Chapter 25
The Stars, The Moon
Tengoku
Naruto took a deep breath and opened his eyes, the crimson lines around his lids denoting his channeling natural energy. The rock hurtling towards him was easily five feet across. He brought his right foot forward and drove his palm toward it, channeling the natural energy throughout his body. The rock exploded into millions of fragments and clouds of dust. Right behind it came another boulder, hurtling towards him at incredible speed. He ground his toes into the ground and leaned forward, grabbing the boulder in mid-flight and twisting, flung it straight up into the air. He bent at the waist, and brought his forearm down, parallel to the ground, gathering his chakra. It swirled around while the boulder reached its apex above him.
In a flash, Naruto was on top the boulder, using his version of a Hiraishin to appear a foot or so above it. With a crack he slapped the rock with his open palm, pushing chakra into it, trying to spread it evenly across the entire target. The result was devastating. Sand rained down upon the training field.
Pa Toad looked on with approval. Naruto was progressing nicely. His use of Toad Kata was improving in leaps and bounds. His control of natural energy was also almost perfect. However, Pa thought that Naruto seemed distracted. He was running through the exercises almost like he was on auto-pilot.
When Naruto landed, Pa hopped over to him.
"Why aren't you concentrating?" he asked sternly.
Naruto looked down at his palm and formed a Rasengan. He showed it to Pa.
"I don't understand how I can put elemental chakra into this," Naruto said plaintively. "I've been thinking about it night after night. I just don't see it. I tried a shadow clone, pushing wind chakra into it, but it just blows up, and I don't understand why."
Pa looked at the spinning ball closely. "I see. Naruto what forms do your wind attacks normally take."
"Cutting attacks or blunt attacks."
"Yes. Both of which for you are massive attacks. If it's one thing I've realized, it's that you just don't understand things on a small scale. So think bigger."
Naruto nodded thoughtfully. "Think...bigger..."
Shingao Valley, East of Tengoku
"I'm completely bored." Inari said to no one in particular, gazing into the crowd from above the canopy of the wagon he was on. They'd arrived at the valley three days ago without incident. Since then there had been a steady influx of traders. Now the valley was the busiest place Inari had ever seen, and he'd been to quite a few big cities with his grandfather Tazuna when they traveled. Mabry sure had gotten the word out to anyone who might possibly want to trade, and EVERYONE showed up. Mabry made certain that flags bearing the symbol of Tengoku ringed the caravan and trading area.
"Gotta let everyone know who they're dealing with," he had said with a smile and a wink.
The quality of the goods coming from Tengoku was of extremely high grade. Textiles, clothing, pottery, jewelry. All of it was selling. Gold was flowing freely between merchants and traders. It made Inari a little nervous, all that gold. Like they were ripe to be attacked. It seemed destined to happen. Mabry fluttered around here and there, assisting when some haggling got out of hand, but otherwise it was all peaceful.
Nothing materialized on the first day.
Nor the second.
Today was the third day and they would be packing up soon to head back. Inari felt like his nerves were raw and stretched, just waiting for something to happen. His teammates were also likewise feeling the weight of the responsibility on their shoulders. As the first batch of Academy Graduates they represented their village. His 'big brother' Naruto's village. He would not allow them to bring disgrace to it.
He glanced around the caravan looking for his friends and teammates. He spied Gennosuke sprawled out seemingly asleep on a stool slightly to the side of the massive crowd. Inari knew he was not asleep however. Every now and then Gen's seeing eye stick hit the ground, faintly. So small a movement most would miss it. But each time he did, it released a low grade chakra pulse that allowed him to 'see' everything better than a normal person could. He once described it like a bat sending out sound waves. Of course Inari knew what a bat was, but the whole concept of sound waves was a little too much for him. He just nodded and smiled. He knew all he needed to. Gennosuke could 'see' better than he could, and could pick out things he might miss. Right now he was monitoring the crowd looking for weapons.
Across on the other side of the crowd, Mirrun was in the shadows between two wagons, her golden eyes glinting in the darkness. Somewhere on the outside was Syrren. He was supposed to remain hidden, as an ace in the hole for if they were attacked.
The dynamic of their team was strong. Initially Tenchi-sensei had wanted to split them into a three man cell. It was how most ninja teams were arranged. Well nothing about Tengoku was conventional. The four of them were a cohesive unit. The first team out of the Academy from the City of Heaven.
A low whistle came up from Gennosuke.'s position. To the typical passerby it would seem as though he was whistling a song, but it was a signal they had all worked out. Inari tensed, on high alert now he scanned the crowd. There. He saw a man in a brown cloak moving awkwardly. Then another, and another.
He counted ten men in brown cloaks moving though the crowded market place. He hummed the tune Gennosuke was whistling to himself, excitement coursing through him. They'd talked about it so many times that he moved without thinking. Tenchi-sensei had drilled it into them. When faced with a larger force, and cannot retreat, then strike first, strike hard, strike fast.
There was one cloaked man who'd stopped right beneath Inari's wagon, shifting nervously from side to side. Inari let out a low breath and dropped down silently behind the man, clubbing him and dropping him to the ground instantly. In the same fluid movement he pulled him beneath the wagon and out onto the other side. Moving fluidly enough that he hoped no one saw the attack. He propped the man up against the wagon and listened. No one raised any sort of alarm. Quickly, he flung open the man's coat and revealed a series of daggers strapped all over his body. With a nod to himself – having confirmed that he could not be up to any good – he climbed swiftly back to the top of the wagon. The other potential bandits had not yet noticed one of their number missing.
Gennosuke was now walking through the crowd like a wraith towards where three of the "bandits" were approaching a table with Tengoku merchants and Mabry. Inari could have sworn he saw Mabry looking at them and glancing at him with a small smile. Inari eyed the remaining six men in coats, catching Mirrun's eye and nodding towards them. She smiled and did not move. A shimmer of water beneath a wagon across from him told Inari where Syrren was now placed, waiting for his signal.
The first of the three men drew an impossibly large hammer from beneath his coat and slammed it down, breaking the Merchant's table. Mabry and the merchants scrambled back. The hammer swung again, knocking a female merchant who hadn't moved quickly enough aside.
"We've come for your valuables! Make any wrong moves and everyone here dies!" He shouted.
Mabry nodded grimly, holding the injured female merchant. Her arm and at least a few ribs had to have been broken. He watched closely to see how the Cherubs performed.
Inari sprang towards the two men closest to him, trusting in his teammates. He brought his mini crossbow's to bear on them, firing in mid air. His first bolt took the first man in the neck. The other was moving with some skill and managed to avoid the arrow. He drew a wicked looking two pronged sword and turned to face Inari with a snarl.
Gennosuke stepped right behind the man who had slammed the hammer through the desk, mere inches from his back. The other two men flanked him and stared down in surprise at this boy who had appeared from nowhere. Gen smiled and tapped his stick once more on the ground.
The man with the hammer turned slowly to see what was behind him. Gen took one of his throwing knives and sliced once across, deep, then stepped back. Before anyone knew what was going on the man's bowels slipped out in a torrent. He stared in shock as he spilled onto the dirt. The two other men reached for their swords in a panic but Gen just looked like he jumped up slightly, arms outstretched like a crucifix, and quickly retracting. He took another step backwards. Both men's eyes bulged at the throwing knives that were thrust though the soft underside of their jaws and into their brains. Blackness took them. The large hammer wielding man slumped down and gurgled, trying to pull his intestines back into his body like wet slippery rope.
Mirrun clanged her fists together, her metal gloves sparking. The two bandits closest to her saw her face, and a flash of gold before she disappeared. The first man took a metal fist to his nose without ever knowing what was happening. The bone shards impaling his brain. He fell in a slump silently. The second swung his sword in a wide arc wildly, hoping to catch something, anything. A merchant who was too close screamed in pain as the sword sliced his back. Mirrun appeared again behind this bandit and slammed her fist into the back of his neck. The sharp crack told her that he'd never move again.
Syrren solidified with a feral grin not two feet away from his targets. After days of doing nothing but waiting, it felt good to be active. He ran up the chest of the first man, moon somersaulting and kicking him in the chin. "Didn't expect that did you!" he laughed. The second man swung a club at him, but he ducked under and swiped, taking his legs out from under him. Grinning madly, Syrren jumped against the wagon wall, and back flipped against the man, cracking his neck with his knee. "I call that one Starship Pain!" He dissolved into a ball of water again, and shifted as the first man swung wildly about with a pair of daggers. He erupted beneath the man, and solidified inside of his reach. His legs wrapped around the man's neck and he fell forward, twisting as they hit the ground. "And that's the Rough Rider!" Syrren laughed looking around to see how his friends did.
