Chapter 2: Akasuna no Sasori
Naruto let out a groan when he regained consciousness. The last thing he could remember was being tied up and hung from a tree, by all mean, he should be dead. Instead, he found himself lying face up on a hard surface with a small source of warmth coming from somewhere to his right. Looking straight up and opening his dull cerulean eyes, he saw what looked to be the roof of a cave, a dark cave. Sitting up, he saw that he was indeed in a large cave sitting by a fire while lying down on a pile of large leaves and torn out grass fashioned into an uncomfortable bed. The cave had numerous stalagmites and stalactites on the edges of the cave leaving the middle wide open where there was some sort of workbench against the wall with numerous medical looking tools and drills along with several scrolls strewn about carelessly on the desk. Suddenly, a shadow was cast over the cave and whipping his head around, he saw a strange...thing. It was hunched over, seemingly in a crouch with a black bandana covering his face. Its white eyes seemingly looking at him silently while the rest of its large body was covered by a black cloak with red clouds.
"You're awake" he commented in a disemboweled voice, sounding deep and rusty yet with no malice or no other emotion either.
Naruto just nodded, looking at the weird looking man warily who just nodded and shuffled over to the fire before placing down a dead boar - probably for them to eat.
"What's your name?" asked the man, taking off his cloak to reveal the most bizarre body Naruto had ever seen. On his back there was an orange mask like shell with a large metal scorpion like tail protruding from the mouth while his left arm had some sort of gauntlet on it, covering the seemingly wooden appendage. After he removed his straw hat, he revealed braided hair that really made him look bizarre and creepy; it was what he did next that nearly made the young and impressionable boy faint. A hissing sound came from his chest area as a small latch opened to reveal a door as a boy of no older then 15 or 16 stepped out. This boy seemed to be less weird, having good looking pale features and messy red hair; he also had a black cloak with red clouds on it.
"Well?" he asked again in a much more regular voice, losing that robotic edge it previously held.
"Uzumaki Naruto" he answered, without much emotion in his voice either, before he pulled his legs up to his chest and hugged his knees, huddling by the fire.
The red haired boy seemed to take this in stride and proceeded to the fire so he could cook the boar he caught. The smell it gave off as it cooked made Naruto's stomach grumble, showing his hunger, though neither said anything about it.
"W-who are you?" asked Naruto, with a slight waver in his voice letting Sasori know that he was still upset of what must have happened before he ended up in the condition he was in when he found him.
"I am known as Akasuna no Sasori, I am a ninja" he answered satisfying Naruto's curiosity for the moment.
"What did you just do before...with your body?" asked Naruto, after a few more moments of silence.
Sasori seemed to ponder whether he was going to answer or not before doing so "As a shinobi, I am a puppeteer, I use my techniques to control puppets to fight my enemies - that over there" he said, pointing to the body he seemingly shed "is Hiruko, one of my puppets that I control from the inside that allows me to protect myself from attacks while being able to attack at the same time" answered Sasori honestly, not thinking the boy would understand anyway.
Sasori was shocked to say the least when Naruto spoke up anyway; giving his own thoughts "You use chakra to control your puppets and the tail then? That way you can control your puppets without worrying about getting attacked yourself while doing so right?"
Sasori was shocked, though you wouldn't be able to tell from his stoic facial features. This boy was what? Fife? Six? And he easily understood the reasoning for Hiruko after just one small explanation?
"Correct"
Naruto, still hugging his knees though now looking at the discarded Hiruko spoke up again "No one in Konoha uses puppets as a shinobi technique...it would save chakra one would normally waste for ninjutsu to use to enhance your own limbs and chakra strings instead...I don't see why there are not more puppeteers..."
If the situation wasn't so sad, Sasori would have burst out laughing. Trust a child to see the advantages and wonders of using puppets so easily.
"You are interested in the shinobi arts?" asked Sasori, with a curious tone.
"I read...a lot, it's all I was allowed to do..." answered Naruto, Sasori didn't interrupt, wanting to hear the whole story "I spent a lot of time in the library, though I wasn't allowed to take any of the books... I like reading the stories about Shodaime-sama, Nidaime-sama, Sandaime-sama, Yondaime-sama and other ninja villages...it was interesting..."
"Do you know who I am?" asked Sasori, genuinely curious, and his curiosity was peeked even more when Naruto nodded.
"You're an S-class missing-nin from Sunagakure no Sato, wanted for stealing several top secret jutsu scrolls and fleeing Sunagakure over a decade ago..."
Silence lapsed between the two that lasted for at least 10 minutes as Sasori served the boar to the now starving Naruto and a cup of water from a bucket near the entrance of the cave which was collecting clean drinking water.
"You're not scared?" asked Sasori, while they ate their meals to which Naruto just snorted in amusement.
"Of what? You could beat me, try to kill me, spit on me and you would probably still be kinder then the villagers back in Konoha...no, I'm not scared; I got over being scared a long time ago" answered Naruto truthfully, sounding much older then he really was.
Sasori nodded and continued to watch Naruto eat not eating anything himself. When Naruto had his fill, Sasori took out a scroll, painted some kanji on it with a seal brush before applying chakra to the scroll which then enveloped the leftover food in a blue light and made it vanish.
