Chapter 20: Interlude 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other references mentioned in this fanfic.

I'm glad that so many of you liked the last chapter.

I'll try to include more chapters with Kenji and Kaguya in the future. Maybe have an arc with Kenji leading an expedition into one of these Ancient Runes.

Sadly, this chapter isn't about Kenji. Still I hope you enjoy. I brought back a special character after popular demand.

Chapter 20

(Raikage)

Caw!

Twitch.

Caw!

Twitch. Twitch

CAW!

"Aaarrrggghhh!"

Crash!

A, the Fourth Raikage of Village Hidden in the Clouds, gritted his teeth in annoyance as he watched that pesky bird fly away from his windowsill.

"I'll get that mangy bird one of these days," he swore under his breath.

Taking a calming breath, he turned back to his desk that was littered with fallen over paperwork from his sudden attack.

He pressed a button on the intercom, "Mabui, bring up another chair and get someone to replace the window."

"Was it the bird again, sir?"

"…"

A tired sigh could be heard from the other end, "I'll send someone right away. I'd also like to inform you that the scouting team has returned."

"Finally, some good news," the Raikage said, "send them up immediately."

"Actually sir, they requested to meet you in the research facility. Apparently, they managed to obtain some rather interesting items."

"Alright, I'll meet them there," was all that A said before he turned to jump out of the window.

"Wait! Sir, please! We don't have the budge-"

Crash!

"…haaaa. I guess I'll order two new windows now."

(Scene change)

As A walked inside of the building that was used for research, he was greeted by a young man, pale white skin, neatly tied black hair and square glasses in a shinobi uniform.

"A Raikage-sama, I have returned, and I have much to inform you," the man told him.

"It's good to see you safe and sound Taro. Now tell me what you found," A told him clamping a giant hand on the man's shoulder.

The man now known as Taro led A further into the facility until they reached a wide open room, a number of scientist already running around the room franticly looking like headless chickens.

The two shinobi ignored them as they neared an elevated table that had a number of items spread on it.

"It was just as we suspected, these creatures that started to appear isn't just exclusive to the Land of Lightning. Right now, no one knows where these creatures come from, but I was able to find some information on them," Taro said as he adjusted his glasses then picked up a small book from the table and handed it to the confused Raikage.

The book was a simple red hardcover book with the image of a Dragon in a circle eating its own tale.

"Chakra Beast Encyclopedia Vol 1?" A opened the book and saw that it was filled with a number of pictures of strange animals, "What is this?"

Taro took a flyer from the table and showed it to A, "The Leaf Village has dubbed these creature Chakra Beasts. They have made a separate division among their ranks to capture and eliminate them. They call themselves the Chakra Beast Association."

"Fuck. How is it that these tree-huggers are always the first to respond," A cursed, "What else?"

"Well, apparently they have a good understanding of these 'chakra beasts' and have disclosed most of the information to the public. The book lists a number of chakra beast native to the Land of Fire. It shows weakness that people can use to either kill, capture or scare them away," the bespectacled man went on.

The Raikage put on a curious face as he looked through the book in his hands.

He found a picture of what looked like a yellow parakite that was giving off electricity and read the description under his breath, "The Shock Feather, is considered a Level 1 chakra beast. It is easily recognized by it's two large feathers on top of its head that give of occasional sparks. While usually well mannered, when angered they have been known to carry a grudge and play pranks on it's enemy. It likes to enjoys places with high electrical charge such as power lines. Strengths: It's unique body makes it complete shock proof. Weakness: Any form of water will cause it to short-circuit and leave it open to attack. Price: 2,000 Ryo. Water! Of course!"

As soon as he was done, he would order Mabui to hunt that stupid bird with a bucket of water, then he would take his time in torturing that little shit.

"Raikage-sama?" Taro asked worriedly.

"-then I'll strap it to a desk and place a bucket of water over it's head and watch as-Huh? Ah yes, continue?"

The man decided to ignore his leader promise of revenge, "Right, as I was saying I also managed to find out the Leader of the C.B.A., one Kenji Yamamoto," he said taking another book from the table and handed it to A. A clear black and white picture of a young androgynous looking child with bandaged eyes could be seen.

"Huh?"

