Konoha genin do not kill each other in friendly competitions. Kakashi supposed this was why nobody interposed themselves between the two combatants and stopped the fight, why Jiraya hadn't reacted when Neji went for the killing blow, why the whole arena simply stared in disbelief for a full second after Hinata hit the ground… or water, as the case may be. Even foreign shinobi seemed shocked at this turn of events.
Naruto was the first person to react, Kakashi noted. Hinata had barely hit the water and Naruto already blurred into existence beside her, flipping her on her back to allow breathing and performing a diagnostic technique. Not that it would make any difference. A large part of the reason for the current inaction by the gathered Jounin was that they knew Hinata was dead the moment they saw that strike connect. Someone as proficient in the Gentle Fist as Neji clearly was didn't wound with that kind of blow, and Kakashi had seen it executed often enough in the last war to know Hinata would never get up after being on a receiving end of it. Naruto must have known it too, because Kakashi could clearly see the panicked hopelessness etched on his student's face, the way he simply poured medical chakra into Hinata's chest in a desperate attempt to do something for the dying girl. It brought up a lot of memories in Kakashi that the man would rather forget.
The moment of stilled silence ended quickly, and chaos erupted in the arena. Medics rushed to the scene, pushing back a dazed-looking Naruto from Hinata's body as they began their own futile work. Questions started flying around, spoken and yelled over the backdrop of hushed conversations and a terrible buzz of kikai bugs coming off Hinata's Aburame teammate. Though Kakashi studied the scene in a seemingly unconcerned and relaxed posture, his sharingan was exposed and he studied the gathered group for any sign of a bloodbath about to begin. Hinata's death was tragic, and Kakashi empathized, but that was no reason to allow more tragedies to happen today. Naruto and his Aburame friend looked murderous, and Kakashi was just about of interpose himself between Naruto and Neji to forestall a fight when Jiraya suddenly appeared behind Naruto and knocked him out with a quick chop on the neck. Kakashi frowned at the rather heavy-handed solution to the problem but said nothing, instead giving the Aburame a hard stare with his sharingan to keep him in line. The boy look mutinous, in that reserved Aburame way, but didn't attack.
Kakashi looked away and permitted himself a sigh as he half-heartedly listened to Hokage's attempt at reassuring the crowd. He stared at the medics as they took both Naruto and Hinata away on stretchers and contemplated whether to protest against them just taking Naruto away like that. In the end he didn't say anything, because he suspected this was done on Hokage's own orders. As unfair as it was, an angry Naruto was not the same thing as an ordinary angry genin – there was always a chance he would release the Kyuubi and go berserk, and the situation was going to be enough of a nightmare without Naruto painting the entire arena with Neji's entrails. His suspicions were confirmed when the medics 'inconspicuously' ushered Neji away from the arena while the Hokage kept everyone distracted. Apparently the short-term solution was to deny everything and pretend there's nothing wrong.
It wasn't going to work, of course. Despite the old Hokage's impressive oratory skills and his equally impressive skills at covering things up, it was obvious as hell to everyone with half a brain that things were not okay. And since a lot of people present were foreign ninja over whom Hokage had no influence, he couldn't just put a lid on this through threats of execution. Kakashi was quite sure the story will be common knowledge before this time tomorrow.
It was amazing what could be covered up in a ninja village, no matter how big it was. Virtually none of the children knew about Naruto being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Virtually no one knew the details of the Uchiha massacre, and not even Kakashi knew what Itachi did to Sasuke to scar him so badly even years afterwards.
Virtually nobody outside the Hyuuga clan knew the story about Neji's father.
But secrets fundamentally depend of being secrets – they are strongest when people don't know there is a secret at all. The hardest part in unraveling a secret is always getting the first lead, and what transpired today is a giant red sign saying 'there is something foul in the Hyuuga clan, and Neji is at a center of it!' There was no way that particular secret will stay a secret for long.
Of course, once you strip away the political implications, you're still left with a great personal tragedy. Several of them, in fact. There was the rest of the Team 8, who's team was almost certainly going to fall apart after these Chuunin exams: the Aburame was likely going to be granted the title of Chuunin and moved into another team, leaving the Inuzuka all alone with a grieving Kurenai who will be beating herself over applying her team in the Chuunin exams so soon in their career. There was Naruto, who turned the girl down just before her death and was probably going to develop some serious issues about this in the years to come. And finally, there was Neji, whose own personal tragedy will probably be completely ignored amidst the fury and outrage he caused.
It was in moments like that that Kakashi wished, for a thousandth time since that fateful day, that it was Obito here instead of him. Normally he made an effort not to think like that, but the situation was just so terribly similar it clawed at his heart and mind, reminding him of his poor choices in life and his loss. Kakashi just wasn't the sort of guy who could deal with drama, unless ignoring it altogether was considered an option. Obito would know exactly what to do to make things right, or at least wouldn't beat himself over allowing things to degenerate to this point. Sure, Kakashi was a lot better ninja than Obito, but his teammate had things much more precious than that. He knew how to handle people. How to come to terms with your lot in life. How to live.
But Kakashi wasn't Obito. He was just a ninja. A good ninja, perhaps even an excellent one, but it never seemed to matter. So he just leaned against the railing and observed the situation, waiting for the moment when his skills may be needed.
It was all he could do. Because no matter how hard he tried, he just wasn't Obito.
- break -
Sasori absent-mindedly twirled the storage scroll in his hand as he walked towards Konoha general hospital, thinking about the possibilities it presented. Truthfully, he had not intended to recover Hyuuga Hinata's body, as such an undertaking would needlessly endanger his plans, but when Kabuto notified him that he could switch her body with a convincing replica just before the cremation, he knew he had to take that chance. It was a supreme irony that it was the very rush to cremate her body as soon as possible to prevent the possibility of bloodline theft that allowed Kabuto to make the switch unnoticed. Life was funny that way. He was surprised at Kabuto's skill at faking corpses, though – the boy had some interesting techniques in his arsenal, and Sasori was half-tempted to ask Kabuto to teach them to him, but now was not the time.
He didn't want the Hyuuga girl for himself. She, just like many the other bodies he had collected ever since he started this undertaking, were for his disciple – the disciple that was going to succeed where Sasori himself had failed so many years ago.
It was Sasori's greatest regret, the one thing he had never forgiven himself for failing at. He didn't become a living puppet, not really. He was stuck somewhere in the middle, not a puppet, and not a human. Worse, the procedure he put himself through had boxed him into the form he now held, and he was unable to correct the mistakes and improve himself. The puppet body he currently inhabited – inhabited, because it wasn't really him – was in many ways superior to the human one. But it was a dead end – an art incapable of transcending itself. And in the great scheme of things, those who stand still will eventually be left behind and become obsolete. Hardly an example of everlasting art that Sasori aspired to.
