Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto
Chapter 37: Chasing the target
Tokuma Hyuuga frowned, his byakugan active and itching slightly from repeated use. Every five minutes he made a short scan of their surroundings and this time something had come up. He couldn't yet make out details, but two people were approaching Konoha on an unusual path under a concealment genjutsu. There shouldn't be any people traveling through this sector. On that path they would have bypassed most of the other regular guard posts… which made them very suspicious. Before the invasion this approach to the village would have been guarded by ANBU, but due to ANBU's destruction and the reorganization all paths were now covered by overlapping patrols of regular shinobi. The village was still terribly vulnerable and no enemy could be allowed to reach the village proper.
Soon the two were close enough that Tokuma could identify facial features and general chakra levels. A moment later all the blood drained from his face and he turned to his team. "Head to the village and sound an alarm. The missing nin Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki are approaching. We need to muster a force to repel them."
The Hyuuga watched two members of his patrol run away before returning his attention to the missing nin. Both of them were famous enough to be recognizable at first sight, especially because they still wore their former village's forehead protectors even if they had slashed the symbol. For a moment he considered attacking them to buy time, but discarded the notion immediately. He and his remaining teammate would never last longer than a minute and surprise would be lost. All he could do was monitor the situation from afar and wait for reinforcements.
Ino and Yakumo ate breakfast in an awkward silence. The position they had found themselves in this morning had been embarrassing. Waking face-to-face with their clothes having gotten displaced during the night and in a state of arousal wasn't something she had expected. Yakumo was a dear friend, nothing more. Well, Ino wouldn't have minded experimenting a bit under different circumstances, but Yakumo didn't swing that way and was in a relationship with Naruto anyway. Despite her frequent teasing the blond Yamanaka had absolutely no intention of playing homewrecker.
Suddenly Ino realized something. 'Wait a minute… Where exactly did Naruto go to sleep last night?'
On the first night she had spent in Yakumo's bed Yakumo had been in the middle, not that Ino had been in a state where she could really notice such matters. Last night though Naruto had ended up in the middle.
'Gods, I hope this only happened after he left.'
At the same time she was pretty certain that wasn't the case. Now some of her dreams made sense. Thankfully Yakumo didn't seem to have considered that possibility. That would have made things even more awkward. Well, at least she had gained a good night's sleep out of that, better than the night before in fact. Naruto's presence seemed to have kept the nightmares away.
The wound the death of Ino's parents had left was still fresh. On some level it still had not sunk in that she would never see them again. The situation was made worse by her knowledge that they hadn't been on amiable terms anymore. In the last time things had been strained between them and Ino had planned to move out soon. She had hoped that distance might improve their relationship. Now there would never be an opportunity to patch things up. When she got around to having children in a few years they would never get to know their maternal grandparents, just as it had been with Ino's own paternal grandparents.
Finally Yakumo found her voice. "How are you holding up?"
Ino gave her a small smile. "I have been better. It hurts, but I think I can deal with it."
It wasn't easy dealing with the loss of her parents along with all the other people that had died, but the countless memories ancient Izumi Yamanaka had given her made the task bearable. The old woman had been intimately familiar with grief and loss. Some of that had been inevitable considering her age alone; at the end there were not even people from her children's generation left in the village. It was a strange thing to consider that Izumi had already been in her middle age with adult children who had children of their own when people like the Sandaime Hokage or the village advisors had been born. Of course, most had died in battles great and small instead of old age. Not that many shinobi actually made it to retirement; many missed the right time to leave active service and got killed when they had become just a little too slow. It was the main reason the elders of a clan were so respected; they were the people who had beaten the odds. The inexperienced beginners, overconfident young and the middle-aged at the end of their active career were the groups that saw always the most deaths relatively speaking. In a way Ino had been lucky until now. None of her close relations or acquaintances had died during her childhood. Since the Kyuubi attack there had been no conflicts with heavy losses on Konoha's side. Oh, there were always some skirmishes despite the somewhat shaky peace between the villages and general attrition, but they didn't have a huge impact in comparison to things like the third shinobi war or the Kyuubi attack.
After the invasion everything was different. One loss in particular was almost as bad as the death of Ino's parents. "Have you heard anything new about Hinata?"
Yakumo shook her head. "No, there is no change. They wouldn't let me into the compound to see her, though. You know how the Hyuuga are. I hope she will get better soon."
Ino hesitated a moment. While she had not been the one who treated Hinata she had examined the girl before she was transferred to the Hyuuga clan compound. The night and day immediately after the invasion had been too busy for her to talk to her friends and yesterday she had been dealing with her own clan. There simply hadn't been the right opportunity to fill them in on the details, but she didn't want to keep it to herself any longer.
"She might not recover. Her chances aren't good." Ino said quietly.
Yakum froze. "What? How do you figure that?"
"I took a look." Ino felt herself tearing up. "You know how I was never able to enter Hinata's or Naruto's mind? This time it was different. There was absolutely no resistance… and not the slightest trace of her. I didn't even find remains of her consciousness or memories."
Her brunette friend's face turned chalk-white. As a genjutsu specialist and due to her long friendship with her Yakumo had probably a pretty good idea what that meant. Not that many genjutsu users had the skill and strength to truly damage a victim's mind in a combat situation (especially the mind of a shinobi who was trained to deal with such things), but when it happened it was always very bad. Hinata wasn't the only case; there had been enough genjutsu users in the invasion to make genjutsu-inflicted mental trauma a small but noticeable part of the overall casualties.
Ino continued speaking after a short pause. "Whatever happened to Hinata either caused her mind to withdraw so far into itself that I can't find it… or completely obliterated it. I know from what Izumi left me that perhaps one out of a hundred recovers if even that."
Silence reigned for almost a minute. "Is there anything you or someone else can do for her?" Yakumo finally asked.
Ino shook her head. "No, not to my knowledge. It all depends on the exact nature of what happened and chance. The longer the coma lasts the worse things are. If she doesn't show any signs of recovery at the end of the month it is more likely than not that she will never wake again. We will have to tell Choji and Naruto soon. She is their teammate, after all."
For a while it seemed as if there was nothing more to say, but then Yakumo spoke up hesitantly. "There might be something that can give us a hint about Hinata. It happened during the invasion after I was separated from Naruto. I'm not sure what I saw. If I tell you'll think I'm crazy. It would be better if you look at my memories directly."
That surprised Ino. Most people were rather hesitant to invite a mind walker into their mind and her friends were no exception. Ino had trained with her friends in the past, but she had always made an effort to respect their privacy. It had to be really serious if Yakumo actually invited her into her head. "If you are sure…?"
Yakumo nodded. "I am. You have to see that."
"Okay then. It's probably better if we sit on the couch for that; it might take a while."
Centering herself, Ino entered Yakumo's mind. It was one of the stranger minds she knew about. Not the strangest by far, of course; Izumi had encountered far more exotic ones in her long life; but it was very strange nonetheless. The closest she ever came to describing it in mere words was an incredibly complex, always shifting web of strands of spun mirror-crystal thoughts. It had been an extremely disconcerting experience when she had entered her friend's mind for the first time years ago. She had suffered nightmares for days after that. Of course, that had been before she had received Izumi's memories. Age had only made Yakumo's mind more complex. A mind-walker not familiar with it would have fits.
