Chapter 13: Tsunade's Answer
Konohagakure no Sato, when there is no Hokage, is run by the elder council of the village which is made up from prominent civilians, business owners, retired shinobi, and noble clan heads. It was a group of these people that Inuzuka Hana was facing at this moment, ordered to relay the details of her mission and team mate's demise to the awaiting council. They did not know any of the details of the mission, success of failure, it was merely customary in this village that when a shinobi dies on a mission, their team mates are to report to the Hokage and give a detailed description as to why that happened. Seeing as there was no Hokage running the village at this moment, the council would have to suffice.
Hyuuga Hiashi, unanimously declared as the spokesperson for the council looked down upon Hana's bowing form with an impassive and cold stare, not really interesting either way as to the information she was about to give. Unlike the other clan heads, he was well aware of the mission she was sent on as a hunter-nin and unlike others, he was well aware of the fact that most, if not all, of the hunter-nin that went after Uzumaki Naruto wouldn't come back alive. He allowed a sliver of amusement to pass through his eyes at the lashing one Inuzuka Tsume, mother of Inuzuka Hana and fellow council member would give unto those that forced her to go on such a mission.
"Inuzuka Hana" began Hiashi, his voice echoing through the dark council chambers like thunder after so many minutes of silence had passed, even if he had spoken quietly and like someone of his station should "it has come to our attention that there were three casualties on your most recent mission. Would you care to relay to us the reasons of said casualties and how it came to be that you are still amongst the living while they, are not?" he asked, waiting patiently like every other person in that room save for the girl's mother, who it was obvious had been crying recently if the bloodshot eyes were anything to go by.
"Our mission Honourable Council" she began, her head still bowed "was to track down and eliminate the 'S-class' criminal Uzumaki Naruto and bring back his head" she stated, much to the shock of the council. Hiashi spared a quick glance at Tsume who seemed to be fuming, for what reason he could only guess, however, he decided to speak up before she blew a fuse.
"Who gave you such a mission Inuzuka-san?" asked Hiashi "Not to discredit your abilities, but they are labelled 'S-class' for a reason, a more experienced team should have been deployed" he stated, no outward signs of emotion but on the insides, he was having a field day. He was Hyuuga Hiashi, he had the all seeing eyes of the Byakugan, of course he knew who assigned the mission, and he loathed them as much as he loathed the Hyuuga elder council – they were all the same, believing they were untouchable and could play the 'master puppeteers' from behind the scenes without fear of repercussion. Well, that theory will definitely be tested right now.
"Our team leader, Minamoto Takahashi, informed us that the mission came directly from the council themselves" she said, after a pregnant pause. The resulting murmurs and hushed whispers going around the council chambers did not go unnoticed by Hiashi who smirked internally. The internal smirk almost threatened to break out on his face too when he saw Homura and Koharu begin to fidget in their seats, were it not for his years of practise looking impassive.
"Could you perhaps be more specific Inuzuka-san?" pressed Hiashi, looking down at Hana who now looked up in surprise at Hiashi before nodding slowly and responding.
"He mentioned something about the honourable elders of the council…" she spared a glance at the two members of the council that almost got her killed, not showing any emotion for the fact that any kind of action she took against them will be met with severe repercussions, luckily, her mother was there to defend her in this battle.
"YOU WHAT?!" she all but shrieked "YOU SENT MY DAUGHTER TO HUNT A CRIMINAL THAT WE HAVE AGREED TO BE AT LEAST AN 'S-RANKED' SHINOBI?!" she yelled, showing everyone in the room the legendary Inuzuka temper at its finest. The woman had the two elders shrinking back in their chairs, sure, they were team mates of the third, had completed more missions then any other in that room, were more experienced then any other in that room and had faced much more dangerous opponents, but to face a mother's fury was not only stupid, it was suicidal, especially when said mother was an over protective Inuzuka clan head who was powerful in her own right.
"Uzumaki is a threat and needed to be neutralized if Konoha wanted to prosper" began Homura only for Koharu to pick up where he left off, not as easily intimidated as he partner was "if he decided to seek vengeance against the leaf for any actions caused to his person, he could unleash the Kyuubi and without someone as powerful as the Yondaime, we would not be as lucky as we were last time" she said with absolute conviction. Tsume, however, was not impressed.
"Any action he would want to take against the lead would be because of you fools who hated him to begin with for something he had no control over" she hissed out, however, she was not finished yet "and that still doesn't explain the reason behind sending shinobi that are clearly below his level in skill, let alone the stupidity behind your fears – if he wanted to cause us harm, he would have sided with Orochimaru during the invasion not long ago" she finished, speaking more like a snake that was coaxing its prey rather then a temperamental canine.
Deciding he had enough of this wonderful show, Hiashi attempted to continue on with the inquiry they were here for in the first place and not some pointless squabble "What happened on your mission Inuzuka-san?" asked Hiashi, successfully getting Hana's attention again and silencing the others in the room.
Hana was silent for a moment before continuing "He seemed to have been expecting us" she began "which is a feat on its own considering out team, while not the most experienced combat wise, is one of the better in the division for tracking and espionage" she explained to the pensive council "we then engaged him but he quickly subdued us by using a strange clone technique that once dispelled expelled a cloud of anaesthetic poison and some other paralysing techniques" she explained, confusing the council as to why he used non-lethal force "He…" began Hana, seemingly having difficulty "told us to tell him who sent us…" she said, looking at the elders again "after he placed Minamoto-san under a Genjutsu, torturing him for over ten minutes, he divulged that Danzo-sama along with two elders of the council had sent us to kill him" Hana said, much to the shock of the council, Danzo had absolutely no authority to make such an order, especially after his special ANBU division was disbanded.
Hiashi looked over to Danzo, who was standing in a darkened corner of the room ever silent and hiding his presence as usual, with his Byakugan bulging – how dare he try and give orders to the shinobi of this village through Koharu and Homura.
"He then killed Minamoto, Jun'ichi and Takumi and said something about turning them into puppets" she said, causing some of the weak stomached civilian members of the council to feel like emptying their stomachs at the mental image that provided "however, he said he would spare me because I didn't engage him directly or show any signs of anger or hate towards him…he also said he wanted me to inform Danzo-sama, Homura-sama and Koharu-sama that should another team attack him on their orders that…" she paused looking around the room nervously as if not wanting to continue, however, at her mother's encouraging nod, she did so "that he would come and kill them himself."
That statement caused an uproar in the council, mainly from Koharu and Homura themselves, and in doing so, they completely missed Danzo smirking to himself in the corner of the room, though Hiashi did not.
"How dare he!" yelled Homura, his face flushed with fury.
"Who does he think he is?" hissed Koharu, her ever narrow eyes somehow becoming even narrower then before in anger.
Ah, this was what Hiashi woke up this morning for. To see the confident smirk on Danzo's face dim ever so slightly, to see Homura sweat like the pathetic old man he is and to see Koharu, the kunoichi widely known as one who was not easily intimidated, be exactly that. Everyone else in the council room, be it supporters of reigning in and/ or killing Uzumaki or those who thought they should leave well enough alone all seemed to be of one mind in thinking that, regardless of their actions, two elders and a respected ex-shinobi being threatened the way they were was not a good thing. If they were to heed his threat and it got out to their enemies, it would make the leaf seem weak and incompetent to allow a single criminal to boss them around, however, if they were to try and silence him, he may very well come through on his threat. Despite how much Hiashi was secretly enjoying himself, for the purpose of the leaf as a whole; he couldn't allow the Uzumaki to kill the three old fools.
"That's not all…" Hana began, getting everyone in the council room's attention who had once thought that she had finished with her report. At their expectant looks, she swallowed the lump in her throat and relayed the next bit of information that resulted in Danzo to get a calculative gleam in his eyes, Koharu to open her narrowed eyes wide in shock, Homura to almost faint in shock and Hiashi to allow his amusement to shine through his pearly white eyes.
"He said his name…was Namikaze Naruto"
There was chaos.
Haku happened upon Naruto training in a clearing not far out of Tanzaku city; trees were covering the clearing all on the floor or smashed into splinters paired with crumbled pieces of rock that he had hammered at so many times that they had broken into little pieces. Ever since he learned of the theory behind Tsunade-sama's legendary super strength, he has been training on being able to summon up massive amounts of chakra at the Tenketsu in different parts of his body, only to release it on impact to create a massive force that can be used to strike with.
Haku honestly thought that he had it down, being able to call the chakra to any limb in his body almost instantly but Naruto had assured him that he could do it faster and that he wouldn't stop until the action had become instinct, which is why he was now practising while standing on a lake.