He had long ago accepted that he had failed in this regard, and that there was nothing he could do about it. Then he met Naruto, and that forgotten hope bubbled up to the surface once again. Naruto was going to be his second chance, and his greatest masterpiece. Ironically, his greatest inspiration came from Orochimaru's records he obtained through spying and outright raids on Orochimaru's facilities while the man was busy dealing with Akatsuki and planning an invasion on his home village. Sasori had always thought his old partner had no interest in puppetry, but many of the man's experiments involved installing puppet parts into living subjects or experimenting with basic puppeteer principles. There was at least one sound ninja with blast tubes eerily reminiscent to his own implanted directly into his arms, only firing concentrated blasts of air instead of jets of fire and water, and Orochimaru designed a plethora of exotic weaponry that was mounted on person's limbs and body, almost like weapon modules attached to a standardized puppet. Not to mention that the red-headed girl Kabuto captured in the forest of death had a bunch of puppets made out of dead flesh sewn together into grotesque shapes, and they were controlled by musical notes instead of chakra strings. It was fascinating in the extreme. Orochimaru's fusion of puppet parts with living humans sparked Sasori's imagination and made him rethink the entire concept of puppetry. Examining Kakuzu's remains only reinforced this line of thinking. So Sasori started to plan and prepare.
The basic idea was deceptively simple – instead of turning Naruto's entire body into a mechanical puppet through extensive surgery, like he had done to himself, he would instead use extensive sealing arrays and implanted mechanisms to turn him into an actual living puppet - a living being that was also a puppet. It was a risky procedure, but Sasori relied on the boy's Kyuubi-given regenerative powers to smooth the procedure. If anyone can survive such a process with any degree of certainty, it was Naruto. Of course, the devil is in the details, and Sasori found the details to be quite problematic. Even with extensive abuse of his mindscape (something which he could do a lot more effectively than Naruto, due to certain mental seals he inscribed on himself), he found the procedure had too many problems that had to be solved – not the least of which was making the end result something his disciple would be willing to accept. Sasori was pretty sure Naruto would never agree to have his guts replaced by a prehensile poisoned cable like Sasori did, no matter how useful that would be.
The solution was, surprisingly, supplied to him by Naruto himself. The Kaguya his disciple killed during the second exam was a bearer of an incredibly useful bloodline, and Sasori was endlessly pleased that Kabuto saw fit to bring his body to him. Wood was the usual material for puppets because it was cheap, light, and easy to shape and inscribe seals into. With the sort of powers Kaguya had, however, bone was a vastly better choice on all three accounts and more. If Sasori could implant Kaguya's heart, based on a slightly modified Kakuzu's procedure, into Naruto's body, his disciple could shape weapons and armor out of his very bones - weapons and armor that could be dissolved when they were unneeded. It would still require some extensive seal-work to work properly, but the concept was a lot more workable than his original idea.
Of course, such thoughts brought him back to the matter of a dead Hyuuga he was holding in his hand. There was no time to work the byakugan into the design at this stage, but perhaps later, when the proof of concept proves to be sound? If nothing else, she could be turned into your run-of-the-mill human puppet, and a fairly simple technique would allow the puppeteer to see through her eyes. Such a puppet would be endlessly useful, even if it had no combat potential. The problem would be getting Naruto to look past his revulsion at the idea of turning his friend's corpse into a puppet.
In any case, this was a perfect time to influence his disciple in a desirable direction. The boy was emotionally distraught, and the Hokage has locked him into a hospital room and forbid anyone from seeing him. Sasori had no doubt the boy's entire moral worldview was in tatters, which made it the perfect moment to breach some emotionally upsetting topics while Naruto was still disoriented.
Having already found out the location of Naruto's room from Kabuto, and seeing how the only security that Sasori could detect were two Chuunin stationed in front of the door, he opted to avoid the hospital corridors and entered through the window. Apparently the Hokage didn't actually expect Naruto to escape. That, or he was serious underestimated the blonde. Jumping into the room, Sasori found Naruto dejectedly sitting on the edge of his bed, reading some kind of notebook. Normally Sasori would scold Naruto for not paying attention to his surroundings, but he knew the blonde detected his approach. His ability to interpret information from that sensor seal on the back of his hitai-ate was improving every time Sasori met him.
"It's Hinata's," Naruto said, not even turning back to look Sasori in the face. The puppeteer didn't need to be told to know Naruto was talking about the notebook. "The note said she wanted me to have it. It details her research into human anatomy, especially chakra coils. The byakugan sure is amazing. And these clan records she references all the time… I sure would have loved to take a look through them. Anyway, whomever left this for me on the bedside obviously didn't read it because they'd never give it to me if they did. It was probably Kurenai – she's the only one I know that is too scrupulous to read someone's private notes like that. This is the sort of thing the Hyuuga would kill me for just having it. With the information recorded here, any decent medic-nin could repeat Hinata's performance in the preliminaries. She really… she really was amazing, wasn't she?"
Naruto's voice cracked a little in the end, and then the boy fell silent. Sasori remained silent too, aware that his particular brand of honesty wouldn't be appreciated at the moment. Besides, he could tell the boy wasn't finished yet.
"She's dead," Naruto stated. "I don't really need you to confirm it. I knew there was nothing that could be done for her by the time the medics rushed into the scene – I was right beside her the moment she collapsed. Neji seemed to have really put his all into that last strike. The heart and the surrounding arteries had been turned into mush. I was on the verge of pumping her full of Kyuubi's chakra on the off chance it could save her, but the fox warned me that his chakra is a corrosive poison to anyone beside myself. So she died."
Naruto snapped the notebook shut and turned around to face Sasori. "For some reason I got knocked unconscious the moment medics took her body away, and I woke up strapped to the hospital bed with leather bindings. Why am I being kept here, anyway?"
Sasori glanced at the bed. Sure enough, there were leather straps present – cleanly severed, as if by a surgical knife. Which probably wasn't far from the truth – Kabuto once told him regular bindings can't hold a (good) medic-nin for long, because they can project their chakra scalpels from more than just their fingers. He turned his attention back to Naruto.
"Out of sight, out of mind," said Sasori. "Your friend's death nearly caused a riot, both in the arena and outside. The Hokage has been desperately trying to contain the situation for two days now, and part of his strategy was to keep both you and Neji away from curious eyes and ears."
Naruto looked shocked. "I've slept for two whole days?" asked Naruto incredulously.
"You've been kept sedated for two whole days," corrected Sasori. "The Hokage didn't want to deal with you until now."
Naruto hissed in anger. "The nerve of that man! I've lost two whole days of training I could have used to prepare for the finals! I need all the help I can get if I'm going to make Neji pay! Why was I even knocked out?"
"You looked pissed, and you looked like you were going to charge Neji. I guess Jiraya felt mere words would not calm you."
"What about Neji?" asked Naruto crankily.
"He was simply led out of the arena under heavy escort, though this was more for his protection than others'," Sasori said calmly. He was intentionally portraying things in a bad light to rile his disciple up. Normally he disdained overemotional reactions, but it suited him to have Naruto angry right now. "He didn't break any rules, you know? Killing is permitted in these exams, just frowned upon."
