Assault of the Killer Bee
Tsunade arranged for Team Apprentice to remain in Cloud until the Finals in three weeks. A small unused Fire Country embassy existed and the team took over that. The remained of the teams headed back for Konoha along with the ashes of the genin killed by Sound during the trip out to Cloud. They were given a small training area to keep in shape and the Cloud's version of ANBU kept gawkers away.
Jiraiya rubbed his face as another long night of work faced him. He was tired from so much business as the Hokage. With Tsunade out of Konoha, Sensei's old teammates and Danzo were bothering him a lot more often. He was trying to find a way to seal off Uchiha Sasuke's chakra without killing the boy outright. It all came back to that cursed seal Orochimaru had placed on the boy. It required a sealmaster of Minato's caliber to do quickly and he was just not that good. He could not mesh seals as well as his student could but he kept at it with slow progress. A few more weeks and he might have a workable method.
He knew he needed to make a breakthrough because the Uchiha brat was lying to his doctors again. The stupid civilians were falling under the boy's spell and his sob story. Since Jiraiya held the key to the boy's release that was the only thing keeping the Uchiha confined.
Danzo was pressing hard to have the boy trained in the old Root fashion. Jiraiya would love to be rid of that old man as well but he had too many connections. As the Hokage, if had some kind of tangible proof of the continued existence of Root he would be able to pounce. But he had nothing he could prove to the satisfaction of the Daimyo. Until then he needed to wait.
He had hoped that he could use Kakashi as a replacement for his spy network control but the jonin was too well known. Messages were still getting through to Konoha but they grew fewer by the month. Without the human contact to keep spies loyal, they stopped taking the risks. The half full bottle of scotch beckoned but he would not simply give up. Shaking his head he looked back to his notes and drawings.
Hinata had been looking for Naruto all evening. The blonde not quite boyfriend of hers had vanished after dinner again. He had done that all week now. Finally fed up with feeling lonely, she had gone looking. The embassy was not a large place but the many small rooms it had for sleeping made it seem larger at night. Her Byakugan guided her through the maze of rooms to the one Naruto was currently hiding in. His posture seemed to be hunched over a large book reading but she could not tell what he was reading. The very walls of the building made her Byakugan ineffective after a quarter of its normal range.
Coming up to the room, she knocked gently. She heard Naruto scramble to hide whatever he was reading. He came to the door after hiding his book. Hinata smiled softly at the boy she loved. "Hi Naruto. You disappeared after dinner again and I wondered if there was anything you needed help with?" she said in her quiet voice.
Naruto blushed. "No, Hinata. There's nothing you can help with right now. Maybe in a few more days," he finished trying to sound upbeat.
Hinata gathered her courage, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no, no, you didn't do anything wrong Hinata. I am just dealing with something private right now but when I finish I will show it to you. I promise," Naruto said.
Hinata just nodded. She knew how Naruto would do anything to keep a promise. "Okay," she said in her quiet voice. "I'll be downstairs until bedtime if you need anything."
"Thanks Hinata, you're the best," Naruto said with a smile as she left.
He closed the door and his shadow hunched over once more.
At daily sparring practice, Sakura noticed Hinata being a bit more irritable of late. That could only mean one thing; trouble with Naruto. The blonde teen was on the other side of the field methodically destroying henged clones. By common consent neither girl mentioned him. They just trained with him when they needed to and he would disappear into his room or the Cloud public library when not doing any training. All they did notice was he was washing his hands a lot. Tsunade told them not to worry about it.
Sakura was fed up with avoiding things. "He is not going to find someone else, Hinata," she said after one harsh exchange of blows. Hinata stumbled after hearing Sakura's statement. "Believe it or not, you are special to the lunkhead."
"Naruto-kun is not a lunkhead," Hinata replied. "He is doing something and he promised he would show it to me when he was done. I just … miss him," she finished lamely.
Sakura nodded. Hinata was not a rabid fan girl like Sakura had been a couple of years ago. Hinata looked underneath the outside to the person that most hid from view. After a year of working with Naruto she could see it as well. The boy was something special and if Hinata ever gave him up, she might try moving in on him. Some part of her felt depressed with no male paying any attention to her. Her last 'date' had been that disaster at the resort and that had nearly gotten her killed. She was a lot more wary of boys since then.
There were two more weeks until the Finals here in Cloud. They got back to work.
Naruto woke up and stretched his back. The satisfying pops of vertebrae sounded in the silence of his room. Slowly he closed the book in front of him and looked at it. Now he could talk to his friends.
