A/N:It's been a long time since the last update. I'd like to say I've been writing like crazy and building up the current chapter, but the truth of the matter is that I needed a little while away so that I could see the story path clearly again and pick up on the little things that needed to be worked on.
Hopefully this chapter has been worth the wait, and thank you all for over 300 favorites and story alerts apiece :D
The Kazekage felt his breath pause as the tidal wave of sand beneath his sons control came up against a literal wall of water in response, not only blocking it but actually pushing the sand back!
When the two forces settled into a thick mud his emotions screamed into conflicting results- should he lend aide with his own power, leave Gaara to continue trying, or step back and leave this battle, for it was apparent that anyone with the the ability to conjure up so much water in perhaps a second or two was not merely a Jounin but perhaps a fellow Kage-level ninjutsu specialist.
"Gaara, draw on more of the Shukaku's power." He ordered quickly after making up his mind, fingers tensed in the half-motions of the proper handseals just in-case he had to defend his life.
The child spared his father a worried look with hints of his illness at murdering Danzo still apparent in their depths and in the set of his mouth, but Gaara turned back to face the unexpected blockade of mud ahead and raised both of his hands with a thin slant to his lips, concentrating on just pulling sand together rather than forming it into one of the few serious techniques under his belt.
It chose to wrap around himself in defense a fraction of a second before the world exploded and deadly sludge crashed back into the three of them. A faint grunt of pain erupted from his fathers lips as a thin gold sheen appeared beneath the pile of mud that slammed into his ribcage, and though the Kazekage was pushed back a foot he managed to brace himself in time as well.
The only one truly injured was Yura, and he lay on the ground with a thin trickle of blood racing down from the side of his head, visible eye dull and almost glassy with unconsciousness. The left side of his body was caught beneath one of the larger spreads of mud.
While all of that was processing a blue and rough looking shinobi burst through the opening made in the wall of mud and a spine-filled blade whistled over a dozen times as it sank through the air toward the sphere of sand wrapped around Gaara.
It glanced aside as gold dust appeared and formed a narrow patch where the sword should have touched sand, and the Kazekage looked through black-rimmed eyes in furious anger. "Gaara! Release yourself fully!" he commanded, knowing that the Shukaku could be regenerated- his youngest son's broken and mangled form could not.
More gold bled into the air as the shinobi turned his attention away from the sphere and launched across the distance with a manic grin, twisting the sword in his hands as he shunshined forward. He slowed some up-close and found a gold-lined hand coming up to catch one of the spines in the blade, as the other twisted in further handseals.
A gold lance speared the other shinobi in the shoulder holding the weapon in the next couple of moments, but there was little to be done to defend fully against the wall of water that smashed the Kazekage in the throat and upper chest and very nearly ruined his windpipe, and he survived only with the help of the sudden gold sheen surrounding his neck and the releasing of the weapon with his other hand so that the resistance to the force pushed him backwards.
The blue skinned shinobi grimaced and reached back with one hand to touch the weapon in his backside, feeling blood and torn muscle as his good hand became slightly limp and angled downward.
"Well," he grunted and tossed the weapon somewhat weakly to the other hand, just as the spear exploded apart and locked over his mouth and nostrils as it solidified around the back of the head.
His eyes thinned in surprise as he looked over to see the Kazekage massaging his own neck warily, the other fingers splayed apart.
"Stand down or I kill you where you stand." The Kazekage ordered somewhat raspily, and when he lowered the hand at his neck a thick purple blotch marred the light skin painfully.
The intruder considered that as his oxygen began to deplete, then smiled unseen. He slammed the weapon to the floor and stepped back from it, leaning back against the other wall as if relaxed.
Warning sirens began to wail and on reflex an oval wall of gold a quarter of an inch thick spread around the Kazekage's body. He found out it was a futile effort when the kunai slipped behind it from beside his own body, cutting just below his neck in a thin stream of red, and he had enough time to flick his head over and raise one hand protectively in the hand-seals needed to send his gold running.
And then he saw no more, strangled beneath the weight of his own gold and oppressed by the sands of the Shukaku gone wild, trapped within Tsukuyomi's world properly.
Itachi stepped away from the shadows beside the slumped Kazekage, and turned to look as his partner gestured at the still-active gold device slowly killing him. They met each others cold gazes for a long moment before Itachi performed a fairly simple water ninjutsu and spat the small-tank's worth of water around the other man's neck- where his gill's began to breath in happily.
