Previously on The Deception Gone Awry:
What was more interesting was the large number of pipes that were running along the walls away from a point on the far side of the room that was separated by a cage like wall that stretched up out of sight, probably to the ceiling itself, a few of the pipes containing a red flowing liquid which seemed to be the source of the light in the room. As he stepped forwards into the middle of the room, his eyes were drawn to part of the cage area, more particularly an area that looked like an openable door that was held closed by a piece of paper that had some kanji scripted upon it. Walking towards it, he managed to decipher the word 'seal' that was written upon it just in time to jump back defensively as something... big moved in the shadows of the cage. A sense of apprehension filled him as two slitted eyes, each the size of him at least, opened before locking onto him with a predatory look that sent shivers up his size. A deep voice emanated from everywhere, the pressure on him increasing until he was forced to one knee and breathing hard even as the words washed over him and a ten story fox stalked out of the shadows, nine tails swaying lazily "So you are the unlucky mortal that has been made my jailer this time round. Well my container, make yourself comfortable as we have many things to talk about..."
Chapter 13: The progression of events
Location change, Danzo's hideout, several hours beforehand:
Danzo was overlooking the training of some of his latest recruits, his keen eye catching each error and flaw as the trainees performed them, and he was pleased when the instructor corrected each and every one of them before moving through to the next kata in the taijutsu style that they were learning. In another training area, also visible through the one way mirrored corridor he liked to use when observing the progress of his forces without having any possible effect on the trainees efforts, several smaller groups of trainees were working with more experienced members on their jutsu specialities, depending on their elemental affinities.
He was about to turn and head out of the corridor and back to his room when his earpiece buzzed before one of his personal guards spoke to him quickly. "Danzo-sama, agent 413 has urgent information to report to you, he says it cannot wait until his usual report time tomorrow. He has asked for permission to head over in order to inform you straight away." Danzo strode quickly back to the door that led to the secret passage network that were linked to the hidden door in his study as his good arm went to his ear piece. "Does he give any details about what this information is about, this is highly irregular and I don't appreciate people messing with my schedule."
The guard took a moment to reply, and Danzo imagined it was because he was resisting the urge to logically point out that agent 371 did it all the time and Danzo hadn't cracked down on her because of it. But the guard seemed to control his training and spoke calmly once more. "He says it is to do with the container sir..." Danzo increased his stride, cursing his old injuries that meant that unless he really wished to push himself he was reduced to the same pace as a normal civilian would walk now. "Tell him to get himself to meeting point 5 as soon as he possibly can, I will meet him there rather than down here to save time." "Understood Danzo-sama, Fu and Torune will be at your office shortly then to escort you to the village." Danzo nodded even though his guard couldn't see him and the line went dead once more.
It took him less than five minutes to reach the village with the aid of his far younger guards using shushins to speed their pace, and soon he found himself sat underneath a Sakura tree in one of the smaller parks by the hospital district of Konoha, waiting patiently for the arrival of his agent. It did not take long, two minutes later the man in question, a young medic-nin by the name of Hitomisha, appeared on the edge of the park in a leaf shushin before walking in a relaxed manner into the park. It was a practised routine of his, to take his breaks by coming out to this park and having a walk around to clear his mind and centre himself once more. Hitomisha noticed Danzo and managed an impressive surprised face for someone who initiated Danzo's presence there. "Elder-san, good afternoon, it is good to see that it is not just me that enjoys the presence of this park."
Danzo nodded his head in reply and waited for a moment before a birds all, native to Kiri rather than Konoha sounded, letting him know that they were not being observed. At the sound Hitomisha changed from the cheerful medic to the Ne agent he was well on his way to becoming, standing at attention and bowing to Danzo. "Danzo-sama, the Kyuubi container is in the hospital very badly injured from a full powered attack by Kakashi on his person, there are those that say his ninja career is over." He reached into his jacket and produced a piece of paper which he held out differentially. "This is a list of his injuries that I was able to copy whilst doing my rounds on his floor before coming to report. The other medic nins have done what they can, but it is the spinal injuries that are the true concern here. I have heard however that there is evidence that his tenants chakra is at work in the spinal area, whether this is good or bad I cannot yet say."
