Chapter 24: Conquest
After a five hour nap, Naruto and Sasuke weren't at 100 percent, but they could function well enough. Sasuke made a crazy dash to work and Naruto ditched Ronoa's training session.
"All we do is fight and then he kicks my ass!" He complained as he helped Sakura scrub the blood stains from his shirt. "That's not training; it's abuse! I'd be better off training on my own."
With Naruto's shirt still wet, Sakura lead him to the abandoned Sorano Fuuka training ground, to begin to help him with his training.
"Okay, Naruto. Show me what you've got!" Sakura called across the sixty feet of open space between them. On the other side, Naruto squeezed the hilt of his sword nervously.
"Sakura-chan, are you sure about this? You haven't fully recovered yet!"
"Stupid. What the hell do you know about Medic Jutsu!? Stop worrying so much! Besides, if you don't get that necklace back, we'll never be able to leave this town!"
Sakura reached into a bag of empty NinCola cans she'd scrounged from the streets around their flat and pulled one out. Naruto gulped slightly as, across the granite slab, she tossed the can up into the air and caught it again.
"Now when I throw this at you, I want you to hit it. That's all. Understand?"
Naruto shifted his feet restlessly on the ground.
Sakura casually tossed the aluminum can at him, but a casual toss by Sakura was just as powerful as a full throttle pitch by normal people. The can blazed through the air.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, lifted his sword over his head and swiped it down in a perfect arc. Steel sliced cleanly through the weak can. Each half clattered to the stone on either side of him.
Naruto opened his eyes, noticed the bits of can and cheered.
"Yeah!!! Look Sakura-chan, I did it!"
Sakura gawked blankly at him for a moment. She hadn't expected this; maybe a swing-and-miss or a slight dent, but he cut the can in half. He said Ronoa-sama wasn't training him, yet he managed to complete this task perfectly… then was this talent or just dumb luck…?
Without responding, Sakura picked up another can and tossed it, this time slightly to his left. Naruto automatically repositioned himself, as if he'd been doing it for years, and sliced the can again.
"Alright!!!"
A vein throbbed in Sakura's forehead. She was a doctor; things that made no sense ticked her off, because, practically it meant she'd failed somewhere in her method. Why was he so damn good? Sakura snatched up a third can from the bag and hurled it with all her might. The aluminum chunk shot from her throw like a rocket. The air cracked in its wake and broke into a thousand pieces, sending huge blasts of wind trailing behind the NinCola bullet. The randomly scattered leaves didn't have a chance.
With no time to think, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut raised the katana and brought it down as hard as he could, releasing an unbridled yell.
The sword collided with the can. Sparks flew. For a moment, the can contested with the blade, pushing against it with full force, its generated wind tearing at Naruto like a savage beast. But in the end, steel broke through. The two halves shot by Naruto, rudely tossing his hair and sent the waves of his T-shirt into a frenzy. Two simultaneous, loud cracks erupted behind him as each piece collided with its own tree, sending woodchips flying and lodging themselves into the bark like nails.
Naruto turned around to view the damage. He let out a whoop of joy at his accomplishment.
"Hell yeah!!" Naruto cried as he began to turn back around. "Sakura-chan, did you see-?!"
Sakura's foot slammed into Naruto's face. He flew about ten feet, ricocheted off the granite platform and struck his own tree. Naruto groaned as he slid down the trunk and collapsed into a huddled mass on the earthen ground, clutching his face. He shot a glare up at Sakura who stood, shadowed by anger, on the platform.
"What the hell was that for?!"
"You liar!" Sakura pointed an accusing finger at him. "You said Ronoa-sama didn't train you!"
"He didn't!!"
"Then how do you explain this!?" Sakura held up one of the can halves.
"I dunno! I just have skills!"
"No way! You're a liar and you know it!"
"I swear, all Ronoa-jisan did was beat me up and feed me that nasty tea!"
Sakura glared down at him. His bright blue eyes held honesty, and Naruto had never lied to her before; there had to be something she was missing.
"This tea… what does it taste like?"
Naruto moaned as he picked himself off the ground.
"I dunno… just really nasty."
"Couldn't you be more specific? Is it sour or bitter?"
"Bitter."
"What's it smell like?"
"Um….nasty. Like…" Naruto rubbed his chin. "…like an old hot spring!"
