Disclaimer: - I, SSG-Goku3397, do not own Naruto and any related matter. It all belongs to Kishimoto, the original brain behind the character Naruto. The only thing that I do own is the plot of this story and any original jutsu, seals, concepts and OC's that are present within the story.
A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Readers! I hope you like this installment of 'Return to the Past'. Make sure to leave me Reviews!
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them!:)
Though it would have been better if I got more reviews.
"Thoughts / Telepathic Speech"
"Speech"
Letters / Jutsu notes
Chapter 9 – First Glimpse!
"Why are we handling this situation? Shouldn't ninja from Takigakure handle intruders in their village?" Sasuke grumbled out as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
"Simple really, it is a good chance to test out your Ninshu in live combat. Also, since we are handling the situation, especially since we don't have to, not after what the elders did, Taki will be even more indebted to Konoha and our clans. It is a win-win situation with both wins going to us." Naruto said cheerfully causing Sasuke to nod his head in understanding. Behind them, Sakura and Kakashi just sighed at the blonde haired sages overexcited demeanour.
"How many are there anyway?" Kakashi asked with boredom. He had done such missions before while in ANBU. It was quite the brilliant political move on Naruto's part.
"Four, one Jōnin, three chunin. Kakashi-sensei, are you comfortable enough to take on another Jōnin using only Ninshu yet?" Naruto asked with a frown, "Not that I don't believe you capable of handling other Jōnin, but as I said, I want you all to only use Ninshu."
Kakashi hummed before nodding to himself, "I should be able to handle him. You are going to just observe us, aren't you?"
"That's right, don't worry, I will intervene if I see any of you being overwhelmed. I won't even need to move from my spot." Naruto said with a nonchalant grin causing Sakura to growl in annoyance. Sasuke just nodded in acceptance before he smirked.
"So are we ambushing them?"
Naruto looked surprised at Sasuke's query, "Ambush? Why would we do that?"
Sasuke growled in annoyance, "That's the standard procedure, isn't it?"
Sakura and Kakashi nodded in agreement with the last Uchiha only for Naruto to grin, "That's for weaklings. We can easily take them. I have the utmost trust in my teammates! We are going to intercept them from the front after they get their hands on the Hero's Water."
Sakura looked surprised at Naruto's audacity. She still remembered how strong Shibuki became last time, Naruto can't believe that Ninshu would give them enough advantage to defeat an enemy under the effects of the Hero's Water, can he? As he was about to voice her concerns, Naruto said, "You don't really have to defeat them. From what Shibuki said, the Hero's Water, while increasing the power of the drinker also claims their life. You just have to hold them back until the effects wear off, then they will die for their stupidity."
Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura looked surprised at that before Sakura spoke up, "You are banking on the fact that we should have more physical and mental stamina to outlast the effects of the Hero's Water, especially since we aren't going to be using much chakra."
"That's right Sakura-chan! Anyway, the have already drunk the Hero's Water. We are going to reach them within the minute. Sakura, I would like you to focus on earth this time. Kakashi-sensei, try lighting generation and fire. Sasuke, don't even try lightning. We don't need you blowing yourself up again."
Everyone nodded in acceptance as Kakashi asked, "How strong did they become?"
"Low to High. It is a fixed percentage gain from what I can sense. Purified nature chakra is flowing through them. Interesting phenomenon. I need to take a sample to Gamamaru-sensei."
"Stop rambling Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed with annoyance, "We are here!"
"Huh… Oh have fun!" Naruto said before jumping up onto a tree branch. Placing his right hand on the branch, a complex sealing formula formed before a translucent orange barrier formed around him. After a moment, the barrier flashed before vanishing along with Naruto. Sakura and Kakashi focused their senses at the spot to find no trace of Naruto being present. No sound, no smell, no chakra pressure, nothing!
"That's must be some kind of stealth barrier seal!" Kakashi exclaimed in excitement before turning his attention to the arriving Nukenin.
"Hatake Kakashi, the Copī Ninja! I didn't expect you to be here. No matter, you won't be able to defeat me and my team. Not now that we have ingested the Hero's Water!" An older spiky haired man said with a superior smirk. "Though I am surprised that the elders and Shibuki let a foreign Ninja enter Taki. Such a thing hasn't happened since Senju Hashirama and his wife Mito came to deliver the Nanabi!"
"And look at the two cute Genin he has brought along as reinforcements. Run along children, you don't want to die now, do you?" The lone woman said with a mocking tone causing Sasuke to grit his teeth and activate his Sharnigan. Sakura mentally groaned at the arrogance the Kunoichi was showing.
"Oh look! It's the last Uchiha. There are rumours that Orochimaru of the Sannin will pay handsomely for an Uchiha! We should capture him," the silver haired Ame nukenin said with a grin.
"We should try to capture the girl as well. She would be worth a lot on the Black Market. I heard Gatō likes them young!" The final nukenin exclaimed with a lecherous expression on his face, causing both Sakura and the Kunoichi to look at him in disgust while Kakashi and Sasuke frowned.
