"So how'd you win it, dobe?" Sasuke demanded, still confined to his infirmary bed and unable to believe the localized radio broadcast that told him Naruto had somehow won the entire tournament.
"Gaara forfeit," Naruto said with a shrug, clothes still torn but somehow no longer bleeding.
Kankurou choked. "What? Really?" They hadn't spoken much, but Sasuke had gotten the impression he was intimidated by his younger brother. Sasuke glanced at the stoic Suna-nin, who let out a tiny sigh through his nose.
"I had no wish to chase Uzumaki around the stadium for the next three years waiting for him to run out of energy."
Even as the surrounding crowd grew more and more restless, the remainder of the small group of genin that people had taken to calling the Rookie Nine remained wrapped in a stunned silence. That…that had been leagues beyond Naruto's match against Temari. The finals had been insane, and all of them were painfully aware that they could not have stood up to either of the apparent titans they had just witnessed clash.
Slowly, and with many glances between each other, they rose and exited the stadium in a clump, drifting through the city and eventually settling down around a large table at one of the nin-only restaurants in the city.
"So," Kiba said finally, apparently unable to stand the silence any longer. "What the actual hell."
"I think we can agree this is not a question of keeping Team secrets," Shino murmured. "Why? Because Sasuke did not perform significantly above expectations, and Sakura seems equally surprised as any of us."
The group's collective attention swung toward Sakura, who hunched in her seat. "I…I didn't know about this at all," she said plaintively. "Four months ago we were in the Land of Waves and he was still… Still Naruto." Hinata frowned a little, and Sakura hurried on. "He fought his hardest and he saved Sasuke! And there was that red…power…in the last fight on the bridge when he thought Sasuke-kun was dead. I know Sasuke-kun thought it might be a new kekkei genkai, but it never happened again after that. Naruto told us it was a fluke. And it wasn't anywhere near as powerful or as controlled as now."
"So when did he start to act different?" Chouji asked between bites.
Sakura thought hard. "Maybe a week before the Exams?" she said finally. "We were coming back from a mission when he collapsed and we had to rest for the night, just an hour outside of Konoha. Kakashi-sensei blew it off like it was no big deal, but… The very next day he had that jacket and armour and new weapons."
Shikamaru's head shot up. "Jacket," he repeated. "That jacket. And new weapons, like that three-pronged kunai. Sakura, can I see that again?"
She shrugged, and withdrew the Mie kunai once more, laying it on the table. Everyone leaned in to see Shikamaru staring at it, lips moving soundlessly, and tracing his fingers over it. "Ino, paper?"
She produced some, and a charcoal-pencil, and Shikamaru quickly sketched a slightly different three-pronged kunai, this one with a curved bottom. Next to it was a short-sleeved jacket with flames around the bottom.
He paused, staring down at what he'd drawn, then dropped his head onto the table with a bang. "I'm an idiot."
Shino rose halfway from his chair to look more closely, and then his eyebrows shot up, clearly visible over his customary sunglasses. "How could nobody have seen this?"
"No one ever paid close enough attention to Naruto," Shikamaru said dully, still facedown.
"Are you saying…what I think you're saying?" Sakura asked shakily.
Shikamaru raised his head and the pencil again, and quickly scribbled the kanji for Fourth Hokage down the back of the jacket.
Ino was the next to put it together, and she pressed her hands over her mouth, before hissing, "But why did all the teachers always seem to hate him? If, if he was really the son of-"
"WHAT!?" Kiba yelled, clearly not having understood Shikamaru's implication until it was spelled out. Everyone hushed him, although they all felt the same way. Kiba obediently lowered his voice, but his whisper sounded strained, "There is seriously no way this could have been kept a secret. It has to be a coincidence."
Shikamaru shook his head. "Where better to hide a secret than in plain sight? If you have a secret letter, you just place it on your desk with the rest of the mail, like the old Kaminari story. Nobody ever bothered to question his appearance because his personality was so in-your-face."
"And… Teachers are not the only ones to dislike Naruto-kun," Hinata put in softly. "I've seen civilians, from our age up to the elderly, frown and turn away from him when he speaks up or asks a question or enters a store. Almost everyone in the village treats him like he doesn't exist. They would never consider the possibility that he could be someone important."
