appendage, especially the legs. It had proven to be very useful for quick kills or when fighting a lot of opponents at a time, especially when they were surrounding him at a close range.
Enemies trapped within his Suraikou range would usually suffer temporary muscular stun, and generally lose their focus and self-control due to the numbing effects generated by the lightning threads as long as he willed it, which would give him or comrades ample time to attack and execute other techniques, or in their case right now, observing and analyzing their new environment.
Due to the massive amount of chakra required to unleash and control that jutsu, he seldom used it except in necessary situations. Apart from today's occurrence, those had only happened when he worked alone or was partnered with Silent Hunter, better known as Hyuuga Neji.
Back then, he had appointed the Byakugan genius as his Acting Commander upon his leaves, with Shikamaru, Yamato and Sai as his advisors. Personally, he knew that there was no better person for the job. The well-mannered, but deadly shinobi was one of the most successful ANBU captains Konoha had ever produced, as well as the most likely candidate to lead the Hyuuga clan. Although Sasuke preferred solo missions above all else, lately Neji had become his constant partner on most difficult and top-rated missions assigned by Naruto. Strangely, he had to admit that they worked efficiently together, despite the fact that some people had questioned the wisdom of putting an Uchiha and a Hyuuga on a two-man team.
To him, the answer was easy. ANBU followed direct orders from the Hokage, ANBU wore physical and emotional masks for valid reasons and naturally, he outranked Neji, so there was no issue of who should be in command. Of course, he didn't add that they had also become friends.
But if anyone had ever asked the Hokage of it, his stupid friend would brazenly attribute their outstanding performances to them having superiority complexes and being stuck-up bastard misfits who could never accept being inferior to anyone…
Neji might be quiet and arrogant, but just like most Hyuuga, his polite nature masked those characteristics well. Sasuke was pretty sure that ninety percents of that Naruto's flattering remarks were directed at him personally, and he absolutely didn't care.
Sasuke quietly observed the ANBU team making a protective stand around their injured teammate, all alert and ready to act at any moment. Despite them being under his genjutsu, it was subtle and harmless enough that they wouldn't even notice it, well, at least until it was released. He had simply projected a little thought into their minds, strengthening the notion that their losing battle had been interrupted by Konoha-nin who were on mission. He was careful enough to distract their attention from the details of his banter with Naruto, instead he had instilled hope and relief into their thinking. However, being the ANBU commander himself, Sasuke knew how a shinobi's mind worked, that they would never let their guards down. But in life-threatening situation, regardless of what inhuman training one had undergone to become an emotionless killing machine, he understood the human need for security and survival.
Naturally, he just let their mind decide what they perceived as reality, with a little prodding from him, of course. For whatever reason, they had seen Naruto as their savior, which had made Sasuke's job that much easier.
Sometimes, to make it even more effective, he'd also use genjutsu simultaneously with the cobweb ninjutsu on his targets as a failsafe, especially when fighting high-level opponents who might have wind-nature affiliation that would enable them to negate his lightning chakra by emitting their own wind chakra from their body, or any unknown means that would help them to break free. So far, no enemies he had faced could escape that deadly combo.
And he had never used it on allies except with two people. Neji had received a taste of it during an impromptu sparring session once, when they were having a petty disagreement after submitting their first S-class mission report. A nice way of putting it would be to say that raging adrenaline had catalyzed the small miscommunication into a full-blown fight and both of them couldn't resist showing off their coolest techniques just to prove their points. He had executed the jutsu in a timely finishing attack to trap the Hyuuga, and then rendered him unconscious by a blow to the pressure points at the back of his head. Sasuke had emerged victorious, but not before his body sustained a few blocked chakra pathways and some internal bleeding, courtesy of Neji's new Eight Trigrams techniques.
Although he didn't really go all out on him, the Jyuken user definitely knew how to come really close to doing permanent damage without quite going over the edge. Sasuke had been sore and irritable for the rest of the week. Their mutual respect and understanding of each other's skills and strengths had slowly but surely formed their friendship afterwards.
With a little persuasion from a blond moron and a pink-haired kunoichi they knew – somehow the two had conveniently chosen that time for a trip to the ANBU training ground and had arrived right after Sasuke and Neji had finished trying to kill each other. Later, after they had fully recovered, Naruto had vowed to assign a month of D-class missions with half the pay to the two, whom he referred to as "brain-dead" and "childish ANBU." Sasuke had simply smirked and dismissed it as an empty threat, but Neji had the grace to sound a little embarrassed. Sakura, however, had threatened to remove their abilities to produce children if she ever found them almost fatally injured because of some stupid fight again.
Nobody knew, but they had actually gone pale a little behind those masks.
For the days to come, he and Neji had established a silent agreement during their subsequently occasional stress relieving hours; no killing each other unless absolutely necessary.
Sasuke glanced imperceptibly at his blond counterpart.
If there was anyone who could escape his lethal combination technique effortlessly, Naruto was that person, since he was such a formidable wind-user, and thanks to Itachi's little gift and Naruto's own hard-work, seemed to have a very high resistance, if not immune to any form of genjutsu. The only consolation to him in their eternal rivalry was that Naruto sucked at performing genjutsu, but even then the unpredictable Hokage had been training hard in that department.
One of the reasons why it was really hard to beat Naruto in their spars nowadays… but there were always other options, right?
