Pre-chapter notes: After much sweat and perceived tears, this chapter is done! I know some of you are complaining (Thank you to those who have been patient) but seriously, if I could spare the time to write, I would gladly do it. I'm however, not indebted to those who bitch about the intervals at which I upload nor do I feel an obligation to those who 'demand' that I write within a definite time period. ('Update soon' is not under the definitive category, and I can pretty much understand the reasons behind it) This is done in my own time and effort, in a year that is vitally important, for the enjoyment to all ya readers. So excuse me when I'm more than a bit miffed if somebody asks me to update faster or quit writing. Hopefully this will be the last rant of its kind.
And now back to the scheduled programming...
"Blah" denotes speech.
Blah! denotes sound.
'Blah' denotes thoughts.
'BLAH' denotes Demon talking.
"During the days before the massive outbreak of the Fourth Secret World War, the continent had been overrun with crime and corruption. It was not the same lawless anarchy that had beset civilization after the fall of the Great Empire, but rather, it was immaculate and subtle in the form of a vast syndicate made up of almost, if not all, the traditional clans that controlled the back-alley streets in the cities of the continent. For the first time, all of them were ruled by only one man, Kaneoni Gatou, the owner of Gatou Corporation.
Using his company as a front, the lucrative and illegal opium smuggling and distribution network that he sole-operated had existed for years through bribery of local authorities and coercion, making him both very influential within local politics and the underworld. Under his leadership, the syndicate thrived through the sale of drugs and extortion from the people. To reduce his dependence upon the politically unstable cartels in the land of Water, Gatou decided to take control of the Isle of Wave, the most suitable land in the entire continent to grow the poppy plants that gave him his wealth. With a score of shinobi from the Mist along with the infamous Yakuza, he set out to destroy the efforts of that island to defeat him and gain back their independence.
However, it was upon this humble nation that he was defeated by a team of three Genin and their sole Jounin, who bears the title of Sharingan Kakashi. With the death of Gatou, the syndicate fractured and crumbled, as many of its clans tried to gain supremacy over one another. Fraught with constant territorial disputes, never again would they reach the height they once did under Gatou. However, it was not due to this legendary shinobi of the previous war that caused the greatest criminal organization in history to shatter and remain so, but rather it was due to the actions of one boy; a Genin who would irrevocably leave a great impact upon the land of the eastern sun in the near future. This is the start of the tale of Uzumaki Naruto..." – Extracts from 'The Legends Behind the Mask', a biography and listing of the all greatest shinobi who had ever lived.
It was morning, the sun having risen from the horizon a few hours before. Naruto scrolled into the house's modest but well-furnished kitchen. The small cauldron of elixir that he had left to cool during the night before was now a shade of pallid crimson, the colour of blood with the taste of bitter cherries. Or so he thought. The scroll had said that to dying men, it was the sweetest thing they had ever tasted, with the ability to mend the most grievous of wounds, or at least prolong the lives of the wounded until further treatment.
Perhaps it was only bitter to those already blessed with life, having already gotten what it was supposed to give.
Using a ladle to scoop the potion from the pot, Naruto carefully poured it into the thirty or so glass vials sitting orderly in the compact box he had brought with him. Though potent, this particular elixir was costly to produce in large quantities due to the scarcity of herbs that were only found in Wave country and the amount that the process finally yielded. Bottling the last of the thick liquid in the hardened glass vials, Naruto left the excess and rapidly degrading liquid in the pot as it was. He had heard that the congealed remains of the potion was edible and would go well with Wave cuisine and he knew Tsunami-san would appreciate.
Checking that his box was safely in his room, Naruto ventured out into the open, the faint scent of sea spray greeting him as he did.
There, he found a sulking boy perched upon the edge, bare feet dangling above the cool salt water surface of the inland lake. He made no move to conceal his presence nor did he felt the need to.
Inari snapped his head upwards as he heard the approaching footfalls towards his person.
"It's useless you know," Inari muttered, loud enough for him to hear, "Gatou's going to kill you, no matter how strong you are."
Naruto cocked his head to the side as an act of puzzlement, "What makes you so certain?" He asked.
The boy looked at him smugly. "Just because. I've seen stronger people than you who've tried to go against that man and not one of them are living today."
His look turned bitter, as if set in resignation, "The weak always fall before the strong."
At this, Naruto became strangely agitated, with a sudden urge to prove the boy wrong. It was not so much his words, but rather, in the manner in which he had said them.
"How do we prove that we are not weak," Naruto inquired, annoyance lacing his words, "When you seem so determined to think our efforts are futile?"
Inari snorted, with spiteful eyes glaring at the blonde. "Think you can do something that will make me afraid?" He mocked, wearing a savage smile of boyish glee, "I bet you can't, because I know that you three are the weakest type of shinobi there is. Heck, all of you weren't looking too good when you first arrived here, you probably gotten lucky with that Zabuza guy."
Naruto remained silent, turning from the boy to face the sea beyond, his hands twisting and changing from one seal to another.
Though Inari did not know what he was doing, the time and complex moments of the blonde made him a tad nervous. Who knew what sorcery they could perform? After what seemed to be a long while, Naruto finally stopped, looking at the boy with impassive azure eyes. "Will this do?"
Nothing happened, and Inari became confused and angry. He yelled, "What do you mean! Nothing's happen-" Bubbles began frothing from the water's depths, slow at first before picking up pace to become vigorous.
A large mass of water rose violently and Inari yelped as the chilly water splashed onto him.
The mass began to thin considerably, but it elongated to compensate with almost the entirety of its length branching off into three separate stems, its current size already shadowing the nearby residence. Though it was currently featureless, more and more detail were being added to the thing, as if it were a incomplete piece of art. Or a indescribable monster.
Inari was cowering when he recognized its shape, and paled even further when more and more of its features were being sculpted by unseen hands, each second driving a stake of fear into his heart. Sharp scales poked from the surface, then tore from the main body and were reshaped into massive appendages with equally jagged claws. Then after what seemed like an eternity, the behemoth awoke, and three pairs of unnatural eyes opened, with the quiet that often came before the storm.
The creature, which now dwarfed the house by a large margin, regarded the two humans in front of it with pensive consideration. Then it looked at Inari, bringing to bear its fearsome gaze onto the child.
Naruto was calm, his face placid as he looked upon his creation with neither joy or pride. "This is a Hydra, one of the greatest creatures to ever roam the seas. It is, as you can see, nothing but a replica though I see you're familiar with it."
The Hydra, with its glowing amber eyes peering at him from all three heads, made a guttural sound from the back of its nonexistence throat. Inari looked as if he would fall if someone so much as prodded him. "Would somebody weak be able to summon this leviathan? This incarnation of a predator which had struck fear and repentance to the gods to the countless thousands who inhabit the Isles of Mist and Wave for centuries!" Naruto's words were uttered harshly, demanding for the boy to reply.
Inari was too paralyzed with fear to respond. "I thought so."
The blonde took a deep breath, whatever perceived spite in his voice draining away to its normal impassivity, "Now, would you care to concede that statement you made?"
"I-I'm n-not s-scared, s-so..." It was quite obvious to all that he was. Those who weren't wouldn't be shaking like that after all, Naruto thought.
