Chapter 19: Prison Outbreak: Formation! Ino-Shika-Cho-Naru
"Well, hey, at least it's still standing."
"You're not funny, Naruto.'
"I'm hilarious."
Kurama yawned, ignoring Naruto and Sasuke's exchange in lieu of jumping down to the ground and trotting towards Sakura. He paused at her feet, looking up at her with a bored expression, and she smiled before fishing something out of one of her pouches.
She tossed a piece of jerky at him. He leapt into the air to catch it, settling back into a rhythm in Naruto's footsteps as he gnawed on it. Humans were good for some things, sometimes.
Hashirama gave him a curious look, bending over as he walked to examine him. Shivering, Kurama gave the air around him a suspicious glare, muttering about damned ghosts and making the Shodaime sweatdrop.
Izumo and Kotetsu looked up from their station when they came into view. "I'm guessing we have a little prison outbreak problem?" Sasuke asked, holding up the rope attached to the line of prisoners. They'd made them walk as soon as they woke up, tying them together by the wrists, with Aoi in the back.
"Yeah, sure do. Whole prison broke out," Kotetsu groaned morosely. "We've had to take even more night shifts than usual to guard the entrances. Seems you guys are helping out, though."
"The whole prison?" Sakura sputtered, stunned. "What the hell happened?"
"The Legendary Idiot Brothers happened," Izumo scowled. "We were on guard that night, and they seemed calm enough, but apparently they started it all. Everyone scattered in different directions after taking the guards hostage."
"Yeah, Asuma and Kurenai got sent out to investigate and didn't do too well. Got put in the hospital." Kotetsu winced and rubbed his shoulder. "Still smarting, myself."
Naruto frowned. "Nothing too serious, I hope?" He didn't know Kakashi's friends well, but it wasn't as if he wanted them to die.
"Luckily. This guy named Mizuki led the charge."
Naruto tensed. "Mizuki, eh? White hair, bout as tall as him?" He pointed to a prisoner.
"Yeah, why?"
"No reason." Hashirama and Tobirama gave him matching frowns, watching Sasuke and Sakura exchange narrow-eyed looks.
"Can one of you help me take these guys to the prison?" Sakura asked, making Izumo rise from his seat. She turned to her squad mates. "You guys go file the mission report. Be back in a jiff." She gave a relaxed salute, turning and walking out of the gate with Izumo holding the rope.
Naruto waved at her before turning to Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. "Well then, shall we go?"
It was Naruto's lucky day. The Sandaime was in Tsunade's office, pipe in mouth as usual, when he and Sasuke arrived. He didn't want to have to explain he could see ghosts and why he had a claim to the sword in the same conversation.
After Tsunade called 'enter', Sasuke stepped in, stopping in front of her desk and saluting. Naruto noticed a new ghost in the equation- a man with long, silver hair he'd caught glimpses of before but hadn't been around long enough to meet.
"Reporting in for our B-rank to the Land of Tea," Sasuke began.
"You can relax." Tsunade waved one hand. She looked stressed; it probably had something to do with the stacks of paperwork on her desk. And, perhaps, the whole of the village's criminals escaping all at once.
"The race went smoothly. Three Ame genin, Team Oboro from the chuunin exams, attempted to waylay us on the water, but Naruto…dealt with them. Later, Rokusho Aoi attempted to kill us, but Naruto dealt with him as well. We brought him back along with seven escaped prisoners we found on the road. The rest of the race passed without incident in Jirocho-san's favor."
"Rokusho Aoi?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"I remember him," Hiruzen said in realization. "A few years ago, he stole the Raijin no Ken that belonged to Tobirama-sensei as well as a secret scroll. The scroll was recovered, but the-" He paused, finally noticing the hilt on Naruto's hip. "Naruto."
"Yep."
"Is that the Raijin no Ken?"
"…yeah." Hashirama nudged him, but his elbow just passed through Naruto's shoulder. The boy sighed. "Uncle says he wants me to have it."
Hiruzen blinked. Tsunade tilted her head in confusion and frowned. "Uncle?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Hiruzen smiled suddenly. "Naruto-kun sees ghosts. Well, if Tobirama-sensei wants you to have it, I see no problem."
"…what." Tsunade stared at them in confusion. "Is this the ghost thing again? Don't tell me you believe him, sensei."
"I'm Dan!" The silver-haired man bent down to look Naruto in the eye. Nawaki popped up beside him, grinning. "Nawaki told me you were the one who helped Tsuna-hime out of her slump."
"I guess," Naruto shrugged. "Is there anything you'd like me to tell her?" Tsunade stared at him with a frown.
Dan whispered in his ear. Naruto nodded, crossing around the desk and motioning for Tsunade to lean down.
She blinked as he whispered what Dan had said, eyes slowly widening to the size of dinner plates. He pulled away, and she stared at him, continuing to do so with the same expression for several moments as he got more and more weirded out.
