Chapter Fourteen: Reasoning
He had been here for more than two months already. And during the hellish two months of what he would call more as a cruel no-holds-barred beat down rather than training, Naruto's mind developed a thinking process that was much faster than what he was during his earlier days.
It was true that in his earlier days, the power of observation went past his head. He would often neglect the many aspects of simple posturing and how much they telegraph moves. By no means was he a taijutsu expert like Lee, Gai, Neji or even Hinata and Sasuke. But he could tell now how one's simple and subtle moves could mean a lot of things especially when concerning knife and sword users.
He had learned the hard way to always look out on the elbows, shoulders and even feet.
He was glad that he could still even walk away from a fight, though there were situations that were cutting it absolutely close. Naruto now had a certain respect for sword wielders and he would do well to be careful of them from now on.
But if there was one thing he could take away more in this training is the satisfaction that he had not once killed someone senselessly just because a creepy and unassuming man told him so. Naruto would not give him the satisfaction of having to prove his views right.
Time and time again, he would once more face the same opponent every day for two months with the fight lasting for several hours and Naruto coming out injured but alive with his opponent either unconscious or fatigued to the point of losing consciousness.
He would leave the stands since it wasn't closed off. There was no point in creating a sealed room in a den of assassins.
His opponent would always come back with the same haunting porcelain white mask with no face and only eyeholes for the user to see. And many times, Naruto would be injured sometimes almost gravely that he became dizzy from the blood loss. But he would always come out on top.
The person in front of him couldn't possibly even be older than him. His height was showing he was close to Naruto's age. When Naruto saw that he was about to face or possibly kill this boy for the first time, his blood boiled and grew to hate the old man who spoke to him on the speakers. He was literally just offering him a chance to kill the man's many subordinates if it felt like it would be good for their ideals.
A method Naruto had an utter dislike of.
If he were to meet this man in person someday, he was going to be the one who puts an end to this man and his horrible tendencies.
Naruto swore this on his code of honor.
The man obviously had either the charisma or the machinery to have many followers and to have established something as large as this base underground, to say the least. He was thinking that the man was probably influential enough to some part of the world to be this big.
He was a manipulative and a lying bastard to boot. The man had coerced him into training or he dies. The moment of conversations with the man was extremely unpleasant for him. The man would speak about his shortcomings, of how ineffective the Sandaime's rule was, how gullible were the citizens of Konoha to believe in the Sandaime's kind words, how they were deceiving.
The man wouldn't simply shut up and dropped bombshell after bombshell to him within earshot and it really managed to rile Naruto up.
He had learned that the Yondaime Hokage was his father and his father was the one who sealed away Kurama within him in order to protect the village. The man had told him that he knew about his relationship with the Yondaime Hokage and just the same, he would lambast the Fourth Hokage as much as he did with the Sandaime for reasons of Minato adhering to the Sandaime's ideals. But at least he was the leader that many of his opponents feared.
The Fourth Hokage was known as the moniker of 'Konoha no Kiroi Senko' (The Yellow Flash of the Leaf). His speed was unparalleled in the battlefield and he could turn the tide of entire wars with just a single jutsu. Make no mistake, many of the legends and myths surrounding the Yondaime Hokage were no mere exaggerations. As Iwa can attest to the power of the Yondaime, they were decimated and it ultimately decided the outcome of the war itself.
It was probably why the man respected the Fourth Hokage even by a little, even though the man had a completely different set of moral codes and ideas concerning the village.
Two months ago, Naruto would have probably hit someone out of anger for someone so incredibly callous and unforgiving.
But Naruto had to bide his time. He needed to figure out a way to get out of this hell hole before the man became fed up with his antics and decides to get rid of him and extract Kurama.
As it is, the said beast and his new freeloader were too busy reading on to the seal that was placed on his arm shackles that restrains him from using chakra.
But not only was it consuming time, Naruto was running out of patience from this whole ordeal. Anymore and he would probably go berserk when it happens. It did not help the fact that Kurama kept taunting him about his whole situation.
If he weren't such a massive asshole, Naruto could get along with Kurama. Thank the sage that Ashura was the voice of reason during the whole time.
"You are to begin your handicapped match. As always, I expect you to kill your opponent or you will be killed. But I suppose beggars can't be choosers, can they? You always win your fights and you manage to beat your opponent time and time again with nothing but your incredible physique and reflexes. Well I assure you that we won't be having any of that now."
His opponent faced him once again. This time, the boy was holding a brush and scroll in his hands. Naruto scowled, his gut instinct was telling him that today was going to be much more arduous than the last times he had been doing these death matches. The man was getting fed up with his antics and a part within Naruto relished the fact that he enjoyed pissing him off.
"Kill or be killed, Uzumaki Naruto, this is my law. If you do not wish to be dead in the next few minutes, then face the boy with all you have. He will use every branch of the shinobi arts against you and all the advanced training he has ever attained to cut you down. I care not what happens in the end, you are proving to be more of a liability than an asset."
Naruto smirked wickedly at the man, "Randomly throwing away your pieces just for training seems like a waste, bastard. If you want to me to be strong, then I've done plenty of that for the last two months of the hell you've put me through. But make no mistake, I'll still win your stupid match and not a damn mouse is getting killed today."
The man gave a pompous humph over the speakers and said to the boy, "Very well, you've made your decision. Agent, kill this boy. The Kyuubi is indespensible but you however, are not, Uzumaki Naruto."
"Mission accepted." The masked child replied in monotone as Naruto gritted his teeth. The boy unfurled the scroll in his hands as his right hand began drawing multiple animals with black ink in rapid and fluid strokes.
'How long is that seal going to be studied? I'm getting tired of the shit these bunch of ass wipes are pulling.'
Hearing his question inside of himself, Ashura had answered him with a calm voice, 'Just a little more, Kurama and I are already figuring out a way to destroy the seal. We'll get to you shortly. Make sure that you do not lose this fight.'
