A/N:GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK, BACK.
BACK AGAIN, GAIN, GAIN.
AUTHOR'S BACK, SO please read this chapter. Hey guys, I missed you all so much. Just recently got... 'released' (I have to go back for weekly check-ups, and remember my meds). Saw all your love and support. It literally brought me to tears. Love you all.
I will admit up front that I'm not quite ready to be back, but my doctors tell me it's good to get back in contact with you all, and since I don't have the time, patience, or inclination to type out a thousand plus personalized Pms, I figured posting a chapter would be a good way of letting everyone know I was back.
Chapter 56: The Battle of Uzushiogakure
"Gaki, you can't hide behind your desk forever. You're going to have to do some training to adjust."
"Shut the fuck up, Zabuza," Snarled Naruto. He shot a heated glare at the jounin leaning against the wall by the entrance to his office. A month had passed since the First Battle of Uzushiogakure, and construction had moved rather quickly, all things considered. Amazing what Earth-style jutsu could accomplish in regards to building.
"Naruto-sama, as much as I understand your pain, Zabuza is correct. You are the Uzukage. You must maintain a level of preparedness, no matter what happens." Naruto ground his teeth and clenched his fist, pressing it into his desk.
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Nagato. Now get out." all three other occupants could hear the barely restrained rage in his voice.
"We're not going anywhere, Naruto-kun." Itachi stated firmly, crossing his arms. Naruto opened his mouth to scream at them, only for Itachi to cut him off.
"This isn't what Asuma-senpai would want."
Naruto's eyes turned from their usual purple to crimson red, his pupils becoming slits as the rings bent. All three members of the Akatsuki guard stood their ground, despite the pure rage radiating off the blond in waves.
"How. Dare. You." The blond rose, pressing his fist further into the desk before him, causing cracks to appear in the wood.
"You know it's true. Look me in the eye and say otherwise." Itachi strode forward and leaned on the desk, both his fists resting on the wood. "He raised you better than this, and you dishonor his memory by holding onto your rage. It happened. That is a truth you cannot avoid."
Naruto held his ground a few seconds more, his eyes slowly starting to water, before he roughly wiped them and sat back down, spinning his chair away from the three men in front of him.
"Get out," he said quietly. The three felt they had pushed their luck enough, and moved to obey. "Itachi, send in the reporter."
"Chronicler."
"Whatever. Just send them in."
The door clicked shut, indicating he was alone, at least for a moment, and he stared out the window before him, tears silently slipping down his cheeks.
The door opened with a slow creak, and he quickly dried his face and eyes, spinning around to face his new guest. Then his mouth fell open slightly.
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
The pink haired girl pulled out a pen and paper, as well as a voice recorder.
"I got put in charge of getting all the accounts of the battle by Sasori-taichou. Yours is the last one I need before we put everything in the archives."
"So, you joined the History Department? But I thought you wanted to be a medic?"
"I'm doing an internship in History. Sasori-taichou is understaffed at the moment, so I thought I'd help out until he gets more people."
"Whatever. Sit."
The girl stepped forward and sat in the chair across the desk from the blond Kage, then placed the voice recorder on the wooden surface and turned it on.
"Account 36 of the Battle of Uzushio, recorded by Genin Haruno Sakura. Interviewing Godaime Uzukage Uzumaki Naruto. Thank you for seeing me, Uzukage-sama."
"I had to eventually."
"Please start from the time all civilians and unauthorized personnel were sent to the island."
Naruto sighed heavily, and closed his eyes, rubbing his eyelids tiredly. He slumped back into his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Once everyone was gone, we started setting traps and formulating ambush strategies, setting up squads, assigning captains. All standard stuff for the situation as we knew it."
"What happened once the attacking force arrived?"
One month ago- With Naruto
Naruto was silent, hiding under a bush, Itachi to his left leaning against a tree, and Kakashi to his right, hidden underground.
Naruto could sense the horde- much bigger than the reports stated- of shinobi approaching. None of them appeared to have reserves less than a jounin. Naruto tensed and silently pulled a kunai from his leg pouch. As the first enemy jumped into the clearing, Naruto launched the projectile, and then sprinted after it, pulling the man's attention.
