Disclaimer: do not own Naruto, the character or the anime/manga, Feneris however is my own Character.
True Power
Chapter 20: Elves and the Akatsuki
"Elves have green chakra; it signifies a naturally higher balance of mental power in the chakra mix."
Feneris of the Moonstalker Clan
Team 7 was sitting at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar enjoying a free lunch courtesy of Feneris.
"Feneris, why do you have green chakra?" Haku asked. "And, what are your ulterior motives for buying us lunch?"
"A teacher cannot check on his students' progress?" Feneris said jokingly. "I just came to see how you're doing."
"Makes sense, but what about your chakra?"
"Elves have green chakra, because our chakra naturally contains a higher balance of mental power. Youkai and dragons have red chakra because theirs has a higher balance of physical power. Humans have blue chakra because their chakra balance is pretty much even," Feneris explained.
"Sooo… how has your Gennin team been?" Naruto questioned, between bowls of miso ramen.
"Good. Kiba and Shino work well together, and my training methods are very effective for getting them to improve and learn." Feneris paused above his bowl of chicken ramen, "Sakura on the other hand…well… she worries more about impressing Sasuke then improving. I have been teaching her psiconics due to her high amount of mental power, but, I can just toss her a scroll and she will learn the technique. Also, my training techniques don't seem to work for her. If she is going to improve, I may need to find someone else to teach her."
"How are Kiba and Shino doing in terms of skills?" Haku inquired.
"Kiba has learned quite a few new ways to utilize Akamaru in combat; his senses are getting sharper too. Shino has managed to breed quite a number of different bugs with different abilities; sleeper bugs, hypnosis bugs, advanced chakra eating bugs, you name it."
"What about the cursed seal on Sasuke?" Naruto asked, finishing his 20th bowl of ramen.
"Well, Itachi managed to seal the curse. However, I feel this is definitely not the last we will see of Orchimaru, or his cursed seal," Feneris said, finishing off his bowl. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to."
Feneris got up from his stool, pulled out a voodoo doll of Jiraiya, turned the corner and disappeared out of sight. A loud scream of pain echoed from the bathhouse a few minutes later.
"We better leave before Ero-Sannin thinks we're involved," Naruto said, finishing his 35th bowl and getting up from the ramen bar.
"You are involved," Gaara confirmed. "You gave Feneris that voodoo doll."
"Heh heh… let's just get out of here. Summoning Jutsu!" A blue and yellow frog, big enough to carry all three boys appeared on the road outside the stand.
"Take us to Training Ground 7!" Naruto commanded, as soon as they had climb on top of the frog.
"Right," the frog answered before taking a mighty leap and heading off towards the training grounds.
Hinata was sitting in a clearing at Training Ground 7 waiting for Team 7 to show. She had nothing better to do; her team mate Sasuke was vanishing for hours on end, and the most Kai had to work on was his proficiency with weapons, something Hinata knew nothing about. Besides, Itachi had actually suggested she practice with Team 7 to get a hang of the different styles people used.
The large blue and yellow frog landed in front of Hinata. Team 7 jumped off and the frog disappeared in poof of smoke.
"Hi Hinata!" Naruto greeted cheerfully.
"H-hi Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted back. "What do you want to practice today?"
"Well I was…" Naruto's statement was interrupted when his danger sense went off. "Hit the ground!" he yelled, yanking Hinata down.
Gaara and Haku followed Naruto's orders and ducked. A flaming windmill shurikin soared overhead before turning around in mid-air and flying back to its wielder.
Derilk held his hand out and effortlessly caught the giant shurikin on its return. "Well, well, well… they're three demon carriers here instead of one. Kisame, you take the one with black hair. I'll take the blonde and the redhead."
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto yelled, getting into a fighting stance.
"I'm Derilk, and this is Kisame," Derilk said, pointing to his partner. "And we want those demons you have sealed in your bodies."
Naruto let out a fox-like growl in response.
You could almost see Derilk smirking under his cloak. He then sent out a powerful wave of killer intent. Team 7 wasn't affected because of Feneris's anti-fear training, but Hinata was frozen where she stood.