"He is the real Kazekage. We move on in our search." Itachi said quietly, rubbing the tiny bead of red near his left eye aside on the end of one finger and then carelessly spreading it over his cloak. Kisame nodded and walked back over to grip Samehada, and all the while the curious sphere of sand remained immobile and silent.
As they passed it again Kisami tapped the top of it with his sword and gestured, asking silently if they should carry or even destroy it. Itachi spared it a glance and shook his head no, and with that stepped out into the other halls. Kisami shrugged and followed, wondering when the hell the gold would crumble and, more seriously, how badly it was going to hurt to remove if it didn't.
Kakashi finished his rounds somewhere around mid-morning and managed to trudge up the pathway with the fatigue clear in his slouched posture. His eye and ears had remained vigilant toward the borders, but his mind had ran in completely different directions, and for once it wasn't merely toward his apprentice or eternal rivals apprentice either, but on the blond haired child who had been there when Sasuke awoke the Sharingan.
Something has definitely changed in Naruto. I only caught a glimpse of his chakra, but the boy was twisted in ways that I haven't seen in... years. Dormant power from his parents is active and, if I'm not mistaken, that might very well include the Kyuubi's seal. He had thought early on, and from there he mentally drew upon any sign, any mention from Sasuke about his relationship to Minato-sensei's son.
He was rather short on information to back up his growing concerns. I may need to talk with him in person for once. I know Naruto from tracking the boy a few years back as my light-duty ANBU assignment between serious missions, and the way he has been reacting lately is definitely a completely new direction.
For a moment he thought that the negative attention might actually have gotten through to the boy, but then he dismissed it. Naruto was the kind of person who kept through with his intentions regardless of the outcome, as the last five years of his life firmly displayed.
For the rest of the shift he tried to reassess his opinion on Naruto and the tendencies observed every now and again since, and he definitely intended to keep an eye out in the future. It was as he approached his ramshackle dwelling that he noticed his apprentice pacing up and down the outside wall, thoughts equally consumed by questions and concerns.
A book was hanging loosely by his side with a pair of thin threads trailing from a loop in his shorts, and he pushed out the fingers on his right hand suddenly, then with the other hand drew a kunai from his hip-pouch and tossed it straight into the air. He waited roughly two seconds and twisted his right hand once more to send a set of growing chakra threads out to wrap along the length of the blade nearly to the tip before drawing it back toward his free hand.
Sasuke quickly flicked the threads loose and tried again, his face a mask of concentration, and repeated the gesture once more, and again succeeded, though obviously not to a degree that he could be happy with as he prepared to throw once more. "Sasuke," his teacher called out lightly to get the younger shinobi's attention, and sure enough the Uchiha bent his neck back to stare upside-down for a moment, then slid the kunai back into the pouch and released the flow of chakra to his fingers.
A moment later and he dropped to the ground with a soft thump and stood back up again, nodding to the Jounin and waiting. Kakashi resumed his pace up to the house. "Lets talk inside, I can see you have about as much on your mind as I do right now." He said with only a hint of his weariness in the tone and stepped in, retreating for the kitchen and rummaging in the cupboards for a light breakfast.
Sasuke followed him in and stopped by the entry to the tiny space that was already mostly-preoccupied by his teacher, watching as a small pan was set atop the stove and filled with water. As the older shinobi worked he began to speak.
"I see you've already started to work on advancing your reactionary timing on distanced objects," he started the conversation lightly, "and I think it might help if you concentrated with two at a time after the first hour or so, regulating between your Sharingan and your natural sight for the times when you won't always have enough chakra to keep it running."
Sasuke nodded and answered in the sort lull that followed. "I already have it under control with my Sharingan." He said with a moderate note of satisfaction in his voice. Kakashi spared him a glance, then hummed softly to himself.
"I hoped to hear that. Well done, Sasuke," he said, honestly happy for his apprentice. "But I'd like to see a demonstration after this to see if I can catch any flaws." He added, and Sasuke agreed somewhat easily. He was nervous enough about what his teacher would say regarding the advancements he had already progressed through since the day before, but at the same hand a small degree of eagerness to prove himself as capable was there as well.
After pouring the last of the rice into the water Kakashi set a lid off-centered to let it simmer for awhile, and placing a hand over the back of his neck and rubbing it tiredly, he sat down on the stool nearby and turned to face his apprentice fully. "I'm sure you have some questions you'd like to ask, so go ahead." He offered after a moment.