"This Kenji Yamamoto could be said to be the backbone of this organization. Despite being only 11, testimonies claim that he has been seen able to tame a number of these chakra beasts. In fact, he has his very own collection of chakra beast which act as guards."

Taro gave some photos of the small boy surrounded by different animals to A.

"Could this be the result of some type of Kekkei Genkai? What have you found out about this boy?"

Taro gave A a folder on his finding, "Surprising very little is known about him despite the whole village knowing about his existence. What is known however is that he has close ties with the Land of Fire Daimyo and his wife, as he was seen in their company quite often."

"A bastard of the Daimyo perhaps?"

"It is unknown, but the Daimyo did grant him a Noble title and some land, and his existence only came to be known after the Daimyo's visit to the Leaf where he was followed by a surprising number of other nobles. Our spies in the Fire Capitol have also informed us that the Royal Court have been restless as of late, with talk of the Daimyo finally making plans to name a successor?"

"Interesting? What else?"

"He is still an unknown. Although if rumors are to be believed, then he shares a rather strained relationship with the current Hokage?"

A looked up from the Chakra Beast book, "Oh? Any reason why that might be?"

"No. Although Kenji Yamamoto seems to never leave the village and always has at least 1 Anbu watching over him."

"Perhaps we can use this to create conflict between him and the Leaf?" A thought as he rubbed his chin.

"Perhaps. It might be in our best interest for him to see us in a good light," Taro added.

A looked curious, "Why is that?"

Taro didn't say anything, instead he turned to the table and took an ordinary looking kunai, before he threw it at one of the metal walls in the room.

The room they were in was lined with 6-inch steel plates, yet the kunai punched a hole through it as if where made of rice paper.

Taro went and returned the Kunai and handed it to the Raikage that was looking at it with no small amount of shock.

"What in the hell?"

"Despite being the Leader of the C.B.A. Kenji Yamamoto operates a private shop in the village. While I was unable to enter it on account of my visitor's pass, an uncle of mine that lives in the village was able to go in. Apparently, you need a special membership to even be allowed to enter his territory. The name of the shop is 'Lunar Artifacts' and it's the secret behind many of the rising shinobi in the Leaf."

A was worried about that. Lately a number of Leaf shinobi had began to make names for themselves, the Inuzuka clan being the chief among them. He had heard about how their Clan Head, the infamous Hurricane Wolf, had been able to drill a hole through an entire mountain in only seconds and reduce entire forest into splinter. 'So this is where their sudden source of power came from?'

"My Uncle's membership wasn't high enough to see the full extent of their stock, but he was able to see the first two floors. He managed to purchase quite a few of their wares for us to study."

A looked at the assembly of tools on the table and picked up what looked like a normal metal ring. It didn't look anything special just a common ring you could by anywhere for 50 ryo.

Taro saw the ring and chose to explain, "If I remember correctly, that should be a 'Chastity Ring' I saw quite a few of them being worn by women and clan member in the village. Apparently, it stops any unwanted sexual advancements."

Now that got the Raikage's attention.

Inspecting the simple ring he brought it to his index finger and was only slightly surprised when the ring grew to fit his finger. "Ho? Does this actually work? Taro try coming at me?"

The sound of a broken record could be heard in the lab at the Raikage's sudden request.

All noise had seized as the scientist had stopped their busy work to look at what the young man would do next.

Taro gulped. "What?"

The Raikage got into a sumo wrestler stance with wide open hands, "I said come at me. With the thought of sexual intentions. If this ring actually does work, then this could mean that the Leaf Village's Clans have been able to find a solution to bloodline theft. So, come at me?"

Taro looked as if he was a second to throwing up blood, when he turned to look for help, all of the scientist avoided his gaze.

"P-perhaps someone else would be more appropriate Raikage-sama. I think Mabui would be good."

"Nonsense, we are both men, no need to feel embarrassed," the Raikage said as he grew closer.

'No, that exactly why it's weird!' the young man shouted in his head.

"If you aren't coming, I'm going to you," A declared as he rushed at Taro intent of grabbing him in an embrace.

What Taro had failed to mention was that he too was wearing a chastity ring.

The second that the Raikage's fingers brushed the tip of Taro's clothes, he was pulled off his feet and launched backwards with the force of a cannonball.

Crash!

A's body slid off the wall as his body was clad in electrical current.

