Chapter 15: Snake and Fox
Disclaimer: I own nothing aside from what you never find in the Naruto manga or anime. Those things are, most of the time, my own ideas.
Note: Naruko gains a new form in this chapter. It is an armor, and a...a risque one at that. This is the only chapter it will appear like this, since I was trying to make it in the spirit of the jinchūriki version 2 forms. I also genderbent Sai brother to make it suit Naruko being a girl.
Naruko's blushing face paled, then twisted into anger at the sight of the jackass that had attacked her earlier. "You again..." Naruko growled.
"Hi! It's nice to meet you all," the guy 'cheerfully' greeted.
Naruko's bullshit detector, not her negative emotion sense, went off the scale. "Oh I'll 'hi' you alright, high kick you in the face!" Naruko snapped.
Sakura did not know what Naruko's problem was, but kept a small smile on her face to keep a good impression before the two newcomers.
"I'm going to be taking Kakashi-senpai's place for the time being, I- uh," the jōnin stopped, realizing that he was not even remotely a topic of interest here.
"Naruko, you know this guy?" Sakura asked while looking at the pale youth that vaguely resembled Sasuke. Even his voice was a bit similar.
"I'm sorry about what I did earlier, I just wanted to see your strength. Too bad this isn't a standard information gathering mission or you could just flash your chest at the guy and get all the information you need, Titsune," the guy said.
Naruko went to attack the teen, but Sakura shoved her back against a wall and pinned her to it. "Don't go beating up a teammate!" Sakura chastised, in spite of her doing it too, then looked back the teen, "it doesn't help that you're that rude."
"Really? You're nice and friendly, though you're an ugly dog," the teen said with a smile.
"What did you call me?!" Sakura growled as she tossed Naruko to the ground and tried to get at the rude bastard.
The jōnin caught her. "Didn't you just lecture Naruko on this?"
After getting everyone to calm down, the jōnin restarted his introduction. "We should be a team, but you three are more like a bunch of wild dogs, trying to prove who the alpha is," he said, "no time for a cage or kennel, just introduce yourselves."
"Haruno Sakura," the medic greeted, looking more like a bad tempered bully than a healer, especially since she was glaring at the new guy.
"Uzumaki Naruko..." the kitsune empress said, not looking at the jerk.
"My name is Sai," the teen greeted with a fake smile.
"I'm Yamato, the temporary leader for Team Kakashi. Our current mission is to go to Tenchi Bridge and meet up with Sasori's spy, who we are to capture for interrogation. If we can do this, we may be able to bring Uchiha Sasuke back," the jōnin, Yamato stated, "be back here in one hour. Make sure you have what you need."
"He looks like Sasuke-kun, but his attitude sucks," Sakura said.
"We don't need him at all," Naruko grumbled. Maybe she needed a few new kunai, a couple shuriken wouldn't hurt, not her anyway.
Sakura looked Naruko over and noticed something. "Naruko, you don't have any tools with you?"
Naruko grinned. "Don't really need to carry them anymore. Tama helped me mark all my tools with chakra seals so I could keep them at the palace, but summon them when I need them." She was like Tenten, but upgraded!
"Oh, so they're back at the palace," Sakura said, then turned back fast, "YOU HAVE A PA-!"
Naruko quieted the girl down before people heard that word. "I'm an empress, why wouldn't I have a palace?"
Sakura stared at the girl in wonder. She spoke as if a palace was something everyone could easily obtain. "How big is it?"
Naruko stopped and thought a bit. "Way too big. I only need a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen, not three dozen of each. Or the other rooms. The maids are annoying too, always telling me to sit back and let them do the cooking and cleaning. I like my little apartment in Konoha better."
Sakura didn't know whether to slap some sense into Naruko or praise her humility.
Tsunade sighed, tired from arguing with the council. They wanted to imprison Naruko for disobeying orders and leaving the village to try and bring Sasuke back, but the truth was that it had been more of a request rather than an order. She had told Shikamaru that Naruko was injured and unable to go, not that it was an order for the girl to stay in the village. While it was true that leaving without permission was a punishable offense, Naruko's accomplishments on the mission outweighed that charge and it had been, regrettably on the council's part, dropped.
Of course, they had fought up and down on keeping Naruko well within the village's reach, but Tsunade had shut them up by saying that it would be a waste to lock Naruko up in the village when she could be out there doing missions, improving the leaf's standing as well as possibly removing threats to the village. The council had shut up, since the betterment of the village was their bottom line and Naruko was doing just that. Well, Tsunade actually hoped that Naruko would kill that bastard Orochimaru, which would be better. That and, out of everyone involved, Naruko had the greatest chance of bringing Sasuke back.
Tsunade sat at her desk and sighed. "I wish I could make paperwork illegal too."
They were all assembled at the gate when they were supposed to and the two original members of the team hid their surprise when Yamato arrived on time.
"Let's go and complete our mission," Yamato ordered as he started walking, setting the direction and pace of their journey.
A few minutes into said journey, Naruko couldn't help but glare at Sai.
Sai looked back at her. "Please stop staring at me, I won't ever return your feelings."
"I HATE YOU!" Naruko roared.
"Like I said, I don't return your feelings, Titsune," Sai shot back.
Naruko practically whined while trying to resist the urge to grab his face and shoulder, then RIP HIM IN TWO! She composed herself with a few deep breaths. "Your words say different!"
"Well, I don't really like you all that much anyway," Sai said.
"The truth! Finally!" Naruko shouted,"why are you even here? We don't need you..."
"Naruko, trying to break up the team is not the best thing to say in front of me," Yamato warned "us four need to cooperate as a team in order to accomplish our mission. As a member of Kakashi-senpai's team, I thought this would be a basic for you."
"I do know it, but he isn't a member of our team!" she yelled, "he's nothing more than a placeholder!"
"Thank you for saying that," Sai said.
Naruko took a sudden step away from him. "W-what?" Normally, she'd get yelled at for that statement.
"I'm happy that I'm a temporary placeholder rather than a permanent replacement. Who would want to take the spot of a traitor who turned his back on everything for power? Who ran to the traitor who tried to kill the Sandaime?" Sai explained.