He picked up the Uzumaki clan ledger and headed for the common area.
Tsunade was pointing out strategies to the girls when Naruto walked in. All three women looked up at him after he set down the book.
"I know I haven't been good company lately but there was something I needed to take care of. The night we got here, the Raikage offered me a chance to get what might have been some family scrolls from my mother's side of the family. Tsunade-sensei confirmed some of the information the Raikage mentioned and I had to choose if I would share the jutsu on them in exchange for ownership of them."
Hinata gasped. To her clan, sharing secret family jutsu scrolls was only done as a last resort. Doing that would be the same as committing a dishonorable act to the eyes of the clan.
"I chose instead to have them destroyed so no one could have it. I couldn't let the secrets of people who may or may not have been my ancestors go to someone else. I destroyed them myself."
Hinata nodded as Tsunade looked on with sad eyes.
"The Raikage also had sent to me this book," he continued. He held up the ledger so Sakura and Hinata could see it. Both girls recognized the symbol in the leather cover as the one on Naruto's arm.
"I've been spending all my free time going over the book. There was a lot of information about past Uzumaki clan members and even my mom was listed in here. The Uzumaki came from a country called Whirlpool. The Water Country destroyed it a long time ago. After reading through it I realized something was missing in the book and I spent the past week taking care of things. I researched like Tsunade-sensei taught us and I managed to find a lot of information about the destruction of Whirlpool and after talking to the Raikage's office I managed to get some declassified documents about the incident where they got this book."
Naruto opened the book to near the end and showed where fresh writing within it appeared.
"I updated everything I could. I added the dates of death for anyone who had been named in any reports and I managed to find most of them. There's only a handful I couldn't find anything on so I figure they got taken by the Water Country or just were killed and are lying in an unknown grave somewhere. Eight generations of Uzumaki in this book and all that is left is me. I might have some relatives out there from my father's side, distant cousins and such but at least now I know about my mom's side. Sorry I have been avoiding you both but I needed to update the book, for them as well as me."
Hinata rose first and hugged Naruto tightly. She knew more about clan things than anyone else in the room and understood why he needed to do that. Family was a precious thing and leaving its business unfinished would tear at a person until it was taken care of. Sakura waited for Hinata to release Naruto so she could hug him as well. Tsunade just patted him on the back.
Naruto finally smiled and the girls sat back down. He turned to Tsunade and bowed politely, "Tsunade-sensei, could you tell me more about my mother, please?"
Tsunade smiled and thought back before telling the genin sitting around her stories of a red headed spitfire named Uzumaki Kushina.
Jiraiya leaned back as he looked over the seal matrix he had finally come up with. If it worked like it was designed to it would seal up not only the cursed seal of Orochimaru but also the chakra of the person it was applied to. Now he just needed to test it.
The Hokage headed for the ANBU detention center. Several levels underneath the surface he came to a row of cells. Only a relative few ever went into these cells came out again. Right now there were two occupants in the chakra disrupting cages. Jiraiya had designed a number of the most current seals in the hallway and waited while the ANBU brought out one of the prisoners.
The red headed Jirobo walked as slowly as he could. The collar around his neck had a shaped charge on it designed to blow up if he molded any chakra. It was the last failsafe against escape. Already three members of the 'Sound Four' had attempted to escape and died. Sakon had died badly when his brother tried to separate their conjoined bodies. The explosive charge destroyed his head and Ukon died shortly after since he could not survive on his own. Kidomaru simply gave up, channeled his chakra and died. Tayuya would not give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her give up and still cursed out anyone who came close enough to hear her voice.
"Good morning, Jirobo," Jiraiya said calmly. "The time had come to seal up your chakra. I would advise you not to resist because if I make a mistake, it would kill you. Unless you would rather die; which can easily be arranged at any moment?"
Jirobo looked at Jiraiya and slowly shook his head. He did not want to die now. Alive he could be rescued or traded but death was final.
Jiraiya had Jirobo sit in the middle of a prepared sealing array and he painted the needed characters onto the large teen himself. Once everything was ready a trio of people sat in a triangle around the array. Jiraiya counted off to synchronize and they began.
The signs needed to activate the seals went quickly but the process of the actual sealing took over an hour. Jiraiya had to first place a restriction seal over Orochimaru's cursed seal. Once that was blocked off the more difficult part began. The main seal had to constrict through Jirobo's body and chakra coils until it settled down to block any use of chakra. The boy would now not be able to access his chakra.
