Chapter 14: Kuchiyose no Jutsu!
Nine ominous shadows stood in a circle in a dark cave in an undisclosed location, the only distinguishable portion of each individual's silhouette being their eyes which shone in the dark, all awaiting their newest orders and ready to give their briefings.
"It has been two months since we have last gathered" began Pein, or 'Leader', as all the members sans Konan and the ever disrespectful Jashin worshipper Hidan referred to him as "You were all given your assignments, what do you have to report?"
The first shinobi who opted to speak did so; his name was Kakuzu, partner to Hidan and a member of the 'immortal' duo of the Akatsuki. He was known by those who were privy to his identity to take the hearts of his victims into his own body to prolong his own life and gain their abilities.
"Minus my cut" he began "I have gathered 8 million yen for your cause…" he began only to be rudely cut off by his partner.
"What the fuck do you mean 'I have gathered' you piece of shit! I did most of the work!"
"Calm yourself Hidan" spoke the leader, not letting his irritation at the duo seep into his voice, but his voice let all who heard it know that he was not in the mood to mess around "no one doubts your contributions to Akatsuki, so let Kakuzu continue his report please" he finished.
With a few choice words under his breath, all of which would make a seasoned sailor embarrassed, he allowed Kakuzu to continue "As I was saying, we completed the assigned missions earlier then expected so we hunted down four missing-nin from the latest Bingo book and gathered their bounties from Kusagakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure and Konohagakure" he said, finishing his report.
"Were you spotted in either village with or without your uniform?" asked Pein, wanting to make sure they were not exposed too early. Sure, he was one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful shinobi in the world, but Akatsuki were only nine shinobi strong and he had yet to complete phase one of his plans so they had to be cautious until they could afford to expose themselves somewhat.
"Iie Leader-sama" he answered "no one spotted us and those who had to see us merely saw us in a Henge, you needn't worry."
Apparently satisfied with the report, he turned to Kusa no Zetsu next. Zetsu, ex shinobi of Kusagakure no Sato is a cannibal whose head was encased in a massive Venus flytrap that allowed him to easily and efficiently dispose of bodies the Akatsuki didn't want to be found, making him the hunter-nin of Akatsuki.
"What is your report regarding the mission I assigned you Zetsu?" he asked, eager to hear this one.
Zetsu seemed to shift uncomfortably, or his silhouette did anyway. Zetsu's weird make-up made him seem to be bipolar at most times, however, those who knew of him knew that he in fact seemed to have a multi-personality disorder, that or two souls actually inhabited his own body as one half of his body often conversed with the other while both having different opinions when doing so, nobody cared to ask because nobody cared, he did his job well and that was all that mattered.
"I apologize Leader-sama" he began "I went to the last village she was known to reside in near the former whirlpool country only to find no traces of her, and anything that could lead us to her current location appears to vanished also" he said, before his other personality took over, the more vicious and angry of the two "knowing who her late husband was, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Sannin or the Hokage himself helped hide her away for her own protection."
Pein seemed to go silent for a moment, and all present in the room expected Zetsu to be punished, little did they know that Pein was reminiscing about his youth and his old sensei 'You have really outdone yourself...Jiraiya-sensei, but how long can you keep her hidden from the world, you will have to slip up eventually'.
"Your report has told me more then you think Zetsu, thank you" he said, allowing Zetsu to release a sigh of relief that he hadn't known he had been holding.
Beside Pein, Konan observed her long time love warily and with sadness. Ever since Naruto had come into the picture and started to cause problems for Akatsuki, Pein had become increasingly temperamental in his own weird way and vicious, killing people more often then he normally would, Could it be that he felt threatened by the boy and for this, he felt angry? She quickly stopped that train of thought as soon as it started however realizing how ludicrous it sounded, Pein, the one known to have never been defeated threatened by a 14 year old boy? She highly doubted it; however, she couldn't explain the feeling of dread that started to form in the pit of her stomach.
"Your assignments for now are to continue doing 'S-ranked' missions for half the regular price until I tell you otherwise, we won't be moving against the Jinchuuriki for another two and a half years yet" he said and as he observed most of his followers about to cut their connection he called out to two members "Itachi, Kisame, you two are expected to deliver double of the money compared to the others as a punishment of your failure to reobtain Sasori-san's ring. Dismissed."
With a slight narrowing of the eyes by Itachi and a few choice words from Kisame, they too disappeared leaving only Konan and Pein alone in the chamber in silence. Neither spoke a word until another image reappeared before them opposite the two long time friends.
"What are your intentions with the Kyuubi?" asked the new figure who appeared in the chamber Pein and Konan were residing in, in such a way that an observer would think he was ordering the supposed 'leader' of Akatsuki around.
"He will learn what happens when he interferes in my affairs the hard way" began Pein "I will annihilate his friends, family and any affiliates before finally killing him. He will learn before the end what it means to trifle in the affairs of a god."
Neither noticed Konan flinching at those words.
The new figure, while amused at his subordinate's declaration was not amused by the implications "Remember that you work for me Pein" he said in a dangerous voice "and I don't take kindly to people who do not know their place – you may be strong and you may possess the Rinnegan but if you cross me, I won't hesitate to kill you in an instant. That being said, I don't care what you do with the Kyuubi, go on your little warpath for all I care, but if you should fail in the task I have entrusted to you, you will pay with your life."
Only someone who knew Pein their whole life would know what the difference in posture he now had from a few moments ago. Konan was one of those people and just by observing Pein, she could tell that he feared the man, regardless of how strong he himself is, which worried her just as much as Pein's recent behaviour did.
"Hai Uchiha-sama" replied Pein while bowing his head to show he understood.
With a final nod, Uchiha Madara's silhouette disappeared from the chamber leaving Pein and Konan alone once again.
"What was that about?" asked a curious and worried Konan, however, Pein just remained silent and after a few moments, his eyes closed and his silhouette phased out of the room without having answered Konan's question.
Konan merely frowned at being ignored before she too disappeared from the chamber.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Tsunade the slug Sannin sat in her new office that the Hokage of Konoha occupied sporting a headache of massive proportions. The reason? Namikaze Naruto.
Ever since Jiraiya told her about the boy and how he somehow attained 'S-class' status at such a young age, she was dubious to say the least. However, she couldn't argue with what she saw when the boy took on both the traitorous Snake Sannin and his little protégé. At the time, Tsunade had wanted to kill the Namikaze heir herself when she saw him using the body of her deceased great uncle so callously during battle, regardless of how effective it was, but she was hardly in a position to protect due to the injuries she had sustained during said fight.
Jiraiya had, to her request (more like order) explained all he knew of Namikaze Naruto, going into his skills with Genjutsu, his masterful control over his Kugutsu technique, and now his implementation of her super strength technique – which if she was honest with herself, impressed her that he was able to replicate it so easily.
Jiraiya had also told her of what her 'grandfather' and 'granduncle' had told the Namikaze gaki when they were summoned by Orochimaru – that they gave Naruto his blessings in using their bodies. She wanted more then anything to send out a whole squadron of ANBU to kill the brat for disrespecting her family like that, but what could she do when the very men's bodies he is using don't mind that he is doing so? Nothing was the answer.
