Quickly gather the children! What why madman?! IT'S DOUBLE FEATURE FRIDAY! That means that not only is there one upload but TWO as in BOTH authors have uploaded new chapters to their work. This week it is Black Rain Falls by BarelyGhost: "If those fan-girls think they can be ninjas then they could suck this long dick!" and Adventures of an ANBU Trainee by BarelySage: "Listen guys I'm working two jobs; here and I have another job as a manager at Bed, Bath, and Beyond in the village, ok. I am doing that just to put a kid through the academy so he can explore his love of waffle crisps and become a DJ. So think guys just think." So check them out and enjoy the new chapters!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 10
Perperations
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
One week later
Hiruzen had gathered the council once again. After speaking extensively with Jiraiya on the subject, they decided that it was time to inform the council of the Iwa ambush. As much as the Hokage dreaded it, he knew it had to be done.
So there sat the clan heads on one side of the room, the wealthy civilians on the other, Koharu and Homura and Danzo across from their kage and Jiraiya right next to him.
"So, Hiruzen," Danzo began, "Why have you gathered us here?"
The older man sighed. "Well, I'll get straight to the point. I there was an important issue that arose about a week ago. On the journey back from their mission in Nami no Kuni, Naruto and his team, along with Zabuza, were ambushed by Iwa ANBU. It seems that old Onoki heard that the Yellow Flash had a living son and couldn't bear for him to live."
As expected, there was immediately a vociferous uproar from everyone in the room, excluding the three elders.
"Silence!" the Sarutobi yelled, accompanying the shout with a strong burst of chakra which quickly quieted the room. One of the few who didn't flinch, the shinobi of darkness conducted the questioning.
"Let us begin with how they managed to fend off ANBU level ninja."
"There were five," came the convincing lie. "Zabuza dealt with three, while the boys eliminated one and captured the other."
All in the room were impressed with both the ex-demon and team 7.
"However," Hiruzen continued, "Ibiki was able to get virtually nothing out of the ninja, no doubt due to extensive torture training. Iwa have always been fans of that."
"That is unfortunate. It's quite clear to me that definitive action must be taken against Iwa. An assassination attempt on one of our shinobi is indubitably an act of war."
"I do not wish to launch a full-scale war as a result of this, and Jiraiya-kun agrees. The Chunin exams are taking place here in a month. There Onoki and I will try to come to an agreement. Perhaps he's become less stubborn in his old age," Hiruzen answered, knowing this very probably wasn't true.
"And if this attempt at an agreement should fail?"
"Preventative measures will be taken, starting right now, in fact. We need to make diplomatic efforts to gain military allies. The times are changing- the world is gearing toward war. Whether it is due to this issue or not, a war is coming. We will be ready."
"I agree with Hiruzen's decision, for now at least. The more powerful allies we have, the better," Homura stated. Koharu nodded.
"Thank you, Homura. Any more questions or opinions?" The old kage felt a pang of regret as in the blink of an eye the council room was again loud and chaotic. He rubbed his head and quickly realized this meeting would not be a brief one. Then again, he considered, a brief council meeting is about as likely as Kakashi showing up early for something.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Three hours later, the meeting was finally over. A massive stack of paperwork had somehow made its way onto Hiruzen's desk. The grandfather considered how strongly he despised this job sometimes. He was about to turn to Jiraiya (who was spending some time with his old sensei since he hadn't had time to talk to him since Naruto got back) to ask him about his next novel in order to get his mind off his paperwork when Shisui and Itachi were ushered into the room by a secretary.
"Hello, Itachi-kun, Shisui-kun. How are you holding up lately?" the Hokage asked, pity evident in his eyes.
"We're holding up," Itachi responded neutrally, but with a tinge of sadness. "Thank you for asking, Hokage-sama."
"Of course. Now I'm sure you didn't just come to say hello and distract an old man from his paperwork," Hiruzen said with a smile.
"No, we didn't. When we got back from the Nami mission, we discovered something." Both boys channeled chakra into their eyes. Sarutobi and the Toad Sage witnessed the red sharingan eyes of both boys change form. Shisui's was a four-point pinwheel while Itachi's was a three-point pinwheel.
"This can't be…" the old man whispered in disbelief.
"But it is. The Mangekyo sharingan," his pupil answered. "Since when?" continued the sage.
"We assume that they awakened when Hayate-sensei was…killed."
That would make sense, Hiruzen thought. "How amazing. You two are part of a very small handful in the history of the Uchiha clan to awaken these eyes."
