Faery Tale - Chapter Thirty Eight

Chapter Thirty Eight: House of Cards


One Hour

Two Hours

Three Hours

More time had passed as artificial light flickered outside of Naruto's comfortable cell. He paced the small space while measuring every corner. What chilled him was not the amount of blood spilled earlier, he was used to the sight, but the cold indifference in the Prince's eyes as he left the Arena. He had killed a man without reason, and without showing the least bit of remorse. The attendants had all gone pale, and some of the guards too. Naruto was trained to take a life only when he was on missions, or in self defense, and in those cases the targets were always armed and dangerous. To kill outside of what was necessary was forbidden.  

One more sand soldier passed up and down the hallway between the square cells, he glared at Naruto and ordered him to sleep. All the other prisoners were sleeping, so he should do the same.


Naruto grimaced, but accepted the order. He dropped on the low bed and closed his eyes.  He waited for the chaos to start. There was a procedure for everything in the ANBU world, even when the king sneezed, someone had to act and file the proper paper work. Events were categorized by how many people were affected, and Naruto was pretty sure this was a red zone. Or maybe a black one... Either way, somewhere beyond the walls of this training facility, the great General Kakashi was surely leading the counter attack.

Naruto snorted.

---

"I never thought I'd live to see the end of the Long War," The old geezer who advised his father said.

Eight year old Naruto shifted his weight to sit comfortably in the small tunnel. On the other side of the wall the adults were talking. Things were getting better, everyone was happy. They were buzzing about the upcoming peace treaty with the Sand Kingdom.

Naruto smiled, he knew all this already. He was spending more time with his father since last month; they trained together, and explored the palace's hidden passages. Father even promised to take a week off from whatever kings did to introduce Naruto to a great martial arts Master.  

---

"Get up, idiot," Naruto was kicked out of bed.

"You're the idiot, old man," Naruto retaliated.

There must have been a great escape attempt underway and Naruto was late to join it.

"Aren't you going to ask who I am?" The man was pretty tall, even taller than Kakashi.

Naruto shrugged, and the man chuckled, "Smart kid,"

They left the cell and joined the melee. Naruto heard the screams and clashes long before he saw the battle. The corridors leading to the exit were smeared with blood. This wasn't a basic escape attempt, it was the much anticipated counter-attack from the Fire Kingdom. Soldiers of both uniforms fought fiercely. Naruto wanted to fight but he was forcefully led by two masked ANBUs toward the outside gates. He was not the only one, his fellow pit fighters were making their way through the debris. Outside, hundreds of Konoha prisoners streamed from three huge adjacent buildings.


What the…


Snow drifted heavily from above and Naruto found himself shivering. He looked around but the man who woke him up was nowhere to be found. The odds were in Fire Army's favor, as they attacked the facility guards, and guided the prisoners to safety. Silently, he was grateful for Kakashi's competence. There weren't many men who could organize a big scale operation this quick or powerful.


Smoke came from windows of the training facility, and was shortly followed by the collapse of two great buildings. Floor collapsed above another floor with an ear piercing crash.


The Sand Prince? If this guy were here, all hell would break loose. Naruto doubted anyone could have stopped him in this confusion. Maybe an assassin squad….


Beyond the moving bodies he glimpsed a familiar person struggling against a Sand soldier. Ino. A sudden feeling of relief washed over him, but not for long. She was trying to reach the closest royal guard who he was overwhelmed with three opponents converging on him. The closest squad was helping people out of another burning building. Naruto moved as quickly as he could while avoiding projectiles and attacks from all sides. A near damn impossible thing to do in this situation.


Please let me make in time…


By the time he got there, Ino was gone and he was not able to find her. Resigned, he joined the fight and lost himself in the chaos as one soldier amongst hundreds.

---

By nightfall, the fighting had stopped. Smoke mixed with fog and made visibility difficult. The temperatures were even lower now. But the prisoners were safely relocated far away from the area. All that was left of the prison facility were charred skeletons of buildings, countless dead soldiers, and ash.

There was a lot of ash.

Orders were passed from general to captain to sergeant to platoon leader; the wounded should head to the recently created shelters while the able continue to search and rescue. This was only one of the many holding locations.    

Naruto was exhausted, his aching muscles and the cold forced him to sit down close to a small tent fire and doze off. It was one of those big gray medical tents, too overcrowded for comfort but still warm.

