Tokikage
by Lord Dragon Claw
Disclaimer: fuuinjutsu is not for amateurs.
Chapter Seven: Cursed Seals
Sasuke found Kakashi waiting at the exact point of the wall he was using to flee Konoha.
"Leaving?" asked the silver-haired Jounin.
Sasuke nodded. "My home can no longer protect me from Orochimaru or Itachi, and I will be unable to grow strong enough to stop either one if I stay here. And if I wait here, eventually the seal will make going to the snake man my most appealing prospect."
"Where will you go?"
"To Naruto."
Kakashi didn't make a move to stop him as he leapt over the wall and disappeared into the forest, moving in the direction of Wave.
"Well, I have concluded that Orochimaru is an amateur."
Anko looked up at Naruto, the real one that looked like he was twenty-five, and raised her eyebrow in askance.
"Your seal is still going to take me a week to figure out how to remove it, or fix it, but I can see some connections that were never made between some of the minor seals. Also, some seals were connected together that never should have been. No wonder his Cursed Seals had a ninety-percent fatality rate."
"Wait... 'fix it'?"
"Yeah," said the bronze-blonde, scratching the back of his head. "As an alternative to removing the seal, I can fix it up to the point where you can use it as a secondary chakra source. No pain, no possessions, no fragment of Orochimaru's soul, no body-alteration-causing toxins. Just a chakra battery for you to use whenever you need it."
She grinned. She was also a little turned on by what the Tokikage was telling her. She didn't care that he was using her to work his way up to removing the Caged Bird Seals from the Hyuuga that came here, she just cared that he was going to remove Orochimaru's hold over her. But she wanted to straddle him and ride him hard.
"Well, I've memorized your seal, so I can work on it without you here. Now, for the other half of my end of the bargain..."
"A new summoning contract," she purred.
Naruto did his crazy 'gate'-thing and a lizard-thing fell out. It was short and wore a combination of armor, robes, and a high-collar dress. And it promptly hit Naruto in the face with a ball of fire cast from its hand.
Anko giggled. "The moment he gave me a description of the Reptites I knew we'd get along just fine."
The lizard/person turned to her when it saw that it had merely covered Naruto's face with soot and only caused him to flinch, instead of getting him to scream.
"Great. More hairless apes. I am Azala, Reptite Queen. Who are you?"
"Mitarashi Anko. I've signed the Snake Summoning Contract, but most of the big-wigs on it hate me because Orochimaru told them to."
Azala turned to Naruto.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto, the Tokikage. I am the Nu Summoner and a direct descendant of the Red Star."
The lizard-woman gasped. "The... Red Star? I-"
"Don't worry," interrupted the bronze-blonde. "I am merely amused by you striking out at me. But please, let Anko-chan sign your Contract."
Anko blushed a little at the suffix Naruto used, but grinned when Azala nodded hurriedly - apparently the Queen saw the implied threat in Naruto's words. A large scroll appeared out of nowhere and landed in front of the purple-haired Jounin.
"We Reptites have some stipulations for when you summon us. With the exception of Nizbel, the Tyrannos, and myself, we are stunned by electricity and lightning. Please keep that in mind. Also, we love to fight, and the lower-level summons are particularly bloodthirsty as we haven't been summoned in the past three-hundred years. Nizbel and I are the only two capable of subtlety. All Reptites can stand the cold, but not for protracted periods. That is all you need to know."
Seeing that Anko had finished signing the contract, Azala nodded, snapped her fingers, and was gone. The scroll was gone as well.
The purple-haired Jounin turned to Naruto. "So, what's this business about a 'Red Star'? I could hear the capital letters in that phrase."
"Uchiha Sasuke has left the village, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, sounding like a person resigned to execution.
Tsunade, instead of attacking him, interlaced her fingers in front of herself and leaned back in her chair. "And you didn't go with him because... ?"
"I didn't stop him be-" Kakashi halted, mid-sentence. That wasn't what she asked. "I stayed here because I have a duty to the Village and, by extension, the Hokage."
Tsunade stared at him for a second. "That's a load of bull. Tell me the real reason."
The silver-haired Jounin sighed. "He doesn't need me anymore. Certainly, I could teach him more jutsu, but the sense of safety... Konoha just can't offer him that anymore. I can't guarantee his safety with me near him. I'm just glad he's turning to his teammate after all this time."
"You could still go with him."
"No. I think Naruto was making a point when he excluded me from his plans of building Tokigakure no Sato. He's exchanged me for Jiraiya, and I'm happy for him."
Tsunade finally accepted that as an answer.
