A/N: Lots of good feedback and some interesting conversation this time around. Just to clarify, no, I did not kill off Anko (I did add a section break to delineate the sudden shift from Anko's POV to the dying Root agent's POV). Also, it's probably time to reveal another change to my Narutoverse that many die-hard canon fans will find annoying. I, on the other hand, see it as a nice way to tie up some of the loose ends in the original story.
I would like to congratulate those of you that called a "Kushina is still alive" Narutoverse twist. Clearly, I am not able to pull one over on you though I did try to sneak it in. Clearly, I won't be able to pull the wool over your eyes. (Innocent Blinking)
Without further ado, I give you Chapter 20. Enjoy as you will. [Puts innocent halo back on top of head]
~Siva'a-tasi
~III~
Disclaimer: I have to say this or Disney might sic their lawyers on me: I do not now nor have I ever owned The Jungle Book, nor have I written this story with the purpose to use their characters, nor any reasonable facsimile thereof, for monetary gain. Any reference to or appearance of has been with the express purpose of entertainment and all rights, properties, and privileges pertaining to remain the sole intellectual enterprise of their owner and creator and his surviving heirs.
Chapter 20: Second Step of the Shinobi: Setting Things Right
~ Previously on No More
"Now we can begin." Anko's head snapped from the twitching spy back to her ANBU supervisor whose hands were unfastening their mask with multiple clicks and hissing bursts of air.
Despite herself, Anko found her body straightening in her chair, her hands gripping the arms as she leaned forward with the prolonged tease of Dragon's grand reveal. Entire assassination squads had been sent to eliminate this person and he'd bested them all. The greatest spies of the elemental nations had lain in wait for months, years even just to glimpse a look behind the ebony-scaled mask that looked strangely familiar now that she took a good look at it. To Anko's knowledge, only two people knew Dragon's true identity and one of them was sitting across the heavy desk watching her every move.
When the mask finally fell free, Anko's jaw dropped open as her head began to shake, timidly at first then increasingly with her growing disbelief.
"It can't be. You're dead! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"
~III~
~ Konohagakure no Sato, The Hokage's Office ~
The chair creaked ominously as Anko's weight shifted from leaning heavily on the forward edge to trying frantically to retreat over the back of it. You see, she was at a complete loss. Normally in total control, she was the girl with the ever-ready escape plan at her fingertips when things didn't make sense. Honestly? Nothing she was seeing with her own eyes or feeling made any sense to her brain. She was in the Hokage's office. She was safe, right?
Not today apparently. Today she was seeing ghosts, something she knew was impossible and her body was sending very panicked signals to her brain.
Her heart was racing to catch up with her mind. Her mind was doing its absolute best to disbelieve everything her eyes were showing her. Her feet were giving their all to flee for the hills and her stomach was trying to empty itself of the morning's oats drizzled with honey.
What? A girl had to live off more than dango from time to time but that wasn't important at the moment.
What was important was why Kushina Uzumaki was still alive after Anko watched her body get lowered into the cold earth of Konoha's shinobi cemetery fifteen years ago. Furthermore, the Hokage's calm, albeit maybe slightly amused face, told her Torture & Interrogation trained mind that he'd been aware of this fact from the very beginning, or at least close to it.
Her stomach heaved and one hand shot up to violently press her lips together.
One of the two figures smirking down at her proffered a small plastic garbage can, her mind dully registering the object as her free hand plopped it numbly into her lap. Her shoulders heaved a second time and Anko, lacking better options, obliged her rebelling anatomy and buried her face into the soothing plastic container until nothing solid came up with her sounds of suffering.
"Does she normally react this way?" came the Hokage's gentle question, his voice uncertain.
"No, Hokage-sama. She is one of my stronger agents," came the unruffled response.
At this, Anko blinked and peered over the trash-bag lined rim of the can in her lap, her arms circling it protectively. 'Even her voice is the same.'
"You're not real," the trembling kunoichi croaked out.
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course, I'm real. I know that Ibiki-san taught you to use your senses along with that thick skull of yours to do something other than use it as a place to keep your brain matter and store dango." She was even snarky like the Kushina she remembered.
Anko's cheeks puffed up briefly as she fought down another vomit-induced burp, her eyes taking in all the physical signs. She could see the long lean figure, the flowing red hair, the violet eyes, and the fair skin. She was the spitting image of her temporary adopted mother. But this wasn't Kushina. She refused to accept it.
Kushina would not have abandoned her, especially not after Orochimaru did what he-. Her mind changed channels like a whip cracking.
"You are NOT Kushina-sama!" An angry finger jabbed the air between Anko and the scarlet imposter. The arrogant figure impersonating the most important figure in her life merely smirked.
"Of course, I'm not Kushina."
Anko blinked even as her anger fizzled out like cheap bath salts.
"Kushina died just over fifteen years ago protecting her baby boy." The identical copy of Kushina Uzumaki stepped forward and placed her shapely rear on the corner of Hokage-sama's desk and attempted to get comfortable. It almost appeared as if she was preparing herself for a long discussion.
