Naruto’s clones sped through the trees at high speed; there were only six of them, but for this particular mission more weren’t really needed. The other twelve were spread out further back, keeping an eye out for trouble. A small battalion of clones was after all already present at the Fourth’s old base, and Gaara had plenty of people to keep an eye on him. It would be some days yet before any of the clones there got particularly nutty.
Even though they weren’t the original, the clones couldn’t help but feel some of the same anxiety that their creator did. In particular, one of the clones at the head of the pack wondered whether or not the order to inform Gaara about Akatsuki’s goals was really as clever as it had seemed when he made it. He kept thinking back to the meeting with the Hokage in particular. The leader of Konoha had certainly reacted to the use of Kurama’s chakra, to his admitting that he had been training its use, but that had been all. No serious repercussions, at all. After his interaction with the Kazekage had been such a success, he’s already begun to worry, and begun to plan what he would do if his plans took a nosedive. In his experience every rousing success was only a good way to get overconfident, and utterly mess up the next task he set for himself. Having both Suna and his return to Konoha go as smoothly as this, barring Tobi’s appearance? He felt like the Shinigami was hovering over him, scythe ready to cut his throat.
Granted, he had taken advantage of what he knew of the Third, and invoking the Fourth’s memory was definitely a good way to remind the old man that he owed quite a bit to his predecessor, and vicariously to his son. It was a nasty trick to pull, but honestly Naruto didn’t feel too guilty; originally the Third had never even told him about his father, he had to find out on his own. Perhaps it had been the realization that the Fourth had intended the use of the fox’s chakra that had stayed the Hokage’s hand. He knew for certain that both Kakashi and Konohamaru would’ve been a lot harsher in the same situation, when the whole village was at stake.
Still, the Hokage probably wouldn’t figure out the truth. Nobody but Kurama knew, and Naruto didn’t think anyone could figure out much purely by following him around. If anyone could pull that off, it would be the Perverted Sage. Jiraiya would be around him a lot, and would figure out that something was off soon enough, if he hadn’t already. Whether or not the man concluded that he was ‘off’ because of the fox and a bit of an accelerated maturation or whether or not he would suspect treachery, that was anyone’s guess. Naruto didn’t have much of a choice; if he wanted to get better, both in his ninja skills in general and Fūinjutsu in particular, he’s need a proper teacher.
He would need those skills, if he kept moving forward like this. If he ever came across the masked bastard, he’s need access to his Rasengan, to Sage Mode, perhaps even to Kurama’s chakra cloak. Anything to surprise the bastard and get out of there in a hurry. Showing any of those now, to anyone, would be a huge red flag that would land him in Ibiki’s hands, and he knew that even he would crack eventually. Even worse would be showing incongruous skills like that to someone who specialized in time-space Ninjutsu; he might just jump to the right conclusions.
The clone blinked as he suddenly felt a hand close around his arm, and he stopped in an instant, raising a curious eyebrow as the other motioned to keep silent. The second clone took a step forward, speaking softly, almost inaudibly. “Do you smell it?”
“Smell it?” The first clone repeated. He sniffed carefully, diverting chakra to his senses, an extremely useful skill to have when you’re trying to sneak around, and something he had picked up from Kakashi. Unfortunately, it was also extremely dangerous, since chakra build up in delicate organs could seriously damage them when it was too concentrated. He had never been terribly good at limiting himself, and clone would just pop from overdoing it. A sharp odour suddenly came into focus, and the clone took in a sharp breath. “Sweet. Wait, is that blood?”
“Yes.” The second clone frowned. “We’ve probably not been detected yet, but that won’t last long if there’s anyone still there. Could just be dealing with a corpse, but we shouldn’t take that chance, not when we’re close to the underground base.”
The first shivered. “You don’t suppose Gaara broke out of there? You know what he’s like right now…”
“Who could he out here, exactly?” the second muttered, shaking his head. “All he has for company is more of us clones. No, either it’s a coincidence, which would be pretty huge, or someone’s followed us here. Either the first time, from Suna, or now.”
“They can’t get in, at least,” the first clone answered, tapping his pocket. “You need the proper blood and chakra to enter through the sealed entrance, and Boss is nowhere near here. Unless these people intend to dig up the whole thing and take all the Sealing traps off one by one, traps set by the Fourth, they’re not getting in.”
“Someone has to go out there and check who it is.”
“I’ll go check things out,” the first clone said easily, drawing a kunai. “One of you, get ready with some firepower. Rasengan will do. Here.” He drew the little vial with Naruto’s blood. “Keep this safe. We won’t be getting in without that.”
The second clone took it, slipping it into the pocket of a clone next to him, who looked on in surprise. He looked seriously behind himself for a moment to the other clones, then focused on the one that would be leaving. “Try not to get yourself popped.”
“Don’t you have any proper food around here?” The Toad Sage wrinkled his nose as he looked at the stacked packs of ramen in Naruto’s fridge, shaking his head at the spoiled milk that was stashed near the bottom. “You have some money from missions, don’t you? Why don’t you get good meals?”
“I spent it all on sealing supplies,” Naruto admitted airily as he glanced over. “Honestly, I’ve got several full meals stashed away in storage scrolls for when I get hungry. The fridge is just stuffed with emergency rations.”
“Emergency rations? It’s all ramen!” Jiraiya exclaimed.
“So?” The Genin looked up as he put his scroll down, dropping his brush in a cup of water to get the ink out. “They’re for emergencies, as the name implies. You know, like a mid-night craving, or when you need to take something with you on the road. Ramen is not good enough for something like that? Iruka-sensei has mentioned plenty of times that I could get fat from eating it, so there must be something in it.” He smiled widely. “Besides, it’s ramen! Who doesn’t love it?”
“Your father wasn’t the greatest fan, for one,” Jiraiya muttered.
“Well, nobody’s perfect.”
Jiraiya sighed. “I suppose you got this food thing from your mother.” He looked over and Naruto was surprised by the warmth of the man’s gaze. The first time around he remembered he ha been yelling and cussing out the Toad Sage too much to really notice how much he cared; he hadn’t figured that out until their long journey together. The Toad Sage sat back, smiling. “You know, you’re not as I expected.”
“Oh?”
“The stories I heard reminded me of your mother: Brash, boastful, loud. She was a firebrand, you know. There’s some of that in you, but it goes out the window when you step out the door, doesn’t it?” He glanced over the scrolls piled on Naruto’s desk. “I suppose I’d never considered that you’d take after the other half. It’s a pretty high target to aim for, you know, to be like the Fourth Hokage.”
“I know,” Naruto muttered. “Still, where would I be if I just went with whatever the villagers say and aim low? They think I can’t even be a shinobi, and I know they’re wrong about that. I’ll show them, and someday they’ll realize just how wrong they were, when I am Hokage.”
“There was someone else with that goal, once upon a time,” Jiraiya said softly. “What I don’t really get is why you hid most of your strength, these last few years? If you wanted the villagers to know that you could be a good shinobi, why not just come out and show them?”
“You haven’t been in the village for a while, have you?” Naruto replied dryly. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “I failed the exams twice before I figured out such a simple move as the Bunshin. Most of my skills aren’t fancy Ninjutsu that the villagers would actually care for, and the majority don’t even know how hard Fūinjutsu can be. What would I show them?”
“You were practicing Sealing at ten, but you at simple Bunshin?” Jiraiya shook his head. “You’re an odd one, aren’t you?”
“There’s a Genin that’s a year ahead of me that specializes entirely in Taijutsu,” Naruto pointed out. “I am just good at other stuff than what the academy goes on about. I don’t think it’s that weird, really.” He glanced over his table, picking up one of the scrolls. “Speaking of the good stuff – could you look this seal over for me? I think I got it right, but you’d be the best judge.”
Jiraiya unrolled the paper with a frown, revealing an intricately painted seal. His breath caught.
“Yeah, that one should look familiar,” Naruto said immediately. “I found a few scrolls with your name on them, and copied most of what was in there. Pretty nice seal, though I think you spent way too much time figuring out how to look through walls in the rest of the scrolls. I suppose I can guess why that was on your wish list, though.”
“I made this when I was a Chūnin,” Jiraiya muttered, ignoring Naruto entirely. He ran his hand over the seal and removed it when he felt it heat up under his hand. He raised an eyebrow. “You were trying to impress me with this one, weren’t you? It’s nicely done.”
“Impress you with that one?” Naruto scoffed. “I copied that from your scrolls. Anyone with a steady hand and half a clue about Fūinjutsu could probably make it, if they spent some time on it. It wouldn’t really be a demonstration of Sealing skill, would it? No…” He snatched another scroll from the far end of the table, making sure it was the right one before tossing it to his new teacher. “This is the one I made to impress you.”
Jiraiya caught it easily. “Let’s see if you didn’t bungle this up too badly, then.” His eyes roved over the convoluted ink shapes with the practiced ease of a master. He took a few minutes while muttering under his breath and Naruto wiggled on his chair in nervous anticipation. His sealing had never actually been judged by a proper Seal master, let alone Jiraiya. The one he had passed along wasn’t his most complex seal, but it was definitely one of his most original.
“What do you think?” Naruto asked at last, when Jiraiya didn’t show any signs of speaking up.
“You made this one from scratch, didn’t you? Well, from the base up, anyway.” The Toad Sage nodded. “These spirals… They’re not the most effective, but they’re more stable than my alternatives. I imagine you don’t care about wasting a bit of chakra with your reserves. Yeah, that works. A personal touch.” Jiraiya put the scroll down. “What made you think of this? About storing a Kage Bunshin away without destroying its chakra configuration?”
A hundred thoughts ran through Naruto’s head; most of the true reasons he probably couldn’t admit to. The summoning contract he had used with the toads was one inspiration; the seal on his stomach was another, particularly the parts that he definitely wasn’t supposed to understand right now, where his parents appeared to him one last time. His Kage Bunshin was of course a third inspiration, and vital to the seal’s function. He had started thinking this one up a few months before heading back in time, and still hadn’t had time to finish it.
“Just the Shadow Clone technique, really. It’s not a working seal yet right now,” Naruto admitted after a while. “The clones only last a week before the chakra goes chaotic and burns up. I’m pretty sure that though it’s unconscious inside the seal, the clone still sticks around like usual, and at some point it just pops from its chakra getting naturally too erratic.”
