Eternal Legends: Birth of Konoha's Transcendent Ninja
Chapter 3: Infinite Ripples
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump, ViZ media, and all other related companies. I make no claim of any characters from the manga and anime and own all OC's that may appear from time to time.
Hello again, my fellow readers. As promised, I have stopped dawdling and got off my ass to keep writing the story you guys know and love (I hope!). Although I'm a bit disappointed with the low review count, that won't deter me from giving you a well-written piece of fiction that stands up there with the classic Naruto Fan Fiction pieces. However, that being said, I wish you guys would take the time out to give me an in-depth analysis of what you think of the story you're reading. This can only benefit you! If I have a better idea of what I'm doing and to a reasonable extent, what you guys want, this should be an enjoyable experience for all parties involved.
Some of you have probably noticed the pattern in my chapter titles. Good on you, really. However, that won't last for too long, as I can only go do so much with the pattern. That being said, it will continue until I exhausted my creative mind on the matter, and the chapter titles will be a bit more straightforward.
Oh! BTW, I'm going to be playing with the history of canon, to suit it for my own story purposes. Do not, at ANY point in the story, assume that canon history will match up with my history. It won't. So just stop trying.
As for the Naruto manga itself…no…I won't comment on it just yet. But I have a rant that needs to get out, and will probably be at the end of this chapter. So, let's get this show on the road!
Full Summary: Three people meet under the oddest of circumstances during one troubled night: a loudmouthed troublemaker, a lost voice within his clan, and a young civilian from a broken home. They never knew that their impromptu gathering would bring a revolution to the shinobi world. This is their story.
(Kumogakure, 1100 Hours,)
The Village Hidden among the Clouds stood in the apex of the peninsula northeast of Fire Country and stood as the heart of power within Lightning Country. Most people assumed that every shinobi village in the E.N. (Elemental Nations) was a military dictatorship that was led by its Kage. This was entirely true. However, the Hidden Cloud was a bit…different.
While it was true that the village was, at its core, a dictatorship, that didn't mean that the Raikage had absolute power. The village was absolutely enormous, dwarfing the other four Great villages by a factor of three….combined. As such, to say it would be difficult for the Raikage to micromanage everything in the village alone would be a vast understatement.
As such, a system was introduced that divided Kumo into thirteen districts. These districts would then run off a system of elections, where the people who lived in said district would choose an elected official who would represent them and their issues on the Kumo Council which advised the Raikage, himself. The Council could only override decisions made by the Raikage with nothing short of a unanimous vote. Military matters, on the other hand, were wisely left solely to the Raikage. Everything else was pretty much fair game. The Raikage let most of the officials micromanage their own districts, while he basically got a broad overview of major issues.
Naturally, with any attempt at some form of democracy, this gave rise to political parties, who had different agendas from each other. Whichever party had the most seats, had the most influence on public and foreign policy. This usually wasn't a problem simply because the Raikage's party usually had the most seats on the council.
In effect, this system made Kumogakure a literal example of a dictatorship and a republic occurring in a single state at the exact same time.
(Raikage Tower, 1105 hours, 1st District)
A large, dark-skinned male sat in the comfortable chair that he was accustomed to every day. He wore the traditional Kage robes with his village's trademark yellow and white colors. He was extremely muscular to where his biceps looked like the size of tree trunks.
Killer A, the Yondaime Raikage, sighed as he sat back in deep thought, drinking a small bottle of sake.
"Pft," he scorned. "Five years into this Kage business, and I'm already starting to hate this job."
Five years ago, his father, the Sandaime Raikage, had passed away, due to unknown reasons in his sleep. He was the one who had ordered the capturing of the Hyuuga heiress during the negotiations of a peace treaty with Konoha. It ended in spectacular failure, and Kumo was the laughing stock of the shinobi world, currently. To make matters worse, A had to deal with an increasingly divided council, in which a sense of national pride was sweeping across the village. If he didn't do anything soon, Kumo could be on the brink of collapse and civil war.
"Damn it all!" A cursed as he slammed his fists on the desk causing a sizable dent. "Darui!" he called out.
A young, dark-skinned male appeared in front of the Raikage, immediately on one knee in front of his commanding leader. He wore a standard Cloud Jounin uniform, had white hair, and had a lazy look in his eye almost akin to a certain cyclopean Copy Ninja.
"Yes, Raikage-sama?" he responded to his call.
A sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Darui…sit down." Darui raised an eyebrow not at the request, but the tone the Raikage used. He was usually upbeat and, admittedly, a bit eccentric, but now…he sounded defeated…as if he had the entire world on his shoulders and he couldn't bear it.
However, he kept the thoughts of his out-of-the-ordinary shift in mood to himself as he sat down on the left chair of the two provided in front of his desk. He made himself comfortable before waiting for A to speak again.
"Darui….you're one of my most trusted shinobi…and as such, I feel that I should share this with you," A began, somewhat getting to the point.
"Should I—?" Darui began, before A shook his head, already knowing where he was headed with that inquiry.
"No. It isn't classified information…more of me…" he searched for the right word. Darui frowned. It was becoming increasingly clear that A was uncomfortable with saying whatever he'd wanted to tell him. The white-haired jounin honestly didn't know how to reassure him, seeing as how his mood at the moment was entirely different from he was used to dealing with.
A few moments passed and A had finally gathered his thoughts and swallowed some of his pride, clearing his throat in the process. Subconsciously, Darui sat a bit straighter.
"This is more of me telling you my feelings and why I haven't been in the best of moods lately," the burly Thunder Shadow finally explained. If Darui was surprised, he hid it extremely well with his lazy stoicism.
A continued, "To be honest, I'm worried about the village and where it's headed in the future. We failed to capture the Byakugan, and we ended up looking like fools. Tensions were high already, and we barely avoided outright war had it not been for Konoha being ill-equipped to face another conflict. Now, my party is in danger of losing seats on the council to those bastard Ultranationalists." He gritted his teeth in anger at the mention of the last group. Darui grimaced. He knew very well, that the Ultranationalists were very dangerous.
