Finally!! I have finished with the third chapter of what is basically Naruto and Jiraiya traveling around kicking ass and taking names and sometimes being emo. This was soooo hard to get down, mostly because I lost interest in it more than halfway through. This always happens, so I decided to actually work through it. And I did! How exciting. And I've even finished ~1/4 of the next chapter! I expect that I shall lose interest in it... tomorrow. So I'm just going to post this now in the hopes that editing and such will come... someday. Oh dear.

 

Chapter 3

Blinking blearily, Naruto stumbles onto his feet and heads towards the nearest tree. Sighing contentedly as he goes about his business, he stands there will his eyes closed, head tilted back. There may or may not be drool. When he turns around, his eyes are still partially closed and he's not fully awake, focused only on the food bubbling in a pot over the fire. Mmmm, foood.

And then he steps into something hot. Very hot, actually. With a high, girly scream Naruto yanks his foot out of the fire as quickly as possible, sitting down and cradling it gently.

“You're such a chick sometimes,” Jiraiya snorts, looking over at Naruto over their sizzling breakfast.

“Oh yeah? Wait till Tsunade hears you used that as an insult!”

Jiraiya pales beneath his makeup. “There's no need to get nasty.”

“Then shut it and give me some food.”

“It's not even done yet, brat. Siddown and shut up. No, better – do 1000 pushups while you're waiting.”

“I'm not Lee, old pervert,” Naruto mumbles, but does it anyway, mostly because there's nothing else to do – and besides, he wouldn't put it past Jiraiya to actually withhold food if he doesn't. Nothing, not even pride, is worth missing a good meal for.

Jiraiya mumbles to himself over the soup, stirring occasionally but mostly just singing to himself. When Naruto finishes, he walks back over, close enough to hear Jiraiya sing “Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!”

“I can't believe you made up a song like that,” Naruto complains, plopping down across the fire from him.

“What, a song about coconuts?”

“So that's what you're calling them now?!? You pervy old man, I've had it up to here,” and here he holds his hand up to his chest, “with your euphemisms.”

“Oh my,” scoffs Jiraiya. “That's not very high yet; guess I can keep going with them then. Short stuff.”

Naruto bristles, about to launch into a great and mighty tirade when -

“Is this what passes for clever banter between you two? What a shame for both of you – Jiraiya-sama.”

The woman crouched easily on a tree branch looked strange to Naruto. Her skin, her hair, her eyes, everything about her was black, or maybe just a dark, dark brown, Naruto thought, narrowing his eyes in confusion.  Naruto's first overall impression was of a panther, but when she jumped down, he could see she loped, like a wolf. She moved, he realized, just like Jiraiya. Except, you know, with grace.

“You were Jiraiya's student?” Naruto asks, trying for shrewd and reaching odd and high-pitched instead.

She grins and comes closer. “A while ago now. And not for very long. Thank the gods.”

“Long enough,” Jiraiya grumps, folding his arms and trying to hide how pleased he is. He fails miserably, especially when she walks and gives him an affectionate pat on the cheek.

“I've been looking for you for several months now, Jiraiya. Where have you been hiding out from me?” She smiles. “And your food is burning, old man.”

“Old man,” Jiraiya roars, striding over to the pot. “Don't tell me you're going to start calling me that too?”

“I heard the boy and decided to try it out,” she replies dryly. “Not sure whether I like it or not. It's certainly appropriate.” Her gaze is direct and warming, like she and Naruto have been friendly acquaintances a  long time, and she's glad to see him. “Here, child. Fine – young man – come over here. The old man obviously doesn't have the manners to introduce us. I'm Oltotsi. You are?”

“Naruto. I see you're not from around here?” he asks, again aiming at suave and shrewd, and again failing miserably.

“You see incorrectly. I was born only a few miles from here. Now. 'Naruto.' I'll remember it.”

“Make sure you do. Someday I'm going to be Hokage of the Leaf Village.”

“Really. Well then, show me what you've got.” The amazing thing is that the friendly look doesn't shift from her eyes until after she's already gone. Where? Her lunge is quick and decisive, and it is over before Naruto has a chance to register it. Damn. She's obviously one of the squirrelly fighters. He always has the most trouble with the opponents that you can't. Really. Hit. And then he does.

