I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from the Manga or Anime.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 40 The Placement Trials pt 2
A loud knock on the door forced Naruto to sit up, removing himself from Karin's arms. "You hear that?" he asked, slowly getting out of bed and pulling on some orange boxers.
"Where are you going? You don't have to answer the door you know. Just ignore then and come back to bed," the red head replied pouting at the loss of their body contact. Her hair was more disheveled than usual, and it messily hung over her shoulders and sides of her face as she slowly sat up.
Naruto bit his bottom lip casting glances between Karin's frame wrapped sexily by a thin sheet that was just slightly see through, and the door in the main room, where there was someone waiting for him. Another loud knock on the door snapped him out of his daze. He quickly crossed the room giving Karin a quick yet passionate kiss. He could feel her reach out to pull him back down into bed and quickly slipped out of her grasp. "I'm just going to go see who it is, then I'll be right back. I promise,"
Karin was not happy, folded her arms in annoyance as Naruto picked up the shirt he had discarded when they had first entered the small yet fully furbished hotel apartment. "Fine, but get rid of them quickly, I wanted to have some more fun," she purred seductively.
Naruto nodded dumbly, and shut the bedroom door before crossing the small living area to the entrance. Naruto opened the door a crack and peeked out. "Hello?" he said when he didn't immediately see anyone.
His answer came a second later as Tetsu appeared gazing back through the small opening. "You act like you don't even recognise me."
"Oh hey Tetsu!" Naruto yelled happily opening the door. His mood changed when he realised, a second late that he was only wearing boxer shorts... And then there was the fact that Tetsu wasn't alone, a man Naruto recognised as one of the Uchiha clan members that were having an argument in front of the stadium earlier.
"Uh is this a bad time?" Tetsu asked with an amused smirk.
"No not at all, come in," Naruto answered without thinking. At that point realisation number two hit the blond, all over the small room there were various discarded items of clothing they he and Karin had been wearing earlier. Realising his error he quickly shut the door.
"Hey what gives?" Tetsu asked in mild annoyance.
"Sorry I'll be back in a sec, I just want to, uh... find something a little more respectable to wear," the blond lied convincingly as he raced around the room grabbing the carelessly removed apparel, including one of Karin's stockings that had found its way atop the curtain hangings. Satisfied with his rushed cleaning job the young jinchuuriki opened the bedroom door discarding the garments inside and grabbing some black cargo pants and a white t-shirt to pull on. "I don't think I can get rid of these guys Karin-chan," he said quietly upon seeing her cast him an analysing glance.
"Why not?" the red head asked half ready to kill whoever had gotten in the way of their precious alone time.
"Because it's Tetsu and some member of the Royal family, I don't want to be rude to them," Naruto answered in a hushed whisper.
"Alright I'll be out in a minute, just keep them busy while I get dressed," the red head sighed in resignation.
Naruto nodded and returned to the entrance to their room where Tetsu and Shougo were still waiting patiently. "Hey sorry about that, I wasn't exactly expecting any visitors," Naruto said rubbing the back of his neck in nervous embarrassment as he let the two shinobi from the empire into apartment like hotel room.
Tetsu smiled back at the younger man, "We hadn't exactly planned on coming, but I heard that you had arrived so I thought I'd come and see how you were settling in."
"Yeah Tetsu here seems to have taken quite a shine to you. He was very impressed with your village," Shougo chuckled patting the blond on the shoulder.
Naruto stiffened at the mention of the village. 'That means Tetsu told them how we were able to build a defensive perimeter to keep bandits out. I wonder what else he told them.'
"Relax kid, your village being able to take care of itself is no bid deal. As long as our oh so wise leaders get their taxes on time I don't think they will lift a finger. Hell I'm actually glad you found a way to screw over the gangs that run the place," Shougo said patting the young blond on his shoulder.
"Really, we didn't know how the empire would react, the walls were constructed in secret over a long time, everyone worked really hard. So I guess I was a little worried you would force us to take them down," Naruto admitted in half truths.
"Well as far as I'm concerned there is no real problem with your village protecting itself. With that said my stock doesn't hold much weight as far as my family is concerned I'm afraid," Shougo sighed taking a seat in a large couch that was positioned in the middle of the room acting as a barrier between the dining area and lounge. It wasn't a particularly fancy living arrangement as far as Naruto was concerned when he compared it to that of Konoha, but it was vastly improved on what he had become accustomed to in the small village.
