Hey, guys. Sorry about the wait. Got a job at Sewanee University in the dining hall, and the hours are killing me. Today's only the second day off I've gotten in about three weeks, and I'm tired as all hell. But I managed to sit down for a few hours today and slam this out. It's not my best work, but I hope it's all right.
Nothing much to report besides that. I have a slight cold, but nothing too bad. Job's going well, no complaints there. Got me a Droid; hell, I'm on its browser more than my laptop!
Review answer time! This goes out to chapters 35 and 36.
Silver Warrior: Hell yeah, Haku kicked some ass! He was literally in his element. I couldn't have him go out like a punk!
Dzk87: Well, I'm assuming that he kept the "icy thingy" in the air the same way as he keeps his mirrors in the air: it's a part of his Kekkei Genkai. And don't expect Haku to be dispassionate about the other clans that had been massacred; he's fifteen and angsty.
Dragon Man 180: Well, we'll see more of just what the other Jinchūriki are made of eventually. For now, just enjoy the ride.
Frantic Author: Oooookay, here we go. 1) Haku beat Yagura by A: Being in an area with A LOT OF SNOW AND ICE. If he hadn't had that to work with, he surely would have been torn apart in seconds, and B: Using a jutsu in his Kekkei Genkai passed on down through the blood, quite similar to, oh, I dunno, the techniques of the Mangekyou? If that seems implausible, you're reading the wrong story.
Hinata has Naruto whipped. If you're mad about the part where they were sparring during the Sasori/Deidara arc, they were using basic taijutsu. No chakra, no jutsu, nothing. That's how she beat him. They weren't sparring to hurt—they were sparring, just like any friendly partners, to hone their techniques. In "Rising Star", it's canon that Hinata has WAY better taijutsu than Naruto; he just has a LOT more raw power to put into it. If he had been using any of that power, he would have broken her bones, at least. DUDE.
Seeker Heart: Glad you liked :D
Rock 2161: Ya, I'm evil. It's kinda what I do.
Shadowreploid: Don't be too full of yourself, buddy :P
Twilight- The Moon Spirit: Honestly, didn't have the time or the energy to write a better fight scene. I'll try to do better next time, I promise.
Shrumples: Dude, glad you liked! But if I have to make a profile for you, I will. Get with it, man!
jediguru: Haha, maybe not, but it was all right. Glad you enjoyed!
Taichi-Doragon Tentei: I'm back, and here for a while yet!
Hinan Nightbreeze: Thanks for reading. I just can't but help do cliffhangers, though. Don't know why.
Arilitevixen: You're right, and no, it didn't have to be an infant, if what I've read is to be believed. But from what I understand, it at least has to be someone young, without fully-developed chakra coils. That is so that the young one can grow up and get used to the Bijuu's chakra without it overloading their system. On the opposite end of the scale was Gaara, who was implanted WHILE HE WAS STILL A FETUS. That brought us "Bloodthirsty Gaara". They used baby Naruto because he was the only one they could have possibly used; don't forget, they basically held auditions when B was chosen to be the Hachibi's jinchūriki.
Leo Vongola: Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother :)
The Elven-Spear: HOLY FUCK thank you lol.
Alethiophile: If you're referring to "Sturgeon's Law" then yes, I'd have to agree with you. And "Sanseirei" translates to "Three Spirits" the same way that "Sannin" translated to "Three Ninja". It just sounds more badass, I think.
Xarkun's Shadow: These fics are like anything else; you have to see everything, then pick out what you like from what you don't. Cherish the good, and forget the rest. I totally respect your views, believe me. I am trying hard, and this is definitely a labor of love.
Sleepy Milkshakes: Well, you're gonna love what comes later, I think. And, hey… I LIKE FLUFF THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
And in a blanket review of Chapter 36, I'm going to say I appreciate your comments, I'm glad you liked what you saw, and I hope you will continue reading. I know I took a risk when I wrote and published it, but I felt that it was something that really deserved to be there. That is all.
Aaaand on with the show!
Chapter 37
"How's he doing?"
The doctor, an average-sized man with slate-colored hair looked up from his notes. He glanced over at Naruto and Kakashi, and frowned. "There's good news and bad news," he said in a gravelly voice. "On the plus, physically, he's all right. He's exhausted, but all right. There's some fever, but I don't think that'll be a major complication. Unfortunately, whatever he did out there to Yagura took a lot out of him. When we brought him in, he was nearly to the point of zero chakra." He flipped the page to the next one. "If we had been even a few minutes too late, I don't think we could have saved him. Now, though, I'm fairly confident he'll pull through."
Naruto's face was set in a grim cast. "Fairly confident?" he asked.
