Chapter 35
Iruka, Kakashi and Naruto had nearly arrived at the Hokage tower when out of nowhere Yuki appeared in a fancy swirl of ice crystals. Yuki spared Kakashi only a fierce glare before calmly pushing away the jounins hand which had held a kunai against his throat.
"Naruto." Yuki said, before pulling his fist back and slamming it with all his power against Naruto's face. The hit caught Naruto completely off guard and he was sent flying on the ground several meters. Naruto sat up, holding his broken nose, his blue eyes wide with shock.
"Yuki…" The voice was questioning, but Yuki only glared harder at Naruto.
"That's for not telling me." The pink-haired boy spat. Naruto glanced at the ground guilty, before climbing on his feet again.
"I'm…" Naruto began, before his face was struck again. Naruto cried out in pain as his left cheek was hit harshly, but this time held his footing.
"Naruto!" Iruka yelled worried, ready to restrain Yuki. Naruto just shook his head, and Kakashi moved closer to the academy teacher, ready to interfere if needed.
"And that's for not telling the Coven. You should know better than to withhold information like this." Yuki continued voice cold.
"I didn't really know, I just had an instinct that—"Naruto hurried to explain.
Oh god, he's going to hit me again Was Naruto's only thought before his face was flung to the side by the force of the next hit, blood splattering onto the ground from his open lip. Naruto readied his footing once again. Trying to stand against hits this hard was particularly hard when wearing high heeled shoes.
"That isn't good enough, Naruto! We rely on our instincts, and if you felt there was something special about Koichi, you should have said so!" Yuki yelled, and Naruto glared at some of the passer-by's that were staring at them.
God, what is it with people and staring at me? Like they've never seen somebody hitting me before… They were fine with looking the other way for twelve years. What the fuck has changed?
"I wasn't sure." Naruto muttered softly. Yuki's fist found its way into his gut, and Naruto bended in half, spitting blood.
"I don't care." Yuki hissed, and Naruto flinched. "And I don't think Kisho will either. Now get you fucking ass up and send a message to Kisho. Standing here is good for no-one. And don't you dare think this is the end of this discussion." Yuki snapped, before turning and stalking into the Hokage tower.
Head down, Naruto followed, his eyes filled with confusion.
I really don't know if I should let Iruka-sensei hit him.
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Oh Naruto, what have you gotten involved in now? Iruka thought sadly, before letting a little sigh escape his lips.
"Come on," Kakashi motioned towards the door. "We better be there for this, chairman Umino." Kakashi explained, almost hissing out the title.
And I don't think Kakashi is too happy about being left out of things concerning his ex-student either. But Naruto isn't his student anymore, nor is he authorized to hear about council business.
And I still haven't forgiven him about brushing me off like that earlier.
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After using a burst of the Kyuubi's chakra to heal himself –resetting the nose had really hurt! Broken noses were seriously underestimated! - And explaining things to the council –what had that emotion in their eyes been, really? - Naruto went up a floor and entered the Hokage's office without knocking. Tsunade was expecting him, after all.
"I'd like to know what kind of Intel you write in the letters you're going to send." Tsunade said her brown eyes emotionless. Naruto acknowledged the order for what it was and nodded strictly.
Taking the quill on the table, Naruto scribbled two hasty notes to both Gaara and the Coven.
--Gaara; host of Sanbi no Isonade has been compromised. Sanbi is loose in Wave country. For more info please contact Coven.
Naru—
Naruto handed the first note to the first clone after Tsunade had skimmed through it, before proceeding to write the next one.
--Kisho. Host of Sanbi no Isonade, Nami no Koichi has been attacked in Wave country by the Akatsuki.
We have every reason to assume Akatsuki is on the move. Gaara told be about rumours about the Akatsuki moving in Grass country. Kylara?
If there's anything you can do for Koichi, please do. Looks like there is nothing I can do from here. Ask Minoru about Koichi. Contact you later, I'm in Konoha.
Naru--
Tsunade nodded her acceptance of the other note as well, and with two strict nods the two clones disappeared in twin swirls of leaves.
Transportation jutsu? Tsunade mused. Looks like Jiriya has been teaching Naruto a handy mound of 'escape and defence' techniques.
"Kylara?" Tsunade asked, not recognizing the strange name.
"Sorry. Can't tell you." Naruto said gloomily, before turning to leave the Hokage's office. Tsunade nodded strictly before turning to Shizune who had been following the proceedings closely.
"Nothing of this is to be mentioned to anybody, Shizune." Shizune nodded.
"Shall I let the Council in?" Shizune asked, and after receiving a nod and a sharp glance, bowed and turned to open the huge doors Naruto had stepped through.
They don't look too happy, Shizune noted to herself before smiling to herself.
Naruto-kun always was good at riling them up.
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"Naruto!" Naruto swirled around to face Sakura who was running towards him.
Naruto's gut clenched painfully and he felt his face stretch into an expressionless mask, and readied himself for insults and accusation. What he got, instead, was a worried Sakura blabbing her mouth off to him.