Sulfur… I've got it!
"Naruto, do you have any idea what you've been drinking?!"
Naruto looked at Sakura as if she'd just asked him what her own name was.
"No."
"It's a muscle memory enhancer!" She exclaimed as she helped him back on to the platform.
"What?"
"Well, if you move in a certain way a lot of times, your muscles get use to moving that way, so you can move without it hurting. It's why your legs hurt if you do a lot of walking without shoes; your muscles aren't use to walking that way."
Naruto nodded as though he understood.
"That 'nasty tea' enhances this so it becomes easier to learn things."
"Then shouldn't he be teaching me how to do things, like the right way to hold a sword and stuff. What if my muscles have been recording the wrong thing?!"
Sakura looked up at the sky as she thought.
"Well… do you want to be a Bushido master, Naruto?"
"Hell no! I'm a ninja!"
"Then why do you need to learn the 'right' way to hold a sword in Bushido? You already know how to use your body in the best possible way as a ninja."
Naruto thought about this for a moment.
"Yeah… I guess so… But hey! Why haven't I heard about this muscle junk before!? It would've been really handy when Iruka-sensei was making us run around the village!"
"Well, it's not that easy to make. I couldn't make it; few people can. It also makes you really, really sick…. I get it! You never get sick because of Kyuubi! And, in reality, there is no substitute for hard work… you said it yourself, there are no shortcuts, right?"
"That's true… But he's still beating me up!"
"I think… he's been doing something equally smart and stupid. By fighting him you're gaining experience in the fastest way possible. It seems like he doesn't want to keep you here any longer than you need to be. However, he overlooked the fact that, when it comes to Bushido, he's stronger than you by a hundred times. At this rate, you'll never defeat him."
Naruto sank to the stone ground and watched a stray leaf skip across the gray surface.
"Then how can I get that necklace back…? I have to get it back. I promised Tsunade-obachan I would take good care of it…" His face drooped and Sakura smacked him on the head.
"Ow!" Naruto looked up to see Sakura grinning.
"Stupid! Don't you have your own skills? Who said you had to defeat him using Bushido?"
"But he's a ninja too. You said it yourself. He's like Jiraiya or Kakashi-sensei's dad. He can probably counter everything I've got… I don't have any talent… like Sasuke…"
"That's not true."
Naruto looked up and saw Sakura walking away from him. She stopped and clasped her hands behind her back.
"Sure, you have the Kage Bunshin and the Rasengan. You may be able to summon Gama Bunta, but those aren't the best things."
She squeezed her neck with her shoulders.
"My favorite thing about Naruto is that… even when things seem hopeless…" She whispered. Suddenly, she wheeled around and struck the thumbs-up, cool-guy pose.
"…That you never give up!!!"
Naruto blinked in astonishment. That pose… She imitated it from his undying promise over a year ago when he swore o bring Sasuke back, at the risk of his own life. He failed once, than twice, but he still managed to reach through the darkness for Sasuke and pull him out, finally bringing him back on the third attempt, nearly dying in the process. Sakura held the gesture in her heart.
She smiled brightly and tilted her head to the side.
"So don't go giving up now, Stupid!!!"
Sakura laughed. Naruto blinked at her, sighed and stood up. She was right; he knew what he had to do. He grinned back at her, brimming with determination.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan."
"That's what friends are for."
-
Ronoa lazily reclined against a rock, a toothpick protruding from his lips, as Naruto stepped onto the landing before his cave.
"So you finally decided to show up…" The old man pulled the pick from his teeth. "Good. I have a whole kettle of tea just waiting for you."
"No. Fuck that."
Ronoa blinked in surprise at the boy's stern tone. Naruto stood before him, glaring, not like the 14 year-old brat he was, but like a man with a sense of purpose and responsibility.
"I'm not here for your tea, your sword, or your stupid Bushido. I'm here for the necklace you stole from me." He reached his arm over his shoulder and drew his katana, pointing it at Ronoa. "This bullshit ends here, old man. I'm going to kick your ass."
Ronoa stood up and brushed himself off. The necklace swung like a pendulum from around his neck.
"Is that so?" He looked Naruto straight in the eye. "Then you'd better make this worth my time."
