In Which:
Naruto and Gaara reunite- Orochimaru ponders- Naruto meets another jinchurikki- Konoha gets moving.
Naruto darted swiftly across the open fields that surrounded the border of Fire country and Lightning country. He was two, maybe three hours from Hosatura and was making good time. Dressed in his non-colour clothes once again, the blond was visable only as a stir in the grass. Between his own reflexes and his connection to the living world around him, Naruto's movements were soon so well coordinated with his surroundings that ever when moving he was practically invisible.
Gaara had said 'a brother' was in trouble. Another jinchurikki. What would he be like? Would he be violent and deadly like the Kazekage had been? Naruto frowned, lost in his thoughts. So lost, in fact, that it took him several minutes to register the fact that his feet were no longer touching the ground. Instead, he was gliding steadily above the ground.
When he finally noticed the fact that he was just under three feet above the ground, the blond let out a surprised yelp and tumbled headfirst out of the air.
Naruto picked himself up slowly. He stared at his feet. Finally, he took one step forwards, with no ill effect. And another. And another. It was only when he started picking up speed again that he started rising. This time when he stopped moving, he managed to keep himself in the air.
The blond closed his eyes and turned his concentration inwards. His inner coils were as normal as they ever got, but…yes! The coils leading to his feet had sent out tiny versions of the original coil, and the little coils sat barely under his skin, constantly circulating tiny amounts of natural chakra.
Natural chakra…well, that explained why he was floating. Naruto grinned. This was gonna knock Gaara's socks off!
He leaned forwards and channeled some of his own chakra into his legs, and was off like a shot. The grass behind him was pulled into his wake as Naruto soared at a ridiculously high speed toward the village of Hosatura.
Within a minute, Naruto had completed the three-hour journey and was streaching out the connection Kyuubi had given him, searching for Gaara's familiar energy. He found it on the other side of the village, just approaching the gate.
He grinned.
Not slowing as he approached the wall, Naruto allowed his feet to touch the ground just long enough to push off. He went sailing through the air, high above the roofs of the tiny village, and flew towards his redheaded friend.
Gaara frowned, and held up his hand to halt the group.
The missions office had decided that if Gaara was going on a mission, he was going to be protected. Knowing that he would flat-out refuse both the jonins and a larger group, they sent the only people he found it hard to disappoint: his siblings and Baki.
Gaara knew it was overkill. Baki knew it was overkill. Hell, even that idiot Kankouro knew it. But Temari had insisted, and Gaara had crumbled so fast it was embarrassing. At least he would get to see Naruto.
Speaking of whom…"I can sense Naruto, but I can't pinpoint his location. It feels like he's right on top of us." Gaara's voice was monotonous as usual, but his siblings could easily detect his slight frustration.
Temari sighed. "Jeez, that brat is so annoying…What'cha wanna bet he's going to prank us?"
Kankouro snickered, and was about to comment, when said blonde's voice echoed through the small clearing.
"Yo, Gaara, look up!"
They looked. They blinked. They stared.
"Isn't this cool? I can fly!"
Gaara was the first to regain his voice. "Naruto…how?"
It is impossible to fly. Gaara knew this. No one could control their chakra output so exactly as to stand on air molecules, they just weren't dense enough. But then, Naruto had never allowed the fact that something was impossible to stop him before…
"I've got these weird mini-coils all over now! They're just under my skin and they're not running on my chakra, so I think it's probably the furball's fault again. But who cares! I can fly!"
Behind Gaara, Temari closed her eyes and counted to ten while Kankouro buried his head in his hands. Naruto-ositie number one and the mission had barely started…Why were they not surprised?
"Brat, are you even aware that what you're doing can't happen?" Naruto gave Temari a blank look. She sighed and shook her head. "No, that was a stupid question. Never mind…"
Naruto blinked down at her for a moment longer, floating slowly towards solid ground. Then he shrugged her comment off, and grinned. "Hey, Gaara! Wanna come flying?"
"Eh?"
Naruto clearly took Gaara's confusion for agreement, because one moment the blond was swooping towards him and the next he was high above the ground and soaring at high speed, Naruto's arms tight around his waist.
"Yaaaaaaa!"
Gaara's voice was heard for miles around as the Kazekage's terror turned to joy and the two jinchurikki flew.
Orochimaru stared at the paperwork on his desk, not really seeing it. Instead, his mind was turned inwards, deep in thought.
He knew that taking the two Konoha genin in was, ultimately, a good choice. Both were too open to even be considered for spying on him, and he knew the way Tsunade's mind worked. She would never put either of them in unnecessary danger. But…they were both stirring things up in Sound.