Or not. His swing in her direction missed by an inch, and she ducks in under his arm, jabbing him in the stomach with a pointy stick. Ow. And then again. And again, as he tries to land hit after hit, only succeeding in hitting where she was a half second ago instead of where she is now. She knocks him to his feet after a hard jab to the stomach knocks all his wind out.

He doesn't waste any more time flailing around. He's not just some kid; he can catch all of her feints, up down and over, and can block most of her strikes, but not all, and he knows he has to go on the offensive. Bounding up the nearest tree, he sits and just pants for a minute. Then he starts to think. She's strong, but she's not stronger than him. She is fast. Well, I'll just have to slow her down.

His hands start to form as he jumps down, a long and complicated train that doesn't require a lot of finesse otherwise. She's circling around him, again like a wolf, but this time the prey is Naruto. He gathers himself, and... spits on the ground. She stops her constant circling to look at him, a skeptical look on her face. He grins toothily; she obviously hasn't spent enough time in Water Country. Slowly, a pit of water starts to form at Naruto's feet, and he darts towards her, hand pulled back for a punch. She dodges the blow, which is okay. Her feet are still touching the ground, which is exactly where he wants them. Water puddles at her feet, and then engulfs them, soaking her leather boots and bogging them down in the process. 

“Ugh. Don't tell me that's your spit on my boots, Naruto.”

Naruto grins, but doesn't say a word. He's not about to tell her that it's actually water, brought up by, well, his own water and his chakra. And he's definitely not about to tell her that if she jumps up high enough, feet off the ground, that she can break his hold. Especially because he's just not very good at it.

The move pays off as they continue the fight; slowed down that little bit, she's unsteady enough that he can land in a couple good punches, and he doesn't pull any of them. She can dish out the hits, but she can't seem to take them, and he thinks he has her against the ropes when there are teeth latched around his throat. Or, no, a kunai. But close enough. He cautiously releases his hold on her hair, waiting for her to pull it back, when she slices him a little.

“That was for my shoes, little one.” And then she sheathes her kunai and backs away. “Not Hokage yet, are you.”

They both look around at the clanging of a spoon against the pot. “Oh children,” Jiraiya calls. “While you two were off playing I've been busy with our food. Which is done, by the way. Come here before I eat it all.”

They eat and train the rest of the day, Oltotsi and Naruto getting to know each other. Jiraiya sits under a tree in the shade dozing the entire day, obviously not caring whether they kill each other.

She's actually pretty cool, Naruto has to admit. She doesn't have a whole motherly attitude, which he appreciates, but more like she's just... really cool. Which she is. She walks with confidence, but she doesn't strut. Naruto does strut, pretty much all the time, and so does Jiraiya. At sunset they sit by the river and fish with makeshift fishing poles. She tells him fishy folktales and they joke around. Naruto tells her about Leaf village, and when he sees that Oltotsi is actually listening to him he feels interesting and like he's cool too. She's kind of like Shikamaru, he realizes. Except not lazy. Easygoing. That's it. Easygoing. They return to camp with enough for all three of them, and they force Jiraiya to cook while they lie down and look up at the stars come out.

He's already half asleep when he hears a low conversation, Oltotsi's voice strained. “Master, I need this. Please. The boy doesn't have to come, but I can't do this alone. Only a legendary nin can pull this off.”

Jiraiya's voice is rough and tired. “I can't leave him alone. Not now. There's too much Akatsuki activity in the area.”

Naruto misses the next part of the conversation because he has to scratch his nose. Even his awesome hearing can't register anything over the rustling of his clothes. “...reach Shattered Mountains before the month is out.”

“Which gives us what, six days? I'm sorry, I just don't think it can be done.”

“This is my life.” At that, Naruto can't hear anything more and isn't sure he wants to anyway. Not at night, anyway, when private thoughts surface and pain is fresh all over again. Whatever, it is, he'll hear more tomorrow.

The sun isn't up yet when Jiraiya shoves Naruto in the leg with his foot. Naruto drags himself out of bed with a tired sigh, knowing that wherever they're going it's probably going to be quite a trek. To his surprise, Jiraiya doesn't fill him in as they all get dressed and ready. Naruto and Jiraiya's normal ablutions consist of basically going to the bathroom and setting out, but Oltotsi is very fastidious and careful, actually bothering to wash her face and stuff.

“This must have driven you crazy when you two were training,” Naruto says to Jiraiya, both of them sitting side by side on a log near the fire.

