*Chapter 38*: Foxhunt Chapter 1: Bitter Reunion
Before you go any further! There is a storyline development inside that will piss off a lot of people. It's part of the PLOT. It will likely not be very popular even with people who AREN'T actively angry about it. Just wait and see where this goes, please.
Fox Hunt: Chapter One
"Bitter Reunion"
"Jinchuuriki are notoriously unstable. The result, is, of course, understandable- a bloodthirsty, ravening monster bent solely on the destruction of everything in its path could not be implanted into a living creature without repercussions. A jinchuuriki thus is naturally victim of a bloodlust he or she cannot control."
-"Demons and Their Uses in War," a manual for jonin instruction from Kaze no Kuni
"I don't think the demons are the problem. I think the real problems with the Tailed Demons are the people. And I think I have a way to prove it."
-Diary of Minato Namikaze, three months before the Kyuubi attack.
Within minutes of his descent, Naruto was wandering through the shattered ruins of Whirlpool village.
It was quiet here in an unearthly way. The unnatural stillness of the air, coupled with the lack of any kind of detectable life, taken together created a quiet that screamed, a silence so loud it was deafening. The lack of sound seemed to roar in his ears, and every slight noise he made, accidental or not, seemed to make it worse when the sound faded away.
No wonder nothing came here willingly. Such an environment would drive man, beast, or even insect to true insanity.
Naruto triggered his Kamigan, empowering it hard, trying to get clues about what caused this. There appeared to be no trace of organic compounds anywhere in this region. As far as his eyes could see, there appeared to be literally nothing here from the bacterial level up that carried any trace of life.
This search was going to be tedious, he could already tell. Naruto sectioned off a portion of his mind to practicing the maneuver he'd been pondering ever since seeing Neji use that ultimate defense in the chuunin exam prefights. As a defense it turned out to not be quite as ultimate as the name suggested, but the injury it had dealt to Kabuto was impressive, even having caught only a small portion of it. If Naruto could craft a single handed version that could strike a target with the entire technique rather than just a small surface portion of it...
Pursuing this idea, Naruto had taken to forming a sphere of glass around the rapidly whirling chakra, using the glass to contain the power when it started to fly out of control. By selectively weakening one portion of the glass, he could create a directional blast of glass that wasn't at ALL pleasant to be on the receiving end of, despite its short range, but Naruto wanted to contain the energy completely. Already the attack was showing a great deal of promise by the damage even its incomplete form could inflict. He could feel that he was on the verge of a breakthrough.
The externally aware portion of his consciousness pinged at him, and Naruto allowed the chakra to slow and then stop, before bleeding off slowly into his surroundings. The glass he willed to congeal into a small bead about the size of an apricot, which he then pocketed. His Kamigan had picked up something. Moving forward with purpose, reducing the refinement of his vision while extending the range.
Yes.
There, on the edges of his vision.
It appears that something DOES live around here after all- or more specifically, UNDER here.
It was the work of only a few more minutes before Naruto had found his way into the baffle door in a ruined house. Despite the intricacies of the lock, certainly of an advanced shinobi manufacture, there was no mechanical device in the world, and especially not a lock, that could defeat Naruto's Kamigan. Somehow, there was something beneath that door, however, that COULD beat his Kamigan. Maximizing the refinement on the Kamigan enabled him to see the lingering traces of something that shared properties with that CRC that Naruto had assisted in the removal of so long ago. It lined the underside of the door, and created the impression to his eyes that nothing lay beneath it but old dirt- but the impression was of old dirt that bore worms and bacteria. In reality, beneath it was an empty tunnel that led downward in a steep slope.
Ironic that had this valley been properly filled with life, that tunnel would have escaped his notice completely. Likely it was a measure meant to be effective against Byakugan- according to every history Naruto had ever heard of, Whirlpool and Konoha had been allies before Whirlpool had been destroyed. And sure, among hidden villages, it was wisest to play your cards close to the vest even with your allies, but this struck him as somehow different.
The tunnel was specifically guarded against Byakugan, but not very well hidden in any other respect. In the sort of annihilation mission undertaken by Iwagakure at the start of the war, the village had been swept by search and destroy teams. An Iwagakure not weakened by the massive losses inflicted on them by the Fourth Hokage- the infamous Yellow Flash- this sort of bolt hole would be an easy find for chunin, much less the Stoneguard, Iwa's equivalent of the Oi-nin ANBU. Yet despite this factor, of all the bolt-holes that his Kamigan had thus far revealed, twelve feet below ground level in this tunnel was the only signs of genuine life in the entire valley.
Naruto was doing the math, but it wasn't adding up to the answers that he'd learned in the rare times he'd listened in the academy. Being a profound believer in the sanctity of working out the answers from scratch, he was figuring that something very big and very nasty had been covered up.
Iwagakure had claimed from the beginning of the war that the destruction of Whirlpool had been a set up- just the type of accusatory deflection that Iwa had practiced since Konoha was first founded. History had shown their parannoia repeatedly.
But history, Naruto pondered grimly, is not written by those who are right- it's written by those who are left. To the victors go the historical villification.
