Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies I don't know.
Applause goes for my precious beta readers: ImaginationJunkie1412, Duesal Bladesinger, Minatochan2 and also a big thank you for the Awesome Authors Coalition members.
Original upload date:10th of October 2015
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Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 32. – Before the maelstrom
Peace is contradictory by its very nature. People long for it. They speak out to stop the fighting and violence, all in the name of peace. At this very moment, the finest shinobi of the village hidden in the leaves were preparing to march into a battle for it. The greatest irony was that peace was something that must be protected through violence. For the sake of their future, of their children and altogether for the sake of the whole shinobi world, sometimes you had to be a hypocrite.
Konoha envoys had spread all across the elemental nations to call shinobi into battle, asking the Kage for their champions to support the fight against a common enemy whose final goal was to steal all the bijuu and shove the word into a never-ending genjutsu. Minato carefully elected not to share more details than were absolutely necessary, but he still provided enough information for the Kage to at least consider his request.
Strangely, the shinobi world answered the call. Fighters came from all five nations, if not armies then at least the strongest their lands were able to offer.
It wasn't because Ohnoki had let go of his currently dormant hatred, but because Kitsuchi had volunteered. Nor did the Raikage overcome his stubbornness, but Bee was just more stubborn than him this time. The Kazekage sent a whole squad without even asking anything, hoping to repay the debt he owed to Minato and his brother.
All of this was possible because of a single man. Because of the bonds he made, the friendships and alliances he had been building all over the nations during the last eleven months since Uzumaki Naruto had crashed into the era. It wasn't the Allied Shinobi Forces nor even a union, but it was a great step toward it. For the first time since shinobi walked the Earth, the great nations would fight together and not against each other for selfish goals like land, power, or resources. This time they would fight for the sake of the future kings, the children from Iwa, Suna, Kumo, Kiri, and even the smaller countries.
Weapons tinkled as honing stones skimmed on their surfaces in the otherwise silent room under the Hokage tower. The shinobi sharpened them to a keen edge to effortlessly slice even a falling silk scarf. Countless kunai slipped into pouches silently to take their places next to hundreds of smoke, flash, and who knows what kinds of bombs.
At the highest floor of the tower, Naruto, Minato, Jiraiya and Sarutobi prepared for the battle in their own way; by going over every small detail the time traveller could provide about Obito's abilities and strategy over and over again.
Naruto rubbed his face and let out a deep growl, but halfway it morphed into a tired sigh as fatigue overcame him. Telling them everything he could remember repeatedly was pushing him beyond his limits. And he'd definitely been at his limits for the past few hours, continuously balancing on the thin line that separated his logical and emotional mind.
Recalling a past that he wasn't keen to recall… it felt like a kunai shoved into his heart to even remember some of those events, but talking about the techniques and how they killed his comrades during the war was like a twist with that kunai with every single sentence. He struggled against remembering the details they were so eager to know about. The only thing that restrained him from shouting "No more!" was the belief that this intel would save their lives.
Naruto finally reached the end of his tales with his last battle against Obito and shot a pleading glance at his father, who until now had listened to his explanations with a furrowed brow. Minato ran his eyes over his son's tensed form until they settled down on his tired expression. The kage winced and nodded and Naruto immediately slumped in the armchair like a puppet without its strings, finally relieved over the pressure of remembering.
Jiraiya strolled to the other side of the room silently to gaze out of the window, reassuringly squeezing Naruto's shoulder as he passed by.
"We should leave Bee-san here. Bringing another jinchuuriki inside is foolish."
Naruto let out a snort. "Octo-pops is a super-strong shinobi. He's almost in sync with Gyüki, and he was a great asset on our side during the war. He can take care of himself, even if he's a bit weaker now, he can still be one of our trump cards. Besides, he's already here. If we leave him behind or send him home it would ruin the trust we've been building between our nations.'
Letting out a sigh, Minato nodded and this only made his former teacher to grimace. "We'll need Kakashi for this. If their sharingan works as a pair and they're able to open the same portal, we'll need him to deal with Obito. But he's not ready for it. Not yet," Jiraiya muttered with a sour voice from the far end of the room. Naruto let out a snarl both in frustration and in protest, but his father was faster.
"No. We can't wait until he reaches that level. It's true that in Naruto's original timeline only Kakashi was able to follow him into that dimension, but here Obito is younger, slower and inexperienced with his abilities. He is vulnerable. But so is Kakashi. I won't drag him into this. We can do this without him. Naruto, you told me that I was able to free Kurama from his influence. For this I had to touch him. I can keep up with him."
Naruto's only answer was a weak nod, not having the energy to even say a faint yes. The Yellow Flash let out a sigh, strolled next to his son and squeezed his shoulder encouragingly.
"It will be soon over, I promise. But we have to go over one more thing." Naruto glanced up at him through his bangs and slowly nodded, but not until Minato sent him a reassuring smile that somehow charged him up a little. "I need to speak with Kurama."
Naruto didn't answer, but instead gathered enough chakra for one single shadow clone and let the technique free. The clone's features almost instantly began to morph, his canines expanded as his whisker marks thickened and the blue of his eyes slowly turned into crimson. A second later the replica's once distressed expression turned into calm and collected, almost cold, but still curious as it turned toward the Kage .
"What do you want to know?"
Minato took place on the arm of the chair next to Naruto and folded his arms. "Everything about the night Kushina and..." he took a breath to steady his drumming hearth and continued, "I died. Everything about Obito and his abilities he had showed during that event."
Naruto winced and squirmed deeper into the chair, but he stopped fidgeting as soon his father leaned toward him, Their shoulders met and the small contact and his warmth immediately calmed him down.
