Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Way of the Jinchuuriki ❯ Arc 3, Chapter 18 - Pulled out of the Darkness ( Chapter 18 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Wow forehead… I never thought I would say this but you were great!" Ino praised her friend at the diner table with almost all the gennin and their teachers, who were paying as they believed the gennin deserved it after today.

Even their parents were there but they were at the adult's table not to far away, most of them drinking. So far Kakashi was winning their little game despite Naruto not playing and Yugito's claim she couldn't get drunk. So far she was the most hammered out of all of them outside maybe Anko and the most unsuspecting… Itachi.

The only gennin not there was not there was Hinata and even then Neji and Kurenai had come in late after seeing if she was alright and informing Hiashi about his daughter's condition. Needless to say the conversation had not been pleasant and Neji was out for blood. So he wasn't in the greatest mood but he was tolerable.

Sakura blushed from the complement, still very tired from her losing bout against Gaara and was told to rest but… This was relaxation for her. She hadn't visited with the others in a long time. And she meant truly visit with them and not train and see them in passing.

"Hell yes… That was awesome! I never thought you would be so damn strong after our days in the academy! I always thought it was a competition between Sasuke, Shino and me." Kiba loudly commented as he could not believe that Sakura had become as strong as she was and nearly put down someone that he knew he couldn't even compare against.

Sasuke could only smirk as for once he wasn't the one being badgered by the others. However Sakura truly did deserve her time in the lime light as she had crushed Gaara until the very end of the battle. But… There was one thing on his mind. "Sakura… What is it that both Naruto and Gai were talking about your muscle structure that… Well lets you move as fast as you do and hit like a well-muscled ox?"

Looking at her father, Naruto and Mikoto as they heard the question and nodded their consent, Sakura took a deep breath as this was going take some explaining. "To begin my muscle structure is more compact then normal and I have larger lungs then must people do, about half a size larger. This allows me to take more oxygen and pours more into my system fueling my muscles further. And another bonus is that despite how hard my muscles work the lactic acid my body builds is so much smaller then that of most people."

"Now what is strange is that all the ligaments are coiled and compounded tightly to allow maximum effort to deliver with each constriction of the muscle. There is also a strange fact that my own muscles were always over developed and lean for my age. Also it is noted that even if my muscles will not dilute in strength over time meaning my strength will never be lower then it is now outside of any acids and poisons." Sakura continued with her explanation before noting a few looked confused.

The first was to note his confusion was actually Shino as he knew quite a bit about the human body. "So if what you saying is true… Would that mean that your muscle mass will not weaken despite say lounging around the house for weeks on in? There is also the matter that all of this is documented… Why is that? This doesn't seem to be something that many deal with."

"You're right… Not many deal with this. There is only one other person in the world with my 'condition'. Fortunately they were born here in Konoha so we know about it." Sakura answered Shino's first question before nodding again at the second. "And yes my muscles would stay at peek condition despite doing absolutely nothing. They will be primed and ready to explode at any maximum output at a moment's notice."

"One other person." Tenten frowned as she heard this liking how this was coming out less and less. "Do you, by any chance, know who the other is that has this muscle structure?"

Sakura simply nodded with a slight grimace as she knew the girl had some weird quirk about her that made her adore the living legends of Konoha, none more so then the one her structure was similar with. "Yes… It is Senju Tsunade of the Sannin."

Everyone was quite as they heard that. The fact that Sakura had something in common with one of the sannin, a similar muscle build at that, simply stunned all of them until keep broke them out with one word. "Daaammmnn."

Chuckling at her cousin now that she snapped out of her shock, Kerlya shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Well let's stop this… We're suppose to be having a party here! Now who's up for spin the bottle?!"

"NARUTO TAKE ME TO OUR ROOM!" Yugito slurred from the adult's table as she got up and rubbed her face against his, completely wasted despite being able to walk a straight line. "I'm happy…"

"I'm not." Naruto twitched at his fellow blonde vessel and had half a mind to leave her alone to go home but he couldn't. She might end up being picked up by some guy to… Oh he would kill that man nice and slow. He would die. Rip out his throat he would.

