Chapter 34
"The first part of the exams are finally done, why did the decide to take so long," Crow lamented.
"Get over it, they did it so there were only seven people in the finals, with Leaf holding the majority," Hare replied.
Dog then spoke up, "While it is good that we have the most people in the finals, contractors will also think of how two of the three Rock ninjas that came to the exams made it to the finals. While not horrible, it is a slight detractor."
"Sand probably is the least happy," Crow commented, "Their daimyo has been giving us their contracts for a while now. With only one of their people making it, it isn't going to look brightly for them. Unless of course, he wins overall, which he has a good chance of doing."
Dog then spoke, "Orochimaru told his apprentice that he was planning to destroy the Leaf. I don't like the current situation. Kazudo, the current most powerful ninja will be there, Sand's jinchuriki, who they tried to sneak in, will be there. If Orochimaru convinced the two groups, we could be in for some serious trouble. We would likely lose."
"If that is the case," Crow said, "If we could manage to make Kazudo not a problem, then our chance for success is virtually guaranteed. Let's just hope Rock isn't after us right now. At the very least, Rock isn't currently under wartime policies."
"That means nothing, I just pray whatever is going to happen, it doesn't end badly for us. Orochimaru always seemed to keep his promises when he was in here," Dog said.
After a few moments of silence, Hare asked, "Dog, how old are you?"
"Slightly younger than the Fire Shadow," Dog replied, "Why, did you think I was younger?"
"I thought you were only in your upper thirties," Hare replied.
"It's nice to know that I am still thought of as a young man. However, that is unfortunately not the case."
Hare turned to Crow and asked, "Crow, you're in your thirties, right?"
"Hare, I feel hurt that you cannot remember something as simple as my age. Yes, I am in my thirties, thirty-three. Stop reminding me that I'm aging"
Hare was going to reply, but was beaten to the patrol team reports. The trio heard the all clears from all the ANBU teams patrolling the village and slightly beyond. Mostly slightly beyond. Dog spoke instead, "Hare, go get us some food."
Hare pouted and muttered something along the lines of stupid rank privileges. He then left the room and after a short amount of walking entered the ANBU kitchen. He made some bacon and eggs, and after finishing them, he started walking back to the command room.
Just as he was fixing to open the door, he stopped.
Hostility! A fight!
Hare dropped the three plates of food as he ran, exiting the building. "Dog! There is an unauthorized fight occurring! Gekko may have been discovered!"
Immediately, Dog started calling out orders on the intercom. When Hare arrived though, the enemy had already left, Hare losing him in the city. Hare took a knee before Hayate Gekko, who was on his last legs of life.
Immediately, Naruto entered his mindscape. "Fox! You said your chakra had a healing instinct! How can I save him! "
The fox replied calmly, "The chances for him to be saved are slim at best. My power is too potent, and if you were to try to dilute it with yours, you would negate any healing abilities it would have. You have only one option."
"What is it," Naruto demanded!
"To let me take control of my power. That is the only way. That would me relinquishing control of yourself as well. Any resistance on your part will push back any control I have, and he will die. He will probably still die anyways."
Naruto hesitated, unsure whether or not to trust the fox. "What do I have to do?"
"You must enter the cage. Enter the seal. Should you resist any bit, your primal instincts will take control instead, and destroy him as well as any other close by until you exit the seal." Naruto still hesitated. The nine-tails then said, "Time is passing for every moment you stand there, though it goes slower on the outside. You have two choices before you. Trust me, the one who is accused of destroying your village, and possibly save him. Or, not trust me, and let him die, but potentially stop me from a trick that I may be playing on you."
After several moments, Naruto slowly walked to the cage, and entered.
Naruto awoke. He looked around from where he was, and found himself on his bed, his mask was laid on his desk. He looked around the room, and saw nobody inside.
What happened? I don't remember going to bed. Hayate! I gave control to the nine-tails...
Naruto immediately got up, and ran out the door, and promptly ran back in to his room, grabbing his mask.
Crow and Dog are in the ANBU tower!
Hare started sprinting to the tower, and entered through the patented ANBU doggy door. Though the existence of the patent was also a secret.
Hare crashed into the room, where the ten ANBU captains plus Dog were having a meeting with the Fire Shadow. Seeing him enter, the Fire Shadow smiled, and said, "Hello Naruto. It's nice to see that you're fine. Join us, your input for this meeting would be valuable."
Hare stood in confusion for a moment, before asking, "Is Hayate Gekko alright?"
