"Normal speech"

Thoughts/Sound Effects/Emphasis of words

MECHANIZED COMMUNICATIONS

MECHANIZED TECHNIQUES

"Flashback dialogue/Japanese/French/Emphasis of words (speech)"

"Demon speak"

Inner Sakura

Seasons Don't Fear

Chapter Three:

Preludes and Nocturnes; Delirium and Delight

Six months preceeding the Konoha's seventeenth annual fox festival...

Strength. Authority. Permanence.

The castles of the world are designed to project these ideas into those that view them as much as they are made to withstand sieges and anchor the rule of law. But in this world, it was an illusion easily dispelled. Despite its imposing battlements and full compliment of guards it was still quite vulnerable to those most deadly of weapons: shinobi.

One of their tools even now was in position, hovering hundreds of meters above the courtyard below, waiting for the moon to reach its zenith to begin the assault. Its appearance was unique in the entire world, (though in a world dominated by craftsman and artisans this, in of itself was fairly common) and it was a revolution in weapon design. The main of its volume was occupied by a spinning 1.5 meter rotary fan (heavily adapted from designs used for desk implements), which had been encircled with a donut-shaped bulkhead of curved plate metal. Below the ring structure, were mounted three lens-eyed, streamlined, and roughly cylindrical cameras trained upon the keep below.

SPECTRUM ISOLATION COMMENCING…

Flipping through a number of filters to remove or amplify specific ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum in a pattern dictated by a complex algorithm based upon the statistical probabilities of circumstances that could be found in the field, eventually it hit upon the correct combination for its aims. Miles away, an unattended scying device displayed a series of blue-white smudges overlaid over the dulled image of the fortress.

ISOLATION COMPLETE

TARGET SEARCH COMMENCING…

The cameras swung wildly around within the outer limits of the building, piercing walls and floors as their host sought its aim. As one camera fell upon one room containing two bright burning embers, and a single white spark, the other two immediately trained upon the triad.

VERIFYING TARGET…

The three mechanical gazes focused more perfectly upon the figures, and detail erupted from obscurity. Now within the far-removed monitor shown three wireframe human forms, light bleeding from the frames to allude to the surrounding flesh. One figure was masculine, both in form and eye-searing intensity, with a peculiar vortex of red light within his sea of chakra. Another was feminine and somehow very deliberate in its alignment, showing a glowing structure of great strength despite its limited resources. The last, also female, was dull and indistinct compared to its companions. It was prone upon the ground in a relaxed position, and flanked on both sides by its more intense attendants.

Removing a filter and shifting several flexible internal lenses, the mechanized eyes took in the dark hair and soft features of the aristocratic young woman asleep on her mat.

TARGET VERIFIED

BEGINNING PRIMARY ASSUALT PREPERATIONS…

From within the ring of steel and aluminum a sheet of sturdy woven paper fastened to a cast ring rotated down on a curved gimble arm, and came to a rest only as it reached a position horizontal to the ground directly below the center spoke of the spinning fan. Two additional curved arms extended to brace the ring like an inverted tripod, and as the parts locked into position, a slight azure glow suffused the paper. Or more specifically, the sigil painted upon it.

INITIATING MACHINE SUMMONING TENCHU NO YA …

And beneath the machine formed a cloud of smoke, quick dispersed by the downdraft of the fan. What was shown to be concealed was an arrangement of copper tubing and steel bulbs arrayed around a central, and highly aggressive tube, all mounted upon a swivel which had affixed itself neatly upon the metal ring which formerly mounted the now missing paper.

TRIANGULATING TARGET…

The cameras, through internal gear mechanisms, relayed data about their relative latitude, longitude, and elevation to establish their line of sight on the target. That, along with distance calculations crunched by a gearbox from the lens-focusing mechanism gave the exact position of the target relative to the silently hovering automaton. The hanging assembly swiveled deftly to bring itself to bear upon the middle figure.

ADJUSTING FOR WINDSHEAR…

A slight adjustment to the left, to counteract the land breeze that was unlikely to let up until mourning, according to the projected meteorological data.

CALLIBRATING FOR DISTANCE…

A slight twitch upward, followed by a huffing sound that continued for several seconds as the hanging weapon slowly drew in air.

ADJUSTING FOR OBSTACLES…

The cameras flashed through settings, shifting through layers of architecture, noting materials and volumes of all pertinent obstacles. The huffing sound continued, as the mechanism tuned itself to produce the desired effect, followed by a series of clicks when it was satisfied.

