"You had one job, infiltrate the leaf and wait for the invasion… So what the HELL were you doing FROLICKING through the SECOND EXAM!"
Naruto cringed; to say that Orpheo was upset would be the understatement of the century. After He and Haku had returned to their hotel after being in the forest for near three days, they found Orpheo who was absolutely beside himself. Apparently the first day they disappeared, rumors swept through the shinobi ranks that a powerful enemy had infiltrated the exam and that an entire squad of Black Ops Anbu were in pursuit. The obvious misunderstanding had led to Leporello and another ancient named Dante combing all of the forest to try to recover the two young teens.
"From today on Dante is going to be staying with you all day, every day until this is over so you don't go off gallivanting whenever you feel like it, do you understand?"
Naruto nodded his head,
"But I got information saying to follow them"
Naruto suddenly felt very small as Orpheo glared at them,
"You don't get it do you Naruto. According to Konoha, you are dead. If you were to be discovered all hell would break loose, and we would lose any edge we have gained over Titus"
Naruto was beginning to feel rather frustrated,
"And how was I supposed to know any of that, you guys don't tell me anything other than I have to fight him. I don't know who he is, what happened between us or anything!"
By the end, Naruto was yelling at Orpheo,
"You expect me to train and work like a mindless soldier day after day, but I don't even know what I'm fighting for!"
Orpheo stared hard at the young blonde,
"You're fighting for your free will, nothing more, nothing less"
Orpheo turned and began walking away,
"If you want a better answer than that, talk to Amarius, but until Dante and Leporello return, you are to stay in this room."
Naruto stared at the door after Orpheo had left; Haku was sitting oddly quietly in a chair behind him,
"Our free will?"
--
Sooner than he would of appreciated, Naruto found himself in front of an extremely disappointed Amarius.
"You couldn't of at least asked one of us before you go off could you? Honestly Naruto, you need to think things through more thoroughly. That Orochimaru would of absolutely torn you and Haku to shreds had he not been preoccupied with Sakura and Sasuke."
Naruto hung his head in shame.
"I wouldn't have gone, but that damn old monk said it was important…"
At those words he saw Amarius's eyebrow rise up a few centimeters,
"An old monk? He wasn't dressed in Taoist robes and looks to be completely blind by chance does he?"
Naruto looked up at Amarius,
"Yeah that's him, why?"
Amarius actually burst out laughing,
"That meddling old coot is still around? I would've figured his old ass would of turned to dust by now. I guess I can't really blame you if you went after he told you to go. That old man doesn't show up for just anything, so anything he says is important, you better believe it."
Seeing that Amarius was considerably more calm than he was when Naruto first arrived, Naruto decided to try to press his luck and get some information on who the old monk actually was.
"So who is that old monk anyways?"
Amarius stared at Naruto for a second before responding,
"Well, when I first met him he was only a child, but that was millennia ago. He's what is called an exousia in an ancient tongue. I fear that is all that I can tell you about where he comes from at the moment, but since the day of his creation, his sole responsibility has been to keep the history of this timeline."
Naruto frowned; he had been hoping to get more information about the man that what he had received. In essence all Amarius had told him, is that the monk is just an old historian.
"So what is the old man's name?"
Amarius thought for a second,
"Come to think of it, I doubt he was ever given a name."
Naruto got a confused look on his face,
"How does he not have a name, everyone is given a name. How else would people know who you are?"
Amarius looked thoughtful for a moment,
"An interesting truth in the universe is that not all things are meant to be remembered. In fact most things were created to serve a purpose, and then merely fade away. Just like that old monk for instance"
Naruto looked confused, so Amarius continued on,
"For instance, what was the name of your Shodaime Hokage?"
Naruto scratched his head,
"Umm… It was Senju something or another I don't really remember"
Amarius nodded, a now familiar table and chairs appeared in front of them, along with the pot of tea steeping in the center.
"And what did the Shodaime Hokage do?"
Naruto smiled,
"That's easy, he founded Konoha, defeated a bunch of really powerful enemies in the first war and he could control wood, he made all the really big forests that surround Konoha."
Amarius nodded again,
"And that is precisely my point. You can remember all the stuff that he did, and the world will for a very long time, but you cannot remember his name at all. So consider this as your lesson for this evening, 'In the end it will not matter who you were, all that will matter is what you have left behind'"
Naruto nodded,
"Still, I don't think that it's right for someone to not have a name."
Amarius shrugged,
"Names are things that mortal man came up with to define everything around them. There are those that exist in this universe, that names mean nothing, because they already understand that names have no meaning"
Naruto frowned before Amarius continued,
"A difference of opinion I suppose."
Naruto shrugged,
"How would you feel if you didn't have a name, Amarius?"
Amarius shrugged,
"I went a very long time without one Naruto, it wasn't until the start of this whole debacle that we're caught in, that I was given my first name"
Naruto looked a little confused,
"Your first name?"
Amarius laughed,
"You forget that I have existed for an incredibly long time, and that in almost every age I have been given a new name."
Naruto sighed,
"So more or less all this was about is that names are meaningless?"
Amarius poured some of the now ready tea,
"Not necessarily, there are names that are given to a few, that are meant to be remembered. However that is once again a lesson for another night. Tonight go and rest, I'm sure Orpheo will have someone watching over you from now on."
Naruto nodded,
"Yeah some other Ancient, someone called Dante"
Amarius smiled,
"So its Dante who gets stuck with you then. He was always an interesting fellow"
Naruto raised an eyebrow,
"How so?"
Amarius smiled,
"You'll see"
--
Somewhere deep in the forest of death Leporello and Dante were hiding outside the small area where Sakura was watching over Sasuke and the now conscious Sai. Sai had woken up sometime between the hours from when Naruto had left and they had arrived.
"Why are we still waiting here Dante? We got the message from Orpheo saying that Naruto and Haku are with him"
The orange haired man, who's nose, lips and ears all had numerous piercings replied,
"I have a feeling that Naruto had a very good reason for following Sasuke out into this forest, but I need to wait until he regains consciousness to be sure"
Leporello looked down at the kids again,
"What do you think happened to him?"