Himoto was one of his to jonins, and the best poison specialist he had ever met. She was also, without exception, the most bloodthirsty man-hater in Sound. Before Naruto had arrived, she had put over half of the male ninja population in the hospital at least once. Before Naruto came. Now most of Sound called her Green-chan, and she didn't protest. And she didn't protest because she was too busy mother-henning a certain absent blond.
Shishu Ikko was his stealth expert among the elite jonins, although he now answered more often to Ghost than to his name. The unflappable ninja had spent the last day and a half hounding Kabuto, trying to find out Naruto's birthday so he could give the little blond several very advanced stealth scrolls. Scrolls he point-blank refused to share with his fellow jonins. His only comment, when asked, was that 'the little guy actually snuck up on me! He's got talent, and it's damn well not going to be wasted!'
And as for Kabuto…he had never seen his right hand man enjoy himself so openly before.
The man was hounded not only by Ikko but by most of the other jonins and chunins as well. He would open himself up to questions, then refuse to answer in anything but riddles for hours, then turn around and casually drop a tidbit of information to the desperate nins. Everyone wanted to know more about Naruto, and Kabuto was clearly enjoying the fact that he knew more than anyone else.
It was ridiculous.
Still…the blond was damn powerful, and he kept Sasuke in line quite easily. The blond had been in Sound for a matter of days, and already the Uchiha was much easier to deal with. His teachers reported that he was much more focused and that he no longer tried to skip over the basic lessons in favor of more powerful techniques.
And little Haruno Sakura was proving to be very useful indeed. In terms of chakra capacity and sheer firepower, she was far behind her teammates, yet she had demonstrated her intelligence. At the moment, the girl was with his medics, including Kabuto, showing them her variations on many medical techniques. From the way Kabuto had been talking, the pink-haired kunonichi was revolutionizing the medic-nin profession, which rather amused him.
Hearing the usually composed man go on like a genin with his first crush was beyond comical.
He knew this was a good choice. They were strong, and the blond brought with him the promise of strong trade allies and an end to the mess he had made of the Konoha mission. They were an asset. But how much would his village change to accommodate them?
Well, however much things changed, he had still won. In one fell swoop he had stolen three powerful ninjas from his former village, taken a jinchurikki from under the Akatsuki's nose, and found a possible channel for many, many alliances. After all, Uzumaki Naruto had friends in high places.
They were strong, yes, strong and connected. And he would benefit from them.
An hour after Naruto had landed Gaara back on the ground, the group of five had found the missing-nin's trail, and split up. Ten minutes after that, they had ambushed the group, easily splitting their forces. Using their surprise to his advantage, Naruto had immediately killed one of the A-class nins and wounded another. Temari had separated two of the nins from the rest and was playing with them, Baki had killed three and was currently fighting the one Naruto had injured and winning.
Gaara was slowly leading the main body of ninjas away from an ofuda-covered box, leaving Naruto to corner the remaining three.
He darted out from under the cover of a thick bush, throwing a single kunai before disappearing into the undergrowth on the opposite side of the clearing where he had driven his group.
He grinned, listening to the surprised curses of the three missing-nin he was fighting.
Three ninja. Jeez, they must think I'm weak or something. Slowly, the blond circled the clearing in which he had ambushed his enemies, watching them search frantically for the source of the thrown kuani. He had them well and truly trapped: He had created several kage bushin while they were still on the group's tail, and they had set up a complex perimeter of tripwires and chakra-coded traps that would explode if anyone other than himself crossed them.
The fact that the clearing he had chosen was hemmed in on one side by a sheer sixty-foot cliff and another was blocked by a deep, wide and very fast moving river meant that the only way the other nins could go was towards the traps.
The three nins calmed down somewhat, but it was clear that they were very much on edge. Naruto had spent the last ten minutes harrying them, driving them steadily towards the cliff. From his vantage point in the undergrowth, Naruto surveyed the situation.
Barely two feet before they'll have their backs to the cliff. Good enough. With that thought, the blond jinchurikki stopped playing.
Quick as lightning, he was among them. A strong kick to the female's head made her jump back, crashing into the cliff face and leaving her open for Naruto's kunai. One brutal swipe and she collapsed face-forward in the dirt and her own blood. It had taken the blond less than a second.
That second was long enough for her teammates to distance themselves and settle into defensive crouches, however. Naruto grinned again, then lunged directly at the black-haired one on the left. He parried Naruto's punch and retaliated immediately with a knee to the stomach. Naruto's grin grew wider as he grabbed his opponent's knee and used his momentum to swing him into the nin's partner, who had been circling around behind the blond while Naruto's focus was on the first ninja.
