As Talon disappeared from view, Anko looked concerned for a moment and then shrugged.
"Well, just you and me Darkie-kun. How are we going to pass the time?"
She gave him a look that made him feel confused internally.
"I need you to evaluate a toxin for me."
The expression didn't change, but he felt better nevertheless.
"Anything special?"
"5 part toxin, delayed reaction."
"Ooh, five parts? What combination did you find?"
"Several of the ones in the appendix I had to perform further research on. It uses some common ingredients but the chemistry requires several steps, I'm trying to do one of them within the victim."
"Ooh. Tell me more. Do you have a written formula?"
He reached into a pocked and drew a scrap of paper out. She took it from him and made sense of the slightly incoherent scribble.
"Not one of permanent records are you."
"Only realised it last night. Couldn't find any plain paper."
She subconsciously noted it wasn't like his personality to not know where any would be. Then again, he was only human.
"Ah. Looks neat. So five components, three ingredients and two catalysts. Interesting."
"With luck, they already eat two components."
"Nice. I might borrow this on my next long term mission. If you ever get to use it, let me know."
"I shall."
He looked at the desert once again. The sand looked darker. Anko looked at him.
"Could you take down your hood so I can at least try to judge your facial expression?"
He did so.
"You always do it when you get asked you know. Why not just keep the hood down."
He paused. She had a point. Then again, most of the time he was on missions and the hood was useful cover for hiding.
"It has advantages more than disadvantages most of the time."
"Fair enough. How's the sand?"
"Growing in strength. It must be the reformation of the one tails."
"Ugh. Those things scare me. I was a kid when the last attack happened, barely made chunin."
Hopefully she wouldn't ask too many direct questions.
"How was it?"
"The chakra...the power. Honestly I don't know how the Fourth did it, but he died doing it. Sealed the thing into a baby as well."
Naruto found himself internally praying that she didn't ask if he knew who. Hopefully she wouldn't correlate his age with that of the attack date.
"Do you know who?"
"No. But it's the only way that makes sense, and I know about Junchuuriki. Poor kid."
"Why?"
"He'd be like you, only lonelier. Everyone would hate him because of something that isn't his fault."
"They wouldn't see the greater good?"
"Yeah. No idea where they are though. Probably well hidden."
Naruto realised that he had been. Then again, he hadn't been like Gaara. Gaara was a weapon of terror. He was a knife in the dark.
"I would use them as a weapon."
"That's unlike you Naruto."
"Well they have something which would cause them to be very powerful. It would make sense."
"The last one before you wasn't. She was brave and strong and didn't need it to be strong."
"Who was she?"
"Kushina Uzumaki. We all kinda knew she was with the Fourth as his true love, and we were happy for them, even if they wanted it secret. She was kind, she was brave. She was strong as hell."
"You sound sad."
"She died with him, protecting the poor baby that got the Nine-Tails sealed into it. She was brave."
That made him feel like he was glowing. He knew his father was the fourth, so logically his mother must have been this Kushina. He filed the name away for later research. He felt pride that his mother was brave and strong. His Byakugan caught the gentle movement in the desert.
"The desert is changing."
"A wind seems to have picked up."
"It's moving inwards towards the centre."
Anko gently thumped the ground.
"Damnit Talon, you left at just the wrong time."
"Let's move."
"Right. Headset. We're gonna need to be in contact during this."
He slipped the headset on and heard Anko's voice directly in his ear once again.
"Any questions?"
"Who are our targets?"
"The leader and any seal artists. Try and make it subtle, hopefully they'll be distracted by the fifty foot demon racoon that will be dripping bloodlust and death."
"Hai."
He assumed she meant the dripping was literal. Liquid bloodlust and death would likely have odd properties, although the concept was interesting. He ignored the thought entirely as he'd never have time to consider it.
He followed the chakra in. It was withdrawing, like it was being sucked up into one place. It was dragging the sand with it, and he realised he didn't need the Byakugan to see what was happening.
He kept back some distance from the retreating sand, and Anko did the same.
