Bonds That Bind
"Quick! Send reinforcements to the main line! You there! Go and find out how the south perimeter is holding up." "HOKAGE-SAMA! THE ANBU HAVE BROKEN THROUGH THE EASTERN DISTRICT! THEY'RE ON A PATH STRAIGHT FOR OUR HEADQUARTERS!" "Quickly go and tell all central stations to begin the summoning! We can't let Konoha fall to them!"
"Ah!" Naruto awoke from his dream in a coat of perspiration; panting and unsure whether his current surroundings were reality, or the blood-soaked battlefield which he had just envisioned. He wiped the sweat off of his face and then stared at his hand as the little clear droplets of sweat slid down his callus skin. "What… what was that dream?" Naruto gazed across the Konoha landscape which filled the view of his window. "It was a dream." The blonde shinobi arose from his bed and got dressed in his standard orange and black attire; looked once at his old team 7 picture, picked up his backpack, and headed out into the awakening city.
Naruto was a little ahead of schedule, but he had planned it that way. He headed off towards the Chuunin exam stadium. The exams were wrapping up and all that was left were the finals. Naruto knew that Yugito was planning to stay in town for the competition, he just had to find her. So, he did what anyone with a loud voice and ninja skills would do if they were in a hurry. "YUGITO! HEY YUGITO!" Naruto ran from crowd to crowd yelling her name until he received the response that he was searching for.
"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" The red-headed kunoichi inquired.
"I'm going on a mission soon, but I wanted to talk with you quickly before I headed off." He finished his sentence with his wide smile.
"Ok, sure. But let's go somewhere a little less crowded."
"Sure thing, just follow me." Naruto led Yugito away from the stadium area and to an empty street corner a couple of blocks over. "Ok, don't tell anyone this, but the mission objective I have is to unite the remaining Jinchuuriki for a battle against the Akatsuki. If we just continue with what we're doing, then the Akatsuki will keep taking us out one by one; this is our only chance."
"Hey, that's a great idea Naruto-kun."
"Yea, well I wanted to let you know about it before we left. Do you want to join us?"
"Yes, I think that it's the only chance we have, but how long until we get everyone together?" Yugito's tone of voice had lost its enthusiasm.
"I don't know, but there is a good chance that the final stand will take place in Konoha. I'm sure that Baachan wouldn't mind you staying here until it happens."
"No Naruto-kun. I do want to take place in the battle, but I want to go home again before that time comes."
"Oh, ok well, just be careful Yugito. Akatsuki has come for you once already, please stay safe." Naruto became serious with this statement. He had already lost a great friend to Akatsuki; he wasn't about to let it happen again.
"I will Naruto-kun, stop by Kumogakure in a few months. I'll be ready to go with your team by then." Yugito finished her reply with a smile, though it was a very small one.
"Sure thing Yugito, just remember to be careful, and try to stay hidden as best you can."
"I will."
"Ok then" Naruto regained his spunky attitude, "I've got to get going, I'll see you in a few months Yugito!"
"Wait Naruto-kun! You never told me which one you are!"
"What do you mean?"
Yugito acted out a monster and Naruto got the point.
"Oh, well let's just say that my favorite number is nine." Naruto finished with a laugh and ran off towards the gate; leaving a very stunned Yugito behind him.
'Naruto-kun has the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed within him?!'
Naruto raced across the rooftops with the intentions of getting to the gate first. He felt as if he had been responsible for the mission after all, and he wanted to show his comrades that he was a mature and responsible ninja. After a few minutes of jumping, he could see the gates of Konoha. The towering red, wooden doors represented the power that Konoha could wield, and also reminded everyone that the city was, in a sense, a ninja fortress.
When Naruto finally reached the gate, he saw that he was not the first member of the newly formed team, but the second. A dreary eyed kunoichi sporting long a purple jacket with matching pants and long dark blue hair was sitting on a bench near the gate, dozing off. "Hey Hinata! What are you doing here so early?"
Hinata's eyes instantly shot open and fixed on the source of the voice. He eyes then relaxed, as she realized it was the blonde shinobi that she would be spending a lot of time with.
"Hinata? Hey Hinata? Are you ok?" Naruto had a puzzled look on his face as he thought of what could be wrong.
