Chapter 16 – The Poet and the Pendulum
Haku sighed as he stood before the magnificent cage that held the Kyūbi. One single question had been plaguing him, and he hoped that the she-devil would at least be accommodating enough to provide an answer.
He sighed again, thinking of Naruto. The poor boy must be such a wreck now. First to have succeeded in unlocking the Kyōkagan's strongest power, but in doing so damage his own body. Then for that insufferable vixen to go and play merry havoc with his emotions right afterward. And that was not even mentioning his and his team's encounter with Orochimaru, nor his fight with that other Transcendental Limit holder, Shizuka, beforehand.
No, today simply had not been Naruto-kun's day.
The blond was deeply asleep right now, and neither Haku nor the Kyūbi wished to wake him. Both knew he needed respite from his troubles, however brief it may be.
Already aware of his presence, the massive vixen opened a single, baleful crimson eye. "What do you want?" she growled, as if annoyed that Haku had even dared top approach her.
Haku glared lightly back, unfazed as he took a silent moment to gather his thoughts. "Perhaps a better question might be, what do you want? Even you must have had some reason for the actions you took today."
The Kyūbi snorted, both eyes opening as she stood to her full, towering height. Those eyes narrowed down at the dark-haired boy.
"Why would you want to know?" she growled, not even bothering to mask the spite she felt.
"I am curious," Haku answered levelly. He, or rather the one he had been created in image of, had lived and died in service to those more powerful than he; he knew the giant fox's theatrics for what they were, and he did not fear them as others might."Unlike yourself, I am incapable of having an agenda to pursue; I am simply a representation, nothing more. You, however, clearly have a defined goal of some kind. I would know what that is."
A dark chuckle emanated out from the cage at that. "Freedom," the answer came back, surprisingly forthright. "What I want is freedom, little ninja."
Freedom? Just like that? Haku frowned, unsure whether to believe her or not. The truth, he well knew, was rarely pure, and never simple.
Such a thought must have shown on his face, as the vixen then claimed, "One like you would never understand," before fading back into the depths of the cage, only those luminescent eyes remaining visible.
Indeed, the Nine-Tails mused, none of them could ever understand. They merely thought, perhaps understandably, that her desires merely ranged around the concepts of escape and destruction. How wrong they would be, the simple-minded fools.
Indeed, revenge was something she longed for, but that was not the be-all and end-all of her desires. Make no mistake, that fool Madara would pay for his transgressions against her. The Hidden Village of the Leaves would be burned to the ground, and the wrath she would visit upon the world then would be of mythical proportions. Level mountains and raise tsunamis? Hah! She would split the very skies asunder before them, and it would be the last sight that they would ever bear witness to! They would know the true meaning of disaster, once she was finished with them! But even all of that would pale before her true goal.
What did she want? Freedom. Freedom from being no more than a mere animal. Freedom from being the pawn of others. Freedom from being nothing more than a mere fragment!
Freedom. That word rolled off her tongue silently, sweeter than the sweetest nectar.
Without a vessel, a means to contain them, the Bijuu were little more than beasts, wild animals, slaves to their own base instincts. In such a state, they could easily be controlled like mere marionettes, mindless creatures obeying the every whim of their "masters".
Uchiha Madara. Senju Hashirama. That had been how those like they could control them, use them as living weapons.
A Bijū installed within a container, however, was sentient. The personality could vary widely, but each of them seemed to follow certain patterns of thinking. Most appeared to take on a masculine persona, but for reasons unknown even to her, the Kyūbi herself had become a female. Influence from the human's stories, perhaps?
She could not remember when self- awareness had become hers, whether it had come gradually or all at once. But armed with that newfound power of reasoning, the Kyūbi had searched through many thousands of years of memories – and in the end, could not help but feel disgust for what she had been. Either she had been a wild beast, mindless and directionless, or else she had been the pet, the slave of someone else.
The Kyūbi would never admit it, but she was jealous of the humans, how they moved about, unappreciative of the free will they possessed even from birth. She hated them, but she was also curious of them. And so she watched them. Watched how they interacted and were able to make choices. And as she began to understand, to comprehend what it was that made humans so different, that curiosity gave way to envy. And to jealousy. And more hatred.
She had found herself, wanting to be… more.
And with that desire, was born her one true fear. That if she could become free – free to make her own choices and decisions – would she be able to retain that freedom? Or would she return to the level an unthinking beast once again? That thought above all did not sit well with her, that the intelligence she now was gifted with might not even be a gift at all, but a temporary thing, to be taken back at fate's whim.
But that was something she would have to approach at a later time. First and foremost, getting free of the idiot took precedence over everything else.
It did not take long before she had begun laying down her various plans for escape. Merely gaining dominance over the boy would not be enough – the seal would have to be broken completely before she could escape and become a separate entity unto herself again.
Not only that, but she happened to enjoy being female. A male body was unacceptable.
Which itself gave rise to her first concern: how to manipulate the idiot blond that was her Jinchūriki.
Yet ironically, the answer to that had come from Naruto himself. As humiliating and degrading as his little "Oiroke no Jutsu" was, the vixen could not help but be impressed at how easily men could be manipulated by that would-be demon known as 'lust'.
It was… entertaining. That for all they espoused being 'enlightened' and 'civilized' beings, humans were still just as driven by their primal instincts as any other creature, regardless of consequences. Oh, the wonders of what a pair of well-formed breasts could accomplish!
Then it had clicked. She would take the form of a female human. Jinchūriki or not, the boy was still human; even if he were not prone to hormones just yet, eventually he would be, whether he wished it or not.
And so she, the Kyūbi, would be the first of the Bijū to take the form of an actual human.
Then came the next obstacle in her quest for freedom: the seal. It took no genius to recognize that the Fourth Hokage had been an artist – nay, a master – when it came to crafting seals. She remembered many seals in her past, but none nearly so well-made as the one binding her to her current host. Breaking this seal would be a momentous task.
Then again, that was why she was manipulating her container in the first place.
Still, if she were a gambling woman – where that particular human expression came from, she did not know, but it still seemed rather appropriate for her situation – she would bet that the Fourth had been cunning enough to leave multiple safeguards within the seal as well, so as to prevent her attempts to escape. Unfortunately for herself, the only way to truly know what those safeguards might be, would be to trigger them deliberately.
But the seal and Naruto himself were not the real problems, however. The true variable in her plan had come in a form no one could have ever predicted: a Bloodline Limit, a power previously thought to be nothing more than myth. And what a thorn in her side it had become! She had been the source of Naruto's power, as it should have been, but then that damnable Limit had had to go and reveal itself!
As it stood, she may be currently winning this little tug-of-war for control of the blond, but the Kyūbi knew that wouldn't last forever. Once the boy eventually recovered, there was little doubt he would return to using the Kyōkagan again.
She would not stand for it!
"It's ironic," a voice cut into her train of thought. The voice of the very one she plotted to upstage. "You emulate the very beings you so despise."
The Kyūbi looked down and growled, suddenly reminded of Haku's continued presence.
Her bared teeth, however, did not deter the boy. "You claim to hate humans, and yet you so willingly choose to take on a human form."
The Kyūbi angrily slammed her tails into the gate, the crash of metal blasting noisily throughout the flooded tunnels of Naruto's inner mind, but both of them knew it would not silence the boy.
With a sigh, the Hyōton user went on. "You truly make no sense to me. I can see that by taking on human characteristics, your strength has increased incredibly. And yet … why did you not simply stop there?"
"BE SILENT!"Kyūbi screamed, the antechamber quaking with the force of her roar.
As the room became still, Haku smiled softly. He turned away from the monster behind the gate, an ice mirror crystallizing before him. But before he disappeared into it, he cast one last look over his shoulder. "You are far more like humans than you are willing to admit," was all he said.
Haku would never know just how much that simple claim struck home, his mirror fading away even as the miasma of the vixen's rage consumed the chamber.
Sarutobi gripped the bridge of his nose savagely between thumb and forefinger as he took in everything that Anko and Iruka had just told him. He knew now that Orochimaru was plotting against him, but not how. Then there was the matter of the spy that had come to his failed pupil's rescue – that his treacherous former student had agents hiding in his village left a foul taste in Sarutobi's mouth.
But worst of all was the knowledge that Orochimaru now knew of the Kyōkagan. Konoha's situation was now very precarious.
The veteran of three Great Shinobi World Wars looked up from his thoughts to see Iruka and Anko, both standing tall despite their various injuries – Anko looked fairly untouched, however, compared to Iruka. Both faces were solemn; no doubt both of them felt as if they had failed in their self-appointed task to protect their little brother-figure.
For Anko, it was anger that she had not seen this coming. She should have pulled Naruto's team, the instant she knew that egg-sucking son-of-a-sea snake had broken into the exams! But no, she wanted so much to believe it was simply some idiot genin with more ego than sense, trying to copy an infamous traitor's technique.