"Then…" Ino was clearly following her own train of thought. "Then in the finals, when he was flashing around the arena…?"
"'Flashing' is the correct word," Shikamaru sighed. "If this was supposed to be a secret, he just blew it wide open. And in front of the Tsuchikage as well."
Sakura paled. "Earth Country…the History books I've read said that the Tsuchikage's decision to end the war was an unpopular one with the populace."
"But that was then," Shino pointed out. "Now, though, I doubt the Tsuchikage will wish to start a fight. Why? Because not only is Naruto demonstrating a level of combat that could rival multiple jonin, but he was matched by that boy from Sunagakure, our ally."
"Those two were…unreal," Ino shook her head, ponytail swaying gently. "The last attack that other boy did; we saw he could control sand before, but this was black sand. That was the signature of the Third Kazekage."
"Tou-chan said the Suna team are the current Kazekage's children," Chouji offered.
"The Fourth Kazekage is not related to the Third," Sakura recited. "The Third Kazekage is said to have abruptly retired, naming his favored general as his successor. Which is usually taken to mean he was suddenly assassinated, and Suna hushed it up."
"But that's another thing," Kiba jumped back in, pointing at Chouji. "Those two guys who are always at the gate─Kotetsu and Izumo─I heard them telling nee-chan that they saw Naruto leaving the village with that Gaara kid, without an escort. Twice. And I saw them both leaving his apartment together this morning. It's like they've known each other forever, but I've never seen the dude before, and I could have sworn Naruto didn't have any friends other than us," He gestured at himself, Chouji, and Shikamaru. "Much less anyone from Suna."
Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome. We solved one puzzle only to be faced with more. This is such a drag…"
As the three Kage settled into chairs in the Hokage's office, they each dismissed their respective guards. The Konoha and Suna ANBU bowed respectfully and vanished to form a perimeter. Jiraiya and Tsunade meandered off, each with their own plans. Kurotsuchi and Roshi, meanwhile, simply shrugged and made their way back into town.
The three most powerful men in their respective countries, meanwhile, sat quietly over a pot of tea the Hokage prepared for them. Finally, Onoki folded his arms and grumbled. "I guess it's clear what happens when two ringers reach the finals of the Chunin Exams. I wonder what A would say, if he were here."
"Circumstances are not as they should be, Tsuchikage-dono," Rasa murmured. "We truly live in interesting times, like the Tetsu proverb says. I was approached by Orochimaru to ally with him in an attack on Konoha, and I must confess I was tempted until my heretofore violent and sociopathic son pointed out quite rationally how unlikely I was to survive such an arrangement."
"Hmph." Onoki grunted. "And here I thought it world-endingly strange that Roshi came back from exile to tell me we need to pursue peaceful relations with the other villages. What are things coming to?"
"I believe we have all been so counseled," Sarutobi said at last. "There seems little point attempting to hide it after this afternoon's display─it seems we have all been advised by our villages' Jinchuuriki. Whatever omen or portents they may be reacting to, I do not know," he lied delicately, "but it seems clear to me that if multiple, very different people, independently come to the same conclusion, then it is a conclusion worth giving careful consideration."
"And that conclusion is a warning to ally with our former enemies, and to shun a powerful mercenary group," Onoki grumped.
"Akatsuki," Rasa nodded. "I suppose I should have been more hesitant to employ any organization which previously counted Orochimaru among their number."
Onoki's mouth twisted, but he reluctantly nodded. "I became aware of them when they interfered with the retaking of one of my own village's rogues. He joined their ranks, but the rest seemed happy to do untraced work for hire."
"Ah, yes, your student Choukoku-ka no Deidara," Sarutobi mused. He reached for a folder, placing it on the desk between the two men. "He is listed in the first pair of partners. Jiraiya has been gathering intelligence on Akatsuki for quite some time, since he discovered that Orochimaru had been a member."
Rasa reached forward to open the folder, revealing the first two known members: Deidara and Sasori. His eyes narrowed at the hunched, cloaked form of the latter, even as Onoki grumbled about arrogant children and their stupid artwork.
