Part 2.5: Discovery

The trail up to Thunder Capitol was widening out now, and the thick white clouds that obscured it were beginning to grow less opaque as they went on. Naruto stared blankly into the clouds as he carried a large bag of firewood on his back, scowling at Gai every step he took. However, Gai's attention was on the road, and he wore an expression of concern on his face as they grew closer to their destination. Even Lee had noticed Gai's unusually quiet demeanor.

"What's wrong Gai-Sensei," asked Lee, "you're unusually quiet for this being such a momentous journey."

At the sound of Lee's voice, Gai regained his usual attitude, "Yes Lee," he said, "this is a most momentous journey we are undertaking. In it you will no doubt prove your youthful existence to everyone, as the judges of this exam will most surely see the brilliant aura that I have grown in each of you," to which Gai began yelling in a triumphant manner, pumping his fists into the air, and ending it all with a whooping-crane pose complete with ocean background.

Naruto tried to distance himself from Gai, but only succeeded in bumping into Lee, who was wide-eyed with admiration towards his 'most extraordinary sensei'.

Gai was silent for a moment, "You guys keep going on ahead, I've got to, uh, check for a headcount so that no student will not be left behind from the glorious exam that awaits our most beautiful and brilliant village," said Gai. He quickly went into the back of the party and disappeared into the mist.

"Gai-sensei certainly is acting odd," said Naruto, "He's usually more excited about these things then that."

"No doubt Gai-sensei's mind is distracted," lectured Lee, "over the many possible training regiments he has in store for us when we reach the Hidden Cloud."

Naruto didn't answer; his mind drifted over to what Gai had said earlier. 'So,' he thought, 'I wonder what I'm going to be doing with the perverted hermit. No doubt some cool and powerful jutsu that will guarantee me victory.'

Naruto laughed to himself at the thought, continuing on towards Thunder Capitol.

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Gai continued on towards the back of the caravan, searching desperately for someone or something. 'Where is he,' he thought. He continued looking, having to give some most brilliant apologies as he bumped into a few of the sand genin.

Kakashi was still amongst some of the genin that were lagging behind the rest. Gai walked next to Kakashi and started the conversation.

"So," he began, "how does it feel having one of your former pupils under the intense training regiments of the great Gai?"

Kakashi responded, but continued to look forward, "Yeah yeah," he said uncaringly, "you're one amazing teacher."

"Such a cool response," replied Gai, "just like my eternal rival."

Kakashi looked up towards the sky, "I put Naruto with you not only because there was an opening but because I thought he'd be enthused about your hard training methods."

"Well," replied Gai, his tone serious again, "he did seem enthusiastic at first. He worked very hard at everything we did, a quality I admire in people."

Gai looked towards the ground and sighed, "But ever since the meeting with Tsunade," he continued, "he just seems more annoyed with the training I give him rather than enthusiastic about it. It bothers me terribly when I'm not bringing out the best in people."

Kakashi looked over towards Gai, "Well," he continued, "he knows that meeting Sasuke is inevitable, and he blames himself for not being strong enough to bring him back. He probably figures that by learning some really powerful or complicated jutsus or techniques he can become Sasuke's equal."

"I know," said Gai solemnly, "still, his being so unfocused on my lessons disturbs me. He is a very strong ninja and will no doubt grow to be very powerful. I just wonder if he realizes that being a ninja is not about becoming the most powerful. Power and strength can be two different things sometimes."

They were slowly lagging behind the other nin, and the distance between them and the group was growing. "Oh," said Kakashi in surprise, "is the great azure beast giving up?"