"Naruto! Are you okay? I just came from Sasuke's; I had to give him a check-up because Ino said he had gotten a seizure right in the middle of the street! And then she said you had been there, and I thought it was…" Sakura trailed off, biting her lip.
"Listen… could we talk somewhere?" Sakura asked, her green eyes agitated. Naruto nodded his mind mute with shock.
I guess this is what they refer to as the 'point where it just feels like you're walking in a dream'...
Naruto trailed silently after Sakura, and he could heard Sakura swallow nervously, unaware that it was his silence that made her nervous.
Sitting on the edge of the railing of one of the balconies of the Hokage tower that faced against the southern side of the village –was that his house he could spot in the distance? - Naruto turned hesitantly to Sakura.
"Sakura. What did you want to talk about..?"
"What? No Sakura-chan?" Sakura swallowed nervously, before continuing. She didn't really expect Naruto to answer to that. "Look, I'm sorry."
Naruto blinked in shock. That was certainly not what he was expecting. He didn't know exactly what he had been expecting…accusations, yelling, and an awful lot of questions…? But certainly not an apology.
"Uh?" Naruto answered intelligently, and he could already predict Yuki wasn't going to let him live that answer down. He was more then aware of the familiar dark blue chakra radiating off the chuunin nukenin that was sitting on the balcony above them, hidden under a simple genjutsu. Sakura was simply too distracted to notice him.
Or, at least I presume Sakura has trained a lot as well when I've been gone. She has been studying under the Godaime Hokage after all.
"I mean, about the scream. Earlier, when that strange… uh, thing attacked Sasuke-kun. I mean, I didn't mean to."
"Oh." Naruto just didn't know how to react, and looked meekly down the balcony instead, his blue eyes following the masses of people going on their way somewhere. He'd lived this scenario in his head lots of times. He just, kind of never expected it to happen like this.
It just felt so fucking unreal.
"What… What is that?" Sakura asked, and Naruto looked at her, confused.
"That strange ability of yours. The red chakra thing…?" The green eyes were serious, even if a bit nervous. Naruto could hear himself swallow.
"Oh, you mean the thing when I get the red eyes and claws and fangs and look like a monster?" Naruto asked, but didn't give Sakura time to answer. He turned to leave the balcony, to simply walk away, because he didn't feel like seeing Sakura's face when she finally understood. Or realized, or heard it.
"Say, you're the Hokage's apprentice. Have you ever heard of the term 'Jinchuuriki'?" Naruto asked, turning to look over his shoulder at her. By the look in her eyes he knew she had bumped into the word sometime.
Sakura frowned, and Naruto turned to walk away.
"Ever heard of the Kyuubi no Yoko?" It was Yuki who spoke this time, and startled, Sakura looked above her, where Yuki indeed was, slouching comfortably on the balcony above them. Naruto stopped, glaring at Yuki. Yuki shrugged, the expression unsuccessful in being nonchalant, ending up looking kind of forced. The purple eyes looking down at them were cold, and Naruto wasn't surprised. Yuki was, after all, still angry with him.
"Who are you?" Sakura asked her voice tight with restrain. She was so very much restricting the urge to attack this seemingly pompous stranger that had just forced his way into their discussion. Yuki raised his eyebrows in delight, seemingly forgetting about Naruto for a moment as he smoothly dropped down from the balcony and in front of Sakura.
"AH, I don't believe I've yet had the pleasure of meeting you. Bafuku no Yuki, at your service." Yuki greeted politely, bending down to kiss the back of her hand, which Sakura allowed, a bit thrown off balance by this strange boy in front of her.
Yuki of Waterfall? Sakura thought confused.
Spotting the slashed hitai-ate around Yuki's neck which marked him as a missing nin, Sakura ripped her hand out of Yuki's and jumped apart from the other ninja, ready for battle. Yuki raised an amused eyebrow.
"You're a missing nin." Sakura said her voice hollow and unbelieving.
What is a waterfall nukenin of all things doing in Konoha? Fuck what he's doing here, how the hell did he get inside Konoha's walls?
"Thank you for pointing the oblivious. Though it's not as much 'missing' but more like 'gotten rid of'. After all the hidden village of waterfall is more than aware of where I am and what I've been up to, isn't that right, Naruto-kun?" Yuki smirked, glancing sideways at Naruto, the slightly fake amuse in the purple eyes fading away the longer he stared at the blonde.
Naruto clenched his fist, but said nothing, Sakura, still ready to fight, looked at Naruto questioningly.
"Do you know him, Naruto?" Sakura asked, interrupting the semi staring contest.
Oh well, I've never been a patient person, now less than ever.
Naruto didn't answer, Yuki did.
"Oh, Rokudaime and I go way back." Yuki didn't elaborate, but changed the subject instead. Naruto frowned, but still didn't say anything, opting to stare at the village instead.
"Oh, relax. If I were to attack you I could have done so earlier when I still had the surprise on my side. Besides, you're no match to me. You really shouldn't try to stand against those who walk along a path totally different from yours." Yuki leered, before hopping backwards to sit on the railing, ignoring the possibility of falling backwards and into his death and enjoying of the soft summer breeze in the air instead.