"It's amazing to watch isn't it Darkie-kun?"
"Yes. The vision from my eye is also something to behold. It is like waves on a beach being sucked back."
"That's quiet poetic of you. Are you sure you're an emotionally stunted loner Darkie-kun?"
"I'm a ghost."
"Of course."
They kept following into the desert. The sun began to fall over the horizon, and they welcomed the cool of the night. The moon rose, causing eerie dancing shadows to form over the desert in the moonlight. The sand oscillated as it went, moving and swaying as it went.
It was getting thicker, a small wave of sand drifting across the surface of the land, growing in thickness and height, solid circles of sand moving inwards. Inwards and in eddying concentric circles. He could see the tendrils of it reaching out for things. He didn't want to know what they would do if they encountered someone or something.
They continued to follow in the cool of the night, until something large appeared on the horizon.
"Is that a tornado?"
"Looks like it Darkie-kun. Probably the centre of the reformation and it's still at least a mile off."
The thick sand was coalescing, a two foot wave a foot deep that was churning up the desert slowly as it ran towards the vortex at its centre, slow but unstoppable.
He heard Anko whistle under her breath.
"This is going to be a real shit storm. Hope you're ready for the ride."
"Isn't it a sand storm?"
"Figure of speech Darkie-kun, you don't seem to have got the hang of them yet."
"I think now is not the time for illogicality of speech Anko-chan."
"Probably. See anyone?"
"Not by Byakugan, the sand is intense enough that it is hiding everything in the area."
"Hmm, visual is going to be difficult, but then again, this works to our advantage."
"Agreed, if no-one can see anyone else, we have the advantage."
The noise from the communicator was getting crackly.
"Codeword is leaf if we find each other."
"Hai."
"Good hun..."
The communicator cut off in a wash of static as the storm intensified. There was a shape forming at the centre of the storm, and Naruto crept behind the sand wall which had now reached three feet high.
He kept his one eye open, searching for figures on the horizon.
He saw them. There were three figures in his sight range, two of them standing and one kneeling. He considered the composition of a sealing team and considered responsibilities.
He took the crossbow off his back, and went to ground atop a small dune. He pinned his cloak under his knees to stop it flapping about, and took aim.
The sand was everywhere, even without the gradually intensifying maelstrom not a hundred metres away.
He took very careful aim and fired at the kneeling figure. The path of the bolt took it through a tiny portion of the sandstorm, neatly towards the man's head.
The impact never happened. He watched with some fascination as the bolt was snatched out of the air and thrown out of the storm randomly.
He needed a new angle.
He moved, stumbling slighting in the moving sand before he applied chakra to hold himself above the sand. He shifted around a rough circle around the two guarding ninja. He tried the Byakugan once more.
In the brief glimpse he got before he switched them off to avoid blindness, he caught sight of a great figure forming at the centre of the storm, and threads of chakra surrounding it like ropes. There was a lumpy body and something that looked very much like a very big tail, and it was being drawn into a wep of chakra.
The sealing was happening then.
He made sure the path between himself and the team was clear before aiming and firing at the sealer once again.
This time the bolt landed true and the man slumped forwards in the sand. The guards, to their credit, given they were trying not to look at the giant reforming racoon demon behind them, turned and looked at his body. The surprise was their downfall.
Naruto took both of them out with single shots from behind, then watched as the sand dragged the bodies inwards. That was creepy.
Then the earth shook.
He realised that the sealing team were one of the few things stopping the demon from reforming and simply killing everything in sight. If it did reform, it had to be pushed towards Suna. What exactly did a tailed beast want or fear? How did you herd one?
The earth shook again and the tornado of sand expanded and began to take on a more coherent shape. Apparently Anko had taken out another seal expert. That meant their comrades were probably getting suspicious.
He went to ground, half burying himself in the sand that whipped around as a Suna shinobi came round the edge of the sandstorm at speed.
The man immediately knew where his colleagues should have been, and his distress was clear even with the obscured vision of the storm. He realised the sandstorm was growing even stronger in intensity as the beast reformed more and more.