Inari blocked the sword strike with his left forearm bracer and countered with a strike to the man's solar plexus. He fell to his knees winded. Inari swung in a three sixty backhand, letting the metal bracer catch the man on this side of his head. He fell in a heap and never got up again.
With a look around to his friends, he saw that all of them had taken their targets out. Mabry stood up, motioning for someone to come take care of the injured merchants.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Protection of Tengoku extends to all of our guests here today. We'll have this cleaned up momentarily and we can finish this last day of trading before we go home. Thank you for your patience!"
With a quick nod, the boys began moving the bodies away from the cheering crowds to the outside of the wagons. Inari got there first, to find that the first bandit he had clubbed was not there. He turned to see the man rushing at him with a small sledgehammer, a vicious snarl on his face.
A hand came between the wagons and slammed a solid iron wok into the bandit's face. He crumpled backwards in a curse, blood streaming from his broken nose. An elderly man stepped out and hit him again with the wok. The bandit lay still, unconscious.
Inari smiled at the man. "Thank you. I guess I should have tied him up first."
The older man turned and smiled warmly at him. "We should thank you. My daughter and I have made arrangements to come with Master Mabry and the caravan back to Tengoku, so it's pleasing to see how well trained the genin are there."
Inari laughed. "Well we're not called genin, we're Tendou. But thanks. I'm Inari."
The old man extended his hand to shake. "I'm Teuchi, and my daughter Ayame will be coming with me. Inari, you know, I think I've heard your name before…"
Mabry nodded in satisfaction to himself as the cleanup completed, he kicked dirt over the blood stains on the ground. The young ones did well, if a little brutal. But that would serve his purpose just fine. It set the example that you did not interfere with Tengoku when they were trading. The merchants were happy, and felt safer than they had before the excitement. Several were clamoring for more frequent trading trips. They had almost completely sold out their goods, and the buyers were leaving happily as well. The quality of goods bought here would surely sell for much higher in their hometowns and profits would be had by all.
Not for the first time he considered the problem of Tengoku being as isolated as it was. It made trade that much more difficult. He figured that they could just make monthly trips to this same spot, but it was hard to defend a wagon train. There were no walls, nothing to keep unwanted people out. Nor was sleeping in wagons at night comfortable for the merchants and buyers. Truthfully he needed a safe town to take over and use once a month.
He'd have to talk to Tenchi and the other council members about it when they got home. It would be difficult to explain though. To a man they were all fighters, and understood nothing about trade and commerce.
Late into the evening he watched as the last buyer left, and the fires of the torches lit the happy faces of the merchants of Tengoku. A few wagons would be added to their train, a few people Mabry had met and felt could be trusted to become useful citizens of Tengoku. They'd have to meet Naruto of course, his word on it being final.
"Pack it up!" Mabry shouted with a smile. "We head home to Tengoku tonight! I mean for us to be home before the week is out!"
Konohagakure
It had been a little over a year and a half since the last Uchiha left Konoha, supposedly forever. It had been roughly one month since his return. Neither the Uchiha, nor Konoha were happy about this of course.
As for Sasuke, nothing much had changed for him, save that he was already familiar with the 'training grounds' Orochimaru had dragged him to this time. That was the pattern ever since he'd left Konoha to join Orochimaru, to gain power from him. They would move locations every other week or so, always underground or well-hidden hideouts or labs or prisons or pretty much any place where Orochimaru could do his experiments and Sasuke could train. They would only stay longer if either Orochimaru wanted to finish an experiment first, or if Sasuke had yet to complete an objective of his training, such as when he'd been mastering his true lightning jutsu, Kirin, when they were in Lightning Country.
To be in one place for this long was chaffing Sasuke after more than a year of constantly moving around from place to place. He was feeling anxious. And like he was going backwards.
He needed something to do.
Orochimaru, however, was happily designing all sorts of new experiments, while bringing out a few older, partially successful ones to satiate Danzo's lust for power. Besides, he'd had all he could stand of the Snake Sannin for this week with his training from the day before. He had learned the lessons easily and quickly enough, he only needed to practice to fully incorporate the new techniques into his style and repertoire. It used to be he had a few dozen Sound Chuunin to use as target practice, and if not them, a few hundred prisoners, or Kabuto could usually give him some interesting targets.
Now... now, he had restrictions. Can't attack the ANBU, can't attack the ROOT, can't attack the Iwa ninja in Konoha. Too bad Naruto wasn't still around. If nothing else, Sasuke could always count on the dobe for a good fight whenever the mood struck either of them.
"Hn, speak of the dobe," said Sasuke as he rounded the corner of one building and saw something unexpected. It was some graffitti on the wall of an old abandoned building. Sasuke's memories told him the building used to be the Ichiraku Ramen stand that Naruto would always drag them to after a successful mission. Sasuke always liked the pork ramen. He vaguely recalled a report that just the week before about ninety percent of all civilian-run businesses disappeared overnight. Apparently Ichiraku Ramen was one of them.
The graffitti was an orange spiral, modeled after the circular patch that had been on the back of Naruto's jacket and on the shoulder patches of the Konoha standard uniform. A patch that, the Uchiha realized, was absent in the modern uniform under Danzo's regime. Instead it had been replaced by the symbol for the ROOT, which was just the katakana in white on a black patch. Older shinobi merely changed their attire so they didn't bother wearing anything resembling a standard Konoha uniform, which was the way most could tell the difference between ROOT ninja, Konoha ninja, and Iwa ninja. Stepping closer to the graffitti, Sasuke saw that there was more to it than just the orange spiral. At the center were the kanji for "Na" although they were spaced oddly.
"Na?" he said out loud, "Exorcism?"
Then he caught the light a certain way on the graffiti and realized that it wasn't the word "Na", but the abbreviation for "N.A."
Remembering a debrief from the other day, Sasuke smirked and almost laughed as he realized what he was looking at. A tag for "Naruto's Army". Who would have thought, he mused, the dobe gets an army named after him and becomes a Kage to boot. All before he was sixteen years old. Most ninja hadn't even made jounin by his age, and he was a Kage with a village and an underground movement named after him, all at his beck and call.
Sasuke allowed a brief surge of jealousy to rise up within him as he thought of what he would do with such means at his disposal. Itachi's days would be numbered. As it was, while the younger Uchiha was working on a plan, recent changes had forced him to reevaluate some factors. It would be at least another two years, possibly more before he would be ready to face his clan's murderer. He needed an edge, and while Orochimaru used to be that edge in preparing him, seeing Danzo, all his forces, and the state of Konoha, he knew it was no longer enough.
Perhaps...
Sasuke dismissed the thought before it had even formed. Whoever or whatever Naruto's Army was, they were just dissidents and pranksters. There used to be only a single elite ninja among their ranks, and he had fled Konoha months ago, never to be seen or heard from again. That it was the same elite ninja that had given Sasuke the key to his ultimate technique was irrelevant, as the man would be killed on sight if ever seen near Konoha again. Whoever else was a part of Naruto's Army was insignificant and obviously pathetic if they were resorting to tagging as their only means of rebelling now.
Putting it out of his mind, Sasuke resumed his walk to the training grounds. He needed to do something. He wanted to practice, but there were none worthy, or freely available, to practice with.
That was when he spotted a familiar face among the crowd of civilians clearing a path as Sasuke walked amongst them.
Ino was minding her own business when the next-to-last person she'd ever thought she'd never want to see appeared right in front of her. For years, seeing Sasuke was the highlight of her day, and being the subject of his attention was what she strove for most days. So it surprised her how much she didn't want to see Sasuke or be the subject of his attention at that precise moment, when he appeared in her path on her way back to her parent's flower shop—from the Administration building—where she was now being trained as an IT ninja—by her father no less.
"Ino," the Uchiha greeted her.
She bowed her head once and continued on, saying only his name in reply. "Uchiha-san."
He stared after her for a few seconds before grabbing her by the arm and said, "I need your assistance with something. Come with me."
Ino stopped walking and locked her arm in place. Slowly, calmly, she turned to face her former crush and told him, "Let go of my arm, Sasuke."
"Come with me, and I just may," he said.
Ino no longer needed just eye contact in order to enact her family jutsu, although in order for it to work at all it needed either eye contact or physical contact. Fortunately for her, Sasuke was providing exactly that. She was inside his mind before he knew what was going on. She repeated, directly into his mind this time, "Let. Go. Of. My. Arm. Now!" He released her.
