twenty-seven
Naruto knocked on the door.
“Delivery for Sato-san!”
There was some rustling behind the door before it swung open and a half-naked man appeared. He stank of sweat and his bald head reflected the overhead light. It was obvious that he had just barely managed to shove on some underwear before answering the door, a dark scowl on his face.
“Shut it, brat, not so loud,” he demanded, trying and failing to sound threatening. Naruto had encountered academy students more dangerous than this man. “How did you find me here?”
“Not my problem,” Naruto shrugged, holding out the envelope. “I go where I’m told.”
He ignored the female voice calling Sato back to bed. He didn’t care enough to figure why exactly Sato was so sensitive to being found. Sato snarled but he did snatch it from him. Naruto rolled his eyes as he next held out the ink pad and receipt.
“Print here.”
Sato shoved his meaty thumb into the ink and pressed his thumb to the receipt, smudging it beyond recognition. Naruto didn’t particularly care. He delivered it and he had proof. It wasn’t his fault the client was a mess. The door slammed abruptly in his face and Naruto sighed. He reminded himself it was still not as bad as Konoha. The thought helped.
“Uzumaki Naruto.”
He snapped around, breath catching in his throat. No one here should know that name. He hadn’t uttered it once since leaving the Land of Waves, only using ‘Riku’. Had Konoha found him? Shit, his reaction had given away so he couldn’t even bluff his way out of anything.
His gaze caught on two men at the end of the hallway. Both wore black cloaks decorated in red clouds and they were closed from the top of their shinobi sandals to their noses, hiding the clothing beneath. The taller one had blue skin with what looked like gills beneath each of his eyes. Pale blue eyes watched him from beneath a Kiri hitai-ate that had been scratched out, holding spiky black hair out of his face. The shorter one looked like Sasuke; like, way too much like Sasuke. He had the same pale skin and sleek black hair, although it hung around this guy’s face longer than it did on Sasuke’s. His Konoha hitai-ate was scored out. Red eyes stared back at him and Naruto swallowed. This had to be Itachi. Why the fuck was Sasuke’s brother here? Why was he looking for Naruto?
“Itachi,” he couldn’t help but say, tensing as the guy’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You are familiar with me?”
“I’ve heard stories.”
They didn’t move.
“What do you want?” Naruto continued, eyes darting between them as he figured out exit routes. “You can’t be here to bring me back to Konoha.”
“You are correct,” Itachi walked towards him, stopping a couple of steps away. Naruto had to figure something out soon. “You will come with us.”
Naruto eyes widened.
“It would be a pain in the neck if this kid moves around,” the taller man’s deep voice cut in, moving one hand to grasp the giant sword handle that had been peeking over his shoulder. “Maybe I should cut off a leg just in case.”
Naruto took a step back. What the fuck? What the fuck? He’d been expecting Konoha but he had not expected two random missing nin whom he had never even met before! What did they want with him? Why him? He wasn’t bothering anyone here and they weren’t with any village that he could tell. The blue guy started to draw his sword off his back and Naruto another step back. How could he get out of this?
He brought up his hand to summon clones but nothing happened. Nothing happened! He couldn’t even feel his chakra right now.
“My sword, Shark Skin, has the ability to cut through and eat chakra,” the man announced. “It’s a pain in the ass if you move around and use jutsu like that.”
Oh shit.
“What the fuck do you shitheads even want?” Naruto howled, furious. All that planning, all this time as a civilian, all that freedom, and it was going to be taken away from him because of these guys? Not even Konoha? “What the fuck have I ever done to you?”
“Foul-mouthed little shit.”
“It is not a matter of what you have done,” Itachi answered calmly. “It is a matter of what you have.”
Naruto didn’t have time to puzzle that out before there was a ‘pop’ and white smoke began to fill the narrow hallway. He looked up to see the back of an…orange toad? It had blue flame-like markings across its skin and wore shoulder bracers as armour. It stood several inches taller than Naruto, having to crane his neck to look at the back of its head.
