Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shadowed Wolf: Sasuke's Tale ❯ Why Allies? ( Chapter 2 )

Chap 2:
Authors Notes: Oh, shoot, I forgot the disclaimer for the last chapter didn’t I? Naruto and all its characters do not belong to me, they belong to their creator. Nibiiro Mouko is mine however, and you can’t have him, nyah-nyi-nyah-nyah! His name, by the way, means ‘Fierce Grey Tiger’. Er, Sorta; Nibiiro means ‘dark grey’, and Mouko means ‘fierce tiger’. This is a hint for things to come, another hint is that Masashi Kishimoto is very kind to us fanfic writer by leaving all the Bijuu between Ichibi and Kyubi unknown. Yes, I will be introducing many of the Jinchuuriki, except for two. I’ll also be putting down a lot of spoilers (as if you didn’t know that from reading Chap. one). I am assuming that everyone is up to the same point I am, Naruto’s return to Konoha village after a two and a half years of training with Jiriya, Sasuke still AWOL, and Gaara kidnapped and drained. If you aren’t there and wish to be, Naruto-kun . com is a good source for downloadable manga. If you aren’t there and don’t wish to be until the manga is officially released and don’t want to read spoilers, then quit reading and leave already! And on that note- uh, where’d everybody go? Oro……

~*~*~

Two weeks had passed since Nibiiro had rescued Sasuke and the youth was up and about, barely. He could tend to his own needs, like eating, bathing and using the outhouse, but those simple tasks tended to exhaust what little strength he had. This greatly frustrated Sasuke, in spite of the explanation that Nibiiro had offered.

“It wasn’t just the illness, although that was a big part of it. The main reason you’re so weak right now is because your body was made to fight against itself. The curse-seal took over a part of your body and the rest of you was fighting against the curse and the part of you it controlled. You were fighting a war inside of yourself and were nearly dead because of it, so of course you have no strength left. If you had been left for even two more days, you would be dead right now.” That was all well and good, but Sasuke wanted to do things again! I can’t just sit here and lick my wounds, I have to train and get strong again! That was part of the reason I left, I need to get more strength so that I can kill Itachi! Laying on my ass and taking Nibiiro’s charity isn’t getting Itachi killed-

“Hey Sasuke, c’mere a minute!” Nibiiro called from outside the elaborate cave dwelling that he lived in. It was a rather impressive home; Sasuke had been amazed in spite of himself when he had become healthy enough to inspect the place. It was a large, natural cave system that had been enlarged and improved upon without losing any of its organic feel. It was also very discrete and well hidden; from outside, you’d think it was only a series of openings in the cliff face. And yet the front rooms were light and airy and the back rooms quiet and non-claustrophobic. That Nibiiro had made all the improvements by himself was the thing that astonished Sasuke the most.

“What is it?” Sasuke called back. He was irritated, each and every time he started thinking about leaving to train on his own Nibiiro interrupted him with something that would last until Sasuke was too tired to do more than eat and pass out. The man didn’t read minds; the youth had tested that, not believing the older man’s protests to that effect. After the third time of having his planning session interrupted, Sasuke had thought some particularly dirty and vile thoughts at Nibiiro that would have done Naruto proud. Nibiiro would have had to respond in some way if he had heard or seen them, but he had continued in his lesson of herbology (which had been genuinely interesting, Sasuke had remembered what he had learned past the verbal quiz Nibiiro had given him, which was better than his Konoha teacher had done). Still, each and every thing that Nibiiro had called his guest out for had turned out to be interesting, making Sasuke inclined to go to him.

Nibiiro himself had turned out to be rather interesting as well thus far. He was tall and broad shouldered, which allowed him to use his giant broadsword with casual skill. He had longish, dark hair and grey eyes (which may have been part of the source of his name) and a gentle, rectangular face that could become very stern on the rare occasions he was angered. He was friendly, patient and easy-going, but blazingly intelligent and surprisingly secretive about personal details. Sasuke had asked Nibiiro how old he was and the older Nin had answered: “Old enough, young grasshopper” in a jocular tone and had left, with Sasuke shaking in mortal fear from the death aura that Nibiiro had exuded. Sasuke had never asked about anything personal since. He did not want this person to be an enemy; the first engagement with Nibiiro would be the last for anyone under the level of Jounin.

