Disclaimer: So I've been unemployed for like a month now, and I have to admit it's getting annoying. So I've been thinking about what I should do for a job and decided that I would work for myself. You see, I have this master plan to steal the rights to Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho and any other money making manga/anime franchise I can think of. Then I will not only be my own boss, but I'll be rich too.
Chapter 16: Revenge is a Dish Best not Served at all
Tsunade's eyes widened as she heard what Naruto had said. However, the words didn't seem to truly register for several seconds, in which time she stared at her fellow blond with dinner plate sized eyes. "What did you say?" she asked after a while, her voice holding a dangerous edge to it.
Naruto heard the warning in her voice clear as day but ignored it as he chuckled. "I think you heard me Tsunade. I win, you come back with me to Konoha."
"No..." Tsunade whispered, causing Naruto to frown. "Never again... No! I won't go back!" Spinning on the balls of her feet, Tsunade ran towards the exit. However, before she could get there, Naruto appeared in her path to stop her. Not that it did for long, before the blond Uzumaki could even open his mouth Tsunade surprised him by smashing her fist into his face.
"Ooof!" Naruto was sent flying out of her way as Tsunade used her strength technique to increase the power of her punch. He was sent flying directly into a wall, only he didn't just hit it and stop, or even dent it. Naruto ended up smashing through the wall as if it were a deck of cards. Cracks formed along the hole where he went through, spreading through the entire wall before it collapsed in a heap of dust and rubble.
Naruto continued flying, now in the gambling parlor he ended up smashing through several dozen slot machines before being blasted into yet another wall. By this time he had lost enough momentum that the wall managed to stop him, but not before he left a large dent and cracks along the point of his impact. Naruto fell onto the ground, landing on his hands and knees. Behind him the area he had hit crumbled, leaving a gaping hole in the wall.
"Naruto!" Looking up Naruto saw Hana run towards him. She was kneeling down in front of him less then a second later, grabbing him by the arm and helping him up. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," Naruto said. He stood up and cracked his back. "Wow, she does hit hard. And it looks like she did exactly what Shikamaru thought she would." Pressing a button on the radio in his ear, he said, "Shikamaru, Tsunade ran out on us and is leaving."
"We know," Shikamaru said, sounding annoyed. "We heard the explosions from out here."
"Then you know what to do," Naruto said, shutting off the radio and turning to Hana. He grinned at the Inuzuka female. "It looks like we'd better get moving or we might not get there in time to save our teammate's. Let's go!" The two ran out of the hall, leaving the shocked and frightened gamblers and workers running around frantically and freaking out at the amount of damage Tsunade's punch had caused.
Birth of the New Demon King
Tsunade continued running even after she got out of the casino. She kept a constant eye out as she made a hasty retreat to her hotel, her caution coming from her knowledge that Konoha ninja always traveled in squads of four. The reason for this harkened back to the days when war was a constant and fighting was as natural as breathing. Back during the First Great Shinobi War the four man unit had been created for fast, small scale engagements. In those days it was discovered early on that ninjutsu were extraordinarily powerful, even a single jutsu could theoretically take out an entire platoon of ninja. By making the squads smaller it allowed them to move faster and avoid ninjutsu easier, thus avoiding large scale losses in combat.
As she made it to the hotel she was staying at, Tsunade figured she was almost home free. All she would have to do was pack her bags and hit the road. After that it shouldn't be too hard to loose the Konoha ninja after her, while she had never been forced to actively avoid them before now, so long as they hadn't changed their search patterns she could escape them indefinitely.
If Konoha stuck by it's standard protocols then they would only have sent a four man squad after her. And they would probably use a net to try and hem her in now that she had escaped. Tsunade could only thank the stars that Sarutobi-Sensei hadn't sent the ANBU after her. While she was sure that she would be able to defeat any pursers that found her, she knew that if she truly fought back then they would mark her as a missing ninja.
She was just about to enter the Hotel's main lobby, and began to feel a sense of relief. But before she could get in, a young woman appeared in front of her. The woman had shoulder length black hair with bangs and onyx eyes. She was wearing a long blueish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels. The most unusual thing about this woman was that she was carrying a small pig in a green jacket.
"What are you rushing around for, Tsunade-Sama?" she asked, forcing Tsunade to stop, lest she run the woman over in her haste.
"This is no time to be standing around, Shizune!" Tsunade said with a sense of urgency. "Hurry up and help me get our bags packed, we're leaving town." She tried to move past Shizune in order to make it to their room. Her eyes widened however, when she found that she couldn't move a muscle. "What!"
"Kageman No Jutsu complete," Shikamaru said as he walked out from behind the door to Tsunade's hotel, holding a hand seal for his jutsu. Tsunade gaped at the kid in front of her. She could see from his Konoha flak jacket that he was a chunin. It was surprising enough that Sarutobi hadn't sent the ANBU after her, but to send a chunin, and a kid at that, now that was just insulting.
She knew of the jutsu he was using as well. The Kagemane No Jutsu allowed the user to extend their shadow on any surface (even water) and as far as they wanted as long as there was a sufficient area. Once it came into contact with a target's shadow, the two would merge and the target would become forced to imitate the user's movements. However, having been a Konoha ninja for years before leaving, Tsunade knew the shadow techniques weaknesses.
The ability to manipulate shadows was not only tiring, but was subject to some form of diminishing and decreasing in potency each time it was used. If the user was low on chakra the technique would also begin to deteriorate. Then there was it's weakness with lighting, without a sufficient amount of light to cast shadows the technique had both issues in range and potency. And finally, a particularly strong opponent could break out of the technique, so long as the opponent was stronger then the person casting the jutsu. It was for this last reason that Tsunade knew she could break out easily.
And she would have done it to, then Tsunade would have smashed that chunin with the lazy eyes in the face for holding her against her will. However, before she could even begin gathering her chakra, a clawed hand was pressed against her throat. Her eyes widened when she heard the voice belonging to the blond who she had smashed through a wall back at the gambling parlor speak up.