The cause of her current headache though and the reason why Namikaze Naruto was related to this most recent cranial attack was because of Uchiha Sasuke.
"What do you mean he fought Itachi?!" he brat yelled at her. What sheer audacity he exuded to think he had any right to demand anything of her. Did he think she was some Uchiha lover like the elders of the council and Danzo? She had read reports of Naruto's threats to the three elders of the village and she secretly hoped that they were stupid enough to try something against Naruto again so he could come through on that threat, it would certainly solve some of her headache problems.
Tsunade watched with amusement dancing in her eyes as Kakashi held back his student from making a fatal mistake and trying to attack a Hokage to get the answers he desires. Jiraiya, who had been giving her a report on the Akatsuki's movements before team seven barged in without being called was surprised and angered that they had done so and heard such delicate information.
"Is it common practise for Jounin and Genin to barge into the Hokage's office unannounced in Konoha these days?" chided Tsunade, not willing to show the second biggest pervert in Konoha just how angry she was at him – it wouldn't bode well if the Uchiha believed he was privy to such sensitive information.
"My apologies Hokage-sama" Kakashi replied with a boy while still restraining Sasuke who was trying his hardest to break the hold "we were coming in for missions and I hadn't sensed anyone else's presence inside; I failed to consider that Jiraiya-sama would be in here and the reason why I didn't sense anybody's presence" he then pause, choosing his next words carefully "you are usually…indisposed…as of late when we arrive and I believed today would be no different so I decided a wake-up call would be in order" he replied happily, trying to lighten the mood – it only partly worked.
Jiraiya snorted, trying to hide his laughter while Tsunade sent him a death glare "Sleeping on the drop you drunk?"
Kakashi gaped at the toad Sannin and at his stupidity as he went sailing through a wall right past team seven.
Tsunade then turned to the last loyal Uchiha who had his Sharingan activated with a crazed look in his eyes trying to intimidate her. Deciding she had enough of his actions that were dangerously close to insubordination – a very serious offence in any shinobi village – she plucked him from Kakashi grip by holding him by the neck and slamming him up against the wall. Kakashi looked unsurprised at the action while Sakura shrieked and Hanabi smirked (it was no secret that the Hyuuga were less then fond of the Uchiha and vice-versa.
"Listen here you little punk" she hissed out "you may be the last Uchiha and the council may very well bow to your every whim, but don't mistake me for the council" she said, watching with satisfaction as Sasuke's Sharingan disappeared and signs of fear showed in his eyes, though anger and hate seemed to still be present and the overpowering emotion "I don't care about your ridiculous family problems and I don't want to care, but the next time you think to demand anything of me, I'll have you do D-ranked missions for the rest of your natural life. Is that understood?"
Sasuke looked away from the Hokage and nodded begrudgingly as Tsunade let him down.
"Seeing as you've already heard most of the report then I may as well tell you so that you don't go spreading false rumours. The information is not that important and sensitive anyway unless you plan on collecting on the Namikaze brat's bounty" seeing their confusion, she decided to elaborate, despite Kakashi's desperate attempt to get her to stop, she would coddle no one.
"Namikaze Naruto, otherwise known as Uzumaki Naruto is apparently listen as an 'S-classed' criminal of Konohagakure no Sato for having the audacity to live through an attack on his person as a child and leaving the village when he survived said attack while he was only a citizen" she said, deciding not to say anything about the Kyuubi as it wasn't necessary.
"But…" Sakura interrupted, ignoring the glare Tsunade sent her way "my kaasan said he did deserve it and that he was a demon…she said that he was the Kyuubi no Kitsune…"
Kakashi slapped his forehead with his hand and groaned while Tsunade looked right at Sakura, seemingly staring into her soul, ignoring the shocked looks on Sasuke's and Hanabi's faces, despite how amusing any Hyuuga looked when shocked.
"Your mother is an idiot" was all Tsunade said, deciding not to punish the woman as the boy was no longer a citizen of Konoha anyway and the Sandaime's law regarding the secret behind Naruto's curse be kept just that, a secret, was pointless if the boy was not a citizen or shinobi of Konoha.
Ignoring the angered look on Sakura's face, Tsunade was about to continue before Hanabi spoke up "We are told that the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato was the one who defeated the Kyuubi. Why does this criminal take his name? Is it to mock the late Yondaime for failing to defeat the demon?"
Tsunade looked at the Hyuuga and smirked before, in a moment of poor judgement, continued "He calls himself Namikaze Naruto because his father was the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, also known as Namikaze Minato and people refer to him as a demon because his father sealed the demon within his own child to save the village – so you see why I called Haruno-san an idiot. I may not be fond of the kid and wouldn't care if he lived or died either way but he isn't a demon, besides, seeing as he left before he was a shinobi to this village and thus tied to it, the council has no real reason to label him a criminal. Unfortunately if I were to make it so that he wasn't anymore, I could be facing a civil war or more bouts of insubordination" she said, glaring pointedly at Sasuke who shrunk away from her gaze "for favouring him."
Kakashi sat there awestruck, but not for a good reason. He would never tell her this out loud, simply because she would probably kill him, but what she had just done was incredibly stupid for more reasons then one…
"So…he's so powerful because he has the power of a demon to aid him?" Sasuke asked with a smirk only to receive a scoff from Tsunade despite Kakashi's desperate attempts to silence her with slashing motions to his neck in an attempt to keep her quiet.
"I may not like the gaki, but he's strong, and he has never been reported to use Kyuubi's chakra, you see, the demon's chakra was vile, evil and above all else, extremely potent. If he were to use it anywhere neat the village, many experienced shinobi would be able to sense it and thus him, not very smart for someone on the run as it were" she said, causing Sasuke's eyes to narrow further in anger "so basically, he beat Itachi-san with his own strength and he had never used the Kyuubi's, interesting no?"
That was it, all the hard work Kakashi had done to placate the Uchiha went down the drain. Months of work to convince him that he could get the strength he needed to kill his brother within the village all for nothing as the Hokage pretty much told him that someone who left the village was able to attain the strength to defeat his brother. It was annoying and liberating at the same time – he was growing tired of putting up with the Uchiha's attitude.
"Don't worry Sasuke-kun" the pink haired girl of the team butted in "that baka probably just caught your brother by surprise, I bet you're much better then he is" she gushed, going into her fan girl mode with heats in her eyes "besides, he may not use the demon's power, but he is still probably the demon just possessing Namikaze's body to do his dirty work, there's no other way he can be stronger then you."
Kakashi actually groaned out loud now – out of all the things to say or even insinuate, that was one thing you didn't want to say out loud. The most ironic thing was that it came from the one person that nobody expected, Sakura, the one who apparently loved Sasuke the most was the one to probably harm him the most psychologically with that jab at his skills.
Seething, Sasuke left the room without being dismissed while Kakashi apologised for his students and bowed to the Hokage before following them out of the room, leaving an amused Tsunade behind.
