Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Dancing Kitsune ❯ Gather information while you still can ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing!! WHAHAHAH!!! Nothing!!! I plan to take over the world and get everything - * people in white clothing come out and drag disclaimer' person off while they scream profanities*

 

 

Additional notes: Yes. I know its getting kinda confusing to tell the parts apart lol, so I'm going to put up a little this :3 when I've changed scenes ect. Just to make it easier to read.

Thankies for the reviews and sorry it took me so bloody long :P

 

Dancing Kitsune Chapter 9

 

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“Naruto-kun…” Iruka fidgeted in his seat, looking to Kakashi for reassurance; he found none there and was forced to lock eyes with the blond ninja.

 

“Naruto-kun, you're the maiden of the sand's victim. In order… in order.. Oh. I can't do this. Kakashi-san, you do it. I can't.” Iruka's jowls began to tremble; tears welled up in his eyes. The teacher put his head in his hands and sobbed into his fingers, unable to speak another word.

 

Orochimaru turned and stared long and hard at Kakashi; he crossed his arms and began to stroke his left arm with a look of anger and annoyance on his lips.

 

“Yes Kakashi-san. Tell us what you know. I for one would love to know about this little situation.” The missing-nin said with a growl.

 

Kakashi sighed and locked eyes with Naruto, knowing full well that there would be no way to avoid the confrontation.

 

Blunt and without avoidance, he spoke the words Gaara instantly dreaded.

 

“Naruto-kun, the only way to stop the king of monsters is to kill the maiden of the sands victim. The person is to be beheaded on the night of the first full moon possible…. I'm sorry Naruto-kun. It's… its unavoidable.” Kakashi said.

 

Naruto snorted with laugher, rolling his eyes.

“Oh please. You're joking. There must be a real way to destroy the thing.” He said, laughing nervously.

When no one else started laughing, Naruto's face fell and his eyes narrowed into slits of horror.

“You're not serious - Kakashi-Sensei. It's not true, is it? It can't be- I didn't… I didn't…”

He fell silent, staring down at his hands in distress.

 

Gaara looked up and glared at Kakashi; an ugly look flew across his features as if he had been scalded by hot water.

He stood up, clenching and unclenching his fists.

 

“You're lying. You have to be. There is another way to stop it - there must be. There is never a set course of action for defeating a demon.” He said.

 

Orochimaru sniffed disdainfully at Kakashi, nodding in agreement.

 

“You know… I'd like to know where you got this information. It's not something I'm going to just trust for no reason you know. I too, know the flaws in history; there is never one simple answer. I want to see this information you've gotten.” The villain grabbed a couch cushion and brandished it dangerously at Iruka, as if it had been the teacher's fault.

 

“I've done my own reading, and no where did it say that killing the boy would stop the monster. If it didn't say it in my scrolls, then it isn't confirmed.” Orochimaru said.

 

Naruto looked up, eyes shinning with hope. He scrambled up over the side of the couch and grabbed Orochimaru's arm.

“That's right - Oro, you have your own information! If it doesn't say I have to die in there… then it's not true. It can't be.” The leaf ninja said with a firmness that made Kakashi smile out of respect.

 

Orochimaru threw the cushion away, wrapping an arm around Naruto's shoulder; he appeared the part of a father figure to Gaara.

“Yes. It has to be researched. I can't allow it to be done until I've researched it to exhaustion… besides… I haven't even broken in and stolen the files from the Vault of the hidden village of sand yet. I'm not going to condemn the little brat until I've read it all…. Somehow… he's grown on me… like a good form of foot fungus.” The evil man said with a twisted smile.

 

Naruto laughed nervously, trying to back a little away from the older man.

 

 

Gaara stared at Naruto.

He would not let anyone kill Naruto.

He would kill anyone who dared to hurt his beloved Naruto…

He was surprised with himself at this revelation. Gaara had never considered himself to be one who cared for others. Somehow, he supposed, the fox had gotten in under his radar, punching a heart shaped hole in his defences.

He gritted his teeth.

 

Kakashi nodded.

“Alright. We will look for more information… but if need be… Naruto-kun? Are you willing to die to save the world?” The Jounin asked with softness and calm speech.

 

Naruto looked down at his feet.

