Back once more!
Here we are with a chapter that I think is pretty good, but I'm unsure what others will think on it. Not much else to do but, well... put it out there, I suppose.
Anyways, without further ado, shall we partake?
Chapter 79: Tranquility
A bird in a tree a good distance away took off, snagging a worm that had wriggled just a bit too far out of the dirt.
"…"
A massive toad caught the bird with its tongue from just beyond its line of sight, sucking both it and the bug into its maw in less than a second.
"…"
And he could tell the clone just off to his left was getting awfully distracted…
"…"
Again.
There was a loud smacking noise, and a small poof, as white smoke curled around the ground. The pain the clone had felt before dissipating hit him a moment later, though, thanks to his teachers fan, none of the excess natural chakra it'd gathered did the same.
"More carefully." Fukasaku spoke sternly. "Are you trying to get yourself turned to stone?"
He didn't answer, having long since learned that while training, the old toads questions were rhetorical. The last time he'd tried to answer, he'd gotten a fan to the back of his head for his troubles, and another lecture about staying focused. He could see how that would be even more important now…
Given he was balanced atop a stone several hundred feet from the ground.
"Combining these trainings is reckless enough on its own, but to do so with shadow clones!? You're either terribly brave, or terribly foolish, Naruto boy."
He smiled. It was far too hard to resist that one.
"I suppose we'll have an answer by the end of the week."
The toad slapped him across the head rather lightly.
"No talking!"
He was wise enough to simply nod his head in response to that.
He'd arrived at Mt. Myoboku a bit over a day ago now and had immediately gotten into training the moment he'd arrived. He only had a week, after all, until Tsunade's plan, whatever it was, would take effect, and he'd be needed back in the Leaf Village. Before that time, he'd need to have mastered Sage Mode.
As things were going, that was looking… Unlikely.
He'd made steady progress in the amount of time he could sustain Sage Mode, taking his allotted time limit from ten seconds to around twenty. Even so, he'd have to bring that duration up to about a minute for his Sage Mode to be considered anything other than a gimmick, and even then, he'd have liked for it to have been around five minutes if he were being honest with himself.
At his current pace, he'd barely manage 40 seconds by the time he was called back to the Leaf Village.
"Alright, we'll do this for another 30 minutes, and then we'll head back. You're already exhausted as is."
And therein lay the other problem; Fukasaku wasn't pushing him as hard as he needed to be.
He'd been at the mountain for over 24 hours, and he'd only been allowed to train for 5 or so of them. Sure, he understood that the toad was likely playing things safe for his sake, any screw up's could end up with him turned to stone, after all, but as things stood, he wouldn't stand a chance of having this mastered by the deadline he'd been allotted.
Something was going to have to give… And Naruto himself wasn't willing to.
"What am I even looking for here?" He asked with a bit of frustration eking into his tone. "I feel like I just sit here and waste time until I happen to gather some Senjutsu chakra. How do I take this further?"
The old toad gave him an appraising look.
"I'd say… You must look for tranquility of the self. Peace within war, concord within discord, serenity within rage, hope within despair."
He stared at the toad with a deadpan expression. "Awful lot of flowery language there. Anything that'll actually… I don't know… Help me?"
Far from being annoyed, Fukasaku instead sprouted a small smile, as if amused by his words.
"You don't have to understand it now. You scratched against it earlier, perhaps without even meaning to, but it's also possible that you may never truly understand it; I know Jiraiya never did. Always relied on the two of us whenever he needed to enter that state. Simply too… Brash, too… No, brash is not the right word. Jiraiya looked too far into the future when he needed to be rooted in the present." Fukasaku gave him a wry, mirth-filled expression. "And who does that sound like, I wonder?"
He grumbled something under his breath, probably something along the likes of "stupid geezer" but went back to his training regardless.
Said training wrapped up in what felt like another minute; so stuck in his own head was he thinking about what Fukasaku's words had meant, thinking about his friends back in the Leaf Village, that he hadn't even noticed the passing of time.
He jumped from the top and caught himself before he hit the ground by sliding down the tall stone spire, jumping the rest of the way. When he got to the bottom, he let out a small sigh of exasperation, which Fukasaku evidently heard, for he used his fan to strike Naruto on the back of his calf rather harmlessly.
"Chin up, boy," Fukasaku reprimanded him. "You'll get nowhere if you've given up already."
Naruto sneered. "I haven't given up, I'm just trying to get this down, and you keep stopping me before I can make any progress."
He'd been expecting another slap, but instead of hitting him, Fukasaku let out a grumbling murmur.
"You're too impatient, sometimes you remind me too much of Jiraiya boy himself." He shook his head with a peaceful expression adorning his face, as if caught in old memories, before shaking that away, and retaking his role of master. "Connecting purely with nature and utilizing that strength is not the kind of thing that can be brute forced."
"I could feel it, earlier, just for a second before you whacked my one clone, that connection with nature. It was… Quite unlike anything I'd ever experienced before."
Fukasaku nodded. "Then you are further along than you think. One must learn to walk, Naruto boy, before they can run. But, once one has learned to walk, running is, conversely, that much easier."
He grumbled under his breath about poetic nonsense for the second time that day as they made for Fukasaku's hut.
/-/
When he awoke the following morning, it was to find a pouring rain striking against the roof of his master's tiny home.
