Of The Five Elements

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto-sensei.

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Befitting its name as the Land of Earth, there really was almost nothing but barren rocky terrains as far as one's eyes could see. Mountain ranges practically bordered off this country from nearby lands. So few trees decorated the desolate environment that it made one question what had attracted settlement here. Economic wise, though not as prosperous as the Land of Fire when it came to agricultural production, the Land of Earth could still produce just enough, unlike the Land of Wind who had to rely heavily on its allies.

The special feature of the region was the rough geographical characteristics of the land which provided a near perfect protection. In other words, the vast rocky mountain ranges were the ideal natural stronghold for the hidden village of the Land of Earth. Before even breaching the fortress, any enemies would have been too tired, becoming easy-pickings for the defenders.

Speaking of tiredness, Kurotsuchi and the three ANBU had been on the run for almost two hours straight despite two of them being injured, or in Kurotsuchi's case not physically fit yet for such strenuous journey considering her condition.

It was late into the night when Dog raised his hand, signaling them to stop at a huge boulder up ahead, satisfied with how far away they had gotten from the hideout.

"We part ways here," Dog informed before putting Cat down on a small rock and checking her bandage. At this point, there was a low chance that any of Orochimaru's followers would be able to catch up to them. But they could accidentally run into Iwa rescue parties, so it was better to not go any deeper into the enemy territory. Only after leaving the border would it be safe enough for them to make camp.

The Iwa kunoichi nodded, her hands leaning on her knees, catching her breath. Accepting a water canteen offered by Rat, she drank it all up in seconds. "Thank you very much for saving my life," said Kurotsuchi, directing at Rat specifically. She knew the three masked ninja were of another village, but during such desperate time she couldn't be picky about whom to be saved by.

"You're welcome," Rat replied, taking back his canteen.

An awkward silence ensued, replacing the sense of fear which had plagued their mind just hours earlier.

To be honest though, Rat didn't have much experience interacting with other people under a stress-free environment. Growing up surrounded by a bunch of cold, expressionless people, some of whom were equally socially-stunted, would do that to one.

In the girl's case, she rarely, if not at all, talked to a person from a different village. Because of her upbringing, Kurotsuchi was raised with a strong sense of loyalty to her village. She was taught to believe that no one other than her kinsmen would look after her well-being. Thus, she always had a low opinion of outsiders. After this incident however, that biased perception of hers might have to be reassessed.

Going through a life-and-death situation and having to fight alongside one another could miraculously bring together two people from different backgrounds. Maybe, just maybe, the thought of the hidden villages seeing each other eye-to-eye, or at least agreeing on a peace treaty that would actually last was not too unimaginable. Or, was that just a wishful thinking?

"I'm sorry about what happened to your friend," said Kurotsuchi, glancing at the young ANBU who was awkwardly gazing at his canteen.

"It's not your fault. You are a victim too," Rat replied.

"If it helps, I've lost my mother too since I was young. It hurts to lose someone you love so much. But I always try to remind myself that even though she's gone, my memories of her stay with me forever." The Iwa kunoichi continued, trying to console Rat even if she felt a bit awkward and vulnerable to reveal such personal information, especially when they barely knew each other. But the person in front of her just saved her life while risking his own, and he had no reason to do that, or at least none that she could think of. So, giving a few comforting words was the least she could do to return the favor.

"Yeah. Thanks," replied Rat, unconsciously scratching the back of his head before noticing the girl having brought her hand forward.

Smiling at the gesture, Rat looked at her and shook her hand. "I guess I'll see you then."

Kurotsuchi nodded with a smile on her face, "Yeah. Let's hope we meet again."

At that moment, their eyes met. It might have been because they had nearly gone six feet under, but there was something about her smile that seemed to brighten up a very dark day for him.

The way her face stretched into a gentle smile that could still somehow retain a little bit of cheekiness. The way her pink-colored eyes sparkled, accentuated by her eyelashes running upwards at the corners. For a moment, it wiped away the sadness embedded in his heart, reassuring him that things would be better soon. Suddenly, it wasn't so bleak anymore. And for the first time ever, something that he thought had been smothered seemed to reignite.

