章 864: 41
Chapter 40: The Seeds of the Root
(Kaze no Kuni – Team Naruto)
A group of three lightly cloaked figures wandered through the desert heading towards the hidden village in the unforgiving terrain. A bastion of relief for the travelers that they moved towards quickly to get out of the sun.
"Why are we wearing this extra equipment if we're running Naruto-senpai?" Sai asked curiously as he and Maki followed behind the blonde leader, keeping pace with him.
"Because Sai-kouhai." Naruto began to explain, "While I don't really need it, you most definitely do. Have you looked in a mirror lately? You're as white as the paper you draw on. If you're out in this sun for even an hour you're going to be lobster red, and I don't need you losing any fights we get into because of your nasty sunburn."
Maki looked over at her two superiors before speaking her own mind, "What about me Naruto-senpai? I'm not as pale as Sai-senpai is and I'm still wearing a cloak too."
Naruto grinned at her, "Well there's no way I'm letting the female member of our little group chance getting sunburned. You're too pretty to get that complexion all beat up by the sun Maki." His grin dropped as he saw the dome structure of Sunagakure coming into sight, "Okay be cool. You guys are both registered right? I know Sai is, but how about you Maki?"
Maki nodded, "Yes senpai I'm a registered Konoha ninja, number 920018. Should I put on my hitae-ate now?"
"Yes that would be best at least for now." Naruto said as he saw Maki retrieve the accessory and tie it around her neck, "Gaara may trust me, but we're still foreign ninja and you all need to be identified as Konoha ninja lest we look way more suspicious than we already do. The only bad thing is if this gets back to Tsunade-baachan. She's going to wonder where I got you two from."
Sai gave him his smile, "No she shouldn't look too much into it senpai. Danzo-sama has worked out a deal that places me as your usual teammate in order to protect you. I am sure he has or will explain Maki the same way."
Naruto returned the smile with one of his own as he looked at his two subordinates, "We're golden then. Alright, get ready for some scrutinizing looks. Don't attract a ruckus, and remember to get some rest and get your materials together quickly for in case of Akatsuki attack or if we have to leave suddenly."
The smile he shot back at them actually put a small one on Maki's face, "Don't cause a ruckus Naruto-senpai? That doesn't sound like you. I remember during that mission we had to that noble's mansion in Kuminari no Kuni when you-."
"Okay Maki." Naruto replied rather disgruntled at the turn of the conversation as he turned forward with narrowed eyes, "I don't need you reminding me of how I got out of there. I remember. I was there. And you didn't help me either, so you don't get to judge my robbery plan when you didn't even have a part in it."
"As you wish senpai." Maki replied automatically to stanch his ire, but looking at her face he could see the mirth in her eyes. She really did miss having him back. But that also meant that she was going to take to razzing him every now and then. Putting the thought out of his mind, Naruto focused on the mission, she could do what she wanted as long as she knew how to work.
Besides, talking to someone that would answer back with some bite every now and then was way better than getting Sai's monotonic responses. He might be able to take the edge off and have some fun verbally sparring with her.
It didn't really hurt that she was rather cute too. Kami, how did he not notice she was a girl? He must have missed a few remedial detail-noticing lectures back in the day.
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Konoha Hospital)
Tsunade had been periodically checking on Jiraiya ever since he had been admitted to the hospital. He was out of critical condition, but he had still suffered grievous wounds that required him to remain in the hospital. Breathing on his own was still a horrible chore due to the injuries to the throat that he had suffered at the hands of Pein, forcing him to remain hooked up to a machine to assist him with the necessary process as well as an apparatus to provide him with nutrition due to his inability to even properly swallow food. That wasn't even mentioning his most glaring injury that would hinder him forever, his missing left arm that had been severed at the shoulder.
She walked through her teammate's room, engaging him in conversation during some down time in her daily schedule, "So you have no idea where the brat is going either?" She asked Jiraiya while adjusting his blinds for him. She turned to face him and saw him shake his head in the negative, "Both of you weren't enough to take down this Pein person?"