"Shinra Tensei!" The kunai was propelled even faster, hurling straight... to the right of the shinobi before him. The man laughed at the miss, and chucked his own kunai at the blond. Only to hear a loud clang as it collided with another kunai...with no blond in sight. The man's eye's widened as he started to turn, only for a silver blade to explode from his chest, coating itself in red as his body stiffened.
Naruto barely paused long enough to pull his katana from the corpse, seeing as he'd quickly been surrounded by more enemies.
"They only sent one twerp?! You said we'd have trouble!" a voice called out from the back of the crowd around him.
"THIS AIN'T NO FUCKIN TWERP YOU FUCKSTICKS!" Naruto recognized that voice. He perked up a bit.
"Hey Hidan! How's your ear buddy?"
"LET GO OF ME YOU BLOND-HAIRED FUCK! I'M GONNA KILL THIS LITTLE BASTARD IF IT'S THE LAST JASHIN-DAMNED THING I FUCKIN DO!"
"An apt turn of phrase, you psychotically manic sociopath!" another angry roar from the immortal with anger-issues and a pain complex. "And I want to thank all of you idiotic sheep for lining yourselves up in Uzumaki Naruto's Killing Floor Extraveganza!" a quick murmur of discontent spread quickly through the horde.
"BANSHO TEN'IN" as the entire group inside a ten foot radius was pulled toward him, Naruto felt the pull of a Kawarimi, and was suddenly looking on from the trees as Kakuzu was shredding the cluster of Shinobi with his... let's go with tendrils. Yeah, tendrils sounds less rape-y. And with that, Naruto stepped from the tree-line, holding his Katana high and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"FOR UZUSHIO!"
A cacophonous roar sprang up as his hidden soldiers shot from their various hiding spots, weapons drawn, and jutsu ready. The next few minutes passed by in a blur of blood and sparks as the enemy force quickly recovered and started fighting back. Soon enough, Naruto found himself in a four-man grouping with Asuma, Itachi, and Kakashi. His Katana waved hypnotically in front of him as he fended off two shinobi with tantos.
"Lovely day, eh?"
"How can you banter at a time like this?" Kakashi asked, strain in his voice and he kicked back another shinobi that had charged him.
"Oh, easily. Long as I keep enough attention to defend myself, I could list off every recipe Oba-chan has made for dinner for the past three months." Asuma barked a laugh.
"I'll bet you can, kiddo. But defending isn't how you win fights."
"Fair point, Tou-chan. Welp, back into it, I suppose." With that, the blond shot off, leaving the other three to their own devices as he cut a swathe through the people before him, admittedly taking advantage of the fact most of their backs were to him, as they were fighting other people. He didn't make it far before he hit a roadblock, so to speak.
"THERE YOU ARE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Hidan came in swinging his scythe like a goddamn madman, launching the massive weapon with abandon as though it weighed no more than a medium-sized stick.
"Hey, long time no see, you immortal dick-sniffer."
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"
"Oh, do you prefer another way of putting it? Cock-gobbler, maybe? How about cum-catcher?"
"I do not need to know where you learned those words, kid."
"Oh, wasssup Kakuzu? Having fun?"
"We are in the middle of a small-scale war, you are dodging a weapon clearly meant to compensate for something, and you're asking me if I'm having fun?"
"Yes? I mean, you MUST have gotten at least a FEW hearts so far. Plus, I guarantee at least half of these assholes have bounties you can collect. This must be like goddamn Christmas to you."
"STOP IGNORING ME YOU REJECTED DAFFODIL!"
"Wow, he really needs to work on his insults."
"Agreed."
"THAT IS FUCKING IT! NO MORE FUCKING PLAYING AROUND! YOU HAVE CALLED DOWN THE WRATH OF FUCKING GOD YOU HERETICS!"
"Oh look, he thinks he scares us, Kakuzu. Isn't that adorable?"