CHECKING SETTINGS…

COMMENCING PRIMARY ASSULT

pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft

From the flechette gun four darts accelerated in quick succession, each one optimized to breach a different material.

Tile, wood, paper, and finally flesh were pierced by the needles as they rode each other's tails to deliver the final dart and its venomous payload. However, the final dart wasn't embedded within the target's heart. Instead her masculine bodyguard had intercepted it with his palm a scant instant before impact. All at once, the castle's lazily patrolling guards were swarming like ants in a disturbed colony.

PRIMARY ASSULT…UNSUCCESSFUL

COMMENCING SECOUNDARY ASSULT

The firing mechanism unlocked itself from the mounting ring and dropped like a stone, an internal device igniting it once clear of the parent craft. As the ring and three arms receded into the torus shaped body, a ring of steel raised itself from its recess atop the donut shape's highest point. Armor plates slid around the axis of the fan on the outer wall of the machine, exposing three seals etched into the thinner metal underplating beneath. The fine lines of the carvings began to glow from within, as the machine cycled up for its next directive.

INITIATING MACHINE SUMMONINGSANSORA …

Three figures emerged from the resulting smoke, clutching the raised bar and feet planted on the plating that had summoned it (now bearing scorches obscuring the etchings). The flying ring, over its approved weight for this altitude, plummeted toward the ground.

"Damn! Sakura, that burns like hell!" The half-matured teenager complained to the girl bent over his hand. He didn't pull his hand away though, or even allow it to twitch, he wasn't that dumb.

"Of coarse it does Naruto, I'm incinerating the poison in your blood stream before it spreads." Sakura retorted, exasperated by his attitude. First he complains that nothings happening, the little jinx. Now…

"I still think we should find whoever threw those." Naruto said sullenly.

"We can't." Sakura replied, more than a little condescending, "We have the backup of a team of chunin so that they could do the leg work and we don't leave the client exposed."

I wish he would focus more in briefings, she though, I'm always the one who has to retell him everything five times.

We should smack some sense into his lazy ass! Sakura's more… passionate side advocated a policy of tough love, especially when annoyed.

Naruto's not that bad, just…a little inattentive.One Sakura didn't always agree with, fortunately for Naruto.

He does this every time! It's as annoying as all hell! He needs to learn a little respect.Inner Sakura pressed.

This is why I don't let you out anymore.Sakura sighed mentally.

Because I'm honest?

Because you're a sociopath!Sakura wailed within her mind, in a way not dissimilar to the one she was shouting down.

Tomae-to, Tomaa-to

"Sakura-chan, you okay?" Naruto asked, slightly concerned by the unaccountable shifting of emotions he had seen on her face. Well, that and the fact that she had drifted off in the middle of the medical procedure she was performing on him.

"Fine, just having a little argument with myself" she replied sheepishly.

"Been there," he replied with a sagely nod, eyes squinting. "Umm… Can I have my hand back now?" He asked after a moment.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, we're done." Sakura blushed a little, more at the oversight than the contact.

"Anyway, as we are here to see that no harm come to princess here," she said, continuing her explanation of why they had to stay with the client, "As a sign of good faith from the village to Ta no Kuni. Her father is a diplomat currently at the summit negotiations to sanction multinational war on the Akatsuki."

"I got all that, by why do we have to play babysitter to some spoiled daddy's girl? We could do more good out there if there's trouble" Naruto retorted, showing an ever increasing presence of mind that still caught Sakura off guard.

"Because, Naruto, we have next to no experience in defense of a fortified position, but no one in the village can even touch our track record against the Akatsuki. Our techniques cause a lot of collateral damage. If we were out there against a full frontal assault, we would likely win." Seeing her teammate's victorious grin she continued, lest he get a swelled head, "But we would probably trash the castle walls in the process. If, and I hope they don't, but if someone manages to get past the chunin and the regular guards, we're the last, best line of defense hime here's got. We're insurance."

Naruto screwed up his face, balancing the boredom and importance of their position, while tossing in the lives of their compatriots through some complex moral arithmetic.

"That's cool," he reluctantly allowed " just wish this job wasn't so dull, that's all." After a moment's though he amended, "Except for the whole dart-through-the-hand thing."

Suddenly, there was a crashing noise from the adjoining hallway, and a slight perfume of blood.

"Wish granted." The pink hair kunoichi deadpanned, with inner Sakura adding a venomous- Idiot –to the end.

The light form the windows near the ceiling in the hallway provide enough illumination to show the lumbering shape in the hall against the paper interior-dividing wall. Though indistinct, as though the edges were softened by smoke, it was easy to determine his position. And ready an attack.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered to his teammate, who was closer to the door. A rasengan was gathering in his hands. "Human Arrow."

