Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Lesson Eleven
Mistakes and Consequences
x
Naruto barely had time to tuck his shoulder as he tumbled over and did a belly-flop to the floor. His shoulders creaked in pain as he pushed himself up. "I thought you said no jutsu," Naruto spat and blood speckled the ground. His ribs were complaining from the wind jutsu that had completely blindsided him.
"The rules are for students who pay attention," Tiger responded as he held his katana aloft before him and his other hand behind his back in a statuesque pose.
After an ANBU's agent first field mission they are assigned to an ANBU Captain's jurisdiction and mentorship. It was the Captain's choice and Naruto has yet to understand why Tiger chose him, and according to rumors, even fought Snake over him. Tiger could give Naruto specialized solo missions but it seemed that all Tiger liked to do was cut his students into pieces.
Naruto was about to pick himself up when Tiger slammed a foot down onto his back and Naruto's face kissed the floor.
"You're getting worse," Tiger sneered in disgust. With the help of his shadow clones Naruto had been improving his natural speed and skill with a katana exponentially but lately Naruto could hardly keep up with his new sensei's movements.
Naruto winced as he was pulled to his feet by the roots of his hair. Tiger looked Naruto up and down. There were multiple tears and blood-stained cloth.
Some ANBU have mastered the art of eradicating all emotion from their body language while others have mastered the art of projecting emotions into their voice. Tiger was the latter and even behind the mask, his words were an obvious mix of disdain, disgust, and revulsion. "Come back only if you want to die."
Tiger turned, the white coat he wore flapped against Naruto's face.
"What does that even mean?" Naruto asked but Tiger sat down in his meditative position with the katana across his legs. Naruto sighed as he combed his fingers through his hair. He had made only a few mistakes and then the pain in his body reminded him of the consequence. As he took a breath the wound on his side cut a knife of pain. He quickly went to the medic's ward to get bandaged up.
After a few months in ANBU, agents tend to develop a habit that can later turn into an obsession. Initially it begins as a way to cope until it turns to an outright crutch. Naruto didn't think he had one.
Freshly bandaged, battered, and bruised, Naruto was walking right back toward the training area. The only thing preventing Naruto from getting his usual twenty-four seven training regimen finished, thanks to shadow clones and his recent inability to get any sleep, was the tattoo that began to burn on his shoulder.
He activated the reverse summons and appeared into the Hokage's office, along with Owl, Butterfly, and Squid.
Naruto immediately took note of the foreign ninja, who wore a white mask with the cloud symbol of the Land of Lightning. An ANBU Captain, Cat, stood stoically between the foreign ninja and the Hokage, abandoning any pretense of trust.
"We've been commissioned by the Village Hidden in the Clouds," the Hokage replied. "Your target is Hishiki Nakagawa, the wealthiest landowner in the Land of Lightning."
Tsunade didn't need to see the expressions behind their mask to know the agents were a bit perplexed. "Nakagawa is very close with the Lightning Daimyo and has been advocating the abolition of ninjas to his service. Recently, his wife's family has suffered a death and the Nakagawa family is traveling to the Land of Waterfalls for the funeral. Since the Cloud Village is acting independently of their Daimyo they risk repercussions if the mission turns out badly, out of good faith the Land of Fire has decided to accept the mission."
The Cloud ANBU huffed, "Is it really necessary for them to know the details?"
"I want them to understand the gravity of the mission," the Hokage responded civilly. She didn't like her agents going into a situation blind and she knew that a certain stubborn-headed ninja would be less resistant if he knew some of the details.
"Because of Nakagawa's distrust of ninjas he has hired a retinue of samurai to escort him and his family. The target is Nakagawa but there cannot be any witnesses or any trace our involvement. Owl, here are the folders and the expected route Nakagawa will take." Tsunade turned to the Cloud ANBU, "Are you sure the information is correct?"
"We'd send our own ninja out with that information. Our sources are trustworthy. Are you sure your ninjas can handle it?"
"They are my elite, of course they can." The Hokage smirked as Owl retrieved the folders.
"Hokage-sama," Owl bowed and then turned to his comrades and said, "You know where to meet."
All four agents placed their forefingers to their tattoos and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"This looks like the best place," Owl decided as he looked at the map and back down at the mountainside road. Crow lounged flat against a tree branch as Owl explained the plan. "We're going to set up explosives along the side of the mountain. When they get in range we'll trigger the trap. Hopefully we'll be able to catch some of the samurai in the crossfires but it will definitely be enough to topple the wagon and allow us an open shot at Nakagawa."
Owl pulled out the crossbow he retrieved from the supply room. "Squid, you have the best aim so you will take the shot. Once we kill Nakagawa, the four samurai he has escorting him will most likely come after us. We'll lead them into another trap," Owl said as he slid his finger along the map. "Even if the samurai survive, they'll still be wounded and we should be able to take them out easily enough. If push comes to shove, samurai are masters at kenjutsu so it'll be best to hit them with ranged attaks than engage in close quarters combat. Once they are taken care of, mission complete."
But of course, everything was easier said than done.
"Squid and Butterfly will set up the explosives against the mountain. I'll set up the trap for the samurai. Crow will do recon."
"I can use my shadow clones and do more than that," Crow argued.
"Sorry, even I don't trust you with delicate explosives," Butterfly chimed in. "Let us take care of the traps."
"Crow, I want you to plant shadow clones all along the route and keep us updated on their progress. We need you to let us know when they're coming."
"Fine," Crow sighed. He wanted to do more to help but nevertheless he clasped his hands together into a hand seal, created twenty shadow clones, and disappeared into the forest. Squid, Owl, and Butterfly quickly went to work.
Crow sat atop the tree in sage mode as he sensed his quarry coming around the bend. The first thing that caught his attention was the fact that the capacity of a samurai's chakra coils resembled that of a civilian. The amount of their chakra was completely misleading compared to the yoroi armor and multiple weapons that they wore.
The shadow clone disappeared.
Crow jumped up as the information tunneled through his head. He activated the radio, "Owl?"
"Report," Owl's voice came through a cloud of static.
"The target just past checkpoint #5," Crow relayed the information from his shadow clone. "We have a visual confirmation on four samurai, each walking a corner of the wagon. There are also five people riding inside. The windows are covered with a curtain so I have yet to get a visual on the target."
"Copy. Comparing the space of time between your last report and this one, I've calculated that the target will be upon us in about five hours. Plenty time for us to finish setting up. Keep us updated if their speed changes."
"No problem," Crow released the radio button and sat back against the tree. He turned his eyes back towards the road.
"Crow!"
"CROW!"
"Dammit Naruto, where the hell are you?"
