Chapter 8-The Three Trials
Naruto sat in mediation. His body was at rest, but his mind was at work. Inside his very mindscape there was a battle about to take place. Three to be exact. One against Gray Fox, one against Revolver Ocelot, and one against Big Boss himself. Each opponent for Naruto being extremely dangerous. They taught Naruto everything they knew. Every skill, form, stance, etc. Naruto was taught everything they could teach him.
(Naruto's Mindscape)
"Its time Naruto," said Big Boss with Naruto nodding and saw the place change to the scenery that was Rokovoj Bereg.
This place seemed fitting for where the greatest of warriors go to fight their hardest and die without regret.
"I'm ready," Naruto replied simply with Gray Fox and Ocelot appearing while Kurama decided to be a witness to this event from his position off in the distance.
"I'm up first," said Gray Fox, as his having body shifted from when he human to the suit worn during the Shadow Moses incident.
"I'm sorry I have to kill you. Just wanted to say that in advance," said Naruto with Gray Fox cocking his head to the right slightly while letting out an amused electronic chuckle.
"That's funny Naruto. I was going to say the same thing to you," Gray Fox replied in his electronic voice with both combatants wielding their HF swords in combat ready stances.
Let's give them some space Ocelot. The last thing you want to do is get in their way and lose an arm...again," said Big Boss with Ocelot grumbling while his right arm jerked at the memory of Shadow Moses and how the cyborg ninja sliced off his limb.
"Right," replied Ocelot while giving the two swordsmen their much needed space.
Neither opponent moved. Neither one looked away. This match didn't start until the time was right. It was the way swordsmen fought one on one. A single action would tell them to start and no outside forces aside from that moment mattered. The two warriors never letting their eyes linger away from the other knowing it would mean their doom if they did.
A single flower petal blew in front of them...and the fight was on.
The two had been so coiled in their mirrored sword stances they took a chunk the ground off when running at the other. When their blades clashed, they echoed loudly for all to hear, and sparked when scraping against the other. The two fought viciously against the other, knowing that holding back was not an option, and to do so would mean defeat.
Off on the sidelines, Big Boss along with Revolver Ocelot watched Gray Fox fighting Naruto, and had to admit this was an intense one on one. The training Naruto had done with Gray Fox in the past had always increased each time, but this was not a training session, and the kid gloves (if there any) had come off in this fight. Big Boss even let a flinch happen on his face after Naruto landed a punch to Gray Fox's current metallic facial structure and the spin kick that followed. Gray Fox countered with a kick of his own and this time Ocelot flinched from seeing the hit landed on his shared student.
'Damn! I knew he could hit use a sword with deadly precision, but to hit hard enough to possibly break the enemy's jaw isn't something ignore,' thought Ocelot while Naruto spit out some blood and a few teeth though that wouldn't effect him outside of the Mindscape.
The two continued to fight fiercely, as swords sliced through flesh, metallic skin, and other hits landed between Naruto and Gray Fox. The grassy field around them was at risk of being catching on fire from the sparks they made from the clashes of their swords. In fact, one soon did with the fire spreading around them in a circle like manner with Big Boss looking at Kurama, and seeing the fox had manipulated it to form a ring around the two combatants.
"What? Its more dramatic this way!" explained Kurama with Big Boss looking at him before they turned to look at the fight between the two swordsmen speed up.
It was coming to an end.
They both had cuts all over. Some deep. Some not. Each bleeding from their wounds in the process. Panting heavily while getting ready for the final strike that would decide the victor of this battle.
"You have grown so much since we first started training Naruto. You have become the ideal student any teacher would desire," said Gray Fox with Naruto smiling at him, as blood fell down the Namikaze's face from a slash mark from the HF sword his teacher landed on him, and the blood dripping from his body before staining the ground.
"Thanks Gray Fox-sensei. Hearing that from you makes this all worthwhile," said Naruto while seeing the man was also ready for the final strike same as him.
"This is it," said Ocelot with Big Boss nodding since he had seen this happen before back in the day.
