Sealing Salientia - Chapter 3: Escape - Author: PenSmoke
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.
Previously on Sealing Salientia:
Fugaku 'Wicked Eye' Uchiha walked calmly over to the window that had always seemed to remain open during the Third's reign. Looking out at the quickly disappearing form of Jiraiya of the Sannin, he smiled. This prestigious view of Konoha was his and only his now. He swung the panes closed, symbolically ending the era of Sarutobi.
Konoha
Late afternoon, October 11th, Year 65
After spying his quarry leaping from the Hokage Tower, Gorilla made a beeline over to the toad Sannin. He leapt from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding the damaged buildings along the main street. Landing next to his target amongst the crowd, he fell in step with the larger man. Once he was sure the older man had acknowledged his presence, he used a couple of quick hand signals to communicate to the Sannin, explaining where he had been requested. Upon receiving a nod of affirmation, they both rapidly walked off towards the clan complex of the Third Hokage.
Making quick headway through the streets strewn with rubble and destruction from the previous day, they were only accosted once along the way, when a male civilian waved a book at the renowned author and asked for a signature. Jiraiya was glad to quickly scrawl a autograph on a copy of Icha Icha Paradise with a flourish. A few minutes of fast walking, as to not draw too much attention, and the two ninja arrived at the small clan compound.
As the Third Hokage's student and the ANBU Commander, both known to frequent the compound, neither had any issue in quickly unlocking the security seals in the wall surrounding the place. Rapping a couple of knuckles on the front door, it was opened almost immediately by a somewhat frazzled looking Hiruzen and a wailing Naruto. It was quickly obvious that Hiruzen's attempts to distract the child were not working. With a desperate look to the ANBU Commander, he quickly vocalized, "Could you please get something to fill his stomach?" Another quick nod prefaced the hasty retreat by the gorilla-masked man.
The Commander was about to exit back into the busy streets but had a thought that made him pause. As he had turned in the direction of the markets, he realized that an ANBU agent going into a store in uniform to purchase baby formula would probably look very odd. Hastily mulling his options, he decided a quick change into civilian clothes would be the most prudent course of action. A quick jog to his house later, he shrugged out of his black ANBU cloak, which was resting on top of his normal wardrobe. Snatching his Konoha headband and heaving the standard Konoha flak jacket over his shoulders, he departed his abode.
Now clad in the aforementioned flak jacket, bandage wrapping underneath to cover his torso and biceps ending at brown leather forearm guards, a thin belt with 3 small pouches by the hip, loose black knee-length shorts, with more bandage wrappings appearing on his thighs and calves, and ninja sandals, he looked much more normal. At least for Konoha. Tying his leaf-marked headband with extended black fabric on his forehead, he rotated the metal plate to the side and slightly up for his normal look, charcoal shaded fabric tails drooping down and fluttering in the light breeze on the right side of his head. Spiky dark brown hair stuck out in peaks, even when the man brushed his olive complexion hands through his unruly locks in a futile attempt to try and tame them. A slight stubble had erupted on the face, more of a five-o-clock shadow than anything else. Jovial brown eyes underneath thin eyebrows peered out amongst the swiftly moving crowds of people looking to get supplies. An angry red line of recently healed flesh traced across his left cheek, across his nose continuing into the right eyelid and ending near the right temple, a memento from the fruitless endeavor of trying to hold the nine-tailed fox back the previous day. A piece of shattered tree trunk had smashed apart his mask and one of the porcelain shards had sliced him deeply. Thankfully ninja reflexes were ridiculously quick, and the damage had been to his eyelid, rather than the eye itself. It would likely remain as scar tissue even with the healing that he received, as there had been a large chunk of missing skin, and as good as ANBU medic-ninja were, regeneration was not a skill they possessed.
Freed from the secrecy of his ANBU uniform, he took to the streets to run yet another errand for his leader. He sighed with just a hint of annoyance. He hated being a glorified messenger and deliveryman some days.
