บท 12: 12
Disclaimer: I've just been bought out by some guy named Kishimoto. Naruto is no longer mine.
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"Konoha shinobi," the man whispered in a low, deceptively feminine voice. "I haven't encountered Konoha shinobi in quite some time. What a…disappointment. A pretty little jonin and four genin." The man's eyes widened, though in anticipation rather than surprise. "Though…a Hyuuga, an Akimichi, an Aburame, and…Uzumaki Naruto." A devilish smirk that put the fear of God into Naruto split the jonin's face. "This might be fun after all."
His heartbeat deafening him, Naruto took a deep breath to steady himself, and then took another. His hearing slightly restored, he addressed Team Eight behind him.
"Guys…I'm gonna break us out. When I do, grab Kurenai and run, and don't touch the kunai, whatever you do. Don't argue," he said quickly to cut off any protests. "Don't even think. Just run for the southern border. I'll be right behind you."
Whether it was the utter terror of the moment, or some quality in his voice, the three genin behind him didn't argue, and Chouji shuffled slightly to better pick Kurenai up when Naruto initiated the break out.
The jonin was laughing at them. "You have a plan!" he cackled delightedly. "How…magnificent. I'm afraid, however, that you will not be going anywhere."
Four kunai appeared in his hands, and the four genin were suddenly suffocating under the most powerful killing intent they'd ever felt as dozens of shuriken and kunai peppered their frozen limbs. Blood spurted, flesh was rent, and the genin's stomachs turned over as the sight of their own deaths by projectiles played out in front of their eyes.
Naruto couldn't even blink, let alone breath as what felt like a million needles were stabbing him all at the same time while his chest was compressed past the breaking point. This was it, he was going to die. He, Uzumaki Naruto, was about to be brought low by some Otogakure jonin before he had accomplished anything. Before he had even made chunin!
A painful warmth was spreading through his limbs as his fatalistic thoughts hammered through his head, before the deafening sound of his own heartbeat silenced them, and the poisonously red image of a roaring fox obscured his vision.
Time slowed as his mind flashed to his first encounter with the demon fox, and suddenly the jonin's killing intent wasn't so suffocating anymore. It was nothing before the Kyuubi's pure malice and malevolence, and the devilish smirk was nothing more than a joke of an expression on the visage of a pasty-faced pretender.
The phantom pain vanished, the suffocating killing intent dissipated, and the pale jonin stood behind it all with four kunai hurtling through the air towards the genin's chests.
Naruto acted on instinct before his mind had fully caught up to the situation at hand. Two clawed hands formed a cross shaped seal in front of his face, and the distinctive sound of Shadow Clones popping into existence filled the silent night.
Three puffs of smoke obscured the jonin's vision of the genin he had targeted, and the sight of corporeal, black clad blondes appeared for but a moment before dissipating as the throwing knives found their marks. The devilish smirk already on the man's face widened, contumelious satisfaction peeling pale lips back to reveal slightly pointed teeth. So Sarutobi-sensei's dirty little secret can think for itself. Wonderful.
Naruto paid the smile no heed as he drew a brace of four kunai with his left hand, while forming a half ram seal with his right. A spear of killing intent was hurled at the smirking jonin, causing the man to recoil in slight shock at its potency. The blond allowed himself a single moment of satisfaction as his spur of the moment idea paid dividends, and the frozen genin jerked back to their senses. The genjutsu had been broken as the man lost his concentration.
"You guys all right?" he queried, voice shaking involuntarily even as the Kyuubi's energy continued to filter into his system.
"Yes, Naruto-san," came Shino's predictable response, even if Naruto could detect the obvious fear in the boy's tone.
"N-Naruto-k-kun, y-your ch-chakra…" Hinata gasped. Naruto didn't spare time for a curse as he realized that the Hyuuga's Byakugan must have been activated, and could therefore see the distinctly inhuman chakra coursing through Naruto's coils.
"Nothing to worry about," he bit out quickly, unperturbed about his secret getting out. He had bigger things to worry about. "You guys remember the plan?" he asked, silently thankful for the jonin's continued lack of movement. The man obviously thought them so far beneath his notice to allow them their moment of hushed conversation. Even as he was doing so, Naruto felt the stirrings of an irrational anger begin to take hold.
How dare he not take me seriously? came the feral, bijuu induced thought.
Three muttered yeses sounded from behind Naruto, and the blond exhaled quietly. The man wasn't likely about to let Team Eight waltz right past him as he dealt with Naruto, so he'd have to break them out the hard way. He was confident that Team Eight would follow his lead, but, for the first time since his first meeting with Zabuza, he was less confident in himself to be able to pull them through.
A flush of chakra derailed the thought before it could take hold in him, and Naruto readied himself by sheathing his four kunai in a combination of Futon chakra and the fox's. He would only have one shot at this, and he would need his anchors.