This was a bad place to be. Why had he rushed in so close? Why had he not fully foreseen the consequences of killing a sealing expert mid process?
The jonin was running back to where he had come from, and that probably meant the Kage-candidate was there as well.
He followed, keeping low, but there was no cover left. All the sand was either flat of being sucked inwards. The rough outline of limbs was beginning to form in the storm, the veil of sand being sucked inwards as it did so.
Every second the figure became clearer and more defined. He realised he likely had mere minutes.
He continued to follow the man as he rounded the edge of the storm.
Then he heard the noise. The deep roar, but the horror was the mostly sub-sonic frequencies of a beast forming again. He tried not to look at the thing. A quick glance took in a gaping hole at the top of the pillar opening.
He decided it was best not to look.
"Na...to...pu...out...no...fore...ate"
The message was garbled with static, but the intent was there. Her voice was heightened and more edgy than before. Naruto almost checked his motion. But his principles had to hold. The mission had to be completed. With two sealing experts still in action, he knew they could still stabilise the sealing. He had to take out one more, and possibly the Kage-candidate.
He caught sight of the sealing party as the man reached them. He couldn't see anything, vague outlines of shapes in the light of the breaking dawn.
How long had they been out here following the trail? How far into the desert was he?
He could just see the men. The scout was gesturing frantically, clearly afraid. The man he talked to was holding a battle-fan in his hands. His body was rigid, his expression nearly hidden but clearly rigid. Whether from stubbornness or fear he didn't care.
Naruto slid the crossbow out, and checked the line of sight. The sealer was more important.
He fired as the earth shook. The vibration took the shot slightly off target, and it grazed the sealer's side, ripping a long flesh wound into their side. They slumped slightly, holding the wound with one hand as they tried to concentrate.
It was all the weakening the beast needed.
The shockwave blasted Naruto backwards, and he flipped as he did so, landing in the soft cushioning sand.
He decided now was definitely a good time to get out. He began to move eastwards, judging the stil rising sun as west and moving towards Konoha's border. His earpiece had gone dead, the static wash being tuned out by his training.
He glanced towards the Suna team once again. They were staring up at the maelstrom. But it wasn't one anymore. He suddenly realised that everything had gone very, very quiet, and awfully still.
He looked round to see the beast. After all, you only got to see one of these things once, and he figured that his Byakugan wouldn't tell him anything immediately useful.
It stood a full sixty feet tall, skin the colour of the sand with black markings over its body in places. It was sitting with its eyes closed, the expression on its face in a slight smile. Then it unfolded and stretched.
It was either happy or savouring being whole once again. He realised it was probably the latter.
He sped up before a deafening, subsonic roar knocked him off his feet. He glanced back at the Suna party.
They were preparing to fight, the one with the battle fan was at the fore, preparing himself for conflict with the beast. His posture was clear and stubborn.
Most people would have seen the bravery and the courage of a man who knows he is going to die and is going to do the right thing as leader and fight to the last.
Naruto merely saw a man about to throw away his life. Not his problem.
The beast snorted at the man and then turned to face him. It extended a long clawed paw and pointed him out.
The man stiffened and swung his fan. The jutsu bounced off the beast with barely a sound. The beast began to laugh. It was chilling, the noise like a dozen houses being crushed with each mocking snarl.
"Naruto, if you haven't, get out of there!"
He began to move, Anko's voice was now clear given that the storm had gone. He began to move. He turned the Byakugan back on to cover his back. Then he saw the great beast turn. It moved slowly, each step causing a small tremor in the earth until it was facing him.
It extended a claw and roared.
The wind was intense, the subsonic sound shaking him, awakening a response from his ancestors of raw fear. He mastered the feeling and backed away slowly.
Then he saw the chakra gather and made several clones to scatter them. The wind jutsu about five metres wide, and made of highly condensed wind chakra slammed into his position just after he switched places with the clone.
"What hell! Is it attacking you? What did you do to it?"
Could it really sense that he had killed its host? Was it mindlessly attacking him?