Jiraiya walked inside once his sensei had stepped aside to allow entry and he settled into the plush couch inside the quaint and cozy living room. Sarutobi closed the doors behind him, quickly re-locking the entrance as to prevent unwanted visitors. He was most concerned about his son, Asuma, stumbling in and discovering the baby contained within the house. And with the way the child was currently wailing, there would be no way to hide it outside of yet more privacy seals.
With his comrade departed to go fetch yet another item needed, Jiraiya got right to the business at hand. More specifically, HIS hand.
"Sarutobi-sensei, I'm afraid there is some bad news." Jiraiya spoke somberly, hating to admit weakness, but knowing it would be necessary.
Hiruzen grumbled, "Add it to the pile. What's wrong?"
He pressed on, without waiting even a second. "I can't mold chakra through my left hand. The medics told me that the entirety of the chakra system is gone. Anything that requires handseals, I cannot currently do." After dropping the bombshell, he sat and waited for a response. Hearing none immediately forthcoming, he looked up to his former instructor.
Hiruzen sat at a nearby desk, holding a screaming baby in both arms, head down on the paperwork that graced the surface. After a few moments, he looked up, with a look of resolute determination, even though what looked to be a tear was forming in the corner of one eye. "I'm very sorry to hear that Jiraiya. But we must continue. If this plan fails now, we will have lost too much. Naruto must be saved, at whatever cost. They have already taken the Hokage position, ruined Minato's legacy, and tried to derail mine as well. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but we have no other choice. I know how you are feeling; Minato was like a son that you never had. The fight to save him has already been lost as has the chance to preserve the Hokage title. Are ready to fight to protect the only thing left of him, his son, whatever the costs?"
Jiraiya felt a stirring inside of him. He had fought against odds nearly his entire life. He had to work twice as hard to keep up with his teammates as a genin. He fought insurmountable odds and won in the fires of war as a chunin. He faced down legends and learned things nobody else ever had as a jonin. He had gone through intense sage training after earning the right to summon toads through nothing but hard work. An inventive mind like his could figure out a way through this problem. Feeling more determined than ever, he stood, staring right at the elder Sarutobi, matching the stare of resolute determination being sent his way. Snapping a salute, a gesture he had not used in years, he replied with a firm "Yes, sir!"
The man recently freed from hiding his face behind a gorilla styled mask had made his way downtown, walking fast, watching the faces go past. Once he reached the commercial section, he went to enter into the nearest general store for the needed supplies. After gazing inside, he promptly turned around and hurried out upon seeing a group of three teenagers. Unfortunately for him, said teenagers were also ninja, and noticed the man appear and disappear upon noticing them.
Sable hair that was just as spiky as his was appeared in front of him, reaching out to snag his hand. Whilst he could have dodged it rather easily, he decided to just let it happen. He'd hear about it later anyway if he dodged and ran away. Once eye contact had been established it was too late anyway. The fingers wrapped around his wrist and clenched on in a grip that would not be removed easily. "Hey Bro! What'cha doing out here?" He looked down onto the countenance of his younger brother. Even though he was only 16, he was already a chunin, and well on his way to becoming a jonin. With no facial hair to speak of, bright brown eyes staring up at him animatedly, and a mischievous smile, Asuma Sarutobi was a fountain of energy. "We were just grabbing some lunch in between repair work. What are you up to? Got any cool jonin missions?" his younger brother questioned.
Sauntering up behind him was Raido Namiashi, his male teammate. Featuring brown hair, dark eyes, an odd scar running along his left cheek and a serious expression, he was the much calmer and more collected counterpoint to Masuya's energetic sibling. Like both of his teammates, he wore the standard flak jacket and headband placed in the normal position, along with white mesh shirt underneath with dark gray pants. And completing the group was Kurenai Yuhi, her long black hair above blood red eyes, she was the lone kunoichi on the squad of chunin. Dressed in a pink shirt that had an abnormally large pinkish-white collar featuring a line running down the middle with opposing triangles in regular intervals, a skirt that matched the collar going down to her knees and ninja mesh legging underneath. She was a bit more bashful than her two teammates were, and stood behind Asuma, letting him take the initiative.
