Hello all, this chapter is likely to be late, apologies, life is becoming most tedious at this time. Also it is a big B-day for my lovely sister's 21st, wish her well please (or ye shall roast in the fires of the afterlife!). Lots of family over, hard to deal with and time-consuming to boot. Hopefully some people enjoy this, seems to be getting progressively harder to write, not easier as one might think.
The blonde boy bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly. This was the day of retribution.
He would finally taste sweet revenge… Diving in for the kill the boy poured boiling water all over his unlucky victim, before grinning widely, grabbing two wooden sticks and saying
"Itadakimasu"
After which, one Uzumaki Naruto proceeded to chow down on his favourite brand of Ramen – home made. He then stopped to wait the two minutes for heating, after being burnt by the scalding water and having to chew raw noodles.
Rubbing his leg-stump absently, Naruto finished the Ramen and grabbed at his artificial leg, which promptly fell over, out of reach. Grumbling sourly the boy flopped to the floor and crawled over to the leg, cramming it back into proper positioning.
Hr got up slowly and sat down on the cheap wooden stool. Lately he had been having strange aching pains, for a few days here and there on and off for the last month since we have last seen him.
The pains originated from his stomach, it felt like a great weight had settled there, it would become worse if the boy was hungry, temporarily abating if he ate, then coming back soon after in full force. It was not there every day, yet was persistent enough to be a real pain in the… well you get the euphemism.
His left leg and ear also ached all the time, despite no longer being attached to his body. Naruto called it 'Phantom Pain' and ignored it as best he could. It was all just the price he paid for being a Shinobi, or so he told himself.
Leaving his dreary apartment, Naruto zipped off over the rooftops to the Hokage tower to meet his team and get a start on the day's mission.
This time it was finally a C-rank mission, simple guard duty yet still more exciting by far than doing shopping and hoeing potatoes.
Naruto positively floated along, looking every which way as the team, numbered 17 left the gates of Kohona behind.
About two days later the team, guarding their client still, who occupied a small caravan heading to moon country, came under bandit attack.
Naruto defended the East Side of the van, while the other Genin were at the West and South. Ibiki took care of the North while playing support for the others.
A big man came at Naruto with a huge poleaxe, swinging and screaming wildly.
Just like the ninja he is, Naruto ducked below the swing, bringing a Kunai up and cutting the pole of the axe in two, before jumping up and kicking his opponent in the face.
Two more bandits wielding swords came from both forward and behind, in a classic pincer movement. Naruto formed his technique for both defence and offence.
"Ninpou: Chakra no Tate Jutsu!"
Two concaved blue shields appeared, one for each man, they slammed into the unfortunate bandits with crippling force, ending their part of the fight.
Dodging a hammer swing from a corpulent man, Naruto used that same movement to spin and double kick the man in his overly large stomach, smashing him down and out of the fight in mere seconds.
Yet another bandit came, this one with twin short-swords. He was by far the most dangerous bandit yet, knowing well how to use those deadly blades. Forcing Naruto on the defensive, with no time for handseals in the intensely fast knife-fight, the bandit sneered.
He was slowly positioning Naruto's blades for a clean kill when the boy utilised an odd tactic. He leapt forwards, jumping up into a spring kick. The man buried both knifes into Naruto's left leg, knowing that the boy's Kunai were out of reach for the moment.
That same leg then popped off its joint! The man had little time to react as Naruto moved into striking distance, just managing to scrape his Kunai across the older man's throat. With that it was all over, the Bandit fell to the ground, gasping limply.
He bled out in another few seconds. Naruto cleaned and sheathed his Kunai in their holster, noting that his team had defeated the rest of the paltry group. Ibiki and the Genin had a short discussion, Ibiki saying grimly
"They were poorly organised and led, even for bandits. They must have been poor folk driven to steal, not hardened criminals.
This should serve to show the local people that they cannot do this to merchant wagons, but just in case be on your guard."
The Genin agreed, including a slightly shaken Naruto, they all went back to their guarding areas. The blonde examined his leg, which had two rather large, jagged holes in it.
The leg would still function, yet it would need some field repair before the others saw it and found out about his injury. Naruto did not know whether or not maimed Shinobi were kept on the active mission roster and had no intention of finding out the hard way.
The rest of the trip was uneventful; no doubt there had been hidden watchers to report the success or failure of the bandits and the condition of the merchant guards. Team 17 saw the guard off on the ship to moon country and headed back to home sweet home.
