Their small group crested over the ridge, silent and under the guide of an Inuzuka. He could smell the cooks fire down in the encampment at the bottom of the valley, and he could here the shouts and hollers of men trying to reign order on the panicked denizens.
He gave a perfunctory glance at his team.
The Inuzuka was at the head of the group. His nose turned up, twitching with nostrils flaring, sniffing for any stray scent of approaching enemies. The dog men were always good to have on your team, but fuck they were the just such a boring lot. All arrogance and no substance. He had yet to meet one that had a personality that deviated from that norm.
Then just a step back, strode Mimiko. She was still donned in her wooden samurai plate with the long hafted spiked club held lazily to her side, its tip smeared black. She looked, from what he could tell at least, livid. Her face had been set unchangingly in an expression of great discontent for the whole walk here.
Behind her was perhaps one of the strangest looking shinobi he had ever seen. His hair was a deep, royal shade of blue, that made it all the way down to his hips. It was tied together with a myriad of different bells. To match with his hair was a blue haori, pinned striped with neon yellow over the top of a deep purple shirt. The black pants and shoes were the only sensible thing about his outfit.
Though he guessed the ROOT mask could also be counted as sensible if he wanted to count that.
At the back of their merry little band, looking ever so dour and downtrodden, was their little leader.
Naruto's glare looked like it could set the world on fire. His fist were clenched at his side, almost vibrating from the pressure he was applying. His gait was rigid, stiffening with every step closer to the camp they made. Honestly he had never seen him look this angry before.
Not since the little incident with Sasuke at least, that girl always brought out the best in him. or worst depending on who you asked.
That had been a special case though, people that shouldn't have died, had. And it had really brought out the monster in him that day.
"What's the plan of attack?" The Inuzuka whispered over his shoulder to Naruto. "None of you have exactly filled me in yet."
Joru was the one to respond.
"And nor will we. you are here only for the express purpose of alerting us to potential interference. That is all." he made sure to add as much snide condescension into his voice as was physically possible.
Before he could respond, Naruto stepped forward and placed a threatening hand on the back of the man's neck. Applying only the slightest amount of the pressure needed in order to get his point across.
"Joru." Naruto said, eyeing him thoughtfully. His gaze almost looking through him, far into the distance, at something that wasn't there. "Don't provoke the dog. We have important business and it's best that he doesn't start yelling like an idiot."
The dog man looked absolutely rabid, before with a quick squeeze of Naruto's hand, cowering like a child chastised by a particularly stern grandparent.
"Yes sir, anything for you boss man."
He looked over the camp again. The men were shuffling about, rushing into and out of tents, grabbing their supplies and trying to the best of their abilities, to pack down the encampment as quickly as possible. Before this area became the new front line.
They weren't going to be quick enough.
"Alright Joru, I'm not exactly in the mood to do this the normal way. I'm not really in the mood to do this at all at the moment." Naruto said before heaving a great sigh and looking imploringly toward him. "So I'm going to need you to give me a bit of a boost on this one.
Joru felt the smile creep its way into his face before he could stop the thing.
He would get to play around with the boy's mind. He could finally have a good go at really helping him let loose. He could do so much damage if he wanted to, he wouldn't, but he could.
"After I've done my part in this, kind mister ROOT operative here has offered to help Mimiko Physically subdue me so that you can put it back in the cage, isn't that nice of him?"
"Ah so that's why he's come along with us." Joru mumbled in response. "You don't think Mimiko will be enough?"
Naruto glanced at the girl. His appraisal clearly making her a little uncomfortable. She never seemed to do well under his judgement.
"After the day we've been having. No. But also I am going to be a little more unhinged than normal I suspect."
He Nodded at Naruto before stepping to his side. Focusing chakra into his left index finger he placed it against the redheads temple.
"You're going to feel this one tomorrow you know."
And before Naruto could even think of a response, he forced his chakra into the Uzumaki's brain.
Yamanaka hidden technique: binding, hypothalamus
The iris of Naruto's eyes immediately became blood red, the pupil within now slitted. His whisker marks grew, thickening as a malevolent chakra poured forth from his frame, the miasma circling around and back toward his body. His fingernails lengthened into claws, forearm muscles bulging against the restraint of his gauntlets, the metal of which now tinged red.
The noise of the camp faded into the background. His only focus on the magnificent being in front of him.
The death and destruction this young man could, and would cause, was foretold in those red eyes. He was glorious to behold. A true nightmare made flesh.
With speed greater than he could keep track of, Naruto disappeared in the direction of the camp.
Nothing happened for many moments. No change to the camp at all.
The shouting of orders continued.
The men still ran back and forth from one task to the next. Genin milling about, looking confused as to which of the million orders they should be following. The chunin trying their best to calm their frayed nerves as they went about their business with ruthless efficiency. And the jonin, of which weren't barking commands, resting while they prepared to defend the forming convoy.
No death. No destruction.
Then without alert or signal. Their world was torn asunder.
Nine gigantic ethereal tendrils jettisoned outward from the centre of the camp, destroying tents and ejecting debris on their path to the edges. Anything the miasma of red chakra touched withered and burned. The shinobi that were lucky enough to be caught in it, only had long enough to let loose a single heart wrenching scream before they succumbed to the noxious substance. Those further toward the edges choked on their own fear as it only touched them in a peripheral way. Dying a slow drawn out death. Those unlucky few at the very edges, about four dozen or so, were left completely unscathed.
The tendrils, after reaching the apex of their growth outward from Naruto, began to curl inward and around themselves, dragging with them the earth they had churned up on their initial journey. They rose upward, layering on top of one another where they intersected.
It formed the most beautiful image of a half budding, blood red flower the Yamanaka had ever seen.
The world stayed like that for what felt like forever, but could have only been moments, before the flower began to fade away.
A couple of seconds later and there was only silence, the victims of the attack too shell shocked to speak, let alone do the smart thing and run for their lives.
The silence was beautiful too, it cried out, begging any witness to pay attention to what was about to transpire.
He would always pay attention to this part.
The slaughter began then. Naruto moving with speed that no normal group of fodder ninja could keep up with. He clawed and gouged, burnt and crushed. He tore limbs off of ninja to use as makeshift weapons in his killing spree.
No one was spared from his wrath. Man, woman or child. They were all prey now. Prey for something far greater than themselves.
Not for the first time was Joru Yamanaka glad that he had been placed on this team.
Naruto was tired. No, he was exhausted. The last few days had taken him to the end of his rope and beyond. Crawling into a small hole and burying himself from the outside world was starting to sound more and more like an excellent decision, one that would be met with great praise from future him.
But that was not the reason why he was currently buried in his little hole. He had done it to escape whatever entity had killed the Inuzuka and pushed his team enough to run away to wherever it is they had gone to. Whatever could kill their fifth member without Joru, Mimiko or Aoko intervening was definitely a grade above his ability in general, but especially after having sustained his transformation for such a long period of time.
So he was buried, hiding in a hole in the ground.
It wasnt cowardly, it was pragmatic.
He had no real idea how long he had been there beyond it being at least three hours at this point. So with tender precision and great care to be as silent as possible, he dug himself out from the earth.
His hand broke the surface and stilled for a moment, checking momentarily if there was any sign of reaction to the movement. With none apparent he drew himself up and out of the ground, the earth clinging to him, muddy as it was, the gritty particles rubbing underneath his shirt and pants. It reminded him briefly of tending to his plants.
His head broke through the surface and he surveyed his surroundings. The hilltop was much the same as they had found it, minus the the dead body of the Inuzuka, riddled with small holes from head to toe, a few metres away from the treeline.
There was no sign of combat to suggest that his team had put up much of a fight. None of the usual craters or divots in the earth. No scorch marks. No random shrubbery or tree roots courtesy of Mimiko. None of the metal debris he expected from Aoko.
The killer had clearly been exceptionally powerful in a showy, yet non destructive way.
That or they had abandoned him for some other reason.
He eyed the forest between himself and his destination. something was inside. something that had him sweating and his fingers twitching. something he really hoped he wouldn't encounter
The forest seemed darker than normal. The shadows stretched low and far across the ground. They wrapped around the bases of trees, strangling them in darkness. He was scared. He couldn't really access his chakra currently, exhausted as he was. His vision swam with fatigue, he saw the shadows moving, warping in a vortex-like pattern above him. He felt eyes upon him, his skin crawled as he was assessed. He could hear laughter up in the canopy, low and mirthless. It was a mockery of sorts.
"Who's out there?" he spun on his heels, looking into every nook and crevice finding nothing but more all encompassing darkness. He could now feel the malice of the inky black substance. Its anger and rage set his nerves alight, his blood boiling and every single fibre of his being told him he should transform then and there. Be done with the fear. Set the world ablaze instead of cowering before anything or anybody.
