Slogging their way back to Konoha on the home stretch of road, Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, and Tenten had succeeded in their mission for Takigakure. They didn't feel like it or look like it from their demeanor, but when the reports were in, they would receive a 'mission succeed' marker on their records. They'd been thanked for their service and the proof of Otogakure's presence that they'd obtained that caused rumblings of a war between Taki and Iwa to die down.
The fact that they'd gotten more or less spanked and shooed away by Orochimaru like kids was the primary reason that they'd felt like they'd lost. Sasuke had more or less clammed up since completing the mission and heading out for home, and no one was feeling particularly bright and sunny. Even the normally unflappable Rock Lee was a tad bit down in the mouth.
Naruto didn't even complain when Fuu intentionally almost cracked his spine with the goodbye hug he'd asked for/demanded. He'd just returned it and limped out of the village until the injury fixed itself.
Eventually though, he did speak up when he felt the familiar sensation of being close to home. It was time to talk about it before they wrote up their respective reports.
"So does anybody want to talk about what the fuck just happened a few days ago?" Naruto asked aloud to his friends, "Everything was going great and then WHAM! Orochimaru's got a leg up on us and Akatsuki. When the hell did the dynamic shift like that?"
"I wouldn't know," Tenten said, still rubbing at her shoulder that was bandaged beneath her clothes. The Taki medical ninjas had done a good job fixing her up, but it was still very sore and vulnerable, "I'm just now getting used to the idea that you've got the baddest bad guys in the land after something that's stuck inside of you. The fact that one of the strongest ninjas ever just got way stronger is still a bit out of my range of perception."
Lee shook his head in disappointment, "…He allowed us to leave. If Orochimaru had truly wanted to end our lives, I do not think we could have kept him from doing so."
He was playing with his new powers. That was all that was. To Orochimaru, the Sanbi had been the equivalent of a new toy in the hands of a child; playing around with what it could do while trying not to break it or wear it out prematurely.
"Well, at least there's some good news," Naruto said, throwing his arms up behind his neck grumpily, "I don't really give a shit about how scary-strong Killer B is supposed to be after looking a jinchuuriki Orochimaru in the eye." The cure for apprehension over something like facing someone stronger than you was facing someone else that was stronger than them, and he believed that Orochimaru was stronger than Killer B now.
"I'm pretty sure Anko has nightmares that start off like that." Sasuke chimed in with a snort.
Everyone went silent again for the umpteenth time since they had departed from Takigakure.
With this, Naruto decided to turn his conversation inward. The recipient of his words might not have been the most excited to hear from him, but that was just tough for him, 'Kyuubi, when you said to run-.'
"You would have gotten us killed," The formerly slumbering biju remarked inside of his head, "What can you endure taking from me, four tails of my power? Sure, at most you would have been a pesky foe, but all you would have done at most was scratched Isobu's shell."
'You mean the Sanbi, right?'
"Yes. That."
'Wait, no, don't do that. What was with the whole Isobu thing? You knew who you were talking about. Is that a name?'
"Yes. I know it's hard for you to wrap your head around seeing as who and what you are, but the biju aren't meant to be referred to by the number of their tails. We have names just like you."
'…Well what's yours?'
At that, the Kyuubi went silent and didn't speak up again. Normally Naruto would have tried to annoy it out of the fox, but what was the point? If it clammed up on him it wasn't going to say anything else no matter how long he pestered it for.
As the party neared the gates they'd left the village through they bore down on the sight of Killer B still sitting in the middle of the road, waiting. Staying there and keeping watch over his actions for the current shift was Kakashi, who had brought the entire Icha Icha collection to read while he was out there.
Upon noticing the four chunin coming up toward them he smiled and waved their way, "Hello all. How'd the mission go?"
Sasuke was the one who responded to his teacher, "We succeeded."
Leaving it at that, Sasuke just passed him by, rubbing at the juncture of his neck and shoulder, something that Kakashi didn't miss. That had been a very Anko-ish thing to do, 'There's no reason he should have done that. He hasn't even had any issues with it since it was sealed away.'
Naruto just shook his head as he stopped for a moment to talk while Sasuke headed on to the village to get back home and keep on training. He didn't blame him. He wanted to do the same thing after everything was over with, "We finished the mission, but it wasn't that great."
"It couldn't have been that bad Naruto-kun," Kakashi insisted, "Everyone made it home from what I can see, and no one's missing any limbs."
"Orochimaru is the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi."
It seemed like even the wind blowing through the trees stopped at that moment.
Killer B, who had been looking at Naruto the entire time expressionlessly, had his eyebrows raise above his sunglasses in intrigue and shock at what he'd just heard. Kakashi dropped his book from his hand onto the ground.
Eventually he responded with a low mumble, "…I'm pretty sure Anko has nightmares that start off like that."
"Yeah," Naruto said bluntly, not willing to mince words so he could get to the Hokage and report this quickly, then find Jiraiya and do the same to him. Both needed to know for similar and differing reasons, "I was there. And you know what's really nice? He's got full control."
"Full control as in-."
"-Full control as in he can transform into the Sanbi and still talk and do what he wants. And that's just fun for everybody," Naruto then turned to Killer B and didn't flinch or look anything less than the man that he was when he walked around Konoha every day. A stark contrast to how he'd been in front of him before leaving, "I'm telling the Hokage that you guys don't need to be out here anymore Kakashi. If B really wants me, he can get me later."
And with that he walked the rest of the way down the road to head home along with Lee and Tenten. If Killer B wanted at him badly enough to stab him in the back, well that was just how that particular conflict was going to happen, because Naruto didn't care if he'd come all the way to Konoha to take his head home with him.
Killer B wasn't the scariest jinchuuriki Naruto had ever run into anymore. He was just powerful.
Naruto realized after the mission had ended that people who had power didn't scare him. No, it was certain kinds of people with power that scared him. People like Orochimaru.
'I can't even imagine…' Kakashi thought to himself, not blaming Naruto for shellshockedly setting the Killer B thing aside in the face of what he knew now, 'Orochimaru has years and years of intelligence on Konoha's secrets because of Kabuto, and now this.'
Suddenly sitting out and making sure Killer B didn't do anything off-kilter didn't seem so important any longer.
XxX
(Akatsuki Hideout)
"Good work," The Akatsuki leader remarked to his remaining members through his hologram after concluding the sealing away of another tailed beast, "That makes the Yonbi, the Gobi, and now the Rokubi."
"Just great," Kakuzu said grumpily to the others present through the connection they all had, "Now the sealings are taking even longer since Sasori croaked and lost his ring."
They had paid the puppeteer his respects before commencing with the now four day sealing process to put the Rokubi away, and after concluding the most urgent matter they finally had the opening to speak on just what had transpired.
It had been touched upon before, but it was better served for after the most important matter had been handled. Deidara simply repeated the show stopping sentence he'd entered the connection with, "Orochimaru has the Sanbi."
They'd all heard it once and were forced to put it on the backburner for the time being. They'd heard it a second time, and there were some that wondered if it had simply been a matter of fatigue catching up to them after the prolonged sealing ritual.
This was why silence reigned between the hologram versions of the remaining eight members. A hologram with Sharingan eyes looked around at his remaining fellow members without remarking aloud. Only his partner would know what his real expression was due to the jutsu connecting them all hiding his face.
"…The fuck?" Hidan said before anyone else had registered the information enough to form an eloquent thought.
Amber eyes on a female's hologram turned to the spiky-headed one with the purple ripple-patterned eyes affixed sharply on Deidara's, "Nagato…" The woman said to him.
"Deidara." The imposing leader said.
"Yes Leader-sama?"
"Explain. Everything."
It was not a request.
XxX
(Meanwhile – Konohagakure no Sato)
"Another," Jiraiya commented, requesting another bottle of sake to replace the one he'd recently finished draining thoroughly of its contents. Moderation was not the word of the day, "Keep 'em coming."
Quick service was the name of the game in a ninja village when it came to all things. Food, and especially drinks of the alcoholic variety, they needed to be provided quickly, because ninjas were rather quick on their own end to drift to the extreme of the dissatisfied customer spectrum. That could be dangerous were it not for the stern laws protecting civilian purveyors of goods from misplaced ninja wrath.
When it came to Jiraiya however, it was still dangerous, laws or not.