Danzo looked at the list of injuries and he actually couldn't quite stop the small indication of surprise passing over his face as he took in the list, that was more injuries than most ninja could credit themselves surviving in one effort, let alone recovering from completely. Standing from the bench he looked at Hitomisha seriously before nodding his head. "You have done well with this information, now it would be best you get back to your duties before you are missed, there will be a step up in village internal security soon and we cannot afford for my loyal agents to get caught up because they got too comfortable." Hitomisha nodded and with a quick set of handsigns he was gone in a shushin, leaving Danzo alone with his guards once more.
Danzo gestured with his good hand and Fu appeared next to him, ANBU armour hidden under normal clothing to reduce the chance of being apprehended by actual ANBU, the Yamanaka's face set into a withdrawn frown, obviously considering the implications of the news they had received. "What do wish for us to do Danzo-sama? Shall we return to the base to plan our next move?" Danzo shook his head and looked out of the park towards the village with a sigh, people needed to be informed of this news as soon as possible, both those who were meant to be guarding him and of course... her. "No, Torune will head back to the base and alert agent 371 to return as soon as is possible, I will relate the news to her personally after we complete my other business."
Fu looked confused even as Torune jumped down, saluted and then disappeared in a bug shushin to carry out his orders. "But if we are not going to inform 371, who you assigned as the targets guard who are we going to see?" Danzo shook his head. "You will see, lets just say that I am not looking forward to this particular conversation in the slightest, emotions are such dangerous things when truly stoked in the correct manner, even when they cloud judgement and lead to terrible errors on the battlefield. Take me to the marketplace, I will lead us from there." Fu nodded, obviously not satisfied with his answer but disciplined enough not to press the matter, and after a couple of moments they were gone leaving the park completely empty once more for a few seconds then a slow wave of people began to enter it from the outside, like there had been something stopping them from getting inside this entire time though not one of them acted like it was so.
Persona: Hiruzen Sarutobi
It was late, and only now was he close to finishing the work that was required of him for the day, and what a day it had been even considering the fact that it was the genin team tests, something that was always a cause for stress and intense thought without any additional complications. Looking down at the list he had made up and was just about to sign as official he went over the events of the day in his head once more with a sigh.
Out of three graduating classes of roughly 30 people from the academy inside Konoha, 10 teams had passed their Jounin tests to become official teams, though most of them would need significant work before they would be considered capable enough to undertake missions above d-rank, especially if they were to represent the village at some point on a mission in the near future. Of the rest of the failed graduates most of them would able to be brought into the mainstream ninja forces that formed the majority of Konoha's defensive forces and conducted protection details and border patrols that would be impossible to keep up if the graduating numbers were simply those that passed their jounin tests.
Of course, without the personal training of a Jounin to increase their skills, many of these ninja would never realise their full potential unless they caught the attention of a sponsor who either would be able to train them or be able to use their connections to get someone to train them, but that was fine in Sarutobi's mind. Unless they got involved in another ninja war, the standard ninja would only have to face low level missing nin, samurai and bandits during their career which wouldn't be too dangerous for them to deal with.
Looking at the passing teams, he noticed that it was the clan teams that were seemingly the most ready for missions and combat, something that Yugao had pointed out a few days beforehand and he had readily expected. Team 7 on the other hand was a much more difficult team to decide whether they were fit for duty at all if he was honest. Whilst Sakura had been calmed down by members of the I+T department and had seemed to accept that what had happened hadn't been Kakashi's fault, it was clear that neither her nor Sasuke completely trusted the one eyed ninja at this point. Sasuke heard the tale of what had happened whilst Kakashi had been reporting to the Hokage from Kakashi's shadow clone and was more understanding of the explanation about reflexes having several issues with trauma himself of course, but the idea of being led by a man who could and already had crippled a team member by accident was not something that would reassure anyone, least of all some newly graduated genin who had no chance of defending themselves effectively if he lost control.
The lynchpin of whether this team would work at all was the one whose reaction was hardest to gauge. He would hold his decision on that team until he could be sure of Naruto's recovery from his injuries, and of course the boys feelings to what had happened during the fight. Frog had reported that the boy had awoken and hadn't seemed to panicked by what had happened before Frog had put him back to sleep with a genjutsu. But that meant nothing until he saw Kakashi and had explained to him what had happened in a way that would hopefully not worry or anger the boy. Whether he would be able to accept the facts and move on, or whether he would be affected by the actions of the population in his childhood as Anko suspected and fear Kakashi for hating him, well he certainly wouldn't be able to predict the outcome.