Around one day to go before they reached mission control, the team encountered a strange sight. One man, his flesh bursting with odd black vines, was fighting another person with a spiral mask that only had one left eye slit.
The person with the vines resembled a sewn-together corpse, as team 17 hid and watched the epic struggle he showed his terrifying power. The hearts of the man's victims were sewn into his flesh, allowing him to utilise their strengths. In particular large elemental attacks.
The masked figure was avoiding the corpse-man's attacks with a fluid speed and grace, using a strange Taijutsu style that flowed – not chopping movements in a straight line, but sinuous movement, not unlike a snake, yet always coiling and moving at an intense speed.
The living corpse became more frustrated, using a huge elemental combination Jutsu from two of his attached abominations.
Fire propelled by gale force winds slammed into the masked figure, who could not entirely avoid the blast. His mask and torso were damaged, revealing a mutilated man who had Half his body crushed and replaced with a variety of metallic objects. His left eye was the cold red of laser operation, while the right side of his face and body was completely encased in irregular metal.
The cripple quickly started spinning, his entire artificial right side allowing for an extremely fast rotation, sucking the latent fire and wind from the previous attack into a forming maelstrom. The man then moved his twister forwards, pulling the corpse figure in with intense suction, it was all team 17 could do to stay hidden themselves, a fair distance away.
Once both men were well into the Jutsu, it multiplied in size before exploding in a huge spray of wind and dust. After it cleared the two mystery Shinobi were still standing opposite each other, both the worse for wear; yet the zombie-man was noticeably worse off.
Both of his living heart-slaves had been destroyed in the explosion, leaving him evidently dangerously weak and vulnerable. The Cyborg was also slumping, his human half showing much damage, while his 'colder parts' still shining with a sinister sheen.
The two seemed to come to an impasse; the Zombie bowed to the Cyborg, before saying softly
"You have earned my respect, thus some time for yourself, you can wander around for one month, meet me here by that time expiry or face the wrath of my organisation. After all, I am the only one who can make you whole again; I know that metallic half-suit can not be comfortable. Think about it… Obito."
The Cyborg considered for a moment, dipped his head and replied with
"Very well, one month it is old man. I shall join Akatsuki then, yet not before, there is still one thing to take care of."
Obito left the scene in a twisting movement, vanishing into fat air. The Zombie chuckled ominously before saying apparently to himself
"Well, that will make eight members for Akatsuki again, we can finally start to move into the practical stage of the plan. Oh and you Konoha Shinobi hiding over there, I am feeling generous, therefore I shall not kill you, your hearts are either young or damaged in any case.
I shall be seeing you four again I take it, if you or any Konoha Shinobi come back here expect to die swiftly."
With that ominous statement, The still unnamed Zombie left the scene in a small cloud of smoke, also utilising 'fat air' to vanish without a trace.
Ibiki signalled for the team to leave, they did so with haste, heading back home. On the way their Sensei told the team that under no circumstances would they ever mention what had transpired that day. It was not to be considered an S-class village secret.
All of the boys agreed, understanding the seriousness of the situation. The two combatants had been fighting on a whole other level than any of them had ever seen. Even the Jounin that Naruto had previously fought was small fry compared to those two freakish men.
Once back in Konoha the next day, Ibiki went off to report, dismissing his Genin team with another stern lecture on keeping their mouth shut, after the three had discussed the fight during the night.
Naruto went to his favourite after-mission cooldown area – Ichiraku's Ramen stand of course. He greeted the stand owner and his daughter Ayame, who had been working there for some little time now. Naruto liked those two people; they were perhaps the only civilians he knew who treated him civilly.
The boy ate four bowls of pork and miso Ramen, attempting with some success to drown out his worries and experiences with the delicious food (the staple meal, if you ask him).
He paid, thanked and farewelled the Ramen stand owner and his daughter, walking contentedly off to his apartment. Over the course of the last week, Naruto had been house searching, he had come to the conclusion that he would have to stick out the hell-hole he was currently living in until reaching Chunin level.
At that time he would be doing enough C and hopefully B-rank missions to afford the rent on a larger place, in a brighter and more convenient area.
The next day found Naruto utilising his day off with the usual vigour. It was a day off for all Shinobi, there being large meetings of elders, Jounin and Chunin throughout the day, so Naruto could train with his favourite partner/sensei for the morning. Favourite might have been pushing it a little though.
The blonde ducked under a wild, vicious Kunai swing and executed a spring kick to Anko-sensei's Stomach, while being backhanded by the fist holding the original Kunai.
