Chapter 12
Hey people, I am going to set up a poll because I'm wondering if the Ichibi should be a guy or a girl. So go vote and when I post my next chapter I will know if Shukaku will be male or female.
Disclaimers: I don't own the anime/manga Naruto in any way, shape, or form
A few hours after leaving Konoha, Naruto was leaping from tree branch to tree branch a little ways ahead of Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke. Sakura was wondering why Naruto was rushing and so was Sasuke. Kakashi knew it was because Gaara was a Jinchuuriki like he was. Sasuke was slowly coming to the same conclusion when he remembered Gaara releasing Shukaku, who was the 1-tailed Tanuki (raccoon-dog) spirit. He shuddered as he remembered how psychotic the demon was, even with its unusual flamboyant personality. It desired to kill everything around it, though it was particularly focused on Naruto and his giant toad summon, who he learned was named Gamabunta. During the three year training, Gamabunta learned of Naruto's childhood and his respect for the blonde increased. Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses and sped up a bit more as Kakashi caught up with him, 'Naruto, calm down, it'll take us three days to reach the Village Hidden in the Sand, and even then we know the Kazekage was taken from the village, but someone might have info on who took them and where.' Naruto nodded and slowed down to let Sakura and Sasuke catch up and Naruto looked ahead as they continued.
Along the way Naruto looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Temari, who was the older sister of Gaara, walking along a trail towards the Sand Village. Naruto motioned Kakashi and he nodded and the team dropped down behind Temari, who turned around and put her hand on the giant fan she carries with her. She recognized Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke, but she was confused when she noticed Naruto since she didn't recognize him and she took her hand off her fan but looked at Naruto suspiciously which was noticed by Naruto and Kakashi and Naruto grinned and waved at her, but she couldn't see the familiar grin because of the high color covering the lower half of his face. She nodded and thought his hair looked familiar and she looked at Kakashi and said, 'Hey you guys, whats going on, and where's Naruto?' Kakashi motioned Naruto to take off the cloak. Naruto nodded and when he took off the cloak Temari was surprised to find out the "mysterious stranger" was Naruto. She was impressed with his change, though she sweat dropped at how he still liked the color orange but was impressed with how it wasn't as bright as his "kill me" bright orange jumpsuit.
Naruto smirked as Temari was wondering why he was wearing sunglasses, but when she asked, she was told it was an S-class secret known only to the Hokage, Jiraiya, and team 7, minus Sai of course who worked with the team in the place of Sasuke occasionally, but only Naruto, Kakashi, Tsunade, and Jiraiya knew the details of the Rinnegan. Naruto however told Kakashi that as long as she swore not to tell anyone, with the exception of Gaara, she could be told and Kakashi thought for a moment and looked at Temari who swore she wouldn't tell anyone and Naruto took off his sunglasses and Temari gasped when she saw his eyes, because even she knew the legend of the Rikkudo Senin but said nothing since she was wary of eavesdroppers. Sasuke was annoyed because he could tell she knew about Naruto's Doujutsu but wouldn't say anything. Sasuke knew she was sworn not to speak of it except to Gaara but that didn't stop from being annoyed. After explaining about how Gaara was attacked Temari said she would come with them because some Sand shinobi still didn't like the Leaf Village shinobi due to the Shinobi War and because of the Sand/Sound Invasion of Konoha which was caused by the daimyo of the Land of Wind giving all the big missions to Konoha rather than its own hidden village causing the Sand Village to lose a lot of needed income which led to Orochimaru killing the previous Kazekage, who was the father of Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro and had sealed Shukaku into Gaara. The group jumped off and started heading to the Sand Village again.
Three days later…
Temari guided team through the desert and they arrived in the Village Hidden in the Sand. They heard a voice, 'Lady Temari! Kankuro engaged the enemy outside of the village but he was defeated and poisoned! Kankuro told us he knew who one of the attackers was before he passed out but before he could tell us he passed out from exhaustion and the poison's effects.' Temari and everyone looked surprised that Kankuro was defeated and they rushed to the Sand Village Hospital. On the way they saw that the most of the village was looking anxious and nervous, however a few were talking like nothing had happened. Temari explained why this was, 'You see, even though most of the village had accepted Gaara there were still a few who don't like Gaara, in particular are the Civilian Council.' Naruto nodded as he knew how annoying the Civilian Council could be. They arrived at the Hospital and when they saw Kankuro Sakura ran up and began examining him with Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Temari behind her. Baki, The three sand siblings' genin sensei, walked in and saw them and welcomed the help. Baki explained that he saw who it was who attacked and described them. One was a blonde man whose hair style resembled Ino Yamanaka's hair style only with a ponytail included, he used an earth jutsu which used clay moldings that could be manipulated and made to explode.
