Word count is a little low this chapter, but considering I gave you guys two large chapters in a row, I'm cutting myself some slack.
Review response time!
1. OneLunchMan: If Sasuke combined multiple Mangekyou Sharingan then I'm sure Kishimoto would come up with something like, "now it's called the Immortal Mangekyou Sharingan, and it makes Sasuke invincible until I give Naruto an ungodly fucking boost to his power levels that makes absolutely no sense but you've gotta take it on faith and suspension of disbelief."
He probably would, too.
Also, Sai's personality is gonna remain, "follow Naruto's orders," until something happens at the end of this arc that I came up with while writing and let me tell you it's gonna fuck me up. Enjoy.
2. ArtanisRose: You are making an understatement, my friend. A very large, if well-intentioned, understatement of the...year? The decade? The Hyuuga clan elders aren't often dealt with in fic, and they certainly didn't receive any repercussions in canon that I can think of, or at least none that were revealed. I'm very sympathetic to Neji's plight, as I think canon did him a massive injustice via his fate. It was such bullshit, to me.
3. Drake Vallion: Good to know that you'll still be here. And...yeah. Nagato was never really a villain; he was manipulated as a child, and after Yahiko's death he became very easy to mold into the shape Obito wanted him. I found it particularly telling that he wasn't really in charge, as his revelation about Akatsuki's plan to Naruto during the assault on Konoha makes no sense despite Nagato's generally knowledgeable and philosophical nature. Once I understood that he was just being controlled, my attitude towards him became somewhat similar to my feelings about Itachi; both men are incredibly powerful ninja with pacifism in their hearts, and different ways of attempting to reach that peace.
4. XxXprodigyXxX: Thanks for the compliment! I try to make sure that, even if my characters are somewhat OOC compared to canon, (re: Jiraiya snapping on Tsunade very early in this fic,) I can have some sort of reasoning for it, and a major character, (which, unfortunately for me, Naruto has a huge amount of,) needs a major flaw. I'm having a hell of a time trying to make it all work, but I think I'm succeeding. Tsunade, in particular, has gotten set up on in this fic. Also, you will see more of Konoha's inside politics, but that's going to take place after a few chapters, once this arc ends.
Does that count as spoilers, or a sneak peek? I don't know, it's up to you to decide that. Still, I hope you're ready...also, congratulations for being the 200th review!
Let's get this trainwreck moving.
"So...Maya. I'm not dumb enough to think that's your real name. Nobody who wears a mask would give anything but a fake alias." Tayuya said, a pointed look directed at the first female Akatsuki member she'd seen.
"That's mean...Maya is a good girl! I would never be so deceitful."
Tayuya closed her eyes and gave a long sigh. She really, really hoped that she didn't develop some sort of antic like that.
"Um..." Hinata said, and both of the older women turned to look at her.
"What's wrong?" Tayuya asked.
"I, um, I'm just...worried about Neji-onii."
"Don't be." Maya told her. "It's our organization's job to keep track of the skills of the Jinchuriki, and Naruto comes from a long line of sealing masters. If there's something wrong with a seal, you don't want anybody but an Uzumaki to look at it."
The words visibly calmed the Hyuuga heiress, as Hinata relaxed with the decision to put her faith in Naruto's abilities.
"Speaking of which," Tayuya's gaze shot back to the enemy who was not an enemy, "why are you hunting down the Biju?"
"That's a question for our leader, Pein-sama. For the rest of us, it's really just a matter of why we joined the Akatsuki. I joined because the man who brought me back to life is one of its founders, and to get closer to Itachi-kun. He joined to keep tabs on my benefactor, and to kill him."
"Well that's complicated bullshit."
"All of us, except for myself, Pein and his right hand, 'the Messenger,' are S-ranked nukenin from various countries. Hidan died in Suna, which means that our membership consists of one shinobi from Suna, Iwa, Kiri, Taki and Kusa, two from Ame, and three from Konoha."
"That's...a disturbing plurality, for a nation that likes to talk about its pacifism." Tayuya said.
Before she could continue, though, a scream she didn't recognize came from the direction they'd walked away from; that made it either Sai or Neji, and Tayuya doubted that an unconscious teen, even a Jounin, could do much damage to an Anbu.
Hinata panicked, nearly bolting, but Maya stood in the way.
"Trust them." The masked woman commanded. "Fuinjutsu is...not a kind art."
Reams of paper were strewn about, underneath and around Neji's body, as Naruto and Sai scrambled to seal fast enough to counter the maladaptive rebounding that they'd caused by tampering with the alterations to Neji's seal. Chakra was leaking out of Naruto's tenketsu like a sieve, draining into the sealwork that he was penning with abandon.
Sai had begun uttering a mantra in order to keep himself focused, the words seeming to dictate the next marks that he would put down. Naruto used that for directional information as to how he could best work together with the Ne Anbu. The sealing process itself was actually under Naruto's carefully controlled command, as he worked in the traditional Uzumaki method of circular seals; the emblem on his headband, and his jacket, as well as all of Konoha's flak vests, was actually the secret missive to his clan's success with Fuinjutsu.
