Sorry this chapter took so long. I was busy getting ready for the fall semester. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen
"I can't believe I'm actually agreeing to this…" the blond woman growled as they approached the Great Wall.
"I can," the white-haired sage quipped.
"Well you got me to do it, so no surprises there. Remind me how you did it again? And why I seem to be unable to come up with a good reason not to go back to Konoha?"
"You want a list? Well let's see: sensei's dead and you feel you owe him, Naruto's sort of your relative and a shinobi of Konoha, Oro-teme already used your great-uncle's jutsu once against us and would have sacrificed people to mock you and pervert the memories of Dan and Nawaki, but most importantly you know and love me, hime!"
"In your dreams, pervert," the blond medic muttered.
"And maybe you can't come up with a good reason because you were having too much fun double-teaming the snake with me," Jiraiya winked at Naruto ahead of the woman. The boy smirked and decided to add his own comments.
"You know, I've never seen anyone bend over and smile like that. It's like he was enjoying the experience of you two coming at him fast and furious. He didn't even blink when she pounded him on the ground."
Tsunade tripped in shock while Shizune looked horrified. Jiraiya was stunned for a moment before he collapsed and rolled on the ground, laughing.
"Oh man, that was a good one, brat! That was comedy gold!"
Then the looming shadowy figure of his flushed and enraged teammate hovered over him. "Think that's funny do you?" she growled, cracking her knuckles.
Later that day, Jiraiya would wake up in three distinct places: the women's onsen baths with a hole in the roof, Anko Mitarashi's personal training grounds with an angry kunoichi and her summons, and the hospital with memories to make any red-blooded male envious.
*break*
The day after the sage and his new student left the Last Senju to her own devices had turned into one of the most chaotic the woman cared to remember. She had spent a sleepless night thinking about Jiraiya's words, as well as those of the blond brat whose abilities far outstripped hers. It had set her wondering about her father, who she vaguely remembered, and her little brother. She remembered how her brother always seemed to know how to cheer her up and make her smile to a degree that it was unsettling. Had Nawaki inherited the same abilities? It was an intriguing question.
Then there was what the sage had said, that he'd kept her secret until he thought sensei had a right to know. It touched her. Jiraiya had always been the bumbling fool on the team who no one really took seriously. His absurd proposals to her were amusing anecdotes that had made her team…well, her team. She rarely took any of his promises seriously, and she had certainly not expected the man to keep the secret for well over thirty-five years, even from the man who was a second father to both of them.
Her thoughts then moved to Sarutobi. From Jiraiya's retelling, her sensei had fought her grandfather and great-uncle personally as they were forced to fight him against their wills. He had performed the same sacrifice that the sage's previous student had used to stop the Kyuubi, on her legendary family members. Her sensei had been forced to condemn himself and his mentors, her relatives, to eternal combat in the belly of the Shinigami, because of what Orochimaru had done.
And the snake had done more than that. He had sacrificed the young and innocent, as Jiraiya's copy of the immediate investigation of the battle revealed. It offended her that her former teammate would stoop to stealing her great-uncle's technique and perverting it into a human sacrifice ritual for his own twisted entertainment. Lives were not to be toyed with, damnit! Hadn't she spent the majority of her own career as a shinobi trying to save them?
The day hadn't been any easier. Having made up her mind sometime while running her train of thought during the night, she had gone to meet with the snake and answer with not only a no, but a hell no. Her teammate hadn't taken kindly to her refusal, snatching her niece and holding her hostage until Jiraiya and Naruto had crashed the meeting. She had then witnessed first hand the boy's prowess with his abilities as he used a jutsu to abruptly strengthen Shizune's will to fight before charging at the newly distracted Kabuto.
That had been the catalyst as she and Jiraiya sprang into action against their former teammate. When they were finished, Orochimaru wisely decided to leave while Tsunade tended to Jiraiya and her newly discovered relative, both of whom had been knocked out. Her perverted teammate had woken up while she was directly over him and had immediately been sent right back into unconsciousness after he had the nerve to lift his face into her rack. As exasperating as it was, she smiled to herself as she worked on easing Sasuke out of the genjutsu Itachi placed on his little brother. It was nice to know some things hadn't changed.
"Well," the cycloptic jonin commented as she worked on his student. "at least we know that Itachi hasn't been slacking off."
"You shouldn't be up, Kaka-baka."
Ignoring the rarely-used nickname, he shrugged. "Well it is my student you're working on."
Tsunade frowned. "It feels odd that Itachi would have done something like the Uchiha Clan massacre. From what I remember of the kid, he loved his family and he loved the village. I don't see any reason for him to do that. Do you?"
When no answer was forthcoming, she turned to see that the man had adopted a stony-faced expression. "I can't say anything, not here, Hokage-sama."
Raising her brows, she shrugged and turned back to work. She'd find out soon enough.
*break*
Danzo waited patiently as his two agents finished their report while Zabuza, Haku, and Mei Terumi stood to the side.
"I see. So," he turned to direct his words to the trio behind. "the majority of Kiri chafes under Madara's marionette, and Akatsuki has direct dealings with the governance of the village?"