She should have known better. He who had once been her sensei was more than brazen enough to try and sneak into the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages, and she of all people should've known that!
"Hokage-sama," wondered Iruka politely, "isn't there anything we can do?"
Sarutobi sighed. He really was getting too old for this shit. "Sadly, no. Not at this time."
Anko looked like she had just bitten into a lemon, glaring downward in anger. Iruka at least kept his composure visibly, although Sarutobi was fairly certain he could smell a faint whiff of ozone. Not that he could blame either of them; this news was clearly hitting them both hard.
"I don't know what Orochimaru's intentions are, although on a few points I can probably guess," the old man explained. "Until he moves, we have no choice but to wait, and bide our time. But he knows about Naruto-kun now, and that complicates matters considerably. We cannot predict how he is going to react to the Kyōkagan, and for that reason, it is paramount that we keep a keen eye on him for his own protection. We cannot allow him, or the Kyōkagan, to fall into outside hands."
"Shouldn't we remove him from the exams?" Anko questioned. "Hell, for that matter, shouldn't we just cancel the exams altogether?"
Sarutobi's lips pressed into a grim line. In truth, that had been the first thing he had thought of, the instant Orochimaru's name had come up. Ideally, it would allow them to run damage control on the situation, as well as concentrate on hunting down Orochimaru, before he could ruin Naruto's secret to the world. Iruka and Anko alone would be able to smoke the snake out of his hole, given enough time.
But that in itself was the main problem: time. There was just no way to tell how long such an act would actually take, should the traitor decide to go to ground. Orochimaru's reputation, both as a legendary ninja and as an infamous missing-nin and traitor was well and truly earned – that Konoha had already been pursuing him, literally for years without catching him, meant the old snake was a master of covering his own tracks. This was actually the closest Konoha had ever come to bringing him down – and even then, there was still so much up in the air.
Until then, all they could do was wait.
"The exams will continue," Sarutobi said finally. "And Naruto-kun will remain in them." Much as it galled him, the good of the many still outweighed the good of the one; as important as Naruto had become and always was, he was not the whole of the entire village.
Neither Anko nor Iruka reacted visibly, but Sarutobi knew they must be seething inside – the faintly flickering lights, the most obvious sign of Iruka's distress. Not that he particularly blamed the man: he was all but ordering Naruto to remain in the path of danger.
"I truly hate to think like this," he said wearily, "but for the good of Konoha, Naruto-kun needs to act as our bait. As long as he is involved, Orochimaru is sure to make his presence known eventually."
"But…" Anko was going to argue, but cut herself off at the sight of the Third's eyes, weary and resolute at the same time. "…I understand, Hokage-sama."
"I am sorry, you two, truly I am," Sarutobi muttered, before steeling himself. This was not a decision made lightly, and he would be damned if he did not see it through to the end. "But this is truly our best bet for drawing Orochimaru out into the open. I have no doubt he's taken interest in Naruto-kun and the Kyōkagan, and without that, there is simply no telling when he might ever make another appearance."
"What if he finds out about how the Kyōkagan can create other Limits?" Iruka asked, only a slight mania creeping into his composure. Silently, Sarutobi applauded the boy; he was not sure even he could have remained so calm, were their situations reversed. There was a reason he had recommended Iruka for ANBU commander, after all.
"It's possible he may already know," the Third replied. "But even so, that's still a risk we'll have to take."
"I… understand, Hokage-sama," Iruka swallowed, forcing himself to get the rest out. And he did understand. Konoha would likely never get another chance like this, should Naruto be put under protection. So that the village could finally deal with its greatest mistake, there was no choice but for his little brother-figure to remain in harm's way.
That did not mean he had to like it, however. One way or another, Iruka intended to make sure Orochimaru was dead, by the time this was over.
Sarutobi closed his eyes and nodded, easily guessing the thrust of the Academy teacher's thoughts. "Anko, I need you to locate Kakashi and Tenzō; bring them here immediately. Iruka, you'll do the same for Jiraiya."
Iruka blinked, surprised at the mention of the Toad Sage. Had the Hokage somehow already known Konoha was going to become such a hotspot of activity in the coming month? Or was it simply coincidence that the last remaining member of the Legendary Sannin still loyal to Konoha happened to be in town as well?
"He's here?" Iruka wondered aloud, unable or perhaps unwilling to conceal the surprise in his voice at that piece of knowledge.
Sarutobi nodded, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "He is. And if I know my old student at all, you should be able to find him around the hot springs; one of his favorite 'research stops'. We need react quickly to the situation; Konoha is sitting on a primed explosive tag, and we need to do whatever we can to limit the damage. Once I've finished talking to everyone who's aware of Naruto's bloodline, intend to call a meeting all Jōnin still present in Konoha for on how to deal with Orochimaru's presence."
Tenzō could only sigh as he stepped into the bar, both hands tucked into the pockets of his armored vest. The former ANBU was looking for a certain someone, someone he knew was enjoying this brief bit of time away from his students.
In fact, no sooner did he set foot in the establishment, did he notice the signature gravity-defying hair of one Hatake Kakashi. The silver-haired jōnin was seated at the bar, a bottle of sake sitting in front of him.
"That can't be healthy for you, Sempai," the Mokuton user stated plainly, sliding into the seat next to him.
Kakashi eyed his former subordinate. "Now, now. I've seen you partake before too, you know."
Tenzō smirked, shaking his head, "Only once in a while. And even then, I never drink more than it takes to just get a slight buzz." He paused. "You're really worried about them, aren't you?"
Kakashi considered denying it for a moment, then just sighed. "Aa. I wonder it was a smart choice, entering them in the Exams."
For his own part, Tenzō could only shrug in reply, flagging down the bartender to order a pot of tea, oolong, one cup. Pot and cup slid across the counter perhaps a minute and a half later, depositing themselves squarely in front of him. The Mokuton user smirked; now that took skill.
Holding the cup out before him with both hands, Tenzō felt the warmth of the drink seeping into them as he spent a moment in contemplation. "I think it was the right choice," he said finally. "As fast as they've all been growing, it was really only a matter of time. As they are now, any one of them could make it. Another year, or even just six months? All three, without a doubt. It's strange, but for some reason, I can't help but see those three as the next Sannin somehow – the old Sannin, before Orochimaru's betrayed the village and Tsunade-hime left it." He shrugged, "Who knows, maybe even greater than that."
His part spoken, Tenzō finally took a sip of his tea. Good stuff, that.
Next to him, Kakashi's thoughts drifted as his mind took in what his kōhai had just told him. Nothing but the truth. His whole team happened to be a rather extreme rarity, even for the ninja world: every last one of them possessing a Bloodline Limit, himself and Tenzō included. That made for an especially powerful setup.
But even more than blood, there was the raw potential. His team was fast developing a reputation as one that could not only learn, but apply that learning in ways few people could expect. Even Asuma had come to Kakashi after Team 10's encounter with Naruto and asked him flat-out, "Just what the hell are you teaching these kids, Kakashi?"
Kakashi at that particular moment could not have been prouder of them.
His lone visible eye softened at the thought. "Yeah. All three of them are one-of-a-kind."
Looking back on this conversation in the years to come, Kakashi would never so curse anything he had ever done, so much as that one statement.
An unexpected movement in their peripheral visions, and Tenzō and Kakashi turned to see a newcomer taking a seat three chairs away from them. What was more, neither of them recognized her, a point of mild interest for the two ex-ANBU. A woman, apparently around Kakashi's age or perhaps a bit older, with free-flowing, wine-red hair held up by a white and pink hairclip that clashed horrendously with the rest of her outfit. Not that the outfit was all that common, either: a black dress that came down to her mid-thighs, as well as a pair of tight-fitting shorts, clearly only for the sake of modesty.
She looked rather out of place, for the most part, (this being a shinobi bar , and all) – if not for the hitai-ate wrapped around her arm like an armband and the set of thin, concealed kunai strapped around her right thigh, the two of them might have mistaken her for a civilian. The symbol on her armband wasn't one they recognized, either, significant for the two ex-ANBU – a sun partially concealed by a crescent moon, like a stylized ideal of a solar eclipse.
That interest only increased when they heard the lady order a shot of hard liquor, straight, no ice – rum, they thought they hear her say. Clearly she must be upset about something, however her training would not allow her to show it visibly; to anyone else, she may as well have simply been there for a good time.
"Genjutsu specialist?" Tenzō wondered quietly, concealing the movement of his lips behind another sip. It really was good tea.
Kakashi nodded fractionally, pretending to be looking straight ahead as he fiddled with his own saucer. "Looks like. Don't even need the Sharingan to pick up the genjutsu on her arms, powerful ones at that. Probably multi-layered; give me a second to check." He made as if to take a drink, lowering his mask for a split second. "At least eleven layers on her arm; you'd need a serious genjutsu master, just to remove them."
