Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
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Memories Of Others
Chapter 54
A Chunin And A Snake
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"Fu is so happy!" The green-haired girl caroled as she sprang out of the concealed entrance and into the small clearing. "Chomei says she is happy too! Fu and Chomei are so lucky to have met you!"
"I'm glad to hear that." Naruto laughed as he and Hinata emerged from the den and leaned against each other while Fu danced around the clearing.
"Someone's enjoying freedom." Kakashi snarked as he remained leaning against the root that partially-concealed the entrance to the den and Naruto blinked.
"Kurama's just placed the scroll. Fu, the choice is yours."
Fu blinked as she halted mid-dance. Still balanced on one foot, she turned to face Naruto.
"Fu doesn't understand. Surely you want Fu to go with you?"
"We do," Hinata explained, "But only if you want to come with us. You're free now, if you want to go elsewhere, we won't stop you."
Fu frowned. "But… Fu has never been anywhere else before. Fu doesn't think she could make it anywhere else…"
"Suien has a lot to answer for." Kakashi ground out. "He didn't even give you basic training?"
"Suien say that as long as Fu can tap Chomei's power, that enough." Fu sighed. "Chomei has taught Fu a bit, but Fu not know how to do many things other people do."
"We'll be happy to teach you." Kakashi offered. "If you want to."
"Actually, I think she's going elsewhere." A familiar voice purred and Naruto gave the new arrival a shocked look even as Hinata activated her byakugan.
"The one with the extra eyes is behind the tree next to him and there are three… no, four others… three males and a female… one of the males is odd, he's almost like two people in one…"
"I think that's enough." Orochimaru said as he stepped forwards, raising his sword. "Now, the Nanabi's host is coming with us. Don't worry, Naruto, I'll return with the others and collect you later."
"I can't allow you to do that." Naruto stated, then his eyes widened as a crystalline sound echoed around them.
"Thank you, Guran." Orochimaru smirked as the sky above was occluded by a climbing dome, turning the dawn sky into an interlocking barrier of triangles and hexagons. "We've been working on this trick for a while now, using an old sword to test it. As long as the dome's up, your Hiraishin is blocked and the dome's reinforced so it can't be broken."
"Fuck." Naruto whispered as his senses once again reported the absence of the hundreds of hiraishin beacons that he had adjusted to detecting. "Not good."
Orochimaru's smirk widened as four others joined him, one of whom was the sharingan user that Naruto recognized from their previous encounter. The other three were a giant of a man, a man with six arms and one who looked like he had a second head protruding from the back of his neck.
"Well, this isn't good." Kakashi agreed, pulling his Hitai-ate up to reveal his own sharingan. "The chakra flowing through that thing looks… odd. I know I've seen something like… he's blocked the use of summons."
"Very good." Orochimaru congratulated him. "I do so enjoy having intelligent enemies."
"It means you've lost most of your snake techniques as well." Kakashi countered and Orochimaru shrugged as strange markings began to snake across the skin of the three unknowns.
"With my Sound Four helping me, that won't be a problem." He replied. "Now, host of the Nanabi, you may as well come qietly or things will get… violent."
Fu stared at him and began edging towards the Konoha shinobi.
"Well, let's do this." Orochimaru said.
"Hell yeah." The six-armed man gloated as he stepped forwards, the markings growing across his face like unfurling fronds. "This'll be fun!"
"Beating down the trash." The large one grunted, lines of triangles appearing on him.
"The red-eye looks interesting." The two-headed one mused, his thin lips spreading in a grin.
"Kidomaru, take the Hyuuga. Jirobo, bash the blond. Sakon, you have Hataki. Shin, grab the girl."
The four moved forwards, then leapt aside as a barrage of rocks erupted from the den, followed by a white-haired figure.
"Jiraiya?!"
"Hello, Oro." Jiraiya growled at the gobsmacked Sannin. "Let's see if I can repeat what Sensei did, but permanently!"
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"What?!"
Tobi shifted slightly and glanced at the plant-man next to him.
"The Sanbi has dispersed. It'll be a while before it reforms. About three years, maybe four."
"Damn." Pein muttered. "We cannot hope to hold a single Jinchuuriki for that long, let alone all of the other eight, and the statue will not hold the essence without damage for that period either. We have to delay the plan until it reforms. Pass the word to the others. Until I recall them, they can pursue their own plans."
"Tobi will do that. Tobi is a good boy!"
From beside Pein, Konan watched the masked man warp away.
"I don't trust him, Nagato." She stated quietly.
"He is necessary. Leave it at that."
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Hinata spun and deflected the spray of oddly-golden kunai that Kidomaru threw at her, deflecting them so that two of them hit Jirobo. Naruto took advantage of the larger man's brief distraction to summon a dozen clones, half of whom promptly attacked using rasengans while the others moved to distract the other Sound-nin. One of the clones was dispelled almost instantly by Orochimaru, who barely avoided the hair-senbon attack launched at him by Jiraiya. The senbon flew past him and Sakon had to leap away from Kakashi in order to avoid being impaled on them, his move causing him to collide with Shin and preventing him from grabbing Fu.
"Naruto!" Kakashi called and the real Naruto somersaulted to him, grabbed him and then suddenly there were another half-dozen sharingan users. A second later, the number of byakugan users also increased and three of them darted out of the clearing.
"Where are they off to?" Jirabi shouted before pulling a stone slab up to block the incoming rasengan barrage.
"Who cares?!" Orochimaru shouted back as his sword bounced off Jiraiya's defensive hair-shield. "Probably trying to find a way to break the… oh shit. Guren!"
