Chapter 7 – Damnation
Alright let's go. I got the rest of this week free so let's see if I can do three chapters back to back. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They're going to be long chapters too. Why? Cause they can be. Also a hopeful quality upgrade. Without further ado let's go.
Disclaimer: Writing this disclaimer about how I don't own Naruto honestly makes my heart hurt. That I don't own Naruto also makes my heart hurt.
Transitions and flashbacks are in italics.
Tailed beast speech is in bold.
'Thoughts are in single quotations.'
On the third floor…
"They're late."
A man dressed in a white, buttoned up cloak, with slicked black hair and a line of stitches crossing down his right eye sighed in frustration. He covered his nose in frustration.
"Tell me, why did you open the shoot Gota?"
Gota, a middle aged Iwa chunin, chuckled nervously.
"I'm sorry Professor Jiro, but I didn't open any shoot."
Jiro frowned in annoyance.
"Then why does it suddenly smell like death took a shit in here?!"
The room they occupied was a rather large one. Its walls were cylindrical and cobblestone, with the occasional torch placed about for better lighting. It had two sets of circular suspended walkways that wrapped about the room along the walls and were connected by stairs between each other, creating three different floors within the room. The first floor held a variety of computer screens in a row on one side of the room, each hooked up by wires to a large object in the middle of the room. Given its spherical shape, its metallic structure and the glass canopy it also had, it appeared to be a capsule of sorts. On the other side of the first floor, several tables were lined up, like work benches. However, given the blood that was spilled all over them, and the obvious leather straps that messily lined them, they were obviously operation tables. For medical procedures. At that end of the first floor there was a large shoot with a metal flap, facing the entrance to the room. On the second and third floors, that is the suspended walkways, several steel chests and cabinets lined them, except near one side of the third floor above the shoot, where there was a large panel with what appeared to be a speaker and several switches, that is, the relay station. Overall, it appeared like a hidden laboratory.
"Professor, it might just be that the blood's smell may have permeated the room."
"No, no it's not. There's a difference between the smell of blood and the smell of death."
Gota was what you would actually call a career chunin. He didn't have any special talents and really he barely managed to pass his chunin exams. At the very least he could earn a living, wouldn't be mocked as a below average ninja and at the end of the day he served his village successfully. However, he hadn't signed up for this.
When he'd been told that he would have the opportunity to make enough money to feed his family for years, he'd been nearly ecstatic. An inside the village job that let him work in shifts was exactly what he needed, and he'd only have to do it for a week. It was the dream job to him. Then he'd been told it would be at the prison. That confused him as the prison rarely, if ever, needed staff. He came to the semi-accurate conclusion that they had an influx of prisoners. He hadn't worried, because at the very least he'd be guarding prisoners with other ninja. That was his assumption three days ago. Gota was already teetering at the edge of his sanity.
The man he had been asked to work with was a somewhat renowned doctor within the village. Jiro was known for his strange theories on chakra science, particularly when it came to kekkai genkai. However he was surprisingly respected by his colleagues and carried an air of confidence about him that made you think he knew what he was doing. When they first met, Gota had assumed him to be a little prideful, but hey the man must have worked hard for his title so he'd let him be. Three days later and Gota wondered why such a man existed. His theories were insane. The idea that kekkai genkai could be made artificially, and through fusion of humans, sounded interesting in theory. In practice though, no one would sacrifice themselves for such a cause. The price of individuality was too high, and even then, the procedure required to perform such a feat was near damn impossible to survive. Of course, it made sense that if you had subjects that had no choice in the matter, Jiro would have all the material he wanted and more to perform his wild experiments.
However, Gota was tasked to be his assistant, and thus he'd helped the man with his dream. He helped him corral the guinea pigs, subject them to intense amounts of physical stress, and finally tossed them in the chamber that was responsible for it all. Professor Jiro's 'Magnum Opus', a chamber that forcibly took two humans and turned them into one. It was, in a single word, horrific. Gota could see the process that took place, as it had a glass canopy. What's more, Jiro forced him to watch. As his assistant he was supposed to actually note what happened. Every single detail. From their facial reactions to even the slightest twitch in their torn muscles. Gota hadn't been able to sleep after the first day of his assignment. After the second day, he managed to sleep but was tormented by nightmares and woke up so sick to his stomach that he nearly bailed. He wasn't allowed to speak on what he saw either, so when his wife tried to enquire on what had occurred he simply said it was a case of jitters. His wife didn't believe him. She didn't enquire further either. After the third night, well he hadn't gone home after the third night. His guilt was too great. The things that came out of the chamber were not humans nor were they alive.