"Really why not?" Naruto asked in an attempt to sound casual. Shougo's face darkened slightly causing Naruto to think he crossed a line. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry,"
"No it's nothing," Shougo replied with a smile that still seemed to hold a small amount of resentment. "My family prides itself on being the best and strongest, with the symbol for our power being the clans Kekkei Genkai. Something that I was not blessed with. Normally the way our clan works only the strongest survive, so those without our Kekkei Genkai are normally weeded out during our youth. I however committed the sin of surviving."
"So they don't like you because you lived?" Naruto asked carefully containing his anger at the situation.
"Well it's not all that straight forward, then again I am always finding new ways to drag the family name through the mud," Shougo chuckled lightly.
"If they treat you so badly then why do you stay?" Naruto asked casually.
"Because the alternative is to be executed, and I'm quite fond of my head where it is," Shougo replied flatly, while avoiding eye contact.
Karin picked this moment to exit the bedroom, while brushing her hair, as disheveled as always. Naruto smiled knowing that no matter how much she tried it would never flatten out. "Geez you guys are loud I was trying to sleep," She lied convincingly.
"Oh sorry about that Karin-chan, I forgot," the blond replied.
"I didn't know you two were sharing a room here," Tetsu said with a slight smirk, not really surprised.
"Well we are a couple, so it's not that far out of the ordinary, in fact many wold consider it to be normal." Karin answered quickly, not allowing herself to become flustered by the suggested innuendo.
"Well I guess that's true," Tetsu shrugged, he had hoped to get a rise out of the red head but was left disappointed.
Karin smirked seeing his smile falter and walked into the tiny kitchen that was provided. However calling it a kitchen was a long stretch, there was a small fridge that didn't even come up to the red heads knee, a microwave, and lastly a kettle that Karin put on to boil. "Would you like some tea, or coffee?" she asked the room to which Tetsu and Shougo respectfully declined. Neither Naruto or Karin were surprised however, as they were sure the quality of both drinks would not be at the standard the two shinobi of the empire were used to.
They sat and talked as a group for awhile after that, Shougo seemed fascinated by any little detail of the small village that Naruto and Karin now called home, and just as fascinated with the area in general. The sun was low in the sky by the time they decided to call it a day. "Ah well if we don't get back soon Gouhara-sama will cut us up into tiny pieces," Shougo said glancing down at a watch.
Naruto or Karin had learnt enough by this time to know that the elder woman they had saw that morning, Gouhara, was not someone they wanted to annoy. The only thing that annoyed the blond was they both kept her abilities secret, then again secrecy was supposedly a shinobi's greatest weapon, not that Naruto had ever really took that lesson to heart in the past.
"It was nice to meet you Naruto, Karin-chan. I hope you both enjoy the trials," Shougo added as he and Tetsu began heading for the door.
"Yeah it was nice to meet you too Shougo, I hope I'll see you again," Naruto replied with a genuine smile. He had heard some rather depressing things about the royal family, but Shougo seemed to be nice enough.
"Well he certainly is an interesting one," Tetsu said with a smile once he and Tetsu were far enough away from the hotel the raven haired man decide.
"Yeah, something about him seems different, but its not in a bad way... ah I cant explain it but there is definitely something about Naruto that isn't normal," Tetsu agreed.
"Really I thought it was quite obvious... It's confidence," Shougo said with a happy smile. "As far as Naruto is concerned... I say we would lose."
"Lose? What are you talking about?" Shougo asked.
"If we were to fight Naruto. He's stronger than us no doubt about it, even together I don't doubt we would not be able to win in a fight." the Uchiha replied casually as if he didn't have a care in the world.
Tetsu stopped, staring at his friend as if he had just grown a second head. "That's impossible, first there is nobody that could train him, second he's what seventeen, maybe pushing eighteen there is no way he's that strong."
"Age is not a factor that determines strength in this world. Look at Joli-sama, she has a higher rank than Gouhara-sama, her mother," Shougo explained.
