Disclaimer: Me? Own Naruto and have all of that lovely cash?....No. One could dream though..
AN: My beloved computer is back. And ya want to know what? The engineer friend of mine that looked at it said with the age and incompetence of the parts in it, that it shouldn't even be running.
For all those who kinda understand computers, my CPU runs at 166 mega hertz, while the one I'm eyeing at Fry's runs at 2.8 giga hertz. Upgrades, here I come.
For all who were annoyed with last chapter, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with you. That was a filler chapter, that only contained info that I needed to get out.
And Faceless1208- Are you a mind reader?! That's exactly what I planned for Naruto to have! XD The body flicker thing rocks!
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
For the Love of my Friends
Chapter Seven: Sarutobi, and the White Fang's Son
By Foxie
Neji wearily walked to the Hyuuga mansion, the noon sun bearing heavily down on his tired shoulders.
Gai had been more enthusiastic about their training today. Apparently his rival, the infamous copy nin, Hatake Kakashi, had been issued a new batch of wanna be genins. Gai wanted to make sure his students were fit enough for a 'friendly' competition of sorts, his students fighting against Kakashi's.
Neji didn't see the point.
Kakashi was just going to fail them like he did last year. History repeated itself, time and time again.
He reached the gates without any hassle, meaning that Lee didn't ambush him, demanding a fight. His team mate was struggling to hold a rivalry with him such as Kakashi and Gai held, but was finding it hard. Neji beat him every time.
It was not Lee's destiny to defeat him, the genius prodigy of the Hyuuga clan.
He coldly glared at the person manning the gates. The man, upon noticing the pale eyed boy, opened it hastily, not wanting to lose his job. Neji did not spare him another glance, just moved past him, into the yard. He climbed up the steps, missing the top one in his haste to get to his room before someone noticed he was home.
The heavy oak door seemed to open of it's own accord. Neji was halted in the foyer. Another Branch member stood there.
"Neji." the man stated. He looked back at his fellow Branch member, his gaze not different from the one he had given to the gates man. "Hiashi-sama wishes to speak to you." If at all possible, his gaze got even colder, clearly not liking the way that the older Hyuuga worded it.
When the head of the Hyuuga clan wanted to see you, you immediately jump and see him. Especially if you are a Branch member.
Neji glided past the older man, taking a left in the foyer instead of the right, where he wished he was going. The hallway to Hiashi's den was much more lavishly decorated than the hallway that lead to the Branch's side of the mansion, the white marble almost lighting up the hallway on it's own.
Expensive paintings and wall scrolls with sayings like 'He who thinks he is strong, is invincible. He who thinks he is not, is weak.' decorated the walls.
Neji found himself glaring at one particular wall scroll. It said, 'One half rules, while the other protects. Each is needed, neither are spared.' It was supposed to somehow explain the division of the clan.
One half were the warriors, sworn to protect with their weapons, while the other were rulers, sworn to protect with their power. Neji found himself scoffing, a habit he picked up from Tenten.
The Branch family, warriors? Since when had the Branch family been anything but servants? And when did the Head family ever have to suffer the consequences of their actions, without the Branch taking the blame? The Head family was always spared.
He thought briefly of his father, the twin brother of Hiashi. He had always smiled at him, and kept Neji close after his mother died. To have his only father pulled away because of a stupid thing that Hiashi did..
Neji pushed open the study door, wiping all emotions from his face and mind.
Bowing, he greeted Hiashi in a polite, but distant manner.
"Neji." Hiashi stated, nodding his head. Neji stood in a slightly tensed position, ready to move if Hiashi gave him any reason to. The head of the Hyuuga clan stood by the fireplace, his hand lightly resting on the mantle. The older man did not even glance at his brother's son.
"There has been an emergancy." the Hyuuga began. "Something that threatens the safety of this village." Neji held down his curiosity. If Hiashi wasn't going to tell him what the problem was, then it was a useless to question him.
"I cannot tell you what the problem is.." Neji saw that coming. "But now it is critical to put up the best front possible. We have to act like nothing is wrong. We are the strongest in Kohona. If the others see us in fear, they will be in fear too."