Dog nodded, before saying, "Yes, whatever you did with the nine-tails power allowed you to heal him, which is rather interesting. As noted in the past, the nine-tails power would instead harm people due to how potent it is. Not only did you heal wounds, but his lungs as well. Did it have to do with its chakra being golden instead of red?"
His lungs were healed as well? Medics previously said it was an impossible fix! How much of healer is the nine-tails? The question...well it did have to do with that...
Hare replied, "Yes sir, I knew how the nine-tails heals me. So I quickly theorized that if could maybe dilute its power, it could also heal others...though it seems to have knocked me out for the attempt. It was very mentally straining."
The nine-tails them commented in Naruto's head, "Nice excuse. I doubt they would be pleased if you told them that you relinquished complete control to me. And your excuse is true to some extent."
The entire group nodded, except for Crow, who stared at Naruto. Crow then asked, "So why was its chakra golden? Did you also find some way to purify its power? I would imagine the beasts power would still be red."
Hare simply shrugged in response. The group sans Crow accepted the response, and then Sarutobi said, "To quickly fill you in, Sound village is planning an invasion, and Sound is also under Orochimaru. Sand is joining them. Rock at this point is not. Apparently, Sound village annoyed Rock at one point, and are unwilling to help them."
Crow interjected, "More like pissed them off. They raided five chakra iron shipments, and killed several of their ninja in the process. The only thing keeping Rock from all out war is likely not wanting to start the fourth ninja war in the process."
"Anyways," Hiruzen said slightly annoyed, "The invasion is planned to occur during the third exam. Sand plans to use their jinchuriki to open up the attack. He is capable of a full beast transformation, which is extremely worrisome. Current knowledge points out that only a full beast transformation can match another. From what you've told us, you're not even close to that," to which Hare nodded slowly, "Our current plan is to place suppression seals in the stadium. When he starts to transform, we will activate them. No one beyond this group is to know that. Also, no one is to know that Hayate Gekko is alive beyond this group. As you know, we had an ANBU infiltrator a short while ago, discovered by Kakashi Hatake. We can't risk them finding out. We are going to recall all the ANBU we possibly can, and all the chunin an jonin we can without arousing to much suspicion. We will have a minimum of a hundred ANBU by the time the exams start, which is much better than the planned forty. Also, we will have six thousand chunin ready as opposed to three thousand, and a eight hundred jonin as opposed to two hundred. We will be much more prepared than they are expecting."
"Won't they notice our increased numbers," Iguana asked?
"They will, but the less they know, the better. They know we know one of our ninja's died, as well as the ANBU infiltrator. Not to mention Orochimaru's threat. We will stationing increased numbers at local outposts that will move in later. That way, we can camouflage out true numbers, while seemingly being under reasonable numbers for what they think we know," The Fire Shadow replied.
"Sir, do you think Rock will be opportunistic during the attack to hurt us," Crow asked?
"I certainly hope not, but there is no way we can guarantee they won't. To lighten our burden so slightly, we are not allowing both Onoki and Kazudo to come at the same time. I contacted them, and they have already consented. Kazudo will be here for the exams."
"What about the poor civilians that can't defend themselves? The weak little genins that can't really do anything," the nine-tails asked?
Naruto voiced the same question slightly differently, adding on, "If it's Orochimaru, he likely knows our evacuation procedures, as they haven't changed much since his defection. He may send troops to target them."
Sarutobi considered for a few moments, before replying, "We can assign then several chunin squads a few jonin for protection on the way there," before smiling and saying, "It is a good sign for you, considering the people of Leaf as you have."
"I feel so unaccredited," the nine-tails mumbled.
"For the intended attack, how do you think Orochimaru will go about entering his army? Snake summons," Raven asked?
"Most likely. Dog, ensure that at least two anti-summon teams are along the wall. They are to focus on eliminating summon snakes and any other large summons they encounter," the Fire Shadow ordered. Dog simply nodded. "Anything else," The Shadow asked?
At no response, Hiruzen dismissed the group but held Hare back. Hare stayed, and then asked the Fire Shadow, "What is the better way to judge a person? By their past actions, or their current ones."
Hiruzen smiled before responding, "While one should always be aware of the past actions of another, it is the path one takes in the present that defines them. From the way you asked the question, a person that has changed their ways can be forgiven for what they have done in the past."
"Thanks gramps," Naruto responded, before also leaving.
As Hare was leaving, Crow came up and stopped him. "Naruto," he said.
