D the Stampede presents

Joe the Wanderer-Book One

Chapter Three-The Sand/Sound Invasion, Part One

One

"It's been three weeks of this, Morino. When are you going to accept that strapping me to this chair and torturing me isn't going to get you anything more than my name? That I have nothing more to tell you?" Joe asked the leader of Konoha's torture and interrogation division in a pained rasp.

"An obviously false name," Ibiki replied shortly.

"I'll have you know that it is not!" Joe exclaimed, "Fact is, it's kind of common where I come from."

"Oh? Where is that?" Ibiki asked.

"Fuck!" Joe swore in English, realizing he had peaked Ibiki's interest again.

"I didn't understand that," Ibiki replied, reaching down to the tray by the chair Joe was shackled to and picking up a pair of pliers. The heavily scarred man then ripped Joe's left thumbnail off. Then, as he watched the injury heal, he said, "You know, mystery man, I'd envy you your healing ability if it didn't allow me to torture you longer and harder."

"Yeah, sucks to be me. But the name is Barton Joseph, not mystery man. And you can go fuck yourself," Joe replied. Ibiki's response to that was to rip another fingernail off. Then another when Joe refused to speak.

After finishing with the nails of Joe's left hand, Ibiki spoke again, "Now, Barton-San, I have a question for you. So far you've healed completely from cuts, burns, stabbing and now removal of fingernails in moments. However, will you heal severed fingers or limbs?"

"I don't know, you fucking psycho!" Joe exclaimed.

"Are you willing to find out?" Ibiki asked, placing the pliers back on the tray and picking up a knife.

'You know, it would be nice if you would do something before I'm cut to pieces by this psycho," Joe thought at the Faceless One. He didn't receive a response. So, with a sigh, he said, "No, I'm not. Please put the knife down. I'll tell you what I can."

"I'm listening," Ibiki said as he put the knife back.

"It begins, I suppose, with a god of chaos that calls himself the Faceless One," Joe started to say, but was interrupted by the door to the torture chamber opening and Inochi and the Third Hokage entering the room.

"Ah, Hokage-Sama, you have excellent timing. He just broke," Ibiki said.

"Indeed?" the Hokage said before turning to Joe and continuing, "Well, then, let's hear your story."

Two

Later, after Joe's story was told and he was back in his cell, the Hokage called his advisors to his office and repeated Joe's story to them. Afterward, he asked them, "Well, what are your thoughts?"

The old man, Homura, stated, "It would sound like a complete fabrication if it did not fit the facts perfectly. People don't appear from thin air, yet when Dog backtracked his trail to the sea on Wave Country's East Coast, that is exactly what appeared to happen. Very interesting."

"And potently very dangerous to Konoha. Who knows what information was sealed away by that god of his and what he'll do with it if he remembers," Utatane Koharu, the old woman said, "We can all guess what Danzo's position would be."

"Yet I am not Shimura Danzo," the Hokage replied, "This young man has done nothing to warrant death.

"We know that," Homura agreed, "Yet, he also can not be allowed to roam free."

"I'm in agreement with Homura," Koharu said.

"Yes, this s a difficult situation," the Hokage said, lighting his pipe and taking a puff off of it, "Placing him on a Genin team with the Jounin-Sensei having instructions to watch him might work, but there are no positions open in the ranks. As distasteful as I find it, he'll have to remain imprisoned."

"But can he be held prisoner for long? The ANBU's reports read that when he seized the chakra sealing tag was destroyed and of course, seals cannot be tattooed onto him due to his healing ability," Homura pointed out.

"I am aware of the difficulties of holding him prisoner, but it is not impossible. He will be transferred into the chakra isolation cell with ANBU guards stationed at his door twenty-four hours a day," the Hokage stated, "And with that decided, I have my meeting with the Jounin-Sensei to determine which Genin teams are taking the Chunin Exams."

Three

"And Nara Shikamaru forfeits! Temari wins the match!" the radio announcer exclaimed, "This Chunin Exam Final has been full of surprises!"

"Hey! Will you shut that thing off?" Joe fairly demanded of his guards.

"Something the matter, prisoner?" One of the ANBU guards asked in return.

"Quite a lot, actually," Joe said, "But in this case, I don't care to hear about children fighting for the entertainment of the masses."

"Quiet down, would you two?" Asked the other ANBU, "It sounds like the last Uchiha and his sensei Hatake-San have finally arrived all the arena."