"So he's going to get away with it?" asked Naruto incredulously, his temper rising.
"Well, the very first fight of the finals is you against Neji, so you'll be able to do whatever you think he deserved to him then," offered Sasori.
"Oh good," Naruto growled. "I'm predicting one more dead Hyuuga before the Chuunin exams are done."
"I'm pretty sure the Hokage wouldn't be pleased with that," Sasori said. "You're not the only one who thinks Neji went out of line. He killed a main branch member and a fellow Konoha genin. A lot of people think very dimly about this. The Hyuuga clan is on the verge of internal war over the issue of what do to about him. Still, the Hokage was adamant in his insistence that he is not to be killed or punished in any way. Not at this time anyway – an investigation is scheduled after the Chuunin exams end."
Naruto said nothing for about half a minute, his anger steadily deflating until he simply looked lost and confused. Apparently the girl meant more to his disciple than Sasori thought she did. It was a good thing she died, then – such strong connections to Konoha weren't a part of Sasori's plan for Naruto. What was even better was that Sasori didn't need to move a finger to make it happen. He loved when flaws in his plans corrected themselves like this.
"I'm a monster, aren't I?" Naruto asked quietly, turning his back to Sasori again.
"You're a ninja," answered Sasori cryptically.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Naruto crankily, whirling back to face him.
"Being a ninja is a stressful job with shady moral implications. It does terrible things to people's empathy and moral compass, and it gets worse the higher you climb in ninja hierarchy. It can be argued that all ninjas are 'monsters' to one degree or other. What in particular has gotten you upset?"
"I didn't love her," Naruto said. Sasori would be disturbed if he did – love among humans was closely connected to their sexuality, and Naruto's sexuality should be firmly suppressed due to Sasori's little additions to his seal. "I cared for her, but not in a romantic sense. She was my friend, and my project – a hurt little girl I was going to turn into a person capable of taking care of herself, just like you did for me. Romance didn't really enter into it. But how could I have told this to her? It sounds so… cold. And I realize I sort of am cold. She's dead and I'm not even crying. I'm sad and angry, but… I don't know, not devastated? Why is that? Did she mean that little to me?"
"You barely knew her," shrugged Sasori. "You met once a week at your most involved, and she was a quiet girl that rarely spoke about what is on her mind. What is there to cry about? I suppose it is unfortunate that she has perished, from a professional standpoint, considering the amount of effort you put into her."
Naruto's eyes darkened. "I don't want to think like that. I don't want to be such a heartless person."
"How would your suffering help her?" asked Sasori. "Do you truly believe your lack of strong reaction to her death is an ethical infraction, or are you actually worried what other will think of you if you do not mourn her in a public manner? That you weren't in love with her is no crime, as much as others may object."
Naruto turned around and quirked his eyebrow at Sasori.
"I'm afraid that the story of her confession has leaked into the public," elaborated Sasori. "You know how people are. They're already spinning all sort of tales out of this."
Naruto groaned. "What did I do now?"
Sasori shrugged. "Believe it or not, not every story has you as a bad guy. A forbidden love between a no-name orphan and a Hyuuga princess, the orphan turning down her heartfelt confessions, thinking himself unworthy of being involved with her. It's quite a popular version of the tale among the younger generation that doesn't know you're a jinchuuriki. The opinions are divided on whether your choice was understandable or stupid, of course."
Naruto scowled. "As if they knew anything. Do you know when her funeral is scheduled at?"
"The body was cremated this morning to prevent bloodline theft," Sasori said. "A small ceremony in her honor was held at the same time."
Naruto stared at Sasori in shock, his mouth opening and closing. "What! You mean I won't be even able to pay my respect to her? How could they do this to me!"
"Well fortunately for you, you have me to help you out," said Sasori, whipping out the storage scroll out of his pocket and unsealing it on the bed.
Naruto jumped away from Hinata's body like as if burned, alternately staring wild-eyed at Sasori and the body of his dead friend with unhidden disbelief.
"Sasori…" Naruto said with trembling voice. "What the hell is this? I swear, if this is some kind of a prank, you've got the sickest sense of humor, ever!"
"It's no prank," said Sasori. "This really is the body of your friend. Kabuto switched her body with a fake. Her father was in such a rush to cremate her he didn't even bother to make sure he had the real one."
"But why!" Naruto protested. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"The byakugan," Sasori said simply.
"You can't be serious," Naruto deadpanned, getting a little angry. "Do you really think I'll let you desecrate my friend's corpse just so you could get yourself some fancy eyes!"
"Oh no, I didn't do it for myself," said Sasori calmly, completely unintimidated by Naruto's rising agitation. It was a good thing he put a privacy technique on the room before starting this conversation or the shouting would have attracted all sort of unwanted attention. "I did it for you, my dear disciple."
"For me?" asked Naruto with disbelief. "Honestly, did you even think about the problems with that idea? Forgetting for a moment that I would never do this to Hinata's memory, there is a little matter that me replacing one or both of my eyes with the byakugan would be too fucking obvious! I'd never be able to hide such a thing!"
"Well," Sasori said carefully, "I was actually thinking more along the lines of turning her into a puppet and you using that technique I taught you to see through her eyes."
"Eh?"
"Those special puppets you're always asking me about?"
Naruto's eyes widened in understanding. "No…"
"Oh yes," Sasori confirmed.
"But why?" Naruto burst out.
"Human puppets, being made from remains of other ninja, are able to use chakra and any abilities they had in life. They are the next step in puppet creation, and a human puppet made from a high-level ninja is superior to just about anything else I or you could possibly make. Why wouldn't I make and use them?"
"Because… because it's wrong. Ghastly! And you want to turn Hinata into one of these things? No way, Sasori, no fucking way! How could you possibly think I would agree to this!"
Sasori shrugged and resealed Hinata's body into the scroll. "It was worth a try, in my opinion, and it at least introduces you to the idea. I won't force you into this, though I think you're making a mistake. Hinata gave you that notebook so you could continue her legacy, and you can't really do that without a byakugan, can't you? Personally, I think not turning her into a puppet would be a crime against her memory, and the task she left you with. But if you disagree, we can always simply bury her, and you can pay your respects for her then. I'll hold on to her for now, and we'll decide which way to go after the end of the Chuunin exams."
Naruto looked at Sasori suspiciously for a few moments before deflating. Sasori mentally congratulated himself – he had chosen the moment well. Naruto was too emotionally exhausted at the moment to summon the energy to get truly upset. Later on, the lack of strong negative feedback from recalling this moment will make him more susceptible to the idea.
"I still think you're one sick fuck, Sasori," Naruto said in a resigned tone of voice.
"Dully noted," Sasori said. "Anyway, I've stayed here long enough, and the privacy technique I put on the room is starting to unravel. Here."
Naruto caught a small scroll Sasori threw at him, giving Sasori a questioning look.
"Just some interesting reading," Sasori said. "I thought it might shed some light on the recent events."