Kyuubi only twitched at the sudden shift in her son's mind and took a step back in slight fear. What the hell was wrong with him? She was only playing with him when she said he was insane. There had been no truth in that statement… Until now.

She was just glad that it seemed that he was finally accepting Yugito as his girlfriend, for now. He was just so infuriating like that.

Shaking his head, wondering where that insane jealously had come from, Naruto knew he was going to have to talk to Yoshino about this. This was getting strange. It was like he had split personality or something.

"Alright guys… I'm heading out. Sakura, I'll be training you over this next month as even if you didn't make the finals you still need to train." Naruto commented as he made his way to the gennin's table. "Sasuke, your trainer for the month is the silver haired one that isn't even the slightest bit intoxicated despite downing twenty bottles of sake and counting."

Sasuke's jaw dropped as indeed counted twenty-three bottles of the rice wine and just downed another like it was nothing. Was he even human?!

"Kerlya… This drunken bimbo…" Ignoring Yugito slurred swear at him, Naruto continued talking to his gennin. "Is yours. So make sure she stays away from this stuff as I don't want her touching another drop. Now let's get home before you become some guy's drunken prize…"

"I already am!" Yugito happily responded as she continued rubbing against Naruto, having already forgotten about his insult towards her.

Naruto only twitched. Oh he was going to kill someone before this night was over. This was ridiculous.

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Everything had been so normal for her all day. She trained with her father and Lee in their normal early morning workout before heading out to find Naruto only for him to tell her to take the day off. She could accept that. She was still a little tired from the fight with Gaara.

So she went to find Sasuke or Kerlya before they headed out to train but she missed them by only a few minutes. She had expected that to so she didn't let it bother her and decided since she was out today that she should visit with Ino since the last time they had talked, not counting the night before, was well over a month.

To her surprise she found Ino training and decided to help out with what she could. Now that it was about lunch they were heading into town to get something to eat when everything suddenly turned for Sakura.

Everyone… Everyone was smiling at her.

This was new for the pink haired gennin. No one smiled at her. They either ignored her existence or gave her spiteful looks for being the daughter of Haruno Momo. They never really paid attention to her company when they did this so why now all of a sudden did they turn a one-eighty?

She hardly thought it was Ino that was the reason as while she was from an important clan that shouldn't have mattered as so was Sasuke and Kerlya. So what was the difference? She did remember that Ino and Kiba said something about spreading the word about her fight with Gaara but…

There was no way that those two could have done this so quickly. She was with Ino over half the morning and Kiba was training with his sister in how to use those claws Kerlya had used. So it all came back down to one thing.

What the hell was going on?

Ino had noticed something was distracting Sakura. Noting that she was looking around at everyone oddly, Ino saw that most of them were smiling and simply nodding at her… No, not her. They were nodding at Sakura. That was new. She knew Sakura wasn't very well liked.

"Okay… Did we pass through some sort of vortex into an alternate universe?" Sakura asked her blonde haired friend hoping she wasn't the only one disturbed by this change of heart everyone seemed to be showing… Or at least a good few.

Sitting down at table at the barbeque shop Ino's team visited frequently, Ino shrugged as she too was a little leery of what was going on. "I don't think so but this is a nice change of pace. Maybe Kiba started spreading to word for me?"

"No… He was training with his sister this morning when I went by to see if Kerlya had left yet." Sakura responded as she pried her head away from those around and sighed. "I'm not use to this… What did I do that made them like me all of a sudden?"

"Are you complaining?" Ino raised her eyebrow with a puzzled glance as she thought her friend would be happy that no one was looking down at her any more.

"Yes." Sakura admitted as this was really bothering her. "I have to know… Was it something I did or is this because of something else? I need to know."

