Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
This chapter marks the end of the second part of the Mist Arc. The third, and final part of the Mist Arc will start in Chapter 46. Once that finishes, the next story arc will begin. I'm sure most of you awesome guys know what will be going down in that story arc.
AU Changes: Yukimaru's ability never made a whole lot of sense, and as such, was changed to reflect what he can do, while also explaining how he could do it. There is a more detailed explanation at the bottom of this chapter to avoid any spoilers.
And without any more delay here's the next chapter. Chapter 45: Realizations
The earth rumbled, and out of it surged a dragon made of rock, ice, and lightning. It's core was as cold as the dead of winter, lightning crackled around it like a terrible thunderstorm, and the rock armor rivaled the work of a talented smith. In unison, the three kunoichi's arms snapped downwards, directing the tri elemental dragon to attack.
Tobi simply stared in seeming wonder at the technique. "It's... amazing." His lone visible eye widened. "Tobi might have to save Isobu from this super amazing attack." The masked man knelt and placed his palm against the Three Tails. As the dragon drew near, his eye flashed crimson.
The dragon slammed into the ground, phasing through both Tobi and the Three Tails. Ice splintered upwards, coating the ground in small shards; lightning arced upwards, the air crackling and flashing. Lethal hardened rock shrapnel cut through the area that the Akasaki member was standing, and had he not been phased, he would have been torn apart.
"Why did he phase the Three Tails as well?" Sakura, for the first time since she had starting fighting Tobi, began to think, rather than simply react. "Ok. Think. What was different about our previous attacks?" It wasn't the elemental types, they had already tried that previously. The pink haired kunoichi's green eyes shifted slightly as her mind raced to figure out the puzzle. "Other than closely intertwining the elements, we didn't do anything different than other attempts…"
With a crunch, the Three Tails phased back into the normal plane, crushing the small ice shards beneath its bulk. "Wow." Tobi clapped his hands, "That was a super powerful combination attack." His lone eye seemed to sparkle in excitement, "Do you have any more?"
"That's it." "Haku-Chan," Sakura turned to Haku while still keeping a wary eye on Tobi, "Could you freeze the water I am about to attack Tobi with, just after it hits the surface of the Three Tails' armor? And can you make the ice sheet as jagged as possible?"
"Of course Sakura-Chan." The ice user nodded.
Speeding through the signs of a simple water jutsu, the large wave rose up above Tobi and crashed down on him. As the water was falling towards him, he swiftly knelt down and placed his hand on the Three Tails. Haku's hand snapped out and she concentrated her chakra, willing the water to freeze. The water snap froze, becoming a sheet of jagged, lacerating shards. The ice sheet fell through the phased Three Tails and shattered against the ground.
"I was right." Sakura instantly wove through a second set of hand signs. Slapping her hands on the ground, she cast the small area of effect genjutsu on the area that Haku, Hinata, Honoka, and herself were standing on. It was a simple genjutsu, fairly obvious anyone outside the area to detect. But that wasn't the point of the technique. It's purpose was simple: To block enemies from seeing their lips move. The pink haired kunoichi followed the genjutsu up with a small silencing seal tag Naruto had stocked each of them with, reasoning that it was better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
"Everyone." Sakura spoke quickly and firmly, "I believe I have figured out the weakness to Tobi's phasing technique. He cannot phase into an area that has hazardous terrain, such as the jagged sheet of ice. Given that he hasn't simply stayed in his phased...form, for lack of a better term, I hypothesize that he can only remain in that alternate state for a limited period of time. In order for us to hurt him, we have to force him to use his phase ability, then cover the entire area with hazards." Her green eyes brightened as Sakura dug deep within herself, preparing for the fight. "Let's do this."
"What?" He analyzed the attacker's every movement, no matter how slight. His mind shifted and raced, thinking faster and faster, attempting to figure out a way to save both Kushina and Naruto. "Did you say that I have to choose between my wife and my son?"
"I did." Open, malicious amusement filtered out from behind the orange mask. "I'll give you say… five seconds to decide."
Unseen behind his mask, a terrible grin split the masked man's face. "One...Two…"
For the first time in his life, He had no idea of what to choose, what path to follow. How could he ever choose between the love of his life and the life of his beloved son?
"Minato-Kun," Kushina drew his attention, "Do you trust me?"
"Always."
"Then trust me. Save our son."
"Alright."
He turned back to the masked man and opened his mouth when the masked man abruptly announced, in a tone that was far too cheerful, "Looks like your time is up." The masked enemy tossed Naruto into the air, "Whoops." Casually holding a kunai for the baby to fall onto, the masked head tilted mockingly to the side. "Too slow. Too bad for you."
The angle of Naruto's ascent was instantly analyzed. Chakra surged along his body, supercharging his speed. His heart thudded in his chest.
Then...he moved.
Thud...thud.
His feet landed on the ceiling with his son firmly clutched within his arms. Multiple hissing sounds emitted from the baby blanket Naruto was wrapped in. Instantly realizing that the traitorous masked enemy had placed multiple explosive tags on the blanket, he tore the blanket off of Naruto and concentrated his chakra, seeking out any Hiraishin markers within reach. Sensing the tri-bladed kunai he had thrown at the masked ninja just a few moments prior was stuck in the yard, he wove the complicated pattern for his technique in an instant, manipulating his chakra with his mind alone.
Time and space bent and twisted inside itself, creating a tunnel that would instantly move him to the selected marker. He vanished in a yellow flash.
The house exploded in a thunderous BOOOM. All of the windows blew outwards, instantly shattering. Fire rolled out of the destroyed roof and entrances. He felt his heart stop for the briefest of moments as the house he and Kushina had built was engulfed in flames. The next moment he felt a reassuring ping from the seal he had placed on Kushina long ago. While she was alive, he always received a chakra ping, and mentally felt the direction she was located at relative to himself.
She was alive. And with that knowledge, he was reinvigorated. He would stop whoever threatened his son and wife. They would not survive the night. Weaving through the handsigns for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he created a shadow clone to watch out for Naruto, and to take the baby to the Hokage mansion. The clone nodded solemnly as it took Naruto, vanishing in a flash of yellow. He began to concentrate on locating the marker seal that was on Kushina. Finding it, he activated the Hiraishin.