Baki explained that he couldn't clearly see the second attacker since Kankuro had encountered him outside the village, but he figured from the way he took down Kankuro's puppets with such expertise that it had to be none other than Sasori of the Red Sand. He was a famous puppet master who left the village when he was sixteen but that was long ago so he was put into the Bingo Book as an S-rank ninja for his mastery of Puppetry jutsu, and of poisons. Suddenly they heard a gasp and an elderly voice say, 'It can't be!' everyone but Sakura turned around and saw an old lady and an old man standing there, the woman staring at Kakashi with rage in her eyes and she pulled out a kunai, 'The White Fang of the Leaf! You shall die here today!' She rushed forward but was intercepted by Naruto who grabbed her arm and pushed her back and the old man grabbed her sleeve and said, 'Sis, calm down and look closely. This person may look like the White Fang but it isn't him, you heard the rumors. The White Fang died a long time ago.' Kakashi laughed embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head, 'Hehe, yea The White Fang was actually my father.' The woman looked surprised but then started laughing, saying she was just pretending to be a fool to fool everyone.
This made everyone sweat drop. Baki walked up to the old woman, 'Lady Chiyo, I'm glad you decided to accept my request to come down and help.' Sakura, who had stopped to see what the commotion was about, went back to examining Kankuro and discovered the type of poison used by Sasori. She left to examine the poison further. Baki explained that Kankuro had used the arm of his puppet, Crow, to get a piece of Sasori's mask. Kakashi nodded and went through some hand signs and slammed his hand on the ground, 'Summoning Jutsu!' There was a puff of smoke and Kakashi's ninja hound, Pakkun, appeared and he raised a paw, 'Hey Kakashi, what's going on?' Kakashi took the piece of cloth from Baki and looked at Pakkun, 'We need you to track the scent on this cloth, Gaara the Kazekage was attacked and taken and you can track them.' Pakkun nodded and when the cloth was held out he smelled it and nodded, 'Alright, I got the scent. Ready to go when you are.' Kakashi nodded and Sakura said she was staying behind but had made a few antidotes and gave a few vials of it to Kakashi and Chiyo told them she was coming because she had to talk to Sasori since she was his grandmother. The group nodded, not being able to persuade her otherwise and they left.
A few hours later…
Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, and the old lady, Chiyo, leapt from tree to tree as they raced behind Pakkun, who was following the scent of Sasori. They had long since left the desert and had run across a large expanse of plains and had entered the forest they were now traveling through. They all stopped to take a break and have a quick bite to eat. Naruto, Chiyo, and Kakashi were discussing how they would save Gaara and Sasuke was sitting nearby doing one of the few things that he does best, brooding. However, Sasuke looked over and saw something that made his eyes go wide and he stood up and charged a Chidori as he shouted, 'Itachi! So you're here, well I guess I'm lucky today, because now… YOU DIE!' Everyone saw and heard this and looked as Sasuke charged forward at Itachi but Naruto noticed something was off and he saw it, 'Sasuke, it's just a Genjutsu! He's not there, he's somewhere else!' Sasuke didn't listen but when he hit "Itachi" she went straight through him and was angry to know Naruto was right.
Naruto leapt into the air and used his Gravity manipulation to hover for a bit as he searched for Itachi. After a minute or two he saw Itachi nearby, getting closer and he used his Shinra Tensei to propel him towards Itachi and land in front of his and Itachi stopped. Naruto had his eyes closed, and had his sunglasses in his hand, and Itachi believed he was protecting himself from the Sharingan and he sighed, 'Naruto, why would you fight me with your eyes closed? I know you aren't that powerful.' Naruto smirked and opened his eyes making Itachi gasp in shock. Itachi took a step backwards. He knew of those eyes, he had read the ancient tablet hidden under the Uchiha compound which spoke of them, 'The Rinnegan? How is that possible?' Naruto took on a thinking posture and shrugged, 'Who knows, who cares, now I'm going to beat you and get some answers I need.' Itachi was now confused as to what Naruto wanted to know but figured it had to do with Gaara and shook his head, replacing his shocked expression with his usual, emotionless expression. Suddenly Kakashi, Sasuke, and Chiyo appeared and saw Naruto fighting Itachi.
