CHAPTER FIVE – Present day, human world, village of Konohagakure
(Author's note: This chapter contains a yaoi scene. It isn't too graphic, but I just wanted to warn you.)
At precisely six o'clock in the morning, the light in the hallway and in the bedrooms of Iruka and Naruto flashed on. The twenties-ish chunin squirmed a bit before pulling himself to a seated position at the edge of the bed. How much he had longed of this one moment, this moment where it actually hit him that he was training for his jounin. To be taking the examination with Naruto, a ninja half his age yet already twice his strength, it boggled his young mind. He didn't know whether to feel happy for his student, or pitiful for himself. How much a slap in the face did it seem that so many of his students would be come chunin and jounin sometimes, while it had taken him a long time to attain his present rank. Still, he showed needed respect for Naruto; if any of his pupils would become worldly symbols of greatness, it could only be he.
His door flew open. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" Iruka shook his head at Naruto's question. "Well, I wanted to let you know this is our first field exercise." He threw his former sensei a rectangular shaped object that looked mostly edible. "Eat this. It'll keep you going." The door shut as the blonde chunin left.
Ebisu quickly approached Naruto. "Honorable Son, this exercise will test your planning skills. Do your best!"
Naruto gave him the thumbs-up. "Thank you." He headed for the outside area.
Both jounin greeted him at the front entrance to the outside forest area, but the one on the right took the blonde chunin separately into the field than Iruka. It seemed that the exercise was meant for individual training. The main clearing of the field had no fewer than eight different shinobi standing in two rows. Naruto examined the bunch of them; all chunin, all mid twenties like Iruka. "Your first field exercise will be choosing teams," the jounin explained. "It is different than simply reading off a paper or a dossier; in the field before missions is where you get to know the team before going outward." He walked back and forth amongst the two rows. "Each jounin usually has his or her unique way of leading and choosing teams." He motioned Naruto to get started. "Assume the first mission is this: a major enemy of our Hokage has been organizing and must be assassinated."
"Right then." Naruto strolled a few steps then stopped near the third main in the front row. He threw a punch. When the ninja did not budge, or even flinch, the blonde ninja seemed intrigued. This meant one of several things. "Tell me, why did you not attempt to protect yourself?"
"There was no anger in your face or posture," the shinobi explained, "and from what I heard your heartbeat was normal. Ergo, I knew you would stop."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "And if I'd decided to punch you for the hell of it?"
The shinobi grinned. "I'd have kicked your ass."
Naruto laughed and patted the guy on the shoulder. "Great, you're on the team."
At once the jounin spoke up. "Why?" Naruto looked at him confused.
"Because he's good at reading non-verbal cues and responding accordingly; he'd be good for confrontations."
The jounin seemed impressed. "Good."
Naruto approached a kunoichi in the front row. Pulling his blade from its sheath he cleaved her in two, and her body vanished into nothingness. Hmm, he thought, realizing the truth. He sheathed his weapon just in time to block an attack from an invisibility-jutsu cloaked shinobi. "Great job, that decoy attack was flawless. I merely saw you by your slightly visible outline." He nodded of approval.
"Explain your choice, Naruto." He looked at the jounin, less confused this time.
"She lured me into her trap, one which had been carefully planned and perfectly executed. She's good for eliminating unnecessary servants of the main target." Once more the blonde's explanation held up satisfactorily.
"Pick one more," the jounin instructed.
Naruto walked slowly down the back row. Upon passing the second person from the right, he found a knife to his throat. Replacing himself and appearing behind the man, he held a kunai against the back of the guy's head. "Nice try. You're on the team." Naruto glanced at the jounin. "I don't think I need to explain this one." It struck the jounin as simply mind boggling that the Honorable Son would be so good at analysis of skill. Still, the duties of a jounin would require desperate decisions and calculated moves that could not be experienced in a controlled environment. No amount of slack could be given. Over the next hour, six different "pick a team" exercises were conducted with remarkably precise results on Naruto's part.
"All right, Honorable Son," the jounin finally admitted. "We've done all we can today. You can go now. Your mother, Honorable Lady of Konoha, is waiting for you in training room three."