The combatants skidded away from the other, both forming handseals for the maximum effect and crying out their respective Jutsu "Chakra no Tate" and "Sen'enjashu!"
The six snakes collided with a front on shield, smashing it and halting one snake. Anko smirked while the snakes sped on, thinking that her student had miscalculated as usual with power and was about to be in a whole lot of pain.
It was then that two more shields came in from either side, smashing the snakes together and destroying three more, the remaining two hit several strategically placed shields when they attempted to move on to their target.
It ended with Naruto slamming one last backup shield down upon Anko, who could only partially dodge it, having one side hit by the massive wave of Chakra. She took a tumble down to the ground and lay unmoving.
Naruto looked elated for a moment, then worried. He called out "Hebi-sensei!" and ran over to Anko, rolling her over to see… one fist spiralling towards his face.
There was a cracking sound, then a thump. Naruto got up off the ground and looked over towards his sensei. The rather large rock he had replaced with was now lying atop Anko, who looked to be silently screaming with rage and pain.
The boy used a Bunshin with the 'Kitsune Kai' technique to create three clones, which proceeded to heave the rock off his temperamental sensei who, as predicted, destroyed the flickering Naruto copies.
A dishevelled, bruised and bleeding Anko got up and sat down near Naruto, who was sure to stay out of grabbing or stabbing distance. She wearily looked over at the boy and spoke
"Not bad Gaki, your tactics are finally up to par, that Kawarimi was very sneaky, not to mention the semi solid clones are getting better, they still flicker unconvincingly but they can move and interact with solid objects.
You do know that I am going to kill you though right?"
With Naruto's glum nod she continued
"Good then, I think that is enough training for this morning, give me a hand back to the tower in the forest, I need a drink and a shower."
The now smiling boy stood up and grabbed Anko's arm gently – a large mistake as he was then in turn grabbed not so gently and catapulted into the nearest tree.
"Never let your guard down Gaki, I will see you here the day after tomorrow, Ja Ne!"
With what she leapt off into the trees, pride restored. Naruto climbed out of his shaped crater in the tree grumbling to himself, before taking off to the nearest weapons store.
His stock of Kunai was beginning to get low and his pay for the C-rank mission would allow for some serious spending.
The only problem was in finding a weapon store that would allow his presence, there was only one that usually would and it was closed for the day, the owner busy with Jounin meetings.
Or so Naruto thought. Energetically running past the store, he noticed light on inside. The blonde comically skidded to a stop, barely missing a group of young women as he did.
Yelling out "Sorry ladies" and receiving his share of filthy and curious looks alike, the blonde retraced his steps back to the store and went inside. A bell jingled lightly to announce his presence.
A woman popped out of fat air, borrowing the fat oft the air it seemed, as she was quite plump. She asked politely
"Can I help you sir?"
Mildly surprised that anyone would bother to be courteous to 'the demon' Naruto opted for a mirroring politeness.
"Yes, please I am looking for one Dozen Kunai and three loose Shuriken, also I would like to look at the prices of various items, just a general browse for useful stuff really."
The now smiling woman (after all, everyone likes making money) led Naruto to the appropriate section for thrown and basic weapons, after selecting some cheap and well made products Naruto had a squiz around the shop.
He ended up buying a set of Shin-guards alike to Anko's, so he would not as easily get holes knocked in his fake leg, exposing a crippling injury to his fellow Shinobi.
He also purchased one small claw system; custom fitted to his arm, with the ability to adjust as he aged and grew. The system was relatively simple, one could extent three slim claw-like blades from a contraption hidden up the right coat sleeve, using them for extended range and surprise attacks in melee combat.
After his transaction and a bright farewell from the plump store clerk Naruto went to a surprise location – that is right, Ichiraku's Ramen stand.
The boy could most definitely eat. This happened to be uppermost on the mind of the owner, as his daughter watched Naruto slurping the Ramen fondly. The two had met Naruto long ago, defended him against two drunken men who had hassled him for eating in the Ramen stand, saying that 'demons cannot eat in restaurants.'
The owner had kicked the two out on their asses. He had thereafter been slightly apprehensive about potential customers, but Naruto had come back and always ate plenty, customers seeing five bowls stacked up next to the blonde daily made for a great advertisement.
It more than made up for the narrow minded people who avoided the 'demon's stand.' Naruto finished his sixth bowl hurriedly, almost feverishly as if trying to keep his mind off something.
Ayame asked Naruto "Ano sa, are you ok Naruto? You look worried."
