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Original upload date: 14/03/2013
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Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 11. – Legacy
The days and weeks went by with insane speed since they had returned from Suna. The peace talks with the other nations were going better than anyone would have expected. The fights and battles settled down at the borders, and the incidents between the nations had been limited to politics and battles of words inside offices and meeting rooms. Toroku let out a weary sigh when he thought back to why he was even sitting here for hours.
Despite the national conflicts outside calming down, his inner struggle only becoming stronger and stronger. He was drowning again in his dream, however the door still held out, despite the increasing number of cracks and salience on its rusty surface. That dream avoided him for a while after they returned from Suna, but in the last week it appeared again with a force never before.
Toroku glanced over the sleeping village under his feet from the top of Minato's newly carved head on the Hokage monument. It was almost three months since he had actually gotten into the everyday life of Konoha, a little bit more than two months since he became a shinobi of the village. They had taken several missions, mostly similar to his first, transferring reports and supplies to the borders and to other guard post all over Fire country. But some missions which were not connected to the war were starting to appear, and sometimes he helped in tracking with other teams, however they were rare occasions.
A satisfied smile ran across his face as the first beams of the sun reached the top of his head, and slowly, almost invisibly moved down on his sitting frame, warming up his body. The village gently starting to wake up, he already could smell the sweet scent of the fresh bakery products. An ANBU squad leaped from rooftop to rooftop, in the direction of the village gates, probably already leaving for a mission.
"They're leaving pretty early Cat-chan." A silhouette of a kunoichi stepped out from the shadows of one of the Yondaime's spikes and sat down next to the smiling young chuunin.
He already knew most of the ANBU who were still assigned to watch over him and he gave up the continuous pranking on them. Well, mostly. The devil never sleeps and there was no way he would miss a perfect opportunity just screaming for his awesomeness. He still wasn't completely used to the feeling of continually being followed, but he came to terms with it, and also with the weekly checkups with Inoichi. They also started to meet on the weekends, forming something that could not yet be called friendship. He knew that it was for everyone's safety, and he couldn't deny that sometimes he was thankful to Sarutobi, regardless of his annoyance, that he didn't let down the surveillance despite Minato's request. In the end Minato didn't go against his sensei's last will as the Third Hokage, however he would be able to. He was the new Hokage after all. But Toroku knew that his brother respected the old man enough not to do that and he didn't complain anymore.
"How long will you stay here Toroku-kun?" The teen only shrugged, not looking back to his masked companion.
"Dunno. I like to wait until the streets start to become crowded." He let out a satisfied moan as he stretched his arms behind his back and leaned on them.
"I saw you yesterday in the jewelry." The ANBU flung her head to the side and narrowed her purple eyes under the mask.
"Relax. I only saw your back. But I recognized your scent. You shouldn't wear that robe, you got a nice butt." A furious snort left the girl as she immediately got up and moved back to the shadows, cursing and muttering under her mask.
"That was a compliment you know." He looked over his shoulder where the kunoichi stood in the shadows, than shrugged when he received no answer. 'Girls…Nothing good enough for them.' He let out a sigh and continued watching the rising village under his feet.
The team lined up in front of a long desk, waiting for their next mission. Minato let out a weary yawn and scratched his burning eyes to ease away the unpleasant sensation, then he glanced toward another desk in the corner of the room, where an also obviously tired and weary looking blonde clone frowned, leaning onto his hands above a big pile of paper. The clone blinked and made a grimace above a request and lifted up a signet to make a red marking of disapproval, muttering something angrily about unnecessary tawdry desires. Minato nodded toward the clone who waved his hand in irritation as an answer and pull out anther document from the pile to this time snort in his disapproval.
Minato sent a thankful glance toward his brother, who suggested the idea yesterday night to use a clone to catch up with himself, when Minato almost collapsed on the futon when he finally arrived home. Peace talks go hand in hand with enormous amount of bureaucracy, and somehow Hiruzen had forgotten to mention that when he offered his seat. He would gladly delay his nomination by half a year if he'd known that in advance. Jiraiya cleared his throat and this slapped Minato out from his wondering thoughts. He also cleared his throat and leaned toward a big pile of mission scrolls, handing over the correct one to his once sensei.
"This time you will go to the Kusa borders to relieve a sedentary force at one of our post. It will be a week until the next relay, so prepare equipment for that period." Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, but in the end only nodded, and they left the room after a short bow and a waving hand from Toroku.
His two teammates were tense as they started approaching their destination where they'd lost their teammate and friend. Toroku was unwontedly silence when he felt their mood and he moved closer to the sage to chat with him during their trip. They befriended in the last month and he was slowly proving that he really liked Jiraiya. Well, except when he was annoying and showing off around girls. But despite that, he started to build up respect for the toad sennin and he was thankful for the way the man acted around him since the first time they had met; not with immediate suspicion in his eyes like the others, he was more natural, especially since Suna. Maybe in some ways he trusted Jiraiya more than anyone else in the village, including his brother despite their growing acquaintance since Minato's official nomination.
Since the public ceremony, people started to recognize him, greet him, and he really enjoyed the sight of the smiling and beckoning villagers and shinobi. They didn't announce their relation, however everybody who wasn't blind or half idiot could realize they were relatives by their appearance, how they interacted with each other, and the amount of time they were spending together.
