Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of the Village Hidden in Leaves, was strolling through the Market District as the sun set. He always liked to get out among his people though opportunities tended to be few and fleeting with the many demands on his attention. For the moment however he was taking a break from his duties to get some dinner before another late night in the office - with the disturbance that had taken place nearby during the afternoon he wanted to clear as much of the paperwork backlog as possible in anticipation of the slew of reports and complaints he'd have to deal with tomorrow. Since at least half of them would inevitably finger Naruto he was heading to Ramen Ichiraku in hopes of meeting the boy there and getting the story up front if he was involved, or the alibi if not so he could get people on confirming it proactively.
He was a bit surprised to catch sight of a familiar orange jacket on one of the benches as he approached, the more so when he realized it wasn't its owner dozing under it. Curious, he moved closer to investigate, noting with a frown the dark glances at the sleeping child from passerby. With the better vantage point he recognized the Haruno girl that young Naruto always spoke of, whom he also remembered had been mentioned in some of the preliminary reports he'd received from this afternoon. Judging by the smudges on her cheeks and somewhat bedraggled hair those reports might have slightly more credibility than he'd first thought, especially given the chunk of broken signpost lying beside the bench where it had eventually slipped out of her hand, just trailing out from under the edge of the tough orange canvas. He set aside dinner plans for the moment in favor of satisfying his curiosity.
Leaning closer and putting on his best grandfatherly smile, Sarutobi nudged the girl's shoulder to wake her, meeting confused jade eyes with a twinkle as sleepy thoughts played across Sakura's face.
'My bed isn't this hard.'
'Who's the old guy and why is he standing over me?'
'Hokage-sama! Why's he standing over me!?'
'Arms tangled in something, muscles sore, what happened?'
'That woman!'
'And I'm wrapped up in...'
Long years of experience as a ninja and in government made her face an open scroll with her mind writ large across it, and the Hokage had already leaned back and muffled his ears with a chakra exercise as the girl's brows knit over flashing eyes and she sucked in a breath to scream, "NA - *RU* - *TOOO!!*
Flinging away the (spicy?) SMELLY jacket she shot to her feet, ignoring the protests of bruises and stiff muscles at the sudden movement as she patted herself down and then clasped her arms in front of her chest with a shudder.
Completely forgetting the village leader standing bemusedly off the one side, she shuddered again with anger as she ranted, "Jerk! Annoying! Putting his jacket over me like that... And that other Uzumaki pervert-woman to give him ideas! AAAH! My pure body!" Another shudder wracked her underdevel- that is, lean and fashionable frame and she frantically brushed at seams, buttons and zippers. "I SWEAR, if there's just ONE button..."
Sakura trailed off, finding the torn side-seam of her skirt, not realizing she'd done it herself when the back panel had gotten caught on the jagged edge of a broken board, nor thinking about the black shirts she wore under it or the fact that without them there'd hardly be any more to see if it was intact. Torn between rage and embarrassment her face went flat white save for the bright red blotches of a blush, and the stress headache that had dogged her since the first meeting with Haruko exploded.
A second later, it spiked again, hard enough to make the girl gasp at the sudden pain and lose her train of thought, then a third pulse came accompanied by pain that hit like a physical blow, knocking the wind out of her as she buckled at the waist.
"Are you alright?" Hiruzen asked worriedly, catching her by the shoulders as she staggered in shock. Sakura looked up at him in confusion as the next spike hit. He saw the red flash and heard the crack as the ribbon tied around her forehead snapped, and just barely dodged in time to keep the horn that grew out of it from poking him in the eye as it extended. She dropped to her knees and arched her back as another pulse came and the pain was replaced by an odd sensation like the relief of sneezing after trying to hold back as the oddly shaped appendage spiraled like a drill and extended. It made an odd slurping, scraping sound as the tip split into three points and shifted from flesh tone to a metallic gleam.
Stifling horror and a bitter sense of failure at the thought of a girl of his village having been subjected to some technique that turned her into a walking bomb, Sarutobi let his mind flow into the calmness of battle - he'd survived more battles and assassination attempts than most ninja had warm breakfasts, and wasn't about to fall to even such a cheap shot as using one of his people against him. Except...
Even as the strange growth expanded to several times the girl's own body mass, balancing above her like a child's top in the instant between when it stops spinning and when it falls over, even as the original 'horn' untwisted and lengthened into three long, sharp, metallic, spidery legs with more than a passing similarly to one side of a disassembled pair of scissors, even as it continued to extrude out of Sakura's head with a wet crunching sound... There was no blood, and her eyes flicked across its form with a look of surprise yes, but hardly the empty incomprehension of the kind of brain damage that would have to result from even a small portion of the strange object having taken up space inside her skull.