Dante sighed,
"I sensed a man named Orochimaru leaving the forest when we first arrived. At first I thought nothing of it, because we know he's among the group that is attacking. However I also know that he has some thrice-damned immortality technique that allows him to take over a person's body, but that it needs to have a cursed seal placed on it before he can transfer. I would be willing to bet that the reason Sasuke has been unconscious for so long is that Orochimaru put his seal on him"
Leporello looked at the child far below with mild interest,
"So how does the seal work?
Dante thought for a moment,
"Well the thing is that, technically it should not be possible. For a seal such as that one to work he would need to be able to split his soul to take it. However he should not be able to do that. The thing that strikes me most odd though is that the seal that Sasuke is wearing, does not appear to have any sort of soul trapped in it"
Leporello looked at him with a rather confused look on his face,
"So your telling me that whatever Sasuke has on him isn't some sort of 'I'm-going-to-take-over-your-body-so-I-can-live-forever' type of seal"
Dante shook his head,
"No, as far as I can tell from here, it isn't the type that would hold a soul."
Leporello looked back at the three young teens,
"So what does it do then?"
Dante shook his head,
"I honestly don't know, I have never seen a seal such as that one. It is far more detailed than even the one that holds the Kyuubi inside of Naruto"
Leporello's eyes widened at the idea of the seal being so powerful,
"So I suppose we just have to wait for the kid to wake up then don't we?"
-- (Inside of Sasuke's head)
Sasuke was sitting in absolute darkness, he could hear nothing, see nothing, and feel nothing. In fact it seemed as if all of his senses had been somehow locked. At first he believed it to be some sort of genjutsu, but he had been unable to break out of it.
It seemed like he had been alone for hours, just drifting in an infinite space, a profound darkness. Finally somewhere deep within the vast nothingness, he heard a deep and steady voice begin to talk to him quietly.
"Uchiha Sasuke… I can see you, trapped in the dark recesses of the void. Caught between the living and dead. Your life is failing you Sasuke, you can feel it. I offer you, a second chance…"
Sasuke chuckled evilly,
"I am Uchiha Sasuke, God would not allow me to die. I have not yet completed my goals and until they are finished, I will never die"
The scene in front of Sasuke changed from a dark inky blackness, into a sea of people. Thousands of ashen-faced men and women stared blankly at him.
"The graveyards are filled with important men, those who could not be spared, but were in the end. You are no more important than they ever were Uchiha."
Sasuke grew red in the face as he yelled,
"Your WRONG! I am the UCHIHA! God would never let me fall from the living!"
The voice began laughing at him.
"Do you really believe what your saying? Or could it be that brooding is part of your art? Are you but a moody defiance to all of life's tyrants? I can see your life is decaying, your sins they are weighing, and here you sit all alone in the dark.
I offer you as second chance Sasuke, for what goods a life that leaves nothing behind, not a thought or a dream that may echo in time."
Sasuke still hesitated to answer the voice, but he could feel it growing agitated by his delay in answering.
"Why is it that you act surprised that I have come here to be your guide? Why do you hesitate to follow me? You can feel death holding you, taking you under. Still you proclaim you are not prepared, that you have so much to do that you cannot be spared, but I warn you Uchiha, Death will pay no heed to your entreaties.
"Tell me Sasuke, do you still wait for your God and some symbol of your faith? You see, I can free your from this hell and misery. You should never be ashamed my son. I can give you power beyond anything. Trust me, you shall be my chosen one."
Sasuke was silent for a long time. It went against his better judgment to simply agree with a random voice that was talking to him a depthless void. As he lay there, he opted to see what information he could get out of this disembodied being.
"W do you want with me?"
There was a second of profound silence before the voice began talking,
"I was forgotten. A body scorned and broken, my soul rejected, tainted by blood. I was deemed beyond redemption, a sinner not worth saving. But I can lead you down the path and back to life. I can help you seek revenge and save yourself. Give you life for all eternity. All I ask is that you worship me."
The voice grew silent. Sasuke waited several minutes in an uneasy quiet. The voice had skirted around the question, never giving him an outright answer.
"Who are you?"
The voice responded after several seconds,
"In the shadows of the night, you never know what is real. In the darkness of your soul, I can see all your dreams and all your lies. I can see every dream that you've had and every act you regret. Even as you sit here, alone in the night, you can feel the inferno. All the while thinking of what is eternal. Is it the man or the moment, the act or the reason? These things you have pondered, while late in the night. So now you think of all that you've done, or have yet to begin. The man that you've become or the man that you've been.
You're caught in the waltz with the eternal dancers. But you are courted by death, and death isn't the answer.
So to you Uchiha Sasuke, I am your God of second chance. I will bring you back, and grant you power, the likes of which you could never of dreamed. The Earth will crumble at your feet. The weak will tremble merely at the mention of your name."
Sasuke grinned at the prospect of what this featureless voice was offering him. Finally the world would see him as it should. He would finally take the place that should be rightfully his.
"And all I ask in return, is that you fight for me" spoke the voice.
As his smile grew darker, his eyes lit with a spark of insanity,
"My soul is yours Dark Master, I will fight for you"
He didn't know where that line had come from; he had intended to just agree with the dark voice. But something deep inside him prompted that line, and with it, his fate was sealed.
Suddenly, he felt and explosion of pain from his left shoulder. The darkness around him finally broke and he could finally see the forests that surrounded him.
Power, like nothing he had ever felt before coursed through his veins. It was intoxicating, enthralling, and he even through the pain; he had never felt as strong as he did at this moment.
Standing up slowly, he could see both Sai and Sakura staring at him wide eyed. He smiled wickedly at the pair, his most devoted servants.
Without warning, he disappeared and reappeared in front of the entrance to their small rooted cave.
"We're being watched"
--
Leporello and Dante felt the power long before Sasuke had ever awoken. They could see the seal slowly begin to glow a hideous purple on the child skin, its seals changing and convulsing, as if it were a living thing. After several minutes the child erupted with power. Instantly he regained consciousness, and stood up. He seemed to stare in wonder for a moment before he appeared at the entrance to the cave. Even from far in the canopy where they were hiding they could hear him say,
"We're being watched"
Leporello jumped to his feet,
"Shit!"
