Saria: WAAAHHHH! (is holding her head as she sobs, LOUDLY)
SA: (covering her ears) And I thought Tori was a baby…
Tori: (is also covering her ears) Relax, she's just upset that she's going back to school, and none of her original friends will be there this year…
SA: Hardly a reason to pitch a fit like this one… (nods at an oblivious Saria who continues to bawl)
Tori: (looks around) Where's Zas?
Zas: (had a headset on) Zzzzz….
SA and Tori: BAKA! (hit Zas over his head with a mallet and a cookbook respectively)
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It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and four gynormous summons were squaring off in the middle of it all. Gamabunta was the first to speak though.
"A FOX! JIRAIYA, YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABO… Oh, it's just the brat."
"Tsunade-sama, whose side is the fox on?" Naruto was rather surprised by the snail's soft voice and manner.
"Ours," Tsunade replied.
"Hey, Orochimaru, you know that foxes kill snakes, don't you?" Naruto asked, a feral grin spreading across her face. Beneath her, she felt it as Inari bit back on a laugh as he eyed the large snake, Manda, and its two passengers.
"Orochimaru, why have you summoned me?"
'Looks like Manda doesn't much care for Orochimaru…' Naruto thought as she watched the act unfold, not feeling in the least bit sorry for Kabuto when looked downtrodden when Manda called him a brat. 'As for how this battle will play out, Orochimaru is definitely at the disadvantage here, he's injured and unable to perform jutsus, Kabuto will have to defend him constantly, with the logical conclusion if you were trying to engage him being to separate the two, making Kabuto guard himself, and take Orochimaru out immediately. So, I'll have Inari engage Manda while I attack Kabuto and send several kage bunshins at Orochimaru…'
All she needed right now was a fast distraction.
'3, 2, 1…'
Jiraiya and Gamabunta jumped forward at that moment, the large toad pulling an enormous dagger and striking at Orochimaru. Manda reacted by biting at the dagger. Perfect.
"Inari, attack the snake!" Naruto yelled from the top of the fox's head.
"HAI!" replied the summon as he barreled forward and sank his teeth into the midsection of the snake, giving Naruto a clear shot at the head where Orochimaru and Kabuto were.
Leaping from Inari's head, Naruto used chakra to stick her feet to the surface of the snake as she raced at Kabuto, intent to try to take out Orochimaru's defense and offense simultaneously, but refrained from making any shadow clones when she noticed Tsunade also rushing toward a fight, against Orochimaru.
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Both Kabuto and Orochimaru noticed the fast approaching women, and both chose to abandon Manda's head before they could confront them.
"Kabuto, take care of Naruto-chan, but gently, no permanent harm," Orochimaru ordered as the two women approached, Naruto already moving to attack Kabuto.
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," replied Kabuto as he prepared for round number two.
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'Okay, Tsunade is going to be busy, so I need to keep this guy from landing any blows, they might prove to be fatal,' Naruto thought as she remembered Tsunade having to save her from that one blow. 'But, if he can't touch me…' A wicked smile crossed Naruto's lips for only a moment.
Slowing her run down just slightly, Naruto fired through the seals for the fire armor and raised it right before Kabuto could try to land his first blow. The result: Kabuto had a badly burned hand and Naruto was following up with an attack of her own, batting a hand with explosive chakra across the burned limb, causing immense pain for Kabuto as the burned area increased and the already damaged area sustained greater damage.
Despite the pain he was in though, Kabuto noticed that Naruto retracted the flaming armor after he burned himself and kicked her legs out from under her, right after the further damage she dealt to his arm.
Catching herself with both hands as she fell, Naruto twisted her body into a spinning kick aimed at Kabuto's legs also, but he jumped back, noticing also that Tsunade was attacking Orochimaru and landing hit after hit on him.
"I'll deal with you later," he fiercely whispered to Naruto as he charged at the battle.
"No!" Naruto hissed as she grabbed his legs and hauled the older teen to the ground. "I'LL deal with YOU now and assist Tsunade afterwards!" At that moment though, she caught a glimpse of Kabuto's hateful eyes. Those were the same eyes that she had seen each time she had dared to go outside in her youth, even her supposed "care-takers" had looked at her with those eyes. They bore a look in them that Naruto hadn't seen for a while, that she NEVER wanted to see again, and deep within her the rage began to build.
"STOP IT!" she spat in Kabuto's face, as she dragged him back, completely unaware that she was now spewing dark chakra.
"STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH THOSE EYES!" she roared as Kabuto actually flinched, fear causing him to go pale, but his eyes remained hard. Naruto was angrier than ever, and the cursed seal fed upon it, expanding out over her body, the nine tail-like patterns expanding back over her body as she stood up and roared her fury, causing all the battles on the field to come to a grinding halt as her battle aura increased to horrific levels.
On the ground, Kabuto slowly inched away from the enraged girl, still not quite sure as to what he had done. He slowly continued to back away until he was even with his master.
"Orochimaru-sama, perhaps it is time to leave," he whispered.
"Perhaps you are right, Kabuto. Until next time, Tsunade-hime. Take good care of Naruto-chan for me." Then both the snake-nin and his subordinate disappeared using a transportation jutsus, right as the still enraged demon vessel charged at them.
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The red haze was circling Naruto's mind again, but this time she felt power in the haze, and a promise for more… All she had to do was follow…
'KIT! STOP!' shrieked a voice that jolted Naruto from the haze and brought her back to the present.
'What? Kyuubi? KYUUBI!' Naruto's mental calls to the kitsune seemed futile, because aside from that initial scream, she heard nothing from her tenant.
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In the real world, everyone was recovering from the mess of the battle. Shizune was doing all she could for Sasuke, but he remained unresponsive to her or the world around him. The summons all disappeared, smoke appearing and temporarily obscuring vision on the field. Tsunade and Jiraiya both were worriedly glancing at Naruto, both thinking the same thought.
'Is that the power that Kyuubi affords her?'
Glancing around nervously, Naruto could only think of one way to break the tension that now hung in the air. Gingerly rubbing the back of her head as she laughed slightly, she stated simply, "Well, that's one way to break up a fight!"
"BAKA!" shouted two voices before they started laughing as well, though their laughter wasn't as forced as Naruto's was.
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"KUSO KUSO KUSO KUSO KUSO!" Naruto yelled as loud as she could as she pounded her head into the wall of the room she was in. 'How is it that that damned snake bastard can always make it so that no matter what the fight is about, no one can ever have a full victory over him? Is he that bad of a loser?'
"Naruto," Shizune's voice came from the doorway, "I'm pretty sure that you punishing the wall like that will not help Sasuke in anyway right now. He needs to fight this himself and we can't help."
"Maybe not, but I need to work off some steam." 'Besides, I was out for only one night, roughly ten hours, at longest… Sasuke has been out for, what? Fourteen hours? Longer?' Naruto also felt a need to get away so she could try to contact Kyuubi again, and she felt a little weird with the idea of doing it with other people present.
"Well, I don't suggest either Tsunade-sama's or Jiraiya's methods of releasing some steam. Tsunade-sama had already lost over 50,000 ryou today in gambling, and Jiraiya has probably spent just as much on sake and women."
"I know, and my way of blowing some steam is to go somewhere where I can be alone, have some peace, and do a meditation." 'Then I'll need to do some gambling myself most likely so we can just get back to Konoha.'
"Well then, I would suggest going out to the temple that is right outside of town. The monks allow people to visit the grounds and perform meditations in peace… WHOOSH! Naruto?"
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"Orochimaru-sama, why do you still pursue that girl?" asked Kabuto as they finally returned to the base. "There are plenty of other chooses of women, and many can be found right here in the Sound."
"Because, Kabuto, that girl has much more potential than any other that we have seen. Beautiful, strong, determined, any child that she may produce would be an incredible asset as long as it is produced with the right male."
"Then why place the cursed seal on her?"
"Because, choosing the vessel for a bloodline is like choosing an actual container. You want someone strong that can also bring several positive things to the equation. The fact that she is the demon vessel of Kyuubi makes little difference. For you see, Kabuto, the cursed seal will…"
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"DO WHAT!" Naruto howled at Kyuubi, who looked worse than ever. Sitting down hard in the water on the floor, she took several deep breaths to try to calm her nerves.