Sasuke did have several of them on his mind, mostly regarding the ways the Sharingan enhanced everything about him to an almost painful degree, and the headaches and strain that accompanied it after too-long, but after managing to reach at least half an hour without such toward the onset of dawn, he was reminded of the question nagging at the back of his mind all throughout and decided to shelve the others for the moment in light of that one.
"How many paths can one have in their chakra system?" He asked, considering the four he had seen within Naruto yesterday. The Uchiha saw the wrinkles in the mask over his teachers face display a faint surprise, and realized he had chosen a good question to ask after all.
Kakashi in-turn considered that for a short time before deciding to test the waters and see if they were fishing in the same creek. "Depending on the nature manipulations one can learn to use, the available physical and spiritual energy can mix and divide itself a multitude of ways, as easily discernible to one with a Sharingan or Byakugan." He said.
Sasuke processed that, and on a level knew that it couldn't be all there was to his question. Naruto's chakra might have splintered to show his wind nature, but that couldn't explain the reddish-orange thorn covered energy wrapped up into them that was almost sinister in the effect it left him feeling.
"Is it possible for other types of chakra-creating-energy to exist beside just physical and spiritual?" he asked. Kakashi paused to attend to his breakfast and mull the question over, now more or less assured that they had indeed arrived on the same subject of discussion. He stirred the rice with the same kunai he had used to slit open the package and added so many spices to flavor it with, then answered.
"There do exist other energies beside the original, base physical and spiritual chakra. I've rarely encountered anyone who could use such, but you yourself should have met one of the most easily well known of the shinobi with one," he said, referring to Jiraiya. "While physical and spiritual energies are found as faint red or blue tones respectively, the green overtones of nature energy can be found interlocked beside them."
Sitting back down again he continued. "However... the next most prominent, a type all to its own and yet often irrevocably entwined at certain points, is the chakra possessed by the bijuu- the Tailed Beasts." He explained.
"I can't confirm it personally, but their chakra is different in color depending on how many tails the bijuu in question has to its name, usually corresponding to the tone of its flesh in some degree." He stopped there, not wanting to go any further and start mentioning jinchuriki or the ways in which the Tailed Beasts affected them to see if Sasuke would take the last step toward connecting Naruto to the Kyuubi's feral personality, but on the other hand knowing he would need to mention it before much longer just to keep Sasuke aware of the potential danger- even if Naruto turned out to be fine, their relationship with Suna and Kumogakure were rocky enough that the jinchuriki of those hidden villages could attack someday.
Sasuke's line of thought was close enough to his teachers concerns. After-all, the rumors spread easily, connecting Naruto to the attack of the Kyuubi nine years earlier, and those strange marks on his cheeks did look remarkably similar to whiskers. "What does it look like?" he finally asked.
Kakashi considered it- now was the moment he would have to decide. It didn't take him long. "Again, it depends on the Tailed Beast, but the aura it projects is easily distinguishable from normal chakra or nature chakra. And... it usually has appeared to be embedded to the others, when under the control of a human and subjugated to their will."
His apprentices eyes flickered with several emotions in rapid succession, and then he nodded. A moment later the rice began to boil over and they broke eye-contact, allowing the Uchiha to step back into the living room to think more over things. Kakashi allowed the conversation to fade with a concealed sigh. It's up to Sasuke to figure out if he'll continue to keep the friendship with Naruto or not based off of this information. I still think it might be a good idea to check on Minato-sensei's son in person, though. And with that thought he yawned wearily and drew the pot over to a bowl nearby.
Sarutobi massaged his forehead over the left eye to try and mitigate the growing headache. Ever since Naruto's future self arrived in this past, the world had gone to chaos in little spiraling ways coupled up with the occasional tidal wave.
He hated to beat a dead horse, but Naruto's simple presence seemed to be invoking change even if he tried to keep himself under wraps. Now the youngest and supposedly last Uchiha, and certainly one of the last two still loyal to the village, if Itachi's intentions hadn't been altered as well some how, had gained the usage of his blood-line limit.
That was in addition to the arrival of Sai, and the knowledge that Orochimaru's student, Anko-san, was still alive as well and helping to raise several other children under the Sannin's care. Sarutobi didn't know how much more his heart could endure- his breathing was becoming harder to grasp these last few days, and he rather doubted it was due to his pipe.
Doing anything hasty to Naruto like he had last threatened- and rather foolishly, if he cared to admit it to himself- wouldn't do anything to help the situation. The boy was a walking hurricane, and trying to limit the touch his winds had on the surrounding environment was useless unless he wanted to put Naruto in a genjutsu-induced slumber and seal the body away until the next Hokage was chosen.
