Tale of the Setting Sun

Chapter 14: "Lightning Speed"

Much like the other buildings in Sunagakure, the infirmary was a hive of dimly lit rooms and connecting hallways, and as such, it was only by chance that Kakashi noticed Mayu being carried past on a stretcher. Once he'd affirmed that Naruto's condition had stabilized, he had worried over her battle against Fū – and as soon as he saw the blue hair clips attached to a mop of sandy hair, Kakashi jumped to his feet and stopped the medic nin in order to check on her.

But even without the medic assuring him that she would be alright, with just a cursory look over, he could tell that his fears had been groundless. Mayu was bleeding from what looked like multiple tiny perforations on her arms, but that appeared to be the extent of her injuries. She was breathing steadily, with no irregularities in her pulse; it appeared she was merely unconscious.

Relaxing, Kakashi nodded and stepped back, allowing the medic to direct her stretcher to another room.

Just as he'd walked back through the doorway, he saw Naruto's eyes snap open. Leaving the stunned boy to stare up at the clay ceiling from his prone position in bed, Kakashi locked the door behind him and checked the room once more. They were the only occupants in the room, and the medic who had been attending to Naruto had long since left.

But of course, that didn't mean anything in a hidden village like Sunagakure. He would have preferred to take Naruto to a more secure location, but to do so now would attract unwanted attention. Passing his hand over his face, Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his sharingan. Glancing around, he was rewarded with a small chakra presence perched on top of the rim of the nearest window.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in a taut voice. "What happened? ...I passed out again, didn't I?"

Without responding, Kakashi leisurely ambled over to the window. Pretending to look outside at the view of the drab, open field of sand in deep contemplation, he saw that the source of the chakra was a harmless beetle on the outside. The inside on the other hand was a whole different story. From what he could tell by its thin string of light chakra that jutted out from its posterior and led out of the room, it was a modified puppet, possibly with the added capability of recording conversations. Ingenious, what some of their jutsu could accomplish. However...

With an idle flick of his fingers, Kakashi squashed the insect against the wall, before turning back to face the genin. As soon as he met the boy's blue eyes, he internally winced; the pressure of the daunting task that loomed before him weighed down on him all at once like a massive boulder. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, gathering his thoughts together. Nevertheless, it has to be done... – and with that thought in mind, he let out another exhale.

"Naruto," he began at last, "before anything, I would like to apologize."

The genin looked taken aback. "Apologize? What for, sensei?"

"In my defense..." Kakashi paused. "No, I have no defense. The truth of the matter is that everyone, including me, has been lying to you for your entire life. I could have done something about it, but I never did. I'm sorry."

"...I see." To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto's gaze sharpened. "And I suppose these lies have something to do with why I am passing out. Are you going to tell me what these lies are?"

"Yes," he replied, and was gratified to see a look of surprise flash across the genin's face. "I'm going to tell you everything that I know, consequences be damned. While it isn't much, it's the very least you deserve..." Kakashi trailed off, as a sudden thought struck him. "I'm assuming that you want to hear the truth?"

"Yes, sensei," said Naruto immediately. "Right now, please."

Kakashi nodded. "Very well. But there's one thing I'm going to ask of you. And that's to hear me out in its entirety. Some news might – will – be shocking to you, but I want you to stay here on your bed. In return, I promise you that I will tell you the entire truth as I know it."

"Yes, sensei," Naruto said, his tone now touched by a slight flavor of impatience.

"Alright then." Kakashi took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with from the get-go. "You are a jinchūriki." At these words, he noted that Naruto's face remained unchanged, but could sense his body tensing up. "That means that you are the host of a tailed-beast. In your case, during its invasion of Konoha, the Nine-tails – Kyūbi – was sealed within you when you were a newborn baby."

"The Kyūbi wasn't destroyed?" Naruto asked, raising a fist to clear his throat. His face was otherwise, curiously devoid of emotion. "I thought the Fourth Hokage defeated it."

"Tailed-beasts aren't so simply defeated, Naruto," said Kakashi. "They're mammoth living forms of chakra – the best we can do is seal them away. And most villages take advantage of this by sealing them inside another living vessel – a human."

"Was it a complete seal – is that even possible? How come it's never gotten out?" Naruto frowned. "It has, hasn't it?"

Kakashi nodded. "Correct. However, from what I know, there has been only one incident so far in which the Kyūbi managed to temporarily escape its seal. It happened when you were six – or actually, the day before your sixth birthday. Some foreign ninja somehow managed to get intel on you and infiltrated Konoha. In the incident, you lost control and managed to kill them all."

