Chapter 67: Chapter 82
Ino smashed her fist into her pillow. "Why?" she asked as she pounded her pillow again with her other fist. "Why?" she asked again as she struck the pillow again. Alone in her room, she plunged her face into her pillow and screamed. Ino only stopped when someone knocked on her door.
"Are you okay, Honey?" Ino's father asked outside her door. "They just announced that they're continuing the Chunin Exam finals in an hour. Don't you want to go cheer on your friend? Sakura needs you."
The reply came between heavy breaths, "Why should I? She probably knew Haru was going to leave. And she didn't tell me! I thought she was my friend!"
Inoichi tried to console her, "I'm sure she's still your friend. And that means she's going to need you too. Haru betrayed his squad and village. His squadmates are going to be suspected for a long time. It would probably mean a lot to Sakura if she knew she could count on you. Anyways, I think there's a customer out front…" he said, slinking away.
Ino groaned into her pillow face first.
Far from Konohagakure, a boy in a black coat stood in front of a foggy lake near the borders of Fire County. Despite being evening, clouds and fog gave the lake an ominous feeling.
"Should be the right place. It's close to where Rin died and it's between Konoha and Kirigakure," the boy muttered to himself. He stood on the edge of the water, reading a massive scroll. "Man, this seal is a piece of shit. It's so outdated and inefficient." Haru began tracing his finger over portions of the seal within the scroll. "No wonder you need so much chakra in order to be a jinchuriki."
He continued talking to himself as he went through the scroll. "The things the Uzumaki would have been capable of if they had CompSci 101 at ninja academy."
"Hello, my name is Haku. May I speak to Yamanaka Ino?"
Inoichi paused a moment to look at the feminine figure before his shop counter. "You're Haru's friend, correct? This isn't really a good time…"
"Then can you please give this to her?" Haku pulled out a western-style book. The cover was blank and the binding was handmade. "It was Haru's wish that Ino receive this."
Taking the book, Inoichi began to open it before asking politely, "May I?"
"It is irrelevant to me. But please give it to your daughter soon," Haku said, making to leave.
Peeling the pages apart revealed lines of unrecognizable characters, all scorched and etched into the paper as if the author used fire instead of ink. Inoichi gasped, "Wait! Why are you giving this to Ino?"
"I can only assume it's because Haru thought she'd be able to read it."
"Hey, Isobu, wake up!" Haru shouted across the lake. The low clouds of fog remained motionless. "Damn it. I guess this is the wrong lake," he muttered to himself. With a roar of frustration, Haru flung a massive Rasen-fireball over the water. The fog parted, leaving only clear are in the wake of the fireball.
"Maybe this was the right lake after all," he spoke. In the distance between the walls of fog, the silhouette of a massive creature was visible, quickly closing the distance between them.
"Oh, shit!" Haru shouted when he realized that a massive wave of water was building before the turtle demon. He threw a Rasengan into the center of the tsunami, exploding it into a spray of water. That didn't stop the humungous tailed beast's charge.
"That chakra. I remember this feeling from twelve years ago. It feels like I'm drowning in it," Haru thought to himself.
Isobu swiped at the young ninja, who dodged with a large backflip. "Woah, Isobu, hold on. I'm not here to fight you," Haru said frantically.
"Liar! You are not aniki! Aniki left a long time ago. Why do you have his chakra?!" The massive turtle demon shouted angrily. Haru could feel each word shaking his bones.
"I don't know who you're talking about!" Haru exclaimed, panic rising in his voice. Being mistaken for someone else was entirely unexpected by him.
Isobu swiped his arm across the water and sent another massive wave of water at Haru.
Instead of dodging, Haru stood upon the water and took the wave directly. When the water broke upon his body, he disappeared.
"You've disappointed me, Danzo. Both the scroll and the boy are gone."
"That's not my fault, Orochimaru. He's been working with Hiruzen. They planned everything to sneak the boy out of the village."
"That may be so. However, it is such that you have nothing left to offer me."
"That's not true. With Root and my secret facilities underneath Konoha, we can still…"
"As I said, you have nothing left to offer me."
"But the dreams…"
"There seems to be some truth to your claim that it sees the future in dreams. And the similarities to the Sharingan and Byakugan are fascinating. Regardless, despite what you say happens in the future, I will take my chances on my own."
"So this is the end of our little alliance then?"
"No, this is." Orochimaru snapped his fingers and from the floor, dozens of snakes climbed up Danzo's body, biting and paralyzing him and covering him head to toe in writhing lizards.
"It has been entertaining but I no longer need you to control Root. Do not worry. I will depose Sarutobi on my own and your dream will be realized when Leaf and Sound become one under my command."
Orochimaru reached into the mass of snakes and plucked a human eyeball before the human-shaped tower of snakes fell limply on the ground.
Haru surfaced, floating face up in the water. He spit out a mouthful of water and said, "I'm not here to fight you, Isobu." Haru's hood had fallen around his neck while he was under water. His long red hair flowed away from him as the boy lounged in the water.
"You even look like him," Isobu said.
"My name is Haru. I've come here to ask if you would be my friend."
"Friend?" the confused beast asked.
"Yeah. Friend. I'm going on an adventure and I need your help. Do you want to come with me and see the world? If you do, I promise you'll meet the one who will bring you all together again," Haru offered as he lazed on his back in the water.
"Will I get to see aniki again?" Isobu asked. Despite the deep and reverberating growl in which he asked, there was hope and curiosity in his voice.
Haru smiled. "Maybe. Why don't you tell me about him?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone