Trials of Faith
Karrafear
Su
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Disclaimer: Naruto is an anime and manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. It does not belong to me; I’m simply using the characters and plot for my own creative devices.
"Demon's talk", /Thoughts/, "Speech", 'Speech emphasis', (FLASHBACK), Titles, (Author's interruptions)
Warning: Nothing much this chapter, just a lot of mixed scenes to build the story up. Some characters may seem a little OOC, but you get that now and again.
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Chapter 6
(Hundreds of metres away from the demolished Sound base camp)
“O-Ha-Yo! Leader-sama, Mission accomplished!” Ruri sang in a cheery manner, practically dancing around the shadowy image of her new master. “See, the ring fits perfectly.” Raising her hand, she showed off the reddish ring on her finger with pride.
Pein’s expression didn’t change as he gazed coolly at his new subordinate. “Good work. You will now focus your attention on finding the Rokubi and Nanabi. Do not engage them; I just want you to find their whereabouts with Zetsu. Once you have that information, relay them to the others so that they may gather them. Their skills match those Bijyuu better than yours.”
Raising an eyebrow in scepticism, Ruri couldn’t help but question his decision. “You sure about that? After all, I am the inheritor of the Tenkun no Buki, which were created specifically to deal with demons, Bijyuu or otherwise.” She tempted Pein with her words without seeming too forward with the suggestion.
“No. The usage of the Tenkun no buki results in too high a price. I need you relatively well in order for my plans to be fulfilled.” Pein stated calmly, eyes not even blinking.
“Awww. Come on. It’s not like I ever get any action around here.” Ruri shrugged her shoulders in nonchalance, already excited about her next real fight, whenever it may come.
Pein’s holographic eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance. “Show me your hands.” He suddenly demanded.
Ruri stiffened and lifted her left hand up, visibly showing the delicate looking ring on her little finger.
“The other hand.” Pein stated firmly.
Ruri slowly raised her right hand – the hand that she had used to summon Iwa no Hone (Bones of Stone) in her previous fight with the Sound forces. Even Zetsu, who stood some metres away, shifted uncomfortably at seeing the mutated hand. Fingers were elongated to abnormal lengths, and thin as bones, even the nails of Ruri’s once delicate fingers had lengthened and hardened into crooked pieces of dead cells (1). The entire hand, up to the wrist had changed into a dry, brown colouring, highlighting the deformity of the spectacle. After examining her hand for a few long seconds, Ruri lowered it, hiding her appendage within the folds of her Akatsuki cloak. “It’ll revert back to its original form within a few days, no worries there.” She spoke calmly while keeping a straight face.
“Hmp. As stated before, usage of the Tenkun No Buki have their drawbacks. And I need you at your peak. You are not to summon any more of them unless I give you permission.” Pein ordered, leaving no room for Ruri to argue.
“Tch. Nice to know you care.” Ruri muttered under her breath, before giving off a shrug of indifference. “Sure, whatever. I’ll just paddle along, trying to find the Rokubi or the Nanabi. Hai, oh great and mighty Pein-sama. Your wish is my command.” She bowed in mock subservience.
“Make sure that you do.” Pein ordered before his shadowy image flicked slightly before disappearing completely from the clearing that found both Ruri and Zetsu standing in.
“YOU Surprise mE.” Zetsu’s deep voice resounded with intrigue. “I did not expect the Lady Oracle to be acting so childish. Especially in front of Leader-sama.”
Giving another shrug of nonchalance, Ruri replied with a flair of indifference. “It’s not as if he would punish me for my behaviour. In fact, no one can.” Pausing in thought, Ruri answered softly. “It’s not like that when you have a role to play; especially when you play the role of the high commander of the strictest village with the oldest traditions. I had the councillors literally breathing down my neck for every second of every minute of my life. I could not make a single mistake, less I want to suffer the consequences. It’s not easy hiding yourself when you have a million eyes watching you constantly, but I prevailed.”
Starting to walk away from Zetsu, Ruri didn’t turn around to look at her plant-like companion, even as she continued with her story. “Now that I’m free. I can do whatever I want, be whomever I want. I don’t need to act a certain way just because other people expect me to. I don’t have anyone to judge me for my merits, and wouldn’t care if they did judge me. This is the prize I attained when I joined Akatsuki. My freedom (2).” Her figure disappeared behind the foliages of the trees.
