Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto
Chapter 31: Final preparations
Hanabi Hyuuga, first-year academy student and best pupil in the class, was currently experiencing an unfamiliar emotion: She was bored out of her mind. Iruka-sensei prattled on and on about subjects she had already learned from the books or her clan, completely failing to hold her attention. Not that anyone was able to see it; she was very good at faking an attentive exterior. Her big sister had been absolutely right about Iruka-sensei's teaching methods. It wasn't as if the man was an outright bad teacher; he was just very dull and the learning material wasn't really challenging enough for someone who had prior education like her.
The young Hyuuga had been trained and tutored by her clan as long as she could remember. As soon as she mastered an exercise or learned a piece of knowledge her teachers had moved on. Here in the academy it didn't really matter how fast she learned; the lessons kept their standard pace. Well, Mizuki-sensei had been nice enough to give her some additional pointers and learning material, but that didn't help with her real problem, namely suffering through extended lectures that couldn't teach her anything.
The short break between lessons brought only short-lived relief; the second half of the morning and the afternoon were still looming before her. At least there would be some practical exercises after lunch. Far too soon for her peace of mind it was back to lectures about basic chakra theory and other beginner subjects. Hanabi had to forcibly suppress a groan when they once again covered the hand seals she had already learned years ago.
'It wasn't this bad before. The lessons were the same, but I wasn't this bored. What changed?'
Suddenly she realized what was different to before: Konohamaru wasn't causing problems. Ever since the first few weeks of the academy she had been busy stopping Konohamaru from acting out. It had almost been a full-time job. Since she was at the top of her class she had been given some limited leadership duties by their teachers and was allowed to leave the academy and track Konohamaru down if he skipped class. The boy seemed to only want to play pranks, skip class and ineffectively attack his grandfather despite his stated ambition of becoming Hokage. It had been an incredibly frustrating task at first, but after a while she had managed dragging him back to class, preventing him from goofing off and getting him to do his homework more often than not. Now though he seemed to listen attentively to the lecture. It was a somewhat disconcerting change.
Hanabi tried to remember when his behavior changed. 'He hasn't been the same since about two weeks ago. I didn't realize it at first because classes were suspended for a while. Did I finally succeed in making him take his training seriously?'
She had almost given up on that task, but she didn't see any other explanation. Considering that he had shown no signs of improvement for a long time such a sudden change was extremely suspicious, though. More worrisome was that Hanabi actually missed keeping him in line. Constantly having to keep an eye on him had been troublesome, but it had prevented utter boredom from setting in. Had she actually enjoyed chasing Konohamaru down?
'Surely not. And yet…'
Her thoughts circled around the issue without coming to a conclusion. At least it distracted her from the boring lecture and lunch break arrived far sooner than expected. The young Hyuuga was peacefully eating her lunch in the shadow of a tree when the subject of her thoughts approached her with a somewhat hesitant expression on his face.
"Hey Hanabi. Can I ask you something?" Konohamaru asked.
"Hello Konohamaru. What do you want?"
The boy was about to answer when he stopped and a look of realization spread over his face. "You're calling me by name!" he shouted.
Hanabi's expression became slightly annoyed, but her composure didn't crack yet. "I always call you by your name, Konohamaru. I have been doing that since we started at the academy. Are you deaf or brain-damaged? Of course, if you prefer dobe, idiot or dead-last I will be happy to oblige."
Konohamaru waved wildly with his arms. "No, no, no. I just never noticed."
This time Hanabi couldn't prevent herself from rolling her eyes. "Really. With an attention capacity like that you will never become a shinobi. You never paid attention to the lessons either."
An expression of anger briefly flittered over Konohamaru's features before it was replaced by an embarrassed one. The boy hesitated for a moment. "I know. That's actually why I'm here. I wanted to ask you if you could help me catch up." The last part came out in a single rush and Hanabi had trouble separating the individual words.
For a moment nothing happened, but then realization about what the boy had said set in and Hanabi's mouth dropped open. Konohamaru, class clown and notorious trouble maker was asking her for help in matters of education? The world must be coming to its end.
"Are you serious?" she finally asked.
"Very." Konohamaru replied before he scratched his head sheepishly. "I realized that what I've been doing was stupid. I already missed so much and need help catching up. Udon and Moegi have problems of their own and aren't really good enough to help me."
"And you thought that I would be the right person to help you, being the best in class?"
"Well, yeah." He appeared to struggle with himself for a moment. "Will you please help me, Hanabi?"
For a moment Hanabi was tempted to let him struggle for while longer and make him grovel some more, but she thought better of it. This was what she had been trying to achieve ever since Mizuki-sensei had given her the task. If Konohamaru had a genuine change of heart she wasn't about to do anything to endanger it.
"Okay. You are better serious about this, though. If I catch you goofing off or wasting my time I will juuken you so hard that you will be paralyzed for days. Do you understand me?"
Konohamaru gulped. "Sure. Thanks."
Hanabi was in a very good mood when she returned to her home this day. She had tried for months and now she had finally succeeded. One thing that kept niggling at the back of her mind was the question what had caused Konohamaru to change his ways. In spite of constantly reassuring herself that her efforts were the reason Hanabi couldn't suppress the unfortunate doubt that she had precious little to do with Konohamaru's change in behavior.
Shibi, head of the Aburame clan, watched impassively as two men and two women wearing dark glasses sat down around a large table in a room deep in the Aburame compound.
"Before we begin I would like for you to give us an update on our guest's status, dear." he addressed the blond woman at his side.
His wife, the by far younger of the two females present, nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Kin's health is improving. She has regained almost her entire mobility and will be completely recovered in about six days. During her entire stay she has proven cooperative. All of our tests show that she is sincere about her wish to defect and is telling us the truth as far as she knows it. The Yamanaka mind walker we consulted concurs. We have concluded the interrogation sessions yesterday. Kin will be allowed limited freedom inside the compound, but will not be allowed to leave."
"Who was the Yamanaka?" Elder Shikoru asked. While he had been informed about the generalities the old man wasn't aware of all the details yet.
"Inoichi's daughter Ino. Shino considers her a trustworthy friend. Neither her father nor clan is aware of her involvement; the favor is owed to her personally." Shibi replied. "Despite her young age she is already very accomplished in her clan's mind arts. My son's connections have once again proven useful."
The three elders nodded. All of them were aware of Shino's circle of friends. They had supported Shino's involvement with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki from the beginning and done their utmost to deflect anyone else's attention. After their enormous casualties in the third shinobi war the Aburame had lost a lot of influence and were on the brink of losing their status as a great clan. Anything that could help them re-establish their position was acceptable. Years ago they had secretly allied with Danzo Shimura and sent Shikoru's son Torune to serve in the old councilor's secret organization ROOT (and spy for the clan), but the arrangement had proven far less profitable than expected. The man gave them only crumbs instead of true influence in return and the clan leadership only continued the alliance because of a lack of other options.
It had been early in the academy education that Shibi had prodded Shino into approaching people who took their training very seriously and might offer useful political connections in the future. His son had chosen Choji Akimichi and surprisingly Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Many had opposed Shibi's decision to allow that friendship, but more and more of those voices had become silent when it became evident what a boon it was as the energetic blond boy added more clan heirs to his circle of friends: Akimichi, Aburame and Kurama were joined by Hyuuga and finally Yamanaka. A deep friendship at such an early age would lay the foundation for a close alliance in the future. The five clan heirs supported by the power of a jinchuuriki would be a force to be reckoned with, both in combat and the political arena. Shibi was well aware that his son was a solitary person who didn't make friends easily. He would never have been able to do it on his own.
