Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Tsunade's Heir ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 7

 

In such a way, Naruto and Sakura spent the remainder of their morning in the sandpit. Some would say: “What? That's boring!” but the two kept each other company. Sakura told Naruto about herself, and Naruto returned the favour - though he did not say much about his status as both the Kyuubi's container and Yondaime's son. Still, while in the large sandbox tucked against one side of the academy building, the pair reached a grasp of the other's life and problems. Sakura was amazed at Naruto's travels, adopted parentage, and overall abilities. She was horrified to learn that his whisker marks were from the acts of a spiteful medic-nin when he was a child. Naruto soon found Sakura to be quite intelligent and was supportive of her plight - not thinking that her forehead was really that bad at all.

 

Naruto sighed in relief. “It's finished!” They had spent so much time working on sandcastles. In fact, the sun was setting in the background, and though the moon was no-where to be seen, he could only guess that it would be only a matter of time now.

 

Sakura giggled. “Congratulations, Naruto-kun. You finally made a sand-castle.”

 

“Eh? Just me?” Naruto blinked. “Don't say it as if you had nothing to do with it!” he protested.

 

“Uh-huh,” Sakura deadpanned, grinning coyly. “Who kept knocking things over? Hm? Who couldn't get the sand to come out of the bucket properly even once? Hm? Who kept spilling water on everything? Hm? Hm? Hm?” she wheedled, almost bubbling in glee. Harmless teasing: it was a completely different thing from the sort she was used to being involved with. Much more fun, you see. Quite freeing, really.

 

“Er,” Naruto sweated. He couldn't find it in himself to counter the point.

 

The pink-haired girl struck her `lecturing' pose. “That's why this success is so amazing for Naruto-kun.” She begun slowly - perhaps one could even say mockingly - clapping. “Hakushu, Hakushu.”

(A/N: `Hakushu': `clapping hands' or `applause'. An onomatopoeia, I think.)

 

Naruto's left eyebrow twitched. “Sakura-chan's mean after all…”

 

The accused only giggled and begun playfully prodding Naruto's cheek. “Don't be so silly Naruto-kun. I'm really very proud of you: Congratulations! Banzai!” She threw her arms up for effect.

 

Naruto couldn't quite shake the feeling that he was being mocked.

 

It was nice to see this bubbly side of Sakura-chan and all, but Naruto's eye continued to twitch in annoyance from the clear mocking he was subject to. What was worse was that the twitching was starting to synchronize with the constant poking his cheek was receiving. Suddenly, the boy snapped his head to the side and made as if to catch Sakura's finger in his teeth on its next poke.

 

Sakura `Eeek!'ed and pulled her finger away as Naruto playfully chomped on the empty air. As she danced away giggling, she stuck out her tongue.

 

“Hey. But how is it, seriously?” Naruto queried, scratching the back of his head.

 

“Eh?” Sakura looked at the object in question. With out a doubt, it could be described in a single word: Mediocre. “It looks wonderful, Naruto-kun.” And it was true. Ask any parent that has received a crudely crayoned sketch of themselves from their child, and they'll tell you: the story behind the art matters. The happy times behind that sand-castle's creation were recorded in Sakura's mind, and it made it impossible for her to say `Mediocre'.

 

“He he, yeah?” Naruto grinned sheepishly. “Is it the best ever?”

 

Sakura giggled. “Are you kidding? No way!”

 

Naruto thought he should probably be angry, but he soon found his own chuckles joining Sakura's anyway.

 

The two were grinning at each other when it happened.

 

A large portion of wall had dislodged from the rest of the building and made to come crashing down in a solid slab thrice either child's size - with only a faint crumbling sound as warning. It began its decent from the third floor slowly: but, in gaining momentum, was soon spelling inescapable death with a glaring clarity.

 

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, not horror. Her young mind was too thrown in surprise at the event to process the repercussions of it, and her body froze up as if a deer in the headlights.

 

Naruto was no such case.

 

“Sakura-chan!”

 

Having wasted no time, the boy quickly barrelled Sakura to the ground and braced his arms on the sand at either side of her head, knees on either side of her waist as he looked at her with relief on his face. But instead of seeing a mirroring image of relief on his playmate's face, he saw terror. It was then, in that sparse space between seconds, that he noticed that Sakura's eyes weren't fixed on him, they were fixed behind him.

 

The sickening sound that accompanied the slab of wall slamming to a halt on her friend's back would continue to ring in Sakura's ears for days to come.

 

After that thunderous clap the world seemed very quiet to Sakura, save for her friend's laboured breathing. The world seemed very still, save for his arms as they shook under the strain: the weight on top of him only pushing his palms further into the soft sand. She probably would have been traumatized by the situation, if her now twice-over saviour wasn't looking at her so re-assuredly.

 

IIII

That… had hurt. Hell, it still hurt. The pain in his back made no sign to fade away any time soon, and neither did the pain in his arms and legs. He was grateful that they had been on a soft, buffering surface like this sand, but even so his arms were shaking under the strain of sustaining the added weight above him. He tried to give the girl under him a re-assuring look.

 

Yet the weight above him was relentless: he thought he might slip soon, and what then? Would both he and his friend be crushed slowly and painfully?

 

Oh, hell no.

 

Looking into Sakura's petrified emerald eyes, he decided that right now, her life was certainly his responsibility. He had to protect her: he had to.

 

With a tremendous cry of effort, he managed to slide the slab to one side and continue to push against it; effectively shoulder charging it into falling away from them and onto the sand away from the pair, where it finally gave up and fractured into pieces.

 

Panting, he caught his breath as he looked at his hands which were, oddly enough, still shaking. However, it was strange. Hadn't he tried to tackle Sakura out of the way? And the piece of wall did not break upon impact with him, yet it fell to pieces as he dropped it to the sand.

 

Without warning, Naruto's gaze left the broken slab as his head snapped up to the building and saw the corresponding hole in the wall. He also saw a male figure - face obscured by shadows - briefly, before he disappeared into the building. Naruto didn't miss the glint of light reflecting off of the shadow's Konoha forehead protector. And it was odd, but Naruto couldn't honestly say he was that surprised. All he could think was: He won't try a second time, not for now. He's retreated already...