Nodding at each other one last time, a boy from Konoha and a girl from Iwa walked away, each returning to their own home. But deep down inside, both of them got a feeling that their destinies were woven together from that day on.

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"I see," Sarutobi Hiruzen muttered after hearing his subordinate debrief important details of their recon mission in one of his former student's bases. He gave a long, weary sigh, heartbroken at Boar's tragic demise.

Kneeling on one knee, Dog glanced up at his leader, confused at the long silence before continuing, "While on the search out, Rat found the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage who was kidnapped probably days prior to our arrival. We then extracted her out before letting her return to her village on her own."

"Very well done. You're dismissed. And take a week or two to rest. You have my permission, Kakashi," said the Hokage, facing the window of his office. "It must have been hard on you guys."

"Thank you, sir." Kakashi, codenamed Dog, politely complied before disappearing like the wind.

Hiruzen resumed his quiet session of overlooking his home village in solemnity. The rows of buildings basking in the orange ray of sunset, the villagers walking along the intertwined streets going about their everyday lives, and the children laughing and running amok without a care in the world reflected a peaceful time they were living in.

Suffice to say, Sarutobi Hiruzen was proud of what Konohagakure had become. The village had gone through revitalization after the second ninja war, with the Third himself spearheading the process, fighting on even after the death of their two previous Hokage. Miraculously, just as Senju Hashirama had wished, the Will of Fire lived on in the heart of every Konoha ninja.

That being said, despite having accomplished so much after inheriting the mantle of the Hokage from his two predecessors, Hiruzen had committed almost just as much faults as he had achievements. And this time, one more of his most loyal ninja had paid the price for a mistake he made a long time ago. Obviously, the Third Hokage was disappointed and at the same time, disgusted by how low the student, for whom he used to have hope, had fallen and would stoop to achieve his goal. An irrevocable disgrace that tainted his name was something that Hiruzen would take to his grave.

His normally strong, sharp eyes wavered, slipping through a flicker of emotion. Even though he was seen as a wizened leader and an unbreakable pillar of the village, the Third Hokage was still human. Cracks could be seen if one looked closely enough, showing his true nature as a man who had seen too much deaths and tragedies. The load on his shoulders kept piling up and getting heavier day by day. There had been times when he wondered how long he would be able to keep this up.

The only upside that could lighten his heavy heart was the fact that even though the scars from the Nine-Tails incident were not fully healed yet, Konoha still remained a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps, it was time for the village to move forward with a new and fresh leadership. Although, at this stage, who would be the most suitable candidate for his position? The answer to that question the Hokage had not found yet.

But for now, he had the responsibility to bear the news to Boar's family and put in as much effort as he possibly could to help them. After all, that was what his job entailed. He let out one last sigh before using the body flicker technique to appear in front of the door of Boar's apartment.

Gathering up his thought, Hiruzen pushed the bell button. Soon after, he could hear a sound of slow steps before the door opened.

"Hokage-sama? What brings you here?" asked a woman, a look of genuine surprise on her face. She had long brown hair and light brown eyes. She was wearing a white apron on top of a long blue loose-fitting dress. A sizable bulge in her belly indicated her being well late into her pregnancy.

"Good evening, Mrs. Tanaka. How are you and the baby?" Hiruzen greeted, showing a strained smile.

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A week had passed uneventfully, but to Rat, it was agony. A week since the death of his brother figure. For a ninja whose reputation demanded to always appear aloof and emotionally detached in public, he took it quite hard this time. A bit too hard, to be honest.

The first night, he drank until there was nothing left to drink, and the pub owner had to ask him to leave. How he, a twelve year-old, was given the drinks in the first place he would never know.

The second night, he cried himself to sleep. The third day, he trained till exhaustion. The fourth and fifth day, Rat just laid on his bed, doing nothing. His body was covered with cuts and bruises from the previous day's intense borderline suicidal adventure in the Forest of Death, though all of them were healed up pretty quickly afterward.