Frowning, his Sharingan activated as he followed her to the roof where she had retreated to.
She was out of sight with no physical trace to say where she'd gone, but with his Sharingan active, he could track her by her chakra and the trail she left behind from that. It was a fun little chase, a good distraction, which is exactly what he needed. He finally managed to corner her right across from the Hyuuga Hot Springs.
"What is this even about?" she screamed at him.
"Come with me and find out," was all he would say to her.
"No!" she defied him, and drew two kunai.
"Fine then, be that way," he scoffed and made to attack. Before he got even two steps, however, he was stopped by a squad of ANBU. None of them were displaying the ROOT badges, in fact they were cloaked from head to toe and wore the standard ANBU animal masks, telling Sasuke more than enough about his current situation.
"You really should pay more attention to your surroundings, Uchiha-sama," said a man in a long dark coat, his long blond hair done back in a pony tail. Beneath the coat he wore the dark gray uniform of the IT Division. "Especially when chasing my daughter for some non-given reason."
"What business is it of ANBU if I want to have a conversation with a kunoichi?" Sasuke accused him.
"When that kunoichi happens to be my subordinate, a trainee in the IT Division of ANBU, and one of the Hokage's personal secretaries," Yamanaka replied. "I don't know how much you and your master are used to getting away with, Uchiha-sama, but if you are of the belief that the Hokage, the Emperor of Konoha and Iwa, is so desperate for the aid of your master that he gives you carte blanche, you are gravely mistaken."
"And what makes you say something so treasonous as to believe you speak for Danzo?" Sasuke smirked. He'd seen the type that was Danzo before. They loved to micro-manage things, and at the slightest hint of a betrayal, heads would start to roll. Literally.
"I am stating facts, Uchiha-sama," Inoichi said, being very calm about the current situation. "It is the Hokage's duty to protect his people. The Hokage conquered another nation and more than doubled the resources that we have to call upon and more than doubled our fighting strength with but a single battle in this last war. He's brought your master here to resupply our fighting force, in order to bolster our defenses and prepare for future conflict. These are all well-known facts. But if you and your master start acting like you are the Emperors here..."
Sasuke frowned.
"Then the civilian population and any civilian-born ninja might get the idea of a civil war in their heads, especially if they see that they can no longer count on the protection of the Hokage. How long will this alliance last if you start attacking the Hokage's personal secretary? And if you were to actually go unpunished? Or, far more likely, if something unfortunate had happened to Yamanaka-san here, in order to maintain the alliance for as long as possible, what might your master have to give up? His protection of you perhaps?"
Sasuke scowled, his hand reaching for his sword. The ANBU all around tensed appropriately.
"I merely wanted to spar with her, just some training," said Sasuke. "But, now that I have half a dozen ANBU to play with, this will work out fine too."
"Kukukukuku!"
Sasuke scowled again, his hand releasing his sword. All the ANBU visibly dropped all tension in their bodies, but one didn't even need to look at them to see that they were even more on guard than before. Inoichi and Ino Yamanaka, on the other hand, both practically sighed with relief.
"What seems to be the problem here?" Orochimaru asked as he slithered his way amongst the masked shinobi to stand next to his apprentice.
"Just a misunderstanding," said Inoichi with a shrug. "Apparently Uchiha-sama never learned the proper way to ask another ninja for a training spar. Not to say that he wasn't taught, only that he failed to learn the lessons his betters endeavored to teach him."
"Oh really?" Orochimaru grinned wickedly at the blond man in the black coat.
"Perhaps you would care to explain why your apprentice approached my daughter and merely said, 'Come with me' rather than offer an invitation to train with him?" Inoichi crossed his arms expectantly.
"Hm, yesss, kukuku, of course, a lesson that we all learn in the Academy, as I recall," Orochimaru licked his lips slightly.
"Exactly," Inoichi smiled.
"What is the meaning of this?"
ROOT had arrived.
"A misunderstanding only, Centipede-san," Inoichi was starting to sweat a bit. "Nothing to trouble Danzo-sama with... unless of course his honored guest would care to make a complaint that is?"
Now all eyes were on Orochimaru, who was basking in it, or so it seemed. In the end though, the entire thing was swept under the rug. The next morning, an announcement went out to all active ninja through their supervisors and down the chain of command until even the dead last genin doing D-Ranks had heard about it. There were to be no more unauthorized trainings or sparring, and if there were to be any, all training between ninja above chuunin rank had to be reported to their immediate supervisor and approved. If there were multiple supervisors or ninja of different ranks involved, then it would go all the way up the chain of command if it had to. Requests could be denied at any time, as well as rejected by the ninja involved, but the more important aspect, and the given reason for the new rule, was to keep active duty ninja from being unnecessarily injured during training.
Afternoon, Training Ground 7
Sasuke challenged Ino again, but this time according to the new rule. Kabuto heard about it, and as he was the 'Senior Apprentice' he was the one that approved the training spar, only he made it sound more like Ino challenged Sasuke. To everyone's surprise, despite the obvious untruth, Ino accepted the challenge and agreed to face Sasuke in a training spar.
They met just outside the IT Division employee entrance and walked together to Training Ground 7. Neither said a word the whole way. Once there, they stood across from each other and waited, still not saying a word. A crow cried out and took off from one of the nearby trees. They both vanished before even the first leaves had been shaken loose.
Sasuke considered activating his Sharingan, but this was Ino he was facing. He wanted to test himself, not kill her. So he searched for her with his normal, non-enhanced senses. He was surprised when he detected her so easily.
"Ah!" Ino startled when he appeared in front of him. She threw the kunai she'd had behind her back at him. It had been a wild throw and he easily dodged it, charging straight at her. She had another kunai in her other hand.
Before she could do much else beyond raise the weapon to defend herself, he'd drawn his katana and parried her block, knocking her to the ground. She narrowly dodged his follow-up, rolling into the underbrush, and making a wild racket as she raced to get to another hiding spot. Sasuke waited for the noises to die down. It was no fun if there wasn't at least some challenge to it, right?
Once the rattling noises had ceased, he spat out a couple of fireballs into the tangle of trees around him. He didn't want to burn down the whole forest, so he kept them low level, actually having to struggle a bit not to release so much chakra into the attacks.
The rattling and rustling started again from his right, and moving away from the flames. Smirking, he jumped into the trees and used the smoke to hide his presence.
He activated his Sharingan.
Tracking her was easy. Getting ahead of her in the smoke from his fire attacks, even easier.
He appeared in her path, sword sheathed and made to punch her. She blocked on instinct.
'Good,' he thought, 'So she's been trained to be a ninja after all. Let's see where she's at.'
He started off at the level any genin would be at after a month's training, keeping his attacks and blocks at a relatively slow speed, and using only the most basic at that. Ino kept up and even parried his attacks a couple of times, working to either get a hit at his face or knock him back with varied kicks and leg sweeps.
After about a minute of this, he moved it up a level, to where he was at when he left Konoha, IE where a genin would be at after a year's training. She kept up with his increased speed, though after her first attempt at blocking him she switched to dodging and avoiding his blows instead. She managed to get a hit through his defenses, one that would have hit him next to his left eye, but he twisted his head out of the way just enough so her fist never so much as ruffled a hair on his head.
He escalated his skill level to your average Chuunin, and soon had her on the defensive, landing blows any time she couldn't successfully dodge or avoid them. She started trying to block again, but that usually ended up injuring her just as much as if she'd let him hit in the first place. None of her attacks, not that she was attacking much anymore, made it through his defenses any longer, and even if they had they would have had no hope of landing any damage against him.
Seeing her taijutsu level for what it was, he scoffed and went full out against her, just to show her what she faced, and so she would know her place.
Flashing behind her, he hit a nerve cluster that was right below her right ribcage and above the kidneys. It paralyzed her for sixty seconds, and would have been broken the moment her face hit the ground. But to a ninja, sixty seconds is sixty eternities.
For the first thirty seconds, he used her as a training dummy, making sure not to break bones or do any internal damage, but he wasn't above bruising her entire body with as many combos as he could fit in against her paralyzed body. He finished with a strong backhand to her face that knocked her flat on her back.
Instantly she was rolling to the side to get her legs back under her and scrambling away from him, tears running down her face now. That was the other way to reverse the paralysis, other than waiting the sixty seconds, which was to realign the nerve cluster and that was as simple as knocking them on their back rather than their face. It was a lot more painful though.
"I suppose I should explain why it is you had to go through this Ino," Sasuke spoke condescendingly, "Make it so you can understand what all the pain is for, so you can understand."