“Just hurry up and c'mere,” the ‘dangerous person’ said from the dwelling entrance in a friendly, eager voice, “Follow me, before she leaves.”

Huh? She? Sasuke thought, intrigued despite his earlier decision to be irritated. He followed Nibiiro deep into the forested terrain around the cave dwelling and was almost completely exhausted by the time they reached Nibiiro’s goal, a ledge overlooking a steep valley. Before they reached the edge of the cliff, Nibiiro crouched and motioned for Sasuke to approach low and quietly. The youth did so and looked down; and stifled a gasp of surprise.

Below them by the lake in the valley was one of the giant Summons’ Eagles, getting a drink. It was unfathomably rare to see on of the Summons’ Beasts in the wild. They were all incredibly shy and more than intelligent enough to detect and avoid humans if they wished.

“That’s Azasu,” Nibiiro whispered into Sasuke’s ear, “She and her mate, Akura, nest in the mountains near here. They know I live here, and we’ve made fair bargains in the past, so they tolerate my presence. Still, they don’t like being watched, and I rarely ever see them.”

“Then how can you make bargains with them, if you can rarely find them?” asked Sasuke as he stared at the Eagle.

“I flag them down from that cliff over there.” Nibiiro explained as he pointed to a highly visible ledge on the opposing mountain face. “They usually stop to at least listen to my request, and since it’s usually quick transportation, they often oblige me. They don’t have hands, so they have to rely on people like me to help them with some things.”

“Ah,” Sasuke said. His eyes never left the Eagle, for she was shockingly beautiful. Her feathers were variegated shades of brown, grey and a touch of gold all in elaborated patterns. While this was very striking, it also made very good camouflage. If she hadn’t been outlined by the deep blue of the lake, Sasuke would have been hard pressed to spot her. Although the brightly colored, feather patterned, beaded collar helped there as well.

Suddenly, Azasu threw her head back and let out a deep, but piercing scream. The immediate answer from above made Sasuke very glad that there were thick trees hiding Nibiiro and himself, however hard they were to move through.

The male Eagle dove down and landed nest to his mate. The deer clutched in his talons allowed Sasuke to fully grasp just how large the Eagles were. The deer was in proportion to the Eagles as a small hare was to a large hawk.

Sasuke filed that bit of information away for future reference and admired the male. Smaller than his mate, Akura was still far more stunning. His colors were deeper, the patterns bolder and more clearly defined and there was more gold at the tips of his wings, tail and crest. Judging by the more elaborate collar and the bracelets around his legs where his mate had none, Sasuke guessed that the male was perhaps a bit vain.

The male didn’t allow himself to be admired for long however, for the sharp-eyed eagle was very sharp-eyed indeed. The male swiveled his head around to glare first at Nibiiro, then at Sasuke, then back to Nibiiro. The Eagle narrowed his eyes, then pointedly turned his back and spread his wings to shield his feeding mate from view.

“Oops, I think that’s what they call a hint!” Nibiiro said with a soft laugh, “I think we should leave.”

“I would say that that’s a good idea.” Sasuke agreed. He hadn’t missed how sharp those talons were or how large that beak was. He had served a stint caring for the messenger eagles back in his trainee days. He would never forget how an unwary fellow trainee had lost his eye to an angered hawk, or how the senior handler’s arms had been covered with deep scars from the talons of his charges. And if that was the kind of damage a normal sized bird could do, what kind of damage could an Eagle of Azasu’s and Akura’s size inflict? Sasuke didn’t care to find out.

They belly-crawled back a ways then stood and headed back to the cave. They didn’t go too far at first thought; Sasuke’s recovering strength had been exhausted by the walk to the cliff. Nibiiro found a rock for Sasuke to sit on and filled the silence by describing all the more common Summons’ Beasts and the ways that a person could bargain with them without swearing to the Blood-Pact.

While it was all very interesting and Sasuke could see how this could be potentially useful later on, it wasn’t what he wanted now.

“I’m sure that learning how to get a Summons’ Wolf to aid you is something that every Nin needs to know, but how is that helping me recover my strength and get stronger?!” He snapped, his frustration coming to a boil.

“Sasuke-” Nibiiro started.