The People's Utopian National Liberation Party, or Ultranationalists, was a revolutionary political party who were relatively minor considering their extreme views. It wasn't a secret that most, if not all, members of it hated A with an absolute passion. A and his father, the Third Raikage, had scaled back their forces in favor of economic prosperity. While it was true that the Cloud did enter wars during their reigns, they had lost all of them—the most recent one being A's humiliating defeat at the hands of Namikaze Minato, who was, by many, considered the most gifted shinobi to ever live. Combined with that loss, and the Hyuuga incident, many of their viewpoints started to slowly shift public opinion toward them.
Even though they were a minority—for now—A simply couldn't have them rounded up and executed. While he had a good hunch of what their hidden agendas were, considering he had some spies in their ranks, if he were to simply kill them off, he had no idea if the public wouldn't cry foul or not. Protecting the viewpoints of the minority had long been a bullet point of their pseudo-democracy. If he executed them because they didn't agree with him, in their eyes, what would stop him from executing them if they happened to disagree with him on a particular issue? A bloody civil war was almost guaranteed.
"I understand your plight, sir," Darui began, "but do you have so little faith in our people that they will vote the Ultranationalists in power, knowing how they stand?"
"You're not seeing the big picture, Darui," the hefty shinobi chastised, which made said jounin flinch. "People will do anything when they're desperate. Our economy isn't in shambles, but it isn't close to where it used to be. Clients are declining, and that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. I have a shit-storm just waiting to happen. Not to mention, I still have Yugito and Bee to deal with."
Darui sighed. "You don't think they'll resort to open warfare, do you?"
A contemplated that possibility for a second. "No…I don't think so. The lot of them are genocidal psychopaths." Darui had to do a double-take at the Raikage's description of them. The animosity between the parties in the village was true, genuine, unadulterated hatred. He resisted the urge to shake his head. "However, I don't think they're suicidal. I don't think they're stupid enough to engage in open warfare inside the village, with Bee and I to deal with," he stated matter-of-factly.
The heir to the Black Lightning nodded. His Kage's logic made perfect sense, along with other things that he didn't indicate. Not only would they lose a lot of manpower, even if they did win, they'd also have to rebuild the village while worry about the possibility of foreign powers wiping them out in their time of weakness. It was a coup that had too many possibilities of failures at too many points in time to pull off effectively. So…they had to go the legal way, which was arguably even smarter, considering many of the circumstances and hardships a good proportion of the civilians and even some shinobi had to deal with.
A then smirked. "Not to mention we have Aisu on our side as well," he offhandedly noted.
Darui returned the Raikage's grin. "Indeed. The gods know the minute those bastards even dared to try anything akin to brute force, he'll slaughter them all like lambs."
A chuckled. "I sometimes wonder who hates them more: me or him?" he pondered aloud. He then waved off the thought. "Ah, no matter. Bottom line was…they aren't taking this village by force. So, we'll just have to beat them politically."
A had thought they would try and take it through political muscle. He had thought that they weren't suicidal enough to try and take it by force. Never did it cross his mind that a third option existed and a factor he couldn't have anticipated in a million years: both ways…and Akatsuki.
(Konoha Library 1130 hours)
"Alright, quiz time," Sakura called out as both Sasuke and Naruto nodded. They had been in the library for the past two and a half hours, in which time flew by so quickly the three barely noticed it. They agreed to eat lunch afterwards. Of course, Naruto picked Ichiraku's ramen, to which the raven and rosette haired eight-year-olds simply shrugged at the choice. It sure as hell didn't matter to them where they ate so long as it was A) not too expensive and B) tasted good.
"All right, I'll start with you, Naruto-kun. I'll start easy and work my way up in difficulty, okay?" Sakura asked him, looking directly at him with a scroll opened across her lap.
"Fine by me," Naruto replied relaxing in his cushion.
"What are the five elemental natures?" she started off.
Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes at such ridiculously easy question. "Fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning."
Sakura nodded her head, indicating he was correct. "Sasuke-kun, what are the names of the noble clans that reside in our village?"
"Uchiha, Hyuuga, Aburame, and Akimichi. Geez, Sakura, you'd think I'd get that wrong?" He countered, laughing all the way.
Naruto smirked, while Sakura giggled. "Hey, I did say I was going easy at first," she defended before turning back to Naruto. "Okay, Naruto-kun, you're next. Name the founding members of our village." Naruto smirked before she added "Yes, that includes the minor ones, too," she added, wiping the smirk off his face. She grinned, triumphant.
"Damn, Sakura, you're evil," Sasuke said laughing. She simply smiled.
"Shut it, Sasuke!" Naruto complained before he contemplated. "Well…we know there's the First Hokage…obviously, his brother, who became the Second Hokage, Kazanrai Akimichi, Hirashi Hyuuga, Nasamaru Aburame and….Madara Uchiha?" He was unsure about the last name, so it came out more quizzical than anything. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Madara's mentioning, but it was gone as quickly as the expression adorned his face. Neither of his two friends noticed it, of which he was thankful for.
Sakura looked stunned. "Wow…you got me there. I thought you would've forgotten," she admitted. It was one of the first things they studied when Naruto suggested for them to read Konoha: A History.
Naruto smiled. "Well, Sakura, we're all full of surprises, aren't we?"
His double meaning behind that didn't go unnoticed by Sasuke or Sakura, but neither of them voiced it.
'Trust me, Naruto-kun; I have a closet full of them…' She bitterly thought, but her inner dwellings didn't betray her facial expression which she kept and outwardly smiled, although it was a bit forced after he unintentionally brought the incident with Tetsuya back to the forefront of her mind. She banished those from her head. He'd get what was coming to him soon enough, but right now, she needed to focus on getting prepared for her life as a ninja.