"How many people know?" Jiraiya inquired. This was the type of thing that needed to be kept well under wraps.
"Only we four," Shisui answered. "Not even our fathers or Naruto know."
"Let's keep it that way for the time being. You two were very wise to come here first. If word of this were to get out, there are those who would stop at nothing to have that power."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. But there's something else."
"Oh?"
"In the secret meeting place of the Uchiha, there is a tablet. When read with the Mangekyo, it tells that too much use of it will render the wielder blind over time. The only way to combat these effects and gain an "eternal" Mangekyo sharingan is to receive the transplanted eyes of a close relative. Therefore…"
"Shisui and I would like to swap eyes."
Teacher and student raised their eyebrows.
"That's an interesting solution," Jiraiya mused outloud.
"There's only one person I know who could both handle such a delicate operation and be trusted with an S-class secret to ensure that it is successful," the Hokage said already dreading of trying to bring her back for this operations.
"Tsunade-hime. But how will we convince her?"
"I don't know, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I trust you both as very loyal shinobi of Konoha and therefore do not mind you having this immense power. However, Madara and Izuna Uchiha were driven to great evil because of these eyes, and are now known as the most notorious traitors in Konoha's history. Be very wary. Also, until the operation at least, you mustn't use them unless you are in an indisputably life-or-death situation. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," the boys chorused seriously or at least as serious as a couple teens getting super-powers.
"In the meantime, Jiraiya and I will work on contacting Tsunade-chan. Again, thank you for coming to me with this. On a lighter note, how are things with your new sensei?"
"Actually, we've had the last week off, but we're heading to our first training session with Zabuza-sensei right now, so we'll see how it goes."
"Alright, well good luck you two."
The two Uchiha boys bowed and shunshined away. Jiraiya turned to his old sensei.
"Now that we're finally alone, I can update you on Naruto's progress. To start off with the light stuff, he faced a ninja in Nami who worked for Gato. The man turned out to be a very honorable shinobi, and after Naruto defeated him, he gave him a very powerful sword which belonged to his clan, called the Tenmon no Tsurug."
"The Tenmon no Tsurug? So this man was of the Manji clan?"
"You've heard of them and their blade?"
"Why, yes, I remember facing their clan head in battle once. That blade of theirs surprised our team and forced us to retreat. A sword that doubles the weight of whomever it strikes…a powerful weapon indeed. And now Naruto has it?"
"Yes, the Manji clan was one of those exterminated during the bloodline purge. This Hideki was the last of them, so he simply gave it to Naruto, being impressed with his upstanding conduct. No doubt passed on to him by the legendary toad sage of Mount Myoboku!" exclaimed Jiraiya, who had gotten up just to perform his legendary stance. However he sweat dropped when he saw that Hiruzen was totally ignoring him.
"That reminds me, I need to get you, Kakashi and Obito on that mission soon," the Hokage said to himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two dark-haired boys and a blonde lay in sweaty puddles in a field, unable to move an inch. The jays seemed to mock them with their songs. Some even hopped about right in front of them, as if daring the boys to try to catch them.
"C'mon, you guys can't be that out of shape," their sensei commented with a devious smile.
"Not…out of shape…that was…ridiculous," Shisui barely managed to spit out.
"Oh, please. I mean look at me, I'm still spry as a spring chicken," Zabuza returned. "Also, want to know where I got this training regimen from? Maito Guy-senpai was telling me about this kid four years younger than you all, and this is exactly what he does every day."
"An eight-year-old doing this? Give me a break," Naruto exclaimed, having finally caught his breath. "We just went through, like, two hours of hell!"
"First of all, Zabuza-sensei is right. Sasuke-kun was telling me about a kid in the class above him who is trying to 'become a splendid ninja without the use of ninjutsu or genjutsu, only taijutsu.' The kid is a physical freak. Also, we can't have been going for more than thirty minutes," Itachi responded with a sad chuckle.
"Twenty," their sensei corrected as he jogged in place, not at all spent after that conditioning session. "But not to worry, doing that twice a day will get you used to it in no time."
"Twice a day!?" Naruto whined.
"Alright, that's it. Two thousand pushups right now, since Naruto is so eager."
"Way to go, Naruto-nii," Shisui mumbled under his breath.
"Whoa, three hundred suicides on top of that thanks to Shisui sharing his buddy's enthusiasm! Talk shit about your teammates in front of me and you'll quickly wish you didn't!"