And with that, Sasori was gone. Naruto stared blankly at the unmarked scroll in his hands for a few minutes, turning it over in his hands. Reluctantly, he unrolled it and began to read.
- break -
Sarutobi was not a happy Hokage at the moment. He had trouble deciding which issue gave him more headaches: Orochimaru's presence in the exams or Hinata's death in the preliminaries.
He still had no idea what Orochimaru was doing in the exams. No team has reported an encounter with him, and if it were not for Anko, he would have dismissed the reported sighting as mere paranoia. Sadly, memories extracted by the Yamanaka from the comatose Anko have confirmed he was there, and it was unlikely anyone else could copy his rather distinctive style of fighting and speech to such perfection. One thing Sarutobi didn't quite understand is how exactly Anko's cursed seal overlay blocked Orochimaru's influence so completely. In all honesty, the overlay was little more than a placebo. And if Orochimaru's annoyed reaction – and Anko's subsequent brutal beat-down that placed her into her current coma – was any indication, his wayward student didn't understand either. Something to ask Anko about when and if she ever wakes up.
And the situation with Hinata should never have happened. When Hiashi petitioned him to arrange for Neji and Hinata to fight, he had assured Sarutobi that despite Neji's grudge against the main house, the boy was not murderous and had great self-control. It was supposed to be a short battle, with Neji quickly subduing Hinata with a show of superior skill and power, with Hinata surrendering after it became obvious she stands no chance. Hiashi hoped that such a public loss, in front of her crush and all her friends, would serve as a wake-up call for his daughter and might even appease some of Neji's anger at the main branch. It sounded plausible to Sarutobi, and having Hiashi in his debt would give him some much needed leverage over the Hyuuga clan, which was becoming increasingly belligerent with its dealings with the village as of late. Plus Hiashi promised he would work towards dissolving the boundaries between the two branches, which could only be a good thing in Sarutobi's opinion.
Sadly, Hiashi proved to be staggeringly ignorant of both of the genin involved. Hinata wasn't a helpless and talentless girl that Hiashi portrayed her as, and Neji wasn't as stoic as the Hyuuga patriarch wished to believe. Faced with real resistance from Hinata, Neji turned to deadly force.
This would have been bad enough all by itself, what with its intensifying effect on the instability that has been bubbling among the Hyuuga ever since the Kumo incident, but there was an issue that was, in Sarutobi's opinion, just as potentially disastrous.
Hinata was Naruto's friend. Naruto was furious. Murderously furious. And Naruto was Neji's first opponent in the Chuunin finals.
Sarutobi knew he couldn't keep Naruto sedated for the whole month, but fortunately he had something just as good.
"Is there something you wish to tell me, Naruto?"
"No, Hokage-sama."
Sarutobi suppressed a wince with all the experience granted to him by years of political wrangling. Naruto's voice was flat and emotionless, but the aging Hokage could clearly sense the undercurrent of barely-restrained hostility in the young genin's voice. Not to mention that he actually called him by his title.
Sarutobi briefly glanced at the other occupants in the room. Kakashi was here mostly to get notified about what is going to happen to his genin. Kakashi was simply too influential and too involved in this particular issue to be left-outside the loop. Jiraya and Kabuto were present because they were to participate in the mission he was about to give Naruto. Normally Sarutobi would simply send Jiraya alone with Naruto, but Sarutobi suspected that Naruto didn't have a very high opinion of Jiraya at the moment, what with the Sannin's failure to stop the fight in time. Plus, Jiraya can be pretty infuriating even at the best of times. Kabuto would serve as a friendly element for the blonde, tempering his wrath.
"Well then, let's begin, shall we?" Hokage said, leaning back. "Uzumaki Naruto, you and Yakushi Kabuto will accompany Jiraya on a trip to find his former teammate, Tsunade. This is a long-term mission of critical importance, so no time-period for completion is given."
"What!" Naruto shouted. "But I've got a Chuunin exam to prepare for!"
"This mission takes precedence," the Hokage insisted.
Sarutobi watched as many emotions danced across Naruto's face before he suddenly took a deep breath and became calm again. It was honestly a little frightening how easily Naruto could subdue his emotions and shift moods. Perhaps there is some truth to Ibiki's speculations about mental disorders and multiple personalities?
"So let me get this straight," Naruto tried. "I am to find Tsunade and… what? Bring her back to the village?" The Hokage nodded. "And if I don't succeed by the time the finals start?"
"You are not to return until the mission is accomplished," the Hokage said calmly. "As Jiraya is in charge of the mission, only he can call it off."
"You're trying to keep me from fighting Neji," Naruto accused.
Sarutobi didn't deny it. It was true, after all, thought not the whole truth. It was also to keep him out of sight of rumor-mongers, in hopes that all those incendiary stories that were spreading around town (true or not) would die out without Naruto putting fuel to the fire. It would also place him in a constantly changing environment where he won't be continually reminded of hid dead friend on a daily basis, and will be too busy to brood about the whole thing. And finally, it would give Jiraya the opportunity to assess the blonde and subtly question him. Though the deadline had not yet passed, it was obvious that Anko and Kurenai have failed to extract anything from Naruto about his mysterious 'sources'.
"There has been enough death in this exam," the Hokage said evenly. "Besides, don't you want to help Anko?"
Shino watched as Naruto's eyes widened in shock.
"What do you mean 'help Anko'?" Naruto said. "What happened?"
"She had an encounter with an enemy infiltrator in the forest that left her in a permanent coma," the Sandaime said. "Nothing we did was able to wake her up. If anyone can help her it's Tsunade."
Sarutobi observed as indecision gripped Naruto, his desire to help his friend warring with his defiance towards what he perceived as an unfair decision. Finally Naruto seemed to shake off his indecision and assumed a more confident posture.
"When do we leave?" Naruto asked.
Sarutobi breathed a small sigh of relief. It gladdened him that Naruto was willing to choose his friend over vengeance. The will of fire still burns inside the boy.
"Right now," piped in Jiraya. "You have exactly two hour to prepare, so meet us at the north gate at that time."
"Right," Naruto mumbled bitterly. "Can have me wandering around the village for even a moment. Might upset someone if they see me."
"Naruto…" the Hokage tried with a gentler tone.
"Can it," Naruto snapped. "Your plan will backfire yet, Hokage-sama. I will find Tsunade before the month is up and I will avenge Hinata at the finals. And that's a promise."
"The path of vengeance is a dark path to thread," Sarutobi tried.
"Darker than killing a member of your family in a friendly competition?" Naruto shot back.
"I never suggested that what Neji did was right," Sarutobi said. "I understand your anger, but a Hokage mustn't let his personal feelings blind him when making decisions."
"How about fairness," Naruto growled. "Is a Hokage allowed to factor in that into his decision-making process?"
"No," Sarutobi told him bluntly. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to the boy. "A Hokage can't make decisions based on what is fair. He has to do what is best for the village. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. Surely you know this – your dream is to become Hokage, right?"
Naruto said nothing for a moment before abruptly standing up and dusting himself off.