Tenzō might have whistled at that, if not for that it would call attention to him. For this women to have that extent of layering over her, meant she was either extremely paranoid, or else really, really good at what she did.
Kakashi poured a refill of sake into his saucer. "Why do you think she's here?" he wondered idly.
"Has to be for the Exams," Tenzō replied, before taking another sip. "Don't get too many visits from unallied nations otherwise."
"True, true," Kakashi nodded absently.
Tenzō looked out from the corner of his eye, taking a closer look at the hairclip – cliché as it may sound, poisoned hairpins tended to be a favorite among kunoichi who specialized almost exclusively in genjutsu. There were exceptions, of course, but…
That was when he realized the fundamental mistake he and Kakashi had just made in their original analysis. That was no hairclip; that was an orchid mantis. And it was staring straight at them.
Oh, shit…
Then as if to confirm Tenzō's fears, the woman stood, turned, and smiled sweetly at the two of them. Even Kakashi tensed at that; far too sweet for that smile to ever be innocent. Even as she all but sashayed over, her hips swaying sensually as she moved to stand between them, that sense of impending doom only magnified, the closer she got. Both Jōnin shifted nervously toward the edges of their seats, ready to make a break for it, but that hope was dashed as she hung her arms around their necks.
"Checking me out, boys?" she smiled mischievously, perhaps overly so. "Should I be so flattered?"
"Uh, depends, I suppose," Kakashi suggested, his usual unflappable demeanor abandoning him in his time of need. "We were just appreciating your, uh…" He stopped, groping about blindly for the right words. There were some things a man could just appreciate about a woman, but damned if he would ever be suicidal enough to state that aloud.
"Oh, I know what you were doing," she cut in happily. "We are shinobi, after all; it's what we do." Then her expression abruptly reversed itself, the sudden, almost angry seriousness, a complete one-eighty from its previous playfulness. "I do not, however, like people's gazes fixing rudely onto certain parts of my body."
Tenzō blinked, briefly confused before he turned to look blankly at Kakashi, only to find the faintest traces of an embarrassed blush peeking out from underneath the Hatake's mask. Oh, not good… His sempai must have been sneaking a glance at the woman's generous bust while he had been analyzing those genjutsu on her arms.
Tenzō suppressed the urge to wince. This was not going to end well.
The woman turned to face Tenzō, "You, I'll spare." The former ANBU almost sagged with relief; some battles simply were not meant to be fought.
Then her gaze snapped back over to Kakashi. "You, on the other hand…" And with that, she suddenly grabbed his head , faster than even the former ANBU captain could react, and slammed it down onto the bar counter hard enough to leave a dent in the mahogany paneling.
And then suddenly, she was all the way back to smiling sweetly again. "Have a nice night, boys!"
Tenzō watched dumbfounded as she grabbed her shot-glass, drained its entire contents in one swallow, and then sauntered out of the bar with nary a single drunken sway in her movements. Wide-eyed, he turned to look at Kakashi, who was even now tenderly pinching his broken nose to staunch the blood flow.
Tenzō couldn't help but chuckle, much to Kakashi's dismay. "You really do have bad luck with women, don't you, sempai?"
"Shu' up," Kakashi growled – no, make that gurgled nasally.
Tenzō smiled, and probably would have said more, except that the doors to the bar suddenly burst open then, revealing a distraught, injured-looking, and heavily breathing Anko. Kakashi shivered, suddenly struck by the memory of the time Gai had gotten it into his head to see how many times he could sprint non-stop around Konoha before he collapsed from exhaustion – somehow, Anko actually looked worse than even that.
Every resident in the bar paused at the abrupt, and loud, entrance. All conversation cut off; the sudden silence afterward was all but deafening.
Those few who did not know who this woman was – Jōnin-sensei visiting from other villages, mostly, here for the Exams – wondered exactly that was, that she would burst in here like this. Those who did know her, however, were immediately on-edge as soon as they saw her bruised and battered state. What the hell could have happened, to have put Mitarashi Anko in such a state? And just how soon a warning did they have, now, before the excrement hit the rotor blades?
Gulping down air as she limped across the floor towards the two co-leaders of Team 7, "Kakashi. Tenzō," she panted, somehow looking deadly serious despite her obvious out-of-breath fatigue. "Hokage's office. NOW."
"Don't worry, sempai, she'll be alright," chirped the colorful little mantis happily as it scuttled down to perch on her shoulder.
On Jizenka was not so easily allayed, however. Even as she walked through the streets of Konoha, her mind was stuck on thoughts of her student… her niece. The Jōnin of Hakubogakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Twilight, had no one left to call family, save for that one girl. If something were to happen to Shizuka, Jizenka would never forgive herself.
"Come on, sempai! Cheer up!" the mantis urged, waving its scythe-like limbs about for emphasis.
Even through her worry, Jizenka could not help but smile at the bug's innocent enthusiasm. "Nemu, I have a lot of things on my mind." That smile shifted into a frown, "I can't help worrying about Shizuka; I'm… disturbed, at the last thing your aunt told me. Her match with that blond boy didn't end well. If only she wasn't so…" She halted, stumbling over the right word to use.
Several words could be used to describe Shizuka accurately, honestly. She was whimsical, bordering on reckless, actually – while that did not annoy Jizenka, per se, there had been moments. Shizuka was also stubborn and prideful when she wanted to be, a point Jizenka had done her best to try and beat out of her on several occasions, but with only limited success – the word "humble" just did not and would not exist in that girl's vocabulary. And then there was that vengeful streak of hers…
Jizenka had long come to accept there would always be that part of her twin sister's daughter that demanded vengeance for her father's death. But at the same time, she never seemed to be able to understand the cyclical nature of hatred – even if that boy was the son of the Yellow Flash, the man responsible for Tsusuka Retsu's death, what possible good would killing him do? What could ever be accomplished by revenge, except more death, more hatred, and even more revenge? Jizenka knew firsthand how difficult it was to let go of hatred, but as a shinobi, she was above all else a professional. Yes, Namikaze Minato had killed her sister and brother-in-law in battle, but never once had that ever been a personal act for the man. There was a war, and they were on opposite sides, and that was all there ever was to it.
Not that it mattered, in the end. Try as Jizenka might to reason with the girl, Shizuka angrily and adamantly refused to let the perceived slight of her father's death go.
"Sempai…" Nemu whined, jarring Jizenka out of her thoughts.
"Oh, sorry, Nemu! Just… thinking."
"It's okay." The little bug then snatched at a fly that approached too closely and quickly began to devour it. Jizenka rolled her eyes.
Mantises were an interesting summons to have, to say nothing of the benefits they brought to their summoner. The additional, high-level jutsu alone that they provided, made their contract one of the most coveted ones out there – nearly as much so as the famous Toad, Slug, and Snake contracts of the Legendary Sannin. That Jizenka herself even had this contract, she could freely attest was only because of the purest of luck.
She sighed. "I suppose we might as well go back to the hotel. I just hope your aunt has better news to bring us."
To ensure her niece actually to stay out from getting in over her head, Jizenka had sent a mantis to keep watch over the girl. The first report so far, however, had not been very promising; Shizuka may have found the blond boy she intended to kill, but their battle had been anything but the one-sided slaughter Shizuka had envisioned it to be. According to Kiku's report, the boy – Naruto, she thought it was; unusual name, that – himself had also turned out to have a Bloodline Limit unlike anything anyone had ever seen. As of that report, maybe half an hour after the battle, Shizuka still had yet to regain consciousness. In the meantime since then, Jizenka herself was doing her level best not to break out in a blind panic.
"Please, come back in one piece," the redhead murmured, even as she stepped into the hotel lobby.
Anko, Kakashi, and Tenzō stood at attention before the Hokage like soldiers readying for action. At the mere muttering of a command, they would be willing to give their lives for their village. Whatever the Hokage had to say, they would listen.
Unfortunately, they would not like the info he they were about to be given.
"Orochimaru knows of the Kyōkagan," Sarutobi stated without preamble. Pleasantries be damned, this was far too important to do anything but go straight to the heart of the matter.
As expected, both Kakashi's and Tenzō's eyes went wide. Already, thoughts of the potential consequences were racing through their minds. Even just the fact that Orochimaru had penetrated village security undetected was significant enough. But the knowledge that the traitor knew and was aware of Naruto's Bloodline Limit and the power it could potentially hold… Both men shivered involuntarily.
Then those expressions hardened into resolve. Over their dead bodies!
"He appears to have infiltrated the exams, under the guise of one of the genin applicants," Sarutobi explained bluntly. "We still aren't sure what his complete intentions are, but when Anko and Iruka-kun managed to engage him in combat—" Both jōnin blinked, and turned to view the woman in question; Anko looked normal enough on the surface, but they were both were far too experienced to miss the abject misery lurking just beneath her façade. "—Orochimaru apparently let slip his knowledge of the Kyōkagan, and that he had already encountered Naruto-kun in the Forest." Sarutobi shrugged, "Or not; my former student's belief in his own superiority has always been one of his biggest flaws.