The doctor nodded. "Fairly, yes. Nothing's certain, but with enough rest, he should be able to move on his own in a few days or so." He glanced over at the IV needle poking out of his arm. "Until then, it's best to keep him under."
Naruto ground his teeth. "And what about Yagura?" he said slowly.
"Calm down, Naruto," Jiraiya said from behind the boy. He was unusually serious, his lips pursed into a thin, white line. "Getting angry right now wouldn't help anyone."
Naruto clenched his fists without turning around. "I'm not angry," he said, though nobody believed him. "I just want to know if he'll survive." On the other side of the sickbay, a team of medics were hastily closing wounds inflicted to the Sanbi host's neck and chest. When the pair had arrived back at the mountain, Yagura's body looked as if it had gone through a grinder; his entire front torso was torn to shreds, and his neck had puncture wounds that looked like they had been inflicted by some sort of ravenous wolf.
The doctor shook his head. "It's too early to tell," he said. "Whatever your friend did to him, it wasn't pretty. His jugular was punctured, his voice box was torn to shreds. He'll probably never talk again. Something tore through his rib cage, punctured his left lung, and entire pieces of his ribs are missing. Even with the help of your medic-nin here, there's nothing I think we could do to put him back into shape." He sighed. "His brain is oxygen-deprived from the sudden lack of blood to his brain. We're doing what we can to keep his heart beating, but…"
"But?"
The doctor shook his head again. "I don't think it's enough. Even if we stabilize him, there's a chance he'll never wake up. He's effectively brain-dead."
Naruto winced. Living like that wasn't any kind of life at all. All in all, it probably would have been better if he'd have been killed. "What about the Sanbi?" he asked Jiraiya.
The Sannin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It's said that Yagura's one of the only jinchūriki to ever gain complete control of his bijuu. If that's true, perhaps, even in a coma, it could stay sealed… but I don't know. When they're done, I may have to reinforce the seals suppressing the Sanbi, but that's worst case scenario."
Naruto cast his eyes down for a moment, then glanced back up at the doctor. "But Haku'll be all right?" he questioned.
The doctor nodded. "He's in better shape than the Mizukage," he said. "He should turn out all right in the end."
Naruto let out a heavy sigh. "Then, I guess there's nothing more that I can do here." He turned and walked out the door, Jiraiya silently in tow.
They walked up several staircases and down some halls to return to the conference room; the sickbay was underground, secure by several layers of security. Nobody got there without going through three separate checkpoints guarded by four samurai each. When they arrived eyes turned from the twin rows of Naruto's clones on the ground painting an extremely long scroll to them.
"What is the situation?" Barked the Raikage.
Jiraiya gave him the short of it. "Hm. This isn't good. If Madara gets in there, Yagura is ripe for the plucking."
Utakata took a sip of his tea. "Perhaps," he said, "this is for the best."
A growled. "And how's that, boy?" he said.
Utakata took another sip before replying. "Think of this," he said. "Had Madara not taken Yagura, or Haku not gone after him, he would have been used against us. If he turned on us on the battlefield, I do not believe we could have kept our composure for long. Remember, he had perfect control of the Sanbi, while most of the rest of us have a tenuous relationship with our bijuu at best." He looked A in the eyes. "As much as this may weaken us currently, this is probably the best scenario for this fight."
"And if Madara gets to him before the battle's decided?" the Kazekage asked.
Jiraiya stepped forward. "Leave that to me," he said. "I know seals that interrupt space/time jutsu. I should at least be able to hold him off for a little while."
"Do it," Mifune agreed. "Naruto, how much longer on your trap?"
Naruto studied the clones and their progress. "Not too much longer," he said. "But understand, this is an enormously complex seal. It'll take time to get it set up properly."
"Don't you worry about that," Moah, the samurai who'd greeted him and his party in the woods, said. "All of the kunai have already been placed, both inside and outside, as per your plan."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Already? Damn, you guys work fast."
Moah smiled thinly. "Never underestimate a samurai," he said.
Naruto nodded respectfully at the man. "I'll keep that in mind. Now…" He glanced back over at Mifune, who was thumbing the hilt of his sword. "Mifune-sama? Are all of your samurai up-to-date on the plan?"
"They know what to do," Mifune said. "They've been given strict instructions on where the save zones are. Leave them to Moah and myself. You just worry about your end of this war."
"Speaking of which," Rōshi said, getting up from his cross-legged position on the floor by the wall, "it's about time we discussed formations among the Bijuu Corps." He sat at a short table with maps and grease pencils upon it and waved the rest of his team on over. Gaara, Yugito, Utakata, Fū, Kirābī, and Naruto sat in order around it.