When Shino asked him to pull a few strings to appoint their teacher Mizuki as supervisor for a study group consisting of his friends he had been happy to oblige. Shibi had been even happier when his son's skills had soared even more thanks to the group. Naruto's determination drew the children along with him into a very ambitious training regime and apparently Mizuki was a very good teacher if he didn't have to stick to the standard academy curriculum. Normally such an exclusive group would have drawn a lot of unwanted attention, but thankfully everyone concentrated on the last Uchiha. The Hokage was too busy to pay more than token attention to the jinchuuriki, the Kurama heiress was an orphan without any remaining relations who could keep watch over her and the Hyuuga seemed to try to ignore Hinata. Inoichi saw his daughter more like a civilian child than a serious kunoichi-in-training. It was virtually certain the Akimichi suspected that there was more going on than a simple group of friends spending time together, but Choza had never mentioned anything and tried to keep it quiet.
Shibi knew that Konoha was suffering a long-term decline even if the vast majority of the villagers didn't realize it and would most likely be unwilling to accept it. He was the one who had passed certain classified information to Shino during the children's 'Grand Investigation' to create some awareness of the problems among the young generation, although he had to admit what the kids had found had exceeded what he had known and expected by far. It was surprising what a group of determined children could dig up, especially if all the children belonged to the leading families of Konoha. Their plan to get into important positions and work from there to turn the village around was certainly ambitious; ambitious, but possible.
The Aburame clan head gave it perhaps an even chance of succeeding. The forces who currently controlled the village wouldn't simply give up; the Hokage chief among them.
The civilians stood firmly behind the Hokage as did the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka, even if it seemed during the last years that Choza was slowly distancing himself from his policies. Shikaku's relationship with the Hokage was strained since the Wave affair, but it didn't yet noticeably influence their political alliance. Inoichi was a staunch supporter of the Hokage. The Hyuuga and Inuzaka were in opposition, but Hiashi was always too occupied with internal power struggles to assert much influence in the village and Tsume didn't have enough clout on her own. Danzo was unwilling to actually go against the Hokage while Homura and Koharu were completely overshadowed by either him or the Hokage. The department heads and jonin mostly followed the Hokage's lead. As long as Hiruzen held power Shibi saw no way for the urgently needed more martial policy to gain sufficient supporters. He wasn't about to publically fight a losing battle and squander what diminished influence remained. Consequently, Shibi had kept quiet about his leanings. He doubted anyone realized what views he held.
Shaking off his thoughts, Shibi continued his speech. "Now to the information Kin was able to give us. It is clear from the available evidence that Orochimaru plans to attack Konoha during the next months. Kin's best guess are the finals of the chunin exam, but she has no definite information about the date or exact target. Unfortunately she was unable to give us a clear picture of Orochimaru's forces. They are split into medium-sized groups of between fifty and one hundred combatants with most on the low side. Each group occupies a hidden base. Kin is aware of four bases: three within the Land of Rice and one in the Land of Tea. Two more she has heard rumors of, but no specifics."
"Is that a definite number?" the female elder asked.
"No. Kin was seen as low-level cannon fodder and didn't have the access to get a complete picture." Shibi's wife Ritsuko answered. "On the other hand she made a conscious effort to collect as much information as possible. To be on the safe side we are assuming the existence of double the number of bases, giving Orochimaru a force of six hundred to one thousand shinobi."
"If he is feeling very adventurous it would be possible to commit three quarters of that number for an attack. That isn't enough to defeat us." one of her male counterparts mused. "Enough to do some damage, but even surprised there are enough forces in the village to repel such an attack. What is the quality of these shinobi?"
"Most of those forces consist of sub-standard shinobi with only the barest of training." Shibi replied. "To compensate experimental medical enhancements are very common. It gives them one or two dangerous tricks per individual, nothing more. There is a cadre of strong shinobi bearing a curse seal that enhances their strength further, but they are very low in number."
"That makes an outright attack on the village as a whole unlikely." the female elder surmised. "Do we have any clues about Orochimaru's plans? His marking of Sasuke suggests a smash-and-grab operation targeting bearers of bloodlines. If he attacks the visitors during the finals he could do a disproportionate amount of damage to the village's reputation. It would be well worth a few hundred disposable shinobi if he can ruin Konoha's relations with clients, the Fire Daymio's court and other villages."
Shikoru cleared his throat. "I have additional information. My son Torune sent me a message just two hours ago. Danzo has acquired some reports from spies inside Otogakure that suggest Orochimaru plans to target the Hokage personally."
"That would be logical considering Orochimaru's personality." Shibi said after a moment of consideration. "By all accounts he harbors a deep-seated hatred for his erstwhile teacher. His forces would be able to shield him while he and his elite take out the Hokage and enable him to flee afterward. Kin did say something about the leader of her last base training in a specific barrier technique. From what she overheard it is supposed to be nearly impenetrable, but she didn't learn its purpose. It might very well their plan is to catch the Hokage alone and without support able to reach him."
"What do we do now? Do we tell the Hokage about our suspicions? What about the girl?" the male elder asked.
Silence descended for a few seconds on the gathering as Shibi and the others weighed the consequences of each possible course of action. Only a slight buzzing sound indicated that some of the Aburame present were agitated and exchanged arguments via kikaichu.
The Hokage wasn't especially well-liked among the Aburame. Everyone respected his personal skill as a shinobi, but his political agenda was another matter. His pursuit of peace and unity of Konoha was admirable. The same couldn't be said of the measures intended to get there. Prominent among all the policies that in Shibi's opinion weakened Konoha was the gradual reduction of the privileges held by the formal shinobi clans. Naturally the Aburame objected, being the owners of such privileges. Additionally, while the privileged status might indeed create tensions between the general populace and the clans it was the primary incentive to form and maintain clans. Without the cohesion of a clan it was exceedingly difficult to preserve and hand down the more advanced techniques, especially the ones relating to bloodlines. Normal-sized families just couldn't do it; it was far too likely that the older members would die either on missions or due to other maladies before they could relay everything. Writing things down went only so far. The academy and genin cells certainly didn't do the job properly; neither did most other pupil-teacher relationships. Even the Aburame had difficulties to preserve all of their more esoteric techniques with their loss in numbers in the last war. Not everyone could use every branch of their techniques and keeping them available for future generations without an active user was far harder than it sounded.
Unfortunately this and other policies wouldn't change as long as Hiruzen was in power. It would be better for the clan if he could no longer press his project. A successor might see the matter differently.
Finally Shibi decided on a course of action. "No, we will not reveal the possible assassination plot. We will report the bare facts of what Kin told us, not any conclusions on our part. The barrier technique will be mentioned in the report, but not emphasized. This way we retain deniability. If the Hokage doesn't take the necessary measures to ensure his survival no blame can be assigned to us. Danzo is not reliable and I'm not willing to risk exposing Torune's ability to pass us information. Regarding the girl; she will remain in our care. The tests have proven Shino's initial assessment about her suitability for our purpose. He has already given his consent. The matter will be broached with her at an opportune time; currently both are too young anyway. Are we in agreement?"
One by one the Aburame present gave their assent.
"We will warn against a possible attack against the spectators. They present mostly soft targets." Shibi paused for a moment before he continued speaking. "I want all members of our clan inside of the compound during the entire duration of the finals, especially the children and other non-combatants. Active shinobi will take a temporary leave if possible. We will lock down the compound. I will not allow any further harm to our clan; we can't risk that some of Orochimaru's forces attack us directly. There are far too few of us left to chance more losses. Ritsuko, can you cover the entire compound with a barrier?"
His wife nodded thoughtfully. "It's possible. We have enough chakra storage devices and people capable of using chakra to fuel the Absolute Territory Field for about five days in ready mode and a few hours under assault. It would be easier if Shino was here. He is one of our three barrier specialists including me, after all."
