398Chains of the Maelstrom
Chunin Exam Finals: Exhibition Match
Jail Break
It was during the changing of the guard that they attacked, it may have seemed foolish to attack the Uchiha Police Station, when there were five Uchiha, instead of waiting for there to be only three. But the mindsets of their targets would be to make the turnover as swiftly and efficiently as possible. The incumbent guards would be thinking only about getting relieved and off their feet, as quickly as they could, they had just completed a long and boring watch, for who knows how long, they deserved to get some rest. The aspirant guards, who were most likely still trying to awaken their foggy minds, were dreading the hours of guard duty that lay before them, they were not looking forward to this detail, and what's more, they were busy listening to the turnover from the previous watch, as was the watch commander, since he would need to be able to write everything in a report to be submitted to his superiors, all the way up to Keisatsu shochō (Police Chief) Shisui, which could land on Fugaku-sama's desk at any time. It was as much as his career was worth if he missed even the smallest detail, that could prove crucial if an investigation hinged upon it.
So, they did not perceive their danger until it was too late, when they suddenly began to hear the lilting sound of a flute. The music was serene and peaceful, it entered the minds of the police officers, the ones that were going off watch, whose minds were already thinking of their beds, the on-coming guardsmen whose minds were not fully cognizant yet, were lulled into languor. The watch commander also heard it, but was not succumbing to the melody, he merely thought it was pretty, and turned to find a fair-skinned girl with a slender build, with browneyes, an aloof expression on her face. Only her eyes held any kind of emotion, which bespoke of passion and desire, the watch commander was so captivated by her eyes, that he failed to notice the other four figures advancing toward them.
One pale-hand came out so swiftly, that the watch commander never knew what hit him, when jagged white bones, punctured his temple, and making sure to grab the watch commander's keys, which would enable them to unlock any door in the jail. A larger, meatier hand came out of his cloak and crushed the throat of one of the guards, while a pair of arms flashed out with a golden strand, of what some would think of as wire, but was chakra thread, another guard met his end at the business end of a garrote. The other two died with their throats cut by kunai, as the last figure turned his back on one, another pair of arms came out of his back to kill the other Uchiha guardsman.
The Sound Five needed to conceal their deeds as much as possible, so instead of letting their victims drop to the ground, they picked them up and hustled inside. Tayuya hurried in after them, closing the door behind her, they came to a closet just big enough to hide their victims. They swiftly secured their targets in the closet, closed, and locked it from the outside, and regrouped. The kunoichi was chuckling cruelly, "these shitheads never knew what hit them," she declared, "these pussies let their guard down over a pretty song and some knockers. Real men do not fall for such amateur bullshit," then turned demurely to look at the leader of her squad, "right, Kimimaro-sama?"
The white-haired man did not answer his subordinate, he merely cast his eyes around for any opposition. Sakon was grinning sadistically, and answered in the Kaguya's place, "they must not have been getting any recently, if they thought a stick like you, beautiful, Tayuya-kun."
"Yeah, those mosquito-bites under your shirt are not what they fell for," came from the six-armed, Kidomaru, "it was the vapid look of a bimbo, that interested this trash!"
"You shitheads can kiss my ass," the girl glowered harshly, "you couldn't pay me enough to touch your pricks, I'd probably need a magnifying glass just to find them."
"You shouldn't be so unladylike, Tayuya-san," Jirobo admonished, "you will never attract a husband if you act like that."
"Shut your mouth, fatso-san," Tayuya shouted!
They were all about to respond when, "all of you shut up," Kimimaro broke in sharply, cutting their commentary like a knife, "we are here to rescue, Orochimaru-sama, and we are in the lair of the enemy. Time to start acting like ninja," he reprimanded, "not squabbling schoolchildren!"
The Five moved through the halls of the prison, peeking around corners, and checking doors, the jail was silent, eerily quiet. Too quiet, and this was making every one of them, even the last Kaguya, feel anxious, this reminded them of any number of scenarios they were familiar with on missions. They finally came to the medical wing of the Uchiha prison, "you guys," Jirobo finally grumbled, "I got a bad feeling about this."
"For once, I agree with fatso-san over here," the kunoichi admitted, "don't you find it strange that we haven't come across even one Uchiha clansman, when not only is this place where they work, but also where they live?"
"I am beginning to understand what a rat in a cage feels like," Ukon said from his brother's back.
"More like flies caught in a spider's web," the eight-limbed man corrected, and even Kimimaro's eyes had narrowed, as they progressed through the prison and noticing something else missing.
"The prisoners," he said, "there are no prisoners, even trash such as these should have had some prisoners. If only drunks, and pickpockets, who would be rife for an event like the Chunin Exams," he clued his subordinates in, "so where are the prisoners?"
According to their unwitting source, Orochimaru-sama was being held in a room on the back wall of the prison, and after studying charts copied for them by Kabuto, they knew where they would put someone if they wanted to insure, he remained under guard. It was in this section of the prison they found themselves, as they rounded a corner and stared down one of the longest stretches of hallway they had found. The walls were bare of any ornamentation and ran for over 91 meters, to the end of the corridor, which was at the head of a 'T' junction with two branching hallways.