Naruto's Kamigan told him that about twelve feet down there was water vapor, bacteria, mold spores, and even a few insects, spiders, and a couple of lizards. What was left of this valley's ecosystem remained underground. Considering this oddity, as it was clear that the exit to the bolt hole was not sealed, he decided to conduct an experiment. Carefully, he caught several insects, one of the lizards, and scraped up some mold on the side of his Kunai, and brought them all out of the tunnel.
The lizard was fine after a half hour, although the insects died within a few minutes. The mold had died before he'd even left the tunnel and gotten into the house.
Kyuubi, are you thinking what I'm thinking? He asked mentally.
ONLY ONE WAY TO BE CERTAIN, Kyuubi replied.
Reflexively molding the seals for Kage Bunshin, Naruto nodded to his clone, which sped off in the direction he'd arrived from. A few minutes later, the clone dispersed, and Naruto raised an eyebrow. REALLY interesting. Whatever it is that did this to the valley, it's specifically aimed at plant life, although it kills anything invertebrate fairly fast too.
SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY BE A WEAPON INTENDED FOR USE AGAINST THE ANCIENTS, Kyuubi commented.
Naruto snapped his fingers suddenly. "I bet its chakra based. Whatever it is lining the tunnels to block them from byakugan and stuff like that, it had a side effect of stopping the plant killing thing here in the valley," he said.
OR ELSE, THE PROTECTIVE LAYERING HAS THE SIDE EFFECT THAT IT INTERFERES WITH THE BYAKUGAN, Kyuubi countered.
"I doubt it," Naruto answered, still speaking out loud. "Look, the tunnels are too old for that. Probably dates to between the first and second shinobi wars- that's about thirty years too old to be protecting against all that outside." His fingers brushed against the wall of the tunnel, probing at the rock. His other hand formed seals, and then the fingers of the probing hand sank into the stone. "Mmmhmmm, I was close. Forty-eight years. About the time that relations between the villages were shakiest."
BUT THAT BEGS A BIGGER QUESTION: WHY, OUT OF ALL THE BOLT HOLES WE'VE LOCATED, IS THIS ONE THE ONLY ONE THAT WASN"T DISTURBED IN THE FOLLOW UP SEARCH?
"Doesn't add up, does it?" Naruto agreed grimly.
Lowering the chakra levels to his eyes down to a bare thread, enought to tell him generally what lay around him but no great degree of detail, Naruto withdrew his fingers from the stone and began walking carefully down the tunnel. The light from the escape door quickly faded to nothing but he needed no light to see.
The slope declined, getting steeper until the grade gave way to stairs that turned gently to the left. The air here was freshfresher than any underground place should be, especially one that had been sealed for two decades. As his downward progress came to an end his vision told him why- and suddenly everything made sense.
At the bottom of the stairs, the landing widened out into a massive cavern, the center of which held a lake easily a hundred yards or more across. Phosphorescent moss of some sort lined the ceiling of the cavern, their collective shine almost as bright as a three-quarters gibbous moon. Below it, in the water, the surface was layered almost its entire width by a floating clot of pale leaves. Instinct told him that it was all a single plant.
Surrounding the lake were a dozen or more skeletons. Their hands showed signs of damage, presumably from long and forced labor. Their clothes were rotted, but a number of them still carried hitai ate, bearing the spiral of Uzugakure. Identifications were on some of them. He perused a few, but the names meant nothing to him. There was really only one major means left at his disposal to gather the information he came here for.
Activating his long ignored Mokuton, Naruto reached out with his senses, and for the second time in his life made contact with an Ancient.
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The trio of clones passed a significant look amongst themselves. The group that had been assembled to pursue Naruto this time was clearly serious about it.
It would be rather flattering, under most circumstances. Nine shinobi, all of them at least passingly familiar to him. Three formations, three nin apiece, meaning that all of them were at least chunin or higher.
Either that, or else Konoha was very short on active duty nin.
Sasuke, Kakashi, Haku, Gaara, Hinata, Neji, Temari, Shikamaru, and Chouji. The question is, are they here to tie off a loose end, or are they trying to gather any and all forces they can? Only one way to find out, I suppose.
One of the clones raised an eyebrow suddenly. His hands flickered. "Disable traps?"
Another nodded. The clone who signed the question motioned to the third clone, and the pair of them went off to clear a path while the one remaining hopped a few trees forward to land on the ground.
It was immediately clear that Neji and Hinata had seen him.
It was another five minutes before the nine shinobi walked into the small clearing, delicately sidestepping the undergrowth with the practiced ease of Konoha shinobi- or with caution and care, in the cases of Temari and Gaara. During that five minutes, the remaining clone had seen the hand signssignifying that both its backup pair of clones and the second team had been spotted by the Byakugan wielders, and they had taken notice that the clones were bypassing but not disabling the traps they'd set.
Withou motion towards it, the clone kept the Hiraishin kunai in its belt firmly in mind.
"Hello Kakashi... Sasuke... Shika... Haku," the clone said calmly.
"Hello Naruto," Greeted Kakashi in response. "Since you're just a clone, would you be so kind as to bring the original out?"
