chapter 7
the Hidden Tree village
The genin of team seven were gathered at Konoha's main gate, each one with a fully-stuffed backpack on their backs i addition to their normal gear. As usual, they had all arrived a bit early and were waiting for their sensei, who always arrived on time, unlike a certain grey-haired jonin they'd met once and heard many rumors about since.
"B-rank! B-rank! B-rank! We're going on a B-OW!" Naruto's dance of joy was brought to an abrupt halt by his teammate's fist on his head.
"We get it already you knucklehead, now shut up!" ordered the girl who had just hit him. Still, he could tell she was excited about the new mission as well.
As were Kiba and Akamaru. "B-rank... Wouldn't it be awesome if it were, like, taking out a rogue nin who'd stolen something from the Daymio or something?"
"Sorry, you three, but it's only a B-rank because of importance," Asuma-sensei dashed their hopes as he walked up. "In fact, there's almost no chance we'll see any serious fighting on this mission at all." Their hopes and heads fell further. "However, we are going to an allied Hidden Village, though, so..." He trailed off, letting them imagine.
"Really? Really? Which one? Is it Sand? Or Waterfall? Or Smoke? Or-" But the bearded jonin interrupted him.
"Sorry, Naruto, but it's one of the smaller, lesser-known ones. The Hidden Tree."
"Huh, never heard of that one." the blonde boy felt himself calming down.
"How'd you even hear about the others, Naruto? If I remember correctly, you were hopeless in geography classes!" the Inuzuka teased.
"Oi! I'll have you know that I know 'em cause I know what villages the Hokages made alliances with! Where is Tree, anyway?" The last bit was quieter, directed at Asuma-sensei.
"It's in Mountain Country, to the northeast." He'd added the last bit purely for Naruto's sake. Kiba hadn't been kidding when he said he sucked at geography, or at least at reading maps.
"Wait a minute, Asuma-sensei," Ino spoke up. "If we're going to Mountain Country, why are we at the west gate? Wouldn't it be better to leave from the east gate?" They'd all gotten to know their sensei well enough over the past six weeks to make a good guess as to what he'd say, so all three were now looking at him expectantly and a bit sternly.
The man nervously scratched at the back of his neck. Huh, apparently habits could be contagious, who'd have thought it? "Well, there wasn't anything about a need to hurry, and going out any of the other gates is such a hassle..."
The shared looks of disappointment on the genins' faces was enough to tell that they had in fact all guessed the same thing, and guessed correctly. While they'd managed to partially cure their sensei's laziness it was still a large part of him, like the smoking. He just usually avoided both when around his students.
A quick check-in with the chunin on guard duty, and they were off.
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Once the four ninjas were leaping through the trees at a comfortable pace, Kiba, from his position at the front of the group, asked the question the younger members of team seven all had on their minds. "So, Sensei, we know where we're going, but what's the mission?"
"It's a type four aid request from Hidden Tree." Type four... That meant there was a serious situation, but not an immediate emergency, and that combat wasn't involved. Damn. The dog-boy looked back at his teammates to see if they had gotten it as well. The two blondes nodded. Of course. He still had to remind himself occasionally that Naruto wasn't stupid. Oh, and that fact was something from one of Iruka-sensei's classes, so the blonde boy had likely remembered it before he did. Kiba and Ino still had yet to ask him about the night the scar-faced Academy instructor had died... Maybe after they got back from this mission.
"They're going to send someone to meet us at an inn about thirty five miles away to lead us to the village, and the situation will be explained there. However, the request also specified the need for a ninja with mind abilities and one with abnormally large chakra reserves." Asuma-sensei concluded as the Inuzuka turned back forward and continued his duty of checking for suspicious scents.
"Huh. Might as well have asked for us by name," he muttered.
"Grrrff! /what if they're planning an ambush?/"
Kiba was about to voice his partner's concerns for the others when the jonin added one more thing. "And just in case any of you are wondering if there's something odd about that, you shouldn't worry. Attacking us while on an aid mission would be considered an act of war, and Tree isn't going to risk that, no matter who might be on the team."
They continued on, chatting about this and that, until, when Naruto was in the middle of telling them about how he'd gotten Konohamaru to dye his grandfather's robes orange, another important question popped into Kiba's head. "Hey, Asuma-sensei, how long will it take to get there?"
