A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
I've been getting less reviews lately even though the visitors and hits stats are still pretty high (around 5-6k a day), I hope you still enjoy the story. Every review is appreciated for a first time author like me so don't hesitate :)
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 23: Seals
Suna – Hospital
Today was a hot day again in Suna, nurses and doctors were running around the corridors of the hospital. The reason for this sudden rise in tension inside the building was simple; on the last floor, and heavily guarded, was the room of Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage.
It had been half a day since the rescue mission led by Konoha ended, fortunately in success. Team 8, under the command of jonin Yuhi Kurenai, was the first to return. Running across the desert with the Kazekage on top of a huge dog, and the three team members in a triangular formation around him.
They were immediately escorted to the hospital, emergency rooms had been made ready for any wounded that would need medical treatment. Fear, anxiety but also relief and joy could be read on the faces of the Suna shinobi as they saw their leader back and alive.
Gaara still suffered numerous wounds from his battle against the Akatsuki member who kidnapped him. Furthermore, he had a severe case of chakra exhaustion. In addition to all this, he also showed signs of malnutrition as he most likely did not have anything to eat or drink during his captivity.
Anyway, it was a miracle that those were the only things he had to deal with considering what he just went through. A good rest was everything he needed right now in order to get better.
Village Gates
Security was still in a high alert state since the kidnapping happened even after the Kazekage was rescued. As a consequence, the number of gate guards and the patrols were doubled until further notice.
Suna did not possess the same detection field field barrier that Konoha had. The village defense system consisted in its high and thick walls, with sentinels posted all over the perimeter at all time. It was now the end of the afternoon, the members for the night shift were about to take their post when a chunin saw some activity.
Slowly making their way back to the village, Naruto and the rest of the rescue mission members appeared at the horizon on top of a huge dragon. The creature landed near the village entrance and let its passengers off.
"Thanks for the lift Suzaku, I didn't have the courage nor the strength to cross the desert again after that fight." Said Naruto as he dismissed his Transport Dragon.
"Anytime, Naruto-sama." Replied the summon before dispelling itself.
"Welcome back." Baki said as he joined the guards at the gates.
"I trust that the other team safely came back with the Kazekage." Asked Jiraya.
"Yes, thank you so much for your assistance. Please follow me, I will guide you to him and your friends." Replied Baki.
Hospital – Gaara's room
After letting Chiyo and Sakura examine Gaara to confirm that he was fine people made room for Jiraya and Naruto to check his jinchuriki seal.
"What do you think Ero-sennin ?" Asked Naruto after they both took a look at the seal.
"Whatever they did to him in that cave has tampered with his old seal. Unless we do something about it, the bijuu will extend its domination over him even more when he wakes up." Replied Jiraya, receiving a nod from his blond disciple.
"What do you think Na-chan ?" Naruto asked the vixen.
"Ichibi was left mentally unstable after a fight he had with the Hachibi a long time ago. I'm not pleased at the prospect of silencing one of us permanently, but for the good of the host it is the best solution." Replied Natsuki.
"I promised Gaara we would look at his seal and maybe find a way to make life easier for him. So instead of restoring it to its original state, I want to strengthen it." Naruto announced as the Suna shinobi in the room were speechless.
"You can really do that ? You would even upgrade his seal, Why ?" Asked Chiyo in a surprised and shameful tone, as she was the one who performed the original sealing ritual on Gaara.
"Yes I would. He is one of the few who knows what I've been through because he has practically lived the same life I did. Furthermore, he saved Konoha in the past when he told us about Orochimaru. That's the least we could do." Naruto said with conviction while the people in the room had different reactions to his speech.
The rookies from Konoha were all aware now of Naruto's burden, they however never thought that his life was so bad. Hinata and Kiba put their hands on Naruto's shoulders while Sakura looked down in shame, remembering all the things she said to him in their childhood.
"I can guarantee Naruto's skills in fuinjutsu, I taught him and he has Uzumaki blood running through his veins. I will let him perform the sealing and only supervise." Said Jiraya to support his student.
After getting the approval of Gaara's family, Naruto and Jiraya asked everyone to leave the room and started the preparations for the ritual. Chiyo was allowed to stay to make sure everything was in order since neither Jiraya nor Naruto were Suna shinobi.
One hour later, the three left the room and allowed family only to visit their Kazekage. Chiyo confirmed that everything went well. The seal was now operational and had been upgraded in order to completely cut off the influence of the Ichibi over Gaara. The Kazekage would now be able to enjoy as everyone else the pleasure of a good night of sleep.
The Konoha ninja decided they would stay for another week in Suna, in the event of unwanted after effects of the new seal on Gaara. They were escorted to a hotel by Baki and all went to sleep after that.