He didn't want to die…

He didn't want to vanish forever into a pit of black nothingness…

When he looked up, he was resolved and stern.

 

“If need be… I will die….” He said, voice almost a whisper.

 

Iruka burst into tears, tucking himself further into the sofa in an attempt to burrow away from the wretchedness he had been a part of revealing.

 

Kakashi wiped away a trickled tear from his cheek, willing himself to keep his courage.

 

“Alright Naruto-kun. I'm so sorry that it had to be you… if there was any way to change it… I would be the first to take your place.”

 

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:3

Sasuke stared up at the mountain he had left Naruto at with hatred and fire.

It had taken him the better part of the day to even get back to the mountain; he had the sneaking suspicion that Shikamaru had lied to him. Shikamaru had told them to back track their steps to reach the place; they had done so and it had taken them longer then it had taken them to even get to the mountain in the first place.

 

He jumped up the first ledge, Kiba, Shikamaru and Shino behind him; they warily watched him ascend to the first level, looking at one another as if to say, “oh dear…. He's lost his mind again.”

 

Sasuke was determined to make it up that mountain.

He jumped to another ledge, slipping and tumbling a few feet down to the last level. He spat out a mouthful of grit and stared up at the mountain.

 

“Orochimaru's done something. I know it. He would have been down here by now if he hadn't done something….” Sasuke muttered to himself.

He was convinced of foul play.

Neither Shikamaru nor Shino had been able to disprove his fears; they reached his level, looking up and down to survey the area left.

 

Shikamaru scowled, shaking his head at the mountainside.

 

“Oi… this is so troublesome. I've never seen such a big… useless… mountain in all my life. At least the one in Konoha had inner passages. This piece of shit's impossible to climb.” The genius said with dismay.

Shino and Kiba nodded in silent agreement; neither looked forward to climbing any farther.

 

They were worn to the bone from the journey; all four had not rested since the morning. They had not eaten, they had no water; the only one who seemed indefatigable was Sasuke, and he seemed to be driving forward on pure rage alone.

 

 

Kiba looked up at the peak of the mountain and then looked to Sasuke's back.

 

“Sasuke-kun… maybe we should rest a little ne? I mean, what good are we going to be to Naruto and the others if we can't even fight?” Kiba asked, tucking Akamaru into his jacket.

 

Sasuke let out a dark laugh.

“We're not stopping until we've reached the top… I'm not going to let him lay a finger on Naruto. He needs my protection.” The Uchiha said in a low voice.

 

Shino frowned at Sasuke, holding up a hand to let a bee land there.

He stared at the insect for a moment and then it flew away.

“We should head down to the bottom of the mountain now… my insects have told me - “

Sasuke broke in before the insect ninja could even finish his sentence.

 

“We're not going down! We've made it this far and I'm sure as hell not going to go all the way down this bloody mountain just to re-climb it because a bunch of fucking insects told you we should climb down.” He snarled.

 

Shino winced and looked to Kiba and Shikamaru for help; Shikamaru seemed to be the only one willing to take the information to heart.

 

“What did they tell you Shino?” Shikamaru asked, crossing his arms.

 

“ they told me that no one's even up there… they haven't seen a single person since earlier on… when I left a few here just in case. They said that the bunch of them left to head to some place called `the vault', whatever that is. Oh… and they say that something was wrong with one of them. The bugs told me he looked kind of funny… as if something had happened to him.” Shino said.

 

At that, Sasuke whirled around, seizing Shino by the shoulders. He shook the man with fierceness, eyes cold and painful.

 

“Who!? Who did they say looked funny?” He shouted.

 

Kiba grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders, attempting to hold the man off; Sasuke hit him, and he flew against the rock wall, wheezing from the air being ripped out of his lungs.

Shino pulled Sasuke's fingers from his shoulders with a scowl of patience.

 

“It's Kakashi from what I can tell… they said it was dressed in some strange fashion.. I just guess its kaka-“

Sasuke grabbed him by the shirt again, seething with rage.

 

“How do you know - “

Shikamaru raised his hands and cast his Shadow imitation no jujutsu.

Instantly, Sasuke's hands went straight to his sides.