Jiro stared at Gota expectantly before Gota realized that Jiro still expected an answer. He glanced about the room before locking eyes on one of the operating tables that were still occupied. On it lay a young girl, the latest victim of Jiro's screwed up theories. Lacking a right arm, and with burns along her left side, with even scraps of her hair missing, Jiro did not favour her as a candidate for successful fusion. But resources were resources and he planned to go through with it. The girl had already undergone what Jiro called 'peak physical exhaustion'. It was supposed to be a point the human body reaches where the human is so close to death that their body's vital functions are the only operations that continue. It was supposed to make fusion more likely as the bodies were less likely to reject foreign mass. To Gota though, not even torture should be that terrible. If it was, then Jiro qualified to be an expert in the field. The girl was barely breathing, and she didn't have the energy to do anything anymore. Not even to shudder from the cold bare metal against her back. Perhaps she couldn't feel that anymore. If so then at least her death would be painless. However, her right arm, well what used to be her right arm, had never been treated and thus it was rotting.
"Professor, the smell would appear to be from one of the subjects."
"Tch, already undergoing necrosis? The latest subject is late, this is taking far too long."
Just then, the entrance to the room opened. One of the shinobi tasked with guarding, identified by the samurai armour they wore, escorted a small girl with short pink hair that was an absolute mess. She wore a short sleeved qipao, although it was torn in several places and actually lacked a sleeve. Gota sighed in relief, which he almost instantly felt guilty for. As the guard continued to escort her over, Jiro angrily walked up to him.
"Are you even taking my work seriously?! Have you even considered the consequences of what you've done?!"
Some of the other ninja present, on the second and third floors, snickered quietly as Jiro glared at the guard. The guard stared impassively at Jiro, as if the words simply bounced off of him. Jiro didn't seem to notice though as he continued his rant.
"The Tsuchikage has finally given me permission to pursue my experiments without heed and now you're trying to ruin that?! The future of this village rests in the hands of the project! The bloodlines that will be developed as a result will pave our road as the strongest! Are you truly trying to prevent that!?"
The guard blinked before handing over Sakura. Jiro signalled for Gota, who quickly ran over to apprehend Sakura. As he reached out to grab her arm, he made the mistake of looking into her eyes. Because from the moment he did, he saw no emotion in them. She seemed almost aimless, as if she'd already given up. Gota fought down his nerves before continuing his motion. Except, pausing had been his mistake.
In the one second that he'd paused, Jiro had already turned away and none of the other Iwa ninja were paying attention anymore. In that one second, the pink haired girl had straight up torn off her qipao, revealing over two dozen explosive tags plastered all about her body. Now, no sane female would ever tear off their clothes without at the very least having something on under, and fortunately she had the barest decency to wear a sports bra and short tights. Still, everyone was caught absolutely blindsided by the act, including Gota. Jiro himself had jumped backwards in shock, only for the pink haired girl to do something else that shocked everyone. She leaped onto Jiro, and clung to him. It was hands down, the weirdest hostage situation Gota had ever seen. Of course, during the chaos, Gota completely forgot about the guard. Said guard immediately grabbed Gota, holding a kunai up to his neck.
"Are you rusty or just slow?"
The voice of the guard was feminine, despite him being a man. Gota realized too late what had happened as smoke released from the guard. It cleared to reveal a brunette kunoichi, by her age, skill and demeanour a jonin. That she wore Konoha jonin overalls minus the jacket cemented that fact. She turned him around, pinning one of his arm behind his back while still holding the kunai at his neck. She exclaimed.
"Don't anyone make a move or we'll blow that man sky high!"
The Iwa ninja on the third floor seemed to panic, with one of them rushing for the relay station. The Konoha jonin shouted louder.
"Especially you guys up there!"
That seemed to get them to stop. She grinned.
"Looks like he's a pretty important person."
The pink haired girl replied.
"That hunch was a good one. Hey, what's your name mister?"
Jiro froze up for a second before making to retort. The pink haired girl added on.
"No smartass remarks."
He immediately shut his mouth before stammering out.
"It's J-Jiro."
The pink haired girl smiled, though anyone could see it wasn't a genuine one.
"Well J-Jiro, I'm not afraid to actually wipe you off the face of the planet. So you better listen to that kunoichi's instructions properly, ok?"
It was embarrassing. All it took was two kunoichi with seemingly nothing else to lose to take over their operation. Jiro's face turned red at the thought. Of course, it didn't help that everyone in the room misinterpreted that red face for something else.
Just outside the room, near the entrance…
"Numbers?"
"…Fifteen. We have confirmation on three jonin and eight chunin so far. Four are too far to identify."
Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance. The plan they'd concocted once they'd breached the third floor was a somewhat messy one. There were too many factors to account for, but right now what they needed the most was control over the facility ahead of them. They'd confirmed it was the location where prisoners had been brought. The issue was actually taking it down. Despite the enemies in the room numbering less than their current force, the problem was that the room's design gave enemies the range advantage. If they tried to breach the room normally, they'd likely lose too many of their numbers before they could strike the enemy. And right now, Sasuke needed numbers. Of course, Sakura came up with a plan that, if it worked, could guarantee them a victory with no casualties.