Rōshi had taken command of the corps. As the oldest, most experienced, and, perhaps for Bee, the strongest of them all, he was the natural one to be put in charge. There had been no argument against him. Every Kage, despite their differences, agreed that this would be the best course of action.
"What's the plan, boss?" Naruto asked as soon as they were all seated.
Rōshi grabbed several maps and a pencil and spread them out. "Here's the deal," he said gruffly. He put an aerial view of the mountain. "From what we know, the enemy's main force is five miles north of us. In this weather, they'll want to approach us as directly as possible, only dispersing at the last moment to get into their own formations." He drew X's on several points in the forest around. "Here, here, and here are where I would go to form up. The trees are thick here, we wouldn't be able to see them if they approached from the north-east. There, a natural fault line's formed up, sinking part of the land seventeen feet below the rest. If they're careful, several hundred shinobi can get as close as a half mile from here without being detected."
"What about here?" Bee asked, stabbing at a spot a bit south of west and a quarter mile from the mountain.
"The earth there is soft, easy to burrow through. I wouldn't put it past some of them to use Moguragakure no Jutsu to try to sneak in close. So, here's what we'll do." He circled three spots. "Do any of you have any explosive notes on hand?"
Naruto smiled, and pulled a scroll from his bum pouch. He opened it up and thumbed a seal. Several pouches stuffed to the brim of paper tags appeared on the table in a puff of smoke. "Will this do?" he asked.
Yugito palmed her face. "You really don't do anything half-way, do you, kid?"
Naruto shook his head. "Not anymore. After my last couple fights, I come prepared. Believe me, after Deidara, if something needs to be blown up, I'll make sure it gets blown up."
Rōshi let a smile tug the corner of his mouth. "That'll do," he said. "We'll have a few squads of samurai go and set traps here, here, and here."
"Wait a minute," Fū said. "Hold on. If these really are the most likely routes for them, wouldn't they have eyes on them? What if they ignore them entirely and come in somewhere else?"
"That is what we want," Utakata said. He traced his finger along the paper. "North, east, and west. These are the most vulnerable spots in our defense. By placing traps here, we accomplish two things: securing those lines of entry, and diverting their forces to where we want them to go." He gestured for the pencil in Rōshi's hand, and drew several dotted lines leading from the forest to the mountain. "If they fall into the traps, worst case, some will be dead. Best case, they'll all be dead. But we can't rely on luck." He rotated the map. "Uzumaki-san, your instructed the samurai to place those special kunai… here, here, here, and here?" Utakata marked off sections just inside the tree line.
Naruto nodded. "Here, let me show you exactly." He used his own pencil to indicate exactly where every kunai was located. In seven sections around the forest, including the place Rōshi thought that some might burrow in, were patterns of dots stretching roughly two hundred yards by one hundred. "This is where we want to herd them."
Gaara grunted. "Wait a minute. This isn't balanced." He pointed toward the south end. "This section is twice as large as the others."
"That's right," Naruto explained. "We're not going to have as many samurai there as the rest of the perimeter. Hopefully, whoever's in charge of the main Oto and Ame forces would assume that that means it would be easier to force their way through. Our main goal is to corral as many there as possible."
"That's not going to be enough," Yugito said, shaking her head. "It's too obvious. We need bait."
Silence fell over the seven jinchūriki. Yugito's words held a lot of weight behind the implications.
"Bait." Naruto frowned. "Shit." The seven glanced left and right at one another. Who would do it? Who would be the bait? Who'd be crazy enough to—
"I'll do it." Rōshi stood slowly. "I'm the most infamous of us. They'll send their strongest forces after me. If even two or three of their top-level shinobi get caught in Uzumaki's trap, it'd be worth it."
"No way!" Naruto almost shouted. "We need you to coordinate this so it doesn't turn into a clusterfuck! I'll take the whole of the south by myself. Just keep the samurai and everyone else out of my way, and make sure the clones I set up on top of the mountain are protected, and nothing can go wrong."
Gaara turned to Naruto. "How do you think you'll manage that whole section by yourself?" he asked.
Naruto grinned back at the pale, red haired boy. "Dunno about you, but I've got enough chakra, without even tapping into Kyuubi, to make a thousand clones easy. Trust me when I say, I can hold the line. Believe it."
Rōshi looked at Naruto for a moment, his arms crossed. Curtly, he shook his head. "Sorry, but no way," he said. He held up a hand to stifle Naruto's protest. "You're young, you're inexperienced, and it'd take more than a clone to manage that monster you created with your bunshin. We have to think with our brains, not our balls."
