(posted 9/15/18)

CHAPTER 25 | Legacy of the Bloody Mist

It had only been a week and a few days since Naruto had left Kiri, but it felt like much longer. So much had happened, and the time travel had a disorienting effect.

The port they went to was further south than any of the ones Naruto had visited before. It was just past the base where they had clashed with Orochimaru and Sasuke on the cliff. This was a place that had been burned to the ground.

They were there to keep their departure relatively secret. Most of the people were gone. Only a few small boats had returned to a couple of newly rebuilt docks, and according to Jiraiya, they all belonged to Water.

"Why did Kisame and those other guys do this?" Naruto asked as they walked down the lonely beach toward the far dock. "Why would the older Obito use them to fight against himself?"

"Fighting Yagura wasn't his goal. It was just a way to get people on his side and cause chaos. He probably fed them something about Akatsuki hunting all jinchuuriki, and they agreed because Yagura was one. Pretending they had common goals. But hopefully the investigation will have found out something about that."

"They were looking for another jinchuuriki at the time, right? The one Ao-jii and the others told me about," Naruto said. "If he's still missing, do you think Akatsuki got him?"

"I have no idea, kid."

"When we take down Obito's older self, we should go tell all the other jinchuuriki about Akatsuki's plans. Warn them."

"The other Hidden Villages have all been warned by now, thanks to Tsunade. But that doesn't mean all the jinchuuriki know. It's definitely the kind of thing you need to be careful with. There is a lot of politics behind what jinchuuriki are allowed to know or do."

"Yeah, I've noticed that." Naruto scowled. "I don't care. They have a right to know that Akatsuki is going to come after them. I don't even know if stopping the fake Madara is going to stop that."

"Me either. We don't know how much of that was his idea. Okay, this one's our ride."

Naruto looked up. They had come to a small boat, not unlike the one Konoha had sent after him before. Someone was walking down the gangplank. Naruto shaded his eyes against the sun with one hand.

"Ao-jii!"

Ao was looking down at them with his usual severe expression, a deep crease between his brows, but Naruto was too relieved to be discouraged. He stepped onto the dock and trotted up the gangplank.

"I'm glad to see you're alright! You were still knocked out in the hospital when we left. Lava-Lady was really worried."

Ao glanced from one end of the beach to the other before relaxing slightly. "Good. The two of you were not followed."

"How has everything been going with the village after that attack—?"

"We should be on our way," Ao cut in, beckoning. "It's not safe to linger here, even now."

Naruto looked back over at his shoulder at Jiraiya, who nodded and followed Naruto up to the boat, his wooden geta clopping loudly on the gangplank and boat deck.

Then they went below, and Naruto felt the boat move.

"We're leaving already?"

"The sooner we can get to protected waters, the better."

Naruto didn't see anyone in the cabin they entered below, though there must have been someone else on board, for the boat to be moving. They must have been waiting, ready to go at any moment.

Sea charts were pinned to the cabin walls. Naruto couldn't make any sense of them. There were a few chairs around a small square table. A door on the far side led further in, but Ao sat down on one of the chairs and motioned for them to do the same.

"I can't believe you came out all this way to meet us, Ao-jii," Naruto started again. "What's been going on in Kiri since we left? Is everybody okay after the attack?"

"In my day, we made it through much worse attacks and got up the next day to go about our business," Ao said stiffly. "But yes, we are all fine. Because the rebels lost the element of surprise early on, most of the civilians were already evacuated by the time they started lighting fires."

"Tell us about Madara. What is this plan Mei-sama mentioned, and why tell us about it?" Jiraiya asked.

Ao crossed his arms. "I am not authorized to say. Mei-sama wishes to explain it personally. As for why she contacted you, it is because Tsunade-sama volunteered you to be part of the operation."

Naruto raised a brow at Jiraiya, who cleared his throat and nodded. "Ah. Have you found something out from the rebels you captured?"

Ao made a disapproving sound. "In exchange for re-entry into the village, the ones we captured had no trouble selling out the masked man who hired them to hunt the Six and Three-tails jinchuuriki. Many of them were unfairly exiled or fled under Yagura, and desperate to receive amnesty. But collectively, they still don't know much about his motivations."

Naruto stood from his chair. "What about Utakata? Did they ever find him? Do you know where he is?"