Haku continued to watch Naruto train, mesmerized by the progress he was making so quickly. He himself had tried learning the technique, if only to pass the time and improve his chakra control, only to find that he was indeed able to gather the chakra in his hands that the technique required, but it took him much too long a time for it to matter or for it to be of use; there was also the fact that after one punch he would already be winded, something that just wouldn't do in a real battle.
Naruto on the other hand stood on the water, obviously aware of his presence, focused on his hand as he simply looked at it and gathered the chakra in his fist before he stored it there and released it on impact to get the desired results. Each time he performed the technique, Haku could tell he was getting better at it too. Naruto could already
instantly call forth the chakra in his hand and strike if he so wished it, but he had yet to be able to do it with the little concentration he wanted it to take to perform.
Eventually, Naruto had enough with training for the day and after picking up his cloak and hat, he walked over to where Haku was perched, reading through some medical scrolls, and sat down nearby. He took out a box of Orange flavoured pocky and began to munch on them in silence as he enjoyed the tranquillity the forest they were sitting in provided in the late afternoon.
"So" began Haku, after putting away his scroll "why is it we're here?" asking Haku, knowing that Naruto would know to what he was referring to.
"To hinder Orochimaru-san" answered Naruto as he tossed the end of the pocky stick in his mouth and munched on it while reaching for another stick.
"Are you sure it has nothing to do with that Anko woman from Konoha" asked Haku, not wanting to sound pushy or angry, for he was neither, just curious.
"I couldn't have known she would be here, I didn't even know Jiraiya-san would be here, regardless of my suspicions" answered Naruto "though her being here was a pleasant surprise" he admitted.
"Why is that?" asked Haku, still curious as to his friend's interests in the Snake woman.
"I'm not sure" Naruto answered truthfully "she just interests me" he said with a shrug. Haku frowned at his answer, thinking on it for a short while before speaking up again.
"You're not using her, are you?" he asked, and he decided to elaborate when he saw the confusion on Naruto's face "To run tests on the Ten no Juin and get information form Konoha?"
Naruto was silent for a while, eating another stick of Pocky before continuing "She has her uses and if I wanted to 'use' her so, I don't see how that is of any concern to you" Naruto said, with no anger or malice, just simply stating fact "you may rest assured though Haku-chan knowing that my nefarious schemes do not involve hurting Mitarashi-san in any way, be it physically or emotionally" he admitted, much to Haku's relief and slight annoyance at his persistence in referring to him as he would a girl. Haku was however very relieved to find out that Naruto, though completely indifferent to almost anything and everything around him was not a cold person – maybe just too smart for his own good at times.
"Why did you tell that Konoha shinobi your real name?" asked Haku "I would imagine that being a criminal, as you are now dubbed by many, anonymity would be a factor that you would take full advantage of" he stated, wanting to know his reasoning behind revealing his name to the Konoha hunter-nin.
With a shrug, Naruto answered, not seeing how it could hurt any for Haku to know if his enemies already did "I told her my name for reasons completely different to what you are thinking" answered Naruto, and seeing Haku's surprise, he elaborated "it was not some foolish beliefs of being untouchable enough to not need to keep my anonymity any longer, nor was it sheer arrogance that my name in the hands of enemies would matter little" he said, calming Haku down somewhat as he had indeed thought exactly those things "but rather, by giving our enemies my full name, I intend to use their efficiency and cunning against them and to my advantage" he answered.
"How do you mean?"
"What you need to know before I answer that is the real reason why I was in Konoha during the time of the Chunin exams" he began "sure, Orochimaru being there and the Chunin exams being on at the time where a welcome distraction, but the reason I was there was to discover what many orphaned children wish to know for most of their lives…" stated Naruto, and with that statement, he had obtained Haku's full attention. It was easy enough to see Naruto as the calculating, superior and extremely proficient shinobi, but Haku had honestly never seen Naruto as just another fourteen year old boy – he was far too mature and deadly to be seen as such, so any possibility of having some childhood desires was something that would gain his full attention, for it was something Haku was sure Naruto simply did not have "…I wished to know my origins and who my parents were" answered Naruto, getting an understanding nod from Haku, who could see how he would want to know that.
"To be honest, I was far from surprised when I found out who my father was, Namikaze Minato, legendary shinobi and Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato" he said, and suddenly Haku remembered where he had heard the name Namikaze before and why Naruto's look seemed so familiar. The texts Naruto had obtained from Konoha often mentioned the blonde Hokage and always in a positive light. He was the hero of Konoha, their greatest Hokage, the sole reason why Konoha won the war against Iwagakure and Kumogakure, and the defeater of the almighty Kyuubi no Kitsune. There were often pictures of the man in various history texts and now that Haku thought of it, the resemblance between the two was uncanny – never had she seen anyone else with hair as golden as Naruto's, and Naruto did mention that before taking away the Kyuubi's senses as his own, his eyes were a cerulean blue, it was so obvious, but still, why did he reveal that? If anything, it just promised him more memories if Kumogakure and more importantly Iwagakure ever found out about his heritage.
"I can see the question in your eyes, but I never said I was finished" said Naruto, shocking Haku out of his stupor "my father was indeed Namikaze Minato, but my mother, who is still alive today, was Uzumaki Kushina, former shinobi of the whirlpool country" this information caused Haku's eyes to widen in shock, mainly because Naruto still had a mother that apparently abandoned him, but also because he sounded so callous when saying it "she went into hiding shortly after the sealing of the Kyuubi…taking her daughter with her and obviously, leaving me in the village" Haku's eyes widened in horror when he started to piece together where Naruto was going with this.
"You…want to kill her?"
Hatake Kakashi let out a girlish giggle as he read that last paragraph of 'Icha Icha Paradise' that Jiraiya had signed and given to him as a gift. Yuki-chan and Mai-chan had just professed their undying love for their own cousin and offered themselves to him the only way they knew how, with lots and lots of sex right in the middle of a public hot spring. Three more immensely attractive females, turned on by the sight, joined in to form one massive orgy in the hot spring. Kakashi then flipped the page as he let out a few choice words – that lucky bastard, boy did he wish he was Shinji-san right about now.
Instead of participating in a mass orgy like Shinji, Kakashi had to spend his time lazing around and doing pretty much nothing as Jiraiya did his best to convince Tsunade to become the Hokage – with little success it would seem. The man was making good points that contained logic Tsunade just couldn't deny, yet, she was finding every possible reason under the sun to pretty much tell Jiraiya to take his offer and shove it up his ass.
Genma too had been just as bored as him it seemed, at least he had an awesome book to read – Genma on the other hand was stuck chewing on that senbon and eye fucking the shit out of Tsunade's admittedly extremely hot apprentice Shizune. That lucky bastard at least got eye fucked back, his book couldn't give him that 'magical' look that Kakashi attributed to a Doujutsu that anyone can activate when the right amount of lust enters one's system.
Kakashi then looked to his other Jounin team mate, or lack there of. Ever since some unknown incident a few days ago, Mitarashi Anko hadn't been seen much at all by the other three members of her team, which was noticed first by the legendary toad Sannin – 'Where's the eye candy?' he would oh so callously ask and when she decided to show up, she would look tired and worn out. The three attributed it to her training or releasing her pent up frustrations on an innocent tree…or person. Either way, Kakashi didn't much care either way, what Anko did was her own business – she made that clear to everyone on more then one occasion.
Why should he care? This mission was meant to be a pseudo holiday for him after having to put up with the broody Uchiha for a whole month by himself and he would take this holiday with gratitude, reading his book until Jiraiya-sama decided to release the next one. He hadn't felt so relaxed in a long while.
Now, if only he could get the feeling that something bad would be happening soon out of his system, perhaps he could really relax instead of pretending to be relaxed…oh well, thus is the life of a shinobi.
Mitarashi Anko cursed the blonde shinobi in her mind for the hundredth time that day. The technique scroll he gave her, though extremely thorough and descriptive, was far too complicated to understand and learn on her own. It's not that she wasn't smart or anything; to be picked to be the apprentice of a Sannin, especially one like Orochimaru who put a lot of value on genius shinobi, one had to be smart amongst other things; however, the Namikaze brat was on a whole other level, talking about 'stabilizing molecular particles' and 'regulating biophysical energies and substances through the technique to stabilize the flow of chakra and create a solid output of said energies'. Sure, she got the gist of it, but she had NO idea how it related to the technique in itself, but apparently it was important because she was still unable to create anything other then a Kage Bunshin with extra air inside of it that exploded outwards when it was destroyed.