"Sensei, can we just end this already?" Sakura asked with a sweet smile while directing a surprising amount of killing intent for fresh Genin catching everyone, including Kakashi by surprise. Behind his barrier, Naruto winced before saying out loud, "That was a dumb mistake. Sakura-chan is smiling that creepy smile again!"
"You haven't taught your Genin well, have you? Though I must ask, why happened to your final Genin? Are you so poor a teacher that you have already lost someone?"
"I think that is enough… ah…"
"Suien, these are Hisame, Kirisam and Murasame!" Suien said point to the Kunoichi, the lecherous nukenin and the silver haired nukenin in turn. "Now since the time for talk is over, you three take care of the Genin, the final member should be hiding somewhere. Hisame, take care of him. Murasame, you get the Uchiha. Kirisame, try not to harm the girl too much. Gatō won't pay much for damaged goods." Suien said getting affirmative nods from his team but before the Hisame could move, Sakura stomped her left foot causing the ground under the enemy Kunoichi to lurch forward catching the intruders by surprise.
Before Hisame could even right herself, Sakura had already stomped the ground again causing a large boulder to rise into the air. Throwing her fist into the boulder, Sakura directed the floating piece of earth to fly towards the airborne kunoichi with extreme speed. The boulder crashed into Hisame, throwing her into a tree before crushing her under its weight. With a scream of pain, Hisame fainted. A stream of blood flowing down the side of her mouth.
"What kind of ninjutsu is that? There were no hand seals involved!" Kirisame stuttered out in panic before another boulder flew towards him. Luckily, he was able to regain his senses and dodge before growling out in anger. "Screw selling you to Gatō! I am going to kill you!"
"I would like to see you try mongrel!" Sakura exclaimed as she pulled out another boulder from the ground and launched it towards Kirisame who quickly made the hand seals for Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu. Swinging the newly formed water whip, Kirisame was able to partially redirect boulder before jumping out of the way and into the path of another boulder. With quick reflexes, Kirisame saved himself by using his whip to pull himself out of the way of the second boulder before swinging the whip at Sakura.
"Is that all you can do?" Sakura said raising a wall of rock. The whip struck the wall, chipping it before retracting. The wall lowered to Sakura's waist as Sakura placed a palm on the top of the wall. "I am quite disappointed. Being a Nukenin, I expected that you would at least be Chinnin level in skills. It seems I was mistaken, especially since you can't seem to face even a freshly graduated Genin."
Kirisame growled in anger before jumping down. Channelling raiton chakra through the water whip, he struck out at Sakura again. With a malicious grin, Sakura slashed her palm forward, causing a thin blade of earth to fly and intercept the whip. To Kirisame's surprise, the blade, instead of being slashed in half by the whip, slashed through the whip before exploding into shards and dust, some of the shards in causing minor wounds on his exposed skin. Right after that many more blades of rick flew towards him causing him to draw out two kunai and charge them with raiton chakra. As one after another blade reached him, Kirisame swung his arms, deflecting the blades. Unfortunately, there were too many blades to redirect, so he started getting minor slash wounds.
As Sakura fought Kirisame, Sasuke concentrated in fighting against Murasame. It seemed that the man was better than the other two, since Sasuke was having a bit of trouble handling him, especially since Murasame used that weird Kokoro Kasoku no Jutsu.
As another barrage of water kunai flew towards him, Sasuke gritted his teeth as he swung his right leg causing a massive wave of flames to form and intercept the weapons, causing them disperse into the air as steam. Growling, Sasuke punched forward releasing a stream of fire at Murasame who dodged before launching another wave of water weapons. Jumping into the air using a burst of fire to rise higher than usual, Sasuke threw his body into a forward spin. Waves of fire lashed out at Murasame in an unpredictable pattern.
Gritting his teeth, Murasame went through some hand seals causing the water around him to fly up, freeze into chunks of jagged ice and fly forward and intercept the whips of fire. Lucky for him, the flames weren't hot enough to completely melt all the ice, so some of the chunks flew towards Sasuke, or so he though. As the jagged pieces of ice struck the Uchiha, he burst into smoke and was replaced by a log.
"You know Sasuke, when I said only Ninshu, I meant it." Sasuke whipped his head to the side to see Naruto standing beside him with a disappointed look on his face.
"I know, but dying soon isn't on my bucket list at the moment!" Sasuke said with annoyance and he breathed heavily causing Nartuto to just shake his head.
"You aren't using the strength of fire comes from the breath. You are trying to use your anger to fuel the fire. While that is effective to a certain degree, true fire bending comes from breath. Let me show you." Naruto said before jumping down. Getting into a relaxed stance, Naruto closed his eyes, raised his fists to his waist and took a deep, calm breath.
Murasame was surprised at Naruto's appearance but realized that he must have been the hidden Genin. With a grin Murasame realized Naruto not focusing his attention towards him. Making a few hand seals, Murasame used the same jutsu he used against Sasuke the right before the Uchiha vanished.