Jiraiya shook his head and looked at her as if he wanted to say more, prompting a frown to grace the Godaime Hokage's features, "I need to get you something to write with until you can speak again." She looked outside of the window, "It's been three days since you were brought back. Do you even have any idea what he's out there to do?"
Jiraiya again shook his head, wishing he could speak to Tsunade, but in his current condition that was impossible. His apprentice had taken it upon himself to stay away from Konoha for the time being and leave himself surrounded by the wolves of the Akatsuki. He needed to be able to somehow tell Tsunade all that he had seen, and what he had learned about Pein. He needed to find Naruto and start getting him ready for an inevitable second encounter with Pein.
He needed to do all of these things but he simply couldn't because he was stuck in this damned hospital bed for the time being.
Tsunade let out a sigh, "Well if anything comes up we can still speak with him through Hamako if the need arises. We're going to have you up and at 'em in no time you old goat." She said with a smile, "I still need you around here, you aren't getting off that easily."
"So Naruto isn't coming back." A voice said with a sigh from the entrance of the room. Eyes turned there to see Kakashi leaning against the door frame, "Do you want to send someone after him? If so I'm volunteering."
Tsunade shook her head, "No, the brat isn't deserting, he's just taking advantage of a loophole." She let out a small laugh, "I guess he did deserve a real vacation after all anyway. But no, I'm not going to send anyone after him. He'll come back when he finds what he wants. I'll be sending out the pervert to go find him when he's all healed up anyway."
Kakashi gave her an eye-smile, "Well in that case, I volunteer to escort Jiraiya-sama when he goes looking for him." Tsunade nodded to him, getting Kakashi to give a thumbs-up, "Great! When it's time to go give me a call and I'll be right there."
Jiraiya let out a muffled laugh as Tsunade rolled her eyes, "You'll be there three hours late like always." She put her hands on her hips, "I'll inform you on when Jiraiya will be ready to leave."
"Alright then." Kakashi said, pulling out his Icha-Icha book and turning to leave, "In the meantime I have to lay low and duck the inevitable stream of questions that will follow everyone learning that the kid isn't dead and keep the fact that I'll be looking for him soon to myself. Until then." He gave a wave and disappeared from the doorway in a puff of smoke.
XxX
(Sunagakure no Sato – Village Streets)
Naruto led his two companions through Suna's streets when Sai tapped him discreetly, "We're being watched senpai." He said quietly.
"We're foreign and we didn't sneak in Sai." Naruto responded back to him, "Of course they're going to watch us. Does it matter? Are you supposed to be doing anything illegal while you're here?"
Sai shook his head, "Our only objectives are to keep you safe Naruto-senpai. Other than that we have no other mission parameters to adhere to. Danzo-sama was very lenient with the orders upon handing us this mission."
Naruto nodded and looked at the female member of the team, "Maki, remind me to fight you later to get a picture of what you can do. I know you're a good medic, which is good because I think we're going to need you sooner or later." Maki nodded to him and looked around, "What's the matter?"
"We may be allies, but this village tried to destroy Konoha three years ago senpai." Maki said softly so as not to alert any of the shinobi or villagers around them, "The current Kazekage tried to kill you. How do you trust him?"
Naruto smiled at Maki, "I beat him and showed him that simply existing to kill everyone wasn't the way to be strong. I told him that I fought for Konoha… well he must have taken that to heart." He looked towards the Kazekage Tower and continued to lead his group, "Let's see if Gaara can help me out with this. I need more knockout power if I'm going to fight Pein."
Maki followed the leader of the hastily assembled team dutifully, "This Pein, what is he like? Do you know what he can do in battle?"
Naruto shook his head, "I don't know. There were six of him and they beat the piss out of me… and those eyes. Kyuubi called them Rinnegan and it seemed really freaked out by them. I need to have a little chat with it when I get the chance."
"Well there you are." Naruto and company looked up on a nearby roof to see Kankuro grinning down at him, "Gaara heard you were in the village and sent me to escort you the rest of the way to his office. What, you don't know how to let someone know you're coming?"
Naruto shook his head, "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing." Kankuro jumped down to the ground and shook hands with Naruto, "It's good to see you again. How's your family?" He asked as Kankuro began leading them through the streets to the tower.