"Let's go," Naruto said blandly to Kabuto. "We mustn't let the mission waiting. The sooner we find Tsunade the sooner we can come back."
Kakashi let a long-suffering sigh as Naruto left his office with apologetic-looking Kabuto in tow. What a mess.
- break -
Naruto trailed mechanically after the white haired man that was officially leading this mission, ignoring the man's lame attempt at conversation. Naruto knew that Neji's speed was almost Jounin level and that Jiraya was supposed to be a ninjutsu specialist more than anything, but he was still pissed at the man's failure to stop Neji's attack in time. Though in all honesty, if that was the only complaint against the man, Naruto might have forgiven him in time. Alas, Jiraya offended virtually all of professional sensibilities Sasori instilled in Naruto. The man was ten times worse than Kakashi, something that Naruto scarcely believed to be possible before this moment.
They were walking to their destination. Walking! It wasn't even a fast walk. Naruto knew the moment this mission was assigned to him that it would be up to him to finish this mission in a timely manner, since Jiraya was probably given instructions to stall until the finals are over, but he didn't expect the great Sannin to be so blatant about it. Naruto's first instinct was to complain, but he squashed it. The man was underestimating him badly, something that was very convenient for Naruto's goals at the moment, and Naruto would do nothing to disabuse the man of his biases for now.
Jiraya glanced towards him, clearly a little annoyed at Naruto's lack of reaction to attempts at bonding. Naruto kept staring forward. He wouldn't glare. He wouldn't. Glaring isn't going to solve anything. Feeling angry and bitter will only cloud his mind to the most favorable solution to his problems. And there were many problems plaguing him. For too long has he been sweeping problems under the metaphorical rug, hoping they would eventually go away, and if he doesn't start dealing with them he was bound to collapse under their weight.
So instead of uselessly brooding while Jiraya led them on a wild goose chase, Naruto considered his life, his life goals, and the immediate situation he had found himself in.
He still didn't know much about the planned invasion, since the attack of those Sound Ninja and Hinata's death had driven that particular issue from his mind, and that would have to be rectified. Sasori, that manipulative bastard, had used those same events and Naruto's abrupt mission to get out of discussing details with Naruto. No, instead he pulled that unbelievably ghoulish move with stealing Hinata's corpse and gave Naruto a transcript of a discussion between the Old Man and Hinata's dad. Normally Naruto would have doubted the authenticity of such a document, seeing how they weren't supposed to be made at all, but Naruto knew Sasori wouldn't lie to him so blatantly. Sasori's personal creed was that truth was a powerful enough weapon without resorting to outright lies. You just had to pick your truths carefully.
It took all of Naruto's self-control not to bite the Old Man's head off when he finally finished reading the transcript. They set her up. They set them up. As much as he hated to admit it, Naruto actually felt a little sorry for Neji after reading that. Not enough to spare the boy's life when they fought, but enough that Naruto would probably leave a flower on his grave after he kills him. Still, confronting the Old Man about it would have been stupid. If it's truly legitimate, he'd get carted off to Ibiki again, and he doubted his stay would be as pleasant as it was last time. Naruto had a Sannin to find and a friend to avenge, and spending the rest of the Chuunin exams in a holding cell was going to interfere with that.
Of course, Sasori didn't give him that transcript because he wanted Naruto to be informed. Naruto knew Sasori was manipulating him. He was sure that, should he ask, Sasori wouldn't deny it for a second. His red-headed mentor lived and breathed mind-games and subterfuge, and he expected Naruto to at least deal with it effectively, if he was incapable to playing along. But like Sasori had told him so long ago, their relationship was mutually beneficial. Naruto couldn't afford to end it. He didn't want to, truth be told. Sasori was a friend, a teacher, and an ally. For all his machinations, Naruto didn't think the older boy had malicious goals towards him.
No, Naruto didn't begrudge Sasori for trying to manipulate him. But that didn't mean he was going to take it lying down. It was time for Naruto to start pulling his end of the string.
He glanced towards Kabuto who, despite not returning his look, smirked and shifted his glasses a bit. Naruto had learned over time that his little ticks, like shifting glasses, were actually coded communications. In this particular case, the meaning was simple: what do you want? What indeed. Naruto wanted nothing less but to subvert Kabuto's loyalties. Superficially, Kabuto appeared to be Sasori's loyal follower, but Naruto was pretty sure he had gained an insight into Kabuto's nature during his lessons with the man, and that he understood the grey-haired medic far better than Sasori. For all his insightfulness when it comes to understanding people, Sasori could be terribly blind about people's motivations when they didn't fit into his rather cynical views. Kabuto was a scholar. He didn't want money, reputation, or acknowledgement. He wanted to know things. He wanted to explore the nature of humanity, of life itself, not for the power it would bring him, but simply to be enlightened. Naruto could give him that. He didn't even have to lie – Naruto wanted to know too, if not as obsessively as Kabuto. He would be the colleague that Kabuto can bounce his ideas from, a test subject that heals from any abuse, and a leader who understands and support his choices.
Naruto permitted himself a small smile. Yes, it was about time he does some plotting of his own.
- break -
Orochimaru was furious. The whole invasion plan would have to be changed radically or even scrapped entirely, and it was all one person's fault.
Damn the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, damn him to hell! How could his elite soldiers loose to that boy? He even killed Kimimaro! Has the brat really gotten so strong?
And on top of that, something was wrong with the seal he placed on Sasuke. Hell, something was wrong with the seal he placed on Anko too! Against all odds, it seemed that Konoha found the way to counter his cursed seal. This was completely unacceptable!
At least some things were going in his favor. Due to the whole Hyuuga incident, the whole village has been focused elsewhere, allowing him to work in relative peace.
And now that he thought about it, that just gave him the most wonderful idea…
- break -
Yamanaka Ino paced back and forth like a caged animal, her agitation obvious to her teammates. She shot a contemptuous glance towards the two and snorted derisively. Not that they cared. They never cared about anything. Or at least not about anything of consequence. They were just lying on the grass and staring at the sky without a care in the world. Sometimes Ino envied them on their ability to remain unconcerned by happenings around them. They all lost miserably in the preliminaries and they didn't care. Hinata was dead and they didn't care. The whole village was in an uproar and they didn't care.
Ino cared. She hadn't been happy with her team for a while actually, but up until the Chuunin exams her unhappiness had been relatively mild. Sure, she knew she knew her team trained too little, and that she was a bit underpowered compared to other genin. And yes, she knew she should train more on her own, but compared to Shikamaru and Chouji her skills seemed adequate. More than adequate, even! It was only now that she realized how huge the gap between her and other genin was.
She lost against Sakura. It was always comforting to Ino to know that, if nothing else, she was still better than her childhood friend, and that comfort had been stripped from her in the preliminaries. Sakura had beat her easily, despite still recovering from a debilating injury. Worse than that, Ino was painfully aware that Sakura was an ideal opponent for her in that exam. Everyone else was not only stronger, but also far more ruthless. Even the sweet little Hinata…
Ino shook as a shiver ran down her spine. That could have easily been her, lying dead in the arena. Hinata did admirably against a clearly superior opponent and it still wasn't enough. If Sakura had been as ruthless as Neji, she could have easily ended Ino's life instead of just burying her up to her chin in dusty earth. She hadn't been ready for that exam.