"Oh this is some kind of joke isn't it, you're messing with me right?" Tetsu asked with a stutter.
"No, I'm being honest. This plan Gouhara-sama has come up with is going to blow up in her face," Shougo laughed loudly.
Tetsu looked a little panicked by this information and quickly turned his head back towards the hotel. "Then we should go and tell Gouhara-hime immediately!"
"Why would we do that?" Shougo asked as if the question baffled him beyond anything he had ever contemplated. "My family prides themselves on their eyes and they see anyone who cannot awaken the Sharingan as inferior, yet I constantly feel like I can see better than all of them put together. Now their arrogance is going to backfire in such a public way, imagine the looks on the downtrodden, and of the upper class of the empire when they see what will happen. They may even start to question the empires power."
"But if you're right, then members of the military will die!" Tetsu said angrily.
"You act like that's a bad thing. This whole exercise was to kill people the empire deemed to be undesirable. Put yourself in their shoes and then tell me who is in the wrong here? The peasants that were doing nothing but living there lives in relative, if not poverty stricken peace. Or the ones who drag them out into the middle of an arena and surround them with soldiers who plan to kill them for sport?" Shougo replied.
"Are you really willing to go this far, just to spite your family?" Tetsu almost yelled. "There are others at risk here, like my brother!"
Shougo didn't seem to be phased by this information at all. "Then tell him not to go near Naruto and he will survive."
"It's not going to play out that way. Either way Naruto will die, you're just doing this to get a kick out of the chaos!" the rust haired officer replied his eyes glaring at his friends. "Now we're going to tell Gouhara-hime and the others about how strong you believe Naruto is, and we're going to do it now!"
"No I don't think so. Maybe Naruto dies, but then again, maybe he doesn't. One man can do amazing things, look at the first emperor, he conquered all of the kingdoms almost single handedly. But if as you say he dies, then I guess he's not the man I think he is, and not who I am looking for," Shougo said his tone becoming darker.
"You're talking treason Shougo. They will have your head for this... I can't let you get away with it," Tetsu said drawing a small blade no longer than a set of nail clippers and pressing it softly against his palms, but not quite enough to draw blood just yet.
"I don't plan on doing anything," Shougo stated with a calm grin that did nothing in the way of appeasing Tetsu's concerns. In fact he didn't seem even the least bit threatened at his current situation. "All it is, is a small lie of omission. I simply plan on seeing how everything plays out, then choose my side."
"And what? would you would betray the empire if Naruto is able to escape?" Tetsu asked, he was torn between two minds, Shougo was one of, if not his closest friend but the way he was talking was not allowed. The punishment for even contemplating an act of treason was execution.
"Naturally," Shougo said his eyes closing.
"Then I'm sorry old friend but I'm going to have to bring you in to face charges or espionage and treason," Shougo said with a shaking voice. He cut his own palms with the small blade in his hands and as the blood dripped out the red liquid solidified and took the form of a sword in his right hand.
"I had honestly hoped you would join me Tetsu. You can see as well as I can just how twisted this world is. I am simply facilitating a throw of the dice and hoping for a change for the better. Come on, join me, we can help make this world better for everyone," Shougo said his eyes still closed.
"I will not betray my family, even for you," Tetsu said in a pained yet determined shout as he readied to swing at Shougo. Tetsu wished more than anything that he would wake up and this would be nothing but a bad dream.
As Tetsu's sword of blood came down Shougo drew a kunai from his robes and held the strike off. "I really didn't want to have to do this but I guess I have no choice. You wont remember any of this anyway," Shougo slowly opened his eyes, and that was the last thing Tetsu saw as the world went black.
It was several hours later when Tetsu finally woke. He had a high fever and was a little disorientated, still he was able to make out that Shougo was sitting by his bedside reading a book that seemed to have something to do with History judging from the title, but he was too weak to give it any thought. "Where am I?" he asked in a dreary haze
"In the infirmary of Gouhara-sama's palace. You collapsed after we left Naruto and Karin's room, do you remember anything?" Shougo asked calmly.
"I uh... I remember saying goodbye to Naruto... but no I have no idea. I wasn't feeling sick or anything so how did I faint?" Tetsu asked a little more coherently.
