Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem of the Living ❯ Informant ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: ‘Lo~. Sorry about the dely in updating. My laptop broke and I only just got it fixed today...(and then there were those dreadful midterms...) Anyway. I’ve been writing this since the day after I last updated, but I don’t know if it shows...Yeah, about anything that might have seemed to have not been explained last chapter will be explained in time, don’t worry about that. Ok! I’m gonna say thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! It really makes my day. On with the chapter~!

Disclaimer: I don’t known Naruto, but I doubt you do either....
It wasn’t easy gaining entrance to Konoha. The two chuunin guards were watching the gate seemed unwilling to let anyone into the fire metropolis, let alone an old man with strange clothes and a boy with just his left eye showing on his body.

“Oi!” Naruto had yelled angrily. “Don’t you see this hitai-ate? I’m a ninja of Konoha!” It was a major insult to his newly reacquired shinobi-hood that they disbelieved him.

“What’s with yer eye?” the shorter of the two asked, pushing his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose to squint haughtily at the ‘supposed’ ninja.

On the brief walk towards the gates the duo had spoken about what to do with Naruto’s appearance. It had been in Jiraiya’s opinion to cover his student’s entire face, because as sad as it was, if the sentries recognized Naruto it was unlikely they would allow them inside painlessly. Naruto had firmly disagreed, for he couldn’t wear both his forehead protector and goggles at the same time. He wanted to march into his hometown with his symbol displayed proudly upon his brow. Coming to a compromise, Naruto had taken a black piece of satiny fabric and wrapped it around his right eye, tying it behind his head, hitai-ate placed firmly over that and mask returning to cover his whiskered cheeks. It wasn’t exactly fashionable, and Ino probably would’ve thrown a fit had she seen him, but it was functional and served his purpose just fine.

Feeling that the guards must’ve thought he was some rabid fan of Kakashi, the famous ‘Copy Ninja’, put a slight damper on his mood. He most certainty was not a pervert, even if both his teachers were.

“It was ripped out on a mission,” said the blonde stoicly, his face stony and single eye like ice. “Wanna see?” he asked with an audible smirk.

“N-no, that’s alright.” the man stuttered, looking away. “Still, I’d have to speak to Hokage-sama before letting you in.” the sunglasses-wearing chuunin stated, looking very proud of his job. The other nin remained standing stock-still. He didn’t seem too bright.

“Why the hell are a bunch of snotty chuunin guarding the gates anyway? Where are all the ANBU?” Naruto demanded, peering around as though one of the elite ninja would just appear for him. There were normally at least two of the masked squad members at the archway at all time, more often then not just needing to direct the slow trickle of traffic. Even then, there would be a few more lingering around in the darkness silently keeping watch. It was likewise for all portals into the city, though this one, the main one, was supposed to have more security. Instead, there were these two freshly-achieved chuunin, who had probably just passed the test in his absence. It was a duty of a nin to know fellow nins in their village, at least. Naruto snorted, ‘The testing must’ve gotten slack if guys like this could get in.’.

“For your information,” the offended man ground out. “There are ANBU watching at this very moment. The likes of you would never be able to detect them though.”

“Hn.” the boy muttered noncommitally, rolling his eyes slightly. He elbowed the man beside him. “As much as I hate it, you can probably get us in there real quick.” As said, it did look like he was on the verge of being physically sick with these words.

The Sannin smiled cheekily, apparently pleased with the younger’s admittance of the fact. “Alright brat. Stand back and watch the master at work!”. Tactfully ignoring the snide ‘master of perverts, maybe’ mumbled behind him, he put on a face-splitting grin and strode forward, power emitting from his very steps. “Do you not know who I am? Ah, how the youth of today make my heart weep!”. The guard merely raised an eyebrow, watching the charade before him unfold. “I am the legendary Frog Summoner! The toad hermit from the mountains! Surely you’ve heard me. The most powerful of the Sannin, Jiraiya! Comrade to the lovely woman you call Hokage!” Through his speech he had grown in volume until he was near to shouting. The man had also taken a ridiculous pose which he obviously thought would prove all his statements true. “Therefore,” he ordered, all authority now, “as your superior, I order you to let us pass!”