Kurama observed the small exchange for a silent moment before answering. "I wasn't entirely aware of what was happening outside while Obito controlled me, but I do remember Naruto's birth and the sealing. However, I don't think that will happen the same way in this timeline due to our arrival. I can tell you more about it, but it would be a waste of time. What you really need to know more about is Obito's current power, style and techniques. And that can only be achieved by inspecting the fight between you and Obito, between the birth and the sealing. But unfortunately, I was demolishing Konoha at the time, so I didn't actually see any of it. The only one who would be able to truly speak about it is you, Minato." The fox paused, and a sly smirk spread over his face. "There is a way you can get this information from your future version. Isn't that right, Yondaime?"
Minato raised his brow, eyes curiously darting over Kurama's features. The fox let his smirk widened and the Kage grimaced at the fact that he'd been caught. In the end, he lifted one shoulder and let it drop. "Well, I think I could contact my older self in the seal."
Naruto quirked an eyebrow and suspiciously observed his father's nervous body language. "Hey, what? How do you know about him?"
"Well, you know there was this time when I poked at your seal and… me and him had a minute to talk." Minato shut his mouth with an audible click and waited for his son's judgement. No more lies. No more secrets. That was their deal, and thanks to the Fox they were starting to act that way.
He winced and stayed in silence, but thankfully before the situation could escalate any further, Kurama stepped in with a pleased smirk. "It doesn't matter, and it isn't necessary. You have those memories, Naruto. Minato showed you what happened back then."
Silence replaced the previously tensed conversation, each man letting himself to drift into his own thoughts. Kurama glanced down at Naruto, this time addressing his partner who sat there, eyes closed, his brow furrowed into one troubled line. "You should speak to that Yamanaka."
Naruto didn't answer, not really noticing that he was being addressed until he couldn't shake off a nagging feeling that eyes were trained on the back of his head. So he slowly forced his eyes open to realize that everyone's attention was glued on him. A sheepish smile spread across his face and he scratched the back of his head. "I wasn't really listening."
Kurama let out a snarl and repeated, "I said that you should speak to that Yamanaka and ask for help."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Inoichi?"
"No you idiot, not that one. The girl in your mindscape. Inu or Ino or whatever her name was. Her skills will come in handy now," Kurama growled, smacking Naruto on his crown.
The blond furrowed his brow while he nursed his throbbing head and opened his mouth to retort with something nasty, but the fox was faster as it barked out. "Just do it."
"Okay, okay. Geez, you're snappy today," Naruto muttered, but did as he was told. He closed his eyes and forced his heart to beat slower, almost freezing together with his chakra flow. One more heartbeat and he could already smell the odd and invading smell of the old books and scrolls around him. He slowly opened his eyes and she was there, watching him curiously.
Her eyes drifted toward her own arms, her eyebrow already raising. "It feels strange," muttered Ino, her eyes glued on her hands, observing as she clenched and unclenched them. "It's different than last time," she explained to the puzzled Naruto and took a step toward the stunned boy.
"I gave you some additional chakra this time," boomed Kurama's voice from everywhere, the vitrines' windows tinkled as the deep tenor shook them.
Ino glanced up to the high ceiling and took another step toward Naruto. Then another and she continued until she was only an inch away from him. Naruto blinked when something warm brushed against his cheeks and it took another second for him to realise it was Ino's breathing. He raised his suddenly trembling arms, pausing on the way for a moment until he met with Ino's encouraging smile and tucked back a platinum blonde tuft behind Ino's ears.
"You're... real," Naruto exhaled, his voice shaking from excitement.
"No. Not real. But solid," Ino whispered and in the next moment he was in her embrace, her arms almost painfully closed around him. He didn't hesitate to return it. They stayed like that for seconds, minutes, who could know how long, until Kurama broke the precious moment.
"We're running out of time. With my chakra, you should be able to show one of your tricks to Naruto."
"What tricks?" Naruto asked, as he slowly untangled his arms around his comrade. He made one last regretful glance at the still smiling kunoichi and took a step backward to gain some space. "You mean she has a way to show my memories to the others? Without all those creepy devices? "
"Yeah, I do," Ino agreed and also took a step backward. "But you won't just show him your memories, you'll transfer them."
"Transfer?" Naruto furrowed his brow, carefully observing as the girl slowly running through a short chain of handsigns. When she finished, she extended one graceful finger and gradually touch his forehead.
Then it happened. One moment it wasn't there, then in the next it was.
A memory of a jutsu that until now he hadn't even heard of let alone known. Not only the necessary hand signs, but everything that was needed to perform it. The amount of chakra, how it should flow, how he should hold his pinky a little further apart than in the original description to reduce its chakra cost. He could feel the memory even in his muscles. He let his mouth drop and glanced up at her, eyes wide, still puzzled. Her smile softened, then suddenly widened into a cheeky grin.
"What? You thought it was only you who got better as the years went by?"
Naruto let out a snort and shook his head. "No. Of course not." Naruto suddenly froze, his eyes bulging. "Hey! So you remember after all?"
Ino shrugged, but the cheekiness was still in her smile. "I lied," she giggled and gave a small shove to the shinobi. "Go now. Show them what Uzumaki Naruto is capable of. And do me a favour. Give Madara what he deserves."
The boy let his smile grew until it finally reached his eyes. He nodded, and after one last grateful glance at his comrade he left his mindscape.
There was a spike in Naruto's chakra and Jiraiya took a step toward the blond as soon his heart rate sped up to its normal pace. "So? What happened?"