The man seemed to consider it for a moment. "At our current speed? About five or six days."
Five or six days... That was a long time to be spending constantly in the presence of the same three people. He was glad it was his team at any rate. Hopefully the two blondes wouldn't get into too many arguments, and double hopefully Asuma-sensei would be able to go the whole time without smoking. Still, he wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
It was a few hours later, not too long after it got dark, when the jonin told them to find a place to camp. Lazy as he could be at times, he pretty much never missed an opportunity to throw in a bit of extra training. So Kiba and Akamaru guided them toward the closest body of water (a gently-flowing river cutting through the forest) because baths and drinking water were extremely important to ninjas during a mission. Then, with the help of a couple dozen Narutos, they set up camp. Finally, the same blonde brought in a deer for dinner, which Ino, who had long since been convinced that dieting was bad for her, cooked (being the only one of the genin who knew how). Since they were still fairly close to Konoha, there wasn't any need to worry about the smell or smoke attracting unwanted attention. Any bandits that tried to get at them, well, an Academy student would be able to take care of a small group of plain old thieves.
Naruto offered to take the early night and early morning watches, since he was usually up then anyway, and Asuma-sensei took the late night. Then they all talked for a bit more before going to bed.
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Ino found she'd made a mistake in setting up her tent. She'd placed it so that the morning sunlight would slip right in past the entry flap and hit her dead on in the face. Of course, she only learned this after waking up, but the blonde knew there was no point trying to get back to sleep now. She could hear what was probably Naruto sparring with his kage bunshins somewhere a little bit away, if the distant sounds of fighting mixed with poofs were any indication. Might as well get up and go see him.
So she stepped out of the tent, the fresh morning air blowing away the last vestiges of sleep. She looked around. It was a nice day out; it would probably get a bit hot if the current temperature was anything to go by, but that was to be expected, seeing as it was mid-summer. At least most of the day would be spent jumping through trees. Shade and wind, both at the same time. The kunoichi followed the sound of her teammate beating himself to a pulp.
She walked through the woods a ways, going towards the sounds of battle. Apparently, he was in a clearing just up ahead. As she made her way out of the trees, Ino shouted a greeting. "Morning, Naru-" She froze. For five whole seconds, it was like her brain had shut down. Then, "Naruto, what are you doing?"
One of him turned to answer. "Just sparring." He was quickly poofed for his inattention.
"I can see that, you idiot. I mean the part where you don't have any clothes on!" Indeed, the fifty or so Narutos were dressed in nothing but their boxers, which had ramen bowls on them. And his chakra weights, but those didn't count. One thing that Ino could definitely say for her fellow blonde was that he was in really good shape. She'd known that before, of course, but had never once considered just what it mean about what he looked like under his bulky jacket.
While he wasn't exactly rippling, it was impossible to call him scrawny either. All the muscles were clearly there, easily visible, and really well-toned. Apparently that boast he had made the day they were put into teams was actually true. The girl hadn't known a prepubescent boy could have an eight-pack. As it was, though, he was the best-looking boy in their graduating class. She'd seen Sasuke-kun with his shirt off, and there was no contest. Anyway, back to the present.
"Oh, that," another clone said, "Ya see-" poof "I decided to take a bath in the river-" poof "not too long ago, and was just-" poof "waiting to dry-" poof "off before I put my clothes back on." poof.
She stared. The only liquid on any of hims was sweat. "GO GET DRESSED!"
"Y-Yes Ino!" he all shouted. Then all of him ran for the one set of clothes. After fighting over it for about thirty seconds, the real Naruto remembered he could just dispel the others. Any hopes of having a good day were driven from the Yamanaka's mind by thoughts of her teammate's half-naked body.
After that, the rest of the trip to their destination was pretty uneventful, except for Naruto shouting in joy at his first time in a new country, waking up a nearby previously-sleeping now-angry bull in the process. It ended up as dinner for the remaining nights.
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Finally, team seven arrived at the Dancing Horse Inn. The 'someone' that was waiting for them turned out to be another genin team. After brief introductions on both sides, the Tree team guided the Leaf team to the village.