"Well, what do you suggest?" Naruto asked with a frown. "Do you have a plan, oh fearless leader?"
"Don't mock me!" Rōshi almost snarled. "I'm doing what I can with what I have!"
"And I know that any one of my clones are worth any ten of anybody else!" Naruto slammed his clenched fist onto the table.
"That doesn't matter!" said Rōshi. "We can't risk something this important on the most inexperienced shinobi in this room!"
"No, you're just afraid of me showing you up!"
Rōshi's eyes narrowed. "You little punk."
"You geriatric reactionary!"
"HEY!" Fū stood from her seat and glared at the men on opposite sides of the table. "That's enough, both of you! This is no time to be whipping them out and finding out who's bigger! Rōshi-san, Naruto may be inexperienced, but you heard him himself—he's got all of his father's jutsu, and then some. He's got the chops."
"Thanks, Fū—"
"Shut the fuck up, Naruto," she snapped at him. "You're not off the hook. Rōshi's right, you're inexperienced. You've got no reason to be out there on the front lines in the first place. Just cause you got a plethora of jutsu doesn't mean you know how to use them yet. You need to listen to your elders, especially when they know better than you!" She rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "Now, if I may suggest something before someone slips on the testosterone…" She looked around the table at the gathered jinchūriki, noticing the stares of pretty much everyone else in the room. "Here's a plan. We find everyone here who knows the Fukyuudou no Jutsu, triple-reinforce them with local binder tags so that they can't be broken, and place them inside of these designated areas. That should give us more than enough time to get our people to their posts and make sure the maximum amount of enemies are in the kill zone. No need to go wasting chakra on clones that could be used for other things. Naruto, you need all the chakra you have to pull off your surprise jutsu. If you have any other bright ideas, now's the time to share."
Naruto turned beet-red and cast his eyes down at the floor, chastised. "I… um…" He put his hands in the air in surrender. "I got nothing."
Rōshi smiled slightly. "All in favor?" he asked evenly. A unanimous nod around the table.
"Good," said Fū. "Now that that's out of the way, we still need to decide on our formations once the second stage is underway."
Rōshi grunted and nodded. "Right. The way I see this, we have a few options on troop position." He drew the overview map close to him and studied it for a moment. "Option one: We organize according to village origin. Gaara-kun with his father and the rest of the Suna shinobi, Yugito and Kirābī with Raikage-san, etcetera."
"But that wouldn't work out," Yugito pointed out. "Utakata's council were all killed by Yagura; he's the only Kiri shinobi here."
Utakata nodded curtly. "There does seem to be a flaw in your plan, Rōshi-san."
"Which brings us to option two: Organize ourselves into small squads of three and four and take the fight to them after the initial breach. The rest of them can stick together, and the samurai can take care of themselves against shinobi. We'd need to run positions by Mifune, of course, but I do think this would be the best options for all of us."
Naruto frowned. "Rōshi, let me see that for a second." He took the map, glanced it over quickly, then looked at another. "Hey, Mifune-sama, just how tall is this mountain?"
Mifune looked up from his own conversation with the remaining Kage. "Over a four hundred feet from base to summit. Why?"
Naruto shook his head slowly. "I just had an idea, is all," he said. "A really, really dumb idea."
"What?" the samurai asked.
Naruto thought for a moment before he answered. "Fū, I know you can fly when you transform… And Utakata, I hear you can get airborne too?"
The slim Kiri teen nodded. "I can suspend myself in a bubble if need be, yes. Why?"
Naruto smiled slightly. "How about this," he said. "Instead of two teams of three and four, we break it up into three teams of two, two, and three. You two take to the skies as soon as the skirmish begins, using your specialized jutsu to take out targets from the safety of the air. I've read your dossier, Utakata-san; I know how dangerous you are even without using any of your Bijuu's chakra or techniques. You and Fū stick together, backing each other up, making sneak guerilla attacks on those Ame and Oto bastards and stay well out of their reach. You both specialize in long-range, wide-dispersal jutsu. You're perfect for that post. If you run into any trouble, we can keep in touch with two-way radio headsets. Likewise, the other two teams can call you in if they get in trouble. With your mobility, we can regroup easily."
The gathered jinchūriki pondered on that a moment. "It might work," Yugito said, "but that doesn't take into account the skills of the enemy forces. What if we are overpowered?"
Naruto shook his head. "I don't think that'll happen," he said. "But if worse comes to worse, you can always use your bijudama. Even without fully transforming, you can still resort to wiping them out, right? It's crude, but effective."
