Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Innocence From Ashes
Chapter 11
0 reviewsThe Konohans desperately try to pick up the lost trail of Naruto and Sasuke.
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Innocence From Ashes
Chapter 11
Stone cold sober, Tsunade had not slept, eaten, or drank sake since the arrival of Neji’s bird yesterday. In the last thirty six or so hours since then, she’d spent a great deal of time exactly where she was right now; by the window of her office. Her mind was so filled with questions and uncertainties that she couldn’t do anything but stand here, and wonder, eyes vacantly roaming the night darkened streets and forests of Konoha. Clenched tightly in her fist, was Naruto’s old headband, which Neji had presented to her; spoils from Sound.
It was here that she stood after she finally stopped crying in Shizune’s arms. Here she stood when she watched the return of Neji’s group from Sound. Stood here and wept all over again, alone, at the heart breaking and earth shaking news that group imparted to her.
Was Naruto alive after all? She so desperately wanted to believe. God, so much. But rock solid witnesses, like Neji and Kakashi, were so shaken when they related the terrible death of the boy she looked at like her lost brother, no… like a son. It would take more than the quixotic tales of a girl that by all accounts, had completely lost her mind when Naruto died virtually in her arms, or a rambunctious boy that had worshiped the ground Naruto walked on for years.
Both Neji and Kakashi, though they had by their own words offered tribute to the Naruto creature in the clearing a few dozen miles away, were still as uncertain as she was, and they had been there.
And Hinata.
Now, there was an eye opener. Though the girl was as changed as could possibly be and still remain the same person, she’d always been so hung up on the blonde. She had, in her own way, been even more creepily a stalker than Sasuke’s old fan club. Could she trust the judgment of a young woman that was so obsessed with Naruto that she cried out his name when laying with her husband, that had seen every inch of Naruto on the sly; clothed, naked, clear down to the very molecules that made up his body? Especially in light of the traumatic experience she indulged willingly in with Gaara under the garden in Sound. Could she trust the judgment of such a witness? Could Hinata simply be so convinced because, like Tsunade herself, she simply had to believe just to make it through the day?
And yet… the farmer’s ludicrous tale, that she’d so angrily dismissed, echoed uncannily by the same rock solid witnesses that fueled her own doubts even now? Had Kyuubi brought both Naruto and Sasuke back, by some demon magic or science? Was Naruto, her Naruto, remade whole, healed in mind and body from the terrible and tragic life he’d lived in Sound?
Naruto!
At this particular moment in time, she felt every second of her age, and then some. Even so, she wished she was beside Jiraiya right now.
The perverted Sannin, the moment he heard the incredulous tale imparted by Neji and the others, was out combing the woods even now, Iruka by his side, convinced that Naruto was alive, convinced that said blonde would be home by tomorrow morning.
And Tsunade hoped he was right, even as she wept anew now, fingers splayed helplessly across the glass of her window. Hoped and prayed and begged to whatever god might possibly be listening.
Naruto… come home!
And she was still standing there, when the skies to the north lit up like a bank of search lights, blazing like a beacon in the dark and uncertain night.
***************
It was dark, and Iruka was more tired than he remembered being in a very long time. But he would drop in his tracks before he gave up, even for a moment. It had taken him, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Gai less than two hours to travel the distance it had taken Neji’s group six hours at quick march.
It had been easy to find the clearing Kakashi had marked with a chakra beacon. And all four of them had stood there for several long moments; heads tilted back, senses extended, and felt for themselves the faint chakra remnants of the boy they wanted to find so badly.
As Hinata said, it was slightly different, but still, it simply reeked of Naruto. How many times had all of them sensed this almost exact trace? To often to count, especially for Iruka and Jiraiya, who had spent more time with Naruto than the other two. And then they had all followed the trail that Neji’s group had at first.
Kyuubi, if that was who it really was, had taken the two boys deep into the forest before the trail vanished as if they had taken to the skies. Which, in consideration of everything to date, was entirely possible. They paused but a moment at the very end of the trail, and then broke into four different directions. Naruto had been here; Iruka could feel it, could taste it on the very wind. Naruto had been here, and one of them would find him if it was the last thing they did.
And so Iruka was combing the woods, moving quickly, but sending out a blanket of chakra that would alert him if even the faintest trace of the boy he felt was truly his son turned up. He was exhausted, almost spent, but still gripped by unshakable determination.
And by the luck of the draw, Iruka was the closest when the sky went off with a thousand beams of glittering light, so bright it lit the woods with an eerie whiteness, and felt the blast of power so strong he almost fell to his knees.