By taking a VIP hostage, they could possibly get access to the relay and once they took that over they'd essentially control the third floor. Communications were key to running an operation this big so once they could control that much they'd practically gotten themselves a shield. The issue was, it required someone to be willing to literally blow themselves up. They wanted the enemy to be weary of them at worst and terrified of them at best. And what better way was there to terrify someone than to wear explosive tags on your person. Real ones, because the enemy was always looking for a bluff. That Sakura volunteered for the role impressed Sasuke. He knew he wouldn't be willing, he still had too much to do still. Of course, if the target was too important, that wouldn't really matter, but that was an entire next issue. Would the target they chose be important enough to use as a hostage?
Luckily, they'd grasped a certain Professor Jiro, who was apparently the head of the facility. How did Sasuke know this without being in the room? Well, not only was there no sound proofing within the room whatsoever, their jonin was currently linked telepathically to one of their own on the outside, a Yamanaka chunin, who was then giving the information to Sasuke. Anyways, they'd have to move carefully from now on, since two of his own were essentially in the middle of a death trap.
"Have they moved up the stairs yet?"
"They're trying… Okay, they've made it to the second floor."
"Excellent. You said Kanako got her hands on a chunin?"
To clarify, Kanako was the name of the jonin with Sakura, and possibly the ninja in the group Sasuke trusted the most aside from Sakura.
"Yes, she said his name is Gota. Apparently, he's an assistant to Jiro."
The Yamanaka chunin, named Arata, and Sasuke were just about the corner from the room. They were crouched there because even though they'd already taken out the guards there they wanted to continue to hide their presence from the enemy. They also had about ten other ninja with them, but that was in case of emergency.
"She needs to use him to acquire info on the structure of the prison and the on-goings of that facility."
"Alright I'll relay… shit."
"What's the problem?"
"Looks like Gota had more balls than we thought."
"What?! Kanako how is-"
"Injured but otherwise fine. Gota tried to stab her, but missed her vitals. He got a good concussion for it too."
"And the operation?"
"Still ongoing. She's hiding the injury for now."
"Tch, not good enough. Okay, prepare to breach on my signal."
The ninja behind Sasuke nodded before quietly rushing about the corner, taking up positions near the door.
"Current status?"
"Kanako's at the top floor, approaching the relay station. Sakura's still holding tightly onto Jiro."
"I see."
Sasuke made to address the assembly of ninja near the entrance on the plan to breach the room, but suddenly Arata's face got deathly pale.
"Arata? What happened?"
"Jiro just… killed himself."
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. He didn't even wait for any additional information.
"Breach!"
Although he hadn't briefed them on the plan yet, they'd already gone over it ahead of time. The doors were slammed open before a several smoke bombs and flash bombs were thrown into the room. This created an incredibly confusing and flashy distraction for the ninja to employ. Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan, scanning for Sakura's chakra signature. He couldn't find it. He immediately detected something else though.
"Dammit, the chamber!"
Running up to the chamber, he peered through the canopy despite all the smoke. Inside was sadly not Sakura but something else entirely. Sasuke didn't want to know.
"Die!"
Sasuke whipped around before jumping to the side, narrowly dodging a sword strike from an Iwa ninja. The Iwa ninja rushed in again, swinging his blade left and right, with Sasuke only narrowly dodging his attacks.
"That damn reach. Let me fix it for you!"
Sasuke leaped into the air, performing a front flip over the Iwa ninja. The Iwa ninja turned around, but he didn't see Sasuke. In his confusion, he couldn't react fast enough to dodge the kunai that slit his right wrist. Sasuke had been hiding further within the smoke itself.
"Argh!"
He dropped his sword and suddenly, Sasuke went on the offensive. He dashed forward, throwing two punches that stunned the Iwa ninja, before kicking him in the shin. As he dropped on his knee in pain, Sasuke jumped in the air, spinning to build up extra momentum before kicking the Iwa ninja at the crown of his skull. The Iwa ninja's jaw met the floor so fast it was as if they were attracted to each other. Landing behind his downed opponent, Sasuke peered about, worried about Sakura's whereabouts when suddenly he found himself grappled from behind.
"I got you now you little shit!"
He didn't know who it was that was behind him, but as the smoke cleared the point seemed to be rendered mute. Surprisingly, the Iwa ninja had lost, badly. Only one of their ninja were killed with the rest having variable injuries. All the Iwa ninja on the other hand were downed. Kanako was at the relay station, already accessing the control panel for it. Sasuke counted all of the bodies and surmised that yes, fifteen Iwa ninja had been beaten. So to him, it was either their initial count was wrong, or the person behind him wasn't a ninja. And if it was the second then that person was most likely-
"Professor Jiro. I thought you were dead."