“Sasuke-kun… you need to calm down… you're going to get us all killed if you keep jumping the gun with things… let someone speak for once…”

Sasuke's eyes turned a deep crimson red colour and the skin around his neck began to blow with tiger striped black strips.

“Release me and I won't break every bone in your body…” Sasuke grunted, the cursed seal working over his face like a child with finger-paints.

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:3

 

Orochimaru led them down into a cavern deep inside the mountain he had chosen to be his lair.

The pathway was a tight squeeze; the walls made of rippled limestone, glittering with strange green crystals.

Kakashi and Iruka were at the end of the line, keeping sight of the exit from their positions as Gaara watched Orochimaru in the front.

 

Naruto was in between the three, watched over by all.

He felt trapped for the first time in his life; not by the presence of his friends, but by the overwhelming presence of death that he would possibly have to accept.

The blond emptied himself of all emotion, trying to free up all of the aggression and worry he had into a single hope and thought.

 

It would be a lie.

He would be saved by this!

He had to be.

There would be no death for him until he was good and ready; sometime in his eighties, living as an old pain in the ass to his grandchildren. He smiled to himself at the thought of having children; he had liked them at first…

Yet now, he wasn't so keen on bringing another life into the world.

Besides, he thought to himself without humour, he was in love with Gaara. Men generally did not give birth to children.

He supposed that they could adopt if they choose…

 

Naruto looked forwards to the back of Gaara's head, willing his Koi to look at him.

He wanted to touch the man more then ever; he wanted to be cradled and held.

There was no comfort in an empty mind he reasoned with himself.

There were only the thoughts of the day in there to comfort him. Yet somehow he found comfort in the fact that he wasn't entirely alone.

He had friends with him - even Orochimaru. (Though he wasn't sure how Orochimaru had even ended up with them in the first place. It was pretty much a haze to him.)

 

 

Orochimaru led them to a set of golden embossed doors; he stood before them, smirking at his expensive entrance way as if expecting the group to `ooh' and `wow' their way into his heart.

He seemed relatively disappointed when they all stared at him, waiting for him to open the door, which he did with a huff.

 

 

Naruto's eyes widened with shock.

There was the biggest library he had ever seen in his life.

It stretched as far as the eye could see - shelves and shelves of books.

This was in itself a miracle, for Naruto had been living in the same house as Orochimaru and it did not have nearly as much organization as this place. He had a nagging suspicion that it had been stolen from someone's house in one piece, and for some reason this made him laugh to himself.

 

Orochimaru grinned fiendishly and held out his hands, ordering them to bask in his stolen splendour.

 

“See!? There is now way that you could possibly have the same information as I do! My information is straight from the primary source - “

 

“That's because you probably stole it when it was first put out for display - “Kakashi grumbled, rolling his eyes.

 

Orochimaru puffed up, looking serenely insulted.

 

“Are you saying I'm old?! Because if you are, you can just go back to the house and start making us dinner- “Orochimaru growled viciously, gesturing rudely with one finger in particular.

 

Iruka on the other hand had attached himself to the first bookshelf he had seen and was now hurriedly browsing for any information about the Maiden of the Sand's curse. Gaara had done the same and was fishing through stacks and stacks of books, looking down at the call numbers.

 

Now Naruto really suspected the books had been pilfered from a library.

He joined in the search, and soon everyone was bustling about under piles and piles of books.

Every once in a while, someone would poke their head up out from their own personal tower and would comment on something they had read.

Half of the time, it was information that they had already gathered.

 

But then the digging paid off, in the most unlikely of places.

 

Naruto had been going through a stack of old coin collection books when he had stumbled across perhaps the first original copy of the maiden of sands legend. It appeared to have been taken from another book and had been use a bookmarker for a page about a seventeenth century golden doubloon for pirates.

 

“I've found something!” Naruto found himself shouting.

 

Once more the heads popped up from their book burrows.

 

“Really?” Iruka asked timidly, as if afraid asking would chase the information away.

 

Naruto grinned ear from ear.

 

“Yes! I've found the original copy of the maiden of the Sand's legend…. Someone was using it as a bookmarker.” He gave Orochimaru a dirty look, but the Sound Ninja simply shrugged.

 

Naruto's hands began to shake. He turned to Iruka, who was the closest, and handed him the book.