“Heh heh. Who’d ever thought one of the most powerful women in the world... is nothing more than a brat living in a glass cage all her life.” Zetsu chuckled softly to himself as he shuffled along the same path as his new partner.
Even though Ruri was some distance away, she still managed to hear Zetsu’s muttered words and it made her pause. /Glass cage? Perhaps that is what I’ve been living in all my life. The Kuunoki... was never really home... it didn’t feel like home... just a place I live in. I have never found a home... not a real one. But then again, people say home is where the heart is... and my heart... is fragmented to several pieces placed with several precious people. My precious people – some dead, some alive. Yuuki... Naruto... Kaga... and.../
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(Hokage lounge)
Tsunade did her best not to show any nervousness or agitation as she faced the two elder councillors sitting across from her in the official Hokage lounge, often used for welcoming dignitaries. “So, what exactly have you called me to discuss?” She asked calmly.
“It’s about the Kuunoki refugees, as well as Naruto.” Koharu wasted no time in getting to the point. Looking over at her political partner briefly, Koharu then went into detail about their concerns. “We have some concerns in regards to letting the Kuunoki refugees stay here in Konoha. They obviously chose to come here after the collapse of the Kuunoki simply because Uzumaki is living here. If they somehow convince him to rebuild the Kuunoki with himself as the leader, then we will have some trouble on our hand. The fire country can not sustain 2 hidden villages. If they chose this path, then they will become a threat to Konoha’s continual existence. No doubt the Fire Daimyo may well consider residents of the late-Kuunoki to be better Ninjas than our own crop.” Koharu stated firmly.
“Not only that. We also have concerns over the status of Naruto himself.” Homura interrupted with another issue at hand. “We finally have the Jinchuriki back after 2 and half years of wandering around. You should not send him on missions that have a possibility of contact with Akatsuki. And considering his Aunt has now become a member of Akatsuki, it doubles the level of danger he is in. From now on, appoint high ranking Shinobi to be with him. Assign him to a four man team to reinforce our supervision and guard over him. Also, you should decrease his amount of missions as much as possible, and restrict the range of his movements. He hadn’t had many missions since coming back to Konoha and we wish to keep it so.” Homura finished.
“Hmp. Keep Naruto confined in the village? I don’t know whether your so called ‘concerns’ over his welfare is because you fear the Akatsuki getting their hands on the Kyuubi or if you fear him suddenly deciding to re-start the Kuunoki and leave this village, taking the Kyuubi with him.” Tsunade snapped in irritation, suddenly not feeling like hiding her emotions any further.
“Tsunade, we are making concessions here. Any other Jinchuriki would have been kept under constant supervision by the other villages. We should be no different. Coupled with the fact that he is the heir and currently only remaining loyal member of the Uzumaki clan, we cannot let him run wild without constraints.” Homura responded back just as heatedly if in a more contained manner.
“I’ll agree with the stationing of high ranking Shinobis for his guard. I’ll even concede to the four man team if he stays in active duty. But I refuse to place such restrictions on his movements.” After some consideration, Tsunade finally confirmed her decision.
“Tsunade! Be reasonable. That child is in constant danger. If we don’t do this…” Koharu’s passionate words were suddenly cut off by Tsunade’s own fervent retort.
“As you said before, Naruto is treated like a royal by the Kuunoki refugees. He is precious to them, having just recently lost their Lady of hope. If we cage him in this village like some criminal, in the eyes of those refugees, we would be seen in a very bad light threatening their only remaining royal. I assure you they would not sit idly by and watch in silence. They would fight for the freedom of Naruto and we would end up with riots in the streets, possibly a civil war.” Tsunade debated back with just as much fire, not holding anything back.
“Second point – even if Naruto remains in the village, Akatsuki will still pursue him. Just like what just occurred in the Sand. If that were to happen, Konoha would also be placed in danger. If Naruto is on the move, while being guarded by some extremely powerful Ninja, that is the only way to both protect Naruto and Konoha at the same time. In fact, I believe that members of the late Kuunoki Gate Guardians have already taken the spot of protectors for Naruto. They would not let him get into any danger without a lot of backup. And do not forget that it was they who pushed Akatsuki back during the Sound Invasion over 2 years ago.” Tsunade continued to rant, hammering her point across at her competitors of power. “You have to understand, I am also making concessions here.” She snorted with the finality of her words.
Koharu only glared silently for a few chilling minutes. “So be it.” She paused slightly before considering the rest of her words. “But what if the boy shows signs of wanting to leave Konoha and start his own village. After all, was it not his own blood related Aunt that betrayed the Kuunoki, leaving the village to be destroyed and joined with a group of S-class criminals? Such things may run in the family some say.” She stated in a sarcastic manner.
Tsunade angrily slammed her hand onto the table before her. “You TAKE THAT BACK! Naruto is no traitor! He has and always will be loyal to Konoha! It’s in his BLOOD!” The floor shook with tremors caused by the impact of Tsunade’s palm against the table.
“Can you guarantee that, Tsunade?” Homura stated back with calm, frozen eyes. “Can you guarantee that Naruto will do nothing to endanger Konoha’s continual existence, nor will he be captured by Akatsuki which will lead to the same results?”
“Naruto... will not be taken. I trust in that. There are too many people to protect him, too many willing to die for him. And he too, is anything but slack. Naruto will grow strong, strong enough to counter the Akatsuki. I have faith in his ability, his strength, and his will to survive.” Tsunade assured with strong emotions behind her words.
“And if that belief is mistaken, what will you do?” Koharu couldn’t help but retort back, wanting to hear the specifics in Tsunade’s words.
“If anything in the future places Konoha, or the Fire Country in danger, I will put my life on the line to save it! As Godaime Hokage, that I swear.” Tsunade confirmed with strong conviction. “And I have no doubt that Naruto will be standing right beside me, helping all he can to save Konoha as well. After all, Konoha is his home.”
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(Naruto and Hinata’s apartment)
“Naruto-kun?” Hinata knocked on Naruto’s opened door as she peered in tentatively.
“Hey, Hinata. What’s up?” Laying face up on his bed, Naruto glanced towards the ex-Hyuuga heiress with a small smile on his face.
“With everything that happened recently and with how everyone’s been busy helping the refugees settle in, I guess all of us forgot to ask you a very important question.” Hinata gazed down shyly, but her words never wavered or stuttered as she used to do when in his presence. That, more than anything, showcased her maturity and will to overcome her past short-comings.
“Oh, and what question would that be, Hinata?” Sitting up gracefully, Naruto looked towards the girl with a curious look in his eyes.
“How are you holding up, Naruto-kun? Only a few days ago, you lose your ability to see the future, and then you found out that the Kuunoki has been destroyed. It’s practically your second home; you must feel awful about it. But I’ve never seen you sad or unhappy when you welcomed the refugees with open arms and helped them settle into their new homes in the once abandoned Uchiha district. And then, when you found out about Ruri-sama betraying the Kuunoki, betraying you... you didn’t look surprised or hurt. I just need you to tell me what you truly feel. You shouldn’t bottle up your hurt inside and not show anyone. It’s not healthy.” Hinata explained reasonably, having gained the courage to walk across the distance between the two and settled herself down right beside the boy of her dreams. Now, more than ever, he needed a shoulder to lean on, a friend, not a person who had a crush on him wanting to gain an advantage.
Naruto only sighed heavily before looking up towards the ceiling. “Truthfully, I don’t know what to feel.” He admitted. “Aunt Ruri was brought up with the idea that as long as she continues to exist, the integrity and traditions of the Kuunoki will survive. That idea is firmly engraved into her belief systems. So in a sense, she viewed herself as an absolute monarchy. Regardless of how many Kuunoki citizens she sacrifices, they would still follow her blindly and worship her as they would a god. I can understand how tiring and lonely that must feel at times.” He gave a sad smile, realising how hard it must have been for his Aunt to be placed on such a high pedestal and be looked at with such awe, but never be surrounded by the warmth of having close friends or family around. Now that the refugees have come to him for salvation, he could finally understand the enormity of the weight of such expectations on his own shoulders.
“As such, even though there are many people willing to die for her. She, herself, would only be willing to die for a few certain people whom she holds close to her heart. That is not to say she doesn’t care for others. She loved the members of the Gate Guardians as she would her own children, but she understands that it is their job to protect her, not her job to protect them. Even if every one of them died in front of her eyes, she would be able to survive. But to be counted as one of her most precious people, people whom she would do anything to protect, that is something special. I think I can count on one hand how many she would go to such lengths for – my mother, myself, Kaga-san, and possibly one other.” Naruto paused in his reply, suddenly feeling tired of everything.