'What is this? It looks like lightning, but it doesn't give off the same feeling. I'm flooding my body with lightning chakra but that doesn't help in the slightest,' the large man said as he felt the electricity from the ring numb his body.

"Raikage-sama!"

The group of scientist and Taro rushed to his side in worry.

A however waved them off as he got back to his feet. Even if his body was slightly numb that wasn't enough to put his down.

Taro stepped back, "I forgot to mention Raikage-sama that the rings can be made invisible too." He demonstrated by making a ring appear on his finger identical to the one on the Raikage was wearing. "From the description the shop gave my Uncle, it seems not even severing the hand can get rid of the effects."

The Raikage took off the ring and gave it another appraising look, "Amazing. And you say that your Uncle was only allowed to buy what was common." 'If things like this are becoming common in the Leaf then just how powerful have they gotten during this time.'

The black-haired man now that he was sure wasn't going to be assaulted again stepped a little close, "Yes. There are apparently 7 different levels of permission available, with items getting better and more expensive the higher you go. They even say that the shop sells weapons on the level of those wielded by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."

"What?" A shouted, "When did Konoha gain such a skilled weaponsmith?!"

Taro raised his hands to calm the large man, "The employees claim that everything is hand made by the shops owner, Kenji Yamamoto. Unfortunately, my Uncle couldn't see any of these weapons as he only had access to the first two floors."

"Amazing? So the Leaf was hiding this kind of thing were they?" A rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he tried to device a way to gain some of these weapons for his village.

"There is more I'm afraid, but if you wish to understand things better, I suggest you read this," the Kumo shinobi said as he handed the Raikage the book from before.

"The Immortal Sword?" A said raising an eyebrow, "You want me to read a fantasy novel?"

"it's more than just a novel sir. This was written by Kenji Yamamoto, and it has a surprising amount of hidden information inside. For example it talks about chakra beasts, although it says demonic beasts in the story, and that they can be tamed or used for something called Alchemy. It also talks of mystical weapons called Spirit Artifacts that strangely resemble some of the items that are sold in his shop," Taro said, quick to defend the book. It didn't help that he had read the books on the way home and gotten hooked like a wide majority of the people from the Land of Fire.

"I see," A made a mental note to read the book later, "Did you find any weakness that we could use against this Kenji?"

Taro looked hesitant but answered anyway, "Only one that I have seen I'm afraid."

He took the folder and flipped to some pages to show Kenji and some fat child seating outside of some shop eating together.

"His only friend seems to be a genin who calls himself 'Master Shu', real name is unknown. From the few interactions I have seen they seem to be as close as brother and the two are currently living in the same house."

"So we just need to get a hold of this kid, huh?"

"It's not so simple I'm afraid Raikage-sama. I tried to find as much as possible about this 'Master Shu' but whoever was in charge was very thorough in erasing anything about his past. As far as the village is concerned, he just appeared one day and took their genin test. I tried to ask about him from his fellow genin, but no one was willing to spill anything. Although everyone I asked did agree on one thing."

"Oh, what was that?"

"They said that he was the scariest person they ever saw and hoped to never have him as an enemy. While the events of their genin exam aren't known, there are rumors that say that this Shu character sent over 200 of his fellow graduates to the hospital with grievous wounds. Even killed one of his own when they didn't follow his orders, if the rumors are to be believed. Again, these are only rumors, but it is certain that whatever he did during the exam it must have been enough to scare his fellow genin into silence and cause the higher ups to cover everything up."

A frowned as he heard this, the picture suddenly took a darker appearance in his eyes. The fat child's fox like eyes were almost giving off a sinister look now.

"His fellow graduates have conned the moniker of 'Dog of War' for him, out of his ruthless nature."

"'Dog of War' huh?" the Raikage said casually. 'Damn. That's a cool name too.' "Add him to our Bingo book, I want it to be known that I want him brought here alive."

A's mind was a mess of thought as Taro showed him the other items.

(Orochimaru)

The famed Snake Sannin had a wide unsettling smile on his face as he sat on his throne, a book in his hand.

The front cover could be seen from the low light. It had the picture of a beautiful short sword covered in some type of golden aura, the words 'The Immortal Sword,' printed at the very top.

"Kukuku. What a fascinating story," the pale faced man said.