"We do not know, and neither do the rebels," Ao said. "He has managed to evade Yagura and Madara's forces so far. If only we had known sooner it was a pretext to help Akatsuki further their goals." He looked up at Naruto leaning over the table. "Perhaps it goes without saying, but the rebels confirmed they were also searching for you during that attack. To make matters worse, Madara had manipulated them into believing Yagura was still alive, so they could attack the village center without reservations."

"But they probably… didn't really want to hurt Kiri, right?"

"It was an eclectic group. Some of them certainly had no attachment to the village. But some may have been lied to, manipulated, even forcibly coerced in order to attack. Especially those who simply wanted Yagura gone."

The burning anger Naruto felt toward the false Madara welled up. How many had been exiled unfairly by Yagura, only to be led to attack the place they wanted to protect? It was the same pattern. Any time Tobi met with resistance to his view of the world and people, he just glossed over it with force to make things look the way he expected.

The younger Obito was not like that. He listened, even when he was angry, even when he was contradicted. There had to be a way to show the older version that what he was doing was wrong. Or at least own up to his crimes.

"By the way," Ao continued, "I could not be sure because I was nearly unconscious, but it seemed like someone was following you there at the end. They tell me you arrived back at the beach with everyone else unharmed. That is fortunate, but how did you escape?"

"I—Kisame left," Naruto said. "He never seemed to be really trying to get me. And Sasuke. They just… came here and disappeared. But I don't know if they were really working together."

"That seems obvious, does it not?" Ao said. "Why else would they attack the village at the same time?"

"I don't know. But Sasuke wouldn't be working with Akatsuki. If anything, he was chasing me," Naruto said firmly.

Ao raised a brow. "Which is exactly what Akatsuki was doing. Has he not been missing from Konoha for many months already? His older brother is a known member of Akatsuki. On what basis do you claim he isn't working with them?"

"We were on a team. I know him better than that. Besides, when he showed up, he told me he was trying to get me out of the way before Akatsuki could reach me. He was probably there because he found out they were going to attack. He wasn't there to do anything to the village. I'm the one he's after."

Ao gave a skeptical frown, but continued on. "From what we've learned, there were incidents along the coast days before the attack. It seems Orochimaru's forces followed and antagonized Madara's group repeatedly, interfering with their search of the Rokubi and escalating the situation. It's unclear who started the fires. It could have been a by-product of the conflict at first, until the missing-nin realized the damage it was doing to Yagura's reputation and control in the Land of Water."

"So between that and Naruto's disappearance, Madara was finally forced to confront Orochimaru directly," Jiraiya said. "That's when we were lucky enough to meet him there at the same time."

"You were lucky. The conflict between them gave Naruto-kun enough time to escape," Ao said. "I don't think Madara expected Orochimaru to target Yagura with the intent to kill. Either because they both knew he was nothing more than Madara's proxy, or because he genuinely believed Orochimaru was interested in the bijuu."

"Orochimaru always been hard to read in combat," Jiraiya said, his hand moving over the healed wound in his abdomen. "He caught me off guard, too. I've never seen him move like that before."

They arrived in Kirigakure earlier than the last time. The sun was just starting to go down, diffusing the mist into a golden glow as they disembarked. They arrived at a port Naruto hadn't seen before, a large one. He craned his neck to look up and down the docks, but didn't see any remaining damage from the attack just a little over a week ago. But then, that was probably why this port was still in use.

"This way, please," Ao said tersely, motioning for them to hurry along.

He led them past other boats of many different sizes, then onto a clean-swept street that led to a gate in one of the village's outer walls. There were more guards than before—not just Kiri hunter-nin, but chuunin in gray flak armor and woven arm and shin guards. They all stood at attention as Ao, Naruto, and Jiraiya approached.

The faces Naruto could see did not look thrilled to welcome him back. Their stares varied from cautious to blatantly distrustful. They nodded to Ao and allowed all three to pass through the gate without argument, but Naruto continued to feel their stares as they walked by. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that two of them were now following behind from a distance.

"It has been a while since I've seen Kirigakure! Outsiders haven't been allowed in for decades," Jiraiya said. His tone sounded casual as ever, but he met Naruto's eyes and gave a barely discernible shake of his head. "So, where are we meeting Mei-sama?"

"A place that's even more closed off to outsiders," Ao said. They walked through another open gate in one of the inner walls, and he paused. Naruto stopped beside him and looked up.

Most of the cylindrical buildings were still standing, but they were charred. The plant life that used to hang from narrow horizontal slats along the towers had been reduced to spiky black debris. There obviously hadn't been time to clear them out everywhere yet.