He sneered and as his whole body began to spark and the distinctive sound of the Chidori started up, he concluded, "But I doubt you can ever truly understand, because the fact of the matter is, I was just so very bored. At least this way, I get to test my new jutsu. Try not to move, Ino. We'll get to the moving target practice in our next spar. Chidori Senbon no jutsu!"
And after that, all Ino knew was pain. When she regained consciousness, Sasuke was standing over her and was holding a single lightning element senbon needle between his finger tips. He put it into her forehead. She screamed and screamed, but she didn't pass out this time. He dispelled all the other senbon in her body, allowing them to ground out, leaving only insect-bite-sized burn marks all over her, save for that one that he'd put into her brain. It was still hurting her, and above all else, it was keeping her conscious and would not allow her to fall unconscious no matter what he did to her.
And he did it to her a lot, shooting wave after wave of those Chidori Senbon into her, from different angles, at different speeds, at different intensities, adjusting how much chakra he put into the technique each and every time. He even spent over fifteen minutes alternating trying it with the Sharingan and without, just to see what the difference was. It wasn't until he started looking bored, and even then not until at least a dozen more experiments, that he finally removed the one needle keeping her conscious and allowed her to pass out.
Her whole body was riddled with electric burns, and the bruises were already turning a mottled brown-blue with flushes of red by the time he finally walked away from her. After he was done with her, he left her there and went back to his apartment, the same one he'd lived in after the Uchiha Massacre, ironically enough, and cleaned up. On his way to the Hokage's Office, which were actually rented out of what used to be the Senju mansion, seeing as the new tower was still being planned and construction hadn't even started yet, he stopped to get something to eat.
As he reported in, he mentioned that somebody might want to go and check on his opponent at the Training Grounds, as he hadn't seen her moving and didn't know if she was still there or not. A genin team, on standby for their next assignment, was sent to check the grounds and take her to the hospital if they found her still there.
Just before going in for his debrief on the sparring exercise, he heard one of the genin reporting back to the ROOT Chuunin on duty that they had found her still there, lying exactly where he'd left her hours beforehand. Also, something about her regaining consciousness just as they got there and insisting that she be taken to her family estate rather than the hospital. Probably a good idea, he mused to himself as he entered the debriefing room, Kabuto would probably have her added to his 'collection' by "complications with recovery" or some other excuse. He put the whole thing out of his mind and made his report.
Evening, Hokage's Office
"Did you have fun, Sasuke?" Kabuto asked Sasuke as the Uchiha left the debriefing room.
"Hn," the stone-faced ninja said nothing and kept walking away.
"You bastard!" Inoichi Yamanaka came around the corner, fury in his eyes. He went right up to Sasuke and stopped just short of throttling the younger shinobi. "It was just supposed to be a simple sparring match! A sparring match! You didn't have to... have to... You BASTARD!"
Sasuke merely glared up into the older Yamanaka's eyes for a short amount of time, his dark eyes penetrating into the older man's pale blue ones, until the blue orbs flinched away. He brushed past Ino's father without saying a word, Kabuto grinning sadistically in the wake of this scene.
"What did you do to young Ino-san?" the medic inquired, adjusting his glasses the way he usually did when amused by something.
"I perfected my new technique. She'll be fine in a few weeks. I used a low level version, so there was no permanent nerve damage," the Uchiha answered, sounding bored and annoyed all at the same time with every word he spoke.
"I had heard that Yamanaka-san insisted she be treated within the clan, not trusting our medics any longer. How odd," Kabuto mused.
Sasuke scoffed, prompting a curious glance from Orochimaru's elder apprentice.
"They trust the hospital just fine. It's you and Orochimaru and your presence at the hospital they don't trust. That should be obvious to everyone," said Sasuke, turning and walking away from Kabuto. The Medic allowed him to move on and turned a different corner.
He idly wondered what he should report to Orochimaru-sama first. That Sasuke was even more ruthless than previously suspected? Or that he now had a clue as to why Hospital Admittance was at an all-time low since before Konoha's founding, when there wasn't even a hospital in the first place?
Outskirts of Konoha
Asuma stretched, rubbing the feeling back into his legs. The bunker he was in was massive, at least five hundred square yards, and he had taken to walking it to try to regain some of his strength and mobility. As he was now, he was a bit more mobile than a civilian, but not quite as agile as a ninja should be.
He'd only seen Shikamaru over the past month. No one else ever came with food or news. But he understood why. Danzo's control was absolute and his ears were everywhere. Konoha had changed. Asuma scowled. He would avenge his village. As a Sarutobi, and son of the Third Hokage, he would take back the land from 'Emperor Danzo'. But a pragmatic man, Asuma had to admit his limitations. He could do very little here. The N.A. was already functioning as a small resistance movement from within the walls, but their advantage was that no one knew who they were. Shikamaru was needed as a strategist, but he–Asuma–was not.
He had made the decision to go to Wave as soon as possible, and try to put together a small guerrilla army. With such, he would bite at the flanks of Danzo's army, and fade away before they could be attacked. He sighed. That was the plan, easier said than done.
Today though, today would be the first step.
Today he left for Wave.
Sunagakure
Neji looked up at the guards as he walked through the gate. The guards perched above–that he could see–watched them warily. Hinata and Tenten walked a few paces behind him. He'd waited until they were a day out of Konoha before explaining his plan to his cousin and former team mate. Officially they were here for him to take over Gai's team, but in truth it was a way for them to train away from the prying eyes of Danzo.
Their pack camel trailing behind them, Neji entered the passageway into Sunagakure through the impenetrable mountainside. The cool shadow of the pass felt blissful against his overheated skin. He hoped that he would get a chance to explain the plan to his former Jounin Sensei without the Green Beast of Konoha flying off the handle.
"OK that makes sense."
Of all things, Neji did not expect Maito Gai to be reasonable. But he just nodded pensively. They were alone in the rooms Gaara had assigned them as ambassadors from Konoha. Of course they were spied on, Neji was sure of it. But Gai seemed to dismiss that with a wave of his hand and a look of annoyance. Tenten and Hinata were freshening up from the trip in an adjoining room while Neji, as the Jounin of the group, spoke to his former sensei.
"You may have provided us with a perfect entry point. Jiraiya wanted us to get someone senior close to Danzo. We hear he is getting more and more cautious." Gai looked to Neji for confirmation.
Neji nodded. "Yes. He takes no audience save for Orochimaru himself. Everyone else must stay a certain distance away except for his most loyal ROOT. And they all must show their face. Work has begun on his new tower, and from what I gather it's going to not just be a monument, but a fortress in and of itself.
Gai looked pensive. "Well, we are uniquely gifted with a way though those defenses." He turned to the far side of the room where a red door stood unopened.
"You can come out now," Gai said quietly.
The door opened slowly and Neji rubbed his eyes in disbelief. A second Maito Gai stood there. An exact perfect replica. He immediately activated his Byakugan and was in even more disbelief. There was no difference at all that he could see. A slight chakra difference maybe, but the shape and form of it was identical!
"Wha-What is this? A clone?" he asked incredulously.
"My name is Kisaragi Saemon," the second Gai said, in the same voice as Gai.
The first Gai nodded. "Jiraiya sent him a few weeks ago. Kisaragi can become anyone he touches. The longer the touch the more perfect the copy."
"Yes, a few seconds touch allows me to look like anyone, but if I can get a minute, I can copy their chakra and all attributes, like mannerisms and voice."
Neji looked for flaws in the copy, and found none. The possibilities for such a person…
"You're an assassin," he said finally.
Kisaragi nodded. "That's the plan. I'll work my way close to him and take him out."
Gai put his hand on Kisaragi's/Gai's shoulder. "There is no other way. Danzo must be killed."
The Green Beast of Konoha smiled at Neji just then. "However, that is not our concern at the moment. Kisaragi will work Jiraiya's plan, disguised as me initially. I may not be able to show my good looks around Suna once Kisaragi leaves, but I will supervise your training along with Hinata and Tenten. Lee is already out doing his exercises. I trust you will be able to keep up, now that you've risen to 'Jounin'."
Neji swallowed silently, but showed no emotion on his face. This was what he had wanted, a chance to train harder without Danzo being able to judge his strength.
Wasn't it?
Tengoku
"What is it?" Senjii shouted over the noise, racing along with Nagi and the other Daitenshi towards where the wind and light were coming from.