Naruto let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in and cracked his eyes open to peer up at his expectant companions. A wide grin spread across his face, wide enough to reach his eyes once more. "I've got a cool jutsu from her!" he burst out happily and only a hair-thin line hold him from literally bouncing over the office.
He suddenly straightened himself and stepped in front of his father, his previous fatigue nowhere to be found, his hands by now on the first symbol. "I can show you what you want to know, now."
He finished the signs in union with the sentence, one finger already extended toward his father's forehead. Naruto paused, waiting for Minato to agree. A small chakra sparkle greedily leapt from the fingertip to Minato's skin, and as soon it reached him, he nodded almost immediately.
The jinchuuriki's grin slowly faded away as seriousness took over its place. He touched his father's cool forehead and released the technique he was until now holding back from trigger.
It took only a second, a short, fragile moment of stillness before the storm. Then suddenly it was there with the speed and ferocity of a thunderbolt.
Minato flinched a shaky step backward and covered the distance between himself and the armchair Naruto had previously occupied to literally crash into it as his foot bucked under the sudden pressure of the overwhelming memories.
The fight with Obito was short, like all should be with the Yellow Flash involved. Obito was fast, and he couldn't deny that he was smart, but at the end everything depended on speed. And in that, Minato was still superior.
But more memories slipped through about that night. His son really tried to be careful, restraining most of the events which weren't connected to the actual fight with Obito and his abilities, but Naruto couldn't hold back everything. Flashes of images, smells and sounds flared in Minato's mind for moments before fading back to where they came from.
A scream penetrated the darkness. Kushina, Minato dimly recognized. It was high and pained, but full of anticipation and impatience. Another wail, this time a baby's. A flair of overwhelming joy and the sweet smell of vanilla, and then it was gone. He tried to grab onto to that small fragment but it was to no avail. It slipped out from his hands like fine silk.
A different scene, this time sharp and clear. An orange mask flashed up, then the iron tang of blood.
A baby screamed in protest as it was tossed in the air. He was more able to smell the invading stench as dozens of bomb tags flared to life on Naruto's skin than actually see it, then it was thankfully gone.
A flicker of a crimson tail, and a whole district vanished from Konoha.
Another scream came from the distance, dulled by the bluster around him, but he was still able to recognize the pain in its high pitch.
Gamabunta grunted and shifted beneath him, the woods groaning under his weight.
Golden chains shot out in desperation toward the rampaging fox.
A final picture made him seal his mouth shut with an audible snap and curl his hands tightly around the edge of the armchair.
A flash of Kushina's face, lips and chin painted ruby from the flowing blood, but she was still smiling, softer than he had ever seen her.
It hurt. It hurt more than he could even understand. The knowledge that Kushina would be gone. Then it suddenly stopped as grim determination took the place of his previous misery.
Minato blinked, desperately trying to clear away the white fog that suddenly occupied his whole vision and mind. It gradually cleared and the Kage let out a calming breath and ran a hand along his hair.
When he finally gathered his shattered psyche, he disregarded everyone else around him, his eyes found a small puffy cloud outside of the window and locked his gaze onto it. He watched as it slowly shifted with the wind, edges gradually fading until there were no recognizable forms, only the azure sky.
For the first time he felt the weight of that night. The true burden of the responsibility Naruto had been carrying for all these months.
He let out another breath and finally closed his eyes and slumped back in the chair with a soft, inaudible exhale. "What have you done, Obito?"
The night before the departure was peaceful, silent and the first day of October was chilly. The winter showed itself for the first time, frost glimmering on the windows of the Hokage mansion. Naruto watched the gleaming crystals closely, hands crossed on the ledge, his chin resting on them, his nose almost touching the cold glass. A shiver ran up on his spine at the frosty sensation on his face, but it died down halfway in the warm room at his back.
Clothes ruffled behind him, the constant, faint, but sweet smell of vanilla became more apparent as Kushina stepped next to Naruto. He tapped into nature's energy, letting it flow through his coils until he found the tiny life at his back he was looking for. The presence was small, almost unnoticeable even with the barest hint of senjutsu in him, but it was enough to make sure that the small life was all right.
The woman ran her fingers along his shoulder until she reached his hairline and the boy let his eyelashes drop together with the last driblet of senjutsu, giving himself up to the warm sensation of the carressing digits and to the rare moment of peace in his life. Kushina's fingers stroked the small crack between his cheek and chin, seeking more purchase, and he obediently tilted his head to give in to her demands. Her hand slid over his cheek, fingers gently tracing the lingering baby fat on his face. He allowed himself to be lulled into a half-awake, half-asleep state for minutes, not caring about anything only concentrating on the warm sensation of his mother's touch he'd so longed for.
A forgotten crack cried out under a new weight as Minato stepped onto the ancient old wooden floor. Letting out a sigh, Naruto finally straightened himself. Kushina didn't let her touch to break, not even for a second, her hands shadowing her son's slow movement until Minato was next to them, silently watching the small exchange between mother and son.
Only then did she move to drop her hand, but Naruto stopped it. Not forcefully, but with a mere tilt of his head as he chased her hands in their motion. It was enough for her to stop and let her son to press himself once again into the flat of her hands for one last second before he breathed a small kiss on her palm.
Minato's lips curved upward, but he still didn't dare to break the moment between them. He already felt himself as an intruder from the moment Naruto straightened. The blonde finally glanced up at him, eyes foggy, face flushed and he looked almost feverish, but not because of illness but most likely of happiness.
The Kage leaned toward his wife to seek contact, his hand already on Naruto's shoulder, the other carefully wrapped around Kushina's waist. They gave up themselves to this small, peaceful moment entirely, doing nothing, thinking nothing, only reaching out for all the warmness around them that embraced the reunited family on this chilly night.
