In Spite of it all (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 12

Naruto POV~

'FUCking WOOD STYLE? How the FUCK does HE have WOOD STYLE.'

"I already hate him."

'You already said that, but WHAT THE FUCK THEY DID THAT ON PURPOSE.'

"Of course they did. There was a very high chance you would be here, after all, and lo and behold they were right."

'Goddammit. I had no idea we had someone like that in Konoha. I thought the first Hokage was the only one.'

"He was the only one. I have no idea where this guy came from."

'Whatever, there's no use worrying about that right now.' I hopped onto a tree branch with a clear view of the lake. It was kinda high up, on top of one of the many cliffs surrounding the vast waters, but the trees were thick and I could see everything going on. Isobu was causing massive waves to roll up onto the land, the so-called sealing team was struggling (there was no way we would let them succeed in sealing Isobu anyways) the Konoha nin were bustling around, either fighting Orochimaru's henchmen or attempting to help the sealing team. Another sharp spike of chakra made me flinch automatically.

'Dammit. Every time that kid Yukimaru does that I startle.'

"Can't blame you."

It took a while, in the end, Orochimaru failed. Same with Konoha. To my dismay, they failed to capture Orochimaru, but at least they drove away his henchmen.

I snuck in as close as I could and listened in to whatever snippets of information I could. 

'Huh. Looks like they'll be sending the ANBU here to try sealing Isobu.'

"All three of us will be gone by then."

'Yeah but I don't understand.' I rubbed my eyes, already tired and frustrated, 'Where are the Akatsuki? Konoha is gone, same with Orochimaru, so why are they taking so long?'

"Do you sense that?"

The sudden urgency in Kurama's voice made me pause. 'No.'

A stream of chakra trickled into mine and my breath caught in my throat, "How about now?"

'Who is that? Was he there the entire time?'

"I don't know. Somehow he hid among the confusion. Not even we noticed him."

'What's he-'

"He's...leaving?"

'From the looks of it?'

Kurama growled, "His chakra. It feels familiar. I can't place it from this distance but I don't think he'll be gone for long."

'What should we do?'

"We shouldn't follow him. I get the feeling he'll be back. Before the ANBU get here, though, get some rest."

'Kura-'

"Sleep, Naruto."

I sighed in defeat. Kurama would knock me out himself if I didn't comply anyways. 'Okay. Fine.'

"Hm. We'll be fine, kit. I'll make sure of it."

I awoke again to the stream of Kurama's chakra.

"Naruto. Wake up."

'huh?' I blinked, bleary eyed. Kurama was sending a gradual trickle of his chakra into my chakra, something he tended to do to get us ready to sync at moment's notice.