A moment went by between the two swordsmen before they sprinted forward, moving faster then the human eye could track, and they seemed to vanish into thin air for over ten solid seconds. They reappeared in the others position, their backs to one another, and a sense of calmness was about them. It was shattered however, as Naruto fell to one knee, and blood spraying everywhere from the deep diagonal cut over his torso. Gray Fox stood still for a second before he fell to his knees and his head fell backwards and rolled off his body.
Naruto...had won!
"We'll take a short break so you can recover Naruto. When you're ready, Ocelot will be your next opponent in the trials, and finally myself after that," Big Boss said to Naruto currently trying to recover (mentally) from the attacks Gray Fox had landed on his body.
"Understood," replied Naruto with the young warrior slowly healing while seeing Ocelot getting ready to fight with his guns he loved so much.
Naruto had seen the man make them appear and explain to him the history of the world before the end of guns and their long forgotten power they had over others. The different models, shapes, sizes, and ammo guns could hold while Ocelot explained about his own personal preference was the revolver based gun.
Hence the spinning action he did with them and how the only draw back was reloading after the chambers for the rounds had become empty. In truth, Ocelot had told Naruto that these weapons were made for short range combat, but were also used as a last resort against enemies when longer ranged guns were either empty, or not in reach to be used.
Naruto would have to remember that when he faced Ocelot.
(Outside Naruto's Mindscape)
How is he?" asked Fu while Hinata was putting a cold wet towel over her husband's head.
Hinata had found Naruto slumped on the ground, his body burning up, and it was clear his body was in pain despite no outward physical appearances. The Hyuuga woman had rushed him to the hospital of Outer Heaven and word spread to the others about their leader being out of commission for an unknown amount of time. Hinata of course knew this was the start of Trials that Naruto had been preparing for since he had told her in advance along with the others though it was clear this trial to become the next Big Boss was taking a lot out of him.
"He's burning up. He's showing signs of being in a vicious battle, but showing no signs on his body getting hurt," answered Hinata while seeing Naruto's body go tense, relax, and then tense again under the strain of being injured in combat while in combat.
"How long is this expected to last? asked Roshi seeing Naruto's face become covered in a heavy sweat.
"I don't know. It all depends on the Trials he's having with his senseis," explained Hinata since she along with the others were told about the three Masters of warfare in Naruto's mind by the Namikaze himself.
"They aren't pulling any punches on him during these Trials, are they?" asked Han seeing Hinata looking uncertain since she didn't know them personally.
"I don't believe they were going to go easy on him from the start. Naruto-kun's teachers each took their own training very seriously no punches were pulled by their teachers," answered Hinata since Naruto had told her quite a bit about them.
"It must be some pretty serious shit to do this to him," stated Tayuya with her seeing him breathing heavier with each passing moment.
"Yes. It must be serious," said Hinata while watching Naruto's body struggle to overcome this and could only imagine what was going on within his mind.
(Naruto's Mindscape)
"You're fast boy! But you can only dodge my bullets for so long," stated Ocelot using every trick in the book he knew regarding his guns to land a hit on Naruto.
He was having an overall success rate of twenty five percent with his bullets hitting Naruto in the leg, his right shoulder, lower torso, and even grazed the side of the neck. Still, Naruto was proving to be one tough bastard, not unlike Big Boss himself when they had their moments, and the kid's skills with the HF sword more then helped compensate for what the trees couldn't in terms of protection. Ocelot would use the age old skill of having his bullets ricochet off the trees, but Naruto used his weapon to block the metal projectiles, and avoiding serious injury...for the most part.
"I only have to dodge or deflect them until you run out," replied Naruto while throwing is voice to be in another place to confuse Ocelot on where to fire.
It worked twice before, but the old war veteran caught onto him, and Naruto knew he would be hesitant to "jump the gun" in firing where the voice came from. So rather then play into Naruto's hands, Ocelot took this time to reload since he was in fact out of ammo from the revolver in his hands, and drew another before putting away the previous one.