“What?” the blue demanded, echoing Naruto’s thoughts.
“You guys do not know me much, do you?” a deep voice spoke from behind him. “You thought you could get past me to the brat so easily?”
Naruto looked behind to see a mountain of a man standing next to him. He was dressed in an olive green loose shirt and pants, with a bright red haori over it that had two yellow spots on his chest. Black mesh bracers covered his wrists and he wore grey knuckledusters on his hands. Spiky white hair framed his face, hanging to his collarbones with the rest tied up into a high ponytail that fell to his hips. A red line ran down from each eye straight to his chin and his horned metal hitai-ate just read ‘oil’.
Who the fuck was this? Another missing nin?
The door beside them opened and Sato poked his head out, furious.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” he yelled. “How dare you disturb…”
Naruto saw the moment he realised what exactly was happening as all three powerful shinobi turned to look at the man. Sato squeaked and the door slammed shut, panicked yelling emerging from the wooden surface.
“You are, after all, Master Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin,” the blue bastard interrupted, drawing their gazes. “I did not believe that you would be so easy to subvert.”
Sannin? This old guy was one of the Sannin? Would Konoha really send one of the Sannin to bring him back? Shit, now his enemies here had doubled. How was he going to get away?
“To abduct Naruto is the number one priority placed by our organisation, Akatsuki,” Itachi added. “The Kyūbi is destined to be ours.”
Naruto’s hand unconsciously rose to touch his stomach. They were after the Kyūbi? As if the damned fox had been causing him enough trouble in his life!
“I can’t let you have Naruto,” Jiraiya stated firmly. “This is perfect…I’ll get rid of both of you right here.”
“The brat isn’t even a Konoha shinobi anymore,” the blue bastard replied. “He is a missing nin. Don’t butt in!”
Naruto growled. It itched at him that someone from Konoha was helping him but there was nothing he could do about it. He was too weak to take these guys on by himself. He fucking hated it. He cursed as the walls started to change to a weird fleshy colour, the meat crawling over the walls until they were surrounded on all sides.
“Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari.”
Itachi and his partner started to get sucked into the walls and Naruto could only watch in disbelief.
“How unfortunate, Itachi, Kisame,” Jiraiya said, grinning. “You guys are already inside my stomach!”
“The fuck is this?” Naruto yelled, the floor squelching beneath his feet.
“Stay still, brat!”
The newly named Kisame tore his sword from the floor with a shower of blood as he and Itachi began to run in the opposite direction. Jiraiya knelt to the ground and pressed both his palms down, the floor soon starting to move and constrict around them. Thick strands of flesh broke out of the walls and tore towards the retreating pair, Kisame fending them off with his sword. Naruto lost sight of them, Jiraiya racing past him. Naruto tore off after him, soon coming to an opening in the fleshy wall. Black flames flickered around the new entrance, starting to spread slowly down the hall.
“Don’t get close!”
“Wasn’t planning on it, geezer.”
Jiraiya placed a giant scroll on the ground and rolled it out, rapidly running through hand signs.
“Fūka Hōin!”
The black flames vanished around them and Naruto took his chance. He lunged for the opening, choking as something caught the back of his shirt.
“Not so fast, brat,” the Sannin said, unimpressed. “We’ve got to talk.”
Jiraiya set the kid down in front of him, having finally reached an area devoid of people. He hadn’t expected the brat to be in danger so soon. It was very bad news that the Akatsuki had managed to catch up to the kid before he did. He was lucky Jiraiya was already watching him.
“I didn’t need your help.”
The kid scowled up at him and Jiraiya couldn’t help but find the parts of Minato and Kushina in him. He was covered and dirt and sunscreen which covered most of his identifiable features but those blue eyes were all Minato, same as his round face was all Kushina. The ugly bucket hat hid what Jiraiya knew would be blond spiky hair that the kid had hacked away at with a kunai. He was underweight and short for his age.