He got himself out of bed, got dressed, and walked out into the living room. Upon arriving there, he was immediately perturbed to see Fukasaku and his wife sitting at the table, the former not even ready in his usual outfit to go and train.
"Ah, Naruto boy, you're up." He spoke, beckoning Naruto over to sit with them by the single candle in the dimly lit room. "My apologies, but we won't be able to hold your training today. It would require us to brave both rain and lightning, which simply wouldn't be safe as high up as we'd be."
He made to protest. "But geezer sage-"
"There can be no buts, Naruto." The toad spoke with a finality that ended the conversation. "I will not allow you to kill yourself in some vain effort to force mastery into your body. That is all, you may roam the house as you see fit, but you're not be allowed to leave."
He'd grumbled, sure, but at the end of the day, there'd been nothing for him to do but wait.
The following day had gone much the same way. As had the next.
"Helluva' storm these last three days." Shima, Fukasaku's wife, commented, staring out their window at the black clouds swirling around the mountain. "I'm sorry, sonny, but if this storm doesn't clear up by tomorrow, it looks like you might not be able to get your training in after all."
He grimaced, even as he did the only thing he could at that time… Which was to wait.
/-/
He awakened the next day and immediately went to his window in the toad's tiny guest room.
If anything, the storm had only gotten worse.
He already knew what Fukasaku's answer would be when he entered into the living room, but he still felt the need to ask if he could partake of his training today. Tomorrow would be his seventh day there, after all, which meant it was his last chance to truly grasp the fundamentals he'd been missing.
"I truly am sorry, Naruto boy, but there's just nothing we can do. One cannot defeat the weather, after all."
Once more, he'd done the only thing he could. He'd waited.
It felt like torture.
/-/
His eyes sprung open later that night.
He climbed out of his bed in the toad's tiny guestroom as quietly as he possibly could, and immediately went to the window in the center of said room. He gazed nervously around as he unlatched the lock on it, and gently pried it open. He turned around and grabbed his backpack, which contained food and other supplies he'd be needing for his training.
He would not be stopping this time. He would not allow a little storm to prevent him from becoming strong enough to save his friends. To protect them from anything, even from themselves, he'd need to be stronger than that…
Both physically, and mentally.
He hopped out of the window and landed on the gravel outside as silently as he could. Luckily, none of the rocks slid too badly under his feet as they made contact with them, and he was free to dash towards the stone spires that stood off in the distance unabated, having awoken no one.
He wouldn't deny that the rain itself was heavy, and along with the cold that came from the elevation itself, it sapped at his spirits as he traveled. The lighting that arced down every minute or two on the mountaintops was quite a bit intimidating as well. Once more, however, he had to remind himself that this could not be enough to stop him. He was a ninja; he was supposed to be one of the stronger ninjas in his village, even. Inclement weather would not be the end of him.
He arrived at the stone tower upon which they'd been practicing and stripped out of his jacket, storing it away in his pack as he grabbed a small stone slab from the base of the structure. He would need to haul it up with him, balance at the top of the spire, and gather natural chakra in his body as perfectly as he could. There would be no safety net this time. If he took in too much chakra… Then that was it. He'd be turned to stone.
No Fukasaku to bail him out.
He couldn't focus on that, though. Instead, he forced himself to think about Sakura, taken by the Akatsuki for whatever means they needed her for. He thought about Tenten, consumed by guilt over her own conceived inability to protect those relying on her. He thought about Sasuke, who was stuck in confusion over his own brother's allegiances.
He wouldn't be able to face them if he came back from here empty handed.
The climb was slow and arduous, especially in the rain. He couldn't get quite as good of a grip with his chakra-laden feet as normal and was forced to scale the rock the old-fashioned way, utilizing nearly every part of his body to avoid falling.
It was perhaps half an hour later by the time he finally made it to the top, and he couldn't deny the exhaustion in his body as he placed the stone at the very tippy top. Still, it seemed his challenges would not end, for the rain was getting in the way of how easily he could keep the stone perfectly level.
He swore as the heavy object nearly toppled to the ground, himself narrowly catching it with his left hand as he dangled off of the side. Nearby, lightning struck one of the other towers, sending the stones that had made up said spire careening into the canyon below with an almighty crash.
He swallowed on nothing as he once more went about trying to balance his slab. This time, he managed after a good minute or two of trying, and got on top of the spire, crossing his legs, and placing the knuckles of both of his hands together inside his lap. It was the stance he'd been taught to best gather natural energy, and so far, at least, it did seem fairly effective.
Though he supposed he'd be truly putting that to the test this time.
He felt as natural chakra began to gather within his stomach and made space for it within his pool. He wasn't nearly as skilled with chakra manipulation as someone like Sakura was, but he wouldn't consider himself terrible at it, either. He was… Perhaps the term would be middling.
Though thinking about something like that wasn't exactly what he was here for. He focused back in on the chakra gathering in his core and closed his eyes. He had no idea how long he sat there, carefully gathering natural chakra so as to make very sure he didn't go over the allotted amount he could take in, but it felt like days had passed when he felt the ratio was correct. He stopped his intake of natural chakra as best he could and focused on molding it.
