A/N: Thank you as usual to my readers and subscribers!
I'll be aiming to get the chapters closer to 18 or 20 KB before uploading them from now on, cloystreng :) The last several were mostly between 14-15 KB on average.
Thanks Bobboky, Adventure Writer 28 and Lord of Murder :)
hggkhkhtdui7.8t7kd: By all means feel free to speak your mind. I only ask that you do the other reviewers if nothing else the courtesy of censoring your insults.
Much appreciated Stiehl. I'd agree with you that canon wise Sasuke can fall into such a category; which is all the more reason I'm trying to give him something more to go on living for. I don't intend to alter his persona so far that it fades from being recognizable as Sasuke however but more... pleasant I suppose. Not on Naruto's level of cheeriness but not a sulking one-track either. Thank you for the review.
Trudging forward through the sands on the way to Sunagakure in an eight-years old body definitely ranked up there on Naruto's list of things to avoid doing again. At least the last time he had made the trek he was tall enough to avoid getting his eyes, nose, and mouth full of the grainy material.
No matter how he adjusted his cloak or hood it found a way through. If he had just brought those old goggles from before he received his hitai-ate at least he could have seen properly! Just ahead of him Yamato was having a much easier time of things with a wooden replica of his former ANBU mask and hood drawn up fully.
Bleh! turning to the side to spit yet again Naruto grimaced as he ducked his head and tried to peer through one hand ahead. Was it always this windy so close to Suna? he thought. I'm definitely taking this trip back on Yamato-taicho's shoulders! his conclusion would probably have earned a light slap upside the head if voiced aloud at their current point in the journey just two days out from Konoha.
Glancing around in frustration he thought he could make out a faint outline far ahead and on their right.
Why does everyone hate me? the small red-haired child thought in despair as yet another group of villagers scrambled over themselves to get out of his sight. A single kunai whistled as it cut through the air and neatly sliced through one of his cheeks to draw out a sharp inhalation and gasp of pain.
Quickly pressing one hand to the thin line of red he turned to stare at his next attacker with wide pale blue eyes. It was to his surprise not another assassin but rather an aged villager leaning against a wall for support.
"Just die already, you damned brat!" the old man hissed. Tears welled up within Gaara's eyes as the former shinobi reached down to his belt for another weapon and for just a brief moment their looked each other eye-to-eye.
For just a moment blue faded to jagged black and yellow points. The old man let out a terrified shout and leaned back away from the killing intent leaking free from the red haired demon in front of him. Gaara blinked in confusion before panic set in again as the other man sank to his knees clutching at his heart, alternating between shouts and whispers in his final few seconds.
The child took a step back as his head swiveled around to look at the others glaring back at him from windows with hatred and fear. Why! Why! his internal shouts were cut off as an alien feeling drove itself through his heart and stole away his consciousness.
No one moved toward the boy or the old man even after ten minutes had passed with both laying in the sands. The sight of said sands swirling about their demon container and pressing tightly about his skin only further unnerved them.
"W... wh.. where am I?" Gaara's voice was faint and weak as he looked up from the ground toward the darkness all around him. A trickle of light far overhead ran down to illuminate the area in a small circle around his form.
Dark blue light and jagged yellow slash marks rose up from the shadows outside of that circle surrounding him and the sheer anger and malice that fell against him from it far outstripped anything he had ever felt from the villagers. You. the tone dripped with the same feeling as before and a low snarling pressed against his eardrums painfully.
Covering up the nearest of them with his hand Gaara looked around himself for someway to get away from the horrible feeling of looming death. A single tan-toned tail slammed into the ground just beside the circle and made him jump and fall backwards to the very edge behind him.
You are the most pitiless creature I have ever laid eyes upon. You continue to subject the both of us to constant threat of death by refusing to show those maggots who is lord of the village. the disappointment in the voice cut into his flesh as sharply as his fathers own words.
Rise upward and accept my strength! Teach them all the power of the Shukaku! it suddenly whispered to him in a voice so soft and friendly that for a moment Gaara thought a new person or creature or whatever it was had spoken from the darkness.
Then it pressed against the light as close as it could and the tall and swirling sand coated One Tailed Shukaku entered his full field of vision with it's black and yellow eyes both condemning and forgiving him, it's dark blue marks shining in their own terrible way. It bared it's teeth in a black grin and allowed the brunt of it's disappointment and wrath to descend on the human before it.
And Gaara could do nothing to tear his eyes free as it pressed harder and harder against the protective field keeping it out of the light and therefore contained within him. Take me up and destroy them all! it growled, and the child found himself unable to either halt it's descent toward him or the tears that flowed from his eyes as memories floated to the surface of his bitter life.
