An: Thank you for all the reviews as always. They really are a great reward even though writing this is so much fun. So again thanks S. o. t. A.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit.
Chapter 42: The Id
Shikamaru yawned as he entered his kitchen. Although he was still sort of out of it he figured the time was probably closer to afternoon then morning. He was surprised that his mom hadn't come nagged him out of bed before he got out of it himself. But he figured she must have heard about Chouji and Ino, not to mention it had been a late night for him. He had stayed outside the room with his teammate till Tsunade had come to talk to Ino.
Ino had given her report not sparing any of the details about how useless she felt she was. But Shikamaru had noticed that Ino did seem to be holding something back he found out what when Shizune who had been treating Chouji's injuries came out to whisper something to the Hokage. He noticed Tsunade's eyes widened for a moment before a look of concern appeared on her face.
"Is that all that happened Ino?" The Hokage asked pointedly.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Ino answered but Shikamaru knew she was lying.
"Ino, I'm placing you on a month of leave," Tsunade said before Ino could argue she added, "I'm also making it mandatory that you speak to a councilor during that time."
Shikamaru could see his presence made Ino uncomfortable so excused himself since he didn't need to stay to figure out why the Hokage had placed his teammate on leave as it was a common practice for kunoichi that had been sexually assaulted. He was pretty sure that they had failed as he didn't see any of the signs plus he was positive that as long as he drew breath Chouji would never let that happen. But it had still been a close enough call that Tsunade felt she needed time to come to grips with what had happened. He was confident that Ino would emerge from the ordeal a far stronger and confident kunoichi and he would help her anyway he could.
Still groggy he kissed the figure standing by the sink on the cheek saying, "Morning."
"My, you're far more welcoming this time then last," was the amused reply of Temari.
Eyes growing wide in his surprise he said, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I take it back," Temari said as she finished washing the dish she had been using.
His mom entered the kitchen saying, "It's about time you got out of bed. Temari is going to be staying with us during her time in Konoha."
"Why," Shikamaru said causing his mom to scowl, which he noticed was mirrored on the blondes face as well.
"Because she was staying at a hotel that was charging her almost the entire amount of her living allowance the Sand Village has given her. How is she supposed to enjoy all the Leaf Village has to offer if she is spending all her money just to stay here."
"How about by taking missions," Shikamaru said.
"Well congratulations, you just volunteered for the mission to show her how we take care of the deer since she is interested in seeing it done first hand," his mother said gruffly to him. Filling her voice with a sugary tone he had never heard his mother use, she said, "Come on dear, I'll show you around some more while my no good son gets ready."
Both women left him alone chatting amicably as they made their way outside. Watching his mother and Temari chat he could only say, "How troublesome," before swiftly getting ready afraid of what other arrangements the two would make if left alone together.
Jibachi traveled for almost a week dodging Jounin on his way to the only country that he thought would protect him, Rice. He figured that Orochimaru was always on the lookout for skilled shinobi with an axe to grind against Konoha. He had crossed the border only a few hours previous and stopped near a stream for a drink. Cupping his hands into the water he pulled them to his lips drinking thirstily.
The only problem he had was that he had no idea where the Sound Village was located at. He had asked around in the few villages he had come across but the villagers had no idea. Apparently Sound was one of the few Hidden Villages that was actually hidden.
Pulling his hands from his mouth he sensed someone behind him. Spinning he pulled a kunai that he had managed to snag from a jounin that had almost caught him before crossing the border. Completing his turn he found a silver headed youth sitting on a boulder. Despite how unassuming he looked there was an aura about him that chilled Jibachi to the bone.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Who I am isn't important. The question is why has an escaped convict been searching for the Village Hidden in the Sound?"
"I wish to serve Lord Orochimaru," Jibachi stated cautiously.
"Sorry he isn't looking for new talent at the moment; however I happen to be in need of a few bodies as it were."
The mysterious young man lost his friendly aura and replaced it with his killing intent. Jibachi had never felt such pure malicious in his life and tried to make a run for it only for the man to move from the rock he was sitting on to appear in front of him. Jibachi tried to stab him with the kunai he had procured but the man in purple easily parried the attack and hit him with a chakra scalpel that paralyzed him from the neck down.
The man smiled down at him saying, "Don't worry, it is only temporary, and while you may find this hard to believe. I have no intention to kill you. Whether or not you survive the experiments is another matter entirely."
Kabuto picked the paralyzed man up and then brought him to a wagon where he was keeping the other escaped prisoners that had thought to come to Sound in order to escape their jounin pursuit. Placing the man in the back of the wagon he smiled as the prison break had been a real windfall for his and Orochimaru's experiments. Especially if the man he had just captured was indeed a Kamizuru. He had something very special in store for him. Perhaps when he was done with him, the man may even have his wish of serving Orochimaru granted.
It had been two weeks since the Prison Break and Ino was still on a leave of absence. They probably would have had her get right back into the field if not for Chouji telling about her almost being raped by the Ogre brothers. She had attempted to leave that out of her report, when she finally gave it, due to the embarrassment she felt. Especially after hearing about how Sakura and Hinata had easily handled the two. It made her wonder that if she hadn't been there and Chouji had been with a real kunoichi, or shinobi for that matter, would he have fared better. The answer she kept coming up with was that he would have, as from hearing the gossip about how the two kunoichi had taken them down was to take each brother on one-on-one. If Chouji hadn't needed to fight both of them at the same time, she had little doubt he would have come out on top.
What was worse was that despite his still being in the hospital. Every time she visited she couldn't see any of the contempt she would have expected. Instead, he continued to be his relatively cheerful self. He still hadn't put all the weight he lost back on yet, mainly because the hospital staff had finally figured out that Chouji's mom had been smuggling him in food. Therefore they insisted that a nurse be present when she visited. Although his mom wasn't a shinobi she was downright devious when it came to smuggling and had a basic understanding of seals. A matter Ino learned firsthand as the woman had asked her to bring the meals she cooked for her son to the hospital. She had quickly agreed and was particularly glad she did when she had arrived at the hospital the first time with one of the home-cooked meals. The way Chouji's face had brightened when she pulled off her shoe to get at the rolled up piece of paper that his mom had hidden in the rubber sole. She had even taken a small joy in feeding him, the barbeque that his mom had prepared, due to his broken arms. But after she left each time she would always feel guilty as it was her fault that he was in there.