"Indeed," the Hokage sighed, in reply to the Kazekage's glare. Rasa continued to turn the pages of the dossier, examining the details that Jiraiya had gathered from Naruto about each of the members, accompanied by photographs if any existed, or else by sketches Jiraiya had made from Naruto's henge. "These are some of the most dangerous rogues still free today, and they have proved themselves collectively resourceful and strategic. Their leader deploys teams with complementing abilities, if not personalities, to complete objectives efficiently and defend themselves and each other from reprisal from any nation."
"Where are they? What is their goal?" Rasa asked, his tactical mind whirring as he turned from Hidan and Kakuzu to Itachi and Kisame, running a finger down Itachi's file and noting the highlighted kanji reading spy─the obvious red herring to explain why their information was so complete, and why Sarutobi believed it to be accurate. "I find it difficult to believe such powerful nin would gravitate together rather than clash, or at best, agree not to interfere with one another."
Sarutobi gestured for him to continue through the folder. "They appear to be centrally based in Amegakure at the moment. Though it is rare that they physically gather, evidence suggests they have bolt-holes in nearly every country. We are not yet certain how they coordinate over long distances, but they unmistakably do so. To what end, we still have not been able to ascertain."
"For what other end does anyone abandon their home?" Onoki growled. "Power. Greed. 'Freedom' to perform whatever foolish or monstrous act occurs to them."
Rasa inclined his head. "But that leaves the question of who or what has drawn them together." He turned the second-to-last page, scanned Konan's notes briefly, then turned to Pain and gasped. "-the Rinnegan?"
"Indeed," Sarutobi said gravely. "This, we have been able to confirm. These two were both once students of Jiraiya, and we have also ascertained that this 'Pain' is the slayer of Sanshouo no Hanzou. He is, without a doubt, the most powerful of them, and the current guiding force, though our…source…believes there may be a hidden puppetmaster." He reached out and turned the final page himself, which showed a cloaked figure with a swirling orange mask.
There was a beat as both the foreign Kage read the man's chosen alias.
"'Madara'!? That's impossible!" Onoki snapped. "I fought Uchiha Madara. If you believe nothing else about the man, I know that he was too proud to ever hide his face behind a mask."
"Let us continue to call him 'Tobi', then," Sarutobi agreed. "It seems to be the name he uses when not attempting to call on the legacy of Uchiha Madara. It seems likely from the shape of the mask that Tobi has only one eye, and we have confirmed that is indeed Sharingan. It has never been seen deactivated, but that is not sufficient evidence to say whether he is or is not Uchiha himself. We also believe he was the instigator behind the Uchiha Incident."
"Never mind him!" Onoki said, though the crease in his brow said plainly that he had far from dismissed the Madara-impersonator. "If we know where the most powerful of them are, why shouldn't we attack? They cannot possibly suspect you have this much intelligence, and we have the force of three Jinchuuriki!"
"Do my ears deceive me?" Sarutobi smiled, a little teasingly. "Does the fence-sitting Onoki of Both Scales believe we should simply attack?"
"Don't play with me, Saru!" Onoki retorted. "You're the one who's gone to great lengths to gather this dossier and convince us that the organization is dangerous. Why should we not strike?"
Rasa shook his head. "If 'Tobi' is indeed the true master, he may not be at Amegakure at all." He flipped back to Pain and Konan's entries, and pushed the folder closer to Onoki. "The dossier suggests that only a few of these members know or care about the ultimate goal, suggesting they are, as you said, only in it for the money, or freedom. And this… 'Pain' is simply an angry young man, who believes as many young men do, that might makes right and a more dangerous weapon brings peace." He pinched the bridge of his nose, doubtless remembering occasions where he had thought the same thing. "Look at the Jinchuuriki," he added, when Onoki continued to frown. "They were meant to be a deterrent of war, rather than instruments of it, yet look at their history. I sacrificed my wife and my son's childhood to gain a weapon. It appears I very nearly sacrificed my child's own sanity."
Face still twisted in a scowl, Onoki nodded, turning the folder forward once more to glare at Tobi.
"I have had an ambassador reach Water Country, only this past month," Sarutobi offered, neglecting of course to mention that it was the same nin as his spy. "Chigiri no Yagura is dead, and Terumi Mei has been raised in his place as the Godaime Mizukage. She expressed her regrets that she could not attend the Chunin Exams as well, but did not wish to leave her village at such a critical time. I believe she will work with us as well."