But… Something was off. He wasn't quite as conscious as he would've liked to be under the circumstances. Normally, with Fukasaku behind him to keep him steady, he had no issues in maintaining a clear and calm demeanor. Now… Now it felt like he was sinking. Into what?
He didn't know.
Something on the edge of his senses burned red hot; a warning of some sort, begging him to run away, to escape, to do something. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He was close to listening to it, to giving up on this accursed venture…
Before a bolt of lightning struck his body…
He was out like a light before he could even process what happened.
/-/
His eyes shot open, and he gasped for breath as he found himself in a pool of water that just barely didn't reach up to his left nostril. That was an awfully good thing, for if it had gone an inch higher, he'd have likely drowned in his sleep.
He pushed himself off the ground slowly, trying to take in his bearings as he gazed around at the metal walls surrounding him. It took his brain a second to key into where he was, but he realized he recognized the place not a moment too soon.
"Well… It's certainly been a long time, brat."
This was the Nine-Tails' seal.
He looked up into the face of the massive beast with a small bit of trepidation hanging in his heart. It's red-hot glare and razor-sharp teeth hung just behind the bars that held it in place, and yet despite those chains, he did not feel safe.
He never felt safe in this thing's presence.
But… Maybe he was going insane, but something felt… Different about this time. There was no abject hate in the creatures eyes like there normally was, nor were its tails swirling behind it like a hurricane. If anything, he'd have said that the beast looked rather… Docile.
"Nine-Tails…" He spoke as he realized he should probably say something. "I suppose it has."
The beast gave what might have been his closest approximation to a smile. "So, struck by a bolt of lightning, were you? I guess that's what happens when you become the tallest object in a storm, hm?"
He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth annoyedly. "Are you just here to teach me cool scientific facts, and berate me about my poor life decisions?"
"Well, actually, I'm here to take your body, given that you so nicely surrendered it to me."
He felt that the Naruto from three years back then might have shied away at those words or been intimidated in some way. Instead, he simply shot the beast a disbelieving look.
"I mean… You're welcome to try." He offered. "But I don't intend to simply give it up for free, y'know."
The Nine-Tails gave a horrendously wide smile.
"Are you under the impression that you can stop me from taking it?"
"I'm under the impression that if you could've taken it, you'd have done it already."
At that, the Nine-Tails sneered…
But it made no movement towards him.
"The seal didn't break." Naruto spoke simply. "Which means no matter how much you want to threaten me, your words have no effect. You wouldn't have waited for me to wake up just to taunt me, and risk losing access to my body somehow, so you couldn't have slipped your chakra in or anything like that. So, I ask you, if you knew you couldn't take my body, why did you really bring me here? I highly doubt it's because I make good conversation."
The Nine-Tails paused for a moment, probably unused to being called out as it had just been. Instead of trying to attack him through the bars, as he'd expected it to, the Nine-Tails instead sat down inside of its cage, and looked at him appraisingly, as if trying to gauge some unknown thing in Naruto's expression.
"Hmph. If you must know, I'm flooding your body with chakra in an effort to keep you from being turned into a giant toad statue. You're still taking in natural energy as we speak, and right now, I'm the only thing preventing you from a rather warty end."
That actually surprised Naruto.
"Wait, I'm still balanced on top of that slab?"
Nine-Tails nodded. "Somehow, that lightning seems to have traveled through your body and frozen your joints, your muscles, and your ligaments all in place. You haven't moved since you were stricken, and that means your body still hasn't stopped taking in natural chakra. In fact, it's taking it in at a rate even higher than it normally would, despite the fact that you've also been fried to a crisp."
He took a moment to process that.
"That's… Really not good."
The Nine-Tails guffawed at him, even as he grimaced slightly.
"How long do I have?"
"A few minutes, at most. And that's if you're lucky."
He bit down on his bottom lip. "Any suggestions on what I should do?"
The Nine-Tails shot him an odd look. "I wasn't aware you were looking for suggestions from me."
He shrugged. "Well, I figure if I turn into a stone toad, that's a little bit different from dying, isn't it? Who knows, would you even reform if that happened, or would you be stuck in my petrified body for all eternity?"
The Nine-Tails' eyes widened slightly, as if only just considering that possibility.
"Well, shit."
Naruto actually found himself laughing, despite the circumstances.
"I guess I'll mark that down under 'things I never expected to hear the Nine-Tails' say'."
"Shut up!" The beast howled. "Pay attention! We have a situation to get ourselves out of, and quite frankly, given it's your fault, I feel you should have to do most of this."
He couldn't quite argue with that logic, but at the same time, one of them was a regular human guy (that, to be fair, had some special skills), and the other one was a giant fox who'd likely lived for generations, who might as well have been a battery. He wasn't going to make any blanket statements, but…
It felt like one of them had a built-in advantage.
He relayed as such to the Nine-Tails and watched its snout curl in annoyance.
"Are you expecting me to help you?"
"Well, it's either that or we die."
"…"
"I'm just saying."
The beast let out a titanic sigh, slamming both of its hands down onto the ground below it, and causing fairly massive waves to ripple through the small prison complex.
"Fine! But the moment we get out of this, I'm going back to trying to take your body, understood!?"
He nodded, trying to maintain a serious expression, even if he was secretly incredibly entertained about seeing the Nine-Tails act like a massive tsundere.
"Understood."
