A/N: I present my first ever attempt at writing. It is not canon compliant and will be AU since I will be manipulating the timeline as i wish. English is not my first language. Constructive criticism is welcomed but don't be rude. I am writing for fun and hope you enjoy as well.
I don't own Naruto and never will.
"Emphasis"
(Characters thinking/narration)
"Characters speaking"
If you have any confusion, feel free to ask.
Let's start, shall we?
CHAPTER 26: The Unofficial Mission
With Chakra sealing handcuffs, Orochimaru is standing in front of the Mizukage (who is supposedly under a Genjutsu, was Uzumaki lying? I can't find any hints of him being under one. How can a person move under a Genjutsu? Which Genjutsu allows a person to move? Genjutsu works by disrupting one of your five senses.
When the Chakra in your brain has been controlled and manipulated, you are unable to move—if you are, just barely. The stronger the Genjutsu, the harder it is for you to control your body. The brain sends signals via neurotransmitter molecules that travel across the small spaces between the nerve cells called synapses. When the brain is disturbed/disrupted, it is unable to send signals thru the neurotransmitters which cause temporary paralysis Therefore, logically when the Chakra in the brain is being manipulated, it causes temporary paralysis and the Mizukage should not have been able to move.
Or is it like some sort of subtle manipulation but so strong, (considering Madara Uchiha it may as well be) that no one realizes he is under one. But what about his tailed beast? I have heard Jinchuriki are difficult to remain trapped under Genjutsu for long...haaah, I knew it the power of Sharingan is something else entirely.
Orochimaru is looking for any signs necessary, his brain coming up and discarding one logical explanation after another in a matter of seconds. With him not being able to find any signs, he decided to trust the Sixth Hokage and started with following the plan -
"I greet the Mizukage of Kirigakure, I am Orochimaru of Konoha and I come baring a message from the Third Hokage" He bows slightly (he is not so foolish to show his neck in an enemy nation) and makes sure that the the handcuffs make noise as he does so. "I was told that it was for the esteemed Mizukage's ears only" Orochimaru states and finds the Mizukage eyeing him with a look that is somehow both blank and serious.
"Fuguki, leave." Yagura spoke,
"But Mizukage-sama, he is - " Fuguki says because he had wanted to know if Konoha is getting involved in Kiri's affairs and also to keep an eye on what the snake says since he is sure that Orochimaru knows of Fuguki's betrayal.
Yagura unleashes his killing intent at Fuguki. Gritting his teeth, he bows with a hidden sneer and leaves the office. Outside, his apprentice is waiting for them and before he can say anything Fuguki states -
"Not now Kisame. Go home." Kisame looks at his Sensei's face and comprehends his mood, obediently nodding he watches as his sensei storms off. Kisame stays there, rooted outside the Mizukage's office for some time reeling with what he had observed on his sensei's face for the first time - a hint of resentment that he usually sees for himself on the faces of numerous citizens who hate him for having "shark-like" features (for being different)
Shaking his head and discarding his thoughts, he was about to leave when the doors of the office burst open and a wildly smiling, blond haired child no more than 5, dripping wet from top to bottom comes face to face with him. He had immediately drawn his sword at the sudden sound to defend himself.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" She tilts her head with eyes wide, still smiling and making no move on protect herself even as the sharp sword dug against her neck, not breaking skin yet. (he did not know that if he had put more pressure, the child would have vanished)
Kisame has never seen a child smiling at him in wonder. (they are only ever terrified of his appearance) However, this child is looking at him with something akin to respect. His eyes widened when the child spoke freely to him without any fear.
"You are Kisame Hoshigaki right? Guy Sensei praised you a lot!" Before he could reply to his sudden introduction by an unfamiliar child, they both stiffened when a growl echoed in the whole building-
"NARUTOOOOOOOOO" the growl like voice came from inside the office, however what made Kisame frown a bit was that - although the voice was full of anger but he could not detect any malice there, there was only-
A small tanned hand clasped before he could continue thinking - "It is not safe here, Yagura has gone completely insane! Run Ni-san!" and Kisame was so shocked upon being called with such an endearment, he could not do anything but run behind a child who was holding his hand with a grip that should not have so much strength behind it when coming from a scrawny kid.