Fū thought for a second, then nodded. "Yes, I suppose so. I'm skilled enough to blast away with a physical transformation instead of a chakra cloak, but… I kinda have a problem with my bijudama. I can't seem to focus it well enough for pinpoint accuracy. It's always a wide spread, even at its lowest power level, and I can't always even regulate that. No problem making it happen, but I don't want to hurt any of our allies."
"In that case," interjected Utakata, "why don't we modify our formation so that you focus on those outside of my range, preferably at the edge of their army, and I put my attention to those aiming for you? I can protect myself well enough, but it should be well within my ability to keep an eye on you as well."
Fū nodded in agreement. "That could work," she said. "But my chakra would disintegrate the transceiver. I'd have to rely on Utakata to communicate with the rest of you."
Utakata hummed. "That shouldn't be a problem," he said.
They all discussed strategy for another fifteen minutes or so, laying out the fine details of their plan. It wasn't until their proposal was nearly complete that Yugito asked, "Is it just me, or are we forgetting something?"
Naruto frowned. "I don't think so…" he said hesitantly.
Fū gasped suddenly. "Oh, no," she mumbled. "We did." She slapped her forehead. "Shit, shit, shit. We forgot about Yagura."
Naruto's blood chilled. "Oh, fuck," he mumbled. "You're right. Who's going to guard him?" He looked around the table, and most everyone had the same expression on their face. Yagura, the Sanbi jinchūriki and Mizukage, had no guards who'd be able to protect him in battle. With Madara's ability to effortlessly infiltrate the compound, it would be child's play for him to snatch the bijuu from behind their backs.
"Who's going to guard him?" Utakata repeated. "No offense to your samurai, Mifune," he said, knowing that he and the rest of the men and women in the room were listening in, "but I don't think that only a few of your samurai would be enough to hold off Madara and whoever else may come in with him." He narrowed his eyes. "We are all already assigned positions. Who can we afford to set on Yagura's guard duty?"
The room was deathly silent for a moment, until a chair's legs scraping on the ground made everyone turn to the left side of the room. "I'll do it." Under the banner that proclaimed his village's identity, Shibuki stood, eyes strong and clear. "I will guard Yagura and Haku-san, and I will protect them with my life. You have my word."
"No!" Fū cried out, shoving her chair behind her in her rush to stand. "Shibuki, you can't! It's Uchiha Madara! You can't—"
"I can and I must!" Shibuki interrupted. "Fū, I love you, but I have to do this! This is my decision, and mine alone!" He closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I'm not under any pretense," he said more quietly. "I know that… that I'm probably the weakest one here." He glanced to his side to see the other men and woman with him. "Kuigo, Saiko, Jūn… You go with Sarutobi and follow his orders. Don't you dare die on me." He smiled sadly. "What will your village think if you went out in a little skirmish like this?"
The Taka people looked up at him. None of them were much older than their leader, though they carried themselves as strong shinobi. But they just couldn't do nothing.
The one called Saiko stood. He looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, with medium-length hair so black it almost looked blue. A katana nearly as long as his body was strapped to his back, and what appeared to be a large drill bit hung on a cord around his neck. Bandages wrapped around his forehead and face, covering his left eye. "Shibuki-sama," he said, extremely seriously. "Don't take this the wrong way, and forgive me for talking out of place, but there's no way in hell I'd let you go this alone. Whether you like it or not, I'm going with you, and that's that!"
"What are you doing?" Fū barked at him. "Don't disobey Shibuki like that! He's—"
"Quiet, Fū!" Saiko snapped back. "Even using the Hero Water might not be enough to take on Madara! I'm doubling our chances of keeping the Sanbi out of his hands!"
Shibuki looked at him steadily, dispassionately, for a moment. He seemed to be studying his subordinate carefully. "You really won't back down, will you?" he said.
Saiko grinned, crossed his arms, and shook his head. "A real man never backs down from a fight! Just who the hell do you think I am?"
Shibuki sighed, but smiled. "You're Kazeto Saiko, badass leader of the Majuu Brigade, known far and wide."
"Damn right, I am."
Shibuki closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. "Guess I have no choice, then. You're with me. Kuigo, Jūn, your orders still stand. Am I clear?"
"Crystal, boss," said the woman, a fiery short-cropped redhead.
"Good. Mifune-sama, I need to ask a favor of you. Tell whoever's in charge of this place's infrastructure to divert all water pressure to the pipes surrounding the room the Mizukage is in. If my Suiton is going to be any good, I'll need all of the water that I can get."
Mifune nodded. "I'll see to it."
"Thank you," Shibuki said. "Saiko and I will go and see about setting up defenses. I'll leave the rest of the preparations to you for now."