The blonde looked at Ayame for a moment, Ramen noodles dangling comically from his mouth, before swallowing and saying
Yeah Ayame-chan, we had our first C-rank mission the other day. There were bandits… I killed one of them. I always knew it was required, but was hoping to delay killing others somehow.
They all call me a monster… will killing others make me into one?"
The boy looked at Ayame with such a hurt, confused expression that she found tears leaking from her own eyes.
"Naruto, you are not a monster!
Never let those pig-headed villagers tell you any different, most Shinobi are ok with you, they understand that you are just doing your job. Like you said all Shinobi have to kill sooner or later, the monsters are those who find themselves enjoying it.
Keep hating it and avoiding it where possible, only doing your duty to save others or yourself and you will be fine."
Naruto looked decidedly better after this encouragement, especially after the owner nodded and grunted emphatically.
"Thanks Old man, Ayame-chan, there… is not really anyone else to talk to about this sort of stuff."
They then reminded Naruto of a certain insane Kunoichi who did not seem to mind spending time with the boy, that she would probably welcome serious discussion about the Shinobi life.
Naruto left the stand truly happy, with no fake or blank expression, a rare occurrence.
He decided to find Anko and see if she would train some more, the boy did after all have an almost unlimited stamina supply, an afternoon off made him a little hyper these days.
The blonde searched high and low for the ever-elusive hebi-sensei, yet she was nowhere to be found. Her home, favourite bar, training areas all empty of the sadist.
Naruto was about to give up, walking randomly along the village when he saw something that sparked his interest. A sign for a fighting Dojo, where one could challenge the place was on the wall opposite the boy.
He eagerly ran over to the sign, following the directions until he came upon the Dojo. Upon entering and explaining to the tall man at the entrance that he wanted sparring practise with new people for once the man explained.
"You will be paired with our best, as this is only for challengers to the Dojo at the moment, Ninjas are advised that it is Taijutsu only, is this acceptable?"
Naruto nodded, he was subsequently brought to the inner room, a large high walled area that looked good for sparring. A man in green was currently instructing others with his back to Naruto and his tall guide.
"Dojo master, we have a new challenger for you (whisper whisper) Uzumaki Naruto wishes to challenge the Dojo."
The green-clad man turned around, to reveal a large fuzzy pair of eyebrows and an enthusiastic smile
"Ah, the flames of youth must burn brightly in you, I am Maito Sai, Konoha's most prestigious Dojo master, are you ready to duel until the inevitable knockout?"
Agreeing, Naruto readied himself for an epic struggle, removing his new hand-claw and various stabbing and throwing implements. Sai merely stretched as both fighters moved forwards and bowed to the other.
Naruto said "Good luck, Fuzzy brows." Sai merely laughed, before attacking quickly with a haymaker.
Naruto merely stood there and took the hit, both of his arms grabbed the offending fist, flipping the big man over his shoulder and kicking upwards Naruto managed to completely surprise his opponent.
Sai stood up, he could tell there would be a hell of a bruise on his stomach in the morning.
Well, Naruto, I must admit I did not take you, a child seriously, for that I apologise. Time for the real battle to begin."
The two then engaged in a series of quick punches and kicks, Naruto mainly on the defensive due to the larger man's reach in both the arm and leg.
Sai followed up a blocked punch with a straight kick, Naruto jumped upwards in response, grabbing the offending leg with both of his own, as he viciously chopped Sai's leg with both open palms.
He then kicked Sai in the head, as he did a large fist slammed into his stomach, courtesy of Sai, both combatants were beaten backwards.
Naruto was having fun with a strong new opponent, no Kunai or Jutsu, just plain and in its own way elegant Taijutsu. That last hit on his stomach had reawakened his old pains with a vengeance though – he had best finish the fight before it got worse.
Naruto charged in, fists pumping wildly. Sai thought the boy had lost his had and opted for another haymaker, so Naruto repeated his previous manoeuvre, grabbing the arm after it's attached fist hit his face hard, throwing Sai over his shoulder.
The boy then attacked while his opponent was off balance, due to falling face first onto the ground. He landed several solid blows and a nice kick to the solar plexus, though by that time Sai had stood he Naruto had to jump to reach it.
Sai held up a hand and wheezingly said "Enough Naruto, you win."
Sai had underestimated Naruto all the way through, this was the price he paid as the man sat down, bruised and sore yet smiling widely. Naruto was in a similar condition and disposition.
Sai gave Naruto the master key to the complex as his prize.
"You are a member of this fighting Dojo now Uzumaki Naruto, this key will afford you entry at any time to both our Dojo and the other that we defeated in Iwa.
