I Don't own Naruto... Wish I did though
Bit disappointed bout the lack of reviews but ill chuck it up to the holiday.
Anyways Last Chapter before we head to Konoha.
Ooo
"Three years, five months, twenty-two days, since I've seen her." Spoke the agonized voice of the great Sannin.
"Jiraiya-sama, I did not know your love ran that deep for her." Itachi retorted from behind his straw hat and tanned cloak. They all wore the tanned traveling cloak of Konoha ninja. The four prodigal son's of Konoha had been gone for a while and all that while had been in training or mourning. "We'll be there in two days anyway im sure your loins could do with out her for a bit longer."
Sasuke and Naruto followed close to their mentors, teachers, and family. All to quiet however, it seemed they were not their usual selves. On average they walked closer to their masters, seemingly disciplined apprentices to great men, they also were more attentive of their surroundings, aware of each others proximity, the land scape and any movement in their peripheral. The boys, down to their genetic code were fierce rivals, they were about the same height, give or take a few centimeters, weighed about the same and since they trained together had about the same build.
At the moment, Naruto was forbidden his orange jump suit attire as the Honorable Toad Sage had mentioned"
"I will not be caught dead near a ninja that thinks they can wear orange and still be called as such"
He was forced to wear, a similar outfit to Jiraiya as that was the only thing he would accept. He wore the same gun metal gray, Gi and ninja pants, without the wooden shoes. His hair was also long and in a pony tail much like his masters, three years without a haircut would to that to a person. And at the moment he was drooling into his makeshift camp pillow.
Sasuke, while not forbidden had chosen not to wear any of the Uchiha crests, or any clothing pertaining to his clan. He felt betrayed by it. While still young when he was told about the happenings of his fathers actions, he had three years and numerous correspondence with his mother to come to terms with his grief. For the moment however he like Naruto was dead asleep.
The two older men looked at their wards. "Its a shame that its takes so much for them to sleep now. I mean I saw many things during a few wars. But THAT still makes me cringe." Said Jiraiya to Itachi as they warmed their hands over the camp fire.
"Yes, it was unfortunate, while I would like to say I cant believe what happened. They now have seen the horrors of inhumanity."
"Sake and Gen-jutsu, seriously I hope they get over it eventually, I know its only been a week but man they're drinking all my sake." Jiraiya was holding a sake bottle upside down as the last drop hit his tongue.
"I'm sure Tsunade-sama will have some waiting no doubt."
The two sat there, without so much as a glance, Jiraiya jumped into a tree with his notepad and writing utensil and took first watch, Itachi simply leaned his back against a tree and closed his eyes. They would save rehashing the events that mentally scarred both of their students for the 'mission' report to the Hokage and even more frighteningly his 'mother'...
The two days, fortunately, had gone without incident. They approached the toad house, on the evening of the second day as Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura, were sitting on the front porch.
"Naruto..." Whispered Sakura as she turned her head in their direction they were a bit of a ways a way a hundred yards or so, but something in her senses told her her brother was home. She ran full tilt at them as Naruto noticed her form growing on the horizon, he took off like a bat out of hell.
"Sakura-nee!"
At full speed they jumped in each others arms, little over three years was a long time for siblings to be apart and they felt it.
"Sakura-nee your taller than me..." said Naruto a bit depressed
"eh don't worry about it little brother..."
"Nee-chan, you don't..." Naruto promptly passed out in his sisters arms. Sasuke walking a few steps in front of his brother
"Big brother..." was all Sasuke could get out he had been holding on much like Naruto. The anguish was just too much to bear, the weight on their soul was a burden that was much too great.
"Jiraiya, if something is wrong with him so help me God..." Tsunade said with urgency as she reached her son. Shizune ran to Sasuke, checked vitals.
"Tsu-hime please calm down they are just exhausted. Mentally and physically."
"What happened, Jiraiya" They picked up the young boys and moved them into the house/cottage, they were placed in a comfortable position in front of the fire place. They were physically OK but it was obvious from the murmuring in their sleep, that they had been through hell.