My mother? The prospect interested him. His mother had been instrumental in his training and skill development, but she hadn't given him a private lesson in four years. Still, he dared not pass up the opportunity; his mother's private lessons were semi-legendary for their ability to instill talent. Kurenai, for exmaple, had gone from genin to jounin in two years of Kyuubi's training. To get a private lesson from the second most powerful fox demon in existence, there could be few higher honors.
The door to training room three flung open and when Naruto entered, slid shut. ; My son, ; she remarked, ; To be training to be jounin, I am proud of you. ;
He bowed. ; Thank you, my mother. ;
Closing her eyes, Kyuubi's fox magic overcame her, transforming her sexy red dress into her battle attire. ; Before I can allow you to continue training, however, I must know beyond a doubt you are ready. ; She assumed stance and opened her eyes. In human form with genjutsu hiding her fox tails and ears, she could not exceed ten percent power. ; Let us fight using Uzumaki-ryu style physical art. Prove yourself worthy. Injure me, my son. ; She grinned.
In a flash he hovered over her a brief instant. A mid-air spin kick aimed at her head found a left forearm in its path. Immediately, a similar kick intended for her chest struck a downward right arm thrust. A right-handed straight punch she brushed aside. Faster than Naruto's comprehension she plowed a fist into his face, blasting him across the room. ; Pitiful, my son! ; She expected a better attack. Your real father hit harder when he made love to me.
Obviously, some kind of warm up the attack had been. Releasing the genjutsu allowed him more of his power. Filling every crevace of his body with chakra he zoomed over to his mother's position. He faked a punch, going instead for her head instead of her stomach. The real punch, being unexpected, she didn't react in time to prevent a powerful blow to her forehead. A series of rapid-fire kicks connected with her torso. He then funneled all of his power into his punch, aimed at just below her chest. The next few moves were unreal; recovering from the attacks at a blistering pace, she pushed his desperation blow aside then rammed a standing side kick into his abdomen, its joust-like force almost planting him in the floor several feet away.
; Damn, ; he uttered. ; That probably was the best attack I could muster in my human form! ; He resumed his genjutsu.
Her usual dress she resumed. ; Son, ; she informed him, ; I've been fighting in hell since before the times of Greek mythology, even. You're just twelve years. I didn't expect much other than what I've seen. ; Considering how powerful she was, his performance had been nothing short of remarkable. ; Still, you surprised me. I estimate you to be…slightly higher in talent than Kakashi. ; She winked. ; Of course, I could be wrong. ; She ruffled his hair on the way out. In a couple thousand years, she estimated, he'll be one hell of a warrior. He may even outmatch Kenzo, his real father. I think he'll be kage-level material in three years. It had been his performance that still amazed her. Naruto adapted to my skill level in his second attempt! I never expected that.
After the word-up from his mother he moved on to a class session with Ebisu. Once more he sat adjacent to Iruka, hope set on doing well and mind set on completing his exercises. "Okay, it is time for the second lesson, this one may take more than a single class session of your time to solve." Ebisu coughed, and took a sip of his water. He remembered his own tests when applying for jounin, and this had been a damn hard one. "You have until four class days from this one to understand and complete the assignment." He handed to each a dossier with four imaginary candidates. "Wire this down or commit it to memory, for I am going to say it but one time." His task had been simple; one of sandaime Hokage's secret mission records had to be given to them, with intent of seeing if they could come to the correct conclusion. "Your task is to write down a detailed essay of what should be done in this mission. You will know what the team knew, and no more." Several more pieces of paper were handed out. "You are on a mission with intent to perform a series of high level assassinations within the government of the Village Hidden in Mist.
"The intended purpose is not to destabilize the government, but to place in command a Mizukage that will agree to our village's terms on a vital trade agreement. If you fail, a war may break out. If you succeed, our village's economy will skyrocket for generations to come. The extra papers you have detail the known bodyguards of the corrupt Mizukage. I understand that much may be up to interpretation, but the more accurate you are, the more points you will receive. For this assignment you may not work together or collaborate, nor may you leave the palace except for field assignments. Any questions?"
Naruto raised his hand. "Where exactly are we at this point in the mission?"
Ebisu nodded. "Thank you, I almost forgot. You are six hundred meters from the village's edge, the palace of the Mizukage is in sight in the distance. Thus far you have only come across routine patrols, and it is quite safe to assume they did not see you." He checked his watch. "You may return to your rooms. I must go to a meeting."