"I wouldn't attempt to break out of that technique if I were you." Four figure's appeared around her and Tsunade recognized three of them as Inuzuka ninja dogs. The other was the woman that had been with the blond, obviously their partner. Tsunade was cursing herself for having not thought about how they had found her. With an Inuzuka it would be impossible for her to fully escape, especially since they likely had more then enough of her scent to track her.
A buzzing sound reached her ears and Tsunade felt like swearing even more as she saw several bugs she recognized as an Aburame's kikaichu begin swarming around her. Now, even if she did manage to escape she would be drained by the bugs long before she could make it to safety.
However, just because she was caught didn't mean she was going to make it easy for them, or be pleasant about her capture. "I hope you brats don't think that just because I was caught means I'm coming back with you," Tsunade said. She turned her head and looked at the blond holding his clawed hands to her throat with a glare.
Rather then get angry, the blond smirked, which only served to infuriate her more. "Now there's no need to be so harsh Tsunade-chan," Naruto said in a pleasant voice. "Why don't we go to your room where we can all discuss this over some tea?"
Tsunade frowned at him, her mind whirring as she tried to think of a way to use his offer as a chance to escape. Eventually, the Nara would get tired, freeing her from his shadow, the time was just a matter of how much chakra he had and how long he could hold it. The one she would need to take out first would be the Aburame, with his bugs he was her biggest threat. After that the other two should be simple, though Tsunade would admit to being wary of the blond one. He had taken a full punch to the face and didn't look like he had a scratch on him. Still, if she played her cards right she and Shizune could escape easily.
Her hopes were dashed when the blond said, "and don't try to escape when Shikamaru releases you from his shadow. You haven't felt it yet, but I've placed a rather nasty seal on you that will paralyze your entire nervous system and chakra coils should you even make an attempt at molding chakra for that strength technique of yours."
Tsunade grunted, realizing that she had no choice but to do as the blond said. "Fine, we'll go upstairs, but don't expect anything to come from this talk of ours."
"Right," Naruto said. He turned his attention towards Shizune and smiled. "Thank you for stalling her long enough for Shikamaru to get into position Shizune-san."
"You mean to tell me you were working with them!" Tsunade shouted, glaring at the younger woman with as much anger as she could muster.
Shizune had the decency to look ashamed. "Well..."
Birth of the New Demon King
Flashback...
Shizune couldn't keep the frown off her face as she wandered around the city she and Tsunade had found themselves in. Unlike her mentor a place like Tanzaku Gai held no appeal for her; she didn't gamble, she rarely drank, and considering the number of brothel's in town the place was just generally disrespectful towards women. In just the last hour alone she had been forced to disable several drunk men by cutting their Achilles heel when they tried hitting on her, and then getting angry when she turned them down.
Worse still she had lost Tsunade... again. She had woken up this morning to find that the woman she traveled with was already gone, or perhaps had never even returned that night. And while Shizune knew her master would be gambling somewhere, the problem was she didn't know where. Gambling parlors and casinos were a dime a dozen in this city.
"I can't believe I lost Tsunade-Sama again," she said in complaint. She would never complain when her teacher was around, having never been one to let others know when she was feeling down. Perhaps it was a side effect of having taken care of Tsunade for so long. She no longer cared what she herself wanted or felt, because she spent so much of her time just keeping Tsunade from doing something she would regret. But even though she would never complain out loud, didn't mean she never thought of reasons to complain.
"Oink, oink." Shizune looked down at the pig walking by her side.
"I guess she does always come back, huh Tonton?" Shizune said, smiling. The pink just let out more 'oinks', whether that was an answer of some kind, or whether it was just doing that to make noise was unknown to Shizune. Sometimes she thought that she could understand the little pig as if she were human.
It wasn't long until Shizune found herself sitting down in a small restaurant, ordering a basic meal of fish and miso soup. As she was waiting for her meal to arrive, someone ended up sitting in her booth. Looking up she blinked at the attractive blond male who just gave her a grin as he said, "excuse me, I was wondering if -"
"No, I have no desire for you to show me what a real man is like," Shizune replied in a rather bored tone. Absently, she wondered what it was with men thinking that just because they were handsome meant they could get in her pants.
"Actually, I was just hoping to ask you something," the blond replied, causing Shizune to blush in embarrassment.
"Oh, sorry."
"Perfectly alright," the young man said with a shrug. "I can't really blame you for thinking I was after you for more... unclean reasons. You're a rather beautiful woman after all, and I'm sure any male worth his salt would at least make an attempt at spending a night with you." Shizune felt her face heating up a bit at the playful and flirty words. Whether or not the man was being honest, she couldn't deny that he had the flattery part of wooing a female down to a T.
"I was actually hoping to ask if your name was Shizune?" Almost as soon as the blond said her name, Shizune was on her feet with a medical scalpel in her hand. A hand which had been halted by the blond grabbing it with his own and keeping it in place. Her eyes widened when she tried to move it and couldn't even make her hand move a centimeter. While she didn't have Tsunade's strength, she was strong enough to give most jonin a run for their money. That this man could keep her from even making a simple hand movement showed he was much stronger then she was.
"Relaxed," the blond said, "I'm not here to hurt you or anything. I just want to talk." Shizune remained silent as she waited for the man to speak again. Which he did, saying, "if I let you go, will sit back down and speak with me?"
Shizune thought over her options. Truth be told she didn't know if she had many. She knew nothing of this man's capabilities and skills. She didn't know how strong he was, aside from his small display in keeping her arm in place, she had no clue how fast he was, but if the way he had managed to catch her arm before she could bring her weapon to bare was any indication then he was faster then her. In short, she knew next to nothing other then that he was likely stronger then her. That meant she more or less had to listen.
"Alright, I'll speak with you," Shizune said, and the blond man let go. She sat back down and looked at the man evenly, if a little warily as well. "So what did you want to speak to me about."
"I suppose I'll start with introductions," the man said. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto." Shizune's eyes widened and she saw the man grin. "I'm guessing you either know a little about me, or you know about my clan."
"Just a few rumors," Shizune replied, settling down from her surprise. "You just recently got famous in the ninja world from what I hear, but since I don't keep in contact with any ninja all I get are rumors."