Kankuro let out a chuckle, "Well Gaara's… well, he's Gaara. I don't really know how to specify any better than that. Temari just got back from Konoha on another diplomatic mission and she's pissed at you again."
"I had a mission…" Naruto said, sweatdropping at knowing how much Temari disliked looking for him and not finding him, "How can she be mad at me for that?"
Kankuro's laughter grew more pronounced, "No she's not pissed at you for that. She's pissed because she heard that you had gotten killed and then heard that you had just disappeared and weren't coming back to Konoha. As a matter of fact she didn't get here that much sooner than you did, so you have…" Kankuro looked at the position of the sun, "You have 4 hours until she wakes up from her nap after getting back to come up with a good defense."
Naruto's face had a downcast look, "Believe me, I had a very good reason as to why those things happened, I need to talk to Gaara about it though. You can listen up when you get us there because you should know too."
Kankuro noticed the serious tone and look on Naruto's face and realized whatever he had to talk to Gaara about had to be something of a big deal, "So who are these guys with you?" He said, looking at Naruto's cloaked escorts.
Naruto looked back at them and gestured for them to put their hoods down, "The guy is named Sai, the girl's name is Maki. They're my team while I'm on this little mission of mine." He said, settling into a comfortable silence that left him alone with his thoughts, 'I need more control over Kyuubi's power, and not just with the use of the trigger. It's a shortcut that does more harm than good in the long run.'
He heard the Kyuubi cackle inside of his mind, "You call the trigger a shortcut that does more harm than good but you should know that you're the only jinchuuriki that has ever used my chakra to this extent. Feel proud to have made it this far. The last two before you were unwilling to use my power the way you have."
'Bullshit.' Naruto said in his head as the entrance to Gaara's daily place of work came into sight, 'You've told me that you had other containers before. You're saying that I'm the only one that's used you?'
"No. Others have tried." Kyuubi corrected him, "My first jinchuuriki used the bare minimum of my chakra, barely enough to use a single tail. The second one was much the same. She couldn't go past four tails either without losing control. No one else ever tried figuring out a way to fully control me."
'Maybe I need more access to the chakra.' Naruto thought to himself, 'It got easier to access when Ero-kyofu loosened the seal and I eventually got control over it. Maybe if I can do it again I can get access to more and learn how to control it.' Naruto decided to run this thought by someone else when he channeled chakra to his correspondence tattoo with Hamako.
His answer came quickly and angrily if the pulsing intensity from his arm was any indication, "So stupid! Even if you were advanced enough to deal with the workings of the seal, opening it would be bad. Unless you think you can fight and beat the demon right now."
Naruto frowned at the response, but figured she had to know what she was talking about. For a over a year her favorite thing to do was ask him questions about, and study the seal on his belly, "I can't even loosen it to access more?"
"It's not supposed to be loosened, only tightened in case it ever started influencing you. When Jiraiya-sama did that to allow you more access he just made it easier for the demon to control you." Hamako returned to him, "It doesn't matter. You can't do it on your own even with me instructing you on what to do. You need a certain key to the seal that I can't duplicate. Your father was brilliant Naruto-sama."
Naruto decided to break conversation as they entered Gaara's office, "Okay, thank you Hamako-chan. I'll talk to you soon okay?"
"I am at your service Naruto-sama, I'll see if Jiraiya-sama knows anything more of your seal when I get the chance. Be safe." With that, their connection was broken just as Naruto stood face to face with Gaara, wearing his Kazekage robes.
"Naruto it is good to see you." Gaara said in his usual monotone, "You had many people in Konoha and even here fearing for your safety, including myself." He crossed his hands over one another and set them on his desk in a business-like manner, "How have things been?"
Placing his hands in his pockets, Naruto began to speak to the red-haired fellow jinchuuriki, "I wish I could say that things are good, but I'd be lying to you and we don't need that. I just got a serious wake-up call and I need your help Gaara."
