One fine day
Chapter 4
Disclaimer : I would have written one only a black cat crossed my path, and I had to battle a mob of bandit grannies who were attacking Konoha's east wall.
Liar!!!!
Oh by the way I have a new story up called "The littlest tree snake" if you like this story then I'm pretty sure you'll like the new one.
Authors Notes:- Just a few points on what I believe.
Did I mention that this is M rated? That means that there are many adult concepts used in my fic, and I'm not embarrassed to use them, I figure if you're easily offended that you'll either stop reading my fic or grow a thicker skin. Having said that, I have to admit I don't believe in the rating system, I think it's pointless, totally useless and unnecessary. I mean what are we protecting the kids from? All we do is leave them unprepared to deal with the real world when they are shoved out into it after they leave school, then we wonder why the number of Emo teens is increasing, not to mention the suicide rate as kids have their illusions ripped away and have to deal with the real world without the tools to do so.
First Sasuke bashing – it's not going to happen in this fic. Put simply I don't think Sasuke was that bad before the second chunin test where he got the curse seal from Orochimaru. Not that he wasn't an arrogant prick, but having a whole village telling you everyday how great you are will do that. I like to think that after the LoW arc in canon that Sasuke had a little respect for his team, and he seemed more normal and getting better as time went on. It seemed getting out of the village for a while was all he needed to begin teaching him how to be a human again.
Second 'The ninja world' - I think that a world shaped by ninja would be a harsher place than what Kishimoto depicts in canon. I think, a place with bands of roving bandits, all powerful feudal lords and a shinobi force that assassinates, suborns or subjugate each other would be a little darker than it seems in the manga. Rape, robbery and murder would be common, especially with common thugs like Gato's supposed 'Samurai' around. Not that I'm into graphically describing these acts.
Third 'Sakura' – She's a kunoichi, duh, so her training was a little different to the guys. They're taught to use their womanly wiles to get what they want, be it information or an advantage in battle. They're taught that there are many ways to a mans heart. The old adage about 'the quickest way to a man's heart being through his stomach' is only true if you can't get through the man's ribcage. Never forget that women are some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, trust me, anyone who can lead you around by your short, and curlys and make you smile while doing it is dangerous. Lol.
Alright I'll get off my soap-box, at least until I think of something else to bitch about. I'm like that, it's not out of spite but from my supposed God given right to have my own opinion and express it any which way I please. It's called 'Freedom of speech' and it's something the world seems to have forgotten with all the 'Political correctness' we're supposed to exercise everyday. Ooops, I'm really getting down this time.
Reviews, they're your fanfiction site given right to tell me what you think of my fic, so please exercise your right to do so. The more of you who do the better I can make this.
Pairings, um, I thought it'd be clear by now who Naruto would be with, and who Sasuke will be with. No other pairings are set but I'll decide who's with who when I get to it, if they're with anyone
/ Land of Waves \
Naruto bolted upright on his futon as the memories of his dispersing clones slammed into him with all the subtlety of a freight train, and a headache to suit. Flopping back down he rested his head on the pillow as he thought about what he'd just been told, it was like he'd been in front of the Hokage and spoken directly to him.
He didn't know what he felt about the situation, on one hand they'd be getting the help they needed, and on the other they didn't need it anymore. They'd dealt with the problem already. A contingent of village elders had turned up just before they'd settled properly for the night and thanked them for the aid they'd rendered. It'd been suggested that there be a celebratory feast, but the three genin had been much too tired by their day to attend, and the villages stores had been much too depleted in any case, if they planned to make it through the next few months they'd need to carefully ration what they had left.
None of that really concerned Naruto though, he was much more occupied with the Hokage's parting shot about shadow clones, "Did that mean what I think it did?"
"Of course it did, you don't think that old fox would say something like that to you if it wasn't true. Besides the fact that you know there are two units of ANBU on their way should have been proof enough."
'You again?'
"As observant as ever I see," came the fox's snide retort.
'Why do you keep talking to me? It's not like you've done much of it before.'
"To put it as simply as I can, because I know you, you're more my kind of people than you used to be."
'And who's fault is that?'
"That would be yours," in an amused tone. Naruto shifted on the soft mattress grumpily.
'Har, har, you're so funny,' "Not," he added aloud.
"Hn?" The sudden sound startled Naruto for a moment until he realized that it was just Sasuke waking up a little.
"Hey Sasuke," deciding that it was more important to get the news off his chest than to leave the Uchiha to sleep.
"This had better be important Naruto," Sasuke said shortly, he'd been having such a nice dream, though he couldn't remember all the details he did remember a certain shade of pink that had him blushing in the dark, especially as the memories of what happened in the bath crashed back into his conscious mind.
"Yeah, I think so, you can always catch up on your beauty sleep later. I just thought you might think it was important that my clones made it to the Hokage and he's sending two ANBU teams to back us up," Naruto said smugly as he heard Sasuke sit up suddenly.
"What!"
"Shhhh! Are you trying to wake Sakura up?" Naruto made shushing gestures as he panicked at the thought of waking the kunoichi.
"Hn, she really should hear this too."
"Fine, you go wake her then," Naruto relented only to watch his rival settle back down quickly, "Hah, didn't think so."
"So your clones made it all the way to Konoha?" Sasuke was quick to move on now that he'd been embarrassed.
"Er, well thirteen did," Naruto admitted.
"Only thirteen? What happened to the rest of them?"
"Um, let's see, there was the one that spotted Zabuza, he ran into a cliff on purpose so I'd know about him leaving. Damn that hurt. Then there was the one that decided to watch and make sure Zabuza really left, so it decided to swim around and wait like we saw that seagull do. I don't know what went wrong but it sank like a stone, last thing I saw was a stream of bubbles. Er, I lost seven to inattention."
"How does inattention disperse busnshin?"
"Um, flying and inattention don't mix apparently, you tend to run into things like trees, hills, the ground, you get the idea? I lost four at the cliffs on the other side of the sea, from what I can tell they felt themselves suddenly being lifted and panicked, they dispersed before they hit the cliff. After that I lost five to acrobatic flying. Did you know it's impossible for a seagull to do an inverse loop?"
"No! Really?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, shocked me too, and I found out the ground hurts just as much as cliffs do. Like I said, thirteen made it, but I don't know about the others." Naruto winced as he felt another of his clones disperse.
"What?"
"Did I ever tell ya I hate cats?"
"Er, yeah," Sasuke remembered their forays into pet retrieval, the Daimyo's cat was an evil little bugger.
"Well now I hate them more! When we get back to the village I'm gonna learn medical jutsu so I can hunt Tora down and find out if its true that there's more than one way to skin a cat."
"I take it he just dispersed one of your clones? How'd you know it was Tora? It's gotta be pretty dark in Konoha at the moment."
"Red ribbon," Naruto said succinctly.
"Oh. Well if that's everything dobe I'd like to get some sleep before tomorrow comes?"
"Yeah sure," Naruto allowed gravity to do its thing as he slumped back onto his pillow and sighed. Across the room he could hear Sasuke shifting around as he tried to find a comfortable sleeping position. He would have liked to do the same thing but he was just too wired to sleep at the moment, things kept flitting through his mind, such as, 'What would have happened if I'd done that, then?' or 'Did I forget something?' It took fifteen minutes, in which he heard light snoring coming from the other futon before he finally decided what it was that they'd all missed.
"Hey Sasuke?" he heard a groan from the other bed and swore he heard something about a 'Dull rusty spoon.'
"Do I have to kill you dobe to get some damn sleep?"
"Er no, I just had a thought," Naruto said nervously.
"Oh good, I'll make sure to write it in my diary so I can ask Hokage to declare it a national holiday for you," Sasuke growled.
"Um, heh, heh. So did you want to hear about my thought or what?"
"Are you going to let me sleep if I say yes?"