A bottle was slid his way from the end of the bar only to be caught by the well-manicured hand of his teammate. The female one. The one that didn't (officially) desert the village. The one that wasn't a new jinchuuriki.
"It's still daylight Jiraiya," Tsunade said, taking a seat next to him without looking his way. Neither of them looked at each other, instead staring straight ahead at nothing but the bottles on display, "After this I don't want to hear you getting on me about my drinking ever again."
"You know Orochimaru-."
"I know. Sensei told me about the little message he said the brat was told to give him by our old friend," Without even looking, Tsunade caught a small saucer meant for her and noticed Jiraiya hadn't been using one at all. She was getting first dibs on that bottle in that case, "…There's not much we can do about it now."
"Not much we can do…" Jiraiya said, quietly parroting her words and getting a glare out of her, "You know, that's almost exactly what sensei said to me when Orochimaru got away in the first place. He said that what happened happened. I tried to stop him and didn't have it in me to get it done, and he didn't have it in him to try at all."
That was the cursed justification for a quitter or a loser coming up short; there's not much we can do about it now, or there's not much that can be done. Any possible way of transforming that sentence simply sat with Jiraiya as a cop out.
There was plenty that could be done. There was plenty that needed to be done.
"You can think that some crap approach like that is going to be fine this time if you want to," Jiraiya said, letting Tsunade finish her drink and refill it before taking the bottle for himself, "I'm tired of him skating for the crap he's done. Akatsuki is going to be at his throat now more than ever, but depending on who he thinks he can destroy first, Orochimaru's got his pick of what to do next."
"You always thought he was the strongest out of the three of us back before he got a tune-up. What do you think you've got going for you now?"
"We're going to find that out aren't we?"
"Jiraiya…"
"Hime, you know as well as I do that things are just going to get worse. This isn't going to be enough for him, nothing ever is."
"…"
The two just continued to drink together in silence.
XxX
(With Naruto – Uzumaki Clan Mask Temple)
A quiet place to train. That was what Naruto wanted. He couldn't go to Team 10's usual place to rearrange the scenery because he'd be too easy to find and distract. He needed nothing to get in his way, and since his training wasn't outright destructive he could do it indoors so that he could hide better.
He'd barely started on sprucing up the mask temple and he hadn't tried to see if any more of them could do anything after his brush with the Shinigami Mask, but it was still an out of the way place on property that no one went to or even really knew existed these days except for him.
It was also kind of ironic that the jutsu he was trying to expound upon was his mother's, and he was doing it on the clan grounds that had been granted to them through their relationship with Konoha.
In the main room of the mask temple, Naruto was seated cross-legged and focusing intensely on the chains coming out of his wrists underneath his arm-warmers. How the hell were you supposed to make a useful barrier with these things? Jiraiya said his mother could do it, but he wasn't getting anything so far other than better chain control, which was nice, but wasn't the point of his working overtime with them.
There wasn't any such thing as mission burnout when the last one ended the way that it had. It had only been a matter of hours since he'd returned home and turned in his report, and he'd spent as much of the time as he could training. There wasn't any time to waste, and training was the call of the hour.
Hitting it three times a day for eight combined hours wasn't enough, even with the other clones he had littered around the grounds doing not only what their original was doing, but other things. He could sleep and rest when he dispelled them all and blacked out.
It felt like one of those days where he'd welcome that, even though he'd been told repeatedly not to use that many to train with. The short-term benefits weren't worth the potential brain aneurism he'd give himself one day, that was what Tsunade and Shizune told him way back when.
Having run things for an entire three hour session, he felt it was time to bring things to a close before he got too many memories at once and wound up hurting himself worse. Standing up, he formed a hand-seal to cancel all of his clones and dropped back down to one knee with a pained grunt.
Hand posted on the ground to keep himself propped up, he shook slightly before standing back up. Oh, if only aspirin worked to solve this kind of problem.
Of course all of the pain did come with something. A clone did figure that working with his clone brethren created more chains to work with. So maybe that was how he could form some sort of barrier. Yeah, that seemed like the ticket, and it would keep him from having to remain still to keep it active, as his clones could do it for him.
During the second session after a short hour-long rest he'd have to dip into that and see what he could do. Sure, he still had to work out the actual jutsu, but Jiraiya had taught him something about barrier ninjutsu, even if he hadn't managed to learn any in between everything else. The few he knew required wards, were too basic, and were simply no good in fights.
And another interesting thing another clone discovered; he could make more chains from his back than from his arms by using his vertebrae. Ouch. That sounded unpleasant to say the least, and a pain to try and control.
Another thing for later.
For now he'd been in that stuffy, rundown temple for a while and needed some fresh air to recharge.
Heading outside, he found a friend of his sitting patiently on the stairs and waiting. He was sure that watching all of his clones dispel at once scared the hell out of her or at least got a good jolt of surprise when it happened, "Hey Hinata. What's up?"
Turning around on the stairs to look at him, she gifted Naruto with a pleasant smile, "Well… people said that you had come back," A frown then came to her face, "They're also saying other things that aren't so reassuring, but I wondered where you were since you didn't go home."
"Well I'm just training here," Naruto said, sitting down with her on the steps to relax for a bit, "I figured, I've got this place so why not use it for a bit, you know? I've still got to get it all sorted and stuff, but it's mine, and I still like it here."
He wasn't going to do anything destructive there until he could pick a good spot for it that he could freely tear up, but as far as the more skill-intrinsic techniques went, that was his place of choice. It made him feel like he wasn't alone, like he had an actual clan watching over him.
It was probably a weird thought, so it wasn't one he was too keen on sharing aloud.
"So, how'd you find me anyway?" Naruto asked Hinata, "This place isn't really that close to the rest of the village, and the only other people I've shown are Team 7 and Ino-chan."
"H-Honestly, I didn't know this place existed until I started looking around. But once I got nearby I could kind of see you-, well, more like your clones."
"Ah, Byakugan."
"Yes."
This was the hallmark of most of the talks that they had. Hinata always wanted to get the chance to talk to him alone, and Naruto was always more than willing to happily engage her in conversation, but they didn't have much in common to propagate productive dialogue.
Even Hanabi did a better job at conversing with Naruto than Hinata did, and she was significantly younger.
Naruto really liked Hinata. She was a good girl and had never done any wrong by him even as far back as the Academy days, but Ino had a better natural connection to Naruto compared to her. Even back when they'd been genin they'd communicated extremely well, along with Shikamaru as well, which had been Team 10's major sticking point that justified sending them into the chunin exams.
All that Hinata could really do was make small talk about general topics. She was still hesitant to try and lead into any sort of more in-depth conversation with him. Thankfully, Naruto was freer-flowing with the words and could make something for them to talk about even if she couldn't, "So how's Hanabi doing? The chunin exams in Iwa are almost here."
Thankful for the talking point, Hinata graciously smiled Naruto's way, "Hanabi-chan is fine. She talks a lot about getting to the third stage so that she can learn something. A jutsu that you said you would teach her if she got that far?"
"Yeah," Naruto said with a sheepish grin, "I want Little Firecracker to do well, and I know she will anyway, but it's just fun when I can fire her up. She tries to act like she's above that kind of thing, but I know she can get just as riled up as anyone else." Call him sadistic, but he thought it would be fun to see just how crazy Hanabi and Konohamaru would get with against other during the whole exam. They definitely didn't like each other.
"She really looks up to you," Hinata commented, "She thinks you're incredible."
"Ahahaha…" He knew as much already, but it was still weird to think about a Hyuuga looking up to him. Konohamaru he understood, because that kid was kind of a punk. But to know that he'd corrupted one as traditionally prim as Hanabi with his pure undiluted awesome, it warmed the cockles of his heart, "I always thought you were a better person than I can be. Really, I'm not so great."
At that admission he sobered up supremely, thinking of how he'd fled from Orochimaru's full power. He'd ran away. He thought he was done with the losing and running away after returning home from the capital. He couldn't even finish Kabuto off because of all of that. He hadn't had any idea that Kabuto had been that tough of a customer either.
He was strong enough to take on the big boys of the ninja world now and win. He'd defeated Kimimaro, Darui, Guren, and more. When it came to the best of the best though, people like Itachi and Orochimaru, he was still behind them.
