DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. If I was, I would have a better life than my current one.
Temples. A monument caught in the midst of age old traditions, and the urge to revolutionize. But thankfully, in the woods where the development has yet to catch up, these temples remains as sanctuaries to those who seek to avoid the cutthroat world of politics, or getaways to another time. Truly, such buildings were the first testaments of a civilization's power, a form to capture the belief in unity with nature, and harmony amongst men. But sometimes, and like all sometimes, such temples are also caught in their own kind of politics.
Politics, the very word strikes fear to some people, for they remind them of corruption, treachery, betrayals, and all the red tape that slows the daily life of people. Yet there are at least two sides to every story, the same way there are two sides to the coin. So, politics are also often seen as an opportunity to rise up the social ladder, chances to make a difference, windows to a dream.
The moment Naruto dreamt and wished to be a hokage, he has unconsciously stepped himself in the sophisticated, complicated and twisted world of politics. In fact, the moment he was born, he is already imbroiled in politics, the politics of society.
Yet, nature seems to lack politics, does it not? There isn't any twisted murder or bloodlust in the forest.
Well. That thought is about to be proven... wrong.
--------
The trees faded quickly, and as the group of two continued their way through the dense wall of woods. Their eyes rarely concentrated on a certain tree, preferring quick movements to avoid animals.
"How long are we going to run?" Naruto asked, his breathing somewhat unstable due to the running.
"Until that huge panther is out of our tail..." Sena said, then he jumped onto another tree before launching himself to a tree next to it.
Then, out of the woods, a snake charged at Sena, surprising him somewhat. "I hate snakes." Naruto managed to surge forward to kick the snake at the head, but the snake only flew backwards slightly.
"Can't stay for long. The panther is probably catching up on us." Sena jumped, and his fingers acted swiftly to form seals for a jutsu.
'Katon: Fireball no jutsu.' The blue fire appeared on his palm. and he rammed the ball to the giant snake's eyes, incinerating the head of the serpentine.
Naruto looked around, and he said, "Why can't we fight that panther?"
"We could, but we might end up badly injured. Why fight when you can run?"
"I know, but until when, right?" Naruto did a jutsu that he is very well known for. 'Kage bunshin no jutsu.'
Twenty clones appeared, and he signalled them to prepare for combat.
'Thuck.' A soft pat of a panther's feet to the bark of the tree warned them of it's arrival.
"One good thing about some animals. They become noisy once they start chasing after something." Sena said.
"Whatever. It's not going to help us fight it, whether that cat is quiet or loud."
There it was, a panther three times the size of it's natural cousins, its black furs a sign of it's maturity, it's sharp claws a sign of it's combat abilities.
"Well, here goes. I wonder whether these things are under the protected animals law?" Sena said, and his fingers flickered.
'Rootbound no jutsu.' Roots rised to attempt at immobilizing the feline creature, but the black beast jumped when it sensed it's coming
'Wind blast no jutsu', a huge wind rised to throw rocks, stones and pebbles at the panther, but the panther jumped out of it's way, and Naruto's new jutsu failed to damage it. "Since when cats can run so fast?"
Then, the clones all attacked, but the cat managed to destory most of them with a few very scary-looking swipes.
The panther jumped again from the branch, pouncing onto Naruto when it noticed the possible opening. It's huge claws coming down for a slash to the chest, but our blonde hero managed to jump backward and avoid it's fatal swipe. Naruto then instantly threw a set of kunais at the beast, and while it was airborne, his fingers flickered. "Molten Kunai no jutsu." The kunais burned, and when it came close, the entire kunai melted to strike it's fur. But since the molten metals are very hot, it caused a great burn instead of a cut.
The panther wailed in pain, but it's yellow eyes turned to stare at Naruto.
"I don't like that look." Naruto remarked, parts of his feet slightly paralyzed.
Subsequently, the beast jumped at the unmoving figure that is Naruto.
"What in the nine hells are you standing there for?! Get out!" Sena screamed in exasperation.
Naruto, snapped out of the fear, barely managed to avoid the slowing beast.
"Naruto. The panther is slowing down."