"Er, yeah sure."
"Then go ahead, knock yourself out. If it ain't important I'll even give you a hand."
"Erm, right. It's just a thought, but do you think Sandaime might be interested in whatever information is inside Gato's headquarters?" That grabbed Sasuke's attention and he was now fully awake wondering why he hadn't thought of it.
"Yeah, I think so, I mean there could be all kinds of information on the criminal activities in the Elemental countries. Shit, we're going to have to wake Sakura. We've got to put guards on the compound before the locals loot it to much, or burn it to the ground." He was about to get up and get the pink haired kunoichi when Naruto surprised him again.
"Don't worry about it, I'll just create some Shadow clones and have them guard it for us." Forming the cross shaped hand-seal Naruto called out quietly, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," there were a series of small popping sounds as air was pushed aside with the formation of over fifty of his shadow clones.
"Damn it Naruto! You could have formed them outside the room," he yelled as he rolled to avoid being trampled by the mass exodus as the clones headed out to do what they'd been created for.
"Ooops my bad."
"Oh just forget it and go back to sleep. And don't even think of waking me up again or I'll create a genjutsu just for you," Sasuke threatened, which Naruto missed completely.
"A genjutsu just for me! Ooh-ooh what would it do?" Naruto always got a little excited at the thought of new jutsu.
"I'd make a world where you're the only person who knows there's such a thing as ramen, and no one will listen when you try to describe it so they can make it."
"Nooooo! I'll be good," Naruto capitulated before he got a second wind and leapt from under the covers to point at Sasuke accusingly, "Anyway there's no way I'd fall for such a genjutsu, as I'd never believe in a world that didn't have ramen, delicious ramen. It'd be too cruel a world….." His speech was cut short a moment later.
BANG-BANG-BANG, "Will you two shut up?" Sakura yelled through the wall, "Some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep!"
"Well that explains much."
"I heard that! Don't make me come in there and sort you out Naruto!" Sakura growled as she spoke through the thin wall.
"Eeep! I'm sleeping, I'm sleeping." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's panicked declaration before closing his eyes and drifting back into peaceful slumber where he met…..
/ Next morning \
Sakura arched her back as she stretched in a shaft of warm golden light the next morning. She hadn't had a restful night of sleep like that for a long time, not since she'd set her sights on the elusive Uchiha. After last night she felt she had a definite 'hand' up on the other girls who were pursuing him though, and had to smile at the double entendre.
That'd all happened after Naruto left the bath though. She let out a contented sigh as she remembered the artful way she'd leant forward as if to say something to Sasuke only to have the yukata she was 'wearing' gape wide giving the young Uchiha an eyeful, then as she'd pretended to panic at baring herself like that she lifted her hand to try and close the gap only to 'accidentally' lose her balance. The next thing she knew her hand was pressed into his lap as she tried to stop herself from falling over, then she'd finally had the ammunition she needed.
"Oh, it looks like someone's happy to see me!" she'd whispered hoarsely in his ear as her fingers curled around him while sliding her injured arm around his shoulders for added support, it didn't hurt that that had pressed her breasts tightly against his body either.
The other girls would be so jealous if she ever told them she held Sasuke in the palm of her hand, a very shocked Sasuke but Sasuke nonetheless. She'd be willing to bet she was the first kunoichi in her class who had put all those theoretical lessons on the arts of seduction to use. After the last few days she'd been having she'd felt the need for some attention from the love of her life and she'd had it for a full seventeen minutes before she learned enough to make him lose control with a groan of pleasure.
/ flashback \
"Sakura!" he'd moaned without realizing it.
"Shhh, just let me……" her emerald green eyes never left the obsidian black eyes of her light of love, it always surprised her how much warmth such a dark colour could hold, but then again it was such a rare event that anyone got close enough to see it that she shouldn't have been. She'd moved her hand just slightly and knew instantly that any protest he gave after that would be a lie as he surrendered totally to her tender ministrations.
/ end flashback \
That was as far as they'd gone last night, but she'd made it plain that she was willing to go further, and that she would once they were a little older. Then sealing the deal she'd stepped from the tub like a vision of a heathen goddess and walked over to get a towel from the pile by the door, bending over to reach the fluffy white sheet to wrap around her flushed body before she'd coyly looked over her shoulder at him with a silent promise. What she was promising he'd have to wait until he was a big boy to find out about.
Then she'd headed for bed leaving Sasuke to stare at the wall as he remembered some of the unkind words spoken by the girls about Sakura's unusual hair colour coming out of a bottle. It'd take everything he had not to deny it the next time he heard someone say such about her as he had irrefutable proof that she was indeed a natural pinkette.
If last night had been the best night of her life, she felt the smile slide from her face, then the day that preceded it was probably the worst. It was like a dream or maybe a nightmare to her in so many ways, the fact that she'd kicked ass and taken names, except she hadn't taken names not in the heat of the moment, there wasn't time to do more than act. They hadn't been people to her, they were labels, that one was bad guy A and that was evil bastard B, they hadn't been people to her at the time, but now she was beginning to feel different as she had more time to think.
More time to remember how it felt when the steel of her sword struck the flesh of her opponents, the feeling as their warm blood sprayed her face and hands, the sound they made when they realized they were dead or dying and the smell. She'd never forget the smell, of copper and other less pleasant smells as dying bodies expelled their waste as the person was shocked and their physical control slipped, overlaying the salty tang of the not too distant ocean that she'd thought was so nice just a few days before. Her stomach almost revolted at the thought as she fought to process all that'd happened.
It was no surprise that with such weighty matters on her mind she missed the opening of her rooms door, or the appearance of a certain loud-mouthed blonde.
"Hey Sakura, you awa- aiiiieee!"
"Oops," Sakura opened her eyes and found….
/ Naruto \
Opening his eyes an overly excited Naruto bolted from his futon knowing that the day was going to bring a few surprises such as two teams of ANBU were going to find out they weren't really needed as anything but a security force to stop another crime lord from moving in while Naruto talked to the old man about some of his ideas.
Then there was the fact that now that the sun was up there was no way Sakura could object to being woken up. Sasuke wasn't surprised anymore at his energetic room-mates activities, a little upset that he'd been woken sure, but he didn't want to be asleep when the ANBU arrived either so he decided to join Naruto and get dressed and grab some breakfast.
Naruto bolted down the hallway still pulling on his only other jacket, when he reached the door he was looking for he slid it open and walked inside.
"Hey Sakura, you awa- aiiiieee!" Naruto turned his head and looked at the kunai quivering in the wooden frame of the door.
"Oops," Sakura sat up leaning on one elbow as she looked at her team-mate, before rubbing her eyes with her free hand. Naruto decided it was one of the most cute scenes he'd ever seen, not that he'd seen too many cute things in his life. "What do you want Naruto?" Now that she was a little more with it she was wondering how to punish him for invading her room without permission.
"Uh, just wanted to let you know that our reinforcements should be arriving in a few hours, and that we secured Gato's base before the villagers could burn it to the ground," Naruto answered nervously under her continued glare.
"Oh, good, now if that's all? Get out!" she flicked her wrist and watched in satisfaction as a second blade struck the now closed door
Naruto didn't stop once he reached the bottom of the stairs, nearly knocking Sasuke off his feet as he headed for the door.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To check on my clones," he yelled over his shoulder as he bolted down the jetty towards dry land. It took him ten minutes to reach his destination, sure he'd been moving fast but he'd hardly been pushing himself. The compound hadn't changed much since he'd seen it last, a little more smoke damage from the burning gate, and the fact that the guards were all blonde was the only thing he could see. The absence of the bodies the genin team had left behind was another plus as far as he was concerned.
"Oi, who's in charge?"
"Who wants to know?"
"It's me!" Naruto yelled back.