Neji couldn't disagree less. The other clans couldn't care less about what the Hyuugas acted like, having written them off as stiffs a long time ago. If their was an emergancy that the other clans knew about, they would be worried about it, no matter what the Hyuugas thought.
Neji didn't voice his opinion, just bowed and murmured his agreement. Hiashi then dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
His ice cold mask didn't fall, not until he was far out of his uncle's Byakugan range, in the safety of his own room. He gazed down at the only two signs of life in his bare room.
Two pictures sat on the table beside his bed. One was a picture of his team. He was on Gai's left, his arms crossed, and his gaze on something off to the side. Lee was on Gai's right, throwing a mega watt grin identical to his mentor's and a thumbs up. Tenten knelt between them, a soft smile on her face, while their tall sensei towered above her, both of his hands on the boys' heads. He was winking in what he thought was a seductive manner.
The other only had two people in it. A younger Neji, sometime before he got the seal on his forehead that forever bonded him with his cruel fate, hung off of his father's shoulders. Both Hyuugas were grinning.
He smiled sadly at both pictures. The first picture had been something he didn't want in his room the first place, the only pleasant face on it being Tenten's. But it showed him a life that he often forgot existed outside the mansion walls. A place where family treated each other like family, instead as a master or a slave.
The second picture reminded him of his father, and how different they were compared to the other Hyuugas, outcasts even. Where his father had been encouraging and gentle with him, Hiashi had been harsh and almost cruel to Hinata, his oldest daughter, and Neji's cousin.
The other Hyuugas maintained a perfect 'look, but don't touch' icon in Kohona, while his father often broke it in fits of temper, amusement, and happiness. His father had been the only Hyuuga with friends outside the clan.
The absence of his father's warming shadow had made Neji realize something about his clan, and himself. His bandaged hand reached out and gently touched the side of his team's picture, then touched the one with him and his father, as if the smooth texture of the glass could prove to him that these were real, a perfect moment in time captured by something as simplistic as a camera.
The only people who he cared about smiled up at him, life and happiness evident in their eyes.
The Hyuugas were empty hollows of people, mere ghosts compared to the lively people on his team and his father.
And he was becoming one.
His heart beat quickly as a prey chased by a hungry wolf.
His eyes looked around quickly for an escape route. The boy found none. His hunters surrounded him, shepherding him into the direction they wanted to go.
He wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts and tried to calm himself down. The scent of his own fear was almost suffocating him.
A delay tactic was needed, he had to live a little longer, so many people needed him. He leaned back toward his most basic defense tactic, a low one, but very effective.
"Are we there yet?" Annoyance. How well it worked.
The Anbu in front of Naruto answered negatively. Adopting sulky look, one he had perfected over the years, he crossed his arms behind his head.
"Well I'm hungry." His eyes widened gleefully and he rubbed his hands together. "And you know you want to buy me some ramen!"
"No." the leader said once more. Naruto pouted.
"Aww.. You're not nearly as cool as Iruka-sensei. And he's a chuunin!" His jab at their 'coolness' was ignored. He sighed. Who knew Anbus were such boring people back in the day? At least I was a cool Anbu..
They reached the edge of the training area, about to cross over into the shopping district of the village. All of them jumped up to the roofs, not wanting to be stuck in the square during lunch hour.
"So.." he said, attempting to strike up another conversation with at least one of the masked ninjas around him. "Are we there now?" A collective sigh came from the Anbu group sent to fetch him.
"You guys are so boring. When I become Hokage, I'm sending you all on vacations so you can learn to be cool. Like me." There again was no response. He sighed again. So much for small talk to keep him from his morbid thoughts.
"Like talking to a wall. Except the wall would be a lot more interesting." He snickered when he thought of his 'battle' with the wall that morning.
"Finally." the Anbu to his right murmured, when the Hokage's office came in sight. The other Anbu nodded their agreement, glad to get rid of the blonde and move on to easier jobs. Like trying to hunt down the Akatsuki. Funny how they thought an impossible task was easier than escorting one blonde to the Hokage.
"Old man!" he called out, ignoring the clouds of smoke that came from the Anbu's departure. Naruto walked past the chuunins on guard duty. They both rolled their eyes.