“You’re welcome, brat,” he scoffed.
“What the fuck do you want?” The kid’s face was still twisted into an ugly scowl, blue eyes stormy. How had this grumpy brat come from Minato and Kushina?
“I came to save your ass, you ungrateful little shit,” he snapped back. “Watch the language.”
“Eat shit and die, old man.”
Jiraiya’s eye twitched. Do not hit the child.
“It’s time for you to go home, brat.”
Jiraiya didn’t think it was possible for the brat’s expression to sour further. He was quickly proven wrong as murderous intent flooded out of the boy.
“Over your dead body.”
“You really think you could put a scratch on me, brat? You’re one hundred years too early to challenge the Great Jiraiya!”
He grabbed the kid’s arm before he could take off. Ignoring Jiraiya’s wonderful speech; he really was an insolent little brat. He plucked the kunai that tried to make its way into his eye out of the kid’s hand, knocking away the other from his private area. This kid was fucking feral!
“Calm down!”
“Fuck you! I’m not going back!”
Jiraiya dropped him and the kid just barely landed on his feet, still shooting an evil look at Jiraiya.
“It’s not safe for you to be out of the village on your own,” Jiraiya tried to reason, still resisting the urge to hit the brat quite gallantly he’d like to add. “People are after you, people like Itachi and Kisame, and they are not going to stop.”
“I don’t care!” Naruto crossed his arms, seeming to realise he was not going to get far. “I’d rather die fighting out here than suffocate there.”
Jiraiya frowned.
“What happened in Konoha, kid? Why don’t you want to go back?”
“None of your fucking business.”
The kid was less cooperative than a fucking wall. It was not what he expected on meeting his godson.
“Is it really worth your life?”
“Yes.”
They stared at each other, unwilling to back down. There was something Jiraiya was missing here. He knew jinchūriki were often mistreated but Sarutobi-sensei wouldn’t have let that happen. There had to be something else.
“Well, unless you can beat me you don’t have a choice in the matter,” Jiraiya crossed his arms.
He would wait until the brat calmed down before telling him about their connection. He had a feeling the training trip would not be well received right now either. He had to get the brat back to Konoha and figure out what happened in his absence.
“If I go back, I’ll never be allowed out again!” Naruto yelled, rage palpable in the air around him. “They’ll lock me up and throw away the key!”
“You’re being a little dramatic, brat,” Jiraiya rolled his eyes. “You should have thought about this before you ran off!”
Naruto snarled, the words unintelligible around the clenching of his teeth. This was one angry kid. Jiraiya thought he might be a little grateful that he’d saved him from Itachi and Kisame but apparently not. The brat needed to learn some manners. The kid darted out of the way of Jiraiya’s hand but they both knew the Sannin had allowed it. The brat was stuck and he knew it.
Naruto stopped, staring Jiraiya dead in the eye. The change was unnerving.
“If you take me back,” Naruto began, his expression unreadable. “I will release the Kyūbi and they will destroy the village.”
A drop of ice slid down Jiraiya’s spine.
“Quit joking, brat.”
“I’m not.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
He didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t know the destruction of a Tailed Beast. He didn’t know.
“I’m the one who has been carrying them around for twelve years. I know enough.”
A moment of silence.
“It would kill you.”
“I know. It would be worth it if I could take Konoha down with me.”
The brat was serious. The kid was dead fucking serious. Jiraiya could see it in his eyes. What the fuck?
“I could stop you.”
“Yeah,” Naruto shrugged. “You can’t be there all the time though. If you take me back to Konoha, I swear on every fucking god out there I will release the Kyūbi and let me tell you, the demon has a bone to pick with your village. You won’t be able to save them all.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Naruto shrugged, smiling for the first time that Jiraiya had seen. It was not a nice smile.
“I am what they made me,” he bared his teeth. “They always thought I was evil and would destroy the village one day. I could finally prove them right. They’ll be thrilled.”