"You have keen eyes brat. How about this, you and the rest of your little gang can just kill yourselves and everything will work out perfectly for me."
Jiro had been actively turning Sasuke about, as if he were trying to show him off as some sort of hostage. So when he locked eyes with the capsule, he used its glass reflection to get an idea of Jiro's figure. It helped to know what your enemies' proportions were before you prepared to slam them into the ground. However, what he saw absolutely disgusted him.
"What the hell are you…?"
Jiro's body didn't look human, not anymore. His front appeared human, but on his back was a lump of red fleshy mass that was double the size of his body. It had weird thread like tentacles popping out of it which moved about randomly, like hairs but severely mutated. And his face. The left side was normal but the right side… was messed up. The line of stitches had been released, revealing the same red fleshy mass beneath. His eye was enlarged and had weird threads about it that pulled on it to allow him to look in different directions. Worst of all was his mouth, which was filled with what looked like red threads. It was then that Sasuke realized what it was.
"Muscle."
"Oh you're far more observant than Gota was. Yes, that's right, I am muscle. Or rather, I will become muscle."
Jiro began to laugh, nearly maniacally. Sasuke then asked the question he'd wanted an answer to from the moment he entered the room.
"Where's Sakura?"
Jiro cocked his head for a moment before realization lit up in his eyes. And yes, it was very weird to watch him do so.
"Oh you mean the pink haired bitch? I ate her."
Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat.
"You see, when I died, I basically needed a catalyst for my transformation. Something to feed on you see. And she was the closest so in she went. Ah, well anyways, since the jig is up I'll tell you. That dumb experiment I was talking about earlier? Never going to work. The Tsuchikage knew that and still gave me this room. What a fool, if only he'd known what I'd really been after. That is, enough bodies to fuel this project of mine! With all of the fresh bodies I received, I've been able to carry out the final phases of a project I started years ago!"
To avoid having to write down an entire monologue, in essence Jiro had gotten his hands on the famous kinjutsu from Takigakure, Jiongu. However, he'd been dissatisfied with it, and decided he wanted to improve the technique. Jiro was a reject from Iwa's ninja academy who decided from a young age that he'd use the village for his personal gains. So once he got Jiongu, he focused on creating a clever backstory to hide his true goal, which was to create a new Jiongu even stronger than the last. In order to do this, he managed to get his hands on a lot of research material through his background as a doctor. He then steadily changed Jiongu, from its thread like nature and ability to have multiple hearts to an ability which let him create more mass for himself, enhancing his physical abilities explosively. His research had yet to be finished, however he concluded that he'd finally gathered enough bodies to do so.
"And thanks to you guys, I finally have a window I can use to escape."
Sasuke hadn't really been listening the whole time though as he'd been in shock. He didn't know why Sakura dying upset him so much. It really shouldn't have as he'd never really cared too much for her. Yet he was… angry. Unbearably so.
"Anyways, I'm thinking that a pair of Sharingan would complement this body well. What do you think Uchiha?"
Sasuke didn't respond.
"Oye, Uchiha, tell me what you-"
Suddenly a barrage of kunai sunk into the ground near Jiro. He jumped back despite the mass on his back. However he released Sasuke when he did so. Kanako shouted from the top floor.
"Quick, while he's vulnerable!"
Three ninja quickly performed hand signs before all shooting fireballs at Jiro. The flames crashed into him, engulfing him in a hot inferno.
"Argh! It burns! It burns!"
Jiro struggled against the flames before he suddenly started laughing.
"Just kidding."
He walked out of the flames unmarred. Well, his shirt had been cleanly burnt off revealing his surprisingly normal body.
"Ninjutsu won't work on me. Right now, my body is capable of shattering even steel with ease."
Kanako stared oddly at that.
"You know what, I'll leave this guy up to you, Uchiha…"
Meanwhile, Jiro grinned at Sasuke who appeared stumped.
"What, don't tell me she was your girl-"
"I've decided. I'm going to kill you now."
Sasuke gazed back at Jiro. His Sharingan scanned Jiro up and down several times before Sasuke sighed.
"You're not as strong as you think you are. Nor are you as smart."
"Oh? Let me be the judge of that!"
Jiro slammed his fist into the ground, causing the ground to rumble and shatter. As Sasuke seemingly lost balance, Jiro leaped forward with incredible speed. Grabbing Sasuke by the throat, he grinned once more.
"You were saying?"
"Did you not listen? You're not that smart or strong."
Jiro gazed at Sasuke wondering what he meant before suddenly the ground underneath him caved in. Suddenly, he found himself stuck up to his arms in the ground and somehow Sasuke had escaped his iron tight grip. Sasuke continued.