Both watchmen were staring openly at him, not noticing the younger ninja put a hand to his temple, as though to alleviate a major headache.

“Are...are you really?” the smaller one questioned, awe creeping into his voice. The other continued to gape, mouth wide open.

“I am.” Jiraiya said proudly, a smug glance thrown back to Naruto, who was now walking towards him, achieving a one-eyed glare flawlessly.
“Well...why would you be traveling with some low-grade like him?” the chunin asked, sneering in Naruto’s direction.

In a blur of movement, faster then either chuunin could even blink, Jiraiya was standing on the guard-platform, his face cold and furious and right in front of the bad-speaker. “That’s the future Hokage you’re speaking ill of. I’d watch my tongue if I were you. You just might find yourself short of a job.” The force of the anger behind the mans eyes had both impudent figures stumbling back and Naruto bowed his head to inspect the brown pebbles littering the floor, face unreadable.

“Sir!” the threatened man saluted, standing erect and bringing a fist across his chest in respect. “Pyle, get the gate!” he ordered the larger man, who jumped into action. He disappeared behind the battlements of the wall and shortly after a loud cranking noise could be heard, signaling the doors opening. Surely enough, foot by foot the great wood barriers were spreading apart, the narrow girth between allowing a brief glimpse in to what lay beyond.

To Naruto there was no view better then that which he saw through the gap. He didn’t care what anyone thought, this was his home and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to protect it, as he’d once been told, with both arms. He was a bit surprised when the doors creaked to a stop just past the halfway mark. It was rare enough for the entrance to Konoha to be closed during the day, let alone to be so alert that they barely unsealed them.

“There’s something going on here.” Naruto whispered in an aside to his elder as they moved towards the yawning threshold.

“You thought so too? Well, I’m sure hime will fill us in when we meet with her.”

Naruto nodded absentmindedly, self-consciously adjusting his coverings to make sure was in proper order. ‘Parading by those imbeciles is one thing,’ he thought. ‘here among my friends and former classmates is something else entirely...’

Jiraiya put a comforting hand on his shoulder, leading them to their destination, chuunin stares boring into their backs. “Let’s go, kid. We’ve got a long road ahead of us.”

The genin didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was faintly surprised that everything looked fairly the same. He couldn’t recognize any of the people walking, but he didn’t think he’d be able to in the first place. What he did recognize, however, was the lack of, or complete non existence of glares in his direction. Most people seemed content to just walk by on their business. It was almost eerie how accustomed he’d grown to the dark looks. There were even a select few, mainly the older crowd or a rare shinobi, who looked up long enough to cast a curious glance at them, for they recognized Jiraiya. There could’ve been something glimmering in some of their eyes, closely resembling...hope? Hopeful looks towards Naruto. Ha. He almost wanted to laugh bitterly at the irony of it.

The duo made their way inwards, to the building marked ‘fire’ in the middle of the city. As they passed through the industrial area of Konoha, this was where textile products like paper were made and wood cut to their respective sizes, Naruto noticed something. There were no children around. As far as he could remember, there would normally be a lot of kids running about here. In addition to it being the working class area, it was also considered the ‘slums’ of the village - he knew because he used to live fairly close to here - and the children who weren’t in ninja academy would play ninja back here, where they weren’t in the way and liable to be yelled at. Kid’s would be bouncing off the alley walls, quite literally if it were an experienced genin. Furrowing his eyebrows he looked about him.

The buildings resembled warehouses here, burly men outside dragging off a cigarette and wearing their threadbare clothes. That much was supposed to be there, but he spotted something most definitely out of place. A distant building stood tall, a hundred meters or so from the Hokage-tower. It was new, of that Naruto was certain, and it was charred black. The obvious reasoning behind this was the enormous amount of black smoke billowing forth from the many chimneys and vents spouting from the roof.

“Hey Jiraiya,” Naruto asked, his eyes trained on the source of the pollution. “What’s that?”

“Got me. I don’t think it’s anything Tsunade would’ve endorsed. That smog can’t be good for people, and the health of the citizens are her main concern. I wish we could’ve risked a few letters here during our trip, but that would’ve done more bad then good. Either of our sendings could’ve been intercepted or we could’ve been tracked...still, I’d feel a lot better knowing what the hell was going on here.”