Jiraiya did not like the implications of that. Naruto had relaxed slightly and Jiraiya could tell the brat had thought he’d won. He didn’t know what to do here. This couldn’t be his godson; this could not be Minato and Kushina’s child.
“Well?”
Naruto crossed his arms, waiting.
“I don’t respond well to threats, brat.”
“And I don’t respond well to being dragged back to Konoha,” he snarked. “Looks like we both get to be fucking inconvenienced.”
Another moment of silence.
“I can seal the beast away so even you can’t touch it.”
Naruto’s smile dropped, his blue eyes cold.
“Then I would have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“You aren’t nearly strong enough for that.”
“Let me be clear, Jiraiya of the fucking Sannin,” Naruto said slowly, walking over and poking him in the chest. “If you bring me back to Konoha, even if I can’t release the Kyūbi, I will kill every civilian I can get my hands on. I don’t care about dying if I can hurt Konoha along the way, not anymore. I’ve tasted freedom and I would rather burn down the village with my bare hands than go back to the way it was before.”
There was something broken in this kid’s head.
“You can be locked up for the rest of your life,” Jiraiya replied. “You would spend the rest of your life locked up and away from anyone you can hurt. What’s the plan here, kid? You know you can’t fight this.”
Anger seeped back in Naruto’s features.
“I have been fighting every single fucking day of my life. I don’t care what measures you take or what you, I swear on the Yondaime’s name I will figure it out.”
Hearing that name was like a punch in the gut.
“Don’t use his name like that,” he couldn’t help but snap.
“He’s my old man, isn’t he?” Naruto sneered and shit, when did he find out? “I’ll even kill everyone in his name; really liven up the family name.”
Jiraiya punched the kid before he could stop himself. Naruto was knocked to the ground with a thud, lifting a hand to press at the blood on his lip. He grinned up at Jiraiya, the blood smearing on his teeth.
“Got you.”
Jiraiya was breathing heavily. What the fuck was wrong with this kid? What the fuck was wrong with this kid?
“You’ll travel with me for now,” he barely managed to get out. “We need to go get your stuff.”
“No Konoha?”
Jiraiya fucking hated this.
“No Konoha, for now.”
The kid bounced up.
“Good enough for now, I guess.”
The kid turned to lead the way and Jiraiya followed, staring at the back of the kid’s head. He need time to think. This conversation had taken a turn he never would have expected in a million years and he needed time to process. He needed to send a message to Sarutobi-sama to call the ANBU off the search and if he demanded to know more about his godson, he damned well deserved to know.
Sasuke couldn’t even enjoy the blaze, frowning as the fire from his jutsu slowly spread through the tree, leaves crumbling to ash and branches turning black. He should probably stop it before it jumped to the surrounding tress; Konoha unsurprisingly frowned on forest fires. He couldn’t find it in himself to care.
The first part of the Chunin Exams was finished and they had a month before the next portion. Sasuke didn’t know if he would go and watch. He didn’t know if he would be able to sit there and just watch, knowing he could easily kick the ass of anyone there. He should be training for the final component of the exam but no, he was in an abandoned training ground watching trees burn down.
It was getting harder and harder every day to remember why he wanted to stay in the village instead of going with Naruto. Kakashi was still a fucking ghost and the coward hadn’t even bothered to show up when Sasuke had been summoned to the Mission Assignment Desk with Sakura to find out they’d been transferred to new genin teams. Sakura had tried to speak to him about it but Sasuke had quickly made himself scarce. He didn’t even know who his new jounin-sensei was meant to be and he didn’t care. He was not going to get trapped into another genin team, especially not one that would hold him back even further. Team Seven had only been bearable because Naruto had been there.
You’re not going to beat Itachi by staying in the village.
Naruto’s words haunted him. His reasoning for disagreeing with the blond felt flimsy now. Kakashi had pawned them off onto other genin teams. His research into any other strong jounin in the village was coming up empty; they either were always out on missions or they already had teams of their own. He had exhausted the jutsu in the library that he could access and even his status as an Uchiha hadn’t allowed him to access the chunin level and higher jutsu and security had been increased with all the foreign nin in the village. Every reason he had given himself for staying and all he was left with was regret that he hadn’t just taken that leap and gone with Naruto.
