I Do not own Naruto, If I did I wouldn't bother writing Fan Fiction.
A Price for Peace
Chapter: 5 Troubles With Chakra
The sky was dark, no stars shone in the night sky. The sound of light rain hitting the canvas top of Asahi's caravan was the only sound that could be heard in the dark. Karin sat in a corner of the large wagon unable to see a foot ahead of her face. She closed her eyes to check the area for signs of chakra just to keep herself busy.
Immediately the world that had been so dark to her seemed to shine, she noticed Asahi at the front of the wagon's calm if not somewhat dull chakra however as always when she had used her unique technique of sensing others chakra over the past few days Naruto quickly caught her attention. The first time she had done this at a close range she made a startling discovery. The darkness she had felt within him when they had first met in the Land of Iron was gone, she couldn't understand this, but at the same time she had no idea how to bring the subject up. After that she had taken to staring at his chakra sometimes close to an hour at a time as if expecting that crushing darkness to burst fourth and consume the brilliant light that she thought at times seemed almost blinding.
Due to her new found familiarity with Naruto's chakra it did not take her long to realize that something was off about the blond. His chakra may have been suppressed but at the same time the spikes in tension and excitement screamed of someone who was fighting for his life. 'Something is wrong with him!' she thought a little worried.
While Naruto was not in any danger he was in a sense in a fight. "Not good enough Naruto, if you can't even create a jutsu in your mind how are you supposed to do it for real?" Kurama lectured. Deep within Naruto's mindscape the blond jinchuuriki stood with his hands on his knees and slightly panting. Kurama stood a fair way away at the far side of a large open field that seemed to be floating with darkness surrounding it on all sides.
"It might be easier if I could train without you trying to impale me with those tails of yours!" Naruto whined.
"Nonsense, you have always been at your best when you are fighting for your life how is this any different?" Kurama spoke with a slightly sadistic smile gracing his features.
"Well for one I was allowed to fight with my full strength on all other occasions and secondly... I really have no idea how I'm supposed to create a jutsu anyway! The Rasenshuriken is just pure manipulation I was never any good at hand seals." Naruto complained..
"That sounds more like a Naruto problem than a Kurama problem." the fox teased.
Naruto sweat dropped. "Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?"
"Yeah I thought I would give it a go... what do you think?" Kurama replied rubbing his chin with a tail.
Naruto just shook his head. He still struggled to believe just how much the once cold mass of hatred had lightened up, becoming a companion and friend. So much so that it had come to the point where the fox would even joke and laugh with him. "I'm not a fan."
"You do realize that will just give me more incentive to do it again right?" Kurama said with a small smirk.
"The thought had crossed my mind." Naruto replied with a deadpan expression. "Look can you just help me with creating a Fuuton jutsu rather than trying to kill me!?" he asked exasperatedly.
"What do you need another jutsu for anyway, you have the Bijuudama, what more could you possibly want?" Kurama replied blowing his question off.
"Because, believe it or not, I don't want to kill or flatten everything I come across." Naruto sighed.
"From what I can remember, it's actually quite fun. You should at least give it a try." Kurama chuckled.
"Gah! I can't believe I am saying this, but why can't you be serious!?" Naruto yelled in frustration, however moments later the blond had a thought that made him chuckle. "Wait a minute, you don't know how to create a jutsu either do you?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I can do anything." the Kyuubi said in his most arrogant voice but for once seemed somehow unconvincing.
"So that's why you won't help me, you cant." Naruto laughed.
"Don't make me angry Naruto!" Kyuubi yelled firing a tiny Bijuudama at the ground beneath the blonds feet causing Naruto to flip away with ease.
"Aw what's the matter? Kurama doesn't like hearing the truth?" the blond laughed again.
"That's it! You die now." the giant fox fumed and began to raise his head to form a proper Bijuudama. "Wait Naruto, we can't play right now you have to leave the seal! That 'girl' is up to something."