"Uh…baa-chan-"
He made an odd sound as his airways were cut off by the sheer strength with which she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his mop of blond hair. "You stupid kid," she said, voice trembling.
Naruto's forehead creased. "Why am I the stupid one-"
"Tell Hiruzen he better have removed that perverted novel from the desk; I don't want it corrupting my grandniece," Tobirama glared.
"Uncle Tobi says you better have removed the Icha Icha volume from the desk because he doesn't want it corrupting his niece," Naruto repeated, voice muffled.
Sarutobi coughed on the smoke wafting from his pipe and blushed in embarrassment. Tsunade pulled back and gave him a confused look. "Uncle Tobi…?"
"We're second cousins once removed," Naruto said, holding up a peace sign. "Technically Uncle Hashi married my great grand aunt, and that makes him my great grand uncle, or…something. I don't know. It's easier to say uncle. And he's stubborn." Tobirama smirked when Hashirama pouted.
"…we're related…?" She stared some more, and Naruto grinned, not knowing what else to do.
He looked just like Nawaki.
"Oh, you stupid kid!" With a restrained sob, she hugged him again, and he made a disgruntled noise.
"Why am I the stupid one…"
"Are they…comfortable?"
"As comfortable as can be, I suppose. Ghosts don't really get sick unless they exert themselves too much…most ghosts have learned to live with their situation or even like it. I've met some who just wanted to move on, but a lot of the ones around the village are happy to be able to watch over the newer generations. Nawaki is really happy he gets to follow you around all day." To Naruto's confusion, her mouth began to tremble. "You're not gonna cry again, are you?" He kicked a stone pebble from the path outside the hospital where they'd taken a walk.
"No," she glared at him, turning away to pout.
"Yeah, well, Dan laughs at you dodging paperwork. They both make fun of tha- … I wasn't supposed to tell you that."
"Naruto!" Nawaki whined.
"You should have specified!" Naruto hissed back.
Tsunade watched him argue with thin air, feeling as incredulous as before. Trying to be inconspicuous, she glanced around, wondering where Dan and Nawaki were standing. She was still a little doubtful, but he felt so…honest.
"Oink! Oink!" They all paused, watching TonTon gallop towards them at breakneck speeds. Hashirama and Tobirama had followed Hiruzen off somewhere, while Tsunade had sent Sasuke out to round up Sakura and start tracking more escapees.
Kurama shuffled out from behind him, scowling. "All right, piggy. What is it?" Tsunade gave him a startled glance as he communicated with the pig. "Looks like Shizune's squad got attacked by Mizuki. Sent the pig for help."
"Damn," Tsunade hissed. "Naruto, you've got a new mission."
Naruto gave her a slightly mocking salute. "On it, boss. Don't worry, I've tangled with this guy before. Just ask Jiji." He shot her a grin before leaping into a run, the Kyuubi ahead of him.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, turning and heading back for her office. She'd send the first chuunin she saw as backup; she was sure he'd be fine.
Naruto had been leaping through the forest for a little over twenty minutes when Iruka caught up with him. "Neh, sensei, how've you been?"
Iruka fell into step beside him. "Same as always. You look like you've changed a lot. It's only been a little while since I saw you last!"
Naruto couldn't help but beam. "Can we go for ramen when we get back?"
Iruka smiled. "Of course."
"Up ahead," Kurama growled. Iruka noticed him loping at Naruto's side for the first time, eyes going slightly bug-eyed.
"Er, I didn't know you had a summons."
"I don't," Naruto replied. "This is the Kyuubi! His name is Kurama."
Iruka slammed into a tree branch, doing a comical full three-sixty spin around it before tumbling to the forest floor. "Sensei!" Naruto cried in alarm, doubling back and dropping down to kneel beside him as his eyes swirled. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"T-the Kyuubi?" Iruka shook himself, gaping at him. Kurama pawed his flak jacket, sniffing his collar.
"Honestly, humans are so fragile." Iruka gave him a startled look, jerking back.
A pit of anxiety formed in Naruto's stomach as the problem became clear. "O-oh," he stammered, quickly drawing Kurama back and holding the fox to his chest. "I- uh- I forgot. I'm sorry- um. I can… I can- put him- well, away. If you want. Sorry, sensei." His eyes lowered to the floor.
Iruka stared at him. In the span of a few seconds, whatever stowed anger or fear for the Kyuubi he'd had was overridden by parental concern, and he rushed to fix the situation. "No- no, that's all right. I'm sure I can…" He turned his gaze to the fox in Naruto's hands. "…cope… I mean, you've already been learning to control its chakra…"
Kurama blinked. In chibi form, his snout looked too short, his eyes too large, his paws a little big. Like he'd had when he was a kit, his fur was bright orange, not the more blood-red tone he'd had as an adult when his chakra wasn't split in half. His paws resembled those of a dog more than the Kyuubi; he didn't have the claws that could slice a man's neck or the fangs that could shred muscles. A single tail hung behind him, so fluffy it was almost as thick-looking as his torso. His ears were longer than a normal fox's, flopping onto the back of his head at rest.
