Disclaimer: I Don't Own Naruto.... I think
Hey Zero here, Chapter 3 is up so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Truth
Sakura trudged heavily back to the village. Her whole body ached and every step she took felt like her last. The words "I have to help Naruto!" screamed inside her head. There's no way I'm going to let Naruto die, she told herself.
She had one of Naruto's arms slung over her. He was still unconscious but he was looking better, his wound had stopped bleeding. Unknown to her, though Naruto's wound had not only stopped bleeding it was almost completely healed courtesy of Nine Tails.
She could see many other ninja's walking back some being carried by others. Most of them weren't in any better condition than they were so she decided not to ask for help.
"Hey Sakura..." she heard a voice behind her. She looked behind her to see Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei and another jounin coming up behind them. Sakura gasped when she saw Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei was carrying him and he looked to be in an even worse condition than Naruto.
Despite what he said to her earlier she couldn't help caring about Sasuke. But Naruto was hurt too, so with the last of her energy she stammered, "Kakashi sensei! You must help Naruto. He's hurt bad and..." "Whoa, Whoa Sakura, slow down and tell me what happened." Kakashi-sensei replied calmly.
Sakura explained the whole situation to Kakashi, how Naruto got hurt, the plan, and what the Man in Black did and what happened in the end. "Hmmm, I don't like the sound of it," Kakashi said contemplatively. "Kurenai, can you take these two back to the Godaime, she'll be able to heal them." Kakashi said indicating Naruto and Sasuke.
"Right" Kurenai responded. She gave Naruto to the other jounin, took Sasuke herself and in a flash they raced back into Konoha. "Now, Sakura can you take me to the place where you and Naruto faced this ninja?" Kakashi said to Sakura.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei" Sakura responded. Sakura led Kakashi through the battlefield back to the spot where they had encountered the man in black. There they found the body of the man in black exactly where they had left it.
"Hmmm, Naruto must've used the Rasengan." Kakashi pondered out loud while examining the thrashed body, Sakura nodded slightly. Kakashi examined the body from head to toe but he stopped when he saw the strange mark burned into the man's hand and arm.
"I don't like the looks of this" Kakashi muttered under his breath. "What kind of ninjutsu is it Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. "I'm not quite sure, it looks like some kind of sealing jutsu, only...different." Kakashi replied.
"Sakura, run back to the village and inform the Godaime once she's finished healing Naruto and Sasuke. Tell her to come quick and bring Jiraiya-sensei as well." "Yes, Kakashi-sensei!"
Sakura bolted back into the village while Kakashi stayed with the body. Within approximately half an hour Sakura returned with Tsunade, Jiraiya and two members from the ANBU squad.
"What's the emergency Kakashi?" Jiraiya yawned; he seemed to have just awoken from a nap. "This..." Kakashi said plainly pointing to man in black. Jiraiya seemed to recover from his drowsiness immediately when he saw the corpse of the man in black.
"So...The Akatsuki was behind this attack then..." Jiraiya replied sternly. "It seems so..." Kakashi answered. "And this was the one whom attacked Naruto?" Jiraiya asked Sakura. "Yes" She answered meekly. Sakura had already informed them of the situation
"Wait a minute..." Tsunade butted in, "I thought the Akatsuki had only nine shinobi in their organization."
"Yes they do, all of the ninjas who attacked us were probably just followers. Lower class henchmen." Jiraiya said out loud while starting to examine the body. "But was this really one of the nine?" Asked Kakashi.
"No, I highly doubt it, I don't think a member of the Akatsuki would be so easy to get rid of" Jiraiya said. "He might have been dressed in that black robe for a reason... what it is, I'm not quite sure...." Jiraiya trailed off.
All this time they were talking Sakura was just standing there listening to the conversation. She was getting confused she had no idea what this Akatsuki was or what it had to do with Naruto but she knew that this couldn't be good.
"Hmmm? What's this?" Jiraiya said sternly his eyes opening wide. He had finally got to the mark on the man's arm. "I don't know" Kakashi replied, "I was hoping you could tell me."