There was nothing wrong with that from a standpoint of being a splendid ninja, but being a competent high-ranking ninja wasn't enough when you had the baddest on the planet gunning for your throat. The grind never stopped.
"You should never say something like that," Hinata insisted, a frown marring her gorgeous features, "A person like you, what makes you so special, is that you always look forward instead of dwelling on what's already happened. Don't you see? It's because of you that the rest of us moved past Iruka-sensei's death so quickly."
Naruto's eyes went wide at that being brought up, "Really?"
Hinata nodded, "Kiba-kun even said it, that you had the right idea about going on and getting better, so that nothing like that could ever happen to anyone within these walls ever again. Shino-kun agreed."
That was damnably flattering, and he'd never hear it directly from either of those two with their personalities. Taking it from Hinata was as good as the indivisible truth though, because she never lied. But if it was because of him that the rest of the close-knit next-generation that had been students of Iruka got back up so quickly, the only reason Naruto himself went forward so soon was because of Ino.
Looking down at her feet as she kept talking, Hinata moved through her uncomfortable feelings and kept going, "I-It's why I've always thought you were strong. Not because of the Kyuubi, or because you became good enough to be a Guardian Ninja, or anything like that. So don't be down on yourself."
"Pssht, I don't get down," Naruto insisted, squinting his eyes over in her direction, "Hey, by 'always'… do you mean back in the Academy too?"
Now of all times, years after the fact, he'd admit that his performance in the Academy was downright atrocious even in comparison to the kids that didn't even wind up becoming genin in the end. Effort and always moving forward into the next thing even after failing could only count for so much when you went about it as incorrectly as he did.
"Especially back then."
Huh. Well wasn't that something?
XxX
(With Ino – Elsewhere in Konoha – Hot Springs)
For the last several days, Ino had the nagging suspicion that she was being watched. She was just learning how to sense the more subtle chakra signatures around her, so she wasn't particularly adept at it yet even to the degree that Naruto was. Even so, she had the oddest feeling no matter where she went. Short of heading home for the night she always felt like there was some sort of presence keeping an eye on her.
When feeling like that, she really didn't find the idea of being alone too appealing. Even in a place as public as the baths, she would have rather had someone around that could watch out just in case, or if nothing else serve as a useful witness if something went wrong.
"Is there something wrong?" Sakura asked her after being subjected to Ino's freely wandering eyes moving all over the area suspiciously since they'd first entered, "You seem kind of… twitchy I guess."
"Do you ever get the feeling someone's watching you?" Ino asked in return, finding it hard to relax despite their comfortable setting.
Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "You mean like someone peeking?" She said quietly, shooting her eyes in the direction of the men's side of the bath. That was a fairly long ways away, across the street to the other side of the springs altogether, "I've got a nice little illusion for this situation, just in case any-."
"No, no, no," Ino cut her off before she could cast a blanket genjutsu over the area for naught, "No. I mean, I feel like I've been getting shadowed every time I've gone outside for the last week or so. But I couldn't tell you where it's coming from or who it could be."
"Admirer?"
"No, they've never been that good about hiding from me. And even if it was they would have confronted me by now."
"Stalker?"
"Kami no," Ino cringed at the thought before justifying why it wasn't, "It's not a stalking kind of m.o. because I feel someone watching me all the time except for when I'm at work or at home. If it was a stalker, after they got my routine down they'd pick their spots on when to watch me. They wouldn't keep doing it all the time."
"So someone's actively spying on you?"
"Why me? I'm not even that important."
Sure, she had a job in the intelligence division with torture and interrogation, but she wasn't high-ranking enough to make any fuss over. In the grand scheme of things, all Ino did was the grunt work of actually getting the intel and handing it up the ladder. If anyone were to spy on a member of that division they should have chosen to go after someone higher, at least one of the people that she reported to.
Furrowing her brow in thought, Ino eventually pressed her index and middle fingers to her temple to focus and reach out as far as she could to search for a connection that was somewhat familiar to her, eventually finding one within her technologically unassisted range, "Shika. Are you anywhere near the hot springs?"
It took a moment to hear a reply but she knew she'd heard the mental equivalent of a sigh, "…Yes. What do you want?"
"Humph, well you could be a bit more excited to talk to me," Ino insisted telepathically, and from Sakura's point of view it showed all over her face, "It's not like we've trained together or gone on any missions in a few weeks now."
"The most restful few weeks of my life."
"Oh screw you, that's such a lie. You've been doing your investigation the whole time."
"You're right. And I've just now had a few days of actual downtime since Hokage-sama dismissed me, so what do you want?"
"Go to the hot springs, don't be seen, and do some looking around for me. Where would be the best place to spy on someone on the woman's side of the bath?"
It took a minute or so, probably of Shikamaru debating the merits of actually getting up from wherever he was to head over to the springs and risk looking like a pervert, skulking around upon Ino's request, but eventually the power of friendship won out, "Fine. Give me like ten or fifteen minutes and try me again. I'm going over with Chouji."
"Thank you Shika!" Ino beamed over the connection, a grin spreading across her face physically at netting Shikamaru into sparing a minute to help her out. All she got in return was an annoyed grunt noise, which was weird, because who grunted mentally? It was easier to think words than to think a grunt like that, "It's being handled."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at Ino's assured declaration that the woe she had recently shared with her pink-haired friend was currently being attended to.
"Just like that?" She asked as Ino sank down into the water, "You've been out of it since I picked you up from work. At first I thought it was something to do with Naruto, because Sasuke-kun's been weird since he got home earlier, but now that I know what it is you're over it just like that?"
"Yep."
"Can I ask why, or are you just going to be vague?"
"You'll find out in like twenty minutes."
Any time table given by Shikamaru was always to be taken with a five-to-ten minute lag time added on for safety's sake. Similar to how one on Team 7 was to deal with Kakashi, as they used a minimum of two hours instead of five-to-ten minutes.
XxX
(A Few Minutes Later – Outside of the Hot Springs)
There were many hotels, small snack and sweet shops, and buildings in the hot springs district, which meant many places, many rooftops, alleys, and all other sorts of nooks and crannies to hide in. It was a very easy place to conceal one's presence. All you had to do was ask Jiraiya to find this out.
Keeping an eye on Naruto as Danzo had directed wasn't an option for Sai and his two other cohorts; Fuu and Hyo. After Naruto had compromised them a short time back at the Uzumaki Clan Mask Storage Temple it was decided that it was too risky for Root to directly observe Naruto, thus it fell to observing him secondhand through the people closest to him.
Asuma, Jiraiya, or Tsunade? Fuck no. They were way too dangerous to dwell around for too long. Jiraiya especially since all he needed was a good reason to shove a Rasengan down the throat of anyone having to do anything with Root.
Shikamaru? That boy never did anything. Aside from being too dangerous to shadow, watching him wouldn't garner them any information that they didn't already know.
Thus leaving Ino.
She was slowly developing sensor abilities underneath her father so it was rather dangerous to spy on her too closely, but unlike Naruto her instinctive reaction to things that she felt were off wasn't direct, explosive, or potentially violent. Therefore she was much safer to keep tabs on than any of the alternative options.
If they watched her, eventually she would drift back around to Naruto, as they were teammates and apparently close to having an intimate personal relationship.
Eyeing Ino and Sakura in a women's hot spring that was steadily increasing in the number of women populating the waters, Sai barely blinked at the sight of the well-conditioned bodies of the opposite sex. The physical traits of people, even women, held no interest to him outside of the need to identify a target.
Turning to one of his partners, the masked Hyo, Sai questioned him directly as they watched over the unresponsive body of Ino's fellow clansman Fuu, "Her behavior has been inconsistent with how she's been acting since we've been watching her."
"She's not as good at sensing as Fuu, or even Inoichi-san," Hyo informed Sai, "But with what she is capable of; she has a feeling of when things aren't as they should be, even if she can't tell what it is. This is why we have to stay so far back."
Only Fuu was able to get close with the use of the Mind Body Switch Jutsu of the Yamanaka clan to take over an animal to better observe her. It was safer than any Henge or any sort of jutsu that would cover movement, thus he was their lead man in the operation.
Sai and Hyo only remained in the general area to keep watch over Fuu's body and act as support.