As the wave of jagged ice flew towards him, Naruto's eyes snapped open as he brought back his right fist while extending his left palm. Moving his hands in an anti-clockwise motion, a circle of fire formed, tracing the motions of his hands before he thrust them forward causing the circle to suddenly solidify and release a massive wave of pale yellow flames that easily vaporized the ice chunks and most of the water under the place the wave passed. Murasame watched in shock as the wave rushed towards him. He tried to make the hand seals for the Kawarimi no Jutsu but just before he finished the final seal, the flames swallowed him.
The screams of agony lasted only for a moment before the flames snuffed out, leaving behind the charred corpse of Murasame. Naruto bowed his head for a moment before turning to Sasuke and said, "That is the true power of fire. Strength comes from breath, not anger." Sasuke nodded dumbly, Naruto puffing away in smoke, as he stared at the corpse of his opponent.
"This is unreal! What kind of jutsu allows someone to do this?" The T&I head asked as the other Taki Ninja nodded in agreement. Fū watched in shock at how easily Naruto defeated Murasame with a single technique using only a clone, while Sakura easily took out the kunoichi before the main fight even began and was now playing around with the remaining Ame nukenin.
Spikes of rock rising from the ground in a blink of an eye, boulders flying with great speed, walls of earth breaking into jagged shards of rock and flying towards their target, all without the use of a single hand seal. The whole battle was unbelievable.
"I can't even sense any chakra in the earth or the fire. It's almost like they are bending the very elements to their wills!" A Jōnin exclaimed in shock.
"That's because they are!" A childish voice called out in glee causing the gathered Taki Ninja to jump. Drawing their kunai, they turned only to come face to face with Naruto standing behind them with a foxy grin on his face.
Calming down, Shibuki asked the question floating about in their heads, "What do you mean Naruto-sama?"
Naruto's feature changed from childish glee to a prideful expression as he said, "What you see are the results of learning using Ninshu, the predecessor of ninjutsu."
"What is Ninshu, Naruto-sama?" A Jōnin asked tentatively, fearing of offending the young daimyō with his ignorance.
"Is this the style you have started teaching a handful of Konoha Ninja? I believe that you used similar techniques during your evaluation, didn't you?" Shibuki asked with awe as he turned back to the fight, hoping to not miss any of it.
Nodding, even though Shibuki couldn't see it, Naruto said, "That's right. Ninshu is the art the Rikudō Sennin taught our world when he gifted us the light that is chakra. It is the use of chakra to connect not only to each other, but to nature itself. His elder son had perverted this sacred art into what we now call Ninjutsu. Not only is Ninshu more potent, even the most powerful techniques require very little chakra cost in comparison to ninjutsu of the same calibre. Granted Ninjutsu is easier to learn, but Ninshu is better."
"If I may Naruto-sama," The T&I Head asked getting a nod from Naruto, "How did you come to learn the art and at such a young age as well?"
"I became a Gama Sennin by observing the battle between a snake summon and toad summon. With my sensory skills, I realized both were using senjutsu in minor amounts to increment their abilities. Studying how they did it, I recreated it. When the Toads learned of it, they decided to test me. It isn't common to become a sage without help, in fact only Senju Hashirama is the only other person to achieve the feat. Originally the Gama Sennin Fukasaku was supposed to administer the test, but the Ōgama Sennin superseded him. I was already using a different variant of Sennin Mōdō to Fukasaku, the variant that Gamamaru-sensei and his pervious student the Rikudō Sennin used, so he took me in as his pupil. After that, he taught me the theory behind Ninshu and let me figure it out. Nothing more really."
Everyone stared in shock, their mouths hanging open before Fū said, "You are a prodigy! There is no other explanation!"
"No, I just work hard. Very hard to gain my abilities. Now before I go, Shibuki, I would advise that you don't use the Hero's Water at all if you can. The water is infused with purified Nature Chakra, the same we sages use in a baser form. The purified form prevents petrification but instead damages the life force. Only a Sage would be able to use it without ill effects. I would advise that if you have a summons contract, see if they will be willing to teach you Senjutsu before allowing anyone to use the Hero's Water. A Sage can easily reverse the damage if they know how." With that said Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke just as Fū said, "Can you teach me?"
"You are good Kakashi, but I didn't realize that you were good enough to use seal less jutsu." Suien said as Kakashi dodged another wave of shuriken. Without answering, Kakashi punched forward releasing a wave of scorching hot flames causing Suien to use Kawarimi to dodge.
"Is that all you have got? I thought that the Hero's Water is supposed to increase a mediocre shinobi's skills, if this is the increase in your skills, then I can only assume that you were sub-par even among mediocre shinobi!" Kakashi taunted with a bored tone causing Suien to growl before drinking the rest of the water in the jar he was carrying.
Kakashi watched in shock as Suien was suddenly covered in a massive aura of visible chakra. Before he could react, Suien had disappeared and reappeared in front of him, Suien's fist firmly planted in his gut. Coughing up blood, Kakashi tried to kick Suien back only for the former Takinin to jump back and go through the hand seals for the Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu.