"All right, Sasuke, in descending order, rank the geographical sizes of the Five Great Hidden Villages."
"Got it," he plainly intoned, nodding. "From greatest to least, I'd say…Kumogakure, Konohagakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure and Kirigakure."
Sakura smiled. "Close, but it's Kumo, Iwa, Konoha, Suna, and then Kiri."
"Ha! Got ya there, Sasuke," Naruto joked, not helping the chance to gloat.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I bet you probably would've had the same order as me." He had to come back with something even if it was a bit lame. Okay, totally lame, but you got the idea.
"…" Naruto, perhaps, foolishly said nothing.
Sasuke blinked, before busting out laughing. "Holy shit, seriously?" he rhetorically asked, rolling over and holding his sides. "I was just joking, and you confirmed it!" He fell over, incapacitated from chortling. Sakura couldn't help but to join in with Sasuke's amusement and started laughing a bit loudly herself, albeit a bit muffled due to her covering her mouth.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you two," the blond grumbled.
"Hey! You three! This is a library, not a circus!" one of the assistant librarians told them as she walked past them. The Uchiha's scion and his pink haired friend's laughter were reduced to mere chuckles as they calmed down.
"Oh, man, that was good," Sakura said wiping a small tear from her eye. This felt so good….to be in the company of people she had come to genuinely enjoy being around. Admittedly, at first, she only agreed to go with them to the library last night was because she needed something to take her mind off what happened. Now…she truly enjoyed being around them. They didn't call her names or mentioned the size of her forehead.
"You know, it's almost noon, and I'm in need of nourishment," Naruto said intoning a scholar using large vocabulary exclusively.
"'I'm in need of nourishment?' Who the hell says that?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto's eye twitched. "Well, jackass, if you were listening to my tone, you'd know that I was making fun of certain types of people, so, nyeh!" he snipped, sticking out his tongue.
Sakura got between them. "Okay, you two. Enough fighting," she said, knowing full well both of them weren't insulted by what the other said in the least.
"He started it!" they both half-shouted at the same time, causing both to mock glare at each other.
Sakura sighed and stood up, grabbing them both by the ears taking authority for once in her life as she dragged them away a bit.
"Oww! Sakura-chan, that hurts," Naruto complained, while Sasuke cringed at the pain he received from his resident auditory organ being pulled upon.
Sakura gave them both a smile, but it was more 'Shut-the-hell-up-now-or-you're-in-for-a-world-of-hurt type of smiles. If both boys were completely honest with themselves, Sakura scared the piss out of them at that moment.
"Okay, boys, are you two going to behave?"
They both nodded frantically.
"Do I have to do this every time you boys fight?"
Two heads violently shook in the negative.
"Do you understand the consequences if I see you two doing this in public?"
Frantic nods even faster, considering they were still in pain.
She sincerely smiled and let them go, hugging their heads under both her arms. "Great! Now, let's go to lunch!" she sweetly chirped. The blue-eyed troublemaker looked at the onyx-eyed brunet, who was just as bewildered as he was. How the hell could she be so scary and sweet at the same time? And when they actually became a ninja she'd be even stronger than now. A sense of dread came over them as they both came to same conclusion.
'Let's try and not piss off the pink flower…'
As the trio was walking out the library a thought occurred to the Uchiha genius. "Shouldn't we clean up the mess?" he inquired. They both stopped and looked at the pile and then back to Sasuke and then back to the pile. All three smirked.
"….Nah…" all three of them said simultaneously, laughing as they walked out of the library together and headed for the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.
(Root Base, Location Unknown, Time Unknown)
Danzo casually strolled through the base that had served to be his operating base for the past two and-a-half decades. Although it probably needed some infrastructure improvements, what he had would do for now. It served its purposes and, to the ROOT leader, that suited him well enough.
He came to a large room, in which a throne sat in the middle. Were this a decade ago, he wouldn't have need for such a useless piece of furniture. But alas, like his old rival, he was not immune to the effects of aging, trying as he might to slow down the process.
Danzo Shimura made his way up several steps before turning around and comfortably sitting himself on the throne, allowing his eye to adjust to the dim lighting. He cursed having to sit instead of standing like he usually had done so in the past.
"Fu! Torune!" he called out, as a couplet of figures appeared before him. Fu had auburn hair and amber colored eyes, and had an attire consisting of standard ANBU uniforms, albeit a bit different from Hiruzen's army for distinguishing purposes. His partner, Torune, was an Aburame, and he adorned a mask to hide away the upper part of his face, leaving his mouth and nose exposed. These were Danzo's most trusted and, possibly, most powerful members of his army.
"Yes, Danzo-sama!" they replied in unison, their tone of voice indicating that they were ready to complete any and all orders assigned to them by the aged war hawk.
"Report in," he simply commanded.
Fu and Torune both looked each other a bit nervously before they turned back to him. "Sir…we've found some….interesting information on the foreign side."
The crippled veteran raised a critical eyebrow. "Go on…"
Fu sighed. "Before I tell you this, Danzo-sama, understand the fact that we even were able to come across this information was a stroke of pure and unadulterated luck."
A small glare told the two to get to the point, an action that didn't go unnoticed by either of the two high ranking operatives.
It was Torune who spoke this time. "Sir…if this source is indeed correct…we have reason to believe that the Ultranationalists may be planning a coup."
Danzo's eye went as wide as saucers as he stood up suddenly, a bit out of character. He normally took reports with a calm, emotionless stature. "Preposterous!" he grated out, a bit in denial.
While Danzo knew his views were a bit extreme, even he was disgusted by some of the viewpoints those psychopaths had. "You fool! Do you not realize how virtually impossible a rebellion for them would be?" To Danzo, he'd have a better shot of killing Hiruzen and taking the village for himself, than the Ultranationalists did.