Abruptly he remembered the description Haruko had given of the N.O. Channel jutsu she'd acquired in her journeys - vague, since she'd classed it a hijutsu, a secret only to be taught within the clan, but enough to recognize the effect. The earlier bitter thoughts of failure and living bombs faded and he relaxed to a less threatening if still wary stance. Even if this was something Haruko had done intentionally that didn't necessarily mean it wouldn't disastrously misfire - she wasn't exactly known for careful consideration of consequences. On top of that, the reason for classing it hijutsu was that outside forces already had a version of it, unfriendly groups who might detect it if frequently or incorrectly used and follow the trail to the Elemental Countries and the Leaf.
As the large, bucket-shaped base of the creature wiggled itself free of the Academy student's head, a large, glowing eye opened and blinked a few times at the junction of the three spindly legs. Sakura slumped over backwards with a sigh as the beast oriented itself and looked around, then shrieked and rolled aside as the eye turned from yellow to red and one of the needle-pointed legs stabbed down where she'd lain.
Seeing the hostile act the Sandaime went into action, grabbing the child and whisking her away to a nearby rooftop before leaping to another position. One of the few kunai he carried in his usually office-bound routine was tossed, then with a blur of handseals and a muttered "Kunai kage bunshin no jutsu," it multiplied into a hundred, peppering the plant-like body of the creature with holes as the jutsu was released and the imbedded blades puffed away to nothing. Little real damage was done but it served to keep the thing's attention on him rather than Sakura, or the sparse dinnertime crowd in this side street, who had sensibly fallen back with the shinobi members taking to the roofs to watch for an opening and give backup if needed. His ANBU guards were on the rooftops as well, but waited for his signal as he'd instructed with handsigns from the beginning.
It didn't appear to have noticed the ANBU and had little in the way of chakra from what he could sense - enough to surmise it had a good amount of physical strength, but not likely to be more than a light workout as far as he was concerned, so he repeated the earlier signal for his subordinates to stand by as he returned to the road, another kunai at the ready.
The spider-bucket beast narrowed its eye at him and shuffled its feet, then suddenly fled. The Hokage frowned, blurred through another set of handseals, longer this time, then tapped a foot on the clay-and-gravel pavement. "Doton: Doryutaiga," he muttered, as the earth between him and the monster abruptly became thick, clinging mud and rushed to swamp the thing's tripod legs. It struggled to free itself, and the sharp, tapered legs slid loose much more easily than a human's would have. Seeing this, another set of invisibly fast mudra were performed, ending in a Tiger sign than was brought to the lips. He didn't announce the Goukakyu no Jutsu at all, just breathing out the fire-natured chakra collected in his mouth, letting the mud hold the target in place so the slow-moving fireball could hit, frying the thing's body and baking the mud still binding it into brick.
Its one eye wide, the monster struggled for a few more seconds before raising its bucket-shaped body and suddenly unfurling, almost resembling a gigantic flower pointed up at the dusky evening sky. Rather than wait to discover the purpose of this sudden transformation, Hiruzen quickly molded some wind chakra, first around his kunai to let it blast through the beast's core, then channeled into ninjutsu. Not quite as adept with it as the other elements, he had to announce the technique in a normal speaking voice and make a slashing hand gesture to direct it. "Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba," he said, just before invisible blades of wind slashed the already sagging 'flower' structure into quarters, then again into eighths.
Seeing the monster's remains fall inert on the ground, he flashed through another set of mudra and again tapped his foot, the low level doton not needing any kind of vocalization to focus as it made the broken ground flow back together and level off, returning the street to something approaching its original condition except for the dead monster to be hauled off and studied. Then he dusted off the official white Hokage robe and adjusted his square hat, using the motion to disguise signals to take Sakura to get a medical check and to summon Haruko for a meeting before resuming his walk toward Ramen Ichiraku.
Sensing the woman appear by his side and a half-step behind, he mentioned his hypothesis from the beginning of the fight. "So, Raharu, was that the result of the N.O. Hijutsu? I would hope it's not a result you planned."
"Oi, oi, call me Haruko," the adult pinkette complained. "Raharu sounds like some old biddy's name."
He started to say, "You say that, but the truth is, even compared to me..." She cut him off with a growl and a scary face, but the old man just chuckled as he retrieved his pipe from a pocket and lit it with a flare of chakra. "Even so, it's not like you to hang back instead of jumping into a fight."