Time and space bent inside itself, twisting into a tunnel.
"Itachi-Senpai." Tobi abruptly appeared next to Itachi and Kisame as they watched the fight from the cliff of the crater. "Tobi believes that it would be a good time to leave. Tobi thinks that they have figured out the secret to one of Tobi's super eye powers."
Itachi sighed and motioned to Kisame, directing his partner to follow him to the Three Tails. "Right away...Itachi-Senpai." Kisame made no attempt to hide his smirk, "You'll notice me, right?"
"I will murder you."
Kisame snickered again as the three vanished in a shunshin.
Warping to Kushina's location, he felt a surge of anger as he saw the complete and utter exhaustion, both due to low chakra and physical tiredness, on her face. Noticing the massive red paw heading towards their location, he grabbed Kushina and sped forwards, vanishing in a flash. Touching down lightly on top of a nearby tree with her safe in his arms, he turned to look at the destruction the Kyubi, the owner of the red paw, had caused.
A massive crater was located where the paw had struck; the large stone pillar that Kushina had been chained to had been obliterated. All it took was a glance down at his wife's stomach to confirm his suspicion. Somehow, the method wasn't important at the moment, the masked stranger had freed the Kyubi from it's sealed location inside the Eight Trigrams Seal that Kushina had sealed on her stomach. And given by the Nine Tails' single minded charge towards Konoha, it was almost certain that it was being controlled somehow.
"Minato." Kushina's voice was weak, the tone sounding wrong coming from the normally fiery kunoichi, "He said he was going to use the Kyubi to destroy Konoha." She shook off the bone deep weariness. "He had the Sharingan and is using it as a medium to create a summoning contract for Kyubi. He's also using the Sharingan to control Kyubi."
"I'll stop him." Locking onto the marker that was located at the Hokage mansion inside Konoha's shopping district, he warped to the location with Kushina still held in his arms. Carefully laying her down on the bed next to Naruto, he allowed himself a small smile of fondness as he watched her gently pull the now sleeping Naruto to her chest, hugging her son tight.
"Stay safe." He turned towards the door, snagging his signature white overcoat from the hook near the door and slipping it on, "This will only take a minute." Pulling open the drawer to the small weapons cabinet, he felt the mental mask of the Fourth Hokage slipping on. Clipping on the filled holster for his signature tri-bladed Hiraishin kunai, he felt the rage simmer within. The rage he felt at seeing the bruises on Kushina's arms and ankles froze into bottomless fury. Concentrating, he warped away to the battle that raged outside.
Arriving at the top of the Hokage Mountain, he gazed out into a hellish nightmare. Fires raged and the village burned. With a single swing of its tails, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox shattered buildings. With a single swipe of its claws, squads of loyal shinobi were torn apart. With every movement of the great beast, Konoha died a little bit more.
He could see them, his ninja. They fought bravely, never wavering, their skills sharper than ever. Weapons were thrown with perfect accuracy, and the evening sky was lit up by countless techniques fired by the courageous defiant.
It was all depressingly futile.
The brave ninja died where they fought; their weapons couldn't even scratch it's skin, and their techniques didn't even break it's stride.
By some unseen order, the Nine Tails stopped and slowly turned around to face the Hokage Mountain. It's jaws snapped open, and chakra began to swirl into a dense ball in front of its toothy maw. The ball grew larger and larger, its color becoming black as the darkest night.
The Fourth reached down and pulled a Hiraishin kunai from its pouch as he closed his eyes to locate one of the markers that he had placed months ago ten miles outside of the village. His fingers flexed on the elongated hilt of the specialized kunai as he locked onto the marker.
The Demon Fox fired the Biju Bomb.
The jet black ball of seething, destructive chakra rocketed towards the Hokage Mountain.
His hands snapped upwards, directly facing the oncoming destruction. His chakra spiked. The black lines of sealing formulas spidered outwards, covering the face of the mountain with a massive array.
The Biju Bomb slammed into the Hokage mountain. But...rather than detonating in an apocalyptic explosion of fire and destruction, it began to sink into the sealing array covering the rock face. Then, the moment it disappeared inside the array, he spiked his chakra, activating the Hirashin sealing array.
Time and space bent, twisting inside itself.
The evening briefly became day as the Biju Bomb detonated in a massive explosion of fire...ten miles away. Breathing heavily from the large chakra expenditure, he nearly missed the near silent footsteps of the enemy. Registering the presence at the last moment, he swung his kunai directly at the attacker.
The blade phased through the masked man's face. As soon as the knife passed through the other side of his head, the masked stranger's hand snapped upwards to grip the wrist holding the kunai. The masked man's lone visible eye flashed crimson.
"Okay everyone." Tobi clapped his hands as he arrived onto the Three Tails' head, "Tobi doesn't want to take up any more of your time, so Tobi is going to leave with Itachi-Senpai, Kisame-Senpai, and Three Tails." He smiled brilliantly as he bowed, "Thank-you for taking care of Tobi." Placing one hand on Isobu's head, he held out the other to Itachi and Kisame. They grabbed onto the offered arm. Less than a moment later four lethal looking jutsus raced through their phased forms.
The air around their forms began to twist in a counterclockwise motion, windmilling as Akatsuki members' forms began to spiral into the wind milling field. A moment later the massive form of the Three Tails began to be sucked in as well. "Bye-bye," Tobi waved cheerfully, "See you later." Then they were gone, and the air stilled.
The battle was over.
As the masked man's lone eye shifted into the recognizable shape of the Mangekyou, the air began to shift, spinning into a counterclockwise windmill shape. It was like being pulled into a vortex.
The Fourth's blond hair whipped around as he began to be pulled into the spinning air. His body began to join into the shifting vortex. Despite the feeling that his body was being pulled apart, his mind was cold and calm. He closed his eyes, picturing the kunai stuck on the Hokage training field. Finding its marker, he engaged the Hiraishin, warping away from the vortex even as he was sucked in.
Skidding to a halt from the force of warping away from the masked man's technique, he pushed himself off of the ground and readied himself. A moment later the air shifted, spinning in a clockwise motion. The masked man spun out of the center of the vortex, and once he had fully appeared, the spinning air dissipated. The masked enemy had two metal bracers on his wrists, and connecting the two bracers was a long metal chain, the steel dull and non reflective.
Realizing that the masked enemy would try to ensnare him utilizing his phasing technique and the chains - that was a power of the enemy's Sharingan if he wasn't mistaken -, he quickly created a strategy to counteract the phasing technique. However, the plan required that he and the masked man charge each other. Holding the tri-bladed kunai in front of himself, he allowed a small part of himself to ponder what to call the enemy's phasing technique. "Perhaps 'Kamui'?" He mused, "It seems to be similar to the Hiraishin, but functions as a power, or an authority, rather than an understanding of how time and space function, and how they interact with the world." He nodded slightly, "Yes. 'Kamui' seems to fit nicely."
The masked man flexed his hands and rolled his shoulders. "You have good reflexes, Fourth Hokage." The voice was young, far younger than the man's appearance suggested, "But you cannot beat me. My powers are beyond even you."
"We will see." Reaching deep into himself, he brought forth the mindset that he had let sleep since the war. It was the mindset that had allowed him to kill so many Iwa ninja within a single battle that Iwa removed itself from the war. The masked man shot forward.
He shot forward as well, hurling the Hiraishin kunai directly at the masked man's head. The masked man's form shimmered ever so slightly as the kunai neared his head.
The kunai began to fly through the masked man's phased head. His arms reached out, the long chain unwinding.
The kunai neared the back of the masked enemy's skull. His arms brushed the Fourth's white overcoat.
The Fourth's hand flexed, a rasengan instantly spinning into existence. He triggered Hiraishin.
Appearing behind the masked enemy, his free hand snapped out to grab the tri bladed kunai, while his other arm drew back. The masked man took a step forward, unable to process that his target had moved.
With a mighty surge of speed, he slammed the rasengan directly into the masked man's back, driving him into the ground. The spinning attack was powerful enough to blow apart the ground around them. As the spinning ball of chakra dissipated, he sent a flicker of concentration to his hand, leaving a marker on the enemy's back.
Leaping back to avoid any retaliatory strikes, he waited for the dust to settle. Something hadn't felt right when he had struck the enemy with the rasengan. Part of the attack had felt like it was grinding against soft clay rather than flesh. As a result, the rasengan hadn't bored through the masked man. As the dust settled, the masked man coughed wetly as he stood back up.
"You are just as fast as they say you are, Fourth Hokage." Another cough rattled the man's chest, the wet noise bubbling out of his throat, "But you have played the only card you have left. I will not be caught…"
The dust cleared enough to see the masked man. He drew back his tri bladed kunai and then thrusted it forward. As he did so, he activated the Hiraishin. Time and space twisted.
"...By yo-urk." The tri bladed kunai rammed into the masked man's stomach. Snapping his free hand onto the masked enemy's chest, he concentrated on creating a contract seal. A seal array expanded out from his hand, highjacking part of the masked man's contract seal, destabilizing the entire seal within an instant. A heartbeat later it failed, freeing the Kyubi from the masked enemy's control.
The masked man activated Kamui, phasing out of the kunai as he leapt back. "You may have broken my control on the Kyubi, but I will win in the end." Blood mixed with white clay-like substance as it dripped out of his black robe, slowly spreading from the wound on his stomach, "I will control everything." The air twisted, shifting into the vortex. The mask man vanished a moment later.
The battle was over.
Drip
Drip
Drip
Naruto awoke slowly to the familiar sound of his mindscape. His head was propped up, and whatever he was laying on was soft and comforting. A soothing hand gently ran through his hair, and a quiet, melodious hum was being sung close by. Opening his eyes, the blond Uzumaki stared up at his mother, a comforting hum drifting out of her parted lips.
"Hey." Kushina smiled down at her son, "How are you doing?"
Naruto blinked in confusion, belatedly realizing that his head was propped up on his mother's lap. "I'm fine, I guess?" He wasn't sure if it was a statement or a question. It was a bit hard to think with her comforting hand rubbing his head.
"What do you remember?"
Naruto closed his eyes and slowly shifted through the memory, sensing that his mother wanted him to remember something specific.
After the little blond baby was cleaned and checked over, the midwife handed him his son. Staring down at the baby, he felt the missing part of his life click into place. Feeling a swell of indescribable love well up inside as he looked down at his son, he couldn't help but whisper out a greeting to his son.
"Hey there Naruto."
Naruto's eyes flew open. That feeling Minato had felt towards his son, towards him. That feeling was more powerful than anything he had experienced or felt. It was like care, times a thousand, no, a million times. It was pure selflessness; it was powerful enough to move mountains and change the course of rivers; it was powerful enough to destroy the world, yet kind enough to save it. It was infinite and perfect, and it made him feel for the first time in his life, whole.
It was love, and impossibly; amazingly, that wonderful emotion was directed towards Naruto.
Tears of simple happiness began to leak from Naruto's eyes, trickling down his cheeks to wet Kushina's dress. "You both love me, don't you?"
"Yes." Kushina felt her own tears of utter joy well up, "Yes, we do."
This is the revelation that shakes the world.
Naruto awoke with a start, his mind rapidly assessing the information his senses gathered. He smelled the light flowery scent of Sakura's perfume, Hinata's wood-spicy scent, the mix of herbs and water that was uniquely Haku, and the smell of sealing ink and paper that that made up Honoka's scent. There was no sounds of battle, only the heavy breathing of his precious people recovering. He felt the coolness of the ice dome shield Haku had placed over him.
Opening his eyes, he sent out a pulse of chakra as he carefully sat up. A split second later there was a return ping, and he knew they were alright. The ice dome retracted, falling into a puddle as Haku and the others rushed to his location. Standing and spreading his arms, Naruto braced himself for their embraces. A moment later Sakura, Hinata, and Haku crashed into his arms, all three hugging him with all of the love they could muster. And Naruto hugged back as with all of the care he could. Something welled up within, and for the first time in his life, he knew what he was feeling.
Love.