Ashura, during his conscious stay within the mind of this boy, soon began growing more and more respect to the boy because of his tenacious attitude and unbending determination. There were multiple times that he could see the boy faltering but he never sank low, the boy kept strong mentally even though the mental abuse had been almost too unbearable then. The boy kept fighting for his beliefs and would rather go down with dignity if it meant he could hold on to them until the very end.
Even though the boy felt betrayed or even lied to by many of his superiors and the village in general, Naruto decided to understand the motives behind the actions rather than the act itself. If he were to falter now, then he would be no better than the people that had done him wrong in the past and his own pride would be his undoing.
So he remained steadfast. If he gets out of here, then he will decide what to think about everything that has happened to him. There was no reason to cling thoughts to past transgressions, they were done and nothing would happen if he would lash out at them. He would know just what awaited him if he did so.
After all, in order to understand someone, you had to walk a mile in that person's shoes.
And Gaara had given him plenty of reason not to falter again.
And he swore an oath once more as the boy's ink drawings began to grow past his scroll and coming to life as the lion like beings touched their pale coloured paws on the floor.
"No matter how dark the road gets, I won't have any regrets, I'll keep fighting!"
Konoha:
A full moon had escaped tonight as Sasuke stared up at it in a stoic gaze. He had not seen Kakashi very much as did Sakura who, last that he had heard, asked for an apprenticeship under Tsunade's care as did Ino, who took an extra mile by further studying her family jutsu. To say that the Hokage was surprised would be an understatement but nonetheless it began placing her under a rigorous training program much like he was in.
Sasuke then looked at the medical patches placed on his arms and on his left cheek. Falcon had been lenient on him on his return but Sasuke flat out refused to let that leniency come to him in exchange for harsher training. He had sworn on his pride that he would prevent any more deaths at the hands of his brother and coddling him at his most vulnerable was not what he wanted if he were to give divine retribution against the people his brother had killed and the weakness Sasuke carried within him.
Falcon saw the self-loathing and anger radiating from the boy and advised him to channel that hatred into something more productive as the harsh training began. Falcon did not belittle him then, no. He forced Sasuke's anger to come out in full force and use it as drive for his training.
For the first time in years, Sasuke felt emancipated from the weight of his emotions then. He had undergone a sense of clarity that he had never had before.
Though he would never show it, Sasuke was so happy then that he indulged himself to have a chat with Sakura who he had come across in the village after his training and assured her that whatever happened was none of her fault and that he was going to correct the mistakes his brother had made.
He had asked Sakura the status of their peers out of curiosity to see if they could aid him in his self-appointed mission.
Imagine his surprise that Hyuuga Neji was now training with Elemental Manipulation and that he once more went against his earth nature and decided to use lightning as one of his tools to supplement his already superior taijutsu ability.
Shikamaru had also begun looking more and more into the intelligence division to gather information about Itachi's highly dangerous rogue organization and began cooking up stratagems and formations to look over. Shikamaru was obsessed with his task now that he made blueprints of his multiple diagrams that his room slowly began to fill with a lot of notes, research materials and plotting diagrams. Sasuke would definitely consult him once he was ready to hunt down Itachi.
Hinata, once she removed the weakness of her doubt within herself, was soon catching up to her cousin and closing the gap fast when it came to Taijutsu alone. Sakura commented that out of all their peers, Hinata was more committed to her goals now than ever before. Sasuke wasn't surprised by it, not one bit. He understood her desire for blood but he was not going to let her take Itachi's head. That was his job.
To Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji were already beginning their steps of preparation against Akatsuki as did Sakura.
Kiba and Chouji were also coming along well and Sasuke was hoping to ask for their help in the foreseeable future if he needed to. But right now, next to Shikamaru was Shino. The fact that he had never heard of the boy for over several weeks was a feat in itself.
His thoughts were cut off when he was suddenly in front of a giant tree with four ninja standing on its branches.
In a village like Konoha, scenes of these were familiar when the patrolling police night watch officers make their rounds to look out during the wee hours of the evening. People in ninja villages were no stranger to sights such as these but Sasuke had scowled when he saw the symbols etched on their forehead protectors.
'Oto Shinobi… What the hell are they doing here?' They even had the audacity to appear in such a place. It was either they were confident enough of their skills or they were too stupid to come out in the open in the middle of the village that they labelled as their sworn enemy.
Sasuke was betting on the latter.
One of them stood on the top right branch, long blue straight hair covered at left cheek with what seemed to be another head sticking out behind him, looked down at Sasuke and sneered.
"This is the new vessel that Orochimaru-sama was talking about?"
'That snake user's followers are here. What are they doing in Konoha?' Just with the name Orochimaru, Sasuke was already on guard and on instinct, his right hand quickly made a grab for the sword that was strapped on his back. Sasuke cursed inwardly when he found out that the sword he was in possession with was not a real one but instead a bokken.
The one with the six arms and the ponytail, sitting on the lower left branch gave a condescending sneer at Sasuke.
"He doesn't look like much, what the hell was Orochimaru-sama thinking?"
The only girl in the group who was standing on the upper left branch scoffed at it and turned her head away, "No shit, detective. He looks pathetic."
The fat one that sat just on the lower right branch then chastised his teammate, "Tayuya, a girl like you shouldn't swear so much."
"Fuck you, Jirobo."
"What the hell is a bunch of weak sound nin doing in this village?" Sasuke managed to cut in, bending his body slightly low and preparing for a sprint in a sudden notice.
The one with the six arms smirked wickedly, "Oho, so the little boy thinks he can wear his big britches now, huh? He thinks he's playing in the big leagues now, huh?"
The one with the two heads then chuckled as he continued, "Why don't we see that swag in action, then!?"
In a flash, all four ninjas jumped from the tree as Sasuke vanished from his location via a very quick and silent Shunshin no Jutsu and all at once came down to the slowest of the four with an overhead strike. His Sharingan spinning under the light of the moonlight, giving an eerie red and almost demonic like glow. Three tomoe were spinning in each eye, showing a fully matured set of sharingan for the entire world to see.