"You think you have a chance?" Naruto asked Shibuki. "I mean, seriously—this is Uchiha Fucking Madara we're talking about, here!"
Shibuki smiled at the youth and shook his head. "Alone? No. No, I do not." He glanced over at his subordinate, and a small gleam crept into his eyes. "But with Saiko… maybe we have a chance. He's a Jounin by any standards, and he has a few tricks that can help even the odds. We'll protect the Sanbi and Haku… or die trying. I give you my word on that."
Sarutobi grunted. "You are a worthy successor of your father, Shibuki," he said. "He would have been proud of you."
Shibuki smiled, faintly and sadly. "Thank you, Hokage-dono," he said in a hushed voice. "I'm just doing what I know he would have." He looked over at Naruto again. "Uzumaki-san. You make sure that Fū comes back alive. Don't let her get carried away."
Naruto nodded grimly. "Done," he said.
Shibuki glanced over at Saiko. "Come on," he said. "We've got a monster to ambush." The pair left without another word or a single backwards glance at the gathering.
The room fell into a pall for a few moments. The collected Kage, Jinchūriki, advisors, bodyguards, and samurai looked at each other in contemplation. This was it, there was no going back. They were officially at war, and the first strike had been thrown.
The Tsuchikage floated into the air, a few feet above the table. Though short and quite wizened, the old man exuded an air of authority and power yet. "It is time," he said gravely and gravelly. "Those who know the Fukyuudou no Jutsu, come with me. We will set them inside the defensive zones that Uzumaki has designated, and use genjutsu binder tags to make them unbreakable. The rest of you, coordinate with Mifune-san and set up other defenses, in case the fighting gets anywhere near here."
Jiraiya stood. Though he was well past what most would consider the true middle age, he was a large, imposing, and powerfully-built man. His garish clothing clashed with the mostly-muted wardrobe of the majority of the party present. "I'm not what most would call a religious man," he said, "and I've done a lot I'm not particularly proud of. To be honest, I'm pretty sure most of us would say the same." He shrugged. "But now'd be the time to get any praying done if any of you feel like it, to whatever you believe in." He sighed and looked upwards. "Will of Fire, blaze my path."
To everyone's surprise, Utakata added, "Strength of Water, wash away my doubts."
Onoki snorted. "Force of Earth, crush my fears."
One of the young men that arrived with the Raikage's party, a dark-skinned, light-haired man with tattoos on each shoulder added on, "Wrath of Lightening, strengthen my resolve."
The most surprising addition to this little prayer, though came from the Ichibi Jinchūriki, Gaara himself. "Breath of Wind, guide my soul."
As if synchronized, all those from a shinobi village intoned, "Let our steps be light, our hands be swift, our spirits strong, our resolve as iron, our ideals pure, and our enemy everything we are not. Return us safe to our homes, our families, and friends. May our cause be just, our hearts pure."
Everyone closed their eyes for a moment of silence. When they had opened their eyes, Naruto grinned and slammed a fist onto the table with a heavy thud. "All right, then," he said. "Let's do this!"
Ten minutes later
Naruto sat in the middle of an empty room just down the hall from the conference room. As he steadied his breathing, his hands joined loosely over his crossed legs, and he calmed his mind.
He'd left specific instructions with Jiraiya; unless something urgent happened—such as the beginning of the war—he needed to be left alone. This would probably be the last time for quite a while that he would have to talk one on one with his inner demons, and he needed to take advantage of it.
He centered his mind, and felt that distant, cold tingling sensation that always came to him when he entered the mindscape. The incorporeal wind rustled through his hair and breezed by his ears as the room around him faded to black. His stomach rose in his gut as he felt his soul-self fall into the pit where the Kyuubi dwelled, imprisoned in the dank sewer of his binding seal.
Suddenly, he was there, standing before the great iron bars of the cage. Though illusion, the bars were still imposing as all hell. The scene shifted after only a few seconds with a small effort of will. There was no need to rub it in the fox's face that he was still a prisoner, after all. He created a forest scene, a grove of tall, elderly trees on the edge of a grassy clearing. Sunlight streamed past the occasional clouds below a sky that was perhaps just a little too deep a shade of blue to be real.
"Kyuubi! Sando!" he called out. "I need to talk to you two, now!"
Sando appeared at his side almost instantly. "No need to shout, pup," he said genially. "It's not like there's any physical distance between us. A mere thought could summon me."
Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, sorry," he grumbled. "It's just been kind of a lousy day already."
"I could tell," Sando said dryly. "Uchiha Madara, huh? That's a surprise and a half. We all had thought he had died decades ago." His face turned grim. "My host before your father saw his body himself. There is no possible way for him to be as strong as he claims to be, if it truly is him, and he is of sufficient age."