"We are in a vulnerable state right now," Ao said. "Everyone already knows now about Yagura's death and the civil conflict instigated by Orochimaru. The part that seems to be less known is the manipulation of our Kage by Akatsuki. But the fact that Konoha knows about it is bad enough. Inviting outsiders into our village is like asking the vultures to come in and pick at our wounds."

Ao turned around. He glanced at the two guards behind them. They were closer than before; not within range to strike, but their very presence was unnerving.

"It's fine," Ao told them unexpectedly. "You can go back to your posts."

There was a pause, as if they were tempted to argue. But eventually they murmured their assent and turned back. Naruto and Jiraiya remained tense as they walked away.

"I take it most people here feel the same way you do?" Jiraiya said.

"Unfortunately, no. Not most. The guards simply do not know why you are here right now. But it's best they do not. This plan requires perfect control over the release of information."

"I don't care about all that complicated stuff," Naruto said. "Is Lava-Lady gonna help us against Madara or not?"

"Ahem." Jiraiya clapped his hand down on the top of Naruto's head, but he wiggled away.

"I'm just saying… if they won't, then we have to come up with something else."

"Impertinent," Ao said, raising his voice slightly. "If I had my way, you would not have been brought here again. But Mei-sama wants your assistance." He paused. "We've already come this far. This way." He gestured toward the building in front of them.

The round tower turned out to be nothing but a facade. It had wide, rounded double doors that Ao took them through after deactivating a security seal. After they got inside, though, there was nothing there. The only thing in the hollow tube was another large round door, set into the middle of the floor.

They went underground. It was dark at first, but soon they were passing by dim, thin lights set near the ceiling. It was the sort of passage Orochimaru would have in his hideouts, only much larger and cleaner.

It looked like many people were intended to pass through at once. Naruto remembered what he'd sensed with Sage Mode during the attack. The majority of Kiri's population had gone underground. This had to be part of that system.

Questions buzzed around his head like flies, but he and Jiraiya both kept quiet. The atmosphere in the tunnel seemed to demand silence.

Their walk went on for much longer than Naruto expected. He zoned out about halfway through, but noticed the feel and smell of the underground air change at some point. It smelled like the sea. He wondered if they were traveling underneath the water.

Finally, after an eternity, they came to a wide stone staircase and began to climb.

The crisp air of the outdoors was almost startling after their time underground. It was fully night. The sea breeze whipped their faces as they emerged into the open.

"Where are we?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"One of the many small islands in proximity to the village," Ao said.

"But not one that appears on any map, I'm guessing," Jiraiya said, turning to look behind them.

Naruto copied him. They couldn't be too far from the village, but it was impossible to see where it was through the thick mist.

Naruto turned around to scan the island. It didn't look inhabited. There were plenty of trees here, and through the wild tangle of their branches he could only see the top of one building. It was a round stone tower like the one they'd come through.

It looked no different from any of the other buildings they'd seen in Kiri, but this one gave Naruto a sick, heavy feeling in his stomach.

"Thank you for responding to my request."

Naruto jumped back, only to quickly realize it was Mei, walking toward them from the water's edge.

"I know it must be an inconvenience to come all this way, but I'm not in a position to leave home right now."

"Is everybody doing okay?" Naruto said.

Mei smiled. "Most of the injuries were on the other side, and even they are recovering well. Under armed guard, of course, but I believe most will be able to rejoin the village."

"I have explained the situation to them," Ao said. "There are still preparations to make tonight, Mei-sama."

Mei sighed, resting her cheek in one hand tiredly. "That is true. I will take them from here. Guard the passageway until we come back."

Ao pursed his lips, but he obeyed. He turned around, the paper charms on his earlobes swirling in the abrupt motion, and stood there in front of the tunnel while they walked away.

They were in the woods in seconds. At first, Naruto thought it was too thick to walk through, but as they approached, a path somehow seemed to appear.

"What's going on?" he asked, trying not to sound too spooked. "What is this place?"

Nobody answered. He looked up through the trees as they walked forward. They were approaching the tower.

Soon they were in a clearing, and the tower was right in front of them. Now that they were right at it, it reminded him of something.

"It looks kind of like the goal we had to reach during the Chuunin exams." Naruto looked up at Mei.

"That's fitting, in a way." Mei met his gaze and held it. "Under the rule of the Third and Fourth Mizukage, this is one of the things that earned our village the nickname Bloody Mist. During the Third War, prisoners were kept underground beneath the tower. That was before there was a tunnel leading out. Afterward, this place was repurposed as a fighting ground for our Academy exam. You're familiar with the incident that ended that."