The fat one had no time to defend himself as the wooden sword swiped at his face twice disorienting him before Sasuke slammed the wooden sword on the man's left shoulder causing the fattest member of the sound four to come crashing down before Sasuke disappeared once more and reappeared just in front of the six armed man and giving of quick and rapid three elbow strikes on the torso before Sasuke weaved around the sound nin and swung his bokken horizontally hitting the man square on his lower back and Sasuke whacked the man on the head for good measure causing the man to fall to his knees and Sasuke kicking the man square on the abdomen making the six armed man lose a bit of air from his lungs and Sasuke hitting the back of the man's head with the sword's hilt and embedding the man's face on the tree's trunk with it.
Sasuke then jumped, his image in the air spun as the full moon encircled his entire being as if the moon itself danced along with him and encircling him before Sasuke disappeared once more via Shunshin no jutsu and performed a thrusting manoeuvre on to the girls abdomen sending her flying back and Sasuke followed through by introducing his right foot to her face and stomping it on the wooden hollow branch. The girl went through the hollow branch and crashed to the one beneath it without as much as a grunt of pain.
Sasuke then turned around, sharingan still spinning and scanning all around him and saw the two headed man charge at him with fists flying. Sasuke simply twirled the wooden sword in his hand and threw the said weapon on the man's face.
His target evaded well enough but Sasuke immediately entered and bypassed all of his defences when the said boy gave a simple punch to his chest. The man staggered a little as Sasuke vanished again and reappeared behind him, wooden sword in his mouth Sasuke grabbed the man on the back by the shirt and flipped the man upwards as Sasuke once more jumped and performed the Shunshin.
He reappeared in mid-air facing his target and furiously swung the wooden sword at Sakon in relentless fashion, whirling around giving hit after hit as they both descended.
"Tsumuji Otoshi (Whirling Drop)!"
Sasuke ended his strikes by slamming the sword on the man's neck as they crashed on to the ground.
The boy jumped back and looked at his handiwork.
Sasuke merely gave a grunt and said, "You're Orochimaru's best? Sound won't last long, then. If this is the best you can do, then it is better I put you out of your miseries."
As Sasuke grabbed a kunai from his pouch, the four who were down on the ground suddenly moved and jumped back. When they stood up and were made visible to see, Sasuke was scowling.
Marks of the cursed seal were present in all of them and half of their faces were littered with little black spots of varying patterns. Thus Sasuke began weaving hand signs in order to stop them then and there but was interrupted by the man with six arms.
"Wait, wait! We've already tested you and find you worthy of Orochimaru-sama's attention. Orochimaru-sama has ordered us to retrieve you, Uchiha Sasuke. For you will serve as the vessel for him in exchange for power."
Sasuke was raising his left eyebrow for this. What could he possibly gain by going to a village that didn't seem much in comparison?
True, being Orochimaru's apprentice did have some appeal, but then again, after seeing these four in action, he could guess he could only gain so little as compared to the options he was presented here. But the idea to learn more about the cursed seal was an intriguing prospect. If he could obtain the proper knowledge of it, it would ultimately be useful in his agendas.
The pesky seal had been bothering for quite some time and though he chose to ignore this pesky problem, it would always come back to remind him with a vengeance by incorporating pain while he trained. He would sometimes twitch and grit his teeth as he tried to endure it never letting anyone see his moment of weakness and supressed any thoughts that made the seal active.
He would be successful multiple times in pushing it back but it would still elicit pain when it wanted.
It annoyed Sasuke that he would have to endure and not know many details about the pesky seal for a good long while until he or the village found a way to remove it.
So when the opportunity presented itself to him about knowing more about the seal, he made little arguments within himself and proceeded to jump at the chance.
"This seal, if I go to you, will I be able to control it?"
The man with six arms nodded with a grin and added, "Not only that, it lets you go into a more powerful state in its second stage. The fact that you beat us with just your skill and a single jutsu means nothing until you have faced our strongest forms."
'You'd need a seal's help in order to beat me? The more you talk the more I see that ninjas of your village could only be subpar at best unless it's your leader. How is that village still standing?'
Sasuke decided not to speak his thoughts about it and simply said to them, "Wait for me by the western gate at two in the morning. I will gather my things and take all my necessities then."
With that, Sasuke vanished via shunshin and made way to his compound.
But not before he makes a detour towards ANBU headquarters.
Falcon was reading the current mission reports coming from his fellow members that night. Most of the stuff in these papers would be either burned or put in a special folder for classified documents. He had expected he would have a silent and lonely night to read but never expected to have his only trainee come back to base.
Falcon found this peculiar and decided to stand up from his seat but Sasuke spoke first.
"I have something that you might want to know about."
After several minutes of discussions and questioning coming from Falcon, the said ANBU member gave a nod and said to Sasuke.
"Very well then, you will take it upon yourself to learn more information about one of our most our wanted criminal's recruitment methods. We have extensive studies on the cursed seal due to Sandaime-sama's pursuit, but we lack further understanding in how it works and how we could remove them. I will let you in on your little suggestion. But expect a backup team to arrive coming from Hokage-sama herself."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this and Falcon immediately replied as if he read Sasuke's mind.
"Information about the seal is vital, don't get me wrong. It is so vital, that we need all the safeguards and measures that we will take in securing that information in order to deal a blow to Orochimaru. Single operatives work alone when it is sabotage and information gathering in one place but you are about face a host of other variables and we would not be willing to risk the life of one of Konoha's most promising shinobi and lose that chance forever."
To this, Falcon grabbed a mask and placed it in Sasuke's hands that looked surprised by his statements and looked down at it, it was the mask of a hawk.
"You have earned the right to wear this mask. The mind set of any member of this squad is loyalty and duty. You must be loyal to your village and to your comrades and duty must come first for it is our responsibility to protect this village."
To this Sasuke gave a hard nod and turned back. Falcon then added one more line to put Sasuke's head back on his shoulders.
"But it doesn't mean that you have earned to be on REAL ANBU missions, kid. You have yet to cross that long and arduous path. When you come back here, I expect you to have performed your mission well."