“NO! I’m not going to let you patronize me and say that I’ve been very ill and I need to give myself more time. It’s been two weeks! I should be more recovered than this, and be able to do more than sit on my ass or walk around a very little! I need to get stronger! I need to train! I can’t just sit here and listen to your stupid lectures that don’t do shit for my power level! I have to get strong enough to kill Itachi!!” Sasuke finally stopped and panted a bit from the force of his emotions.

“You done?” Nibiiro asked. Sasuke nodded mutely, faintly ashamed of his outburst. “Itachi, huh? That’s a high goal. But if you went about it right, you could probably get him killed now.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? I’m nowhere near strong enough to beat him myself.” Sasuke asked, greatly confused.

“Not by yourself, but with allies-”

“‘Allies’?” Sasuke said scornfully, “Fake strength.” Nibiiro stared at Sasuke thoughtfully for a moment, then leaned over and flung him over his shoulder. Sasuke squawked in surprise, then let out a full-fledged string of protests and insults. Nibiiro ignored him save for a single statement of: “There’s something I want to show you and it’s a fair ways away.”

The youth soon realized after they got there that there was no way he would have been able to follow Nibiiro to the place on his own. It took a fair amount of time to get there and Nibiiro had been moving at a decent speed.

‘There’ was a large geological anomaly; a vast sunken field of stone pillars and spires. Nibiiro dropped Sasuke gently then walked over to the edge of the ridge they were on that overlooked the field. Sasuke was beginning to get the feeling that he was in very mountainous terrain, what with all the cliffs and sunken valleys he had seen the last few hours.

Many of the spires rose much higher than Nibiiro’s head even from where he was standing on the ledge with the valley floor many meters below him. He unsheathed his broadsword as he studied the pillars. Now Sasuke was even more confused. Nibiiro’s sword was much more impressive than Zabuza’s oversized war cleaver. A true, double-edged broadsword; with its tip sunk about two inches in the ground, the hilt still rose to about Nibiiro’s chin. And that was the base of the hilt, not the pommel nut. It was proportionately wider than the standard broadsword by about half a width, making it even heavier still. Nibiiro wielded it like it was a flimsy bamboo shinai.

The older Nin suddenly went into action after standing with statue-like stillness for a few moments. He lunged forward about two yards, sweeping his sword horizontally in front of him. He struck nothing, but all the stone pillars in front of him, fanning out at about 120 degree angel, were suddenly sheared off at the exact same height; at the same level that Nibiiro had swung his sword.

Sasuke was in shock. He could visualize someone cracking a pillar like that with air pressure from a sword alone if they were a yard or so away. But Nibiiro was several yards away from the nearest pillar, and all of the ones in front of him to the opposite edge of the field were shorn. Chakra use maybe? Sasuke thought, then almost mentally dismissed the idea, it was incredibly hard to channel chakra through an object like this. But he realized that he had felt some chakra use, just very little. It had been so finely used that it had resembled a paper-thin razor. Upon closer inspection, Sasuke could see that the near pillars had been cut to a glossy finish, as if they’d been polished. That was how fine Nibiiro’s chakra control was, even through a tool.

“That” Nibiiro said, causing Sasuke to stare at him instead of at the field, and to close his slack jaw, “is strength.” He pointed to the field with his sword, but Sasuke kept staring at him. “Strength enough to kill Itachi, and perhaps Orochimaru as well. Do you know why I do not kill such people even though I have enough strength and they are worthy of killing?”

Sasuke mutely shook his head.

“Because I would only be able to kill them in a one-on-one fight. But they have allies and followers that they would immediately call upon to help. I would have to call on my allies as well, but they do not care to fight with such at this moment. But, if my allies did come, and it was a two-on-two or a three-on-three battle, my allies and I would win, even thought our strength and our opponents’ is about equal. Do you know why?”

Again, Sasuke mutely shook his head.

“Because my allies are my allies in truth, not in happenstance. We stand together in battle pooling our strength honestly, not insisting to stand alone and just fight in the same fight.”

“But…” Sasuke asked nervously, “isn’t the second better? Forcing you to be truly strong?”

“If you insist that all your fights are one-on-one, tournament-style, which almost never happens in real life.”

“But… if you always rely on allies, aren’t you using them as a crutch? You always lean on them and never develop yourself. And when the real fight comes, you never really know who was strongest, the enemy who stood alone or you with all your back-up.” Sasuke sounded very certain of this, but so did Nibiiro about his philosophy.