Suddenly, Gai's eyes became fire, his stance strong, and his voice powerful. "The great azure beast never gives up. I am Gai! I will most assuredly fulfill the wishes of all my pupils and make their dreams a reality. I will ensure that TenTen becomes as brilliant as the woman Tsunade she admires so much; I will ensure most undoubtedly that Naruto will become a great Hokage and will be renowned throughout the village; and Lee," he paused before going back into his spiel, "Lee will become an amazing ninja that the village, nay the whole world will tell stories about for generations; a most amazing and brilliant ninja who surpassed the great azure beast by leaps and bounds. I promise," finally ending his monologue with his usual good guy pose.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, 'I was right to choose him,' he thought, 'he may be eccentric, but at least he's very enthusiastic.'

As soon as they were out of earshot, Gai's tone turned serious again, "But that is not what I have come here to talk to you about."

"I know," replied Kakashi, his tone also grave.

"You feel it," asked Gai, already knowing the answer to his question. His voice and face grew very dark.

"Oh yeah," replied Kakashi, "there's no doubt about it. Its faint, and you and I are probably the only ones who will recognize it though."

"What do you think it means," continued Gai, "It couldn't possibly be..."

"No," said Kakashi quickly, a hint of fear in his voice, "There's no way. You and I were both there; we saw it with our own eyes," prompting Kakashi to touch the left side of his face where the Sharingan lay hidden.

"I know that," replied Gai, "but still, after what we saw, after what it did, do you think just maybe..."

Kakashi shrugged, "I can't say for sure, but it's very odd to be feeling it again. It may just be residual considering where we are, some nostalgic thing left in the backs of our minds."

Gai looked straight at Kakashi. They were silent for a while until Gai spoke again, "But what if...what if what we're feeling isn't residual but real."

Kakashi looked at him, his eyes half-closed giving him a lazy expression. However, there was obvious panic in his voice as the said to Gai, "Lets not think about that. Whatever happens, happens, and we'll deal with it when it comes."

Gai nodded in agreement. They walked on, but then noticed that the genin in front of them were not moving.

"We've stopped," said Kakashi, "C'mon, let's go to the front and check it out."

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Baki was in the front of the party, waving for Tsunade to stop. Tsunade looked behind and waved down the Jounin senseis to signal the group to halt. Tsunade approached Baki, his expression was very distraught, and his breathing seemed very labored, as if he had run a long distance.

"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked.

"It's..." Baki started to speak but quickly changed his train of thought, "You'd better just come up and see."

Tsunade looked puzzled, but nodded at Baki. She then turned to the group and began shouting orders, "I want everyone to stay here until I get back. Stay with your Jounin senseis and don't wander off."

"Temari, Gaara, Kankuro, come to the front of the line," yelled Baki.

Tsunade had an offended look on her face, having just been undermined by Baki, "Okay what's going on here?" she asked with a bit more force than last time.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama," said Baki in a very apologetic tone, "but we'll need their insight."

'Insight,' she thought, 'what the hell is that supp-' her mind suddenly registered just exactly what Baki was saying. Her eyes grew wide as what he said hit her full force. Baki simply nodded, seeing that she finally understood.

"Let's go, quickly," she said. Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro soon followed suit, following Baki into the mist.

They traveled at a fast run for a good five minutes before coming upon a clearing. She could see a large pyre in the middle of it, but the rest was indistinguishable. Finally, the mist cleared and her jaw dropped in shock.

A large pile of corpses was burning in the middle of the town. Cloud ANBU were piling them on the fire, their movements very slow and solemn. Most of the houses remained intact, except for one that seemed demolished completely. A woman from the ANBU squad approached her. The face was masked, but Tsunade guessed it was a woman for obvious reasons; the only distinguishing quality that showed was a trail of long, jet black hair that gleamed despite the absence of light.

"Hokage of the Leaf," she said, her voice very smooth and cordial, "I am sorry that you have to see such destruction but this man from the Hidden Sand said that you could help our investigation." She bowed deeply, her long hair cascading over her shoulders towards the ground.

Tsunade didn't respond at first, simply staring at the carnage in front of her. Bodies still laid strewn about the ground, blood trailing across the earth and leaving deep gashes in the snow. 'Men, women...children,' she thought, 'it's like the war all over again.'