'Now let's see whether we've arrived at the right place or not,' the dark-haired man thought as his mind centered on more important matters.
ooo…ooOOoo…ooo
Naruto watched calmly as his enemies – at least, his instincts told him they were enemies – struggled to regain their composure after being freed from Sasuke's jutsu.
He half-expected them to charge Sasuke and him immediately, now that they were on their feet again, but wasn't really surprised when they jumped back considerably, quickly surrounding both of them in a triangular attack formation, with four men along each side. He didn't really have to look at their eyes, which were barely visible from the holes on their porcelain masks, to know that they were greatly disturbed by his presence. Ironically, he didn't even do anything after their sudden arrival except for a quick sealing to adjust his physical appearances; it was Sasuke who took control of the whole situation.
And Sasuke had done his part exceptionally well. His skills in the mind technique were so good that none of the Iwa-nin detected that the Konoha ANBU team had been placed under a genjutsu. However, such things didn't really extend beyond the intended recipients. Once the mind-prodding link had been broken, the ANBU members would likely take notice of what had actually happened, and more troubles might ensue. Naruto didn't want that to happen right now, so he hoped that Sasuke had enough chakra to maintain it. At least, until all of them were safely out of the country.
He glanced at the other two Iwa jounin who still hadn't budged, too injured or weak to take part in the imminent fight.
They looked terrified, as if he was a demon from hell itself… which was almost technically true. If only they knew what he harbored inside his body…
But they didn't. There was only one explanation for such recognition and utter fear radiated from their postures. It was proof of their assumption about who he was or, to be precise, someone else who looked exactly like him.
"Blond hair, blue eyes. And that face…" one of the men in front of him started. He paused, swallowed hard, and then continued rather forcefully, "Are you, by any chance, the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou?"
Naruto didn't answer immediately; instead he focused his senses at his feet. He could feel very subtle underground movements from the distance. They were too distinctive and too conspicuous, at least in his opinion, to be considered the natural movement of the earth. Besides, those movements were made at a gradual, but determined speed towards their direction. He almost smirked. There were other Iwa-nin, probably another group of elite squad coming their way, and the man in front of him was obviously stalling for some time as well as trying to confirm his identity. Well, two can play at the game…
He noticed a slight movement to his left. No doubt Sasuke had caught on as well. Their time was running out. Not because of the possibilities of being outnumbered – hell, he could simply kill all of them before they could even blink an eye – but just as Sasuke had pointed out, the fewer people who knew of their existence, the better their chances were to find Madara and kill him. The only reasons he didn't do it was because he abhorred unnecessary killings and he needed to know whether they had arrived at the right timeframe or not
For that purpose, he required these people to testify, and he wanted it fast. It seemed that the first puzzle had been solved. Wait, not quite. Recognizing him as his father wasn't enough. Even in his own time, many foreigners from other countries still mistook him as the legendary Yondaime Hokage. He needed them to reveal more, something as easy as who was the current Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. On second thought, it'd be easier if they just got out of here and try to get the information somewhere else. Any tavern in a small town would be able to provide him with everything he needed; plus, a friendly tavern sounded real nice at the moment.
He turned his face unhurriedly toward the speaker, unperturbed at all by the killing intents gathering slowly around him.
"And what if I am?" he said quietly, but nobody could disregard the underlying steel in his voice. The men around him stiffened, more weapons suddenly being drawn out of nowhere. He exchanged quick glances with Sasuke, who then suddenly vanished from his spot and appeared near the injured Konoha team. If anyone was surprised by such display of speed, they did well to hide it.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Sasuke communicated in a series of complex ANBU codes with them, who replied cautiously in return. The whole conversation itself was quick and concise, but Sasuke could be very convincing when he wanted to, especially when there was genjutsu involved. A few seconds later, he had already started to help with their injuries. Naruto exchanged glances with him again; the enemy's reinforcement was coming closer.
The Iwa assassination squads followed Sasuke' actions sharply with their eyes, but didn't break from their formation. It seemed that they had identified Naruto as the greater threat, or perhaps they simply didn't want to fall prey for the same paralyzing technique again.
The man in front of him spoke again, apparently he was the one in command here. This time, there were suspicion and uncertainty mixed together into one, "You might look like him, but appearance can be deceiving. For all we know, you could be an impostor."
How true… but if they were insulting his capabilities, they were in for a very big surprise.
"A ninja must see underneath the underneath, but there's always one way to find out, isn't it?" The words came out half-nonchalant, half-challenging, but his eyes spoke otherwise. Despite the bright sunlight, the unfathomable blue orbs glinted dangerously in darker hue, promising swift retributions to whomever foolish enough to cross him.
He surreptitiously created a kage bunshin without using any hand seals, and another Naruto appeared next to Sasuke, who was helping the injured ANBU member to his feet. This time, the enemies had changed their formation. Nine remaining Iwa-nin were surrounding him now, while three of the assassins vanished from their current position and reemerged near the Konoha group, eyes studying the doppelganger warily.
"How?" the kage bunshin asked, referring to the fast recovery rate of the ANBU team.
"Special blood pills," Sasuke replied. Naruto's twin nodded knowingly. Of course, they must have come from Sakura. He made a mental note to ask about their encounter later.
The Konoha team swiftly mustered in front of him. "Minato-senpai," the one Naruto presumed as their Captain spoke solemnly.
Minato-senpai?