Gossips started to rise in the streets of Konoha and in the Shinobi ranks about their relationship and his sudden appearance, and such talk increased with every rare instance he joined another group with Jiraiya or someone saw him training or sparing. Especially with Minato. A proud smile ran across his face as he thought back their last spar, even though it ended with an almost perfectly cleared training ground and unfortunately many more bruises on him then he would call acceptable. He could mostly keep up with Minato, until he use his annoying Hiraishin. Toroku had already spent long and sleepless nights trying to figure out how he could counter his irritating seal, he failed. But he was certain that the solution is near. Well, almost certain.
Toroku thought back to the public ceremony when Sarutobi handed over his hat, and Minato first put it onto his own head. Minato's eyes almost glowed by the emotions, the joy, the pride, and the overwhelming determination which shined in his blue polls. He also felt the same pride when he was silently standing in the background together with Jiraiya, Kushina, Rin and Kakashi, but he was also aware of the disturbingly great amount of envy which ran across him for a second.
An unconscious grimace appeared on his face, but it was replaced by a smile when he remembered the small, green and obviously old toad that appeared after the ceremony. He thought back to his fit of laughter when the old toad called the white haired man beside him in his forties Jiraiya-chan and lectured him like a grandfather. After he congratulated Minato, he handed over a small pack, which held a short-sleeved long white coat with flame patterns on the edges with bright red kanji running down the center of its back, shouting and announcing who the man is from miles away by the words 'Yondaime Hokage'.
Toroku thought back to the endless teasing that Minato received from him and Kushina when he had started wearing that coat. He almost chuckled, but he restrained himself when in the distance of the never ending grass field, he finally spotted the post.
They reached the border quite fast just as last time, it didn't even take a day, however Toroku could feel the strain in his muscles this time. They slowed down before the guards became suspicious and now they were slowly walking toward the bunker. A shinobi jumped down from the flat roof, eying them suspiciously, then his eyes wondered toward Toroku and Jiraiya and he let out a weary and relieved sigh.
"I'm glad you arrived Jiraiya-sama." The shinobi bowed and smiled at the white haired man.
"You are careless. What if we were Iwa forces under a henge?" The ninja slowly shook his head and chuckled.
"The chances are minimal and I doubt that any of them would dare transform into you. Especially not to Toroku-san."
The teen raised an eyebrow and carefully eyed him from head to toe, but he couldn't identify the man, he never met him before. In the end, he just shrugged to himself and counted that to Minato's fame. The man waved a hand to follow him and they stepped inside the sparse facility. Toroku unconsciously expanded his senses to map his surroundings. He felt three more shinobi around the post, one on the rooftop, one outside and one more inside. Jiraiya turned toward the shinobi.
"Anything we should be aware of?" The shinobi shook his head in response.
"Nothing happened during the last week. Everything seems peaceful. Only some patrolling Iwa troops passed the post from a distance, but they didn't show any belligerence." Jiraiya nodded and hand over a scroll to the shinobi, who accepted and stowed it inside his pocket.
"I'll escort you around. When you settled down we'll leave. I can't wait to finally sleep in my own bed." Jiraiya chuckled and placed a hand on the ninja's shoulder.
The man quickly, but efficiently showed them around and they finished on the roof where the remaining of his team already waited for them, packed and ready to leave. The shinobi pointed toward several parts of the landscape where they would find the sensing seals; he also asked Jiraiya to place more on other places of the ground. After a half hour long report he finally nodded to himself in satisfaction and they left to head back to Konoha.
Jiraiya turned around to face the team, pointing toward Kakashi and Toroku.
"You'll take the first round for the watch post. From now on, we will work with twelve hours rounds. Be alert, we may be nearing peace, but you never know." The boys nodded, and Jiraiya pointed toward Toroku.
"Send out some clones and check those seals. Maybe you could upgrade them a little. They're barrier seals after all."
Toroku nodded and grinned as fifty clones appeared beside him, and dissolved in every distance of the compass. The sennin only rolled his eyes, muttered about swanky teens while he and Rin moved back to the establishment to rest before they would take over for the boys. Toroku had laid down in the middle of the roof and crossed his arms behind his neck and started to watch the night sky. An angry snort echoed on the roof and Kakashi moved next to him with dangerously narrowed eye.
"What do you think you're doing?" Toroku didn't move only his eyes turned toward the jounin.
"Guarding the post." Kakashi kicked his leg, forcing Toroku to sit up and meet his angry eye.
"This is not a game you know!" The blond let out a sigh.
"I sent out fifty clones, and they already started to apply more security seals on the borderline. I've got better senses then you, or Jiraiya, so just relax. Nothing is going to happen." The jounin didn't answer, only moved to the edge of the roof and moved his eyes to the forest belt. Toroku let out a sigh and moved next to the jounin.
"Look, I know why you're like this. But calm down. We're well prepared." Kakashi only blinked and didn't avert his gaze, but after a long minute he hesitantly nodded.
"I'm a little tense."
"I noticed that."
"I hate to be near the Iwa borders."
"I know. And Aniki also knows. I think that's why he sent us here." Kakashi didn't answer only clenched his hands into fists.
"I also figured that out, but this is a sour medicine Minato gave me…and Rin."
"Don't think it is easier to him, sending out his comrades and his friends to missions where they could be killed." Kakashi slowly shook his head.
"I don't think that. And we also know that. We are shinobi." Toroku rolled his eyes and let out a sigh before he moved to the other side of the roof and sat down, this time to properly do his guarding role despite his fifty clones running around the post.
The days were moving with the speed of a snail, nothing had happened in the last three days. The most interesting event was when one of Kakashi's summons chased a fox away from the post. Toroku sat on the edge of the flat roof, his legs flung freely over the edge, while he was watching the forest belt. He closed his eyes and extended a thin layer of chakra in the clearing, watching any tweak in its flow, but nothing came. He let out a weary sigh and glanced over his shoulder toward Kakashi, who had sent out one of his freshly trained ninken to patrol.
