Chapter 3 – Payback and Warnings
In real time the Shinobi surrounding the area looked on in glee as the man they had chosen to deliver the finishing blow sank his deadly attack into the Kyuubi brats chest hopefully disintegrating his heart and killing him once and for all. They were all completely unprepared for the tidal wave of blue energy that exploded from the young child's body and bore down on the ninja making them feel like gravity had increased 10 fold. All of them fell to the ground sweat pouring down their faces as they struggled to breathe.
The assassin was stronger than his companions so he managed to stay standing but he was pushed back by the strength of the energy that was pouring out of the boy he had attacked. The energy eventually condensed and shrank transforming into the imposing form of Suijin who glared at the people that were trying to kill Naruto.
She restrained her crushing spiritual pressure allowing the ninja to get back to their feet, they stumbled to their feet staring fearfully at the goddess that was Suijin.
"Who the hell are you?" one of the bolder ninja demanded "Or should I say what the hell are you?"
Suijin ignored him and bent down over Naruto's limp body, she placed her palms on the gaping wound that had been left by the chakra attack of the masked assassin and concentrated. Blue energy left her hands and swirled around the wound knitting the skin back together and closing the wound so that no trace of it ever existing was left.
"What! Why are you helping the demon?" The bolder one shouted running towards her to stop her from saving the demon containers life. He was met by Suijin foot which crashed into his stomach knocking him to floor.
"You bitch" he spat "I bet your another fucking demon lover like that old fool Hokage did he hire you to protect that freak or something."
Suijin had finished healing Naruto and was now stalking towards the downed ninja with killing intent clearly visible in her eyes. The man began to scramble backwards trying to get away from the furious woman.
"Now wait a minute" he stuttered "You can't do anything to me, the Hokage wouldn't give you permission to attack any citizen of Konoha no matter what we do to the brat."
"You are correct" Suijin said emotionlessly "The Hokage would never allow anyone to kill villagers or ninja in defence of Naruto but I never said that I was hired by that pathetic excuse for a leader."
The man's expression which had grown relieved and slightly smug at the start of her statement now went to full blown panic. He was about to scream but was prevented by an unknown force which gripped his throat and squeezed hard making him unable to do anything but choke.
"You asked earlier who and what I was" Suijin said still in a deathly calm voice "I shall now answer you, I am called Suijin Naruto's guide and protector, that in turn makes me your executioner." She vanished reappearing a split second later right in front of the man. In less than a second her sword flashed and the man's head left his body and hit the ground.
The rest of the ninja were frozen disbelieving at what had just happened their group had attacked Naruto many times before and never had they been punished for it not even a demotion let alone death. For the first time many began regretting their constant attacks on the boy and wished they had just ignored him like many others did, they cringed as Suijin turned around blood still dripping from her sword her face was dark and stormy and held the absolute certainty of death.
"I'm afraid I don't have much time to deal with you all, Naruto will be awake soon and I would rather not shatter his remaining innocence with the memories of what I'm going to do to you." She started to move towards the closest ninja who fell down on his knees.
"Mercy" he begged "Please have mercy."
"Mercy" Suijin repeated harshly stopping her relentless advance "I used to be so full of mercy and forgiveness. I would literally forgive anyone any sin, it felt like my very purpose was to cleanse and heal a person's mistakes, that was before I saw the cruelty and evil of man. From then on I changed, I will defend heal and protect any innocent or injured party but I will treat my enemies or those that oppose my precious people to nothing but pain and death. Just as water gives life and joy but also can be harsh and cruel so shall I kill those that hurt those that I love."
The man managed to scramble to his feet and started to run desperate to get away from the avenging angel behind him. His example was quickly mirrored by the other would be killers who quickly turned and started to run away.
Suijin sneered at the fleeing men in disgust "Cowards" she muttered sticking her sword in the ground and raising her arms up in the air hands outstretched in the direction of the fleeing men. Lightning began to spark at her fingertips as she aimed at her target. Her kidou spells would work well in making sure they couldn't run anymore.
