The cage shook and jostled around upon Yamato's shoulders as the older shinobi carted him through the dense foliage - far too much vibration to try and grasp the stillness required of nature chakra. I only need a few moments, he thought, forcefully exhaling and then inhaling slowly only to repeat the breathing exercise. It took more effort of will to simply slow his lungs down than he would have liked, and most of his body was beginning to protest against the unnatural shape he was contorted into now that he was aware enough to acknowledge the pain.
He blinked again and closed his eyes. It was just too blurry for him to make out any kind of viable guess for where they were, or where they might be going. He couldn't even judge the shadows on the ground thanks to the current cloud cover blotting out the sun at the moment, leaving their direction as much a mystery as the rest.
With nothing to do but wait for the opportunity, Naruto continued to work on his breathing and tried to ease the aches developing everywhere, and only then did he begin to think on what would happen when he could finally reach out and enter Sage Mode - and how to handle a confrontation with Danzō Shimura when he did.
"There you are." Kakashi stated as he finally entered the training ground clearing, mildly put out that it had taken so long to find his potential-charge.
Sasuke was still standing in place with a contemplative expression on his dark features, and he turned toward the elder shinobi but said nothing as he was approached. Unlike the orange-clad idiot he had seen wrapped up and carried away earlier, he kept his guard up and reached for one of the kunai at his back cautiously.
Kakashi noticed the reaction and slowed, raising his hands in a showing of peace. "Calm down," he said softly. Sasuke eyeballed him and took a step back, sliding into a fighting stance he had learned before from his brot- that man, he corrected himself, who had killed his entire family.
Kakashi did not like how this was starting off.
"Relax, Uchiha. I'm not here to fight you." He said.
Sasuke tensed at his last name and gripped the kunai tighter, mistrust clear in his eyes.
The Jōnin sighed and slowly drew back the hitai-ate over his left-eye, opening it up and displaying the red energy and trio of black tomoe therein.
Sasuke let out a shout at seeing the Sharingan again so soon after the destruction of his entire family and the arm holding the kunai began to tremble. He wanted to turn and look away with every passing moment, but a paralyzed numbness swept through his body as if trapped.
M.. move... move! He struggled to pull his thoughts together as the events of that night half a year ago flooded the forefront of his mind; so much blood, his parents slumped over beside the table with glassy black eyes, and his brother calmly stepping forward to finish the job... Sasuke's whole body shook, staring up at the man across from him and seeing only those swirling red eyes.
Kakashi felt even more mystified than before over this reaction to what he had thought might be a comforting sight. What exactly am I doing wrong here? He silently asked, frowning when the boy's grip slackened from his shaking - that kunai was in imminent danger of dropping and digging into his toes.
Something is definitely amiss. Making up his mind and striding forward, Kakashi watched as the motions seemed to stir the last Uchiha's body into action. Desperation suffused the angles of Sasuke's face, and with only a foot of distance separating them the boy abruptly lurched; his fingers clenched down and then the kunai was thrown with as much force and accuracy as he could, and even as his arm was descending he pivoted on one foot and turned to race off in the other direction.
Kakashi caught the object in mid-motion with one hand and dashed forward, slipping past and then turning to catch the child by the shoulders with his other arm, and dropping down to one knee all in the process of just seconds. "What troubles you so?" He questioned in a quiet, calm tone.
Sasuke trembled violently in his grip and managed a low snarl, glaring at the Sharingan with a look of mingled hatred and burning terror for what it had last brought upon him.
I've made a mistake; this isn't helping, the older shinobi realized at last. Reaching up with one hand to cover Obito's eye with his forehead protector again, Kakashi stared down at Sasuke and repeated his question.
Sasuke went silent, hands balled up into fists.
Lowering his head with a sigh Kakashi released the boy and stood up. "I know you miss your family dearly, and I had hoped to raise you and train you in lieu of your father and brother to do it." He stated, hoping that clarifying why he was there might finally get them on the same ground. He did catch how Sasuke made a noise of objection at the end of that statement and yet his feet remained firmly planted where he stood, not moving an inch. "If you change your mind and decide to talk to me, I'll be waiting at the edge of the Uchiha compound."
Stepping around him Kakashi made the hand-seal for the Body Flicker technique and paused in mid motion as the child murmured something beneath his breath.
"Hm?"
Sasuke repeated himself just barely louder. "I can't hear you." The Jōnin lied having clearly heard the words the first time.
He waited for the boy to turn and face him, and Sasuke finally did so and said in a loud and angry tone, "Why? Why would you want to?"
Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "Do I need a reason to help?" He asked. Sasuke managed a fairly accurate glare at him. "Okay, yes," he amended a moment later before growing silent for several seconds, debating the reasoning over one more time in his own mind before giving it to the boy. "One of your uncles... Obito Uchiha was one of my teammates a long time ago. We didn't often get along until... his final mission. He sacrificed himself to save both my life and our other teammate, and even gave up his newly awoken Sharingan for me at the end. I've never had the chance to repay his sacrifice, and I never will now that his clan, your clan, is gone... not unless I help you." His voice grew somewhat faint as he visualized that day and the events therein.