"Unfortunately, that will not be possible. Our son has to compete in the finals. Likewise, my presence in the village will be needed. If there aren't any objections or questions this meeting is closed."
The three elders filed out of the room after giving their consent, leaving Shibi and his wife alone. He hoped he had made the right decisions to ensure his clan's future.
"Lee-kun! Please stop this! Your body isn't…" Kaori, nurse at the Konoha hospital, pleaded.
"Please be quiet for a while!" her charge shouted.
She could only watch as the boy tried to do some exercises, mainly doing pushups with his one good arm and leg. Kaori wasn't a kunoichi; she wasn't able to restrain a shinobi if he didn't want to. A short time later the unavoidable happened and her patient began coughing and convulsing in pain. Seconds later he fell unconscious.
Kaori sighed deeply while she hurriedly hefted the boy into a stable side position (on his relatively uninjured side, of course). Judging from the flecks of blood on the ground he had re-damaged his lungs and other wounds seemed to have re-opened, too. A moment later two orderlies with a stretcher arrived, carrying Lee away to be examined by a doctor.
"Another stubborn one who doesn't know when to stop?" the chief nurse asked sadly. The middle-aged woman had observed from the sidelines and called the orderlies when it became necessary.
The young nurse nodded. "Yes. Every time Lee regains some mobility he starts training again. His injuries are becoming worse every time. At this rate he will kill himself sooner rather than later. He tries so hard; it breaks my heart to see a young man like this."
A supporting hand was placed on Kaori's shoulder. "There is nothing we can do about it. The doctors did all they could; it is up to the patients to accept their new situation. You know what happens to those who can't."
Kaori hadn't been a nurse for that long, but she wasn't exactly new either. She knew what the chief nurse was talking about. The medic-nins could heal a great deal of injuries, but sometimes a case was even beyond their almost miraculous skills. Living crippled appeared worse than death for many shinobi. The patients either accepted that they couldn't be active shinobi any longer and moved on or… they didn't. The last option usually led to suicide, either deliberately or by overstressing their broken bodies in pursuit of something they could no longer have like Lee was doing. There wasn't much the hospital personal could do about it besides offering what comfort they could and try to prepare them for the different lifestyle.
Those who accepted their new status usually found employment as teachers or in other bureaucratic positions. Some turned towards a completely civilian life. The lucky ones whose disability wasn't too crippling even continued serving in Konoha's shinobi forces in some role. For example, the maintenance division was always looking for people who could fix damage to the training fields.
Unfortunately it seemed as if young Lee wasn't among those who could accept their injuries. The damage to his left leg and arm was already crippling. Most of his other wounds the medics had been able to fix, but there was permanent damage all throughout his body. He would remain an invalid for the rest of his life. Kaori figured he could still find employment as a clerk even if all physically demanding jobs were impossible. If only he could accept that he could still live a full life. Others were so much worse of; like the shinobi who had lost all his limbs due to infected wounds or the kunoichi who had been horribly burned.
A scowl appeared on Kaori's face. 'That irresponsible sensei of his is making things worse. Every time I make a little headway with Lee that madman shows up and gives him false hope. Sometimes I wonder if he has convinced himself that he is doing that for Lee's sake instead of his own ambition.'
By now Kaori really disliked Gai. Since Lee was one of her charges she had access to his medical file. Even without his crippling injuries Lee's body would have failed in his mid-twenties. His training and fighting style was just too abusive to his health. For a while he would have burned brightly before the fire of his life burned out. She didn't bring that up with either Lee or his sensei, though. It simply wasn't her place. If the leadership allowed this they probably knew what they were doing.
Ino was lying on her bed, thinking hard. She wasn't feeling well lately. More and more issues were weighing on her mind and she didn't have any real idea how to deal with them.
The most important problem was that she feared her personality was shifting thanks to her acquired memories. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. It had been a bit less than a year since ancient Izumi Yamanaka had stuffed her complete memories into Ino's head and by now she had made considerable progress in making them accessible. There wasn't any actual mixing of memories; she could tell precisely which memories were her own and which had belonged to Izumi. It was the same when she entered other people's minds. After all, it wouldn't do for a mind walker to lose herself. The third-hand memories from Izumi's victims were even fainter.
No, the problem was the sheer scale of the memories and how her mind integrated the experiences derived from those memories. At first the problem hadn't been really obvious to her because she couldn't really access most memories in an organized fashion. With increasing integration it became a different matter, though. On one side there was Ino Yamanaka, thirteen-year-old genin, generally capable practitioner of the mind arts, maiden. On the other side was Izumi Yamanaka, deceased centenarian, jonin, elder, five-time mother, many-times grandmother, nearly unparalleled mistress of the mind arts and famous seductress.
Ino had never been with a boy (or a girl). Izumi had been with a large number of both in various combinations and quite exotic ways. Heck, the orgy of the Emperor of Diamonds she had participated in during the clan wars had made the history books and that was only one example. Two weeks of legendary debauchery had served to distract the emperor and his court while their realm collapsed around them under the onslaught of rival kingdoms. The payment had been enormous; appropriate for a task that had to be completed without the slightest trace of chakra. It had been a matter of pride for Izumi that she never used her mind jutsu when seducing worthy victims she respected. Unworthy ones never even got to touch her body.
Ino had always been a bit of a flirt, but in the last time she had been decidedly more forward; more forward than she was truly comfortable with. Ino blushed when she remembered feeling Naruto's private parts (thanks to Izumi's memories she knew they were somewhat above average for a boy his age, but not unusually large). Even now she wasn't completely sure what had come over her to do that. The kissing she could attribute to Kurenai-sensei's genjutsu, but not this. It wasn't as if she harbored any serious designs on becoming Naruto's girlfriend. She wouldn't do that to Yakumo, although Naruto was a delectable boy and the only one of her acquaintance she considered for that role. Then there was the episode with Hinata during the party. It hadn't felt wrong and none of the others had made an issue out of it, but Ino was very unsure about herself.
'Is it all me or are Izumi's memories influencing me unduly?'
Of course, sexual escapades were only a small part of everything. She had been curious and perhaps paid a bit more attention to those sorts of things than was proper, but there were so many other things that influenced her further. Images of enticing beauty and terrible atrocities and everything in between. There simply wasn't enough time to explore everything. Battles, atrocities, training, politics and family stuff. More than once she had to forcefully restrain herself from exploring more lest she drown in all those memories. At one time she had explored the memory of Izumi giving birth to one of her children. That had looked and felt very messy and she didn't really look forward to the time when it was her turn to bring a new life into the world.
Ino had followed the baby girl's life through Izumi's memories. A too short childhood was accompanied by training until the girl started to accompany the older, more experienced members into battle. She had felt Izumi's anxiety every time she was parted from her daughter and her happiness when the girl had returned alive. Marriage was followed by the birth of several grandchildren, but the woman continued to go on missions. One day she didn't return alive. Seeing Izumi cradle the lifeless body of her dead daughter, feeling everything the woman felt at the time had reduced Ino to tears. Thankfully she had been able to cover it up without anyone noticing. She still couldn't shake the impressions how it had felt for Izumi when she outlived all her children, grandchildren and even younger generations.
Then there was all the other historical stuff like the ground-breaking ceremony for Konoha. No other villager alive was old enough to have been present at that event. The vast majority of memories was still unorganized and not readily accessible, though. Ino's best guess was that it would take her at least two years to adapt the more important stuff to her mind's structure and maybe a decade for everything. She would have to prioritize. Jutsu knowledge was more complicated than normal memories because she couldn't afford the slightest mistake. It didn't matter much if a memory was slightly incomplete; she could always fill in gaps later. In contrast, getting an important detail of a technique wrong would be very, very bad. 'Bad' ranging from slight headache to turning herself into a vegetable, with all sorts of other unpleasant possibilities of mental damage mixed in.