"Yeah." Naruto and one of the remaining clones did a now world renowned attack, Rasengan.
With the ball of chakra in his hand, he charged at the slowing figure, avoiding it's swipes quickly in a matrix kind of way, and when he spotted the opening, he pushed the ball of pure chakra at the dark-furred panther.
And so, the panther was torn to shreds, blood was splattered all over the trees, and their clothes were stained with blood.
"Naruto. Look what you just did..."
"Huh?"
"We are now animal magnets! We better get to a stream somewhere and get this blood smell out of our clothes."
"...Oh. Forgot animals hunt based on the smell of blood."
--------
The duo made their way carefully towards a small pool, but they proceeded with utmost caution, after all, a week's experience in the forest had taught more about nature than what a long boring lecture could. The pool had crystal clear water, but there wasn't any fishes living inside, because it was probably too small to support an ecosystem for the fish, and they dipped into the shallow pool, quickly washing their body and clothes.
"So, how many days left?"
"Six."
"...It's going to feel like a year."
-------
Meanwhile...
The air, dry and somehow tense. There is no wind in the room, save the motion of the electric fan generating air currents to remove the heat. The wooden table, an old item that has made itself home at it's location for years, serves as as the dining table for the three ninjas. The glass window offers a view, a view of great lack, a view of the desert. The other window looks onto the sparse streets of the village, and it too is not a very pleasant sight. Muffled curses often make their way through those windows, and into their living room. Temari instantly closed the window to block those cursings out.
Gaara, remained silent. He had endured all this for a long time, why not a little more? He shifted his sight to the window, a glance at the desert, a field of sand as far as the eye could see, and his slightly troubled mind calmed down.
The redhead continued to look, and he stopped when he remembered some things.
"I'm going to the library." He spoke, his voice still retaining the ice edge much feared.
The others, did not speak a word.
"I'll be back for dinner though." Then, he was out of the door.
Once he was out, Temari and Kankurou turned to look at each other.
"Wonder what's he is up to."
"Whatever it is, I don't want to find out."
---------
Fresh from their bath, they proceeded deeper into the woods. They were told to go as far as they could, and still make it back before the time limit, so naturally, their competitive nature drove them to go deeper than any other person before them.
But when they entered a certain area, they felt uneasy.
"I know animals can be really quiet and stealthuy, but isn't this a little too much?" Sena asked, his voice very soft and sprinkled with fear.
"... I don't know."
They moved forward, and Sena's fear is doubled, when they haven't heard any animal sounds for a while.
"Naruto. Why is it so quiet in here?"
"Don't ask me."
They proceeded forward, and they still haven't heard of a single beat of insects, or the footsteps of any kind of animals, not even the hiss of the very common snakes.
"I really don't like this..."
"...Shut up. Don't make me scared as well."
"We should turn back."
"No. We're going as far as we can."
So they did, and the temperature seemed to drop a degree or two. The canopy was getting thicker, and the moon offered not much light to show them the path. Their steps often incite the haunting shriek of the blowing gale, and the shoes triggered the slight rustle of the fallen foliage.
"I don't like this..."
"I'm a ninja, and you had training. We should not be scared." Naruto spoke, trying to drive that bugging feeling out.
They stepped closer and closer, and out of the foliage behind them, a snake crawled out. They turned to face the creature the moment their ears picked the slithering vibration of the snake's skin.
"Oh. My. God." Sena exclaimed.
The snake was big, not as big as Manda, or the summons of Orochimaru, but it seemed to have that deathly gaze. Brown skin, perfectly matching the colors of the foliage covered floor. Dark yellow eyes, a frequent characteristic in snakes glistened when the moon's light break through the holes of the canopy.
Then, it lunged to bite.
"We are fighting snakes again... I hate snakes." Naruto called, and he jumped backward with the aid of chakra to avoid the crushing bite of the snake.
"Same here." The brown-haired boy's fingers formed seals to mold chakra, 'Hydrodrain touch.'
Sena jumped to avoid the swiping tail of the humungous snake, and he landed next to the snake. The serpent quickly twirled it's body in it's attempt to choke and squeeze the brunette.