She glanced at Shikamaru and Chouji again, willing them, daring them to meet her gaze. They didn't. She sighed and resumed her pacing.
None of them had been ready.
Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, her face twisted into an ugly sneer. Their teacher was late. Again. While not as bad as Kakashi, Asuma wasn't particularly concerned about punctuality either. Not even, apparently, after seeing his entire team metaphorically trampled in the Chuunin exams. She had no doubt that once he arrives, he'll put them through some light training and then move on to endless games with Shikamaru before leading them to a restaurant of Chouji's choice. Before, she found it rather annoying. Now it pissed her off.
Why was she even here? She should be with Naruto, to give him some comfort. He was devastated by the death of his friend, she was sure, and no one would let her see him. She managed to track him down to the general hospital, even though the staff denied they even had him, but his room was guarded by a couple of Chuunin, and she was turned away. It was like they were keeping him prisoner, and she didn't understand why.
There was a lot of things she didn't understand about Naruto, but usually she tried to ignore it. Her father didn't react well to her inquiries about him, and neither did any of her other gossip partners. Now, however, the mystery was too pronounced to ignore – the things people were saying about him both strange and infuriating, and she couldn't make heads or tails about the underlying truth. If Naruto was in front of her, she wasn't sure she could restrain herself from demanding an explanation, even though she knew now was a terrible time to demand such things of him.
"Hello, my dear students."
Ino immediately whirred around to face Asuma, a scowl still plastered on her face. Idly she noted that she didn't notice his approach. Jounin or not, the truth was she didn't even try to keep an eye on her surroundings. Just one more area she was lacking in.
"Things cannot go on like this, Asuma-sensei," Ino snapped at him.
"I completely agree," he said, surprising her into silence. He took advantage of that to continue. "That's why we're going to make use of this month for some intense training."
Ino heard a groan from Shikamaru and restrained her urge to hit him.
"For this purpose I have ensured the cooperation of several other Jounin and Chuunin, and they will occasionally join us to impart their unique skills unto you or simply test your progress," Asuma continued, acting as if he heard nothing. "I sincerely hope you won't embarrass me, because I wouldn't like that. Oh, I almost forgot – Sasuke from team 7 and Kiba from team 8 will join us in this training, since their instructors will be busy training members of their team who passed into the final portion of the Chuunin exams."
Ino was surprised how unexcited she was to heard she would be spending a whole month around Sasuke. She just wasn't in the mood at the moment – too many things were happening at once, and she felt like she was being overwhelmed.
Ino sighed. This was going to be a long month.
- break -
"So you think using Kyuubi's youki shortens your life?" Kabuto asked, staring intently at the plethora of unrolled scrolls in front of him.
"You don't?" Naruto asked.
"I understand how you could have reached that impression. The weakened tissues and the damage to your chakra coils imply as much. Still, I don't think things are that simple. You didn't notice this because you haven't been doing regular fully body scans, but the amount of youki coursing through your body has increased ever since you drew on the fox's power."
Naruto frowned. "I don't follow. Shouldn't the overlay-"
"The overlay caps the flow of youki into your chakra coils, but this is completely separate from the issue of how much of that youki gets distributed to your body," Kabuto said. "All jinchuuriki need a steady supply of youki from their prisoner in order for their bodies to function properly. This is an unavoidable feature all jinchuuriki share, because it embodies the dependency, the bond between the tailed beast and its host. It is this bond that prevents the bijuu from tearing their containers apart in order to free themselves, but it is also a channel that allows the bijuu to influence their hosts to some degree. When I did a full body scan on you the first time we met, the amount of youki your body required was 3 times lower than it is now. This implies that the channel between you and Kyuubi has widened considerably."
"While creepy and a fine example of unintended consequences of poorly thought-out actions, what does that have to do with my life-span?"
"Your body isn't actually damaged by channeling vast amounts of youki, despite appearances. Rather, it is changed. Kyuubi broke down many of your cells and rebuilt them in a way that is more… compatible to him. So long as you supply enough youki to your body, those cells are actually stronger and more efficient than your natural ones, but deprived of that…"
"And the overlay puts a cap on the amount of youki that is allowed in my coils," finished Naruto. "Still, if Kyuubi does this every time I flood my body with youki, my body will eventually require more and more youki to survive. I would become extremely sensitive to the flow of youki, which I already know the Kyuubi can manipulate as he pleases. It would give the fox far too much blackmail material for my comfort. Even though it hurts me somewhat, I'm not loosening the seal overlay."
"You fear me."
Kabuto jerked in his seat, glancing fearfully towards the gigantic unblinking eye visible through a nearby window. Naruto simply rolled his eyes and blow a fresh jet of bubbles out of his pipe.
"You know, your mindscape is so lifelike I sometimes forget just where we are," Kabuto admitted. "Admittedly, it is a convenient way of avoiding Jiraya's scrutiny. We must be driving him batty, seemingly spending hours each day practicing meditation."
"The time dilation is useful too," Naruto said.
"You should fear me," the fox continued, ignoring the interruption. "Even in my bondage, my power is vast and terrible. You may have foiled one of my ploys, but my cunning is endless and my patience everlasting."
Naruto raised his eyebrow at the eye. "So why are you speaking to me? You don't honestly expect me to just surrender now, do you?"
"I wish to make a deal with you, monkey boy."
Naruto blinked.
"Ever since you left Konoha, you have been trying to duplicate the enhancements my youki has done to your body with your own chakra," the fox said. "I offer you knowledge of how to achieve such a feat."
Naruto was shocked. He expected the fox to offer something small an irrelevant, to fight tooth and nail against making any sort of significant concession, but instead it offers such a massive favor? Warning bells immediately sounded in his head and he narrowed his eyes at the hateful eye in front of him.
"And just what do you want in exchange for something like that?" Naruto asked suspiciously.
"Nothing."
Shocked silence followed the proclamation.
"It is a peace offering," the fox elaborated. "Considering our past dealings, you would have doubtlessly refused any substantive request, fearing it a trick. Not an unreasonable sentiment. Thus, I am offering a no-strings-attached favor as a gesture of good will."
"No favor is without attached strings," Naruto said resolutely.
"Hah. I suppose a puppeteer would know about that. But I have already told you what I hope to gain by this. I wish to trade, but trust necessary for such dealings does not exist at the moment. You are in no way required to reciprocate me for my magnanimous favor in any way. I promise this on my demon pride, and a promise thus made is unbreakable. What do you say?"
Catching the eager look on Kabuto's face, Naruto knew that at least one person was hooked. Naruto was not so sure.
"You're awfully polite, fox," Naruto said with narrowed eyes. "Where are the threats of bodily harm and youki poisoning? Where are the proclamations of my worthlessness?"