“But true allies are a different strength,” Nibiiro explained, “and one that someone like Itachi could never have. He insists on a weaker strength of solitude.”

“I don’t understand.” Sasuke confessed. Nibiiro stared at Sasuke again, thinking hard.

“I have an idea for a visual, but we need to go back home for me to show it to you.” he said finally. Nibiiro sheathed his sword into its special back scabbard and offered a hand to Sasuke. The younger Nin took it but was only able to walk a short ways before he needed to rest again. This time, he didn’t complain when Nibiiro swung him up over his shoulder. Verbally at least.

When they finally reached the cave dwelling, Nibiiro gently set Sasuke on his feet then went inside. The youth followed, his mind still churning with what he had seen.

“C'mere” Nibiiro beckoned from the ‘dining room’ table. Sasuke could see that the older Nin had a game set on the table. It was a tile game called Dominos that he had introduced to the younger Nin. Nibiiro had also shown him a mildly entertaining trick of setting up a string of Domino tiles on their narrow end then knocking over the first one in the string to start a chain reaction that ended in all the tiles being knocked over. Nibiiro had set a string of tiles up like this but in a slightly different formation this time. Instead of the tiles facing each other, they had been set beside each other, ‘shoulder to shoulder’ almost.

“This,” Nibiiro explained as Sasuke sat across from him, “represents Akastsuki. They are in a group, but stand alone. They are an organization, but they’re not together. And watch this.” He took another tile and set it on its angled edge facing one of the Akastsuki tiles and let go. The tile naturally fell over and hit the Akastsuki tile and knock it over. He repeated the process until all nine of the Akastsuki tiles were knocked over. Sasuke wanted to say: ‘great, so what? If you hit a tile with another tile they fall over. What’s that prove?’ But he kept silent since Nibiiro wasn’t done yet.

Nibiiro picked up the tiles and set them on their narrow ends again, only this time facing each other and pushed together.

“Now these represent any nine, strong Konoha ninjas. They are in a group and they can stand on they’re own but are together, unlike Akastsuki. And if the exact same amount of force is brought to bear against them…” He took the other tile and let it fall against the face of one of the outermost tiles. The struck tile wiggled a bit, was braced by the second tile in the lineup and didn’t fall. The striking tile fell to lie flat on the tabletop while the other nine remained standing.

Sasuke sat back in his chair, the point crashing down on him all at once.

“You understand now?” Nibiiro asked, “All of the Konoha ninjas can stand on their own power, but when something drastic happens, they know that they can rely on their allies to support them and brace them against falling until they can stand on their own again.” Sasuke nodded in understanding. Nibiiro watched the youth stare at the tiles, his eyes turned inward in thought. “Well, while you’re resting, I’ll make dinner.” he said as he stood and headed to the ‘kitchen’.

Sasuke just sat and stared at the tiles for a while, then picked up the double zero tile. He flipped it over and over while he thought about what Nibiiro had shown him. The double zero tile’s front and back were almost indistinguishable from each other, save for a straight horizontal line across the width of its face. Just as the rogue Nin’s are indistinguishable from loyal Nin’s save that the rogues often make a horizontal cut across the symbol of their headbands. I doubt Sasuke missed that aspect. Nibiiro thought.

The youth did revive a little before Nibiiro finished making dinner and cleared the Domino tiles away before the older Nin brought the food to the table. The two started eating, Nibiiro being uncharacteristically silent. Sasuke had noted that his companion was almost always talking, and if he wasn’t talking, he was humming or muttering under his breath about something. He even talks in his sleep sometimes. But something was still bugging Sasuke.

“You said,” he began, catching Nibiiro’s attention, “that if you and an ally fought against two of the Akastsuki of equal strength, you would win. How?”

Nibiiro set down his chopsticks and thought about how to best phrase his answer. “It’s because of trust,” he said finally, “Say that I was fighting beside a trusted friend, Ashante, against Itachi and one of his allies. I trust Ashante with my life, and she trusts me the same way and we both know that we’d never betray each other. So when we fight, we can focus entirely on the battle and not on watching our backs. Itachi doesn’t have that. He doesn’t trust his allies, for they are allies only for as long as they have a mutual goal. Akastsuki members never know when one of their number may betray the others, so they are always watching their backs. So in a fight, their attention will be divided between fighting Ashante and I and watching their ‘ally’, making sure he doesn’t indulge in backstabbing at a convenient moment.”