Realizing the danger, Kakashi got into a horse stance before clenching his fingers in a fist, with the index and ring finger extended. Raising his pointed fingers to his head, Kakashi swiped his arms in large circular arcs. Bringing his pointed fingers to his waist, Kakashi launched them forward in a strong jab just as Suien conjured the larger than average Water Dragon. As the water dragon charged at Kakashi, intense streams of blue-white lightning flew out of the extended fingers before colliding with the massive water construct.
Everyone knew that Suiton and Raiton were near about equal in strength. Either could win over the other, depending on the user's skill and power. Here, everyone thought that Kakashi was at a disadvantage. Form what everyone could see, the water dragon was larger than normal, nearly S-Rank in power. Now Kakashi's stream of intense lightning would have easily defeated the water dragon if it was a normal one, the Takinin believed that, at the moment, Kakashi's lightning wasn't strong enough.
"That technique doesn't seem strong enough to handle a water dragon of such power, should we help him Shibuki-sama?" An Anbu asked with concern only for Shibuki to shake his head.
"No, Naruto-sama told us to leave it to him and his team. Besides, Hatake Kakashi is an Elite Jōnin marked as a border line S-Rank Ninja. I doubt he needs help."
As Shibuki said, Kakashi didn't seem that he needed help at all. To everyone's shock, the lightning easily carved through the massive water dragon, causing it to disperse before a massive explosion occurred. The shockwave threw Suien and Kakashi back, but both were easily able to right themselves before looking at their respective opponent. Suien with a shocked and fearful look and Kakashi with the focused look he used to have while in Anbu.
"How?" Suien muttered out, his body shaking with indecision.
"How what?" Kakashi mocked. "How are you still so weak? You haven't even forced me to use my Sharingan yet. I was expecting more. Maybe, the legend of the Hero's Water was false, or maybe a mediocre shinobi doesn't get that much of a boost?"
Growling, Suien charged at Kakashi, a visible aura of flame like chakra flowing around the former Takinin when suddenly the aura vanished. As soon as the aura vanished, Suien stumbled before falling on his face, blood leaking from his ears, mouth, nose and eyes.
"Well, that was anticlimactic. I was expecting you take him down instead of playing around." Kakashi shrugged at what Naruto said.
"What can I say, I wanted to test out my skills in ninshu, so I decided to play around instead of ending the fight as soon as I could. Besides, you said no Ninjutsu, as far as I know, that also includes Dōjutsu."
"Not really, but I can agree that if you master ninshu without your sharingan, with it you would easily become a high S-Ranked Shinobi." Kakashi nodded in appreciation as he kneeled down beside Suien and placed two fingers on his neck.
"No pulse. He is dead, just as you said. How did the others do Naruto?"
"Better than I expected I Sakura-chan's case, Sasuke could have been better, but his mentality is still not stable enough to bring out the true power of fire. I will have to spend some time helping him get out of his present mindset. Let's round these idiot's corpses up and meet up with the Taki ninja nearby."
"Lead the way Naruto. You still have to check the security seals. How long do you think it will take?"
"Not more than a couple of days, especially with a liberal use of Kage Bunshin." Naruto said as he sealed Suien's corpse in a scroll before he and Kakashi headed to Sasuke's position to repeat the procedure.
"Give up already, you are losing blood to fast. Within moments, you are going to start getting light headed!" Sakura said with a smirk causing Kirisame to growl before throwing a bunch of water kunai at which were promptly blocked by a wall of stone. Though Kirisame couldn't see her, Sakura had just punched the wall causing thousands of sharp jagged shards to fly towards the tired Kirisame.
As Kirisame was dodging and redirecting the shards, two pieces of rock jutted out of the ground and crushed his right foot between them. With a loud scream, Kirisame fell to the ground, clutching his leg right above the ankle as he tried to pull it free.
While he was thus distracted, Sakura steeled her nerves and launched a wave of rising spikes at the downed Amenin. Hearing the sound of the emerging spikes, Kirisame looked up only for a spike to shoot through his left eye and out the back of his head. Several more spikes followed, tearing through the rest of his body, raising the still warm corpse into the air, his right leg separated from the rest of the body when a spike ripped through Kirisame's right thigh.
Seeing the effect of her final technique, Sakura started hyperventilating in shock just as Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke reached the place. Seeing the corpse, Sasuke turned around and promptly vomited at the condition it was in. He had seen the Uchiha Massacre, but the corpses not brutalized to such a degree. He knew that there were many techniques that could brutalize the corpses, but to see such a thing up close was another thing.
Kakashi watched with shock and sadness at the sight. Seeing Sakura's condition, Kakashi believed that this was the first kill the girl had, so was about to approach her, when Naruto threw him the sealing scroll and pulled Sakura into a comforting hug.
At first, Sakura didn't respond. She just stared at the corpse with blank eyes before Naruto's soothing voice finally breached her shock. Without realizing, Sakura had grabbed onto Naruto and started brawling into his chest.
"I didn't mean to…!" Sakura said after calming down a bit.
Naruto nodded and said, "I know Sakura-chan. This was a complete accident. We still don't know the full power of ninshu. Besides, there is no limit to the techniques one can create. Spikes of rock isn't something that has been seen in dōton before."