The doppelganger managed to hide his surprise and panic well. Minato Namikaze had been in ANBU and he didn't know about it? Had these people been under his father's command previously, or was he still an ANBU member, even now?
Things were getting complicated. Naruto quickly decided that he and Sasuke had to get out of Tsuchi no Kuni as soon as possible to plan their next course of action.
He looked emotionlessly at the ANBU team in front of him; he would have to deal with them later. As much as he looked exactly like his father, there was no way he could imitate all of his characteristics. Hell, aside from whatever little information he had learned about him, he knew practically nothing about the man. The only similarities they shared were of the same features, affinity to sealing, and according to the late Ero-sennin, stubbornness and determination.
But that didn't mean he couldn't act like a respectable figure or get his orders obeyed instantly. Being a Hokage brought air of superiority to anyone.
"Get out of here, and fast. Others are approaching. Just let me handle this. I'll follow you shortly."
The four ANBU members didn't hesitate, "Hai."
Sasuke took this cue to start moving. "Lead the way," he said. It was not a request, but the genjutsu-induced Black Ops didn't really have time to ponder on that matter. They quickly sped towards the nearest national border while the Uchiha followed closely behind. The enemy's trio tried to give chase, but they had barely taken a few steps when three precise blows to each of their heads stopped their attempts completely. They simultaneously fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious.
Then the clone casually made his way to the direction taken by the Konoha team, ignoring his twin counterpart, the nine surprised elite squad members, and two frightened and injured jounin on the battlefield.
Naruto tried hard not to grin. The ANBUs had gotten away in one piece with Sasuke, now it was up to him to finish off the rest. From the way these shinobi were behaving, they seemed to want him alone. He knew instinctively that there was something strange going on here, and he was determined to find out that said business.
"Based on your description in our Bingo Book, you tend to avoid a battle or simply finish it in a flash, just like your moniker… And just now, both of you could have simply killed us in a heartbeat, but you didn't. I wonder why?"
Ah, of course they noticed it too. Now that was quite difficult to explain, but he didn't need to. If he had to kill, he didn't want to kill under someone else's name, especially while he was pretending to be his father.
"Then maybe you should update the information later," Naruto said, sarcasm was palpable in his voice, "If you still live after this."
The atmosphere was so thick with killer intent being directed threateningly at him that Naruto wondered if he could cut it with his kunai. But he simply ignored them as if they were nothing, although a normal jounin could have possibly been debilitated by these alone. His lack of reaction to such intimidation made the enemies tenser. In a way, they looked more disturbed than ever, as if they knew that they would never survive this battle.
'To have a bunch of elite assassins squirming like this, I wonder what kind of reputation he had in Iwa…' The blond mused silently. 'Hm, looks like they are almost here. Well, the more the merrier.'
The squad leader spoke again, "All of our shinobi have been given information on you, but it seems there's another threat we didn't know about. Konoha is surely breeding prodigies and hiding secret weapons nowadays."
Naruto knew instantly that he was referring to Sasuke, but offered no comments. Despite their lack of hitai-ate, anyone would easily realize that they were from Konoha, since he looked exactly like Namikaze Minato, and Sasuke had just revealed his village identity. He was hardly surprised by how quickly they had figured it out. The codes Sasuke used just now were exclusive to the Konoha ANBU, and even if they couldn't decipher the meaning, every elite shinobi had been trained to recognize characteristics of the other village's hand signals.
The man stared at Naruto dispassionately and said, "Not to mention a certain jutsu you used to suddenly appear in front of us earlier. How interesting…"
The blond stared back at him (or, more accurately, at the mask) unflinchingly, but he had secretly hoped that they would simply assume that whatever they might have seen just now, especially the bright golden light of his time-travel, was part of Minato's repertoire of jutsu. Besides, wasn't it the yellow flash that always accompanied his Hiraishin what had earned him the famous nickname? It could be because of the blond hair, but still…
"Are you done talking?" he said in a warning tone. Conversation with an enemy was always best served cold.
"Not quite. A flee-on-sight order has been issued on you, Namikaze-san, but our Tsuchikage was really hoping that you could join us. In fact, the offer stands still, even right now. This war is inevitable. Doesn't it appeal to you to become one of us and reap all the benefits of being a shinobi of your status?"
Naruto froze at that unexpected remark. Offer? Joining Iwa? He regarded the man impassively, hiding his suspicion as well as building anger under that facade. Was it true that Namikaze Minato had been asked to betray Konoha in favor of Iwa previously, or was it simply a bluff? Was this a plot to discredit his father's name by sowing the seeds of doubts concerning his loyalty, a ploy to make him lowering his guard or, to be more specific, reveal Naruto himself as an impostor?
He couldn't really detect anything in the man's expression which was hidden carefully behind porcelain, but he knew that his father would never entertain any thoughts of becoming a traitor to his own home country. For someone who had sacrificed his own life and made his son a jinchuuriki in order to save Konoha, such an idea would be an insult that could never be forgiven.
Suddenly, his killing intent spiked a little, aimed solely at the man in front of him.
Those around him didn't even have time to flinch when their squad leader fell to the ground, lifeless; the slight trickle of blood from his slit throat was evident to their eyes.