"Kiri's jinchuuriki are missing or dead," Rasa said softly. "We had a report, years ago, that they quietly held the Rokubi in addition to the high placement of the Sanbi, but I've had no confirmation since. Certainly no nin in the last five years has shown any sign of the Rokubi's powers."
"Terumi are the other line of Lava users," Onoki countered, finally breaking off his glare at the dossier and rubbing his eyes. "And their previous head married another clan with a unique release."
"The only power possibly un-warned, then, is Kumogakure," Sarutobi said. "I do not know whether A will listen to me, or to all of us, but I believe we should deliberate on how to approach him."
"Where are we going?" Kurotsuchi complained idly as she followed Roshi through the streets of Konoha, wondering why in the hell he'd told her to wear kimono. "We've passed like three places that looked good, and I want a damn drink." She eyed up a few of the better-looking passersby, but everyone was giving the Iwa-nin a wide berth and some degree of glare. Tch. As if they weren't here under parley and being escorted by ANBU to boot.
"Patience is one of the Sage's virtues, Kuro-chan," Roshi chided, smirking where she couldn't see. "And, we are going to meet and eat and drink with the fighters from the finals. Not that one," he added, as a blond in an orange jacket sprinted by them and ducked under the curtain to a ramen shop. "That's a kage bunshin."
"Then how the hell do you know where they are?" she demanded.
Roshi snorted. "I'm following another kage bunshin." He pointed up at the rooftop to their right. Kurotsuchi followed the line, and saw an identical blond head suddenly pop up.
"Okay, but how long were you wandering looking for a sign?"
"He's been there since we left the Kage's tower, Kurotsuchi." This time she could hear the damnable smirk.
Kurotsuchi scoffed. "You expect me to believe a genin not only knows Kage Bunshin well enough to make more than one with independent goals, but that one of the bunshin is staying hidden from me? I'm a jonin!"
Another snort. "I don't much care what you believe, Kuro-chan. You asked a question and I answered it." Before she could retort again, he turned sharply into a doorway set back from the street. "We're here."
They stepped into a subtle, but surprisingly upscale restaurant, with extremely classical decor. Kurotsuchi's eyebrows shot up at the understated formality of the place, unable to reconcile it with the blond bunshin she'd seen tear past her. Numbly, she toed off her sandals behind Roshi, and followed him to a low table set for…Uzushio kaiseki-ryouri?
The little blond kid, now wearing an orange kimono that somehow suited him instead of clashing with his hair, had the seat of honor at the head of the table, furthest from the door. To his immediate left sat a tall man in plain white, with long unbound hair and startling pale eyes. Hyuuga, Kurotsuchi recalled from her Konoha studies and bingo book. The head of the clan.
Next came an equally-tall man in the high-collared jacket of an Aburame, and another man with a long blond ponytail and the pupil-less eyes of a Yamanaka. There were two empty seats beside him, the first of which Roshi took. Kurotsuchi bowed numbly, and knelt on the cushion to Roshi's left.
To her left, at the end of the table, was the redhead who had fought in the finals; Gaara, the youngest son of the Kazekage. Across from her was a broad-shouldered woman whose face tattoos identified an Inuzuka. Next, across from Roshi, was a scar-faced man with coarse black hair, whom she recognized as Konoha's Jonin-Commander, Nara. A very stocky red-haired man came next; Akimichi. Another empty space, and finally, a buxom woman with honey-blonde hair—Senju freaking Tsunade.
Sage's staff, this kid has some powerful friends. This dinner was a who's-who of Konoha's nobility and leadership, plus some assorted guests. She had just thought better of opening her mouth when Roshi bowed slightly to the kid, and murmured, "Jalmukesumneda." She haltingly repeated the unfamiliar word, vaguely recalling an Academy lesson on the former village of Uzushiogakure. She spied a red swirl pattern on the kid's kimono—not an uncommon symbol in Konoha, but nobody else at the table wore it.
Before she could do more than ponder that, she heard someone else enter the restaurant from the street. They weren't talking loudly, but their voices nevertheless carried to the table.
"Dobe, do you want to tell me why you felt the need to break into my house, bring me a kimono, and drag me out of the hospital?"