Kyuubi materialized in front of Naruto just then… and he looked livid. "Did you just say," he said slowly, "Uchiha… Madara?" The kitsune's body language was tense and tight.
Naruto nodded grimly. "Yes," he said. "I did. I take it you know who he is."
Kyuubi's eyes blazed red, as if an inferno had flashed behind each orb. His human-like face twitched, and memories flickered almost-visibly over it. "You… you could say that," he said, in a tone more calm than his expression would indicated. "Yes, you could say I know the mad Uchiha very well." His hands curled into fists, his red-furred knuckles turning white with his iron grip.
"Haven't you been paying attention?" Sando asked his counterpart.
Kyuubi glared at the Inugami. "I've been occupied," he said.
"Occupied?" Naruto and Sando said simultaneously, the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"Forget it!" Kyuubi snapped. "Just tell me what happened! What has Uchiha Madara got to do with this? Is he here? Tell me!"
Naruto was taken aback; his Bijuu wasn't one to usually get snippy like this. He told him, though, about what had happened, leaving nothing out. Kyuubi's expression, save for the part where Naruto had gotten taken out with a single kick, was stoic as granite. Even the point when the Jinchūriki pledged to unite against him and his forces didn't so much as deliver a twitch.
"Is that all?" Kyuubi asked in a monotone.
Naruto thought for a moment, then nodded. "More or less. That's all the important bits."
Kyuubi whirled around, the long jacket he'd materialized with him billowing out dramatically. He stalked away and paced back and forth, his mind seemingly ablaze with thought. His eyes crinkled, and his teeth were clenched to tightly that it seemed inevitable that they would crack.
He returned to Naruto, standing tall over him, and looked down. "Uchiha… Madara…" he rumbled. "This is not good. Not good."
Naruto was stunned. Generally speaking, in all the world, the Kyuubi was considered to be perhaps the greatest physical forces on earth, more powerful than an earthquake and more inevitable than a tsunami's devastation. If he was nervous…
"Kyuubi," Naruto said calmly, "don't scare me like this. What happened? Tell me what you know about Uchiha Madara."
Kyuubi crossed his arms and glanced over at Sando. "You tell him," Kyuubi said softly.
Sando cocked a brow. "Tell him what?" Sando replied.
Kyuubi's eyes narrowed. "Damn," he muttered. "I forgot. Minato took your mask off before the boy was born, didn't he? So you wouldn't know."
"Know what?" Naruto asked insistently. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You don't know," whispered Kyuubi. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them again, the fire had dimmed. "Boy," he said. "You know that your mother was once my host." He glared at Sando for a second, then continued. "Did you ever wonder how, or why, I escaped from her?"
Naruto's eyes went wide, and his blood ran cold in his veins. He'd forced himself to not even think of that day. It was something that he didn't think he was, or ever would be, ready for. "I—n-no," he said. "That's the past, it doesn't matter—"
"OF COURSE IT FUCKING MATTERS!" Kyuubi roared, his eyes rising to crimson flame once again. His anger materialized in waves of concussive chakra, flattening the grass around his feet an instant before it turned to cinders. Naruto and Sando leapt away just in time to avoid being harmed themselves.
"Kyuubi!" Sando shouted. "Calm down! You could damage the boy's mind if you rampage! Calm the fuck down!"
Kyuubi's demonic aura subsided, but a thin layer clung to his skin. "No matter what you hear, boy," he said ominously, "the past always matters." He looked at Sando. "You know that as well as I." He sighed. "It would be easier to show you than to tell you." He held up his left hand, palm up, and an orb appeared, hovering a few inches over it. "This is what happened the day you were born, Naruto. Every detail that I can remember is here, inside of this memory." He tossed it over to Naruto, gently, and the boy caught the slow-moving sphere.
It was a matte black, dull and uninviting. The orb carried a mental after-thought of rage, fear, malice, and, most surprising, regret. There was nothing good or pure about the thing, nothing at all, and not for the first time did Naruto realize just how impure the Kyuubi actually was.
"What is this?" Naruto whispered, staring at the ball.
"This is a dream world," Kyuubi said evenly, waving the same hand around at the forest glade. "This here is nothing more than a representation of what you perceive to be real, a facsimile of reality. What I have given you will let you see and experience what happened to me on that day. For a little while… you will be me."
Naruto gulped visibly and audibly. "Um… is it safe?" he asked.
"No," Sando said bluntly. "But it holds answers, boy. As long as you keep your head, you will not lose yourself in the Kyuubi's mind."
"This doesn't seem like a great idea…" Naruto muttered.