"Kushina-onee-chan was my older sister. Well, she was older if you considered two minutes significant." Anko blinked rapidly then dry-heaved into the rank-smelling bucket one last time before trying to hand it back to the Hokage, who politely refused. Nodding as she set it back into her quivering lap, Anko's blushing head nodded indicating she would clean it out later.
"Twins then?" Her voice was hoarse, raw from explosive constricting and feeling every bit like the Suna desert.
"Triplets actually," the redhead corrected. "Kushina," she held up a single finger. "Keina," she held up a second finger and pointed the thumb of her other hand to herself. "Then Karina," she rattled off as a third digit shot into the air.
"So, Naruto has two aunts?" The woman now identified as Keina smiled briefly at the purplette's concern for her nephew.
"Sorry, but no." Anko's growing smile faltered just like her anger. "We were scattered to preserve the royal line. Kushina came here, I went to a non-shinobi village, and Karina went to Kusagakure.
"Unfortunately, the bastards there discovered Karina's bloodline healing trait and literally over-used her to death. Now they're trying to do the same thing to her daughter, something we plan to correct at the Chunin Exams this summer." The red head's eyes pulsed with energy as her hair began to wave angrily about. Anko jumped in shock remembering all too well how Kushina used to do the same eerie thing.
Mid-panic during Keina's short-lived fit of rage, Naruto's face popped into Anko's mind and her own anger returned. She'd remembered why she was fighting her way into Naruto's apartment in the first place.
"Then why are you hiding from the Gaki? Why are you two trying to screw him over?" She almost dropped her puke bucket as her temper flared. Surprisingly, Keina looked almost disappointed.
"I thought we taught you to look underneath the obvious?"
"Huh?" Anko was getting annoyed at how easily this woman was throwing her off her game. For not being Kushina, it was disturbingly like her.
"Here's a little history to help fill in the gaps." Unable to get comfy with wooden edges digging into her rear end, the gorgeous redhead pulled a chair over and plopped down into it directly in front of Anko.
"Fifteen years ago in the wonderfully hot month of July, a loving couple planned to give birth to their yet-to-be-born baby boy in the fall. Only a handful of people knew, aside from the lovely wife's sisters, and they were sworn to both keep silent and to render aid when the time came for the birth.
"Even with all of the planning, two squads of highly-trusted ANBU, and the extra security of the Yondaime himself, an unwanted visitor – a very powerful visitor – attacks at the secret site, kills nearly everyone there, fights off the Yondaime, then runs off with Kushina to extract the Kyūbi from her."
Anko's eyes nearly exploded from their sockets in disbelief.
"That's right kiddies! Kushina-onee was the last jinchuuriki of the Kyūbi no Youko." At this point, Anko had nothing left in her stomach to expunge so she buried her face in the opening of the pail and groaned. "Does this change how you feel about her, Ko-chan? Hello? You still alive in there?" The older woman's knuckles gently rapped on the back of Anko's skull.
The decidedly green kunoichi thought about it for a few moments before resolutely shaking her head from side to side.
"Good!" Keina's face scrunched up in concentration. "Now, where was I?" she queried pausing for dramatic effect.
The Sandaime chimed in with, "The Kyūbi was stolen and made to attack Konoha."
Keina snapped her fingers like it was an important clue. "That's right! The bastard stole the Kyūbi and sicced it on Konoha hoping to wipe the place off the map. People fought back and died, the Yondaime defeated the bastard that started the whole mess, and you know the rest of what happened." Anger flashed briefly across the Uzumaki woman's gorgeous features.
"The whole thing was said and done before I could make it here to dote on my shiny new nephew. When I arrived, Kushina and her hubby were dead, and I was being told that all of my family had died in the Kyūbi's attack." Keina directed a particularly potent look over her shoulder at the Sandaime who blushed briefly and looked down at his unlit pipe intently. A bit too intently Anko noticed.
"How did no one realize who you were?" Anko blurted out, the distinctive kunoichi's features clearly a beacon in any crowd.
"Konoha was in ruins. People were panicked and anyone could have walked in out of the forests with little trouble. I'm sure people saw me and brushed it off as their mind hallucinating as no one has brought it up since the attack."
Anko shrugged it off remembering the chaos during that time as one big haze.
"Not being a Konoha kunoichi and looking like an exact duplicate of Kushina-onee, imagine my surprise when that same someone claiming my family was all gone asked me to join the Konoha Corps and rebuild the Uzumaki Clan here."
"You still could. You are young enough to still bear children." Keina laughed but there was no humor in her melodious voice.
"You know why I refuse to this day. You know why I stayed. You know why I joined your ANBU and became Dragon." Anko could see the tension between them like a physical wall keeping them apart. Hiruzen's pained sigh was poignantly telling.
"Revenge never eases the burden, Keina-chan. Don't you think I want revenge for Biwako?"