Ino supposed it could be a clan thing. She would never voice the thought aloud, but Izumi had been of the opinion that the Kurama clan always danced far too close to the divide between genius and madness. Overall Yakumo was completely sane and what would be considered normal for a kunoichi, but her mind could still only described as strange. It was extraordinarily stable though, pretty much as fundamentally stable a mind could get naturally. Sometimes Ino wondered if that was due to some Kurama clan ritual. Normally minds just were not that stable without year-long training, but she had never found signs of any deliberate manipulation on the occasions when she had entered Yakumo's mind.
Concentrating on the task at hand, Ino skimmed over Yakumo's experience of the invasion. Soon enough she found the memories in question and entered them. Then her jaw dropped metaphorically speaking. She saw time stand still when Yakumo was about to die. She saw her wandering through a frozen village, finally arriving at the wall. She saw a clash between titanic beings, the Ichibi and Reibi among them. She felt the memory of light and a song of unbelievable beauty. Even though it was only a remembered echo it touched something deep inside of her. She saw the source of the light destroyed only to rise again as a second sun… only to transform into a giant spitting image of Hinata.
When Ino left Yakumo's mind she was nearly speechless at first. She hardly noticed the tears on her face. "That… that was…"
Yakumo nodded in understanding. "Yeah."
Slowly Ino got herself back under control. "You were right; if you had told me about that I wouldn't have believed you. I don't have the slightest idea what that was."
"Don't your memories give you some sort of hint?"
Ino shook her head. "No. Izumi gave me so many memories that I'm still busy sorting through them. It will take me years until I'm really finished. I never looked for stuff involving demons and spirits."
Considering that the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha barely thirteen years ago and all great villages had jinchuuriki of their own the existence of demons was an everyday fact of life. Other, usually much less dangerous demons occasionally caused some trouble, but encounters were very rare. Of course, there were tales aplenty of demons, spirits and gods of all sorts, but Ino had no idea how truthful they were.
"You're right that this has probably something to do with Hinata's state. I think it best if we…"
Suddenly she was interrupted by the sounding of an alarm from outside. The village was under attack. Sharing a worried look with Yakumo, the two girls wordlessly decided to postpone their discussion. Grabbing their equipment, they rushed outside to see what the commotion was. If another village had decided to attack Konoha things could go very bad very quickly.
Sasuke grimaced slightly when he moved his arm. The limb felt still sore even if it looked fine now. The medic had said he would need only a few days of recovery until he would be as good as new; apparently it had been a clean break and his other wounds had been rather superficial. At least he was out of the hospital.
Wandering through the village, Sasuke looked at the destruction. He had missed the invasion entirely. The last thing he clearly remembered was losing against Gaara; everything after that was either behind a haze of pain or filled by unconsciousness. There were vague memories of Ino using a medical technique on him and Kiba carrying him away from the arena, but that was all. Sakura had filled him in on what she knew, being useful for the first time. The talk of the medics and other patients had done the rest.
'Why do they all have so much power? How much more do I need to grow?'
He had missed the preliminary fights in the Forest of Death as well as all the matches of the finals before his, but from what Sakura had told him all the other genin that had graduated along with him were spectacularly powerful. Choji, Yakumo and Naruto had even taken on Gaara and won while he had been effortlessly knocked out. The others had fought successfully in the invasion. Where did they get this power?
Naruto was the most egregious example. Sasuke didn't remember anything outstanding about their time together at the academy. He had been middle of the pack, neither especially talented nor untalented. At least the boy had been able to take a hint in contrast to many others and left him in peace. He didn't have much contact with Naruto or any of the others after they graduated. There was the short encounter in Wave and the chunin exams, but he had barely exchanged any words with them.
Several missing buildings allowed him a view of the destroyed mountain where a flying fortress of Soragakure had been personally obliterated by his erstwhile classmate. Some debris was even discernible from this distance despite the rain. 'Naruto has that thunderous power. I'm inferior. He never called forth that power at the academy. It still wasn't enough for him. He went and made his own jutsu. I can't believe that talent. Where was that guy hiding that incredible power? How can I… How can I get that sort of power?'
Not enough that the blond boy had the power of the Kyuubi at his disposal like Gaara had the Ichibi, no; he had even somehow gotten a summoning contract. How did all those people had gotten so strong when he had made hardly any advances? They didn't need that power; he did. He had to get strong enough to kill that man and avenge his clan.
'I need more power.'
Sasuke trained and trained and it seemed to make no difference. He had learned the Phoenix Flower technique in self-study while Kakashi taught them hardly anything. Yes, the man had taught him tree-walking and the chidori, but it wasn't enough. He had lost against his first serious opponent. He needed far more power. Kakashi couldn't be relied upon. The man was useless.
'Where can I get more power?' Sasuke thought while absentmindedly rubbing an itch on his neck. 'The others are leaving me behind.'
Suddenly an alarm sounded and people began rushing in various directions. Sasuke looked around and grabbed a nearby shinobi who looked like he knew what was happening. "What is happening?"
"Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki are attacking the village from the north. All forced have to get into combat positions. If you don't have a position assigned you should… HEY, GET BACK HERE!"
Sasuke didn't hear anything after the first part. A haze settled on his mind as he took off at the highest speed he could muster. Itachi was finally within his reach. Finally, finally he would get his revenge.
Kisame was slowly growing annoyed. The amended plan had been to infiltrate Konoha without being detected, gather information about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's status and whereabouts and either nab him or leave Konoha without making a fuss. Instead they had been hit with a surprise attack consisting of an entire barrage of exploding tags from three directions while they were still in the woods. Apparently Itachi's secret route wasn't as safe as his partner had thought.
They had been under attack for almost a quarter hour already and there was no end in sight. He and Itachi made a powerful team. Itachi's genjutsu gave them cover while he took out people with taijutsu, his sword Samehada or water jutsu. There were few people who could stand against them in a direct confrontation. The problem was that their enemies didn't give them a direct confrontation.
After the initial attack they had been constantly pelted by a barrage of projectiles and long-range techniques from all directions, the Leaf shinobi always staying behind cover and trying to retreat whenever they got too close. Of course, considering his and Itachi's speed they didn't always get away. Unfortunately new forces were always ready to resume the attack. Attempts to break through had been unsuccessful; all they achieved was running into ambushes and traps. From the looks of it they were surrounded and more and more forces were joining the engagement. The enemy forces were well-led enough not to bunch up. There was no way to get them all unless he was ready to flood the entire forest; an option that steadily looked more attractive.
Until now neither of them had been seriously wounded, but both of them had sustained a number of minor injuries. They were stronger and faster than virtually all their opponents, but they weren't invulnerable. Sometimes an attack was just too fast or there was simply no space left to dodge into. Thanks to the special properties of his sword Kisame healed rapidly and could absorb the chakra from enemy attacks, but Itachi had no such skills. By now both their cloaks were practically shredded. At this rate they would be slowly ground down and softened up for the real blow. Worse, none of Konoha's known heavy-hitters had yet entered the fight. Kisame and Itachi could step up their game, but that might leave them vulnerable when individually dangerous opponents showed up.
Suddenly the attacks from one direction ceased for no discernible reason.
"Boy, come back here!" a voice shouted.
A few moments later a black-haired boy of about thirteen years with a Konoha headband broke through the undergrowth, panting heavily and staring at them hatefully. The attacks from the other directions ceased now, too. Apparently the Leaf ninja didn't want the kid to be caught in the crossfire.
"It has been a while… Sasuke." a completely unperturbed Itachi said.
"I will kill you."