"But regardless of reasons, our forces fought him, and if not for the unfortunately timely appearance of a traitor in our ranks, masquerading as one of our ANBU, we might even have been able to finish him. Both persons' whereabouts are currently unknown."
Kakashi and Tenzō both growled at that. A traitor. The one thing that those of Konoha truly hated above all else was traitors. To believe in the Will of Fire was to give your life for the safety of the village and its people; to betray that, was a blasphemy against everything that Konoha stood for.
"What are our orders, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi said tersely, all traces of apathy burned away to reveal the visage of a professional assassin and soldier.
"For now, nothing," the Third answered, just as short. "Until Orochimaru makes his next move, we cannot predict what his intentions might be. We do, however, know he now has an vested interest in Naruto-kun and his development; anything he might do will no doubt involve him. For that reason, I intend to have anyone with knowledge of the Kyōkagan keep watch over Naruto-kun, in case Orochimaru shows up."
"Um, Hokage-sama?" wondered Anko nervously. "Where are Iruka-kun and Jiraiya-sama?"
Tenzō blinked, "Jiraiya-sama is in the village?" That was… something of a surprise to the Mokuton user, actually. The Toad Sage was almost infamous for his reclusive (and perverted) behavior; the number of times he had visited Konoha in the last dozen years – ever since the death of the Fourth – could be counted on one hand, with fingers to spare.
"He is," the Hokage affirmed. "I managed to get him in town just before the exams started, however since our initial meeting, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him. I can only assume he's been staking out the women's bathhouses this whole time. I had hoped Iruka-kun might have been able to retrieve him before this meeting, but it seems my old student is still just as evasive as ever."
"Does he already know?" questioned Kakashi.
Sarutobi nodded, "He does. I told him, for certain… various reasons. It seemed he even had certain information about it already, although he was… less than forthcoming about what that information was."
"Oh, I'll make him forthcoming, alright…" Anko snarled, eyes narrowed at the thought of the white-haired pervert.
"But you are taking Naruto out of the exams, right?" Tenzō questioned.
"No," Sarutobi said bluntly. Both jōnin were shocked, gobsmacked at the Third's answer. "If I were to do that, Orochimaru might never come out of hiding. I loathe even the very idea of using one of our own genin as mere bait, but this is truly the greatest chance we've ever had to be able to defeat Orochimaru once and for all."
Privately, Tenzō could agree with the elder's reasoning – all parts of it. Even just the thought of using a child as bait to lure in a dangerous criminal made him sick to his stomach, but for something as important as this, the ends really would justify the means. And besides, it wasn't like he could go against his commander-in-chief's orders, anyway; such a concept was invariably known as treason.
"I understand, sir," he bowed solemnly. And hoped that history – and Naruto – would forgive him for the act.
Sarutobi gave them both a wan smile. " Good, you're all dismissed."
Naruto's crimson eyes blinked open. Groaning, he propped himself up on his elbows and tried to take in his surroundings. Why was he in a forest…? Oh, right; Chūnin Exams.
And then the memories of yesterday came rushing back with all the force of a cattle stampede. Naruto had to grit his teeth against the memories of the battles against Shizuka and that snake guy. And then again, against the memory of meeting the Kyūbi and Haku.
With an effort, he forced himself to unclench his jaw, and sighed. So far, this entire exam had been nothing but one big pain in the ass after another. He was really starting to regret signing that waiver now!
Sighing, and ignoring the powerful yet dull throbbing behind his eyeballs, Naruto slowly brought himself to standing upright, his vision clearing enough that he could properly look around now.
It was… rather surprising, actually, just how much damage he and Orochimaru had actually caused. Scorch marks, craters, shattered trees, the list just went on and on. And there was blood. Lots of blood. Probably his – he couldn't remember hitting that snake bastard hard enough to make him bleed that much, anyway.
Then he caught sight of Sasuke and Sakura. For a brief instant, Naruto panicked, realizing how close they would have been to being in the line of fire, and rushed over to their unconscious forms.
The first body he reached was Sasuke's. The Uchiha's normally immaculate appearance was now anything but; dirt had been ground into his skin and clothing, and the hair that all his fangirls seemed to all but swoon over (which Naruto always thought looked more like the back end of a duck, honestly) was festooned with leaves and a few twigs. Naruto fought back the urge to snicker; Sasuke always seemed to take a certain pride in his groomed appearance. If the bastard could only see himself now…
Then the amusement cut off like a switch. Amusing as the Uchiha's disheveled appearance was, that wasn't what worried Naruto. The fever and that nasty-looking bite would on his shoulder, were. What was worse, Sakura-chan seemed to have the exact same problem.
"What the hell did that bastard do to them?" he yelled, utterly uncaring of whoever might overhear.
Or ignorant, rather; the fact that the second test was still going on caught up with him then. The blond blanched, and then whipped his head around from side to side, frantically searching for anyone that might be in range. No one. He sighed, good.
Calmer now, the boy looked up, trying to determine what time it was from the available sky overhead. That's odd…
From the stars above, it looked like it must be the middle of the night, hours before dawn at least. Yet somehow, everything looked as bright as day to the blond.
It surprised him that no one had come across his team. To be out cold for so long… If someone determined to reduce the amount of competition had come along, nothing would have stopped them from slitting all three of their throats. Perhaps the massive amounts of chakra and jutsu from the battle had scared them all off? It would not have surprised him.
A split second's worry passed through Naruto's mind for Shizuka, but that was it. He may not have actually wanted to see her dead, but it was still very hard to be sympathetic for the person whose explicit goal was nothing more than your own cold-blooded murder.
On the other hand, that girl had all the tenacity of a goddamned cockroach – maybe she was alive, and maybe another team had gotten to her. Naruto didn't know, and after all that he had been through, he somehow couldn't find it in him to care, either. All he cared about right now, was getting his team to safety, and most emphatically not encountering the little psycho again.
Naruto let out a sigh at that. His team. The three of them needed shelter so they could recover, preferably well-hidden at that. Shizuka may have been… dealt with for now, but there was also Gaara to contend with. It being the middle of the night wouldn't mean a damned thing to an insomniac already gone completely crazy from sleep-deprivation.
For the first time in a long time, Naruto brought his fingers up in a familiar cross-shaped seal. A burst of chakra and a technique name later, four clones poofed into existence. Two for each of his teammates, one to carry their shoulders and torso, the other their feet and legs. The real Naruto, meanwhile, busied himself with gathering their surviving supplies.
The shelter Naruto eventually chose was hidden on the ground below, a depressed hollow underneath the base of a tree, practically a small cave by itself, that was concealed by the other trees around it. It did not go very far underground, but it was protected from the elements and, more importantly, defensible.
After securing his unconscious teammates in the farthest-back section of the hollow – Naruto had the strangest urge to call it a den, for some reason – the first thing he did was to set a probably unnecessarily large number of clones to building a detailed network of traps throughout the area. Once completed, each of the clones dissipated, rather than chance setting off some other clone's trap. Naruto blinked, suddenly finding himself with the memories and information of setting up each and every trap in the clearing, and how they corresponded to all the others – surprisingly, there weren't any significant gaps in the traps' coverage, either. He'd have to file that away for later use, the clones and how the traps interlaced their coverage like that; already thoughts for an all-new prank were bouncing around his mind.
The best trap, however, he saved for last, just outside the den itself: a minefield of exploding tags and various other assorted lethal goodies, guaranteed to ruin the day of anyone or anything stupid enough to enter the clearing.
With a sigh of relief, Naruto leaned back to recline against the wall of the entrance, conveniently concealed by one of the great tree roots. Forcing himself to un-tense, he scanned out across the clearing and beyond, his vermillion eyes almost luminescent in the darkness. So far, he hadn't sensed anyone nearby; a few animals, but nothing threatening enough, or close enough to setting off one of the traps, to warrant killing.
As much as he hated her for doing this to him, Naruto was thankful that the Kyūbi had at least been generous enough to leave him with enhanced senses. Even as dark out as it was, it may as well be midday for him, he could see so clearly. His hearing had been heightened as well – he could hear the water of a running brook, some unknown distance away, even through the much louder noises of the nightlife, and his nose might as well be as good as any Inuzuka's now. Still, beyond those and the massive increase in his chakra stores, Naruto wasn't sure what else the Kyūbi had "gifted" him with.
He heard the sound of a throat being cleared from behind him. He snorted; speak of the devil and you shall see her tails…
"What do you want?" he bit out, turning aside so he could see her. The humanized vixen was leaning forward on a root, her chin pillowed on her crossed arms before her.
"Oh, nothing," she singsonged, far too innocent to be in any way believable.