They were approaching the door, with an ever-increasing feeling of trepidation, and had almost resigned themselves to being captured or killed, when they reached the door. They tested it and much to their surprise, it opened without much, if any, resistance. The Five were half expecting to find the room filled with guardsmen, or even be empty, what they found was the item they least expected, their comatose Lord, and benefactor, Orochimaru.
Leaf Village Coliseum Arena
Naruto swung his sword in an overhead slash, toward his fellow Uzumaki's red head, who parried his attack to her left. She then riposted and nicked his opposing arm, while he used the momentum of her parry, to side-step toward the same side and aimed a slash at her belly. Karin countered by flipping over the blade to land on her feet, with her blade and left side warding off the blonde Uzumaki. They remained in eye contact, she was immune to the Eye of Hypnotism, always seeming to break eye contact just before he puts her under his spell. It is like she knows, when I am trying to use a genjutsu against her, and when I wasn't, Naruto concluded, hm, am I falling into the same trap Anko-sensei fell into, before she became our sensei, relying on one type of technique too much?
The Kumo kunoichi charged at the Konoha-nin, with her sword raised behind her head, but Naruto, decided not to meet the charge head on and began running side-ways to try gaining position on her. Karin veered after him, and before long, they were approaching the wall of the arena. Naruto slowed just enough, to let her gain ground on him but remained outside of the length of her blade. Just before he hit the wall, he suddenly turned 90-degrees, running lateral to it. He felt her with his whisker-sense and looked behind to find her running on the wall, about to come parallel to him. It must be the concave geometry of the wall, he guessed, but his immediate concern was that she had placed her katana between her teeth and was going through hand-signs.
As she reached the last hand-sign, Karin leapt to the ground directly ahead of Naruto, and released her chakra into the earth. Just as she did, Naruto threw a spread of shuriken ahead of himself, and Karin's jutsu activated, and a stone slab shot itself into his path. The stars he threw flew past the wall just as it pushed itself in front of him, so he activated the shuriken's seals and flashed through the wall to the other side. She may be immune to the Eye of Hypnotism, but he still saw how she was moving her fingers and knew how she was molding her chakra.
Karin came to her wall and was to cancel the Dotonjutsu, which would demolish the wall, when her eyes went wide. She jumped out of the way, right as the wall exploded, in what would have been her face. As soon as he had Hiraishined behind it, Naruto placed a paper bomb on the wall, before shun-shinning away.
It is extremely dangerous to lose track of a ninja when you are fighting one, as soon as Karin could no longer track him with her normal senses, she knew she was in trouble. Instead of panicking however, she just stopped and stretched out with her Mind's Eye of Kagura, a sensory ability she had developed which was unique to her Uzumaki line, alone. With it, she could find and track chakra over a vast distance, as well as perceive any unusual chakra activity within a radius of several dozen kilometers. She can perceive her target's location and movements in detail, by focusing upon their specific chakra signature. The Mind's Eye of Kagura gives her the capability to perceive fluctuations in a person's chakra, especially when they were lying or if someone, including herself, is under a genjutsu. These sensory capabilities bless Karin with abilities that even surpass dojutsu with comparable powers.
This was the reason, when Naruto, who had cloaked himself in wind, to become invisible to her physical senses, was caught completely by surprise when she shunshinned directly at him. She grabbed his sword-arm and flipped him to the ground, sending his blade flying out of arms reach, and before Naruto recovered, Karin's chain came out and wrapped itself around his body. Like a spider wrapping its prey in webbing to trap it for consumption, "Naruto-sama, will you please forfeit," she asked him, "like you, I have no wish to harm you any further than I must?" Naruto said nothing, even if he could feel her reluctance to hurt him, she waited just a few minutes before continuing, "very well my Lord, you leave me no choice, commencing Chakra Drain," she waited once more, to see if he would finally give up; he did not. There was an eerie, blue glow that enveloped her package, the chain, and herself, even those that could not normally perceive chakra were seeing it happen, Naruto's strength was flowing into Karin's body. The crowd was watching with rapt attention, even those who loved him, were quite surprised with the amount of chakra flowing into the Uzumaki female.
Karin was draining Naruto into chakra exhaustion, but she was rapidly filling up herself, she had only expended a small amount of chakra during this match and the one with Gaara. There was only so much chakra one could have in their body, unless they had worked for it, before it became dangerous; to overload oneself with chakra was similar to over-filling a balloon, it could cause you to explode, and no, that was not an understatement, the average person on this planet carried enough chakra to level a house, if they were to be suddenly filled with chakra without the training. That was according to Uzumaki archives, most people were only able to grow their chakra naturally, they were the only race on this world with a natural method of filling their coils with foreign chakra – chakra not native to their own pattern – so Karin had to be careful how much chakra she drained from him, or she ran the risk of killing herself, Naruto, and leveling most of Konoha.