Gaara didn't let the surprise show on his face, but hearing Naruto ask for his help caught him off guard. Even though they were friends, hidden villages rarely asked for help from one another, however Gaara didn't believe that this was an official order. Something more of a personal request, and as long as it didn't put his village in jeopardy he would gladly help Naruto out, "What is it that you need?"
Naruto decided to get straight to the heart of the matter, no need beating around the bush, "I'll just say it. Three years ago you were more or less insane… no offense."
"None taken." Gaara replied, "I am not very proud of that chapter of my life, but it did happen and I cannot simply pretend it didn't exist."
Nodding at Gaara's point, Naruto continued, "I didn't bring that up to just talk about it, it's just to make a point. You used to be the worst case scenario for a jinchuuriki and now you're the Kazekage. To do that you needed the trust of a vast majority of your village and to do that you had to prove that you were no longer under the will of the Ichibi." He took a deep breath and finished verbalizing his thought, "I want to know how you got full control of Ichibi no Shukaku."
Kankuro looked from Naruto to his brother as Gaara simply stared at the foreign blonde before giving him his answer, "I can't do that Naruto."
Naruto let out a sigh, "Village secret? Fine, that's alright. It was worth a shot. Thanks anyway for at least hearing me out."
"No Naruto he really can't." Kankuro said, stopping him, "He's not saying that because it's some huge advantage for Suna, he really can't."
The raised eyebrow of Naruto pressed Gaara to address his confusion, "I do not have full control of Shukaku. Though I can suppress it once I begin, if I use either of the forms I used against you during the invasion of Konoha, Shukaku's will becomes more dominant and the chance of me causing damage to innocents and those that I intend to keep safe. Now I can use parts of Shukaku's limbs to attack, but I do not have control of my demon."
"I'd call that control." Naruto replied glumly, "And you can go all out with it if you have to, I can't. How did you do it?"
Gaara thought about it for a moment, "The seal that keeps the demon inside of me is more closely knit to my own person than yours is I would wager. After all, the demon was sealed within me months before I was even born, you told me it was put in you afterwards. It is still a rather foreign entity within you as opposed to me, as it truly always has been there."
Naruto nodded in understanding, "So how did you beat the Ichibi for control?"
Gaara closed his eyes thoughtfully, "I often had to battle the Ichibi to force it from my psyche, to keep it from constantly trying to influence my thoughts."
A deadpan look came over Naruto's face, "You're talking about hypothetically fighting it aren't you? Like willing it out of your mind?" Gaara blinked in confusion but nodded nonetheless, "Damn, I was talking about literally fighting it. I'm going to have to open the seal and fight the Kyuubi to get full control."
An uncomfortable silence settled over the room until Kankuro voiced the thoughts of both him and his brother… and even Naruto's Root comrades at the moment, "Well that sucks."
Gaara picked up where his brother had so eloquently left off, "I am sorry I cannot be of more help to you Naruto. Why did you even decide to seek me out anyway?"
Naruto sighed and put his arms up behind his head, "For three reasons. One, I can't go home, not as I am, that would be a requiem for an asskicking after what I just got through doing. Two, All of the other major hidden villages have their own jinchuuriki. I figured that Suna would be one of the ones that had a good handle on how to train theirs. Clearly I was wrong because you did it all on your own. The third reason was to warn you."
"Warn me?" Gaara said, "Warn me of what?"
Naruto gave him a serious look, "Warn you about the man that beat me and Jiraiya at the very same time. Not just beat us, he destroyed us. It was as if he was barely trying. The leader of Akatsuki, Pein." He saw the looks of shock on Gaara and Kankuro's faces at hearing that Jiraiya had been destroyed, destroyed while Naruto had been there to assist, "He has six bodies, all of them strong. I don't know too much more, but I swear, when I do you're going to be the first to know Gaara. You're still just as much a target as me, be prepared."
Gaara nodded, "I will be Naruto. I am not the Kazekage for nothing and I will begin training in preparation for an attack from the Akatsuki. You are free to stay here before leaving. Where are you going next?"
"East." Naruto replied, "Far east, back through Hi no Kuni. We'll stay the night and leave tomorrow morning. Thank you Gaara."