"I'm sorry. I tried to wake you but I couldn't risk brain trauma, but you weren't responding and I should have been better prepared and I'm sorry and you got hurt and I should have figured out sooner what Tobi was planning and I should have…"
"Are you hurt Naruto-Sama?"
"Naruto-Kun. Are you alright? Do you need help?"
The three voices of his girlfriends mixed and overlapped each other, Sakura's worried and guilty babble slowly rising in pitch. "Hey." He smiled down at their worried faces, "I'm alright. Better than alright actually." Reaching over to rub soothingly on Sakura's back, he continued, "I'm sorry I worried you guys."
There was something in Naruto's voice that halted their worries. There was a calm happiness his posture and expression that they had never seen before. Realizing that their Naruto was alright, they began to relax. Spying Honoka standing a little distance away, the blond Uzumaki opened his left arm up a bit in invitation. "Com'on." He tilted his head toward the open spot, "It's alright." The three girls shuffled around to create enough room.
Honoka hesitated for a moment, but then quickly moved forward to the comforting hug. Doing his best to push his feelings out to the others, Naruto felt contentment and love wrap around himself and those he was embracing. Soon, he knew, he would have to learn the details of the battle and the aftermath, but here, in this moment, he was content.
"So Tobi used Kamui," Naruto blinked before raising his hand, "Sorry, Teleportation. He teleported Isobu, himself, Kisame, and Itachi somewhere else. And this was after Sakura-Chan figured out his phase technique's weakness."
"Correct Naruto-Kun." Hinata tilted her head slightly, "Why did you call Tobi's teleportation and intangibility 'Kamui'?"
"Well," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "After the memory started and I fell unconscious…"
Guren tried her best to not be jealous as she leaned her back against the tree. But on hearing how Naruto had learned that his father had loved him, she couldn't fight the feeling. She had never known her parents, much less knew if they had loved her. She had grown up in a small village who had despised and feared her for her bloodline. When Orochimaru had come to the village, single handedly destroying it, and offered her a chance to become something greater, to be allow her to hone and explore her gift, she had jumped at the chance.
But...now hearing the story of how his parents had loved him; had sacrificed themselves for him, she couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like if she had parents like him…
"Guren." The blue haired kunoichi turned to see Naruto standing nearby, "I know that you believe Orochimaru is your only path." He shook his head, "That's not true. I could tell you about how he is a bad person," His blue eyes locked with her's, "But I think you already know that." He extended his hand. "Instead I'll tell you this: There is another way."
"I know Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, personally. I'm sure I can work out a deal. You would still have to go through the standard examinations and tests, but we can help you. You'll have to give up Sound's secrets, but you could build a better life."
Guren was silent for a long moment, her eyes locked on Naruto's extended hand. "I…" Her gaze dropped, "I wish I believed you." She sighed, "There is no other life for me after what I did. Orochimaru-Sama rescued me." She glanced to the left, "And he took Yukimaru in after...something happened to Yukimaru's mother."
"It's your choice." Naruto dropped his hand, "Sakura-Chan says Yukimaru will be waking up soon." Guren turned to go to her young charge when Naruto's voice stopped her, his tone colder than she had ever heard it. "And Guren, if we meet again in the future, please don't attack those I care about. I won't hold back."
"I...can't promise anything." Her heart felt heavy with the memories of the past, "I must follow Orochimaru-Sama's will, no matter how I personally feel. But," Her fist tightened, "If I have a choice, I will not harm those you care about." The Sound kunoichi walked away, somehow feeling that she had lost a chance at something in that moment. "If I bring Yukimaru back and tell Orochimaru-Sama that it was all Rinji's and my fault, Yukimaru should be spared from his wrath."
After he watched Guren and Yukimaru leave, Naruto turned back to his team. "I'm guessing that we should head back and tell Mei of what happened and to also check up on Isaribi. I'm sure we'll meet up with the Kiri team along the way. They couldn't have missed the explosions." Pausing for a moment to create a shadow clone, he directed it to write a letter to Jiraiya, informing the Spymaster of all that had happened. There was plenty of his blood on the battlefield, so the clone wouldn't have any trouble summoning the messenger toad.
As the group headed off, Naruto moved up next to Honoka, "Honoka-Chan, what do you know of time/space theory?"
Guren and Yukimaru had made excellent time, reaching their camp just before evening fell. Yukimaru volunteered to gather firewood, leaving Guren to set up the tents. Unsealing the tents for Yukimaru and herself, Guren couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Yukimaru. As the day had worn on, he had grown more and more twitchy, and if she wasn't mistaken, his hands had started shaking. She had wanted to ask him what was wrong, but...she couldn't get to close. Orochimaru-Sama might start asking questions, and she couldn't protect Yukimaru if that happened.
Yukimaru wasn't back by the time she had set up the first tent. "It's perfectly natural to wonder where one of your team has gone." She justified, "And he should have arrived back at camp by now. We didn't need that much firewood. Besides," The kunoichi tightened the strap on her weapons pouch, "He's important to Sound. I would be remiss to not check on him." Nodding to herself, Guren headed off to check on Yukimaru.
It took the kunoichi only mere minutes to locate her wayward charge. Pausing behind a tree, she peered out to watch the green haired youth. He was holding something in his hand that was small and cylindrical. "What could he be holding?" Noticing a pile of wood at his feet, it was easy for Guren to justify staying to watch. "He already has enough sticks for the fire. Something is clearly going on and without Yukimaru, we won't get the fire going."
Yukimaru stared at the pill bottle he was holding before transferring his gaze to his shaking hands. "Stop it. Stop shaking." But no matter how hard he willed it, his hands would not stop shaking. There was a hunger inside that cried, no, demanded to be sated. He had tried to fight the craving, but as time passed, the feeling grew stronger and stronger.
His shaking fingers slowly closed around the bottle's plastic lid. He hated this, but he just needed one more pill. One more, then he'd never take another. Just...one...more…
"Yukimaru." Guren wasn't exactly sure when she had moved, but her hand closed around Yukimaru's before he could swallow the strange pill he was about to take. "What are you doing?" Carefully opening his palm, the blue haired kunoichi plucked the pill out from his hand. "What is this?" She paused, considering a more important question. "Who gave this to you?"