"Well we still don't have the entirety of the events but from what Sasuke would tell us this is what happened"
Itachi began "We were walking the paths and decided to follow a stream, it was a nice day contrary to what was about to happen. We sent them on ahead to scout while we made camp. We had intended to travel though small towns to get the boys acclimated to the workings of the real world. They spotted a caravan of traders and merchants when things, as Sasuke has described it, took a turn for the morally deranged"
Naruto and Sasuke crept up to the caravan camp, seven wagons with various materials for trade and sale. From the count, there where twenty people, with their children in tow. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"Sasuke you see that"
"Yes. I count thirty including the kids"
"No use your eyes man, I mean the ones in the bush about thirty-five yards to our eleven o'clock."
"oh I count, 3 chakra signatures low though from what Brother has taught me they are about Genin level and they seem a bit old, maybe very bad at being ninja"
"Gotcha, I see fifteen total of the ones in the bush, confirmation?"
They for lack of a better term were 'on the job' as their white haired Sennin master would like to call it. True while these two boys were goof ball pranksters and light hearted jokesters, when they were on, they were on.
"Confirmed, plan of action hang back wait for them to reveal themselves. No point in giving away our position, should we double back and warn our sensei?"
"Nah we got it bro, thirteen civies, they probably aren't any better than bandits trying to cause these merchants trouble." smirked a confident Naruto "Besides I outnumber them twenty to one if I wanted to and those genin would be a good warm up"
"You know Naruto, we may be good but like my brother says, we aren't experienced... well looks like my opinion doesn't matter any more they are moving"
Fifteen men moved their way into the caravan camp. What the boys didn't see, to their immediate three o'clock was a group of another fifteen bandits. The three enemy genin however were about twenty five years old and while not great ninja, where terrible men.
The raid began as Sasuke had seen it, they moved in from the side and began destroying wagons seemingly like bandits. Naruto was about to move when two of the merchants drew their blades, Katanas to be exact. He could just tell by their movements that they were not merchants at all. They were Samurai. When the men began to make their stand in defense, the second group moved in and surrounded the swordsmen.
"hehehe look what we have here boys" As the leader, one of the genin, spoke to his men they all brought out a hostage, "A sacrifice like this will be great for lord Jashin, and when High Counselor Hidan finds out we will be promoted."
Naruto immediately noticed they were drawing a seal in the ground and made his move he wouldn't allow them to continue. He noticed the samurai flinch and decided to move with them. Sasuke made his way around in a flanking maneuver in attempt to cut off escape.
As this would be their first lesson in the ways of life, a lesson that 'things don't go as planned', the Jashinist cult members completed their seals and began their torture ritual. Members began cutting them selves only to have the wounds appear on their victims. Blood poured on the ground of the camp and froze the would be hero duo in their spot. The adults were part of the ritual first.
"Sasuke w-what are they doing whats... Going on" Naruto spoke into his short wave radio.
The samurai walked over to speak to the young ninja,
"They are Jashinist boy, a vile, murderous cult, the ritual binds the bodies and destroys the sacrifice"
Cries echoed through out the camp, it was at this point that Naruto jerked out of his stupor, he was getting angry, he was furious, he wanted to help but was too afraid. "Sasuke"
"Yeah"
"im getting tired of letting these monsters do what ever they want"
"me too"
"you back up the older samurai, I'll go with the younger one, just don't stand in front of me you know what im going to do"
"your going to be exhausted after that you know"
"yeah but this has to stop"
The Jashinists were finishing their ritual they had maimed many and killed some. "Leave those ones over there to die a slow painful death for Lord Jashin, their agony would please him."
"Hey how bout you freaks try picking a fight with me!" Naruto jumped at the men he ran fast an hard, drew two kunai and threw them "Shadow clone kunai jutsu" the two kunai turned into a hundred kunai and impaled many of the Jashinists, they turned out to be too many to be accurate but he aimed to disrupt them in any way he could. He moved with speed and agility avoiding deranged slashes and uncontrolled attacks from the cult psychotics. Right behind him was the younger unnamed samurai, they moved almost as a cohesive unit, thanks to Naruto's training and the second swordsman's experience.
Sasuke moved in on the 'second' group of Jashinist psychos as the Older samurai did, a pincer move at its finest, they never even saw Sasuke as he assassinated many of the offending religious fanatics. The samurai moved well and also avoided many of the crazy slashes aimed to draw blood. "Fire style: phoenix fire jutsu" roared Sasuke and engulfed the enemy.