Something unreadable flashed across the other woman's face that Anko couldn't identify before it vanished beneath a stone veneer, but she turned back to Anko as it evaporated for more storytelling.
"I vanished into the ANBU and resolved to work my way to the top. My entire purpose was to find out who was behind this nonsense and pay them back for murdering my family. Imagine my surprise a second time when I started to notice the village's rage at a certain blond baby and their focused threats to do it harm. Imagine my surprise as an Uzumaki seals master to learn that the baby had been used to seal away the Kyūbi no Yoko by the Yondaime. Imagine my further surprise to learn that the seal had been heavily influenced by Uzumaki Fūinjutsu and that a certain un-retired Hokage didn't want me anywhere near it."
Anko gasped aloud. "You knew!"
"I suspected," Keina countered even as she shook her great mane of crimson hair from side to side. "And when I confronted a certain someone with my suspicions over and over and over again, he begrudgingly admitted the truth." The Hokage chuckled wryly.
"You threatened to burn Konoha to the ground if I didn't stop lying to you." Keina promptly ignored him.
"Naturally I tried to adopt him. He was blood after all, and royal blood at that. He was my family, my only remaining tie to Kushina and the rightful heir to the Uzumaki throne. In fact, he still is."
Anko's brow wrinkled up in confusion. "Why would the Hokage not let you adopt him? That makes no sense."
"Oh, it's not his fault. I blame the stupid father that named Jiraiya as his godfather." Here Anko reeled backwards as her confusion grew.
"Wait, you're telling me that a father's will trumps Uzu law?" Her head tilted sideways a little, her face showing huge amounts of incredulity.
"It does in very specific instances. While Kushina died an Uzu princess and ambassador, her husband was a clan head of an active Konoha clan. He was an important Leaf shinobi and, in a contrasting circumstance where the father is of significant importance, the local law prevailed. Provided his actions nor the actions of his appointed godfather did nothing that jeopardized the royal Uzu line, the appointed guardian gets to call the shots until they commit an act that, in the eyes of Uzu law, heinously or recklessly endangers the line of succession." That last part seemed rote to Anko as if she was quoting an important document. "I blame the Shodaime for that stupid Clan Sovereignty Act and every knuckleheaded Hokage that supported it."
"The acting Hokage had to make a call," Anko mumbled out, to which Keina agreed with a firm nod and another disgusted look at Hiruzen.
"Clearly my wanting to adopt my nephew and make him my Sochi was a problem and Jiraiya couldn't allow anything to ruin his future plans." Anko interjected as something was poking her brain and had been for a while now.
"Wait, I thought the Council was responsible for blocking every attempt to adopt Naruto." The response to her quasi-question came from the old man behind the desk.
"The Council can only interject in non-clan related issues and, therefore, can only block civilian requests concerning Naruto before he became a student in the academy. Without a clan to back him," Keina snorted in disgust here, "or some measure of shinobi training, Naruto fell under their cognizance until he entered into the academy and became a probationary shinobi under my authority." Anko nodded in understanding.
"So, that explains why the first orphanage matron and the Ichirakus couldn't adopt him. But who blocked you?" Her finger once again indicated the Uzu native. "…And me?"
"Come on now, Anko. If you think about it long enough, you're bound to puzzle together the answer to that easy question."
In truth, it wasn't a terribly hard leap of logic. Only one person had been actively inserting himself between her and the gaki since he was a child. Only one person had the authority to countermand a blood relative and three Konoha clan heads trying to adopt the boy over the course of one and a half decades. Only one had made a total nuisance of himself today as he wrestled Anko out of telling his sordid little plot involving winning over Nadeshiko Village by sacrificing his godson.
"Jiraiya!" It was less of an answer and more of a curse mixed in with a guttural growl. "But he's never around to look after Naruto!" Hiruzen winced almost imperceptibly here. "I should know. I have watched over the boy for most of his life. The white-haired bastard doesn't care about him!" She was raging now, her purple hair fisted in both hands, the bucket nearly toppling out of her lap.
"You must understand, Ji-." Anko, for the first time in her life, dared to interrupt and yell at her beloved Hokage.
"If you dare defend that perverted bastard, I swear I'll lose any respect I've ever had for you, Hokage-sama!"
Keina grunted a terse laugh, the "I tried to tell you, old man" sort of laugh.
Anko looked back to the beautiful Uzumaki woman in shocked realization. "But that means…"
"You would be correct in assuming this means that Naruto's greatest obstacle to a happy life was never the equally sick bastard Danzo who wants to turn him into a mindless weapon." Keina leaned back and folded her arms across a disturbingly feminine chest, one she had kept amazingly hidden for the last fifteen years by an immaculate henge.
"Apparently, my not being an 'official' kunoichi was problematic. With no real ties to Konoha despite the Uzushio-Konoha Treaty, I was a flight risk and could not be trusted with custody of my own flesh and blood."
Hiruzen sighed again here. "You stated a clear desire to flee Konoha with the boy!" Anko grinned seemed like a very old argument between the two. They were like childhood friends.