The jonin nodded as he watched Naruto call upon his elemental chakra. Such heightened control in one so young…impressive. "So," he finally hissed. "You've dispelled my genjutsu. An impressive feat indeed, but then I'm sure you're just full of surprises, isn't that right, Naruto-kun?"
An involuntary shiver coursed through him at the tone of familiarity, but it went ignored, as did the rest of the words, as Naruto threw one kunai directly at his own feet, before hurling the other three at the jonin blocking his path in a staggered flight path. A Kage Bunshin appeared as the blond made yet another cross shaped seal, and it sprinted at the pale man, knuckle knives drawn.
The jonin spared a split second of consideration for the flight path of the blades, smiling openly at the more advanced tactic the jinchūriki employed, before twisting himself around and out of the path of the kunai in an inhuman display of flexibility. His tongue flapped out of his mouth happily as the sight of four stunned genin met his eyes, before he refocused on the clone bearing down on him…
Only it wasn't there anymore, replaced instead by one of the kunai he had just dodged. His eyes widened even as his spine seemed to cease to exist for a moment, allowing him to bend further than ninety degrees at the waist to avoid being rent in two by the clone behind him.
A kunai of his own found its way to his hand to deal with the annoyance, only to find nothing but air as he slashed out. The sight of yet another of the boy's knives filled his vision, and a cackle escaped his lips as he turned to face the clone once more.
Kawarimi with a kunai, the jonin thought. Well timed and a nearly instantaneous method of covering short distances; impressive indeed. I wonder if he knows just how well he imitates Namikaze's old habits?
The jonin's hand, the one not holding a kunai, darted out faster than the clone could react, catching the incoming knife mid-strike and simultaneously knocking it to the ground. Moving faster than Naruto's eye could track, the jonin struck out in a jab with his kunai laden hand, impaling the clone through the throat and watching in satisfaction as it puffed out of existence.
"But," he muttered to himself, the low hiss unheard by the genin, "Kawarimi is no Hiraishin."
He turned back to the four genin, three snakes creeping out of his sleeves in preparation, half expecting to see the real Uzumaki Naruto charging him – only to be blindsided as a crimson corona of power, so bright it lit the countryside for miles, erupted.
Chakra senses going haywire at the explosion of malevolent demonic chakra, and nearly blinded by the mere sight of it, the pale Oto-nin had no time to react as Naruto, heedless of all else, barreled into him with the all kinetic force of the maelstrom he was named for.
The blond, fully cognizant, let the poisonous chakra go to work eroding flesh and bone as he held the pale man in a stranglehold. Red eyes met yellow for a single, suspended moment before Naruto pressed his advantage brutally, a crimson colored, bubbling hand of chakra extending from his arm swatting the jonin into a nearby building in a devastating hammer blow. Slitted eyes spared the building a glance as the man plowed through stone and wood like a bullet, dust exploding out as the framework collapsed upon itself. A split second was all the boy allowed himself before he enacted a lightning fast Kawarimi that brought him back to the first kunai he had lodged in the ground.
"Run!" he roared at the stunned forms of Team Eight, even as he forced the Kyuubi's chakra back down to a boil beneath the surface of his skin. The residual killing intent echoed through his vocal cords regardless, and fight or flight syndrome took over in the minds of his three comrades. All three took off through the north gate at a full sprint before heading directly southeast, leaving Naruto to hastily collect Kurenai in his arms and tear off after them.
The combination of the Kyuubi's chakra and adrenaline proved potent, and Naruto easily managed to power himself parallel to Team Eight in the open plains of Rice Field Country. He kept the three genin slightly ahead of him, however, knowing that if the remaining Oto ninja decided to chase them that he would need to be the first line of defense. Team Eight had already proven themselves to be greenhorn genin, unaccustomed to true combat, and would drop like flies in a running battle.
A shock of pain split his skull for a moment as he finally managed to wrestle the Kyuubi's chakra back down, and a wave of fatigue swept over him. He stumbled as exhaustion made itself known, nearly growling in frustration at the aftereffects of using the Kyuubi's chakra. Damned fox, he cursed. Even with his own reserves nearly full, he still felt like he had run all the way from Kumogakure to Konoha in one go.
Even so, Naruto righted himself through force of will, and resigned himself to rationing the fox's chakra so as to keep himself moving, inwardly cursing himself and the fox itself for making him use the instrument of his exhaustion to fight it. He'd likely end up passed out for days after this whole mess was over.
If they got out alive, that was.
That thought spurred him on, and his eyes bled from blue to deep purple, his teeth and nails lengthened, and his whisker marks deepened ever so slightly as the bijuu's chakra coursed through him once more. With a single push, he regained his place at the back of Team Eight's sprint to the border, noticing idly that the three had slowed considerably as they regained their wits. It was a good thing too, as at their previous pace they would have passed out halfway through the countryside.
The group crested a hill, coming to an involuntary halt as the sight of a massive body of water shimmered in the moonlight in front of them. A sigh of relief escaped Naruto's chapped lips.