It was deafening, like a continuous brain-numbing noise that had shattered all the glass in the village. A massive light accompanied it as well, as if the sun had come down to their island. As they ran towards it, Jiraiya and Tenchi fell in with them, racing towards the source.
As they cleared the trees they stopped abruptly, not believing what they saw in front of them.
Naruto stood in the middle of the training clearing, struggling under the weight of a Rasengan easily the size of a house. He held it above him, arms outstretched as he struggled to balance the swirling chakra ball. He spotted them and gave a weak grin.
"Give me a minute!" he shouted over the din. A pair of Naruto clones Senjii did not see before appeared to be helping balance the ball. As they watched, Naruto looked like he was closing his arms together slowly. The massive ball started to shrink, smaller and smaller. Until it was just slightly bigger than a person's head. Senjii could feel the wind around him moving towards the swirling chakra.
"He's doing it!" Jiraiya said in amazement. "He's injecting wind chakra into the Rasengan!"
Senjii glanced at Jiraiya for a second before looking back at his best friend. The Rasengan's shape warped slightly and what looked like four spinning blades formed around the middle of it. Naruto held it over his head. It looked to all intents and purposes to Senjii like a very large fūma shuriken.
"I couldn't see how to do it when it was small!" Naruto shouted at them. "Pa told me think bigger so I did! Once it was large enough I realized I couldn't do two things at once, but if I had a clone I could! I formed the Rasengan shell and my clone mixed in the wind-nature chakra. The other clone is just here to check for flaws."
Tenchi smiled nervously. "Great!" he shouted back. "But what are you going to do with that now! It's too dangerous to use that on the ground! We're still on a goddamn floating island!"
Naruto frowned and looked around, the spinning compact maelstrom suspended in his palm, now realizing what he'd done. Because he had poured so much energy into the giant Rasengan, it would be almost impossible to just disperse it without some sort of explosion.
"Just throw it into the sky!" Senjii yelled anxiously.
"I can't throw a Rasengan!" Naruto yelled back. He concentrated on the ball, trying to leak the chakra slowly out of it. Letting a tiny fissure open.
Jiraiya motioned for them all to move back, "Run now, run far! If that blows we'll all get hit!"
Naruto struggled to let the chakra out of the Rasengan, but it was like trying to hold back a raging river with a teacup. Senjii stayed behind to watch, hoping his friend could do it.
After what felt like hours, although it was mere seconds, the Rasengan shrank until it was no more than the size of a marble. It still emitted a high pitched whine though, and Senjii's skin crawled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, the built in human knowledge of impending danger.
"Naru…!" He began to shout. In the blink of an eye Naruto lost control of the ball and it exploded. Senjii just remembered a white explosion and a deafening silence as Naruto looked to be screaming at him but no words were coming out of his mouth.
Then nothing.
Jigoku Mountain Range
Five Miles East of Tengoku
Yoshi sat on the grass of the small hill studying the brick of Heavenstone he had laid on the ground. His wild hair was more disheveled than normal as he made notes, studying it from every angle.
"Fascinating Yoshi," he murmured to himself with a grin. The Heavenstone performed beyond even his wildest predictions. After seeing how well it worked when formed into the Gate to Tengoku, Yoshi had been exploring other uses for this wondrous product. So far he'd ruled it out as a material for cooking pots, as it absorbed far too much energy to be used for cooking. It also was the most uncomfortable surface he'd ever laid down on despite it essentially being made of 'clouds', so it was useless as a mattress.
But it did have potential – besides as a defensive wall – for other building materials. Because it absorbed so much heat and energy, a building made from Heavenstone would be naturally cool and earthquake resistant. Yoshi looked at the brick again, checking it's structural integrity. He walked back over to his modified 'Daedelus' and fetched another brick. He was miles away from the island, wanting to try his experiments away from the source of the Heavenstone, to see how well it lasted.
He noticed the sun going down and frowned, maybe he should be getting back. With a start, he realized the brick in his hand fading away into mist. A quick glance told him the brick on the ground was likewise disappearing. Yoshi scribbled that down in his book, and sat down hard, looking at the mist.
He'd not be going back home just yet.
Tengoku
Hiroka pushed through the crowd at the entrance to the hospital, not caring who's feet she trampled. Panicked, she burst into the room where Senjii and Naruto were laying on beds.
Naruto had taken the worst of the explosion, but no one seemed to be bothering with him. Instead Tsunade and Sakura were busy putting bandages on Senjii. Her Senjii. Who was unconscious.
"What happened? Is he going to be OK?" she asked.
Tsunade didn't even look up. "Naruto's Rasengan exploded. Thank Kami that he'd managed to bleed out some of the power from it. As it is Naruto took the worst of it, but Senjii was only fifty yards away and he suffered several broken ribs and bruises about his body from the concussive blast."
Sakura finished tying off a bandage and looked up with a face showing relief. "He'll be OK Hiroka, just banged up. A few weeks and he'll be back on his feet."
Hiroka allowed herself to breathe, then glanced over at Naruto. Impossibly his bruises and cuts seemed to be healing on their own. She'd heard about that ability of his, but never seen it before. She looked longingly at Senjii, wishing he had that ability as well. But she knew Tsunade and Sakura would take care of him.
She whirled and left the hospital, ignoring the people who'd come to see what happened to 'Lord Tenshikage' after such a powerful explosion. She leapt to the rooftops once she'd made it to the streets and headed for the training ground on the other side of the city to blow off some steam.
"Foolish girl." N'uihc's stick rapped her on the head again. "Why can you not see the target? Is it not clear?"
Calamity heard the voice behind her, but had no illusions that N'uihc could be anywhere around her at this point, he had a way of throwing his voice in this training session to throw her off.
"Just because gracious N'uihc allowed your training partner to go visit his friend in the hospital, do you think you should likewise be allowed to slack off?" the old taskmaster asked sweetly.
"No Master," Calamity replied, keeping her anger out of her voice, as that would only make things worse. She ached to remove the blindfold from her eyes, and seek out the Master of Sinanju, but she knew better there too.
Taking a breath, she drew back her bow again and reached out with her spirit as N'huic was teaching her to do. She felt.. something. The trees, the field, the wind…and something inanimate and foreign. With an outtake of breath she loosed the arrow, feeling it move towards the target. Feeling it hit.
"Pathetic." N'huic rapped her on the head again. "A child from my village could have done better. Take off the blindfold and start doing your forms. I'm tired of trying to teach a tadpole to fly today. Maybe tomorrow."
Calamity heard N'huic move away and she took off the blindfold looking after him as he walked back to his tea shop. She had come to like and respect the man and loathe him at the same time. Shaking her head Calamity looked across the field to see where her arrows hit.
The target had a cluster of five arrows – she had shot seven – and they were all clustered around the center, but not quite the bullseye, of the target. With a scowl Calamity walked towards them.
Nagi sat alone in the room with Naruto and Senjii. Both were still unconscious but Tsunade said they were just sleeping now. The crowd that had been outside had dissipated. Word of Naruto's miraculous healing was spreading through the village. Everyone was just glad the Tenshikage was alive, as he'd handpicked and brought each one of them here to a new, better life.
He watched them and sighed, his mind wandering back to the dream he'd had every night for the last month. That dream, with someone screaming his name, someone on fire. Angrily he slammed his fist down onto his leg.
"Just forget it… it's just a dream," he whispered to himself.
"Sometimes dreams can be pretty horrible though." Nagi almost jumped out of his skin at Naruto's voice. The blond haired teen was sitting up rubbing his head. He glanced over at Senjii for a few seconds, then looked at Nagi, the question clear in his eyes.
"He'll be OK. Just some bones and bruises. Tsunade says a few weeks and he'll be back to normal," Nagi answered.
Naruto nodded, looking at his own skin, mostly healed now. "My own stupid fault for trying a jutsu that large so close to everyone. Next time I'll do it far away from the village."
Nagi didn't respond, not sure what to say to that. It probably WAS a good idea. Naruto's jutsu were incredibly powerful.
"So what's this dream?" Naruto asked, trying to take his mind off the guilt of hurting one of his best friends. Nagi shook his head.
"Just, something…from my past. I think," Nagi said hesitantly.
Naruto looked at him then away. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I mean, …well… I mean I've lots of things I'd rather not remember."
Nagi nodded at him and they just sat in silence for the remainder of the night, each lost in their own thoughts.
"'Lo Yoshi!" Mabry called out as their caravan topped the small hill. It had to be the crazy inventor. Who else would have a giant metallic bird-thing next to him, or have hair that crazy?