Every damn week, that brat gets in trouble.. the one on the right thought.
Naruto, obvious to the ninja's thoughts, walked into the room. The Third Hokage, in all of his wrinkled glory, sat at the desk. The old man put the paper down, and looked at Naruto through his glasses. He looked a little worried.
The blonde shifted from foot to foot. He couldn't believe that he was actually feeling guilty. All he had down was relieve the pain of having too much chakra in his system, and they jump all over him! Not to mention, the Hokage looked painfully old and weary when he was worried, not at all like the lively old man he had pretended was his grandfather when he was young.
He had to say something to make that man return, even for a moment.
"Didn't know you wore glasses, old man." he said casually, squinting at the Hokage. Sarutobi gave him an annoyed look.
"That's what happens when people get old, brat. Their bodies don't have the sense to function as well as they used to." he grumbled. Naruto looked genuinely surprised by that.
"Really? I thought they just got ugly." Naruto dodged out of the way of the tea cup that was thrown at him just in time. It shattered against the wall.
"Now that's more like it!" he exclaimed. Both Naruto and Sarutobi grinned at each other, both reliving times of youth.
The Hokage sat down, and gestured at Naruto to do the same. Naruto sat down on the chair in front of the desk.
"What do you need?" Naruto asked, twitching until he found the 'sweet spot' of the worn blue chair. The old man took off his glasses, and looked Naruto in the eyes. This was no time for humor. Naruto found himself mimicking the serious look on the older man's.
"The clan heads have come to me and reported a very high rate of chakra depletion going on in one of the training areas. For every wave of chakra used, it was immediately replaced by at least three." Ahh... That's why I had to do more than one rasengan.. Naruto thought privately to himself. "This chakra that was being used and replaced so rapidly was extremely high and powerful, yet only two of them could give me a name for who it was."
Shit shit SHIT! He couldn't tell the Hokage anything, although he was dying to let his secret out, to have someone with a good head on his shoulders help him figure out what he needed to change in order to fix the future. He had never been a tactician, rather a good solider who followed his leader's commands. It was hard for him to go solo.
Just blame me. The Kyuubi's solution didn't make any sense. How was he supposed to explain in his sudden gain in chakra by just pointing a finger at the fox? The Kyuubi's chakra had a much different wave length than his own. Wouldn't they be able to tell?
Eh? The worst part was, Naruto realized, Sarutobi needed to die. Kohona needed Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage. She was the only one, besides Jiraiya, who really had a chance against Orochimaru. Knowledge was a double edged knife without a handle to grab on. Hit your enemy where you needed it, but could wound you if you mishandled it.
Humans cannot even hope to understand the power of a demon. Tell this one that you got the power from me.
"And that person was you, Naruto." Sarutobi murmured, closing his eyes. "If what Iruka says is true, you learned about what really happened to the Kyuubi, right?" Naruto nodded.
"Then you must realize that whatever you are doing with the kitsune, for the heads of the Hyuuga and Inuzuka clans has indeed identified the energy as the said fox, is very dangerous. You could risk setting loose an eons old demon who would like nothing better than to destroy the world."
I resent that. I only want to destroy my enemies' homes. Humans destroy the world well enough on their own. Naruto, despite liking the human species better than the demon kind, had to agree.
"Letting him free would lead to too much paperwork." Naruto said frankly. "I just.. asked him to pay his rent. It's the best thing he could do after using me as a mobile home for the last twelve years without my knowledge. Damn free loader."
Separating from you would be heaven, brat. But our souls are intertwined. If we don't separate naturally, like in death, we would risk destroying our very souls. Naruto wondered privately how the Kyuubi knew this information.
"Nothing short of a powerful kinjutsu can eliminate what the Fourth did to me." Naruto said firmly. "Or death."
There is no hope in reincarnation for you. Why do you look forward so much to death? the blonde asked of his inner demon.
Naruto stood, and smiled at the Hokage. "If we are done with our little chat, I'd like to leave. The genin test is tomorrow, you know. I've got those evil bastards and Sakura-chan on my team. I have to do my best!"
You forget, one gets reincarnated until they are one with the earth's spirit. Or Kami or whatever other title you humans have such a fancy for creating for it. Even demons. the fox said calmly.