"I've already figured out your technique. That mass on your back stores chakra that you convert into muscle tissue. But, you're using it to increase the power of your current muscles, which is why you're moving so fast and well for someone who's frankly out of shape. To add on, you can also use that chakra to increase your skin's tensile strength and resistance. However, not only are you below subpar in chakra manipulation, your combat sense is practically non-existent. What's more your technique is horribly incomplete in that you can't actually use that chakra to add onto your muscle mass."
Jiro stared at Sasuke, the only emotion showing in his eyes being rage.
"Your eyes see nothing! This ability is already-"
"On the contrary, my eyes see much more than yours."
"Grah! Don't interrupt me!"
The ground near Jiro exploded. Leaping out of the pit, he tried to punch Sasuke but he sidestepped the punch before retaliating with a backhand strike to his left pectoral. Jiro staggered backwards, suddenly out of breath. Sasuke reiterated.
"Like I said, your chakra manipulation is subpar. You can gain incredible strength but not everywhere. As long as your muscles lack chakra at a certain area and I strike there, it's like hitting a sweet spot. Super effective."
Jiro roared once more but Sasuke didn't even give him time to attack. He elbowed Jiro in the nose before kicking him in the stomach. Then while Jiro was still out of it, Sasuke quickly performed an upward side kick to his chin. The sheer force behind the kick though, was what impressed everyone watching. Jiro was sent nearly ten meters into the air by it.
"Let me show you what ninjutsu really is."
Sasuke performed a set of hand signs so fast several had trouble keeping up with it.
"Fireball Jutsu (Gokakyu no Jutsu)."
A fireball escaped from his mouth before propelling towards Jiro. The heat was but for a moment, but the resulting explosion sent Jiro even higher into the air. Burns were clearly visible on his skin. Sasuke used that moment to move. Leaping from the ground, he hopped to the second level and then to the third. Sasuke was now above Jiro.
"This next one…"
Sasuke leaped off the balcony then. Spinning in mid-air, he latched onto Jiro's front.
"Is for Sakura."
Jiro seemed to regain consciousness then.
"Wait!"
"Too late!"
Sasuke started spinning about rapidly, and as they descended Jiro realized what was about to happen.
"No! It's too soon!"
"It's never too soon for death to arrive! Remember that when you pass to the other side!"
Then they hit the ground. It broke, outright broke, before they crossed through to a floor below.
"Huh!?"
Sasuke kept spinning though, even faster. They were now within a large cavern, which had jail cells that lined the sides. In the centre was a mountain of earth, artificial perhaps. Jiro would find out.
"No! Anything but that!"
"This is it! Peregrine Falcon Drop (Hayabusha Otoshi)!"
Jiro screamed. And the mountain… exploded. But not in one explosion. It was in gradual ever increasing explosions as they buried deeper and deeper. Ever going and never ceasing. Finally, the mountain fully gave way, creating a massive dust cloud where it used to stand. As it cleared, it revealed Sasuke standing perfectly fine with his hands in his pockets, with bits of rubble falling here and there about him from above. Meanwhile, Jiro was buried head first in the ground. His body lay limp behind him. It was then that something weird happened.
The mass on his back welled up before suddenly exploding. Guts and blood scattered about. Sasuke turned around curiously to stare at the scene before his mouth gaped. A hand reached out of the mass, then another, before it revealed the person he'd been looking for all that time. Or rather, the person he thought he'd lost.
"Sakura?"
"Took you long enough, dummy."
She was still dressed as she was before, that is without her qipao. Except now she was drenched in blood so driblets of the stuff ran down her skin, dotting itself everywhere as if she'd just taken a shower in it. Which she had really. A long one. At the very least there wasn't any guts in her hair.
"But how? He said he ate you…"
"He did. He never finished though, I thought it was weird until I realized it was because he couldn't while he was fighting. So it's a good thing you took care of him as soon as possible."
Sasuke glanced away abashed as he hadn't done it as soon as possible. He also glanced away because she wore only a sports bra, tights and her sandals. This version of Sakura was hard to adjust to. She didn't care about any of the things she did before, hell she didn't seem to even fear death. It was unnerving because even he would be off put by being drenched in someone else's blood. Okay well, that was debatable but still. What's more he couldn't help the feeling he got when he first saw her after they reunited. It was almost as if her change had sparked something in him.
"Sasuke."
He blinked before realizing he'd gotten carried away by his own thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Where are we?"
He glanced about the cavernous area. It was literally a giant cave with huge lanterns suspended from the ceiling. Compared to them, the hole he'd made was tiny.
"I suspect… this is level two."
"Ah, so we skipped a floor?"
"Sounds about right."
"You think guards are onto us yet?"