A piercing laughter filtered through the air as the Shukaku took it's first steps to freedom in a very, very long time by sinking the humans mind into despair.
"Halt! What purpose do you have in this place?" the first guard snapped at the two figures pushing through the worst sandstorm Suna or the outcropping lands around it had suffered since the Shukaku was last active.
A tall figure cleared the storm first and approached several more feet into the canyon before sliding his protective facial protector aside and shook loose sand from his cloak and shawl. The striked-through hitai-ate declared him to be a defect from Konoha. He turned without answering toward his companion a little ways back and so to did the guard, glancing between them.
A slightly shorter blond woman trudged through in a very battered and torn outfit. Her flowing hair nearly trailed the ground as she pressed against a side of the passage and panted. Two of the active guards eyes descended and took in the pleasing sight as the third watched the man closely, smelling a deception or trap in the making.
The man turned toward them and slowly drew out a broken kunai which in turn caught their attention again. He gestured with a stabbing motion toward his own throat with wide eyes and then clutching at it as though it were bleeding terribly.
Sighing and placing the object back within his cloak he mouthed something about Konoha's medics saving his life. "What... my partner.. is telling you... is that... he lost.. his voice.." the woman panted, leaning on her knees now as though oblivious to the fairly obvious result in her tattered cloths.
"Hn... so what are you doing here, then?" one of the guardsmen questioned as his eyes rose and fell slowly. She didn't answer. The man with her again slowly reached into his cloak and drew out a wooden tablet. He showed them the carved out message and both sides to show it had no hidden notes before tossing it lightly forward to their feet.
One bent down without taking his eyes away from them despite the enjoyable sight and cautiously read the note. "'Seeking refuge and better medical attention before it's too late for my voice box. Konoha's best failed me.'" the guard read aloud then looked at the other two.
"... Deposit any and all weapons including that kunai where you are. After that we'll see what a search turns up." giving the blond another once-over the one holding the message gestured for the duo to get to it.
An exasperated sigh escaped the man as he pulled out another couple of kunai and shuriken before dropping them to the ground. The woman looked up at them blankly. "I lost most of mine in the sandstorm." she said in a sad tone with a pout.
"Hmm. You, search him. I'll search the blond." dropping the tablet to the ground and approaching with what looked like a pained grimace at trying so hard not to grin, his hands roamed as they pleased for several moments before a truly pained expression crossed his face and the eyes rolled upward. "I will never get tired of using Oiroke no Jutsu to great effect." Naruto's voice piped up from where the tablet had been resting on the ground.
Emerging from the back of each guards neck was a shuriken. While not immediately lethal, if they did not receive medial aide soon enough the wounds would kill them in time. Naruto sent out a pair of Oiroke clones for each guard to fully subdue them and then follow into Suna after a lengthy period.
Watching as the chakra flowed from his fingertips was intriguing. The book mentioned something about attaching it to an inanimate object- like a kunai as the basic example and being able to draw it back after thrown or even altering the path by leaving a thin 'string' behind to connect it to his fingers.
So far he didn't have anything to attach it to besides his book but that hardly mattered. He already knew exactly what he wanted to do with the technique in another couple of weeks or so. As the doctor had said and the Hyuga injecting him with chakra had verified movement would only be detrimental to his legs for at least that time frame.
He idly attached it to a page in the book and flipped it over with a slightly awkward twitch of his fingers. Beside him Kakashi observed the process with a nod of the head. "Good job, Sasuke. You're picking this up far faster then I would have expected and certainly with much better control than your Tree-walking 'mastery'." the Jounin said catching the childs attention.
Looking up at him Sasuke nodded his head without much emotion showing. He didn't want the older shinobi to guess at what he was intending to do with the technique but he couldn't underplay his control just yet. It took too much concentration to do that. With another rough flick of his fingertips he sent the next page over and then disconnected the thread from that page.
If he keeps that up I may have to find another book for him to read- it's only been two days and already his progress is startling. Something more complex but still capable of him once he can move about on his own again might be able to slow him down a little. Kakashi thought as he observed the last Uchiha before him.
"Alright, that's enough for today. You can't use too much chakra or the injections won't be truly effective. Keep reading the normal way if you want to or ask me any questions you might have." he told Sasuke. The boy shrugged noncommittally at him and flicked through another few pages.
Both turned however at the sound at a series of light rapping against the door frame and a shiny black bowl-headed man stuck his neck in. "Ah... so this is the boy Sharingan Hatake has chosen as his disciple." Guy murmured softly. Kakashi rose to his feet before the sentence was completed and dragged the other Jounin out of the room before trouble could arise from their meeting.