After they had left and she was left alone for a few moments, Tsunade's mind went to her old friend who she had not seen in such a long time – Uzumaki Kushina. According to what Jiraiya had said, Naruto had taken an interest in his family and the only reason she could think of for his sudden interest was to either turn her into one of his puppets or just kill her for abandoning him as a child. She may not have agreed with her reasoning for doing so but Kushina was still one of her best friends, having served as he bride's maid for her wedding how could she not be?
Tsunade and Jiraiya had already taken measures to relocate her to another hiding location, worried for her safety, but not only from Naruto. People who would seek to harm Naruto would go to the most logical place to do so, his only remaining family, and that was his mother and his still lost sister – Tsunade idly thanked Kami for small favours. Kushina's daughter having been lost probably will save her life if she isn't already dead…
Tsunade was then hit with an epiphany. Naruto and his sister were twins. How could everyone overlook such an obvious fact? Probably because he is an 'S-class' killing machine they refuse to see him as still a fourteen year old child. Could it be that he feels what all separated twins feel? A hole in his soul? A missing piece that has yet to be filled that can only be done so with his sister? Could he be searching her out or trying to find her himself? It would certainly make sense if he really didn't want to kill his mother…the reports about his personality did say he was extremely apathetic about everything according to Anko so it wouldn't be a big stretch to think that…she wouldn't risk it though… Shinobi who are that strong at such a young age are usually prone to being mentally unstable, she would not gamble her friend's life over a hunch, that doesn't mean she wouldn't share that information with Jiraiya though…
It was then that she realized that unintentionally, Namikaze Naruto had been the cause for another of her headaches. Going for her hidden stash of Sake, she looked around with narrowed eyes for her ever omniscient apprentice who somehow had a 'sake sense' that disrupted her pre breakfast, after breakfast, after-after breakfast, after lunch, after-after lunch, pre-dinner, after diner, after-after dinner, pre bedtime and bedtime sake breaks. Glad that she didn't sense her anywhere, she took a small sip of her beloved sake…
"TUNADE-SAMA!"
Goddamn it…
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Naruto stood beside Haku with their heads angled upwards looking at the mountain before them which seemed to go on forever. They had been doing a few 'A' to 'S' classed missions for businessmen ever since their run in with the three legendary Sannin while gradually making their way to Kumo to apparently find a summoning contract.
"I think it would be beneficial if one of us learned to summon" Naruto had said to Haku when they first entered Kumo's borders undetected. When Haku had asked how they could so easily obtain a summoning contract seeing as they were usually guarded zealously Naruto only replied with a snort.
"Who said it would be easy?" he had responded at the time.
Trying and failing to see the peak of the mountain, Haku resisted the urge to let out a groan of annoyance. Everything he ended up doing with Naruto ended up being more difficult then it needed to be, why did he, now, of all time, expect otherwise?
"So" began Haku, breaking the silence between the two as the harsh winds of the area sent shivers down their spines. They hadn't yet begun to scale the mountain but they were already fairly high above sea level and this area of Kumo was notoriously cold during this season "what's the plan?" prompted Haku, breaking Naruto out of his train of thoughts.
"Well" he began "obviously we climb the mountain" he answered while Haku just sweat dropped.
"Yes, I figured as much, what else?"
"Well, assuming my information on this summoning contract is correct" began Naruto "and its normally safe to assume my information is always correct, then once we scale the mountain, there should be a cave entrance at the peak where a trial will be awaiting the person who will want to sign and take the summoning contract" he clarified, confusing Haku.
"You make it sound like you're not going to be the one to sign the contract" Haku observed, mirroring Naruto's expression by raising his own eyebrow when he turned to him.
"Of course I'm not going to be signing the contract" he said "I'm no fan of Ninjutsu and the Kuchiyose is one of the strongest Ninjutsu in existence" he clarified to the stupefied Haku "besides, summoning draws too much attention and I really don't need them with my puppets to aid me" he said with a shrug "it will be more beneficial if when we fight as a team that you can control your summons while I control my puppets" he finished, oddly making a lot of sense, which was unusual given that he liked to speak in riddles often.
"Will you at least tell me what kind of species I will be signing a contract with if we obtain said scroll?" Haku asked in a defeated manner.
"Hmm? That would be dragons, I thought I told you that already" Naruto replied absent-mindedly as if he hadn't dropped a bombshell on Haku.
"D-d-dragons?!" stuttered Haku in shock "the summoning of legend?! One of the original summoning species?!" he tried to recall what he knew of the legend of the first summoning contracts in the shinobi world.
"Aa" Naruto confirmed "If we're going to get you a summon, it may as well be one that will only be matched in power by one other contract that even I don't know the location of and I doubt I ever will" he said with a shrug "Phoenixes are much more secretive then dragons were and only appeared to those they were willing to give their services, however, with dragons, they were more interested in having strong summoners, regardless of their beliefs, which is why they didn't really hide themselves all that well" he confessed to the still shell shocked Haku.
"Wait, do you know anything else about the contract? You said the Phoenixes appear to those they wish to sign a contract with? What do dragons do? Just wait for people to come to them?"
Naruto nodded in the affirmative "Well, yes" he conceded "That and there probably will be some fighting involved. The summoning contract itself is considered to be a priceless treasure and from what we all know about dragons, they guard their treasures obsessively. Don't expect it to be easy" all the colour had drained from Haku's face at the declaration. He would have to fight a fucking Dragon?!
"Well, you better get going" Naruto prompted, snapping Haku out of his shock.
"What?"
Naruto, suppressing a grin answered "Well, you didn't honestly expect me to climb that monstrosity of a mountain if I'm not going to be needed to sign the contract or help you face the trials the dragons decide to put you through. I will make camp nearby and wait for you for three days, if you're not back by then, I'm going to assume you became Dragon meat and move on" he said callously causing a twitch to appear on Haku's forehead.
"Don't sound too concerned now" he snapped back irritated.
"I thought I was already doing that?" he said, and Haku just opted to ignore him, it made things easier that way. Making sure he had all his rations and taking the food scrolls Naruto carried their food in so he could eat more for extra energy if necessary, he sighed before using his chakra to stick to the edge of the mountain and climbing.
This would be a looong three days…
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
A day had passed since Naruto temporarily parted ways with Haku; however, the puppet user was not worried. He knew getting the contract would be dangerous but he had faith in the water manipulator's strength and knew he would persevere, if only to rub it in his face afterwards. Not that he cared.
Naruto decided against sitting around and waiting for his return and opted for visiting the country's local hidden village to gather information on Kumogakure's actions as of late. He didn't specifically need any information at the moment, but it didn't hurt to keep tabs on any an all hidden villages. They may preach about their deeds being just and right, but when it came down to the nitty gritty, every Hidden village was out for themselves and only for themselves, and alliances were merely words written on paper until the usefulness of said alliance came to an end. He knew the viciousness of the Hidden villages first hand and would never, for that reason, put anything past a hidden village to get what they wanted or to protect their best interests.
Kumogakure or the Hidden village in the clouds was one of the true 'Hidden' villages of the shinobi world, them and the newly developed Otogakure. If you hadn't already been to Kumo, you weren't likely going to be able to find it, the simple reason being the thick clouds that surround its walls.