"They're probably about to converge here any moment."
"Want to run?"
"Yup, running is a great idea."
And so they ran, with all the prisoners on level two as their witness. They knew, that things were about to change around here.
Down below, level one…
"Let me out already!"
Naruto had been awake for literal hours now, and he was frantic about what was going on. He'd tried everything he could think of. Yanking, tugging, jerking, shaking, bending, hell he even tried to dislocate his hand. Harder than it looks. Anyway, he'd just about given up, exhausted from his pointless efforts when he felt a rumble.
"What was that?"
Beats me.
"You're no help right now you know."
Suddenly that rumble got greater and greater until it became a full on earthquake. Naruto's chains rattled along with it.
"What the hell!?"
Then as soon as it started it stopped. Naruto blinked, realizing that it was over.
Damn, I was hoping for something cool to happen.
"Ugh, I just want out of these chains."
Out of frustration he yanked on the chain to his left. And to his utmost surprise, it moved. At first he stared in shock before a grin graced his features.
"It's about damn time!"
He started tugging on the chain. Slowly but surely the end of the chain attached to the wall came loose.
CLANG!
It crashed onto the cold bare ground.
That was but one arm kit.
"Yeah then I'll just do…"
He realized then that, as he tried to pull on his right, it wouldn't budge.
Like I said, one arm.
"Hah, but one chain is better than no chain-"
Suddenly, Naruto heard a release of steam from the front of the room.
"What the-"
Quiet kit, someone's here. Quick, play dead.
"Why the hell would I-"
Just do it!
Naruto followed Kyubi's advice. Even though he wasn't sure why, he decided not to question it and play along. Then, light hit his eyelids.
"Huh, jinchuriki's sure are something. He slept through that?"
Whoever was there, they certainly sounded carefree, even their voice was high pitch. The person approached Naruto before stopping.
"Ah, one of his chains came loose."
Surprisingly, the person decided to inspect the wall rather than the chain.
Naruto, while he's distracted you should attempt to knock him out with the chain!
'I know!'
Opening his eyes, he expected the man to still be inspecting the wall but instead he was in front of him. Naruto jumped, as much as he could in chains.
"How'd you-"
"Ah, don't tell me you were going to attack me? That would've been rude."
Naruto didn't know what to think of this person in front of him.
"Ah, Iwa's so inconsiderate. Don't they know what VIP means?"
When he looked the man up and down, with his weird coat with red clouds and that orange mask that had single hole for seeing, his voice just didn't seem to match his appearance. Naruto already didn't like this guy.
"Hey. Who the hell are you?"
The masked man looked him right in the eye.
"That's no way to treat your saviour."
He snapped his fingers and the chains came loose. Naruto came crashing to the ground. He spluttered for a moment before realizing that he could use his chakra again. The masked man continued.
"But if you really want a name, you can call me Tobi!"
Naruto stared oddly when he said his name.
'That's weird did he just-'
Naruto…
'In a moment!'
Naruto grunted as he heaved the chains off of his arms.
"Wow, this is great! Thanks for saving me, I guess."
Naruto.
'Just a minute. I'm trying to cycle my chakra-'
Don't ignore me brat.
'Just wait a while, I can barely stand-'
Do not. Under any circumstances. Trust this man.
'…Why not.'
That seal on your stomach that sealed your chakra, and the one that's blocking mine. His chakra interacts perfectly with both of them.
'What does that mean?'
It's simple. He's the one who placed them.
Naruto didn't realize it but his thoughts basically showed up on his face. Tobi glanced down.
"Ah, don't listen to that fur ball. You're free, you should-"
"Oye. That fur ball is my partner. Now tell me…"
He crossed his fingers, generating a dozen kage bunshin about Tobi.
"Who the hell are you? That fake name isn't going to pass by me."
Tobi looked about, seemingly surprised by the number of bunshin Naruto generated on short notice.
"What makes you think my name's fake?"
"I can detect a lot of things. Emotions and stuff like that. But what I detect the most easily are negative ones. When you said your name, I could feel that you lied about it."
Tobi stared for a moment before giggling. It then became high pitched laughter. Naruto kept staring until he finally calmed down. It was then, that his aura changed. The change was so sudden that the kage bunshin released themselves, from pure loss of concentration. Naruto himself staggered backwards in shock.
"What is this…?"
His aura itself is overpowering you. The number of shinobi I've seen that can do that… I can count them on my paws. He's not an opponent you can face.
Tobi spoke, in a much darker voice than he did before.
"You know, this could have been a far more pleasant meeting Naruto Uzumaki."
"What do you want?"
Naruto knew, somewhere deep down, that this guy could end his life in an instant. With but a mere thought. He was but an ant in front of him. However, even an ant could bite. Tobi sighed.