"I know, I know that I am being hypocritical, but you should know that I haven't killed anyone in such a brutal manner before. It was a shock!" Sakura said, her jade eyes still red from her bout of crying.
"It wasn't completely your fault Sakura. From the expression on what's left of Kirisame's face, I can say that he was surprised and shock just before he died. If he had expected such a technique, he should have been able to dodge most of it, even with his foot clamped to the ground." Sakura looked up to see Kakashi standing beside her with a gentle look in his eyes. "Besides, such things happen. I have a technique that can be used punch fist sized holes through someone's chest. Many top ranking shinobi have to face the moral dilemma of if they should use their more brutal techniques at all. I say, we only use them in the protection of our comrades."
"I agree with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said as he let go of the girl with a bit of reluctance. "My Fūton: Rasenshuriken can atomize anything that comes in contact with it. That doesn't stop me from using it, does it?"
Kakashi looked startled at the revelation as Sakura looked contemplative for a moment before nodding in agreement, "You are right Kakashi-sensei, Naruto. I was being stupid. Besides, if I remember correctly, a Rasenshuriken can easily reduce a small hill to nothing."
Kakashi started choking on his own spit in shock causing Sakura and Naruto to laugh before Kakashi asked, "You completed the Rasengan?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out. Now let's head back. Sakura-chan looks like she can use a good rest to calm down. Oi Sasuke, you alright there?"
Sasuke finished rinsing his mouth out with the water from his canteen before looking at Naruto and nodding, "I am now. I didn't expect such a brutal sight. I have read of them, but to see one up close…" Sasuke drifted off as his face paled a bit before shaking his head.
"Alright then, lets head back. I will carry the Kunoichi, she should still be alive." Naruto said causing the rest of his team to nod. Picking up Hisame without any sign of effort, Naruto rushed towards the place the Taki ninja were assembled. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other before rushing after the retreating back of their blonde haired teammate.
Late in the afternoon, Sakura woke up with a cold sweat. Sitting up, Sakura reached out and took a drink from the glass of water that was on the bedside table when Sasuke walked in with bowl of salad in his hand. Sasuke wasn't paying attention, so Sakura watched with amusement as Sasuke sat down on his bed and started munching on his salad. Sakura made a mental note to remember the rare sign of pleasure and happiness Sasuke exhibited as he ate the slices of tomato.
After a few moments, her stomach grumbled causing the pink haired girl to silently get out of bed and walk towards the exit when Sasuke finally realized that his only female teammate was finally awake.
"Hn… so you're awake? Naruto and Kakashi are out with Shibuki, checking the integrity of the seals. Catch, Naruto has left this pouch of ryō for your lunch and if you want to buy any souvenirs. Be back by evening. They wanted to discuss something with us. Also Fū was looking for you. She should be in the lobby." Sasuke said without preamble as he threw the pouch of ryō Sakura, who promptly caught it. Nodding her thanks, Sakura left the room.
Walking down to the lobby of the hotel they were staying at, Sakura saw Fū sitting on one of the chairs, munching on a bag of potato chips, completely ignorant of the hateful glares everyone was directing at her. "Hello Fū. I heard you were looking for me."
Looking up, Fū smiled as she stood up. "That's right, I wanted to talk to you about something."
Sakura nodded, "Have you had lunch yet Fū?"
Fū shook her head causing Sakura to smile, "Neither have I, why don't you join me? And don't worry, if anyone give you trouble, let me take care of it."
Fū gave a nervous smile but nodded, "Alright, but you don't really need to get in trouble for me!"
"Nonsense, it's the exact opposite really. Jinchūriki should be respected, not despised. Anyone who turns a blind eye to the situation doesn't deserve to be called a human." Sakura said with vehemence causing Fū's smile to brighten in response.
"This is interesting…" Naruto mumbled gaining the attention of Kakashi and Shibuki.
"What do you mean, Naruto-sama?" Shibuki asked with worry. Taki was already on thin ice due to the Elders behaviour, he was hoping that there won't be any more unforeseen situations that will cause the precarious relationship between Taki and the Uzumaki to completely fail.
"There has been tampering done on the seal. Probably by the Elders, or on their orders. It has actually weakened the seal as a whole. This array wasn't meant to have loopholes. I am surprised that the whole array hasn't destabilized and taken the whole of Taki with it. If the loophole is activated for too long, the feedback loop would create a cascade failure in the array. The explosion would not only take out Taki, but much of the surrounding lands as well."
Seeing the grim expression on Naruto's face, Kakashi shivered. Beside the silver haired Jōnin, Shibuki's face took on a countenance of horror at the precarious situation his village was in. Shibuki shook his head and asked the question that was floating about both Kakashi and his head, "Will you be able to fix it?"
Naruto nodded, "Not going to be a problem. Lucky for you, the backup array was left untouched. I can use it to keep the protections active while make the necessary corrections. I should be done in a couple of hours. I hope you both have brought something with you keep yourselves busy with. But before that, has the elders been executed yet?"
"Not yet Naruto-sama, Daimyō-sama decided to wait till Hisame has been properly interrogated. He wants to add more crimes to the list."