"That, shinobi, was a really, really wrong thing to say," Naruto stated calmly, emphasizing every word to the corpse at his feet, a kunai held firmly in his hand. His inhuman speed for the kill, and the unmistakably eerie expression on his face made the rest of the Iwa-nin recoil a little in an indecisive moment.
What was more, he looked almost as if he was regretting his act.
'This is not my fight, and yet I've already killed… at least I should have asked for more info, damn it…!'
Then it hit him.
He was so furious by the insinuation that his father would willingly become a traitor that he had completely forgotten that the dead man had already given him part of the information he required. Flee-on-sight order… offer from the Tsuchikage… inevitable war… they must have arrived perfectly somewhere on the verge of the Third Great Shinobi War!
Or so he thought.
His musing was cut off as the ground beneath him erupted in a loud roar, and a newly emerged group of Iwa-nin launched themselves towards him. But in that split second, he had already moved out of harm's way, and literally vanished completely from their sights. Their frantic search found him atop of a large rock not far behind them.
"What a bunch of fools. Did you really think that I wouldn't have sensed your presence miles away?"
From his new position on top of the rock, he swiftly studied the eight newcomers. Indeed, just as he had predicted earlier, more elite ninja coming for reinforcement.
One of the advantages of Iwagakure was that they had a lot of manpower at their disposal, unlike Konohagakure who were constantly lacked of available shinobi due to the village often being the target in war or power conflicts among other ninja villages, which finally contributed to Konoha's low mortality and birth rate. Iwagakure, being the one who usually instigated the animosity between the two didn't really suffer as much. This was mostly due to their country being a little isolated from others by the rocky mountain ranges that served as natural borders, making their country difficult to infiltrate and get out of.
He watched them moving quickly to a new attack formation around him in roughly fifty-meter radius. At the rate their determination showed him right now, he knew that they would try to catch him, either dead or alive, and he absolutely knew that even though they knew that they would never succeeded, they would still do it because it was their duty.
"Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi!"
Naruto immediately jumped from the rock he had occupied previously, which had already been smashed to pieces, and now was hurtling at him with deadly momentum. A few large rocks in that area had also been reduced to sharp-edged particles, and they too were coming for his blood. Suddenly, almost all types of weapons and doton jutsu were being thrown at him, or to be more precise, at his shadows. The ground around him shook, acidic mud splattered here and there, even one or two of the planted explosives were activated upon his landing on the ground, but none of their attacks could touch him.
His movement was just too fast to be predictable to their eyes, and it seemed that all they had managed to accomplish was to turn the area into more of a wasteland.
"What a mess…" the blond muttered to no one in particular as he knocked out his nearest target using the round end of his kunai.
He easily sidestepped three makibishi that came hurling at his feet from different angles, and then appeared behind one of the attackers as the caltrops caught each other and exploded. Thinking that they had gotten him this time, they approached warily towards the smoking ground only to have him knock the three of them out cold in one rapid combo. He stood silently, waiting for the remaining twelve to lash out at him.
Dodging flying missiles and all sorts of jutsu heading his way, he swiftly teleported from one foe to the other on the battleground, knocking out the rest of the attacking party either with his fists or the weapon's handle.
It didn't take long at all for him to put them out of commission.
"As for these two…"
ooo…ooOOoo…ooo
They had heard of his name. They knew that he was held in high esteem in Konoha. In truth, his name often came out in every jounin meeting they had attended. More than a few occasions they had talked among themselves and wondered whether his reputation was exaggerated a little. When they were told that his status had even rivaled the Sannin and Shiroi Kiba, they had been quite worried for they knew that those people were easily at kage-level. Despite the rumor that Shiroi Kiba had died several years ago, Iwa wasn't really put at ease. Konoha always seemed to have an extra ace up her sleeve.
It was almost unbelievable for a single man who had hailed from that damn village to have proven to be such a threat to Iwa that it was once said that without him Konoha would easily crumble.
About a week ago, all available jounin were summoned by the Tsuchikage to an emergency meeting. Their leader had given his consent to openly assault and capture any encountered Konoha-nin for interrogation, or to kill them immediately if they tried to escape, under applicable situations and conditions. Any diplomatic ties with Hi no Kuni had been severed and strategies were heavily discussed to prepare them for the upcoming war. However, just before the meeting ended, he had announced that flee-on-sight order had been issued regarding the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou, that any Iwa-nin was not to engage him in a battle unless he was seen in Tsuchi no Kuni and even then only as a last resort situation when it was deemed that they must fight.
Such as the situation they had been caught in right now…
They were on their way back from a patrol duty near the border when their group had detected a party's movement that seemed a little suspicious to pass as Iwa shinobi. Using the area to their advantages to obtain more information, they had confirmed that those people were indeed intruders from Konoha. A battle took place and their group had suffered heavy losses, but some of them managed to shoot an emergency flare in their last ditch effort for any nearby help. Unexpected but welcomed, their beacon call had guided a number of elite squad which in actuality had already been in pursuit of the enemies' team.
And here, they had hoped that the death of their comrades would be justified, only to witness the arrival of the person that would explicitly spell their impending doom.
That man had conveniently interrupted the fight with his light speed arrival in a blinding golden vortex. Then there was this young freak with him who could effortlessly paralyze the whole squadron and both of them, deepening their injuries without even moving from his spot. True, they had been caught off guard, but to be able to come up with such technique spoke mastery of different level, not to mention of how the two had managed to pop up out of nowhere in the beginning. Afterwards, the dark-haired man had simply brought a man from death's door by something that suspiciously looked like a pill. A mere blood clotting pellet or soldier pill shouldn't work wonders like that! He surely didn't look like a medic-nin to them, more like someone who was used to be a leader and in the frontline. Did the Slug Princess, the medic-Sannin invent such medication? If it was true, Konoha would obviously be harder to crush.