"Hmm… It's too soon in the brat's career for him to be picking up Hatake-San's bad habits," the first ANBU replied.

Meanwhile, Joe was having a silent conversation with the Faceless One, 'Oh, Shit! Something big is about to happen! What is it? You need to let me remember what it is.'

"I need do nothing!" the Faceless One snarled at Joe, "After all, you are in no position to do anything about it! In fact, my toy, you have been rather disappointing all around. However, knowing what is coming and being unable to prevent any of it may be a punishment in itself. Very well, you may have your knowledge of what is happening back." That said, Joe fairly staggered at the sudden rush of returning memories.

The ANBU, unaware of the happenings inside Joe's head, were discussing the match between Sasuke and Gaara that was now beginning. "So, which of them did you bet on," asked the second ANBU.

"Neither. And you shouldn't be gambling. Your luck is nearly as bad as Tsunade-Sama's," the first replied. However, before he could continue, the radio broke into static and the sounds of combat rang out from down the hall. "Shit!" the ANBU cursed, "We better back up the other guards."

"What about him?" the second ANBU asked about Joe.

"His cell seals away his chakra. He's not going anywhere," the first replied as they got up from their chairs and ran towards the battle.

And so, Joe found himself waiting while listening to the noises of battle coming closer to his cell. Then, after a few minutes that felt more like hours the door to Joe's cell opened. Standing outside the cell was a generic looking ninja with a Sound forehead protector. Upon seeing Joe, he asked, "Well, you going to stand there and remain a prisoner or are you going to help us destroy Konoha?"

Shrugging, Joe replied, "What I'd really like is a haircut, shave and to shower. However, since that isn't an immediate option, I don't suppose you have spare weapons?"

"Sure," the Sound ninja replied, tossing Joe a pair of kunai.

Nodding his thanks, Joe stepped out of his prison cell and felt his chakra return to his control. He then said, "Thanks for letting me out, but I'm not ready to join that fucking snake Orochimaru."

"What?" the Sound ninja began to ask a question but a kunai slashing his throat interrupted him.

As he followed that up with a kunai through the Sound ninja's heart, Joe added, "I'm no one's experiment or lackey. So, what I'm going to do is fight my way out of Konoha while this invasion is going on." That said, he let the dead Sound ninja fall to the floor and set about the task of stealing the corpse's kunai holster and weapon pouch.

Just as he was finishing strapping the kunai holster to his thigh he heard a shout, "Hey, Tetsuo, what's taking so long?" This was followed a moment later by several more Sound ninja rounding a corner ahead of him. He looked behind himself to see that the corridor was a dead end. Cursing mentally he prepared for a fight. "Hey, he killed Tetsuo." the same ninja from before shouted. The Sound ninja then charged at him.

"Anyone tell you you have a firm grasp of the obvious," Joe replied as he charged at his attackers drawing a pair of kunai in the process and stabbing towards the lead ninja. His attack was blocked, but the ninja's allies couldn't take advantage of Joe and the ninja locking weapons due to the narrow corridor. The lead ninja and Joe exchanged slashes and stabs in a deadlock for around a minute before Joe channeled wind chakra through his kunai and cut through his opponent's kunai and stabbed him in the heart. "Thanks for the warm up, pal."

"That does it, I'm gonna kill this fucker! Everyone, get down," the sound ninja at the back of the line-up shouted. His allies immediately hit the floor as he aimed his palms at Joe. Joe had a second to note the sound ninja had the same arm modifications as Zaku before he was hit head on by a blast of wind so strong it bodily flung him into the wall at the end of the corridor, breaking several ribs in the process. "Hey, wise-ass, still alive down there or did that finish you?" the sound ninja asked. Joe's reply was to attempt to stand before falling to his hands and knees and coughing up some blood. "Huh, he's not looking too good. Best hurry up if you want in on avenging your fag boyfriend, Kaneda."

"Go fuck yourself," another sound ninja replied as he stalked towards the fallen Joe, kunai in hand and murder in his eyes.

A/N

I'm sorry about the delay and the short length of the chapter, but life's been rough lately. Without boring you too much with details not only have I had writer's block but I ended up getting a rare form of bladder cancer and had to focus on getting that dealt with. Which it is, surgery successful and no need for chemo or radiation. Anyway, about the chapter itself, once again I know it's short and ends on a cliffhanger and I was about to show a couple more scenes of the invasion happening. However, they would have been boring retreads of canon so I axed them.