Raised by a Wild Horse Chapter 8
"Speech"
'Thought'
/Kyuubi/
All thanks go to Pax-Draconix as my beta reader. Without him I'm sure there would be many more mistakes.
Chapter 8 Part A
On a cliff in
"Naruto?" Ranma was looking at her son with a curious expression.
"Yeah Mom," Naruto was adjusting his white gi to his slightly taller male form.
"When did you change back into a boy?"
"Just now, I fight better as a boy." The boy in question said as he settled into a fighting position.
"Where did you get the hot water to change back?" At this Naruto scratched the back of his head.
"Um, I just changed back. Why do I need hot water," Asked the confused blond.
"That's how the curse works. Cold water turns us into girls and hot water changes us back into boys." Ranma said getting a little frustrated.
"Oh… I just changed when ever you did. I didn't even think about it honest." At that point the Cloud ninjas arrived on the scene. Finding a red haired woman trying to strangle a blond boy wasn't expected.
The Hyuuga girl they spotted lying nearby clearly showed they'd found the proper targets.
"Hold it right there! You have property that belongs to the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Return the girl and come quietly or you will be killed!" The younger of the two demon handlers shouted.
"Idiot." The older of the two ninja faded from sight only to reappear imbedded with a crash in a nearby boulder. He'd attempted to use Shunshin, a short range high speed technique, to grab the girl. Ranma put her foot back on the ground and gazed contemptuously at the ninja.
"I know old women that are faster than that." Across the dimensional barrier both Khu Lon of the amazons and the Psychic Genkai both sneezed.
"I'll show you fast. Release attack barriers 1 through 4 until these two enemies are defeated." Forming four seals with his hands the ninja smirked. A flash of light forming odd symbols flared on Yugito Nii's face and neck. A roiling black abundance of demonic energy flashed into being briefly forming a roaring cat's head above the female shinobi.
Relaxing into a posture that screamed sensuality Yugito Nii reveled in the power loosed. Her only regretting was that the same power could not be used against her jailors. Turning to glare impotently at her controller she took some small pleasure as he cowered at her gaze.
"You may be safe now, but one day you will die." Her voice had become smoky and sultry. Ranma had shivers running up and down his spine, although it wasn't from the c-c-c feline thing that had formed above her head.
"Naruto… This one is all yours. Anything goes." Moving to the unconscious child she lifted the girl onto her back and faded into the Umisenken. Hidden from sight she took stock of the situation as it was unfolding.
"Okay, old lady, it's you and me now." Naruto said with a big smile. This pulled Yugito from her minor shock. Her surprise came from loosing all sight of both females of the group. None of her senses could accurately locate the child she was supposed to return to the Raikage. Controlling herself she considered the boy in front of her that she now knew was named Naruto.
"Old Lady? I'm only seventeen, brat." Her voice had lost its smoky quality and instead held a growling tone.
"Yeah, that's ten years older than me right." He took a moment to do the math on his fingers just to be certain. "Yup, that's really old."
With a massive roar the container of the two-tailed demon cat attacked with all of her ferocity and rage. Which wasn't quite enough to match wits with a practitioner of the Saotome Anything goes style. Naruto bounced and weaved around each and every blow as if the Cloud Ninja was striking at the very wind itself.
Leaping into the air Naruto unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt. Hidden from sight roughly ten or so meters away from the battle Ranma sighed at the bill she'd be paying for the loss of Kaiza's products.
"Hidden Weapons Technique: Barrage of the Tuna Fish!" This was yelled out and the air was filled with Tuna. Some of the fish reached 150 centimeters in length, or nearly five feet long. This left a veritable mountain of sea food covering the woman.
Meanwhile the handler of the demon container was getting frustrated at the complete lack of progress against the seven year old. Deciding that overkill was never a bad thing he shouted out his next command. In the back ground his older comrade was regaining consciousness.
"Demon! Final seal: Annihilation Release!" This outcry was responded to in kind by the older man making a desperate shout an instant to late. He'd had experience around the final form of the Jinchuuriki. The beast was wild in its pure chakra form and uncontrollable for several minutes.
Expecting a swift if very painful death by fire the more experienced man braced for death. Only after not being burnt to ash after several moments did he open his eyes. There calmly munching on the large pile of Tuna was the Nibi. The demon, for all of its power, ate like a contented house cat. Looking around the ninja could find no sign of the thieves.
Neither would have happy lives following the mission debriefing with the Raikage.
At the same time in Konoha.
"I am glad you came to me Itachi." The Hokage smiled at the shadow clone of the Uchiha prodigy. "This is important I will agree. However, I am fully aware of the situation. In fact, I have been assisting your clan for some time now."
"What? But sir, I don't understand." Shadow clones were truly quite remarkable in their abilities after this conversation the true Itachi would possess all the knowledge of the conversation even across the village.
"I have an infestation here in the village. The Root of the village has developed a bit of disease. Should that disease be allowed to fester it will pull down the great tree that is our home. I am hoping that your clan can help me to burn away the damage. If you look carefully you will find that many other positions have been filled quite nicely by other clans that have a more, shall we say, equal standing in our society. I have no wish for any one clan or association to have too much power." Sarutobi lit his pipe and inhaled deeply.
"The paperwork made it seem like an attempt to rest power to my clan. Why make such changes look so… suspicious?" It was a reasonable question to ask, but not an easy one to answer.
"That is simple and yet complex at the same time. Some one is attempting to manipulate the Hokage office while it is unsuspected that I too am manipulating my unseen opposition. I have my suspicions yet no proof." Both stood silently for a time contemplating the situation.
"Should I dispel now sir?" asked the clone of his leader.
"I think we should determine where you are so as not to… inconvenience your creator at an inopportune time. The mental aspects of this technique can be jarring as I'm certain you are aware." Seeing the nod of agreement the Hokage reached beneath his chair and flipped a switch. In an instant the two ninja were transplanted to a different room with a table and chairs. Resting on a cushion at the center of the table was a clear crystal orb.
"This, Itachi, is the Observation Orb." The boy could almost hear the capital O's in the name. "For, as long as the village has existed we, the leaders of the village, have had the power to see anything within certain limitations. We do have to specify what we wish to see and the control is difficult at best most days, but it is still an invaluable tool."
The Sandaime placed his hand on the Orb and concentrated on his desire to locate the original Itachi Uchiha. After a moment of feeding chakra into the sphere he lifted his hand and both gazed into its depths.
To be continued...
Short I know, but writers blocks are hard to chip through sometimes.