Toroku really like the dog, even though their first meeting hadn't ended tenderly. Sometimes he still felt the sharp fangs of the small pug around his ankle and the small pooch still couldn't explain why he had done that. However, maybe it was just because he couldn't talk properly yet; aside from the limited vocabulary that Kakashi had already taught to the mutt, he mostly just barked. Just then, said small ninken re-appeared in the high grass at the horizon, drawing a thin, straight line toward the tower in the vegetation.
"Pakkun finished his patrol." Kakashi nodded and moved next to the blond and leaned over the edge to eye his small comrade as he was approaching them. The dog hopped onto the vertical wall and easily ran up to them and sat down, panting heavily. He looked up Kakashi with his sparking, intelligent eyes frisking his tail lightly. He was still young, still in the beginning of his training; he hadn't yet developed the stamina for a long run or to take part in a real fight. He just wasn't that type, but the pup was almost as stubborn as Toroku and had an exceptional nose which could rival his own.
"Anything?" Kakashi asked curiously, waiting for Pakkun to catch his breath. But the small dog only shook his head. Kakashi nodded and dismissed the dog, who disappeared in a puff of smoke after a nod toward the blond boy. Toroku stretched his limbs and yawned before he settled down to his previous place on the edge of the roof again.
"Hey Kakashi. What have you been doing with Jiraiya lately? I mean with those scripts."
The jounin's only visible eye twitched and Toroku could swear that the edge of his ears turned flaming red in the dark night, however his face didn't give away any further reaction, nor did he answered the question. Only waved a hand to the blond and turned his back on him and tensed his shoulders. The chuunin raised an eyebrow than shrugged, but the curiosity never left him. He would have to investigate that a little latter. They stayed in silence for long minutes until Toroku rubbed his burning eyes and let out a weary sigh, yawning again for maybe the hundred times in the last hour.
"You should speak with Rin." The blonde glanced toward his companion with a confused face.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm perfectly fine." The jounin turned back with narrowed eye after a doubtful snort left his nose.
"Yeah, sure. Except you haven't slept six hours in total since we arrived here." The blonde's eyes twitched in irritation.
"Don't spy on me!"
"I'm not spying on you. I just sleep next to you. I'm neither blind nor deaf."
"I'm alright."
"No, you are not alright. You're exhausted and the only reason you haven't dropped from fatigue is the soldier pills you eat when you think nobody is watching. If you don't speak with Rin, I'm going to speak with her. And believe me, it would be better if you go to her and not vice versa. She will still yell your hair down from your head, but maybe she could help and give you something to stop those nightmares." Toroku visibly flinched, but in the end let out a long, weary breath and closed his eyes. His mind almost immediately started to become numb and he couldn't deny it anymore. He was truly exhausted to his very core.
"Okay. I'll speak with her when she's awake." His voice was faint, but Kakashi nodded in his satisfaction.
Toroku suddenly stiffened, and a shiver ran across his spine. He looked around, and immediately expanded his chakra from the rooftop, earning a confused and worried expression from the jounin whose muscles instantly tensed, ready to react if necessary.
"What?" Kakashi whispered toward Toroku, who closed his eyes, frowning, then shook his head.
"Nothing. Nothing is out there." Kakashi frowned, when five clones appeared next to the blond and jumped down from the roof and ran toward the forest line.
"Just a precaution."
The jounin moved next to Toroku and revealed his left eye under his Hitai-ate. The tomoes started to whirl slowly as he moved his sight over the landscape, looking for any hint of chakra inside the woods beside the seals. Finally he nodded and replaced his forehead protector, but he didn't relax his tensed muscles.
The two teens stayed in full alert for hours, but only a lonely deer appeared from the forest and slowly moved to the middle of the clearing than left after half hour as silently as it came. Toroku let out a weary sigh. He felt as his eyelids became heavier as exhaustion started to take over his body and his brain. He shook his head to ease away the weariness, with little success. A strange feeling never left him, despite the fact that he'd expanded his senses to the maximum where he wouldn't go insane from the normal sounds and scents of the nature around him. He let out a weary sigh as he moved to the edge of the flat roof. A blond clone popped up next to Kakashi.
"I'm going out for patrol. He will report if I find something."
The young jounin nodded and moved closer to the edge to watch as his blond comrade landed gracefully in a crouch and ran toward the edge of the woods after several blond heads popped into existence around him, dissolving into different directions of the woods. A nervous frown appeared on his face, his muscles tensed unconsciously when the last golden crown disappeared from his sight.
Toroku jumped down from a branch, landing in a crouch in a small clearing, and slowly moved closer to an ancient old, giant oak tree. He ran through a short chain of hand sings and gently placed his palm on the raw surface of the tree. A complex, ink black spider web pattern appeared on the small clearing, made by kanji, symbols, curves and straight lines. The blond chuunin leaned closer to the center of the pattern, forced it to glow with a tiny amount of chakra and examined it carefully, looking for anything suspicious on the predominant seal which controlled all the other ones along the borderline in this district. Toroku let out a weary sigh and rubbed his burning eyes. 'I really need nice a long nap…' A clone popped into existence.
"Tell Kakashi that I'm going to check the last two of the control seals. I will be back in half an hour at maximum."