Shame and guilt instantly welled up inside Yukimaru at her questions. He wanted to tell her about Rinji and how he had given him those pills, and then had given him even more pills when the old pills had started to wear out. But...to his eternal shame, he wanted that pill even more. That pill that rested so invitingly on Guren's palm. Shame turned to anger, and poisonous words spilled out before he could stop them. "Why do you care? You're not my mother." Guren froze, stricken by his words.
Swiping the pill from her stunned hand, Yukimaru swallowed the pill in one swift motion. Barely holding back a content sigh at the utter bliss of the pill's energy, he rode the high as he stormed towards the campsite, leaving Guren alone in the dark.
By the time he had reached the camp, the high had faded, leaving only guilt and shame. "How could I say those things to Guren-San?" Guilt choked him, "Why am I so weak?" Shame wrapped it's fingers around his heart, "Why am I so pathetic?"
Stepping into the clearing, Yukimaru jolted in surprise at the sight of the person sitting in front of the lit campfire. "Hello Yukimaru," Rinji smiled, "How are you doing?"
Guren stared at her empty palm, Yukimaru's words swirling endlessly around her mind. And...despite her attempts to stop caring, his words still hurt. They carved a path right through all of the wall's she had placed around her heart, and oh...how they hurt.
Slowly pushing the pain deep down inside until she was comfortably numb, Guren bent down and slowly picked up all of Yukimaru's dropped firewood. Hugging them close, she headed back to the campsite. Yukimaru was rather terrible at making a campfire, and he would get cold. After all, he was important to Orochimaru-Sama, and… - Guren slammed the mental door shut on her feelings - ...that meant Yukimaru needed to stay safe.
Arriving back at the campsite, Guren couldn't help the surge of anger as she saw Rinji sitting next to Yukimaru. Spotting a pill bottle identical to the one Yukimaru had in Rinji's hand, she quickly put the pieces together. "Rinji." The firewood went tumbling to the ground, "Why have you been drugging Yukimaru?"
"Drugging him?" Rinji tilted his head to the side, "I have been doing no such thing. Why," He clasped his hand over his chest in mock pain, "I am positively hurt by your accusation." A pause. "But I may have given him a pill bottle or two."
"Why?" Pink crystal began to slowly grow on Guren's hands and arms, "Why would you do that to Yukimaru?"
"Now let's not get hostile here." Rinji raised his hands and slowly stood up, backing away from Yukimaru. "I only gave him the chakra pills, just chakra pills by the way, when he couldn't maintain the pace that you had set." He smirked. "Poor Yukimaru didn't want his Guren-San to suffer Orochimaru-Sama's wrath. Plus, of course," Rinji shrugged, "There was the final part of the mission I needed to consider. I'm sorry," He apologized, a hint of cruel mirth lacing his tone, "You weren't important enough to be told that part." Gesturing with his hands, Rinji explained the last part of the mission. "The final part of the mission was to seal the Three Tails into Yukimaru and then bring it back to Base Four."
"What?" It was a struggle to not lash out, "That would probably kill Yukimaru."
"Most certainly." Rinji agreed, "He'd last a month at best, one and a half if we kept him pumped with chakra pills."
"You son of a bitch!" Guren's hand snapped out and spikes of darkened pink crystal shot out of the ground towards Rinji.
"Do you think Orochimaru-Sama didn't know?" The statement froze Guren and the crystal spikes.
"Yukimaru only had to last until we got back to the base." Rinji chuckled, "Did you honestly think Orochimaru-Sama cared about Yukimaru? Or you for that matter?"
Guren felt like she had been punched in the stomach. "Wha-what?" She shook her head and rallied, denying Rinji's words, "Orochimaru-Sama rescued me from that village. He cared about me."
"Really?" Rinji barely kept himself from laughing, "Is that what you think?" He stifled his chuckles behind his hand, "Heh heh heh." Gaining control over his amusement, the brown haired Sound ninja began explaining the terrible, awful truth, his cruel words lancing into Guren's heart. "Orochimaru-Sama heard how there was a child who was 'cursed' with being able to create and manipulate crystal. He was curious, so he went to the village. After explaining why he was there to the village leader, the village leader refused to let Orochimaru-Sama take you."
Rinji smirked cruelly, "Apparently despite their dislike of your abilities, they considered you part of their village. The village leader told Orochimaru-Sama that he couldn't take you, a mere child, away." He rotated his wrist, subtly pulsing out orders to the myriad of bats hiding nearby, "And so Orochimaru-Sama slaughtered them all like cattle. And you, so impressed by his power, begged him to allow you to join him." Another smirk. "How could he refuse?"
"Your power is interesting, there's no denying that." Rinji acknowledged, "But you took too long to return from one of your missions and Orochimaru-Sama took another's body when he needed to switch to a new body. And now, Orochimaru-Sama has his eyes set on a much greater body. Perhaps the greatest one."
"I was just an...idle curiosity?" Guren murmured, "Orochimaru-Sama never felt anything for me?" The pink crystal receded as she wrapped her arms around her body in a futile gesture to ward off Rinji's cruel words. Despite how much she wanted to deny them, there was undeniable truth to them. She had given everything to Orochimaru, even believed she was in love with him, but somehow she had always known that he had never cared. It was never obvious, but the doubt always had lingered. She had fought the doubts off, telling herself that he was busy or that he would talk to her tomorrow. She could no longer lie to herself. "What do I have to live for now?"
"Yukimaru." The green haired youth was halfway across the clearing, intent on comforting Guren when Rinji's next words froze him in his tracks, "Would you like to know how your mother really died?" Slowly rotating to face Rinji, Yukimaru waited for the answer that he knew would change him forever.
"Let me set the scene." Rinji slowly walked to the left, gesturing to the tent, "Guren had been sent on a mission. She succeeded on the mission but was wounded. Collapsing, she expected to die from her wounds." The brown haired man raised his hand, "But to her surprise, she awoke in a comfortable bed, her wounds bandaged. Can you guess who bandaged them?"
"M-My mother?"