Outside of the seal Naruto's eyes snapped open to see Karin standing over him an arm reached out towards his chest. Acting on instinct Naruto grabbed her arm in the blink of an eye and flipped her to the ground. He was now kneeling over her with their legs tangled, A fist pulled back as he glared down at her. "What are you doing?" he asked anger and suspicion clear on his face even in the darkness.
Karin was cowering beneath the blonds gaze her arms crossed over her face. "I'm sorry I was searching the area for any ninja that might have been following us when I noticed your chakra was acting peculiarly, I just wanted to make sure you were alright." she said. It was not a lie she had come to check on him to see if he was alright. But saying she had been, searching for other ninja sounded less confusing than saying she was staring at his chakra trying to find where his darkness had gone. She didn't know how, or want to bring that topic up just yet. Things had began to improve between the pair after Naruto told her about Jiraiya, but they were still not what someone would call friends.
Naruto lowered his fist. "Oh I guess I'm sorry then... don't worry about me I was just training in my mind, my chakra is too recognizable to leave it exposed for long enough to get any actual training in so I have been training while I rest, I don't want to become rusty." Naruto said deciding to omit the part about having sparing matches with the Kyuubi. Asahi was no doubt listening even if he didn't care about Naruto's past there were some secrets that you just didn't let slip around a former Anbu ninja.
Karin let out a sigh of relief, her heart was still beating out of her chest from the fright she had been given, like it was trying to get a lifetimes worth of beats out in an instant. It wasn't until her heart finally began to slow down that she realized the compromising position the pair was in. she felt her face burn red with a blush that she was thankful of how dark it was in the caravan. Her reaction was somewhat predictable, pushing Naruto away with all the strength she could manage. "Get off me!" she squeaked with as much anger and authority as she could manage through her embarrassment.
Naruto for his part was also sporting a mild blush, that was the first time he had been in that sort of situation with a kunoichi that didn't terrify him, he still shuddered when thinking about Anko at the start of the second round of the Chunin exams. "Sorry, it won't happen again don't worry" Naruto said with a slightly hollow voice.
Karin didn't respond, she was in shock, much like Naruto that was her first time in a situation like that. She didn't even register the fact that her heart was now beating twice as fast as when she thought she was going die just moments earlier.
(Konoha)
Kakashi sighed as he looked down upon the new Konoha. The slowly being rebuilt Konoha, no painting had been done, all buildings were the same wooden color, and only two trading roads had been opened, intersecting at the middle of the village. The large crater the village now resided, was going to a constant reminder to the village of Naruto and the then Akatsuki leader Nagato's fight, that had already become the stuff of legend.
"Welcome back Kakashi-sama." two chunin guards greeted as Kakashi stepped into the village for the first time as Hokage. "How did the meeting with the other leaders go?" one of the chunin asked.
"Not, bad. But not as well as I had hoped, we need to meet again in a few months once Iwa choose their new Kage." Kakashi answered with a rather tired looking eye smile.
"I see, but that is at least better than a failure to agree that an alliance is possible." the other chunin said with a smile of his own.
"I guess that is true. Any news for me at this end?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes there is. The village elders require your presence in the Hokage tower immediately." the first chunin to speek said.
Kakashi nodded but gave a eye smile. "No rest for a Hokage it seems." he sighed. He did not want to get on the bad side of the village elders, they had caused some problems for Tsunade during her time as Hokage, although that was mostly due to Danzo's use of Shuisui Uchiha's rather unique sharingan. Civilians and shinobi alike greeted their new Kage as he passed making Kakashi glad that the war had not broken the spirit of the people.
The new Kage tower had not been completed yet, only the first two floors were open meaning Kakashi had to wait to get his office. The first thing Kakashi noted was the building was slightly larger than the previous Hokage tower even in its incomplete state. The moment Kakashi entered the door to the entrance hall he was greeted by the very two people that were awaiting his arrival. Koharu was an elderly woman who kept her light brown hair tied back in a tight bun held in place by two long pins that Kakashi had very little doubt had a secondary use as a weapon. Homura had spiky hair much like his former teammate the Sandaime Hokage but had a full beard more like Hiruzen's desist son Asuma. His only other distinguishing feature were the thin, green oval glasses he wore. "Oh Kakashi we have been awaiting your return, there are a few topics we must discuss." Homura said in a respectful tone.