He was-
"Oh my god, it's adorable." Iruka hadn't meant to let that slip; it was the beast that had killed his parents, for Kami's sake. But looking at Naruto standing nervously before him, reverted to a child anxious for his sensei's approval, he felt there was no way to deny the Kyuubi without denying Naruto himself. And if nothing else, he was having trouble connecting the gargantuan beast he'd seen that night with the fox in Naruto's arms that looked more like a baby than a ferocious animal.
Naruto's face lit up, and he knew he'd made the right call. "Really? Thank you, sensei!" he leapt forward into a barreling hug, squishing the Kyuubi between them.
"Urk! I'm still here, you brat!" Kurama growled, but it came out more high-pitched than he'd intended. "I am the Kyuubi no Yoko! I demand respect! Release me!"
The situation was so comical a laugh bubbled up out of Iruka's throat. Oh my god, he thought, my life is insane.
"Naruto," Shizune groaned as Naruto helped her stand. "Mizuki got away."
"Which way?" Naruto asked, already fully aware it was Mizuki posing as Shizune; he could feel ill intent rolling off him in waves. Kurama let out a discontented growl, winding around Naruto's feet and shooting the criminal a glare.
"I'll show you. My squad went after him." Iruka's eyes narrowed at that.
The two made eye contact. Naruto threw on a grin, falling back into his Academy persona as easy as pie. "Yeah! We'll get 'im! Let's go, sensei!" He took off running, knowing Iruka would pick up the cue.
The two kept one eye on "Shizune" the whole time, lest "she" try to stab one of them in the back.
Sakura dropped another prisoner bound with rope into the prison wagon, dusting off her gloves. She brushed her single bang behind her ear- she'd kept the pixie she gave herself during the chuunin exams, albeit a better one from an actual barber- and shaded her eyes against the sun as she glanced at five upcoming figures in the forest.
"Most youthful, my precious students! At this rate, the prison will be full by dawn," Gai said with his usual charisma, doing an odd dance as he slammed one foot on a tree stump to strike a pose.
"Yes, Gai-sensei! We will do your utmost best to protect the village and bring in these evil do-ers," Lee egged him on, posing beside him with three shinobi strewn across his back.
Karin groaned. She was dragging herself along at TenTen's side, carrying a large battle sickle. Neji had a man strewn over each shoulder, expression blank and indifferent to his teammate's and sensei's spectacle.
"Hey, TenTen!" Sakura called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "How's the weapon training going?"
TenTen grinned once she spotted her. "It's slow going, but she's great with poison!"
"Sakura-san!" Lee boomed. He disappeared from his spot, leaping straight into the air with his arms opened wide; Sakura mimicked him, a shine entering her eyes.
A spring field appeared behind them, sparkles dancing about as they embraced. TenTen and Karin cringed in unison, while one of Neji's eyebrows twitched and Gai nearly wept with joy. "Ah, youth!"
"Can we not?" Sasuke sighed, landing on the rim of the wagon with two escapees under his arms. He dropped them both in without sympathy, ignoring the grunts and groans his action garnered. "All full," he called to the man sitting on the front.
The shinobi saluted him and snapped his reins, making the horses attached to the wagon take off and start it towards the prison.
"With that addition, that makes seventy-two prisoners out of two hundred and seventy-three," Sakura said, marking something on her notebook. She let out a sigh. "And it's already noon."
"Where is Naruto-sama?" Karin questioned with a glance around the clearing. She adjusted her glasses and stood a little straighter.
"He was with Tsunade-sama, but I'm willing to bet she gave him a separate mission if he hasn't come and found us already," Sasuke replied. He and Karin weren't as close as Karin and Naruto, but he was the main cook on compound grounds and she spent every night in his dining room, so he knew her well by now. "Will you be around for dinner tonight?"
"Ah, yes, they're only having chuunin and higher look at night," she said with a pout of indignation.
"Hn. There are leftovers in the fridge. Just heat some up."
"Thank you, Sasuke-sama." She was still glancing towards the village, no doubt wondering where Naruto was, but she took the time to smile at him.
He rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish expression. "Just Sasuke is fine."
"Why don't you guys invite me to dinner more?" Sakura complained with a pouty frown.
"You're over, like, three times a week," Sasuke glared.
"Yeah, but your cooking is better than my mother's!"
"Your cooking is excellent, Sasuke-san," Karin added, making him cross his arms and turn away with an embarrassed blush rising to his cheeks.
"Whatever," he said weakly.
"Eh, Sasuke, you're so rude! You should have invited us," TenTen teased. She planted her hands on her hips and pointed her thumb at Lee. "After all, Sakura's practically your sister, so Lee's probably going to be your brother-in-law someday. We're practically family."