He spoke, not looking at the shivering boy. "True strength is to fight when everything is against you. To struggle even when everyone else has given up. Denial and rejection of the world around you, however, is not strength. It is cowardice." With those words, the Hydra began to sink back into the sea hard and fast, spraying the two boys in a light drizzle of sea water.
"I'll not say that I understand your circumstances," Naruto said at last, just as the last vestiges of the titan he created shifted back into the sea, "Because I don't but you shouldn't put too stock into your past experiences. The bridge will be completed and your family will be safe."
There was a long silence, and Inari brought his downcast eyes to glare at the blonde. "Y-you'll never understand," He choked out in childish resentment, running towards the forested areas and beyond, "You're all going to die anyways, no matter how strong you are, they will always win."
Watching the retreating figure of the boy, he walked towards the training area, with a single sentence besmirching the silence, "I never said I did."
"You used a kinjutsu." The sudden voice jerked him from taking his next step. Turning behind, Naruto saw Kakashi wearing a severe expression, "And a terrible one at that."
"Yes, I did."
"I didn't think it was in you to show off like that. Sasuke or some arrogant brat perhaps, but you? Can't say I'm not surprised." The man said, "What would happen if the others had caught sight of it? It would be awkward to say the least."
"But they didn't and they're far from here."
"Regardless, to think that you managed to replicate Nidaime's prized jutsu is already a wonder in itself." The Jounin began messaging his temples, "Frankly, I was afraid that you might have lost control of it and put the entirety of Wave underwater. It wouldn't look too good for Konoha if that happened."
"He needed to change his outlook on things." Naruto said, "I just merely hastened the process."
"But did you really have to use that?" Kakashi sighed, "A simple Suiryuudan would have sufficed."
At this, Naruto looked puzzled. "But he said to bring out the most frightening thing that I could and I obliged him."
His puzzlement increased when Kakashi merely face-faulted.
(I I I)
It was quiet, she thought, too quiet. While the forest around her produced the required ambience for her task, she had found it too distracting for her tastes. It was a far-cry from her spot at the inland lake but she didn't feel very much up for the trek there.
She winced as her head pounded with a dull but persistence ache before mysteriously vanishing a moment later.
The headaches were mild but ever lingering at the back of her mind. But even the slightest usage of chakra made her feel nauseous, her stomach churning as much as her mind was. The thought of losing her breakfast was discomforting enough and only added to the nausea.
So here she was, doing what Kakashi said was the only thing she could do now, mediate. Yesterday, the one-eyed Jounin had forbid her from using jutsu for a few days in fear of chakra whiplash. Of course, when she said that she was feeling fine, Kakashi gave her the critical eye.
"Did you honestly think that you could perform jutsu straight away after undergoing a rather delicate process of chakra enhancement? Sure, you won't feel the effects now, but come tomorrow morning, you'll see what I mean."
The ensuring look of disappointment made her feel a bit angry towards the Jounin, though much of it was directed at herself. She should have realized earlier that such an ability accelerating technique had other drawbacks.
Mediation, Kakashi had said, would be able to help her reduce the time that it would take for her to be fully ready to begin using her techniques and hopefully relieve the worst of her phantom headaches. She suspected that he had said that only to keep her from bothering him. That lazy excuse of a teacher.
However, performing said activity proved more difficult in practice. Sakura, like any other girl her age, was restless and eager to do anything but nothing. Trying to focus her concentration and thoughts onto absolute nothingness, she managed to achieve her state of Zen for a few minutes before being distracted by another migraine.
"Gods, this isn't working." She muttered to herself.
It was by a stroke of luck, that she saw Naruto passing by the area. The boy had been invaluable in her training with Genjutsu before, helping her overcome the natural hurdles that creating illusions presented. She suspected many a time that Naruto had a better grasp of Genjutsu than she did whenever he dropped a piece of advice during their joint training exercises back in Konoha. Though she had seen very little of the boy the past few days save for training and meals, he indulged her with his advice despite being busy with his herbs. So far, everything that the blonde had recommended her to do resulted in better and satisfactory results. That is, before her little quick fix op, courtesy of Kakashi.
"Hey, Naruto!"
The boy looked at her, and she was happy to note that the pendant she had given him as a gift yesterday was around his neck. It was good to know that her gift was appreciated. When his glance turned inquisitive, she said, "I need your help."
And so she explained her problem, to which the boy listened patiently. Another thing that separated him from the other boys- Sasuke-kun not included- was that Naruto seemed to actually listen. Finishing, she stopped and waited while Naruto thought. He seemed lost for a moment before he snapped back into focus.
"The root of your problem lies here." He pointed to her head, and then opened the satchel he had brought along before producing a thin vial of colorless liquid.
Though she knew that the boy had dabbled in medicine, evidently by his continuation application of lotions during training, it was only recently that she learnt that the boy actually made his own medicine. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it first hand when he borrowed a cauldron from their host and worked. The fact that Kakashi, who was near death after the encounter with Zabuza only a few days prior, had recovered so rapidly attested to Naruto's potency as a drug maker. Nothing was ever what it seemed to be around the blonde.
Though she never actually drank any of Naruto's various potions, the look on Kakashi's face whenever he took Naruto's miracle medicine was a fair indication of its taste and she didn't feel any particular desire to incur the same fate.
"One of your medicines?" She inquired cautiously, taking the proffered vial.
The boy nodded. Internally, Sakura paled. Talented an herbalist Naruto may be, but suffer not the horrors of bitter medicine did she want.
"Erm...On second thought, I'd rather not. Thanks anyways." She said a little too hastily. The boy almost looked crestfallen at her words.
"It would help with that headache you seem to have trouble with." He said trying to convince the girl to take it, pointing to the vial.
The fore-mentioned headache came back with a vengeance and Sakura decided to risk it. Not being able to taste anything for the next few hours would be a small price she'd have to pay to not feel as if she had slammed her head onto solid concrete a few dozen times or so.
Removing the cap, Sakura took a swing, fully expecting the same brand of foulness to sear her tongue and was surprised at its taste. It didn't taste bitter as did most medicine, but rather it tasted sweet, like a fruit. Best of all, her headache was gone.
"Hey, it works," She brightened up considerably, hands touching her forehead, "And it doesn't taste half bad either!"
"I'm glad," he said, voice monotone and bearing not one ounce of his supposed gladness, "I'll be off then. Tell me if you need anymore." The boy then walked away, to where and to do what she didn't know.
Though Sasuke-kun was her love interest, it didn't mean that she wasn't concerned about Naruto as a teammate. The sessions they had before had brought some measure of understanding between them, ending the somewhat stiff and awkward relationship that presided before. Though she still felt apprehensive at times, the number of times when that feeling would emerge had been few and far between. All in all, Naruto...was okay. Even if he was a little weird and monotone all the time, and never ever showed his emotions save for that one time.
Inner Sakura was less inclined but was on the general consensus that Naruto was passable for a teammate, for now at least.
The last thing that Sakura thought before she descended into oblivion was about the bright radiant smile he had gave her months ago and how could a boy like Naruto be so natural at smiling.
(I I I)
Fire, he knew, was a lot of things; fleeting and yet all encompassing at the same time. It was an element that his family had for generations commanded with ease for the prosperity of their clan and village, using it to fan the flames of growth and the fiery destruction to all that opposed. Fire, to be blunt, was power incarnate.
