10.
Blood continued to pool in his mouth and his tongue burned where the seal had been grafted. He tried to focus on the antics of his clones to take his mind off the pain and the general weakness he felt from the sedatives in his body. It was while he was fully distracted by Zulu showing off her bishonen Harry transformation that he felt an alien presence. He stiffened at the surge of feelings of hate and bloodlust inside him, and if it hadn't been his long experience with the curse scar linking him to Voldemort, Harry would not have known that he was sensing someone else's emotions. For some time these emotions built and Harry tried to search out their source.
He began to feel warm, noticing that it was spreading from his stomach. He wanted to attract the attention of his clones but the agony in his mouth only let him make a low moaning sound. Zulu noticed but she thought he just wanted to be comforted and, in a show of affection he might have liked any other moment, came over to put his head in her lap.
Before he could even try to warn her not to the edges of his vision went red as something seared through his body like boiling water. Harry jerked and flailed at the sudden pain, and to his horror he felt the alien power quicken toward his tongue. His wounded tongue and the burning seal were hurting less, and Harry knew he was being healed by the invader. Panicked, he treated the malevolent yet healing power as someone attempting possession. Remembering Dumbledore's words to think of the people he loved to destroy Voldemort's hold on him, Harry tried the same thing. With memories of Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Ginny, and Remus, his heart felt fit to burst from emotions that he had been hiding from ever since he had woken up as Naruto. He had loved, still loved them, and he had been torn away from them, denied even the chance to meet them in death. The love and the grief flooded, fighting the hate and bloodlust of the invader.
Harry took pained breaths as soon as the agony in his tongue and the seal eating at it began screaming at him again. Despite the pain he was relieved, the presence had retreated back to somewhere in the middle of his stomach, failing to fully heal his tongue, and so restoring the seal to full function. Unfortunately, the ordeal was too much, and he fell unconscious. His last hope was that his idiot clone wouldn't let him drown in his own blood.
(scene break)
Tsunade wondered why people only drank to the moon at night, stars were just as good a reason to drink to, and besides there were many more of them so one could drink more. She snorted at herself for her whimsy, pouring Sake in her saucer, and leaned back against the roof of some random house she had chosen to spend her night on top of. It helped that the house was as far away as the hotel Shizune was in at the moment. Ever since they had left Konoha after the boy had dragged them there, Shizune had been in the doldrums and gave her looks of poignant sadness when she thought Tsunade couldn't see. Tsunade had tried to get the young woman out of her funk by being every more incorrigible at gambling and drinking, but it hadn't worked.
Sadly, that meant Tsunade looked for chances to get away from Shizune to get away from her moping. It helped that she had had a bit of luck at the slot machines lately, and there was enough Ryo to indulge in some fine sake and stargazing. Sighing at the soul pampering she was giving herself, Tsunade lifted her Sake saucer to the stars to toast to them.
It was at this moment that the sleepy silence of the night was disrupted by a staccato of muffled cracks. Tsunade lifted a blond brow at the multitude of short ninjas that had appeared, carpeting the roofs, trees, and power lines around her. She looked over her shoulder, and, yes, even there the army of ninjas wearing black skintight clothes, black tactical masks only leaving their eyes visible crouched in readiness. Yellow sleeveless haori tied at the waist with a wide weapons belt was the only departure from the black theme. Tsunade sighed, "I should have known…I won gambling. It's always a bad sign." She massaged her temple with her free hand and finished her Sake with the other. "Look, kids, whoever you are, I have just gotten away from my PMSing underling with the best bottle of Sake in Fire Country. If you're here to pick a fight with me, I won't go easy on you."
The 'kids' were apparently ignoring her, even though a good bunch of them were watching her, their eyes were roving at the surroundings. They acted more like a protective detail. She noticed with a frown that the ones on the outside of their ranks were making hand signs and waving them at the air in front of them. The air shimmered as their hands passed in those complex motions, and when all noise seemed to stop at the end of their motions and everything in her vision beyond their furthest ranks took on a hazy look, Tsunade began to worry. "Is that some sort of barrier?" she asked curiously of the little ninjas closest to her.
One of them bowed and said, "Yes, my lady, privacy and protection spells, I mean, techniques. The boss will be here soon, now that the area is secure."
Tsunade was heartened by the nervousness she heard in the boy's voice, figuring she could easily bully information out of him. "So, what's your name, kid?"
The kid looked at his identical comrades, who looked back at him and shrugged. He laughed and in a gesture that put Tsunade on guard, reached back to scratch his neck. "Um, I guess, I am Scorpion."
