Subject: [FFML] [repost][fanfic][Dances][Naruto/SM] Akai Kage: Of Omens and Visitations
From: "Elsa Bibat" <aerolbj@i-next.net>
Date: 5/24/2005, 7:25 AM
To:

Blame the boys and girls over at the Drunkard's Walk Forums.

Anyway, enjoy for awhile.

Set in the Dances continuity, this is where the "And Beyond" part of the
.sig below comes in.

*************************************************

          DANCES SET TO THE MUSIC OF TIME
            An Epic History of Humanity
             From The Age of Silver
              To The Age of Crystal
                  And Beyond

http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

         Other fanfiction by the same author:
http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

          Kindly archived by Larry F and
          The Lost Library of Florestica:
           http://rakhal.com/florestica/
*************************************************


-- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis --
-- File: naruto1.txt

Chapter 1 

Of Omens and Visitations

"It was the darkest time in the history of the Fire Country. The Hidden Village of Wood had been 
destroyed by a combined attack of the Rock and Lightning, the earth and the heavens felling the
great trees that were the village's backbone. Earth Country and Cloud Country soldiers were already
following in the wake of the shinobi attack.
 
Kidame Yukishiro, the person who would be the Shodaime Hokage of the Leaf, fought a losing battle
to keep what ninja he had. He and Hino Tatsuya, Daimyo of the Fire Country were faced with total
annihilation of their nation.

At their greatest moment of need, like some divine spirit, came the Heaven's Arrow. Streaking red 
across the skies and ripping the ground in its passage, this falling heavenly body, then regarded as 
messenger from the sky realms, could not have come at a better time. As if guided by a friendly 
hand, it smashed into the greatest concentration of enemy troops and cut a swathe through their 
supply lines like a reaper at harvest.

This event turned the tide of the war and, more importantly, changed the fate of the world."

                       ---- A History of the Leaf, published in the fifth year of the Yondaime Hokage's reign. 


	Kidame Tsunade, Godaime Hokage stared up at the moon with a grim countenance on 
her beautiful face. Usually, she would have appreciated the full moon greatly, having had it as her 
companion on many a night's drinking. But this was no friendly, silver face that shone from the 
heavens.
	The bright circle of the moon was the color of blood.
	It had been that way since moonrise. The citizens of Konohagakure, and most likely a 
majority of the world's populataion, were in a rather tense state. This was understandable on the 
whole. Any unnatural event made the populace twitchy. But, for the people of the Leaf, the crimson 
orb in the sky had an even more sinister significance. 
	The last time a red moon had risen, it had heralded the arrival of the Nine-tailed Demon 
Fox.
	Tsunade was a medic-nin by training, thus more exposed to logic and science than most
persons in the world, but even she was discomfited by the sight of this particular lunar anomaly. 
Of course, her rational mind went over the possible scenarios - volcanic explosions, atmospheric 
disturbances and the natural weirdness of nature but, in her heart, superstition reigned.
	She sighed. Thankfully, Naruto had left over a year ago with Jiraiya for a planned three-year
training trip. She'd probably have had a linch mob on her hands if he was still here. As it was, some 
of the more prominent clans had, earlier that night, politely suggested an ANBU team sent out to 
check on the young ninja's progress. She had diplomatically told them that they were all idiots and 
were acting like old hens.
	She sighed and turned away from the sight. Enough of this. 
	Still more paperwork to do and not even probably the world's end would save her from it.

 	A young blonde boy frowned at the bloody moon. It had been a year since he had left the
village of his birth and the travails of the road and training were noticeably taking effect. The growth
spurt that he was in the middle of helped a bit, too. Having grown a few inches in height, he had 
discarded the orange jumpsuit that was his trademark and shifted into the black shorts and orange
jacket ensemble he was currently wearing. His lanky frame was slowly starting to fill out to a 
well-muscled form and it was noticeable. Squinting his bright blue eyes at the scarlet heavenly body, 
he muttered his discontent.
	"That really freaks me out." 
	Jiraiya looked up from his little notebook and arched a white eyebrow.
	"Just dust in the air, Naruto. I heard from a friend of mine that there's been a rather bad 
volcanic eruption in one of the Eastern Isles. All the stuff got thrown out by the volcano's in the air
and it makes the moon look red."
	Giving the Toad Sannin a disbelieving look, he turned away from the red orb in the sky and 
sat down beside the fire.
	"Just gives me the creeps. The guys after me _are_ named 'red moon', after all."
	The white-haired hermit snorted. 
	"The Akatsuki's powerful, yes, but not _that_ powerful. They're not some monster from the 
old tales like Gojira or the Beryl Queen. They're just bugfuck crazy shinobi with delusions of 
grandeur."      
	"Bugfuck crazy _powerful_ shinobi. Heck, if Sasuke's bro and that Kisame guy are anything
to go by, they're powerful enough." Throwing another stick in the fire, Naruto squinted into the flames.
	Jiraiya smirked. "Which is why we're on this training trip. You're a lot better fighter now than
a year ago, kid. Better _and_ smarter, if I should say so myself." 
            The young blonde nodded grudgingly. He was feeling the effects of the training already. 
His stamina and and speed had increased by leaps and bounds the past few months. The old 
pervert had also been sharpening his combat instincts to a finer edge, seeking to teach the younger
ninja the creativity in battle that had been the hallmark of the victorious warrior since time 
immemorial. 
	The thought of showing Sasuke how creative he was the next time they met made his 
mouth stretch into a predatory grin, though his heart still ached at his rival/friend's betrayal.
	Still, times like these, he was feeling a bit homesick.
	Ichiraku's ramen would have sure hit the spot better than trail food and he would have 
appreciated a bit more company than just Jiraiya. Before leaving Konoha a year ago, he had
managed to gather a rather impressive circle of friends. Well, impressive for someone who didn't 
actually have any before Ninja Academy graduation.
	 Naruto sighed and he wondered what Sakura might be doing right now. 
	Probably sleeping in a nice, soft bed, Naruto thought as he glanced at the grass covered
ground, strewn with soft leaves, that would be his sleeping arrangement for the night.
	His reverie was interuppted when he felt Jiraiya tense.
	Making no sudden movements, Naruto's hand crept to his kunai holster, waiting a signal
from Jiraiya to move. 

