Time Apart Chapter 8
--
Hinata couldn't sleep. This was usual when she had a big mission the next day. It just so happened that tomorrow she would probably die. She knew that Orochimaru was the man who killed the Third Hokage. She also knew that Uchiha Sasuke was the number one ninja in her class. With both of them at the same time, it was likely that someone like her wasn't going to make it. She could help though, and if she ended up dead while doing it, then so be it. A ninja's life wasn't always easy.
She rolled over on her pallet and opened her eyes. Most people would take several minutes to adjust, but her clan's eyes did more than just the Byakagun. In less than half a second she could see very clearly. Clearly enough to see that Naruto wasn't there. Quietly, she got to her feet. Kit was also gone, or at least she couldn't find the small animal.
I wonder if he left without us? she thought. He is going to need our help. He doesn't stand a chance alone. Moving silently, she opened the door and walked out into the hall. She could hear voices drifting in from outside the building. One was Naruto's, but she didn't recognize the other. Walking quickly down the stairs, she strained her ears to listen.
"... forget about that girl, she is nothing but trouble," the unidentified voice said. She could barely make out what was being said.
"I know that! I got over her years ago," Naruto replied. Hinata stopped when she decided she was close enough to hear, but hopefully not detectable.
"You should look into that Hinata girl. She would bear you some powerful pups," the other voice said. Hinata blushed deeply.
Who is he talking to? Why are they talking about me? she wondered. She was interested in what Naruto was going to say back. A part of her felt bad for eavesdropping, but another part of her was desperate to hear what was said next.
"I'm not interested in 'pups' just yet. She is a nice girl though, and pretty," Naruto said. Hinata squeaked with glee. That was enough for her. She decided she should interrupt the conversation, and hope that they didn't think she had heard the whole thing. Making loud noises as she finished coming down the stairs, she walked out the door.
Faking a yawn, she said, "There you are! I thought you had left without us." She had been working hard the last week at talking to Naruto without stuttering. Naruto looked up at her and flashed a smile. It was greeted with a look of confusion on Hinata's face, as she searched for the other person she had heard talking.
"How much did you hear?" he asked.
"No-nothing!" Hinata denied fervently. Stupid, stupid Hinata. He is a Jounin. Of course he knew you could hear him! Why did he keep talking then? What gave it away?
"Come on. I'm not mad. You're looking for whoever I was talking to just now. How long were you listening?" he asked, with an edge in his voice.
"Not long. Just what you said about me," she finally got out, face red.
"Good," he said with a sigh.
He seems relieved! I would think that would be what he wouldn't have wanted me to hear, she thought. What were they talking about before?
Sitting down beside him, she worked up her courage. "Who were you talking to?"
Naruto seemed to think for a second before answering, as if deciding whether or not to tell her. Kit made the decision for him however, as he surprised her by opening his mouth and talking.
"Me," the fox said.
Hinata went through a quick series of emotions. The first was the most obvious one, which was shock. Secondly, she was angry at not being told that Kit could speak. Next was the state she usually found herself in, embarrassment. She mentally tracked back over everything she had ever said to the fox. "You understand everything I say?" she asked.
"Of course," Kit replied. "I can't believe you humans are so slow to put this together. You knew I was sealed with Naruto, and yet it didn't even cross your mind that the fox following him around could be me."
"Kyuubi?" she asked. Of course it is. Naruto must have somehow found a way to let him roam around freely. Aloud she said, "For a demon you aren't as terrible as the village lets on."
"Don't let him fool you. If he was in his normal body you wouldn't have even had a chance to talk to him. He probably would have killed you. Since he is mostly powerless, he has mellowed out a little," Naruto said. "Still, he is a real smart ass sometimes."
Hinata giggled and gave Kit a little pat on the head. "What a cute little demon he is though."
Kit growled and trotted inside the building mumbling something about being all powerful again someday. Hinata laughed and leaned back on her hands. She was in a great mood, and then she remembered her situation. She was sitting outside, alone, with Naruto. All of a sudden there were butterflies in her stomach.
"I'm worried about this rescue mission tomorrow," Naruto said sadly. She could tell that he was really bothered by something. Usually, Naruto was happy and confident, but right now she could see lines of worry etched on his face.
"I'm scared before all my missions," she said, trying to be helpful. "They always get done though."