A few minutes earlier inside the office
"Speak. Orochimaru of the Sanin" Yagura called as soon as Fuguki left the office.
"I have to take out the scroll upon which the message is relayed. I ask for permission to remove these handcuffs"
Yagura waved his hand and one of the 2 Anbu guards that he can sense came down and removed the chakra seal from Orochimaru. As soon as it was done Orochimaru subtly applied his blood on the scroll while taking it out from his cloak and handing it to the Anbu. (he had already applied his chakra before coming face to face with Fuguki in the cave and he knew that the clone seal will only activate with his blood as well. He had come up with a safety measure as soon as he had sensed Fuguki coming to the cave he was staying in by wrapping a fake paper showing the Hokage's missive. Since he was Hiruzen's student he knew how to make a fake missive. He also knew that Naruto's clone seal was now activated however it will complete its form only when it came into contact with a brainwashed Yagura. Therefore, he let the Anbu have the scroll and check for the traps)
The scroll was then handed to Yagura who, as soon as the scroll was opened, slumped against his desk with eyes closed. Orochimaru knew something like that could happen, therefore anticipating a disaster and not having the choice to simply observe he left everything to the clone Naruto and slithered out of the building to hide and complete his official mission of rescuing Konoha's spy. (I think i can wait and see if something interesting happens and then approach the spy. Jiraiya should be doing this mission with his position of spymaster but he is gallivanting across the world with nary a care. Tsk, Sensei coddles Jiraiya too much)
After a few minutes, a blue and a yellow blur shot out of the building and Orochimaru was left blinking at the odd pair. It took a second for his mind to recognize that it was Naruto with Fuguki's apprentice bursting out of the building with what looked like (is that the three-tails chakra?) an enraged Mizukage at their heels. He sighed. (what did you do now Uzumaki?)
Inside Yagura's mindscape (time flows differently in here)
As Naruto enters Yagura's mindscape, she imagines coming face to face with a sharingan-eyed Yagura and Isobu, however the reality is different. She comes in and find herself on what looked like a giant capsized ship surrounded by a turbulent ocean, with no land in sight.
"Shit" She hisses (not realizing Orochimaru's subconscious influence) takes a deep breath and jumps into the sea to look for her friends.
The ship signifies Yagura's sanity which still has not been sunk fully in the ocean yet. Since it is Yagura's mind he will be able to breath even under water however, it acts as real water to invaders. Therefore, Naruto has no choice but to dive deep. Guided by Kakashi's teaching, circulating oxygen in her body via chakra (since it is an Uzumaki seal-clone it can use it's chakra without fear of damaging its coils) Naruto starts looking for Yagura. Reaching the deck, she enters the pilothouse first. She only finds debris of some wooden boxes floating around. Entering the residential area of the ship, she can't help but widen her eyes at the number of rooms present across the board. Naruto grits her teeth and swims towards the opposite side to start checking from the far end of the line of rooms. Naruto knows she does not have time to check each and every room as she is running out of oxygen but she will check as many as she can before going up for air. Opening the first door, there is bed, lamp, sheets, chair, table, pillows, lights, fan etc., floating in the water with varied state of damage. The situation was similar when she opened the second door, third door, fourth door, fifth door, by the time she reached sixth she had to swim back out of the ship and reach the ocean surface for oxygen.
"Haah, haah, haah," Naruto clone gulps in air greedily and a bit frustratedly. She might run out of chakra at this rate first. "Damn! Damn you Zetsu! Damn you Madara! Damn you all to hell! Haah, haah...I will take revenge for putting me and my friends in this state! ughhhh" She shakes her head a bit and takes one last mouthful of air and dives again, desperately hoping she can find Yagura this time otherwise it will be very difficult to bring out Isobu out of the Genjutsu with the remaining chakra.
Upon diving and reaching for the residential area, her eyes are drawn to a latch near the mast of the ship. With the chant of yagurayagurayagura- in her mind she clasps on the latch and pulls. Nothing happens.
