A\N: This one took a while to write. In the end it got so long I had to split it in two parts.
I do not own Naruto, obviously. Last time I checked, I don't even own the Elder Scrolls either because having them in the Steam library is not equivalent to owning the games you paid for.
Many thanks to my beta-readers and friends for their support.
"We found signs of struggle at Uchiha Sasuke's apartment, but if there was a fight it was a brief one. Nobody heard or saw the intruders. They're both gone," Shikaku finished his report. Tsunade would've liked to voice how much she needed a drink, but she just nodded. The Hokage couldn't do that in front of her shinobi, after all. Or at least, most of them.
She had all too many reasons for wanting to drink, in her opinion. The last loyal Uchiha and the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki had disappeared at the same time. But she'd wait until later.
"Any signs that may point to whoever is responsible?" she asked. A lead, any kind, even something ruling out a potential suspect would be beyond useful.
Shikaku gave a shrug. "I doubt it was Iwa, at least. They've been on their best behavior since the exams, and they even offered to lend a hand in the search."
Tsunade hoped so, because she didn't want to deal with a diplomatic fiasco like the Hyuuga Affair anytime soon.
"I believe we can also rule Akatsuki out. Based on Jiraiya-sama's intel, they wouldn't have a reason to target Uchiha Sasuke," Shikaku continued. And Tsunade found herself agreeing… even if Uchiha Itachi decided to pay another visit to his little brother, nothing pointed to him wishing to abduct his sibling.
"How many teams can we spare for tracking the kidnappers?" she asked.
"I'd say two four-men teams, at least. Maybe more, but we'll have to recall some teams that already left for their missions."
Which would take time… she hoped the two teams would be able to manage until then.
If not Iwa, and not Akatsuki, then who?
… Orochimaru. He had put his seal on Sasuke during the exams. The power of the Sharingan would grant him the ability to control a bijuu. Did it mean that he wanted the Kyuubi for himself? Turn it into a good little minion of his? Use it as a bargaining chip against Akatsuki? All of the above?
Maybe some idiot ninja went overzealous, saw the blond kid and figured 'let's bring him to Orochimaru-sama as well, I'm sure he'll give us a treat and praise and call us good boys.'
She needed a drink.
"Hokage-sama, it's not my place to ask, but一"
"Just ask away, Shikaku. And then go organize those teams."
"Did anyone ask Harissen Conrad to not do anything rash?"
Food and water for a few days, along with cooking supplies. Easier to carry than what he'd use in Tamriel. A sleeping mat, again, more compact and comfier than he was used to. A map and a compass, to help orient himself. A rope, because you always end up needing a rope and not having it. Potions too, of course. Along with his armor, his axe, his staff and his knife as well.
The kidnappers had a head start of half a day by now. He had to move quickly.
"Master Conrad," Beta called, offering him a satchel bag, which upon inspection was revealed to be full of a vast assortment of vials.
"One can never have enough potions, Master Conrad said that," Ta'Sava explained.
Conrad nodded in gratitude, slinging the bag over his shoulder. "No summoning more dremora while I'm gone, you three… got that?" he asked, looking at one of his students specifically.
"You make a mistake while under mortal peril once…" Sven groaned, trying and failing to hide his smile.
He hesitated for a moment before picking up his mother's ebony sword as well. "Well, I'm off to save the boy."
"And his friend, right?" Beta asked.
"Obviously," he answered on the doorstep. He hoped it didn't come down to having to pick between the boy and Sasuke. He stopped outside of the house as he found himself face to face with a certain Toad Sage, who was leaning against his non-existing porch, trying to look cooler than he actually was.
"Conrad," Jiraiya greeted him. No formalities? Fine by him. He was tired of hearing honorifics the whole day.
"Jiraiya," he acknowledged, closing the door.
"Going somewhere?" Jiraiya asked, eyes on his get up.
"Mh-mh. Planning to stop me?"
"Actually, I was planning to come with you," the shinobi replied. Conrad had not expected that.
"Say again?"
"I figured you wouldn't wait and that trying to reason with you would be a waste of time," Jiraiya shrugged. "Besides, it's Minato's son. Of course I'll help."
He might not like the man all that much, but Conrad wasn't too proud to see he could use the help. Especially since ninja were tricky bastards. Having a tricky bastard on his side too seemed prudent.
"Suit yourself," Conrad said. "Let's just go."
"Just one moment, I'll summon a toad to ride."
"A toad," Conrad repeated flatly.
"But of course! You're not as fast as a shinobi, so we're gonna need some means of transportation. Unless you want me to carry you."
Conrad looked at Jiraiya for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking or not, before deciding he didn't care. "Dur Neh Viir!" he shouted in the air, before looking at Jiraiya and completely ignoring the cursed dragon that had just appeared above them. Or the smell.
"Fine, no toads then…" Jiraiya huffed as the dragon landed nearby. Conrad turned to greet his old ally.
"Qahnaarin," Durnehviir's voice echoed through the clearing, speaking in Cyrodilic with the odd cadence dragons had. "It has not been long since the last time we spoke. Your brother sends his regards, he's eager to know how his offspring fares under your care."
Conrad winced. "Yeah… about that…"
"... you lost the Minatokiin?" the dragon asked, incredulous. Conrad was a bit offended that Durnehviir immediately assumed the worst, and frustrated that he couldn't argue otherwise.
"Hey, what's he saying? That was Minato's name, right?" Jiraiya demanded, looking torn between being in awe of being so close to a dragon and repelled by the stench. As if toads smelled better! Conrad ignored him.
"Someone took the boy. I'm going after them, along with this man who taught my brother," he gestured towards Jiraiya, who just kept staring between them. At least someone else was suffering because of the language barrier, for once.
"I'm not a carriage, Qahnaarin. I am not Odahviing to ferry you as you please," the dragon grumbled, clearly not liking the implications that he'd have to carry them. But Conrad had figured he'd say something like that.
"I know, Durnehviir, but I'm out of options," he said. Because toads or being carried like a baby weren't options, as far as he was concerned. "Do this for me, and once the boy is safe I'll owe you a duel."
The ancient dragon looked at him in silence for a moment, before speaking. "Only if you will refrain from using the Shout that undid Alduin."