Like its name suggests, the Hidden village in the Clouds was hidden by just that, the clouds atop of Mount Miyabi (made up word, means nothing, roll with it) which were said to produce a natural hallucinogen that disoriented foreigners not expecting it and making them lose their way or forget how they arrived in the hidden village should they accidently happen upon it.
Securing his gas mask to his mouth so he wouldn't breathe in the fumes, which would be especially dangerous to him seeing as his enhanced sense of smell would only serve to aggravate him further, Naruto continued on up the mountain Kumogakure was built on intent on sneaking in unnoticed.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Haku, with the last of his strength, crawled over the last step of the mountain and toppled over the edge, landing on his back, allowing him to look directly up into the sky. It was a beautiful sight, why was that?
Because he could no longer see any more of this hideous mountain when he looked up, the mere thought of that fact made him want to cry in happiness. Finally, after half an hour of just regaining his breath and some of his strength, he quickly swallowed a soldier pill to replenish his chakra reserved and stood up so he could take a look around.
The top of this mountain was weird to say the least. It was merely a flat surface, as if the tip had been cut off at some point. The whole peak was covered in snow and icicles and the temperature was below freezing point – Haku was just glad he had the foresight to bring extra warm clothes so he wouldn't die of hypothermia before he reached his goal.
Deciding to take a look around, Haku began to search the peak cautiously, turning over every stone he came past so he wouldn't miss any detail that may be vital to the acquisition of the dragon contract – he found what he was looking for.
Before him was not what he expected to see, for directly in the middle of the plateau was a large circular hole, and upon closer inspection, it was clear to see that it was perfectly circular, leading Haku to believe that it definitely wasn't a natural hole. Making sure to plant himself firmly on the ice covered ground with his chakra so the harsh winds wouldn't blow him accidently over into the hole and into the unknown, he look down the hole to see…absolutely nothing after a good 50 feet in. Frowning in thought, he observed what he could see in the hole and to his surprise the walls of the perfectly cylindrical vertical tunnel were covered in small sharp crystal looking glaciers, so much so that the original wall was not visible at all – most peculiar.
Deciding on a plan, Haku removed a small rectangular piece of paper from his pouch that was synonymous to one of Naruto's seal tags. This one in particular, after applying chakra to it, will produce a blinding flash of light when it comes in contact with something, thus attaching it to kunai and throwing them was usually the preferred method of activating them.
Tying the tag to the but end of one of the few kunai he carried with him, he took a few steps away from the large hole in the plateau and took a running start before leaping over the hole with a chakra enhanced jump. Once he was directly over the middle of the hole, he performed a flip mid air and tossed the kunai down the hole with as much force as he could and as much accuracy as he could muster, causing the kunai to be projected straight down the direct middle of the hole before he landed on the other side.
If Haku was expecting to see a flash immediately, especially given the strength at which he hurled the kunai combined with gravity's natural aid, he was unpleasantly surprised when after two minutes, nothing was seen.
Three minutes passed and still nothing.
Haku was getting worried when after five minutes, there was still no sign of a flash indicating that the kunai had hit something, however, roughly after the six minute mark, there was the tiniest flicker of white light followed by the echo of a very soft yet very distinguishable roar. The thought made him sweat nervously, even though the temperature was many below zero. What if a dragon really was guarding the scroll, would he have to fight it? And how far down was this fucking thing?! Quickly going through what little he knew of mathematics and physics laws, he factored in the speed he threw the kunai at and the natural acceleration provided by the external force of gravity combined with the time it took to make an impact – the results were not good…
This cave lead straight down through the core of the mountain, probably all the way to sea level…but Naruto had told him the distance above sea level they were before he started to climb…doing a quick guesstimate of the vertical height of the mountain and adding it to the original height above sea level Haku finally realized the severity of his current situation.
Whatever colour was still in Haku's face given the freezing cold conditions drained out as the implications sunk in and he couldn't help but feel that Naruto had suspected something like this – for he rarely leapt into any situation as blindfolded as he seemed.
Realizing that his task had barely even begin and he had already wasted a third of his time, Haku looked down the seemingly bottomless pit before him and summed up the situation in one eloquent word and released his frustrations in said word also.
"FUCK!"
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
From his vintage point atop of one of Kumogakure's tallest buildings, Naruto's head snapped to the tallest mountain in the region that he left Haku at which was still quite visible from this village. He could have sworn his sensitive ears had picked up someone screaming.
Frowning and only quickly hoping that nothing had happened to his travelling companion, he continued on with his current task. It would be incredibly boring after all, if his travelling companion got himself killed.
Naruto had made contact with his 'contact' within Kumogakure earlier and wasn't surprised to learn nothing really new from the Raikage's right hand man Kasumi Renbu. Apparently, they still held the fruitless dream of somehow acquiring the Byakugan from Konoha by either capturing a Hyuuga main house member or learning its secrets by getting a branch house member of the Hyuuga clan to defect to Kumo, one of the poorly treated ones. Naruto had to agree that the second plan held merit but what good would it do? The Hyuuga were great at Taijutsu, of that there's no doubt, but the style is so easily countered with long range fighting and clever Ninjutsu use that it's pointless to divert so many resources to such a cause – perhaps they were more interested in breeding their own Hyuuga clan in Kumo, who knew? Certainly not Renbu-san.
One thing that had interested him was the continuing training of Kumo's weapon and soon to be strongest shinobi. Normally such a thing wouldn't interest him because he doubted that Kumo had the resources to produce a shinobi that would trouble him at all, let alone one that would even want to cause him trouble, but this certain individual had something in common with Naruto – she was a Jinchuuriki.
Nii Yugito seemed to have inherited some of her jailor's traits, he thought with amusement. Her eyes were very much slanted and cat like as well as her movements, which were very graceful and precise – much like that of a feline predator; something that was expected of the Jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata. Naruto didn't know much about the demon cat, which bothered him, except for the fact that it had the ability to surround itself in and breath out molten hot fire, much like the legends said it could.
Yugito's feline like behaviour and features lead Naruto to believe that instead of training her to harness the excess chakra she would have and the abilities being the Jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Nekomata would give, the Raikage and his shinobi had decided on having the girl harness the demonic chakra itself and try to control it.
How foolish.
Not only was it extremely arrogant to believe a human could control a great demon's power, but it is pretty much impossible and detrimental to her growth to do so. Much like a bloodline one relies on too much, if the girl grows to rely on the demon's chakra, it could do something very 'demon' like and refuse her access, not to mention the irreparable damage it would cause to her body, thus shortening her lifespan in the long run. Sasori had told him about the negative effects of using and relying on a bijou's chakra like other Jinchuuriki may do and they both agreed that
he would become strong without relying on the fox. Taking the Kyuubi's eyes and senses was merely penance for the harder then normal time he had controlling his chakra and growing up, though he didn't really rely much on his newly formed bloodline anyway, preferring to use it for infiltration and information gathering.
Much like now.