"You're just trying to mooch off my food," Sasuke scowled.
"Aw, come on, we'll pay our way."
"As if I would make guests pay for their food," Sasuke said with a lofty expression. "What do you take me for, a cheapstake?" He glared at her as if his honor was on the line.
"Hey, we should invite Lee over!" Sakura said, eyes lighting up. Sasuke groaned and shook his head.
"Fine. All of you can come over. But no more than once a week."
"You're coming too, right Neji?" TenTen turned a blinding smile on him. It had no effect.
"I suppose." He looked away.
"Of course he is!" Gai appeared in a flash, hooking an arm around his student's neck. "Come and socialize with us, Neji!"
"I meant the genin," Sasuke muttered. No one heard him.
"We should invite Kakashi-sensei too. He'll feel out if Gai-sensei is there but not him." Sakura giggled at Sasuke's darkening expression.
"Fine! Just invite everybody to my house!" Sasuke threw his hands up.
"Naruto will want to invite Shino, probably."
"You know what? I'm not even mad. I will not give you the satisfaction of me being mad."
Sakura cackled at him.
Naruto was not having a good afternoon.
They'd followed Mizuki to a canyon, ready to attack him when his back was turned, only to find the Legendary Idiot Brothers were apparently his henchmen. They'd quickly been separated, with Iruka chasing Mizuki further into the forest while Naruto tried to keep the brothers occupied.
Taijutsu was quickly ruled out. Their bodies were nigh impervious to any physical strain; it would take a martial artist with the strength of Tsunade to put them down for the count. As such, he kept himself at a distance, with a small army of clones running interference while he tried to strategize.
"Unfortunately, the size of the blast you would need to injure them would not only destroy a sizeable chunk of the forest, it would put any squads coming as reinforcements in danger," Kurama said. He was standing beside him, braced against the shockwaves running through the ground from the brothers' blows. "As well as possibly the Umino."
Naruto frowned. Fujin swung one arm, dispelling nine clones and enshrouding them in smoke. "I need to go after nii-san," he said with a worried frown in Iruka's direction. "I guess there's no helping it."
Kurama nodded. A clone popped into existence beside him; he hurriedly began drawing seals onto its forehead.
"I'm hungry, brother!" Raijin yelled, a stupid grin taking over his face. "Can we have fried fox for lunch?"
"Ooh! I've never had fox before!" Kurama gave them a disgusted look.
"Take this!" Two of Naruto's clones charged them with Rasengans in hand. The two didn't bother to dodge, just oohing and ahing over the 'pretty glowy orbs'.
Naruto shielded his eyes with one arm against the resulting explosion, placing his palm on his clone's forehead and transferring chakra into it. "Better give it a little over half," he said with a grimace. "This fight's going to be more difficult than Mizuki."
Kurama leapt onto his shoulder. "I'm counting on you," Naruto said to his clone with a salute.
The clone returned it with a grin. "Don't worry, boss. I got this."
"I so don't got this," Naruto said, bracing himself as Fujin sent him flying through a tree. The original had run off after Mizuki, leaving him to deal with the idiot duo.
"Hey, brother, the fox left! No lunch," Raijin pouted.
"Aw, that thing was tiny anyway! Besides, we still have our snack," Fujin said, taking the wrapped package he'd been carrying out. "See?"
"Yay! More food!"
"And even more at Orochimaru's place!"
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Orochimaru?" he called out, dusting himself off as he stood. "Did Mizuki promise to take you there?"
"Yeah! There's lots of great food!" Raijin replied with a dopey smile.
"Don't tell him that, brother! He might want to take it for himself."
"Oh, right! You're so smart, big brother."
Naruto resisted the urge to faceplant. "Ugh…I can feel my IQ dropping…"
"Yeah! But Mizuki-nii-san said we have to take care of you before we get our food," Fujin said, turning back to Naruto. The boy mouthed 'nii-san' silently, tensing as they started towards him. "We gotta get there quick or someone might eat it all!"
Naruto snatched two handfuls of tennis ball-sized red balls out of his pouches, tossing them at the brothers' feet and catapulting himself back onto a tree branch. The area in front of him lit up with the force of the explosion, wind whipping his bangs and braided strand around into his eyes.
When the smoke cleared, they stood a little dazed, smoking a little, but mostly unharmed.
"Damn."
He put one hand on his sword, ready to bring out more firepower, when they froze. "Damn it," he muttered.
"Shadow possession complete," Shikamaru's lazy voice drawled.
"The hell are you three doing here?" Naruto asked, one eyelid twitching as he craned his head back to stare up at them on the branches above him.
"You're welcome," Ino returned, sounding insulted.
"Ugh." Naruto rubbed his forehead. Now what am I supposed to do? I can't do anything big with them here…
"Are you all right, Naruto?" Choji called out. Well, if nothing else, they had good intentions.