"You could tell I was lying. Quite interesting how you didn't react at first but oh well. Anyways, since you're so insistent on being this way about it I'll bite. What I want from you is simple."
Naruto glared at him, and in that moment Tobi was impressed. Not many ninja could stand against his aura when he casually displayed it.
"I want you to destroy Iwagakure."
Naruto's eyes widened.
"You want me… to what?"
"It's very simple. I'll release the restraints of the seal I put on you, and as a special reward I'll even fully open your seal."
"…"
"It's a good offer no? Iwagakure has already done wrong by you so it's fair game."
"…No thanks."
Tobi blinked.
"What?"
"I said no thanks. I'd rather die than accept that offer."
Naruto couldn't see it but Tobi was smiling. It was a frustrated smile. Naruto continued.
"Especially from the likes of you."
"…You damn cheeky brat."
Naruto dusted off the sleeves to his jacket.
"I don't know too much about history, but I do know some things. Iwagakure lost to Konoha in the past. And now they're coming back for revenge. Yeah, they've hurt my allies, and yeah it would probably feel great to hit them as badly as they did me."
Tobi grunted as he knew where he was heading with that point.
"But if I did that, they'd just hit me again. And more of my friends would get hurt. I can't accept that. So even if I really wanted to, I'm not going to destroy this place."
"Tch. You certainly inherited Hashirama's Will of Fire didn't you?"
Naruto didn't respond, simply passing around Tobi. Tobi continued.
"How do you expect to get anywhere without your Biju to help you? Don't tell me you're going to use your kage bunshin?"
"…Watch me."
Naruto walked out of the room, and into the light, leaving Tobi alone in the darkness. Tobi sighed once more.
"This certainly puts a wrench in things. But, I've ascertained his drive and potential."
He glanced back at Naruto.
"And it worries me."
Naruto in the meanwhile was making his way down a matte black corridor, with blue lights which he determined were lit by chakra.
Do you really plan on making it without my chakra?
"You said it yourself, didn't you?"
Naruto remembered those words rather vividly.
Are you so weak as to have to rely on my power to fight? It disgusts me that you can't even handle something like this on your own.
Kyubi grunted.
Okay, so I was a little rough on you-
"Alright stop."
Kyubi actually did stop, which it found surprising.
"I get it, okay. I'm not skilled like Sasuke, or smart like Sakura and I don't come off as reliable like Kakashi-sensei does."
Naruto crossed his fingers, generating a kage bunshin.
"And yeah, my only good technique is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)."
As the clone vanished, he continued.
"But dammit, to hell with all of that stuff! Right here, right now, I'm going to prove it to you."
He came up to a stairway, which he started sprinting up.
"I'm going to show you that even though I don't have what they have, I do have one thing."
He reached the top of the staircase, which had a door in front of it. He pushed the door open with determination.
"I got heart. It doesn't count for much, but it's what I got that makes me good."
Kyubi could only watch as Naruto took his first steps beyond the door. Both literally and metaphorically.
Alright kit, it's your turn.
In Konohagakure no Sato…
Hiruzen and Danzo. Two members of the team tutored by the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju. These men grew to become notorious and incredibly powerful figures within the Shinobi Godaikoku. Yet, on a casual afternoon, they found themselves bickering like they were back in the academy. The Hokage's secretary and guards were however used to the episodes these two shared. Nonetheless, they hated to be interrupted during these arguments, as they usually died out then and that meant whoever held the greater point was the winner. And yes, they were that childish about it. So when Asuma and Guy crashed through the Hokage's office's doors like they were made out of paper, both Hiruzen and Danzo were rather miffed about it. In an old man sort of way that Asuma couldn't help but find funny.
"So Asuma, do I assume Kakashi's ninken in Might Guy's arms has anything to do with this visit?"
Indeed, Might Guy held in his arms an exhausted Pakkun who just wanted to sleep. However he didn't want Kakashi to die so he'd without a doubt report his findings to the Hokage before taking a nap. Guy took the liberty of speaking on Pakkun's behalf.
"Pakkun says there's a situation at the border. He mentioned a code, he said that you would know what it means…"
Pakkun rolled his eyes.
"Did you seriously forget what I just told you?"
"I was caught up in the splendour of youth my friend! I must apologize though, it was very un-youthful of me!"
Pakkun shook his head before speaking.
"Kakashi sent me back from the border, and with a code too. I didn't even see him leave it in my collar. It's a Code Silver Light, I haven't a clue what that means and there isn't a code in the book about it."
Asuma noticed it before everyone else did. The immediate drain of colour from Hiruzen's face when he heard those words.
"So, it's as bad as I thought."
Hiruzen stood up slowly. He turned to Danzo, who had been all the while watching Hiruzen.
"Danzo, I'm leaving the safety of the village in your hands."