Shougo closed his book and sat up. "I don't know, I was hoping you could tell me," Shougo said casting an analytical eye over the rust haired coloured man.
Tetsu strained, desperately trying to remember what had happened after leaving Naruto's hotel room but there was nothing. "No sorry, I can't recall anything, man I hope Gouhara-hime doesn't want a report or anything because it may have been better if I died if that's the case," Tetsu laughed weakly.
Shougo smiled weakly, "It's alright she doesn't even know you were sick, just stay here and get some rest. The exams start tomorrow, you want to be able to greet your team as they head in for the first task don't you."
Tetsu nodded. "Yeah hopefully I will feel better after some rest." Shougo smiled and then moved for the door. "Hey Shougo."
Shougo paused with his hand resting on the handle of the door. "Yeah?"
"Thank you for bringing me here, you're a good friend," Tetsu replied.
"Don't mention it. You would have done the same for me," Shougo replied quietly before exiting the room.
(Morning of the Trials)
Naruto looked around the open field filled with inhabitants of the southernmost district of the empire. If the blond was to guess he would say that there was close to one hundred civilians there with him. He noticed that there was a far larger contingent of people not to far away dressed in elegant robes, a few members casting disgusted glances over to his group.
"Soak it in, members of the inner regions of the empire. Well at least there not to proud to show what they really think of us," Rea scowled averting there eyes as a young man leered at her.
"It's like they think we're a lesser species," Karin sighed a little downcast.
The only member of their group that didn't seem affected was Naruto, he was so used to being stared out in such a way that to his it came with a wave of nostalgia, like he was a child again back in Konoha. But that wasn't to say that he enjoyed being glared out in such a way, just well practiced at not letting others know how much it bothered him.
"Man how long are they going to make us stand out here waiting?" Tenji whined after about ten minutes.
As if he had heard the scarred mans complaint Shougo seemed to appear beside him. Most of the group of civilians recoiled in shock at the sudden appearance, Naruto and Karin hadn't really reacted at all, they had easily followed the mans movements instinctively. Shougo was dressed in a armoured black top and matching pants, his belt held a full arsenal of shuriken and kunai. Most interestingly were the two tanto that were strapped in an X across his back. "Don't worry, you won't have to wait long," he said with a friendly smile.
'He looks equipped for a long mission,' Naruto thought as he examined the multiple killing instruments. He suddenly felt a little exposed, even with his Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, it was a simple fact that if there was a fight between a Taijutsu and Kenjutsu user of equal skill, then the blade would always win.
'Oh please don't tell me you're intimidated by a few sharp objects? Perhaps we should see what is sharper, those swords of his, or my claws?' Kurama laughed.
'I'm not intimidated, but a few kunai or shuriken would be nice to have incase I needed them.' the foxes container rebuffed.
'You're thinking below your stature, you have no more need for a few kunai, perhaps if you could use thousands, then that might be useful. But there is nothing that can be done with a handful of blades that you couldn't do with a jutsu, or using my chakra,' the fox replied calmly.
'Haven't you been lecturing me for the past year about not using your chakra? That advice then seems a little hypocritical,'
'I was saying not to rely on sage mode and my chakra because they both act to amplify your real strength. If you make your base level strong enough then with my chakra we will be unstoppable,' Kurama replied grinning like the demonic fox of old.
Naruto was going to reply but had to cut his conversation with the fox short as more fully armoured shinobi arrived a few gave respectful bows to Shougo and two others that he guessed were also Uchiha clan members. "Alright this group will be watching the event from the tower constructed in the centre of the arena." Shougo declared loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"Why are we in the centre? I mean isn't that dangerous?" a older man, who looked to be in his late sixties asked.
Shougo shook his head. "Not at all, that is where the teams sensei and those overseeing the trials will be watching from. This was a change at the request of the other guests who paid for admittance."
"But this stadium is massive, how can there not be enough room around the edges?" another woman asked. "Besides look at the size of this it would take us a day to reach the middle," she added.
'Don't worry. fast transport for you has been taken care of and as for the seating arrangements, I'm sorry but rules are rules. Besides the centre tower has a better view anyway," Shougo replied as casually as he could.
"Do you get the feeling something isn't right here?" Naruto whispered to Karin.