Even I have been changed. I shouldn't have been so swift to direct my emotions upon Sai-san, nor quite so brutal toward Kakashi and Guy those weeks ago. He thought and rubbed harder at the lance of pain in his forehead, one hand drumming over the journal on his desk.
At last he opened his eyes and flicked through to the last entry, and then picking up his pen, began to write.
The time is fast approaching to not only find, but actively secure, another successor to the role of Hokage. I intend to do as Naruto has foretold and send out a request to Tsunade, so that she may inherit the roll her grandfather once possessed not so very long before my own time.
I have hope that the path Naruto has set Sasuke toward, when he learns the truth about his brothers roll and intentions, will be enough to prevent the madness of the Uchiha name to awaken just as the Sharingan now has. If it does not... will Naruto have the strength of heart to face a man who may yet become as-like to a brother or at least a close friend?
Given the losses he suffered at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, I may need to make sure he is capable and willing. That is a discussion for another time. If I can not claim Tsunade as our next Hokage, I will likely choose my own son, Asuma, rather he approves of the roll or not. Only time will tell...
Sai blinked at the other students, looking around mildly. He had never been surrounded by so many others his own age, and they all looked as different from one another as his last group had. He missed Danzo-sama, and he still had the last gift from the elder shinobi with him, a small amount of chakra-saturating paper and special ink to work his ninjutsu through, and he unconsciously ran his fingers over the small pouch carrying them.
"Class, this is our newest student." The teacher said needlessly as every eye in the area was trained on the boy already. "Please greet Sai-san."
At roughly the same point that the teacher said the name, the blond haired child in the far back of the class seemed to come out of a daze or perhaps a daydream, and he mouthed the word silently in time to the rest of the students giving varying degrees of "Hi," "Hello!" and much of the same fare. A small pups voice contributed as well with a series of yips.
The only open space was near the same blond Sai noticed watching him intently, and rather reluctantly he approached, reminded of Suigetsu's piercing looks. The blond scooted further aside and, after a long moment, offered a hand.
Sai glanced down at the outstretched palm, then to his own, before patting the strange boy on the top of his fingers instead of shaking and promptly sat down. A blink of muddled confusion at the gesture was the response before the blond lowered his hand slowly and turned to face the teacher again, eyes wide even as he frowned.
Unknown to Sai, the boy silently made a note to find out how in the hell the youngest ROOT member had arrived in his class seven years early, then followed it up with wondering the rest of the class how to work this into the already filled schedule of things to handle.
"We part here," Itachi said almost tonelessly, halted at a crossroads the two Akatsuki men had come to. Kisame frowned beneath his gold mask and managed to pry it down beneath his nose a few centimeters, so that once the water jutsu collapsed when the Uchiha finally got far enough away he would still be able to breath.
He tapped Itachi on the shoulder, and his eyes seemed to convey the message just fine. A few moments later the gold around his face faded and Kisame relaxed to some degree, inside of the Uchiha's genjutsu. "Where're you going to?" the shark-skinned nin asked suspiciously.
Itachi met his gaze steadily. "I have a sidequest that needs fulfilling, so close to the borders of the Land of Fire." He answered. Kisame snorted and leaned on Samehada's hilt.
"Going to do something about this wild snake-hunt we've been wandering aimlessly through?" he questioned, still irritable about sand in places that should not be possible for it to slide into on his physical body. Itachi nodded wordlessly.
"How?" the other man continued. The Uchiha's eyes finally showed some degree of life, flashing crimson in the faint light of the genjutsu around them within Kisame's mind.
"The trail and traces of Orochimaru's chakra I have been using has finally ended. We have visited all known locations in recent times, presumably up to the last six months... save one. I intend to obtain a proper grasp of it again." He stated.
Kisame grumbled. "Fine. And while you do that, I'll be off to see if Hidan can saw his way through this ninjutsu." He answered, then shook himself and waited to return. Itachi spared him a wary look and suddenly they were back at the crossroads, the sphere of water around Kisami's gills and the mask of gold blocking his lower face.
"..." they stared at one another for a final moment, then nodded goodbye and split apart. Itachi flickered over the land to investigate the spy of Sasori's, suspected of late to be following the orders of Orochimaru. If that meant re-entering Konohagakure, than so be it.
End Chapter Twenty-two.