"Deal," he said immediately. Having to fight a dragon without using Dragonrend? He'd slain dozens before he'd even learned the Shout existed. He'd been a wisp of a man, then, with barely a hint of a beard.
Durnehviir immediately turned, lowering his body as an offer to hop on his back.
"Get on, Jiraiya," he ordered as he found his place at the base of the dragon's neck.
"Why did he mention Minato?" Jiraiya asked as he climbed between Durnehviir's shoulders, apparently having decided that the smell wasn't that bad if it meant getting a ride on the cursed dragon.
"Because Minato wants to know if I'm taking care of Naruto," Conrad deadpanned, before turning around as he felt the man's stare on him. "What?"
"You… can communicate with Minato, who is eternally trapped in the Shinigami's stomach," Jiraiya said, clearly processing a lot of emotions along with those words. "And you never mentioned it. Why?"
Well, when you looked at it from his point of view, someone that had pretty much raised his brother… Not to mention he hadn't told Naruto either. In fairness, the Soul Cairn was the absolute last place he wanted to bring his nephew. Hopefully even an affection-starved stubborn orphan would see the logic in that.
"He's a dragon, Jiraiya, not a courier. Can we focus on the fate of my brother's soul later? After we assure his living sonis still, in fact, alive?" he demanded. There was too much going on at that very moment to deal with this. Jiraiya didn't protest, thankfully, but Conrad was painfully aware there would be an argument about it later.
He quickly cast his clairvoyance spell. The blue orb of light sped through the sky, showing the way.
"Follow that," Conrad ordered. Durnehviir started moving his massive wings. Someone was shouting at them, probably the masked guards that were 'hiding' around the house. He felt Jiraiya trying to get a better grip on the dragon's scales, and then they were soaring above Konoha.
He had missed this. Being in the air, the sensation of freedom, focusing on a clear objective instead of loitering around all day… anticipating being able to make someone that wronged him pay… Vengeance, it seemed, was something both the Nord and the dragon in him were in staunch agreement of.
"Er… Conrad?" Jiraiya tapped his shoulders, distracting him from pleasant thoughts.
"What?" he asked, and the only answer he got was Jiraiya pointing towards Durnehviir's tail. Or, more accurately, to the girl holding onto Dunrnehviir's tail for dear life.
"Please, make this thing land!" Sakura shrieked at the top of her lungs. She regretted everything, forever.
Somewhere under the fear she was feeling, she was pretty sure that the overgrown flying lizard was trying to shake her off its tail, given how it moved. Why hadn't they stopped when she had called them, asking to wait for her? And why had she thought that this was a good idea?!
Just as she was about to try to pump some chakra through her hands to get a better hold, she felt as if she was being pulled away. She lost her grip.
This was it, she thought, as panic spiked through her brain. She was dead. She was gonna plummet on someone's house and… and… she wasn't falling?
Sakura opened her eyes and saw that Jiraiya of the Sannin had grabbed her by her backpack and was pulling her towards the relative safety of the dragon's back. Before she knew it, she found herself sitting between a shinobi legend and the brother of another one. Who could summon dragons and was turning around as much as he could to glare at her.
"Girl. What were you thinking?" Naruto's uncle bit out furiously.
Sakura stared at him for a moment. The man was dressed for war, clad in heavy steel plate, battered and well-worn in a style utterly foreign to the Elemental Nations. Just a few months ago she would have been nervous about upsetting a scary man like him, but Sakura's team had faced Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, the Jinchuuriki of Sunagakure during the invasion and dealt with the fact that their teammate was a walking bundle of S-Rank secrets. Which, in any other circumstance, would've led her to ask herself how was this her life now.
"I knew you'd do something to save Naruto and Sasuke. I want to help, too! They're my teammates!" she told him. After all, those who abandoned their teammates were worse than trash.
He looked like he was about to argue, but much to her surprise he turned to look forward. Then a bag was thrust in her lap. "Take care of that for me," he said without looking back. "You'll do as you're told, when you're told, and you won't protest. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," she answered, holding the bag against her chest. At that, the Nord did that tracking jutsu of his again, and barked another order at the dragon.
Sakura felt the Toad Sage's hand landing firmly on her shoulder. She wondered if it was to praise her for having successfully joined their rescue mission, or to ensure that she didn't slip and fall as the dragon suddenly veered and changed direction.
Owl and his fellow ANBU watched as the dragon flew away.
"Sir, I want to quit," one of them said. "Maybe I'll get a job at the Academy. It will be less stressful."
Owl didn't disagree. But they still had a job to do. At his signal, the team started to chase the dragon.
They had been following Harissen-san's spell for hours now, and it was getting colder than Sakura had expected. Must have been because of the altitude, she reasoned. She wondered if she could get warmer using chakra somehow, but she wouldn't know where to start with it despite her advanced chakra control.
Truth be told, despite her initial bravado she wasn't sure what help she could be, aside from carrying a bag full of potions. She knew she was weak, but she wanted to help. She had to.
Even if she didn't necessarily know how.
Naruto's uncle repeated that jutsu of his once again, and the blue light split in two, surprising them all. One kept moving through the sky, the other fell into the forest below them. Sakura didn't know the man's language, but she could tell he had swore something nasty. She also knew why he sounded so worried.
If he had been using the jutsu to track Naruto and it suddenly pointed in two different directions…
Before her mind could conjure a series of worrying scenarios to explain that, the man yelled something to the dragon and before Sakura could register it they were diving into the forest, breaking through the canopy and shattering tree branches like they were twigs. A heartbeat later, the dragon had landed in the forest. Just in front of an understandably startled genin wearing orange clothes.
Naruto, because of course it was Naruto, stared slack-jawed at the dragon looming over him, a mix of awe and fear on his face. Until he saw the trio perched on the dragon's shoulders.
"Uncle? Ero-Sennin? What are you doing here?!"
"That's our question, boy," Harrisen-san told him, sliding off the dragon and walking towards his nephew. He didn't look happy now that he'd found Naruto, Sakura noticed. She was, obviously, but she would express that later.
She jumped off the dragon, landing right in front of Naruto. "You absolute jerk!"
"Wha一Sakura-chan?! You're here too?!" he had the gall to ask.
"Of course I'm here! My teammates got kidnapped, what was I supposed to do?!" she demanded, trying to grab him and shake him until he told her what happened and where Sasuke was.
