Muahahah. Yeah, that's about all I have to say right now. You'll know why
when you get half way through it. I'm surprised, though, that no one
figured out who the red-eyed man is... I thought that would have been easy.
Let's just say you've all seen him... unless you follow Shonen Jump, but he
was mentioned in it... during the Haku arc.
Chapter Title: 36. Blessed Release
They continued on, neither talking nor stopping for another few hours. It didn't take too long for Naruto to recognise a few of the landmarks.
"Wait a second." He burst out, stopping the two adults. "Why are we going in the same direction as the Sand Village?" Both his companions looked to each other for a moment.
"I didn't know that." His mother replied, smiling softly. "What a strange coincidence. Are they allies of your village?"
"They might be." He replied, not noticing the subtle change in topic. "We got some reconnaissance information that they might be willing to form an alliance with us in order to defend against other countries."
"Interesting." They continued on in silence until their body guard stopped them both and nodded slightly to his mother.
"Naruto-kun, you've been so great." She exclaimed, smiling sincerely. "I've always thought humans were snivelling little beasts, but you're a lot different. You have so much of my child within you. Would you mind if I spoke with him one more time?" She asked.
"But this is my body now." He replied. He'd allowed the Kitsune to take over twice, and both left him feeling entirely insecure about the whole deal. He knew he couldn't trust the Kitsune, but her face looked so sad and he found he couldn't deny her pleas. "Okay, but just for a few minutes." His consciousness subsided and, instead of the last couple of times, he listened in on their conversation.
"He's suspicious of you." The Kitsune spoke as soon as he was in control. "He's listening as we speak. Her face twisted into an ugly smirk and she snorted in response.
"Well, that's just too bad, now isn't it?" She sneered, leaning in to study the blonde's features carefully. "It's so surprising that for so long this little child managed to hold back such a great beast. Can you hold him down while I perform the seal?" Naruto panicked when he felt his head nod out of his control, but the Kyuubi had been let out too far and now had free reign over the boy's body, enough to force Naruto into submission.
He watched in horror as the woman who claimed to be his... no the Kitsune's mother moved her hands faster than the eye could see in a series of hand seals. If he had been in control of his body, he might have hyperventilated when wave after wave of terror crashed over him.
"Itachi-sama, don't look so grave." She hissed over her shoulder. Her bodyguard didn't move, but kept his red eyes trained on the pair as she worked her chakra into her hands as the last of the seals were performed. "You're about to get everything you ever wished for." She exclaimed with a horrid cackling laugh, as though she really knew what the masked man wanted. She unzipped Naruto's orange jacket and slipped her pale hands up his shirt to rest on his navel where the seal began to glow, red hot, beneath her hands.
He struggled beneath the Kitsune's hold on him, feeling his stomach begin to flutter uneasily and the seal burn excruciatingly right down to his core. He could feel his thoughts beginning to mesh together and he found he couldn't think straight, much less fight off the fox. It didn't take long for him to lose the fight against the Kitsune and allow the brilliant white to swallow him whole with the blessed release from the absolute pain the now ugly woman had put him through.
***
The shockwave was felt throughout most of Sand and all of Konoha. No one was able to anticipate such a tremor, and so most were thrown to the ground like rag dolls. Those who felt it milliseconds before it hit managed to gather their bearings quickly enough to only stagger to their knees roughly. Windows imploded, and the weakest houses collapsed as though they were made of toothpicks. The old-fashioned ryokans didn't even stand a chance against the blast.
Kakashi and the rest of his team was pushed face first into the grass, knocked off their feet roughly. Sakura had to spit out a mouthful of dirt and weeds and Sasuke began cursing under his breath, but they both fell still and silent when they saw the look of shock on Kakashi's face.
"Kuso!" He swore under his breath, standing up quickly and dusting himself off, before taking off at a slow run towards the Hokage offices.
"Matte yo!" Sakura called after him and they both sprinted after their teacher in hopes of catching up. Along the way, vendor's carts had been overturned, vegetables thrown everywhere, and everyone was covered in the dirt from the streets. Nobody seemed to know what had happened, and the village was thrown into chaos for fear that the shockwave may hit again. Sasuke and Sakura continued at their rushed pace until they finally caught up to the silver-haired jounin who had halted in front of the Hokage on top of the roof.