Crow was startled awake. The radio fell from his ear and hung over his shoulder. Crow's head was pounding with a load of new information.
Passed checkpoint #4.
Crow's eyes widened.
The target has been getting impatient and ordered the samurai retinue to speed up.
"Oh no," Naruto gasped, "No, No, No…"
Passed checkpoint #3.
Naruto scrambled for the earpiece.
Passed checkpoint #2.
"Owl?" Naruto asked shakily.
"Crow! Crow?"
"I'm here," Naruto whispered. His whole body was shaking in fear.
Owl let out a quivering sigh of relief. "I thought you were dead," a slight pause as Owl caught his breath. "What happened? How did they get past you?"
Naruto's voice caught in his throat, turned into a lump of disbelief and he began choking on the realization of what he had just done: Naruto Uzumaki fell asleep during a mission.
Naruto hadn't been able to get a solid night's rest for the past week. Why now? His answer came with the wicked rumbling in his stomach. Bark flew as Naruto slammed his head against the tree. "Shit."
But he didn't have time to dwell on the Fox right now. Naruto activated the radio, "What happened?"
"I was setting the traps when I was radioed by Butterfly that she and Squid have engaged the enemy. Both parties were completely caught by surprise. I circled around and I'm overlooking the situation now. They're staring each other down while Butterfly is weaving a lie why we're out here. I need you to get in position for a surprise attack."
"I'm on it," Naruto replied as he kicked off from the tree branches and navigated the forests with hurried ease.
"You reported five people inside of the carriage?"
"Yeah, I did." Naruto responded. "I'm sure about it, there were five."
"Two of your count was samurai riding inside. Our source of information was deceived. We're four against six," Owl explained. "Hurry and get your ass over here. The situation is getting worse very quickly."
Naruto got to a vantage point where he could survey the situation along the road.
"I swear to you, we're just investigating a murder that occurred close to here," Butterfly lied smoothly. Butterfly and Squid had their hands raised in the air, away from their weapons.
"You're Leaf Ninja," The commanding samurai noted with his katana poised towards their chest even though they stood the road's breadth apart, "in the Land of Sound?"
"They're lying," a man who matched the picture of the target shouted as he stuck his head out of the carriage, "Leaf has an alliance with Cloud! They want me dead!"
"We have no idea who you are," Butterfly tried to convince them.
"Don't believe their ninja lies! Kill the both of them." Nakagawa shouted.
The static crackled for a second before Owl's voice came over the radio. "Crow, go and activate the paper bombs now."
Crow jumped from the trees and channeled chakra to his feet to cling to the rocks. Crow stealthily crept along the mountainside just below the road.
"Butterfly, Squid," Owl whispered as he changed the radio frequency to all channels. "Crow is activating the paper bombs. Get ready to move. I'll take care of the target."
Naruto slammed a timed paper bomb atop others who were intricately patterned along the cliff. He activated sage mode as he pushed himself away from the cliff, grabbed a branch behind him, and flipped upwards. He pinpointed Owls' chakra signature.
Owl jumped as Crow appeared right at his side when the entire road exploded. Rocks tore from the ground and tumbled through the air. Smoke covered the area like a thick ominous cloud. A horse whinnied and there was the sound of a wagon overturning and falling to the ground.
The smoke did not obscure Crow's sage mode sensory abilities. He sensed that despite the explosions and the smoke, because the samurai had been at the other end of the road, the samurai quickly regained their composure and went after Squid and Butterfly.
"The others are in trouble," Crow reported as he jumped down into the fray without any hesitation.
"Crow wait," Owl called and slammed a hand against the rocks as Crow disappeared into the grey obscurity.
This mission was spiraling downward by the minute.
When the smoke cleared the battlefield was set. Squid was standing atop an ink lion that was growling at the two samurai who stood before him, and two Crow clones stood behind those samurai with a kunai pointed to the back of their necks. Butterfly held a bloody hand to her chest as she was crouched with a kunai in her other. The samurai Commander stood before her and another Crow stood with a katana to his back. There were three more samurai standing with weapons pointed at the previous Crow clones, with even more clones pointed at them.
The samurai commander, with a cross scar along his cheek looked at the situation. "Never trust a ninja," he grumbled. "At ease men, ninjas only travel in groups of three or four. The rest must be clones."
"Sir, I don't know about that. Feels pretty solid to me," One of the samurai gulped as he felt the metal tip of the kunai pressed against the exposed skin of his neck.
Before Crow could think of some ingenious plan to get Squid and Butterfly out of this safely, Takagawa yelled, "It must be a trick! Ninjas are lying deceiving bastards."
"My lord, get in the wagon at once there might be more-"
A kunai came whizzing from the mountain above and landed right at the base of Takagawa's neck. The woman that had been shivering beneath the wagon screamed as her husband fell down dead beside her.
Everything happened at once.
One of the samurai who stood before Squid slid a foot backwards, swiftly turned around and tore his katana straight through the flak jacket, but before the samurai could hear his opponent's last breath, a cloud of smoke erupted around his sword.
"They're just shadow clones!" the samurai yelled as Squid's ink tiger pounced and attacked the samurai from behind. Squid turned for the other samurai bracing for an attack.
At the samurai's revelation they all fearlessly turned to attacked the shadow clones which quickly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Looks like I found the real one," the samurai Commander smirked as his katana sliced through his opponent's arm and blood began to stain the uniform.
Crow took the cut along his shoulder gladly as he twisted around and put himself between Butterfly and the enemy.
In the corner of Crow's eye, Butterfly's left hand glowed green as she quickly tried to repair her right hand in order to create hand signals again.
Owl had jumped down on top of the wagon. He used the shadow that the wagon cast to capture two other samurai. The last assisted the Samurai Commander as they stalked towards Crow.
Owl studied his opponents as he ran several scenarios through his head. With a bitter thought, he realized how ill prepared they were to fight samurai. Close quarters combat was instant suicide unless you were a taijutsu master. Most of their standard weapons like the kunai were obsolete as the samurai were too heavily armored against a kunai's quick kill.
These were samurai, a dying breed from an age past, but they were survivors and had no doubt been trained in the art of killing ninja.
Owl flashed a series of hand signals, "Shadow-Neck Binding Jutsu."
The shadows crept up the legs of the samurai but did not get higher than their waists. Owl's eyebrow arched in frustration as he was suddenly pitted against wills as strong as forged steel. His opponents closed their eyes in meditation and Owl's technique faltered. He had never faced opponents whose mental faculties were so focused.
In a last ditch effort, he released the technique on one of the samurai and focused entirely on the one still underneath his jutsu. The shadow shot upwards past the chest and fumbled right before it reached the samurai's neck.