"Woah woah, hang on! Don't!" Naruto exclaimed, taking a few steps back and raising his hands. "I'll poof away!"
Sakura's eyes widened in realization. "You're a clone."
"Well, duh! The real me is still chasing the jerks that got Sasuke!" the shadow clone told her, gesturing wildly to the forest behind him.
At that, Naruto's uncle stepped forward, and Sakura felt the need to take a couple of steps sideways. "Explain," he ordered.
"So, yesterday the real me was having the sleepover at Sasuke's place, and Sakura couldn't come because her parents don't like boys or something like that一"
"Boy!" Harrisen-san exclaimed, making it clear that his patience had grown thin.
"Some weirdos attacked us and got Sasuke, they knocked the real me out, but then he got up and chased after them," Naruto's clone said quickly.
"... alone? Without telling anyone?" Jiraiya asked, having joined the group. His exasperation was oddly comforting to Sakura.
"That's why I'm here!" the clone explained. "The real me created me to go back to Konoha and tell everyone!"
There was a loud, disappointed sigh at that. "Do you… does he realize how long he's been missing?!" Conrad asked loudly.
"Yeah, but they got Sasuke! He'd do the same!" Naruto's clone protested even louder, and Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Why didn't he use clones to raise the alarm? He uses them for everything!" his uncle countered. To which Sakura had to agree as well. "I swear, if he was here, I'd一"
"Hang on, Conrad," Jiraiya interrupted, putting a hand on the man's shoulder before looking at the clone. "Naruto, I need you to tell me everything, as much as you can. I'll send a messenger toad to Konoha, it would be faster than you anyway."
"Hey!" the clone exclaimed, crossing his arms indignantly. Sakura wondered how fast a toad summon could be.
"Then you can dispel yourself... after Conrad will have some words with you," the Toad Sage continued, ready to write down a message.
"Why would I want to berate a shadow clone?" Naruto's uncle asked, clearly confused.
"Because Naruto will get the clone's memories."
Naruto froze mid-jump, almost missing the tree branch he had been aiming for. He still managed to land on it, and looked back where he had come from. Where his clone had gone a few hours ago.
All of his uncle's stories about dragons were true. A tiny part of him had suspected that not everything he'd heard was real, it was all right out of a fairy tale! And yet, now, for some reason… Also, he had the sudden sensation that if he didn't stop where he was and waited, his uncle would be very, very mad at him.
But he couldn't stop! Those guys got Sasuke, and they had kept saying stuff about Orochimaru this and Orochimaru that whenever Naruto had gotten close enough to hear them. And everything involving that creepy snake guy was bad news, in Naruto's opinion.
"I'm gonna be grounded forever," he whined to himself, before continuing.
They kept flying through the night, passing over the Valley of the End and then further north.
During that time, Jiraiya had explained about Orochimaru and the past of the Sannin, which Naruto's uncle didn't seem to be very interested in.
"So, this Orochimaru used to be your friend and then turned evil?" he had asked in a way that sounded like he had heard a similar story way too many times. But Sakura had not heard such a story before. Had the situation been different, she'd have gladly asked questions. Instead, she had huddled herself in the blanket she had put in her backpack along with some other supplies, and listened.
She listened to the tale of when the three of them were just genin, under the tutelage of the Sandaime. She listened to how they faced Hanzo the Salamander, and how they drifted apart later.
Dawn came, and Sakura saw how different the land below them was compared to the Land of Fire. Large valleys between tall mountains had given way to rice paddies. There was some woodland, especially far from the occasional village, but nothing like the sea of trees around Konoha she was familiar with.
It was beautiful.
"The Land of Rice," Jiraiya commented. "Although some people started to call it the Land of Sound."
"Both of those names are terrible," Naruto's uncle said. "Just like your 'Land of Fire'."
"Says the man that comes from a place called 'the Rim of the Sky'."
"It's 'Skyrim' and you know it," Harrisen-san retorted, turning around to glare at the Sannin.
Sakura yawned, having stayed up the whole night. Maybe a bit louder than she had to, but if it stopped two grown men from arguing about the name of countries, where was the harm in it?
"Girl, open the bag. Drink one of the green potions, and then give one to the Old Toad too," Naruto's uncle told her, as he drank one of the vials he had on his belt.
Sakura did as instructed, grateful that she could distinguish them by the color of their contents, since she couldn't read the labels. She immediately felt the instinct to spit the foul mixture, but somehow managed to hold it down. The aftertaste was somehow worse, lingering for what felt like forever. Then the fatigue from the lack of sleep started disappearing, and Sakura felt as if she was ready to take on a whole training session with Gai-sensei of all people.
"Say, Harissen-san… what are the other potions like?" she asked as she put the empty vial back. After all, if she had to carry them around, she'd need to know what they were for.
Naruto's uncle seemed to agree with that, since he started explaining. "The red ones will heal you. The blue ones are for fueling my spells, don't drink those."
"So, are they like chakra?" she asked.
"No, it's magicka. Very different. Just don't drink it, Divines know what will happen," he said.
"My money is on an imbalance between the spiritual and physical energies of whoever drinks it," Jiraiya said behind her. "But Tsunade-hime decided to not test it yet."
"Alright… what about these?" Sakura asked, looking at other vials that were neither green, blue or red. The mage turned around to glance at the bag's contents.
"Those will magnify your strength," he pointed.
"Like a soldier pill?" They certainly tasted bad enough to qualify… someone should figure out how to make these concoctions more appealing.
"Yeah, sure," he said dismissively as he sent out his tracking spell once again. Did he even know what a soldier pill was? "The other ones instead will一hang on…"
His voice drifted off as the blue light changed direction, the three of them and the dragon following it with their eyes.
"There," the mage told them, pointing towards a low mountain his spell was moving towards.
He yelled something at the Dragon, and the beast flew higher, keeping the rising sun on its back to hide from any onlookers and giving them a good vantage point to look at their objective. Sakura had to squint her eyes, but she could make out some buildings built on the side of a cliff.
"Otogakure," Jiraiya said, having produced a spyglass. After observing through it for a while, he offered it to Naruto's uncle. "Here, just put it near one of your eyes, like this, and一"
"We have these in Tamriel, too!" the man hissed, demonstrating that he knew how to use one. Sakura would've felt upset that she had not been offered the spyglass, had she not been told by Naruto what the Sannin used it for.
