Foreword: Since several people have brought this up, I realized how important it was to bring up a key detail of bunshin abilities in this story. I consider the memory transfer upon a clone's dispelling to be an ability unique to the kage bunshin. As such, Naruko could not simply be dispelled to give Naruto the memories.
Naruto felt good to be doing something again, as small a gesture as it was. Anko's little blackmail scheme might have been unpleasant, but he had to admit, it may have been just what he needed to shock him out of his funk. So what if they might drive him from the village without Koharu's protection? Why should he worry just because he didn't fully trust Anko to keep her word?
That was all the more reason to act now, while he still had the opportunity. Which is why he found himself standing outside a weapon shop. One with a note on the door that the owner would be back shortly. Really, after all the stuff Anko had him do, the phony message he'd left to draw the man away for a few minutes didn't cause him so much as a twinge of guilt.
In the distance he saw Tenten approaching the store, just as she had at this time on each of the past three days. Not that he was about to let on that she was the reason he was here.
"It appears that the owner had to step away for a bit," he informed Tenten when she had reached the entrance to the shop.
"That's unusual," she replied. "Anyway, I haven't seen you around here before."
"I don't usually have any need for weapons," Naruto responded. "Although based on your comment, I suspect you come here rather often."
"Well, I'm in the finals of the Chunin Exams," she told him. "I just want to make sure I'm prepared."
"Ah, my sister is in that as well," Naruto said genially.
"Your sister?" she asked quizzically looking him over. "Oh, are you Naruko's brother?"
"That's right," he confirmed. "I take it you noticed the resemblance. Anyway, the name is Naruto. And you are?"
"I'm Tenten," she answered simply.
"I should have guessed," he told her. "I heard about your fight from my sister, so I can say that it's not at all surprising you'd be a regular at a weapon's store."
"So are you here to buy something for your sister?" Tenten asked him. Naruto suspected the question was a subtle attempt to get hints as to Naruko's abilities and fighting style, but her question played right into his own hands.
"No, I'm actually here because of this," he answered, holding up a sword inside a beaten up and rusty sheath. He was pretty proud of the illusion of age the sheath gave, considering he just made it last night. "The sword is a memento of my father, but I just don't think the sheath does it justice. So I was going to see about getting a new one made."
"You don't mind if I have a look at the sword, do you?" Tenten asked curiously.
"Not at all," he told her, pulling it free from its container.
The gasp she gave out when she saw the slightly glowing blade was encouraging. It seemed he was right to assume she'd be interested in this weapon.
"This sword is amazing," she told him. "It's infused with chakra on a level that only masters can achieve. I know of only three people throughout history who could make a sword on this level, and it doesn't look like any of their work."
"You really know your swords," Naruto told her appreciatively. "I'm afraid I never had any real interest, much to my father's disappointment."
"Wait a minute," Tenten said. "Isn't the Yondaime supposed to be your father?"
"So I'm told," Naruto answered, not missing a beat, "but I'm referring to the man who raised me. Whatever anyone says I still think of him as my father."
"I imagine he was very skilled," Tenten speculated, not arguing the point with him. "You don't often see swords of this quality in the hands of amateurs."
"Just in my case, huh?" Naruto quipped.
"Ah … no offense intended," Tenten quickly replied in response to Naruto's joke.
"Don't worry about it," Naruto told her. "It probably is a waste for me to have it. I'm just planning to hang it on my wall."
"Have you thought of giving it to Naruko?" Tenten suggested.
"She doesn't use swords either," Naruto informed her. "So she probably wouldn't get any more use out of it than me."
"Ah, that is a shame," she replied.
"Actually, you may be on to something though," he said thoughtfully, deciding it was time to reel her in. "Naruko may not have need of it, but perhaps you're looking for a new sword?"
"Heh, I wish," Tenten answered wistfully. "But you shouldn't joke with me like that or I might just run off with it."
"No, I'm serious," Naruto told her, holding it out in her direction. "My father would be happier with it being put to use than just becoming an ornament."
Tenten began to reach out her hand for it before quickly pulling it back. "No I can't possibly accept a gift like this. It's just too much."
"Hmm," Naruto said, as if puzzling it over. "Perhaps you'd be willing to accept a trade then."
"I'm afraid I don't have anything valuable enough to offer," Tenten told him. "I don't think you realize just how much that's actually worth."
"It doesn't have to be anything valuable," Naruto insisted. "I'm just trying to find an excuse to get you to accept it. How about you teach me the basics of storage seals? I imagine it must be useful for carrying things around."
"Storage seals?" she asked. "That's it?"
"Just say yes," Naruto told her in mock exasperation, while pressing the sword toward her. "I really do want you to have this."
"All right, yes, I'll take it," she finally said, gingerly taking the sword and testing the balance before looking back at Naruto with a huge smile. "Now you want to know about storage seals? I'll teach you more about storage seals than you thought possible. I can start right now if you'd like."
"That would be just fine," Naruto said with a smile.
Minato didn't need this headache right now. He should be helping the two members of his team still in the finals prepare for it. He'd had less time to devote to that than he should have already, what with Orochimaru showing up in the previous exam and then disappearing without a trace. Now he had to figure out how and why Naruto was sneaking out of his house despite the place supposedly being under close watch.
He probably wouldn't even have known if an off-duty ninja hadn't just happened to wander past as he was conversing with a genin. Minato still didn't fully trust Naruto, and having the ability and desire to escape from under the watch of skilled ninja did little for his cause. However, before confronting Naruto, Minato wanted to find out just what he'd been doing. Which was why he was headed for where he was told Tenten would be, as she was his best clue at the moment.
He found the girl in the middle of a training field swinging around a blade with a degree of skill that would be impressive at her age even if she focused entirely on the sword. The fact that she practiced with weapons of all types made impressive a bit of an understatement. It always warmed his heart to see such evidence that Konoha's future was in good hands. The warmth that thought generated vanished in a moment as he recognized something that made his blood run cold. This was something far more serious than sneaking out of his home.
"Where did you get that sword," Minato asked, despite being pretty sure he knew the answer. He realized he'd said that more harshly than he'd intended when the girl shrank back, clearly afraid of his reaction.
"From Naruko's brother, Hokage-sama," she answered meekly. "I trained him in how to use storage seals in exchange. Is that the problem? I know I didn't ask for permission or anything, but he is Naruko's brother. I didn't think it would be an issue."
"Storage seals?" Minato asked in confusion. "He could learn about those from anyone. No, you don't have to worry about who you train if that's all you're teaching."
Minato couldn't understand why he would give away something so valuable over such a low rank jutsu. It was possible that he was simply trying to win Tenten's trust in hopes of learning more sensitive information, but a genin weapons specialist hardly seemed the ideal target for something like that.
"You're not in any trouble as far as I can tell, but I am going to need that sword," he told her.
She reflexively drew it back away from him, showing her first bit of spark in this meeting. "I am going to get it back, right?" she asked.
"We'll see," he told her noncommittally reaching out and taking the now sheathed sword as she reluctantly released it to him.
Departing immediately he signaled one of his guards that were discretely following him, and the masked member of Anbu approached. "Bring Naruto to my office," he ordered, before heading there himself to wait for his arrival.
This left Minato to his own thoughts. Given the sword, it seemed obvious that Naruto had some connection to the man who had seemed determined to break into the Hokage tower more than seven years ago. He considered briefly that Naruto might be the same person. But that seemed unlikely unless he was under some kind of henge that could fool even his best sensors, and he'd had them examine Naruto very early on.