But he hated fire. It was too wild, too unpredictable and so very eager to burn everything within its grasp to a thin speck of cinder. And he did not appreciate power that he could not control. He remembered his father saying to him once, in one of those rare moments when he actually paid attention to his second and infinitely less gifted (In his perspective) son.
Water drowns and freezes.
Wind severs and rends.
Earth swallows and crushes.
Lightning sunders and scorches.
But all pales before fire, which smolders all without difference or distinction.
It was a poison and he used it as if one would use poison; just enough, nothing more nothing less. None of the other elements had the same single-minded purpose to destroy or the raw unbridled power that came naturally as with all fire techniques.
But it was a risky thing to do. Fire was not a docile element. Every time he uses it, It struggles continuously to be let loose, one tiny bit at a time, to shatter his control and consume him in its wake for daring to command it as he did. No, fire was a dangerous thing to play with. But as was with most ironies in the world, he was dependent on it, tapping into its double-edged strength to accomplish what would have been a rather impossible goal. After all, Itachi was the last true Fire Walker to be accepted by the shrine of fire beneath the loose floor tile of his deserted home. It was fighting with fire against fire, poison with poison, so to speak.
With that in mind, he imbued his fist with chakra once again, willing the thin wispy energy to turn into liquid flame that engulfed the entirety his hand and then some, its shade not unlike that of the sun above. The heat was terrible as he had expected, causing droplets of sweat to form and drip from his face, the few that dropped into the direct path of the flame evaporating with a sizzle. He found his target in the form of a nearby tree but did not move. Even now, the chakra-turned flame threatened to swallow him whole if he even so much as slipped. Reaching the threshold of his control, he jumped started into action put his fist through the tree trunk which gave way like paper before bursting into debris, the brilliant flame transferring from his fist to the trunk's interior with a magnificent BOOM! None of the wooden shrapnel touched him, all of it having flown with the outward momentum of the blast.
With the adrenaline that allowed him to continue already fading, Sasuke forced himself to stand as the price of using the jutsu was starting to take its toil on his body. The ley lines that fed fuel to the fire were now the centre of extreme pain, caused by his lack of chakra control. Just as it had done onto the tree, so did it had done upon his body. Equivalent trade; that was the price that the Flame had demanded of all its practitioners; power in exchange for control. If one failed to provide the control needed for such power, then pain and sacrifice would suffice, to the cost of one's life if need be. He heaved a sigh of relief as the incessant burning of his veins in his arm ceased, allowing him to take a much needed drink of water from his canteen. The damage to his hand would heal soon, he knew, for his control this time was far better now. Despite the harshness of using the jutsu, it had been the fifth tree he had wrecked with it since coming to this particular spot, his last and most recent attempt ending his training regime earlier than expected.
As he sat beneath one of the tall and imposing trees (Which dwarfed the one he destroyed several times over), making full use of the shade, his thoughts wandered over to his fight with Naruto. Anger and annoyance reared their heads as he remembered the details of that fight. The exhilaration of winning lasted until he began to think carefully. Though he had won, he noticed that the blonde was sluggish and lacking the dexterity he had displayed in their previous bouts. Moves that boy could execute but didn't, hits he could have avoided but didn't, many instances of similar nature repeated themselves as he reviewed it again and again. Though the fight was a disappointment, he wanted to challenge the blonde again in the future, preferably in the Chuunin exams. He repressed a shudder of excitement at the thought of facing off against the best who would inevitably gather at the exams.
His thoughts were interrupted as the soft snap of a twig announced to him that he was not alone. Sasuke did not look back to the boy emerging from the forest beyond.
"Why train when you know that it's all pointless," A snotty and obnoxious voice that screamed youthful ignorance said, "The old man had already said much about the amount of thugs that Gatou can bring into the area, and one person ain't gonna make them turn and run!"
Sasuke looked away from the smoldering remains of the tree and turned his steely gaze onto the boy. Inari's spite crumbled to be replaced by a primal fear at the sight of the Uchiha.
"Pointless?" He asked, voice deceptively soft despite the glowing ambers of rage in his eyes, "You've no right to say that to me. What makes you think I'm like you? If I were, perhaps then, it will be pointless. But did you even try once to fight back? No, you've only cowered in fear, when you should've tried to grasp strength in those hands of yours."
At that, Inari got back a bit of his previous fire into him, "It's better to be a coward than a dead hero." The look of pure loathing from the ninja was now even more venomous and spiteful than the last.
"Look, you little brat," Sasuke spat, "From what I heard, you're nothing but a little crybaby. "Your father," Inari winced, "had the courage to do what was right and died for it, fighting with everything he had got even if he knew it's going to be pointless. That is the mark of a person with strength. And what did you do to honor his sacrifice? Nothing but cry in private and say that he deserved whatever he got at every opportunity you get. What a wonderful son you are."
The boy took a step back, the words robbing him of his voice as they struck raw nerves. Tears began to form within his eyes.
"See, I was right, wasn't I?" Loathing filled his voice like water in a cup, "Remain a worthless crybaby, see if anyone cares." The Uchiha turned and walked away, leaving behind a child of disillusions.
( I I I )
Money, he reasoned time and time again, was life. The first benchmark of power and importance of the ancient ages had been measured by honor. An anarchistic concept that had ultimately been usurped by the importance of bloodlines and connections during the tentative years of the formation of the five Great Shinobi Countries and the two cataclysmic Secret Wars that followed. Eventually, even that has been replaced, as the war-torn continent enjoyed its best decade of peace and prosperity not seen since the reign of the first samurai empire. Peace had brought great progress to the common man, like the development of enterprise and economics. With the rapid spread of commercialism and small scale industrialization, trade, and by extension, money, had taken its place as the lifeblood of many, if not all, the nations on the continent.
And money, as he knew so well, talks.
To Gatou, it was power over life, death, everything.
It did things like no other had done before; Honor could not feed a dying man nor could it stop a war. Purity of blood could not convince a man to charge in the face of a hundred swords. The power of money could do all of that and so much more. Who needed honor when all it took was a few thousand ryo?
With that logic, Gatou was one of the most prominent men on continent, right after the elemental Kages and the Grand Assembly of Feudal Lords, his financial empire fully capable of funding the Third Secret War, possibly the most expensive war to date, five times over.
However, as much as he was endowed with wealth, Gatou was also equally reluctant to part with it. Hoarding and scrimping had been the name of the game towards anything that required his money but did not personally benefit him. Still, there were exceptions to that.
This was one such time.
"Half a dozen Mist-nins along with the forty Yakuza, boss?" A rather shifty looking fellow with greasy slick hair by the name of Keizuma said, "Costs are estimated to be around four hundred and twenty thousand ryo for their...services."
"Heh, they're still loads cheaper combined than what I offered to pay Zabuza. I'd be making a profit still, even if the cartels in Water come to an impasse in their shipments." Gatou said, taking a drag from his fat and expensive cigar, "Ah, nothing beats the taste of finely rolled tobacco."
They were in his Gatou's regional office, which was bare, despite the rich feel of the room. What little accessories there were came in the form of a few potted plants that served as decorations. Light came though the large rectangular window which over looked the sea and the distant shapes of land beyond.
"Boss, ah, with all due respect, but I think that it'd been be better to contact the boys from the mainland instead of hiring all of them, Yakuza, Money sucking leeches, the whole lot of them." The scrawny man grumbled, as if it were his own money that was being spared for this expense.