It was unfortunate for Yugito that Naruto had the need to observe her while in Kumo and that she decided to take a dip in the hot springs while he needed to do his observing.
It wasn't his fault, not at all; he was observing her before she started her bath.
Him continuing to observe her and invade her privacy was the payment he took for her boring him with her daily activities.
That was it.
He wasn't a pervert.
Much.
Well, maybe he was. However, at least he was able to ascertain that the Nibi's influence was definitely having an affect on her physical maturing, for no one a year older then him should have breasts that big – he could understand the need for her to wear chest bindings. Perhaps the Nibi was a pervert and purposefully enhanced her physical maturing for its own amusement? He didn't much care, but by looking at her body, which would rival some of the faux women in Jiraiya-sama's work, he was sure that any male that was able to tame the cat-like woman would definitely not be disappointed.
Pity he wasn't a fan of blondes.
Except for himself.
His hair was awesome.
And he definitely wasn't vain.
He was stating fact – he took it as a personal ego boost when fair maidens would look at his tanned features and golden hair and blush before looking away.
Or even better, stutter out something before quickly leaving to 'relieve' themselves of their tension.
Ever since he came to understand the finer points in life, such as the sexual aspects from Jiraiya-sama's books, people might think he had become a pervert. That was only partly true.
He did enjoy reading the wonderful literature, and who wouldn't? It was very well written…
…and illustrated.
Naruto had no interest in 'getting into some girl's panties' though, it was merely amusing to him to observe other female's reactions towards his person or toy with their feelings, under the guise of innocence of course – he couldn't have any woman going all 'female rights activist' on him, he was out of aspirin after all. Some may see it as cruel, but he didn't care – he found it funny and no one ever said he had a normal sense of humour.
He admonished himself for getting lost in his thoughts like he had, for, while he had let his attention slip, his target had disappeared. His ear then twitched when a soft sound alerted him to someone's presence behind him – so soft in fact that were it not for his enhanced senses, he would have never heard it.
He had barely heard it with them.
"Salutations Yugito-san" greeted Naruto without turning around "I take it you enjoyed your bath?"
Naruto almost did a double take when he heard a very cat like hiss coming from behind him and on instinct, he tilted his head to the right as a kunai came flying passed where his head just was a mere second ago.
"That wasn't very polite" Naruto admonished "I was merely greeting you"
"And being a dirty pervert" she said from behind him, closer then he had thought she was, her stealth was better then he thought, however cats were known for being good at stealth so he shouldn't be surprised "you're not from here, what is your purpose in Kumogakure? Are you with those people with the black cloaks with red clouds on them?" she asked with venom in her voice, however Naruto ignored it. That was an interesting piece of information he had received by coming here, he knew he hadn't wasted his time.
"Hmm, been paid a visit by Akatsuki then?" he asked rhetorically "Interesting"
"What's interesting will be the smell of your innards when I spill them all over this roof for spying on me" she said, quickly moving her arm around his neck, placing him in a choke hold and holding a sharp kunai at his nether regions.
"That's disgusting"
Yugito was caught off guard by his deadpanned response, and recalling what she had just said she had the good graces to flush in embarrassment – it was quite disgusting when she thought about it.
"I find it interesting that you would call me a pervert, yet, you are the one invading my personal space with naught by a towel separating your body form my own"
Yugito's blush deepened when she realized she had to concede another point, but then righteous indignation rose up in her. How dare he try to turn the tables on her!? He was the one perving on her to begin with!
As if reading her thoughts, Naruto spoke again "I was not 'peeping' on you Yugito-san, and though I did come to the realization that your bijou must have had an affect on your physical maturation…" he didn't notice the mortified look on Yugito's face when he callously spoke of her massive bust "I was merely observing the daily activities of Kumo's new weapon" he said with a shrug, still not bothered about how Yugito was holding him or the closeness of a certain pointy object to his groin.
"What do you want?" Yugito asked through gritted teeth.
"World peace"
Yugito flushed again, this time in both embarrassment and anger "What do you want in Kumogakure?!" she asked again, pressing the kunai dangerously close to what makes a man a man.
"Passing the time" he answered indifferently "though I seem to have found something that has piqued my interests now that I'm here, Jinchuuriki of Nibi no Nekomata."
Yugito was stunned at how a foreigner could know that she held a demon within her; that was a secret that only the higher ups of Kumo knew. For a foreigner to know she was its container, let alone that Kumo even had a Jinchuuriki means that he was a spy or he had a very developed spy network.
Naruto, taking advantage of his captor's stunned silence spun around in her grip and quickly positioned himself with his back to her right shoulder before raising his right leg up as high as he could and wrapping it around her neck before using his weight to drop both her and himself down to the ground, his powerful thigh still hovering over her neck while he looked into her eyes with complete apathy.
"Somewhat embarrassing for the supposed weapon of Kumogakure" he drawled, however he noticed Yugito beginning to draw upon the Nekomata's chakra which was bad for many reasons. One, it would alert her minders to her state of distress as well as blowing his cover. Whipping out a piece of paper, he slapped a suppressor seal on Yugito's forehead and watched with satisfaction as the Nibi's chakra receded back into its seal.
Yugito was scared for the first time in a long time – this boy before her was able to immobilize her with one swift move and the application of a strange seal to her forehead which stopped her from drawing on her tenant's chakra.
"You will forever remain weak if you rely on the powers of your bijou" he said in a deadly tone that Yugito couldn't help but heed.
"What the hell would you know?" snarled Yugito, her cat like eyes narrowing "the power of the bijou is well beyond anything a mortal could attain, even if it is only the Nibi. If you hadn't caught me by surprise, you would have stood no chance against me!"
Naruto shrugged "Only partly correct" he conceded "I wouldn't stand much of a chance in mortal combat against the full powers of a bijou, you however, are not a bijou and are weak by yourself" he said, infuriating his captive further, however, before she could reply, he continued "and then you ask how I could possibly know about relying on a bijou's
powers?" he asked as he slowly removed his straw hat that had been obscuring his eyes, allowing Yugito to fully see his facial features including his whisker marks but most importantly, his slitted crimson eyes.
"I am the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, I understand more then you could ever know about not relying on my demon's powers" he revealed, shocking Yugito to her core for a number of reasons. Firstly because she had read about this criminal who had recently been added to Konoha's version of the Bingo book, Namikaze Naruto, Jinchuuriki but most importantly, son of Kumo's and Iwa's mortal enemy, Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage.
"I see my reputation proceeds me" he conceded, seeing the hate in his captive's eyes "your hate is illogical and childish though I must say."
"Illogical and childish?! Your father was a monster! You should die to repent for his sins!" she hissed out, not unlike a feline once again.
"Oh?" Naruto replied with amusement before his crimson eyes flashed in anger "Yes, my father killed countless Iwa and Kumo shinobi, but it was a war, and in war, people die, besides, that is all village politics, I have no interest in such things" he said in a cold and ruthless way "besides, you call my father a monster yet all he did was kill his enemies; was it not Iwa and Kumo who instigated the war by systematically attacking single Genin teams with their Jounin senseis by overwhelming them with numbers?"