"Because you're later for dinner," came the reply, "And you'd have been pretty underdressed in a hospital gown. Your traps suck, by the way. Remind me to show you some better ones."
"You're still wearing your fighting clothes!" the first voice argued.
"Yeah, but I'm a kage bunshin. And did I mention you're late? Bye." A tiny poof accompanied the last word, and Kurotsuchi could have sworn a flicker of a smirk crossed the blond host's face, even as he conversed with the Hyuuga.
A moment later, the shoji partition behind the Kazekage's son slid aside, and the Uchiha from the semifinals came in. He bowed a little lower than normal, muttering an excuse about his lateness, but took the remaining cushion between Tsunade and the Akimichi with considerable dignity…though the disbelieving eyebrow he raised toward the host damaged the effect slightly.
"My friends," the young host said, voice pitched to carry, "For I hope I can count you all as friends in the years to come—please enjoy this meal." He paused, as the server poured him a drink. Then he took the bottle, and served the Hyuuga, who in turn served Aburame.
"Never fill your own glass," Roshi muttered to her as he poured for her. "Keep your neighbors' full, and they'll do the same. Pour with two hands, and receive the same way."
When everyone's glass was full, the blond raised his glass. "Just once, formally, in the style of my clan's homeland: ganbae!" Everyone drank, Kurotsuchi surprised by how smoothly the drink went down, compared to sake. She refilled Roshi's glass, and then the redhead's.
"In the spirit of that friendship, I'd like to introduce my friend Gaara of Sunagakure, and Roshi and Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure. You are all, as of the drink we just shared, friends of Uzumaki Naruto. Let us eat." He lifted his chopsticks, Tsunade a beat behind him, and everyone followed suit, taking an opening bite of their rice as the side dishes were served in collective plates in the center of the table.
Kurotsuchi went to take another drink. "Pace yourself," Roshi hissed in her ear. "It's easy to lose track of soju." She hummed in response, serving herself what looked like octopus and some kind of root on a negiyaki, listening with one ear to Roshi going over the various dishes, and with the other to the Inuzuka and Nara's banter about the rounds of the tournament that she had obviously missed.
"What brings you to Konoha?" asked the redhead to her left, Gaara.
"I'm here as one of grandfather's guards," Kurotsuchi answered.
"A jonin, then," Gaara surmised. "Impressive at your age. And to work opposite Akahige no Roshi speaks more highly still of your ability. Do you aspire to take your grandfather's seat?"
Kurotsuchi paused. "I…didn't really give it much active thought," she confessed. "Gramps is still going strong, despite all his complaints about his back."
"Of course. Still, it is never too early to think of the future."
Unsure what to say to that, she started on her seaweed soup, watching the two across from her dig into bean sprouts, glass noodles, and what looked like radishes covered in chili powder.
"…surprisingly good showing in the Exams," Inuzuka was saying "All three rookie teams made it to round two, and one even went to the finals. Your kid tell you what happened to his and Gai's teams in the Forest?"
"Shikamaru hit his head, so he doesn't remember very clearly," the Nara drawled. He gestured across the table, at his blond compatriot sitting on Roshi's other side. "Inoichi's daughter said they were ambushed by an older Konoha team. The ones that were eliminated in the finals." He scratched his stubbled chin. "Last I heard, Hokage-sama brought them in for questioning on the word of one of our spies. The third teammate—they think he was the one who attacked the older Hyuuga kid—disappeared the night after the Forest."
There was a snap as Gaara's chopsticks broke in his hand. "My apologies," he said tonelessly, setting the pieces aside and drawing several splinters from his fingers. Curiously, there was no blood. A moment later, a waitress smoothly delivered him a fresh pair and swept away the old, just as the main dish of grilled beef arrived, along with a hot pot that smelled like crab. Unnoticed by anyone else at the table, Kurotsuchi thought, Gaara caught Naruto's eye and made a two brief handsigns, getting the shadow of a nod in return. Interesting.
As dinner was winding down, there was a small rush of chakra outside the front door. A waiter moved quietly over to Naruto and passed him a scroll, evidently from the messenger outside. He read it, clicked his tongue softly, and rose. "Nothing to worry about!" he assured the table boisterously. "Excuse me just a moment." He strolled from the room, surreptitiously gesturing to Gaara to keep his seat.