Naruto flipped and sent a kick which Itachi blocked and Naruto twisted so his other foot flew at Itachi's face, Itachi simply leaned back and the foot passed his face but Naruto managed to use this to his advantage, he twisted some more and slipped out of Itachi's grip and suddenly he heard a sound like several birds chirping. When Naruto realized what he heard, he jumped and Sasuke flew at Itachi and tried to kill him with his Chidori which failed because Itachi grabbed his arm and tossed him over his shoulder with ease. Naruto saw Sasuke make some hand signs and suddenly breathed out an enormous fire ball. Kakashi was about to make some hand signs when Naruto stepped in front, surprising Kakashi, 'Naruto, get out of the way!' Naruto smirked, 'Don't worry Kakashi-sensei, I've got this. I've been dying to try this out since I wasn't any good last year.' The fire ball was on its way and Itachi was curious as to what he was doing as was Kakashi, Chiyo, and Sasuke, who had his Sharingan activated, and Naruto whispered to himself, 'Hungry Ghost Realm.' Suddenly Naruto held out his hands in front of him and when the Grand Fireball Jutsu came near him, everyone was shocked to see the fire ball being absorbed into Naruto's hands, without harming him. Itachi was shocked as he thought, 'So this is the power of the Rinnegan! I wonder what Lord Pein would say if he found out this boy has it?'
Suddenly the entire fireball was absorbed and Naruto fell to his knees panting with exhaustion, 'Oh man, that is such a rush. All that power flowing through me before being sealed away, it's amazing.' Kakashi ran up to Naruto as he slowly stood up and Itachi charged forward, Naruto whispered, 'so he still wants to fight? Alright then.' Naruto put his hands into the Snake hand sign and his skin turned dark brown, 'Now Itachi, let's get this over with Earth Style: Earth Spear Jutsu.' Itachi went into a taijutsu fight with Naruto and Kakashi and dodged an attack from behind from Sasuke and he secretly made a Shadow Clone as he watched the fight, mostly his younger brother and Naruto. Itachi was disappointed in his younger brother since he wanted him to not follow the path he was on right now, the path of revenge and the path of an avenger which is closely tied with the path of revenge. Naruto was fighting the clone but Itachi kept noticing that he was holding back a bit, like he wanted to not kill him so he could get the info he wanted but he could tell that Naruto's mind was in two different positions, one the mission he had to save Gaara, but the other seemed just as personal, but what it was, Itachi couldn't figure out.
Suddenly Naruto secretly replaced himself with a clone as well, but only Itachi noticed and Naruto appeared behind him as he spoke, 'Itachi, you're going to answer a few questions, right now.' Itachi looked at Naruto, who had put his sunglasses back on, and sighed, 'Very well, what do you want to know.' 'What do you know about Mikoto Uchiha being found in the Land of Waves in a coma?' Itachi froze as he turned around fully and stared at Naruto in shock, 'W-what did you say?' Naruto put the kunai he had drawn when Itachi turned around away and said, 'Near the end of my three year training trip, I helped an old woman in the Land of Waves, my mother, who was with me at the time went to explore the house and came across Mikoto. I want to know why she was there and why no one was told of her being spared.' Itachi sat down and a tear fell out of his eye as he spoke in a calm voice, that held so much emotion that Naruto could barely believe what he saw, 'I couldn't kill her, she had nothing to do with what happened, so I just used a Genjutsu to make everyone think she was dead and when I had the chance I took her to the land of Waves and put her in a Tsukiyomi induced Coma to protect her.' Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked the big question, 'Protect her from who?' Itachi looked up at the sky and spoke softly, 'Danzo Shimura and his Anbu Root.' Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'Danzo huh? Man that guy is a pain in the ass.' Itachi was surprised by that and chuckled, 'yea, he is, isn't he?'
