Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Those Things You Do ❯ Unpleasant Beginnings ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Ok…so I have reread and edited this chapter and slapped it out there for you to read. It is not as long as I wanted, but I had to cut it off at this point or else I wouldn’t have been able to leave such a wonderful cliffhanger ^_^;.

Warning: Slight hinting here (nothing serious yet…yet being the key word XD)


Chapter 2: Unpleasant Beginnings

Naruto jumped from tree to tree cursing himself. That fight had taken a lot longer than he had anticipated. Leaves fell under the force of his movements, twigs snapped and branches creaked in protest. He could care less if every single creature heard him trampling through the forest. He couldn’t believe this was happening. After such a long period of quiet and stillness, this was completely unexpected. Which is exactly how Orochimaru had planned it.

Naruto shook the water from his bangs and eyes, trying to clear his vision. He knew he had to keep his guard up: he listened for the slightest sounds, looked for the faintest shift of colors, tried his hardest to smell anything out of the ordinary for a forest, felt every movement in every branch he stepped on, trying to calculate where an enemy may be hiding. Nothing.

‘Of course not…they are all in the village right now.’

He picked up his pace and dived into the next tree. Why today? Why now? People were supposed to be sleeping and resting today. Families were supposed to be preparing dinner and playing games with each other.

It had been such a peaceful day three hours ago. Three hours ago, Naruto had been fine. Three hours ago, he had been running to the outskirts of the village to meet up with Shikamaru and Neji. However, when he had gotten to the meeting place, no one was there. There were no signs of anyone, not even a hint of a human being having been there was evident. Naruto had thought it suspicious; it was the place where Neji and Shikamaru had been sent to patrol for a few hours this morning, right? At least…that was what the note had said.

Naruto cursed again in frustration. That note had been a set-up. It had been a lure used to get him as far away from the village as possible. Shikamaru and Neji had never been on a patrol mission that morning. They were still in the village.

When Naruto had arrived, he had figured he had just come at the wrong time. So he had started to head back to Konoha. That was when he had been attacked. He had been ambushed in a clearing about 3.5 hours from Konoha. It was only one person, an assassin, and a damn good one at that. Naruto had barely been able to hold onto his life. He had been slashed and beaten; his body was sore and aching and his chakra was very low. He knew he was bleeding from lacerations in his back and his shoulder was throbbing in protest with each jump he made. All in all, he was a mess…and he was heading into a dangerous battle.

‘That last battle almost did me in…I thought we had already gotten rid of Orochimaru’s strongest. I guess five years is enough time to train some more slaves,’ he thought as he his mind flashed back to the pain of his final attack; the chakra had violently coursed its way through his hand and into the enemy’s body and delivered the assassin’s end. He shivered involuntarily as he remembered the sound and the look on the man’s face as death stole his life. Naruto had killed the man.

He shook his head to clear his mind of his scattered thoughts. They were not important right now. The only thing that mattered was getting back to Konoha. While he had been fighting he had been slowly forcing his assassin to get him closer to Konoha; he could hear the screams, and smell the smoke and blood through the rain. His senses told him that Konoha was in danger and that he needed to be there now. People were dying and he had been stupid enough to fall into such a simple trap…he had to help them.

Naruto could see the main gate now. Its doors were charred and cracked, busted open as though a meteor has ripped its way through. ‘A fire jutsu,’ Naruto thought quickly, ‘and a powerful one at that. Looks as though Orochimaru learned a few things when he had had Sasuke under his control…damn.’

He raced into the village and was immediately pounced upon. Twenty armed ninja from the Sound village surrounded him. Each one was equipped with kunai, swords, and probably enough chakra to blow up two villages. Assessing his own chakra, Naruto shrugged, ‘I certainly can’t take them all out the way I am now…but I won’t die so easily. Right Kyuubi?’ He felt the demon stir in the corner of his mind. It had been dormant during his first battle, but this was different. This battle was much more dangerous and the odds were definitely not in Naruto’s favor.