The woman nodded. "Occasionally, Yagura has called on them to root out resistance cells like ours. They are all powerful shinobi, because those cells they find usually turn into smoking ruins with no survivors. The bastard loves to parade their bodies around as a warning."
"And with someone like Kisame in the ranks," Zabuza added while nursing a raw patch of skin on his left arm. "I'm surprised that Mei's group hasn't been found out already. That bastard know a shit ton about hiding places in Kiri."
The cripple nodded. "What of your plans for after ousting the Mizukage?"
"We're going to clean up the place and find a new leader. It goes without saying that Kiri will owe you one for helping us."
"Who is likely to take over?"
Zabuza snorted. "I don't do politics and command very well. Mei's probably your best bet because her cell is the biggest one right now, and she's the undisputed leader. People ain't gonna argue much with a woman who can spit acid or lava."
Mei blushed. "I'm sure there are more capable people for the job, Zabuza."
"Really? 'Cause off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone else at the moment."
Danzo raised an eyebrow before turning his attention to another issue. "What aid can Konoha provide you with?"
"Manpower and expertise," Mei replied. "We're long on needs, short of hands. A lot of our people are genin and chuunin. We're working on training them up, but that takes valuable time, and Yagura could find us any day now. As a matter of fact, we're relocating right now. If we had the people, we could try and get him off that seat."
The elder nodded. "I will see to it that you have it."
*break*
Loathe though he was to say it, he had to admit that the one-eyed elder had been right. Konoha was much better off leaving Orochimaru alive. Jiraiya had told Naruto about his father, Minato Namikaze, and everything that the sage and his sensei had deduced with regards to the Kyuubi attack. Naruto's first question had been "What the fuck does Madara want with the Kyuubi?"
"I don't have a clue, but I'm working on finding that out. Look, what we do know is that he seems to have it in him for Konoha, like Orochimaru, but Oro-teme is working against him. Once upon a time, my old teammate was part of Akatsuki, the group Madara probably runs, and he cut off. He probably knows more about Madara and his plans than anyone else, and Madara would do well to think of him as a major threat. While Orochimaru is at large, Madara has something else to potentially distract him from people like you who control the bijuu. It's good for us, because it might buy us time to figure out how to deal with him."
"What about my Jouton? You said that Madara sent blue and fishy with Sasuke's brother after me to see if I was a threat."
"Naruto, after what you did to Orochimaru's invasion, you're basically an army killer. You turned a battle into a massacre by using your Jouton, and unconsciously at that. Madara would have to be a complete idiot not to investigate your abilities, and we know he's not. But you are not going to be killing individual people with it anytime soon. You saw how well it worked on Orochimaru. Powerful and experienced shinobi are highly resistant to mental manipulation."
Naruto frowned at that. "So how would I get it to work?"
The sage shrugged. "Catch them off guard. Tail your enemy until you find a time where he's vulnerable, then smack him with it. There are other ways of beating opponents besides straight-up combat. Combat just happens to be the simplest way. Problem is that most of your abilities besides your emotionally-charged chakra are more useful for things like espionage and assassination, but that's not your style. You're the up-front kind of shinobi."
"Jiraiya-sama," Tenzo appeared. "Hokage-sama would like to see you."
Jiraiya sighed and got up. "Well, that's my cue. Why don't you go visit your team in the hospital?"
Naruto nodded as the sage left, deep in thought. Strong enemies would be coming after him, and he was nowhere near the level he wanted to be at. But he had a place to start. Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, was in the group after him. He decided to see if Sasuke had recovered and find out about his brother.
*break*
Danzo exited the hokage tower with a grim satisfaction. So he had been right. Now the question was what to do with the knowledge. Kakashi's recounting of the meeting with the two agents of Akatsuki was most illuminating, but it presented a couple challenges.
First and foremost, how to take advantage of this. If he knew the Senju heiress, she would require some damned good reasons to risk the livelihood of a Konoha genin-no, chuunin, the man corrected himself. The boy in question had proven himself to be of a level head in the exams after all, along with his main rival and teammate. But never had chuunin been given such an important undercover assignment. It was a pity the boy wasn't part of his own forces, but Madara Uchiha would not be fooled by one of his rote shinobi attempting to infiltrate Akatsuki.
Second was how to utilize new information. He grumbled. It was the age-old problem with intelligence. If he acted on information, Madara no doubt would have sources to try and find out what he was doing. If they caught him, the former Uchiha head might start wondering what information he acted on and go searching for his source. But if he didn't use it, he might as well not have it in the first place.
It was an interesting puzzle for him to go over as he made his way into the hospital. Jiraiya eyed him with suspicion as the man passed on his way out, no doubt from informing Uzumaki about new developments. When he arrived at Sasuke's ward, he was surprised to see the blond sitting there chatting with his more-dour-than-usual teammate.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke," he said. "I trust Jiraiya has told you something of importance recently?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke, who sat on the bed staring at his hands. "Yeah, and broody here is still in shock."
A rare smile crossed the cripple's face. "I imagine so."