Jiraiya nodded. “I noticed a few mistakes in here that reduce the lifespan of the storage by at least half, so you’ll need to apply some of the things used in regular storage seals. I’ll help you figure them out later. You’ll probably need a stability seal or two to support it, too.” His eyes returned to the seal. “I’d never really considered storing a Bunshin, though I suppose if other chakra constructs can be kept, it could be done. There’s potential here. Even for the short term, this could be helpful: Imagine storing away dozens of Kage Bunshin for emergencies. You could have a small army without expending chakra, allowing you to get away with your full strength. Alternatively, it would be a great boon to have clones of strategic thinkers along, so they can lend advice even when they’re not nearby.”
Naruto nodded, imagining a shop that sold nothing but Nara-in-a-can, since that family was well known for its tacticians. A grin stretched across his face at the thought of a small army of bored-looking Shikamaru clones that just wanted to play shōgi with each other. “So, it’s a good idea?”
“It’ll probably take you years to make this a fully functional seal array that anyone could use, but I think it can be done.” Jiraiya glanced at Naruto with a knowing smile. “You’re already doing fancy stuff like your old man, eh? At least you won’t be embarrassing me!”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Naruto asked, glowering.
Jiraiya sighed, dropping the scroll and getting up. He stretched exaggeratedly as he walked out to the balcony, looking over the village. “I’m curious, what do you expect from this training arrangement? Do you know what it’ll be like to be my apprentice?”
All too well. “Not really.”
Jiraiya nodded. “I could take it slow, give you time to master each seal individually. I’m sure that I could show you lots of seals that I’ve learned over the years, and we could go through all my books. You’d probably be on my level in about ten years, and know enough to take my place around here.”
“Ten years? I don’t have that kind of time!” Naruto blurted, and then caught himself. “I’ll be old when we’re done with that!”
Jiraiya chuckled, and then sent him a warning glance. “Did you just imply that I’m old?”
“Venerable?”
“Better,” Jiraiya said. “I figured you’d be impatient, so we’ll not be taking the slow route of learning, then. With that Uzumaki blood in your veins, could I expect anything else? No matter, I’ve met impatient upstarts before, I can deal with you.” He reached into his pocket. “Here, read this.” He threw a little blue book, and Naruto snatched it from the air just before it would’ve struck his nose.
“This is Icha Icha.”
Jiraiya smirked. “Open it.”
“I’m not going to read your porno books when you’re supposed to be training me!” Naruto exclaimed. “Come on!”
“It’s not – Well, it is Icha Icha, that’s true,” Jiraiya admitted. “It’s also an assignment. There are three seals in that book, all of them meant to keep you from reading the contents. I want you to break those seals, and then… tell me who sleeps with Salomé in the end!”
Naruto resolved to ignore the man’s crude remarks. “But making seals collapse isn’t that hard. It’s just that usually you’re not in a position to do it. That seems a bit simple…” he said after a moment, finally flipping the cover of the book open. He blinked when he found his hand empty. The cover was closed again. Had he closed it himself, or had it moved on its own? He hadn’t seen either. One moment it was open, the next it was closed. “Hey, what was that? Genjutsu?”
Jiraiya smiled knowingly. “Figure out how to break the three seals before week’s end. If you can manage it, we’ll go to the next step. If not, well, draw an impressive seal for me and maybe I’ll give you some hints.”
Naruto sighed. “The learning via doing thing again, I should’ve known.” He thought back to the Sage’s way of teaching the Rasengan. No matter, he had broken fancy seals before, even some of the Toad Sage’s. “Okay. I’ll try it.”
“Good. You should be able to figure it out using what you know. It’s sometimes easier than it looks, so try to start by thinking simple and then complex, not the other way around.” Jiraiya looked one last time at the fridge and sighed. “I’m going to find a nice restaurant. Don’t blow yourself up, now.”
“…Do you think I’m stupid?”
Jiraiya ruffled a hand through Naruto’s hair, smiling. “I probably shouldn’t answer that.”
“Who is it? Akatsuki?” The second clone hissed as the first landed next to him in a crouch, grim expression on his face.
The first sighed, dropping his Henge. “Doesn’t have the fancy painted nails or the cloudy bathrobe. Probably a rogue ninja, if you ask me. It’s some creepy-looking guy with a huge scythe. He was drawing shapes in the dirt, if you can believe it.”
“A scythe? What, does he think he’s the Shinigami?” The second shook his head tiredly. “Just give me Zabuza any day. Big-ass swords are way cooler.”
The first shrugged. “Whoever this is, he’s sitting directly on top of the entrance to the underground base, which means trouble. Either he’s found Gaara, tracked him from Suna probably, or he’s someone who happened to know where the base was but doesn’t have a way in.”
“Scythe…” The second paused as something occurred to him. He had been told about this, a long time ago… “Wait, this scythe, did it have three blades?”
“…Yes,” the first answered. Both clones widened their eyes simultaneously when the implication sank in.
“Ah, crap. He’s the guy whoed Asuma-sensei.”
“Do you remember Shikamaru talking about that guy? He mentioned something about a ritual, I think. Man, it’s been over a decade… I should have paid more attention.”
“This was the guy from the blood cult, wasn’t it?” the second said. “The one that was wiped out after the last war?” the second clone sat down, frowning. “So, Akatsuki’s already aware of this place? Can they sense the Ichibi’s chakra, maybe? I didn’t think they were looking already.”
The first frowned. “Perhaps, and this might sound crazy, he’s not in Akatsuki at all. I mean, we only even heard about him a few years from now, and we know that there was recruiting going on in that time. It’s pretty likely that he was hired somewhere in the next few years, when Nagato gets active in Rain.”
“That doesn’t explain why he’s sitting on the base,” the second retorted. “Without changing the guard inside, clones will start popping and Gaara will get free. You know as well as I do that he’ll find a way out, somehow. If this guy’s waiting at the door…”
“We should just him now,” the first hissed in response. “Kill the guy and think about the rest later. We can bury him and whoever heed easily enough, and then inform Gaara that these bastards are a lot closer than even Boss thought. Listen, I’ve just used up a ton of chakra on that surveillance mission, just to keep unnoticed, and I only have an hour or two left. I’ll go pop and let the Boss know what’s going on here.”
The second sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me to do the dirty work. You’re a real piece of work, aren’t you?”
“I am you, dummy. Stop insulting yourself,” the clone said as he vanished.
“Damn it!”
Naruto made his way to the hospital in quick hops across the rooftops, Jiraiya’s book hidden deep within a pocket, since he knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it if Kakashi ever saw him with it. Today Sasuke would be getting out of the hospital, and perhaps he would finally get some idea of what happened to the Uchiha while he was out of town. If it had been Tobi – why was Sasuke still alive, and in possession of his own eyes? He doubted the man would just come by to have a chat.
Sitting in front of the hospital on one of the low benches was Sakura, staring at the doors of the hospital as if trying to summon Sasuke with sheer willpower. It figured that she wasn’t over her crush yet since it had taken ages back in the old time. Naruto realized that if he was successful in keeping Sasuke around, it might never vanish at all. He would have to tolerate that, he supposed. Naruto flipped onto the bench next to her, and she glanced at him in consternation.
“Why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be in there?” Naruto wondered.
Sakura sighed. “Sensei said that Sasuke didn’t want anyone to help him out, that he would resent seeming weak,” she explained, and it looked like she had some trouble actually saying it. “He told me to wait here.”
Naruto blinked. “Kakashi told you not to go in? Huh.”
Sakura sighed. “He’s a slave driver, you’ll find out. He had me doing Taijutsu exercises for hours and he can’t stop reading that book of his while doing it, making filthy jokes all the time! Just wait till he gets to training you, too!”
So – Kakashi was actually training Sakura, then. Naruto couldn’t help but be a little surprised, since he remembered all too well that the Wave Mission had been where the first proper lessons were given the last time around, and even then it was just chakra control. Yes, he had steered Sakura towards Kakashi in the hopes that he would notice her potential at using chakra in her punches, but this was quicker than he had anticipated. “Taijutsu, huh?”
“Right – hand to hand fighting.” Sakura stretched, wincing. “I’m famished. I could eat a whole cow right now.”
“Don’t have that, but do you want some pork?” Naruto asked, reaching into his pocket. “We could share some?”
Sakura looked tempted for a moment. “N-No, that’s okay.”
“Sakura.” Naruto frowned; he had almost forgotten this. “You’re not still dieting, are you?” She looked away, and that was answer enough. Naruto sighed, shoving chakra into the seal until a plate full of delicious meat popped into being, already nice and hot. “Come on.”
“Naruto!” Her stomach growled, and Sakura grimaced as he picked up a bit of meat, nibbling on it. “That’s mean!”
“You don’t need a diet, Sakura,” Naruto pointed out as he picked another piece of meat and savoured the taste. “You’re already thin, and you need to build up muscles with something, especially if you’re doing Taijutsu. You’re probably tired because your body can’t find the resources to keep going, not because you were overworked.”
Sakura looked unconvinced.
“Come on, I’m sure that most kunoichi don’t diet. I’m pretty sure that Kurenai-sensei doesn’t, you know. Train a little more, and you can just turn the fat into more muscle.” He winced as he pulled out his trump card. “I’m sure Sasuke cares more about strength than skinniness anyway.”
Sakura, after a long moment of uncertainty, carefully picked a bit of pork from Naruto’s plate. The smallest piece, true, but it was a beginning. Naruto smiled as he picked a little more for himself, wondering how he was going to convince Sakura to pursue medical jutsu, a field she had excelled at in the future, now that the Taijutsu was covered. Perhaps he could go fetch Granny Tsunade when things were a little calmer?
“So – is there anything that I could help with? In your training, I mean?” Naruto asked after a while, wondering when Sasuke would finally make an appearance. “I mean, I still need to train my Taijutsu too – I’m pretty crappy at it, honestly.”
“I’ll ask sensei about it, but don’t you have your own things to do?” Sakura asked. “Seals and such?”
“Right – I’ll have to make sure I have time for other stuff, though. I have to put some hours in for making my seals, somewhere, and I can’t shove it all on my clones either. Imagine if one of them made a mistake and I end up blowing myself up?”
“That doesn’t really…” Sakura paused. With a yell of ‘Sasuke!’ she jumped up from the bench, and it took Naruto a moment of failing to connect the sudden yell with his question before he realized what had happened. Indeed, hobbling out of the hospital was Uchiha Sasuke, leaning on a short crutch. Kakashi walked right beside him, and for a brief moment Naruto and he made eye contact. Naruto received a subtle nod and he slowly approached, hands in his pockets.