--)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(--

The fight had begun. Naruto charged into the group of ninja and began his attacks. Unfortunately luck was definitely not on his side for this fight. As he was fighting he began to notice that more and more ninja were showing up. And they were not from Konoha. Each ninja that joined in the battle wore a Sound hitai-ate and each one was stronger than the one before, though that could just be because he himself was wearing down. After about a half an hour of fighting, Naruto had taken out about fifteen men, however; where there had been twenty before, there were now forty.

Panting heavily Naruto looked for a way out of the mob, he could see no openings. He had to distance himself or he would never get the upper hand. He wondered where the rest of the shinobi were…what’s happened in Konoha while he was away fighting?

‘Are they all…no,’ he shook his head. Better not to think of things like that in the middle of a fight, especially a fight of this calibre.
He dodged another kunai as it shot past his head and rammed his elbow into the nearest body. The Kyuubi stirred again, growing angry at each new shinobi that attacked his host’s body. Kyuubi would not allow Naruto to die. He needed his body to grow strong enough so that he could break free of the seal. Noticing how tired Naruto was getting, Kyuubi began to filter some of his chakra into the boy. Naruto’s increase in energy gave him a little more of a chance at surviving and he was about to give a deathblow to his current opponent when the shinobi stopped attacking and quickly backed away.

“What the hell?” Naruto panted as he looked around. He winced slightly as he stood up straight, he had taken quit a few hits to the ribs and knew at least two were broken. He squinted his eyes in the ebbing rain to see what was going on.

There were two figures approaching. At first he couldn’t make out what they looked like and then suddenly a feeling of revulsion and anger swept over him, “Orochimaru,” he growled.

The other figure stopped approaching and all Naruto could see was that he was wearing a long black robe and a large straw hat. The outfit was familiar, but why? Orochimaru snickered again and came to stand across from Naruto, “The years have been kind to you fox child. You’ve certainly become stronger…and you have interfered in my plans too many times for me to let you off so easily. I’ll enjoy knowing that you are suffering. Give up in this pathetic attempt…your friends are waiting for you.”

Naruto screamed in anger, “What have you done with them you bastard?!”

Orochimaru just snickered again and then glared at Naruto, “Calm yourself. They are being…detained. I will make them suffer for as long as I please. They have all been rather annoying. Perhaps I will start with Tsunade. She is the Hokage after all…though it would cause her more pain if I started with that idiot Jiraiya.”

Grasping the last bit of strength he had in his body and tapping into as much of the Kyuubi’s as he dared, Naruto charged the snake-like man and was immediately caught by his throat. He followed the black sleeve and looked under the straw hat that was atop his holder’s head. Naruto’s eyes widened in recognition and then, before he could say the words on his mind, he was lifted into the air like a doll and tossed into a rock wall. Naruto shook his head as pain exploded into his mind, he could feel blood trickling down the back of his neck. Before he passed out he heard that mocking laugh clearly followed by a whisper, “Konoha is mine.”

--)0(0)0(0)0(0)0(--

“…Damn it…how is he?”

‘A voice? Who…it sounds…familiar.’

“He’ll be fine……………..I stopped the bleeding…………..how many are dead?”

Another voice. Naruto knew these voices. He tried to focus on what they were saying but his head was too cloudy. Where was he? He moaned slightly as he cracked his eyes open and quickly shut them as a searing pain ran through him. He hurt…and by hurt he meant he was in pure agony.

“Naruto? Are you awake?”

Someone new this time…worried…it sounded like:

“Tsunade-baba?” Naruto whispered. His throat felt thick and just speaking caused another sharp pain to run through him…why did he feel like he was coming apart at the seams?

With a determined grunt he opened his eyes and blinked tiredly as they adjusted to his surroundings. He was in a cave. And it was very cold and very wet. Looking around he noticed that people were surrounding him, their faces lined with worry. People he knew. What the hell had happened?

“How are you feeling, brat?”