There was a conversation held in undertone in the genkan room, a gusty sigh, and a much more concentrated chakra surge. A moment later, Naruto returned. He tipped Gaara a wink on his way back to his seat, took a sip of soju, and returned to his conversation with Uchiha and Aburame. Beside her, Gaara snorted softly. Kurotsuchi glanced at him, but he shook his head.
"What's up, Jiijii? I'm missing dessert for this," Naruto grumbled good-naturedly.
"My apologies, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi chortled. "But as I'm sure you can imagine, Mitarashi-san rather quickly came around to the suggestion that someone wished to try removing her curse mark." He gestured at the door to the next room. "Though I believe Jiraiya-kun helped convince her, with how eager he is to see your solution."
In an instant, Naruto's face went serious—the mark of a much more experienced nin than his age suggested. "I take it Ero-sennin is with her now?"
He nodded, and Naruto put his hands together in a Ram seal. Rather than the traditional puff of chakra smoke, he simply shimmered into his henge: roughly his appearance before coming back in time, except without his whisker-marks, and with red hair covered by a hitai-ite worn like a bandanna. "I'll need a blank ANBU mask I can imprint," he requested.
Sarutobi simply raised a hand, and a moment later, a white porcelain mask fell into it, dropped by an unseen ANBU guard. He passed this over to Naruto and watched, amused, as Naruto placed a permanent henge on the chakra-receptive material to give it red markings in the likeness of a fox. He pressed it to his face, and straightened up, looking for all the world like any given operative.
"Come along, then, Kitsune-kun," Sarutobi said, still smiling. Perhaps Naruto's confidence in himself was infectious.
Jiraiya glanced up, but concealed his surprise. "Kitsune-san," he said. Behind Naruto, Sarutobi smirked, and Jiraiya was sure that his old teacher knew him so well, could he tell Jiraiya was trying not to laugh. "This is Mitarashi-san, who has a seal that she'd like removed."
Anko gave a skeptical snort, arms folded defensively. "Way to undersell it, Jiraiya-sama. Orochimaru placed the damn thing. Nobody's been able to get rid of it."
"Thank you for humoring me in that case, Mitarashi-san," Naruto—Kitsune—said, doing a pretty damn good ANBU impression. Jiraiya had to wonder if he'd played an ANBU operative before…or been one. "May I examine the seal?" Probably pointless, since he'd claimed to know the thing inside and out, but it would look a bit suspicious if he didn't even ask to see it.
Still scowling, Anko half-turned and rolled down the collar of her jacket, showing Kitsune the three tomoe starkly against her pale skin.
"Why hasn't this had a Fuuja Houin put around it?" Kitsune asked Jiraiya conversationally. Jiraiya shrugged.
Anko turned back around. "I declined. I wanted to show the higher-ups I was strong enough to fight off his influence without it."
Kitsune tilted his head slightly. "You know it would have also reduced the pain by at least half."
"I'm not afraid of pain," Anko said shortly.
"Good," said Kitsune, turning to examine the sealing supplies. "Because this is probably going to hurt more than anything you've felt since the seal was applied. I need a smaller brush," he added, presumably knowing there was at least two ANBU stationed in the room. "No more than a quarter the width of my little finger. And something for her to bite down on. Please have a seat, Mitarashi-san." He gestured to a simple wooden chair in the middle of the room.
In his peripheral vision, Jiraiya saw her fingers clench on the opposite arms. "Jiraiya-sama's attempt had me in sarashi, with all sorts of drawings around the seal."
Kitsune nodded, glancing back at her. "I'm familiar with the procedure he would have tried. While I don't doubt he enjoyed the view as much as I would, it was the best attempt possible until now. You should not even need to remove your jacket all the way."
After another moment's hesitation (and a scowl thrown at Jiraiya, whose eyes had glazed over in remembrance), Anko shifted her jacket off her shoulders and sat down straddling the chair, leaning on the back.
As Kitsune picked up the bowl, ignoring the inkwell, a muted surge of chakra announced the arrival of the additional supplies he'd requested, in the hands of ANBU Cat. "Thank you, Neko-san." He passed the leather-wrapped stick to Anko, but hesitated at taking the brush, which was clearly from Sarutobi-sensei's own calligraphy set.