"Hadou #4 Byakurai" a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertip and struck the man she was aiming at in the back of the head burning a small hole straight through his skull and brain killing him instantly. The others stopped running to look at this sight for a split second and that second was all that Suijin needed. "Bakudou #1 Sai!" She called out her cold voice easily carrying over the distance between her and the men who had attacked Naruto. Those men felt a sudden power hit them pulling their arms behind their back and forcing them to their knees.
Suijin instantly changed her stance bringing both of her hands together and building up a large amount of spiritual energy in them. "Bakudou #9 Horin" An orange hued tendril with spiralling yellow patterns left her left hand and wrapped around the man who was furthest away. Another tendril erupted from her right hand and captured another of the assailants swinging them through the air until they collided with the other captured ninja. The tendrils merged together and looped around the both of them forming into rope like bonds. Suijin did the same process again and again until all six were captured and helpless in her binding kidou. She relaxed slightly walking forward to pull her blade out of the ground before approaching her captives who would have been screaming if she hadn't bound their voices with another binding spell.
She had placed her blade at the throat of her next victim when her spiritual senses screamed a warning and she ducked narrowly avoiding getting clobbered by a long and immensely powerful staff that was wielded by none other than the Sandaime Hokage. She vanished in the flicker of Shunpo (Flash Step which allows the user to move at incredible speeds over short distances and longer distances with practice) and reappeared a safe distance away glaring at the old man and the numerous Anbu guards that he had brought with him.
"What the hell do you want you old fool" she snarled at the sight of the useless old man that had strung Naruto along for years never helping stop the abuse that was heaped upon instead teaching him that the villagers were not at fault and that he should take the abuse and waste all his time trying to change their views about him instead. In doing so he had all but destroyed any self worth Naruto had by practically telling him that to be accepted he had to become the willing scapegoat of Konoha and sacrifice his life for them if he had to, he had to take every beating with a smile, never fight back because that would wrong. Never mind that the old mans ninja were torturing the boy first. Oh how Suijin hated the wizened old fool, no matter what his intentions might have been, the damage that might have been done to Naruto's psyche if she hadn't been able to comfort him were terrible. Now she had a chance to finally confront the old buzzard.
"Who are you and what is your purpose here?" The Sandaime demanded angrily as his summon Monkey King Enma returned to his original form growling menacingly at Suijin, she merely looked at the Lord of the Monkeys with indifference.
"I am known as Suijin and my purpose here" the indifferent look on her face melted away into one of fierce hatred "Is to kill the worthless cowards that are now cowering behind you and I am willing to go through you if it is necessary in order to do so."
"Then we are at an impasse" Sarutobi said in a steely voice "Because I will not allow any harm to come to a citizen of the leaf no matter what circumstances might have occurred."
Suijin snorted incredulously "Bullshit old man you've been allowing harm to come to a citizen of the leaf for years now and haven't done anything to stop it. Or does the name Naruto Uzumaki village scapegoat not ring a bell."
The denial that had been shaping in Sarutobi's throat died instantly and he nearly hung his head in shame. Of course he knew that he had failed terribly with Naruto, he had not been nearly as harsh as he should have been with punishments to those that persecuted the boy because he could not afford to lose any ninja especially after the Kyuubi's attack when their forces had been nearly cut in half.
"Perhaps his life has not been ideal" he admitted to the mystery woman in blue who looked at him incredulously "but sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the comfort of a minority in order to protect the wellbeing of something larger. I could not punish the ones that persecute him because we need every ninja that we have otherwise Konoha might be attacked by another village and another war may start."
He looked stern but his eyes gave away the depth of his grief at the choices he had been forced to make. Unfortunately for him nobody noticed that Naruto had woken up and was now seething with the betrayal of his surrogate grandfather. Sarutobi had always told him that there was nothing he could do to stop the abuse and he had believed him, now he found out that not only had his would be grandfather known about the unfairness, the bias and the beatings but he had allowed it.