Sighing Ino decided to get out of bed. In truth, she wasn't sure she was even going to return to active duty. She couldn't even remember why she had wanted to become a kunoichi in the first place. Sparing a moment to glance at her alarm clock she saw it was almost noon which meant she had a couple hours to get ready before her next counseling session. The councilor was nice enough and had merely told her, when she brought up that she was thinking of quitting, that such a response was natural. When she had asked what the woman thought all she had received in reply was she needed to find the answer herself.
She knew if she quit her mother would be happy. Her mom had never been thrilled when Ino had declared she wanted to be a kunoichi. She had always hoped that Ino would take over running the flowershop her father had bought for her after being made the clan head when the old Yamanaka leader had died without any heirs.
Ino decided to get ready for her session even though it was a few hours away. Gathering up her bathing products she stopped when she looked out the window of her second story bedroom. In the backyard her father was practicing several kata. She smiled as even though her father didn't go out on missions really anymore, he still took the few moments he had for himself to train. Her smile faded as she remembered often going out there with him when she was younger before she entered the academy and copying his movements. She wondered if he would be disappointed if she quit, but knew he would support her in any decision she made.
One particular time she had followed him out to copy his movements came to mind. She remembered her father stopping and kneeling in front of her five year old self saying, "Why don't you go play in the flowershop Ino? There'll be plenty of time for training when you're older."
Ino shook her head saying, "I want to be a strong shinobi like you daddy. I can't be that playing with flowers all day."
Chuckling he said, "And why do you want to be so strong pumpkin?"
"So I can protect you and mommy," she had replied.
Her dad had laughed at that but said, "Well pumpkin I hope you'll let me be the one to protect you for a little while longer." He had then gone back to performing his Kata with Ino copying him.
Had it really been that simple her whole reason for entering the academy had been to one day take her dad's place as the family protector. Strangely enough entering the academy had lessened that desire instead of reinforcing it. She knew the reason by name, Sasuke Uchiha. Her desire to capture the boy's heart had led her from trying to become stronger to trying to become prettier.
When she had first entered the Academy she had continued to join her dad during his practices. But one day he had come to get her and she had blown him off saying she didn't have time. She had seen the hurt that appeared as he felt it was a way to get closer with his daughter. He had insisted a few times generally when teaching her one of the family's techniques but she would often relent only under protest.
Tearing her gaze away from her dad she looked at herself in the full length mirror. For a moment she considered pulling a Sakura and cutting her long hair to sport a look she had when she had been younger but decided against it. Tired of feeling sorry for herself she got dressed in a pair of sweats pants and a matching sports bra and headed down stairs.
Inoichi wasn't sure what he could do for his daughter upon learning what she had almost suffered. He often found training helped clear his mind. He was tempted to tell her to give up her shinobi career as his wife wanted, but figured she needed to come to a decision on her own. However he did wish he had been more insistent on making her train, yet had been confident the academy would toughen her up and that her crush on Sasuke would fade. "Shows what I know," Inoichi thought.
A soft, "Daddy," caused him to stop. Turning he saw his daughter standing behind him. "Yes pumpkin," he said.
"Can I train with you?"
A smile appeared on his face as he said, "I'd like that. Of course you can."
Ino smiled in return before lining up next to him in his basic stance. Inoichi winced slightly, but made sure she didn't see it as her stance was rather sloppy. He pointed out to her what she was doing wrong and was pleased when she immediately corrected it. The two Yamanaka trained until Ino needed to stop to attend her counseling session. Inoichi hadn't been able to keep the smile from his face when his daughter asked if they could make it a daily thing. Promising he'd find a way to shift his schedule so that they could do it at the same time everyday she took off to get ready and to her father seemed to have a little more of the confidence, she had from before the Prison Break, in her step.
Tsunade was finishing her paperwork on the prison break from two months ago. Although the actual incident had only lasted a day it seemed the paperwork had lasted far longer. But some good had come out of it as the Fire Country Daimyo had learned the valuable lesson of just because things appeared to be quiet that didn't mean security was a place to cut corners. As a result, the Leaf Village had received a rather substantial bonus in the tribute it garnered from the capital. The Village hadn't been hurting for the money, but the little extra would make for a nice cushion in leaner times. There were already several councilors dreaming up projects in which to spend it.
Left with a little free time, she wondered if she could pinch a little of it for herself and have a mini-vacation in Tanzaku Town. She doubted it as she was sure her apprentice Shizune would be the one to drag her back before she could even begin to unwind. Thinking of Shizune made Tsunade smile as the young woman had never appeared happier due to her relationship with Kakashi.
However, her good humor didn't last at what they had recently learned as a result of Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan. After months of training the eye he could now use it at will, although it still took a while for him to activate it. He had used it to read more of the stone tablet that had been located underneath the shrine in the Uchiha district. What he had read had seemed like a fairy tale depicting a battle between the fabled Sage of the Six Paths and the Juubi, the ten-tailed demon. However, although the tablet said that the Juubi was defeated it didn't say how. Instead it gave a clue on how to read the rest of the tablet which was to use the eyes of the father of ninjutsu.
If what she remembered from her ancient history was true, then the tablet was referring to the Rinnegan which meant for all intents and purposes the rest of the tablet was unreadable. Still if the Uchiha had access to the secrets of the Juubi then she had reason to believe the Senju had as well.
A knock at her door demanded her attention so she called out, "What is it?"
Her secretary stuck her head in saying, "Milady, there is an envoy here from the village of Kirigakure demanding to speak with you."