She acknowledged him with a nod and cupped her hands and dropped to a knee as silently as possible, silently cursing that they had never gotten around to practicing hand signs. The next instant, Naruto was hurtling through two walls, (one paper and one plaster, stone and concrete) with the intruder in tow. A ball of swirling destruction held in front of him one handed.

"There may be others. Stay inside until one of us comes to get you." Sakura told their now veryawake client from where she was just about to join the melee. Looking at Naruto where he had fallen in the courtyard below, she added, "Or until he demolishes the building, whichever comes first."

And then she descended to the plain of combat.

Naruto and his opponent squared off among the detritus they had ripped from the fortress wall on the way out. The anonymous assassin's form was squat and wide, but blurry and indistinct even in the open air of the courtyard. It seemed little more than a clustering of smoke and shadow. Or would have, if the leaf nin hadn't already hit him on the way out. As it was the figure was so blurry it took all of Naruto's squinty-eyed concentration to make out that it was holding some sort of weapon in his hands. Just what was impossible to tell. Naruto belatedly wished he had spent some more time training to counter genjutsu.

As the attacker made a massive but nearly indistinguishable downward strike, Naruto rolled to the right and threw a punch to what he hoped were the back of his opponent's knees while in the process of regaining his feet. Scoring enough of a hit to push his attacker off balance enough to drive whatever he was holding in his hand into the ground to keep his feet, Naruto leapt slightly back and prepared to press his advantage.

Only to feel about 95 pounds sideswipe him at 20 mph before he got the chance. After a moment, he realized it was Sakura, pushing him out of the way as a plum of painfully white fire burst from where he had been standing half a second before, catching the smoky figure in the blast radius.

"Where is he?" Naruto asked his floral teammate as they got their feet back under them.

"Southern wall, battlements." She replied, quickly moving to cover his blind spot. "He's using some sort of incendiary launcher, not Ninjutsu."

"Really?" He asked with interest. Then, flashing a cocky smile over his shoulder, "So who do you want to take, Sakura-chan?"

"I'll handle the first one. He seems more my style." She replied airily, "You can have the fire bug." She smiled back wickedly, "Have fun, Naruto."

Well, at least now I can see him. She thought derisively, counting her every blessing as her partner ran with all hast to the other assissin.

Whatever had caused that fireball managed to negate the cloaking technique her opponent was using. Probably because it had incinerated his (literal) cloak. His armored form was now covered with a ruined patina of fabric that looked like scorched nothing, for lack of a better metaphor. Which was quickly and violently removed, as it was doing no good ruined as it was.

Thick overlapping plate armor covered the warrior; his head was covered with a featureless helm bereft of any holes for sight or ventilation. His arms and legs were disproportionably short for his torso, which was that of a sturdy man who might stand at seven feet, while the limbs brought him at least a foot and a half less. But they were well developed, their short length belied by girth appropriate to the body's frame and likely immensely strong.

There seemed to be a direct effort to compensate for the decreased reach too, as his weapon was on a scale with those of the seven swordsmen of the mist. It was a two meter length of steel shaped like a staff and just as regular. It was honed to a blade on both sides, if the moonlight angling off it was an indication, and had no hilt or grip at all. Instead it was sharpened to a point on both ends.

This isn't going to be easy, is it? She sighed to herself.

Her armor-laden opponent tore the last shreds of his mantle away as she made her assessment, and thrust himself and his massive blade aggressively forward. Covering the intervening distance at a pace decidedly unlikely with his too-short legs, he flourished the blade into an overhead slash that had it connected, would have cleanly bisected the girl. As it was, a moment before impact, she deflected the blade with the flat of her right hand. The blade dug into the packed earth if the courtyard and stuck there.

Using the twist the deflection had given her body, Sakura followed through with a right kick to his armored ribs, causing a depression and a network of fractures over the adjoining plates as the force of impact was amplified beyond her mere muscular strength.

So the armor is some kind of ceramic,Sakura thought she watched her opponent twist sideways with the force of her counterstrike, wrenching his blade from the ground and tumbling several meters. I can use that to my advantage.

Pouncing on her unguarded adversary as he uneasily regained his feet, she drove her fists into his armor in a barrage of rapid, punishing blows. When she finally withdrew it was only to ensure that her brutal yet surgically precise work was properly done. As he recovered himself and again began to rise, it became evident that the joints of his ceramic-slab armor had been pulverized, shards of the formerly protective covering driven inward. He was paralyzed by the stabbing and seizing of the fragments of armor.