"Well, I won't confirm or deny those rumors," Naruto said, leaning against the table. "That's not what I'm here to talk about. You see, I'm from Konoha and with the recent invasion Hokage-Sama has realized that we're going to need help. Not just to repair our home, but also to help prevent something like this from happening again." He then looked at her and asked, "you have heard of the invasion right?"
Shizune nodded. "I don't know much, but I heard Konoha managed to repel an invasion force during the Chunin Exams."
"That is basically what happened," Naruto said. "In truth it's a bit more complicated then that. You see, Tsunade's old teammate, Orochimaru was the one who planned out the invasion" Shizune wondered if the surprises would never cease as her eyes widened yet again. The man seemed to notice her look because he smiled. "It's not so shocking when you think about it. We all know he hated Konoha, and wouldn't pass up a chance to destroy it. Anyways, we not only managed to repel his forces, we also managed to Kill Orochimaru himself."
"Orochimaru was actually killed?" said Shizune in shock. She didn't honestly know much about Orochimaru, and had only met him a few times. But the man had never felt human to her, and Shizune had known that he was powerful. Tsunade had always commented on how he would likely be the last Sannin to die when she was drunk and reminiscing about the past.
"Yes," Naruto said. "But back to my original intent. I was sent be by the Hokage to bring Tsunade back to village. It's his hope that she will start the medical ninja program she had been hoping for during the Second Great War, but never got to create due to the funds it would take from the war."
"She's not going to want to return," Shizune said, shaking her head. "Konoha holds too many -"
"Bad memories and pain due to the loss of her little brother, Nawaki and her lover, Dan," Naruto interrupted, getting Shizune to click her mouth shut. "Don't act so surprised, her reasons for leaving aren't any kind of well kept secret. And Sandaime-Sama was her sensei."
Shizune had to concede that Naruto had a point. It wasn't as if Tsunade had made her leaving a secret. In fact, there had been a large scandal when she had informed Sarutobi she was leaving. The council had been in an uproar over it, claiming that she was forsaking her heritage. Had it not been for the fact that the Sandaime was such a kindhearted man and let her go, she was sure Tsunade would have already been marked a missing ninja.
"Yes, that is true. I guess I should have realized you would know about her past," Shizune said. "And that's why you should know that Tsunade will never willingly return to the village."
"And what about you?" asked Naruto, changing tactics and startling Shizune with the question. "Do you ever miss Konoha? Ever want to go back?"
"What I want doesn't matter," Shizune said. "I've pledged myself to Tsunade-Sama."
"Because she's the sole link to your uncle," Naruto stated, not as a question but as a fact. Despite having realized he likely knew a lot about her and Tsunade, Shizune was still surprised by the amount of information he had on them. "And what about Konoha? Didn't you uncle want to be Hokage? Wasn't it his dream to protect Konoha? Does it not have the same link to your uncle that Tsunade does?" Shizune didn't answer, mainly because she really wasn't sure she had one.
Regardless of whether she had an answer to Naruto's questions or not, the blond continued. "Are you really so devoted to Tsunade that you would disregard your own wishes? Do you mean so little to yourself?" There was a small pause Naruto left her, in case Shizune had something to say. However, she didn't, and so he began speaking again. "I doubt you really care for her that much anyways..."
"What!" Shizune shouted as she stood up simply so she could glare down at the man. She had always been rather level-headed, having to take care of Tsunade meant she was always the responsible one, always the one placing limitations on what her mentor could do, how much she could spend on sake and gambling. Even though Tsunade rarely ever listened to her. She had never really gotten angry before.
Annoyed? A few times. Moving from place to place wasn't the best way to live, and she didn't like it when Tsunade would gamble all of her money away and they would have to run before the debt collectors came. Earning what money they could by doing odd jobs that required medical expertise, only for Tsunade to once more spend it all on drinks and gambling. Having to deal with that for over two decades did annoy her, but she had never truly gotten angry.
However, that this man would insult her devotion to the person she had dedicated her life to serving angered her. "How dare you!" Shizune hissed. "I have devoted my entire life to helping Tsunade-Sama through the pain she's been in. I've taken care of her for over two decades! My entire life has revolved around how my taking care of Tsunade-Sama! How dare you say such a thing to me!"
"If your so devoted to her then why are you letting her wallow in her own guilt and misery?" asked Naruto. It wasn't just the question that caused Shizune to lose her anger, it was also the calm tone he had spoken it in. With the question asked, Shizune couldn't help but wonder, was that what she was doing? Was she just allowing Tsunade to stew in her misery? To gamble away everything she had, her entire ancestors fortune because simply having it brought her pain? The though actually made Shizune wonder if she had really done Tsunade any good by being to soft on the woman.
Her hesitation did not go unnoticed as Naruto spoke again. "You've let Tsunade run from one side of the country to the next, spending her family fortune on gambling and alcohol. You let her wallow in her grief and stew in her own misery. You let her drink away her problems rather then help her confront them and move on. From what I've seen observing the woman the past few days, Tsunade's nothing more then a shell of her former self."
"That's not true," Shizune whispered, but there was no conviction in it. Naruto was right, she hadn't truly helped Tsunade. When they had first left Konoha, she had assumed Tsunade would just need some time to recover from her loss. Even Shizune had managed to move on past the loss of her uncle, and she had thought it wouldn't be any different for Tsunade. But one year turned into two, then two into three and soon she found herself taking care of her mentor. For over twenty years she had watched Tsunade drink and gamble her family fortune away, listened to her cry in her sleep after a night of drinking so much sake Shizune had been forced to drag the woman to their hotel. In all the years they had been on the run, Tsunade had never confronted her past, never even tried to move past it. she just continued her current life style, hoping to outrun it.
"Help me bring Tsunade back." At Naruto's words Shizune wiped the tears that began accumulating in her eyes off on her sleeve and looked up. "You know what she's doing isn't healthy. Running from your pain never is. Help her heal by convincing her to confront her past."