Naruko growled as she took a step forward, her chakra starting to spin around her wrists, but Sakura stopped her by gently placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Teamwork is what matters most. Sai, please forgive Naruko, she's a bit easy to upset at the moment, so don't think anything of her outbursts," the pink haired medic said.
All of a sudden, Naruko felt extremely lonely.
"So she is the sensible one, like Kakashi-senpai said," Yamato said to himself.
"Well, I'll put that behind me then. Water under the bridge, if you will," Sai said.
"Good," Sakura said with a bright smile, then drove a powerful slobber knocker into his cheek, "I don't need you to forgive me though. You say something like that about Sasuke-kun again and I'll put chakra into the next one. They'll bury you in a bucket, if and when they find all of you."
Naruko felt like crying now, since Sakura was only angry because Sasuke was insulted.
"A smile can be used that way too, I'll remember that. Fine then, I'll keep my opinions of him to myself," Sai said with a smile on his face.
"How can you smile like that?" Naruko asked. The guy's smile was strange, creepy even.
"Smiles are the best way to defuse any situation, or so I've read and been told," Sai stated as he got up.
Without warning, a cage burst from the ground next to Yamato. "Keep arguing and I'll toss you all in this cage to sort your differences out. I'm in charge and this is what I propose: fight it out in the cage or we can go to a nearby hot spring," Yamato said.
'What in the actual fuck? Why a hot spring?' Naruko wondered. Was he a pervert too?
Yamato's face suddenly took on a very blank, terrifying look, a light illuminating it from an invisible source below his chin. "You don't know me, so you don't know that, while I prefer being nice and friendly, I will rule with fear if need be. Now, which will it be?"
Naruko whined in fear.
[Option B: Hot spring]
Naruko was facing away from all the women, her entire body red. Her tail was going wild, attracting the attention of nearly all the women in the spring. The only one who didn't get entranced was an old woman who grumbled about, "kids not having tails when I was young," the whole time.
'That tail is illegal, a kinjutsu of cuteness, a kyunjutsu,' Sakura thought as she tried to keep herself from jumping the tail and accidentally marrying the girl. She had warned all the women too, who were all busy staring at the red appendage while sloooowly washing or bathing.
"How's the water, Naruko-san, Sakura-san?" Yamato called over the wall.
"It's alright!" Sakura called over.
"F-Fine!" Naruko yipped. 'Don't look at Sakura-chan. Don't look at Sakura-chan. Don't look at Sakura-chan. Don't THINK of Sakura-chan naked!'
"I've never understood why, but I always believed that the easiest way to get close to someone was to be naked with them. Unfortunately half of our group are women, so this is the best we can do," Yamato said.
'Sounds creepy...and perverted,' Naruko thought.
"Did you say something?" came Yamato's hollow sounding voice, the same one he used with that face.
"N-Nothing!" Naruko yelped.
"How are the milk tanks? Is it true that big ones can float?" Sai asked.
"SHUT UP! WHAT'S UP WITH YOU OBSESSING OVER MY BREASTS, YA CREEPY PERVERT?!" Naruko roared as she shot to her feet, then sat back down in the water and turned her back on the wall separating the male and female baths.
'CHA! They're floating a bit!' Inner and normal Sakura thought as she stared at her teammate's chest.
Naruko opened her eyes, freaked out when she saw all the women, and shot out again to get to the smaller bath nearby. "S-Sakura-chan!" she stuttered.
"What?" Sakura asked.
"Your nose..." Naruko mumbled.
Sakura touched her face and her fingers came back red. 'Did I...from looking at Naruko's... Oh Kami, I'm going to that side! I'm not Ino-Pig, I love men! I love Sasuke-kun!' She quickly moved to the edge and grabbed a disposable towel. "Must be too h-h-hot!" she stuttered into the towel as she wiped her face.
The women giggled, the old woman huffed about "there being fewer lesbians when I was young."
[Next day, not too far from Tenchi Bridge]
Naruko rushed at Yamato, an edgeless tail blade forming as she performed a short rising spin, swinging the tail at the man's face. Yamato dodged the blow, but didn't expect Naruko's katana to come at his face. He deflected the weapon, disarmed Naruko and trapped her, only to see another one coming from overhead, spinning like a buzz saw as her tail blade flashed like a dull red fire blade. A noise informed him that another Naruko had gotten the sword and was flanking him.
Naruko crashed down on Yamato, forcing her katana to the man's neck. "Got you!" she said. She was mildly surprised when a snake made of ink wrapped around her and Yamato. She then noticed that she had a wooden doll with a stupid look on her face. "He switched?!" she shouted as she was caught, "hey, spring me loose!"
Sai ignored her and looked to see if he could find where Yamato was. He figured out where the man was, but the real(?) Naruko landed on his back and stomped him into the ground as she tore after the captain to catch him.
[Ten minutes later]
"A good capture, Naruko, but..." Yamato looked at Sai, who had a few foot prints on him.
"It's not my fault, I've got no time to tell him all I can do and he obviously doesn't care enough to try and learn," Naruko said, then turned to Sai, "do you even know what friends are? Do you know what a team is?"
Sai pulled out his scroll and wrote 'team' and then 'friends' under it. When he finished, he showed it to Naruko. "Of course I know. Do you?"
Naruko's rage rose again.
"N-Naruko! Wait..." Sakura tried as she lay a hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to calm her through touch again.
"Your method of combat is all over the place. It's more like watching a wild beast on the hunt while suffering a concussion. It was your fault, coming at the captain in such a forward manner. If not for your shadow clones, you'd never have caught him. I can't complete the mission, keep you safe and watch out for your temper tantrums," Sai stated.
Naruko's eyes flashed as she swung her arm out, a chakra cloak whirling around into existence around her arm. "You...You're not my friend, teammate or anything at all! I don't need someone like you! I've had enough of your kind!"
"What would Sasuke have done then? Would he have fought alongside you?" Sai asked, not intimidated by Naruko in the least.
Sakura saw it, the chakra cloak wavering in a manner that could be called angry. 'Sai, she'll kill you if you keep this up.'