"Right in one." Rinji pointed at Yukimaru, "Over the next few days your mother cared for and fed Guren. When Guren was well enough to travel, she remembered Orochimaru-Sama's orders: To make sure there was no witnesses to her mission." Rinji leaned forward slightly and clapped his hands, "Can you guess what happened next?"
Yukimaru collapsed to his knees, feeling like his entire world had fallen out from under him. Rinji slowly raised his hand. The bat user sent a mental command to the bats waiting in the shadows. Soundwave beams rocketed towards Yukimaru. Caught completely off guard, Yukimaru was barely aware of what was happening, much less have time to react.
Something heavy slammed into his side, knocking Yukimaru down and pressing him into the dirt. Guren's unique scent earthy scent invaded his scenes, and he didn't understand what was happening. Was she attacking him too?
Guren pushed herself off of the ground, ignoring the pain that lanced through her back with the ease born of countless brutal training sessions. She had tackled Yukimaru, twisting to take the soundwave beam for him. She had mostly succeeded in her attempt to dodge the attack, taking the edge of the beam to her back as she pushed Yukimaru down, shielding him with her body. As soon as the attack ceased, she pushed herself up, creating a crystalline shield around him with just a moment of focused thought.
Raising her left hand, Guren created a shield of crystal, while she snapped her right hand forward, sending a dozen shards racing at Rinji. Renji extended his arm and raised his palm to face the oncoming shards. A bat swooped down and landed on his shoulder, letting out a continuous high-pitched screech as it landed. The crystal shards cracked and then broke apart into harmless tiny fragments under the sonic assault.
"Why are you attacking Yukimaru?" Guren shot to the left side of the clearing, sending several spears of crystal at the unmoving Renji to cover her move, "What did he do to you?"
"He failed to capture the Three Tails." Rinji replied flatly as the bat screeched, destroying the spears, "Orochimaru-Sama will be quite angry at the news of this failed mission." He paused to command his bats to perform strafing runs on Guren, "But, if I tell him that the rest of the team was killed by Akatsuki members, he will direct his anger at them instead of me."
"And we are the only ones standing in the way of your plans." Guren dodged a beam of sonic energy, mentally cursing that she was still low on chakra from fighting Haku, "You'll never harm Yukimaru while I'm alive." Charging her chakra, she slammed her palms against the ground, pushing enough into the technique that her chakra points stung and her hands went numb for a moment.
Rinji's eyes widened as dozens of crystal lances shot out of the ground from all directions. Leaping backwards, his bats desperately tried to destroy the lances in time, but there were too many. Calling all of the bats he was controlling, Rinji commanded them to focus on a specific area.
Multiple sonic beams converged on the section behind him, shattering the dangerous lances as he desperately leapt backwards to avoid being impaled. Pain stitched up his chest as one of the crystal spikes dug a thin channel across his torso. Grunting in pain, his back slammed against the ground, safely away from the lethal spikes. Knowing he had mere moments before Guren pressed the attack, Rinji pushed himself back up to his feet, doing his best to ignore the pain that radiated from his chest.
Tiny crystal pieces crunched under his shoes, and taking a quick glance at his chest, Rinji felt anger surge. Blood was trickling out the wound, and it would need to be bandaged soon. Snapping his hand towards Guren, he commanded his bats to destroy her, no longer caring about prolonging the fight, nor about proving his superiority. Guren flared her chakra the best she could and sent out a cloud of crystal senbon, hoping to overwhelm the bats with the sheer volume of them.
"What do I do?" Yukimaru watched the fight behind the walls of the crystal shield, "Guren killed Mother, but she has cared for me for almost all of my life, doing her best to make sure I wasn't hurt." He could see the memories of Guren in his mind's eye, unable to admit outwardly that she cared, but doing all she could to protect him. That time when he had fallen in the base and skinned his knee, she had swooped down a moment later and carried him off to her quarters, scolding him the entire time. That time that he couldn't make it to the door after a particularly grueling testing session, and she had appeared after he had tried to leave the bed, but failling to make it out of the bed. She had picked him up, her touch gentle despite her harsh words, and carried him back to his room to rest. Countless more times came to mind, and Yukimaru couldn't stop the warm feeling that bubbled up at the thought of Guren.
Then he remembered the words he had said to her, those poisonous, hurtful words. It was tempting to blame the pills, but how could he make excuses when she had done so much for him, was still doing so much for him?
"It's not perfect. I'll need to come to terms with this, but I will save Guren like she saved me so many times." Closing his eyes and shutting out the outside world, Yukimaru reached out with his mind.
The wound on her back burned from the sweat as Guren leapt out of the way of two soundwave beams. She was lucky, she supposed, that Rinji had forgotten about using wide area attacks in his anger, not that it mattered. There was simply too many bats, and they were pressing her more and more, the accumulated fatigue and strain of fighting Haku and the current fight slowly piling up. The wound, while not immediately fatal, compromised her even farther. Still she fought on, unwilling to give in while Yukimaru was still in danger. He was all she had left.
"Focus." Rinji clenched his fists and tried to ignore his throbbing injury. "Don't react. Think. You mind is your best weapon." Breathing slowly out, Rinji felt his anger recede. He was still upset, but the emotion no longer dictated his actions. Sweeping his fist upwards, he slowly opened his hand, commanding his bats to unleash an incapacitating attack.
Guren was mid dodge when the wave of ultrasonic sound hit her. Caught off guard, she hit the ground hard, tumbling from the force. Her vision shifted and she felt nauseous. Doing her best to fight off the disorientation from the attack, she tried to stand but her muscles trembled and were slow to respond, the accumulated combat stress taking it's toll.
On of the larger bats hovered over her and opened it's mouth. Desperately trying to get up, Guren pushed down the sense of inevitability the best she could. "Move. It will kill you if you don't. Yukimaru will be killed if you don't move." Her arms shook as she began to slowly rise.
Chakra built up in the bat's throat. Abruptly it banked and fired the beam at another target. "No!" Guren dove towards the crystal shield protecting Yukimaru, pushing herself to her limit, fighting the sickening knowledge that she would be too late.
The sound beam slammed into the shield, shattering it into a thousand pieces. And...Yukimaru stood up.