Fu and Torune frowned as their master continued on in his rant. "Not to mention they have the Raikage, their two Jinchuuriki, and most of all…him," he said with a bit of a shudder.
Fu knew exactly who he was referring too. Aisu Hayasaka, current commander of the Cloud's special forces unit, BOLT (Black Operations and Lightning Tactics). His bitter hate of the Ultranationalists was known only to the people at the top, considering he kept most of his viewpoints to himself, but any genius could see the seething hatred underneath his stoicism.
"Sir, we know it sounds a bit farfetched, but that's not even the part that's got us a bit…disturbed." Considering that they were supposed to not have any emotions, such a simple statement spoke volumes about the situation they were in.
"And what, pray tell, is that?" Danzo asked flatly, taking a drink from a cup of tea that was always near him while sitting back down in his throne
"We don't have one-hundred percent confirmation, but there's a fifty percent chance they're working with Akatsuki," Torune gravely intoned, dropping the utter bombshell.
Danzo dropped his cup, shattering its contents all over the ceramic floor. For the first time in years, Danzo Shimura sat in absolute stunned silence. Fu and Torune were expressionless.
He gripped the armrest of his throne and gritted his teeth. "I see," he managed to force out after a brief moment of silence. He looked at his operatives seriously. "This changes everything."
Fu looked at him curiously. "Everything, sir?" he inquired.
"I want you two to use any means necessary to confirm one-hundred percent of everything you've shared today. For now, I want all our plans within Konoha to be scaled back by seventy percent and refocus our efforts on gaining reconnaissance on Kumo."
Torune's eyes widened alarmed at the implication. "Sir, are you sure that's—"
Danzo glared at him, shutting him up. "Don't you both get it? If Akatsuki is indeed playing a role in this, then the chances of this coup d'état being successful goes up dramatically. We can't allow that to happen. I will not allow that to happen."
He stood up and walked towards them. "If the Ultranationalists gain control of Kumo, to put it simply, all hell will break loose, as they will take full advantage of the situation they're in, which ultimately affects Konoha."
Now he gave them a direct look. "And how does Ne knock down a tree that stands in our way?"
"We take out the roots, sir!" Fu and Torune responded simultaneously.
"Fu, Torune, I'm counting on you both to not let this information leak out," he told them sternly. While he trusted his seal, but if the two were caught by the Ultranationalists, even he was wary considering their brutal methods.
"Sir, we won't let you down," Fu promised, to which Danzo nodded.
"Don't you both have a mission?" he asked dismissively, until the both of them nodded and vanished from sight, leaving the crippled elder to his own devices.
He let out a huff. The situation with Kumo now proved serious and problematic, with what little intel he had received. He debated on whether or not to tell Hiruzen, but decided against it. Hiruzen, like himself, knew of the Ultranationalists back in the days of the Second Great Shinobi World War. As such, he would likely take action similar to what he planned to do with his Root ANBU. However, that would complicate things too much. He barely trusted Torune and Fu with the information they had. The less people that knew, the greater chances of the Ultranationalists not catching on that there were foreign powers aware of their plans.
Yes, for now, he would be content with this bit of intelligence, until he knew for certain how to deal with it. As far as he was concerned, he would not let them take power if it was the last thing he did, if not for Konoha's sake, but the entire E.N.
'Maybe this will help me get what I truly want?' He thought to himself with the smallest hint of a smile.
Unfortunately, for Danzo, he truly had no idea of the approaching tide that threatened to tear asunder the delicate balance.
(Konoha streets, downtown area, 1230 Hours)
Naruto and his friends were currently set on their path towards the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, a place where the loudmouth blond had chosen earlier. People were curiously looking at the trio, mainly because they had never seen Naruto with anyone in his age group that could even remotely be considered an acquaintance, let alone friends. Naruto was enjoying idle conversation with Sasuke and Sakura that he genuinely didn't even notice the villagers' stares and glares.
The Fox, however, was not blind as even being trapped he could still see plain as day, that the villagers weren't exactly happy about his jailor conversing with the Uchiha. But seeing as how it didn't really affect them too much, at best, they'd just shaken their heads and moved on.
'These villagers are such stupid and ignorant creatures. Are they truly that blind to what's in front of them?' He thought with a slight growl. Granted, he was literally there when Minato sealed him inside Naruto, but a blind man could see the two shared a genetic link, father or otherwise.
It wasn't that the Kyuubi particularly cared for Naruto's well-being—the only thing that mattered to him was his survival—it was just that the sheer ignorance of these pitiful apes was a disgusting sight to behold.
With all that being said, if he were perfectly honest with himself, he could see himself genuinely coming to respect his jailor…in due time, of course. He didn't like his situation; in fact, he flat-out hated it, but like the logic Naruto used this morning applied to him, too. He was stuck, and crying out about it wasn't going to make the situation get any better.
The Fox could say many things about Naruto Uzumaki, but to say he didn't know how to choose good friends would be a bold-faced lie that even a mythical creature of his status couldn't deny. Sakura and the raven-haired Uchiha scion had actually impressed the mightiest of the Bijuu.
"Funny, here I was hating the Uchiha brat due to his connection to that bastard clan," he growled with venom. But as he intently listened to his interactions with Naruto, he found himself genuinely taking a slight liking to the boy—a fact that disgusted him, but it didn't mean the feeling would go away. The boy was nothing like his arrogant and boastful clan, a fact that probably disturbed him as well as intrigued him.
Sakura was extremely intelligent, probably borderline genius if he had to guess. The vulpine sensed deep trouble within her spirit; something he had a knack for. Exactly what it was, his guess was as good as Naruto's. No matter…they'd find out sooner or later.
In short, the Kyuubi thought that the trio had a vast amount of potential, and with the right amount of training, they'd go on to become legends.
Speaking of training…
Although their methods were sound, knowledge of the mind only went so far. They had to work their asses off through blood, sweat, and bitter tears. The Fox snickered at the thought, briefly amused at the image in his head.