Rage filled the young boy as he thought about how the Hokage had told him not to fight back against the hate and instead take it and try to change their minds about him. Now he realised that he had been played by a champion who had been working on him ever since he was a child so that he would become a frenziedly loyal ninja who would die for whoever showed him the slightest kindness. His heart which he had once thought about giving to Konoha freely froze over and became cold towards Konoha and its people, he would not be played for a fool again. He heard Suijin snap back a scathing retort which ended with her claiming him as her son. He felt his heart warm slightly, yes he didn't need Konoha or their acceptance, he already had a family, one much more loyal than Konoha had ever been. He tried to get up but found that he while he was in no pain he was still too exhausted to move from all the energy he had used summoning and merging with Suijin's blade. He looked up at Suijin again and caught her eye for the briefest moment, she shook her head minutely indicating for him to stay down and watch. He showed his agreement by giving an equally minute wink and turning his head slightly so that he could see the escalading fight perfectly.
When Sarutobi had revealed that he had let Naruto suffer in order to keep Konoha strong Suijin had had to use every last ounce of her self control to stop herself from killing the old prune on the spot. It was while she was calming herself that she noticed that Naruto was awake and had been listening to what Sarutobi had been telling her about the reasons that he had ignored the abuse. She could feel his anger and rage at this betrayal easily through their bond so thinking quickly she snapped out a harsh response to Sarutobi.
"I see so you think it's alright to allow the torture of a child just to protect the torturers themselves you make me sick Sarutobi, especially at how weak you have become. What would the Shodaime and the Nindaime say if they could see their beloved village now? How it's leaders have become corrupt and look out only for themselves and how they allow the torture of children just to please the masses. No Sarutobi there can be no forgiveness for what you have done and I plan to see you pay for your crimes against my son."
She felt Naruto's happiness and gratitude through the bond and smiled slightly, every single one of the ninja's that were standing across from her were gaping at her shamelessly. Some looked surprised while others looked at her with hatred and one or two looked disbelieving. While they were all processing that bold statement she turned her head slightly and signalled to Naruto that he should stay down and let her do the talking. He agreed with a wink and she turned all of her attention back on the group of ninja's that had recovered from their temporary shock and were now slowly trying to surround her.
"You are not Naruto's mother" Sarutobi said firmly transforming Enma back into his staff form and preparing for a fight. This woman had attacked his ninja and had far to much interest in Naruto Uzumaki. He had to get rid of her for the good of Konoha. Only in the deepest darkest part of his soul did Sarutobi admit that another reason that he wanted the woman gone was because her accusations of his guilt and weakness were hitting far to close to the truth than he would care to admit.
"How can you possibly be sure about that Sarutobi" Suijin said sweetly.
"Because you are not Kushina Uzumaki" Sarutobi ground out angrily before realising that he had once again let his emotions get the better of him. 'Damn it' he swore mentally as Suijin smirked like a cart that got the canary.
"Well Sarutobi after you've told Naruto countless times that you have no idea who his parents are or if he has any family I find out now that only do you know his mothers name you sound very familiar and defensive about her meaning that you obviously have a deeper connection to her than just a Hokage and his subordinate. I wonder what else you've lied about."
Sarutobi had had enough, this woman was bringing up to many things that he wanted to remain buried and was also too good at winding him up and using his temper against him. "Anbu take her!" he yelled running forward himself the Anbu quickly following behind most of them making hand signs.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu" came the unanimous shout of at least 3 of the Anbu who released large balls of fire that shot towards Suijin while the other Anbu jumped out of the way and prepared an assault from a different angle if the woman survived.
However Suijin had already started moving before they had even started their attack, the chant she had been muttering under her breath was completed just as the Anbu released their fire attacks.