XxX
After that point, Kankuro led Naruto and company through his own family's lodgings to give them a place to shack up in for the night. Sai moved closer to the blonde leader and spoke, "We're going to be heading back through Hi no Kuni Naruto-senpai? Is that a good idea?"
Naruto shrugged, "Why not? We have to if we're going to get to either Mizu no Kuni or Kaminari no Kuni. We'll keep to the south to stay far away from Konoha and out of their view. You guys can get through a country unnoticed, can't you?"
The path taken through the house of the powerful siblings began seeming familiar to Naruto when Kankuro suddenly called out, "Temari! Hey sis, I'm back." He turned with a grin on his face once he saw the wheels in Naruto's head begin to turn, "Come on, you've got to be awake by now."
"I'm up Kankuro." Temari replied from behind the door, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing's the matter." He said cryptically, "I just thought there would be someone out here that you would want to see." He saw Naruto turn around on his heel to run and with a quick movement of his fingertips, tripped Naruto with a chakra string, 'Ah, déjà vu. The day we met.' The puppeteer thought fondly.
"Kankuro don't do this." Naruto said swiftly pulling himself to his feet, "I gave you Sasori's extra bodies." That gave the puppeteer some pause, but before he could say anything the door cracked open to reveal the curious face of Temari who looked out at the hall before settling on Naruto, "Uh, hey Temari-chan. How have you been the last few months?"
Temari's door slowly opened wider, putting the young woman completely in the doorway where she then put her hands on her hips and waited expectantly, "You need to have a damn good excuse as to why you didn't go back to Konoha after what I heard happened to you and Jiraiya-sama."
Naruto looked at his team, "Go with Kankuro to the room, I'll catch up with you in a minute." He looked at Temari, "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. Can I come in? I've wanted to talk to you for a while anyway." He said She smiled at him and moved aside, allowing him to enter her room and close the door.
Kankuro shook his head with a smirk and continued leading the two Root ninja through his house, "I should be pissed about what my sister is going to do to that guy, but I just can't bring myself to hate him. He's just too good of a guy for as long as I've known him."
Sai looked at Kankuro, "Naruto-senpai and Temari-san are in a relationship?"
Kankuro stroked his chin in thought, "Well, no I wouldn't say that. I will say that aside from the climate, the guy is half the reason she likes going to Konoha so much though. One time she came back with the biggest smile on her face that travelling all that way shouldn't have given her and asking about the kid got a bigger one out of her."
Sai's face never changed expressions even when he comprehended what he was being told, "So senpai and Temari-san are going to-?"
"Probably." Kankuro said with a distasteful expression, "Could we just not talk about it? Even though I'm okay with it she's still my sister. It's gross." He looked at both Sai and Maki, "Like how would you like it if I started talking about how hot your little sister here is? Come on dude, it's just not appropriate."
Sai looked at Maki and then back to Kankuro, "I don't see what relation has to do with the attractiveness of one's sibling. Besides, Maki is not my sister, she's my teammate on this mission, same as Naruto-senpai."
Kankuro looked at Maki for a moment and turned back forward, shaking his head, "No… No she's not. That girl isn't anything close to being similar to Naruto."
Sai gave Kankuro a pleasant smile, "Whatever you say Make-up Boy."
As Kankuro fumed at the fact that Naruto's teammate had a smart-ass attitude, Maki frowned at the thought of Naruto having relations of a physical nature with a foreign kunoichi, 'What if she's been able to seduce secrets out of senpai? She apparently does this every so often so why else would she? I need to have a talk with him later about this.' She thought determinedly to herself.
XxX
(The Next Day – Gates of Sunagakure)
Naruto and his two teammates stood at the outskirts of the village as Kankuro and Temari stood with them to bid them farewell. Temari frowned and gave Naruto a hug, "I wish you could stay for longer this time, but with what you told me last night you're right, you need to keep moving."
"Yes, I'm sure you wish he could stay…" Kankuro said, grinning until Temari took her fan off of her back and brandished it threateningly, getting her brother to back off holding his hands up defensively. When she turned away to leave him alone he gave thumbs up to Naruto, "You see? Every time she's around you she calms down. You should move to Suna." He didn't escape Temari's wrath twice as this time she caught him right on top of the head with her makeshift club.