All this gave her a perspective no girl of thirteen years could enjoy, not even a kunoichi. She really wasn't a child anymore.
Unfortunately, her parents still treated her as one. Earlier today she had just had another row with them about her helping out in the flower shop. Ino wasn't exactly unwilling to occasionally help out when needed, but it cut into her available time. Since Kurenai-sensei wasn't really talented with elemental ninjutsu (her forte in combat were genjutsu, taijutsu adapted for either speed or stealth and some rather exotic space-time ninjutsu) Anko and Asuma had been tutoring her in earth jutsu and elemental manipulation. It was an area of her skills she hadn't really pursued until now and she was very thankful for the help.
Between all the training and urgently needed relaxation there just wasn't enough time in the day for a steady part-time job. Unhappily that was apparently what her parents expected. Her mother she could understand. It pained her to admit it, but her mother could be incredibly air-headed about some topics, the needs of a young kunoichi among them. How she was able to manage that feat after living in a shinobi village all her life, being part of a great clan and after being married to the head of their clan for one and a half decades Ino couldn't understand. It wasn't as if she was a bad mother or Ino didn't love her; her interests were just confined to the flower shop, civilian life and social gossip. In effect she was a complete civilian and Ino found it increasingly difficult to get along with her. Sometimes Ino wondered what her father had seen in her, not that she would ever voice that thought. It wasn't her place to judge her mother, but her shortcomings became more and more obvious the more perspective Ino gained from life experience both personal and borrowed from Izumi.
'Perhaps it is the contrast. I suppose after dealing with the depths of human minds all day coming home to a completely normal life can serve to balance oneself. After all, most people Daddy has to mind walk are shinobi and are not of the nice variety.'
No, the one she was disappointed in was her father. He should have known better, but in effect he was hampering her growth as a kunoichi. Getting additional training in the mind arts from him was like pulling teeth. In reality she didn't need him to train her thanks to Izumi, but she still had to be able to explain where she had learned a skill if she was seen using it by someone knowledgeable. Keeping everything secret from her father was already very hard. Ino could have accepted his reasoning if his reluctance had been due to her not being ready because she lacked skill to safely use more advanced techniques or didn't use her abilities responsibly. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. No, his argument was simply that she was too young.
Ino suspected her father still saw her as his little princess, someone to be kept safe, away from harm and shielded of the world's horrors. She wasn't sure how her father could keep that conviction up in face of reality; normally he was a very rational person. Of course, it would have been far too late for that even without Izumi's memories. She had killed more than once and wandered the minds of captive bandits. They hadn't been nice people.
That thought triggered the memories about what Ino had found in Kin's mind and she shuddered slightly. The girl had lived a rather shitty life, although there were far worse fates. Hopefully it would get better from now on. Ino had a pretty good idea why the Aburame wanted to keep her around and she didn't think Kin would find it unpalatable once the time came. Verifying Kin's faithfulness to defect had earned Ino her first large favor someone owed her. It was the first step on the long way to become politically connected in her own right.
'I wish she knew more about Orochimaru's plans.'
It was a chilling thought that one of the most dangerous missing-nin could simply walk into and out of Konoha without anyone noticing. It was another sign of their lacking security. Putting that seal on Sasuke for whatever reason was bad enough, but there was more. Thanks to her exploring of Kin's mind she knew of the impending attack and had warned her friends. A few days later their sensei had informed them of the danger (without orders, but the three jonin thought the genin needed to know because they would be at the center of everything). Apparently the Aburame had passed the knowledge along as soon as they got the information from Kin.
What truly unsettled her were Naruto's and Hinata's thoughts on the matter. They feared the attack would be much bigger than anticipated. Both had voiced the suspicion that Orochimaru wasn't acting alone. It was possible that the Snake Sannin was only striking at some of the dignitaries present during the chunin exam finals or conducting a raid, but what if he was aiming at a larger goal? There existed a lot of villages that were potentially hostile towards Konoha. Granted, currently there existed no open hostilities with anyone, but that was no guarantee that another enterprising village wouldn't use the opportunity for a surprise attack.
When Ino tried looking at the situation through Izumi's perspective she had to agree. While someone like Orochimaru would probably be completely willing to let hundreds of disposable subordinates get killed to reach his goal it was unlikely he would throw them away needlessly. By all accounts the man could be incredibly convincing and calculating. It would be relatively easy to get at least one or two minor villages on board by use of some promises, turning a suicidal raid into something far more dangerous.
The most frightening possibility was that Orochimaru had enlisted the help of Suna. A foreign jinchuuriki in the village was just too convenient, but it could still be a coincidence. Suna might be the smallest of the five great villages, but they could still bring more forces to bear than any two minor villages combined. Ino would have liked to get confirmation one way or another from the Suna shinobi's minds, but she couldn't risk it. Besides, there was always the possibility that they currently didn't know and would only be informed shortly before an attack. What they didn't know they couldn't give away, after all.
'Kurenai-sensei did say the village leadership was preparing for a larger attack. Considering the current state of the village's defenses that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, though.'
With a sigh Ino turned on her bed. She really should get some sleep.
'Okay, let's summarize my problems: Fear of mental contamination, trouble with my parents, keeping my skills secret and an impending attack on Konoha.'
Ino couldn't do anything about the first problem. Even if she had been willing to reveal what Izumi had done it was too late to do anything about it. The memories couldn't be isolated or erased without doing serious damage to her mind. She could only hope that her fears were unfounded.
'That leaves the connected problems two and three. I'm not sure how much longer I can stand my parents.' She sighed heavily. 'I guess it's time for me to get an apartment of my own, but that will have to wait until after the exams are over. If it gets unbearable I can always go to Yakumo's house for a while. I'm sure she will let me stay. At least I have that option unlike Hinata.'
There was nothing she could do about the potential invasion. She simply wasn't in a position to do anything about it. Her only hope was that the people in charge would take the warning seriously.
Homura inspected his work one last time, finding no flaw in the intricate design. The past days had been spent with carefully carving a specific pattern into the ground and charging it with chakra. He grimaced slightly when he climbed out of the tunnel after completing his survey. His arthritic knee was acting up again. It really sucked to be old. His fighting days were long over.
"You can fill up the tunnels. My work is finished." he addressed one of the shinobi waiting for him.
"As you command, Mitokado-sama."
A few minutes later no trace of his nightly excursions was left; the work of days had become invisible. The arena floor was once again completely smooth. No one would suspect that a seal array spanning the entire arena was resting far beneath the surface of the future battleground.
'That should hopefully take care of the Ichibi jinchuuriki if it becomes necessary.'
He wasn't completely sure if it would work. Theoretically it would immobilize a demon or a jinchuuriki using his demon's power, giving them time for other measures. He had developed this design in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack in case the beast ever managed to break free of the seal even if Hiruzen didn't believe it was possible. His old friend always said he had faith in Minato's work, but he allowed Homura to create some contingencies if worst came to worst. Not that he had needed Hiruzen's approval.
Homura had a different opinion about the security of seals. He readily admitted Minato had been the best seal master he had ever seen, but it was always wise to be prepared for all eventualities. There was always a seal master who was better than oneself, knew a specific trick or was just plain lucky. There wasn't a seal that couldn't be broken under the right circumstances.
'I have to tell Anko that Naruto shouldn't use the Kyuubi's power in the arena. From the looks of it the Suna jinchuuriki is incapable of not using his demon's chakra constantly.'