While traveling, they ended up talking with the other ninjas. Asuma-sensei and the jonin, a dark-haired green-eyed woman they knew only as Kasumi, went and talked about jonin stuff. Kiba got into a discussion with Mieke Toshiro, the only boy on the team, tall and skinny, with black hair and eyes, concerning different types of exploding tags. Ino found herself enjoying her first chance in over a month to talk about girl things with someone besides Sakura-chan (a brown-haired, hazel-eyed, average-looking girl named Tsuchi Yumiko). And Naruto had found himself taken aside by the remaining member of the team almost immediately.
Her name was Fujiwara Hikari. She looked to be a year or two older than team seven and the other two genin of her team and was dressed in an elegant, colorful kimono, unlike the standard ninja wear favored by the other Tree ninja. Her hair was a bright silver color done up in a tight bun. If allowed to hang lose, it would probably go down to her knees. The kunoichi's eyes, though, really caught his interest, as they were a dark shade of orange.
The first thing she said to him was, "You know you're impossible, right?" It was asked in a simple way, like someone who knew a fact and wanted to see if the other person knew it as well.
"Huh?" was all he cold think to answer.
"I have a ...gift, given to me by the Great Tree. When I look at someone, I get a sense of who they are at their very core. I have found that there are exactly forty two different basic groups a person can be placed in. One person can only be part of one group. They can change what group they are a part of by changing themselves, of course, but they can never fit into more than one group at a time. You, though, are part of all forty two." She was speaking with something akin to awe in her voice.
That was really confusing, but Naruto thought about it for a bit. "Wait, so you're saying I'm, like, forty two different people at once or something? And what's the Great Tree?"
Hikari smiled. "The Great Tree, well, you'll find out when we reach the village. But you, I'm not sure I'd put it quite like that. More like you have the potential to be and do literally anything and everything. And just so we're clear, this is you yourself we're talking about, not the monster inside of you."
On hearing that last bit, the demon container didn't even think; he just acted. Spinning around, he grabbed the girl by the shoulders and slammed her up against a nearby tree, holding her there tightly and not noticing the fact that she made no attempt to resist or free herself. Instead, she just looked at him with calm orange eyes, with a bit of pain from the force of his grip.
"How the hell do you know about that?" he growled out threateningly, completely ignorant of how everyone else had suddenly come to a stop at his actions.
The calm stare continued. "I told you, I can see things about people. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
Naruto let her go, relaxing on hearing this last part. "Thank you, and I'm sorry. Asuma-sensei tells me I tend to overreact where that's concerned." He saw the two jonins signal the others to ignore the incident and continue on. Regardless, the blonde knew his teammates would question him about it later.
"Apology accepted. It's perfectly understandable, considering how many problems it seems to have caused you," the silver-haired replied.
They went on in silence for a little while until, "So, what's it like, being able to see people like that? Must be pretty neat."
"'Neat.' Hah." Hikari almost looked amused. "To tell the truth, it is oftentimes painful and unsettling. Many people will deny what they are, or lie about it to others. Being around people like that hurts."
Something about the way she said that last bit caught the blonde's attention. "Hurts? I'm guessing you don't mean like 'that hurt my feelings' hurt, right?"
She sighed. "No, I don't. It's an emotional pain, like a part of my heart is slowly tearing away. Sometimes, it is so great that it's actually physical. Then there's the fear, as well. Most of the people who know about my ...gift... fear me. They don't like the thought of what I can see in them."
"She's just like me," the Kyuubi container thought, "separated from everyone around her by something she had no choice in..." Though it didn't show on her face or in her speech, he could see the sadness in her eyes. "If you would like, Hikari, I'll be your friend."
Her orange eyes widened in surprise, something that probably didn't happen very often. Then she smiled. "Yes, I would like that very much. Thank you, Naruto."
"You're welcome."
Silence for a while more. The silver-haired girl was the one to break it this time. "You'll be able to see the village in just a moment. Prepare to be amazed."
Amazed was indeed the right word to use. They passed over a small ridge to find that the trees had suddenly stopped. Instead, there was a gently-sloping valley, like a giant shallow bowl of grass cut into the earth. Naruto estimated it to be about thirty miles across, as even his eyes could barely make out the far side. But what drew his attention, as well as the attention of the other Konoha ninjas, was the tree.