"Ok." Shizune's answer wasn't that hard, now that she thought about it. She hadn't been doing Tsunade any favors by letting her run from her pain. She wouldn't do that anymore. Shizune would help her mentor confront her past, and get her to move on. And maybe in doing so, they would finally be able to go home.
That would be nice.
Flashback end...
Birth of the New Demon King
"I see..." Tsunade said as she sipped her tea. "I can't believe you managed to let this idiot convince you into taking me back, Shizune."
"I didn't convince her of anything," Naruto said before Shizune had a chance to defend herself. "All I did was make her realize that helping you run from your problems would never heal the sorrow you feel."
"What do you know about sorrow, you brat!" Tsunade asked rather angrily. She slammed her tea cup into the table, shattering it and the table underneath it. "You know nothing of the pain I feel! The pain of losing the people you love most! So don't talk to me about healing my pain, because you know nothing about it, you little -" Tsunade's words were cut off mid sentence as Naruto's killing intent flooded the room. It was cloying and so potent that everyone inside fell to the floor, gasping for breath.
Looking up Tsunade saw Naruto glaring at her, his eyes no longer the just the blue color she had come to associate with him, they now held the ripple pattern she knew of only in legends. The Rinnegan. The silver rings were glowing with an inner light, and his hair seemed to sway in an invisible breeze, as if it had a life of it's own. And right behind was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen, the vision of a demon with clawed hands, glowing red eyes and a maniacal grin on it's face. She tried to speak, or scream, or anything but no words would come out. Not even a sound.
"I want you to listen to me, Senju Tsunade," Naruto said, his voice once again taking on a demonic quality as he was using his youki to enhance the power behind his killing intent. It wasn't as powerful as it could be, Naruto did not want to alert the entire town to his power, or anyone else that might be around and spying on them. Nor did he want to kill the people in the room with him. But he would get his point across to this woman, and if he had to bring her to the floor to do so then he would. "I know more about pain and suffering then you ever will. So you lost your little brother and lover. Boo hoo. It was war, and the inescapable truth is that people die in war. Maybe I can't compare my suffering to yours, since both of my parent's died only an hour after I was born, sacrificing their lives so I could live. But I do understand what it means to be alone, to have no one there for you, to be unloved, unwanted. I understand pain much better then you ever could."
"However, you don't see me wallowing in guilt and self-pity. Your lover and brother died doing what they wanted, protecting Konoha with their lives, just as the Hokage would. That was there dream after all. And for you to just run away from the place they sacrificed their lives for is like spitting on all they had worked towards. Perhaps that's okay with you though. Maybe you don't actually care about Nawaki or Dan, because if you did, then you wouldn't be such a pathetic shell of your former self. Wallowing in self pity, getting drunk to escape the past, gambling way the hard earned fortune of your clan. Yes, they must be so proud of you."
"You, Senju Tsunade are a disgrace to the Senju Clan name."
And just like that the killing intent stopped after Naruto's tirade. However, Tsunade found she couldn't keep her eyes from leaving Naruto's Rinnegan ones. "Know this, Tsunade," Naruto said, his voice no longer the regal and demonic growl it had been, though the quality it held now was no less deadly. "I personally don't care what you want. If you run, I will find you, if you fight, I will kick your ass and drag you back to the village by your hair. And before you think you can beat me in combat, know that I was the one who killed Orochimaru. Not Sandaime-Sama."
Tsunade eyes widened, not just at the words but at the fact that she could see he was not lying. She could see in his eyes that he had killed Orochimaru, her former teammate and the one who had been the strongest back when they were still a team. She didn't really know what to think of that. Orochimaru was a jerk, and as vile as they came, but he was still her former teammate. They had a bond that hadn't gone away just because he had gone missing ninja.
Naruto didn't know of her thoughts, and if he had he wouldn't have cared. "Now, I will give you until tomorrow to think all this over. Should you come willingly, the Hokage has offered to pay off all of your debts and will give you the opportunity to begin the medical ninja program you had been wanting before you left. I would suggest not trying to sneak out, as I will be having several dozen kage bunshin patrolling the area, along with the Haimaru Sankyōdai. So I will know if you try to leave, and I have no trouble going through on my threats."
"A little harsh don't you think?" asked Hana as Naruto left the room. He had her and the others standing guard outside and around the building just in case other countries or the Akatsuki tried spying on them. It may be a little paranoid, but Naruto felt it was a nice added precaution.
"No," Naruto said plainly. "She needed a good kick in the ass to get moving again. As things are now Tsunade may be living, but she's no longer alive." Hana blinked in confusion at that statement, but didn't ask him to clarify, figuring some of the strange things he said was just a weird Naruto quirk.
"So what was with that voice thing?" asked Hana, getting Naruto to look at her. "You know, that growly voice thing you did."
"You like it?" asked Naruto with a grin. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you..." He cupped his mouth and leaned in, forcing Hana to do the same. When his hand was right next to her ear he whispered, "it's a secret."
Hana face-faulted and Naruto laughed as he began moving to his room. She got up and rubbed her face before glaring at the blond, but he just gave her a cheeky grin and said. "We'll be leaving tomorrow so make sure you get some rest." And with that he went inside of the hotel room he had gotten for himself, leaving Hana outside to grumble about cryptic blonds.
Birth of the New Demon King
The next morning Tsunade got up at fairly early, especially for her. As she went through her daily routine of getting showered and dressed her mind went over the events of last night. Naruto's anger and killing intent had been so palpable she could almost taste it. Truth be told, the sheer amount of killing intent she had felt coming from the blond had been frightening. The way that odd red energy had seemed to pour out of him, the way it had actually burned her skin. It had been like a physical manifestation of his anger at her. Surprisingly was that though Shizune had been effected by the killing intent, the energy had not burned her. Tsunade couldn't help but wonder if Naruto had been protecting the younger woman from his anger.
She looked down at her arms. She had healed the burns last night, once she had gotten her shaking under control. But even still, just looking at them she could almost see the angry red burn marks that had marred her skin. It had surprised her when she did, because the burns had actually come from an advanced form of chakra poisoning. Naruto's chakra, which was what she called it for lack of a better word because as far as she was concerned it was not chakra, had been so potent that when it touched her skin it had burned her. It made her ask how Naruto had been able to protect Shizune from not getting burnt as well.