"... You're just using me to make your guilt go away." Sasuke stated in a quiet but no less angry tone.
Kakashi startled him by laughing grimly. "In a way I am, yes." He conceded, and before the child could say anything he continued in a kinder tone, "But, I genuinely want to see you live a long life, Sasuke. I want you to rebuild your clan when you've grown old enough for that responsibility, and I want you to be capable of defending yourself - and, if need be, killing - anyone that tries to kill you first." He said firmly.
Sasuke pondered that. He wanted to make his broth- that man pay dearly for destroying his family, and to do that he would need a lot of time and training to grow strong enough. He had always been so far behind, never reaching the same heights at the same ages as the other shinobi.
"... I'll do it." He said quietly.
"You will?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke nodded his head reluctantly and Kakashi smiled sadly beneath the mask overlapping his lower face. "Then let's gather up the paperwork and go visit the Hokage." He stated.
The child nodded his head before saying, "Just don't carry me away in a cage like that fox-face did the idiot."
Kakashi stared at him blankly. "What?" He asked. Sasuke repeated himself.
"Cage? Fox-face? Do you mean an ANBU member?" the Jōnin questioned. Sasuke nodded his head. "An ANBU dragged off someone you consider an idiot."
"Who else would run around in orange, shouting 'believe it!' all the time?" Sasuke asked with annoyance lacing his tone.
It took a moment for that to click into place. What reason does an ANBU member have to cart off Naruto-kun in a cage of all things? He thought, grimacing.
"Right. We'll have to postpone the paperwork. Hop on!" leaning over and offering his shoulder to the child he waited for Sasuke to climb up. The boy made a face at being toted around like a five year old and stated that firmly.
"Okay then, express it is." Turning and scooping Sasuke up into his arms, Kakashi gave him only a moment to grip on tightly even as he protested before shunshining toward the Hokage's office.
The wind died down as the lurching of the cage slowed, and Naruto's eyes flashed open in an instant, blinking rapidly to clear his gaze and take in the darkness of the cavern they had just entered. The wide and barren hall was only faintly illuminated by a handful of lights bracketed to the walls, and ahead branched outward into three directions, Yamato trotting down the left-most of them. His future teacher seemed to be more at ease now that they were nearing the end of the journey, taking his time around the dry, sloping terrain.
Naruto's pulse was back at a normal rhythm, and he was breathing evenly despite the difficulty of his position. Slower and shallower breaths than he would have liked, but at least it was under control, and that aside he could sense nature chakra as if it was just out of reach. It was teasingly close, but until the cage was dropped, he simply had no other alternative but to bide his time.
They passed through several narrow halls in a row over the next few minutes, passing one or two other members of the hidden Root. Those others gave Yamato a wide berth even before they took in what he had clasped within his cage, and though it wouldn't have been noticed had he been in any other position, the jinchūriki recognized the slight tension that flared across his captor's shoulders and neck whenever that occurred.
He almost frowned. His muscles couldn't quite shape to that as they were, but even still. Whatever the reason, Yamato seemed to be the lone-man-out within this group, and it was something that couldn't be suppressed in whole.
Naruto's sympathy's were set aside as they exited the final hall and emerged into a wide, open chamber surrounded by screens depicting certain sections of the village; the deserted Uchiha Compound, empty even of Sasuke at the moment; the outer edges of the Hyūga clan grounds, a few of their disgruntled branch-house members serving the main-house in flowing gardens; and the rotted civilian sector where Naruto made his own home.
The first two would have been surprising enough, but that Danzō Shimura had eyes on his dilapidated area of the village unnerved Naruto greatly. It didn't make sense at all - unless he was ensuring that nothing happened to the Kyūbi's vessel, as had been attempted with Hinata only a few years before.
Danzō himself stood facing away from them, his single visible eye perusing the screens as if in deep thought. Without turning around, he spoke up lowly. "Set the boy aside and close the way up behind you, Tenzō. Return in thirty minutes to remove the barrier."
Yamato bowed at the waist and slung Naruto's cage carefully to the ground at one side, dropping him the last inch and rattling his bones. Naruto grunted and bit down on the wood blocking up his mouth, eyes narrowing in pain, and the masked shinobi departed through the sole opening after a murmured, "Hai, Danzō-sama."
It was impossible to see from his current angle, but both of them heard the rustle of roots stirring to life in the next moments and the overlapping clack of wooden bars crisscrossing. In less than a minute the noise had vanished, and the leader of the hidden Root turned to face his prisoner at last; it was in that moment that golden-yellow eyes opened up, narrow flat pupils replacing the usual blue orbs, and red highlights bled up from the pores around the sockets in opposing slants.
Naruto flexed his body and burst through the first bars at the same time his potential opponent met his gaze. The calm the jinchūriki had developed seemed to flourish even further as he pushed up and broke his left arm free, gradually peeling himself up and out of the remnants of the cage.
"Hello, Naruto Namikaze. I see your actions speak far louder than the words I've overheard this afternoon."
End Chapter Three.