"I'm certain of it now, Kit," the demon whispered weakly from behind the bars of its cage. "That damned seal was meant to forcefully draw chakra from deep within you. Unfortunately for me, with me being here, that odd seal simply starts to carve me up instead. The original seal that is on you doesn't let me heal though, so that is why it is truly having such a bad effect."
"So, this seal on my neck is tearing you apart… What might this eventually lead to?" Naruto was almost afraid of what the answer would be.
"You already suspect, so don't play dumb, kit, I taught you better than that. But, I shall admit that it means that with much more use, I will be torn to pieces within the seal, yet be unable to die, yet won't be alive."
Gulping slightly, Naruto looked at her partner, a demon she had been at peace with since she had been only five years old.
"In other words, you will continue to exist, but as a ghost within my body and not as Kyuubi. But what happens then? And what about Sasuke?"
"I don't know kit… I really don't know."
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Breaking from her meditation, Naruto glanced around the garden that she had stopped in to perform her meditation, feeling faintly surprised when she saw two monks sitting in the grass only about twenty feet away from her, enjoying tea from the looks of it. One of the two noticed her movement and beckoned her to join them.
The tea that was provided was a refreshing brew of brown rice and jasmine, and it had a very pleasing aroma and taste. Naruto drank a single cup, but her stomach wouldn't let her take anymore.
"You were very much into your meditation," one of the monks commented as he lifted his tea cup to his lips. "We asked you several times if you would like to join us for tea; and Heion over there even tried poking you several times. Tell me, what were you meditating on?"
Naruto glanced at the monk, and decided that there would be no harm in giving him a… edited rendition of what she had been doing.
"A problem in my life," she answered, keeping her eyes glued on the empty cup she held. "You see, I have a friend, and I am worried about him because of a seal that is affecting him. I don't know how to remove the seal, yet I know that I have to do something for him because of how much it hurts him."
The other monk, Heion, eyed her slightly. "You're a ninja." That was definitely a comment, not a question. "Will he die if you don't act?"
"No, it's even worse, he'll cease to exist as himself I'm afraid. The seal will rip his mind apart and he'll never be able to repair himself."
"I've never heard of a seal that could do that, what about you, Jinchi?"
Jinchi, the monk who first spoke to her, simply shook his head.
Naruto nodded in understanding. "I suspected as much. The seal that was used was created by a madman, an S-class missing nin who just seems to rejoice in the pain of others."
Jinchi nodded, his expression thoughtful. "The only advice that I can give you is to try to find that man's notes, see if you can figure something out from those. And something tells me that you know where to start and how to get close enough to do this."
Naruto nodded, her face grim. Handing the tea cup to Heion, she thanked them for their advice. Halfway out of the garden, she turned back to thank them for the tea as well, but both monks had already left, and aside from where she had been sitting, none of the grass was bent where the two had been.
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Sasuke woke in pain the next day, and Jiraiya promptly placed a containment seal on him, similar to the one that Sandaime had placed on Naruto.
The march back to Konoha was mostly quiet, mainly because Tsunade and Jiraiya were bummed about losing as much money as they had, and Shizune was bummed that they lost. Sasuke just wasn't inclined to talk, and for once Naruto didn't want to provoke him.
'I need to start acting like an adult now, all the time,' she thought as she watched Sasuke walk, very much aware that he had to be feeling very drained of energy. 'I need to act like an adult if I'm going to rescue the three of us from Orochimaru.'
Reaching into her backpack, for once not caring if Sasuke saw the technique scroll, she pulled out the scroll and stared at it. Something about the scroll just bothered her, like why would this scroll only contain jutsus yet Sandaime had not seen fit to allow her to have it earlier? Certainly there had to be other people who knew the jutsus, so why write them down?
'Something is being hidden here…' Naruto thought, as she continued to gaze at the scroll, and right before her eyes the color of the scroll shifted from white to green. 'What?'
Grabbing the flap to the scroll, she yanked it open, and inside, written in Sandaime's own handwriting, was a quick message.
Naruto,
Most likely, if you're reading this message, it means that I have passed away and have seen fit to pass this information on to you, so that you may continue with the mission. Uchiha Itachi is innocent.