"Who's 'Me'?" the clone smirked down at the original who was wondering if he really was as obnoxious as he sounded from down on the ground. Deciding to not waste anymore time with this clone he dispersed it, which had the added bonus of gaining the clones memories of where the clone who'd taken charge was. It turned out that the 'leader' had taken residence in Gato's throne room. Walking in he found the clone up on the dais at the far end, chuckling evilly to himself while stroking a white cushion as if it were a cat. He'd have to remember to make sure the 'leader' of a bunshin group had as much to do as the other clones in future, it was mildly disturbing to find that your clone had half formed(baked) plans to take over the world with his bunshin armies. There had been some positive effects though, the dead mercenaries had been buried in a mass grave and all their armour, weapons and belongings had been piled up to be sorted later, there were also a number of clones running around inventorying the supplies on hand and mapping the complex.
Looking at the map of what had been discovered so far left some interesting 'holes' in the floorplan that would lead any competent shinobi to suspect hidden rooms. He'd been looking around for signs of one of the 'rooms' for an hour when he discovered a hidden switch.
"Cool," he said to the air as he pushed the button. Getting an answer was rather surprising.
"What's cool?" Naruto spun on the spot drawing a kunai and found himself facing the other members of his team.
"Uh, hi guys!" Naruto greeted them with his usual enthusiasm, he'd been dealing with the stress much better than the other two so far since much of his life had been a continuous nightmare. In fact Naruto wasn't sure that either of them understood what it meant when he said he'd been treated such and such a way by the villagers. They had their own ideas of what the villagers were like and the way they treated him didn't fit the picture they'd formed in their sheltered lives. Now that they had heard his secret they might view the actions of the village in a different light but that would take time.
"So what's cool Naruto?" Sakura asked again when the first time didn't elicit a response.
"Oh, I just found a secret room," the blonde enthused as he attempted to rush into the room and find out what was in there.
"Hold your horses Naruto, you don't know anything about this room, it could be trapped, you could fall a hundred feet to your death in a pit trap. Or be hit with a thousand kunai, or electrocuted, or burned…." Naruto tuned her out after a while as her ideas got more and more outlandish and her enthusiasm for new and painful ways to kill him started to unnerve him.
"She's got a point though Naruto. Then there's the fact that the dust in there is about an inch deep, you step in there without taking proper precautions you could set off an explosion."
"Eh?"
"Weren't you paying attention when we were taught about basic explosives? Dust in the air like that could work just like a flour bomb."
"Sure I was paying attention…..That's where a spark can ignite a chain reaction in a flammable medium causing a concussive blast." Sasuke and Sakura just stared at him as he recited Iruka-sensei's lesson almost verbatim.
"How did you remember that?"
"I dunno, it just came to me," Naruto frowned for a moment in thought before dismissing it as unimportant, "So we don't go rushing in there?"
"No, in fact I don't think it's a good idea to go in there at all. We should go and wait for the ANBU to arrive."
"Yeah, let's go Naruto. Sasuke's right, we shouldn't mess with this. Let the ANBU take the risks of exploring this 'secret room'," Sakura gave Sasuke such a look that he blushed as he remembered the last time she looked at him like that. Naruto looked closer at his two team-mates and wondered what was going on between them.
"Are you blushing teme?" Naruto asked in his 'I'm being obnoxious' voice, and smirked when the blush deepened further. 'Oh, so something happened last night? Couldn't have been after he got to the room…..', "that leaves the bath!" Naruto might be a little more perceptive than he used to be, but that didn't make him any wiser, deep inside the Kitsune sighed in resignation about the inevitable outcome of this conversation and didn't even try to stop it figuring something's are best taught through experience.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked as she started to blush slightly.
"So I was right wasn't I? You two did something last night in the bath, right? Am I right?" Sakura having had enough just smacked him in the back of the head as hard as she could and gave a satisfied grunt as she watched him collapse into a heap at her feet, turning around she stalked over to Sasuke and grabbed his ear, "Come along Sasuke, let's leave the idiot here and go wait for out back-up."
"Ow-ow-ow, what did I do?" Sasuke asked as the pink haired kunoichi dragged him away.
Naruto waited until the sounds of stomping feet couldn't be heard anymore and then cracked open an eye, 'Good they're gone,' jumping to his feet he created ten clones.
"Right, you lot, I've got a job for you. You're going to clean out all the dust in that room. You! Go in there now, but step carefully." The clone looked hesitant since it had all the memories of its maker and knew there might be traps, but it did as it was told anyway tiptoeing into the room afraid that any moment might be its last. When after ten steps there was no reaction they all let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, you're the safety officer, if too much dust gets in the air you're to stop everyone until it settles, you also have to make sure no one enters the area with a naked flame or something that could set off a spark. The rest of you find some brooms and something to put the dust in and get to work."
"What are you gonna be doing?"
"Me? I'm going to wait with my team for the back-up. Don't forget, I want this room spotless from top to bottom. If you have to leave for any reason, close the door, I can always reopen it later," Naruto left the clones to work as he headed for the incomplete bridge.
He'd decided to wait on the bridge as it was the most likely point of access for the teams of ANBU. Only the last two hundred metres of the road surface hadn't been completed, the piers that it would rest on were in place and spaced a handy fifty metres apart making ideal jump points for the highly skilled ninja. Forming a couple of clones he sent them off to find the others when he discovered his team weren't waiting where he thought it was most likely for the ANBU to appear and tell them where he was. Then settled down to wait patiently, after half an hour one of the clones dispersed letting him know that the others were a little further along the island at the small dock area in case the ANBU arrived by boat, and then dispersed the other since it was no longer needed.
As the hours passed Naruto decided to do some training on his chakra control by setting clones to walk up and down the stone pillar that supported the end of the bridge as he set to thinking about the last week now that he had the time to do so. He started off just trying to remember everything that had happened to them in that time, but soon discovered a number of things that puzzled him. Number one being what the Hokage had meant when he'd said Kakashi-sensei was out of line taking them on such a dangerous mission once he'd learned that it would in fact be dangerous, then there was the word 'hubris', what did that mean?
"Hubris, or over-weening pride. A sense of self that makes you think you can do no wrong, make no mistakes and are the best at whatever you're doing, regardless of proof otherwise."
"Eh?" Naruto asked intelligently.
"You asked what hubris is," the Kyubi said.
"Oh, so it's something you'd know all about then?"
"…" Naruto was laughing so hard he almost missed the dispersal of one of his clones, though he got a good look at Sasuke who'd just told the clone that the original had better get his arse back to Tsunami's house for a team meeting. Deciding he'd rather deal with a slightly upset team than an irate Uchiha with PMS he dispersed the clones he'd formed for the chakra exercises and left one to sit on the end of the bridge and wait for their relief force to arrive.
"Right, you just sit here and wait for the ANBU to arrive, tell them where we are okay?"
"Yeah," the clone watched Naruto leave running along the side of the bridge parallel to the water, his chakra control had been improved immensely thanks to all the clones experience, he looked like he was barely concentrating on the exercise at all. The clone watched as the boss disappeared into the distance and then settled back to wait, not really having any task other than waiting the clone quickly got bored with the situation and decided if cloud watching was good enough for Shikamaru then it was good enough for him. An hour passed as the usually energetic form lay back on the cold stone wondering what the fascination was, it was so deeply concentrating on trying to figure out if the cloud above looked like a rabbit or a just a plain cloud that it was taken by surprise when a group of ninja appeared next to him in a diamond formation. It took a moment longer for him to realize that they were hunter-nins, and that it was a completely unnerving feeling to find yourself the centre of attention of four powerful ninja like that. The only thing that stopped Naruto from being scared witless was that they had leaf insignia on their hitai-ate.
"State your name and rank," the person at the forefront demanded.
"Naruto Uzumaki, genin," Naruto swallowed nervously as the man's attention sharpened further. He didn't have time to blink as the man on the far-most left disappeared in a blur and reappeared behind him.
