Hello, everyone, here is the newest chapter of the "Konoha's Young Sage" story. Enjoy! (even if it is kinda short)
* Review response:
kakashidex, so, but no action (of any kind *wink*) till the next chapter.
eclipseX, god of all, Reishin Amara, Naginator, .XD, fanficreader71, Skelo, Hanzo of the Salamander, The Last Rising Of The Phoenix, ChaosLord SilverLink310, ogihcI ikasoruK, Foxes-rocks, Seimeisamarian, Josh2750, Owlbear, Androidking17, waterblade, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Impstar, so if this chapter isn't up to the size standards, but with my inspiration suddenly taking a vacation and me needing to work for my magistracy exams, this was the best I could write.
Rixxell Stryfe, Elemental Dragon Swordman, yes, Deidara will pop up soon. In three or four chapters.
warriorx559, well, Itachi/Kin pairing is winning anyway...
roboguy45, sorry?
golfaholic, in 2 or so chapter. 'officially' at least.
* Jutsu List:
Henge - (E-rank) Transformation - allows user to transform into another person or object
Disclaimer: still don't own 'Naruto' or any of it's characters...
"speaking"
'thinking'
Messages
"speaking of higher beings / Naruto while using Kyuubi's power or Gaara while using Shukaku's / jutsus / Cursed seal second level users"
'thinking of higher beings / Kyuubi talking to Naruto through mental link / mentally activated jutsus'
This chapter is yet to be beta-read.
chapter 22: The Hidden Stone village
After being almost beaten to death by Yugito – 'cause he made her worry about him – and then being kissed fiercely by her – now, because he was alright and was happy about that – Naruto was finally let out Nibi jinchuuriki's grasp. Still, the blond kunoichi didn't let him wander more than a couple of feet away from her.
"...So, Naruto-kun, what your plans for now?" She as the two were walking towards the nearest city, which was something like thirty miles to the east.
"I'm heading to Iwagakure no Sato." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki stated, while touching his cloak to make sure that the scroll was there and undamaged from Yugito's 'assault'. The kunoichi instantly became completely serious.
"That's insane, Naruto! Iwa doesn't like guests all that much, and you going there is a suicide: they will kill you the moment they see you, just because you look like Yondaime Hokage!" The Nibi jinchuuriki shouted as she looked at the young sage next to her, hoping to convince him to forget about this idea. Unfortunately for her, Naruto was very stubborn at the times, and right now he was going to do anything to fulfill his promise.
"Yugito-chan, Kada-sensei asked me to bring his body to Iwa, so that he can be buried next to his father, and fulfilling his last wish is the least of what I can do for the man who had saved my life." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki said. "And you shouldn't worry this much, I know how I can enter the Hidden Stone village and return alive." He finished with a small chuckle. Yugito wasn't too impressed by this, and still thought that it was too dangerous for him to approach Iwa. But she also could see that arguing with him would only be a waste of time.
"Very well, but I'm coming with you." The blond kunoichi said in a tone that clearly showed that she wasn't going to accept any objections... Sighing, Naruto agreed with her.
"Let's get going then." He said, and the two switched to the running – after all, the faster they deal with this situation, the better.
~/ *** \~
Finding Iwagakure no Sato wasn't easy: neither Naruto nor Yugito knew where exactly it was located, and the village itself wasn't Hidden for nothing. Eventually, though, the two jinchuuriki found it, located in the valley among the mountains of the Earth country. Even from a distance it looked ...magnificent and strong, with its buildings cut from stones or even smaller mountains... Though, for Naruto the village seemed to be lacking some green color: only rare groups of trees were present within the village's walls.
"Well, we are here, Naruto-kun." Yugito said, as the two were looking at the Hidden Stone village from their spot on the passage between two mountains, that formed the entrance into the valley. "I hope you really do have a plan on how to enter the village without getting killed."
"Indeed I have a plan." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied, before making a concentration sign with his left hand. A moment late bluish ring of chakra rose along his body, changing his appearance. Now Naruto had even more tanned skin and reddish-brown hair, the whisker-like marks on his face were gone, and his eyes now were of a simple brown color.