"A few more insurances wouldn't hurt; I need new enforcers anyway," Gatou scoffed, "Besides, I'd be paying for lesser once that freak Zabuza gets killed by those Leaf-nins or get done in by our own. And if I'm really lucky, those pests would be gone too by the time they're done stabbing each other. Quality service for lesser the price, I'd say!"
Gatou paused for a moment, before adding, "Get me another box of cigars, to be on my desk tomorrow."
The underling didn't respond, furiously scribbling onto his notebook before turning to leave the boss in his musings at the prospect of making more money.
( I I I )
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu." A dozen or so Narutos muttered, causing multiple twisters of water to form into somewhat identical dragons, which then towered the lake shore menacingly for a while before collapsing back into the lake.
All of them slumped in exhaustion before disappearing in smoke, the last of the energy that maintained their existences spent. As the smoke cleared, only one stood; the steady rise and fall of his chest the only sign of his exhaustion.
Again, he summoned up a number of clones, the amount this time slightly more than the previous attempt. As if synchronized, their hands began to go through a series of seals, a blue sheen of chakra becoming visible in the air due to the sheer amount of energy being projected in near proximity.
It was during the later part of one of his brewing sessions that he first realized it. Though he never really needed to get his kage bunshin to have more chakra than the norm, the Suiryuudan required more than what they could hold, thus facilitating the need for him to resolve that discrepancy.
It sounded easy in theory.
While substantially increasing the chakra that each clone gets on an individual basis wasn't too difficult to achieve, doing the same for five or more clones proved vastly more challenging, as it went against the basic rule of the Kage Bunshin technique of dividing the user's chakra among many real bodies to allocating a variable amount of chakra to a specific or fixed number of bodies each time the jutsu was performed.
At the present, he had managed to create a dozen clones with enough chakra to perform three Suiryuudans, though any additional clones he created afterwards would be at their pre-enhancement state. While this gave him the advantage in firepower, the drawback was that it would cause him to collapse from chakra exhaustion and most possibly burn his entire system inside out should he be careless. It had pushed the limit of his control of chakra but it had been a fair price to pay for being able to unleash a horde of marauding dragons on Zabuza on their next encounter.
Like the Suiryuudan, he also made sure all the clones were able to perform all of his jutsu, save for the forbidden repertoire he gained months ago. Though they were able to replicate them theoretically, the amount of chakra he had given and the maximum he could give to each one proved insufficient, the most modest of his useful and highly surreptitious kinjutsu requiring a chakra demand of a dozen Suiryuudans in comparison. The promise he made to the old man, combining with the fact that he didn't need any more chakra-pumped clones and the difficulty of further increasing their capacity made him leave things as it were until it proved to be a necessity for him to continue again.
Dispelling all his clones, Naruto slumped against a nearby tree in an uncharacteristic heave of exhaustion. Summoning and gradually increasing his control was not without its burdens. Even with his vast wells of chakra, he almost faced the prospect of chakra exhaustion, which was a undesirable thing to behold. Downing his canteen of water, he took a few minutes to catch his break before rummaging through the small bag he brought along to take out a neatly wrapped package and a small vial not unlike the one he gave to Sakura.
Opening the wrapping, he hungrily devoured the sandwich that he prepared earlier in preparation for his training. As much as he favored ramen, he was equally adept to prepare fare that was of an acceptable quality to his taste and had often used the knowledge he gleaned from recipe books to cook various dishes to sample whenever Ichikaru was closed for some reason or another.
Finishing the last morsel of bread and meat, he drank the contents of the vial, another potion from his inventory that he brought along from Konoha. It was a simple drug which stimulated the user's chakra recovery process and eased the side-effects of heavy chakra usage on the body.
His training for today was done but sunset was still a few hours away and he did not fancy the idea of spending the next few hours by idling. Hopping to his feet, he proceeded to the lake's edge.
During his development of the technique that allowed the Kyuubi out of her cage, he encountered some very interesting things as he practiced by pulling out portions of his soul copied through of use of kage-bunshin and partially materializing that, instead of the demoness sealed within him. It was essentially producing an incomplete clone of himself but unlike the kage-bunshin, was real in the sense that it had its own source of chakra and was a separate entity unlike the traditional kage-bunshin.
The concept was fascinating in itself, but he had no time to devote to understanding it, already having barely enough time remaining for sleep after missions, training and late night brewing of complicated potions as it was.
That was, until now. He suddenly found himself with a few free hours to spare. And Naruto was not one who would waste his opportunities.
Before, he had only attempted to shift portions of his soul, the resulting creations never lingering for more than a few brief moments before dissipating into wispy blue tendrils that too faded into nothingness. But now, he was going to try to shift it fully. Hands fixed into seals, he began the process, a persistent tugging forming in his chest not long after.
Just like the previous night before, a white mass began to materialize before him, the solid form of energy made flesh, As it grew, so did the familiar tugging in his chest until it could grow no more, large and ungainly. He tried to move the source, but it was heavy and rooted, unlike the times when he moved only portions at a time.
Concentrating all of his energy, he pushed, all of his being focused on the task. And then, it all went wrong.
Something deep within him, once firm and unmovable, dislodged; the side-effect upon was something more drastic as he suddenly found himself flung backwards by chakra -his chakra, no less-, and into the soft earth. The tugging in his chest was gone, replaced by a vague emptiness that he could not name.
Getting up quickly, for the fall only managed to disorient him, he looked to see two spheres of energy before him, both pulsating with his life force, both of them different shades of blue; one darker, one lighter. The white ether that he conjured before was no where to be seen. At first he thought that they were simply incomplete Kage-Bunshins like the ones before, but as he began to feel the subtle differences and similarities interlaid within them, he received a startling revelation.
The two bodies of energy were different from each other and himself...but yet at the same time they possessed the same feeling as he would to another replica of himself. As if also examining him, the two wispy spheres drifted towards him, stopping just inches away from him.
A pair of haunting voices, both similar and different, spoke in unison, "We're you and you're us..."
Before he could do anything however, the spheres rushed against him, slamming into his body and disappeared, with no hint of evidence that they ever existed. Naruto felt the emptiness within him disappear, as if filled by some unexplainable force. Despite being coupled with the shock and the strangeness of the whole situation, Naruto was more intrigued by his findings more than ever. Though he felt odd for a reason he couldn't place his finger on, the uncomfortable sensation soon melded back into nothingness, as it did with his brief feeling of emptiness. Something had changed but somehow he knew that whatever it was that happened, it wouldn't be that bad of a change.
Suddenly shivering as a draft of wind passed, Naruto looked around to see that evening has started to set in and decided that it would be for the best to return.
( I I I )
He opened his eyes suddenly.
The sounds of struggling awoke him from his dreamless state. It was still night, and uncomfortably cold. Another simper and groan forced him to shake off his drowsiness. Unfettered by the chains of sleep, he went towards the source, a room away and muted by the thin paper veneer of the shoji door. He entered, seeing Naruto thrashing wildly and noisily. Thankfully, the ruckus he had made was too quiet to awake the others. Kakashi didn't know how he would have to explain to the others otherwise, the ensuing conversation being awkward at best.