"We shall not fall for your mind tricks," the freed samurai replied as he kicked off from the dirt and jumped towards Owl. "For the first tenet of Bushido, our warrior's way, is rectitude!"
And Owl's way was the Will of Fire. One of the brightest minds of Konoha's focused all his mental strength and the dark claw wrapped around the samurai's throat in a vice grip, surpassing strangulation, and simply crushed the esophagus in a splash of blood.
The samurai's head rolled to the ground.
Owl released the jutsu and moved just in time to for the sword to barely missed Owl's neck, instead the blade cut deeply into his shoulder until it grazed bone. Owl jumped back as the samurai began to chase after him. In an attempt to lose the chakra inept samurai, Owl funneled chakra to his feet and ran right up the mountain.
"Ninja and their chakra," the samurai grumbled as he watched Owl climb higher and higher. Samurai might not have as much chakra as the average ninja, but they have spent a lifetime learning control over what they did have. The samurai cut into the mountainside with his katana. Channeling chakra into the blade, rock fissures raced up the mountain in multiple directions until it exploded. Rocks rained down and Owl fell as the dirt crumbled beneath his feet.
The samurai jumped up from rock to rock as the rocks plummeted downwards, quickly gaining onto his target. Owl barely deflected the attack with his own katana as their blades impacted mid-air. They landed backwards on falling rocks. Owl had sense enough to evade and dodge as a chase of cat and mouse commenced until both opponents had fallen to the ground. A bellow of thunder echoed through the mountain range underneath a clear blue sky.
"Shadow Sewing Jutsu," Owl shouted as soon as he landed.
Spikes of shadow erupted from underneath the samurai. Flashes of metal caught the sunlight as the samurai's blade twirled and cut through the spikes of shadow. One shadow spike successfully hit below the knee, another cut across his cheek, but the rest were destroyed by his katana.
The samurai yelled, "I will kill you and honor the death of my fallen comrade!"
Owl could feel his chakra reaching a dangerous low and the wound in his shoulder arced pain through his body. "Troublesome." Owl placed his hands together in preparation for what could possibly be his last jutsu.
The samurai knew when a ninja prepared their hand signs was the best opportunity to strike. Without hesitation the samurai pushed off from the ground and charged forward. The world seemed to slow as sweat dripped down Owl's forehead. Just as the samurai neared, Owl shifted just in time to avoid an instant fatality, but the forged metal slipped with ease through Owl's flesh.
The samurai smirked, knowing he had just inflicted a critical wound and had stopped the enemy's jutsu just in time.
If Owl wasn't wearing a mask, the smirk on Owl's face would have let the samurai know who truly won. Around the sword poking into his body, Owl clasped his hands together for the last hand seal. "Shadow Sewing Jutsu."
One single shadow needle shot up from Owl's own shadow. Like an unstoppable projectile it crashed through the Samurai's armor and struck cleanly through the heart. The samurai quickly realized he had been lured into a trap, that the ninja sacrificed his safety to draw the samurai in close. Blood fell from the samurai's lips with a contented smile, "This battle has been an honor."
The power of the jutsu's impact threw the samurai backwards, until he collapsed immovable against the ground in a clang of metal.
Suddenly Owl was thrown off his feet as a massive explosion occurred at the base of the mountain in the forest. He tried to pick himself up but his body felt as if he was moving through mud. He gave in and relaxed against the ground. There were clouds passing by overhead, always oblivious to the happenings that occurred underneath them.
Shikamaru could be thinking about his teammates, or the recent news that his mother confirmed he would soon be an older brother, or Temari and perhaps his own future family life, or death. But Shikamaru was thinking about absolutely nothing. No worries, no ingenious plan to get himself out of this situation, no epiphanies, and no moves ahead of moves ahead of moves. Simply nothing, and it was glorious.
A stream of blood flowed from the cracks of his fingers as he held his wound.
Crow held his katana aloft like his Sensei Tiger had taught him.
One of the samurai's scoffed, "This little ninja thinks he can go toe to toe with us kenjutsu masters. Ninjas are nothing if not arrogant."
The one with the cross-faced scar, the leader, gave no indication of his intentions. When he suddenly sliced through the air with his sword, Crow was completely caught off guard and barely deflected the blow with a mess of clumsy footwork. In the corner of his eye, the other samurai came forward with a naginata and the blade end shredded a fine tear through Crow's flak jacket.
Without hesitation Crow summoned his fox cloak and used the burst of speed to get behind the samurai commander. Crow brought his katana down diagonally until there was a sudden clash of metal. Crow rebounded backwards against his failed attack. The moment he landed, he sped towards the other samurai but no matter how much Crow danced around them with augmented speed, every single one of his attacks was calmly blocked as the samurai stood still in a defensive stance.
"Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu!" Butterfly shouted.
The samurai who held the naginata froze. He slowly turned toward his commander. "Sir, I'm sorry. I can't help myself. These ninjas… these bastards."
"Calm yourself and focus. We are stronger than they. They cannot control us," The Commander replied.
The samurai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then there was a mental battle between Butterfly and the samurai, like a tug-of-war between two strong and sharpened wills.
The Commander feinted towards Crow but turned towards Butterfly at the last minute who was trying to maintain her focus against an opponent with a pillar of focus she's never encountered before.
Crow reacted just in time to cut off the commander's attack, at the cost of a sword through his thigh. The commander stepped back as the red chakra cloak around Crow began to heal the wound at once.
"I see," the Commander observed, and in a flash of light, his weapons exploded in a blue flame of pure chakra.
Crow did the same and his blade was covered in a tornado of wind.
An explosion rumbled the ground as rocks began to fall from the sky. Crow and the commander attacked and dodged out of the way of raining rocks. The explosion of wind and chakra sounded like a bellow of thunder. Crow deflected an attack. He knew that any small mistake would be brutally exploited.
Everyone in the ninja world knew it was suicidal to mentally challenge a Yamanaka, even for the mentally astute strength of a samurai. Butterfly exploited the insecurities and doubts, fed on his fears and despair until the samurai's mental defenses were completely obliterated. The samurai turned into a reflection of a living corpse.
As Crow and the Commander fought, the possessed samurai turned with his spear point towards the battle and jumped into the fray. The Commander cursed as he was suddenly double-teamed.
Crow jumped back as the possessed samurai came forward to attack. Then there was the sound of metal through flesh. Crow froze as he watched the Commander put a blade through his own soldier.
"These ninja will not have your soul," the Commander replied as he gently placed his comrade on the ground.
Hurry and attack them. Butterfly projected urgently into Crow's head, but Crow could not bring himself to ruin the moment.