He threw off his long traveler's cloak, picked up his long, broad katana, and the two bound off into the trees.
They arrived in a large grass-covered clearing. Wind whipped around it like a peanut gallery. Naruto stood at the ready, bent for combat, sword clasped tightly in his hands, twenty yards from Ronoa, who held his sword low at his side. The swift breeze whistled ominously through the buckling trees as the two warriors faced each other in stand-off.
Naruto raised his sword and charged, letting out a battle cry. He plummeted toward Ronoa and struck at his head. The old man lazily held up his sword to block and easily pushed Naruto off him. Naruto stumbled to the ground and struck again. Once more Ronoa put up a perfect defense and casually knocked Naruto aside like a fly. Naruto swung at Ronoa's met and met the other katana hard. He swiped at Ronoa's neck, but the old man easily dodged out of the way. Panting, Naruto shifted his feet on the ground and went for a final full frontal attack. He swiped vertically at Ronoa's gray hair with all his might.
The blade hummed as in became lodged between Ronoa's index and middle fingers. Naruto pulled to get it loose but to no avail.
"What's with all the big talk?" Ronoa leaned in close. "You haven't improved a bit since yesterday."
With his free hand, Ronoa flipped his katana and slammed the hilt hard into Naruto's stomach. Naruto's eyes grew wide as sharp pain ripped through his belly. He let go of his sword, stumbled backward a couple steps and doubled over in pain. He began to cough into the ground.
"I'm surprised." Ronoa responded in a semi-amused fashion. "Most people would have passed out."
He may not have gotten there yet, but it was something Naruto was fighting. His vision blurred in front of him like an unfocused lens.
No, he chanted to himself, I will not give in!
Ronoa let Naruto's sword fall to the ground and turned back toward the cave.
"This fight is over." He proclaimed. "If you can still walk, pick up your sword and follow me back." Ronoa began to move away.
Naruto glared up at his back, his whole body shaking from the blow. With a trembling hand, he reached out for his sword and used it to prop himself up. Stumbling slightly, he held the sword in a fighting stance and charged at Ronoa's back. He lifted his sword as he ran and jumped smashing the katana at the old man's head. Ronoa spun, and, in an instant, met Naruto's blow with his blade.
"It's not good swordsmanship to attack someone from behind." He muttered.
"I told you, I'm not a swordsman!" Naruto retaliated. "I'm a ninja!"
He quickly dropped to a crouching position, stuck the sword between his teeth and made several seals.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!
Twenty Naruto clones appeared out of thin air, each carrying an identical sword. They charged like a stampede at Ronoa and he swiped his katana through all of them with the precision of a senin. One by one, the doppelgangers fell until there was nothing left including the original. Ronoa tensed as the summer wind blew through the clearing, leaves scattering like a crowd. There was a slight crunch from above. Ronoa looked up to see Naruto bound out of a tree at him.
"I've got you now, old man!"
"But you're forgetting one thing." Ronoa smiled.
"?"
"I'm a ninja too."
Naruto's blade sliced through an explosion of vapor. He landed solidly on the ground and looked around frantically. He felt a slight tug on the back of his shirt as Ronoa hooked it on to the tip of his sword. With all his might, Ronoa flung Naruto at the tree jumped out of. A sickening crack emerged as Naruto collided with the trunk.
"Give it up." Ronoa smirked as Naruto fell back to the ground. "You shouldn't even be able to get up after-" But he swallowed his words. Naruto inched his way up to standing, using his sword as a walking stick.
"I know a girl who hits a lot harder than you." He coughed and spat something red out of the corner of his mouth. Naruto regained his balance and held his sword steady for a third time. "Let's finish this."
Ronoa smiled and, for the first time, stood in a full battle stance. The two glared at each other.
They both charged, katana blazing behind them, wind tearing at them like a jet stream. Fifteen feet… twelve feet… ten feet… 9…8… 7… 6… Naruto began to raise his sword, but Ronoa was faster. The flat side of the thick katana collided with Naruto's cheek like a baseball bat. Ronoa's strength was ready to send him flying again, but Naruto pushed back.
No, I won't lose!
Naruto shoved rudely against the might of the katana, and moved forward along it, the blade's cutting into the side of his face. Blood ran freely down his chin, but he could see it, his target.
