AN: Ja minna!
So very sorry for the delay. The scenes that I've allotted to this chapter just won't gel together nicely. The fighting scene was fighting against me xP, hope it came out okay.
In case you haven't notice, this story is the first story that I publish in this site, and I'm still trying to get a hang of the system. I've made a mess in the chapter names (the box that you click to change the chapter at the upper right corner), if anyone can direct me how to fix it, I'll be forever grateful. xD
All characters that I'm going to put in this story are characters that you'll find in Narutoverse, be it in the manga and/or the anime. I'm going to draw a whole lot of minor characters out and give them more roles. Naho is a little girl with a vague connection to the Fire Daimyo and Madame Shijimi. She appeared in Naruto the anime, part 1 (before time-skip). She's a Sasuke's fangirl.
Warning: If you're not following the manga, this story contains tons of spoilers.
This chapter is based on, among others, The Twelve Fire Guardian Arc.
Since there's no specific time in canon up to this point about when the fiasco within the Fire Guardian really happened, aside from 'approximately 10 years before' the Twelve Fire Guardian Arc; I took the liberty to place it after Uchiha Massacre.
This is a fem!Naruto AU, Time Travel story, if this is not your cup of tea, let us just agree to disagree and leave in peace.
Thank you for reviewing, favorite, and following this story. It's good to know that you found my story's to your liking.
Reviews, constructive criticisms are welcome.
Beta Wanted!
P.S: Just curious, in reference to chapter 675, which do you prefer, Sharingan no Kakashi or Kakashi No Sharingan?
Now, open the cage and release the butterflies!
Disclaimer: 992, 993, 994, 995….Yesss, five more paper cranesss and Naruto and Kakassshi and the gang will be mine at lassst….Ku…ku…ku…kugh…ugh…ugh…Water, ugh…ugh…pleassse….
Chapter 3: Just Like (Never) Before
74 AKF
Somewhere off the border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire
A disgruntled looking young man around the age of 20 could be seen running toward the capital of the Fire Country. His mostly black-colored clothes were rumpled; they were even ripped apart here and there. A short sword –a tantou– was hanging on his right waist. An equipment pouch hung at his left waist and a kunai pouch was strapped at his right thigh.
The straight, long black hair was loose just below his lean shoulders; the pale skin was even whiter than it usually was. He stopped under a pine tree to push away the soft bangs of his hair back and to try to determine where exactly he was at. If his memory served, there should be a small inn about half an hour away from the next fork. He hoped to find some food and stationery there, also to be able in digging for some information as to what was going on. Tightening his hold on his brother he carried on his back, the man kept on running to the east.
The last thing he remembered before everything went white was cradling the head of his dying friend upon his lap, desperately trying to ease his friend's sufferings. Then he had awoken in a strangely familiar cabin, with his dead brother asleep on the other small bed in the austere room, his friend was nowhere to be found. He had spent the next half of the hour trying to dispel what he had thought to be a very good and strong genjutsu. When everything around him stayed the same no matter how hard he flared his chakra, he decided to do something, anything else instead.
He had found and knocked off a pair of ninja guarding the gate to the cabin, stripped them off of everything they had: money, weapons, and clothes; tied and gagged them up before dragging the two back into the cabin. Served them right for being too relaxed on guarding duty, he had been flaring his chakra all morning and those guards did not even bother to check behind the closed gates. He checked the content of his sealing tattoo, only to find that he had no spare clothes in them, and no stationery, either. Rummaging the cabin, he only managed to find some small clothes, an old brush and a brand new sketch book. He took those with him and went back into the bedroom where he had stored everything that he had seized from the two guards beforehand.
One of the guards was the same size as he was, so he donned the ninja's clothes and equipment, then he pocketed the money before gently lifting his still sleeping brother's form up onto his back. The boy twitched a little but went on sleeping. Subsequently he locked the cabin uptight, set it on fire and took off running. He recalled that the cabin was located somewhere west of his village, hence he ran toward the sunrise. He remembered that they had approximately three hours before someone was scheduled to come to the cabin and start training both his brother and himself.
He had no clue of what had happened to his friend or even himself. The cabin should have been destroyed years ago, his brother should have not been alive anymore, and this land should have been flattened. Hell, he should had been dead himself.
Perhaps he was dead, and everything was just some sort of strange entertainment for the dead to pass the time.
Perhaps he was under a genjutsu, a very good one at that.
His brother awoke few hours later, when they were well away from the cabin and the nightmares in it. He had stopped behind a large boulder just off the road and told his brother that he would take care of him. That they were going to find a friend of his, and then everything would be okay. After his brother had stopped yelling and flailing his–so small, so short– hands, he had gone off to hunt for some rabbits and then they had had a hearty brunch.
They spent the night in a small cave he found at the root of a large, ancient tree, next to a small gurgling brook. He caught some small fish from the stream using a makeshift net made from nin-wire and roasted them for their dinner. After dousing the fire off, he cuddled his brother's small form and they promptly fell asleep. The cave was just large enough for the two of them to huddle together so that they were able to stay warm enough through the night.
Came morning time, he was awaken by the familiar sound of marching troops. Suppressing his chakra tightly, he crawled over behind a shrubbery bush, trying to identify the marching ninja unnoticed. Ninja rarely travelled in large groups, so if the sound of them running through the foliages could be heard that clearly, it could only meant that there a lot of them passing by. He watched with trepidation as dozens of somewhat familiar uniforms trampling through the forest. It was the uniform of his old corps, the ones that he had happily left behind.
They did not talk among themselves, so there had not been any clues as to where they were going and for what purpose. However, judging from the directions they had taken, there were only two possibilities, and both did not bode well.
He went back to his brother as the last of the ninja went by. His brother was already awake, so he told the boy to have a quick breakfast from the leftover fish before packing up and then running after the marching troops. He was mindful to keep a safe distance and to run at the side of the road instead of on the road. Hopping through the trees would raise suspicion and taking the road was just plain foolish.
He sighed in relieved when he finally saw the roof of the small inn at a distance. It looked like the ninja from earlier had taken a loop to avoid passing by the inn and he was grateful for that.
"Come, otouto, we'll get some rest at the inn and see if they can spare me some stationery while you have some nice hot lunch."
His brother nodded at his neck and he quickened his steps.
Somewhere near the border of Wave Country and the Land of Fire
A tall middle-aged man doused the campfire off with a bit of loose soil. He stretched his joints, grabbed his red haori and wore it above his grey kimono. Heaving his bag-pack upon his back, he then walked over to a tree stump to wait his companion finishing their morning business.
The blonde-haired woman was donning her green haori above her grey kimono when he turned around. Meanwhile, the other woman, the one with black hair had just finished rolling her travelling futon. She sealed the futon and picked her familiar to her chest and straightened her back.
"Are you two ready?"
Both women nodded. Without further ado they started leaping through the trees, applying chakra to their feet in order to reach their destination sooner.
The white-haired man was looking for a place to stop his journey for the night when he sensed two familiar figures nearby. He flared his chakra and then followed the two chakra signatures to find the two women huddling by a camp-fire near a little stream, their futon laid just to the side.
After some customary greetings, they had stroke a conversation only to discover that they were kind of in the middle of a similar predicament.
Their familiars had sensed a disturbance in the flow of nature somewhere near both of their home-town and urged them to go to that direction to investigate. The women -well more like the blonde woman- was reluctant at first, but her familiar had insisted. After an endless of incessant nagging, the blonde finally relented, albeit grudgingly. She had avoided that particular direction for the longest time. To willingly thread the road leading home for her was, precarious.
The man was the same. His familiar, and its entire family too, had been popping every so often to make sure that he had not stopped somewhere along the way unnecessarily. He had no qualms about heading home and was actually curious to check the disturbance out himself, but his familiar's pesky appearances were beginning to get on his nerves.
Furthermore before dawn was even breaking, a messenger bird had landed on his chest and started pecking at his nose. The more he tried to shoo the bird away, the harder the pecks became. It took him a while –and a badly bruised nose– to realize that the bird carried a message for him. After a string of curses and a lot of rubbing on his poorly abused nose, he was able to untie the message from the bird's tiny leg. The cursed bird gave his nose another peck and took off to wherever it came from.
Unfurling the minuscule scroll, he squint his eyes near the dying embers of the camp-fire and read the written message. It was from his gossiping partner-in-crime within the heart of Hi no Kuni. By the time he reached through the end of the scroll, he was fully awoke and immediately tried to rouse his camp mates, from a safe distance of course.