Once the procedure was completed, the explosive collar was removed from Jirobo and he was escorted back to a cell for a week of observation and testing. If the seal was proven to work properly, Tayuya would be sealed next with Sasuke being done last.
Hinata waited until Naruto had gone to bed that night to go talk to Tsunade.
"Sensei, I am having a problem with something," she said in her normal soft voice.
"What problem, Hinata?" Tsunade asked.
"After seeing some personal documents of my father's and piecing together information I collected, I discovered who Naruto-kun's father is."
Tsunade frowned. "I see. And you are wondering if you should be telling him about this fact, aren't you?"
"Father said it is a village secret so I have kept it to myself. I hoped talking to you about this might help since it is obvious that you already know this secret."
"His heritage was kept secret for a reason Hinata. I appreciate that you are keeping it but I wish you did not know it. How did you find out anyhow?" Tsunade asked.
"Remember our first trip to the Daimyo before the Konoha Chunin Exam. When the team was introduced to him, he got puzzled at hearing Naruto-kun's name. He spoke to Jiraiya in low tones but I clearly heard the name 'Namikaze'. I was puzzled hearing it because I had no contextual reference. After the Invasion and I was acting head of the Hyuuga, I had to recover my father's personal papers so the crews could renovate and repair his office. In the documents was a team photo of his genin squad under Jiraiya-sama. There was a blonde boy in the picture who looked exactly like Naruto-kun but without his 'whiskers'. Father had told me of the fact he had been on the same genin squad as the Fourth. From there is was simple enough to deduce and I blurted it out in front of my father. He swore me to secrecy and advised me not to tell anyone, especially Naruto-kun."
Tsunade nodded. "Like the Kyuubi, Naruto's secrets are not exactly the best kept ones in the village. In another three years or so, it will be impossible to keep the one about his father quiet since he looks almost identical to the teenage version of the Yondaime already. Minato was a hero to many people and once Naruto looks mature, people will see that famous face once more and realize exactly like you did who he is. Please keep it secret a little while longer, Hinata. He will be told when the time is right. Jiraiya mentioned something to me that might just help."
Hinata agreed to wait a little longer with her secret.
Sakura grumbled under her breath. This waiting for the Finals was driving her nuts. She was so caught up with other things last time that she had not cared about the time between the early stages and the Finals. She was really tempted to just cut loose and destroy a few training posts but Sensei said not to. Tsunade also bluntly reminded Sakura about her own personal experience with lightning jutsu. That brought the pink haired girl up short. She had not considered that. This ended up leading to a two day teaching and discussion with the team and Tsunade on recognizing and countering lightning jutsu. At their current level of training, their best option was only to not get hit by one.
The counters Tsunade knew were too advanced for them as yet. Without knowing the jutsu in between the things they could do and the best counter for a lightning jutsu, their chances of getting it in the last week before the Finals was as likely as Naruto giving up ramen for life.
Instead, she showed them a simple trick with ninja wire and a kunai that the Uchiha clan had developed decades before. Originally, it had been to get a person using lightning jutsu to use a more powerful jutsu to copy but it should work well against a genin. If the genin is preparing a lighting jutsu from a distance, they would throw the kunai with the attached wire away from them to try to draw it off. The idea was to try to have the weapon act as a lightning rod and shift the target of the jutsu to the blade. Stronger jutsu would not be countered by this but low level ones with poor control had a better than average chance of being misdirected that way.
Now, Sakura was practicing with her kunai throwing just like an Academy student. There was only a split second moment of opportunity to throw the kunai and that took practice to achieve. She worked hard at it however because she did not want to get hit with anything like that again.
Naruto wondered if he would ever finish the punishment Tsunade laid out for him. It was not like he had done anything 'wrong'. Tsunade had told them stories about his mom, Kushina, and how she had nearly taken the redhead on as an apprentice because she cared so much about the orphaned girl. When the older blonde muttered with a wistful smile that she almost considered her a daughter at one point, Naruto had to go ruin things.
"Really, you thought of her like a daughter? Well, since I'm her son that would make you my Baa-"
Tsunade had Naruto by the front of his jacket, "Finish that word Naruto and you WILL be scrubbing and polishing ever floor in this embassy all by yourself; with no shadow clones to help."
"-chan," whimpered out Naruto.
"Hinata, get a bucket and scrub brush for your boyfriend," Tsunade said with an evil gleam in her eye.