Arching an eyebrow at the woman's use of the word demanding and having an excellent idea on who it was as a result said, "Very well you may tell Zabuza to come in."
A few moments later Zabuza entered dressed in the standard Jounin attire of the Mist Village. She saw that he appeared more at ease in it then he ever had in the Leaf's. "Zabuza or do you prefer Mr. Terumi," Tsunade said with a hint of amusement.
Zabuza however was anything but saying, "When I see that kid again. I'm going to eviscerate him." Although his tone was gruff Tsunade could tell that it was just Zabuza being Zabuza so ignored the threat against the young man she saw as a younger brother.
"I'll pass that along. Now on to the matter of why you are here."
Zabuza knew it was time to get serious so standing at attention said, "The Lady Mizukage has sent me here to ask for the right to enter Konoha in order to discuss terms of joining the Shinobi Alliance."
Tsunade couldn't keep the surprise off of her face. Sure she expected friendlier relations with the village but for it to actually be willing to join the alliance. Well that she hadn't expected. She quickly ran over the pros and cons of such an alliance in her head. The united front against Akatsuki was one of the major pros to be sure. However an equally large con would be how Iwa and Kumo would react to such news. Wars have started over alliances in the past after all and if either of the two countries thought Konoha was making inroads to conquering the shinobi world through politics she didn't doubt that they may attack. Especially with somebody like Orochimaru out there to stir the pot and maybe form an alliance or two of his own. But as far as she was concerned it would be worth it in order to secure the help of Kiri against the coming storm.
Folding her hands in front of her she said, "It'll take time to arrange seeing as I'll have to notify Suna as well as the other villages. What's say we schedule the talks for a month from now?"
"I believe that will be acceptable and I'll have your answer tomorrow," Zabuza said giving a small bow at the waist.
Tsunade smiled and nodded. Zabuza didn't stick around for small talk which suited her fine as she still had to come up with a way to make her displeasure at Jiraiya allowing Naruto to be kidnapped from under his nose known. Granted Naruto hadn't made a big deal of it, but she had the distinct impression she wasn't being told the whole story and as a result fell on the tried and true principle of blame Jiraiya. Smiling as something came to mind she decided to take a walk hoping to find some inspiration.
Fu Yamanaka was watching the young Kurama heir as she painted on the terrace of the residence that she lived in. Although not the Kurama Clan, compound the building was rather large and nicely furnished as one would expect of a clan that had been around since the founding of Konoha. Even, if the clan had lost a great deal of prestige since then.
Fu's mission was to make contact not with the girl but what resided within her. The problem that he had encountered in completing the mission was the Anbu and medical ninja that watched over her. Since he was a sensor type he knew exactly where they were, but they covered the grounds pretty regularly. It had taken a while but he had finally found the best time to strike which was when the young girl painted on her terrace as the Anbu kept their distance so she didn't feel like a prisoner. The small window that it afforded him was exactly why he believed in Danzou's vision of Konoha so fervently.
If Danzou was running Konoha and the girl remained as big a threat as she truly was, from what his master told him. Fu had little doubt that Danzou would have simply killed her instead of sheltering her away where she could one day threaten the village. Yet that would only happen after Danzou became convinced he couldn't use her, which was what Fu was going to find out.
Using a variation of the Mind Transfer Jutsu, Fu appeared in a representation of the girl's mind. He was standing in a plain field that had a cottage. The field was surrounded by a large forest. All the trees appeared vibrant and healthy, except for one section of it where the trees were devoid of leaves. Even the sky appeared darker and foreboding. Figuring that was where he should head he made his way to it.
Walking through the dead forest he eventually came to a cave. Although the mouth of the cave was clear of obstruction the paper sutras planted around the entrance made it quite apparent a barrier was in place. He could hear something moving about inside and coming closer. When the creature appeared before him he saw that its body was similar to Yakumo's as was its hair which was brown with the left bang twisted into a braid. However, the face wasn't human being dark skinned with two large canine teeth extending from its mouth. Its long ears extended horizontally from its head, also it walked hunched slightly, and its long arms reached just below its knees.
The creature eyed him curiously before saying, "What do you want?"
"I have come to release you."
"Why would you do that?" it asked not trusting in its good fortune.
"My reasons aren't important," Fu said not really understanding what Danzou hoped to achieve by releasing the creature. However, as he had just said the reasons weren't important. Only that Danzou's plan moved forward.
Walking to the paper sutras he ripped them off causing the barrier to shimmer before disappearing. Before releasing his jutsu the creature, which called itself Ido, said, "I'm supposed to believe you would release me and not expect anything in return."
Fu merely replied, "Whatever you plan to do with your newfound freedom, I'm sure it will fit perfectly into my master's plan." Releasing the jutsu he returned to his own body. Looking at the sun he guessed that maybe an hour had passed which meant he had better get going as even if Yakumo was outside the Anbu which guarded and watched her would make a patrol eventually. As he was about to leap away he spared a moment to watch the girl, who although still painting as if nothing had changed, was nonetheless probably about to make life difficult for those loyal to the Hokage.
As Tsunade walked the village she heard a commotion at the playground. What she saw both made her proud and upset at the same time. As she watched Sarutobi's grandson get surrounded by several larger kids, although they appeared to be the same age. His two friends were standing behind him with the girl peeking out at the leader of the advancing bullies from behind Konohamaru. Although upset that they appeared to be in the midst of being picked on, she couldn't help but smile as she noticed that the three kids wrapped their faces similar to Naruto with Konohamaru using his scarf.
Moving closer so she could hear what was being said and promising to get involved if a fight broke out she heard the largest bully say, "Well if it isn't the loser squad. Still pretending to be that demon huh?"
Tsunade grimaced as she heard what the boy said. After having Mizuki executed for breaking the S-class secret. She had revoked the law that made talking about it illegal. She had wanted Mizuki, the man that had forced Naruto to run from the village, to not only die for his actions. But, she wanted his death to be a slap in the face as almost a week later the law had been revoked. The Civilian Council had been all too pleased to see the law change as they believed that now that they could influence the younger generation Naruto would lose much of the support his actions had gained him.