"Now!" Then, a small light pierced through the snake's thick skin.
Naruto could only watch, as the snake's color seemed the get darker and darker, it's eyes imploding, and the body started to shrink the same way dehydrated fruits do. After a minute or so, the snake fell helpless to the floor.
"What the hell was that jutsu?"
Sena, freeing himself from the bind, walked over to Naruto and smiled. "My bloodline."
"What it do?"
"Most of the things in the world consists of water, or at least rely on water to initiate it's daily metabolisme, and my bloodline focuses on draining all liquid out of the living being, thus dehydrating it. Without water, the creature is unable to command it's bodyparts, and without water, it could not move, because oxigen cannot be transfered to the bodypart because of the solid blood. Furthermore, it forms blood clots at the heart, therefore causing quick stroke. In fact, every living being I know dies without But, any drawbacks?"
"Yeah. Drains up almost every ounce of chakra I have. In short, I can use it less frequently as compared to other bloodlines, and this very weakness has caused the annihilation to almost everyone in my clan, because when a person has no chakra or stamina left, he dies. My parents died while trying to use our bloodline on Kyubi, it backfired because the red chakra entered their bodies and ripped them apart" Sena's face was filled with slight sadness. "Why am I talking about this, that happened so long time ago."
--------(Lousy bloodline introduced.)
Itachi, sharingan genius, was having a problem. He looked at the platinum haired girl, and a frown crept onto his face. Her body seemed frail, but it made her extremely seductive, a useful weapon at times. He remembered her as a person he used to call a friend, in the midst of the unstable life of a missing-nin. Hell she even seemed like the perfect person for him, a shot at escaping everything and settle down peacefully somewhere unknown.
He wanted her. Simple as that, and during the time when they were teammates at Akatsuki, it seemed to him that he was about to succeed. In fact, he even planned out where they would stay, where they would have a life away from everything.
But he found out soon enough that she was nearly heartless, and she was merely acting. She had never loved, and she viewed everything as a mere tool, a toy. Her lack of fear made her immune to the Mangekyou sharingan, and her seeming lack of emotions made her very difficult to understand at times.
He confessed that he liked her, a first in his life of bloodshed, and she rejected it. Now, he wanted to kill her. Make her feel the pain of rejection, the pain of being abandoned.
(This short part is a filler for Itachi. I just wanted him to do something..)
-------
Tsunade's office. The big wig's place to the everyday commoner, the place where important stuff are handled, a place full of excitement and thrill. But to her, it was a paperwork hell. She wanted something other than reading what appears to her as an endless storm of papers, and to her, she is going to drown in it very soon.
'Thud.'
"Hokage-sama." She liked that call. It made her feel powerful... No, wait. It made her feel old. Okay, she didn't like it.
"What is it?" She said. "More papers?"
"No." Her heart almost fluttered in happiness. 'Finally, something other than papers.'
"So, what is it?" Her voice shown some excitement and anticipation.
"Intelligence update reports about increasing tensions between Cloud and Mist. In fact there had been skirmishes between the two nations, and it may escalate into a full war if left unchecked. A war at this time would hurt our economy greatly."
Her anticipation crumbled. 'Not more lengthy discussions?' She knew that if she wanted to prevent a war, she would have to convince both sides to come to terms, and she personally hated to be a peacebroker.
"But that war is highly unlikely, because a renegade cloud ninja summoned a creature he could not control, and that beast is rampaging through the border of the two nations, and we might be in it's path."
"Can Jiraiya handle it?"
"Maybe. The beast appears to be a large lizard, and the lizard is attacking everything."
"Well, just kill the ninja, then."
"He has gone into hiding, and because the summoning is a unique kind, he doesn't need to be in close proximity of the creature."
"Destroy this lizard first and find the ninja. Then, we'll try to diffuse the anger."
"Very well." The ninja teleported out.
She was then back to paperwork, and a frown returned.
------
I'm really out of ideas... Thanks for all of you who read my work.
Oh yeah. I realized that my story garnered the least reviews compared to other stories around my length. Am I really that poor a writer? Well, be honest with me. Just tell me how bad I am, and then I'll stop writing, simple and clean, thanks a lot.