Sasuke without a word, dashed outside as Falcon grabbed a scroll and began writing the details he needed to send the boy the proper back-up.
Sasuke arrived at the Western Gate at two in the morning as he had promised and the four oto nin nodded at him. To his back was his real sword, the katana that his mother had.
The one with the six arms spoke, "Before we get started, you should familiarize with the four gate guardians of Sound. I am Kidomaru of the east gate."
"I'm Sakon of the west gate." The one with the blue straight hair said as he prepared the small wooden barrel laden with paper seals and long winded scarlet writings encompassing it.
"Jirobo of the Southern gate…" The fat one said as he helped Sakon uncover the lid.
"I'm Tayuya of the Northern gate." The only female of the group said as she adjusted her head gear and served as additional lookout.
Sasuke merely gave a nod. Sakon spoke up as he looked back at the village from a good distance.
"It's good that you chose to side with us, if you remained in that village, you would have been held back."
Sasuke was about to retort that they relied only on a seal with unknown consequences at the least in order to best someone like him but held himself back. It would be better if he were to keep things to himself until he had full understanding and access to this vaunted second level of the cursed seal.
"Just what is required in order to attain the full power of the cursed seal?" Sasuke asked, the four looked at each other before looking back at Sasuke.
Sasuke had a feeling in his gut that he was not going to like any of the procedures one bit.
Unknown place:
Naruto was panting. He had been fighting for several hours straight. He had no orientation to time due to the place having no clock and not even a goddamn calendar. But the multiple cuts all around his body were healing at an incredible rate. As soon as he was cut, his wound would immediately start to heal in a rapid rate. His wounds still bled as all hell and it still hurts like a bitch whenever he was cut down hard. When the man said that he was dead set on Naruto in his "training", the man meant it to an extreme degree.
His opponent had been instructed to go all out and the masked boy delivered. The boy combined jutsu with his already deadly swordplay. If it weren't for his continuously evolving reflexes and physical prowess, he would have already died within five minutes.
He was clearly the one at the disadvantage but he somehow got the patterns on how his enemy and his jutsu attacked.
The lions were easy to read. They would pounce at him and aim for his neck as would real predators do in the wild by puncturing and crushing the windpipe. The masked nin would mix up his attacks with additional ink creatures to either to corner him, put him in a vulnerable position, create an opening or protect their creator. Naruto had to admit that the way the boy used his jutsu was almost as indicative as Naruto's use of the Kage Bunshin.
He had to respect that. Even though now he was on the receiving end of that particular skill in style, and it annoyed him to high hell just how attentive and cautious he had to be. It drove him nuts that he couldn't touch the boy and end the fight there. It seemed that he wasn't the only one taking notes.
The birds of prey were much easier, he could see them coming anytime he would turn. They would strike to his blind spots but he was always ready for them. Whenever he would mix and match up his four legged beasts and his avian creations, they were an absolute nightmare to deal with. Thankfully, the birds of prey also provided a platform to land on for him to either catch a breather for a moment or make his way to the masked nin who had now made it a priority to let his birds swoop down perpendicular to where he was.
Yep, the boy did his homework alright.
'This fucking annoying piece of shit jutsu that is just as so fucking useful as my Kage Bunshin is driving me nuts!'
Naruto then found some form of sympathy for the opponents he had faced since implementing this kind of system.
'Except for Kabuto, that jerkoff can die in a fucking ditch somewhere.'
Naruto ducked as a swipe from an ink lion went straight to his face. In quick succession, Naruto slammed his right shoulder on the creature's underbelly with enough force that it dispelled with a splash of black ink.
Naruto spun around, his bare feet making a dust cloud as he positioned himself and jumped just as another ink bird swooped down to him with its razor sharp talons. Naruto, like clockwork, landed on the bird's back and slammed his forearms down with enough force to shatter stone and it dispelled once more with a stream of jet black ink.
Naruto growled in annoyance when he noticed two shadows getting larger as two ink lions jumped at him from behind.
Naruto merely stepped back as the pounce failed as the blonde prisoner grabbed one of the ink lion's tails and as a show of strength, swung the ink lion to its partner as they both turned to streams of ink down on the ground.
Then he felt something sting his back from his right shoulder blade down to his lower left flank. He felt a shower of blood spilt on the ground as the bandages around his torso tore and fell down.
'Gah! That seriously stung, damn it! I need to stop him here and now!'
Naruto turned around, as seconds turned to minutes and time slowed down for him. The masked ninja was aiming a thrust to his face to kill him there. The masked ninja aimed for his left eye but his body reacted quick enough to have slightly tilt his head to the right and cutting a bit of his left ear. Blood seemed to drip as the both of them stopped. The masked shinobi then tried to pull his right arm buck but found it unable to do so.
Because somehow, Naruto had trapped his elbow in the link of chains of his handcuffs and looped around his said appendage in a tight grip. The masked ninja also found it bent in an interesting way, when Naruto decided to bring it down to his knee and slammed it on his elbow with a jump, loosening the masked ninja's grip on his sword.
When the sword fell, Naruto was quick to capitalize and slammed his left fist on the boy's mask hard disorienting him as the porcelain mask cracked a little as he staggered back. Naruto then followed it up with a kick to the boy's abdomen sending him skidding back several meters before he was punched in the gut, sending him up as Naruto kicked him on the chin, with the porcelain mask flying.
The masked nin recovered well enough, but Naruto wasn't done as he introduced his left foot on the boy's face sending him flying back.
Naruto then jumped before stomping on the agent's abdomen with a loud thud.
The masked nin grunted when Naruto stomped on him. He coughed out violently as blood leaked from his mouth. In the blonde's right hand was his short sword, intending to strike him down. Naruto pressed his right foot to add a little pressure on the neck of the black haired boy, blood dripping from the mouth as Naruto placed the small sword in a reverse grip and swung the blade in a stabbing motion straight to the unnamed ninja's chest.
But Naruto never followed through. It stopped just several inches above to where Naruto would have punctured the heart.