The clone made a show of digging in his ear, clearly unimpressed by the forces arrayed before him. "I do wonder exactly why I would do something so incredibly stupid. I'll admit, bringing the trap to the mouse is considerate and all, but aren't you being a little presumptuous in asking him to step on the trigger as repayment for the service?"
The Konoha nin exchanged uneasy glances. They hadn't exactly been expecting Naruto to simply say "Okay," and walk back with them, but Naruto wasn't anywhere nearby. They knew it, thanks to the Byakugan, and courtesy of the Kamigan, they were fairly certain the clone knew that they knew it. His range of sight, even with a clone, had already been scary even before he left the village, and he'd had years as a missing nin to further his development.
There was silence for about thirty seconds, before Temari broke it. "You know, you were impressive even as a shrimp- but you sure filled out nice, didn't you?"
The clone gave a flicker of a smile. "So nice to see you still have that fan I gave you. You might want to have it checked, though. You have the beginnings of metal fatigue in the eleventh spar, about a third of the way from the pivot. Koemi weapons are tough; I can't even imagine what you put it through for that to happen."
Temari's jaw dropped. "That's impossible! That fan is-"
The clone shrugged, cutting her off. "A sealing scroll just makes a little twist in the fabric of space, Temari-chan. I don't need to see the chakra circuitry to see what it's doing or what's inside it."
Chouji got a speculative look on his face and Kakashi furrowed his brow slightly, remembering the chunin exam preliminaries.
Sasuke shook his head. "Always gotta show off, eh Naruto? Gotta admit, though, your eyes make great ninja of themselves. Maybe we could give them their own little chunin vests when we get back. Then you could be your own three man cel."
The clone snorted. "When you deliver a line like that, maybe you should wait until you're not part of a capture mission where half of the recipients are using kekkei genkai. Kinda loses its sting, you know?"
"Kakashi sempai, we've got more clones incoming," Neji interjected. "So far, eight within my sight."
Sasuke didn't break eye contact with the clone. "Calling for reinforcements?"
The clone's expression didn't change. "I have more reinforcements available to me than the entire village of Konoha- not that this says a lot, if rumor tells true."
"How often would that be, I wonder?" Shikamaru said speculatively, a mysterious look on his face that the clone had trouble reading.
"More often than you'd believe."
The clone's eyes panned slowly across the group, although they all got the distinct impression that it was a show put on for their benefit rather than any real need on the part of the clone. True, his eyes weren't showing the jet black of Kamigan, but then there was no way of being certain that he hadn't found a way of keeping it active without the RSM that it once had.
"Chouji, you look different from before. Calmer, I think."
Chouji nodded, his expression impassive. "Yes. I'm a Gama sennin now."
The clone gained a slightly interested look at this. "Huh. Toads, then that would be... Jurai?"
"Jiraiya," Chouji said, unflappable. "The godaime Hokage."
The clone directed his attention to Hinata, who blushed slightly but looked at him dead in the eyes, much to the visible annoyance of Haku. "So, Hinata sama. I presume you are married, then?"
Kakashi, Neji, and Haku all became visibly uncomfortable, but Hinata shook her head. "I am not required to be married any longer."
The clone raised an eyebrow at this. "Thought you were the heiress-"
"No longer." Hinata stripped off her hitai ate- worn across her forehead as was normal for most konoha nin- to reveal the manji inscribed therein. "I have forsaken my position as heiress. That way, I am free to marry as I choose- and... without the deactivation of this seal, my children will never bear the Byakugan."
This was enough to startle the clone. She had not forgotten her vow from the chunin exams, and neither had Naruto. But it bespoke a level of devotion that Naruto hadn't really thought Hinata had. "You did that because you wanted to marry me that badly? That's... um... wow, that's kind of creepy, actually."
The clone shook it off and looked over at Gaara. "So why're you here, then?"
Gaara's eyes were flat, although Naruto could see that behind them, there was a shade, a hint of anxiety. "I was ordered by my Hokage to bring you back to the village, as were these others here." Gaara sniffed nonchalantly, a transparent gesture even to someone without the Byakugan or Kamigan. "I am interested in being here because you are the only person who has ever beaten me in battle."
The clone nodded. "Yeah, figured it was something like that." Suddenly, the clone looked back at Chouji. "What exactly are you doing?"
Chouji's expression never changed. "I am centering myself, becoming as one with nature."
"You're gathering energy. It's not chakra, but something similar."
Chouji nodded gently. "That's a side effect, I suppose. It's very relaxing."
"Well," the clone said, stretching a little, "since the preamble seems to be over with, I suppose we should be starting our little tussle."
"Kakashi sempai, the clones are moving!" Neji snapped.
The clone didn't so much as twitch as the eight clones shunshined into the clearing, taking up flanking positions around the one with which they'd been speaking. "You see, being a missing nin and all, I'm not particularly interested in being brought back to be put on trial for desertion. Nor am I all that keen on being kept for stud duty for the power of the Kamigan."
Another clone stepped forward. "The village never liked me."
A third. "They weren't too physically abusive- ANBU saw to that."
A fourth. "The only thing that they ever approved of me for was killing."