Without warning, Sasuke had unleashed a huge wave of his dark chakra, the energy swept towards the two Ancients, completely uprooting the tree that they were hiding in. Leporello grabbed the slower Dante and began jumping away from the scene as quickly as he could. He did not wish to fight someone in such an open area, not when he was still was trying to stay hidden from the Anbu in the area.
Glancing behind him, he was surprised to see that the Uchiha had not given chase. Counting his blessings, Leporello made a mad sprint for the gates that surrounded the forest, he needed to get back quick, something in this game had just changed.
--
Sakura stared at Sasuke, the power rolled off of him. Even just standing close to him, she could feel her skin start to burn as if she had been in the sun for too long. The power he had, was unreal.
Sasuke slowly raised his arm and made a wide sweeping motion towards a large tree that was standing just across the entrance from their cave. The wave of chakra that he unleashed literally blocked out the sun. It was a dark purple and it moved forth with the strength of a tsunami. Once it made contact with the tree, it quickly uprooted it, and within seconds tree began to burn. Through the dense chakra and smoke she could see that many other tree's behind the first had fallen to a similar fate.
Looking back to Sasuke she was surprised to see him on one knee, panting deeply, as if he had just ran a very long way. She walked slowly up to him,
"Sasuke-sama, are you ok?"
Sasuke just grunted,
"We're leaving"
As Sakura watched him, Sasuke glanced up at her. His eyes were darker, what had once been a black pupil, now resembled an endless void. Cold and uncaring, they held no pity in them.
She couldn't help but find herself thinking,
'Those eyes don't belong on a human'
--
When Naruto woke back up from his slumber, he could hear several hushed voices talking in the room. Sitting up he could see that Haku was still asleep on the other bed, but three dark figures sat around the small table talking.
"Whatever seal that was, it gave him an absolutely unreal power. The wave of chakra he unleashed would have been enough to destroy almost anything."
Naruto sat very still, wanting to hear as much as he could. He assumed that this conversation was not really for him to hear. The man who as talking, looked to be Leporello, given the silhouette from the dim candlelight. A second figure, a man he didn't recognize, started talking,
"Its true that the power was astounding, but there was a distinct lack of control to it. Had it been harnessed it would of pressed us to do more than just run away. I would assume that the seal somehow bypasses the celestial gates and allows the user so instantly access all of his chakra"
The third man, Orpheo, whose face Naruto could dimly make out began talking,
"Its possible but unlikely, unleashing the gates can cause large quantities of damage to the body. Sasuke wasn't starting to become strained like the users of the celestial gates, which means that his were still closed. Plus forcibly opening the gates is likely to kill you"
The man Naruto didn't recognize began talking again,
"On top of that there already exists a seal that is supposed to do that, and comparing the seal I saw on Sasuke to that seal, would be akin to comparing arithmetic to multiple variable calculus"
Leporello nodded,
"So if it doesn't draw power from the gates, then where did all that power come from?"
The unknown one nodded his head,
"Well that's why I don't think it's Orochimaru's curse seal. Because his seal draws chakra from the gates and corrupts it. This one was a lot more complex. It may have been a seal that causes the body to burn more calories and thus produce more chakra, similar to what the Akimichi use, but even that would not account for how fast he was able to gather the chakra"
Orpheo looked up,
"What if the seal was drawing power from something else?"
The unknown man was about to comment, but Leporello held up a hand,
"It seems that Naruto-kun has woken up from his nap. We will continue this conversation at a later time."
The other two nodded their heads and turned towards Naruto. Orpheo walked over to him,
"It seems something has happened to your old team, they have safely arrived at the tower, but whatever seal you saw Orochimaru place on Sasuke has given him some incredible and unbridled power. We will keep an eye on him for now, but you and Haku will return to your performances. Dante here," He points to the shorter man with spike orange hair and numerous piercings "Will watch over you two to make sure you don't do anything else that could be considered foolish"
Naruto grumbled and laid back down on the small bed,
"It wasn't foolish…"
As he rolled over, he could have sworn he saw a small smile of mirth playing across Haku's face.
--
Deep in the forest, Team Sasuke had reached the tower checkpoint for the second exam. As the approached the door, Sasuke turned to face his two servants.
"You will not mention to anyone what happened in the forest these past several days. If anyone asks, Sai was knocked unconscious from an attack and we were forced to rest while he recovered"
Seeing a nod of acceptance from both of his minions he turned around and opened the door that led into the tower. Upon entrance, he pulled both scrolls out of his kunai pouch and threw them to the ground.
He saw that they were summoning something, but he didn't care. He just walked past and continued towards the rooms that were situated on the upper levels of the tower.
Sakura and Sai however stayed to greet whatever was being summoned out of the two scrolls.
After the small puff of smoke, which occurred with almost every summoning, disappeared, the were face to face with a rather tired looking Iruka.
"Sakura? I haven't seen you in almost a year now. Congratulations on passing the second part of the exam!"
Iruka had a big smile on his face, to his dismay though it was not being returned by either of the two genin in front of him. The third genin had already left, presumably on his way to the dorms.
Sakura sighed,
"Its Joshin no Chinoumi now Iruka-sensei, and if that is all, we would like to rest before the exam ends tomorrow"
Iruka's smile dropped,
"I'd heard that you were going by a different name now, but I never imagined that you would be the one they are calling the Joshin no Chinoumi"
Iruka appeared to be lost in deep thought as he just stared past his old student. Sensing that he wasn't going to say anything else Sakura turned around and began walking towards the door that Sasuke had disappeared through a minute before. As she walked past Iruka she heard him quietly say,
"Naruto wouldn't of wanted it to be like this"
Sakura stopped, but didn't turn to face the man. She kept her eyes straight ahead as she spoke,
"Perhaps not, but Naruto is dead, and you would do well to remember as much"
Sakura brushed past her old sensei and quickly disappeared out the door, Sai walked up to Iruka and place a hand on the larger mans shoulder.
"It would be wise of you to not anger Joshin no Chinoumi. She has found a purpose for her life. Are so lucky as to say the same about yours Iruka-san?"
