The Contract

Chapter 41

Konoha

Preliminary mental scans of Inmate 45567 have revealed that while the Cursed Seal did have an effect on his mental state, the Seal fed on the negativity [hate, desire for vengeance] in his heart, giving it more of a hold on his psyche. These results are in line with our theories on why Mitarashi Anko has maintained a stable psyche over the years, in spite of the presence of the Cursed Seal on her person.

Inmate 45568's mental scans reveal that, while also affected by the Seal, her psyche is deeply scarred by the effects of painful experiments she has been subjected to. The Seal feeds on her [fear, desperate desire to avoid further pain] and keeps her subjected to Orochimaru's demands.

Preliminary medical scans on the state of both inmates reveals that both have been subjected to genetic modifications.

45567's modifications seem to be somewhat basic: reinforced skeletal structure, enhanced musculature, boosted immune system [likely with enhanced resistance to poisons]. The working theory is that Orochimaru prepared this inmate for an eventual possession [appendix 4-A]

45568's modifications are much more extensive. Aside from the basic enhancements noted in 45567, this inmate was observed to have multiple genetic sequences in her DNA, observed to have an almost chimeric structure. At least one of these sequences has been recognized and it seems to perfectly match the sample of Kaguya DNA in the Medical Archives [appendix 4-B].

"You've just gotten worse, haven't you, Orochimaru?" Tsunade murmured to herself as she set the reports down and rubbed at the bridge of her nose.

It was things like these that made her wonder how things had gone so terribly wrong for her old team. Jiraiya, whom many saw as the idiot back in the Academy, had become the strongest and most moral of the three of them, she had lost hope and had almost wasted herself away and Orochimaru… brilliant, cunning, genius Orochimaru had become one of Konoha's most vile enemies.

"Is this a bad time?" She slowly turned to see the slightly-limping form of Shimura Danzo walking toward her and she repressed a scowl.

Saying that she hated the man was something of an understatement. Shimura Danzo was immoral, devious and downright evil when he had to be, with a lust for power that was only marginally tempered by his singular driving force: the prosperity of Konoha.

However, while his methods didn't sit right with her, she knew that, as a leader, it would have been terribly childish to completely sideline one such as the War Hawk. His ROOT forces, for all that they had the emotional range of a teaspoon, were terribly effective tools in the right situations after all and without his covert support, maintaining Konoha's status as the most powerful shinobi Village would have been much more difficult in the aftermath of the Sand-Sound Invasion.*

It certainly didn't help the old cripple's cause, however, that he flatly refused to consider her as the Hokage. Oh he paid lip-service to her before the troops and in public settings but in private? He only barely even saw her as an adult.

"You seem distracted, Tsunade-hime."

The Godaime resisted the urge to strangle the man sitting before her. "Would it kill you to address me as your leader?"

"Would it kill you to not drink your sorrows away?"

Her glower intensified. "I only drink when I'm off the job and you damned well know it."

"The only thing I 'damned well' know is that the Hokage has no down time." The man rejoined, his tone still as calm as ever. "For as long as you wear the Hat-"

"I'm never off the job, blah blah." The blonde rested her arms on the table and sighed. "Let's get to the point of this meeting shall we?"

The Elder said nothing for a few moments before launching into a quick summary of Naruto's progress at mastering his Vacuum style ninjutsu over the past week. It had been one of the agreements they had come to when the man had declared his intention of teaching the younger blond his own secret techniques that had earned him much of his renown on the battlefield: he would teach a clone all that he could, freeing Naruto up for service to the Village (they both knew it was her way of preventing the real Naruto from having much of an interaction with the Elder) and Danzo would keep her up to date on his progress as well as keeping an eye on the more shady corners of the criminal underworld for whatever interested her.

Today, for the first -and, she sincerely hoped, the last- time, she had the intention of cashing in the second part of the deal.

But first…

"So, a few more weeks and he'll have learned everything you know?"

"Everything I am willing to teach." The Elder corrected. "Have you taught either of your apprentices everything you know?" Though phrased as a question, Tsunade recognized it for the rebuke that it was after all, it was something of an open secret that no ninja every truly taught all that they knew. There were certain skills, concepts and forms of knowledge that were always retained, though the reasons for this retention often differed. In her case, the reason she hadn't taught either Sakura or Shizune the full breadth of her skills was simply to see how far they could go with all that they had learned. Rather than simply hand everything out, she had given them glasses half-filled, together with the basic knowledge of how to fill said glasses and was now watching to see how well they fared on their own.

