Better to Reign in Hell than Serve in Heaven

Better to Reign in Hell Then Serve in Heaven

Chapter 13

Bloodhound

The council had been a tiring thing for Ibiki. His finding had come as a surprise to most though Tsunade seemed to have already known the information. It was possible she had run across it while healing the child but she had argued his case a little too well.

He agreed with her on many points. It would be safer to keep Naruto in the village where they could keep an eye on him. After all if the Akatsuki really wanted him bad enough to send an agent in without going through the proper channels that it was clear that it would give them an upper hand to keep him in their custody then let the organization have him.

How Ibiki hated that organization. They were a necessary evil though. The Akatsuki were the mediators between leaders. The wars had gone one so long that leaders feared for their lives when entering diplomatic discussions. A third party had been necessary to bridge the gap between forces. The Akatsuki had appeared during that need.

They were powerful ninja from just about every single ninja village. They took the strongest and the brightest into their fold. Once entering the Akatsuki they revoked their rights as a citizen to any one land. They were proud and ruthless in all matters. They had but one job, to keep the balance. They also had the way to insure that the balance was kept.

It was a weapon more powerful then anything that the lands had ever seen. It could demolish villages as if they were nothing. All villages had the right to govern their own, but the Akatsuki came in when interests of two or more lands collided. Now wars were only fought in retaliation for grievance or under strict diplomatic agreement with the Akatsuki presiding over the process. They also had a darker job to insure the balance was kept. They insured that the treaties were kept.

It was a broken system but it worked. The wars had died down and the Akatsuki grew stronger. In response the leaders of the land came together to enforce that all Akatsuki must make contact with the heads of villages before entering. The path of the Akatsuki must no longer be secret. All members had to speak plainly on what they were investigating and that all entry to lands was given under the price of being informed that they were on such land.

It had scared the leaders soundly to have found they had gone to bed with a snake the first time the Akatsuki had killed a treaty breaker. That was when the laws had come into place. There was time to fix wrongs but the Akatsuki were never known for leniency. You were given an allotted time to fix problems after that, it was open season to the Akatsuki.

Defiance was met with death, and full out rebellion leads to the complete annihilation of the village. The weapon had only been used twice. All that had been left was a depression in the land were no life could live. Even now the places hit refused to allow wild grass to grow on its mound, leaving them an open scar as a reminder of the possibilities.

There were rumors that they used human sacrifice to power their weapon. Some even said they captured demons for the machine. All Ibiki knew was that the protectors of the treaties had broken a treaty themselves, and there was no one above them to force them to follow it. It was a dangerous situation all around.

Ibiki frowned as he heard a strange sound as he neared the Interrogators Squad building. Laughter flowed out of it and the head of the squad soon found the source as he entered the building to find him blonde prisoner not only out of his room but surrounded by his ninja.

From the looks of things, the blonde had been out of his room for a while as the table before him was littered with empty ramen bowls and his team of crack interrogators and torturers were egging him on finishing his current one. It was Naruto who first noticed his presence as he drop his empty bowl on the table with a smile as those around him laughed and congratulated his achievement.

“Hey, Ibiki! Back for dinner?”

The room fell into silence as no body wished to get Ibiki’s wrath released on them. It had started out as an innocent thing. Naruto had wandered out of the holding cell looking for a bathroom. Of course the moment they had saw him wandering around they had tried to get him to go back but once it was clear that his being up was not reopening his wounds they had allowed him to use the toilet.

Once leaving, Naruto had smelled ramen in the air. After that it would have taken a lot more then the two ninja set to insure he went back to his room. He out ran his guards and ended up at the entry hall where he had snatched a bowl of ramen from the top of the astonished delivery boy’s pile and inhaled it.

After that it had been a downward spiral as the delivery boy was paid and gently removed while Naruto was working on his third bowl surrounded by circle of spectators. A suggestion and waved across them on how much the boy could eat as well as the added worry that the hospital had not been feeding him enough to replenish the energy from healing.

After the fifth bowl the air around them lightened as people started taking bets on how much the boy could eat. That had cascaded into the scene that Ibiki had walked in on were just about every ninja working in the building had found an excuse to witness Naruto as well and join into on the betting.

Ninja tend to be very competitive people, those in jobs that required more delicate skills found even more things to be competitive on. Thus since Ibiki had the ability to pull together the masters of their arts together, competition ran at an extremely high level in the office. Usually Ibiki liked it that way as it insured perfection for any project he gave those below him. With the current week of fairly mundane activities his ninja had found an outlet for their pent up energy.

Naruto knew at once that something was wrong. It did not take a genius to understand that their actions were not approved by the head of the squad. He did not understand why the other was so mad. After all was it really that necessary to have everything so quiet like when he had first entered the building. He had found that a lot of the ninja around him liked a good laugh and were actually fun people, when not occupied with other duties.