"The Boss ain't a demon," Konohamaru shouted back, "he keeps the village safe from it, stupid."
"What idiot told you that?" the bully said. Tsunade noticed that more and more of the kids at the playground seemed to be getting closer, probably sure that a fight was about to break out.
Konohamaru's eyes narrowed as he said, "My grandpa did."
"Yeah, well my dad says the Third Hokage was an idiot not to kill that thing when it was born."
"You take that back," Konohamaru said.
"What part that your grandfather was an idiot or that the village would have been better off if the Kyuubi container had been killed."
"Both you jerk," Konohamaru retorted.
Eyeing his fellow bullies their spokesman said, "Make me."
Tsunade was about to intervene seeing as Konohamaru was outnumbered by the bullies. But a hand grabbed her by the wrist stopping her. Turning she saw her old sensei standing there with a pipe in his mouth.
"Sensei," she said, "don't you think somebody should intervene?"
"Sometimes we have to fight our own battles," Sarutobi said calmly.
"Yes, but I don't think that the Sexy Jutsu he has been using much to Iruka's dismay is going to help him in this case."
Pulling the pipe from his mouth Sarutobi replied, "Perhaps, but if you intervene now then those bullies will only come back later." Placing the pipe back in his mouth and folding his hands behind his back the former Hokage said, "And besides that isn't the only jutsu Naruto has passed along to his little followers."
Tsunade saw that as all three kids created a familiar cross shaped hand-sign. Each one created a perfect double of themselves. However the bully thinking it was a simple clone jutsu said, "Big deal we are learning that jutsu in the academy too and I can create more." Using the basic clone jutsu the bully created six clones. The bully then sent all his clones running at the Konohamaru Squad following in their wake but was surprised when each of his clones was passed through.
That surprise turned into pain as Konohamaru reached him first ducking under a weak punch thrown by the bully. Kicking up wards he launched the bully into the air. The real Konohamaru then kicked him again towards both Moegi's who hit him with similar looking uppercuts at the same time straight up into the air. Before he even began rising into the air he was hit in the head by Udon with a downward kick after being launched into the air by his clone. The rest of the bullies looked like they were about to run till they received back up in the form of their leader's older brother, who looked like he was due to graduate the academy this year.
"So you think you demon loving brats are tough huh," the larger bully said, "Let's see how you fare against me."
He was about to advance on them when a lone Hyuuga girl in orange stepped in front of him. "Out of the way, girlie."
However Hanabi remained still merely saying, "I believe your brother instigated the fight by insulting Konohamaru's friend. Who, also happens to be friends with my sister."
"Like I care if some Hyuuga bitches like the freak," the boy said, "Move or I will move you."
Hanabi stood her ground and when the bully swung at her she pivoted slightly out of the way hitting him from behind with a Jyuuken strike that made the bully empty his bladder in front of all the children watching. Prompting him to run from the fight as the other kids began laughing. Turning to the rest of the bullies Hanabi said, "Does anyone else wish to talk disparaging about my sister or her friend?" The other bullies looked at each other before following the lead of the oldest one taking off in different directions.
Tsunade smiled as she heard Konohamaru say, "I could have taken them Hanabi."
The Hyuuga girl replied, "I'm sure you could have Konohamaru, however my way at least doesn't leave bodies lying around."
Looking where Hanabi was staring he saw the bruised bully that was still unconscious from the beating he took. The other kids began crowding around Konohamaru asking him where he learned such a cool clone jutsu. Before he could begin bragging Hanabi grabbed him by his hand to pull him away. Tsunade saw a look of jealousy pass across Moegi's face as the Hyuuga led him away making her wonder if the young Sarutobi was going to find himself caught between two kunoichi much like his Boss. She smiled at the idea before letting it fade.
Walking away with Sarutobi at her side she asked, "Are you going to say I told you so?"
Chuckling, her predecessor said, "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing." Before she could ask he explained, "What we just witnessed was an ideological argument. It may have been settled with fists, today at least, but the youth of this village are discussing it. Something that wouldn't happen if we were still following the law I created."
"But the parents are telling their children to hate Naruto."
"They were doing that before," Sarutobi said sadly, "Now they are able to provide the reason. But much like all of us, those children will eventually form their own opinions on the matter. Besides, those among his age group, who have fought and bled with him, do not seem to be reacting poorly to what he carries. Ultimately my dear I think you made the right call by insuring that there is a discussion on the matter."
Anko was dressed for a night on the town. Wearing a red strapless dress with matching heels she inspected her reflection one last time before going to collect Kurenai. Leaving her first floor apartment she climbed up to the third floor and knocked on Kurenai's door. She had to knock three times each time more insistent than the last as she suspected that the Genjutsu Mistress was losing her nerve. The only reason Kurenai had agreed to go with her for the night, had been because she had gotten to her while the woman had been riled up at Asuma.
Apparently all was not going well for the couple, and despite being Kurenai's best friend the woman still hadn't confided in her why she had been so upset this last time. But Asuma's loss was going to be some lucky guys win Anko figured with a smile. The door opened to reveal Kurenai in a robe, frowning at her Anko said, "I'm pretty sure that although the guys at the restaurant will be pleased by your choice of attire. The restaurant won't let us in."
"Sorry Anko but…" was as far as she got before Anko forced her way into the apartment.
"I don't want to hear it," Anko said cutting her off, "I'm sick of listening to you complain. You're the one that's tired of coming up with excuses why you're out with the man you're supposedly dating aren't you."
Anko saw a little of the old fire that had been there when she first asked had returned, which suited her just fine as she really didn't want to go by herself. "Fine," Kurenai said heading to her room to change.