Naruto only looked to be about twenty. It was possible he was a bit older than he looked, and he might have reached his full height young, or even been under a henge at that time to appear larger than he was. Still, Minato's pride didn't want to let him believe someone as young as Naruto had given him so much trouble the better part of a decade ago. Minato was still considering the matter when Naruto was lead into his office.
"Where did you get this sword?" Minato asked, not wasting any time. He watched for a reaction such as fear or confusion, but the other man's face didn't give any hint of either. If anything, he looked annoyed, as if being dragged in front of the Hokage were just a nuisance to him.
"It was my father's," Naruto replied. "I gave it away because I know he would have preferred it being used to sitting around collecting dust."
"Your father's?" Minato parroted. "Forgive me for asking, but his death, was it about seven years ago?"
"Yes, but how did you know?" Naruto asked. "I don't believe I ever told anyone that."
Yes, if true, that was one possible connection that would explain a lot. Why the infiltration attempts had stopped as suddenly as they'd started for one. Also, if he knew he didn't have much time left, it could explain why he'd been so desperate to get in in the first place. Perhaps he'd been hoping for some secret medical jutsu that would save him. Perhaps it had to do with his connection to Orochimaru as well.
There didn't seem to be any record of a man who looked just like Minato himself did, yet Orochimaru had apparently known enough of Naruto's father to want to clone him. Maybe the two were working together and he'd been after something for Orochimaru's sake. Even if they weren't accomplices in that matter, it's quite possible the man would have found something out. It was even possible Minato himself may have been the man's target all along. He may simply have been curious about the man that looked so much like him.
Of course this wasn't about Naruto's father. As interesting as the subject was, the man was dead. It was Naruto himself that concerned him. Minato had nothing but circumstantial evidence and suspicion against him. Nevertheless, Naruto's past tied too closely to Orochimaru for comfort considering they both showed up in the village around the same time. With important dignitaries coming from all over in the next month for the Chunin Exam finals, and Orochimaru sneaking around doing who knew what, Minato would be happy to have one less thing to worry about. And with Jiraiya in town at the moment, he knew just the way to get that.
"That's not important," he finally answered. "Now, I understand that we haven't had any work for you lately. I apologize for that, but Koharu had been arranging your teaching sessions. After her tragic passing, I'm afraid there were more than a few things that got lost in the shuffle."
"That's understandable," Naruto said with a nod.
"Anyway, there is something I could use your help with," Minato informed him. "Jiraiya received word that Akatsuki has been spotted more than once in a town not far from here. Given their apparent interest in you, we'd like you to go with him when he investigates."
"I was wondering if you were ever going to bring that up," Naruto told him casually. "So, you decided to use me as bait?"
"I can assure you, Jiraiya is one of the most skilled ninja in this village," Minato replied. "I can't say the mission is without risk, but you'll be compensated accordingly."
Naruto seemed to be considering it, and Minato had to wonder what his next step would be if Naruto refused. He couldn't force him to go on this mission, but one way or another, he was getting him out of Konoha for a while.
"Okay, I'll do it," Naruto finally said, forgoing the need for further musings along that line. "It could be a nice change of pace."
"I'm glad to hear that," Minato told him in complete honesty. "I haven't spoken with Jiraiya about taking you yet, but it's my understanding he wants to leave soon. I'd make any preparations you need quickly, as he'll find you as soon as he's ready to go."
"If that's all then?" Naruto asked. Minato confirmed that it was and watched as Naruto departed.
The situation wasn't entirely ideal, as he'd have liked to keep Jiraiya around. That said, it was hard to keep his old sensei in one place for long. He'd likely have left on his own accord, so it was better he take Naruto with him. With that taken care of, maybe he could spend a little time personally overseeing his team's training. He had some ideas to give them a few surprises for the finals. He wasn't about to lose that wager.
Naruto was surprised by how well that had gone, considering. Still, he wished he'd had the foresight to make a new sword to give to Tenten. But in his defense, how was he supposed to know that Minato would be able to recognize a sword he'd only seen briefly and years ago at that? Anyway, it seemed that little oversight hadn't cost him too much, so he might as well put it out of mind and focus on the matter at hand.
He was being sent on a mission where he may very well run into Akatsuki again. For all of Itachi's talk of it not being the same organization, he couldn't help but feel wary of them. The fact that Konoha seemed to have a very low opinion of them didn't help matters either. They seemed a pretty decent lot overall.
As such, he was inclined to cooperate with them on this mission. At the very least it should win him some goodwill. Not to mention that it sounded more interesting than what he'd been doing lately. Of course a lot of that depended on Jiraiya. He didn't get much of a chance to know the man during their brief meeting the last time to Hokage had pulled him in for questioning. Well, he'd just have to wait and see what he was like.
Uchiha Yashiro was deep in thought going over their plans for the operation. As much as he disliked the thought of depending on anyone outside the clan for help, much less a man like Orochimaru, they had to face reality. The Uchiha Clan simply wasn't capable of taking over the village unaided. They would, however, play a major role in that process.
Given that they were members of Konoha, there were few places they couldn't freely go in the village. When the time came for them to strike, they would have members placed at key locations. Many of Konoha's most dangerous ninja would be assassinated before they knew what hit them. There would also be those placed simply according to where they could cause the most chaos.
Most of the clan would be involved in the attack, but there were a few who were being kept in the dark. Most notably Sasuke. The boy was entirely too fond of his traitor of a brother. For all their talent, it was a shame that Fugaku's boys couldn't have been more like him. But there would be no repeat of last time. There were half a dozen other people who had been a little too reluctant to do what needed to be done last time, and none of them had any idea what was going on.
No, nothing would stop the Uchiha rise to ascendency this time.
It had been almost two weeks since the preliminaries, and Kushina and Minato-sensei had been training them hard. Still, Naruko was having a hard time putting her heart into it. Now that she knew what to look for, it was easy to tell that her memories from Naruto were degrading. They were already only about half as clear as they were before the whole mess started.
Nor had she been able to brainstorm any way to save herself, as hard as she'd been trying. It didn't help that Naruto had disappeared on a mission at the worst possible time. Even with all the planning she'd done herself, the best she could give herself was a 10% chance of surviving any attempt to fix the problem. And even that might be a bit on the optimistic side.
As usual, she went through the motions of training again today. The whole time she was eagerly waiting for Minato-sensei to call for a stop, and when he finally did, she made to dash off back to her apartment to work on the problem a little more. However, before she could could take so much as a step, she felt Hinata grab gently at her shirt sleeve from behind.
"Excuse me … Naruko," she said hesitantly, "but has something been bothering you lately?"
Naruko grimaced at being confronted like this. She shouldn't be surprised Hinata had noticed something the way she'd been acting lately, but this wasn't exactly the sort of matter she could discuss.
"It's a little late to say no, but it's kind of a personal matter," she told her as gently as she could.
Naruko's good intentions aside, Hinata's face fell noticeably in reaction to the evasion. "Well … even if you don't want to talk about it, just know that I'm there for you. I'm sure Sakura and Ino and Kiba and Minato-sensei and Kushina-sensei are all there for you too."
Naruko felt guilty now for worrying Hinata like this. Hinata's support really did mean a lot to her. Much more than she'd have thought it would have. Just the thought that she'd be losing all the memories she'd made as Naruko if Naruto had to create another clone to replace her terrified her more right then than it ever had before.
It confused her at first that it would bother her so much more now than when she'd first learned of what was happening, despite having had more time to deal with it. Then it hit her. As her memories from Naruto became fainter, the ones of her time as Naruko became much stronger by comparison. Her time as Naruto seemed almost a story she'd heard from someone else. With her time as Naruko being the only time that seemed real, it felt more and more like the destruction of this clone would actually be her death, rather than just the equivalent of losing some memories.