"Come on out boy! You can't hide for long. Sooner or later your wounds will get the better of you. If not, the blood trail you're leaving will help me pinpoint your location, and I'll put a bullet between your eyes. Don't think I won't! Its kill or be killed here!" said Ocelot before hearing movement behind him and fired two quick shots to ensure that if one missed the other would hit some form of flesh.
Only to see that he had fired at nothing! He had been played!
"You replaced your footing for a killing stroke," said Naruto before he appeared from Ocelot's right side and cut off the man's right arm at the elbow.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH! NOT AGAIN!" yelled Ocelot, as he clutched his stump, and fell to his knees in pain before looking up to see Naruto preparing for the killing stroke.
And with a quick horizontal slice...Revolver Ocelot was no more.
"Two down. One to go," said Naruto while taking this moment to mourn the loss of his second sensei and say a small quiet apology to the man even though it was a necessary thing.
"Later. Only when you're fully healed to fight me will we have our war," said Big Boss while watching Ocelot's body dissolve away like dust in the wind.
"I'm sorry. I know how close you were to those two," said Naruto with Big Boss nodding slightly and sensed the boy took no pleasure from this.
Killing should never be pleasurable in Big Boss's eyes.
Naruto agreed with him.
(Outside Naruto's Mindscape)
Hinata sighed in relief when Naruto's sudden fever broke and he opened his eyes to see her sitting beside him. The Namikaze smiled at Hinata and she did the same while the other women in the room glared at him for making them worry so much.
"Hey Hinata-chan," said Naruto with a sore throat for a voice before Hinata gave him some water.
"I'm glad you're awake Naruto-kun. Are the three Trials over?" asked Hinata with Naruto shaking his head no.
"You baka! You had us worried. If you weren't taking this dumbass Trials I'd kick you in the balls," said Anko while shaking her fist at him.
"I'll keep that in mind in the future Anko-chan. As to your answer Hinata-chan, I have one more to go, and its against Big Boss himself," answered Naruto with Hinata looking a tad worried since she had heard him talk about Big Boss being the Grand Master of sorts between the three of them.
"The leader of the trio," said Hinata with Naruto nodding his head and he saw her worried expression.
"Yeah. This is just small reprieve until we do battle," answered Naruto though his tone of voice told everyone in the room he was ready.
"Bring him down Naruto-sama," said Roshi with Han nodding.
"We have faith in you being the victor of this outcome," stated Han with Naruto smirking at the two.
"You better not lose Naruto or you're going to deal with me afterwards," stated Anko with Naruto letting out a weak chuckle.
"You always did know what to say to motivate me Anko-chan," replied Naruto before he closed his eyes and went back to the battlefield awaiting him.
"Damn right I do," said Anko with a grin on her face.
(Naruto's Mindscape)
"Are you ready?" asked Big Boss with Naruto nodding.
They were both unarmed, but that was the whole point of this final battle. This wasn't a fight involving guns, swords, running, shooting, stabbing, slicing, or striking down your enemy. This was a fight using only your arms, legs, feet, hands, and basically your body to its fully potential...as a living weapon.
"Bring it," replied Naruto, as the two were now in CQC stance, and both were determined to come out of this the victor.
Even though there could be only one winner in this.
"I won't hold back," stated Big Boss with Naruto nodding while a smirk appeared on his face.
"You wouldn't be much of a sensei if you did," answered Naruto with Big Boss nodding in agreement.
With the talking over, the two engaged in hand to hand combat, and Kurama just watched them fight with great interest. Since the three Masters of Warfare came into his vessel's life, Kurama had come to respect them, and Naruto to the extent where he told the boy his true name. Naruto had earned his respect for putting up with years of abuse, the lies, and fighting to bring about some form of peace to the Elemental Countries.
And killing one of the few Uchiha left in the world didn't hurt either.
The two fighters continued their seemingly never-ending battle, which almost looked like a dance of sorts between them, and was truly a remarkable display of skill. Each got in a few hits to the ribs, face, and the lower back. Big Boss was clearly using his countless years of experience to his advantage while Naruto was using his greater abundance of energy and agility to counter this. At the rate they were fighting in the flowery white petal laced field, things could go either way, and Kurama honestly thought this was battle was going to be close.