Without waiting for a response, Sai followed Sakura out the door, letting it close in his wake. Leaving Iruka standing alone in the middle of the room, staring at the door, wondering what ever happened to the cheerful children he had been teaching not long ago.
--
Sasuke was slowly making his way towards the center of the building. Danzo had brought he and his team out here several weeks ago for training, so he was already well acquainted with the tower. Rounding the final corner, he found himself face to face with a strange looking red haired boy. Stopping abruptly, he quickly eyed over the person standing in front of him.
He was a little taller than Sasuke, but was rather slim, as if he didn't exercise as much as a standard shinobi. He was wearing the normal black sandals and pants, and his shirt was a short-sleeved black shirt with short fishnet arms. Overall he would of looked like any other normal shinobi, had it not been for three key differences. First and foremost, he had a monstrous gourd on his back. Then there was the red tattoo above his left eye that read, "Love". But the most distressing thing about him was his eyes. They were surrounded by black, and the teal iris seemed cold, like the nightfall over a desert.
Who ever this person was, he was not one to be trifled with. However, Sasuke had the home field advantage, and opted to try to save face by intimidating the young man. Sasuke sneered,
"You're in my way"
The strange red head didn't move, he just stared at Sasuke,
"You are strange… Mother doesn't want me to kill you…"
The boy seemed rather disheartened at the prospect of whatever it was he was talking about. He had a rather dazed look on his face, before he finally responded,
"I'm sorry, but may I know your name?"
Sasuke stared and was about to answer, when he heard Sai speak from behind him.
"I do not know about Suna, but in Konoha it is considered a common courtesy to offer your own name before requesting another persons"
The red head nodded and turned to address Sasuke,
"My name is Subaka no Gaara"
Sasuke nodded,
"I am Uchiha Sasuke, and behind me is Sai"
The red headed boy nodded his head, as if committing the names to memory,
'Sasuke… My mother bows to the man named Sasuke…'
--
Naruto and Haku sat quietly in front of the younger looking man named Dante. Apparently he had been left completely in charge of them since Leporello and Orpheo went to tend to different matters. The strange man was far quieter than either of their two previous Ancients that had helped to train them, but unlike the others, this one seemed… different. Naruto was never able to specifically decide why Dante seemed different, but his very presence seemed to silence the world.
Like the other two Ancients that Naruto and Haku met in the past, Dante immediately took to training the young pair. Although, his training consisted less of throwing around techniques, and more reminiscent of the training Naruto had been receiving from Amarius.
Dante looked up from the small old manuscript he was reading silently from,
"Naruto, last week we talked about the theory of creating a technique based on mathematical equations. Explain to me the difference between a convergent and divergent equation based technique"
Naruto stared blankly at the wall, desperately trying to remember the lecture and readings that he had been assigned.
"Umm… All known techniques can be broken down into various equations. The mathematical representations of all equations include a variable, commonly labeled as x, to represent the amount of chakra placed into the technique. In most techniques, there is a limit to how much chakra can be forced into it. The limit can be calculated if you know the equation that was used in the techniques construction. However, there are techniques that exist the do not have a limit. The techniques are rare and are normally found in the department of techniques that fold the different dimensions."
Dante nodded his head,
"Good, I see that Amarius has already begun working on the different dimensions with you."
The orange haired man smiled,
"You have a performance tonight down in the bar district. Why don't you go find HaHHhsdHaku and get something to eat?"
Naruto stood up and began walking towards the door,
"What time tonight should I plan on being back here to make it to the performance in time?"
Dante, who already had is nose buried into a book, answered without looking up,
"Be ready to leave by 8"
Naruto nodded and looked at the clock mounted on the wall,
"So that gives us just around 4 hours…"
--
Naruto slowly made his way down the hallway from Dante's room, to the one that he was sharing with Haku. He had expected that Dante would just share a room with the two of them, but apparently the man wanted his own space.
Approaching the door, Naruto knocked lightly, just to be safe. Normally Haku would change in the bathroom, but he didn't want to accidentally walk in on the poor girl, so he always made sure to knock before he entered.
He waited a moment after knocking, but never heard a response. Slowly he opened the door and peeked inside. Haku was sitting in a light periwinkle blue yukata, meditating silently. A light breeze blew through the opened window, and parted the cloth curtains, letting the soft light of the evening play across Haku's soft features. Her dark, almost black hair hung loose, framing her pale face. As the breeze continued to flutter the curtains, Haku's eyes opened, and caught Naruto watching her.
"Sapho said you had come to see me again. Is Dante's lesson done already?"
Naruto nodded his head,
"He gave us the night off to go get something to eat before our next performance at 8"
Haku smiled and stood up,
"We're not going to that ramen stand again are we?"
Naruto put a small pouting expression on his face,
"What's wrong with Ichiraku Ramen? I could eat that every day…"
Haku giggled,
"And you have since we got here. I want to try something a little different for once."
Naruto sighed but admitted defeat.
"Fine… So where do you want to eat then?"
Haku walked over to the small closet and began digging through some of the dresses that were hanging up in it. As she dug through the contents she started talking again.
"When I lived with Zabuza, we used to go to a small restaurant that served really good sushi. I saw a small sushi bar not far from the fair grounds and I was hoping we could go to that one."
Naruto was about to respond when Haku cut him off,
"And put on some nice clothes, the sushi bar is a lot nicer than your ramen stand."
Naruto grimaced,
"Umm… Haku, I don't have any nice clothes besides the ones that we wear at performances."
Haku pulled her head out of the closet, a dark blue dress in hand,
"You never went shopping with the money that Leporello and Orpheo gave us for clothes?"
Naruto shook his head,
"I didn't see a point to… I never went anywhere nice anyways, so why spend the money on something I'd never use."
Haku stared pointedly at Naruto for several seconds. Her intuition told her he was trying to cover something up, but she wasn't sure what.
"Well then I guess we're going shopping first then."
Haku grabbed a small purse with one hand and Naruto's hand in the other and pulled him out the door before he had a chance to formulate a response.
As they ran down the hallway towards the open street, they ran past the room that Dante was using, the man looked up from his book briefly as the young pair ran past. Both of their faces were lit up with an obvious and contagious youthful joy.