Naruto nodded before saying, "Then inform Raiden-dono that the elders had also played around with the security features of the Village. If they wanted, they could easily hire Nukenin to attempt a coup d'état, and since you wouldn't be expecting an attack from inside, they would have been successful."
Shibuki nodded with a stony face, "I understand Naruto-sama, the thought had crossed my mind. I will inform Daimyō-sama about this. They are scheduled to be executed at high noon tomorrow. Will you be attending?"
"No I won't, I will be checking how Fū's seal has settled. I will need your and Sakura's help Kakashi-sensei. Can you ask Sasuke to attend the execution?"
"Sure thing Naruto, you just fix the seal here. I want to see how Sakura's doing after her first kill." Kakashi asked with worry. Naruto nodded before he created four clones to aid him. For the next two hours, Naruto and three of his his clones worked in tandem to fix the main array, while the fourth made sure that no chakra fed back into the main array from the backup array.
It was amazing how Naruto or one of his clones would change a subarray and then diagnose it by only activating it and placing a metal plate engraved with the Uzumaki Clan Symbol to it. If the symbol glowed red, they would recheck the array. If it glowed white, they would move on to the next subarray. Kakashi had seen his sensei work on seals before, but the way Naruto was working and the simple tool he was using was completely different. Then again, his sensei wasn't an Uzumaki, and Kakashi himself hadn't seen an Uzumaki work on seals before, so this was quite the treat.
Finally, after nearly an extra hour passed before Naruto was finally satisfied with the seal. He nodded to the final clone who nodded back before letting the backup array reconnect to the main one. Kakashi and Shibuki watched as the backup array glowed white before dimming and going dark. At the same time, the main array started glowing with a faint white light that intensified before suddenly dimming in a flash of white light. Naruto placed the metal plate at the bridging array and saw the engraving glow white causing the blonde to smile.
"Alright everything is fine now. There are no feedback loops present anywhere in any of the arrays. Also the backup array is in perfect working condition, so I conclude a portion of our contract fulfilled. After I check how Fū's new seal is setting, I will declare our contract fulfilled."
Shibuki nodded to Naruto's statement before saying, "Fū's discharge and transfer papers are ready Naruto-sama. Daimyō-sama has personally countersigned the papers so that no one can complaint. He has also included a paper to transfer the Nanabi to the Uzumaki Clan as part of the payment to regain Taki's honour."
Naruto nodded before saying, "That's good. I will pick up the papers right before we leave for Konoha. Fū will be accompany us immediately. Make sure that her personal artefacts are packed and ready to go. We leave the day after tomorrow." Naruto said imperiously causing Shibuki to shiver but nod in agreement.
"As you wish Naruto-sama. Also, Daimyō-sama asked me to inform you that the new treaty will be delivered to you at the time of the Chunin Exams. We hope that won't be an inconvenience?"
"Not at all Shibuki. Now let's head out. I can feel Sakura and Fū in the middle of the commerce district, or at least I think it is the commerce district. So may civilian chakra signatures." Naruto said as his eyes flashed gold for a second. Naruto didn't wait for Shibuki to answer and left, leaving a stunned Shibuki behind. Being told that Naruto could sense the whole of Taki was something, seeing it in action was shocking.
"So what did you wish to talk to me about Fū?" Sakura said while she discreetly observed the behaviour of the civilians around them. Most of them were glaring at Fū while some were staring at her with suspicion and concealed hostility.
"I was wondering what me being a retainer to the Uzumaki Clan would entail? While I am grateful to Naruto, I am a bit apprehensive of his intentions." Fū said nervously causing Sakura to giggle.
Fū frowned but before she could ask what was so funny, Sakura said, "Sorry, but Naruto doesn't have any ulterior motives other than protecting and helping you. You know, there is an organization of S-Ranked criminals out there. Their goal is to gather all nine Bijū and fuse them into the Jūbi. Only Naruto and I know about it at the moment and maybe Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin. Make sure to not let anyone know you know. That would put you in grave danger."
Seeing Sakura's serious expression, Fū gulped and nodded in agreement, "Alright. I will make sure that no one learns of this information from me."
Sakura nodded, "Good. Now you understand why Naruto browbeat Taki to surrender you and Chomei. You aren't ready to handle an S-Ranked shinobi, let alone two. Konoha is better prepared for such an eventuality, besides, Naruto can handle a duo himself and that's without Kurama's help. Anyway, as a retainer, you will be expected to put the Uzumaki Clan above everything, but to tell you the truth, you will be a retainer in name only. We have our own problems. A man named Danzō would try and get you under his thumb, as a retainer of the Uzumaki, he won't dare to kidnap you. He fears Naruto and his retaliation."
"So practically, I can still lead my own life? I will just need to put the Uzumaki above others and I public, call an Uzumaki, sama?" Fū asked with incredulity, "It can't be that simple, can it?"
"It's exactly that simple Fū. Naruto isn't a tyrant, nor is he like other nobles and royals. He is quite a laid back guy, sometimes an idiot, but can be depended on completely."
"Hello Haruno-san, having a late lunch?" Sakura and Fū quickly stood up and bowed to the newcomer.