Their bodies then suddenly froze in place entirely, as stiff and unmovable as boards. Oh, that wasn't good.
"You know, girls really don't like being looked at while they're not wearing clothes," Shikamaru commented, appearing behind the Root members as he bound them with his shadow, "I don't know why the police force doesn't post people around to keep watch over this area to keep things like this from happening."
Along with him Chouji noted the identity of one of the two Root members, "Hey Shikamaru, it's that guy that we chased all over the Uchiha District."
"Yeah, we wound up looking pretty hard for you after you went down," Shikamaru said with a small smile, "Now we've got three instead of one. If that isn't something…"
"How'd you even know they were here?"
"Easy," Shikamaru told his rotund friend, "They know Ino can somewhat sense them so they wouldn't get anywhere near close enough for her to ID them, but since she felt them a little anyway they don't know exactly what her range is. At best they had a really good guess, because of that guy I'd wager." He said, pointing to Fuu who was still on the ground motionless.
A bead of sweat went down Sai's face from underneath his headband despite the fact that the severity of the situation didn't otherwise show on his face.
Fuu's body hadn't moved yet, so either he hadn't gone back to his body yet, or he was smart enough to fake remaining unresponsive so that he could wait for an opening. He would have been able to feel all of their bodies be captured, so he knew about it. That was their only chance.
"So," Sai said, trying to buy Fuu a window of opportunity to make a move, "What is it you plan on doing now? You have me, and you have two other partners of mine. What's your next move?"
Shikamaru just pointed at his own head, "We keep running into you guys, and I'm sick of wondering why. Once, twice, yeah maybe I could let it slide, especially since I was told to. Three times or more and it's a damn problem."
"You should have left well enough alone and left us to do our work," Hyo said, somehow managing to come across as threatening despite the lack of any kind of intent or emotion, "You have no idea what you're getting yourselves into."
"No, I don't," Shikamaru admitted, "That's what Ino is for. Chouji?"
"Bubun Baika no Juts (Partial Multi-Size Jutsu)!"
This was it. Sai knew what was about to happen. Shikamaru was going to time the release of his jutsu with Chouji grabbing them all up or smashing them with his own clan jutsu. Shikamaru released Sai and Hyo first, as one of Chouji's giant-sized hands swiped them both up before they could retaliate or make a substitution.
Moving over to Fuu's prone body next, the same precaution was taken to ensure that nothing surprised them. When the shadow jutsu was released and Chouji's free hand swept down to grab him up however, Fuu's eyes instantly snapped open and he leapt at Chouji, intending to draw his tanto and go for the throat.
…At least until his body stopped itself against his will, again. This time it wasn't because of Shikamaru either.
"Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance Jutsu)," Walking into the alley housing the impromptu conflict, Ino held her hands in the necessary hand-seal to disable Fuu's control over his own nervous system.
"I had it handled." Shikamaru insisted, alluding to a second version of himself that he'd hidden to sneak around the back of the alley and attack with its shadow from a different angle. Its shadow had been within inches of reaching Fuu before he could successfully attack Chouji
Ino rolled her eyes and focused fully on Fuu, allowing Chouji to grab him with his other enlarged hand and capture him, "Alright, let's have a talk cousin," She said, referring to Fuu specifically, "Because this following me around shit is getting old."
XxX
(Late Afternoon – Outside of the Gates)
On the reading binge of a lifetime, Kakashi looked up from his third straight book and over to Killer B who was still sitting around doing nothing. Every once in a while he'd pull out his notepad and write while muttering to himself, but gods this had to be boring, "You know, if you're bored you can borrow one of these to read. I'm already done with the other two."
There was no reason not to be cordial. It wasn't like not being polite was going to keep the bottom from falling out on this situation if push came to shove.
Killer B just shook his head and remained silent. Damn this was slow going.
Eventually, Kakashi felt the weight of a hand settle on his shoulder and looked up to see a smoking Asuma look down at him lazily, "Oh, Asuma. Is it time already?"
"Shorter shifts," The bearded jounin said with a shrug, "There's no need for us to all blow ourselves out for days at a time. That's the reasoning for it that I got anyway."
Kakashi regarded the man closely before sighing and closing his book with a snap after dog-earing his last page, "Well I guess that's that," Standing up while gathering the rest of his modest collection, he gave Killer B a wave and departed with a smile, "Until the next time B-san."
With Kakashi and Asuma trading places directly, the latter sitting in for the former, it seemed to be nothing more than a routine changing of the guard until Kakashi got well out of sight and presumably back into the village.
This left just Asuma and B outside on the lonesome road by themselves.
Asuma's body promptly fell apart in a puff of smoke and left one Uzumaki Naruto in its place, staring the Hachibi jinchuuriki down directly with a cigarette still hanging loosely from his mouth. Killer B raised an eyebrow in acknowledgment. That kid had a really good Henge of the smoking Sarutobi. More than likely because the man had been his jounin sensei.
Naruto was certain that Kakashi had indeed seen through it. He wasn't sure why Kakashi let him sit in though. For some reason, the man was always good to him, and Naruto suspected that it was because of who his father was to Kakashi, but he'd given him this avenue, and he was going to take it.
He had to thank Kakashi for that later one way or another.
So there they were. For some reason, Naruto had found it prudent to sit out and face off with him alone.
For the first time in a while, Killer B cracked a big grin at the sight of his entire reason for being in a foreign country sitting right in front of him, "Looks like you found your heart. I guess we can finally start."
Naruto just blinked and let the ash fall off of the end of his cigarette with a movement of his lips before he spoke, "Alright, let's get this out there. I did what I did to protect my teammate, my client, and myself, so if you want to fight let's just go somewhere safe and do this because neither of us have time to let this sit for any longer."
"…Say what?" Killer B reacted blankly.
"If you want to kill me, fine," Naruto said with a shrug, "Let's just get it over with because there's a line for it. At least if you kill me Akatsuki won't get the Kyuubi, so if I have to fight someone that'll kill me after they beat me, I'd rather it be against you."
"You really ain't scared anymore are you?" Killer B had run up against all sorts, to the point that it had been around a decade since he'd had the possibility of doing battle against someone that wasn't wary of his power. To say that he was skeptical of the fact that one week had changed Naruto's tone on the matter was a nice way of putting it.
"Not of you."
But he wasn't flinching.
In a sudden motion, B extended his right arm and hand in the form of an outstretched fist Naruto's way. There wasn't any killing intent behind it, so aside from following it with his eyes, Naruto didn't budge. He simply held it out in front of him as if waiting for something.
After a few seconds, B frowned upon realizing that Naruto had no idea what he wanted from the gesture, "…So uncool. Bump it fool!"
A… fist bump? Really?
Naruto would have wagered Killer B putting that fist through his skull before doing something like that. He didn't know why, but other than rampant paranoia over who it was in front of him, he didn't see a reason not to. Thus, he proceeded to bump fists.
And there Killer B saw it, promptly understanding everything. Why Naruto fought Omoi and Darui to a fatal degree, and how it had been a meeting of chance on the battlefield. A him-or-them situation. But he got more than that.
Naruto didn't leave after running across Killer B because he was afraid of him a week ago. No, no, no, he was about to deal with it right then and there for better or for worse. Naruto only left because he was afraid of Jiraiya AND Sarutobi Hiruzen, and they had specifically told him to get the hell out of there. It was as good a reason for anyone under eighteen years old to do what one was told.
Being wary of someone wasn't the same as being afraid, and being wary of Killer B's power was just common sense, something that many others would try and doubt that Naruto had. This simply was not the case however.
Compared to what Naruto went on to see on his mission, he wasn't scared of anything that Killer B would throw at him. Whether that was a mistake or not, Naruto stood by it in his heart. Orochimaru; a man that was already one of the most powerful ninjas to ever hail from Konoha. He had then taken on the power of a biju, granting him the body with all the power necessary to back up his technical acumen with the ninja arts.
He had full control, just like Killer B did. Not quite actually, but the end results were close enough to being the same.
In addition to that, he could also feel that Naruto had also recently lost someone important to his life, and he too had come face-to-face with the person that had killed him, someone he'd thought to be a friend before being betrayed. He understood the feeling of wanting to get revenge, which was why he was willing to confront B and get whatever was to happen over with.