"Oh, sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't get much sleep last night." Hinata finished her response with a mild blush as her eyes left Nartuo's face and slowly drifted towards the ground.
"Ok, why not?"
Hinata obviously knew the reason, but only told half of it. "I was just excited that I've finally been assigned a mission. It has been a while since team 8 was deployed as the original unit. Ever since my father…"
"Hey you guys!" Sakura ran over to her new team, stopping Hinata's explanation in the process. "I'm not late am I?"
"No of course not Sakura-chan." Assured Naruto, "In fact, we're still waiting on Ero-Sennin."
"Naruto, why do you call Jiraiya-sama that all of the time, you should respect him as one of the legendary sannin of Konoha." Sakura stubbornly replied.
"Sakura, you don't want to know the reason, but be sure to always make sure that you're alone whenever you do something even remotely… uh, 'baring.'" Naruto finished his sentence with a snicker before Sakura bared her fist down onto his head.
Hinata just sat on the bench and enjoyed the interaction between her two new teammates. She had always hoped that Naruto would pay as much attention to her as he did Sakura, but she was confident that he would in time notice her as he notices Sakura.
"Sakura! You are the medical ninja of this team, you should be the one healing injuries, not the one inflicting them." Instructed Jiraiya in an unusually stern tone.
Everyone looked back towards the gate, surprised at Jiraiya's presence. "Ero-Sennin! When did you get here?!" Shouted Naruto.
"A while ago, now how many times have I told you not to refer to me as that in public! He hasn't said anything to you girls about me has he? If he has, then they're all lies! Unless they glorify me, then they're true." The toad sage smiled at his new team, while they returned his look with different looks of their own. "Anyway, If you are all ready, we will be departing now." Jiraiya and Naruto started out the gates of Konoha, only to be stopped by an annoyed Sakura.
"Hold it! You haven't even explained the mission to us yet? And what is this I hear about watching my back in private situations?" Sakura fumed, she always liked order in her life. Never did she want to go anywhere outside of Konoha without the proper information.
"First of all Sakura, I told you that if Naruto said anything about me that wasn't glorifying me, then it was a lie. And second, it is a reconnaissance mission, and I'll explain the details once we get out of town." And with that, the toad sage resumed his departure from the village of which he had sworn to protect. Followed by three chuunin ninja, all unsure of what lie ahead.
The team travels in silence through the bountiful forests of the Land of Fire. Each member residing in their own thoughts: Sakura wonders of the mission details, Hinata imagines the sleeping arrangements, Naruto thinks of an easy way to tell Sakura his secret, and Jiraiya ponders over his next installment of Icha Icha Paradise. As the sun begins to fall over the horizon, Jiraiya calls the team to a halt in order to set up camp, each member is surprised to have gone the entire day without talking amongst one another. Camp is set up, and the members gather round a fire that the Sannin had made.
"Ok, this mission isn't entirely reconnaissance. We have a very special mission, one which is vital to Konoha, as well as every other village. But before I continue, I think that Naruto has something that he needs to tell you Sakura."
Naruto tensed, he was confident that Sakura wouldn't react like any of the normal villagers would if he had shared his secret with them, but it was still incredibly difficult for him to confess his biggest secret; one that had been with him for over fifteen years. "Sakura-chan…" Naruto didn't look at her in the eyes, but merely faced her with his body as his vision focused on a point in the ground. "Sakura-chan, fifteen year's ago. The Yondaime died while saving his village… our village, from the Kyuubi no Yoko. You know of this story, correct?"
Sakura nodded in response and proceeded to tell the story. "The Kyuubi, a giant demon fox that had so much power to wield destruction, that it was classified as a natural disaster, attacked Konoha and was killed through the sacrifice of the Yondaime Hokage."
"Yes, well…" Naruto gulped, sweat began to form on his face, only to be magnified by the light of the dancing flames from the fire which sat a mere four feet away. "The Kyuubi wasn't destroyed. Instead the Yondaime…"
"But we all learned in the ninja academy that it was destroyed by the…" Sakura was interrupted by a soft, toned voice.
"P-Please Sakura-san, I-I wish to hear the story." Hinata looked up across the fire to a stunned Naruto and Sakura.