"Thank you for freeing me. Kill these bastards," the samurai responded as his eyes closed. The Commander laid his teammate to rest. The commander stood and raised his blade.
"You killed your own teammate," Crow responded hoarsely as he could not shake the image from his head. The calm and cool efficiency in which the deed was done chilled him to the bone.
"The same he would have done for me," The commander responded as he set his knees and readied his sword. "I admit that you are somewhat good but your speed is ineffective to my skill."
There was a sudden explosion of fire in the trees at the base of the mountain but neither opponent looked away from the battle, instead they focused on one another and any flex of the muscle or twitch that would give away their opponent's next move.
Crow, Owl is down. Butterfly suddenly projected into Crow's head.
"Go help him. I'll take care of this," Crow replied.
The samurai didn't move to prevent Butterfly as she carefully moved around him, her back never once to him. Finally, she reached the fallen Owl.
Crow and the last samurai encircled one another.
The samurai had cut through Squid's ink tiger and now Squid was surrounded by two samurai. They prowled towards him as Squid's foot stopped at the edge of the road. Without hesitation Squid flipped into the air. He pulled a scroll open and drew the image of a large hawk. Right before Sai impacted with the ground, the hawk cawed into the air and caught Sai with the end of his talons. Sai quickly upended the ink jar and it splashed down at the two samurai's feet.
A fathomless darkness of snakes slithered upwards and around the samurai's feet and legs. As they flailed and tried to cut through the sticky ink jets, Sai flipped upwards atop the hawk and produced a new jar of ink. He drew two projectile bats, attached a paper bomb, and they shot towards the samurai's faces.
One of the samurai stepped up, channeled chakra through his sword and arced it through the air. An arc of chakra rushed up to meet the bats. They crashed together in a large explosion that forced the samurai backwards as the snakes still attempted to restrain them, forced the hawk to scatter in a cloud of ink, and forced Squid backwards into the air.
Squid crashed through the trees below and landed heavily against his back. As he looked up, the mountain looming overhead suddenly exploded in a shower of raining rocks.
Eventually the samurai were able to work together and cut each other free from the snakes. Deciding they couldn't let the ninja get away, they quickly slid down the cliff-face with a literal hole blown into the side of it from the explosions earlier.
"He's running," one of the samurai, who wore a swastika necklace, noted as he caught onto the trail.
"Just like a ninja to abandon their comrades," the other younger samurai noted.
The older samurai responded silently, "Do not underestimate them. It might not be one of honor, but these ninja do have a code of their own."
The younger samurai huffed as he ran to try to catch up to the retreating ninja. Both samurai stopped when they came upon the ninja standing across the field with a burning paper bomb in his fingers.
"A trap," the younger samurai breathed, "How? There was no time to-"
The older samurai didn't reply as he invoked the virtue of courage and stampeded forward. The younger samurai clutched the grip of his katana and followed suit with a bellowing roar.
Squid threw the paper bomb forward and activated the trap that Owl had set up earlier.
The clearing went up in a plume of fire. The surroundings trees were scorched and the smoke could hereafter be seen for miles. Squid could feel the heat through his uniform.
Then a shadow came out of the fire. No one accounted for the fact that a samurai's armor protected against flames that would have instantly turned a ninja to ash.
Squid didn't get out of the way in time.
The blade sliced across Squid's abdomen. Instinctively, Squid pulled out of his jar of ink and splashed it across the burnt samurai's face. The ink turned into small snakes that crept through the crevices of the armor and bit every patch of skin they could find.
The samurai died without a sound.
The flames died down, revealing the other samurai's burnt scraps of armor fallen at the edge of the ring of dead fire. The body encased by the armor had burnt and shriveled. Even when the armor fell, it looked as if it had continued to crawl forward, until the end.
Squid collapsed against a tree as his intestine spilled from his body. He pulled the mask from his sweaty face and it fell in a patch of untouched grass.
Sai wanted to feel the sun's warmth on his skin. When Danzou had appointed him to Naruto's team, the first thing that had startled Sai in comparison to Root's dark underground base, was the warmth of the sun.
It danced on his skin like the touch of a smile. It was the sound of peace that thrummed through a heart. It was the warmth next to a fireside with teammates that cared. It was the first time Sai had felt alive.
You could never capture that in a painting.
"Ino, stop crying."
It was getting harder for Ino to see as the tears gathered behind her mask. She managed to get to Shikamaru in time but the fear had stopped her heart. Ino and Shikamaru had literally been best friends since they were born, predestined by the alliance of two clans and the friendship between two fathers.
"You should be stabilized until we get back to Konoha," Ino said softly as she bandaged Shikamaru's chest. Shikamaru gave a weak smile as he clutched one of Ino's hands and rested his head in her lap. Shikamaru could comfortably fall into unconsciousness, knowing Ino would keep him safe.
"This is for my husband!" A sudden screech and pain flashed into Ino's back.
With the fury of an erupting volcano, Ino's hands went through a flurry of hand signs before she turn and clutched her hands against a woman's forehead.
Ino saw nothing but red. She said as if smoke was seething from her mouth, "Mind destruction jutsu."
As if a paper bomb was lodged inside the woman's brain, the civilian's head exploded, raining blood all over Ino. Now Ino was shaking in fury as her hair was drenched with fried brain. She reached behind her and threw the stick of wood out the back of her shoulder blade.
A large explosion of chakra.
Ino jumped before Shikamaru's limp body as they were thrown backwards against the wagon.
The large explosion in the middle of the forest rustled Crow's blonde hair as the two opponents circled each other, looking for any holes in the other's defenses.
Then hands suddenly clawed up from the ground and attached around the samurai's ankles. Crow shot forward, with red claws grown out of his cloak with a rasengan in each clawed hand.
Unable to escape the unexpected trap, the samurai stilled and looked death in the eye. As the twin rasengan and Crow came closer, the samurai's katana flared with a blaze of chakra. The two blades clashed. The rasengans hit their mark. The resulting explosion caused a tornado of chakra that whipped through the air.
Crow's uniform was torn to shreds. Cuts of blood that were quickly healing dotted his body. The only item that did not suffer any damage, not so much as a scratch was the mask that he wore. Crow picked himself up and found his opponent, one of the most skilled kenjutsu users he has ever met lying motionless on the ground.
Crow limped over and found his opponent still alive. The samurai's breathing was slowing as he looked up into the emotionless mask of his killer.
"I'm sorry," Crow said softly, "If we had met under any other circumstances, then- I-"
The samurai smiled at the vastness of emotion he found in the voice behind the cold mask. "It has been years since a samurai or ninja has beaten me." He coughed. "In the end, the way of the warrior is death."