"Did you see who did this," she finally asked.

The Cloud ANBU nodded her head, "We saw two individuals flee quickly from the scene," she said, her voice quavering slightly, "we pursued them towards the bluffs over in that region," she pointed to the left of the village towards a grouping of small hills and mountains, "the trail we followed soon turned dry, and they seemed to vanish from the area. We could not pursue them any farther so we returned here to look for clues. We were here about thirty minutes before you arrived."

Tsunade nodded but said nothing. She continued to stare at the slaughter before her. The fire had begun to waft the smell of burning flesh into her nostrils. She so wanted to feel sick, to feel the sadness from seeing such a scene. 'I've seen too much of this to feel anything anymore,' she thought. She sighed deeply.

"Did you burn all of the corpses yet?" asked Baki, intruding upon the scene.

"Only the ones where the wounds did not seem out of the ordinary," she said, "We found four or five that match the description of a village razed a few months ago."

Baki nodded and looked towards Tsunade. "Show them to us," she said.

The walked a few meters away from the corpse pile. One of the larger ANBU continued to heap corpses on while the other skinnier ANBU searched through the rubble of a nearby house.

They arrived at a long sheet, which looked like four bodies were underneath. The ANBU female pulled the sheet off revealing four odd looking corpses. Tsunade observed them. Two of the corpses were charred; one looked as though someone had pulled its stomach out of its belly as a large wound protruded from the gut of the victim. The other had a slit moving all the way through her chest as snow could be seen through the other side. Both of what was left of their faces seemed to be in shock, as their mouths were still open. The body next to those two was of a very burly looking man. It appeared like it had a small cannon placed on its chest and had fired completely through; blood still stained the wound, which had begun to dry very rapidly. The final one was a small child. No visible wounds were on it, but blood had dried on the corner of its mouth as its small eyes looked up towards the sky. Tsunade felt a pang of guilt as she looked at it.

"We're not sure how this one died," said the ANBU, "we'll have to do an autopsy because some of the wounds seem strange."

"I found a survivor," yelled a voice behind them. Tsunade removed her eyes from the little boy and looked towards the ANBU.

He was cradling a very small girl in his arms, which shook very badly. Her clothes and body were slightly black and charred as small burns appeared on her face. However, besides a few cuts and scrapes she seemed no physically worse for wear.

Tsunade rushed over to her as the ANBU tore off a long cloak from himself and wrapped the girl in it. She was shaking very badly, 'Probably more out of shock than the cold,' thought Tsunade. Her eyes were very wide and she was whimpering loudly.

"We should take her back to the Hidden Cloud, inform the Raikage of this," said the largest ANBU.

The others nodded in agreement while the female ANBU took the child from the skinny man and cradled her in her arms. The girl clutched at the woman in fear, closing her eyes tightly.

Tsunade was reminded of her own younger sibling. During storms, she would comfort her brother Nawaki until the thunder passed away from them, but now...

She sighed deeply and forced her mind back to the present. 'I have to maintain my composure; I am the Hokage after all.' "Alright," she finally said, "I'll see if I can get my party to go around the village rather than through it so as to not destroy any evidence.

The ANBU nodded at Tsunade. The woman headed back up towards the path, the child wrapped in her arms while the other two searched the houses for any clues, cleaning up any corpses that hey happened to find.

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Baki watched idly as Tsunade went back to the encampment. The woman of the ANBU went back up the path towards the Hidden Cloud, the little girl cradled in her arms. He beckoned Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro towards the bodies. "Does this look familiar," he asked.

"Yes," said Gaara, "these wounds are almost exactly the same as found on what was left of the bodies of the other victims."

"It looks like only two did this as well," added Temari, "based on the way the entered the village, I say they each took a side and then sent into a free-for-all whenever the villagers started panicking."