The two women were glaring daggers at him when he finally managed to disturb their slumbers. After some hasty explanations and reading the scroll themselves, the two women had consented that they indeed needed to move as fast and early as they could.
So, there they were. Running at full speed toward the capital of the Fire Country.
They would reach their destination by tea time or after sundown at the latest.
Madame Shijimi's Private Pavilion
The door to the conference room was promptly opened and a blur of red ran passed Asuma who quickly flattened his back against the wall. He could see the end of an untied obi trailed off behind the descending figure and also heard a string of curses disappeared down the stairs. Straightening up his back, Asuma attempted to resume his report to the Daimyo but he was cut out when Madame Shijimi spoke.
"It's Kazuma, is it not?" The tone was flat and hardly sounded like a question. The Fire Guardian gulped.
"Yes, Ma'am. Chiriku's message said that Kazuma also has some of the Twelve's support. Only Seito, Tou'u, Nauma and Kitane have reported in. The rest…are still unaccountable. There's also about two hundred and fifty unidentified, masked ninjas' roaming in. Chuunin, at the very least."
The Fire Daimyo raised an eyebrow at that.
"We do not expect him to strike this soon; our calculation was that he would strike in a month. We suppose Hiruzen-dono, your presence here might have sped up his plans. What are Chiriku's assessments of the fight, young Sarutobi?"
"Sir. It's fifty-fifty, Sir. We might be able to defeat them, but it'll be rough on both sides. We need to divide the troop to protect and evacuate the civilians. Your orders, Sir?"
There were footsteps down the stairs and Asuma drew his chakra blade out, ready to fight if the incomings were enemies whom somehow managed to slip pass the three assassins guarding the door downstairs. He breathed in relief when a scarlet crown emerged from the stairs.
It turned out to be the red-head he saw earlier that morning. She carried little Naho, the Daimyo's grandniece, at her chest while Naruto was clutching her neck from behind in a piggy-back ride. A flustered middle-aged servant was following right behind her. Asuma stepped aside to let the young woman back into the room but she stopped by the door and put her two charges down then pushed the two little girls inside along with the-now-gasping servant. Crouching down, the red-head put her hands on each of the two girls' heads.
"You two wait here with Obaa-san, 'kay? I have some things to do with this kind Oji-san first, I'll be back soon." Little Naho looked at the red-head in the eyes and bit her lips. Asuma noted then that the red-head was already decked in battle gear.
"Pwomes?" The young woman nodded.
"I promise. Now, go to Obaa-san. Both of you." She turned both girls around and gently pushed them deeper into the room.
She stepped aside to give the space back to Asuma and almost ran into Hatake Kakashi who chose that moment to appear in a shunshin. A pair of arms rose to catch her by the shoulders but she had jumped back and steadied herself before Kakashi could touch her.
"Gomen, Se-Shinobi-san."
Kakashi nodded absently while his single eye roamed the inside of the room. Asuma noted a slight relaxing on the Copy Nin shoulders when said ninja spotted a tuft of blonde hair. He then stepped back to flank Asuma on his right while the red head had taken his left flank. The Fire Guardian turned his attention back to the occupant of the room, waiting for orders.
In the room, Akamichi Chouza had moved to stand before the south window while Inoichi stood by the north window, his sensor ability was clearly running on high. From the west side, Shikaku's distinguished feature leant against the wall between two large windows on either side, arms crossed on his chest. The light from the reddish setting sun behind him gave his figure a strange sense of the surreal world. His calm tone cut through the room, then.
"If I may, Daimyo-sama?"
"Yes, Nara-san?"
"You seem to be aware that this Kazuma, was it? is going to raise arms against you. Any idea of his objective?"
"Ah. He's aiming to replace Us with someone who is more…supportive to his views."
"And his views are?"
"The Daimyo should be the ultimate ruler in the Fire Country, the only 'King'. The Hokage should bow down to the Daimyo, not as an equal. He has had a puppet ready to take Our place, afterwards We suspect that he is going to usurp the Hokage." The Daimyo's eyes slightly flickered toward the Sandaime before continuing, "We believe he has some help from Konoha."
The Sandaime Hokage's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
The Nara clan's head scratched his chin and sighed. "So, his targets are all here?"
The Daimyo merely nodded diminutively. "We suppose he'd like to throw two birds with one stone. Although those masked ninjas are a surprise. Right, try to capture first, but if the resistant is hard, eliminate them. Since the Twelve could not guard Us like it should, We'll have Nara-san, Yamanaka-san and Akimichi-san here, along with the Hokage, if that's alright with you, Hokage-dono?"
The Hokage nodded. "I agree, Daimyo-dono."
"Oji-san, we need to move and help your troops. Raise the fortress on all sides."
Madame Shijimi shook her head, "You'll be locked out if we do that, Himawari. We'll let the East side down."
The red-head, Himawari, opened her mouth to argue, but the Sandaime stopped her. "Himawari, please don't waste time arguing. These old coots can still whack a head or two, you know. Now if you want to go, just go."
Nodding in agreement, the Daimyo waved his hands off toward the three ninjas standing by the door. "The Sandaime is right, don't worry too much of Us."
Madame Shijimi was already pulling at some hidden panels and the swishing sounds of several large objects sliding against each other were heard in the entire building. There was a gruff voice calling from somewhere to the right of the door, which Asuma found surprising since the person had completely bypassed his senses.
"Remember your chakra, Himawari!"
"I know." The answer was coming out so low that Asuma barely heard them. He gave his father a slight nod and turned around to find that both Kakashi and the red-head, Himawari, had already speeding down the stairs.
Asuma halted his run when he arrived at the second floor to kick the second panel at the right side of the stairs before took off sliding down the now-flat stairways to land at the first floor. He found Kakashi talking quietly with Genma and Raidou by the doorway. He was about to check on the servant's quarter when the red-head emerged down the hall and nodded at him.
"I've secured the servants' quarter, Shinobi-san." The Fire Guardian nodded back at her. The girl reached his side and he took the lead to join the three ninjas in front of them. The sound of clashing metals was getting clearer by the seconds, meaning that the battle was coming nearer the Palace and the pavilion.
"Sarutobi Asuma."
"Aaa…Uzumaki Himawari."
Kakashi's head turned around so fast, Asuma thought that he had heard a snap. He himself was surprised since he had not known that there was an Uzumaki staying at the Daimyo's Palace. However, Madame Shijimi was renowned among the guards to pick up the strangest acquaintances. She had brought back various kinds of guests to her pavilion; ranging from a travelling Miko, a ryoukan's maid, even a crippled beggar once. An Uzumaki in the Madame's private pavilion should not be that big of a revelation.
The single visible eye of his friend widened for the shortest of time and Asuma imagined his surprise was not as much as Kakashi's.
An Uzumaki. Perhaps that was the reason that Naruto and his father had came to the capital on the first place. He tilted his chin toward the masked Jounin.
"Uzumaki, huh? Haven't met one in a long time. Right, the one with the grey hair is Hatake Kakashi, bandanna man is Shiranui Genma and the dude with the sword is Namiashi Raidou." Uzumaki Himawari nodded, smiling slightly to the three of them.
"First I must tell you, I'm currently unable to use any attacking jutsu. There's something disturbing my chakra circulation, so I'm afraid if I used any offensive jutsu, it might've turned against us instead. It'll be Taijutsu and Kenjutsu only for me, or supporting and barrier. Other than that it might become too dangerous." The others nodded their understanding, "So, what's the plan, Sarutobi-san?"
"Just Asuma. I'll try to cut through this racket and join my fellow Guardians. Do you think you guys could hold the fort?"
"We'll run a perimeter up the wall ahead and around. You okay going alone?" It was Kakashi who answered. The ANBU Captain, figured.
"I know some short-cuts. I'll leave the rest here to you guys."
Then Sarutobi Asuma disappeared behind the large evergreen oak tree.
As the Fire Guardian disappeared down the stairs, Madame Shijimi gave little Naho over to the care of her maid and told the old woman to put Naho to sleep in the corner by the door. Nervously, the maid took the little girl away and the Madame resumed to her seats beside 'little Naruto'.
"What happened to your chakra, Naruto-chan?" The Sandaime Hokage, who had stood up to hear Asuma's reports, turned his attention to the clone henge-d into eight years old Naruto.