Temples. A monument caught in the midst of age old traditions, and the urge to revolutionize. But thankfully, in the woods where the development has yet to catch up, these temples remains as sanctuaries to those who seek to avoid the cutthroat world of politics, or getaways to another time. Truly, such buildings were the first testaments of a civilization's power, a form to capture the belief in unity with nature, and harmony amongst men. But sometimes, and like all sometimes, such temples are also caught in their own kind of politics.
Politics, the very word strikes fear to some people, for they remind them of corruption, treachery, betrayals, and all the red tape that slows the daily life of people. Yet there are at least two sides to every story, the same way there are two sides to the coin. So, politics are also often seen as an opportunity to rise up the social ladder, chances to make a difference, windows to a dream.
The moment Naruto dreamt and wished to be a hokage, he has unconsciously stepped himself in the sophisticated, complicated and twisted world of politics. In fact, the moment he was born, he is already imbroiled in politics, the politics of society.
Yet, nature seems to lack politics, does it not? There isn't any twisted murder or bloodlust in the forest.
Well. That thought is about to be proven... wrong.
--------
The trees faded quickly, and as the group of two continued their way through the dense wall of woods. Their eyes rarely concentrated on a certain tree, preferring quick movements to avoid animals.
"How long are we going to run?" Naruto asked, his breathing somewhat unstable due to the running.
"Until that huge panther is out of our tail..." Sena said, then he jumped onto another tree before launching himself to a tree next to it.
Then, out of the woods, a snake charged at Sena, surprising him somewhat. "I hate snakes." Naruto managed to surge forward to kick the snake at the head, but the snake only flew backwards slightly.
"Can't stay for long. The panther is probably catching up on us." Sena jumped, and his fingers acted swiftly to form seals for a jutsu.
'Katon: Fireball no jutsu.' The blue fire appeared on his palm. and he rammed the ball to the giant snake's eyes, incinerating the head of the serpentine.
Naruto looked around, and he said, "Why can't we fight that panther?"
"We could, but we might end up badly injured. Why fight when you can run?"
"I know, but until when, right?" Naruto did a jutsu that he is very well known for. 'Kage bunshin no jutsu.'
Twenty clones appeared, and he signalled them to prepare for combat.
'Thuck.' A soft pat of a panther's feet to the bark of the tree warned them of it's arrival.
"One good thing about some animals. They become noisy once they start chasing after something." Sena said.
"Whatever. It's not going to help us fight it, whether that cat is quiet or loud."
There it was, a panther three times the size of it's natural cousins, its black furs a sign of it's maturity, it's sharp claws a sign of it's combat abilities.
"Well, here goes. I wonder whether these things are under the protected animals law?" Sena said, and his fingers flickered.
'Rootbound no jutsu.' Roots rised to attempt at immobilizing the feline creature, but the black beast jumped when it sensed it's coming
'Wind blast no jutsu', a huge wind rised to throw rocks, stones and pebbles at the panther, but the panther jumped out of it's way, and Naruto's new jutsu failed to damage it. "Since when cats can run so fast?"
Then, the clones all attacked, but the cat managed to destory most of them with a few very scary-looking swipes.
The panther jumped again from the branch, pouncing onto Naruto when it noticed the possible opening. It's huge claws coming down for a slash to the chest, but our blonde hero managed to jump backward and avoid it's fatal swipe. Naruto then instantly threw a set of kunais at the beast, and while it was airborne, his fingers flickered. "Molten Kunai no jutsu." The kunais burned, and when it came close, the entire kunai melted to strike it's fur. But since the molten metals are very hot, it caused a great burn instead of a cut.
The panther wailed in pain, but it's yellow eyes turned to stare at Naruto.
"I don't like that look." Naruto remarked, parts of his feet slightly paralyzed.
Subsequently, the beast jumped at the unmoving figure that is Naruto.
"What in the nine hells are you standing there for?! Get out!" Sena screamed in exasperation.
Naruto, snapped out of the fear, barely managed to avoid the slowing beast.
"Naruto. The panther is slowing down."
"Yeah." Naruto and one of the remaining clones did a now world renowned attack, Rasengan.