"This is a...." Jiraiya paused for a moment, and then all of a sudden he spun around and grabbed Sakura by her shoulders. He knelt down and looked directly into her eyes.
"Sakura-chan, what I'm about to ask you is of the utmost importance, you must answer truthfully! Do you understand?" Sakura nodded a bit frightened at Jiraiya sudden move.
"This man, when you and Naruto fought him...did he touch Naruto in any way with the hand which has the marks on it?" Jiraiya asked. All of the goofiness had gone out of his eyes; it was replaced with a serious cold stare, which frightened Sakura even more. "Please Sakura-chan! Did he?!"
"N-No, he didn't Jiraiya-sensei. Naruto and I used Henge no Jutsu to switch places so that Naruto could use that technique you taught him." Sakura explained, "And he hit me with that hand instead. There was a bright red light and..."
"So he never touched Naruto with that hand then?" Jiraiya cut her off. "No" She replied. Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. "Jiraiya-sensei, am I going to be ok? Sakura asked fear growing in her eyes.
Jiraiya's expression softened and he smiled, "Don't worry, Sakura- chan, you're going to be fine. That technique would have had no effect on you so don't worry about it ok?" "Ok" she answered still a little bit confused.
"Now, why don't you go back to the village and get some rest." Jiraiya said while standing up. "Ummm, may I ask you one more thing Jiraiya- sensei?" She asked. "Uh, sure" "Naruto said that...he said that he knew what they wanted and that they couldn't have it,"
"What was he talking about?" She asked. Jiraiya turned his back towards her. "Nothing, you needn't concern yourself, you and Naruto will be fine now, head back to the village, you've had a long day." He answered firmly.
Sakura sighed and lowered her head. She realized that she would get no more answers so she heavily began trudging back to the village. As soon as she was out of hearing range Tsunade said "Follow her" to one of the ANBU members.
He nodded, bowed slightly towards her and disappeared. "So Jiraiya- san...what is this mark anyways?" Tsunade inquired. Jiraiya was slow to respond, "This mark was made by the man using his own blood and then combined with the jutsu burned the mark into his hand...I've seen a jutsu similar to this before, but the degree of which this mark was burned onto his hand...I can tell that this was far more powerful than the one I saw."
"So what exactly was this jutsu? Kakashi asked solemnly. This whole situation was turning into quite a suspense thriller and Kakashi hated suspense. The wind surrounding them just then seemed to get a little quieter and all noise seemed to fade away as if waiting for Jiraiya's answer.
Jiraiya paused for a moment as if trying to select the right words and he then looked up and said.
"This...is a seal breaking jutsu." "Seal breaking?!" Kakashi repeated his uncovered eye growing wide. "So...he was trying to break Naruto's seal and release Kyuubi" Tsunade said thoughtfully. "Yes, that was probably his mission from the Akatsuki...a mission which he gave his life for." Jiraiya said.
At that moment everyone including Jiraiya looked extremely grim. All noise from the forest seemed to come back to life but there seemed to be an aura of fear in the air.
"Looks like your teachings saved us all," Kakashi said lightly trying to lift the mood, "If Naruto hadn't known the Rasengan he wouldn't have been able to defeat this man."
"No" Jiraiya interjected, "This man was dead the moment he used that jutsu regardless of whether it hit Naruto or not." "So, it's a kinjutsu then?" Tsunade asked. "Yes" Jiraiya answered, "So, the Akatsuki sent him to break Kyuubi's seal even if it meant ending his life" Kakashi pondered out loud, "Then this whole attack was just a diversion as well, all so that they could try to get to Naruto and release Kyuubi without any interference."
The whole situation seemed to be getting worse and worse. "If that's the case then we can't expect this to be over. Jiraiya said, "They'll definitely try to get at Naruto again and next time they might succeed in releasing Nine Tails. I've been training Naruto to draw out and use a little bit of Kyuubi's Chakra but if the whole seal is released Naruto won't be able to control it and we'll have our fox demon back!" "So what would be the best course of action from here on?" Kakashi asked
"We should go on the offense and hunt the Akatsuki down." Jiraiya said sternly. "But how...we have no idea how where they are or how to get to them." Tsunade stated. "I'll go to the Village sound since many of the attacking ninjas bore that headband....perhaps I can find something out." Jiraiya said.