It was Kurama who answered the question for her. "She has just gained half of my chakra as an addition to her normal capacity, which is worth all of my chakra, when we arrived here. She now has one and a half worth of my chakra plus her Uzumaki chakra. It's still fluctuating and will take sometimes to adjust it back to any semblance of regularity." 'More like eight and a half bijuu worth of chakra, but you don't need to know that'. "After filling the second floor with clones earlier today, we agreed that if push comes to shove and she had to fight, it would mean she'd have to do it without jutsu. A simple D-ranks jutsu could be very well ended as S-rank due to chakra overload. Kage level barriers are doable, though."
Every ninja in the room gulped. That was a massive load of chakra, to put it mildly.
"If you don't mind my asking some questions, Madame?" Shikaku drawled from his post by the west windows which had been barricaded with thick metal plates, leaving a horizontal peeping hole as a mean to look outside.
"Yes, Nara-san?"
"You seemed to accept quite readily of Naruto's and Kurama's? explanation of their circumstances when they arrived. How come?" He turned to the fox demon –who had transformed into human when Asuma knocked– for a moment to ask permission to use his name, after he received a nod of affirmation from the fox-man; he returned his questioning glance toward the Madame. There was a glint of amusement in the black-beaded eyes. She patted Tora's head who was laying at her knees absently before answering.
"Aaa….I am an old woman born and living among ninjas, Nara-san. I have heard, read and seen the strangest things in our world. Moreover, if you have met as many people as I have, after a while you tend to learn to tell whether they're honest or not. Many would call it woman's intuition; however I myself call it the fruit of experiences. You ninjas have a better chance in winning a fight with experience on your side, are you not? Allowing you to judge the situation better." The Nara nodded his head.
"Well, when I first saw her, she was still in her eight years old body; I knew who she was and what she contained immediately after I saw her face. Then she grew right under my eyes, literally. Remember that when there's a demon involved, everything is possible. I prepared myself to several possibilities as she continued to grow; including the demon had taken over and time-travel. When she opened her eyes and looked at us, well, I just knew." She scratched her black Persian cat at the neck and chuckled. "Besides, Tora-chan here has an impeccable instinct, it's hereditary you know, and she picked up no malice or bad intention coming from Naruto-chan."
"I see. You've been fooling around with us all this time, are you not?" The Madame laughed heartily at that.
"Ah, we old women have our own quirks, Nara-san. Don't tell me you'd ruin an old woman's entertainment and spread it around?" 'You'll keep it to yourself'.
"Of course I won't, Madame. It'll be too troublesome." Shikaku bowed his pony-tailed head slightly. 'You have my word'.
There was a soft snore. The maid had fallen asleep on her seat. Little Naho crawled out of her lap and walked nimbly back to her Obaa-san. She climbed onto the old-lady's lap after trampling on Tora's tail on the way which made the black feline hissed angrily.
"She thought she'd died the first time she awoke, you know." The Madame's voice softened as she rubbed little Naho's back gently. "She babbled a lot of names that she'd thought she was going to meet since she was dead, including mine." The room fell quite after that remarks. Madame Shijimi took a deep breath before continuing.
"But it's like she was happy to be finally died. I had guessed it was bad from whence she came from, but after watching her memories just now…."
It was the Yamanaka clan head who replied.
"She has not shown us half of what she'd been through. She was not exactly hiding some of her memories from me, from us. It was more like she moved some of her memories in fast forward motion to prevent us from seeing them all too clearly, and I've got to see glimpses of them anyway…." The pony-tailed shinobi tried to suppress a shiver but failed. "Konoha has failed both Minato and Kushina, yet their legacy is still loyal to the village down to the last cell of her body."
At that moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that he had gained another twenty years of age. "What would you have me do, Naruto-chan? Would you like to have your lines announced to the whole village so that they would treat you better?"
"Neh, Jijii….I don't think Boss would want that, dattebayo! The villagers hate her now because of what we, she contains. If you let her parents known, they would love her only because of the Yellow Flash and the Red-Hot Habanero; not because of she herself and what she'd done dattebayo! We've gained their acknowledgement once, we'll gain it again. Don't sweat, Jijii!"
Everyone presented in the room looked at the clone with widened eyes and then unconsciously bowed their heads. Kurama smirked on his seat at the display of respects. That Brat had earned all of the nine bijuu's respects, after all.
"How are you going to do that, Naruto-chan? The original had shown us that she'd only gained the village acknowledgement after Konoha had been left as a mere a crater on the ground. Surely you will not have that kind of calamity yet again?" the Sandaime asked after he managed to hold himself together.
"Nah, she was fully recognized after Pain Invasion, true. But it had actually started getting better after the Boss graduated the Academy and became a genin, dattebayo! I hope the Boss won't get mad at me for telling you this, but Boss thinks that Kakashi-Sensei got the right idea the first time around, D-ranks, dattebayo! Lots and lots of them, too!" Shikaku chuckled at that.
"I see. He forced the villagers to face you, didn't he? He made them see you rather than see through you. He pushed them to see that the child was not the demon?" He was rewarded with a beaming smile for the comment.
"Right you are, Shikaku Oji-san! You're so smart, just like Shikamaru, dattebayo! Although, I don't think the Boss or any of us clones would want to spend four years in the academy once again. It was sooo boring the first time around, doing it again for the second time…." The clone shivered and shook its head violently, "Please don't make us go through that all over again, Jijii!"
A calloused palm found its way atop the clone's head. "We'll think of something, Naruto-chan. We'll think of something."
"Thanks, Jijii! You're the best, dattebayo!" then it launched itself at the Sandaime's waist and gifted both of the wrinkled cheeks with kisses.
Madame Shijimi had finally noticed that the clone's personality was somewhat different from the original Naruto, the cheerfulness was not just an act. This clone was a lot more outspoken and less reserved than the original. Her eyes twinkled for a second before she uttered her question.
"So, Naruto-chan, your old Baa-chan is a bit curious, perhaps you could help me?" The clone climbed down from the Sandaime's lap and homed in on her at once.
"Fire away, Baa-chan."
"Your Boss, it's the original Naruto right?" The clone nodded. "Did she have, you know, someone special back then?" The clone's face scrunched up in concentration before nodding the affirmative.
"Hai. There was someone, but I don't think Boss realized that she liked him that way, dattebayo! She always pushed that kind of thoughts about him down and away. No." The clone shook her blonde head when she saw Madame Shijimi's eyes lit up in curiosity. "I can't tell you who he was, Baa-chan. It's the Boss's deepest thoughts. Not my secret to tell. Gomen, Baa-chan."
The Madame shoulders sagged as she sighed in disappointment.
"Tell me, what happened to the original's hair, Naruto-chan? How come it's now red? And where are the whiskers? And the face is somewhat different from what I've picture it to be when she grows up." The Sandaime asked the clone Naruto after a while. It was Madame Shijimi who answered.
"I am the one who suggested it, actually. It's hair dye, not a Henge. And her whisker marks are still there, I just gave her some high quality powder to disguise them. A bit plucking of her eyebrows around the edges; drawing a slightly thinner lips, softened the eye shape at the corners, add a splash of high quality scented water, and as the result she looks and smell differently than how she really is. Anyone who knew her parents would recognize who she is otherwise, or suspect a connection." The Yamanaka raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? How come?"
"She's her parents' child, Yamanaka-san. Her Otou-san's daughter, to be exact. A female version of Minato, with Kushina's traits here and there. If she didn't use the make-ups, the Hatake brat would at least become suspicious. And Henge will be noticed by the Sharingan and Byakugan."
"And make-ups won't be noticed?" It was Chouza, who had been listening quietly until that point, who asked. There was another gleam in Madame Shijimi at the question.
"Tell me Akamichi-san, what was your impression when you laid your eyes on your wife for the first time on your wedding day?" The fa-ehm-big-boned man's kind brown eyes glazed over and a moment later the red markings on his cheeks disappeared under a heavy blush that cover the whole face.
"She looked….ah, more beautiful than ever."
"And…?" The Madame prompted gently.
"What….Ah, different! She looked different than she usually does."
"There you have it. It's the wonder of make-ups." Seeing more than one 'lost' expressions written on her guests' faces, the Madame granted them with a gleeful smile, her eyes twinkling in delight." Ah, it looks like you're still confused, Akamichi-san, Yamanaka-san. Shall I give you gentlemen a crash course in make-ups appliances, then?"
The Fire Daimyo let out a small chuckle in seeing his fellow gentlemen blushed and sputtered.
"Ah, please gentlemen. If We could survived the kind Madame's lessons, you can also."
"Come, now. Humour an old woman, why don't you? It's not like we have anything else to do but to wait here."