 

The sound of Sakura shakily getting to her feet soon had Naruto by her side: helping her up and supporting her - as she seemed quite shaken.

 

“Are you alright, Sakura-chan?”

 

In way of answer, Sakura hurled herself into the boy's chest. “I-I was scared…”

 

“I'm sorry…”

 

“N-No…!” she mumbled into his chest, protesting. “You saved me again, Naruto-kun. So I'm fine.”

 

Naruto was sure he didn't deserve her thanks, but the words he would have said, as such, died in his throat as Sakura turned her face to smile up at him. He hadn't noticed the bloody smears on her face before. “Sa-Sakura-chan, are you hurt? I'm-”

 

cough

 

Sakura didn't let go of her friend as, involuntarily, the blond brought his hands to his mouth as he coughed.

 

Pulling back, the blood now on Naruto's still shaking hands answered a few questions. “O…Oh…” he looked at his friend's face, not even remembering when he must have coughed blood onto it. He looked at his shaking hands and thought back to all the clumsiness that he'd been displaying when he'd started making sand-castles. He recalled that it had been harder to push that piece of wall off than it really should have. “Oh…”

 

Another cough, a little more blood.

 

The last time he'd coughed, Sakura had looked concerned. Now she looked surprised. “Sakura-chan?”

 

“Akai…”

(A/N: `akai' is `red')

 

What? Naruto's eyes widened. Turning his head, he looked into one of the dusty school windows and saw his crimson-eyed half-reflection staring back at him. And… his pupils had elongated into slits. Like a fox…

 

“Oh…”

 

The sun set at last, and as Naruto looked up to the sky he noticed the moonless sky. But it wasn't that the moon was late or hidden. Rather, there would be no moon tonight. “New moon…” the boy tiredly whispered to himself.

 

x-recap: chapter 2-x

Naruto nodded. “Nee-chan picked out the day. She said making it work once every new moon would be more convenient. It's not bad, but I can't fight or train very well. I feel sick and… cough up blood a lot”

x-end recap-x

 

The blond was suddenly overcome by a wave of dizziness. The world blurred before his eyes as standing became difficult.

 

“Naruto-kun!” and suddenly, Sakura wasn't holding onto him as her emotional pillar of support anymore: she was holding onto him to help keep him standing.

 

“S-Sorry Sakura-chan. Could you help me walk home?”

 

Sakura complied, of course, and the two were soon trudging down the street. Sakura dutifully helped to support her friend's weight - even while acting as one would expect a concerned and fussy girl to act. It was slow going to say the least, and taxing for both parties involved. Naruto did his best to keep his eyes downcast for the trip, hiding his crimson eyes though the street was all but deserted. The deserted street was not so surprising: there was a festival going on, after all. And for the majority of the village: the whole day's commotion was focussed around the city centre. By a twist of fate, the shortest path to the Hyuuga sector would take the pair just past the outermost edges of the activities.

 

“Eh? Naruto-kun what's wrong?” Sakura asked her friend when he suddenly stopped. She was concerned for him: the hand on her shoulder for support had been shaking so much during their trek. On top of that, Naruto-kun said that they couldn't ask adults for help.

 

“…” Naruto stared at the image. He'd never seen the like. He'd be more concerned about exposing his eyes which were more likely crimson than not, but the rest of the village was similarly attentive to the performance occurring at the raised stage, and therefore had their backs to him. “Sakura-chan, what's that?”

 

The bubblegum haired girl followed her friend's gaze to the stage, where the spectacular sight of Konoha's Fire Dragon Dance was taking place. Every major country had a Dragon Dance, where the performers - no less than three - would take a specially made costume resembling a dragon and either walk through the streets in it, or stay on stage. Fire Country's Dragon costume was red, of course, but also gold and green. The long, serpentine costume was meant to thrown over six member's backs, all working in practiced unity to give the most realistic representation of movement - barring the legs that were easily seen under the costume, but that was beside the point.

 

“Ah, Naruto-kun, you don't know it? It's the Fire Country's Dragon Dance…”

 

Naruto was about to reply, but was overcome with another coughing fit. When he drew back the hand he'd covered his mouth with - the one not on Sakura-chan's shoulder - he saw the blood, as expected. But when he looked back up to the stage; at that moment the performers twisted the dragon costume and, for a moment, Naruto believed that the red, gold, and green dragon had just snapped its head towards him.

 

“N-Naruto-kun!” Sakura's surprised cry was the last thing he heard before the world blurred into black

 

IIII

x-unconscious domain-x

“Where… am I?” Looking left and right, Naruto found himself in a world of pitch-black. The sole discerning feature of the landscape was the roaring bonfire in the distance before him. “Sakura-chan?” he yelled loudly, “where did you go!”

 

But his voice did nothing more than echo into oblivion. And in response, the bonfire uncurled itself and bared its fangs. And suddenly he realized that it was no bonfire at all, but a beast of fire. A dragon? A real one. Though it was far away, he could see the detail of it well. Easily two stories tall, despite being hunched over, it bore little resemblance to the dragon dance he'd seen moments ago. Apparently taking notice of him, the large, yet lithely formed creature of living fire charged at him. Naruto's eyes widened as, half-way to reaching him, the dragon's speed re-doubled: body of living flame zig-zagging left and right through the inky black with a speed that made it seem to be nothing more than a trail of orange-red. Naruto's eyes could barely keep up.

 

Which was why, when the dragon failed to zig-zag, and instead made a bee-line for Naruto with a burst of speed that was far greater yet, Naruto throwing his arms before his face in pure reflex was the only form of defence he had.

 

The jaws came crashing down.

 

The world exploded in white.

 

IIII

Naruto dropped to his knees on the ground: a dirt path now, and not an empty void of black. He panted for breath as he clutched his head in one hand. Such an acute headache pain… What was that place? And that thing… Such speed and power: like it was built specifically to attack. Was that what a fire dragon should be? He faintly noted that Sakura was by his side in the dirt path.

