Chapter 12:
Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes. He closed them at the bright light and realized that the sun was up, meaning he'd been out all night long.
Kyu you okay? Naruto thought.
Kyu?
Naruto sat up blinking when he didn't get a response.
He looked around and saw he was in his bed inside the temple. He saw he was still wearing his pants and he dug around for a shirt and pulled it on when he hit the door and went and saw Mica still unconscious in his own bed. Naruto went thru the temple corridors and his eyes found Master Kwai sitting on his cushion sipping his tea.
Naruto blinked seeing a tall man outlined in blue, and he could see thru him. the man had to bee at least six foot eight. He had long red hair and his clothes here black. He wore a robe that was a red-brown that reminded Naruto of fox fur.
The man turned to Naruto and he smirked.
"Kyu?" Naruto asked seeing the red eyes with the slits. The man nodded and Naruto saw he had a trimmed beard and mustache (think of Obi-wan's style)
"Hey kit." Kyu said, his voice still deep. "Sleep well?" the shade asked.
"Wh-How…" Naruto blinked. "Why are you human?"
Kyu chuckled and looked at Kwai. "It is my fault I am afraid. I wasn't focused on the form I would use." Kyu admitted.
"It is my fault actually Naruto-san." Kwai admitted. "I neglected to inform you and Kyuubi-sama that he would need to pick his form. Since he didn't and you were his host, his shade is human."
Naruto blinked. "C-can you become a fox still?" he asked.
Kyuubi sighed. "We made a few mistakes kit. I'm out of you, you still have my chakra, and I'm stuck like this." He gestured to himself with a gloved hand.
Naruto came closer and reached out and found his hand passing thru Kyu. "You're a ghost."
"Shade. I can use Vunla with no problems…well it took me almost all night to move a tea cup, but I should be back up to par by the end of the week and ready to train you and Mica in the way of the Zate."
Naruto looked at the shade before him. "I messed up. Your like this forever…"
Kyuubi sighed and looked at Kwai. "You did nothing wrong kit. This was no way your fault." Kyuubi said.
"Kyuubi-sama, what do you plan on doing with them?" Master Kwai asked sipping his tea.
"I will need you to open a portal for me. I'm taking them to the Underverse. I need to take them to the demon graveyard and begin their training in the ways of the Zate."
"How will you return?" Kwai asked a hint of concern in his voice for the two boys he'd come to care for over the last seventeen months.
"I know people on the other side. A few owe me. When its time we shall return." Kyuubi looked at Naruto.
"We'll leave at the end of the week kit. Rest up. Once we cross over your training begins again, and our dynamic will change once again."
"W-What do you mean Kyu?" Naruto asked.
"You, and Micahamaru will be my apprentices, or Byty in the old tongue. In turn you will call me Master."
Naruto frowned at that.
"Don't give me that look kit. Senpai, Sensei, Master are all forms of respect. While you are my Byty, I am your teacher, and you are my apprentices. I will teach you both all I know."
Naruto sighed. "I just keep going from one perverted sensei to another. Kakashi, Ebisu, Jiraiya, Master Kwai and now Master Kyu." He looks up at the ceiling. "Do you hate me for some reason Kami?"
Kwai and Kyuubi chuckle. "Don't you know kit, she has a wicked sense of humor."
Micahamaru woke hours later and was introduced to Master Kyu as he was to be called. "How are we to move about here with you sensei?" Mica asked as they ate breakfast.
"When we come back I should be able to turn invisible. Its just taking me time to reconnect to the Vunla." Kyu said as he watched the pair of boys demolish a meal that should have fed a dozen people.
Kyu swore he would explain about Zate-nin and Vunla once they crossed to the Underverse as he called it.
"And what is the underverse?" Mica asked.
"It is a world parallel with this one where demons and humans live side by side. It is a step down from Heaven and Hell the rumors go. Not even the demon lords such as I know for certain as we all fear to cross that barrier." Kyu explained as he drifted over the ground.
The shade seemed more solid than the first day, but you could still see thru him.
"This is as solid as I can get. But my control of the vunla has improved where I can do this." Kyu said and Mica felt a light smack across the back of his head.
"I can show you much. You both need to not judge by appearances. Look at me. You judged me by my lack of solidity, and yet I can toss you around. For my ally is the vunla, and a powerful ally it is."
The week passed quickly after that. Naruto and Mica packed and returned the swords to Master Kwai.