"Daimyō-sama!" Fū said.
"Raiden-sama, how may I be of service!" Sakura said, keeping her head bowed.
"Rise you two. I was hoping if you know where Naruto-sama is?"
Doing as the Daimyō commanded, Sakura and Fū stood up from their bow and looked at the man with nervous expressions. Sakura mentally sighed before saying, "I am sorry, but I don't know where he is particular, but I know that he is checking the barrier seals, so he should be where the arrays are."
Raiden nodded, "Thank you Haruno-san. When you see him, can you please tell him that unfortunately, I will have to leave tomorrow right after the execution of the elders. I really need to get back to the capital and my palace so that I can get my advisors together to help draft the new treaty."
"Of course Raiden-sama, I will make sure that Naruto knows."
"I already know Sakura. I heard all of it. Raiden-dono, please don't waste your valuable time with pleasantries. If you need to leave, I won't take offense. After all, who better than shinobi understand the value of time." Natruto said with a smile that Sakura realized was a polite mask. It seems that Naruto was quickly becoming a good politician.
Raiden nodded, "Thank you for understanding Naruto-sama. Now before I leave, can I be of help?"
"Not really, everything is done already. I will check Fū's seal tomorrow and check how well it has settled before declaring the contract fulfilled. After that, we head home. Anything else you need to know, I have told Shibuki to tell you, no need to waste time in repeating the same thing." Raiden nodded before leaving with his guards. Naruto smirked when he sensed the annoyance Raiden felt at Naruto's polite yet subtle dismissal.
"You know; you shouldn't dismiss fellow Daimyō like that." Sakura said with a grin that Naruto returned. Beside him, Kakashi grinned under his mask. Fū and Shibuki looked confused for a moment before their eyes widened in realization. Since Shibuki was already here, Naruto's statement was a dismissal. A subtle one, but one they were sure that the Daimyō picked up.
"I don't know what you mean Sakura-chan. I just pointed out that Shibuki already knew what I would say. Raiden-dono could have directly asked Shibuki right here." Sakura just shook her head before saying, "Are you lot joining us for a late lunch?"
"Sorry Haruno-san, but I must get back to my paperwork. A lot has piled up, and I now have to also check the paperwork the elders had done. It will be one hell of a tedious time for me." Shibuki said before turning top Fū, "Be a good hostess Fū and show our guests around Taki."
"Sure thing Shibuki. Make sure you keep an eye open for more assassination attempts!" Fū said with a cheeky smile causing Shibuki to grumbled before bowing to Naruto and leaving in a shunshin.
Naruto and Kakashi took seats at Fū and Sakura's table and after placing their orders, Kakashi turned Sakura and asked with a worried tone, "Are you feeling alright Sakura?"
"This wasn't my first kill Kakashi-sensei. I had already killed before I became a Genin. Remember that Naruto and I used to sneak out of Konoha for training. We had killed a couple of bandits before. I was just shocked at the brutality of my technique, nothing more. Most of my techniques are either subtle or blunt force trauma based. The amount of trauma Kirisame went through was just shocking. I will be alright in the future."
Kakashi nodded before saying, "If you say so, keep in mind that I am here to talk too."
Sakura nodded with gratitude as she ate a bit of her salad. Beside her, Fū was whispering with Naruto.
"Citizens of Taki! I come before you with grave news. It seems that our trusted elders have been misusing the trust for their own gain. They have abated theft from an allied Royal Clan, the Uzumaki. They ordered the changing of the seal that keeps the Nanabi imprisoned to an ineffective one. It is a miracle that the seal held. We could have had the Nanabi rampage across the village. They had tampered with the barrier seal that keeps all of us protected. And Finally they tried to assassinate an allied Daimyō, perpetrate a coup d'état and helped Nukenin sneak into Taki. All of which are treasonous crimes. Because of them, a nearly century old alliance treaty has been dismissed, which may lead to the loss of our treaty with Konoha. They have brought ruin upon Taki and her inhabitants. For these crimes, I have sentenced them to execution. Be warned, treason will not be tolerated! Anbu bring in the criminals!" Raiden said causing the ten Anbu to drag the elders to the execution platform erected in the middle of the village.
All the elders were gagged, hands tied behind their backs and bags over their heads. The Anbu tied them to posts before pulling of the bags and then removing the gags. As soon as the gags were removed, the elders started begging for their lives.
One the Anbu took tied ninja wires around the throats of the five treasonous elders before handing the ends to another Anbu, who took them her hand before channelling raiton chakra through them. Sasuke watched from the back of the crowd as the elders screamed in pain. Many of the civilians turned away while others glared at the elders. Some crying out of the Anbu to increase the strength of the current. Blood started leaking out of the eyes, ears, mouth and nose of the now silent elders, still screaming, their vocal cords torn beyond help.
It took another couple of minutes before the elders stopped screaming and slumped in their binds causing the Anbu to stop channelling raiton chakra. A Iryōnin walked forward and checked the elders before approaching the Daimyō. "Daimyō-sama, all five elders are dead. Their hearts have collapsed and their brains fired. There is no hope of reviving them. Execution complete!"