It took Ronoa a minute to figure out what Naruto was doing. One moment, he was going to send the little brat soaring like a home run, the next, the Kyuubi katana came rising at him like the tongue of a frog. Naruto stabbed at Ronoa's collar bone, at the fragile string that lay draped over it. The old man barely had time to dodge as the blade swiped at his neck, a small red line spewing blood left in its wake. Ronoa dodged backward, put all his energy into his own sword and hit Naruto out of the park. The blonde-haired boy went skidding over the grass like a smooth, round stone on water. He finally came to rest as his head struck a tree.
"Ow!!!" Naruto clutched his head then stood up and stomped on the ground.
"Goddam it!!" He missed, how could he miss!? He was so close to swiping that necklace from Ronoa's neck!
Something small ricocheted off Naruto's head.
"Ow!"
He glared down at the mischievous prick, and dived down to scoop it up off the ground where it had fallen. Naruto stared in awe. In his hand lay his prize, Shodaime's pendant.
"But… why?!" He looked over at Ronoa. A small stream of blood ran down his chest.
"Oh please," Ronoa scoffed, "You were never going to beat me. You got damn close though." Suddenly, he smiled. "Good work."
Naruto blinked.
"You mean it's over?"
"Yeah, you can have it back."
Naruto stared stupidly at him for a moment, and then a huge smile erupted over his face.
"YEAAAAAH!!!!" He cheered and toppled over in a fit of laughter.
Ronoa watched Naruto wriggle around in the grass and put a hand on the cut on his neck. He stared at the red ooze on his palm in a combination of self-satisfaction and awe. Something poked him and Ronoa turned around to acknowledge his addressee.
"Here," Naruto held up the sword, in its sheath, to him.
"What?"
"A trade. You said I was keeping this as a trade until I got my necklace back. You came take it back now."
Ronoa smiled and chuckled.
"You retard. It's not mine."
"What?!"
"It's yours."
"Huh?"
"Besides I don't need more swords. Keep it."
Naruto blinked down at the blade.
"Are you serious?!"
"Does it look like I'm kidding?"
"Um… thanks…"
Ronoa sighed.
"I will say this though. I take it back about you being like that man; you're more like an apprentice he used to have."
Naruto blinked in confusion, but didn't ask. Ronoa laughed and held out his hand. Naruto reached out and shook it. In an instant, Ronoa anchored him over his shoulder and pile-drived Naruto into the ground.
"Ack!" Naruto crashed into a heap. Ronoa stood over him laughing.
"Nevermind. You're exactly like that man!"
"B-bastard…"
-
Sakura stepped out of Sorano Fuuka the next day and stared up at the beautiful building for the last time. She hadn't been around it long, yet she felt like it had given her so much that she owed it something, like a fruit basket.
"Oi!! Sakura-chan! Have you returned the scroll yet?" Naruto hollered at her. He and Sasuke stood a little ways down the concrete path, packs in hand, ready to leave. Sasuke had returned his hair to its original fullness and Naruto itched irritably at the square bandage plastered to the side of his face.
"Hai!" Sakura called as she dashed over to them.
"What took so long?" Sasuke muttered as he handed over her red backpack. Sakura stuck her arms through the straps.
"Well, she gave me this thing…" Sakura held up an old, crusty-looking scroll about an inch thick. It looked different from most scrolls they'd ever seen before. It was made of black velvet and decorated with silver writing, "Archive No. 026."
"It's the Unseal to a vault in the Ninjutsu Archive on Zosho. She said I should take whatever is in it…"
"Don't you also need a key?" Sasuke wondered.
"She said we already have it."
"Whatever, we'll have to do that later. Zosho is really out of our way and we need to find Kouji." A cold wind rushed Sasuke's back and he shivered slightly, quickly shaking off the feeling.
"Ahhh, that crazy woman…" Sakura complained as they began down the endless stream of stairs. "She's probably just toying with me. It's all her fault that I used four pints of blood of an extra set of seals I didn't even use."
"Who knows," Naruto exclaimed jovially, "maybe they'll come in handy!" He shot Sasuke an evil smirk.
"Don't make me hurt you." The black-haired boy hissed as he flushed.
"Oh come on! You're just jealous because I got this super cool sword and mad Bushido skills while all you did was work at a bar!"