It was as if the light itself was bound up with chakra, flashing through the very trees, as dense as they were, shooting up into the sky mingled with threads of Naruto’s own chakra.
Naruto! He could feel him, so close, it was like the boy was pressing up against him, like he had as a child, pressed so close, smiling cheekily up at him.
Naruto! The revitalizing force that had made him realize that life was worth living after his parents were killed by the very thing that resided in the blonde boy that stole his heart. His son. Naruto. So close, he could almost smell him.
Before that amazing display of power and light even so much as dimmed, he was back on his feet, thrusting his way through the brush and bracken that tried to hinder him in what he would have! Naruto!
And when the skies went dark again, so profound after the brilliance of the energy blast as to be like an impenetrable gloom, he forged on. Naruto… closer now, he could feel it. Could feel him!
Iruka found himself staggering into a clearing, lit brightly by ordinary moonlight now, lovely, pristine, untainted. The tinkling of a small waterfall was like music to his ears, and the light that glanced off the unusually thick water in the pond almost blinded him after his forced run through the dark forest.
And he stopped, dead in his tracks.
A massive red fox, almost as big as a horse, lay very close to the water. And it was Kyuubi; Iruka had seen it so long ago, on a night his life took a turn for the worse, on the night his parents died, on the night his beloved Hokage had died.
And Iruka barely even paid heed. Because what his eyes were riveted on, what he couldn’t look away from, was the sleeping boy, looking as if he’d graduated from the Shinobi academy just yesterday, naked and whole and so very, very alive!
“Naruto!”
He stood there, swaying with exhaustion, with amazement, with utter and complete relief and joy.
He didn’t see the dark haired boy coiled as tightly around the blonde as a watch spring, didn’t see the great fox head swing his way, didn’t hear the soft menacing growl emitted by something he’d hated and feared and resented all his life. Couldn’t do anything but stand there, fingers knotted white to the knuckles under his chin as he wept silent tears of gratitude.
Naruto!
Between one frantic beat of his heart and the next, all went dark.
****
Iruka snuggled deeper into sleep. Hmmm… it must be the weekend; that was the only thing that could explain why he was still abed when the sun shone so bright and warm on his face. God, he loved weekends… sleeping in, getting a respite from the lively and always trying children at the academy.
Yes… sleeping in was so very good in the warm sunshine; the warm sunshine that Naruto had so loved to sleep in, sunning himself like a lazy cat.
Naruto!
Iruka sat bolt upright, unable to believe he’d just been laying here in the forest, sleeping like a log, when Naruto had been so close. Frantically, he looked around.
The little dell was even lovelier by day than it was by night, but there was no Naruto. Only Jiraiya and the others, sitting nearby and watching him with hooded eyes.
“Finally awake, I see,” the Sannin said with a faint smile.
Iruka scrambled to his feet, staggered as a wave of vertigo rushed through him, and didn’t fall simply because Shizune took hold of his elbow and steadied him.
“Did you find him?” Iruka asked with excitement. “Is he here? Naruto!”
Gai shook his head sorrowfully, as did Shizune.
“No. He’s not here. But he was. And you saw him, didn’t you?” Jiraiya was staring at him shrewdly.
Nodding frantically, words stumbling over each other like puppies in a basket, Iruka told them of his tale.
And only then paused, thunderstruck.
“It was Naruto! I saw him! And it was Kyuubi; Sakura and Konohamaru were right. It was Kyuubi. And yet, I’m still alive!”
“Obviously, the fox demon doesn’t feel the need for wholesale slaughter as it used to.” Shizune said softly. “In its own way, Kyuubi is as changed by everything as Naruto is.”
There was a long moment of silence, and then the other three related their night; how they’d all seen the lights, felt the power. How they moved as quickly as they could towards it, but found the going more and more difficult with every passing footstep, until it was like a thickening jungle before them. Completely unassailable. Then the dawn broke, the sun rose, and shortly thereafter, it was a normal forest again. And when they’d converged on this clearing, one after the other, they’d found Iruka laying there, apparently asleep, but they’d been unable to wake him. Thus, they’d scouted the area, taken note of important things, and waited for the teacher to finally wake from whatever coma had stricken him.
Iruka stared at the little cave, the remnants of the feast, the hollows of sand where Sasuke and Naruto had made love, where Kyuubi had lain beside them. They’d learned all that and nothing more. Once more it was as if the fox and boys had taken wing; there was no trail to follow; physical or spiritual. Once more they were back to square one.