"I don't think now is really the time to antagonize him."
"What makes you say that?" as Naruto uttered these words, Hidan swung his scythe in a massive circle, cutting everyone inside a twenty foot radius, including Naruto and Hidan, as everyone moved to jump away. When the triple-bladed weapon snapped back to his side, there was enough blood on it to write out a sealing matrix. "Ah shit."
"Well, no-one's dead, at least!" called out a random voice.
"SOON YOU WILL ALL BE IN SERVICE TO THE GREAT JASHIN-SAMA!"
"DON'T LET HIM USE HIS FEET! GET A FUCKING NARA OVER HERE, NOW!" Naruto roared at the top of his lungs, feeling his vocal cards start bleeding slightly from the strain.
But he was too late, with a shout of glee, Hidan finished the blood circle on the ground with his right foot, which itself had a large hole in it that was practically gushing blood. He brought his blades to his mouth just as several Nara Jutsu shot out from four different directions to restrain the silver-haired psychopath. He froze as his skin turned black and white skull-like symbols appeared. He growled in annoyance, but still smirked at the blond teen.
"How long can they hold me, I wonder? One minute? Two? Eventually they'll run out of Chakra, or they'll have to defend themselves. All I have to do is wait."
"LIKE HELL!" one Shinobi yelled as he charged forward, going for a palm strike. A Hyuuga then.
"DON'T TOUCH HIM!" Naruto shouted. But too late. He was too late. Hidan started cackling as the Hyuuga struck him in the gut, rupturing his spleen. And then immediately doubled over in agony with a shout, along with a large group of other people around, friend and foe alike, grabbing his own gut where he'd just struck the man before him. Naruto fell to his knees in pain, gritting his teeth as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
Kurama, any ideas?
Kit, you need to seal his chakra, destroy that seal, or teleport him the fuck out of range. All three at once would be preferable, but eh...
With a grim expression, Naruto rose, grunting in pain. "Step away from the insane person, Hyuuga-san. Keep the Naras safe." The man who'd attacked managed to rise, albiet slowly and shakily, then shuffled off.
Hidan just grinned at him. "Where should I stab first? The leg? The arm? Oh, no, I know. The LIVER!" he cackled maniacally. "That one REALLY hurts." Naruto pulled out a seal-tag and started toward him.
Just as he moved to place the Chakra-suppression seal on the man, the shadows holding him still all vanished. Naruto froze in shock. Hidan's lips spread into a sinister smile as a black spike shot out of his robes and into his hands.
"Liver it is. Now, let us all revel in the glorious pain granted to us by the great Jashin-sama! MAY GOD CLEANSE YOUR HERETICAL SOULS!" with that, he quickly lifted his hand and slammed the spike into his stomach, right through his liver, and out the other side, moaning in ecstasy and rapture.
As more than thirty people all dropped, screaming in agony as holes appeared in their guts and blood started staining the ground even more than it had been previously. Naruto was one of them. He watched through blood-hazed eyes as Hidan slowly pulled the spike from his own body, feeling every agonizing inch as though it were happening to him. The worst part was by far Hidan's face. A sick mixture of rapture, religious zealotry, and sexual enjoyment. The man was a masochist of the highest order. And he couldn't die.
"Oh, glorious Jashin, I give these souls in sacrifice, may their heresy be cleansed by your eternal power, through our shared suffering."
Hidan then took the black rod and slowly, agonizingly, pushed it into his thigh, forcing it slowly through sinew and skin, quite obviously reveling in the tortured symphony only he could hear as his victims writhed and screamed. Unbeknownst to him, or anyone else really, the rest of the battle had screeched to a grinding halt as the remaining combatants watched in horror as so many people suddenly dropped and began screeching, though no wounds were being visibly dealt to them.
Hidan payed them no mind, listening only to his beautiful song as he removed the spike and drove it just as slowly into his right bicep. More mesmerizing screams, and more rapturous pain. This time, he left the spike there, snapping another into his grip from his sleeve, and pushed it through his foot, pinning himself in place, and causing more beautiful agony. Then reached up the first spike, and instead of slowly pulling it out, he ripped it out sideways, effectively cutting his arm off in the most brutally agonizing way possible. At this point, the screams had reached a peak, the agony so beautifully divine. Soon their souls would be cleansed, and they would be ready to go to Jashin.