“Don’t be mad at them, it’s my fault.”

“You have no idea what you are talking about boy. I expect you to give me trouble. They, on the other hand, have no excuse.”

“I did not exactly leave them but room to debate. Most were too afraid to push me incase I reopened my wounds.”

“Get out.”

“What?”

“Did I stutter? Get out. Back to your dorm. I do not care. You’re free. Now go.”

“Your not going to punish the others are you?”

“What I do to them is of no concern of yours.”

“If it is my fault then I should take responsibility.”

“Just leave, boy.”

“Not until you tell me.”

“San, Yon, kick him out.”

Ibiki said pointing to two of the ninja closest to the nuisance as he walked past heading to his office. He was not going to get into a fight in front of his team. The boy was a pain in the neck but at least he was no longer his problem. It was the ANBU’s turn to do what they wished with him. He just hoped the boy was not as good charming the ANBU as he was his staff.

~*~

Naruto wandered his way back to the hospital. He walked slowly due to the pains and sores that still hurt him when he exerted himself too much. He was sure he made quite a sight walking down the streets of Konoha in his hospital gown wrapped up with a blanket that one of the ninja had handed to him as he left.

He entered the hospital to find a flurry of activity around him and he was soon returned to his room to find himself sharing it with two others. The nurse had explained that a scouting party had returned with the complete boarder guard on the north side of the land. They had encountered a strange plague that the medical ninja was sure was not natural. The border guards were all under quarantine but they wanted the scouting party under the hospitals watch for a few days as well to insure the it was not passed down to them.

Naruto was definitely happier with company and the three of them soon found themselves playing cards. The scouting party members loved gossiping and two of the most carefree people that Naruto had met the whole time in Konoha. He was able to learn a lot from them about the current situation in Konoha and how odd events kept happening.

The plague was not the first of many incidents that had troubled the land. Weird things such as messenger birds going missing and a growing number of missing ninja were increasing events. It all seemed to have started a month ago. Scouts had been working double hours due to all the trouble. They were happy to actually be getting a break even if they could not get a bottle of sake while stuck in the hospital.

They were other things they taught him as well. Within the two days he had left at the hospital he learned how and where to hide his new kunai about his body so they would be easily assessable. He was actually getting pretty good at quick drawing his weapons though they still found their way to the floor a third of the time. That would be fixed with practice.

There were also other things meant for self defense incase he was once again caught. He was told about areas of the body to aim for and a wider range of uses for his feet and legs if his hands were tied. They never really pushed his body not wanting to get in trouble with the nurses but during what time they had he gained a greater knowledge of the skills as well as a few dirty fighting techniques.

Naruto left the hospital on the morning of the third day to greet the sunrise with a smile. He hated being cooped up in a building when he could be out in the sun. Stretching a bit he headed towards the woods, he had been neglectful with his morning exercises at the hospital though he had continued to stretch and work his muscles when he could nothing could beat the burn of a good workout.

Too Naruto’s displeasure, he was barely able to accomplish half of his usual morning routine before feeling his lungs burn for air and his side flash in pain still not fully healed though in no danger of becoming worse at the moment. He rested as a tree willing his body to relax so he could find Sasuke and Sai. He obviously needed to catch up with training after being down a week.

“Yo”

Naruto looked up to find Kakashi perched on a branch of the tree he was sitting under. Waving down at his student with a smile that was only seen by the rising of his viewable eye; the Genin teacher jumped down to land not to far from Naruto.

“You gave Iruka quite a scare leaving the hospital so early.”

“I wanted to run for a bit in the woods. I’ve been stuck so long in the hospital I needed a bit of open air.”

“Either way, since you did not meet Iruka I was sent to fetch you.”

“That important?”

“You could call it that, two days ago Genma and Hayate came to us with a mission.”

“The special mission they promise me?”

“So then you knew about it and did not tell me.”

“They were not exactly forthcoming with what it was only that it was designed for me.”

“Well they gave me the details and I promise you, I do not think it would be safe for you to handle it now.”

“You plan on leaving me out of it?”

“Sasuke and Sai can take care of it as long as I help.”

“I’m ready for anything, Sensei.”

“Are you really?”

“Have you told my master that you want to leave me out?”

“No, he is just as bullheaded as you and would say it would be a great opportunity.”

“Then, that is two against you.”

“Let’s go then.”

“Go where?”

“The front gate. We are the welcoming party for the Kazekage and his party.”


A/N

Short chapter but I needing to give up some necessary information since the events are distorted and needed some clarification. Besides The entrance of Gaara deserves its own chapter.