"Follow it around," he grunted, his voice sounding like gravel due the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra.
Three pairs of startled eyes shifted to him. "W-what?" Chouji whispered, as if he had forgotten that Naruto had been running behind them in the first place. Wrapped up in the terror of the moment, Naruto mused distantly, they probably hadn't thought of him at all.
"Follow it around," he repeated, making an effort to soften his voice. It didn't work. "This lake is the start of the river that flows into the Valley of the End. If we follow it around, we'll reach Fire Country's border in a few hours."
"But first-" he started, as all of Team Eight had begun to move off. He placed Kurenai's unconscious form on the ground. "-I'll need some help with Kurenai."
It was as if a veil of blindness had been lifted off the three genin of Team Eight at the mention of their sensei. All of a sudden, panic returned in full force, only enhanced by the fact that their sensei, the one person they had been counting on in case of a situation like this, was lying unconscious with a blade sheathed in her gut.
"Kurenai-sensei!" Chouji exclaimed in shock. The heavy boy's breathing quickened almost immediately as he stumbled backwards. His feet caught on a piece of gravel and he tumbled to the ground unceremoniously. The disorientation seemed to do him a spot of good, however, as the moment his back hit the ground, his breathing calmed, his mind no longer focusing on the prone form of his sensei.
The other two weren't so fortunate. Hinata's already pale cheeks became even more so, her eyes widened, and she stood stock still staring vacantly down at the jonin. The gaze seemed to pass right through the dark haired woman in front of her, however, seeing instead some phantom of her mind.
While Shino looked to be his usual stoic self, Naruto could see the boy's body was far too tense, and a faint buzzing noise that the blond had been hearing since the flight from Shin Toshi was getting truly deafening.
Caught off guard by Team Eight's reactions, Naruto flinched back, uncomprehending of the raw emotion playing out before him. What are they…why are they…?
It was only when Hinata sunk to her knees, hugging herself tightly around the chest and whimpered, "Mother," that snapped Naruto out of his daze.
"Hey!" he barked, his voice, already a growl, amplified by the corrosive chakra running through him. Killing intent rolled off of him, flooding the immediate vicinity and grabbing Team Eight's attention like a slap to the face. "Get a hold of yourselves! You're running around like a bunch of greenhorn Academy Students. We're not out of this shit yet, and all of you panicking like a bunch of fuckin' kids is gonna get us all killed!"
The growling dressing down hadn't done much for Team Eight's rapidly fraying nerves, but it seemed to snap them out of their collective stupor.
"What do we need to do, Naruto-san?" Shino asked, his voice quiet. The fact that he deferred to Naruto's leadership spoke volumes, and unknowingly had Chouji and Hinata giving more weight to his words.
The blond sighed, raking a clawed hand through his hair. His own nerves weren't helping the situation. He was constantly fighting himself to keep from snapping at the three genin in front of him, not to mention the consistent pounding of blood in his ears courtesy of the Kyuubi's chakra. He was itching for a fight and he knew it, but was powerless to stop the urge.
He could push it down, though.
"First off, Kurenai needs to be patched up some. Anyone who might have chased us from the town seems to have given up by now, so we have some time to work." A thought struck the genin suddenly, and he turned to Hinata. "How long can you keep your eyes activated?" he asked, voice filled with something like hope.
The heiress looked to her feet. "A-ano, only a few minutes at a time, N-Naruto-kun."
The blond refrained from cursing sulferously at the girl's tiny chakra reserves. "That's fine for now, Hinata. Can you activate them now?" the girl nodded once, and chakra pulsed outward with a hand seal and a muttered "Byakugan!"
"There's n-no one within one t-thousand meters, Naruto-k-kun," Hinata stated, picking up on his train of thought.
"Good, good," Naruto muttered absently, his mind filing away her range. "Okay. First things first, we've gotta get this kunai out of her." He turned violet eyes on the group. "Do any of you have anything that'll help clotting? Bandages can only do so much…"
Chouji looked pensive for a second, his eyes unconsciously flickering back and forth between Naruto and his sensei, before shaking his head in the negative. "My clan's pills only deal with chakra output," he muttered.
Shino, predictably, said nothing, but turned hidden eyes to Hinata. The girl in question blushed and looked down, pushing her fingers together in her usual show of uncertainty. "Ano, I…I have a c-cream that helps wounds close by directing ch-chakra to the injury, b-but I'm not sure it will w-work properly," she stuttered.
Aren't you the Hyuuga heiress? Grow a spine! Naruto thought harshly, the Kyuubi's natural malice amplifying his impatience with their situation. Now isn't the time for your insecurities. "That'll have to do," was all he grunted as he unwrapped the excess bandages from around his calves. "Get the cream and coat these in it. We'll use them to help stop the bleeding. Hopefully it'll buy us some time…"
The blond passed his bandages to Hinata and Shino, who began applying the cream liberally. He motioned to Chouji. "When we start moving again, I'll need you to carry her. You're easily the strongest of us physically, and I'll have to deal with any threats against us if and when they appear." The "you guys won't be much use in a fight right now" went unspoken, but the heavyset boy seemed to get the message, if the look of grim determination on his face was any indication.