Yugito bit her tongue to stop her retort, he was right after all. They had started the war because Kumo and Iwa feared the power Konoha was obtaining with the addition of the Sannin their growing number sand clients, so they had started cutting off their future talent by removing their Genin teams. With less Genin, Konoha would lose future talented shinobi and would lose power, though what else could Kumo do? They were desperate and were on the brink of poverty due to their clients going to Konoha!
"Now, if you're done acting like an idiot" scolded Naruto, much to Yugito's chagrin "I advise you to increase your own power and not utilize the Nibi's chakra, it will only make you weak and reliant on a chakra that can easily be neutralized, as I have shown you" he said, pointing towards the seal he placed on her "these seals are not exactly easy to make, however anyone versed in Fuuinjutsu could replicate them" he said, much to Yugito's shock.
Naruto then peered into her eyes and Yugito, for reasons she couldn't explain, couldn't help but look back and with a flash of his eyes, Yugito froze in pure terror as her body was paralysed! How could she be so stupid?! It said in the bingo book as a strategy against him to NOT look into his eyes due to his impressive skills in Genjutsu.
Naruto knelt down beside her and began removing the towel that was wrapped around Yugito to reveal her naked body to him, though he didn't seem to notice – that didn't mean that Yugito wasn't scared of the implications.
"No" she said, nearly sobbing "don't do this, I'm sorry, just don't do this. You're father isn't a monster, I was wrong, you were right, just don't do this…please" she said, bordering on hysterical now.
With a sigh, Naruto rubbed his temple in annoyance before he looked into her eyes with a glare "Be quiet, I am only looking for your seal you fool!"
Yugito promptly shut up and then glared at her captor, righteous indignation flaring up within her "You could have asked and not just stripped me you pervert!"
Naruto was not paying attention though as he found the seal on her navel also and traced his fingers around the intricate designs. The seal was much more powerful then Gaara's was but it wasn't even close to containing the demon, it still allowed a minor amount of the demon's influence to affect the host. Glad that he had the foresight to place the suppressant seal on her, he removed a pot and ink brush from a scroll on his belt and, still ignoring the now blushing Yugito's cries of protest, began to paint more seals around the original seal.
The Nibi seemed to be sealed with two separate variants of the five point elemental seal, the elements running in opposite order on each one along with a controlling seal to allow Yugito to call upon the demon's powers; however, the seal was created poorly and with lack of foresight. The seal worked like a two way street allowing Yugito a measure of control over her demon and the demon a measure of control over her host and seeing as how the demon had much more power, it could much more easily exert its control when it wanted.
Yugito, figuring protesting was pointless and reluctantly agreeing that he wasn't being perverted – which served to disappoint her slightly, what, he thought he was too good for her?! – Just watched Naruto work, mesmerized, as he painted a third seal over her old seal with expert ease. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from giggling, the brush doing the small and quick strokes on her stomach was tickling her, but she didn't want to giggle of all things in front of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki so she held it in.
"I am placing a third five point elemental seal with a slight modification over your seal" he explained, he found it easier to concentrate on making an effective seal if he talked through it either in his mind or out loud as he did it, it helped with his concentration "think of your current seal as a two way road with each two separate beings on each end
of the roads, you and the Nibi" Yugito listened intently as he explained how her seal worked as the Raikage never felt the need to do so "in one lane of the road, you have the Nibi's chakra constantly flowing along it into your body and into your reserves and in the other lane your chakra goes into the seal or the Nibi to enforce the seal, however, you don't feel the drain of your chakra because the Nibi's chakra more then replenishes whatever chakra you use to enforce the seal; an excellent idea in theory, but it didn't' factor in one thing, and that thing is the reluctance of any demon to remain imprisoned" he explained, to Yugito's shock.
"The Nibi could use this connection between you two to influence your personality and even your body in extreme cases, like when you lose consciousness" Yugito felt a sense of dread fill her as he continued to explain. It made sense, and it would definitely explain her 'cat' like personality and looks "what my seal will do is act as the go between for the two 'lanes' so that the chakra from the Nibi and the chakra provided to reinforce the seal will have to go through it before going to its destination, and the seal is designed to not allow the demon to have any influence over this process" he said, amazing Yugito at the simplicity yet effectiveness of the Fuuinjutsu.
"This may hurt a little bit" before Yugito could register what he had said, Naruto struck.
"FUIN!"
Pain engulfed Yugito in torrents, unbearable pain. It felt like her insides were burning or as if something within her was protesting what exactly was happening to her. She could literally feel the chakra flowing within her and changing something, she just wasn't sure what.
As quickly as it came, the pain was gone, leaving Yugito a panting mess on the floor while Naruto stood several feet away watching how the girl would react to the new seal placed on her.
"How do you feel?" he inquired, honestly interested.
Yugito frowned in thought before 'looking' within herself and noticing that suddenly, her chakra felt more…controllable…cooperative? It was hard to explain but the feeling was magnificent, she had never felt so in control of anything in her life, and yet, in the span of a few moments, a fellow Jinchuuriki granted her that.
"Good…" she replied, unsure of why he was doing this for her.
Naruto nodded and looked off into the distance, seemingly listening for something before turning back to Yugito "It seems someone felt that chakra spike, we will have visitors soon" he said "grow strong without the power of the bijou for there is a threat to people like us on the horizon called Akatsuki, you described them earlier to me, they are after the bijou within us and will surely have a way to fight you if you use the bijou's power" he paused, making sure she heard him "You will still have traits of the demon within you, for example, an usual affinity for fire type techniques or enhances senses, it doesn't matter, but you will need to train, and train hard, you don't have much time…"
Naruto grinned down at her, but before he was about to leave, he grinned "You might want to cover up before your minders get here" and just like that, he disappeared in a gust of wind.
Yugito realized what he was talking about as she was still naked as the day she was born. Blushing in embarrassment at having to be revealed to him like that, she grabbed her discarded towel and hiked it back to the springs were her clothes were, she'd be damned if some random Jounin got to see her naked.
'Namikaze Naruto, huh?' she thought with a smirk 'I'm going to train hard and the next time we meet, I'm gonna kick your ass for being so perverted'
Regardless of her less then sane thoughts of torturing her fellow Jinchuuriki, she failed to notice a true smile on her face, one of the likes no one had seen on her face in a very long time.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Haku let out a triumphant when his feet finally came in contact with a solid floor. It had taken him nearly a whole day to descend to the bottom of the seemingly never ending tunnel, but doing so did have its perks.
At first, he had no idea how he was supposed to get to the bottom as all the walls were lined with sharp and deadly icicles – icicles that couldn't be clung to with chakra, so the only foreseeable way down would be to jump down and hope you didn't die from the ridiculously long fall, which also wasn't an option.
It had taken him an hour or so of testing, but he finally hade created a technique with the use of his bloodline that allowed him to not only descend at a quick pace, but it allowed him to also fly, if need be.