"Good!" The Nine-Tails bristled as he got as close to the bars of his cage as he could. "Right, so at some point, I'm gonna have to stop flooding your system with my physical and spiritual chakras, because your puny body can only take so much of it, and the only way that works is if you stop taking in natural chakra at around the same time. Even still, all those pieces will eventually have to add up to one third of your chakra pool.
Naruto nodded. "So, what do I have to do?"
"You'll need to balance out the natural energy, whilst burning off my own chakra and balancing that as well. You've got a naturally large chakra pool, kid, thanks in large part to your heritage as an Uzumaki, but that doesn't mean you can cheat death. If the physical and spiritual chakra I'm putting into your system, and the amount of natural energy growing within you aren't even… We go kaput."
He grimaced slightly but nodded regardless.
"So… How do I wake up, exactly?" He asked the Nine-Tails. "I… can't exactly leave of my own accord; and believe me, I've been trying."
The Nine-Tails smirked in a way that had Naruto feeling more than a little suspicious.
"I'm going to flood your heart with a bunch of high intensity blasts of chakra. Theoretically, that'll wake you up. But, well, there's a small… Fairly insignificant chance that if I do that, you may die."
"Eh!?"
"But that's a risk I'm willing to take." The Nine-Tails smiled down at him. "I wish you luck, Naruto. If you don't die, feel free to–" The beasts eyes suddenly widened, and it averted its gaze, as if awakening from a trance. "No, never mind."
"Wait," He held the hand up towards the bars. "What were you going to–"
And then a second later, an aching pain hit his heart. He could do nothing to resist it, only collapse upon the ground, supporting himself with only his left arm. Even that gave out but a moment later, and he fell into the water below him, sinking deeper into the couple inches of liquid there then was possible.
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Naruto awoke, which was a good sign for his life expectancy.
Notably less good was that he felt like he was choking, and as he looked down at his body, he found there was another thing to the disconcerted about.
His skin was quite literally melting off.
Oh. He realized. This is what the Nine-Tails' meant when he said my body couldn't handle too much of its chakra.
He winced as a piece of skin on the back of his hand peeled off and floated above him. It burned away in the wind despite the raindrops still hitting his body. The Nine-Tails' chakra had healed the wounds he'd taken from being struck by that bolt of lightning on an immediate scale, but in its place had been left something equally bad.
It was at that moment that his brain keyed back in to the fact that the storm was still raging all around him. It buffeted against him, nearly toppling him off the small stone slab he was balanced upon. The good news was that he was hit by a gust coming from the opposite direction a moment later, and so he narrowly managed to keep himself righted atop it.
The bad news was that the storm hadn't let up at all; if anything, it'd only gotten more intense. The raindrops hitting against his partially exposed muscular structure burned in a way that was quite hard to describe, as did the winds hitting him from all angles. Despite all of that, though, he knew he had to focus above all else. If he didn't…
Well then he'd die.
He concentrated hard on meditating, feeling for the depths of his pool. He wanted to know exactly how much natural energy he had in relation to the rest of his chakra. Well, he said his chakra, but he really meant more the Nine-Tails' chakra at this point. It outnumbered his own by a factor of nearly 5-to-1 at this point, and was only growing larger, which was rather staggering to Naruto, given his already sizable natural pool.
Luckily, as the Nine-Tails' said it had earlier, it had remembered to infuse him with both physical and spiritual chakra. Now, it was his job to bring down his levels of natural energy as the Nine-Tails' own chakra began to fade from his body.
But getting rid of that energy wasn't easy. His joints were still frozen up, so he couldn't exactly move his body to begin dispelling said chakra, nor should he, because he'd simply be burned away by the Nine-Tails' excess energy.
He'd just have to thread the needle. He'd need to retain the natural energy in his body, and slowly shed it at the exact rate that the Nine-Tails' chakra was leaving him.
It seemed impossible. Perhaps it was impossible.
He'd need to do it anyways.
He took a deep, calming breath as he began to let go of the first bits of Senjutsu chakra. Along with it was a small degradation of the Nine-Tails' own energy.
A kilometer away from him, a nest filled with baby birds called after their mother. They did not know she wouldn't make it to them, that they would go hungry, that they would starve. The storm would not let up in time to save them.
He unleashed just a bit more, took another breath as sweat beaded off of his body, and dropped into the canyon below.
Even further still, the grassland was being flooded by the torrential downpour, and a collection of rats who lived in the ground there were slowly being overrun. They would try and take shelter in a nearby tree, braving the chance of it being struck down by lightning, and hoping its bark would be enough to withstand the heavy winds.
He expelled more. He was nearly halfway there, now.
Agony shot through him, and he could tell in an instant; something was wrong.
His lungs burned with a phantom pain, as did his throat, as if liquid flame were being poured down his esophagus. He realized a moment later that that meant he'd probably expelled too much natural chakra and was now being overrun by the Nine-Tails' chakra.
He swore as he tried to intake more natural chakra to counteract it, but nothing came to him. He was choking, gasping for air. He still couldn't move his body, and yet he wanted nothing more than to run away and scream. He wanted to get help, to somehow contact Fukasaku, to not have done this in the first place.
For some reason, the old toad's words from nearly a week ago flashed through his brain.
"I'd say… You must look for tranquility of the self. Peace within war, concord within discord, serenity within rage, hope within despair."
