The Pathless Sage
A/R: Holy lord, so many reviews. I am really scared now. Sixty five reviews on only the last two chapters, that is ridiculous by my standards. Ridiculously good, not bad.
Zaraki poll still up, go votesy.
I really don't know what to say, other than the fact that I have really been busy with school work recently. Today is Friday and I am just starting the chapter. I normally start on Saturday or Sunday, right after uploading the last chapter, but I had way too much work to do. So if this is later than the normal weekend upload, please forgive me.
On with the story!
Instantly, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the Konoha ninja, bar Naruto and Kisame, rushed to the side of the client and surrounded him, protecting him from the 'threat'. Naruto stood with his back to the man guarding the vault, completely overlooking the fact that he was leaving his back open to attack. He didn't consider the guard an enemy anymore.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Kakashi asked in a somewhat serious voice, showing that he was actually awake for once. He was rarely attentive, let alone serious, on a mission, anymore.
"I am preventing the client, Tsubasa-san, from getting what he wants," Naruto stated simply. He then turned towards Kisame. "Kisame, do you have Ryujinjakka?"
"If it's in the storage scroll, then yeah. I brought the scroll with your custom ration bars in it," Kisame said, holding out a small scroll towards Naruto. It was a deep red scroll, with a white label that had the Kanji for 'Personal' on it.
"It has more than ration bars," Naruto said, never taking his eye off the client and the ring of shinobi surrounding him. He bit his thumb, and wiped his finger over the label rather than the seals inside. Out came a slightly longer than normal katana, the kanji disappearing from the white label.
"Naruto, just so you know, you will be taken down for treason if you attack," Kurenai warned, taking out a kunai to prove her point. Kunai's were often used as a symbol of warning in the shinobi world.
"I see," Naruto said, still not moving from his spot in front of the middle aged man charge with guarding the vault. The man himself looked on without an expression on his face, not saying anything. He wanted to see how the situation with the ninjas would go. "I don't mind being attacked, but fighting eight on one might be rather problematic."
"Jeesh, it's eight on three, not one. I get why you are against Kumo getting the scrolls in here, so I might as well fight with you. And I am pretty sure that samurai over there doesn't mind helping someone trying to defend the scrolls," Kisame said lazily. He was looking on as if the prospect of fighting the eight people in front of him bored him.
"Naruto, why are you betraying the village like this? Trying to get in the way of a mission is the worst crime anyone can commit, other than maybe murder of a comrade," Kakashi said lowly, he was looking disappointedly at Naruto.
"Because what I am doing isn't treason," he replied ominously. "Some of Konoha's most dangerous secret techniques were given to Uzushiogakure, in return for their help with putting safety seals on the outer walls of Konohagure no Sato. And the sealing scrolls of Uzushio are nothing to laugh at, Kumo getting their hands on these scrolls would tip the balance of power in their favour."
"Bullshit, there isn't anything in our history books about any treaties with any Uzushiogakure. Heck, no one even told us such a village existed," Kiba growled. He had stayed quiet throughout the entire thing, but was now starting to get annoyed. Where did the Dobe get off saying he was doing the village a favour by committing treason?
"Yes, because Konohagakure most likely erased all of their books, tomes and scrolls on any history they had on Uzushiogakure," the man guarding the vault said, speaking up after a long while. He hadn't spoken since Naruto had made his proclamation about protecting the scrolls.
"Why would they do such a thing?" Sakura asked, and for once, it was a legitimately intelligent question. If Uzu and Konoha were allied closely enough to be sharing secret, and perhaps forbidden, techniques then why would Konoha erase all documents of Uzu's existence?
"It is not my place to say. For all I know, my assumptions are incorrect," the man said. Sakura was going to ask something more, but she was interrupted by Naruto talking.
"Who are you? You don't look like anyone from the ruling clan of Uzu," Naruto was trying his best not to say the name Uzumaki out loud. He knew for a fact that he was going to get a reaction out of the strange, white haired man. That would not be a good thing, as he didn't want to reveal that he was the last of not one, but two clans. Two very prestigious and powerful clans.
"My name is Mifune, I was a samurai retainer that was charged with the responsibility of guarding the vault," the white haired man, now identified as Mifune, said. Nobody had a reaction to his, except for Naruto. They all assumed that the man was just a normal samurai, someone they could get through easily. After all, it was a widely known fact that samurai were weaker than shinobi.
"You have to be shitting me," Naruto exclaimed, surprising everyone there.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, rather curious of why Naruto had such an outburst.