Battles between a teacher and student usually were if the student was strong enough.
'He's gotten better,' thought Big Boss while trying to land hits, block those Naruto tried to land on him, or counter with moves of his own.
'Damn it! I can barely landed a hit. He knows every block, move, and counter move I'll make against him. I need to outsmart Big Boss or else I'll tire myself out and he'll be able to counter me!' thought Naruto, as he was finding few openings, and it would only be a matter of time before Big Boss went on the offensive against him.
Leaping back, Naruto decided to let Big Boss make the next move since the Namikaze's own offense wasn't working, and see what the man would do with this change. Within seconds of going defensive, Big Boss went on the offensive, and began to push against Naruto with everything he had. With each passing second, Big Boss was gaining ground, and Naruto was losing his footing from his action to go defensive.
"Come on Naruto! I trained you to endure this kind of punishment with your eyes closed. So...endure it!" exclaimed Big Boss landing several hits to the younger man's face and aimed to hit him with a spin kick.
Before Naruto caught the leg and quickly broke it with a hard elbow where the kneecap was located before landing a solid right to Big Boss's face. The man hobbled back while nursing his jaw and realized he had moved to quickly on the offensive since believing Naruto's decision to go defensive meant his student was low on energy. He played his hand too soon and now Naruto had landed a hit which left Big Boss open to an assault by the blonde.
"Clever move kit. A good strategy if I ever saw one," said Kurama though it was more to himself while seeing Naruto take full advantage of the opening and began land more hits on Big Boss with each passing moment.
Naruto continued attacking Big Boss without mercy. He knew that any hesitation on his part would give Big Boss a chance to defend himself. Deep down though, Naruto wanted to stop, his mind telling him this was Big Boss he was hurting, and should stop this. His sensei, friend, advisor, comrade, and surrogate Father figure was being pummeled by his own hands! But Naruto couldn't stop. In a fight to the death like this, you don't stop until your opponent is dead, or you are at the enemy's hands.
Before Naruto knew it, he was behind Big Boss, his arm wrapped around the man's neck, and was trying to break it. Big Boss himself was trying to throw Naruto off of him, but the beating his body had taken was too much, and for a moment...he thought The Boss was standing barely 10 feet from him.
Its time Jack. Time to come back to me. We're all waiting for you.
'I'm coming Joy. Soon we can be a family again,' thought Big Boss, as he closed his eyes while accepting his soon to be death, and stopped fighting Naruto's attempt to kill him.
With a loud "SNAP!" that echoed throughout the field of battle, Naruto had successfully killed Big Boss, and completed the preverbal passing of the torch. Within seconds of letting the dead man's body fall to the ground, Naruto realized what he had done, and the horror behind his achievement made him feel sick. In a way, these three Trials made him almost as bad as a member of the Uchiha Clan killing his best friend for the next stage of the Sharingan, or Orochimaru killing his former sensei.
"I'm not worthy of friendship," stated Naruto with tears running down his face, as he saw the body of Big Boss dissolve like the others, and looked at Kurama to see the fox look back at him with sorrow.
"You are better then the Uchiha Clan and Orochimaru kit. Unlike them, you feel the grief, and the guilt that comes from the death of those you care about. You do not do it for power or revenge against them. You did it because that was how they wanted things to happen. These Trials were to the death and they knew this. They gave it everything they had to push you beyond your limitations and died knowing you had succeeded them in everything they taught you," explained Kurama with Naruto nodding since that was just like them.
"You think I'll see them again one day?" asked Naruto with Kurama nodding.
"You are their family kit. When the time comes to pass on...they will await you with open arms," answered Kurama with Naruto smiling now with tears running down his face.
"Thanks Kurama," said Naruto with the fox smirking at him.
"Any time kit. Any time," replied Kurama while the warrior left his Mindscape for the outside world.
(Outside World)
"Naruto-kun!" exclaimed Hinata, as she saw Naruto open his eyes, or rather his right eye since the left one was covered by the eye patch.