Epiphany aside, Hinata was still looking depressed. She didn't want to drag Hinata down with her into her self dug pit of despair. The other girl may have started this conversation to try to cheer Naruko up, but maybe Naruko could do that for Hinata instead.
"Really, it's past time I pulled myself together anyway," Naruko told her, doing her best to look upbeat. "I should be back in top form in no time."
It wasn't exactly a lie either. She did need to pull herself together. Since when was she the type to give up? Even if she'd still been looking for a way out, she'd all but conceded that failure was inevitable. So what if it was only a 10% chance that it would work? She'd find a way to save herself. And in the meantime she could stop with the journal she'd planned to pass on to her replacement. If anything, it should be her memories from Naruto she should be trying to back up. Those were the ones she was losing.
"I mean it, Hinata," she told her, more energetically now. "And your support really means a lot to me. It helped me more than you probably realize."
"I'm glad to hear that," Hinata replied, smiling sweetly. "You've always been the one cheering me up. Even if it's only a little, I'm pleased I could help you for once."
Naruko grinned broadly at that. Maybe this time they'd both succeeded in cheering each other up.
"So, how's your team coming along?" Sarutobi asked Minato, having wandered into his office while he was doing some paperwork.
"Trying to collect some intelligence your team can use against them?" Minato quipped. "I'm not so naive as to fall for that."
"As if they need any such advantage," Sarutobi replied in mock condescension. "Sasuke's progress in particular is nothing short of astonishing. You'd better start preparing yourself for the consequences of losing our bet."
Minato was glad to see Sarutobi in such high spirits. As long as he'd been a shinobi, he was no stranger to death, but Koharu's had hit him particularly hard. Losing a teammate was never easy, and it might even be worse in his case. With how dangerous the career was, you could count on one hand the number of Konoha ninja still alive from Sarutobi's generation. You'd even have fingers to spare. It must get pretty lonely after a while.
"Don't assume it's all over yet," Minato insisted. "Naruko has been making some pretty amazing strides herself."
Especially after she'd gotten out of that funk she'd been in. Minato had nearly been to the point of getting involved himself, and he'd all but had to physically restrain Kushina to keep her from meddling. So he was thrilled to see that Hinata had finally stepped up and helped Naruko through whatever was bothering her. Strong bonds between team members were important when their very lives depended on each other.
"Confident are we?" Sarutobi smirked, lighting up his pipe and taking a puff. "How about we make a slight adjustment to the wager then."
"What are you proposing?" Minato asked suspiciously.
"Nothing much," the former Hokage answered. "It's just that ultimately our little bet seems fated to come to down to Naruko versus Sasuke anyway. Why don't we just determine winner based on the student that comes out on top in that match? You can even make sure that they face each other in the first round when they're both fresh. It ensures a level playing field."
"You mean fix the match?" Minato asked, surprised by the suggestion. "They're supposed to be randomly determined."
"It happens more often than you realize in these things," Sarutobi assured him. "Besides, it's not like anyone is going to complain in this case. We have two of our most promising contenders exhausting themselves in the first round? How is that bad for anyone else?"
As Minato thought about it, he realized that the other man was right. What was the harm in that particular bit of intervention? "You've convince me," Minato agreed. "I'll make sure the match happens. All you have to do is admit defeat when Naruko wins out over Sasuke."
"If she wins out," Sarutobi corrected. "Although I suppose that situation is possible. There's always the chance Sasuke could be deathly ill for the finals."
"We'll just see about that in a week, won't we?" Minato asked.
For all his blustering, he knew he would have to take this challenge seriously. Sasuke was a genius ninja with sharingan trained by Sarutobi himself. But he was completely serious in his belief that Naruko had the potential to win. Having trained Kakashi, he wasn't unfamiliar with having a genius student, but Naruko may actually have even more potential than his former student. She picked up jutsu so quickly it was almost as if she had the sharingan herself. Yes, even if it weren't for his personal stake in this match, it would be one he wouldn't want to miss for anything.
Naruto was really starting to tire of this mission. It had started well enough. Jiraiya had clearly been suspicious of him at the start, but had warmed to Naruto surprisingly quickly. He was a decent enough fellow too when he wasn't in the middle of 'gathering research material.' The problem was that they'd been out here in this little village for weeks and nothing had happened.
Not to mention that the longer they'd been out here, the less intelligence gathering Jiraiya had done, and the more he simply drank the day away or worked on the aforementioned research. Today Naruto found Jiraiya already on his way to being drunk despite it not yet being noon. Naruto was beginning to have suspicions about this whole mission, and now was as good a time as any to confront the man on them.
"This whole thing is a farce isn't it?" Naruto asked him in irritation. "This isn't about Akatsuki. The Yondaime just doesn't trust me and wanted to be rid of me."
"Now now," Jiraiya said, trying to calm him down. "It's not as bad as that. There really was a report of Akatsuki in this area, and I was planning to stop by anyway. It's just that, at Minato's request, I may have stayed here a little longer than I would have otherwise."
"So I'm right about him wanting me out of the picture though?" Naruto asked.
"Don't think too poorly of him," Jiraiya requested. "Minato just worries too much. Then again, he's the Hokage, so it's his job to worry. But I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and you're all right in my book. Just think of this as a short vacation, and I'll work things out with Minato when we get back. On that note, why don't you pull up a seat? This round is on me."
Not quite ready to just take it easy like Jiraiya suggested, Naruto nonetheless sat down on the stool next to him as the man ordered for him. A drink or two wouldn't hurt. It wasn't like he could get intoxicated with his healing factor.
"You know, whatever actually went on with the whole situation, you've got Minato's genes and you're actually quite a bit like him," Jiraiya told him as Naruto was downing the beverage that had been placed in front him.
"How so?" Naruto asked. "You mean the physical resemblance?"
"Not just that," Jiraiya answered. "For example, that waitress at the restaurant down the road obviously has a bit of a thing for you. Play your cards right and you could easily have a rather enjoyable night, if you know what I mean."
"I already told you, unlike you I don't just look at women as way to get 'an enjoyable night,'" Naruto replied, not masking his disapproval.
"See, just like Minato," Jiraiya announced. "You're a good kid but a bit too uptight for your own good."
"Be that as it may," Naruto said while standing up again, having finished off his drink, "I think I'm going to head out for a bit. It's too nice day to spend it all drinking in here."
"Sure," Jiraiya said, waving him off, "but do think about paying a visit to that waitress."
Not even considering that comment worthy of a response, Naruto departed without further word. Once outside, he began to wander through the small town not really having any particular destination in mind. Naruto didn't like sitting around out here doing nothing, but returning before Jiraiya approved it would probably just lead to Minato getting rid of him another way. It was probably best to just play along for now and get to work convincing Jiraiya that they should return.
Even distracted as he was with his thoughts, Naruto's eyes instantly locked onto a familiar pattern when a small crowd parted in the market district. Standing in front of the him was a tall blue-skinned man carrying a massive sword and wearing the cloak that indicated he was a member of Akatsuki. Since the man's back was to him, Naruto hadn't been spotted. He briefly considered going back for Jiraiya, but quickly dismissed the thought. When he'd started this mission, he'd intended to help them against Akatsuki, but he'd had plenty of time to think it over, and now he wasn't sure that was in his best interest.
Itachi had known far too much about Naruto's past. It wouldn't do to have certain pieces of information get out if one of Akatsuki's members were captured. That didn't mean Naruto wanted to just let him go on his merry way. So instead he followed the man as stealthily as he could. He was setting a leisurely pace, but soon enough he was outside the city. Naruto continued to tail him until they were over a small hill and out of sight of anyone else. Then he stopped hiding his presence, watching the other man immediately turn around in reaction.