"NARUTO!" Hidan snapped from his rapture in rage. The only sound was supposed to be his symphony of pain. His orchestra of Agony. He saw a brown-haired man running toward the blond brat, concern on his face, chakra blades on his knuckles.
"How cute," Hidan drawled, gripping his spike with white knuckles. "The brat found someone to care." and with a great heave of his still-attached left arm, he hurled the spike at the man, who was so focused on the blond he didn't have time to notice the black spear heading right for him. But Naruto noticed. He watched in slow motion as the void in space closed in on Asuma. Watched as the tip pierced his vest. Watched as it buried itself deeply through the center of his chest, making him stumble with the impact. Naruto watched as Asuma's face flickered between surprise, pain, fear, and finally, the understanding of what happened appeared as he fell to his knees, looking at his son, his hand weakly grabbing at the inch of metal still sticking out the front of his chest.
"Wasn't.." he coughed up blood. So much blood. "Watching my surroundings. Rookie mistake." and then he fell forward, the spike pushing the rest of the way through his body, still as a stone.
"TOU-CHAN!" Naruto screamed, ignoring the agony. Ignoring the absolute refusal of his body to move, forcing his left arm forward, digging his finger into the dirt, and hauling himself toward the man. The man who'd raised him. The man who'd given him a home. A family. Towards the man who had given him everything.
"OH I GOT YOUR FATHER?! EVEN BETTER!" hidan began laughing maniacally once more, but this time it cut deeper. It had the air of absolute victory to it.
KIT CALM DOWN. YOU CANNOT GO TAIL STATE RIGHT NOW!
But Kurama's worlds fell on deaf ears as Naruto dragged himself next to the corpse of the man who had loved him through everything. The man who had abandoned his fathers' village to support him.
"Tou-chan," Naruto whispered hoarsely, looking at the lifeless face of his dad. "tou-chan, please let this be a horrible genjutsu.."
"THIS IS NO GENJUTSU FUCKER!" Hidan laughed. "JASHIN-SAMA HAS CLAIME DHIS FILTHY SOUL!"
Sorrow fled the young blond. Agony vanished as he forced himself to his feet. Rage began to flood his veins as he turned to the man before him. He felt the crimson chakra surround him. He felt his eyes turn to red, fox-like slits. He felt the skin melt from his body and blood begin to combine with the chakra to form a shroud. He felt all of it. But he didn't care. For once, he willingly accepted the transformation he had worked so hard to suppress. This was not him taking power from Kurama willingly. This was not an even exchange where he maintained his control. No, this was his tailed-beast rage mode. And it was about to get heavy. A sigh exploded through his mind.
Naruto... I'm going to have to lock you away. You're going to go up to seven, maybe eight tails. You'll basically become me.
Just kill him. That's all I care about.
With that,All Naruto was aware of was the inside of his mind. He was unaware of how long he sat there, inside the temple of his mind, weeping uncontrollably. He was unaware when Kurama, in his little fox body, walked up and lay against his side.
Present day- Uzukage Office
"The next thing I know, I'm waking up the medical tent, hooked up to Ivs, with Oba-chan next to me, holding my hand and sobbing."
Sakura was pale, and looked to be close to retching. She leaned forward and hit the button to stop recording.
"So you're the demon fox."
"No, Sakura," Naruto said tiredly, looking much older than his fourteen years. "I am not the Kyuubi." he leaned back in his chair and seemed to sag. "If that is all, please go."
Without another word, she rose, gathered her things, and left, shutting the door behind her quietly, as though to avoid agitating him.
Once he was sure she was gone, Naruto let tears fall from his eyes. Before long he was sobbing, and finally he broke down, leaning onto his desk.
God had finally played his best hand.
He'd broken the Shinobi.
He'd finally killed Naruto.