"He tried to kill you and turned his back on everything you consider important. Can you still call him your friend?" Sai asked.
"Yes, and for that friend, my brother, I'll do anything I need to do so I can bring him back, even working with a cold, heartless bastard like you," Naruko growled, her eyes branded with that ugly ring of hardened red over the normally calm purple. She walked away.
"How can she still care so much?" Sai asked.
"You heard her, Naruko sees Sasuke-kun sort of like a brother. You should know how it'd feel, since you have a sister," Sakura said, referring to a conversation she had with the teen early that morning.
Sai remained silent for a few moments. "Not at all. The reason I can't give my pictures titles is because I don't have any emotions, not even for my sister."
"You have no emotions? What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked.
"Exactly what I said," Sai stated.
A cracking noise filled the clearing and Sakura watched as Naruko ran her chakra coated claw down a tree, the wood peeling apart and splintering beneath Naruko's red chakra.
"T-Then you can imagine what it'd be like if she were gone, right?" Sakura tried. Naruko was drawing to a breaking point. How did she never see this when she was younger, pushing the redhead closer and closer to this very moment with every insult, ever punch. Rather than rejecting Sai as a teammate, why hadn't Naruko requested Sakura be removed from Team Kakashi? That was like asking for the food you were allergic to for all three meals.
"I don't need to imagine, she's dead," Sai bluntly said.
"Why can't you-" Sakura started.
"Is that how I should look when thinking of my dead sister?" Sai asked as he pointed to Naruko.
Sakura felt a freezing sharp pain in her chest at the sight of intense loneliness in Naruko's eyes. In spite of that strange ring of color on her irides that signaled the kitsune's incredible power, that chakra cloak/claw that could repel or destroy steel, she looked so weak and tired at that moment in time, her mask mostly broken. It broke a part of Sakura's heart to dust.
"I guess that's the face I should have had when I learned of my sister's death," Sai said, then more quietly added, "I wish I knew that back then."
"Time to cut the chatter. We need to move on," Yamato ordered.
"I should send you flying back to Konoha right now. I know I said that I'd hit you full force if you badmouthed Sasuke-kun again, but I won't. It isn't because I don't want to, its because of Naruko. I'll also work with you so we can bring Sasuke-kun back home," Sakura said.
Sai smiled. "This is... Hmm, yes, I believe that's the word. Sakura-san, you're very 'conscious' of Naruko, her well being and her feelings. I don't understand the feelings that you have for her right now, but I'd like to, someday. I'm beginning to think a book can't tell me how to understand that feeling..."
[Next day, Tenchi Bridge]
What a surprise. The spy had shown up and it turned out it was that twisted medic, Yakushi Kabuto. Thanks to Naruko's great hearing, quite a bit of what was said was heard. Naruko felt herself become charged up when she heard that Orochimaru's current base wasn't too far from here and Sasuke was there too.
Things started to go bad when Kabuto requested something from 'Sasori.' A faint scent hit Naruko's nose and she tried to move forward, but Sakura and Sai kept her from moving. Orochimaru appeared behind Kabuto and tried to capture him, but the medic escaped.
"We have to get out there!" Naruko hissed.
"No! We have to wait for taichou's signal," Sakura said.
Naruko wanted to tell them that Kabuto reeked of lies and negative emotions, but she was too late.
Kabuto activated his chakra scalpel and took a swipe at Yamato, destroying the false puppet body. A quick exchange followed, Yamato avoiding all of Orochimaru's attacks. It was then revealed that Kabuto had been free of Sasori's control for quite a while and this meeting had actually been an attempt on Sasori's life.
Then Orochimaru requested the presence of Yamato's hidden teammates.
With the signal, Naruko and the others were before Yamato in a flash.
"I'm getting tired of seeing this one," Kabuto muttered as he looked at Naruko.
"Ah, an amusing face. The Kyūbi girl, I wonder what face she'll make during today's game," Orochimaru said, "well, I guess I'll be able to tell you if Sasuke-kun is stronger than you."
"You will return him to us," Naruko growled, her chakra trying to form into an incomplete, unstable cloak over her arm.
Sakura and Sai both moved away from her. This had never happened before and it looked dangerous.
"I need to explain it to you? Well, you are an idiot, so I'll spell it out for you. Sasuke-kun CHOSE to come to us, we didn't force him to do anything. On the contrary, he forced us into doing things we were worried about. Either way, get over it and move on, he has," Kabuto said.
"Shut up! You don't know anything at all about Naruko or Sasuke-kun! Keep it up and even the Shinigami won't recognize you!" Sakura yelled.
Completely ignoring Sakura, Orochimaru's eyes remained fixed on Naruko. "I'll tell you about him, if you want. Of course you'll have to beat it out of me, that is if you can even manage that, Naruko-kun."
Naruko roared as her cloak went wild, becoming a wild, vaguely fox shaped vortex of power that shook the bridge enough to heavily damage it. She appeared before Orochimaru, a chakra cloak wrapped about her hand to form a monstrously twisted claw, her tail wrapped in a twisted red shroud. She drove the claw into Orochimaru's face and chest, throwing him off the bridge and deep into the forest with ease.
'Naruko...what's going on?' Sakura wondered as she looked at he friend, the chakra cloak still flowing around her like vicious dark wheels that whirled into a claw-like shape over her right arm. There was the upper half of a fox's head floating a few inches above Naruko's own head.
Yamato had heard of this before. Once while on her training trip, Naruko's powers went wild and, despite Tama's warning, Jiraiya interfered with it and suffered a wound that left a permanent scar on his chest, as well as nearly losing his life and the entire village they were in being decimated. This was part of the process, a merging of sorts. Jiraiya set it back a while and it seemed that it was happening again. Yamato had been sent so that, if she started tilting towards going completely wild, the mokuton could be used to reset the process, give the powers of Naruko's mother a chance to become the primary rather than the wild power of her grandfather.
"Such development! I must say, you have exceeded what I expected, Naruko-kun. Pity that you're a jinchūriki, you'd be a great host," Orochimaru said as he stumbled up, his face torn completely away and some of his chest torn open. It almost looked like someone had been wearing a full body Orochimaru suit and most of it was torn away. "That explains why the mokuton experiment is here, you can control her beast, if need be."