"Die, demon spawn," Naruto's eyes widened as the kunai punched in between his fourth and fifth ribs and tore his heart to pieces. An instant later the ANBU's eyes widened as the young boy disappeared in a puff of smoke, knowing that the boy hadn't had time to react even if the kawarimi technique had been automatic told him that he'd attacked a solid clone. "Shit! We've got to find him before the other teams arrive. He knows we're after him." The voice was almost emotionless as it discussed the situation with his team
"Belay that! Complete our primary mission and then if we have time we can look for the Kyubi brat, but only if time permits." The one who spoke looked around his team and waited for each to either nod or shake their head, when two of the three had agreed to his plan he set off for the interior of the island.
// Tsunami's house \\
"Oh shit!"
"What's up with you Naruto?"
"The ANBU just arrived," Naruto shuddered as he remembered the feeling of steel sliding into his body.
"What's the problem then?" Sakura frowned, the fact that the men the Hokage had sent to relieve them had finally arrived was a good thing wasn't it?
"The problem is they're hunter nins, and they just assassinated one of my clones."
"Don't be stupid dobe, it was probably an accident or something. Why'd a hunter-nin from Konoha want to kill you?"
"Yeah, you're right, it was probably an accident," Naruto admitted quietly, "I can see it now, an experienced ANBU level ninja who's in front of me just happens to trip and stab me in the back after using shunshin, while whispering, 'Die demon spawn!' in my ear. Yeah, an accident. Are you fucking insane?" Naruto finished by yelling at the Uchiha.
Sasuke's eye twitched in annoyance, but had to give Naruto credit. It was even more unlikely that the assassination of his clone had been an accident. Another thing he'd admit was that the clones were that well formed that he could believe that even a hunter-nin squad could be tricked into believing it was actually Naruto they'd killed. Especially if they were in a hurry.
"So what do we do now?"
"Well they're after me, so I'd better hide, while you make contact. I'll catch up with you guys in Konoha." Naruto managed to not look too glum at the prospect of being separated from his team.
"Hold up, something doesn't quite fit."
"Like what?"
"Well, they're ninja hunters right?
"Um, yeah I think we covered that," Naruto and Sakura wondered where he was going.
"So they made a mistake, they mistook a clone for the real thing. I'll admit they're very good clones, but they shouldn't have made a mistake like that."
"Eh?"
"They hunt ninja for a living Naruto, they'd have seen all kinds of tricks and know how to spot them," Sakura answered a little vexed at how dense the smallest member of their team could be.
"It doesn't add up!" Sasuke thumped the table, "Unless….."
"Unless? Come on spit it out already teme. Those bastards tried to kill me and you think it don't make sense?"
"Unless you were a target of opportunity," the dark haired boy said triumphantly. It all fit.
"But there's nothing else on the island….." Sakura trailed off.
"What?"
"The base!"
"What?" Naruto asked again but this time even more puzzled, "Why'd they want to get to Gato's base? That makes even less sense than what he said," Naruto pointed at his team mate.
"…." Sakura closed her mouth as she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.
"What if…..What if Gato wasn't working alone like we thought? What if someone from Konoha sent those hunters to hide the fact from whoever comes to investigate Gato? What if that someone…"
"There's a lot of 'ifs' in there Sasuke. What if it's one of the other hidden villages?"
"It doesn't fit, there's no way a foreign power could act as quickly as that even if they had a spy in Konoha. I mean they'd have to have been in the village to receive orders quickly enough to get here before Konoha's ANBU, and there's no way they could hide in the village." Don't blame Sasuke, he doesn't know any better.
"Alright, granted, but there's too many possibilities for us to figure out, first we've got to survive so we can report. How long do you think we've got before they reach the compound?"
"Um, it took me half an hour to run it, and only fifteen to get here. They're faster than me…"
"Everyone's faster than you Naruto," Sasuke smirked.
"This ain't the time teme, see me if we live. Um just to let you know, we don't have to worry about where or when they're going. I just found out. They're destroying the clones I left to guard Gato's place. We were right they're going to destroy the place or remove information, and I can't tell which. Either way we'd better move," Naruto made for the door only to be stopped by Sasuke.
"And that's why you'll always lose to me dobe, you just rush in without any thought about what to do when we get there."
"I'll tell ya what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna kick ass is what I'm gonna do. If we don't get there my clones won't be able to hold them much longer and we might as well sit here and wait for them to come get us." Naruto shrugged Sasuke's hand off his shoulder and headed out the door.
"Damn idiot," he mumbled as he moved to follow, "Come on Sakura-chan what are you waiting for an engraved invitation?" The endearment was so unusual, try earth-shatteringly new that a furiously blushing Sakura had to take a few deep breaths to collect her wits before she fainted like a certain Hyuga. It only took three breaths before she was ready to rush after the other two.
"Wait up you two!" she yelled furiously as she pursued the two blurs through the forest. As Naruto sprang from branch to branch he assessed each bit of information he received from the clones that were defeated, they were definitely at a disadvantage and had lost nearly forty percent of the clones in the first minute of the engagement. The others were taking a much more defensive approach, attacking from cover and making the hunters come to them. Not that it slowed them down much, they had better training than Naruto had ever dreamed of receiving until he'd been placed on Team 7, and once they were in range of a clone it wouldn't last more than a second or two.
That was with just three of the ANBU squad, the fourth was engaged in gathering chakra for a technique, one that it took Naruto a moment to figure out. He'd seen it before a few times, most notably in the bell test and couldn't figure out why a fully trained ninja would have trouble gathering enough chakra for it since Sasuke had managed it with ease years before he graduated the academy.
No one would ever mistake Naruto for a mental giant, or a genius, but one thing he did have was a mind that put two and two together and quickly came up with the right answer. Give him a long term plan to form and he'd probably fail, Shikamaru would be much better at that. Put him in a desperate fight as the underdog and he'd come up with winning tactics in mere moments, something that wasn't possible without a clear and analytical mind. So it was no surprise that two thirds of the way there he stumbled in shock.
"Stupid!"
"Huh?"
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Naruto stumbled as a weary Sakura smashed into the back of him unable to stop she'd been pushing herself so hard.
Sasuke just stared for a moment.
"Look underneath the underneath! Damn!"
"What's biting you Naruto, you were all set to storm the castle a second ago?"
"I still am, I just realized how stupid I am. Tell me something Sasuke, when you see someone wearing a white mask what do you see?"
"I see a member of ANBU," the boy in question frowned.
"Yeah me too, and when you think of ANBU you think of highly skilled, powerful ninja right?"
"Of course, you don't get picked for elite service if you don't have the skills."
"Let's go, we've got some ass to kick," Naruto made to dash off again only to have Sasuke grab his arm.
"Not until you explain what this is all about," as he frowned at the blonde.
"No time," Naruto temporized until he saw the look on Sasuke's face, "Alright, short and sweet. I added one and nothing and got ten. Sure these guys are dressed right, sure they're really fast but besides that they're having trouble making a Grand Fireball. Now maybe they've used up all their chakra getting here, or maybe they aren't what they look like. Don't really matter, we can take em!" Naruto declared as the fingers restraining him went slack. Not needing to be told twice he bolted between two trees and was almost out of sight before the remaining team members reacted.
"Hold up Naruto!"
"Get your arse back here so I can pound you, idiot!" A moment later the small clearing was empty as a black and pink blur followed the blonde one that had preceded them.
They had nearly caught up when they came in sight of the walled compound, only to pass the stationary form of Naruto as he stared into space. He didn't even react as a streak of black shot past his left shoulder and another of pink nearly collided with his right. It took them nearly fifty metres to stop before they could backtrack, the look on his face almost stopped them from interrupting him as he stood with a sublimely happy expression on his face.