It was Inoichi who nodded his consent first. His own experiences with his wife and daughter at the very least had taught him that it was no use in arguing with women when they insisted on something. Shikaku followed suit soon after with a suppressed roll of his black eyes, Chouza could have sworn he could hear the word 'troublesome' ringing in his ears. The old Sarutobi pulled out his pipe and beamed at the Madame.
"Please, Madame, indulge us. We're all ears."
"Good." Her tone changed into that of a Sensei delivering a lecture. "Well now gentlemen, make-ups, as you all know, are commonly used by women to enhance their features and to cover any blemish, like pimples, scars or age-lines. However, there was another function of make-ups appliances that often being dismissed and forgotten nowadays. Before ninja have the Henge no Jutsu, infiltration agents, women and men, used high quality make-ups to change their appearances.
A crafty make-ups artist could 'paint', let's say your face Nara-san, and turned it into a completely different face. Shave, pluck, or add the volume of your eyebrows, cover your entire body with body-paint a shade lighter or darker from your original skin colour, put some additional height on your nose, add a couple of padding on your cheeks, splash some high quality scented water, dress yourself in on a different clothes and: Whalla! Not even your best friends would recognize you from appearance alone.
With Naruto-chan however, we're only aiming to slightly alter her looks. Not to completely change it. It's easier and faster to apply. Besides, she's a young woman, it would not be raising any suspicion if anyone noticed that she's wearing some make-ups; it is expected of a young woman to wear some, after all. Yet if she used a Henge, a lot of brows would be drawing. In a ninja village where doujutsu wielders dwell and prosper, I think make-ups are a better option."
"And why had Kakashi-san failed to notice the clone's Henge, then? And I can't either, now that I'm looking at you for a tell-tale of a Henge. There's no shimmering of chakra around you." The Yamanaka asked the clone. It scratched the back of its head before giving him a sheepish grin.
"Well, one: Kakashi-Sensei didn't see me changed, two: he didn't uncover his Sharingan and three: he only spared me a glance when he came here. Also, four: he didn't get close enough to sniff me out; otherwise he'd notice that I don't have the Boss's scent, if he's already familiar with it at this point, that is.
The Boss had always has so much chakra that when she performed the Henge no Jutsu for the first time, she overloaded the amount of chakra used for the jutsu, dattebayo! Nobody noticed about the chakra overload until she tried Oiroke no Jutsu on Kakashi-Sensei. Instead of getting a nosebleed and passed out, he uncovered his Sharingan and told the Boss to do it again. You should see the Boss's face then, dattebayo! Kakashi-Sensei said that as a result of overloading the jutsu, Boss's Henge is actually a solid change and not exactly an illusion as it's supposed to be."
"Somehow I don't want to know how this Oiroke no Jutsu looks like. And Kakashi does have your scent, Naruto-chan. He'd committed your scent to memory since you were only a few days old."
"Mou…you should see it Jijii. I'll tell the boss to show it to you later. You're one of the first who received the full effects of Oiroke no Jutsu, dattebayo! Although, you did tell the Boss never to use it again." It bit its bottom lips. "And why did you bring Kakashi-Sensei along, Jijii? The Boss almost fell over on her butt when she saw him. He's too smart, he notices things, Jijii."
"He knew little Naruto was missing from the village, he'd always checked on you whenever he's in the village, Naruto-chan. I must admit, I'd rather not spend anymore ryo in fixing a training ground if he'd failed to find you. I did not know that this visit was going to become more than a social call to the kind Madame. Let alone finding something of this magnitude. Had I've known it before, I'd give him the story that Genma and Raidou had given me when they delivered the Madame's letter and leave it at that."
"I see."
"And why did you not let Genma and Raidou to tell me the whole story, Naruto-chan?"
The clone tilted its head as it studied the Sandaime Hokage's face, biting its bottom lip in contemplation. Finally it sighed. "Would you believe them if they told you everything without any proof or without seeing the original by yourself, Jijii? Besides, the sure way to leak any secrets out in Konoha is to discuss the secret in the Hokage office, Jijii. The place is littered with bugs of various natures." The Naruto clone's eyes blinked. "Breached. Ten masked ninjas." It raised its palms, "They've been subdued. Ah!"
"What is it, Naruto-san?"
"There were some who wore blank porcelain masks, and…, 'Ne'. I think you're familiar with them, Jijii." The Sandaime's lips were drawn into a tense line then.
"Danzo."
"Boss's going to confront the leaders. They're heading to the Palace's Roof."
There was a deep, inhuman growl and they turned their attention to Kurama.
The fox was sitting in a lotus position, hands clasped in a Ram seal, both of his eyes were closed and he was snarling furiously. Before any of them could react, the fox's body glimmered and disappeared.
The Sandaime Hokage stated the obvious after a moment of silence. "Somehow I don't think that was a good sign."
"Shut up, Kurama!"
The demon fox was rolling over on his back, laughing at her through their mental link.
"You almost fell all over your own Sensei….You should've seen your face, Brat!"
"It's not funny, dattebayo!"
"They made you the second-in-command of the ANBU Honshu….What the hell that old hag was thinking, I wonder?"
The Uzumaki narrowed her eyes, nearly lost her footing and spurred the bijuu's manic laughter further. She shook her head in annoyance.
"You know you look like a barmy overgrown rabbit right now, right?" Kurama snarled but did not cease his laughter. Naruto hissed in annoyance before cutting off their mental links, the insane cackling of the demon still echoing in her head.
She refocused her attention back to the courtyard.
Hatake Kakashi glanced around at his comrades, Genma, Raidou, and the Uzumaki. The senbon chewing Tokujou was tightening his bandanna, Raidou had already drawn his poisoned-blade katana, the kokutou, out, and the red-head, Uzumaki, was righting her o-wakizashii's(1) position behind her back. He nodded to the three of them and took off running, heading out of the gate. The other three were right behind him, falling into battle formation like a well-oiled machine, the red-head included.
They separated into two groups after passing the gate. Raidou and Genma turned to the left while the Copy Nin and the Uzumaki took the right side. They would turn around after they reach the Palace's inner wall, sweeping any enemy that could break through the outer defences along the way. At that distance, they would still be able to quickly help the other pair when needed.
The former ANBU contemplated his patrol partner out of the corner of his eye. The long, dark-scarlet hair had been re-done. It was now being braided tightly from the top of her head. Tied with a leather band at the end; the whole length was tucked beneath the leather strap at her back as a mean to keep it away from hindering her movements. She wore a set of armour similar to that of ANBU minus the standard elbow-length leather gloves. However, the colour was of a darker shade of grey than that of the ANBU, including the knee-length open-toed boots. Beneath the armour she wore a dark orange short-sleeved shirt and long sleeved mesh shirt.
There were something fake about the Uzumaki. It was like the hair was of the wrong colour, yet what was the right spectrum deluded him. Or the eyes, they were of the wrong shape, but he failed to picture how the real shape should be. And the eyebrows seemed to bend at the wrong angles, although the real arch was unimaginable. He sniffed discretely and frowned. Even her scent was wrong. There were the subtlest hints of jasmine, orange blossom, rose...no, rosemary, freshly showered leaves, musk, sunshine and…apple? The effect was nice without being overwhelming, but they were wrong. Some of those scents should not be there, but he just could not discern which.
From the short time that he had seen her interact with other people, he could see that she was an open and honest person. The smile that she had bestowed upon them a moment ago was small, but sincere. Spontaneous that was the best word to describe her personality so far.
'Just like Kushina-san, guess it's an Uzumaki thing'. Yet that sense of fakeness just refused to go away. 'However….'
The Uzumaki had taken to run at his left side and Kakashi could not shake off the feeling that it was right. Like she knew when he would turn and adjusted her position at the same time as he moved. Somehow he knew that he could trust her to support him if needed, even though they had only just met. Yet he also in some way knew that the girl would barge into a fight if any was within their range without a second thought. It's like they have been fighting together countless of time before.
'Fake, but right….This is soo weird'
They reached the inner wall and turned back. The red-head took point, then.
They were half-way back to the gate when a group of ten masked ninjas jumped over the wall. The Uzumaki made a single hand seal and fifty solid clones came into being. Somehow the silver-haired Jounin found himself not surprised by the choice of jutsu, but amazed at the sheer number of clones that she had created all the same.
The clones looked at each other and then shrugged their shoulders in unison before charging at the incoming enemies. The original red-head did not even spare them a glance and hopped up the wall. However, once she reached the top of the wall Kakashi could hear her cursing softly under her breath, saying something that sounded like 'Damn, still out of whack…'
Kakashi followed her scaled up the wall. He found several large dents on the flat surface of the wall where she had stepped on before. He watched as the long, scarlet, braided hair swung around in its confinement when the owner shook her head in annoyance.
