Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem of the Living ❯ Specialist ( Chapter 4 )

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

A/N: This chapter actually went pretty fast once I sat down to finish it...I rather like it. Of course, I’ll like anything that deals with Kyuubi, so here you go.

It had been an eventful day for Naruto. In a way, he was grateful. ‘Idle fingers are the Devil’s playground’. It was the same for him, only with thoughts. And with a much more literal Devil.

As he walked towards the inn Jiraiya had informed him they’d be staying in he felt his mind wander, as it often did without any concrete thread to hold it together.

Konoha...the very thought of this place made one half of him, the boy, purely happy. It stood for that which he would protect, give his life for. That which he loved. On the opposite end, however, the other half, the beast, hated it here. He hated what it represented to him, deception, trickery, pain. It was all Naruto could do to keep the raging creature in check. Still...

His fists clenched and he stopped walking. These thoughts...all his thoughts were completely circular, rounding about themselves, contradicting, contorting. It had become hard as of late to keep his focus on anything. Barraged with would-be-memories, haunting his dreams, passing before closed eyes. Phantom blood, slowly dripping down torn carnage, a sadistic glee that wasn’t his, alighting from the feel of flesh rendering under his claws, canine ears perking at the sounds of agonized cries, red eyes smirking at fresh graveyards, grey clouds upon a ground dyed red.

And try as he might, he couldn’t rid himself of them.

After all, those red eyes were his.

It was worth it, he reasoned. Hundreds of people were saved. Yet...

Yet it didn’t stop him from scowling angrily at what he had given up for them. What had they ever done for him?! How had they ever helped him at all? All of them filthy, filthy fleshbags-

There was a small popping noise as his claws burst through the leather of his gloves, digging into soft skin, his hands quickly becoming coated in the warm substance.

The boy took in a quivering breath.

‘Get out.’ He ordered. Having his ‘roommate’ tampering with his thoughts was the last thing he needed at this point. Not when he was in such a populated area. Not when he was here.

‘Blood on your hands again, eh?’ the deep, demonic voice chuckled. ‘You deny me, yet you love the feelings I give you. I know your thoughts as my own. Power, the feeling of bloodlust, watching the life in a victim’s eyes as it is taken from them-’

‘NO! I’m not you! I’m not!’ Naruto grabbed his head, willing the images bombarding his thoughts to stop. It was always like this, fighting for dominance. One fighting to cage the other, fighting to protect. The other fighting for freedom, wanting nothing more than to slaughter.

‘Mmm,’ the Kyuubi hummed noncommitedly, sultry voice drawling ‘Not yet, you’re not. But who are you trying to convince? Just remember,’ at this Naruto felt the self-inflicted gashes heal on his palm. They always healed. ‘You need me. Never forget that, kit. I’ll always be with you.’ Naruto felt the presence recede once more, cackling insanely.

Things were getting worse. The barriers he had carefully erected between them were crumbling with each passing day, his headaches increasing in number and frequency.

He took off the ruined gloves, pocketing them, and gazed forlornly at his hands. Tanned, slender, clawed fingers. Flawless. No marks or scars in sight.

Yes, he always healed.

Willing the pounding in his head to subside, he wearily found his way to the hotel; high class, but fairly deserted looking. Who traveled to a country at war?

The tall blonde dragged himself through the foyer, ignoring the receptionist and climbing the stairs. It was second nature now to follow his sensei by scent and chakra. Apparently his perverted teacher had managed to wile a suite from the manager.

Though there were various ways he could’ve gotten the door open without a key, ranging from explosions to technical lock-picking procedures, he simply knocked. The door was opened without complaint.

It was hard to confuse Naruto’s particular chakra signature.

Student practically limped into the room, gratefully collapsing onto one of the two large futon raised from the floor. A few heavy footsteps later and Jiraiya settled himself at the edge of his mattress, working diligently in a small black notebook in his weathered hands.

Listlessly, Naruto noted that the room was quite extravagant-no doubt in honor of the famous Sannin. If they knew a demon was here, he’d have been kicked out onto the street.

Neither of them spoke; neither of them knew just what should be said. Of course, they both knew the problem, but it didn’t make it any easier to discuss.

“Is there anything I can do?” the Sannin questioned gruffly. Ah, he never was one for silence.