It had not been that long ago that his loyal little spy in the Leaf Village had informed him of everything that had been happening inside.

"Kenji Yamamoto, or rather Senju, just where were you hiding to escape everyone's eyes," he spoke out loud, wondering exactly how this child had been able to remain hidden until now.

Kabuto, his loyal minion, was able to get a copy of the original DNA results that showed the young boy to be a Senju. He even managed to get some video-feed of the young boy performing some Mokuton during his genin exam. The sheer power that was displayed was enough to send a pleasant shiver up his spine.

His curiosity was running at an all time high with the sudden appearance of these Chakra Beasts as the Leaf had taken to calling them, but now it was almost unbearable.

A new toy had appeared before his eyes.

He had used all of his contact in the village to acquire as much information on the boy as possible, and what he found was astounding.

He gripped the book tighter in his hand. Such amazing new things were appearing lately. This just further convinced him that his path to achieve immortality was correct. After all, if he died then how could he experience all of these new wonderful things.

From everything he had found, Orochimaru was half-convinced that he and Kenji shared a fair number of similarities.

Take the small boy's novels for example, they always involved the pursuit of immortality in some shape or another. A clear indication of the boy's dreams.

Kenji was also seen as a genius among his generation, just like he was at that age.

The small boy also had a curious mind, as seen from his position as the Head of the C.B.A. who's main focus was in the capturing and experimentation of these mutated animals. He himself had also taken to personally conducting experiments on these new specimens.

But perhaps the most convince proof of evidence was Kenji's ruthless nature. He had not hesitated to attack his friend and commanding officer when he thought that they were a threat, just further proving that behind that deceptive smile and kind appearance was the conniving mind of a snake waiting for his enemy to let down their guard.

It also helped that the boys relationship with the Old Man seemed to be cold at best.

"Kukuku. Kenji, I wonder what other surprises you will reveal. I cannot wait until our fated meeting. Kukuku."

(Ranko- I mean Aiko)

It had been three weeks since Aiko had begun her journey.

Many things had happened in her life after her brief encounter with Kenji, all those months ago.

She would always look back on that night, thinking about how the small boy had saved her before she was forced to sell her body. Not only had he comforted her, but he had also given her the money to buy back her family's farm and settle all her debts. She would forever be grateful to him and his kindness.

After she left the Leaf Village, she had traveled back to her small village. With a briefcase full of money, she had been able to pay off the loan sharks that had been hounding her, for weeks prior.

With the money left over, she had invested in some better farming equipment and began to work on the land earnestly. She had toiled on the land day in and day out, for weeks, but it had all been worth it when the first sprouts began to blossom.

There was almost something symbolic when she saw those little green stem poke out of the ground. She felt reborn.

It wasn't just that though, she had changed too. Now that she wasn't being pressured by loan sharks and debt collectors, the villagers had tried to make amends for their past actions. If it was the Aiko of the past, she might have forgiven them already, but the new her wasn't that compassionate. She had become colder, more closed off with her emotions, hardly ever smiling when she was in the village.

Kota, her childhood friend and once crush, had come begging for forgiveness once she had returned to the village. He had tried to apologize too, saying that he had been working hard everyday, even selling all of his possessions, in order to raise the money for her. He said all of this with tearful eyes but instead of feeling any type of warm feeling like she used to, Aiko's eyes were filled with disgust.

He had abandoned her in her time of need and only came back when everything was over. Any feelings she might have had for him shriveled up and died on that day.

She was once again isolated in the village, only this time it was by her choice.

So, she worked hard everyday trying to raise her small farm. Every night she thought of different ways to repay the one that helped her.

She remembered him saying that he wanted to be a merchant, so she thought that giving him some of her land would be an appropriate gift.

However, this plan didn't last long. During one of her rare visits into the village she had spot something that had shocked her. It was picture of Kenji on the front page of a local newspaper.

Although it had been months already, she could never forget what he looked like, even if he did look more handsome and had bandages covering his eyes. She had bought the newspaper and hurried home to read it.

The newspaper, that could be considered nothing more than a gossip rag, speculated that Kenji was the long-lost son of the Fire Daimyo who had only been reunited after a tragic accident caused the former to lose his eyesight.

Suddenly her measly land felt insignificant, when compared to what Kenji could get by himself from being a prince, and it looked like she would never be able to repay her benefactor.