"They are not conductive to trade negotiations," the fox rumbled. "I am able to control myself when the situation calls for it, you know."
"Why do you want to trade, anyway?" Naruto asked. "Why now and not before?"
"Why should I barter for something I can just take?"
"Except you can't now," Naruto surmised.
"Right," agreed the fox. "Up until now, there was a good chance to succeed in remaking your body into a perfect vessel to take control of. At that point, the seal would have become immaterial, as your flesh would have simply become a core of my new body. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly obvious you are too perceptive to let things degenerate to that point. Thus, trade."
"And you're willing to tell me how to enhance my body with chakra for free to get merely a chance at this trade?"
"I could give you my very thoughts to peruse, teaching you in an instant," the fox bragged. "But I rather suspect you would not agree to such."
"You would be right," Naruto said. "Who knows what kind of traps you could have hidden in something like that?"
"Figures. I guess we'll do this the slow way," Kyuubi said. "When you've been trying to enhance your muscles earlier, you did it by directing chakra to specific body part. Worse, you did it by limiting your targets to muscles, and you were simply flooding them with undirected chakra. You will not get anywhere like that. A body is a made of many parts, and all of them are critical. When you punch something, you are not using only your arm – your whole body contributes. Even if you only intend to use an enhanced finger-flick, you need to strengthen your entire skeletal system, various muscles all over the body and the ligaments that connect them to your bones and joints, harden the skin so it isn't sheared off on impact, and so on. Naturally, this requires great familiarity about how your body works – familiarity that can be achieved either by scholarly study of anatomy and medicine, or by extensive trial and error. Preferably a combination of the two."
"Complicated," Naruto remarked.
"Quite," the fox agreed. "And all of this chakra manipulation has to be done instantaneously and without hand seals. Normally it would take a person years to perfect it to the point where it would be useable in combat circumstances. That is, unless you have an eon-old demon lord in your gut that knows your body inside an out and can guide you through the process. You should have the technique in usable condition before this mission is done."
Naruto hummed ponderously. It seems this mission wasn't going to be as big of a waste of time as he thought. He wondered how Tsunade's super strength holds up against Kyuubi-inspired body enhancement. And what a coincidence, they're searching for the wayward Sannin anyway! It was almost like fate. Maybe if he manages to impress her she'll teach him some of her secrets?
She can't possibly be worse than Jiraya and Orochimaru.
- break -
Jiraya was not having a good month. First Orochimaru pops up in Konoha during the Chuunin exams, something that Jiraya had no explanation for (and he should know since, as Sarutobi helpfully reminded him, running his spy network was his whole reason from being absent from the village all the time). Explaining to his old teacher why he had been blindsided like that had been rather embarrassing. Then that Hyuuga girl ended up dead during the preliminaries and everyone had been jumping at his throat for not reacting sooner, as if stopping a Hyuuga with nigh-Jounin speed from the other end of the arena while water walking was piece of cake. He was pretty amazing, yes, but not that amazing. And just his luck, the girl was close with Naruto, so now the blond was pissed at him too.
Jiraya tried to be understanding. He knew it must be infuriating to be exiled on this fool's quest when all you want to do is tear some bastard's throat in revenge for killing your friend, and with a man who was at least mildly culpable for her death no less. Jiraya didn't really understand Sarutobi's logic in this, but then again that was why he wasn't Hokage. He was pleased that the boy bounced back from his broody mood fairly quickly, but in the end the boy interacted solely with the grey-haired medic that was traveling with them, never with Jiraya. At first Jiraya thought the brat would crack quickly, unable to keep a grudge for more than a few days, but it had been two weeks and nothing had changed. The blond never complained about the slow pace they were making, Jiraya's frequent research periods, or anything else. Jiraya did his best to spy on the two, but they spent most of the time absorbed in some kind of experiments with medical techniques, and that was an area that Jiraya had little understanding of, despite being Tsunade's teammate. The rest of the time they meditated, for some inexplicable reason, and watching them while they did that got old pretty fast.
"What do you mean you found Tsunade?" Jiraya asked the blonde, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. He couldn't have possibly… They were just wandering around randomly, for crying out loud! The chances of stumbling upon his wayward teammate were astronomical!
"She's in the village 30 miles to the east," the boy said, pointing towards some unseen destination. "She and another black haired woman with a pig. They'll be staying there for the next couple of days."
Jiraya raised his eyebrow at that. On one hand, him mentioning Shizune led credence to his claim, since Jiraya certainly didn't inform him of her, but how would the boy know that?
"And how, pray tell, do you know this? Your mysterious sources, again? Do they contact you telepathically and relay things like this to you? Or maybe visit you in their dreams," mocked Jiraya.
Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Mind-to-mind communication? That's a good idea actually, I should put some thought into it later… But no, this one is all me, with the help of my Eyes."
Jiraya frowned. "Your eyes? What, do you have some kind of doujutsu?"
"No, just my sealing skills," Naruto said, raising his hand. Jiraya watched as a dragonfly flitted over to them and landed gently on his finger. Jiraya had noticed the blond messing around with dragonflies during their travels but he never thought it significant. He figured the blond was just relieving pent-up aggression by torturing the poor things to death. Come to think of it, they were always followed by dragonflies wherever they went, the little buggers always coming and going…
"Wait," Jiraya began. "You mean to tell me-"
"Yes," Naruto nodded. "They are my eyes. They're not really alive, not after I'm done with them. They are more of an extension of me, allowing me to see far and wide. I like dragonflies because they fast and enduring fliers and just the right size – small and common enough to remain inconspicuous yet fairly large for an insect, allowing me to pack a lot of seals into them."
Jiraya stared at him in shock. Sarutobi told him the boy was interested in seals but he never said it was anything like this! It made him wonder just how much of the blonde's other skills were understated. The boy's medical skills, for instance, were never really quantified properly in the report Jiraya read.
"You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot, Naruto," Jiraya said. "What do you say that I help you out a bit while we go check this sighting out?"
"Help me out?" the boy asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing. "You're not trying to keep us away while they leave, are you? Because it's not going to work."
"No, no, nothing like that," Jiraya assured him. "I admit I didn't really expect to find Tsunade within a month – she can be quite elusive when she wants to be – but I won't stop you from completing the mission. Frankly, it's the Hokage's own fault if this plan backfires on him. No, I just think it's rather unfair that you'll be the only contestant who won't be getting any training before the finals. Why don't we find an out of the way clearing so I can test your skills and then we'll see what I can help you with.
Jiraya was ecstatic when the blond reluctantly agreed. Not only does he score some point with the kid for helping him out, but he also gets an excuse to get a feel for the boy's capabilities. He didn't doubt for a second that the boy would hide a great deal of his skill, but it was a start.
Naruto lead him towards a fitting shop his little dragonflies have found while they were talking (convenient things, these 'eyes'; Jiraya wondered if the blonde would teach him how to make them if he asks nicely, since they would come real handy in his line of work… and for his research, he, he, he…), Kabuto trailing behind them, when suddenly all three of the stiffened.