The outer sealing ring acted as a border for the seal as a whole, with each concentric ring of sealing circles acting as a containment method for a new directive. The only problem was that he had to start in the middle and work his way outwards, and if he tried to make too large a sealing ring without enough chakra then he'd end up draining himself to death. Not that Naruto was particularly worried about that, as his chakra was already several times stronger than a normal person's before accounting for his massive reserves, but the fact still remained that he shouldn't try Uzumaki Fuinjutsu after a prolonged battle.
He had a clone on standby to build up his supply of nature energy, infusing Senjutsu into the seal's workings.
"Taicho, my hands are going stupid." Sai said, and Naruto understood.
"Take a break, then. I'll finish the seal myself."
The phrase, "stupid hands," generally referred to a sudden inability to make hand seals for Ninjutsu, but the associated cramping and loss of coordination were absolutely lethal liabilities to come across in the middle of a seal's creation. Thankfully, Sai wasn't the only person working on the seal, and Naruto was the more knowledgeable one between the two of them. The Ne Anbu moved out of the way of Naruto's seal, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki working at a furious pace as even more chakra began to spill out from his body. It was enough that he'd created a visible aura around himself, the energy a swirling rainbow of colors. Naruto's own blue chakra, the deep red and burnt orange of the Kyuubi's halves, as well as the yellow hue of natural energy, all radiated from his body.
Each of his arms moved separately, one of them underneath the Kyuubi's power. As Naruto gave a mental picture to the beast of how the seal was supposed to look, Sai watched on in sheer amazement. He'd never seen anything like this, despite his pedigree as the child of a Fuinjutsu master and the apprentice of another. While he could read and understand everything that Naruto was doing, each individual sigil and marking holding their own meaning, he knew that he could never accomplish anything like this; he simply didn't have the chakra supply, let alone the skill, to make it to the halfway point of a seal this massive.
For Naruto's part, he was now running almost entirely off of natural energy and the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra. Still, he kept writing, kept moving, slowly completing the massive spiral he'd begun. At long last, he finished inscribing the final outer ring.
"Sai...give me a half-Ram seal and charge all the chakra you can into the seal. I'll match you. Then, we're done."
"As you command, Taicho."
The explosion of their chakra made the ground buckle around them, and Neji screamed as he opened his eyes. Then, the Hyuuga prodigy collapsed back into silent unconsciousness. Naruto followed him soon, face-first into the dirt, though he was still fully awake. The rings of circles began to spin in alternate directions, shrinking and collapsing as it moved to Neji's head. Naruto had been ambitious; maybe a little too much, as his current exhaustion told him. However, if it removed the Aiganchou from Neji's forehead on top of eliminating the alterations made to his seal, then it would be worth it.
"I can't move. Might have overdone it, just a little bit. Go round everyone up, and tell them we probably won't be making any progress for the next three days at least."
Naruto would recover from the ordeal overnight, but the unsealing process had affected Neji's cranial chemistry. He wanted to know whether or not his teammate would be fit for duty, and if freeing him from the slave-like seal effects would prove to be a health hazard. Sai walked off, knowing that their ragtag group couldn't have wandered too far away. That left Naruto alone with his fellow Jounin, who he would soon join in unconsciousness.
"I tell you what, pal, you'd better be worth it." Naruto sighed. "No more of that fatalism bullshit. You hear me? All that 'Hyuuga genius,' or whatever, can fuck right out the window."
With that, he closed his eyes and welcomed sleep.
"Are they dead?" Sasuke asked as the seven of them stood around Naruto and Neji's prone forms. "That'd be a terrible way to end this mission."
Sakura couldn't resist the small giggle that escaped her when Naruto snored loudly.
"Who...prank next...Ten-chan?" He mumbled in his sleep.
Slowly, Neji stirred.
"Oh, fuck, my head..."
Tayuya got a sickening case of deja vu, remembering both waking up in the destroyed forest and in her hospital bed.
"Neji-san, it seems the sealing process was a success." Sai said, directing attention to the Hyuuga's brow.
"It's gone!" Hinata exclaimed.
Neji stood up, looking at his surroundings and trying to gauge what was happening.
"What do you mean, the...wait a second, where the hell am I? What are we- I mean, what are they-" Neji's questioning was interrupted as Hinata barreled into her cousin, wrapping him in a hug.
"You're okay! I was so w-worried, onii-san...t-he elders and the seal a-and the..." Hinata had been moved to tears, her crying enough to render her speech unintelligible.
"It's okay, Hinata-chan." His hand ran up and down her back, and he thanked the dead gods that his cousin couldn't see the imperious scowl that he gave to the other ninja present.
"The last thing I remember is the clan elders threatening me. I didn't even get a chance to refute their logic before I lost consciousness, due to the activation of the Aiganchou." A steel resolve worked its way into his apupiled eyes. "I'm going to kill them."