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"Why do they get to have all of the damned fun." Grumbled the woman with the spiky blue hair as she concentrated on maintaining the dome. "I want to help kill Lord Orochimaru's enemies. Instead… I get guard duty. Why?"
"Guren!"
Orochimaru's warning echoed through the trees and Guren looked round, then yelped and threw herself sideways to avoid the strike aimed at her chest. A second blow from behind deadened her left arm and she stumbled away from the wall of crystal as a third attacker emerged from behind one of the trees.
"…the hell?" She gasped, looking at the trio of identical girls, byakugan blazing with determination.
"Surrender now." One of them demanded and Guren laughed as she flexed the fingers of her right hand.
"Surrender? Why should I when I can Shoton: Shuriken Ranbu!"
The sudden attack managed to dispel one of the attackers, but the other two dodged it, one by spinning behind a tree, which took the brunt of the wave of crystal projectiles, while the other kawarimi'd with a log, letting the wooden replacement take the piercing attack. Guren shifted, the light refracting along her skin for an instant.
"It's just a matter of time before I kill the original you." She stated, looking round for any sign as to where the two remaining attackers had vanished. "Make it easy on yourself… "
A brief flicker of motion caught her attention and an instant later, a long lance of crystal lanced out from her out-thrust fist, ripping the tree that the movement had come from in half and sending the upper part crashing to the ground. As the lance shattered, Guren took a couple of steps forwards and looked round, the light refracting off her once again.
"Where are you…?"
In front of her, one of the girls stepped out, standing in a stance she had never seen before and Guren raised her fist, then gasped in shock as a series of strikes shattered the crystal armor that she had layered over her skin, removing her ability to move in the same attack. As she fell, she spotted the girl who had defeated her standing exactly where the pierced log had been.
"Kawarimi…" She croaked in understanding. "Damn…"
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Kidomaru growled as he activated the second stage of his curse mark, covering himself with golden armor in an attempt to block the near-constant barrage of Jyuuken strikes that had cost him the use of four of his arms. As he prepared to attack, something hit his armor, making it ring like a bell.
"Yes!" one of Narutos shouted in glee. "Good to go! Originals to me!"
Kidomaru looked up, then threw himself sideways as a giant blade of crystal sliced into the ground where he had just been standing. A rumbling announced that Jirobu had created a shelter against the sharp rain even as flashes of light refracted from the falling shards.
"Damn." Orochimaru grumbled as he watched the nearly-transparent blades shred the vegetation outside the shelter. "So close. Sakon, remind me to leave someone to protect Guren the next time we use this strategy."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."
The rain of shards petered out and Orochimaru nodded.
"Someone collect Guren." He ordered as Kidomaru rose from the pile of crystal that had covered him. "Well, this could have gone worse."
"Who are you and what have you done to our weapon?" A new voice barked and Orochimaru looked at the newcomer.
"I don't have time for this." He grumbled as the blade of his sword lanced out, spearing the belligerent shinobi through the heart. "Anyone know who that was?"
"Dunno, but that's a cool bandanna." Jirobu grunted, pulling the greenish cloth from the corpse's head.
"Sir, I have her!" Kidomaru called as he re-appeared, Guren slung over his shoulder and then he paused, his gaze fixed on something just behind Orochimaru.
"Tobi wonders if this is a bad time…"
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A young genin watched from behind a tree as the group that had killed his tutor vanished, then he headed back to Takigakure.
The Elders needed to know that the rogue-nin Orochimaru had stolen Taki's living weapon.
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"Urrrgh." Naruto managed as he collapsed onto the settee.
"Good work, Naruto." Jiraiya congratulated him. "Fu, welcome to Konoha. Once Naruto's recovered, I'm sure he'll try to teach you how to manifest Chomei like he can manifest Kurama."
As if the sentence had summoned him, Kurama appeared in a cloud of Chakra smoke.
"Thanks." He said to Naruto, who murmured something indecipherable before closing his eyes. "Hmmmm, Hinata, could you…?"
"I got this." Kakashi said, carefully picking Naruto up and carrying him up the stairs, Hinata following him worriedly. "He looks okay, but he made a lot of clones and Jumped us all back. I think he just needs some rest."
"In the meantime, how about I introduce you to Tsunade." Jiraiya offered and Fu turned to look at him questioningly. "She has been waiting to meet you and welcome you to Konoha."
"Fu wonders who this Tsunade is."
"She's my old team-mate and now the Godaime Hokage." Jiraiya smiled. "And I think you'll enjoy meeting her."
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Tsunade stood in the operating theater, the green chakra dissipating from around her hands as she finished her exam.
"You… done?" The Kunoichi on the table asked and Tsunade nodded.
"You have quite a bit of chakra-scarring on your first two Gates, something I've never actually seen before, but it shouldn't interfere with anything you do, so long as you don't try to open them. Other than that, nothing that some rest and good nutrition can't fix."
The kunoichi gave a tired smile, then glanced to the side where the scroll that had held her during transit via one of Konoha's messenger hawks lay crumpled in the corner.
"Of course, we will need you to undergo a full debriefing, especially on how you managed to escape from Sound." Tsunade continued. "After that… if you want to join Konoha's forces, then we'll accept you."
"Not sure how strong I am." The Kunoichi admitted. "Used that damned Seal whenever things started getting dangerous. Without it…"
Tsunade nodded in understanding as an ANBU materialized. After a brief, near-silent conversation, she turned back to the bed-ridden ninja.
"I need to go and meet another newcomer." She explained. "Rest up, you'll need it. Don't worry, Ibiki's been told not to use the hostile interrogation techniques on you."
"Thank you… Hokage-sama."
"You are welcome… Tayuya."