Lightning struck just off his left, taking down the spire directly beside him. He felt he should have panicked at that, about seeing his life flash so closely before his eyes, and yet…
No, his master's words were not quite right. There was something wrong with them that he couldn't put into a singular thought.
He focused in on himself as he concentrated on the linked hands in his lap.
Peace within war…
The burn of the Nine-Tails' chakra didn't let up, but it was as if an invisible force was blanketing him from the worst of it. He took another deep, calming breath, and began to draw in Senjutsu chakra from his surroundings. Suddenly, nature's chaos surrounded him as well.
Concord within discord…
The storm raged on overhead. Rain hit the rock on the side of the nearby mountain, and over centuries, millennia, it would wear down at it. It would take tiny, miniscule pieces at a time, and yet, come the next age, there would likely be a stream in that very spot. There would be no room for some of the creatures of the mountain to live there anymore. And yet, that stream would give way to fish, and amphibians, and many other creatures to live their lives.
Serenity within rage…
He felt the Nine-Tails' within him stir, felt it look up, as if to see what was happening. The beast gave a small, almost unnoticeable smile, before, seemingly satisfied, it laid its head back down on the watery floor, and let out a loud, aching yawn, before it fell into a deep, restful slumber.
Hope within despair…
Despite the clawing at his heart because of the excess Nine-tails' chakras, and despite the visions that the Senjutsu chakra was imparting upon him, he found he did not panic. No, he would believe in himself. He would trust in his own ability to make this work. He would not fall… Into despair.
But…
No. that's not quite right.
There were things he could not control through power alone. His friends issues, their traumas, their aspirations, their dreams… These were all things he could not solve for them. He felt worthless in the face of such things. In the face of those issues, all he could do was despair.
No… no, that's not right either.
Abandoning hope wasn't the answer. But he could not get rid of despair, either, not truly. Even so, was despair something he wanted to be entirely rid of?
Not through merely one or the other.
The reason he strove to do better by others… Was that not because of the despair of his childhood? Was it not because he had suffered, had gone through the hell of loneliness, that he wanted no one to ever have to suffer like he did again? Was his despair not, paradoxically, the source of his kindness, his hope, as well?
For nature is neither extreme in its entirety.
Both were key to who he was as a person. The despair over how things were, and how they would continue to be if he did nothing… And the hope he kept in his heart that things would get better as long as he continued to act. The two intertwined, creating an odd double helix in his heart.
And neither am I.
He saw his friends around him. Sakura, Ino, Haku, Neji, Lee, Hinata, Kiba, Shino and Tenten. He saw Shizune and Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi. He saw the sound trio, Suigetsu, and sweet little Fu.
Peace to contrast war, concord along with discord, serenity and rage, hope…
And he saw Sasuke.
…Together with despair.
The teen smiled at him evenly, and there was no doubt in that expression. A firm belief, an unquestioning surety. The knowledge that at the end of the day, they had each other's backs no matter what.
He smiled as well.
Through both harmony and dissonance.
He could not idle here. Sasuke would leave him behind if he did. Well, he knew Sasuke wouldn't really abandon him, but it had always been an irrational fear of his that one day his friends would just up and disappear. That they'd go their separate ways after they'd exhausted his usefulness.
Every time he got mad at them as a child, yelled or screamed at them, he'd sort of assumed that the next day, they'd simply have moved on from him, simply gone their separate ways and found new friends. Instead… instead, they'd come to him, demanding apologies for his actions… and he'd given them without a second thought.
He hadn't even realized he had the family he'd always wanted, then, until it had practically smacked him in the face.
His depression as a child had been what held him back from that realization, and even then, that feeling was merely another offshoot of his dream to become Hokage. To be wanted, to be accepted, as he hadn't been as a child. He didn't want to be tethered to a desk and stuck doing paperwork all day, but…
The thought of people looking up to him, to relying on him…
To needing him…
That wasn't so bad.
But… he'd already accomplished that, had he not? He'd already met people so terribly precious to him, people he knew he'd die for without a second thought. Hell, he'd already died for Sasuke once and come back thanks to the Nine-Tails within him back at the wave when they'd all just been children.
Thinking back, he'd never thanked the beast for that, even if he knew saving his life had only been a side-effect of its intended meaning.
He had no real need to seek the position of Hokage, and yet… he found he wanted the position for a different reason, now.
Someone would have to protect them. Someone would have to be the strongest, the most able, to watch over them in their darkest moments. Someone would need to deal with the Nine-Tails' assault's and the Uchiha massacre's of the future, and… and that someone might as well be him. But… even without him…
Even without his intervention, everyone around him was always growing, always progressing past whatever hurdles had previously stood in their ways. Hell, by the time Naruto got back to the Leaf Village, he had total faith that Sasuke would've made up his mind about how he felt on his brother. But even if he hadn't… Even if none of his friends had, even if all of them were troubled by things that they needed help dealing with…
Naruto would be with them every step of the way. He'd be beside them, as he'd always wanted someone to be for him, even if only as a friend, even if only as a positive presence, even if only as a voice guiding them in the right direction.
And he had faith they'd do the same for him.
His chakras aligned, his breath stilled, and in that moment, he understood.
Tranquility of the self.