Karin was about to release her Lord and clansman when he suddenly dispelled in a puff of smoke. Which confused the Uzumaki kunoichi, how was he able to use chakra, my chain should have cut off all his chakra usage, including the Rinnegan? Wait, my chain only stops him from using chakra, it does not affect chakra already in use, it will not damage Kage bunshin when they are wrapped up, except when I use the chakra drain, which works on them like any other creature of the world. The only difference is they dispel when their energy is depleted, instead of just dying, but most Shadow Clones are drained quickly, they never take that long to dispel, unless…
Karin heard the crumbling of earth and rock, a split-second too late, before she felt the piercing pain of two miniature harpoons, stabbing into her upper and lower back. Her shriek of pain sounded horrendous, as she dropped her sword, but that was about as serious as her wounds were. Naruto had concealed himself in the earth but made sure, to only stab her well to the right of her heart and spine, and just above the hip but below the kidneys, no vital organs were harmed by his attack. Out of the ground behind Karin, Naruto rose, propelled into the air by three of his chains, he sent another chain with the tip in a pincer claw to trap her chain, preventing retraction.
Naruto was in his normal garb and his blade was sheathed on his back, the one used by the Shadow clone had dispelled with the Shadow clone. Naruto set down in front of Karin, he had a confident, but not gloating grin on his face, "will you please forfeit, Karin-chan," he asked, "I believe I have you captured?"
Karin fought through the pain with a sardonic grin of her own, "I will not forfeit, Naruto-sama," he looked sad as she said that, he did not want to inflict anymore pain on her than was necessary, but she was not finished, "I, Uzumaki Karin, hereby forthwith and immediately, defect from Kumogakure no Sato, and wish to seek asylum with the Uzumaki clan of Konohagakure no Sato!"
Gekkō was stunned by this turn of events, but not so stunned that he did not understand what was going on, "you would betray your village that easily, where is your honor as a ninja," his voice was not harsh or critical, it was in the formulaic cadence of a diplomat, this was the proper way of accepting this form of request?
"My village betrayed us first, proctor-san," Karin waved her hand at the crowd, then at the Executive Box, "my Kage did not even send a representative to observe our matches. I am sure that the invitations to attend the Exams, reached his desk with plenty of time for him to organize something to aid us, but we have not received as much as a congratulations letter from our village. Yugito-chan and I, remained here in Konoha for an entire month, and not once did our sensei, Killer B come to this village to train us. According to the Laws of Shinobi, that means that they have cut us off from the village, which means we are free to choose which village to offer our allegiances to, Yugito-chan, by supplication to Naruto-sama here has already become a part of the village. Therefore, I am free to advocate on my own behalf, and I might as well ally myself with the village, with the only known, active Uzumaki clan presence, thus to answer your question, yes I am prepared to betray my village," Karin answered, "but only to Naruto-sama, my allegiance to the Leaf Village is only as strong as his allegiance. If he were to ever foreswear this village, then I shall follow him," she concluded, "I swear in the name of Kami-Osama."
Before Gekkō Hayate could answer, the sky turned a crimson-red, then the Executive Box exploded from its moorings, propelling the four occupants inside in two different directions. Two of the occupants flew off into the distance, and from their arc, it looked like they were headed into the Hidden Leaf forest. Naruto used his Rinnegan to follow their arc, yep those are my mothers, luckily while their outer appearance is the same, they have different chakra auras. Resurrected-Kushina has a deep-blue aura, while copy-Kushina has a red aura. I think mom will be alright, plus dad will flash to her as soon as they are stationary, as strong as I think I am, I am not S-class yet, I would just get in their way, if I tried to help.
The other two occupants landed in the middle of the arena, not far from the Chunin combatants, and the proctor. Naruto grinned, when he saw his cousin standing next to his godmother, but could not greet him properly, he was still connected to Karin-chan. The Hokage and Shirou walked over to meet them, they were both smiling, "well, Naruto, it seems you've kept your promise, you've won the Chunin tournament, and have gained a vassal."
"Two vassals," Gekkō corrected his Hokage, when she looked at him in curiosity, he pointed to the kunoichi still under Naruto's power, "this kunoichi has chosen to defect from Kumo and ally herself with Konoha, via Uzumaki-Namikaze-san."
"Really," Mikoto asked in surprise, while turning to the younger woman, "why would you want to do that, did you not say your mother lives in that village and is marrying the jinchuriki of the Hachibi?"
Karin cast her eyes downward, "that is what makes this betrayal all the more hurtful, even my own mother failed to come here to see me fight. Nobody in my village came to observe us, none that I can sense at least," she told them, then looked up at the Uchiha mother, "you know as well as I do, that only the Raikage may recommend me for promotion. He didn't even send somebody to act as proxy," Karin growled, then added her conclusion, "that means he has cut us loose, me and Yugito-chan have been abandoned by our village. Therefore, since she has been accepted as a vassal into the Konoha chapter of the Uzumaki clan, and I want to be with her, I feel it prudent to swear fealty to the same village through the same clan, as long as Naruto-sama is a ninja for Konoha, you will have my loyalty."