"I still think we should be Legion," another boy said, grumbling.
"But we don't have the costumes for it," a third disagreed.
"Besides, Scorpion was the coolest," the first boy said.
"No, Sub-Zero was the coolest…get it? It's funny because he-" the latest little ninja didn't get to finish what he was going to say because his neighbor planted a kunai in his chest.
Tsunade made a startled sound dropping her Sake saucer in surprise at the casual brutality. The boy cracking the unfortunate joke puffed out of existence.
"What the fuck, man? You can't do that, the boss is in no condition to assimilate memories!" the boy who had introduced himself as 'Scorpion' berated the one who had 'killed' their comrade.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes at evidence of shadow clones and the repeated references to 'boss.' Feeling her temper rising at who she expected was under the mask, she struck lightning quick and grabbed the boy's mask. She pulled it off before he could say anything, and blond hair atop shocked blond eyes met her. "Damn it, Naruto, what the Hell are you doing here?" she snapped.
The child watched the mask in her hand in dismay. "Can I have my mask back, please? The boss has us under strict orders to be incognito. And please, don't take his name so loudly."
Tsunade threw the mask back at the boy. "Fine, Scorpion, what's going on?"
At her question something electric went through the swarm of black and yellow clad clones. Tsuande knew fear when she saw it. Scorpion answered her in a low voice, "Boss was kidnapped and injured. They tried to put a seal on him to…control him, we think. We don't know. We sprung the boss out, but we need you to heal him."
Before Tsunade could formulate the dozens of questions in her mind there were two more cracks that she now associated with Naruto's teleportation jutsu. A teenage girl with two long pony tails had appeared carrying Naruto bridal style with a clone next to her dressed in Naruto's normal clothes.
"Tsunade-san," the girl greeted, her blue eyes tensed in worry. "Thank God we found you. He's wounded badly, we can't wake him up." She kneeled in front of her, keeping the unconscious Naruto vertical and held against her chest. "His tongue is shredded, there's a seal on it, the blood isn't stopping. Please heal him!"
Tsunade had stopped listening to the girl. She could smell the blood and see the trickle of it at the corner of his mouth. She had frozen at the smell and the sight of it had her breaking out in a cold sweat. Her heart beat loudly in her ears as the hemophobia that had made her useless as a shinobi reared its head. "No…" she gasped, seeing instead of Naruto the people she had loved and lost.
"No? What do you mean no? He could be dying!" the girl shouted.
"Lady Tsunade, I understand that you didn't welcome the boss's affections, but to let that stop you from saving his life is cruel and evil," the clone with the girl snapped. "God damn it, don't you have a heart at all?"
Tsunade's head was spinning and her she felt she couldn't get enough oxygen, she was about to faint and she knew it. She just had to give in and then she wouldn't have to deal with it. Wouldn't have to try and fail to save another life, wouldn't have to have her hands covered in the blood of those she loved. Soon, the once strong woman was not even present in the moment. She was too lost to the cloud of her fears and grief. Darkness and sweet oblivion took her.
But her relief was short lived because something jolted her back to consciousness. Naruto unconcsious form was in the arms of his clone now, and Tsunade found herself looking up at the blond girl she did not not know. The girl had her by the lapel of her robes and was glaring holes in her. "You owe him a life debt, you weak bitch. I won't let you pass out drunk and let him die. Heal him!"
With surprising strength, the girl lifted Tsunade to her feet, and put her shoulder under Tsunade's arm. "I will support you, please…we have no one else," she said.
Tsunade nodded, trying to marshal her fear the best she could. She kneeled in front of Naruto and with a shaky hand opened his mouth, pretending she couldn't feel the blood in his mouth. She hissed in horror and shock at the tongue. "We need an operating room and tools, this is…" She swooned and trailed off. A slap woke her up. She didn't even try and find who had hit her and refocused on the boy. "No time," she muttered to herself and thrust her hand in the boy's mouth.
She closed her eyes, hoping that not being able to see the blood would help her. A hand began to rub circles on her back in a comforting manner. "You can do it, you're the best Kunoichi in the world. Some even say the hottest Kunoichi, but that's just because they haven't met me," the girl beside her whispered.
Tsunade didn't know if she should be annoyed or amused, but she was thankful that the child was attempting to help her. Green light engulfed Tsunade's hand as she sought to knit the wound and encourage Naruto's own chakra to aid in the healing. The latter was a very difficult technique requiring her to match chakra with another's.