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The rain had stopped when Fukasaku awoke the next morning. Despite the far calmer weather, it was apparent from the moment that he focused in on his surroundings that something was terribly wrong.
He practically flew from his bed and hopped as quickly as he could to the guest room. If he were lucky, Naruto would still be there, and he could laugh off this little minute of panic as himself going senile.
His worst fears were confirmed as he opened the door and found the bed empty.
He leaped from the house without even telling Shima where he was going, or what was going on. He could afford to feel bad about that later once this whole situation had blown over.
If it blew over.
He made as fast a pace as he could to the canyon they'd trained at earlier in the week. If his guest was right, and he was really hoping it wasn't, then Naruto would be there. He just hoped he wouldn't be a statue when he arrived.
He approached one of the Spires they'd used for their training and could just barely make out a small slab balanced atop it. His heart skipped a beat. If Naruto was still there…
He climbed faster than he ever had, hoping beyond hope that he was mistaken somehow.
He jumped onto a nearby spire and looked to the figure atop the stone. It was…
"Naruto boy?"
With his legs crossed atop the small stone, and wearing only a pair of shorts, Naruto didn't exactly cut an impressive figure on his own. Still, he wasn't really focused on the boy himself, though admittedly the fact that his body hadn't been turned to stone was a massive relief, but more on the numerous animals that covered him.
Perched atop his shoulders were several birds, chirping and pecking at one another. A toad had somehow found its way onto his head at some point, and rested there peacefully, completely at ease. In the boys' lap were a pair of cranes, which were both sleeping equally as soundly.
And somehow, someway, a flower had bloomed on the stone slab below him, just in front of his right foot.
It seemed as if Naruto had only just heard him, for he turned towards Fukasaku with a small, proud smile. As his eyes opened, and he got his first good look at the boy's face, he found a small gasp leaving him.
"You…"
His eyes were blue, not the yellow that had marked his irises before, but they had a certain twinge to them that was different to his normal ocean-colored eyes as well. They appeared almost indigo in color now, just the smallest hint of red peeking its way through. He was drawn next to the orange rings around both of his eyes, the markings of a Sage. Naruto had already achieved those, but he'd apparently been up here all night, maintaining Sage Mode the entire time.
Naruto's pupils drew Fukasaku's attention next, and this was perhaps the most intriguing thing yet. They were shaped not like he'd come to expect them, but instead, like crosses. The standard horizontal pupil of a toad, but with a vertical line running straight through it. If he was right, that was the sign of the Nine-Tails' chakra running through him as well.
But more important than either of those was the expression on Naruto's face.
A look of upmost contentment to add to his wide smile, filled with pride.
"I did it." He spoke simply. "I mastered Sage Mode."
Fukasaku could only stare.
"How did you…"
"It was your advice." He admitted with a quiet laugh, and a scratch of his own cheek, somehow neither of those movements disturbing the animals around him. "Peace within war, concord within discord, serenity within rage, hope within despair… that wasn't quite right, but I figured out what you meant underneath that."
"Figured out?"
Naruto nodded.
"I took both. Both order and chaos." He explained casually, running his hand along the backs of one of the cranes in his lap. "Sage mode's harmony, and the Nine-tails' dissonance. I merged them into one. It's… Well, admittedly, it's a work in progress, but it's certainly better than I was doing around this time yesterday."
"You merged them together!?" He spoke incredulously. "Naruto, you…"
"What?" Naruto actually looked a little confused. "…Wasn't that what you meant for me to do?"
"No…" He shook his head slowly, still a bit shocked. "I didn't mean for you to do that at all."
Naruto, to his credit, looked as stunned as Fukasaku. "Oh."
He couldn't help but smile at the boys raw reaction.
"You've achieved true mastery. You've made the title of sage your own, in a way that none before you have." He found a croak bubbling up into his mouth, along with another emotion that had gone dormant for a moment. "But even so…"
He drew his fan from behind his back.
"You're a damned fool, you know that!" Fukasaku smacked the newly minted sage over and over again for having made him worry so very much, watching as the animals that had been gathering Naruto's body dispersed in a hurry. "Gods above, you could've been petrified so very easily if you'd messed up even the slightest amount! What do you have to say to yourself, you rotten excuse for a student!?"
"Oi! Geezer! Lay off me, would you!?" Naruto shielded his face from his assault, even as the signs of his transformation, the orange hue around his eyes, and the slight indigo in his irises, faded. "I didn't really try to, well, I mean, I did try to, but–"
"You damned brat!"
"Ouch! Stop!"
"I'll teach you to run off on your own in a storm! What if you'd slipped in the rain, or been struck by lightning, huh!?"
"Oh, I was actually struck by lightning."
"…"
"…"
They stared at each other blankly for a few moments.
"YOU ABSOLUTE BUFFOON!"
"AAH!"
/-/
Naruto wasn't quite sure where he was, exactly, but, at the very least, it was a new part of the mountain that he'd not yet seen before.
They traveled into what looked to be an audience hall, and he was only able to wonder why he was here for about a minute before he saw the giant toad in the center of the room. His eyes were shut, and his skin was dry and cracked in multiple places. He looked… Well, ancient felt a bit too kind to describe him.
But he was easily as large as Gamabunta and Gamaken, both of whom he'd seen a few times during his multiple trainings here at Mt. Myoboku, and there was an air about him that, to Naruto, seemed to suggest he shouldn't be underestimated.
