*Obligatory 'I don't own Naruto so please don't sue me' header*
Transformation Arc:
Chapter 5 - Destruction
"Shikamaru? Shikamaru! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"
The ponytailed boy turned his head lazily, hands still in pockets. "Oh, Sakura. I was told you were looking for me."
It was now the next day – and the two of them were standing off to the side of the Leaf Village's largest market squares. Shikamaru was in the process of heading to the library to do some research of his own on seals and sealing jutsus – but welcomed the intrusion that meant he didn't have to do any real reading today.
But honestly, he loved it. And especially now that he knew Naruto was on the line, he took it more seriously as well.
Not that he'd ever let anyone know it.
He yawned as the pink-haired kunoichi ran up to him with a book in her hand. "Ah, so that's the book we're going to be going through then?"
Sakura nodded, holding it up. "Yep, this is Master Jiraiya's training diary – it has a few entries about what the two of them had been working on together." She opened up to the first page, and looked it over again, as if to make sure the book she was carrying was the right one. After a few moments, she snapped it closed again, and looked back up at Shikamaru. "Right. Where do you think we should go to do this? Probably somewhere quiet," she nearly shouted, looking around at the mob of people walking around her.
The boy merrily nodded. "How about the library? I was headed there anyway." Before waiting for an answer, he began walking, and Sakura stayed hot on his heels.
As the crowd around them began to recede, and they could finally start to hear birds chirping again, Shikamaru finally asked the question that had been troubling him since he met with the Naruto Retrieval Taskforce night before.
"So, is it really him?"
Sakura only murmured, before nodding once or twice. "Yeah. It was really kind of a surreal experience. We didn't realize it was him until he was right on top of us."
"To be honest, I'm surprised he didn't kill you," Shikamaru said bluntly, with a tinge of worry in his voice. "If what everyone is saying is true, then that means the seal probably failed, and whatever is controlling his body is most likely not Naruto."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. That's why I seriously think that part of Naruto still exists in there somewhere. We just have to find it and drag it out." She smiled. "Kicking and screaming, knowing Naruto."
Shikamaru chuckled lightly. "Yeah, he certainly always has been troublesome."
Shikamaru stopped for a moment, remembering something. "Wait, Sakura, there's someone else I want to bring along as well, if that's okay with you."
"Oh? And who might that be?" came a voice from behind them. Sakura jumped, not sensing the presence of another person until after he spoke. Shikamaru just chuckled a little to himself and kept walking.
"Kakashi-sensei, pleasure of you to join us."
The jonin simply smiled, and followed behind them.
After they were joined by Kakashi, the time it took to reach the library seemed like a blink of an eye. Before they knew it, they had meandered their way into the library and through the maze of hallways and doors until they found what they were looking for – a large room in the far back of the library, embedded in the rock, with a pair of large, solitary windows in the back warmly illuminating the space with the embrace of the shining afternoon sun.
The room was an impressive one – Each wall was covered in scrolls and parchments containing many important documents for the Leaf: things like jutsu formulas, history of famous ninja, and crucial mission reports from years ago. Bookshelves stuck out from the walls in various places, expanding the surface area of knowledge that was laid out before them. In the center of the room were two medium-sized round tables, one of which was already occupied by reading shinobi. Upon their entrance, however, the ninja took their leave, after noticing Kakashi among the new arrivals.
Sakura glanced over at her sensei with a quizzical look on her face, and he only shrugged. "Well, I was told that this room had been reserved for us."
After the three took their seats next to one another at one of the tables, Sakura placed the journal in front of them. But Shikamaru looked over at Kakashi instead.
"I trust you brought the books I asked for you to bring?" He asked politely, and Kakashi smiled and reached around to the pouch on his waist. He pulled out a series of books, each a different pastel color, and laid them on the table beside the notebook.
Sakura sweatdropped when she recognized the titles. "The Icha Icha series? Really, Shikamaru?"