Hinata was so intimidated by the look on Tsunade that she did not even try to correct her teacher about Naruto not being her boyfriend. Later in the evening, Hinata realized that she never had corrected it and had a nice warm and fuzzy feeling thinking of Naruto like that.
The night before the Finals was the time for a party. The Raikage invited all twelve genin and their instructors to a feast in his mansion. The man knew that being seen as a kind man when he did not have to harsh was a benefit to the loyalty of the Cloud ninja. Yes, they had all seen the power he held more than once but he realized by watching the Sandaime Hokage that being strong did not mean one had to be a despot. Having people follow you because they wanted to had greater rewards than them following because they are afraid of you.
Tonight, the Raikage was not sure how well people would react. His baby brother had come into the village and was looking to join the party.
'Why couldn't he just have stayed out at the mountain?' he thought as the guards told him of his brother's arrival in town.
Before the Raikage could even warn the people in the room, the doors to the hall flew open and a shout rang out, "HEY PEEPS, KILLA-BEE IN THE HOUSE!"
Every head turned to see the huge man in the doorway. His dark skin gleamed in the light and he kept his sunglasses on even though it was night. He was wearing many swords and had a tattoo that looked like bull horns on his left cheek. The man strolled up to the Raikage.
"Hey there big bro, is it time for my show?" he said in time to a beat only he could hear.
"Bee, why are you here tonight?" the Raikage asked with forced patience.
"I need to share my rhymes, I got to make good times," Killerbee said.
"Bee, stop rhyming at me," the Raikage said rubbing his head and feeling a headache coming on.
Killerbee faked a gape at his older brother, "You made a rhyme big bro!"
The Raikage just shook his head and turned back to the party while Killerbee moved toward the buffet table.
Team Apprentice and Tsunade just stood off to one side during all of this. The Cloud ninja paid it little heed as they had all seen Killerbee at some point. All the girls just looked on at Killerbee devouring the food at the buffet table. Naruto was glad he had only eaten lightly because he would have lost his lunch otherwise.
They were about to move further away when Killerbee suddenly stopped and turned to look directly at Naruto. The man put down the sandwich he had been making and walked over to the Konoha ninja.
"You, you're the one, the one Yugi told me about. You don't need to just stand and pout. You got a power, a power that rocks, you got the power of the nine tailed fox."
Naruto was taken by surprise by this huge Cloud ninja practically shouting out his burden to the room. He turned and headed for the exit
"Where you running now lil bro? If you're scared, fine, just go. You should embrace your gift, hold your power, it will take you to the Kage's Tower," Bee taunted.
Naruto stopped as if he had run into a wall. He turned and glared at Bee, "You know nothing. It's not a power. It is a curse just waiting to get out. Its death and destruction and the only thing stopping it is me."
The crowd had closed in slightly to listen in on this verbal battle. The ninja over chunin rank could feel the anger flowing off Naruto in waves now. Only Bee, Tsunade and the Raikage could feel the rise of the Kyuubi's chakra within Naruto as his anger spiked. Tsunade touched Hinata on the shoulder and lightly nudged her toward Naruto. The girl took the hint and came up next to Naruto.
"Relax, Naruto-kun. He is seeing how much self control you have by poking at your weakest point," she whispered. "He is trying to get a fight out of you. His chakra is huge and it feels a lot like yours when you're upset. I think he is like you."
'Like me huh?' Naruto thought. Thanks to Hinata his control was firmly back in place. 'Not today, Kitsune.'
"I do gotta say, you got balls, boy. Who's the chippie? Your little sex toy?" Bee rapped out next.
Naruto narrowed his eyes once more as his anger grew. This big jonin was insulting Hinata.
"Apologize to Lady Hinata for that insult," Naruto said in a voice accompanied by enough killer intent to scare nearly everyone present.
Bee just raised an eyebrow. He actually felt that KI from Naruto. It had been a long time since that had happened. He just grinned.
"Defending her honor does take class. But you do realize I can kick your ass?" Bee replied smoothly.
"You might be a jonin and have something special like me, but I will not quit and will come after you until you apologize to Hinata," Naruto said even more coldly.
Hinata was wide eyed with fear as people were backing up from the chakra that began flowing off both Naruto and Killerbee. Sakura grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Naruto as they saw tendrils of red chakra seeping out of Naruto's pores. Tsunade was shocked. Naruto had never shown this kind of rage before. But in spite of his anger he was in full control of himself.