“Yup,” Jiraiya replies glumly.

Naruto eyeballs Jiraiya. “So... where are we going?”

He grins. “You know that don't you? When you were listening last night?”

“Only sorta. Shattered Mountains?”

“I could tell you, but I think this should be a lesson to you: pay attention in Geography.”

“Wha? That's not very fair! I'll have you know Geography was at the end at the day. I was usually gone by then.”

“There you go then. Don't cut class.” And with that Jiraiya gets up to follow Oltotsi, who's moving off along the river, leaving Naruto to scramble along behind them.

They travel for several days, Oltotsi getting more and more tense, though she hides it well. She obviously doesn't know that Naruto knows, because she's continuing to joke around and pretend that they're not traveling on a time limit, one that shows clearer and clearer on her face with each day. The forest grows thicker and thicker as they move further and further into Fire Country, going further and further into the wilds that surround the bases of the great Fire mountain range. Leaf village, Naruto thinks, is not so far from here, just on the other side of a cascade of hulking peaks and crags. As they move closer and closer though, one grouping becomes more and more prominent. From this distance, they look like the edge of a serrated knife. A knife made out of diamonds. They're not tall enough to be topped with snow, and they're actually below the tree line, he can see by comparing them to other peaks nearby, but they're completely bare above a certain point, and gleam with a sharp pearlescent light. As they get closer it gets warmer and warmer every afternoon, as they get closer to a refracted setting sun shining through the peaks themselves. Even distracted by the beauty, Naruto can't forget whenever he sees Jiraiya's grim face and Oltotsi's gaunt one: five days. Four days. Three days. Two.

Water Country is a faded memory when they reach the foot of the Shattered Mountains. Even the most prominent one is not a very large mountain, but its bright jagged edges present challenges to anyone that would climb up. Somehow there are parts of the Shattereds that reflect light, white and searing, so that every few steps are punctuated by a blinding flash. The effect starts about three miles from the actual base, and Naruto spends them wincing and cursing every few minutes. Both Oltotsi and Jiraiya handle the light in stoic silence.

There is a path winding up the base of the largest, and Oltotsi's eyes turn up to trace its precarious and sporadic presence upwards. It peters out about halfway up, but she nods decisively, so apparently that isn't a problem. A hut punctuates the beginning of the path, and when the three nin knock they are ushered inside by an old, wisened man. The hut is small, but warm, and there are three beds inside, and children's toys scattered about. “Your grandchild?” Naruto asks, pointing, and then blushes when the “old” man says they belong to his five year-old. Looking closer once they're all by the fire, he realizes that the wrinkles hide the youthful eyes.

“Sun damage,” Jiraiya mouths, nodding towards the mountain man.

They exchange some rations and a kunai for a hot meal and directions, and then they're off on their way, leaving their hotter clothes behind in the man's safekeeping. Apparently it only gets hotter the further they go up the mountain.

Chapter 3.2

The going is tough even for a ninja. It gets hotter the higher they go, and harder to see. Light floods Naruto's eyes and his eyes turn to slits. Whenever Jiraiya looks back at him he seems unnerved. Naruto is mystified until he spots his reflection against a sheer cliff face. He looks a little like the fox, his face scrunched up in effort until the scars expand into whiskers across his face.

But Naruto thinks the fox is a power they might need, which is scary, because... well, a nin like Jiraiya shouldn't need backup. Wherever they're going, a nin like Oltotsi shouldn't need backup either; he's seen her hands move in practice, and she is no pushover. He wonders if that's why Jiraiya didn't look too upset by his appearance.

Whatever sign Jiraiya was picking up on, Oltotsi was too. Her mouth tightened until it was a flat line, a line echoed by the creases in her forehead. It didn't feel ominous to Naruto as he basked in the sunlight during a brief stop for water. That is, until there were no more birds singing, and the sparse bushes and grasses looked brown and almost cooked.

By the time they reached the path's end, near noon on the second day, sweat was pouring off all three of them. Jiraiya shoved jerky at each of them, admonishing them with a “you need the salt” when Naruto complained he was too thirsty for it.

They start up again the next morning, the sun a dream behind them. The mountain sloped up sharply under Naruto's feet, and when he slipped for the second time, he stopped to investigate. Carefully brushing away the dirt, now a thin overlay, he saw... something hard and slick and a little warm. Clawing at the remaining grime, Naruto looked down into dull, deep blackness. He imagined things moving in the dark, but when he blinked they were gone.