A fifth. "So I fought and I killed. Became their little bloodthirsty monster."
A sixth. "But that wasn't enough for them."
A seventh. "I protected the village."
An eighth. "I protected my comrades."
The ninth. "And I followed every order I was given."
The first clone stepped up to fall into rank with the eight new arrivals. "Funny thing, that. Despite all I did for them, both on mission and during the invasion at home, they took joy in the fact that I was denied promotion, immediately assumed that I was the sort who would take advantage of a female team mate given any chance at all, and generally took me for granted. If I was half the monster they thought I was, the village would be in ruins. Instead, I just wanted to be left alone." The clone popped its neck slightly. "I still want that. And I'm willing to fight to get it."
Kakashi nodded. "Jiraiya thought as much. Which is why we're authorized to do this." With a gesture, he and everyone else in the clearing disarmed, tossing weapons onto the ground, save for Gaara- who made no motion at all- and Sasuke, who simply snorted. "Not a damn chance, Kakashi. He knows he could beat me back then. Probably could beat me now, too."
Kakashi's visible eye somehow conveyed both disgust and resignation at Sasuke's reply- after the incident in the hospital, Sasuke was NEVER unarmed.
The clone who'd been originally speaking to them smirked, as did all those around him. "You don't really believe that, Sasuke. You still want to fight me again."
Sasuke adopted a smirk of his own. "Well, I wouldn't mind trading a few shots with you- just to see."
"That's going to have to wait, Sasuke." The first clone's eyes faded to jet black, as did the others. "You see, we're not here to fight or prove points. Kakashi already knows what happens if you dispel one of us. The real me bolts, and you'll never catch him. Our purpose isn't to fight you at all- just to see to it that you can't stop him or catch him. In the industry, I believe this is called a stalemate- and defender wins in a stalemate."
"Kakashi, another clone!" Called out both Hinata and Neji.
The clone assembly betrayed no hint of emotion or reaction, but Kakashi got the distinct impression that this was not part of the script- whatever the script actually was. "What is he doing?"
Neji said, "He's plucking... blades of grass?"
The entire assembly of Konoha nin looked at one another in something akin to bafflement. Under the watchful eyes of two Hyuuga and nine clones, the newcomer took the grass to the crest of the ridge and watched as the grass immediately dessicated and died. The clone seemed both mystified and satisfied with the results, before dispelling.
"Kage Bunshin doesn't have a hardwired distance limitation to it," Sasuke said out loud, "but that clone just popping up there means that the real you is pretty close by, isn't he?"
The primary clone snorted. "Close is a relative term. But close enough, I suppose."
"So now what?" Kakashi asked, pulling out an orange book and flipping it open to somewhere about a third of the way in. "We seem to be at an impasse, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, Naruto, and um... Naruto. Was that nine? I didn't really keep track."
One of the clones shared looks with the others, before replying, "You forgot me."
"Ah yes. Sorry about that, Naruto."
To Haku, the entire encounter was incredibly surreal. Almost half of the group possessed dojutsu that enabled them to tell that the clones were clones- at least, he thought they did. To him, it was like a nightmare and a waking delirium to see Naruto after so long, and not even be acknowledged by him in more than passing. Finally, in a small voice, he said,
"Naruto-sama. I would have followed you anywhere, but you ordered me to stay. Why did you- why would you leave Konoha like that without someone you could trust?"
The clone's words were sharp, swift and powerful, and cut Haku to the core. "I can't trust anyone."
"How-?" Haku choked slightly, incredulous at the pain in his chest at those words. Unconsciously a senbon of ice began to form in his hand as he began to shake with fury. "How can you- I would have done ANYTHING you asked me to! Despite my own wishes- and I DID! I STAYED!" Tears were forming on the edges of Haku's eyes as he ground the words out between his teeth. "I stayed for YOU!"
Shikamaru swore and brought his hands up into the tiger seal, his shadow extending out into multiple waiting tendrils.
That proved pretty much to be the catalyst.
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Naruto felt returning memories from a dispelling clone, and scowled as the signal for the Hiraishin tugged at the back of his mind. He quickly popped up a Kage Bunshin and vanished; the clone that remained behind put the issue out of his mind and continued to exercise the Mokuton. Knowing his time was short, he had to be quick and dirty about this.
It was fragmented. Damaged. Diminished.
It was an epiphany to the clone. Lessened, this Ancient was a mere collection of pieces, sundered parts, a shadow of its former self. No longer even fully sentient, yet retaining the spark of reawakening awareness and isolated pockets of memory, Naruto was in the unique position of a mortal having the intellectual upper hand over a member of the most intelligent and knowledgeable beings in existance. His mind travelled the tenuous, reconnecting threads, collecting images, thoughts, and crumbs from a mind that even shattered was all but incomprehensible in its scope. -memory possessions-
Possessions?
-lake (home) bipeds razorfish spiderbirds-
Spiderbirds?
-venomous silk spinners sticky silk entangles swimmers see them drown rot at the bottom of the lake fertilize the soilAncients... no, a single Ancient.