Kisame glanced at the boy. "Huh, a sharingan. You seem to be familiar with him, Itachi. Who is this guy?"
"He is my younger brother." Itachi remarked calmly.
"I have been wanting to say this to you. I have lived hating you. And I also have lived only to kill you. I have lived for THIS!"
A sound like the chirping of birds filled the air as a spike of lightning appeared in the boy's hand. He immediately ran at them, dragging the jutsu at his side and creating a trench in the ground.
"…Chidori?" Itachi mumbled so quietly Kisame almost didn't catch it.
Kisame kept the boy in his peripheral vision while he scanned for other attacks. He had heard of that technique; it was the personal technique of Kakashi Hatake and considered to be quite dangerous. Now that Kisame saw the thing in action he wasn't entirely sure what the fuss was about. Oh, judging from the amount of chakra he felt and the collateral damage a hit would be nasty and could probably punch through a good deal of existing defensive techniques. It seemed to increase the user's speed, too. On the other hand the technique seemed to be extremely short-ranged and would leave the user open during his approach, but he supposed a sharingan compensated for that to some degree. Well, perhaps the kid was just careless and had not learned the technique properly. Dragging it on the ground like that certainly wasted a good part of its destructive power. The speed boost wasn't that great, either; the boy was still considerably slower than practically all jonin he knew. If he ever encountered Hatake he would have to be more careful, but the kid was no real threat. Itachi would be able to handle him without any problem.
True to Kisame's prediction Itachi grabbed the kid's arm and redirected the attack against a nearby tree, reducing a big part of it to splinters. Then Itachi snapped the boy's arm, causing him to collapse in pain.
'Sloppy, very sloppy. The kid isn't bad for his age, but he should have stayed in the kiddy pool.'
Three Konoha shinobi chose that moment to make an attack, possibly in an attempt to recover the boy. Two of them immediately met a grisly end at the tip of his sword while the last one stopped dead in his tracks when Itachi looked at him. A moment later he collapsed to the ground, eyes empty and drool dripping from his mouth.
'Oh, he used his eyes again.'
Kisame wasn't entirely clear how those worked; from what he knew Uchiha normally couldn't create unquenchable black flames or summon some sort of ethereal warrior spirit. He would never pry, of course. Well, there were some tales about Madara Uchiha and even older ones from the era of the clan wars, but nothing definitive from the last few decades. That apparently unbreakable, mind-destroying genjutsu (whatever it was) was far more in line what one expected from an Uchiha. One thing Kisame was certain about was that using those techniques strained Itachi's eyes greatly.
Four more Konoha shinobi approached. Itachi turned towards them, but before they could attack the boy stood back up and staggered towards Itachi. "Stay back. This guy is mine!"
Itachi didn't even turn around. "I have absolutely no interest in you right now."
Of course, the boy didn't heed the words and tried to attack with his good hand. Itachi didn't even look at him when he placed a well-aimed kick directly in the boy's stomach, throwing him against a tree. After a moment of hesitation the enemy shinobi slowly backed up. Itachi approached his once again downed brother, grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air. Kisame didn't pay full attention to the short exchange of words, but a few seconds later Itachi carelessly threw the boy towards the Konoha shinobi. Lying on the ground and twitching slightly, he made no effort to get up. From the looks of it Itachi had used his special genjutsu again.
"Itachi, I advise against using your eyes so many times in a single day."
His partner didn't react. Two of the Leaf shinobi dragged the boy away, the second pair covering them. Kisame was considering finishing them off when several new combatants arrived.
The sword master Hayama Shirakumo he knew personally; they had crossed blades in the past and the man had lived to tell the tale. Asuma Sarutobi as well as Kakashi Hatake he recognized from their description; both were well known in the entire Elemental Nations. The red-eyed, black-haired woman with the asymmetrical dress looking like it was made out of bandages was an unknown as was the man with auburn hair and amber eyes. Several more Leaf shinobi became visible, but none of them were familiar or famous at first glance.
"Hm, there is no doubt about it. Long time no see, Itachi Uchiha." Asuma greeted his partner.
"Asuma-san, please do not interfere with my affairs. You will only get killed."
"Sorry, no can do. I have the task to take you on." Asuma readied his two trench knives. The tension of the other Konoha shinobi increased as well. "Either something is wrong with the way you think or you are just full of yourself. It would have been better for you not to come."
Kisame gave them a shark-toothed grin and hefted Samehada higher. "Your home village doesn't seem to like you very much, Itachi. Do they want to die?"
"Kisame, stop it. We did not come here to start a war. Regrettably, this is nothing more than nonsense. The Yondaime's legacy is our target. I have learned what we wanted to know. Let's leave."
Kisame hesitated a moment. He wanted to tear those shinobi to pieces. Then common sense reasserted itself. They were S-rank shinobi, but they weren't invincible. Both of them had already sustained some injuries and he didn't want to take a whole village on. Well, better to make for an escape then.
'Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave'
An enormous quantity of water shot out of Kisame's mouth, forming a wave and causing the Konoha shinobi to jump away. More and more water appeared as Kisame continued pouring chakra into the technique. Creating another surge of water away from the village, he and Itachi used a shunshin to gain distance and ride the wave. Once again all sorts of projectiles and techniques impacted around them, but most were easily evaded. Kisame hissed in pain as some sort of fast-moving fire lance unexpectedly burned his side. Raising the water behind him interrupted the technique before it could do any real damage. No further attacks managed to hit them.
An hour later Kisame grimaced slightly as he picked burned fabric out of the wound. Fortunately it was rather superficial and would heal easily. Whatever the technique had been it had been surprisingly accurate and long-ranged considering the circumstances, although it seemed that longer contact was required for it to do serious damage. On the other hand, perhaps the distance had reduced the effectiveness. Filing the information away for further reference, Kisame considered their situation. It had taken them half an hour to shake the pursuit, far longer than it should have. Apparently the tree huggers were in a really bad mood.
"Well, what did you learn?" Kisame asked when he had finished taking care of his injuries.
"Our target left the village several hours ago on a mission. The man knew the general direction in which they headed. There is only a jonin and a special jonin with him."
Kisame smiled again his shark-toothed smile. That should make things easier. Soon the Kyuubi would be theirs.
Naruto shifted slightly as he tried to get into a more comfortable position. At the moment there was nothing to do; it would probably be another hour until they arrived at their destination. He didn't look forward to returning to the earth and into the rain. From the looks of it the blanket of clouds stretched across a good chunk of the Land of Fire and there was no opening in sight. Currently they were flying far above the clouds and Naruto was entertaining himself by watching the various cloud formations. Weather in general had always held some interest for him considering his love for hunting and exploring the woods, but since he had actually the means to fly with the help of his summons it had turned into fascination. His capability of controlling the weather with magic had only added to that.
Yugao and Genma were still watching their surroundings with awe. It was probably their first time in the air. Even for shinobi flying was a rare skill. Until now they didn't talk much, but he supposed that would change soon.
"How are the other swallows doing?" he asked the swallow when the silence stretched too long.
"Healing and resting, mostly. They all agree it was a great battle. I wish I could have participated, but I know I'm not a fighter."
"Don't worry. You don't have to be able to fight to be useful. Look, just now we have need of you carrying us." Naruto answered.
Genma chuckled slightly. "Words of wisdom."
Naruto shrugged. "It's the truth."