Sarutobi nodded. "Is there.. anything you like to tell me?"
So many things flew in his mind that were just dying to be released. How he was worried that he was going to fail, how much he wished that there was some way he could be so powerful where he could kill Orochimaru without having to worry the Hokage about it, how he was going to handle Sasuke, Haku, and later, Gaara so they wouldn't end up getting killed. How he wanted to kill Kabuto right now, but was afraid of the consequences that would bring. How cute Hinata was when she was blushing, and the feel of her hand in his..
He shook his head. The Hokage looked a little disappointed.
"Sorry, monkey breath." Naruto was stricken by an idea. The old man shouldn't know about the kinjutsu that Naruto used, but he should be warned of his own demise.
"Snail beats snake, snake beats toad, toad beats snail.." he murmured. The Hokage looked up, surprised. "Monkey.. can probably defeat toad and snail, but there's no way that the monkey's brute strength can compare to the snake's bite." Sarutobi listened intently. It didn't make much sense to him now, but his instincts told him this was the most important thing that Naruto could ever tell him. "The snake can be defeated.. if the toad and the monkey work together to defeat the snake. Or the snail can get off her gambling ass to help." Naruto turned to the door. "See ya, old man."
There.. he thought to himself. That's the best I can do. He has to see it through himself.
Naruto re winded the conversation in his mind, then replied to the fox.
Shika mentioned something like that. The worse the life lived by the person, the more horrible their next life starts out. I think it's a.. Buddhist thing? Karma and all that? Naruto wondered how bad his own reincarnation into a new form was going to be, but then remembered the Kyuubi. He mentally laughed, coming up with the worst way that the fox could start out his next life. I'd bet you'd be soooo pissed off if you were reincarnated as a human girl. The Kyuubi shrugged.
Gender doesn't bother me. It's the human part. Uck. Naruto snickered at the fox for acting so .. human. He started to add more details to the girl Kyuubi was going to be, such as size, weight, and looks.
And you'll be a awkward red head who is always whistled at and groped. he finished proudly. He glanced back at the door to the Hokage's office, sighing softly. Despite the glee he felt at torturing the kitsune, he couldn't keep the dark thought out of the back of his head, that maybe there was more he could have said, more he could have done, just short of telling the old man that he knew what was to come.
He crossed his arms behind his head and headed back to his apartment, a frown marring his face.
Stop trying to annoy me... The Kyuubi muttered. There was a quiet pause. I hope my reincarnation has the sense to learn some taijutsu...
Naruto woke up extra early that morning, immediately leaving before having any breakfast to the training area he was at before. The pain had returned with a vengeance. He knew he should have taken care of it yesterday, but he grew so tired after the meeting with the Hokage that he went home right after to go to sleep.
It was four in the morning, the sky still dark as night. And as cold as hell.
Naruto did a couple jumping jacks to get some blood flowing through his body.
So.. how powerful should it be? he asked his internal advisor.
At least seven point. was the quick answer. The blonde groaned. He hated doing seven point seals.
Five point seals were easy. Focus energy into your hand, equal amounts of pressure in each finger, then touch whatever you wanted sealed. Three point seals were even easier. Connect a strand of your chakra to a strand of the thing's chakra that you wanted to seal, then guide it to the vessel. Or draw a triangle if it was already there, like his chakra.
But seven point seals had to do with blood and chakra offerings and always left him with a headache. Sealing stuff was such a bother..
There were rules, of course. Naruto hated rules though. He kept the twenty or so rules surrounding sealing and tucked them in a nice secluded part of his brain, preferring to just say that things without chakra cannot be sealed, to make it simple. Of course, it went more like 'a being with chakra could be sealed into another being with chakra, or in an object without chakra, but an object without chakra could not be sealed in a being of chakra or another object without chakra by use of chakra...' and so forth.
See why he condenses it to six words?
Anyway, the more points, or areas of immense chakra concentration, the seal had, the stronger it would be. The seal that bound the Kyuubi to Naruto had the grand total of ten points. The least amount of points needed to seal a demon to a human was three -Gaara had five-, but a seal would need to have more than six if the vessel didn't want to be possessed or taken over by the demon.