"Go ahead, Kitsune-kun," Sarutobi said. "I can think of no finer use for it to be put."
Accepting the brush, Kitsune turned back to Anko, who was sitting stiffly, but ready. Rather than one of the scalpels on the table, or his teeth as was typical for a nin, Kitsune cut the end of his second finger with a tiny Fuuton blade, and let a small amount of his chakra-rich blood fall into the dish. Interesting; he was using just blood.
He dipped the brush into it, and began to paint a minute circle sealing characters within the space between the tomoe of the seal, leaving about a fingertip's width blank. Next, three lines of script spiraled out, in between each tomoe and moving counterclockwise, each line ending directly opposite where it came from. Anko shivered slightly, and Kitsune paused a moment to inspect his work.
"Last warning," he said quietly, as Jiraiya looked over what he'd drawn. "This is going to hurt. Try to bite the stick instead of your own tongue. And don't move too much, because the chakra may petrify you if it goes out of control."
Petrify? Jiraiya thought. Is he using natural energy?
His question was answered a moment later. First, Kitsune dipped the tip of his forefinger into the blood in the dish, pushing his chakra to his hand. A moment later, Jiraiya felt a second chakra join it, which he recognized as the Kyuubi's. And then Kitsune stilled entirely, and Jiraiya felt him begin to channel tendrils of natural energy as well. Not enough to fully shift his body into Sage Mode, but sufficient to suffuse the blue and red blend of chakra dancing in his hand with the green of nature, before they combined into something else completely.
Kitsune lifted his finger, the swirl of his fingerprint at once coated in red, and glowing a deep, rich gold, and pressed it sharply to the blank circle in the center of the seal he had drawn. "Fuuin!"
At once, both seals lit up; Kitsune's a shining gold like his chakra, and Orochimaru's a dark, ugly purple. The cursed seal tried to activate, but the new seal contained it, beginning to spin counterclockwise, looking for all the world like a screw pump drawing the dark chakra up and out of Anko. Jiraiya could hear the stick creaking as she bit down on it, groaning in agony; could see the curse mark fighting back, like a snake refusing to remove its fangs from a victim. But this wasn't his first time messing with this particular seal, and he could tell Kitsune was gaining ground. It was working.
Sixty seconds later, Kitsune barked, "Scroll!", and Neko blurred into view holding up a blank sealing scroll. With a final wrench, Kitsune dragged the cursed seal out of Anko's shoulder, and slapped it onto the paper. With a final flash, it was suddenly just ink once more: the three tomoe of its compact form now surrounded by innumerable sealing characters. His own seal was gone entirely, leaving slightly chakra-burned but otherwise pristine skin where the curse mark had been for so long.
Anko slumped, the stick falling from her mouth with a clatter as she gasped for breath. Neko hurriedly passed the scroll to Sarutobi-sensei and leapt to Anko's side with a glass of water.
"Kitsune-kun," Sarutobi said, looking oddly at the scroll in his hand. "This seal…"
Jiraiya gave it a look over his shoulder, eyes darting back and forth over the full seal. "What the hell?"
"Orichimaru is a long way from a sealing master," Kitsune said dryly. "There are dozens of sections of that seal that do nothing, or that contradict each other, or that are entirely inactive. He seems to have just thrown everything he can at a wall until finding approximately the results he wanted. You should see the original Cursed Seal of Earth; it's even more of a mess." He flipped a hand carelessly at the scroll. "I don't need that, so I recommend it be sealed away once Jiraiya-sama is done with it."
Even after so short a time, Jiraiya pondered, it was odd to hear someone that he knew was Naruto use his formal title.
Meanwhile, Neko was helping Anko drink the water down. "How do you feel, Anko-chan?"
"Fucking wretched," she groaned. "But…it's gone, isn't it. I can feel the difference in my chakra. He did it."
"It's gone," Neko promised her. "I don't know much about sealing, but usually it takes more space and more intricacy to be more powerful. He must be skilled to have done this with such a tiny seal. But…it's gone, Anko-chan."