"Got it, Naruto!"
"Good. Are you guys finished with the bandages?" he asked to Shino and Hinata.
"Just about, Naruto-san," was the bespectacled boy's reply. "We've a few more left."
"Hurry it up," Naruto ordered. "We don't have too much time and I don't want to linger." Even as he spoke, the jinchūriki moved to start removing the kunai from Kurenai's abdomen gingerly. He grasped the blade lightly, inwardly thanking the heavens that he had paid attention in those first aid lessons at the Academy, and pulled directly opposite the angle of entry so as to do no further damage to the blood vessels. A wince passed across his face as the jonin moaned quietly in her unconsciousness.
The blond wondered again at the enemy jonin's mindset as he had stabbed Kurenai, silently thankful for making his job easier. The man must have been arrogant to the extreme to purposefully leave a wound so treatable, so confident in himself as to think he would easily be able to dispatch the genin.
Then again, Naruto mused as he stemmed the blood flow with the bandages from Kurenai's own dress, it likely wasn't a farfetched assumption. The man obviously hadn't counted on running into a jinchūriki.
"Get those bandages over here!" he directed, using one hand to apply pressure to the wound while simultaneously cutting away pieces of Kurenai's red and white dress with a kunai. "Hold this down, Chouji," he ordered the Akimichi, passing the blood soaked cloth to him. The boy took over with a grimace, looking more than a little sick at the prospect.
Both hands free, Naruto removed the rest of the fabric with ease from around the jonin's abdomen, and discarded the blood soaked fabric.
"Naruto-san," Shino spoke from behind him, cream lathered bandages in hand. The blond only grunted in acknowledgement, taking the white, slippery strips of cloth without prompting.
"Lift that," he ordered Chouji, gesturing to the bloody cloth. The boy pulled it off and backed away hastily, all too eager to step away from the bleeding woman, inadvertently leaving Naruto to bandage Kurenai on his own.
The whiskered genin didn't even bother to sigh as the three genin kept their distance, slipping one hand under the jonin gently as he wrapped the cream soaked bandages around her middle. Sticky life water ran down his clawed hands as they repeatedly passed over Kurenai's well toned stomach muscles, the dark liquid contrasting fiercely with the almost creamy tone of the woman's skin that was paling far too quickly.
The job was finished swiftly, and Naruto fastened the not-too-tight pieces of cloth to the pretty jonin with a liberal helping of adhesive tape. He stepped back, shaking his hands and rubbing them unconsciously on his shorts, and observed his hasty handiwork.
It would have to do, he decided, turning back to Team Eight.
"That'll have to do it. Chouji, pick her up, we're leaving," Naruto directed. "We've lingered here far too long. We can be in Fire Country in a few hours, but only if we hurry," he growled.
The three genin of Team Eight nodded resolutely in response, and Chouji gingerly lifted his sensei into his arms bridal style.
The four genin followed the edge of the lake for nearly a full half hour before it turned into a river; the sound of running water and the nearly silent crunch of their hurried footsteps nearly deafening to their ears in the silence of the night. The foursome was forced to stop multiple times during the trek, as Chouji had to readjust his grip often, and neither Shino nor Hinata had the stamina to keep on at their pace for hours at a time.
It was during one of these stops – for Chouji this time – just before dawn, that Hinata activated her Byakugan as per Naruto's order. Milky white eyes widened in terror for a split second, and Naruto knew dread.
"T-twelve figures approaching from the northw-west!" Hinata gasped.
Curses exploded out of Naruto's mouth that would have made even a battle hardened shinobi take a step back. He took a deep breath to steady himself, even as the sound of his own pounding heartbeat began its ritualistic echo.
"All right," he began, "here's the plan. We're gonna take Kurenai and get across the river. I assume you know the water walking exercise…" Three hesitant shakes of heads met him and the blond only barely kept himself from exploding. "Shit! Okay, then we'll need to keep on around the river until it thins. Then we'll cross. Once we're over there, we'll need to sprint along the riverbank until you reach the Valley of the End, just like we planned. Once we're in Fire Country we can contact one of the border patrols. The obvious entryways are gonna be swamped with patrols at this time of day, so we'll need to get to one as fast as possible, you hear?"
Chouji nodded resolutely, already reaching to pick up Kurenai. Hinata was tripping over herself in her haste to gather her belongings, while Shino directed his steady gaze at Naruto. The blond got the impression that the bug user could see right through him.
"You won't be with us," he said quietly, having picked up on Naruto's unspoken plan. It wasn't a question.