"But I don't remember – "

"There are gaps in your memory, Naruto. Ever since that day, for five years now, there has been a seal on some of your memories." It was curious and yet disheartening to observe the careful look of calm beginning to fall apart on the genin's face, like cracks in a sheet of ice that had frozen over a raging river. Before he could be swept away in its current, Kakashi hurriedly pressed on. "It is a type of forbidden fūinjutsu called the Genkōkin Fūin (Taboo Seal). It was invented by the Fourth Hokage, and was popularly used during the Third Shinobi World War – it works by making a word or idea 'taboo' in someone's mind. Any time they begin thinking about it, the seal immediately sucks the memory away. People whose mental resilience is strong enough tend to unconsciously fight this, and suffer tremendous headaches as a result. That's the reason why you've been falling unconscious. Your mind has been fighting with the seal, trying to hold on to your memories. As a temporary measure, I've put a block on the seal for now, which is why, as I tell you this, you aren't falling unconscious."

Naruto's hands fell by his side. A long, terse silence entangled itself around them. Looking at the mixture of feelings playing out across his student's normally stoic face, Kakashi had to hold himself back from sighing. Ninja lived harsh, often unjust lives, and it was something that he had come to accept a long time ago as a child himself. But something about the way Naruto's face looked like just now brought back memories of those grey, rain-drenched days he'd spent in the reflection of the cold memorial stone.

"Why me?" Naruto finally let out.

"The Fourth Hokage chose you," Kakashi replied.

"Why?" Naruto repeated, shaking his head. Kakashi hesitated. "Please, sensei."

"Because you were his son," he said quietly.

"What?" Naruto blurted out, looking at Kakashi in naked disbelief. "But that's..."

"Your father was Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage," Kakashi pressed on. "He was my teacher, and a legendary shinobi renowned as Konoha's Yellow Flash. He died a hero, saving the village by sealing the Kyūbi inside his own child – you."

Naruto didn't respond, and as Kakashi watched the genin's eyes slowly turn dull, the weight on his back seemed to grow heavier and heavier. He wondered if he had made a mistake – not about putting a stop to the memory seal, but about the timing of it all. Perhaps he should have waited for a more optimal time before revealing the truth to the boy? But with the memory seal quarantined off, Naruto would have woken up immediately knowing that something was off, and it would have been damaging to their tentative trust if Kakashi had continued denying him the truth of everything.

"I can't say that I understand completely why Minato-sensei made his decision," said Kakashi, choosing his next words with care. "And I know you were in a lot of pain growing up because of that...We were all forbidden to tell you anything, because we were told it would be safer for you to remain ignorant of your circumstances. But, I want you to know that your father must have had a very good reason to do so, because that's just the type of ninja he was. His last wish was for you to be seen as a hero."

After the preliminaries ended, they were granted two weeks time to recover and to train for the upcoming final exam. For most of the time, Naruto threw himself into solitary training, doing his best to keep himself busy while staying away from the others. Rai similarly squirreled off into training under the tutelage of Kakashi, whereas Mayu disappeared for long periods of time, seemingly touring the village.

The days dragged by but eventually the morning of the third exam arrived, and Naruto was again set to go first. The exam was held in a much fancier stadium than where the preliminaries had taken place in; the walls were made of hardened clay that reached up around 15 feet around the circular, level platform. The audience sat on rows on top of these walls; Suna ANBU were positioned strategically in the audience both as bodyguards for the high-ranking officials as well as preventative measures, in case any fights got out of hand.

The first match of the day set Naruto against one of Sunagakure's favorites: A blonde Suna genin named Temari, who was apparently the daughter of the Kazekage. Naruto had noticed her earlier – from what he'd seen, she was quick-footed and clever, with a bit of a cruel streak in her tendency to play with weaker opponents. Her weapon of choice was a giant folding fan, and just as the match begun, she'd flown at him on top of it, catching him off-guard enough for her to land a glancing blow off of his leg. But in the end, she was no match for him. As soon as Naruto recovered, quickly gathering that her weakness was close-range combat, he made short work of her with the help of several Kage Bunshin. When he walked out of the enclosed arena, the ensuing polite applause did little to conceal the sullen expressions of the watching Suna audience.

The next match was between Rai and Neji, in which Rai held up surprisingly well despite the hype that had surrounded the Hyuuga boy. Keeping up a steady stream of kunai, his teammate was able to surprise everyone in the stadium – Neji included – by channeling his chakra into some of the kunai and exploding them as they lay scattered around his opponent's feet. Though Neji noticed them in time and managed to avoid most of the fiery explosions, Rai still managed to lightly scorch the stoic boy's leg. Unfortunately for him, this served only to irritate Neji, who'd seemed to be trying to conserve energy by remaining on the defense. Going on the offensive, he managed to corner Rai and with several well-placed hits, Rai was soon on the ground coughing up blood.