"There were armed mobs gathering outside your tower on a weekly basis calling for Naruto's death! What was I supposed to do?!"
Hiruzen's reply sounded canned. "Trust in Minato's judgment."
Keina was not amused. "Oh?! Look how well that has turned out for Naruto thus far!" That blow stung the old man deeply.
Her rage was barely contained but the pained look on the Sandaime's face told the experienced interrogator volumes of information. Konoha had clearly not met the Yondaime's expectations. Her many visits to the hospital after some idiotic attack bore proof to that.
"Bottom line, I couldn't take him with me, so I needed to be able to stay near enough to watch him and wait for the pervert to foul up bad enough to take Naruto from him by force. And you nearly ruined that today." Anko leaned back in her seat and started chewing on her lower lip, a clear sign that she was processing information.
"Let me see if I have this worked out. Naruto, being Kushina's son, falls under the Kono-Uzu Treaty, meaning in any other situation you'd be able to take him from Konoha and no one here could do anything to stop it." Keina nodded indicating she had that part correct.
"But because the father's last will and testament of the Yondaime partially overrides that…," Hiruzen looked shocked that she knew while Keina merely grinned evilly. Anko noticed and stopped mid-sentence.
"Oh, come on. Anyone rubbing more than two brain cells together could see the resemblance and you remember who adopted me into her family before my bastard sensei took me in, right? I knew she was banging the Yondaime. Hell, even I knew at the age of seven what the noises I heard at night meant." Anko's face was condescendingly trite as she stared at her outwardly prudish Hokage.
"Like I was saying, the Yondaime's will partially overrode the treaty and appointed Naruto as a ward under Jiraiya, who promptly abandoned his charge to peep on women all across the elemental nations, the bastard. The problem here is that he's done just enough to stay on Naruto's good side and we both know just telling Naruto that his godfather is out to make his life hell won't be enough. Plus, we all know Jiraiya isn't going to give up his claim on him, for whatever reason. Naruto has to see it with his own eyes in order to turn against the white-haired pile of garbage and leave him or the Sannin has to commit an act that blatantly violates Uzushiogakure law, meaning you're free to take over as his guardian." She looked up from her thoughts into the gleaming eyes of her two tormentors.
"How'd I do?" Hiruzen clapped his hands together happily and began pouring tea from the lukewarm service for the three of them.
"Pretty good, Ko-chan. You're almost ready to leave with them on Monday." Anko blinked like a deer caught in the early morning by a hunter.
"Uh, wait-a-minute what?"
Keina slapped a scroll into her hand while the Hokage deposited and cup of tea into the other.
"That scroll has some information you'll find very helpful as you go with the contingent to Nadeshiko. Your new mission is to make sure we don't lose Sochi to the man-eating kunoichi there and Jiraiya's stupidity."
"But-." Anko paused as her Commander's palm came up to cut her off.
"Your chance to back out of this disappeared the moment you appeared in front of Naruto's apartment this morning. I've cleared your assignment with both Ibiki and Inoichi and they agree. This is more important. Everything you need to know is in that scroll, including a copy I made for you of the original Uzu-Kono Treaty. Fail this one, Agent Mitarashi, and I'd consider staying in Nadeshiko if I were you."
Anko gulped and nodded her head once indicating that she understood even if she didn't like what she understood. Naruto was not going to be pleased with this development.
~ Meanwhile… In Naruto's Mindspace ~
It was as Inoichi's mind registered the empty cell and the opening leading to a forest of enormous trees that all three heard the distance roar of an enormous beast and the furiously scrabbling steps of something fleeing for its life.
Inoichi glanced to the smirking face of Naruto and his red-headed escort then back to the cave opening as the aforementioned sounds drew closer. Just as he was about to cancel his jutsu and make a "strategic withdrawal," the Kyuubi, in all its terrified glory, dashed, stumbled, tumbled, rolled, then splatted against the bars of its cage with a resounding clang of flesh on metal.
All three lesser beings winced at the spread-eagled bijū's impact.
Apparently immune to the immense pain a body should feel, it scrambled up from its undignified sprawl to firmly place its back against the safe metal of its normal home.
Not two minutes later, as Inoichi was trying to comprehend the sheer terror on the face of the Nightmare of Legends, a paw as large as the Kyuubi's head (attached to an orange and white furred arm bearing black stripes and claws bigger than Inoichi's body), shot into the cave opening to dig deep gouges into the stone floor of Kyuubi's home.
"Welcome home, Kyuubi-san," Naruto oozed out with utter joy.
Even though Naruto was grinning from ear to ear, Kyuubi's terrified grimace both worried Inoichi and set him on edge. What on earth would be horrible enough to scare the Kyuubi?!
"I truly despise you," the great bijū growled out.
Naruto glanced up to the paw trying desperately to plow its way into the cave to retrieve its favorite new toy. "That will be all, Khan. Thank you."