"Y-Yeah."

"It doesn't seem like the kind of place you'd want to show to tourists," Jiraiya said. He too was staring up at the tower, arms crossed.

"No," Mei said. "Many have done their best to forget it even exists. The only reason it still stands is because Yagura never took it down, even after the Academy changed. Knowing what we know now, perhaps Madara was controlling Yagura from here. It's close to the village, yet off-limits to almost everyone."

"So what does this have to do with your plan to fight against him? You don't think he'll come back here, do you?" Jiraiya asked.

Mei shook her head. "No. At least, not for its own sake. But let me tell you a small story about the Three-Tails. The bijuu existed long before the Hidden Villages were established, of course. But some of them reappeared in the same places. The Ichibi, for example, was strongly tied to the desert surrounding what is now Sunagakure. It became part of the local mythos. The Sanbi was that way, too. It always returned to the islands of the current Water country. Powerful clans, drawn by these types of legends, formed the prototypes of Suna and Kiri. The Beasts and the humans have affected one another throughout history."

"Then, when it comes back… it'll probably be on one of these islands?" Naruto guessed.

"Almost certainly," Mei said. "There are hundreds of islands here, spread over a large territory. But we also know that bijuu appear in places of great hate and death and despair. In recent history, that makes this place the most likely candidate. Madara will have realized this, as well."

"But how do you know when it's going to be reborn?" Jiraiya asked.

"We don't," Mei said, turning back to them. "But it doesn't matter. All we have to do is convince Madara that we do. If he thinks we know the exact day, then that's the day he's sure to show up. We have also replaced Yagura's security seals around this place with our own, in case he decides to make any unexpected visits. It seems likely he launched the attack from here."

"Where does that leave us?" Jiraiya asked. "And if Madara led the break-in, why wasn't he there during the attack?"

"Maybe he was there, but hiding very well. Maybe he went elsewhere while his forces distracted everyone. As for you two…" Mei crossed her arms. "You have fought Madara as himself before. How familiar are you with his abilities?"

"Very," Jiraiya said. "So what you need is information, or do you want us to do something more?"

"We can help!" Naruto blurted, stepping toward Mei. "Let us fight him, too. The more the better, right?"

"And you think you would be an asset against Madara?" Mei gave a sly smile.

Naruto scowled at her and tried to think of something convincing to say. Even if it was selfish, he didn't want anyone to confront the false Madara until he had the chance to talk to him again.

"Madara needs me alive. If it comes to a fight, I'm the only one he's not gonna try to kill. If your Sanbi bait doesn't work, you can use me."

Jiraiya didn't say anything. He just reached over and flicked Naruto in the forehead.

"Ow! But it would work, wouldn't it?" Naruto stepped away, rubbing his head.

"Truly spoken like a Hokage-in-training," Mei said, a hint of her former playfulness showing. "Tsunade-sama told me about your ambitions. Of course I called you here because I want you to help. I thought that was obvious."

"Oh," Naruto said, lowering his hands. "You mean…"

Mei chuckled. "Our two villages are collaborating against Madara. From what I understand, you are on a training journey right now, not on any official missions, other than to do what you can to gather information."

"Therefore, we've been volunteered," Jiraiya said with a fake dramatic sigh.

"Really? So what do we get to do? When is it gonna happen?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"We haven't decided yet," Mei said. "We've only just agreed on the place. This island is much closer to the village than anyone would like, but it's the place Madara is most likely to believe. For all we know, he perpetuated horrors here for that very reason."

"My guess is you need the right rumors to get around to him," Jiraiya said.

"Yes. Pretend that we've come up with a way to know the exact place and time it will reappear. Perhaps with the help of our young jinchuuriki friend." She winked at Naruto. "Of course it must look like a genuine leak, but I believe he will show up even if he suspects a trap. I did have an idea about timing, though it has not been agreed upon yet. The next Chuunin exams are coming up soon in Suna."

"That makes sense," Jiraiya said. "There won't be as many people in the village then, which will make it safer for them and make this place a more tempting target for Madara."

"It will seem like inconvenient timing for us, which will make the act more convincing, as well," Mei said. "So, that's it. Can we count on your cooperation?"

"We'll be there!" Naruto said immediately.

Jiraiya gave a thoughtful hum. "I think isolating Madara and taking him down now, before Akatsuki gains too much power, is the best way to handle him. We'll help in whatever way we can. In the meantime, though, our top priority is tracking Orochimaru. If we happen to hear anything about Madara, we'll let you know, but otherwise…"

"Understood. We'll keep in touch."