"Naruto- sama," Mikoto asked, in curiosity while casting her eyes at the young man? Naruto detached the harpoons from the ends of his chains, and withdrew the chain restraining her own chain, which she retracted into herself. The spears needed to remain in her flesh, they would prevent her from exsanguinating until she could get to the medics. Luckily for her, the Uzumaki chains had similar antiseptic properties as copper, bronze, or brass, they would help prevent infections.
"It's an Uzumaki custom, Mikoto-kun," Shirou informed her, "when he and Lady Yugao became the owners of the Uzumaki homeland, he was elevated to the head of the clan for every Uzumaki in the world. Even my dad acknowledged him as the Uzumaki-dono when he allowed Fire to annex the Island," then Hi no kuni no Shoji (Fourth Prince of Fire) asked, while looking at Naruto, "we're hoping to use it as a port for the royal navy?"
"We'll allow it, but I'd kind of like to keep the ecological impact to a minimum, and the sailors will be administered by me, or my representative. Anyway, as head of the Uzumaki clan here in Konoha, I accept Uzumaki Karin as a member," Naruto declared, then turned to Karin and added, "but it is up to the Hokage to accept your application as one of her ninja."
Mikoto was looking at them while pinching her chin, "well from what I saw of your skills, you would be a brilliant asset to the village, but you'll have to go through a security screening at Torture and Interrogation, including a psychological evaluation by the Yamanaka clan. Do you accept that, Uzumaki Karin," she asked?
"Yes," Karin agreed, "I accept."
They had no sooner concluded their negotiations, when a red flare was sent up into the still crimson sky, it arched high in the sky, and spread out in all directions. Mikoto was immediately all business, "that's the signal from the compound, there's been an escape," she immediately began running in the direction of the prison, leaping up to the roof of the arena, her ANBU detail blurred into sight, surrounding her without obscuring her vision. By now, most of the people in the arena were filing out when the flare was fired, they all turned to look, but only the citizens of the Leaf, ninja and civilian alike knew what was going on, so the Hokage turned to the crowd, and enhanced her voice one more time, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT LEAVING THE COLISEUM IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE, THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES IS NOW IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY. IF YOU REMAIN HERE YOU SHALL BE SAFE FROM ANY HARM, ALL NINJA ARE TO REPORT TO GENERAL QUARTERS AT ONCE."
The Hokage concluded her remarks, as by now – after a perfunctory nod to her security from Mikoto –, Naruto, Karin, the Prince, and Gekkō had joined her on the roof, and turned to issue instructions to her subordinates. "Karin-san, I want you to remain here and insure order here in the stadium with Haru no kuni's security forces, her majesty is being sequestered in a recovery room, near the medical suite, Tsunade-sensei should be able to tell you where. Shoji-sama, as you surely know, as military commander over the forces of Konoha, my authority exceeds yours at this moment," Shirou remained silent and bowed to her power in this circumstance, "therefore I would like you to send orders to your forces and have them surround the exterior of the coliseum, to prevent outside forces from entering unless you personally know them. Do you both understand," Mikoto questioned?
"Hai, Hokage-sama," was Karin's reply, who also added, "I need to get the spears out of my body anyway, I'll see if I can get medical attention while relaying your orders to Tsunade-sama."
"As you wish, Hokage," the Prince responded, he knew she was keeping him from danger, since her standing orders as Hokage from the Daimyo was to keep his family safe, even above her own, this way she accomplished one order and did it in a way that saved him face, "I will keep the citizens of my nation safe."
"Thank you, both," Mikoto retorted with a grateful smile aimed in their direction, and added to Karin, "think of this as your first mission for the Leaf, which will not be ignored if you do a good job." Karin nodded in agreement, and the Hokage concluded with, "thank you again, now please do as I asked." They both jumped to do as they were ordered, as she turned to her ninja, "Hayate-san, you are dismissed from proctor duty, you may return to your normal station, I'm sure you remember your battle station, am I correct?"
Gekkō stood at attention and replied crisply as he bowed, "Affirmative, Hokage-sama!"
"Dismissed," she retorted in the same manner, and he shun-shinned away! As soon as the tokujo was out of sight, "Naruto since you have not yet been assigned to a battle division, you shall remain with me, the prohibition against drawing weapons in my presence is voided during the current situation. You may draw weapons as you see fit," she informed him, to which he just nodded his understanding, then addressed her security detail, "we are going to travel directly to the exterior of the compound and find the officer-in-charge." She looked around at her subordinates, to confirm that they understood and was privately proud at how professional they were remaining, even Naruto, who had to have been worried about losing his mother when he had only just regained her, was focused on his Hokage. She nodded and said, "Let's move out," she ordered! At her order, they all took to the rooftops, hopscotching in the direction of the Hokage's home.