Narrowing her eyes and in a split second decision she applies chakra to her arms and pulls again. The latch comes out showing a hidden staircase inside the deck. She swims inside it following her instincts. Naruto finds a dark pathway leading to an even darker area where she cannot make out anything except for debris that is floating everywhere. Since she cannot call out Yagura in the water unless she wants to drown, Naruto hopes and prays (which the original Naruto would have never done) that what she is about to do, pays off, because if Yagura is not here then Naruto has just wasted her chance to bring Isobu back from Madara's control.
Closing her eyes, Naruto unleashes her chakra bit by bit, creating constant ripples so that if Yagura is present, he can feel her chakra.
tinggggg
Jolting at the sudden sound Naruto open her eyes to find Yagura's Chakra clashing with her in a similar pattern of ripples. She swims as fast as she can towards the ripples caused by Yagura's chakra. Losing both oxygen and chakra, she eventually found the Mizukage floating in an unconscious state. Clasping his shoulder Naruto sends almost a third of her remaining chakra to disrupt him out of the Genjutsu. Yagura jolts, and opens his eyes, only to find a blond child in front of him looking at him in concern and a hint of panic.
Upon seeing his eyes open, Naruto is relieved and starts to drown - I am sorry (i was not of much help. I am sorry Isobu! I will surely reach out later. Just hold on for some more time, I am so sorry, i will be better prepared next time. I promise) her lips move as if forming anymore words was difficult, and Yagura's eyes widen seeing her state. He quickly holds her body and begins to swim towards the light. Since it is his own mindscape, he subconsciously reaches the surface faster. The desire to save the child in front of him brought him to an island's shore. He takes the child and performs chest compressions. The child coughs out water quick enough and sits up with a wild look in her eyes.
"child-"
"Yagura-sama!" Naruto jumps on the Mizukage and hugs him tightly.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Naruto repeatedly chants in his ear and Yagura sits there stunned to the bone as the unfamiliar child clings on to him.
He lets the child be for a few moments, patting her back. Looking at his surroundings and realizing some part of it as his mindscape, he turns to look at the child with dawning comprehension. Yagura has been drowning in the darkness for so long that he can't remember where and when the grip on his own mindscape started slipping. The three-tails, what about the three-tails. Is my village okay? Who was the acting Mizukage? who suppressed the three-tails? (Yagura does not have knowledge of his actions right now) Upon hearing sniffles and deeming the child to be calm enough it is time to ask some questions-
"Stop crying child." He moves Naruto back a bit by her shoulder and she sniffles but settles on his lap looking down. "First, I should be the one thanking you"
"But Yagura-sama..." Naruto-clone stops when Yagura raises his hand and sets it atop her head
"You saved me from drowning in the darkness, child. May I know your name?" he prods slowly.
"Naru...to" The clone Naruto winces when she tells Yagura her real name only restraining from not saying her surname. (every clone has different personality from the original, this clone had a more mischievous and childish side to her, that is why she automatically answered with 'Naruto' when asked for her name. A lifetime of habit is hard to get rid off. Therefore, telling her real name has somewhat become a part of Naruto's base personality)
Yagura narrows his eyes, the wince of the clone not missed by him, and slowly nods -
"Thank you Naruto for saving my life. I as the fourth Mizukage owe you a huge debt."
The clone-Naruto nods her head silently and her hands come up to hold Yagura's clothes, she looks up with dark blue eyes, determination swimming in them as if its home and makes contact with his own coral hued eyes and states fearlessly -
"Can you... Can you save Isobu first? as a way of paying your debt then?"
Yagura tilts his head considering her request, he questions-
"Tell me first, Who is Isobu?"
TBC
Hey! I hope you guys find this chapter interesting. It actually wrote itself if I am being honest. I myself did not know i was going to write about this. But now i have a basic outline that i want to follow with this tangent. Thank you for your likes and comments. Do tell me if you want to see more of different personalities of Naruto via her clones in the comments.
Take care of yourself and your precious ones!
Ja ne!
Signing out
Yuki Race