It was the sixth day that Dog had to barge in and not-so-gently sent him on his way to Boar's household.

(Flashback)

"I'm sorry, Machi-san… for failing to protect him," Rat said with his voice nearly breaking as he was trying to hold in his tears. He did not dare to meet the eyes of a woman in front of whom he was kneeling. A woman who took him in with open arms. A woman who'd just lost her husband and the father of her unborn child.

Expecting a hit or even a sign of disappointment, Rat received nothing but a weak sound of crying as a response. He gulped nervously before handing her a white porcelain mask with a boar design.

"I'm really sorry-"

"No. It's not your fault, Naruto," said Machi softly, brushing away her tears. She looked at the shaking form of a blond hair boy whom she thought of as her little brother. She felt guilty that the boy was probably blaming himself for the death of her husband.

She put down the mask on her lap before reaching her hand over to pat Naruto's head gently. "It's okay. Do not blame yourself. You weren't there with him."

No longer able to hold back his emotion, Naruto broke down into tears. "I should have been there with him. I should have been there."

Machi brought the blond into a warm embrace. It was a dark time for both of them. "Promise me something, Naruto." She said, earning a nod from the boy. "Promise me that you won't get yourself killed, okay? I've lost Haruo. I can't lose you, too."

Naruto looked at her in the eyes, a strong determination formed within his heart, "I promise I will avenge his death."

Naruto, codenamed Rat, had found a new personal goal.

(Flashback ends)

The sun was high, and the weather hot. A gentle breeze of wind occasionally blew, rustling reddish-orange leaves in a thick forest. Under the shelter of gargantuan trees, Naruto stood before his captain in a small clearing. Together they were currently in the northeast section of the training ground 44, more commonly known as the Forest of Death.

Technically, the whole forest, in which there were converging rivers, and a huge tower at the very center, was a training ground primarily used as a testing stage for survival and fighting skills of Genin who hoped to become Chunin. And for that particular spot in the forest, the two ANBU agents had chosen to be their place to hold their training sessions.

Firstly, the area was fairly deep into the forest, designed to be kept from the public and any undercover spies' eyes. Secondly, it was a remote location, perfect and safe for testing or casting powerful jutsu that would otherwise be too destructive for the other conventional training grounds. Thirdly, the dangerous native species in the forest could also provide quite a challenge, giving off a different feel from the generic non-moving training posts.

"I think it's time we got to the next step of your training," said Kakashi.

The captain had decided to wear only plain grey shirts and pants while Naruto was wearing dark red shirts and a pair of black pants. As they were technically on break, both of them decided to forgo their armors and masks. Not that it actually revealed anything about the silver haired older ninja who was still doning his personal face mask, but for Naruto, his face finally had a reprieve from being concealed after a long time.

His most striking features were the three whisker marks on each cheek and his unruly blond hair fluttering in the breeze. If one were to look closely, however, there was a reddish hue at the root of his hair.

"In the previous step, we focused on your control over your adamantine sealing chains. Now we are going to do the opposite. In other words, I want you to relinquish your control," said Kakashi.

Not understanding what his captain said, Naruto asked, "Uh… Why?" He knew that it was possible to do so, but remained skeptical as to why he should do it.

"I want to you to let your chains move on their own will, if you know what I mean," Kakashi explained before raising his finger to stop the blond from interrupting. "While it is important for you to make use of your technique with high efficiency, it is also very hard to keep track of everything that is happening during the heat of battle. You should know that already, correct?"

Naruto slowly nodded, agreeing with Kakashi's logic.

"The best scenario is that you should be in sync with your chains when fighting. Theoretically, while your chains can move freely on their own, you guys should still have the same goal, which is dealing with the enemies. Think of them as the extension of your senses."

"But I think I can already do that, taichou," replied Naruto, his eyes wide in realization.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi exclaimed, narrowing his eyes, perplexed by what he heard.

"Well, during the last mission, I had to bring out my chains to fight off Orochimaru's cursed seal-enhanced ninja. Because the stress was too intense and my attention too divided, I kinda forgot that my chains were moving autonomously."