"What do you see?" Jiraiya asked, sounding just like Kakashi-sensei when he asked something he already knew.
"A few entrances… easy to defend. The complex goes deep in the mountain… it's probably full of chokepoints and traps."
"How do you know that, Harissen-san?" Sakura asked.
"I spent more time underground than you've been alive, girl," he answered, making Sakura briefly wonder if Naruto's uncle literally lived under a rock. "The stone formations down there look weird, though."
"They must have used some earth jutsu during its construction," Jiraiya explained.
"How in the names of Aedra and Deadra did the boy manage to get in there?"
"The kid is more resourceful than he looks," Jiraiya sighed, sounding both proud and irritated. Sakura wasn't sure if she was supposed to defend Naruto or not. The Sannin sort of had a point. "But we better get there and save him and Uchiha Sasuke."
"Right," Conrad nodded, offering back the spyglass. Then he started to cast some other spells, different from the one he'd used the whole night. Blue light swam into existence around her in whisps, before making Sakura feel all tingly as it washed over her and sank into her skin.
"What was that?" she asked.
"Your skin is now as hard as iron," the man told her, as he kept going through other motions. Other spells, Sakura figured, for himself. "It should last long enough, but should it end you have a potion for that. Make sure you don't rely too much on this. You're harder to hurt, not invulnerable."
Sakura looked at her hands. She didn't feel any different, but experimentally poked one of her fingers on a kunai's tip. It barely hurt at all, and she was sure it would probably come in handy.
"So, time to start a rescue mission," Jiraiya exclaimed. "Luckily for you, I have a cunning plan一"
Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine, as something echoed from the mountain. It wasn't a sound, it was more a change in the air pressure. It was probably pretty far away from them, but she recognised it.
She had felt something like that when her team had fought with Gaara, during the invasion. An intense bloodlust, a promise of violence.
"What in Oblivion was that?" Harrisen-san asked them.
"... nevermind the plan," Jiraiya said quickly. "We have to go. We have to go right now."
At that, Naruto's uncle said something to the dragon, before turning back to them with a grin. It was a grin that Sakura knew would give little kids nightmares.
"Hold tight," he ordered. And then the dragon flexed its big wings, starting to fly as fast as it could towards the mountain. The summoned creature roared. Sakura's blanket was lost in the wind, and by looking at how close the entrance was getting, she realized that the dragon wasn't going to slow down.
"W-wait… is it gonna stop, or一"
"Get ready to jump," he told her.
"What do you mean 'jump'?!" Sakura yelped. She could see the gate's planks by now.
Then, in unison, the dragon and rider yelled the same three words. For a heartbeat, there was no sound at all. Sakura felt Jiraiya grabbing her. Next thing she knew, the world exploded in a cacophony of splintered wood and the groaning of shattered stone as the two of them landed in front of the entrance in a blur of motion.
"Kakashi should make you work on your landings," the Sannin joked. Sakura wanted to glare at him, but her eyes stopped as she looked inside the now destroyed gate. Pulverized was a better word. It was like a giant fist had smashed right through it, leaving nothing but rubble and debris and the less than intact remains of the ninja that had been unlucky enough to be standing too close.
Before the surviving shinobi that had been guarding the gate could react they were hit by a gale of ice, straight from the dragon's mouth. Then the beast descended on them. There was an audible sound of bones being crushed, and swallowing noises that made Sakura sick.
And standing tall among the rubble, was Harissen Conrad.
"Mul Qah Diiv!" he shouted, and a fiery aura wrapped around him, similar to multicolored flames that went to form a long tail. It settled into an ethereal mantle of plated scales with jagged edges, crowned with menacing horns.
The draconic resemblance was undeniable, and unnerving. Sakura had not seen it before, but she recognized it from the story Naruto and Sasuke had told her. It had been so outlandish, even if Sasuke confirmed every word despite Naruto's habit of exaggerating everything. But seeing is believing, and Sakura was seeing a lot today.
Then, he walked into Otogakure, slowing down only to deal with whoever tried to stop him, either shooting magic from his staff or cutting them down with that axe of his.
Not all of them died immediately. Some were burned to twitching, charred figures. Others wailed, losing blood from their missing chunks or limbs. All of them screamed.
Sakura had seen people die before. But this… not even during the invasion she had witnessed such brutality.
Part of her expected Jiraiya to comfort her somehow. Tell her that they were enemies, or not to look.
So, when the Sannin let her go, walking into the gaping maw that led to the depths of the mountain, she could only stare at his back as he threw some kunai to finish off some particularly loud wounded.
She could only look, fighting back tears.
She had chosen to be here. Just like she had chosen to be a kunoichi. Had she really thought that she could be one without seeing such things?
Somehow, asking herself that helped taking a step, and then another, and another and then fall in formation.
It didn't stop her from hurling when she smelled the scent of burnt flesh.
Orochimaru was upset.
His Sound Four had successfully grabbed Sasuke, who was unfortunately an unwilling participant, but they'd failed to shake off the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki in the process.
Under normal circumstances, Naruto-kun wasn't skilled enough to pose much of a threat, all wild attacks and no true skill. Except the tailed beast inside him made it near impossible for his minions to put him down. He wasn't quite rampaging, not yet, but they could barely keep him contained. Not to mention the continuous waves of malicious Bijuu chakra were somewhat distracting. He was beginning to think that he'd have to step in and deal with it himself when the world thundered.
As the shockwaves ceased, he couldn't help but look up as dust fell from the ceiling, eyes narrowing. Something was wrong. Even with the Kyuubi sealed inside him, the Uzumaki brat shouldn't be able to do the kind of damage that would be felt all the way in the lower levels.
"Were the seals damaged?" he quickly asked.
"No, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto answered as he checked the coffin. "They're still intact."
Orochimaru felt a quick shadow of relief. Had they been damaged, Sasuke could've died as his cursed seal reached the second level. And that would've been an incredible waste. A dead host would serve no purpose, Sharingan or not.
"Go help the others in containing the Jinchuuriki," he ordered. "Try to do a better job than you did with the one from Suna."
Kabuto was too skilled a shinobi to openly frown at the reminder of that failure, but he needed to be reminded of what it had cost him. Namely, weeks slowly and painfully growing back some limbs. Still, he obeyed like the good servant he was.