They stood panting in the center of the camp, Naruto had used a bit of his chakra, he hadn't perfected the Shadow clone kunai jutsu, so he used a bit too much chakra attempting to limit the number. Sasuke was breathing heavy, the thought of their first kills heavy on their mind. The Samurai approached them as if to simply thank them for their assistance in the raid. Most of the adult merchants were dead or dieing. Only five children and the Samurai remained of the original group.
"Young men what are your names, so that we may honor the shinobi that would sacrifice their loves to save strangers." Asked the older samurai.
"Thank you samurai-sama, but I fear that we are not all that important, we made our move too late and many people died because of our inaction..." Bowed Naruto low in shame
"Nonsense boy, no one would blame you what we have witnessed here today is nothing short of a massacre and something that will undoubtedly haunt my thoughts for a long time." Said the samurai apprentice.
"My name is Sasuke of the leaf"
"im, Nam... Uzumaki Naruto" he stuttered out remembering what Jiraiya told him about his fathers many enemies "My apologies, my father had many enemies in life"
"Understood my young friend you both seem very skilled for such a young age..."
They were cut short as they had all not expected the next series of events... The full blooded members of the Jashinist cult began to rise, bleeding and bruised they began laughing. An other worldly procession of unholy beings, their laugh was unnerving to say the least.
"We are fully realized followers of Jashin you fucking no bodies. You dare interrupt a sacrifice to Jashin. You will pay blasphemer's." Said the head priest, the leader, and the strongest enemy genin.
The Jashinist ninja began flaring their chakra and started forming hand signs, Naruto and Sasuke moved quickly to intercept them, running on pure training as they were scared out of their minds. Our Swordsmen duo moved fast to buy their young ninja friends some time. They both had a similar thought 'Take the head clean off'.
The samurai duo did just that, the Jashinist bandit level men, quickly fell to the experienced blades of the samurai. The third enemy genin moved in on them however, the swordsmen were experienced but in the end they were not shinobi.
With a few hand-signs and a couple of jutsu, the swords men lost ground and were forced to drop their weapons. On the other side of camp Naruto and Sasuke were holding their own until another unfortunate set of events. The Jashin leader spotted a young girl no older six wobble out into the clearing looking for her mother. Said offender quickly approached the young girl and scooped her up.
"We may not be able to out right kill you, pretentious parasites, but you will surrender to Jashin"
"Loathsome honor less monsters, she is but a child" Said the elder samurai.
"Jashin accepts all lives heretic"
The man made a stabbing motion and into the shoulder of the young girl plunged a ritual dagger. He began drawing a seal in the ground...
ooo
"That's where Sasuke stopped in his telling of the events." Said Itachi.
Sakura sat down not trusting her legs anymore, he brother and his friend had been through the unimaginable, seen things that only happen in night mares.
"Neither of the boys want to talk about it, Naruto says he doesn't remember but thats not entirely accurate, and Sasuke wont go beyond what he told us..."
"Its because I really don't want to tell the story more than once, If I could avoid it. Naruto made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone anyway, he's... ashamed."
"Ashamed of what Sasuke" Asked Itachi
"I'll tell you this part of the story once and once only as he is asleep finally." Sasuke had awoken at some part of Itachi's retelling of the events, but had elected to relive the memories in order to relay the rest of his story, from his perspective. "This will explain a few things Jiraiya-sama, the katana we have sealed, the samurai, and why Naruto will not talk about what happened that day"
"The moment the other guy stabbed the little girl, Miyuki-chan... He slumped down arms dangling before him, His finger nails grew and looked like claws, THOSE eyes... will give me nightmares beyond nightmares, red like our sharingan" He motioned to Itachi "and about as scary as your Mangekyo. I had deactivated my sharingan when I though we defeated those sick motherfuckers... sorry for the language Tsunade-sama, ladies" He bowed a bit. "But when they came up and took the little girl I was furious, The two samurai also grew very upset and I could feel the KI (killer Intent) in the air it was think almost a real thing and then I activated my sharingan and saw that Naruto was indeed producing most if not all of it..."
ooo
"Where the hell do you sick bastards get off doing this... These people were peaceful and wanted nothing more than to live the life they chose to live, a good life, a peaceful life" Naruto whispered it but it might as well have been a roar as even the young girl could no longer feel the pain but only looked on in fear at the blond boy.