As they got closer, the people thinned out a considerable amount. There were still no children. The previous location of the main market-place was near to barren. Many shops had boards over their windows and doors, others were virtually empty, devoid of both wares and customers. There was the occasional woman rushing by, shopping bags clutched close to chests and hunched as though there were a large weight on their backs. Naruto was distantly reminded of the Wave Country, the first village he had visited outside if his home and at the time terribly poor. As far as Naruto knew, Konoha had the best economy of the shinobi countries, so that wouldn’t make sense.

Their journey was coming to an end and they both warily approached the menacing building. From this close it seemed especially vast, easily rivaling the size of the Capitol building. It looked like an unsightly blotch of ink on an otherwise beautiful landscape portrait. There were no windows to be seen, nor a door for that matter, just a cool obsidian silo, shadows moving over the smooth surface. The walls continued upwards smoothly in that fashion for near-to five hundred feet, where chimneys branched out sporadically, releasing their fumes.

Jiraiya sniffed at the air disdainfully. “Ugh, that smells horrible. It’s a wonder your nose hasn’t burned off.” he snickered, smirking down at his student. Naruto just kept his mouth shut, face set in an uncomfortable grimace. “Damn this is weird. I’ve got the creeps.”

Naruto idly wondered what this huge grotesque structure must’ve cost to build. There had used to be an apartment complex where it now stood, and the business in the area looked like it had taken a heavy blow also. If he thought the bazaar from before was deserted, this place seemed like a ghost town.

Within a moment the duo had passed out from under the building’s shadow, to the relief of both men. Continuing over the hard-packed dirt pathways they made it to the front of the Hokage Tower. There were four ANBU monitoring outside of it, wearing masks bearing the likeness of a hawk, a boar, a rat and a horse. The Hawk stepped forward, motioning with a quick hand-signal to his fellows.

“Jiraiya-sama.” he said respectfully, bowing low to the ground. “I assume you wish to meet with Hokage-sama?”

“Yes, if it isn’t too much trouble.” the Sannin said, placing a hand on Naruto’s shoulder.

The Hawk seemed to inspect the blonde genin, but it was rather hard to tell. He then said, “Very well. Follow me please.”

The man took off at a brisk pace, through the doors and up the huge flight of stairs wrapping around the building. It was very nostalgic for Naruto around here. He had been here regularly when Sandaime was in power, and even more once he helped bring Tsunade back. Approaching the mid-way point the ANBU bowed again.

“Just through there.” came the dislocated voice, before he dispersed in a swirl of leaves.

Passing through the elaborate archway and into the building, Naruto took note of four more guards in the waiting room. There was a desk in here for a personal secretary, though no-one was seated there, and a few couches and chairs. They approached the guard closest to the door, who bowed and knocked on the door separating the two offices. After two brisk raps, a harsh voice was heard from within.

“Damnit! Don’t you people know I’m busy!?”

The guard did a decent job of hiding his flinch. Tsunade was awfully scary when...well, almost always, actually. “Hokage-sama. You have visitors here to see you. It’s urgent m’am.”

“I don’t care who it is! Send them away!” Naruto wondered if Tsunade knew that anyone in the waiting room could easily hear what she was yelling. Yeah, she probably did.

The ANBU stuttered, rightly afraid of the woman’s wrath. With a grin, Naruto decided to butt in.

“Oi Baachan! Whattsa matter? Did your spell wear off?” He yelled, sounding like the same whiny twelve year old he once was. Jiraiya chuckled next to him and immediately the sounds of something crashing and fast footfalls were heard. Before he knew it, the door was jerked open, nearly off it’s hinges, to reveal a harried Tsunade.

On the whole, she looked exactly as she had last he saw her. He knew that was probably due to her youth jutsu, but now that he really thought about it, Jiraiya didn’t look much older either...and if he were to guess, he’d peg Jiraiya’s age at about forty max, not the fifty-five it was in actuality. ‘Must be a Sannin thing, I guess.’

Looking into her eyes he first found shock, followed by relief, only the end as joy.

“Naruto!” she cried, rushing forward to hug him fiercely. He was somewhat proud that she didn’t have to bend down to do so anymore. “Where have you been?!”