Suddenly Itachi's clone was dispelled and he looked at Naruto and said in a somewhat pleading voice, 'Please, Naruto, don't tell anyone about mother, if anyone found out, especially the council, she would be nothing more than a breeding machine for them to get more Sharingan users.' Naruto smirked and held out his thumb, 'Don't worry, I've been taking care of her with Granny Tsunade and to be honest, we've grown close so I'm not gonna betray anyone of those who are precious to me.' Itachi smiled a small smile and nodded, 'Thank you Naruto, now I will tell you a few things. First, Gaara is being held in a cave about thirty-five kilometers east of here, and I'm not the real Itachi, I'm using the Impersonation Jutsu which lets a corpse be used as a clone of me with one third of my power, and my partner Kisame Hoshigaki is fighting a group on their way to help you using the same jutsu.' Itachi explained about the barrier surrounding the sealing room and how the seals on four of the paper tags were fitted with traps and what the traps were, Naruto nodded as he memorized the info and then they started fighting as Kakashi and Sasuke came into view and Kakashi knew Naruto was up to something as he created a clone that threw him up and blinded Itachi since he was in front of the sun.
Naruto then focused Chakra into his hand and formed a large Rasengan and as he fell he shouted, 'Oodama Rasengan!' The attack hit Itachi and created a huge crater. When Naruto stepped out of the crater Sasuke grabbed him by the throat and growled at him, 'What the hell dobe, he was mine to kill!' Naruto grabbed Sasuke's wrist and squeezed it, nearly crushing his wrist, making Sasuke let go. Naruto pointed at Itachi and all of them but Naruto looked shocked but none were more shocked the Chiyo. Lying in the crater, instead of Itachi, was a Sand Village council member who had recently gone missing. Naruto asked Kakashi if he had sent for back up and Kakashi said yes and that they should already be on their way. Naruto nodded and ran off with the others following, besides Pakkun, who Naruto was following. Naruto and the group had arrived at the hidden base and soon after Gai, Lee, Tenten, and Neji all arrived and Kakashi explained what the barrier was but before they left Naruto looked at the tag and said, 'Hey guys, you also might want to be careful of traps, who knows what these bastards are capable of.' Neji looked at Naruto and Naruto smirked at him and Neji knew that, while Naruto was more serious, he was still the same as before, which made Neji's respect for the blonde increase, but everyone was wondering why he wore those sunglasses that for some reason blocked Neji's Byakugan.(A/N: yes, Naruto's sunglasses can block the Byakugan, it's made of a special material that disrupts outward chakra used by Doujutsu, but not inwards so Naruto can use his Rinnegan but no one can use eye techniques on him.)
A few minutes later…
Gai's team along with Kakashi stood at their tags and on the signal they ripped them off, but activated the traps which caused clones of them to appear. Meanwhile Naruto, Sasuke, Chiyo, and Kakashi leapt into the room as saw the giant statue which Naruto recognized from the description in the Scroll of the Rinnegan. It was the Gedo Mezo, the Statue of the Outer Path, but he had read that the statue was alive, maybe it had lost its power, he wasn't sure, but he then saw the nine ethereal dragons appear out of its gaping mouth and surround Gaara. Naruto jumped towards it and made a few hand signs. His hands began to glow a grey-white glow and he slammed his hands into the ethereal energy and caused a disruption in the sealing. Naruto flew through as the energy dispersed and grabbed Gaara. Kakashi jumped up and attacked Deidara with Chidori, and after dropped Gaara off with Chiyo, he jumped up and punched a surprised Sasori. Sasori's armor broke, surprising the legendary puppet master, and he Shunshined away from the puppet, noticing Naruto was turning his head as if keeping an eye on him.
Deidara had Substituted himself with a clay clone and was about to make it explode, but Kakashi had used his Raikiri to disarm the would-be explosive. Deidara was shocked and he saw Sasori out of his armor, fighting Naruto and Chiyo. Deidara ducked as Sasuke charged at him with a Chidori. Chiyo was surprised that Sasori was still so young, but she noticed that he had turned himself into a living, human puppet. Naruto was slightly annoyed when Sasori had pulled out a puppet that turned out to be the Sandaime Kazekage and began to make a few hand signs and slammed his hands on the ground, 'Summoning Jutsu!'
End of Chapter 12
Hey people, hope this chapter is good, let me know what you think and also in your reviews, tell me which animals Naruto should be able to summon, I'll only have six summons and he already has two: Fox and Wolf now I need some ideas what the other four will be, and also Im planning on giving Choji a summoning as well, Armadillos, since they would be perfect for his clan jutsu, let me know what you think of this idea, and also please vote on my poll on Shukaku's gender, if it's a guy he'll stay named Shukaku, if it's a female, I'll have to think of another name, well later all ^_^