"I see. Show me again," Kakashi ordered, wanting to see for himself. Summoning three clones, the silver haired captain then spread them out to surround Naruto from three different directions. Two clones would continuously throw shurikens at the blond, whereas the last one would directly engage the young man in close combat.

And how surprised he was at what he was witnessing. Previously, the chains would just sprawl disorderly on the ground until the blond ordered them to move. Now, however, three golden chains materialized from Naruto's back and hovered in the air freely, looking ready to snap at any given moment like a snake sniffing out its prey. The fluidity in the way those chains moved was both enchanting and menacing at the same time. It was quite an intimidating sight as if there were four entities within one body.

As soon as the spar commenced, the three chains began swatting away a barrage of shurikens while the blond ducked, and lashed out hits and kicks.

A short moment later, the two Kakashi's clones ran out of their ammos before dashing toward Naruto who was facing the other way. But they were forced to duck under two chains. After letting the chains sailing pass, one clone then grabbed onto the last chain, letting its counterpart advance on their target. Before that one could move, the two passing chains twisted back in an instant and impaled the clone, popping it out of existence. They then headed back for the second clone who had found himself bound.

Done getting rid of that clone as well, the three adamantine chains soared toward the last clone who was just kicked away by Naruto, catching it off guard and obliterating it into a burst of smoke.

Kakashi stood still, getting flashes of memories of a certain ninja who had fought using the same technique with the same, or perhaps even more incredible grace in her movement and creativity with its usage. Their resemblance was uncanny. She was a force to be reckoned with. He could still remember it vividly. She could attack, defend, and even bind enemies with her chains. A literal one-man/woman army.

"I guess you've done it," Kakashi muttered absentmindedly before switching to his upbeat voice. "The only step left is to try to increase the number of chains you can create."

Naruto relaxed his breathing after retracting his chains. The blond was satisfied at how it was no longer as draining to instantly create them as it was the first day he started training the jutsu... a long time ago.

"But it's still not enough. I need to get stronger." Naruto responded with a grim expression. No matter how hard it was, he had to push himself further if he wanted to fulfill his promise with Machi. The gap between his power and Orochimaru's was still so far apart. His hands clenched firmly, his anger boiling at the mere thought of the Snake Sannin.

"What about that negotiation? How has it been going?" Kakashi enquired, referring to a certain problem to which the blond was still in midst of finding a solution.

"Nothing fruitful yet," Naruto shook his head in frustration. "It demands to be unbound. But you know what happened last time. If it hadn't been for mom, the beast would have gone on a rampage again. So, I'm taking every caution to make sure there won't be a second time."

"I see. That will have to be kept as the last resort then," Kakashi contemplated. "Alright then. Let's go visit Cat, then we can have the rest of the day off. Tomorrow the two of us will be back into action. Probably be working with another squad temporarily."

Naruto nodded but still looked distraught.

Although not outwardly showing, the silver haired captain frowned in concern, suspecting what was going on in the blond's mind. He knew full well that losing those close to them would make ones desperate, but he chose not to comment on it.

"I know you will try again, Naruto. But I hope you will be extremely careful. If you fail again, I bet nothing can stop it."

Just before the two could leave, their signature tattoos suddenly lit up, signaling an immediate recall, probably for an emergency mission. Their visit to the hospital would have to wait.

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They arrived in the Hokage's office five minutes later after quickly donning their uniforms. The first thing they noticed was the Hokage was sitting behind his desk while behind him were his two old friends and members of the council, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. A usual sight, especially for these days.

It was the other occupants in the room that seemed out of ordinary. There were four people wearing red outfits and brown flak jackets, their headband plates engraved with the design of two stones stacking together.

Rat's jaw dropped; his ocean blue eyes widened in shock at what, or who he was seeing. Not even in his dream would he imagine them to be here. The blond was especially flabbergasted by the one whose eyes caught his own.

"Hi, Rat! I didn't think we'd meet again so soon."

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A/N: Naruto will be referred to as "Rat" when he assumes his ANBU identity.