"I'm not here to be your friend, I'm here to be your sensei!" he continued in response to their groans.
Suddenly realization struck Naruto as he looked over and saw his teammates slogging through the pushups, much like he was. "Damn," he said aloud. Both his teammates looked over as they continued to slowly go down and pick themselves back up. "What would Hayate-sensei think if he were here, watching us act like a bunch of bitchy little girls? You know what, fuck this man!" He got up impassioned and took out a kunai from his pouch.
"You two get the hell up too!" his friends were inspired by what he said and so also got up, but were slightly confused as to what he really planned to do. Meanwhile, Zabuza was watching curiously.
To everyone's shock, Naruto took the kunai and slashed his upper arm (so that he could continue to do his pushups and not risk passing out from blood loss). "On the blood of this wound I swear to Kami that I will never give up or bitch about anything ever again! No student of Hayate Gekko or son of the Yondaime Hokage and the Toad Sannin is ever going to be so lacking in dignity!"
Now especially deeply inspired by their friend, the other boys took out their own kunai. "The same goes for the Uchiha clan, the best clan in the world. If we're getting beat by some scrub Uzumaki then we're disgracing our whole livelihood!" they said in unison with smirks to Naruto and made their own cuts in the same spot.
"NOW LET'S DO THIS SHIT!"
They immediately dropped down and resumed their pushups with a vigor unseen before by Zabuza. He found it very amusing, as the whole scene had been very cheesy and cliché, but he had to admit, Naruto had a way of inspiring people. It had been very effective.
Before anyone knew it, the extra punishment was over, and the boys gathered around their new sensei almost ready to drop over dead.
"Alright, before we go any further, I have to get a good idea of all of your skills and you of mine so we can work together as a team effectively."
For the next fifteen or so minutes, the four of them exchanged information of their combat abilities, including the boys demonstrating the many different combinations they had together.
"I'm very impressed, you guys work very, very well together. Of course, having every one of the five chakra natures represented doesn't hurt," Zabuza commented. "Now, finally, do any of you three have any summons?"
"I do," Naruto responded. After a few hand signs, he slammed his hand on the ground and said calmly, "Summoning Jutsu." A normal-sized orange toad appeared. "This little guy is Gamakichi, but I can summon Gamabunta, who's the size of a bijuu, if I want."
Both the Uchiha had been watching with their sharingan active because of just having drilled through their team combos. "Psshhh, I can do that," Shisui said confidently and began forming the copied hand signs.
"No, don't!" Zabuza tried to yell but it was too late.
"Summoning Jutsu!" With a puff of smoke, the Uchiha boy was gone.
"God damn it! If he's not back in an hour and a half I'll get Hokage-sama. Come on, let's do some kenjustu training."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shisui found himself falling from the sky into a small but deep body of water. When he surfaced from the water, he was mesmerized by what he saw.
He had landed in a river flowing from a large waterfall, which was crashing down just behind him. On either side of the river was a lush, green forest, much greener than the trees and fields in Konoha. As he stepped onto the grass, he could tell it was much softer too, even with his sandals on. He walked for a while and saw much of the same, until he reached a road paved with some sort of beautiful light pink stone. He picked a random direction and walked that way for a few minutes before he saw something in the horizon running toward him.
From a distance it looked like a puppy, but he could tell now that it was closer that it had the features of a wolf, and the size of one too. However, Shisui remained unafraid.
Before long, the wolf was just in front of him. "Come with me. All your questions shall be answered by Mun-Mun-sama."
Lord Moon-moon? Someone's parents wanted a girl. But I guess I'll go along. He wasn't shocked that the wolf was talking as he had seen Naruto's toads talk and knew that summon animals could talk.
Shisui looked all around him at the mystical landscape. He still had no idea where he was, but it was magical. Before long, the two of them were at a massive castle, so tall that it passed the clouds. It stuck out like a sore thumb, made entirely of black and white stone, a stark contrast to the vibrant colors of the surrounding area.
The Uchiha guessed that the front gate must have been 200 feet tall. The gate led into a hall that was proportionally large to the rest of the castle. Sitting on a throne at the end of the foyer was the largest living thing Shisui had ever seen.
It was a wolf that was about fifteen stories tall, at least as big as Gamabunta with all four paws on the ground. It was completely white with various scars on its body, the most obvious one being a diagonal one right in between the eyes. It seemed that Mun-mun had come frighteningly close to blindness.
"Greetings, human weakling," the giant boomed.
"Kami, man, lower your voice. My weak, human eardrums can't take that shit." Shisui shot back.