Naruto smiled grimly at the light affection in his voice, un-noticeable to someone who hadn’t spent such a long time with him. “It’s getting harder, you know? As much...as much as I wanted to come back...”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. We’ll need to head out soon, I suppose. Someplace new. We can try to help the war efforts from-”

“No.” The boy said definitively, blue eye imploring from where he lay. “I’m tired of traveling. I’m tired of the woods, I’m tired of the glares and the screams...I’m so tired, Jiraiya.”

The older man watched him sadly. Comforting people was never his thing, especially in instances where he really had no right to say anything. He sighed heavily. “I know. There is nothing I wish for more than to somehow...I don’t know, fix it. But you and I know that can’t happen.” It was the best he could do. Tsunade was the one good at this, not him. But Tsunade wasn’t here, so he’d have to do.

“Why me?” Naruto asked brokenly. “What did I ever do?”

It was instances such as these that Jiraiya wished he tell Naruto the truth, but he had a promise to keep. Heaving another sigh he let his gaze wander to the window, easily picking the Yondaime’s face out in the distance, always watching.

“Nothing. You never did a thing wrong and that’s why it’s not fair. But I gotta tell ya,” he said, pausing to grin at the depressed boy. “No one could’ve come out as good as you. Remember that. You’re a good kid.” And as Naruto’s eye widened a bit, Jiraiya reflected that in essence, that’s all Naruto was. A poor kid who had a burden fit to cripple most men.

“I think I’m breaking.” said the youth. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up...”

The tattooed man closed his book with a snap, lowering his hands to rest on his knees.

“This is all my fault. If I wasn’t so weak. I wouldn’t have needed him or his power. If-if I wasn’t so...so me-”

“We’d be dead and in the ground. I owe you my life. Hell, virtually all of Kusa no Kuni owes you their lives. If nothing else we should be grateful to you. And I am.”

No more words were exchanged, though as Jiraiya went to his own cot to fall asleep, snoring loud as always, and Naruto watched the moon move over the lush forests in the distance from his perspective below the window, he figured no words needed to be.

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It was several hours later, as Naruto had begun to doze off, that harsh knocks were heard at his door. He glared blearily at it before righting his coverings and rising languidly from his position, various joints cracking and popping noisily.

He tread softly over the highly-waxed wooden floors to the thick shoji-screen. Out of sheer boredom he attempted to identify the intruder, rolling his eyes sky-ward when he realized that he couldn’t. High chakra-capacity, airy scent. Well, that didn’t help. He carefully unlocked and slid the door open.

There, leaning casually against the opposite wall, was none other then Hatake Kakashi.

He looked the same for the most part. Hair a bit longer perhaps, a few newly added pouches adorning his pants.

“Oh my. I didn’t know you thought so highly of me, Naruto. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, after all.”

Said boy slapped a hand to his forehead. “Shut it, Kakashi. As if you don’t know about everything from Tsunade-baa-chan already.”

“Just teasing. Where has your sense of humor gone?” the Jounin said lightly. Naruto simply slammed the door in his face. Just as he was about to take offence and knock again, the blonde re-appeared, a small sack in hand.

“Not that you deserve it,” he said, rummaging through the little satchel, “But I managed to get a hold of something for you.” With a noise of triumph, he extracted a little orange book, the front cover reading ‘Icha Icha Takuticusu’, the back displaying a bold red X.

Kakashi’s eye widened and he grabbed the book from his former student’s hand, flipping through the pages.

“Where did you get this?! It hasn’t even been released yet!” Awe was evident in his voice. If there was one thing the pervert before him enjoyed it was the smutty books noveled by none other then Jiraiya. Of course, had Kakashi known the other white-haired man was the famous author he might have been more buddy-buddy with him.

“I have my sources.” The blonde said. “And I’m sure there is a reason why you’re outside my door at four in the morning.” He wasn’t sure of the time, but it couldn’t be too far off. The sun hadn’t yet risen.

Kakashi nodded, suddenly grim. “There have been reports of a strange presence in Konoha not too long ago. We managed to follow the chakra-trail to it’s source.”

“But there is more.” The fox-boy stated. There was always more.

“Mmm. It would appear a hostage was taken...” said the Copy Ninja.

“Hostage...?”