That seemed to have broken the ice and the following time was spent with getting to know each other better. Having at least a general understanding of what one's teammates could do was a necessity. Yugao was a kenjutsu and genjutsu user and an ANBU, but she was understandably tightlipped about that. Genma had a track record of successfully fulfilling difficult missions and was somewhat of an all-rounder, but he mostly worked as a bodyguard. Soon the topic of the conversation became past missions.
"I heard you encountered the swordsman of the Mist Zabuza Momoichi. What was he like? I do have clearance for that mission report, by the way." Yugao asked.
"I didn't actually see much of him; the members of Team 7 could probably tell you more. When we arrived he had already won the fight with them. He got blindsided by a force of mercenaries his backstabbing employer had hired. They used bows to attack Zabuza from a distance, but he still managed to almost cut through the mercenaries and kill the man. Unfortunately his injuries were too debilitating and one of the mercenaries got him in the back. We then mopped up the rest. Let's just say a narrow stone bridge is a bad place to be when an Akimichi comes rolling."
Genma winced. "Ouch."
"What happened to his sword? It is a pretty famous blade." Yugao inquired.
Naruto shrugged. "We brought it back with us to Konoha. No idea where it is now."
For a few moments nothing more was said, but then Genma spoke up again. "If you don't mind me asking, what it's like being a jinchuuriki?"
That question actually caught Naruto by surprise. After a moment of thought he decided he could reveal some parts. "Most of the time the fox doesn't give me any trouble and I'm pretty much a normal shinobi. It's different when I use its power; that really, really sucks. I prefer to use it as a weapon of last resort. It's safer that way."
"Would you mind elaborating a bit? I admit I'm a bit curious about the entire process and as team leader I think it necessary to learn the extent of your abilities." Yugao politely asked.
"Sure. Normally the Kyuubi's chakra is deep inside me, but I can consciously pull it to the surface. Imagine your veins being filled by liquid fire. The pain is incredible, but so is the power it gives you. You become faster and stronger, but your body changes. Fingernails become claws and your teeth grow into fangs. Your entire appearance becomes more and more feral, similar to an Inuzuka, at least during the initial stages. The beast's chakra surrounds your body and you can use it to do things. Wounds heal pretty much immediately, but that's only the beginning. Loss of control is a steady danger."
Naruto paused for a moment. The two jonin were listening in rapt silence.
"Rage fills you. You want to tear, maim and kill everything in sight. The rush of power blots out the pain and you want more. Soon the chakra surrounding you becomes dense like a boiling liquid and forms a shroud with one tail. The shroud has almost a mind of its own. It can form limbs that don't obey the laws of nature. Whatever you touch is poisoned; all matter burns and decays under the demonic power. Your own body does, too, but you are constantly healed. The rage and hate are growing stronger as does the hunger for more power. If you draw more chakra more tails form and the changes become more pronounced. Normal, conscious thought becomes almost impossible. The rage becomes all-consuming. If you go beyond three tails your skin burns off; it feels like being flayed alive. Your blood and the demon's chakra mix and you transform again. I can't really describe it properly; it is far too surreal an experience. What was your body is replaced by a completely alien thing. The others tell me it looks like a creature from a nightmare, made only of darkness, blood and chakra. Your senses mostly stop working; there is only chakra and emotion. The only thing stronger than the hate and rage is the desire for more power. In that state you are a danger to everything around you. If you ever see me with more than two tails run for your lives. That is the amount of power I can safely control at the current time, but I will always return to normal after a while. The Kyuubi's power is far too dangerous to be used lightly." Naruto concluded.
By now the expressions of his two teammates were openly horrified. Apparently they didn't realize before what exactly utilizing a demon's power truly meant. Normally he wouldn't have revealed such rather personal information to what effectively still were strangers, but he wanted to preempt any future attempt by his new superior to have him deliberately use the Kyuubi's power. Surprisingly it was the swallow who broke the silence. "Naruto-sama is truly brave to use such a power willingly in defense of the village. I heard what he did when he had to destroy that flying fortress. Not many would be willing to do that."
"I'm not sure I want to know, but what exactly did you do?" Genma asked.
Naruto shrugged. "Well, I can only generate a bijuudama when I use four tails. The Sky fortress appeared when I was high in the air. I couldn't transform while riding on a swallow; it would have harmed it. There was no time to land because the fortress could have destroyed Konoha at any time, so I did the only thing possible: I jumped off and transformed in mid-fall. I figured there would be enough time for a swallow to catch me after I transformed back."
"From what I heard it was a pretty close thing, Naruto-sama. A few moments more and they would have needed a spatula to scrape you off the ground for the funeral." the swallow said in an oddly cheerful tone. "All of us were quite impressed."
Yugao actually looked a little green in the face, but then she caught herself. "Wait, didn't you say you can't control more than two tails?"
"That's right; I can't. I only managed to stay long enough in control to point myself at the target and launch the attack. Thankfully that was exhausting enough that I returned to normal, but after that I was out of the fight for good."
Genma and Yugao looked at each other. An entire silent conversation seemed to take place before they turned back to him. "Please only use the Kyuubi's power if you see no other choice, Uzumaki-san. I leave that to your discretion."
Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Uzuki-san."
'Mission: Prevent superiors from seeing the Kyuubi as an arbitrarily available asset: Successful.'
It was one of Naruto's worries that his superiors would only see the Kyuubi's power and command him to use it constantly. In light of the fact that any half-skilled sensor could detect him using the Kyuubi's chakra from a long distance that wasn't exactly a wise course of action. That wasn't even considering beings like the Reibi that would like to devour him like an appetizing morsel. They were pretty rare, but it was better to take no unnecessary chances. It was much safer than calling on his parents' divine power, but it was still not something he wanted to rely on as a standard course of action.
The conversation then turned to more pleasant topics as Genma began regaling them with tales of his past exploits. Soon enough they approached their destination, causing the swallow to descent under the cloud cover. Returning into the drizzle wasn't fun. Since the swallow didn't yet have a good mental image of the surrounding lands they had to actually look for the precise location of their target town and their flight continued for a while, albeit far more uncomfortably than before. Fortunately they were roughly in the right location and it didn't take that long.
They touched down in a clearing out of sight of the town. Arriving on the back of a summon would cause a far too great stir. Their ride dispelled after saying goodbye, leaving Naruto and the two jonin alone.
"That was an interesting way to travel; we made good time. I wish we had someone like you available in the past." Yugao said. "We will proceed as planned. Uzumaki-san, if you would please summon those swallows you deem suitable for the next task?"
Naruto nodded and made the necessary hand seals. 'Summoning Technique'
From one moment to the next the clearing was wreathed in smoke as dozens of natural-looking swallows materialized. When the smoke finally cleared they all simultaneously bowed before Naruto.
"Greetings, Naruto-sama. How we may help you?"
Naruto gave his summons a polite nod. "Hello. I need to find someone specific and would like your support. Yugao Uzuki and Genma Shiranui here are my superiors for this mission and will give you the details."
The attention of all the swallows focused on the two jonin. They seemed a bit unnerved by the more than hundred pairs of beady eyes on them. Naruto had to admit the behavior of the swarm he had called was a bit eerie; he remembered Yakumo reading a novel about an intelligent, murdering swarm of birds a while ago.
Yugao cleared her throat and began speaking. "Our target is Tsunade, last living member of the Senju clan and one of the famous Sannin. She is a fairly tall, light-skinned woman and has long, straight blond hair and brown eyes. Due to her gambling habits she has earned the nickname 'The Legendary Sucker'." The woman stopped for a moment. She obviously didn't want to say the next part. "Her most remarkable features are a violet rhombus mark on her forehead and her large bust."
