Chapter 4 – The Pawns Move
Author's Note -
If its in bold, its a mental communication. Note, if they're actually in mindscape, its not bolded.
If its italics, its a thought.
Just clearing that up.
oOoOoO Naruto, 1 month later OoOoOo
Naruto didn't see them until it was too late.
One moment he was walking down the street, the next he was under someones arm. Too shocked to attack, he was instantly struck on the back of his neck. Barely clinging to consciousness through sheer willpower, he opened his eyes.
Impossible, Naruto thought, staring upwards. This mans' from Cloud – I remember him from the Shinobi Alliance. Then, they're trying this again?
"Target acquired," the man said, speaking into his chakra radio. Naruto strained to hear the response.
"We've got the three jounin," a voice replied. Naruto blinked. It was familiar, but who - ?
A man stepped out in front of them as they ran down the alley. He wore the standard Anbu uniform, and a dog mask.
Kakashi!
Naruto's enthusiasm at seeing his savior was short lived. Seven members of Rock – these with their headbands on – appeared around him, kunai at the ready.
"How did you all get into the village?" Kakashi asked, his voice calm despite the overwhelming odds. "We were tracking all eight of you the whole way here."
No, Kakashi, this one's not a Rock ninja -
"We had a little help," the man carrying Naruto said, shifting his burden slightly. This seemed to be a signal. The other seven members rushed forward. With one quick movement, Kakashi jumped straight up in the air and uncovered his Sharingan.
The moment he'd cleared the alley walls, the eighth and last member of the Rock team made his appearance in a hail of shuriken. The barrage impacted Kakashi at the highest point of his jump, where there was nowhere to dodge.
"Kakashi," Naruto muttered, horror fighting the daze he was in. They must have poisoned him at some point. He couldn't think straight. His eyes closed. Without the Nine Tails, he suspected he'd be entirely unconscious.
The sound of wood hitting the ground energized him. Substitution!
Screams from the enemy ninja. Lots of cursing, interrupted occasionally by the sound of blood splattering. It was difficult to even hear for Naruto at this point.
Something exploded. Naruto strained with all the chakra in his body, and managed to open his eyes. Kakashi was stranding directly in front of him, a bloody kunai in his hand. His clothes were ripped and torn, and his other arm was leaking a steady trail of blood onto the ground.
"Put the child down," Kakashi said coldly, raising his Kunai, "and I promise, your death will be swift."
"You Leaf shinobi," the man muttered, "are the worst at negotiating. You should have said you'll let me go, and then kill me anyways."
"I meant I'd kill you before Ibiki started heating the irons."
Impossibly, the man chuckled. "Hah. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to use this last trump card. I don't like being in debt to such a shady ally, but oh well." He raised his hand, then made a fist.
Five Leaf Anbu zoomed in. For one wild moment, Naruto thought he was saved.
Then he saw the 'Ne' symbol on their masks, and the blood drained from his face.
"Danzō," Kakashi said, a mirror of Naruto's thoughts. "You helped foreign ninja into Konoha? Minato will - "
"Never know," the strikingly familiar voice said, emanating from the shortest member. This time, Naruto recognized it. "It is in the village's best interests to continue the peace between Leaf and Cloud. The Uzumaki chakra will be beneficial in Cloud's Jinchuuriki programs."
Kabuto was a member of Root? This day cannot get any weirder.
I see, Advocate muttered. Its overcomplicated, but then, from what I can see, Danzo has always been fond of scheming.
What? Naruto asked. It was easy to talk now, with his body so close to unconsciousness. What's he after?
Consider. Cloud gets you. Rock has their revenge by assisting with your kidnapping, claiming all credit. Both villages have their bloodlust momentarily slaked. My seals next to invisible, and impossible to decipher. It doesn't even look like a seal, really. Cloud attempts to implant the eight tails in you, disrupting my prison and freeing the Nine Tails inside their village, along with the Eight Tails. Even if the two battled each other into oblivion, they'd totally wreck everything. To Danzo, such a treacherous peace offering is to be expected. The way Advocate said it, Naruto could almost forget about the thousands of Cloud ninja that the two Tailed Beasts would slaughter. Cloud is incredibly weakened, both politically for breaking their peace treaty and militarily for being utterly crushed. Rock on the other hand is no doubt being utterly crushed by your enraged father. In one stroke, Danzo virtually annihilates Cloud and forces a massive military strategy change that Minato would never agree to otherwise.
That's - Naruto's words failed him for a moment.