"You guys need to distance yourself," Naruto ordered. He dropped to the ground and slid a Hiraishin kunai into his hand with a grimace. "The amount of power I'm going to need to injure these two will kill you."
"Eh?!" Ino shrieked. "What're you talking about?"
"He's an explosions specialist, Ino," Shikamaru said with narrowed eyes, watching Naruto's back. "You should've gathered that by now."
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Why can't I move?" Raijin interrupted with a roar, struggling. Shikamaru muttered a curse and held to his jutsu tighter, to no avail. "Elder brother!"
"I can't move either!" Fujin thrashed about, slowly moving one foot forward.
Naruto let out a string of curses in his head. "Guess there's no helping it," he muttered. He was just going to have to work with them. "Ino! Possess one of them!"
"Uh- right!" Ino shook herself, forming the hand seals for her body switch technique. She slumped over a moment later, and Fujin stilled, making Raijin paused.
"Eh? Big brother? What's wrong?"
Fujin's hands snapped forward to grab Raijin's neck. "Eck! Big brother! What's wrong? Big brother!"
Raijin began thrashing about again. Naruto yanked several blank tags from one of his compartments, flipping open one of the ink bottles on his belt and taking out a brush. "I need one minute and fifty-two seconds to do this," he called to Shikamaru.
"Easier said than done," the boy grunted. "Crap. I'm gonna have to use this."
Choji watched in awe as Raijin bodily slammed his head into his brother's over and over. Ino came flying back into her body, whining as she felt her face. "My face! My beautiful face!"
Shikamaru's shadows extended up to their necks. "Shadow strangle jutsu," Ino said. "Awesome!"
"It's not going to be good enough," Shikamaru replied, voice strained. "Look."
The brothers were still coming, struggling against Shikamaru's shadows with brute force. The forest floor beneath their feet was starting to crack, leaves fluttering down on their heads as the trees themselves shivered from their tantrum. "Got it," Naruto called out. He dashed towards the two, ignoring Ino's cry of alarm, and littered the tags on the ground around them.
A seal spread out on the ground, made of thin lines that were delicate-looking but no less strong than their thicker counterparts. The brothers slowed down, squirming, and Naruto cursed again.
"How strong are these two morons?" he complained, backing up several paces. "That's the strongest barrier fuin I can cook up with the time I've got."
"We're gonna need more than that," Shikamaru rasped.
"Hmph!" With a smirk, Ino started another technique. "I've got it."
"Ino, don't! I'll be strangling you too." Startled at her proclamation, Shikamaru painstakingly turned his head to look at her.
"If you think you're the only one with new techniques, you can kiss my ass, Shikamaru," she said with a wicked grin. Forming a square with her hands, she placed them near her chest; immediately, Fujin stilled again, a shadow passing over his face before his hands latched onto his brother's shoulders.
"Shinranshin no Jutsu, the mind destruction technique," Naruto said with raised eyebrows. "Good job."
"Hmph." The smirk still in place, Ino tilted her head back with a pleased expression.
"But we're still going to need more than that to hold them."
"Eh?!"
Raijin had started to shriek, writhing this way and that in his attempt to get loose. Shikamaru and Ino both winced, arms tense from the effort of holding him.
Well, Naruto thought with a mental shrug, I guess there are worse people to expose my bloodline to.
"Choji," he called, drawing the boy's attention from where he'd been standing looking like he was feeling useless, "use your body expansion technique to hold them down after I do this."
"What? Do what?" Choji's forehead creased in confusion.
In lieu of answering, Naruto formed a hand seal to concentrate his chakra, retreating to Ino and Shikamaru's side. Chains burst from his back and burrowed into the ground, going deeper and deeper, wrapping around tree roots deep in the ground and looping around to travel beneath Fujin's and Raijin's feet. A moment later, they exploded from the ground with a shower of dirt and rock, winding up around their bodies and wrapping around and around until they shot back into the ground to anchor themselves.
"Whoa! What is that?" Choji asked, gaping. There were holes in his jackets now, exposing small flashes of the skin on his back due to the speed with which he'd summoned them. Ino and Shikamaru were gaping, too, Shikamaru in the toned-down, more controlled way of his.
"Just hurry up!"
"R-right!" Choji ran to Fujin and Raijin's other side in haste. "Expansion jutsu!"
His hands enlarged to a size big enough he could wrap them around the escapees' whole bodies. "Well then," Shikamaru grunted, finally sensing an ease in pressure. "Ino-Shika-Cho formation complete."
"Wouldn't that be Ino-Shika-Cho-Naru?" Ino asked with a teasing, if strained, smile.