Paths of Sin
Bradley, the Furious, looked up into the sky from his position on the ground, his face if anyone cared to look, had an oddly tranquil expression cast upon it. He saw, with his single-eye, the passing of clouds, small, white puffs of serenity, floating uncaringly in the bloody-sky that appeared a few moments ago, indifferent to the struggles of the animals below them. Bradley's face may have been unscathed, but the rest of him had been ravaged by combat, both of his arms had been sliced off, his eye was bleeding, luckily it was his bad eyes again, and he had been stabbed through the side, which left him to slowly bleed to death. That, plus the loss of his arms, will allow him to pass away in a few moments, but he would not allow himself to die before the rest of his subordinates.
He turned his head to the side and looked out over the ravages of his ninja, the first in his line of sight were the charred remains of Sara Moon, this generation's Lust of the Seven Sins, the name that was worn by her mother. She refused to take that name, saying she did not want to ride on her mother's reputation, but too make her own, so she took the name Desire. Beyond Sara, looking like he had been drowned, was her younger brother, Noel Moon, the Greed of the Sins, which was also a name no longer in use, but for a more nefarious reason, because the holder of that name still lived, so he became Avarice. Beyond those two was the powerhouse of the Sins, Robert Flower, Indolent of the Sins, representing Sloth, he was always a gentle giant, and when not discharging his duties for a shinobi, could always be found playing with some of the village kids. If it were not for the earthen spike poking out through the back of his head, he would just appear to be standing there, a brutal demise to one of the kindest men, Bradley had ever met.
Turning his head to the other side, Fury of the Sins, saw three other Sins, Ian Flower, appeared to have been ripped apart. His limbs were thrown about like a child's playthings, his rotund body had been sliced in half, by the same wind technique that cost Bradley his arms. Ian and Robert were not related by blood, they had just grown up in the same orphanage, and called each other brothers. Ian was almost as gentle as Robert and took as much delight in playing with the little kids, as his brother, he also had a tremendous talent in cooking and baking and was about to retire from ninja life, to open his own restaurant.
Beyond Gluttony, were two of his subordinates, known as Envy and Pride, in the Sins, one still desperately fighting against Kakuzu's partner. Envy, also known as, Stephanie Strong, had transformed into her monstrous form, appeared to have succumbed to her wounds and was curled in upon herself. She may have been one of the grouchiest of the Sins, cynical and prickly, but she always seemed to have a soft spot for all of its members, becoming good friends with Sara, and looking out for the youngest member of the Sins, Pride. His name is Sam, no last name, he only graduated from the Waterfall Academy last year, and he could already hold his own against the other Sins in training, his intelligence is comparable to that of a Nara, and his potential is parallel to Itachi Uchiha, even without his bloodline limit. Similar to the Nara's ability to use shadows but quite a bit stronger, because he did not need existing shadows to use them, and they could probably cut through anything, as he proved when he shredded Hidan's scythe into pieces during their first exchange.
Pride kept launching attack after attack at the religious fanatic, but no matter how much damage he did to Hidan, his injuries did not seem to affect him. As if they were happening to someone else, but it seemed Hidan was just trying to hold the boy's attention, because Kakuzu's masks and Kakuzu himself, seemed to be closing in on the child. Bradley wanted to help him, even if it were just delaying the inevitable for Sam, but his body would not obey him, he had lost too much blood, he did not even have the strength to warn the boy.
Out of nowhere, several chains shot down from above, impaling the masks, and Kakuzu in the heads. A blonde-haired boy landed in front of Pride, who had paused in shock, the blonde boy turned to him with a benevolent smile, "take a breather kid, I got it from here." As if to prove his point the chain that held Kakuzu, extended out, separated into smaller chains, and punctured into different parts of Kakuzu's body. Kakuzu, who had been feigning defeat, suddenly gasped out in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief as the spare hearts he kept in reserve were destroyed.
"How did you know," Kakuzu asked, "that I was playing possum?"
"Because I'm just that good," Naruto replied, "but don't worry I'm not gonna kill you, or your partner, so sit tight."
Just as he said that another voice from behind Kakuzu said, "Outer Path: Demonic Sealing Chains," and more chains came out of nowhere, wrapping around the Missing-nin from Taki, which jerked him out of Naruto's hand toward what seemed like a hole in the atmosphere. They dragged Kakuzu into the hole, he was too shocked by this turn of events to even shout his defiance, but before he could recover, the hole closed, and he was gone.
Naruto turned to his clone and ordered, "see if any of them can be revived, its gonna be rough for them but Jigoku no ō, should be enough," then added, "they were here to overthrow us, but they may prove useful later." Naruto turned his face down to the child, who had gasped as he listened, Sam did not think they knew of his comrades' intentions, before they decided to go after the Zombie brothers. Naruto's smile became gentle, as he answered the child's unspoken question, "yeah, kid, I know who you are, and what your original team's purpose was here, I will let the Hokage decide what to do with you, but your comrades are mine. Go with my clone," he said, thumb-pointing behind his back, as he turned to Hidan, "I've gotta handle this guy as quickly as I can, godmother told me to hurry."