Temari sneered down at her pleasantly unconscious brother before looking up at Naruto and crew, "It was good to have you here again Naruto-kun-."
"I'll bet it was!"
Another stomp to her smart-aleck brother silenced him and let her continue speaking, "You really should be at home in Konoha more often. I don't think any ninja cuts the pace that you do with work."
Naruto shifted the sword around on his back, "There's a lot for me to do Temari-chan. I've got to find a way to put this Pein guy down and I can't do it training in Konoha. Even the new jutsu you helped me finish the last time we were together wouldn't have done a thing."
"Did you use that?" She asked him dangerously, getting Naruto to frantically shake his head no, "Good, because you know it tears your arm apart. Just be careful out there." She gave him a small smile, "I don't think I can convince you to let me go ask Gaara to send you off with an escort could I?"
"Sai and Maki are more than enough Temari-chan." Naruto said, putting a hand on her cheek, "It's going to be fine, just worry about keeping Gaara and your tactless brother in line, okay?" He gave her a kiss and turned, motioning to the others to follow him.
As his figure grew smaller and smaller on the horizon before finally disappearing in the hazy lines of the desert, Temari let out a sigh that the now standing Kankuro rolled his eyes at, "And here we go again with your hang-dog look as you watch him leave. For the love of Kami, why don't you just tell the guy that you're in love with him already? You've had sex like three ti-."
Once again he was cut off with a shot from Temari's fan who didn't have her heart in it from the frown on her face, "Shut up Kankuro."
XxX
(3 Days Later – Undisclosed Location – Orochimaru's Base)
Sasuke walked into the lab of the base and looked around. Noting that no one was there he walked over to a massive vat of water that he immediately slashed open with the sword on his person, letting it spill out onto the ground. The water quickly began to take a human form, the form of a teen boy with white hair, purple eyes, and shark-like teeth, "Ugh, not that I'm not happy to be out of that vat, but what do you want Sasuke?"
"I'm taking out Orochimaru and you're coming with me." Sasuke said plainly, "Of course you could always turn me down and I'll put you back in that tank to be experimented on. The choice is your Suigetsu."
Suigetsu stroked his chin in thought, "Hmm… Go with you and get back at the asshole that put me here in the first place as well as get the chance to actually start looking for the swords or stay here and let Orochimaru's favorite ass-slave keep poking and prodding at me?" He gave Sasuke a toothy grin, "Get me some clothes and you've got yourself a running mate for the time being."
Sasuke threw him some clothes and began walking away, "Hurry up and get dressed. We're doing this now." Suigetsu looked at back of the retreating Uchiha and shrugged before beginning to get dressed, "And if you see Kabuto wandering about any time before we get to Orochimaru feel free to show him how much you appreciated all of the 'hospitality'."
Suigetsu let a feral smirk cross his features, "I have a feeling that this is going to work out just fine."
XxX
(With Naruto and Company – Somewhere in Hi no Kuni)
In the middle of a forest, Naruto stood waiting in place while Sai sat on a tree branch above, using his free time to draw for a little while as long as he had the time to take a break. Naruto had his eyes scanning the trees around him, trying to find any sign of their third squad member, 'She's rather good at keeping herself out of view. That's a good trait for a medic-nin to have. Alright Maki, now let's see how you fight.'
The sound of a beautiful voice singing filled the area and quickly reached the ears of Naruto and Sai who somehow found their eyes starting to grow heavier. Sai quickly noted what was happening and was able to categorize it, 'Keikoku no Uta (Song of the Siren). Let's see how Naruto-senpai is able to deal with this.'
Naruto grit his teeth as he began feeling drowsy. This was the kind of genjutsu that the Kyuubi had trouble dispelling for him the most, ones that had to do with his hearing. Did she know that about him? No one knew that about him. Naruto pulled out his sword and a kunai and began grinding the two blades against one another to produce a horrible noise that broke Maki's control over him.