"Such insolence! What gives you the right to talk to me like that!?"
"These." Shisui flashed his Mangekyo menacingly.
It was an amusing sight to see the great beast to begin to cower in fear at the sight. "Those…those eyes! But how!?"
"I am an Uchiha, of course. But I have the power of Madara in these eyes. Now tell me why I'm here!"
The wolf mentally cursed himself for being such a coward in front of a mere child and attempted to recover. "You have reverse summoned yourself into Okami no Kuni (Land of Wolves). You are the first human to do this…ever. We wolves are normally a race too proud to become the summons of any human, but I cannot ignore fate or the power of the eyes of Madara. It is destined that you become the Shoukan Sha no Okami (Wolf Summoner) as seen by your appearance here."
"Very well, I suppose that will be serviceable." The gray wolf from earlier appeared with a contract. "You had a contract just laying around even though you've never had a summoner?"
"It's a requirement for all us shinobi animals. Sign it in blood."
Shisui bit his finger and signed it. "Alright, I have to go, but before I do, one last question- how'd you get all those scars?"
"Hmph. Perhaps I will tell you later. What is your name, new Shoukan Sha no Okami?"
"Shisui Uchiha," he said darkly and spun his mangekyo.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto and Itachi were coming at each other with swords drawn. Just as they were about to clash blades, a puff of smoke appeared in front of them.
"Shit!" Shisui yelled as he saw two swords coming at him. Just in the nick of time, the two blades froze.
"Damn it, Shisui, why did you do that? Don't you know that trying to summon when you don't have a contract reverse summons you to another place?"
"Well, obviously not, but I think it went pretty well." He formed the appropriate hand signs and said, "Summoning Jutsu."
With yet another puff of smoke, a different wolf, this one a sleek black. Evidently, the wolves had spread the news of the summoning contract very quickly. "Shisui-sama, I am at your service," the wolf said with reverence. Shisui's companions looked on with jaws dropped.
"What's your name?"
"Sadzo."
"Thank you for your services, Sadzo, you may go. I just wanted to show you to my friends here." The wolf nodded and left.
Naruto and Itachi jumped on their friend. "DUDE WHAT THE FUCK HOW DID YOU GET THAT CONTRACT!?"
"I have my ways of persuasion," he said calmly and shot his cousin a look. Realizing what the look meant, Itachi frowned but didn't worry too much.
"Well," Zabuza broke in, "I guess we have two summons on the team now. So now that that interesting adventure is over, we all have something to talk about. Do you all know what's coming up in about a month?"
"Shisui's next period?"
"The first time Naruto talks to a girl?"
"Itachi's…fuck, I got nothing."
"Uh, no. It's the chunin exams."
"Ohhhhhhhh," the three said unanimously.
"Yeah, and obviously I'm nominating you. You guys are far above the normal genin level, and that's individually. As a team, you could take down a couple of ANBU if it came down to it. And that's without Naruto using his kyuubi mode. But it's not good enough to win this whole thing."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've been gathering as much information as possible on those entering, and it looks really tough. Here's what I know…"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Kakashi and Obito were just about to begin a spar when an ANBU appeared next to them.
"Hokage-sama orders that you report to his office in 45 minutes. Be prepared for a long journey."
The two veterans simply nodded and shunshined away to their homes to begin packing.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Precisely 44 minutes later, the two shinobi walked into Hiruzen's office, masks on and battle-ready. The old man wasted no time with formalities.
"The council and I have mutually agreed that in light of recent and upcoming events, Konoha could use more military allies. I have sent a message to the Kiri rebellion stating the terms of a deal- if we send you two to aid them in their war, they will form an alliance with us once the current Mizukage is overthrown. Not just any alliance either, but one that is very favorable to us: they will be obligated to aid us in any war we engage in, but we will not be obligated to aid them in a war of their own."
"Those are very one-sided terms," Kakashi commented. "They must be desperate."
"They are, and they realize what valuable assets you two are. Your mission, then, is to report to Mei Terumi at a village called Kamizan"- he stood up and gestured to a pin on a map on the wall- "which is the center of the rebellion's forces, and complete whatever objectives she asks of you. Any questions?"
Silence.
"Very good, be off at top speed immediately," the Hokage said neutrally.
Two nods and two shunshins later the old man was alone.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chunin exam arc begins NEXT CHAPTER! And it parallels the beginning of the pre-war arc, so two very important and exciting arcs begin next time around.
Rate and Review.