The clone nodded and disappeared with a loud puff, breaking the complete silence in the ink black night. The memory of his previous command immediately appeared in his head. At that very moment he felt dizzy and had to lean on the large tree for support, than shook his head to ease away the feeling. 'I'm more exhausted than I thought.' Something started to nag at the back of his mind, but he didn't have time to react as he heard a muffled thud then immediately felt a small sting in his neck. His head started to spin with a force he never felt before. His knees give up and he fell to the ground limply, his brain still worked but he couldn't focus his thoughts, nor his chakra to warn the others.
He dimly saw a movement from the corner of his eyes and distantly realized that his clones had disappeared, but his dizzy and continuously spinning brain couldn't process the memories. He struggled, forcing his brain and muscles to work, forcing his eyes to focus. A foot in ninja sandals shrouded his vision and his eyelids started to give up the fight with the gravity. A distant urge reached his raw mind, screaming desperately to move his body, but he couldn't even twitch a finger. He drifted to the blackness of unconsciousness, while the screams in his mind slowly died down.
Kakashi glanced toward the clone, who stoically sat on the edge of the roof, his legs hanging in the air. The clone suddenly stiffened and turned toward the young jounin.
"Message from the Boss: He is checking the last two control seals and he will be back in half an hour." The jounin nodded and turned his head toward the woods again.
He saw a sudden faint glow from the corner of his eyes. His muscles moved unconsciously, snapping his head in the direction of the light, when he felt a faint stinging sensation in his neck. The last thing he could note with his numb mind was a muffled puff as the clone disappeared before he lost consciousness not even a second after the sting in his neck. He couldn't even feel the pain of his head connecting with the rooftop with a muffled thud.
They were moving. He felt it vaguely, but he couldn't open his eyes. He felt dizzy, still unable to focus his thoughts. The last bits of his rational mind were desperately struggling to reach for his chakra, but his aggressively spinning brain made all attempts in vain. A moan left his mouth as his body jerked when the one who was carrying him landed hard on a branch, forcing his lungs to discharge the air from his limp body. In the back of his mind he realized that they had stopped, at least he couldn't feel the wind in his blond locks or on his skin anymore. He dimly felt as his eyelids started to twitch by the strain of trying to open them.
"He's gaining consciousness again. Give him another dose." He was harshly dropped to the ground.
"He already got a second one. A third could kill him." A satisfied snort reached his ears, but he could process the previous sentence for several long seconds.
"That would be a relief." He attempted to force his desperately screaming muscles to move, and he was finally able to open his eyelids halfway. The only thing his spinning brain recognized after long seconds of delay was two hexagonal patterns on a metal plate which occupied his vision as the ninja leaned closer to him. Iwa.
A dim sensation of stinging pain reached his foggy mind and his vision started to become darker again. He barely recognized a needle in the straightening shinobi's hand, before he drifted back into unconsciousness.
Kakashi felt a hand on his shoulders and a warm sensation run through him by healing chakra, then someone shook him violently. He let out a groan, and forced his mind and body to work. After a long minute, he finally managed to open his eyelids halfway. His dizzy eye met two pair of worried ones above him.
"Finally." He shook his head and forced his aching muscles to sit up with the help of Jiraiya.
"Wha-what happened." The jounin blinked and jerked his head to the side, sending another fuzzy feeling through his abused brain.
"Where is Toroku?" Rin and Jiraiya shared a worried look, and the white haired man finally shook his head.
"You were ambushed. I still don't know exactly how, but they took him. They must be about half an hour ahead. We are lucky I came to check on you." Kakashi wanted to jump to his feet, but he faltered and would have landed flat if Jiraiya hadn't caught his arm. He shook his head again, and this time he was able to stand straight, leaning on the sannin. He felt as his inside twisted with the urge to get rid of his last meal, but it fortunately died down after two deep breaths.
"We have to track them down." Kakashi stated with a cracking tone while Jiraiya examined the teen and nodded when he finally straightened, letting go of his hands as his foggy vision started to clear.
"Indeed. But we can't leave the post without guard. We'll have to split and our forces will decreased drastically. Those who took Toroku weren't green horned shinobis. They managed to sneak up on him." Kakashi nodded.
"He was exhausted. Otherwise that would just be impossible. But who?" Jiraiya nodded.
"They were only after Toroku. Maybe they want to use him as political pressure. I could imagine this kind of thing from that old geezer Onoki." Jiraiya rubbed his temple, forcing his brain to work harder.
"Rin, you will stay here with one of my summons. But first we'll need your every skill; I need Kakashi to chase them since they didn't get far." The girl nodded and sent a worried look toward Kakashi, whose sight still seemed to be a little foggy.
"Kakashi. We don't have time. I'll need your tracking skills." The boy nodded and ran through a chain of seals, to summon Pakkun.
"Why didn't we get rid of the others? Killing one of Konoha's sennin would be a great effort from Iwa toward the other nations."
"Our mission was only to get that sissy. And don't think that getting rid of one of the Sennin would be a piece of cake. This time no killing, it doesn't matter how bad you, or I want it. The Tsuchikage wants him alive."
"Yes Commander." A defeated voice reached Toroku's mind. His brain was still foggy and dizzy, but at least he could sense his chakra this time.
"Shouldn't we give another shot to the Sissy?"
"He's already received enough to knock out an elephant… However, he's been too still in the last half hour, not like before."
Toroku didn't move. He felt that his hands were tied tightly behind his back and his ankles together, and he could smell the metallic scent of his own blood as the razor sharp wires cut into the soft flesh of his wrist. His captor threw down his body roughly to the hard soil again, but he forced himself to bear the pain as his head met with the hard ground with a muffled thud. He forced his body to relax and lie limply.