"What's the problem now?" Sasuke demanded as he walked towards the human statue, he didn't even blink when the Uchiha snapped his fingers an inch from his nose.
Naruto was staring into a perfect blue sky, the last memory of one of his clones, for his pranking heart it was a moment of sheer Zen perfection. The world around him focused on one thought, the perfect plan even as the world started to dim around him.
Blinking his blue eyes stupidly as he tried to figure out what was wrong he noted that Sakura had pinched his nose closed with her left hand and using her elbow to keep his mouth closed as she held him in a headlock, cutting his airways.
"So you want to explain why you keep stopping?"
"No time, we got to move now or we'll lose the chance to take them all in one hit," Naruto bolted again leaving Sasuke and Sakura in his dust wake.
"I swear if they don't kill him, I will!"
"Get in line Sakura, he's mine. Let's catch the dobe before he does something even more stupid." They moved quickly as they saw Naruto make the top of the wall on the East side of the compound. They caught up again just in time to see one of the many clones drop its henge of being a shovel, while under the feet of one of the ANBU squad, a fact that left a stunned ninja falling into the courtyard below as he tripped over the suddenly uneven terrain.
Naruto didn't stop for a second as he yelled, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin!" the cross seal was barely formed when nearly a hundred clones appeared. "Alright you guys know what to do!" Eighty clones dove into the courtyard to engage and distract the men who'd turned up to try and destroy Gato's base, while the rest picked up one of the myriad drums and buckets that surrounded the original, before bolting around the walls perimeter. Naruto swore as the one readying the Katon technique suddenly released it directly through the large double doors, it met the wall opposite and splashed, igniting multiple fires within the building.
"Damn!" Naruto checked the position of his clones on the wall and gave a grunt of satisfaction, "Good enough," and kicked a bucket hard enough to send it across the courtyard, the signal given Naruto grabbed Sakura and Sasuke and dragged them over the wall.
"Naruto what the hell," Sakura yelled. Sasuke remained quiet as he processed the last thing he'd seen before Naruto dragged him over the wall. He'd watched as the assorted containers sailed out over the courtyard trailing plumes of grey that descended towards the ground as the containers continued to spin.
"Shut up Sakura, if what he plans works…. Run!" Sasuke didn't hesitate as he grabbed Sakura's hand and bolted for the treeline trailing Naruto behind. They weren't even close to making it when the ground shook and a sound so loud that the description loud barely did it justice erupted. Inside the compound the for ANBU didn't even have time to puzzle about just what was happening as the descending dust cloud struck them and washed inside the doors to meet the flames of the blazing base. The cloud met its first spark and then the world went white as the air itself seemed to ignite explosively. Pressure forcing the explosion out into clear air where the explosive reaction only grew as it met the massive dust cloud. The shaft of fire smashed through the ninja squad throwing them into the compounds wall at just short of the speed of sound, needless to say they weren't about to get up again.
When the secondary explosion began the shockwave didn't even hesitate as it smashed the walls flat like the opening petals of a flower, the previously destroyed gates pin-wheeled into the sky as a massive mushroom cloud of flame and debris speared the sky. The three genin were picked up and thrown like so much flotsam in a storm as the shockwave passed over them.
"Shiiiiiiiit!" Naruto yelled as he soared through the trees.
Sasuke passed closer to a tree and manage to use chakra to get a grip on the coarse bark and swing into the lee of the tree, sheltered by the trunk that even now was beginning to succumb to the pressure and lean crazily away from the blast. Sakura disappeared into a large bush screaming her lungs out and Naruto managed to stop himself by slamming into a tree about sixty metres into the forest, upside down and was pressed into the bark for five seconds until the explosion abated and let him drop to the forest floor.
Staggering to his feet Sasuke watched as the mushroom cloud continued to expand in awe, he'd never seen anything like it before and his eyes began to glaze. He didn't hear as Sakura came up behind him, and wasn't likely to either as his eardrums hadn't recovered from the blasts. Naruto joined them a moment later to survey the damage the blast had done.
/ 15km's away \
Out on the bay a small boat was making its way to its final destination, onboard eight people sat and waited patiently for their boat to cross the strait between Land of Fire and Land of Waves. They were taking the chance to relax after a twelve hour forced march across the breadth of their land. Two units of heavy assault ANBU, troops that though they could in a pinch utilize the great speed necessary for a pitched battle would prefer to save their energy for hitting enemy strong-points with massive area effect jutsu
There were only three reasons they knew of that would make the village despatch two squads of ANBU to save a lowly genin squad that had lost its jounin. First and foremost was the fact that Konoha absolutely did not abandon its ninja in times of trouble, secondly there was no way the council would let the village lose the last Uchiha. Then there was the fact they had a chance to take down the A-class missing nin Zabuza Momichi(the clone that reported to Sarutobi didn't know Zabuza had departed since dispersing clones only share memories with their creator) for the bounty.
The two teams were relaxing as only experienced warriors could, seven of them were sleeping while the last member sat on look-out, the axiom that a warrior should rest whenever a chance presented in case they didn't get a chance later was taken to heart by the entire team. That is until the lookout watched the biggest fireball he'd ever seen rise above the horizon and began swearing loud enough to wake the others in the boat.
"Report," the designated leader of the team demanded then followed the pointed finger, "Nevermind." She said as she watched the ball of flame continue to rise, then squinted into the blaze. Blinking slightly as she moved her head from side to side to confirm what she was seeing.
"Scatter!" she yelled as she grabbed a pack from the pile and leapt over the side of the boat, running across the surface she didn't even look back to see if her team had followed the order. Disciplined men that they were they never hesitated and left the boat headed in all directions as they vaguely heard a screaming sound grow. Having gained enough clearance the captain turned in time to watch a flaming projectile roar out of the sky and smash into the water less than ten metres from the boat they'd just left completely swamping it as the panel of flaming wood hissed and steamed as it sank out of sight. Twenty seconds later it bobbed back into sight a little further away and they could see that it was a five metre by two section of a heavy wooden gate.
Eight experienced ANBU stared at the thing as it bobbed peacefully in the waves, then turned to the dissipating explosion, then back at the wood.
"Alright men, time to find out who the fuck threw that at us," without another word they set out across the surface of the sea at the fastest pace they'd set since they left the village.
/ Gato's base \
Naruto slowly shook his head in disbelief, he'd expected a large fireball, what he hadn't expected was that the concussion wave would be powerful enough to knock the walls outward. If he'd known a little more about fortifications he'd have known that they'd been buttressed against external force not from internal explosions and therefore hadn't been able to withstand even a tenth of what had hit them. The front of the base itself was a different matter, it was built to take direct attack, that didn't mean it had escaped the impact either, the blast had pushed the stonework inwards up to fifteen feet, windows that had been armoured had simply been smashed back through their frames and torn their way deeper into the base.
Naruto was the first to regain his hearing, with the Kyubi pushing chakra towards the area and healing the damage, so he was the first to hear the faint crackling as flames that the concussion blast had put out slowly grew once again. That and that Sasuke was still reliving the sight of the glorious explosion.
"Boom! Geh-heh-heh-he. BooooooM!" he giggled quietly as he made expansive gestures with his hands, he had to be doing it quietly because she couldn't hear him from a couple of feet away. Sakura was looking at the destruction with dazed emerald eyes until they locked on the blonde and she stalked towards him.
"You idiot!" she yelled as she smacked him over the head, then repeated it a few more times since the first time was so therapeutic, "Warn us next time!" She stopped and looked puzzled for a moment, then blinked as she held her hand up to her ear and gingerly tapped against it and heard nothing. "Damn it Naruto, if I'm deaf on top of everything else I'll skin you!"
Naruto backed away from the advancing kunoichi then surprised Sakura as he turned back to the quickly spreading flames with a yell that neither of his team was able to hear.