"What?" Rinji couldn't understand what had happened. He had commanded the bat to blow a hole through Guren, but instead it had turned and broken the shield around Yukimaru.
"You will not hurt her anymore." Yukimaru felt focused, intensely aware of everything happening in the clearing. The mind of the bat, countless times weaker than the Three Tails, had been easy to contact. He had asked it to destroy the shield Guren had erected around him, and it had eagerly responded. Raising his hand towards the bats Rinji was controlling, Yukimaru focused.
The bats gave happy little screeches and flew over towards the green haired young man. Rinji now realizing the danger, focused all of his chakra on the bats, commanding them to return and kill his enemies. They flew onwards, ignoring his commands.
"Run." Yukimaru's voice was cold and harsh, "Run away and never return." The colony of bats hovered behind him, casting a shadow over Rinji, "Or I will kill you."
Rinji surged chakra to his limbs, pulling a kunai faster than Yukimaru could react, and hurled the deadly weapon at him.
The kunai deflected off of the crystal shield that coalesced in front of Yukimaru. Snapping his head to look over at Guren, Rinji spotted her upraised right hand that was pointed at Yukimaru. "Fuck you." Guren snarled as she met Rinji's eyes. She slammed her left palm against the ground.
A lance of crystal burst out of the ground, impaling Rinji from behind and lifting him off the ground. Blood sprayed outwards, and a wet cry was torn from his mouth. After struggling for a moment, Rinji slumped forward, hanging from the crystal.
Guren collapsed in a heap, utterly spent. A dim part of her registered footstep moving in her direction. "Guren, let's go." Slowly pushing herself to her knees, she stared at Yukimaru's extended hand. "Let's find a new home." Guren reached out, and grabbed his hand.
Life wouldn't be easy, they both knew that. They had many issues to work out, and problems to solve. But...they would not be alone. They would face life together.
"It's time to wake up." Kabuto's low voice brought Rinji back to consciousness. The pain and pounding of his head receded slightly, and Rinji cracked open his tear encrusted eyelids. Squinting in the bright light caused by Kabuto's lantern, Rinji turned his head slightly to look at his savior.
"I was going to say 'How's it hanging?' but," Kabuto shrugged, "I figured that would be in bad taste." Rinji coughed wetly, trying to ask how he was going to be rescued. "Hmmm…?" The ash-grey haired Sound ninja raised an eyebrow, "Oh right. Your impalement. I'm not going to fix that." Rinji's eyes widened.
"You see, I have a bit of a problem." Kabuto wrapped his arm around Rinji's shoulder, the gesture falsely affectionate, "I sometimes allow myself the indulgence of explaining my plans to a dying enemy." The medic nin sighed. "It's something I need to stop doing, but sometimes I just want to see the realization in their eyes as they die." He pulled away from Rinji. "Now, sometimes my enemies only need a slight bit of help to understand." A pause. "I ensured that you were placed on this mission."
"W-What?" Rinji coughed out, confused and lightheaded from the severe blood loss, "What are you talking about?"
"I can't believe you were my rival." Kabuto mumbled to himself before addressing Rinji, "You were the one to suggest capturing the Three Tails, that's true. However, I was the one who quietly suggested the group composition. You see, I wanted this mission to fail." He stepped away from Rinji, "You whispered those words in Orochimaru-Sama's ears, those words that he never should have considered. You told him that he needed more power. Power not knowledge. But that's not what Orochimaru-Sama needs. He never needed just power. He didn't become one of the most feared ninja in all of the land because he was powerful. Unlike the others, he wasn't born from some great bloodline or gifted with the capacity to become a sage."
"No," Kabuto shook his head, "He was born with something far greater. He was born with a superior intellect. He solved problems facing him using knowledge, and while the rest of the world fumbles in the dark, he is using his knowledge to further himself. One day he will become the perfect being, knowing everything and having conquered even death itself."
"But you would have had him throw all that way. You would have pushed him down a different path. That's the difference between us." Kabuto gestured between himself and Rinji, "You tried to give Orochimaru-Sama what he thought he wanted, but I'll ensure that he gets what he needs." His index finger pushed up his glasses, causing the light to flash off of them, "And that's why you and your team had to die."
Rinji seemed to be struggling coming to terms with Kabuto's words. "Wha-why? How did you make u…" Blood splattered on the ground as he coughed, "..Us die?"
"It wasn't easy." Kabuto admitted, "It took quite a bit of effort to ensure that you would meet Amachi at the precisely correct time. Too early, and Naruto-San wouldn't have been able to catch up. Too late, and Naruto-San would have caught you before you tried to release the Three Tails. I didn't expect the Akatsuki however, but in the end it didn't matter."
Carefully unsealing a syringe, the medic ninja tapped on the glass to clear any air bubbles, he grabbed Rinji's head and held it still. Rinji weakly thrashed as he felt the pinprick of the needle in his neck. "This is an anticoagulant." Kabuto explained, his voice taking on a more clinical tone, "It will make you bleed out faster. It shouldn't hurt...much."
Rinji did his best to escape, but he was far too weak to do anything but moan quietly. Death took him shortly after. As Kabuto headed back towards the mainland, he allowed himself a satisfied smile. He had accomplished his goals, and even better, Guren and Yukimaru would be easy to manipulate in the future if needed. The plan hadn't gone perfectly, with Naruto's companions proving stronger than anticipated and the interference of the Akatsuki, but his goals had still been accomplished.
"Now, how can I present the Akatsuki's involvement so Orochimaru continues to push himself to become even greater?" Shrugging, the grey haired medic ninja headed off. He had plenty of time to come up with a plan.
So what did you think? Drop a review and let me know.