River Country – Place of the Battle
The previously identified Akatsuki member Zetsu was going through the remains of the battle that took place earlier. He was with another unidentified person, wearing an odd orange mask, both were looking for something inside the cave where Sakura and Chiyo fought against Sasori.
After some time they finally found what they were looking for. It was the ring that each Akatsuki members seemed to wear and they just found Sasori's.
When they made their way to the place where Deidara died, they easily found the detached arm of Deidara. They were about to take it off the ground when they were interrupted by Deidara himself. Apparently the jutsu he used to 'detonate' himself was just a decoy, he performed a substitution just before activating the suicide technique.
Taking back his arm, Deidara then left with the other two.
Hotel – Naruto's Room
After a good night of sleep, Naruto felt rejuvenated. The events of yesterday were still fresh on his mind though, he knew that he was still too weak to take on Akatsuki alone.
Itachi managed to surprise him inside his wind dome, then in the fight with Deidara, he would have died without the intervention of his sensei Jiraya.
There had to be more shinobi out there, of that level or even stronger, that were after Natsuki and that thought terrified him. He vowed to train harder and study more in order to achieve his goals.
Sensing Naruto's turmoil, Natsuki decided to speak.
"I know you're worried about me Naru-kun but I don't want you to kill yourself over it." Started the Vixen.
"You were there too yesterday. If I don't get stronger, they will take you away from me. I will not allow that." Replied Naruto.
"How about your friends and sensei? What about your dreams of becoming Hokage ? You must think about them too before you rush into anything." Asked Natsuki.
"I know they are strong but I can't let them risk their life each time Akatsuki is out for me." Naruto said.
"I'm not making enough progress with the seal, as of now I can only safely use five tails worth of your youki. Each time I activate the Muga no Kyouchi, it already saps one tail away. This only grants me access to one of the higher level of my bloodline after that, seeing as each upgrade uses four tails of power." Analyzed Naruto.
"I just can't understand why the converter seal won't absorb more." Finished Naruto.
"The seal your father placed on you is powerful, maybe it was not made to be used that way or something else is blocking you." Supplied Natsuki with her limited knowledge on the sealing arts.
"The only ones who know more about the Shiki Fuujin are the Sandaime and Jiraya, maybe you should ask one of them about it." She added after that.
"Jiji would never let me experiment on my father's seal and I'm not too sure about Ero-sennin. I guess I'll have to find a way to ask him more about it." Mused Naruto.
"That's also the only way to find a solution to get you out of there without killing me in the process too. I know we have lots of fun together inside and all but I want more for us, I want to hold you in my arms in the real world, like a real family." Naruto said with sadness in his voice.
Natsuki knew that family was a sensible subject for Naruto. She never bothered with human emotions before she was sealed inside him. Even inside her two previous host, their interactions were minimal. She never developed the feelings of love nor loneliness before she was placed inside Naruto, all thanks to the particular seal that currently caused them so much troubles.
"You don't need to rush it Naru-kun, your enemies won't be so hasty to attack now that they lost two of their members." Natsuki finally said.
"I guess you're right. We'll talk more later Na-chan, I have to go see how Gaara is doing." Said Naruto as he went to prepare himself for the day.
Hospital – Gaara's Room
As Naruto was granted access to Gaara's room, he saw that the Kazekage had no visitor currently. It was still early in the morning so he guessed everyone was still sleeping. He went to inspect the modifications he made to Gaara's seal, nothing seemed out of place.
Seeing the Kazekage still asleep, he was about to leave the room when he felt a sudden spike of chakra. Looking back he saw the read head slowly opening his eyes and moving in his bed.
"Hey Gaara, how are you doing ?" Asked Naruto.
"Naruto ? What's going on ? I was … I don't remember ..." Were the confused questions of Gaara.
"Slow down a little, you're safe now. I'll tell you everything ..." Naruto replied calmly.
Then Naruto told him everything, from the moment they left Konoha with his sister five days ago to when he repaired and fortified his jinchuriki seal yesterday during the night.
Gaara was stunned to learn about everything that happened after his kidnapping. Then he suddenly got up and looked around the room.
"Is everything alright ?" Asked a worried Naruto at the sudden reaction.
"I can't hear it, the voice, it stopped. It finally stopped, never a day in my life did I not lay awake at night, as I was forced to listen to that voice. And now it's gone ..." Gaara said.
"It's a good thing … right ?" Asked Naruto.
"I will never be able to repay you and your people for your kindness. Ask for anything and if it is within my power, I will see it done." Gaara replied with a serious tone.