"Hey there Asuma," the jonin replied cordially to his smaller sibling. "Nice to see you again Raido. You too Kurenai. I'm just getting some supplies for dad at the moment, he was too busy with work to get them himself. With mom still missing, I was the best option to go and fetch them. Nothing too important."
Even though the mention of their currently missing mother dimmed the excitement in his eyes, he was still outwardly exasperatingly exuberant and stubborn. It seemed that stubbornness was definitely a family trait. "Aww man. Masuya, you're holding back on me, aren't'cha?" he pleaded, begging with his eyes for more information.
Masuya was mostly immune to his younger brothers' pleading eyes by now. Being the younger brother of a ninja, in a ninja clan, when your father was the ninja leader and mostly too busy with his own duties, had meant that Asuma had looked up to him as a role model. When Masuya had advanced to Chunin, Asuma had been cheering the loudest in the stands. Once Asuma had entered the Academy, the elder brother was inundated with requests to train and practice and study. Being the person that he was, he helped Asuma as much as he was able to, as forming strong bonds with family was a key component of maintaining the 'Will of Fire', or so his father said.
"I'm serious little bro. I'm just here for some groceries, you can ask dad when you get home. Now hurry up and get back to work on your repair work. I'm sure the Jonin will notice you guys being missing before too long." He grabbed his little brother and put him in a headlock, giving him a quick noogie.
Asuma yanked his head out of the slightly chakra-enhanced hold and rubbed the spot on top of his skull with a sulking expression, as Raido snickered behind him. Kurenai even put her hand over her mouth to try and repress her own giggles at the brotherly display. "Fine, fine, you made your point. Come on guys, let's get back to work." The younger Sarutobi declared before his pride could be hurt too much more. Raido followed along behind, giving a quick salute to the more experienced ninja, whereas Kurenai made a quick bow before taking her leave.
The ANBU Commander heaved a quick sigh of relief, he didn't need to be seen buying baby formula, especially by his little brother who would be sure to mock him publicly for it. Hurriedly going through the store, he grabbed several other necessities for food in addition to the baby formula. A couple moments later, he exited the storefront with his secret package wrapped in a brown paper bag, hidden amongst other goods.
A quick walk back to the clan compound later saw him back inside the front entrance to his home, and a couple of seconds later he was dressed again in his ANBU cloak, masked firmly affixed in place at the front door to his father's residence, rapping his knuckles against the mahogany wood door.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from his desk covered in various papers at the sound of someone knocking at the door. His old student was perusing a weathered book on chakra formation from his extensive library held in one hand, while rocking a still upset and loud Naruto in the other, after having taken over childcare duties for a moment. A knocking sound disturbed Jiraiya for a moment, as the former Hokage made his way to the door, unlocking it and after a quick inspection, let the guest in with a relieved smile.
While it had been years since he had had to raise children and Biwako had taken care of most of the work, with him having been busy in Hokage duties, he still remembered the basics. Digging through old cupboards he found a reasonable facsimile of a bottle, used a minor fire technique to heat up the now mixed formula to a lukewarm temperature, walked over to where Jiraiya had the babe cradled and finally ended what had been the interminable cries of an angry infant.
All three adults occupying the house breathed a sigh of relief once the shrieks had stopped. Patience was a virtue, but a babies' screams can wear down even the most tolerant of humanity before long. Amusedly, the elder Sarutobi entertained a brief mental philosophical debate about the efficacy of using babies' screaming in a genjutsu to disrupt enemies. Scribbling a quick note to follow that bit of inspiration later, the three members of the clandestine club to protect Naruto again convened with how their plan of action would work.
Hiruzen himself lead off with, "How do we want to proceed?"
"First, I need to get out of here in a visible way, but with Naruto undetected while accompanying me." Jiraiya spoke up.