“That’s sad.” Hinata interrupted softly. “To only hold those few people close to heart... is truly a lonely existence. But... I can understand why she would value yourself and your mother, you’re all family after all, but why Kaga-san?” She asked curiously.
Naruto gave a slightly saddened smile. “It’s love.” He stated succinctly. “Ruri and Kaga have a strong relationship, one that is based on their shared mutual affection from one another. If only she wasn’t born into the Prophet house of the Uzumaki family, I think the two would have married ages ago. But she is, as such she was bound by the rules of the Prophet House traditions, being unable to love, never to have an intimate relationship with anyone or start their own families.”
Giving another shrug, he continued with the rest of his contemplation. “I guess that’s why I can’t really hate her. Sure, there’s some hurt, some disappointment, but I can’t say I’m all that surprised.” Noticing Hinata’s shocked expression, Naruto decided to continue. “By doing this, she releases herself from the obligations of the Prophet house, as well as releases Kaga from his own duty as strictly that of a protector and servant of the Uzumaki family. Not only that, she also releases me from my own social chains. Now that the Kuunoki is gone, so is the entire Uzumaki clan system. There is no longer a need for dividing into the Prophet House or Breed house. No need to restrict the movements of anyone due to the status of their birth. I am free now to choose my own future and if I so wish it, I can get married and start a family of my own, raise my children in ways that are different to that of the now defunct Uzumaki clan. I personally believed that Aunt Ruri did all this not just for her own freedom, but for my sake as well.” Naruto concluded.
“I’m glad to see that you haven’t been too affected by all this.” Hinata stated graciously, giving Naruto a small smile of encouragement. “But what will you do now?”
Huffing in thought, Naruto thought over the entire situation for a few long minutes before replying. “I think... I should send the Gate Guardians out as messengers to the other hidden villages. Just to let them know about the downfall of the Kuunoki and the existence of the Akatsuki.”
“Now that they have Ruri on their side, there’s no doubt they will start ramping up their efforts to collect the bijyuus, and the Hidden Villages need to prepare for their assaults. I, myself, will probably need to step up my training too. So yeah, that’s my plan, inform all relevant parties of the impending danger and train as hard as hell to become stronger.” Giving Hinata a classic Naruto grin of confidence, Naruto suddenly asked: “No time like the present to get started! Hinata, want to help me train?”
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(Hokage lounge)
“Understood.” Homura finally conceded. “Do what you want if you are that convinced. However, if you keep Naruto in his current 4 man team with Uchiha, Haruno and Hatake Kakashi – do you not believe that the other members are being disadvantaged by him being there?”
“What do you mean?” Tsunade narrowed her eyes again in suspicion.
“As you said before, the late Gate Guardians of the Kuunoki will have no doubt taken turns to surround Naruto in a protective manner. In this case, it would affect the teams’ missions, having rotating guards around all the time. Not only will it affect the team dynamics but it might even impact on the success of missions itself.” Homura explained in a rather convoluted manner, only hinting at true meaning he was trying to get across.
“You want me to take Naruto out of team 7, and have him fully guarded 24/7 by the Kuunoki gate guardians. That’s what you’re saying right?” She paused and thought over the scenario, before grimacing with a wince. “It’ll drive him mad. Naruto is a very independent person, and having lived the last who knows how long on his own, he’s not going to like being hovered over so much, especially by the members of the Ex Gate Guardians.”
“Perhaps you were right, giving Naruto the freedom to move around, even with those guardians, will help ease the transition.” Koharu too, eventually calmed down enough to start thinking over the merits of Tsunade’s decision. “I too, agree that keeping Naruto in team 7 will be more detrimental than anything else. Do not forget that the formation of Team 7 in the first place had always been controversial – especially in regard to the competitive relationship between the Uchiha and Naruto. The first time Team 7 was formed, it didn’t last very long, only until the first Chuunin exam before the Uchiha was exchanged to another team which worked out much better.”
“Indeed, not to mention, we also need to keep a close watch on the Uchiha. He did show signs of having traitorous thoughts towards Konoha after the first Chuunin Exam. We were lenient when we let him off the hook after saving a few civilians during the Sound invasion. But we never really took as much precaution as we should have in keeping a close eye on him.” Homura said in a contemplative manner.