“Sasuke-kun, are you alright?” Sakura asked breathlessly, and though Naruto couldn’t follow most of the rest of what she said, it was probably the same thing. Naruto stopped in front of his teammates.
“Naruto.”
“Sasuke,” Naruto replied, nodding. “Still up for that match you promised, when your leg’s back in action?”
“It’s healed,” Sasuke said immediately, glancing down in annoyance at his crutch. “The leg muscles are a bit stiff. They need stimulation before I can use them properly again, like walking, or running.”
“Or fighting,” Naruto finished for him, smiling. “Want to do that now?”
Kakashi cleared his throat. “I should have guessed this would happen… There won’t be any brawls in front of the hospital,” he said. “Injured people need to be able to pass by here.”
“But sensei – Sasuke’s going to be the injured one after we’re done,” Naruto whined, pointing. “Come on, he’s limping! We would need to carry him in on a stretcher! It wouldn’t even be a fair fight!”
Sakura nervously glanced at Sasuke, but the Uchiha just looked on in mild amusement, twirling a kunai around his finger. Naruto noticed that too, smiling cheerfully.
“You think you can defeat me?” Sasuke asked dryly. “You think that you – the dead-last – could take me in a Taijutsu match, or even Ninjutsu? You can’t use your fancy seals then, you know.”
“Eh, you don’t have the Sharingan, so we’re both deficient in some way.” Naruto winked as Sasuke’s expression froze, his mouth a thin line. “Oh, did I hit a nerve there, Sasuke?”
“Don’t make fun of me, idiot!”
“Catch me if you can, Uchiha cripple!”
Sakura and Kakashi sighed as the two boys bickered. It was only moments later that kunai clashed, with Naruto facing off against Sasuke with two Shadow Clones already by his side, holding their own kunai at the ready.
“You really can’t do this somewhere else?” Kakashi asked, shaking his head. “I know you’re both good for Genin, you really don’t have to show it every five minutes. There is such a thing as restraint, you know. I figured you’d have learned that with all the D-Ranks you’ve been doing.”
“When are we getting a C-Rank anyway?” Sakura wondered. “Haven’t we done enough missions yet?”
Kakashi smiled. “Actually, I’ve been waiting for a good one to come by. Unfortunately a few high-profile criminals were spotted near Konoha, so most missions like that have been bumped up to B-Rank since we don’t want Genin to run into them. We’ll have a proper C-Rank soon enough.”
“Ah, we can do a B-Rank, can’t we?” Naruto said loudly. “What’s a rogue ninja going to do against the most badass Genin team of Konoha?”
“I think you’ll have to train a little harder before you reach that level, Naruto,” Kakashi said, smiling. “Perhaps you should meet the real strongest Genin team sometime?” He frowned. “I’m pretty sure that the one that would count as strongest is… Oh, right. I almost forgot who their sensei is…”
“Oh, you’re talking about Team Gai?” Naruto observed. “Well – I don’t know if I would call them the most badass… just the most violent.” He shivered. “Seriously though, Lee’s a beast when he gets going, and Tenten is crazy. And there’s also Neji, who is like Sasuke in a way, except even more stuck-up!”
“I didn’t know you met them before, Naruto,” Kakashi said mildly. “Gai must’ve been bragging again…”
“Actually, I was in a class with them before,” Naruto said sheepishly, glancing at his teammates. “You know I did the last year of the Academy three times, right? I didn’t really hang out with anyone, but I was paired up with Lee once for Taijutsu. The guy’s crazy powerful!”
“I’ve spoken to Tenten before,” Sakura said. “She’s nice, but kind of creepy with those knives of hers.” She looked uneasy, then. “I think she actually uses seals, like you, Naruto.”
“Storage Seals,” Naruto scoffed immediately. “I did those years ago.”
“Hn. The Hyūga.” Sasuke sniffed derisively.
“Descriptive as always,” Naruto deadpanned. “Anyway, now you distracted me, sensei. I was saying how we were definitely ready for a better mission! Sasuke and I can do a sparring match if you want, show you what we can really do!”
Kakashi sighed. “I’m beginning to rethink the wisdom of becoming a sensei. If I was half as annoying as you are now, I can’t imagine how my own sensei survived.”
Naruto stuck out his tongue to Kakashi as he kept his eyes on Sasuke, involuntarily searching for cues to his attacks that wouldn’t be there – not yet. He had fought Sasuke enough times to know how he thought, but most of the techniques he would have used in future years he would probably never figure out this time around. The Sharingan would be used again, that was a matter of time. Orochimaru’s jutsu? Not if he could help prevent the mess at the Chūnin Exams. The Mangekyō? Well, he would like to avoid that cesspit of melancholy entirely, given how every Uchiha had ended up after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Perhaps it was a good idea to get something worked out with Itachi sooner instead of later.
The Sharingan was the immediately relevant skill. Sasuke would have already unlocked it if the Wave C-Rank had happened as before. Right now he was weaker than the first time around, and that wasn’t what he intended at all. It was naïve to believe that the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha clan wouldn’t activate; whatever happened a few days ago could have already done it, though he suspected that Sasuke would have shown those eyes off if that were the case.
There was something he could do here, that could help solidify Sasuke’s loyalty to the village a little more – or at least to himself. Helping out Sasuke would definitely earn him some recognition, even if he didn’t agree with the other boy’s wishes, or his intention to Itachi. Perhaps it was too early to think of fixing his revenge-based mentality, but he could at least make Sasuke stronger through his teammates. Perhaps then Sasuke would stop seeing him as a dead-last all the time, too.
He straightened, slipping his kunai back in its holster. Sasuke seemed a bit confused by the sudden change, but did the same. Doing anything like he planned right here would be incredibly foolish. He would need to find somewhere peaceful and quiet, so he could make all hell break loose without startling the entire village. He could think of an excuse for what he planned easily enough, but some people would see through it. With that, he decided on a place; with Kakashi nearby, he was certain it would be empty before he even arrived. “Come on, Sasuke. I’m taking you to the Jōnin training grounds.”
Kakashi was the first to react, his eye immediately focused on his shortest Genin student. “What do you want there, Naruto? Do you even know where those fields are?”
“I’ve been using the remote training grounds for a while now,” Naruto said easily, and Kakashi seemed to grasp the implication immediately. “There’s something I want to try. Call it training, if you will. I want to see if I can use one of my special skills, and I can’t do that here.” He looked at Kakashi steadily. “If all works out – we’ll be there tonight to get a proper mission.”
Kakashi hesitated, and then nodded. Naruto knew that the man would stick close to them all the way, curious as he doubtlessly was – but what he was planning was nothing Kakashi didn’t already know about.
“If you want to fight, we can just do it here.” Sasuke noted in a bored tone. “It sounds like it’s a long way to go for nothing.”
Naruto looked seriously at Sasuke. “Remember when I visited the hospital? I did mean it, you know.”
Sasuke blinked, and then sighed wearily. “Fine.”
“What is going on with you two, lately?” Sakura asked in confusion. “Don’t you hate each other? Naruto, you couldn’t stop complaining about Sasuke-kun in the Academy!”
“Well, of course I couldn’t,” Naruto said, annoyed. “He’s a stuck-up prick who thinks he’s better than anyone else in the class, and he could show that off all the time without the villagers saying a single word!” He breathed. “But he’s a teammate, now.”
“I am better than anyone else in the class,” Sasuke muttered.
“Shut up.”
“Well, looks like we’re having another Taijutsu lesson, Sakura.” Kakashi said, smiling. “The boys need to work out their aggression, I guess. Don’t worry. Naruto can take a hit.”
“Why didn’t you mention Sasuke getting hit?” Naruto asked, and then frowned. “Oh, sensei! That’s not nice!”
“Just the facts, Naruto.” He smiled, though it was hard to tell through his mask. “Fine, then.” His gaze was suddenly sharp. “Don’t him, Naruto.”
“No promises.”
“Hidan. That was his name.” The clone sighed – he wasn’t sure if it was worse that he was talking to himself, or that he was doing so because he missed having another self to speak to. Trying to ignore the insanity angle, he raised a hand. Two clones were almost immediately beside him, falling in line behind the team leader who was elected purely based on the fact that he was a little more annoyed than the others. He turned to the next clone over. “This guy’s shtick is his big-ass scythe and his special immortality skill. Think Kyūbi in overdrive – instead of healing really quickly, he just doesn’t really notice the wounds at all.”
“Another Kakuzu, then?”
“Without the masks or hearts business,” the first clone agreed, taking over from the one that had popped before. “It’s immortality of some fashion. Luckily he needs blood to do anything too nasty, and we’re only clones. Maybe we can lure him away from the base or something.”
“So – if he’s immortal, how did Shikamaru him?” one of the others inquired. “Did he ever tell?”
“He mentioned rocks.”
“That’s his one weakness? Rocks?” The first clone wondered. “That seems unlikely.”
“Let’s just put a Rasengan through his head,” another clone countered immediately. “Nothing stands up from that, if you get a good hit in.”
“Right – but we aren’t with that many,” the first muttered. “Rasengan is one option. Maybe someone can throw some rocks at him, just in case?”
“That still sounds really stupid.”
“Yes – well, I’m not seeing you come up with anything clever, idiot.”
“Why do you keep insulting yourself like this?”
The first clone sighed as he ran a hand across his face. “Let’s have one of us fetch the clones from the base, so we have a little backup. The rest can serve as distractions with giant whirling chakra spheres of death.”
“Yes, clone commander!”
“Clone commander? When did I….? Never mind.” He sighed. “You – upside down me – stay out of that guy’s way and make your way to the base. The rest of us will try and draw him off.”
“Right.” The clone in question saluted, dropping from his inverted position on a tree branch and lading lightly. He tapped his pocket that contained the little vial that they had brought along and smiled. “I already have all I need.”
“Good. Now, let’s try not to rush this guy, alright? We all have a bit of the Boss’s common sense, after all. Everyone, use a Henge, change into one of the gate guards or something. Don’t want this guy blabbing about us to anyone. If he does end up talking, well, let him do it. Boss will want to know everything that’s going on.”
“Right.” About thirty voices said at once from everywhere; only about a third of the clones were actually visible. They all raised their hands into a single seal, and the thirty-odd orange Genin changed into the same number of Chūnin, though with more orange in their uniform than there really was supposed to be. The curious glances that the various clones sent each other confirmed it – they had all had the exact same idea.