"Hi Hinata-chan," said Naruto with a smile though it felt empty to him.
"The Trials are over, aren't they? asked Hinata, but she saw in his eye that they were, and the death of each teacher hurt him.
"Yeah. They're now officially over. I am now worthy of the title...Big Boss!" answered Naruto with Hinata nodding while her smile was that of a gentle yet sad smile when hearing of the loss Naruto just suffered.
"I'll let everyone know. We're all glad to see you passed the Trials...Big Boss," said Han before he left the room with Roshi giving Naruto a respectful nod.
"And so it begins," stated Naruto though it was more to himself then to the others in the room.
"Do you want to be alone Naruto-kun?" asked Anko, who decided her lover needed a more compassionate version of herself, and not the crazy psycho everyone else had come to know outside of the family.
"No. I don't want to be alone. Stay with me please," replied Naruto, his voice pleading with them to stay him, and be his rock against this time of grief.
After hearing the pain that was there, Hinata, Anko, and the other girls in the room were now holding onto him while helping the man deal with this painful loss.
(Outer Heaven HQ-Naruto's Office)
Naruto sat at his desk and looking at some recent reports regarding the current state of the Elemental Countries. The world was stabilizing. Slowly of course. But it was definitely heading in the right direction. Taking out a cigar, which he learned how to make during his time with Big Boss teaching him, the now proclaimed Big Boss of Outer Heaven, and the Elemental Countries lit the object before taking a deep intact with the smoke leaving a few moments later out the air vent. His wives didn't like him smoking around them and he loved each one too much to let the smell of these ruin their happy moods.
Or when they are in THE mood.
These were his "I'm thinking deeply while working" cigars that took the stress out of life and were one of the few private joys he had when working.
"You are a hard man to get a hold of Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto," said Konan after she appeared once several hundred pieces of paper came together and formed the blue haired woman.
"Considering my enemies and assassins trying to kill me to make a name for themselves I would think you of all people would understand why...Konan of the Akatsuki," replied Naruto while blowing smoke from his cigar out of his mouth.
"So you know who I am," Konan shot back with Naruto looking at her with his one eye.
"You would be surprised on just who is spying on your group. Though something tells me you already know who it is," said Naruto with Konan nodding.
"That's correct. The spy's name is Uchiha Itachi. He reports to Jiraiya of the Sannin, who reports to the Hokage of Konoha, and the woman in turn relays the information to you," explained Konan with Naruto smirking.
"I'm impressed. How long have you known? Or rather...have you always known?" asked Naruto seeing Konan gauging him carefully.
"We've known since he first started. While Itachi maybe strong, we felt his killing of the entire clan to be...questionable. There should have been more then one survivor that night and no general alarm had been raised when the killing started. There was also the fact that certain pieces of information was only known to the Akatsuki's most highest ranked members and was given to Konoha was also key to what we knew to be true," explained Konan while Naruto just nodded his head while he digested this information.
"Do you think Jiraiya knew?" asked Naruto with Konan thinking for a moment.
"We suspected at some point that he did, but didn't care to do anything about it, and just intended to have Itachi keep spying on us until his usefulness ran out. The Uchiha is a wanted man after all and could not find sanctuary anywhere in the world for what he is accused of doing," answered Konan while seeing Naruto narrow his eye at her.
"So if Konoha or another Shinobi village's forces don't kill him...the Akatsuki would in their place. You could make up anything you wanted and no one could dispute. Konoha couldn't since they would have to explain their own hand in Itachi killing the Uchiha Clan. Yes I know the truth about that night just as I'm sure you do. Its not surprising when you think about it," explained Naruto with Konan nodding since she along with Pein knew the truth about that night.
"Yes. That is indeed correct. However, the reason I am here is not to talk about Uchiha spies, or their handlers that pass along the gathered information. I am here to talk about you...and Pein," replied Konan with Naruto narrowing his eyes again.