Silence reigned while Tsunade worked, she had fallen in a near meditative state in her concentration, lulled there by the girl's steady encouragements. For the moment she put it out of her mind that she fallen so far that she needed the words of a teenage girl, as a crutch to perform techniques of which she was the uncontested master.
Finally when Naruto's chakra responded to her call and melded with hers to heal his tongue, Tsunade allowed herself to come out of the trance. She had stemmed the bleeding and knit the wound, even donated some of her chakra to help Naruto's. She pulled out her hand and held it to the side, trying not to think of the fluids on it. Cold liquid fell on her hand, making her snap her eyes open to see 'Scorpion' washing her hand in water that was seemed to be appearing out of his hand.
"The seal?" the clone holding Naruto asked, his tone tense.
The girl leaned forward and looked inside Naurto's mouth, pulling at the tongue. Apparently she found good news because she sat back and sighed in relief. "It looks like the wound cut a jagged path through it. Tsunade-san's technique didn't restore it."
The clone nodded and sighed as well, a small smile appeared on his lips. "Thank, Merlin," he said.
"Who's Merlin?" Tsunade asked, weakly; she was still getting over the shock of blood and having actually healed someone in years.
"Err, no one," the girl said quickly. "So! Is he going to be okay?"
Tsunade heard the subject change but cared little to pursue who Merlin was. Instead, she answered, "I'm going to have to look under a light. But," she paused, as if to make up her mind, "be prepared, I don't think he will be the same. The damage might be long lasting." She watched the two, expecting dismayed looks but they were only thoughtful.
"What do you think, Alpha?" the girl asked the clone.
"We'll heal it with Hallow power once we can get rid of the seal," the clone, Alpha, answered.
"Excuse me," Scorpion interrupted. "We're hidden but there were ninjas in this town when we showed up. They are around looking for the disturbance. If we can move, we should. This is too big an area to cover in just privacy wards."
Tsunade scoffed and stood up. "I hope you all don't travel everywhere with him like this. If you follow the main road out of town, it branches off half a mile out, with a path going into the hills. Scorpion, take your clone pals up there. I will take Naruto and his honor guard to my room." She gave a sarcastic smile to the girl and the clone she had called Alpha.
Her orders were followed without complaint and soon she was leaping roof from roof making her way back to her hotel room. She smiled softly, at least Shizune would be happy.
(scene break)
Ibiki walked out of the interrogation rooms wiping his hands on a wet towel. Contemplating all that he had not learned, he went to the break room for coffee. Waiting for him on the counter was Cat-san, swinging her legs in a mannerism of extreme contentment.
"So you have rounded up everyone?" Ibiki asked, wondering what could make the stoic woman swing her legs like a schoolgirl.
Cat shook her masked head. "I have been relieved of that particular duty. I am reassigned to fully attend to putting together all we have found with your help."
"Un huh," Ibiki said noncommittally, filling up his coffee cup. Doesn't explain why she is so satisfied, he thought to himself. "So, what's got you so…" he couldn't find the word and just pointed at her swinging feet.
"You owe me hundred ryo," she said, and he could hear the smile on her face.
"Impossible," Ibiki said. "I have this whole place watched. There's no way they are here."
"Yet," corrected Cat-san. "I told you it takes them roughly two to three hours to gather all their intel. And it has been about that long since I made my report to the Hokage about the tapes."
"And you just happened to tell the Hokage where we were keeping the tapes," Ibiki said, eyes narrowing. "That's hardly fair."
"He is the Hokage and if he asks, I can't refuse. He asked," Cat explained. "So shall we? I don't want to miss it."
Ibiki shrugged and decided to humor the young woman. He was one of the few who knew she took secret pleasure in all the questionable activities that took place in her name. He flanked one side of the evidence room's door and Cat took the other. Ibiki decided to review over his sessions and decided he would ask the Hokage to bring his knowledge of Sealing to bear.
Ibiki was brought out of his musings as he felt the presence of other ninjas nearby. The ones locked in his interrogation cells were behind chakra suppression seals, so it wasn't any of them who he was detecting. Besides, the feeling was coming from inside the evidence room. He peeked through the narrow glass covered slit in the door and saw three children drop from the air duct system. Each was sporting a gray cloak and ANBU style masks - all in a cat theme.
Cat-san extended her hand, palm upwards. Ibiki took out a roll of hundred ryo and handed them to her. He was just about to get in there and bust the three (though usually four) idiots, when Cat motioned him to wait. Ibiki agreed when the three academy students started talking.
"Hinata, this really is a bad idea. Your cute looks might not get us out of trouble this time," one of the boys said in a bored tone. The Nara boy, Ibiki identified.