"Won't you need them?" He asked looking at Kyuubi.
"No. once they have gotten to a point in their training they will be making their own blades. And if they need swords in underverse, trust me when I say that the underverse will provide."
So it was that they stood outside the shaolin temple as the sun was setting.
Two runes had been carved into the dirt and Master Kwai was chanting, an orb hovered in the air before him, it pulsed with power and glowed an eerie red with sparks of green.
"Remember when we reach the other side, don't wander off. Underverse is different and innocent looking things can be fiends in disquise." Kyu warned them.
"What do you mean fiends?" Mica asked.
"Heh. Well human's and demons live in relative peace. But there are fiends or monsters that are like wild animals, and they attack the unwary or unprepared." Kyu said.
Naruto huffed, "And we're just leaving our swords here why Kyu-sama?" Naruto asked. He really hated using the respectful tones to anyone, but Kyu said that if could cause trouble on the other side if he didn't. Naruto would have argued the point, but Mica said Master Kyu knew the Underverse, they needed to trust him.
Master Kwai finished chanting and his hands flashed thru over two hundred hand signs before he touched the orb hovering in front of him.
A crackle of energy and the two boys and shade watched as a white bolt of lightening laced out and struck the first rune on the ground, and then a bolt leapt from that rune to the other one. The orb moved to hover in the air between them and it formed a pyramid shaped rift that seemed to shimmer like water in the air. (Think similar to the Stargate portal).
Kyu went and looked over his shoulder. "See you on the other side boys." He hovered there a moment and passed on to the other side.
Mica went next. He took a deep breath and stepped in, the portal rippled with his passing and settle back to normal in seconds.
Naruto looked at Master Kwai who was sitting with his eyes closed. "Goodbye Kwai-ojiisan." Naruto said and stepped into the portal. It pulsed and then winked shut. the orb lowered to the ground and the runes faded from the dirt in which they'd been carved.
Master Kwai sat still, his eyes closed. "Good journey Naruto-san. May fate and destiny be kinder to you in the future." And with that, Master Kwai Chang Caine, Shaolin Monk and sorcerer supreme, faded away, his spirit finally finding peace.
Konoha…
Hinata sat atop the Hokage monument. Her white eyes looking down upon the village she'd called home since birth.
In the past seventeen months she'd changed and grown. Her confidence since becoming host for the Spirit of Vengeance. She'd learned its name was Jahk'Ayhla and it had many lessons to teach her.
Jahk'Ayhla had taught her to be sure of herself, how to carry herself. Jahk'Ayhla told her that it was neither male nor female, it just was. Hinata was the twelfth host since its creation.
Hinata spent days in the memories of the spirits previous host, Kushina Uzumaki-Kazama-Namikaze. She'd learned that Kushina was Naruto's mother, that they'd used the Kazama name as a misdirection to hide that Minato was her husband, the famed Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage.
She'd learned that The Fourth would live with Kushina under a elaborate disguise jutsu that was attacked to a necklace.
Hinata cried in joy when Kushina found out she was pregnant, the look on Minato's face when she told him he was going to be a father.
Hinata felt her fear when the Kyuubi was announced attacking Leaf nin's. Kushina going into labor while trying to evacuate civilians.
She remembered Kushina going into labor and the pain.
Hinata saw Naruto for the first time as he took his first breath in the world, and a nurse taking him away.
She saw Danzo enter the hospital room and inject Kushina with a poison while a masked ROOT operative held her down, she was took weak to fight after giving birth, and Jahk'Ayhla howled in fury as his host was killed by someone they'd considered ally.
Hinata hated Danzo with each passing moment. She'd seen the reports on Lady Tsunade's desk saying he'd joined up with Orochimaru and the Sound Village.
Hinata thought of going and enacting Vengeance, but she knew that while she might be a lot stronger, her massacre of the Hyuga clan showed that she wasn't ready for an all out assault on Otogakure.
Soon. The more past memories I awaken, the stronger we become. Hinata thought.
::Stronger still we will become. Your willpower is increasing daily Hina-chan.:: Jahk'Ayhla said in her mind.
Hinata thought about the memories she'd seen in Kakashi's aura. She was sickened with how the former Jonin acted towards Naruto, and she was scared what she would find behind the mental block. She'd uncovered it in layers.
