Better to Reign in Hell than Serve in Heaven

Better to Reign in Hell Then Serve in Heaven

Chapter 14

Crazy as a Coon

Walking with his new sensei gave both of them the opportunity to really observe each other. To Naruto, Kakashi was his Master’s man and thus a person who could be trusted to a point. He was probably the only one that could understand him outside his master and would be able to continue his studies through him. He knew that his teacher would have been told about his abilities as well as his need for secrecy. While he really did not have much to go on, Naruto knew that his master would never entrust him to someone that would hurt him.

“Iruka never visited me in the hospital.”

“I should hope not. He was just released from the hospital bed three days ago. Not everyone can heal as quickly as you. Iruka gave you most of his energy in order for you to pull through. After that the nurses refused to let him enter your room thanks to the quarantine. You were deemed safe due to your healing abilities and the lack of space they had in the hospital at the time.”

“Why did it take so long for the plague victims to notify us about their plight?”

“Messenger birds were sent but had been intercepted so we had no word from them. That was why the scouts were sent after no reports being received for so long. The victims could not leave their posts without replacements and they wanted to contain the outbreak. When the scouts found them, they return together only after replacements were sent to take over. We are at war and defending our borders are of the highest priority.”

“If the enemy was able to infect them, it makes no sense for the epidemic to be so easily contained. It looks more like they are trying to poke us to test the waters. Maybe an experiment to see how well there weapon works.”

“That is what your master is afraid of. He also thinks it may be a feint to attract attention away from their true intentions.”

“I assume that scouts are now being sent to the other borders on a regular basis.”

“Yes, we are also promoting a lot of the Chunin now that the need for Jounin has increased.”

“So the bar has lowered all around. Well that will only make it easier to be promoted now.”

“One more thing, Naruto, your master left the village to dig up more information. I was informed that any important information that needed to get to him immediately would have to go through you.”

“Yeah, we can communicate through the toads.”

“I don’t think you understand, Naruto, he left you in charge of the spy network until he gets back.”

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. Things were accelerating at a rate he had not been prepared for. Jiraiya had mentioned that he was planning such a task for him but Naruto had figured it had been another bad joke or at least not planned for years to come. He was still young and he knew well how older ninja found it distasteful to treat a younger ninja as a superior.

“I’ll expect you to be my go between. None of them are to be associated with me. If we must meet, let them know I can be found at the ramen shop.”

“You intend to keep your job?”

“It’s one of the best covers I know of, besides I get free ramen there.”

“Also, Jiraiya said to be more careful with this.”

Kakashi handed him the familiar leather mask. It did not take long to attach it to his face being so used to the cold material. Kakashi may not have known, but the mask was a private message from Jiraiya. First it told him to watch and learn. He did not know exactly what it is that his mentor wanted him to observe but he figured he would know it when he encountered it.

The second and most important message was that he was not to make contact. Even if the spies here expected him to speak through him to his master he knew the moment that Kakashi handed him the mask that it would no longer be possible. Jiraiya was not the spy master for nothing. It was obvious he had taken on a dangerous mission and their communication with each other would be too dangerous to allow. That would mean that he would be the one making the decisions until the Sannin returned. He only hoped the others did not realize that a fifteen year old boy was their actual stand-in leader.

“We are already late for our meeting. The Kazekage might already be there. Hold on to my arm, we need to get there the fast way.”

The moment Naruto had grabbed a hold of him, they were off through his jutsu allowing them to appear in front of the gate besides an irritated Sasuke and Sai though on the outside Sasuke appeared to be brooding and Sai appeared to be resting on the wooden door frame. It did not take much for either to realize they were agitated by their tardiness.

“You’re late. We were supposed to meet up two hours ago.”

“I was helping a dog out of a tree.”

“Don’t you mean a cat?”

“If I meant a cat, I would have said a cat.”

“Whatever. Why is the idiot with you?”

“He wanted to come.”

“Sasuke, I see dust on the horizon, I believe that is the party we are to meet.”

Sai’s words quickly brought Sasuke’s attention away from his teacher and out towards the distance were he saw nothing. He was about to inform Sai in no small terms that nothing was out their when a flash of yellow knocked against his shoulder as Naruto ran out to greet the scout.

While Sasuke had looked towards the trees and path, Naruto had looked at the shadows and free-floating dust particles in the air. That was how he knew something was wrong. A scout would normally have been more open in ally territory. It was considered bad manners as well as a sign of distrust to not go out in the open.

That was why it was no surprise to Naruto to find the expected scout smelling strongly of blood. Even more was that the other was making his way towards the village underground. Kakashi did not need to be informed of the new development and had made quick work to insert his hand into the ground and pull out a rather haggard Sand Nin.

“Where is the rest of your party?”

“Five minutes away. We thought we could contain him but he became too unstable. The monster started to claim that blood was in the air and the next thing we knew he went on a rampage. We were lucky that the forests around here are filled with life unlike the deserts of our village. The Ichibi feeds while the others barricade the area but they will soon be overpowered.”