Jiraiya’s face appeared directly over him and Naruto blinked in confusion a few times before memories flashed back into his mind. Orochimaru. Konoha. Everyone. He sat up quickly in alarm, accidentally slamming his head into Jiraiya’s chin, which caused another bolt of pain to run through him. He groaned in pain, “Damn it…you perverted hermit…”

Jiraiya, holding his nose and cursing Naruto’s name, made as those he were going to smack the boy and then stopped as he noticed the dried blood that still matted his hair. When Orochimaru’s men had thrown Naruto into the cave he had been near death. He was bleeding heavily from a wound on the back of his head and had almost been too far gone for even Tsunade to heal. He looked at Naruto and frowned, the boy was definitely strong…but not strong enough. None of them were it seemed.

Naruto looked around, his eyes growing wide as he noticed how many people were trapped in this cave with him. It seemed as though a majority of the citizens and shinobi of Konoha were here. There were quite a few of the highest-ranking shinobi here also, including the Hokage herself. But how and why? How had he gotten all of them here? What the hell was keeping these people from breaking out of this tiny little cave? And why didn’t Orochimaru just kill them all? If he’s this strong, why would he keep everyone alive? He shuddered as he remembered Orochimaru’s words about making the people of Konoha suffer.

That was why they were still alive.

“How are you feeling Naruto?” Tsunade asked as she looked at him with tired eyes. Naruto blinked, she looked really awful. Her hair was matted and dirty; she was covered in lacerations and looked as though she was about to fall over. The worst part though, was the fact that her eyes looked almost dead. She was slowly being torn apart by the situation. Her village, the village she swore to protect, had been destroyed by one of her ex-comrades and she had been unable to prevent it.

Naruto nodded and then smiled, “Don’t worry about me Old Hag, I’m not gonna die anytime soon.” Tsunade smirked and then smiled a true smile and rubbed at her eyes. Naruto thought for a second he had seen tears in her eyes, but he wasn’t too sure. It was kind of dark in the cave.

Naruto surveyed the cave. It was pretty large. There was light filtering through the cracks of large wooden door that was outside of a wall of bars that imprisoned them and there was one torch on the wall near the corner by the door. The ground was solid and smooth; it looked as though this place had been built a long time ago. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary about this cell, so why was everyone trapped here? He looked again and then he felt it. A massive amount of chakra was emanating from the metal bars. He frowned and turned to Jiraiya, “What do the bars do to you?”

Jiraiya almost smirked; his protégé was definitely stronger he thought as he answered, “They reflect chakra attacks of any kind… we’ve already tried to get out…nothing worked. And the bars are made from some impenetrable material…not even Gai or Lee could break them with their Taijutsu.”

Naruto nodded in understanding. So, that was why everyone was sitting here. He looked around and noticed some familiar faces, but none of his comrades.

“Ne…Old Hag…where are my friends? Are they alright?” he asked, his voice strained as a sharp pain coursed through his body again. Tsunade signaled to someone and he was delighted to see all of his friends coming towards him. They were a little battered, but they were alive and that was all that mattered to him.

Shikamaru looked more tired than usual and was sporting a gash across his upper right shoulder; Ino had two bandages wrapped around each leg and was limping slightly; Kiba was cradling a very tired Akamaru in his arms and had some lacerations on his legs and face; Lee was covered in small cuts and bruises, but his eyes shone with an intensity, he was still ready to fight; Shino looked…well, like Shino, though his jacket was a little dirtier than usual. Naruto snickered at this, Shino always looked impeccable. He looked to Neji who had his arm bound to his chest, ‘Must have broken it,’ Naruto guessed. Chouji was munching away at a bag of potato chips and looked pretty tired and scraped up. TenTen had a bandage on her chest, and winced every time she took a breath, she most likely had a few broken ribs. Hinata was hiding slightly behind Neji, her head was bandaged and she had a few scrapes and cuts on her face and neck. And then there was Sakura and Sasuke.

Naruto sighed in pure relief. They were both all right. Sakura looked incredibly tired and wasn’t too badly injured. Of course, being a medic-nin meant that she had to tend to her fellow shinobi first and foremost, so she wasn’t in the thick of the battles. Sasuke looked slightly tired, but still had his ever-present frown on his face. His left and right hands were both wrapped in bandages and he had a couple of burns on his body, but he looked to be in pretty good shape. Naruto could tell that Sasuke was cursing himself for what was happening in Konoha right now and he was about to tell the bastard to get over himself when two arms wrapped themselves around him; it was Sakura-chan and she was crying.