"Well then—"

"Wait, are we leaving already?" Naruto asked, noticing Jiraiya's tone.

"We still have plenty to do, remember?" Jiraiya said, raising a significant brow. "It'll be best if we can keep an eye on Madara as we go along, and deal with Orochimaru first of all. I don't want to risk getting caught between them again. Especially not here."

"Oh, right."

"It is sweet of you to be concerned, but you'll be back again," Mei said. "There will be a place for you if you don't mind missing the Exams."

He was trying not to think about that. Naruto looked over at the tower again. "I guess it can't be helped. I do have a question, though. About the Third War."

"What is it?"

Naruto looked back at Mei. "I heard that Kiri almost used the Sanbi on Konoha. But it went wrong, and someone stopped them."

"By someone, you mean your jounin instructor Hatake Kakashi? Yet he seemed completely willing to help when all of you were here."

"He was. I mean—that's not my question. I just want to know… what made them decide to do that? Do you think there's anything that could have stopped it? I mean, without a bunch of people having to die."

"That's an odd question." Mei rested a hand on her hip. "I wasn't involved in that level of decision making back then. The official reports don't talk about reasons or motivations. But it was a brutal war. By that time, it felt like a race to see who could storm the other's walls first. Forces from Konoha were already deep into the Land of Water, and we were slowly but surely being pushed back. It seemed there was nothing to lose."

"So, there's nothing that could have stopped them from trying to use it?"

"Aside from Konoha's retreat and a certain victory for Kiri? It's doubtful." Mei tilted her head to the side. "Why ask about this now?"

"I was just thinking… if this is the place where they sealed the Sanbi, then Madara will definitely come back here."

"Interesting thought. I don't know, but it's possible. Oh—looks like our time is up."

Naruto followed Mei's gaze and saw Ao approaching, ready to escort them back to the village.

"Until next time, take care. The same to you, Jiraiya-sama." Mei winked as Ao held out his arms to usher them along. Mei remained, staring up at the old prison.

They walked back to the underground passage. Jiraiya grinned appreciatively. "We'll definitely be back again. Kirigakure has moved up in the world."

Naruto looked back at the retreating boat. Ao brought them back here, and now they were officially on the road again.

"We need a system," Jiraiya said, starting off across the sand.

"For what?" Naruto followed him.

"In case we get separated again. What I should do if you disappear without warning. It would be nice to know whether there's cause for panic or not."

"I won't leave with Obito without telling you anymore."

"Forgive me if I'm skeptical. Is that kid able to find you exactly where you are, no matter what?"

"Yeah." Naruto gripped the straps of his backpack as they climbed up the steep bank and onto grassy ground. "I have no way to call him if I get in trouble, but he shows up a lot, anyway. Plus, we know Orochimaru's barriers can't stop him."

"But Orochimaru knows all about it, which means he could eventually find a way. And would Obito be able to reach you in his older self's kamui?"

They made it to the road. Naruto stared down at it as they walked, trying to figure it out.

"I think so? I don't really know. But I know a way to escape from kamui. I did it once in the future. If that happens, I'll just pretend to be trapped, then leave as soon as I'm alone. Akatsuki isn't ready to use any of the bijuu yet, so I'll be ok for a while."

"Well, this is a worst case scenario. If you're gone and nothing comes up in the search, I'll know it's one of those three. If you don't leave me some kind of message, I'll have to assume it's one of the bad guys."

"Alright, alright, I'll leave a message."

"And make sure to reference something Orochimaru wouldn't know. Something from before the future."

"Huh?"

"Because you're a walking information leak, and now he knows I want you to leave a message. Oi, are you taking any of this seriously?" Jiraiya went to flick Naruto in the forehead again, but he dodged this time.

"How are we supposed to sneak up on Orochimaru without him knowing, anyway? We had a hard enough time trying to find the younger one."

"I have a couple of ideas," Jiraiya said. "But I'm going to have to keep you on need-to-know information only for a while. That is, unless you want to try breaking the seal. I don't know what might happen, but I think you were meant to use the Kyuubi's power eventually."

"Yeah. The older me could do it. But…"

"Right. Breaking the seal would mean losing a direct line to Obito and the past." Jiraiya looked up at the sky. "We've already burned up the day. Let's have a good sit-down meal and find a place for tonight."

Chapter 26, The Third War's Firstborn, will post September 29. Until next time!