"Hinata, this isn't just a mission. This is personal, and it's a trap. I didn't want to get you involved in it. I don't think I would ever forgive myself if you or Lee died," Naruto said. She knew that it was going to be tough, but to hear Naruto say it made her worry even more.
"Why didn't you leave without us tonight? I thought you had when I woke up and you were gone," she asked. Naruto actually chuckled at that.
"I thought about it. I almost did actually, but Kit talked me out of it," he said. "He said that we would need you guys, and that we couldn't do it by ourselves. He is right of course. Alone, I would just get myself killed, and Kit is very adamant about me not doing that."
Hinata sighed, looking up toward the stars. "I don't want you do die either. I just got you back." Naruto laughed out loud at that. Finally noticing one of her slip ups, she was mortified when he prodded her.
"You just got me back?" he asked, mirth in his tone. She turned her face from his quickly, to hide the blush that confirmed his statement. Building up her courage, she decided that now was a good time to tell him.
"I - I need to tell you something," she said weakly. You need to get it out there Hinata. He needs to know before you get yourself killed tomorrow.
She turned to look at him, and, thankfully, she could see that he was blushing also. Never occurred to me he could be shy about this kind of thing, she thought. He is usually so sure of himself.
Unfortunately, before she could finish declaring her secret love for him, Jiraiya burst out of the doors loudly. "Whats going on out here?"
The two younger ninjas turned their heads quickly to see a large, looming, drunken Jiraiya. "Ero-sennin! What are you doing drinking tonight? We need you tomorrow!" Naruto howled.
"I'll be fine in the mornin'!" the legendary ninja said in a slur. "I am an expert at this kind of thing!"
Looking back at Hinata, Naruto said, "We can talk again tomorrow after the mission. You should get some sleep." The young ninja grabbed Jiraiya around the arms and led him up the stairs to his room, leaving Hinata sitting alone on the porch. Still nervous about the mission, but now more nervous about what would happen afterwards.
--
Naruto got up earlier than usual. It was an important day. He went downstairs to grab some breakfast, and then went outside before sunrise for his warm-ups. Settling for some pre-practiced forms and some push-ups, he was done in no time. He didn't want to push things today, since he would probably need every ounce of chakra that he could muster. After getting some breakfast, he went to Jiraiya's door.
Wanting to get some revenge on his former sensei for his interruption last night, Naruto didn't knock. Bursting into the room, Naruto performed a series of quick seals and let loose a minor water Jutsu on Jiraiya's face, bringing him to alertness instantly.
"What was that for!" Jiraiya shouted.
"Bad timing, and drinking before the mission," Naruto answered honestly.
"Well I wasn't going to, but there were these ladies!" Jiraiya started. Naruto tuned him out, as the older ninja described the previous night of debauchery. At least he wasn't hung over. After waking the rest of the team, Naruto went back to the front desk to pay.
It wasn't long before the group was all set up and ready to go. They left right after sunrise.
--
Naruto didn't even break stride when the town came into view. His plan, if you could call it that, was to rush into the town, disabling as many Sound ninjas as they could before they could spring their trap. Hopefully, that way they could take the odds down to just the powerful ninjas. With his team fanning out, they all headed for the center of town from different directions. Creating several shadow clones, Naruto was a force to be reckoned with.
Screaming into town at high velocity, he didn't even pause to spar with any lower level Sound ninjas. He created two clones for each enemy he encountered, and then moved on, trusting his clones to take care of things. From the retreating sounds of pain the Sound ninjas were making, he assumed that things were going well.
Jiraiya was being equally efficient. While he wasn't creating Shadow Clones, he was dispatching each challenger with one or two simple moves. He was usually a showy ninja, but today he didn't have time to waste on peons. One of the few times people could count on him to be serious was when Orochimaru was involved.
Lee and Hinata worked together for the most part, heading into town from a third direction. Together, they weaved in and out of the sound ninjas, encountering few that really posed much of a challenge. It wasn't too long before they encountered two Sound ninjas that weren't such pushovers. The two struggled as the Sound ninjas pushed them to their limits, and as the battle went on, they were separated.
Naruto was the first to arrive in the center of town, followed closely by Jiraiya.
--
Sakura could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance. She knew that meant that Naruto had come to save her. She laughed to herself, and it hurt. Being trained as a medical ninja, she could tell that most of her ribs were broken, and there was probably internal bleeding. Her face would probably never heal up perfectly.