“We really are the same person. So, nobody do anything stupid, as it reflects badly on all of us.”
“Does preaching count? Because you’re doing it!”
“What did I just say?”
Sasuke stopped at the Jōnin training grounds with an annoyed expression, gazing around the nondescript field with distaste. It was out of the way, sure, about the furthest you could go without actually leaving Konoha entirely, but honestly didn’t look much different from any other training field.
“Okay, now can you tell me what we’re doing here?” Sasuke stretched his leg, wincing slightly as a sharp pain made its way through the muscle. Yes, it was healed, but the stiffness was definitely something he could do without. “At least my leg gets a good workout from this.”
“What happened to that leg, anyway?” Naruto asked. “Kakashi-sensei won’t tell me what happened. Did someone break into your home and attack you or something?”
Sasuke looked away. “Didn’t we already discuss this when you broke into the hospital?”
“You didn’t say anything then, either!”
“Then stop asking. It wasn’t something you need to know about, and it’s been handled.” He sighed. “I’d like to forget it altogether.”
Naruto frowned darkly. “At least tell me that someone’s taking care of whoever put you in that bed?”
“Why do you care?”
Naruto didn’t answer immediately, sitting down against a tree on the side of the field and sighing. “You’re an aggravating person, Sasuke. Now, give me a few minutes, will you? Need to concentrate. If I mess this up, I might become seriously crazy, so don’t mess with my focus.”
Sasuke looked at his teammate in confusion, and Naruto just smiled reassuringly before he closed his eyes for meditation. The field was silent for a few minutes, and Sasuke stuck around, gazing at his teammate as he twitched and moved slightly on occasion, definitely not what one was supposed to do during meditation. It took a little while longer before Naruto suddenly flipped upright from his prone position, a kunai gleaming in his hand.
“So, Sasuke,” Naruto smirked. “I’m ready.”
Sasuke blinked. “…For our fight?”
“In a way,” Naruto said slowly, drawing three kunai and arraying them without looking between his knuckles, like three lethal claws. “Trust me,” he said after a moment, a brief smile appearing before his expression turned serious, and his eyes gleamed. “You’re going to die.”
“What…?” Sasuke barely had a moment to prepare before Naruto slashed out, his kunai nicking his shoulder before he even had time to deflect. The attack was incredibly fast, and a second immediately followed, leaving three parallel stripes across Sasuke’s hand just as he tried to parry the blow. He cried, tripping backwards. “What the hell, Naruto?”
“Fight back,” Naruto growled. “It’s no fun when you just die like the rest.”
Sasuke got back up with his own kunai out. “Have you gone completely insane, dead-last?”
The blows rained down at such speed that Sasuke needed both his hands just to keep them from coming. Naruto wasn’t terribly fast, but he was viciously tricky with his slashes, like he already knew exactly where the blocks would be, where he had put his blade to counter. Jumping back from the raging blond, Sasuke raised his hands. Before he could make the signs for a fire technique, Naruto was upon him again, taking advantage of the momentary weakness, cutting a long gash through his vest that just missed the skin.
Sasuke went for a vicious counterattack, enjoying the sudden savageness of Naruto’s attacks. The boy always had a lot of energy to spend, but he usually kept it in. Perhaps he had simply gone too long without a serious challenge? Sasuke smiled, slipping into the Uchiha Taijutsu style that he had been taught for years. He could make this work.
Naruto snarled like a wild animal. An uneasy feeling of dread formed in the pit of Sasuke’s stomach as he stared at the boy who was looking more and more like a beast every moment; like a vicious cat. The look in his eyes wasn’t one of friendly competition, not even of rivalry. All he saw was bloody rage, murderous instincts brought to the front. Then the feeling intensified, and his kunai trembled in his hands. There was a palpable feeling of despair in the air.
Killing Intent.
“Naruto, that’s enough,” Sasuke said warily, and his voice wavered. “We don’t have to get this serious. It’s just training.”
Naruto stalked forward menacingly, his kunai dropping to the ground as he brought up his hand, tipped now with viciously pointed fingernails. “Training, huh? Tell me, Uchiha, what will you be worth when I rip out your eyes?”
Sasuke stepped back in alarm. “What’s gotten into you?” He hated how his voice faltered. Naruto looked like he was serious, and he had taken him to one of the most distant training grounds. Was he actually planning to- No, that was crazy. Naruto wouldn’t justsomeone. Would he?
Naruto didn’t answer in words. Theing Intent in the air suddenly skyrocketed, and Sasuke couldn’t take a breath. The feeling was like the deepest fear he had ever felt, like he could roll up in a ball and never uncurl again. It felt like something massive and inhuman looked down on him with hungry eyes, ready to devour everything in its path. For a brief moment he felt again like he’d done that day when Itachi had left, when his family had been murdered. He felt like death was upon him, like he would never breathe again. Tears prickled in his eyes as he tried desperately to move. Naruto stood out sharply, like he was etched into the sky. His teeth were sharp and vicious, the marks on his cheeks like scars ripped into his skin, his eyes like a snake’s, filled with such indescribable loathing that he couldn’t believe it.
Then the world collapsed, the storm ended. The terror was suddenly gone, Sasuke’s breath returned to him, and he lay gasping on the ground, staring into the blue sky. Very slowly he sat up, to find that Naruto was right there, sitting four feet away with his legs folded and a tired smile on his face. “So, it worked. I figured it would.”
“What the hell was that?”
“Fear,” Naruto said immediately, shrugging. “Tell me, Sasuke. Was it the worst fear you ever felt, caused by that dose ofing Intent? I think it must have been. For a moment you had such intense hate turned on you that you couldn’t deal with it. You didn’t run, but only because you couldn’t.”
“What the –”
“Think of it as a genjutsu,” Naruto explained. “It caused intense fear, even the conviction that you were going to die, if only for a brief moment. It’s something that’s almost impossible to replicate outside actual combat conditions, since knowing ahead of time that someone’s going to do something like this ruins the effect. That’s why I didn’t tell you. The fact that you didn’t know if I was serious is the only reason that you actually believed it.” Naruto sighed. “Tell me, how many other shinobi are near us right now?”
“What do you mean?” Sasuke blinked slowly, as something suddenly stuck out to him about what he was seeing. The world was sharper, more defined, and he could see vague blotches. The answer was easy. “Two.”
Naruto smiled. “How do you know that?”
“I can… see…” His eyes widened. “I can see them.“
The Sharingan! He had activated the Sharingan at last. For a moment he wanted to laugh in victory, celebrate this accomplishment; then the reality crashed down. All it meant was that he was a step closer toing Itachi, who had removed everyone who would have cared about this occasion. There was nobody to share this with.
“Come on, I’ll treat you to ramen to get you back on your feet, and then we’ll go see if anyone’s willing to let you test-drive the copy ability,” Naruto said easily, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Maybe we can convince Kakashi-sensei to Shunshin us to Ichiraku’s, actually, since I don’t feel like walking back. Or maybe Pervert Sage could take us on a toad, who knows?”
Well, maybe not quite nobody. Slowly he put up his hand, and he was pulled to his feet by the deceptively strong Naruto with ease.
v Sasuke was quiet as he ate, and Naruto wasn’t sure what to say to him. His cup of delicious ramen was a welcome distraction as he considered what to do; with Sasuke’s Sharingan activated, he knew the boy would soon be back on the trail of finding and taking out Itachi, even if that attitude had been tempered a little of late.
Itachi would be a problem. Even though Naruto knew that he had slain the Uchiha clan for a pretty good reason: Imminent betrayal of Konoha. That didn’t help in getting Sasuke away from his revenge-centred life. Finding Itachi would solve few problems, since short of telling him everything about his time travelling, there weren’t many things Naruto could think of that would convince him to return to the village. With his eyes deteriorating, it was a fairly safe bet that Itachi would die even in this time, one way or another.
“Now that I helped you get those fancy eyes, and you insist on keeping your mouth shut on whatever embarrassing thing happened to you, will you at least deign to train with me and Sakura?” Naruto asked at last, glancing over his steaming ramen to the Uchiha beside him. “I stand by what I told you in the hospital.”
Sasuke stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “I will.”
“Good! Meet me at the Hokage’s tower later tonight, then.” Naruto stretched as he emptied his cup. “If you see Sakura-“
“I’ll tell her.” Sasuke stood at last. He stopped before he walked off, looking back. “Don’t think I owe you one.”
“Are you kidding me? Of course you do!” Naruto said, laughing softly. “Having you in my debt is great. So many things I can blame on you, and you won’t be able to deny them…” He smirked at Sasuke’s annoyed expression. “Go try out that Sharingan of yours – I know you’re dying to do so. But try not to exhaust your chakra too much, alright?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes and left. Well, the boy was still short on words and gloomy, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. The Uchiha family was the prime source for overly emotional drama queens, after all.
Naruto was completely unsurprised when less than half a cup of ramen later, Kakashi walked up beside him and sat down on the next chair. He was fairly certain it wasn’t a clone, but he figured stabbing the man with a kunai to find out was probably rude.
“Are you going to yell at me for what I did out there, Kakashi-sensei?” he asked after a long silence, staring at his half-empty bowl. “I know you or your clone was there, at the training field. You must have seen everything.”
Kakashi leaned against the counter, with his one visible eye glancing lazily in Naruto’s direction. “Do you think I should yell at you, Naruto? Guilty conscience?”
“Maybe.” Naruto shrugged as he glanced in the direction that Sasuke had gone. “I unlocked Sasuke’s Sharingan, which was my goal, really. I’m sure if I’d failed, Sasuke would have gotten out of the team with the crazy murderer by morning.” He smiled. “It worked, though! I think not even the council will move against me now. They’re far too eager to lick the Uchiha’s boots.”
“The prestige of the clan has waned of late, so I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kakashi said easily. “You took a large risk in doing what you did, though. That much is true.”
“Not big enough to stop me from trying,” Naruto observed. “You knew what I was planning from the moment I mentioned the Jōnin training fields, didn’t you? You let us go out there, well aware that I was going to do something you probably wouldn’t like.”
“I had my suspicions,” Kakashi agreed after a moment. “My clone could barely keep from disintegrating out there, after you started that. The Kyūbi’s chakra, so very tightly controlled, was wreaking havoc on its form. You are quite capable of channelling that power, it seems.”
“That wasn’t even a tail’s worth of chakra,” Naruto said softly. “I didn’t really draw on the creature’s power as such; that was just a side-effect of channelling a bit of its spirit. The fox’sing intent is greater than any I’ve ever heard about, so that’s what I used. Concentrated hatred, even if tempered by the seal, is still very dangerous when used properly.”