"Who are you, and what business do you have with me?" he asked casually, not seeming concerned at all that Naruto had snuck up on him.
"The name is Naruto," he answered, not seeing any immediate reaction to that. "One of your companions recently tried to recruit me. Our conversation was cut short, but I admit to being curious as to why you'd want to recruit me or how you even found out I existed."
"Naruto huh?" He repeated. "It seems I'm being left out of the loop again. I haven't heard of any recruitment efforts."
Did the man really not know anything or was he just playing with him? If he was in the dark, this was a complete waste of time. He'd get nothing useful out of him, and it would have safe to bring Jiraiya after all.
"You must not be very important in Akatsuki," Naruto mocked, hoping to find out if he really did know nothing. "I understand the organization is pretty small and they still don't even let you know who they're trying to bring in?"
"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame," he responded huffily, "former member of the Seven Swordsman and infamous throughout the elemental nations. They simply don't tell me everything because I generally don't care. Anyway, you have a lot of guts saying something like that when I've never even heard of you."
"Ah," Naruto answered, pretending that meant something to him. "My apologies then. However, if you don't know anything then I really don't have any business with you." Naruto turned to walk back to the village, but was stopped by a call from behind him.
"Hold on a minute," Kisame ordered. "I don't usually get involved in such things, but I'm not about to let some weakling nobody into the organization. So let's see what you've got."
"I don't suppose there's anyway to decline?" Naruto asked, not very hopeful. In hindsight, he really should have avoided the insult.
"Just think of it as an admission test," he answered. "If you die you fail."
Unwrapping the cloth around his sword Kisame revealed what had to be the most unique weapon Naruto had ever seen. The sword somehow seemed to have grown from its already massive size after being unwrapped. It was covered in spikes angled back toward Kisame. But the strangest part of all was that the sword had it's own mouth at the tip of the blade.
As astonished as he was, Naruto didn't lose sight of the fact that he needed to defend himself. Taking a scroll out of his pocket, he used his newly learned storage seal to summon a glowing katana. It was very much like the one he'd given to Tenten, Naruto having used the same basic design when he crafted it to replace the weapon he'd traded.
"A fellow swordsman, huh?" Kisame asked. "That should make things interesting."
With that, Kisame charged him, starting the match off with a mighty swing of his sword. Naruto parried, grunting a bit with the effort of stopping the force behind the blow. As he did, he felt an odd sensation. The other sword was actually attempting to draw chakra out of his own blade. Not about to let it have its way, Naruto wrapped his own chakra around it as a protective coating, keeping a tight reign on it to prevent it from being drawn away. The next couple of strikes proved his tactic successful, as the sword was unable to tear away any meaningful amount of chakra.
After the first few exchanges, Naruto began to get a feel for his opponent. Obviously he was incredibly strong. Naruto had never faced an opponent with such bone-jarring intensity behind each attack. He was also fast, but much less than Minato, and unable to even match up to Orochimaru in that category. The real danger in his opponent, however, was the combination of his incredible skill and the highly unorthodox nature of his attacks. Nothing had ever trained him for dealing with a sword that could bend and shift its shape.
Nevertheless, Naruto quickly got into the fight. It had been ages since he'd had a real sword fight with anyone other than his clones. So Naruto actually began to lose himself to the simple thrill of the exchange. The parries, dodges, counterattacks, and even the clanging of the two swords. It helped that given the difference in their speed, Naruto didn't feel particularly threatened by Kisame's attacks. There had been a couple of close calls early on. But after he'd gotten a little used to strange nature of the sword, Naruto felt like he was in complete control of the fight. In a way, he was almost disappointed when Kisame jumped back to create some space between them and dropped his stance.
"Not bad," he told Naruto, "but I hope that flashy swordsmanship of yours isn't all you have. Let's see what happens when I take it to the next level."
Pulling off his cloak and tossing it to the side, Kisame began making hand seals. Meanwhile, Naruto did the best he could to prepare himself for what was coming, given that he had no idea what it was. After Kisame had finished the seals, Naruto had barely registered that the man's sword seemed to be wrapping itself around its wielder's arm when the attack began.
"Suiton: Daibakusui Shoha!" Kisame called out as a giant wave formed around him and raced toward Naruto, engulfing him completely.
Naruto was pushed around by the force of the waves, but soon came to a halt as the water settled. He quickly gained his bearings, seeing that he was now surrounded by a dome of water. Even more surprising, Kisame had undergone a rather extreme transformation. He'd had a decidedly fish like appearance before, but he looked far more like a shark than ever before. His skin had turned from blue to gray, and he had prominent fins and a long tail. His sword was nowhere to be seen, but given the way it had been wrapping itself around Kisame before he'd lost sight of him in the confusion of the attack, Naruto could only assume he'd fused with the sword to achieve his new appearance.
Naruto's first order of business was to deal with his new environment. If Kisame hoped to drown him, he'd be extremely disappointed. Converting a little bit of his chakra to the wind element, he was able to use it to create the air he needed right around his face, allowing him to breathe normally. It took little effort to maintain the effect, so he was in no danger of the technique wearing off anytime soon. Perhaps he should have pretended to drown to lure his opponent in. Ah well, Naruto wasn't sure he'd be able to act that out convincingly, and he had his own plan for dealing with the fish-man who was now swimming around, circling Naruto rapidly.
His movements appeared to be faster in the water than they were outside, while the reverse was true for Naruto. It didn't take long for Kisame to grow bored of circling Naruto and instead charge straight at him. This, however, was exactly what he wanted. Using a much more powerful version of the same technique he was using to breathe, Naruto created a large bubble centered around himself that expanded outward, pushing back the water and surrounding Kisame before he could react to what was happening. Without any water to hold them up, the two combatants began to fall, with Kisame's momentum continuing to carry him closer to Naruto.
It was a testament to Kisame's ability, that despite how surprised he was, he still had the presence of mind to attack Naruto as reached his target. As spikes formed around Kisame's right arm, he swung it at Naruto with an attack that would have cleanly decapitated him if he hadn't ducked under it. Naruto then counterattacked, but rather than use his sword, he threw his arm up, palm open and grabbed Kisame's face. Then, with the same ability he'd used on Gaara, he forced massive amounts of chakra into his head in just the right manner to cause him to lose consciousness.
He put much more power into it than when he'd used it against the boy, wanting to ensure there was little chance he'd be able to resist it, and sure enough, he went completely limp. What's more, his skin almost seemed to be pulling away from him as the mass reformed into the unusual sword, leaving Kisame in his original form. Falling out of the bubble, the two of them splashed back into the water beneath it. With Kisame out cold, the water didn't hold together for long, quickly spreading out and soaking the surrounding area, leaving Naruto standing in muddy ground.
Now Naruto needed to figure out what to do with Kisame. It might be hard to explain how he took the ninja out himself when he wasn't supposed to be skilled in combat. On the other hand, from a casual glance the man seemed to simply be sleeping. He might be able to just report a sighting of him to Jiraiya and let him take the credit for the capture. With how much chakra he'd put into his final attack, the man would be lucky to remember his own name, much less his fight with Naruto, so he should be safe on that front.
Returning his sword to its seal, Naruto looked around. He quickly realized they'd managed to wander off quite a bit in the course of their fight. It took him a little while, but he did locate the cloak that Kisame had discarded, and using a little chakra, pulled the water out of it to dry it. Putting it back on the large man, he lifted him over his shoulder and then cautiously approached his sword. Picking it up carefully, he didn't get any reaction from the weapon. Either it was Kisame actually controlling the sword, or his attack had managed to rob the consciousness of the sword as well, as strange as that sounded.