In addition to this psychological problem, it was interesting that the medical reports were practically glowing with the reports of his regenerative abilities, something that had been regularly logged during his medical examinations since he was a child, but now he had been badly injured the true measure of his healing ability was coming to light in a very obvious manner. There were at least a dozen requests from doctors and medic ninja to be appointed the containers personal physician, no doubt to be able to use him to conduct their personal research into the influence the Kyuubi's chakra was having upon the boy's body and cells as he healed from his grievous wounds.
He had denied them all the role for now and placed him under the care of a diverse team of healers, that would hopefully protect Naruto for now in regards to being used as a research experiment by those treating him. But he would have to appoint someone to the role soon, one who cared for his recovery rather than how it was being done, hard enough as that would be to find amongst the serving doctors at the hospital. Shaking his head to get back on track, he decided to deal with that later when an opportunity presented itself. Instead he turned his attention to the rather insistent mission request that had come through that afternoon, and though he was loathe to give out such a mission in the way that it was requested, perhaps this would help the matters that were troubling him more than he had originally realised. He chuckled to himself as his old mind began to plot once more, pieces fitting into place with surprising ease as he planned his next move with the precision and guile befitting the Shinobi no Kami...
The next Day:
Persona: Umi Kaitoma
Umi woke up slowly with a groan of pain, and took a moment to recognise where she was and remember what had happened. None of it made any sense, she had just been working in the kitchen, making some food for herself when suddenly every fibre of her being exploded into pain, her form destabilising around her. It was only thanks to the extra chakra that naruto had given her form to use that she was able to hold herself together, and then she had blacked out and couldn't remember any further information, certainly not how she suddenly ended up in her bedroom, all tucked up and bedded.
She would normally have suspected the boss to have been the one to do it, but something subconsciously told her that something had happened to him, something bad enough to cause her to collapse as she had done. So that meant that someone else had found her and put her into her bedroom, which was worrying as no one bar Naruto had a spare key for her apartment. There was sounds of movement from outside the bedroom door into the rest of the apartment and Umi stood hurriedly, her body complaining as her pained network stretched itself to maintain its integrity as she moved. Moving to the door slowly, she hoped that whoever was beyond it was not hostile to her, as she had no weapons to defend herself with beyond what might normally be found in a civilian home.
She opened the door slowly, glad that the oiled hinges did not make a sound, something she had done after moving in as it sometimes didn't close properly and swung to and fro, making an annoying screech when she was cleaning or trying to sleep. Stepping forth into her lounge area, she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like her own coming from the kitchen and the smell of cooking filling the air. Feeling emboldened she strode forwards to the kitchen entrance and stepped in, accusation on her lips, when she found a duplicate of herself stood their in her usual clothes and favourite apron cooking up something in one of her frying pans. The words died on her lips even as the other her chuckled and turned to her with a smirk.
"Thats the first time I've seen you lost for words, even if you are only a clone of the original." Umi recovered quickly at the offhand insinuation that the person in front of her knew her secret. "Who are you? What are you doing here and why are you pretending to be me?" She slipped into a defensive stance as the other her shook her head amusedly before putting the pan down and facing towards her, her hands going to handseals. Umi relaxed slightly when she realised that the fake Umi was just putting her hands in the release seal, and in a poof of smoke the true identity of the person pretending her was revealed, after a fashion anyways. She didn't recognise the cloaked girl in front of her, and maintained her stance unconvinced.
The cloaked figures face was not unreadable, but after a couple of seconds the cloak head rippled as if she was nodding in understanding. "He never managed to tell you about me did he? Thats Naruto I mean by the way." Umi snarled at the name of her boss, remembering the feeling that she had upon awakening and the presence in front of her seemed to confirm that. "Where is Naruto-kun? What have you done to him?" The hooded face shot up and Umi could just make out the gline of a pair of green-hazel eyes within its depths looking at her seriously. "I have done nothing to him, he is however badly injured due to an incident during his genin exam that has him in the hospital and should have by rights caused you to dispel. Sakura is coming here in half an hour to take you and the two young children there in case you didn't know where it was, which I pretended you didn't just in case during the conversation."
That surprised Umi slightly and she relaxed a bit from her stance. "Sakura-chan was here? And you pretended to be me so that I didn't lose my cover for the bosses plan? Why would you do that? I mean, you must have only met the boss in the last few days, as I certainly don't remember you." To her surprise the cloaked girl sighed and turned back to the pan to give its contents, 4 sausages and some bacon a turn before speaking once more. "I will give you a basic overview okay? You need to get showered changed and fed before Sakura returns from telling the Ichikaru's the news and telling them the visiting times." Umi nodded, knowing that the girl held all of the bargaining chips so it was hardly worth being suspicious of her trying something at this stage, she would talk to the boss somewhere private soon and find out what else she had missed in her short time as Umi that it might be good for her to know about.