 

“Ok. I'm going to go cower behind some one- “Naruto laughed nervously and began to inch his way towards Gaara.

 

Iruka frowned and opened the book.

 

Silence followed this.

More silence then anyone had expected.

By the time Iruka finished reading the book, Orochimaru had already begun to toss a large brass paperweight (with the words `property of Sarutobi engraved on it) back and forth in his hands, the look on his face stating clearly that if it took a minute longer, he would be throwing it at someone.

 

Iruka gulped and looked up.

All eyes fell on him.

 

Iruka cleared his throat.

All eyes remained on him.

 

Iruka scratched his head.

All eyes were on Orochimaru who was taking aim with the paperweight.

 

 

“Alright… I think I've got this all correct. Naruto-kun…” Iruka paused and sighed, trying to word what he was saying in the correct way.

 

“Spit it out!” Gaara snarled, startling them all.

 

Iruka sighed.

 

“The Sand Maiden tied the King of Demons to her curse because they were once the same thing… And there is another way to remove the curse other then by killing the victim…”

 

Naruto felt relieved; he wanted to run over to Gaara and kiss him.

 

“Someone has to die in Naruto's place… killed by the maiden of sands victim.” Iruka said softly.

 

Naruto froze.

 

“What..?”

 

Iruka held out the book.

 

“If you don't believe me, just read it.” He said stubbornly.

 

“No. Its not that I don't believe you…” Naruto said.

 

Iruka bowed his head.

“It doesn't mean you die - well, you die, but you don't Die permanently… You sort of… die but are reborn again as a child… and from there; you have to age all over again.”

 

Naruto sighed.

“And I suppose the person, in theory, that I were to kill wouldn't remember anything that had happened in their life before?” He crossed his arms.

“I don't think I could even ask anyone to do that… to relive every part of their lives but without their family.”

 

Iruka looked down at his feet.

 

“I don't know Naruto-kun. There are so many things that people would like to forget about… its not completely uncertain that someone wouldn't want , in theory, to relive their lives…”

Kakashi sighed.

 

“And this second part, I suppose it only works when the person Naruto would kill wants to be killed for them?” He crossed his arms.

 

Iruka nodded solemnly.

 

 

“I'll do it.” Gaara said.

 

Naruto's eyes widened.

 

“NO - “Naruto squeezed his eyes shut.

“I won't kill you.”

 

Gaara shook his head at Naruto.

“I have more then my fair share of things I want to forget… and besides. It's not like we wouldn't meet again.” He reached out and put his hands on Naruto's shoulders.

“You see, it's not so bad - “

Naruto pushed him backwards.

 

“I won't! I won't kill the people that I love!” He turned and fled, running as fast as he could back up the stairs and out into Orochimaru's house. Throwing open the door, he dashed out and stood crying on the edge of the sharp cliff.

 

He wouldn't…

He wouldn't kill Gaara or any of the people he knew and loved. He would rather die first.

It would be like driving a spike through his own heart a thousand times over to do such a thing.

He shook his head and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

 

How could Gaara have asked him to do something like that?

 

 

“ NARUTO!”

 

Naruto looked down over the edge of the cliff and saw Sasuke clambering up the cliff; his hands were bloody from the climb and he was out of breath, panting.

Farther down, Naruto could see Shikamaru and the other group clambering up after him, tired and haggard.

 

Sasuke jumped the last few feet and seized Naruto, pressing the blond into his chest.

“Naruto…”

Naruto continued to cry, pressing himself into his friends chest.

 

“What did Orochimaru do to you - did he touch you?” Sasuke growled, stroking Naruto's head.

 

Naruto laughed, hiccoughing.

 

“Orochimaru hasn't done anything to me… its that damned maiden…”

 

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Thank god.”

 

 

“Naruto - “

Gaara threw open the front door.

 

Naruto pulled out of Sasuke's grasp.

 

“Gaara - I'm not going to kill you and that's final!” He shouted.

Gaara sighed.

“But if you don't do it - “

“It's out of the question!”

“Naruto don't be a fool - “

“I won't kill the person I love most in the world! I won't! I'd die first!” Naruto screamed, tears streaming down his face.

 

Sasuke stood statuesque.

He reached out, as if to grasp at Naruto to demand an explanation, and then let his arm drop back.