He had told her that this jutsu was a mixture of Kage Bunshin and Dokugiri, so, she tried breaking down the two separate techniques – which she already knew – and combining them, however, she found that that didn't work either.
Anko resigned herself to having to ask for more help from the Namikaze brat, no matter how much she despised the idea. She could see it in her mind's eye, the condescending look he would give her when she admitted that she couldn't make sense of his notations and instructions, not to mention her failure at making any progress.
She was also slightly surprised that none of her team mates ever asked about her whereabouts during the days Jiraiya would try and get Tsunade to come back to Konoha – sure, she had received glances in here direction when she'd return to the local hotel they were staying at, but no comments or inquiries as to her whereabouts or the reasons behind her condition. Wouldn't they be surprised though if she told them the truth that she was technically 'mixing' with the 'enemy'. She couldn't really blame Genma though, if she was to be honest with herself, the baka and Tsunade's apprentice had been pretty much fucking the shit out of each other with their eyes – she idly wondered if anyone else noticed…
Sighing, she gathered her large beige cloak and swung it over her shoulders before leaving the clearing she was currently occupying, intent on finding the source of her current frustrations and the solution to them – all thoughts about her 'beloved' home village out of her mind, for now.
"You want to…kill her?" asked Haku with a growing sense of dread as flashbacks of his life as a young boy flashed before his eyes – his father killing his mother then trying to kill him, him defending himself against his crazed father, him succeeding in driving his father through with a lance of ice. He had to shake his head to clear the thoughts from his mind, thoughts that he forcefully suppressed, not wanting to relive those horrible times.
"Hardly" answered Naruto dryly, much to Haku's relief "I barely know the woman and I don't consider her my mother" said Naruto, shocking and confusing Haku again somewhat. She was obviously his mother, if what the stolen records he obtained were true, so what was he on about?
Seeing the question in his friend's eyes, he elaborated "As far as I'm concerned, both my parents died on the night of the Kyuubi attack – she's nothing to me, as she should be, because I don't know the woman. I can hardly be expected to refer to the woman as my mother if she has had no part in my upbringing and abandoned me in the first place" he said, in a way that made a chill run through Haku's spine, he seemed to not care at all about his mother.
"Then…why?..." he asked, confused, what the hell was this leading to? Sure, it was informative, but what the hell did it have to do with Haku's initial question about giving away his identity.
"I'm not interested in my mother's whereabouts" admitted Naruto "I am interested in the whereabouts of my twin sister, whom my mother took with her when she fled from Konoha" he said and suddenly things were starting to make sense and the truth was becoming clearer and clearer to Haku, which put his soul to rest somewhat – Naruto was searching for his long lost twin sibling. He once read that twins shared a special kind of bond like none ever seen or created through techniques, knowing where the emptiness he must have felt all of his life is coming from would indeed make him want to find his sister.
"You have no doubt discovered the 'why' behind my motives" said Naruto, leaning back against the tree and munching on a different flavoured pocky he pulled out after finishing the pack of Orange pocky; Vanilla "my methods to achieve my motives though must still confuse you, well, the answer to that is rather simple really" he said with a shrug "Searching for Uzumaki Kushina and in extent, my sister would be much to troublesome a task to undergo, especially when the only clue I have to her possible whereabouts is her place of birth" he said, before continuing "instead, I give my enemies information that could be used against me and when they think they can use it so, which I know they will as my enemies are all cunning, if nothing else, I will use their arrogance against them and let them lead me to her" he said, before smirking "they do have far greater resources after all and I have spies everywhere" he finished mysteriously.
Haku was speechless, his plan…it was utterly brilliant. At first he believed it to be a bit too much for the two of them alone to accomplish, but, with Naruto's plan, he could easily track her down by leeching resources off of the Konoha shinobi who would try to capture Naruto by using the false ideals that capturing his mother could be used as leverage against him – and even though Haku didn't know whether that was true or not, Naruto would definitely get to her before they did once they found a solid lead on her, for only she had the most information on his sister's whereabouts. He suddenly felt pity to anyone who would every try to go up against Naruto, the boy – yes, still a boy – was a genius the likes he had never seen and he was manipulative, cunning and powerful to boot; all traits that make a dangerous shinobi.
"I'm sure you have more questions" Naruto began as he pulled a scroll out of his pouch "but we have a visitor" he said as he tossed the scroll to Haku, who caught it "I want you to learn everything you can about the subject in that scroll and any methods to fix said situation in anyone I need you to – it's important" he said with seriousness that made Haku believe that it was indeed important.
As Naruto walked off, Haku let confusion pass through his feminine features as he read the topic of the medical scroll's contents before looking at the retreating form of Naruto, no doubt going to head off their 'visitor' who Haku assumed was none other then the snake woman if Naruto didn't react with hostility.
'Why Tuberculosis?'
Anko was just wandering aimlessly through the woods, hoping that the blonde would pick up on her scent and come to her – he definitely seemed to have heightened senses, especially if his eyes were anything to go by.
"So…you need something?" asked a voice from above her shocking Anko into a defensive stance after she threw several kunai in the direction of the voice. Looking where she threw the kunai, she was met with Namikaze Naruto standing on a branch casually tilting his head to the side to avoid the kunai while eyeing her with a bored expression. Some may think that blocking kunai is the more clever way of avoiding damage by them, but should you draw a weapon to block them, not only are you expending unnecessary force, but you are ruling out the possible use of one of your hands should you need them for Ninjutsu – it seemed that Naruto was an experienced shinobi in his own right.
"What the hell do you think you're doing gaki?" Anko asked while glaring at him "I could have hurt you or worse, sneaking up on a Jounin isn't a very smart idea" she said, with no real venom in her voice.
"While your concern is touching" began Naruto, sounding anything but interested "I can take care of myself Anko-san, now, what was it that you wanted? You were obviously searching for me" said Naruto, as he allowed one of his eyes to quickly flick down towards her breasts, the ones he oh so casually fondled not that long ago that were out for all to see while being constrained in that tight fishnet top. Getting rid of those mental images, his eyes focused on her face again and luckily, due to his position in regards to her, she probably couldn't tell what he had just looked at – better that way in his opinion, no need to look like a lecher after all.
Slightly disturbed that he could sneak up on her, a Jounin, a damn good one at that, she eyes him warily for a few moments before frowning as she remembered the reason as to why she was here in the first place "Gaki, I'm here because your notes are too confusing to follow and I need help with the fundamentals of the technique you gave me" she confessed – there, she said it, now she was prepared for any condescending remark he was prepared to dish out to her.
"That's not surprising, I never expected you to be able to do it on your own" stated Naruto as Anko had to bite her tongue to stop any potential rebuttals "but it has nothing to do with your intelligence or lack of skill" clarified Naruto as he got into a lecturing position on the tree while Anko listened to him intently.
"The words used to describe the technique on the scroll are gibberish, designed to give people the very problems you are having with the technique, the problems that people overlook when learning all techniques" he said, causing a multitude of reactions from Anko – she felt even stupider now knowing that she tried to make sense of gibberish and angry at the same time for wasting her time doing so "what one must remember is that to efficiently use any Ninjutsu, you need to keep a clear and focused mind; the mind is a Shinobi's greatest weapon after all" he said, in a voice that sounded far beyond his years "what I'm guessing your problem was is that you were over complicating the technique in your own mind, and thus, the only person stopping you from performing it is yourself" he said with a shrug. Anko listened with a frown on her face, she, in all her years, even under admittedly one of the smartest shinobi of their time and had never heard of this explanation before, but she was not foolish enough to believe that she knew everything, so she listened.
"Chakra usage and manipulation has just as much to do about the mental capabilities of the user as it does with the Spiritual and Physical abilities of the user; Mind, Body, and Soul must be mastered if you are ever to utilize a technique to its full potential" he explained "therefore, one must have a clear and focused state of mind, a large amount of control over their spiritual energy and an even amount of stamina so that energy does not harm the body" he explained "what I believe you are lacking is the focused state of mind and though you can obviously achieve this…recent events…might have caused you frustrations that limited your potential in using Ninjutsu" he explained as Anko frowned in thought.
"I've seen frustrated shinobi perform Ninjutsu countless times, especially after they have been trying to master a certain technique after a while" she countered, wanting to make sure she had every point covered.