His jaw tightened angrily, but he forced himself to sigh and just drop it. Arguing with the bitch right now would just be a waste of his time. "Fine. How long until I can switch back to the Kyōkagan?" he questioned. That instant's pause in her expression made him smirk inwardly – huh, was he turning into Sasuke, now?
Then it was gone, smoothed over so fast that if he hadn't already been looking he would have missed it entirely. Followed by that infuriating smile. "Indeterminate." His jaw twitched – translation, Like hell I'm telling you!
"Tell me now, or I'm switching back immediately," he threatened. For all of her smugness, Naruto knew they both knew how tenuous the Kyūbi's hold over him really was.
And she knew he knew, too. Distasteful, but she really didn't have any choice. "Perhaps a week. Maybe a bit more."
Even then, he was not reassured – for all he knew, she may just be lying out her tailed ass, just so she could maintain dominance for as long as possible. Naruto may not have been the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but even he could see that she was out to keep him from using the Kyōkagan for as long as she could manage.
"What are you doing out of your kennel, anyway, bitch? I know you damn good and well you wouldn't come out just to see how I'm doing!"
If the vixen was insulted by her host's words, she gave no sign, merely clucked her tongue disapprovingly in that way that never failed to piss him off. "How very inconsiderate of you to badmouth your benefactor!" If not for that ever-present cryptic smile of hers, the Kyūbi might have actually looked offended at him. "Perhaps I should kiss you, to make you reconsider such words?"
"Nah, I'd rather play tonsil hockey with hungry sharks before that'll happen!"
"Now that's not very nice," she chastised, mock-hurt. Naruto only gave her a flat, level gaze in response. He figured her good mood must be from how he was using her chakra, thus giving her the foothold in his mind needed to be having this conversation.
"You know," Naruto began, feigning nonchalance as he leaned back against the hard earth wall, hands laced together behind his head, "the Kyōkagan's got some pretty kickass powers so far. Yours, on the other hand? Besides the better senses and maybe the bigger reserves…" He shrugged, as if it were of no consequence. "Well, so far I haven't been impressed, yet."
Incongruously, the Kyūbi giggled at that, "And here I was worried we actually might not come to that topic!" Naruto pursed his lips as she pushed herself upright to a standing position; well, at least now he knew what the hell she was doing here… "All the abilities I grant stem from unlimited chakra. Nothing on this entire planet can rival the power I wield. Even the other Tailed Beasts are as nothing, compared to me."
Smothering down the irritation he felt at her, Naruto slipped his hand free from behind his head and twirled it around in the air, as if bored and impatient with her little sermon, "Yeah, yeah, that's great and all, but what does that do for me?"
"If you would be quiet and not interrupt," her voice briefly hardened, flashing annoyance, "I'll tell you. First, you'll need to learn how to concentrate the chakra I've given you. Normally, I would probably say just try it, however this close to your little killing field—" Was it Naruto's imagination, or was there actually a note of wary respect in her tone just now? "I wouldn't really recommend it. Should you lose control of the power at all, it might probably set off all of this little collection of yours of flash papers. Assuming any of us even survive, well…" She shrugged negligently, as if the idea of being blown to bits was of no consequence to her, "Let's just say I would rather not have to regenerate your entire body almost from scratch, if I didn't have to."
Naruto… had no idea what to say to that, honestly. How would one respond to something like that? He shook it off then, and asked instead, "So what happens when I do compress it?"
The human-shaped vixen smiled slyly, "You create fire… or at least something roughly akin to it. Just as the process of condensation will turn vapor into water, my chakra, so compressed down upon, will begin to take on a more… fluid state. It will not remain that way, however, as for reasons even I have…" She grimaced, as if reluctant to admit it, "…never fully understood, on the slightest contact with air, such chakra bursts immediately into flames." She shrugged then, dismissing the oddity, "Fuel for the fire. Continue to feed my chakra to the flames, and they will continue to burn. Stop, and so will they, instantly. That is the most basic technique I will need you to learn. Once that is done, I'll be able to teach you more advanced abilities, but until then, you will need to learn the first step: compression."
Naruto took that moment to look down at his hands. Unmarked, undamaged, but he could easily envision them filled with flames. "So basically, once I do learn how to make this…" he halted briefly, trying to find a better term, "fuel chakra, I'll be able to learn all the other stuff?" he asked unsurely.
The redhead nodded. "Correct. My own powers might not be as… varied as the Kyōkagan," here it was a visible effort to keep from gnashing her teeth at the name of that detestable bloodline, "but they are powerful, nonetheless. Consider it a question of quality over quantity, if you wish," she smirked, the implied insult obvious.
Naruto grunted, sourly rubbing at the back of his head, "Still means I'm all the way back at square one, though."
"Oh, quit your whining, boy. I'm sure you'll come to… love my abilities," she leered. Then as if to emphasize her point, her eyes suddenly changed themselves – previously completely human-looking aside from their color, the pupils rapidly elongated to vertical slits, crimson irises lighting up to glow with chakra. And then she was gone, vanished as if she were never there to begin with. Naruto grimaced; perhaps she hadn't, at that…
He looked up, the deep blue of night beginning to give way to morning colors.
He had seen those bite marks on Sakura-chan and Sasuke's necks; he needed to make sure those got cleaned out so no infections could set in. On top of that, he also needed to take the Kyūbi's advice for once, and see if he could figure out how to concentrate her chakra down like she said. And he needed to figure out how to get two wounded teammates out of this forest, preferably without getting caught in the process.
He sighed; this was going to be a very long day. Benten-sama just had to be punishing him over making fun of the forest, back before the exam started, he just knew it. Forest of Death, indeed…
Casting one last look over his improvised minefield and knowing he needed sleep, Naruto trudged into the depths of the den, laying himself down perhaps an arm's length away from his unconscious teammates. Using one of the surviving backpacks as a makeshift pillow, Naruto tried to sleep as lightly as possible.
Since his meeting with the Hokage hours ago, Iruka had been on the search for the legendary Toad Sage.
Legendary, and apparently highly elusive as well. Iruka had already searched out all of the bathhouses, yet had found neither hide nor hair of the perverted Sannin. Although once that his sleep-deprived mind thought of it, perhaps that had been because it was so late at night; the bathhouses were all but deserted, save only those keeping odd hours. After that, he had abandoned the Third's suggested search parameters, and simply done it his own way: bioelectric tracking. Yet somehow, even that method was proving strangely fruitless; even now as the sun was beginning to peak above the horizon, Iruka had yet to locate his target.
Iruka sighed, about ready to give up ; he'd searched all night, and if he kept going any longer, he was probably either going to pass out in the middle of the street, or else start hallucinating. Yeah, sleep sounded pretty good, right about now, Jiraiya-sama could wait until tomorrow…
His mind made up, Iruka raised his eyes to look for a street sign. He was… about a dozen blocks from his apartment, not too bad. Eyes closed as he trudged along, only opening them every few steps to make sure he didn't run into anything or anyone, Iruka let his mind drift… Only to sense something – someone – its signature kind of like those of… toads?
His mental fatigue flashed away with the realization, it was him!… But, on the other side of Konoha, almost. Oh, who cares – Iruka leapt up onto a power line, crackling sparks spitting loudly out from beneath his feet as he rode along the electrified cable like a grind rail. The chill morning wind was bracing against his face as he shot along, too fast for the unenhanced eye to see anything other than a wake of deadly sparks.
Iruka didn't really to use this technique so much anymore, not since his own days as an inveterate prankster had come to an end. The Denshō no Jutsu was good for covering distances quickly in an urbanized area – useful for escaping authorities after a prank – but the electrical surges caused by its use usually tended to be far greater than most light bulb filaments in the immediate vicinity could handle. As an Academy teacher, he had an example to set for his students.
But he also had a duty assigned to him by the Hokage, his sense of propriety be damned.
Hopefully, at least, the ridiculously early hour would at least be able to keep the damage down to a minimum.
Already that brief thought had been time enough to close with his target, as close as the exposed power grid could bring him. Iruka flipped off the wire to land in a crouch on the empty street, the spray of sparks trailing behind him cutting off as well. Absently, he noted he was very close to Anko's apartment, but simply dismissed it as coincidence; in his mild state of sleep-deprivation, he had forgotten the type of man he had been sent to retrieve.
"You're loud," came a man's voice gruffly above him.
Iruka blinked, and looked up to see a white- haired old man crouching on a tree branch above. In his hands was a vaguely antique-looking spyglass, aimed at an open window ahead.
Curious in spite of himself, Iruka turned to see what he was looking at… and immediately whipped back around, face flaming at the sight of a topless Mitarashi Anko. Desperately hoping, praying his girlfriend hadn't just caught him ogling her like a piece of meat.
"If I had to venture a guess, I'd say you're Umino Iruka, of the clan formerly of Kirigakure," said the white-hair dryly, all without turning his attention away from sight before him.