A smile crept upon his face as he quoted,
How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleamsWith its illusions, aspirations, dreams!
Book of beginnings, Story without End,
Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!
"A quote from one of your old books I presume?"
Dante turned his head to see Orpheo leaning casually against an open window.
"It's from Longfellow's Morituri Salutamus which is a Poem for the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Class of 1825 at what was then Bowdoin College. I felt that it was an appropriate fit when I saw the two running down the hall hand in hand."
Orpheo nodded his head,
"Maybe, however I would say a quote from Thomas Cole better describes that pair."
Dante set down his book and raised an eyebrow in question,
"Oh and what would that be?"
Orpheo turned to look at the sun that was just beginning its dip towards the western skies.
"How lovely the portals of the night, when stars come out to watch the daylight die"
Dante nodded,
"Twilight and evening bell, and after that, the dark…"
--
High in a mountainous region just to the north of Konoha, Sasuke stood stoically in front of several masked Anbu soldiers.
'These men are nothing but mindless drones.' Was all that went through his mind as he quickly drew a straight double-edged sword that Kakashi had called a tsurugi.
In the back of his mind he could hear a dark voice whispering to him
"Do not mock the mindless, for what good is a leader if he has none to follow him. Instead embrace the fools, for a great blacksmith may be the one who forges the sword that changes the world, but without the mindless hammer that he wields, his dream will forever remain cold useless steel"
Sasuke heard the voice, but did his best to ignore it. His Master may teach him many things, but his timing was not always desirable, such as now for the moment.
Kakashi had insisted that he learn the art of swordplay while he was away on a short mission. His Master had insisted that if he were to learn to use a weapon then he would learn the art of a straight edge sword. His Master explained it to him succinctly,
"A shinobi lies in the darkness and waits for the best time to strike, however the sword is not the tool of a shinobi, it is one that was forged in the field of honorable battles between two warriors who took great pride in the skills that they possessed with the most ancient and noble of all weapons.
If you are to learn the most ancient art of the sword, you will not learn some bastardized version that you feeble mortals have created. You will learn the way that it was meant to be…"
Sasuke parried a blow from one of the masked enemies while simultaneously twisting around the blows of two others. His sharingan eye was spinning madly throughout the entirety of the battle. His father's journal told him,
"A Uchiha's greatest weapon is his eyes. Knives in the dark and silent footfalls may be what a shinobi is known for, but it is not what defines us. A true shinobi causes discord to spread rampant through his enemy. The living are left dead in his wake. Thus the sharingan eye is the perfection of what a shinobi should be. It sees all and understands all that sees, and then turns it against the opponent, before the enemy has even finished formulating the idea in his own mind.
That is why the only thing that can kill an Uchiha, is another Uchiha…"
'My brother proved that statement true…'
Bringing his focus back onto the fight, Sasuke quickly began dismantling his enemies. The spar had lasted several minutes, but the true fighting was brief. He had no use of the Anbu other than to absorb all that he could, then eliminate them.
When all the Anbu where down and unconscious, he slid his sword silently back into the sheath on his waist and began walking away. He had more important training to attend to than fighting pitiful whelps.
As he leapt off he cliff, he quickly unsheathed his sword and let loose a large wave of chakra that crashed against the rock, as a tsunami might along a shoreline.
Deep inside his mind he could hear his Master,
"Good Sasuke, your talent with my power is growing by leaps and bounds. Soon you will be ready for greater things"
'I am starting to grow weary of this pointless waiting game. You promised the power to be able to forge my dream. When am I going to see what you have promised?' Sasuke said the voice that had taken residence in his own mind.
The voice chuckled,
"Such vigor for power… Don't worry; my greatest soldiers are coming to you as we speak. By the time the first hammer fall descends on this world, the first will already be at your side…"
--
Naruto and Haku were walking down a small section of Konoha's downtown district that was almost solely devoted clothing stores. Naruto was trying desperately hard to hold in a groan of boredom while Haku gleefully dragged him from one store to the next picking out various outfits that she felt looked good on him.
Haku was mumbling incoherently about some shirt she just bought him as they walked hand in hand down the relatively quiet road.
"There's one more store that I want to stop in before we go to dinner ok Naruto-kun?" Haku asked sweetly.
Naruto suppressed another sigh that was fighting as he nodded his head and Haku dragged him into one more store. Inside the store were various trinkets and jewelry.
Haku was already at the counter looking at each piece inside the glass display cases. She sighed,
"It must be nice to be able to afford things like these…" She was staring pointedly at a pair of sapphire earrings that dangled on an intricate piece of twisted silver.
Sighing she straightened, "Well, anyways we need to get you a black belt to match the pants that you picked out at the last shop"
Naruto laughed,
"That I picked out?"
Haku blushed lightly,
"Ok so the pants that I told you to buy, but either way you need a belt to match them."
She strode away towards the back of the store where the belts were located, Naruto stopped briefly at the counter to take a slightly closer look at the earrings that he saw sitting in case. Feeling his pocket he took a quick mental inventory of his remaining money.
Looking back towards Haku he sighed with a small smile,
"Ahh what the hell, not like I have any other use for the money…"
--
Deep inside the confines of the hidden ROOT headquarters, Sakura was parting ways with her team. They had an entire level of the subterranean fortress to themselves, something no other team could lay claim to. Of course Sasuke's room was far more lavishly designed than hers, but her own was still much better than Sai's room, which was utterly spartan, save a few drawings that littered the floor and walls.
Noiselessly, she made her way down the dark hallway towards the sanctuary of her own room. No one dared to venture into the territory of Joshin no Chinoumi; already word of her prowess had begun to spread into the ranks of the Konoha ninja. She was not an elite yet, but it would not be long before even jounin began to bow before her and her team.
With a sigh, she closed her door, and locked it with a seal. Flicking on a small incandescent light, she walked across the room. As she went, she removed her sword from the confines of her obi and placed it on an ornate sword holder that was situated on a small altar near her fireplace.
Her room was her only bastion of solace left in her life. It was an unwritten rule that no one besides her team ever stop on this level of the compound, and even within her own team, no one ever intruded into another members apartment unless invited.