“To focus that muching intent onto a single target…” Kakashi shook his head. “A weaker ninja might have cut himself to relieve the fear, or died of shock. If you had persisted any longer, Sasuke might have succumbed as well. It was a very dangerous game you played, out there. I would have stopped you if you had gone further.”
“I know that,” Naruto agreed. “You won’t have to worry until you see me go three or four tails, though. That’s when it starts getting any control.” Naruto frowned. “Sasuke will want to test his eyes out against us, the next time we’re all together. You wouldn’t mind showing him a few minor jutsu? You probably have some good ones; you’ve copied a thousand of them, right?”
“I sort of lost count,” Kakashi admitted sheepishly. “But yes, I will teach you all a few basic skills of each element, I suppose. Perhaps you could get a glimpse of your eventual elemental nature with those as well.” He glanced to the ramen chef behind the counter as he got up. “Let’s go take a walk.”
Kakashi stepped out of Ichiraku’s followed reluctantly by Naruto, who had only gobbled up half his usual amount of delicious ramen. They wandered down the broad street towards the calmer parts of town, and Naruto got suspicious. “Okay, this isn’t towards my home. What’s up, sensei?”
The silver-haired Jōnin glanced down at him with a lazy expression. “I’m curious, Naruto. Sometimes I think you’re a Genin like any other, and you bicker and fight and do all the silly things that the others do. Then there are moments where you look at things like you’re older than me.” He glanced down to his student and smiled. “You had a difficult youth, I know that. How are you coping with being a ninja?”
Naruto looked away uncomfortably. “I’ve had to grow up more than I maybe would have liked, I guess. Pervy Sage isn’t too different from me, though. He has his fun side, and his serious side. Really serious.” He thought back to the times that he’d trained with Jiraiya in his original three year trip, especially with the Kyūbi’s chakra. The man could be ruthless when he wanted to be, and how much of the ‘pervert’ act was genuine was hard to tell. “I guess I’m not that different.”
“Insanity is not uncommon among shinobi,” Kakashi agreed glibly.
Naruto frowned. “Very funny.”
“I thought so.” Kakashi said with a grin, digging into his pocket and pulling out his volume of Icha Icha. “Jiraiya of the Sannin has had a long and rich ninja career, much of which required him to become ruthless on demand; you are just beginning. You should not feel jaded enough already to have coping mechanisms. It is very unhealthy.”
“Says the man who started aping his dead teammate,” Naruto muttered caustically, and he winced as he realized a moment later what he’d said. Not only shouldn’t he know that, but this particular Kakashi definitely hadn’t gotten over that particular tragedy yet. Stupid, stupid. Naruto’s hopes that his teacher hadn’t heard vanished when he saw the man’s pinched expression.
“You know a lot about that.” he said hollowly.
“You already know I’ve stolen scrolls from the tower,” Naruto countered wearily. “Did you really think the Third Shinobi World War wouldn’t be in there? Or information on one of the most famous shinobi of the Hidden Leaf that came out of that period? Honestly…”
“What happened is not the concern of Genin,” Kakashi said darkly. “That sort of information is dangerous in the wrong hands. Your status as Jinchūriki already makes you a target, do not make it worse by making it public knowledge that you have read classified information.” Kakashi glanced around uneasily. “I might know a lot, but there are many who don’t. You never know what might be traced back to you.”
“Right. Like what’s going on in Suna.” Naruto enjoyed the moment of surprise on Kakashi’s face. “I hear quite a bit, you know.”
“Already? From who?”
Naruto shrugged. “Is that important? They’re rumours. Pervy Sage slipped a few things, for one; he came back because of something to do with the Kazekage, after all. It’s not hard to make those connections. Suna wants to strengthen the alliance between our villages? Let them.”
“You’re getting a bit too similar to Jiraiya now,” Kakashi muttered. “Don’t take that analogy from the hospital literally, alright?”
Naruto hummed in agreement as an idea came to him. Jiraiya had given him a sealed book like that one to figure out; if there was one expert on the Icha Icha series, it had to be Kakashi, who had a full collection displayed in the Hokage office during his reign. Maybe it would also help make up for his thoughtlessly cruel mention of Kakashi’s history. “I wondered if you could offer me some advice…” He pulled out his copy of Icha Icha, keeping the cover hidden. “I’m supposed to figure out a way to open this book, and I thought maybe you would have some tips.”
Kakashi’s eye went wide as he looked on the innocuous object. “Is that a new volume? Give it to me! Now!”
Naruto blinked at the sudden enthusiasm. “It’s sealed shut.” He handed it over carefully. “Here, try to open it. You’ll see.”
The Jōnin flipped the book open, and immediately started reading it, smiling and snickering lecherously after mere moments. He’d just flipped it open in the middle somewhere, and off he went. Well, this was new. “Why didn’t it close on its own for you?” Naruto exclaimed.
Kakashi glanced up in confusion. “Huh? Did you say something?”
Naruto just stared blankly at his teacher. “Can I have my book back? Jiraiya-sensei must have keyed it to my chakra or something.”
“What book are you talking about?” He followed Naruto’s eyes and glanced back down at his hands. “Ah, is this a new Icha Icha volume? A godsend!” Immediately he dived back into the pages.
“That’s not normal, even for sensei,” Naruto muttered. “Genjutsu?” Kakashi didn’t seem at all phased by the fact that his student walked around him curiously, trying to dispel whatever effect the seals in the book might be having on his teacher. If it was capable of ensnaring Kakashi, it had to be a pretty powerful seal. After the third lap, he tapped the man on his shoulder, and again. At the third tap, he cleared his throat.
“Oh, Naruto. What is it?”
Naruto didn’t even comment this time; he snatched the book out of his teacher’s hands and put it back in his jacket in the same movement. “Jiraiya must have expected this. He put a seal in here that would entrance you.” Or you’re an even bigger perv than I thought, he silently added. “I guess this one’s my own problem to solve.”
Kakashi looked mildly confused, rubbing his eye. “I feel like someone interrupted me in the middle of a really good, nice, supple…” He coughed. “Sorry, I guess I’m a bit tired. I need a bath.”
“You should get some rest, then,” Naruto said, frowning. “You’ll be at the tower, right? The C-rank and everything?”
Kakashi nodded. “If you see Sakura, tell her that I have prepared a new training exercise for her. I believe you’ll be impressed the next time you see her fight. That girl packs a wallop, I tell you.”
“I will,” Naruto said, and the Jōnin finally walked off as he pondered why Jiraiya would put a seal on his book to prevent it from being read by this particular person. Presumably this was the second seal, besides the one that worked on Naruto himself. But why Kakashi? For his knowledge of the Icha Icha novels? Doubtful; Naruto had just hoped to get a hint. Kakashi-sensei had never really seemed the type to use Fūinjutsu a lot…
“The Sharingan,” Naruto said in realization. As a bloodline limit able to see through many genjutsu, it would probably be able to ignore the effect of the genjutsu on the book. Kakashi was the only one that could reasonably be expected to have those eyes. Jiraiya, however, hadn’t anticipated a new development: Sasuke. Now, how would he get the Uchiha to read Pervy Sage’s raunchy writings?
Through the elation of figuring something out, Naruto felt a chill run down his back. Uneasily he rubbed his stomach, though all he felt were phantom pains, the confusion of his inner Fox more so than his own. He knew why, of course, since he’d received the memories of one of the clones he’d sent to Gaara; his little clone army had found someone at the Fourth’s hidden base, possibly an Akatsuki member. Unfortunately, even at his best speed, the confrontation would be over long before he could be anywhere near the base. Besides, he couldn’t just vanish from Konoha again, not so quickly after the last mess
Naruto Returned to the Past & Faced Hidan Before He Joined the Akatsuki
He had to arrange a C-rank mission for his team, preferably a tough one, and he doubted he’d be handed much more leeway than he’d already received for his recent actions. He needed his teammates to be ready for when the next shinobi war burst loose, and he had no illusion that it wouldn’t, even with the changes he’d made. International politics were a mess.
A C-rank had been extremely important for the team the last time around, in Wave; perhaps it could be again. Back then, Sasuke had still cared enough then to jump in the way of Haku’s senbon, possible endangering his own life to save his teammate. If he could reform that mutual respect, Naruto knew he had a shot at preventing the Uchiha’s eventual defection from Konoha. Sasuke had gotten very strong outside the village; perhaps he could do even better within it.
Sakura would need to get better as well, and quickly. She was the weakest of the team, though the comparison was a bit unfair, given her team members’ special situations. Still, he couldn’t let that status quo persist. With her physical training already enhanced by Kakashi’s Taijutsu lessons, grounding in medical Ninjutsu and Genjutsu might just be enough to turn her from a brawler into the support that the team would need on any B-rank missions or higher. He was planning quite a ways ahead, true, but they’d get there soon enough, if he could help it. The Third, he knew now, could be ruthless.
If Team 7 could get good enough in a short time period, really stand out, then perhaps there would be no need to participate in the coming Chūnin Exams either, or they’d steam right through them. The Exams were a large distraction to his goals, and more a propaganda piece than any real test of skill; he knew of other ways to go up in the ranks, and one of those was exemplary performance on the battlefield. That could work. With Orochimaru prevented from interfering too directly, he doubted it would be half as exciting as last time, anyway.
Memories filtered into Naruto’s head so quickly that he almost stumbled; he couldn’t hold in a curse, and got a few odd looks from people who passed him in the street. He ignored them as he focused on what he remembered.
A kunai dug itself deep into a man’s side, a clone’s fist almost vanishing into the gaping wound. A surprised look on his target’s face turned into a sinister smile – then the whirling blades of a scythe cut the clone in half.
Hidan sneered. “Well, this is just boring,” he said, feeling at the cut in his side and rolling his eyes. “You sent a clone to stab me in the gut, you invisible bastard? Don’t have the balls to attack me yourself, do you?” He stared around, weaving his scythe back and forth with a scowl. “Where are you, dishonourable prick?”
Naruto’s clones remained very silent, arrayed in a half circle around the clearing that Hidan occupied, only a few dozen feet from the subterranean passage that led to the Fourth’s secret hideout. Hidan stood within a large circle and triangle he had drawn on the ground, and none of the clones dared to get so close; the configuration vaguely resembled a seal, though Naruto didn’t recognize it, and he didn’t want to end up risking his real self to what it might do.