A flurry of shuriken flew from a hidden position and forced Naruto to throw his kunai at them to block as well as use his sword to deflect them. Even so, one still managed to nick his shoulder, 'Son of a bitch. She can do Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Jutsu)? Sneaky wench.'
A kunai flew from the woods coming straight for his head that he batted from the sky, however when he moved to swing at it, a glare from the weapon caught him right in the eyes. It didn't initially stun Naruto, but once a figure that he had designated as Maki flew from the underbrush at him he couldn't focus his eyes on her directly, lest his vision be filled with an intense light that kept him from keeping his eyes on her.
Hearing her draw her tanto from the scabbard gave him all of the warning he needed to get his ninjato from his sheath on his back and block before directing a retaliatory swipe at the girl he couldn't look right at, 'Her genjutsu skills are centered around the parts that I'm not good at dispelling. They aren't so much along the lines of being physical as they're more perceptive. They don't alter reality, they alter my own perspective. Kyuubi can't help me with these.'
"I know how to fight you Naruto-senpai."
'That's right, keep talking sweetie.' Naruto thought to himself as he blocked another attack from her sword and shoved her off, 'Give me an idea of where you are and I'll only need one shot to finish you.'
"I watched you train and work for years. My own style of combat is meant to support your weaknesses." Maki said as she bypassed Naruto's guard after he blocked her slash and punched him in the face, "You are more of a juggernaut, meant to destroy your opponents in one shot. I am more subtle." Before she could move in with another slash attempt, she wound up getting kicked right in the body and sent flying by his one-hit power she had been referencing.
"That's enough Maki." Naruto said as he walked over to her with his eyes closed, "I know what you can do now. And I hope that the you talking to me thing was just because this was a spar and not a real fight."
Maki picked herself up and muttered 'kai' to return Naruto's vision to him, "Yes Naruto-senpai, but it was mostly because I know you. Still, habits like that translate over into combat as well. I will work on that." She rubbed the place where Naruto kicked her and winced slightly, "It really is good to see you fight more accurately towards the way you used to again. There was a time where I wanted to beat the old Naruto-senpai out of you."
Naruto gave her a puzzled look, "What? Beat the old me out of me? But you've only seen me like this or when I was in Root."
Maki shook her head and activated Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Jutsu) to heal the small injury that Naruto inflicted on her while she kept talking, "Actually I've been there all along. When you were sealed Danzo-sama had me keep watch over you in the Academy. He put me in the same time as you and I even graduated with you."
Naruto looked intently at Maki as she smiled up at him after she finished healing herself. Naruto walked around her a few times, "I don't remember. Why don't I remember?"
"Because I'm good at my job senpai." She said winking at him, "I honestly tried to talk to you a few times, but you were obsessed with that Sakura girl all through school and kept getting held back after class… and that's when you weren't skipping." She said with a pronounced scowl on her face, "Then Danzo-sama instructed me not to interact with you, he said that you wouldn't remember us anyway and would talk about it, maybe even to the Hokage. He really started paying attention to you once you were sealed."
He put a hand on Maki's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "Well now I'm here. You can talk to me all you want, okay?" Maki gave him a bright smile in response.
"Naruto-senpai." Sai said as he stood up, "We have company." The pale ninja drew his tanto from his back in preparation.
"Akatsuki?" Maki asked, keeping her own tanto at the ready as she went back to back against Naruto who had his own sword still out, "Which one is it?"
An influx of information from Kage Bunshin sentries entered Naruto's head, "Not Akatsuki." He said, answering her previous query, "But there are around 9… 10… wow, really? There are like 21 of these guys."
Sai jumped down and formed a tight triangle formation with the others, "Who is it attacking us? If it isn't an agent of Akatsuki could it be someone from Otogakure? You have a lot of enemies Naruto-senpai."
Naruto shook his head, "Nope, not them either." An explosion echoed into the distance, "And now it's not 21 anymore, it's just 17 now." Sai and Maki looked at him for clarification, "Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Encampment Method)." The sounds of people rushing through the forest around them got closer and closer, "Get ready for a fight."
A bunch of shinobi wearing demon masks, fully armed to the teeth and holding large kunai like swords emerged all around Naruto, Sai, and Maki.