"You take the wall, Hatake-san. I'll take the ground." And she jumped down the outer side of the wall.
"Maa…its Kakashi, Uzumaki-san. Hatake makes me feel old."
There were the clashing sounds of weapons against weapons, screams and a poof coming from behind them, and then it was over.
"Right. It's Himawari, then. Chuunin, all of them." The Uzumaki informed him when they reached the gate and passed the two Tokujou going the opposite direction.
"We've got five of them back there." Genma clued them up before speeding up after Raidou.
They were barely a few steps away from the gate when a loud rumble was heard. The former ANBU turned to his right and saw part of the northern roof of the Palace fell down with a crash. There were seven people fighting there. From where they were standing he could distinguish one of them as Sarutobi Asuma.
Before Kakashi could say anything to his comrades, he heard the tell-tale 'poof' sounds of Kage Bunshin being summoned and the next thing he knew they were surrounded by a sea of scarlet. He could not blame them when he heard both Genma and Raidou gasped in surprise.
"Damn it, still too much. You, dispel yourself. I'm going up there." The Uzumaki pointed her finger to the nearest clone. The clone crossed its hands across its chest and pouted.
"Why me? Dispel her, or her or…" Its whining was cut short when a kunai embedded itself between the clone's eye and it was forcefully dispelled. The clone behind it caught the kunai and threw it back to the original Uzumaki, eyes glaring.
"Oi! Don't go around killing us as you like! We're not your slaves, you know!"
"You're my clones, idiot! You do what I tell you, and now it's not the right time for this. You guys stand your ground here. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah…" The enraged clone shooed the original away with a wave of its hand, eyes still glaring.
The Uzumaki had already running toward the Palace when the three perplexed ninja heard one of the clones chided them.
"Oi! Are you three going to let the Boss go up there alone?"
The Copy Nin shared a brief look with the two Tokujou before they took off running after the girl. He lifted his hitai-ate as he leapt forward.
"That was….bizarre."
Raidou snorted at his bandanna wearing friend. "You tell me."
They almost reached the Palace's inner gate when a barrage of shuriken came raining down upon them. Genma threw some of his senbon to deflect those coming his way while the scarred-face Tokubetsu Jounin had his kokutou out. The former ANBU had his kunai blocking the shuriken and threw some of his own shuriken toward the Palace wall where the lob had came from. They were in a bad position standing right under the wall as they were.
The Uzumaki repelled the next volley of shuriken and kunai with her sword. After a few steps, she huffed and rolled over toward the Copy nin. Kakashi reacted automatically, grabbing her outstretched left hand, threw her up over the raining missiles and above the wall where she disappeared. The incoming weapons soon stopped and not a minute later the Palace gate was opened.
The three of them ran forward and was greeted by the red head who threw them a grin.
"Nice throw."
Kakashi nodded, both eyes roaming the scene before him. There were five unidentified, fully masked ninjas scattered along the wall, all of them either dead or unconscious. Most likely the later, since there were no scents of blood anywhere near them.
The four of them turned their attention to assess the situation at the Palace's inner courtyard, then. The fighting on the roof was still commencing in high speed.
The Palace was surrounded by roughly two hundred masked ninja. The Daimyo's troops were trying to thwart them off from entering the Palace; they were engaged in a heated mêlée at every corner. It was safe to assume that the attackers had yet to realize that the Daimyo was not in the Palace at the moment. Otherwise, they most definitely had already abandoned the attempt to siege the Palace and move toward Madame Shijimi's private pavilion instead. So far, they were stuck in a headlock, unable to push the other side back. None of the fighting party had registered their entrance, yet.
The goddess Tsukoyomi had risen from her slumber, taking her sister's place on the heavenly throne. Her ethereal robe glowed majestically throughout the endless darkness. The celestial face smiled serenely downward, showering the Earth in rich, gentle luminosity.
All four of them leapt forward to join the battle, knowing that they needed to find a way to reach the roof of the Palace to help Asuma. The sooner they could take the leaders of this madness out of the equation, the sooner the fight could be ended. The use of missiles and jutsu were abandoned seeing as everyone was moving too fast, they might hit the Daimyo's troop instead of the enemies.
A poof. Another scarlet sea.
As the clones spread themselves around the Palace, the original Uzumaki joined the fray with the three Konoha shinobi. The Hatake, kunai crackling with lightning chakra in both hands, took point. The Uzumaki once again took his left flank, while the Namiashi took his right; both had their swords drawn. The Shiranui, senbon in between each knuckles of his hands, closed their formation from behind thus forming the perfect diamond.
And they danced.
Kakashi slashed through the enemies in front of them, lightning-infused kunai slicing left and right with deadly precision. Raidou to his left stabbed and thrust any hostility closing in from his side. The red-head hacked and plunged her blade at any masked ninja getting too close for comfort. Genma kept the enemy counts higher, throwing and piercing his senbon through the enemy ranks. Never once concerned about guarding their backs, knowing, believing their comrades were there to keep them safe.
The Daimyo's troop, relieved to receive a breath of much needed air from the Konoha ninja, tightened their grips on their weapons and then charged with renewed vigour.
They were tipping the balance off.
Engraving their way toward the Palace wall, they moved, turned and shifted in sync. When the Copy nin had to leave his corner to chase away some persistent black-clad ninja, the other three immediately followed suit. Flanking his blind spots at all corner. Once Raidou was tightly stuck between five enemies and the three of them were there in a second.
Then it was Genma, spotting some hidden enemy ready to ambush their quartet from around the corner, he wove his way through with the targets locked in his vision. Any blockage from other enemies fell over at his feet as his comrades decimated them.
An enemy hoisting some strange contraption was closing in behind them while the other masked ninja turned around and gave the guy a wide breath, circling around from a distance. The Uzumaki, having no intention to find out what the contraption was for leapt, sword already lunging forward. Her o-wakizashii was homing in below his ribcage.
Genma grinned; the other enemies had given them what he preferred in fighting, space. Soon enough, there was a nice little arc of fallen enemies in front of him, all bearing a senbon on various points of their bodies.
The scarred-face Tokujou twirled his kokutou, enemy's shuriken, kunai and senbon bounced back at their senders in a blink of an eye, finding their lodging deep in human flesh and stayed there. At the same time, the Copy Nin had jumped over the enemy's rank, kunai flashing too fast to counter. Within the next breath, he was back in his former position while his quarries dropped their weapons, blood gushing out from their veins.
The four of them reached their starting points at the same time. They had their shoulders and backs brushing against each other. A collective sigh later, and they all grinned.
Another wave of masked enemy charge at them, and once again the four of them moved as one.
Hatake Kakashi was never one to enjoy killing.
He was a ninja, and a good one at that. Killing was his trade. He got the job done fast and clean but he never relished in the act of killing itself.
There was an intense exhilarated feeling running through his body as he and his comrades wove through the enemy's ranks. He was used to the taste of adrenaline in his vein at the height of battle; however what he felt just then was something entirely different. It was something new, yet at the same time it was like an old forgotten sensation resurfacing to the forefront of his being. It was like they were inhaling and exhaling at the same moment, moving and adjusting at the right time, attacking and parrying in a well rehearsed choreography.
He could understand if the feeling was triggered by fighting alongside Raidou and Genma after so long, however the red-head Uzumaki should had not been included in the haze. They had never fought together before; hell they had only just met, exchanging no more than five sentences to each other. Their ranks should have been odd, at the very best.
She was definitely part of their team nonetheless.
He could tell from the dancing aura of his comrades that they too, felt the same, all three of them. Further analysing the sensation, he came to the conclusion that whatever it was, it was not directly related to the carnage. More like the feeling of fighting together, all the four of them side by side that triggered the impression.
Déjà vu that was what he was feeling.
Pushing the strange feelings aside, the Copy Nin swept his gaze around the courtyard. The fighting was still commencing, but they were clearly had managed to push the enemy. The Daimyo's troop was finishing the last of the scattered enemy. The dozens Kage Bunshin did make a lot of difference.
The former ANBU was just about to turn to face his still grinning comrades when a loud bellow was heard from above.
"Kitane!" Asuma's voice cut through the clamour of fighting around them.
The Sharingan saw what happened first.