Looking outside toward the 'real world,' he saw that Naruto was silent, but grinning as Sakura made conversation with Sasuke.
"Oi, Naruto, can you hear me?" he asked semi-rhetorically, already knowing he could, but it was a standard inquiry for new forms of communication.
Naruto's eyes widened in the street as he nearly tripped over himself at the sudden, dark voice in his head.
"Kyuubi?" he whispered, unsure if he was just imagining things.
"Don't speak out loud, you moron!" he warned with a little insult to boot. "And act normal, too! Just keep walking."
'All right, all right…Geez, did you have to insult me like that?'
"Yes," came the Fox's flat reply.
Naruto simply rolled his eyes. 'Just what the hell is going on? How can you speak to me like this? Why are you contacting me at a time like—?'
"Shut up," he commanded, clearly irritated at the barrage of questions. Naruto gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He was thankful Sasuke and Sakura weren't paying him much attention, if at all.
The Fox sighed. "Okay, that was a bit too far. Sorry."
Naruto had to do a triple take. Did the fox…the greatest of the Nine Bijuu…apologize…to him? Unfortunately, for Naruto, he continued on before he could point out this probably once-in-a-blue-moon moment.
"It's simple, really. What use am I to you, if you can only speak with me during a routine trip through your mind when your body is unconscious? We've developed a mental link. I can communicate to you while you're conscious and doing menial tasks and whatnot.
"As for why I'm contacting you? Well, it's about your new…friends." There was a pause. Just saying that word sent shivers down the Fox's spine. It was such an alien concept to him. He sighed in defeat.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'Sasuke and Sakura? What about 'em?'
"Well, your training. I think it's obvious at this point you three will probably train together from now on, as well when you're in the academy." Kyuubi had made it a point to pay attention to every detail of the scrolls that they had read and, as such, he had an intimate knowledge of the Elemental Nations' inner workings, whereas before he couldn't have cared less about the system of social constructs the humans had created for themselves. Truly ironic that he was gaining far more knowledge in prison than he was a free fox. Go figure.
Naruto nodded. 'I see,' he responded neutrally. 'We likely are. Do you have some easier methods and approaches so we can get stronger?'
"I don't have any ideas at this particular moment, no. However, I do have a suggestion that I strongly recommend you take heed of as soon as possible. You three need to start physical training, the moment time permits you to do so. I will not have a vessel that's intelligent, but can't fight his way out of a paper bag."
Naruto grimaced, but nodded, anyhow. He understood perfectly from the Fox's point-of-view. If he were in his paws, he'd tell his jailor the same thing. Funny how they thought more alike than either of them wished to admit.
'I'll keep that in mind, I'll contact you later on tonight. I can't have myself spacing out talking to you and such. They'll get suspicious. I don't know about you, but them finding out is the absolute last thing I want.'
The Kyuubi audibly snorted. "You sound as if you're ashamed of me," he said a bit mockingly, which he immediately regretted.
'Considering what I've gone through, I have every fucking right to be,' came Naruto's bitter reply. The Fox flinched a bit, but said nothing. A pregnant silence had passed by and Naruto, with a bit of mental force, cut off the connection.
"Oi! Sasuke, Sakura-chan!" he called out as he caught up to them, noticing that he had lagged behind a bit in his brief chat with his vulpine tenant.
They both turned around and smiled. "Hey, Naruto-kun, did you space out and lag behind, or something?"
He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I guess you could say that." Technically, he wasn't lying, so it was fine by him.
A few moments later, they had finally arrived at Naruto's favorite restaurant. Naruto took a quick sniff and the aroma of smells he'd come to enjoy over the past few years assaulted his nose. He started drooling already.
Teuchi, the main chef, had noticed the blond immediately and greeted him with a smile. "Oi! Naruto! It's good to see you!" The old man was busy fixing some ramen for another customer who frowned at Naruto's appearance, but chose to keep it to himself.
"Teuchi-jii-san! It's good to see you as well!" Naruto greeted back with a genuine smile. Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame, were one of the few people to treat him with some respect and actually acknowledge that he even existed. He would be eternally grateful for them easing the despair that could've driven him insane as a child.
He nodded, as the trio took a seat at the bar. "So, I see you have some friends. Mind introducing yourselves?"
"Sakura. Sakura Haruno, sir," the green-eyed girl introduced, blushing at being put on the spot so suddenly.
"Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said coolly. Teuchi raised an eyebrow. An Uchiha? He sure as hell didn't act like one. Guess they weren't all bad, the chef decided at the moment.
"Hey, Teuchi-jii, where's Ayame-nee-chan?" he asked curiously. Usually, by now, the brunette would've greeted him.
"She's currently at home for her day off. I'll tell her you asked about her," he assured.
"That'd be much appreciated," Naruto thanked with a nod.
"All right, you three, enough small talk. What'll it be?" the Chef asked, going into full business mode.
"I'll take two bowls of miso ramen. You know…my usual," Naruto told him, to which he raised an eyebrow.
"Only two bowls?" he questioned before laughing a bit.
"You sound as if he usually orders more," Sasuke noted, raising a amused eyebrow.
"Actually, yeah. Usually he eats about six," Teuchi tacked on, laughing. The jaws of the Uchiha and the Haruno were now on the floor.
"Si-Six bowls?" Sakura stammered out looking over at a nearby customer's bowl, which was huge by normal standards. "By the gods Naruto, how the heck do you eat so much?"
"Hey! A guy's gotta eat, you know!" he defended, crossing his arms. 'Especially when it's the cheapest food you can get by on without people hating my guts,' he added with a mental sigh.
Teuchi shook his head and spoke again. "What about you two?"
"One bowl of shrimp ramen," came Sakura's reply.
"Just one bowl of miso ramen," came Sasuke's.
Teuchi nodded. "Coming right up!" he chirped prior to moving to the back to cook said meals, leaving the trio alone, once again.