Yoshi looked up and waved at them, intently studying something on the ground. Mabry rolled his wagon closer to the inventor and peeked at what he was studying. It was a solid white brick. Yoshi was scraping at it with a knife.
"Is that Heavenstone?" Mabry asked, puzzled by Yoshi, not for the first time.
Yoshi looked up and smiled. "Yes it is! Miraculous isn't it? What an interesting stone. But it's not a stone is it? Not at all. It's a cloud. But why the sun? That's the question."
Mabry shook his head with sigh. "Once again Yoshi I have no idea what you're talking about. And when last have you bathed? I mean you reek!"
Yoshi clapped his hands with excitement and stood up, his disheveled clothes blowing in the soft breeze. "It's marvelous. See this brick? It has the same properties as Heavenstone in Tengoku. Impenetrable, impervious, heat resistant, all of those things. But something more too! This far from the island, it's also solar dependent!"
"What?" Mabry asked, totally confused.
"It relies on daylight. Yoshi has been here all week and rain or sun, doesn't matter. What matters is daylight. Once the sun sets the brick disappears! Completely! Not a sign of its presence. Until morning when it reforms in the exact same spot." Yoshi clapped his hands again. "It's marvelous!" Yoshi tilted his head suddenly and frowned. "Of course it means it's impractical as a building material this far from Tengoku. Who wants a house that disappears at night?"
Mabry smiled at him and started to agree, but stopped and stared off at the hill they were on. Yoshi had ridden here on his Daedelus, so that meant a windstream was nearby. Also they were only a few hours from the foothills and the entrance. But even that wouldn't matter if the special seal's of Jiraiya's were perfected. His eyes glazed over as the thoughts turned over in his head. He'd have to talk to the Council about it.
"Come on Yoshi, let's go home. You need food and a shower."
IT Division Office
A Week Later
Midnight
"You did well, Ino," Inoichi congratulated his daughter. She sat before him, uninjured, unbandaged, and the perfect picture of health.
"Thanks Dad," she blushed slightly, looking down to her lap. It was only here, at the heart of the IT Division, or in the special bunker Shikamaru had shown her under her family's Flower Shop, that she could truly be herself. Outside of these secured locations, she, like her father and the rest of their family, had to maintain their masks at all times.
"Did you get a chance to check my work? It was a bit rushed out there, but I'm pretty sure I got everything," she said to her father.
"Near as I could tell, when I 'bumped into him' in order to scream at him about your injuries," Inoichi chuckled, "The Uchiha believes everything in his report is the absolute truth. I double-checked your work for the brief moment of eye contact he gave me. The seams are flawless. They are integrating with his long-term memory with no faults. Give it a month's time, or even another traumatic experience or three and not even I would be able to tell that he had been memory wiped and false memories implanted."
Ino let out a sigh of relief, fearing that she had somehow missed something, or something in the Uchiha's brain would have rejected the changes she had made to his mind. Thankfully, with her father's seal of approval, it was clear that she had not and they had gotten away with it.
"Now, if you please, so I can share with the others, seeing as Shikamaru is still in hiding and isn't going to be coming out again anytime soon," Inoichi said to his apprentice, holding out his hands, "Show me what actually happened in your spar with the Uchiha."
Ino nodded and took her father's hands and together they both closed their eyes and relived the experience, from her point of view this time.
Training Ground 7
They'd met just outside the IT Division employee entrance and walked together to Training Ground 7. Neither said a word the whole way. Once there, they stood across from each other and waited, still not saying a word. A crow cried out and took off from one of the nearby trees. They both vanished before even the first leaves had been shaken loose.
They had both learned their lessons in stealth and remaining hidden quite well. Unfortunately, Ino hadn't been taught by a Sannin, nor had the experience of being on the run in hostile countries before now. They both knew that and therefore Sasuke expected to find her soon and Ino expected him to find her soon, and made preparations accordingly.
Ino kept moving, not stopping for an instant, laying whatever simple traps that she could without leaving a tell tale sign that she'd been there. Unfortunately, due to the chakra signature they gave off when they were used, this excluded Exploding Tags.
Sasuke initially hid himself amongst the branches of the trees overhead, but when he saw that there would be no attack, he put himself on the defensive and started tracking Ino the moment after. He was mildly impressed with her stealth, as he could not instantly find her even after really looking, and then again with her counter-tracking skills, as he saw seven different trails she could have run through, all going in different directions with no real clue as to which one she went down. But of course this only impressed him because it gave him the impression that she wasn't a complete waste of his time.
Finally, he lost patience and just decided to search above the trails and stay in the trees. When he caught signs, subtle signs, of traps having been laid, he knew he was on the right trail and hurried himself along the path he now found himself on. When he saw no further traps, he jumped down from the trees and soon found his opponent in a sun-lit clearing, just standing there, her eyes closed. Sensing another trap, Sasuke stayed hidden in the shadows.
A twig snapped. Sasuke frowned down at the offending piece of wood.
Ino's eyes snapped open and she thought in the privacy of her mind, 'Boys, I hope you're ready for this. Because there's no turning back now!' She pulled out a kunai and held it before her, and something more that she hid behind her body.
Seeing that his cover was blown, Sasuke casually stepped into the clearing like it had been his intention all along. "Not much of a chase. I was hoping for a little bit more sport, Ino," he said to her. "At least make the fight interesting."
"I'll do my best, Uchiha," Ino remarked. She then shifted her left foot subtly, triggering the trap she'd set up before Sasuke had even started tracking her. There was the sound of a rope being cut and movement out of the corner of his eye saved Sasuke's life as an impossibly large boulder came crashing down from the trees behind him. He dodged by leaping forward and only after he'd gotten to his feet did he feel the trip wire he'd crossed and it was only thanks to his heightened reflexes that he managed to see the giant log come swinging down at him from clear across the clearing.
It was because he saw it coming that he was even more on guard, and a good thing too, as he saw that impossibly huge boulder that had nearly crushed him, was now rolling straight at him. The proverbial 'rock and a hard place' situation. He made to dodge, but Ino had thrown something at him, and he could see, even with non-enhanced eyes, that the ground on the only other direction he could go had been recently disturbed. Probably with a pitfall or some other basic trap.
Drawing his sword, he deflected the kunai Ino had thrown at him, only to realize at the last possible second that he probably shouldn't have done that. There was ninja wire tied to the back of the kunai, and when he'd deflected it, it allowed Ino to wrap it around his katana like a bolo and then with greater strength than he'd expected, his weapon was ripped from his hands. That was fine. He had others.
Moments from impact with either the boulder or the log, he began to charge his Chidori, the distinctive thousand bird scream echoing off the trees. The boulder suddenly leaped up, just as he'd been preparing to destroy it to open that path. Unfortunately, that stunned him enough that he no longer had time to make good his escape from the log. On top of that, the boulder was now going to come down on top of his head.
The log exploded in flames, as Sasuke switched signature techniques in mere moments and the force of that explosion was easily enough to knock the boulder off course. Amidst the fiery debris, Sasuke soon found himself having to dodge all manner of projectiles, and not just kunai, but shuriken, spikes, throwing knives and even a bunch of high-speed ball bearings. Without his sword, it was more difficult, and the flaming splinters didn't help much, but a couple of quick shunshins and he was clear of the range of fire and now behind Ino... except she was behind him? How...?
"Sasuke," she called and he turned, only to get a face full of a bag that released some kind of black cloud of some kind of poison. He coughed and quickly retreated. Orochimaru and Kabuto had been working on his poison immunity, and thankfully they had also taught him the few anti-poison chakra techniques. Even while he attempted to clear his system right then and there, Ino was informing him of what he was just discovering for himself.
"That won't work," she said.
"What did you...?" he started to ask, suddenly overcome with a weakness he was unfamiliar with. His vision was starting to become unfocused and his eyes itched and his nose and throat burned.
"The Death Blossom is an overdramatic name for the flower Konoha uses in all it's poisons," Ino informed him, not moving from her spot. "Except that it needs to be mixed with several other herbs, chemicals, and poisons in order to actually be able to kill anyone. The pollen, however, can cause paralysis if either ingested, inhaled, or allowed anywhere near the eyes or mouth."
"You, you, you..."
"Because it is just the pollen, however, the body doesn't react like it's been poisoned," she interrupted. "No, it responds with a severe and sudden allergy reaction. Paralysis takes a few minutes, since it has to work its way through your system. Of course a diluted version will just cause the allergic reaction. But a concentrated dose, like the one I just gave you, well..."
His eyes flashed red and reverted back to their basic black before the Sharingan even formed. It happened twice more before Ino finally explained what was happening.