A body was falling downward head first in high speed, and Kakashi moved to intercept the fall. A burst of chakra to his feet and he was rushing through the air to catch the falling Fire Guard. Just as he managed to grab the man, a kunai zinged below his sandals and embedded itself to the Palace wall. He saw that there was a nin-wire attached to the loop of the kunai. He grabbed the wire and realized that they were five storey high above the ground. Not too high a fall if he were alone. However he had a semi-conscious man on his hand, jostling the heavily wounded man around too much would not be wise.
There were several glints of nin-wire in different heights zigzagging between the Palace wall and the rows of ancient Sugi(2) trees at the other end of the courtyard below. The former ANBU realized that someone -most likely his comrades– had provided him with a way down. Sighing in relief, he moved the Fire Guardian onto his back so that the man's body was slung over his left shoulder in a fireman's hold. Once the man was secured, he picked his way down amidst the wayward kunai and shuriken from the enemies. They had not yet noticed his predicament, but it looked like they had no care whether the missiles hit the enemies or their own comrades.
The Copy Nin put the Fire Guardian down carefully under the furthest Sugi tree at the back of the Palace, away from the hubbub of battle. He checked on the many wounds on the man's; Kitane, if he heard it right, chest and the sighed in relieved when he found that none of the man's wounds were fatal. Most likely the worst of his wound was a head trauma, a concussion. He took out several rolls of bandage from one of his jounin vest's pockets and then started to work.
The clamour from the front of the Palace had already ceased, there was a high probability that the fights were over and the Daimyo's troop had managed to take control of the situation. Now that he had the Fire Guardian's most dire injuries bandaged, he could try to move him without worrying too much.
As he tied the last bandages, the silver-haired nin looked around to see whether there was anyone who could help to carry the wounded man to a better location, when a cold, terrifying, familiar aura of doom blanketed the Palace.
"Naruto!"
As the last of the kunai find their lodging deep on the wall of the Palace, Naruto muttered under her breath, "Stupid Sensei. Always so reckless."
The scarred-face Tokujou standing behind her was chuckling lightly. "He's always like that huh, Naruto-chan?"
The blue eyes widened in surprised. Before she had the chance to retort, Genma closing in on them and greeted her by her real name. She turned her head toward the bandanna wearing nin and narrowed her eyes. Instead of looking at the kind brown eyes, the sight of the aftermath assaulted her vision.
The rest of the conversation drifted through her mind. Flashes of memories from her future flitted before her eyes and she felt her heart clenched in remembrances.
The Red Monument was slowly being covered in white. Every single person in the large village had come to pay their homage to the fallen, each bearing the royal bloom. Those who had fought and lost their life defending their being as free souls that they were deserved all the respect and more. Bearing the heavy rain was a small price to pay.
Genma nudged her elbow and prompted her toward the Palace.
The sky had finally stopped weeping.
Claw-like nails elongated and she began carving the names with her pointy finger on the ebony stone's surface.
The price of peace was heavy indeed.
19.436 remembered names.
19.436 ended lives.
19.436 cut out stories.
Those were only the names of the fallen Konoha shinobi. The war casualties were spread throughout the Elemental Countries and the damage was severe. Out of 80.000 shinobi that marched to war against the Akatsuki, less than half made it back alive.
Such was the cruelty of a war.
All for one man's hunger for power.
Medic nin were busy collecting and moving the dead.
She had sent her Kage Bunshins to retrieve the bodies of fallen Konoha shinobi spread across the battlefield, collecting their dog-tags and laid their bodies side by side at the funeral pyre. She remembered each face, identifiable or not, and just like Neji, they were all smiling in death. It's like they approved of their own death.
Maybe they were.
Sakura and some of her friends had told her not to look, to let other people retrieve and care for the fallen, but she had adamantly refused. Those fallen shinobi initially went to war to protect her and Killer Bee, she had argued. How could she not taken their death personally?
How could she dishonour them by not looking?
How would she found them in the afterlife if she did not remember their faces, did not even know their names?
A couple of the Daimyo's guards were collecting their deceased comrades' dog-tags. The Uzumaki blinked.
The chakra cloak dissipated after the last name was etched, and Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto fell down to her knees. She finally let her tears ran free and her body shook with broken sobs. Thousands of lifeless faces pushed themselves forward to the forefront of her memories and flitted just behind her eyelids. Empty eyes, broken and mangled bodies, burnt faces, and dog-tags.
Thousands of dog-tags.
There was someone who was covering the dead bodies, comrades and enemies alike.
"Don't look away. The end of a man who lived a difficult life."
The soft-relaxed tone of one Hatake Kakashi from so long ago after their battle with Zabuza echoed in her ears.
So she did not look away as the funeral pyre lit up the night sky, and strangely, the scent emitted from the big bonfire was that of sweet incenses.
The older blonde gave a slight nod and her guards moved away to a more respectable distance. She took a step forward and placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger blonde. Two pairs of eyes were memorizing the etched list to heart. Each and every name on the stone's surface had also had been carved to the very fabric of their souls.
Tsunade offered no words of comfort, no other gesture of solace. At that moment, they were both equals; friends, comrades, leaders. More importantly, they were both grieving; both of their hearts were bleeding and broken. The best that they could offer to one another was each other's present.
They stayed there together until the sun began to slide down in western sky, crying their hearts out in silent sobs.
The three of them had reached the Palace's door. Genma asked something and her gaze turned upward.
As the last villager paid their respects, the wind began to pick up its pace once again, and most mourners left the cemetery toward their homes. Only a handful of people were still standing there, all of them were shinobi. They stood in silent, each present was a solace to another, watching the snow white petals of the mourning flowers fluttered in the air and blown away with the wind, lifting them toward heaven.
The rain was ceasing.
A malice presence tickled at the edge of her senses. Naruto shook her memories off, trying to refocus her attention back to where she was. As soon as she was able to push the images away, she registered what the feeling was and took off back toward the pavilion.
Genma dropped his body into a crouch to avoid the incoming kunai marked in the direction of his head. Flicking his wrist, he hurled another volley of senbon, deflecting the flying missiles as well as aiming to incapacitate instead of killing. They needed some prisoners for interrogation.
Those masked ninja were clearly not integrated with the traitorous Fire Guardian. They were supporting the traitors, that point was certain; however they were more like mercenaries. There were no coordination between the traitors and the masked ninja. Moving and attacking on their own to create disorder and chaos. As he rolled to the right to let the red-head sprung toward the remaining enemies, he wondered briefly where a mercenary organization that big could have hidden themselves.
The bandanna wearing Tokujou sensed, rather than saw Kakashi jumped upward after the familiar chakra burst on the Copy Nin's feet. He risked a glance and cursed when he realized what his comrade was doing. The former ANBU was six storeys high up in the air, catching an unconscious man on one shoulder with nothing to break his fall.
Just then a sharp zinged sound cut through his ears and he caught a glimpse of silver soaring by. There was a kunai embedded into the fifth floor's wall with nin-wire attached to it. He watched as the Copy Nin grabbed hold of the wire just in time.
"Genma-san! Here, help me with these!"
A bunch of kunai was tossed onto his palm, each with nin-wire tied to their loops. The other ends of the wire were attached to another set of kunai in the Uzumaki's hand. Raidou was standing on guard at her back, keeping the remaining enemies at bay.
"You do the trees, I'll take the wall."
Understanding clicked in his mind, Genma began throwing the kunai in sequence toward the Sugi trees bordering the Palace's courtyard. At the same time, the red-head threw hers toward the Palace's wall, creating a descending web of nin-wire between them.
As the last of the kunai previously in his hand found its mark on the furthest tree, the senbon chewing shinobi heard the red-head muttering something under her breath and Raidou, who was sheathing his sword behind her chuckled softly.
The battle was over. The Daimyo's troop were rounding up prisoners and moving the dead into a corner outside the gate while the wounded were gathered near the gate post.
He closed the distances between them and raised an eyebrow.
"Care to share the joke, Naruto-chan?"
The red-head sputtered and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Not you, too. How did you two know it's me, dattebayo?"
"Well," It was Raidou who answered her question, "You didn't change your figure, Naruto-chan. We saw you before…all this changes you'd done. You have this spring in your steps, and your eyes are unique, too."
Naruto turned her gaze toward Raidou and pouted. "Mou, you wouldn't tell anyone else, right?"
Genma nudged the two on their elbows and lead them to walk toward the Palace. They still need to find a way to help Asuma, anyway.
"We haven't broken our promises, yet, Naruto-chan. Not that we'd planned to, it's your secret to tell. But how about Kakashi, though? You said we've told you in the future about how we used to shadow you when you were little. Kakashi's been doing that much longer and more often than the two of us, you know."
"He did? You've never told me that before, dattebayo!"