Sasuke thought about this carefully. “Alright, I see that. But often times friend-allies will take an injury for each other.” Sasuke was thinking back to when he took Haku’s needle attack for Naruto.

“But on the reverse side, non-friend-allies will not even divert attacks for each other if there is even a potential for injury. So it goes both ways.” Nibiiro countered. Sasuke nodded in understanding and resumed eating. Nibiiro smiled; he’d clearly won his point.

Nibiiro finished his meal first and stood to put his dishes away. “Go to bed when you’re done,” he said as he passed Sasuke and ruffled the younger Nin’s hair, “you can wash up in the morning.” Sasuke jerked up in surprise at the physical demonstration of affection and inadvertently pressed his head more firmly into Nibiiro’s hand, which made the grey-eyed Nin prolong the friendly caress. The youth was shocked, but Nibiiro didn’t notice, he set his dishes in the sink then went to his favorite chair with a scroll. The younger Nin stared at the older without comprehension.

Sasuke’s family had never been physical in their affection, or even verbal. The closest that Sasuke’s father had ever come to an affectionate demonstration was his statement of ‘You are indeed my son’. Sasuke’s mother had barely been any more affectionate. In fact, the closest that his immediate family had ever come to a physical demonstration was Itachi poking Sasuke in the forehead occasionally. No one had ever done something so kind as to ruffle his hair. He didn’t really know how he felt about it.

Ah, I’m thinking about this too much. That’s just the way Nibiiro is, I should know this by now. But… still, it felt a little bit like an invasion of personal space. Like getting flung over his shoulder like a sack of rice isn’t? He asked himself. Then he gave himself a mental shake, and finished his dinner. And tried to suppress the urge to flatten his hair after it had been roughed up. I really am thinking about that ruffle too much.

~*~*~

Nibiiro watched as Sasuke rose, put his dishes away then flopped into his futon. Then the grey-eyed Nin sensed a very familiar and welcome presence in his mind. #Oh? You’re awake?# he asked.

#Yeah. I like that kid.# said the demon that had been a constant in Nibiiro’s life.

#How long have you been watching, Byakko?#

#Long enough to witness that show-off-for-the-audience, stupid stunt you pulled this afternoon.# Byakko, the White, Four-Tailed Tiger, also known as the Bijuu Shibi, said sardonically. Nibiiro winced, he had known, afterwards, that the demonstration he’d given Sasuke was probably a not-so-smart thing. The only reason he’d done it was because he was getting frustrated with Sasuke’s loner attitude. It had certainly been exhausting enough, the reason he’d sat as soon as he got into his home was because he was genuinely about to collapse.

#It was even more idiotic than that. The reason I’m awake is because you attracted attention of the less favorable kind.#

#Shit! Please tell me it’s not-#

#Akastsuki? Yes, but only one from what I can sense, which is very odd.#

#Very odd indeed. And very fortunate as far as I’m concerned.#

#Indeed, if it is not some kind of trap. The young one there would be determined to repay you in some way if there were two, and may still, if you are not careful.# Byakko replied. Nibiiro pulled the scroll up to hide his face as he grimaced. He was used to these silent conversations, but Sasuke was perturbed enough by Nibiiro’s habit of singing quietly or muttering at inanimate objects that weren’t doing what he wanted them to do.

#So, how soon do you think this unfavorable company is going to come into strike range?# Nibiiro asked.

#Soon, tomorrow I believe, if he does not pull some kind of transportational ability stunt.#

#Good, that’ll give me time to recover fully. I can’t plan how to fight until I know who I’m fighting, or if there is going to be a trap or not. Now the problem is keeping Sasuke here where he’s safe.# Nibiiro mulled.

#That, my good friend, is your problem. And I wish you well in that , the boy has potential.#

#Potential?# the Jinchuuriki asked in interest.

#Goodnight!# Byakko replied cheerfully, then receded from Nibiiro’s forward-most mind. He growled softly, then quickly glanced at the futon to see if Sasuke had heard. But the youth was dead asleep, which was a good thing. His sleep had been interrupted multiple times each night by screaming nightmares, usually two to three times per night ever since he had recovered enough to sleep and not enter a brief comatose-like state. I probably should go to bed now as well, if I’m gong to be fighting for my life in the morning.