Just like that the weaponized appendage withdrew, and its owner chuffed out a mewling sound that vibrated Naruto's ribcage. Whichever half of the tiger's face they could see beyond that vanished with the rest of it into orange and black particles carried off by the wind.
"You're a sick bastard, Naruto," the enormous ball of orange fur rasped out, its body slowly relaxing from the far forward edge of its prison.
"Come now, Kyuubi. I wanted you to know that I had a way to keep you well behaved in my mindspace. If I just told you that I did, you would have laughed it off and ignored me, yes?"
The disgruntled huff from the bijū said it all. Naruto knew exactly how hard a time the most powerful of the nine had with his childhood imaginary friends. Powerful though he may be, you can't destroy something that reforms almost instantly, is larger and faster than you, and never tires.
Khan had been one of four imaginary friends brought on by a popular series of children's stories and he had been the most intimidating of the bunch, but the story came with a bear, a panther, and a wolf to round out the mix. Despite the enormous range he'd provided for the bijū in his mindscape, four predators you couldn't obliterate with a bijū bomb or foxfire made for a frightening reality.
"I will promise you this," Naruto began as the still panting fox glared sideways at him, "I'll never summon my four guardians so long as you and I cooperate and play nice with each other. I'll give you unfettered control over the forest, the plains, the mountains, and free reign to terrorize the small town and larger village I built so you could rampage to your heart's content. The beach and ocean remain Umihebi territory. Deal?"
The fox had been turning more sullen after his encounter with the bijū-sized tiger, especially since he'd never had the chance to go much beyond the mountainside where this den apparently rested. Naruto's mention of the additional features of the mindscape wiped the frown from its face almost immediately.
"You have to agree to come speak with me if we have important issues to discuss though, such as evil tyrants trying to enslave us both or murder us in our sleep." The Kyuubi chuckled but agreed, sticking one massive claw beyond the edges of the bars so that Naruto could clasp it and confirm the deal.
"We have an accord, maggot."
Naruto deflated but noticed that the fox curled up on his pillow rather than immediately saunter back outside and chuckled briefly. "I've been demoted again. That should change when you reach the village and smash it flat." Inoichi flinched at the callous statement from his patient who noticed.
"It's okay, Inoichi-san. They're not real people. I'm offering the bijū a chance to vent some steam after his long lock up. Aren't you the one that told me stress relief is vital to keeping a healthy mind?"
Inoichi nodded gingerly despite not having this type of stress relief in mind. Wholesale massacres were definitely not on the approved healthy outlet menu even if they were talking fifty-foot-tall demonic foxes. The fact that the Kyuubi spoke, and intelligently at that, was a startling enough revelation.
"How do we go about locating the fragment we need?" Ku-chan asked a bit nervously. Her eyes were darting about the cave never staying on one spot for too long.
"Oh, that's the easy part, Ku-chan." Naruto closed his eyes taking several deep breaths, his mind reaching out across the entire mindscape. Passing through the cave and into the descending mountainside, through the dense forest at the base, his consciousness spread out across the plains in tendril-like fingers. His head jerked twitching slightly towards his right shoulder, his face breaking out into a mild smile, his deep blue eyes looking through the napping bijū and the cave wall behind him.
"Found you," he whispered darkly before latching onto Ku-chan with one hand and Inoichi with the other. Just as the red-headed clone squeaked out a surprised sound, all three of them vanished with the rapid woosh of air imploding in on itself.
~III~
The great Kyūbi's head swung over in the direction he felt his jailor and huffed once. This was definitely not the bijū's fight and, after a very trying morning running from a giant tiger it could not kill, a nap was definitely in order. Kurama had gotten soft lazing about over the years but before that could be remedied (the great bijū's thought process froze as a cavern-shuddering yawn unhinged its jaw), its eyes slid resoundingly shut.
~III~
When the swirling dust settled, the world reshaped itself into unending chaos as explosions rocked the nearby earth sending a shower of dirt and rocks down upon the trio's shoulders. Ku-chan recoiled from the horror before her eyes.
In the vast plain of Naruto's mind, a small farming village lay nestled alongside a pleasant river flowing down from the mountains. The sky above was incredibly clear with a soft breeze wafting gently across row upon row of wheat stalks standing taller than the lean Yamanaka Clan head. All in all, it would have been a perfect day with children running and laughing through the dirt-packed streets of the sleepy village with thatched roofs.
Instead people were screaming, cursing, and running for their lives.
While the rice paddies were safe from fire, the aforementioned wheat needing to be harvested was instead going up in flames faster than the three could comprehend. Two huts near each other exploded violently into mushrooming gouts of flame as villagers scrambled to find any form of safety from the hungry conflagration, the streets already cluttered with the dead and dying.
Standing near a shattered maypole in the exact center of the village cackling maniacally stood an orange-clad blond, his arms raised triumphantly to the skies. It was almost like he was worshipping the fire licking hungrily at both the villagers and the dwellings they used to call home.