"This is my win, again." Naruto said, and the now formerly masked ninja looked into the apathetic features of the blonde. His sword was in the container's hands now. He didn't have the advantage of reach and lethality anymore. He had also exhausted himself to the point of his muscles stiffening and having no chakra left.
"Why do you not finish me off?"
Naruto merely threw the knife away and walked to the other side of the room with a frown as he said to the assassin, "Those who do not have their own beliefs and fight solely in the name of a bastard like him, they're not worth killing, just like you. What you should be getting from me is not a fight, but pity."
Naruto then sat on the floor as he looked back to the ninja.
"Tell your boss that he can go fuck himself if he thinks he can just let someone be killed for something as trivial as training. He's no better than those bastards at Kiri who are forced to kill each other in order to graduate."
Naruto took a deep breath as he looked up, the wait was killing him.
"I'll never get the logic of wasting someone just to prime them for missions. Everybody's got a plan after all, that is until they get punched in the face."
Naruto then scowled as he pointed and said to the boy, "Now, get out. If you want to fight me again, then you better have a damn good reason. I'm not going to fight a lackey that his boss could just throw away."
The boy stood up and got out of the room, completely defeated and utterly humiliated as he staggered away. Naruto remained in the room trying to get his bearings. He had been mentally exhausted just trying to keep up against his opponent earlier.
Although he had unbelievable levels of stamina, it was still finite and he knew that he would tire out faster as he was always on the move. Although the boy used his jutsu only several times, the fact that he could maintain them long enough to keep him busy was a sign that the kid he was fighting was learning. It would only be a matter of time that either he would be forced to kill the black haired boy or HE becomes the one who gets a sword shoved through his throat.
Either way, both scenarios were something he would want to avoid.
He turned back, exhausted but triumphant once more. In the earlier days of his mentally exhausting trials here, he would always lose consciousness and his bandages were replaced and he was hauled off into bed. He would wake up, in clean sets of bandages around his torso and sometimes his face and head with his wild blonde hair sticking out between the gaps. He would be given the chance to eat a hearty meal before an hour later, he would fight again.
This time, it wouldn't be happening. There was no one to heal him now, not with this amount of defiance against this man. His time was running out. He needed to get out and soon.
'The seal has been deciphered and decoded. We now have a way to remove the seal manually by the captive.'
Naruto's vision changed, from the dull grey areas of his expansive prison to the dark alleyways of his mind. There, Ashura stood before him, still as ethereal as he ever was and behind him was Kurama, who was in a sitting position with his hands closed. It was as if Kurama is currently meditating.
'Let's hear it.' Naruto replied.
'First off, with your chakra suppressed, it prevents you from sending your chakra into the tenketsu that reside in your hands. It renders you useless in using your techniques, and the chakra is either merely redirected back at your arms or the seal feeds its multiple networks of runes that the chakra is simply dispersed. The reason why Kurama can't help you is because if he pumps more chakra into you, the seals just consume it the same way they do to your chakra although on a much bigger scale and much stronger. Whenever Kurama sends his chakra, an extra network of runes is activated and they somewhat slow down the volatile chakra to a much more manageable state.'
Naruto nodded at that as he looked at Kurama who kept building up on chakra.
'The thing is, the flaw in the seal lies in how much it can take, not how potent that chakra is which makes it a little difficult to continuously apply chakra to it also in part of your own seal too. And I don't mean you, I mean Kurama. It can handle well enough of Kurama's chakra just about one to three amount worth of tails. Anything beyond that, the seals start to react and become disturbed. However, a certain fact has to be said that the seals will take a long time to react due to its complex network and it could burst your tenketsu so there may be some pain. That's why Kurama has been gathering chakra and focusing it enough so that he can send a steady stream to your arms. Right now we're just waiting for you to…'
"You are indeed a creature of poor reasoning, Uzumaki. I have tried relentlessly to put you in my good graces yet here you are, spitting on my generosity. You have no idea how irked I am of your actions. Your obstinate actions have given me time in deciding one thing; that you are not worth keeping. Hashirama's cells are a waste of you. No matter, I'm willing to rectify this situation now."
Just then, a multitude of the man's agents had appeared all around him all wearing cloaks thus obscuring his vision of their faces and masks. The boy from earlier wasn't in one of them. Naruto growled at the men and possibly women that surrounded him. They were adults in build, likely more experienced and much more dangerous than his previous opponent.
This was bad.
'Anytime now…' Naruto anxiously said to Ashura as the spirit turned to look at Kurama with a nod.
'Do it.'
'Unfortunately, due to the seal's current state and his inexperience right now, there is no way for the boy to have some semblance of control over my chakra. He will have to endure the transformation I am about to introduce…'
'I don't care! Just do it!' Naruto shouted as he was soon swarmed by the agents with kunai and swords brandished against him to take him out. Kurama grumbled something about impatient and obstinate humans.
"Kurama! LEND ME YOUR CHAKRA, OVERPOWER THIS SEAL AND LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
Naruto shouted as the agents swung down their blades on the boy with extreme prejudice.
The sound of metal creaking and groaning as it seemed like it was bent and cracked was heard and then the clanking of metal as it fell to the ground unceremoniously.
"AAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH!"
BA-DUMP
The familiarity of pain had hit him once more. His ear was ringing from the immense pain of having his tenketsu blown cracking open so wide that they burst. He was getting dizzy as the world spun around him due to the pain and the blood loss. He could see the shackles falling down on the ground with a wet slop as his blood made it slide down. The cast iron metal was ruined beyond recognition, as if it was nothing more than paper. He looked at his arms.
They were bloody and blood continued to spill. Not only were the tenketsu on his arms burst, the blood vessels nearby were heavily involved as well. He had no time to think though, as his entire consciousness faded to black from the shock.
But that did not leave him completely vulnerable. As if the chakra had a mind of its own, it cocooned itself around the blond and had let the blood from his hands float outwards to the outline of its immense and sinister power. The men were suddenly blown away when the burst of chakra had slammed into them as if they were met with an impervious brick wall sending them from the epicentre of this explosion of power to the walls that look flimsier all of a sudden.