"Gotcha" Sakura said, justifiably proud of the improvised tactics. We have to tell Naruto about this one, he always gets the cool moves. He'll be jealous as hell!Inner Sakura commented, an idea with some merit for once.

But not content to rest on her laurels, Sakura pressed her advantage, ready to finish the fight, and then move to assist Naruto.

Where to hit? She wondered, quickly bringing up and dismissing options on how to disable but not kill an armored opponent. Head? No, couldn't question him with a caved skull, and I'm not sure I could knock him out in that armor without enhancement. Heart? Still too risky. Arms and legs weren't sure to take him out of the fight. That leaves the internal organs. I have to precise, too other wise I might drive shards too deep to keep him alive until there's a chance to question him. Oh, well, nothing for it. Her decision rendered, Sakura closed for a final assault.

Only to stop short, not quite sure why. When she tried to decipher what her instincts had perceived, her eyes were drawn to the locked joints. That weren't anymore.

In fact, all of the damage she had wrought to the squat, kneeling armored form was receding. Hairline fractures crept back towards their sources. Shards buried in joints crumbled to powder that sifted to damaged areas, filling gaps. Impact craters of shattered armor shifted and fused an ended like new. All of Sakura's punishment appeared to never have happened, and he seemed harmed not at all within.

And he was ready to counter attack.

"Wonderful." The kunoichi gripped, drawing a kunai, as once again the night went from bad to worse.

Facing the defensive wall across the courtyard Sakura had indicated, Naruto was off even before he located the assailant. Catching sight of him after a few strides and taking his bearings on the fly, he crossed the two leading fingers of each of his hands.

Got to get in close and keep the pressure on. Otherwise, he'll hit Sakura's flanks while she's busy with his partner.

Billowing smoke obscured the courtyard surrounding Naruto, and two wings of doppelgangers emerged in nigh unto uncountable numbers. The main force raced along his previous course, straight on, ignoring the huge holes in their formations being caused by gouts of piercingly white flame. This suicidal direct assault was thankfully only a cover drawing attention from the smaller corps running a flanking maneuver behind the enemy, moving quickly and scaling the walls under the dissipating cloud left over from the clones' formation. With any kind of good fortune at all, they would be able to get safely inside the range of he flame weapon before the wielder could incinerate the original Naruto in their midst.

Unfortunately, until then the courtyard was a shadow clone shooting range. With the destructive power of he weapon and the tight formation of the clones, the devastating area attack was demolishing the replications faster then Naruto would have liked. The thinned ranks did offer enough cover for some of the clones to make it to short range to engage the target more effectively, but not as many as he would have expected considering the legion he had created. But at least he had enough to gage his opponent before having to commit himself.

As he approached his enemy and sent the so far unnoticed flanking group to assist the main assault team that had escorted him, Naruto got a chance to get his first good look at him. If it wasa him. It was honestly difficult to tell. The figure was definitely slight and would have been decidedly feminine if not for the decided lack of any curvature whatsoever. Its body was bound from head to tow in wide overlapping bands of leather that contoured to its genderless frame in a way that reminded him of terrain maps he had seen. The stiletto thin arms and legs rapidly darted through the air, shifting its body to almost dance around the relatively clumsy blows being launched by the survivors of the main assault and just as gracefully responding with straight-digited spearing strikes that would easily kill a normal man. The head was wound similarly with leather strips, which seemed to conceal a visor if the errant shine coming from the gap in the wrappings was nay indicator.

But all this was only a side note, only gathered due to years of practice observing combatants, next to the device it was wielding. The piece of equipment, which was unlikely to loose the attention of anyone not trained to see beyond the obvious, was strapped to the only diagonal strip of leather, which was a five inch wide bandoleer hanging from right shoulder to left hip. The steel contraption was fully as long as one of the figures legs, and almost as thick. Resembling nothing he had ever seen so much as it did the heavy cast iron siege cannons he had seen in passing once in Konoha's armory, but obviously much thinner walled. And, if the glinting moonlight was any indication, intricately carved finish work adorned the outside of the barrel. It was held to its harness when the svelte figure drew it by a flexible metal arm running over its master's shoulder to a joint on its top. It seemed to also have two handles; a vertical one affixed to the rear of the barrel, and a horizontal grip halfway upon the left side. Despite facing multiple opponents, the weapon's wielder held it in a ready position with his left had while the other three limbs seemed impeded not at all by the change in balance its significant weight must bring.