 

“Naruto-kun! Are you alright? Naruto-kun!”

 

“Sakura-chan… yeah, I'm fine. I just blacked out for a while” he mubled. “An odd dream…”

 

“Thank goodness!” Sakura exclaimed, relieved. “I was worried. You were just standing still and staring like that for so long…”

 

“Y-Yeah?” Naruto mumbled. His condition on the day of the new-moon… was it getting worse? It shouldn't be, but to just suddenly black out like that…

 

“Yes! The dragon-dance is done now, already…” she explained, wanting Naruto to understand the gravity of just how long he'd been all but zombie-like. “They're showing the battle between Yondaime-sama and the Kyuubi now”

 

IIII

Tenten looked up to the stage, and was filled with pride. Her mother was truly amazing.

 

One day, she too, would be so amazing - she just knew she would be.

 

She was her mother's daughter, after all.

 

x-earlier-x

 

“Tenten-chan?”

 

“Hm? Okaa-san?”

 

“Ara! There you are. Now how many times have I told you not to play with my kunai?”

 

“But I want to be a great weapon mistress like Okaa-san! I'll show all the stupid boys that girls can be strong too!”

 

“Hai, hai, but what of your father? His skill at the forge surpasses my skill with weapons.”

 

“Hmm… well that's true.”

 

“Right? And he'd be so disappointed if you didn't take up his craft, you know...”

 

“Well… Otou-san and Okaa-san should just have another baby already! He can be the smith and I can be the weapon mistress. Why can't I get a little brother or sister already…”

 

“A-Ah? Tha-That….”

 

“Ha ha, Okaa-san is blushing!”

 

“Hai, hai, Tenten-chan. Now could you just help me with my costume now?”

 

“Okay. Okaa-san, are you going to perform for the whole village again?”

 

x-present-x

 

Her mother: Kyougu Hitoe was there, playing the part of Kyuubi - not for her acting skills, but for her mastery of armed combat. Her mother's proficiency with the wrist mounted claws was not high in comparison to her abilities with other weapons, much less the over-large and decorated version that she sported now (representing the Kyuubi's claws). But it was said that if it had a blade, then Kyougu Hitoe was its master. Her `opponent' was a Yondaime costumed performer with a sword - though it was known that the real Yondaime hadn't used one - would have already lost. But it was a play, after all.

 

Both performers stood on stage, wearing masks and overly frilly (and flashy) costumes of the ones they represented.

 

There were no `Henge' techniques used on stage. It would be too real. Too close to home. To this day, people were still that afraid of the Kyuubi's image and the fated battle that must have taken place.

 

The crowd watched in rapt attention, and cheered when finally, `Yondaime' was victorious: piercing the Kyuubi's stomach with his blade.

 

Tenten watched in horror as `Yondaime' stumbled backwards, looking at his blade dumbly and her Okaa-san's blood spilled to the floor. “Okaa-san! Okaa-san!”

 

The girl scrambled to her mother's side.

 

It was at this time that the crowd began to think that this wasn't a part of the play.

 

IIII

Naruto had just been helped up from his black out episode by Sakura-chan when he saw the actor Yondaime's blade bury itself into `Kyuubi's' stomach.

 

The boy's eyes widened immediately, even as the crowd cheered. That's real blood… Shit. What a predicament. Today, Naruto decided, was just one hell of a craptastic day. I made a friend today, and finished the tree climbing training. Though both were from my effort and all this bad stuff is due to the day just being incredibly craptastic… Nothing for it…

 

“Ne, Sakura-chan…” a pause in the form of a mildly bloody coughing fit ensued. “L-Listen, I'm going to go now. Don't follow me, okay?” He took his hand from her shoulder, and worked his way out of her grip. Glancing over his shoulder, he shot her a brief smile and said “Thanks”.

 

Naruto - stumbling and head held down to hide his eyes - made his way through the crowd.

 

Sakura watched her friend depart in concern. “Naruto-kun…” Dutifully, she stood, but didn't follow.

 

IIII

Somehow, Naruto managed to get through the crowd quickly enough that none had identified and tried to stop his progress. Most likely because they were just figuring out that the Kyuubi performer was wounded for real.

 

He scrambled onto the stage, cursing his body's weakness as even that action taxed him gravely. Still, he made it to the bun-haired girl in time to catch her hand. “Don't try to move her” he commanded. And though they were the same age, his grave air and crimson eyes that said `I know what I'm doing' had her complying.

 

It was good that the woman's mask was taken off, Naruto decided, but beside that there wasn't anything good about the situation. Her spinal cord was hit… He would have to heal her. Even then: he could not say if this woman would ever recover completely.

 

But that wasn't the real problem. Time was the problem. This woman was dying. He'd need to do it by Ijutsu, and he frankly didn't know if he could. For this to have to happen on a new-moon day... and where were Konoha's medics? Were none of the spectators mecid-nins? But as of yet, none had joined him on-stage and time really was running out. A craptastic end to a dissasterrific day.

(A/N: Ijutsu is medical jutsu)

 

The blond worked his hands into the dragon seal - though his twitching hands made it difficult - and focused.

 

Suddenly, a chakra aura lit up around his kneeling form. “Shit.” It was blue and red. Could he pull of a jutsu with a mix of his and Kyuubi's chakra? If it had a dauntingly low chakra control requirement, then maybe. Could he pull off a successful Ijutsu? No way. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth in concentration. Could he pull this off? Statistically: not likely. Would he try? Naruto himself didn't know what he'd do if he ever lost his Kaa-chan, but that little girl was losing her mother right now: hell yeah, he'd try.

 

The boy grunted in effort and the blue chakra lit up in response, seemingly forcing the red away - for now. “Shit!” The pain was unreal; Naruto didn't even want to know what the hell he was doing to his chakra-coils. But eight hand seals later, his right palm was covered in a soft green glow and that was what was important right now. It was odd… he could do this but he couldn't heal his own burned lips without an ointment half a year ago. He'd foregone learning the burn healing Ijutsu for so long because he could already use the ointment version. Instead, he'd broadened the number of things he could heal. Now he knew that he'd made the right choice.