The last of the samurai succumbed to death. In all, the fight only lasted a few minutes.
Naruto turned his head when a symphony of terrified screams filled the air. Ino was pulling the last civilian from behind the wagon. Ino said in a cold voice, "I guess we're going to have to kill her."
"She's a civilian," Naruto said with steel in his voice.
"We can't leave any witnesses. If things had gone to plan, the civilian would not have seen us and we could have left them alone. But this turned out into one big giant mess," Ino explained with a shake of her head, "We have to kill her."
"Please no." The young woman cried as she tried to pull from Ino's grip. "Please, you monsters! Monsters!"
Ino flipped a kunai in her hand. Red chakra surged around Naruto. Before the kunai could cut across the young woman's neck, Naruto had gripped his hand securely around Ino's wrist.
"We have to," Ino told Naruto more gently as a flash of red tinged Naruto's eyes.
"No. We could- we could-" Naruto searched for an answer. His eyes widened when he found one. He looked at Ino with a smile, "You could erase her memory."
"Any ninja will be able to tell her head's been interfered with."
"Like who? Like the ones who employed us?" Naruto answered quickly.
Ino narrowed her eyes. "Good point." Ino never thought she'd ever say that to Naruto. "I'll do it. Just let me go. You're hurting me."
Naruto's hand shot away from her in alarm. He didn't miss the bruise forming around her wrist where he gripped her. It was all he could suddenly stare at.
"I don't see the point," Ino grumbled, "We leave her out here by herself without her memory and at the mercy of bandits. Not all good intentions are right. What if she does survive? She'll always be wondering what happened. It'll eat away at her insides until she's a hollow shell of paranoia and distrust." Ino said softly as the woman screamed when Ino placed her hand along the woman's forehead.
"So you're saying it would better that we kill her?" Naruto argued with a bitter frown.
"There are fates worse than death," Ino replied as she gathered her focus and went to work on the civilian's brain.
Naruto crossed his arms as he looked around at the decimated landscape. "Where's Sai?" Naruto questioned. He stood still, gathered nature chakra, and entered sage mode. He searched his surroundings for Sai's chakra signature.
Naruto couldn't breathe and the fear was beginning to choke him.
From Ino's point of view, Naruto disappeared from where he was standing. Ino caught a glimpes of the horrified expression on Naruto's face and already knew what Naruto has yet to accept.
Ground was upturned and the trees bowed in his haste as Naruto went straight toward the site of the large explosion of fire he had felt earlier.
"Sai?" Naruto shakily called as he surveyed the burnt battlefield. He spotted a figure slumped against a tree, a hand clutched a wound at his stomach, and the head bowed in stillness. Naruto called Sai's name, as if simply rousing someone from sleep.
Naruto reached out and touched his friend. Sai responded with silence. He could hear the absence of a heartbeat, could smell the beginnings process of rot, could taste the stream of salty tears that touched his lips. But he didn't believe it.
Ino let the unconscious woman fall onto the ground after she finished the jutsu. As she turned to check on Shikamaru's progress, the only warning she had of Naruto's arrival was a strong gust of wind that shoved her backwards to the ground.
"Ino," Naruto cried as Ino's arm was suddenly pulled forward, "You have to heal Sai. He's hurt. He's not moving."
Ino didn't have to check for a heartbeat to know. All she had to do was look at the severity of the wound. "Naruto," Ino struggled but helpless as Naruto pulled her to her knees over Sai.
"Fix him," Naruto demanded with a trembling voice.
"Naruto, Sai is dead," Ino said softly as she put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "But Shikamaru is alive and we need to get him to a hospital," Ino words bounced right off Naruto's ears.
Naruto stared numbly down at the corpse at his feet. His disbelief broke into shattered pieces of glass as all his senses but his mind told him it was true. Sai was dead. And, "it's all my fault."
There was an amused chuckle in the pit of his stomach.
Anger filled every fiber of Naruto's being and red chakra flared around him like a beacon. "Damn you!" Naruto cursed as poisonous chakra whipped through the air. "Damn! Damn!" Naruto cried as clawed hands slammed into the ground and the resulting ripple of force uprooted plants and brought the mountain to its knees.
Ino was paralyzed before the massive killing intent, but when the entire mountain threatened to collapse and take Shikamaru with it, she acted quickly. Pulling out a paper bomb she threw it at Naruto's feet. The ground broke apart with an explosion and Naruto fell.
He landed to the ground on all fours and five red chakra tails.
Naruto was tired and done with putting up with the Fox any longer. It was ruining his life, and slowly ruining the lives of everyone around him. The Demon Fox was like a poison and it contaminated Naruto's life and everything that he touched.
Six chakra tails.
He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't let his friends suffer because of what he carried inside of him.
Seven chakra tails.
"Why me? What the fuck did I ever do to you?" Naruto screamed as he literally shoved his claws into the black seal. Naruto couldn't breathe as he attempted to claw the demon fox out of his stomach and out of his life.
Eight chakra tails.
FINALLY! The Kyuubi roared as his shape was almost complete.
"NO!" Naruto bellowed as his senses suddenly returned with the Kyuubi's voice. The world had enough problems. He refused to let it deal with the Kyuubi as well. If truth be told, Naruto would have denied the Demon Fox just to piss it off, the world hanging in the balance aside.
"Fuck you," Naruto forced through gritted teeth as the number of tails began to gradually decrease.
He soon found himself in the center of what looked like a meteor crater. His body was sensitive to the ruined ground underneath him as skin and muscle gradually began to heal from the poisoned chakra.
But the grief was still there.
This is far from over.
Sometimes Naruto wanted to melt his brains out.
Ino carried Shikamaru on her back as she trudged down the road. Physical strength wasn't her strong point and she could not take to the trees because of his weight. Ino turned at the sound of boots hitting the road.
Ino didn't care that Naruto looked like shit or that he wasn't wearing any clothes except for a mask in his hand and a pair of pants that obviously came off a dead samurai. "Get Shikamaru to the hospital, now," Ino demanded, without a flinch, of the man she had just seen almost turn into a gigantic demon fox.
Naruto made a shadow clone, took Shikamaru from her arms, and the clone sped off in a jet of red chakra. "He should be there in little over an hour."
Ino sighed in relief and took an exhausted pause on the side of the road. Ino looked up, "Done crying like a dramatic little girl?"
"I didn't-"
"That mountain doesn't even exist anymore," Ino said, "so much for not leaving any evidence."
"Oh," Naruto somehow hadn't noticed the mountain was missing, even when he left clones behind to clean up. "Did you manage to save-" Naruto trailed uncomfortably as he couldn't complete the sentence.