"And just how much were you willing to teach?"

"Enough for him to understand the mechanics of the Vacuum style and how to create his own techniques."

Put simply: he's got the basics but my personal techniques remain mine; either he gets creative or he sticks to the basic techniques.

Tsunade couldn't determine whether the War Hawk did it to test Naruto's innovative spirit or simply to ensure that he had a few aces should they ever have to do battle though she wouldn't have been surprised if the answer was something along the lines of 'little bit of this, little bit of that.' "Well, I'm certain that, if nothing else, you taught him enough to be recognized as your student should he utilize the Vacuum style." Of this she had no doubt: for all Danzo's claims of being a tool, he had a subtle sort of pride that would ensure that he taught well, if not perfectly.

The Elder nodded and stood up. "If that is all then I'll be taking my leave."

"Hold on." Tsunade stated before gesturing back to his seat. "I have a few things I need you to clarify for me."

That definitely caught his attention.

Danzo knew quite well that Tsunade did not like him and, if he was being honest, the feeling was mutual. The tantrum she had thrown when Sarutobi had denied her request to start a new medical programme in the middle of a war had been an annoyance and her decision to spend the better years of her life wasting away in gambling dens and bars had only worsened a bad situation. However, the fact that he didn't like her did not mean he could not work with her; he had, after all, backed her nomination. He knew the value of morale among troops and though he didn't quite agree to the necessity of such (emotionless warriors had no need to be 'encouraged' after all), he knew that the presence of the last living Senju would be a boon to the Village in the aftermath of the Invasion. Regardless of the insinuations amongst the clan heads that he sought to make her a puppet ruler -which was folly, really: the Senju were known to be as hardheaded as the Uzumakis and even then, Tsunade was an exceptional case study in mulishness- he had done his best to not impede her initial decisions to see whether or not he would have to step in. That she had exceeded his expectations came as no surprise to him but her decision to seek him out and have his forces shore up Konoha's defenses had caught him napping. Yet, that singular act had earned a degree of his respect -loathe as he was to admit it- and she had not missed a step ever since.

Tsunade wasn't one to ask him to 'clarify' things so this was bound to be interesting.

"I'm listening…"

"What is your honest opinion of Naruto?"

‹‹‡››

Tsuba Plains, Makai

"This makes zero sense." Levy frowned as she studied the three-dimensional holographic version of Naruto's seal. "It's entire structure-"

"You really do need to maintain better awareness of your surroundings, honey."

The blue haired fairy's eyes snapped up instantly only for her cheeks to color when she locked onto the speaker.

Leaning on the doorway with his typical snarky grin on his face was her boyfriend, Gajeel Redfox. "If I was an enemy-"

"You'd be little more than a heap of bones." She finished testily, her embarrassment at being caught so utterly off guard making her reactions sound a lot harsher than she meant them. It wasn't like she had lied, anyway; thanks to her somewhat excessive additions to their compound, the Redfox-McGarden home was one of the most secure locations in the Kitsune territories. It would take firepower equal to that of the One-Tailed Desert King's maximum output to break through her barriers. As for sneaking in? Only the Chieftain's compound had more effective intent-based wards than her home.

Gajeel knew this very well. After all, he had helped her think up some of the more… violent deterrents in their home's defense. "I think we both know that your runes can be broken down, babe. It's really just a question of figuring out how." That didn't mean he didn't like poking fun at her, though.

Levy, now much calmer than before, easily understood what he was trying to do and she couldn't quite hold back her disdainful snort as he walked up to her. "Whoever's going to break down my runes will need to have a masterful understanding of my thought processes."

"Well…" He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a comfortable embrace, his larger, bear-like form practically swallowing up her petite frame. "Someone's growing prideful."

"It's not pride if you're the best at it." She gloated back, struggling to suppress the delightful shivers that ran down her spine when he nipped at her earlobe.

"Oh?" The ex-lieutenant of the Desert King's army arched an eyebrow at his lover. "I'm guessing this little job hovering over your table isn't giving you sleepless nights then?"

Just liken that, reality came crashing back and Levy groaned in slight frustration. "Did you have to remind me of this?"