Soon he made his back near the entrance of the city, grateful to see that the area here had been unaffected by the watery orb. Putting the man and his weapon down by a tree to the side of the road, Naruto set off toward the city. Aiding in the capture of one of Akatsuki's members should go a long way toward alleviating some of the suspicion against him. Yes, this might turn out very well for him.
Kisame slowly opened his eyes, even that seeming to require a lot of willpower. His head was completely muddled and he was having trouble forming any coherent thoughts. Nevertheless, decades as a ninja told him that he needed to pull himself together as quickly as possible, and he devoted every bit of effort he had into doing just that. In mere moments, his vision cleared, and he saw a figure that even his currently addled mind managed to identify as Jiraiya of the Sannin. The man was ordering him to surrender.
This most likely explained his current predicament. There were few enemies Kisame considered capable of leaving him in a state like this, but Jiraiya was certainly on that list. He didn't know what weird jutsu he was under, but he had to pull himself together. He may not remember what was going on, but he wasn't about to surrender. His body was beginning to work a little better now, so he leaped to his feet, dashing over and grabbing Samehada from where it lay next to him.
Jiraiya had already reacted to his aggression and before Kisame could get up a proper defense, he found a fist planted in his gut. Kisame knew he was in no state to continue this fight. As much as he hated the idea, flight was his best option. He'd realized this before the blow had even landed and was already reacting appropriately. Lifting his feet off the ground, he kicked off of Jiraiya, timing it to add to the momentum of the man's own attack and send him rocketing off away from Konoha ninja.
Kisame twisted around and landed running. Samehada was strangely unresponsive, but that was a worry for another time. For now he needed to focus on his escape. He kept expecting signs of pursuit, but even after several minutes of running, no such thing was apparent. Perhaps Jiraiya hadn't been in the best of conditions himself and was unwilling or unable to give chase. Now that his mind was a little clearer, he realized the the man had seemed a little unsteady on his feet and had even slurred his speech a bit. It pleased him to think that he may have given as good as he got. It took a little of the sting out of running away with his tail between his legs.
Still, it was probably best to avoid a rematch in the immediate future.
Jiraiya eyes scanned the surrounding trees, waiting for Kisame to return. He needed to be ready for whatever surprise attack the man had in store for him. He would have expected something to happen by now, but he couldn't let his guard down.
"You're letting him get away?" Naruto asked accusing, coming out from behind a tree he'd hidden behind.
"Get away?" Jiraiya parroted in confusion, before his alcohol impaired mind managed to process that and realize how badly he'd just messed up. "Uh ... oops?"
He'd probably waited too long. Tracking was never his best skill, and catching up to a ninja of Kisame's caliber when he had this much of a head start was unlikely at best. Especially as he couldn't seem to remember which direction he'd even run off in now. Thanks to lots of practice, Jiraiya was at the point where he could fight almost as well drunk as sober, but he did have to admit that his mind might not be quite as sharp in the former case. Especially so today, as he may have gotten a little carried away with the drinking. His mind was starting to clear up now as his body purged itself of the influence of the alcohol, but it was a little late for that.
Naruto let out a sigh at his reaction, but then seemed to cheer up. "Well, given that Akatsuki knows you're hear now, I think we should probably head back to Konoha," Naruto suggested. "If we do see them again, it will probably be in force. Besides, if we hurry, we could still catch the finals tomorrow."
"It's true that we probably should leave," Jiraiya agreed, "but I think it's still a bit early to head back to Konoha. Minato kind of wanted you gone a little longer than this."
"Come on," Naruto prodded him. "You pretty much already said you trust me. Now I'd like to see how my sister does, so I'll make a deal with you. You come up with some excuse for why we're back early, and I won't tell the Hokage you let a member of Akatsuki get away because you were drunk."
Jiraiya grimaced at that thought. The boy was really playing dirty. That would be unpleasant enough even if only Minato found out. But it was too much to hope that Kushina wouldn't get wind of it as well, and he did not want to deal with her reaction. And come to think of it, he had a pretty convincing excuse for an early return already thanks to his run-in with Kisame.
"You win," Jiraiya told him. "We'll head back to Konoha. I actually wouldn't mind seeing the finals myself."
"Great," Naruto told him cheerfully, before looking him over, "but are you actually up for traveling?"
"Hah, the day I let a little alcohol slows me down is the day I give up being a ninja," Jiraiya boasted. "Just hold on one moment."
Jiraiya then walked over the side of the road and proceeded to empty his stomach of their contents. "Okay, let's go," he announced upon finishing.
Naruko walked into the arena where the finals of the Chunin Exams would be taking place. Since she'd waited until right before they were supposed to start, she was surprised to see she that not everyone was there. Perhaps she should have expected it, however, considering she quickly determined that the only person missing was Shikamaru.
Her presence was greeted first by a very smug grin, courtesy of Sasuke. The reason quickly became apparent when she saw the brackets for the tournament. She'd be facing Sasuke in the very first match. Once she beat him, she'd be facing Tenten in the second round. Quickly scanning the rest of the matches, she saw that Ino would be facing her own teammate, Shikamaru, and Hinata was the one person to get a bye despite not having fought in the preliminaries.
Both of them were in the other half of the bracket, so at most, she'd be competing against one of them. She'd prefer it didn't come to that. Naruko had decided she was going to win the whole thing, and she'd rather be avenging her friends than be the one to eliminate them herself. Sasuke, however, she was pleased to be able to remove from the competition so soon. She looked forward to being able to point out the fact that he hadn't won a single match.
"Hey, Naruko," Ino called out to her boisterously. "I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to cheer for Sasuke-kun. Still, put in a good showing and you could still make chunin. I'm sure they'll take into account how amazing Sasuke-kun is."
"I'll be rooting for you, Naruko," Hinata told her, less energetically than Ino, but considering who it was coming from, it was almost as if she'd shouted it.
"Thank you," Naruko told her. "I'm glad at least one of my friends knows a thing or two about loyalty. I may just have to root for Shikamaru in your match, Ino."
"Do whatever you want," she responded nonchalantly. "Shikamaru wouldn't choose to win even if he could. He knows how miserable I'd make his life if he did."
Naruko noticed the genin himself was just entering the arena, looking as if he was almost being dragged there by his sensei. Upon seeing them, the proctor let out a small cough and called them to attention.
"Now that you're all here, I think it's about time to get started," he announced. "We're running slightly behind as it is. So could everyone not participating in the first match please leave the arena?"
"Good luck, Naruko," Hinata told her, as she started walking off.
"Good luck, Sasuke-kun," Ino called out herself before running out.
"A pity your luck is so poor," Sasuke told her, as they were walking off. "You might have had a real shot at second place again if you didn't have to face off against me so soon."
"Go ahead and keep living off your past glories," Naruko fired back, irritated by his words. "You'll find out soon enough that a real fight is different matter entirely from grades."
"Are both of you ready?" the proctor asked, the arena now being clear of all but the three of them. A pair of nods gave him his answer.
"Then begin," he called out loudly.
Naruko saw the sharingan spring up in Sasuke's eyes and quickly averted her own gaze. Minato-sensei had realized she'd probably fight Sasuke at some point and given her plenty of advice on the subject. It was unlikely Sasuke was skilled enough in the use of his dojutsu for a casual glance at his eyes to be dangerous, but it was still wise to look directly into them as little as possible. So she was focusing instead on his hands and legs, watching them for whatever attacks might come.