Chapter 11
Stone cold sober, Tsunade had not slept, eaten, or drank sake since the arrival of Neji’s bird yesterday. In the last thirty six or so hours since then, she’d spent a great deal of time exactly where she was right now; by the window of her office. Her mind was so filled with questions and uncertainties that she couldn’t do anything but stand here, and wonder, eyes vacantly roaming the night darkened streets and forests of Konoha. Clenched tightly in her fist, was Naruto’s old headband, which Neji had presented to her; spoils from Sound.
It was here that she stood after she finally stopped crying in Shizune’s arms. Here she stood when she watched the return of Neji’s group from Sound. Stood here and wept all over again, alone, at the heart breaking and earth shaking news that group imparted to her.
Was Naruto alive after all? She so desperately wanted to believe. God, so much. But rock solid witnesses, like Neji and Kakashi, were so shaken when they related the terrible death of the boy she looked at like her lost brother, no… like a son. It would take more than the quixotic tales of a girl that by all accounts, had completely lost her mind when Naruto died virtually in her arms, or a rambunctious boy that had worshiped the ground Naruto walked on for years.
Both Neji and Kakashi, though they had by their own words offered tribute to the Naruto creature in the clearing a few dozen miles away, were still as uncertain as she was, and they had been there.
And Hinata.
Now, there was an eye opener. Though the girl was as changed as could possibly be and still remain the same person, she’d always been so hung up on the blonde. She had, in her own way, been even more creepily a stalker than Sasuke’s old fan club. Could she trust the judgment of a young woman that was so obsessed with Naruto that she cried out his name when laying with her husband, that had seen every inch of Naruto on the sly; clothed, naked, clear down to the very molecules that made up his body? Especially in light of the traumatic experience she indulged willingly in with Gaara under the garden in Sound. Could she trust the judgment of such a witness? Could Hinata simply be so convinced because, like Tsunade herself, she simply had to believe just to make it through the day?
And yet… the farmer’s ludicrous tale, that she’d so angrily dismissed, echoed uncannily by the same rock solid witnesses that fueled her own doubts even now? Had Kyuubi brought both Naruto and Sasuke back, by some demon magic or science? Was Naruto, her Naruto, remade whole, healed in mind and body from the terrible and tragic life he’d lived in Sound?
Naruto!
At this particular moment in time, she felt every second of her age, and then some. Even so, she wished she was beside Jiraiya right now.
The perverted Sannin, the moment he heard the incredulous tale imparted by Neji and the others, was out combing the woods even now, Iruka by his side, convinced that Naruto was alive, convinced that said blonde would be home by tomorrow morning.
And Tsunade hoped he was right, even as she wept anew now, fingers splayed helplessly across the glass of her window. Hoped and prayed and begged to whatever god might possibly be listening.
Naruto… come home!
And she was still standing there, when the skies to the north lit up like a bank of search lights, blazing like a beacon in the dark and uncertain night.
***************
It was dark, and Iruka was more tired than he remembered being in a very long time. But he would drop in his tracks before he gave up, even for a moment. It had taken him, Jiraiya, Shizune, and Gai less than two hours to travel the distance it had taken Neji’s group six hours at quick march.
It had been easy to find the clearing Kakashi had marked with a chakra beacon. And all four of them had stood there for several long moments; heads tilted back, senses extended, and felt for themselves the faint chakra remnants of the boy they wanted to find so badly.
As Hinata said, it was slightly different, but still, it simply reeked of Naruto. How many times had all of them sensed this almost exact trace? To often to count, especially for Iruka and Jiraiya, who had spent more time with Naruto than the other two. And then they had all followed the trail that Neji’s group had at first.
Kyuubi, if that was who it really was, had taken the two boys deep into the forest before the trail vanished as if they had taken to the skies. Which, in consideration of everything to date, was entirely possible. They paused but a moment at the very end of the trail, and then broke into four different directions. Naruto had been here; Iruka could feel it, could taste it on the very wind. Naruto had been here, and one of them would find him if it was the last thing they did.
And so Iruka was combing the woods, moving quickly, but sending out a blanket of chakra that would alert him if even the faintest trace of the boy he felt was truly his son turned up. He was exhausted, almost spent, but still gripped by unshakable determination.
And by the luck of the draw, Iruka was the closest when the sky went off with a thousand beams of glittering light, so bright it lit the woods with an eerie whiteness, and felt the blast of power so strong he almost fell to his knees.