A vein pulsated irritably in Sasuke's forehead. Naruto laughed maniacally.
"Oh, Naruto." Sakura started. "That reminds me. Now that you've got your necklace back… well, what did you lose?"
"Huh?" Naruto looked up at her blankly.
"You know, what Sa-… that fortune teller said. Sasuke and I were supposed to find something and you were supposed to lose something forever. I found out about your seal, but what did you lose?"
"I lost my lunch!"
It was Sakura's turn to stare blankly.
"Huh?"
"Remember when we came here and I puked? I lost my lunch!"
"Naruto, I don't think that's it…"
"Then what else could it be? Nothing else is missing."
"Except your dignity, maybe…" Sakura muttered playfully.
"Hey Sakura-chan! That's mean!" Naruto glared at her.
She raised her hands in defense.
"I'm kidding. Kidding!"
"A secret." Sasuke's voice cut through their circus of conversation.
"Huh?" Both of them looked at him in question.
"You lost a secret, right? Sakura found out about the seal. Wasn't that important to you?"
Naruto rubbed his chin.
"Hey, yeah… I guess you're right!"
"But then," Sakura piped up. "I wonder what Sasuke found!"
"I don't give a damn." Sasuke scoffed. "Fortunes are for shit."
"Awwww…" Naruto pouted.
"Sasuke you're such a crab!" Sakura squealed.
-
From the roof of Sorano Fuuka's main building, two figures watched the trio leave.
"Are you sure it was okay to give her that Unseal, Kiki-chama? You were its keeper after all."
Satori Kikyou grinned.
"Of course, Tsunade has no right to yell at me; she did it too. I'm a little surprised that you gave him that sword, Ro-kun; you love that sword."
"Yeah, but it was getting restless. I can't leave this area, and that sword is drawn to the other… It was a good decision."
"If that sword leads him to its other, he's going to be in a mountain of trouble, you realize that."
"So, didn't you say you had a dream about them getting into trouble, Kiki-chama?"
"That was different, though… Those kids, they have a long journey ahead of them… It will only get harder from here…"
Ronoa smiled into the blue summer sky.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be just fine."
Author's End-of-Arc Notes: At last!!! The Sorano Fuuka section is over! We can move on! thisis by far the longest chapter in the entire story! I would like to thank all the readers for reading through this entire thing. I know it was suspenceful and erking at times, but it seemed to come out all right in the end ne? :)
About the Arc: There's not much to say about it. Everyone knows that the main thing about it was the Naruto's seal thing. About Sasuke's finding, well, he did find something that will relate to much, much later in the story, and it's not really rocket science to figure out. So if you know what it is, good job! If you didn't don't worry! More things like it will come, including the event that it's connected to. ( cackles maniacly And you all thought it was love! :P ). As is obvious, Satori Kikyou and Ronoa were named after characters from other series, however, I can't stress it enough that they are not those actual characters. I only named them after them; this isn't a crossover in anyway, shape or form.... that would be lame for this fic... Naming a character like that has nothing to do with how they look, more to do with their personality and their role in the story. And if you're confused about this Zosho thing, don't worry. I'll get into that later.
About Ro-kun and Kiki-chama: :3 There's actually a love story going on here, but the chapter got so long I didn't want to waste space elaborating on it... so I'll breifly explain it here for all those who care. Both Ronoa and Kikyou are originally leaf nin, Kikyou moved up when she was 15as part of a peace treaty, Ronoa moved in to spy about ten years later. They were on the same team growing up, and their team was rivaled with the Sanin's. Their third member died in the ninja wars. Ronoa and Kikyou are "engaged". They promised each other that, when the tensions between Fire Country and Lightning Country fall, they will both move back to Fire Country and get married, but no such occasion has ever arisen, and both think it's a failed hope. But as Kikyou says "I don't mind stay here with you, like this, forever." (squeeeeeeee) I brought them in originally, because I wanted to parallel them to ShikaIno, a pairing that I love beyond belief and that was hinted upon during the Pageant. However do not dispair, ShikaTema fans, I have tricks for you too. ;) I believe I've mentioned before how unspecified the pairings are in this story. (I think there's onlyone that I'm for 100 using Kishimoto's characters, but you won't hear about that for a while.)
Next Chapter: The treck to the Hidden Cloud Village begins!