Sasuke hadn't made a move yet, so Naruko decided to get things going herself. Charging in she tried to nail him with a simple haymaker, hoping the attack would catch him flatfooted coming so soon after the match started. Instead, the other genin dodged nimbly out of the way. She pressed her assault but he continued weaving around her attacks, looking as if doing so took very little effort.
His movements looked oddly familiar too, and with a flash of insight, she realized why. Sasuke was moving just like Lee had in his fight against Kiba. He must have been watching with his sharingan active and copied the style. Meanwhile, she searched her memories to try to figure out what other abilities he might have stolen from the preliminaries to use against her. Thankfully, there hadn't been a lot of high level jutsu thrown around, and she wasn't coming up with much that she had to worry about.
Still, it was clear that she would have to take this fight seriously. Drawing on a bit more chakra, she was not in the least bit pleased to run into a limit on the spiritual side again, even though she was barely above what she was using at the start of the fight. She knew it was inevitable that limit would come down, and since she was still over half of what she'd used when fighting Orochimaru, it was doing so much slower than she'd originally thought it would. Still, it wasn't something she wanted to think about.
She was just grateful that she at least got a chance to put Sasuke in his place before she was really handicapped. She might not have enough chakra for an easy win, but with this much, she was determined to make it work. With the extra bit of chakra, she was able enhance her speed a little more, but Sasuke still had the obvious advantage in that regard. He seemed to relishing that fact as well, not having gone on the offensive, and instead toying with her as they continued their match that had yet to expand beyond taijutsu.
If he wanted to be that way, it suited her just fine though. She'd make him pay for his hubris. Making what appeared to be just another attack, not in any way different from the others, she charged at Sasuke again, sending an open palm strike at his chest. He started to dodge straight back, intending to force her attack to fall short. Having been waiting for that moment, Naruko redoubled her efforts, putting every last bit of energy she could into pressing the attack and pushing off toward him as fast as she could.
To his credit, Sasuke reacted instantly, speeding his own retreat. Naruko watched as the distance between them closed, and it became clear Sasuke would just barely manage to avoid this attack as well, with Naruko's palm falling less than an inch short. But that was more than close enough for her. As her palm reached its closest point, she was already gathering up energy, forming it into the swirling orb Minato-sensei had trained her to make.
"Rasengan!" she called out, risking a glimpse at Sasuke's eyes to see the look of surprise as the rasengan formed and pressed itself into his chest.
In a moment, she felt resistance, and Sasuke's motion away from her was accelerated to unsafe speeds. The force of the blast combined with the spinning of his body caused by the jutsu's rotation prevented him from righting himself before he collided with the arena's wall, cracking it with the force of the impact. Even so, Naruko wasn't about to assume that was enough to take him out, and fired off several blasts of high speed wind at Sasuke, continuing to pummel him. Naruko smiled at the thought of the rather painful reminder he was getting as to who was really the better ninja.
Gravity hadn't even had a chance to pull him back to the ground when a series of attacks began ramming into his body with enough force to keep him pressed against the wall and send shockwaves of pain through his body. Nevertheless, Sasuke wasn't about to lose this fight before it had even really started, so ignoring the pain, he leaped off from against the wall. Bracing himself against a final hit, he pressed on through it, landing on solid ground and quickly dodging to the side to avoid the stream of attacks.
Having a moment to recuperate now, he took stock of his injuries. He was bruised and battered, but nothing appeared to be broken. Moving was painful now, but to a degree where he could still ignore it. He hated to admit it, but he might have been lucky to come off so easily. That had been an impressive attack. Sasuke could only blame himself for taking it. He'd been enjoying his newfound dominance in taijutsu against Naruko and had assumed he'd just surpassed her completely.
Sasuke should have known better. Naruko had always been good, which wasn't surprising if she really was a hybrid of Uchiha and Namikaze blood as he suspected. And on top of that, she'd been receiving training from the Yondaime. There was no way she'd be a complete pushover. So now he needed to get serious. He did have a sizable advantage in speed. Nor was Naruko the only one with an impressive offense, as she would soon find out.
Quickly going through a set of hand seals, while dodging another one of Naruko's wind blasts, he began rapidly spitting out fireballs and sending them at Naruko. She dodged around the initial volley, but Sasuke was already prepared for that, having sent out another set right to where she'd been dodging. Caught off guard by that, she was forced to deflect one of the fireballs rather than dodging it cleanly.
Sasuke continued to press his attack, feeling more and more confident. Sarutobi-sensei had trained him hard for just this type of situation. When attacking from ranged it was about controlling not only your own movements, but your opponent's as well. With the right pattern of attacks, you could force them to dodge in a certain direction. And if you could get them to dance as you directed, you were halfway to winning the fight already.
Sasuke's advantage in speed made this strategy all the more effective. Naruko would just finish dodging one attack, only to find that Sasuke had been on the move and had positioned himself behind her for another stream of attacks. Occasionally when he saw an opening, he would even dash in for a quick physical attack, always dancing out again before she had the opportunity to use the rasengan. There was no reason to press his luck with that again, not when his strategy was working so well.
Naruko had almost completely given up on offense, having to devote all her efforts to protecting herself. He admitted to being impressed that she was doing as well as she was at it. He'd yet to land anything that could really be considered a solid hit, but he was quickly piling on the number of glancing blows. The damage from them must be starting to wear on her. The small hits would only make it less likely she could continue to dodge so effectively. Sasuke was confident that he just needed a couple of attacks that completely penetrated her defenses to take her out of the fight. It was only a matter of time now.
Tenten was completely blown away by the fight she was seeing in front of her. She never expected it reach this level.
"I'm so jealous!" Lee said from next to her. "You get to fight whichever one wins that match."
"You may still have a chance," Neji added much more calmly. "The winner will probably still be exhausted from this match, and quite likely injured as well. Still, you should be cautious. Both of them are quite skilled."
"You bet they are!" a new voice added excitedly from behind them.
"Kushina-sama!" Tenten said in surprise at seeing one of her idols present. "What are you doing here?"
"As if I'd miss a chance to boast about Naruko," she said enthusiastically. "She may officially be Minato's student, but I was responsible for a lot of her training myself. You just watch. She'll win this whole thing."
"Don't count out my own students!" Guy practically roared from next to Kushina. "Their flames of youth drive them ever onward!"
Tenten was already tuning Guy out. His words did little to relieve the sting of those that came before them. Especially as they came from Neji and Kushina. Nor could Tenten bring herself to disagree with their assessments. Despite being younger and having less experience, these two were both well beyond her current level of ability. She might be able to come out with a win against them in the tournament, but it was clear to her how things would go against either of them if they were fresh. Was this the benefit of training under a Hokage, or had they always been that good?
Whatever the reason, it bothered Tenten greatly, especially in Naruko's case. She'd come to terms with the fact that Neji surpassed her, but she'd always taken pride in being the best kunoichi of her generation. That was a pride she could no longer indulge herself in. Nevertheless, Tenten wasn't going to take it lying down. Naruko may be better than her now, but that was no guarantee it would always be that way. As distasteful as the thought was, maybe she could learn a thing or two from her teammate, Lee. Perhaps she could overcome the difference through simple hard work. She was determined that at the very least she would try.
"I admit your student had an impressive start," Sarutobi said from Minato's right, "but it appears Sasuke has all but wrapped things up. The match has become completely one-sided."
"Oh, you mean 'The Professor' hasn't figured out Naruko's strategy yet?" Minato teased. "It's not that she's so overwhelmed she can't attack, she simply chooses not to."
"It is true that Sasuke would almost certainly dodge any attacks sent his way," Sarutobi agreed. "But it would at least break his tempo and give her some breathing room. So what could she be hoping to achieve by holding back? Wait ... she can't actually be hoping to ..."