A sardonic smile split Naruto's face. "I'll hold them off for a few minutes before breaking out. I'll be right behind you," he said in a whisper.
"You'll need our help-"
"No," Naruto cut across the boy quietly, his voice eliciting a wince. He paid it no mind. "Kurenai needs medical attention ASAP; we don't have time to stop and fight a taxing battle. And if I come with you and they catch us – which they will – we'll all get killed in a running battle. This way, Kurenai will get back to Fire Country with only one of us playing catch up."
Shino paused, uncomfortable and in obvious thought. "That chakra you used…"
Naruto grimaced. "Like I said: I'll be right behind you."
The bespectacled boy nodded once, firmly. "I will keep them moving."
"I know," Naruto said. He addressed the rest of the group. "Let's move out!"
Chakra revitalizing their limbs, Team Eight plus Naruto took off at a sprint around the riverbank. Naruto stopped after a few steps, watching silently as his comrades continued their sprint, two thirds of them so focused that they were completely unaware of him.
Turning, he began his backtrack slowly, taking measured steps as he focused on filtering the Kyuubi's chakra through his coils. Purple eyes bled fully into crimson, and Naruto thought he could almost hear a growl of satisfaction come from the beast.
He paid it no mind, however, as the slight rustling of branches heralded the approach of the Oto-nin.
Pointed teeth became bared in a feral snarl of rage as boiling red chakra bubbled out of and across the surface of Naruto's skin. The now familiar warmth of the fox's demonic chakra washed over him fully as the visible life essence settled itself in a cloak around him. One, single tail like appendage sprouted from behind him and began waving back and forth.
The twelve ninja, clad in all black body gear and face masks, broke through the foliage at a run, only to halt abruptly as they caught sight of the demonic vision waiting for them at the edge of the water. The Konoha genin noted, with a feral satisfaction, that fear was quickly replacing confidence on their faces. Stunned, the men looked at one another in shock, and it was all the prompting Naruto needed.
Formerly restrained murderous intent poured forth, every ounce of it directed directly at the shinobi, who froze.
Naruto spared no thought for the men in front of him as instinct took over and a haze of red blurred his vision. Dust and rocks exploded upward behind him as he tore towards the twelve motionless shinobi faster than the eye could track. A red blur was the only sight that greeted the men as Naruto dropped to all fours and covered the remaining distance in two bounds.
Claws outstretched, Naruto barreled into the first of the twelve without ceremony, nails finding purchase in the soft flesh of the man's throat. Blood spurted as the claws left two inch rents in the skin, and the man dropped like a sack with his head half removed. The unleashed jinchūriki didn't so much as glance back as the body hit the ground, having extended the single tail into a seven foot whip that bisected three Oto-nin as he spun in a full circle.
Four shinobi were lying dead after less than a second before the other eight reacted.
Acting quickly, the first brought his hands together in a seal sequence, causing a rock fissure to erupt where Naruto was standing. The cloaked blond reacted faster than the man could have ever anticipated, deftly jumping out of the spike's way, before exploding forward and grabbing the offender in a lightning fast, crushing chokehold that collapsed the shinobi's windpipe in an instant.
Capitalizing on the jinchūriki's momentary pause, a second Oto ninja leapt forward and made for a stab at Naruto's exposed back. Inhuman reflexes jerked Naruto to the left, and the knife buried itself hilt deep in his right shoulder.
The boy's roar of pain split the air, and Naruto dropped his quarry to the ground. Coiling his body, the blond jabbed his clawed left hand into the chest of the Oto-nin who had stabbed him before the man had a chance to react. The feral genin paid the blood running down his arm in rivulets no heed as the dragged the screaming shinobi to meet his eyes.
Slitted eyes the color of fresh blood met terrified hazel for a single, suspended moment before Naruto slapped the man into a tree twenty meters away with enough force to crack the trunk.
It had taken four men dying in the span of a second to galvanize the Oto-nin into action, and it took six men in two for the rest to realize that they were well and truly fucked.
The first who tried to run was cut down as Naruto almost casually ripped the kunai stuck in his shoulder from its resting place, hurling the blade through the back of the man's head in one motion. The second who broke for his life had his organs liquefied as an arm of pure, demonic chakra snatched him around the waist and squeezed. The third man didn't make it a step before the jinchūriki had swept him into a tree with a wave of his arm.
The fourth made it a full step before stopping suddenly, staring with unblinking eyes down at the crimson, bubbling hand of chakra that was extending out from his chest. The fifth man had resigned himself to death, and was neatly decapitated by a blood colored whip that had been meant for his chest as he fell to his knees.
The final Oto-nin made it to the tree line as Naruto was distracted, but it was for naught as the jinchūriki fell to all fours and powered himself into a flying tackle that sent the two tumbling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Quickly using his weight to pin the man, Naruto held him down by the throat while he raised his second claw in preparation for a strike that would brutally decapitate the shinobi.