Right in the middle of the valley was a single tree, enormous on a scale that made even the Kyuubi look tiny in comparison. He could only just see hundreds of miniscule dots moving about it. People. It was easy to figure out how they'd picked the name Hidden Tree.
"That is the Great Tree," Hikari spoke up from beside him. "It is about three miles wide and over thirty tall. Our entire village, homes, shops, and offices, is carved into its trunk. The area around the base is used as training grounds." Once team seven came back to their senses, the group made its way to the village.
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Ino couldn't help but look on in awe. Now that they were up close, she could really get a feel for the sheer size of the Great Tree. In fact, it was so large that it was impossible to tell from this range that it was even circular.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Yumiko asked. "We owe everything to the Great Tree. It gives us food, water, shelter. Even protects us. That was why we had to come meet you. If any of your team had tried to come here unaccompanied, the Tree would have made sure you never got close."
What was that supposed to mean? Yeah, it was impossibly big, but still. "How? I mean, it's just a tree, right?"
Her guide laughed. "You really think the Great Tree is normal? No. As a matter of fact, it's actually sentient. The village's founders made a deal with the Tree. We care for it and it provides us with all the stuff I mentioned. C'mon, this way. We're supposed to take you to meet the Council." They followed the others, using chakra to walk up the side of the Tree.
As they climbed, the Yamanaka looked around her. There were wooden platforms every so often, with stairs (also made of wood) or ropes and pulleys connecting them. Going straight up like this was clearly just the faster method. The platforms would usually be right in front of a carved-out section of bark, probably a shop or house. Every so often, she would see people going about their daily business like living in a tree wasn't the least bit out of the ordinary. Then again, it probably wasn't for them.
She couldn't help but notice the worry on everyone's face, though. Most tried to hide it, or pretend it wasn't there, but it was easy to see that something big was wrong, and they didn't know what to do. Even their escorts all had that worried expression. The only exception was that Hikari girl who was with Naruto, but she looked as though the end of the world wouldn't ruffle her. That reminded the blonde, she still needed to ask her teammate about what the hell that had been between the two of them back in the forest. Yumiko had explained how the silver-haired girl had a tendency to say things that upset people, but she'd never seen the usually happy, energetic boy react so violently before.
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Kiba looked around, Akamaru sitting on his head, as the group walked down a long hallway carved into the Tree. A long, torch-lit, hallway. He turned to Toshiro. "Isn't that kinda, y'know, dangerous?" he asked, gesturing at the burning sticks jutting out of the wooden walls.
"You mean the fire? Not as much as you might think; the Tree is special, doesn't catch fire.." To demonstrate, he took one of the torches and put the flame up against the wall for a few seconds. Just as he had said, it didn't spread, instead just leaving a light scorch mark. "You really think we'd have our village be somewhere that could be destroyed by any simpe katon jutsu?" When he put it that way, it was pretty obvious.
Then he noticed something else weird. A small basin of water sticking out of the wall. Somehow, it was constantly overflowing just slightly, and the water would fall to the floor to be absorbed by the tree. He and Akamaru had been able to smell water the entire time they'd been inside the tree, but this was the first visible sign of the stuff. "Where's that water coming from?"
"Y'know trees need water to live, right? Well, the Great Tree just gives us some of what its roots take in. Whatever we don't end up using just gets soaked right back up." Ah. That made sense.
Hold on. "But if you guys are all using the tree's water, isn't that bad for the tree?"
The black-haired boy grinned. "Haha. The whole village together only uses up the equivalent of a drop in a bucket. The Tree takes care of us, and we take care of the Tree."
"Okay, got it." Silence stretched on between the two boys until Kiba couldn't stand it anymore. "So just what are we doing here anyway? Your village seems to be doing pretty well; I don't see what you need Konoha's help with. Especially such a specific request." He still didn't like this mission for whatever reason. It all looked reasonable enough, but there was just something about the whole thing that didn't sit well with the young Inuzuka.
"It's not my place to tell you. Besides, we're here." Indeed, the hallway/tunnel they'd been walking through suddenly came to an end, opening up into a large circular room that looked like it was probably used for meetings. It was pretty well-lit, considering they were limited to firelight, and he could see about twenty or so people sitting on a long bench that went halfway around the room, several feet in from the wall. Three more doorways led in besides the one they'd used, one to the far right, one to the far left, and one at the back.