She had her back to the three, but she didn't look as majestic as her title suggested. Instead, she was on her knees, leaning heavily on the bars of the railing for support, while her entire body shook with sobs. Kakashi moved to take a step forward when Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke and pulled her gently into his arms and away from the ledge. The remainder of team seven stepped closer to find Tsunade mumbling over and over again to Jiraiya.
"He's gone; the Kyuubi's been released." Sasuke inhaled sharply and Kakashi's shoulders sagged in resignation, as though he knew it from the moment the wave knocked him to the floor.
"He can't be." Sasuke denied it, stepping forward and glaring angrily at the older woman. "You have to be talking about someone else."
"No, Naruto's soul... everything that he is... was... was destroyed when that shockwave hit us." They all paled at her words. It was too much to even consider that the blonde was gone from the village, let alone their lives forever.
"What are you talking about, baba!?" Sasuke yelled, demanding an explanation. His patience was already hair-thin at the mere idea of losing his best friend.
"Naruto's soul, his spirit, has become null and void." She repeated, holding tighter to Jiraiya's arm as she lay in his lap. Feeling her need for this comfort, the sennin held her even closer. "The Kitsune has either... expelled it or..." No matter how hard she tried and no matter which way she went, she could not get herself to repeat it.
"He's dead." Jiraiya spoke up for her, holding down his emotions as long as he could. "That shockwave killed him. It was inevitable when he left Konoha. He gave in to the Kitsune's desire to have his mother and now the fox demon has been released. He has full use of Naruto's... former body to cause all the chaos he wants. Revenge."
"So then the blast..." Sakura trailed off, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the response.
"It was a surge of chakra that was caused when someone released the seal that kept the Kitsune locked up." Tsunade sat up, wiping her hair from her dry eyes; she hadn't shed a tear yet. "The dominant soul purged the body of the weaker one, and from the blast it's obvious which one was stronger at the time." She closed her eyes slowly and began to rock back and forth as tears finally made their way past her darkened eyelashes and down her cheeks.
"He's dead?" Sasuke spoke up after a while. It wasn't sinking in for him. "He can't be dead."
"No, he can't." Tsunade repeated his words. "He wasn't supposed to die. Stupid piece of junk jewellery. He was supposed to live to become the Hokage after me. I promised him that he would. HE PROMISED ME!" Jiraiya nodded solemnly, rubbing her back slowly in small circles.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, curiously. Everyone knew about Naruto's boasts to become the next Hokage, but no one had ever heard Tsunade's version. She looked up at the trio and sighed.
"It all started with the infamous chakra jutsu called Rasengan." She explained. "It's a move where you gather a small amount of chakra into your palm and spin it so ferociously that it becomes deadly when aimed at the right target.
"What? How come I've never even heard of it?" Sasuke asked, interrupting. He was trying everything he could think of to keep his mind off of Naruto's fate. Kakashi motioned him to sit in front of Tsunade and Jiraiya as he explained it to the younger generation.
"Rasengan is a very advanced technique that's only ever been mastered by three people. Jiraiya," he nodded to the sennin. "The Fourth," he looked up to the mountains. "And lastly by Naruto."
"It took Yondaime three years to master the skill perfectly." Tsunade offered.
"Matte!" Sakura interrupted this time. "It's impossible. Naruto knew that move just before Sasuke left. He was only with Jiraiya for barely two months before that, and he's the only one who could have taught Naruto the move." Jiraiya nodded and smiled in remembrance.
"I was teaching Naruto how to use his chakra that way when we found Tsunade." He exclaimed.
"He was such a loud mouth brat." Tsunade laughed. "He didn't even know who I was, nor did he care. As soon as I turned down the Hokage position and insulted it, he was all over me. He refused to allow the Hokage name to be disrespected in such a way and regardless of if I was a girl or not, he would set me straight. He was, after all, going to be the next Hokage. We ended up fighting. He tried to use Rasengan against me, but it was pitiful. I could tell he had the power, but no sense of control over it. So I made him a bet. I told him that if he could master Rasengan in one week I would recognise him as the next Hokage and see that it wasn't such an undesirable job." She laughed despite her broken heart. "He won. The little brat won. He trained harder than anyone I've ever seen and in one week Rasengan was his. Of course, the necklace only recognises future Hokages. It killed my boyfriend. It killed my little brother. And now it's taken away Naruto." She began to sob again.