The blood of the boy that reached the outlines of the red chakra sizzled and gave off a sound of a thousand poisonous snakes hissing around him, covering the boy from head to toe and forming a set of ears constructed by chakra on the head.
Black smoke suddenly solidified and surrounded the boy. Some of the members were quick to respond, familiarising themselves on the nature of a jinchuuriki.
"Sound the alarm! Sealing team, have a containment seal ready…"
But apparently, they weren't quick enough.
The one who was communicating to the sealing team suddenly had an outside view of his heart before he twitched and collapsed down on the floor dead as a gigantic red hand made of chakra burst to his chest from his back.
A mighty and earth shaking roar echoed throughout the halls of the base as Kurama's animalistic wrath descended upon its dissidents in a show of blood and giblets.
A macabre of a fox monster emerged from the orb with four tails swishing in the air. Its eyes were hollow white, empty and soul less and a jagged maw that would intimidate anyone that came across it.
The creature roared in fury once more as it released small orbs of chakra around it and then began concentrating them just above his mouth. The black orb of condensed bijuu chakra about the size of a closed fist emerged and it shook uncontrollably. The creature then opened its jagged mouth and bit on the orb. Smoke began rising from its mouth as the creature sat on all fours and all around him, every single being that could stand around him fell on his or her knees from the density of chakra.
A creature of poor reasoning indeed…
Fire Country:
Hatake Kakashi had looked worse for wear since his and Jiraiya's mission for the past two months. The utter drought of information that had been given to them brought him to the very edge of his patience. But like Tsunade and Jiraiya, he too became a firm believer that Naruto is alive somehow.
The question was where to look. Jiraiya had said to him that he had never kept tabs on Danzo and that had been Sandaime-sama's work. While Jiraiya was handling business abroad, Hiruzen would monitor Danzo's movements.
Of course, with Hiruzen's death, he also took Danzo's information to his grave before he could even finish it.
Kakashi could not believe the immense levels of frustration coming from him. From his past experiences with Root, he could say that the only significant base they had was somewhere near Konoha.
But of course, that would be not enough. Danzo was not one to put his eggs in one basket, no, the man had a way with getting what he wants and not leave tracks that could get back to him. He hid things in multiple places thus making it difficult to determine just how deep the rabbit hole was in determining his strength. This made him utterly effective and at the same time, severely dangerous within and outside the walls of Konoha.
Danzo was the perfect black ops agent and leader.
He was quietly efficient but exceedingly brutal in his methods. His name in the underground world would be just about the same as in the infamy of a kage.
If there was anything suspicious involved, anyone could bet that Danzo was sure to be part of it. That was how resonating the man's name was in the world of darkness as he would like to put.
Jiraiya knew of this all too well even before his exposure to Danzo's elite soldiers.
The former teacher of the Fourth Hokage had given him tips before when dealing with Root and although Jiraiya had less encounters of them, he was quite aware of the many operations that the rival of Hiruzen had for many of his global operations. He was of course, the spymaster that Konoha turned to for intelligence gathering and was also the man who taught both the reconnaissance and intelligence departments on espionage and subterfuge.
Whenever something was too clean that even his network couldn't detect, he already knew who it was behind it. The fact that Tsunade had to inform him that the corpse that he thought was Naruto wasn't actually his godson made him think of the ever elusive man who posed well as one of the council of elders for Hiruzen. If anyone could go beneath his radar, it had to be Danzo and his underground army.
And he couldn't even touch Danzo because of his said position. So far, all he had were suspicions and conjectures and even his sensei couldn't throw the damn book at his former rival. To be labelled as a traitor for killing Danzo would be the last thing he needed when his mind would be more focused on gathering the necessary intelligence to fight off the rising threat of Akatsuki that involved his not-so-dead-after-all godson. Jiraiya was seething at this, not because he was deceived, but the fact that Naruto is currently at the hands of the shadiest person in the village was enraging.
Danzo had a way of bending truths to his advantage, he was very much like Orochimaru but much more destructive than his former teammate. And although Orochimaru could possibly take on Danzo, the latter was more prepared for every scenario than the former. He is every bit as ruthless and every bit as cunning as the man who would create Oto as a village. Danzo had been doing his job for at most half a century after all.
"Two months and not a single clue, most of the informants I've asked didn't know or haven't seen anything. Danzo knows all too well the blind spots on my net." Jiraiya said with lament as they jumped from branch to branch.
"Do you honestly believe Tsunade-sama's findings even though it seems like we're going around in circles?" Kakashi asked to the older man who gave an unflinching nod.
"Tsunade may not be perfect but she's the most proficient doctor in all of Fire Country. She's has a knack for diagnosing, detecting and curing patients. If the DNA tests were fake then what she said is true."
The Sage of Myobokuzan said resolutely having faith in Tsunade's skills. Also, even though it might be cruel, at least Tsunade acted on a chance that the boy may be alive and that prick Danzo had a hand on his disappearance.
Their conversation was suddenly cut short when they saw countless birds flying in the distance followed by the earth shaking wildly.
BOOM!
Malicious chakra permeated in the air. Jiraiya could tell how wild and potent it was judging from the distance of where he saw the explosion. Jiraiya and Kakashi looked at each other and nodded.
This was Kyuubi.
The two men quickened their pace so as to see the resulting devastation of the Kyuubi running amok. Jiraiya was praying to the high heavens that everything would be alright.
When they had arrived at the source and epicentre of the earthquake, the lump on Jiraiya's throat was gone when he saw a red and black creature in midair, firing a concentrated blast of dense chakra below him as it ascended upwards from the recoil of its attack.
BOOM!
Another explosion rocked the earth as the dense chakra literally gave out and began ate up everything in its reach as it disintegrated those that were inside its explosive range.