"Your chakra control and even your chakra are going to be very erratic for the next three minutes. You can still use it, but it takes almost twice the effort that it once did. You have about... eight minutes now, before the paralysis kicks in full time and you're lying on the forest floor. I wouldn't recommend trying to burn through it faster though, not unless you have some kind of fetish for being completely helpless and near-death experiences."
The Sharingan finally formed and Sasuke charged ahead. Ino raised her kunai in defense, and twitched her right foot this time.
Sasuke's body leapt back and to his right almost before he knew why, but the reason became obvious when all the leaves and weeds at Ino's feet came alive and formed a protective cocoon around her, the leaves swirling and cutting at anything around her while the weeds grew to vines and covered every available space in the tangle of trees. They were all filled with Ino's chakra and made the perfect camouflage for her.
Sasuke didn't hesitate in shooting out a fireball, not even bothering with announcing it, flashing through the hand seals so fast it looked like he didn't even do them. The greenery was all burned away, and even some of the trees around them caught on fire. But when it all cleared away, Ino was nowhere in sight.
Sweating now, Sasuke felt the pressure to win like never before. Some of the things Orochimaru and Kabuto put him through were downright horrific, but they never did anything that would inflict permanent damage. Nor had they used this particular type of poison before. Then again, like Ino said, this wasn't strictly speaking poison, but just an allergic reaction to some pollen. No wonder the anti-poison chakra technique had failed. His chakra was barely responding at all. Heck, that fireball should have been enough to set the whole area ablaze, but as it was some of the fires were already starting to die out.
He saw movement.
He moved to recover his sword and dove towards it as fast as he could, using his chakra to boost his speed as much as he could. He hadn't been this slow since he was at the Academy! Once he had his weapon back, he started to hunt her down. "She'd better have an antidote," the Uchiha growled under his breath.
He stopped when she suddenly appeared before him. And she was already in a ready stance, her chakra primed and had just finished the last seal for her mind transfer jutsu. Simple enough to evade, made easier as his Sharingan allowed him to see the chakra of the technique as it moved through the air and... wait? What was happening?
"Ahargh-gah!" Sasuke's whole body had locked up and he couldn't move at all. The paralysis? Already? Impossible!
"What... is... this...?" he grated out through clenched teeth.
Moments into the paralysis, two giant hands came from either side of him through the shadowed foliage and grabbed him tight. Tilting his head as far back as he could, with his Sharingan still active, he saw two familiar chakra signatures. Shikamaru and Choji. Of course. It all made sense now. They had him trapped with their ridiculous Ino-Shika-Cho Combination. If he hadn't been infected with that Death Blossom pollen, he wouldn't have even been caught.
Thinking back on it now, he realized right from the beginning he'd been facing the entire Team Ten the whole time. The boulder that had nearly crushed him twice, Choji. The one throwing things from the shadows and getting him turned around and that now had him "paralyzed", Shikamaru. And all the while distracting him from the primary threat. He'd underestimated Ino. It wouldn't happen again.
Before he could do anything about that however, he felt something, like a physical hit but different. And suddenly he wasn't in control of anything anymore. Ino was in his mind!
"What do you hope to accomplish with this? You're still working with that traitor, Shikamaru, I saw him. I won't forget, and then you'll be the newest resident of the IT Division!" he thought-said to her.
"Traitor?" his own voice and mouth said with derision, "That's rich, coming from you, Sasuke-kun. As for the rest, well, yes, actually you will forget. But don't worry, you'll still win our little match. Even have memories of using that new jutsu of yours successfully. Chidori senbon, quite clever. Now let's see what else we can gleam from your mind before we conclude our sparring match..."
Tengoku
Mabry lurched in his seat as the wagons fell with a thump into the firm clouds at the entrance to Tengoku. He didn't like coming up the wind tunnel in the wagons. A few of the less sturdy ones would undoubtedly break their axles in the landing. Once again he swore he'd talk to Jiraiya about that. There had to be a way to use the 'Teleportation' bands that they were making to also move large items. He moved out of the way as more wagons came up the tunnel.
Finally, as the last one came up, he saw the Tendou fly up the wind tunnel, each landing perfectly. He motioned them over.
"You did an excellent job on this trip. I'll be sure to let Tenchi know. Your mission is officially over, so go get some rest."
The four Tendou looked at each other and grinned. They whooped and raced off into the town. Mabry smiled. He imagined it was quite an accomplishment, successfully completing your first mission.
He glanced back at the wagons rolling into the village. Only two had broken wheels from the landing. The cloud bank was soft yet firm enough to snap weaker wheels. But they were all glad to be home. He'd brought a few new faces, but he didn't think Naruto would mind.
Nagi watched the wagons roll past him. His mind was far off, lingering on the dreams that haunted his sleep. He was not paying attention to the people in the wagons, but a gasp from one of them startled him out of his reverie.
"Oh my w..! My Lord?" A very old woman that Nagi did not recognize was staring at him slack-jawed, her hand partially covering her mouth. Her eyes showed knowledge, and… fear?
"No," she went on. "It cannot be!"
Nagi held up his hands. "I'm sorry ma'am. You have me mistaken for someone else."
The woman dropped her hands and regained her composure. She climbed down from the wagon she was on and shuffled slowly over to Nagi. She looked him in his eyes intently, causing Nagi to blush out of embarrassment. She grabbed his palm and glanced at it though no more than a second.
"You are who you are my lord." She fell to her knees. "I failed your mother, and your father, but finally I may find peace." She held out something to a shocked Nagi. It was a small curved dagger that seemed oddly familiar to him. She tilted her head back. "You have the right of Ca'Suane. Please take my life as penance for my failures."
Nagi stared at her, then the knife, then back to her.
"What?"
Senjii swung his legs off the bed , groaning and rubbing his chest. He yawned and looked over at the next bed. Naruto was gone, probably out training again. His body ached, covered in bruises and small cuts. He winced, feeling the soreness where a few ribs were clearly cracked. Tsunade had made it exceedingly clear that he was not to leave the hospital until she gave permission.
So of course he was sneaking out right now. He grinned recklessly and reached for his swords, ignoring the pain and discomfort. Senjii considered himself a real swordsman, and would go nowhere without his swords. Especially not after he almost died earning them in the sands of Wind Country.
His fingers touched the hilt and he felt an electric jolt race up his arm, into his spine and coursing through his whole body. Senjii screamed silently, no sound escaping his throat as his back arched and he fell convulsing onto the bed. Just as quickly as it happened, it was over.
Senjii lay there for a few minutes, fighting to regain his composure. He blinked, feeling the dryness of his eyes. Thank Kami I didn't relieve myself right here!
He sat up again and looked at his swords. They weren't booby-trapped. He'd have known. And who'd want to put a trap on his swords? He reached out hesitantly again and paused halfway. He looked down at his arm, the arm that a few minutes ago was covered in bruises and cuts.
The skin was near flawless.
He looked at his other arm and that one was healed as well. Puzzled Senjii felt his ribs, still a little soreness, but it didn't have the distinctive pinch of cracked ribs. So…the swords..healed me?
Senjii stared at the 'cursed' weapons for a minute, then snatched them in his hands quickly. This time he felt nothing, not even a tingle. With a grin and a short laugh he burst through the hospital window and headed for the training ground. He'd keep the swords healing ability quiet, maybe try to figure out how it worked, or at least the limits of it. But for right now, it just meant he could train.
Naruto walked past the wagons as they rolled in. He waved to various merchants as they passed him. He was glad they all seemed to be back safely.
"Naruto!"
He turned to see who was calling him and stood rooted in place, shock written on his face.
"Naruto!" Ayame and Teuchi were walking over to him. The old man and his daughter from Naruto's favorite (and only) Ramen stand in Konoha. He remembered all the years they were the only ones aside from the Hokage that showed him a smile. He grinned at seeing them, confused as to how they came to be there.
They approached him and Teuchi put out his hand for a handshake. Naruto took it in disbelief that they were actually there. Ayame smiled at him warmly.
"What are you guys doing here? How did you get here?" Naruto asked.
"We petitioned Mabry to let us come." Ayame answered. "Father and I left Konoha when you rescued Iruka. We headed as far East as we could, looking for somewhere out of the reach of Danzo. A friend of father's recommended we go to that valley. We were expecting Jiraiya but Mabry allowed us to come to Tengoku, on the condition that you have to approve of us."
Teuchi made a grunt. "A tough man that Mabry. If you don't approve of us staying here he said he'll toss us off the side of the island. Something about if we were Danzo's spies or something."