Ino couldn't fault Sakura for that. She would probably want to know too if she was in Sakura's position as no one changed their opinion so easily. Rubbing her temple, knowing today was going to be a long one, she sighed as she waited for the waiter so she could order.

After the waiter came by and took their orders, Sakura felt a small tug on her elbow. As it felt like it came from below, she was a little curious and looked down to see a small bunch of young girls that looked no older then six or seven that suddenly materialized out of nowhere. "What the…"

"Where did all of you come from?" Ino nearly jumped out of her seat as she had not seen them and was becoming paranoid just like her friend.

Ignoring Ino's question, the little girl in front with a deep blue hair held out a small pad and a picture. "Can you autograph this for me?"

"Huh?" Was the only thing Sakura could come out with. "Wait a minute here. I think you have me mixed up with someone else."

"No I don't! You're the one that fought that evil sand man!" The little girl announced as if everyone knew about Sakura's fight with Gaara.

Both Ino and Sakura were thrown for a loop before Sakura's eyes widened at the implications before the other little girls began to speak. What they said froze Sakura to the core and stunned Ino into silence.

"Yeah! You were so cool and that regeneration thing was so cool!"

"How did you get so strong?!"

"I wish I can group up to be like you!"

Looking at the small group of children, Ino saw Sakura seemed ready to shatter into thousands shards of ice and decided to act. "Um… Where did you say you see this fight?"

"On the TV. It has been being aired all day." The young girl that was the leader of the group.

Without a pause both Ino and Sakura dashed down the street to the closest electronic store. Since there was few and they happened on a block with one the quickly found it with a big screen in the front window. And it happened to be playing Sakura's fight against Gaara.

Freezing as something was wrong as these fights, unless spoke about, were never suppose to make their way to the public. Neither girl knew what to do but could not look away.

They were finally broken from their thoughts as a young man stopped and noticed Sakura. "Hey aren't you… Yeah you are. …Listen, do you want to get something to eat. I'll pay for you if you want."

Sakura wasn't sure what was going on but everything was happening to quickly for her to register what he had said. And soon she was swarmed by my people, congratulating her on her success and standing up against the Suna shinobi. It was then the small group of children surrounded her again and she automatically signed her picture, a picture of her.

Looking over at everyone, the slightest of smiles graced her lips as she was being bombarded by questions like how it felt like fighting Gaara. Was this what it was to feel wanted?

Up on the roof just above her, a flicker of light dispersed as his job was done.

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"What is the point of training way out here?" Sasuke complained as he didn't mind using a hardly used training ground but he did not like the idea he wouldn't see his family or friends for the next months. "I don't know about you but I like sleeping in my bed at night."

"As do I and I like reading my series but that's not going to be happening this month." Kakashi bitterly responded as Naruto had forbidden him the book this month to take Sasuke's training seriously. "So we're both uncomfortable in this but it must be done if you want to stand a chance against Gaara in the first round. Even then I'm unsure if you will have enough in your tank to win this tournament."

"There are too many good competitors, that I know. And even if I make the finals Raiu will be waiting for me mostly likely well rested." Sasuke groaned as to win this tourney he would have to beat the two he knew were demon vessels like Naruto and Yugito. "I hate my luck."

Kakashi only nodded as his luck was pretty bad as he did have to fight Gaara, a second fight and then Raiu to win as he knew that boy was going to win his two matches. "Yes but to start this training we're going to have you attack Gaara's first weakness… His sand can't keep up tremendous speed. Secondly if he somehow is able to keep up with you… You're going to pierce his defense with your best attribute."

"Genjutsu?" Sasuke blinked as he had to admit despite being great in both taijutsu and ninjutsu an Uchiha almost always excelled in illusions.

Nearly face faulting and repressing the bead of sweat as Sasuke had a point there, Kakashi shook his head and cursed. "No… While most Uchiha do excel in that area you don't from what Naruto's notes. Your strongest suit is ninjutsu but in particular… Lighting elemental techniques."