Was there the slightest chance for them to bring this information to the Tsuchikage? Somehow, they had doubted it.
Being weak and injured, and scared shitless to be of any use at all didn't stop them from observing everything that was happening. The blond's clone had appeared out of nowhere and effortlessly knocked out three men to prevent them from chasing after his fellow comrades. When they overheard the squad leader ask why all of them were still alive, they couldn't agree more, doubting his identity. As far as reputation preceded him, the Konoha Yellow Flash didn't show mercy, for nobody who fought him survived to tell the tale.
And what was this about him being offered to join Iwa? Despite their own surprise at that revelation, clearly he had viewed the proposal as such insufferable insult for his answer had prompted the death of the man who had brought the issue. Thereafter, watching him disposing of the remaining squad of Iwa Special Force, sixteen of them to be exact, without even breaking a sweat had totally wreaked indisputable terror into their heart. What was worse was the fact that he had merely been toying with them, stalling for time and giving them many opportunities to attack first.
The next thing they knew, he was standing right in front of them. Except for a few specks of dirt here and there, nothing on him indicated that he had just fought an intense battle. Not even a scratch. They could only stare speechless at him, acknowledging the powerful aura radiated from the young man and the ruthless wisdom in his eyes.
Now they understood why they were asked to flee in the first place.
Too bad, the two veterans couldn't even bring themselves to stand on their feet at the moment. So they did what one did when they knew that they had been totally defeated and that there was no hope left. They waited bravely for their own demise.
It didn't happen.
"I said, why don't you just answer my question so that I can go on my way?" Naruto repeated impatiently, a little annoyed that the jounin were too frozen to even realize that he was talking to them.
"Uh… uh, huh?!" one of them managed to blurt out, breaking the other from his self-imposed trance. Finally, he got their attention.
"I said, tell me what I want to know, and your lives will be spared," he said again, making sure that he sounded as emotionless as possible. Since he had steered the fight quite a distance away from where these two had been, he didn't really think that they could detect that none of their compatriots were dead, except for the squad leader. He would certainly use this to his advantage.
The one on the left stared unbelievingly at him, then said with a sneer, "And why in hell should we tell you anything? Just kill us already!" One might think that the brown-haired jounin was actually begging him to swiftly put him out of his misery.
Naruto didn't really feel compelled to oblige, so he asked instead, "I have served my purpose here, except for one thing. Tell me, shinobi, personally, do you really want this war to happen? Losing your loved ones in the process?"
He maintained an impassive face even when the men looked at him as if he had sprouted horns out of the top of his head. If there was one way to provoke a captive to speak, his harmless, but strange question was definitely effective enough, at least in his weird and unpredictable way. Although they weren't technically his prisoners, and Naruto certainly didn't intend to take them with him, they were totally under his mercy for the time being. As such, he might as well try to get any information he could while he had the chance.
Try being the keyword.
He might have spent some time with Morino Ibiki in the interrogation chamber, but besides blunt questions, blatant approach and annoying the hell out of both captive and mind torture specialist alike, he still sucked badly in mental games. Things were always better when he just spoke his mind.
"What the hell are you trying to do? Showing off your superiority to us? Just get this over with already!" Screaming those words hysterically, the man suddenly lunged forward, a throwing knife was clumsily tossed in the general direction of Naruto's stomach, but the blond simply grabbed the weapon just before it reached him and threw it to the ground with contempt.
"That was very foolish of you," he said, watching calmly as the man struggled half-consciously in agony to adjust his sitting position. The wound on his right thigh had reopened and blood was seeping freely from the cut, a reddish stain spreading across the hastily made bandage.
"Toga!" The other jounin quickly got to the bleeding man's side, eyes looking at Naruto frightfully. Despite his fear, he didn't hesitate in giving first aid to his friend. Naruto noticed that beneath the bandanna that served as his hitai-ate, the unnamed jounin had straight sandy hair which was tied together in a long ponytail. A once-over was enough to tell him that the man was suffering from chakra exhaustion and minor physical injuries, and they couldn't recover any faster because they were already out of supply. Nothing out of ordinary here, fighting a group of well-trained ANBU clearly took that much.
"You should get him proper treatment soon; if you don't that wound could get infected pretty quickly." Naruto started to walk away from the pathetic scene, but a shaky voice stopped him from his track.
"No…"
He turned his head half-way, waiting patiently for Toga's companion to give an explanation.
"Personally, I didn't want it to happen. I lost a son on a mission years ago, this war could bring worse. But shinobi are just tools, we don't really question orders. I'd have thought someone like you would have known that, so why did you ask?"
"No particular reason. I simply wanted to know."
"Then allow me to ask you. Why didn't you kill us when you're certainly capable of doing so?" the man asked grimly. Apparently he had overcome his fear of the blonde's reputation, either that or the heat and battle distress had caught up to him, moving him beyond caring for his own survival.
"Is the war official yet? At least on your side?" Naruto asked quietly, now completely facing them. Toga had already fallen unconscious in his friend's lap.
