Chapter 12 – Settling Scores
A/N# 1: This is the first of my own chapters; I hope you find them as good as the ones from jmac615. I also ask that you readers send more reviews, though not of the kind that I received from StrongGuy159; if you have any you find that you think I should improve on, please say so, but don't make threats, serious or not, like the one that the writer in question made.
To StrongGuy159: Your last comment was very rude and completely uncalled for; from now on if you say something like that again I'll delay the next chapter (for both of the stories I'm writing) for a month for each malicious comment that's made. And I am a man of my word; you've been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and/or Bleach.
[Forest of Death, Konohagakure]
Current Time…..
Team 7 was nearing the central tower in the Forest of Death, with both scrolls in hand. Naruto had taken a couple of minutes after obtaining the scrolls to destroy Orochimaru's remains, save for his head, which he was now carrying in a small sack he that he held in his hand. This crept out Sakura to no end and, after mustering enough courage, finally approached Naruto.
"Why are you carrying that thing with you?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't do anything drastic. Naruto just shook his head at her question.
"You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you; just know that it's something I have to do," Naruto said as he was focusing his thoughts on settling the score with the civilian council.
"I can finally get those damned fools off my back," he thought to himself; the civilian council had taken their contempt for him too far by attempting to take Haku, and especially Jango and Tiraran, from him. He was going to make them swallow their pride and acknowledge his worth through either respect or fear, and this was as good an opportunity as he'll get. There was another reason why he kept the grisly trophy, one that would reveal itself when they got to their destination.
A couple of minutes later they arrived at the tower and entered; they noticed the place was completely empty. The other teams were probably still duking it out within the forest; considering the fact that they had finished in under half an hour, however, this wasn't much of a surprise. Naruto and company were looking for a secluded area within the tower to open their scrolls when Naruto sensed the presence of another team; Naruto motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to stop as he tried to determine whether the other team was heading towards them. Sure enough the team was headed their way; he motioned for teammates to hide and to prepare to ambush the team if necessary. He immediately "flew" above a doorway in order get the drop on their pursuers. After a few tense moments three figures appeared.
It was Gaara and his siblings, who had apparently been tracking them; it wasn't their scrolls that they were after, however.
"We already have our scrolls, so who are we looking for?" Kankuro asked Gaara nervously as if he was trying not to provoke his younger brother; Gaara, however, either didn't hear his brother's question or he didn't care. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura understood why he was so afraid of Gaara, but Naruto already knew why; ever since his first encountered the Sand ninja, both he and his Tailed Beast-turned zanpakuto could sense the spirit of Shukaku within him. They could also sense the killing emanating from both of them; Naruto clenched his fists at the thought of the misery that the Sand Villagers put him through to make him turn out like this. Naruto was determined to show Gaara that he wasn't alone, though he decided to wait until they had a chance to fight each other to do so.
As the three siblings unwittingly walked past Naruto, Temari said something to Kankuro; she was unaware that Naruto and the rest of Team 7 were hiding in the shadows, listening to her every word.
"Did you notice that some of our allies from Otogakure simply ran out of the forest?" she asked him, to which Kankuro nodded.
"They looked like they just wanted to get out of here ASAP. Something must have happened; this wasn't part of the plan…." he said; before he could say anything else, however, they heard Naruto's voice.
"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat! Bakudō # 9. Hōrin," he said; Temari and Kankuro, who were too busy trying to understand the "gibberish" he said, were suddenly ensnared by two orange hued tendrils, one for both Sand shinobi, with spiraling yellow patterns. The three Sand siblings then looked on in shock as Naruto gently descended from his hiding position, the index and middle fingers of both his hands controlling the bindings. Naruto, while keeping those fingers in their current position, brought both his hands together moving the tendrils binding Temari and Kankuro together. Naruto then pointed his right index finger at Gaara before he could respond.
"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudō # 61. Rikujōkōrō," he said. Naruto's finger began to generate a spark of yellow energy; the energy then summoned six beams of light that were both wide and thin; he then slammed these beams into Gaara's midsection, holding him in place. The Sand shinobi tried to break free from their bindings'; their efforts were to no avail, however, as the bindings were unyielding. Gaara couldn't even move his hands, negating his ability to attack with his sand.
"What the hell did you do to us!?" Temari roared at Naruto who smirked before he answered.
"I restrained you and your brothers with something called Kidō; they're advanced spells that only certain…. individuals can use," Naruto explained; Naruto's teammates, who had heard everything he said, emerged from their hiding spots as soon as Gaara was restrained. Both of them were shocked by this display; they were also somewhat relieved that he hadn't tried to use these things he called "Kidō" on them.