"Do you want to have some members of the ANBU squad accompany you?" Tsunade asked, "No, they'll just slow me down and make me look suspicious and stupid standing around them with those masks" Jiraiya said while giving the member of the ANBU squad who was standing there a weird look.
"Until I get back prepare as many shinobi as you can to mobilize. Inform all of the Jounin and Chuunin of the situation assemble the teams and call the lands of Sand and Mist for help as well." With that said Jiraiya began walking off.
"Wait!" "Tsunade called "You're going now?!" "Of course...no time like the present!" He called back. Tsunade sighed. "Just be careful" She yelled. He waved and continued walking on.
"Should we mobilize the Genins as well?" Kakashi asked, "Yes" she answered, "We need to watch over Naruto carefully. We'll assemble teams of Genin and Chuunin and Jounins as the leaders." She paused concentrating on what else to do.
"Kakashi gather all of the Chuunins and Jounins for a meeting and you dispose of this body." Tsunade said to the remaining ANBU member, "I'll send out a couple messengers to the lands of Sand and Mist. We'll need all the help we can get with this one."
With that said, Kakashi disappeared in an instance while the remaining ANBU member gave a slight bow to the Godaime, grabbed the man in black's corpse, slung it over his shoulder and also disappeared.
Tsunade gave a slight sigh. Just when she had accepted the position of 5th Hokage and everything had seemed to settle down something like this happens. She closed her eyes and began walking back to the Village of the Leaf.
Hey everyone sorry that this chapter took so long to come out. I've been on vacation (and still am) and it's been hard to find time to write. Anyways I'll try to get chapter four out soon and again a lot of things will be explained in that chapter! Anyways thanks for reading and R&R plz. Later
Hey Zero here, Chapter 3 is up so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Truth
Sakura trudged heavily back to the village. Her whole body ached and every step she took felt like her last. The words "I have to help Naruto!" screamed inside her head. There's no way I'm going to let Naruto die, she told herself.
She had one of Naruto's arms slung over her. He was still unconscious but he was looking better, his wound had stopped bleeding. Unknown to her, though Naruto's wound had not only stopped bleeding it was almost completely healed courtesy of Nine Tails.
She could see many other ninja's walking back some being carried by others. Most of them weren't in any better condition than they were so she decided not to ask for help.
"Hey Sakura..." she heard a voice behind her. She looked behind her to see Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei and another jounin coming up behind them. Sakura gasped when she saw Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei was carrying him and he looked to be in an even worse condition than Naruto.
Despite what he said to her earlier she couldn't help caring about Sasuke. But Naruto was hurt too, so with the last of her energy she stammered, "Kakashi sensei! You must help Naruto. He's hurt bad and..." "Whoa, Whoa Sakura, slow down and tell me what happened." Kakashi-sensei replied calmly.
Sakura explained the whole situation to Kakashi, how Naruto got hurt, the plan, and what the Man in Black did and what happened in the end. "Hmmm, I don't like the sound of it," Kakashi said contemplatively. "Kurenai, can you take these two back to the Godaime, she'll be able to heal them." Kakashi said indicating Naruto and Sasuke.
"Right" Kurenai responded. She gave Naruto to the other jounin, took Sasuke herself and in a flash they raced back into Konoha. "Now, Sakura can you take me to the place where you and Naruto faced this ninja?" Kakashi said to Sakura.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei" Sakura responded. Sakura led Kakashi through the battlefield back to the spot where they had encountered the man in black. There they found the body of the man in black exactly where they had left it.
"Hmmm, Naruto must've used the Rasengan." Kakashi pondered out loud while examining the thrashed body, Sakura nodded slightly. Kakashi examined the body from head to toe but he stopped when he saw the strange mark burned into the man's hand and arm.