Iruka raised his hand. "Do we have all necessary information?"
Ebisu nodded then left. Both chunin returned to their rooms. Each of them tore into their assignment right away. Naruto looked at each team member and each enemy dossier, strategizing attack and infiltration points while reading each map. Strategies like the one this assignment required he had never done before, and he doubted himself, but he would do his best. Iruka, however, knew something his former student did not. He knew the assignment had been drawn from one of sandaime-sama's mission records. This tidbit enabled him to pursue his answer from a different angle. He could now simplify his thinking by merely pondering what Sarutobi would do. He knew sandaime's dossier had been intentionally omitted to deceive them, but he had a way of making easy his answer.
The next four days slinked by rather slowly for Iruka. Confident in his ability to ponder his written assignment from Sarutobi's angle he completed his field exercises with almost no distraction. For Naruto, however, the days skyrocketed by almost at impossible speed. Even those in the field began to notice his mind beginning to be pulled away from their direction. The truth was that he simply did not know if his answer would be accurate enough to be acceptable. His not knowing the outcome began to wear on him. Two of the nights he did not sleep, staying up checking and rechecking, analyzing every possible outcome and rewriting his essay until it began to stiffen his hands. When the due date came he submitted his final draft for analysis.
News always spread rapidly through the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Very little of what happened wasn't at once fired around like a drug-hopped cannonball. So when news came of Lady Kyuubi having been kidnapped during a training exercise with three genin, it had struck as an unbelievable shock. Initially the question was why, but later it changed to how. None were more stumped than those affected most, Yondaime and Naruto. The chunin sat in the private chambers of the man he called father.
"Dad," Naruto practically demanded, "how in the hell could mom've been abducted?"
Yondaime wiped his eyes. He hadn't slept since. "Son, I…I don't know." He truly had no clue as to how such a powerful being as Kyuubi could possibly be kidnapped. "She's been trying to contact me telepathically but some demonic seals are in her prison chamber." He believed she'd been taken by Akatsuki.
"You HAVE to get her back! You just…"
Yondaime banged his fist. "SON! I KNOW!" He calmed down after the outburst. "I'm sorry, it's just that, I'm more worried about what they need her for than what they'll do to her." He hugged his son. "She can take care of herself, I'm just worried about what they'll use her for."
In a prison cell, specifically modified for demonic seals to prevent her escape, Kyuubi sat, tied to a steel chair by magically-altered rope. If she applied pressure it seared her flesh. She knew of only one purpose for her continued imprisonment; her power. They wanted it, and despite all of it, she could not free herself nor communicate with her family, nor even morph into demon form. Her shirt and skirt torn from where a lecherous guard attempted to rape her before a superior's verbal intervention, her bra and panties showing. The chamber stunk from four days of her not seeing the inside of a bathroom, and her red hair was matted from sweat. They had initially incapacitated her by using darts coated with perkork flower pollen, a plant grown only in hell. Furthremore, it only grew once in a thousand years. How Akatsuki acquired it mystified her.
A changing of the guard took place, with more than three sets of eyes watching to make sure nothing went awry. It was the perverted one's turn; she would make him pay so dearly when she escaped. "Just keep track, don't do anything…funny." The supervisor's instruction came to the chagrin of the guard, who sat in a chair apart from the one Kyuubi sat chained in. I am going to enjoy killing you SO much, she thought.
Naruto returned to class with Iruka alongside him the sixth day still concerned more about his mother's uncertain fate than his classes. He knew her to be remarkably powerful; for her to be captured meant one of several things. None of them were any good. Concentrating on his work, which was damn near impossible to do, he awaited the results of his essay. Ebisu briefed them both.
"Iruka," he began, "you did excellently. Did you estimate that the mission came from sandaime-sama's mission records?" He received a nod. "Well, yes, your answer came remarkably close to what actually happened." He redirected his attention to Naruto. "Honorable Son, I gave you a slightly lower grade than Iruka due to the fact that your answer hit a few snags, but you still passed with a good grade. I must inform you that you can only proceed to stage two of your instruction after another three days of classroom exercises, whereas Iruka," he looked at the other chunin, "you are cleared to go on immediately. Anko will begin with you tomorrow. Dismissed." Iruka left the room. Naruto remained. "Honorable Son, I know you are confused about my decision."