-memory-
One Ancient, massive, powerful, old even by the standards of their kind. The memories of watching- perceiving?- the drowning swimmers was fresh in his mind but right now Naruto felt like he was the one drowning. Concepts, thoughts, of both remembered and subconscious form, fragments of mind whirled past him faster than he could grasp them, as his own awareness sank deeper into the essence of the crippled Ancient. But even as he was overwhelmed an image as a whole began to emerge, strong in comparison to many of the others, as though repeatedly impressed into multiple levels of its mind. The Kyuubi was desperately repairing the damage his mind was sustaining even as the exposure tore at him; patches and seams stacked atop hasty fixes, energy drawn both from the Kyuubi itself and stabilized as best it could in the face of the broken thought-gestalt of the Ancient.
The image was of a place whose existance centered on catering to and protecting the whims and wellbeing of the Ancient that existed here, one entirely unlike those which lived in Konoha. Before the
-scouring-
destruction of Whirlpool the Ancient had been a single massive bed of something like freshwater seaweed, in an aboveground lake.
(vague memories of dozens of bipeds working themselves to death moving the Ancient from its evaporating lakebed down here, into the tunnels, bipeds working without sleep or food, those who died on their feet before the work was finished lay where they fell, while the rest, after their task was finished, drowned themselves in the lake to nourish to poor soil at the bottom of the water)
A clear memory of fading strength and power, its waning reserves being spent to imbue phosphorescence to the moss on the roof of the cavern, so that when it went dorment as it knew was inevitable, there would be light for it to survive on. Pale light, ordinarily insufficient for its needs, but without waning or sunset, maybe, just maybe, enough for it to heal.
Heal? Who was the attacker?
-blonde man unruly hair influenced already by the power of Ancients subconsciously controlled white cloak with flames-
Naruto's shock jolted him partially from the... consciousness was too strong, too generous a term. The protoconsciousness. The protoconsciousness itself was struggling to rise, at contact with this alien thought pattern.
Then the consciousness, for the briefest moment opened its metaphorical eyes, before the cost of its mental awareness drove it back into slumber. But the recognition was there.
It was a protoconsciousness. But there was, deep down, a sliver of mental awareness. It knew it was being examined. Invaded.
It was disjoined, and scattered. Incomplete. It was wounded and all but dormant.
But somehow, to his shock and horror, it RECOGNIZED HIM. Not him, as in Uzumaki Naruto, or even as a clone.
No.
Him. As in Namikaze Minato.
And in it recognizing that he was Minato, he recognized it too.
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"So, Kisame san, I hear this one's a little more dangerous than usual."
The former -ist nin snorted, wondering yet again why he was stuck with this pup as his partner.
Oh. Right. Itachi.
Itachi never recovered. Perhaps, given enough time, he would have recovered. But for an old bastard, Madara was fairly impatient. Some four months in, he'd had Itachi... liquidated. A nice, only semi messy term for the real process, which had made even him a little green around the gills, as Itachi had been literally dissected and stored away in pieces. Which made the follow up on the whole business rather disturbing: a bare month and a half after Itachi's death, his body- all of ithad turned up missing.
Madara's rage and demands to investigate had put them all two months behind the original schedule, and inadvertently revealed to the rest of Akatsuki who the actual leader WAS.
Now, Pein was a second stringer whose power was waning even in the eyes of the rest of the organization, and the only reason Madara hadn't removed the eyes from Nagato and implanted them into another, more powerful nin, was that the original eyes were... ruined. Somehow, years ago, before the Kyuubi jinchuuriki left Konoha, a fight with someone had damaged Pein to the point that the eyes couldn't be harvested. Pein himself had no memory of the procedure that would have removed the eyes, of course- Madara was at least THAT circumspect- but once Pein was made useless, the Rinnegan eyes were lost to Akatsuki, likely forever.
Which was why Akatsuki was taking a more... active stance in its recruiting.
Which, in turn, meant that Kisame was stuck with this runty little snot. Naive, easily deceived, misled at every turn- his only redeeming grace was the power at his disposal. And even as far as Kisame was concerned, this one was a piece of work to be cautious around.
Samehada actively avoided him, enough so that Kisame was certain it would defy him and flee should he ever attempt to fight the kid. A former nin of Tsuchi, his name was Fumio, no familial name, and he was something of a pariah even before his defection. His bloodline was considered to be a curse in Tsuchi no Kuni, the Tsuchi no Yakekoge, and he literally scarred the ground he walked on. Training of course could get the skill under control, but left to itself, it literally drained the life of everything it touched, even the earth itself. He'd gone missing nin after he'd chosen to research the effects of his bloodline on large selections of the population, without much care for who or what he took. At first, the Tsuchikage had attempted to cover it up, until Fumio went out into the countryside and selected a village, before unleashing his bloodline to its fullest in the middle of the night. The following morning, the village itself was gone, save for rotted flesh, shreds of decayed wood and cloth, and the blackened earth beneath it. The soil would be poisoned for generations, according to the experts, and the bounty on Fumio was one of the highest in Tsuchi no Kuni. Even the mad bomber Deidara- also a member of Akatsuki- tread carefully around the seemingly cheerful Fumio.
