Chapter Eleven: Four Generations of the Fire's Shadow

Sakura took one long, boring week to recover from detonating an explosive tag at point-blank range. Her entire arm felt raw and useless, like an alien attachment poking out of her shoulder. The head doctor, Momoe Yūhi, explained to her that the damage would heal enough for her to regain full movement, but there would always be scarring. The scar tissue was hidden under layers of bandages and casts, and Sakura hadn't actually seen the results of her flight of idiocy.

She wondered what Naruto and Sasuke were doing. Her clones reported that Kakashi had fled the hospital with her blond teammate, citing a longstanding feud with Yūhi as the reason for his reluctance to stay and recuperate. Naruto, who now had a ropy scar on his thigh, had apparently healed almost completely in such a short time that Sakura had to wonder what his secret was.

Momoe had been surprisingly unhelpful every time she asked of the Uzumaki clan had a bloodline limit, or if Naruto's parents were on record at the hospital. Every time Sakura raised the subject, the red-eyed woman would change the topic or, failing that, pretend she hadn't heard the question. Ditto with every other hospital worker, which lead Sakura to believe that something was going on. She resolved to speak with Iruka, or check the records department for Naruto's birth certificate.

As she was wondering where to find other Uzumaki, Kakashi appeared at the end of her bed. "Get up, we're leaving," he said.

"Where's your Icha Icha book?" she asked idly, stretching and standing up.

"Here," he said, taking a small volume out of his jacket. The title was Icha Icha Tactics, not one that she recognized.

"When did the new book of porn come out, sensei?" Sakura wondered.

"Last week," he said, flipping the page. "Why? Do you follow this wonderful series?"

"You're acting weird," Sakura said. She meant it as a throwaway comment, but Kakashi apparently took offense.

"Are you coming or what, Sayuri?" he said impatiently. Sakura froze.

"My name isn't Sayuri," she whispered.

"Good! Mine isn't Kakashi, although that is the name of the person who gave me bad information. Why don't we introduce ourselves? My name is Jiraiya, and I'm a world-famous author and S-class pervert. I moonlight as a shinobi, too." The man who looked like Kakashi gave her a thumbs-up but made no move to remove the henge.

Sakura smiled serenely. "I'm Sakura Haruno. My dream is to surpass my teammates and Pervert-sensei. Also, I'm halfway out the front door."

Jiraiya nodded sagely. "Bunshin?"

"Bunshin," she confirmed, vanishing in a poof of smoke.

.:.

Kabuto reached out and plucked a mask from the wall. It was an ornately detailed work of Uzushio craftsmanship, depicting the snarling face of the shinigami. He held the worn wood in his hands, absorbing the exquisite accuracy and abhorrent beauty. Then, he put it on.

The shinigami himself became visible through the eyeholes of the mask, floating timelessly in the halls of the temple. Kabuto almost recoiled, until he remembered Orochimaru's words.

'It is bound to the wearer of the mask, for it is part of the mask. One and the same, a weapon of the Uzumaki.'

He smiled, and reached for his face. The shinigami mirrored the action, its right hand clenching around the hilt of a knife in its mouth. Kabuto felt the spectral hilt in his own palm, despite there being nothing there. The next part was the important bit, according to Lord Orochimaru.

He held the tip of the knife just in front of his stomach, as though he were about to perform seppuku, and plunged it in.

"Shiki Fūjin: Kai!" he proclaimed, forcing the shinigami to slit its belly by cutting open his own. Being a medic, the normally lethal wound healed on his own body almost instantly, but the reaper had no such luck. The soul of the Fourth Hokage shot out of the gash, spiralling into the sky, followed by the malevolent black presence of Kurama's yin chakra. After that, the souls came thick and fast, back through time until two lonely and crippled souls escaped together, travelling to the Pure World.

Kabuto took the mask off, letting the injured shinigami disappear from his sight. Now, all that was left to do...

He threw the mask to the ground, shattering it. Unbeknownst to him, the shinigami screamed in anguish as its phylactery was destroyed, removing its anchor to the physical world. With no mooring and nothing to hold it together, the shinigami dissipated into nothing.

The streets of Konoha were as busy as usual, but the spirit worlds were silent.

.:.

"I have saved a critical part of your ninja training until now, boys," said Kakashi. He, Sasuke and Naruto sat in a loose circle at the highest point of a low bluff. It was somewhere in Fire Country, but with Kakashi's speed they might well have been on the River Country border for all they knew. One moment they were at the gate, and the next they were here.