"I'll settle down for a simple IOU from the Kazekage, I may need it one day when I become the Hokage." Naruto said smiling.
Gaara simply nodded, he knew the blond would not accept anything.
Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a doctor, coming in for Gaara's checkup.
Naruto then left the room to let the medical staff do its job.
Suna – Village Gates
The week passed quite quickly, no visible signs of malfunction from the new seal were found. Gaara left the hospital one day after waking up, though he still stayed in his mansion during that time, letting Temari run the village for him.
It was finally time for the Konoha group to go home, everyone was ready.
A large number of ninja and civilians were at the gates to say goodbye to them, among them were Gaara, Temari and Kankuro of course.
After an awkward goodbye and handshake between Naruto and Gaara where the red head gave the blond a piece of paper with the letters I O U on it, the Konoha ninja finally departed.
Konoha – Hokage Office
Tsunade was enjoying a calm afternoon in her office, no paperwork and no council meeting scheduled for today.
Everything was good, she received a message from Suna a week ago, relaying the news of success from the team she sent there to rescue the Kazekage. She was relieved to learn that their side suffered no casualties while two Akatsuki members were taken down.
Suddenly the door to her office opened, Shizune running in with a worried expression on her face. She was panting and had to take some time to catch her breath.
"What the hell is going Shizune ?" Asked Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama, it's terrible, you have to take a look at this !" Replied her assistant holding a peculiar handbook.
Tsunade's eyes then focused on the book and she saw it was a bingo book.
"What's so important about the bingo book Shizune ?" Asked the blonde.
"It's about Naruto-kun, look at his profile !" Shizune almost yelled.
Tsunade opened the book and went to see Naruto's profile, she remembered him being on the watch list of the A rank section. Her eyes frowned for a second when she didn't find it.
"What's the meaning of this ? I don't see it, why did they suddenly remove his profile ?" Asked a curious Tsunade.
"They didn't … Please look at the next section of the book." Replied the brunette.
Tsunade's eyes widened, understanding what her disciple just said and then opened the book again. She dropped it seconds later, having finally found what caused Shizune to panic like that. The book was still opened at the right page on her desk, it read:
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Nickname : Konoha's Kaze No Kami
Age : 16
Rank : S
Status : Jonin
Attributes: Kenjutsu(S), Ninjutsu(A), Genjutsu(S) and Fuinjutsu(B)
Affinities : Wind
Bloodline : Unknown
Description : Has a very high affinity to the Wind element
Sage of the mythical Dragon summoning contract
Casts unbreakable genjutsu
Defeated A-Rank Kiri Nukenin Momochi Zabuza the Kirigakure No Kijin as a genin
Defeated Sabaku no Gaara the Suna's Ichibi Jinchuriki as a genin
Defeated S-Rank Konoha Nukenin Uchiha Itachi the Sharingan Prodigy
Defeated S-Rank Iwa Nukenin Deidara the Mad Bomber
Action : Kill on sight
Bounty : 100,000,000 Ryo in Iwa, Ame and Kiri
"Impossible ! How did it spread so fast ?" Said a shocked Tsunade. Her precious day of peace had just ended.
Unknown Place
In a dark place stood two shadows, talking to each other.
"The book is out, it has been done as you asked Leader-sama." Said the first.
"Very well Zetsu." Replied the Leader.
"Why did you leak those information about the Kyuubi ?" Asked Zetsu.
"This way and with such a bounty on his head, hunters are bound to try to take him down." Replied the Leader.
"And why is it good for us ? I thought we wanted them alive ?" Said Zetsu.
"It is good because we know none of them will succeed. If he is strong enough to take down S-Ranks members like Itachi or Deidara, then he won't die so easily. Even if we both know that he didn't actually killed those two. Then the next time we see him, he would have already revealed a lot more of what he can do. Information is often the key to success." Explained the Leader.
"I understand now, so that's what you had in store for him ..." Said Zetsu as they both disappeared in the darkness.
A/N: So what do you think ?
Gave out a little more info about Naruto's project and his current level in Youki manipulation. I have a plan on how he will free Natsuki from the seal but it's not for now.
He still didn't reveal his second ultimate form.
On the bingo book thing, I'm still on the international setup for it since I'm not sure if each village has their own version or if it's actually shared.
Wanted a good reason to update Naruto's profile so there you go …
I'm open to any suggestions or criticism about his profile, I think my version of the current Naruto deserves a cool S-Rank.
If anyone could confirm Zabuza being a A-Rank though that would be great.
Not sure when next release will be, tomorrow is Christmas eve after all :)
Anyway as usual please Read & Review.
Merry X-Mas to those of you of celebrate it like me :)