The Ancients - Rumor of the Sixth Element

Chapter 4: Lizard

I stumbled as I leapt over the wall leading into the Forest of Death, violently coughing up blood, leaving a large puddle of it behind as I rushed to make it to the only safe location for me. I fell into the secret passage, tumbling nearly three flights of stairs before landing in a heap deep below the forest floor, in a large room equipped with nothing but a bed and cleaning utensils dyed red by the blood they were forced to wipe up.

I coughed up blood once again, vision blurring as my body began feeling the blood loss. Moments later, I screamed, my flesh ripping itself to shreds as scales began to replace it. My screaming became harsh growls as pain violently racked my body, leaving me a crumpled, half-human mess on the floor as it receded. For a moment, I prayed it was over. I quickly realized it wasn’t as I felt chakra building in my system, and I closed my eyes in painful anticipation. I couldn’t even bring myself to scream as my body completely transformed in a single instant.

Ten tails thrashed about in fury as the creature who took over my mind attempted to find a way out, head swiveling every direction, but seals activated by my blood bound my distorted body in place, and after a moment, my mind regained control of my animalistic body. Vaguely hoping Sasuke’d thought of a convincing lie, I curled the scaly tails around myself and fell asleep.

Five and a half hours later found me stumbling into the Uchiha compound, and my tired feet instantly carried me to the kitchen, where I smelled some form of barbeque being made.

“Kusha! You’re back! How bad was it?” Naruto asked, worried as he hopped over to me from where he’d been sitting.

“Fine.” I gasped back, taking a seat with the blond’s help before explaining. “Hurt worse than usual. The damned lizard didn’t give me any recovery time between transformations this time around… I think it’s anxious… it kept looking for something in the few moments it had control of my body…”

“We should see someone about the thing.” Sasuke supplied as he set food on the table, sitting down next to me.

Scooping food onto my plate, I shrugged. “I guess we could always go see the Hokage… he’s nice enough.”

“As soon as you finish eating then.” He replied, and my head shot up mid-bite.

“WHAT?! Come on, nii-san! Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“Nope! Kakashi-sensei said we all had to meet at the training grounds at seven in the morning for a survival exercise, and if we fail it, we have to go back to the academy! He also said not to eat, or we’d puke…” Naruto supplied happily. I groaned.

“Well… I suppose I’d better put on our seals again tonight after we talk to the Hokage. I’ll want my strength in the morning…” I grumbled as I finished my food. Not a second later, Sasuke grabbed my arm, Naruto following behind, and we made our way to the Hokage Tower.

By the time we reached the receptionist, I had nearly all my weight on Sasuke, exhaustion from my lizard’s little romp filling me.

“Why are you here, Sasuke-kun?” the harsh-looking lady asked. Naruto replied before anyone had a chance.

“There’s something wrong with Kusha, and none of the doctors can figure it out! We hoped that Jiji might be able to help her… she was coughing up a lot of blood!” he exclaimed, and though the receptionist looked furious at his lack of respect for the Hokage, she gestured them through.

“He’s just doing paperwork, so I suppose it won’t matter much.”

Sasuke nodded as he helped me to the office, which Naruto entered without even knocking.

“Oh! Naruto, what are you doing here?” Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage asked curiously.

Sasuke answered, closing the door and glancing nervously around. “It really needs to be in private… I’m guessing you probably have ANBU in here…” he muttered, looking over the walls.

The Hokage’s eyes widened, but he nodded. “You may leave.” For a moment, I caught a flash of chakra, probably from a smokeless shunshin, then the room descended into silence. After another few moments of it, the Hokage stared at me, still leaning on Sasuke. “So… what is so important that you don’t even trust my ANBU?” he asked, no mocking, simply curiosity in his voice.

“I… wanted to know about the Ten-Tailed Dragon…” I panted, quickly tapping a message onto Sasuke’s arm.

Chair.

He nodded, helping me to the one chair in the room while the Hokage merely stared in shock.

“How? The Dragon is a secret known only the Kages of the five great villages… even the elders are never informed! How do you know about it?”

I sighed. “Because… I think I’m its container.”

Sarutobi’s eyes widened. “You mean… it’s finally reincarnated?”

“What do you mean, ‘reincarnated’?” Sasuke demanded, moving closer to me.

The Hokage took a deep drag on his pipe, before explaining. “Long ago… there was a sixth major hidden village. The Village Hidden in the Darkness, Yamigakure. The ninja trained in that village were deadly. Nearly all their jutsu were designed for assassination and camouflage. What they were most well known for, however, was their ability to tame great beasts. They were the first to learn how to seal the Tailed Beasts. They quickly showed other nations their technique, claiming to have no interest in the nine Tailed Beasts. No one believed them, but it turned out to be the truth. They didn’t want the nine. They wanted a different beast, one more powerful than even the Nine-Tailed Fox. They wanted the Ten-Tailed Dragon. However, they couldn’t seal it. Its power was so great, that every time they attempt to seal it, it would rip out of its host, killing the ninja and bringing destruction on the village. Here the story gets foggy. No one really knows what happened, only that it ended in the village’s destruction. However, the common belief is that they found a boy, near the age of twelve, living with what is known today as the Uchiha clan. The dragon was rampaging, and he claimed to have a seal that could capture the beast. They didn’t bother looking closely at the seal, they just wanted the creature contained. So, they placed the seal on the boy, and attempted to trap the dragon within. It worked, at the cost of Yamigakure’s entire population. Whether or not that is what truly occurred, we do have knowledge that, over the years, the Ten-Tails has reincarnated itself inside select members of the Uchiha and Nara clans. Each time it reincarnated, it grew more powerful, allowing its host to access one more tail of its power than the one before it. People believed that, should it reach its tenth reincarnation, it would be powerful enough to free itself from its prison and return to the world.”

“So… you’re saying that you can’t do anything for the ridiculously painful transformations that leave me coughing up more blood than I have in my body?” I ask, slightly dejected, but really more intrigued by the story.

“I’m afraid not. However, I do still have some scrolls from Yamigakure. No one is capable of reading them, as the people of that village used a language taught to no one else, but perhaps with the power of the Ten-Tails you may find something to help you.”

Naruto and Sasuke both broke into smiles, probably already knowing what was coming.

“By Kami yes! I’ve read through nearly the entire Uchiha library already! Please!” I practically threw myself towards the Hokage, who merely laughed as Sasuke caught me before I could collapse.

“Follow me then. The Yamigakure scrolls are kept below-ground.”

“Thanks, Jiji! You’re the best!” Naruto exclaimed, probably planning on pestering me about the scrolls as soon as its confirmed that I can read them.

The old man chuckled. “You really should pay this old man a visit more often, Naruto.”

I set the armful of scrolls down on one of the many study tables of the Uchiha clan’s library. Naruto and Sasuke were in one of the training rooms, getting used to their gravity seals again, as I stared at the six scrolls in front of me. There weren’t really six scrolls. The Hokage had so many scrolls from the Village Hidden in the Darkness that it took six sealing scrolls to hold them all. I didn’t really know where to start, or even if I could read them. And besides that, Sasuke threatened to steal my spear if I didn’t get to sleep early to recover from my exhaustion… Groaning in surrender, I decided to leave the scrolls for after our test, and headed to my bedroom.