He looked up as if breaking a trance only to Jiraiya's foot inches from his face. “Hurry up, slowpoke,” he rumbled from a distance somewhere above Naruto's head, framed by the sun and visible only as a halo of dirty gray spikes.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Naruto, pushing himself up and shooting ahead, brushing off images of an unfathomable dark.

It took Naruto another day and night, staring up at the thick ice caps of the mountain to figure out why it was so hot. “Glass,” he mumbled to himself. Not ice caps – solid glass. Look at the rainbows refracted across the ground again and again, he felt very silly.

“Yes,” said Oltotsi, coming up behind Naruto and saying the first words she had spoken since they had reached the stretches of uninterrupted dirt and glass. “The Shattered Mountains should crack and break, but instead they stand defiantly, defying all life to grow here. It is said they are cursed – all who journey here will be lulled by the heat and sink into a sleep of 1,000 years. That is, if their bodies do not wither away first.” Her face was tight with tension and beautiful in its extremity of emotion. Why had she brought them here?

“I need you. Both of you, actually. Together, we're all to stubborn to give in. With three of us, we can all watch each other, stay awake and alert.”  A shadow of her old grin passed over her face. “All three of us are stubborn as mules.”

They reached the heights as the sun was setting, shining in their eyes through the glass. It was so bright that Naruto almost missed the body, jammed into a crevice. Oltotsi stopped and scanned it anxiously, but it was a sack of bones, with barely a trace of cloth left.

“Don't give up,” Jiraiya said gently. “He was always resourceful when I knew him.”

“You knew him long ago,” Oltotsi murmured. She squared her shoulders and stepped up to the crevasse leading up to sheer cliff face bounding up far above their heads. Naruto couldn't see where it leveled off, and he doubted that he could even get up there, let alone be in good enough condition to fight... whatever.

“How are we doing this?” pondered Jiraiya, rubbing the back of his neck. The sun cut lines into his face, forecasting his old(er) age.

Even as he spoke Oltotsi was unraveling a rope from her belt, light but strong cord. Ignoring Naruto's question of “And what the hall are we going to anchor that to?” she pulled out a long stick, almost a staff, splotched with a trailing dark stain down one side. With a quick bite and a ripping motion of her canines to the base of her thumb, her jaw pulsing, she swiped blood onto the staff.

Before Naruto could register any hand motions she made, there appeared a giant... furry-like thing. “It is called a koala.” Oltotsi tossed the rope up to the “koala,” who caught it easily, regarding them with still black eyes standing out from its soft gray fur.

The creature - “Kanda” Oltotsi had called him – climbed to the next level of the mountains easily, claws digging into the glass, shattering it by sheer dint of size; Naruto could have easily fit into one of the hole created by Kanda's claws.

The rope bit into Naruto's skin, looped about his waist and pulled tight. He wanted to whine, but bit it back; now wasn't the time.

Kanda disappeared as the gained the ledge. Around them on all sides was clear, translucent glass, unstained by smog or blood or any sign of humanity. Naruto wasn't sure why they had come here; there were no enemies here. He looked around, bathed in the heat of the setting sun magnified by glass untouched by dirt. It was so warm, and he was so warm already. Naruto covered his face with his hands, trying to block out the light. If only he could just... sleep. Finally rest.

Wait. What?

Naruto shook himself vigorously, only to see Oltotsi and Jiraiya watching him and each other grimly, eyes flicking back and forth. He nodded an affirmation: yes, he was awake, and would be on his guard from now on. They moved forward, with Oltotsi like a bad omen, “It will only get harder the further we go.” It was already hard enough.


They pushed onward doggedly, in the end tying the rope around all three of them, so that as long as one person was still going, the other two would as well. Naruto was feeling more stable now, and was just fighting to get to the end, wherever they were going. Everything stopped mattering but that, the rush to go forward and break free.

When Naruto next opened his eyes, it was completely dark, and his leg was burning, and he couldn't breathe right. Straightening himself up and clawing desperately at the rope pulled taut about his waist, his eyes strained to see through the night; though in the daytime the mountain was flooded with light, right now the moon was a vague pale shadow behind the thick glass peaks, not yet up to its full height.