Which was the exact problem Gaara had until Naruto took pity and added another three points to his seal. The red head had still found it hard to sleep though, too into the habit of denying himself of that basic need.
Gaara was an intense person.
Naruto whined underneath his breath, then bit his thumb. Blood flowed underneath the pressure of his sharpened canines.
The demon way of sealing would be of much more use. The fox said haughtily. Naruto sighed.
Although he didn't like encouraging the demon, he was right. Besides, the demon way lead to less of a head ache. But it still had to do with blood, as most demonic traditions were.
He wrote on the forest floor the seven most important demonic gods of sealing with little prompt from Kyuubi. The fox had taught him well. Connecting the signs together with a thin trail of blood-he had to bite his finger again because it healed-, he murmured a quick prayer in the language that Kyuubi was beginning to teach him.
He had no idea what the hell he was saying, only being able to translate a little, but put his whole trust in the Kyuubi.
Reaching the last step, he put his hand on top of the signs, his palm almost touching the bloody marks on the ground. Willing this to work, he sparked the reaction with a little of the Kyuubi's chakra.
He felt his head suddenly grow heavy, strength leaving his body. His heart sounded loud in his ears, his breath coming out harsh. The world started to tilt beneath him. Somewhere in the middle of that, his left hand, the one he held over the marks on the ground, started burning.
It wasn't painful, more like the weird feeling after you sit on your foot for a prolonged period of time.
After a moment, the world started to right itself. He no longer felt so heavy. He gazed at the kanji tattooed on his palm, a smaller version of what he had written on the ground.
They accepted your offering. The Kyuubi said lazily, as if this happened every day.
Great. Wonderful. Just peachy. Now what was my offering again? Naruto poked the seal. The flesh on his hand was rised a little compared to the rest of his hand, just like a swelling bruise.
Your first born. the fox said slyly. Naruto stiffened.
What?! he yelled. The fox laughed at him, thinking that his vessel was a silly little creature.
I'm just kidding. I wouldn't put a kit on the line for a simple seal myself. Your offering was a little of my chakra. It'll return by tomorrow.
Naruto let out a relieved sigh, then touched his palm where the signs glowed a dark red. I hope this isn't permanent. As if they read his mind, the dark marks disappeared.
Eh.. explain how this works later, okay? He slumped forward, fully prepared to take a nice nap.
If I feel like it. The was a pause, as if the fox was debating on whether or not he should be telling Naruto what he thought. Didn't you.. have a test or something planned for today?
Naruto's eyes suddenly snapped open. Shit!
Sasuke looked up at the sun position in the sky, then back across the training area. Half of the people who were supposed to be there were absent. And the last person he wanted to be stuck with stood underneath the branch he sat on, green eyes focused on his every movement. Annoyed, he lightly tapped his fingers on the branch he was straddling.
"Stop watching. I'm not going to do a trick." he snapped. Startled, Sakura took a step back.
"I.. uh.. just wanted.." she stuttered. Sasuke smirked, finding no reason to pay anymore attention to her. There were more important things than girls and friendships on his mind right now. Like how he was going to activate his sharingan, to shrink the gap between Itachi's and his own power. And how he would find a casual way to show Naruto that he had mastered the technique that the blond had shown him the day before.
Okay, maybe showing off wasn't as important as trying to kill Itachi, but it kept his mind out of the darker thoughts that had plagued him when he realized that Naruto, the dobe that always failed the tests back in the Academy, was a lot stronger than he looked. Maybe Bunshin no Jutsu was the blonde's weakness. Sasuke stored that information at the back of his mind.
Sakura sighed. There he went, ignoring her again. "I just wanted to know if you could see Kakashi or Naruto from there. You don't have to be such a jerk about it!" She immediately turned her back to him, a blush on her cheeks. Damn Inner Sakura for gaining control of her mouth.
Sasuke was surprised to hear her say that. When he had met her, he had categorized her as a fan girl in his mind, someone who would annoy him for all they were worth, but were handy to have around when one felt too lazy to do something. Fan girls were people who gushed over him, told him how great he was, and constantly asked him out. They were great to have around when one needed their self esteem to be boosted, but there was little use for them otherwise.