"Ano…we should be taking code names, Tabby-kun," Hinata said. "And, I'm not cute, I'm a Hyuuga, that's why they let us go."
'Tabby-kun?' Ibiki mouthed to Cat, whose shoulders were trembling in suppressed laughter at the Nara's code name.
"Fine, fine, Tiger-chan. Why'd I have to be something uncool like a tabby," Shikamaru complained as he found and put in the tape they were after and put it in the VCR.
"I believe Cat Junior gave us codenames and masks that best matched our personality. Therefore I am Panther. Why you ask? Because I am silent and deadly," the last of the trio explained.
"Hmm, doesn't follow logic, that would mean I am a tabby because I like to play with balls of string," Nara said.
"Um, Tabby-kun, it's because you like to nap…a lot…I think," Hinata answered, averting her eyes from Shikamaru, thinking the boy would be upset.
"Eh," Shikamaru agreed. "Okay, let's watch."
"Yes, let's see who took Kitten-san," Shino said.
"You know he's going to beat the crap out of you when he hears that's what you call him behind his back," Shikamaru said.
"One must stoke one's flames of youth with danger to keep them burning bright, Tabby-kun," Shino answered.
There was a pause during which all three looked around, as if they expected the originator of that ideology to suddenly be summoned. Ibiki raised a questioning brow at cat who was still giggling behind her mask. "How do they know Gai?" he asked in a whisper.
"Gai has made himself Naruto's 'most youthful honored elder brother.' After ANBU junior division selection mission at the Hokage Tower, he felt that he needed to be a more constant presence in Naruto's daily life. His friends just came along for the ride." Cat shrugged. "Not that it will hurt any of them."
"Oh…oh…no," Hinata's quiet voice echoed inside the evidence room, interrupting the two actual ANBU shinobi outside the room.
Ibiki looked in to find the panther masked boy had put his hand on the girl's shoulder to support her and she had her hands clasped in white knuckled worry. The three watched in silence and Ibiki wished he could see their faces to judge how well they were taking it. Not many hopeful shinobi got to see the really ugly side of their lives this early on, and it would reveal their mettle depending on how they dealt with their comrade's capture.
"Well, it was worth coming to see this," the boy in the tabby mask said. "We can rest easy now."
"You saw it too? The eyes?" the girl in the tiger mask asked.
"The eyes? No, I believe Tabby-san is referring to the tactics and movements," Panther said.
Shikamaru turned off the TV. "Goes to show the skills of a Hyuuga and Tiger-chan's memory. She recognized them just by the eyes. Maybe your code name should have been hawk."
"T-Thank you," the girl said shyly. "Um, I think we should go. The Hokage will be happy to hear this."
"We'd better be careful. Obviously there are disloyal ANBU around us. If they find out we know something, they'll stop us before we get to the Hokage. And, when we do, I hope the Hokage doesn't tell anyone. It's better for Kitten-kun if the traitors think someone took him from them," Shikamaru said.
"I agree," Panther said. "Tiger-chan, please do a sweep with your eyes before we get back to the ducts."
Ibiki and Cat, who had stilled at the revelations they were hearing from inside the room, became suddenly animated. They had to know what the kids had figured out. So even as Hinata was gasping, having seen them with her Byakugan, they were entering the evidence room.
Belatedly Ibiki realized that he should have let Cat, their self appointed sponsor and superior enter first, because he had to deal with two Gai style 'dynamic entry' kicks to his face. The coffee cup fell and shattered. In exchange, however, Ibiki had one boy caught by the leg and the other sprawled on the ground. He still suffered the two kicks and could feel his head ringing. That's why it took him a second to sense the slight pressure against the middle of his chest and groin. Looking down he found that in the diversion the boys had created, the Tiger masked Hyuuga had entered his guard to place a kunai at the family jewels and a prepared jyuuken strike.
"Please let Panther go, sir. I may be too short to reach your heart but I can rip your diaphragm muscles still or strike…um…excuse me…your unmentionables," the girl had started out strong and ended with a squeak at her discomfort about mentioning his privates.
Ibiki began to laugh and Cat cringed behind him, helping Tabby up who had relaxed at the sight of her. "You can let him go, Tiger-chan. Ibiki is my trusted subordinate."
Ibiki suddenly lost the laughter and gave Cat a displeased look. He was impressed at how quickly the girl responded to Cat, however. She had slipped out of arm reach in the blink of an eye and was now bowing to him in apology. Ibiki let go of the boy he was holding, and patted his head. "Nice kicks, you two. So this is the infamous Kick Ass Kitty-Chan Brigade?"