“I don’t see the point.” Tsunade snapped back immediately. “The boy was under the influence of Orochimaru’s curse seal at the time. Now that he has full control over it, I don’t see any point in keeping an eye on him. He’s perfectly stable, mentally and physically.”
“You can’t guarantee that, Tsunade. The boy hadn’t even gone through a psychological scan by our special Medics yet. He has returned a powerful Ninja, and as such must be closely watched. We propose a shift in teams once more. Keep Naruto on the move, but only have him accompanied either by high ranking Konoha Shinobis (namely Jounins) or keep him with the Kuunoki Guardians. As for team 7, we will choose a member to add to the four-man team.” Homura stated reasonably, trying to force the Hokage to listen to reason.
Biting her lip in irritation, Tsunade knew that she had won the first round in regards to the restrictions on Naruto’s movements, but even she can’t win all battles against the councillors. It really made her angry how they continuously try to undermine her power and the way she do things. But at the same time, she understood their concern. It was only a few days ago when she got a visit from Oniyoubu Maya – the Ghost whisperer and future wife of one Uchiha Sasuke. The girl had told Tsunade that Sasuke was sick and would be staying home for the next few days. When asked for more reasons, the girl told Tsunade about the cleansing of the Uchiha district, how they encountered the Ghosts of Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto, and the entire background story of the Uchiha massacre.
At first, she couldn’t’ believe how far the councillors and that hated Danzo would go to ensure Konoha’s so called safety - to massacre an entire clan in order to prevent civil war. She would not have been able to condone such actions. There had to be another way. But she wasn’t Hokage at that time and she still didn’t know the entire story. It was all in the past anyway and there is nothing she could do to change things.
Glancing back up at the elder councillors, Tsunade wondered to herself. /If I keep on pushing against them, will they find a way to dethrone me as well, just like they did with the Uchiha? If they believed what I’m doing will cause the downfall of Konoha, how far will they go to ensure it’s survival, even if it means bringing the entire village into the depths of hell? Regardless, I need to tread carefully./
“Alright. I’ll agree to the changing of teams, as well as having you bring your own person onto Team 7.” She finally agreed.
“Danzo, enter.” Koharu called out. Almost immediately, the door slid open to reveal an old man with bandages over half his face and his right arm in a sling.
“You.” Tsunade’s eyes widened in remembrance.
“It’s been a while, Tsunade-Hime.” Danzo acknowledged, never using the ‘Hokage’ title when addressing Tsunade.
“I see, if you’re here... then that means that the new member of team 7 is from the Root Division of the Anbu.” Tsunade’s eyes hardened at the sudden realisation of how she had fallen into the old man’s trap.
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(Inside Orochimaru’s Southern Hideout)
Passing cell after cell of prisoners, Suzumi shivered slightly, feeling the icy gaze of almost all the men focussed solely on her presence as well as the one walking beside her. Releasing chakra into her ears, she focussed on the whispered conversations floating around her. Most of the men were curious about her presence. After all, everyone had heard of the Snake Queen (Kageru) and her faithful shadow (Suzumi herself) but few had truly seen them with their own eyes and lived to tell the tale.
“God! I’ll be glad to get out of here.” Hunching slightly, she tried hard to ignore both the stares and words directed at her.
“Ignore them.” Kageru stated firmly, not even blinking at her surroundings.
Soon, they meet up with their target.
“I knew it.” Karin stood before them, leaning slightly on one leg and proclaiming her superiority for the world to see. “I knew I felt the two of you a mile away. So, what the hell are you doing here? You’re not exactly welcomed in my laboratory.” She stated snidely, not at all welcoming the other two subordinates of Orochimaru.
“Orochimaru’s dead. I’ll be taking over Sound now.” Kageru stated in a cool voice, wasting no time in getting to the point.
“HUH?!” Karin gave a comical face filed with shock and surprise. “Excuse me! What did you just say? OROCHIMARU is DEAD???!!” She couldn’t help but shout out in disbelief.
Unfortunately for Karin, her loud voice echoed all over the prison cells and it didn’t take long for all the prisoners to overhear the conversation. Loud whispers and shouting erupted from the news, most with cheer and others with shock.