"Yes Crow?"
"Is the nine-tails a threat," Crow asked.
"Me, a threat, all I've done are nice things," the nine-tails scoffed.
Naruto however contemplated for several moments before replying, "No Kenshi, the nine-tails isn't a threat.
Naruto couldn't tell, but he felt like Crow smiled under his mask, "Very well, I guess there is no need then to report the Fire Shadow or Dog that you lied straight to their faces." Hare showed the slightest bit of surprise, and Crow then said, "Hare, I know you better than anyone else. I know when you're lying, but I also trust you, and your judgment. If you say the nine-tails is not a threat, then to me, it is not a threat."
Naruto stood stunned for a few moments, before saying, "Thank-you Kenshi."
The skies were blue. The clouds were white. The crowds were cheering. For the third exam would finally begin. Hare observed from the top of the stadium. The proctor called the first two fighters, Neji Hyuuga, and Rock Lee.
With his hearing, he heard Lee say, "Finally my eternal rival, I will prove to you that a genius of hard work can match a born genius!"
Neji scoffed, and replied, "Fool, fate has it that you are a failure, and that is all you will ever be." The new proctor, Genma, rolled his eyes at the two genins' declarations, before beginning the match. Rock Lee, instead of charging in, jumped back from Neji. "Running away already?"
Lee ignored the comment, before reaching onto his leg warmers, and throwing off two weights. The weights created craters in the ground. The crowds cheering suddenly stopped is amazement. Lee then charged Neji opening with loaded fist.
"Hare, we need you at the command post," Dog said through the radio.
"Yes sir," Hare replied and quickly left. The battle between two different types of geniuses raged on. Hare arrived to his destination, and found Dog overlooking a massive surveillance network along with several other ANBU.
When Hare arrived, Dog turned to him and said, "Hare, from what we have currently discovered, the enemy is bringing in two large summons. Most likely snakes. However, they are maintaining constant communication, and we can't ambush them yet without showing our hand. Instead, we are going to counter-attack the enemy the moment they attack. If we can, we will eliminate the summon teams right before they become a problem. I need you here for now. I'll decide where to send you after the battle starts. Wherever a summons breaks through essentially. Show them the power of the fox."
Hare saluted, and then stood to the side. After fifteen minutes, an ANBU spoke through the radio, which also was evident by the screens, "It's a tie, between the Hyuuga and the Rock Lee kid. It was quite an insane match." Thirty minutes later, the same ANBU reported, "The Nara soundly beat the Rock ninja. Funny thing, he had her trapped, and was fixing to surrender, but she beat him to it."
Another ANBU then said, "The Sand Jinchuriki's match is next." The group slightly tensed up, for this potentially would be the opening attack. The screens showed the boy Tarin launching a earth technique, earth bullet it seemed, at the Sand ninja. The boy didn't even flinch, and then the jinchuriki raised his hand sand moving at the gesture.
The Rock genin moved around the sand, launching a ridiculous amount of explosive tags. The tags seemed to disperse the flying sand to a limited degree, but did nothing to the shield that protected the Sand genin.
After several minutes of near unending explosions, the Rock ninja seemed to have run out, and forfeited soon afterward. It took some cowing to keep the Sand ninja from trying to kill the Rock ninja.
Hare then commented, "He's probably going to be a member of the explosion corps." The rest of the ANBU in the room simply nodded. After that, the Nara was given a buy, and it was the jinchuriki against the Uchia.
Dog then asked, "It was the Uchia's team that was attacked by Orochimaru, correct?" Hare nodded in response. "This fight will lead to beginning of the battle."
An ANBU then called over the secondary radio, "Alert, we have an infiltrator ANBU, wearing the Leopard mask. He is using medical techniques on a genin Hyuuga, it seems to be the Hyuuga heiress. Leopard I know is not capable of medical techniques."
Dog then ordered, on the secondary radio, "Order all ANBU in the stadium to the secondary channel. Make sure the infiltrator doesn't notice."
After thirty seconds, the ANBU reported, "All ANBU have been notified. Orders?"
"Stand by, I will be dispatching Salmon to the stadium," Dog replied, before continuing on the main radio, "Salmon, report to HQ."After less than a minute, Salmon reported in. "Salmon, we have an ANBU infiltrator on the wall. He has two genin next to him, at least one is high priority, I need you to prepare to move in and get them out of there without initially being detected. Once you grab them, others will engage the infiltrator. Use the secondary channel." Salmon saluted before leaving.