 

It was then that Naruto leaned forwards and plunged his hand into Kyougu Hitoe's stomach. It was an almost nauseating experience to him, but he'd been doing medic-nin training for so long. This had to be done.

 

“What is he doing?.!” shit. The crowd…

 

“He's finishing her off!” No! He just needed to touch the spinal cord directly!

 

“Horrible! What a horrible child!” You're wrong! If he said anything, could it help? Or would the crowd only want to hate him more?

 

“Those whisker marks, it's the demon-child!” this wasn't… how things were supposed to go at all. He was supposed to reduce their anger: little by little.

 

“They look darker than before!” Honestly, I'd be better off not doing this. But there's an injured person here, she's going to die. And I wanted to become a medic-nin. That's why… there's no choice: I must heal the injured. The spinal cord… it's almost healed. Will I have the strength to close the wound on her stomach?

 

“His eyes too, I saw them! They're red, like its eyes.” …fear? Yes… their words were always angry, but in their eyes there was always this look.

 

“Wh-What should we do? What should we do?.!” All this time, had that look been one of fear?

 

Naruto withdrew his now bloody hand and reached into his ever present coat, withdrawing a long roll of bandages. Alas, it fell from his weak hands. “Here,” he offered, picking up the roll again. “Bandage up your Okaa-san, I'm… too weak. Give her lots of liquids when she wakes up, she's lost a lot of blood.”

 

“Th-Thank you” Tenten responded, from the depth of her heart. She didn't know who he was, or why they shouted `demon', but he had saved her mother. Somehow, she'd been sure he would - right from the start. When he looked at her that first time, it had been as if he knew just how scared she was to lose her mother.

 

Naruto shot her a brief smile. He should have said `you're welcome' or something, but no words felt appropriate just then.

 

The blond boy tried to stand towards the crowd, but he fell back to his knees before he was even half way up. He was low on blood as well and he'd just burned a lot chakra, placing those weaknesses on top of his already worsening `condition'.

 

“H-He's weak now!” A simple phrase. Not even a full sentence: just a phrase. But with that, the first stone was cast and all hell broke loose.

 

IIII

Sakura watched, silently distraught. This morning Naruto had told her that his problems were a little different from hers. And this was what he meant. He didn't have a group of belittling bullies: he had a village that would call him `monster'. She had been saved by him. He'd caught the rock meant to hurt her and then he stood up for her. And now he was being assailed by stones, cups, empty glass bottles, whatever was in people's reach.

 

And there was no one there to catch the stone meant to hurt him.

 

Should she go up there? But Naruto-kun had told her to wait, and what could she do? She was just a normal girl.

 

Just… a normal girl. Just normal…

 

IIII

“Na-Naruto-kun!” Hinata cried: Though the words barely reached her own ears, over the shouts of the crowd. “NARUTO-KUN!” Her meek nature was gone now, blasted away by the sight before her. Her friend was hit over and over and over by anything and everything that could be thrown. Normally, perhaps she would become self-convinced that the best she could do would be to find Tsunade - and perhaps she'd be right. But an empty glass bottle had just shattered on her precious, precious friend's face: the glass shards cutting into him as they flew past or were lodged there, and right now she didn't know what she was thinking.

 

But she had this urge. This impossible-to-describe urge that was so strong that, perhaps, it didn't even consciously register. She had this urge to get up there and, for lack of any other method, cover Naruto-kun's body with her own. Because, simply, if the empty glass bottles were hitting her, then they weren't hitting Naruto-kun. In response to this urge, her body moved on its own - lunging forewords. And when her father grabbed her out of the air and restrained her with his arms: she fought him. Not with Jyuuken: her arms were pinned. But she thrashed and kicked and screamed, and bit. And her father was actually quite impressed: but he did not let go. If they were to get involved, then the Chuunins, Jounins, and ANBU would also get involved. And amongst their ranks were many that would attack Naruto as shinobi attack - and few, if any, that would protect him.

 

IIII

Naruto was pinned to the spot. He was too tired, sick, and hurt to move. When the rain of projectiles had begun, he'd managed to stand up - somehow. More spectacularly, he'd managed to stay on his feet more often than not: right up until the brown-haired girl had dragged her mother away from behind him to safety. But now… now he could not move if his life depended on it - which it didn't. See: he was already as good as dead.

 

Faintly, he thought he heard Hinata-chan's voice.

 

Sayonara, Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, Kaa-chan, Nee-chan, Ero-Uncle…

 

Naruto's vision was fogging, his cuts were bleeding and the rain of projectiles continued. The ordeal had hurt before, but at the moment it didn't feel nearly as painful. It didn't feel like much anything at all, and even that feeling was becoming less and less. Still, his lips split into a satisfied smile even as the barrage continued to knock into his body. He smiled as if he had something truly great to be proud of.

 

Kaa-chan… I saved someone's life today… Does that make me a… medic-nin… yet?

 

The world blurred into black

 

IIII

It was quite a scene indeed. One second Houou Naruto was propped up against the backdrop scenery of a forest: alone, with numerous injuries, and in the process of acquiring more.

 

The next second, Houou Tsunade was there: hell burning in her eyes and throwing a punch to the empty air before anyone could blink. And as this punch reached full-extension a massive amount of chakra was moulded, collected, and released from Tsunade's fist in a single pulse. It not only knocked the air-borne projectiles away; it also knocked down the crowd within thirty feet, and shut up the rest.

 

Damnable Konoha. First Nawaki, then Dan... You won't get the third.

 

My Naru-chan… you'll never take him as long as I breathe.

 

IIII

x-unconcious domain-x

“Where…?”

 

The boy looked around. An empty corridor greeted him. Somehow, this place felt very lonely

 

“I was… just…”

 

“Is this… like before? With the dragon…”

 

“Or perhaps… this is what death is like?”