While Anko waited she thought of the missing person to the usual group of three that she, Kurenai, and Yuugao used to be. Seeing what Yuugao had become as a result of Hayate's death made Anko almost afraid to find love, but in the end she realized that in a sense she already felt a similar type of feeling for her team, so was willing to chance it. But Yuugao seemed to still be a wreck almost a year after Hayate had been murdered. What was worse was after losing her ANBU status and being demoted to Jounin she stopped caring about anything but where she could get her next drink. Plus there was the animosity between them now, as Yuugao still felt that Anko's team bared some of the responsibility due to their past allegiances. Needless to say, when Anko had tried to invite her out for tonight it hadn't gone well at all.
Thinking of her team brought a smile to her face as it often did. She had begun to give her team more specialized training, trying to find a niche for each of them. While she didn't want them to be limited to a certain field such as close, medium, or long range fighters. She did want to give them something they each could consider their strong suit. For Tayuya who was turning out to be quite the scrapper, now that she had gotten over the hang-ups that most genjutsu types seemed to have about getting in close, she had been focusing on her combat training. Next was Sasame, who naturally needed the most work, Anko was training her in knife fighting as she had already bought the girl a pair of specialized daggers to train with. Finally there was Kin, and although she was quite capable in Taijutsu. Anko felt it best that she focus on her ninjutsu and genjutsu to compliment the other two girls. All in all, she was quite certain that her girls would do quite well in the next Chunin Exam.
The door to Kurenai's bedroom opened and revealed that the red-eyed jounin had decided to go with a black thin strapped dress and matching heels. Getting up from the couch Anko linked her arm with her friend's and seeing Kurenai's hesitance about their plans for the night said, "Trust me Kurenai, you need this. Maybe you'll find somebody better than Asuma or at the very least make him jealous enough to declare you are together."
Kurenai nodded allowing Anko to lead her out of the building wondering if a speed dating circuit was really the best way to go about meeting someone new.
Iruka still didn't understand how Gai had managed to convince him to go with him to go to a speed dating circuit. While they were quite popular among shinobi and civilians alike, he still never thought he would ever attend one.
"It must have been the waterfall tears," Iruka thought with some amusement as the Jounin next to him seemed to be psyching himself up for the coming dates.
"Ha-ha today I will surely find the lady I seek," Gai said aloud, "If not, I will do twenty circuits through the village on my hands." A few of the men around them sweat dropped at the eccentric jounin.
Iruka however simply shook his head. The men were currently sitting or standing in the entrance of the restaurant the event was being held at. The ladies had already been let in to find their tables. The idea was that the men would go around the room wearing a sticker with a number on it. Each date would last five minutes, it would give people enough time to make proper introduction and tell each other what they were looking for before moving on to the next date. If at the end of the night a lady was interested she would give the number that the man wore to the people in charge who would then get in contact with the gentleman to set up a real date as it were.
A well groomed man came up to the men saying, "Gentlemen your dates await."
Like a pack of dogs let loose to chase a rabbit the men began to move into the restaurant. Although many of them tried to appear not to rush in Iruka noticed that they often made a straight line to the more attractive women in the room. Iruka had held himself back and was rather surprised Guy had as well.
It wasn't that Gai was nervous to begin merely that he recognized appearing callous wasn't going to help him tonight. Giving his fellow shinobi a slight nod he walked in sitting in front of a mousy woman who appeared to spend quite a bit of time with books. Following suit Iruka prepared himself to take the plunge as well.
Kurenai really wished she had stuck to her earlier decision to stay home. She was on her third date so far and each had only gone from bad to worse. Naturally, many of the men had gravitated to the more attractive women in the room. But those that didn't get to their pick first had settled themselves near them. That naturally created a rather awkward feeling for the women who were dating the slob at the time as they kept sending looks hers or the other women's way.
Looking at the sheet the organizers had provided for the women to write down notes about the numbers they were interested in, she had yet to jot down anything. She knew why she had come of course and to tell the truth she blamed Kakashi and Shizune. When she had first began dating Asuma she hadn't mind the secrecy behind it and had even bought into his saying they both had lots of enemies that would love to hurt them through each other. However even before Kakashi and Shizune had begun to see each other, openly to boot, a part of her had begun to crave more. She had tried to talk to Asuma about it but he kept putting it off.
That was why after the prison break she hadn't been able to help herself and followed Shizune and Kakashi on their date. She wanted something like they had shared that day, even at the part where Kakashi had made a fool of himself having seen a poster telling about the advanced ticket sales for Make-Out Paradise the Movie. Shizune had looked both amused and mortified as the jounin made a scene almost hugging the poster. But she had begun laughing as he scooped her up bridal style no doubt to purchase tickets. She had kept her peace until a month later she had caught the two leaving the movie theater, the night of the premiere hand in hand. That had been it for Kurenai who promptly told Asuma they needed to discuss the matter. He had promised to do so but had told her lamely the next day that due to Ino coming off of her leave his team had been given a C-ranked mission that would last over a month. She had been understanding of his reason until she had heard that it was mission he had requested. So naturally when Anko had asked her about tonight she had agreed.
Looking up she sighed realizing that during her daydreaming two more dates had passed. Obviously, the men talking to her didn't notice or care, as she gave simply one word answers to their questions. The ringing of a gong symbolized the end of another date.
Stifling a sigh she was surprised when Gai sat in front of her, "Ah Kurenai." Taking a moment to see how he was dressed she was surprised that it wasn't his normal attire as she had often thought that was all he owned. But she had to admit he looked rather handsome in the green turtle neck shirt he was wearing with tan pants.
"Gai, still looking to find a Shizune of your own," Kurenai said amused.
"Not at all," Gai said surprising the red-eyed Jounin, "I'm looking for that special lady based solely on her own merits. It would do a disservice to her if I was trying to match my rival Kakashi."
"Sorry," she said.
Laughing it off, he said, "Think nothing of it. I know I can take my rivalry to the extreme. It's easy to see why you would believe that." His voice took on one of concern saying, "But why are you here Kurenai, are things not well between you and Asuma?"