"Naruto..." murmured Sasuke he was too scared to move what was happening to his friend, his rival, his brother. "Aniki, calm down"
"No... even IT says im justified, even IT says these people are monster, even...Even I want Justification for this madness. No Sasuke of the Leaf, these men will not serve Jashin, they will burn in hell for what has been done here..."
ooo
"With that Naruto disappeared, before I knew it Miyuki-chan was in my arms... Naruto moved to fast for my sharingan I focused and watched, and as I did the Samurai moved in to cover my position, I placed a hand on the little girl and stopped the bleeding, little by little I saw some of the movements, and finally Naruto came into focus, I, at that point thought I had activated the second level which was later confirmed by Jiraiya-sama when we sparred a few days later. Well when he came into focus I wished he didn't, he was moving fast, in his hands were the katana that he had picked up from the man that attacked the samurai... the edges soaked in blood."
He stopped as in seeing it happening in before his eyes again.
Ooo
"Naruto Bro... That's enough"
"Naruto... While a good soul, wants this as much as I do, and as I see so few of you primates as, good souls, I will not allow his soul to be tainted by these Demons"
Now I know im young and I know I don't know much of the world yet... but for a the demon Kyuubi no Kitsune to call humans, demons these must be vile men..."
"You samurai-dono" said the Kyubi to the elder of the two men "This is your blade is it not" he said motioning to the blade in his right hand. It was an elegant blade masterfully forged with an indigo wrapped handle. "Your blade, will pass judgment on the wicked will it not"
The samurai nodded "I forged that blade it is a noble blade"
"This one is bloodthirsty did you forge this one too?" the Kitsune motioned to the blade in his left hand.
"That is the creation of my apprentice" he motioned to the man at the ready "You are Kyubi yes?"
"Yes"
He bowed low "If the blade in your hand will allow you, it would cut Buddha himself"
The Kyubi handed the blade in his left hand to the apprentice, he would use a righteous blade on these vermin.
"Judgment, Will not be swift"
ooo
Tsunade was upset, what was supposed to be a simple scout mission ended up a giant cluster fuck of shit hit the fan scenario. "So you met the Kyuubi"
"In a way, it was strange though for a moment he stared at me, right in my eyes, it wasn't my bro, not for a second. Those blood red eyes, slit, he mouthed 'your eyes are strong but not like his' I guess he knew I could read his lips." mused Sasuke out loud.
"But your alive why did the Kyuubi let you live?" asked Sakura
"What was going on was probably more than he could bare, maybe it just..."
"Sasuke... you told them?"
"Naruto..." they all whispered
Sasuke looked down a bit ashamed "i had too, man. We went through a lot."
"I guess I can tell the rest of the story from here" said Naruto a bit shaky "from what I can tell I was moving fast but it all seemed slow to me, when I moved on the man holding Miyuki, I cut his arm off, It was pretty fast but before I got the girl I had ripped the arms off the man that was fighting the samurai. I used his sword to cut Miyuki free..."
ooo
In Naruto's mind scape.
"is this why you hate us isn't it? Kyuubi-sama"
"Sama? You must be broken boy this is the first time you have spoken to me with respect"
"I didn't know any better Kyuubi-sama" said Naruto who bowed low before the gate. "Forgive me"
"Very well boy, this is the first pleasant conversation I have had with you. Now will you let me out?"
"thats actually what I wanted to talk to you about..."
Kyuubi was skeptical to say the least, this boy who resisted him at every turn would not normally have this conversation...
"Boy I was beginning to respect you for your tenacity, Was it misplaced?"
"Kyuubi-sama, can you please view my memories and see exactly why I want your advice?"
"I see"
The Kyuubi sorted through the memories it was almost a deity so this task was very easy he saw Naruto's life for all it was worth up until the events of the massacre.
"Taking Control right now would be dishonorable as I can not wait to see the full level of your capabilities, I will enjoy our battle for control... But let me ask you about the task at hand... what would you like to do?"
"I know what I have been taught and I know what I must do... But in a situation like this... the World would be a better place if these monsters did not exist, is that so wrong to say?"
"No, you are right...These men even slayed children, for a low level nothing demonic entity whom I would like nothing more than to destroy... No my boy I will be the Judgment upon these men."
ooo
"Judgment, Will not be swift"
Naruto moved with ease disemboweling them, then he moved to disfigure them. Blood was every where, the samurai had kneeled and did not avert their eyes. Sasuke however could not watch until the Samurai spoke.