Killer B didn't hate Naruto. It was just the nature of the beast of the life that they lived that resulted in what happened during a mission to his student. But still, he cared deeply for Omoi before his demise, and he needed to express that.
Without saying anything else, Killer B's red chakra cloak sprang to life around his body. Not to be emasculated, Naruto winced before drawing upon his own, leaving the two jinchuuriki flexing their chakra muscles so to speak.
They were then promptly surrounded by fourteen armed ANBU in black cloaks with their tip-less tantos drawn.
Killer B and Naruto looked around at their mysterious assailants before looking to one another, the wordless question being if they were with Naruto to protect him. In return, Naruto just shook his head and shrugged. They weren't with him. He hadn't been followed out of the village by anyone, he'd made sure of it. That meant that they had already been there, and they were meant to watch Killer B in case he got out of line.
Flaring his demonic chakra was obviously taken as a judgment call for being out of line.
"Kyuubi jinchuuriki," One of the masked men said in an emotionless tone, "Go back to the village and do not turn around. This is none of your concern."
"…Uh, actually this whole thing is my concern," Naruto tried to reason. He knew he couldn't order ANBU to do anything, but these guys reminded him of the guy he and his friends had taken on in the Uchiha District. He really didn't like that guy, "So if you don't mind, fuck off."
They didn't like him either. He was far too emotional to safely be given control of so much power.
"You can be replaced Uzumaki," Another of the odd ANBU members said, "There are far more appealing candidates that would make for a better weapon than yourself."
Ooh. For those that wanted to try and persuade Naruto to step aside without incident, that wasn't really the best thing to say.
You see, Naruto simply was not a fan of that kind of rhetoric. Because of that, they actually pissed him off significantly, for that reason and the fact that they really reminded him of that guy that was spying on him and his friends. This would mark the second time that they had gotten into his personal business.
They weren't Jiraiya. They weren't Sarutobi Hiruzen. Even if there were way more of them, that meant next to nothing to him. If they were threatening to kill him they weren't with Konoha anyway, since everyone would have to know what a no-no that course of action was, for more than one reason.
Glaring all around, Naruto cracked his knuckles underneath his arm warmers as he addressed the rogue ANBU, "You done goofed," To his surprise, Killer B got up as well, also seemingly eager to fight, and not against him, "What? You're helping?"
"Like ya said to them fake-ass ANBU before, this is yours and mine's score," Killer B said with a grin, "If anybody's takin' eight chunks outta your ass it's gonna be me! Wheee!"
Fourteen on two. A complete mismatch in every way.
"Alright sure. Just don't kill any of 'em. I need to see something."
Pity the fourteen.
XxX
(Thirty Minutes Later – Hokage Residence)
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Palming a kunai for security, Hiruzen walked his way to the front door of his very large, very well-protected home. The reason he was armed, was due to the fact that people weren't supposed to just knock on the door. Anyone that came close enough was supposed to be given the business by his ANBU guards, and then only after they were cleared was he to then be informed that he had a guest.
No one knocked on his door. That just wasn't how it worked. He was the Hokage for crying out loud! He wasn't in his office or something where appointments and general walk-ins were welcome, he was at home!
And while knocking on the front door didn't exactly seem like the way to go about an assassination attempt on the God of Shinobi, Hiruzen didn't get that nickname without developing a healthy level of paranoia.
Upon opening his front door however, he then realized what kind of person would be brazen enough to come right up to his front step for anything, "…Can I help you this evening Naruto-kun?" The very same person that found it possible to steal the Scroll of Sealing from that very building years ago. Had it really been that long already?
Either way, Naruto stood in front of the Hokage, goggles down and looking like he'd just had himself one hell of a workout as he jerked his thumb in the direction of several bundles of what appeared to be Konoha ANBU, beaten to a pulp with their masks cracked, broken, and missing altogether, "Is this your shit?"
Wow. Someone had been busy. And he'd even brought a grinning Killer B along, who stood by the captured ANBU like they were trophies.
Needless to say, the reason why the Hokage Residence's ANBU guard hadn't responded in a security measure sort of manner was because they really didn't know just how to react. There were only six of them. Naruto and Killer B had apparently just beaten the hell out of fourteen, had neatly tied them up, and had taken them into the heart of the village (more than likely down the main streets in front of EVERYONE) in order to deliver them straight to the head ninja in charge himself.
It was an extremely confusing scenario.
"No it's not. But I can guess who they belong to," Hiruzen said with a sigh before motioning for one of his ANBU guards who immediately came to his side awaiting orders, "Check them over for anything strange. They aren't ours."
It didn't take long for them to discover the strange seals branded on the backs of the captured ninjas' tongues.
"Danzo…" Hiruzen muttered, wishing that he hadn't left his pipe in his study before heading down to answer his door. Some good, relaxing tobacco was just what he needed, but he wasn't willing to bum any of Naruto's low-cultured cigarettes. He had an image to maintain after all.
Naruto's ears felt like wiggling upon hearing a name that he'd heard dropped hundreds of miles away from home a matter of days ago, "Danzo? As in the elder Shimura Danzo?"
"I'm surprised that you know that name Naruto-kun, but yes."
XxX
(Ten Minutes Later – Naruto's Apartment)
Naruto almost burned a path through the village on the way back home. Killer B had even been surprised at the rate Naruto rushed away from the front of the Hokage Residence.
There was too much on his plate and he was being split into too many directions at once, but since Killer B wasn't spoiling for a deathmatch at the moment, Naruto's mind told him to go and inform his inner circle on what he'd gotten from Hiruzen.
On his way up the stairs he almost kicked his own door in after feeling familiar chakra sources within, his friends. As strange as it was that they were at his place while he wasn't there, that saved him the trouble of having to go around and hunt down someone to run his mouth to.
"Holy crap you guys! I just beat up a bunch of-," Naruto stopped himself mid-tirade when he saw three unconscious Root members on the floor of his front room, bound in place by Shikamaru's shadows, "…-These guys. What the hell?"
"Goldie!" Ino beamed up at him from her place on the floor, greeting him brightly despite the hard work she was subjecting herself to. She was kneeled down by the head of one of the Root ANBU, trying her best to crack their mental defenses and get something useful out of them, "Welcome home!"
This was one hell of a welcome, "What are you guys doing?" Naruto asked Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino as he removed his sandals at the door, "Actually nevermind. I know what you're doing and I think I know why you're doing it, but why are you doing it in my house?"
"Where else were we going to go?" Shikamaru asked, relaxing on a chair while maintaining the rat hand-seal for his shadows, "It's not like we could have stayed in the streets and worked on these guys."
"Literally anywhere else," Naruto responded dryly, taking a seat on the floor next to Ino almost instinctively. Both Chouji and Shikamaru noticed this and shared a look before otherwise brushing it aside, "You could have taken them anywhere else and I'd have been fine with it. I've had enough Root ANBU for one day."
"How many is enough?" Chouji asked from the table in Naruto's kitchen where he was enjoying some leftover takeout from Naruto's refrigerator.
Naruto just shrugged and looked over the faces of the downed fake ANBU. One Yamanaka, one guy that he didn't know at all, and the last one was the guy that he'd already fought once before, "Like fifteen... fourteen maybe."
Ino frowned as her hand moved over the heads of each of the three so that she could work on all of them to crack their defenses, "This is rough," Her free hand brushed across her forehead to wipe away any sweat before it could begin to form, "Whoever sent these guys to spy on me really did a good job in fortifying their heads. Even Juugo wasn't this tough."
"They're from Shimura Danzo," Upon hearing that name, both Ino and Shikamaru focused on Naruto intensely. Both of them knew exactly who that was for different reasons, and what a big player in the village he was, "Kabuto said back when I fought him that he was the one responsible for why he 'existed' or whatever. Either way, when I said it to Hokage-jiji he was pissed."
That was interesting. Shikamaru's mind swarmed immediately, the first thought being that Danzo trained him. But that made no sense. If the rest of these ninjas were his, Kabuto didn't fit the bill for a Root ninja whatsoever.
It didn't make any sense. All of these guys would have broken their own necks before allowing themselves to be liabilities to their organization, and their organization was rather extreme on protecting Konoha by any means necessary. They were also brutally direct in their approach.