A gigantic blast of severing wind crashed down upon the spot they stood on only a few moments earlier, but none of the three were there any more. Jiraya was impressed with the calmness and skill of the two genin, but didn't let that distract him from their attackers. One of them, a young blonde girl with a battle fan that launched the initial attack, was clearly visible but confronting her directly would be a mistake. Jiraya didn't doubt for a second there's more than one attacker.
The sound of breaking stone behind him warned him that his two genin were being attacked, but when he glanced back he saw Naruto and Kabuto fairly effortlessly dealing with two more attackers. The puppeteer had been trying to hide behind a large boulder while keeping Naruto busy with his two puppets, but that failed when Naruto simply turned the boulder into rubble with a single punch. Jiraya turned just in time to see Naruto heft a chunk of the boulder as big as himself over his shoulder like it was a common kunai and hurl it at the other attacker – a sand wielder that hastily erected a sand barrier to stop the rock from taking his head off. Jiraya was so shocked he almost got cleaved in half by a wind blade from another attacker with half of his face covered with a piece of cloth. 'Mild medical talent'? The boy was the second coming of Tsunade!
He pushed such thought aside for the moment, aware that he can't afford to underestimate the enemy, no matter how unimpressive they were. Jiraya recognized the sand ninja as participants in the Chuunin exams, so he knew they were genin. Talented genin, but still genin. The masked man, presumably their Jounin instructor, was a threat, but only a mild one. There was no way they would attack one of the Sannin with such a meager force. What was he missing?
He got a partial answer a moment later when a whole squad of Jounin joined the fight. Normally Jiraya would have simply incapacitated them so he could interrogate them about their reasons for attacking, but it was obvious they weren't here for Jiraya. They focused their attacks on Naruto. Jiraya had failed too many things during the last months already, and wasn't going to return to Konoha having failed to protect his grandson too. It was time to get serious.
Jiraya surged forward to intercept a couple of sword-wielding Jounins, undeterred by a giant wooden lizard that exploded out of the ground in front of him. He absent-mindedly outstretched his hand, forming a giant rasengan in front of him, and the puppet promptly turned to sawdust. The two sword-wielders didn't even have time to react when Jiraya buried his hands into their chests, breaking ribs like they were twigs.
The rest of the attacking force hesitated for a moment, apparently realizing that getting past Jiraya was not as easy as they thought. Honestly, Jiraya didn't know what they were thinking in the first place, though he blamed the preliminaries. You let one genin get the better of you and suddenly everyone and their mother think they can take you on. He blazed through a couple of hand seals.
The granite rose technique caused the earth beneath the target to erupt into a multitude of stony spikes that impaled everything in the vicinity. It was a tricky technique to use, because the target had to remain still while the user goes through the hand seals. Most people thought it an assassination technique.
Jiraya could make a while field of granite roses with a single application.
Miraculously, one of Jounin avoided being skewered on the field of pikes – he pushed enough chakra into the soles of his feet to propel himself into the air, leaving a small explosion in his wake. Jiraya was just wandering what to do about him when a rock the size of Jiraya's torso slammed into the soaring man, propelling him away from the battlefield. Apparently Naruto wasn't satisfied with just watching the battle.
Jiraya turned towards his genin, pleased that they haven't done anything stupid and gotten themselves killed or captured. Most of the attacking force was dead, and the rest were hiding behind a wall of sand created by the gourd-carrying genin, apparently reluctant to leave but aware that their attack has no chance of succeeding.
The second part of his answer came when he narrowly dodged a lunge by a giant snake trying to devour him, a familiar figure perched on top of its head.
"Ku, ku, ku, ku…" Orochimaru chuckled creepily. "I guess it's true when they say that if you want something done you have to do it yourself. I should have done this right from the start. So many problems would have been solved if I had just killed the brat personally in that forest… Sand shinobi! Take out the Kyuubi brat while I keep Jiraya busy."
"Well fuck," groused Jiraya, already going through the hand seals for summoning.
This really wasn't a good month for him.
- break -
Fighting against 3 other genin – rather talented genin at that – and their Jounin sensei would have been pretty much a lost cause for any two regular genin. Especially when one of the genin was a jinchuuriki like Gaara. Unfortunately for the sand team, neither Naruto nor Kabuto were normal genin. Naruto had already de-armed one of Kakuro's puppets through sheer strength and smashed Temari's fan to pieces, and the Jounin was limping after being caught in the leg with Kabuto's chakra scalpels. They were currently hiding behind a sand barrier that Gaara erected, trying to think up a proper course of action.
To be fair towards the Sand team, this was supposed to be an even more unfair fight, with a whole squad of Jounin helping them win quickly and decisively. They just didn't expect for the whole squad to be taken out by only one of Jiraya's techniques.
"There is no choice," Baki panted. "Gaara, you will have to release your beast."
Gaara glanced at his Jounin sensei impassively, trying to decide what to do. He didn't doubt for a second that Naruto's threat back in the forest of death was real, which meant that he couldn't obey an order like this, no matter how much he may want to. Of course, Baki couldn't be allowed to know this – the man was no his friend, not by a long shot. None of the Sand ninja were, for that matter, not even his siblings.
In barely a second he reached his decision. Sand surged from the wall of sand Gaara erected to protect them and shot towards the shocked Jounin. Sadly, without Shukaku's aid, the sand was simply too slow to catch the Jounin in time and the man Shunshin'd out of range.
Gaara hissed in frustration. This was what he was afraid of.
"G-Gaara!" Temari protested. "What the hell do you think you're doing! This is no time to turn on your comrades!"
Before Gaara could proceed with plan B (envelop yourself in a sphere of Sand and wait till the other jinchuuriki kills all the threats around him before fleeing to parts unknown) a new voice made itself known.
"This really is our lucky day, yeah?" the voice said, hideously happy about something. Gaara hated happy people. "Both the Ichibi and the Kyuubi are in the same place, and far from any village too. We can get both of them at the same time! Hell, I could get both of the little runts and your three could sit this one out, yeah!"
Gaara turned towards a voice and stared at the four men in black cloaks with red clouds painted on them. Just from looking at them Gaara could see they were way out of his league at the moment. They would have probably been out of his league even if Naruto hadn't cripple him like he did.
"Leader-sama has already assigned a target for each of us," the red-eyes member of the group said monotonously. "Kisame and I will take care of the Ninetails. You and Yugo subdue the Sand Jinchuuriki."
"Hey! Who died and put you in charge!" the blond man protested.
"He is merely reiterating Leader-sama's orders," the orange-haired man piped in. "They have their target. We have ours."
"Tch. Fine!" the blonde man said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Let's get this art show started then!"
Gaara collapsed his wall of sand and glanced towards the blonde jinchuuriki standing not too far away.
"Uzumaki," he intoned solemnly. "I propose a temporary truce."
He had just enough time to see the other jinchuuriki nod in ascend before a swarm of clay birds descended on him and sound of explosions filled the air.