Fan girls did not call their 'beloved' Sasuke a jerk. His dark gaze shifted from the direction he thought the other two would come to her red clad back.
He wondered what he should call her now. 'Fan girl' was just not going to work. Damn people and their annoying habits of changing.
Bowing his head, he accepted his defeat humbly. He had been surprised by a mere slip of a girl. Her reward for catching him off guard was his acknowledgement.
"I can't see anything from up here." he admitted. Sasuke couldn't ignore her until he could properly fit her into a category, or he'd go nuts. He was a control freak.
He kicked his leg over the branch until he was sitting on it sideways, then just dropped. Landing smoothly beside her with his ninja grace, he merely shrugged. "They get here when they're damn good and ready."
Right then, Naruto walked into the clearing. He looked tired, a smudge of dirt decorating his forehead protector free head. He was wearing the same clothes as he had the day before. He nearly tripped over a rock, then sat in front of a tree not too far away from them.
Yawning, he said "Good. I'm not late."
Sakura immediately rounded on him. "What do you mean by, 'not late'?! You were supposed to be here three hours ago!" Naruto tried to smile, but failed when another yawn contorted his face.
"Kakashi is a real bastard about setting up meeting times." He looked away in rebellion. "I wasn't going to freeze my ass off for nothin'." Sasuke smirked, and turned around. The blonde had his moments of smarts.
"So, you know him?" the dark haired shinobi asked. Naruto stared at the Uchiha symbol on the back of the other boy's shirt, trying to focus.
"Know him? No. Know of him? Yes." the blonde said slyly. It was kind of a lie, but mostly the truth. No one really knew the copy nin that well. Having served under his leadership had only let Naruto into the outermost layer of the maze that was Kakashi.
"Um, Naruto? You have dirt on your forehead." Sakura mumbled. All that waiting for nothing, she thought. While Inner Sakura ranted on about evil teachers, Sakura glanced at the position of the sun. It was almost ten.
The blonde scowled, then rubbed the mark until the skin was pink.
"Gone?" the pink haired girl nodded distractedly. Sasuke turned slightly to look at the boy.
"What, did you sleep in the training area? Baka." he said coldly. Naruto yawned, not rising to take the bait.
"Almost." the demon vessel said truthfully. Sasuke stared at him for a moment, before turning his head back around. Damn. He'd have to re-categorize Naruto too. That was the bother of really getting to know people. They tended to surprise you right after you thought you got them all sorted out.
There was a poof of smoke, then Kakashi appeared. He sheepishly waved at them from the branch he landed on.
"Morning, everyone. I got lost on the long winding road called Life.."
"Liar!!" Both Naruto and Sakura yelled pointing a finger at the copy nin. He coughed, slightly embarrassed that they saw through him so easily, then jumped down to them.
At least he didn't contradict us.. Naruto thought amused. He crossed his arms behind his head and squinted at the jonin. He better hurry up. I'm hungry!
"Ah, yes. Why are we here again?" he tapped the side of his mask in thought. A not so concealed growl from not Naruto, but Sakura snapped him out of his daze. The annoyed looks on all three of the teens jogged his memory. "Right! The survival training!" Kakashi clapped his hands, then reached in his kunai holster.
All three of soon to be genins tensed, but they relaxed when they saw he pulled out two innocent looking bells. Except for Naruto.
A scowl marred his tan face. Aw, hell.. not this test again. The Kyuubi chuckled at him, fully amused. Naruto flipped the demon off, feeling little satisfaction as the chuckles evolved into full out laughter.
Kakashi, from what little people could see of him, looked sadistically amused as well. Naruto's scowl deepened. The fox and the jonin just had to be related.
The White Fang's son twitched his hand, making the bells jingle softly.
"The mission is.. Take these bells from me, using any method possible."
Ahem. I'll have you know that I made up the sealing thing. It may be different in the manga- I dunno, I don't recall them explaining it- but this is how it's going to be in this story. And if people are wondering what the emergency is that Hiashi talked about in the beginning, it's the worry of the villagers that the Kyuubi was set free. Which he was not. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.
Till next time!