"Shark Sea Jutsu!" A torrent of water burst from the ground in front of Kisame and formed into the shape of a group of sharks. Haku held up his hand, and the water froze in place.
"Art of the Duel Swordsmen!" Derilk yelled, making an elven hand seal. A second copy of Derilk emerged from his body leaving two separate copies of the same person standing. One copy held the windmill shurikin. The other held a sword with the straight thick blade of a European long sword and the round hilt of the Japanese katana.
Naruto made a hand seal and 50 shadow clones surrounded the copy with the sword. They each pulled out their swords and attacked the copy. "Spinning Black Blade." Derilk said, as his blade acquired a black aura, and he began to spin like a top. The shadow clones vanished as they were each destroyed.
"Spear of Water Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, making a hand seal. A spear of water formed and flew towards Derilk. The sword wielding clone vanished and appeared in front of Naruto, the blade flying forward to drive through Naruto's chest.
Gaara formed his dome of sand as the windmill shurikin thrown by the other clone came at him. The shurikin collided with the dome and spun around in the sand. A blade on the shurikin glowed with a brown light, and the dome of sand was blown to pieces. Sand parted before the glowing shurikin as it flew straight for Gaara.
Kisame expertly blocked the stream of sebon with the flat of his sword. Haku, meanwhile, made a one handed seal and shot a giant icicle at Kisame. The projectile hit the sword and melted, the chakra that kept the ice frozen was eaten by the large weapon.
"Heh, Samehada eats chakra," Kisame sneered, showing rows of shark-like teeth. He then created a large bullet of water and hurled it at Haku. Haku dodged the water bullet and turned around only to see Kisame swinging Samehada down on him.
Feneris sat in an Inn in Tea Country talking to 8-year old versions of Haku, Gaara, and Naruto.
"Okay, you have begun to draw upon the chakra of your youkai. Now this is only to be used if you are protecting someone important to you or if you life is in danger. With your human bodies, you will not be able to access the full amount of chakra your youkai have. Also, if you draw too much chakra it will damage your body. Understand?" The three boys nodded in answer. "Good."
Naruto, Haku, and Gaara each saw their individual deaths approaching. Inside their bodies were three beings, who didn't want to die. Three huge bursts of demonic chakra were felt all over the Hidden Leaf Village.
Feneris was walking through the streets of the Village when he felt the waves of chakra. "Naruto, Gaara, Haku! They must be in danger!" he thought. The wind picked up, and he disappeared in a cloud of dust.
Derilk was blown back by the sudden burst of demonic chakra. He flipped backwards and merged with his other copy. Naruto's whisker marks had thickened, his eyes had turned red and developed a slit, and his fingernails and teeth had grown, becoming claws and fangs.
Gaara's sand lashed out and seized the shurikin. The shurikin pulled out of the sand and returned to its thrower. Gaara's eyes now had the amber iris and the black whites of Shukaku; sand coated his body in a thin sheet and turned into hardened claws at his hands.
Haku had grown long thin, almost cat-like claws and fangs. He had acquired golden eyes with slits, like Naruto's. Ice formed under his hands as he dodged Kisame's downwards chop. Haku launched several well-thrown sebon needles at Kisame, piercing his arm. "Shit," Kisame cursed, as he felt his arm start to go numb, "That demon kid must have poisoned the needles." Kisame channelled chakra into his arm, to hold back the effects of the poison.
Naruto and Gaara charged at Derilk; Naruto wielding Pyron, and Gaara forming giant claws with his sand. Derilk blocked Naruto's sword attacks with his own blade, while simultaneously driving back Gaara's sand with his shurikin. He then disappeared only to be replaced with a bottle of orange-red liquid. The bottle hit the ground and blew up, rocketing Naruto and Gaara backwards.
Derilk dropped out of a tree, but threw up his hands, causing a shield of green chakra to form. An arrow shot at him and hit the shield, splinting in tiny slivers of wood.
Feneris emerged from a tree trunk, his bow loaded and trained on Derilk.