Before they departed tomorrow morning.
The air at the gates was heavy with the different moods mixed around. The anticipation, the fear, the tension, and the sadness of those who came to say farewell to their loved ones. The excitement of those who thought this would be their great chance to show their skills and to step up on the imaginary ladder of the hierarchy. And the cold calculation how some saw this mission.
Kushina hugged her husband under the shadows of a giant oak tree, the leader utilizing the motion to steal a small kiss from the woman, shrouding away their intimacy from unwanted eyes.
Kakashi let the grimace he'd been holding back spread across his face, his concentration falling only for a second before turning back to Naruto who checked his backpack for the third time in one row in the last five seconds. Jiraiya chatted casually with Kitsuchi at the other side of the road, while the ever-loud kumo jinchuuriki for once silently listened to their conversation.
Naruto finally made sure for the fourth time that yes, he hadn't left anything at his room, and yes even the spare of the spare barrier seal was also in his pack, and he let his eyes roam the small crowd. A lonely ANBU waited silently next to the watch-house, face shrouded by the cold porcelain mask. Naruto couldn't recognize the crow it symbolized, but even without his nose or his other senses, the untidy mass of black hair was more than enough to know it was Shisui.
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the gathered shinobi from a distance, his pipe empty of fire or even any herb, but he still chewed it absently. He was too disturbed to refill it before he departed from home, and this little slip would stay with him until his grave. The "Professor" simply forgot it in his own mixed emotions. Hopefully no one would ever notice it, especially not Jiraiya, or he would be the living dartboard of his teasing about his encroaching senility.
The aging kage let out a long and weary sigh, which really told tales about how old he felt at the moment. He let his eyes roam on the gathering, observed Kushina's round stomach, then his eyes drifted up to the very same boy who will be soon born if everything went according to the plan they discussed.
There was a shift in the atmosphere around the foreign shinobi as Minato stepped next to his son at the enormous wooden gates, closely followed by Kushina. A slight unease, but they shook off the feeling soon enough. The Kage ran his eyes over the gathering, resting his sight on each of the volunteers before settling down once more on his wife's nervous expression. She already chewed her lower lip raw since morning, and only the fox's chakra kept it from bleeding.
The woman's lips trembled and she shot forward, disregarded the curious eyes around them and flung herself into Minato's arms, dragging Naruto with her in the same motion to unite them in a desperate hug. The kage gave a final kiss to his wife to lull away her anger for not letting her coming with them and to whist her anxiety with the small contact.
Naruto mimicked his father, planting a small kiss on her other cheek. "Everything will be alright."
"Promise?" she murmured into Minato's neck. A weak and pointless question, but Kushina still wanted to hear it. Needed to hear it.
"I promise. I won't let anyone die on my watch. I don't go back on my word."
Minato's lips turned upward in a small smile and kept the contact for some time, before he finally broke it with regret to lead the mismatched team into the heart of the Mountain's Graveyard.
The speed Minato had been dictating was far from his reputation, but also far from leasure. They traveled with a semi-comfortable, but still efficient pace, careful to not overstrain the unusual group.
The time traveler quickened his pace to catch up with his father, running with him in complete sync. They jumped in union, flung their legs at the same second and even their hearts pick up the same rhythm with time. Naruto couldn't keep up the silence anymore and glanced at his father. "So, how're we gonna do it? I mean, I know we went through a bunch of options, but what do you think?
Minato furrowed his brow in concentration, making a bigger jump from a branch than was actually necessary. "We'll follow the tactics as we discussed. And we definitely don't need any reckless moves from you."
"You know that I might be forced to use all my strength, right?"
The kage didn't answer, but his face hardened in comprehension, so Naruto continued. "What will we do then? How will we explain Kurama's chakra to the others? I mean I'm pretty sure Octopops would be able to feel him." The blond tilted his head backward where the loud jailor scribbled into his notebook while traveling, disregarding the danger of falling flat on the ground by sidestepping a branch.
"Take it easy. We'll cross that bridge if we came to it," Minato tossed back his answer casually, but he wasn't so confident in it as he sounded.
This was actually a pretty good question. He was sure that he'd receive tons of demanding letters from all over the elemental nations when they finished this mission. He was even surprised that the Kage let any of their shinobi to join them with so little information he had provided.
Come, join me to save the word.
Who would answer that kind of ridiculous call?
And here they were, a dozen shinobi mixed from every nation, traveling peacefully side by side except for some small bickering. But it eased away the tension between them rather than fueling it.
"So, about my dad..."
Minato glanced to his side, and Naruto continued. "You know, the you who lives in my seal. What'd he say?"
Minato couldn't help but smile sadly at the eagerness in Naruto's tone. How much had he longed to hear from his parents? How lonely had he been? How much of that had been Minato's fault?
"He's proud of you, you know," Minato told him.
Naruto's eyes widened, and he slowed to a stop. "Really?" he whispered, his expression desperate and anguished in equal measure.
Minato stopped as well, turning with a warm smile like beams of sunlight, doing his best to mask his own sadness and guilt. "How could he not be?"
Naruto's face crumpled, and he sniffed and stubbornly swiped at his eyes, unwilling to cry. At the end, he restrained his tears and instead let out a small chuckle, lighting up the previous mood. "Dad," Naruto said.
"What is it, Naruto?" Minato turned slowly, his lips also curving upward.
"Thanks." Naruto's smile grew even bigger, from soft to cheeky. "Come, we can't chat here all day. We've got to save the world, don't we?" he nodded toward the horizon as an invitation to continue their journey, but he didn't actually wait for Minato to follow him. He jumped high, higher than was actually necessary, and Minato has to force some chakra into his legs to catch up to his relative.