Naruto grinned sheepishly as he explained that the Kyuubi wasn't inside of him and that the fox was indeed dead having been killed by Lavos the day of the Kyuubi attack.
Anko nodded at his explaination. "Makes sense then."
Turning, she summoned a single, low-level Reptite while Naruto walked off.
"I want to spar!" she declared, attacking the lizardman.
"DEAL!" roared the Reptite in agreement, catching her fist.
She twisted, trying to kick the ancient life-form in the jaw, but he caught her leg with his other foreclaw. His tail wrapped around her other leg and pulled it out from under her. She placed her free hand on the ground and stuck it with chakra, then used her downward momentum to flip the Reptite over herself, smashing his head into the ground. Flopping onto his back, the lizardman laughed.
"You are going to be so much more fun than our last summoner!"
Sasuke was one day away from Tazuna's bridge when he saw a merchant caravan being attacked by bandits. Palming his face at the stupidity of the merchants for not hiring ninja, Sasuke decided to help as it was obvious that they were also headed to Wave. Getting on Naruto's good side by helping these idiots wasn't a bad idea.
Deciding not to do anything flashy, Sasuke palmed a shuriken and hurled it at the bandit leader's head, killing him instantly. Pandemonium quickly spread among the bandits, many of them running off in random directions. The few who still had the balls to stick around and try and take hostages usually found their guts or eyes or throats replaced with a well-placed shuriken or kunai. When the last bandit went down, Sasuke slowly and calmly walked towards the merchant leader.
"Looks like you could use a ninja escort," Sasuke offered to the merchant leader.
"I... I suppose so," she replied, sighing. "How much will we owe your village? ... And which village? Konoha?"
"Not Konoha, no," replied the last Uchiha. "I'm also on my way to Wave and it's no charge this time. But next time, get a ninja team to escort you." By the end, Sasuke sounded like he was chastising a little kid.
At least the merchant leader had enough common sense to be embarrassed.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the site that presented itself to them at the bridge. A large, bulbous blue creature stood to one side of the bridge, and a yellow one stood to the other, both guarding the bridge. The dark-haired youth decided to go ahead of the merchants in case they were dangerous.
"Halt!" commanded the yellow one when Sasuke got close enough.
Sasuke stopped.
"Ye who would cross the Great Naruto Bride must answer me these questions three, or the other side ye ne'er see. Nuuuuu."
Raising his eyebrow at the odd creature, and at the name of the bridge, Sasuke saw no harm in answering the questions.
"Ask me your questions."
The creature either nodded or lost its balance on its spindly legs, but Sasuke wasn't sure.
"What is your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke."
"Nuuuuu. What is your purpose in coming to Wave?"
"I seek sanctuary from my enemies."
"What is that thing on your neck?"
"A cursed seal given to me by one of my enemies. I was hoping the Tokikage could remove it."
"Nuuuuu, off you go then."
Blinking, Sasuke asked the obvious question. "What about the merchants?"
The blue one answered this time. "They'll all have to answer the Bridge Keeper's questions. Nuuuuu, he can see the truth through any lie as well as their reason for lying. Everyone has to answer the questions so we can ferret out spies or else they don't get in, nuuuuu."
Sasuke nodded. He then waved the merchants over and began crossing the bridge.
"Halt!" he heard the yellow creature command when the first merchant got close enough. Knowing that it would take some time for all the merchants to be interrogated by the creatures, Sasuke kept going to scout ahead.
Only sixty-three ANBU Ne agents remained. That figure included Danzou. The only ones not dead were the ones that had been tattooed with a tree and a number on their left shoulders. And those were the older agents! The ones who were not emotionally dead!
It was obvious that the Uzumaki boy was making a statement: "I know who all of your agents are and can pick them off at my leisure. Do not anger the Hokage or myself and you can keep them."
Danzou was deeply troubled by this. He was even more troubled when one of his messenger agents brought him a simple slip of folded paper. It was addressed to the old warhawk.
It read:
Evening Gimpy,
No doubt you must have realized by now that your only remaining agents are the ones with tattoos. Do not allow any harm to come to Tsunade-baa-chan and I may allow you to keep them. Anger me and they die.
Sincerely,
Uzumaki Naruto
Shodai Tokikage
The one-eyed old man was shaking like a leaf.
"He can read minds..." muttered Danzou.
Of course, Naruto couldn't really read minds, but Jiraiya dictated the note so that the man's mind was thoroughly messed with. That was one of the things handled at the treaty negotiation.