Fukasaku addressed him first, kneeling just in front of the steps up to his… He hesitated to say throne, for it really looked more like an incredibly lavish, golden lawn chair.
"Oh, Great Honorable Sage, Lord Gamamaru," He began, bowing his head. "I come with a question for you."
The toad said nothing at first…
Then continued to say nothing.
"Honorable Sage?" Fukasaku said again. "Ehm… Sir?"
The massive toad startled, having very clearly been sleeping until that moment, and Naruto felt he wasn't alone in wanting to run his hand down his face in exasperation.
"Yes, yes, I hear you." The old amphibian wheezed. "Completely and totally heard everything you said."
I have some doubts. Naruto couldn't help thinking.
"Erm… Yes, well, I've come here today to present you with someone I believe to be the focus of one of your prophecies." Fukasaku spoke, raising his head back up. "Specifically, I believe him to be the Child of Prophecy himself. I would ask you to confirm whether or not that's the case, oh Honorable Sage."
Child of prophecy? He wondered to himself. The hell is that?
The giant toad's eyes peered open ever so slightly, and he leaned down to look more closely at Naruto. Naruto himself took a step back, not quite wanting to become the lunch of the massive creature hanging over him.
"Is he…" Fukasaku spoke up again rather curiously. "Not the one Jiraiya sought?"
"Hmmm…" The ancient geezer hummed, carefully studying his face. Just when he was sure the massive toad would say something prophetic, poetic, or meaningful… he let out rather loudly, "I have no idea!"
Naruto thought he handled that rather well, all things considered.
"Oi! What the hell you mean 'you have no idea'!?" He yelled out in annoyance. "Aren't you supposed to be some super wise sage or something!?"
He was immediately whacked on the back of his head by Fukasaku, and that one seriously hurt.
"Be more respectful, you daft oaf!" His current teacher scolded him. "My apologies for his behavior, honorable sage, though he is very skilled in the physical arts, he has an awfully large problem with keeping his mouth shut."
"Hey! That's not–"
"No."
Suddenly, both of them went silent as the massive toad pointed straight at Naruto, his finger wobbly.
"This is not the one." The massive sage illuminated, suddenly seeming far more lucid than he'd been a moment prior. "There is no 'one', not in this life, that is what I sense. The prophecy has been… altered."
"Altered…" such a concept seemed to be unbelievable for Fukasaku. "Such a thing has never happened before, by what could it even be altered by?"
"I am not quite sure myself. By something beyond my understanding of this world. Or… perhaps it was simply by the root of a tree on a small hill." He smiled, as if privy to a joke neither of them understood. "There may yet be a child of prophecy in this era… but I do not believe he will have any connection to Jiraiya, at least not directly. And, at the very least, it is not you, child."
Naruto wasn't sure why he was disappointed, given that he'd only figured out that he might be the child of prophecy about five minutes ago, but even so, sitting in front of someone and having them tell him that he wasn't special was kind of a letdown.
"I…" Fukasaku seemed to feel similarly. "Pardon me, Honorable Sage, but I don't believe I understand."
The old toad leaned back in his chair, seemingly content to go right back to sleep, effectively ending the conversation.
"Do not worry, Fukasaku." The geezer smiled as he closed his eyes.
"I do not believe I do, either."
/-/
It was later that afternoon when Naruto remembered that he had to be leaving in about an hour.
He'd done his best to find and pack all his things (though he'd inevitably missed something that he'd have to send a summoning toad back to get for him) and made for the 'portal' where they'd summon him back to the leaf village from. He was grateful that Fukasaku had decided to walk the route with him, not because it was particularly long, being only around a twenty-minute journey by foot, but because he could really use someone to vent to about the rather petty problem he was having.
Namely…
"Hey so… why is mastery of sage mode not… cooler?"
Fukasaku shot him a raised eyebrow, a silent 'I'm sorry, what?'.
"I mean, I achieved tranquility of the self or whatever you said, I kind of thought I'd be more… I don't know… mature now?" He offered with a small pout, feeling a bit childish. "I thought I'd understand the secrets of life or something… I mean, aside from the ability to truly utilize Sage Mode for more than a few seconds, what did I actually gain from all of this?"
Fukasaku nodded his head up and down, as if considering Naruto's words.
"You understand yourself, who you, specifically you, are. You understand the circumstances that created your personality, your goals, and aspirations, and you understand what it is you desire. That is tranquility of the self." The old toad smiled over at him. "It is not a sudden change in what makes you… you, Naruto boy. If it were, I imagine none would seek it. Too high a cost, that would be."
And with that, they'd arrived at the 'portal' back to Konoha, and it was time for Naruto to truly accept that his training was finished. It was an oddly hollow feeling, having to say goodbye to people that he'd grown so close to. He could always come back any time, but there'd never really be any point to it aside from just coming to talk. His time learning under Fukasaku had ended.
It was time to face the world, now.
"Ah, wait just one minute, Naruto boy," the geezer waved over at a toad standing just a ways away. "One last thing…"
The toad hopped over at Fukasaku's behest, and Naruto noticed that on its back was a red cloak. Adorned with a black design as well, it looked…
Well, it looked cool, if he was being honest.