He completely missed the small boy standing in Guy's shadow and just beside the door frame. Sasuke was at a better angle to catch sight of him and stared at the long haired child in something like curiosity when he made no motion to either step forward or leave. At last the other boy took a cautious step forward and gave a slight and swift bow of the head before rising to full height and almost shouting "I am your ete-eternal rival! Rock Lee!" and then rushing after his newly acquired sensei.
What the hell? Eternal rival? the bewildered expression left on Sasuke's face at the strange encounter would repeat it self in the time to come.
Rising unsteadily to his feet slightly darker eyes looked about Suna as an expression of anger crossed his features. They settled again on the old man who had slit his cheek earlier and his eyebrows met in further frustration. They'll going to blame me again... I didn't even do anything to hurt him! Gaara thought.
Turning away and heading back toward his house- for it was most certainly not a home in the loving, tender sense that most children would call one, but rather another place of torment at the efforts of his father and brother.
A soft whoosh caught his attention and a swirl of sand erupted from around his feet to capture the empty bottle an inch from the back of his head. Turning slowly toward the attacker he saw a startled expression before a window was slammed shut and locked up. Grimacing he shattered the bottle without realizing it and continued again.
Gaara had no idea that he was being watched by more than just hateful villagers. Unknowingly his fathers next sent assassin was laying in wait off ahead with no idea of the capabilities his target could wield, yet the one's who were watching him at present were also silently shadowing his movements in preparation.
When the assassin fell toward Gaara with his tanto drawn he was captured in the hands of two different shinobi and decapitated by the wire trailing between their wrists. The entire ordeal took place two dozen feet over the jinchuriki's head without him realizing it, and by the time the strange coppery scent caught his nose it was far too late to directly halt the movements against him.
That, of course, did not mean that the would-be killer and then shortly-discovered partner wouldn't return to their base without first losing a limb or two in the process from the driving sands swirling to life.
"Aah, Suna. Home to more jinchuriki-hating villagers, homicidal Kazekage, and a desperate-for-a-friend demon container." Naruto intoned softly as he set foot within the boundary of the village for the first time in this life since coming back. It reminded him fairly sadly of his own childhood except for the Kazekage bit.
Yamato was less enthused about the whole ordeal. It was decidingly uncomfortable to have had to deal with boy's so called 'Sexy Jutsu' to get into the village even after Naruto explained the plan in fairly good and perverted detail.
His most pressing matter was to keep his eyes peeled for any red-haired children in the area... or his ears ready for the screams of pain Naruto forewarned him would probably crop up when the One Tails decided to make itself known. Whoever this Gaara was it seemed unlikely that things would go very pleasantly for any of them at that point.
"Well! Now that we're here the first place we should head to is the Kazekage's house. Gaara's bound to show up there sooner or later, assassination attempt or no and it might be possible to at least get his dad to lay off the attacks if nothing else." Naruto declared after looking around the general area.
Yamato could feel his blood pressure rising and his previous decision to go along with this whole plan taking a nose dive with the thought of intimidating the Kazekage into obedience. He formed another sheet of wood and pressed it to Naruto's hands with a slightly maddened look in his eyes.
The boy glanced from sheet to face and paled at the dark and frankly spooky expression relayed there. 'Do not get Konoha involved in a new war! It's bad enough what you did to get us here!' it read. "Alright, alright! We'll just scout out for now I guess." Naruto relented as he took a step back. Yamato kept the look up for another couple of moments in payback before relaxing and smiling wearily at him.
Danzo looked upon the host of the One Tailed Shukaku and was surprised by the intensity of his return stare and the state of the Root members carrying him in. Without an immediate source of sand the jinchuriki would have to dredge it up from the rock around them.
The elder shinobi had no intention of allowing that. "Come." he intoned flatly as he gestured and the panting, blood soaked duo followed with Gaara trapped between them. Danzo gestured toward a small pool of water in a hollowed out chuck of the ground. "Deposit him there and leave." they hastened as sand began gathering into the air again.
A splash filled the air as Gaara sank up to his nose in water. Sputtering as he struggled to get up above the surface he locked eyes with the leader of the kidnappers and felt his limbs go limp. His body fell beneath the surface and his head with it this time.
Leaning over the small body of water Danzo ticked off the seconds until at last he reached in and drew the jinchuriki's head just above. Gasping for breath Gaara struggled to break free as the man spoke. "If you do not swear on your life to obey my every order and command from this hour forth, I swear in turn to drown your host and kill you the Shukaku in the process. Do you hear that, beast? I expect an answer!"
End Chapter Eight.