Ignoring the ever growing shouts around her, Karin continued to exclaim: “What the hell are you talking about?! What ‘taking over Sound’? As if anyone would let you of all creatures lead! You’re not even human? And let’s not mention, I don’t believe a single word of shit sprouting out of your mouth, Snake witch!”
“Regardless of what you may think or feel about the situation, I simply speak the truth.” Kageru stated calmly. “Orochimaru is dead. I’m not sure by whose hand, but I know for a fact he is dead. I can no longer feel the connection to him. And the only way our connection can be severed is through death.”
Tightening her fisted hands even further, Karin glared at her rival with all her mustered hatred and anger. “I’m not gonna listen to a word you say, so just get out of my sight!” She screeched loudly, making Suzumi winch in pain at the vibration of the sound.
“On the contrary, I will not allow you to disrupt my plans. I require your ability and knowledge for my own uses.” Narrowing her eyes as a sign of her irritation, Kageru hissed in a threatening manner. “You do not wish to go against me, Karin...”
Taking a few steps back in hesitation, Karin bit her lip before showing off another false boost of bravado. “I refuse. You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to. Even if Orochimaru’s dead, I’m not under any obligation to follow you around.” She stated even as her voice wavered on the last word.
“And you believe you have a choice.” Lifting a single finger, a large anaconda summon suddenly launched itself out of Kageru’s sleeve, wrapping itself around the screaming Karin before tightening itself as a python would its prey.
“AHHHHH!!!! Get it off me! Get it off me! Get it off me!” Karin screeched at the top of her voice, until the large snake tightened itself further around her, making it difficult for her to breathe, let alone release any breath for screaming.
“As I said, you don’t really have a choice. Willingly or not, you will aid me in my quest.” Kageru stated calmly, her golden eyes never leaving the terrified form of Karin. Slowly walking towards the immobile form Kunoichi, Kageru stalked her prey as a predator would. Finally standing before the shivering form of her colleague, she struck her hand forward in a lightning fast move and shoved her fingers into Karin’s stuttering mouth. In an instant, Karin felt a flash of lightning travel down her throat into the pits of her stomach, before she spat the hand out in disgust.
Coughing loudly and spitting out the aftertaste of having Kageru’s hands inside her mouth, Karin spat out hateful words: “What the hell are you trying to do? Choke me to death!?”
Nonchalantly wiping her hand on a stray cloth she carried on herself, Kageru calmly answered back even as her giant snake disappeared into a puff of smoke, releasing Karin to fall flat on her bottom. “Iie. I’ve just embedded one of my special snake curses inside your body (3). If you disobey my wishes, then you will get a rather shocking surprise.”
As if to spite Karin, the curse suddenly activated, sending a sizzling spike of electrical charges all through out her body. Suffice to say, not only did she felt the pain of having almost every cell in her body vibrating due to the effects of the black lightning, but her body as a whole immediately slumped to the floor like a doll without strings. “Uh...” She gritted her teeth, lips hardly moving enough to portray her pain.
“As I stated earlier, you do not have a choice.” Kageru stated in a tone of finality.
“Ano…, Kageru? If we take Karin with us, what the hell are we gonna do with all the prisoners?” Suzumi finally spoke up, her attention having stayed firmly on the reactions of the jailed captives, whom have all quietened down and watching the drama unfolding before their eyes with unmatched interest.
“They will come with us for now. I need to get rid of the curse seals on their bodies, and or heal them until they are fit enough to be set free. For those who still have homes, they may return to where they have come from once they are able. For those who do not, they are welcomed to follow me as subordinates.” Kageru stated firmly, her eyes never leaving the struggling Karin.
Suzumi sweat dropped slightly at Kageru’a straight forward but rather naïve words. “Ano... I know that most of them are fairly good people, whom have been captured and experimented on by Orochimaru. But what if some of them really are bad people? You know, of the violent sort? You don’t really want to release them to the world, do you, Kageru?” She implored softly, willing her companion to understand the risks she takes in releasing all the detainees at one go.
“Regardless, anyone who have been used and abused by Orochimaru deserves a chance at freedom. I will not discriminate about people’s past and misdeeds. The common link among us is our combined suffering under that retched man. I do not condole anything that man stands for and keeping these inmates under lock and key are his policies, not mine. If I wish to portray myself as his opposite, then I must show my firm but merciful side.” Giving a sardonic grin, Kageru continued. “Not to mention, I have full confidence that if skirmishes did occur, I can handle it.”