That was another thing that bothered her about her situation with Asuma. He wanted all this secrecy but almost all their friends already knew or had suspicions like Gai. Not wanting to talk about it she changed the subject saying, "Gai there has been something I've been meaning to ask you."
Gai inclined his head letting her know she could continue so she asked, "When you first began training Lee was there ever a point when you wanted to give up?"
"Any particular reason you ask?" Gai asked worried.
Thinking of Yakumo, the girl she not only failed but betrayed in a sense, she said, "I was merely wondering."
Gai could tell there was more to her question then she let on but said, "Ultimately however difficult you may believe training a boy with Lee's obstacles can be. It is infinitely harder on the student then the teacher." Kurenai looked at him with her face schooled into a calm mask despite the turmoil she was feeling. Gai continued, "You see Kurenai at the end of the day I have done nothing for Lee. All the strength he has earned he did so himself. The only thing I ever did for him was believe in him."
"And if you stopped?"
Surprised showed on Gai's face but he said, "Then it is likely he would stop believing in himself."
The gong rang singling the end of the date. Gai stood saying, "If you ever want to talk about what bothers you so, please feel free."
Kurenai nodded a little surprised that she actually hadn't wanted the date to end and feeling a little bad that she had spent the five minutes talking about her problems. "Hello Beautiful," was the introduction she received to her next date. Rolling her eyes she caught herself looking in the Green Beasts of Konoha's direction.
The gong ringing signaled the end of the date. Sending a quick look Kurenai's way she saw that she had been talking to Gai. "Maybe this wasn't such a hot idea," she thought. Mainly due to the guys that had swarmed around her from the start. She knew that due to how she dressed there were many rumors about her. Most prominent being that she was easy. She bet most of the men here would be surprised that if she did let any of them between her legs they would be the first. After all, having to live with a betrayal as hard hitting as she did. She naturally wasn't all that willing to get in line for a relationship.
But if the last couple of dates were anything to go by, most of these men thought she had no self-esteem as a result of her old master's defection and only needed to hear some oily pick-up lines to make her fall all over them. Looking at the sheet of her notes she smiled as they all read the same, "Loser." Most of them hadn't even been able to make eye contact as they were too busy undressing her with their eyes. Which was why, when she looked up from her sheet to see the person across from her was waiting for her to make eye contact she became a little flustered.
Pulling back for a moment she was surprised to see Iruka sitting in front of her. Smiling the chunin said, "Long time no see Anko."
"Iruka," she said smiling, although she was older than him by a year they had been friends during the academy, "How are your brats treating you?"
"Quite well," Iruka said, "I here you have taken a team of your own now."
Anko nodded causing him to say, "I'm glad to hear that. I always knew you would be a great instructor."
"Because I was a gifted prodigy?"
"No," Iruka said jokingly, "Because you always seemed like you would remain closest to a child in your temperament."
He began chuckling at her scowl which gave way to a smile as she said, "Considering some of the stunts my girls and I have pulled on each other I suppose I have to agree."
The pair began catching up on the recent events in their lives. Iruka stated he was glad the school year was coming to an end as Konohamaru was becoming a handful. Anko explained how much she enjoyed being a sensei and both were surprised when the gong rang. Leaning in and grabbing his hand Anko said, "Let's get out of here."
Iruka thought for a moment but said, "Sure."
The man that was about to sit at Anko's table began to protest saying, "Hey buddy, I was waiting to talk to her."
"Well I wasn't in any hurry to talk to you," Anko retorted grabbing Iruka's behind she added, "Now if you'll excuse us we have places to be."
Walking out of the restaurant Iruka said, "You know that might be why people get the wrong idea about you."
"Well if they can't see underneath the underneath then fuck them," Anko said smiling cheerfully. "Now where are you going to take me and it better serve Dango?"
Kurenai arrived at home after an exhausting night. She had stayed to the end, but in the end it had been a wasted night. Although, she had been tempted to tell the people running the event, to give Gai her information as he had struck out that night. Which, she didn't really understand why. He may be eccentric, but his heart was in the right place. While she had almost done it to be nice, a part of her also didn't doubt that all the passion he put into training Lee he would channel into a relationship. It would make a nice change of pace from the easy going slacker way Asuma preferred. But in the end she had decided to wait until after Asuma got back so they could have their discussion.
Taking off her heels, she rubbed the bottom of her feet before proceeding further into her apartment. She came to a stop when she noticed a young girl in her apartment. The girl who appeared to be no older than five had her back turned to her. Confused at how she got in Kurenai said, "Hello, are you lost?"
The girl turned causing Kurenai's eyes to go wide in shock. Although younger than when she first met her, the girl bared a striking resemblance to Yakumo. The girl shook her head clutching a doll in her arms saying, "I'm not lost Kurenai-sensei. I found you."
Kurenai was confused but noticed the doll looked like her. The girl held the doll up and then threw it across the room. Seconds later Kurenai flew in the same direction smashing into a bookcase. Getting up quickly Kurenai couldn't believe that despite her not moving to retrieve it, the doll appeared again in the girl's arms. "Did you think I would just go away sensei?" the girl said spitting out the word sensei like it left a bad taste in her mouth.
"Who are you?"
"You already know, sensei," the girl replied putting the doll on the ground. She began to walk towards the apartment door. Kurenai tried to move to intercept her but found that she couldn't.
"Yakumo," she thought sadly. Again she tried to move but still couldn't budge from her spot and figured, "This has to be some kind of genjutsu." She was unable to move her hands to form hand-signs so she settled for the pain method of dispelling genjutsu. Biting her lip she saw the doll disappear. Able to move again, she took off for the door, unaware that she was still trapped and that her apartment was burning around her.
Gai was in the middle of honoring his self imposed punishment for failing to get a second date. Wondering if he was perhaps coming off as too passionate, he shook it off as pure folly, as there was no such thing as too much passion. He was on his second lap through the village when he noticed flames coming from an apartment nearby. Jumping to his feet promising to finish later he sprung into action. Leaping through the window the flames were coming from he found Kurenai unconscious on the floor.