"Someone had to bring you back down to Makai." He replied teasingly as she squirmed out of his grip. "Your head was getting just a tad too big." As much as he was teasing her, though, Gajeel found himself just a tad perplexed.

To say that Levy was a genius at all things runes was like saying that each member of the Makai Royal Court was powerful. True, but woefully understated. His girlfriend routinely defied the laws of the universe with her runes, making light of things that should have been impossible.

He had never known her to struggle so much with simply breaking down a rune.

"Trust me, babe, this? This is a tad more than just a 'little job.'" Levy frowned as she returned to her workstation. Fiddling with some of her controls, she shunted the holographic image to a side and projected Naruto's seal in its base form. "This seal is one of the most powerful ones I've ever encountered. It uses two overlapping Four Symbols Seals at forty-five degree angles to create an Eight Trigram foundation that forms an enclosure for a powerful entity." She tapped a few commands in and the spiral seal was replaced by a classic Eight Trigram design. A bit more adjustments and an octagon appeared at the center of the design. "Now, powerful entity lies in the center of this seal-"

"In the giant octagon." Gajeel supplied, to which she nodded.

"Yes, in the giant octagon. So, with that there, the seal should be complete, right?"

Gajeel knew recognized the trick question for what it was: she had lectured him on the matter of runes, seals and scripts enough times for him to know that. "No, the seal isn't complete; there are no instructions on the functions of the seal itself."

"Exactly. A seal without instructions is nothing more than a tattoo design." She threw an impressed smile his way before refocusing. "Now this seal is supposed to be a cage for a powerful entity so the creator's using the first Four Symbols layer to support the instructions for the seal." The more complicated aspects of the seal faded away, leaving a quartet of barriers, each tied to a single node positioned at the cardinal points. "By inscribing the seals on the cardinal points, the creator easily set up a four-point gate structure that is resistant to brute force attacks-"

"Because the gates aren't aligned." Gajeel nodded, easily noting how that could be helpful thanks to the image she had put up. "I'm guessing the second Four Symbols Seal serve a second function?"

The cardinal seal became very translucent as a second seal appeared over it, this one forming an 'X' over the former cross. Like the first Seal, the second also had its ring of barriers, however it had only two such barriers as opposed to the first Seal's four. "This is where the problem comes in: only two of the Four Symbols has any instructions. The other two seem blank."

"Wait." Gajeel frowned as he peered closer at the holograph. "They're blank?"

"No, they seem blank. Staring at them now, the south-eastern and north-western nodes don't have any instructions inscribed onto them yet every time I try to adjust something on the other nodes-" She punched in a code that would realign the cardinal gates onto the same path and stood back.

At first, the gates seemed to respond, slowly shifting toward the path she had chosen. Then, the 'blank' nodes flared gold and red respectively and the entire process reversed itself.

Gajeel blinked in shock. "The process reversed itself?!"

"That's not all: from the simulations I've run, whatever's in those blank spots is capable of learning to adapt and completely block out new attempts at altering the seal." Levy growled. "The only reason I haven't been completely blocked out is that whatever's in those blank spots wasn't replicated in my system."

"Son of a- who the hell designed this shit?!" Gajeel muttered, stunned by the fact that a seal existed that his love couldn't seem to crack.

Levy couldn't answer that; partly due to the fact that Grayfia had forbidden her from revealing the full details of the seal to anyone but mostly out of a sense of indignation: the idea that a human had designed something that stumped all her best efforts was galling to say the least. "As it stands, I'll have to create a skeleton key seal and hope that it works."

The alternative would be to go into the seal and work from the inside out, something she was desperately hoping to avoid.

After all, if the seal could manifest a pseudo-sentient will then wasn't it possible that it could deem her a threat and shut the door on her?

Or worse, couldn't the seal simply trap her inside its barriers?

‹‹‡››

Toride Mountains

While Levy worked to crack the Eight Trigrams Seal, the landlady of a certain Inn enjoyed a late afternoon tea with an old acquaintance.

"I have to say, Miya; you've created quite the idyllic life for yourself." Matatabi said between sips of her jasmine tea. "A husband, a little collection of misfits and this inn… very unexpected."

"Well, I certainly couldn't go around playing the role of a General now could I?" The lavender haired landlady giggled at the notion. "Besides, I've found that my 'idyllic lifestyle' has its benefits."

The Nekoshou Queen arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Pray tell."