His knees broke under him and he fell forwards, pressed against Naruto's leg.

 

“You… You love him?”

Naruto turned, worry suddenly flouring to his face.

 

“Sasuke-kun - are you alright?” he dropped down to the ground and reached out, touching Sasuke's face.

Sasuke slapped his hand away.

 

“You love him?” he repeated, breathe catching in his throat.

 

Naruto nodded.

 

Sasuke snorted softly.

“Baka…”

He fell forwards, sinking into the dark embrace of unconsciousness, unaware that he was cradled in Naruto's arms.

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The first Full moon was fast approaching, and Naruto had made up his mind.

He was going to hunt Itachi Uchiha down on his own and kill him, if it was possible.

It had been years since he had first learned about Itachi and his various `bad' deeds. He used `bad' because there was really nothing else to describe the atrocities the man had committed in just one word. Evil didn't seem to match with Itachi's personality; Orochimaru was `Evil', Itachi on the other hand was `BAD'.

Antichrist. Maybe that was the right word.

He had always found it impossible to classify people that did wrong…

He himself had been considered evil by many of the villagers when he had been younger. It was possible that they still believed him to be evil.

Whatever the case, he decided that the best course of actions was to hunt down Itachi and kill him. How and when he had no clue.

 

He had consulted with Shikamaru and Kakashi-Sensei and both had come to a consensus.

He would likely die in the process, which would break the curse and destroy BAD Itachi.

Unfortunately, it would also mean that Itachi would be only stripped of his demon gained powers. The others would still have to deal with the fact that he was still more powerful then all of them combined together.

 

Orochimaru had vowed to help Naruto however possible.

Naruto was unsure about this, opting to leave Orochimaru's brand of help till later on if it became necessary. He hoped that it would not be something like branding a dirty magazine at Itachi in the hopes that the man would become so enthralled and perverted that he would blindly walk into a trap and thus , die, which was more then likely with Orochimaru's way of thinking. He also had his fingers crossed that this entire plan would not have him dressed up as a girl, because Orochimaru was giving him strange looks.

He couldn't quite tell if these were good looks or bad looks.

 

Gaara was the only one still willing to die for Naruto.

He had been trying unsuccessfully to get Naruto to let him take the ultimate test, but had so far been denied from all sides.

 

It hadn't helped that Kakashi's French maid outfit seemed to have shrunken when Orochimaru had done laundry. (Again, no one could tell if this was an accident or not. Orochimaru swore with the old ` cross my heart and hope to die, stick a poodle in my eye' prayer that he had nothing to do with said `accident' and no one believed him.)

 

To make things a little worse, Sasuke was spending most of his time plotting evilly in corners, glaring at Gaara and Orochimaru.

 

It put most people off of their dinner when he would burst out into crazed laughter while they were in the middle of doing something un-hilarious, such as peeling potatoes ( Orochimaru made a mean French fry.) or fluffing pillow cushions ( which Orochimaru swore were being flattened every day at the same time by Sasuke as part of his `master plan'. No one could disprove his theory, so it was widely accepted as truth. For once.)

 

 

Stress seemed to have gotten the better of most of the survivors of the King of Demons. It had either snapped some, as with Sasuke, or just mildly annoyed like Kakashi ( who was spending most of his time hiding outside where no one could see him or ducking behind the couch whenever Orochimaru walked past him.)

 

Normalcy that had seemed a thing of the past was soon becoming wished for more then anything in the world.

It was a fact now that someone would stop during a task and just sigh, shaking their heads.

 

 

Naruto looked down at the Maiden of the Sand's myth, having just reread it for the seventeenth time that morning.

It was no use. There was no hidden meaning or secret spell that would help him within those words.

He let out a sigh and settled down into the couch, pausing to fluff up one of Orochimaru's cushions.

 

What could he possibly do to get himself out of this mess?

Itachi Uchiha had been unbelievably strong in the first place…

How was he, a less then magnificent ninja, to kill something that strong?

 

He looked to Sasuke ( still plotting in the corners, twitching every so often) willing the him to give some information.

When he got none, he went back to staring at his fingers.

 

Maybe it was time…

He would have to ask Orochimaru for help.

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TBC

Yes I'll update faster now :3 no worries. I've got myself all organized again! Yay!