Easily lifting the woman in his arms he turned to make sure she was alone and thought he caught sight of some creature in the flames. But before he could get a good look at it, the flames intensified before exploding out towards him. Jumping out of the window backwards he landed among several shinobi who were already using water jutsu to help douse the flames. Figuring that Kurenai was suffering from smoke inhalation he took off to take her to the hospital.
Kurenai shot up, to find herself in a hospital bed. "Kurenai," Gai said placing a hand on her shoulder, "It's aright you are safe."
Confused as she had believed she was chasing after Yakumo until everything went dark she asked, "What happened?"
"Your apartment started on fire," Gai answered.
"Lucky for you Gai was nearby," Tsunade said entering the room, "Now would you mind telling us what happened."
"I'm not sure," Kurenai said the memories already fading like a dream, "I think Yakumo was in my apartment."
"Why would the head of the Kurama clan be in your apartment?" Tsunade asked confused.
"I was her teacher," Kurenai said dejectedly, "She was born with a weak body but after hearing about Rock Lee dedicated herself to becoming a shinobi using only genjutsu. I lacked faith in her, and told her to give up. Her genjutsu was so powerful due to the Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan that she could actually make her illusions real. I was forced to seal those abilities."
Tsunade was confused she had heard of the Kekkei Genkai and she had even known that the girl didn't attend council meetings for medical reasons, but the type of sealing Kurenai was talking about was impossible. As it would destroy the mind much like the Caged Bird Seal of the Hyuuga destroyed the Byakugan after death. "How could you seal her Kekkei Genkai but not destroy her mind?"
Looking out the window Kurenai said, "There was some kind of darker persona within her. When I sealed it, I took away her dreams of being a shinobi."
Based on the information she was given she sent a squad of Anbu to check on the girl. When they returned they had an Anbu wearing a tiger mask with them. "Report," Tsunade said.
The Anbu replied immediately, "Tiger captain of the Kurama detail reporting. I'm sorry to say that whoever attacked Kurenai Yuuhi couldn't have been Yakumo as she has been in visual contact with one of my team the entire time."
"What about it captain," she said addressing the leader of the Anbu she had sent, "Are they compromised?"
"No Milady," the hawk masked Anbu replied, "We could not detect any genjutsu on the property or the people working in it."
"There was something within those flames though," Gai said, "It didn't look human, but I'm afraid I didn't see it clearly."
Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose saying, "Tiger you may return to the villa. Hawk, begin looking to see if there is a saboteur in the village."
The Anbu disappeared to follow their orders. Gai however said, "That's it. What if the entity the Kurenai reported is behind the attack?"
"How?" Tsunade said, "She was seen by members of Tiger's team during the attack. Unless the persona can leave her and attack on its own then there is no possible way for her to be the culprit. Besides we have no reason to believe that the seal has been broken. But I'll order an examination of it tomorrow."
"But…"
Kurenai grabbed the jounin by the arm saying, "It's alright Gai. Maybe I let my feelings get the better of me. I have been thinking about my failures with her more often as of late."
"Get some rest," Tsunade said. "I'll check on you in the morning."
The Hokage left heading to her office, standing to leave as well Gai said giving a nice guy pose that made his teeth sparkle, "I will also come by to see how you are doing Kurenai bright and early."
Kurenai thanked Gai for the rescue and lay back down in the bed wondering why, if there was some saboteur running around, had they targeted her. No matter how many ways she looked at it she kept coming up with Yakumo as the one being behind it. As there were very few people capable of laying a double genjutsu on her so skillfully that she wouldn't notice. Not to mention burning to death had been how the girl's parents had met their end. Vowing to go see Yakumo tomorrow she closed her eyes for some much needed rest.
She didn't know how long she slept but a cold metal feeling against her back woke her up. Opening her eyes she saw a powerful light fixture above her. Sitting up on the table, she saw refrigerator units that were used to store the dead. Wondering why she was in the morgue she heard the high pitched whirring of a bone saw being turned on. Looking in the direction it was coming from, she saw an older Yakumo standing there holding it with a dark look in her eyes.
"Hello again sensei," she said before her face morphed into the grotesque visage of Ido. Kurenai rolled off the table as it swung the bone saw at her.
"How did you get loose?" Kurenai asked backing up.
Ido taking delight in its reply said, "You do such shoddy work Kurenai-sensei. Did you really think a barrier that you erected could hold me? I mean seriously you couldn't even turn a girl that wanted to be a shinobi so bad she could taste it into one. You're a failure as a shinobi and teacher."
Taking the moment of distraction that its words elicited from Kurenai, Ido attacked with the saw managing to nick her. Kurenai managed to avoid the worse of it but due to the pain the world around them began fading.
"Looks like I'm out of time, but I'll be back, Kurenai-sensei," Ido said smarmily.
Kurenai shot up in her bed grabbing the arm that had been cut and surprised to see that she was bleeding. Getting out of bed she looked out the window in the direction that the villa Yakumo stayed at was. Opening the window she stepped out into the cold night air to help the girl she had previously given up on.
Tsunade didn't like it as she looked through the Kurama file early the next morning. She had been Hokage long enough to know when she was staring at a doctored up file. The problem was that she didn't know where the real records were kept. The first red flag had been Yakumo's medical file. It didn't show her being born as anything but a healthy baby girl, so where had the disease that kept her body weak come from. Her research showed that it had happened sometime around her third birthday as she had suddenly lost a lot of weight. But her medical records never showed any tests being done to determine why.
Not to mention there was nothing on the reason why they had sealed the girl's powers. Also the death of her parents appeared fishy since there was no record on how the fire started. Getting the feeling she was looking at another cover-up she left the Hokage Mansion in order to talk to the man with the answers.
Arriving at the Sarutobi compound, she banged on the door. As a rather small clan which was basically only Hiruzen Sarutobi and his remaining children and grandchildren they lived in a modestly large house. Due to the early hour she was rather surprised when the elder Sarutobi answered the door. "Tsunade," he said surprised at who his visitor was, "What brings you here so early in the morning?"