Hopefully the big seal wouldn't be needed in the first place, but unfortunately there was always the possibility that Otogakure wasn't acting alone. They had no indication that Suna was working with Orochimaru, but it was better to be prepared. Their intelligence network had come up with nothing until now. Hiruzen had decided to prepare as many forces as possible to repel any attacker, but without a general mobilization the number of battle-ready shinobi was strictly limited. Unfortunately that was something Hiruzen refused to do; it would have required the cancelling of the exams. Homura had been all for that despite the loss in prestige, but then he never like the damn exams in the first place. They created just too much vulnerability and posed a veritable security nightmare.
The top jonin and department heads had been informed, but the general shinobi and civilian population would be kept ignorant. In the event of an attack it would take some time to get organized; time during which they would probably sustain painful losses. It all depended on how many forces would attack and what their exact objective would be. Knowing Orochimaru's thirst for knowledge, he might completely ignore the Hokage and the visitors and go for the Hokage's library instead.
'Thank the gods we have a defector to give us at least some information.'
Temari managed to keep her composure until she was in the privacy of her room. Then she threw herself on her bed and began punching the pillow until it disintegrated into a shower of feathers. She felt tears on her face.
'The Kazekage and the Suna council have gone mad.'
Just a few minutes ago Baki-sensei had informed them about the plan to attack Konoha during the chunin exam finals. It was pure insanity. Even working with two other villages success was far from certain. Heck, even if they succeeded in destroying Konoha there would be considerable damage to Suna's forces and she didn't think Suna could afford it. The village was already in trouble and if they were weakened further other villages would smell blood. Additionally, despite of all its drawbacks the alliance had been all that kept Iwa from encroaching on Suna's territory. This invasion could very well trigger the fourth shinobi war.
Furthermore, she didn't consider Orochimaru or his village trustworthy enough not to stab them into the back after they were no longer useful. That didn't even mention the mysterious third party that would support the attack. Suna's reputation was another issue. If push came to shove few shinobi villages cared overly much for alliance agreements; Temari knew from her historical studies that all shinobi wars had seen short-lived alliances that were broken as soon as convenient. Unfortunately, the villages that did care about such things were the ones that were important to Suna and maintained non-aggression pacts of their own with them. It was possible and even likely they would band together and try to destroy Suna before the Village hidden in the Sand could do the same to them. Even if Suna miraculously survived that the village would be a broken shadow of its former glory. They just didn't have enough forces for any other outcome to be possible.
The entire invasion plan was detrimental to Suna's long-term interests or even the village's survival. Unfortunately it seemed as if her father had gathered enough support in the council to put the plan into effect. That wasn't surprising; those idiots and yes-men never put up a resistance. Those that did had been killed years ago and the remaining dissenters were either cowed or marginalized. This was exactly like the Kazekage's bright plan to turn her youngest brother into a jinchuuriki while he was still unborn: a catastrophe in the making. Temari would never forgive her father for that; not only had it killed their mother (she was the only one of the three children who had at least some memory of her), but combined with his later treatment it had turned her brother into a monster. In the last year he had recovered somewhat, but that didn't make it any better.
Even worse, the plan was nearly suicidal for her team. It called for Gaara to unleash the Ichibi in the middle of Konoha while she, Baki-sensei and Kankuro covered for him. Temari didn't trust the assurances one bit that there would be Sound forces to support them. Neither was Gaara exactly able to differentiate between friend and foe in that state. If Konoha's jinchuuriki got involved (and he would) they were looking at indiscriminate and widespread destruction. In conclusion their survival chances weren't exactly high. It served as a nice reminder in what regard their so-called father held them.
All that didn't even touch on a personal issue: Idate. Temari loved him with all her heart. The time since the preliminaries had been one of the happiest in her life. She would not only be part of Suna's attempt to destroy Idate and all he held dear, if things went wrong she might be forced to fight against him personally. Temari wasn't sure if she could actually bring herself to harm the young man. Briefly she entertained the possibility of confiding Idate in and running away with him. A life as missing-nin didn't sound that bad. Or perhaps she could confess everything to Konoha's leadership and get asylum.
With a sigh Temari stood up and used one of her small fans to create a few weak gusts of wind, causing all the loose feathers to drift into a corner. Of course, it was only a fantasy. As important as her love to Idate was to her, she couldn't betray her own village. If the Kazekage and the council commanded she and her siblings had to obey. In the same vein Idate would never abandon Konoha and his clan. No, the only choice was to keep everything secret and go along with the plan.
After Temari had recovered enough she locked the knowledge about the attack inside herself. It wouldn't do to act differently around Idate. Maybe they would even be fortunate enough to survive. Perhaps Idate might even understand why she acted as she planned. She could only hope that the tides of battle would keep them apart.
Naruto was concentrating hard, oblivious to his beautiful surroundings. Free magic was flowing from the spring of magic into him. Once there his own power and will weaved it into the patterns he desired. He could feel the spell slowly taking form.
Casting spells with his own power was very different from when he called on his parents' power. On his own he was limited by his personal magic supply, the available magical power he could draw from the vicinity, his knowledge of specific spells and ability to form the neutral magic into the structures required for a spell. In contrast, with his parents' power he could do anything he wished as long as he could keep it under control. Especially in larger quantities it was easy for him to get overwhelmed and the mental side-effects were bothersome. Luckily that problem didn't exist when he used his own spells; he was actually unable to draw more power than he could handle.
Around ten minutes after he began casting the first stage of the spell was completed and Naruto activated the construct. Invisible patterns unfolded and he could feel his mind expand. Sensations of wind, temperature and humidity began trickling in. When the spell finally fully activated a picture of the weather in their region slowly formed in his mind. It looked like the coming weeks would be mostly warm and dry. That didn't mesh well with his plans.
Having learned from many experiments what to do, Naruto used the spell to make changes while steadily drawing power from the spring of magic.
'There. A little more air pressure here, a little less there. More wind, but not too much.'
Several minutes went by until he was finally satisfied. The weather within several dozen kilometers would follow his wishes as long as the spell held. Content with his work, he stopped drawing power and let go of the spell. He had imparted it enough power that it would take about a week for the weather to return to its natural, uninfluenced state.
"And?" Hinata asked when she noticed him coming out of his trance.
Naruto stood up and did some stretches before answering. "Everything went without a hitch. The next week will be full of cold rain, heavy winds and general unpleasantness. I tried to keep it a bit better around the village, but the spell isn't really fine-grained enough for that. Still, it won't hamper our training much."
Hinata nodded in understanding. "But for anyone without proper shelter it will be very unpleasant. Like, say, for the shinobi forces of Sand and Sound waiting to attack."
In truth, neither of them expected it to do much. Shinobi were trained to survive adverse weather conditions. Of course, the attacking forces would still be inconvenienced since they couldn't exactly erect proper shelters without being discovered. If they were very lucky some diseases would break out, but that was only a faint hope. Still, even a minor reduction in combat effectiveness might make a difference in the end. Hopefully the weather would hamper the forces from Sky even more.
"I'll probably have to renew the spell one time before the finals, but I think I'll let the weather return to sunny immediately before the finals. Bad weather might cover our enemies' final approach and we don't want that. By then there should be enough humidity for your part of the plan."
Both their gazes were drawn to the top of the rocky spire in the center of the sanctuary. From their position only a blue and white glitter was visible, but they knew what was growing there. To the unsuspecting eye it looked like a sapphire and a diamond. In truth they were instruments for their plan to take out the Ichibi. The sapphire was absorbing nature chakra and transforming it into water nature. It would enable Hinata to command water to an unbelievable degree far beyond her normal capabilities… for about ten or fifteen minutes. All the humidity from Naruto's weather manipulation would give her enough water to work with. They hoped it would be enough to immobilize even the free Ichibi and keep it contained.