"Thank you Hinata." Hinata blushed and then stared back down to her fingers as Naruto began his tale once more. "The Kyuubi wasn't destroyed, it was too powerful for the Yondaime to kill, so instead he sacrificed his life in order to entrap the demon within the body of a newborn. He envisioned the child to be viewed by the village as a hero of sorts, a prison keeper of the demon, but instead the village viewed the child as the demon itself and shunned it from society. The Sandaime Hokage created a law, banning the truth of what happened in regards to the Kyuubi in an effort to stop the spread of hatred between generations…" Naruto looked up at Sakura with a smile, "I'm sure you've noticed that the adults of Konoha don't enjoy my company all that much."
Sakura sat, dumbfounded, staring at Naruto's face and his smile. A smile of sarcasm and sorrow.
"You see Sakura-chan, I was the child that the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into."
Sakura's mind started to race as events of her's and Naruto's pasts which were at times unexplainable, suddenly made sense and she began to cry. She stood up and approached Naruto, still crying and wrapped her arms around him, then she brought her lips up to his ear and whispered two words to him. "Thank you." Naruto began to tear up and he raised his arms around Sakura and they held each other for a few moments before Sakura broke the bond and returned to her seat, slight traces of tears still ran down her face.
Hinata was stunned by the sudden display of affection, but only looked down into the fire as small tears of her own began to fall.
Jiraiya, who had been observing, began to change the subject. "Well, now that that is out of the way, let us get started on the mission briefing. Our mission is to go out and gather up as many Jinchuuriki, those are demon hosts, and bring them back to Konoha for a last stand against the organization known as Akatsuki. They have been taking Jinchuuriki one by one and stealing the demons which they have sealed within them for reasons which are still unknown." Jiraiya paused while the information and gravity of the mission sank in. "Our first target is the Yonbi, we don't know much about the Jinchuuriki other than it resides in the Land of the Moon, our objective is to make contact and persuade it to join forces with us."
After the briefing, the team listened to stories of Naruto and Jiraiya's training and then adjourned to their separate tents.
They rose early, packed up their camp, and continued on the path towards the Land of the Moon. The trip spanned the time of nine days before they arrived at the new change of scenery. The sky was light and clear during the day, but not bright in any way, and the night was filled with stars which seemed to encircle the moon as if it were a choreographed piece of art.
They had received a letter from Tsunade during the journey to the Land of the Moon and learned that the Jinchuuriki's name is Takago Buke. The team asked around the few distanced villages of the Land of the Moon, but had no luck in locating their target. They began to set up camp for another uneventful night.
Naruto began to gather wood for the fire when he noticed a blue-ish tinted piece of metal on his right ring finger. He raised his hand to inspect it more closely and remembered that it had been the dove-shaped ring that Hinata had given him for good luck during the chuunin exams. The thought of the gift and Hinata made him smile as he remembered how she had accepted him as who he was when she found out about the Kyuubi. 'I really do like people like her.' He gathered the remaining wood and headed back towards the camp site.
"Hey Hinata."
Hinata looked up from her tent which she was setting up and stared at the smile that Naruto had put up for her.
"Hinata, I forgot to return this ring to you after the chuunin exams."
"Oh, p-please Naruto-kun, don't worry about it."
"But it was your mother's piece of jewelry, isn't it precious to you?" Naruto inquired.
"Of c-course it is, b-but it is still bringing you luck, and your l-luck is precious to m-me as well." Hinata blushed madly and dug her face into the tent that she was working on.
Naruto put his firewood down and walked towards where Hinata was desperately trying to hide in her unassembled tent. He moved one of the flaps of fabric that was covering her face and stared at her lavender colored eyes. "Thank you very much Hinata."
Hinata was shocked by his reaction to her comment and just stared back into his blue eyes which just seemed to shout 'happiness' to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but before any words could be formed. A giant gust of wind swept through the campsite and almost knocked the ninja off their feet.
Naruto quickly stood up, investigating the source of the gust. He was joined by Sakura and Hinata. The three of them stood at an unknown shinobi in front of them. He wore the symbol of Getsugakure on his forehead and was dressed in snug fitting, dark blue attire. From his first appearance, he looked to be in his mid twenties.
Jiraiya suddenly stepped out from behind a tree and addressed the man. "Who are you?!"
The mysterious shinobi responded. "It is my understanding that you four have been searching for me these past few days, I am Takago Buke, The Wind Warrior!"