"I guess it's my duty, let's find a room to talk in private shall we?" Kakashi suggested. The three shinobi found a small empty office and went inside. "So what do you want?" Kakashi asked.
"There are several things, the funeral for the Uzumaki boy seems to be a popular event, we have received requests to attend from countries all over the elemental nations, so much so we could not hope to accommodate even half of them." Koharu informed the Rokudaime.
Kakashi sighed, this was why he didn't want to be Hokage, the red tape and laborious day to day running of a ninja village, he would rather be back fighting in a battle to the death rather than deciding who can and cannot attend Naruto's funeral. "All of Konoha should be allowed to attend should they wish. Then key dignitary's from the individual countries with emphasis on the five great nations and the Land of Iron... for the rest of the places, we will need to charge people too attend, Konoha needs the revenue, we lost a large number of shinobi in the war." Kakashi sighed hoping he made the right choice.
"We can arrange that, I am also glad you brought up the fact we need to rebuild after the war because the next subject is rather sensitive." Homura spoke calmly.
"Sensitive, in what way?" Kakashi questioned.
"It's about the possessions of Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya. Their jutsu scrolls, and possessions were all left to be handed over to Naruto Uzumaki upon his eighteenth birthday. However with the Uzumaki boys death Konoha takes possession of all items as Naruto had no living relatives. Jiraiya was a very wealthy man as was Minato, and their individual jutsu could make Konoha once more the most powerful village in the elemental nations. With Jiraiya's money alone we could pay for the reconstruction of Konoha completely, and become debt free." Koharu pressed.
"You want me to take the life's work of both Jiraiya-sama and Minato-sensei and distribute them out through the village?" Kakashi asked not liking the idea.
"We do not like the thought of giving up Minato and Jiraiya's secrets anymore than you do Kakashi. But all of the great nations are severely weakened at the moment, if the alliance fails, then a power vacuum could open, and another war could start." Homura answered.
Kakashi sighed closing his eyes in deep thought. "Fine, do you know where Minato-sensei and Jiraiya-sama's possessions are?" he asked.
"We do, but there is a problem." Koharu sighed.
"That does sound like those two, they very rarely did anything easily. So what is it? A seal that only opens with Naruto's blood? A time release seal? I can have a look, but I am not in their league when it comes to sealing." Kakashi admitted.
"No it is nothing like that, although either would not surprise me. It seems that due to Jiraiya's life as a hermit and holding no property in his own name, Jiraiya left his possessions along with Minato and Kushina's in a secure location outside of the village for safekeeping." Koharu continued with a frown.
Kakashi had a fairly good idea where this was heading now. "Myobokuzan."
"Exactly." the elders said at the same time.
"Then send a message to the toads to receive the items." Kakashi answered, he knew Tsunade had contacted the toads on several occasions.
"We can't, all the toads from around Konoha seem to have disappeared, it's almost like they are in hiding." Homura said.
"Then we will have to look harder. I will put this as a priority mission tomorrow." the new Hokage declared. "Is there anything else that you need me for?" he asked.
"No I believe that will be all for now Kakashi." the elderly kunoichi spoke.
Kakashi nodded with an eye smile before exiting the room, resigned the the possibility of perhaps having to distribute Naruto's inheritance amongst the clans of Konoha. 'But why have the toads disappeared, they have been guardians of Konoha for close to fifty years. I guess without Jiraiya and Naruto the Toad clans affiliation with Konoha doesn't really exist anymore.' "Still you would expect them to at least stick around, Fukusaku-sama and Shima-sama would at least want to go to Naruto's funeral." he added as an afterthought.
The truth was that the toads had seen this coming, they left the forests around Konoha to avoid the topic of Naruto. They couldn't hand over their summoners belongings and inheritance, for the simple fact that Naruto was not dead. Naruto did not want anyone to know this fact, something that the elder toads agreed to keep hidden.