The diamond served another purpose. It was absorbing a large part of the magical output of the spring. Naruto would be able to use it for a single, devastating attack. If they were lucky it would suffice to slay and disperse the Ichibi for a few years. As a back-up option Naruto was working hard at controlling more of his mother's chakra. There was absolutely no way for him to reach a stable three-tailed state in the available time, but if everything went well he would be able to control his four-tailed form for a few seconds – enough to point himself at a target and launch a single bijuudama. After that he would be most likely out of the fight for a few hours, though. In effect it was a desperation move.
'There isn't much that can withstand a tailed beast ball, even if mine will be far weaker than mom's. Maybe it will be enough to deal with the unknown threat.'
Unfortunately, all of those measures were one-shot weapons. Naruto didn't expect their plan would work perfectly; there was just too much that could go wrong. It was the only way they had come up with that would work without directly calling on the power of his parents and the danger that entailed. Even a slight chance was better than none.
Naruto's shinobi training was progressing well. Asuma-sensei was showing him the tricks of wind elemental manipulation only an experienced, native wind-user knew and it was helping enormously. Thanks to him Naruto had ironed out the kinks of his ability to channel wind chakra through weapons and discovered what was wrong with his Shield of the Four Winds technique. Unfortunately he would have to scrap a large part of the technique and rebuild it before it would work. He just didn't have the time for that project before the finals started. Asuma had taught him one wind jutsu, the Gale Palm, which would work well with his use of shuriken and throwing knifes. Hinata mainly learned genjutsu from Kurenai-sensei and continued studying medicine under Hana Inuzaka. Of course, the standard taijutsu and combat tactics training was continuing at the same time.
All three jonin were more worried about Orochimaru's attack than about the exams and they didn't hesitate to make that known to their pupils. They had made several different plans of action in case the arena or the village was attacked during the finals.
There were so many things he wanted to do and try, but there just wasn't among time. Researching the unique plants and creatures in the sanctuary was chief among them. Developing more jutsu was another time-demanding task. Unfortunately there was always something more important.
Something tugged at Naruto's mind and he remembered their other purpose here. In the last few days he had occasionally felt the personal presence of his parents in the sanctuary. He knew of their project to transfer parts of them here, but it didn't seem likely they would gain the ability of communication in time for the finals. Faint touches in his mind like just now had been all that happened.
"Okay, I'll summon the swallows now. Hinata, are you ready?"
"Anytime, Naruto."
'Summoning technique'
With two puffs of smoke Fuyu and Natsu appeared, quickly followed by the contract keeper and a very old looking swallow with a kindly expression wearing a headscarf and a blanket on her back. In contrast to the human-sized contract keeper it was the same small size as the first two swallows.
Naruto knew her as Grandmother Tsubame. She was one of the elders of the swallow tribe and one of the nicest persons Naruto had ever met. From what he gathered from personal interaction and the other swallows she never uttered an angry word and was loved by all. She wasn't a fighting summon (even when she was younger she had never fought), but she knew everything down to the most insignificant detail of every member of her tribe.
"Hey boss." "I bid you a good day, my lord." "Up for another round of questions, Naruto-sama?" "It is nice to see you again, my boy. Do you want to have tea with me?"
It took the swallows a moment to take in their surroundings. As soon as they did they fell silent. The atmosphere in the sanctuary was quite different than any other place Naruto had ever visited and it was obvious the swallows recognized at least part of the sanctuary's otherworldly nature. Until now the swallows didn't know about his parents, but Daiki and Youko had judged it too risky if it remained that way. If he or Hinata were forced to call upon their power during the invasion the surprise could prove disastrous. Naruto hoped they would react well. After some digging in the Juubi's memories Youko had found no reason for the swallows to be hostile to them; they had been created as the servants of one of the gods of the sky and been left behind after that deity was destroyed. Still, they would have to take the risk that the swallows sought to break the contract after they learned about his parents.
"Hello Fuyu, Natsu, Contract Keeper, Grandma."
"Where are we?" Fuyu asked. "This place is extraordinary."
The blue-feathered swallow was about to take off to take a closer look at their surroundings when Natsu stepped on his tail feathers, causing Fuyu to land in the dirt.
Naruto couldn't suppress a chuckle, but he resumed speaking before Fuyu and Natsu could begin squabbling. "I called you here for something very important. We now know each other for about two months now and I've come to trust and like you. Do you trust me?"
The swallows exchanged glances for a moment. It was the contract keeper who spoke. "Although you have yet to summon one of us into battle you have proven a worthy summoner and made no unreasonable demands. We have come to know you and you are very promising. Why do you ask?"
"There are things about me and my friend Hinata you don't know; things that might change your opinion about me."
Tsubama cocked her head thoughtfully. "Oh? What would that be? Is it about you being a demon container? I'm able to feel the demonic chakra inside you, you know."
"That is part of it, but the truth is far more complicated. I think it is better if I show you."
Naruto nodded to Hinata and gave his mother's chakra a short pull. Hinata closed her eyes and swayed lightly for a second. When she opened her eyes again they had changed from her usual pale lavender to two solid, golden glowing orbs. The already faintly existing divine presence of Youko became almost overwhelming. By now Naruto was used to it, but it was still an elating experience.
"Greetings, noble swallows. I'm pleased to make the acquaintance of my son's allies."
His mother used her own voice, decidedly different from Hinata's. Its resonances somehow evoked impressions of sunlight and a warm summer day in his mind. The four swallows seemed to have fallen into a state of shock. Tsubame and the contract keeper were the first to shake off their daze. The two old swallows bowed deeply.
"Show your respect, you young fools. We are in the presence of divinity." the contract keeper hissed towards Natsu and Fuyu. The admonishment was enough to free the two swallows from their stupor and they too bowed deeply.
"Might I ask who you are, Your Divinity? It has been a long time since we have had any contact with higher powers." Tsubame asked respectfully.
"I am the Lady of Light, though my beloved son refers to me as Youko. I assume you have many more questions. Unfortunately, my time here is short."
"Why are you speaking to us through this girl?" Fuyu asked before Natsu could stop him.
"I am imprisoned together with my mate, the Lord of the Starry Night. Naruto is our son in all but blood. Hinata willingly pledged herself to us. Aside from my son she is one of the few conduits we have into this world. I ask you: Do you have any issue with my relationship to your summoner?"
That question seemed to surprise the swallows greatly. The contract keeper was the one to answer. "Why would we? It is a great honor to serve a summoner with such a pedigree. Of course, we would serve Naruto-sama regardless. The summoner and his deeds are what counts."
A smile graced the features of Hinata's body and the day seemed to grow even brighter. "This is good to know. I fear the end of days draws near for us and our sacred children. We are in dire need of your services to avert that fate, noble swallows."
"Your Divinity, we are happy to serve your son in any way possible. Even without your request we will serve him faithfully. This is our way." Tsubame replied.
"Thank you, noble swallows. I will call my mate to explain more. He will take possession of our son's body. Fear not, this is not an unusual occurrence."
After seeing Naruto's affirmative nod the swallows turned back. "Please proceed, Your Divinity. We are very interested in what you have to say."
Naruto was relieved when familiar darkness engulfed him. It seemed the meeting had gone very well. It was a good start for spending time with Hinata and his parents.
Akamaru let out a long, silent yawn after he awoke. Then he sat up and scratched himself extensively. A look out of the window showed him that it was still early and his nose told him that his partner's mother hadn't yet started on the breakfast. He decided to lie back down in his dog basket and watch the morning's amusement that the other occupants of the room never failed to provide.