Fight well and bring prestige to this complex Naruto. Your flames of youth will definitely help you in your Shinobi life so remember them at all times!
Who knows, you might even equal our best, Maito Gai one-day. Good luck Naruto."
With that the boy and man parted ways, Naruto going back to the Ramen stand saying "one for the road" before bed, Sai back to his home as the Dojo closed for the night.
Naruto ate his Ramen, farewelled the owner and his daughter Ayame, then went to his cold dreary apartment for the night.
His stomach hurt like hell that day, when he awoke in the night to use the lavatory he never noticed the dark rings under his eyes, usually a sign of a drunk or Insomniac.
The blonde had to take the day off missions, his team could handle the D-rank's with only three no problem. His stomach was horrible all day, the boy actually ate nothing throughout the day, staying in the apartment and being sick replaced his usual routine.
The night was slightly less of a torture; the boy actually managed a few hours of sleep before being rudely awakened, only to rush to the lavatory, lest bad things happen…
Yet another day dawned, this time Naruto felt fine, as if he had been holidaying for weeks. The boy signed himself in at the Hokage tower then waited for the rest of team 17 to get there.
This day it was two more D-rank missions, occupying time, if not actual skill. While maintaining a large organic garden, the boys found some rather odd plants, which Ibiki warned them not to touch or eat.
One of the two elder Genin, Yuu disobeyed these strict instructions, as kids are inclined to do, he spent the next half an hour seeing very bright colours indeed. Eventually Ibiki found the laughing Genin and spaced out Yuu, he found and administered an antidote.
With a promise of punishment for the whole team for not stopping Yuu, they got back to work with many an interested look at the plants, which tags read 'Marijuana – hazardous!'
The next mission was not dissimilar in skill or time to complete; they were cleaning out a suburb's roofs/gutters of leaves and the like. Funnily enough, the village hidden in the leaves did get a hell of a lot of leaf-litter.
Finally finishing in the early afternoon, the boys said goodbye to Ibiki, except for Yuu who was serving extra punishment both that afternoon and the next day. The other boys Naruto and Danzo only had to endure the next day's punishment, whatever that may be.
Danzo went to his home, he had told the others how strict and unyielding his father was on keeping a good schedule, meaning no fun whatsoever. Apparently Danzo senior was on the village council and headed a branch division of the ANBU, titled ROOT. Their purpose was unknown to Danzo junior and indeed most citizens of Konoha.
Naruto went for a surprising afternoon snack – you guessed it, Ichiraku's Ramen stand.
After the usual eating spree at the stand, this time with unofficial competition in the way of one Akimitchi Choji Naruto headed to training area 44.
He managed to find an unexpecting Kunoichi training there alone, all ready for an ambush.
Her clothes were similar to his own, Trenchcoat with fishnet underclothing, a coincidence he was always quick to point out when Anko started on his 'fan clothes.'
Naruto decided the time was ripe, he set off a rather large explosive tag above them, shocking the Kuonichi into looking upwards. This allowed Naruto's solid Bunshins to attack from the earth, slithering alone like snakes.
Anko detected the attack and used thrown Kunai and Shurkien to destroy around five of the clones; this is the point where Naruto crashed in from above, tackling the woman to the ground.
They rolled around, a comical dust cloud forming as fists and legs flailed, both combatants trying to knock the other out of the fight.
It ended with Anko pinning Naruto and beating him until she was satisfied that he learnt his lesson – never ambush a larger opponent unless you are sure to cripple them.
The two then talked for a time about general strategy, before starting off some serious sparring, their previous scuffle only being a warm-up of sorts.
Naruto went home, deciding for once to avoid the crowd and travel in the alleyways. He did not have the energy or concentration required for rooftop travelling.
The boy reached his home with little incident, noting the poor folk hidden deep in the allies as he went. They avoided most people, yet Naruto avoided them as well, most were angry and bitter at the Kyuubi for making them poor and homeless.
They would take out their aggression on Naruto if they ever saw him. Indeed, the boy recalled an incident not to long ago where he had been attacked by a lazy looking man in a dark place.
Naruto did his usual nightly activities, before collapsing on his bed, it had been a long day and the next would likely be taxing as well.
Morning. Another day, another mission. Naruto got up and went through the motions of actually waking, he opted for a mushroom and chicken Ramen, just to be different.
The mission for the day was said to be quite exciting for Genin, it was with slight curiosity that Naruto met up with the rest of team 17 and walked into the Kage tower for their assignment.