The blond stood to face him. "You know, you were right. With what Jiraiya told me, it is better that Orochimaru is alive. He still needs to pay for that mark on Sasuke's neck."
Danzo frowned. Yes, that mark needed to go away, if for no other reason than to eliminate the possibility of rogue influences within the village. It was not widely known, but the main effort behind cracking Orochimaru's cursed seal owed more to his own influence than Anko Mitarashi's insistence that someone "find a way to get this fucking love bite off my neck!" But for all of Jiraiya's expertise and his own knowledge of sealing, the mark had stood firm against all efforts to remove it.
"Hey…" Naruto muttered to himself, bringing the elder out of his reverie. "what if…that just might…" He looked up at the man. "I think I have an idea-"
"Do not say anything here, boy. This is not the venue for sensitive information. Follow me."
Were the boy anyone else, he might have been inclined to dismiss any suggestions out of hand. But Naruto Uzumaki was the most mature genin of his age as a requirement of his abilities, and he was taught by a Hyuuga retainer, a special operative division commander, and Jiraiya himself. Curiosity piqued, he looked forward to hearing what the boy had to say. It was interesting enough that he took no note of Jiraiya's not-quite-open hostility as they walked to the Hokage tower.
*break*
Sasuke was not quite surprised when four figures dropped in front of him, each bearing a mark similar to what adorned his neck.
"What do you want?"
"Orochimaru is prepared to offer you far more than Konoha will if you join him. Who knows? He may even train you to become stronger than your brother."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and thought back to what he had been told just a week ago. "And if I accept?"
"Come to the northwest outskirts in two hours."
Two hours rolled by, and Sasuke had made his way toward the set location when Sakura came out of nowhere. Damn it, I do not have time for this!
*break*
Shikamaru found it slightly odd that his fellow chuunin and the only blond male in the room was receiving glares from the hokage and the tall white-haired man in the room. Usually, Naruto was on good terms with them. He put it out of his mind as Tsunade spoke.
"Sasuke Uchiha has left the village, possibly to defect to Orochimaru. Your mission is to retrieve him at all costs. Shikamaru, Naruto, you are the chuunin in command."
"What about opposition?" Neji questioned. Tsunade tore her glare from Naruto and focused on him.
"It's unknown, but we suspect you will be facing escorts from Orochimaru. They could well be elite fighters. Be prepared."
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed."
As they left, Chouji posed a question. "Why were those two pissed at you Naruto?"
The blond brushed it off. "Not important. We have a mission right now. Let's go."
Neji frowned as they took off. "A little clarification might be nice Uzumaki."
"Neji, after what you did, I don't owe you anything at the moment. And I don't have to explain what they're pissed at me for, because that's classified."
Shikamaru raised a brow. "Not like you to snap at people. What happened to Hinata besides, it's just a simple question."
"And no offense Shikamaru, but I don't want to answer."
The other three boys looked at each other, shrugged, and let it drop.
"We'll need to grab Kiba for this. I'll go get him," and the Nara split off, moving at a respectable pace for once in his life.
*break*
As Sakon and Tayuya finished binding the wooden crate with their package, Kidomaru perked up. "Company incoming. This might be a fun game."
"Not now you fucking dipshit! We should have been moving five fucking minutes ago if fatass hadn't needed a snack in the middle of getting this bastard's seal to stage two!"
"Tayuya, please, language?"
"Shut it, both of you," Sakon growled. "red-head and bitchy is right. We should have been gone already. Let's move it!"
Thirty minutes later, Jirobo and Kidomaru peeled off to delay the pursuit force, who were closing in with alarming speed. Then Tayuya and Sakon were surprised to see Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto cut them off ahead. Without a word, Sakon kicked Tayuya at Shikamaru and tore past the boys with the crate.
"Damn you Sakon!" the redhead yelled as she bowled the Nara over.
"Great. Naruto, you and Kiba take him. I've got this."
The lipstick wearing boy swore as he sensed the two Konoha kids following him again. With the weight of the package, he found himself moving a second too slow to keep the barrel out of the way of Naruto's lunging rasengan. The wood splintered and cracked, releasing Sasuke onto the ground. Sakon growled as the Uchiha stood up.
"Sasuke,we're here to bring you back!" Kiba called.
"Get out of here!" Sakon snapped. "Go to Kabuto! I'll keep the trash from interfering!"
Without a word or a backwards glance, Sasuke took off. Naruto glared at Sakon. "Kiba, can you take him?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" The feral boy smiled while Akamaru barked an affirmative.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere," the Oto shinobi growled as he lunged at Naruto. He was caught off guard when the boy was surrounded by red chakra and caught his arm.
"Get out of my way," the blond snarled, and then he threw Sakon over his shoulder at a tree before chasing his teammate.
Heh, the lipstick-wearing boy smirked as he righted himself and prepared to fight Kiba. It's a good thing Kimimaro's coming. He'll stop that blond runt…
Next chapter is wrapping up Part One. It'll probably be a serious mind fuck for all of you.
Someone wanted to know why I skipped the fight between Sasuke and Itachi, and other stuff like that. Unless I reveal what happens later, just assume that what I skip is basically the same as canon.
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