"Kisame, lets go!" Derilk barked. "The waters have been tested." He threw down a scroll that burst open releasing a massive swarm of bats that hid him from view. When the bats had flown away, both he and Kisame were gone.
The demonic chakra died down, and Team 7 turned back to normal. "Hey, you four!' Feneris yelled. "Come with me, we have to report this to the Hokage." Feneris turned around and walked off to the Hokage Tower.
Itachi, Feneris, Hinata, Haku, Gaara, Naruto, and The Third were seated in a private meeting room in the Hokage Tower.
"Okay, anyone care to explain what happened?" The Third asked, letting out a puff of smoke from his pipe.
"We were attacked by those guys with black cloaks," Naruto answered. "The guy with the straw hat was called Derilk, and the shark guy was called Kisame."
"Did the cloaks have red clouds on them?" Itachi asked out of the blue.
"Yes," Naruto confirmed.
"Then it looks like they belong to an organization called the Akatsuki," Itachi said.
"What can you tell us about this organization?" The Third requested.
"It consists of 10 S-Class criminals from different shinobe villages," Itachi explained. "Orchimaru was once one of the members, but he left and the Akatsuki only have 9 members now. The only thing we know is that they seek the Tailed-Demons and have been attempting to capture their containers."
"W-what does th-that have to do with Haku, Gaara, and Naruto?" Hinata asked nervously.
"I can answer that," Feneris said. "But, Hinata do not breathe a word of this to anyone." Hinata nodded in answer. "Good. You see, Naruto has Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox, sealed within him. Gaara has the sand youkai Shukaku, the One-Tailed Tankui. Haku has the ice youkai Aisumaru. Kyuubi and Shukaku are two of the Tailed-Demons, and Aisumaru is related by blood to the Nekomata, the Two-Tailed Cat of Death."
Hinata glanced over at Team 7, who were glaring lightning bolts at Feneris.
"Don't worry about it," Feneris said to Team 7, before addressing the assembled group. "I can also shed some light on the one called Derilk. He is an elf; that is proven by the fact he has green chakra. I also have reason to believe he is someone I used to know."
"And who is that?" The Third inquired.
"His name is Derilk Darkblade. I met him about 100 years ago on my home world. He is known as the Copier of Bloodlines, because he uses a jutsu that allows him to copy almost anything. He is a powerful dark elf shinobi; his skills are easily above Kage level."
"How did you know it was him?" Haku asked.
"He still has the identification spell I placed on him 100 years ago," Feneris answered smugly. "It allows me to identify him no matter what he looks like or does to hide his identity. It's near impossible to remove because it marks the soul."
The Third mulled over the information, and then said, "Okay, I'll alert the ANBU to be on the lookout for anyone that fits that profile of belonging to the Akatsuki. This meeting is done."
Team 7 managed to talk to Hinata as they were leaving the tower.
"Hi Hinata," Naruto greeted. "So you know about our "tenants" now, huh?"
Hinata nodded in reply.
"You are not going to run away screaming are you?" Naruto asked, suddenly nervous.
Hinata shook her head, and Team 7 let out a collective sight of relief.
"So, meet at Training Area 7," Haku asked.
"Okay, Haku-kun," Hinata answered. "I'll bring lunch this time."
Hinata watched Team 7 walk away. She then hurried home, wondering, and marvelling about the three demon carriers that she calls friends.
Meanwhile…
"Damn it!" Kisame growled. "Why did you take over my mind, Derilk? I could have killed the demon carrier! Then, we would have to explain to the boss why we ruined the whole operation by killing a Tailed-Demon!"
"But you didn't," Derilk retorted. "Besides, we can be better prepared for the next time. Unlike the carriers of the Three-Tailed Shark and the Eight-Headed Snake, who had no idea how to use their demons, these three can use their demons. They will defiantly be more of a challenge to capture."
"I hate your plans," Kisame muttered under his breath.
"Good."
Authors Note: Whoa! Longest chapter I have ever written.
Looking back on past chapters I realize that my writing style has improved along with my spelling and grammar. So, I many devote some of my efforts to fixing up earlier chapters.