“Naruto…. you had us so scared. W-when we saw you…we thought you were…we didn’t know if you were going to l-live…” she choked out and then pulled away and shook him, “Don’t you EVER do that again! Baka!” Naruto winced and then smiled, “Sorry Sakura-chan…I didn’t mean to scare you all. I didn’t think there would be anyone here to scare actually…I didn’t think I’d make it here…”

“Hn, don’t be stupid, dobe.”

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. He was so relieved right now that everyone was all right. He had thought they would have all been dead by now…

“Where were you when the attack came? We couldn’t find you anywhere? What the heck happened to you out there? They brought you in and you were near death! You barely had enough chakra to keep breathing!” Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as Iruka’s voice echoed through the cave. He looked over to see a very worried Iruka-sensei standing next to Kakashi (who was now holding him back from pouncing on Naruto and hugging the life out of him). Naruto looked at the ground and then winced in memory of the first fight, he rubbed the back of his head and smiled slightly, “I…uh…wasn’t in the village.”

Tsunade interrupted, “What do you mean you weren’t in the village? Where were you?”

“I got a message…it said to come to the outer patrol area to meet with Shikamaru and Neji. ‘Course when I got there…no one was there,” he sighed and positioned himself to lean against the nearest wall. He really should have known it was a trap. The letter had been placed in his front entryway…if Shikamaru and Neji had wanted to meet up they would have just asked him the night before when they had all been out patrolling together. Not to mention it took too much effort to write a letter, at least it does to Shikamaru. And Neji would never write a letter to anyone.

Shikamaru sighed, “How troublesome…why would the enemy try to get you to leave the village? Why not try to lure out the elite ANBU?”

Naruto looked at the ground and shrugged.

Tsunade looked at him, “Naruto…what happened while you were out there?”

Naruto looked up quickly and blinked, how did she know something had happened out there? Since meeting Tsunade five years ago, she had always been able to read his mind…was he that obvious? He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. How was he supposed to tell her when everyone else was standing around? The reason he had been lured out there was because he had the demon inside of him and Orochimaru feared provoking it.

“I…uh…I got out there and there was no one there. When I started to head back an assassin attacked me and we fought. Then I came here and was attacked.”

“An assassin?” Sasuke’s eyes grew dark, “Why would they send an assassin after one seventeen year old shinobi?”

Naruto frowned and was about to comment on how it was because of how strong he was when cold laughter filled the hall, “Fu fu fu.”

Tsunade growled, “Orochimaru. What? Come here to finish the job? Or can you not handle all of us at once?”

Orochimaru shook his head and smiled wickedly, “It amuses me that you still have so much energy, even after the battle we had. And your assumption is incorrect. I merely came for one thing.”

Tsunade stood up and made her way toward the cell bars, “And what would that –one- thing be?” She slammed her fist into the bars; her chakra bounced off and made a large dent in the ground. Orochimaru snickered again, “Such anger…you really shouldn’t waste your chakra like that. It is precious in times like these. To answer your question, Hokage, I have come to collect the payment I promised to the men who assisted me in obtaining my goals.”

Orochimaru turned his snake-like eyes to the crowd and then smirked again as they focused on Naruto. Naruto growled in anger and stood up, ignoring the pain and dizziness that attacked him. The Kyuubi stirred and willingly began to filter chakra into his host’s body. From behind Orochimaru three figures could be seen, each one dressed in a long robe and wearing a large hat. Jiraiya stood quickly and pushed him behind himself, “Now is not the time Naruto. Stay behind me. If you want the boy so badly Orochimaru, you will have to go through me to get to him. I will not let you hand him over to them.”

Naruto blinked, ‘Them?’ His eyes widened as he realized whom Jiraiya was referring to. The Akatsuki must be here. But why would they help Orochimaru? Could this get any worse?

Tsunade smirked, “You are not going to get the boy so easily. We will gladly die to protect him.”