"How did you learn do those?" Sasuke asked. Naruto was soon having another flashback of his time in Las Noches; it was the only time that Aizen himself got directly involved in Naruto's training….
Flashback
[Unspecified location, Hueco Mundo]
Two years before Naruto's return…..
Naruto was facing a 100 or so low-level hollows that had sensed his reiatsu and came out from their dwelling places underground. As Naruto prepared to engage this very unlucky horde, Aizen was standing several yards away, observing his "weapon" as the ninja prepared to use his newly refined Hadō spells. As the Espada were unable to learn Kidō, and with neither Gin nor Tosen having full mastery of this form of Shinigami combat, Aizen had to take it upon himself to train the blonde haired Jinchuriki in this field. Having already mastered the more passive Bakudō spells, Naruto was now going to fight the Hollows before him using only Hadō spells; he began his attack once the beasts got within 150 feet of him. He had the left hand closed into a fist save for his index finger.
"Hadō # 1. Shō," he said; his left index finger generated a small force that knocked the first Hollow to the ground. Naruto then used this Hadō repeatedly to temporarily disable several of the more agile Hollows before he continued his assault.
"Hadō #31. Shakkahō," he said, as an orb of crimson red energy formed in the open palm of his right hand. He discharged the orb which hit, and "killed", its target; like a choreographed dance, Naruto unleashed a combination of Shō and Shakkahō in perfect synchronization as the Hollows were dropped like flies. After the final Hollow was felled, Aizen appeared in front of Naruto.
"You do need to add more variety into attacks; other than that, though, you have full mastery of Kidō," Aizen said.
"Thank you, Aizen-sama," Naruto said as he bowed.
End Flashback
[Forest of Death, Konohagakure]
Current Time….
"My teachers taught me many different forms of combat; Kidō was among them. To be honest, though, I haven't been able to use my skills to their full effect, as I have yet to find an opponent strong enough for me to do so. Just be grateful that I didn't use my full power in those bindings," Naruto casually explained to his teammates and the Sand Siblings; though he had used the full incantation for both Bakudō spells, he had applied very little of his Reiryoku for those spells in this particular case. Sasuke and Sakura both shuddered at this; if Naruto was only using a fraction of his power and skills the entire time they had been together as a team, they didn't even want to know what would happen if went all out in a fight. He then went to his teammates and said something to them; after what appeared to be an argument between Naruto and Sasuke, the blonde haired ninja turned his attention to his "captives".
"What are you going to do to us?" Kankuro asked Naruto; though they wouldn't admit it, Temari and Kankuro had found the one person that scared them even more than Gaara. Naruto's face soon had a serious look on it.
"I just want to talk and considering what I'm going to you about, you would probably attack me if I didn't restrain you three," he said; after asking his teammates to pay close attention to their conversation, Naruto refocused his attention to the Sand shinobi.
"I'll start by asking you this; how long has your village been plotting with Orochimaru to attack Konoha?" he asked. After a few moments of silence, Kankuro and Temari eyes widened in shock after Naruto's question finally registered in their minds; Gaara remained unfazed at this, however, as he didn't care as much about the planned attack.
"Good Kami, how do you-?" Temari asked before Naruto opened the sack he was carrying and revealed its contents; her shock, along with Kankuro's, turned to pure horror once they saw the Snake Sannin's head. Sasuke decided to enter the conversation at this point.
"Your ally was very careless; he had all the information about the attack on his person," he said, revealing a set of four scrolls he was now carrying in his kunai pouch. At this point Naruto, who realized that questioning these three siblings wouldn't get him any more information than he already had, decided to explain what he was going to do now as he put his "trophy" back in the sack.
"This is what is going to happen; once my team and I finish our business here, I'm going to release these bonds. When I do this you three are going to go to your commander explain to him what I have shown you here; and you to deliver this message exactly as I told you, word for word," he said, momentarily pausing to make sure that they understood what he was saying.
"By the time you've received this message the higher-ups in Konoha will have already been informed of your village's actions and will have made full preparations before you are even prepared to mount your invasion, so you might as well call it off. Rest assured, however, if any harm were to come to Konoha by your actions I, Naruto Uzumaki, will personally make sure that the shinobi of Sunagakure will pay the price; and I can assure you that I never go back on my word. You have been warned," he said with a cold emotionless tone to drive the point home; it apparently worked as three Sand shinobi didn't make any objections to his demands.
"I believe our business is done; I still look forward to fighting you in the finals, Gaara," Naruto said as he and the rest of Team 7 left the room; this show of mercy on Naruto's part was what Sasuke had just argued against, though Naruto, in the end, had his way. After Team 7 had finished with the second part of the exams Naruto, before flash stepping out of the tower, honored his end of the agreement and released both of the Bakudō spells…from a distance.