He started to hear muffled voices around him more clearly ten minutes ago, but this time, when he started to come out of the darkness, he focused with every nerve to stay still and limp on the shoulder of whoever was carrying him away from the post.
Toroku felt a sharp object graze across his lying shape, but he forced his nerves to calm down and stay still, despite his raising panic. He heard muffled footsteps, and a soft breath on his arching neck as one of the Iwa shinobi leaned closer to examine him closely. 'Not good, this is not good.' He suddenly felt a foot stamp painfully into his stomach and he heard the guttural laughter of a man after it.
"That isn't part of our mission." The baritone barked toward Toroku in a commanding voice, probably addressed to the one who kicked him.
"Commander, he only gave him what he deserves." A higher voice could be heard, probably a kunoichi, while the commander snorted in displeasure.
"Give him another shot, just for precaution. We have to reach the borders as fast as possible."
Toroku dreadfully forced his brain to focus, and when the man finally stepped away, probably to get the needle with the drug, he knew this will be his only chance to act before he was forced back into unconsciousness again. He desperately reached toward his pathetically shaking chakra and, with effort beyond what a normal human could exert, he forced it to flow through his coils.
His eyes snapped open and a satisfied smirk appeared inside his still dim mind when he saw a foggy picture of a man flinching a step back in surprise as his mud brown eyes locked with foggy azure blue ones. Four shadow clones popped into existence in front of him, barricading him from the shinobi with their bodies. The clones looked weary, their minds also dizzy and hazy, while their limbs were trembling violently with the effort to even stand straight.
"Impossible…" He distantly heard as one of the Iwa shinobi whispered in disbelief. One clone wobbled a step back and popped out of existence when he suddenly dropped to the ground.
Toroku forced another wave of chakra out of his body and a clone appeared crouching next to him and immediately started to cut the wires around his joints with a sharpened wind chakra. The blond hissed when the trembling blade cut deep into his ankle. Finally the last wire was cut, but before he could move the Iwa nins shook off their surprise and jumped into action. The blond chuunin pathetically, but still quickly rolled to the side to evade the exploding spikes from the ground under him, dispelling his clones immediately. He forced himself on all fours, panting heavily by the strain, feeling like an animal driven into a corner. His cerulean orbs flung from shinobi to shinobi, desperately trying to catch his breath after that small movement.
The four Iwa nins slowly approached him, ready to swing into action. One of them already had a needle in his hands, ready to push him back into unconsciousness. He slowly moved his hand onto his leg, to get a kunai from his pouch, but he realized that it was gone. His eye twitched in irritation, but his hands traveled back toward his still secured headband without a pause in the movement. He dimly saw as the four shinobi jumped toward him, most of them already forming several hand seals. His sight became foggy again, his mind started to spin and with his last resort, he finally found the small paper tag hidden behind the metal plate and slammed it to the ground after he channeled some chakra into it. Then he fell limply to the ground as his trembling joints gave up the fight with gravity.
Toroku blinked rapidly, shook his head and slowly opened his eyes to glance toward the foggy silhouette of four frozen shinobi on the other side of a small, wobbling purple barrier. He forced himself onto his hands and knees, panting unstoppably and forcing his limbs to move into a sitting position. Toroku slowly closed his eyes while he distantly heard punches and kunai clinging on the outside of his wobbling barrier. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
The barrier wouldn't last long with this wretched chakra control, but at least he could gain some time to gather himself and think of a plan. He felt a vibration under him, as an attack reached the lower part of the barrier, buried in the soil. He shook his head to clear his mind, however with little success, and he finally fixed his gaze on the purple glow of the barrier. His vision became clearer, the silhouettes sharper, and the spinning of his brain died down to a more tolerable level.
Four Iwa shinobi snarled at him, probably emitting a large amount of killing intent. Fortunately the barrier intercepted it; he doubted his body would be able to tolerate it. Toroku couldn't surpass the temptation and he sent a cocky grin toward one of them, earning a narrowed gaze from the largest member of the team from Stone.
"Surround the barrier! Don't forget we need him alive."
All Iwa nin moved to the four corners of the barrier without hesitation as Toroku eyed them curiously. Not that he could do anything more in his pitiable state. He pushed himself up to stand on his wobbling legs, leaning onto his knees to help support his weight. His eyes moved toward the commander and he finally straightened himself, reeling a little from the effort, and forced more chakra into his fading shield.
The shinobi's eyes shined victoriously as the purple barrier wobbled and a crack appeared on the side after a long ten minute staring contest. Toroku slowly turned his head toward the crack and narrowed his eyes, while forcing his still trembling chakra to flow smoother. His limbs felt like they were made of lead and every little movement sent pain toward his weary brain. He moved his arms together and crossed his fingers, preparing to perform his signature jutsu, when his barrier collapsed. Normally, he wouldn't need to use any hand signs for that, but now he needed every bit of help with his wobbling chakra to perform any kind of jutsu. He was lucky the first time to be able to make those five pathetic clones, and they were even solid and useful.
Another crack appeared above him and he tensed his aching muscles. The four Iwa nins moved to stance, and also started to form hand sign, preparing to attack when the seal faded away. A small purple shard fell on his shoulder and when it touched him, the barrier collapsed into millions of pieces and disappeared when they reached the ground. The four shinobi took that as the signal and jumped toward him.
"Near!" A barking voice echoed in a clearing.
A silhouette of the white haired sannin ran through the clearing inside the forest, the trees spotted with giant mushrooms, with a small mutt in his hands. The man's form blurred by the insane speed while they were traveling. The heavy breathing of Kakashi could be heard only meters behind him as they rushed with insane speed deeper into the dark woods.