The boy smiled slightly and nodded at Kakashi. "Yeah, I figured that if we were going to be looking for clues in Jiraiya's writing, it would be a good idea to have some additional examples on hand." Then he frowned, and stood up suddenly. "Although it would look like you're missing one, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi looked up with an alarmed expression on his face. "No, I brought my entire collection! I have them all. If Master Jiraiya had released another sequel, I would have heard about it!"
Shikamaru laughed to himself a little, stood up, and walked to the far wall of the room. After looking through the series of books on the shelf, he finally found what he was looking for, grabbed it, and walked back to the table.
"Tales of a Gutsy Ninja?" Sakura asked, upon picking up the brown book that Shikamaru had tossed in front of them. "What's this for?"
"That was Master Jiraiya's first book – and a rather important one," he replied with a sly smile. "For a lot of reasons."
"Then why haven't I heard of it?" inquired the girl, after flipping it to a random page and reading the first few lines. "Wait… Naruto? Was this book written about Naruto?"
Kakashi, after recovering from the shock of potentially missing a new Icha Icha book's release, looked over at what Sakura was holding, and smiled. "Ah, I remember now. No, Sakura, it was actually the other way around." After seeing the quizzical looks on both the chunin's faces, Kakashi sighed, and placed his hands on the table. "I shouldn't really say much more than that."
"Wait… does that mean that you knew who Naruto's parents were?" Shikamaru asked, shocked. "Why haven't you said anything before now?"
"Because it's still considered an S-ranked secret in the Hidden Leaf, one that is punishable by death if revealed. Not even I can reveal it without facing the consequences." Kakashi sighed, adjusted his forehead protector, and leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms. "Although I do have to admit that not many people know their true identity."
Kakashi fell silent, and Shikamaru accepted the fact that they weren't going to be getting any more information out of the white haired ninja for the time being. "Very well then. I say we start working on the task at hand then, wouldn't you agree?"
Sakura nodded, still frowning from being kept in the dark. Kakashi gave an eye-smile, and Shikamaru murmured to himself as he opened to the first page of the journal, and began to read.
It wasn't a particularly pleasant day in the Hidden Cloud village – the winds had picked up as they whipped through the mountains, rattling windows and forcing many people inside after only a few hours.
This, of course, didn't stop the Raikage, A, from storming out into the training grounds on the outskirts of the village in order to scold his younger brother. After seeing the furious village patriarch approach, Killer Bee gulped, and attempted to hide behind a series of rocks on the far side of the mesa he was training at.
After a few moments of silence, Bee let out a sigh, and rapped to himself internally. 'That was a close one, eh Gyuuki? I wonder what my big brother wants with me.'
"Would you stop playing around? Go talk to him. Hiding from him will only make him angrier," replied the exasperated Eight-Tails.
As if on cue, the mound of rocks that Bee was hiding behind exploded in a blast of pure strength – revealing a furious Raikage.
"BEE! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" roared the shirtless man. His body was crackling with lightning, and his eyes bore into his brother's.
"Oh, hey big bro - how you doin'? I'm just here trying to keep my skills from falling to ruin," answered Bee with a cheeky smile.
This only seemed to infuriate the man even further. "I TOLD YOU TO STAY INSIDE! SOMEONE OUT THERE IS HUNTING JINCHUURIKI – THE KAZEKAGE HAS ALREADY BEEN CAPTURED! THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN TO YOU AND YUGITO! I FORBID IT!"
Bee gulped, and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, right, I forgot about that! How about I go ahead and rejoin that cat?"
A grumbled, and turned around, satisfied that his brother had finally gotten the message. But he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a black-cloaked boy standing in front of him, grinning wildly, with a crazed look in his eye.
Bee gulped again – he hadn't sensed the approach of this child at all.
"Bee, you need to get out of here. Now." This was the most serious that Bee had ever heard Gyuuki be. "That boy… that's-"
"Who the hell are you?!" shouted the Raikage, as his body became completely engulfed in crackling bolts of lightning. This only made the boy smile wider, as a demonic laugh escaped his lips and rang out around the clearing.
"Who I am is not important. What's important is that you come with me, Eight-Tails," stated the boy, in a voice that seemed to take on the properties of two different tones.