"I think you've had enough fun for one day." Naruto's voice was without humor or inflection but clearly loud enough to draw the psychotic's attention. The cackling stopped immediately.
"About time you showed up, runt." When the figure turned around, Naruto's double stared back across the smoldering dead. Exact double would have been misleading as, instead of Naruto's soul-searching blue eyes, this Naruto had empty pits of inky blackness.
The evil Naruto was clearly less than impressed.
"You can't be serious? Is this the part where we battle, you struggle to overcome me, but all appears lost until you miraculously rally in the eleventh hour?" The dark fragment's hysterical laughter was anything but comforting.
The original merely shrugged apparently unconcerned.
"Okay, okay…" the rage-based fragment began once he could draw in a solid breath, "I'll humor you." It straightened up lifting its hands from its knees or midsection, the odd tittering giggle escaping its mouth.
Oddly enough, the Ku-chan clone didn't find his smile at all soothing like she did the original.
"Let's get started. These punching bags weren't very satisfying once things got started so you might be a bit more entertaining." It cracked its neck and dashed off towards the original with a demented smile plastered all over its face.
Naruto dropped down into his initial stance for all intents and purposes appearing to match up against his clone. The clone yelled out with joy shooting one fist as a feint intending to follow up with the opposing elbow. Both his smile and happy shrieks puttered out as Naruto's leading hand shot up to block his lead punch, just as expected, but then refused to let go. Already committed to the follow-through, the evil clone grunted as his elbow met Naruto's other hand with a meaty slap only to be equally stuck. It was like trying to walk through rapidly hardening cement.
The clone's dark eye sockets expanded in comedic fashion as the truth hit him. The original wasn't trying to wage a war of attrition; Naruto was using chakra to stick to his opponent like a wall or a floating leaf. He was trying to capture, not kill.
"Who said anything about trying to win a fight?" The sadistic grin on the face of the original unnerved the fragment of Hatred and he began frantically trying to reverse his way out of the engagement. He tugged. He jerked. He twisted. When he couldn't break free through brute strength, he lashed out with his strong leg only for the original to trap it by lifting his foot and stomping down on the fragment's instep.
Hatred bellowed curses after the initial wash of pain swept over him, his leg equally trapped as well.
"Now, Ku-chan." The evil half's head whipped around to see the female calmly walk over while the original rooted him in place.
"No! nonononononononono! Release me!" He found out it was useless as the gentlewoman confidently stepped around behind him then wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders as the other hand clamped down on his forehead.
When the blond mind walker placed both palms, one on either fragment, his world exploded into a blinding flash of light, Hatred shrieking out his rage for the final time.
When the surge of light vanished, all that was left was Inoichi and a rapidly blinking Naruto.
"How do you feel?" the head shrink asked cautiously, the question fading out as the moments slowly ticked by.
"At peace," came the tentative response. Naruto didn't feel angry at the villagers even though painful memory after memory flooded back to his mind, things he'd buried years ago in order to choke back his rage and resentment. He wasn't feeling very forgiving, he'd just moved on to the happier memories spawned by his special clones and, later on, his new friends and teammates. Gone was the constant inner turmoil as he raged over the injustice of his life.
He remembered the anger. He just didn't have the burning passion to do something about it and that would have to do for now.
The younger man blinked and wave one hand through the morning air while looking past Inoichi's shoulder. When the taller blond spun around, gone were the smoldering corpses and gutted remains of houses and huts. Children were once again racing pell-mell through the village while parents chatted and waved to one another. A colorful flag waved gently in the breeze from the very top of the maypole.
Inoichi blinked once more to clear residual smoke from his eyes, swept his gaze over a completely restored scene of domestic life and sighed happily. Releasing his jutsu, the two awoke to the quietly ticking clock of Inoichi Yamanaka's home office.
~III~
Naruto had been honest when he stated he felt at peace. For years, his insides had been knotted up in uncertainty, confusion, and anxiety. Never knowing who to trust or how to weave his way through day-to-day life kept him in a ready state of "fight or flight" and it was only after the haze of rage had been parted (not lifted) that he could see beyond the trees of his emotions.
The added benefit of accepting what made him angry was being able to accept what made him happy and the pretty blond Genin walking into the flower shop as he was leaving was one of the few bright spots in his life. Remembering their last parting, what was once the feminine perspective of Ku-chan could see her point of view and sympathize despite Naruto's growing heartbreak and confusion.
Naruto was a guy and tended to think guy thoughts. Things were fairly cut-and-dry, either you liked someone, or you didn't, and he was pretty sure that she liked him. I mean, why put herself through all of that, why bare her body to him twice if you weren't comfortable around him to some degree? You didn't kiss someone unless a fire burned somewhere deep down, right? It was simple, overly simple more than likely, but guys tended to over-simplify when it suited them.