 

The boy began to walk

 

IIII

“Otoutou! My precious Otoutou!” Shizune cried, sobbing as she nestled her adopted brother's unconscious but still bleeding form.

 

Shizune had been only a second behind her mentor and upon seeing her brother had proceeded to remove the glass from his face and heal him in general.

 

ANBU formed a large, yet tightly-knit circle around the mother, sister, and child.

 

IIII

x-unconscious domain-x

“I sense something… a chakra signature. Left?”

 

Still questioning where the hell he was, and wanting some kind of answer: the boy turned left.

 

IIII

“Tsunade-sama, please disarm yourself and place your hands in the air” an ANBU, presumably the captain, instructed. Actually, they would normally bind the potential threat's movement with rope, ninja-wire, and certain metallic restraints. Problem was: no one could expect any of that to make a significant difference at all, considering that this was the woman that could open the Grand Gates of Konoha single-handedly. Of course, Tsunade didn't really have or particularly need armament on her, either, but any reduction to her threat level at all would be welcomed right now.

 

The civilians had all left by now, save for a pink haired girl that just seemed dead-set not to budge at all come hell or high water. And both Jounin and Chuunin had arrived on the scene: some of them being professional, calm, cool - almost cold -, and just awaiting orders; others of their number frothing at the mouth to kill something whisker-marked and red-eyed, though they did a good job of not showing it.

 

The Hokage was on the scene as well. The old man had been with Tsunade in the Hokage tower, as his former student had been threatening to do horrible, horrible things to his anatomy if he didn't find her son with his crystal-ball: fast.

 

The ANBU captain spoke up once again. “Tsunade-sama, you'll have to come with us for questioning” the captain calmly informed.

 

Tsunade's reply didn't miss a beat “And Naru-chan?”

 

“You will each be taken… to separate areas for questioning”

 

“Like hell!” Tsunade growled. The ANBU tensed, senbon needles were in their hands as if by magic. Tsunade's fingers on her right hand twitched with apparently nervous energy. “We're leaving Konoha: now” the Sannin said strongly. But these guys were ANBU and their assassination skills likely topped hers, though she was a Sannin. How many of those senbons were aimed at her, and how many were aimed at her son?

 

IIII

x-unconscious domain-x

 

“Seal” Naruto read aloud. “Such a small piece of paper, for such a big cage…”

 

“Small. But thematerialis very high-grade” an echoing, powerful voice floated throughout the room.

 

“Who's there!”

 

“Who? Oh, just the local inmate, `Jailer-san'”There it was: the darkness behind the bars dissipated to reveal a gigantic figure of a fox with nine tails. The Kyuubi had been depicted as an ugly, uncouth thing, but the image before Naruto was nothing if not the picture of primal, animalistic power and grace.

 

“Kyuubi!” The fox was sitting on its haunches, staring down at him with those blood-red eyes. A massive claw rammed into the bars and almost made it to him.

 

“Oh? You do not flinch?”

 

“Flinch and do what?” Naruto retorted. “I'd rather keep my footing steady than stumble backwards and loose it.”

 

“You won't run?”

 

“As if I'd show my back to a demon.”

 

“Well, what a curious man-kityou are: `Jailer-san'. You certainlyhave either idiocy or bravery to spare”

 

“Shut up! You bastard… You killed my father, my biological mother, shot my chakra control to hell, and gave me a village's worth of hate!”

 

“…”

 

“WELL!.?”

 

“Such a big demon. Such an ancient demon, but yet you don't get it at all.”

 

“What?.! 221;

 

“Such a general view… aren't you just an idiot? My little human problems! My little human victories! My little human longing and my little human happiness! To experience these types of things is what it means to live! To deal with these types of things, each time trying to do better than the last, that is what it means to grow! An idiot like you wouldn't get it. A village hates you so you crush it? And then what! You'll prove that you're strong, but what else? Not a god-damned thing! Not caring about having a father? A mother? You idiot! How can you not care? Ignoring it doesn't make you strong, it makes you a coward! Kyuubi! You only have your strength left to be proud of, don't you?.!”

 

“How DARE you!”

 

“I dare because I'm not willing to run away like you! You shot my control to hell, so I -did- increase it, but I cared! I felt like shit knowing that it was only me that was handicapped. I felt lower than dirt whenever I compared myself to Kaa-chan or Nee-chan's level. But I'm dealing with that! I'm overcoming that feeling of dread and despair. I'm beating it! And I'm stronger for it. And I can stand proud because of that. But a coward like you must have stopped growing a long time ago!”

 

There was a lengthy pause, as time seemed to have frozen. Neither child nor demond moved. Then finally, one spoke.

 

“… perhaps”

 

“So… you'll admit it…”

 

“My strength… always, it was unlimited. Without end. Without Horizon.Never once did itstop growing.When it all began,I was alone…In the demon realm there was just meand space. Empty space. Then there was a world on which to live, what created it? Perhaps the realm itself was lonely. But as more demons appearedand grew, one thing never changed. Always… I was the strongest. From the very beginning I was without peer. Without equal. I fought, I grew, I learned… sometimes I would be challenged, but I was always faster, stronger, swifter, smarter… One day… they called me `King'.Then, they called me `God'.”

 

“…”

 

“Yet, I wonder why…none of these thingsevermade me feel satisfied?”

 

IIII

Sarutobi saw that look in his former student's eye. This was bad. Tsunade had been backed into a wall with her adopted son's life on the line. She'd lost two, and if she thought that there was even a chance that she'd lose her son here as well, then she would eradicate that chance with any firepower she could possibly pull out. Right now there wasn't a price on this earth that she wouldn't pay; and she would raze most of Konoha to the ground, or simply flee out the front gates with her son: whichever was the surer bet. She didn't gamble with he son's life, she'd made that very clear in their meeting the very day she'd arrived in Konoha. Sarutobi hadn't had much contact with his former student over the past years, but he knew that Tsunade knew that ANBU skill at assassination - and willingness to use it - topped hers. But she was a Sannin and they were not. He knew that Tsunade knew just how blindingly fast ANBU could act. And he knew that Tsunade knew that she was faster.