The kage made a side glance at his relative, and his mind wandered back to the conversation with Shikaku before the chuunin exams. "Your brother's going to be a very important ninja."
His thoughts lingered in that memory for one more second before dismissing it. It was so accurate, but no one could know the whole truth. His son already did become a very important ninja, just not here, just not now.
Minato gracefully landed in the middle of a clearing, his motion followed by the small team through the darkness of the night. On his signal, the team moved like one single man, and within minutes, the camp was standing, a small fire already playfully cracking in the center. The shinobi settled around it, filling the clearing with warm chatter, fuelling the small heat to grow out the meadow.
Minato glanced at his side, first at Jiraiya then at Naruto, holding their gaze only for seconds, but still having a whole conversation with that small contact. The Kage nodded, then straightened, gaining everyone's attention immediately.
"We missed the detailed briefing before departure. Now, I'm going to make up for this shortcoming," he held each of their gaze in the flickering firelight, then continued. "The enemy we are dealing with is an Uchiha. He has the ability to make himself intangible and he can use teleportation. We already know that he teleports his body or its parts to another dimension to become intangible." Minato made a pause to inhale the cold night's air and went on. "The goal of this mission is to prevent the Fourth Shinobi World War."
Minato bargained for some kind of reaction. Any kind of reaction. But only the narrowing eyes and tensing muscles indicated that they even heard him.
Finally, Bee let out a snort and shook his head. "Don't you feel offended, but the third war barely ended. How could you stop another by killing one man, my brutha? It'll take some time for the nations to prepare, and that'll be the time for the ninja to beware."
"We don't have time. He's aiming for the bijuus. He wants their power and by taking them, he'll unbalance the nations," Naruto barked into stillness and all the attention was glued on him in an instant. "The person we are looking for is..." he glanced up at his father for reassurance, but none came. "...is Uchiha Madara."
All sounds died down around the small group. Nothing could be heard, not even the unnaturally quiet breathing of shinobi. Even the crickets had fallen silent.
A chill seemed to fall over the air.
Naruto vehemently shook his head, his chakra shifting, growing inside him, until it reached a certain level and the technique triggered. A clone popped into existence, then poofed once more to transform into an all-too-familiar person. The Uchiha Madara he knew from the future stood in his crimson battle gear in the middle of the meadow, several cracks slashing over his disinterested face the exact way he remembered. Long unruly hair flowed down to his back, and his eyes both glowed red.
"This is the real Uchiha Madara. He's dead now, but he has a backup plan. He wants to use a special technique and resurrect himself. For that, he needs him." Naruto motioned to is other side, where another clone appeared and transformed immediately. A black robe shrouded most of his body, but Obito's old Orange mask with the black flame pattern viciously stood out from the blackness.
Naruto measured his clone from head to toe, something squeezing his heart a little. A mix of excitement and regret. "He is the one we are looking for. He's just calling himself Uchiha Madara, but he isn't him. He is Madara's tool. Forged to follow his will. To stop the war, we have to stop him."
"And how would you know this kind of information? Are you sure this is accurate?" a Suna shinobi straightened his back as he asked.
This time Jiraiya snorted his displeasure, stabbing the young shinobi with his gaze immediately. "Boy, do you know who I am? I am the great Jiraiya! Konoha's and even the world's greatest spymaster!"
Naruto's lips curved up, as the briefing soon turned into a small bickering. The campfire was mostly gone, but the warmth of the comrades emitted more heat than a bonfire.
They traveled for days, but time slipped through Naruto's hands like water or sand. It was the same sensation he'd felt during the war while he waited in Suna for Madara to finally make his move. The anticipation and the perplexity were killing him now, just like they had been back then.
The days felt like hours and hours felt like minutes as they traveled. He wanted to draw out the meeting, delaying the moment as long as he could, hoping until the last minute that he would still have more time in peace with his parents and with his village. But the moments passed by with increased speed during the last weeks in the village.
The hours with his father peacefully sleeping next to him in the orange light of the campfire during this travel was only a glimpse in his memories, the long hours while he listened to his breathing during the nights mere milliseconds that he could recall.
When they reached the first sign of the graveyard they immediately slackened their pace. It wasn't a beacon, nor a roadsign only something that suspiciously looked like an ancient old tree, dried white from the decades of tormenting sunbeams. But at a second glance it wasn't a simple dead tree, but the rib of a once majestic animal. Maybe it once belonged to a giant summons or to an extinct brute from long, long ago. Who knew? But one thing was certain: it was the last remains of a withered age which would never come back.
Hopefully Naruto's old timeline would share the same fate.
The blond bit down on his lower lip with enough force to draw blood as they passed the first bones. The familiar iron taste overwhelmed his taste buds and he clicked his tongue in displeasure in the hope to get rid of the disgusting flavor through the action. Of course, it helped nothing.
Minato suddenly stopped, his right hand raised, the other already grabbing a kunai, ready to strike. The Kage slowly crouched, fingers running over a small, almost invisible trail in the ground. The faint frown deepened on his forehead as he pushed his fingertips on the ground more heavily, nails digging into the dirt as they touched the ground, listening to something only he was able to feel or hear.
Naruto stepped closer and lowered himself until he was face level with his father, his own brow furrowed into an equally deep frown. A small flare of Kurama's chakra, not enough to be noticed, but enough for him to reach into its mostly hidden potential to sense those with malicious intentions.
There. A small and disturbingly familiar presence. A slick feeling in the depth of his guts, until he finally reached for it to completely recognize the sensation. Similar to nature, but completely different. Twisted. Sick, like a rotting tree. "Zetsu," Naruto exhaled the name with a faint snarl.