When the children didn't say anything and stared at him from behind their masks, Ibiki became unamused. "Alright, brats, tell us what you found in that video. You seem to know who took Uzumaki."
Panther answered his question, "I am afraid you do not have the clearance required."
Ibiki leaned forward getting in the boy's face. "I am the head of the Torture and Interrogation Division. Trust me, I have clearance."
"While that may be true," Tabby began. "You are not part of the Covert Cat Corps, and therefore not part of the circle of trust."
Ibiki was smiling on the inside. He liked these brats, they had the audacity to stand in his evidence room, after kicking his face, to tell him that he was not trustworthy enough. "How about I drag you to the Hokage right now for infiltrating a secret facility?"
"Ano, there's a sign on the building saying ANBU T & I Division…" Tiger-chan trailed off, before adding under her breath, "It's a very bad secret if there's a sign."
"But we would be happy to escort you to the Hokage, right, Cat-taicho?" Tabby asked. "Are you alright, captain. Hey, are you having a seizure?"
Cat coughed to cover up her laughter. "No, Tabby-kun, I'm alright, thank you. And, I think all of us need to see the Hokage in private immediately. If you have discovered something relevant to the investigation both Ibiki-san and I need to know. The Hokage and I trust Ibiki-san with our lives and I am reviewing his file to consider recruiting him in the - uh - cat corps."
Ibiki sighed, reminding himself to think that the glass was half-full; at least no one other than Cat was there to see him getting disrespected like this. "Yes, please, I want to be a cat crusader as well."
The three ANBU juniors who had somehow won the indulgence of one of the most by-the-book Kunoichi shared a glance and came to their decision. "We believe, Naruto-kun rescued himself using shadow clones," Hinata explained.
Ibiki was about to protest based on the unlikelihood of Uzumaki knowing the shadow clone technique, let alone having the chakra to use as many as he had seen, but Cat raised a hand to stall him. "How certain are you, Tiger?"
Hearing the affectionate honorific dropped from her code name, Hinata knew Cat-san was being deadly serious. "I'd stake my life on it, Cat-san." Even without the use of Byakugan, Hinata could see relief flow through the elder Kunoichi.
(scene break)
Tsunade had settled Naruto on her bed. Shizune had promptly joined her bed to Naruto's, so she could sleep by him and keep an eye on him. All the excitement was over and Tsunade could finally relax. She sat one of the extra futons she was able to charm (bully) out of the hotel staff and watched the blond girl who had brought Naruto.
The girl was sixteen or seventeen, in full bloom of youth. The bare skin of her arms, midriff, and legs showed muscles rippling underneath - a kunoichi for certain, Tsunade reaffirmed her initial estimation. However, the fact that the girl was wearing a set of Naruto's clothes was pissing Tsunade off. Naruto's standard black T shirt was obviously too small for the girl's bust, which the little harlot had tied off under her breasts to accentuate them. The long blond hair held in two ponytails were just the right length for her to play with coyly and seem both sweet and naughty.
Tsunade didn't realize that she had started giving off a minor killing intent as her mind became stuck on the thought that this girl was wearing Naruto's clothes. That implied things Tsunade was not comfortable with at all, and if she was right, the girl was going to be in a world of pain soon. "What exactly is your relationship with Naruto?" she asked.
The girl had been lying on the futon and idly kicking her legs in the air. She turned her head to give Tsunade a blank look. "Hmm?"
"You are wearing his clothes and you were very physical with him. So again, what exactly is your relationship with Naruto?" Tsunade's fingers were tapping against her arm. Anyone who knew her could tell that this was a danger sign.
The younger blond girl still seemed confused but slowly realization dawned on her face. She gave a wicked grin. "Oh, of course I was physical with him. After all, we know every inch of each other's bodies."
"What?" Tsunade gasped. "You little whore, he's just a child, and here you are waving your flesh in front of him and using him!"
The girl's eyes danced in delight. "Are you pulling a protective big sister act on me? And here I thought your heart had given up the fight crushed under those huuuuuuge breasts of yours."
"Don't worry about my heart, hussy, because I am going to rip yours out and hand it to you!" Tsunade snapped in a shout-whisper.
The girl buried her face in her pillow, but it couldn't hide the squeal of her laughter fully. Tsunade decided that she would end the girl in the morning. Committing righteous murder quietly didn't appeal to her. She would do it in the morning and enjoy the girl's screams for taking advantage of an affection starved boy like Naruto.
(chapter break)