She giggled lightly to herself,
'As if Sasuke would ever invite anyone into his apartment anyways'
She shed her pink obi and white kimono and changed into a more comfortable pair of pajama pants and an older t-shirt. She may be an extremely deadly kunoichi, but she was still a young teenage girl.
Settling down at a small desk in the corner, she pulled out a small leather bound diary that she had begun keeping just before she became a genin. Slowly but surely, she began recounting the day's activities, what she had learned, who she had injured. If it was of importance, she wrote it down in the diary.
Well, she wrote down almost everything. She was not foolish enough to believe that Danzo and his goons never entered her room while she was away. So she made certain that even her diary never contained anything that they may find… disconcerting…
She sat there for near an hour, slowly writing while munching on a small box of pocky. Finally as she came to a conclusion, she closed the diary, and placed it back into the drawer.
Without turning around, she calmly asked,
"So how long do you plan on sitting there waiting for me to take notice of you?"
A light chuckle echoed from behind her. She had known he was there since he mysteriously appeared over a half hour earlier.
"Your getting better Sakura, or should I call you Joshin no Chinoumi nowadays?"
Sakura grimaced and turned around. As she expected the old monk was sitting contentedly on the floor of her room staring absentmindedly at her.
"You have nothing better to do than sneak up on me do you?"
The old monk laughed openly,
"Of course not. I always find time to spend with those who are willing to listen"
Sakura sighed, all she had wanted to do was go to her apartment, write in her diary, take a shower, and go to bed. However it appeared as if this doddering old fool had a different agenda in mind.
"I don't know why I put up with you" she quipped, "Every time you appear, something inevitably happens, and most of the time it only makes my meager existence more miserable"
The smile left the old man's face,
"Unfortunately that is my role in this long winded story. I am only here to pass on the information. Regardless, I have come for a reason"
Sakura scoffed,
"No doubt you've managed to drag trouble with you as usual?"
The man sighed,
"Has it not occurred to you, that I only appear because trouble is already here and you just haven't taken notice of it yet?"
Standing up, he slowly made his way over towards Sakura,
"You saw Naruto in the forest of death didn't you"
Sakura's eyes widened, how could this man possibly known. She had told no one what had transpired between her and the sound team that had attacked her team.
She narrowed her eye's and stared at the man,
"How did you come to hear about that?"
The man laughed despite of the killer intent that was beginning to radiate of the young girl.
"It doesn't matter how I know. What matters is that now that you know that Naruto is alive, what are you planning on doing with that information?"
Sakura stared at the floor,
"I have not forgotten what transpired that day on the bridge. It still haunts my sleep."
The old man nodded solemnly,
"I do not doubt that it does."
After finishing his sentence he stared very closely at the girl in front of him. Despite knowing everything about the girl she was still very much an enigma to him.
"You are an interesting person, do you know that? Very few people could do what you are destined for"
Sakura shook her head,
"I don't believe in anything as useless as destiny or fate"
The old stared deeply at her before mumbling quietly,
"Pity…"
With that he disappeared without a trace. Sakura jumped to her feet, as she heard a knock at the door.
In five quick steps she had crossed the room and opened the door, only to find a rather tired looking Sasuke and Sai standing there.
"We have business to attend to in Konoha, gather your equipment and meet us at the gate in twenty minutes"
Sakura stared at Sasuke after he finished giving her the orders.
"What is so important that we cannot possibly wait till morning?"
Sasuke let a dark smirk slip past his ever-stoic mask,
"Danzo didn't tell me any specifics, but I have to meet with a new friend. We only have a week left before the tournament, so this needs to be taken care of now"
With that Sasuke began walking down the hall towards the direction of his small personal armory. Sai remained behind staring at her intently.
"Joshin, be ready to fight in more than just a tournament, soon we will be ready to reshape the world"
Sakura closed her door and walked over to where her discarded kimono lay.
'So much for a peaceful night…"
--
Haku and Naruto had just returned from their short shopping excursion. Naruto ran to their room and quickly changed into what Haku called, "Appropriate attire" so that they could finally go eat.
Haku had left ahead of him to go get reservations at the restaurant, which left Naruto to his own devices while she was away. Entering the room quickly, he tossed his purchases on the bed and ran into the bathroom to clean up.
He desperately attempted to comb his slightly unruly hair, brushed his teeth and took a quick shower, before changing into his new clothes.
Within twenty minutes of arriving, he quickly left the building to meet up with Haku. Running down the street, he never noticed the small group of ninja jump overhead.
--
Sasuke was leading his small group back into the heart of Konoha. They leapt silently from building to building. Sasuke had his Sharingan blazing; he had fallen into the habit of using it constantly as a way to increase his chakra supply.
As he leapt over a small hotel, his sharingan eye caught sight of the musician he had eaten dinner with several weeks prior. He thought it was strange that his eyes focused on the musician. His sharingan eye only showed him what was pertinent. Looking closely as he passed over him, his eyes caught something very peculiar.
'Are those whiskers on his face?'
Stopping suddenly he raised his hand in a fist to signal for his team to halt. Turning around he looked at Sai,
"Sai, I need you to go contact Kakashi immediately."
Sai nodded and quickly began sprinting towards Kakashi's place of residence.
"It seems as though our plans for tonight have once again changed Joshin…"
--
Naruto and Haku were walking hand in hand down the street towards whatever restaurant Haku had picked out. Naruto had only left the hotel five minutes earlier, but Haku doubled back after making the reservations to meet up with him.
Haku leaned into him and put her head on his shoulder.
"We're being followed"
Naruto laughed, as if she had said some funny joke before responding quietly,
"I know, and whoever they are, they're good. Up ahead there is an alleyway. In a moment I want you to run into it, and I'll follow, but I want you to get away as fast as you can. Use your mirrors if necessary."
Haku nodded, seeing the intended alley just up the street,
"And what are you going to do?"
Naruto smiled and gave her a small poke in the ribs with his elbow,
"Don't worry, I have a plan"
Haku frowned lightly, but she stepped away as planned, giggling she ran into the alleyway. Naruto shook his head, trying to laugh to keep up appearances, before he chased in after her. He happily noted that by time he reached the alley, she had already disappeared completely.