"This critical part, could it have helped us fight Haku?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, but you weren't ready for it then," their sensei replied shamelessly. "Now, here's the test. Sasuke, hold out your hand."

Reluctantly, Sasuke did so. Kakashi pressed a piece of paper into his hand, one that Sauke seemed to recognize. A blue glow sprang up over the paper, which crinkled quickly in his palm.

"Okay," Kakashi said congenially. "Your chakra nature is lightning. I can work with that, maybe give you some pointers on creating your own techniques. The sharingan works especially well with lightning, given its power of perception. If you go over there, I'll be with you in a minute. Naruto..."

He gave the knucklehead a long look. Naruto couldn't be allowed to know his own chakra nature. If it was lightning, or wore, wind, he had no hope. Temari had years of experience in wind manipulation, and anything less than genuine Katon techniques would hold no ground against her. He had one month to drill the basics of using fire into Naruto's head, and that long road began with a single step.

"Sit," he instructed. Naruto sat.

"What makes something dangerous?"

Naruto scrunched up his face in concentration. "Is it, uh, how much it can hurt you? No, it's the number of ways you can mess up with it!"

"Close," Kakashi said approvingly. "It's how uncontrollable it is. When you control something, you understand every facet of it. You can make it do your bidding and you can make it betray its very nature. You can make it start and stop. When you can't do that, when you toy with forces beyond your control, you risk disaster. That is danger, and that is what makes S-class ninja dangerous. They have techniques and power that make them armies unto themselves, and they are so uncontrollable it's a wonder the hidden tolerate them.

"All of the five elements are absolutely controllable except for one! The element of fire, the 'hungry element' as the First Hokage called it, is dangerous. You can mould fire, you can direct it, but fire is without a doubt beyond our control. It surges and devours fuel and oxygen beyond the control of the shinobi who created it. With enough heat, you can charbroil your opponent even if your attack misses. The element of wind, so powerful and so finely tuned for war, falls apart in the presence of fire. If you are going to beat Temari, you have to master this."

Naruto's jaw was starting to feel slack with awe. Kakashi Hatake was going to teach him fire jutsu! Most of his speech about danger and control stuck, but the back of his mind clung stubbornly to the idea of him blowing fireballs like Sasuke all over the battlefield.

"Teach me," he said, blue eyes like polished sapphire.

Kakashi nodded. "First, you have to begin meditating. Allow all of your thoughts to wither away... as hard as that may be for you."

Sasuke snickered.

Kakashi took out fire starting kit and a piece of flint, striking a spark against a kunai. A bundle of kindling burst to life, warm for a short but sweet period as its life drained away in a blaze of glory. Kakashi and Naruto stared at the glowing edges of the leaves and sticks. Entranced, Sasuke joined in the surreal experience.

"At its most base form, combustion is a chemical reaction," Kakashi intoned.

"Hydrogen, carbon and oxygen consumed to produce carbon dioxide and water," Sasuke said under his breath.

"Allow the thought to become you," Kakashi said approvingly. "Your chakra as fuel, devouring the air you breathe in a fiery burst, leaving behind soot and unbreathable gas. The ultimate ending for anything, and uncontrollable... dangerous."

He made a 'shut up' motion at Sasuke.

"Now, all fire techniques have the same basic principle. Rather than gathering chakra in your hands or feet, it begins in the lungs. Form it into fuel, something that powers the greatest inferno you can picture, then exhale. Form the hand seals, and force your chakra to superheat and explode. This is the basis of the most basic katon technique: the Gōkakyū no jutsu. Try it, Naruto."

In retrospect, perhaps Kakashi should have made sure Sasuke wasn't directly in front of Naruto when he first tried it. His sharingan bared, Kakashi watched Naruto correctly cycle the chakra through his lungs and throat, form the snake-ram signs, then exhale. What followed was the single most destructive technique Kakashi had ever witnessed. A gargantuan stream of continuous fire burst forwards, originating from a point about two inches in front of Naruto's mouth. It swirled forwards like a monstrous snake, winding headily over the edge of the hill and down towards lower ground. Kakashi swore he started to tan right then and there.

Sasuke had the presence of mind to leap out of the way in time, but his forearm guards were scorched anyways. He stood to the side, irritably attempting to extinguish his arms.

Naruto finally shut off the flame thrower and promptly collapsed, his chakra nearly spent. Kakashi checked his pulse, then stood up and walked over to Sasuke.

"It seems he has a natural affinity for fire," he said. "Strange, his father preferred wind and his mother tested for water once. Huh."

Sasuke looked at him sharply. "You knew Naruto's parents?" he said shrilly.