Naruto greeted the Hokage with the usual "Ojii-ji" for which he received a hard blow from Ibiki and a stern "Quiet gaki". The bear-like man was afraid that the third would take offence, as he usually was. Sandiame himself merely chuckled and briefed the team on their mission.
It was a C-rank mission, a Chunin from the hidden mist had gone missing completing a courier mission near Konoha, and they were to check the area and discover the location of the missing Chunin.
Kiragure could not afford to send their own team due to a crisis in their country, a rebellion was being stirred up and their Shinobi were putting it down. It was taking them a while, as the dissenters' leader was a Shinobi as well, no doubt the battles were equally fierce and wasteful.
The country being as large as it was, decided to take a relatively small loss of hiring some Konoha-nins (enter team 17!) to find their lost Shinobi and bring him back to the enfolding arms of the mist.
Manpower was needed for the mist above all at this time, they had even hired some Konoha-nin for the war, special Jounin for the most part. That aside, Ibiki gladly accepted the mission, a C-rank without bandit killing involved, saving a stranded and likely clumsy Chunin instead would be a great change for his strong, yet still young and impressionable Genin team.
Team 17 set out, Naruto loudly exclaiming over inconsequential details, such as the guards having 'weird face bandages' and the trees looking bigger and greener than ever. Ibiki reflected on Naruto's useful mindless banter, it took the other two Genins minds off their last mission, a slaughter of poor would-be-bandits if there ever was one.
The team made good headway, flitting from tree to tree silent as ghosts, if not as ethereal.
After three hours, they reached the last known point of contact for the missing Chunin, Dan by name. Dan had turned in the required letters to the drop off point, after which he had headed off. It was at this point, presumably on the way home that the Mist-nin vanished into fat air… for our intrepid team 17 to locate.
They found the Chunin a mere hour down the road to the mist… or at least part of him. Dan seemed fine at first glance, he told the party after they explained their purpose that he had become lost in the nearby forest while searching for food. He only found his way back to the road the previous day, which he spent recovering and eating some of the rabbit he caught while MIA (missing in action).
As they set out, back on the road to the mist border, the team found Dan's actions to be a little… odd. The squat man would crouch and sniff the ground every so often, his teeth showing as he bared two rather long and sharp incisors.
He would then spring up and charge ahead, leaving all but Naruto behind in a burst of irrepressible energy. The others would soon catch up to the now sedately walking figure, only to have the cycle repeat itself at every road junction and turn-off.
They decided to travel throughout the night, the Mist-nin wanting to help out his warring nation as quickly as possible. Team 17 had no objections, their pay increased the quicker they completed the mission.
They reached the border at midnight, as the moon broke through scant cloud cover, its full, scarred visage shining with reflected light upon the five males. Dan crouched again, this time his incisors lengthened to improbable lengths, and he crouched down and attacked the Genin closest to him – Yuu.
Dan jumped Yuu with an eerie and loud howl, savaging the stunned young boy while the others moved in 'for the kill.' Naruto jumped right into the fray, being immediately batted away from a single limb of the powerfully changed Dan.
Ibiki struck the legs, toppling Dan yet receiving a powerful blow to the throat, felling the bear-like Jounin as Danzo moved in and cast a moderately powerful Suiton Jutsu that the now enraged beast called Dan endured then merely shrugged off.
Naruto crash-tackled Dan as he moved for a shocked Danzo, his Jutsu was designed to weigh the miscreant down with heavy articles of water infused with Chakra, for Dan to still move meant his new personality was truly empowering.
Eventually, with much swearing and blooded noses and other body parts, the trio dog-piled Dan, squashing the fight more or less out of him with their bodies and many unmoveable but still solid Bunshins, courtesy of a "Ninpou: Kitsune Release" from one Uzumaki Naruto.
The other two Genin and a surprised Ibiki thus fought off and very physically restrained the mindless, snarling Dan before tending to Yuu. He had two rather serious puncture marks on the neck, as a result of a severe bite by Dan, along with other scratch and claw marks over his chest and face.
Ibiki immobilised the still snarling Mist-nin with a few well-placed pressure point taps infused with Chakra and they carted him deep into the mist nation. Eventually finding a wartime MSSH unit (Mobile Shinobi Surgical Hospital) they told the guarding Shinobi of Dan's condition, got two stiches for Yuu's neck injury and headed home.
Ibiki hurried them a good distance from the Mist's border, not wanting to be caught in a large battle inside the civil war-torn nation. Eventually they made camp in a freshly harvested field, plenty of open space around to prevent an ambush.
