Author's Notes: I'm back. Sorry for the long hiatus, as I said in my other story Immanence, I have been pretty busy as of lately but I am hopping to get back to a stable update period like I had before. I'm pushing for once every two to three weeks but I can't make any promises. As usual, thanks for the reviews and reading my stories and hope you enjoy this latest chapter.
Vanished
Without a Trace
4th
Sight: Why?
The atmosphere in the room was unbelievably thick and tense. It almost felt like a conference meeting between two rival government leaders as they tried to settle their obvious differences. Umihime seemed to be the only one oblivious to what was going on as she enjoyed a nice nap in her father's lap. Yugito was trying her hardest not to get up and leave as Naruto was literally sweating bullets. Even Sakura and Shizune were on edge and they were the ones who had spent the most time with the woman.
"So?" The buxom blonde asked impatiently.
"So…?" Naruto asked trying to understand what she was asking.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes in the distinct way that caused Naruto to instantly remember all the painful beatings he had received from her in the past.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Tsunade yelled as her honey pupils were replaced with flames, making Naruto to feel awfully sick.
"He decided that this was the best thing to do since not many people here appreciated how great he was." Yugito answered for him, leaving Naruto feeling even sicker. He was more than grateful to the fact that Umihime was asleep right now and not awake to witness the person she considered the strongest in the universe squirm like a little worm.
"I didn't ask you." Tsunade shot Yugito a look that sent everyone in the room chills up and down their spine. Everyone except Yugito and Umihime for obvious reasons, of course.
"You didn't need to, since he is my husband I hold the right to answer any question that I have a part in." Yugito was obviously not going to back down an inch, which all three of the other adults thought this was an amazing feat, or an act of ignorance.
"I see you kind of have a point there, but that answer isn't acceptable. Not to mention the fact that I still haven't approved of this marriage of yours. Naruto is now an nuke-nin and has a high bounty in the bingo book, yet this is the only excuse you can give me for this reason?" Now everyone was surprised that she was being somewhat agreeable in this situation. Naruto began to realize just how similar those two were. Well, he always had a thing for overbearing and strong women…
"I just needed to get away from everything." Naruto said finally speaking up for himself.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as she was under the impression the whole time that he had been forced/conned/coerced to abandon the village by the Kumo kunoichi despite what she was told. The Naruto she knew wouldn't break his nindo regardless of the situation or the circumstances.
"I came to the realization that I wasn't living my life for myself. Everything, including my goal of becoming the Hokage, was based on appeasing others and proving them wrong. Even my quest to bring Sasuke back was not my own feelings but Sakura's. I honestly felt that she would look at me in a different light if I were to bring Sasuke back for her." Sakura was kind of caught off guard by his answer but was too speechless to say what she wanted to say. "Travelling and training with ero-sennin taught me a valuable lesson in life that I will never forget. My life is my own life to live and I shouldn't live it for others just to make them happy ignoring my own feelings. I made several friends over those years and almost lost them all."
"So you decided to run away from it all then?" Tsunade asked in a loud, stern voice. The sheer volume in her voice woke Umihime up from her sleep, which in the process woke up Naruto's hidden courage to face the ex-Hokage, like he used to do in the past when he was the annoying loud mouthed gaki. Of course, he couldn't look weak in from of his Umi-chan.
"No, I didn't run away. I just chose another path to take." Naruto said as he stared at his surrogate mother straight in her eyes, not showing any sign of backing down. Both Shizune and Tsunade caught on to source of his sudden outburst of courage and smiled to themselves.
"Then why didn't you visit us? You could have at least told us of your daughter's birth." Shizune asked finally speaking.
"The time wasn't right. I now have a new situation that I am mixed in that is twice as dangerous as the threat of the Akatsuki or having a bounty on my head in the bingo book. We needed to make sure that Umihime was old enough to travel before we returned to this village, not to mention it is now time for the Chuunin exams."
"What does the Chuunin exam have anything to do with this?" Tsunade asked.
"What better time to sneak in the village than when the village is at its all time busiest." He answered with a toothy grin on his face that reminded them of his younger self.
"You're lying…" Tsunade once again narrowed her eyes at Naruto.
"Well… not completely. There might be someone here very dangerous searching for something in this village. This person is more than an enemy to Yugito-chan and me and may be more of a threat than Orochimaru. We plan on stopping him right here before he gets any stronger."
"Who is this person? We should let Kakashi know right away if he truly is a threat to the village."
"This is something that only we can take care of." Yugito said.