He didn't answer, there was no time. He couldn't keep this up forever, and running would lead it into Konoha. He had very, very few options.
In fact, he only had one, and it was a half chance. And it was something he did not want to do at all.
He switched places with a second clone as another jutsu ripped the area around him to pieces again. Sand burst into the air at least ten metres. He slammed through memorised but all but unused jutsu. He'd only done this technique once in his training, and then only for a brief time before it had been ended by someone else.
He felt the outer seal on his stomach burn briefly as they unlocked and left space vacant. He then felt the second burn as the other chakra swarmed upwards to fill the space.
He let out a hiss as he saw the red chakra begin to swim into his veins. He felt the unreal power flood into his veins. He fought the urge to leap at the giant thing before him and fight it.
Instead he merely stared up at the beast which had stopped attacking. Even though he was several hundred metres from the beast, he looked into its eyes and it into his. He stared at the beast and it seemed to pause.
It took another step forwards, it's mouth forming a wider, darker sneer. It recognised the chakra, and it thought it could overpower it. He had to push further.
More of the chakra shifted into his system, and he slumped down to all fours on instinct. He felt the presence of a heavy limb from behind him, which he instinctively knew to be a tail. He stared up from the sand at the beast, his tail lashing behind him. Swaying it around threatening came as naturally to him as moving an arm. It felt like it had always been a part of him.
He felt like roaring at it, his vocal chords nearly forming the sound. He fought the instinct. He had to fight it or it would consume him.
The beast took another step. The animal in him took a little more control.
He roared, a small sound compared to that of the beast before him, more of a hiss. The racoon demon's ears twitched and he saw its expression change. Naruto felt like shouting that this was his land, but it only came out as the same hiss. He stopped. He realised the hiss was echoing from somewhere.
The beast paused and stared him down again. He felt the chakra reach his eyes fully, and his Byakugan vision turned red. The beast took a hesitant step backwards. He could see the impacts of jutsu on its back from the Suna shinobi, who tried to take advantage of the situation.
It then turned swiftly and roared down at the mortals who had tried to seal it once again. The giant tail slammed into the desert as Naruto fought the adrenaline in his veins to form hand seals once again.
The urge to leap after his quarry and fight it was growing that his muscles were fighting his brain. His hands wanted to be claws and he forced them into the shapes required. His brain would win.
He made the final one and felt searing agony flood his body as the outer seal reformed.
He felt his flesh burn under the pain as the red chakra was bled from his system. He collapsed to one knee as the process finished. He felt every limb ache after it was over. He felt like everything was heavier than before. He felt the withdrawal like a blade being pulled out of a wound. He felt the loss of his tail with a pang of regret.
He panted for a second and started moving towards the border as fast as he could, stealth forgotten. Hopefully the Suna shinobi would run for Suna and draw the beast that way.
He then realised he'd been ignoring the voice in his ear the entire time.
"Naruto? Naruto?"
"Here."
"You sound bad. You ok?"
"I'm...fine. That was not pleasant."
"What the hell made that thing turn around? What the hell was that other noise? Did you hear it? And what was that other chakra? It felt like that night the Kyuubi attacked. But it can't be, that would mean it's...oh. Oh. No. No. No. Where are you?"
"Moving towards the border."
"I'll try and catch you on the way back, if you see any snakes, don't kill them ok? My headset is nearly flat."
"Hai."
He kept moving, and eventually the light scrubland of the border came into sight. He'd never felt happier to see trees. The sun had risen, and the baking heat of the desert beat down upon him as he found the stream on the border.
He stumbled into it and drank deeply from the waters, kneeling in the refreshing coolness.
There was a crash a few metres to his left and a splash of a person hitting the water as well, and a feminine gasp of refreshment.
"Anko-chan."
"Darkie-kun!"
It wasn't her normal exclamation. It was different. It was full of tension and relief and a thousand other light intonations. Naruto didn't have enough time to register it before she had wrapped him into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry, I never knew."
"It's ok."
"So you were the poor baby on that night. You had the most horrible start and...you..."