Naruto smiled. "That Teuchi-jii," he snickered, shaking his head. "He's a really nice man, you guys. He makes some of the best ramen ever!" The blond proclaimed proudly.
"I'll be the judge of that when the bowl is in front of me," Sasuke chided, not out of serious doubting of Teuchi's cooking skills, but he couldn't resist a moment to jab at his blond-haired friend. Sakura, however, didn't really pay attention to the duo, but toward the entire restaurant, her eyes scanning everything around her.
"Sakura, you okay?" Naruto asked with worry lining his voice.
The rosette-haired girl blinked, before shaking her head, breaking out of her stupor. "Oh, yes, quite, Naruto-kun. I was just observing around us and it seems a bit peculiar that we're the only ones here now, considering it is during the day," she noted, seeing Naruto's understanding look.
"Ah, I see. Well, technically it's not the lunch rush, yet. That's about a half-hour from now, which is usually the norm for stands in this part of the village."
"Seems like you come here a lot," the onyx-eyed boy observed, staring directly at him.
He nodded. "I do, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't stop here at some point. You could probably say I was brought up on ramen as if it were my life support." To the others, they thought he was simply exaggerating, but to Naruto, it was a daily reality. Ramen was the only food he could really afford on a daily basis and the stares he got from when he went into other markets for various groups of sustenance made it a bit of a turnoff. So, he just kept with what made him comfortable.
"But, that's not what I wanted to talk about," Naruto dismissed, changing the subject completely. "We need to figure out a physical training schedule. Since we're all not that busy, considering we're all the same age and only eight years-old, this is doable with dedication. We need to find our strengths, weaknesses, and then, ultimately, find a way to improve as a trio."
Although it wasn't said out in the open, all of three of them wanted to be on the exact same genin squad when they became genin, four years down the line. Unlike most starting squads, the hurdle of getting to know your teammates and learning how to work with their skills would already be something they'd have long been accustomed to do. They both nodded in understanding.
"So, with that being said, Sakura-chan…Sasuke, what do you think your strengths and weaknesses are? And mostly, what kind of jutsu are you guys interested in?"
Sakura decided to speak up first, "Well…" she said blushing, a bit embarrassed. "I've always wanted to become a strong medic-ninja."
Sasuke rose a brow. "Well, aren't most medic ninja support?" he asked, genuinely curious, and not trying to dissuade her aspirations, at all.
Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke, think about it. What's a good foundation for a medic ninja? Near-perfect chakra control and abundant knowledge of the human anatomy. Take Tsunade-sama for example; she's probably the greatest medical ninja in history, and yet, she's probably the most physically strong of the Sannin. From what I was able to read, this was because she used her chakra to amplify her strength ten, fifty, even a hundred fold. Sakura-chan here could likely do the same thing. Add her knowledge of the human body, and she probably knows more ways to kill a person than how many bowls of ramen I can eat within a week."
That last statement earned a healthy chuckle among the three. Sakura smiled a bit and nodded. He'd hit the nail right on the head, of what she wanted to apply.
Sasuke nodded. "I see. As for me…I think I'm most interested in is becoming adept with ninjutsu, taijutsu, and maybe a weapon that fits me. However, the first two are definite. No questions asked."
"All right, and as for me, I know for sure I want to be a kenjutsu master; specifically, I want to own a katana," Naruto declared, which got surprised looks from the two of them. He continued on, unperturbed, "and like you, Sasuke, I want to improve my ninjutsu, but I'll mainly focus on close-quarters combat with a sword, and, if it gets knocked out of my hand somehow, I can continue kicking ass with my bare fists."
Sasuke smirked, "Interesting choices. But…there's also—"
"All right! Order up!" Teuchi shouted out, interrupting Sasuke, and smiling as he brought out their orders from the back kitchen. "Two bowls of miso ramen for my favorite customer," he said, sitting the two bowls in front of him. Naruto drooled at the sight of his favorite food being hot and fresh.
"One bowl of shrimp ramen for the pretty young lady," Teuchi grinned causing Sakura to turn red in embarrassment and bashfully thanked the old chef.
"And one bowl of miso ramen for our resident Uchiha," he smiled. "Enjoy your meal, you three." With that, Teuchi went back to the kitchen, leaving the trio, once again, alone.
Naruto picked up his chopsticks and dug in, albeit a bit slower than usual, both in part due to having some newfound manners as well as not wanting to burn his tongue. The Uchiha and the Haruno shrugged and tasted their respective bowls. Naruto had to smirk at their reactions.
"Oh, man, this is good!" Sakura exclaimed as she started to eat a bit faster. Sasuke didn't even bother saying anything, but from the way he was slurping, he shared his pink haired friend's sentiment and then some. In minutes, Sasuke had finished his bowl with a satisfied grin on his face.
"Okay," he said, getting back to business, "as I was saying, where does that leave genjutsu?" Sasuke asked quizzically.
"I think that would be suited for me," Sakura spoke up, her bowl about three-quarters of the way finished. "I think it would be pretty neat to experiment in the amount of ways I can perform illusions on the enemy…oh, the possibilities," she gleefully cackled. She was thinking of hundreds of ways she could use it when she got back at the bastard for what he did to her. There was a brief flash of anger, which caused her two male companions to visibly cringe.
Naruto held his hands up defensively. "Whoa, Sakura-chan, did we say something wrong?" he inquired a bit fearfully, not wanting to upset her.
The pink flower's eyes widened as she frowned in shame. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, I was thinking about something else. I didn't mean to project my hostilities toward you guys," she said apologetically.
Naruto and Sasuke nodded. "You want to…talk about it?"
Sakura sighed. "I'll tell you…in time. But, for now, can you please respect my right to not wanting you to know, just yet?"
"Okay," they both agreed, though in the back of their minds, it still didn't sit well with them. There was more to their pink haired companion than met the eye. Sasuke spared Naruto a quick glance, which Naruto caught on immediately. One way or the other, they were going to find out and help her in any way they could.