"Exhaust Sasuke's chakra?" Minato finished for him with a smirk. "I believe that's exactly what she wants to do. Since Sasuke is such a fast target, she probably decided it would be easiest to simply outlast him."
"That's a very difficult strategy to actually employ," Sarutobi responded. "Sasuke's chakra reserves are quite large for his age, and I've trained him well enough that his isn't overly wasteful with them. And most importantly, it relies on her not making any mistakes the entire time."
"I believe she's actually capable of that," Minato boasted proudly. "Naruko has incredible focus. As determined as she is, I honestly don't believe she will slip up, no matter how long the fight lasts."
"It is impressive she's lasted this long already," Sarutobi admitted grudgingly. "Still, she hasn't been able to completely avoid damage. She's done a good job of using her chakra to prevent burns, but that will just make the fireballs hit like a physical blow. Even if she does as well as you claim, at best it comes down to the question of whether Sasuke exhausts his chakra before Naruko succumbs to her injuries."
"This is fascinating," the Kazekage said from Minato's left. "I may not have a student in the match like you two, but I admit I'm completely enthralled nonetheless."
Minato's eyes narrowed in response to the man's statement, but then he forced himself to return his focus to the arena. He could deal with that problem later, for now, he wanted to see how this ended.
Sasuke cursed himself for a fool. This was the second stupid mistake he'd made this match. He hadn't even realized how much of his chakra reserves he'd depleted until they were almost empty. He just hadn't imagined it would take so long to finish the blonde genin off that it would even become an issue. Could this have even been Naruko's plan from the start? As bad as things looked now, he wasn't about to give up. He'd just have to start using his own brain a little more. If this had been Naruko's plan, perhaps it was time to make her think she'd succeeded.
Plan in mind, he let his sharingan fade. He could ill afford to use the chakra required to keep the dojutsu going, and it would hopefully serve to make Naruko believe he had even less chakra left than he did. Now he stood there defiantly, waiting for Naruko to make her move. She watched him cautiously, not so gullible as he would have liked, but he hadn't seriously expected her to fall for that level of trickery.
Eventually, she did start to close in on him, if in a very erratic manner. Every few steps she was jumping to the side, or even back-stepping, continuing evasive maneuvers, but slowly closing the distance as she did. Throughout it all, Sasuke resisted sending off any attacks. She could keep this up as long as she wanted as far as Sasuke was concerned. It would only give him more time to recover. Finally, she stopped her dancing around and dashed straight at him.
Having been waiting for this, Sasuke quickly went through the hand seals and spat out the largest fireball of the match, briefly obscuring her from his vision. With the same skill she'd been showing the entire match, Sasuke saw her twist out from behind the fireball and avoid it with barely a hairsbreadth to spare. Sasuke dropped to one knee as if he didn't even have the energy to stand anymore.
This time, Naruko took the bait more readily and continued sprinting straight for him. Sasuke waited as long as he dared, even as his instincts were screaming at him to react. Then, when her fist was mere inches from his face, he moved his hands into a seal. It had taken a great deal of work to get to the point where he could use this jutsu with only one seal, but he was glad he'd saved it for this final surprise.
Opening his mouth, he let out a stream of fire that was more powerful than any of the attacks he'd yet used. In addition, he put every last bit of chakra he had left into it. He would only have one shot at this, and he couldn't afford to waste it. Logically, he did know that this was an extremely dangerous attack to be using. But it spoke of how much Naruko had impressed him in this fight that he was convinced she'd somehow survive it without any permanent injuries.
Still, he was completely unprepared for the actual result. Rather then the resistance and backlash of heat he was expecting from hitting the target so close to his face, he felt nothing. In fact, he'd almost thought he'd seen Naruko wink out of existence the moment before the fire had obscured his vision. He barely even registered when a jonin leaped in front of the attack and blocked it to protect the crowd, he was already trying to figure out what had become of Naruko.
It only took him a moment to locate her, and judging from her condition and position, Sasuke knew exactly what had happened. What he'd just fired his last attack at had been an ordinary bunshin. Without his sharingan, he'd never even noticed. The real Naruko had never dodged his final fireball in the first place. Which was why she was now charging at him from the direction he had fired it and with clothes that were almost half burnt off and still sporting small fires in a couple of places.
Sasuke willed himself to defend against the attack, but as drained of chakra as he was, his body just wouldn't move like he wanted it to. He almost couldn't separate in his mind the punch that knocked him flat from the impact of the ground on his back. Still, when his vision cleared he saw Naruko leaning over him with a foot on his chest and a kunai against his neck.
"I suggest you end the fight," she yelled out to the proctor. "He's probably too stubborn to give up himself."
He had ... lost?
"I believe that's my victory," Minato said cheerfully when Naruko was declared the winner of the match.
"Yes, well, it appears I neglected to impress my student with the importance of taking your opponent seriously," Sarutobi replied gruffly.
"They both fought superbly," the third man announced. "I would love to have either of them as my own student."
Minato glared at him. With the match over he wasn't going to put this off any longer. "I've met with the Kazekage numerous times," he told the man, "and I've never known any sane person to have a strong and sudden change in personalities."
"Yes, Orochimaru," Sarutobi added. "What exactly is it you're after?"
So, it was Orochimaru himself? Minato should have figured that to be the case.
"What, I can't simply be here to enjoy the tournament?" he inquired.
Having probably sensed the chakra being given off around his 'Kazekage' thanks to the growing tension, the jonin sensei of the Suna team appeared in front of the group in a flash.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Well, I suppose I'll answer you honestly," Orochimaru said to Sarutobi, ignoring the intruder. "Suna intends to attack Konoha."
"Kazekage-sama!" he cried out in surprise. "What are you saying?"
"Don't worry though," Orochimaru continued, leaping to his feet and knifing his hand straight into the jonin, sending it through his chest and out the other side. "I plan to help you."
"Baki-sensei!" Temari cried out, watching the scene occurring in front of her eyes in horror. "Why would father do that?"
She started to run toward the man to find out just that but found a hand latched onto her from behind. Gaara's she realized with a start. Kankuro was frozen as stiff as if he was one of his own puppets abandoned in his seat.
"He's already dead," Gaara said. "If you go you may end up the same way. Look."
That almost sounded like concern. Even with how much calmer he'd been this past month, she was still so surprised that it took her a moment to look at where he was pointing. When she did, however, Gaara's words were almost completely erased from her mind. All around her the ninja they'd planted in the arena were fighting with their supposed allies from Oto. Well, those of them that were still alive were. It looked as if the majority of them had been slain before they even realized what was going on.
On top of that, the Konoha ninja weren't sitting idle. While they were confused as to what to do regarding to the two fighting factions, a number of them were gathering around the three siblings. More than one she recognized from her preparations for this mission as being very dangerous individuals and beyond her skill to deal with. Maybe Gaara could do something if he were to transform.
"We surrender," Gaara announced, speaking for them.
Well, there went that idea. Temari just wished she new what was going on.
Naruto saw the gates of Konoha drawing closer in front of him. This wasn't quite the triumphant return he'd hoped for. As much as he wanted to blame Jiraiya's drunken behavior on letting Kisame escape, he was partially responsible as well. He hadn't been prepared for Kisame to wake up so soon, but thinking it over he realized what must have happened. That sword of his had the ability to absorb chakra. It had probably devoured much of his attack before being overwhelmed, greatly lessening the effect on its master. Whatever the reason, Kisame was gone.
"Ah, it's good to be home," Jiraiya announced. "I'm going to go report to Minato what happened. Just try to stay out of trouble, seeing as I'm sticking my neck out for you."
"Believe me, I have no plans to start anything," Naruto assured him.