(Three Day's Later)
Naruto looked out the back of the caravan to see small stones falling from the sky like rain as they fell from the high peaks on the mountain range they were traveling along. "We must be pretty far north now huh?" Naruto asked looking up at the snow capped peaks that surrounded the group on each side.
"Yeah we're nearing the most northern civilian settlement in the country, after that the mountains get more and more treacherous and only a few ninja outposts, that haven't been manned since the second shinobi world war remain." Asahi answered.
"Really, how long until we arrive?" Naruto pressed, he had not expected to have been taken this far when he payed for the ride.
"A few days yet. You will know it when you see it. It's the village of Iwame, also known as 'The Raining Stone'." Asahi said with a smile.
"Well looks that that will be where we part ways then old man." Naruto informed the caravan owner.
Karin for her part had been barely listening, she had been currently observing Naruto's chakra searching for the darkness she had felt in the Land of Iron only to once more come up empty. Naruto's last comment broke her out of her daze however. "Hey whiskers, you never told me where we are going anyway?" she asked firmly, she still blamed the blond for the situation they were in three nights ago.
'Since when did she become so familiar with me?' Naruto frowned.
The blond was about to answer when Kurama cut in. 'Since the night she interrupted our training, seems like her timid quiet attitude was just an act. Probably didn't want to be abandoned, still I don't trust this girl.' the fox informed his container.
"Well are you going to tell me where you plan on taking us or not?" Karin pressed.
"No, I'm not. You can always go your own way if you don't like it." Naruto replied far more aggressive than he had planned. "I mean, not right now. I'll tell you later, the less people that know where I'm going the better." he explained feeling bad about yelling at the Kunoichi.
"Uh, fine." Karin said with a huff, folding her arms and turning to watch the country pass behind the wagon.
'Gah I can't figure her out, she begs to come with me then acts like I'm forcing her to follow me.' Naruto sighed.
'Why care? it's likely that she will die crossing the mountains anyway. The air will be thin and temperatures well below freezing.' Kurama retorted.
'Well I don't want her to die. I know she basically guilt tripped me into letting her tag along. Then there is the fact that she used to work for the Akatsuki. But that doesn't mean I want her dead.' Naruto replied.
'Well forgive me for not being ready to forgive someone who wanted you dead and to seal me away inside that statue. I don't trust her, and neither should you.' the large fox scoffed.
'Either way for the time being I'm stuck with her, I did promise she could come with me didn't I.' Naruto sighed still wondering if he made the right choice. 'Still I'm glad she has livened up a bit, but she's harder to figure out than Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan combined.' he added as an afterthought.
Kurama began laughing. 'It's typical with you isn't it. When you're faced with a dilemma that is not how to defeat some overly powerful adversary, you are about as useless as those bright orange and blue jumpsuits you used to wear, were for stealth. At least that old perverted toad made you tone them down a bit.'
'How can you talk, you're a fifty foot tall fox, your idea of stealth would be to destroy everything leaving no evidence you were there at all, which would be fine if you didn't leave a massive path of destruction in your path everywhere you went.' Naruto laughed back.
'Big words, but I went unnoticed for hundreds of years before Madara summoned me to fight Hashirama Senju.' Kyuubi retorted.
Naruto couldn't help but admit that the giant fox had a point, how did the Bijuu remain undetected for so long, before the fight with Madara there was very little interactions with the Bijuu. Naruto was about to ask how that could have happened when he noticed Karin staring at him inquisitively. "Yes?" he asked puzzled as to why she was looking at him.
Karin blushed in embarrassment realizing you had been caught. "I uh, I'm trying to figure your chakra out." she admitted.
"Huh?" Naruto replied more confused than ever. "Well I can see peoples chakra, but I also can get a feel of their personality and current mood. Well when ever you become unnaturally quiet your chakra seems to become overly active, sometimes annoyed, others angry or happy almost like you are laughing." Karin attempted to explain.