"Why?" spoke up Naruto suddenly and Sasori understood immediately what he was talking about even though he used one word to voice his thoughts.
"I work for an organization called Akatsuki, a group of S-rank missing-nin whose goals are to collect the nine great demon lords for the sole purpose to use them to monopolize the shinobi world and remove the need for hidden villages.
Had I not taken you, someone from my organization not like me would have found you and killed you to take the demon you hold prisoner for their own uses."
Seeing the shock on Naruto's face then resignation Sasori continued "From your reaction, it's to my understanding that you did not know you housed the demon inside you. The story your village teaches its new shinobi is a lie - the Yondaime did defeat the Kyuubi, but he did so by sealing his soul into an infant's body, yours."
Impressed that the child hadn't broken down crying by now, he was about to continue when Naruto snorted "I guess its better then thinking I was hated for no reason, they hate me because I'm the Kyuubi..."
Sasori showed his first sign of emotion by sneering "Don't be stupid boy - the Kyuubi no Kitsune was a demon of infinite power, one no mortal could kill. You are not the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but merely its jailor. Just like a scroll that has a sealed kunai in it is not a kunai, but a scroll. There is a name for someone like you, it is a Jinchuuriki, power of the human sacrifice...fitting if the condition I found you in two nights ago was anything to go by..."
Naruto sat in silence, digesting all the new information he was given by Sasori while staring into the cackling fire with emotionless eyes. It was a relief to know that at least he was hated for a reason out of his control - he had assumed that he had done something unimaginable that he could not remember, to know that they were the ones mistaken and not he comforted him somewhat.
"I guess you're going to hand me into your superiors to get the Kyuubi then, how long do I have?" asked Naruto, with no fear at all, simply resignation.
"I never said I would do that" Sasori said, while he too stared into the fire "I merely joined Akatsuki for its protection, I do not share their goals for the Shinobi world. However, I also don't care for hidden villages and how they tie down their shinobi either - I will not be responsible for the death of an innocent child such as yourself though, so you will remain here where you are safe for now" answered Sasori, shocking Naruto somewhat.
"Where is here?" asked Naruto finally, after several moments of shocked silence.
"This cave is where I work on my puppets and other creations, we are near the border of Wind country hidden by a powerful Genjutsu at the entrance of the cave" he answered.
"What am I supposed to do? I doubt you'll be here the whole time if you work for an organization..."
Sasori nodded "What do you want to do? Aside from visiting the surrounding villages, that is, doing so as you are now is a surefire way for you to get caught and sent back to that pitiful village"
Naruto asked himself that question now. What did he want to do? It's obvious that if he went back to Konoha by force or by will, he would most likely be lynched again by the villagers. If he went to any other village, now knowing that he had the Kyuubi in him, it probably wouldn't take long for them to realize it too and use him for it, so any hidden village is out of the question. That didn't stop him from wanting to become a shinobi though. He had no reason to become one though other then to protect himself, that wasn't great motivation to become strong and progress for the sake of progress would just make him bored quickly. He then had images of the Sandaime Hokage and the Ichiraku Ramen family flash through his mind before he smirked slightly.
"I want to be a shinobi..." answered Naruto which made Sasori raise an eyebrow in amusement.
"Then let Konoha capture you again, they'll let you become one eventually..." he answered, wanting to goad a reaction out of him which he did. Naruto's cold eyes met his own shining with fierce determination.
"I don't want to go back to Konoha or any other hidden village either...they'll just use me...I still want to be strong though..."
Sasori picked up a stick and poked the fire while thinking about this last predicament. Though he wasn't terribly fond of the boy or anything, it would give him some way to pass the time when he wasn't doing missions with Akatsuki, not to mention that if he decided to train Naruto personally, he could make sure he was strong enough to resist them when they finally discover his identity and try to abduct him. He was not crazy, nor warmongering, he just hated being tied down by the
rules and laws of a hidden village, preferring the life of a missing-nin. Should Akatsuki get a hold of this boy though, and the rest of the tailed demons, war would be the only possible outcome and though he was not particularly adverse to the idea, it would also escalate to the level where innocents would die, and he couldn't have that.
"I will leave often, for days, weeks, maybe even months, but if I chose to train you, will you listen to my every order in regards to it or will you be an insolent child whining about not wanting to work for strength?" questioned Sasori "My training will not be easy, in fact, it will be grueling and taxing on you at the best of times, but to learn what I have to teach you, you will need precise control of your chakra, excellent stamina, high speed and high intelligence, all of which will require a lot of work on your behalf, are you prepared?"
Naruto smiled a small smile for the first time since Sasori took him from Konoha which made him smirk back.
"Hai...Sasori-sensei" answered Naruto which made Sasori look up to the ceiling with a fare away look.
'Sasori-sensei? I like the sound of that...'
Author's Note:
The pairing for Naruto is Mitarashi Anko - which will not happen for a while. As you can see, Sasori is OOC, as is Naruto. He may seem overly intelligent, but I don't much care, I like him this way. I'm not 100 percent sure what I'm going to do with the story line and I'm kind of playing with it as I go, so, if you have any ideas that don't revolve around Naruto returning to leaf or any other hidden village, or him turning evil, I'm all ears.