"Send Kimimaro," Orochimaru added as Kabuto walked by, almost as an afterthought.
"Kimimaro, sir?"
"He's dying… let this be his final service to me," he explained. Kabuto nodded, and left the room.
Orochimaru was now alone… alone with the prize he had desired for years. The next stage of the cursed seal would make Sasuke more agreeable, he thought. A taste of power, and the promise of much more.
He could train Sasuke for a while, dangling a path to reach his revenge against Itachi in front of his eyes to make him stronger. And even if he refused… Well, Orochimaru would have to choose between keeping him in a cell for a few years and strengthening his body through some experiments, or make the sacrifice of living as a twelve-year old for a little while.
"Soon…" he told himself. Soon the Sharingan would be his.
Despite being overall annoying and having a twisted culture and priorities, shinobi weren't stupid. They had adapted quickly, so instead of aiming for the thickest parts of his armor, they were trying to stab him between the relatively unprotected joints and gaps. Or straight at his head.
Sadly for them, his skin was made of sterner stuff. At least, as long as the Shout and his magical wards held.
A trio of kunai pinged off uselessly on his ethereal scales, and Conrad spat fire in the direction of the source. He parried a blade with the flat of his axe, unleashing a lightning bolt at the fool that thought it would've been enough to aim for his head as they forged ahead.
The dungeon was built deep into the earth, with concrete and stone and strange pipes humming and hissing all around them. The corridors were built tall and wide enough for two Dwemer Centurions to walk comfortably side by side, just big enough for Durnehviir to be at their backs.
"It has been too long since I've done battle below the earth," he rumbled, which made the girl look back nervously.
Conrad paid them no mind, whispering to himself instead. "Laas Yah Niir."
He opened his eyes. There was a veritable firmament of souls beyond the walls around them. Mostly below them, but a few were even above. They swarmed in a manic frenzy like a beehive that someone had foolishly tossed a stone at. Others seemed to remain still, as if to guard their positions. He ignored them all, his eyes homing in on the soul he could not mistake for anyone else's.
Naruto's soul was like a beacon among a swarm of torchbugs, thanks to the creature in him. A creature that, in some way, rivaled a dragon. And it was angry, he could tell even from this distance. Naruto was fighting, and the beast was rattling against the cage that was the boy's body.
A soul winked into being nearby in a way that was all too similar to a conjurer summoning a dremora. It was shaped strangely, elongated and clearly inhuman. Before he could blink, a long serpentine body emerged from the darkness, charging at them with large fangs dripping sickly green venom. More followed.
Giant snakes. He scoffed. What was a snake, to a dragon?
Durnehviir must have thought something along those lines, because his jaws closed on the first reptile's head, crushing it to a pulp and ripping apart its flesh.
"Orochimaru's summons," Jiraiya said, forming hand-seals as the beasts circled around them. "He must have assigned them to protect the一"
"Just kill them already!" Conrad roared, firing a ray of lightning from his staff, which cracked and burned the scales of his target and made its body convulse and spasm as it died. Then the other beasts lunged, and it was the time for the steel and fangs.
As he introduced his axe to the skull of a particularly nasty-looking viper, there was a puff of smoke that briefly covered the battlefield. From it, of all things, emerged a bunch of toads armed with an array of wicked-looking weapons, all clad in ornate battle armor as well. And guiding them, of course, was Jiraiya.
Conrad felt insulted from the deepest parts of his soul at the suggestion that he needed help to deal with such worms. But they needed to get to the boy as quickly as possible. He took advantage of the distraction provided by the toads and summoned his own reinforcements. Fire atronachs, who immediately rushed towards a new wave of snakes in a haze of fire and flame. A purple snake was thrown at his feet in the ensuing chaos, and he ruthlessly crushed it under his boot.
He caught sight of a flash of pink on his left, as the girl dodged the serpents' bites by jumping the way shinobi did, sending a hail of kunai at them. That didn't deter the reptiles, at least until the small scrolls attached to their hilt detonated, killing the smaller ones. The largest, which was as wide as a cart, only got enraged and slithered towards the girl at an alarming speed, ignoring the toads that were fighting its brethren in its path.
Conrad finished off a particularly annoying and slippery one, hastily starting to cast a spell to throw at the bigger snake, but then Durnehviir pounced on it, like a cat would pounce on some vermin to toy with them before going for the kill. Except that the dragon wasn't playing with its food.
Feeling a tinge of satisfaction, he adjusted his aim to the next foe, unleashed another lightning bolt and went back to hacking. Much to his surprise and disappointment, he missed his mark. Not by lack of skill, but because the intended target disappeared in a puff of smoke, which his axe passed through.
He scanned for another target, only to realize that the surviving snakes were retreating. Either by slithering away in the dark, or by retreating to whatever place they had been summoning from. Especially the ones closer to Durnehviir or him.
There was some rejoicing from the toads, and taunting that made Conrad wonder if there was bad blood between the two groups.
Whatever. He wasn't going to question it. He sent the atronachs after the snakes, just in case, then they kept marching. The amphibians and Durnehviir formed a rearguard while Conrad walked ahead of everyone else, checking which direction to go with his spell.
It didn't take long until they reached a new passage. Namely one that had a variety of smaller tunnels and stairways branching off from the area they were in. They would take one to move further down the ninja base, and closer to the boy. Boys. Whatever.
Conrad had walked down for less than ten steps when he and his companions were stopped by a snarl and the sound of something grinding against stone and concrete. He turned and stared for a few seconds, as he processed what he was seeing.
Durnehviir, the great necromancer dragon of the Merethic era, was doing his best to fit through a passage that wasn't large enough for his form. And looked as cross as a cat that couldn't catch a mouse.
One of the toad summons snickered but quickly shut it when Durnehviir's head turned towards him. Then he started to push against the tunnel's frame, the stone groaning as he tried to go further in.
"Durnehviir, stop!" Conrad ordered, speaking above the sounds of protests of the nearby architecture. Tiny bits of debris ominously came loose from the ceiling and the walls.
"I should just Shout my way through this wretched vipers' nest,"the dragon hissed.
"You could, but then you'd bring the whole place on our heads," Conrad said sternly. "We'll keep going from here, you stay here to keep our escape route open."