When he was an ANBU he allowed villagers to harm Naruto, and would only jump in if another ANBU was closing in, making it seem like he was doing his job. Hinata thought. The day she'd seen that memory she'd unleashed Pakkun on Kakashi. The Nin-dogs had voided the summoning contract with him. Hinata looked at the scroll on her hip pouch. She'd gained that contract fair and square.
Ano, and Tsunade asked me how I keep coming up with the slugs and toads. Hinata thought with a slight smile.
::And to think she doesn't know about the wolves and the monkey's.:: Jahk'Ayhla thought back.
The other two contracts Hinata liberated from the council's vault.
They stole the monkey contract after the Third was murdered. When Konohamaru is older I will pass it on to him. Hinata thought.
::And the wolf and dog contracts?::
I think I will offer the wolf contract to Kiba's sister…Hana. I am surprised the council had that one hidden away.
::It is cause they didn't want the Inuzuka's to have more power. They feared them as they were nearly as powerful as the prized Uchiha clan.::
Speaking of that clan. The falcon contract… Hinata paused.
::The scroll is in possession of the rogue. The one you call Itachi.::
Hinata paused, then Ano, Jahk'Ayhla-sama, what we learned about Itachi all those months ago. I know he did what he did to save Naruto, but I learned from the reports on Lady Tsunade's desk that he is now part of that organization Akatsuki that wants to harm him. I do not know what to think about his actions.
:: (sigh) I am not sure either Hina-chan. From the aura I read on Hatake, The Toad Pervert, and the Hokage, Itachi Uchiha was looking for Naruto, but he didn't do nothing to harm him in their encounter other than ask him to go with them. We will need to read his aura to be sure of his attentions.::
Hinata sighed. "Damn." She muttered aloud. And right now Lady Tsunade has forbidden us from leaving Konoha. I can understand as I'm still undergoing training with her and I am a Genin.
::With power equal to a sannin right now. But you don't have the control yet. And with each passing day we…you are getting better. Soon there will be little difference between us. I am you, you are me, and in the end we are Vengeance.::
Hinata smiled as she watched several fireflies rise up in the grass as night began to fall. She wasn't bothered that she'd sat here nearly all day speaking with the Spirit. She would do that for days on end.
::Do you wish to speak with your cousin and sister?:: Jahk'Ayhla asked.
Not really, why? Hinata thought.
::Because they are behind you, and I've distracted you long enough. Speak with them child, they don't hate you, and they mean you no harm. Neji is radiating concern for you and your sister is a cornucopia of emotions, but none of them are fear or hatred.:: the Spirit said and fell silent in the back of her mind.
"Hello Neji-sama, Lady Hyuga." Hinata said not turning around, but she could feel both flinch at her form of address.
"Lady Hinata." Neji said formerly. Two years ago this would have been said with venom and hate. Now it was filled with sadness and regret.
"You have been avoiding everyone again." He accused her.
Hinata shrugged a shoulder. "Tired of being looked at and people wondering if I'm going to eat their souls." She said, her voice still soft and tired sounding.
"Nee-san you wouldn't do that." Hanabi spoke up. "You care too much."
Hinata looked over her shoulder at her sister and sighed.
"You used to call that weakness Lady Hyuga." Hinata said.
Hanabi took a step towards her. "Hinata nee-san, please…don't distance yourself. I…I miss you."
"I killed your father and most of the clan." Hinata said.
"You killed traitors and the man who murdered mother." Hanabi said. "I was blinded by what fa…what Hiashi told me since I could remember. But I remember you, no matter what I said or did to you, you cared. I want my sister back."
Hinata sighed. "Hinata Hyuga died seventeen months ago. I am Hinata Jahk'Ayhla."
"No. You are my sister. I don't care if you are in a symbiotic relationship with a Vengeance spirit, or you marry that boy you like. I just want my nee-san back." Hanabi was standing behind the sitting Hinata now and the older girl could hear tears in her voice.
"What of the survivors? How do they feel?" Hinata asked.
Neji crouched and put a hand on her shoulder. "The members of the branch family see you as their saving grace. Now there are no more main or branch Hyuga, there is just one big Hyuga clan. You saved us from the caged bird, and freed us all to make choices."
"The members of the main branch you spared showed them that you can be vengeful and merciful at the same time." Hanabi said.
"Alundra by the way gave birth to a set of twins, a boy and a girl."
Hinata looked over her shoulder at Hanabi. "She asked me to request you stop by and visit. If you hadn't destroyed the elders and those that betrayed Konoha, one of them would be cursed with the caged bird seal, and the other would have been moved into learning guard duty for me."