Nibiiro couldn’t help but grin cynically at that thought. The idea of fighting for his life against someone who wanted to kill him and not a ninja from Hidden Grass was far from new. This had caused him to have near split personalities; the gentle side that Sasuke was familiar with, then the cruel, hard side that he had not yet seen. If Byakko hadn’t taken such an interest in His host’s mental health, Nibiiro would probably be completely psychotic, if not dead from multiple Villages declaring him lethal and hunting him.

Still, I don’t want Sasuke to see that other side, not yet. Maybe it’s stupid, but I think that Sasuke could be a real friend. I really, really want a friend who can live with me. Unlike Ashante and Laniana, who don’t dare congregate at all. Well, to bed. He stood, put away his scroll, then went to bed.

~*~*~

In the morning, Sasuke was surprised to see Nibiiro up, dressed and strapping on- not his usual sword, but a special on he’d only seen once. A little shorter and a little broader than Nibiiro’s usual sword, this one could be split into two unique pieces. The first piece was the inner part of the whole blade, which was shaped like a normal-sized broad sword, except that it was two blades on the same hilt facing each other. The wounds from that blade would be really nasty since the parallel cuts would be too close together to stitch properly, inviting infection.

The second piece of the weapon was the outer part of the blade, and it was more unique. It was U or V shaped with a crossbar handle in the center of the hollow and a brace that rested against the wrist for stability. When Sasuke had seen him with the special blade separated before, Nibiiro had been training. The grey-eyed Nin had become a human threshing machine when he’d gone into full swing.

Nibiiro noticed that Sasuke was awake.

“Ohayo, Sasuke. I’m afraid I’m going to have to demand that you stay here today.” he said, his face devoid of the usual friendliness that Sasuke had become accustomed to. The statement was rather abrupt as well, completely unlike the Nibiiro that Sasuke knew.

“Ah… Why?” That was all he could think to say. He’d had a better night than usual, only one screaming nightmare and three smaller ones that had forced him to wake up, but he was still groggy. Sasuke had never been good with mornings, despite his poses to the contrary.

“Because there is something I need to do and I need you to stay here.” Nibiiro replied in that same cold manner. Now Sasuke was coming completely awake from the adrenaline rush caused by the coldness. But he hid it, if his year with Orochimaru had taught him anything , it was that when you were forbidden to do something that sounded mysterious and interesting, feign obedience and do it anyway.

“Um, okay…” Sasuke said meekly. Nibiiro’s face lost some of the coldness.

“Thanks Sasuke, I promise to explain later.” He said more kindly, “I apologize for my rudeness as well.” Sasuke blinked.

“Urm… apology accepted. But it had better be a good explanation!” The youth demanded. All of the coldness left Nibiiro at that point, but an underlying tension remained.

“Ha! Yes sir!” Nibiiro laughed, “Now, there’s food ready over there,” he pointed to the ‘kitchen’ with his chin, “make sure you clean up after yourself. I should be back before lunch, but if I’m not you know where the rice is.” Sasuke nodded obediently, refraining from mentioning that he was probably the world’s worst cook. “And make sure you wash yourself too! You stink!” The grey-eyed Nin said as he walked out.

I do not stink! Sasuke thought defiantly, then sniffed, okay maybe I do. A little… He ate and washed quickly, then set off after Nibiiro, praying that the other wasn’t going too far for Sasuke’s limited resources to follow. As it turned out, while Nibiiro were a long way out, his path led Sasuke through some fairly mild terrain. His path was easily tracked as well, at least for the most part. But at the end, the tracks vanished. It wasn’t a problem however, there was a commotion going on ahead other youth. Sasuke squashed his chakra flat and crept up using all the stealth he had available to him. His curiosity was killing him, he knew the sound of a battle anywhere! What was going on up there?

He came up to yet another cliff edge and he quickly hid up a tree near the edge. In this landscape of geological anomalies he was actually unsurprised to see a more normal anomaly. A dry salt lakebed; upon which Nibiiro was engaged in an all-out sword battle with a figure that was burned into Sasuke’s memory: Itachi’s Akastsuki partner, Houshigaki Kisame.