"To save Sai's body?" Ino questioned. "No, you burned his body."
Naruto stared at his feet as a shaky hand combed through his hair. He just didn't have any more emotion in him. He had already cried all of his anger and grief. He felt empty.
"'It's my fault,'" Ino whispered as she stood up. "That's what you said. What did you mean by that?" Naruto flinched as he felt Ino's eyes on him. "Explain something to me Naruto," Ino smiled sweetly but Naruto could see it was nothing of the sort, "How did we get caught by surprise?"
Naruto grumbled an answer.
"I'm sorry I didn't hear you. What was that?" Ino asked as she leaned down and forced Naruto's haunted blue eyes to stare at her.
"I- I fell asleep."
"YOU WHAT?" The rage that overcame Ino's face was quicker than the blink of an eye.
Naruto's head hit the bark of a tree and Ino's horrific scowl was all Naruto saw as she wrapped her hands around his neck. "You fell asleep? Not even a genin will make such a stupid and idiotic mistake as fucking falling asleep!"
Her nails dug into his neck. "You better come up with a better excuse because I swear- Shikamaru almost died because of your mistake! Sai did die! I swear Naruto I'll kill you now and tell everyone a samurai did it because," Ino tried to squeeze all her anger into crushing Naruto, but as Naruto gasped for breath and his face turned blue, her fingers loosened.
Ino screamed in frustration in his face. Naruto's sensitive hearing collapsed under her voice. "I-" Naruto turned his head, unable to hear his own voice, "the Kyūbi…"
"So you're blaming this on that demon?" Ino snarled.
"No," Naruto cried. "I blame myself."
When Naruto and Ino finally arrived in Konoha, exhausted, they entered through the secret ANBU entrance. The shadow clone had already reported back that Shikamaru was stabilized and would make a full recovery. Ino and Naruto went their separate ways. Ino walked towards the hospital and Naruto walked towards the training area.
Naruto got a few curious stares as several agents stared at him with only a mask and pants. Others simply shrugged him off. Naruto begrudgingly took a detour to his room to put on some clothes and then back towards the training area.
He walked in and spotted Tiger in his usual pose. Naruto walked with a determined stride toward his sensei and withdrew his katana.
"Come to die?" Tiger asked without opening his eyes or making any movements.
"Perhaps," Naruto whispered. His hands hadn't stopped shaking since his near transformation.
Without any warning, Tiger struck.
It was perhaps one of the most stupidest decisions of Naruto life. Just coming from a mission, his body was already exhausted and in too much pain to move. He barely had the mental faculties to focus on any form of defense if he even wanted to put one up. If there was anyone in the world that could and would kill him it would be Tiger.
As the metal sword came towards him, Naruto realized suddenly that he didn't want to die. He had things he wanted to do. Orphanages to build and kids to adopt. He had a dream to make the world a better place even if it was only a small part of it.
Somewhere Naruto found the strength. His form was perfect, his feet moved perfectly, and the angle so precise, Tiger's blade twisted from his hand.
Tiger crossed his arms. "Congratulations. Finally, no mistakes."
Tiger held out his hand and with a brush of wind chakra, his blade returned. "Now we will work on that bastard wind chakra of yours," Tiger grumbled. "It's the worst control of elemental jutsu I've ever seen."
Naruto was too dazed to even respond to his words, "Wait, what?"
"You treat wind as if its fire, as if you're meant to be flashy and explosive." Naruto felt a cool breeze wrap around him, but there was clearly a deadly intent underneath. "Wind is subtle and sharp. It is speed and precision. It can be a gale of wind or a gentle breeze." Sensei Tiger continued as he readied his sword, "Other than that red chakra kekkai genkai you have, everything about you is untrained."
"Stand up," Tiger demanded when he could see that Naruto hardly had the strength to hold aloft his sword. "You came here to release that anger of yours. Then fight," Tiger shot forward but this time as Naruto prepared to parry, his legs were suddenly pulled from beneath him by a gust of wind. "Or die."
Naruto picked himself up as he focused on the adrenaline of the battle, and all that other stuff, for a time, didn't matter anymore. For every mistake he received a new bruise or wound. Perfection never came without mistakes.
Naruto limped home. Without thought he crept to the window and slid into his living room.
"Shit!"
Naruto jumped as he turned and saw Tomu who had fallen to the floor in fear. Tomu had been cooking dinner while a clone was sitting in the dinner chair reading a book on seals. The cloned quickly got up from the chair and said, "Its okay. Tomu, it's just me."
Naruto blinked, the events of the day caused him to completely forget he was living with someone else. He should have used the window connected to his bedroom.
Tomu peaked over the table, "But… but…"
Naruto took the mask off and Tomu's eyes widened. "You're covered in blood."
"Yeah," Naruto said softly as he hurried for the bathroom and shut the door behind him.
Tomu looked at the clone, "That was the real Naruto?"
"I'm not going to worry you every time I go on a mission," the clone said staring after the door. "Something happened," the clone responded, "something really bad." The clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Wait," Tomu called out, "You're not going to leave me with- with- that?"
Naruto heard Tomu's shouting from the shower and couldn't help but to shiver as he scrubbed the blood away from his skin. All the wounds he had suffered were healed, not a scar in sight. Even though there were no external scars didn't mean there were none at all. Naruto held a hand to his stomach, slid against the shower, and all the events of the mission flashed before his eyes – what he could have changed and what he could have done differently.
Suddenly there was a knock on the bathroom door.
"Dinner is ready!" Tomu's voice called. Naruto looked at the door in disbelief. He picked himself up, threw on pajamas and dragged himself out of the bathroom.
"I made ramen," Tomu said as Naruto collapsed into the chair. Tomu noted how the atmosphere had changed so drastically from just a few moments ago when he was with the other Naruto. "I'm never going to get used to these shadow clones," Tomu said probably one too many times since he had begun living here.
"Why aren't you eating? I thought ramen was your favorite?"
Naruto looked down at the ramen, and suddenly he was flavoring it with tears.
"What happened?" Tomu asked softly.
"I made a mistake," Naruto said hoarsely.
A soft silence enveloped the two boys.
"Well, its simple," Tomu pointed out, "Don't make that mistake ever again."
Naruto shook his head. He would gladly carry the burden of the Kyuubi's voice if it meant he would never make that mistake again. "Believe me, I never will."
Tomu got an idea. He jumped from the table and shuffled in the kitchen cabinets, a part of the house literally unknown to Naruto, and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. "Here."
Naruto frowned. "Where did you get that from?"
"I stole it." Tomu shrugged.
Naruto jerked upwards in concern. "You can't steal things."