"I don't like the looks of this" Kakashi muttered under his breath. "What kind of ninjutsu is it Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. "I'm not quite sure, it looks like some kind of sealing jutsu, only...different." Kakashi replied.
"Sakura, run back to the village and inform the Godaime once she's finished healing Naruto and Sasuke. Tell her to come quick and bring Jiraiya-sensei as well." "Yes, Kakashi-sensei!"
Sakura bolted back into the village while Kakashi stayed with the body. Within approximately half an hour Sakura returned with Tsunade, Jiraiya and two members from the ANBU squad.
"What's the emergency Kakashi?" Jiraiya yawned; he seemed to have just awoken from a nap. "This..." Kakashi said plainly pointing to man in black. Jiraiya seemed to recover from his drowsiness immediately when he saw the corpse of the man in black.
"So...The Akatsuki was behind this attack then..." Jiraiya replied sternly. "It seems so..." Kakashi answered. "And this was the one whom attacked Naruto?" Jiraiya asked Sakura. "Yes" She answered meekly. Sakura had already informed them of the situation
"Wait a minute..." Tsunade butted in, "I thought the Akatsuki had only nine shinobi in their organization."
"Yes they do, all of the ninjas who attacked us were probably just followers. Lower class henchmen." Jiraiya said out loud while starting to examine the body. "But was this really one of the nine?" Asked Kakashi.
"No, I highly doubt it, I don't think a member of the Akatsuki would be so easy to get rid of" Jiraiya said. "He might have been dressed in that black robe for a reason... what it is, I'm not quite sure...." Jiraiya trailed off.
All this time they were talking Sakura was just standing there listening to the conversation. She was getting confused she had no idea what this Akatsuki was or what it had to do with Naruto but she knew that this couldn't be good.
"Hmmm? What's this?" Jiraiya said sternly his eyes opening wide. He had finally got to the mark on the man's arm. "I don't know" Kakashi replied, "I was hoping you could tell me."
"This is a...." Jiraiya paused for a moment, and then all of a sudden he spun around and grabbed Sakura by her shoulders. He knelt down and looked directly into her eyes.
"Sakura-chan, what I'm about to ask you is of the utmost importance, you must answer truthfully! Do you understand?" Sakura nodded a bit frightened at Jiraiya sudden move.
"This man, when you and Naruto fought him...did he touch Naruto in any way with the hand which has the marks on it?" Jiraiya asked. All of the goofiness had gone out of his eyes; it was replaced with a serious cold stare, which frightened Sakura even more. "Please Sakura-chan! Did he?!"
"N-No, he didn't Jiraiya-sensei. Naruto and I used Henge no Jutsu to switch places so that Naruto could use that technique you taught him." Sakura explained, "And he hit me with that hand instead. There was a bright red light and..."
"So he never touched Naruto with that hand then?" Jiraiya cut her off. "No" She replied. Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. "Jiraiya-sensei, am I going to be ok? Sakura asked fear growing in her eyes.
Jiraiya's expression softened and he smiled, "Don't worry, Sakura- chan, you're going to be fine. That technique would have had no effect on you so don't worry about it ok?" "Ok" she answered still a little bit confused.
"Now, why don't you go back to the village and get some rest." Jiraiya said while standing up. "Ummm, may I ask you one more thing Jiraiya- sensei?" She asked. "Uh, sure" "Naruto said that...he said that he knew what they wanted and that they couldn't have it,"
"What was he talking about?" She asked. Jiraiya turned his back towards her. "Nothing, you needn't concern yourself, you and Naruto will be fine now, head back to the village, you've had a long day." He answered firmly.
Sakura sighed and lowered her head. She realized that she would get no more answers so she heavily began trudging back to the village. As soon as she was out of hearing range Tsunade said "Follow her" to one of the ANBU members.