Having an idea, the eldest member of the group spoke again. "While normally I'd suggest you use the a clone technique to create a copy of yourself to publicly leave through the main gate and sneak out another point later, but without you being able to use chakra at the moment..." The words trailed off and the ANBU Commander looked up at the toad summoner, but did not speak. "That won't work. However, if I create a solid clone and we use the Transformation Technique it make to look like you, I do believe that should be sufficient. I can write up a new order for you to continue your spy work to have the clone present to the gate guards. As I haven't technically ended the acting Hokage role, and there likely won't be the full transfer of power to Fugaku until a public ceremony," Hiruzen continued, a severe frown crossing his wrinkled face at the mention of the name, "I would think that'd be enough to get you out of town in a visible manner. Commander, would you be able to create a brief hole in the patrol somewhere along the night watch route?"
The ANBU Commander thought it over for a second. "Yes, there are a couple of somewhat hard-to-watch spots on the northwestern wall. I believe I should be able to make an appearance in the name of ensuring patrols are being done correctly without raising too much suspicion. A momentary distraction should be all that is needed for someone of your caliber, correct?"
Jiraiya nodded, "Even without handseals, I can still do basic chakra manipulation and enhance chakra through muscles. If you cast the Hiding with Camouflage technique on me and then we approach the area together, I do believe that I could quickly and quietly slip over the wall. Provided we wait until Naruto is fast asleep."
Gorilla replied, "That should not be a problem. I also know how to take care of the Naruto sleeping problem. I can use the Temple of Nirvana technique on him and you can rouse him from the genjutsu at a later point with a small burst of your own chakra. Or failing that, a small amount of pain should do the trick as well."
Signaling agreement with yet another motion of approval, Jiraiya finished, "That just leaves the time. I'd say, as soon as it gets dark would be a good time, the day patrols will be winding down and ready to hand-off to the overnight crew. It'd make sense to check on patrols right at the beginning of the shift to make sure they are up to snuff."
Hiruzen looked up at a dust-covered grandfather clock next to the wall in the corner of the room, and then glanced outside. "That gives us about two hours to prepare. Jiraiya, go out and buy what supplies you need, and meet back here in time."
Without even a moment of hesitation, the white-haired man handed off the still feeding child and struck off out of the house, intent on acquiring the requisite materials needed for an extended trip with a new child, as well as stocking up on experimental supplies. He quietly whispered a quick prayer to Log that he had a large sum of money stored from his book sales, as this was going to be an expensive endeavor.
After he disappeared, the two Sarutobi left in the house exchanged looks. Unclasping the latch that held the mask in place, Masuya stared at his father. "What's going to happen to the Commander position, dad? You appointed me, and Minato left me in charge out of respect for the both of us. I highly doubt that Fugaku, once he knows who I am, is going to leave me anywhere near a position of power."
Hiruzen broke his sons' gaze and sighed. "I wish I knew. As you know, the Commander position is a direct appointment by the Hokage with no other oversight. That man has always been a little-power hungry, and I fear that it has driven him a bit mad now that he seized his opportunity. I would suspect that he places another Uchiha in there and may even try to merge the ANBU and the Uchiha police force."
He sat down harshly into the soft leather chair at his desk. "However, I still have plenty of political strings that I can pull, and I'll be able to take up a position on the Council now that I'm not Hokage, so I will have some additional leverage. And, since the clan of the Kage doesn't have membership on the council, I may be able to work some magic still from the political angle. I'm not old and feeble. Not yet, anyway." Another quick glance at his son holding the child later, and he grabbed the good tobacco and his best pipe. He felt he probably was going to need it.
At sunset, Jiraiya came back to the house with a dozen sealing scrolls, a satchel of other sealing supplies, a crate filled with metal objects from the sound of it, and what felt like a hundred bags of food, being hauled to the front porch by a pack of older genin in their late teens and early twenties that he must have pulled from somewhere. Whipping out several copies of Icha Icha Paradise, he quickly scrawled autographs on them and presented the books to the young men as payment for services rendered. Watching the men drool over their prizes and high fiving each other on their way out, Jiraiya made sure that every last one had left before knocking on the door.