"I won't let it happen again…" Kakashi muttered to himself between two harsh breaths and he forced more chakra into his legs.
Two clones appeared next to him and grabbed his still crossed arms to throw him out of the way of the four Iwa nins. He landed hard on his back, carving a long straight line into the ground where his body slid through the hard soil. A painful groan left his mouth and he could only roll to the side, before a chakra boosted fist slammed where he was a blink ago. He rolled further and moved to a pathetic stance, almost falling back. The four shinobi appeared around him and jumped into action immediately.
Toroku struggled between the punches for several long minutes, and he could taste his own blood inside his cracked mouth. His only real success was when he managed to destroy that damn needle. He fell to the ground from a well-placed hit on his temple and the world suddenly become soundless, except a sharp whistle, while dark spots danced in his vision.
The teen struggled on all fours in the middle of a mud puddle created by an earth release, while the Iwa nins tried to catch him. He desperately shook his head to easy away the whistle and gain back the focus in his eyes, but before it happened a familiar foot kicked painfully into his stomach again, forcing out every bit of air from his lungs.
He fell back to the ground on his stomach with a disgusting splashing sound as his body hit the mud. He turned his head and tried to open his eyes, however he couldn't open the left one. He couldn't move. He never felt so weak, so vulnerable…so defeated. A harsh voice was continuously screaming inside his head, to get up, to fight, sometimes even teasing him, how sick and pathetic he was. Toroku hardened himself and slowly moved his hands under his chest to push himself up one more time.
"Give up and just stay still. Don't make this harder than necessary." He heard a harsh baritone voice whisper into his ear and he felt a rough hand on his shoulder. An animalistic snarl left his mouth at the unpleasant feeling.
"I-I'm s-stubborn. I'll n-never give up!" A foxy grin appeared on his face unwittingly, while he heard his own cracking, but determined voice from a distance. He tensed his aching and heavy muscles to shove the man off of his back, before he could be knocked out, when he heard something in the distance. He blinked in surprise.
Birds. Birds were chirping continuously. Not one, not a dozen…hundreds, maybe thousands of chirping birds could be heard from everywhere. His left shoulder started to ache painfully, like someone had stabbed him with a knife and twisted it, but he only managed a painful groan.
The spinning feeling reappeared in his brain while he distantly sensed that the dark night was starting to glow an azure blue while a familiar scent forced its way into his nose, suppressing the metallic scent of his own blood mixed with the wet soil and mud around him. He didn't sense anything else, only the chipping of a thousand birds around him, and flashes of blue. Four small furred paws appeared in front of his blurry eyes, distant yelps and explosions forced themselves into his raw ears. He turned his head slowly and looked into a pair of chocolate brown worried eyes of the small pug.
"Pak-kun." The pup nodded and started to bark loudly next to the blond, who forced his eyes shut by the irritating and loud voice. He heard as someone landed in the mud next to him and he was finally able to open both of his eyes and turned his head toward the white haired man.
"T-took you l-long enough. You s-stopped at a bath?" A cocky grin spread across his face and the sennin couldn't help but smile back softly.
"Stay there Gaki and don't move." Toroku snorted and let out a small chuckle, when Jiraiya disappeared, jumping into the middle of the fight around them. A minute later a clone of Kakashi jumped next to the blond, who already started to struggle himself up.
"N-nice jutsu y-you got. Where d-did you learn?" The clone had chuckled awkwardly and helped him to sit up. The blond shook his head and split out sidelong some blood, then leaned on Kakashi to straighten himself on his wobbling legs, coughing to clear his throat.
"They gave me something…I don't think I can help. My chakra system is messed up totally." The clone nodded.
"Can you stand alone?"
"I'm not that pathetic you know." He sent a foxy grin to the clone, who rolled his two visible eyes and nodded before he jumped after the sannin into battle.
Jiraiya held up one of his hands to stop Kakashi from rushing forward where the four Iwa nins surrounded the obviously woozy Toroku. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the sight as Toroku was wobbling on his legs, desperately trying to defend himself. The four Iwa shinobi were using only low level jutsu to capture him, and taijutsu to knock him down.
Toroku was obviously able to free himself. Jiraiya gestured to Kakashi to the right with his head and put the small mutt down on the ground. The jounin nodded and without a word he positioned himself next to the group, he immediately uncovered his sharingan and glanced to the sannin, waiting desperately for the sign to jump into action. The sannin slowly ran through a chain of hand sings and nodded to the jounin. Lightning chakra encompassed his fist and quickly surrounded his arm almost to his shoulders. The familiar voice of a thousand chirping birds echoed in the clearing, forcing the Iwa shinobi to freeze when Kakashi burst out from his hiding place with insane speed. His attack cut deep scars into the ground where the lighting chakra plunged into the soil as he dashed toward the large shinobi leaning above Toroku's laying form, ready to knock him out with the back of his kunai.
He shot his hand toward the Iwa commander and felt as his hand plunged through the man's body, straight into to his heart, before his body melted away into a pile of mud. Kakashi dismissed the mud clone, turned, and leaped toward a kunoichi who had already started forming hand seals without a pause in his motion. He jumped and slid across the mud to strike her from behind, but his hands didn't reach her. A stone wall appeared between them, but Kakashi didn't bother himself to stop. He used the wall, and leaped toward the caster from it.
Jiraiya stayed in his hiding spot, watching the enemy's reactions carefully, as Kakashi rushed toward the commander of the team. A half smile ran across his face, and he jumped into the battle forming one single hand seal, rushing toward an empty spot.
"Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Wild Lion's Mane Technique)!"