Dammit, Naruto thought watching the lithe figure rapidly dispatch Naruto's support troops, he's faster than me. A lot faster. And that weapon is nothing to ignore either. I have to take him by surprise and make every hit count. If I don't take him out hard and fast he might be able to slip away and blast me while I'm still swinging away.

Naruto entered the melee as the last clone was dispelled by a straight-armed chop to the neck enough force behind it to crack the collarbone and constrict the jugular and windpipe. Thosewere sensations Naruto could have lived happily without knowing. Using the dispersal cloud to hide his final approach, Naruto responded with a blow to crack bone delivered to the cannoneer's chest, pushing him back through the air atop the walkway on the wall for several meters. The slim gunner flew back to the ground in a normal parabola, but then seemed to gather leverage from nowhere and hefted his trailing legs up in the and over for a 270 degree flip that actually gained altitude, then planted himself in a dead stand that showed no sign of being perturbed by the physically impossible feat which it had just performed.

"Well, that was freaky" Naruto muttered as he leaped to get inside of the big weapon's range before it could fire. Inside he was more shaken. I may not have the sharingan, but even I could see that he didn't move a single muscle in that flip. Who the hell is this guy? Naruto thought heatedly.

His first follow-up punch, a left that he aimed at his opponent's face, was effortlessly ducked. The next strike, a right past the weapon to the chest was evade with a hard roll to the left, which brought the still extended barrel to bear upon Naruto's flank. Silently berating himself in the instant before the incendiary caused him to momentarily lose all sense of self, he snuffed out the embers of magnesium white fire with a pulse of chakra as he rose to a fighting position.

Now at mid-range due to the force of the blast throwing both of the combatants, they likewise altered tactics. Naruto drew a kunai after a moment of rummaging in his leg holster, during which he was scanning the tough leather armor for any weak points to take advantage of. Meanwhile, his opponent flipped his phallic monstrosity of a weapon over his shoulder and likewise formed up; poised to attack with arms ramrod straight at a shallow angle to the torso.

Manically grinning at his opponent Naruto, in his most mocking trickster mode, gave the only precursor to the next scrimmage:

"You know, if you worked toward a definite gender, that thing strapped to your back might actually make you seem dangerous, instead of just creepy."

Ta no Kuni- land of rice (why they're there will be explained later)

Mechanized Summoning- A summoning technique performed by channeling chakra from a non-living container through a prepared seal with the intent of summoning a person, object or summoned beast

Tenchu no Ya- Literally: arrow of heaven's wrath (as close as I could translate) Contextually: a mechanized summoning performed that calls forth a dart gun turrent. Requires a significant support structure from the summons source in order to fire, as the weapon is automated, but without sensory equipment. The weapon is capable of fireing several types of darts, including those that shatter as they pierce, allowing for penetration of several darts in series to deliver a deadly projectile to a target which has sought cover.

Sansora- Literally: three skies Contextually: a mechanised summons that calls forth three(spoiler!) pre-selected combatants in a single operation, usually used in rapid assult/assasination missions.

Hime- Princess (literally, I believe it means the daughter of a noble lineage)

A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. This is really only the first part of a whole series of sections detailing the events leading to, and directly from Naruto's self sacrifice. Initially I was going to make them all into one chapter titled Preludes and Nocturnesafter the first installment of the Sandman graphic series by Neil Gaiman (it totally fits, wait for it), but the length got away from me. Unfortunately, a lot of the work I did was necessary to explain the changes I've made from canon material to the world and characters. And the fights I can't just seem to get to flow if I cut them down. Anyway, that said, I decided to release what was supposed to be chapter three in seven smaller chapters under the arc title to Preludes and Nocturnes. Major props if you can guess where the individual chapter titles are from.

On the chapter itself, I am a little nervous about the dialog. The whole Naru/Saku vibe is tough to get right. (Especially since I've never seen the inside of a Naruto manga for close-to-pure inspiration.) I'm concerned about whether I got her right. Naruto is easy, every fan fiction has a version and between them and the anime I have a handle on him. Sakura has always been a point of contention in fanfic and as a result, the interpretations are majorly all over the place. I'm trying for an affectionately bossy big sister kind of thing, like she doesn't think Naruto could take care of himself (which he probably couldn't if we're all really honest), partially because I can relate to the corrective impulse, and partially because that's how they react to one another in my experience.

Tell me what you think. And expect the updates to be coming just a tad faster as the chapters are already written and just need to be typed. (Don't expect too much, they're still pretty long and I don't get much opportunity to type)