"I haven't seen this though," said Kankuro, pointing to the body of the young boy, "These particular wounds are strange. It doesn't look like the outer body was damaged in any way, but bones are clearly broken as well as muscle tissue. You'd figure we'd see some bruises, scratches, scrapes, or something."

Baki stared at the three nins as they confirmed his suspicions. "I see," he said, "Thank you for your help; now return to the encampment."

"We could try to pursue them," said Kankuro, "they're probably not far off."

Baki shook his head, "No, the ANBU said their trail was gone, and I don't want you three in unfamiliar territory pursuing an enemy we know very little about."

"Are you afraid we'll be attacked," asked Gaara, an eyebrow raised.

Baki stared at him; he chuckled inwardly, 'I don't think anything less than a demon could take you down Gaara,' he thought to himself.

"No," he finally said, "It would just be a waste of energy. These enemies may or may not concern us just yet. There's too much of a span of time to really find any pattern between the two villages. Just head back to camp for now; I'll talk to you later."

Temari and Kankuro bowed while Gaara simply walked off, his arms crossed over himself. All three of them began to head back to the encampment while Baki took one last glance at the slaughter before joining them.

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Gai and Kakashi had arrived at the village, watching the fire burn in the distance. They had passed Tsunade on the way up, but she seemed too busy hurrying back to the encampment to scold them.

"It's not what we thought," said Gai.

"No, it's different somehow," said Kakashi thoughtfully.

"But yet, the feeling has its similarities," added Gai.

"I know, but we can't assume the worst."

"What do you think it is then?"

Kakashi stared off into the distance, up into the path to Thunder Capitol. "I have a feeling we're going to find out," he said ominously.

"Whatever comes, comes?" said Gai.

"Yeah, something like that."

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Naruto sat idly in the snow, while thoughts of training consumed him. 'I bet its some super-cool jutsu," thought Naruto, "like a cool thunder type jutsu, since we are in Thunder Country. Or maybe it's some ultra cool technique that will make a simple flick of my fingers crush mountains. Or MAYBE...it has to do with the nine-tails.' He hadn't used the Kyuubi's chakra to a large extent since the mission to recover Sasuke. He had practiced pulling it out at times when he was alone; even during some private training sessions with Gai, he had managed to pull some out. Gai didn't seem to mind; he actually seemed kind of impressed with him. 'Still,' he thought, 'I wonder why Gai-sensei was so adamant about me learning the 'proper' method for jutsus. If I learn a jutsu, I'll use it when I have to, enough said. Sometimes Gai-sensei really doesn't make any sense.'

His thoughts wondered off to Sasuke. 'Last time, I wasn't strong enough. But this time, things will be different,' he thought, 'I know if I have another chance I can beat Sasuke back to his senses. I just know it.'

His train of thought was cut off when Tsunade reappeared. "Alright everyone," she said loudly, "We're going to get back on course, I want you all to follow me around a side path, and from there, we're going to go straight to Thunder Capitol.

Naruto sat back up, the firewood still strapped to his back and hiked on. 'Damn Gai,' he thought, 'he knew we wouldn't need this stuff, he just wanted me to carry it up here.' He looked up to see his sensei slowly make his way back down to them. His expression was very strange; it almost looked serious, a rarity for Gai. 'Naruto stared at him oddly, eliciting a good-guy pose from Gai, before he hurried them on to follow Tsunade.

The party went around the outskirts of a large fire; he couldn't really see much else as the mist blocked it from view. 'Damn, what smells,' he thought as a particularly rancid scent caught his attention.

They walked on the foggy path for what seemed like hours, their footsteps becoming monotonous as they made their way farther into the Hidden Cloud. Suddenly, the mist cleared up. The sky was much lighter now, as the blackened clouds above had turned a light grey color. Naruto looked up and heard a very strange array of noises in front of him.

They finally overcame a particularly steep hill. Naruto shoved himself onto the flat earth and stared in awe at Thunder Capitol.

A/N: Hey, thanks for all the reviews, good or bad it all helps.