The group got a brief lesson on Yamato's history as a mokuton implantation experiment, one that succeeded. He then went on to say that he'd could collect Yamato later to figure out the binding process so he could use it himself. "Well, first we should have Sasuke-kun go up against Naruko-kun here." the snake suggested.
Naruko's powers went even wilder, some of it turning black while the little bit that wasn't turned white. "Give him back!" she declared as her hair and tail stopped looking like hair or fur, instead, they looked more like solid flames.
"Naruko!" Sakura called out.
The bridge was torn even more, being rocked with far too much force. It was almost like a hurricane concentrated itself and landed atop the bridge, trying to destroy it directly.
'I-I'm expected to stop this?' Yamato wondered. He was beginning to think he wasn't strong enough to do anything at all to her with his mokuton.
Sakura would later on puzzle over it endlessly, why the power both scared and attracted her. The feel of the chakra stung her skin in a way that she would later on relive again and again in her mind because it also felt unusually safe. Naruko would never intentionally hurt her.
Kabuto tried to get at Naruko, but her now bright red tail swung into his face and sent him flying back like Tsunade went full force on him. That, unfortunately, directed Naruko's power and shattered the bridge as it sent the bastard flying. Naruko flinched when she saw Sakura caught in the backlash, knocking her out when her head hit the bridge hard. When Naruko saw the bridge start to fall, she summoned a pair of foxes and told them to get Sakura and take her to Yamato, then she followed after Orochimaru.
After a few strikes at the man, Naruko felt that she was being led away from her team. "Rasengan!" she roared as she swung down, missing the man barely with the wild energy hurricane that was supposed to be a sphere. 'Is everything unstable? I can't form the chakra right,' Naruko thought as she swung her tail, clearing away some of the dust around her. She smiled a bit, seeing Orochimaru's shredded and broken arm laying on the ground.
Naruko looked around and found Orochimaru, who just puked up a new body that was perfectly fine. Seeing that made her anger increase even more as her chakra started to spin even more wildly.
"Interesting. Even though you're a jinchūriki, Sasuke-kun is still stronger than you," Orochimaru taunted. 'But this is troubling. With that wild chakra, I'll lose another arm before I can attack. And that attack power, if she had focused that rasengan properly, I would have been scattered across the forest. I don't think I can kill her when she's like this, not directly anyway.'
Naruko roared again, her eyes, hair and tail shining extremely bright as her wildly flowing chakra suddenly stopped, then violently rushed at her, kicking up debris and dust as it hit her and a shock wave flew from where she stood, leveling part of the forest.
Sakura, Yamato and his wood clone arrived to see the girl get hit by her own chakra. Yamato quickly defended them with mokuton, blocking all the uprooted trees that flew at them.
"Naru...ko?" Sakura quietly asked, terrified that the girl had killed herself. Her and Yamato hopped over the barricade of wood to see what was going on.
"You really are fun to be around, Naruko-kun," Orochimaru said as he came out of the ground. He felt the need to experiment on her.
Naruko was standing there, but her appearance had changed. Her clothes were gone, replaced with an almost skin tight black suit that seemed to cover everything below Naruko's neck, allowing her tail to pass through of course. Bone-like, dull white armor covered most of her forearms, legs and an almost proper skeletal structure protected her torso, a pair of 'ribs' angling low down over her hips and dipping directly down to form some protection for her groin. It looked like Naruko was wearing that armor some girls wore in those smutty medieval adventure books perverted men read. A pair of ribs even went over Naruko's breasts to cover her up. A very light 'jaw' was set along Naruko's jawline, small fangs extending a bit less than an inch onto her face. There was even a spine of the back, running along Naruko's and ending a bit before her tail poked through.
Naruko lifted her hand to her face and flexed her fingers, which had none of that armor on them. "Is this my power?" she wondered. It felt different from her mother's and grandfather's power. It felt like... Naruko. That sounded odd, but that's how it felt, like it was her.
Orochimaru decided to take the initiative and released snakes from his mouth to attack Naruko. The now armored girl saw this and took a deep breath, the chakra charging almost instantly. She spat out her high pressure flames, shocked at the heat and power she was producing.
Orochimaru saw all his snakes burned to a crisp and decided he needed more powerful jutsu to destroy what he dubbed Naruko's version 3 jinchūriki form, so he released a larger snake from his sleeve, sending it at Naruko from the side. It got close to her, then she vanished and reappeared before him in a purple flash.
"I won't stop, not until I bring him back!" Naruko roared, purple chakra blazing from the bone gauntlet on her right arm as it rose. She drove a hard punch into Orochimaru's jaw, which shattered on impact, his neck snapping as he was thrown from her like a ball thrown by the Sandaime Raikage.
Orochimaru spat up a new body, noting that he had a bit of trouble doing so. 'Did she just use the chakra as a speed booster to increase her punch strength? If she can do that from her legs too, that would explain her speed as well. Pity, her eyes probably can't keep up.'
Naruko held her hand before her and focused. Chakra blazed from the back of both gauntlets as well as from armor over her shoulder blades and the back of her legs, black and white chakra coming out of the purple in streams and forming a ball before her palm.
"To quote the Nara clan: troublesome woman," Orochimaru hissed with a smirk on his face. He knew that it would kill him if it was a direct hit. Of course, he could just avoid it, but blocking would be so much more fun. To see your greatest technique completely stopped was a morally crushing sight indeed.
Naruko grabbed the now completed orb and it was drawn into her right arm, chakra swirling about it as the girl was driven over two feet downward, leaving a shallow crater under her.
'Now why would you do that? While it is true that the blow would be infinitely heavier, the weight of your own arm will reduce your speed to nothing worth mentioning. What is your plan, Naruko-kun?' Orochimaru thought as he watched the girl.
Naruko hauled her arm back and punched forward into the ground, a massive shock wave of directed chakra streaking at the sannin she wanted to kill, the ground being torn asunder.
'So you focused it, no matter!' Orochimaru mused as he completed the requirements, "Kuchiyose: Sanjū Rashōmon!"