His partner Kiba and the red-headed female Karin were still sleeping as usual in Kiba's bed. The small dog didn't really understand why they went to the trouble of going to sleep in different beds; the red-haired female always ended up in his partner's bed by midnight at the latest. Curiously that seemed to embarrass both of the humans greatly. It had led to Akamaru sleeping in his dog basket instead on top of Kiba; he didn't fancy getting caught between the two much larger humans.
He liked Karin. The female smelled nice and was always willing to pet him. She complained a bit much about the training Tsume and Hana as well as other Inuzaka put her through, but thankfully that had become far less already in the weeks since she lived with them. Kiba and he certainly didn't do any less training and they didn't complain. The human adults and even his human friends were all slave drivers. All his humans were worried about someone attacking Konoha, but Akamaru was confident their pack was strong enough to repel every enemy.
The smell of breakfast was already enticingly wafting into his nose when the morning games finally started. Both humans awoke at the same time and tried to disentangle themselves from each other. Since the sheets had become entangled and they didn't coordinate their movements that endeavor ended with both of them in a heap on the floor.
"DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!" Kiba shouted as he struggled to get free.
"THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!" Karin yelled back.
After some more shouting the two finally managed to sort themselves out and went about their morning routine, still arguing and red in the face. A sniggering Akamaru made his way out of the room and down the stairs. Tsume and Kuromaru were already there. The one-eyed dog was busy with worrying on a steak, but he stopped for a moment to acknowledge Akamaru.
"Good morning, Akamaru. The two lovebirds are still at it, aren't they?" Tsume asked amusedly when she put down his filled feeding dish.
Akamaru yipped affirmatively before he dug into his breakfast. Tsume seemed amused about her son's situation. The small dog found it funny, too, but the actual reason for his partner's strange actions eluded him.
In his understanding both his partner and the female were at a state in their life where they began showing interest in potential mates. He didn't really understand most of the more complicated human mating behavior, but he could smell that Karin and Kiba were attracted to each other. None of the other nice females of his and his partner's acquaintance had ever displayed such an inclination. Tsume, Hana and all the others certainly expected them to get together. Why couldn't they just do away with all those antics?
Not that their actions when they were together during day time were less funny. They were prone to argue and sometimes shout at each other, but they always reconciled. At the rare occasions they were able to spend free time together in the village Karin always took Kiba's hand in her own after a while, seemingly without realizing it. At first they had immediately jumped apart as soon as they noticed what they were doing, but by now they kept the contact even if they were still getting red in the face. Sometimes when they didn't argue they were tongue-tied, making their faces look very funny.
At the moment their antics were still amusing, but Akamaru suspected it would soon get old. In his opinion the two should either decide they didn't want to mate and go their separate ways or do the sensible thing: get on with it and produce a litter.
Yakumo awoke slowly with a smile on her face, feeling warm and secure. She could feel Naruto snuggled to her back, still sleeping peacefully. One of his hands was resting on her stomach. It felt nice. Of course, both of them still wore their night clothes. She wasn't ready to take their relationship to that level yet.
Judging from the lack of light there was no hurry to get up. With a soft, content sigh Yakumo moved closer to Naruto. She always enjoyed the warmth his body produced. They had gotten closer in the last month. Naruto had been more affectionate than before and they had spent a good part of their sparse free time together. The nights when they slept in the same bed had become more frequent, too.
Yakumo continued dozing comfortably until the light shining through the shutters indicated that it was time to get up. She wriggled around, intending to wake Naruto with a kiss, but when she came face-to-face with the boy she saw that he had opened his eyes.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun."
"Good morning, Yakumo-chan."
They still kissed, of course. The opportunity was too good to waste. Breakfast was spent with idle talk before Naruto prepared to take his leave.
"I have to complete some preparations for tomorrow. Everything should be finished by noon. What are your plans for the day?" Naruto asked.
"I plan to go shopping with the girls; there are a lot of merchants visiting the village because of the exams. We could meet for lunch and explore together."
Naruto smiled. "Sure, I'd like that. I'll meet you at our usual place."
Some kissing and light cuddling later Naruto left. Her boyfriend still disappeared for hours at a time to who knew where. She knew Naruto was an intensely private person and always had some secret projects going on and she was only privy to some of them. That was part of what made him him.
Naruto had been her first true friend she made after her clan's demise. Six years ago, during her first academy session, she had noticed him because of his determination. Over the years they had developed a deep friendship. He was the one who had helped her most to deal with her uncle's death. Yakumo still recalled the nights he had spent at her house, holding her while she slept. Somewhere along the line he had stopped sleeping in her bed after she got better. Since he became her official boyfriend before they graduated from the academy they had grown closer again. Yakumo didn't recall the exact date when they had once again started using the same bed occasionally, but one thing she could say was that she slept much better this way.
Almost as an afterthought she checked her calf before she headed out into the village.
'Good, the bruise has faded and won't bother me in the finals tomorrow.'
Her taijutsu and general physical training was becoming more and more difficult. She was still making progress, but it was noticeably getting harder. For the same amount of improvement she had to work much longer and harder than her friends. Taijutsu and physical combat just weren't her strong suit. Oh, she wasn't weak in absolute terms, but her aptitude for it was low for a shinobi. Trying to become better required more and more time until the cost-benefit ratio made it barely worthwhile. Kurenai-sensei estimated she would be able to reach low jonin-level before her skills peaked if she continued training diligently, but it would be difficult. Relatively weak bodies had always been a common problem in her clan. Judging from the information her uncle left behind her body placed her in the top quarter of her clan while it was slightly below average for the general shinobi population.
In the one month training period she had learned a lot. As if to make up for her problems with taijutsu she had taken to ninjutsu with ease. Anko-sensei was a good teacher and had done wonders for her fire jutsu. Not that she neglected her genjutsu training; it was her strongest skill and would always remain her weapon of choice. She hoped she was good enough to deal with everything that might happen during the finals.
The sound of arguing voices greeted her when she left her house.
"How can you do that to me?"
"Please, you have to understand. It's just…"
"I don't want to hear it!"
Yakumo winced slightly and hastened her steps. Her neighbors were once again at it. From what gossip she had overheard it was a complicated love triangle. It reminded her uncomfortably of her own situation. She had no doubts that Naruto loved her; she was good enough at reading people and had so much close contact with him that she would recognize when he was trying to fool her. Being a practitioner of genjutsu required a fine eye for minute details. No, the problem was that Naruto had feelings for Hinata, too, and the girl reciprocated. Both tried to hide it, but Yakumo knew them too well (and Hinata had revealed her feelings to them before she got Naruto to choose between Ino and Yakumo).
Of course, with her being a Hyuuga they could never be together, at least openly. It wouldn't be long until the Hyuuga clan arranged a marriage for Hinata; fifteen or sixteen was the usual age for the actual ceremony in most clans with around two years of preparation beforehand. It would be hell for her dear friend and the one thing preventing Yakumo from putting her foot down. The Kurama clan had been somewhat different, but it was still far too easy to imagine herself being in Hinata's position. Without a clan she was completely free in her choice of partners. Ino's crush on Naruto complicated things further, but after the talk they shared after the hot spring episode they had established that the blond girl didn't seriously intend to seduce Naruto away from her. She just was that flirty, forward and shameless.
A blush stole over Yakumo's features when she remembered the feel of a naked Naruto under her. The entire thing had been horribly embarrassing (especially with that old pervert watching!), but a not inconsiderable part of her had liked it very much. Yakumo didn't feel quite ready yet to take her relationship with Naruto to the next level, but it looked more and more attractive to her.