Both went crashing to the ground, but recovered quickly. Silent and much faster than Naruto had expected, the two barreled forward and knocked him back several steps. He let the attack knock him over and used a handspring to bounce backwards.
The move propelled him into the cliff face, which he used both feet to push off of into a vicious kick to the neck of the nin on the right. Had it connected, it could have snapped the missing-nin's neck. The nin was fast, however, and brought his arm up before the kick could connect.
"Aaaaaaugh!" The ninja cried out, Naruto's kick breaking his arm and knocking him off his feet. Before he could recover, the blond was inside his guard, an arm around his neck. There was a wet snap as Naruto broke his neck and then he crumpled, dead, beside his female teammate.
The single remaining nin was shaking, hands twitching, nearly dropping his kunai several times as he circled. Young, Naruto thought, Young, and grossly inexperienced. Are they stupid, thinking they could bargin with the Akatsuki?
Naruto's inattention cost him, as the panicked ninja lunged desperately at Naruto, a lucky blow opening a deep cut from the blonde's collarbone to his waist. Naruto allowed him self to be pushed back, then body slammed the nin towards the edge of the clearing.
The nin stumbled several paces back before he hit the chakra-coded traps. He had time only for a single, blood-chilling scream before the chakra charges overloaded and consumed his inner coils. He slumped to the ground, limp in death.
Naruto stayed crouched for a moment, tense, before letting out a long sigh and sitting down with his back against the cliff. Safe.
He took a moment to douse himself n water from the canteen in his pack, then stood. No use hanging around when in all likelihood the others would have already finished their fights.
Besides, he was certain that the box they had been protecting held another jinchurikki.
It took Naruto all of a second to arrive back at the clearing in which the ambush had started, flying over the trees.
He arrived just in time to see Kankouro and Temari double-team the last living missing-nin, Gaara and Baki already heading for the box. Baki reached out, placing a hand on it's side. A static charge skipped up his arm, and them the tall man was flying across the clearing. He caught himself just in time to prevent a nasty head injury, and rose quickly.
"Well…" he said, voice shaky. "That explains why they didn't mind chasing us. No chance of stealing that."
Gaara fround, and put a hand out just as Baki had. The charge didn't throw him. Instead, the ofuda crackled, and pushed him back several feet, electricity occasionally penetrating his sand and causing painful shocks.
He and Naruto exchanged a glance.
"Right." Naruto said firmly, then called inwards.
Oi! Fox!
What now?!
Jeez, no need to be grumpy! There's another jinchurikki in this box covered with ofuda, and-
Ofuda! Take all the energy you need!
The Kyuubi's voice was dark and heavy with rage. Naruto winced, but quickly dipped into the vast store of demonic chakra made available to him and channeled it into his hands. They glowed an angry red, and the box crumpled under Kyuubi's power.
Why'd the ofuda thing make you so angry?
You nigens created those abominations specifically to harm my kind! Now free the other vessel!
Naruto hastily pressed his hands to a new area of the box, slightly cowed by the fox's rage. Minutes later, the box was nothing but dust, and they were staring through the bars of a cage at a young boy.
He was crouching in the corner of the cage farthest from the watching ninja, and it was obvious that he was the jinchurikki they had come for. Bruises and cuts, some from knives and some clearly from a whip decorated his body. His skin was pale, and all he had on was a filthy rag around his waist. Lank black hair reached his thighs easily, he had long claws, and on his forearms and torso, scales were visible.
In fact, with his aggressive posture, dirty clothes, and half narrowed eyes, he looked more animal than human.
But to Naruto, he was family. It was clear that he was frightened, and Naruto couldn't blame the boy. He hadn't been able to see anything of the battle, but all of the retrieval group was spattered with blood. All the boy knew was that his captors had been killed, and he knew nothing about the strangers in front of him.
Naruto knelt in front of the cage, close to the bars, and reached a hand towards the shivering boy. Quick as lightning, he lunged at the blonde's outstretched hand, sinking vicious fang into the other's wrist.
Naruto didn't react to the pain at all, and didn't move his hand an inch. After a moment, the boy released his wrist, and watched with wide eyes as the deep cuts left by his fangs healed before his eyes.
He looked at Naruto. The blond smiled as gently as he could, his face open and unafraid. Slowly, the boy approached again. With a care that surprised the watching Suna nins, the boy made a small cut on Naruto's hand with his claws, and watched in fascination as it closed.