The dragon didn't look amused at the order.
"You can always pick off whoever will try to cut us off," Conrad added. Durnehviir grumbled, but after a reminder that he was already promised a battle he reluctantly stood guard and watched as they went further.
Jiraiya ordered the summoned toads to split and check the rest of the complex, just to be sure. Then, down they went, a trail of death marking their progress behind them. He was closer than ever to Naruto. He could only hope he made it in time.
At first, Sakura had thought that the room they had found on the way deeper in the mountain was a clinic or hospital. There were beds and medical equipment all over the place, along with some machines Sakura didn't recognise.
Then she noticed the restraints on the beds' frames, which were bolted to the floor.
A prison, then? She could see various doors in a nearby hallway, and they all looked sturdy. But that didn't fit either, why would there be so much machinery in a prison?
Her current teammates were taking in the room as well. The Toad Sage's mouth was a thin line, as he picked some papers from a nearby desk, while Naruto's uncle seemed… wary, as he approached some of the machines.
She moved to get a closer look. Inside a large glass container filled with a strange liquid there was a… thing. A small blob of flesh almost completely covered in bone plates, which had calcified the joints of the limbs she could still see. In another there was a girl, whose arms had been replaced or turned into tree branches.
They appeared to be dead, and Sakura couldn't decide if that was a tragedy or a mercy.
"Your… friend… did this?" Harissen-san asked, his eyes never leaving the floating bodies.
"He's not been a friend for a long time," Jiraiya answered, putting down the papers. "We should keep going."
Naruto's uncle seemed to agree with the sentiment, since he was staring at the room as if he wanted to set it on fire.
"Leaving already? But you just got here," a voice echoed oddly in the room. Sakura turned around and took a step back from the glass container she was standing next to. A heartbeat ago she'd have sworn it was only a canister full of liquid. Now, though, a boy was trapped inside it, with light blue hair and a smirk that revealed pointy teeth like a shark. The lower part of his body dissolved seamlessly into the water inside the tank, but he didn't seem to be bothered by this.
"A Hozuki from Kirigakure?" Jiraiya-sama guessed as he examined the boy. Sakura didn't recognise the name, but she guessed it was associated with whatever the boy's bloodline limit was. "Orochimaru really is collecting all the strays he can get."
"Hey, screw you, old man! It's not like I had a choice in being stuck here," the boy snapped.
"Are you a prisoner here?" Sakura asked.
"Duh," he answered, tapping his fingers against the thick glass. "I get why those two are here—they look pretty strong—but why did you tag along?"
Sakura shot him an annoyed look. He may have been right, but he didn't have to say it.
"What do you want from us?" Harissen-san asked, having come closer to get a look.
"Dang, I don't know. What could a guy trapped in a giant glass jar want?"
"Keep up the sass and we'll leave you here," Sakura pointed out.
"Aw, come on... that wouldn't be very nice. If you were crazy enough to attack Orochimaru's base, you must know what he does to his prisoners," the boy said, and despite the sarcastic tone, something in the last words made Sakura pause. She remembered the Sound team in the exams, and the modifications done to their bodies.
At that, Harissen-san grunted and started to walk away. "We're not here to save you." The cold logic in his voice gave Sakura the abrupt realization that he wasn't acting normal. At least, not when he was wreathed in a spectral dragon-like aura and his eyes didn't even look human anymore.
"Oi, oi! Don't be like that! I can be useful, you know!" the boy said in a hurry, looking between the three of them. "You said that you're not here to save me, but you're here to save someone else, right? I can help with that!"
Those words made Naruto's uncle stop. "How?"
"I can help you find whoever it is."
"I can find them by myself," Harrisen-san countered, looking unimpressed.
"Oh, so you're a sensor?" the boy asked. "Sure, whatever, but I know my way around the place!"
Instead of replying to the boy, Harissen-san looked at Jiraiya as if to ask his opinion.
The Sage made an odd noise with his mouth, as if he didn't like what he was going to say. "In normal circumstances, freeing a prisoner of unknown allegiance would not be a good idea. Ignoring that we'd be idiots to trust you. Why should we believe you even know your way around if you were locked up here like a glorified lab specimen?"
Sakura couldn't help but imagine some Sound-nin carrying the boy's container around the underground base. Like a human-sized goldfish in a matching bowl.
"It wasn't always like this, I was lured here with the offer of a refuge from the bloodline purges back in Kirigakure. Didn't take long for them to reveal that they wanted to figure out how mine works, but I had plenty of time to walk around the place."
The Nord's head turned towards the containers with the bodies of Orochimaru's victims. "So, you want revenge?"
"I want to get out of here! I'll help if you free me, but I just want to leave. Please…" the boy begged.
As the silence grew longer, Sakura decided to speak up. "Naruto would help him."
That made the two men look at each other. "We can always deal with him if he betrays us," Jiraiya of the Sannin pointed out.
"If he betrays us, I'll boil him," Harissen-san promised, as lightning coursed over his fingertips.
"Wow, way to gain my loyalty, old man."
Without warning, Naruto's uncle took a few steps back towards the container, grabbed an important-looking tube and ripped it off. Water started to gush out and with a startled yelp the boy tumbled out of the broken pipe, reforming face-down on the floor. Naked.
Of course he was naked, Sakura realized as she looked away, embarrassed. There weren't clothes floating in the tank, after all.
"A little warning next time?!" the boy snapped as he stumbled to his feet. "Man, I hate passing through ducts, but it feels good to be out… er… I don't suppose you guys have any spare clothes?"
There was a rustling of fabric at that. Sakura waited a few more seconds before risking a glance. The boy was now wearing Jiraiya's red haori, which looked almost like a dress given the difference in height between him and the Sannin.
"Much better. The name's Suigetsu. Nice to meet you!"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto's uncle hurried him along, as the group went back to moving. "Now, do you know where Orochimaru may keep Sasuke?"
"Who?" Suigetsu asked, puzzled.
"Ah, yes. I can see how freeing you paid off," the man muttered without looking back.
"Hey, it's not like I'm introduced to all the new prisoners! But I happen to know that if your friend is one of the new arrivals, he was probably taken to the lower levels deep down the mountain. That's where the prison is, but there are a few traps and some nasty guards there."