"But I only know one and I still haven't mastered it as it is very difficult to control." Sasuke twitched as even after almost two months he still had not mastered the god damned jutsu!

"Well in all fairness he gave you one of the toughest to control. Even I haven't mastered that technique to the extent Naruto has." Kakashi admitted which in turn had Sasuke face plant and viciously curse at his slave driving sensei.

As Sasuke picked himself off the ground, the scarecrow went through a few hand seals before gripping his wrist as electricity exploded around his palm. Seeing he had the Uchiha's attention, he grinned before he thrusted his palm through the rock they were near and pushed his hand nearly entirely through the rock as he pierced it with the attack.

Pulling his hand free, Kakashi eye smiled at the slacked jawed Uchiha. "That was known as the Chidori, a weaker version of my Raikiri but still both are original techniques that I made. And Chidori is only going to be one of many lighting jutsu you'll be learning this month… Once we finish our speed and endurance training!"

Oh Sasuke did not like whatever grin that was behind that man's mask. It reminded him too much of Naruto when he kicked the training up a notch. Sweat began to cover his body and he knew he wasn't going to like this.

Kakashi just smiled beneath his mask. He forgot how fun it was to torture kids! He had to remind himself to thank Naruto for this.

He loved making kids squirm.

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"I do not want to be back in this forest!" Kerlya screamed as she was told to meet Yugito in the one place she did not want to go back to.

Training Ground forty-four, the Forest of Death.

For all she cared it was training ground six-six-six and the devil's playground. She did not want to be here again. While she did run into Orochimaru here that wasn't the reason she didn't want to be here. It was because all the damn creepy as hell animals that lived here… Like ten foot centipedes with razor sharp legs and fangs and whatnot!

Oh then there was the foot long spiders that one bite could probably kill her. Then there happened to be oversized tigers that loved the flesh of human's apparently. This not mentioning the eye gouging birds that seemed to love the juices that were held in that said vital organ. But no… None of these things were the worse thing she had to deal with today.

It was her. This was all apart of her training and she was going to have to LIVE here for the next MONTH! All the while dodge her random attacks after only maybe thirty minutes of training her in techniques and hunting for food on her own.

This was not training. This was going to be a never ending horror/snuff film that was called training.

Freezing as she felt the ice cold feeling of a metallic blade pressed against the spine of her neck, she heard Yugito's stern voice. "You drop your guard. You're too busy pitying yourself to realize what is around him. If I hadn't stopped you here you would have walked right into the belly of the beast."

Throwing the said kunai down into the ground five feet in front of her, so horrible nightmare like creature with a mouth large enough to easily swallow a human suddenly burst from the ground and swallowed the said object and dug back into its hiding spot.

"I'm surprised it still hungry… I heard it got a few gennin during the exams." Yugito silently spoke as she watched the thing with slight awe as despite knowing about it she still somewhat fear it.

That was what happens when she did get eaten by one a few years back. She was just lucky Naruto was there and ripped it apart. That's things innards were stronger then its skin.

Shaking her head of that and seeing fear building in Kerlya's face, Yugito sighed as this was going to take some time but she needed this. She was the softest of the group and this was the quickest way to harden her to the facts of their life. She simply hoped she kept her innocence after they were through.

"Alright… Let's go. Our session will begin once we get a little away from here." Yugito spoke as she tugged on Kerlya's jacket and moved from the area to keep her from this spot of the forest.

Kerlya only nodded as now she was aware this little area was filled with these things. There were at least ten more not ten meters away from it!

She did not want to wander to this area again and become the things lunch.

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"Sens ei…" Sakura spoke as she noted Naruto meditating in the clearing not too far from their normal training spot.

Deciding that he was deeply entranced, though she had a feeling that he knew she was there, she sat before him and took a deep breath as she began to focus and bring herself into a meditative state as well.