"Who the fuck is there. I have no patience for this little game of yours. Ill fucking destroy everything, this whole god damned forest, if you don't show yourself. right. fucking. Now!"
He shivered, sweating through his shirt, the salt staining his shirt even more than the mud and blood had achieved. The hand touching his shoulder, its grip strong and commanding, sending shivers down his arms, the hairs standing up as the skin tightened.
He was in so, so much danger.
"Calm down Uzumaki. You're in no immediate danger from me."
Peering over his shoulder he saw a bright orange mask, spiraling outward from a single, shaded eyehole. The blackness within the eye hole was. Normal?
He could feel it, within his bones, that this man was one of the most dangerous people he would ever be graced with the pleasure of meeting.
But he was not the source of whatever it was that was making him feel like prey lost in the den of the devil itself.
"If i were to fight you right now, it would attract attention from that thing in the forest that's been stalking you. I have her distracted as of now. Long enough for us to have a little chat." the masked stranger said. His masked head held in a quizzical tilt. "And long enough for you to escape her for the moment."
He stepped back from the masked shinobi, the hand on his shoulder placidly letting go as he did so. He didn't really feel like talking, but what real choice did he have. He was cornered. At the cliff's edge. He was not in a position to refuse the dubious gesture of help.
"How can I be of service?" Naruto said, his voice low and languid.
"What do you know of your parentage?"
What kind of question was that? Was this guy taking the piss? His parentage was nothing of particular note, he was an orphan. His parents were probably some low level ninja that died in the Kyuubi attack or on a mission. Given that he had been told nothing of them, never even a mention of their existence, they were probably even just normal civilians.
"Nothing beyond the fact that one was definitely an Uzumaki by heritage."
"Well that part's correct at least." the masked man shrugged, his stance outwardly relaxed. Though he could still see the muscles tensing, preparing for some kind of altercation. "There's more to that than you've been told. You should ask the higher ups in the leaf. They know who they were. Intimately."
The shinobi started walking toward the eastern end of the forest. His pace slow and certain.
"How many tails worth of the Kyuubi's chakra can you control without losing control?" he paused mid step, running his hand down the trunk of one of the trees. "And don't lie to me, I'll know."
Now that was a dangerous question to answer truthfully. He supposed he would have to test the waters with the limits of this guy's abilities.
"Four tails worth, though that's a bit iffy on the control part." Naruto replied without any more hesitation than was warranted of the question.
"That's a respectable amount for the training you've received, I suppose. Enough to give the jinchuuriki other than the eight, five and four tails cause to reconsider a fight with you." he looked back into the greater depths of the forest from which they came. He looked nervous. "Do you know what happened to your teammates?"
He sighed internally.
He couldn't tell the lie.
"One defected to who knows where." Naruto waved his hand in dismissal. "The other is dead, by my hand I'm guessing."
"And the other two?"
"I have no clue what happened to Mimiko and Joru."
"Not those two. they're safe, that woman had absolutely no interest in them whatsoever. Your original teammates."
"I haven't seen them in a long time, all I know is that they're behind enemy lines as a part of the sabotage squad." he really didn't like thinking about those two.
the orange mask looked toward the ground at that comment. He seemed disappointed.
"You should see your old team, I'd like some questions answered the next time we speak."
"Next time?"
"Last question." he said, waving him off and completely ignoring his question.
"How much do you know of Orochimaru of the Sannin?"
That was a dumb fucking question.
"The same as everyone else. He's a traitor to the leaf. He experimented on innocent men and women for his own gain. And he tried to steal something from the third hokage." Naruto seethed. The man was fucking scum.
"You're wrong on two of the points there." the masked man looked wistfully toward the sky. It was all in the body language. "He is a traitor to the leaf, so you're right on that front. But all the people he experimented on were criminals and it was sanctioned by your sensei. And he succeeded in his theft."
"You should seek him out. He will have answers to most of your questions. And he is a good source of power if you really seek to grow. I'm sure he'd find great use of your," his hands grasped at the air. "Particular skill set. He's in rice country, if you want to heed my advice."
"You should make your way out of here now."
he began to disappear. his body contorting, breaking apart into a million little pieces, all spiralling toward the eyehole.
"The leaf village won't be long for this world, Naruto. If you want to continue this journey of life. I suggest you get lost for a while."
And with that he was gone.
Sensing that he was once again alone, Naruto decided it was best that he get as far away from the forest as he could.
With a quick and minor application of the Kyuubi's chakra to his legs, the last he would be able to summon for the day, he sprinted back in the direction of the leaf encampment.