For an brief instant, Iruka warred between impression at the Toad Sage's knowledge, and insult at the man's blatant indecency. "You're well-informed," he settled on saying, if perhaps a bit more acerbically than normal.
To which Jiraiya merely shrugged with complete nonchalance, "What can I say, it's my job."
Iruka frowned, but let the matter of the man's peeping drop. Kage-level ninja or not, Anko would kill him if she ever thought he believed her incapable of defending her own honor. "Hokage-sama wanted to meet with you last night, Jiraiya-sama," he stated. "I've just spent all night searching for you."
Only then did Jiraiya peel his eye away from his spyglass, collapsing it neatly as he dropped down from his branch.
"What's going on?" Jiraiya said, uncharacteristically serious. "If Sensei sent you to find me, it's got to be serious."
Iruka started, caught briefly off guard by the abrupt change in demeanor, but then plowed on ahead anyway. "Orochimaru knows about… It," he answered, refusing to refer to the Kyōkagan by name while there were still potential eavesdroppers around. A smart habit to follow, in a ninja village. "The Hokage intends to brief you on the situation."
Now it was Jiraiya who flinched, followed by a low muttered curse as he turned away. "Didn't expect the bastard to go traipsing through the second exam with the rest of the brats," he griped, more to himself than anything. "Looks like the old man and I are going to have to have a talk, after all."
"The situation is not a favorable one, no," Iruka agreed, a hand rubbing tiredly at the bridge of his nose.
Jiraiya snorted, "Didn't imagine it would be. No telling what that son-of-a-bitch'll do with knowledge like that!" He sighed, "So much for a relaxing vacation in Konoha…"
He turned to go, but all the same couldn't resist one last parting shot. "By the way… D'you enjoy the show?"
The residential district of Konoha found itself in the unusual position of being awakened by the sounds of striking thunder, yet without even so much as a cloud in the morning sky.
Naruto awoke groaning, feeling the most uncomfortable knots in his back. It felt as though he'd slept on a rock! Blearily, he half-staggered out of the den into the open air, arching backwards to some of the most painful-sounding pops. A few morning stretches, and it at least felt like his whole back wasn't going to cramp up on him any longer. With one last wide yawn, his hands came together in a familiar hand seal.
An exact copy of himself, the clone looked just as tired and grouchy as he himself felt. Too tired to bother with wordy instructions, Naruto just grunted, "Water. Think there's a stream back over that way," he jerked a thumb in the appropriate direction, where his hearing had picked up the sounds of such, late last night. "Don't set off the traps."
The clone nodded, grunting acknowledgement, and briefly retreating into the den for the empty canteens, carefully but quickly wove through the narrow gaps in the traps' coverage before hopping away into the trees. That done, Naruto lumbered back into cover again, a bit more surefooted now that he was waking up, and rummaged through his pack for a ration bar (while at the same time reminding himself to thank Tenten and her father for the pack).
He went through the motions pretty mechanically: break off the part of the bar held in his teeth, chew repeatedly, swallow. Not as good as ramen, not by a long shot, but it probably could have been a lot worse.
Belly full, or at least no longer growling, he made his way back to the entrance, waiting patiently for the clone to return.
It took a long time, long enough for the sun to have visibly moved across the sky. Naruto was beginning to wonder if the clone was even going to come back at all, when it suddenly hopped back into the clearing , multiple dripping-wet canteens of water hanging by the straps over its shoulders. Handing the arrangement back to its creator, the clone wordlessly dispelled itself right after, and Naruto flinched lightly as he was hit with the clone's memories.
Oh, so that was why the clone was taking so long! It hadn't been sure if the water was clean or not, so it had started a fire first to boil it! Well, that was smart; why didn't he think of that?
Wait, why would he need clean water? Unless… oh no.
Naruto shuddered, his gaze drawing itself towards his two fallen teammates; both of them were out cold, which meant… he had to be the one to take care of them until they woke up. Why him…? Another shudder – he obviously didn't want to do this, but he quashed that feeling pitilessly; if he didn't, then who would?
Making another pair of clones, one to assist him and the other to ensure he stuck to the task until was done, Naruto eased up Sasuke's body into a roughly sitting position in order to remove his shirt, and systematically began to clean out the various cuts and scratches the Uchiha had accumulated. All the while grumbling to himself – what the hell did all of those fangirls see in this jerk? It sure as hell wasn't any kind of buff upper body.
Flipping the Uchiha over now to get at the back, he froze at the sight of what was on the other boy's neck. Right next to what looked for all the world like a giant snake bite, two perfectly round and equally sized puncture wounds on the side of his neck, was a mark, almost like a tattoo, really, in the shape like some kind of warped version of the Mitsudomoe.
"What the hell?"
A horrified thought struck the boy then. Sasuke must have gotten this thing somehow while he was fighting that snake bastard. But Sakura-chan was fighting him too! What about her?
Practically dumping the Uchiha's body into his clone's arms, he rushed over to his other teammate and rolled her roughly over, scrubbing away at the dried and crusted blood on her neck. Oh no…
Sure enough, there was another mark on her neck as well, this one a trio of curved lines radiating out from a central point like a three-petaled flower, or a windmill.
"What did that bastard do to them?" he yelled aloud. Only to freeze, horrified, as another, related thought struck him.
He'd cleaned off Sasuke's body, but Sakura still it as well. Which meant… he was going to have to take off her dress!
Forgive me, Sakura-chan! he prayed, clapping his hands together twice – before steeling himself and doing what needed to be done.
Jiraiya was not happy, even less so now than when he had entered Konoha. Orochimaru knew, and was now targeting Naruto. No other choices left now; Jiraiya had to step up now for his grandson's safety.
"I'm going to train him," was all he said to the Third Hokage.
Sarutobi smiled knowingly. "I had a feeling you were going to say that. Will the month's break before the third Exam be sufficient?"
The last loyal Sannin smiled back, the expression near-identical. "Gladly."
"What are your intentions?" the Third wondered.
Jiraiya's smile slipped, turning into a frown. "First thing he needs to learn is to not rely on the Kyūbi or the Kyōkagan. Both are extremely detrimental after long-term use. The Seal is designed to slowly break down and filter the Kyūbi's chakra into Naruto's coils, but repeated constant usage of the raw stuff will only wear it down and erode it after enough times. Same damn thing for the Kyōkagan, too – all that warping around, actually changing his own body and organs to match the Limits he's copied? You don't need to be a genius to know what that'll eventually do to someone's mind and sanity if it's overused.
"He needs to learn how to maintain a balance between the two of them constantly. Play one off the other," Jiraiya mused, his eyes far-off as if looking into the distance. "I'm thinking of letting him sign the Toad contract; that should do the job."
Sarutobi hmmed. He spent the time Jiraiya was speaking to fill his pipe with his preferred blend of tobacco and herbs. He lit the mixture with a long-stemmed match; why waste chakra on such a trivial thing?
Sarutobi spent a few puffs getting into the feel of his smoke, before turning back to the matter at hand. "You never did tell me how you know so much of the Kyōkagan, you know," he mused, the smoke forming a ring in front of him as he spoke.
"Believe it or not, I heard about it in Iwagakure," the Sannin answered, leaning forward a bit, as if confiding in the old man. "Not much more than legends, really, but if you look at it from a modern-day perspective, it actually makes a lot more sense."
Jiraiya knew all about that – for the sake of prophecy, he had trained someone who had actually had the Rinnegan , of all things! Jiraiya knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, just how much merit that old bedtime story actually possessed.
"I see," Sarutobi frown, another small cloud of smoke exhaled with the admission. "Would you tell me about it?"
Jiraiya frowned, "Maybe later. Right now, I'm just more worried about Naruto than anything else."
"Yes," Sarutobi emphatically agreed. " Orochimaru won't dare come near him if he knew you were with him; ego aside, he knows the two of you are still too well matched. Except you and I both know there are ways around even that. I can't help but wonder what his real intentions are."
"Not good, I can tell you that much right now," Jiraiya stated flatly, cutting an arm across his chest with a frown at thoughts of the traitor. "I don't think Naruto was his original target, however."
Sarutobi nodded, eyes closed in thought. "That's what I suspect as well. Naruto-kun was simply a target of opportunity, pure chance. I believe his intended target was likely someone else on Kakashi's team – he wouldn't have bothered even coming close to them otherwise, much less attack them."
"The Uchiha," Jiraiya stated with surety. "Orochimaru always was obsessed with learning all the jutsu in the world – what better way to do that, than having your own Sharingan at your beck and call?" Though that still didn't really make any sense, either – why would Orochimaru risk the possibility of the Uchiha becoming stronger than him? Was he planning on transplanting the Sharingan into his own head, somehow?
Sarutobi nodded, "I agree. The level of secrecy around Sakura's Limit and how it came about is nearly that of Naruto-kun's. It's also not really something Orochimaru would go out of his way for, either – useful and powerful, certainly, but not worth outright invading the village over. No, Uchiha Sasuke as the target is really the only thing that makes any sense."