The blonde had slept with the others in the same room for the last few days but he was prone to wander back to the small but immaculately furnished herb room that Tsunami had to brew his tonics. Unusually skilled in the arts that were traditionally reserved for medic-nins and civilian physicians, Naruto also displayed an unnerving dedication to it which almost bordered on obsession. For the last two days, Naruto had wandered to and remained within this room till the next morning, brewing something or another. Even now, there was a small pot of unidentifiable liquid that was left by the boy to cool overnight.
Usually, the blonde would be alert for any change in his surroundings, but as he was now, he was completely oblivious like a new born babe. At the moment, he was flailing his arms and legs wildly, miraculously missing the wooden shelves of the jars around him. Quickly, he pinned the boy down, long enough for him to swiftly take out a vial that the Sandaime had given him just for this purpose. He opened it and placed it under the boy's nose, and within moments, the struggling died and Naruto became placid, calmed by the pleasant smell.
While Naruto was undoubtedly skilled, there was no way he could survive if he rose through the shinobi ranks. There was little question that he would eventually become a senior member of the Apothecary, the respected guild responsible for preparing poisons and other useful liquids, or even its leader, if given enough time. But to reach that status, he would have to go through a tour of duty as a regular nin for two years before being sectioned and apprenticed.
Two years of long missions that would afford no slip ups, for a boy prone to dreamless fits instead of golden silence.
To his knowledge, this had happened only twice, once during a D-rank and now; possibly a by-product on the attack on him all those years ago. It happened quite rarely in his presence but it was worrying nonetheless. Although they not that loud, Kakashi knew that there were many others of other villages who possessed the same keen hearing he had, and would not hesitate to use it to their advantage. The Chuunin missions were bad enough, but the Jounin ones (If Naruto ever manages to live or get to that point), would most definitely kill him and his entire team.
Naruto would become a liability on the field that nobody would want if his condition continued on any further and till the day when it could be cured, his future as a shinobi was bleak. That was fact.
He knew that the Sandaime was aware of this and yet...
Shaking his head, Kakashi reminded himself that it wasn't his place to question the reasoning of his leader, even if they seemed to be counter-productive. What he would have to do now is to decide whether or not to allow his team to take part in the upcoming Chuunin Exams, knowing full well the strength and weakness that Naruto would bring to his team.
It always came back to the Chuunin Exams. The most important event in every wet-behind-the-ears genin, and dare say, the elite geniuses of a clan, for you can't be much if you failed the simplest, although most definitely not easy, trial for a shinobi.
That was the crux of the matter it seemed; trial by fire which was, ironically, the way things were done in the shinobi world. Naruto would either survive it or not, simple as that. Callous, but well...life was that too. They would cross that bridge when they got to it, in any case.
'Of course, that is, if we survive this mission. No point worrying about it if we're all dead.'
Kakashi turned his thoughts to other matters, ones that were far more immediate and important. The bridge was nearing completion but they still had Gatou to deal with. By now, he was sure that Zabuza had recovered from the wound he gave him earlier so that was another point to take into consideration. Naruto would be out cold until late morning or the early afternoon, thanks to both his fatigued body and the medicine he administered just now. That would only leave him with Sasuke and Sakura, whom while he believed had improved, would do little good if faced with shinobi of caliber similar to that of Zabuza.
Pushing his thoughts of impending dread backwards, he returned back to his futon, wishing to get as much sleep as he could.
After all, tomorrow was going to be interesting for sure.
( I I I )
Morning had come and with a quick word of farewells, Tazuna and the ninjas left. The blonde one, Naruto, wasn't with the rest of them, not that he cared. They could die as far as he was concerned.
It was then that they came in suddenly, a whole section of the wall cut apart like a gaping wound. Gatou's men, Inari recognized, with the ornate swords that slew those who opposed and any they wished. Out from their line of sight, Inari had fled and hidden himself into rickety old cupboard that was empty.
His mother wasn't so lucky.
"You're Tazuna's daughter right?" A male voice, not like a native of Wave, drawled, "Sorry, but yer'gonna have to come with us."
Paling immediately, he knew what was going to happen to her if she did. Used as a hostage, they'd force gramps to give himself up. And then, they'd kill them both. If she refused, she'll still be killed.
Tears streaked down his cheeks as he shook with quiet sobs. What would Naruto or even that asshat Sasuke do? Stop them? It would be easy for them since they're so strong. But...he was still weak, too weak to protect anyone. Words uttered and given came back to him, fresh in his mind like the winds that blew away the grey thunder clouds.
'True strength is to fight when everything is against you. To struggle even when everyone else has given up.' A blonde, eerily quiet and calm with the weight of the world seemingly on his shoulders.
'Fight with everything you got even if you know it's pointless. That is the mark of a person with strength.' A raven haired boy, older than him just over five springs, with the aura of a survivor.
He wanted to believe the two; in the strength they had and the conviction they had, but he knew otherwise! He couldn't do what they would in a heartbeat, he didn't have enough strength. Then he remembered, forced upon him as the two's words made him remember of a time long ago, like the sun driving off the shade of the night.
'If it's truly precious, even if you lose your life, you must protect it with these two hands.' A figure of a smiling man who fought to protect all that he cared about. His dad.
As if gaining courage, Inari burst out from hiding, taking a glass bottle as he did. "Hey!" He shouted clearly, having thrown all caution to the wind, "Leave my mom alone!" Aiming the bottle at one of the thugs, he let it fly.
Normally, one would expect that the thug would be caught unawares and be injured, preferably seriously, by the make-shift projectile. Reality, however, was cruel, Inari realized as he watched the thug side-step and slice the bottle in half the moment it entered the man's sword reach.
Instead of one angry thug who worked for a despicable man, he now had two of them, one angrier than the other.
Suddenly Inari wished that at least one of the shinobi had stayed behind.
"Brat," The thug who sliced growled, "I'll teach you not to mess with us!" He then drew his arm backward for a punch which would most likely shatter Inari's jaw if it connected. The boy stood rooted to the ground, watching helplessly as his legs disobeyed his commands to run. Bracing himself for the punch, he brought his arms up as he heard his mother scream in horror.
THUD!
The punch never came. Opening his eyes, Inari saw Naruto standing in front of him, his hand outstretched and gripping at the offending thug's fist, despite it being bigger than his by a good deal.
"I really detest people who pick on those who can't defend themselves," The boy said with absolute calmness, "Leave peacefully before I change my mind." The thugs were less than impressed by his offer.
Unsheathing his katana, the thug closest to Tsunami grabbed her and held his blade to her throat, who promptly fainted, "One move, brat and the bitch gets it."
Naruto frowned. "I see. How unfortunate."
A moment later, two unconscious thugs were lying in a undignified heap on the floor.
"You should go check on you mother," The blonde said as he proceeded to tie up the thugs with rope. Already having propped his mother in a comfortable against the wall, Inari sat down stunned. He couldn't believe what he did just moments ago. He did not run or hide but instead stood up for his precious ones.
'If it's truly precious, even if you lose your life, you must protect it with these two hands.'
"Are you injured?"
Inari choked back a sniffle, replying in the steadiest voice he could manage at the moment, "No..." The room fell into a comfortable silence as Naruto finished the final knot in the ropes.
"I should probably get going." The blonde said, as he turned to leave, "My team is going to need me." He paused. "You did well, Inari, you should be proud of yourself. I'm sure your father is too."