“Come on; get out here so I can you. Thanks to you I have to stitch my side together again. It hurts like a bitch!” He poked at his side, pouting. “Right in my pretty side, too.”
Two kunai flashed out of the bush from opposite sides; Hidan only barely avoided them by stepping backwards. The moment the two blades crossed paths, the explosive tags attached to them detonated, and the grey-haired shinobi flipped backwards away from the sudden blast, though he didn’t get out completely unharmed; the skin on his arms looked singed from the sudden flash of heat. “What the hell? Stop attacking me, shithead!”
“He is quite the potty mouth,” one clone muttered in annoyance; he was unofficially their leader. He’d tied his hitai-ate around his neck and vaguely resembled Iruka, though he had Kakashi’s weird hair. “He also seems slow, for a supposedly elite rogue ninja. I mean, slow enough that we could probably keep up, even.”
“Well, he’s immortal, he doesn’t need speed,” a second clone retorted dryly. “He just waits till you attack and thens you right back. You end up in pieces, he’s fine. It’s not the best tactic against clones, though he can pop them pretty well at close range. Long-range bombardment seems the way to go.”
The leader clone narrowed his eyes. “What I don’t get is why is he just standing there, doing nothing? If he knows that getting close in range is his advantage, why doesn’t he used that? Any proper Akatsuki member would have retaliated already, right? It’s like he doesn’t know…” his eyes widened, and his knuckles turned white from tightening his grip on his kunai. “He’s not from Akatsuki.”
“What?”
“Don’t you get it?” the leader whispered sharply, staring through the bushes at his target. “He’s not an Akatsuki member yet. That’s why he’s not wearing the robe or the silly nail paint, or any of that. We’ve caught him before he ever joined in the first place.”
“And we just attacked him in cold blood,” another clone muttered in realization. “Yay for the home team?”
The leader bristled. “He’s still a missing nin. He’s got a slashed hitai-ate. If we him, we can get a tidy reward and hamstring Akatsuki when they go recruiting.”
“On top of that, we have to clear the entrance,” another agreed. “Killing him seems the best way to do it, I suppose.”
“Right. We have something like thirty clones here, and about twenty more inside, right? I would suggest that everyone gets some explosive kunai and goes over their long-ranged Ninjutsu. Keep the jutsu common. Wind blasts, that kind of thing. We wouldn’t want him to get too suspicious. Make sure to cover all angles, not just the direction of the underground base. If he doesn’t know about it, then we have a surprise from in there.”
All the clones nodded their agreement.
Moments later, six of them burst out of the undergrowth with jutsu already prepared, aiming for their target. Hidan was ready for anything, poised and wielding his scythe like a gigantic hacksaw, and he saw the obvious attack coming. The first two cutting wind blades flashed by him, easily dodged; the third hit his wounded side, but it didn’t do much damage. The ragged hole didn’t slow the man down even the tiniest bit, and the three blades he wielded shot out towards the offending clones, missing entirely.
“Now you’re pissing me off – and when I get pissed off, I start butchering people!” Hidan narrowed his eyes as he took in the six shinobi arrayed against him. “A bunch of would-be ninja, the lot of you. Which of you punk-asses is the leader?”
“I am.” The vaguely Iruka-like clone stepped forward. “You are a Missing-nin. We are here to claim your bounty.”
The rogue ninja chuckled. “Hah, even after so very many deaths, you still haven’t learned not to approach me, fools? The ritual has already begun; there is no stopping it now. Jashin-sama will be sated.” He leaned on his scythe lazily. “You Konoha folk never get the message, do you?
Naruto Faced Hidan Before Akatsuki & Became Trapped in His Deadly Jashin Ritual
What are you doing in the Land of Fire?” the clone asked sharply. Perhaps he could wiggle out a few facts, just in case. “What is your purpose here?”
“Just doing someone a favour,” Hidan said after a moment, pulling a face. “It didn’t include anying. I was so disappointed. Still, I think I’m beginning to like this mission.” He glanced around the group carefully, taking in each attacker. “So many of you will die here, today. I have seen it already.”
“Here for a favour, you say? For whom?” The clone raised an eyebrow. “If you are but a subordinate, it implies your master is more powerful. Give me a name.”
Hidan sighed. “You know, this talking thing isn’t really working. Can we get to theing already?” He shook his head when he received no reply. “I have no master but mighty Jashin-sama! For him, I will finish this ritual.” He stepped back into his seal circle. “You are all dead men before his eyes!”
The scythe whirled through the air at speed, and only some quick movement on the clones’ part kept them from being wounded. The blades of the scythe were clearly designed to slide off weapons; not necessarily to really hurt with a swing, but to slice past flesh; it was made to draw blood. Unfortunately, Shadow Clones weren’t stable enough to take a hit like that.
Hidan seemed to catch on to the evasion tactics quickly, and scowled. “So, you are aware of the ritual’s power, aren’t-“
The clones didn’t wait for Hidan to finish his question; three solid kicks landed squarely on his torso and he was blown off his feet; his scythe was ripped out of his hand and one of the clones quickly kicked it out of reach. Before Hidan could get up, a fourth clone flipped through hand signs at speed. “Fūton: Shinkūgyoku!”
Three spheres of concentrated air smashed into the Missing-nin, knocking him across the ground. Three huge and nasty-looking circular wounds marked his chest as he caught his breath, getting back to his feet. “Damn it, where the hell did they find you? Wind users in the Land of Fire?” He stood up straight, leaving his wounds undisturbed. “You’re going to pay for this shirt, you know.”
“Shut the hell up,” the leader clone muttered, raising his kunai as he concentrated it with wind chakra. “Just give up.”
Hidan paused. He turned slightly, sniffing the air. A wicked smile crossed his face. “Ah, interesting…”
Two blasts of water rocketed out of the underbrush. Managing to evade the first, the second caught Hidan and sent him stumbling, though he easily caught himself. A moment later the lead clone’s wind-chakra kunai was slammed into Hidan’s side though, and he was forced down. The clone pinned Hidan’s skin to the ground solidly with the same weapon; a second followed, spiking a hand to the ground as well.
“Nice ambush,” the leader clone said as more than a dozen others gathered from the bushes, keeping kunai ready. “Now, Hidan, I think it’s time we talked.”
“Seriously? No. Shut the up,” Hidan snapped, ripping his hand free; a new kunai immediately flashed by, pinning the hand right back to the ground. “Damn it!”
“Who are you working for?”
“None of your business!” he spat. “You’re not even a person, are you? You’re a duplicate. A fake.”
The clone raised an eyebrow. “Perceptive. However, given your particular specialty, it seemed prudent.” Mostly he didn’t have any other options, the clone reflected.
The man scowled, as if he’d just understood that particular limitation of his power. “The originals will die for this, you hear? Every single one of you will…” His eyes widened when he noticed just how similar the people across from him where. “There’s only one of you. That’s how you communicate with just a look.” He gazed warily at the two dozen shinobi gathered around him. “You have a lot of chakra, if these are all solid…”
“Your master. Does he wear a mask?” Naruto asked sharply. Hidan didn’t react. Not Tobi, at least. Another thought occurred to him then; another person who might have a hand in things. “How about a snake’s face, then?”
Hidan snarled, eyes blazing. “I’ll you, bastard!”
Orochimaru. Well, that was interesting to say the least, and it made some sense. Perhaps, when Suna interrupted their alliance with Sound, Orochimaru went on to other plans. Hidan had doubtlessly been a ninja for hire, or in debt to the Snake Sannin, hence the ‘favour’. There was only one thing anywhere nearby that would require a high-ranking shinobi to retrieve, though, and it wasn’t a bunch of clones. The removal of Gaara had been noticed. “So, that man sent you after the Jinchūriki, didn’t he?”
Hidan stilled, glaring. “The blood, the bloody scent of infected sand, it trails from Suna all the way here, and then it vanishes. What did you Konoha bastards do to him?”
Of course: Gaara’s sand. Saturated with all that blood from all of his victims, it would mix with the soil around him, even when unconscious. He hadn’t placed the seal to block the Ichibi’s chakra until the base, so all along the way here; he’d left a little trail. Even a few cells must have been enough for Hidan to track it, as he specialized in blood-related rituals. Hidan alone probably wasn’t to capture Gaara, only to track him. Was Orochimaru a member of Akatsuki still? Hadn’t he left when Itachi arrived?
“The Ichibi Jinchūriki is safe,” the clone said after a moment, figuring that was the safest claim to make here that wasn’t actually a lie. “Your target is beyond your reach.”
“We’ll see about that.” Hidan said sharply. “You bastard! You know what I’ll do to your original?” he spat, livid. I’ll rip his spine out through his throat! And then I’ll decapitate his corpse!”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Hidan suddenly smiled. He was free in an instant; the kunai he’d been pinned with remained in the ground, the hand that it was keeping stuck ripped neatly in two halves. Hidan jumped harshly on one of the clones nearest to the base, all the way in the back. Panicked eyes only caught the approach a moment before it hit, and the clone was knocked down and popped from the impact.
Everything froze for a moment. A tiny vial dropped to the ground as its keeper was suddenly gone.
The vial containing the Boss’s blood.
The clone that held it was supposed to go to the Fourth Hokage’s base, to warn the rest of the clones inside. Why was he near the fight? How had Hidan known precisely which clone to go for out of all of them? Had he smelled the blood? It was too late to change things, though. Hidan snatched the vial out of the air, cackling, and ripped it to pieces. Then he licked his bloodied fingers.
“Don’t let him hurt himself!” the leader clone warned sharply as he jumped forward, snatching Hidan by a limb. They all knew what had happened the last time around, when Asuma had fallen to this technique. “Everyone, hold him tight! We can’t let him use that ritual!”
Hidan’s skin transformed from pink to black with bone-white colouring all across, his eyes feverish with delight. “Oh, you are already too late! The ritual has already begun! What idiots are you, to bring the very ingredient of your downfall?” He cackled as he was pinned by ten different clones.
Something had gone wrong. That clone wouldn’t have walked outside with the blood sample. It would have known the risk as well as any of them did, and it was not nearly old enough to go mad. Was it karma, that something had to go wrong after a lot of luck? Or was Hidan not alone out here?
Things went to hell before the leader clone could work through the thought. Without anyone even touching it, Hidan’s scythe whirled through the air from where it had been left behind. Instead of hitting a clone – that would have been preferable – The massive blade sliced into Hidan’s forearm and stuck there; the man laughed hysterically as all the clones wavered. A large shape coalesced on the ground, as if appearing from nowhere; a blood circular shape, several times bigger than the one he occupied earlier.