The creature landed at the edge of the destroyed crater. It growled menacingly as steam escaped from its jagged mouth and hollow white eyes staring at the ruined base or what was left of it. The creature then noticed two new entities on its front, it growled at them before it went silent. The tails swishing in the air slowly swayed before it was gone, flaking away like dead skin.
And out of the blood soaked monster was a heavily bandaged boy kneeling and looking straight up, arms riddled with wounds with large and deep craters in them. His face was covered with bandages and the only thing that made him recognizable was the spiky tuft of blonde hair over his head that had grown longer during his disappearance and wearing nothing only but pants.
The boy collapsed in a heap as Jiraiya and Kakashi quickly made their way towards him.
At last, they finally found him.
Not too far from the site of destruction, three figures stood there and silently watched as the two elite ninjas from Konoha make their way towards the boy.
"What should we do, Danzo-sama?"
The elderly man answered it as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, "We retreat and cut our losses. Fifty shinobi is nothing compared if I die here today."
Konoha:
Morning had come with news of Sasuke sneaking out of the village courtesy of the Hokage and Shikamaru's team being assigned as back up. Apparently, Sasuke had been scheming to gather intelligence concerning the Cursed Seal and was advised by Tsunade to observe the situation and only to intervene when the situation becomes dire.
He was basically on a very dangerous reconnaissance mission and he found it within him to punch Sasuke in the face for his hair brained ideas.
To his front were a group that he had to make as a team for the backup for the last but questionably loyal Uchiha at this point.
He eyed each one of them, Kiba, Neji, Chouji, Lee, Tenten and Sakura. He would have chosen much less, but Tsunade recommended at least a long range specialist and the ever crucial Medic in the form of Sakura. So he complied, he didn't really like arguing with women.
Although if Sakura's equipment told him anything, it's that Sakura was more ready to cut people down rather than stitch them back together.
Tenten on the other hand, began checking her scrolls to see if they were filled to the brim with weapons she'll be using just in case. He had worked once with Tenten before, and he found it unsettling that Tenten was preparing and getting excited at the just-in-case scenario. Granted, there was a high chance of fighting the ones who have Sasuke, but he would want to avoid unnecessary fights if he could.
There was a peculiar scroll though, that caught his interest as he watched the girl adjust her arsenal. Out of the rest of the team, Tenten had to be the most armed to the teeth. Her teeth probably had weapons in them too if given the chance. He had heard her saying that it was a bow but didn't have a quiver and added that she didn't need one.
Shino may have been a fine choice, perhaps it would have been more balanced instead of four close range fighters, but the said boy was out on a mission since being recommended as chuunin and he wouldn't be back for several more days.
Hinata had refused politely, she had things to do and the Hyuuga clan had outright lent them Neji instead so it wasn't as if he had been gimped by them.
Ino wouldn't be participating. Shikamaru had already warned her that she wouldn't be of use in this mission. She had a different skillset altogether and adding her would have caused more headaches and scramble more variables than he would like.
Shikamaru then looked at the sky as a thought had entered his head.
He gave a wry grin.
'I'm envious, you know. You get to relax for the rest all you want, but this kind of mission would have been right up your alley.'
Shikamaru looked at the group behind him as he turned around.
"Tsunade-sama has assigned us as a reconnaissance and back up team for Uchiha Sasuke, who thought that it was a damn good idea to go on his own again while we save his scrawny ass, again."
Shikamaru looked annoyed as he turned to Sakura and asked, "Is your boyfriend always like this?"
Sakura gave a nervous chuckle, "He has his moments. But he means well, it's just how he thinks. And he's not my boyfriend. Not yet, anyway."
She said that sentence at the end with a blush.
"I was hoping that you wouldn't deny that last part." Tenten said as she looked at Sakura with a sly grin.
"Hoping? I'm surprised she even denied it!" Kiba said with a chuckle earning a glare from Sakura.
"Can't a girl have some moment of peace without talking about my love life?"
Chouji looked thoughtful, "Well, your motivation as a kunoichi was an integral part of your character, Sakura. To say that you would deny claims of being Sasuke's girlfriend, well it's really hard to swallow, you know?"
Neji frowned at this, "Don't tell me this is about your guilt…"
Sakura shook her head, "It's not and I'm sure. Naruto wouldn't want me to be this way. Even Sasuke-kun helped me. What I want to do now…"
Sakura looked at her right hand and clenched it hard.
"…Is to obtain the strength necessary enough to protect everyone."
Shikamaru smirked, "Well then, I guess I can't really fault you there. So be prepared, we're going in for another dangerous mission."
He said that last sentence to all the members of this back up team.
"Yes and for this, we will succeed! This is my promise to everyone!" Lee mentioned with a smile and a thumbs up.
"Again with the nice guy pose…" Tenten said in exasperation as all of them vanished and the leaves danced with the wind.
Naruto:
Naruto slowly regained consciousness. Thoughts of how he survived his ordeal seemed to litter his mind as he a familiar heard a voice speak from the darkness.
"Tsunade-sama gave me an update and a mission. It seems one of my students suggested they take a mission that involves gathering intelligence from one of our most dangerous enemies and the Hokage has decided to send back up."
A familiar voice he hadn't heard for so long…
It was Kakashi. Wait, someone from his team is gathering intelligence as a mission? And he or she is against one of their most dangerous enemies yet?
"Is it Sasuke? And, you're the one she's sending as back up?"
Another familiar voice, he could tell it was Jiraiya. The man had a voice that you could recognize anywhere.
"Yes, it is Sasuke and unfortunately, no, I'm not. I was assigned on an S-class mission after our mission report. I'm not going to be the one who will serve as back-up."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at this, "Just a day and you're already being reassigned? I would like to think that this mission was no cakewalk."
"I'm afraid so… Unfortunately, I have to take the mission because of we have very little manpower even though we're high in demand. I also imagine that Tsunade-sama is angry because this mission was also a failure in a way. We failed to gather evidence of what we could link to Danzo and Naruto's kidnapping."