"Well, for one the younger generations of refugees don't think much of me." Miya smiled beatifically, a look that was at odds with the potent aura of DOOM that she was presently exuding. "It's always so… relaxing getting them to rein in their youthful passions."

Matatabi threw her head back and let loose a throaty laugh as Miya's dark aura vanished. "Dear gods, Miya! You'll never change will you?"

"Ara?" The lavender haired woman blinked and cocked her head, a perfect picture of confusion were it not for the mischievous glint in her eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Nibi-sama?"

The entire act set Matatabi off again, the Twin-Tailed Queen slapping her knee as she laughed, not remotely bothered by the scalding heat of her tea as it sloshed oven the rim of her cup. Finally, after more than five minutes of intense, belly-aching laughter, the Nekoshou flopped onto the rood and released an exhausted gasp. "Oh my… damn I needed that."

"I could tell." Miya smiled at the now relaxed form of the Nekoshou. Her presence up on the roof had been much more than to simply talk to an old acquaintance-slash-almost-friend; no, after Matsu had informed her of the presence of the Twin-Tailed Queen in her home, Miya had intended to simply make an appearance before returning to her husband. That plan had given way to her current course of action, though, when she first showed up on the roof and bore witness to the troubled aura the Queen gave off. "So, your royal cattiness, are you feeling better now?"

Rather than answer, Matatabi slanted an annoyed glare at the landlady. "That stupid title again?"

"If the shoe fits…" She smirked just a bit at the Nekoshou. Sensing the approach of one of her guests, the landlady gracefully rose. "Well, my job here is done. I'll see you later."

"Miya?" The landlady stopped just before walking away. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome 'Tabi."

A minute later, Naruto appeared and took a seat beside the Nekoshou Queen.

"I suppose you're here for those answers." She said quietly, her gaze still on the sky above.

"Not really." Naruto replied honestly. Though he seemed calm, he couldn't help but be wary of this seemingly innocuous woman. He couldn't help but remember the look of utter hatred that had filled her eyes earlier that afternoon as she held him against the wall, pinning him with such utter ease despite his best efforts to break loose. His skin still crawled whenever he recalled the creeping feeling of weakness that had slowly pervaded his every pore, leaving him more drained than he had ever felt.

For the first time since meeting Kyuubi, he had a glimpse at the sort of power the Biju wielded and he understood why many feared them.

Her words broke him out of his thoughts: "So you're not here to ask the questions I can tell you want to ask?"

"Not particularly, no." He paused before continuing, "We're leaving in an hour." Observing the arched look she shot his way, he clarified, "Erza, Mira, myself and Jiraiya, I mean. You're free to stay here."

The Nekoshou pursed her lips in thought before asking: "You want to avoid the political ramifications my appearance will cause." His response was a simple nod.

It wasn't a particularly hard thing to guess, particularly for one as savvy in matters of governance as she: her current appearance was only a single hair color away from perfectly matching that of Kumogakure's Nibi jinchuuriki. Said Village was almost certainly undergoing mass upheaval at the knowledge that one of their revered guardians was missing and it wouldn't take more than a simple glance to convince the humans that she was her jailer and, from that point, their world would be on a knife edge, teetering over the edge of another war.

She didn't particularly care for their world -her jailer's retarded, adamant stance that she was a beast and nothing more* to be used for the glory of Kumo had grated away any semblance of ambivalence that she might once have had for the human race- but now, knowing that her sister was also a prisoner in a human, one who would be pushed to endanger his -and thusly her sister's- life changed everything.

"It's a pragmatic approach to things, I'll give you that." She nodded, agreeing with the logic in his words. "However the two that attempted to tear me out of Yugito-"

"They're members of a group called the Akatsuki." He supplied, earning a nod of gratitude from her.

"The Akatsuki. They found my jailer once; a one in one million possibility considering how paranoid she was, and they did it right in the center of her home. Chances are that they'll find me again, especially since I'm fully occupying this body."

"I spoke to Matsu for a bit before coming up here and she guarantees that the sealing barriers that she has in place around this area will confound whatever tracking methods they've got." He explained. "Plus, you'll have Landlady-san, Uzume-san and the others to aid you should anything get past those wards."

"You have it all figured out, don't you." Though she said it with a smile, there was a trace of something… darker… in her tone. "And when I want to check in on my sister?"