"Oh so you can feal the tiny fluctuations of my chakra and determine what I'm thinking?" Naruto guessed.
"No nothing that advanced, more along the lines of what you are feeling, certain emotions come across stronger than others while some don't come across at all, or I have just never seen them." Karin explained.
"Sounds useful, I can use a similar technique, although it only picks up on negative emotions, and I can't use it all the time." Naruto admitted.
'Interesting.' Kurama thought calmly to himself.
"Yes negative emotions come across very strongly." Karin agreed.
"So what does it look like?" Naruto asked.
"Um what?" Karin queried.
"Chakra, I can visualize it to use, like when I form a jutsu. I can sense it, but you said that you can see it and the emotions. I want to know what it looks like when it's not compressed into a jutsu, the way you see chakra." Naruto asked with a friendly smile. 'I really don't know why I never asked Neji or Hinata-chan this.'
Karin couldn't help but return the blonds smile but paused on how to answer the question. "It's sort of hard to explain. Everyone has different chakra that feels differently, for each individual."
"Oh. Then uh, what about mine?" Naruto pressed.
"Well, lets see. It's bright, almost blindingly so and very light and happy." Karin answered with a small smile. 'It's also the most overwhelmingly powerful chakra I have ever felt and not to mention the fact that his darkness has vanished makes him something I have never seen or felt before.' she added in thought too embarrassed to admit something like that to Naruto, who she still barely knew. It was not embarrassed in a romantic way, her interest was born out of scientific curiosity. She had worked with Orochimaru long enough to gain a interest in the unusual.
"I see, and um... What about Sasuke, what was his chakra like?" the blond pressed.
"That's a little more complicated. When I first met Sasuke his chakra was very self assured and powerful but it slowly became darker, the last time I saw it his chakra was so dark and suffocating that it scared me. His negative emotions darkened his personality and chakra to the point he was unrecognizable." the kunoichi admitted sadly. She still hadn't gotten over the Uchiha, in the end your first love will always remain your first love.
Naruto hung his head slightly. "I see, it was that bad huh, I could feel it when we fought but I didn't know how far he was gone... Still in the end he helped me, he helped everyone. I like to think that I was able to help him as well." he said with a weak smile.
"Well I don't know if it helps but Sasuke-kun's chakra seemed more like it used to when they brought the bodies back to the headquarters." Karin replied.
"Is that how you knew I was alive?" the Kyuubi jinchuuriki pressed.
"Yes, that clone may have been able to match your chakra signature but not how the chakra looked or felt to me." the red head admitted.
'Very Interesting indeed. This girls abilities surpass those of my first container Mito. If that red hair wasn't enough to give it away, then this certainly did. That girl is an Uzumaki, there is no doubting it now. I don't really want to keep things from Naruto but I do not want him becoming attached to this girl, Uzumaki or not she is dangerous. From my best estimate she is only a genin level shinobi, not good enough to survive on her own, and a risk if Naruto has to protect her.' Kurama thought.
Meanwhile at the front of the caravan a certain former Anbu from Iwa was listening to the two teens with rapt attention. 'This kid, I know who he is now, how did I not see it earlier, blond spiky hair and blue eyes. The Yondaime Hokage's legacy... trained by Jiraiya or the Sannin, and Copycat Kakashi, no way you are Genin level, young Namikaze.' Asahi thought silently his mind racing at the realization of just who it was in the back of his caravan.
(Meanwhile)
"Not one, we couldn't find a single toad, summons or otherwise..." Neji sighed as he entered into Kakashi's temporary office while the Hokage tower was still being built. The Hyuuga was flanked by Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Two days of searching had not turned up a single toad or even a frog for that matter.
Kakashi sighed and looked up onto the Hokage monument, more specifically onto the face of his sensei. "I had feared as much, without any summoners they probably cannot stay outside of Myobokuzan for an extended period of time. Jiraiya-sama had the toads watch over Naruto as a child to make sure he wasn't seriously harmed, and after that Naruto was a summoner so they watched over the village as guardians. They have no reason to stay here now."