"He wasn't supposed to die." Jiraiya spoke up. He closed his eyes and looked to the floor, not able to hide his own set of tears from the group.
Sasuke stood up suddenly, attracting all eyes. He glared at everyone who was already grieving.
"How can you be so sure he's dead?!" He yelled, denial hitting him full force. It was too much for him to handle. "He isn't dead!! Stop crying, Sakura!! GET UP!!" He tried to lift the girl up, but it only made things worse.
"Sasuke-kun, please don't do this to yourself." She whispered, trying to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder, but he smacked it away.
"FUCK YOU!!" He raged. "FUCK ALL OF YOU!!! I'm going to murder that demon son of a bitch right now." He lashed out at anyone who dared come near him and stormed off of the roof, ignoring Sakura's frantic pleas for him to wait and let them help him deal with it.
Deal with Naruto's death.
He snorted to himself as he headed to his house. He wasn't going to deal with his death because he wasn't going to believe his private ray of sunshine had gone out like a light bulb. And if it was... true... that Naruto had been killed; he closed his eyes at the thought and balled his fists, blindly aiming for anything that came in his way, living or inanimate; he would hunt the Kyuubi until the day he died. Avenging his clan was put on the backburner right after he avenged Naruto. He WOULD avenge Naruto. Right after he admitted to himself that the boy was gone.
That Naruto was dead.
~~~~~~~
I know I should say something for my author's notes, but I think that this chapter speaks a lot more than some petty drabble.
Please don't beg me to bring him back to life, etc. I've already got everything planned out, for the most part, and I really do enjoy reading the longer reviews. I plan on updating as soon as I can, so you don't need to tell me to. ^-^
The next chapter will be posted on Friday (if I can get it done in time).
***~In the next couple of chapters, the rating will go from PG-13 to an R. ~***
Chapter Title: 36. Blessed Release
They continued on, neither talking nor stopping for another few hours. It didn't take too long for Naruto to recognise a few of the landmarks.
"Wait a second." He burst out, stopping the two adults. "Why are we going in the same direction as the Sand Village?" Both his companions looked to each other for a moment.
"I didn't know that." His mother replied, smiling softly. "What a strange coincidence. Are they allies of your village?"
"They might be." He replied, not noticing the subtle change in topic. "We got some reconnaissance information that they might be willing to form an alliance with us in order to defend against other countries."
"Interesting." They continued on in silence until their body guard stopped them both and nodded slightly to his mother.
"Naruto-kun, you've been so great." She exclaimed, smiling sincerely. "I've always thought humans were snivelling little beasts, but you're a lot different. You have so much of my child within you. Would you mind if I spoke with him one more time?" She asked.
"But this is my body now." He replied. He'd allowed the Kitsune to take over twice, and both left him feeling entirely insecure about the whole deal. He knew he couldn't trust the Kitsune, but her face looked so sad and he found he couldn't deny her pleas. "Okay, but just for a few minutes." His consciousness subsided and, instead of the last couple of times, he listened in on their conversation.
"He's suspicious of you." The Kitsune spoke as soon as he was in control. "He's listening as we speak. Her face twisted into an ugly smirk and she snorted in response.
"Well, that's just too bad, now isn't it?" She sneered, leaning in to study the blonde's features carefully. "It's so surprising that for so long this little child managed to hold back such a great beast. Can you hold him down while I perform the seal?" Naruto panicked when he felt his head nod out of his control, but the Kyuubi had been let out too far and now had free reign over the boy's body, enough to force Naruto into submission.
He watched in horror as the woman who claimed to be his... no the Kitsune's mother moved her hands faster than the eye could see in a series of hand seals. If he had been in control of his body, he might have hyperventilated when wave after wave of terror crashed over him.
