Chapter 4: Man with the plan

"Is this him?" Tohno asked. "He's much younger than I imagined."

"He is the one, my lord."

"I'm so glad you were on time to save him. When you suddenly bolted like that I thought..."

"You thought I was running away, my lord."

"Well, I can't deny it. I was pleased to hear that that wasn't the case."

"Umm, who is this guy?" Naruto asked the oracle standing behind him.

"He is the one who wanted me to save you," Viral replied.

Naruto looked suspicious. "You said it was your idea to come find me." One of Tohno's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, but I am Tohno-sama's retainer. I could not make the journey alone, and so he ordered me to accompany him here."

In other words, Naruto thought, He paid for the trip so he wants the credit. He probably expects something from me as well.

"Listen, child," Tohno began, and Naruto bristled. "Ah, forgive me. Naruto, I want you to travel with us."

"Where are you going?"

"We aren't going anywhere, we're just going to travel."

Viral coughed suddenly. "My lord, if you'll excuse me I will take my leave. I need to rest and recover from my wound."

"Yes, yes, of course! Get as much rest as you need. I'll be calling upon your services shortly.

When the dark-robed man had left the room, Tohno turned his attention fully onto Naruto.

"Viral has told me about the terrible things that have and will befall you living in Konoha. I want to offer you a better life, a life more suited to someone with your immense power."

"Yeah, the power bit," Naruto prompted. "I want to hear more about it."

"Well I know little more than what Viral has told you, but it seems the Kyuubi has been sealed within you, and its chakra will begin to be available for you to use as you get older. Recently, he saw a vision in which the seal was weakened by an unsealing jutsu, and he believes he is capable of repeating the process."

"So I'm gonna get strong in a couple years no matter what, but you want me to work for you in exchange for making me strong now?"

"Urk...well, that about sums it up, save for one key detail: if you don't get strong now, you may very well be dead long before it happens naturally." Tohno smiled as he lay down his last ace.

Naruto looked both sour and troubled. After a while he conceded.

"I'll do it."

"Excellent! I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time together."

"Sure," Naruto mumbled sarcastically, then turned to go.

He almost ran into Viral, who was on his way back in.

"Are you okay?" the blond boy asked. The oracle was panting heavily.

"My lord," he began, "There has been a massive shift in the future. So many new visions are open to me, I must speak with you at once!"

"Guards, leave us," Tohno ordered. The two men stepped out of the tent, and Naruto started to follow.

"Naruto, you should stay as well," the young lord decided. "We can learn of the future together."

Viral was looking pale. "First, my lord...your men are all honest, but not all are loyal. When they see what you have planned, Crom will attempt to stop you. Only three members of your guard will stand against him."

Tohno cursed suddenly and violently. "Bah! They're all too honest then. We'll need to find some lesser men to replace them. And what else is there?"

"Right, the village will send hunters after Naruto." All three of them shuddered as he said it. Naruto looked like he was going to be sick. "I cannot find a future where we leave peacefully...if we leave right away."

"What do you mean?"

"If we stay in the village for a while, and impress on them that Naruto is too destructive to have around. They will exile him within a month, but no major attempts will be made on his life."

Tohno sighed. "Why do I even bother making plans when you're not around? Is there anything else?"

For a moment, Viral was surprised. The young master had always doubted him, never lost a chance to sound unconvinced before. Apparently, he had finally been convinced that the sight was real.

"No, that is all. And now I really must get that rest...provided I don't predict being bitten by insects all night long." He gave a weary smile, and Tohno laughed out loud. Naruto chuckled.

"Aren't you going, Naruto?" Tohno asked when the seer was gone.

"Oh, right, going..." Naruto looked down at his feet.

"Yes, going to bed. Your tent is next to Viral's. I took the liberty of having a late-night snack prepared for you. I also ordered Shikasa to wait on you until we can find you a servant of you own."

Naruto's eyes bugged out. "Yes, sir!" He turned and dashed after Viral, grinning widely.

What are you talking about? 11:20 is still the morning! It's thanksgiving, I don't have to post at 6 in the morning to call it a "morning post!"

I hit a rough patch in chapter 6, but after a while I was able to smooth it out. My writing now proceeds on schedule again.

In completely unrelated news, I've been going through my friend's extensive techno music collection while writing this. The thing with techno music is, most of it is really bad in my opinion. A handful of techno songs are amazing, because they have this incredible beat that they repeat long enough for you to enjoy it, but they switch out before you get bored. Unfortunately, 85% of all techno music fails at getting the right balance: either the beat isn't distinctive enough or it repeats too softly and too long. Also, a lot of it's meant to be played in the background at a club, so it only sounds good on massive speakers.

My point in all this is that if you want to listen to good techno without spending hours weeding out the inferior stuff, your best choice is to get a friend to suggest stuff for you. And since I'm bored, I'm gonna suggest some of it right here and now. Most of these can be found on youtube:

"Kiss the Rain" - triplestar remix.

"A good vibe" by Sten F.

"norwegian rebel" by DJ spash.

"better off alone" - most remixes are better than the original.

These are by far the best techno I've heard out of the last 250-some songs. I feel compelled to share their awesomeness with the world.