Naruko's ground blast version tailed beast ball slammed into the three demonic gates and blew the first apart, the second wide open, the third one absorbing most of the impact, shunting what it couldn't to either sides as it leaned back from the force and weight of the blow. Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Naruko noticed the killing intent, but it was too late to dodge.
Orochimaru's blade came out of the ground, hitting Naruko in the armor over her heart, then the double edged sword extended and forced her back to the bridge, much of the forest suffering from her passage. The sannin's eyes narrowed when he saw that his sword hadn't pierced her armor at all, just skid against it while spitting sparks around.
"To think she'd take on Kusanagi, a blade that can cut anything, just to bring back Sasuke-kun. It's only a matter of time before it goes through her," Kabuto taunted as he stumbled into the clearing, fixing his glasses, "this is less a battle between ninja and more a war between monsters."
Naruko grabbed the sword, groaning in pain as it kept trying to break through her. "Eat...this...bastard!" Naruko shouted, forcing the blade downward, slamming Orochimaru's head into the dirt, making him close his mouth on the sword and destroy his teeth. The pressure didn't let up at all. In response, bone claws started forming over Naruko's fingers, the tips glowing purple with chakra.
"I wonder if she'll be eaten alive by her own power, forced to become a mindless demon. The moment she's lost, I want to see it for myself," Kabuto muttered to himself. He also wanted to take her apart, find out how she could be so powerful despite being human. The augmentations he could do to himself, to Sasuke and Orochimaru, to all of Oto's ninja... They could easily take over the world with such power! Even Akatsuki would fall!
Naruko coughed up blood as the blade lodged itself into a gap between the armored ribs. The pressure increased alongside the pain. She heard a crack from her chest. "I-I won't..." she growled as three tails formed, purely made from chakra, the ends becoming claws. 'Ten seconds! I've only got ten seconds with these!' Naruko thought.
"Naruko!" Sakura shouted, running up to her, "get that blade off and I can heal you!"
"Sakura-san, don't!" Yamato yelled.
Naruko roared as she shoved back, the chakra tails smashing into the weapon to force it back as well. The jian retracted as Narko's tails crashed into each other, resulting in a crazed shock wave as the tails were all repelled by each other and Naruko was tossed aside, one of her claw ended tails swiping through Sakura's left arm.
Naruko saw Sakura fall as the extra tails dissipated, but she didn't see Orochimaru's blade quickly retreating to the other side of the forest. "Sakura-chan... Sakura-chan!" the kitsune shouted as she forced herself onto her feet, holding her wounded side as she made her way to Sakura, bits of her armor starting to crack as she staggered up to her fallen teammate.
Kabuto walked up, his arm stretched out to Sakura, but found himself stopped by wood and a Naruko clone's claw seizing his throat. "Don't even think about it," the real Naruko warned as she cradled her teammate. The clone reinforced the warning with a squeeze, the purple chakra gone, but still leaving marks on the spy.
"Relax, I have no reason to fight someone who is assisting us, even if they are unwittingly doing so," Kabuto said, chakra extending from his hand to Sakura's wounded arm.
"What are you talking about?" Yamato asked.
Kabuto started healing the girl. "Akatsuki is in both of our ways, so we will call a type of truce. If you are left alive, you may kill more members of Akatsuki, making our goals so much easier. Just leave Itachi alone, he's Sasuke-kun's target." With Sakura healed as much as possible, Kabuto freed himself from the wood and shadow clone, then made his way to where Orochimaru was.
Sakura had been given time to get on her own two feet, during which time it became obvious that Naruko's form had a time limit since her left gauntlet had completely broken and fallen away, some of the ribs showing small fractures as well.
"Naruko, stay still so I can heal your side," Sakura said as she reached out to her friend.
Naruko turned away. "No, I'm fine..."
"Naruko, that sword obviously caused damage, so let me fix it," Sakura insisted.
"I'm the reason your arm is marked up! I-I don't deserve to be healed by anyone, let alone you!" Naruko shouted. Why wasn't the pink haired medic angry at her? Normally, Naruko would have an injured side AND a few concussions by now at the very least.
Sakura looked at her left bicep and shoulder, seeing the eerily clean cuts on it. "This is nothing. See?" Sakura asked as she showed she could move it fine, but winced a bit due to the pain.
"Naruko, this isn't the time. As soon as that armor lets up, you probably won't be able to move at all, so you either get healed or go home," Yamato ordered.
Naruko grumbled a bit. "Healing me won't make it last longer..."
Yamato glared at her hard. "That armor is probably linked to your chakra reserves, which are being sapped by healing your wounds. I'm pretty sure healing the wound will make the armor last longer."
Naruko gave in, though the normally warm feeling from Sakura's healing felt wrong to her. It wasn't the armor, just that she felt she deserved the pain she had been suffering so it would make her and Sakura even. It didn't feel like she was being healed, it felt like she was taking something from Sakura.
During the process, Sakura felt like her chakra was being repelled, not by the armor, but by Naruko herself, like she didn't want to let it happen. 'Naruko... You've suffered so much, for so long that you think you deserve it... And I'm not helping much, am I? Why? Why is it that when I want to be nice to you, I go and act like a total bitch, just like before? Why can't I be the way I want to be around you?'
"Yamato-taichou... I was wondering if you could teach me anything to help Naruko, like the mokuton," Sakura said. If she could control the trees themselves, she just knew she wouldn't be left behind like before.
Yamato shook his head. "I'm the only one in Konoha with the capability, and even that, as you've learned today, was artificially granted." He looked down at the necklace Naruko wore, which was over top of the body suit, but under the now cracking bone armor. "The necklace Naruko wears is the Shodai Hokage's and it is made from a special crystal that responds to his jutsu and chakra, allowing him to control bijū or their jinchūriki. He became Hokage due to that power, as well as his personality, me having the same power is also the reason I took Kakashi-senpai's place as Team Kakashi's leader." He, like Naruko, was curious as to why the necklace from Kakashi was still in tact. There shouldn't be any form of protection on it, since it was just a simple chain with a double sided picture holder on it, but it was still intact.