"It won't be easy to find Tsunade. She constantly uses techniques to change how she looks. Sometimes she changes her appearance from a 10 year-old to a 30 or 40 year-old to get away from her gambling debts. She is 51 years of age, but she might have the looks of a 20 year-old." Genma added.
The purple-haired jonin nodded. "Indeed. Our task is made easier by the fact that Tsunade is always accompanied by her apprentice Shizune Kato. Black hair and eyes, but no further distinguishing features. She usually takes care of Tsunade's pet, a pig named Tonton."
"This town is Tsunade's last known location, but that information is more than a month out of date. We will gather information from the populace. I want you to send groups in all direction. If you find her dispel and talk to Natsu or Fuyu; I will summon the two of them every few hours. A few of you should stay with us, though." Naruto commanded.
The swallows nodded. A moment later the swarm flew up, splitting in several directions once they cleared the tree tops. About a dozen swallows stayed in their vicinity as the group headed towards the town.
"Do you have any prior experience in information gathering, Uzumaki-san?" Yugao inquired on the way.
Naruto shrugged. "A bit. It's not exactly the focus of my skills, but I should be perfectly able to gather at least some information."
The jonin nodded. "Good. In that case we can split up once we enter the town. We will meet at the town gate again in one hour. That should be enough time."
He wondered how long it would take them to find Tsunade. They had a pretty good mobility advantage. Perhaps the bigger problem was convincing Tsunade to come back. Depending on how long it took them to find her she might hear of the invasion before they got to her. Maybe they could use it to talk her around, but Naruto wasn't hopeful. Not even the Kyuubi attack had been enough for her to return to the village.
'Well, I'll have to wait and see. There's no way she can see us coming.'
Tsunade looked at the cards on the table in surprise. She had actually won again. She never won several times in a row. Granted, it was only the second time and the profit was small, but still. With some amount of trepidation she played another round. Whenever she hit a winning streak something bad happened.
A few minutes later she let out a sigh of relief. She had lost both the game and quite a lot of money. Apparently it had been a false alarm. Still, it was probably better to leave the town soon. Ignoring Shizune's attempts to dissuade her from further gambling with practiced ease, she smiled at her fellow players. "I would like to play another round, double stakes this time."
They were only too happy to oblige.
"We have located Tsunade, Orochimaru-sama. From our current location we will need a few days to get there, though."
"No matter. This time my arm will be healed."
Mizuki sighed in relief when the medic finally finished bandaging his hand. Even after applying burn ointment it was still raw and tender; the medics with the skills of healing such a wound immediately where still overworked treating the casualties of the invasion and had no time or chakra to spare for such a minor injury. At some point in the near future he really had to finish developing that jutsu. His hand getting slightly burned each time he used the Ray of Hope was annoying and a liability. He hoped Kisame didn't identify him as the one who had managed to hit him. The possibility of an S-rank missing nin harboring a grudge for him wasn't something he enjoyed.
In truth it had been a long-shot and Mizuki was surprised that he had actually managed to hit the distant and moving target at all in contrast to the other people trying the same thing. On the other hand the ability to hit targets at long range with a high degree of accuracy had been one of his design goals when developing the jutsu. There really was a dearth of good long-range techniques that didn't have a too big area of effect or other downsides. Although in light of the fact that Kisame had managed to pretty much shrug the hit off there was a weakness in his technique: With longer distance the power fell drastically. He pretty much had to keep the beam on target for several seconds to do more than superficial damage.
'Solving that problem will be difficult. There are always tradeoffs. Maybe I can ramp up the containment layer and concentrate the beam more tightly?'
The medic patting him on the shoulder brought him back to reality. "You're all set. Don't get burned again."
"Thank you. I'll take my leave now." Mizuki said and stood up.
"That was good work there, Mizuki-san. No one else managed to land a hit. We were all surprised by that wave and the amount of water Kisame generated." Asuma Sarutobi remarked from a cot to the side where two medics were removing shards of wood from his leg. The jonin had been hit by debris when the tree he had jumped to splintered under the force of Kisame's water wave. None of his injuries were serious, but the splinters had to be removed lest they cause an infection.
"I only did my part and unfortunately they did escape."
Asuma waved his complaint away. "You kept your head despite the surprise. That's the important thing. I will mention that in my report."
Mizuki smiled. His performance had been noticed. The defense of the academy students during the invasion had already earned him points. Currently things were still too chaotic, but in light of their losses there would be many promotions forthcoming. With a little luck his name would be among that group.
Taking his leave, he made a little detour to get a few more medicaments for Anko and see how Iruka was doing. Unsurprisingly there was no improvement. It was still doubtful if the instructor would pull through.
Iruka had been critically wounded during the invasion. He and his fellow teacher Suzume had been at the training yard with their class when the invasion began. The group had immediately come under attack. In the initial exchange Suzume had been mortally wounded, but Iruka had been unhurt. Then one of the attackers had targeted the children. Iruka had thrown himself in the path of the attack and been incapacitated. From a rational perspective it had been the wrong decision. With him out of the way the attackers would have been free to slaughter all the children without resistance. If he had stayed put two or three children would have died, but he would have been able to kill the remaining two attackers without any problem. If the presumed dead Suzume hadn't managed to pull herself together and kill the attackers from behind before perishing the entire class would have died.
Mizuki didn't know how he would have acted. He dearly hoped he would never be in such position. He might not like teaching the brats, but deliberately letting one or several of the first year students die so he could save the rest went against every protective instinct he had. For someone overprotective like Iruka it had probably not even been a conscious choice. Without Konohamaru and Hanabi running for help and finding Mizuki Iruka would have died of blood loss. He had managed to patch the chunin together, but it looked like his efforts might have been not enough.
Talking with Konohamaru's uncle Asuma had been the reason Mizuki had been with the jonin when the invader alarm was sounded in the first place. Currently academy classes were suspended, but the boy had asked for him. Apparently he had nightmares and after seeing Mizuki fight he had taken him as his hero. From what Mizuki could tell Konohamaru wasn't overly traumatized, but he had received a rude wakeup call on what the world truly was. In the past Konoha had buried reality under pretty words. Some of that was necessary when teaching children, but it was one contributing factor to the overall lacking education.
'That will probably change soon. With these losses there is no way Konoha can continue as before.'
Shikaku Nara, provisional village leader of Konoha, was suppressing the urge to groan. Retiring and herding reindeer for his remaining time in this world had never looked so attractive before, but he had to set an example. There were so many things to do and organize and not enough time in the day to do it all. He was practically living in his improvised office together with the two village advisors. All the others were busy, too, but he was the highest authority, meaning sooner or later everything ended up on his desk. The latest worry was the incursion by the two missing nin Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha.
"… lost them after about half an hour. All in all we got off lightly. About two dozen dead and double the number of wounded. It could have gone far worse if they had continued fighting." Asuma Sarutobi concluded his report. "At least three of those casualties can be attributed solely to the interference of Sasuke Uchiha. He ignored several orders to stop in his attempt to confront his brother. To avoid a friendly fire incident the forces at the scene had to interrupt their attack before my team was in position, potentially compromising the entire effort."
"Thank you. Good work in repelling the attack. This is all for now. You may leave."