'Walk on a path totally different from yours'…? What a strange thing to say…
Sakura cleared her throat.
"What did you mean?" Sakura asked just as Yuki put a cigarette between his lips, craving for some relaxing smoke.
"About the Kyuubi no Yoko? Just what I said. You are aware of the concept of a 'Jinchuuriki', right?" Yuki sighed, tapping his pockets for a lighter. "A baby, infant or sometimes even an unborn fetus, in which a bijuu, a tailed demon is sealed. The seals are many in power just as the demons are. The stronger the bijuu, the stronger the seal has to of course be." Yuki began. Naruto didn't protest.
Sakura had to hear this, or at least this had to be better than her realizing it afterwards in the middle of reading some old musty scroll, wondering where she had run into the word 'Jinchuuriki'. And Naruto, for the life of him, couldn't tell this to her himself. Guess Yuki had seen that. Thank god for small favours.
"Of course, this brings us to the conclusion that a powerful seal requires exquisite power. As in Yondaime Hokage's case; his soul." Yuki inhaled deeply through the cigarette, and had Sakura not been so keen to hear what Yuki was telling her, she would have ripped the offending cancer-stick right out of his mouth before going into a tirade about the dangers of cigarettes, nicotine and all things alike.
"In Yondaime's case, he sacrificed his soul to seal Kyuubi no Yoko to one blonde baby, AKA our mutual friend Naruto." Yuki ended, keeping his eyes on Sakura. Oh how he thrilled in seeing that look of shock spread on those gentle features, the horror, unwillingly, seeping out of those green eyes.
Yuki resisted the urge to cackle, but then it didn't really matter anymore, because the girl was of no importance, and Naruto had already disappeared, fleeing for fear of rejection.
Such weakness, Yuki mused, before speaking once more.
"Do you get it now, or do you perhaps need diagrams and drawings as well? I can do nasty ice-sculptures." Yuki commented.
Oh my god. Was all Sakura could say over and over again in her head. She raised a hand on her mouth, unable to think coherently, any less move. She fell on her knees, shock spreading through her.
"Oh well, looks like my work here is done," Yuki chirped brightly, before stretching his arms above his head and throwing the cigarette-butt away. "Such a nice day it looks to be," Yuki looked at the broken form beside him one more time before disappearing for the second time that day in an exquisite show of ice and frost.
"Bye."
Ohmigodohmigodohmigod.
This explains so much.
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Naruto wasn't really running away. First, of course, he had dashed from the balcony, trying to just get out of there as soon as he could, but there wasn't any real need to hurry, really. Sakura wouldn't come after him, he knew that. She had always been the brains of team seven, and even though she wasn't as bright as Shikamaru, she wouldn't do anything hasty.
She would thing of all the cons and pros in her head, all the possibilities, all the theories and the explanations, until she would completely understand the situation. Then she would do something with the knowledge she had in her use.
Naruto sighed, excitement and panic and all those emotions swirling just below his skin, tingling like a bad case of static electricity.
All right, just for a moment, Naruto, actually think.
Sakura knows about Kyuubi now, but that isn't really important, sure she could go ballistic, beat me to death and then tell each and every one of my friends what kind of freaking monster I am, but all that matters now, is Koichi, and the fact he has been attacked by Akatsuki.
God, the freaking suspense is killing me. Hopefully Kisho or Gaara will be able to do something. Though Wind country isn't exactly close to the land of the Wave's…
ARGH! I'm going to seriously kill myself if I don't get something to distract myself, and SOON.
Naruto was just about to rip his hair out in frustration when he noticed he had arrived to his destination.
Huh? Where am I? The Uchiha mansion? How on earth did I get here?
Naruto scratched his head in confusion before sighting.
Well, while I'm here, I could at least apologize for earlier. Or not, on deeper thought, Sasuke-teme would never let me live that down. Oh well, I could always ask for a spar. Good the get the blood moving and burn some of this god-damn-frustration with it. And it'll be a plus to finally kick his ass as well.
Nodding to himself Naruto slipped past the dark and gloomy gates that let out a loud screech and knocked loudly on the heavy wooden door. He heard soft foot-steps nearing the door before the heavy door slipped open.
"What is—"Sasuke began, before trailing off. "Oh, it's you." Sasuke grumbled darkly.
Naruto didn't even hear. He was too busy staring at the slightly wet and bare chest in front of him.
There are other ways to blow off steam too.
It was pretty obvious the Uchiha had just stepped out of the shower, his dark hair falling in wet spikes around his face, his body only covered in a small towel.
"What are you—"Sasuke was abruptly cut off by a pair of moist lips attaching themselves onto his. Sasuke 'hmmfed' in surprise, before grabbing the blondes forearms for balance.
"Just shut up." Naruto whispered after the rather long kiss, before pushing the Uchiha inside the house and locking the door after them.
To say Sasuke was surprised would be an understatement.
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A/N: Sorry it has taken a bit to update. As I said in last chapter, it's been kinda hard getting back to writing. But, on the other hand, I had this chapter betaed before posted it, so there should be no grammar or spelling faults, thanks to the wonderful Sufinkusu
--dark