Tsuchi seems to spawn some seriously fucked up people, Kisame mused with a grin. Fumio still conducted his experiments, of course, but much more conservatively, having been brought to heel by Pein and the Edo Tensei, but it was a closer fight than it should have been, a sign of the fading life force of the Rinnegan wielder.
It figures that he'd live up to his name. Little scholar indeed. Out loud, he said, "Yes, this one is different from your run of the mill jinchuuriki. He's even escaped Pein a couple times."
Fumio smiled innocently, looking slightly off to the side. "That's very interesting. I wonder why we're being sent after a jinchuuriki that Pein couldn't deal with?"
"Because you and I take the power of our enemies as our own when we fight. As a result, you and I have at our disposal the one tool that could put us on even footing with him, out of the entire organization."
"And he's supposed to be somewhere around here, right?" Pressed Fumio, looking off to the left a bit.
"Yeah, that's the-"
An explosion from up ahead drew Kisame's attention in the direction Fumio was looking. "I suppose then that he's probably the reason all that's going on over there, hmm?"
"Hmmf." Kisame's grunt betrayed his irritation at being upstaged by this upstart, wishing not for the first time that Itachi'd not run across his brother. Itachi had been a good match for him. He hadn't had a decent partner he could stand since the mission to Konoha.
It bothered him that eventually, someone was going to have to go back there for the ichibi.
The pair of them hurried forward.
The battle was complicated by both sides not really wanting to kill the other. Naruto's clones held confidence that if they kept from dealing lethal or potentially lethal blows, they could stall long enough for the real Naruto to finish doing what he was doing and get the hell out of dodge. The retrieval team, meanwhile, was hampered by the need to entrap the clones without dispelling them, in hopes of being able to get past them without alerting the original that the pursuit was this close.
The retrieval team knew full well that if they could catch the clones quickly, they could hit them with dispel prevention seals. The technique had been in existence almost as long as the Kage Bunshin, and was a jealously guarded secret outside of ANBU intended to deal with Kage Bunshin users. The seals could not only stop the clones from dispelling, but could inflict enough pain-trauma on the clones that when they finally DID dispel, the feedback could stun or even knock the original unconscious. The pain induction process was fueled by the chakra in the clone itself, so that when the clone DID dispel, less of its chakra was returned to the original. Usually, all one needed to do was succeed at it once or twice to incapacitate a user.
Considering his tendency to shrug off pain and Kage Bunshin trauma in the past, however, they were going to try and get all nine of them, and any others they encountered as an attempt to slow them from pursuit later on. The seals were all linked to a single release, so that the full effect of all of them could hit him all at once.
He'd live through it, of course- the Kyuubi would see to that- but he'd probably be a little resentful when he finally woke up.
But that was a problem for another time. First, they had to bring him in.
So far, they'd gotten two clones. The rest, noticing that there was something going wrong with the attempt to dispel them from the outside, were suddenly much more cautious, but careful to remain between the retrieval group and the valley. Nine on seven quickly became eight on seven as Haku discovered his devotion to Naruto was no shield against a strange mud jutsu that flew into his face, clogging his eyes, nose and mouth. For a few horrible seconds he couldn't breathe, barely tell what was going on around himself, before clearing the gummy crud from his breathing ways. Temari managed to fend off the clone for a few seconds before it kawarimi'd behind Haku, roughly slapping its forearm across Haku's throat, then clapping both hands over Haku's ears hard.
Disoriented, Haku desperately tried to focus enough to create his Crystal Ice Mirrors, but even as he darted for the nearest one, his throat burning and his ears ringing, a heavy blow caught him across the temple and he dropped, momentarily senseless.
The smooth, rounded motions of Juken were well suited to soft style fighting, including jointlocks and throws, perfect for incapacitating a foe long enough to apply the seal. Neji and Hinata worked in elegant tandem, Neji's smooth and graceful shuffle steps closing the distance even between the clones' short ranged shunshins, and Hinata's chakra lancing out in neat, economical stabs to support him. A clone stumbled and fell, legs suddenly numb from projected strikes to tenketsu in its hips, and Neji darted in, slappping another seal on its forehead.
Eight on six.
Neji and Hinata suddenly called out a warning. "Incoming nin from the southwest!"
"Shit!" One of the clones swore. "Akatsuki!"
"Who?" asked Temari in confusion, while Gaara seemed to understand immediately, as did Shikamaru and Kakashi.
"Son of a bitch!" Shikamaru swore, abandoning his attempts to corral the clones. "Dispel and warn Naruto!" He shouted to the clones.
Of the six remaining clones, only one dispelled, but not before pulling a strangely shaped kunai from his pack and dropping it. Before it could travel more than a few inches, a blinding flash of yellow light heralded the arrival of a new Naruto, presumably the real one. Unlike the others, this one wore his slashed hitai-ate openly on his forehead, and had Kubikiri Houcho slung across his back.
Haku, coughing from the ground, whispered in a hoarse voice, "Naruto sama..."
Naruto frowned, looking at his clones sourly. "Well, isn't this some shit."
Kakashi glanced at Neji and Hinata. "Time til arrival?"