Naruto didn't see the swelling of tears in the boy's eyes as he left.
( I I I )
To say that Kakashi expected this was an understatement.
However, to say that he was prepared for it was an overstatement.
When they had reached the bridge, they had found a few of the workers half alive and adorned with senbon. Instructing his two students to get them to the relative safety of the inland road, he quickly scanned the area for any sign of the shinobi who caused the injuries. Finding nothing but the late morning fog beyond the waters on the half-completed bridge, he began to get tense, his senses on full alert for anything that the aggressors might pull.
A small flare of chakra made him swiveled towards the west, his eye catching the unmistakable shape of sharpened steel flying towards the general vicinity of the old bridge builder behind him.
He caught the kunai a full metre to spare before it embedded itself painfully, albeit fatally, into the old man.
"You should've aimed lower." Kakashi commented to no one in particular, "You surprise me, Demon of the Mist. After all, it's harder to catch those and you're known to take as much as you can get."
Zabuza appeared in a cyclone of water a moment later. "And to think I was feeling a bit kind too..." he said, before leveling his sword towards the Jounin, "I'm gonna pay you back with interest for what you did to my leg, one eyed freak."
"You're welcome to try." Kakashi replied without interest, watching as his opponent rushed towards him. Exchanging blows for several minutes, Kakashi found himself dodging more and striking less. It also didn't help that a kunai wasn't as useful as it should be against a sword. Not to mention that it was quite taxing to deflect blows from a sword that could easily weigh as much as he did.
"Getting a bit slow, aren't you Kakashi?" Zabuza sneered as he brought his blade in a downward action that would cleave the Jounin in two. He sidestepped. The concrete spot where he was on just a moment ago was reduced to rubble. The bloody huge sword that Zabuza carried around was well worth its weight in combat.
"Not really," The silver haired Jounin replied as easily as he interwove himself between sword swipes while trading a few strikes of his own, "I should be asking you that."
His students soon arrived, to his immense relief. With the two of them around, Kakashi could concentrate on the offensive without worrying about Tazuna's safety. Sasuke and Sakura could handle whatever lower level thugs or shinobi that Zabuza, or perhaps even Gatou could bring to bear. All that however was shattered when Zabuza uttered a single word; a name.
"Haku."
Like Zabuza, a figure appeared by way of a water cyclone. His face was obscured by a hunter-nin mask. Without wasting any time at all, the boy, for he was slightly taller than Sasuke, rushed towards the direction of the two Genin. Kakashi moved to intercept, hands midway forming the rudimentary hand-seals for a Suiton jutsu, but backed off when a vicious slash forced him to break away just long enough for the boy to escape. He watched Sasuke broke off from the pair, leaving Sakura to defend the old man from any other threat.
Boar, Ram, Monkey, Dog, Bird, Boar, Horse...
"Hey," Zabuza scowled at the Jounin, feeling somewhat insulted, "Your opponent is me."
"Oh right," Kakashi remarked dryly, "I forgot." He formed the last seal.
Dragon.
The bridge rumbled a bit as a water column rose up from the surrounding waters, forming the shape of a dragon. 'Suiryuudan no jutsu!' Zabuza cursed as he quickly performed the jutsu as a counter. The two water apparitions towered over the two shinobi, before smashing each other in an overwhelming display of strength. A torrent of water splashed down over head, thoroughly soaking the two shinobi who were now a fair distance apart. Both men took the opportunity to catch a breather, taking in the faint sounds of their apprentices' battle not too far away.
"Not bad. That boy of yours is holding up pretty well against Haku...but," Zabuza said, letting his sword remain at rest, "You should pray for those brats of yours. Haku is way beyond the level of a mere genin."
"Nope. Don't need to." Kakashi replied happily, his disposition cheery despite the situation. He had confidence in Sasuke's ability to handle the Mist-nin's apprentice, or at least, fight him to a standstill. Then he caught sight of an orange blur that announced to him that Naruto had just joined the fray.
( I I I )
He was fast.
Whoever the man, no, child may be, he was insanely quick, by far the fastest opponent that he faced before. Excitement of facing such a worthy opponent soon faded however, as he began to get outclassed. As it was, he could barely keep up with the staccato like pace his adversary had set. He knew that he could use Phoenix Rising to go faster but there was one thing stopping him.
The Sharingan.
Like Kakashi had said before, during the Bell test, his clan's Taijutsu style would only be effective if one possessed the Sharingan, for without it he wouldn't be able to see his own moves and to act accordingly. Then again, the quick jabs and strikes the other nin was peppering across his body were too fast for him to intercept without it. Deciding it would be best to try to match the other's speed, Sasuke channeled chakra into his arms, feeling as if the limits of the human flesh were removed from them and that he could do anything he needed to win. That unmistakable feeling of pure power.
The battle slowly turned to his favor, as he began to dodge lesser and strike out more, managing to score a few hits that he was sure would hurt as they struck clean. Sasuke could feel confidence building up in chest when previously there had been none, the feeling that he would prevail in the end. Then, it was crushed as the other ninja blurred out of sight, moving too fast for the eye to see and sent his fist into his gut.
It was almost as if his opponent was toying with him. Sasuke became stronger only fall short as his opponent was even stronger than the previous moment, minute, second ago, with the promise of victory becoming ever faint as time wore on. Even using Phoenix Rising, Sasuke knew that he wasn't fast enough. Nor strong enough.
Weak, little brother, so pathetically weak...
Just as he was about to give in, a mocking voice, cold and aloof woke him up like a splash of ice water to the face. He will not lose. Not now, not ever.
Then, it happened.
To his opponent, the Uchiha's eyes shifted from onyx to bright crimson.
To Sasuke, a slight ache in his eyes was all that signaled the evolution of his bloodline, but he brushed it off as an after-effect of fatigue. He blinked and couldn't help but marvel at the change in his perception.
Suddenly whatever speed his opponent had demonstrated moments before became painfully slow to him, it was almost as if all the awesome speed and mobility his opponent possessed was stripped from him, leaving behind a mere shell.
Anticipating the punch as it sailed towards him, Sasuke guided it away from him, passing through the other boy's defense and landed a hard blow to his gut. He flipped back when the masked nin tried to stab him with a senbon.
"Heh," Sasuke smirked, "You gotten slower. Is that it?"
"Wrong." said the nin for the first time, in a voice that belonged to a young boy, "I can go much faster than this." Mumbling something that Sasuke couldn't hear over the distance, he watched as the boy did the impossible task of forming a seal with only one hand.
Sheets of ice as thick as his arm began to form around him, like a pack of cards, blocking out any route of escape. Not that he was going to, either way.
Giving the formation of ice a brief glance, Sasuke began to form the first of the seals of his favorite jutsu. Fire melts everything.
"Katon: Goukakuu no jutsu!"
Summoning up an impressive amount of flame, he systematically swirled in a circle, clouds of steam blanketing the area when flame met ice. When the last of the vapor disappeared, he expected the sheets to be gone. To his shock, they stood thick as ever as though the flame didn't melt them.
"You lose." And then, the unpleasant sensation of pain as a countless barrage of senbon pierced his body.
Sasuke cursed as he descended into darkness.