"Maybe I can't compare my suffering to yours, since both of my parent's died only an hour after I was born, sacrificing their lives so I could live. But I do understand what it means to be alone, to have no one there for you, to be unloved, unwanted. I understand pain much better then you ever could."
Tsunade's mind recalled the blond man's words, and couldn't help but wonder about them. She knew who he was, at least somewhat. Tsunade had not been in Konoha during the Kyuubi attack, she had left nearly a decade before that. But she had known both of the young man's parents. It was a surprise to know that he apparently knew them as well, or perhaps he was parroting something Sarutobi had said to him, though Tsunade doubted it. The words he had used to tell her about his parents giving their life for him had held a certainty to it. He had known how they died, or at least had some clue. She was sure he knew who his parents were.
Though that did make her wonder about his other words. How he was alone and unwanted. It was unlikely the rest of Konoha knew of his heritage, but that wouldn't explain his words. So what was he talking about? How he had no parents? Or was it something else? She had seen the look in his eyes, the look of someone that had been scorned for most of his life, of anguish and loneliness. They say the eyes are the windows to the human soul, and that was true. You could have the best damn poker face in the world, but you could never hide emotions from your eyes. So what did his eyes mean?
Thinking of the blond's words made her remember the rest of what he said. How she had essentially spit on the graves of her lover and younger brother. Was that true? Sure they had wanted to be Hokage, but they died for that title and Konoha. Why should she have to suffer in that place after it took the two people who meant the most to her? Yet even as those thoughts came to her she felt ashamed. Dan and Nawaki had loved Konoha, so much so that they were willing to give their lives. If she thought about it that, then Konoha was their last living legacy in a way.
Getting out of the shower and dispelling her thoughts as she was beginning to run in circles, Tsunade dried herself off and walked into her bedroom to get dressed. Shizune had already woken up, and was likely downstairs. Once she finished putting her clothes on, she stepped out of her room and walked downstairs into the main lobby.
The main lobby of the hotel was segregated into three parts; the front desk, a sitting room, and a small restaurant where they were currently having a breakfast buffet. Tsunade walked into the restaurant and looked around, she saw Hana drinking some tea and eating some kind of breakfast platter, her three ninken were sitting under the table eating something as well, likely much to the hotel owners displeasure. Shikamaru was also there, his head on the table, his eyes closed and a small string of drool hanging out of his mouth. Likewise, Shino was up, quietly reading what looked like a newspaper of some kind. But there was no Shizune.
Hana noticed her as she walked further into the lobby, because she stood up in deference. "Tsunade-Sama, good morning," she said. "Is there anything I can get you?"
Not one to turn down such an offer Tsunade said, "some sake if you could?" By Hana's raised eyebrow she was likely questioning her sanity for wanting to drink alcohol so early in the morning. Tsunade shrugged. "I can't wake up without my morning sake." The Inuzuka still looked unconvinced, but hailed a waiter and asked for some sake. By the looks of the waiter, he was questioning Hana's sanity but went to do as asked.
"Have you seen Shizune anywhere?" asked Tsunade after she got a plate and filled it with an assortment of breakfast foods.
"No," Hana replied. "Naruto's not here either."
"He said that he wanted to spend some time enjoying the sights before leaving," Shino supplied helpfully from where he sat. "Shizune-san woke up half an hour after he did and asked if I had seen him. She is likely with him right now."
Tsunade thought about going to find them both, but decided against it. She still felt she needed time to sort everything out and didn't want to talk to Naruto yet. And Shizune could take of herself, she was the responsible one out of the two of them. She would come back in her own time.
Birth of the New Demon King
Naruto sat on the wall that surrounded the large castle, his arms behind him as he leaned back and used them as support. To many who saw him they would assume he was admiring the castle, like every other tourist. However, were they to look into the lightly glazed eyes they would realize he wasn't looking at anything, in truth it would be more accurate to say he was looking through it.
The reality was Naruto's thoughts and attention were focused inward, remembering the night before when he had blown up on Tsunade. While he had expected anger in how a woman of such power and status would degrade herself and spit on the graves of her ancestors, he had not expected so much. Were he honest with himself, he would admit to having felt the temptation to kill that shell of a woman for her ignorant words.
Yet even then he knew that his anger did not come from Tsunade, or at least not solely from her. While he would never admit it out loud, Naruto still held a lot of anger for the villagers of Konoha and their treatment of him, both before the Oto invasion and now. He hated how they had treated him, hated him, isolated him, and on occasion beaten him. But now that he was the 'son of the great Yondaime-Sama' people were waiting in line just to kiss his ass, much like they had for Sasuke. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he hated how they had changed their tune just because of his father.
They reminded him of an old saying he had once heard, though he forgot from who. A person is intelligent, but people are stupid. The villagers of Konoha – all people, were like sheep. They followed the heard. If someone said a child had a demon sealed inside of him and therefore was a demon then everyone would believe them without question, they wouldn't even take the time to confirm or at least withhold judgment. It was also true for the opposite reaction. Naruto was the perfect example; vilified demon one minute, son of the Yondaime and hero of the village another. The only real consolation he had was that the shinobi of the village had finally begun to respect him, not for who he was, but for what he had done during the invasion. And even that wasn't much of a consolation to him.
Despite the words he told his father, about becoming Hokage and changing the village to what it used to be during the Shodai's time, Naruto sometimes found himself wondering; did he really want to bother helping the village after what they had done to him? True he respected the Hokage's, each one had something about them that he admired greatly, but was it enough to keep him there? Even though he had plans, and needed to be in control of a hidden village he was not sure he wanted it to be Konoha. Though even he realized that the chances of gaining control of another village were slim to none.
He closed his eyes and sighed as he realized how complicated life really was. Sometimes he felt it would have been simpler if he had just stayed an idiot. "Yeah, like I would enjoy life even half as much now as I did then," he said with a mirthless chuckle.