"Maybe thirty seconds at their current pace." Answered Neji.
"One confirmed Hoshigake Kisame." Hinata added.
"They've stopped, seventy yards." Neji said, scowling. "What the hell?"
There was a sudden rumbling they all felt not just in the air, but running through the ground. Naruto swore while Neji and Hinata went pale. Then, above the scattered tree tops, they could see a massive wave rising, the roar of rushing water like thunder and storm alike.
"Brace for impact!" Kakashi said, as Chouji swelled up into Baikahu no jutsu and crossed his arms in front of himself, trying to shield the others from the onrushing tidal wave.
The impact was like nothing he'd ever felt. His feet were driven deep into the ground, the rushing wall of water slamming into him like the hammer of the gods, and as the earth beneath his feet churned into mud he could feel himself being forced backwards. Even the sage chakra he'd gathered thus far wasn't enough to let him hold his ground entirely, for it wasn't his strength but the very ground beneath him that gave way. After fifteen seconds that seemed like an eternity, the rush of water subsided. "Is everyone alright?" He asked.
While he couldn't stop all of the attack, his size had taken the brunt of the wave, and the others were sodden, winded, but essentially unhurt. Water rushed around their collective waists- or ankles, in Chouji's case- but the group of them clambered to the top of the water and awaited the arrival of the approaching Kisame and his companion. After a few moments, Kisame and the other missing nin stopped, perhaps thirty yards away. "Well, I see we've interrupted a party!" Kisame said, smiling.
"Indeed- it appears that your earlier assumption of a forest fire was mistaken, Kisame san." His companion interjected.
"So it appears!" Kisame replied without missing a beat. "Still, better safe than sorry- what manner of a person would risk letting such a thing burn out of control?"
"You are quite correct in this, Kisame san," the other agreed cheerfully. "One can't be derelict in their civic duty to fight such hazards, after all."
"Just a concerned bystander, Hmm?" Kakashi said, mentally cursing that his combat gear- and that belonging to the rest of the retrieval team, for that matter- was gone. "Well, I suppose you can be on your way, then. There is no fire here."
"Ah! But it appears that we have three criminals present that should be brought to justice!" The stranger objected. "Two of them traitors to their home country of Suna, and the third a known missing nin from Konoha! We can't simply standby and ignore their presence, now can we?"
"Brings to mind stories about pots and kettles." Grumbled Shikamaru.
"Under most circumstances I would agree," Kisame said, still grinning, "but I think that we should be on our way. One such criminal at a time is quite enough for the likes of us to handle- I doubt we can manage three of them- or even two, for that matter. Fumio, let's be off."
Fumio did a double take at this, and appeared to be on the verge of protest, but a glare from Kisame silenced it before it could begin. Reluctantly, Fumio turned to follow Kisame as the latter walked away, but not before looking back at the group and drawing a thumb across his throat slowly, before the two splished off back into the waterlogged trees.
The entire group from Konoha looked on in confusion, as did Naruto. "Um... what the hell just happened?" Naruto asked.
"It would seem that they weren't very certain of their odds against the group of us- knowing fairly well that we'd join forces to fight them, whatever our current situations might be." Kakashi's voice was light, although it was clear that they'd all dodged a fairly large and nasty kunai in that retreat.
"Which leaves us back at square one." Naruto said. "I'm still not going back to Konoha."
His eyes flickered black, and he raised an eyebrow. "Now THAT'S a nasty little seal, there." He walked forward and pulled a damp strip off of a clone that was floating face up, whereupon the clone immediately dispelled. Naruto grimaced a bit. "Yeah, that's pretty nasty alright. You guys really must want your public execution. Either that, or my eyes. Not certain which would interest the village more at the moment."
Kakashi looked significantly at Shikamaru, who cleared his throat and pulled out a scroll from his vest pocket. Like everything else, it appeared to have spent a few minutes out in a torrential downpour. Unrolling it carefully, Shikamaru recited, "Uzumaki Naruto, by order of the Godaime Hokage we are here to bring you home. Your status as inactive is being retracted, and you are being recalled as a duty member of Konoha's shinobi roster."
Naruto tilted his head to the side, as something appeared to occur to him, and a slow wave of anger began to cross his face. "I wasn't aware that nuke nin was considered... retired from duty. Much less eligible for reinstatement."
Sasuke spoke up. "You were never listed as nuke nin. You were adopted into the Uchiha clan in absentia and given the same status of 'indefinite hiatus' that was granted to Senju Tsunade twelve years ago."
"How generous. I always wondered why the hunter squads never got too close. I always assumed caution or cowardice." Naruto said flatly.
Sasuke sighed in frustration. "Damn you, Naruto! Do you have to make this more awkward than it already is?"
Naruto gained a thoughtful look on his face. "Awkward? Do I have to make this more... 'awkward?' Awkward how, exactly? Awkward like 'a small kid in ratty clothes trying to buy groceries from a grocer who kicks him out' awkward, or something lighter, like 'two jinchuuriki in the same chunin exam, let's promote the one who has an indiscriminately murderous track record for the better part of a decade, and incidentally, lost.' How heavy of an awkward are we talking about here?"