The man hesitated a little, but answered nonetheless, "No, but it will in a short time."
"How short?"
"We don't really know. No authorized orders yet."
"Then I have no real reason to kill you." The blond started moving on his way again, well aware that the day was turning evening. Despite the hot wind and unbearable heat that was associated with the land, the day was already growing cool and the evening would bring even lower temperatures. He had lingered more than he should.
"But we're still enemies, and you've just entered our territory. It's a valid reason enough. If you can kill the whole squad, why spare us?"
Naruto raised one eyebrow, "It should be obvious. You didn't attack me, and I don't make it a habit to kill helpless people."
"That's not true. Toga just attacked you, and if today's event counts, everyone is helpless against you." The Iwa jounin continued in an accusing tone, "Yet you still chose to kill all of them."
"Did I, really?" the blond asked. His face slowly formed into an indecipherable, almost sad smile as his eyes surveyed the bodies and damage around him. "Whatever it is, I have my own reason. Cling to the chance you've been given to live, shinobi. Life is too precious to waste away."
That being said, he simply disappeared in a bright flash, leaving the awestruck man to his own thoughts.
ooo…ooOOoo…ooo
They had been moving at top speed for almost an hour in the critical zone before slowing to a moderate but constant pace towards the southwest border where Tsuchi, Taki and Kusa no Kuni met. Oddly, they didn't encounter any resistance at all after taking their flight from the country. At the rate they were going currently, they could probably reach the intended destination after nightfall.
Both of them were moving side by side, with the ANBU team guiding the escape route. Sasuke hadn't completely released them from his subtle genjutsu yet, and Naruto noticed that he was beginning to tire a little. Even though it didn't take a lot of chakra for it to work, he would still feel encumbered by the control he needed to exercise while in constant movement, especially without revealing to their 'escorts' that he was an Uchiha. Since he knew that there's no way in hell the bastard would admit even an ounce of weakness, Naruto masked his concern away. Besides, Sasuke could always take care of himself.
But Sasuke wasn't the only one being observed. Not long after the blond joined them, Sasuke had immediately sensed that something was wrong with him, but decided to wait until they had separated from the other team to ask.
They continued their journey in silence, and reached the border of the three countries four hours later. Naruto knew that they could make it faster, but given the condition of the group, they decided to slow down a little. No matter how miraculous Sakura's medicine was, forcing the tissues and muscles to regenerate at a much faster rate and then straining them further with vigorous physical activities would still have some side effects, unless they had a medic-nin to monitor their progress. He didn't know if any of them was a medic-nin, but even in the future when all ANBU members were taught the rudimentary medic skills, chances were they would still not be good enough to diagnose and treat conditions resulting from a medicine they'd never seen or heard of before.
Regardless, they still needed to get some place for the ANBU team to rest safely, and then he and Sasuke needed to make their own escape.
Once they had moved a little further into Kusa no Kuni, Naruto announced to the group, "I think we can stop here for a while." He looked up to see that the moon had fully shown itself, illuminating the small area with its pale light. The place was populated by large mushrooms as tall as trees, clusters of bamboo, and a small stream was running smoothly nearby. They went there to wash and refresh themselves, and one of the ANBUs caught enough fish for dinner.
Naruto informed them that he would get more firewood and seal the area so that nobody could interrupt their rest for the night while Sasuke busied himself in the mushroom trees, checking whether they were poisonous or not. By the time Naruto returned, they had already made camp beneath one super large mushroom canopy. A medium-sized bonfire kindled brightly in the dark, allowing them the much needed warmth for the chilling night.
Later, all six of them gathered around the fire, enjoying their meal in peace. Since they had taken flight from Tsuchi no Kuni several hours ago, none of them had requested any permission to stop, and conversation was limited to important matters only, such as the best route to take and their main destination. Now, Naruto had more time to study the group. They had taken their masks off, and as expected, all of them had the same clean, emotionless face of a hardened shinobi. Except for the captain, who looked like he was roughly in his early thirties, the rest of them were quite young.
He decided to start the conversation first, "You were lucky there. A few minutes later and none of you would have made it."
The captain, who introduced himself as Akira from ANBU squad 10 in his codes exchange with Sasuke earlier, raised his face towards Naruto and replied, "We know. It was a real surprise when you just showed up like that and rescued us. We are in your debt, Minato-san."
Naruto applauded himself for not choking on his fish. Although he didn't really mind disguising himself as his father, he still had trouble adjusting to being addressed that way. This team, or at least the captain, seemed quite familiar with Namikaze Minato, judging from how they spoke to him using the first-name basis. Nudging his flask to the direction of the speaker, he simply nodded to the thanks and then eagerly sipped his drink from the container.
"And you really saved my life. But I've never seen you before. Care to give a name, captain-san?" the guy opposite Sasuke joined into the talk, the portion of his meal had been fully consumed. His slightly pineapple-like hair reminded Sasuke of Shikamaru, except that his was longer and a bang framed the sides of his temples. He had a deep flesh wound between the left ribs, with lots of cuts on other parts of his body. Thankfully, nothing was broken and two of Sakura's special pills were enough to fix and speed up the healing process until he got real medical attention.
Sasuke looked at the brown-haired man briefly before he flashed a smirk, "What makes you think that I'm a captain, ANBU-san?"