As soon as Asuma had left Koharu spoke up. "We would have never caught them if not for the new patrol schedule. That approach was used when people needed to get into the village without being spotted. It was covered by ANBU in the past, but due to the usual manpower shortage actual surveillance was always spotty. Most likely the only reason we haven't had more intruders is that the path is hard to find."
"Let me guess: That wasn't really changed since the Uchiha massacre and Itachi knew all about it due to his job as ANBU." Shikaku said while massaging the bridge of his nose.
Shikaku knew about the secret background of the Uchiha massacre and Itachi's role in it; in fact he had known for years. The entire mess had been a nightmare. Tensions had been high, but the Sandaime had continued negotiating without result. One thing he did aside from that was quietly approaching the heads of the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka clans in case it came to violence, probably because of their long-standing alliance with the Sarutobi. Shikaku had not looked forward to fighting the Uchiha. A group of sharingan-users was a really nasty enemy.
Fortunately the matter had been resolved by the demise of the clan. Personally Shikaku still didn't approve of sending Itachi against his own clan although he had only learnt of that after the fact. There was a far too high chance for loyalty to break or something else to go wrong. Ostensibly the Sandaime had known nothing of this, but Shikaku was sure he had only maintained plausible deniability. There was no way he would have allowed Danzo, Homura and Koharu to remain in positions of power if they had gone behind his back in this matter. The Sandaime had wanted the Uchiha threat dealt with without compromising his reputation. In case the operation went wrong the village advisors would take the fall.
What no one had expected was for Itachi to actually succeed. Everyone had believed that with the element of surprise he would be able to kill several leaders before he succumbed to the superior numbers. The resulting confusion would be enough to stave off the rebellion for months or even years, time enough to find a permanent solution. Events had proven them wrong. They had been really lucky that the destruction of the Uchiha clan didn't trigger the fourth shinobi war. The clan had always been one of Konoha's main pillars of strength and the village was much weaker without them.
To this day Shikaku didn't understand Itachi. Spying and providing the village leadership with information because he chose the village over his clan; that he could understand. Actually personally slaughtering his entire clan including civilians, children and his own close family was a different thing altogether. It was something that Shikaku would never do if it was his own clan. He could barely imagine standing aside if there was absolutely no other choice, but actually doing the deed? That was the work of a madman. It was still an enigma how he had managed to achieve that feat. Itachi had been highly skilled, but not that skilled.
Just before Asuma gave his report Homura and Koharu had informed him of Itachi's deal with the Sandaime. Things made even less sense now. Itachi had killed his parents and fiancée, but he wanted for Sasuke to be protected and kept ignorant of the true facts. Why would he trust people who had ordered the destruction of his clan? It would have been easy to arrange for the boy's death. Itachi's threat to reveal the secret was a hollow one. Who would believe a man who had slaughtered his own family?
When the silence had stretched long enough Shikaku sighed. "From what Itachi said Naruto or more precisely the Kyuubi was their target. At the current time we have no way of contacting Yugao's group, but considering their mobility it is unlikely that they will be caught anyway. Do you have any useful information about Itachi's spy work?"
Homura made a helpless gesture. "We don't know. Itachi reported directly to Hiruzen or possibly Jiraiya. Neither told us anything and there are no records we were able to find. Without them we have no idea as to Akatsuki's exact goals. We know there are nine primary members besides Itachi, but we have no information about their identity or any other details. If Itachi ever reported that it never reached our ears."
"In short, he isn't especially useful as a spy." Another sigh escaped his lips. "What a troublesome mess. What is Sasuke's status?"
Koharu leafed through several documents before she found the right one. "He's catatonic. The Yamanaka who entered his mind reported that Itachi put him under an unbreakable genjutsu, the same as the other victim we recovered. Sasuke was forced to watch the slaughter of his clan again and again for 72 hours of subjective time in addition to other mental torture. The other victim was simply tortured for the same subjective time period. The psychological trauma is immense and recovery will be slow."
"Why would Itachi do such a thing if he wants to protect Sasuke? Simply knocking him out would have been enough."
There was no answer, not that he had expected one. Shikaku didn't understand Itachi. He didn't like things he didn't understand. Those had the tendency to mess up strategy and bite him in the ass later at the most inconvenient of times. The possibility that Itachi was simply insane was becoming more and more likely. Shikaku had never had much contact with Itachi before the massacre, but something about the boy had always seemed… off.
"No matter. Inform me when the boy wakes up. I will decide what to do with him then. We can't simply let such reckless actions go without punishment. For now we have other matters to take care of. Koharu-san, when will you leave for the capital?"
"In two hours. We have now a good enough overview that I will be able to answer the Fire Daimyo's questions. For now it looks as if we will be able to fulfill our contractual obligations to the Land of Fire… barely. My retinue is already assembling."
Shikaku nodded in acknowledgment. A moment later a secretary entered the room, delivering a large stack of documents detailing the missions the village currently had accepted. Managing the numerous already contracted missions was a nightmare, especially because they still had no idea of the reactions of the other villages. Another attack or the outbreak of the fourth shinobi war were still very real possibilities. They couldn't simply send out an arbitrary number of shinobi on missions when they might be needed for defense and that wasn't even considering their drastically reduced manpower. It looked like they would simply have to default on many contracts.
'Missions to the Land of Wind can be cancelled; there is no way I will send anyone into Suna's territory for any client. That frees up some resources. Team 7 is effectively non-operational. Kakashi is still useful and needed for high-ranked missions with experienced teammates, although considering his performance I don't want him in a teaching position ever again. It's probably better to wait with the formal dissolution of his team until we get around to reorganizing everything, though.' Shikaku thought while reading the documents that had piled up while he had been receiving Asuma's report. 'There are just too few shinobi. We will probably be forced to cut the academy education short by one year and subject the students in their fourth and fifth year to a crash course. Those in their after-fifth year education will be promoted to genin immediately.' He chuckled slightly. 'Shika won't like being back to active duty so soon.'
Kisame let out a visible puff of breath. The morning was cold. They had spent the last day and night in pursuit of their prey and he was a bit tired. Even shinobi of their caliber had limits, but he was still good for a few days. He did wonder why they had not caught up to the jinchuuriki, though. According to their last reports he was only a genin and shouldn't be able to run such a distance.
'Well, we don't know what exactly his mission is. It's possible they are in a hurry and pushing themselves. I don't think the information is bad; Itachi always manages to find out the truth.'
His partner had gone into the town to investigate. Kisame used the opportunity to rest a bit. At least on this route there were no other significant settlements or forks in the road; their prey couldn't go another way if they didn't want to traverse wilderness that was almost impassable even for shinobi. Since the next crossroads was located a few miles from the town they pretty much had to stop here.
Soon Itachi returned. "They were here, but they left again. They are looking for Tsunade. I got their next destination."
Kisame acknowledged that with a grunt. Then they resumed the hunt. Sooner or later they would catch up with the jinchuuriki. There was no way the kid could outrun them forever.
Naruto yawned and stretched himself before heading to the bathroom. Spending the night in a comfortable bed was a rare occurrence on missions and something to be cherished even if the quality of his sleep was far better when he could sleep with Yakumo. He had pushed all his worries into a corner of his mind for the time being; the mission came first. They had visited six different towns yesterday until it grew too late for information gathering. Normally they would have needed more than a week to visit them all, but thanks to his swallows they were very fast and could ignore difficult or normally impassable terrain. Tsunade's trail was getting hotter and hotter.