Shikamaru rolled the scroll up in disgust. "Told the Hokage you weren't going to go for this.. Mendokuse."
Naruto's expression wavered for a moment before he mastered himself, finally appearing to calm himself. "I don't answer to the Hokage, or any Kage, for that matter. I have no interest in Konoha, rank, or-" Naruto cut himself off with a blink, as realization struck him and all the Kage Bunshin present with returning memories. "Son of a bitch. The kunai." Realization of what had been kept from him for fifteen years dawned on him, that somehow, he wasn't the son of Namikaze Minato or even a relative- that somehow he WAS the Yondaime Hokage. "You fuckers... who knew?"
Those present blinked incomprehendingly, and Naruto roared out, "WHO KNEW?"
This was different. Haku, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Shikamaru had all seen him ready to kill, and everyone present had been witness to his unhesitating kill of the Oto nin before the first part of the Chunin exam, but none of them had ever seen him in such a blind rage. "Knew what?" Haku asked.
"WHO FUCKING KNEW THAT I WAS THE FOURTH HOKAGE?" Naruto demanded. "WHY WAS IT HIDDEN FROM ME? WHY WAS I A PARIAH? WHY- w-why..."
Naruto hung his head. "What the fuck really happened on the night of the kyuubi attack?" He whispered.
Kakashi stepped forward, just outside of reach. "Maybe you need to have a talk with Hokage sama."
"The old man knew, didn't he?" Naruto said suddenly. "He knew who I was, and that's why all the attention to an orphan. It was never about the Kyuubi at all, was it?"
Kakashi shrugged. "I couldn't really say."
Naruto's eyes were sharp as he looked at Kakashi. "That's not the same thing as 'I don't know.' Is it, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi shrugged. "The village at large doesn't know still, and few of the shinobi forces know it even now." Kakashi blinked. "I suppose I should start calling you sensei again, shouldn't I?"
"Fuck that. I'm not going back, doubly so now." Naruto said. He began to back away cautiously, but the Konoha teams fanned out in a semi circle. Naruto halted, wary. "Say, it's pretty clear that the shinobi forces can't be hurting as badly as rumor has it, considering you have the man power to send three A-rank teams out here."
"Actually, it's worse." Neji replied. "Otogakure was fairly docile for about six months after the invasion, but then apparently
Orochimaru came back. What's worse, the nin coming out of Oto are faster, stronger, and tougher than most of our forces.
Every week, we lose people on simple missions from ambush, infiltrators breach the walls, civilians are kidnapped and... altered, and wreak havoc on small towns we rely on for support. Konoha is being scoured to death by sandpaper."
"And you want me to come back and join in the valiant last stand?" Naruto asked incredulously. "To hear you tell it, sounds like all I need to do is wait another six months and my problems will be solved. Not much motivation to come back."
"Naruto, you may be good- even better than you were before you left- but there are nine of us and only one of you. You can't possibly think you can escape us all, without the ability to rely on your Kage Bunshin to even the odds. Come peacefully." Sasuke's expression was hopeful. "You don't have to be on the run anymore. Konoha needs you, and you CAN turn this back for us."
Naruto snickered. "Kage bunshin isn't gonna work here, right? So I obviously don't have a prayer against all the bloodlines assembled here." Naruto shook his head. "After all this time, Sasuke..." Naruto didn't finish his statement, instead biting his thumb and making a quick handsign.
Smoke billowed up from the ground surrounding Naruto, and when it cleared, a dozen humanoid rats in shinobi gear were gathered around him, half crouched.
"Naruto sama, you called?" Asked one of them, as the group of Nezumi eyed the collection of Konoha shinobi.
"Suteru-chan, I seem to have run across some difficulties." Naruto said deferentially. "I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause, but I would prefer that they not be killed. I simply wish to leave in peace."
"Very well, Naruto sama." The Nezumi summons in front loosened manriki-gusari and nets, while the ones behind began forming hand seals.
"Well, shit," said Shikamaru. "Mendokusei."
End Chapter One
Fumio: Male name meaning "Scholarly child"
Suteru: Female name derivative of Suterusu, meaning "stealth."
AN: Well, I was looking at the calender night before last, and realized, "Holy crap! I haven't updated anything in five months!" So I grabbed my notes and took a long look at them, and finished the stuff I had outlined. Needs beta, I know, and I'll get around to it someday. Not all that happy about it the way it stands, but the slow shit right now is needed for what happens after. I hate to write a check to be cashed on my readerships' willing suspension of disbelief, but there it is.
Also, Itachi. Go with the story, and wait to see how it pans out before you start flaming and hating on me over this. I think you won't be disappointed.
A quick Omake and sign off, and I'll try to get the next one done before the end of October- no promises, though.
OMAKE:
The mold had died before he'd even left the tunnel and gotten into the house.
Kyuubi, are you pondering what I'm pondering? He asked mentally.
I THINK SO, KID, Kyuubi replied, BUT HOW DO YOU PLAN ON MAKING A FIFTEEN FOOT WIDE SHURIKEN SHAPED JELLO MOLD?
End Omake Ja mata.
-AXENOME