"Young shinobi, Sasuke of the Leaf, Do not avert your gaze, what you see before you is righteous judgment upon the wicked, when men would fall so far as to anger a demon. Watch your nakama, your brother, as he has sacrificed much today to right the wrongs."
Sasuke could not believe, he couldn't understand before, the sacrifice Minato made to seal the beast within his son to protect the people from such a power, and Naruto who continued to hold the beast. Willingly. He knelt beside the samurai as he watched.
He watched his 'brother' torture and maim. And as he turned to them soaked head to toe in blood it spoke.
"Samurai... You have done the boy an honor, thank you. Sasuke of the Leaf, you have honored the dead here today..."
But as he spoke the heads of the three Enemy genin began speaking much to the horrified trio watching from the side lines.
"It seems that the the boy was right and I misunderstood, these men, Should no longer exist on this plane" He handed the blade he had used to the samurai who held it ritualisticly with both palms up.
"I will remove them from this world with my own claws"
"And so IT did, he used its claws, my hands, to rip them to shreds the only way to kill them I suppose there was nothing left of them, none of them, as he even took out the corpses of the bad guys"
Jiraiya had his eyes closed, he thought that if maybe Itachi, or himself had gone with them things would have turned out different.
"When we got there we had wondered why they had taken a while and we saw them, the four of them covered in blood, Naruto was drenched even his hair was matted down." Said Jiraiya knowing Tsunade was gonna beat the shit out of him "The boys were holding the blades of the Samurai, as they took the two remaining wagons and the children that had survived"
"Miyuki had taken the bracelets of her mother and father and gave them to us as a thank you I guess." Naruto looked at the bracelet, is as simple small beads with the kanji for family and the three, Miyuki, her mother, and fathers names. "I couldn't take it at first, but she said that she would be happy knowing the ones that helped her family rest were out there and would think of her. I gave her a pendant of my mothers the, Uzumaki crest, and told her to find me one day." sighed Naruto "she also has a healing seal, one of the ones mom had left in her notes, unfortunately im not as good as her yet, so the seal will stay on her shoulder for the rest of her life or until we meet again."
Shizune was shocked but thought the time for the boys to talk was over, it was a rough story, one to rival those of shell-shocked war veterans. "Mah mah, come Nii-chan, Sasuke-kun time for bed Sakura, go tuck your brother in..."
"Actually nee-san, ide like to sleep with Sakura tonight I miss my sister..."
"Of course little brother come on..."
And so they made their way to bed they would rest in the safety of their home. Sasuke slept with Itachi in Naruto's room. Tsunade stayed up in order to yell at Jiraiya as she grabbed tow bottles of sake... for each of them, even Shizune took one for her self.
"Their pretty strong aren't they? To deal with stuff like that and still be sane..."
"Yes Shizune, even me, The Great toad sage, feel like I lost something that day and that was only looking at the aftermath, Naruto's family grew that day, those swordsman those kids. They are all bound together because of that day."
Tsunade was shaking her head, "Whats the plan Jiraiya?"
"We should have taken them back to the village a year ago, they are more than ready, is Sakura as good as you say she is?"
Tsunade beyond her anger, smiled "yes by the time she makes chunin, I would make her head of hospital, and head of the infiltration teams."
"Shit"
"What?"
"The brat was right, dammit."
"You made a bet with him huh?"
"Yup, There are two of you in this world now..." Which earned him a fist to the face.
"Never bet with Naruto... its just not very smart." said a sweat dropping Shizune.
"Well..."said Jiraiya "by the end of the week im moving on to make my presence on the spy network, I need to get reacquainted and gather some more information, see whats going on before I can report to the old man, Leave when Naruto wants to, he will probably want to leave soon, as he wants to town/village hop to see the sights. But be back in Konoha by summer, i'm sure he wants to spend a year at least in the village to get to know everything before the academy starts."
They made a toast to meet in Konoha, home.
Please guys let me know how I am doing, only way to do that is by reviewing, hard to believe with 1.2k plus visits I only got three reviews. But to those that did thank you your input is always appreciated.
Reposting the question
Haku – Guy or super hot ice chick (will probably be the super hot ice chick)
Sai – Gender confused male,or super hot emo chick?