He nodded, bowed slightly towards her and disappeared. "So Jiraiya- san...what is this mark anyways?" Tsunade inquired. Jiraiya was slow to respond, "This mark was made by the man using his own blood and then combined with the jutsu burned the mark into his hand...I've seen a jutsu similar to this before, but the degree of which this mark was burned onto his hand...I can tell that this was far more powerful than the one I saw."
"So what exactly was this jutsu? Kakashi asked solemnly. This whole situation was turning into quite a suspense thriller and Kakashi hated suspense. The wind surrounding them just then seemed to get a little quieter and all noise seemed to fade away as if waiting for Jiraiya's answer.
Jiraiya paused for a moment as if trying to select the right words and he then looked up and said.
"This...is a seal breaking jutsu." "Seal breaking?!" Kakashi repeated his uncovered eye growing wide. "So...he was trying to break Naruto's seal and release Kyuubi" Tsunade said thoughtfully. "Yes, that was probably his mission from the Akatsuki...a mission which he gave his life for." Jiraiya said.
At that moment everyone including Jiraiya looked extremely grim. All noise from the forest seemed to come back to life but there seemed to be an aura of fear in the air.
"Looks like your teachings saved us all," Kakashi said lightly trying to lift the mood, "If Naruto hadn't known the Rasengan he wouldn't have been able to defeat this man."
"No" Jiraiya interjected, "This man was dead the moment he used that jutsu regardless of whether it hit Naruto or not." "So, it's a kinjutsu then?" Tsunade asked. "Yes" Jiraiya answered, "So, the Akatsuki sent him to break Kyuubi's seal even if it meant ending his life" Kakashi pondered out loud, "Then this whole attack was just a diversion as well, all so that they could try to get to Naruto and release Kyuubi without any interference."
The whole situation seemed to be getting worse and worse. "If that's the case then we can't expect this to be over. Jiraiya said, "They'll definitely try to get at Naruto again and next time they might succeed in releasing Nine Tails. I've been training Naruto to draw out and use a little bit of Kyuubi's Chakra but if the whole seal is released Naruto won't be able to control it and we'll have our fox demon back!" "So what would be the best course of action from here on?" Kakashi asked
"We should go on the offense and hunt the Akatsuki down." Jiraiya said sternly. "But how...we have no idea how where they are or how to get to them." Tsunade stated. "I'll go to the Village sound since many of the attacking ninjas bore that headband....perhaps I can find something out." Jiraiya said.
"Do you want to have some members of the ANBU squad accompany you?" Tsunade asked, "No, they'll just slow me down and make me look suspicious and stupid standing around them with those masks" Jiraiya said while giving the member of the ANBU squad who was standing there a weird look.
"Until I get back prepare as many shinobi as you can to mobilize. Inform all of the Jounin and Chuunin of the situation assemble the teams and call the lands of Sand and Mist for help as well." With that said Jiraiya began walking off.
"Wait!" "Tsunade called "You're going now?!" "Of course...no time like the present!" He called back. Tsunade sighed. "Just be careful" She yelled. He waved and continued walking on.
"Should we mobilize the Genins as well?" Kakashi asked, "Yes" she answered, "We need to watch over Naruto carefully. We'll assemble teams of Genin and Chuunin and Jounins as the leaders." She paused concentrating on what else to do.
"Kakashi gather all of the Chuunins and Jounins for a meeting and you dispose of this body." Tsunade said to the remaining ANBU member, "I'll send out a couple messengers to the lands of Sand and Mist. We'll need all the help we can get with this one."
With that said, Kakashi disappeared in an instance while the remaining ANBU member gave a slight bow to the Godaime, grabbed the man in black's corpse, slung it over his shoulder and also disappeared.
Tsunade gave a slight sigh. Just when she had accepted the position of 5th Hokage and everything had seemed to settle down something like this happens. She closed her eyes and began walking back to the Village of the Leaf.
Hey everyone sorry that this chapter took so long to come out. I've been on vacation (and still am) and it's been hard to find time to write. Anyways I'll try to get chapter four out soon and again a lot of things will be explained in that chapter! Anyways thanks for reading and R&R plz. Later