"Here, Naruto boy." Fukasaku held it up to him. "Take this. It is the cloak of a sage. Don it proudly." The old amphibian gave one last wry smile. "You've earned it."
He went ahead and put the cloak on. It was a big baggy in some places, but otherwise, it fit relatively well.
It also made him look damn good.
He said as much and earned a laugh from his soon-to-be former teacher.
"You do look rather dashing in it, don't you, Naruto boy. Alright, alright, we've kept you long enough. Go on, go on! Get on out of here, you've got a mission, do you not?"
He smiled as he stepped up onto the platform and watched as Fukasaku began to form the signs for the Reverse Summoning Jutsu. Just as he'd finished, he looked up into Naruto's gaze. "Oh! And one more thing?"
He nodded to show he was listening.
"Even if you aren't the child of prophecy… Know that that this old toad would still bet on you any day!"
Before he could even give his thanks, Fukasaku had slammed his hands down onto the ground, and a puff of white smoke later, Naruto found himself back in the Leaf Village.
He recognized his location easily enough; he was in the third training ground. It was where he'd come to be summoned to the mountain, after all, so it made sense that he'd be back here now. Still, he was a couple miles out from the leaf village proper, and so he resigned himself to the boring journey back all alone.
He had a small epiphany all of a sudden.
That maybe he didn't need to be alone, after all.
A moment later, he reached into his own head space, and found himself standing before a massive, barred cage. On the other side, staring at him as if he weren't sure what he was doing there, was the Nine-Tails.
"Oh? The fledgling sage come to say hello?"
"Yep, thought you could use the company." He shot the beast a wide smile to indicate he was joking. "So, had a few words to say, if you don't mind?"
"You're joking, right?"
"Hey, if you don't want company, I'll go." He offered with his hands raised in mock surrender. "Just say the word."
Instead of 'saying the word' as he put it, the Nine-Tails sat down in its cage and gave a quiet harrumph, which he decided was probably code in Tailed Beast for "I'm too edgy and cool to admit it, but yeah, having company would be nice".
"Hmph. Awfully cocky these days, aren't you?"
"So, uh, this is gonna' sound kind of weird, but…" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Thanks."
"Hm?"
"I just mean, thanks for helping me out with sage mode last night. I would've been turned into a statue for sure if you hadn't assisted me. And thanks for saving my life all those years ago in the wave." He smiled. "Just wanted to let you know I appreciated what you did."
"Oh, planning on offering your body to me to express your gratitude?"
He smirked amusedly.
"Wasn't planning on it, no."
"Then we've not much to talk about, do we."
He laughed.
"I suppose not. Just…" He scratched the side of his cheek. "You've always been oddly helpful. Thanks for that, Kyuubi."
He'd said what he needed to, and so, job done, he exited his headspace, and resumed walking back to the Leaf Village with a tiny smile on his face, and an even more miniscule contentment in his heart.
Back at the mountain he'd left behind a nest full of birds pecked at the food their mother dropped into their mouths. A colony of rats returned to the unflooded ground; their chosen tree having held where many did not.
They were simply happy to have survived the night.
/-/
The Nine-Tails grumbled quietly as he laid back down to sleep inside his seal. Still, he couldn't quite help being distracted by a sound off in the distance.
"Psh." He muttered. "I suppose you're awfully satisfied by that?"
Somewhere, off in the shadows, a blonde figure gave a quiet laugh.
/-/
Itachi walked within eyesight of Sakura's cell for perhaps three seconds as he went through a corridor on the other side of the hall.
The fact that, even with only that amount of exposure, he was still able to place her in his Tsukuyomi's grip was both astounding and terrifying in equal parts. As of now, allies as they were, she leaned more heavily on the former.
Allies… She thought to herself. Still feels weird.
She looked up at the fake form of Itachi Uchiha in front of her with a serious expression, one that was returned far more casually. She felt she couldn't quite be blamed for not being able to relax around her boyfriend's murderous older brother yet…
Even if all the information she had on him might be wrong.
"We'll have to make this short, Sakura, we don't have a lot of time."
"Okay… why?" she responded, wondering if something was up.
"Firstly, your operation's tomorrow. Whatever it is that entails, I don't believe either of us want to find out." She nodded in steadfast agreement. "But, more importantly, Tobi's left the base."
That had her eyebrows shooting up.
"Where'd he go?" She asked suspiciously.
"We're not sure." Itachi shook his head, sighing, and it was clear he was more than a little worried about that particular detail. "All Kabuto and I know is that he's not here. Perhaps he left to go and help one of the other members return with their Tailed-Beast in tow. But it doesn't truly matter at all why he's not here, for, either way, it presents us an opportunity, one too good to pass up, even given our original plan."
"An opportunity? …Which means?"
The man's body began to unravel into a murder of loudly cawing crows.
"We move tonight."
End Chapter 79
Heyo!
Alright, probably only one more double-spaced week before we return to weekly uploads, so look forward to that! Naruto gains full mastery (and then some) of Sage Mode, and understands his persona.
Meanwhile, Sakura, Itachi, and Kabuto are presented an opportunity too good to pass up with Tobi gone.
What shall they do? Probably come back in two weeks. I'm sure all will be revealed then!
Also, if you have thoughts on this chapter, feel free to leave a review, I always appreciate hearing feedback, good or bad!
See you all then!