Master

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Chapter 1: The Return

The Hokage had ordered an emergency meeting for the ninja of Konohagakure village. There had been a messenger earlier that day warning her that a group of rouge ninja was on the way to their village. The Anbu messenger had thought that they might be a threat but she knew the true purpose for the visit. She had been expecting this day for a few months now. She had been going over the paperwork that was left on her desk when a scroll suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

The scroll had informed her that long ago there had been a terrible battle between the villagers of Konoha and a nine tailed fox demon. If drastic measures hadn't been taken then the village would have been destroyed. The Hokage of the time, which turned out to be the First Hokage, had sealed the demon in the body of an infant after which he died. The child was raised to the age of eight in the village where it became obvious that the villagers still held a grudge against the demon and so turned it on the boy. To prevent further injury to the boy the new Hokage had asked an ally ninja cell to take the boy and train him to be one of theirs. The cell agreed and said that they would be back to show how the boy turned out. They came back about thirty years later but the boy looked around eighteen at the most. As it turned out there were side effects to sealing the demon inside of the boy. The Hokage saw that the boy was taken care of and that he was very obedient so there wasn't really a chance that he would turn on the village but just to be sure the boy was sent back to the cell. He ended up living with them for the rest of that Hokage's lifetime and then some. Eventually the cell was destroyed though no one is sure how and the boy was taken in by another group of rouge ninja. There was no further information available though the scroll did mention that the boy was due back in the village soon.

The Hokage had been a little stunned at the information but decided it would be best to just prepare. So here she was about to inform the entire ninja population that there was a group of rouge ninja on the way to the village. She had thought that it would be best not to mention anything about the demon seeing as it would only cause panic and the previous Hokage had thought that the demon was obedient. So she had decided to tell the ninjas under her command that there was a group of rouge ninja on their way to the village and that they would stop a half days walk from the gates. They would only stay long enough for her to go to them and retrieve someone then they would be on their way but she wanted everyone to be on guard while they were there. No one ever knew what a rouge ninja would do especially confronted with a village full of ninja still loyal to their village. That was okay though because Konoha village had one of the fiercest hunter shinobi and they knew their village would be safe. The Hokage had always wondered the why of that but now that she knew that there was a demon sealed in the body of a rouge ninja that used to be apart of Konoha she thought it prudent.

She informed everyone of their current situation and then ordered them to guard positions. She decided that she would have two Anbu and one jonin accompany her took the rouges camp. Since she already had two Anbu with her it was just a matter of finding a jonin but right at that moment a jonin just happened to walk into the meeting…late as usual. She thought about it for a moment then called the jonin over.

"Ne Hokage-sama sorry I'm late there was this cat and it fell into the river so I had to get it out." He said as if it were an everyday occurrence though he wasn't wet at all.

"Yes well I'm glad you care so much about the animal community. The fact of the matter is I need a jonin to accompany me and I've already assigned everyone else a task so you're coming with me." She smiled as he blinked.

She knew that he had lied to her about the cat so she decided to play his game and lied to him about everyone else being busy. She thought it perfect justice for the perpetually late ninja. Though there was another reason she had chosen him. She knew that he was actually a very good ninja that could be a higher rank then jonin if he wanted it and with his sharingan eye he would be a great asset on this mission. She told him to be ready within the hour and then turned to her Anbu.

They had plans of their own to make like what to do with the boy once they got him back. Though thinking about it she realized that he would only appear to be a boy when he was actually older then all of them. It wasn't going to be too hard to explain why he was staying in Konoha instead of leaving with the rest of the rouges. She thought that since he would look like a boy that they could just say that she wanted him to have a different life and so had offered him a place in the village. She knew that she would have to come up with a place for him to stay but since he was a trained ninja that he could start working for her as soon as they knew he wouldn't betray the village. She would also have to make sure that no one ever found out about the nine tailed fox incident though that wouldn't be too hard since there wasn't really anyone besides her that knew of it in the first place.

It took a few hours but eventually everyone was ready and the rouges were close to the village. The latest report said that they were setting up camp and preparing an envoy so the Hokage went in search of her jonin escort. She had decided that he had gone on ahead or that he was hiding and decided to go by herself. Kakashi found her just as she was about to leave the village. After a quick scolding they started out together. It took the rest of the day to get to the rouge camp and by then it was dark and food was being prepared. They were greeted by a sentry at first but were allowed to go close enough to see other people in a little camp.

There seemed to be about five people around a small campfire. One of them stood up and went to greet them. The others except for one who stayed by the fire tending the food soon followed him. They followed the rouges back to their fire and sat down with them to get the pleasantries over with so they could return to their village.