"It's fine. I just took it from one of the Dragon's bars. It's like the story. Steal from the bad and give to the poor," Tomu explained as he poured Naruto and himself a cup of sake. "Besides, now that I'm living with you they haven't touched me at all. They're more scared of you than the Hokage."
Naruto pouted as he held the cup of sake. He drank it quickly and Tomu followed suit. Tomu leaned against the table as he watched Naruto quickly finish the entire bottle of sake but marveled how it hardly affected him.
"So…" Tomu said softly, "You kill people."
Naruto frowned bitterly but nodded in concession, "I kill people."
Nanami Nakagawa woke up with a grinding headache. She slowly opened her eyes as the wagon wheel screeched around the rusted hinge.
"Dad?" She called. "Mom?"
She looked around in fear and the twenty three year old woman stumbled the wild, forest and hills of rocks around her. She looked around wondered what happened to their samurai guard or her parents or the road. Tears slid down her face as she trembled and sat down in the dirt. She was all alone, as if she was the only person left in the whole world.
"Are you okay?"
Nanami screamed as she shuffled backwards against the overturned wagon. She peeked her eyes open and stared up at a smiling stranger, brown hair done up in a top knot.
"I don't where I am. I was traveling with my family but they're gone," she said softly.
"Maybe I can help you?" the stranger suggested. "What happened?"
"I was traveling with my family to my aunt's funeral in the Land of Waterfalls but… but… something happened. Maybe I fell out and hit my head but... I can't remember."
"Well, it's not safe to stay out here. There are bandits. I was headed to the Land of Waterfalls for some business. You can travel with me and I can take you to your family there?"
"Maybe," she said softly, "Maybe we just got separated." Nanami stood up. "Thank you so much I don't mean to be a burden."
"Nonsense," the stranger smiled.
"Nanami Nakagawa," Nanami introduced herself.
"Oh I'm… Iraiya," Iraiya smiled as the two set off down the road.
The young woman looked at her escort suspiciously, "You're not scared of any ninjas?"
"Ninjas aren't anything to be a scared of," Iraiya grinned as he leaned toward the girl as if to whisper a secret, "I'm a Sage."
"Oh my," the girl gasped, "You don't look like a holy person."
Iraiya nodded with a drawn expression to look wise, "You see, Sages have the ability to cross borders without being pestered by silly ninja. Ninjas don't mess with us."
"I'm so lucky you were passing by," the girl breathed in relief, her peace of mind settled by the fact she was traveling with someone respectable. "My dad always said ninjas were extremely dangerous."
"Why would he say that?" Iraiya asked curiously.
"He believes the reason why the world is so dangerous right now is because the Daimyo employ ninjas. Back when samurai reigned there were hardly that many wars or deaths at all. Battles were fought with honor back then."
"I'm sure not all ninja are bad. They don't have a choice but to accept the job."
Nanami looked at him with muted anger, "There is always a choice."
Iraiya shook his head. "Have you ever considered a choice between what? In a hidden village civilians born with enough chakra become ninjas because after they die their family is secured and taken care of. No other profession offers that kind of security. Ninjas from clans continue in their proffession because they have to protect each other from those who would want to steal the special abilities they were born with. Have you ever considered that it is a choice between wanting to protect their families, like I'm sure your father wants to protect you?"
Nanami stopped and frowned. "My father also warned me against holy men. He says they're so keen to want to change your mind."
Iraiya smiled brightly. "It's just been my experience that every side has a story."
It took them three days to reach the border of the Land of Waterfalls and another day to reach the village where the rest of Nanami's family lived.
The town came over the horizon as they neared the gate. A large river flowed passed, connected to the large waterfalls roaring in the distance.
"Thank you so much," Nanami blushed as she came to the end of their long journey. She couldn't help but to remember how Iraiya gave her his tent and cooked her dinner and carried her when she felt her feet could no longer go on. She quickly dove in and stole a kiss.
Iraiya blushed as he scratched behind his hair. "Be careful, are you sure you don't need any more help?"
"I'm fine." Nanami smiled. She waved as Iraiya grinned and turned back down the road. Smoke rose up over the horizon.
"Do you need help looking for someone?" the gatekeeper, a ninja who wore the symbol for the Village Hidden in the Waterfalls, asked as Nanami turned around.
She immediately turned with a scathing expression. "I don't need any stupid ninjas help. I can find my family just fine without you."
The ninja at the gate raised an eyebrow, "Sort of funny how you hate ninja considering the company you keep."
"What do you mean?" Nanami asked confused and distrustful.
"The man that escorted you here, he was a ninja."
"No he wasn't. He was just a traveling Sage."
The ninja chuckled, "That man had chakra coils large enough for an entire ninja army. If he's a Sage then he came by the title with senjutsu and not just with prayers."
Nanami whipped around, speechless. "But… why?"
"Ninjas have hearts too."
"One of the samurai knew a little genjutsu. That's why Crow never saw them coming."
Naruto was shaken out of his numb stupor at Shikamaru's words. The moment Shikamaru was healed enough to walk they were to report immediately to the Hokage and Naruto knew he would be in trouble. Naruto could only stare at Shikamaru as if another face was growing from his neck.
The Hokage sighed deeply as she stared at the report and her gathered intelligence. She looked at all three of her agents. "Do you know what this sounds like? This sounds like bullshit."
The moment the Hokage said those words he knew he was done for. The Hokage signaled toward the window and the ANBU always gaurding the Hokage immediately locked the entire office with a privacy jutsu.
"Masks off, all of you." the Hokage demanded. The moment she saw the expressions on their faces she knew. "Naruto what the hell did you do? Why are they covering for you at the cost of their careers? Why is my intelligence division getting reports that the Sound government thinks we're planning to invade them because there have been sightings of the nine-tailed fox in their borders? If we didn't have one of your shadow clones to prove you've been in the village the whole time this could have been a disaster." The Hokage could only rub her forehead. "I said no evidence left behind. Be subtle. Be," the Hokage groaned, "less Naruto."
Naruto dried his sweaty palms on his pants and replied, "I take full responsibility."
"Of course you damn will once someone tells me what really happened," The Hokage demanded.
Shikamaru recounted the entire mission accurately this time and then replied afterwards, "I am the squad leader and it is my responsibility for the results of the mission."
Ino crossed her arms. "I'm not taking responsibility for this shit."
The Hokage was literally at a loss. She didn't even reach for the alcohol because she needed her thoughts straight for this.
There have been a few of Naruto's missions that have proven he could be one of the greatest agents she's ever had, and then a situation comes along and destroys all his potential. What kind of ninja goes to sleep on a mission?