"Naruto-san!"
Naruto opened his eyes just in time to see Shizune jump onto the roof of the wall right next to him. "Can I help you, Shizune-san?" asked Naruto, closing his eyes again.
"I wanted to ask if you were alright?" asked Shizune. Naruto opened his eyes again to look at her curiously. She seemed to notice his look, because she went on further to explain. "You just seemed so...enraged last night. Truthfully I was kind of frightened."
"Sorry," Naruto said, his words soft. He was honestly sorry. Shizune had not done or said anything wrong, Tsunade had. But even though he had protected the younger woman from his youki, he had not been able to shield her from his killing intent. "I guess I lost control of myself last night after what Tsunade said. But I'm fine now. I appreciate your concern."
"Oh... ok," Shizune sat down next to him. "So what are you doing out here?"
"Just enjoying my time here before we leave," Naruto said. "Has Tsunade made her choice on what to do?"
"I think she's going to go back to Konoha."
"Good," Naruto grunted, sitting back up. "I would hate to have to beat the crap out of her and forcibly take her back." He was about to stand up when his instincts screamed at him that danger was coming in, fast.
Reacting on instinct Naruto grabbed Shizune and used his impressive speed to get away from the wall just as it blew up. A large gout of flame shot into the air, along with the debris that had formerly been a wall. Naruto looked at the smoke now being emitted thanks to the explosion, keeping his eyes sharp he took them off of the wall and looked around.
Frowning he began channeling youki and chakra into his eyes. When he had first used the kage bunshin training method, the first thing Naruto had realized was that thanks to his Rinnegan creating massive amounts of Kage Bunshin would fry his brain via information overload worse then several thousand kage bunshin dispelling at once. This was because the Rinnegan allowed Naruto to see through the eyes of his clones, and while one or two may not be so bad, looking through the eyes of five thousand clones was the single most painful thing Naruto had ever felt.
In order to combat it Naruto, with the help of Kyuubi had managed to create a seal, located on each temple that helped him turn off the Rinnegan by keeping his youki and chakra blocked once he pulled the energy back from his eyes. He preferred keeping them on, mainly because it was more comfortable, natural feeling he guessed would be a good word. But knew that when trying to blend in his eyes would stand out like a sore thumb.
By channeling a combination of his demonic and human energies, Naruto deactivated the seals that kept his eyes unlocked. His pupil became a light silver color, while the blue of his irises began to spread into his sclera. At specific points where the blue spread, a silver ring would appear until his entire sclera was a deep blue color. With his Rinnegan active Naruto could see the pure chakra of everyone around him, and the greenish yellow chakra of the plants.
He could see Shizune next to him, her chakra was a light green with purple and red mixed in. Letting him instinctively know that she knew medical jutsu (lime-green), used poison jutsu (purple), and had a fire natured chakra (red). Around him he picked up six other energy signatures. Two were to his left, hiding up on the castle. One had a red chakra, letting him know that person was a fire user. While the other had brown, signifying him as a earth user. To his right and slightly behind him were to other chakra signatures. Both were brown. And slightly in front of him, hidden in a tree was another chakra signature. This one was different, he could sense four different signatures, brown for earth, red for fire, and blue for water. He could also sense the three mixing to create orange, meaning she had a Kekkei Genkai for lava. The last figure was directly below him, with brown colored chakra.
Grabbing Shizune once again Naruto jumped into the air just as several earth spikes shot out of the ground. He landed on the roof of another wall, this one was several meters from his original position and held out his hands towards where the signature that had shot the earth spikes were. "Shinra Tensei!" The unseen gravity attack was sent directly at the ninja who had sent the earth spikes. Even had the ninja known what was about to happen, there was nothing they could have done as the jutsu struck.
The effects were instantaneous. The ground cracked and craters, and the man who was under the assault was completely crushed by the jutsu pressuring the ground he was below. Blood began to seep through the cracks and Naruto saw the chakra signature flat line and disappear.
It seems the others realized what had happened as well because Naruto was attacked in several different direction by kunai. Looking at the kunai Naruto could see that they all held explosive tags on them due to the small chakra they were emitting from having been ignited seconds before. Rather then let them get to him, Naruto channeled his human chakra and applied the same techniques he used for his youki to take direct control over it.
Several balls of blue energy began forming on his fingers. "Shizune, when I tell you to duck, duck," Naruto said, snapping Shizune out of her stupor as she looked from the balls of energy to his face. "Ready, duck!" She did so and Naruto spun around, launching ball after ball of blue chakra into the horde of kunai. Each ball struck a kunai, exploding on contact and taking the explosive tags and the kunai with them.
Using the explosions they created as cover Naruto made use of shundo and appeared on the castle, directly behind the two chakra signatures he had seen. One was a kunoichi and one a shinobi, he could see from their headbands that they were from Iwa, which immediately let him know why they were attacking him.
Not one to waste time Naruto speared the shinobi in the back, piercing not only his back but managed to nick his heart as well. It wasn't until the man noticed the hand sticking from his chest that he began screaming in pain. But even that died as Naruto pulled out and kicked his body off of the castle. The kunoichi had noticed him but before she could do anything Naruto grabbed her by the face and literally crushed it. Blood and gored leaked from the now crushed head and Naruto threw the corpse off the roof just like the other one.
He looked down to see that Shizune had engaged two of the ninja left. She was doing pretty well for herself so Naruto let her be, but created a kage bunshin to aid her just in case she needed help. Meanwhile, he appeared directly behind the still hiding figure.
The person was a woman. She had short, black hair and pupil-less pink eyes. She was wearing what seemed to be a long, red kimono with a sleeve on her left arm while the other sleeve on her right arm was missing as well as the bottom left side of the kimono, the brown Iwagakure flak jacket, fishnet tights and a skirt over them.
Naruto placed a hand on her head and felt the woman freeze up. "What the hell!"
Ignoring her shouted question Naruto asked, "who are you?"
"Why the hell do you think I would tell you that? Why can't I move?" Naruto would have smiled at how the girl was keeping cool. He could feel her fear, even if she wasn't showing it. To be honest, he was rather impressed.