After Rai was carried out on a stretcher, Naruto did not pay much attention to the following two fights, though he noted that the girl from Takigakure – Fū, who'd beaten Mayu in the preliminaries – defeated her opponent with ease. Rai had called her the 'jinchūriki' before. That could mean only one thing: that she was the host of a tailed-beast, just like him. Undoubtedly, she would make it to the finals, and if the sharp look she'd shot in his direction was any inclination, she expected the same of him.

In a detached sort of way, Naruto wondered if she knew the truth about him as well. He wouldn't be too surprised, as it seemed he hadn't ever known anything about himself.

With the first round of the matches done, there was a brief break (likely more for the benefit of the watching daimyō than the participants). As Kakashi and Mayu had gone to check on Rai in the infirmary, Naruto sat alone drinking out of a water skin, not paying much attention to his surroundings.

Suddenly, a side of his face was relieved from the burning sun as it fell in shadow. Naruto put his water skin down, and turned to see the Hyuuga boy staring down at him with his arms crossed. His eyes trailed down first to the burn on his leg that his teammate had so graciously given; it looked a bit more raw and painful than it had seemed down in the arena.

"We'll be fighting against each other in the next round," said Neji shortly, and Naruto looked back up.

"It's supposed to be randomized," he pointed out.

The matchups for the winners of the initial round – Neji, Fū, a Suna genin who used puppets, and himself – were picked out from a public drawing.

"Everyone knows it's a farce. They'll want to knock out at least one genin from Konoha," Neji said flatly.

Naruto felt a flicker of irritation. "What's your point?"

"Before we fight, I wanted to tell you something. In this world, as I'm sure you've realized, there is the elite, and then there are the outcasts. We can change our physical appearance and improve our skills with training and study, but ultimately, we are judged by what we cannot change. What can't be changed must be endured. We are who we are, and we must live with it...and with my Byakugan, I can see many things. I've seen how you strive to be the best, so that you can become Hokage." Neji's eyes hardened. "An outcast like you or me could never become the Hokage. Keep that in mind."

The shade on his face moved away, and Naruto was left alone once more. He picked his water skin up again, and drank.

He hadn't expected such a direct psychological attack like that. If surprise had been its intended effect, it had worked. However...

'His last wish was for you to be seen as a hero.'

Naruto's lips curved upwards in a humorless smile. Neji needn't have wasted his breath; he'd already known everything he'd said was true.

Soon, the second half of the third exam began and true enough, Naruto and Neji were matched up for the first battle. When the bald-headed proctor looked up at him expectantly from the arena, Naruto exhaled. Throwing the empty water skin aside carelessly, he jumped down from his seat down into the stage, sending up tufts of sand as he landed.

Neji was already waiting for him. As the crowd buzzed in excitement and the proctor roared something about their shared backgrounds, neither one said anything. For a moment, the two were completely still, simply eyeing each other from across the field. Naruto noticed that the pale-eyed boy was slightly favoring one leg; he'd had some cooling paste dabbed over the burn since they'd talked, but it must have been bothering him.

As if reading his thoughts, Neji spoke up.

"This injury will make no difference in the outcome," he said coolly. "After all...my Byakugan shows me many – "

"Yes, good for you," Naruto cut in. Neji's eyes narrowed, and he continued to glare at him, until Naruto looked away. He waited for the countdown wearily.

Fleetingly, as the sun's white rays beat harshly down on his face, he wondered what he was doing there on that arena.

"Begin!"

Naruto automatically lowered into a basic defensive stance, waiting for Neji to make the first move. Dully, he recounted what he'd learned about the kekkei genkai. Though the Hyūga clan was understandably tight-lipped about it, there were some basic things one could gather about it just by sparring with one of their clansmen. There had been a Hyūga member from the branch in his class, and he'd been able to gather several things from her – the most important one being that the Byakugan, at its most basic, granted its user the ability to see everything at the chakra level. This meant that they could see through solid objects, and illusions such as clones meant nothing to them. Furthermore, as he'd gathered from Neji and Lee's fight, their fighting style took advantage of their Byakugan to make common taijutsu into something much more destructive.

"Byakugan!" cried Neji. Sure enough, the veins around his eyes visibly bulged as the boy activated his infamous heritage. Once activated, he glared at Naruto without making another move; it was clear that he wanted Naruto to make the first move. There were a variety of ways he could deal with this – most people would probably take the long-range approach to avoid Neji's taijutsu.

After a split second's deliberation, he decided.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four exact copies of himself immediately materialized in a cloud of white smoke. From what he knew of the way the Byakugan worked, Neji shouldn't be able to discern his real self from among his clones.