When he was finally free, he reached down to his leg, fingers brushing around gingerly in the dark. There was a kunai there, buried not quite to the hilt. He started when his fingers brushed warmth, the body of someone else. The fingers were long and thin and warm, the fingers of a young person, the fingers of a woman. “Ol- Olt-” He cleared his throat. His voice was hoarse and dry. “Oltotsi?”

There was no response, but her fingers were gripping his pant leg so tight that he had to pry it off with both hands. Unrestricted, he took his shirt off and pulled the kunai out, pressing down as hard as he could and binding the wound up as best he could. Naruto shivered in the dark, and shook Oltotsi gently at first, and then harder and harder. She wouldn't wake up, and he worried at a nail, wondering what to do. He looked around for and found Jiraiya, slumped over in a sprawl, arms splayed out in supplication. 

No amount of shaking would wake Jiraiya up either, and Naruto kicked him - just a little bit, just enough to wake him up, not that it wasn't satisfying too. But when it didn't work, Jiraiya only snorting a bit, unmoving, Naruto slumped down next to him. This was so depressing. He was never going to be able to wake them up, and they were all going to die here, and somehow it didn't really seem to matter anymore, not even to Konoha's most indomitable ninja. Naruto slowly toppled over, sinking down into a peaceful oblivion.

Except he woke up again, the moon clear and radiant over his head. His leg was bleeding again, and pulsing in that worrying way that he new presaged infection. With each heartbeat, he was able to think clearer. He looked over at Oltotsi's unconcious form, stretched out with purpose towards the spot he had passed out. Naruto took up the kunai and gingerly scratched the back of her leg, only just breaking the skin. There was no response, but pushing harder, he broke through skin, fat, deep into the muscle, blood welling out. Naruto slumped over once again, this time knowing as he passed out that he wouldn't be able to wake up again.

Fortunately, he didn't have to. Naruto woke up to the sight of dark translucent glass stretched out in front of him, and to a dull ache in his calf, a pain of healing instead of infection this time. He knew that his bandage must have been changed, or he would have been able to smell it from here. Oltotsi popped into his field of vision, her hand as it was before, long and slim and competent, quick fingers snapping a few times in his face before dragging him up.

Jiraiya was up too, bedraggled and cradling his arm to his side, but conscious.  Oltotsi nodded to each of them and they set off once more, marching like soldiers in a file. This turned out to be a good idea when the path narrowed, and it was a tight squeeze. Naruto's bones clicked as he shouldered by, and Jiraiya had to shuffle sideways through the tighter spots, a weird crab walk that made Naruto grin even though there was nothing funny going on.

Pushing past a series of crystals jutting out of the ground, they reached a cluster that eventually gathered together above their heads, leading down into the ground. “This looks almost... constructed,” rumbled Jiraiya, voice bouncing leadenly off the walls.

“Yes,” agreed Oltotsi. “That's because it is.” She walked forward, past the arching entrance – and Naruto could see now, the marks of a entryway now, the arching frame, the structure to smooth to be natural. For the first time, Naruto felt a foreboding chill. Oltotsi in trouble? Fine. Big giant mountains? Fine. Big giant cursed mountains? Only to be expected, really. When was there not someone to rescue on a big rushed dash through the forest and up a sheer cliff? But this? Naruto stood stock still, firmly resisting the impulse to either dash away madly or to grab Oltotsi by the neck and demand an explanation. He resisted doing the latter mostly because he knew his ass would only be kicked if he tried.

“Old man,” he hissed. “Old pervert! What the hell is this?”

They watched together as Oltotsi became completely invisible in the gloom down below, until not even a shadow of her was still visible. Only then did Jiraiya lean over and murmur, “The man we are looking for... was very creative. And powerful. And didn't like to be disturbed.”

“So what, he created a cursed mountain to occupy? One that kills people? What the hell!”

“No. Boy, shut up, you're starting to get shrill. The curse was here before, obviously. He just took up residence in an old place.” Jiraiya stared down into the passageway as though he could see clear down to the bottom. “A place not meant for humans, powerful or not.”

And then rising up from the tunnel came a hollow cry. Naruto started forwards, but Jiraiya grabbed him tightly by the arm, face stony. They stood at the entryway, listening to the short staccato sounds of sobs rising up.

Current Location: home sweet home
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: smashing pumpkins!!!