Jiraiya gave a sigh at this, "I told her already that we couldn't find anything. And the remains on the site of where we found Naruto were obliterated without a trace. That bijuudama that happened yesterday destroyed everything and from the looks of it, the boy did it twice making sure nothing remains. There might be survivors, but they've already fled and those too injured to move committed suicide due to seal that destroyed their entire being."
It was then that Naruto chose this time to stand up from his bed. His face was still covered with bandages.
"What's this I hear about Sasuke gathering information?"
"I see you're awake boy, but don't bother going after them, not in your condition." Jiraiya said to the boy as Naruto frowned.
"I'm fine. I don't need to rest, I've got plenty since… How long was I out?"
Jiraiya looked at the clock and then back to the boy, "About twelve hours, kid. I have to say I'm impressed with your healing factor, it wasn't that fast before."
Naruto scowled as he looked down, "That's because some asshole decided to shove the Shodaime Hokage's cells within me. Apparently it worked well enough but you can see that there are grey patches on my chest and belly."
Jiraiya and Kakashi looked at each other alarmed as they both frowned.
"Who did this to you?" Jiraiya asked and his voice was shaking with anger.
If this was Danzo's handiwork, there would be hell to pay. Orochimaru was the only one known in the village who had successfully cultivated Hashirama's cells. Any and all experiments done by him were destroyed and that included Hashirama's DNA. Tenzo was the last person known to have been injected with those cells and he barely made it out alive.
If the man had access to such a thing, it would spell danger to Tsunade.
"I don't know. The guy was fucking creepy and said a lot of horrible things, things I'm not supposed to know."
"Like what?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya and Kakashi and then sighed, "Forget it, I don't want to talk about it right now. I have a job to do."
Jiraiya scowled at this, "Your job is to get back to Konoha so that Tsunade can see what adverse effects there are concerning you and your new predicament. You can't just do things like this on a whim."
Naruto turned around to Jiraiya and raised his voice, "I very damn well can! I don't need people who need tell me what's good for me! Let me decide things for myself just for once!"
"Naruto, what are you…" Jiraiya was about to reply but he was cut off when Naruto stood up.
"Talk later, I'm doing this whether both of you don't like it or not! This is for me to decide, I'm a chuunin now, damn it! I know the results of what my actions might do and I'm prepared to face the consequences! I knew this before I became a ninja and I'm sick of people who still treat me like a child by keeping secrets from me!"
Oh now there would be hell to pay indeed. If Danzo spilled the beans on Naruto's status and the state secrets that involved him, then he and Tsunade would need to plot for Danzo's downfall.
Slowly, meticulously, they would have to do it.
He would need to gather the right amount of evidence to do it too.
But for now, he would have no choice. Naruto knew something he shouldn't have and whether he would knock the boy out or not, he would still find a way to escape his grasp and go after his peers.
With a sigh, Jiraiya unfurled a scroll and unsealed its contents. A cloud of smoke appeared and out came a set of Naruto's uniform complete with all the essential ninja gear he would need and a pair of peculiar single edged knives that have hand guards that run parallel to the hilt. The ring at the bottom of the hilt made it resemble a kunai, but the boy knew that this was something else. He gripped the twin blades and found them much lighter than an average kunai. The color was much lighter too, a good silver with stainless steel like texture. The grip was good and made the way it was to indicate that it was more of a close range weapon rather than long range.
Kakashi performed a summoning technique and out of the cloud of smoke came Pakkun.
"We can't stop you, Naruto, you've made up your mind long ago. You told us by your words that you are willing to face the consequences. At least let me help you by having Pakkun with you to track down your teammate."
Naruto stood up and grabbed his clothes as Jiraiya mentioned to him in a smirk.
"Fine, be that way. Just know that you willing to take punishment from the Hokage make you an adult in my eyes, now. So go, before I change my mind and restrain you here with duct tape."
Naruto gave a nod as he put on his vest and adjusted his foreign protector.
Jiraiya noticed the longer hair and the way the boy adjusted his vest reminded him of the Yondaime Hokage. He looked at Kakashi who had the same feeling as well.
A feeling of nostalgia escaped Kakashi as Naruto walked out of the room followed by Pakkun and with the words that echoed to him coming from his sensei and from Naruto, he could hear the man's voice just the same as Naruto uttered those words to them, "Don't worry, I'll be back in a flash."
To be continued…
And the second to last chapter is now done for part 1! Questions will be answered later when I have time. Please be sure to leave a review and hope you enjoy it! The finale is going to be a very long, action, drama, comedy and fluff oriented chapter all in one! That is a promise!
Jutsu corner:
Tsumuji Otoshi (whirling drop): B-Rank offensive taijutsu skill- a variation of Sasuke's pile driver move, Hayabusa Otoshi (Peregrine Falcon Drop) and Shishi Rendan (Lion's combo) but instead of a grapple or strikes, Sasuke uses the momentum of his swings in midair to strike his opponents hard and Sasuke introduces the final attack with a strike to the throat as they hit the ground.
Chapter Preview:
"I promised myself to obtain strength with my own two hands, and that is a promise I will not be breaking! Shinobuto (Dance of Death)"
"I enjoy making trash like you squirm before you finally die. So to make sure that you stay alive, I will bring you pain excruciating enough that you'd want to die, but not lethal enough that you actually won't."
"This is my oath, I will beat you!"
"Don't lose"
"Gold is a good conductor of electricity. The moment you have entered my field, you have doomed yourself against me."
"All kinds of prey usually say the haughtiest of words before they become ensnared by my trap."
"Then my answer would be range for range!"
"Fucking pieces of trash just won't give up!"
"You've made the mistake of trying to fight me in a battle of attrition. I always find my shortcuts."
"Crush them."
"I'm not going to lose, not to you, not to anyone! Especially not to that prick, Sasuke!"
"You will be facing the leader of the Sound Five, I am Kaguya Kimimaro"
"Fear the dance of my sword, Higasa no Mai (Halo Dance)!"
"Y-You're alive…"
"Of course I am, Sasuke. Being the reckless idiot is my job. I don't expect you to plunge yourself in danger again anytime soon now that I'm back."