"Which brings us to the second reason why we are here. We need a huge favour of the two of you."
"And that is?"
"We wished for you to watch over Umi-chan while we are in the village. We don't know how dangerous things will get while he is here and we need the reassurance that she will be OK no matter what."
"But Umihime can fight too!" Umihime glared up at her dad.
"Yeah… but it's still to early for you, Umi-chan."
"But Umihime…"
"Umihime…" Yugito said in a very firm tone that meant business, causing her to make an 'emp' sound before burring her face into her father's cloak.
"You didn't have to be so firm with her."
"You just spoil her to much." Naruto sighed out loud as he returned his attention to the ex-Hokage.
Tsunade leaned back in her seat and pulled out a bottle of sake she was hiding under it. Shizune glared at her but let it go due to the situation.
"On one condition, you have to tell me what is going on. What are you so involved in that is more dangerous than Akatsuki or Orochimaru could be?"
Naruto sighed out loud as he leaned back against the couch before he looked over at Yugito. It seemed the two of them were communicating with their eyes before Yugito leaned forward and start speaking.
"To start things off, Naruto isn't the only one who was born with a grave burden." She paused for a second allowing the news to sink in. "There are artefacts in this world that are said to be as old as time and they only seemed to react to the youkai of a bijuu. Just one of these artefacts holds enough power to wipe out a village of twice the size of this one, if placed in the wrong hands. Naruto has two and I have one right now but there is no telling how many of them are out there. There is a rumour that one of these artefacts is somewhere in this village and our enemy just happened to be a jinchuuriki like us, one of the stronger ones, and he has a lot of political influence, which makes it hard to get close to him. So, we have reason to believe that he will make an appearance here as well."
"How did you get a hold of something so dangerous, Naruto?" Tsunade asked.
"One of them was a gift from my father."
"Father? Did you find your parents?" both Tsunade and Shizune look at Sakura for a second forgetting that she didn't know anything about Naruto's parents thanks to the Sandaime's law.
"Not really since they both died on the day I was born. Jiraiya knew my father and gave it to me when he felt I was mature enough to handle it, of course this was before we knew what it actually was." Naruto decided to just leave it at that since he didn't feel like talking too much about his late parents. Tsunade sensed this and quickly changed the subject.
"So why are you taking this responsibility on your shoulders?"
"Because we both know how strong he is now and if we allowed others to take care of this and fail, it would be to late for us to do anything about it."
"Plus the annoying fact that he knows we have three in our possession, so it would only be a matter of time before he came after us anyway, since he wants them all."
The room was silent for a moment until Umihime yawned out loud snapping everyone out of their serious trance.
"Ok then, we will take care of your daughter while you two deal with things, but you will have to visit us every now and then after you leave the village despite who is trying to kill you, or I will hunt you and kill you personally." Tsunade threatened with a smirk on her face, to which Naruto swallowed hard.
II
That night, the sky was clear, giving anyone who was interested a lucid view of the stars. A cool gentle breeze blew as the blades of grass began to dance , transforming the plain into an ocean of green.
Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps were heard followed by several more. The first set of footsteps stopped right in the centre of the field, as their owner turned around and watched as more men appeared behind him with all sort of weapons in their possession.
"Are sure you want to do this?" The owner of the original footsteps asked as he placed his left hand on top of the hilt of his katana, which was resting in its sheath.
"We will never forgive you for what you did to our lord."
"Even if it means that your lives with be forfeit in the process?" The man glared at his pursuers with such intensity that his eyes became visible even under the dark veil of the night that covered the field. Another breeze blew past them as everyone became silent. As soon as the wind stopped blowing, a batch of clouds flew in front of the moon shrouding the field in complete darkness as three of the ten men dashed toward him.
He slightly stepped forward easily dodging the first attack and landed a powerful blow to the second man's chest causing him to land on his back. In the same motion, he sent a sidekick to the third attacker lifting him off the ground with the brute force of the kick.
Quicker than the first man could even breathe, he slashed through his neck with his katana as he quickly placed it back in the sheath. Blood began to float along with the wind as the nine remaining men looked on in horror. None of them even saw or heard him draw his katana, but they all heard him resheath it. Just as quickly as the clouds came in, they dispersed, allowing the light of the moon to shine brightly on the scene. One of the men now laid sprawl out as his blood continued to leak out like a broken faucet.