After all the preliminary parts had been hammered out, Naruto and Jiraiya used a gate to go back to Tokigakure. Naruto wanted more training and Jiraiya wanted to take a peek at the seal work.
Sasuke walked through the mist. Wave had certainly become much more foggy since the last time he had been there. Still, the bridge was quite long. Seemed longer that he remembered it.
The bridge led right to a building. Odd.
He entered it and found it to be quite ornate. How did Wave pay for all this opulence? Even the floor seemed to radiate light!
Four massive stone pillars held the ceiling to the building in its place, and the walls had some sort of crest on them. It looked very much like a person, but with no face or features. Nor did it have legs, just a single tail-like protrusion at the bottom.
All sorts of seals seemed to be inscribed into the floor and the pillars and were inlayed with a silvery metal. A circular set of seals was set in the center of the floor with a pillar of white light coming down and illuminating it. Considering that the floor looked like it was made out of a solid, wall-to-wall blue jewel, it seemed the floor's glow was merely that shaft of light refracted back into the room.
As Sasuke stepped into the column of light, the blue color of the floor suddenly changed color to red and the shaft of light turned blue. Thinking that it was a trap, Sasuke turned to run when a bright flash of light occurred.
The merchants did not find him inside the building when they entered it thirty minutes later.
When Sasuke's sight had cleared, he found himself standing in a replica of the floor he had seen, except it was green. Another column of white light came down onto the central, circular seal array, but it came from a clear sky. There was no building, though the four pillars were still represented.
Then Sasuke saw where this replica was - in an island in the middle of a relatively small pond near the edge of what appeared to be a plateau. He ran across the wide stone bridge and ran to the edge to have a look. Even though his Sharingan was inactive, the image he saw would remain with him until the end of his days.
What he thought was a plateau was actually a massive continent floating in the sky! He could see the ocean below, and the Great Naruto Bridge. He could see the merchant caravan but it was puny. He couldn't really see the people as they were smaller than ants. And he could see the island of Wave, shrouded in fog. Between the continent and the world below, the clouds drifted by lazily.
When a Naruto shadow clone, who looked just like the dobe from his memories, came to get him two minutes later, he was still staring at the sight.
Jiraiya was surprised when he met the real Naruto. The boy was now a man of twenty-five, and was taller than the Sannin! At first Jiraiya was startled.
Then he laughed. "Gaki, Tsunade's going to flip when she sees you like this."
"Hence why I use shadow clones henge'd into my younger self as aides."
Jiraiya looked over his shoulder at one of the shadow clones then turned and walked over to it. He waved his hand above its head.
"Naruto, this is no normal henge. Henge is actually a genjutsu that mimics your body movements exactly."
"Yeah," replied the real Naruto, leaning to his right and propping his head up with a fist. "My tenant explained that to me. One of the subtle ways in which he changed my DNA while he was slumbering was to allow my molecular structure to be a little more malleable. Hence when I had to figure out how to do a henge on my own, I accidentally created a jutsu only I can use that actually transforms me into whatever shape I want with the correct color pigments and everything. The only problem with it is that when I change into..." He paused to scratch the back of his head with his left hand in thought. "... let's say, a rock, you could smack me and it would feel like flesh."
Jiraiya stared at him for a moment.
"STOP DOING THE IMPOSSIBLE! ... Please!"
"The real me is in a meeting with Jiraiya of the Sannin," informed the clone.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted in reply. "I wanted to speak to both of them anyway, so it is fine by me."
"Ah, you want help with removing Orochimaru's seal."
The dark-haired youth nodded in response. The clone nodded back.
They were in what the clone had called a waiting room, but it seemed to be rather opulent, with designs that appeared to be some form of seals. The faceless crest motif was also prevalent. The heavy oak double-doors had a huge version of the crest on them that was completed when the doors were closed. The single stained-glass window that took up an entire wall had a scene depicting some sort of spiny monstrosity exploding out of the earth. Sasuke found it a little disconcerting.
They had entered using a gate, obviously the jutsu that once again allowed Naruto to teleport around.
The doors began to creak and the clone smiled and said, "Allow me to introduce: me."
This new Naruto was much taller. Almost two meters tall by Sasuke's best guess. He was still wearing those shades of his, but he also wore a Kage hat. His blue and white robes were worn loosely, and it was obvious to Sasuke's eyes that they wouldn't get in the way in a fight.
Sasuke snorted once he had taken all of it in.
"Amused?" Naruto asked, cocking his head. "Jiraiya was absolutely flabbergasted."
"It's the hat," retorted Sasuke, pointing at his own head for emphasis. "So determined to wear a Kage hat that you made your own Hidden Village just so you could wear one."
