"All Kill Landing Edge"

By Nes Mikel

Acknowledgment;

I hereby acknowledge that the work of fiction presented here is for my own personal amusement and entertainment purposes alone. I hereby also acknowledge that while this story is mostly based on Kishimoto Masashi's "Naruto", crossover elements from other fictitious sources also exist, which will be named as they arise. Thus, I acknowledge that the original story concept and ideas, while heavily altered for the sake of the crossover, are copyright of all its associates.

For non up-to-date readers, this fiction will contain spoilers up to the latest Naruto manga chapters.

With that said, enjoy.


"All Kill Landing Edge"


- Chapter Three -

"Cod de Legi"

Romanian "Code of Law"


To make a long story short, in the end it had turned out that Ino and Naruto had been worried about the wrong thing.

The nervousness that clamped down the not-yet-teenage boy and girl as they spent the remaining evening in the Yamanaka clan's semi-large complex had been nerve racking as its clan head, Yamanaka Inoichi, purposely avoided their questioning gaze throughout dinner, dessert and the tea after. It was only when the shorter end of the grandfather clock's needle pointed at eleven, after the Yamanakas and Naruto had finished their customary game of cards, when Inoichi rounded both of them up and invited them into his office when they knew the 'talk' finally came.

But instead of being told of news about Naruto's 'condition', Inoichi's next words were very different from the ones they were expecting.

"Ino." The clan head began carefully when he sat down on his office chair. "Sakura is awake."

Her mouth hung open, speechless.

"I understand this is sudden, but it's true. Now look, I'm sure you're overjoyed by the news, but there's a few things that-"

Before Inoichi or Naruto could stop her, she bolted straight for the door, grabbed her jacket hanging off the coat-hanger and took off into the snowy night.


"...Inoichi-ojisan, that was probably not the best way to break the news to her, you know?" Naruto told Inoichi as he scratched the back of his head, to the man he considered to be the closest thing to a father figure in his ten-year-old life. "Ino-chan and I thought you were going to talk to us about the seal, about the Kyuubi. We were worried some trouble popped up."

Inoichi hung his head low, looking a little sheepish. "...If that's how it looked like, then I apologize." As he leaned back in his chair, he looked exhausted. "But in all honesty, I couldn't think of any other way."

"Ino-chan's been waiting for this for two whole years. Surely you could've at least guessed how she'd react."

The Yamanaka man's mouth twitched in a brief smile, but it never touched his eyes and drew a deep breath instead. "I thought I did, somewhat. I was hoping your presence would calm her down."

"So is that why you invited me over for dinner?" He asked Inoichi.

"Yes."

"But why break the news this way?" Naruto questioned. It was strange to see Inoichi like this, Naruto thought as he observed him.

"There are a few... problems." Inoichi said quietly, his emerald eyes soft. "I didn't want disappoint Ino in letting her know that even though Sakura had woken, she's not in a condition to see anyone right now."

Naruto's eyes widened momentarily at the news, but after a while he nodded back at himself. He never knew Sakura, not directly anyway, but he had seen the bedridden pink-haired girl several times when he'd accompanied Ino to her weekly hospital visits to change the flowers in her flower vase, on top of the counter next to her bed. He was no expert in comatose patients, but even he could guess that comatose people waking up won't exactly be up and up-to-speed when they did.

But at the same time, Naruto knew it was going to take Ino more than that to change her mind. He turned around, staring briefly at the door to which Ino disappeared into and out. "What's the problem?" He asked again, turning back towards Inoichi.

"A shallow case of memory loss, for one."

Naruto flinched. "Does this mean that she doesn't remember who she is?"

"Oh no, it's not like that." Inoichi said, quickly reassuring Naruto. "It's probably a mild case of confusion after waking up from a coma after two years. The memory loss would only be temporarily, but until she's recovered, it would do Ino no good to see her in that state."

Naruto nodded. The worst thing that could've happened to Ino was Sakura not remembering who she was or anyone else. It would've been a terrible conclusion to a story already tragic. At the same time, Naruto knew with sinking feeling that if that was all there was to the story, Inoichi wouldn't have worded his words so carefully.

Noticing Naruto's silent nod urging him to continue, Inoichi smiled. "How much do you know about Sakura, Naruto?"

"A lot." He confirmed, remembering the times when Ino went on a blabbering spree about all the things she would do with her friend when everything was all right again. "I mean, I never really got to meet her before her accident, but Ino-chan's told me all about her. She really is Ino-chan's precious person, isn't she?"

"Their first meeting didn't go exactly that well, and that was mostly my fault." Inoichi laughed weakly at the memory. "But yes, Ino cares a lot about Sakura. What I wanted to ask you about, though," Inoichi's expression dissolved into one of intense seriousness. "Is if you know about Sakura's special condition."