Naruto retracted his chains, and reactivated his Rinnegan, he looked at the man-shaped monster, his face looked like a black and white noh mask. He did not seem inconvenienced at all for suddenly being on his own, Naruto noticed the dark cloak with red clouds, he also saw the symbol Hidan was standing on, "so you're with the Akatsuki, I've been hearing rumors about you and your group for a few months now."
"Oh, do tell," Hidan replied, "what have you heard about us?"
"A group of S-ranked Missing-nin," Naruto informed him, "you are trying to acquire the biju for some reason. Whatever the reason, it must be pretty important for you all to put your curiosity aside, just to work together," Naruto concluded.
Hidan smiled indulgently, and nodded, "well, that pretty much sums us up," he agreed, "and you little nine, are at the top of our to do list, and it's stupid to let an opportunity just pass us by, so even if you are someone else's to acquire. I think I'm just going to take you now," as he removed a scroll from under his cloak, opened it and with a puff of smoke, a scythe appeared in his hands, and at Naruto's bewildered expression said, "what you didn't think I only carried one scythe did you, I break those things all the time?"
"That wasn't really what I was wondering about," Naruto admitted as he drew his sword, he parted it like raindrops producing two swords, identical in every way except color; one was a black so absolute it made charcoal appear bright, when looked upon it threatened to pull the observer's own soul into a place from which only God could escape; the white one was so pure and bright, one could not help but let it turn your vision to it, once one were to view it, however they would never be able to see anything else again, they became blinded by the immensity of all creation, realizing just how insignificant they truly are.
Hidan was mesmerized by the beauty and danger he felt while gazing at Naruto's blades. All of a sudden, the wind began to pick up, and a gust of wind swirled around Naruto, causing Hidan to look away, which was his first mistake, he looked back just in time to get a foot in the face. The kick was powerful enough to knock him out of the symbol of Jashin, but just as Naruto landed, he slammed his foot on to the ground causing a small, localized earthquake, which caused the Jashin symbol to crack. This caused Hidan to revert back to his normal, human form, Orochimaru's mind had tons of information about the Akatsuki, since he used to be one of them, and he had collected piles of data on them. The only thing he did not know about was the clone of Kushina – she must have joined after he resigned – nor the identity and location of the one they called, Leader-sama, except that he had the Rinnegan.
Hidan stood back up, holding his head quite comically, but Naruto added, "I was wondering if you needed all the biju, or just some of them, because if you need all of them, your goal is no longer valid? I have already dispatched two of the Chakra Monsters, Ichibi and Kyūbi," Naruto informed the Akatsuki member, "and before you ask, no they will not regenerate in this world, because I have banished them entirely from this universe."
Hidan looked at the teenager, like he had told him a joke, and was just waiting for the punchline, then he just burst out laughing. "That's a good one kid, as if a little shit like you, would be capable of killing the tailed-beast within you," he managed after getting himself under control, "I mean you'd be dead if that happened!"
Naruto opened the middle of his upper garment, and channeled chakra into his belly to highlight the absence of his seal, Hidan looked at Naruto's bare stomach. "I am not lying or joking, dumbass," Naruto snarled, "I had to kill one of my precious jewels to prevent you bastards from getting your grubby little hands on her. That was before I knew about your inclusion in this invasion," Naruto added, "whatever your goals were, they will never come to fruition, now that two of the biju no longer exist in this world."
"No way," Hidan gasped in surprise.
"Now, I don't know about you, Nōtarin-no-Hidan (Hidan the dumbass)," Naruto sneered, his Rinnegan was pulsing and rippling in the same cadence as his voice, "but this is information my leader would wanna know. It may not be the wisest decision to allow yourself to get captured before you can deliver this information," appearing as if from nowhere, to stand beside him was Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, Tsunade Senju, the Namekuji no ōjo (Slug Princess), and Orochimaru, the Snake Sage, "ah, yes, it seems my back up has arrived," then indicating the snake sage, "I'm sure you've heard, but Orochimaru has decided to return to his home, after I succeeded in capturing him last month, he began to see the error of his ways. Now, I'm sure that you are pretty strong, being an S-ranked Missing-nin, and all," Naruto conceded, "but do you really have the balls to try your luck against the Legendary Three Sanin?"
Hidan just looked at the four ninja arrayed against him, three of which were stronger than him, and having faced off against Orochimaru when he was a member of the Red Clouds and getting trounced. He did not wish a repeat of that times three, so looking back at the Chunin one last time, he bugged out for headquarters, "I'll get you, you little shit, when you don't have your little bodyguards around to protect you!"
Naruto waited for the Akatsuki alum to make it out of earshot, before turning back to the Sanin, "Good work, you guys, he totally bought it," he chuckled, as the three Sanin's bodies seemed to liquify and shrink, changing until they were perfect replicas of their maker.