His hair suddenly expanded, hardened and exploded into the ground, forming a wild, lion like snarl. The sannin narrowed his eyes, and with another seal his hair dragged out a giant shinobi from the soil. The lion like fangs had bitten hard into the shinobi's shoulder, drawing small crimson lines of blood on his brown flak jacket. He released the jutsu and his hair moved back to its original form. Jiraiya made another hand seal and a shadow clone jumped toward Kakashi to provide backup with the other three Iwa jounin. Jiraiya already recognized the man in front of him, and he would be a hard nut to crack. He hoped Kakashi could handle the others since he had to face the second Commander of Iwa's shinobi forces, Kitsuchi.
The man narrowed his eyes and glanced toward his comrades from the corner of his eye. The sennin utilized the opportunity and immediately jumped toward the man, landing a hard punch to his temple to knock him out in one shot. A painful grimace ran through the sage's face as his fist connected with solid rock instead of hard bone. The commander's right fist became encased with rock and he swung his punch toward Jiraiya in response. Meanwhile, Jiraiya ran through hand seals and his hair immediately expanded, surrounding the sannin's form with sharp spikes of the Hari Jizō (Needle Jizō). A countless number of sharp needles shot toward the commander, who jumped backward and ran through numerous hand signs in midair, slamming his palms onto the ground when he landed.
"Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Release: Earth Release Wall)!"
A mud wall appeared in front of the commander and immediately hardened, deflecting the sharp needles. Jiraiya didn't waste any time, he jumped above the wall to release a fire technique toward the commander.
Kakashi distantly sensed the clone of Jiraiya as it hopped down next to Toroku to check up on his condition, while he was occupied with the other three ninja. He heard the cracking voice of the blond, then he felt the same clone jump next to him.
"How is he?"
"Disoriented, probably drugged, beaten and cocky. He'll be ok." Kakashi nodded and crossed his fingers to create a shadow clone for himself. He nodded toward the blond and the clone jumped to Toroku.
"It's time to get serious." Kakashi nodded his approval and shot out toward the Kunoichi in front of him, drawing out his short katana while Jiraiya's clone jumped toward the remaining two Iwa nin.
Jiraiya was finally able to single the commander with a fire release, who was continuously hided underground during their fight. He glanced toward where his clone and Kakashi were fighting with the remaining Iwa jounin. The sannin bit down his fingertip, summoning a man sized stoic looking green toad with a katana on his back.
"Gamahiro, I need some backup here." The toad blinked, looked around and immediately jumped into stance at the sight of the charging Iwa commander. Jiraiya flinched when his clone disappeared by a spike from the earth and his memories of their fight poured back to him, the charging Kakashi and Toroku leaning against a tree trunk to support his weight in the background. A violent scream echoed in the clearing as Kakashi slammed his hand onto the ground and sent a Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Style: Earth Flash) jutsu toward the remaining Iwa shinobi.
The commander froze in space as he turned to see his last comrade fall limply to the ground with an inhuman shout. He immediately turned around and charged toward Kakashi and Toroku, his hands forming seals with blurring speed, while he simply jumped over the stunned toad. He leaped into the air and slammed his hands onto the ground sending his last bit of chakra into the soil.
"Doton: Sando no Jutsu (Earth Release: Mountainous Earth Technique)!"
The earth cracked in half between the two young and weary shinobi, and two enormous rock formations appeared in order to close around and smash them to pieces. Only the sannin's quick reflexes, shooting white hair forward to push them out of the technique's range, saved the two boys from becoming as thin as a pancake. A defeated roar left the commanders mouth as he fell to his knees, his body trembling from the strain and the chakra exhaustion. Jiraiya was breathing heavily as he wiped some blood from his forehead while glancing toward the two boys. Toroku limped toward them, leaning on Kakashi's shoulders, until they reached the stock-still laying and panting form of the commander.
"That was a very nasty technique." Jiraiya stated coldly, eyeing the scratches and cuts on Kakashi and the obviously more-aware eyes of Toroku, who slowly lowered himself to the ground to sit down, hanging into the jounin's arm for support.
"What the heck did you give me? It's so damn annoying."
"I'm going to kill you…" Kitsuchi hissed between his teeth, however he wasn't able to move even a finger. He put his last bit of chakra into that last technique and every part of his body felt numb and alien.
"You should know when to give up." Jiraiya stated calmly while he worked to secure the enemy ninja with wires. Kitsuchi's eyes flared with burning hatred, as they moved from Toroku to Kakashi and back.
"I'm going to kill you..." Toroku narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the commander.
"What did we even do to you? Geez. Stone and Fire are in the middle of a peace talk."
"You killed them."
"All of your comrades are alive, they're just knocked out." Toroku stated calmly, while he examined a nasty bruise on his side, hissing when his fingers touched his probably broken ribs. He shook his head again and blinked when dizziness started to appear again in his mind.
"You killed them." The blonde's eyes twitched.
"We didn't kill anyone, so just shut up!" the always-stoic Kakashi burst out as the gathering tension broke his mental walls.
"You were the one, who killed them three months ago! You and your damn Hokage!" The flairs of hatred almost glowed in his eyes as he attempted to lunge toward Kakashi, who narrowed his eyes next to the sannin.
"Hatake Kakashi and your damn Hokage. You were the one who killed my brother-in-law at the Kannabi Bridge! It was you! And your damn Hokage slaughtered my wife on the frontlines on the same day!" Kakashi obviously flinched and he slowly turned his head away from the commander.