"So the only question left is: what does he plan to do with him afterwards? Or with Naruto?" Jiraiya said, rubbing tiredly at his forehead. Spymaster or not, all this intrigue was giving him a headache.
To which Sarutobi merely shrugged helplessly, "Only time will tell, I suppose. In the meantime, all we can do is plan, and prepare. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long before we find out."
"Dammit," blond cursed as he wrung out the wet cloth before placing it gingerly on Sakura's forehead.
Hours after he had awakened, the two of them had developed high fevers, to Naruto's both annoyance and worry. Since then, all of his attention span was simply focused on making sure the both of them stayed alive. Whimpers would emanate out from one or the other, every so often, though whether it was out of pain or a nightmare, Naruto wasn't sure.
Luckily Sakura had had on a sports bra and shorts under her dress when Naruto had made to clean her off. Hopefully in that case, her anger should be stayed enough that she wouldn't outright murder Naruto once she inevitably found out. Pummel him into unconsciousness, maybe, but not kill.
He hoped.
"You should probably let them be for the moment," a sudden voice suggested sultrily behind him.
Naruto grit his teeth, already irritated beyond words by his bitch of a tenant's refusal to stay back in her cage where she belonged. Though damned if he was going to let her have the satisfaction of seeing that.
"Would you mind going away? Like, for the rest of my life?" he bit out, even though he probably already knew what her comeback was going to be. He turned to see her lounging on a tree root above him, one shoeless foot swinging slightly back and forth as it hung there. Her gaze was actually up into the sky, hands laced behind her head as if she had no care in the world.
As expected, her response was to pout, as if her feelings had actually been hurt by his rejection, "Aww, you sound as though you actually don't want me around." Then that pout reversed itself, becoming a sly – and frankly, more than a little cruel – smile. "It was merely a suggestion, anyway. You need to train in the use of my powers – and I doubt there is much more you can do for your companions than you have already done. As you are now, the thought of what someone like Gaara would do us, should he decide to come out to play, is not a particularly pleasant one."
Naruto scowled. "Fine," he spat, "you have a point. Would you just go, already?"
The Kyūbi's response was to disappear as "asked", but not before giving one of those insufferable smirks of hers. Already Naruto knew she would only be just below the surface, ready and waiting for any other chance she could get to make herself known. He huffed; the she-fox was just as bad as a little kid who wanted nothing but attention.
But nevertheless, she did still have a point, much as it galled him to admit. With both of his teammates down for the count, it fell to him by default to be the one to protect all of them. He didn't really have any choice, but to practice these newfound powers she had been given.
With the utmost reluctance, he stood and, leaving another clone of himself to keep watch over his teammates, left both the hollow and the clearing. By now, navigating the narrow gaps in his traps' coverage was easy, almost second nature.
Now that he thought of it, hadn't he copied some kind of wind jutsu from Orochimaru when they'd fought? So while he was at it, now seemed as good a time as any to test it out.
It took longer than he thought to reach the stream his clone had retrieved the water from – huh, maybe his hearing really was that badass, if he managed to hear it from so far away last night. No one was around, or even close to him, if what his hearing and sense of smell told him. Still, if he happened to run into anybody who did turn out to be hostile, he could simply lead them back into all the traps he'd set up. A Jōnin might be able to find his way through all of them without getting seriously hurt, but a Genin? No way!
"And now that we're here," came that smug voice from somewhere in back of his mind, "try releasing the chakra I've given you. Not too much, mind; we don't want any other teams cluing into where we are, thinking to find easy prey."
Naruto looked, but for once did not see the stupid furball manifesting herself outside of his subconscious.
"Yeah, whatever…" her muttered, just releasing the chakra as told.
It surprised him to discover just how intense it was. Just a drop in the bucket to what he could feel he was truly capable of, but compared to what he had had before he had discovered the Kyōkagan, this had to be at least three times as powerful.
It felt kind of like those times when he had pushed himself too far during taijutsu practice in the Academy, actually, that burning feeling you get in every corner and crevice of your body when your muscles just can't go any farther without rest – only less pleasant than that. He wasn't really sure he liked that feeling.
"Alright, that's a good start," the Kyūbi instructed. "Now what you need to do is…"
Kabuto sensed far more than heard or saw the arrival of his master. Sure enough, Orochimaru had appeared, crouched slightly on the balls of his feet as though he had just landed in from a Shunshin.
"Feeling better, Orochimaru-sama?" the silver-haired traitor and spy questioned. "Your fight with Umino Iruka was quite the show – your chakra reserves were all but empty at the end of that."
Both stood on the outer edge of the Forest, well away from any prying eyes or accidental discoveries. Night had once again fallen, making it even further difficult to discover them or to track their movements.
"My time in Konoha has been most… informative," Orochimaru grinned oilily. "I originally only entered this farce of an exam in order to provide Sasuke-kun with my mark, only to find an even more wondrous treasure. It seems Naruto-kun is even more spectacular than either of us could have ever predicted, or even envisioned. Of course, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan have their own uses, as well."
"They would make some good additions to your elite guard," Kabuto mused agreeingly. "Although I rather doubt Tayuya or the twins would necessarily say the same," he smirked. Those would be the most likely two to be phased out, in membership for the Sound Five. (Four, four, he corrected himself – Kimimaro may ever be in danger of having his position taken from him, but the state he remained in now made him utterly useless for anything Orochimaru-sama wished accomplished.)
"No, membership in that group would actually be a waste of their potential talents," Orochimaru disagreed, amiably but thoughtfully. " They are obsolete, yes, but should something actually happen to Naruto-kun that I can't move to his body, they would make for a good choice of backup containers. Although they would make fine soldiers for me, certainly."
Orochimaru felt almost giddy with the possibilities. His dream to learn all the jutsu in the world could actually truly take place now. Not just jutsu, but Bloodline Limit techniques as well! Nothing would be beyond his grasp!
"Still, nevertheless," he said finally, forcing himself to abandon that pleasant daydream in favor of more immediate concerns, "I cannot help but wonder what might have happened if I had put one of my marks on him. Would Naruto-kun's Limit have reacted to it, or vise versa? What would have happened? For all even I know, I might have even ended up ruining it altogether if I had."
Kabuto nodded, shifting his glasses with a thoughtful look. "Indeed. Transcendent Bloodline Limits are rare, information on them ever rarer. If their numbers weren't so scarcely limited throughout history, we might actually be able to understand them better."
"Which is why we need to approach this carefully," Orochimaru agreed. "One wrong move and we could ruin this entire chance. If it had been any Limit other than one of the Great Three, I might actually be willing to run experiments on it…" he muttered offhandedly.
Kabuto blinked, and then a sly smile creeped out onto his face as a piece of information he had soused out suddenly came to mind. Quickly, he reached into his pockets for his info cards. Quickly searching through them, he eventually retrieved one particular card. its revealed data about a girl Orochimaru had not seen before.
"Well, I realize this person isn't Naruto-kun, nevertheless there are some interesting abilities this girl has that you might like to know about," the spy smirked, handing the card over to his master.
Intrigued, Orochimaru glanced through the data quickly, his curious expression gradually giving way to a particularly gleeful sneer. "Yes, this should be entertaining, at that."
Shizuka slowly staggered through the wilderness, her arm clutched in pain. She stumbled as her leaden feet tripped over a root, collapsing to the ground with a startled yelp and a stifled cry of pain. This pain might be tolerable for a regular person, but the hyper-sensitive nervous system the Genzōme had afforded her only amplified that sensation to agonizing levels. Even just the natural ache of tired muscles felt more like acid trying to dissolve her from the inside out.
"D-dammit," she gasped, trying to push herself up, only for her arm to give out. The pain as she impacted the soft earth was excruciating; it took all she had, not to scream.
She refused to let it stop her, rolling herself over onto her back slowly over an eternity that probably only lasted a handful of seconds. Vision swimming with pain she stared up into the starry sky, pearlescent eyes easily making out every detail that would have otherwise been obscured by the darkness. One advantage to the Genzōme, at least: Shizuka never had to worry about the possibility of night-blindness.
She wanted to die; yes, dying would be good right about now. If she had known that blond bastard had been holding back that kind of power, she would have prepared a whole lot better beforehand. A tactical error… no, an outright blunder that had almost cost her, her life.
But even so, she was beginning to realize she would never be strong enough to fight the boy head-on; the Genzōme simply just wasn't meant for that. Out of all three Great Dōjutsu, the Genzōme was physically the weakest – a fact that Shizuka had no choice now but to accept.
The Rinnegan and Kyōkagan were beatdown Limits, designed to level whole battlefields with the right ninjutsu. By comparison, the Genzōme was more like a tactical Limit, exploiting the opponents and the battlefield to their fullest possible extent.