Naruto shook his head. "No! Of course you can stay!" He grinned, opening his arms wide. "Welcome to my new home, and yours!"
Teuchi and Ayame smiled back. "Now we just need to find a place to open our stand and to live. Mabry said we should find someone called Tenchi or even Jiraiya. They would help us with allocating a space."
Naruto frowned and shook his head. "No no. I know exactly where you can set up shop. Follow me!" He walked back towards the tower, his two friends from Konoha in tow. They passed all the shops, and at the very center of town was a large empty building. Across the street was a flag with a wolf on it in a building of similar but grander size. Across the fountain at the center of the town was the Academy, and on the other side Mabry's orphanage.
"Right here." Naruto said matter-of-factly. This building is yours now. It has two floors, and any construction you need…" He made a quick sign and five clones popped into existence. "My clones will help you renovate!"
Teuchi studied the building intently. "This is too much Naruto. It's too grand for a simple noodle stand."
"Nonsense!" Naruto smiled broadly. "You're my friends. This is yours. I'll let the council know."
Ayame touched her father's arm and wiped a tear from her eyes. It had been a hard journey for them. Abuse in Konoha before they abandoned their life there. The long trek across the world. Finally coming to the whispered Tengoku where Naruto was said to rule, hoping that he'd take them in. And now…now they had a new home. Silently she hugged Naruto–who smiled and blushed awkwardly.
"Thank you, our Tenshikage." Ayame said quietly.
"Just Naruto," he replied, his blush reaching his hair.
"Get up!" Nagi said quietly and urgently. "I'm not going to …kill… you." He practically begged the old woman to get up. He glanced at the knife she'd handed him like it was a snake in his hand. Her companions had come over and made no attempt to interfere. The two men were large, and dark skinned. Like her. Like Nagi.
She stood shakily and stared at him with strong eyes. "We will talk."
Nagi nodded in disbelief and pointed down the street to the white tower. "This way."
Outside of Konoha
Shikamaru breathed in deep. He squeezed his eyes shut and snapped them open. His eyes blacker than the shadow he was sitting in. It had taken a long time for him to figure out the way. But now he could see it. See the shadow clearly. He understood now, the shadow had to be part of him. It wasn't a thing to be manipulated. It was he who had to change. His shadow sat in front of him, a solid thing. It looked right back at him, mirroring his every movement.
He opened his arms wide and beckoned. The shadow became less solid. Tendrils of it reached out and leaked slowly into him. Shikamaru felt every pore in his skin open, allowing the shadow in. Silently, slowly.
After a few minutes the jutsu was complete. He breathed again, feeling it inside him.
"Time to dance with the Jak O'shadows…" he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes again and melted into the darkness, his body disappearing like smoke.
Shino stood on the roof of the cave staring down at the ground. Well, where he assumed the ground was. It was so dark in the cave and so far below him that he couldn't even see it. He kept his concentration though. He'd been standing on the roof for so long that he'd lost track of time. If he had to guess though he'd think it was a couple hours.
The point of this exercise was to get his chakra control to the point where it was second nature. He needed to embrace the Queen's guidance.
"I see you are still there." Her voice in his head was sweet, and overpowering. His kikai bugs buzzed in excitement.
"Yes my Queen," he thought back.
"Good. I am sending some drones. You will dispatch them, without moving from that spot."
Shino heard the sound of legs running along the cave walls. Five? Maybe ten drones? He held his hands in front of him. The Queen did not allow him to use human weapons.
The skittering got closer.
The wolves glided through the long grass. This pack was strong, ten full grown males and females. Their padded feet brushed the grass, their ears peeled back against the wind. A new cub called to them. The voice echoing softly in their minds, calling to them. But different than normal. They raced to it just as much out of curiosity as out of brotherhood.
Deep in their genetic memory, they remembered this type of wolf. Never had they seen one before. There. They picked up his scent. Turning with one mind they moved like ghosts. The wolf-cub was on a hunt, they could pick up the scent of a hated large-cat. Wolves had their own name for everything.
After a minute of running they arrived at a clearing to see the new wolf-cub circling the large-cat. The cat was bigger than the cub by two length. Fangs bared, the cat sprang. The cub shifted its footing and caught the neck of the cat with a swipe of its paw, ripping it's throat out.
The wolves howled their appreciation of the kill. Off to the side was a large dog, watching the kill as well. The pack sent out a greeting to their distant cousin, and was pleased that the dog too was with the cub. Their pack would grow stronger.
The leader reached out to the cub and welcomed him. Long had it been since a two-legged was also a wolf. The pack howled into the sky in jubilation.
Kiba and Akamaru joined them.
One Mile From Tengoku
Jiraiya, Kakashi and Tenchi stood there, watching Naruto across the field. With a nod to them he formed two clones and immediately began forming a Rasengan. This one was a normal size, and his clones began moving their hands around the ball of chakra. After a few seconds the ball changed, it's high pitched whine sounding clear in the field. Small shuriken-like blades soon formed from the visible chakra.
Kakashi nodded and made a clone of his own. His clone formed a Rasengan as well. Naruto's Rasengan whined louder, shone brighter. But they needed to test it.
Naruto and Kakashi raced towards each other.
There should have been a sound. A cataclysmic boom. But instead there was nothing. All noise disappeared. There was a white light that just grew.
Jiraiya, the real Kakashi and Tenchi did not look away though.
The Kakashi clone's Rasengan disintegrated when it hit Naruto's Wind Element Rasengan. After a few seconds, the Rasengan dissipated. Naruto stood up and dusted off his clothes. He smiled across at the older men and waved.
"That went well!"
Author's Note:
I never thought I'd be one of those writers who felt the need to have a note with every chapter. but with the huge time difference between chapters I am compelled to apologise profusely. Time gets away from you, work and real life takes over. So i humbly beg forgiveness *bows deeply*. Myself and Joshua are already working on the next chapter so *fingers crossed* hopefully it won't be such a HUGE gap between.
Also submissions are open for Omakes! Let's see how creative you guys can be. It can be funny, silly, serious. Your discretion.
Until next time...excelsior.
OMAKE TIME! By Joshua the Evil Guy
"Hound the Dog"
Senjii was walking along the marketplace one morning, on his way to the training grounds, when he saw an unusual sight. A bunch of boys playing with a dog, only they were playing the game so that no matter which way the dog turned, one of them was there to block him. They were all having a great time, even the dog.
"Hmm..." he had an idea!
A few minutes later at the training ground saw Senjii working with channeling his chakra into his blades to evoke a very specific response from them. He wasn't sure it would work, but with these blades it might just be possible.
That evening, just before sunset, Senjii was practicing his new move;
He was sparring with Tenchi, and if everyone watching didn't know better, they would think that Senjii's swords were possessed with the way they moved and flashed about. With every single movement, every strike, every block, every attack and every defense, Senjii's twin nodachi were always right beside Tenchi's own attacks, never allowing the more experienced swordsman time to mount a proper defense or attack. It was much like the children with the dog, where Senjii's blades blocked every avenue of Tenchi's from moving, thus trapping him. From the outside, it looked like a high-speed technique, making it, briefly, look like Senjii was holding hundreds of swords at once, some even piercing after-images of Tenchi. The only thing anyone could find fault with the technique was its name.
"Fuzor Mode"
Senjii was practicing with swords one afternoon when he happened to see Jiraiya walking some of the Academy students through climbing the trees, ninja style, with chakra sticking their feet to the sides of trees.
"Hmm..." he wondered and began to channel his own chakra into the blades.
They jumped in his hands, and not like they usually did when he let them fly off on their own. He focused just his chi, and they lit up with power, like always, but they didn't jump this time.
"Hmm..."
This time, he channeled his chakra, but he put the spirit half into Mo Ye, and he put the physical half into Gan Jiang. They jumped again, but actually seemed to repel one another surprisingly. He tried again, focusing on mixing his chakra in his body first, and then channeling it into both his swords equally. He was really glad that Tenchi and Jiraiya had taught him how to... WHOA!
Both Cursed Swords lit up with the blue glow of chakra and then brought his hands together as a side-effect of their hilts joining at the pommels! Both blades of the new dual-katana remained glowing a soft luminescent blue, visible even in the daylight!
"Wow! This is... This is... I don't know what this is, but it is amazing!" Senjii held the new weapon in his hands, still channeling chakra, in awe of it.
"I'm going to call this... Fuzor Mode!" he shouted, holding it up high. He then discovered he had to learn a whole new style to go with Fuzor Mode.