"You can't move because you are under the control of my jutsu, Kurotsuchi." He smiled as he sensed her surprise and shock, along with more fear. "Now, why are you trying to kill me?"
"I-I won't tell you," Kurtsuchi stuttered.
"I see, you are here because Ōnoki found out I have the Rinnegan and am the son of Namikaze Minato. He sent you and your team here to kill me while I was away from the village and dispose of my body so no one would know Iwa was involved." If his smile could have widened it would have. He was sure this girl would lose control of her bladder soon with how terrified she was. "Your last two lackey's have just died, in case you wanted to know. And now your all alone. I wonder, does your Tsuchikage think so little of you that he would send you on a suicide mission?"
"How dare you insensate such a thing!" Kurotsuchi snarled. "I am one of the best jonin in Iwagakure! He sent me on this mission because I have the greatest chance of killing you!"
"And I have the Rinnegan, killed Orochimaru and defeated a Jinchurikki in full demon mode on the same day," Naruto replied. "To come at me with anything less then several S-ranked ninja is suicide. Though I suppose he could just be over confident. It would be just like you Iwa ninja. So sure of yourselves, so stupid..." Kurotsuchi opened her mouth to snap at him but all she got out of was a pained gasp as Naruto squeezed her head. "Ah, ah, ah, I don't want any of your snappish comments right now. I'm trying to think of what to do with you... I could kill you, but then all that would left as prove of this battle would be your corpses, and I have enough of those."
"W-what are you going to do?"
"I haven't decided yet," Naruto said. Then he smashed her head into the tree trunk, knocking her out. "So I'll get back to you on that." Lifting the now unconscious girl on his shoulders Naruto disappeared. Reappearing right next to Shizune who nearly attacked him before seeing who he was.
"Naruto-san! Are you alright?" she asked as she began looking over him for wounds.
Naruto chuckled at her healers nature and said, "I'm fine. I didn't even get a scratch on me." He looked around and frowned at the destruction. It wasn't bad, but it would take a while for anyone to repair it. "Can't say the same about this place."
"Who's that?" asked Shizune, noticing the person over his shoulder.
"This is Kurotsuchi, the granddaughter of the Sandaime Tsuchikage," Naruto said. As Shizune gaped Naruto looked around, his Rinnegan eyes deactivating. "Tsunade and the others are coming." Shizune looked over towards where he was looking to see Tsunade, Hana and her ninken, Shikamaru and Shino all running towards her.
"Shizune!" Tsunade said as she reached them. "Are you alright? What happened? We heard the..." she paused at seeing Kurotsuchi. "Who is that?"
"This is Kurotsuchi, an Iwa jonin sent to kill me," Naruto said brightly, causing Tsunade to sweat drop.
"Assassins?" asked Shikamaru.
"Apparently," Naruto said with a shrug. "It seems the old goat in Iwa found out about the Konoha invasion, my Rinnegan and that my father's the Yondaime. He sent her and five others here to kill me?"
"What happened to the others?" asked Shino.
"I buried them six feet under," Naruto said casually.
"Hey boss!" said the Naruto clone. The real Naruto turned to see a scroll being tossed to him. He caught it and the clone said, "I sealed the bodies in that scroll."
"Excellent!" Naruto said cheerfully. He turned to Tsunade, who was looking shocked and slightly fearful and asked, "have you decided on whether or not your coming to Konoha?"
"Uh, yes, I have," Tsunade said. "I've decided to... to come with you. But don't get any bright ideas! This is only so I can escape my debts!"
"Of course," Naruto said with a chuckle. He looked at his team. "Are you five all ready to go?"
"Yeah, we're all packed you troublesome blond," Shikamaru said. He looked at Kurotuschi and raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do with her?"
Naruto gave the lazy shadow user a creepy smile as he said. "Oh, she's just going to be my messenger girl."
Birth of the New Demon King
(A Week Later – Iwagakure No Sato)
Ōnoki was an old man with a triangular beard and a moustache with angular corners. He had a big red nose and thick rectangular-shaped eyebrows. The top of his head was completely bald, although, he did have a smattering of white hair at the back and sides of his head which faintly resembled an achonmage style hair cut, the back of which was tied with a yellow ribbon into a topknot. Ōnoki's outfit consisted of a green and yellow coat with a red collar. Underneath that he wore an Iwagakure flak jacket.
Currently he was sitting at his desk going through the bane of every Kage's existence, paperwork. He just didn't understand how he had so much of it, or how it kept piling up. His secretary had not entered the office for over an hour, and yet each time he finished his stack a new one would just appear in place of the old one. Maybe his secretary had created some kind of jikukan paperwork transfer jutsu.
"Tsuchikage-Sama!" The door to his office burst open and Akatsuchi ran in. He was a large man with dark eyes and hair that spikes out at the back from underneath his forehead protector which he was wearing like a bandanna. He also has big cheeks and a plump nose. He wore the red double sleeved Iwagakure uniform underneath his flak jacket in addition to a yellow scarf that adorned his neck.
"Is there a reason you just barged in here, Akatsuchi?" asked Ōnoki, huffing in annoyance at being interrupted. "I swear, kids these days have no respect for their elders these days."
"I-It's Kurotsuchi!" Akatsuchi said frantically. "She just got back."
"I see..." the tone in Ōnoki's voice made it very obvious that he did not see what the big deal was.
"Erm, maybe I'd better explain," Akatsuchi mumbled. "Kurotsuchi returned, but her team did not. She was found outside the gate just a few minutes ago nearly comatose. She didn't tell us much when she woke up, but from what I understand she had been taken captive and then let go to deliver us a message."
"So... she failed to kill the Namikaze boy," Ōnoki said in disappointment. He had hoped that Kurotsuchi would be able to kill the boy before he became a threat to their village. It was bad enough the child was the son of Minato, but if rumors were true he also had the legendary Rinnegan and had defeated Orochimaru. If given more time to get stronger he could become a serious threat to the village.
Standing up Ōnoki walked around the desk. "Take me to her."