On the Hiraishin: Given that this basically was PFM with a seal, I had to change it (sort of). Objectively speaking, the function of the Hiraishin didn't change. In the end, it still teleports the user to the location the is marked with the special seal. However, in canon, it isn't really explained how it does that. And as such, I tried my best to figure out how to make it feel realistic (as much as teleporting can) while still having it function as close as possible to canon and not also making it complicated for the reader to understand. In the end, I figure it works like this: The Hiraishin represents the pinnacle of sealing mastery. It combines the understanding of the theory of relativity with an understanding of how you can alter the world around you with the proper seals. In a nutshell, the Hiraishin creates a tunnel in space\time (4th dimension), connecting two points. This tunnel is unaffected by gravity (due to being in the 4th dimension) and the only mass allowed inside the tunnel is dictated by the seal. As such, the mass inside (the person using Hiraishin) can instantly move from one side to the other of the tunnel without any resistance. The second part of the seal (the marker) has a part that bleeds off the extra energy created by the rapid movement. In effect, allowing teleportation. (Side note: While I'm not completely happy with this explanation, 4th dimensional physics is something I'd like to avoid boring everyone with).
On why Naruto learning about love is important: Up until now, Naruto hasn't had any self worth. It may have seemed like he was getting better, but he was defining himself by others views of him (Those I care about think I'm awesome, therefore I must be awesome). However, now that he understands that someone loved him even when they didn't know him (nor did he do anything to deserve said love), he finally is beginning to understand what love is. And as such, begin to understand his own self worth.
On Yukimaru's power: Logically speaking, it doesn't make sense that he could only effect the Three Tails. Orochimaru was able to give him the power, and unless Orochimaru had access to the Three Tails (which would mean he didn't need Yukimaru), he wouldn't have been able to use it for testing. Instead, Yukimaru's power seems to be a type of telepathic bond with animals/animal like creatures. The reason it worked on the Three Tails is because the Three Tails is the most "simple" out of them all. Unlike the other Biju, it doesn't like to use it's power. However, once it started to use it's power, Yukimaru was quickly overwhelmed.
On Kabuto's statement that he planned everything: Kabuto was perhaps stretching the truth. He more or less made sure that certain events happened and other events happened as a result of the events he planned. For example: Yoroi meeting Isaribi while Naruto was around. That led to the series of events that made Naruto aware of the Three Tails issue.
Rinji's impalement: As it turns out, it's medically possible for someone to survive being impaled for several hours if the thing that impaled them didn't hit anything too important.
To my reviewer's direct questions:
Animaman: While that would be humorous, Jiraiya is back in Konoha at the moment doing his best to ensure that Naruto has the most up to date information possible about what's going on inside the village. He is sending regular updates to Naruto via the messenger toads, so Naruto is in the loop of what is going on back in the Leaf (more or less).
NotSoSlimShady: You are correct, and yet not at the same time. While in theory the Ninja villages are a dictatorship, in practice they are closer to an Oligarchy. Given that one of the primary means of controlling their populations is loyalty and patriotism, rather that fear, it's not like typical Oligarchy. I could point out how indoctrinating the young helps and what not, but that really wasn't the point of your comment. Basically, the girls got away with their comments because of their political connections to Naruto. Reprimanding them wasn't worth the risk of upsetting Naruto. Still, I commend you for realizing that they should have been reprimanded.
Trace Reading: I'm honestly not sure either. In canon, I'm assuming it was because the plot wouldn't let them. In HotE, it's mostly (up until this chapter) because they didn't have the time to experiment. Given that Sakura figured it out, expect to see Tobi having to try a bit harder in fights (for good or ill).
Bearmauls: In retrospect, I could have made clearer what was going on. Essentially, Isobu is a like a gentle giant. However, it's mental defenses are really poor. So when Yukimaru's anger and command to kill blasted across it's mind, it just kinda got stuck on that command and began lashing out. Then it took damage which made it lash out more, repeating the cycle. I wanted to show that it was effectively "pushed" into lashing out (much like some animals in real life) but perhaps I could have explained it a bit better in the chapter. When the girls were attacking Tobi in chapter 44, only a few minutes had passed in the real world. The girls were on edge, and almost panicking when they couldn't help Naruto (which is a flaw that they need to address at some point). But when they (in this chapter) slowed down and started to think, they realized that they need a different approach.
Nin-Guest: Precisely. While I, as a reader, would love to make Naruto's life happy and easy, I know that, as a writer, conflict and overcoming said conflicts make a much more interesting story. Due to a large amount of change (both AU wise and event changes due to characters taking different actions), the Final Fight as it were will be quite different than canon. Kaguya is dead in HotE, but the effects she caused (or spawned as the case may be) still affect present day HotE. She's not coming back, but some of her ideals and one other thing (spoilers) will still affect things. And yeah, there was (and I'm being generous) one or two things I didn't mind about the Naruto's canon ending. Everything else was, at best, disappointing. I'm hoping to create a ending that is both satisfying to the reader, closes off the plot threads, gives everyone an awesome boss battle, and makes sense in the context of the universe.
Nin-Guest: That's one of the reasons I write to be honest. As strange as it sounds, I like nothing more than to read or write a well crafted story that allows the hero to earn their happy ending and it not get taken away at the last minute with no hope of getting it back. As for the Biju and the containers, I'll avoid spoiling anything by just simply saying that I'm hoping/planning on giving them a satisfying ending (but big stompy monster battles may or may not happen in the process).
Kyuubi16: As a Hyuga, Hinata is important. However, at the time of chapter 4, her father had more or less written her off. As a political tool, you don't want someone who isn't actually important inside said clan to be one of your primary political squads. When you are a leader, generally speaking, you try to avoid risks when possible. That's why Hiruzen made the decision he did (as well as other factors playing into said decision).
Aevrum: To be honest, my readers did shape HotE to a certain extent. Haku was not (as strange as this may sound) planned to be as important as she became. However, when I was stepping in her shoes to write her, she somehow became more and more important to Naruto (and thus the plot). I believe that this issue was fixed by character growth in later chapters, but I do understand where you are coming from. As for Hinata, that was more or less a psychological theory. In canon, Hinata never really saw anyone (female or otherwise) take interest in Naruto in a best friend compastity. As such, she never felt pushed to become more forward. However, in HotE, Sakura is obviously Naruto's best friend, and so Hinata felt pushed to become stronger. Objectively speaking, her raw talent, training she has access to, and her bloodline gives her an immense advantage over Sakura,which is how she caught up to Sakura's power level (as of chapter 12 at least. Both Sakura and Hinata have developed different skill sets since that point).