“Let the pain begin,” Hidan whispered with a cruel smile.
Naruto collapsed to his knees with a cry. His arm felt like someone had ripped it off, like someone had torn into it with a ragged knife. He raised it in alarm and blanched as blood poured out from a cut that went straight through, one that had appeared out of nowhere. Even with his extraordinary healing the wound wasn’t closing fast enough; he began to feel light-headed and clamped his clothes down on the wound as he dragged himself to the door. The world seemed to be spinning, and he forced himself to move on anyway.
Sakura, he thought hazily. He needed her medical jutsu now. Before he could rethink it he vanished in Shunshin, hastening to the hospital. She’d be there, he was certain. The wound stopped bleeding a little as he moved, but he’d probably left a trail all across town.
He ran into the emergency room with a face pale as a sheet, and one of the medical ninja on staff hastened himself to his side with remarkable concern in his eyes, whereas others seemed far too occupied looking in every other direction.
“What happened? This wound…” the dark-haired medic asked sharply, pushing his glasses up his nose as he looked at Naruto’s bloody arm dispassionately. “Who did this to you?”
“Not here,” Naruto muttered, not sure what exactly to say. He could only come to one conclusion on why this was happening, and it was horrifying. The one thing that he thought he didn’t have to worry about must have happened. “I think it’s going to happen again. It’s happening from a distance.”
The medic looked concerned as he quickly led Naruto along past several nurses that looked at him with narrowed eyes. He even passed Ino, and half-heartedly waved to her as he moved into a large side-room. Closing the door, the Medical-nin activated a seal grafted besides it, and the noise from outside suddenly vanished. Privacy seals. At least the man had gotten his hint, then.
“Medic-Ninja confidentiality, right?” Naruto asked, his mind clearing a little. Sakura wasn’t here; of course she wasn’t. She wouldn’t be a medic for years to come, if at all. Damn it, he still wasn’t quite thinking straight, was he? If he blurted anything he shouldn’t… “Please? I don’t want to alert half the village.”
“Of course, of course. Unless it’s something really huge, I think I can keep my silence.” He smiled. “Come, let’s get that wound cleaned up.”
Naruto rubbed his arm as he ordered his thoughts. He’d need to be truthful, or he wouldn’t get any treatment that would actually work. With Hidan out there, still in combat with his clones, he couldn’t afford any delays.
“It’s the Cult of Jashin,” he blurted as he ripped back his sleeve, exposing where he’d been hit. The wound looked messy, ragged, but not nearly as bad as he had expected. It seemed hours old, not minutes, with dried blood around the edges. “They got some of my blood, and they’re using it to harm me from afar.”
His mind wandered back to that split second in which his blood had been spilt – only a few drops, but it was enough. He clearly remembered a clone popping right when Hidan jumped on him, but there was something horribly off – he didn’t have that clone’s memories at all. He figured he’d remember the black and white menace getting up into his personal space.
It hadn’t been his clone at all. Somewhere between the time the clone left with his blood sample and the time the fake appeared at the fight, the vial had changed owners. Why, though, couldn’t he remember being ambushed, then? It could only mean one thing: The original clone that he’d sent out was still around, or the attacker had figured out a way around the memory transfer function of a Shadow Clone. He couldn’t be sure which right now, and popping clones didn’t seem like a good idea either.
Naruto looked up nervously as the medic checked his pulse and dabbed at his wound, exposing the torn muscle tissue beneath the skin; it looked quite grisly. Thankfully, it would heal; as far as he knew, he could possibly suffer an amputation and regenerate thanks to the fox. The man looked up and shook his head, his pallor nearly matching Naruto’s own. “Jashin, you said? In this age? What barbaric folk have taken up that superstition? The last I heard of it, it was supposed to have gone extinct…”
“At least one barbarian remains, I guess,” Naruto said, wincing. Memories came to him in a rush, and he collapsed to his knees.
The scythe sliced through the air as Hidan laughed. Below him, a second bloody symbol was burnt into the ground, a seal like the first, larger than the first. It didn’t look like it was just blood; it glistened with chakra discharges.
“You didn’t think I was unprepared, shinobi? When I smelled you in the distance, I knew what I had to do.”
Smelled him? That didn’t make any sense. Beyond the fact that he was a clone, they’d all been against the wind, which would have prevented any scents of note to reach the man.
“You have already fallen under my curse, now,” Hidan continued. “The ceremony will now begin. Let’s savour the utmost of suffering together!” He slashed down with his scythe, embedding it deep within his leg, smiling dangerously. “You’ll taste that pain. The pain that will you.”
He ripped his weapon free and the clones wavered again, their chakra unstable as the connection between them and the original shuddered. In that split second, Hidan slashed one of them into pieces.
Naruto panted and screamed as his leg was ripped open, three long wounds erupting from front to back, as if the weapon was right there with them. Without even realizing it he called on Kurama’s chakra, on his power. His teeth sharpened, his eyes turned to slits, the scars on his cheeks seemed suddenly as if they were engraved there. The intense surge of chakra found the wounds, and within moments they began to close, though it wasn’t as quick and painless as he would have liked. Flesh knitted back together forcefully, and he could only barely keep in a pained yelp.
“Extraordinary, I have only seen such speed of recovery in Tsunade-sama, never in someone who wasn’t a medic of the highest order…” the medic said to himself, adjusting his glasses again, and only then seemed to realize he had a patient lying on the floor. He quickly pulled up a stretcher. “Can you hop on?”
“Does it look like I can?” Naruto said with a groan, but he dragged himself up on his other foot, keeping his weight off the injured leg.
“That’s good,” the medic said carefully as he helped his patient up. Naruto ended up sitting on the bed with his leg stretched out besides him, the other dangling down. “This is fine, I can reach the wounds. But – with this Jashin ritual still happening, I don’t know how much it helps to cover the symptoms.”
“Can you break the connection?” Naruto asked sharply, teeth chattering. “If my attacker gets too far with this, I’ll die!”
The medic nodded, frowning. “Jashinism is an ancient religion. I didn’t think it was followed anymore, or its rituals preserved.” He walked to his desk, glancing over a vast collection of scrolls arrayed against the walls. “It has been decades since anyone has been exposed to such techniques in Konoha. Finding it now is remarkable, especially while it is in progress. Wondrous, really.”
“Can you break it, or not?” Naruto asked again, his voice raw from Kurama’s influence. It was better than bleeding out, he supposed. “I don’t care what it does, I care about not dying.“
“Breaking a connection forged in blood, well, that’s very difficult,” the medic said after a moment, glancing over with a knowing look. “I have scrolls on many malignant rituals, but I don’t know if Jashin would be among them…” He paused. “I’ll try, I promise.”
“Thank you,” Naruto responded carefully. “I appreciate that you care.”
As he sorted through the piles of scrolls, the medic spoke again. “This chakra you’re exuding… If it gets much more intense, ANBU will be all over this place.”
“It’s the Kyūbi’s, I can’t really help it right now.” He winced as he rubbed his stomach – Kurama was mad, understandably. “It’s not going to make a bit of difference for me if this Jashin guy stabs me anywhere fatal.” The first time he’d ever almost died was at Kabuto’s hands; a wound at his heart could haveed him outright, and not even Kurama could interfere. He didn’t know if the same was true for his higher-tailed forms, but he certainly didn’t want to unleash those in the middle of Konoha’s hospital.
“You demon-hosts, you’re quite something,” the medic said, rifling through the scrolls in his little library as quickly as he could. “I knew another, you know. It’s been a long time, but she was at the hospital quite a few times. She even installed a lot of the seals that we use around here, even today.”
Naruto would have responded to that, but before he could, memories overran his mind.
“Fūton: Daitoppa!” the clones yelled; four blasts of concentrated wind bowled Hidan over, smacking him solidly into the tree behind him with a cry. Horror filled their eyes as two of them vanished from the sudden surge of chakra unleashed by it.
“Shit, it’s not just his weapon! It’s even our own attacks that hurt the Boss!”
“We need to break the link! If we can’t get him out of the circle of his technique, then break the circle!”
Naruto Faced Hidan Before Akatsuki, Survived the Jashin Ritual & Uncovered Zetsu’s Hidden Plot
Naruto cried in pain as his back protested; he could practically feel the bark’s rough texture. The medic skimmed scroll after scroll, discarding some until a small pile was beginning to form on the ground. The reddish chakra of Kurama bubbled around Naruto, searing the table. A single red tail emerged as he shuddered. Yeah, remaining unnoticed was unlikely at this point. He’d be lucky if he wasn’t executed outright after this.
“You need to break this soon, old man!” Naruto exclaimed. He could feel the weakness in his body, and Kurama’s rage from within the seal. Kurama knew what was going on, was aware that his life could be snuffed out in an instant. They hadn’t prepared for this. Karma’s revenge had come at last. Now the fox was smashing as much chakra as it could into his host’s body, and it couldn’t be stopped. Naruto knew he could maintain one tail, but for how long? When would his mind make way for the madness of his Bijū? Kurama wasn’t the friend he remembered, not yet. He’d destroy the village if he broke out.
“Old man, eh?” the man chuckled as his eyes roved over his papers. “I am forty-one, I suppose that’s old for a shinobi. When I was younger, I was the Raving Ryosuke, you know. I suppose I mellowed out some.”
“You know, I understand that better than you probably imagine,” Naruto muttered, grimacing.
Ryosuke smirked over his shoulder, then pulled out a new scroll, and paused. “Ah. Here we go.” He glanced over his prize and scowled. “I need to know what seal the attacker is using. If they’re not near here, then that’s not going to work.”
“It’s a triangle in a circle!” Naruto said through clenched teeth. “I’ve seen it!”
Ryosuke’s eyes widened as he unrolled the scroll he was holding and read on. “The wound transference ritual,” he said, shaking his head nervously. He muttered under his breath as his eyes roved over the page. “This jutsu…”
Hidan cackled as he cut himself again, slicing over his upper arm; the clones shuddered a last time, and then the Henge dissolved. A dozen black-and-orange-clad Naruto clones stared at him in horror.
“Cover’s blown – he’ll need to die. We need to destroy the circles first,” the leader clone ordered. “Blast them to little pieces, snap that scythe of his too.” He shook his head. “He’s a lot quicker than he’s supposed to be, or we’re a lot slower. What the hell is going on?”