'I swear to the gods, themselves, Sakura-chan, I'll help you in any way I can, and that's a promise of a lifetime,' Naruto swore to himself.
After an awkward silence, Sakura had decided to change the subject. "So…where exactly are we going to physically train ourselves? The library isn't exactly an ideal place to practice ninjutsu."
"Well…" Sasuke thought about it, even though burning books flashed before his mind's eye for amusement, "you guys could always come to my place. We have more open space than we know what to do with."
Naruto's eyes widened and he could've sworn he heard a growl from the fox in the back of his mind. Would the Uchiha clan really allow him to mingle with the scion, in such close proximity to their estate?
"I don't know, Sasuke, but do you really think your family will allow outsiders in? I mean, some of them aren't exactly the nicest people around. No offense, of course," he added quickly as to not misrepresent the entire family based on the actions of a few.
Sasuke waved him off. "None taken. Trust me: a good many of my family are arrogant assholes. To be honest, I really can't stand most of them. But, that being said, they shouldn't bother us, at all. As far as they should be concerned, we're just three normal eight-year-olds trying to become stronger shinobi."
'I wonder if you would say that if you knew I was a Jinchuuriki?' Naruto thought a bit sadly.
"I have plenty of scrolls and weapons, too. Of course, we can check out some scrolls from the library, but there's no real need."
Sakura crossed her arms. "Wouldn't most of your clan's scrolls be, you know, suited for Uchiha?" she asked rhetorically.
Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but found himself silent as the logic of her statement started to sink in. Naruto whistled and snickered. "Wow, Sasuke, she's got you there," he chided, patting him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."
"Yeah, yeah, I see your point, Sakura," he conceded with a sigh. "So…tomorrow, then?"
Sakura looked at him. "Tomorrow? It's barely afternoon, so screw that! Let's go back and do some training right now! Cha!" she said excitedly.
Sasuke laughed at her enthusiasm, "Okay, okay, we'll go!" he agreed as her eagerness had rubbed off a bit on him at that moment, too.
Naruto smiled. "Wahoo! Let's go!" he yelled, hopping from his stand into the direction of Sasuke's estate….which he had no clue where it was.
He scratched his head. "Um…which way?" he asked a bit embarrassingly.
Sakura shook her head. "You know, Naruto-kun, you really need to slow down a bit. Lead the way, Sasuke-kun." The Uchiha scion happily obliged and took lead and showed them the way to his estate.
Teuchi, meanwhile, had come back with their checks, only to find the three missing. "Damn brats…left without paying," he huffed, before smiling. "Ah, well, it was good seeing Naruto making some friends his age. I'll let it slide…this time." With a headshake, the old chef went back to prepare for the lunch rush.
(Lightning Country, Unknown Location, 1300 hours)
(Lightning Country, Unknown Location, 1300 hours)
Hideyoshi Akechi sat in an office in a remote cave about several kilometers from Kumogakure. It had served its purpose for the Ultranationalists' hideout and a secret meeting place for the higher echelons. It was truly built to last; made with the greatest steel money could buy, as well as having several tunnels and rooms that were built all throughout the entire mountain. There was always a way to escape, and since they had built into it so much, a cave-in was unlikely as the mountain was hollow.
As for the Ultranationalist leader himself, he was a very striking man, appearance-wise. He had snow white hair, a trait common in this part of the Elemental Nations, gray eyes and stood at an impressive six feet, two inches. He wore a silver battle kimono covered in dark samurai armor. But the most striking thing about him was his large cross-shaped scar on the bridge of his nose.
A chuunin-level Ultranationalist member came in after knocking and dropped to a knee in respect. "Hideyoshi-sama, he has finally arrived," he spoke cryptically.
"Send him in," he said coldly. The chuunin nodded and left.
A few minutes later, a man wearing a black coat with red clouds stitched to its fabric came in. He shut the door behind him. The man was tall, possibly taller than even Hideyoshi himself, looked to be in his mid-thirties, with an athletic build to boot. His pale skin contrasted with his bright auburn hair, and his many piercings on various parts of his face. But it was his eyes that struck him the most; they were eyes that reminded him of his own, minus the vortex pattern. Those were the eyes of a killer who knew no remorse and would do anything necessary to get the job done. Hideyoshi felt a bit of sweat roll down his brow—a fact that he didn't like. It showed that he was…cautious. A fact that he didn't like. The powerful shinobi took a seat and was directly across from him.
"I'm glad you could make it…" Hideyoshi began, "I'm Hideyoshi—"
"I know who you are," he interrupted with a commanding voice that even the Ultranationalist leader had to respect. "Hideyoshi Akechi, clan leader of the Akechi clan within the walls of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, as well as the leader of the Ultranationalist party." He refused to smirk at that last bullet point.
"I see…impressive. May I inquire your name?" Hideyoshi asked respectfully.
"No, you may not," he said with a hint of finality. "Let's be frank here, Hideyoshi. I know what your plans are, and you know what I am and what my plans for my organization are. I only decided to come because I didn't trust anyone else to do this exactly as I had intended, lest I'd have to kill them. Believe me: they are hard to replace. Anyhow, on to more pressing matters, you contacted us, and you want our help—meaning, you've somehow discovered our existence. Frankly, I would've killed you all to keep that secret, but you intrigued me with some intelligence, as one of my dear members gather."
That was not a threat, Hideyoshi understood very much. He knew damn well that the man could've backed up his words tenfold.
"So, I'll ask you personally and directly, what is it that you want?"
A brief moment of silence passed by as the man stood still as a statue, his facial expressions cold as if stared into the Ultranationalist leader's very soul.