"Now, do you really wish to continue this pointless fight?" It was obvious that he merely allowed them to hear him sheath his katana, to show them just who they were fighting. The same thought went through every one of their minds as they braced themselves for anything. He was clearly on a completely different planet when it came to ability. But they couldn't let that stop them, this man had just killed their lord and was announcing himself as the new lord of the land. There was no way in hell they were going to allow this to happen, even if the people didn't know of their bravery and quest for justice.
The other two men dusted themselves off and pulled out a katana of their own. An annoyed expression grew on his face as he closed his eyes. In an instant, the once clear and beautiful night sky was covered in clouds once again as the sky began to bellow with thunder, as if it were angry.
He forcefully opened his eyes, causing all of them to be frozen in their spot as they all were sliced in several different places under a few seconds. The clouds began to burst as it started to pour down on him as the rain showered away all the excess blood that was covering his body.
"How pointless… so you enjoy watching your men kill themselves?"
"Who said those were my men? They were just pawns that helped me achieve a much greater purpose. I was just going to let this go but your abilities have sparked an interest in me. Not to mention that katana you wield… that wouldn't happen to be Kusanagi, now wouldn't it?"
"And?"
"I never would have fathomed the idea of finding an artefact this far out. Maybe it was a good thing that I helped that old bastard keep this land alive for so long after all."
Another cloud covered the moon cutting off all light sources. Lightning suddenly struck revealing the stranger standing right in front of him with a smirk on his face.
"You are a strange one, huh? You are not even a jinchuuriki yet it seems you can wield this artefact. But how much of that was you and how much of that was the katana?"
He gently rested his hand on his hilt like before causing the stranger's grin to grow even wider.
"Guess I will have to find out up close and personal, eh?" As soon as the cloud that was covering the moon was gone, the stranger disappeared. He quickly drew his katana just in time to deflect the attack of a metal staff type of weapon. But the source of the weapon wasn't anywhere to be found. He quickly swiped his katana to the left, deflecting the second attack that appeared out of nowhere. "Very good!"
Suddenly, the stranger leaped up from the ground and almost landed a high kick to his chin but at the last minute, he leaned backwards, allowing the tip of the stranger's foot to only graze it. The impact was still enough to launch him into the air, where the stranger landed a powerful attack with his staff right in his abdomen, causing him to spit out blood as he landed on his back. But he quickly hopped back on his feet, ready to counter as his katana collided with the man's metal staff.
The stranger used his own attack against his opponent as he thrust forward landing another hit against his chest pushing him backwards. The man then slammed the staff against the ground created a shock wave to stream toward him. His dark almond pupils shifted to a crimson red as three tome formed in the corner of his eyes at the same instant he swung his katana at the ground, sending a violent amount of chakra into it, negating the man's attack.
"Hmmm… interesting. I see that you can use the Kusanagi properly and I also never imagined that I would get to face off one of your kind since you all died out several years ago. About time you get serious, Uchiha!"
As lightning struck the sky, the man launched the staff at him but he quickly knocked the staff to the side with his katana. What he wasn't expecting was a second staff to collide with chest again as he slid backwards. That was when he saw for the first time that a chakra chain connected both staffs to one another.
"So you finally saw it, huh? Guess those eyes are as deadly as the rumors say, eh? Let's see just how this artefact can fair up against that Kusanagi of yours."
The stranger pulled back on the chain causing both parts of the staff to fly back to him as they connected with one another, joining in their complete form. The Uchiha took this time to get even closer by using his immense speed. The stranger was caught off guard a little bit by just how fast he was, but it still wasn't enough as a giant wall of wind burst between them, sending the Uchiha flying backwards once again.
The stranger leaped over the wall and slammed the tip of his staff in the ground, just barely missing the Uchiha, thanks to a quick roll on his part. But that what was the stranger was expecting.
Suddenly, the Uchiha felt a large amount of chakra pulsate from the staff as the ground around it was set on fire. The stranger leaped down on the ground and swung the staff sideways, creating a massive amount of wind that sent the flames running in all directions, scorching everything they touched.
The Uchiha was forced to quickly back-pedal to avoid the flames, but he also back-pedalled right into the stranger's trap, as he ran right into a tunnel of wind that began to rip his entire body. That is… if it was the real him. At the last second, his body puffed in a cloud of dark smoke causing the stranger to chuckle.
As the fires continued to run rampant through the fields, the stranger just stood there like a statue as his bleach white cloak flapped wildly in the wind. He suddenly thrust his staff forward, catching the Uchiha right before he attacked and followed up by separating his staff again and grabbing the left part and slamming it hard against the Uchiha's face, sending him crashing to the ground.