“I’m afraid so. Come.” The masked shinobi took off out a nearby window, flying across the fortified roofs along the perimeter of the village under the brisk twilight. Naruto followed at his rear, arms trailing behind him, breeze narrowing his eye. Even from where he was he could feel the unmistakable aura of something evil. It didn’t even feel human...

They were fast approaching the tall, granite structural homage to their past figure-heads, all the while the dark feeling growing stronger. Bypassing the long staircase along the side the duo ran straight up the face of the rock. Naruto noticed Kakashi stumble slightly in front of him, his chakra flailing about wildly, like a caged bird.

As they rounded the top of the monument, Naruto was greeted by a massive melting pot of smells and sounds; dozens of ninja were gathered, milling about under several artificial lights set up, each of their chakras flitting confusedly. Some were mumbling amongst themselves while others used specialized jutsu to take stock of the surroundings.

He didn’t bother to even attempt to memorize any of these people. Instead he tried to pick out any he knew in particular. Sure enough, strolling toward him looking quite annoyed-from the early wake up call no doubt-was Tsunade. The imposing woman stopped before them and rolled her eyes skyward.

“Sorry about this,” she said with a grimace. “We normally wouldn’t have called on you Naruto, but there is something odd here I hoped you could help us with.”

The teen grunted in response. He could feel his own chakra -the second, sinister one- swell and try to dominate the others. It was through force of will that the blue force overwhelmed the red. “The chakra, right?”

She furrowed her blonde brows. “So you’ve noticed already. I was told last night that there had been a disturbing chakra moving through Konoha, disrupting the natural flows of shinobi chakra-coils. We got a Hyuuga in to examine the effects and trace it. The trail appeared suddenly in the middle of town, and disappeared just as suddenly here. Hanabi informed us that the alien-chakra is black in color, and tries to almost over-take our blue chakra. She said it throws our balance out of sync. In more words of course. Count yourself lucky for getting the surmised version.” She looked about her conspiritally. “I had hoped you might be able to tell us something else about this..as far as I know you’re the only one here in Konoha with a different ‘colored’ chakra.”

“Yeah...” the boy chewed thoughtfully. “It’s quite different. I can see it moving about everyone here, looking for weaknesses, I guess. Jeeze, if just the remnants disturb chakra-precision so much imagine the source...As for my own chakra, it seems to be trying to do the same thing to the black one...” He suddenly looked up at his former teacher. “You said something of a hostage?”

“This way.” Tsunade answered for the man briskly, about-facing and strolling off to the nearby forest line, the two walking in her wake. The mainly dark-clad sea of men parted before her without question.

She led them to a tree sticking out a bit from the bunch, which currently had a few of the Restored Police force members crowded about. As soon as the Godaime drew near, their apparent leader, a burly man proudly sporting a ‘chief’ badge along his bicep, drew his hand to his forehead in salute.

“M’am. No news yet regarding either of the variables. I have my best men working-”

“Yes yes. I’ve brought an expert with me though, so you can all move out.” The woman said wearily, waving a hand in dismissal.

“Oh! Hatake Kakashi! Right. Men! Disperse!” The Chief yelled. Quick as anything, the group vanished, running off in different directions.

“My reputation precedes me again, I suppose.” Kakashi sighed. He casually flipped his new book closed, slowly -almost lovingly- tucking it into an inner breast pocket. Tsunade merely clicked her tongue impatiently. She gestured to the base of the tree, where there were two compartments marked ‘evidence’. She squatted and opened the first one. Inside was a handful of pitch-black feathers, much longer than any of the black birds seen throughout Konoha. The ‘black chakra’ seemed to be emitting from these with force.

Naruto reached forward to pick one up, sorely wishing he had thought to replace his gloves-for the slight point to his fingernails was sorely obvious- when his hand was slapped away by Tsunade.

“Don’t touch them, idiot! It was bad enough getting them into the box.”

He just shrugged and took one into his hand, allowing his eyes to close as he tried to analyze it.

His first with-held reaction upon contact was to clench his fists. To howl, snarl. All of the animalistic instincts he avoided. He could once again feel his own demonic energy try to lay claim over the other one, snaking down his arm and washing over the dark feather.

He could feel Kyuubi looming behind his conciseness, breathing down his neck.

‘I take it you have no clue what this is.’ He asked smugly. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t.