"Seems like I didn't need to go through the trouble of defending the vault," Naruto said, palming his face gently. "You would need an army to storm this place to get anywere close to that vault, unless that man wanted to let you in." The rest present, other than Mifune, were rather confused at the declaration.
"Why would we need an army to get past a man with no Chakra?" Kurenai asked dubiously.
"Because, this man is Mifune of the Infinite Sword. One of the Roku Kyoshu, the master of Kenjutsu to be exact." The ninja still didn't have any reaction, other than Kakashi, who looked decidedly scared out of his wits. Kurenai, noticing her fellow Jounin's condition, addressed him.
"What's wrong Kakashi?" Kurenai asked, concerned. She had never seen Kakashi Hatake that scared, it was a foreign experience to see someone of Kakashi's level that frightened.
"One of the Roku Kyoshu. Impossible, this is a suicide mission, not a C-Rank," Kakashi mumbled to himself, not acknowledging Kurenai. Kurenai walked up to Kakashi and shook him by the shoulders, snapping him out of his reverie.
"What's wrong Kakashi?" Kurenai repeated, now that Kakashi was somewhat himself again.
"If he is one of the Roku Kyoshu, then we do need an entire army to storm this place, if we are ever going to get the scrolls." Kurenai just looked dumbly at him, prompting him to explain. "The Roku Kyoshu are the Six Great Masters, said to have completely mastered their skill. They are the strongest in the world, said to be the equivalent of three S Rank ninja. It would be like fighting the Sannin, added onto each other and made into the same person."
At that statement, the gravity of the situation sunk in. Finally, they realised that despite his frail appearance and apparent lack of Chakra, this was possibly one of the strongest men to have ever existed. The Jounin in the area looked frightened and flustered, the client looked surprisingly calm and the Gennin, except for Naruto, just looked on, doubting the strength of the man in front of them.
"Wait a second," Naruto said, gaining everyone's attention. Something didn't add up, the Roku Kyoshu were meant to be without any master, the wanderers of the world that never interfered. So what was it that compelled the master of Kenjutsu to stand guard in this vault? "Why are you working as a retainer for a dead clan?"
"What do you mean? Is there anything wrong with a samurai being a retainer?" Mifune asked, cocking his head to the side and managing to look rather confused. Like this, the powerful man almost looked to be a puzzled puppy.
"Yes there is. I know a lot more about the Roku Ryoshu than the average ninja," the others looked at him funnily. "I study, okay?" Again, he was looked at oddly. Naruto Uzumaki, studying? Blasphemy! "Whatever, that isn't the point. From what I read, the Roku Kyoshu are wanderers and have no affiliations. They are talented in their arts, but they weren't even born in any shinobi village, so tell me, why is it that you are loyal to Uzu?"
"What you read, is a lie," everyone looked surprised at that. Even though the ninja world was built on pure deception, it was rather rare to have it thrown in the face like that. "The Roku Kyoshu were exclusively loyal to Uzushiogakure, their birth place. They weren't wanderers, but explorers that were ordered to explore and map the world for the knowledge thirsty people of Uzu."
"I see, that is a rather big insight into one of the most powerful clans to ever exist," Naruto said, sounding almost like a sage again. Unbeknownst to all present, bar Kisame, Naruto was rather an avid reader. His father was Namikaze Minato, a genius in the arts of Fuinjutsu. There was no practitioner of Fuinjutsu that didn't study, the arts themselves were based around theory. His mother was an Uzumaki. A monumental, insatiable thirst for knowledge being born was inevitable.
"Most powerful clans to ever exist? How powerful were they?" Sasuke was starting to recover from his arrogant ways, but he still held the power of the Uchiha in high regard.
"The ruling clan in Uzushiogakure, the Senju, the Uchiha and the Namikaze made up the four most powerful clans in ancient times. Uzu's Fuinjutsu, the Senju's Mokuton, the Uchiha's Sharingan and the Namikaze's Jikukan. These made up the signature Jutsu of the most powerful clans in the world." Naruto explained. "So in relation to the Uchiha, they were as powerful, if not more powerful than the Uchiha."
"You keep saying the ruling clan in Uzu, or they, you never say the clan by their name. What were they called?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"Well, you aren't going to believe me," Naruto said cryptically in return. His reply was accompanied by a dry, mirthless laugh.
"Try me," Sasuke said.
"Well, would you believe me if I said I was the last member and heir of a clan that was once as powerful, if not more, than yours?" Naruto asked.