Persona: Hinata Hyuuga
She walked quickly with Sakura and the girl from Naruto's favourite ramen stand, her mind reeling from the shock she had just received. She had been kept very busy for the past week since passing her genin test, her father and the other members of the main branch Hyuuga family instructing her in the taijutsu katas and Byakugan enhancing techniques of the main branch that it was now felt safe to teach her as she was a ninja of the village. And despite her slow development in these new techniques, the increased ability of her byakugan was very useful in the previous days genin test, which had been with her non-hyuuga guardian and something of a sister figure Kurenai Yuuhi.
She and her team had managed to find all the items she had hidden across several training grounds before combatting the Jounin for the allotted five minutes that was expected of them as a starting team. She had been exhausted after the effort involved, and had been barely able to report the good news to her father before going to bed and falling straight asleep. When she had woken she decided that because she had some free time now before she was meant to meet her team for the days missions, she would go and check on Naruto and see if he had successfully passed his genin test as well.
Not that she doubted he would, after all he was the most determined and positive person that she knew and would never stop until they had passed. So imagine her surprise when reaching his favourite ramen stand to find Sakura explaining quietly to the crying Ayame that Naruto was in hospital after being badly injured during the genin test the day before, and that she was trying to gather everyone together to go and see him once he woke up. Hinata had buried her shyness for once in the face of her crush being so badly injured and approached Sakura, obviously surprising the girl when she had asked if she could come and see Naruto as well.
Speaking of which, Hinata decided to comment on their location even as they approached the front of Naruto's apartment building. (assume mild stuttering at this point, I won't put it in unless it is major stuttering as it is a lot of effort.) "Sakura-san, I thought you said that Naruto-kun was in the hospital?" Sakura nodded and then turned to face her with a small smile. "Sorry Hinata, i forgot you have been busy for the last week, Naruto has made some new friends who live with him now and I promised we would pick them up as they are new to the village and won't know the way to the hospital." Transcending the first three sets of steps to Narutos floor, Hinata went to walk down it when Sakura called out, a knowing glint in her eye
"Hinata, they are on the floor above this one, this is the floor Naruto lives on... Though you already seem to know that." Her face went crimson as she realised her blunder and turned on her heel to follow the pink haired girl silently, Ayame also giving her a suspicious look as she realised what Hinata's actions meant. Reaching the next floor up Sakura walked down to the apartment that would be directly above Naruto's and knocked lightly. The female voice that replied sent a pang of jealousy up Hinata's spine even as she drew up behind Sakura. "One moment, there we are, now remember you two, best behaviour."
Two younger voices replied in unison even as the door opened "Yes Umi-neechan we promise." The girl that was stood behind it smiled sadly at Sakura before opening the door completely to let two young girls out, obviously dressed to look their best and with clear tear marks upon their faces. "Sakura-san, Ayame-san, and sorry I am afraid i don't know you Kunochi-san." The girl bowed slightly and introduced herself. "I am Umi Kaitoma, refugee from Tea country, what is your name?" Hinata bowed elegantly back, despite her anger that another girl was now living with her Naruto-kun she could not disrespect her, that was not the Hyuuga way. "Hinata of the Hyuuga clan, I am sorry we have to meet in these circumstances Umi-san, but when I heard about Naruto-kun's injuries I felt I should come and make sure he was okay."
To her surprise, rather than act confused or jealous at her showing concern for Naruto, Umi's smile widened slightly. "Naruto-kun has such good friends, I am sure that he will be pleased to see us all at the hospital. Shall we go then, best to get there as soon as possible." Despite the lingering annoyance she felt due to the girls living arrangements, Hinata knew that with that reaction she would get along with the girl regardless of possible conflict over Naruto, she just had that way of making those around her like her, quite similar to Naruto in her own way if she was honest with herself. Yes, they should be able to get along just fine.
A/N: This is a filler chapter, but i felt I needed to paint a little more life around the story that I have created thus far, as well as hang a few more interesting titbits for future plot awesomeness. The next post might take a little while, i need to think about where I am taking this story a bit more before I step out and post the next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think, and I hope you have enjoyed the chapter :)