"Crap! It's still on fire! Water! We need water, lots of water," about to form the hand-seal for Kage bunshin, he was stopped by a deep booming voice.
"No! Don't waste your chakra, there's a better way!"
"Huh?"
"There's a better way," the demon fox said as it felt its container calm down a little, "Take deep breaths and close your eyes. Now move your chakra into a sphere around you," the demon directed quickly.
"Keep breathing deeply, now push your chakra outwards, feel your chakra, feel it touch the world around you. Feel for any moisture, you'll know what it feels like when you feel it, so don't ask. No, not that, that's your team, you'll kill them if you draw the moisture from them, discard them from the sphere, unless you want to kill them of course in which case go ahead," Kyubi snickered evilly as he coached Naruto, "Good, now push the sphere further until you find more moisture." Naruto wasn't even sure what he was being asked to do but so far it all made sense, he could feel a massive amount of water below him and then stopped waiting for more instructions.
"Excellent, now move all of the chakra into the water and…no, not like that, you're just pushing the water aside. Mix your chakra with the water, more, you'll need much more than that," it felt like an eternity to Naruto as he strained to control his chakra outside his body, he was beginning to feel the strain of the whole thing when Kyubi broke back into his thoughts, "That's enough, now think about the nature of the chakra, what does it feel like to you. You're going to try and match it to the water that surrounds it."
"Why?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth.
"Because I told you to do so, now let it all flow together, it's all one and one is all," Kyubi paused for a moment while Naruto figured out how to do as he'd been asked, it sounded simple but it really wasn't. The trick was to not tell Naruto how hard it was or the process would elude him for longer as he sought to understand it. He didn't need to understand, he just needed to do it, understanding could wait for another day, "Now pull the chakra back towards you, that's it, a little faster, hold it together. Don't lose it now, bring it up in front of you…."
/ Sakura \
She wasn't finished paying Naruto back for the scare she'd been given, she wasn't even close, but had to admit the way he'd just turned away and dismissed her was slightly unnerving. It was as if she ceased to exist for him.
"Naruto! Are you even listening to me?" Waving her hands in front of his face didn't garner a response of any kind, neither did kicking him in the shin, he was like a statue, but then so was Sasuke. The only positive was that at least Naruto wasn't giggling to himself and saying the occasional 'Boooom!', and the hand gestures describing the explosion were just plain creepy.
The blonde quickly regained her attention when his hands rose from his side and held them cupped about three feet apart, a small gasp was the only sound as a pinpoint of light formed in the very centre. It didn't stay small for long though and expanded rapidly. His hands didn't move but the sphere of chakra continued to expand, his own body not even seeming to hinder it as it pushed through him and out the other side. At six feet across Sakura decided the thing was getting too damn close to her for her liking. Stepping back hesitantly she gasped as the sphere of chakra suddenly expanded as if the person forming it suddenly gained confidence in his ability, it overshot her position by ten feet passing through and around her.
"So much," she whispered hoarsely as the essence of Naruto surrounded her, she could feel nuances of him that she'd never known before. Chakra wasn't just energy as most civilians thought, it was made up of the persons physical and spiritual energies, as such the more powerful the chakra the easier it was to read the spiritual make-up of the person. Unless they knew how to neutralize the spiritual essence. Naruto was very easy to read, she could see things about him that she knew he wouldn't want to share with anyone.
The chakra sphere was one of the first control exercises that was taught in the academy, and one they continued to use up until they graduated, it was a relatively easy process, only requiring the control to draw it forth and hold it stable. Throughout their academy years they'd been tested once a year for their chakra capacity, measured by the size of the sphere they could form. She could form a sphere nearly a foot and a half across, giving her a low E rank chakra reserve, Sasuke had tested out at nearly D rank with a sphere of nearly three feet. Naruto was an anomaly, everyone knew he had chakra but whenever he was asked to do the exercise he'd had great trouble drawing forth a stable sphere and therefore had remained unranked every year he'd been in the academy. Iruka-sensei had shown them the exercise each time by producing a six foot sphere, which he told them was a low C rank chakra reserve.
Now here was the supposed dead-last of the academy producing something this huge? It had to be at least upper A rank and maybe even higher if this wasn't all he could pull forth. That was without even considering the red chakra that he'd told them belonged to the Kyubi imprisoned within him. Shuddering at the thought she was taken completely aback when the chakra disappeared within the blink of an eye, though she knew he hadn't dismissed the chakra at all, it was still being held together but for what purpose she couldn't tell.
Sakura was still backing away from Naruto when she noted that where he'd been completely unaffected before by summoning so much power, he was starting to show signs of fatigue. His shoulders were shaking and he grasped his fists in determination as he lifted them from his side. Casting around to find out what was happening she noted that the compacted soil of the courtyard was bubbling almost thirty feet away as water started to well out of the ground. Half a minute later there was an undulating dome of water nearly ten feet high and still it continued to rise. A perfect sphere of water suspended above the earth in a way that she'd never seen before. When his intense blue eyes flickered open she took the chance to approach.
"Naruto?""
/ Naruto \
Naruto jerked as he heard the kunoichi speak to him but tried to ignore her words as they were distracting even if she didn't mean them to be. The sphere above him wobbled slightly as his attention wavered.
"No! Hold it steady, do not let your attention stray from the task at hand or all of you effort is wasted!" Naruto was grateful as he heard the words and watched as the sphere steadied once more. "You surprise me kit, I didn't know you had it in you," the fox commented and then smiled as he felt Naruto's attention firm even further at his challenging tone, it could so easily gone the other way if the boy had allowed his notoriously fragile ego to get in the way of his control.
He was going to need every ounce of control he could muster for the next step. Making sure that his eyes remained open he took a hesitant step forward keeping the centre of the sphere at the same distance from him. Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he forced the energy to contain the water while still gliding it forwards towards the doors of the base. When it met the collapsed doorway there was a wet sounding impact as Naruto forced the water to move into the constricted passageway beyond, the once clear water taking on an eerie glow of orange as it was lit by the fires within.
The first fire was smothered by the water almost immediately, its air supply cut off as water flowed over it, then absorbed the latent heat still stored in the wood. Moving quicker now as more of the sphere was pushed inside, the pressurised water pushed into every nook and cranny extinguishing as it went. Naruto followed in the wake of his chakra, noting a set of stairs that headed downwards, though it was of no interest since there was no smoke rising from them. It seemed that the fire had gone upwards. The only thing to show his passing was the occasional charred spot, the water never left his control even for a moment leaving the surfaces behind him as dry as they were before he approached them. It took seven minutes for him to extinguish all the fires, finally pushing the water back outside through an upper story window, the mass of water would have been steaming if he allowed it to escape. Pushing the water as far as he could from himself he watched it sail out into the clearing outside beyond where the walls had once stood and released it in a torrent of steaming water that quickly flowed away.
Having done what he'd set out to do Naruto looked down at his team-mates and gave them a wave.
/ Outside \
Sasuke blinked as he came back from wherever he'd been, he wasn't sure what had happened but he did remember the flames, lots of flames, and had to shake his head to clear it out before he drifted off again. All he remembered was the dobe dragging them off the walls and not even a minute later the glorious column of fire as it soared into the heavens, he had to blink again to clear his vision. Deciding that he really needed to wake up he slapped his cheeks sharply and noted that it did the trick. Turning to Sakura, he just had to find out what was going on.
"Hey Sakura, what the hell was that?"
"The baka!"
"What did the dobe do this time?"
"He nearly blew us up, that's what he did," Sakura's face flushed as her temper simmered just below the surface, as soon as Naruto was close enough she was going to give him what-for.
"Eh? I thought he used all the explosive tags yesterday to get rid of the freighter," except for the last of Kakashi's tags. They still hadn't had the time to check and find out what made the explosion that much larger with the jounin's tags as opposed to their own.