Hinata sighed. "When I fought Hiashi, I was so mad at what I read in his aura. It stank of corruption and when I search his mind…I was disgusted by what I saw. He wasn't a man that we would ever call father. He was corrupted by power long before he married mother. He was a loveless monster that she tried to make into a man, but it cost her life and nearly ours in the end."
"Hinata." Neji said drawing her attention. "TenTen asked me to remind you that you are invited to our home. Remember no alcohol, as Lee tends to become unmanageable and I do not want my first night in our new apartment to be amid debris."
Hinata smiled. "So the three of you have figured it out?" she asked and Neji blushed a bit.
Hanabi outright laughed at her older cousin. "I do not think those were the fires of youth your sensei was talking about Neji-oniisan." She said teasingly.
"Brat." He muttered. "I can't explain it really." He sighed. "I blame Uzumaki. It was after he defeated me in the chunin exams, but before that disaster that became the Uchiha retrieval."
Hinata turned to listen, giving him her full attention. The Konoha 10 knew that the best way to get her attention was to talk about Naruto and what he meant to each of them.
"I was on patrol with TenTen, it was shortly after Uzumaki brought Lady Tsunade back. He was at one of the abandoned training grounds outside the walls. We came upon him fighting with his clones. There were over a hundred of them and he was pure movement. His fighting style was rough and I couldn't believe that this was the genin that beat me." Neji admitted.
"But the more we watched him, we saw there was a simple grace to his movements."
Neji smirked. "Lee of course would have yelled out about his passion and such. But it was TenTen who called out to him."
Neji smiled at the memory. "She got his attention just as one of his clones pulled this weird combo that looked like a whip crack where they swung another around and it kicked him into the stream."
Neji chuckled. "TenTen was mortified thinking she had caused him to be hurt, and dove in after him. I watched as the clones kept fighting as if this was a common occurance, and one of them was cheeky."
"What?" Hinata asked surprised.
"His clones can act independently from him. surprised me, I thought they were all controlled by him, but," Neji shrugged. "It asked me if I was going to help my girlfriend get 'The Boss' out of the drink, and then it got hit and poofed away." Neji looked out over Konoha.
"Then another one asked how my boyfriend was doing in the hospital. I froze for a moment and turned to demand what it meant." Neji chuckled.
"I was drawn into a spar and answering insane questions, my attention fully away from the river. I answered that neither TenTen nor Lee were associated with me like that. Then one clone asked me why not? I said it would be looked down by the elders, and the clone laughed and said so." Neji smiled at that memory and both sisters liked the fact he was more relaxed now.
"It said that it knew that Lee liked me like that as Naruto had spent a lot of time visiting 'Bushy Brow' as Naruto called Lee. It then asked me why not TenTen and I told it why she wouldn't like a marked man like me. I was servant of the Hyuga main house. I would marry who they told me to."
Hanabi looked sad and Hinata knew that would have been true.
"Then the clone said what would I do if I could go where my heart wanted? I laughed at it and said I'd be torn in two, because ever since I first met Lee and TenTen I've worn a mask of indifference. Why would they want a cold hearted bastard like me who tormented his own cousin because he thought she was weak, when in fact I was the weak one."
Neji turned and looked at Hinata. "You are a million times stronger than I ever was. You wanted Naruto and you fought to be yourself, not the flesh golem Hiashi was trying to make you."
Hinata put a hand on his shoulder. "I never blamed you Neji. I always thought of you as my brother." She said. Neji gave her a soft sad smile. "I blame myself. All those years wasted when I could have known you and been not only a friend, but your brother."
Hanabi looked at the pair and knew she wanted her sister back. "So, what did you answer the Uzumaki clone?" she asked.
"I didn't. TenTen wrapped me in a hug from behind and held me. She told me she saw thru my mask long ago. Her and Lee were waiting for me to come around my own way." Neji chuckled. "I was shocked that TenTen and Lee were already in a relationship and they were waiting for me. Uzu…Naruto told me to talk with Lee. He said I would be happy, and he would do all he could to make it happen."
Neji sighed. "I did talk a lot with Lee and TenTen. Then that damned Uchiha ran off." Neji looked over the village. "Sometimes I wonder if Naruto had been treated properly would he have made the impacts he did on people? He changed me, and I like who I'm becoming. I want him here for the day when TenTen marries Lee and I."