[Kikyō Castle, Konohagakure]
Two hours later….
Team 7 had passed the second phase of the Chunin Exams an hour and a half earlier, having obtained and opened the scrolls in a record-breaking, according to their messenger Iruka (A/N: for those who don't understand what I'm talking about, read chapter 64 of Naruto), 54 minutes; the celebrations would have to wait, however, as the issue with Orochimaru and Sunagakure had to be dealt with. With more than four days until part two of the exams ended, Naruto had his teammates go to Kakashi and explain to him what had happened.
Naruto, who was now carrying both Orochimaru's head and scrolls, then went to see Sandaime. After entering finding him in his office, Naruto asked the old man to hold an emergency meeting with both councils, which the old Hokage did since he could tell from Naruto's demeanor that something serious was going on. Naruto now stood before Sandaime and both councils. The members of the shinobi council was also interested in listening to what Naruto wanted to address that would compel him to request such a meeting; the civilian council, on the other hand, were extremely irritated by Naruto's "arrogance", as they were still fuming from their last meeting with the young ninja.
"You better have a good reason to have called a meeting like this, you little gaki," one of the civilian councilman warned; it was the same person that Naruto had kicked more than a week ago. Naruto's expression remained dead serious despite similar displays of hostility by the civilian council members.
"I am trying to save the village from destruction and this is my thanks?" Naruto said in an almost mocking tone; the members of both councils were extremely confused at this. They were even more confused when Naruto opened a small sack he was carrying and reached inside.
"What do you mean by trying to save the- OH, SWEET KAMI!" another civilian councilman yelled in terror as he, the other civilians, the shinobi from the other council, and even the Hokage bore witness to Orochimaru's decapitated head. Naruto decided to explain what had happened.
"I found this traitor in the Forest of Death when my team and I were partaking in the second phase of the Chunin Exams. And before you ask, he was apparently after your precious Uchiha and his undeveloped Sharingan; he was also plotting, along with Sunagakure, to attack Konoha," he said before placing the head in the center of the table in front of him so that everyone could get a good look at the grisly remains. Homura, while convinced of Orochimaru's demise, was still skeptical of Naruto's claims regarding the Sand.
"Do you have any proof that Suna, one of our staunchest allies, would actually plot alongside someone as vile Orochimaru to do something like that?" he asked, to which Naruto responded by opening the scrolls that were also inside the sack. When Naruto first found the scroll he noticed that Orochimaru had placed very complex and very powerful seals on them; as Naruto's mind was now as sharp as his zanpakuto, however, it didn't take him more than a few minutes to counter both the seals and the insidious "surprises" that the Sannin had added as secondary measures.
"I found these scrolls among the remains of Orochimaru's body before I destroyed them; it contains all the information regarding his plans, and it clearly states that the Sand Village are his collaborators," Naruto said as he placed the four scrolls on the same table as the head. He then decided to leave information to them; as much as he distrusted the civilian council he knew the shinobi council would be able to act on this information. Naruto then turned his attention to Sandaime.
"I'm sorry I had to do this to him, old man, but I had no other choice," he said; he had read about Sandaime's history with the missing-nin and knew about his attachment to the Sannin. Hiruzen simply looked back at Naruto.
"You have no reason to apologize Naruto; you performed a great service for the village and I'm most grateful for that," he said to Naruto, who nodded in reply.
"Anyways, that's what I came here to discuss, so I'm done here," Naruto said as he flash stepped his way out of the fortress. After Naruto's departure the councils began to discuss preparations for the attack in case it would still occur; the councils also opted not to inform the villagers of the threat just yet, as the possibility of the invasion occurring was uncertain now that the mastermind had been disposed of. The members of the shinobi council also decided, with Sarutobi's full approval, to acknowledge Naruto's efforts in defeating Orochimaru; despite the desire of the civilian council to have Sasuke receive, unbeknownst to him and undeservedly, all the credit, they complied with the Hokage and the shinobi council out of their newly-found fear of Naruto. As Naruto had planned the civilian council would, from that time onward, refuse to confront him as they did not want to incur the wrath of a guy who could kill a Sannin with no effort on that person's part.
Three Days Later…..
News of Naruto's victory over Orochimaru had spread like wildfire across the shinobi world; Naruto's name, not surprisingly, became a household word almost immediately. Though this news did not completely changed the villagers' views on him, Naruto noticed the that it did have an immediate effect; all the stares he received no longer contained a sense of hatred so much as they were filled with an "I don't know what to think of him now"-type of expression. Surprisingly, Naruto acted as though nothing had changed as he prepared for the third phase of the Chunin Exams. Naruto's newfound fame, of course, also came with the unwanted eye of a certain group of shinobi…
Next Time – Preliminaries