A female's mind tended to run in more complicated circles and Ku-chan had a different view of things he hadn't even considered. How did Naruto feel about her after years of bullying at the academy? Was he weirded out by her forwardness? Did he think she was easy after what happened in Istoria and now his apartment? Did he think she was a tease given how she led him on? What did he expect out of a relationship? Could he become husband material? Did he even want children? Could he rebuild his clan?
All of the thinking was hurting his brain so, in an effort to still the hysterics running rabid through his mind, Naruto smiled at the stunned looking girl and calmly walked past her to the door of Yamanaka Florals. He was going for "polite discretion" trying to honor her request for space.
"So, we're not even speaking now? Is that it, Naruto?"
He froze with a hand on the door handle and sighed. 'I just can't win them all.'
Slowly turning to face the pained look on Ino's face, Naruto approached to within arms reach and gently clasped her cheeks with both hands. Her eyes ballooned as her own hands overlaid his, her mouth gaping in shock. Naruto placed his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as he inhaled her sweet perfume and held her still for just a moment.
"You asked for space and I am gonna give it to you. If it wasn't for my appointment with your dad, I wouldn't have come by today." He opened his eyes and stared into his teammate's for a few seconds, before casually brushing her bangs back over her right ear.
"Take as long as you want to think things out, Ino. As long as I'm able, I'll be here when you're ready to talk to me." He gently kissed her forehead and backed his way out of the store, his warm smile the last image she would see as the bells chimed his departure one last time.
Ino stood there gaping long after he'd departed and crossed the city back to his own neighborhood, a certain warmth blooming in her lower abdomen as the urge to find drier underpants overtook her.
Though his heart was heavy, Naruto's day was going well. Inoichi had even given him exercises to help draw someone willingly into his mindspace, a tricky situation once he explained it was for his use with a family summons and not his daughter. Inoichi expressly forbid Ino from romping around in his still very dangerous mindscape. Hopefully, he'd be able to draw in the siblings soon.
'I found your other presents.'Naruto's eyebrow perked up as he strolled into the Red-Light District.
'…And?' He heard the bijū huff, but the rest of its words were unintelligible.
'I'm sorry, I didn't catch that,' he shot out again.
'…k you.' More mumbling followed.
'I'm going to assume you're immensely grateful and my gifts have touched your heart, if a chakra being had a heart. Furthermore, you want to express your undying gratitude to this lowly maggot but you're too choked up to form words so I'll let this moment pass in silence.' He could almost see the affronted grimace on Kyūbi's face before the raucous laughter echoed across his frontal lobe.
'Whatever helps you sleep, monkey.' Naruto merely chuckled and passed the remainder of the trip with a pleased smile on his face. It lasted until his skin started tingling as he neared the street in front of his flat.
~III~
"Are you sure we should be here, sister?" The white-robed blond glanced sideways at the redhead leading their little cabal.
"We were ordered to observe and report back should there be – difficulties. That is exactly what we shall do." The four identically-garbed women stood quietly on the rooftop across the street, the garish lights of The Cherry Blossom hiding them from the street below.
Four pairs of eyes calmly watched the blond jinchuuriki stroll down the street and up the stairs to his dwelling, one of them blushing as she remembered a certain whisker-marked pair of cheeks nestled between her still warm breasts.
~III~
'You have company, human. Try not to die.' The comment from his tenant surprised him. He could feel the dark energy coming from his apartment as he stood on the far side of the door. For skilled shinobi, it probably wouldn't have been very difficult considering his sealing talents were far from tested. The fact that he could feel several presences inside his home made him both angry and annoyed.
Before his more aggressive training regimen, he might have thrown the door open and charged in kunai blazing. Training with a sensei, and more importantly Anko, had taught him to be cautious with the unknown and he had four unknowns waiting patiently for him just beyond his front door.
With a heavy sigh and despite better judgment, he opened the unlocked door and stepped inside with his punch knives drawn. The sight of gleaming blades was enough to keep the two on either side of the door from jumping him immediately. In fact, they backed off and gripped the lead-filled saps in their hands a bit more tightly.
"So, our little surprise wasn't such the shock we had hoped." Naruto's deep blue eyes counted the third person standing near the hallway leading back to his bedroom and the speaker in the far corner. Their empty masks with the kanji for Ne, followed by a four-digit number, beneath the right eye of their mask identified them as something more than ANBU initiates.
"You aren't welcome here. Leave." The Genin hoped the message was simple enough, and his posture threatening enough, to convince them to depart in peace. His hopes for a quiet night were predictably shattered a moment later.
"Danzo-sama wishes to speak with you."
Suddenly the light clicked on and Naruto didn't think a polite refusal was going to get the message across. He'd heard enough caution from Jiraiya to know anything related to the "mysterious mummy" he'd never personally met was a bad thing, a very bad thing.
"Sorry, I'm a bit tired, gang. Long day you see. I think I'll pass so give my regards to your boss, m'kay?"
"Danzo-sama does not reschedule." The two beside him squared their feet up and charged only to come face to face with a solid clone apiece. Another dashed off to meet with the third one blocking his path to the bedroom while Naruto dashed free and clear into the narrow hallway.