Sai looked around, trying to gauge the current threat level, "Who are these people?" He asked hypothetically, not expecting to get an answer, especially not from both of his teammates at the same time.
"Prajna Group." Naruto and Maki both said before looking at each other and nodding in agreement. Naruto decided to take the moment to explain to his hapless third colleague, "Yeah me and Maki were among the Root agents that Danzo-jiji dispatched to take out a whole regiment of these guys back in the day." Naruto blinked and looked at the female of the team, "Damn it, that means we failed that mission doesn't it?"
"That depends." Maki said thoughtfully, "It depends on whether or not these are the last of them or not. If it is then we can finish the mission right now."
Sai understood, "So they're here for revenge. To simply kill us or use us to locate Danzo-sama." He shook his head, "It wouldn't matter anyway. He never comes out into the open, so unless they're willing to infiltrate Konoha to look for him they'll never find him."
Naruto cracked his neck, "Yeah, well tell them that after they're done trying to kill us, and hurry up. I'd like to finish this up and get moving again… and no explosions please."
"You just used explosives about two minutes ago Naruto-senpai." Maki supplied with a smirk.
Naruto looked at the ninja surrounding them with a twitching eye, "Maki I missed you and I love you so I'm not going to take out my aggression from that unnecessarily snide comment on you. That's what these guys are for."
XxX
(Undisclosed Location – Orochimaru's Base)
Sasuke and Suigetsu had made their way through Orochimaru's base with no so much as a peep from any of Orochimaru's men, mostly because it was Sasuke, and no one was to touch Sasuke. It was maddening. He wondered how he would have ever gotten stronger if he hadn't been able to force Orochimaru to give him actual missions to test himself with.
Suigetsu looked over at the raven-haired avenger, "So are you sure you can win? I mean I don't care either way because if this doesn't work you're going to be a Sasuke trench-coat for Orochimaru and I'm going to be either dead or back in that vat, but you seem confident."
Sasuke scoffed, "He can't beat me. He's hiding it but you can see that his body is breaking down. As he is the dobe could take him out… that's probably why he didn't attack him and the Kazekage when we had the chance in Suna." They reached a set of large doors, "Stay out here. No one comes in until one of us comes out."
Suigetsu looked at him in surprise, "Are you sure? I mean if we were both in there we could have a better shot at putting him down with less of a fight."
Sasuke put his hand up in front of the door and looked at Suigetsu coldly, "No one comes in until one of us comes out. If I can't beat him then all of this is meaningless and I'll never beat Itachi." Sasuke formed a beam of lightning in his hand and pointed it at the door, extending it and piercing through it. He then pulled out his sword and cut through the rest of the door before stepping inside where he found Orochimaru in his bed, blocking the attack from Sasuke from hitting his vital spots.
Orochimaru glared at Sasuke, "I knew it would come to this."
Sasuke simply looked at Orochimaru impassively, "I don't have anything else to learn from you. And you won't be seeing any mercy from me, even if you beg for it." His cursed seal began to spread over his body.
Jutsu List
Keikoku no Uta (Song of the Siren). B-rank genjutsu. Offensive, supplementary. The user will use chakra to project their voice and scatter it along the surroundings to an opponent's ears. Once caught in the genjutsu an opponent will quickly be lulled to sleep if the genjutsu is not quickly identified and dispelled. For the genjutsu to work the user must have a pleasant voice or else no effect will occur.
Kashoku no Sousaku (Bright Light Creation). B-rank genjutsu. Supplementary. The user will activate the jutsu using a natural source of sudden light that will hit the opponent in the eyes. After the initial flash, any time that the enemy locks eyes onto the user the victim will see nothing but a bright blinding light emitting from the user of the jutsu, keeping them from being able to look directly at the user.
Kekkai Houjin (Barrier Encampment Method). B-rank ninjutsu, Kekkai Ninjutsu. Offensive. An array of four exploding tags are jointly placed around the boundary of an area. If anyone or anything happens to walk through the boundary, the seals will instantly activate and explode, killing the imprisoned target.
週次パワーステータス
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