"Okay, it's time to bring you up to speed." Tayuya said. "We're on a mission to destroy Orochimaru's different hidden bases. Itachi and Maya are members of the Akatsuki, and they were ordered by their leader to kill Orochimaru, so we're going to be working together for the time being. Piss-for-brains is taking a nap down there, but he and Sai created a huge Fuinjutsu array to try to get the Aiganchou off of you. It worked."
"Well, that's simple. Still, are you not the least bit worried about them?"
Hinata finally separated from her cousin, a teary-eyed smile on her face.
"I am loyal to Itachi-kun, and he will not attack you unless you attack him first." Maya said.
"That's the first time I've come across an S-ranked nukenin with morals." Neji said. "For most of you, it's kill on sight or be killed when you're seen."
"True as that may be, I still hold Konoha in my heart." Itachi said. "Besides, there's only three of you who could pose a threat to me. I'm not particularly worried."
"Taicho's orders were that we won't move out for three days. I suggest that we make camp and busy ourselves while he recovers."
That sounded like a plan.
Drip.
Drip.
Naruto found himself within his seal again, though this time he'd been called there rather than going of his own will.
"Oh, boy. This should be good."
"We need to talk." The Yin half of the Kyuubi said.
"An unusual demand, coming from you. Has something happened?"
"No, this time is merely more opportune. Your chakra is exhausted, you are unconscious...and you have questions, which I hold the answers to."
"We." The Yang half corrected it. "We hold the answers."
"I, we, me, us...whatever."
"Don't you talk back to me, you walking ramen sink! God only knows how content you are to slave your life away for nothing but personal recognition and a bowl of soup!"
"How dare you disrespect ramen! That food is holy, and if it weren't for this cage then I'd make sure you would be pretty, 'hole-y,' too!"
"Was that a challenge, Yin? I could take you any day! Come on, fight me, you piece of shit!"
"We're the same person, you dumbfuck furry!"
Naruto had completely lost sense of the situation.
"Uh...earth to fox, earth to fox. What was all that about questions and answers?"
"Oh, call me a furry, will you? I swear, if that cage weren't in the way then I would grind you into a paste!"
"Hey, at least I don't look like I was sleeping inside of a corpse for sixteen and a half years."
The two Biju halves continued to ignore Naruto, who did his best to think. What was it that his grandmother had said would be able to affect them, something from before Ninjutsu?
"Wash the spears when the sun climbs high. Wash the spears when the sun climbs low. Wash the spears. Who fears to die? Wash the spears...no one I know."
The two beasts froze, turning to look at him with a death stare that Naruto could only describe as, "frenzied complacence." He knew how much the Kyuubi despised being controlled, but if neither piece of it wanted to listen to him...he would make them listen.
"Tell me why you called me here."
"To warn you." They both said at once.
"About what?"
"All of the Biju hold specific dominion over a certain aspect. The Ichibi is sand, the Nibi is fire, the Sanbi is water, the Yonbi is earth. The Gobi is wind, the Rokubi is acid, the Nanabi is insectile fauna. The Hachibi is lightning. I, we...our attribute is luck, and decidedly more good luck than bad. Our periods of good luck last for decades, even as long as a century, but our periods of bad luck come intermittently. Thankfully, they only last for a short period of time, anywhere from one to five years...but one is approaching. Luck cannot be made to account for everything, and there's no doubt that you are my strongest container in the last thousand years, but you should take caution."
"I really don't like the idea of a near-deity telling me to be careful. That feels wrong, somehow, especially since your power is tied to me."
Naruto didn't want to get overconfident, but he knew that he was strong. Still, the warning ran through his head, and he left it there to settle.
He felt his consciousness fade from the boundaries of the Shiki Fuin, and drifted back to sleep.
"You should know better than to attempt to interfere with destiny." A new voice said to the halves of the Kyuubi. "That's my job, after all, isn't it?"
"Antal Dara. Who would have thought, after all these years, that you'd decide to show up again?"
"It's not that I decided to show up, Kurama. It's that I was found, again. When that boy passed through my Labyrinth, not only did he manage to bring others out, but he succeeded in returning to his own world...even his own time. I assume you know the truth about those children who came with him?"
"I think so. The feeling of their chakra is his, and yet...not. Do you have an explanation?"
"His existence is one that bends causality. Ta'veren, as a people from long ago liked to call it. Aidanmar, as my civilization named them. It is around him, by him, through him, that the future will be made."
"That doesn't count as an answer to my question."
"Then you won't get an answer, young god of battle. Your pride will blind you, now as before, and ever after."
"I don't need to listen to you insult me. Be gone from this prison of mine, you ancient relic...you should have died with the rest of them."
"True as that may be, as weak as I am against the weapons of men and demons, I am the one who endures. I am the one who survives. Can you say the same of yourself, wretched servant of corrupted strength?"
Deep laughter echoed as it vanished, the speaker unseen, and it burned Kurama's soul to know that in its heart of hearts, it had been right in knowing fear.