CHAPTER NINETEEN – Present Day, Human World, Land of Waves
A/N: Hate me if you want, the shortness of this chapter and abruptness has a purpose.
Days passed in the land of the waves. Invariably, those days morphed into a little over two weeks. Yondaime kept close watch on his son; making sure that Kenzo didn't make his presence known (and he knew exactly what he'd have to do if the demon did). Orochimaru's disguise never once fell and not a single shred of suspicion did anyone feel towards that matter—with the exception of a somewhat ominous feeling that Naruto couldn't get rid of. None quite knew of the master plan, they merely went about their busy days of learning ninjutsu. In fact, some of the fishermen and merchants became close to genin level advancement.
Naruto sat in a folded-leg style as he watched a bewildered group of students mimic him by sitting the same way. "Now, you people will learn how to raise your chakra through transient meditation." He closed his eyes. "Should you find a safe location during a long mission and you want to make sure your chakra is at its utmost limit, and fully charged, you can always perform transient meditation. You can even do this with a disguise jutsu active." He began to meditate, as best he could while instructing. "Feel your chakra; feel it flow and focus your mind on smoothing out the flow. If you do it properly, you'll get your chakra to restore to maximum and you may even expend chakra at half the rate on some jutsu." A faint, light blue aura enveloped him as he delved deep into the recesses of his mind and body.
A blackened void inside him did the young blonde see, his various chakra pathways shone, his nigh-invisible chakra brightly illuminated as it flowed gently within him, his mind bringing forth the image within. He felt every part of the warmth of his inner self. He focused his mind, intensely enough, and eventually he smoothed the rough edges of several parts of his pathways, and it enabled the rivers of energy to become gentle and soothing in their surge through his body. His power became more focused than usual, and the others could feel a dramatic increase in overall energy.
"You see," he chided, "if you have the opportunity to do so, it can sometimes give you an insurmountable edge over your foes." He gave them the opportunity to attempt their own meditation, watching over them carefully as he further focused his energy. Meditation did more for him than it would for them, being of a higher-order being and all. Upon seeing enough of them enter into a satisfactory level of focus, he delved further himself. The ominous feeling didn't weaken as his extrasensory abilities kicked in at higher degrees of consciousness. A very distinct feeling came over him; he knew, upon the increase of his sensing abilities, that a foe lurked in the village.
Orochimaru, he realized.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Land of Waves, a scout walked through the outskirts of the main village. He had been patrolling the various outcrops of buildings and little huts scattered about on the edge where the bustling town gave way to a forest path leading north towards Sunagakure. Nothing about his day had been out of the ordinary, until he heard a series of voices. Neither seemed familiar. Noting that they came from a darkened hut, he approached, stealthily. He stilled his heartbeat as best he possibly could. He put his ear to the wall.
"Remember, Orochimaru, I've only got to get one more ha..." The blonde-haired figure stilled. "Orochimaru," he whispered, "get the fuck out! Now! I'll cover your escape!"
The scout mouthed, "Oh shit!" Then tore off running towards the only person he could think of to help. He heard Akatsuki footsteps charging behind him as he dashed on. "NARUTO-SAMA! NARUTO-SAMA! NARU...AAAaaaggh!" A kunai buried itself in his neck. He collapsed forward.
But the damage had been done. The Akatsuki operative cursed his luck then remembered the blonde-haired man's orders. He prepared himself for the onslaught.
Naruto dashed away from the group. "Otowano-san! Protect the group! I'm going!"
The young jounin stood at attention. "Hai, Naruto-sempai! Hoohaaa!"
Naruto saw a cloaked figure waiting for him. He also saw something unexpected fly in and snap the neck of the Akatsuki operative. He grinded to a halt. "F...father?!"
The Yondaime stood up from the body of the Akatsuki. "Fancy meeting you here, son."
"F...father, what're you doing here?"
"I got word from ANBU that Orochimaru had taken control of this land and the real governor's heir sent a mission to my desk to assassinate, or at least remove him from power. You can go now, Naruto; I'll take it from mere."
"B...but father! Kenzo may be nearby! If Orochimaru's 'higher allegiance' shows up..."
Yondaime stomped his foot. "Naruto! That's an order! Go gather our men! We'll leave this country as soon as possible." He looked his son in the eye. "Don't wait for me. If I die, I can't have you all perish with me. I'll join you as soon as I can."
"But, father!"
"Dammit, Naruto! Grab the group, and Inari's family, and get the hell out of this land!" Naruto didn't want to leave his father, but did as instructed. Yondaime dashed on. He readied his kunai.
An extremely muscular blonde figure dropped from a tree not five hundred yards from the fourth Hokage. He sneered as his young descendant angrily regarded him. "Well, well, if it isn't Arashi. Dear boy, what do you hope to do against the king of foxes?" He clenched his fist. His hand released a half-eaten human corpse behind him. He had, in humanoid form, a good foot of height and a few hundred pounds of muscle mass on his young counterpart. Still, Yondaime stood his ground.
"I may not be the 'King of Foxes,' Kenzo, but I'm not going to let you win the day!"
Kenzo laughed evilly. "If you think I'm going to let you get by me to Orochimaru, you're going to find out the hard way what happens when you mess with the most powerful fox demon ever to live!"
It was a matter of an hour later that Naruto and his group had gotten a fully safe distance from the village, and from Akatsuki, as per Yondaime's orders. Now, all they awaited was the man himself. Father, I hope you didn't get yourself killed. It seemed as though his question found itself answered immediately, as the blonde leader of the leaf village came walking out of the secret passageway, covered in blood (very little of which was his own). Naruto practically jumped into his arms.
"Father! You're okay! Did you get Orochimaru?"
Yondaime wiped his eyes clean. "No." He looked his son in the eye. "Naruto, when we get back to the village, we're going to organize a strike force. Four days from now, the Village Hidden in the Leaf officially declares war on Akatsuki and Kenzo."