Kabuto certainly wasn't any of those things. His sense of self-preservation came first above all else, he clearly cared nothing for Konoha if he ferried info out to Orochimaru, and as he was now one couldn't believe Kabuto if his tongue was notarized.
Danzo wouldn't have had anything to do with a ninja like that. Why would he have created someone like that? Someone he couldn't control the way he controlled the rest of his private army?
XxX
(Kaminari no Kuni – With Itachi and Kisame)
Killer B, the most dangerous jinchuuriki currently in existence was absent from his position within the borders of territory held by Kumogakure. That left a gaping opening for a chance to be taken on Kumo's second jinchuuriki.
While a new partner was sought for Deidara in the wake of Sasori's death, Itachi and Kisame were sent up to take care of this particular jinchuuriki. Kisame didn't mind. She wouldn't be that difficult to get a piece of once she got outside of her village, and with Kisame's water abilities he could extinguish the fires that her biju could allow her to create.
It shouldn't have been too terribly difficult a task to accomplish. If they could take down the Yonbi, they could defeat the Nibi's jinchuuriki as well. Kisame wasn't exactly the hugest fan of fire however after the fight he had with the Konoha ninjas in Mizu no Kuni, thus he was thoroughly motivated to take Nii Yugito on.
Kisame kept snickering every so often as they travelled through the country. He had been ever since Deidara had explained everything that had happened on his and Sasori's bid to find Orochimaru, including the part where Itachi's younger brother fought him.
He found it entertaining that of the two remaining Uchiha Clan members, one handed Deidara his ass and the other one seemed poised to do something similar had he not over-pursued and gotten caught off-guard. Pointing out that Deidara actually ran from him was good to get a laugh at the mad bomber going off angrily in response.
"So that brother of yours sounds like he's doing well," Kisame said with a sharp-toothed grin, "Not shaping up the way you wanted him to though is he? He doesn't have the cure to your Mangekyou blindness sitting in his eye sockets yet."
Itachi's eyes drifted over to Kisame underneath his hat and over the raised collar of his cloak, "I would like to know how you think you know that?"
"Know that you're becoming as blind as a bat?" Kisame said with a shrug, "Itachi-san, I spend most of my time around you, and I have for years. Do you really think I couldn't notice your eyesight failing?"
That was the façade of the berserker that disguised the fact that Kisame was a rather intelligent and attentive man. He tried to look past everything on the surface, and was extremely difficult to assure of anything that he hadn't confirmed for himself.
"And this doesn't bother you?" Itachi asked, "That I'm losing my eyesight?"
"If it doesn't have you in a panic, it doesn't bother me," Kisame said, "From what I've seen, you're still stronger than me. So it doesn't necessarily matter yet. Of course we could always go get your brother and fix you."
Itachi didn't let his steps waver in the slightest, playing off the entire matter of his brother coming after him altogether, "He's not worth it."
"Cold-blooded as always Itachi-san." Kisame commented with a chuckle as they continued on. That was why he liked Itachi. Straight to the point, no need for sentiment. The man was like a shark.
After all, he'd already proven that he was willing to devour his own kind to stay alive.
XxX
(Konohagakure no Sato – Naruto's Apartment)
As Ino's mind-bending interrogation process continued to drag on later into the night, Chouji eventually shook his head, having moved away from the kitchen table to sit down with the rest of his childhood comrades, "We can't keep these guys here. Not for too long."
Keeping three unconscious ninjas in Naruto's apartment sounded cool (not to Naruto), but eventually something would go wrong. ANBU patrolled along with the military police constantly since the Kabuto happenstance, and if they were caught with these guys in Naruto's place, things were going to get nasty… for Naruto.
"What the hell are we going to do with them then?" Shikamaru asked before yawning audibly, "Fork them over to Hokage-sama? No. Then we'd never get our own answers. This is our problem too since they keep messing with us. I for one would like to at least know what we did."
Over with Ino her brow was furrowed with effort as she rolled through as much as she could of the three Root ninjas' minds, "This is like peeling three regenerating onions. Every time I get through one layer it's never the end of it. It's like I'm going in circles."
"Well focus on one and break them one at a time."
"That's what I did first smart guy," Ino retorted crankily. Who did he think he was talking to, an amateur? Of course she'd done that, "I focused on one, then when I looped around his head for the third time I moved to the next one until the same thing happened. Rinse and repeat. That was when I started leapfrogging between them, and then I started the other approaches. I'm trying every method daddy taught me and I'm hitting the wall here."
Laying down on the floor at Ino's side, Naruto poked Fuu in the head lazily, "Well this guy's a Yamanaka that's older than you, and you're using Yamanaka mind reading moves right? He probably told Danzo how to block that stuff so no other Yamanaka could read 'em. Actually, that Danzo guy probably knows how to stop all of the interrogation techniques from this village."
That brought Ino's attempt to read their minds to an end. Naruto actually had a point. A good point.
Ino had met Danzo, several times over the years. He was very intrigued by the goings-on of the Konoha Intelligence Division, especially that of Konoha T&I, and he was an elder. He was one of the top 5 highest-ranked ninjas in the village. There wasn't really anything info-wise that was above his pay grade.
He probably did know how to block every method of interrogation that Konoha had to offer. He probably had a failsafe for Ibiki's nastier measures just in case these guys didn't have unbreakable wills.
Thinking of this, not knowing that he was sharing that same thought with Ino and Shikamaru, Naruto began looking the Root ninjas over, in particular in their mouths after remembering his time with Hiruzen earlier that evening. Of course, he found the seal on the backs of their tongues, "Fuck. Found the problem. I'm stupid."
"Ugh, a seal?" Ino groaned, sitting backwards on the floor where she rubbed her sore knees from having kneeled on them for hours, "Can you break it Goldie?"
Naruto hummed to himself as he looked it over, "…Maybe. Probably. I can't do it tonight though. I need some more time to break it down,"
He then looked over at Ino and could see her dearth of chakra. Shikamaru had long since stopped holding them with his shadows since Ino had their consciousness in the palm of her hand, making his shadows unnecessary, so he had his chakra. She'd been working nonstop for hours, and that had been after Naruto had shown up. He didn't know how long she'd been into it before he'd arrived.
Sitting up, Naruto put a hand on Ino and shut his eyes, releasing a chakra pulse inside of her to feel how her chakra reserves were holding up. The sensation actually tickled her quite a bit and she squirmed, trying and failing to bite back a giggle.
"Tee-hee…" The red-faced Yamanaka girl couldn't help herself, "What was that all about?" She didn't know what it had been, she just knew that she'd liked it. She liked it a lot.
"It's probably better that I can't break this tonight anyway," Naruto said to the others after removing his hand, "Ino-chan's low on chakra. Even if I could break the seals right now, she doesn't have enough to keep going."
Mind readers worked in shifts for bigger jobs like this. Ino had been doing this alone.
Shikamaru nodded in understanding and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Right. So we stash them here until morning. First thing, before the sun is even up, we have to move them, because Chouji is right. We can't keep these guys here."
"I've got a place in mind," Naruto volunteered with a grin, "It's totally perfect."
"This is a fucking drag," Getting up from his sitting place Shikamaru enlisted Chouji's help to assist him in moving the bodies somewhere where they could be bound and effectively neutralized until it was time to move them, "I feel like a damn criminal…" He grumbled to himself as he decided that the broom closet was good enough to cram those jerks for a few hours.
It wasn't like Naruto had a lot of space for clandestine activities. It was either the broom closet or the bathroom, and he had a feeling that the resident of the apartment wouldn't have appreciated the latter.
Ino watched Shikamaru and Chouji drag Sai, Fuu, and Hyo off before sighing and almost collapsing back against the wall. She had really overextended herself trying to gut out a long interrogation such as the one she'd just completed, and all for nothing, "Hah… I checked their mouths for anything like suicide tablets and things, but I didn't see the seals."
She assumed that because she didn't know much about seals, she didn't think about checking every nook and cranny for any after doing the usual checks.
"They were at the backs of their tongues Ino-chan." Naruto said to defend her from herself, "You've got to get up in there and pull it out just to see it if they're out cold like they were."
Ino just moaned fitfully and leaned over to fall with her head on Naruto's lap, "…Tired." She could feel Naruto's body shake in quiet laughter at how childish her declaration of her exhaustion sounded. Hey, they couldn't all be walking chakra batteries like he was.