What he had done was gathered the water from the molecules in the air and used it to create a thin sheet of tightly compressed water in a rectangular shape; he then used his bloodline's abilities to turn the water into rock hard ice so he wouldn't have to concentrate on keeping the water's form. From there, all he had to do was manipulate the heavy duty sheet of ice in mid air while he used chakra control techniques to remain standing on it.
Looking back on it, he was incredibly proud of himself for creating such a useful supplementary technique with his bloodline and while it was wonderful for descending down seemingly endless tunnels, it was also useful if he wanted to travel long distances through the air or simply fly.
Now that he had recovered his bearings, he swallowed another soldier pill to replenish his chakra reserves while taking a look around the cave he was now in. The cave itself was a large cavern with a small island platform in the middle of it surrounded by water which, from the smell, seemed to be fresh water indicating that the water source came from a nearby lake on the outside. The island only had one exit and that was to follow the thin walkway that led off of it and into another small tunnel that seemed to illuminate with a pale blue light. The cavern's walls, much like the vertical shaft's walls, were inlaid with crystal like icicles which, when reflecting the light from the fire torches surrounding the platform and walkway, flowed with an ethereal light.
Haku, taking out two kunai, his last two kunai, held them in a defensive stance and followed the only possible path he could take. As he was walking over the two meter wide walkway, he dared to peek over the edge of the walkway into the water to see, to his delight, that the water was crystal clear, so clear in fact that it was as if there were no laws of refraction hindering his sight of what lay below the water's surface.
As he continued to walk, he crossed the bridge like walkway and entered another large cavern covered in more and larger icicles that glimmered beautifully from the light provided by the several torches giving the room light.
As he walked further into the room, he spun around quickly in a defensive stance when he heard a snort or sorts and continued soft breathing. Now, completely on edge, not knowing what would make such noises so far down below the mountain, he followed the noises around a corner of icicles in the room into a 'clearing' of sorts to set his eyes on something he definitely did not expect to see.
There, lazing about on the floor curled up in all of its glory was a large azure coloured…dragon that covered its body with its huge scaly wings. The dragon seemed to have an incredibly long tail which also wrapped around its body with a large head covered in curved cream coloured horns; its razor sharp teeth were each on average the length of one of his arms and were randomly sticking out of its mouth, even though its mouth was closed. If there was one word he would use to describe the monster before him, it would definitely be huge – the thing took up majority of the clearing and its head was the size of an elephant, easy.
"Welcome mortal" it began in a rumbling voice that shook the caverns "it has been eons since I have seen one of your kind, speak and speak well less you want to be the meal I have been deprived of for so long."
Haku, gathering up his courage, readied himself to speak to the mighty dragon, mentally wondering how he would beat the crap out of Naruto for putting him in this position.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Naruto sat lazily reading through one of his personal scrolls at the location he agreed to meet Haku at in a few hours time, trying to ignore the person who insisted on trying to hide from his incredible senses. Honestly, he was labelled an 'S-classed' criminal, one would think that such a label would grant him some sort of power over lesser shinobi and stop them spying on him and attacking him, but no, he was a kid after all and that was simply ignored.
Being underestimated was one of the best weapons a shinobi could use, but he couldn't help but feel miffed at the fact that his skills weren't respected. Sure, Uchiha Itachi kills off his family with the use of those annoying eyes of his and immediately, he is feared throughout the land, but he, who mastered the art of puppetry, Genjutsu and Fuuinjutsu was merely seen as an easy kill and massive bounty. He would be lying if he said it wasn't slightly annoying. He couldn't argue with the constant supply of puppets though, he would always need replacement bodies to replace his destroyed puppets, better them then his more important and powerful puppets getting destroyed anyway, so he really shouldn't be complaining.
Finally deciding he couldn't concentrate, especially when the scent of his observer was assaulting his senses constantly, he rolled up his scroll and put it away before calling out to the clearing.
"Jiraiya-sama, perhaps it would be best if you came out yourself and asked me anything you find it necessary to spy on me for to discover."
Somewhat annoyed, Jiraiya appeared in the clearing with a Shunshin with a pout on his face "How did you know I was there?"
"I was just thinking how annoying it was that people continued to underestimate me, though I can't complain too much for if you were a lesser shinobi, I could have killed you without much effort on my part" and to prove his point, a dozen poison laced senbon launched out from behind the closest rock formation revealing Naruto to be controlling a puppet. Jiraiya simply sidestepped the projectiles as they harmlessly impacted on a tree on the opposite side of the clearing, though he did allow his eyes to widen slightly when he noticed the effect the senbon had on the tree. The section they hit seemed to wither and die.
"As for your question" he said, now looking at Jiraiya from beneath the shade of his straw hat "you reek heavily of sake and…latex" he finished with a wince at the implications of the second scent. Jiraiya's face was blank for a few moments before he giggled perversely and tucked something in his pocket further, as if protecting whatever was hidden within.
When Jiraiya still saw Naruto calmly observing him, his face turned stern "I was spying on you to hopefully discover your intentions towards your mother, you know I can't let you harm her."
Naruto just raised an eyebrow and Jiraiya felt a shiver go down his spine at the sight of the smirk that crossed his features "Jiraiya-san, I assure you that I only harbour honourable intentions towards Kushina-san and will have her home by midnight" Jiraiya didn't miss how Naruto addressed his mother, though he couldn't help but feel annoyed at how he twisted his words.
"Are you going to hurt her gaki?" he asked, all playfulness that one would normally hear in his voice gone "because if you are, I can't let you do that and regardless of who's son you are, I will have to kill you" he said in warning.
If Naruto was affected by the threat, he didn't show it "Asking me outright if I am going to hurt someone is probably not the best way to discover my intentions towards them" he conceded, evading the question "regardless, I wouldn't tell you of my intentions no matter how you asked them so I guess the manner in which you ask is a moot point."
"Are you looking for her?" Jiraiya pressed, needing to know how safe his favourite apprentice's wife was.
"I don't have to" Naruto simply answered, though Jiraiya was suspicious of the answer, it could mean a lot of things.
"Are you looking for her?"
"I am not looking for Uzumaki Kushina" he answered, thinking that a shinobi constantly on his back, especially one of his skill level, would be a bad thing. He seemed to harbour no ill will towards him unless he admitted to wanting to harm his mother, so he used that to his advantage.
Jiraiya however, frowned at his answer, Tsunade's theory sounding more and more plausible by the minute, though he didn't think that revealing that they knew such a thing would be in his best interests. Besides, the boy might be able to complete the task he had been failing at for so long – he may have a spy network that rivalled none, but the boy's resourcefulness seemed to know no bounds.
Jiraiya eyed the boy for a few moments longer, who didn't even so much as fidget under his gaze.
"How did you like the newest volume of 'Icha Icha'?" he asked and it was such a random question that it almost caught Naruto off guard,
"I enjoyed the scene with the two nurses checking on Shinji-san's injuries in a more then enthusiastic manner, that and the sex, the sex was good" Naruto answered truthfully, eliciting a perverted grin from the author of said books. Jiraiya then proceeded to pull out of his pouch a wrapped edition of 'Icha Icha', personally signed by the author himself, and on closer inspection, Naruto realized that it was the next edition, yet to be released to stores. Naruto immediately understood the implications of such actions.
