The library? Wasn't it always there?
"No! I would remember it!" said Naruto. "I think."
Well, it's possible it's new. I don't remember putting it in there. Nice little place though. See, Shikamaru is sunning himself on the roof - watching the clouds.
"Can I help you?" asked someone with with a trace of hostility in their voice.
"Yeah, I'm looking for super-awesome-jutsu!" declared Naruto. "Got any?"
"This is a library," pointed out the librarian, who looked an awful lot like what would come up if someone googled "Empowered" and "Sexy Librarian."
"Yeah, so you got books and scrolls right?" asked Naruto, indicating the stacks surrounding them.
"Well... yes," admitted the Librarian, realizing she wasn't going to be credible in denying the existence of such things. "But... do you have a library card?"
"Uhm, no," admitted Naruto.
"Well, then you can't check anything out, can you?" said the Librarian.
"Well, can I read them here then?" asked Naruto.
"We're just about to close," tried the Librarian.
"Awww," said Naruto. "Don't you have anything I can read?"
The Librarian, whose name-tag read "Mariko" looked around briefly, then smiled a naughty little smile. She plucked a particularly large and dusty book out of a stack and handed it to the fox-boy. "Here, you can read that one. Now run along!"
"Okay, thanks!" said Naruto, clutching the book and running off.
Mariko sighed in relief at the boy being gone, then realized she'd just let him check out a book without actually having a library card just because she'd been so anxious to get rid of him.
Well, it was from the Advanced and Theoretical section - nothing he could do with it anyway.
"Let's see... 'Purification Rituals and Holy Chakra'?" Naruto read. "Huh. I never heard of those. Still, if it gets me some awesome ninja techniques, I'll try it. Let's see. Go past all this boring 'Forward' and 'Warning' stuff. Here we go..."
"Here he is, Hokage-sama."
"You found him just like this?" asked the Hokage. He looked over all the seals and marks covering the roof of the apartment building. Then in the center, a compass, a dish of water turned black, an old sword which seemed to radiate malice, and Naruto - who had turned pale and ashen and was near death.
"We found this at the edge of the outer circle," said the Crow member of ANBU, holding up a book.
"Investigate further," said the Hokage as another pulse of energy crackled along the various sigils.
"Jiji..." muttered Naruto. "Keep it down will ya?"
The Kyubi No Kitsune howled in rage and threw itself repeatedly against its prison. It clawed and tore at the tendrils of whiteness that had pierced its flesh, and were slowly leeching off all the hate and anger and venom of its existence.
It struggled, but hampered by the seal it was well and truly stuck.
"Curse you, Fourth Hokage! Curse you all!" howled the Kyubi in impotent rage as it felt all that it considered itself (the rage and hatred) to be sucked slowly away...
Into a sword of all things?
Well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.
All that would be left of him in Naruto would be his chakra. More or less. Mostly. Sort of.
Well... darn.
"Na-naruto," whispered the little girl, then turning her Byakugan on.
His chakra lines had always been so vibrant, so full of life. Then, when she'd spotted him on the rooftop, she'd seen red and blue and white chakra lines all seeming to battle. It had been the oddest thing, and she'd gone immediately to the chunin who'd watched over her as she went to and from the Academy.
Kurenai Yuhi had seemed to be amused by something regarding that, but had checked on Naruto and then rushed off to bring it to the Hokage's attention.
Now what she was seeing was very odd indeed.
Some old battered sword had become gleaming black with red glimmerings all through it. THAT had been chained to a log and had spirit wards affixed to it.
Naruto on the other hand - her gaze focussed on him and narrowed as she looked in detail. He was so BIG! Just look at the size of those chakra coils and paths! His tenketsu were dense points of brilliance. It was odd though, in that his chakra was not the usual blue or that odd red. It was all white.
It was very pretty, even soothing, to look at. Hinata felt a smile fit into place on her mouth. She had to get back to the Hyuga compound soon, but she could spend a few moments admiring his coils couldn't she?
"What exactly is 'Holy chakra'?" asked Ibiki, idly playing with a little widget he'd found in the market.
"I told you, I don't know," said Mariko, eyeing the implement of torture in the scarred jonin's hands and trying NOT to imagine whatever horrible use it could be put to.
Ibiki Morino's gaze was completely cold and impassive. When he looked at the admittedly attractive girl squirming in the chair, he gave off absolutely no 'tells' that would give away anything. She might as well have been a bug that he was contemplating whether she was even worth the effort of stretching out his hand to crush. Inside all that, he believed her. This girl didn't know, she'd just been anxious to get Naruto out of the library. And even then - her main concern had been that others might see him there and raise a complaint. She didn't LIKE Naruto, she'd heard the rumors, but she didn't know Naruto either.
So, someone who was ignorant and mostly harmless.
Mariko, on the other hand, knew Ibiki Morino only as of this afternoon and what she'd observed. As the head of a ninja village's Torture and Interrogation Department, he no doubt had many tools and techniques that would be very very unpleasant to whomever his attention was focussed on. He was also big, scarred, and very intimidating.
"Hmmm," said Ibiki, getting up. "I'll just leave you here for a little while. You might want to think about what you've done and what you can do to make up for it."
Mariko tried not to shiver in the cold sterile room, the only noise the occasional "click" as the minute hand advanced a little further.
The chunin looked up as Ibiki entered the room. "Anything?"
Ibiki shook his head once. "You?"
"It's all theoretical work," said the chunin, pushing the book back as he leaned back in his chair. "The chakra affinities are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning. However, there's also Demonic chakra - which is why the author suggests the possibility of the exact opposite - Holy or Celestial chakra."
"Theoretical?" asked Ibiki. "It certainly did something, that boy's lifesigns were almost nonexistant."
"He's an Uzumaki," pointed out the chunin. "Even if you get around the prisoner, his natural resilience and healing factor would be exceptional. Anyone else, I'd expect them to have died from trying this."
"What about his 'prisoner'?" asked Ibiki.
"Can't say," said the chunin. "Like I said, this is all theoretical. What MIGHT be necessary to purify one's chakra to make it Holy chakra. The diagrams on that roof match what the author thought most likely necessary to do it, including a filter of purified water and a weapon."
"A weapon?" asked Ibiki.
"Yes sir," said the chunin. "Symbolic of war and the desire to kill. Excessive bloodlust, desires for vengeance, that sort of thing - would remain in the weapon."
"So what would 'Holy chakra' do?" asked Ibiki, musing over the idea.
"Demonic chakra is purely destructive," pointed out the chunin. "It inspires fear and hate, rage and despair. We all felt that when the Kyubi attacked, when its Killing Intent alone was able to kill some genin and even a few chunin nearby."
"So, the opposite," mused Ibiki.
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(Posted Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:50)
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