"Technically," he ground out. Raijin was becoming more and more enraged, yells echoing in the forest for at least a mile, making it harder to hold him. "I suppose. Probably couldn't hold him for long at all without Narut-"
Fujin let out a furious scream, body starting to vibrate. Ino squeaked and winced, folding her hands closer to her chest. With gritted teeth, Naruto clenched his hands together, resisting the pull on his chains as they grew more and more taut. His family's chains may have been able to restrain a Bijuu, but that was due, in part, to the Uzumaki chakra; the reason Kushina had been chosen to contain the Kyuubi in the first place. He had never held down anything as strong as the brothers or a tailed beast before- the strain was unfamiliar, and he was unaccustomed to have to fight so hard to hold something down.
They all winced in unison as their screams heightened. Fujin was still thrashing, but Raijin was struggling so hard he was but a blur, whipping around in his confines at a speed that was starting to create a small wind. Naruto's seal was glowing bright blue, put under its own stress, and Choji looked ready to get thrown off his feet. Sweat ran down Shikamaru's brow in buckets, while Ino had started to shiver.
"T-they're gonna kill us!" she gasped out.
Naruto glanced over at her, wincing. Small rivulets of blood ran down his back, as they'd pulled so hard on his chains they'd forcibly ripped more length out before he could properly supply it fast enough. "Ino," he snapped, making her flinch. She made eye contact, expression twisted with effort. "We're all comrades from the Leaf," he said. "No matter what, I won't let you die here. If they get loose, you three run back to the village and get the Hokage as fast as you can. I'll deal with them."
"We can't just leave you!" she argued, tears of exertion starting to gather in her eyes.
"That's an order," he said in a firmer voice, making Shikamaru's eyes slither over to him.
"She's right. We can't just-"
"I'm commanding officer on this mission, even if we have the same rank." Naruto spasmed suddenly, a particularly hard yank on his chains making him keel over for a moment.
"Well, like you said. We're comrades from the Leaf village. And we don't abandon comrades. Now focus, Ino!" Shikamaru ordered.
Naruto eyed them, and despite himself, felt a smirk tug at his lips. They really have grown up a bit…
"Let us go!" Raijin thundered. During the spectacle, he'd accidentally crushed his "snack", and it had sent him into such a rage Naruto could only see the whites of his eyes. He'd been doing fine when they were calm, easy to manipulate, but even an average shinobi could present a problem if sent on a furious enough rampage. Just look at Iruka.
They all made grunts or whimpers of exertion, but, strangely, their fear had ebbed, and they felt like a single united front. Ino snuck a glance at Naruto, seeing him in a new light as he stood by her and Shikamaru, a solid link in their formation. I feel…safe with him.
Raijin and Fujin screamed in unison, rearing back, at the height of their struggles-
And froze.
"I've got it from here, Naruto."
Team Ten plus one seemed to collapse at the sound of their Hokage's voice, panting. Shikamaru's shadows slithered back to him, at their limit anyway, and Ino slumped to the ground. Choji's arms retracted, sending him tumbling to his back, while Naruto's chains started a slow course back to his body and his seal faded.
Naruto winced as the last of his chains retracted into his back, rubbing his shoulder as he let himself sink to his knees. Shikamaru flopped back onto the grass with a groan, while the brothers stared in horror at Tsunade. A dark scowl had overtaken her face as she slowly walked towards them, hands on her hips.
"Just what do you two think you're doing?" she snapped.
"Ts-Tsunade-sama! Funny we run into you!" Fujin squeaked.
"Y-yeah, really funny! Ahaha- ahahaha…" Raijin trailed off when she didn't laugh with him.
Glowering, she flicked them both in the forehead. They careened back through several trees and landed in a pile of shrubs.
"You two go back to the prison right now, or you won't get any dinner," she growled. "And I'll give you a beating even worse than last time!"
"Yes ma'am," they replied morosely, walking with a depressed air out of view.
Naruto stared with a flat expression. "Seriously? That's all it took?" He let himself slump forward onto the ground with a moan. "I feel so stupid."
"Don't be too hard on yourself. You four did well against them. They're S-rank criminals for a reason," Tsunade said, kneeling down and placing a glowing hand on Naruto's back. "I came as soon as I found out they were working with Mizuki. I knew you three wouldn't be enough backup. Are you all right?" Naruto glanced up at her concerned countenance, grinning.
"Fine as always. Guess you three backing me up worked out," he said with a shrug to Team Asuma. "Thanks."
"We should be thanking you," Ino mumbled, rubbing at her swollen eyelid. She eyed Tsunade's green chakra as it seeped into him, closing up the cuts on his back before his eyes, and remembered the expression of pain he'd worn when the Idiot Brothers had torn his chains further out. "I wanna go home and sleep for a week."
"Shikamaru might be ahead of you on that," Choji chuckled, dragging himself over to plop down beside his friend as he gazed at the ground with half-lidded eyes.
"Where's Mizuki?" Tsunade looked up and examined the surrounding forest with narrowed eyes.
"Boss went on ahead with Iruka-sensei," Naruto explained.