Both Tokujou raised their eyebrows. "Never?"
"Nope. Anyway, to answer your question, maybe I'll tell him later, after I….take care a few things first."
"Suit yourself. I wanna see his face when you do come around and tell him, though."
"We'll see, Genma-san, we'll see."
They had reached the Palace's door; the Daimyo's guard had managed to clear most of the barricade in front of it so they were free to climb over the Palace. Simultaneously, they looked up. Genma moved his senbon to one corner of his lips and sighed.
"Stairs or roof-hopping?"
Before any of his comrades could provide an answer, three figures landed several steps to their left and their fell into stance at once. One of them stepped forward and spoke, "It's me, Asuma."
The three of them relaxed at once. Upon closer inspection, Genma noticed that there was a fourth figure hoisted between the other two behind the burly Sarutobi.
The scarred-face Tokujou tilted his head to the side and whispered softly, "Is he…?"
The Fire Guardian shook his head.
Several medics rushed over to their place and took the body. One of them tried to usher the rest of the Fire Guardian toward the gate post that had been turned into a makeshift hospital. They merely shook their heads.
"We'll manage. Three of the traitors had escaped. How about Kitane?" The monk, Chiriku, asked.
"Kakashi got him. He landed a bit to the back. He hasn't come back yet, perhaps your friend's wounds were pretty bad." The bandanna wearing Tokujou answered the monk. "We should go and check on them." He added.
They were only beginning to turn toward the back of the Palace when a sense of cold dread trickled down their spines from the direction of Madame Shijimi's pavilion. Belatedly, Genma realized that the blonde-now-red-head, Naruto, had disappeared without their knowing it.
"Kurama, what the hell?" Naruto was practically screaming through their mental links. "What the heck are you thinking of?"
"Don't scream at me, Brat. This isn't me. This chakra is unrefined, it's like my chakra before you unlocked the seal." The demon fox's grumbled in her mind-scape. Her steps faltered for a moment as she took the information in.
"You're right, dattebayo! Gomen, gomen. But what…" Her mind played a picture of a long lost friend's face. A boy of sixteen with bluish grey hair, cut just below his chin. Brown, bitter eyes. Blowing wind….
"Sora!"
"That's right, Brat! He's getting closer to the pavilion!"
"I'm coming!"
The pale-faced shinobi dispelled his summon after they landed inside the Daimyo's Palace's wall. He helped his brother standing up onto his feet and threw his gaze around.
There had been a battle occurred in the courtyard. It looked like he had arrived at the end of a skirmish. He could discern people moving around carrying dead bodies and tending to the injured. The smell of blood was thick in the air.
Amidst the chaos, there was a strong presence here that made him breathe out in relieved. The warm chakra was covering the entire place. His friend, the one he thought had died was in this very place. Of course, if anyone could defy any odds stacked against them, this particular friend definitely claimed the top spot.
"Looks like I found my friend, otouto. Let's go."
Just as he finished speaking to his brother, another strong presence bulldozed its way through and the black-haired nin froze. He could see several figures leaping toward the source of the malice in a rush. He hoisted his brother onto his back and started running, too.
The Sandaime Hokage jumped from his seat just a second after Kurama disappeared. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio was not far behind him. They sped through the door, leaving the Daimyo and his family alone in the room. Hiruzen turned around beyond the door and barked.
"Daimyo-dono, secure the room. We'll get back to you as soon as we can!"
The Fire Daimyo nodded quickly before closing the door while Madame Shijimi stood stunned in front of the secret panels to raise the pavilion's defences.
"Raise the fortress, dear. You have to trust your god-daughter. She will be able to handle whatever it is that is coming."
The Madame tried to answer her spouse, yet her voice died in her throat so she settled with a nod. This presence was different than that of her god-daughter's yesterday. This being was emitting so much malice she could taste it in the air.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the last panel to close off the east side of her pavilion. She was barricading her newly-found god-daughter outside the safety of her fortress.
Fumbling desperately, she searched for her husband's hand in the dim light of the room. He caught her hand mid-air and gripped her trembling hand in his, trying to offer some comfort.
Three figures stopped just outside the Palace's outer wall.
They could see the thick smoke mounting from one corner of the Palace's roof. The coppery scent of blood assaulted their heightened sense of smell as a particularly strong wind blew past them. The blonde woman blanched before she took a step backward, head shaking violently. The black-haired woman was on her side in an instance.
"Tsunade-sama?"
"I….I'll just wait here, Jiraiya. You go in and see what happened."
The man, Jiraiya the Gama Sannin, eyed his team-mate with concern mixed with impatience. His usual goofy grin was notably absent from his face.
"Will you be aright, Hime?"
"I….I just need to sit down. I'll be fine. Take Shizune with you, there likely a lot of injured soldiers in there."
"Are you sure it will be aright for me to leave, Tsunade-sama?" The black-haired woman, Shizune gripped her familiar tighter than she usually was and a loud, angry oink was heard. "Wha…Oh, I'm so sorry Ton-Ton!"
"Leave Ton-Ton with me, Shizune. Those people need help. I'll just take a loop and find the closest spot that's free from this scent. You could always find me afterwards."
Jiraiya took the matter out of Shizune's hands.
"Right. We'll all take a loop and find a safe place for you to stay, Hime. I'll feel better if I knew where I'm going to leave you. Let's go!"
Senju Tsunade opened her mouth to argue; however, in seeing her team-mate's unusually stern gaze she dropped it immediately. She shakily stood up, and Shizune's shoulder was immediately there for her to lean on.
She inhaled deeply. Now that the wind had ceased blowing, she could breathe freely without the sickening taste of copper invading her senses. She nodded toward her companions.
Without another words, the three of them moved away from the spot in a much slower pace than before.
Hatake Kakashi dropped the still-unconscious Fire Guardian at the makeshift hospital near the gate door. He informed the medic he found there about the man's condition before taking off toward the pavilion.
He had thought it was safe to leave Sensei's daughter there along with the Daimyo and the Sandaime. If something were to happen to the little ball of sunshine, he did not know what to do anymore.
'I'll ask the Hokage to rejoin the ANBU.'
His musings were cut off by the sounds of several running steps. Without pausing, he immediately recognized the familiar presences of his comrades and let out a relief sigh.
There was someone missing though….the red-head. 'Was she injured? Should I check back to the Palace gate?'
The large evergreen oak tree loomed in front of him and he mentally shook the images of the ambiguous red-head away from his mind. 'Focus, Kakashi!'
The sight that welcomed him and his comrades at Madame Shijimi's courtyard stopped him in his tracks. Not a second later, the rest of the people running behind him also stopped.
The red-head and a nin that he had never seen before was fighting against two of the treacherous Fire Guardian. The Copy Nin was able to discern their white sashes with the kanji for 'fire' tied around their waists. Meanwhile, the Uzumaki's partner was thirty-something male with long spiky hair. The colour of his hair was somewhere between white, red and gold, something the former ANBU had never seen before. His dark hakama was blowing as he moved in tune with the Uzumaki.
While the previous collaboration between the red-head, Genma, Raidou and himself felt like a long forgotten choreography, the Uzumaki and his partner danced like they were moving in a lifetime of rehearsed steps. They moved in perfect harmony, always shifting in tune, always drifting in one smooth synchronization.
Both of them were able to hold their ground, and from some of their moves, Kakashi could have sworn that they actually had the upper hand. However, they both seemed to be distracted, like they were trying to chase after something else. He analysed everything that the Sharingan had memorized around the place.
The red-head's Kage Bunshins that she had left earlier were separated into two groups. The first, the smaller group was guarding the entrance to the pavilion. The silver crown turned slightly to the left where the larger group was fighting against dozens of masked ninja which seemed to be preventing the Bunshins to reach the other side. 'So, some of them were headed here after all.'
He had seen enough.
Drawing his kunai out and charging his chakra to the kunai, the Copy Nin jumped in to assist the red-head and her strange-haired partner. He was aware of Genma and Raidou following closely at his heel. Asuma and one of his fellows Fire Guardian were half a heartbeat behind them.
The two traitorous Fire Guardian were taken aback for a moment, but they regained their resolves soon enough and welcomed the newcomers with renewed vigour.
They were good, Kakashi could give them that. Unlike the band of masked ninja earlier, those two were comrades just as much as he and the other Konoha ninja. Both of them fought together and covered each other's weaknesses. However, with the five of them joined the fray, they began to push the traitors down.