"It really isn't," agreed Kyuubi. "But it is the best way to show you exactly what happened. Hold the memory to your eyes and focus on it. Everything will become apparent soon enough."
Naruto glanced at Sando, who nodded. Naruto gritted his teeth, then did as he was told. He brought to orb to his eye level, and put all of his focus and concentration on it. At first, nothing happened…
Then…
The room went black.
Ten thousand sensations and memories and scents and sounds and scenes hit Naruto's mind in a single instant. The memories of the kitsune, every one of them of that day, seemingly burrowed into his mind and stuck and clung into its crevices like prickly ivy.
In that instant, he knew.
He understood.
Madara
Minato
Mother
Childbirth
The pain the pain thepainthepain
That Sharingan
The helplessness
The fight
The destruction
Murder
Murder
Murder
The blood the screams the screams of terror
The Shinigami
The pull
The black
The black
The cage
The orb vanished. Naruto was stock-still, frightened, shivering, but… still. His eyes were as wide as they could be.
He'd absorbed an entire day's worth of memories from the Kyuubi, unfiltered, raw, and terrible. He saw and felt everything that the fox had done that day, what had lead to it, how he'd become an unwitting and unwilling pawn in the mad Uchiha's schemes.
Fear gave way very quickly to anger. Righteous fury filled his soul, burning with a flame he couldn't possible comprehend.
"Is that so…" Naruto whispered. "Everything that has happened… all of it… ever since the day I was born… it was all because of him…"
Sando looked down at his bearer. There was something worrying in his eyes. He'd seen that look in men's eyes before, just before they went on a warpath.
"Yes," said Kyuubi gravely. "It is. I was torn from your mother the instant you were born. She never had a chance to fight back. But the Uzumaki are strong, and she somehow survived." He looked down. "She was a damn fine woman."
Naruto looked up at Kyuubi. "We're going to get this son of a bitch," Naruto told him, his voice laced with acid. "We are going to TEAR HIM APART!" He looked sharply over at Sando. "Sando, implant everything my father ever knew into my mind, now. I want every jutsu he ever knew there. This is non-negotiable. I don't care if it strains my psyche, if it's important, I want it."
Sando nodded curtly. "Done," he said, though with a somewhat disapproving tone.
"Also, get in touch with Shukusatsu and Aoiryu. Tell them to tell Sasuke and Hinata everything. Tell them that we're in deep trouble over here, and in case something happens… Just tell them.
"Kyuubi, I need you to listen to me, and for once, just go along. Everything that any of my predecessors have been able to do with you—and I mean everything—I want to know. Every trick, every jutsu, every crazy thought, I need. I need full access to your chakras, and I need your full cooperation. There's every chance that I'll face Madara myself, and I need every advantage I can get. Do you copy?"
Kyuubi looked down on the boy. He'd grown so much since he'd become aware of the demon. He could see some of the same fire in his eyes as Kushina had once seen in Minato. "Just promise me one thing," Kyuubi said. "We don't stop until Madara is a greasy smear in history."
Naruto smiled fiercely. "Deal."
An hour—and, to Naruto's subjective mind, several weeks—later, Naruto walked out of the lonely room and over to the conference room to find it empty. Several of his clones had gone to work, setting up the scroll he'd had them working on at the top of one of the mountain fortress's "heads" and more had gone out with the mass of explosive notes to set traps at likely entrance routes not covered by his trap zones.
Thousands of new thoughts and ideas and techniques filled his mind. Much as Sando was a repository of his father's memories and jutsu, so was the Kyuubi for his former hosts.
Kyuubi had multiplied the mental processing of Naruto's mind over a thousand times over, and had held it as such for nearly the full hour he'd allowed himself. In his own way, he'd just spent eight solid weeks going over jutsu after jutsu with two of the most dangerous beings on the planet. The splitting headache he felt was worth the incurred knowledge. He now knew what true power was. He now knew what true terror was.
He now knew what it was truly like to be a monster.
He was afraid. Not of himself… but just how easy it would be for him to lose himself to his anger.
He could obliterate lives.
He could wipe out nations.
He could change the course of history itself.
It was time to put himself to the test.
To the empty room, he softly, steadily said, "It is time."
A/N: There ya have it, folks. It was what I could come up with at short notice. I know it's not as good as everything else, but I hope It'll do until I can get to the next chapter.
What is Naruto's ultimate fate?
What is his surprise jutsu?
What has he gotten from the Kyuubi?
What will the fate of the world be?
I guarantee you, none of you will be able to predict a damn thing.
Peace out, readers. Enjoy your lives, and adopt a kitten.
~dead witch