Kakashi slapped his forehead. "I'll teach you an assassination technique if you swear to never mention that fact ever again. Don't ask me, don't ask anyone, don't go looking for answers, and don't tell Naruto."

As Kakashi launched into the principle of the Raikiri, Sasuke hid a grin. It was easy enough to fool the diagnostic paper into marking him as a raiton user. In fact, Sasuke had no idea what his affinity was, but he subscribed to the principle that knowing made learning other types harder. He gleefully threw himself into training, determined to beat Kin Tsuchi into a dark smear on the ground.

.:.

The whore's name was Akane. One look at her provocative dress and lurid makeup was enough to convince Tayuya that she was a prostitute. After quickly assuring her that she wasn't a policeman, Tayuya took Akane into a motel room, turned out the lights, and played a little ditty on her flute. Akane was out instantly, and a quick strip search made sure she wasn't a sting.

That said, Tayuya was a small woman, and carrying Akane all the way from the red-light district to the Haruno home in the suburbs was back-achingly difficult. She got a few strange looks from passing civilians, but ultimately the burlap sack she used to conceal the body was uninteresting enough that she made it without attracting too much attention.

"I got the whore, guys!" she shouted, dragging Akane over the doorstep and dropping her in the front hall. "Are we having dinner before we do the ritual thing?"

The basement door opened, and Sakon's head popped out. "We're just putting the finishing touches on it. I got Ukon makin' soup. Go help him out."

Tayuya glanced down at Akane. She really didn't want to drag the whore into the basement, but now it was a matter of principle. She picked the woman up and started on.

"Whoa, hey, I got that," said Sakon. "Just go make the salad or something."

"Sexist bastard," Tayuya mutted under her breath. Then, louder, "Ukon's doing it, he doesn't need help."

"Well, Ukon's a bitch and so are you. Get in the kitchen, Tayuya."

"Fuck you," she retorted, passing him and descending into the Haruno's basement. Kizashi had furnished one of the larger rooms downstairs with a carpet and electrical lighting, ostensibly to make playing pool more comfortable. Now, the pool table was shoved aside, and the light was dim.

Kizashi and Mebuki were pushed up against a wall, their hands and feet tied together and rudimentary gags keeping them quiet. Orochimaru took perverse pleasure in the fear in their eyes, fear of death and fear of him. Tayuya dropped Akane next to them and sat back on the far end of the room, content to enjoy the show.

"Is she still alive?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yeah," Tayuya replied. "Said you wanted to sacrifice her, right?"

"Quite. However, it is not her soul that will be sacrificed tonight. The shinigami is... indisposed right now. Instead, her body will be offered up as a host for someone much more worthy of walking the earth. Someone to replace the unreliable jinchūriki of the Ichibi in our plan."

He sliced the sack open and effortlessly hauled Akane out, dropping her on the floor at his feet. Tiger. Snake. Dog. Dragon. Orochimaru clapped his hands and pressed them against either side of her head.

"Edo Tensei!"

A creeping white fog swirled from the floor, reaching up to devour Akane whole. Unconscious, she didn't even twitch as death's embrace came for her. Her body disintegrating into fine white powder, a coffin rose from the floor about six feet away. The surface was emblazoned with the symbol '1'.

Quickly, Orochimaru darted back to the wall and grabbed Sakura's mother. With precise power he summoned a soul from the afterlife, and the personification of death came for Mebuki. She made a pathetic screaming sound around her gag, thrashing and moaning until death picked her to pieces. A coffin marked '2' emerged next to the first one.

Finally, Kizashi was brought before Orochimaru. He faced the snake sannin defiantly, chin up and anger replacing fear. Orochimaru paid his bravado no mind and performed the sacrifice. "Edo Tensei!"

As Kizashi Haruno faded away, the last thing he saw was the third coffin. Number four.

Naruto knows the Grand Fireball technique now! The reason I'm not diving right into puppetry is because that happens at the end of the first arc. The ability to use some katon ninjutsu is a setup for his fight with Temari, because air feeds flames. That's not quite how it really works, but this is fiction! If this weren't fiction, Amaterasu (as hot as the sun?) would turn the ground into magma for ten miles in every direction.

Also, I don't know if fooling chakra paper is possible, but the idea is that Sasuke wants to milk Kakashi for all he's worth. In canon, he learned Raikiri to beat Gaara, but Kin doesn't warrant that kind of firepower. However, if his chakra nature was lightning, Kakashi would probably jump at the chance to pass on his signature technique.

I thought sacrificing Kizashi for Minato was a nice touch.