( I I I )
When Naruto arrived, Sasuke was like a pin-cushion the seamstresses in Konoha used. Despite this, he knew that the Uchiha was alive, placed into a state of false death by the manipulation of acupuncture points. He gave the masked nin a glance.
"You didn't kill him." He said, as if seeing technically dead team mates was a regular occurrence. "Why?"
His question brought the missing-nin to laughter.
"Shouldn't you be angry that your comrade looks like he's already dead?"
"That is true, but irrelevant." Naruto said, finding the voice familiar, "Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance? You certainly had a lot of opportunity to do so."
The shinobi laughed again. "You're an interesting person, Uzumaki Naruto." The shinobi removed his mask, revealing the face of Haku.
If Naruto was surprised, he didn't show it. "Haku-san."
He asked a single question. "How?"
Haku smiled, it was a sad one, "Naruto-san, do you have a purpose in this life?"
Haku told him about his past, how he had been shunned by everyone, how he been left to die without not a single person caring until he met Zabuza and how he was now a weapon for him to use to fulfill his dream, and how it brought meaning to his life and existence. In another time and in another universe, Naruto may have felt sympathy and maybe even a bond towards the boy. But there was only calm acceptance. Naruto could accept it because their roles in life have already been set by some great force of cosmic irony and that the trade of a shinobi often brought bitter and sometimes, laughable irony. Only one of them would leave alive. Naruto was bound to his duty as much as Haku was bound to his loyalty to Zabuza.
"It looks like we have no other choice but to fight." Naruto raised his kunai, "It all depends on your master, right?"
Haku looked apologetic. "I'm sorr-"
SPLAT!
Blood, copious amounts of it erupted from his chest as steel emerged from it. Disbelieving, Haku stared at the blade which had run him through, watching as blood flowed from the mortal wound. Trying to speak, Haku only succeeded to cough up more of his life fluid. A vicious jerk later, the blade was wrenched free, causing Haku's limp form to fall to the ground.
"Za...bu..za-san..." He rasped out, his attention no longer to Naruto or his assailant.
Naruto had seen and dealt death before, so he wouldn't be as affected as someone who didn't. But as he saw the life in Haku's eyes beginning to fade, something within him snapped. Out of all the people he had fought, Haku was someone who deserved better than death. Though the idea of dedicating one's entire life to a single person was foreign to him, he knew it was sacred and noble.
Arm outstretched towards the direction of his precious person, Haku tried to crawl but was stopped by a bone-crushing stomp to his back. "Traitors don't get any last wishes granted, Haku-chan." Naruto turned his eyes towards the nin who began to grind his foot against the broken back of the boy. Forcing the unknown emotion back down as he watched, Naruto deduced that the man was from the Mist, judging from the hitat-ate covered his right eye. The man took his katana and in a downward stab, pierced the boy again. Struggling very hard not scream from the pain, Haku could not help but let out a little croak.
"Aw, isn't it sad, Haku-chan?" The Mist-nin asked mockingly, giving the dying boy a good kick, "It's a pity trash can only remain trash in the end. I'm so going to enjoy killing that bastard, Zabuza."
"Don't...y-you...dare...ahhhhh!" He started, screaming as the shinobi twisted the blade painfully before falling silent. "Tsk, tsk, now Haku-chan, you shouldn't raise your voice at me. It's rude, ne?" Twisting the blade again, he was disappointed at the lack of any thrashing or screaming. In fact, the boy made no movement or sound at all. Realizing what has happened, the ninja cursed. "Damn weakling, he expired so fast..." Naruto, at this point, began shaking. Haku didn't deserve this, it was unfair.
"Oh," he said as if noticing the existence of Naruto for the first time, before grinning as he watched Naruto shake with what he thought was fear, "I'll spare you, little Leaf brat, if you beg for mercy like a dog. Haku-chan here didn't quite satisfy." The man's eyes were pitiless, finding amusement in death and pain of others, "Gatou-san wanted to kill him personally for breaking his arm."
'I exist to protect my precious person.'
Naruto saw red and for the first time, felt something rage within his chest. It was not the emptiness that he felt most of the time, not calm nor void, but something stronger. Primal and...savage in its energy. Instinctively, he moved, without the restraints that the terrain and he had placed upon him. It was flat and it was wide, and he sought to kill, not fight. And that was enough reason for him. Crafted steel met his blade just as it was about to bury itself deep within the man's jugular.
"Tsk, tsk, little Leaf child," the man admonished him calmly as if the kunai in Naruto's hand was made of paper, "You sure are awfully quick with your blade, given your circumstance." With a strength born from years dedicated to a life of violence, the Mist-nin shrugged off the weight Naruto had placed on his blade, causing the boy to lose his footing, allowing the older, experienced and ruthless shinobi to place a hard punch to his gut which forced him to gasp. "How presumptuous of you to take on a Jounin, little Genin," A sharp pain in his back made itself know to him as the man brought the hilt of his sword crashing down into him, "Forget my previous offer, boy, entertain me so and I'll grant you a swift death, or else...well, I'd leave that up to your wondrous imagination then shall we?"
Despite the shock and pain, Naruto rolled, dodging the foot that descended towards his unprotected belly. Hands quickened into familiar shapes, summoning up a dozen or so clones, all of them juiced up with enough chakra to turn his enemy into a smoldering mess if they so wished.
The Mist-nin saw this, and quickly jumped a distance away, whistling as he appraised the sudden increase of orange clad Genins. "Nice group of little clones you got there. Obscene amount of chakra you've got in each one too," he said loudly, and waited for the boy to respond. He received silence instead and scowled. "Eh, you're no fun at all, you stinking emotionless doll. I hope those aren't illusions either because," An aura of pure malice exploded from his figure, "I'll kill you."
I'll kill you.
I'll kill you.
I'll kill you.
I'LL KILL YOU.
Something unhinged, deep within his self, so deep that he did not truly know the extent of this...change, he could not stop it even if he had tried. His clones, prepared to unveil the first step , burst in smoke, leaving the air around him in a acrid stench of chakra unspent.
And then, it happened.
THUMP.
Jutsus flashed across his mind, ones that burned, ones that crushed, ones that suffocated, some familiar but many others not so, most of them being down right alien to his mind. Glimpses vanished to nothing as information poured into him, denying any insight to the vast amount of knowledge that was being dragged forth from his soul. He did not know them but knew, deep down within himself, that he should. Two parts of him that he never knew existed surfaced, as the burst of knowledge faded only to allow sensations that he had only read about, one which sought to embrace this change while the other repulsed it. Torn by the almost ravenous feelings to both revel in and to repel this unexplained gift, Naruto was almost drunk in the fury of emotion that he felt. Joy, sorrow, fear, regret, contentment, he felt all these things in the miasma of thought that coursed through him. Anger broke him out of his cycle and focused his will, preventing himself to be dragged again by this foreign and disconcerting thing he had awakened.
THUMP.
Through the faint whispers and even awareness of his being, all he knew was that he commanded power that was his to wield but was not truly his, in the vaguest sense of the word. But it was also power and knowledge that was rapidly escaping his grasp, as if it was not his at all, despite the strong sense within his being that this intoxicating feel belonged to him. All he knew now was that the boon that he had been granted would vanish soon and then he would be as he was, helpless. Hastened by anger and urgency, he ploughed through his now almost infinite library of techniques even as much of it simply vanished and continued to do so at an alarming pace. And after what seemed like as eternity to him, when he had found what he was looking for, Naruto did not question the whys or hows of it, for he did not think, no, he was incapable of thought, logic stripped away from him in exchange for power.