"Hai, Tsuchikage-Sama," Akatsuchi said as he led his kage out of the tower. They made their way to a hospital and into the room where Kurotsuchi was lying on a bed. She was dressed in a standard patients smock, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her physically. However, Ōnoki could see the way her eyes twitched around the room, as if paranoid about being watched.
"Kurotsuchi, your report," Ōnoki said, not really caring about her mental disposition.
Kurotsuchi's eyes widened as she looked at Ōnoki. "I-I – we failed, Tsuchikage-Sama," she managed to stutter out.
"Obviously," Ōnoki replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"We – my team and I, we managed to find them leaving Otofugen Gai after a large battle took place. We didn't get there in time, so w-we didn't find out who fought. I-it was decided that we would keep our distance until we could get the Namikaze boy alone. However, he kept looking at us with those eyes... like he knew we were there and just didn't say anything."
"What eyes?"
Kurotsuchi shook her head. "I don't know. The entire eye was dark blue and had a silver ripple-like pattern."
"The description except for the color matches the Rinnegan," Ōnoki said with a frown. What did the color difference mean? Was this some new variation of Rinnegan? He looked back at Kurotsuchi. "What happened?"
"We kept our distance after that, only sending one person in to keep an eye on him," she said. "He and his team ran into Tsunade. We didn't know what he wanted with her, but felt it would be best if we didn't attack with a Sannin there."
"A prudent move," Ōnoki conceded. "Continue."
"W-well, we managed to get him alone and were getting in position to kill him when a girl that had been with Tsunade showed up. They began talking, and we realized this was our last chance to kill him. So we attacked."
"And failed."
Kurotsuchi winced. "He was so strong. He avoided our attacks like they were nothing and used some kind of odd wind technique or something to crush one of my squad members. He and the girl managed to kill the others. Then he came up behind me and before I knew what he was doing he put his hand on my head..."
Ōnoki noticed the girl shiver and frowned. "And?"
"I-I couldn't move after that, I tried, but it was like my whole body was paralyzed. Then he s-started asking me questions. I didn't answer of course, but it didn't seem to matter. No matter how many times I told him off he would seem to know the answer, it was like he was reading me mind."
"And what did he learn?" asked Ōnoki.
"Everything..." Kurotsuchi whispered. "Everything I knew about Iwagakure he learned... even when I just stopped talking all he had to do was put his hand on my head and ask me a question and he would learn it."
Ōnoki's eyes widened. If the Namikaze child knew about everything about his village that Kurotsuchi knew then he could easily cripple their village. The boy would have an entire blue print of Iwagakure, including all of the hidden caves, bunkers and escape routes. He would know the general numbers of his forces, and he would even know the skills of some of his ninja. The worst part was that there was nothing they could do now. There was no doubt Iwa's attack on Naruto would be reported to Minato, who had taken up the position of Hokage once again. Ōnoki wasn't foolish enough to make another act against the man that had literally decimated his forces alone in the last war.
There wasn't much he could do other then wait for the inevitable response that would come from Konoha.
"Tushikage-Sama," Kurotsuchi's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her and she said, "there's a... a letter in my flack jacket. He put it in there for you to read."
Ōnoki frowned as he saw the flak jacket in question on the nightstand. He went over to it and found the letter mentioned inside of the second front pocket on the left. It was nothing more then a crumpled sheet of paper, but it was what was on it that had caught his attention. It read:
"Dear Old man,
Your little assassination attempt failed. I would suggest not trying to place all the blame of poor Kurotsuchi-chan, I happen to have a very good method of interrogation and know that you are the one who gave her the orders. You should expect a letter for you from the Hokage once I get back to Konoha.
I leave you now with a warning. I spared your granddaughter as an act of mercy. The next time you send her I will return her head to you.
Best Regards,
Uzumaki Naruto-kun
P.S. I killed the others you sent. There headbands are located in a storage seal at the bottom of this letter.
P.S.S. Next time you want to kill me you should send more men, or hire that Akatsuki group your so fond of using.
"What should we do, Tsuchikage-Sama?" asked Akatsuchi, his voice quaking a little as he thought of what this failed mission meant.
"There is nothing we can do," Ōnoki said with a deep breath being blown out of his mouth. "The assassination failed, all we can do is wait for Konoha's response." Those words did not reassure Akatsuchi, but there really was nothing they could do. They had failed, and now would suffer the consequences.
Birth of the New Demon King
Walking into Konoha was a beautiful and young fair-skinned woman of tall stature and curvaceous build with a large bust. She has blue eyes and straight blonde hair framing her face with a shorter cut in the back and the front bangs reaching her shoulders. She had a very expressionless look on her face as she ignored the way the two Chunin guarding the gate stared at her bust and gave him her passport. The man looked it over before allowing her to enter.
"Ok, everything checks out Samui-san. I hope you enjoy your stay here in Konoha," the man said as she walked off, and she knew from instinct that he would be looking at her ass now. However, she ignored that in favor of finding a place to live.
So I totally forgot that Naruto was a Shonen Manga, therefore a kiddie show that wouldn't go into the gritty and dark aspects a world full of ninja is bound to have. It's kind of disappointing to be honest. I dislike the fact that Shonen manga's won't do that, but I dislike most Seinen manga's because they almost always have a sad ending. Wouldn't it be awesome if someone came up with a perfect combination of Shonen and Seinen in their manga, all the dark and gritty aspects of a Seinen Manga, but the good guys win in the end like a Shonen manga. I think it would make the good guys victory that much sweeter.
I wonder what that kind of manga would be called?
Sheinen maybe? Or how about Sonen? Or maybe even Shoneinen?
A/N: Several people have been asking me about my Harry Potter story and when I will be posting. I would ask that you all have patience. Right now I currently have 8 of the 16 chapters I have planned out written. However, at the moment my muse has been consumed by this fic currently, and I have been having some troubles writing my Harry Potter story. I have not abandoned it, but because I lack the right motivation to truly make the story good, I have stepped back for a moment.
The second book of Harry Potter's Rise to Power will likely be completed within three or four more months. However, this is just an estimation.