	"Hello the fire!"
	A man's voice called to them as a figure waved to them from the trail, several meters away.
It held a staff in one hand, while a bulky package seemed to be set on its back.
	"Yes?" Jiraiya responded while calmly gauging possible avenues of attack and escape. They
had sheltered in a small clearing within sight of the dirt road that was the primary travelling route 
for this part of the Fire Country. A stream was not far away and had been the source of their dinner
for the night. The trees that surrounded them were rather sparse, but provided shelter enough for the
clear summer evening. The trail itself was located on a higher incline than their shelter so that the
man had the higher ground if he threatened them with violence.
	Making seal with one handed, Jiraiya sent out his chakra in the manner that he did when 
he was doing his 'research', he sensed the immediate vicinity for further guests while seeking to 
determine the nature of the man on the road with his empowered senses, taking care to make his 
probing as unnoticeable as possible.
	A calm sea of chakra met his probe. A normal human with a modicum of chakra training it
seemed, though the sea seemed to be an ocean for a moment. Perfectly normal since most of the 
wanderers on the road had learned a few tricks to protect themselves; the cities might have protected 
the roads near to them but distant travellers walked roads too far from civilization to have a magistrate 
or a shinobi patrol maintain them. No one else accompanied the man, though the Toad Sannin 
stretched his chakra radar to its limit to be sure. This perfunctory search took a few seconds in which 
the man responded to his earlier query.
	"A fellow wanderer of the world, seeking a little company on the road of life." 
	Jiraiya perked up at that. The phrase would have been a little flowery and eccentric, but no 
one would have noticed the code hidden in it, except if they knew what they were looking for. One 
of the Order was here? It would have explained why the man had approached him and Naruto. The 
Toad Sannin may not have been a full member, but he was technically an honorary one after that little
adventure with the geisha in the Earth Country daimyo's court a few years ago. 
	That the Order had taken a bit of interest in Naruto was a bit troubling, but they were usually
a good sort. Well, the good sort for a secret society who occasionally pulled the strings of the various 
countries on the continent. They weren't angling for world domination or anything as sinister as that. 
Just the continous run of prosperity and peace that made the right sort of men rich.  
	Which is why they hated the Akatsuki and their rather disruptive actions with a vengeance, 
though there seemed to be another reason why the Order of the Crescent seemed to be wanting to 
take the missing nins down.
	Pushing away his suspicions for thge moment, Jiraiya responded with the second half of the 
recognition code while giving Naruto the stand-down signal. The enemy of your enemy is, at the very 
least, not going to kill you today, after all.
	"Then come on down and share with us our journey, till our paths!"
	The man laughed and he shouldered something on his back as he descended the incline 
towards the fire. When he entered the circle of firelight, Jiraiya noted that the man held a well-worn 
walking staff in his hand in a grip which could easily shift into a staff-fighter's hold. The hands 
themselves were smooth in a way that only a scholar's or a weapon-user's could be.  
	A young smiling bespectacled face greeted them. The Order operative seemed to be a little
too young for this sort of work but he radiated a rather serene aura that Jiraiya instantly liked. The
man's brown hair was tied in a short ponytail and he was wearing a black tradesman's gi and hakama.
The package on his back was a large wooden box that the Toad Sannin recognized as a travelling
medicine salesman's carrying case. The trade was still a profitable one, even with the advent of 
doctor's clinics in the cities; smaller towns depended on the wandering medicine men as impromptu 
healers since most of the towns were too small to support a practicing doctor while those of the 
medical profession themselves often had to resort to these merchants to keep them supplied 
with the herbs that were often the primary pharmaceuticals of the Five Countries, some of the more 
advanced medicinal items being too expensive except for the subsidized government institutions of 
the larger cities and Hidden villages. This made them rather welcome in most places, making them 
also the perfect spies for the Order.
	"Thank you for the hospitality, friend! I saw the smoke from your fire down the way and 
hoped for a little company on the road. With the moon like this, better to be safe than sorry." The 
young man set the staff down in an obvious gesture that emphasized that he was no threat. He 
shrugged off the case and set it down with the company mark of his particular trading house facing 
Jiraiya.
	Jiraiya smiled thinly as he noticed the crescent mark on the medicine case which confirmed 
his deductions. He was going to have to ask Master Frog how he managed to locate them the next 
time he dropped by the capital. Turning his smile to a grin, he stood up and offered his hand.
	"No problems, young man. Me and the kid would appreciate the company. My name's Jiraiya,
while the blonde brat's Naruto. What's your name, friend?"
	Eyes twinkling with humor behind his spectacles, the Order operative smiled as he shook the 
Toad Hermit's hand. 
	For a moment, those eyes seemed to Jiraiya be older than they looked.
	"Hojo's the name. Kamiya Hojo, travelling medicine man, at your service!" 
	 
	As the moon bathed the outer walls of Konoha in crimson light, a small black shadow 
slipped through the vigilance of the Leaf Shinobi standing guard. That young man may be excused 
of missing the interloper. No ninja could have suspected such a small form could be a threat. Not to
mention that the intruder was several centuries older than the sentry. Experience always beat out 
youth, after all.
	Thus, this small piece of the night, silent and sleek, moved with feline grace as it entered the 
Hidden Village of the Leaf.



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