After having been let inside by the Sarutobi patriarch, he quickly unraveled the sealing scrolls to their full length and started organizing the goods he had procured into neat stacks and row on top of them. Calling his former sensei over, Jiraiya asked that while he get the items organized, if Hiruzen could assist with the sealing process. Acquiescing to the request, several months' worth of supplies were neatly labeled, organized and sealed away. Even though Jiraiya would not normally want to carry so much on him, the arrangement right now necessitated a certain amount of preparation. And while transporting a newborn infant, he did not wish to take any chances. He would be able to release things from the scroll without making any handseals, but the only activation method to seal something into a scroll was to do the handseals. Therefore, he needed it all done now while he had someone capable within range. Though he was going to work on that, amongst many other ideas that were bouncing around his head.
Signaling to Gorilla that he was ready to leave, he watched as the ANBU performed the illusionary technique on Naruto. Naruto's blue eyes danced around at watching the feathers that were only present within his vision, making happy little gurgling noises, and then the cerulean orbs slowly closed, drifting off into a deep sleep. Jiraiya picked him up and used one arm under his cloak to tuck and hold the child in place securely. Speaking up, the toad sage said, "I'll be using our standard code to communicate with a scroll sent to you using the matrix I installed here once I get it figured out how. Additionally, I'm going to encode anything about Naruto within my briefings using code Epsilon Tau Omega 4. I'll continue sending village important recon information through my contacts to the Hokage's office as to not raise suspicions."
Hiruzen assented and walked over to Jiraiya to give him a brief hug. He stated, "Good luck out there," as he performed a quick Shadow Clone technique. After the plume of smoke dispersed, the former Hokage handed a pre-written scroll that was a standard mission order for exit from the village to the clone. Without a word spoken, the clone made a handseal and performed the Transformation technique to become a duplicate of Jiraiya, promptly heading out at a normal pace towards the main village gates afterwards.
Lastly, Gorilla performed the Hiding with Camouflage technique on Jiraiya, causing him to become transparent and near invisible. "Let's go," said the author, ready to get this over with. The ANBU Commander complied to the proclamation and led the way out to the northwestern quadrant of town.
After a couple minutes of roof-hopping they stopped a few hundred feet short of the wall. "I'm going to jump up to that guard post there," gesturing to the small stone structure jutting out a few feet above the perimeter of the wall. "You can jump through that area of damage over there a couple of seconds after I land." Gorilla moved his arm to indicate an area about a third of the way between the mentioned guard post and the next one over. It was clearly damaged from the beast's attack the previous day, and the slightly lower section meant that he didn't have to jump as high. The ANBU Commander continued, "Work on repairing and clean-up for that area should have been completed for the day, and I don't see anyone there from this distance. You should be able to make a clean break once I have the ANBU temporarily distracted."
Jiraiya verbalized a response, "Sounds good to me. See you on the other side." and crouched down, concentrating the power in his legs, ready to make his move on the given mark.
Nono Yakushi had had a very interesting day. Dealing with the mass casualties and injuries from the day before had left her drained. She had managed to catch a small amount of rest before coming back to Konoha General before her shift had even started. She knew that she was uninjured, and many others who needed treatment were waiting, so she had thrown caution to the wind, and dived right back into her work at the beginning of the day. Healing dozens of people, she had downed a soldier pill, and then another. After working for at least 10 hours straight, with her chakra running low again, she had been pulled into that private surgery room and been practically forced into healing Jiraiya-sama while the ANBU watched her like a hawk. Well, like a gorilla, if his mask was any indication.
Completely drained, she had left in a daze and crashed on her couch. After waking up several hours later, still feeling chakra depleted, but no longer tired, she went for a walk around town in the late evening hours to try and wear out her body. That way she could maybe rest and recuperate some more spent chakra before her shift at the hospital the next morning. After taking multiple soldier pills, she wasn't quite feeling right and knew it would take some more sleep and natural recovery to wash the residual side effects out of her system.
With the glorious burnt oranges and garnet reds fading from the skyscape as dusk approached, she walked near the edge of town. As darkness fell and the peaceful song of the birds chirping gave way into the rhythmic thrumming of frogs' chirps and cicada buzzes, she stared off into the lightly cloudy sky, lost in her own thoughts.