Yugao and Genma were already eating breakfast when he arrived in the common room of the inn. "Good morning Uzuki-san, Shiranui-san."
"A good morning to you, too." Genma answered good-naturedly before piercing an egg with a senbon. The man seemed to possess an endless supply of those.
After finishing eating the three shinobi left the town and Naruto once again summoned a swallow to carry them. It was likely they would catch up to Tsunade in one or two days. She had left the first town more than a month before they had arrived there. Now they were barely two weeks behind her. It was only a matter of time.
The sun was setting when the group finished investigating the seventh town for the day and met in a grove that hid them from sight.
"Tsunade was here and left only yesterday." Naruto reported. "She appeared to be in a hurry, but she took unusual care to conceal her next destination. Everyone I asked had heard something different."
"I heard the same." Genma agreed.
"It seems something spooked her." Yugao removed a map from a pocket. "There are five towns within a distance of a day's travel, more if we consider the speed of a shinobi in a hurry. We are in one of the most densely populated parts of the country. Investigating them all will be complicated and time-consuming."
"Perhaps the swarm found something. In the time we spent here the swallows should have reached all the surroundings towns." Naruto speculated.
"We can hope. If not we will stay here for the night." Yugao decided.
'Summoning Technique'
The smoke had barely appeared when Fuyu's excited voice cut through the air. "We found her, boss! Tsunade, Shizune and their pig walked through the town gate barely ten minutes ago." The blue-feathered swallow proceeded to give them a description of the town in question.
"Wonderful, thanks for the help."
"No problem, boss. See you soon." Fuyu dispelled himself again.
Naruto immediately proceeded to summon a bigger swallow to carry them. They might be able to catch Tsunade if they acted quickly.
"You know, Uzumaki-san, I never saw anyone summon so often so many summons over so short a span of time, not even the Yondaime Hokage." Genma remarked when they were in the air. "Most people I know would have passed out from chakra exhaustion long ago."
Naruto could only shrug. "I have the chakra to spare; I don't think anyone in Konoha has more chakra. The invasion was actually the first time in my life I can remember when my reserves were empty."
Yugao nodded thoughtfully. "That's very fortunate. Most people with a summoning contract have to be careful using it because of the chakra expenditure. I have to ask; don't the swallows get annoyed by you summoning them so often?"
"Apparently they slept so long since the death of their last summoner that they enjoy every opportunity to get out."
"I agree completely. It feels so good to travel across the world again. We're really happy about that." their ride chimed in unexpectedly, causing the two jonin to jump. Apparently they had forgotten that the swallow carrying them could hear them and was as intelligent as a human. "You have our blessing to abuse the hell out of our contract, Naruto-sama."
It was already close to midnight when they arrived at their destination. The gates of the town were closed, but it was a cakewalk to climb the wall without anyone noticing. One of the small swallows on site greeted them and led them through the mostly sleeping town. Soon the group reached the entertainment district. Most of the taverns and other were still open, the sounds of merry making permeating the air.
The groups kept to the roofs to avoid being seen by anybody. There was no specific reason for the secrecy, but it was probably better to observe their target for a while before they could be spotted.
Two minutes later they arrived at their destination: A roof across from a tavern. Two swallows were waiting for them, their eyes on the entrance.
"Hey boss, glad you could make it. We're slowly getting tired. The blond bimbo you wanted us to look for is still inside and drinking. We have eyes on every side of the building."
"Thanks for your effort." Naruto turned to Yugao. "What should we do now?"
The jonin was silent for a moment. "I think it best to wait. I don't want anyone to observe our meeting or overhear what we will have to say. Secrecy isn't required, but you can't be too careful."
They had to wait two more hours until Tsunade finally left the building when the bar closed. More precisely, the completely smashed and possibly unconscious blonde was carried outside by a black-haired woman in a bluish-black Kimono, a small pig with a pearl necklace and a vest at her side.
"That's Shizune and Tonton. We will follow them until they are in a better location." Yugao commanded.
They didn't have to wait long until the trio entered an abandoned alley. Yugao simply jumped down into the street and walked up to them, Naruto and Genma following behind. "Greetings, Kato-san. My name is Yugao Uzuki, jonin from Konoha. You and Tsunade have been ordered to return to the village immediately by the emergency council. My group has been ordered to escort you back as quickly as possible."
Kisama was huffing and puffing by the time he and Itachi arrived at the fourth town. Never before and his life had he run so fast and for so long. Itachi wasn't in any better shape.
"What do you mean they left yesterday afternoon?" he bellowed when the random vendor living in a hut near the gates had stuttered out his recount of the town's visitors. They had roused him from his sleep to learn if their target had already arrived.
The man was quaking in his boots (which incidentally were hovering a not inconsiderable distance above the ground because Kisame was holding the man by his throat) when he answered. "That's all I k-know. A b-blond boy, a purple-haired w-woman and a man chewing on some m-metal skewer entered the t-town about three hours after noon and left another h-hour later. Please, don't kill me."
Kisame carelessly let the man fall to the ground. It couldn't be. The jinchuuriki was gaining distance on them. That should have been impossible. He and Itachi had crossed two bogs, a mountain ridge and three almost impassable forests to get ahead of their targets while running all the way.
'How in hell are they doing that?'
Shizune Kato blinked at the people before her. She was tired and her mind wasn't working that well. After losing a big sum of money Tsunade had made them leave yesterday and actually run a long distance. Once they arrived in the new town her master had immediately sought out a tavern and began drinking. Ten minutes ago she had finally succumbed to the massive quantity of alcohol she had imbibed and fallen unconscious. Oh, Tsunade could have used medical techniques to counteract the effects of the alcohol or clear it from her system, but she had not bothered to do so. Sadly that wasn't an uncommon occurrence as was Shizune having to carry her master to somewhere they could spend the night.
Tonton oinking questioningly shook Shizune out of her stupor, causing her to examine the three shinobi before her more closely. All were wearing Konoha headbands. The one in the lead was a purple-haired woman with a sword on her back. One of the others was a blond boy of about thirteen years. Strangely several swallows were sitting on his head and shoulders and looking at her with far too intelligent eyes. The third and last member of the group looked somewhat familiar.
"Genma, is that you?"
"It's been a long time, Shizune."
"Do you know each other?" the blond boy asked.
Genma shrugged. "We graduated in the same class, but we had barely any contact since then. Different teams and duties and all that."
"I almost didn't recognize you if not for your habit of senbon-chewing. It's been nineteen years since we became genin." Then Shizune remembered what the woman had said. "What did you mean we are being ordered to return to the village? Tsunade-sensei said the Hokage had given us indefinite leave."
"Exactly what I said. The news hasn't yet spread here, but Konoha was attacked by an alliance of three villages four days ago. We managed to repel the attack, but casualties were extremely heavy. Thousands are dead, the Sandaime among them. We need every shinobi and especially every medic nin we can get back in the village as quickly as possible. There are just so many injured that need professional help. The outbreak of the next shinobi war is a very real possibility, too."
If her arms hadn't been occupied by keeping Tsunade on her back Shizune would have clapped her hands before her face in horror. After a few moments conscious thought reasserted itself.
"Of course we are coming back. Although I don't know how Tsunade-sensei will react. We will have to wait until she wakes up in a few hours."
"Then I suggest we don't wake her until we are back in the village." Yugao replied nonchalantly.
Shizune blinked in confusion. "But that will take a week, longer if we have to carry her. You must have run the entire way to get here in only four days."