"Itachi-sama, don't look so grave." She hissed over her shoulder. Her bodyguard didn't move, but kept his red eyes trained on the pair as she worked her chakra into her hands as the last of the seals were performed. "You're about to get everything you ever wished for." She exclaimed with a horrid cackling laugh, as though she really knew what the masked man wanted. She unzipped Naruto's orange jacket and slipped her pale hands up his shirt to rest on his navel where the seal began to glow, red hot, beneath her hands.
He struggled beneath the Kitsune's hold on him, feeling his stomach begin to flutter uneasily and the seal burn excruciatingly right down to his core. He could feel his thoughts beginning to mesh together and he found he couldn't think straight, much less fight off the fox. It didn't take long for him to lose the fight against the Kitsune and allow the brilliant white to swallow him whole with the blessed release from the absolute pain the now ugly woman had put him through.
***
The shockwave was felt throughout most of Sand and all of Konoha. No one was able to anticipate such a tremor, and so most were thrown to the ground like rag dolls. Those who felt it milliseconds before it hit managed to gather their bearings quickly enough to only stagger to their knees roughly. Windows imploded, and the weakest houses collapsed as though they were made of toothpicks. The old-fashioned ryokans didn't even stand a chance against the blast.
Kakashi and the rest of his team was pushed face first into the grass, knocked off their feet roughly. Sakura had to spit out a mouthful of dirt and weeds and Sasuke began cursing under his breath, but they both fell still and silent when they saw the look of shock on Kakashi's face.
"Kuso!" He swore under his breath, standing up quickly and dusting himself off, before taking off at a slow run towards the Hokage offices.
"Matte yo!" Sakura called after him and they both sprinted after their teacher in hopes of catching up. Along the way, vendor's carts had been overturned, vegetables thrown everywhere, and everyone was covered in the dirt from the streets. Nobody seemed to know what had happened, and the village was thrown into chaos for fear that the shockwave may hit again. Sasuke and Sakura continued at their rushed pace until they finally caught up to the silver-haired jounin who had halted in front of the Hokage on top of the roof.
She had her back to the three, but she didn't look as majestic as her title suggested. Instead, she was on her knees, leaning heavily on the bars of the railing for support, while her entire body shook with sobs. Kakashi moved to take a step forward when Jiraiya appeared in a puff of smoke and pulled her gently into his arms and away from the ledge. The remainder of team seven stepped closer to find Tsunade mumbling over and over again to Jiraiya.
"He's gone; the Kyuubi's been released." Sasuke inhaled sharply and Kakashi's shoulders sagged in resignation, as though he knew it from the moment the wave knocked him to the floor.
"He can't be." Sasuke denied it, stepping forward and glaring angrily at the older woman. "You have to be talking about someone else."
"No, Naruto's soul... everything that he is... was... was destroyed when that shockwave hit us." They all paled at her words. It was too much to even consider that the blonde was gone from the village, let alone their lives forever.
"What are you talking about, baba!?" Sasuke yelled, demanding an explanation. His patience was already hair-thin at the mere idea of losing his best friend.
"Naruto's soul, his spirit, has become null and void." She repeated, holding tighter to Jiraiya's arm as she lay in his lap. Feeling her need for this comfort, the sennin held her even closer. "The Kitsune has either... expelled it or..." No matter how hard she tried and no matter which way she went, she could not get herself to repeat it.
"He's dead." Jiraiya spoke up for her, holding down his emotions as long as he could. "That shockwave killed him. It was inevitable when he left Konoha. He gave in to the Kitsune's desire to have his mother and now the fox demon has been released. He has full use of Naruto's... former body to cause all the chaos he wants. Revenge."
"So then the blast..." Sakura trailed off, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the response.
"It was a surge of chakra that was caused when someone released the seal that kept the Kitsune locked up." Tsunade sat up, wiping her hair from her dry eyes; she hadn't shed a tear yet. "The dominant soul purged the body of the weaker one, and from the blast it's obvious which one was stronger at the time." She closed her eyes slowly and began to rock back and forth as tears finally made their way past her darkened eyelashes and down her cheeks.
"He's dead?" Sasuke spoke up after a while. It wasn't sinking in for him. "He can't be dead."