Bee had to admit this little blonde kid impressed him. He was hoping for a fight worth his time.
"Bee," an imperious voice sounded behind him. The rapper looked behind him to see his big brother glaring at him and cringed. In spite of his being the jinchuuriki of the Hachibi, he was scared of his big brother.
The Raikage spoke in a low voice, "Bee, you are going to apologize to the young Lady Hyuuga, take your sandwich and get home. These Leaf ninja are guests of our village and will be treated as such. Picking a fight with a genin as well. That is beneath you."
"But -," Bee tried to argue.
"Now," was all the Raikage said.
Killerbee turned to Hinata and in a defeated voice said, "I apologize for my insult, Lady Hyuuga."
Hinata just nodded and in a shaky but clear voice replied, "It is forgiven."
Bee looked at Naruto, "When you make jonin come look me up. We can go a few rounds."
The crowd looked on stunned as Killerbee had not even attempted to make a rhyme. That meant he was being completely serious. Naruto just nodded.
Killerbee strolled back to the buffet table and retrieved his sandwich. He strutted slightly as he departed the room.
Naruto had already closed his eyes and was focusing on not losing control. He slowly forced the red chakra of the Kyuubi back down and the tendrils dissipated. Once he had done that he opened his eyes and looked to the Raikage.
"My apologies for the disruption, Raikage-sama. I hope I have not destroyed my chances of participating in the Finals tomorrow," Naruto said in a contrite manner.
The Raikage was torn. He wanted to see what else this Naruto could do in a serious fight. He rubbed his chin in thought. "With that power at your disposal you could easily kill everyone in the arena. I have to think of the safety of the people in Cloud."
Naruto pulled out all the manners the Old Man Sandaime had taught him and made an offer.
"If I show any hint of using it against anyone participating in the Exams, I offer my life as forfeit."
That got the crowd murmuring. Hinata gasped and Sakura cried out, "No Naruto!"
The Raikage nodded, "You may participate. I will accept your offer."
The following morning the arena in Cloud was buzzing with the news of the dinner the night before and Naruto's offer. The twelve genin gathered on the floor of the arena and waited for the pairing for the tournament. There would be a total of 11 fights over the course of the day; 4 round 1 fights to reduce the entrants to 8 genin. Then each person with a bye would fight someone who won each first round bout to make the semifinals. With nine of the genin from Cloud, there would be many fights between friends and even teammates. Naruto hoped he would not have to fight Hinata or Sakura.
A judge came to each genin and had them choose a lot. Sakura got number 3. She would fight the winner of number 1 and number 2.
Hinata got number 11. She smiled that she would not have to fight Sakura until the final if both made it that far.
Naruto pulled out his number and his face fell. He had number 10.
His first opponent would be Hinata.
Next Chapter: To Fight or Not to Fight, That is the Question.
End Notes:
This chapter was difficult to write. It didn't flow like I wanted and kept getting large portions deleted. I hope the quality has not fallen off but I finally got it to be an acceptable level for me.
More trouble for Naruto. Who will fight and who will give up? Ah, I can see the hate mail coming in already.
Review Notes:
My thought regarding the lack of daimyos is due to the official map of the Elemental Countries. Land of Lightning is far to the northeast. A majority of the smaller countries are to the south and west of the Land of Fire. The best way I can think to describe the official map to overlay it onto the USA. Cloud would be Boston, Konoha would be roughly St Louis, Mist would be about Miami, Suna would be Las Vegas and Iwa would be Seattle. While not accurate it would still give people some idea of locations not distance. Cities west of Konoha (St. Louis) would have a lot harder time getting to Cloud (Boston) and might not think the trip is worth it.
One last note on the Uzumaki jutsu scrolls. Jutsu can be found, recreated, or simply lost over time. The sole surviving copy of the clan's genealogy is much more valuable.
The tests I came up with are tests that decide things based on what Cloud wants from its chunin. My version has them needing to be able to think on their feet. Make planning a priority and to see more than what is given. Konoha has a different standard on what a chunin needs. I mentioned long ago in this story that Konoha has the highest standards in what they want chunin to be. I even said that in another village, Sasuke would have been a chunin already simply based on his ability, not his mental state.
To the anonymous reviewer, AnonWarHawkBillTim, who sent 5 negative reviews in 10 minutes. I do look at the time stamps on the emails I get on my reviews. Keep on trying. I am still laughing. I also still am not shutting off anonymous reviews or deleting negative stuff.