"Wait- boss? You're a clone?" His companions stared at him with unrestrained shock.
"Um, yeah?"
"W-why haven't you expelled?" Ino asked, gawking.
"Wha- oh. Right. Invention of mine." The clone channeled chakra to his forehead, letting them see the seal there. "This keeps me anchored, and Boss lends me chakra so I can stay. I bleed like a normal person…I'm sort of like a blood clone."
"…huh." Tsunade gave him an appraising look. "Did Jiraiya help with that?"
"Nah, I used it to avoid going to school." For a moment, Ino looked insulted, before guilt spread across her face.
Tsunade's mouth popped open. "I was, like, nine when I made it, but my versions back then were so bad they expelled after a few hours and I had to make a new one every day. I'll last at least a week."
Tsunade mutely shook her head. "Naruto, you're just….Naruto," she sighed. She turned to tend to the others, healing Ino's bruised face and restoring some of their depleted chakra. "Let's get going."
"Going? Where?" Ino groaned.
"After Naruto, Iruka, and Mizuki, of course."
"Hmm," Naruto tilted his head back to stare at the sky, watching storm clouds in the distance. "Wonder what he's up to?"
"How DARE you," Naruto roared as he slammed Mizuki through a tree.
"Gurk!" was his former sensei's only response.
He'd brought Tsubaki along after he found her following him, after asking why the hell anyone would want to marry Mizuki of all people- as she was evidently his former fiancé- and found a large building in ruins with Iruka having barely made it out alive. After he'd had a brief argument on whether or not Tsubaki could come along, she'd led them to a hideout deep in the woods where Mizuki had come forth with a vial of red liquid.
Naruto had had a bad feeling about that liquid and immediately tried to destroy it, but the man had downed it before he could. As a result, he ended up fighting a weird tiger monstrosity, as Mizuki had felt the need to jump to his final form after his second hadn't been able to take Naruto down.
Needless to say, Naruto hadn't been happy he'd found his surrogate brother buried under a building.
Naruto grunted when Mizuki slammed a foot into his ribcage and grabbed him by the neck. With less than half his chakra, the man was giving him some difficulty, but not enough to really worry about. "You've ruined everything, Kyuubi brat!" The man screamed at him.
Kurama leapt onto him with a growl, latching his teeth onto his neck. Mizuki grabbed him by the skin of his neck and tossed him into a tree hard enough to make him dizzy when he landed.
With a snarl, Naruto removed Mizuki's arm from his neck and twisted it hard. His eyes had gone red, whiskers becoming thicker, canines elongating slightly. "You're a monster," Mizuki spat at him. His eyes held an insane light, barely registering any pain Naruto was dealing him.
"Look at yourself," Naruto spat back. He snapped up the Raijin no Ken and skewered Mizuki's forearm, making him stumble back and howl.
"What's a demon brat like you doing with something like that?" Mizuki seethed.
"Wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Naruto lunged forward, his kata leaving no room for Mizuki to lash out at him, lest he want to get sliced open; he was too large to get inside Naruto's guard.
Mizuki battered against a tree, gritting his teeth when he realized he had nowhere to go. "Let's see you block this," he said, taking the giant shuriken from his back. Naruto tensed, flipping his sword to a defensive position- and Mizuki whirled and sent it straight for the stationary Iruka, who'd been waiting for an opportunity to help.
Naruto's eyes widened. "Crap!"
Mizuki lunged in front of him when he turned on his heel to intercept. Not wasting any time, Naruto flickered to the Hiraishin mark he'd inconspicuously planted on Iruka's clothing, letting the shuriken pierce his back.
Hm. For some reason he felt like he'd received an injury in the same spot not too long ago.
"Naruto!" Iruka grasped him by the shoulders, pulling him away from Mizuki. Kurama darted in between them and the criminal, growling and yapping, frustrated at his inability to do more.
A hysterical laugh left Mizuki's throat. "Oh, this is rich! Nothing is ever different, down to the last detail! This is so touching. The demon really loves you, Iruka."
Iruka's expression twisted with rage. "Quit calling him that," he snapped.
Perhaps, in another world, Iruka would have never stood a chance against Mizuki. As it was, he hadn't been able to beat him thus far, but he was slowly pushing him into what Naruto fondly referred to as rampage mode. He had also been sparring with Naruto every free weekend, and if nothing else, the blond was a taskmaster when he wanted to be.
Naruto reached around and pulled the blade out of him, flinching. "This is such a drag," he complained. Standing up straight, he tossed it into the bushes. "Neh, sensei, we should-" He paused with a sweatdrop when he saw the shadows over Iruka's eyes. "S-sensei?"
"We used to be friends," Iruka said, a tad randomly in Naruto's opinion, making the boy's sweatdrop grow. "But now…" A glint appeared in his eyes, making even Kurama sweatdrop. "I'll kill you if you touch him again."