"Chiyudo #69 Arrosez Miroiter" She said with a smirk just as the fireballs came within 3 metres of her. A gleaming and crystal clear wall of water some two feet thick appeared in front of her encased in a barrier of kidou energy. The massive merged fireball struck the barrier of water with incredible speed and force evaporating instantly as it met Suijin's spell. Steam erupted from the collision shrouding the area in a white fog that clouded everyone's vision. The three Anbu that had been charging forwards stopped in fear of running into a trap.
From seemingly all around them Suijin's voice echoed as she ran through another chant. "Lock on, take aim. Blue crush Arrosez Maison."
Uneasy about what this chant might have caused while their vision was impaired the Sandaime quickly made some hand signs and blew away the steam with a wind jutsu. What he and the rest of his Anbu team saw was that the wall of water that the woman had created had quadrupled and surrounded the three Anbu on every side. The water within the barrier was hissing and steam rose from the top of the degrading barrier.
"What is this?" Sarutobi asked in awe, never in his entire life had he seen someone manipulate the elements in such a way so easily with mere words.
"Simple old man" Suijin said with an innocent smile "This spell creates a wall of water in front of me encased in a barrier that will withstand one attack. The barrier will use the attacks energy to superheat the water held within it to boiling temperatures. Then the barrier drops releasing a flood of this boiling water on my enemies. The second spell was an extension that duplicated my original wall four times boxing my enemies in so their can be no escape."
She looked behind her with feigned interest as the shimmering barrier started to vanish "I'd say that the barrier will drop in less than 5 seconds so if you have any last words I'd say them now."
Sarutobi lunged forwards at the blue haired woman but was forced to abandon his attack and leap away as the massive barrier collapsed releasing a tidal wave of scalding water on the three trapped Anbu and anything else that was on the ground close by.
Sarutobi waited until the water had stopped its surging path and started to soak into the ground, he created a layer of chakra around his feet to protect him from the heat and quickly rushed over to his fallen Anbu. They were still alive but were badly burnt and had knocked unconscious by the pain and the force of the water crashing down on them.
He ordered the remaining Anbu to take their injured comrades to the hospital before turning his attention to where the woman was standing only to find she was gone. He berated himself for his naivety in thinking that she would stick around while he was distracted, he thought back to his conversation with the woman remembering her fierce defence of the blond haired boy lying on the ground behind her.
Oh God he had totally forgotten about Naruto, when the boiling wave had struck he had been lying on the ground only a short distance away from where the wave had appeared from. He would have taken the full force of the deadly attack. He cursed the strange woman that had caused all of this destruction.
"Naruto!" he called out "Can you hear me? Are you all right?"
"Oh he's fine Sarutobi" a warm feminine voice said from behind him in an amused tone. "You didn't really think that I would allow any harm to come to him did you?"
"The thought had crossed my mind" Sarutobi spat out angrily turning to glare at the distant figure of Suijin standing on top of a nearby roof with Naruto laid gently at her feet, she was smiling coldly at him.
"Bring Naruto down here at once" Sarutobi demanded "Or you will face the full wrath of Konoha's forces."
Suijin smiled patronisingly "Old man I just took down three of your best without breaking a sweat and so far you haven't even come close to touching me even though you're supposed to be the strongest in this village. What do you think you can do to me if I choose to run?"
"Against you probably nothing" Sarutobi admitted with a serene smile "But could you defend both yourself and the boy at the same time I wonder." His smirk held the not so subtle message hidden behind his words. 'Choose to run and the hunters will go after you and the boy with the intent to kill would you risk his life?'
Suijin snarled and vanished before Sarutobi's startled eyes reappearing a split second later right in front of him with her sword against his throat.
"Threaten him again Sarutobi and you will die, then who will protect this pathetic village from enemy attack. Tell me, would you risk all their lives!"
Sarutobi gulped finally realising that this was an enemy that was totally beyond him and his abilities, if he had been in his prime then it would have been a different story but age had slowed him and eaten away at his endurance making him an easy target for someone that had the speed that this woman possessed.
"What do you want?" he asked her trying to talk around the blade that was kissing his throat.