Raiden nodded before turning back to the crowd, "As you can see, the treacherous elders have been executed. Burn this sight to your minds. This is what awaits those who betray Taki! Dismissed!"
The crowd left silently leaving behind Sasuke, who approached the Taki Daimyō. Seeing the approaching Uchiha, Raiden motioned for his guard to wait and let him come close, "What can I do for you Uchiha-san?"
"I was wondering Daimyō-sama, what is the punishment dealt to Nukenin?"
"If caught alive, they are tortured to extract all information of their activities before being publically executed like the elders were, that's is if they were of Taki. Foreigners are either handed over to their home village if allies, or killed anonymously. If it seems impossible to catch them alive, they are killed on the spot. Why do you ask?"
"I heard that you were a Shinobi and since you have no reason to butter up to me like some Konoha ninja do, I decided that you would be the best person to ask. I could have asked Naruto, but he is quite merciful, so his decisions may be different."
Raiden nodded before saying, "Always trust your teammates, but still be sceptical. You don't know when an ally becomes the enemy and when an enemy can become an ally."
Sasuke nodded before bowing, "Thank you for the wisdom Daimyō-sama. May I leave?"
"You may!" Raiden said imperiously causing Sasuke to rise from his bow and vanish in a shunshin.
"Here is the payment for the job Naruto-sama!" Shibuki said as he handed over a scroll to Naruto who took it with a nod before sealing it into a storage seal on in his flak jacket. "And here are Fū's discharge and transfer papers which include the transfer of ownership of the Nanabi to the Uzumaki Clan."
Naruto took the next set of scrolls and browsed through them for a moment before nodding and sealing them in another storage scroll. "Thank you for your cooperation Shibuki. We will leave now. If you wish to have a private conversation with Fū, we will wait by the entrance of the building." Naruto said before walking out of room with his team leaving behind Fū.
Shibuki looked at Fū with tender eyes before pulling the girl into a tight embrace, "Take care of yourself Fū. I will miss you, but I know that you will have a better life now. I hope to hear great things about you in the future!"
Fū cried as she hugged the man she considered an elder brother and said, "I will make sure that you are proud Shibuki. Make sure to sleep with an eye open. I don't want to hear that you were assassinated in your sleep."
Shibuki chuckled before letting the girl go. Fū smiled before taking of the Taki Hitai-ate and placed it on Shibuki's table. Shibuki took it in his hand and stared at it for a moment before handing it back to Fū. "Keep it. I know that you can't wear it anymore, but you can still keep it to remember me by." Fū nodded with teary eyes before bowing and leaving the room.
Fū met up with the group of Konoha ninja only to see Kakashi reading a scroll with the Konoha symbol watermarked into it. Realizing that it was a field order directly from the Hokage, Fū asked, "What happened? Are there any change in orders from the Hokage?"
Kakashi rolled up the scroll and turned to his team and Fū with a grim expression. Sighing, Kakashi said, "Team 10 took a C-Ranked mission recently. It was supposed to be a standard escort and guard mission."
Hearing this Naruto and Sakura tensed, both were hoping that it wasn't the Wave mission. First it was too soon, and they really hoped that the changes they implemented didn't change the time frame of their self-appointed mission.
"Their client, the bridge builder Tazuna had lied. It seems that Gatō of Gatō Shipping Corporation has taken over Nami no Kuni. Their Daimyō was already killed. Gatō has placed a contract on Tazuna's head as Tazuna is building a bridge that would destroy the trade monopoly Gatō holds over Nami. He has hired the Demon Brothers to take him out. Shikamaru and Choji had easily taken them down, but Asuma fears stronger foes. He has requested backup form Hokage-sama, and we are the only free team there is. We have secondary orders to assassinate Gatō. I want you all to hit the shinobi stores to stock up on tools and rations before we head towards Nami. We will meet at the exit in an hour."
"Hai Kakashi-sensei!" Team 7 called out while Fū nodded before the four ran off towards the shinobi section of the commerce district.
Kakashi sighed before summoning Pakkun. The small pug looked around before asking, "Yo! Kakashi, what do you need?"
"Pakkun, I need you to head to Konoha and tell Hokage-sama that Team 7 and the new retainer of the Uzumaki Clan, the Nanabi Jinchūriki are heading towards Nami within the hour. Make haste Pakkun, I fear I may need you in the near future." Pakkun nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
A/N:
Japanese Translations
N/A
A/N:
Japanese Jutsu, Style and Weapon Name Translations
Suiton: Suiben no Jutsu = Water Release: Water Whip Technique
Kokoro Kasoku no Jutsu = Heart Acceleration Technique
Kawarimi no Jutsu = Substitution Technique
Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu = Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique
Fūton: Rasenshuriken = Wind Release: Spiralling Shuriken
Rasengan = Spiralling Sphere
A/N: Hey Everyone! I hope you like this new chapter. Please remember to leave Reviews. The more Reviews I get, the faster I will publish another chapter, though I will try and keep it on a monthly schedule.
SSG.