Hinata smiled. "He will be. I can feel it." She said putting a hand over her heart. "Naruto-kun will come back. Jahk'Ayhln feels that Naruto needs this journey to grow. We all do." She said looking back over the village.
"You know Naruto always came up here to think, and I like the view myself. It is a peaceful place to think."
Hanabi put a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Will you please come to the new compound. I want to know you better now that…now that Hiashi's manipulations are being cleared away."
"I…I will visit, but I can not be a Hyuga. That path closed to me the day I made the pact with Jahk'Ayhln. Someday I might join another family…"
"Namikaze." Neji coughed the name and Hinata glared at him. "If Naruto wishes it. I have watched him for a very long time. You cannot force Naruto to do things he does not want. I hope that one day I can be what he wants and needs, but I need to grow first. At the academy he saw me as this weird stuttering girl. As Genin he saw me as a shy stuttering fellow nin that he cheered on."
Neji laughed. "Hinata, he took the blood you coughed up on the arena floor and swore on it to beat me. He didn't do that for the Haruno. And yes he saved her from Gaara, but he didn't boast or brag about it. I heard Hatake gave the credit to the Uchiha who didn't do anything during the fight."
Hinata's eyes narrowed and her mind found the memory. "I think I have a certain Genin to tortu…I mean train with tomorrow."
"That's downright scary when you switch voices like that." Neji said with a smile. "But you're still our Hinata."
"How about dinner." Hanabi asked.
"Ramen." Hinata suggested and both Hyuga looked at her. "Its tasty and I see why Naruto-kun likes it. Besides Teuchi and Ayame are warm and friendly."
"Ichiraku ramen it is then." Neji said. "I heard he refuses service to those who have wronged Naruto."
"Hai. Tsunade gives him compensation for Naruto not being there and eating. I know her and Shizune eat lunch there every other day." Hinata confessed.
"Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba eat there daily now." Neji said. "Its become an unofficial hangout for the Konoha Rookies." Neji remembered Lee's attempt to beat Naruto's record the first time there. Poor Lee had been in the hospital for a couple days after that attempt.
"Some of my classmates eat there as well." Hanabi said.
Hinata paused and then remembered Hanabi's fellow classmates. "Hanabi, do you know Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi?"
Hanabi paused hearing Hinata call her by her name again, then her brain restarted. "Yes. He's changed a bit over the past year and a half." She said. "I've never seen someone become so focused before."
Hinata sighed. "He sees Naruto as an older brother. His exile hit him hard."
Hanabi nodded remembering Konohamaru missing a week of classes before Iruka-sensei had dragged him back.
He wore a bright orange jacket and those ugly goggles, but he was more serious now. Moegi and Udon followed his examples and she'd seen him interact with other adults. He was respectful to some, but others he outright cursed and they usually ended up pranked a day later. Nothing led back to the young Sarutobi, but he would share a look with Iruka-sensei who would nod and continue lessons.
"No patrols have seen him, and none of our allies have either. Its like he vanished off the face of the earth." Hinata said. "Jiraiya-san says his spy network hasn't found a trace, and both Oto and Akatsuki are at a loss as well."
"Rummaging the Hokage's files?" Neji teased.
"Nope. As her apprentice I get to file them all properly, of course I just happen to read them first, especially for news about Naruto related in any shape or form."
The trio continued to walk, they talked about light things, Hanabi telling Hinata she could have clan leader back. There was just too much paperwork.
"Not only do I have lessons and work from school, but I also have lessons and paperwork from Li Su-san and Cho-san. They both are relentless in their lessons."
Hinata laughed. "Etiquette lessons. Wait till they start on the marital lessons. How a proper wife should act in private, in public. What a clan leader should say and what you shouldn't." Hinata laughed. "I do not miss those lessons."
Neji shuddered. "I remember those. While you were being taught that I was being taught how to be your bodyguard and let me tell you Ken-sama was a drill sergeant in how one was to move around the protectorate."
The three reached Ichiraku Ramen and their banter continued on past lesson, unaware that soon danger would come knocking.
Across town in the hospital a pair of eyes opened for the first time in nearly seventeen months.
"Dobe?" a voice croaked from disuse.
AN:
WOOT, How do you all like them apples? You know what to do, and thank you all who have reviewed. This will be my last posting till after Christmas. I hope this holds you, and sorry if it doesn't but I should have a bunch to put in by the time I come back. For those that enjoy the holiday…MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy Holiday, HO HO HO, and pass the rum.