It was only when the crimson eyes of the nine-tails met pale blue eyes that could have been his own that Naruto realized that the man's mask had been ripped from his face. Terror-shrouded eyes stared back at him from a face that could have been his own a few years down the road.
Shocked at the raw fear he saw, Naruto stumbled back from the boy's body into the nearest tree trunk, the Kyuubi's cloak receding. The genin slumped to the ground as his eyes bled back into the natural blue of his father, vacantly taking in the destruction of his own making as the death of the Oto-ninjas played out before him.
Overwhelmed at the sight of the nearly dozen dead, Naruto's gag reflex reared its head violently and his stomach emptied itself in one go. Disoriented, the jinchūriki blinked and rolled his head to right himself as his nausea began to subside.
"What have I done?" he gasped, throat raw. Quiet though the words were, they seemed to echo around the new graveyard as if the blond had shouted them to the heavens. Self disgust ripped through him as each and every one of his brutal, inhuman kills flashed before his eyes, and his head dropped to his hands as sobs threatened to rack his body.
A gurgle broke his train of self hatred, and blue eyes peered out from behind clenched fingers at the stirring body of the twelfth Oto-nin. Caked blood covered the teenager's throat, and Naruto realized with a start that the Kyuubi's chakra had completely eaten through the flesh and blood vessels, leaving the barely alive shinobi to suffocate in a pool of his own fluids.
A sob finally broke from his throat as he recalled the ninja's young face, only a few years older than his own, shrouded in absolute terror at the hellish vision of death that had torn through his comrades. The self hatred returned in full force as Naruto remembered the clear blue eyes, so like his own, that had stared back at him once the mask had been torn from the boy's face.
And yet, at the same time, three other faces flashed before him: the faces of his comrades in Team Eight. The memory of their terror at the utterly unfair situation they had stumbled into passed before Naruto's eyes, and the recollection of their panic at Kurenai's condition stirred the already churning pot of emotion in the jinchūriki.
It was the memory of Hinata, broken, collapsed and hugging herself that convinced him.
This had been necessary.
The twelve Oto-nin had had no idea what they were sprinting into when they broke through the trees by the riverbank, but they had been ready and willing to slaughter the four genin and their instructor in much the same way that Naruto had done to them. Team Eight was green, utterly unprepared for the harsh realities of the shinobi world where clans were purged and children were sentenced to death for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before tonight they had never even seen a dead body, much less taken a life.
They would have dropped like flies, cut down without thought or remorse by the kill squad.
It was kill or be killed, and Naruto knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that all twelve of the would-be assassins wouldn't have hesitated to cut him or his comrades down.
In the end, he had decimated twelve enemy shinobi to preserve the lives of five, his own included. He had protected his teammates, his comrades in arms. He had done his duty.
He had done his duty the same way Asuma would have…
The same way his father would have.
Self-disgust gave way to a calm, cold acceptance of his actions. He was a shinobi, and shinobi killed, and died, in the line of duty. It was a truth universally accepted by those in their world who lived long enough to rack up a body count, and it was a truth that Naruto had never truly understood until now. Even the sudden death of Asuma hadn't completely reinforced that fact.
He was a shinobi, and he had done his duty. As a direct result of his actions, he and Team Eight now had a better chance of seeing another sunrise.
Twelve men had to die to ensure that his comrades would escape, and, as Naruto rose, kunai in hand to put the final Otogakure shinobi out of his misery, he found that he could live with that.
A flash of moonlight glinted off the black metal of the knife as Naruto delivered the coup de grace, and the once-again-blue-eyed boy turned his back on the riverbank graveyard and strode off into the night to rejoin his team.
He didn't look back.
/~/
Exhaustion pounded a steady beat through her body, her heart a drumbeat in the near total silence of the clearing. She could say with complete certainty that this was the most tired she had ever been in her life. Her arms could have been made of lead, while her legs might as well have been made of jelly, for all the weight they could hold. Her head felt like it weighed thirty pounds as she leaned back into the trunk of the tree she rested against, the dull thump of her hair on the bark echoing in her mind.
Yamanaka Ino was tired, deathly so, but she refused to let the medics sedate her for the journey back to Konoha. Not yet, at least.
Yamato-sensei had tried to convince her to accompany the first of the medical two teams back to Konoha with Kiba, but she had held her ground. Kiba, who had taken a kunai to the back in a skirmish before Yamato had found them, was in stable condition and was only being taken back to Konoha as a precautionary measure. She, however, was mostly unharmed, save for small flesh wounds, and needed nothing more than field medicine. With nothing impairing her save for exhaustion, Ino wasn't about to be carted off to Konoha without knowing exactly what was happening.
Not with her friends still out there.
Not with Naruto still out there.
Not that he'll want to see me, she thought morosely, a spear of self-disgust ripping through her. Not with how I've been treating him.