"We wasted enough time as it is. We'll take care of them, after we rescue the boy. He's closer," the Harrisen-san declared.
"Huh… sure, whatever you say," Suigetsu said, before whispering to Sakura. "What's this guy's problem?"
"Normally he's nicer than this, just… a bit rough around the edges. It's that aura of his, I think," Sakura whispered back, but she wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure their temporary ally or herself. After all, this was Naruto's only family. The idea that this was what Naruto would have to deal with for the foreseeable future made her uneasy.
"If you say so一wait… are we walking towards the evil, scary chakra?" he asked, having noticed the turn they were taking. "We can avoid that, you know."
Sakura shook her head. "We can't. That's one of my teammates we came for."
One of Jiraiya's hands landed gently but firmly on Suigetsu's shoulder, to reassure him and probably to ensure the flabbergasted missing-nin wouldn't try to run away.
"Welcome to our rescue mission, Hozuki Suigetsu."
Conrad had barely listened to the protests of the reluctant new member of their little party. As they kept advancing through halls and stairways, they found no more resistance, but plenty of signs of a struggle.
The boy had passed through here. By now, Conrad didn't even need the clairvoyance spell to figure out in which direction he had to go. Every step they took in the right direction felt like they were walking towards their graves. A vile malevolent pressure choked at the air.
If Jiraiya felt dread for the malice and hatred emanating from Naruto, Conrad found solace in it. As long as the monster trapped inside of him kept doing that, it meant that the boy was still alive.
"There! Done!" a voice echoed from further ahead. "Why did that take so long?"
"It's your fault, fatass! You're too slow!" another voice snapped.
"Oh, here we go again…" a third one groaned. "We could've contained this thing much more quickly if you two weren't bickering during the fight!"
There were some protests at that, but Conrad couldn't hear them as he broke into a sprint towards the chamber.
The first thing he saw was a magical barrier shaped roughly like a cube in the middle of the room, which looked like it was made of purple flames. He had seen it before, during the invasion of Konoha. Four figures were sitting in the corners of the cube, protected by another barrier that made it impossible to reach them.
And trapped inside, was the boy. Who was throwing himself against the barrier repeatedly, roaring like a caged animal.
No, that wasn't Naruto. Naruto's eyes didn't have a burning glow like a dremora's. Naruto was fast, but he didn't move on all fours with speed that belonged to beasts, and not men.
When the thing trapped inside of his nephew sensed his presence and locked eyes with him, Conrad knew that this was the monster that murdered his brother.
Conrad heard Jiraiya saying something about a number and tails, but he got distracted by someone trying to chop off his head.
A quick ward focused on his staff blocked the sword. As part of him noticed that it looked like it had been fashioned out of a human spine, he prepared to blow the pale, haggard figure wielding it straight to Sithis... only for Jiraiya to show up out of nowhere, a glowing sphere rotating in his hand.
He guessed that Minato had liked sharing his secrets a bit, unlike most shinobi.
"I had him," he said, as the enemy's body crashed down on the other side of the room in a twisted, undignified heap.
"Sure you did," Jiraiya snorted. Whatever retort Conrad could come up with was silenced by the roar echoing through the chamber.
The people holding the barrier in place exclaimed in panic, some yelling about the swordsman dying and others ordering their teammates to not move, to not disrupt the seals.
Conrad didn't care about them, he had eyes only for the boy. The boy, whose eyes resembled two pieces of burning coal. Whose nails had become like claws. Covered by that accursed cloak of chakra that formed a single tail. And that seemed to be less reasonable than some berserkers Conrad met during his travels, as he tried to break down the barrier with his bare hands, searing and splitting his skin and gaining only deep burn marks in the process. He had the inkling that had it not been for the monster inside of him, the barrier would've done much more damage to Naruto. The boy's wounds were already healing between the ring and whatever that aura was doing but it was still a jarring sight.
He had to stop him.
"The longer he remains like this, the higher the chances the seal will break," Jiraiya said, as he produced a stack of paper tags and a paintbrush. "I can dispel the barrier, but after that一"
"Feim," Conrad murmured, his body turning ghostly and ethereal just before walking through the barrier, much to the shock of the ninja maintaining it.
"Or you could just do whatever you want without consulting me, that works too," Jiraiya muttered as Naruto lunged for Conrad. He harmlessly passed through his intangible body, slamming face-first against the exact spot in the barrier where Conrad had passed through. Conrad couldn't help but wince at the sight of his nephew hissing in pain, even if his new injuries were already healing.
Then, the magic of the Thu'um ended, and Conrad felt once again solid. But instead of attacking again, the possessed boy started circling around him, growling warily and probably confused by what had happened. Or maybe the Kyuubi was the confused one, Conrad couldn't tell. Part of him knew that trapping himself in an enclosed space with a Jinchuuriki was a bad idea, even if he had never fought one. But it didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he had found Naruto. Now it was just a matter of not being killed by him.
At least he could trust that Jiraiya would take care of things if his plan didn't work.
"Are you in there, boy? I don't suppose you could calm down by yourself?" he asked. "I can stop you, Naruto. But please don't make me. You would not like it."
Naruto's only response was to growl louder and bull-rush at Conrad before he could blink. Next thing he knew the world blurred around him and he hit the ground with the back of his head, the sounds his armor made echoing into the chamber.
His mind was protesting about how Naruto shouldn't be able to make a fully grown man in heavy armor fall down. Not if he expected the genin's strength, at least. Then he stopped when he realized that this wasn't Naruto's strength, and the boy was looming over him. The chakra around his body seemed to move and bubble, forming a large clawed hand that mimicked the boy's movements.
Eyes widening, Conrad realized that the Kyuubi had decided to skewer the surviving twin. He raised his staff between them, which felt a bit awkward given the position he was in, and conjured the strongest ward he could sustain just in time to stop the strike. Barely, for it seemed that the Kyuubi wasn't interested in stopping.
Conrad told himself that he had tried. Then, he shouted. "Gol Hah Dov!"
Every Shout felt different. Become Ethereal was total freedom, like you could fly away with the wind. Unrelenting Force was immovable strength, where the world would crumble away before you budged an inch. Bend Will was total domination, the hunger for power in every dragon's soul. Domination over their weaker brethren and lesser creatures. Over everything that wasn't a dragon. Even over other dragons.