Naruto just shrugged before replying "Usually, those people you speak of 'force' the technique to work by overloading it with chakra which is not only dangerous, but foolish" he said "there are many low level techniques you could flood with chakra and they'll work simply because a good amount of control over your chakra is not necessary to perform them" he said "but the techniques I use and create, often need a high amount of control over one's chakra, at least that of Jounin level" he said "and I never waste chakra, every ounce I use has its purpose and is never leaked off after I perform techniques" he said, observing her curiously "so, after my explanation, what do you think your problem with the technique is?" he asked, wondering if his diversion with a new topic would have leaded her away from the obvious answer.
Sitting down like her makeshift 'sensei' was doing right now, Anko got in a thinking pose. She thought that it couldn't have anything to do with her control because no matter how frustrated she may have been with her current situation, she – for the most part – forgot all about it when learning this new technique, then, if that was the case, what was the point of that entire lecture he had just given her? Could it have been some sort of test? She asked herself, as she looked up to the boy who was now sitting on the tree branch and eating more Pocky while staring off into space. She frowned as a thought came to her; one that she wasn't sure was right but made sense in some backwards way.
"Did you mark the scrolls with gibberish because this technique was not meant to be taught? But rather, learnt yourself once given the principals of how it is created?" she asked slowly, and somewhat warily, she didn't want to appear to be a fool in front of the boy, and she didn't know why – he had this aura around him like the Sandaime did which made you feel stupid when you got an answer to a question wrong, regardless of what they thought.
Naruto smirked down at her in amusement "What basic knowledge did I tell you about the Doku Bunshin?" he countered.
With a frown, Anko answered "That it's a combination of Dokugiri no Jutsu and Kage Bunshin no Jutsu…" she trailed off as he eyes went wide "Are you telling me that you expected me – the whole time – to just take that knowledge and recreate the technique myself?" she asked, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance at the 'cheapness' of the blonde who just shrugged in return.
"Not exactly, I did show you the hand seals for both separate techniques, thus, showing you how the chakra is moulded for both" he said "I expect you to, with that information, derive how the chakra should be moulded and do so
to create a Kage Bunshin that has been filled with chakra that was moulded to take the form of poison…the technique is remarkably simple when you break it down like that – as I said however, you simply over complicated it" he finished with a shrug and Anko had to ruthlessly beat down the feeling she was getting as if she were back in the Academy and Ryoku-sensei was explaining the basics to her again. It made some sick sort of sense when he explained it like that, for she had indeed been trying to learn it based on the, most likely, fake hand seals provided by the scroll. He had wanted her to recreate the technique on her own the whole time, which wasn't unfair considering she only gave him the basic theory behind someone else's technique to begin with.
"Why are you helping me?" she asked, a frown crossing her face when she remembered what exactly the two of them were. One was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and criminal in Konohagakure no Sato and the other, her, was the loyal Konoha shinobi, if she were able to, she should be trying to apprehend him – she'd rather live though if she were honest with herself.
Naruto made a thoughtful noise as a piece of Pocky paused before continuing on its path into his mouth "You're not the first person to ask that question" said Naruto "Haku-chan wondered the same thing" he concluded, only to be interrupted.
"I thought he was a guy!" Anko yelped, feeling stupid, she certainly didn't see any womanly features on the masked-nin, aside from the fact that he wore nail and toe nail polish, which was not uncommon these days to see on men, even though she still thought it weird.
"That's debatable" shrugged Naruto "but when you find out for sure, let me know" he said with a smirk, causing her to flush with anger, just what was he implying?! "As I was saying though" he started again "Haku-chan asked me the same question" he conceded "and my answer was simple" he said as he munched on another stick of Pocky.
Several moments of silence passed before Anko realized he wasn't going to say anything, which only served to heighten her annoyance at the present time.
"Well?" she asked impatiently.
"Hmm?" Naruto looked innocently at her, as if he hadn't heard her question "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Anko had killed people for less and she was sorely tempted to end his life right there, but she just put that question to the back of her mind to ask at a later date – perhaps it was true what that Haku kid said and that he respected her?
It was unlikely but entirely possible, she was more favourable of the idea that he was trying to manipulate her for his own nefarious needs; he did feel her up after all!
"Is that all Anko-san?" he asked from his perch causing the woman to walk off out of the clearing, grumbling under her breath and therefore not noticing a certain blonde Jinchuuriki following her every movement, or rather, glancing at her shapely and powerful looking legs as she walked away.
Naruto shook his head and crumbled a few choice words under his breath also – if he ever met the author of 'Icha Icha Paradise' he would have to commend the man on writing such a addictive series of smut. Now that he thought about it, that wasn't such a farfetched thought seeing as the man was residing in the town not far away from his position at the moment.
Nine shadowy figures stood looking to the one with ripple like eyes for their orders. Kisame and Itachi had come back just recently, both worse for wear, saying that they had underestimated their opponents and paid the price for it – this also meant that they couldn't procure the ring from Naruto either.
"Without Orochimaru's and Sasori's rings, breaking through the seals on the Ichibi and the Kyuubi will be more difficult then we would like" commented the leader in a emotionless voice "for our plans to be successful, we will need all ten rings to perform the extractions of the bijou" he said, the other eight in the room remaining quiet so they could listen "We already know of the locations of the Ichibi, Nibi, Sanbi, Gonbi, Hachibi and Kyuubi, so, your missions are to, for now, locate the remaining bijou, sealed away or not, we will recommence with our mission in three years time by obtaining the rings from Orochimaru-san and Naruto-kun, and then we will proceed with the extraction processes" he finished, making sure his orders were clear.
"What do we do if we find a bijou and can capture it?" asked a voice that had no respect whatsoever for anyone other then Jashin-sama himself.
"If you can capture any of the bijou, then bring them to our base where we can keep them before sealing away the bijou" replied the leader, ignoring the disrespect in his follower's voice "however, should the task be too difficult, do not engage" he said as he glanced with his hypnotic eyes towards the silhouettes of Itachi and Kisame "we cannot afford mistakes that would weaken us in the future" he finished, not noticing how Itachi's eyes narrowed and Kisame's teeth grinded against each other in anger.
"You are dismissed"
Suddenly, seven of the silhouettes disappeared from the room leaving only two of them left. Both walking out of the shadows to reveal that they had both been in the room the whole time – one of them with auburn hair and piercings all over his face and the other, a female with blue hair and a paper flower accessory decorating her features, both were wearing the standard Akatsuki uniform.
"What will we do about the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Pein" asked the woman to her long time friend.
"There is nothing we can do at the moment" he replied, his voice still containing that emotionless quality to it.
"Surely you can see that he is getting too powerful to be left alone – we will have a hard time procuring him with any of the teams we send, especially with his partner who seems quite skilled in his own right" she said, frowning in concern.
There was silence for several minutes before Pein broke it "We will not have to go to him, he will come to us" he said, making Konan's eyes widen slightly.
"You speak of the boy's mother" she clarified, getting a nod from Pein.
"We will capture her when the time is right, if he does not come, we will kill her, if he does come, we will kill her regardless for the trouble he has caused us" he said, sending shivers down Konan's spine – Pein was ruthless like that when it came to his enemies, anyone that stood against him had their whole families wiped out, which is why few opposed Pein openly.
"What of his sister?" asked Konan, getting more silence in return.
"She is too well hidden" replied Pein "no one knows of her location, and even if we did, I very much doubt she would be going under the same name that her parents had given her…"
Konan pursed her lips in disapproval at her long time friend's actions "This is a very reckless action Pein" she said "we don't even know the extent of his true abilities, if we learnt anything from Sasori, it was that the man was as cunning as they come – I highly doubt we have seen the best from either of the two puppet users" she said, in a warning tone.
"Are you implying that I cannot defeat him?" asked Pein in a dangerous voice which made Konan freeze in fear at the level of killing intent he was leaking out – Pein was weird that way, he would usually be emotionless, but the mere notion or idea of someone being stronger then him was enough to come close to enraging him.
"N-no, of course not Pein" she replied, and let out a silent sigh of relief when the killing intent vanished "but I'm sure Itachi and Kisame thought the same thing, and in return, they underestimated him, we all know the result of that".
Indeed they did; Itachi and Kisame had both arrived at the base, the former barely alive as the latter dragged his almost useless body all the way so he could receive treatment. The poison Naruto had used on him, while not exactly deadly, if left alone for too long could become fatal. Luckily the cure was not so hard to obtain, for a Sharingan user like Itachi would indeed be hard to replace.
"I never underestimate my opponents" was all he said as a reply before leaving the room.