"It's so nice to finally meet you Hokage-sama. We have been looking forward to this day for many years. And we do hope that your village likes our work with their demon child. It was interesting on how the first group tried to break him but obviously ineffective. Our method has worked quite well though so you don't have to worry about a repeat of that incident. This is the boy right here."

One of the men tried to explain things to them but ended up confusing the Hokage. She wasn't sure what the man meant by 'that incident' but wasn't sure that it was a good thing seeing as the first group was destroyed. She nodded to the man anyways not wanting to appear misinformed and looked towards the boy.

The boy was crouched over the fire staring at the flames. He was wearing mostly gray clothing with a black headband. His hair was blond with bright red streaks running through it. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to shift to a deep purple at times. His hands seemed to end in claws as they weaved through the flames it was a wonder he didn't get burned.

The Hokage smiled and went to sit next to the boy when the man that had gone to greet them stopped her. He told her that he might look like a boy but he was still a demon and she had to be careful around him until she understood all of his command words. As it turned out the rouges had planned on staying the next day to teach her the most important of the commands needed to control the boy. She nodded her understanding and asked if they could start right away. The man seemed surprised at first but then agreed saying the faster the better.

The first thing that needed to be explained was how they managed to make the boy do what they wanted in the first place. It was obvious that he was stronger then all of them and that if he had wanted to he could kill them all and leave which was the first groups mistake. They had to come up with a seal jutsu that would make him obey them no matter what. It was difficult at first and a lot of people died but they soon figured out a way to make him obedient. The only problem was that the seal only worked with one person. So they had one of their most loyal ninja place the jutsu on the boy and had commanded him that way eventually that ninja died though and they ended up having the same problem they had in the beginning. Though now the boy knew how they controlled him and after being controlled in that way he was very pissed. That time he massacred half of the village they were in. Eventually they put more power into the seal and it created a leash and collar made out of chakra. Unfortunately they put a little too much power into the jutsu and ever since then the leash passes from person to person when the current master gets too weak or is near dying. The collar will make the boy obey but the leash binds the boy to his master in ways that only a leash bearer could know. Currently the person with the leash is dying and they needed to find a new leash bearer before that happened.

"That's interesting. How exactly is the next leash bearer chosen? Do you pick them?"

The Hokage had heard enough of how they had treated the boy. She knew that they had treated him horribly and that was all she needed to know. She just wanted to get the boy away from these people so that she could see if he needed any help.

"If you would follow me I will bring you to Masema. He is the current leash holder. And to answer your question, no I don't choose the bearer. In fact the leash is the one that chooses. Normally the current bearer would start traveling in whatever direction the leash pulled strongest and eventually they would come across someone that could bear the strain of the leash. Hopefully one of you will be able to wear the leash if not then we will have to travel to your village."

The Hokage was about to protest saying that they would not be allowed in the village when a man crawled out of a sleeping bag that was near the boy. She hadn't noticed that there was a person in the bag since it was so still. She could barely sense any chakra emanating from the man it was like he was at deaths door.

As the man stood up everything stopped. Everyone froze in what they were doing to watch him. And then all at once it started again as the other men went to try and restrain the man and put him back in his bed. But he wouldn't lye back down he kept staring at Kakashi as if he had seen a ghost.

"What is the meaning of this? What is wrong with that man?"

The Hokage asked the men around her. It was the man she had been talking to that answered her. He told her that the man that had stood up was Masema and that he shouldn't be able to move. He had been in a coma the entire trip. The man Masema spoke to Kakashi in a low whisper showing that his body was mostly spent and that he would die soon.

"You are the next one to inherit the leash. You are the next to be cursed. Be watchful of the kit for he will steal your soul. Esaeler em."

With the finale two words Masema's body fell to the ground. The men rushed over to him but it was too late he was unconscious again. They pick him up and carried him over to his bed. It was then that the Hokage noticed that Kakashi was on the ground as well; she looked over to the boy to see that he was also slumped over. She asked the men to carry Kakashi over to the fire and demanded to know what was going on.

The man told her that none of them had ever witnessed the transaction before but that he would tell her as much as he could. Masema sent the three of them to a place within their minds where they will be tested to see if they are worthy yet. Masema will be tested to see if he is worthy to die yet. Kakashi will be tested in whether or not he can be a leash bearer and the boy was being tested for something that none of them knew about since no one had ever been able to make the boy talk about it before. It would take them the rest of the night and most of the next day to finish with the test. The only thing they could do now was to wait. So everyone prepared for sleep they invited the Hokage to sleep in the camp and she accepted. She stayed close to Kakashi throughout the night and hoped that the morning would bring better news. She was starting to feel guilty that she had forced the copy nin to go with her.

TBC…Sorry about the long wait but I wasn't sure how I was going to do this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next one out sooner. Please review!