"It does seem a little odd, I mean yeah the other group is much larger than ours, but even if it was ten times the size it is now, they still wouldn't come close to filling a stadium this big. But does it really matter? Nothing we can do about it now," Karin replied quietly.
"We could back out... run if we needed to. I doubt they would be able to catch me, even if I was carrying you," Naruto suggested.
"Then you may as well tell the whole world you can use chakra. Also that would mean leaving Tenji and Rei behind," Karin reasoned quietly. "Still this does seem suspicious I agree with you there," she added almost as an after thought."
Naruto sighed and nodded, he was torn, on the one hand she had a point, he wouldn't leave his friends behind, there was no way he would become worse than trash as Kakashi so elegantly put it when he passed his final Genin test. But if he made a few clones then getting all of them to safety wouldn't be a big deal at all. Then again doing that could condemn their village, and they would almost definitely come after him.
Naruto tensed however as he felt the ground beneath his feet begin to shake. A chest high wall rose up around their group and and Naruto glanced around looking for an exit but found non. He was getting ready to form a Rasengan and break out, taking Karin and his friends with him when Shougo spoke. "Nothing to worry about, this is going to be your transport."
'How could this be transport? It looks like a fence to me,' Naruto thought with a deadpan.
His answer came immediately, as the ground they all stood on began to lift up and they were flying through the air, slowly at first but once they reached the hight of the stadium they were rocketing across the landscape, not fast from Naruto and Karins point of view and clearly not for the members of the military who seemed to treat the trip as an everyday occurrence. However some of the civilians had curled up in a ball half expecting this to be the last thing they ever did.
Naruto used this opportunity to run to the edge of the flying piece of land and look out over the stadium. The area was as big as it appeared on the outside, but what made it more impressive was the variety of terrains that they had constructed, like massive rings spreading out from grassy plains at the edge to a large lake that surrounded a massive a tall tower in the middle. "Wow this must take forever to put together," he said in wonder.
"Its a several year process, we have to import certain terrain types from others parts of the empire, for example the desert section comes from the northern part of the empire. The stadium itself only took a few days to complete though," Shougo said having made his way over to join Naruto and Karin as they gazed out over the expanse before them.
"Amazing, but how can we see anything? I mean, by the time we get to the tower the edges of the stadium are going to look so small in the distance, so how will we see anything?" Naruto asked.
"It's all going to be shown on screens, it's not just Jutsu that created this stadium... a lot of technology goes into it too," Shougo explained casually.
"So what do the competitors have to do?" Karin asked.
"The placement trials are divided into three parts. In the first section the teams will be divided into pairs, one member of each team is going to be given to the other and it's the role of the other team to extract a password out of the other teams captive," Shougo explained.
Both Naruto and Karin had some idea of what that meant and paled slightly, teaching Genin to torture was not something they usually did in the elemental nations, even if it was a useful tool for shinobi.
"What happens if a team doesn't get the information?" Karin eventually asked.
"Well then it depends on their teammate, if they don't surrender the information then nothing happens, both teams go through. It is the same if both teams are able to extract the information. But if one team gets the password, and another doesn't then the team that doesn't give anything away gets a large head start in the second task and the other team is eliminated," Shougo explained.
"Then why doesn't every team just give up their password instantly and go through?" Naruto asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Shougo chuckled at this simplistic view of proceedings, it really was an ideal way for everyone to move onto the next round. "For one, they don't know all of the rules for one... and also, trust is not exactly common place in the empire, Naruto. If you don't trust someone your certainly wouldn't risk your career to give them a chance."
Naruto could see his point, it was the same situation as the elemental nations before the war, the only difference was, they were all being controlled by the Uchiha clan, this distrust was instilled into them, the idea that only the powerful had the right to survive and you look out for yourself and thats it.
He was able to push the resentment and anger he was feeling back and began to think about it from a more tactical angle. "So teams need to balance their skills, there is no point sending your best interrogator to the other team because it would make it harder to get the information, then again at the same time as long as you don't give up any information you still progress to the next stage. Ideally you would have someone who is a very good interrogator and another that can withstand any punishment."
"Very good Naruto. That's what the judges are looking for. Most of the top teams are very balanced and are not put up against each other anyway. The whole thing in unbalanced, I could tell that when I went through the trials," Shougo said with a mirthless laugh.