The bronze-blonde laughed. "Well, when you put it that way, it does seem rather childish, doesn't it?"
They had sat down at the small table in the center of the room - an exquisite thing made of polished, black marble.
"So what happened to you?" asked the Uchiha.
"Time travel. Had to build the entire continent myself. Why are you here, Sasuke?"
"I want a 'fresh start'. I need to be able to hide from people like Orochimaru and my brother until I am capable of defending myself. Konoha was no longer a viable option."
"I did kind of gut that place, didn't I?"
Sasuke raised his eyebrow.
"I heard about those merchants you protected." Naruto leaned forward and rested his chin on the bridge his hands made. "That helps you, yes, but it does not make up for the years of ridicule."
Sasuke scratched his head sheepishly. "I don't think there's anything I can do to undo that. Honestly, I was going to try bribing my way in with the Uchiha Clan jutsu library."
"What would I want with that?"
"It has all the jutsu my family has stolen over the years."
Naruto nodded. "That helps your cause. Any other reason why I should let you stay? Perhaps something more substantial?"
Sasuke sat there, staring at the center of the table for several minutes before responding.
"I... I don't want to be alone. Of all the people I have met, I consider you to be my best friend."
Naruto leaned back and opened his mouth, but Sasuke interrupted him.
"And unfortunately, for me to acquire the Mangekyou Sharingan, I have to kill my best friend."
"... why would you tell me this?"
Sasuke hunched forward. "Because killing you would make me like my brother."
Several more minutes passed without anything other than the sound of breathing penetrating the room. When Sasuke finally looked up, Naruto was smiling.
"You told me one of your darkest secrets. You are letting me in, Sasuke. I will not betray that by keeping you out of my village."
Sasuke stared at Naruto. "That just sounds corny."
"Yeah, I agree. So you want that Seal removed, eh?"
The dark-haired youth nodded.
"You remember Mitarashi Anko? The snake lady from the Exams?"
"Yes."
Naruto leaned back in his seat. "She's got one too. Older. Less advanced. I can use hers as a stepping stone to the removal of yours. And both of yours will be stepping stones to the removal of Neji's Caged Bird Seal."
Sasuke nodded. "Hn."
"And this, Ero-sensei, is the Mammon Machine."
The clone led Jiraiya into a chamber where a massive statue made of red stone floated freely in the center of a pit. Waves of energy seemed to flow through the air. Seals on the pillars surrounding the pit in the center of the chamber glowed with a pulsating light. The statue itself appeared to be a person but without a face or features. The legs were similarly nonexistent but with a tail-like protrusion at the bottom.
"What does it do?" asked the old seal master.
"It draws power directly from my tenant and distributes the refined energy all over the continent. It powers everything. Literally."
"Those crests I've been seeing - they are mock-ups of that machine, aren't they?"
"They are. They help with the transfer of energy."
The removal of Anko's seal took several hours once Naruto had it figured out. Apparently, it was also excruciatingly painful. Sasuke insisted on watching the removal process.
While Anko was still panting from her screams, the young Uchiha approached Naruto.
"Is my removal process going to be as painful?" he asked.
"Nope," replied the Tokikage, eliciting a sigh of relief from the raven-haired ninja. "About three times as painful as hers."
"Hn," grunted Sasuke, resigned to his fate.
About an hour later, Anko was finally aware enough to speak. Sasuke had left to speak with Jiraiya and explore the castle.
"Sea Country," rasped the exhausted snake mistress. "They're experimenting on people in Sea Country to make special aquatic ninja."
The bronze-blonde raised his eyebrow. "How do you know this?"
"Some of the memories I had were sealed away into the seal when I turned my back on Orochimaru."
"Ah."
Anko's eyes began to tear up and she choked out a sob. This caused Naruto to panic slightly.
"What's the matter! Were there other seals hidden away on you?"
She shook her head. "No. All this time I thought he had abandoned me."
The Tokikage tilted his head slightly as she wiped her eyes.
"But what really happened was that I left him. I'm so happy!"
She surprised Naruto with her speed when she grabbed his collar with both hands and yanked him on top of her. He was stunned further when she shoved her tongue down his throat.
End Chapter Seven.
Next chapter: of fish people and machines.
Author's Notes
I'm pretty sure Anko would do that sort of thing to the man who removed her seal, no matter how painful it was.
I hope I made the exchange between Naruto and Sasuke believable. What I'm going to do with him is going to be awesome and will make a lot of sense.
Praise be to Dumbledork for beta'ing for me.