"It's very simple Sarutobi" Suijin said sweetly "All I want is Naruto to be safe and happy, you will spread the word that he is not to be harmed or mistreated in any way. If he is attacked then I will appear and kill those that attacked him, if he is mistreated in anther way like being overcharged for goods then I will repay that treatment by turning this land into a dry wasteland by draining it dry of all the water it possesses or drenching you in constant monsoons which ever I feel like."
To back up her claims she pointed towards an area of the ground that had been untouched by her attack and was covered in green grass and rich earth. Before Sarutobi's very eyes water was leeched from the earth and the greenery gathering above the area in a growing sphere of water. The ground affected was already showing signs of dying. The previously green grass had turned brown and the single tree had turned old and twisted. The earth was cracking and turning hard as if it had been under a long and heavy drought.
Suijin carefully measured Sarutobi's expression as he watched her demonstration trying to tell whether he would listen to her demands or not. She had very little manifestation time left so she had to make her point and leave before Sarutobi figured out she couldn't stay in the real world for long periods of time or more reinforcements arrived.
To her relief she saw that Sarutobi had turned pale and was looking worried. "Tell them Sarutobi" she whispered in his ear "Warn them not to mess with Naruto because I will always be watching and there is no force on this earth that can stop me from exacting out my vengeance if I have need to do so."
And with that she removed her sword from Sarutobi's neck and vanished returning to Naruto's mindscape.
The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha looked around as soon as the blade left his throat but he could see no sign of her. He leapt up to the roof where Naruto was lying and hesitated as he moved to pick the boy up. His hand drifted slowly to the boy's throat as he pondered whether it would be safer for the leaf village if he were to die right here and now before the woman returned.
Before his hand came within a metre of Naruto's throat a water thread materialised and whipped around his hand preventing him from moving it. Another thread of water materialised next to his neck and sharpened until it was like a small knife.
Suijin's voice seemed to echo from all around him "I warned you Sarutobi I'm always watching do not test my patience any further than you already have."
Sarutobi stepped back suitably cowed and took Naruto up in his arms, he was so distracted by Suijin's warnings and abilities that he didn't notice Naruto stiffen as he picked him up or the small frown that crossed the young boy's face as he struggled to sort out the feelings of betrayal he now had towards his would have been grandfather. He could see now that Sarutobi had never cared about him as much as he had claimed to and even if he did his duty to the citizens of Konoha would always come first in his eyes. He came to a decision as Sarutobi dropped him off at his apartment, he would hold any feelings of malice towards Sarutobi but at the same time he would also not hold any feelings of warmth towards Sarutobi. From this point onwards he would be completely neutral towards anyone in Konoha judging them friend or foe simply from his interactions with them after this point. He would not kill innocents through want of revenge because that would make him no better than the monsters that tried to hurt him because they thought it would hurt Kyuubi as well.
A deep warm feeling came from within him and he felt a soft pull before he found himself in his mindscape again looking out upon the calm and warm sea. It was back to how it was when he had first come here nothing like the raging storm it had been when he had just left.
"It is because you are calm and at peace with yourself" Suijin said from behind him startling him slightly. He turned to meet her and she gave him a warm smile that was full of pride. "I am pleased that you chose the path that you did instead of the one of hate and revenge for what they did to you. Instead of falling to darkness and choosing the easy path you instead chose to take the high road and be neutral to anyone unproven until their actions make you decide whether to support them or oppose them."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment "Well I hadn't quite thought it through that much yet but yeah that's about the gist of it."
Suijin chuckled "Well whatever you decide to do you will need to be trained now. I have set the ball moving much faster than I had originally intended to with my threats to the Sandaime but I was left with very few options when he arrived sooner than I thought he would." She looked slightly guilty at this point but continued "I'm afraid I let my anger cloud my judgment slightly when I heard him trying to justify his actions towards you and gave off a lot more hostility than I had planned to at first. After I had attacked his Anbu I had no other choice but to issue that threat to him."