All members of the group chuckled. "Oh, we have a way to travel quickly. Do you have everything you need with you?" Seeing Shizune's nod, the woman turned towards her companions. "Uzumaki-san, if you would be so good? Leaving this town on foot would take too long."
The blond boy bowed. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, holder of the swallow summoning contract and provider of our mode of transportation. I think we need a bit more space, the roof there should be large enough."
In the next moment the boy climbed the wall. After hesitating for a second Shizune followed while Genma picked up Tonton. The pig made no fuss after looking at Shizune for guidance. Making the hand seals for the summoning technique, Naruto placed his hands on the ground. Then a house-sized swallow materialized from the smoke. It yawned before turning sleepy eyes at the group.
"Sorry for disturbing your rest, but we need to get back to the village quickly." Naruto said.
"Oh, that's no problem; the others warned me. It's my turn anyway. I just finished my nap. Come on, hop on board."
Shizune simply stared at the large bird in silence while Yugao took Tsunade from her and settled her on the bird's back. A boy not even half her age had a summoning contract, one with flying summons she had never heard of no less. Tsunade had never allowed her to sign the slug contract. She felt envy bloom in her chest, but she quickly squashed the feeling. Caring for her master was her purpose in life.
Shaking these feelings off, she retrieved Tonton from Genma and climbed on the back of the swallow. When everyone was there the bird jumped into the air, quickly gaining altitude. The town soon dwindled to a tiny cluster of lights in a sea of darkness.
"This is so cool." Then Shizune realized she had said that out loud and blushed while Tonton oinked in agreement.
Naruto laughed. "Everyone says that. I agree completely."
The swallow they were riding on made itself known. "You can safely rest. I will make sure none of you rolls off my back by accident."
Shizune was tired, but she didn't want to sleep yet. She had never before flown in the air. Even in the darkness of the night there was much to see. Pinpricks of light marked villages or towns. When they entered the clouds it took her by surprise; the darkness wet against her face. A minute later they broke through the clouds and Shizune gasped. Star- and moonlight turned the top of the clouds into a wonderland.
'This is so beautiful.'
She watched for a long time until she felt herself nodding off. Her last thoughts were about their return to Konoha. The circumstances might be bad, but Shizune was glad to return to the village. She was fiercely loyal to Tsunade, but when she was honest with herself she had become increasingly frayed and tired in the last months. It hurt her to see her master slowly destroy herself. Shizune knew Tsunade would never have agreed to returning to the village, but she was convinced they simply couldn't continue as they had. It was the main reason she had agreed so quickly. If they presented Tsunade with a fait accompli it would be much more difficult for her teacher to simply leave.
Everything would be fine.
It was during the darkest part of the night when shadows high above Konoha congealed into a physical shape, assuming the form of a black-and-white barn owl hidden from mortal eyes. The darkness proved not the slightest hindrance to his intelligent, supernaturally sharp eyes as he took in his surroundings.
For a moment his gaze lingered on the shinobi village. The world had changed a great deal during his millennia-long imprisonment. There was so much he had to learn. Well, learning and collecting knowledge was his nature. Ever since he had regained his freedom a few days ago he had sent his servants across the world, but his current task was one for himself. It was here that the event had taken place that had resounded through the entire world and finally ended his imprisonment. He had come here to determine what exactly had happened. That was not without its risks, but the information would be very valuable. Additionally he was naturally very curious.
'One demon made of the darkness found in human hearts, one demon that was once part of the Devourer of Gods, traces of a second demon of the same nature, two unknown gods. Curious indeed.' the owl-shaped being surmised after the initial survey. Confrontations of this nature and magnitude left traces behind the knowledgeable could interpret.
The emotion-devouring demon wasn't really worthy of his notice; those were a dime a dozen, even if this particular specimen seemed to have been especially powerful.
The presence of the two gods was surprising. He knew of every significant god and demon yet these two were not among those he could identify. It was always possible they had newly ascended or entered this world from elsewhere, but that should have been noticeable to him even in his prison. There shouldn't be any new gods of such power. He got some vague impression of the domains they had used in the battle as well as their power level (which was impressive), but nothing really definitive.
Now, the other two demons originating from the Juubi were far more interesting. He had been already imprisoned for quite some time when the cursed Sage trapped and split the Devourer of Gods, but his fading view of the world had allowed him to at least indirectly observe the event. Not to mention that the miserable mongrel had stolen the knowledge of how to do it from him amongst countless other information. Stolen! From him! Then the wretch had even possessed the audacity to imprison him in his own library, cut off from the world but still part of it. Due to being stuck in between he had not even been able to leave this world and find a new one. It still made his feathers stand on end. At least his curse that every use of the knowledge the Sage had gained should work to his detriment had worked, not that he had been the only one to curse the mongrel. Even the spawn of the Allfather could not resist indefinitely once the curses started to pile up.
From how things looked the power of one of the demons was bound in a mortal while the other one had gained its freedom in this very spot, both from its imprisonment in a mortal and from the dominion of the cursed Sage. Later it had been defeated, but not destroyed. It had been changed before it disappeared into a general western direction without directly touching the real world. Taking the trail of sand into account it was probably headed for the desert as a natural habitat. A wound had been torn into the world, but fortunately it had closed almost immediately. Still, this place would remain a weak spot in the fabric of reality for decades, offering all sorts of possibilities for those inclined to make use of the churning chaos beyond the world. Even more interesting was the presence of magic. The cursed Sage had largely banished it in his effort to reshape the world according to his wishes, but here it flowed freely again.
'Soon this won't be the only place. Others are awakening. Quite a few of them will want to undo the cursed Sage's work.'
The actual source of the magic was conspicuously obscured and warded. Most likely the battle had been fought over ownership of that place. Considering the overall situation it was probably home to the two unknown gods. The owl-shaped being continued to gather information and draw conclusions, gaining much new knowledge in the process. He collected knowledge for knowledge's sake, but this information might prove a very valuable object of bartering in the conflicts that would surely erupt soon. Suddenly he became aware of a supernatural being casting searching feelers around. Apparently his presence had been noticed.
Having learned all he safely could and not wanting to risk an encounter, the physical form of He-who-knows-ten-thousand-things dissolved into darkness, the spirit returning to his distant home faster than any owl could fly.
Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.
In the past I replied to every review, but the increasing number (a fact that I'm very grateful for) makes that a very time intensive task. Considering my increasingly sparse free time I will no longer write a reply to every review. I will continue to answer questions or reply to especially thoughtful reviews, but even that might take me a while.
Uchiha Massacre: The Sandaime tolerating Danzo and the councilors going behind his back in such a manner without any retribution strikes me as incredibly unlikely. That would make the old man an incompetent doormat and complete tool. Giving his tacit approval for the massacre seems far more likely, especially since I don't believe that he, Homura and Koharu truly intended to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan, the sharingan is too valuable a bloodline for that. Danzo is probably another matter.
Sometimes I wonder about canon-Sasuke and Itachi's actions regarding him. Mind-raping an already traumatized eight year old so that he can see nothing besides his hate and desire for revenge surely is a bad way to go about things. Then he mind-raped Sasuske again when he attacked him (although I find it more likely that Sasuke had a subconscious death wish). Itachi's back-up plan for when Sasuke breaks under the pressure and turns against Konoha? Mind-rape him a third time with an even stronger jutsu. If that is Itachi's definition of brotherly love I don't think Sasuke needs any enemies.
So long and a Merry Christmas.