‘It feels similar to your own power.’ Naruto answered. Kyuubi growled menacingly in his ear.

‘Wrong. I am nothing like this trash. How unrefined his youki is. You see how it’s simply confusing the human energies here? That’s because it is a confused energy itself.’ Naruto didn’t know how to reply to that.

‘Yes. Confused and unstable. And familiar. It’s a pity. This one had such potential. He let his emotions rule him, something I’d never let happen.’

‘Familiar?’ The blond asked cautiously. ‘How so?’

Cue more insane laughter on the Demon’s behalf. ‘Of course you didn’t think I would just tell you, simple as that! What’s in it for me?’

Naruto stuttered. What was there left to give?

He was harshly pulled from his conversation by Tsunade screaming at him.

“Put it down! Moron! Just drop it!”

His arm spazomed and the feather fell to the floor, erupting in flames as it went. All that was left was a small pile of ashes, picked up and carried off by the wind. He looked towards his shaking hand to find it a nasty shade of purple.

“Did this happen to everyone” Naruto asked, biting his cheek to hold back the pain.
“Like I said! We didn’t want anyone to touch it so we don’t know. Jeeze, you sure are thick-headed.”

Kakashi looked at his hand in interest. “Poison?”

Tsunade nodded. “Yeah. I’ve never seen one so strong to actually alter the skins color without any open wounds though. Here,” she held out her hand. “let me try and remove it.”

Naruto held his hand to his chest, inspecting it curiously. To those around him, he was mumbling to himself under his breath. In actuality he had engaged in another conversation with the Nine Tails.

“What is this?”

‘You’re that slow? Poison.’

“But...how?”

‘I told you it was someone familiar to me. Did you honestly think I would associate myself with weaklings? But even I admit, it is gal of him to have taken things this far. Now he’s entered MY territory...’

The hand quickly healed itself, returning to it’s native color, to the relief of the blonde. He reached for the other box, opening this one with more caution. Inside this one were two kunai. One was dark and rough, foreign. The other was Konoha ninja standard issue. Along the edge was a tiny smudge of blood. He found himself dreading the answer of whose it was.

“According to DNA samples taken by Shizune it’s Hyuuga Hinata’s.” Tsunade answered his unspoken question.

Hinata? Timid little Hinata was kid-napped? He raised a hackle and suppressed a growl. Konoha...it was supposed to be a safe-haven. It was the place he loved and protected. And Hinata was just like him. He’d known her forever...she was one of the Rookie Nine. She was a precious person.

‘Who did this?’ He questioned the Beast calmly.

‘Care all of a sudden?’

‘Who. Did. This.’

‘I’ll tell you. Under one condition.’

‘And that would be?’

‘You let me fight him too.’ The Youma said, much to Naruto’s surprise.
‘Why would you care enough to personally want to fight someone? Isn’t that below you?’ Naruto asked skeptically.

‘You’ll understand once I tell you who’s responsible. Do we have an agreement?’ A grin was audible in his deep voice.

As much as he would’ve liked to decline, any sort of deal with the fox was always a bad deal, he was in a bad situation. He wanted whoever did this to pay.

‘Fine.’

Why did he feel he would regret this? No one can compromise with the Devil twice...

Kyuubi cackled harshly, breathing out the words like a lost memory.

‘Yonbi...Sokou. The legendary Four-Tailed biju.’
Translations:

Kusa no Kuni - Village of Grass

Icha Icha Takuticusu - Make Out Tactics. The latest in the Make Out Paradise series.

Youki - Ghostly presence, aura, demonic power

Youma - Usage in this story; a Head Demon. Akin to a Demon Lord

Yonbi/Sokou - The ‘yonbi’ is the Four-Tailed biju. Sokou is the type of beast it is rumored to be; half reptile, half bird. Said to have powers of poison and toxic gasses.

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Post Note: Well. Hope it was worth the wait...? I know people will want to kill me for what has happened with Hinata. I apologize, but I’m doing what I feel must be done to keep the plot going. There is a little more of Naruto’s journey, some Father-Son relationship with Jiraiya, and some Naruto/Kyuubi interaction. I was going to make this longer, but figured it was as good as anywhere to leave off. Well. That’s it for now. Please review?

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-hanyoupu p