"Yes, well it turns out he didn't need any. We gave him all the ammunition he needed when we told him about flour bombs," seeing the confusion wasn't being cleared up for him she elaborated, "Seems he decided to leave some clones to clean up that hidden room while we waited. They poured the dust out over the courtyard and when it met the fires inside, boom."
"That wasn't 'Boom!', that was insane, he nearly killed us all!" Sasuke's memory was gradually coming back to him.
"Yeah, well if you want a shot at him you'll have to get in line," she growled as she looked up at the window where Naruto had been, but he'd already moved off, and she was hoping he was coming out soon.
/ Naruto \
Naruto paced down a slightly charred corridor and wondered just how he'd done it, technically he knew that he had done it, he just wasn't sure how. There was only one way to find out as well.
'Alright Kyubi, what was with the water? What did you do?"
"It's always me isn't it? For your information that was all you kit."
'Me? How?'
"Simple, you have an elemental affinity for water. That was the simplest form of suiton technique, though it was impressive in scope."
'Say what?'
"You do know what an elemental affinity is don't you?"
'Sure,' Naruto scratched the back of his neck as he walked down a flight of stairs.
"Don't bother trying to lie to me kit, you're not very good at it. If you don't know something, just admit it and let someone fill you in so you do know it. Only a fool does what you just did. Now before you bristle at me I shall tell you what you should have already known. As you probably already know, many of the jutsu you use are of an elemental nature, such as fire, or water. Are you following me so far?"
'Yeah, I ain't stupid!'
"No, just ignorant. Now pay attention, an affinity gives the caster an advantage if they're using the element they have an affinity in. You for example have an affinity for air, that means that you'll learn jutsu from that field easier, it would also reduce the amount of chakra you need to cast a jutsu and increase the power of said jutsu as well. Well it would if your chakra control didn't suck so badly."
'Yeah well it's easy to pick on me, it's not like anyone taught me before Kakashi told us how to do the tree climbing exercise.'
"That won't be enough if you intend to use your other affinities."
'What other affinities? I thought you said I had an air affinity?'
"You did, but then you gained the others. You do remember why you puked your guts up yesterday don't you?"
'Like I could forget,' Naruto shuddered at the memory.
"As I said, you were acting on a new set of instincts that all young Kitsune act upon. When we're young we have the ability to absorb genetic material. That pitiful sensei of yours was useful, he gave you an affinity for fire, he also reinforced your air affinity. You also have a water affinity from….. Haku, that was the name, yes?"
'Yeah,' he frowned as he heard the contempt in the demons voice.
"Before you bristle at me over something that insignificant, let me finish. You also gained a few other things from your night time foray. You gained a couple of bloodlines, giving you the ability to combine elements to form others. Both lightning and ice, are very powerful abilities. Lightning has some of the most powerful attack jutsu ever devised, along with your amplified air affinity I'd say you'd make one of the villages strongest ninja. That all depends on whether you survive long enough to learn to use it all."
"What do ya mean if I survive?"
"Have you forgotten the men who tried to kill you already? We still don't know who sanctioned them and if they'll do it again. Worst case scenario is that the Hokage himself sanctioned the assassination attempt. If that's the case then you'd probably save yourself some time and find a stonemason to make you a headstone."
"Eh?"
"(sigh) It's simple, if the Hokage wants you dead then there's nothing on this planet that will save you. You don't have the knowledge of the power to save yourself, and you don't have the friends for someone else to save you," Kyubi explained with a weary voice, it truly hated to have to spell everything out like this but then again with Naruto's lack of education it wasn't really that surprising.
"Hey, there ain't no way the old man'd do that to me," Naruto yelled as the memory of the kind old man who'd helped him over the years failed to mesh with a man willing to kill him like this.
"Good point, can you tell me why that makes sense?"
Naruto frowned as he considered the question, he really hated this kind of thing, it was boring in the extreme but…..Hmmm, "You already said it! If the old man wanted me dead then I'd already be dead!" Naruto paused as a sobering thought suddenly hit him, 'Without the old man….I'd already have been dead,' It was like a bucket of ice water washed through him.
"That's right, five whatever's to Uzumaki-san. It's a good start, you've finally realized that you aren't ten feet tall and kunai proof. You are alive because the Hokage wills it so. That and the fact that I've been healing you for years. The truth is Naruto that you're weak, without my chakra you'd never have lived long enough to graduate the academy."
"Who're you calling weak?" a moment later he winced as he felt a surge of Kyubi's chakra slam into his chakra coils, "Ow, damnit! What the fuck was that for?"
"You're not listening if you have to ask that question. With all your advantages you're as weak as that Uchiha brat."
"What are you talking about? Sasuke's the strongest ninja in our year!"
"Only because you never paid attention to the lessons your teachers were trying to give you."
"But they were so booooring!"
"Of course it was, I can understand how it could be boring to know taijutsu, or poisons and antidotes, or effective infiltration techniques or….."
"Alright already, I get it! But what guy wants to learn about poisons, isn't that one of the kunoichi arts?"
"Wrong! It's part of the 'I'm going to kill my target and get away alive' arts. Girl arts and boy arts have nothing to do with being a ninja, there's only one rule. You survive while your target dies. It's simple enough that even you should be able to understand it."
"Yeah but, poisons are for weaklings."
"Let me give you a little scenario. You been given a task, you've got to take out or capture a traitor to the village. He's a chunin and he's carrying secrets he shouldn't have. You know where he is, and where he's going. You've found the clearing, it's perfect for an ambush, he's even got his back to you. What are you going to do?" Naruto frowned at the smirk he could hear in the foxes voice.
"Well he's only a chounin," Naruto remembered the time he'd fought Mizuki, "So I'd make hundreds of clones and overwhelm him."
"Alright. You take two steps into the clearing and you're dead,"
"What!" Naruto yelled in outrage, "Why?"
"Well you didn't stop and look around, so you missed the small group of enemy jounin who were escorting your target. If you're not going to take this seriously I'm just going to stop wasting my time. What did you do wrong?"
"Um, I didn't scout?"
"Don't ask me! Tell me! So….You didn't scout and ended up dead. What are you going to do now?"
"Er, scout the area, okay I've spotted the jounin, they're a ways away, but not far enough that they were that easy to spot. I can't rush the target, so I'm gonna sneak up on him," Naruto stopped at the tsking noise being emitted by his guest. "What now!"
"You're dead again, you didn't spot the traps they'd set up," Kyubi yelled gleefully.
"Damn it this is stupid! How can I find the traps? It's not like I could see them, this is all in your head. I can't complete a mission like this, I've got no way of finding anything out until after you kill me because I 'missed' something!"
"Well hallelujah, the kit is learning. That's right, you couldn't finish this mission like this. I suppose we'll finish it later after I figure out a few things. In the meantime I can teach you a basic survival technique I used when I was a kit. Interested?"
"Of course I'm interested, so what are you gonna teach me?" Naruto gave a fox like grin as he stepped out of the wrecked building and began walking towards Sakura and Sasuke
"Watch what I do," Naruto didn't get it for a while but just when he was about to yell at the dumb fox he felt a slight change in the chakra around them. Focusing a little more he discovered that the fox had overlaid the entire area with a thin veil of its chakra.
"What are you doing? I can feel your chakra, but what's it actually doing?"
"Good question, the technique is called 'Spiders web', and just like the name implies it tells you when something is approaching, but only if it has the ability to use chakra."
"That sounds pretty useful, so how far can it reach?" He'd given up when he got out to a couple hundred metres but felt it stretching out beyond where he'd stopped.
"I can sense up to a kilometre with the limitations the seal places on me," the fox stopped speaking suddenly as something entered the field of chakra, then another and another until there were eight distinctly powerful chakra sources heading towards them. "Naruto, you need to make a clone to send out to your team-mates. Don't argue, just do it, tell it that we'll meet your team at the place where your sensei fought the man with the sword," Naruto was about to protest when he caught the urgency of the Kyubi's voice, "and then head for the treeline to our right. Hurry, there's not much time."