It was a little difficult as many things had happened in the last few days. She had been asked out on many dates, had what seemed to be a fan boy club made for her and many of the younger kids, especially young girls in the academy, started looking up to her and asking her how to become strong.

But the most startling thing was that no one looked at her like a pariah any longer. They gave her kind smiles as if they suddenly realized that they may have been wrong and saw who she truly was. She was just a kunoichi… A kunoichi that wanted to become a medical ninja.

Everything was happening too fast for her. It wasn't but two months ago mostly everyone ignored her thanks to her mother and belittled her because of it. No children noticed her as she was just some gennin that no one knew about. But that changed when videos leaked out of the battles in the preliminaries.

No one had an answer but she knew who was the cause of it. It was the blonde before her… Her very own sensei and probably the Third Hokage at that as Naruto on his own had a lot of power as a head ninja but everything still came down to the elderly Kage.

And that was what troubled her. Why… Why was he going through all of this just for her? It was simply too much and unlike Sasuke and Kerlya… She didn't advance. She would not become a chunin this go through.

"Sakura…" Naruto broke her out of her thoughts and her eyes snapped open and locked onto him. "I know what it is you want to know… And yes I am the one that leaked the video to the public with some connections… But you wish to know why, do you not?"

Only nodding as she could say nothing, Naruto's eyes finally opened and his blues gazed into her emeralds. "It because you remind me of what I use to be before I broke seven years ago. …I couldn't let another suffer such fate so… I used the power I possess and pulled all the strings I could."

"You deserve better than what you received and I made sure you got what you truly wanted… Recognition for who and what you are." Naruto finished without blinking and holding her gaze with little difficultly.

A cold chill shivered down her spine as she listened to her sensei's words. He considered her like him and did everything… Everything just so she could be happy.

Almost being taken down by her tackle, Naruto wasn't sure what to do as Sakura embraced him and started crying on his shoulder. He blinked a few times as this was a reaction he had not expected. He should have anticipated it but he hadn't and now he was left with the conundrum of how to handle this.

Doing the only thing that came to him; he calmly stroked his hand through her hair and managed to stand them while she kept her embrace. He guessed he did this through instinct as he had done the same thing to Yugito and Anko when he attempted to comfort them but he thought the relationship here was a little different.

But he guessed he was wrong. She was family to him just like Sasuke and Kerlya were. That was always the point of this and he knew it. It was not only for him to learn how to converse with others, especially those of his own age, but for him to have more that belonged to his close nit family.

There was always room for more.

Smiling at her son's thought, Kyuubi wiped the tears trailing down her face. He had come so far along since she watched him break time and time again. Finally… Finally he was turning into a person and not just a ninja.

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Stand ing alone on his hotel, Raiu's brown eyes gazed into the night's sky as he gazed at the moon. Her eyes shone, reflecting the rays of light, and a light smile crossed his lips before he chuckled. "That's true…"

"So what do we do now? The Konoha ninja will obviously suspect something now. I know both the flash and the professor knew what it was I did." Raiu spoke to seemingly no one as he continued to gaze at the moon.

If one were to see this they would think the Rock gennin was crazy and had something unscrewed in his head. Obviously that was not the truth, however, as he was truly talking to another being. The only other being that was there at the moment.

"Say… How about I release you for a little while? It gets kind of tiring talking to you inside my head." Raiu smiled before it immediately was dashed as he looked behind him and slipped a kunai out of his pouch. "Who's there?!"

Brown eyes locked onto two blue orbs before his eyes widened as he recognized who was standing before him. "A little late to be out when you're technically in enemy territory. Someone might think you are up to something and take care of you… Unlike me."

Staying on guard as this was the one person in Konoha he did not want to ever deal with, Raiu was nervous as the blonde stepped closer before standing next to him. Keeping his arm steady and making sure not to lash out in fear, he was surprised as Naruto simply sat down and motioned for him to do the same.