"Erm ... maybe?" Sasuke returned, doubt colouring his voice.
"Well, I am. The Uzumaki clan were once the rulers of Uzushiogakure, it was run through a monarchy system. The Uzukage's were selected from the members of the Uzumaki clan."
All of them, including Kisame this time, had rather mild reactions, complete opposite of what he was expecting. They just looked at him like he was lying, which wasn't that big of a surprise.
"That is indeed true, though I am unsure of whether your claim of being the last of the Uzumaki is true," Mifune said, stroking his chin in a thoughtful manner. "You seem to be lacking the telltale shade of red hair that marks an Uzumaki."
"I have my father's hair and my mother's facial features," Naruto replied.
"Ah, I can see the resemblance," Mifune said, as if he just had an epiphany. "Kushi?"
"Yeah."
"Anyhow, we are getting ridiculously off track," Naruto said, almost in a dismissive manner. He didn't want to talk about dead clans that no longer existed, and certainly did not want to get branded as a liar because of one such clan. "Okay, where were we? Ah yes, the scrolls. Well, since we now know that there is no reason for us to protect the vault, and there is no reason for us to take the scrolls, shall we head back?"
"I guess we should, but what do we do with the client? There isn't a guarantee that he isn't a plant from Kumo," Kakashi said, his experience telling him to trust nothing and try to find every hidden detail in the world within the shortest amount of time possible.
"No, there is," Naruto said, surprising everyone. They looked at him expectantly, silently asking him to explain. "He fully admitted his intentions to us. There was no hint of hesitation or deception. so he was telling the truth."
"How does that prove that he isn't someone sent by Kumo?" Kurenai asked in a very clipped and annoyed tone. She wasn't liking the fact that she was, in her opinion, being showed up by a Gennin. The fact that Naruto was a boy didn't help either. It was a well known fact that Kurenai despised the male species.
"Simple. If he was a plant, he wouldn't have told us that he planned to sell them to Kumo. The man probably just thought that he could make some decent money off of the scrolls by selling it to them. Kumo does have a reputation to pay large sums of money for strong techniques." Naruto explained patiently, completely ignoring the tone Kurenai just used to address him.
"Still, we should detain him and take him to the Hokage, let him decide what to do," Kakashi said. He could see that Kurenai was about to question Naruto's logic, in which he found no flaws, so he decided to intervene and nip the problem in the bud.
"Agreed," Naruto said. The Gennin - other than Naruto, Sasuke and Kiba to an extent - were almost silent throughout the entire ordeal, watching their superiors in knowledge deal with the situation. "If that is all, shall we head back to Konoha?"
"Let's go," Kisame said, nodding towards the general direction of where Konoha was.
"Wait, before you go," Mifune called. "If you really are who you say, you should take the scrolls inside the vault. You might find things that will help you in life."
Naruto seemed to be considering the pros and cons of doing such a thing. On one hand, he could gain some very powerful Jutsu, but on the other hand, the Council was going to demand the scrolls and techniques. Of course, they would probably teach it to any ninja they had under their thumb and literally shower Sasuke with the techniques.
Of course, Naruto had nothing against the Uchiha boy, not anymore. After he got past all the arrogance, Sasuke seemed like a nice kid. He was willing to learn, though he was rather dense at times. What Naruto was concerned about wasn't the fact that Sasuke would be getting Jutsu, but the fact that the Jutsu would most likely be dangerous and might even wind up killing him.
"Well, fine. I can handle the Council with their own laws, so I guess I will take the scrolls." Naruto said. His voice had a little undertone of ... nervousness? Naruto was never nervous.
"It's a blood seal, I'm sure you know how they work?" Mifune asked, more out of courtesy than anything else. Blood seals were common, and though they were hard to make, everyone knew about them.
"Yep," Naruto said, slit his thumb on the point of a kunai and moved towards the door of the vault with a bleeding thumb.
A/R: Oh I am evil, two cliffies in two chapters. Sorry to those that were expecting a conflict or a long Arc. I really couldn't think anything up, so blame my lack of creativity if anything.
Sorry for the shortness, but you really should be used to it by now. I find it REALLY difficult to write long chapters, without taking a month or longer to write it, and making it flow well. If you are expecting regular long chapters, this story probably isn't for you.
The chapter ... flowed kind of better than the last one. For some reason, the awkwardness of the last chapter wasn't there in this one.
If anyone misses my rants, let me know. I have a couple of them planned, but I don't want to type them up if they anger/chase away readers.