"Alright," Shikamaru walked back into the front from the hallway where he and Chouji had detained the Root members in his supply closet, "Their mouths are covered and those guys aren't going to be able to even move a muscle until I come back to get them, so we're good. I'm out of here."
Following the lazy genius out, Chouji made sure to wave goodbye before shutting the door, "See you guys. I'll bring breakfast!" Well that was certainly nice of him. Chouji was good people.
That left Naruto and Ino, "Ino-chan, go home. We're only gonna be able to get like five hours of sleep tonight and you need to rest to get your chakra back."
"Used too much chakra," Ino said, purposefully refraining from using pronouns to oversell her fatigue, "Carry to room. Staying here."
Rolling his eyes, Naruto swept his arms underneath the backs of her knees and underneath her back to cradle her and pick her up off of the floor. Ino almost mewled into his grasp, grinning saucily as he carried her back to his room right up until he unceremoniously dropped her on the bed.
"Hey! That is not how you put a lady to bed!" Ino cried out, kicking her legs weakly on the mattress. All she got in return was Naruto making a talky hand gesture over his shoulder as he went back into the living room, "You've got to be gentle Goldie!"
"I am gentle 'princess'!" Naruto's voice sounded out through the doorway from the hallway bathroom where he was changing. The door opened and his voice became that much clearer to her, "I dropped you on the bed instead of on the floor, or outside my door, or off of the balcony. Gentle."
Ino pouted, though Naruto couldn't see it. Eventually she started looking around and determined something after getting up to analyze it, "Oh wow, you washed the clothes that I left over here back when I used to sleep here sometimes." They were neatly folded on the top of Naruto's dresser. How considerate.
From the living room where Naruto was retrieving his sleeping roll for camping out, he heard Ino's inquiry and answered her, "Yeah, I didn't see why not. I didn't have that much laundry that week anyway, so it wasn't any trouble."
Having gotten the bag, he carried it back into his room to roll out on the floor when he returned and saw Ino taking her hair out of her ponytail, wearing a set of pajamas that she'd left over there. She'd changed in his room, with it possible for him to walk back in at any given time. She either really trusted him, knew she'd change quickly enough, or part of her wanted him to see her less than fully clothed.
Noticing that Naruto had reentered, Ino turned and smiled at him until she noticed that he was holding his travel bed. Her expression then descended into a frown, "Yeah, you're not using that."
"What? Why?"
"Goldie, I'm not taking your bed from you," Ino deadpanned, "We're both mature enough to sleep in it. We've slept in the same bed before."
"Your dad would murder me." Naruto easily remembered Inoichi's sort-of threat from years ago about his daughter, and how he was trusting Naruto to not take advantage of the fact that she was important to him, and yadda-yadda-threatening dad-yadda-yadda. That was all without him ever knowing about the very close proximity that Ino would often keep with Naruto back when they were genin and she wanted to sleep.
Whether Naruto was stronger or not, Inoichi could still break his brain, and he wasn't down with that in any way, shape, or form.
"Daddy can mind his own business," Ino insisted, crossing her arms sternly underneath her chest as she plopped herself back down on the bed. She hadn't completely buttoned up her top, so it did wonders for showing and bouncing her bosom, "Now hop in scaredy cat."
"What, are you scared of your human girlfriend now?" The Kyuubi taunted from inside of Naruto's mind, "Hahahaha, I'm sure she doesn't bite. Or at least if she does you would probably like it."
'Don't need the comments right now, thank you! We can talk later!' Naruto shouted mentally in return before remembering that he didn't bother to spell out that Ino wasn't his girlfriend, "…Scoot over," Naruto slid underneath the covers next to a grinning Yamanaka girl, "What are you so super-happy about?"
"What? Who said I was super-happy?" She couldn't even muster the restraint to fight off the grin on her face to give that comment some credibility. She was smiling like a kid that knew she was doing something bad, and she'd been the one to say that they were mature enough to share the same bed.
It was an infectious attitude though, because Naruto returned it full-force, "You need to chill out," Naruto put his hand on Ino's stomach and let out the same chakra pulse as before in the living, only this time it was to tickle her all over instead of gauge her chakra reserves. Hearing her laugh and feeling her squirm next to him only spurred him on, "What? Does that tickle?"
"You know it tickles you jerk!" Ino said between laughs, "Don't give me that crap!"
"Hmm, I don't get it," Naruto feigned ignorance before a look of realization hit him, "Oh, it does tickle! I didn't know that!" He said, letting her feel another pulse that sent her all the way down on the mattress, putting the laughing young woman at his mercy, "I didn't know you were so sensitive either Ino-chan."
After giving her another one, he found himself pulled down by the collar of his shirt, a hair's breadth away from Ino's lips. He could feel her body shudder underneath him as she continued to wriggle about in a more reserved manner, "Goldie…" Ino whispered to him softly, "You shouldn't do that again."
"Why?" There was simply too much 'challenger' in Naruto to obey at first request, at least not until he saw the almost hungry look in her eyes.
She wasn't being playful with him. Those were eyes full of intent, "…Because if you do I don't think I'll be able to control myself," Thighs pressed together tightly, Ino's face was a flushed red as she spoke, "I mean it."
When Naruto gave her those chakra pulses she could feel it tingle all over her body. All. Over. From the top of her head to the tip of her toes, and everything in between.
But in what way did she mean it? Did she tell him that because she wanted him to keep the two of them from doing something that was one bridge too far, or did she tell him because she actually wanted him to be bad and make her lose control?
"Ino," Naruto said to her, slowly rubbing his hand on her stomach, "Do you really want me to not do it again?" He asked her softly, "Tell me right now and I won't."
"And if I don't say anything?"
"…"
"…"
When they both went silent, Ino simply closed her eyes with a smile, allowing him to do as he would. His intent was felt full-force when she felt him call her bluff and force another pleasurable pulse of chakra through her. Oh, that was it. He was going to get it one way or another if she had anything to say about it.
She shuddered intensely before latching her lips onto Naruto's, intertwining her legs with his. It wasn't a chaste little peck on the lips or a first-kiss kind of deal. It was the sort of kiss from someone that knew what they wanted and held no qualms about taking it.
Had he not been warned in advance, it would have caught Naruto by surprise, but knowing how impulsive Ino could be he also knew that she would act on what she said. He hadn't been fully prepared for just how searing the kiss he received was, but he responded to it emphatically.
Hands bunching up Ino's pajama top, exposing the smooth skin of her toned body, he held her close as they explored each other's mouths with their tongues. Any apprehension either of them left had to admitting how they felt about each other vanished into thin air.
Pushing away, Ino planted light kisses on Naruto's jaw before he moved down to kiss at her neck, "Mine," She said to herself quietly as she was taken onto her back, clutching Naruto to her as tightly as she could, "Mine, mine, mine, mine." All she got was a low rumbling from Naruto's throat as he continued to lavish his affections onto her.
While Ino needed to get some sleep, she could always use the excuse of staying up for guard duty as the reason why she didn't get much rest when the topic would invariably come up the next morning. There was absolutely no need to inform anyone that she had basically allowed Naruto to grope and tongue-wrestle her into submission… yet anyway.
Hey, at least when they were finished she'd definitely be more than winded enough to catch a few 'z's, even if she would probably have at least one hickey to show for it. She probably wouldn't even bother using a medical jutsu to make any of them fade, instead she'd probably choose to wear them like trophies until they went away naturally.
It would just be a silver lining on a golden cloud as far as she was concerned.
Omake: Out of Body Experience (Hour 5 – Naruto's Side)
What a workout. All of that male stripping in Shikamaru's body was thirsty work. He really needed to work on his stamina. Luckily, with all of the tips Naruto got from working it in front of the dozens of affluent women in Konoha, he was able at the very least to buy himself a nice sports drink as he hid himself at the top of the extremely tall Kikyo Castle landmark in town.
That was a good place to hide and plan his next move. He'd give Shikamaru a cut of his stripping proceeds of course, but he'd get the most of it. He did all of the legwork after all.
Eventually, Naruto did feel that he had been joined on the roof of the castle. One of Shikamaru's clones must have finally let him in on exactly where he was, "…Took you long enough. You actually tried looking for me after I started getting you good?"