"I know and I understand Suijin" Naruto said sympathetically "It isn't wrong to care for something and try to defend it when that thing is threatened. If you had been treated that way then I don't think I would have been able to control my anger either."
Suijin looked unconvinced "Maybe but that is no excuse"
Naruto interrupted her "Forget it Suijin it happened lets move on. You mentioned something about training."
Suijin let out a large breath and seemed to relax "Thank you." She whispered before continuing in a louder voice "Okay thanks to my threat I'm sure that you will be left alone for a few days at least before people are confident enough that I am gone and you are defenceless. Then they will attack you again and I might be forced to intervene, if that happens then the council will use it as an excuse to try and either turn you into a weapon or kill you for the good of Konoha. If I keep interfering then you will get a lot of powerful enemies in Konoha. In order to make sure you are protected from these enemies you will have to be trained until you can defeat an Anbu and even hold your own with a Sannin if you have to."
"So where do we start?" Naruto asked.
"We'll start with the more basic skills like hand to hand fighting and speed techniques. After that we'll move onto kidou and Zanjutsu and when you are capable at both of these we will move onto controlling and using my abilities."
"Sounds good" Naruto said with a nod "So what do you want me to do?"
"You can learn kidou techniques in your mindscape but if you want to build up your muscle mass and density then you will have to train in the real world. As I will have to manifest in order to train you in the real world then we will have to time these training sessions carefully so you are not attacked when my energy is low and I can not manifest to protect you if I need to."
"Everything seems so complicated" the blond sighed, his brain was starting to hurt from the various conspiracy theories and worries that he now had to worry about.
Suijin smiled "Don't worry so much I'm a worrier and a planner so I always make things seem much more complicated and worse than they ever actually turn out to be. For now just let me worry about what the people in this village will be doing. You concentrate on learning this technique." She vanished in a blur and a low swishing sound reappearing almost instantly on the very other end of the beach.
In another blur she was back in the exact spot she had originally been in as if she had never moved "This move is called Shunpo or Flash Step, it allows the user to move long distances at great speed, a master of the art could make the journey from Konoha to Suna in just under 1 day which takes at the very least 3 days at maximum speed for ninja. This technique will give you a definite advantage over the average Shinobi."
"Sounds great" Naruto said with a grin "So how do you do it?"
Suijin smiled and instructed him on how to perform the legendary speed technique of the shinigami, the method was reasonably simple but it took a lot of time and work to properly master Shunpo completely. By the time Suijin told Naruto to stop and get some proper sleep he had learnt how to perform the technique but he could only move short distances and even doing that exhausted him. It was with great relief that he allowed Suijin to eject him from his mindscape and let him fall onto his soft bed and fall into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Sarutobi Hiruzen on the other hand was not feeling anywhere near peaceful, he had just finished with a council meeting where he had told them of Suijin's actions and the warnings she had given. The outcry that telling the clan heads and the civilian council members that was enormous and the number of them that called for Naruto's death was only slightly less than those that called for Suijin's and most of them had demanded that both the boy and his defender were killed.
It was only the wariness that they saw in Sarutobi's eyes and his statement that he could not come close to beating that woman and that anyone who tried was going to suffer a painful death that finally got some clans to see reason. He managed to waylay the civilians by telling them about Suijin's threat to destroy Konoha's food resources and with it their trade. It took a grand total of 4 hours for Sarutobi to convince the leaders of Konoha that it would be in their best interest to leave their scapegoat alone for the time being. Sarutobi knew it wouldn't last long but he hoped that it would be enough to give this guardian time to prepare for the storm that was approaching.
"I've bought you all the time that I could" he sighed as he sorted through some of the stacks of paperwork that cluttered his desk and caused him many sleepless nights.
"I know and thank you for that" a very familiar voice said from behind him making him nearly leap out of his robes with shock.
Behind him stood Suijin in all her glory, her blue hair and clothes seemed to shine and take on an ethereal glow when they were illuminated by the moonlight that streamed into the office from behind her.