Yet despite the bar being raised so high, she was determined to help him.

It was then that she had received a vision in the middle of the night. She didn't remember exactly what it was, the only thing she recalled was am unclear figure bathed in golden light telling her to travel South if she wanted to fulfil her promise.

Of course, she didn't immediately pack her things and leave town like a crazy person. But as the days rolled by, she noticed a number of oddities that hinted for her to head South. Things like a colony of white rabbits staring at her from the forest edge. Objects and furniture being rearranged in her house when she wasn't looking. Accidentally spilling a bowl of alphabet soup with the letters then rearranging themselves to form directions out of town.

The final nail to the coffin was when she had woken up to the sound of knocking, only it wasn't coming from the door, it was coming from the floor. She had run out of the house faster than she thought humanly possible and only returned when the sun had come up. Grabbing a hammer and a shovel she had ripped open the floorboards and dug into the packed dirt underneath her house.

She was shocked to see a small iron box buried about 3 feet deep. When she opened it, she was surprised to find her treasured hairpin, the very same that Kenji had given her, inside. She hadn't even noticed it was missing until she touched her hair and noticed it wasn't there anymore. Along with the feather shaped pin, was an old folded up parchment that looked to be extremely old.

When she opened it, the only thing on it was a picture of a tribal looking tattoo in the shape of a tiger's head. Then before she had time to react, the black lines glowed a golden color and she saw the world go white.

She didn't know how long she was unconscious but when she woke up again, she noticed that the drawing of the tiger had vanished from the paper. Then she mind was bombarded with new information in something called cultivation.

The diagram in her head was what was called a Cultivation Formula.

The nest of rabbits that always used to watch her had then appeared before her, books tied to their back in knapsacks.

This was how she was introduced to the world of cultivation. She was even more surprised to find that it was Kenji who wrote these books, but that only convinced her further that it was a sign.

So, when a represented of the local bank came a few days later to make an offer for her land she didn't put much of a fight. Apparently some unknown noble was buying a large number of farms in the area, and her little farm that grew common herbs was exactly what they were looking for.

If she wanted to keep her promise of repaying her savoir then she new what she had to do.

She sold the farm that she had been working so hard and packed her things. She left the village without saying goodbye to anyone and began her journey.

A day into her journey she had stumbled into her new friend, Po-Chin. He had been half starving when she found him, so she had offered him some of her food and he had been following her ever since.

Along her journey she had noticed that she had been struck with a strange streak of good luck. She had stumbled upon of strange new herbs almost every mile that would increase her energy whenever she ate them. Sometimes she would pick a stone off the ground only to turn it around and see it had glowing crystals on it.

She had quite the collection by the time she had reached her destination.

The white rabbits also tended to appear from time to time to point her in the right direction. Other times they would bring gifts such as exotic foods for her to eat or taijutsu scrolls and books for her to learn.

Now while she had never had a reason to learn to fight before, she did agree that being able to defend herself on the road would be useful, so she tended to practice whenever she had free time.

Currently the red-haired girl was riding on top of her giant panda.

"Woah! Hold it Po-chin!" she told her companion as she stood and leaped five feet in the air.

She landed on the ground with remarkable grace, contradicting

Being able to do that had since become the norm for Aiko after she began to eat those strange plants that the rabbits kept bringing her.

The red-head had noticed that she felt stronger and more agile, almost as if her whole body had undergone some transformation.

She was dressed in a red, sleeveless, Chinese-style shirt with black kung-fu pants and shoes. Her red hair was tied into a tight pigtail with bangs covering up her forehead.

Her bright blue eyes shined as she looked at the tall mountain range below her, a smile gracing her lips.

The road ended just a few feet in front of her, leading into a falling cliff wall. As far as the eye could see there were tall pillar shaped mountains. A blanket of mist hid most of the valley from view but just the cluster of mountains in front of Aiko were tall enough to touch the clouds.

She took the hairpin from her hair and placed it flat against her palm, "Well, where to now?"

The ivory hair piece floated on her palm with the end pointing at an upward direction, straight at the mountain top.

"Up there huh?" the pigtailed girl said to herself, putting the pin back in her hair.

She gave the cliff an apprising look before she took a running start and dived off the edge and into the fog below.