Naruko placed her still armored hand over the necklaces, not realizing one was so important. She had been entrusted with something big and she would make sure to not betray that trust, and she wasn't talking about the necklace either, but Tsunade's faith in her.
Sakura closed her eyes, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. 'In the end, I'm still holding everyone back.' When she felt her chakra completely repelled, she watched as Naruko got up, still holding her side. "Naruko, I'm not done yet."
"It's good enough," Naruko muttered as she walked away, not limping, but clearly still suffering from her wound.
"She won't even let me heal her properly, I really am useless to her, aren't I?" Sakura half asked herself, half asked the world.
Yamato knew that Sakura had some grasp of Naruko's mind, but not as much as the girl thought. "Sakura-san, Naruko doesn't need anyone who can do everything or even major things for her. Do recall that she is very close to Hokage-sama, but never asks for anything that is within her political powers. What I am saying is that Naruko doesn't need or want power, or even powerful allies, she just wants people to stand beside her when she needs them, to be there for her when things are tough, as a shinobi and a young woman," the man stated, then looked right into the medic's eyes, "Sakura-san, I can tell by looking at how you are around her that it isn't just friendship between you and her, that it is something more...personal between you two."
Sakura's cheeks lit up. "Eh? Eh? EH?! Ya-Yamato-taichou! I-I'm not-"
Yamato held up his hands. "It's alright, Sakura-san, I don't judge people on their preferences or hobbies. If I did that, I'd think Kakashi-senpai was lower than maggots digging through the bottom of trashcans because of that offensive book series he adores."
"Bu-But! I-I-I'm not-" Sakura stuttered, face even more red than before.
Yamato placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll cheer you on. Go to her."
"I'm not like that! I like boys!" Sakura whined, her face as red as a brick wall.
Yamato blinked, wondering where he had gone wrong, of if he went wrong. He'd seen the way Naruko would look at Sakura and seen a similar look from Sakura to the kitsune (always when said redhead was looking somewhere else) so he'd assumed it was a case of a pair of interested lesbians who kept missing the connection.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Sakura nodded her head. "I-I don't like her th-that way."
Yamato placed a hand to his chin in thought. "Could have fooled me," he muttered as he got up and started following Naruko's path, which led to the area the kitsune had left the snake. Sakura followed, trying to calm herself down.
When they arrived, Naruko was busy sniffing at a backpack and the ground, looking like a bloodhound on the trail.
"Naruko, do I want to know what you are doing?" Sakura asked.
Naruko looked back, blushed slightly, then stood up. "That backpack is the Sai's and it seems him and our least favorite duo are walking hand in hand now."
"Come on, he's probably just-" Sakura started.
Yamato stepped forward. "Naruko's right, Sai is traveling with Orochimaru and Kabuto, probably under Danzō's orders."
"But why would he leave all his stuff behind?" Naruko asked, lifting the scroll, ink well and brush, revealing a book that Sakura picked up.
"This is handmade, so I don't see him leaving it unless he was taken against his will," Sakura noted.
Yamato shook his head and told them of Ne ANBU's training, Kiri's 'gift' to the world: the emotion killing training regime. He told them that in spite of the book being handmade, it probably amounted to little more than extra weight to Sai. He also stated that Sai had more than likely looking for a good time to make himself scarce, to join up with Orochimaru.
"I know he's a total ass and all, but even he wouldn't go that far!" Naruko shouted.
Sakura shook her head. "No, I think he really did." It all made sense now that she thought about it.
Naruko was informed of Danzō, a man who was shadier than the entire criminal underbelly of the world, or at least his movements made him seem that way. Every movement the man made seemed calculated, every word measured, like he was moving towards some goal only he knew of. The man had been the Sandaime's rival to becoming Hokage. He was the definition of a hardliner and seemed to hate how Hiruzen steadily relaxed various aspects of of shinobi, resulting in what Danzō called an overall 'weakening' of the village. Danzō believed everything short of a mile high metal wall should be put around the village, all to protect it from every other nation, who he saw as enemies.
Naruko growled a bit. "We aren't fighting a war, we don't need to be acting like we're going to one either."
"Well, being on guard is alright and all, but Danzō is going too far with some of his ideas," Yamato said.
"What ideas?" Naruko asked.
Yamato looked at the kitsune. "Training you to be a mindless weapon, for one. He actually suggested that more times than Tora has escaped."
"That's a lot," Sakura muttered, having chased that cat more than two dozen times during her genin career. Heck, most of her medic training on people started with healing claw marks that cat etched into genin all the way up to an ANBU who was unfortunate enough to be in the cat's path one day. Poor Bear looked like an ANBU mummy for a week because the cat went wild on him for no reason at all.
"He also suggested, during a few treaties, to be much harsher to our allies, especially Suna after the invasion. He also believes that visiting genin and jōnin during the chūnin exams should be stripped of their weapons until they are required, and that was before Orochimaru's attack. He also has his own ANBU unit, which Sai belongs to," Yamato listed off.
"So why would Sai go with the hebi-teme?" Naruko asked.
Yamato thought about it. "It could be possible... Yes. I think that, since Orochimaru managed to kill one Sandaime Hokage, Danzō might be thinking of having Orochimaru attack again so that the relaxed policies of the Sandaime-sama and Tsunade-sama will be blamed. With the people not trusting her, he can easily take the seat of the Hokage from her."
"And from that seat, he can reshape and rebuild Konoha in the image he feels it should be," Sakura said.
"This doesn't end well for anyone, especially Naruko. He'll probably make a law that forces her into Ne ANBU, or have her locked away in ANBU dark levels until her mind cracks and he brainwashes her," Yamato said.
Naruko growled. "Let him try it."
"He'll strip you of all your rights if he gets into power," Yamato pointed out, "even pets will have more free will than you."
"So why now? Why get Orochimaru's help now and not a long time ago?" Naruko asked.
"Because Orochimaru was weakened by the Sandaime, and because there was no way to get close to him. Because Team Kakashi got a lead on him, Sai was sent to make contact," Yamato theorized.
"All we need to do is stop him and tell everyone then," Naruko said.
Sakura shook her head. "It will be your word against his, and we both know how the people see you."