Bee shivered upon hearing the child talk, and took a step back.
"Bee, that's the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. And from the looks of things, he isn't alive. That child isn't in control anymore. You have to move! You can't win this!"
"How wrong you are," smirked the boy. Bee jumped. 'I was talking to Gyuuki, inside my own head! How in the world-'
"Although you were right about the second part. You can't win this. Give up now, or I'll destroy your entire village." The crazed look in Kyuubi's eye became a serious one, as he stared the furious Raikage in the eye. "Do we have a deal?"
"AKATSUKI! HOW DARE YOU!" barked A, and he lunged forward at a speed unmatched by any shinobi in the entire world.
Or so he thought.
The boy simply stepped to the side, hands behind his back, and turned to look at the disorientated man that now stood behind him.
"I see. So that's your answer then." Kyuubi chuckled to himself, and looked up at Bee with a gaze that chilled his soul. "I warned you."
"Kyuubi! Wait! What are you doing?" came Gyuuki's voice from Bee's mouth. "Why are you working for those fools? They're using you – whatever the Akatsuki have told you, it's a lie! I thought you were smarter than this!"
Kyuubi let out a roar of laughter, one that was inhuman. After a few moments, he tilted his head at Bee, and spoke softly. "Oh, I know allllll about the Akatsuki's plans for us Tailed Beasts. And you know what? I don't care. This world is nothing to me, and none of its people concern me in the slightest."
He turned, and began walking over to where the Raikage was still fuming, having not moved since failing his attack on the cloaked boy in front of him. Or rather, semi-cloaked. His robes were tattered and mangled, much like his body. 'What the hell is this kid? What have the Akatsuki done to him? This is unforgiveable!' fumed A. 'How dare they do this to a child!'
"Oh my," grinned Kyuubi. "Your hatred is rather pungent. If I wasn't going to kill you now, I'd almost be willing to keep you around, because it is intoxicating." His eyes widened as he approached the man. "It's a shame, really. Hatred is the purest emotion, and it cleanses the soul."
Each subtle clack of the boy's sandals on the rocky surface of the mountaintop rattled the earth, and red, violent chakra began leaking out from around him, swirling in a vortex on the ground at his feet. "Learning to capitalize on that, and feed it, is a great strength."
The loose rocks on the ground began to rattle, then bounce, then fly into the air, following the current of chakra that began to wrap around the boy like a tornado. Blood-red power surged around him, flowing up into the sky, which was rapidly darkening and swirling as well. The winds that had been so bad earlier completely stopped, and began to circulate around with the flow of chakra, increasing with intensity after each passing second.
The Raikage just stood there, watching the tremendous amount of power being exhibited before him with a look of anger. A look of disgust.
A look of fear.
"Hmm, I wonder which I shall destroy first," cooed the child from within the vortex, still approaching the man standing before him. "The Raikage, or the precious village he strives to protect from the likes of me."
He donned a look of mock hurt. "Oh, is that fear I'm sensing? How PITIFUL!"
He screamed the last word, and a massive surge of chakra exploded out of him, making his entire body glow and his orange hair blow upwards, seemingly away from the flames that had ignited in his eyes.
From the perspective of the village below them, it looked like a giant orange-red beam of light had descended around the training grounds that everyone knew Lord Killer Bee frequented. No one had really thought anything of it, until the clouds above them began to circulate and spiral around the beam as well, darkening the sky to a light level that began to worry the village elite.
Yugito Nii looked up from her scroll on advanced Fire Style ninjutsu and glanced out her apartment window. 'That's odd… I don't remember seeing stormclouds developing in the sky earlier this morning when I went for my walk.' A crackle of lightning blitzed across the sky, and Yugito grimaced. 'What is that Raikage doing now? He knows it's not safe to practice his Lightning Style attacks within the village walls.'
Then Yugito sensed that the Nibi inside of her was growing restless. Descending into her mindscape, she approached the Demon Cat with a worried expression on her face. "Is there something wrong, Matatabi?"