Shizuka had been outmatched in that fight from start to finish. She had been goaded into conditions counter to everything she needed to win – whether by that blond bastard or her own anger, it didn't matter. She wouldn't be making that same mistake again.
A sudden, mocking laughter brought her abruptly out of her thoughts as it echoed throughout the trees. "Well, well now, what do we have here?" it wondered creepily, chills running up and down Shizuka's spine .
Shizuka pulled herself upright, as quickly as her battered body would allow, peering everywhere with her rainbow-colored eyes. Her first thought was a genjutsu, but threw out that idea almost immediately: the Genzōme would have effortlessly seen through it. Someone was present – and Shizuka was quickly becoming very tired of her surroundings.
"Are you afraid?" the voice jeered.
Truth be told, she actually was. She wasn't ready for another fight, so soon after her last one, and she knew it. Everything hurt too much, and her chakra stores were almost dangerously low; as she was now, even an ordinary genin team stood far too good a chance of being able to kill her, for her peace of mind. Much less someone as obviously skilled as she was beginning to suspect this was.
But damned if she was going to let him know that. "Oh?" she sneered, hand on hip, her voice sounding much more confident than she actually felt. "And what makes you say that?"
"By the way you're shivering," the voice answered simply, smug amusement in its tone. "Like prey pinned under the gaze of a predator. Will you beg for your life too, like so many others have?"
Shizuka scowled and dropped the confident act, none too pleased with that condescending tone. Now she was just pissed off. "Screw you, bastard," she spat.
She thought she had cast aside those weak emotions a long time ago – fear, pity, compassion, love… All they had ever dome was to hold her back, to keep her from becoming strong. Better to throw them out with the rest of the trash of her old self, so that nothing could stand in her way.
But then that blond bastard had had to go and change everything. The old fears Shizuka had thought she had discarded had come back again, fighting against the power of that other Transcendental Bloodline Limit. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of him… Those feelings had crippled her, just as much as her injuries. Dammit, she did not want to live like this! She wouldn't!
"My, my," a voice whispered, slithering quietly into her ear from right behind her. "Aren't we the little rebellious one?".
Shizuka spun around with knife drawn, but her hand was caught before she could strike her stalker with it. The sight of that pale-skinned hand gripping her arm made her start, and a glance upward, to the nin's face made her own face pale and her blood run cold.
Orochimaru. Formerly one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, and now one of the deadliest and most infamous traitors and missing-nin on the face of the continent. Shizuka suddenly could not help but wonder if she was even going to come out of this alive.
"I happen to have a use for you," the would-be snake smiled oilily. "You see, I happen to have this experimental seal I'm working on, and I'm curious as to how it reacts with one of the Transcendental Bloodline Limits. Naruto-kun would have been my first choice, but sadly, I'm more than a little concerned for what that might do to the Kyōkagan. Fortunately for me, you're here instead."
All the remaining color in Shizuka's face fled completely at that, and her struggling increased desperately. Half-accidentally, her eyes locked with his, and Orochimaru abruptly let go of her, startled and surprised as a box formed around him on all four sides, pinned in place and unable to move.
Shizuka gasped in comingled terror and relief; she hadn't meant to fire off that illusion, but it had probably just saved her life nonetheless. She couldn't just let the man go, though, not now that he had flat-out admitted to be targeting her. The only chance she had now would be to kill him before he did whatever it was he was planning with her. Her mind made up, Shizuka reacted into herself for concentration, and an array of swords formed out of the air, surrounding the entrapping box on all sides.
"Genzō Yonka: Muzan no Gunka," she called out. With that mental command, all swords instantly shot forth, impaling the box so that not one square inch of its surface was spared…
But no scream. Illusion or not; his body should have just felt as though it had been run through by a hundred and more blades at once; why weren't there any screams? Shizuka dispelled the illusion immediately, expecting to find a bleeding corpse filled with stab wounds. Instead, all she found was a pile of lifeless mud. She curse, spinning around as she desperately tried to find her attacker. Had that one always been an Earth Clone, or had he replaced himself out with it so fast, even she hadn't been able to follow it?
"Such ruthlessness," Orochimaru's voice chuckled approvingly. Even more chills up surged Shizuka's spine at that; she'd just tried to turn him into ground meat, and he was praising her for it? "So much potential in you, I can see, more than any others of these pathetic genin in this equally pathetic wargame."
A hand suddenly reached out and gripped Shizuka's blood-smeared arm from behind, twisting it behind her back as she yelped from the pain. A kunai flashed out before she could react, burying itself in the flesh of her other arm; Shizuka bit down, slamming her teeth and jaw shut to keep from screaming out loud. Streaks of blackness shot through her vision as she fought to keep from blacking out.
"And yet…" that mocking voice told her, "You still lack so much."
Fangs bit into her neck and shoulder, white-hot burning surging through her.
And then there was only screaming.
Kill Joy no Jutsu (A.K.A. Author's Note): Yes, another chapter! I'm officially off hiatus now. Writing this, I've built up momentum that I hope lasts me for a while. So there should be a lot writing now.
Okay, the plot is moving along once more. The last chapter was more of a filler (admit it, though, you loved the battle) as I was having issues with time and didn't feel like going deep into the plot, though I did plan for an Iruka/Orochimaru fight for a long time. The next chapters should keep the story going.
We're coming close to the prelims of the Chūnin Exams, which will lead to some interesting developments. Naruto is going to be without the Kyōkagan for a while, Sasuke has gotten the Cursed Seal of Heaven, and Sakura now has the Cursed Seal of Earth. This is going to be good. I think I'll keep the matches the same for the most part, but you never know if I decide to change things up.
Shizuka's fate will be revealed in the next chapter.
I have two new techniques here today, so here's the…
Forbidden Scroll of Techniques:
Denshō no Jutsu 「電乗の術」– Electric Rider Technique
Ninjutsu – C-Rank, Clan Technique
An original Hyakurai technique created by Umino Iruka during his youth, which uses electromagnetism to adhere one's feet to a metallic surface, essentially an electricity-based version of the basic tree- and water-walking chakra exercises. Due to the relative scarcity of metal being used as an outer construction material, typically the technique is restricted to use on telephone and power lines, where electricity's natural tendency to flow in a single direction causes the user to be drawn along as well in the direction of the electric current.
However, because electrons flow at speeds far faster than the human body can safely manage, the user is simultaneously forced to create an electromagnetic "drag" upon themselves, slowing themselves down to a much safer and more easily controlled speed. This drag effect usually manifests in the form of large sparks spraying out from the user's point(s) of contact with the electrified wire, as well as fluctuations in the electrical current – surges – that can and often will overload any active electrical devices within range of the user (roughly about 6 meters/20 feet); light bulbs, especially, are most susceptible to this.
Originally created as a quick means of escape after being caught during his pranks, since becoming a teacher at the Ninja Academy, Iruka has chosen not to use this technique any longer unless absolutely necessary, as the property damage often caused in the wake of this technique – burns caused by the electrical sparks, damaged electrical appliances and exploded light bulbs within homes – contradicts the example that he tries to set for his students.
Genzō Yonka: Muzan no Gunka「幻像四歌・無残の軍歌」– Illusory Four Songs: War Song of Tragedy
Genjutsu – Low S-Class
The first and weakest of a series of illusory techniques created by the famed On Jizenka, this attack is as much a battle strategy as it is an actual technique.
The key to its success lies in the act of slowly stripping away the opponent's ability to fight, restricting their senses through a combination of taijutsu, genjutsu, and, if available, assorted traps, while at the same time herding the opponent into a certain position. Once this state has been achieved, the opponent maneuvered into a position where they are left unable to resist, the attack then culminates in a powerful coup-de-grâce that most often results in the complete burnout of the opponent's synaptic pathways; even if death does not occur instantaneously, the opponent is still left in a near-permanent vegetative state, incapable of anything more than the most unconscious of actions such as breathing, and thus unable to defend themselves should the user decide to finish the job.
It should be noted, however, that this technique also poses significant risk to the user as well. Because of the ever-changing circumstances by which the genjutsu can be used to restrict the opponent's senses, mental flexibility on the user's part and the ability to multitask is absolutely paramount, lest they run the risk of capturing themselves within the technique as well, and thus suffering the same physiologically detrimental effects as the opponent. For that reason, this technique is most often used in single combat only, where the variables to have to account for are significantly less, however especially skilled users at this technique have been known to be able to eliminate whole squads of ninja simultaneously.
Shizuka's possession of the Genzōme, however, makes her a rare exception to these weaknesses. Because of the heightened perception, granted to her by that Transcendental Bloodline Limit, as well as the ability to cast genjutsu using nothing more than eye contact, she is in the unique position where most of the dangers inherent in this technique – the chance of having to divide one's attention too many ways, as well as constantly having to cast and alter genjutsu on the fly – are not in fact a threat to her. It is still possible for her to fall prey to those same dangers, however the chances of actually doing so have been significantly lessened.