Naruto’s mouth almost dropped. In all his years, he had never felt more protected than now. These people were willing to save him. They were willing to die for him. This was his family.

[His only family] The one he has worked so hard to create. The people he loved and cared about. Like hell he was going to let them die.

He pushed his way from behind Jiraiya and stepped toward the bars, “Hn. So you guys must be part of that group that’s been after me for so long…you certainly don’t seem very strong.”

“What group? What are you talking about?” Sasuke said quickly as he glared at Orochimaru. Orochimaru sneered back at him, “Ah…Sasuke-kun, it has been a while…how are you…feeling?” Sasuke almost gasped as a stabbing pain attacked his neck. The cursed seal was activating. He ignored the pain and pushed back his anger and hatred until it subsided. He was about to ask Naruto to answer his question when Tsunade interrupted him, “Naruto, stop. What are you doing?”

Naruto pulled his arm from her grasp and started moving towards Orochimaru. He could feel the Kyuubi in him growing angrier by the second. It wanted to fight; it wanted to tear the Akatsuki apart. It was not some tool to be used and it sure as hell was not going to let the Akatsuki ruin its chances of freedom. He just needed his host to hold on a little longer, just long enough for him to grow strong enough so that the Kyuubi could take over his host’s body and free himself from the restricting human form.

Naruto fought to hold onto his control, just long enough to get out of this cave and away from the people he loved. Then he could let these guys see just what they were up against. He had promised Tsunade and Jiraiya a few years ago that he would not allow the Kyuubi to dominate him…that he would try to control the demon, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If the Kyuubi could destroy these men and he could regain control, he could help Konoha. He could save Konoha. The Kyuubi stirred again in anticipation. Naruto knew it couldn’t be fully freed, not with the seal on his stomach, but it could take possession of Naruto. And that was exactly what he wanted to happen. With the Kyuubi in control, Naruto knew he’d be able to destroy anyone who attacked him.

He trusted in his strength and in the Kyuubi. It may be a demon that only craves freedom, but the Kyuubi knows that if he were to take full possession of Naruto, he would destroy his host’s body within a year, thus killing himself. Naruto was pretty sure the demon would not try anything like that…he just hoped his instincts were right.

It was now or never. The Kyuubi wanted blood. Might as well let him destroy the enemies of his beloved village and satiate that thirst. Naruto smirked wickedly at the shadowed figures and then at Orochimaru, “Let’s go then.”

Orochimaru’s arm shot out and grabbed Naruto’s throat and dragged him through the bars, which liquefied as Naruto was pulled through. Tsunade tried to hold onto Naruto’s jacket, but the hem tore away as Naruto was wrenched from her grasp. Naruto coughed as Orochimaru threw him to the ground near the bars. ‘Damn…does everyone have to throw me around today?’ he wondered idly as he stood up shakily and looked back at his friends who were now yelling at him. He noticed Iruka-sensei yelling at him to run away and get out of this place…he saw Sakura, tears running down her face. Ino had her shoulder buried in Shikamaru’s neck. Hinata was rubbing at her eyes as Neji patted her back. Chouji and Lee both glared angrily at Orochimaru, their fists clenched and teeth gritted. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi just stared at him, disbelieving what they were seeing…why would he do something so stupid? Naruto thought he saw sadness in their eyes, but he ignored the thought and smiled broadly. He turned and looked at Sasuke who was standing there with his characteristic scowl.

Naruto smirked at him, “Protect them while I’m gone bastard!” He reached out his hand and Sasuke took it. Their two fore fingers locked together, just like the time when Sasuke had left Konoha to fight under Orochimaru. It was a promise between the two friends that they would definitely see each other again.

Sasuke smirked and nodded, “I’m not doing all the work forever, Dobe.”

“How touching. Enough,” Orochimaru said and made a quick gesture. Naruto was roughly grabbed and dragged off through the doors and back to the village he loved so much. The village he was willing to die for in order to protect.

As Sasuke watched with clenched fists as Naruto was taken away, and then he whispered, “you better come back.”


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