 

The tension was dangerous. The ANBU captain made to throw his senbon needle - aimed to incapacitate, not kill - but Tsunade's chakra had already been moulded and built up within her right fist, the one that had supposedly been twitching in `nervous energy'.

 

“STOP!” the Hokage commanded. He didn't want to know just what Tsunade was planning with the metaphorical chakra nuclear-warhead she'd gathered in her right fist -without the ANBU noticing.

 

“Tsunade…” Sarutobi sighed, feeling old and tired. He looked his former student straight in the eye and saw a mother that had just seen her son attacked by a mob and wanted him to be safe and well. And Sarutobi felt sick. That mob was from his village, which he watched over. It was his mob. “Tsunade…” the old man bowed his head sharply. “Gomen nasai! On behalf of Konoha: Gomen nasai”

 

Tsunade let out the breath she'd been holding. “We're leaving.”

 

“Of course” Sarutobi's head remained bowed. The ANBU's heads were bowed as well. And the Joinins, and the Chuunins were the same image. For when the Hokage bows his head on behalf of the village, all shinobi bow their heads. “We won't trouble you further.”

 

Tsunade gingerly took her son from Shizune and looked her old sensei in the eye. “Sensei, I don't think I'll ever really forgive Konoha. But if you say `gomen nasai' on behalf of just yourself, then I'll forgive you” Tsunade said this: frankly and honestly, then turned to leave. Shizune bowed once to the Hokage and followed. And just like this - not even going back to the Hyuuga Compound for their things - the Houous left Konoha

 

 

<HR>

Omake

 

Jiraya actually showed up at the Hyuuga Compound one day, though he could not stay for longer than a day

 

“Jiraiya-sama, we'll need proof of your identity” a stiff Hyuuga guard informed… stiffly.

 

Rather than be discouraged, Jiraiya chuckled briefly and up his `egotistical-gauge' by 100 percent. He put one hand before him and scrunched his face up to look especially `intimidating'. “The man known in every country in the world!” he hopped to the left

 

“Men say his name in envy! Women sigh his name in wistfulness!” he hopped to the right

 

“The fantastic Toad Hermit!” and back to the left again

 

“The unbeatable Sannin!” left…

 

“The ultimate author!”…right

 

“The wonderful!” Now this was different, this time he stomped as if a sumo wrestler.

 

“The spectacular!” and the other foot

 

“Jiraiya-sama!” he held up a copy of his latest novel for either emphasis, or just because he loved to show the damn thing off and enjoyed bringing more comparatively-innocent people over to the `perverted side of the world'.

 

Unexpectedly, the guard turned to his companion, who was also a guard. “Do you have Naruto-sama's list?”

 

“Yes. Here.”

 

“Ah,” the first guard produced a pen and began to go down the list.

 

“Silver hair: check” the guard announced, “Introduction dance that involves hopping, talking of women, and seemingly random lines of self-praise: check” he continued, straight faced and serious - as a guard should be. “Picture in a perverted book…: check, one or more slap-marks on his face: hmm, there is no slap-mark?”

 

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!” Jiraya shouted, pointing at the offending list. Obviously, he'd picked up how to swear from his nephew - to a point.

 

“Ah. This is Naruto-sama's checklist list. We are under explicit orders not to allow you to pass unless you meet the requirements” The guard stoically informed.

 

“You what! Whose orders!” The Sannin demanded

 

“Naruto-sama's orders, of course…” the guard informed

 

“WHAT?” That brat? That brat!

 

“He informed us that: `Byakugan or whatever, if the guy doesn't even meet these requirements then he's definitely not my uncle!' Now please, if you would be so kind as to leave the premises” The guard politely dismissed.

 

“Wait” Jiraiya said, holing up his hand in a `stop' gesture. “It's a genjitsu”

 

“Excuse me?” The guards blinked

 

The Sannin sighed deeply. That brat just knew him too damn well. “Kai!” the genjitsu lifted and, lo-and-behold, Jiraya's previously un-slapped face was now littered in not only slaps, but bumps, bruises, and footprints as well. “There! Now let me in already, I have a nephew to beat up…”

 

“Hmm…” the Hyuuga considered. “Yes, the genjitsu release has confirmed check number four. Also: check numbers five through seven.”

 

That brat! “Alright! So let me in already!” the Sannin demanded

 

The guards looked to each other, briefly.

 

“No” the reply was in stereo

 

Jiraiya's eye began to twitch, though it was difficult to see, since that particular eye was so swollen… “E-Excuse me? Are you saying that I still don't pass that stupid test!”

 

“No, you pass the test” the Hyuuga guard on the left informed. “I'd just rather believe that your current face is the genjutsu”

 

“Y-You what?” Jiraiya stuttered in disbelief

 

“Yes. You see, I have a wife” the guard informed, as if that revealed anything at all.

 

“And I have a sister” the other added.

 

“And…” Jiraiya ground out.

 

“And really, I'd just rather you weren't anywhere near the same general area as my wife at all” the first guard informed. “I have to protect her honour, after all”

 

“It's the same for my sister” guard number two added helpfully.

 

“Th-This… You!” Jiraiya yelled. He glared furiously between the two seemingly unassuming guards “You guys are actually real bastards aren't you!”

 

“No, not really” Hyuuga guard number two denied. “We prefer to think of ourselves as new-age guards that solve our problems pro-actively and in a non-violent manner”

 

“Yes” the other agreed. “Fighting without fighting and all that”

 

“You what?.! ” Jiraiya blustered. “You're pretending that you don't know who I am!”