"It makes sense, but you would have expected one of the summons to be in contact." Neji replied.
"It would be logical for the toads to be weary, the last time a successor was chosen for Tsunade-sama things did not turn out well. There is also the friendship between the Slug summons and the Toads, it could be that they do not wish to deal with anyone but Tsunade-sama." Shino added.
"Ano, I don't think we should call off the search. Kakashi-sama please allow me to go continue, I'll increase the search radius." Hinata said with a determined glint in her eye.
Kiba and Neji gave the kunoichi a worried glance, Shino was equally concerned but remained his stoic self. "Hinata you haven't stopped since we got back to Konoha, you need a rest." Kiba said as calmly as the Inuzuka could manage.
"I appreciate the concern Kiba-kun but Naruto-kun wouldn't give up just because things were not going his way, he would keep going regardless and that's what I plan on doing." Hinata said defiantly.
Kakashi closed his eyes in thought. Naruto's death had affected those close to him in different ways, some like Sakura grieved. Others seemed to have their own ideas about what happened to the blond jinchuuriki, Shikamaru was in this category, the lazy Nara firmly believed that Naruto was alive but it would be too troublesome to go after him. Then there was the final group, the majority of those that Naruto had been closest to fell into this group, that of the highly motivated. They all wanted to prove that they could live up to Naruto's name and help fill the void left by the energetic knucklehead turned first class shinobi. None fitted this description better than Hinata, everyone knew of the way she felt about Naruto and had all expected her to be stricken with grief, instead she seemed to take to Naruto's Nindo stronger than ever before.
"I'm sorry Hinata but that will not do any good. If the toads do not want to be found, then they will remain hidden. The only chance we have of contacting them is if Tsunade-sama wakes up from her coma. Besides there are more pressing matters that I have need of a tracking team for." Kakashi informed the group.
"Anything, we won't let you down." Hinata said before any of the others had a chance to answer.
"It's good to see you're eager but I can assure you this is no easy mission. Several Anbu Hunter squads have been working on it for close to a month but haven't found anything." Kakashi informed the group.
"A missing nin?" Neji guessed.
"Yes, a top priority one." Kakashi said taking out a folder and placing it open on the desk. "She escaped during the war and has avoided capture or even a shred of a trail ever since."
"That's the Kunoichi you captured working with Sasuke." Neji registered.
"Exactly, she is also a member of the Akatsuki and as such considered an S ranked criminal with a kill on sight order." Kakashi informed the group.
"S ranked criminal? Aren't they supposed to be the best of the best? She was just one of Sasuke's henchmen." Kiba scoffed.
"Kiba skill dose not determine the class, an S ranked criminal is a shinobi or a civilian wanted for crimes against a shinobi village, country or equivalent. Just because she was not one of the main instigators of the Akatsuki does not make her crimes any less, this was compounded by her escape from Konoha." Shino said ever logically.
"Shino is right Kiba, I have already sent the information to the other countries, she will be the most wanted person in the elemental nations by now." Kakashi said agreeing with Shino. Although personally he did not see the harm in letting the Kunoichi go, it was clear to Kakashi from the moment they captured her she was no threat to Konoha or any shinobi above chunin level for that matter. He also knew that she had been missing for such a long time now that finding her would be almost impossible.
"When do we leave?" Neji asked in a businesslike manner.
"Tomorrow morning, take the rest of the day off, and I mean it, no training, no helping with the reconstruction work. That's an order, do I make myself clear?" Kakashi said making sure to stare at Hinata directly.
"Yes Hokage-sama." the four Konoha shinobi declared in Unison before being dismissed.
'This job is such a pain in the ass, I can see why Tsunade-sama drank so much.' Kakashi thought while discreetly withdrawing his little orange book. 'Now I can finally focus on the main issue that is going to plague my time as Hokage... The fact that there will be no more new Icha Icha without Jiraiya-sama!' he cried silently as he neared the end of one of his favorite chapters.
End Chapter!