"How sweet," Mizuki replied in a mocking tone. "Just for that, your death will be even slower while you watch me kill the little brat."
Naruto started to sweat when the shadows returned. "Uh, sensei, I'm actually fine-"
"Kit," Kurama whispered from his shoulder, perching there like a cat with his hair on end. "Don't approach, I've seen this before," he hissed, "it's like mothers and their kits in the wild." Naruto sweatdropped again.
"Really?" Iruka was as tense as a coiled spring, and Mizuki was beginning to pant- no doubt from the after-effects of whatever potion he'd taken and the beating Naruto had given him. "Naruto." He set a hand on the blonde's head. "Turn around, please."
"Um, wh-"
"Turn around, please."
"I've got it," Kurama said quickly, folding his tail over Naruto's eyes.
"But-"
"Let it go, kit."
Naruto blinked, going to remove Kurama's tail, but it just tightened around his head as he tugged at it. "Seriousl-" A cry of pain interrupted him, and he paused.
Somewhere along the line, Mizuki started screaming, and he decided maybe he'd leave the tail there after all.
"Is there a reason he's so bloodied?" Tsunade asked, staring at Mizuki's grey, weak body in confusion.
"It was self-defense, Hokage-sama," Iruka replied. He was completely straight-faced, standing at attention without a hair out of place. "He consumed a strange red potion, I assume under influence of Orochimaru, which turned his body into a hybrid type construct. It resembled a tiger and gave him extraordinary strength and speed. However, Naruto and I were able to take him down."
"I see." Tsunade felt there was more to the story, but didn't pry as the medical team carried Mizuki out on a stretcher.
"Hello there, me," Naruto said cheerily as he sauntered up to his clone. It was standing with Team Asuma, looking more comfortable with them than he had been before he'd left it.
"Boss!" The clone snapped off a jaunty salute, grinning. Ino twitched.
"Great job, me!"
"Thank you, Boss!"
He dispelled the clone with a tap to the forehead, taking a minute to sort through its memories. "Hey, you guys didn't do half-bad!"
"Thanks for the compliment," Shikamaru said wryly, eyeing him out of the corner of his eye.
"You were awesome!" Choji jumped to greet him, eyes shining. "What were those awesome chains? They worked really well with Shikamaru's shadow jutsu!"
"Ah, those were a bloodline," Naruto shrugged.
Their eyebrows raised. "You have a bloodline?" Ino asked, befuddled.
"The Uzumaki," Shikamaru said suddenly as it dawned on him. "You're the clan head now, right? My dad told me there was a new one around."
"Eh?!" Ino and Choji squawked.
"Yup, that's me."
"He's a clan head?" Ino exclaimed. "Of what clan?"
"The Uzumaki. Read a history book, why don't you?" Naruto drawled in irritation. She frowned, making a resolution to do just that as soon as she got back to the village.
The sun was beginning to set. "We should head back. If we run fast, we can catch some ramen," Iruka said with a smile, appearing at Naruto's side and resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah! Let's go!" With a fist pump to the air, Naruto wheeled and followed the chuunin away, waving to his peers. "See you guys."
"See you," Choji called in return. Ino waved after him with a thoughtful expression, while Shikamaru watched his back and the weird-looking fox curled on his shoulders with squinted eyes, considering.
There was definitely something odd going on there.
Even though it wasn't yet eight in the evening, it was dark in Konoha when Naruto and Iruka arrived at Ichiraku's, storm clouds having covered the sky. Izumo and Kotetsu had been huddled under the small awning of their post, using their flak jackets to shield themselves against the rain. Thunder rumbled as the two sat down to eat, sheepishly apologizing to Teuchi and Ayame for getting their floor wet.
"Eh, so where'd ero-sennin get off to?"
"Jiraiya-sama's on a mission," Iruka replied after gulping down a mouthful of ramen. Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "What is it?"
"Nothing, nothing, just. Time to get counter-blackmail," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes. "Where's dog-sensei?"
"I saw him at the Hokage's office shortly after you left to help Shizune-san, but Tsunade-sama sent him off on another mission after that."
"I see." Naruto tossed a piece of pork to Kurama. "Are you really okay with Kurama, sensei?"
Iruka glanced at the Kyuubi gnawing on his food before giving Naruto a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I am for you."
Naruto grinned. "Thanks, nii-san. And thanks for helping me out today." The fact he could have handled Mizuki on his own was irrelevant.
"Anything for my favorite orange, pranking ninja," Iruka returned with a teasing poke to his cheek.
"Oh yeah!" Naruto dropped his chopsticks, fisting his hands in his hair. "I totally forgot baa-chan's initiation!" Iruka facepalmed. "I gotta go plan, sensei! Thanks for the ramen!"
He shoved his empty bowl forward and dashed into the street, yelping when he remembered it was raining. He pulled his jacket up over his head and darted away while Iruka watched him, tilting his head to one side.
Was he wearing something red under that?