"The name is Kenji. Saw the tattoo when you cleaned yourself in the river just now. Since you are in the club and we have never seen you before, there are only two things that I can think of. Either you're the hidden type who only do S-class and undercover missions, which in that case would automatically qualify you as a captain were you to take a team, or…" two clones suddenly popped out of nowhere, each had a kunai pointed with lethal precision on Naruto's and Sasuke's throat, "both of you are impostors."
If Sasuke could have demanded why they were suspected as impostors, he would have, but one word and he might lose his larynx, as well as his life. Therefore, he remained quiet, waiting for the next thing to happen. He wasn't disappointed when a sharp tap at the back of his neck froze whatever movement he planned to carry out. Naruto, who was formerly sitting next to Kenji before the man and the rest of them vacated their seats, had also suffered the same fate.
If the circumstances were different, Naruto and Sasuke – mostly Naruto – might have thought it funny that Sasuke had paralyzed an entire squadron of Iwa elite squad with his cool technique only to have a couple of the captain's clones return the favor a few hours later with only a flick of kanashibari.
"Now, tell me who the hell are you, and how did you get such tattoo and high-level clearance of ANBU codes? Who do you work for?"
The clones had dispersed, and a few taps on his temples released his oral functions from restriction, while the rest of his body stayed paralyzed. It was an all too well-known procedures that Sasuke had occasionally used on prisoners himself; he didn't have to test it out to know that he couldn't even turn his head at the moment.
'Preliminary interrogation already, huh?'
"What makes you think we're working for anyone other than Konoha?" he tried his luck. One didn't need to become an ANBU to be on familiar terms with what was coming consequently.
A fierce tug on his hair was a tad too soft for retaliation, at least in his opinion. Maybe Kenji owed him that much. From his tunnel vision, Naruto was going through the same treatment from the red head ANBU, with the captain watching the blond alertly for any attempts to escape. Being the shortest in the group, Sasuke assumed the boy to be around his late teens, probably around seventeen or eighteen years old, and he was holding something like a three-pronged kunai and was pointing it accusingly towards the blond. Another man punched Naruto in the stomach after receiving some crude remark that was really Naruto-like. If Sasuke could smirk, he would definitely do so.
'Hn. Speeding things up now, aren't we?'
"You're not in any position to ask questions right now, captain-san. I repeat. Who the hell are you, and what was your intention there in the first place?" Kenji demanded again.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." As soon as he had said that, a punch followed suit. Blood trickled slowly from the split end of his mouth, trailing a thin path down the jaw and ended up staining his white shirt. Neither Kenji nor Captain Akira this time, it was the courtesy of the dark-haired man whom he didn't have opportunity to get an introduction yet. First Naruto, and now him. That guy was sure a little bit prone to violence in his methods of interrogation.
"Don't want to cooperate, huh? Fine then, let's go for the next stage..." They dragged him around the fire without any resistance and placed him next to Naruto. At the close proximity, his numbing senses could easily catch the words being thrown at his friend's face.
"You had the guts to disguise yourself as him…" the red-headed teenager in front of them spat at the blond. "I didn't know how you did that, but you'll surely tell us once we're finished with you. You know what, spy? You might have fooled us once, but nothing can fool this!" The paper seal wrapping the three-pronged kunai glowed briefly in his grasp, but other than that nothing happened.
Sasuke could only draw the conclusion that the strange kunai had something to do with the identification of Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou. Damn Namikazes and their bag of sealing tricks, he guessed.
Then the captain did a series of familiar hand seals – monkey, snake, ox, bird; they were being forced under Jigyaku no Jutsu! And abruptly he found himself losing control of his thoughts…
It might be effective if they were real. Unfortunately, the memories of a clone was very limited to a certain predefined information, and no matter how strong their bodies were created to take physical blows, putting them into a state of reverse hypnosis was too overpowering for their mind to handle that they simply disappeared into oblivion.
"What the… kage bunshin? How...?!" the dark-haired ANBU blurted out in surprise. Kenji and the red-haired ANBU quickly surveyed their immediate area using the night vision tools of their masks to guide them but found nothing to track in the dark, except for some small harmless animals. When they wanted to get deeper into the woods, the captain halted their progress, and upon the order they returned to the camp empty-handed.
"I've checked the sealing the blond did around the camp just now. It would indeed protect us from detection by enemies or dangerous animals alike as long as all of us stayed inside the parameters. From it alone I know that he was a very high level shinobi. We would have died if they really intended to harm us," the captain stated gravely.
"Remember when I suddenly realized that we've been tricked? It was when I was alone in the stream." the redhead said, taking his mask off and hung it at his waist. "Felt like whatever clouding my thoughts clearly gone and suddenly I can think straight again, enough to notice that something wasn't right here."
"Me too, while preparing our dinner. A very subtle and powerful genjutsu, don't you think? To be able to sustain it for so long, it's almost unheard of. Whichever did that must possess damn good chakra control, not to mention a natural genjutsu user," Kenji added on.
"I don't think it's the blond. While all of us were busy with our tasks, the other man was in the trees, probably watching us. He could easily wait for the right moment to withdraw his technique, whatever it was, switched himself with a doppelganger, and planned his escape…" the dark-haired man deduced thoughtfully, resentment at the fact that their prisoners had conveniently slipped away was still etched on his face.
The team exchanged knowing looks with each other as they came to the same conclusion.