"I killed, because if I hadn't then I would have been killed. Same with sensei…We are shinobi." He stated calmly, but the Iwa ninja didn't bother to even listen to the young jounin. His mind became foggy as anger and hatred took over the rational part of his mind, shouting away his pain to the world.
"I hope you remember him! His name was Kakko! Remember his name for the rest of your pathetic life! Kakko! He and his team were sent out to scout! He had black eyes and thick, shaggy brown hair! I hope his two blades made that scar on your face! Life for life! I will kill you, and that blond! Your Hokage took away my wife, and I will take away his relative!" Kakashi's muscle tensed and he narrowed his eyes. A small tremble ran down his spine and he felt rage and hatred rising inside him, bubbling and burning away everything of the outside world, as the realization hit him hard.
"I will remember your brother-in-law for the rest of my life, but not because you told me to." His sharingan glowed dangerously and the tomoes started to spin menacingly. Kakashi suddenly burst forward, his short sword entered to the ground a millimeter from Kitsuchi's throat as the jounin slammed it into the soil. His hands shaking from his emotions, his whole body trembled unstoppably and his sword draw a thin red line on the commander's neck by the movement.
"He killed my comrade! My best friend, the person who I looked at like he was my brother and I didn't even get the opportunity to tell him so! Life for life you said?" Kakashi's voice was ice cold, full of the same burning and boiling hatred as the Iwa nin, which sent chills down Toroku's spine.
"Will it be an equivalent if I kill you?"
"Just do it." The commander narrowed his eyes and split out the word like it was sour poison and in the end chuckled insanely. Jiraiya folded his hands in front of his chest and his eyes darkened as he watched the flames of pure hatred in the eyes both Kitsuchi and Kakashi. The sannin stepped forward, opening his mouth to interfere; but before he could say anything, something inside forced him to stop as he met the azure blue orbs of Toroku. Kakashi slowly pulled out his Katana from the ground to make one more, this time precise, cut with it.
"You'll let him kill you? You'd throw away your own life that easily?" The Iwa nin blinked and a spark of consciousness returned to his haunted eyes and Kakashi stopped his movement. Toroku slowly raised himself from the ground, his legs wobbled as he leaned on his knees to support himself before he straightened and stood above the prostrate commander and the crouching Kakashi.
"And what would happen if Kakashi kills you? Will that bring back Obito? Or maybe your brother-in-law will be resurrected? Or your wife? You know what will happen? I know. Your relatives will swear vengeance on killing him. If they kill him, his friends will go after your relatives. And so on. Hatred only give birth to death whitch in the end will bear more hatred. Only peace can stop this never ending circle."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes while Kakashi eventually calmed down his nerves, which were stretched to the breaking point. His hands never left his katana, but the killing intent he emitted slowly dissipated. Kitsuchi forced his sore muscles to move and turned his head to look up at the blond shinobi. He locked his dark eyes with the cerulean orbs to find sadness on his face and pity in his eyes.
"It doesn't matter. You speak of peace. There won't be any peace! There is no such thing as peace!"
Toroku stayed silent for a long minute, carefully examining the haunted eyes of the commander, the eyes, burning with the flames of hatred, melting away everything else as he saw Minato's face despite the differences. A soft smile ran across his features; a soft and caring smile, which only a mother could show to her own child. The Iwa commander blinked in surprise. The smile disappeared from his face and sheer determination replaced it flaring unstoppably in his azure blue orbs like a sapphire inferno.
"There is peace." Toroku's voice was firm, yet soft; echoing, yet still quiet; harsh, but still pleasant like a lullaby.
"I'll break the cycle of hatred. I'll break this curse. If there is such a thing as peace, I'll find it. Believe in me. I won't give up!" Jiraiya distantly felt somewhere that his hands had fallen limply to his side and his lips parted in his surprise and awe. The commander blinked once more in confusion.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Toroku glanced down calmly at their captive, his azure orbs never let go of the determination for a long silent minute.
The silence suddenly broke when the determination disappeared from his face, replaced by his well-known foxy grim. Jiraiya sighed, but a thought never left his mind… a thought from a prophecy, about one of his students. Well, he was actually a jounin-sensei. A sensei of Toroku who was technically his student.
"I'm-"
Toroku suddenly froze. His arms don't move, although he wanted to grab his temper and scream as something cracked in his head and started to burn like an inferno, tearing his brain to shreds, bubbling and melting away his sanity. The pain suddenly stopped as fast as it came and the only thing he felt was sheer exhaustion. He distantly sense his knees give up holding his weight and his body slowly falling to hit the hard. He didn't feel the pain of the impact.
He sluggishly opened his eyes, turning his head as he calmly realized that he had passed out from exhaustion. He was again inside the never-ending sewer in the ankle deep water. He slowly shook his head and stood up. His body almost cheerfully began to march toward his final destination where he would find that damn old rusty door without a handle and in the end he would drown in the ice cold water. But he didn't care anymore. Somehow he felt happy and calm beyond words.
Author's Note:
I'm evil to stop right now. I'm pure evil. But who cares. Hope you still love me.
Next chapter: Door Handle
Until that time: Drumroll please… (Hope you already know what's going to happen) Hey look! There is a next button. See, I'm not THAT evil :) Double upload as a surprise, and to motivate you a little bit, free digital art commission for the one who leaves the 300th review. Ensure that I can contact you here or on deviantart!
Answers for the probably upcoming questions:
How can it be that Naruto is powerful but they were still able to capture him? Because he was exhausted. Yes he is strong, but even the strongest can fall if they unconsciously let their guard down.
Kakko and Kitsuchi relation is made up by me. Writer's freedom. Deal with it.