"Thanks Boss," they said together.
"Go ahead and dispel, I've got some business to attend to with the Seven Deadly Sins," he ordered, as he fused his blades back together, and returned it to his scabbard, "its time I created some Path companions."
Konoha Prison
Everything had calmed down by the time, Mikoto arrived at her home. She watched with silent pride as Fugaku managed the scene like the professional he was raised to be, at the moment he was receiving the report about the casualties, only five Uchiha had given their lives for their village. As the Police Commissioner and lord of the Uchiha clan, or as Hokage, five sacrifices were a small price to pay, it could have been worse they were thinking, but as fellow clansmen even one death in the clan was one too many.
As soon as Fugaku received the report, he turned to greet his wife as her station demanded, he bowed to her, "Thank you for coming Hokage-sama, it seems that someone used the Chunin Exam Finals, and our limited personnel in maintaining order to infiltrate the prison and liberate a prisoner from the medical wing."
"Which prisoner was liberated, Uchiha-dono," Mikoto asked her husband, just as formally, it was always important to honor each other's relative stations in life? He is the Commissioner of the Konoha Police Force, she is the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, and while politically one was superior to the other, personally they saw each other as equals. He was up for the same position as her and while he was disappointed in not getting it, he was proud as both a husband and a clan head, and everyday he witnessed how she carried herself, and made the village strong and prosperous. She made him proud, and though he never thought it was possible, he fell in love with her more and more every day.
"It was the Sanin, Hokage-sama," Fugaku confirmed for her, "luckily there were no other personnel in the medical wing, since most of them were conscripted by Lady Tsunade for the Arena today." Then he lowered his voice, "we lost five people, today," he said in a growl, then turned his face down, "that's five families that are going to want answers. What can I say to them, that will make them feel like their relatives died for something," he asked, he was a husband needing the comfort of his wife?
"Tell them that they died, keeping them safe," Mikoto answered, placing a hand on his shoulder, she wanted nothing more than to hold him and comfort him, but the Hokage can never be seen as weak, even with their family. She and Fugaku had their Sharingan active under a genjutsu that may only be penetrated by other Sharingan users (maybe even a Rinnegan user), she was telling him about some things with her bloodline, and they were watching the crowd.
One specific genin was standing at the back of the crowd, he wore round glasses and seemed to reflect the sunlight, veiling his eyes from view. He stepped back to allow more on lookers to come and gawk, but he seemed to fade away in the distance, as he shunshinned away. Mikoto looked up at the roof of a nearby building and nodded, a single shinobi had been watching him in the crowd and began to follow him.
Half an hour later, Shisui and his new wife, entered the scene walking arm in arm, and as soon as they reached the First Couple of Konoha, Shisui formed half of the hand-sign of the Ram, while Kurenai formed the other half, placing her hand into her husband's allowing them to form a complete Ram, together they yelled, "KAI," at the top of their lungs. There was a bright flash as all of the Uchiha personnel faded away, leaving only themselves and the Uchiha clan leaders, even the five dead bodies faded into the mists.
They met, just as the skies overhead returned to a brilliant blue, and from the position of the sun, it looked to be about late afternoon. A brilliant, Yellow Flash suddenly appeared, right in front of them, as another couple materialized beside them, they were a red-headed woman, and a blonde man. Both of which appeared to be in high-spirits, the woman was chattering non-stop, "that was a rather enjoyable battle, it seems my counterpart has very nearly close to my level of skill with the sword, though she doesn't use the Hiten Musashi-ryu. I found fighting her to be quite invigorating," Kushina conceded, then added, "it was a pity, she got away."
"That's good, Kushina-chan." Minato indulged his ex-wife, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself."
Kushina looked around at the gathered group, noticing some missing people, "where are Naruto-kun, and Yugao-chan?"
As if to answer at least her question, a violette head, Body Flickered onto the scene, followed almost immediately by another shunshin, this one was massive, as eight individuals arrived. Naruto saw Yugao as soon as she saw him, and they waisted no time greeting each other properly. Most of the group was looking at the arrival of the other seven people, that arrived with him. As soon as the betrothed couple were finished, Mikoto asked the question, "Naruto, who are your friends?"
Naruto as if he suddenly remembered, answered her, "oh these are not my friends, they are my weapons now, though they still retain enough of their free-will, to make the decisions necessary for their life, they are now nothing more than extensions of my will. They still retain all of their personalities, everybody except Sam there, I couldn't do something like this to a child, ladies and gentlemen these are my Paths of Sin."