"Finally," Anko breathed. "Thank him for me, will you? And take me home? I'm going to pass out now." She let her head fall onto her arms and fell asleep almost immediately.
Slipping past the Sensing Barrier was an old trick; like tree-walking or spinning a kunai, you just never forgot. Even guiding Kisame, with his much larger frame and chakra reserves, wasn't much of a challenge.
Not that it was preventing the bigger man from complaining. "Remind me again why we're here for no reason, Itachi-san."
"'For no reason'," he repeated softly. "And also because I heard that Orochimaru is targeting my brother. Which is unacceptable."
"Right," Kisame drawled. "And it doesn't have anything to do with those odd dreams that have you sleeping even less than usual."
Itachi didn't bother to reply.
"So cold, Itachi-san, so cold…"
"He's like that a lot, you'll find," cut in a new voice.
They both looked to the side to find an ANBU in a fox mask and an orange haori coat, with black flames around the hem and sleeves. Itachi's eyes widened slightly.
"Interesting fashion choice," Kisame purred, reaching for Samehada, though he didn't draw it. Yet. "I don't believe that's ANBU standard at all."
"I'm not really your standard type of ANBU," Kitsune shot back. "And neither of you is the standard sort of traitor. So hey, we can all be weirdos together. Unless you came here to start trouble. In which case, we'll have to fight. And while that might be some fun, in the end I'll have to kill you, and Sasuke and Samehada will never forgive me."
Itachi froze, and beside him, felt Kisame do the same. Not just at the confidence the nin before them exuded, which they could both tell was not simply bravado, but rather because in one sentence he'd mentioned something that each of them held close to the chest, only sharing with each other recently.
"I see I've got your attention." The ANBU placed his hands casually behind his neck. "So are we going to talk this out like civilized nin? Why are you here?"
A/N: Lesson learned: Don't take 'a week off' for my birthday or it'll turn into 6 months. I know this can't possibly live up to expectation, so I'll just give it to you and try to do better. Anyway, notes ─ Sarutobi refers to 'Deidara the Sculptor', as a sort of nom de guerre since Deidara doesn't appear to have a surname in canon. The title comes from As You Like It, and here refers to the fact that we're seeing Naruto through many others' eyes.
Kaiseki-ryōri (会席料理) is a fixed multi-course meal; compare the French table d'hôte, sometimes rendered in English as a menu à prix-fixe (meaning fixed-price; in contrast to a menu à la carte). You can also compare the Korean jeongsik (정식), because my headcanon for Uzu no kuni is a parallel to Korea in food and culture. Thus, the Uzushio kaiseki-ryōri (rendered in Japanese because it's in Konoha) consists of traditional Korean dishes, which would be Hanjeongsik (한정식), or at least, as near as a waeguk like me is going to manage. ‹_‹;
Jalmukesumneda (잘먹겠습니다) is the thanks you give before a meal in Korean (as opposed to the Japanese 'Itadakimasu').
The dishes on the table (not all named): Bap (밥), cooked rice. Miyeok guk (미역국), seaweed soup. Sujeo (수저), a set of spoon and chopsticks. Gochujang (고추장), chili paste. Ganjang (간장), soy sauce.
7 cheop (칠첩) banchan (반찬), meaning seven total side-dishes: Kimchi (김치), traditional fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage. Chonggak kimchi (총각김치), whole mu (무, Korean white radish) with chili pepper seasoning. Kongnamul (콩나물), cold boiled bean sprouts with sesame oil. Nakji bokkeum (낙지볶음), stir-fried baby octopus in gochujang. Yeongeun jorim (연근조림), lotus-root simmered in soy sauce. Pajeon (파전), thin pancakes with scallions. Japchae (잡채), glass noodles with vegetables and beef in a slightly-sweet garlic sauce.
And the main courses: Ge jjigae (게찌개), crab stew; and bulgogi (불고기), literally "fire meat", typically marinated, thin-sliced beef cooked on a grill.
Look at me, I'm a regular George R. R. Martin now: I take way too long to update and write way too long about food.
Fun fact, the word 'décor' comes to English from French, of course, but the variant English spelling 'decor' actually better preserves the French pronunciation. (As opposed to 'décor' read in English, where the acute accent forces the stress to fall on the first syllable). TIL.
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