Running down the narrow alley, Naruto found himself facing a dead end. Turning around he waited for whoever was following him. It didn't take long for them to show.
"It's funny Naruto, no matter how many times I try to kill you, you somehow always manage to bounce back."
Naruto's eyes turned cold as ice,
"What a pleasant surprise, Kakashi-sensei… Are you here to try again?"
Kakashi stepped out of the shadow, his hitai-ite already raised, exposing the spinning sharingan eye.
"Where is your companion, the girl you were with a moment ago?"
Naruto looked at him confused,
"You mean you honestly don't know. I understand that the idiot Sasuke missed it, but the sensei as well?"
Kakashi threw a kunai that just grazed Naruto's cheek and imbedded in the wall behind him. Obviously he was not in the mood for joking.
"It was a kage Bunshin you fool."
Kakashi stared at his face, trying to see if he was lying.
"You know Naruto, you may be stronger than before. But you're still nothing but a dead last."
In a blink of an eye, Kakashi we standing mere inches in front of him, staring him straight in the face.
"You didn't cover up your whiskers…"
Naruto grimaced as he recalled taking a shower earlier. His makeup was waterproof, but he had washed his face, scrubbing the makeup right off.
"So what are you going to do now? Try killing me again?"
Kakashi eye smiled,
"Of course not, we have something special in mind for you. But it's going to have to wait until the last part of the exams to start."
After he finished talking, Naruto felt a sharp blow to his neck, and then darkness claimed him.
--
Haku burst through the doors of Dante's room.
"Dante-sensei, they found…"
But she was cut off as Dante crossed the room so quickly that her eyes couldn't follow and covered her mouth with his hand and whispered
"Quiet you fool. Naruto gave himself up so that you could escape; don't ruin it by running around like a bat out of hell. We don't want any more attention attracted to us than necessary. Kakashi and his goons are more than intelligent enough to try to find the people that Naruto was associated with, so we need to disappear for a while."
Haku's eye's widened,
"But we have to save him!"
Dante shook his head,
"No we don't. Naruto already has an escape plan ready, what we need to do is trust him and go into hiding ourselves. We're already inside Konoha, so as long as we can stay hidden until the final part of the exams everything will still go to plan."
Haku nodded her head slowly,
"So where are we going to go?"
Dante smiled,
"There was a clan here that used to help us from the inside when we needed it. Do to unfortunate circumstances, they are no longer able to support us as they once did, but we may still be able to find sanctuary in their home. Gather what you can and meet me back here in 5 minutes."
Haku nodded her head; a few tears sliding silently down her face as she ran from the room towards her own.
Dante went over to the table to leave a note, but before he could even pick up the pen he heard the sound of feet landing on the roof above him.
Closing his eyes for a brief second, he thought,
'Twenty-five of them'
Opening his eyes, his image flickered and he appeared on the roof, just in front of 5 squads of Anbu, all bearing the symbol for root on the center of their mask. The ninja wasted no time in surrounding him.
"You have been found in the presence of one Uzumaki Naruto and have been deemed a threat to the peace. You may either come peacefully, or we will take you by force"
Despite them all wearing a masks, Dante still turned to face the one that had spoken to him, who was apparently the leader of the squad.
"You are merely the pawns of treacherous men. Your own soul has been all but stolen from you, please, allow me to offer at least a small sense of peace before you die in the upcoming wars."
Dante's chakra flared, well above what a normal jounin would be capable of producing so quickly. All twenty-five men ran towards him, in an attempt to kill him before he finished whatever technique he was gathering chakra for.
When the men were mere feet away from him, Dante looked straight into the leader's eyes and made a single hand sign that none of the men were familiar with.
"Gokurakuoujou no jutsu" (Rebirth in Paradise, or peaceful death)
The captain, mere inches from driving his sword into the Dante's heart suddenly stumbled. Where the man was once standing, was now nothing more than a large willow tree blowing lightly in the wind. The tree was situated in the center of a large field of flowing golden wheat, which was almost ready for fall harvest.
Hearing laughter behind him, he spun around quickly, ready to fight. Standing behind him was a young girl, no more than six years old
"Aniki? What are you doing, Kaa-san says that dinner is ready"
The younger girl grabbed his hand and began trying to pull him towards a small cottage on the edge of the forest.
"Come on Aniki! Kaa-son made your favorite food and you promised that you would take me swimming later"
Glancing down at the young girl, he saw his own arm as she started leading him across the field.
He KNEW that something was wrong. Where his arm had moments before been wrapped in gauze was a clean, but darkly tanned arm. Refocusing his attention on the girl he recognized her instantly, it was his younger sister.
'Impossible, she was killed over a decade ago when the Kyuubi crushed my home'
Looking up, he saw a slender woman with long auburn hair standing at the entryway of the small house,
"Come on Tenchi, you can practice your ninja stuff later. Its dinner time and your Tou-san just got back from Konoha"
He KNEW that this wasn't real. That his family was long since dead. Killed by the Kyuubi in its rampage across their land. And that he was raised by Danzo as a ninja with countless other orphaned children.
But for some reason he couldn't bring himself to care.
Scooping the younger girl up in his arms, he sprinted madly towards the door of the cabin. The young girl giggled with laughter as she hung on tightly to his arms, her face alight with laughter.
'I have my family back…' was the only thought going through his head as he ran back to his house.
--
An hour later, a small team of Anbu and several jounin stood on top of the hotel, looking down at twenty-five unconscious Anbu.
"Are they all dead?"
Asked the female jounin with red eyes. A nameless medic shook his head,
"No, as best as I can tell Kurenai-san they are all stuck in some sort of highly developed genjutsu that I cannot break"
Kurenai's interest peaked. Stepping forward she put a hand on the ninja's shoulder,
"Let me have a look at them. If its genjutsu I may have a better chance of fixing this than you"
The medic nodded his head and moved out of her way. Kneeling on one knee, Kurenai placed a hand on the forehead of the Anbu captain. Forcing chakra into his system.
'He's right' she thought, 'There is most definitely some sort of genjutsu here'
Probing the man's mind with as much chakra as she could, she attempted to force a foreign chakra out of the man's system. Her eye's widened in surprise and she immediately cut all chakra off as she stared at the unconscious victim.