Insane. Risky. Bold – perhaps overconfident. Advocate hesitated. It has him written all over it.
oOoOoO Kakashi OoOoOo
Kakashi narrowed his eyes, grateful for the mask. The would-be ninth kidnapper was no match for him, that was for sure. He looked like another one of the other sides sub-par Jounin. Even injured, Kakashi could destroy him with no real hardships. The five Root members on the other hand. . .
Without a word, or even hand talk, three swept in as one. Their kunai's flashed as they slowly inched towards him. The Sharingan watched it all, slowing the thrusts down for him almost before they did it.
I can't win this, Kakashi realized. The five of them have good teamwork and seem experienced, and unlike the Rock ninjas they have up to date information on my abilities.
He cursed. "Sorry Minato," Kakashi said, and flung the smoke bombs. They erupted underneath him, causing the Root ninjas to jump backwards in case of a sudden counterattack. When the smoke cleared, however, there was no one there.
oOoOoO Naruto OoOoOo
The village needed to be alerted. Kakashi had to get reinforcements. He definitely hadn't abandoned him. Naruto paced in the seal room, having been injected – again – with some sort of sedative. Advocate was silent, perching in the corner on top of a wooden pillar that hadn't been there before. Kurama was sleeping, like normal. Naruto wondered if he could safely use Kurama again, like he had before.
"Damn it," Naruto muttered, kicking at the water. He wished he could move, could enter Sage Mode, could use a technique, but no – his tiny body didn't take much poison to shut down.
"We're just going to have to wait," Advocate said, his voice reasonable as always. Naruto didn't like looking directly at him – studying the flickering, pitch black void that made up his figure made him sick. "Minato's a genuine Papa Bear, and I don't doubt Kushina's going to be ripping heads off before the days over."
Naruto nodded. "It was dumb of them to even try. I mean, what do they think would happen, kidnapping the Hokage's son in the middle of the village?"
"Um," Advocate said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "It does seem to have a very low probability of success. Unless. . ."
Naruto waited, but Advocate had this thing about finishing thoughts. "Look, I told you, not ever other sentence has to end in a cliffhanger. Just tell me what you're thinking already!"
Advocate sighed. "If they infiltrated the village, grabbed you, and Danzo's made a play, I can only surmise that they believe Minato and Kushina will be unable to follow."
Kurama stirred, opening one lazy eye to watch them.
"Unable?" Naruto asked, horrified. "You think Danzo - ?"
"Maybe. . ."
oOoOoO Kakashi OoOoOo
"Taken?" Minato asked, horrified.
"Yes, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said, still panting from the exertion of the chase. His nigh-indestructible mask had cracked and shattered long ago, a testament to the power of the Root ninja that had pursued him. They'd stopped when he reached the tower. "There were representatives from Stone, Cloud, and Root present."
"Danzo," Minato hissed furiously. "He's gone insane!"
"I don't understand his motivations either," Kakashi said, leaning against the wall, "but they were wearing Root Anbu masks."
Minato made a hand sign. He looked down, then made the hand sign again. "Damn it. My Hiraishin is blocked off. They must have disabled the seal I put on Naruto's clothes somehow. We'll have to follow the old fashioned way."
The door slammed open. The messenger, who was wearing Hyuuga clan colors, immediately froze at the feel of a kunai against his neck. Minato, who'd reacted instantly, was standing behind him.
"Report," the Fourth said curtly.
"Its terrible, Lord Hokage!" The messenger spouted, recovering from his brush with near beheading. "Lady Hinata has - "
The door opened again, revealing the heads of the Nara and Yamanaka clans. "Lord Hokage! Foreign ninja are moving through Grass and Hot Water!"
"How many?" Kakashi asked, wincing as he straightened.
"Our border town on Grass reports fifty Stone, several of which are Jounin." Shikaku said. "I've taken the liberty of reporting it to Sand."
"My sources in Hot Water say thirty or forty Stone nin have been sighted moving west," Inoichi reported. "They're moving fast, and the border town isn't responding. If nothing stops them, they could be here in a couple days."
"That's - " Kakashi's words seemed to fail him.
"The continuation of the third war," Minato said, grimly. "And the start of the fourth."
oOoOoO Authors Note OoOoOo
Sorry for the long period between releases, this one's a bit short but the contents good, so I'll put this down and start working on the next one immediately. Lots of stuff happened, and a bunch of pieces are moved. The plots definitely going somewhere, and there will be reasons later for all the non-canon stuff because this is definitely going into AU territory ;)
PS – All those wondering, we're probably going into NaruHina. I'll update the story description. Expect to see more Kurama in the next chapter.