Jiraiya-sama had not been what she expected. She couldn't believe that she had the gall to laugh at him. Well, she had been exhausted, both physically and mentally, she supposed that she wouldn't have been able to help it. But the words that he spoke to her had stuck with her as well. She knew from his reputation that he was a notorious flirt. The look in his eyes when he said that she was beautiful and that he wasn't disappointed in her, even after she had failed him so badly, it made her want to cry. It was sincere, honest and it had moved her.
As she left the conflicting emotions of sadness and joy wash over her, her stare towards the sky caught a quick blur of motion overhead. A soft thud of landing feet indicating the person had completed their jump. Someone had just leapt toward the wall. Judging by the outfit, probably an ANBU off to patrol.
And then a secondary sound of footsteps, and an almost imperceptible blur shot by in a slightly different direction. Another soft sound of landing feet approached her ears, and she now thought she must have been imagining things. Why would someone sneak out of the city by following an ANBU of all things?
Turning on her heel, she decided that she was probably hallucinating from being overworked and resolved to call in with chakra exhaustion tomorrow.
AN: And the ANBU Commander is revealed. Since the elder brother of Asuma is only shown once in canon, as a picture of an ANBU (to my knowledge anyway), I figured I could use a canon unnamed character. I thought the mask portrayed looked a bit like a gorilla mask, so that's what I'm running with. And in the Naruto world, nepotism and appointing students/offspring to high positions is very common. Why not have someone he knew he could trust in charge of ANBU?
Snuck a song lyric in on you, did you catch it?
Additionally, I will be trying to use as little Japanese as possible. Names of specific people, places and direct titles will not be translated (Konoha, Kage, Jonin, Chunin, Genin, ANBU), but most other things will be. Honorifics will be used sparingly and limited to the most well-known ones (dono, sama, chan, san, kun). Otherwise, I will be using more Americanized speech patterns, such as "Little Bro" instead of "Asuma-otouto". Sparing use in other areas, mostly for things that don't translate well in English, like jinchuriki or ninjutsu or dōjutsu, though alternatives will be in place if possible.
For any OC names, I will be sticking with traditional Japanese style names for people and places, as I don't feel it fits well to pair Kurenai and Asuma with Fred on a mission.
Finally, as it is something that I've seen done in a few other stories which I found helpful, anything that is OC or isn't well-known, I'm going to include at the bottom of the chapter, for people and both original skills and lesser known canon skills.
Masuya Sarutobi
Name meaning: 'One who will help the world.'
Age: 23 (at this storyline, would put him at 34/35 for canon Naruto Academy graduation)
Rank: Jonin (ANBU Commander)
Stats:
Ninjutsu: 4
Taijutsu: 3.5
Genjutsu: 3
Intelligence: 4.5
Strength: 3.5
Speed: 4
Stamina: 4.5
Hand seals: 3.5
Total: 30.5 (Similar in strength to Zabuza or Kimimaro at the time of their deaths in canon)
Hiding with Camouflage technique
Classification: Ninjutsu
Rank: A
The user controls the reflection of light around their body using chakra, causing their form, shadow, and even breathing to become invisible to the unaided eye. Because they perfectly blend in with their surroundings, the user can sneak up behind an enemy without being noticed. Only dōjutsu like the Sharingan or Byakugan can see through it. Because only the user's appearance is camouflaged, they can still be discovered through scent or the sounds they make.
Temple of Nirvana technique (a.k.a Feather Illusion technique)
Classification: Genjutsu
Rank: A
Everybody within an area is subjected to the same illusion; many white feathers fluttering down from the sky. If a given target sees enough of these feathers fall, they will fall into a deep sleep. Because it's a genjutsu, victims cannot be woken in conventional ways, meaning they will continue to sleep even if extensive combat is going on around them. Only by dispelling the genjutsu, such as with the Genjutsu Cancel, can victims regain consciousness. If targets are attentive enough, they can similarly dispel the genjutsu themselves before the feathers have lulled them to sleep.