Nodding, Jiraiya picked up his pace and hurried into the village. Naruto took a more leisurely approach. The finals may already have started, but that had been more of an excuse to Naruto than a real worry. Oh he'd like to see them, but it wasn't worth racing through the village just to possibly catch a few more minutes of it. Walking along, Naruto had barely passed into the village when he sensed fighting nearby. Curious as to what was going on, he hurried over to source, hiding himself on the roof of a building and looking on as two sets of foreign ninja fought.
Not knowing what was going on, Naruto continued merely observing the ensuing battle. It looked as if there had been ten on each side to start, but half the Suna ninja were already dead while the Oto ninja still had their full contingent.
"Traitors!" one of the Suna ninja yelled out. "Our enemy is Konoha. When your leader hears of this you're all dead."
"Sorry to tell you this, but our boss is the one who changed the plan," an Oto-nin replied, as one of his companions snuck up behind the distracted Suna man and stabbed him in the back, leaving it four versus ten."
"I surrender," one of the remaining four called out, apparently not liking the odds. His companions soon followed suit as they all dropped their weapons and held up their hands. Their opponents all looked to the Oto-nin who had spoken earlier, the man apparently being their leader.
"Kill them," he ordered without hesitation.
Naruto wasn't entirely sure why he acted. It was the Suna ninja who were apparently the enemies of Konoha, and this had little to do with him regardless. Perhaps he simply wanted some form of atonement for all those centuries ago when he'd killed without quarter even those who had begged for mercy. Whatever the reason, he landed between the two sides.
"They've surrendered. Let them be," he ordered.
"Perhaps you don't know this, but we're on your side," one of the Oto-nin informed him, probably assuming he was one of Konoha's ninja.
"My order stands," the leader declared. "If he tries to stop you, then kill him too."
Now it was personal. Not giving them a chance to even prepare, Naruto bowled into the group of ninja, almost looking like a whirlwind as he weaved through them tossing bodies every which way. When he came out on the other side, not one of them were standing, although several quickly returned to their feet and a couple more were shakily attempting to join them. The four Suna ninja looked on in confusion, probably trying to decide if they should help him or not. If they came to a decision, Naruto would probably never know, as all remaining ninja on both sides suddenly collapsed to the ground. Spinning around Naruto looked warily at the man he knew had caused it.
"So you've returned, Itachi," he declared to the other man. Itachi stood there in his Akatsuki cloak calmly gazing at Naruto.
"There are too many eyes on Konoha right now," Itachi told him. "Some of them it would be best if you didn't catch. I suggest you not get involved in this matter any further."
"Why should I listen to you?" Naruto asked. "You still haven't explained anything to me."
"There isn't time now," Itachi answered. "However, I have arranged for the leader of my organization to meet with you very shortly. All your questions will be answered then."
Whether his claim about there not being time was true or simply an excuse, Itachi certainly left in a hurry. Naruto grumbled to himself about the whole meeting. Still, as much as he disliked being left in the dark, it might not be wise to completely ignore the advice. That didn't mean Naruto was actually going to avoid getting involved, but he'd be a bit more discreet about it. Using a henge, he disguised himself as a random man he vaguely remembered meeting a few centuries back. Certainly no one anyone else alive today would recognize.
Leaving the fallen ninja, he began searching around the village. Although his efforts were mostly in vain. While the fighting had been pretty widespread, it didn't seem to have lasted long. The surprise attack by Oto against their allies had left Suna's forces in disarray, and once Konoha's ninja had figured out what was going on, they'd been able to quickly mop up. No one from Konoha seemed to like Oto being present, but Naruto hadn't found any fighting since his meeting with Itachi.
With the current situation resolved to Naruto's satisfaction, his mind wandered back to Itachi. Just what did Itachi want with him? Who was this leader and how did they find out so much about Naruto? And just how soon was this supposed meeting? Well, there wasn't much Naruto could do besides wait and see.
Mere moments after Sasuke's humiliating loss, everything had turned to chaos. Even as exhausted as he was, Sasuke had slipped out of the arena with a destination in mind. He didn't know what was going on, and he may not be in much shape to help, but at the very least he wanted to ensure his mother hadn't been dragged into the mess. She'd been ill the last few days with a very nasty cold. It had taken a great deal of effort just to convince her to stay in bed rather than come watch the finals anyway. He could very easily see his mother getting herself involved even as sick as she was, and it worried him greatly.
As he was nearing the Uchiha Compound, he saw someone he certainly hadn't been expecting to. Itachi leaped into the center of a busy street, being pursued by seven other Uchiha clan members. The civilians scattered, but some of the braver ones stayed close enough to gawk at the spectacle.
"First you betray your clan, and now you do the same to your village?" one of the Uchiha accused him. "We'll make you pay this time."
They were accusing his brother of betraying the village? One of the men had even been present that night as a child when Sasuke found out his father was dead. Their conversation sounded much more like betrayal of the village than anything he'd ever heard from his brother.
"Itachi!" Sasuke called out to his brother. "What's going on here?"
Before Sasuke even knew what was happening, Itachi was behind him, holding a kunai to his throat. "Back off or the boy dies," Itachi yelled at them.
"Killing your father isn't enough," came the reply, "now you want to kill your own brother too?"
None of this made any sense. Itachi would never harm him. Something had to be going on here. Knowing it wasn't the most advisable thing to do, Sasuke nevertheless used what little chakra his body had recovered since the fight to activate his sharingan. What he saw gave him a clue as to situation. Using the sharingan, one could detect the influence of another sharingan if they knew what to look for. All seven of Itachi's opponents shone to such a degree they must practically be under the complete control of one. Could Itachi actually be making them act like this? If so, why was he doing it?
"Tell no one of this," Itachi ordered softly enough that only Sasuke could hear while looking down at him. With his sharingan active, Sasuke realized immediately that Itachi was also putting him under a genjutsu while he spoke. He struggled against it, but as exhausted as he was there was nothing he could do as the effect caused him to quickly grow tired. A second later everything went black.
With everything in the village as settled as it could be considering Orochimaru's men were still spread all around Konoha, Minato and Sarutobi sat in his office with the man himself, who was no longer disguised as the Kazekage. Jiraiya had all but demanded to be here as well, but Minato couldn't trust him to keep a level head in this situation. Besides, they needed as many people as possible keeping an eye on all the foreign shinobi.
"Now, perhaps you can explain what this is all about," Minato began. "We have no shortage of sworn statements from captured combatants that you were behind everything. You approached Suna with this plan and also stirred up the trouble with the Uchiha."
"Of course I did," Orochimaru admitted openly. "They'd hardly have listened if you sent Jiraiya to suggest it. It was the perfect trap to gather your enemies together and eliminate them. You should be thanking me."
"Even if this were something deserving of thanks, what type of gratitude were you looking for," Sarutobi asked suspiciously.
"Just because I was chased out of the village doesn't mean I can't still think fondly of it," Orochimaru declared playfully. "I can't simply do this out of the goodness of my heart? Although, now that you mention it, there is one tiny little thing I wouldn't mind if it isn't too much of a bother."
"And what exactly is that?" Minato questioned, still unable to fathom what was going on in the man's head. Did he really think they would just give him anything he asked for, no matter how 'tiny' it was?
"Oh, it's nothing really," Orochimaru said casually. "I only really ask out of courtesy, but I'm curious to meet this supposed son of yours. What was his name? Naruto? Yes, I believe that sounds right. I'd like for your to arrange a meeting for me with Naruto."
Author's Notes: Okay I'm still being a bit slow on chapters, but at least you got a nice big one this time. I hope you like the fact that the plot is really moving now too. More of that to come.