She started to weep gently into his shoulder. He held the embrace tight as they knelt in the shallow, cool water of the stream.
He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He should be checking his weapons or the horizon, or anything else but just holding a fellow shinobi, who was breaking several of the code rules at once, in the middle of a stream.
And yet this seemed like the right thing to do.
He shut his eyes and let some of the weariness he felt take hold as well, that was more comfortable as well. He sank to his knees and barely noticed the extra coolness from the stream.
There was a snivel as Anko finished crying for the most part.
"You used it's chakra to scare the one-tails into turn around. That's just scary."
"I've never used the chakra before, and I wasn't sure it would work."
She laughed a quiet wet laugh.
"You're just not real are you?"
"I'm a ghost."
"How do you manage your curse?"
"A very large a complicated seal matrix. What's your curse?"
She drew back the top of her coat to reveal her upper back. There was a dark mark there, like a tattoo in the shape of a seal.
"Cursed seal. Put on me by my bastard of a former sensei. He cursed me and threw me away when I couldn't live up to his expectations."
"Oh."
That sounded logical to him, at least ignoring the cursed sealing part of a comrade. He realised he should feel disgusted by the idea, but he was a little too pragmatic.
"I have a seal that depends on my will to keep it in check. But if I get angry or stressed it hurts and I want to kill everyone."
"Oh. Everything's going to be acceptable."
She looked into his single visible eye.
"Acceptable?"
He sought for the word he really meant. It wasn't acceptable, that word was wrong. He was talking to a friend. He sought everything he'd ever heard and found something.
"Everything is going to be fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
He gave a slight tightening of the embrace and her body relaxed. The mark seemed to shrink a little.
"Thank you."
Her voice was little more than a whisper. There was silence and she began to chuckle again. Her normal chuckle.
"You know, we'll get hypothermia if we stay in this stream much longer. Talon would make fun of us if we got hypothermia on a mission to Suna."
"It would be odd, yes."
There was a relieved laugh from the Konoha side of the stream.
"Good thing I know how you two would have got it then."
Talon landed, followed by a large group of ANBU.
"Too late Talon-kun, the One-Tails has already reformed and is currently out there in the desert."
"Did they seal it?"
"No."
"And the Kage-candidate?"
"Last seen attacking it."
"Dead?"
"Most likely, tailed beasts are tricky opponents."
Talon relaxed a little, and Pig sighed from behind him.
"So wait, you mean to say you dragged half the barracks out on an emergency run to the border just so we could hear that Lion and Anko had done it all already?"
"It appears so Pig."
There was some chuckling from Hare.
"But as Lion would tell us, our backup was necessary and logical right?"
"Correct Hare-san."
The man nodded. Talon started directing ANBU to watch the border. When he was done, he turned to Anko and Naruto.
"You two need rest, stay on the border then make your way home tomorrow. Hare, check any injuries they have."
That was a welcome order. After a brief check-up, Naruto found a tree with a suitably wide branch, and slumped down in preparation for a crash sleep. Something forced itself in next to him.
"I need a pillow Darkie-kun."
Anko rested her head on his, such was the height difference, and fell asleep almost instantly. Naruto considered switching with something before deciding not to bother. He would have made this an observance of his at the time, but he crashed into as deep a sleep as he allowed himself on missions.
Besides, she was a comfortable pillow as well.
A/N
So the Nine-tails emerges at last, at least a little.
On a different note, I'm beginning to realise I cannot write fast enough to keep this update rate up. Despite starting with a 50k odd buffer, I'm down to something closer to 25k, which is only so many chapters.
I really want to keep updating at the current rate (every three days unless I muck the timings up), but at the same time refuse to rush and write substandard stuff.
So, I'd welcome people's views on whether they'd prefer shorter (somewhere in the region of 1.5-2k words) chapters at the same rate, or similar length chapters spaced further apart (maybe 5 days to a week). Hopefully I won't need to do this, but if I come up to a bit that needs real thought (say, taking out an Akatsuki member) and fall behind, I won't be able to keep up the current rate.
Review, PM, or anonymously rage at me as required.