Inheritance

CHAPTER 25

The pause however, was only momentary, and a steadying breath was all Naruto needed to gather the courage to reach for the door nob, and silently enter the room. Konoha needed this to be done, and someone was going to have to do it. The only choice Naruto could make regarding this man's death was whether or not to take on the responsibility himself, so that others wouldn't have to. He knew that killing would almost definitely irreparably damage him, wound his soul in a way that nothing else could. But more damaging would be the effect of leaving it for someone else to do, allowing a comrade, or a friend bear that wound in his place. It was simply unacceptable to him.

The man was sleeping. Peacefully too. Wrapped in brilliant white sheets, lying on his side, breathing surprisingly easily for a man who was at least six foot tall, and really quite heavily built. Naruto tried to swallow and take a deep breath to calm himself but found his mouth suddenly bone dry; yet at the same time, he could feel his palms and brow practically drip with an ice cold nervous sweat.

Glancing down to the hand that tentatively gripped his kunai, he was momentarily pleased to discover that he wasn't shaking, but his attention returned almost immediately to the man sleeping blissfully in front of his in the gloom of the room. Blissfully sleeping. Blissfully alive.

The movement was smooth, practiced, and lightning fast; the blond's gut taking over, and for the first time since graduation, he acted on pure instinct, without thinking, for he knew he could have stood and debated internally over killing the man all night. So he acted, drove his kunai into the sternum and downwards, puncturing the man's heart in a way that would kill him painlessly and bloodlessly, his other hand pressed against the man's mouth to deaden the reflexive scream.

Kage Bunshin had given him the time he needed to train the action into that of a practiced assassin. Fluid, fast, and flawless.

But Naruto had no time to think, no time to ponder or reflect, because the reason for his easy path to the target revealed himself.

"Very, very impressive." The voice came from behind him, deep and gravelly, and definitely belonging to an older man.

The blond tried to turn and adopt a defensive position, but with speed that could only indicate a vastly powerful enemy, Naruto was prevented by two searing hot strikes that crashed through his shoulder blades, and almost caused him to pass out from the pain before he realised what had even been done to him.

A pair of short swords, Tanto from what Naruto's pain hazed mind could gather, had pierced him from behind and pinned him to the weak brickwork on the walls, and left him unable to move even slightly from his position without causing himself nigh on unbearable pain.

"And you are still conscious, too. Magnificent, even for a Jinchuuriki." The final word alone cut through to Naruto's mind, and the shock of hearing it was the jolt that the blond had needed to claw his way back into something close to clear thought. He knew what he was, which meant he was from Konoha...

"You... The enemy within... You're a Konoha shinobi!" Naruto's voice was weak, and tired, yet still somehow managed to be accusatory.

"Enemy? No, child. Everything I do, I do for the benefit of Konoha. I love the village just as much as my old friend Hiruzen. It is just that out methods... differ."

"Funny, I hadn't really noticed, but now you mention it, you're right - the old man never really seemed to be into coming at young boys from behind..." Naruto bit back uncharacteristically, his anger at whoever this man was comparing himself to the Sandaime lighting a fire within him, his anger and adrenaline allowing him to act with far more energy than he actually had.

"Such... wit. It's clear you have already begun to take on some of your Master's less desirable qualities... No matter. It is time we dispensed of the pleasantries. I came for two reasons, firstly to get a measure of your progress, and secondly, to deliver a message. Soon, Uzumaki Naruto, you will have to make a choice. The shadows, or the light; Konoha's future, or it's destruction; to live by the naive ideals of the previous Hokage, or to do what you must to protect the village. Choose incorrectly, Uzumaki, and I will guarantee that you will die. By the hands of Root, or Konoha's enemies. Decide wisely, Naruto, for there will not be a second chance."