It was truly amazing how nearly getting killed, not to mention waiting to find out if your friends had been killed, managed to put things in perspective. Her sardonic chuckle broke the silence of the clearing, causing the patrolling ANBU to perk up. Ino didn't care, though, wrapped up in her thoughts as she was.
She – she and Kiba, really – had been treating Naruto like shit stuck on the bottom of their sandals ever since Yamato had become their sensei. And, if she was honest with herself, it was only because he had decided to learn from a man she only saw as a replacement for their real sensei.
It was a childish reason by anyone's standards, and Ino shook her head at the sheer pettiness of herself and Kiba. Unbidden, Naruto's words from their fight drifted back to her:
"I'm not. Shit happened and I'm trying to stop it from happening again! I'm trying to get stronger. You two fucking around, acting like a couple of spoilt brats back in the Academy, puts all of us at risk. What happens next time 'round – and there will be a next time – when shit hits the fan, huh? When the chips are on the fucking table and there's no one there to bail us out? I'll tell you what happens: we die! I'm not about to let that happen, and if that means that I have listen to a guy who's being put in as a replacement for Asuma – and an experienced jonin at that - so be it."
"Why d'you have to be right all the time, Naruto?" Ino asked the dead air in a whisper. The boy had been dead on the money, as usual, and Ino was left shaking her head at her own stupidity. She had let herself be blinded by loss, and had pushed away the one person she knew she would have been able to count on in any situation.
And now he was out in the wild on his own, likely fighting his way through Oto-nin just to get back. Snap out of it, Ino! He's got Kurenai-sensei with him. He'll be fine.
She raked a hand through her loose hair, flecks of blood from her fingernails leaving trails in her sweaty, grimy locks. Four months ago, she would have been sprinting back to Konoha simply for the prospect of a shower. Now, she waited with baited breath for the return of her teammate, caring for nothing else.
Ino vowed never to let her fellow blond out of her sight if – when! she fiercely corrected herself – Naruto returned. She couldn't quite pinpoint the moment in time she had first started nursing an affection for her teammate, but she was honest enough with herself to acknowledge that she didn't think of him as just a friend or a teammate, though he certainly fell into both categories.
He was Naruto. That was all that really mattered.
It was in this moment of clarity that Yamato found her.
"They've been spotted," he said in an opening that startled the blond genin so much that she nearly jumped. The girl regained her bearings quickly, however, focusing tired aquamarine eyes on the brown orbs of her sensei. "A patrol caught up to them as they were nearing the Valley of the End; they will be there in less than half an hour."
Ino blinked, her mind flashing to a scene of blood, sweat, and pure desperation.
Her tanto was past the point of being slippery, sticky as its handle was from the now dried blood. The dead body of a nameless, faceless Oto-nin laid face down less than five feet from her, but she barely even noticed the corpse. A simple sliced throat had downed the assassin, the motion easy from under the cover of her genjutsu.
She turned her head to the whimpering Kiba next to her, watching detachedly as he tested the array of bandages that covered the back of his right shoulder. Akamaru cradled to his chest, he met her eyes with a defiant nod, letting her know that her hasty handiwork would hold.
The slight breath of relief that left her lips barely touched the dead air before the telltale feeling of an egg being cracked over her head told her that her double-layered illusion had just been shattered.
Ino whipped around, her blond hair flying and an expression of horror etched upon her pretty face as the figures of six masked shinobi dropped to the ground opposite her and Kiba.
The expression remained as crimson blood sprayed violently across her pale visage, her eyes fixed upon the sight of multiple wooden stakes protruding from the chests of her would-be assassins. Two branches stuck out of each man's chest, one penetrating the heart, another the liver, in a terrifyingly thorough execution.
The stakes receded abruptly, and each man dropped like a puppet without its strings. The sound of thumps filled Ino's ears as she raised shocked eyes to meet the icy brown orbs of her sensei, the man perched like a hawk on top of the opposite roof.
"A-are you sure?" she stuttered, trying to regain her bearings from the mental flash. Were she more alert, she would have wondered at the stupidity of asking a jonin whether he was sure about information he had received from ANBU.
The brown haired former ANBU showed no expression at the unnecessary question, opting to answer with a simple "Yes" and motioning for Ino to follow him. The blond genin scrambled to her feet hastily, fighting some small, residual dizziness from sitting for so long.
"We're going to meet them," she said mostly to herself as her sensei took to the trees. The girl flooded her legs with chakra before doing the same, silently wishing for one of Kiba's always handy soldier pills to help deal with her exhaustion.
The run to the valley was mostly a black blur to Ino, who only truly remembered anything thanks to one of the ANBU members running alongside her and Yamato. The woman had very nearly caught the blond genin at one point, before wisely offering the girl a soldier pill from her own stores.
"You should have returned to the village with your teammate," the kunoichi chastised once Ino had regained some energy.
"My other teammate is still out there," the bond returned with a bit of vitriol, uncaring of her tone. "I'm not going anywhere until I know what's happened to him," she finished in a whisper, a note of pure terror entering her voice at the thought of Naruto not returning.