“Is Baki no longer able to handle his charge?”

“Baki is only a man. I dare you to make anyone else to do half of what you ask of him.”

“Kakashi, he smells of old blood. There are no physical injuries but it is quite clear that whatever happened was a trap. ”

“Fuck, Naruto follow our friend him back to the others and get the situation under control. Sai and Sasuke will come with me to search the area. We need to find whoever did this.”

Kakashi’s words were met by a fury of activity as the teacher and two of his students left to make a wide sweep of the area to look for anything that was out of place. Each left in the company of Nin dogs that had been summoned as Kakashi’s bidding. Clearly they were to protect and help search for anything that the ninja might miss.

It left Naruto with a still rather frazzled Sand Nin. Having no time to waste, he pushed the other back towards the direction he had come from before hitting the trees to allow for faster travel. It did not take long for the other to snap out of his mood and join him jumping from tree to tree.

“What does your sensei think he is doing sending a Genin to his death? He is a monster. He should have been tossed into a bag and drowned at birth. The only one who had ever been able to control that beast was the true Kazekage before you leaf ninja killed him.”

Naruto had no words to say to the Sand Nin, it was quite obvious that the other needed to speak out his feelings. The blonde paid little attention to the ninja sending most of his energy on the smells about them. Naruto had never heard of a way to make things smell what they were not except through a genjutsu but if the smell stayed on those affected by it then it was clearly not a typical jutsu. He had heard of oils that mimicked smells but even his own nose was fooled by the sent of blood that the other carried on him.

It was clear that the smell was what had caused the problems. He was to face the Kazekage. From his experience with Kyuubi, he never experienced blood lust though he did admit that his connection with the Kyuubi was still very selective. Naruto granted the other freedoms but Kyuubi never took advantage of his trust in case their pact was broken and he would once again be completely locked behind his bars. It was true once he merged a bit more with the Kyuubi he became stronger and far more likely for violence but he made sure never to kill. He would never to cross that line.

There had been once incident where they had merged too closely. Naruto had woken from his daze to find the area demolished and his master close to death. As the fox, he had rampaged without control. It had been the Kyuubi that had finally help him back from delivering the killing blow to his sensei. While the beast had enjoyed his freedom, it was Jiraiya’s handy work that allowed Naruto to control his chakra and connection. There was still much that he needed to learn and Kyuubi knew his chances of being released again if he caused the death of the Sannin.

He no longer needed the ninja at his side to find the site of the dilemma. The sharp smell of blood was thick in the air and there was an unusual hum of power that derived from the origin of the scents. Now was the challenge Kakashi had given him to face. He could not reveal himself by using his toad summons or borrow from Kyuubi’s chakra unless he was willing to blow wide open his charade. That left him with less options then he enjoyed.

Using his shadow clone technique he made a clone to follow behind the Sand Nin while he dropped back to assess the situation. The other was obviously not going to lead him to the source of the conflict. It was also made clear that the others in his party were merely holding the creature back from a distance. That gave him the opportunity to come face to face with the situation alone.

He knew the moment he entered the barrier that held off the Kazekage by the discharge of power against his skin as he moved through. He was lucky that the barrier did not stop anyone from entering but he knew now that he was inside, that the only way out was to take down one of the barrier controllers who now knew that someone had entered the demolition zone.

It was not hard to pinpoint his new opponent. The environment even at the edges of the barrier had taken the brunt of the power back lash and sand seemed to be everywhere as it was dispersed in the air itself that it would be harder to breathe had his mask not been on to filter his intake automatically. It was quite obvious that the sand was part of the problem as it had only become an issue once he had gone through the barrier. Not to mention it seemed completely defused with chakra.

Naruto was unprepared for the ground to suddenly attack him but his reflexes moved him away from the danger zone before getting caught up in the sand that had threatened to shallow him up. Now that he knew what to look for he stayed clear of the pockets of sand as he continued forwards though it became harder heading towards the center at the safe patches became harder to find and those that seemed safe were often just as dangerous.

Jumping from yet another trap he had mistaken his landing after swinging off a nearby tree branch to give him better momentum to find his hand caught in sand and forced into a large pit of sand. His eyes went wide as the sand covered him up trapping him inside a cocoon of sort. Then the pressure started from all sides threatening to crush him.

He had only one choice after that, with little preparation and no time his only option was letting the nine tails aid him. He would pay the price later and hopefully no one important would notice. With the foreign chakra released into his body it took quick work to push back on the sand around him clear the air of sand with the waves of power he was discharging.

“Die”

The blonde felt pain bursting from his back as he was flown by the impact into a tree. He was thankful the hit was buffered by the red chakra surrounding him but it still hurt. Using the tree he had been thrown against as a prop, he stood back on his feet and faced a rather amazing sight of boy with shocking red hair half covered by sand that was formed into a monster like appearance. That was the Kazekage.


A/N
With my comps done I can get back to work somewhat on this.