With the ball of chakra in his hand, he charged at the slowing figure, avoiding it's swipes quickly in a matrix kind of way, and when he spotted the opening, he pushed the ball of pure chakra at the dark-furred panther.
And so, the panther was torn to shreds, blood was splattered all over the trees, and their clothes were stained with blood.
"Naruto. Look what you just did..."
"Huh?"
"We are now animal magnets! We better get to a stream somewhere and get this blood smell out of our clothes."
"...Oh. Forgot animals hunt based on the smell of blood."
--------
The duo made their way carefully towards a small pool, but they proceeded with utmost caution, after all, a week's experience in the forest had taught more about nature than what a long boring lecture could. The pool had crystal clear water, but there wasn't any fishes living inside, because it was probably too small to support an ecosystem for the fish, and they dipped into the shallow pool, quickly washing their body and clothes.
"So, how many days left?"
"Six."
"...It's going to feel like a year."
-------
Meanwhile...
The air, dry and somehow tense. There is no wind in the room, save the motion of the electric fan generating air currents to remove the heat. The wooden table, an old item that has made itself home at it's location for years, serves as as the dining table for the three ninjas. The glass window offers a view, a view of great lack, a view of the desert. The other window looks onto the sparse streets of the village, and it too is not a very pleasant sight. Muffled curses often make their way through those windows, and into their living room. Temari instantly closed the window to block those cursings out.
Gaara, remained silent. He had endured all this for a long time, why not a little more? He shifted his sight to the window, a glance at the desert, a field of sand as far as the eye could see, and his slightly troubled mind calmed down.
The redhead continued to look, and he stopped when he remembered some things.
"I'm going to the library." He spoke, his voice still retaining the ice edge much feared.
The others, did not speak a word.
"I'll be back for dinner though." Then, he was out of the door.
Once he was out, Temari and Kankurou turned to look at each other.
"Wonder what's he is up to."
"Whatever it is, I don't want to find out."
---------
Fresh from their bath, they proceeded deeper into the woods. They were told to go as far as they could, and still make it back before the time limit, so naturally, their competitive nature drove them to go deeper than any other person before them.
But when they entered a certain area, they felt uneasy.
"I know animals can be really quiet and stealthuy, but isn't this a little too much?" Sena asked, his voice very soft and sprinkled with fear.
"... I don't know."
They moved forward, and Sena's fear is doubled, when they haven't heard any animal sounds for a while.
"Naruto. Why is it so quiet in here?"
"Don't ask me."
They proceeded forward, and they still haven't heard of a single beat of insects, or the footsteps of any kind of animals, not even the hiss of the very common snakes.
"I really don't like this..."
"...Shut up. Don't make me scared as well."
"We should turn back."
"No. We're going as far as we can."
So they did, and the temperature seemed to drop a degree or two. The canopy was getting thicker, and the moon offered not much light to show them the path. Their steps often incite the haunting shriek of the blowing gale, and the shoes triggered the slight rustle of the fallen foliage.
"I don't like this..."
"I'm a ninja, and you had training. We should not be scared." Naruto spoke, trying to drive that bugging feeling out.
They stepped closer and closer, and out of the foliage behind them, a snake crawled out. They turned to face the creature the moment their ears picked the slithering vibration of the snake's skin.
"Oh. My. God." Sena exclaimed.
The snake was big, not as big as Manda, or the summons of Orochimaru, but it seemed to have that deathly gaze. Brown skin, perfectly matching the colors of the foliage covered floor. Dark yellow eyes, a frequent characteristic in snakes glistened when the moon's light break through the holes of the canopy.
Then, it lunged to bite.
"We are fighting snakes again... I hate snakes." Naruto called, and he jumped backward with the aid of chakra to avoid the crushing bite of the snake.
"Same here." The brown-haired boy's fingers formed seals to mold chakra, 'Hydrodrain touch.'
Sena jumped to avoid the swiping tail of the humungous snake, and he landed next to the snake. The serpent quickly twirled it's body in it's attempt to choke and squeeze the brunette.
"Now!" Then, a small light pierced through the snake's thick skin.