Naruto's lips tightened as he tried to remember, eyes darkening with concern as he absorbed Inoichi's expression and tone of voice. "Are you talking about Ouka-chan?"

"Yes." Ouka was what the Yamanakas decided to call Sakura's fiery inner personality when they first stumbled upon the presence inside the girl, almost by accident. "This is why I wanted you to be by Ino's side when she hears of the news." He said. "I was called into the hospital yesterday to give her a quick look over her mental state when she woke up, but-"

"You mean she actually woke up yesterday?" Now Naruto was starting to get really worried. "What happened?"

Inoichi's mind flinched away from the last word, yet it was one had had to face. Even if he couldn't tell Ino and Naruto everything, this was one thing he had to let both of them know.

"Trust me. I don't like this as much as you do." Inoichi muttered. "But after giving her a careful checkup with my mind jutsus once the doctors had calmed her down after she tried to harm herself, the conclusion was final."

His fists clenched at his side. Then he drew a deep, drawn breath. "She is gone, Naruto. Sakura's inner personality is dead."


The lamps continued to burn late inside the small room as Shimura Danzou walked through the door, followed by two of his bodyguards. As usual, Danzou was dressed in his proper robes, but a keen observer would've suggested he got dressed more rapidly than normal. Indeed, he was about to retreat into his bedchambers for some sleep when he was roused by one of the bodyguards following him, claiming he had important information to share.

He walked across the room in quick strides before sitting himself down in his chair, looking at the bodyguard that brought him information with a hard stare.

"And?" He barked the question out. "What was so important that you wanted to talk to me about, Fu?"

"I'm sorry to have summoned you on such short notice, Danzou-sama." His Root ANBU subordinate said quietly from behind him where he stood in perfect attention. "But there has been some progress reported on a priority-one subject. I have been instructed to report any activity and provide you assistance wherever possible."

Understanding instantly dawned on him as he figured out who Fu was referring to. "Progress?"

"She has awoken, Danzou-sama. As of yesterday."

Danzou narrowed his single eye. "Yesterday?"

"There was a brief information lockdown conducted over the matter, ordered by Yamanaka Inoichi." Fu answered as he pulled several sheets of paper from the pouch sown on his jacket and pushed it forward on his superior's desk. Picking up a page, Danzou quickly poured over its contents in order to read the information contained within, a summarized report collected from their years of study on the subject matter. "I was only able to find out through my contacts inside the clan."

"So he wanted to get to her first." Danzou growled when the name of the cursed head of the Information and Espionage division was mentioned. For a few brief moments, silence settled back in the dark chamber as he continued to read through the pages, and when he was finished he rounded up the papers together and sat it back down on the smooth surface of the polished desk. "What more can you tell me?" He demanded.

"The subject had awoken from her slumber by zero-seven hundred hours, when she was found awake in an upright position by one of the nurses on routine patrol." Fu continued his report impassively. "The neurosurgeon on duty was recalled, and from there Yamanaka Inoichi was instantly informed of her arousal. He was able to reach the hospital by zero-eight hundred hours and had guards from his division posted outside the hospital room so he wouldn't be interrupted while he conducted his study."

"And the girl?" He asked. This was the most important part. "Was there any sort of indications that she has changed?"

In his reply, Fu only had to nod silently as he took a cylindrical object from his pouch and sat it on the desk. "Our contact inside the hospital managed to sneak this one out. The subject managed to do this before she turned her hands on herself in an attempt to crush her eyes. She nearly succeeded, but her attempt has failed. The doctors have since then given her sedatives and have bandaged her eyes to prevent any further damage."

Danzou felt a mingle of satisfaction as he took the object into his hand and stared at the lower end what of used to be the upper portion of a typical bedpost.

"Good. So this confirms it, then."

He bushed his fingers at the edge of the bedpost, where the metal alloy was sliced off so cleanly from the base, the surface of the cut smoother than his polished desktop. Twirling the metal around and smiling as he did so, Danzou lightly tapped the top of his desk with the bedpost he still held in his hand.

"She is connected with the root now." His malevolent smile grew just that much larger. "The perfect weapon."


"All Kill Landing Edge"

- Chapter Three -

-END-


Author's Notes:

Chapter three.

Just so we're clear on the subject, no Naruto characters will undergo super powerups and suddenly become badass and all that. That's not to say that our favorite characters won't be receiving any powerups in the future, though. All of them will be relatively realistic and backgrounds will be provided when we get to it. But then again, trying to be realistic in a fictitious story where ordinary-looking kids can spit giant fireballs out of their mouths?

Oh, the irony.

Thanks for reading!

- Nes Mikel

All Kill Landing Edge, Chapter Three "Cod de Legi", First Edition: February 18th, 2013, Last Edit: February 24th, 2013