"Impossible…" She muttered.
Asuma, who had been walking with her when they noticed the small gathering of Anbu on the roof looked down at her, a cigarette still burning in his mouth as he spoke.
"What did you find Kurenai?"
Kurenai shook her head,
"This isn't really a genjutsu as we thought. It's something similar, but as far as I know of, it's considered impossible."
Asuma looked at her, waiting for her continue,
"Like a genjutsu, someone forced their senses to do what they wanted them to, but that's where the similarities end. There is no foreign chakra in this man's system"
Asuma's eyes widened,
"That shouldn't be possible." Was all he responded with.
Kurenai stood up, but continued to watch the man in front of her,
"That's what I thought, but whoever used the technique somehow got the men's own chakra to fuel his technique"
Asuma looked back to the man lying on the ground,
"So what does that mean for the Anbu"
Kurenai sighed,
"I'm not entirely sure, but if they can't break out of their own free will, they will continue to fuel the technique that was used on them until finally their body gives out and passes on."
Asuma turned back to face her,
"So they will die?"
Kurenai nodded,
"Unless we keep them hooked up to feeding tubes for the rest of their life, they will die within several days, when their bodies run out of water."
Asuma paled,
"That's horrible, to die a slow painful death"
Kurenai shook her head,
"Slow yes, but not painful. Whatever is going on inside these men's heads though, they are definitely not in pain. If their electrical signals in their brain are any indicator, they are all… happy…"
Behind them they heard an Anbu with a bear mask comment,
"Then they are fortunate. Very few ninja's can ever pass away quietly and content in their sleep. If only we were all as fortunate"
Kurenai opened her mouth to comment on he rather morbid thought, but by the time she had turned to face him completely, he was already gone.
"Who was that?" She asked Asuma who shrugged his shoulders.
"No clue, probably another Anbu who's seen one to many people die"
--
Kakashi was staring at the unconscious form of Naruto, who lay on the floor of a rather familiar prison cell, deep in the underbelly of Konoha.
"Report" was all he said as an Anbu appeared next to him, kneeling on one knee.
"Unfortunately whoever was traveling with him was able to subdue the team and escaped. His current whereabouts are unknown."
Kakashi's only visible eye narrowed in frustration.
"You fools let them escape? I should of come personally"
The Anbu kept his head towards the ground,
"The entire team is currently located that the hospital. They are all stuck in some sort of perpetual genjutsu that we cannot break them out of."
Kakashi turned and began walking away from the useless Anbu.
"Report your findings to the Hokage. I have another snake to go hunt at the moment."
As he disappeared, the Anbu turned and disappeared, walking silently down the hallway that it came from. Leaving Naruto alone on the floor of the cell.
Naruto cracked open an eye.
'Good, Haku and Dante got away ok then.' Smiling a little despite the situation.
'Being captured may actually work out in our favor' sitting up ever so slightly, he listened very carefully for any sounds of a guard that he wasn't already aware of.
It was utterly silent.
'Perfect' he thought, as he began taking out a small piece of paper with a few simple seals on it out of a hidden pocket.
"Now I just have to wait…'
--
Dante was sitting a small dark room facing both Leporello and Orpheo. Haku had long since fallen asleep on a mattress in another room.
"So Naruto was captured?" asked Orpheo
Dante nodded his head,
"It appears so, but we already had a contingency plan, and we know that they won't do anything drastic to him until the final part of the exam."
Orpheo sat back in his chair as Leporello asked,
"Have we heard anything from Ramdas yet?"
Dante nodded his head,
"He is already in position, all we have to do is pray that Naruto's escape is successful and that we are ready for the final exams."
Leporello nodded his head in understanding.
"I'll take the east wall, Dante, you take the main southern entrance since that is where they will hit hardest and you can do the most good. Which leaves Orpheo with the west wall and the summons. Ramdas will take all that are in the town, which leaves Naruto and Haku to take care of whatever else may appear."
Dante leaned forward, switching the small lamp off.
"So now we wait a week for the final exams"
--
On top of a hotel, near the center of town Sasuke and Sakura stood staring at a bloodthirsty red head.
"I said do you understand?" asked Sasuke, his sharingan spinning madly as he glared at the person in front of him.
"Yes I understand. Don't worry, Mother and I will do exactly what you asked of us"
His eye's widened in a psychotic expression as he stared at the moon, waiting for the moment to come when he would complete his mission.
Sasuke turned and began leading Sakura away.
"He is only a tool Joshin, but he will prove to be rather useful I think…"
--
Miles away, deep in the forest of death, Kakashi was in hot pursuit of the man who attacked his genin team during the second exam. Having already captured Naruto, now he only had one more mission to complete.
Several teams were combing the forest looking for the Snake Sannin. The Hokage had placed a rather large bounty on the man's head several years back. So every hunter-nin in Konoha was trying to find the hiding man.
Spotting the obviously tired Sannin resting almost a hundred feet below him, Kakashi stopped and watched the man. After several moments he lifted the forehead protector off his eye and made a couple of hand signs. Clutching his right wrist with his left hand, he began to summon enormous amounts of chakra, as the chakra took form he jumped from his hiding place,
"Raikiri!"
--
Author's Notes
Wow, I'm really sorry that it took such a ridiculously long time to finish this chapter. Its been sitting at 5000 words for over 4 months, but this has been by far the most busy summer of my life. I was honestly working for over a hundred hours a week for the bulk of the summer.
Anyways, a short piece on Dante since he is one of my favorite characters that I've come up with.
Dante is named after Dante Alighieri the author of the epic poem called Dante's Divine Comedy. The book is written in three separate parts, Dante's Inferno (Hell), Dante's Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Dante's Paradiso (Heaven). The technique that he used in this chapter was the one fashioned after heaven. More or less what it does is puts the victim into a forced genjutsu that mimics that person's deepest desire. It's reserved for people that Dante knows he must fight, but doesn't really want to. He views it as a humane way to kill his opponents. His other techniques are not quite as easy going.
Well next time is the chuunin exam finals and all the fun that will come along with it. School starts again for me in a week, so wish me luck.
Until then,
Mechen Manachewagan