Everybody present, who knew of the Rinnegan, knew that this was a necessary step for Naruto, if he wanted to fully immerse himself in the Paths of Desire. Naruto turned to introduce them to everybody, "I'll begin with one all of us should know, especially you mom, you are the one that turned him into a cyclops, he was the leader of Takigakure no Sato, known as the Furious Swordsman, Bradley Fury. I have rechristened him, Wrath, when we're out of the village, and he is my Naraka-Path of Desire. The rest of them are largely unknown, so let me formally introduce them. The buxom ebonette, is Sara Moon, while here in the village, outside of it, she will be called Lust, and she will accompany me, on the Human Path. The fellow standing next to her, is Noel Moon, her younger brother, he is Greed, and will be my Animal Path companion. The slender young lady, over next to Wrath, is Envy of my Deva Path, her name in the village will be Stephanie Strong, the behemoth to her left is Sloth, my Asura Path, call him Bob, because his full-name is Robert Flower, and the fat guy next to him is his adopted brother, Ian, he is my Preta Path, codename: Gluttony."
"There seems to be one missing, Naruto-kun," Kushina wondered?
"I have decided to retain the Outer-Path for myself, and have made myself part of the Sins," Naruto answered. "The Outer-Path gives me the ability to summon the other paths to my side, to know where they are and what they are doing," he explained, "like they are my own limbs that I was born with."
"Damn, Naruto-kun," Shisui said in awe, "your advancement is nothing short of astonishing. You've only been out of the Academy for a year, and you're already an A-ranked ninja," he explained, then added, "it took me and Itachi a couple of years to do that, and I'm still barely scratching S-ranked status."
"That's okay cousin, you're going to have your hands full in a few months," Fugaku jibed, "you'll be a father, until Kurenai-san is back to work, that should raise your status, because unless you want the child to be fatherless, you're going to become rather ruthless."
Mikoto was eyeing the Paths speculatively, "that's a lot of mouths to feed Naruto, how are you going to be able to handle that?"
"I won't have to," Naruto said, "as I said they still retain most of their free-will, and all of the skills are intact. I figure they can go on missions as Leaf Ninja, and take care of themselves," he informed his godmother, "distance is no detriment to my control of them. Whether here in the Village or on the other side of the Land of Earth, its as if I will be there with them," then he explained a little bit of what the Sage left with his parents, "it is essentially like this, when they became my Paths, their ID or inner-desires was killed, and replaced with mine, now all that's left is their Ego, or Self. I know everything about them as if I was the one that lived their lives, and for that conceit, I have christened myself within the Sins, as Pride, because nothing but a prideful asshole would subvert another person's free will, just to become more powerful," Naruto concluded with a rebuke of himself, before changing the subject, "so I assume the 'rescue' of Orochimaru has been successfully carried out?"
"Oh yes," Kurenai smiled beautifully, "and his spy didn't seem aware that he was in a genjutsu for a whole day, I would place a large wager that he bought our ruse."
Mikoto looked at Minato, and asked, "you're sure that you can track him right, Minato-kun?"
"Yes, I can," he confirmed for her, before closing his eyes, "the seal of the Hiraishin allows me to pinpoint it, within a radius of one meter, anywhere in the world. Right now, they're heading on a course that will lead them directly to the Valley of the End," he opened his eyes, "we'll be ready to go after him whenever he stops, whenever you give the order, Hokage-sama."
Mikoto nodded, "let's give him some time to think he got away from us, once he grows complacent, that's when we'll strike. We want to make sure our little Exhibition goes off without a hitch," she said before walking off, "and I want to announce the return of two of our most powerful ninja to our ranks. I won't announce the details, I'll just say you were on an extended S-class mission."
Aftermath
After the failed invasion, Garath of Tanigakure and his forces, were allowed to retain much of his honor by pleading, that he was on his way to Konoha for the tournament but fell asleep and missed the whole thing. In the end, there was never an invasion which was what Konoha was hoping for, they knew that even if they repelled the invasion, some of them would die, and sometimes an avoided fight is better than a victorious one, especially with so many civilians in town. So, by showing them that their plan was known to the enemy, it would force them to re-evaluate the wisdom of an incursion. The only parts the Leaf allowed to succeed were the ones they wanted to succeed, namely letting Orochimaru 'escape' so they would no longer have to hold him as a prisoner-of-war, now they were at liberty to hunt him down and eliminate him, once-and-for-all.
The Seven Deadly Sins openly defected to the Leaf from Waterfall, and were enrolled as ninja of Konoha, their status as extensions of Naruto's will was not publicized. Yugito, and Karin were made vassals of the Uzumaki clan, while Sam, which was short for Samael, became a ward of the Namikaze, becoming ninja for those clans.
Meanwhile, at the Lair of Orochimaru, the master of the lair was just discovering something that was infuriating. It seemed as if something was wrong with his coils, he had returned to full-health within a week of his emancipation, and he had been training when he went to form a jutsu. His chakra would not form, he felt the chakra flowing within him, but at the last moment before release, his tenketsu refused to open to perform the ninjutsu. He had tried many times but to no avail, for the first time since he was a very small boy just entering the Academy, he felt fear course through his soul, I need, Tsunade-chan!
The author has rewritten some of this story, this is because writers, like many other artists, are more critical of their work than anybody else. I started writing this story one way, but as time went on I thought of better concepts for my story. This author apologizes if my readers liked it the other way, but I feel better about my story as it is written now.