"And because I can mind control even the Hokage into treating me like a granddaughter and force Orochimaru himself into attacking Konoha to kill the same old man, anyone who has gone on a mission with me is probably under my power as well," Naruko snorted. It was wonderful being a mind controlling demon, now if only she could figure out how she kept doing it.
Yamato looked at the two chūnin before him. "If it comes down to it, do you think you can dispose of Sai?"
Sakura and Naruko nodded, but anyone could see that it wouldn't sit well with them.
"Alright, let's follow them," Yamato commanded as he took off down the trail, Sakura following him right away. Naruko jumped to the trees, nearly falling off when her ribs ached. Sakura went to go help her teammate, but Yamato stopped her. "If she can't keep up with us, it might be best for her to return to Konoha," he said.
"Taichou!" Sakura shouted, shocked that he'd be this way about a wounded person.
"I already told you that I worked with Kakashi-senpai in ANBU, but I don't work the way he does. I won't say any cheesy lines about protecting you, since you should be able to protect yourselves now. You two will one day surpass me and Kakashi-senpai, taking our burdens upon your shoulders. We HAVE to follow this lead now or we'll never be able to do anything again. Orochimaru will either vanish until he's taken Sasuke's body or he'll outright attack Konoha and Naruko will live the rest of her life in a cage, waiting for Danzō's order to slaughter the enemy," Yamato stated.
Naruko got onto her feet, having a slight bit of difficulty as more of the armor crumbled off. "I'm not letting this chance slip by. You'll have to break more of my ribs to stop me from going on!"
The three continued on for a while, until Sakura's arm acted up when she swung on a branch, all her weight pulling at the scarred arm.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruko called out, shooting off a branch and catching the girl before she hit the ground. Naruko hissed, her two broken ribs shifting badly from what she just did.
After Sakura was leaned against a tree, Yamato stared at the girl's arm, knowing Naruko's chakra was the cause of this. He might need to temporarily lock her power up after the mission was over, just in case her powers went wild again. She needed to learn to properly control this power or else she'd just be a liability.
"Sakura-chan, next time I'm fighting like this, please...don't come too close," Naruko said, hanging her head in shame.
"But Naruko-" Sakura started.
Naruko looked right into Sakura's eyes. "I-I don't want to hurt you again."
Sakura's eyes started tearing up, seeing how her injury hurt Naruko more than a pair of broken ribs.
Yamato stood up. "Sakura is our medical ninja, so we need to let her recover a bit."
"I'm alright. We can go on now," Sakura protested, angry that the man saw her as weak.
"We do need to make haste, but to rush ahead with you in your present state, we'd most likely just wind up more badly injured," Yamato said.
Naruko nodded. "We'll need every bit of her strength when we get to Sai."
Sakura growled. It wasn't super strength or anything like that, though Sakura was a bit stronger than other kunoichi in her age group. Most of that 'monstrous power' was just application of chakra at the moment of impact. In other words, it was sort of like a rasengan.
"Naruko, we need to talk about how we will move in a battle. With Sai gone and your new power, it changes a lot of things," Yamato said as he started to walk a small distance away.
While the two talked, Sakura decided to look over the things they had picked up from the battle site. Sai's ink well was mostly empty and had been cleaned off. Other than having a rather unique form, it seemed normal enough. The scroll was completely blank and a mass produced type, so it was useless as well. The book, after a few minutes of going through the pages, started to bother Sakura.
Yamato was getting annoyed, since Naruko either didn't pay attention or offered tactics that would suit a berserker. It was like trying to teach a dog how to talk.
"Taichou! Naruko! Come look at this!" Sakura called out.
"That's Sai's book, correct?" Yamato wondered as he knelt down on one side of the tree, looking at the pages.
Naruko looked as well, but from the other side. "Picture book? Why would a teen carry that?"
After looking at it from front to back, Yamato told them that this was how Ne ANBU were trained. They would steadily work their way through opponents, taking the arms of their fallen foes, until they met someone they were close to, a family member of some sort, which they killed to complete the training that killed their emotions as well as honed them into deadly warriors. It was a more structured version of the Kirigakure academy 'test' from years before.
Yamato tensed slightly. "If you're up to it, Sakura, we should get moving now."
"Why?" Naruko asked, helping Sakura onto her feet.
"My clone found their base," Yamato said, leading them towards a snake's lair.
A/N~
I'm really sorry people, but I'm actually having fun writing chapters of KTD and some good manga and fanfics (though people are adding everyone and their cousin due to the new filter system rather than sticking to listing only the main pairing) are being released lately. I'll have a heartfelt moment with Naruko and Ino coming up, after Asuma's death. I'm also going to have Naruko outright kill Kakuzu, rather than maim him badly.
Another thing that prevented me from putting this out last month was my sister going through almost 60Gb of our bandwidth watching her towing shows on youtube. She got real leery of everyone and I couldn't use the internet at all because she believed it was mostly me who did it. You do know that reading fanfics chews up bandwidth like no tomorrow. (or at least it does in her mind)
As for Naruko's new form/power, it's the type that evolves as time goes along, meaning it will change form as time goes along, sort of like a Susanoo or canon Naruto's Yang Chakra Mode to Bijū Mode. I'm going to make it less dominatrix/slutty adventurer-like to being more dress/armor (Think from TLRD) as time goes along. As one would expect, the changes in appearance also come with an increase in her abilities. When Naruko names it, you'll get more information on it. (Yeah, I haven't thought of a good name for it yet)
Oh, and do excuse Ino's OOC next chapter, it gets explained in a way that actually counters general fanfic concepts of her character.
Omake-
Great deterrent-
"Tsunade-sama, why did you promote Naruko-chan?" Shizune asked, having been curious about this for a while.
"Because leaving that brat as a genin would be the dumbest thing I could have done. Can you imagine her whining about D-rank missions all the time?" Tsunade asked.
Shizune quirked an eye brow. "So it wasn't about talent?"
"Well, she is strong and she has more chakra than most of Konoha's population, but she sure as hell doesn't have the brains to lead anyone to battle. Then again, Jiraiya was promoted to chūnin and he can't even control himself," Tsunade pointed out.