She had been so stupid. Naruto should have just left me to die here. I deserved it. Tears slid out from her eyes, burning as the salt passed over the cuts and wounds on her face. The day before, she had spent most of her time trying to send chakra to repair some of the wounds, but whenever they started to look better, Kabuto would cut her again.
Below her sat the body that used to belong to Sasuke. In afterthought, she should have realized that there was a reason Orochimaru had been so interested in him. Sure, he was a talented ninja with a fantastic bloodline, that was one of the reasons she had initially been so attracted to him, but Orochimaru didn't want a subordinate who might one day be more powerful than himself.
She hadn't wanted to believe what he had told her at first, but Kabuto had gone to great lengths to describe the body possession technique. It was this kind of torture that he enjoyed, breaking her spirit as well as her body.
"Here he comes," Orochimaru said. "Who should I greet him as?" he asked with a chuckle.
Kabuto laughed. "Jiraiya is with him. Better be yourself for now. It will be nice to see the shock on the old ninja's face when you activate your Sharingan."
Orochimaru stood up and sheathed himself with the genjutsu that allowed him to look like his original body. Walking over to Sakura he said, "I would love to let you watch as I kill these people, but your usefulness is almost at an end." She took in a sharp breath of fear as he raised his hand. "No, I won't kill you yet, but I can't let you ruin my surprises for me," he said, smiling. When the fist came down, there was blackness.
--
Jiraiya rounded the corner in time to see Orochimaru knock Sakura out cold. A quick glance around told him that Naruto and Kit were the only ones who had arrived.
"I will take Orochimaru. You get Kabuto off my back," Jiraiya said. With a grim nod, Naruto caught Kabuto's eyes with his own. The two circled off, as Jiraiya calmly walked towards his former comrade.
"It's been a long time, Jiraiya," Orochimaru said sweetly.
"I'm not here to talk, snake. I'm here to kill you, once and for all," Jiraiya answered. "Last time I was drugged. This time I will finish things."
Orochimaru laughed, "Last time I didn't have any arms. What makes you think that you stand a chance? You were never my equal." In a flash, Orochimaru became a blur of action. One moment he was in front of Jiraiya, the next moment he was behind him with a Kunai planted into his back. Orochimaru laughed. "Come on now, don't play with me."
The form of Jiraiya, that Orochimaru had stabbed, melted into a dark swampy substance. Gathering at his feet, the thick liquid began to swallow him up.
"Let's both be serious, shall we," Jiraiya said, stepping out from where he had escaped Orochimaru's first move. Making some hand seals, Orochimaru spat several balls of fire from his mouth at high speed. Jiraiya had to move quickly to get out of the way, and the swamp jutsu he had been using to keep Orochimaru in place was released. Moving forward, Orochimaru began a savage attack with straight Taijutsu.
"You were always slower than me," Orochimaru said, pummeling Jiraiya with blows.
"Well, times change," Jiraiya said, through gritted teeth. Grabbing one of the punches that Orochimaru had thrown, the older man rolled onto his back and threw him into the nearest building. With a crash, the structure came toppling down upon the Snake Sennin. Jiraiya stood up, panting from the physical activity.
Laughter erupted from the ruins, as Orochimaru stood up and dusted himself off. Walking towards the other Sennin, Orochimaru spoke. "I'm tired of this game. I want the Kyuubi vessel. It's going to give me great pleasure to extinguish you."
"Not likely," Jiraiya said. He went into a long series of hand seals. Slamming his palms on the ground, Jiraiya watched as his chakra spread across the intervening space in the blink of an eye. Orochimaru fell to his knees.
"Wha-what is this?" Orochimaru asked in a panic. "I can't move."
"I'm going to finish this!" Jiraiya said. Lifting one hand off the ground he made a one handed seal. "Swamp of a Hundred Deaths!"
Slowly, the ground beneath Orochimaru melted into a swamp, drawing him in. Without being able to move, the pale faced man was unable to escape. The swamp started to boil, and Jiraiya smiled in satisfaction as he saw the rays of heat distort his vision. Orochimaru screamed.
After his opponent had sunk all the way into the ground, Jiraiya changed the hand seal, and the swamp glassed over. Standing up, he walked over to the area where his opponent had been. Looking down, he was disappointed to note that in the place where Orochimaru should be, there was a pile of mud.
Turning around, he saw Orochimaru standing in roughly the same spot he had been earlier. Something was different though. Instead of his normal yellow eyes, they were blood red. Exhaling sharply, Jiraiya realized what he was up against. "Sharingan!" he whispered. Trying to move quickly, he was surprised to discover that he couldn't move.