"Henge?" Yugito asked in surprise. "You think that such a trick would work?"
"Oh, but this isn't normal henge, Yugito-chan." The young sage replied in a tone that teachers use with naughty children. This earned him a smack on his head from the Nibi jinchuuriki, but he paid it no mind and continued. "Aside from having different visual – as you could have seen – this variation of the transformation technique is much more durable, meaning that I will need to take a serious blow or be hit with a very strong canceling technique for it to dispel. Plus it allows adding minor modifications to appearance without a need to redo the jutsu and it can be multi-layered, adding additional 'protection' for me in this case." Naruto said, while applying the modified henge again, though, his appearance remained the same it was after the first transformation. "Let's go."
The two jinchuuriki descended into the valley, and soon found themselves in front of the mighty wall that surrounded Iwagakure no Sato. These walls looked absolutely solid with no gates or any other entrances at all, but a paved road going straight into the wall betrayed the place where the gates should be. When Naruto and Yugito approached the gates (wall), four Iwa jounin materialized in front of them. All of the jounin were at least low A-ranks in terms of power, but Naruto couldn't get more accurate readings without being marked as suspicious by them for his sensor abilities.
"Halt, strangers, state your business in the Hidden Stone!" One of the jounin said loudly, while all four of them got into the battle-ready stances. Yugito raised the hood of her cloak – it was drizzling slightly there – and showed the guards her hitae-ate: while the alliance between Iwa and Kumo was shaky, it was still an alliance.
"Jounin of Kumogakure no Sato, Yugito Nii, escorting ronin Taizou Motemitsu to see Sandaime Tsuchikage-sama." Taizou was Naruto's fake name for this 'mission' the two jinchuuriki agreed on. "Taizou-san had recently met an old war hero of your village, Koumyou Kada. Unfortunately, Kada-sama was very old and terminally ill and died several days ago, but not before asking Taizou-san to be buried here." Yugito explained. The four jounin still in shock from hearing Kada's name, confirmed that there indeed was hero's body with Naruto, and that the man died a natural death. Once that was done, the two jinchuuriki were let into the village via an opening in the wall created by the guards.
"Well, here we go." Naruto commented as they were now walking the streets of Iwagakure no Sato, accompanied by an ANBU cell – who lets an unknown party wander 'round the village unsupervised? After about fifteen minutes of walking, the group stopped in front of the Tsuchikage tower – a massive administrative building that was cut from a single very large stone.
"Wait here." The captain of the ANBU team ordered, before telling one of his underlings to go into the tower and ask for an audience with the Tsuchikage – the fate of village's hero like Koumyou Kada was a good enough reason for the Kage to see them. A couple of minutes later the ANBU operative returned and told something to his commander. "I seems that Tsuchikage-sama won't be able to see you today. Your audience will be tomorrow at ten in the morning. Now we will bring you to the inn where you will spend the night." The man said in the tone that implied that should either of the two jinchuuriki disagree, they wouldn't like the consequences...
The next morning Naruto and Yugito were escorted to the Tsuchikage tower, by a different ANBU team, but that was kind of expected, since ANBU shifts inside the villages were twenty four hours long. Inside, the tower there were potted plants here and there, red and brown carpets on the floors and various pictures on the polished stone walls, but it still appeared to be cold and militarist...
Tsuchikage's office was located on the top floor of the tower, once the two jinchuuriki were allowed in, they saw that the office was a big rectangular room with windows allowing one to see almost entire village from here. Along the only wall without windows – the one where the door was – there were bookcases and a couple of big saves for the documents. Sandaime Tsuchikage himself – a short man with white hair, made up in an old samurai-like style, and big 'potato' nose – was sitting behind his large table not far from the central window on the right wall. Despite being the oldest Kage in history, Oonoki was still a very powerful shinobi – one could tell that by just looking at him.
Tsuchikage dismissed the ANBU cell for the moment, so now it was only him, Yugito and Taizou in the office. Of course, the ANBU were waiting just behind the doors, ready to destroy the village guests, should they try to harm their leader...