The Rasengan burst through life in each hand, now that Hidan’s fate was decided. The spinning spheres of chakra were combined with elemental chakra; howling wind overtook the clearing as Hidan hesitated, his eyes wide.
“That jutsu- how can you…?”
“What do we do?” One clone barked to the other as they paced by the opened passage. “He went out to check in with the others, but he’s not coming back! Seriously, it’s pissing me off!”
“They’re fighting,” a second agreed, shivering. “I think they’re fighting!”
“Oh, right, you’re the cowardly clone,” the first muttered, sighing. “I knew we shouldn’t have been relying on long-term clones. This is going so wrong it’s not even funny!”
“He has gotten blood from the Boss,” a third clone said. “We can’t let him use that stuff.” He turned with wide eyes. “If hes the Boss, we all go.”
The first clone paced. “Just running in there without a plan isn’t sensible. We need a way to bind that bastard without hurting him. I wish we’d brought some ninja wire or something, but he’s good enough to escape that stuff anyway. Maybe if the Boss was here, he could do something, but we were never meant to do combat, so there are not many supplies…”
“This guy’s the slowest of the Akatsuki, but we’re still not back up to what we used to be. We’re between Chūnin and Jōnin maybe, but that guy is S-rank,” the second clone said. “We can’t use damaging Ninjutsu; you know what would happen if we did…”
The third clone cheered. “I know what we can do.”
“What?”
His eyes moved meaningfully to Gaara, staring balefully at them from the same spot he’d been occupying for days. “I think we have just the person to bind someone up so they can’t move, don’t you think?”
“That’s not going to work.”
The clone shrugged. “We have to do something, and that sand of his…”
“I’ve got it!” Ryosuke dropped his scroll on the table, biting his lip. “I’ll need your blood, firstly. Chakra, too. I need to draw a symbol like the other one.”
“My blood’s got plenty of chakra in it, now,” Naruto growled, ripping at his wrist with his teeth. The wound wanted to close over almost instantly, but a little blood pooled on the ground next to his stretcher, sparking with power.
“That will work,” the man said faintly.
The Rasengan barrage obliterated the first circle effortlessly, but the three aiming or the big one were deflected by Hidan’s scythe as he cut neatly through each clone’s wrist, popping them as they approached. Were they that slow compared to a Chūnin-level Shikamaru, that Hidan would seem fast to them? Or were the Boss’s wounds messing with their stability? One of the other clones blasted his Rasegan down towards the bloody line, but as the blast rocked the earth, nothing changed; the line remained among the rubble, as if undisturbed. Protected by some kind of barrier technique, then?
“I think it is about time that we end this little game, don’t you think?” Hidan smiled, keeping his distance from the remaining clones. “When the other person’s agony at the final moment of death seeps into my body, the pain is transcendent and becomes the purest ecstasy!” He smiled viciously and raised his scythe for final cut, aiming for his own heart.
“No,” Naruto whispered; the symbol on the floor was drawn, and Ryosuke was preparing the technique with care, his white medic’s coat now dotted with fresh blood. “It needs to be now! Quickly!”
“You shouldn’t hasten this,” the man said. “If it fails, you don’t get a second chance.” He looked conflicted as he stared down at the scroll, his hands shaking. “This jutsu, it’s…”
“If you’re going to do it, it has to be now!” Naruto dropped off the stretcher, landing on the circle. He cried out as his leg burst alight with white-hot pain again, his arm so numb now that he wondered if there was any circulation at all. “If you don’t, I’ll die!” He was certain of that; Kurama was crying out in rage from behind its seal, but without the loosening that Jiraiya had done in his original three-year trip, it couldn’t force any more tails to manifest. “Please!”
The scythe slashed out, the clones cried out as they rushed to stop it. For a long moment it seemed like everything was frozen. Then, sand blasted across them in a tidal wave, popping the few that remained before Hidan, and covering the Jashinist entirely.
“Mother desires blood,” Gaara said as he stepped forward, a deranged smile on his face, and he shivered and twitched as he walked forward. “You will do. Yes, you will do.”
“Don’t him!” a clone yelled from behind him. “We need answers!”
The medic flashed through hand signs, following his scroll. “This is more complicated than I thought… eighteen hand signs, high chakra cost.” He finished, slapping his hands down on the edge of the circle. He smiled up at Naruto who was having trouble keeping Kurama’s chakra from destroying everything, and nodded. “Make your father proud, boy.”
The room exploded with light.
“Don’t do it!”
Gaara looked over with a bored expression, ignoring the struggling Hidan who was buried to his neck in sand. “Why should I spare this filth? Mother desires blood, and he has some.”
“Let me go, you son of a whore!”
“He is also very rude,” Gaara observed. He shook his head slowly. “Sabaku Sōsō,” the boy intoned as he clasped his fingers together. The sand surrounding Hidan contracted suddenly, and a horrifying squishing sound could be heard. A wave of popping clones followed.
It took a moment for things to quiet down. The few remaining clones turned to each other in surprise.
“We’re still…”
Naruto sat up with a gasp. Kurama’s chakra was gone, gobbled up by the jutsu in a single intense moment. The jutsu had sapped everything that had bubbled up inside him. The link was broken. Hidan hadn’t managed to get his final strike in, after all. Relief washed over him as he dropped to his back. He survived, and Hidan was in no condition to fight, not anymore.
He turned to his side to thank his medic, and it felt like his heart stopped. He stared with wide eyes as his stomach revolted against the sight, against all the blood. The whole room, even he, were covered in a thin film of it.
He almost vomited as he crawled away in a panic from the collapsed form of his medic.
The curse. The ritual hadn’t been to remove it entirely, but to move it to someone else. The medical ninja’s body was crushed, and only his face was recognizable. He’d beened in an instant, but he’d known that would happen. Naruto had asked him for help, and the man had done it, knowing it would cost him his own life.
His last words had been… Make your father proud.
“No…” Naruto whispered to himself, eyes wide. “You knew about him. That’s why you were so kind to me?” He looked at the crumpled form and shivered. Raving Ryosuke – he’d heard the name before, somewhere. A story that Jiraiya had told him, a lifetime ago.
Rage, unbridled rage ignited in his gut then. He didn’t know when the medic had died, the last time around, but he certainly hadn’t died like this. Saving his life, which shouldn’t have been necessary in the first place. The vial with his blood should never have come close to Hidan at all; it should have been destroyed the instant that the door to the bunker was opened. Had it been a clone messing up? Doubtful. Hidan certainly didn’t seem the type to manipulate such things. So, there was someone else. Someone who had helped Hidan out, but never showed himself. Someone keeping an eye out, without being seen.
A chill ran down his back, then. “Zetsu.”
It was perhaps fitting that it was Sarutobi Asuma who burst in, then. He took only a moment to survey the scene. Naruto was propped up on an arcane symbol etched on the floor, covered in blood; the remnants of demonic chakra hung in the air; the desiccated corpse of a medic rested in a pool of blood, a sad smile frozen on his face. Asuma slammed the door closed, eyes wide.
“What happened here? ” His eyes were wide as he brandished two knives. “What did you do?”
“He saved my life,” Naruto said tiredly, and he suddenly couldn’t see so well anymore – tears forced their way out as the world began spinning. Chakra exhaustion was catching up with him, it seemed. “He saved… my life.”
Naruto collapsed forward, out like a light.
Three clones remained besides Gaara. Three clones that weren’t in any state to fight; it was remarkable that they were around at all.
“Please, Gaara…” one begged. “Boss means well. He didn’t bring you here to torture you, but to help you.”
Gaara winced as he turned, his eyes confused and pained. He gritted his teeth as he pressed a hand against his forehead, and the clones warily took a step back. “It hurts. Mother…” He looked up with those mad eyes, suddenly focusing on the clones. “The seal! Give it to me!”
One clone stepped forward quickly, hoping that it wasn’t a trick. He retrieved one of the backup seals that the Boss had left behind, placing it gingerly on Gaara’s seal; the boy didn’t react. Then, with a moment of concentration, he activated it.
In the brief blue glow, Gaara’s expression went from pain to relief, though it vanished beyond a mask of placidity a moment later. He looked coolly at the clones, but didn’t attack them. Indeed, his shivers were gone, and all the sand around him dropped back to the ground, including the thin layer that had already started to rebuild his ultimate defence. That didn’t make sense. Gaara hated being exposed like this, without his power. Why would he want that seal?
“Where is your ‘Boss’?” Gaara asked, staring out over the land with a focused stare. “Konoha?”
“Yes,” one of the clones said nervously. “Please don’t him?”
Gaara didn’t respond to that, turning towards the direction of the village, as if he already knew exactly where he was. His eyes narrowed. “He is in my debt. I will make him repay his dues.” He grinned then, and the psychotic look in his eyes spelled nothing good.
“Hey, bastards, I’m not dead yet!”
They all turned towards the voice. Hidan’s voice. There, lodged partially in the pile of sand that Gaara had manipulated was a head, and only a head, glaring at them in anger.
“He’s the opposite of a headless horseman,” one clone quipped lightly. “What the hell do we do with him now?”
“He’s a Missing-nin, remember,” the second clone observed, frowning. “What’s the process again? Deliver the head as proof, get our reward? I think this is about as good as we’re liable to get with an immortal guy. We’ll let Boss decide what to do with him, after shutting him up about what he saw out here.” He shrugged as he picked the head up by its hair; Hidan cursed loudly. “What do you think? He’d make a good paperweight, wouldn’t he?
The third pulled a seal from his pocket. “I’ve got just the thing to shut him up for a while.”
“What?” Hidan asked, his skin turning pink again. His ritual was over. “No, damn it! You’re not going to put me in-“
The scroll activated, and the head vanished.
It was almost morning again before the three clones got near Konoha, with Gaara following them at a sedate pace, clearly not used to travelling any significant distances at speed. In many ways his skills weren’t far beyond Genin – he usually fought while standing still, and he didn’t seem to care much for generic jutsu. The clones knew better than to underestimate him, though; if he got agitated, things could get quite messy, and Boss wasn’t around to offer a counter-argument. Three clones were just going to end up popped. Not that it seemed like combat was necessary. Gaara was behaving oddly, clearly uncomfortable without his sand protection, yet he seemed reluctant to remove the seal that blocked the demonic chakra from pouring out. The sand streamed to him like a waterfall whenever he did so, but it could barely form the protective barrier before he placed the seal back on again
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