---

    



"You'll love Jiraiya, he's a lot like you," His father took a smuggled cake from his small hands, "when we sign the treaty, we'll have all the time in the world to meet him,"

"When can we go?"

"After your birthday,"

"Can you send Kakashi away? The war is over, I don't need him,"

"Naruto," Minato said with an exasperated sigh, "You know I can't send him away, he's my student."

"I can be your student, only me,"

"Think of him like your older brother,"

"He's too old to be my brother,"

His father laughed.

---

Naruto woke up to the smell of meat. He thought he was dreaming, the delicious aroma weaved into his subconscious.

"Awake yet?"

When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a lumpy hard mattress. His back ached like hell, and worse, Chouji was chewing very loudly.

"Stop it," Naruto groaned, his previous sentiment was replaced with disgust.

"Good, my job here is done," The round boy stood up from the creaking stool. He took a bag of dried meat strips with him, "General wants to see you right now,"

"I'm dying!"

"Not a good excuse if you know what I mean,"

"Go to hell, Chouji, and hell is a meat free place," Naruto spat.

---

The strategy tent was almost as big as the medical tent, except it was much emptier; there were few chairs and one fire burning in the corner. Only the General, captains and a few selected soldiers were inside, they were surrounding a map table dressed in blood smeared uniforms. And the old Man from before was there as well. Well, he didn't look ancient, but his hair was very long and all white. And he looked familiar.

Wait a second…


"You!" Naruto screamed when realization dawned upon him, this man was his savior. This man was sent from heaven.

All the dignified men in the tent stopped taking and stared curiously at the young ANBU. Kakashi particularly looked angry at the interruption.  

"You! You! Oh god!"


"Me?" The man raised one eyebrow.

"Do you remember me?" Naruto closed the distance and clung to the man's dark red cloak.

"If I did, I'm sure I made myself forget,"

"Without a doubt," Kakashi cleared his throat.

"I sold you those stupid books! You have to give them back!"

"Stupid?" The man jerked back as if touched by an electric eel, "Stupid?"  He repeated with disgust and Kakashi shook his head. Awkward silence fell on the tent. The others smiled wearily and looked at the supporting wooden columns instead of the embarrassing young man.


"Naruto, this Lord Jiraiya, he is the Chief of this operation," Kakashi glared at him with warning, "also, he happens to be the author of those books," He then looked to Jiraiya with respect, who nodded.


"Oh," that was not expected.

"As I was saying before the interruption, the next compound in deeper within Sand territory. We got lucky with this one, so close to the border," Kakashi started, "We don't have much time but we can't press on just yet, the men need rest,"

"What about the Sand Prince?" Naruto interrupted again, "He uses dangerous magic. He can kill people with sand,"

"Why do you ask about Prince Gaara?"

Gaara? So he is famous…


"He was at the arena just a few hours ago, he must still be close by,"

"General, I can organize an assassination unit before the night is over," one of the ten captains suggested.

"No, it's too risky and we have more important objectives. Kill the kid if you find him, but do not look for him, Yamato,"

Naruto glanced at the men, they all seemed concerned. Kakashi's eyes were calculating plans and chances, but Jiraiya was oddly calm, he hadn't made any comments yet.

"From here – "

A nervous cough came from behind Naruto, and almost everyone turned to see the tent entrance. A masked female ANBU was waiting at the door, when Kakashi motioned her closer, she gave a quick salute first to Jiraiya and then Kakashi.


"Lord Jiraiya, General, The king requests your urgent presence, he advised assigning a temporary campaign commander to clear the situation with Sand and liberate prisoners,"


Naruto stared in confusion, this was the big assault, the final attack from the Sand, how could the old geezer ask the leaders to go back?

"Explain yourself, soldier," the captain, Yamato, asked.

"No need," Jiraiya finally spoke, "Orochimaru sent us on a desperate mission out of the border while he cleaned house,"

Fuck, most of the soldiers are out of commission or out of the kingdom. First there was the Uchiha rebellion to suppress, then the Sand war. Both happened within forty eight hours.

"Well played," Kakashi cursed.

"Indeed," Jiraiya said grimly and Naruto could not help but agree, "What's the current status?"

"My Lord," The ANBU woman seemed too reluctant to say anything, but she was pressed by the General, "Tsunade Senju was to meet the traitor just a few hours ago, at sunset. His army is controlling Middletown and the Platform,"


The palace has fallen.


"The king?"  


"Still alive, my Lord," Her tone was clipped.


Not for long.