Naruto could only watch, as the snake's color seemed the get darker and darker, it's eyes imploding, and the body started to shrink the same way dehydrated fruits do. After a minute or so, the snake fell helpless to the floor.
"What the hell was that jutsu?"
Sena, freeing himself from the bind, walked over to Naruto and smiled. "My bloodline."
"What it do?"
"Most of the things in the world consists of water, or at least rely on water to initiate it's daily metabolisme, and my bloodline focuses on draining all liquid out of the living being, thus dehydrating it. Without water, the creature is unable to command it's bodyparts, and without water, it could not move, because oxigen cannot be transfered to the bodypart because of the solid blood. Furthermore, it forms blood clots at the heart, therefore causing quick stroke. In fact, every living being I know dies without But, any drawbacks?"
"Yeah. Drains up almost every ounce of chakra I have. In short, I can use it less frequently as compared to other bloodlines, and this very weakness has caused the annihilation to almost everyone in my clan, because when a person has no chakra or stamina left, he dies. My parents died while trying to use our bloodline on Kyubi, it backfired because the red chakra entered their bodies and ripped them apart" Sena's face was filled with slight sadness. "Why am I talking about this, that happened so long time ago."
--------(Lousy bloodline introduced.)
Itachi, sharingan genius, was having a problem. He looked at the platinum haired girl, and a frown crept onto his face. Her body seemed frail, but it made her extremely seductive, a useful weapon at times. He remembered her as a person he used to call a friend, in the midst of the unstable life of a missing-nin. Hell she even seemed like the perfect person for him, a shot at escaping everything and settle down peacefully somewhere unknown.
He wanted her. Simple as that, and during the time when they were teammates at Akatsuki, it seemed to him that he was about to succeed. In fact, he even planned out where they would stay, where they would have a life away from everything.
But he found out soon enough that she was nearly heartless, and she was merely acting. She had never loved, and she viewed everything as a mere tool, a toy. Her lack of fear made her immune to the Mangekyou sharingan, and her seeming lack of emotions made her very difficult to understand at times.
He confessed that he liked her, a first in his life of bloodshed, and she rejected it. Now, he wanted to kill her. Make her feel the pain of rejection, the pain of being abandoned.
(This short part is a filler for Itachi. I just wanted him to do something..)
-------
Tsunade's office. The big wig's place to the everyday commoner, the place where important stuff are handled, a place full of excitement and thrill. But to her, it was a paperwork hell. She wanted something other than reading what appears to her as an endless storm of papers, and to her, she is going to drown in it very soon.
'Thud.'
"Hokage-sama." She liked that call. It made her feel powerful... No, wait. It made her feel old. Okay, she didn't like it.
"What is it?" She said. "More papers?"
"No." Her heart almost fluttered in happiness. 'Finally, something other than papers.'
"So, what is it?" Her voice shown some excitement and anticipation.
"Intelligence update reports about increasing tensions between Cloud and Mist. In fact there had been skirmishes between the two nations, and it may escalate into a full war if left unchecked. A war at this time would hurt our economy greatly."
Her anticipation crumbled. 'Not more lengthy discussions?' She knew that if she wanted to prevent a war, she would have to convince both sides to come to terms, and she personally hated to be a peacebroker.
"But that war is highly unlikely, because a renegade cloud ninja summoned a creature he could not control, and that beast is rampaging through the border of the two nations, and we might be in it's path."
"Can Jiraiya handle it?"
"Maybe. The beast appears to be a large lizard, and the lizard is attacking everything."
"Well, just kill the ninja, then."
"He has gone into hiding, and because the summoning is a unique kind, he doesn't need to be in close proximity of the creature."
"Destroy this lizard first and find the ninja. Then, we'll try to diffuse the anger."
"Very well." The ninja teleported out.
She was then back to paperwork, and a frown returned.
------
I'm really out of ideas... Thanks for all of you who read my work.
Oh yeah. I realized that my story garnered the least reviews compared to other stories around my length. Am I really that poor a writer? Well, be honest with me. Just tell me how bad I am, and then I'll stop writing, simple and clean, thanks a lot.