Konan looked at the direction he stormed off towards in sadness, it seemed that the man she once loved, the man that would do anything to protect those precious to him was long gone and in his place was a monster hell bent on being the strongest. She would stick by him though, for it was the least she could do for the man she loved.
Jiraiya cursed as he fought off a wave of nausea as he woke up from his drunken slumber. He knew that this nausea wasn't from some stupid hangover here – Tsunade must have drugged him last night or slipped some odourless substance into his sake, when he saw the buxom woman next, he was going to give her a piece of his mind.
It had been a week since they arrived in Tanzaku city and all week, regardless of how logical his arguments were in regards to Tsunade returning to Konoha, she would not listen to reason and just wave off his arguments with propositions to gamble and drink instead. Sure, he won a lot of money in the week, more then he had ever won when gambling before but being the author of 'Icha Icha Paradise' assured Jiraiya that he would never have to work for money again, not to mention that gambling against Tsunade was just boring – Honestly, who goes all in on two pair?
Now though, he was certain she had drugged him so she could go and see Orochimaru without his company, for she knew he wouldn't sit idly by while the two conversed about whatever Orochimaru propositioned her, and even though Jiraiya knew nothing about what he exactly offered her, he could hazard a guess.
His late sensei had sacrificed his life to end Orochimaru's ambition permanently by sealing away his arms using the Shiki Fujin technique; this would mean that the only way for Orochimaru to regain the use of his arms would be if he had the abilities of the world's greatest medic-nin at his disposal. The only thing Jiraiya could think of that would sway Tsunade to do such a thing would be something regarding the main reason for her current misery – namely her former fiancé and younger brother who both died in service to Konoha.
Knowing what technique he used against the Sandaime, Jiraiya could only assume that it had something to do with their resurrection. The question of the hour was whether Tsunade was far gone enough to accept help from the snake, or also if she was willing to pay the sacrifices to see them alive once again – he was sure that if the two had seen her now, they would be disgusted with what she has become.
With a sigh and great difficulty, he left with Shizune, Kakashi, Genma and Anko towards the direction Kakashi's nin-dog summon was leading them with the use of its nose. He acts like a snake, and smells like a snake too, Jiraiya just found that amusing.
Tsunade couldn't believe she had been subdued so easily. Not only did she not factor the possible effectiveness of Orochimaru's assistant, nor that of the dozen Oto Jounin that were in his company, but she totally forgot the main fact that led to her undoing, the fact that Orochimaru of the Sannin was her team mate for over 30 years, and thus, knew nearly everything about her.
So, instead of being subdued in a blaze of glory, she was subdued in the most easily and efficient way possible. She had come with the intention of killing Orochimaru in the beginning, she had nothing but contempt for the man who desecrated the memory of her ancestors by bringing them back to life to aid him in the assassination of her sensei and betrayed Konoha in the most gruesome way possible all those years ago. If she was honest with herself, she did consider accepting his proposition to bring back her loved ones until something Jiraiya said struck a cord within her, and that was that should she be successful, Dan and Nawaki, the most precious people in the world to her, would be disgusted with her. She had given Jiraiya a black eye at the time, but he would never know the effect his words had on her.
So instead of coming to accept the proposal, she was planning on using the power of her healing jutsu to kill him instead – how was she to know that his apprentice was also an accomplished medic-nin that could tell them apart?
That was when the real fight started after Orochimaru ordered his Jounin not to interfere. The fact didn't surprise her as he probably would have seen it as an act of weakness had they done so, but boy was she wrong. With that cruel smirk of his, he ordered his apprentice to disable her quickly – expecting a quick attack to accompany such an order, she was shocked when instead, he took out a kunai and slashed his arms, letting blood gush out in torrents.
Blood, the vile and magnificent liquid of life. The one thing she despised seeing above all else. What else would one suspect of someone who was hemophobic?
So here she was, a quivering heap on the floor, not able to move a muscle in her body as they all tensed up and froze at the sight of the gushing red liquid while Orochimaru chuckled that annoying chuckle of his and his apprentice mirrored his cruel smirk.
"Take care of her Kabuto" ordered Orochimaru "I guess we'll need to find another method to cure my arms" he said, with a dismissive gesture as Kabuto moved in for the kill.
Kabuto activated his favourite technique, the chakra scalpel, a blade of chakra that forms around each hand that has the ability to cut through muscles, tendons, bone and arteries. In the hands of a novice, it was nothing but a sharper knife, but in the hands of an expert of the human anatomy, it can be used to quickly sever limbs and tendons, disable foes or quickly kill. On the other hand, the technique, when applied correctly, can be used for medicinal purposes like in surgery – it was one of the all purpose medical Ninjutsu that most medic-nin knew, but one that Kabuto had mastered and used extremely efficiently.
Rearing his hand back, he struck intent on severing the artery above her heart that sent blood to her brain but was stopped when a dozen senbon needles shot in his direction from not too far away. Looking to where the senbon came from, he wasn't so surprised to see Tsunade's apprentice, Jiraiya of the Sannin and three Konoha Jounin.
"Kukuku, it is about time you arrived here Jiraiya; I was wondering if you had become senile in your old age" Orochimaru said in a voice that Jiraiya still found extremely creepy, it had a mixture of glee and perverseness to it that forced you to shudder whenever hearing it regardless how many times you have heard it before.
"It didn't take a genius to realize what you were planning after sensei destroyed your dreams" Jiraiya retorted snidely and he knew he hit a soft spot when Orochimaru's eyes narrowed at Jiraiya in anger. At this point, Jiraiya would have usually attacked to catch his opponent off guard, but for some god awful reason, Tsunade thought it necessary to drug him with something that was screwing with his chakra control.
"Deal with the Konoha filth" Orochimaru ordered with a sneer as he motioned towards the five shinobi who just entered the scene. The dozen Jounin all responded with a 'Hai Orochimaru-sama' and leapt into action. The five new arrivals all split up to perform a different task with Shizune going over to help her sensei by stopping Kabuto and hopefully snapping her out of her hemophobia, Kakashi, Anko and Genma went off to try and hold off the dozen Jounin, one with different Ninjutsu, another with Snake style assassination Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu, and the last with precisely fired Senbon and Katon Ninjutsu. Jiraiya was left to take on Orochimaru which would be humorous in his opinion considering both of their conditions – one of them drugged and the other armless, it was like a fight between two crippled old men. Jiraiya could also tell how Anko really wanted to join in with his fight but he shut her up with a quick glare before turning back to Orochimaru.
"So" began Jiraiya "how's it gonna be teme? You are hardly a challenge to me without your arms" he taunted only to receive a smirk in return.
"You act as if I can't tell you've been poisoned Jiraiya" he replied before chuckling "I wasn't heralded as a genius for nothing you know" and with that, Orochimaru literally lurched out a sword, the legendary Kusanagi no Tsurugi from a snake in his throat and wielded it with an elongated tongue – the sight made Jiraiya want to gag but he restrained himself, he had of course, seen worse.
Not one to fight with Kenjutsu, Jiraiya took out a kunai and parried the wild and erratic sword strikes from the snake Sannin, however, regardless of how ill performed his attacks seemed, they were well timed and would immediately take advantage of a drop in guard if he ever showed one. Jiraiya smirked, not being able to stop himself from finding humour in the fact that Orochimaru had practised wielding a sword with his tongue.
After a good ten minutes with just a Kenjutsu spar, Orochimaru just jump backwards and smirked at him again "This fight does seem pointless Jiraiya-kun" he conceded, neither one of them were ever big fans of Kenjutsu, no matter how much Orochimaru would say otherwise. The Snake Sannin then lifted up sleeve to reveal an intricate summoning tattoo which he then swiped with some blood from his mouth by elongating his neck and rubbing it across his forearm; if the result wouldn't be so devastating, Jiraiya would have found such a sight hilarious.
Two cries of 'Kuchiyose no Jutsu' were heard and when the smoke cleared, Orochimaru was standing on a large three headed Snake grinning down at Jiraiya. When the smoke cleared around Jiraiya, a red toad wearing a jacket with a serious expression on his face look up at Jiraiya.
"Yo" it greeted, causing Jiraiya to face vault straight into the ground.
"What the hell are you doing here Gamakichi?!" yelled Jiraiya, much to his old team mate's amusement.
"Oh, it's you" began the toad disdainfully "what the hell else do you think I'm doing here baka?! YOU summoned ME!" he retorted, pointing an accusatory finger at the white haired Sannin.
With a few choice words under his breath, Jiraiya glares at the useless foot tall toad and begins to make hand seals.