“Baachan, you can let go now! You’re crushing me!” Naruto joked. She laughed and pulled away a bit anyways.

“Let’s have a look at you. You got so tall! Jiraiya did feed you enough, right? Oh my, you were supposed to be gone for three years max! What happened?! I thought you both died!”

“What? No hug for the great protector?” Jiraiya asked, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk on his face.

“Of course not! I ought to slap you! In fact-” the angry woman stormed over and did just that. With a closed fist. Using far more force then necessary. Jiraiya went flying into Tsunade’s office, landing with a dull thud on the floor.

“It’s good to see you haven’t gotten rusty, hime.” He said, rubbing a hand over his bruised cheek gingerly. Tsunade just scoffed and looked back at Naruto.

“Well...it looks as though you have a lot of explaining to do, I’d think. Would you care to come inside?” She asked, and although her face held a smile, she was very serious.

“Of course, baachan.” Naruto replied, stepping around her and into the ornate room. Crossing the space he sat down in the high-backed chair of the hokage, relaxing back and crossing his feet on the desk. Tsunade was about to comment when she saw Jiraiya do nearly the exact same thing in one of the guest chairs.

“Oh Gods, Jiraiya. You’ve made him a clone! He’d better not have any of your more questionable attributes or I’ll bash your face into next month!”

Jiraiya grinned and said dreamily, “Oh, how I love a woman who can kick my ass.”

The kunoichi simply glared once more and settled herself in another chair, waiting for the story to begin.

“Well, I guess to make a very long and complicated story short, we left and trained.” Jiraiya said in an unintelligent manner. Upon seeing the malice in his former-teammate’s posture, however, he re-directed his conversation.

“I took Naruto with me on Akatsuki information-gathering missions at first, and was training him as we went. I assume you’ll have to test him eventually to approve of him still being a ninja.” he added, sounding as though such a test was comical. “Well, after a year of that, the Akatsuki just disappeared. We couldn’t find a single trace of them anywhere, still can’t. I’m quite bothered by this, but the point of the mission was to train Naruto, so we continued. We traveled all over, learning as many Jutsu from foreign villages as they’d allow. When we were passing through Takigakura we heard some interesting news. Following the lead we investigated some nearby establishments-”

“By ‘establishments’ he means friggin’ gangshacks and brothels. Damned pervert.”

“Ah-em. Yes. Well, we managed to obtain some information out of some higher up Oto-nin-”

“More like we beat the living crap outta ‘em!”

“-it appears we have more time before our deadline.” Jiraiya said solemnly. Naruto had suddenly clammed up also, examining the fine wood grain along the desk in front of him.

“...deadline?” The buxom woman questioned.

“For the...ehm...liberation of Uchiha Sasuke.”

Tsunade looked at him sharply. “What do you mean?”

“Well first, how did the council handle the decision of his detachment?” the white-haired man pondered softly.

“They wanted to send more teams-ANBU- after him, claiming that he should be considered ‘kidnaped’. I managed to restrain them and changed his status to ‘C’- class missing nin - should anyone see him with a chance of capture do so, otherwise report information directly to me. Why?”

The situation seemed a little touchy with the blonde. He was gripping the table so tightly the wood creaked in protest with a look of fierce determination on his face.

“He made a deal with Orochimaru.” Naruto said in a clipped, restrained tone. “Three more years. Three more years for Sasuke to train and hunt for his brother, then he’ll willingly give himself up to whatever the Snake wants. Fucking moron!”

“Naruto.” Jiraiya said commandingly, looking at him sternly. “Control yourself.”

A noise that could have been a growl filtered from under the mask and then he sighed, brokenly placing his head on the polished wood his feet had previously occupied.

“So...three more years?” Tsunade asked, sounding hopeful. She may have not cared much either way for the former genin, but if it upset Naruto not to keep his promise, then it was of her concern. Of course, then there was the matter of her other charge...

“Not quite. That was a year ago. I’m sure you understand the circumstances why we couldn’t keep correspondence.”

“Yes. Well, two more years...that’s still something. So you have other news from Oto then?” She asked, in what both men though was a hopeful and serious manner.

“No. We tried to stray from villages as often as possible, especially after last year. Why? Were you looking for any in particular?”

“Perhaps. I’m sure you noticed the condition Konoha is in.”