One problem she had was that there was no real mother figure she could ask for advice in intimate matters. Kurenai-sensei was nice, but she didn't exactly have a track record of stable relationships. Yakumo wasn't close enough to Anko-sensei to ask such things, even if the woman seemed successful in creating a lasting relationship with their old academy teacher Mizuki. The academy had done an adequate job of preparing them for the physical realities, but emotional advice required a person familiar with the individual details. Normally Hinata had been the one to give her advice; through the use of her byakugan she had collected an enormous amount of observational experience over the years. Following her advice had helped her and Naruto, but she just didn't feel comfortable talking about that with her anymore due to her own emotional involvement.
Nonetheless, Yakumo was growing older and the duty to revive her clan was looming closer. Finding a man she could love to do it with had always been one of her goals. Naruto fulfilled that image perfectly. Unfortunately, by now she wasn't sure anymore if she could manage that revival. Bearing children would hamper her career somewhat, but it would be manageable. If she had been male it would have been easier, but even so she should be able to birth up to six children without harming her career unduly.
No, there was another issue she had come to realize. It wouldn't be the Kurama clan of old; it would be a new clan that only bore the same name. A clan was more than a simple crowd of related people, even ones with a bloodline. They shared a history, traditions and secrets. Most of that was gone in case of the Kurama. Yakumo had only vague memories from her early childhood and the incomplete teachings of her uncle. That wasn't enough by far. Naruto had it even worse; the heritage of the Uzumaki was gone completely. To keep a clan really going you needed about a dozen adult members at minimum. The young girl was unsure if it was worth the effort to try and revive the Kurama clan.
Yakumo knew some historical examples where clans had been reduced to a few or a single member and recovered. Usually the problem had been solved by the male members taking several wives. After all, a man could easily father children on multiple women; a woman was far more limited in that regard. She didn't know if Naruto had truly thought about that, but if he really wanted to found a new clan that would be almost unavoidable.
Plural marriage was a legal if seldom used custom. Normally it presented far too much problems and was only relatively common among very rich people or nobles. Mistresses, paramours and half-official or secret lovers were far more widespread; the gossip in the village and the political classes at the academy were proof enough of that. Furthermore, especially among the non-clan shinobi existed a lot of relationships that normal people considered rather strange or would shun. As long as one didn't become a public nuisance everything was possible in Konoha; assuming the ability to take the gossip, of course. No one in the upper hierarchy wanted to create a nasty incident if trained killing machines were refused a consensual relationship for silly reasons like being of the same sex. Of course, clan shinobi were usually far more regulated by their clan.
She dimly remembered cousin Suzaku and his two wives, the twins Aika and Aiko. At the time the remarks she had occasionally overheard didn't make much sense, but now she understood better. It wasn't what she wanted, though. She wanted Naruto all for herself. The thought of him being with another woman almost physically hurt her.
Still, things couldn't continue this way. The situation was hurting her, it was hurting Naruto and it was hurting Hinata. They would have to find some solution before it went too far.
'We are still young; there is enough time to deal with it after the exams.'
"Will we be in position in time, helmsman?"
The man he had just addressed wore a decidedly uncomfortable expression. "I fear not, Sorakage-sama. The weather was very unfavorable and some of the airships were damaged. Ancor Vantian remains completely intact, but our journey was slowed considerably. We will not make it at the date you set although we are still on schedule for our ally's plan. I humbly ask for your forgiveness."
Shinno simply waved him away. The man hurried out of the door, leaving him alone in the throne room. For all his faults he wasn't the sort of leader that would take out the frustration about a failed plan on the back of subordinates who had done all in their power to make it succeed. Besides, he was still in a far too good mood for something like that. He would have preferred wiping out Konoha without the help of his allies to show them the Sky ninja's strength, but apparently it was not to be. Well, at least this way he would see some action instead of simply wiping out Konoha from the safety of his fortress.
Playfully flexing his muscles, Shinno admired his new/old body. He was finally young again. In fact, he was far more physically powerful than he had ever been.
A deep, dark voice tore him from his reverie. "Is your new body to your satisfaction?"
Turning his head, Shinno looked at the intruder. To a casual observer it looked like a girl of perhaps thirteen years, but the emotionless face, glowing red eyes and the far too deep voice told a different story. Occasionally shadows seemed to flitter around the girl, outlining a far larger and decidedly non-human form. It had been years since the girl's face had shown any human emotion; the demon had completely taken over a long time ago. Shinno didn't mind. Amaru had fulfilled her purpose to nourish the demon until it had been able to emerge from his hibernation form. Physically the demon never truly left the central chamber of Ancor Vantian, but using a host it could be at two places at once. If the thing wanted to keep the girl as a puppet to personally partake in slaughter he wasn't about to object. It was only another weapon.
"It is. You fulfilled your part, demon. I expect you will continue in this vein."
"Of course, master. The ancient pact binds me to your service. How long until I may devour your enemies?"
"Soon."
The demon didn't react in any visible way, but it turned around and left the throne room. Shinno was glad about that. The thing was his most valuable asset, but that didn't mean he liked to have it constantly around him. Ever since he had renewed the blood pact the demon's dark chakra was coursing through his body.
'And to think I originally planned to build up the girl's despair over the years…'
In retrospect it had been a very good idea to continue working with Orochimaru despite the snake being a Leaf shinobi. They had hit a rough spot a decade ago after the man joined some secret organization, but they had continued working together. It had been the best decision Shinno had ever made. A month in Orochimaru's capable hands had plunged Amaru into deepest despair, reviving the demon years ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the Sannin had provided him with lots of failed human experiments. Normally they didn't live long, but their last days were always spent in exquisite pain and despair, feeding the demon further. If that wasn't enough Orochimaru had managed to steal a scroll from Konoha that contained a part of the final stage of the demon revival ritual Shinno had been missing. Originally he had planned to let his forces to perform a risky raid while personally stealing the scroll, but luckily that had proven unnecessary. Konoha never realized what prize they had in their possession.
Shinno idly wondered how the original leaders of Sky had managed to summon and bind the demon serving as the power source of the fortress. He had been a relatively young jonin during Sky's fall and had not been privy to most secrets. Too many people and too much knowledge had been lost in the years before Shinno took over leadership. One thing he did know was that it was the ancient tablet resting in the heart of the fortress that truly controlled the demon, but he didn't really know how old it was.
'We would never have lost to the Leaf if Ancor Vantian had been finished in time.'
Completing the flying fortress in secret had been the main project of the scattered Sky ninja in the decades since their village's destruction in the second shinobi war. Work had been slow because many specialists had died in the village's fall and materials had been hard to come by without rousing suspicion, but the exiles finally managed to complete even the chakra collectors and the… unusual weapon system that had been missing in the past. A good part of Sky's current forces had never known the original Soragakure, but they were determined nonetheless.
Now Ancor Vantian was a fully functional battle station three years ahead of his original schedule. He would show its power to the world; power even Orochimaru didn't know about. The Sky would get revenge on the Leaf, wiping the hated village from the face of the earth. Vengeance would be done and Shinno would become the Sky Emperor.
Naruto watched as the two jewels left their place atop the central spire and floated down into his outstretched hand. He would have to give the sapphire to Hinata later; she hadn't been able to visit the sanctuary today and they had wanted for the crystals to absorb as much power as possible.
The boy let his gaze wander over the sanctuary one last time after he pocketed the crystals. "I guess this is it. The exams will start in two hours. Thank you for everything. I love you."
The wind seemed to stroke his hair affectionately for a moment and he thought he could hear a faint whisper over the creaking of the trees. "We love you too. Good luck."
Author's notes: Thank you for all the reviews.
Just so you know, I'm hereby issuing a harem warning. At some point in time Naruto will be together with several females.
So long.