"If you're going to be useless" he began, before pausing on the last seal "I'm going to have to do this myself; Doton: Yomi Numa!" suddenly, Orochimaru frowns when his large three headed serpent lets out a hiss of annoyance. Looking down, he notices the ground getting damp and the snake beginning to sink in.
"Get out of this mud!" yelled Orochimaru "Before you are sucked under" he ordered angrily but it was already too late – the more the snake struggled, the deeper it sank until it was half way in.
Jiraiya, seeing how far the serpent sank in frowned. The technique was supposed to make a swamp with a depth of hundreds of feet – this didn't even come close. At least he was able to pull it off though; the drug looked to be leaving his system.
Uttering a violent curse, Orochimaru dismissed his own summon before leaping away from the artificial swamp which Jiraiya cancelled when the snake was dispelled.
"Not so cocky now, right, Orochi-teme?" taunted Jiraiya, using his nickname for the snake like man that he used at birth. Orochimaru just responded to his taunt with a heated glare, however, that turned into a smirk Kabuto returned to his side wearing a satisfied smirk.
"Ah, Kabuto-kun" purred Orochimaru "did you deal with the trash?" asked the Serpent Sannin with a sick smirk that was mirrored by Kabuto. By now, the three Jounin who had finished with dealing with the dozen Oto Jounin were by Jiraiya's side staring down their opponents, all looking worse for ware.
"Hai Orochimaru-sama" he began "they will be dead in a few moments from blood loss" he said, shocking the Konoha shinobi and true to their words, the group looked over to Tsunade and Shizune to see them bleeding out from the
thigh and chest respectively. Immediately, Jiraiya tried to rush over to their aid only to be stopped by six more Oto Jounin.
"Kukuku" chuckled Orochimaru "she crossed me Jiraiya-kun, and team mate or not, she dies for doing so" he said with a shrug "her apprentice didn't have to die, but she stepped in the way, so it was her own fault" he said, like their deaths meant nothing at all. This infuriated Jiraiya and Genma, for their own personal reasons, while Kakashi didn't show much externally. Anko on the other hand, was barely containing her fury, here he was, the person she hated the most, standing not 50 feet from her and she couldn't do anything because she was outmatched and outclassed, regardless of his condition.
Suddenly, Anko rushed at Orochimaru only for the Snake Sannin to smirk and motion towards his right hand man. Kabuto, wearing a sick smirk activated his chakra scalpels once again and lunged for her. Anko channelled her anger onto her new opponent, regardless of the protests being given by her team mates and side stepped a swipe with the chakra scalpels and prepared to deliver a sickening strike to Kabuto's grinning face.
"Anko no!" yelled Genma but it was too late, she had been stabbed in the back by her previous sensei who was wielding his Kusanagi with his tongue. Kabuto and Orochimaru smirked in triumph, ignoring the smirk that Anko too had on her face and turned back to their opponents.
"Who's next?" taunted Orochimaru only to swivel around when he heard a puff of smoke go out, like that of a Kage Bunshin.
Immediately, both Kabuto and Orochimaru turned around to be met with a cloud of purple poisonous gas engulfing them.
"What is this?!" spat Orochimaru, who unfortunately inhaled the substance when saying so. Kabuto, better versed when it came to poison recognized it immediately.
"Orochimaru-sama, do not breathe it in!" he yelled before going through several hand seals "Futon: Daitoppa" he yelled, using a gust a wind to blow away the poison that had engulfed the two of them.
The group of Konoha shinobi looked on in shock at the strange technique that was just used and to the newly discovered Anko, smirking while standing in a tree not too far away from the scene, admitting her handy work.
"Where's your smug attitude now teme?" taunted Anko "Thought you could kill me that easily?!" she challenged, watching as Kabuto quickly neutralized the poison inhaled by Orochimaru, but it was too late, it had already done enough damage to inhibit him if the blood seeping out of his mouth was anything to go by.
"What did you do to me?!" he hissed, allowing Kabuto to continue to heal him "I should have killed you when I had the chance you useless brat!" he shrieked "Kabuto, kill her through the cursed seal!" he ordered with sadistic glee. Anko's eyes widened in alarm, she didn't think he'd be able to do that without the use of his arms, but sure enough, Kabuto was placing his hands in a seal and smirking at her.
"Goodbye Anko-chan" he said in a sing song voice but before he could perform the jutsu that would kill her brain cells through the cursed seal, they all felt another chakra signature where the Oto Jounin were.
"Suiton" began the cloaked figure wearing a straw hat and large black cloak, his hands blaring in a long series of hand seals "Daibakufu no Jutsu!"
The Oto Jounin swivelled around too late, revealing four huge spirals of water materializing out of thin air and crashing into them at different angles.
The figure in the cloak didn't stop and continued to perform more hand seals at a speed that shocked the onlookers. The Oto Jounin didn't even have a chance to retaliate before the next jutsu was used.
"Mizu Kyu" it said in a clear voice and suddenly, the leftover water from the massive Daibakufu no Jutsu became a large cube shape, trapping all the Jounin within in a substance that looked thicker then normal water, and it probably was, judging by the fact that the Jounin looked frozen in place inside the cube.
The figure then, from beneath his cloak withdrew a small cylindrical item that was only recognized by two figures on the battlefield; Jiraiya and Orochimaru, both of whom widened their eyes in disbelief, especially when the cylindrical item sparkled to life revealing a blade of sparkling yellow electricity.
Without so much as a care in the world, the figure in the cloak rammed his sword into the water coffin and almost immediately, the Jounin within opened their eyes in a silent scream that couldn't be heard through the thick water prison. The mysterious shinobi held the sword within until he was certain all those within had perished – it wasn't a pretty sight.
"I'm afraid" began the figure as he removed his hat "I can't let you do that Kabuto-san" said Naruto, not sounding remorseful in the slightest. Kabuto and Orochimaru looked on at their new opponent who had been able to create so much water out of nothing as if it were an every day task in shock. Anko glared at the people who came to saver her, yet again, recognizing the voice of Namikaze Naruto while Jiraiya, Kakashi and Genma recognized him simply by the description given in the Bingo Book.
"You think you could stop me?" asked a smug Kabuto "I know your tricks Naruto-kun, a piece of trash like you who fights by playing with dolls will not be enough to defeat me let alone Orochimaru-sama" he taunted, smirking his crazy, shit eating grin. Neither of the two knew they were falling right into Naruto's plan and spectacularly at that.
"Hmm?" Naruto looked over to the person who just spoke "You say something Kabuto-san?" asked Naruto, though it didn't seem to have an affect on anyone but Kakashi who smirked under his mask – he loved using that line and seeing others use it made him understand how annoying it could be and how cool someone looked when they were using it – oh, he would definitely use it more often.
"Greetings Orochimaru-san" greeted Naruto, pulling out a box of Pocky from beneath his cloak "I brought you a gift" he said before tossing the box at Kabuto who caught it with a frown. He then made the mistake of reading the label out loud.
"Semen…flavoured…Pocky?" he asked with confusion, ignoring his seething master beside him.
"You'll find" began Naruto, ignoring the snickers of Jiraiya, Kakashi and Anko while Genma smirked "that it actually says 'Young boy's Semen flavoured Pocky'; I saw it at the Pocky store, they apparently wanted to appeal to the Paedophile demographic and when I saw it, I immediately thought of the biggest Paedophile I knew, so naturally, I bought you some, you should try them" he said, ignoring the furious glare being sent his way.
Orochimaru knew he was being baited, but he couldn't help but get angry, the boy was just SO infuriating. That coupled with how he was embarrassed so easily last time only magnified his anger by epic proportions. Orochimaru then smirked, completely missing the figure that silently disappeared with the Slug Sannin and her apprentice before whispering something in Kabuto's ear, who mirrored his smirk upon hearing it.
After several moments of silence, where Naruto just allowed them to try and execute their plan, Kabuto charged at him, chakra scalpels flaring as he made poor slices for his body, which he dodged with ease. It was quite obvious that they were trying to lead him into a trap yet he still allowed them to play their little game, it would only be all the sweeter when it failed.
After dodging a final swipe from Kabuto, he saw a large confident smirk appear on his face "You fell for our trap Naruto-kun"
Suddenly, from the tree he was standing near, Orochimaru appeared with his neck elongated, the Orochimaru they all thought was the real thing only crumbled into mud on the floor.
"You will now become one of my puppets Naruto-kun" he said with a cackle before lodging his fangs into Naruto's neck to administer the Ten no Juin.