"I have to say… I am kind of disappointed in your capability and I was hoping that I could use you in the future, but you turn out to be just another pawn…"
"Who said I would work for you anyway? Also, who said I was even here?"
"Huh?"
The Uchiha's body began to dissolve into a pit of snakes as they began to leap at the stranger. He sent several blades of wind shredding right through the snakes even before they got close.
"So you were holding back?" He combined his staff again and turned his back to the fire as he began to slowly but calmly walk off. "We should continue this some time when we both aren't holding back. It would be wise for you to come to Konohagakure if you value your life. After I succeed there I will return here to kill you and take Kusanagi unless you provide some unneeded interference." He slung a kunai to a nearby tree before the stranger's body began to dissolve into tiny particles. Those transformed into a grey wolf as it began to run off in the direction of the village.
The Uchiha reached up, grabbed the kunai that missed his skull only by a few inches, and glared at it with his crimson orbs.
"Who the hell was that?"
"Can you follow his chakra, Karin?"
"Vaguely… he's quite skilled at hiding his chakra. Even I'm getting confused on rather that is real chakra trail of not. Throughout your entire fight with him, his chakra kept changing in a very abnormal way." She paused for a second as she watched him stared out in the distance.
"Konoha again, huh?" He said as his eyes returned too normal.
"More importantly, are you alright Sasuke-kun?"
"Yeah I am, I was just caught a little off guard. Do you know what he was talking about when he mentioned artefacts?"
"Not exactly… there has a been a strange rumour about powerful weapons resurfacing from the past though. Why?" Sasuke looked down at his katana that he had inherited from the late Orochimaru before returning it to its sheath.
"Where are Juugo and Suigetsu right now?"
"They are both back in town, waiting for us to return."
"Ok. Get some rest tonight."
"Why…? What's wrong?"
"We are leaving earlier in the morning."
"Where to?"
"Konoha, of course."
III
The summer sun blazed over the Chuunin hopefuls as over twenty-five teams of Genin stood in front of the gates of the Forest of Death. Even though this was probably the most dangerous part of the exam, most of them were more worried about dying from the heat or the jounin instructor who was in charge of this event.
It seemed that Anko's favorite dango shop had been shut down temporarily due to some foreign Genin vandalizing the place last night. The shop owner didn't know who exactly did it, but he did know that they were wearing a foreign hiate-ate. It took Kakashi everything he had to keep Anko from going on a killing spree on all of the Genin in the village.
"Listen up chibi! If you were hoping that this test would be as easy as the last one, then I'll kill you myself!" The amount of killer intent she was releasing left more than the majority of then frozen in their tracks. "You have exactly three days and nights to collect the other scroll with the one in your possession and arrive at the tower in the middle of the forest. It is against the rules to open any of the scrolls before reaching the tower. Who disobey will be forced to undergo excruciating consequences."
She forced Kakashi to cave in to her idea when it came to the punishment for breaking the rules during the test, which were to allow her to do whatever she wanted besides kill them. It was obvious to everyone that she was out for blood.
"I see Anko-sensei is a little bit crazier than normal. Don't you think?" A Konoha Genin wearing all blue with his hiate-ate tired around her shoulder and a blue rag tied to the other arm in the same spot.
"Really? It is hard for me to tell half the time, Aoi-chan…" Her teammate, who was draped in the standard shinobi attire except for the four kunai that were hanging off the side of his hiate-ate that he wore around his head, said as he glared up at the sky wishing he wasn't there. Not because he was scared, but because he just didn't feel like doing anything.
"Ryuu sort of has a point there. I've been afraid of Anko-sensei since she began to help out Ino-sensei with our training." A timid kunoichi, who was wearing a dark red shinobi skirt with black biker shorts underneath and a dark red sleeves jacket with her hiate-ate on head, said as she walked up to Aoi.
"You're just imagining things Suzuka. Anko-sensei is really cool and I can tell that something is wrong with her right now." Both of Aoi's teammates gave her a strange look. "What?"
"You mean besides how she normally is?"
During this time, Naruto and Yugito were hiding in the forest close to the entrance, watching for something that felt out of place, which was hard to do thanks to all the weirdoes that were from the other villages.
"I see Anko hasn't changed any…"
"Anko?"
"The jounin instructor who is currently threatening the Genin."
"Oh… that aura she's giving off right now is even giving me the chills."
"Yeah, she does that to people."
"Heh…"
Suddenly there was a loud shout before all the gates were opened, allowing the Genin to dash into the forest, oblivious to what lied in wait for them in there.