Unsure what to think of this as he was afraid of the man, for good reason, Raiu didn't move as he wasn't sure he could trust him. However a shake of his head and a slight chuckle, the flash spoke. "If I was going to do anything to you there would be nothing you could do about it. You may be able to bend space and time to but don't think that is enough to get away from me."

"Now are you going to sit so we can talk or are you going to stand there and remain hostile all day? Either way I can deal with it." Naruto added as the moon light reflected the glint in his eyes letting the boy know his place at the moment.

Frowning as this was a bad situation, Raiu slid his kunai back into his pouch before he cautiously sat down, a good couple of feet from Naruto. Of course a few feet meant nothing to the Konoha ninja but he liked to think that a few feet could be the difference of life and death. "What do you want to hear from me? I'm not going to say anything about…"

"I care less about any Iwa is up to at the moment. As long as they stay neutral towards us I don't care." Naruto broke Raiu's train of speech as the boy was jumping to conclusions before realizing what this was truly about. "…I'm here because we are very similar to one another. We both are jinchuuriki."

Grimacing at the word as he didn't like to think of himself as a sacrifice despite that was what he truly happened to be, Raiu still aired on the side of caution. "Don't think I'm going to talk about that to you either. I'm not giving up my secrets to…"

"I already know you possess Nanabi thanks to your little display against your team mate. The killing intent led my senses straight to the source and I found the beast. What bothers me is how you possess Nanabi? It had a different vessel not but four years ago." Naruto commented on what he truly wanted to discuss what he had sensed.

Raiu's eyes widened for a moment before his face turned more neutral as it was something that he did not want to remember. Shivering as screaming filled his mind; he bit his lip to keep the pain from surfacing and keeping his emotions under control. "I shouldn't tell you this but… You may be the only one to understand what they did to me… And to her."

"They snuck up onto the Akatsuki from what I know right after they knocked her out and pounced on them. Many ninja were lost but they thought it was worth it to bring another vessel… One to counter the reappearance of the flash if it occurred and because you used it at chunin exams weeks before they were sent in a more feverish frenzy." Raiu stated as his gaze fell and looked down at the street below.

"I was always better then everyone in the academy so maybe that was why I was chosen. They took me out and began to shove everything about space and time down my throat all the while the prepped everything for the extraction and resealing. It was there that I learned what they were going to do and I felt sick at what was about to happen."

"Without any remorse they drove a kunai into the seal on her stomach and strapped me down as they extract the beast and sealed it into my belly. …I still remember her screams as she awoke during and tried to break free but in the end the demon was pulled out and her screams finally died out." Raiu solemnly finished with his fists clenched and his anger rising.

Keeping silent as he listened to Raiu off loaded his burden to him, Naruto closed his eyes. They were desperate indeed to go so far out to find something that could counter the reemergence of the flash. "I see… I cannot blame you for your rage towards not only them but to me. If I had not learned the flash they would have simply taken a new born, sealed the demon inside of that child and raised her into a weapon specifically meant to kill me."

Raiu's flashed dangerous at the mention of a child forced to go through what he had gone through. The sheer thought of it drew forth far more anger but this time he cooled down and glared down at the streets. "I do hate you… And I will kill you one day for being the flash. But for now I have my job to do…"

"To outclass Konoha on their own turf, huh?" Naruto raised his eyebrow at this for a moment before shrugging his shoulder. "You will more then likely do so… But do not let your anger drive you and keep that heart of yours intact. A good person like you is a rarity in the shinobi world."

Watching Naruto stand, keeping his eyes on him, Raiu turned his attention away and back onto the moon above. "Maybe if you had not learned the flash… We could have been friends. But since you do I am forever your enemy no matter what. You will die at my hands."

Looking at the Rock gennin for a moment longer, Naruto dispersed as if he had never been there in the first place.

Closing his eyes, as if listening to something, Raiu sighed as he turned away from the moon. "No… He did not need to know. …No one does. You are my guardian angel. You are my everything."

"Lady Fuu."
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