Then over the secondary radio, Dog continued, "Crow, Ferret, and Iguana. You will execute the infiltrator once Salmon pulls the genin out."
After several minutes, Salmon reported, "Thirty seconds from being in position. I'll be radio silent from now on."
Thirty seconds later, Ferret reported, "Salmon is in position."
"The jinchuriki has been hit," an ANBU reported.
"Infiltrator has knocked the genin out. They're still alive. He's preparing a technique!"
"Initiate! Execute Black Hawk," Dog commanded!
Initiate was the command for the team handling the infiltrator. Black Hawk was the command to begin executing enemy infiltrators. After several moments, reports came through, "The technique has been interrupted. Genin are out of the way. Crow, Ferret, and Iguana are engaging!"
"Seventy percent of enemy forces in the Stadium have been eliminated."
"Explosion in the Shadow booth!"
"The Fire Shadow has been captured, by Orochimaru. He is behind a high level barrier, we cannot penetrate it. The Fire Shadow is currently engaging Orochimaru."
"The infiltrator is high jonin level. It will take us some time to suppress him"
"Summons teams eliminated. There are three more summon teams we missed."
"Team Red is moving to eliminate two-headed snake summon."
"Team Blue is moving in on Black snake summon."
"This is Jiraiya, I will take care of the three headed summon."
"Team black will assist on wall duty."
"The black summon has broken through the east wall!"
"Two headed summon eliminated. Wall was not breached.
"Civilians are being evacuated to the best of the ability of chunin, but it's still going slow.
"Sir, the Rock ninja have begun to eliminate Sound ninja. Kazudo stated he doesn't plan on taking out Sand ninja, but Sound are considered his enemies. He and his escort are not targeting Leaf ninjas, and...my ability to assist further will be hampered. He placed his genin under my protection and threatened me to keep them safe."
"Black summon eliminated. Over two hundred enemy ninjas are pouring through the breach. Requesting back up."
Dog replied, "We are sending thirty chunin teams and twenty jonin to assist," before he gave the order to another ANBU to dispatch the teams.
"My apologies, but the three headed summon made it through the west wall before it was eliminated," Jiraiya's voice came through.
Dog turned Hare and ordered, "Hare, go assist the West wall, we will be sending additional teams, but we need you to make a statement."
Hare saluted, before leaving. Sprinting full speed, Hare made it to the wall in short time. Looking upon the enemies pouring in, Naruto spoke to himself, or rather the nine-tails. "I need your power."
"To destroy all these lives? There seem to be many," The nine-tails responded.
"They are destroying my home. My friends, those that I hold closely. I need to stop them."
The nine-tails paused, before replying, "Sometimes, the only way for peace to be temporarily achieved is through is through superior firepower. Very well, let us begin."
A foxy red aura encompassed Naruto, two tails grew from him. Hare looked upon his enemies. He pulled out two kuni, and descended upon them. Chunin were treated like bugs, crushed under Naruto's power, the nine-tails power. Jonin could barely put up resistance. All in the end fell to him.
Whether it be a kuni to chest, a tanto beheading, a claw crushing, or a tail smashing, all died, Sand and Sound alike, chunin and jonin alike. Despite the massive power, Naruto remained in full control. No one could see the tears that fell from his eyes, as he destroyed the lives of many.
What could be seen were the streets painted in blood. The blood of the Leaf villages enemies. The results of the carnage that a tailed beast's power could wrought.
What could not be seen was the pain that it caused the wielder. Not the physical pain, but the pain of causing a massacre. After some time of this carnage, Naruto sensed something. The nine-tails spoke for him, "It seems my brother is fully materialized. You cannot defeat him as such."
Naruto ignored the fox, and ran immediately towards where the one-tail beast was. As he did, he called on the radio, "Dog, the one tails is fully corporal. I'm moving to handle it!"
"Be careful Hare," Dog replied.
Naruto soon arrived before the beast and smacked it with his tails. The result, was almost nothing happening. The one tail beast looked down upon Naruto like he was a bug, and seemed to smirk. "Oh, so it's big nines jinchuriki. I've wanted to beat him up for a while. You'll have to suffice, hahahahaha."
Naruto pulled upon a third tail and launched a blast of fire towards the beast. It had no effect. The one-tail in return, shouted, "Drilling Air Bullet!" A massive cannon of air contacted with Naruto, blowing him back while breaking bones. The forest didn't fare well either, a massive path was left treeless.