Minato glanced at his son, his frown deepening, eyes sharpening as he swept them over the landscape. The creature left a weak, almost invisible trail that led deeper into the labyrinth of bones.
He could clearly remember as Naruto once said that he couldn't be tracked during the war. The clones left no trail behind, no chakra, not even a footprint. They were skilled like the finest shinobi. It could be a trap, or it could be that over the years Zetsu became more skilled, just like Obito.
The Kage finally made his decision and straightened. "We're following the trail."
Naruto eyed his father for a moment before accepting the choice he made with a swift nod, body already turned toward the direction the trail was heading. "Then let's get over it."
Minato silently agreed as Naruto took the lead.
The group followed him on the path that led the through a tunnel of ribs which once belonged to a giant, their way shrouded by the shadows cast by the enormous spine.
They finally arrived to an offset, the walls covered with small squares, maybe the intakes holes of the underground tunnels and chambers where Obito was hiding, maybe simple decorations left by an unforgotten nation long lost in the centuries.
The trail completely ended there. It didn't become fainter and fainter until they couldn't follow, but simply disappeared like Zetsu had suddenly become one with the earth. The Kage crouched again, his chakra tapping into the soil in the hope that he'll be able to follow the creature's way it used to enter the hideout.
"What if Obito isn't there?" Jiraiya joined his leader this time, voice barely above a whisper.
Naruto took a step to join Minato at his other side, eyeing his former teacher with a frown. "He has to be here. Nagato said that he told him he'd withdraw for a month, until my birth. He's here for sure. Probably already knows that we're here."
Minato hadn't lifted his fingers from the ground. They were still firmly touching the soil and with the passing seconds digging deeper and deeper into it, until one of his digits completely disappeared under the black dirt. A movement of desperation, clinging into the technique and pushing more and more of his chakra with his body into the ground in the hope that with more force, it would be able to find the presence he was looking for.
His eyes darted over his surroundings. There were no visible entrances, noot a door, not a trap door, nor any traces of a seal or an illusion around them. Letting out a frustrated grunt, the kage forced his pounding heart to calm, easing his breathing until he was almost motionless to tap into another source of power, this time borrowing it from Mother Nature herself.
Naruto swept his head toward his father as soon the barest hint of senjutsu brushed over him. A deep frown was carved into Minato's forehead, something he'd gotten used to over the past week. The formerly invisible lines of stress, worry and constant concentration became unconcealable ever since Naruto's true identity was unveiled.
His father's face slowly relaxed, the deep lines smoothened as he finally reached the inner balance he was looking for. Unmistakable reddish markings appeared around his eyes, gradually overwhelming his skin's natural colour. Seconds passed without a single twitch of a finger, until those seconds swelled into minutes of stillness. Naruto itched to move, to do something, anything, but he held still, waiting for his father to finish what he had started. Minato finally twitched with excitement, his mouths curved up and the sage mode wobbled for a moment before stabilizing back.
"I found them," he exhaled and Naruto immediately reached out for the nature himself. Unlike Minato, it took only him a second to find his own inner balance. He concentrated the senjutsu around him, reaching for the essence of the beings he was surrounded by. His father's fresh presence, the joyful atmosphere which Bee and Jiraiya had been emitting. The unmovable power of Kitsuchi. The tiny aura of the bugs and animals faded into the background until he finally found a spot with darkness. Completely closed, like a door slammed shut in front of him with a loud bang every time he reached for that distance. If he wasn't concentrating to find something irregular, he would have missed it. A barrier that locked him out.
Madara was smart, he had to gave him credit for that at least. The hideout he had chosen was perfectly concealed from senjutsu. The first Hokage was an expert in it; he should have guessed that the bastard would do everything to hide from the Shodai's eyes. Now they only had to figure out how to get there.
Naruto glanced up at the only earth user from Rock, lips suddenly opening with a sharp intake of air, but closing almost immediately as he turned the idea down as fast as it came. Kitsuchi would be able to manipulate the earth, but without knowing the exact location he could blow up the whole underground tunnel. This time, he turned toward the others, assessing their skills one by one and based on the soft ruffling at his side, his father was doing the same.
After dismissing every other solution, four blue eyes were soon back at the Iwa shinobi. Minato and Naruto shared a quick, meaningful glance. The only thing they have to figure out was how to show him the exact location. Transferring the memories maybe would be enough.
"What if we just blow up the whole place?" Naruto blurted out without thinking, earning a hard slap on his crown from Jiraiya for his bright idea almost immediately.
Minato slowly shook his head after erasing the small curve on his lips and his son became serious again. The Kage steadily chewed on his lower lip and let out a small humming noise, his eyes scrutinizing Kitsuchi from head to toe for long seconds until the shinobi uneasily fidgeted from foot to foot under Minato's gaze. Letting out a sigh he talked to ease away Kitsuchi's growing stress. "The problem is that we know the exact location, but only by sensing. We don't know how to get there, and somehow we have to get around fifty feet of rock to reach the first chamber of the underground tunnels. Or at least we think it is the first open place there. But we're only guessing."
The brawny man scrunched up his face in thought and kept silent for some time, carefully considering his abilities and the possibilities. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "If I know the location at least approximately I can send down and earth clone or with more, I can try to dig a tunnel.
Minato almost immediately shook his head. "Digging out a whole tunnel which everyone could use would take too much time, and-"
Naruto couldn't take it anymore, "Aww, come on! Just give one of your kunai to the clone and you can teleport the whole bunch there."