"Kumo are training their Jinchuuriki to be a weapon by having her harness and use the youki of the Nekomata much the same as Gaara-san used the youki of the Shukaku."
Jiraiya nodded and tossed the book to Naruto, who greedily pocketed the piece of literature, to be read at a later date.
"What did you do about it? I hardly think you would have let such a thing slide, especially what you did for Gaara-san's seal."
Naruto tilted his head slightly and Jiraiya let out a sigh before wracking his brain for a few moments, finally, he decided on something "The Sanbi and the Yonbi have both been captured by Akatsuki. The Sanbi sealed away in its full form of a three tailed demonic turtle and the Yonbi's Jinchuuriki having been captured and killed in removing the demon from him."
Naruto nodded curtly, silently cursing himself for not being quicker in securing the Sanbi and Yonbi. He had foolishly thought that he had gained Akatsuki's full attention by securing the bijou and having in possession one of their rings, but it seemed that they were leaving him alone for now and obtaining as many of the others as possible. His plans would need to be sped up if he wanted to stop Akatsuki.
"I further sealed away the Nibi and cut the influence that the Nekomata seemed to exude over her" he began "I also may have suggested that she not rely on her bijou's youki to become strong if she didn't want to die" he answered, satisfying the Gama Sannin.
"I was going to do something similar, though it seems you are the better when it comes to seals – must run in the family" he said with a grin.
"Hn" he replied with a grunt, though inwardly, if he was honest with himself, he was glad for once to be affiliated with his father. The man was one of the greatest shinobi that ever existed.
Before Jiraiya could pick up conversation, Naruto beat him to it.
"About time, I was starting to think he was slipping."
Jiraiya was about to ask what the hell the gaki was on about when the clearing they were standing in was covered in a huge shadow. Getting worried, Jiraiya slowly turned around only to meet a sight that nearly made him shriek in shock, for coming down at them at incredible speeds was a massive azure coloured dragon that seemed to have someone sitting on its neck.
Fifty feet before the dragon came in contact with the ground, it spread its wings wide causing it to immediately halt in mid air, allowing Haku to jump off the mighty beast and land on the ground.
"Thank you Azuregos"
The huge dragon nodded and let out a snort, causing freezing cold air to shoot out of its nostrils "Make sure to summon Master Malygos outside of battle before asking for his assistance in combat" he advised in a deep rumbling voice that could be heard for miles "that last contract holder ignored this and was promptly disposed off as penance after the fight Malygos was called for was done with."
With a gulp, Haku nodded as Azuregos vanished in a large puff of smoke leaving a gaping Jiraiya and a satisfied Naruto.
"At least you didn't get eaten" he commented callously.
"YOU!"
Jiraiya jumped when Haku levelled a heated glare in Naruto's direction - whom didn't seem affected by it in the slightest.
"You KNEW that the dragon would be at the base of the mountain and not at the top!" he accused with anger in his voice at Naruto who began to walk away.
"I might have had an inkling Haku-chan" the sound of his name being said like that only served to increase his anger.
"Did you KNOW there was going to be a dragon there waiting for me?!"
"It was definitely a possibility Haku-chan" he replied, humour laced in his voice.
"Argh!" Haku screamed, letting out a yell of frustration "I could have been eaten!"
"Highly unlikely" replied Naruto "Dragon's don't like to eat females, they instead, keep them as slaves – I can sympathise, everyone could use a good slave."
"I'm not a girl!"
"You like boys though"
"No I don't!" Haku denied.
"I have yet to see evidence to the contrary, you go on dates with boys, you frequently dress as a girl, you have a vagina…"
"I DON'T have a VAGINA!"
"Yet you didn't deny the fact that you go on dates with boys and dress as a girl"
"You made me go on that date!"
"Wait" interrupted Jiraiya "he really did go on a date with a boy?"
"Enjoyed it too" answered Naruto "his name was Inuzuka Kiba, I didn't like him though, he didn't treat Haku-chan with respect, tried to deny his feelings and his sexuality when met with the scrutinizing stares of the public eye."
"What is he doing here? and YOU MADE ME DO IT!"
"Lying to yourself won't change the facts Haku-chan and Jiraiya-san merely dropped in for a visit" he answered, further infuriating Naruto.
"Wait, he didn't deny dressing as a girl either" interrupted Jiraiya, helpfully, once again.
"He does it often when we are to be seen in public or on information gathering missions, he says it's the perfect disguise, I tend to agree because being a girl he is able to seduce idiot males such as yourself into giving up information."
His declaration was met with two indignant replies for two different reasons.
"I can prove I am a boy and I like girls!" blurted out Haku and before thinking about what he was saying, he continued "Temari-chan from the Suna Genin team has to be the most beautiful girl I have ever seen…she had the most wonderful and caring personality too…" he said, trailing off with a dreamy smile.
Jiraiya and Naruto turned to look at Haku, one with disbelief written all over his face and the other with amusement "You intend to convince me of your heterosexuality by declaring your love with possibly the most brutish female on the planet?"
"Naruto!" he barked "take that back, Temari-chan is the epitome of what a beautiful woman should be, none of that dieting nonsense you see so many young girls doing these days giving them stick figures" Haku said calmly and also with passion,
"So you love a fat chick?" Jiraiya helpfully added, eliciting a snort of amusement from Naruto and a death glare from Haku.
"She looks better then any of the girls in any of your perverted books!"
"When have you read 'Icha Icha'?" asked an interested Naruto.
"Err, I, umm, that is…"
"It doesn't matter, you still haven't convinced me of your sexuality and falling in love with such a boyish girl such as Temari-san merely proves it" he said with a shrug.
Seeing Haku go for his senbon and not really feeling like dodging senbon laced with his own poisons for hours, Naruto decided that a retreat was in order.
"I am going to have to cut out little gathering short Jiraiya-sama, Ja ne!"
"Get back here Naruto!"
As both disappeared using Shunshin, Jiraiya's grin turned into a serious frown.
'They could definitely be a threat to Konoha if we provoke them…who would have thought that the Dragon summoning contract actually existed…'
Author's note:
Sorry for the long wait, but I hope I compensated with an extra long chapter.
I also would like to point out that I really don't think what I wrote about Temari, she's mad hot, but Haku needs to be teased and she IS somewhat brutish when angered, slinging a huge metallic object around and what not.
I didn't go into detail with the dragon and Haku because Azuregos isn't the boss; I might write Haku's confrontation with the boss summon or a might not. Also, kudos to those who recognize the names of the dragons I used.
I'm thinking of starting my Harry Potter fic while I write this one, mainly because I want to get more details from the manga especially in regards to the Rinnegan and Akatsuki's as well as Jiraiya's abilities, I mean seriously 'Two hermit mode' lol, that looks funny.
Tayuya is not his sister. I base a lot of the information in this fic from the manga; people who base it solely on the show won't know who his sister is. That should be enough for the manga readers to know who it is, I probably will be changing her personality only SLIGHTLY to suit my needs, like why she remained where she was found in the manga for so long and what not.
Adios.