Danzo, despite being known for his stoicism, actually rose an eyebrow at that. Which was his way of displaying his shock at those words. Asuma himself could barely believe what he'd just heard. Guy wasn't flabbergasted at the pick rather than the fact that whatever this Code Silver Light was, it was important enough to make Hiruzen act so suddenly.
"Asuma, Guy, follow me."
Asuma and Guy nodded before Hiruzen made his way out the room quickly, ignoring the broken doors on the floor. As they followed Hiruzen down the hallway, Asuma was the first to ask.
"So are you going to tell us what this Silver Light thing is?"
Hiruzen sighed even as he walked briskly.
"It was something that came about as a result of Kakashi. About the time he lost his father, I took him under a form of foster care. To be exact, I visited him on occasion. As you are aware, Kakashi held an obsession with overcoming his father's legacy, it was to the point where it may have been unhealthy."
Guy commented then.
"I see, but what does it have to do with a code?"
"You could say it started off as a joke of sorts. Kakashi once told me he wanted to be prepared for even the worst of situations. He was but a child still so I tried to get him to understand that there is no way to be prepared for every situation. However, he would not budge from his belief. Thus he came up with a list of codes for rather bizarre and highly unlikely situations that would never occur normally. In fact it was simply impossible for them to occur in the exact way he described them. Of course he would badger me on about the issue to the point where I couldn't forget about it even if I wanted to."
Asuma came to the conclusion then and there.
"So wait, you're saying that one those bizarre codes actually happened?"
Hiruzen looked back.
"There have been two occasions actually, where those codes actually saved the village. As such the operations that resulted because of them were named after those codes. It's likely to be the same with this one too."
Asuma nodded but Guy still had another enquiry.
"Then, what exactly is Silver Light?"
Hiruzen reached a doorway at the very bottom of the Hokage Tower. Opening it, there was a buzzer right in the center of the room, and only a buzzer. He walked up to it and slammed it. The noise was village wide. Special chakra seals went off, specifically meant for village summons that could not be ignored by anyone. Hiruzen then answered Guy's question.
"Code Silver Light is perhaps the most dangerous and at the same time inane of the codes. It's rather complex but at heart it's this."
He turned towards an entrance that had opened up at the front of the room. Walking out onto an outdoor platform, Guy and Asuma were surprised at the amount of shinobi they saw all assembled. Asuma had to make a comment.
"This has to be our entire force…"
No roof was spared, covered to the very limit by shinobi of all sizes and ages. All of them were awaiting an address from the Hokage. After all, that's what the summons said was to happen. Hiruzen then finished answering Guy's question, by addressing it to all assembled.
"The border region of Kusa no Kuni has been overrun."
Everyone was shocked by that statement. Hiruzen continued.
"Iwagakure's ambitions have grown far more than we could have anticipated. They have attempted to reproduce the same conditions that allowed them to fuel the last war that rocked our nations. And they are dangerously close to succeeding. Right now, they've decided to take things to the next level by robbing our forces of their freedom through imprisonment, and it's likely that executions have already begun. We can stand idle no longer, and thus this is my latest mandate."
Anticipation built up among those present. Whatever was about to occur, it would be written down in the history books. This was the sort of stuff you'd only read there after all. Hiruzen finished.
"As of now, we are at war with Iwagakure no Sato! All available forces are to organize themselves and begin advancing towards Tsuchi no Kuni, as we are to reach Iwagakure in the next twenty four hours!"
There was silence for a second before ninja started moving. There was no sound, there was no noise. This was war, the genin knew it, the chunin could feel it, and many of the jonin had experienced it. There was nothing fun about it, but there was a certain pride to be taken when Konoha was the one to declare war. They'd never actually done so, not even once, during the history of the Shinobi Godaikoku. So for all, this was a first for Konoha.
There was however, an extra spectator. He sat at the top of the Hokage Monument, on the head of the Yondaime. He chuckled darkly.
"That damn Kakashi, he's messing around with my plans. Konoha wasn't supposed to know about this for another week."
He sighed then.
"They certainly never go according to my script. But that's okay."
He grinned as his body was sucked into a vortex.
"I'll just have to take a more hands on approach with this."
Time until Iwa Invasion: 24:00:00
End of Chapter
Finished editing this at midnight. I have no doubt that there are errors in here as I can barely see my screen right now from tiredness. Anyways, just some notes. Kyubi and Naruto are indeed having a tiff. It's still not resolved. Sakura will have clothes in the next chapter, I wouldn't dare leave her without any. Sasuke being able to lead well is not a result of any newfound ability that's just for plot convenience. Ok notes done.
Ah finally, all the factors are in place. Extra-long, big boy chapter for today, and a possible two more again. Maybe one because damn this took most of my day. Anyway enjoy the chapter and I'll hopefully post again very soon.