And so, he began to chant, words and syllables that no human tongue should be capable of producing. The air itself became still before it vibrated and hummed, heat permeating the area like a mist, as if preparing for the arrival of something...sinister.
The Jounin, before so ever confident of his victory, felt a cold chill running down his spine. The Genin, no, a creature that was in the shape of this boy, made him afraid. Words failed him as he watched the thing before him utter litanies of an alien language, each consonant made to sound as if it were born from a scream of pain, suffering and endless toil.
"What sorcery is this-"
And he finished, the boy clamping his mouth shut the moment the last syllable left his lips.
A large ugly rip in space appeared above him, and the warm air turned unbearably scorching. From within its deep depths, came dozens of hands, grappling the stunned Jounin and wrenching him free from the ground. He did not know what he had done to bring the black portal into existence, the knowledge wrenched free from him the second he had finished. A muted scream from within forced him to gaze upon its abyssal depths. From there, he caught a visage of himself, older and dressed in finery that both alien and stunning to behold, standing in the midst of creatures too foreign for his mind to comprehend. But while his own eyes were that of a deep cerulean hue, his doppelganger possessed the eyes of a demon, eyes that constantly shifted its colour from crimson, amber, emerald and so many others that he lost count.
His breath hitched as his other self met his stare with one of his own, the straight line of his lips curving into a full grin, revealing long canines and pearly white teeth. One that was filled with malevolent amusement. Not a moment too soon, did the dark portal close, sewing itself into the meld of reality once more, leaving behind nothing. And just as it had unhinged before, it closed from within, stripping him of all that it had bestowed upon him for a brief moment.
He felt faint, confused, drained, and very bruised but alright. He couldn't say the same of the boy lying in a pool of his own blood. Quickly, he reached for his pouch, where he stored a few vials of crimson life giving liquid, and letting it flow into Haku's mouth .
"It is too...late for me, not even that which you've given me would help..." Haku coughed out, blood spluttering forth as well as medicine, before attempting to smile. "You should...be more concerned...with your sensei..." What little life that remained within his eyes vanished and Haku was no more.
THUMP.
He tried to calm himself, the heavy pressure in his chest not relenting despite his efforts.
THUMP.
His breathing became ragged, the area around his heart beginning to alternate between hot and cold.
THUMP.
COME CHILD, YOU SUMMONED ME BEFORE AND YOU CAN DO SO AGAIN.
THUMP.
THUMP.
There was something familiar, just like before. But this one was...different too , and he let it guide him.
THUMP.
THUMP.
( I I I )
It had been a tough fight, but Kakashi got out of it better than Zabuza did. Though almost completely drained of chakra, Kakashi was glad that he still retained the motor functions of his limbs. He was about to deliver the final blow in the form of Raikiri when sensed something unusual from beyond the bridge.
And then, they came.
"Well, well," A voice echoed through the fog, "That had been a wonderful show."
Zabuza seemed to recognize the voice. "Gatou!"
Not too far away, stood a rather wealthily dressed man, with a smile that seemed to suck. Surrounding him were a good number of mainland thugs who brandished not so common katanas and the unmistakable presence of ninja. "Your contract and your usefulness have come to an end, I'm afraid! I already sent a professional after that brat of yours."
"Kakashi," Zabuza whispered, "The mission's off, and I've no interest to fight you anymore. We clear?"
Commanding his dog summons to relinquish their grip on the man, he said, "Yeah. We're clear."
"Kunai." The man asked and Kakashi obliged.
Using his teeth to grip the kunai, Zabuza charged. No matter how good a ninja was, being outnumbered while seriously injured, meant certain death. Though he took out a few of the shinobi and a number of the Yakuza thugs, he eventually succumbed to sheer amount of steel blades embedded into his flesh. Gatou just shifted nervously his tie when the dying Zabuza collapsed a few metres away from him. Regaining his arrogant smirk, he looked at Kakashi, "Now, Leaf-nin-"
A shockwave of energy swept across the entire area, before the very air seemed to solidify, creating the distinct feeling of suffocation. Kakashi shivered; he recognized this horrible feeling, having felt it once before. A second wave, this time one of release, surged over the surroundings, far greater than the one before it. Power, pure and simple, radiated over the whole area, causing many to freeze as the human instinct to survive kicked in. They did not have time to run however as an utterly inhumane roar later brought everyone's eyes behind.
What they saw brought many to their knees.
A Hydra, with its menacing amber eyes glaring with utter and contemptuous malice and size which seemed to make mountains look like dwarves, was probably the most terrible sight that most of the thugs had to behold in their lives. Its three heads began to descend from the far reaches of its height, each moment bringing the terrible creature ever closer towards them.
To Kakashi, it was the most fearful thing he had seen since the Kyuubi. Thoughts of the Kyuubi made him turn his attention to Naruto, who was probably the only one who could summon out such a monster on such short notice. The monster, for no jutsu could ever hope to replicate such life-like ferocity without the actual use of a spirit, roared its anger and began to lumber towards the mass of thugs, who were rooted to the ground by the sheer aura of presence that the Hydra produced. Not even the Mist-nins who were arguably more able than he was to escape this imitation of a great beast were spared. Kakashi figured that it was time for him to flee. Picking up Zabuza's sword, he turned and ran. The last sight he saw when he turned was that of the three gigantic jaws snapping shut.
He stopped a fair distance away, waiting as the leviathan watched him from afar. If it wanted to let him have the same fate as of those it swallowed, then there was no use in running. Water was its element and they were in the middle of a sea channel. Minutes passed and the water creature was content to sink back into the depths from whence it came, as the chakra which infused it with sentience was fading.
Moving up the length of the bridge, he found Naruto drenched in blood as he sat beside a bloodied body of boy, probably the masked-nin before. Sasuke lay on the ground unconscious, surrounded by many bloodied senbon. He looked badly hurt but was in no danger of dying yet.
Noticing the approaching Jounin, Naruto slumped as if relieved. "I'm tired." Was all he said before he collapsed into peaceful oblivion.
A/N: Unbeta-ed. May contain possibly spelling errors and whatnot. First, I'll answer some questions from the reviewers. Will be converted to something longer as I'm rushing to get this posted at the moment. I would probably address the issue you people may or may not have with this chapter in the next edit. Edited as of Dec 13, 2006.
Is this going to be a Kyuubi/Naruto pairing?
Nope. Heck, no romance is planned for the fic. Or until I decide whether it's feasible to incorporate it.
Is the next chapter going to take as long?
The next chapter would be far shorter than this one, about a quarter of this chapter. However, because of my final exams, there won't be any writing done for the next two months, though I will be releasing a batch of chapters at a time to compensate, as I restart my other Naruto works thanks to free time.
The ending seemed rushed. Why?
Well, it could be damn detailed like the earlier start of the chapter but the total word count for the content of the chapter is 10k+. Adding more would only cause a longer delay, and besides, I suck terribly at battle scenes anyway.
Erm...is that it?
Yup, I hope that this chapter is to everyone's liking. Leave a comment or question if you want and I will do my best to answer. As always, reading and reviewing is much appreciated!