The Kage closed his mouth with a snap and after silently staring at his relative, he finally let out a chuckle. "Nice idea, but it won't be necessary. See?" He poked toward the far end of the offset and Naruto was able to catch the last glimpse of a tail as an animal slipped through the thick bushes.
The teen narrowed his eyes and watched as the leaves rustled and never stilled. A draft. That had to mean an entrance. Within five minutes, they were heading deeper and deeper in the tunnels until they reached a passage, the giant rocks and debris over the floor told a tale about a barricade that once closed up the entrance of the hideout.
They stepped over the remains to forge deeper through the dark tunnels. Every available surface was covered with thick, ancient old seal arrays which even being black, somehow seemed to be viciously pulsing in the dark cavern, the shadows dancing and flipping with the rhythm of the thrumming. But beside the seals, there wasn't anything to look at. It wasn't abandoned or ruined, but it was utterly and completely empty. Naruto expected leftovers from the old nation, but he couldn't even spot the remains of a rotting wooden chair, or a rusty shuriken at his feet. The place looked dusty for sure, but beside the faint dirt layer over the floor there were no signs of the previous occupants.
The blonde suddenly stilled, when a small, almost invisible thin line caught his eyes in the soft powder. He gently elbowed his father in his side and pointed a finger at the faint trail. After a second of consideration, Minato nodded and led the team deeper inside the underground maze.
The next time they had to stop was for the first sight of civilization. The floor was now crystal clear, free of the dust which had shrouded everything else they'd seen. They reached a smaller room with an examining table in the middle, the sharp, pointy and distressing stainless steel accessories all over it were screaming about a hospital- or more likely an operating-room.
However, the most disturbing things were the innumerable glasses over the wall, each of them containing a slowly floating sharingan eye in an unidentifiable greenish liquid.
Naruto gulped as they passed beside them, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that more than one of the eyes had turned in the liquid to follow their movement as they went by. He swore that one even blinked at him and only his dignity restrained him from jumping into Minato's arm.
They finally left the room only to find themselves in a much bigger chamber, and Naruto's feet remained rooted to one spot as soon he stepped inside.
Minato also stilled behind him, his eyes locked on his son's clenched hands and his slightly but continuously trembling back. He glanced over Naruto's shoulder, his frown deepening at the sight.
A giant, humanoid entity sat cross legged in the middle of the chamber, dominating the space. Its limbs were bound by shackles, something hung between its teeth, similar to a scroll, and Minato grimaced as soon he spotted the spike-like protrusions on its back.
Naruto found himself face to face with his own nightmare. It was different than he remembered, but still too familiar to the thing that sometimes haunted his dreams. Minato put a gentle hand on his son's shoulder and Naruto flinched, too overwhelmed by his own memories, by the battle cries in his own head that until now had suppressed his father's low voice.
"That thing is..." Minato murmured, his mouth suddenly dry from the dust, his eyes running over the enormous statue once again, bigger than anything he'd seen until now. He couldn't finish his sentence. Instead he gulped it down.
"The Gedo Mazo. The empty vessel of the ten tailed beast," Naruto continued for him, eyes locked on the blindfold on its face. He forced his feet to move and finally took one hesitant step toward the statue. More followed the first, and the small group soon stopped forth in front of the giant.
An empty bed occupied the middle of the giant chamber, and in front of them there was one more piece of furniture. One single chair, or based on its size a real throne carved from the stump of an ancient tree. Naruto feared they would find Madara's drying corpse sitting in it, but thankfully it was empty.
His eyes traveled up toward the branch-like protrusions to spot several white Zetsu clones motionlessly hanging, some fully-grown, others not even close with their amorph face, missing eyes, mouth, limbs or other body parts.
He couldn't get rid of the image of a gallows-tree with several corpses silently swaying together with the wind. He even heard as the tree cried out under the weight and cracked as a breeze rocked the bodies. Naruto locked his gaze on the nearest clone and the imaginary tree blattered again under the weight.
Another crackle echoed in his mind and this time Naruto uneasily shifted. So did the image in his head as one of the corpses slowly turned in the wind, revealing a rotting face, lips dragged back into a snarl, exposing yellow, pointed fangs. Suddenly the creature's eyes twitched, and Naruto realized that he wasn't the only one hearing the cracking noise. It filled the whole chamber as the clones woke from their slumber.
He took a step backward and glanced at his side to check up on his companions. Minato also locked his eyes at the nearest clone, a dozen of his kunai already in his hands, ready to tore through the cave and impale any creature which dared to attack or even twitch a finger.
An undeveloped clone crashed down into the soil, but slumping not far away from the group. Without proper working limbs, its fate was sealed. A second later, like it was a starting sign, several others followed. Unnaturally white vines snapped continuously, releasing their burden. The sound thundered through the cave as it echoed back and forth, dropping hundreds of replicas in different hatching stages. Not every clone was unuseable as the first one. Most gracelessly wobbled on their legs for a second before straightening. Within a minute, hundreds of clones of varying development were facing them.
"It's starting. Be prepared and look out for Madara. He also has to be here," Jiraiya muttered and lowered his centre of gravity for better footing.
One of the clones tilted his head to the side at the sound and took the first, threatening step toward the sage. Minato immediately rewarded its attempt with a kunai in the middle of its forehead.
The clones buzzed to life, awakened from their slumber by the death of one of their own. A single clone roared at the back, jumping high in the sky to attack the shinobi, but it got caught in a wind release midair. More followed the first two attackers, first unsteadily, then more confidently until the small army charged and finally the two groups smashed together.