"NO!" yelled Jiraiya, seeing what just happened, however, he stopped his advance when a puff of smoke engulfed Naruto causing Kabuto to jump back, thinking it was a trap, however, for some reason, Orochimaru was not able to as he seemed to disappear in the puff of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, none of them expected to see what they saw right there, which definitely shocked them beyond belief, for where Naruto once stood now stood a man with white hair held out of his face with a silver helmet style Konoha forehead protector with red markings on his pale face. He was also clothed in a black body suit with blue samurai style armour with a furry white neckpiece – the man looked just like and dressed just like the Nidaime Hokage of Konoha, in fact, the only thing that suggested he was anything but were his glassy eyes and several marks covering his exposed skin suggesting it was a puppet.
It then all dawned on them what the Nidaime meant when he addressed Naruto in Konoha, it al dawned on them what that puppet was, it was the Nidaime Hokage made into a puppet; and Orochimaru was now staring at the puppet in shock while choking as the puppet had his neck in a death grip, however, it no longer spoke, it juts turned its head to look at him.
Suddenly, a voice began to speak that appeared to come from all directions "So, how do you like one of my favourite puppets?" he asked, obvious mirth in his voice at seeing the shock in their faces upon realizing who it was "He was known to be the single master of Suiton jutsu in the shinobi world, for his proficiency with them and ability to manipulate the molecules in the air to create water were matched by no one" he said, the Nidaime puppet still holding Orochimaru's neck in a vice like grip, not allowing him to escape while Kabuto looked less sure of himself.
Jiraiya, finally recovering from his shock looked over to the one thing the puppet reminded him of, the Nidaime's grandniece and famed Sannin of Konoha, Tsunade, but to his shock, she was no longer where she once was, neither was Shizune, the only thing that remained was two pools of blood. However, suddenly, there was a chakra signature behind him and he whirled around, the action being mirrored by Genma and Kakashi, only to find a masked shinobi with the bodies of Tsunade and Shizune no longer bleeding.
"They will be fine, I have stopped the bleeding" the masked-nin said and before anyone could react, he disappeared in a puddle of water in to the ground. The only person that recognized the shinobi was Anko who looked at the puddle in which he disappeared in with wide eyes and then back at Naruto before smiling slightly. The boy was amazing.
"Are you afraid, Kabuto-san?" asked the voice of Naruto, whose voice still seemed to be coming from all over the clearing they were in "Sure you would want to save your master" he taunted and by the murderous look in Orochimaru's eyes as he choked, he agreed that it was the wisest choice, but what could he do when he couldn't se his opponent and the Nidaime Hokage – puppet or not – was grappling Orochimaru in a vice like grip.
"Who are you calling afraid Naruto-kun?" asked Kabuto to the clearing, knowing Naruto could hear him "You are the one who fights from the shadows" he taunted, wanting to draw him out.
"Is it not the way of the shinobi to remain in the shadows?" he replied back, his calm voice reverberating off every object in the clearing sending shivers down their spines "for if we did not, we would be nothing more then petty Samurai" he continued "is that what you are Kabuto-san?"
Kabuto narrowed his eyes, trying to ignore the face of his master going blue "If you don't come out now Naruto-kun, I will have to kill Anko-chan" he said, the threat lingering in the air.
"Very well" was his only response, however, this time the voice came from directly behind Kabuto as the real Naruto appeared in all his glory. His head was not covered by his straw hat, allowing his blonde spiky hair to glimmer in the sun, however, Kabuto didn't have enough time to admire his looks as Naruto reared back his right fist and, to the shock of everyone in the clearing, punched Kabuto in the stomach and sent him flying right towards Orochimaru and the Nidaime puppet.
"How the hell?" were the simultaneous thoughts of every shinobi in the clearing, including Orochimaru, for Naruto had just shown a masterful control over the technique that made Tsunade famous.
Before Orochimaru or Kabuto could recover from their shock, the Nidaime puppet flung the Snake Sannin at Kabuto mid air and re-took the Raijin in this hand before lunging at the pair. As he charged the two airborne shinobi that were about to collide, Kabuto latched onto Orochimaru and performed the substitution technique with a stray log, however, the small victory did not last long for Naruto, from behind the two, lifted his right leg up high and brought it smashing down where Orochimaru and Kabuto were barely able to escape being crushed as the ground split into a large Fissure under the massive assault.
"Kabuto quick – Manda!" ordered Orochimaru as Kabuto nodded and before Naruto could bare down on them again and follow up his attack, he smeared blood over the snake summoning seal on Orochimaru's forearm and applied enough chakra to summon Manda. Instantly, Naruto fled for cover as a large plume of smoke covered the clearing only to reveal a huge purple horned snake with Orochimaru and Kabuto standing on his head.
"Hiding now are we Naruto-kun?" called out Orochimaru with glee.
"What the hell did you summon me for teme?!" roared the huge snake summon as Orochimaru glared at it for his lack of respect.
"We have an opponent who has control over the Nidaime Hokage's abilities, I am in need of your assistance" he replied, infuriating Manda in the process.
"You summoned me to deal with ONE person?! How pathetic ARE you teme?!" it roared, causing Anko to gain an ounce of respect for the boss of the snakes.
"You will do as you're told for I summoned you, worm!" Orochimaru roared, making Manda narrow its eyes in anger.
"I will require 200 sacrifices the next time you summon me for this, and if there are none ready, I will take you as a sacrifice, are we understood?"he hissed, getting a curt nod from Orochimaru, that was definitely easy enough.
Naruto sighed as he looked at his large Snake opponent; first it was a Tanuki demon and now this? He needed someone with a summoning contract with him, in fact, he had heard of the legendary Dragon summoning contract located somewhere in Kumo, he would have to look into that for the future, but now wasn't the best time. Silently
creating two Kage Bunshin, he sent one to Haku and the other to Jiraiya with his instructions as he manipulated his Nidaime puppet from the shadows, not noticing that Tsunade had just awoken from her episode.
"Ergh" Tsunade moaned, alerting those around her to her presence "what the hell happened?" she asked nobody as Jiraiya rushed to her side.
"Tsunade-hime, are you ok?" he asked, desperately trying not to look down her cleavage that became all the more visible in her dischelved state "Kabuto attacked you while you were in shock from seeing blood, as well as Shizune but…"
"Where's Shizune?!" she asked with desperation "is she ok?!" she asked franticly receiving a nod from Jiraiya.
"She's on the floor next to you, Naruto's team mate healed you both and brought you here" he answered, receiving a confused glance from Tsunade.
"Who the hell is Naruto?" she asked, not recognizing it as one of the names of the Konoha shinobi that came with Jiraiya, but before he could answer, someone else did.
"I am Tsunade-baasama" replied a monotonous voice of a figure behind the group, causing them to all swivel around in surprise at someone being able to sneak up on them, only to reveal Naruto himself. Jiraiya then looked back to the battlefield to see the Nidaime puppet still dodging Manda's furious strikes. Must be a Kage Bunshin.
"And who the hell are you?!" Tsunade asked in anger, she didn't like strangers saving her let alone strangers sneaking up on her and calling her old. In response, Naruto merely lifted his hat to reveal two crimson eyes that caused the colour in Tsunade's face to drain, even more so after her condition.
"I see you keep up with the latest Bingo books, I'm glad" he said, though his voice said otherwise "though I don't much care; Jiraiya-san, I need you to use that Doton jutsu on Manda to trap him while I set on destroying him, I need him immobile, can you do it?" he asked only receiving a nod in return before Jiraiya frowned.
"I could just summon Gamabunta" he said "it would be a lot safer" he said before he stopped when Naruto glared at him.
"And who will protect these weakened shinobi if you go off to fight?" he challenged before shaking his head "Can you do it?" he asked again and Jiraiya nodded at him, signifying his compliance making Naruto nod and as he was about to walk away, the clone spaced out, probably receiving orders from the original; now everyone was watching with baited breath when the clone reached into his cloak and pulled something out.
"I apologize for the inconvenience and the poor timing Jiraiya-sama" he said, shocking everyone at the change of honorific, however, the shock only grew when he pulled out a shiny orange book labelled 'Icha Icha Parade: Special Edition: Volume 1' from his cloak and handed it to him "can you please sign my book?"
Kakashi stared at the book in reverence, then at Jiraiya, and finally at the Naruto clone before letting out a giggle. Genma looked on in shock at the boy asking the author of a porn novel to sign said porn novel for him and Tsunade was steadily leaking out killing intent directed at both Naruto and Jiraiya who seemed to shrug it off as Jiraiya greedily took the book and signed it with his special 'Author's Friend Autograph Pen' that he carried around with him everywhere.