"This chakra…" muttered the beast, looking around frantically. Finally, she realized that her jinchuuriki was before her, and stared at her with an expression that Yugito had never seen the Nibi wear before.
It was fear.
"Kitten, you need to leave immediately. It's not safe here. That power-" Matatabi was cut off when a massive surge of chakra rocketed outwards in all directions, which forced Yugito back out into the real world. She leaned out her window completely and gaped at what she saw.
A massive beam of red chakra was orbiting around the near side of Bee's training grounds, swirling like a tornado.
"What… what? What is that?"
"Kitten, you must leave NOW!" shouted Matatabi. "For both our sakes! That chakra – it's Kurama!"
Yugito was now thoroughly worried. Nothing ever scared her Tailed Beast… not even her more vibrant sparring sessions with Lord Bee.
"Kurama?" she asked. "Who's that?"
"The Nine-Tails. I don't know why he's here, but this is bad. He's amassing so much chakra-"
Another blast of power burst from the base of the tower of light, and a large purple orb began to form in the sky, absorbing the chakra that flowed over it.
Yugito began to feel sick. This was bad – she didn't have to have Nibi explain it to her.
"It's too late, Kitten," cried Nibi from inside of her. "Hold on, I'll do what I can to spare our lives."
She closed her eyes as chakra leaked out of her body, enveloping her in a cocoon of energy.
"Bee, you need to run! Now!" shouted Gyuuki. "If that tailed beast bomb hits us from this distance, we won't survive!"
"Tailed beast bomb, you say?" murmured Bee. "But that would mean-"
"YES! NOW RUN!"
A few yards away, the Raikage was quaking in his boots. The demon boy was still approaching him, slowly but surely, and cackling with glee.
"You or your village? You or your village?" he kept repeating, as the mass of purple energy surged ever larger.
A looked up at the orb, which was now the size of a city block. 'That's…'
Suddenly, the boy stopped, with a surprised expression on his face. "I've got it!" he exclaimed.
He leaned forward, and stared the Raikage dead in the eyes with his cold, hardened, lifeless gaze.
"I'll just destroy both at once."
And he threw the orb.
Sakura sat down again, after having gotten up to leaf through some scrolls on cryptography and hidden messages. Kakashi had picked up one of his Icha Icha books with good intentions, but got engrossed in the story and began reading it again.
Shikamaru, however, was leafing through the empty pages of the journal, hoping to find some clues or other indications of additional writing that was hidden away.
A heartbeat.
Sakura leaned over to grab a pen and paper to jot some notes down from her reading earlier, when she noticed her sensei drop his book.
It fell from his unmoved hand, bounced off the edge of the table, and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, pages bent and askew.
What she saw next sent shivers down her spine. Kakashi's visible eye was wide open, a look of terror across his unexposed face. He was shaking slightly, but his hand was still up in front of his face, like he was still reading. But he was staring instead out the window and into the village before them.
Shikamaru had noticed the book's tragic fate as well, and was also now staring at Kakashi with a worried expression on his face. "Kakashi-sensei?"
Another heartbeat.
"What just happened?" Kakashi whispered. Sakura shivered. She had never seen her sensei this worried before.
"…Kakashi-sen-"
Shikamaru's repeated question was interrupted by a mild earthquake. It rattled the glass in the library, and reverberated through the walls, shaking loose dozens of books and scrolls from the walls around them.
The tremors lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to cause a small amount of damage to the fragile glass panes on the wall – a large crack ran down each, like lightning bolts. Sakura got up to replace the books on the shelves, while neither Kakashi nor Shikamaru moved. Kakashi was still frozen and shaking, while Shikamaru was still watching him, trying to get him to explain what was wrong.
"Kakashi-sensei? Hello? Are you okay?" the ponytailed boy snapped his fingers in front of the jonin's face a few times, trying to snap him out of it. "Kakashi-sensei?"
The copy-nin, closed his eye, and let out a deep sigh, looking down at the ground. After a few moments, he looked back up again, eye still closed, and stood up.
"Something just happened. I don't know what, but something big – and very bad – just happened."