In one fluid motion with his clones, Naruto drew his tantō from his back. He and his clones shot towards Neji, who pulled out his kunai. Metal met metal harshly as his clones kept the pale-eyed genin busy, and at the edges, Naruto continuously feinted in and out.

To Neji's credit, despite having five Narutos converge on him from all directions, he left no openings, and Naruto only managed to get in a few shallow cuts. However, as soon as his summoned clones began to erupt into pillars of smoke, he summoned more, each time managing to get in some more shallow cuts.

Slowly but surely, Neji's legs and arms began to be covered in an abundance of cuts. His breathing grew more labored as his reflexes began to slow.

As Neji thrust his kunai into his clone, turning them into smoke, Naruto gradually moved closer to Neji, swapping his original rear position with one of his clones. As another clone turned into smoke, Naruto moved in and aimed a kick at Neji's legs, which he dodged by leaping back. Simultaneously however, Neji unconsciously turned away his scorched leg in an effort to protect it, a movement which cost him a split second – predicting this, Naruto stepped behind him at the same time. Neji's eyes widened as he realized his back was exposed, but with no time to turn around, Naruto swung his tantō inwards in a sharp arc.

Just before his blade made contact however, he met a strange, almost immaterial barrier and to his surprise, he was then immediately blasted back as Neji spun rapidly in a powerful circle, his black hair fanning around him. As Naruto hit the ground, his remaining clones which had also been thrown back disappeared into clouds of smoke. When Neji had stopped spinning, the sand around him had furrowed into a shallow hole.

Naruto looked at the other genin in surprised silence, and in response, Neji smiled grimly. Despite the number of cuts on his body, he stood firm in his confidence. Spreading his feet apart, he bent down sideways, touching the back of his hand to his foot.

"It's over now," said Neji coolly. "Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms..."

Naruto let out a sigh. If Neji hit him with that, things could actually turn quite dangerous for him. He'd wanted to take his time whittling the other genin down with his clones, but it looked like that wasn't possible now. He hadn't wanted to use this again unless he had to but...

Stepping back, he lowered his body, allowing his muscles to relax. He felt the chakra that ebbed through his body. At his urging, he usually manipulated it into becoming sharp and thin to channel it into his weapons. This time however, he twisted his chakra to curl in on itself into a ball, becoming tighter and tighter with each twist, until it began to vibrate. Sending it down his body, the ball expanded, enveloping his feet with a crackling sound.

As this all happened, Neji swung his body around and then threw himself forward with both hands outstretched towards Naruto. The prospect of victory gleaming in his pale eyes, Neji was just about to make contact with the other genin – when, with a sudden loud cracking sound, he disappeared.

A split millisecond later, Naruto was behind Neji, and before the other genin had even realized, he'd hit him hard on the back of his neck with the blunt end of his tantō. Slowly – as if even his body was refusing to accept it – Neji swayed, and then fell on his knees. He was unconscious before he slumped to the ground.

The crowd cheered animatedly.

Since Naruto could project his wind chakra into his weapons, he'd reasoned that he should be able to project his chakra through his body as well. But instead of wind chakra, which was best for offensive attacks, he'd decided to work on his speed. In order to do that, he had focused on manipulating his chakra into a different element – lightning. The first obstacle had been getting down the feel for what lightning chakra felt like: It was very different, in both shape and feel from his natural affinity, wind chakra. As soon as he'd gotten the hang of it, Naruto had begun focusing on running the current through his entire body, with the idea of electrically stimulating his nervous system – and then almost immediately, abandoned the idea. He hadn't realized how painful it would be, or how much chakra it would consume to constantly be supplying his system with lightning chakra.

After some pondering, Naruto had next focused on localizing the stimulation to just his lower legs and feet; as the body parts most farthest from his brain, he'd theorized that boosting them would provide the greatest improvement in his speed. And sure enough – though it did sting quite uncomfortably, hence why he avoided using it whenever possible – when his feet were stimulated with the lightning chakra, his enhanced kickoff greatly increased his initial speed and made it look, to the untrained eye, as if he had suddenly disappeared and then reappeared elsewhere.

The sun was now high in the sky and it pounded on Naruto's neck as he looked down at Neji's prone body. A feeling he wouldn't have recognized before bubbled up inside him. But now that his eyes had been opened, he knew it as contempt – contempt for the trapped bird in a cage that had yearned to be loved by the cage.

"You're pathetic," he said coldly. Yet even as he spoke, he did not know who his words were for.

Naruto turned around and walked out of the arena, leaving the roar of the crowd's approval behind him.

2/16/17: Very lightly edited.