“We saw that huge building, if that’s what you mean.” came the depressed boy’s flat voice.

“Yes, well I’m afraid that’s only part of it. It’s technically called the Taishokukan, though pretty much everyone calls it the Factory.” Tsunade vaguely gestured out her window, where the black structure was clearly visible. “Many of the leaf men and a handful of specially talented shinobi have been drafted to work there. It’s something of a ‘Total War’ base.”

“‘Total War’?!” Naruto called out, raising his head to stare an eye at Tsunade imploringly. “You’re saying that we’re at war?!”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. No one had intended it, a bunch of Sound ninjas, along with some nukenin just appeared a few months back, attacking en masse. We managed to deter them, but were left wounded. The council had the idea for the factory. It produces weapons and soldier pills at a rapid rate, in addition to prisoner quarters.”

“So I guess this couldn’t be avoided...” Jiraiya muttered with a disappointed face.

“Things haven’t gotten bad yet, but I fear for the future. There’s been a complete lack of reconnaissance from the spies as well. We’re in the dark, with no idea when they’re going to attack...” with those ill-omened words the room fell into silent contemplation.

“How’s Sakura?” Naruto asked suddenly, clear eye looking like that he had as a child.

Tsunade looked at him with an almost sad expression. “She’s been holding up well. I’ve taught her much of what I know.” she knew that wasn’t what he had meant when he inquired. “She’s missed her team and friends. To be the only one of Team 7 here was lonely for her.”

Naruto nodded slowly and she continued. “And what about you? I know you aren’t dressed that way for nothing...and I hope I’m mistaken, but I sense something strange with the seal...”

Naruto removed his mask, smiling at her grimly. Reaching behind his head in what was now a habitual manner, he untied the flimsy material, allowing it to flutter down from his face, followed by his mask.

Once more those two eyes stared, the blue one looking just as it had moments ago, and similar to how it resembled in the years past. The red orb seemed to glare with hatred and glow with a malevolence of it’s own, pupil dilating and retracting.

Tsunade gasped, putting a hand to her mouth in shock while Jiraiya watched on impassively. The now demonic boy grinned in an almost disturbing manner, elongated canines gleaming maliciously.


“I’ve had some issues with my...baggage.”
Jap anese Translations:

Hime - A woman (more typically a young women) of noble birth, normally princess. The only person who refers to Tsunade as ‘hime’ is Jiraiya. I tend to use it a noun, but it is often a suffix also.
Baachan - Granny. Naruto is the only one who really uses this for Tsunade, as everyone else finds it highly disrespectful (sans Jiraiya, of course).
Kunoichi - Most probably know this; female ninja.
Takigakura - The Hidden Waterfall Village, in Taki no Kuni (Land of Waterfall). Geographically speaking, it is the closest named country to Oto after Konoha. In the OVA it seemed like a bit of a ruffian village, but that could be my opinion...XD
Oto - another pretty easy one. Reference to Otogakure (Sound Village) or Oto no Kuni (Land of Sound).
Nukenin - I didn’t include the other ninja ranks, as they’re given, but this mean’s missing nin.
Taishokukan - means ‘Big Eater’ or a glutton. Not much significance here, just the first thing that came to mind =P


Post Note: A somewhat cliffy! I’m not so good at making them...lol. So...I hope that wasn’t so bad. I really wanted to focus on the changes in Konoha and Naruto’s reaction to them. I also apologize for any OOC. I figure that Naruto would be at least slightly changed, and yes he is. The full extent of it hasn’t been explored yet, but my fingers twitch in anticipation to write the first of those scenes >:). Next chapter will include some more touring of Konoha, a bit of plot development, and the main purpose, the reintroduction of a handful of the old gang. The explanation Naruto gave about his seal seems a little lacking, eh? Yes, it will be explained fully in due time also. I’m going to add flashbacks too, to make sure things are perfectly clear. Did anyone get a bit of dejavu when reading the line ‘I love a woman who can kick my ass.’?. I had written that and realized it reminded me of something. After thinking about it I remembered that Spike says it to Electra in the Cowboy Bebop movie. Haha, I didn’t have the heart to change it. A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. It was very kind of you. Do me a favor and review?

~Pyon!

-Hanyoupup