Naruto nodded in thanks before disappearing into the trees, most likely heading back to the original; however, Tsunade just asked a question that caused Jiraiya to pale in horror.
"Why the hell is there a shinobi dressed as my great uncle fighting Manda?" she asked in confusion.
The three male shinobi looked at each other, all motioning for the other to explain it to her, for none were foolish enough to do it themselves and be the target of her anger. What other kind of reaction could you expect from someone who just realized a loved relative's corpse was used to create a human puppet?
Naruto smirked as he pocketed his now favourite book before turning back to the battle as he commanded the puppet to dodge the snake's strikes. He had just then gotten another influx of information informing him that Haku knew of the plan and is ready to comply.
Naruto then, after having selected what technique he was going to have the Nidaime use, got ready to use it at the first sight of Manda sinking into the ground.
When he heard a shout of 'Yomi Numa' once again, he immediately leapt into action.
"What the hell is this?!" hissed the great snake, causing Orochimaru to turn his head to the smirking Jiraiya in anger, however, before he could do anything and order Manda to try and escape his mud prison, the Nidaime puppet began a long chain of hand seals at a rapid rate.
'Suiton: Suigadan no Jutsu'
With the command sent to his puppet, the puppet stopped on the last hand seal and suddenly, using the moisture from the mud created with the Yomi Numa, eight crystal clear water drills materialized out of the mud and shot at the snake at a rapid speed.
"You think you can pierce my skin with a water pistil teme?!" yelled the large and irate Snake, however, the Snake's taunting stopped when he noticed the speed of the water drills dramatically increase and turn into eight long, deadly looking, spears of ice.
Before Manda could get impaled by the eight huge icicle spears, he dismissed himself with a final warning to Orochimaru that he would kill him the next time he was summoned.
Naruto smirked at his handiwork while Jiraiya smiled slightly – Naruto was definitely all that was said about him and more – a true genius shinobi.
Before Orochimaru and Kabuto could regain their bearings after falling from the height of Manda's head, Naruto and the Nidaime puppet both charged at them again and began a furious assault. The onlookers were surprised and rightfully shocked to see the co-ordination between the two, as even though Naruto could only use one hand himself, he was still doing plenty of damage by slamming his fist and feet into the ground and creating small earthquakes while the Nidaime slashed at them expertly with his Raijin.
Getting annoyed by his foe's evasion abilities, Naruto tried a different tactic and locked eyes with the both of them and cast a several layered Genjutsu, it was nothing major, but it was enough to get within their guards. All he did was make them see him moving left to strike when in fact, he was remaining still and slamming the ground while he commanded his puppet to move in behind.
Orochimaru knew he was in a Genjutsu that was potentially dangerous, but he had no way to dispel it and his fool apprentice was being useless as usual so he had to wait and see what would happen, however, he figured out exactly Naruto's plans the hard way, with a sharp pain to his lower spine.
Orochimaru looked down in horror as a beam of yellow energy was sticking out of his stomach while Naruto glared into his eyes – the crimson of his eyes only that much more terrifying in his position.
Naruto then began to speak "I know you just got away and this is just a mud clone, but be sure to remember this Orochimaru" he said, shocking Orochimaru at how easily he was discovered "I know you didn't get out in time to avoid the Raijin's damage and as soon as I find where you are, I will kill both you and your idiotic apprentice, so run" he began before moving closer and hissing the rest of it out "continue to run and cling to your life and remember that I hold your life in my hands, and I will crush it when I find you and your little club house" he hissed as Orochimaru and Kabuto both dissolved into a pile of dirt rocks.
Naruto, with a final look towards Anko who was staring right back at him impassively, not letting her emotions show, smirked and bowed slightly before he resealed the puppet into his arm and disappeared in a gust of wind.
Kakashi, Genma, Jiraiya and Tsunade all looked at the recently ended fight in awe, how could a kid do all that? Where did he get so strong? Does he harbour ill will towards Konoha? Were all some of the questions running through their minds; however, Tsunade had another question running through her mind.
"Jiraiya" she said in a deadly serious tone, as she began to check up on Shizune while addressing him without looking at him "You have a lot of explaining to do and I won't go back to Konoha unless you tell me the truth and everything you know" she said, not even looking at him as she said it.
"Hai, Hokage-sama" he said, though it wasn't appreciated as Tsunade just glared at him with a look that sent shivers down his spine.
Jiraiya then turned to Anko with a look of seriousness on his face "You can also tell me what your connection with Naruto is right now" he said, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Suspecting me of treason already are you?" she said, sounding indifferent "He taught me the Doku Bunshin and I told him how the curse seal effects me – as you know, he's also saved my life twice – is the interrogation over Jiraiya-sama?" she asked, not impressed that she was being question for having affiliation with the person who just saved their asses.
Jiraiya just nodded and walked off towards the city again.
Kakashi stood; looking in the direction Naruto disappeared into with a strange that no one could see due to the mask the forever covered the lower half of his face.
'Minato-sensei would be proud of you Naruto-kun'
Author's Note:
Sorry for the late update, but I honestly had trouble with writing this chapter and it may seemed rushed and poorly written at some points, this is mainly because I had a major urge to just scrap this fic and begin with my Harry Potter one. It's not that I like this one or the other more, because if other author's were writing this story and the Harry Potter story I have thought of, I would love to read them both equally as much, but as the writer, it just seems to much easier to write a Harry Potter story because the universe is much more similar to ours save the magic factor, the fight scenes aren't as complicated and it just has SO much more to write about.
Fear not, I definitely won't scrap this fic, but honestly, all those author's who read my fic that have their own stories in my favourites, I honestly get more egged on to write more when I read other stories, so, update more often!
Let me know what you think of this chapter, it is my longest yet I think and I hope the introduction of the first Kage puppet was pretty massive, but it won't be all that spectacular until I get them out in twos or threes and I start using their talents in combination with each other. I also hope you like how Naruto completely outsmarted or just owned Orochimaru and Danzo, I sure did!
And, I also recommend you read these stories, they are ones I've been reading a lot lately:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by TIJK
This story has the potential to be the best HP story ever if the author keeps increasing his Transfiguration skills and makes him fight with them, honestly, Transfiguration Harry is SO awesome, I know mine will be like that as well as Charms when I wrote my story, none of that 'I need to use the dark arts to be cool', leave that for ol' Tom and his merry band of terrorists!
A Black Comedy by nonjon
A funny ass HP story that I love to read. Main characters are Sirius and Harry and they are both pretty much both the Playboys of the Wizarding world in an AU where both the original Sirius and Harry died many years ago, read it, it makes me laugh, especially with the 'After Dark Mark' – that's gold.
Tangled in Death by MogtheGnome
This is the Naruto/Bleach crossover I was talking about with the pairing being Naruto and Nanao-chan! Its awesomeness and I strongly suggest you read it if you are a fan of either manga. Naruto isn't super strong and his Zanpakuto is original, he is also slightly stronger then Ichigo when he comes to save Rukia but much more combat savvy.
That's all for now – if you want to know more about the HP story I'm going to write, ask so in PMs or in the reviews and I'll elaborate a lot more in my Bio I guess… leave reviews, I like them!
Adios.
Second Author Note:
"Hemophobia is the fear of Blood. Homophobia is the fear of gays. though with orochimaru there it wouldn't matter what you called it. :P"
I was seriously tempted to change that part of the chapter because that line had me laughing quite hard. I have a reason for the errors other then not liking gay people all that much! HONEST! It was like 2am when i was finishing the second part of this chapter and i must have auto corrected the term to homo, still, it made me 'lol' when i realized it.
I'm glad people like this fic so much but don't hate on the Harry Potter fic - i guarantee you the reason why you don't like them is because you haven't read one that's been written by me. I too am dissapointed in their quality as of late, save the ones i mentioned earlier, though the one i WILL write eventually will be much much better then the overdone 'Harry reads Sirius Will, gets secret unheard of powers and becomes a multi animagus who can control every element and a time altering device that allows him to train a lot in little time'. Regardless, I think his sister has become very obvious however, just for that final nudge, i should say that if Naruto is 14 in this fic, that makes Tayuya 21, yeah, no
she's not his sister - which leaves one possibility, and i still think she was the most obvious from the start without making OCs. Imagine how Naruto will react when he finds out where his sister is and what she's been doing... oh noes. That is the last teaser i will ever give, enjoy it, savor it, it wont happen again.