Naruto whirled to the left to avoid the attack of a snarling clone and rewarded its attempts with a rasengan, not even losing from his momentum from the turn. Another white creature leapt at him and he avoided the impact easily with a graceful jump. Glancing to the side, he spotted his father as he thrust a kunai into a clone's chest, its form slumping, but its place was almost immediately filled by two snarling replicas.
The soil suddenly shook under the pressure as Kitsuchi fired one of his powerful earth release. Several rocks fall from the ceiling, dust and small debris raining on everybody then everything stopped. After a second of foreshadowing stillness, a small crack knifed through the shaking ground between Naruto's unsteady feet. It dashed across the chamber until it reached bigger group of the white creatures and the earth opened under them, hungrily swallowing up the false bodies into the limitless pit.
Someone roared in the distance, and Naruto immediately bolted toward the familiar voice. It was Jiraiya. He wasn't booming in pain, but in triumph as he bulldozed a clone with his fist, throwing the body far away to join a slowly growing pile.
Naruto snorted at the sight. Within the first short minute of the fight, Jiraiya had already finished a dozen clones. At least Naruto was sure that the small hill of the slumped, dead or unconscious clones held at least that much or more. The white haired man cried out once more, this time in rage as one of the sneakier clones was able to get behind him. However, its efforts were useless against the iron-strong blast of hair that suddenly shot out toward it, blasting its form against the wall. It was dead even before it impacted with the hard rock.
A giant tentacle shot out from the side, pushing over everything in its way, be it a clone or a stalagmite. Wind howled in the other side as a shinobi from sand let go one of her attack.
Meanwhile, Naruto wasn't able to enjoy the show, a clingy replica caught him by surprise at his back, and an ice cold arm writhed around his neck, trying to choke him. The blond's first panicked reaction was to claw at the arm, leaving long bloodless marks in the pale flesh, before cooling his head and simply throwing off the stubborn clone. It impacted with the ground with a pained grunt, but immediately struggled to get up and fight again. After a furious kick from Naruto, it finally stilled.
The blond let out a sigh and frowned while he got rid of another clone with a well-aimed punch. This time they fought with quality against quantity. The frown deepened on Naruto's face. The clones were numerous, but weak. Inexperienced and underdeveloped.
An easy win.
Too easy.
Naruto jumped up at the motionless giant statue, darted up its arm, and settled down at the top of its head to sweep his eyes over the battle scene. The clones' number was slowly decreasing, there were more lying on the ground than actually standing and fighting. He caught flashes of Minato's golden hair here and there, and each time it glinted in the half illuminated chamber a clone dropped to the ground.
Narrowing his eyes even more, Naruto stilled and reached for the nature around them to look for those who hadn't shown themselves until now. He became one with nature once again, the familiar tingling sensation over his skin increasing until it overwhelmed him.
There.
He caught a glimpse of something disturbing, a presence flickering in and out of his senses, merging with nature then parting. It didn't interfere with the fight, only stopping here and there, silently observing the battle like a shadow, before reappearing somewhere else. It paused, tilted its head up towards Naruto and moved once more.
It slithered up toward Naruto, the feeling similar to the ones fighting down, but still different. More defined, more powerful, more malicious and much more sickening. The blond slowly turned to greet Zetsu properly as it slowly emerged from the statue.
A familiar mismatched face materialized in front of him, slowly growing out from the figure. Half of his face was blacker than the darkest night, the other half white, paler than the freshest snow, two amber eyes illuminating the smooth face in a yellowish glow, highlighting a deep and troubled frown on it. "You caused too much trouble," It rasped,
"I could say the same, Aloe," Naruto snarled as he took a threatening step toward the creature, raising his hand, and a Rasengan flickered to life between his fingers. "Where is he?"
Zetsu tilted his head to the side questioningly. "He? What do you mean by that?"
"Where is Obito?" Naruto growled and dashed toward Zetsu, his technique roaring as it bit into the place where a second ago his opponent was.
"Obito?" this came from behind, and Naruto whirled and tore into empty space once again.
A dulled, mocking laughter filled the space around him, propelling the blond's frustration toward its limit. Naruto let out an animalistic growl and a chakra flame flickered at his shoulder and died down almost instantly, but it was more than enough to cut down the laughter completely. Finally, Zetsu emerged in front of Naruto, the previous frown again on his face as he observed the blond more cautiously this time. His eyes flickered over his face, then settled behind Naruto.
"I haven't heard that name for a long time," another voice stated, and Naruto tensed to the breaking point. With his sage mode near the end, he was still able to sense another presence as it flickered to life behind him, jumping to their reality. Everything stilled as the last remains of sage chakra flowed out of him, like fine sand from his fingers.
The Uchiha hummed behind the blond, and Naruto roared in blind rage in response. Golden chakra hurled to life around him, thundering around him like a real maelstrom, demolishing everything in his way as he slammed into Obito.
Minato glanced high above them as soon he sensed the first flicker of the enormous chakra. Seconds later like a bomb, it boomed all over the place, lighting up the until now half-illuminated cave with a golden hue. Something hit the floor, tearing a long line through the hard stone, sending dust and debris all the way until it reached the other side of the cave and stopped.
A golden blur dashed next to Minato, darting toward the farthest end of the chamber, where the thing had stopped. Without hesitation, he followed his son a millisecond later.
Author's Note:
Yup, writer's block and life is a #& {#. The end is very very close now, and this story will be finished even if it took me years. That was my goal when I started it and I want to reach it. Thank you for every single pm, review and every poke you gave me, to continue. I love you guys!
If anyone ever found this story anywhere and not under my name or a link to this profile, please tell me. Yep, someone uploaded it to wattpad word to word. No, it wasn't me. Thanks for the info Yuukki. :)
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