Naruto sighed in relieved when her former…future? Sensei and the other Konoha nin invited themselves to join the fight. She needed to breach the barricade of the masked ninja to reach Sora and his father Kazuma. Kazuma was opening Sora's seal in an ancient ritual as they fought and he had to be stopped, soon. Sora's body was still that of a eight years old. She had no desire to find out what the effects of Kurama's raw, unrefined chakra might be on his small body.
The now-red-head remembered how they both were burnt and bruised from the contact with the Kyuubi's chakra after Kazuma's attack on Konoha in the future. Moreover, Sora was not an Uzumaki. He did not have the luxury of advance self-healing of the Uzumaki's blood or her concentrated chakra to withstand the damage.
"Let's go, partner." She called to Kurama as she jumped out of the arena.
"Right beside you, Brat."
They charged through the lines of the masked ninja –Ne– who were still fighting against dozens of Naruto's clones. The number of clones was steadily decreasing. These ninja were better fighters than their counterparts that went to besiege the Palace earlier. Her estimation was that this lot was more than likely to be Jounin or high Jounin level. Had her chakra had been stabilized; she would had been firing jutsu left and right. Yet, in her current condition, firing jutsu would probably harm her comrades and their surroundings along with the enemy. She could not even channel her chakra to her sword, and it irked her to no ends.
Jutsu restricted or not, she was glad that she still had Kurama by her side.
After the nightmare that was the Fourth Shinobi War, she had started training and sparring with the nine bijuu; either in their demon forms or their human forms. She had taken the rule to 'always be prepared' to heart and the demons were all in agreement. They needed an edge on every field; training and sparring would only sharpen the edges that they already had.
There was no such thing as overkill.
But only when there were no comrades or the innocence around.
Creating another batch of Kage Bunshin, she realized that Kakashi, Genma and Raidou had come to her aid in breaching the rows of Ne ninja.
"That's Kurama." She pointed toward her partner, and the three ninja nodded slightly before they began charging at the enemies.
They were fighting at the bottle-neck section of the courtyard. On one side there was the three storey high of the pavilion wall and on the other side there were rows and rows of ancient Sugi trees bordering the inner part of the pavilion's enclosure. In a fight it was a perfect place to hold your ground, a nightmare to try to pass through.
She could see glimpses of Kyuubi's chakra sparked as Kazuma continued to perform his ritual. She could also feel her own and Kurama's chakra resonated with the outburst, so she pressed harder. The need for secrecy was fighting against the need to end the battle quicker. She huffed in frustration.
"You got that right, Brat. If I could just devour these two-legged monkeys, you wouldn't need to break a sweat."
"We've talked about this hundreds of time already, Kurama. No eating while fighting." The demon fox snorted and crushed another masked ninja's arm before tossing him aside. The Ne's body slumped against a tree bark and then slide down to end up in a heap under the tree.
"Hmmm, a fitting position for a member of Ne, don't you think?"
Hatake Kakashi had reached her left side, while Kurama was still fighting on her other side. Somewhere close behind she could feel Raidou's sword cutting through the air. Some of the masked ninja had fallen where they stood, courtesy of Genma's senbon.
Only two more ninja stood between them and Kazuma at the back, the rest were rounding in from behind, trying to close the gap. A moment later the two of them simultaneously dropped to the ground, one had a deep gash on his neck while the other one still had a sword sticking through his abdomen. Raidou grinned at her while withdrawing his kokutou.
"So, where are you going?" It was the bandanna wearing nin who asked, before he leapt back to hold off the rest of the masked ninja from gaining their current place. The ever-present senbon between his lips was twinkling under the moonlight as he turned.
Naruto blinked and look up to the sky. Tsukoyomi was beaming benignly back at her.
It was the night of the full moon.
The one time when the nine bijuu felt the pull of the Shinjuu at full force.
"Kuso!"
"Brat, hold the man. I'll be able to absorb the chakra residue from your friend's body."
"Without harming him? He's so small, Kurama. The chakra might boil his body, dattebayo!"
"Don't you trust me? He's about to finish the ritual, barrier, now!"
"Too many people around, dattebayo! They'll be under the barrier."
"Would you rather that Plant-man to sense my chakra and comes here to investigate? Now!"
Quickly, she dispelled the rest of surviving Kage Bunshin and summoned another twenty Kage level clones. Four of the clones jumped out to four separate directions while the rest went back to the entrance of the pavilion, they had a door to guard.
Genma, along with Raidou and Kakashi, had just finishing the rest of the masked nin with the aid of about sixty Kage Bunshins when the clones abruptly disappeared. They all turned to look for the red-head, just in time to see her creating another twenty clones and they all let out a relieved sigh. Unknowingly to them, they each had the same concern about the original Uzumaki being heavily wounded when the clones were dispelled.
Nonetheless, they had no chance to voice their concern as they saw the strange symbol on the ground and the man who was performing some sort of ritual before them. He wore a simple dark suit, with the Fire Guardian sash tied around his waist. In the middle of the symbol on the ground laid a small boy –no older than eight years old– with short, bluish grey hair garbed in a monk attire. The boy was thrashing and writhing in pain as the Fire Guardian ran through a series of hand seals. Red, malicious chakra started to ooze from various points on his body.
"Kazuma!"
Asuma and his monk comrades had joined them.
Four of the clones were flashing toward four different directions; east, south, west and north. Just when they reached their position, a black-clad nin appeared behind the treacherous Kazuma, hand forming the seal of confrontation. At the exact same time, the four clones raised their hands to form the Ram seal.
"Shisekiyoujin!"(3)
They all felt the powerful burst of chakra as the barrier took shape around them. The wall of chakra forming between the four clones were humming with energy that flowing through space.
"Sumi Nagashi!"(4)
The new comer was steadily pouring ink directly from its bottle to the ground. The ink then turned into dozens of black snake-like creatures as it touched the ground, slithering their way toward Kazuma, who looked like about to conclude his ritual. The ink-snakes wrapped themselves around the man's ankle, steadily gaining heights up his body. Before he knew it, the snakes were already constricting his movements and Kazuma was forced to abandon the seal sequences that he had been performing.
Kurama leapt toward the little boy in the monk's clothes. Hair colour strangely shifting, he picked the little monk up to his chest and embraced the boy. He was emitting his own chakra and they all could taste pure power exuding from him.
"No! You can't stop him. My son is a jinchuuriki! He'll destroy you all! The Land of Fire will have one King at last!"
Kazuma was now the one thrashing, struggling to free himself from his captor. Some of the ink-snakes broke from his movement, but the snakes merely reformed themselves as the ink touched the ground and slithered back up.
Sarutobi Asuma and his Guardian friend, Chiriku the monk, rushed forward to comprehend the now-tied up man.
The Uzumaki had stopped mid-step and staring at the newcomer, eyes wide and body trembling.
The black-clad nin had long black hair that reached his mid-back, pale skin glowed eerily under the light from the barrier around them. A pair of small hands wrapped around his neck, a little boy's face peeked out from behind one of his shoulders.
Kurama had left his field of vision, still cradling the little monk that the traitor had claimed to be his son in his embrace.
Genma was unsure of what to do. The stranger wore the same outfit as the rest of the masked enemy, but he did not wear any mask and he had helped them in capturing the traitorous Fire Guardian. The Uzumaki clearly knew the man, yet her reaction was confusing. He felt chakra flared at his side as Hatake lifted his kunai while Raidou was drawing his sword back out, ready to strike at any given notice. His own hand hovered above his weapon's pouch, body tensed in anticipation.
As soon as Asuma and the monk Fire Guardian managed to tie up the traitor tightly the man released his strange jutsu and tilted his head toward the red-head. A strange, fake smile broke upon the pale face.
"Yo, Dickless. Fancy meeting you here."
And the Uzumaki flew to hug him.
Faintly, almost escaping his hearing, Genma thought he heard a low growl.
Footnote:
(1) Cryptomeria japonica, or Sugi tree. Often called Japanese Cedar in English. Often planted along walls of temples, shrine or castle. Endemic to Japan. (Courtesy of Auntie Wiki)
(2) O-wakizashii: a normal wakizashii blade's length is between 30-60 cm. A wakizashii close to length of a katana is called o-wakizashii, the one close to length of a tantou is called ko-wakizashii (Courtesy of Auntie Wiki)
(3) Shisekiyoujin: lit. Four Red Yang Formation, Ninpo: Four Crimson Ray Formation.(Manga, Naruto Shippuuden Chap. 631)
(4) Sumi Nagashi: lit. Ink Flush, Ninja Art: Ink Flush (Anime, Naruto Shippuuden Ep. 104)