"I see. And what does Pein want? My surrender? The surrender of every Jinchuriki here? The surrender of the three-tailed Biju that was once in the previous Mizukage of Mist and has agreed to guard our shores? The next words you speak Konan-san may very well be your last," said Naruto with his cigar in his right hand in-between his index and middle fingers.
"No. He wants an alliance between you and him," answered Konan with Naruto looking at her with suspicion and surprise showing in his eyes.
"Isn't it a little...counterproductive for the Akatsuki organization to form an alliance with Outer Heaven?" asked Naruto with Konan shaking her head.
"Not with the Akatsuki. With him. With Pein," countered Konan with Naruto looking even more suspicious now at her.
"And why would I wish to ally myself with the one leading an organization seeking to extract all nine of the Biju from their Jinchuriki. If I agreed, it would mean I'm betraying the others, and I will tell you right now I would sooner die!" stated Naruto with a great deal of conviction in his voice that told Konan he would die before betraying the other Jinchuriki.
"What if I told you that by allying with Pein, you can take down the Akatsuki? That you would gain a long lost family member from your Mother's side of the family?" asked Konan with Naruto's eyes widening before they narrowed dangerously.
As in "I'm going to kill you if I suspect something foul with your choice of words" kind of dangerously.
"You are holding a member of the Uzumaki Clan hostage?" asked Naruto while not really caring about the organization or taking it down.
Family was more important.
"No. The member of the Uzumaki Clan I'm speaking about is Pein himself. His real name is...Uzumaki Nagato. He is from Ame like myself. We were found by Jiraiya many years ago and he trained us in the Shinobi Arts to the point where we could defend ourselves," explained Konan before telling Naruto how things came to be regarding the Akatsuki organization and the man influencing things from the shadows as the true leader of the organization.
"I see. Did Jiraiya know Nagato is an Uzumaki?" asked Naruto with Konan nodding.
"He knew. Jiraiya would not be as skilled a Shinobi if he didn't know or suspect that Nagato was a lost member of the Uzumaki Clan," replied Konan with Naruto seething in anger at the Sannin being so stupid in letting a member of the Uzumaki Clan be left alone after some minor training to survive.
He should have taken Nagato, Konan, and even Yahiko to Konoha where they could have grown up with better lives. Unless...!
"He did it on purpose," stated Naruto with Konan frowning at him.
"I don't understand," said Konan with Naruto letting out a sigh.
"Jiraiya didn't take Nagato with him because you and your other friend Yahiko would have gone too. If Nagato grew up in Konoha with his bloodline, he could have possibly prevented this Tobi character from coming after my Mother, and she would have had another Uzumaki aside from herself to help not feel so alone. He couldn't risk there being another Uzumaki outside of my Mother and made sure she never knew about Nagato in the slightest," explained Naruto with Konan's eyes widening at the thought.
'How many people could have become our friends? How would things have turned out had we been raised in Konoha? Would Nagato gotten along with Kushina? Would he have been able to stop Tobi or stop the Kyuubi from getting out of her the night Naruto was born?' thought Konan with so many questions and possibilities opening up to her.
"His usefulness to Konoha is now over. I have put up with the man long enough. Konan! Do you swear to me that this alliance between myself and Nagato is the genuine thing?" asked Naruto with Konan nodding.
"I swear it. Nagato told me to see you about this alliance and to discuss the matter of dealing with the members of the Akatsuki before focusing on Tobi. He is very powerful and cannot be taken lightly," answered Konan with Naruto smirking at her.
"Tell Nagato I've got his back when it comes to liquidating the Akatsuki organization and if everything turns out the way I hope...he's got himself a long lost family member that will never betray him to anyone," explained Naruto seeing Konan nod before she turned into multiple stacks of paper and flew out the nearby window.
The only thing indicating she was even in Naruto's Office was the origami crane she left on his desk.
(A/N: YAY! A nice update after a long hiatus. Can you blame me? No! Well...maybe you can since I've been doing other stuff. My muse in my head has been running around and I can't pin him down to write when I want to write. Make no mistake I will finish all fics that have yet to be finished and then some. Until next time...PEACE!)