"Woohooooo…"

The panda chakra beast stood up and walked to the edge as well.

It peered over the edge before shaking his head sadly, lamenting the death of his meal ticket.

It didn't notice as a group of rabbits rushed from the underbrush behind it and jumped at him. Their small bodies collided with his back, toppling him over the edge.

"Rrrraaaaaggggg…"

The family of white rabbits high-fived each other before their bodies turned into specks of brightly colored lights.

A/N: Finish.

I hoped you enjoyed that little bit of insight.

I won't go into much detail, but it is safe to assume that everyone has their own opinion of Kenji.

Anyone surprised that I brought Aiko back? In truth I was planning her part ever since she appeared, to act as a foil for Kenji, or rather a measuring stick.

Kaguya has also been having fun playing her role as Goddess, causing mischief here and there, and manipulating mortals. If it wasn't apparent, she's using others as genine pigs to test some new methods of cultivation as well as new herbs and stuff before she gives the information to Kenji. In her book, those that survive are worthy to follow her and Kenji. She did promise to make Kenji a General after all, and what is a General without his soldiers. Wink wink ;)

By the way, cultivation isn't something that normal people can learn just yet. Kaguya has been observing the way Kenji does it, and has been subconsciously guiding her test subjects. She could rip the information and cultivation techniques from them at any time, not going to make the same mistakes as the sage of six paths. More on that later.

Now I'm sure some of you must have asked yourself what was the deal with the Chastity Ring and why removing the hand wouldn't stop the effects?

The answer goes back to exactly how Kenji made them in the first place. He makes them by transferring the effects of one of his talisman (Anti-rape Talisman) into a ring. When someone put on the ring, that blessing get transferred from the ring and into themselves. The ring acts a medium. When they willingly take off the ring they are returning the borrowed blessing back to it.

I hope that cleared things up.

(Bonus Story)

The Raikage stood patiently as he read over the Chakra Beast Encyclopedia in his office, his muscles coiled ready to spring at a moment's notice.

Chirp!

"AHA!"

With blinding speed, the man grabbed the bucket of water hidden underneath his desk and turned around before throwing it toward the annoying bird, sure that he would get him this time.

Unfortunately for him, he had forgotten that the broken window had already been replaced, so all the water did was bounce of the clean glass and ruin his carpet.

Bzzz! Chirp! Bzzz!

The lighting bird saw this and began to laugh at him. After feeling it had mocked him enough it flapped its wings and flew away.

The Raikage grit his teeth in anger before eventual releasing a tired sigh, "Well at least it's better than what they have in the Hidden Mist Village."

(Yagura)

Never did the Yagura think that he would be alive to see the spectacle in front of him, yet thing of this nature had become common place ever since a few weeks ago.

As his eyes scanned the streets below from the safety of his tower, he couldn't help but think if this was some unseen curse by all of those bloodline users the village had killed. Such thought only lasted for a few seconds before they disappeared, and he returned back to his usual emotionless self.

An alarm was blaring in the background signifying an attack.

The people below were scampering like ants trying to find any form of cover.

Yet it was not enemy shinobi they were hiding against like most would think. No, their attacker wasn't nearly as merciful.

Yagura could already spot them in the horizon as they emerged from the water's surface.

He sipped from the tea cup in his hand and began to think of how great it would be to just pass the Mizukage title to someone else and leave this village. A familiar voice in the back of his head spoke against this idea however, and just like the countless times before, he listened to it.

The village was being bombarded from above, a few unlucky citizens that were unable to find cover in time, became casualties to this new enemy.

In the sky were hundreds upon hundreds of Dumbo Octopuses flying over the village as they made their weekly trip to the other side of the island. They ranged from different colors, but it was hard to tell one from the other as the shear number of them was enough to block out the sun.

They looked like an ocean of Chinese lanterns the way they floated in the sky, using their little webbed tentacles to maneuver themselves in the sky.

And just like every other time, there would be someone stupid enough to attack them.

Yagura opened up his umbrella in a very stoic manner.

Every one of these flying octopuses chose to defend itself by releasing ink, but unlike in water, the ink only had one way to go. Down.

In seconds the entire village was coated in black oily substance.

Yagura, who had managed to avoid getting dirty, only had one thing to say, "…I hate Mondays."