He stared at Naruto, coming right up to the bars and touching the blonde's face.
"-You're like me…-" He breathed. The Suna nins frowned, not understanding the language he had used. Naruto's mind raced. The boy had spoken in the language used in the Northern reaches of Wave country. He had learned it in Iruka's class; all genins were required to have a working knowledge of it.
Finally, the language started to come back to him. "-I am…sacrifice. No, not - I am one-who-contains-other. Contains…demon. Yes?-"
The boy's eyes lit up "-You are like me! Will you free me?-"
"Yes. Yes, we free you. You are family. You have place? Stay-place?"
The boy looked away. "-I don't have a home. They threw me out 'cause I'm a monster.-"
Naruto frowned, and grasped the boy's chin, forcing him to meet Naruto's mismatched eyes. "-Not monster. Family. We-who-contain is guardians. We…look after little snake, yes? Have home with us."
Before the shocked boy could respond, Naruto stood. Channeling natural chakra from the ground into his arms, he wrenched the bars apart. The boy's eyes widened.
Naruto smiled down at the boy, and offered him a hand up. Tentatively, the other jinchurikki grasped Naruto's hand, and was hauled upright and into a warm hug. "-You family. Gaara and me family too. We help, protect. You one of us.-"
The boy sighed and snuggled into Naruto, basking in the unexpected affection. "-My name is Hiro.-"
"-I Naruto, other is Gaara and blood-family. Welcome, little snake Hiro.-"
Leading Hiro by the hand, Naruto approached Gaara. "He doesn't speak our language, he speaks one from northern Wave. His name is Hiro, and he doesn't have a home. Would you mind if I kept him for a while?"
Gaara blinked. "Go ahead, if you think Orochimaru would allow it. If not, he is welcome in Suna."
"Are you sure? The villagers-"
"He is welcome in Suna." The redhead's voice made it clear that anyone who took offence to this in his home village would not be alive very long.
Naruto grinned, and turned to the curious Hiro. "-Is settled. You come with me, if leader-snake-man not like, we send you to Gaara. He protect good. Not like those-who-hate. Now, must discuss trade with Gaara. Not long!-"
Narto turned back to his friend. "So, how would you feel about trading with Sound, oh Kazekage-sama?"
A thin eyebrow rose, and with Baki's input, the two began hashing out a trade agreement. Within ten minutes, Hiro became bored with listening to the two argue in a language he didn't understand and wandered over to Temari.
Temari was sitting on the ground, bored out of her mind now that the action was over, and had taken to manipulating tiny breezes between her hands to create patterns on the dirt road. A moment later, she became aware of her wide-eyed audience.
Hiro was crouched in front of her, staring intently at the breezes she manipulated. He looked thoroughly impressed. Temari smirked; this kid was good for her ego. And so the next hour passed: Kankouro dozing, Baki, Gaara, and Naruto negotiating, and Temari entertaining the nine year old Hiro.
Finally, the trade agreement was finalized, and Naruto stood to stretch. The action caught Hiro's attention and within a second the boy was by his side. Naruto smiled down at him, then turned to the others. "Good to see you guys again, but I really should get back now. Orochimaru may be a crochy old man, but he still kicks ass, so I don't wanna be late. Oh, yeah, and when Tsunami from Wave comes with the next delivery, tell her about the whole Sound village thing, 'kay? I don't want them getting worried."
Gaara sighed. "Yes, fine. Goodbye." As one, the Suna nins rose and prepared to leave.
Naruto looked down at his charge, and Hiro looked back. The little boy squeaked in surprise as he was picked up, and Naruto smiled, eyes glowing with excitement. "-Now, we fly!-"
And with that, they rose into the air and were off, Hiro's excited yells echoing after them.
Gaara snorted. "Temari, what's the count?"
"Ummm…One:the flying. Two:the ambush plan. Three: the trade agreement. Four: the kid. Four Naruto-osities in one mission. That comes in just under the record, so Kankouro owes Baki ten and Baki and I owe you ten apice."
"Jeez, just our luck, yeah? We finally arrive and he's not in. He's supposed to be the Kazekage, yeah?"
"Yes. I do not wish to wait around for our target to return, Deidra. We will pursue him another time."
"Whatever you say, Sasori-danna. I just want this over with, yeah."
What do you think? Like Hiro? There'll be more jinchurikki getting involved soon, not to mention the Konoha group and the Akatsuki. Things are moving along now…
Reviewers requested longer, so longer it is. Just out of curiosity: would people prefer my usual length with updates every week or this length less often?
-Heliotropic