Stop that! she screamed at herself, shaking her head in a futile attempt to clear her mind of fatalistic thoughts.
The female ANBU next to her was silent for a few moments before, "Senpai mentioned that Uzumaki is in the company of Yuhi Kurenai and her team. Yuhi is a talented jonin, your teammate will be fine," the kunoichi soothed. Ino wasn't sure, the monotone of the woman's voice threw off her perception, but it almost seemed as if a note of pity entered the ANBU's voice at Ino's plight.
The blond nodded, shakily at first and then resolutely. "Yeah…yeah, he'll be fine," she told herself.
Ino contented herself with the knowledge that Naruto was in good hands with Kurenai and Team Eight. Letting the soldier pill go to work, the Yamanaka powered herself through the trees and towards the Valley of the End.
Waiting for her was a scene that would forever be etched into her memory.
The roar of the nearby waterfall drowned out most sound coming from her destination, but she still managed to hear the words of the head of the medical team that had been waiting for Team Eight at the border.
"Set her down now! Get those bandages off of her immediately, we need to repair the damage to the area ASAP," the head medic was shouting as Ino burst out of the tree line directly behind Yamato. "Get me blood pills, people! She needs it, and badly!"
All of Ino's cushy visions of Kurenai steering Naruto to safety from the depths of Rice Fields Country imploded with the force of an explosive tag at the sight of the inky haired jonin laid out on the ground, blood soaked bandages being removed from her abdomen and medical personnel scrambling for supplies around her. One medic neatly sliced the bloody cloth away with a kunai, exposing a bleeding stab wound to the kunoichi's stomach, and Ino felt her heart drop to her feet.
Visions of Asuma's head sailing skyward in a spray of blood flashed before her eyes as Ino beheld the tense scene on the riverbank, and the blond girl clapped both hands over her eyes in a futile attempt to halt them.
"No…nonono!" Ino breathed, panic wresting control of her thoughts. Her hands fell from her eyes as her head whipped about in an attempt to locate Naruto. "Naruto?" she all but screamed into the night, searching for any sign of her wayward teammate. This can't be happening! Not now, not him!
"Naruto!" she screamed again, just as a heavy hand fell on her shoulder and startled her out of her panic.
"Calm down, girl!" the female ANBU ordered, roughly slapping the blond girl across the face, nearly sending her to the ground. "Your teammate is fine." A simple jerk of her head drew Ino's gaze to the river.
The remaining three genin of Team Eight were being carried over on the backs of ANBU operatives, while a fourth ANBU walked side-by-side with the final member of the mission.
The surreal sight of Naruto striding along the surface of the river with an ANBU at his side caused Ino's eyes to widen as she took it in. In the moonlight, the damage done the Naruto's attire was far too easy to see. The black vest was torn, ripped, and even shredded in places. Off color splotches spoke of blood, though Ino couldn't be sure if it was his own. Normally sunny blond hair was dulled with grime, sweat, and blood.
A single knuckle knife spun around his left index finger idly as Naruto made his unhurried way across the river, his steps measured; tired, yet confident. Blue eyes blazed from beneath the fringe of his matted hair, taking in everything at once with the sight of a true veteran; a confidence born of lives taken and defied fate stared out at the world, daring anyone to challenge him.
Two sets of blue eyes locked from across the river, and suddenly Naruto was right in front of her, having bypassed Team Eight and covered the distance in less than an eye blink.
Ino had barely registered his presence in front of her before she had nearly tackled him, wrapping him in the tightest embrace she had ever given. Naruto, for his part, simply let it happen, gently returning the hug after the initial shock had worn off.
"I thought you were dead," Ino breathed into his chest, fighting back sobs of relief as her fatalistic thoughts and imaginings evaporated.
"Can't get rid of me that easily," Naruto grunted tiredly, slightly amused at the girl's reaction in spite of himself.
Pushing him away briefly, Ino grasped Naruto about the shoulders and held him at arm's length, surveying him up close. From less than a yard apart, Ino could clearly see the damage done to Naruto from the night's skirmishes; not all of it immediately apparent even from up close.
His body was shaking, trembling even, with pure, unadulterated exhaustion. Blue eyes, though blazing in their intensity, were shadowed, worn with the exertion that followed pinpoint focus for an extended time. Ino was no sensor, but the normal chakra output that Naruto usually radiated was nowhere to be felt, hinting at dangerously low reserves.
At a glance, Naruto was ready for another ten rounds against whatever shinobi he had doubtlessly cut down, looking every part the mythical knight in an epic. But, in truth, his body was ready to give out.
Even so, he offered her a smile, subconsciously looking to reassure Ino that everything was, in fact, just fine.
Ino, whose stomach was doing a series of acrobatics as she stared at her teammate, simply elected to encircle Naruto in her arms once more, fully believing that everything was, in fact, just fine.
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