"I need to speak to you about the Kurama Clan heir," Tsunade replied moving into the house as Sarutobi stepped to the side.
"Follow me," he said showing her the way to his study. Once inside he activated a privacy seal. Sitting he asked, "Now what do you need to know?"
"What really happened for starters," Tsunade said, "The file I read is nothing but fabricated lies. How could Kurenai seal up a Kekkei Genkai but not destroy the mind of that girl? Not to mention I have a fire with no explanation that killed a girl's parents and last night Kurenai was almost killed in one as well."
At the near death of Kurenai the elder said, "I'm sorry for what I put that woman through."
"What do you mean?"
"As you stated," The head elder and former Hokage replied, "You cannot seal a Kekkei Genkai without causing harm to the body as well. But you can seal an entity within that body."
"Are you saying the girl is a jinchuriki?" Tsunade said unbelieving.
"Only as much as there was another entity sealed within her. You see Tsunade what I am about to reveal to you is a secret of the Kurama Clan, and that is basically, there is no Kekkei Genkai. The founder of the clan was merely a highly skilled illusionist. So much so that with the help of a few props he was able to make people believe the illusions he created were real."
"Why the deception then?"
"After he joined Konoha, he was surrounded by the likes of the Senju, Hyuuga, and the Uchiha. Powerful clans with bloodline abilities, so he sold the idea his illusions were real. Nobody called him on it as they made our enemies afraid and as time went by he built a powerful clan of his own. But one that had slowly lost its niche in the village, for as you know competent genjutsu experts are very hard to find. Since the clan focused so exclusively on genjutsu they were able to field less and less shinobi."
Taking a moment to light his pipe Sarutobi began again after blowing out a puff of smoke, "To combat this, the Clan Head at that time Murakumo, hatched a plan to create the Kekkei Genkai for which the Kurama were said to possess. To do this he used his own daughter to contain a spirit creature called a Mujina. A minor trickster spirit, by sealing it in his daughter she became capable of creating the genjutsu that could actually become real."
"At the cost of her body's health," Tsunade said with disgust. "Did you know?"
"Only after Kurenai told me of the second personality that resided inside the girl, which she believed had been created by Yakumo's Id. Murakumo came to regret his decision since Kurenai proved unwilling to train the girl solely in genjutsu and to put her in the field. He told me everything shortly after but by then the creature had already made inroads into taking over the girl completely."
"Didn't they place restrictions on the seal like you would for a tailed beast?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, but they weren't nearly as powerful," Sarutobi said getting up from his chair, "The mujina can create powerful illusions but they lack the chakra to be much of anything but a nuisance. What they didn't expect was the creature to grow stronger by using Yakumo's own doubts and fears against her. The night her parents were killed was the first time it actually manifested in the real world based on what her uncle Unkai saw."
"What it can exist separately from her?" Tsunade said suddenly feeling cold.
"Only for short times, but it sacrifices a great deal of its power to do so," Sarutobi said.
"But still enough to create genjutsu and start fires," Tsunade said getting up from her chair and darting from the room.
Sarutobi followed behind her saying, "You believe the mujina has escaped from its seal."
"It seems far more likely now that I know the two aren't connected and this entity which probably bares a grudge against Kurenai can move on its own," Tsunade said, ""Does Yakumo or Kurenai even know about what is inside her?"
"No," Sarutobi said as they reached the hospital, "That is why those files are fake. I didn't want Yakumo to know the truth of how her parents died as she had no recollection of the event."
They reached the room where Kurenai had been sleeping, quickly entering they found that the bed was empty with a few traces of blood on it. "Damn it," Tsunade cursed at not having left ANBU guards confident that the security already watching the hospital would be up to the task. But looking at the open window she guessed they hadn't been up to the task of keeping the woman in her bed as Tsunade believed she was heading to the Kurama villa.
The door opened behind them showing Gai who had brought some breakfast for the woman considering the state of her apartment. He was surprised to see the Hokage and elder standing there but was quickly brought up to speed. "Head to the training grounds Sakura and Hinata should be there waiting on me," Tsunade informed him, "If you come across any other genin or chunin grab them and head to the Kurama Villa. Take Yakumo into custody by any means necessary and ascertain if Kurenai is indeed there."
"You can count on me," Gai said giving his famous pose, before taking off to fulfill the Hokage's orders.
Unkai Kurama was the acting leader of the Kurama clan. But, because the actually leader had never made it official he was not allowed to attend council meetings. He had tried to get himself installed but greedy councilors wanting to further weaken his once great clan had blocked the motion in order to steal the clan's wealth for themselves. But still he toiled tirelessly to once again bring his clan to prominence.
"If only the Third had agreed to kill Yakumo we would not be in this position," he thought sadly. Although he loved his niece measured against his clan even his life was moot. Also he feared the creature that she could become should the seal ever break. Which was why he had members of the clan watching for signs of such a thing occurring.
One of the men tasked with watching the villa appeared before him. "Yes," Unkai said as the man knelt before him.
"The day we feared has come," the Kurama jounin said.
"Have you seen the creature?"
"No sir, not directly," the jounin replied, "However Kurenai Yuuhi was attacked last night and her home destroyed by fire. Although she survived, the fire had no known means of being set, just like the destruction of our compound. Also, this morning Kurenai began heading to the Villa. She must have seen it."
Sighing that he was right and Yakumo had become a curse upon the Kurama as well as Konoha he said, "Assemble all available shinobi. We will end this now, either she falls or the Kurama will."
The jounin, shunshined away to fulfill his orders. Unkai knew that the amount of shinobi he had would number less than ten that was how far the clan had fallen as a result of their focusing solely on genjutsu. But those he had would have to be enough as he doubted he could count on the current Hokage to do what was necessary. He would accept whatever punishment the Hokage deemed after he had ended his niece's life and corrected his brother's mistake.