"I was informed that Taizou-san is there to fulfill the last wish of Koumyou Kada-dono. I was also informed that Kada-dono died a natural death about week ago. Is that correct, Kumo ninja-san?" Oonoki asked Yugito, looking up from the documents on his table. The Nibi jinchuuriki nodded.
"That would be correct, Tsuchikage-sama." Was her reply. The shorter man nodded back and turned to Naruto, while levitating things off his table.
"Taizou-san, can I see the body?" Third Tsuchikage asked. The young sage nodded and took the scroll out of the inner pocket of his cloak, where it was until now. Unrolling the scroll on the table, Naruto pushed some of his chakra into the seal, releasing the body. The ancient medical nin looked exactly like he was the moment he died – for some reason time inside the seals didn't affect the things like it did normally... Oonoki levitated himself onto the table and ran a quick diagnostics on the Kada's body – like almost any jounin in the Elemental nations, Sandaime Tsuchikage could do at least basic medical techniques, like simple diagnostics or minor healing. "It appears that the report was correct and you are not implicated in Kada-dono's death." The short Kage said. "Iwagakure no Sato would bury Kada-dono according to his last wish. I personally vouch for that..." Naruto had to fight a desire to breath out in relief that the 'mission' was now almost complete. "...But I will not vouch for what will happen to you." Tsuchikage said suddenly, pointing at Naruto. "You came here hiding your true appearance, a deceit that might cost you your life." Yugito was now scared of what Oonoki would do to her ...boyfriend? The Kyuubi jinchuuriki, though, didn't look like was afraid, or even surprised that he was discovered.
"What was expected of the mighty Tsuchikage of the Hidden Stone." The young sage said with a small sigh. "But if I'm to reveal myself, I want you to swear that my companion and I will be allowed to leave your village peacefully: we came without any intentions to cause any harm." The old Kage thought over this for several seconds, before reluctantly agreeing.
"Very well." Naruto nodded and dispelled his henge. For a moment the Third Tsuchikage thought that this was the Yellow Flash in front of him, but remembering that the most hated in Iwa man was dead for over a decade, he recovered and got into a fighting stance. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you are standing." Oonoki said, while hovering above his table, an attack of his dust element already prepared to be launched at the blond sage.
"One, you promised to let us leave the village peacefully. And two, if you kill me, you'll have two very angry ladies after you, one of them being the mightiest demon of our days." The Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied, seemingly unfazed by the attack aimed at him... The Tsuchikage sighed and dispelled his jutsu, before landing into his armchair.
"Very well, I'll let you live this time, the son of the Yellow Flash. But the next time I see you within fifty miles from my village, you better pray you are as fast as your father was, or you wouldn't be able to escape my ninja." Oonoki threatened.
"I will remember that." The young sage, while recasting his transformation technique. "Now that our business is over, I believe that I should be leaving." ...Once the two left his office, the Sandaime Tsuchikage looked up at the portrait of his predecessor, Muu.
'Am I doing the right thing, letting him go, sensei?' Oonoki asked himself. 'Even if he did a service to my village, he is still an enemy of my people...'
"Naruto, what you did was really stupid – revealing yourself in front of the man who would kill you simply for whose son you are! You are lucky that he followed his oath and didn't attack!.." Yugito was reprimanding her fellow jinchuuriki for what he did in Tsuchikage's office... Unfortunately for the blond kunoichi, her companion was listening to her much.
"Relax, Yugito-chan." Naruto replied. "Tsuchikage-sama let us leave peacefully... Plus he already knew that I was under henge. Trying to lie to him about what I am with it would have caused much more problems than what I did." He had a point there, not that the Nibi jinchuuriki was going to admit this easily, though. So she continued scolding the young sage in front of her...
~/ *** \~
Uchiha Itachi entered the chamber where his audience with the princess of the Snow country was scheduled to be. Hopefully, she would accept his proposition, and the Uchiha clan would have a place to call home... Itachi sighed. Getting to meet with princess Koyuki wasn't easy: his reputation of the S-rank missing-nin was working greatly against him there, but he managed to get an audience with the princess without resorting to use of his sharingan on the secretary – he wasn't as good as Shisui at mind control, but manipulating weaker minds wasn't beyond him...