He sighed and continued on. "I won't bore you on details about my party, which you already know. Our current Raikage is a spineless, weak-minded fool. He and his bastard father have scaled back our forces, and we've lost every war we've participated in since they came to power. They threw away the ideals of the Shodai Raikage—may he rest in eternal peace—in favor of those a bit similar to those disgusting tree-huggers," he growled in flat out disgust and hatred.
The auburn-haired man's face remained impassive as Hideyoshi continued. "However, even we do not have the strength or resources to kill him." The organization member's eyes narrowed as if telling him to correct himself. "Well…I mean at least not in a way that they can pin the blame on us, even though we are technically at fault. So…can you do it?"
He scoffed. "There is no man immune to assassination, and A is one of them. Killing him is the easy part, getting away with it? That's an entirely different game; one that could be costly."
Hideyoshi sat a bit straighter, "We are offering a lot in exchange," he noted.
"Yes, according to what I know, but this is not a simple political assassination. This is the same Yondaime Raikage who fought the legendary Yellow Flash and lived to tell about it. It seems this job would be for me and me alone."
"Yes, indeed," Hideyoshi agreed. "You can have his annoying brother as well as the two-tailed feline, herself, as well."
The shinobi looked amused. "You seem to want to part ways with such powerful toys so quickly. Does taking over really mean that much to you?" Not that he truly cared, but it did seem odd to the shinobi prompting his question.
Hideyoshi waved him off. "No. Our members are powerful, and once we take over the village we'll start using those methods to train our forces from genin all the way to the BOLT. That will more than offset the cost of losing two Jinchuuriki. Besides, it's not like they would willingly follow us, anyhow."
The man snorted a bit. "I see. Are you confident you can get the people on your side?"
"I am," he confirmed. "Fragments of our ideology are sweeping through the village faster than even we anticipated, much to our glee. The pot has to tip over at some point, and that's the moment where we will strike."
"So…with that being said, I know your organization needs money as well…How much?" Hideyoshi asked getting to the point.
"You realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime job, and the man who completes it could live a modest life for the rest of his days, correct?" he asked semi-rhetorically.
"When we have seized Kumo, there will be no shortage of—"
"Cash," he interrupted again. "Half before the assassination and the other half after I complete this job, personally."
Hideyoshi grimaced but nodded. "How much?" he asked again.
"Fifty million ryou," he priced simply.
Hideyoshi did his best to not flinch. "Half of fifty million? That's a lot of money."
"You misunderstand; the whole price is one hundred million ryou. The fifty is what you pay up front."
Hideyoshi's eyes bulged in shock as he stood up. "Are you insane?"
"No," he said calmly, "but my organization is…special. Any lesser men would likely have taken the money and ran off for you to never see again. However, we have much more at stake than to simply just take your money and leave you to fight a coup that you'd assuredly lose. Considering you're getting the largest economic power in the Elemental Nations, as well as a sizable shinobi force, this should be considered chump change. You want me to kill a Kage; you either pay up, or our business is done here."
Hideyoshi gritted his teeth, but the truth of the man's words hit him like a ton of bricks. He was asking the man to assassinate one of the most powerful men in the world. Of course, this wouldn't be cheap. His dream and ambitions all came with a cost—either financially, or otherwise.
He nodded. "Very well, but can you give us a bit of time to come up with the fifty million advance?"
The mysterious man bobbed his head in acquiescence. "That's perfectly acceptable. You already know how to contact us when the time comes. We'll await payment, and then, we shall carry out the assassination at your ready. Once the assassination is complete, taking over the village is your problem, and not ours. We shall expect the two Jinchuuriki, regardless of whether or not the coup succeeds or not. Understand?"
"I do," Hideyoshi confirmed with a sigh. Who knew taking over a village could be so damn irksome?
"Very well, then. Good day to you, sir," he said before his entire body started to twist and contort. Hideyoshi looked very alarmed as the man's appearance started to change into an ordinary man and his body felt limp on the floor.
Hideyoshi immediately rushed over to check his pulse. His eyes widened. "He...he was never here? He controlled a corpse and made it appear life like while it was talking to me?" The implications of that fact chilled even the already cold-blooded Akechi clan head.
"So, it seems I was right in hiring these…Akatsuki members. It seems the reports were true. They do certainly live up to the hype."
Hideyoshi had a chuunin come and dispose of the corpse while he sat back in his office and reviewed some schematics. They had a villager to take over.
(END)
Oh, wow. Inspiration hit me like a ton of bricks in this chapter! See, I told you I would start updating faster and you guys probably didn't believe me. Well, here it is. Another installment of Eternal Legends.
For now, most of the action seen in the story will take place outside of Konoha's borders. Usually authors foolishly time-skip these stories to hell and back. No, I refuse. I'm sorry if you don't like actual development and buildup, but that's what you're going to get; not some cheap time-jumps. The coup of Kumo, if you haven't figured it out yet, will play an extremely major role in the entire story and will set a foundation for the opposition that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura will have to face.
I've toyed around with the history of the village, and pretty much have thrown out everything pre-Hyuuga incident. So, yes, that means no bullshit like the Sandaime Raikage holding off ten-thousand shinobi over the course of three days, no brothers who somehow managed to survive being ingested by a bijuu, and CERTAINTLY no fucking Kage standing up to a powerful tailed beast where the only wound he gets was caused by his own? Yeah, fuck that.
Kishi created an extremely diverse, rich, and ungodly flexible world, where, within reason, it works with anything. It's sad to see such a manga so beloved go down the drain so quickly. Alas, I'm only reading the series now for closure and not for genuine entertainment because it sucks dick at the moment.
As always I want to thank my beta, DarkHeroOrion, who claims he got hungry during the Ramen scene :P. He's been a fine beta for the past year, and I encourage you to read his stories. He recently updated Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid, and with my help, he'll hopefully have the next chapter out sometime in the middle of October. Also, I want to thank EliadS for fleshing out ideas for me to use in the Coup.
That's all for now, so please leave a review. It'd be mostly appreciated.
With regards,
Arashi.