"You see Jiraiya, I have finally done it. I have found the perfect body," Orochimaru said, moving one hand off of the ground and making the same seal Jiraiya had made moments ago.
"You bastard!" Jiraiya shouted.
"You're too old. What did you call this technique, Swamp of a Hundred Deaths?" Jiraiya felt pain as the ground below him transformed into a boiling pit of sludge. He lost consciousness as the pain neared his knees
--
"We meet again Naruto-kun. You're older." Kabuto said, taunting Naruto. He wasn't in the mood.
"I hope you don't mind, but I will have to insist that you refer to me as Naruto-sama. It would be impolite to do anything else." Naruto reached into his pouch, getting out several Kunai. Testing his opponent out, he threw them.
Kabuto didn't seem to mind the incoming projectiles. Covering his hands in blue chakra, Kabuto cut the Kunai into pieces as they came in. Naruto scoffed.
"What a waste of Chakra."
"Completely unlike your Kage Bunshin that are running all over town keeping our Gennins occupied?" Kabuto responded.
"The difference is that I have Chakra to spare, and you don't." Naruto sped into close combat quickly, throwing a series of kicks and punches designed to test Kabuto's style of defense. "I beat you when I was Genin, don't think I can't destroy you now!"
Laughing, Kabuto allowed himself to be driven back by Naruto. After a few blocks, he grabbed a Kunai out of his pouch and threw it towards Sakura. Naruto jumped back and quickly placed his hands together in a seal. Creating a few clones in front of the projectile, he was able to slow it down enough that it missed it's target.
"Why save her? She got herself into this mess. You know she walked right in here to warn her precious Sasuke-kun, right?" Kabuto said. Naruto had suspected that it had been something like that, but it still stung to hear it. He decided to concentrate on something else.
"Where is Sasuke anyway? Shouldn't he be bursting at the seams to fight me, or did you send him to fight Lee and Hinata?" Naruto asked as he launched into another series of attacks.
"Oh heavens no. Your friend Sasuke is right over there," Kabuto said laughing. Truly puzzled now, Naruto followed the other man's finger to see Jiraiya struggling to fight Orochimaru. "You should be paying attention!" Kabuto said as he kicked Naruto viciously in the gut. Falling back, Naruto broke into a roll. As he regained his feet, he made some shadow clones and together they launched into a combined assault.
Every time Kabuto scored a hit on one of the clones, Naruto switched places with them, blocking the attack. Confused as to which was the real Naruto, Kabuto retreated. Once again, blue chakra covered Kabuto's hands and he launched into a series of counter attacks. Realizing that the chakra meant scalpels, Naruto had no choice but to let his clones take the hits.
Pouring chakra into his body, Naruto felt the familiar tinge of the Kyuubi power. Time seemed to slow down as he prepared to go all out against Kabuto. It had been a long time since he had fought someone this good. Kakashi had been caught off guard by Naruto's improvement, but, no matter what went on, Kabuto seemed to be able to cope with the attacks. Naruto even thought that he might be holding back.
Blurring forward, Naruto stepped under one of Kabuto's kicks. Flying upward into an attack of his own, Naruto knocked the other ninja to the ground. Naruto snarled as he flew towards Kabuto and slammed his palm into the other man's chest. Kabuto flew back and rolled violently on the ground, kicking up dust.
Kabuto stopped his roll by hooking his chakra scalpels into the ground. Glancing over at the battle between his master and Jiraiya, Kabuto was pleased to see Jiraiya frozen by his own Jutsu.
"My job is done here. Sasuke would like to play with you now!" Kabuto said, flinging several Kunai at Sakura again. Naruto launched himself between them, managing to grab or kick several out of the way with some elaborate acrobatics. He was mortified that one had gotten past him, and started making some hand seals. He stopped midway when Kit came flying through the air, catching the Kunai.
"Don't thank me, I just didn't want you all depressed for the rest of the fight," Kit said as he spat the Kunai out. "I would rather have let her die myself."
Turning back around, Naruto noticed that Kabuto had fled. He heard Jiraiya scream.
--
Authors Note: Whew, bet you didn't expect chapter eight so fast. As it turns out this climax is going to have to be broken into more than one chapter. Go figure.
You may look forward to Chapter 9 as I leave you with the worst cliff hanger ever. Consider this fast update my apology for taking so long with Chapter 7.