"Eto, Flying Monkey had it under control," she chirped, taking a cute pose. It was his turn to growl and grimace, and after a moment she got serious again. "That was a Medical Mechanica recon bot, sent through an accidental N.O. Channel; it's better if they think any random geezer from this world can kick ass so it's too troublesome to harvest."
Sarutobi drew on his pipe contemplatively, thinking over the implications of a group that 'harvested' /worlds./ Somehow, the concept failed to inspire images of festival season and couples watching fireworks. Before he could inquire further, Haruko continued her own thought.
"If they know I'm here, they'll definitely come, for *that* power... Even for just the local bijuu. Even if that one didn't get to report back, now that they've opened one N.O. Channel here they'll be curious, and that means..." A different cute pose this time, a salute worthy of a sentai show, but the effect was disturbing combined with such a bloodthirsty grin. "I'm gonna hafta get Naruto-bozu powered up, since he'll definitely be a target!"
Displeasure with the idea of anyone targeting the other bijuu or their containers, let alone Naruto, twisted the old man's face into a scowl as he pondered. He blew a thick stream of smoke, absently shaping it with chakra into a dragon that circled his head a few times before dissipating in an exercise that had long become ingrained while he walked.
Hyuuga Hinata had been just about to head for her clan's estate when the monster had appeared, having stopped in the market district after her usual solo afternoon practice to get a quick meal and a cinnamon bun, having delayed her return as long as she dared. It wasn't that she didn't like her family, not really, but just being around them was enough to remind her of how far below the noble standards of the Hyuuga Clan she fell. Plus, there was always the chance of seeing Naruto the longer she stayed in the training fields, although he'd excitedly told the world about his planned shopping trip this afternoon during classes. She'd set out this way herself when the Academy let out, hoping to see him and to ask his relative about becoming an official bridal candidate (just the thought made her blush hard enough to get a little dizzy, but she kept her balance) but then Sakura-san and Haruko-san had gotten into an argument and things got a bit chaotic, so she'd decided to wait a little longer...
Anyway, she'd happened to notice Naruto's jacket where Sakura was sleeping under it not long before the Hokage had arrived, and while it was just the kind of kind thing he'd do, the evidence of the other girl's benefits from being named a candidate just strengthened her own desire to join her... Hinata didn't consider herself pretty or special, but perhaps if she just kept trying she could be a little less shy, and she could already cook a little. Her blush returned, as she admitted to herself that being flat and scrawny wouldn't be an obstacle, at least, she knew that much from the communal showers in the Academy gymnasium. Her hair was nothing like the other girl's flowing pink locks, of course, and she had no idea what the "N.O. Hijutsu" or potential for it might entail, so really she didn't expect her chances to be good, but still if she could just manage to make the request...
It was around this point in her thoughts that the Third had woke Sakura up, and Hinata had hidden behind a tree, first dismayed at the pinkette's very audible disparaging comments about Naruto, then shocked at the appearance of the monster and the way its origin point seemed to fold down to a flat spot just at the skin level from behind and yet extend so much wider and deeper than her classmate's head could possibly contain when she looked at it with the Byakugan from the front.
Then the Hokage had been fighting it, and she was completely awestruck. His fingers had moved so fast, and his ninjutsu were performed without wasting the slightest trace of chakra. The sheer amount of it he'd held was impressive too, more than anyone she'd ever seen except Naruto, who couldn't control his nearly so well yet. Then it was over, everyone was leaving except the nin assigned to retrieve the dismembered carcass and take it away, and she realized that she really needed to hurry now to get home before her curfew. First, though, there was one more important thing she had to do.
Moving even more hesitantly than usual, Hinata crept over to the bush where Naruto's jacket had landed and snatched it up. She gathered it in her arms and subconsciously took a deep sniff... There was a hint of Sakura's floral conditioner but mostly it smelled of spices and sunshine, the forest and a hint of animal musk. A wide smile crossed her face and she snuggled against the bundled canvas for a moment before realization struck, ramming a shaft of embarrassment and guilt at her lack of propriety down her spine. With a squeak and yet another deep blush (thank goodness Naruto hadn't been there to see that, or she'd probably have not just fainted but died) she leaned against the shrub for a few seconds to recover, then slung the jacket over one arm, her goodie bag from the bakery on the other, and called up chakra to reinforce her legs to dash for the Hyuuga Compound.
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(Posted Thu, 27 May 2010 23:52)
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