"Kasumi," a middle-aged man, seated in the center of the group, demanded once they were standing in the middle of the room, "are these the ones Konoha has sent to aid us?"
The Tree jonin kneeled down. "Yes, Honorable Council Member."
There was a bit of muttering at that.
"...never thought they'd send ones so young..."
"...genin team..."
"...sure they'll be able to handle it..."
The Inuzuka wanted to shout at these idiots for doubting them like that but didn't for two reasons. One was that they were obviously important, and he could get in serious trouble if he were to say the wrong thing. Two was that he knew Naruto would beat him to it.
"Oi! You people were the ones who asked for us! Someone who can do mind jutsus and someone with a lotta chakra! Well, it just so happens that we're the only team in Konoha that fits the bill, so take it or leave it! Hell, we don't even know what it is we're supposed to be doing here yet, but it's obvious something's wrong by the way everyone in the village is acting, something you need us for! So are you jerks just going to sit up there and doubt us all day, or d'you plan on telling us what's goin on?"
Yup. His teammate could do a great job of getting his point across while at the same time insulting whatever idiot he happened to be shouting at and also making sure they had no grounds to get back at him for it.
The Council was clearly stunned, if the complete lack of sound was any indication. Asuma-sensei reprimanded the blonde for shouting at the leaders of an allied village. Not that it would actually stop him from doing it again, if he felt he had to.
Kasumi had stayed on her knees the whole time "Honorable Council, the kunoichi is Yamanaka Ino, heir to the famous clan of mind-walkers. And Asuma-san here has informed me that the boy who just... shouted at all of you... has more chakra than anyone else in the village." Seriously? He'd always known Naruto had a ton of chakra, but the most in the village? How'd that happen?
More mutterings, though this time the Inuzuka couldn't make out anything clearly.
Then, all of a sudden, the silver-haired kunoichi (Hikari he thought her name was) threw herself on her hands and knees. "Please, Honorable Council! I swear to you on my life that the boy, Naruto, has the required amount of chakra! If you truly do care about our home as you say you do, you will accept their help!"
An old woman rose to her feet an glared at the prostrate girl. "Who do you think you are, to doubt us like that? And you say you swear on your life? You know what the life of a Tree-cursed one like you is worth? Nothing!"
The next thing Kiba knew, Naruto was halfway to the speaker, struggling to free himself from Asuma-sensei's tight grasp and radiating so much chakra he could see it coming off the blonde in small wisps of blue energy. At the same time, half the Council members had jumped to their feet and started shouting.
Then the middle-aged man rose to his feet. "ORDER!" An enormous ...presence... filled the room in an instant, forcing everyone, even the speaker, to their knees. It was like the air had become heavy and started to crush them. But there was no chakra.
After a moment, when the force started to let up, the dog boy realized that it must have been the Tree.
"Council member Hisoka!" He was facing the old woman, a stern expression on his features. "For violating Law 135, your expulsion from this Council is now put to a vote!"
One by one, the Council members, excluding Hisoka herself, announced their decisions. None of them spent any time considering beforehand. Kiba noticed that, for the most part, the older members voted to keep her, while the younger wanted her gone. The final result was fourteen to six for expelling her.
"Very well. Former Council member Hisoka, you must now leave the room," announced the same man.
As she walked out, the Inuzuka saw her give a furious glare to the orange-eyed girl, who had since returned to her feet.
"Now, does anyone else object to Hikari's words?" the man asked. Silence. "Very well. Then we are all agreed that the Konoha ninja can be trusted to accomplish the task at hand?" Nods. "Good. Konoha ninja, the reason we sent the aid request is because the Great Tree is dying, and we need your help to save it."
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comments: (please note that the comments for chapters 1-16 were written well after the chapters themselves)
I wanted to do something new and unique, and I came up with (read: stole from the countless fantasy stories it's used in) the idea of a village built into a giant tree. Since this is the Naruto world, I felt free to defy the laws of physics and facts about the Earth's atmosphere, allowing me to make the giant tree into an impossibly huge tree.
That led to the Tree village mission. Of course, I couldn't have things go smoothly, so I threw in Hikari and everything surrounding her.
The required "girl sees shirtless Naruto" scene was also placed in this chapter.