"Just send me a message with this." He handed over a scroll. "It's a two-way communication scroll that'll replicate whatever is written on one scroll onto its sister-scroll in real time. I have a friend who can cut across distances swiftly and now that I know this place, she can head over to help you join us in Konoha."

"Well then… Sounds like we have nothing to worry about then." She leaned back on the roof with feline grace and peered at him. "Have a nice trip then."

The blond stood up hesitantly, before turning to her one last time, his expression stormy: "I'm sure you didn't know this but Mira's pregnant… with my child. I understand why you lashed out like that but if you ever threaten my loved ones -especially my kids- I'll find a way to destroy you so thoroughly that there won't be anything left to remember you by."

‹‹‡››

"When I find those goddamned bitches, I'll rip them apart!" Hidan swore violently -for the umpteenth time since they had begun their hunt. "I'll tear their fucking spines out and flay them with it! I'll-"

Kakuzu tuned the silver haired cultist out and focused on the simple looking piece of parchment in his hands, noting the position of the dull gray dot as opposed to a black dot.

The parchment was a uniquely designed locator-slash-tracking seal that allowed him to mark the position of a corresponding jinchuuriki in reference to his own position. Over the past twenty-seven hours, he had worked at tracking the location of the Nibi jinchuuriki, having noted that her locator -the gray dot- had strayed away from the general direction of Kumogakure. However, over the last hour and a half, he had observed that while the jinchuuriki never seemed to move further, they never seemed get closer either. It didn't take too long for him to come to a conclusion: either the seal was faulty -which was completely unlikely- or there was something keeping them at this exact distance, despite the ever changing landscape.

"Hidan."

"Fuck do you want you aged piece of-"

"Scan our environment and tell me what you see." Kakuzu ordered brusquely, ignoring the glare of the cultist.

Though he hated asking for help -especially from the idiot- Kakuzu knew his limitations: the Jiongu, powerful as it was, had cost him the ability to expel chakra from his body in a neutral state. He could sling multiple A and B-ranked elemental techniques willy-nilly but a technique as simple as a shunshin was simply impossible for him to cast. Hidan, on the other hand, was a decent sensor, able to utilize his chakra to extend his sensory sphere to cover almost a square kilometer. It had been one of the reasons the Leader had put them together, irksome as it was.*

Hidan scowled at the command but knew by the brusque tone that Kakuzu was in no mood to be toyed with. Closing his eyes, the cultist sent his senses reaching out, seeing the world in a maner his partner no longer could.

Seconds later, purple eyes snapped open with an unholy fire in them.

"Heh, fucking bitches are on their way here with a two extras. ETA: ten minutes."

‹‹‡››

*- Too many people consider Tsunade a 'weak Hokage' -an opinion I am personally against- without realizing that a Kage is a leader FIRST and a warrior second. She came in following a nasty invasion attempt that -though Konoha won- left them in a bit of a rut, in terms of economy, infrastructure, staffing and morale. That she had Konoha remain on top of the Shinobi World in spite of all these is a testament to her skill as a leader. In this case, I just had her take a few steps that -while not nice- were dead necessary to keep up appearances.

*- Most of Matatabi's opinions of Yugito are based off Yugito's canon statements: when Naruto met the other 7 jinchuriki, Yugito made it clear that she had never had a relationship with Matatabi, a glaring oddity considering how tight Bee and Gyuki are.

*-Naruto's threat to Matatabi was something I struggled with but decided was fully deserved. After all, Naruto has only just heard that he's gonna be a father and the Matatabi assaults the mother of his child. While Mata's reasons stem from an understandable point -which Naruto points out that he understands- he's still a father and he'll defend his with whatever he has in his power.

*- This is NOT canon: Kakuzu is never clarified to be a sensor or not. I just came up with this.

Alright! A new chapter of The Contract!

I apologize for the delay: following the easing of COVID-restrictions in my country, work started back up and I was swamped for a while. However, reviews and PMs from a number of readers gave me the juice needed to get back to work on this.

I hope you enjoyed it (though I feel like the Kakuzu-Hidan thing at the end felt forcefully tacked on. On the plus side… Big battle coming up!)

Regarding the Matter of Kyubi's exclusion from the story: there is a method to this seeming madness. Trust me when I say that the Queen of Makai WILL be returning to the story soon. However, there is a crucial plot point that must be addressed by the time that happens, which is why things have taken this long.