If Paarthurnax had gone against the nature of what it meant to be a dragon, against the lust for power and destruction, had worked all those years against the evil he once was, Bend Will was embracing all of it and more.
The boy's body froze, his eyes widening in confusion, as if neither Naruto or the beast could understand what was happening.
"Go back in your seal," Conrad snarled, his voice brimming with command despite struggling up from the floor. After effects of the shout, or perhaps because his dragon soul was cloaked around him like ghostly armor. Naruto's eyes, still ember-red, met his.
The Dovah and the Bijuu, both monsters of myth and legend, stared at each other. Unlike the time at the hospital, both were closer to the surface. One, with looser reins on his own nature, the other pushing against the seal that imprisoned it.
Bend Will could stop a raging dragon, forcing it to do the unthinkable and submit against every instinct of their soul. Conrad could see, feel the way it had halted the beast in its tracks, its hold over his nephew shaken but not cut. The Kyuubi was confused, but that wasn't all.
Fear. The Nine-Tailed Fox was afraid of not being able to control his own actions.
Good.
"Crawl back to your cell, beast," Conrad snarled again. It gave one last, defiant growl, then it had no choice as it was forced back into the depths of its prison. Suddenly all that was left was a bewildered boy. His body was still surrounded by the deep orange aura, but his eyes were once again blue. The oppressive malice in his chakra was absent.
"Uncle?" he asked, clearly confused by his surroundings. "What are you一oh no. I… did I…"
"Boy, please get off me. You're heavier than you look," he grunted.
"Oh, er, sorry," the boy quickly moved out of the way and apologized even further. Something about not being able to control himself and that he was sorry. Well, he better be, but that's not what he needed right now.
"Boy, calm down. It's alright. Some of my best friends are werewolves, and they do get a bit rough every now and then," he tried to reassure him, noticing that Kyuubi's aura was still there. "How're you feeling?"
Naruto looked at his hands, or, more specifically, at his nails, before poking his enlarged canines. Conrad hoped that wasn't permanent. It would be difficult to explain to the people of Whiterun. "I dunno… kinda weird. Uncle, listen…"
Conrad interrupted Naruto by putting a hand on his shoulder. The Kyuubi's chakra clashed oddly against the Dragon Aspect aura, but the kid still needed a bit of a pep talk.
"Later, boy. Later, we will talk," Conrad promised. "But right now, we need to get you out of here."
"Right… we also need to find Sasuke!"
"Of course," Conrad conceded. And as he finished talking, the barrier broke apart. Before Conrad could blink, there was the sound of a body falling on the ground and by the time he looked Jiraiya was already on one of the other shinobi. There was another blur as the two last ones tried to run for it, and at least one of them got a kunai in their back before they could escape.
"Are we done here, then?" Jiraiya asked, his eyes piercing Conrad. The Nord just knew that the old shinobi would ask him a lot of questions later, about what he had just done. Great.
Naruto startled before brightening up. It was an interesting contrast to the coat of chakra still surrounding him. "Ero-Sennin? And Sakura-chan!"
Sakura began to rush forward, as if to hug him, but Jiraiya's hand shot out and grabbed her by the back of her shirt. "Careful, kiddo. That chakra is incredibly caustic."
At that, Sakura visibly paled. "Hey, Naruto. Are you… alright?"
"I think so? I don't know how to turn this off," he admitted, looking at his hands. Then he looked up with a bright smile, but whatever he wanted to say was forgotten the moment he spotted the blue-haired boy. "Wait, who are you?"
"The name's Suigetsu. Who are you?"
"He's Naruto, one of my teammates," Sakura explained, making introductions. "He's Harissen-san's nephew."
At that, Suigetsu looked between Naruto and Conrad, and more importantly, the auras surrounding their bodies. "Yeah, I can see the family resemblance."
"Just show us the way to the prison level," Conrad ordered.
"Right! Sasuke!" Naruto yelped, having remembered his personal priorities.
Conrad rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're rescuing him too." And one by one the group left the room. Conrad was the last one, having stopped to glance at the bodies laying down where Jiraiya had struck them down.
He couldn't help but wonder how old they had been. Probably not much more than the boy or the other children... who had barely reacted at the sight. Conrad couldn't decide what disturbed him the most.
Tightening the hold on his staff, he steeled himself. He could feel sorry about people that had tried to hurt the boy later, once he was safe and away from this accursed continent.
Well, hope you people enjoyed that! Best case scenario, the second part should be ready in a couple of weeks.
Anyway! Omake time:
Instead of charging onwards Naruto's uncle had asked the dragon to land a short distance away from the mountain. For some reason, the enemy ninja had not arrived yet as Sakura had half-expected.
Probably because there was a huge dragon, and they were safe inside a mountain full of traps, ninjas, and ninja traps.
"Care to explain why we stopped here?" Jiraiya asked.
"Because the boy's safety一"
"And Sasuke's," Sakura reminded him.
"And his too, yes, are the priority," the man immediately added. "Which means that I'll have to use something I would rather not, to increase our odds."
Sakura's attention perked up. Something he'd rather not use?
"Like a forbidden technique?" she asked.
"Well. Not really forbidden. Let's just say… so efficient that it takes all the challenge away."
After that, the man seemed to shrug, and instead of the heavy metal armor he had worn for the whole trip, he was wearing a much lighter one made of leather. And in his hand, there was a bow.
The arrow hit the shinobi guarding the gate straight in the head, and he fell down in an odd way. Like a puppet that had all of its strings cut off. That wasn't the way people hit by an arrow in the head were supposed to slump on the ground.
Much to the amazement of both Sakura and Jiraiya, the other guard didn't seem to notice Conrad Harissen, still crouched, moving back behind a very small rock that didn't really conceal him completely. Instead, the ninja just walked back and forth, shouting the archer to show themselves. While remaining in plain view, like a duck sitting at a target practice range.
"How?" Sakura whispered from the hiding spot she and Jiraiya had picked, which was much better than Conrad's.
"I don't know," Jiraiya admitted. "It must be some kind of genjutsu, I don't see any other explanations."
The guard, having apparently already given up, put the sword back in its sheath and said that it must've been his imagination. He ignored the body of his friend.
Then he was hit by an arrow in the head.
Sakura nodded. Jiraiya's explanation made sense.