It was still true that they wouldn’t have teachers or jutsu scrolls out there on their own and they would have ANBU hunting them down and money would be scarce and every other thing Sasuke could think of but it had to be better than here. It would at least challenge him and he could adapt and overcome and survive and feel like he was moving forward.
“Training hard again, Sasuke-kun?”
Sasuke scowled as he turned to look at the genin from a couple weeks ago. He looked the same as he had last time he came to bother Sasuke, a mild look on his stupid face.
“It’s a shame that you don’t have a teacher that can help,” the guy continued. Sasuke thought his name was…Yakusha? Yakashi? Whatever, it wasn’t important. “I heard about your transfer.”
“You’re a nosy bastard,” Sasuke growled as he considered aiming his next katon jutsu at the genin.
“I was just wondering if you had thought about my offer? About a new teacher for you?”
To be honest, Sasuke hadn’t thought about this guy once since he’d last seen him but his reappearance drudged up the memory from him. Yakushi was his name, he finally recalled.
“Where would you find a teacher like this?” he humoured him.
Yakushi smiled. Sasuke didn’t like it. This whole thing felt off but he was more desperate than he was two weeks ago.
“My sensei has been interested in your potential for a while,” Yakushi stepped closer. “He thinks it’s a shame a talent like you is being held back like this. He wants to help.”
Sasuke could hear the slime curling around Yakushi’s words. This idiot thought he could manipulate Sasuke but he would allow it for now. He had vowed he would do whatever it took to get stronger than Itachi and if that meant humouring this guy’s attempts to lure Sasuke into a trap, Sasuke would do it. He could just kill the guy if it went south.
“Who is he?”
Yakushi paused.
“Let’s just say he’s not a fan of Konoha.”
“Not good enough,” Sasuke crossed his arms. “It’s obvious that this teacher is not in the village; I’m willing to be bet he’s a missing nin or something. If I’m going to ditch the village, I want to know if it’s worth my time.”
The pleasant smile dropped from Yakushi’s face and a cold, considering look replaced it. It was about time this guy started showing his true colours. Sasuke didn’t like fucking about with fake pleasantries or sucking up. It was why he spent so much around Naruto.
“To be expected from you Sasuke-kun,” the smile this time was sharp. “It is Orochimaru of the Sannin. I am sure you have heard of his strength.”
Sasuke had not been expecting that. He knew of the Sannin, the man having fled the village after being ousted for some illegal shit way back when. He didn’t know much more than that, having had very little interest, but they learned of the feats of the Sannin during the wars back in the academy. This was a man on par with the Hokage himself.
“What’s to stop me from reporting you?” he asked, curious. “I doubt Konoha would be happy that Orochimaru had a serving boy in the village trying to recruit people.”
It was reminiscent of when he’d asked Naruto something very similar, when the blond had revealed his plans to him for leaving. He wasn’t actually going to do it; he didn’t owe anything to Konoha after all.
“I’m only here for you,” Yakushi replied evenly. “I can’t stop you from reporting me but I feel like you know that I have the better offer. Do you want to become strong, Uchiha Sasuke? Or do you want to be a good little Konoha soldier?”
He did not appreciate the condescension but he knew that wouldn’t change his answer. It wasn’t as if there was anything left to keep him here. He needed to get stronger to defeat Itachi and it had become glaringly obvious that would not happen if he stayed in Konoha.
He could imagine Naruto’s delighted expression at his decision. He was still going to punch the dobe when he saw him next.
“When do we leave?”
Yakushi’s satisfied grin almost annoyed Sasuke enough to spite him but he refrained. He had chosen his path and he would stick to it. He had to defeat Itachi and to do that, he had to become much, much stronger.
Nothing else mattered.