"No, he can't." Tsunade repeated his words. "He wasn't supposed to die. Stupid piece of junk jewellery. He was supposed to live to become the Hokage after me. I promised him that he would. HE PROMISED ME!" Jiraiya nodded solemnly, rubbing her back slowly in small circles.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, curiously. Everyone knew about Naruto's boasts to become the next Hokage, but no one had ever heard Tsunade's version. She looked up at the trio and sighed.
"It all started with the infamous chakra jutsu called Rasengan." She explained. "It's a move where you gather a small amount of chakra into your palm and spin it so ferociously that it becomes deadly when aimed at the right target.
"What? How come I've never even heard of it?" Sasuke asked, interrupting. He was trying everything he could think of to keep his mind off of Naruto's fate. Kakashi motioned him to sit in front of Tsunade and Jiraiya as he explained it to the younger generation.
"Rasengan is a very advanced technique that's only ever been mastered by three people. Jiraiya," he nodded to the sennin. "The Fourth," he looked up to the mountains. "And lastly by Naruto."
"It took Yondaime three years to master the skill perfectly." Tsunade offered.
"Matte!" Sakura interrupted this time. "It's impossible. Naruto knew that move just before Sasuke left. He was only with Jiraiya for barely two months before that, and he's the only one who could have taught Naruto the move." Jiraiya nodded and smiled in remembrance.
"I was teaching Naruto how to use his chakra that way when we found Tsunade." He exclaimed.
"He was such a loud mouth brat." Tsunade laughed. "He didn't even know who I was, nor did he care. As soon as I turned down the Hokage position and insulted it, he was all over me. He refused to allow the Hokage name to be disrespected in such a way and regardless of if I was a girl or not, he would set me straight. He was, after all, going to be the next Hokage. We ended up fighting. He tried to use Rasengan against me, but it was pitiful. I could tell he had the power, but no sense of control over it. So I made him a bet. I told him that if he could master Rasengan in one week I would recognise him as the next Hokage and see that it wasn't such an undesirable job." She laughed despite her broken heart. "He won. The little brat won. He trained harder than anyone I've ever seen and in one week Rasengan was his. Of course, the necklace only recognises future Hokages. It killed my boyfriend. It killed my little brother. And now it's taken away Naruto." She began to sob again.
"He wasn't supposed to die." Jiraiya spoke up. He closed his eyes and looked to the floor, not able to hide his own set of tears from the group.
Sasuke stood up suddenly, attracting all eyes. He glared at everyone who was already grieving.
"How can you be so sure he's dead?!" He yelled, denial hitting him full force. It was too much for him to handle. "He isn't dead!! Stop crying, Sakura!! GET UP!!" He tried to lift the girl up, but it only made things worse.
"Sasuke-kun, please don't do this to yourself." She whispered, trying to comfort him by placing a hand on his shoulder, but he smacked it away.
"FUCK YOU!!" He raged. "FUCK ALL OF YOU!!! I'm going to murder that demon son of a bitch right now." He lashed out at anyone who dared come near him and stormed off of the roof, ignoring Sakura's frantic pleas for him to wait and let them help him deal with it.
Deal with Naruto's death.
He snorted to himself as he headed to his house. He wasn't going to deal with his death because he wasn't going to believe his private ray of sunshine had gone out like a light bulb. And if it was... true... that Naruto had been killed; he closed his eyes at the thought and balled his fists, blindly aiming for anything that came in his way, living or inanimate; he would hunt the Kyuubi until the day he died. Avenging his clan was put on the backburner right after he avenged Naruto. He WOULD avenge Naruto. Right after he admitted to himself that the boy was gone.
That Naruto was dead.
~~~~~~~
I know I should say something for my author's notes, but I think that this chapter speaks a lot more than some petty drabble.
Please don't beg me to bring him back to life, etc. I've already got everything planned out, for the most part, and I really do enjoy reading the longer reviews. I plan on updating as soon as I can, so you don't need to tell me to. ^-^
The next chapter will be posted on Friday (if I can get it done in time).
***~In the next couple of chapters, the rating will go from PG-13 to an R. ~***