"Just right after the blond returned – as kage bunshin," the captain concluded in a matter-of-fact voice. "They got us twice."
"All in all, they spell trouble, and from the little displays of their skills today we know that they are very powerful. I doubt we could really track them in our current conditions. Heck, I'm not sure we could do that even at our full power."
"You shouldn't have told him your name in the first place, Kenji," the dark-haired ANBU admonished, his fingers absently tracing at the cracked lines on the bird-mask hanging at his waist, "Especially since they are our enemies."
"Potential enemies," Kenji corrected, and continued almost cheerfully, "Somehow I got the feelings that the tattoo is too real to be a fake, and thanks to the moon, I just happened to have a clear view at that time. Everything about him simply screamed a full-fledged ANBU to me. Even after their revelation as impostors, I couldn't really see them as bad guys. Besides, he saved my life. And they indeed saved all of us, mind you, enemies or not. Consider that as a payment."
The man snorted at the answer, but didn't give any comment. Kenji always took things lightly, and sometimes he wondered how the man could make it to ANBU with such carefree attitude. However, he also knew that his teammate was quite a decent shinobi himself, and above all things, he could never ask for a more loyal companion. Running the fingers through his spiky dark hair, he walked closer towards them, waiting for the next order from Captain Akira.
"It's obvious that our combatants are beyond our level, despite their youthful appearance. Get some rest for tonight, all of you. We'll move at top speed to Konoha first thing tomorrow morning, and bring this matter to Hokage-sama's attention when we submit the mission report." Then the captain added some more under his breath, "Come to think of it, it looks as if they really did us a favor… if only we can get their true identity and purpose."
"Aye aye, Captain."
Deep and high up in the gigantic mushroom trees, two figures observed the team for a moment longer before vanishing completely into the darkness.
To be continued…
Canon Glossary
Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi – Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction. B-rank, offensive, all ranges. A jutsu which dislodges rocks in the nearby area where the user will launch to crush the opponents, the hurtling rocks can be broken to smaller pieces to attack at different angles. In Kakashi Gaiden, this jutsu had crushed and killed Uchiha Obito when Kakashi and he attempted to rescue Rin from two Iwa-nin who had kidnapped her.
Hiraishin no Jutsu – Flying Thunder God Technique. Minato Namikaze's signature jutsu that earned him the moniker Konoha Yellow Flash.
Jigyaku no Jutsu – Time Reversal Technique. An ANBU technique that puts the target in a state of reverse hypnosis, allowing them to remember details they otherwise would not. Target would comply under interrogation, but seems to retain his personality while under hypnosis.
Kanashibari no Jutsu – Temporary Paralysis Technique. Konoha ANBU uses this technique to incapacitate a recipient for a short time by sending a shockwave of chakra through the nervous system, usually by jabbing the middle and index fingers on the forehead or just below the skull.
Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou – The Yellow Flash of Konoha. Namikaze Minato's nickname.
Shiroi Kiba – White Fang, a moniker for Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi's father who had committed suicide in disgrace due to his decision to save his comrades' lives over a mission, which in the end caused Konoha to suffer great losses. Minato once told Uchiha Obito that Sakumo's legendary skills could even rival the three sannin.
Tsuchi no Kuni – Land of Earth. It is located northwest of the Land of Fire (Hi no Kuni) and borders the Land of Grass (Kusa no Kuni), Land of Waterfall (Taki no Kuni), Land of Rain (Ame no Kuni) and other countries.
Non-Canon Glossary
Suraikou – Lightning Cobweb, at least A-rank, supportive, 0-20m in radius. A ninjutsu created by Sasuke which is inspired from the Kanashibari no Jutsu, which can trap and paralyze many targets within range. The strength of the jutsu depends on Sasuke's control. Purely fictional, in kailynx's fanfiction only.
Many thanks to Kylewin for betaeing for me, despite being very busy lately. And please note that whatever discrepancies you might find out in this chapter are most likely from me butchering on the language afterwards.
There, the introduction to the real thing. For those who are too lazy to do the calculation previously, Sasuke is 20, Naruto is turning 20 soon. From the prologues, I think many people can already guess the main idea by now, the summary itself is self-explanatory and I had put bits of clues here and there. And it's not really as easy as it sounds either since I tend to make things complicated. Any plot-holes that are not really clear here will be covered gradually in the upcoming chapters.
Don't worry if you think that our heroes are uber-powered in this chapter; a few years are quite possible enough for Naruto to surpass everyone, and at this point Sasuke has probably surpassed Itachi. Things won't really be easy for them as the story progresses, so just keep track on it to know, ok? :)
I'm sorry for not updating earlier; my life is really killing me. Even this chapter is actually written bit by bit under constant stress, in two months and half, actually. Yeah I know, I write like a snail! I hope it won't be disappointing. If it is, I'll just have to do better next time!
I think my English is improving… um, maybe not. I want to improve the language, and writing a story is surely the best platform, especially something that I really want to write about… haha. But it must be betaed because I'm sure you don't want to read a story full with grammatical errors and horrible sentence structures *shivers*. (Thanks again, Kyle. You rock!)
As usual, please review at your own convenience. I'd love to hear from you. If there's anything you're not clear with or require more explanation/information, can always PM me. I'll try to be helpful as possible (without revealing the spoilers, of course).
Thank you for reading. Hope everyone enjoy it. Ja ne!!