"But…"
"Less talking more running," Naruto ran through the forest as silently as he could for a minute or two, "You can stop now, this is far enough away."
"You gonna explain?"
"Two units of powerful ninja were about to arrive," Kyubi said.
"But that's the ANBU we're waiting for! What am I doing running from them?"
"You might be right, but are you willing to take a chance they aren't like the first team that showed up?"
"Oh yeah," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
/ Gato's compound \
Sakura watched the clone as it approached while the real Naruto bolted for the trees and wondered just what he was playing at. Looking over to Sasuke she noted that he looked just as perplexed as she was so no answers from that quarter. The clone was only twenty feet away when its eyes widened and Sakura noted that there was a presence directly behind her. Whirling around while unsheathing her purloined blade there was a distinctive clang as a second sword of slightly longer design flickered into sight and disappeared just as quickly once its work was done.
Sakura looked up surprised that someone had been able to block her strike, she'd been able to inflict injury almost at will since she'd first picked up the blade and now she'd met someone who could nonchalantly block or evade her attack? Whoever the person was had dark purple hair of indeterminate length, and a body that gave hints that the person was a woman, but those were the only hints she could get, she couldn't even see the persons eyes in the shadow of the mask she wore.
"Feisty little kitten aren't we?" the woman asked mockingly her hand still grasping the hilt of her sword. "You been playing with that toy for long?"
"Uh, no," she managed intelligently, "Just since yesterday." She could almost sense the eyebrows rising on the taller woman as surprise set in. Sakura also noted the other ANBU around the clearing
"I see. I take it you're all that's left of Team 7?"
"Um, yeah. Just me, Sasuke and Naruto," she pointed at them in turn.
"So where's Naruto? Even I can tell that's a clone, a good one but still a clone."
"Er, he ran off just before you guys arrived." Sakura was still curious about why he'd done tht and was hoping that the lady wouldn't ask her, and knowing that it was a fruitless request.
"And why would he run off?"
Both of the remaining members of team 7 froze as they tried to figure out how to explain Naruto's current behaviour but were saved from having to as the clone stepped forward.
"I think I can explain," it said as the ANBU stared at it, clones weren't supposed to have this level of autonomy, not even shadow clones, "Ya see I was working on an idea I had for an early warning system, when we felt you guys coming we felt it might be best to get out of here and figure out if you were like the last squad that came through."
"Okay now I know I need an explanation. What other squad?"
"Um, you ain't gonna get mad are you?"
"I can't make any promises but if you haven't done anything wrong, then no, I won't get mad," she almost smirked as the clone sighed in relief, she had to meet the person who could put so much of himself into his clones and not lose himself.
"Well, er, you know how we sent a message to the Hokage? Well we were told to expect out relief to arrive in about twelve hours, which was two hours ago. About an hour ago another clone spotted a group of what looked like ANBU hunter-nin coming across the bridge. When they stopped they asked who I was and then killed the clone…"
"You're sure they were from Konoha?"
"They were caught in that big explosion, their bodies should be somewhere around. Anyway, the boss was safe and knew someone was trying to kill him, but after awhile they attacked Gato's base," the clone looked around for a moment at the destruction.
The leader of the relief force turned to her second, "Spread out, if there's any evidence we're going to have to make sure it gets back to headquarters. So any ideas why they came here?"
"We figured they were trying to destroy the base, we just couldn't figure out why," Sasuke continued.
"Looks like they did a pretty good job of it whatever their intentions," she noted. She'd keep her suspicions to herself for the moment, a genin team didn't need to know that there might be traitors in the upper echelons of Konoha's military.
"Um, nope, that was my fault. See they were trying to burn down the building and we had all this dust…"
"Let me guess, you dropped it into the courtyard and boom," like the rest of her teams she'd noted the scattered stonework of the outer defences, it had been an impressive explosion but she was sure that the team that arrived before them couldn't have been Konoha hunter-nin since no self respecting ANBU team would be caught by such a simple trap. 'So either impostors posing as ANBU or….,' the woman gave up, she had other priorities at this time and now was not the time to be making assumptions. When they had more evidence they'd decide what to do.
"We'll put all this aside for the moment, you can give a full report to the Hokage when you get back to the village. Onto more important things, where's Zabuza?"
"Er, he left yesterday after we sent the message," Sakura admitted apologetically.
"Hmm, maybe you'd better make a brief report to me then, it seems we're missing a lot of strategically important information." To be honest she was a bit miffed that they'd come all this way to deal with an A class missing nin that was, well missing, again. Sasuke briefly explained how the current situation had evolved.
"So you're basically saying there's nothing for us to do?"
"Um, yes?" Sasuke gulped nervously, knowing that it wasn't a good idea to waste ANBU's time, they had more important things to do.
"Ah well, it can't be helped," the leader of the squad sighed and then laughed at the surprised look on the boys face. "Listen kid, one of the first things you learn out in the field is that situations change. You either deal with it or let it get to you. Personally I prefer to deal, now since we're basically here guarding a bunch of villagers I'd like you to take a message back with you," taking out a scroll she scribbled for a few moments and then sealed it, "Now whatever you do don't try and open this scroll. The self destruct seal has a blast radius of about fifteen feet. Understand?"
All three members of Team 7 nodded nervously as Sasuke took the scroll gingerly.
"Now scram, the sooner you get gone the sooner we'll be able to get all this sorted out." She watched for a moment as the two real members of the team made their way from the clearing while the clone simple dispersed, looking around further she found her own teams executing a search pattern looking for the bodies. Sighing in resignation she moved to join them.
/ Naruto – site of first Zabuza battle \
Naruto sat with his eyes closed, it wasn't a particularly good idea for a ninja in as much trouble as he was but it certainly made the new technique he was learning easier. "So am I doing it right?"
"Nearly, you just have to work on extending it out past fifty feet now to make it useful," Kyubi stated as he watched Naruto form his first stable web of chakra, of course fifty feet was nothing to the average ninja who could throw a kunai two hundred feet with excellent accuracy, they might not get a killing shot but you wouldn't be happy. He'd been at it for nearly half an hour now and had made good progress in that time, he'd also noted the dispersal of his clone so knew that the others were on their way so it was no surprise when twenty minutes later he felt the approach of Sasuke and Sakura.
"Well we're here, now where's the dobe?" Sasuke stopped for a slight breather under the tree Naruto was currently resting against, about forty feet up and able to see a surprising distance through the light foliage.
"Yeah! After all that fuss and we still beat him here," Sakura chimed in.
"Heh, who beat who here? I've just been relaxing waiting for you slowpokes." Naruto declared as he landed behind Sakura.
"Heeeee! (shing)" Sakura whirled around in shock blade moving to take the interlopers head only to have Naruto reach in lazily and grasp her hand where it held the hilt of her sword stopping it long before it became a danger.
"Nice reaction time Sakura," he smirked as she frowned at him.
"Quit playing around you two, we've got a lot of distance to cover," Sasuke glared at the two as he led the way towards Tsunami's house and a boat to the mainland
/ To be continued \
Authors notes:- I've probably got a lot of people wondering about the first ANBU team, don't worry, explanations on the way in the next few chapters.
A small clarification on Naruto's current power level, due to the changes wrought in him by overloading on Kyubi's chakra his healing factor has managed to warp Naruto's body into Hanyou(half demon/half human) so that he can better deal with Kyubi's chakra in the future. This will allow him to use up to four tails without strain instead of the one he could use in the Land of Waves arc. As a bonus his own chakra has changed to the more potent form of Youkai, and since his chakra coils have been beefed up he has nearly three tails of his own. The colour of Naruto's chakra will remain blue though as he isn't evil or enraged.