Naruto: Chronicles «COMPLETED»

2

Chapter2: Infiltration

Land of Fire: Forest of Death

Uzumaki Naruto had always been able to avoid the Anbu of Konoha and many Jonin and Chunin even when he was still in the academy. He had singlehandedly pranked the Anbu Headquarters and wasn't caught until after the deed was done. He'd even painted the Hokage Monument, something visible to the entire village in broad daylight and no one had noticed until he was putting on the finishing touches. It was no surprise that he'd been able to sneak himself and his two new teammates into the restricted Training Ground Forty-Four also known as the Forest of Death.

"There she is," Honoka whispered as the three landed soundlessly on the branches of several large trees and peeked out from cover at the sight that greeted them. There were three figures just in front of them, two were scar-covered boys and the last was a girl roughly Naruto's age with familiar blood red hair. Upon closer inspection it appeared she was wearing glasses, no doubt to cover her Doujutsu from being seen.

"Is that Hashirama-sensei's Rinnegan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Honoka confirmed. "He transplanted them on her when she was still a girl after Suna ninja raided her home village and killed her parents. As a member of the Uzumaki clan she also has a powerful chakra though hers is able to heal others when they bite her making her potential as a Medic-nin capable of rivalling both Hashirama-sama and Tsunade-sama. She also has the ability to sense the chakra of others from long-range making it very difficult to get the drop on her. She is no doubt already aware of our presence however given the last mission that Hashirama-sama assigned her, it's no surprise that she hasn't called on us yet."

"Mission?" Haku inquired.

"Hashirama-sama tasked her with infiltrating the village that Orochimaru of the Sannin founded known as Otogakure no Sato," Honoka explained. "She was able to do so and was assigned to a Genin team to infiltrate the Chunin Exams disguised as Kusa ninja. From what I understand, he is setting the stage for something that I hope she knows about."

"We've got company," Naruto spoke up. "Something dark and foul is coming our way."

It had taken some getting used to; his Negative Emotion Sensing ability that he gained upon forcefully restraining the Kyuubi's influence allowed him to sense even the stealthiest of adversaries. It was clearly one of the Kyuubi's abilities and it certainly explained why he gained his reputation as a force of nature that appeared whenever human malice and hatred converged before proceeding to wipe them from the face of the Shinobi World.

He was still working on controlling its effective range...

"Oh shit," Honoka cursed as three figures appeared in the clearing below and confronted the three disguised Oto-nin.

"What's wrong?" Haku inquired.

"The one in the middle," Honoka reported. "That's Suna's Jinchuuriki; he's the youngest son of the current Kazekage and is completely bat-shit crazy. When I say crazy I mean off of the fucking charts; the guy kills to 'prove his existence' as he says."

"The Ichibi..." Naruto trailed off before narrowing his eyes. "Honoka, Haku; change of plans, prepare a containment seal and ready your sword, Honoka. Because not only are we recovering Karin-san but we're also taking the Ichibi while we're at it."

Uchiha Sasuke was in a foul mood; it had been six months since the mission to the Land of Wave and the death of his best friend. These eyes he'd awakened—the Mangekyo Sharingan—was a curse as well as a blessing. It gave him the power to avenge his fallen comrade however in doing so it also reduced his vision and would continue to do so the more he used that stage of his Doujutsu until he would eventually go blind.