That sort of mistake cost a ninja's career. The problem was there was no way in hell she could revoke Naruto's ninja license. The elders would be breathing down her back, the villagers had begun to rely on Naruto for the villager's safety, the Daimyo would ask questions, and the other villages would be watching her like a hawk ready to swoop down on a piece of prey. Naruto was a born weapon and nowhere was that more obvious in the Hokage's final decision.
"I'm putting you on probation."
"Shouldn't he be kicked out of ANBU or something?" Ino couldn't help but to ask.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. It was the same reason he had covered for Naruto and should have predicted the Hokage would come to the same conclusion: The pros outweighed the cons.
"What does probation mean?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Whatever I feel like it means," the Hokage snapped. "All of you, dismissed."
They put their masks back on and left the office.
"Thanks," Naruto muttered, "for trying to-"
Shikamaru whirled around. "Shut up, just shut up. Just-" Shikamaru pointed at Naruto, "don't make me regret it."
"I promise," Naruto said hoarsely, "I swear to you it won't happen again."
Shikamaru sighed. "I turned in my papers for reassignment. Since I can't go back on the field for a while I've being assigned to the Village Hidden in the Sand to help organize their famine crisis." Shikamaru patted his good hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Good luck."
Naruto watched as Shikamaru hunched his back, could only slip one hand in his pocket because of the sling, and disappeared down the hall.
"Don't think we're done quite yet," Ino seethed into his ear. "Meet me at Choji family's restaurant for dinner. You're paying."
Naruto gulped.
He was anxious as he walked into the BBQ restaurant and spotted Ino sitting in a booth to the far right corner. Naruto sighed as he gathered his courage and sat across from Ino.
Ino crossed her arms, but didn't say anything until a waitress came to take their order. Ino ordered everything on the menu. With a sweet and charming smile she sent the waitress away and turned to Naruto with the face of a lioness.
"After I calmed down a bit, I realized that what you did out there, wasn't you. You've always been protective of your friends and would never make a mistake like that. What happened," Ino leaned forward, "What is wrong with you?"
Naruto twitched underneath her gaze but it pulled the truth from his lips. "I haven't been able to sleep lately and it negatively affected the mission."
Ino frowned. "That's what sleeping pills are for. Haven't you asked Sakura? She makes some really effective ones."
"I have," Naruto said frustrated. "But they don't- It's like alcohol- I'm not affected by it," Naruto mumbled softly.
Ino arched an eyebrow. "Really?" She waved over a waitress who served Ino as if she was a most honored patron. "Some sake for us too," Ino smiled.
"Right away," the waitress said as she turned for the bar.
"How does it work?" Ino demanded.
"I… I'm not sure."
Ino frowned and you never wanted to make the princess frown. Naruto gulped and quickly replied, "It's sort of how I heal so fast. My body attacks the weird substances as if it was constantly healing itself. That's how I've sort of make sense of it," Naruto said, "The hospital has a more detailed report. Painkillers don't last very long with me either."
"And all this is because of the nine-tailed fox?" Ino asked curiously.
Naruto looked away from her. "Sort of. We kind of had an argument and in retaliation he hasn't been letting me sleep."
"An argument?" Ino asked curiously "You can talk to the thing?"
"Look Ino, I don't really want to talk about this."
"No," Ino snarled. Then the waitress came and placed the sake bottles on the table. Ino shoved the bottle towards Naruto's chest. "No, because of you we almost died and I want to know what is the fucked up shit in your head that put my life in danger." She leaned back. "I thought you had that thing under control."
"I separated the Kyūbi from its chakra but we're still mentally connected. When we don't agree, he sends images that keep me from sleeping." Naruto combed shaky fingers through his hair. "He's like a devil on my shoulder. It's a nightmare Ino," Naruto whispered, "and the worst part is knowing that I'm stuck with him for the rest of my life. It was my weakness that allowed him to get to me and cause all this mess."
Ino sat back in thought. "It's a he?"
Naruto sighed. "Not exactly."
That piqued Ino's interest. "How so?"
Naruto's shoulders drooped as he explained. He already had to deal with the Demon Fox every second of his life, the last thing he wanted to do was talk out loud about it. "The Kyūbi is a demon and demons don't have a gender, according to the Fox. He is a he because that is how my mind projects him. 'It' would describe the Nine-tails more accurately. If it so chooses it can be a he, she, or both."
"And what are you planning to do about it?"
"I don't know if-"
"That's not what I wanted to hear. Naruto, you have to deal with this or it's only going to happen again." Ino eyes narrowed, "and you better fucking deal with it. In my opinion, I think the Demon Fox is half your problem. The other half, you have yet to figure out how to cope with the pressures of your new job."
The waitresses came and delivered dinner to the table.
Ino smiled. "Let's eat."
Naruto watched as Ino tasted and enjoyed just one bite from every plate they brought to the table. "I'm sorry Ino."
"Spare me." Ino said. "I'm just trying to help the next person that's stuck with you."
"Oh," Naruto sighed as he stared at the untouched bottle of sake. "What does that mean?"
Ino rotated a pair of chopsticks in her noodles. "I'm transferring full time to the T&I Division."
"Because of me?" Naruto whispered.
Ino arched an eyebrow. "You may be the "hero" of the village but not everything is always about you. I am tired." Ino looked at her food with a bitter frown, "It is far more easier to destroy a mind than to heal it."
It was sunny. Naruto wished it was raining, or even storming, but the world refused to match his mood.
There wasn't a funeral. As someone in Root and then later in ANBU, Sai knew very few people and a funeral procession would have been pointless.
Sakura and Naruto stood before Sai's gravestone. Sakura hiccupped and wiped her eyes as she gently placed a ring of flowers and a decorative ink bottle before the grave.
Naruto gripped his offering tightly as he walked forward and stared at the name of the friend he had killed. Naruto wanted to apologize but knew apologies were futile. Naruto hadn't known how he could possibly live with himself, until he walked into Sai's room and was surrounding by sketches. All the emotions that Sai had struggled to show on his face were in his paintings. All of their happy memories that they had ever experienced were reflected in the black and white images. Tears slid down Naruto's cheeks.
It was a group image of Sai, Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, and Yamamato together. Naruto had framed it. He placed the sketch carefully before Sai's gravestone.
Naruto has made many mistakes, some because of the Kyūbi, but most because of himself. As Naruto stood before Sai's headstone he knew what his greatest mistake in life had been. Naruto would always regret wasting his early ninja career chasing after someone who did not want to be found, refused to come home, and did not want to be saved. Sasuke had been a waste of time.
You never realize what you have, never see the ones that are there, until it's too late.
Team Seven was always complete.
x
You could never capture that in a painting
AN: Updated 06/21/14