A surge of chakra and a puff of smoke alerted him to the [Body Flicker] as the speaker of the squad appeared halfway between Naruto and his bedroom, a small club gripped firmly in his gloved hand. Naruto grinned and kept charging, the knuckles of his punch knife blocking the lead-filled stick thudding against his enclosed fist.
Right where Naruto hoped to get him.
~III~
Outside the brunette of the foursome could hear yelling followed by the heavy sounds of furniture breaking. The wall just to the left of the front door bulged as something heavy smashed against it. The four women watching blinked simultaneously.
"I thought this was supposed to be easy," queried a very concerned Agent Kaiyo. At that moment, the front door shattered into kindling as a masked body shot through it slamming against the brick wall of the apartment across the hall.
"Nothing is ever simple when dealing with Jinchuuriki," countered Agent Maeko, her adopted hair of ebony locks curling gently around her equally-borrowed facial features.
~III~
Inside, the agent squaring off against the original took pride in his new Jounin title. He'd work diligently over the last four years in Danzo-sama's Root organization, his recent promotion obtained with his leader's blessing during the regularly scheduled tests in full view of his peers.
Backed by three competent Chunin, it should have been a simple matter to corral a Genin fresh out of the Academy. Intelligence indicated his four-plus months of freedom wasn't nearly enough to undo years' worth of sabotage at the hands of his instructors and peers. This, for all intents and purposes, should have been a snatch and grab requiring less than thirty seconds to wrap up the headstrong fledgling.
Reality was shaping up to be very different from their report predictions.
While kenjutsu was his specialty, it didn't really apply to his current situation. The hallway was painfully tight preventing free range of motion. Additionally, his standard-issue Konoha kenjutsu required more than two feet of clearance even with his current choice of weapon, the weighted stick banging against the wall and disrupting his normally fluid movements on more than one occasion. Add in the Jinchuuriki's uncanny ability to stay uncomfortably inside his personal reach and you had a capture gone horribly wrong.
~III~
Naruto was having a difficult time containing his smile. Luring the Root agent into the cramped hallway had been surprisingly easy. It almost seemed as if they expected him to be easy pickings. Oh sure, one of his clones got dispelled but a quick burst later and two more rose up to take the challenge. Things began to slide downhill rapidly for his home invaders from then on.
The first clone evaporating in a puff cued in the remainders that his fledgling work with Gamatetsu would probably be handy in this situation. They weren't using lethal methods neither were thy pushing chakra through the saps, therefore, each clone began reinforcing the outer chakra shell of their bodies as Naruto had been doing at Mount Myoboku. The science was far from perfected, but it paid immediate dividends the moment another Root agent struck another clone with a sap and, rather than the satisfying pop of a second clone, the ringing sound of dull metal being struck reached their ears. It wasn't the resounding gong Big Gama Brother demonstrated during their few training sessions on the mountain, but it was proof that those brutal lessons were taking hold.
The response throughout the crowded living room was chilling.
Hostile agents hoping to mow down Naruto's resistance froze in disbelief. Shadow clones were supposed to dispel after being struck, right?
Nervous shadow clones of the Genin blinked in surprise at first. Once it dawned on them what happened, their open mouths closed into feral grins.
With the added clone to help double team the intruders, Danzo's agents found themselves taking body blow after body blow as initial clone fear of being captured gave way to brief feelings of invulnerability. The two clones landing heavy blows to the body and face of the agent responsible for their "brother's death" channeled chakra into two overpowered sidekicks sending the battered kidnapper deep into the wall next to the front door.
Then they turned their combined attention to the one near the kitchen and the route began, the second agent becoming a human battering ram as his back shattered the front door less than a minute later.
The last agent in the living room kicked away his tenacious opponent, grunted when it didn't disperse, then tore open his cloak to reveal several explosive notes stuck to his chest plate.
The eyes of every clone in the living room shot open in worry.
Naruto, still deep in the hallway, began using the knuckles of his punch knives to shatter every joint he could reach. He blocked an overreaching backhand smashing the elbow joint with a satisfying crunch, catching the agent's surprised grunt even as his attacker dropped the stick into his waiting left hand. Leaning backwards to dodge the overhand swing, he tapped his hand on the backside of the agent's arm to help overbalance the attack and expose the man's short ribs to a healthy straight left, another grunt following the sound of more bones cracking. Without waiting, Naruto dropped his right hand into the man's left hip and followed immediately with a left uppercut to his sternum. The taller foe dropped to his knees after Naruto's combination halted his downward spiral to the floor.
The fight was over at that point. Sprawled out in the hallway, his opponent was leaned up against the wall with his body slumped almost flat to the floor. It all ended when his clones dispersed, Naruto's eyes exploded open, then the tiny apartment was engulfed in the flames of an exploding tag of military grade strength.
~III~
~III~
A/N: Okay... maybe it wasn't exactly a "Kushina is still alive" plot. My bad. See you next time!