"Really what was your role?" Karin asked curiously.
"I was the interrogator, Tetsu got the rough end of the stick though, he was a captive, apparently he never made a sound. That'w why Gouhara-sama picked him for her black ops squad. She likes things that don't break easily," the Uchiha chuckled at what must have been an inside joke because neither Naruto or Karin understood it at all.
"So did you guys win?" Naruto queried.
Shougo shook his head, "No that honour went to one of my cousins, he wiped the floor with our entire team by himself."
Naruto let out a low whistle, clearly impressed. "So this guy must be pretty strong now then."
"Only if dead people still have any strength," Shougo said sarcastically. He waited a moment before continuing. "He was considered a prodigy, people were whispering that he would be strong enough to become the next emperor. And the poor idiot believed them, he wanted to prove that he was the best so he challenged the crown prince, first in line to the throne for his position."
"What you can do that!?" Naruto questioned in shock.
"Yes, only the most powerful may rule, so if you beat the strongest you take up their position. However it didn't turn out that way. The fight, if you can call it that was more of a slow execution, he didn't even manage to land a single hit," Shougo sighed. "But it served it's purpose, after that nobody has said a single word questioning who the strongest is,"
"Well that certainly is one way to send a message," Karin replied with a small shudder.
"I feel the same way," Shougo replied as the floating disc of land began to slow down. "Well it looks like we're here, welcome to the Placement Trials."
End Chapter!
Its rare for me, but I actually had some writers block with this chapter, maybe it was me just trying to juggle this with the influx of new PS4 games that have been coming out. Or maybe I have just been a little lazy, which is partly true, don't get me wrong I wanted to write this chapter but every time I sat down I just started doing other shit.
I probably could have done things a little better in this chapter but... meh, I wanted that sort of moral back and fourth between Shougo and Tetsu and maybe I could have brought it up later for added shock value but in the end I chose this path. In any case I am interested in hearing what you all think, did you like what didn't you like, what do you want to see happen next.
Spoiler Alert!
Well not really much point talking about the final anymore considering its been a week and a bit lol.
The good was that they at least showed Naruto as Hokage, I mean from the start that's what the manga was about, so if it didn't happen it would be like one piece ending only to find out that the treasure never really existed in the first place, or Bleach returning for an even more pointless arc than this Quincy Arc. (seriously, let it die)
The last chapter's were decent even if I disagree with letting Sasuke live. But I've been down that road so many times it's pointless to bing up again. My biggest beef was with what they did to Anko... he put her in there because of how popular a character she was, yet ruined her image as a bad ass kunoichi, I don't even care that they made her fat... (okay I do a little) but an academy teacher!? Come on she was a masochist, she drinks blood and tortures people... that's why people liked her, she kicked ass!
Other things that sort of annoyed me was that they made the fight with Kaguya so pointlessly long yet Naruto and Sasuke was like 2 chapters, then they shove a time skip, which I am fine with, but there were so many changes that had no back story at all.
I would have liked to see how Naruto and Hinata got together, what happened to Orochimaru, and team Taka. I have my hopes that the movie will answer a lot of the questions.
That and there is a new series set for release next year, but I doubt Naruto will be the main character. Still it would be nice if they went into detail on what happened to the Uzumaki and Senju clans. Also want to know who Minato's parents were, as there are no other people in Konoha that look like him and Naruto.
Personally I didn't mind the end, I would just have cut the fight's with Obito, Madara and Kaguya shorter probably freeing up 10 chapters, give 5 to Naruto vs Sasuke and have a mini arc giving the characters more than one or two pages each for a wrap up.
On a side note, Sakura's daughter looks far more like Karin that Sakura. With that said I'm glad Karin didn't end up with Sasuke, she gave the other Uzumaki a bad name with her Stockholm syndrome like fan girlism.
Question is now what do we read lol, Bleach has become so bad it's hard to read, and I was never that into one piece, didn't like the art style. Fairy Tail is good but I get the feeling that isn't far from ending either.
It's times like this I wish they would make more Hellsing, or something with a character that is as utterly bad ass as Alucard, I'm kind of sick of these protagonists in Manga that are so sickly sweet and good that they become un-relatable.