 

“Oh yes. Well, it's very new-age. Reject reality and pretend your problem's something else and eventually some other person will deal with it” guard one informed

 

“It's all in the handbook” guard two added

 

“Handbook… you say” Jiraiya couldn't handle this. His anger had been snuffed out under the weight of the ridiculous, yet somehow believable scenario. Now he was just exasperated. He could feel the headache coming on. Guards these days. Non-violent guarding? What was this world coming to…

 

“Yes. Naruto-sama's handbook” guard two supplied

 

Naruto! That did it, Jiraiya felt the headache: it was a big one. He wondered… was that nephew of his trying to corrupt the world…

 

“It's a terrific handbook. We used to just be a pair of boring guards that used to debase ourselves to such beastly acts as `patrolling' and `defending against intruders'” guard one sighed

 

“Oh yes. It did horrible things to my feet, that patrolling. I used to get blisters…” guard two reminisced

 

“Now we just stand around all day and dismiss our problems in various underhanded and selfish ways” guard one summarised

 

“Ah, yes. Times are good” the other agreed.

 

Jiraiya stared at them. Really, soon he would probably just walk by them. Truly, there must have been some more reasonable guards inside “Urgh…”

 

“Fantastic handbook. Changed our lives” guard one mused

 

“Yes. And the title's so appropriate, as well” the other agreed

 

“…What's the title?” Jiraiya - grumbling - asked

 

“Hm? Oh that…?” guard one blinked. “It's `How to Trick an Idiot Ero-Uncle!'”

 

“Wh-WHAT!” Jiraiya screamed.

 

Naruto de-Henge'd and dismissed his Henge'd Bunshin. Two `poof's of smoke later, the blond boy stood grinning maniacally at his uncle and looking like he was the cleverest damn thing in the world. “BWHA HA HA HA You're so gullible, you idiot Ero-Uncle! You've just been PRANKED!”

 

Jiraiya, to his credit, just screamed “DIE!” and lunged at his nephew. The brat had been those guards all along!

 

Naruto proceeded to nimbly run for his life. Somehow, he managed to get the time to stick out his tongue and go “nyaa~ nyaa~” as he'd always wanted to do that at least once…

 

Hinata had been hit with uncontrollable giggle fits up in the room she was using for study. Her nature might have had her been concerned about the white-haired man, or condemning for trickery, but… If it was Naruto-kun, then she would have faith in him…

So she could giggle freely!

 

Neji watched the blond boy scamper out of Jiraiya's warpath in awe as they passed him. “As I thought” Neji muttered to himself, wonderingly. “Naruto-sama is a true prodigy-genius. To force even a Sannin to get this serious…”

 

End.

 

Omake

Jiraya actually showed up at the Hyuuga Compound one day, though he could not stay for longer than a day

“Jiraiya-sama, we'll need proof of your identity” a stiff Hyuuga guard informed… stiffly.

Rather than be discouraged, Jiraiya chuckled briefly and up his `egotistical-gauge' by 100 percent. He put one hand before him and scrunched his face up to look especially `intimidating'. “The man known in every country in the world!” he hopped to the left

“Men say his name in envy! Women sigh his name in wistfulness!” he hopped to the right

“The fantastic Toad Hermit!” and back to the left again

“The unbeatable Sannin!” right…

“The ultimate author!”…left

“The wonderful!” Now this was different, this time he stomped his foot as if he were a sumo wrestler.

“The spectacular!” and the other foot

“Jiraiya-sama!” he held up a copy of his latest novel for either emphasis, or just because he loved to show the damn thing off and enjoyed bringing more comparatively-innocent people over to the `perverted side of the world'.

Unexpectedly, the guard turned to his companion, who was also a guard. “Do you have Naruto-sama's list?”

“Yes. Here.”

“Ah,” the first guard produced a pen and began to go down the list.

“Silver hair: check” the guard announced, “Introduction dance that involves hopping, talking of women, and seemingly random lines of self-praise: check” he continued, straight faced and serious - as a guard should be. “Picture in a perverted book…: check, one or more slap-marks on his face: hmm, there is no slap-mark?”

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!” Jiraya shouted, pointing at the offending list. Obviously, he'd picked up how to swear from his nephew - to a point.

“Ah. This is Naruto-sama's checklist list. We are under explicit orders not to allow you to pass unless you meet the requirements” The guard stoically informed.

“You what? Whose orders!” The Sannin demanded

“Naruto-sama's orders, of course…” the guard informed

“WHAT?” That brat? That brat!

“He informed us that: `Byakugan or whatever, if the guy doesn't even meet these requirements then he's definitely not my uncle!' Now please, if you would be so kind as to leave the premises...” The guard politely dismissed.

“Wait” Jiraiya said, holing up his hand in a `stop' gesture. “It's a genjitsu”

“Excuse me?” The guards blinked

The Sannin sighed deeply. That brat just knew him too damn well. “Kai!” the genjitsu lifted and, lo-and-behold, Jiraya's previously un-slapped face was now littered in not only slaps, but bumps, bruises, and footprints as well. “There! Now let me in already, I have a nephew to beat up…”

“Hmm…” the Hyuuga considered. “Yes, the genjitsu release has confirmed check number four. Also: the bumps, bruises, and footprints confirm check numbers five through seven.”

That brat! “Alright, so let me in already!” the Sannin demanded

The guards looked to each other, briefly.

“No” the reply was in stereo

Jiraiya's eye began to twitch, though it was difficult to see, since that particular eye was so swollen… “E-Excuse me? Are you saying that I still don't pass that stupid test!”

“No, you pass the test” the Hyuuga guard on the left informed. “I'd just rather believe that your current face is the genjutsu”

“Y-You what?” Jiraiya stuttered in disbelief

“Yes. You see, I have a wife” the guard informed, as if that revealed anything at all.

“And I have a sister” the other added.

“And…” Jiraiya ground out.

“And really, I'd just rather you weren't anywhere near the same general area as my wife at all” the first guard informed. “I have to protect her honour, after all”

“Same here for my sister” guard number two added helpfully.

“Th-This… You!” Jiraiya yelled. He glared furiously between the two seemingly unassuming guards “You guys are actually real bastards aren't you!”

“No, not really” Hyuuga guard number two denied. “We prefer to think of ourselves as new-age guards that solve our problems pro-actively and in a non-violent manner”

“Yes” the other agreed. “Fighting without fighting and all that”

“You what?.! ” Jiraiya blustered. “You're pretending that you don't know who I am!”