Shizune sweat dropped. "So she's a combat chūnin, not a leader."
"Right," Tsunade said, stamping another form.
After a few moments, Shizune looked to her master again. "But the thing I'm wondering is how you keep her in line. She did exit the village without permission..."
"The way I get Kakashi to be ten minutes late at the most for meetings with me. Also how I got Jiraiya to listen to me a lot when we were younger," Tsunade said.
Shizune tilted her head slightly, a confused look on her face.
Tsunade smirked. "My exact words were: You do that again and I'll make you regret it. Too bad you're a girl. If you were a guy, I'd take hold of your nads and wind you up like a toy. Well, you have something similar to those on you, kitsu-gaki."
Shizune was stunned and worried for the males of Konoha, and the endowed females too.
Responses-
Demon-Dash.1147: Sorry, but I already went over this before and decided it was best to not include Hinata in the pairing. As for NaruIno, that's next chapter. The NaruSaku is also tsundere scented for a while, so you'll have to make due with it like that.
Gaara king of the sand: Sorry for the long wait again, but I had internet issues. Akatsuki will learn that Naruko is no jinchūriki, but will it be in time to save them? Do remember that most of the teams that tried to get Naruto were killed, so that means Naruko will kill them as well.
Thedarkpokemaster: Sorry, but Sakura only wants to get some kitsune tongue in her tsundere mouth. I find NaruSakuIno fics that have SakuIno tend to end with Naruto having a onesome in the bathroom while Sakura and Ino have fun without him around.
ShadowBloodedge9396: I can already tell you that the Naruko/Sakura/Ino/Hinata fic is titled: Five Elements and Ice. Naruko, an introverted book loving kunoichi who just might be the Kyūbi, has all five elements and Sakura's mother, not Mebuki, is a descendant of the Yuki clan, or whatever Haku's clan was. Sasuke's also a mega douche in it.
I decided that, since they barely ever spoke as kids, Naruko has more than enough reason to be wary of Ino. Naruko is also, just like canon Naruto, a total dobe(tte) when it comes to love and wouldn't know a person was in love with her if they grandly asked her to marry them.
Wolfone10: Actually, kitsune twister is anime only and most of those moves are non-canon to the original story, AKA the manga. The 'Sonic Roar' is actually the Tailed Beast Shockwave too. And it wasn't a vision, that was a true battle between Naruto and Kurama. The fox was weakened due to it being inactive for so long and unused to his now limited power. That and it was inside Naruto's soul, so he naturally had the advantage. You also have to remember that bijū without a host are wild beasts that rampage without reason. This is shown by the fact that they don't even try to communicate and, as we've seen a few times, fight with no tactics at all when free of a jinchūriki.
ShadowCub: Everyone wants Naruko's lady troubles.
Karibanu: I'm mostly reading to see how this now WTF filled manga, Sasuke, will end. I'm also a bit mad that they made the Ten-tails the source of all chakra, which is something I was planning for KTD as well, though not in a Garden of Eden thing. I'm also weirded out by all the homo crap in the manga now, such as guys with another guy's face on their body somewhere and extreme fixation on another man. Makes me think that Kishi's thinking of coming out of the closet.
Sky Zephyrus: Good god man! Don't go Japanese and American otaku on me in the same sentence! That made me shiver, though what you said was true. I also liked doing the rampage thing, since she is supposed to be an animal type demon. As for the tail, I love making people stare at it. I knew that girls had a soft spot for fluffy things and I put it there to show she wasn't human and so that, when her back is turned to people, she doesn't notice her popularity rising.
.4u: Hope you don't have to re-read it all again because of the internet issue. My omakes are meant to be funny and, well, I'm not an all around good person, I'm just a good writer who loves romantic comedy manga.
Darkkiller9: No, Naruko can now actively use the chakra cloak, not the constructs. She can coat her arm or body in chakra now without being in a rage. The constructs will be mastered later.
ArinaSugerBaby: Better than making an OC Ne ANBU to fill the gap.
Yuri-Hime-Chan: I am thinking of Hinata getting with someone, a girl to be specific, but I would never hook her up with Anko. A mouse and a snake cannot co-exist without the snake eating the mouse. Kurenai's also too old for Hinata and how do you explain to your daughter (since Kishi is thinking of making Asuma's kid a girl) why you are dating a girl half your age? As for the curse seal, do remember that it is a clan ability, meaning he may have had another member of Jūgo's clan. I just see that as more poor planning on Kishi's part.
Vampyaoifan123: From your name alone, I know you love Twilight, especially the second book. And this story has been continued.
Pokitachi: ….Dog boy's going to kill me now.
William and jack and jake: I also love my omakes, but some are hard to come up with, especially with how rigid the story is at points.
Partsu: I'm hoping that's for a good reason...
Overlordkyo1099: I do love splicing a bit of comedy. Everyone knows levity is the way to stave off fear and boredom.
Irish Shift: Here's another update.
Ashcoort the Ash Creator: Sorry, but no lemons at all in this or any of my fics. There will be lime scented content in KTD, and maybe this fic, but it will be mentions of people being too noisy or girls being unable to walk properly. I'm actually half tempted to allow people to write lemons based off my stories, but then I'd get a ton of gay stuff I'd never bother with, mostly Naruto(ko) and Sasuke getting together or Hinata coming out of nowhere and snatching up Naruto(ko) and leaving everyone else in the dust.
Jalex: Good that you like this fic, but I still say there are far better ones on this site. As for what you are waiting for, all of them receive checks and you may like what happens with Ino soon. Kinda bitter sweet.
Shinkicker: I do admit that this type of fic is very rare, and mine is the only one I know of that is being updated. As for Naruko getting the same modes as Naruto, that isn't happening at all. This armor mode that she used will, after evolving and becoming less slutty, become what takes the place of Sage Mode and Yang Chakra Mode. Naruko will get something else that takes the place of Bijū Mode, but I don't want to ruin it.
As for the tail law, it wasn't made with the thought of a Kyūbi being in human form all the time. Kinda hard to grab the tail of a multi-storey fox demon's tail when it is trying to kill you. Naruko has modified the law, but you will find out how later on.