The party was not worried by any outside interference, like a large, angry army. Yuu did not get much sleep though, he complained of itching pain in the neck and general ill feeling.
Indeed in the morning it looked as though the unlucky Genin had a high fever, Ibiki and the other Konoha-nin took turns carrying him piggy-back style back to Konoha, none of them wanting to go anywhere near the Mist again. They had passed one river there, literally changed the red of blood by the shifting tide of the front line.
Team 17 made it back to Konohagure with the setting sun, stopping off at the hospital to check Yuu in, who was by this time delirious with alternating chills and burning heat. After reporting to the Kage tower for the debriefing and being dismissed Team 17, minus one went their separate ways.
Ibiki told them he would check on Yuu, they were to assemble the next day as usual. The bear-like man would then inform his subordinates of the boy's status and the subsequent effect on their team – if they would need a temporary replacement that is.
Naruto said his goodbyes and raced off to his near only haunt – Ichiraku's Ramen stand of course.
Eating his way through yet another large number of bowls, Naruto noted a cloaked man seated down from him, barely touching his noodles. The man was wearing a mask not dissimilar from an ANBU's, only its eyeholes had mirrored lenses in them, to prevent any from peering inside.
The masked man paid fro his Ramen and asked if anyone at the stand knew where a one eyed Shinobi lived. Naruto thought back and remembered a man similar to his 'Whitey', the ANBU who had been assigned to protect Hinata.
The blonde turned to the masked man and asked oft him
"Who is asking buddy? After all you could be a spy or assassin after Ka- I mean this one eyed man."
The masked man chuckled, a raw unused sound before stating with slightly more warmth
"So you know Kakashi, I am an old friend of his, I was wounded quite badly some time ago and have only just recovered enough to travel, I wanted to see my friend. Could you please tell me where he lives? An old cripple like me is no threat to a Konoha Shinobi after all."
Naruto immediately discounted that theory, he considered himself an unpredictable threat to any opposing Shinobi, and one could not call him anything but a cripple.
"Well… I will take you to meet him but if you try anything funny I will set off a reconnaissance Jutsu set up here to catch criminals, so be warned!"
Naruto watched the masked man, unable to see if his bluff was intimidating.
"Very well, lead on, by the way my name is Madara, Uchiha Madara."
Naruto replied with his own given name, though he never knew who had named him so, both males ignored the slight gasps from the Ramen stand owner and his daughter at the exclamation of another living Uchiha.
They set off for Kakashi's house, which Naruto remembered from doing the man's shopping as a boring D-rank mission some little time ago.
He knocked on the door, yelling out rather loudly
"Hey, Whitey-look alike, there is a man who claims to be your friend out here to meet you… Come on, I don't have all day you know."
After a minute the frowning gaze of Hatake Kakashi graced the view of the impatient boy and Stoic, mysterious figure behind him.
"Hello Naruto, what a… loud surprise, I am afraid I do not recognise you sir, your name?"
Naruto quickly burst out "He said it was uh… Uchiha Madara"
Th masked man then pushed back his cloak and took off his mask revealing a mechanised half face and robotic eye that Naruto recognised, as he unthinkingly blurted out
"Obito!"
The not unmasked man smiled, a mere twitch of the lips, as he said calmly
"Sorry for the deception Kakashi, it is definitely harder to move about when one is a dead man. Can we go inside? I dislike showing my face in public."
Kakashi nodded dumbly and the two visitors came inside, Naruto mostly to satisfy his curiosity with the metallically modified man. After all, he had been fighting that weird guy who talked about 'Akatsuki' with a whole new level in power, from what the boy remembered.
After they all sat down, with Whitey himself already there saying hello to Naruto a tad sadly Obito felt three pairs of eyes trained on his own robotic lens.
"Well, I guess it is time to explain myself, like how I am still alive and here after all this time. First a little background is in order:
Roughly eleven years ago, Hatake Kakashi was promoted to Jounin, while still only around thirteen years of age ('I was eleven Obito!' 'Yeah yeah'). His Chunin team members, Rin and myself, with our then former Jounin Instructor, the Fourth Hokage himself, were on a mission.
It was the time of the Third great Shinobi war, Iwa and Konoha were fighting fiercely and Iwa had their sights set on Grass Country. It borders Konoha, so we had to stop them from taking it over, as we would be deep in the shit at that time.
Konoha's strength was at an all time low, due to the warring, so our team split, the Fourth, then the legendary 'Yellow Flash' and us three forming separate teams. The Yellow Flash would attack the front lines to divert attention, while Kakashi led Rin and myself in a sabotage mission, to take out a bridge critical on the supply line.