"No, I…" he stammered, attempting to disguise the let down, "I understand that I need further instruciton or I may fail…"
Ebisu cut him off. "No, you misunderstand," he corrected. "I cleared Iruka because it is quite evident based on his results that he has nothing more to learn from me. There's quite a bit more I need to teach him if he ever wants to be jounin, but he doesn't seem to be learning it because he's a bit too weak-minded. Look at the essay, for exmaple. He outscored you, but didn't think of what he should've done, if HE was on that mission."
Naruto seemed shocked. "You can't mean!"
Ebisu nodded, almost solemnly. "He's more likely to fail than you. I passed him to hasten the process of his examination. If he keeps performing at his present level, he'll waste time we could've spent on you."
"It's so cruel of you!"
"It's the ninja way. This team of jounin can't waste time on a useless weapon. YOU are the skilled one; he's even admitted it before."
Seemingly endless decades passed in the two additional days since Kyuubi's last cleaning. Akatsuki bigwigs tired of the smell and had her washed while still bound, then tied her back to the chair. A new guard came in. One that had been the most quiet of the bunch, now stood guard near her. For the past five hours she'd tried, in vain, to get a single utterance from him. "C'mon!" She continued yelling. "Gottan wanna talk about something!"
He glared at her, and resumed his resting.
"Tell me what you like to do. You ever ski?" He smiled smugly, sure of his silence. "Ever fish with rods?" He stood up.
"Been nice not talking to you," he gave in. "Now I'm gonna yell for a change of the guards.
"Ever participate in a homosexual orgy?"
He froze where he stood. She couldn't know, could she? If he ever got caught, Akatsuki would hand down a punishment of…
"If they found out, that you liked…the gentlemen callers…you'd be executed." He stared at her, a sneer on her face. No, he rationalized, she couldn't know, she was just…
"You're just trying…trying to threaten me!" His heart beat faster, betraying to her his lie. Three young men had been tortured and raped that night and he…
"We both know you," she reminded. "You killed them, reasoning that they were just dirty fags, not clean like you." Her trip into his mind revealed her silver bullet. "But why should they know?" He reached for his kunai. He had to silence the bitch, before she…
"Before I blab, you're going to kill me? Ha. What do you think your punishment will be for doing so?"
He squirmed; she was right. He had no choices that worked. Thus he knew of no possibilities.
"Or, perhaps, for a small fee, I could give you more young men to have fun with."
He lowered his eyebrows. "You lie."
She stared at him. "Do I? I a fox demoness. Magic is my specialty. Call those guards in and remove the seal on my chair. Don't worry; I'm still tied by magical rope."
He yanked the paper seal off the chair, and the anti-magic aura dissipated. "I…I'm ready for a changing of the guard," he shouted, loud enough to be heard. "Come on." A short pause came right before a bang on the door indicated that two of the seventeen Akatsuki were on hand to oversee the changing of the guard. The one in with her whispered to her, "I want those two. I want them completely submissive." She grinned.
"You got it, you kinky asshole."
The steel door slid open. Two powerfully-built operatives walked in. The very moment their eyes rested on Kyuubi, the fact that the piece of paper that created the anti-magic aura could not be seen presented a problem. Unfortunately for them, her eyes flashed red the moment they reached for their ninjato's. Their conscious will gave way to thoughts they never felt before. Suddenly one of them wrapped his arms around his comrade's neck, and began kissing him passionately. While his partner closed the door, the guard who had made the request began to undo the clothing of his lover. Behind them, the other guard had his mental orders. His hatred for them both festered and congealed.
In a motion so smooth it could scarcely be comprehensible, he unsheathed his weapon. During a lover's kiss he decapitated the two of them. By this point he concentrated on Kyuubi.
It felt good to be free of the ropes that burned her flesh. "Thank you," she offered. It was then that she repaid his kindness by tearing his throat out. ; I am free at last, my husband and son, ; she psychically told them. ; I am free! ; She would, that evening, hold a feast for herself. The seventeen on-hand Akatsuki would be invited to be the main course. Her home in Konoha awaited.
Naruto was glad to hear of her break of luck. It allowed him to do well in the last three days of classroom training with Ebisu. Soon he'd be entering fight training; the second and longest stage.