“Oh yes. Well, it's all very new-age. Reject reality and pretend your problem's something else and eventually some other person will deal with it” guard one informed

“It's all in the handbook” guard two added

“Handbook… you say” Jiraiya couldn't handle this. His anger had been snuffed out under the weight of the ridiculous, yet somehow believable scenario. Now he was just exasperated. He could feel the headache coming on. Guards these days. Non-violent guarding? What was this world coming to…

“Yes. Naruto-sama's handbook” guard two supplied

Naruto! That did it, Jiraiya felt the headache: it was a big one. He wondered… was that nephew of his trying to corrupt the world…

“It's a terrific handbook. We used to just be a pair of boring guards that used to debase ourselves to such beastly acts as `patrolling' and `defending against intruders'” guard one sighed

“Oh yes. It did horrible things to my feet, that patrolling. I used to get blisters…” guard two reminisced

“Now we just stand around all day and dismiss our problems in various underhanded and selfish ways” guard one summarised

“Ah, yes. Times are good” the other agreed.

Jiraiya stared at them. Really, soon he would probably just walk by them. Truly, there must have been some more reasonable guards inside “Urgh…”

“Fantastic handbook. Changed our lives” guard one mused

“Yes. And the title's so appropriate, as well” the other agreed

“…What's the title?” Jiraiya - grumbling - asked

“Hm? Oh that…?” guard one blinked. “It's `How to Trick an Idiot Ero-Uncle!'”

“Wh-WHAT!” Jiraiya screamed.

Naruto de-Henge'd and dismissed his Henge'd Bunshin. Two `poof's of smoke later, the blond boy stood grinning maniacally at his uncle and looking like he was the cleverest damn thing in the world. “BWHA HA HA HA You're such an idiot, you 'beat-up Ero-Baka'! In punishment for being such a usless pervert: you have just been PRANKED!”

Jiraiya, to his credit, only screamed “DIE!” and lunged at his nephew. The brat had been those guards all along!

Naruto proceeded to nimbly run for his life. Somehow, he managed to get the time to stick out his tongue and go “nyaa nyaa” as he'd always wanted to do that at least once…

Hinata had been hit with uncontrollable giggle fits up in the room she was using for study. Her nature might have had her been concerned about the white-haired man, or condemning for trickery, but… If it was Naruto-kun, then she would have faith in him…

So she could giggle freely!

Neji watched the blond boy scamper out of Jiraiya's warpath in awe as they passed him. “As I thought” Neji muttered to himself, wonderingly. “Naruto-sama is a true prodigy-genius. To force even a Sannin to get this serious…”

End.

___

Near the beginning was very difficult to write. It was so hard to figure out how to get that scene there, for some reason.

Senbon needles are those throwing needles that Haku and various others have

Craptastic is a word that I really enjoyed writing. It's a cross between `crap' and `fantastic'. Basically, I believe it's the same as `crap' but oh so much more fun to say.

Disasterriffic works on the same principle.

I had thought the volume of wordage was a little high for one chapter. I worried that people would zone out or something. For a while, I played with the idea of splitting the chapter into two at “S-Sorry Sakura-chan. Could you help me walk home?”

Also, at the point of Naruto's first blackout. Would have been quite a cliff-hanger

I'm pretty sure Tenten isn't given a family name in the series, so I picked out Kyougu. It means `dangerous weapons'.

Tenten means `here and there', `little by little', or sporadically

Kyougu Hitoe was made up by me. I don't remember hearing anything about Tenten's mother in the series at all. Hitoe means `one layer', or `single'

Check it out: I actually referenced stuff from every single previous chapter. Examples:

The way Naruto's whisker marks came about - chapter 1

The info on his `condition' - chapter 2

Tsunade opening the grand gates on her own - chapter 3

The meeting Tsunade went to with Sandaime on the Houous first day in Konoha - chapter 4

Hinata's calligraphy and Neji's respect for Naruto - chapter 5

Naruto learning tree-climbing -chapter 6

Sandiame did not liken Tsunade's fist to a nuclear-warhead. That was me: the author.

In the omake, Naruto takes a list from his Bunshin: how? The list was just an illusion from the start. He only appeared to actually check anything off. What a crafty guy…

Today I'll share something with you: a group called `oranges in the sun' that works on translating Naruto mangas that were done by some truly excellent artists and Naruto-fans. The majority of them are from `Keroyon-jima'. I find them truly great. I can't put the adress up here, exactly. But by putting spaces between parts, it can somehow be loaded...

www . cinnamonstars . com / naruto /

I have a BETA now, purely for typo checking. Very cool. Though he hasn't checked the author's comments yet. He doesn't know Naruto and so some names might still be misspelled…

This is particularly important:

-- Regarding Naruto's varying levels of ability of speech. I was actually going to say this during the next chapter but oh well: He's been exposed to a wide vocabulary. His mom doesn't only swear. Shizune certienally would try for a positive influence. Both are intelligent medic-nins with book-smarts. If he seems wiser that he should during his speech with Kyuubi (I can understand if someone feels like that) then consider that he's been traveling throughout Fire Country all his life. He's grown up knowing that his cheeks were forever scarred by a medic-nin from his home village. Consider that his 'condition' acts up every new moon. Consider that he's had to deal with being fundamentally different for his whole life. There's a bit more to it, but that's for next chapter

Tsunade had just knocked down half a crowd. Of course there was also a riot. So various parties should be questioned.

If I slip in something unrealistic: you can mention it but forgive me, all right? Some of those unrealistic things are only questions waiting to be answered. And at least I don't make episodes where suddenly there's technology capable of turning an artic tundra level country into one big spring time field: flowers and all. Fertile soil and all. (Naruto movie 1)

The way I see it, this chapter can basically be grouped into five categories containing related scenes: the sandcastle scenes (including the falling wall), the festival scenes (including the first blackout), the Kyuubi scenes, the Tsunade scenes, and the Omake. If you review and you read this. You can tell me which one you liked the best, if you want. The input would be nice

I'm just about as busy as I expected, times two.

Please Review.