Kakashi and me, we never really got along, alike to water and oil we were. However, we grew up and set aside our feelings when the enemy captured Rin. Fighting to save her, we succeeded too even though Kakashi lost an eye in the process, then one of the Iwa-nins brought down the roof on us.
Long story short, I got crushed and asked Rin to use medical Jutsu to take the healthy eye out of my dying head and implant it in Kakashi's own. They got out of there, I did not. I heard later that Kakashi made a famous name for himself: Sharingan Kakashi, I am glad for you my old friend.
While lying there, dying, alone with the pain and rocks I heard an odd sound. Almost like a chirping sound it was, I remembered a forbidden Jutsu that I learned from watching my Otou-san train, taking the latent energy from one's surroundings to quarantine areas of the body.
This stops all bleeding and whatnot in those areas, it is forbidden because of the ease with which one can accidentally quarantine ones own heart. That would not be a pretty experience
Also once the area is cut off with the Jutsu, it takes years of dedicated time and study to learn how to reconnect it, the patient has to do this himself too, making it useless for modern medical Jutsu.
Not having much to lose I used the half remembered Jutsu, it disintegrated the solid rock around me over the course of a few hours and stopped the bleeding, I managed to also fumble out a blood replacing pill, as well as a soldier pill for energy.
Using a Kunai to cut off the useless side of my body, it looked like I actually had a chance of surviving, if I could outlast the ending war.
I had to hole up in that cave, living as I could while the fighting died down. It took me two months to get out of Iwa all told, since then I have been looking for ways to replace or regrow my damaged body.
As you can see, partial success has been met, with the robotic body. It functions, yet flesh is literally where the heart lies, I will not rest until I have that flesh again.
Thus we come to the reason of my visit. There is a way to trade in the Ugly cybernetic parts of this body, it involves a very distasteful man and an organisation called 'Akatsuki'.
Now this organisation is made up of currently around seven S-class missing-nins, they mean no good to any country, I am sure of that. In one month, I shall infiltrate the organisation, hopefully learning its goals.
The reward, as of such for joining is simple – a man who can sew up and connect to his body the hearts of dead Shinobi's will use a suitable corpse to give me a brand new, meaty right side. Not perfect but it will be much better than the mechanical monstrosity that looks out at you all now. Also it will net me two eyes, normal ones but I will take them for now, and gladly.
While there I hope to kill one Uchiha Itachi, he killed off my clan and will not live any longer if I have any say in the matter. If successful his body will be accompanying me back to Konoha, where I hope to see one Sennin, specifically Tsunade here to take out Itachi's eyes and give them to me.
If all goes well, I will gain valuable intelligence on an obviously hostile group, while whittling down their numbers, a new body and Sharingan eyes, Konoha will get me back, hale and strong. Also all of the intelligence that I have picked up on other villages and people for the past ten years or so will be Konoha's.
My plan is detailed here, I ask for the leaf to locate Tsunade before the end of this coming month, with probably two weeks leeway for me to get into Akatsuki and out.
I have also heard some rather unfortunate rumours that the Jinnchuriki are the reason for Akatsuki's existence – specifically catching and extracting their demons, killing the hosts in the process. I shall verify these rumours in this time, and as Konoha plays host to the most powerful demon of all, it is imperative that we do not let its container fall into their twisted hands.
Incidentally Uzumaki Naruto, you should know that the reason you heard all of this and likely the reason you find Jutsu hard to perform, is that you are the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most powerful demon in existence."
There was then silence in the Hatake residence. Two people had just had their worlds turned upside down, one had been reunited with a still living friend, and the other had discovered the reason for his lonely existence and the source of his Jutsu troubles.
It was too much for our hero; he fell backwards off the chair, having fainted. Kakashi looked as if he wished that were an option.
-End of chapter. What will Konoha's response to the daring plan be?
Will Naruto be able to cope with this ominous news?
Find out in the next exciting chapter of Uzumaki Naruto: Pressure.
Authors notes: I have likely bungled a year here or there on dates, for example I think Orochimaru should still be with Akatsuki at this time, for the sake of relative simplicity I am modifying the storyline to suit and say that he has already left.
Also I utilise certain characters from the Naruto Manga who have not yet aired on the Anime, if you do not read the mange they will probably look like OC characters, be patient or read the Manga is all I can say.
Good day/night wonderful or vindictive people of the world. Enjoy your computer browsing experience on fanfiction website number1 please.