The one-tail then turned to Leaf, and seemed to smirk even more, "Well there's a nice place to blast some puny humans."
Naruto by now was again healed from his injuries, and desperately demanded for more power. The nine-tails responded, "I can do that, but it will make no difference. You in this form will never be able to overcome a full transformation such as that of my brother's current state."
Naruto grew a fourth tail, and attacked once more, all for naught. The one tail attempted to stomp on Naruto, be he managed to dodge. He didn't manage to dodge the following tail swing. This time faring slightly better due to the increased durability from power, Naruto asked, "What do I have to do?"
The nine-tails responded lightly, "Simple, you have to remove the seal."
Naruto decided to ignore what was said, and instead, moved in again on the one-tail, who was moving at a jolly but slow pace towards the village. It build up its power again, and shot another drilling air bullet. It left a large torn path toward the village, though not quite making it. It muttered that he should've put more power into it.
Naruto jumped onto the back of the beast and stabbed his chakra tails into the sandy hide of the one-tail. He barely made any way, and instead started being absorbed into the beast. "Foolish little human, not a smart idea to do that."
Naruto managed to rip himself out and created a clone. Pouring a extreme amount of chakra out, Naruto cried, "Inferno Technique!" The result was noticeable. Barely. A small amount of glass adorned the beast side. It grumbled in response, and crushed the glass, returning it to a sand state.
Naruto then pulled his tanto, and infused it with a massive amount of empowered wind chakra, and ran up the beast side trying to cut into it. He barely pierced the monster. The one-tail then quickly wrapped Naruto up in a massive amount of sand.
Naruto struggled to free himself. He ripped his arms out, and then moved to free his feet. The one-tail once again covered Naruto in a massive amount of sand. Naruto continued to struggle, but is all for naught. Naruto was soon fully absorbed into the beasts hide.
Naruto, inside his mindscape weakly asked, "How can I stop him?"
The nine-tails yawned before replying, "As I said, you must remove the seal. There is no other way. Unless of course, you can summon the Death God or open the eighth gate, but I seriously doubt that. I haven't witnessed any case of you learning how to do either of those. In all situations, you die."
Naruto sat in silence in his mind for some time, though time on the outside barely crawled. "Do you promise not to hurt the Leaf?"
"I can hardly avoid crushing a few trees, let alone the leaves upon them," the nine-tails replied jovially.
"Do you promise not to hurt the Leaf village," Naruto said more intently.
"I cannot promise to fulfill that either. It fully depends on that actions that your village takes in the future. If need be, I will cause them harm. Kindness is the best way to promote peace, but sometimes a little bit of destruction is needed."
Finally, Naruto asked pleadingly, tears falling down his eyes, "Do you promise not to hurt Kenshi, Yugao, Ashi, Gramps, the ANBU, do you promise not to hurt those I care for!"
The nine-tails then adopted a serious expression, and resolutely replied, "I promise not to hurt those close to you. If anything, I will thank them as I swallow down your mangled body, for making your mindscape a less dreary place," and then thoughtfully said, "Though that would be rude talking with food in my mouth. I guess I would swallow first."
Naruto then chuckled at the nine-tails joke, and then said, "It was nice to meet you. You're not what others say you are. I can see the good that's in your heart."
"My name is Kurama." Naruto looked confused, before the nine-tails continued, "You once asked what my name was, knowing that it couldn't be something as simple as nine-tails. My name, that given to me by the Sage of Six Paths, is Kurama. I have not used it for some time now."
Naruto then smiled widely as tears fell from his eyes, and said, "Thank-you, Kurama." Naruto then walked up to the seal that held the nine-tails in. "Goodbye Kenshi, Yugao, and Dog, since I still don't know your name." He then brought his hand to it, face full of emotion and tears, "Bye Ensui, Ashi, Gramps, Kegawa. I'm sorry, but I guess I'm going to hurt Ashi again, her feelings." As he was fixing to tear the seal, he choked out, "Dad, mom, are you proud of me?" Naruto felt as if the pair of people said yes. "Kenshi...are you proud of me?"
Naruto then, as tears fell from his eyes, as he choked out that he did his best, ripped off the seal that held the nine-tails in.
And there is chapter 34. What do you think about that epic unexpected closing? Tell me what you think with a review! For all those who want to complain about waking Garra up, that plot device was not contained within this story. Yes, I saved Hayate. He was one of my favorite characters in the manga, and then he died. I was sad.
And for all those who want to say that Minato should have appeared, well, my argument is the power of plot compels me.