Moments later Koyuki entered the room from the other side, separated from his by a barrier of seal-enforced glass, accompanied by a kunoichi of about sixteen years old with long black hair. A single glance at the girl was enough for Itachi to tell that her specialization was genjutsu, sound-based, most likely and light throwing weapons like senbon needles, and that she was about low-B rank in strength. What made him raise an eyebrow, was how the girl behaved around the princess. It was almost like they... Forcefully removing the thought from his mind, Itachi entered his 'business mode'.
"Good afternoon, your highness. Let me..." Koyuki raised her hand, showing that she wasn't in the mood for official crap right now. Understanding this, the sharingan wielder ceased talking.
"Uchiha Itachi, you are world renowned S-rank criminal, and so I would like to know what are your reasons for coming to the Land of Snow." The princess asked, her voice betraying that she didn't feel as safe as she tried to appear.
"With my last mission being recently aborted due to the events in the Hidden Leaf, I find myself in the need of a place to live and call home. As such, I offer you my services at the small price of a place for me and my family to live." Itachi replied. Then, after a small pause, he added: "I see that you are not sure whether I can be trusted. Unfortunately, my official record isn't helping. But let me tell you this: all that I was doing these years was a part of my mission. I can't tell you the details, but the only time I betrayed Konoha was this year when they went too far and spat on Yondaime Hokage's legacy." This seemed to have some effect on the princess.
"I see." Koyuki said after a pause. "With how the things are in my country right now, I do find myself in need of a hired shinobi forces, so your proposal would have being much welcomed if I knew I could trust you not to betray me. As such, if you agree on a six months-long probation period where your powers will be limited to those of a C-rank ninja, I will accept your proposition. I will give you a day to think about this, and if we don't have an agreement, I would like to see you out of the country by the end of the week." Itachi nodded.
"I shall inform you about my decision by tomorrow afternoon then, your highness." The sharingan user replied, despite having already made his mind.
~/ *** \~
Naruto and Yugito were walking through the forests not far away from the Hidden Waterfall – the Nibi jinchuuriki was recalled back to Kumo for some briefing – when the blond sage sensed a familiar chakra signature not far away... After telling Yugito that he was going to meet a friend, Naruto separated from her and sped towards the chakra signature he felt. It took him only ten minutes from there to catch up with his 'target'.
"Yo!" Naruto exclaimed, while flaring some of Kyuubi's yoki to identify himself. The teal-haired kunoichi, who was running away from the village, stopped and turned around to look at him,barely believing her senses.
"Naruto, is that you?" The jinchuuriki of the seven-tails asked, before launching herself at the blond and enveloped him in a strong hug. "You don't know how happy I am to see you!" She exclaimed!
"What happened, Fuu-chin?" Naruto asked, once the girl had released him from her embrace.
"Um... well... You have heard news about Akatsuki recently, right?" The teal-haired kunoichi asked, but continued without waiting for Naruto to reply. "After they lost Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, they became much more active and, recently they started making their moves..."
"I have heard about Itachi killing Kisame and leaving the organization, but the rest is new to me." The young sage interrupted her.
"Well, after their recent attack on the container of the five-tails, even if they failed to capture him, my village decided that it would be safer, if I no longer reside there." Fuu continued her tale, but Naruto decided to once again interrupt her.
"So, they banished you?" The Shichibi jinchuuriki shook her head.
"No, they just sent me out of the village without removing me from the list of active-duty shinobi. In other words, I'm still a ninja of the Hidden Waterfall, I'm just ordered not to return there for the time being." She explained.
"That was kind of low." The young sage said, hugging his friend lightly. Fuu nodded.
"Yeah, but there is little I can do about that." She told him, while leaning a bit into his embrace.
"Well, you can always come with us, Fuu-chan." Naruto replied. "Me and Yugito-chan are traveling together for some time now." Seeing some confusion on her face, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki elaborated. "Yugito-chan is like us, she's the jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata." Fuu nodded. "So, are you coming?" He asked, releasing the teal-haired girl from his embrace. She simply nodded 'yes'.
That's all, folks!
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