"What. Did you. Do?" Shikamaru asked gravely, giving Naruto the sternest look he could muster in Naruto's body, "Do you know how many people in the village are talking about murdering me for what you did in my body? Asuma-sensei wants to kill me."
There was a lynch mob of the village's men probably forming at that very moment with the express purpose of capturing Shikamaru's body and making him pay for what Naruto did while in his form.
"Yeah, good luck with that," Naruto responded to his friend with a very un-Shikamaru-like grin on the face of his hijacked body, "You upped the ante first with your string of bullshit. I just rose to the occasion. Don't start what you can't finish."
"You started it!"
"I just ran off in your body! You drew first blood, not me!"
"You stripped for women in my body Sergio."
"Hey, yeah I stripped in your body. So don't use my stripper alias, use yours like I did. Get it right."
"I'm not ever saying that troublesome name ever again. I don't want to hear you fucking say it," Shikamaru saw Naruto open his mouth and pointed at him threateningly, "Don't you dare."
"…Shade Jackson."
"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu)!" A titanic shadow spread from Naruto's body at Shikamaru's behest, attempting to ensnare Naruto's and trap him, "This ends now!"
Despite the shadow's size and width, Naruto was easily able to evade it, even in Shikamaru's slower-to-react body, and even on a rooftop, "You're not in-synch with my chakra enough to control it right are you? No wonder you didn't just try to exhaust all of mine to end the jutsu early!"
When it came to using jutsu in the other's body, Shikamaru used more in Naruto's body than Naruto used in Shikamaru's, by a large margin. Naruto hadn't wasted a speck of Shikamaru's chakra all day long. He had been afraid that the first time he'd try any of his ultra-costly ninjutsu in Shikamaru's body he'd overload it and drain a huge amount unnecessarily, so he'd been very frugal about using chakra.
Shikamaru didn't have to worry about that at all. Good luck on trying to get rid of all of Naruto's chakra. Even with the lack of control and the abundance of chakra that Naruto had causing Shikamaru to overload everything he threw at Naruto, nothing he had was chakra-costly enough to really dent his teammate's supply.
"Kage Nui no Jutsu (Shadow Sewing Jutsu)!" Shikamaru was now willing to harm his own body in order to stop the emotional terrorist inside of it. The mood had officially changed, and Shikamaru needed to stop Naruto before he made the coming days after they returned to their own bodies even more troublesome than he already had.
What normally would have been an extremely imposing attack jutsu of multiple thin shadow tendrils became a massive, bulky black abomination with an uncountable number of dark appendages. It was a rather horrifying sight and would have scared any hardened ninja… that didn't know how the jutsu was supposed to work.
Naruto did know. He knew that there was a reason Shikamaru ensured that the tendrils were always as thin as he could make them, and why he never made more than two dozen or so.
"…How are you even gonna control all of those?" Naruto asked curiously instead of running after he realized that none of the shadow tendrils were moving his way, instead just waving around uselessly, "I can't even count how many you made."
Shikamaru just groaned at the waste of time he'd created. Even if he could focus on any tendril in particular to attack Naruto with, none of them would have really moved fast enough to threaten him, "I thought I'd gotten past the chakra-synching after I made enough Kage Bunshin to look for you."
"Yeah, I'll admit that making clones isn't really as complicated as all of the shadow stuff Shika." Naruto admitted sheepishly.
"EEEEEK! TENTACLE MONSTER!"
Both Naruto and Shikamaru froze at the sounds of alarm they'd heard from the street below. The two then noticed the sight of every civilian scrambling away as if they were extras in a monster movie, pointing and crying out at the sight of Shikamaru's jutsu. Small ninja response squads were flying their way across the far lower rooftops to respond to the would-be threat.
"Take it down!" A ninja shouted from the lower-lying rooftops as many people readied their hand-seals for whatever distance jutsu they had at their disposal. Nobody was willing to get close to a tentacle monster to fight it. To hell with that. Everyone knew what those things did, "Scorched earth!"
The two former Guardians then paid attention to the actual sight of Kage Nui no Jutsu themselves and realized that, yes indeed it was large enough and had the appearance of the aforementioned abomination, "…Put it away! Put it away right now Shika!"
Shikamaru canceled the jutsu and both he and Naruto bailed off of the roof of Kikyo Castle with a pair of Shunshin to evade the multi-elemental barrage, mostly fire, flying their way from below and nearly blowing apart the entire top portion of the castle.
Sure, it was a beautiful, awe-inspiring landmark that was an integral part of the more majestic traits of the village… but there was a tentacle monster on top of it. All bets were officially off. No cost to village infrastructure was too high to exterminate such a natural atrocity. A fate worse than death awaited any who found themselves captured by the dreaded tentacle monster.
(Hour 5 – Ino's Side)
"Oh my…" Shizune muttered to herself, holding a hand over her face as she, Ino, Kiba, and Akamaru stood at the site of the now half-burned down castle that used to be a pristine landmark in Konoha. A piece of history as one of the oldest buildings still standing in the village, and it was half burnt out, "…They burned Kikyo Castle down?"
"Technically they didn't burn it down," Kiba pointed out, trying to be helpful, "Everybody else burned it down. Naruto and Shikamaru were just the reason that they did it. Hey Ino?"
Ino just groaned and rested her head against a wall hopelessly, "I'm so dead when it breaks that this was mostly my fault," Ino cried to herself, "I'm going to get bussed back down to genin all over again… I'll probably even get sent to the correctional facility for a 60-day spell. I am NOT wearing those prison jumpsuits!"
Shizune gave her a hopeful pat on the back and a smile, "There, there. It might not be so bad. Accidents happen," Ino in response simply pointed at the castle, the fire that had been burning it having just now been put out, "This is a ninja village. Property damage happens here all the time."
Not major property damage like this, but it happened nevertheless. The saving grace was that it was a joint effort from not only Naruto and Shikamaru, but also over fifteen other ninjas who impulsively attacked the creature on the top of the castle.
"Mmm…" Ino moaned weakly to the comforting medic-nin, "Just… Kiba, just tell me where they are. We almost got them this time. Next time for sure. Maybe this is as bad as it'll all get?"
Seeing the girl's distressed state, it almost made Kiba feel bad about what he was about to say next, "About that. Good news and bad news," Ino's head slowly turned behind her in his direction, almost a full one-eighty from its previous position. Scary, "Yeah, while I'm not gonna confuse Shikamaru with the clones he made anymore, there's a reason for that. He and Naruto must have cut it really close to getting caught in the fire, because it burned their scents off of them for the time being."
"So you're saying we've got nothing?" Miss Yamanaka was not pleased.
"Uh, yes. Until they actually start doing stuff that restores their scents or gives them new ones, I won't be able to track them anymore," Kiba laughed sheepishly, slowly backing away from the trembling young woman for safety, "Are you alright?"
Ino didn't say anything at first, merely trembling until her arm lashed out and put her fist through a wall. A brick wall.
XxX
"GOD-DAMN IIIIIT!"
Still in Shikamaru's body, Naruto froze upon hearing the loud, ear-shattering yell coming back from Kikyo Castle way, "…Was that Ino-chan?"
Yes, he was going to go the other way. He wasn't going to venture anywhere in that general direction.
As to reasons why, Ino's clear and present rage aside, first of all, he was still ducking Shikamaru after they'd separated. Now that he had the upper hand, he wasn't going to let it go until the jutsu expired, and he was going to burn Shikamaru at least once more while he still had some time left on the clock.
Second of all, he needed to procure himself a change of clothes, because the only pieces of Shikamaru's clothing that survived the fire were his mesh undershirt, his arm-blade attachments, his underpants, and Guardian Ninja sash that served as a temporary loincloth. Even the sandals melted.
Naruto could only imagine what parts of his own clothes actually survived. The only thing he could see definitely surviving the blaze that they'd been in was the harness that held his machete.
Hopefully Shikamaru didn't have anything too devious left up his sleeve. Otherwise Naruto would have to go nuclear in his approach to ensure that he got out of this with the upper hand.
As he retreated to attend to his evil deeds, Naruto just snickered about how he was going to razz Shikamaru after this all blew over, "Heh... Tentacle Monster Jutsu..."