It was as if the light itself was bound up with chakra, flashing through the very trees, as dense as they were, shooting up into the sky mingled with threads of Naruto’s own chakra.
Naruto! He could feel him, so close, it was like the boy was pressing up against him, like he had as a child, pressed so close, smiling cheekily up at him.
Naruto! The revitalizing force that had made him realize that life was worth living after his parents were killed by the very thing that resided in the blonde boy that stole his heart. His son. Naruto. So close, he could almost smell him.
Before that amazing display of power and light even so much as dimmed, he was back on his feet, thrusting his way through the brush and bracken that tried to hinder him in what he would have! Naruto!
And when the skies went dark again, so profound after the brilliance of the energy blast as to be like an impenetrable gloom, he forged on. Naruto… closer now, he could feel it. Could feel him!
Iruka found himself staggering into a clearing, lit brightly by ordinary moonlight now, lovely, pristine, untainted. The tinkling of a small waterfall was like music to his ears, and the light that glanced off the unusually thick water in the pond almost blinded him after his forced run through the dark forest.
And he stopped, dead in his tracks.
A massive red fox, almost as big as a horse, lay very close to the water. And it was Kyuubi; Iruka had seen it so long ago, on a night his life took a turn for the worse, on the night his parents died, on the night his beloved Hokage had died.
And Iruka barely even paid heed. Because what his eyes were riveted on, what he couldn’t look away from, was the sleeping boy, looking as if he’d graduated from the Shinobi academy just yesterday, naked and whole and so very, very alive!
“Naruto!”
He stood there, swaying with exhaustion, with amazement, with utter and complete relief and joy.
He didn’t see the dark haired boy coiled as tightly around the blonde as a watch spring, didn’t see the great fox head swing his way, didn’t hear the soft menacing growl emitted by something he’d hated and feared and resented all his life. Couldn’t do anything but stand there, fingers knotted white to the knuckles under his chin as he wept silent tears of gratitude.
Naruto!
Between one frantic beat of his heart and the next, all went dark.
****
Iruka snuggled deeper into sleep. Hmmm… it must be the weekend; that was the only thing that could explain why he was still abed when the sun shone so bright and warm on his face. God, he loved weekends… sleeping in, getting a respite from the lively and always trying children at the academy.
Yes… sleeping in was so very good in the warm sunshine; the warm sunshine that Naruto had so loved to sleep in, sunning himself like a lazy cat.
Naruto!
Iruka sat bolt upright, unable to believe he’d just been laying here in the forest, sleeping like a log, when Naruto had been so close. Frantically, he looked around.
The little dell was even lovelier by day than it was by night, but there was no Naruto. Only Jiraiya and the others, sitting nearby and watching him with hooded eyes.
“Finally awake, I see,” the Sannin said with a faint smile.
Iruka scrambled to his feet, staggered as a wave of vertigo rushed through him, and didn’t fall simply because Shizune took hold of his elbow and steadied him.
“Did you find him?” Iruka asked with excitement. “Is he here? Naruto!”
Gai shook his head sorrowfully, as did Shizune.
“No. He’s not here. But he was. And you saw him, didn’t you?” Jiraiya was staring at him shrewdly.
Nodding frantically, words stumbling over each other like puppies in a basket, Iruka told them of his tale.
And only then paused, thunderstruck.
“It was Naruto! I saw him! And it was Kyuubi; Sakura and Konohamaru were right. It was Kyuubi. And yet, I’m still alive!”
“Obviously, the fox demon doesn’t feel the need for wholesale slaughter as it used to.” Shizune said softly. “In its own way, Kyuubi is as changed by everything as Naruto is.”
There was a long moment of silence, and then the other three related their night; how they’d all seen the lights, felt the power. How they moved as quickly as they could towards it, but found the going more and more difficult with every passing footstep, until it was like a thickening jungle before them. Completely unassailable. Then the dawn broke, the sun rose, and shortly thereafter, it was a normal forest again. And when they’d converged on this clearing, one after the other, they’d found Iruka laying there, apparently asleep, but they’d been unable to wake him. Thus, they’d scouted the area, taken note of important things, and waited for the teacher to finally wake from whatever coma had stricken him.
Iruka stared at the little cave, the remnants of the feast, the hollows of sand where Sasuke and Naruto had made love, where Kyuubi had lain beside them. They’d learned all that and nothing more. Once more it was as if the fox and boys had taken wing; there was no trail to follow; physical or spiritual. Once more they were back to square one.
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