Suzumi sighed in response to her teammate’s words. Kageru can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes. Once she set her mind on something, it’s nigh impossible to change it. However, that determined characteristic is what endeared her to many of her own supporters.
Although news of the Snake Queen and her bitch had travelled far and wide, everyone knew that they were two of Orochimaru’s more noble subjects, simply because they never stabbed anyone in the back and had reputations for being fearsome but honourable in battle – something most of Orochimaru’s underlings lacked. To say that no one within Orochimaru’s ranks would support Kageru is a falsehood. Although she’s not much liked by the higher echelons, Kageru is surprisingly quite popular among the lower ranking Shinobis, especially the female ninjas of Orochimaru’s ranks. The girls looked upon Kageru – one of Orochimaru’s highest ranked female generals - to be their idol and had aspirations to become like her when they grew up.
Suzumi was brought back from her wandering thoughts when Kageru spoke once more. “Suzumi. I need you to stay here with Karin. The two of you will organise a ship to bring all the inmates back to the mainland – to the central base camp. I need to collect Juugo and prepare the chamber. I leave the rest to you.”
Sighing at hearing the order, the white haired girl could only nod in acceptance as her partner walked confidently off and out of their sight, leaving her with a building full of ex-prisoners to set free, a giant shipping transport to organise and a moaning, uncooperative Karin to help. /Why me.../ She moaned mentally.
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(Back in Konoha)
The next morning found Naruto standing beside his old team mates inside the Hokage’s office, facing Tsunade’s grim face. He had a feeling that whatever was about to happen, he wasn’t going to be too happy about it.
“Thank you for coming in so early.” Tsunade started her speech, eyes shifting from one member of the old team 7 to the next. “The reason why you’re been called in here today is due to a rearrangement of team members.” She went straight to the point.
Sakura frowned in confusion. “Change in team members? Why, Tsunade-sama? We’ve only just reformed the old Team 7 with Naruto’s arrival not to long ago, why are we being separated again?” She asked, with a slight tinge of pain in her voice. She had really wanted to start again with her old team members. Sure, the first time team 7 was formed; it was dysfunctional as any newly formed teams were. But she had really hoped that with all them together again, they could form stronger bonds between them. She wanted what all the other teams had, a strong friendship, understanding and comradeship among the team, something team 7 had blatantly lacked in its younger years and had only dissipated over time due to the long distance between each member.
Standing beside Sakura, Sasuke too frowned in disagreement. Behind the three, Kakashi stood nonchalantly, as if having expected this change.
Sighing slightly, Tsunade explained further. “The council has concerns over Naruto’s welfare, now that Akatsuki is once again on the move. As such, I’ll be appointing Jiraiya, an Anbu captain by the name of Yamato and one of the ex Gate Guardians to be placed with Naruto, forming a super-team if you wish. As for the rest of team 7, you will be receiving a new member from another division of the Anbu.” Letting the words sink in a bit, Tsunade then turned her attention to the door. “You can come in now.”
The door to the Hokage’s office opened to admit Jiraiya – the Toad Sennin; an older man with short brown hair, dark eyes and a blank facial expression but wearing the standard Jounin uniform. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura could only guess that this was the aforementioned ex-Anbu captain. Behind the tall man stood a young teenage looking boy, with short black hair that fell straight down his face, wearing an extremely fake smile. The boy wore a strange attire of skin tight shirt that only went down to mid-chest, and tight pants down his long legs.
“Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. You already know Jiraiya, so he doesn’t need any further introductions.” Tsunade ignored Jiraiya’s pout, knowing full well that her old team mate would have turned it into one of his weird dance intros, and she just wasn’t in the mood to put up with it. “This is Yamato, your other team member, Naruto. Lastly, this is Sai, a member of the Anbu Root division.” Kakashi’s eyes narrowed slightly at the second last word, but outwardly, he showed no sign of his own feelings.
“Tsunade-sama. It seems to me that this arrangement is less about me having teammates than about me having bodyguards. I am not so weak that I need to be babysat in such a way.” Naruto retorted in a calm manner, but underneath his nice tone was a fury at being treated this way. “I am not a child. I am a Shinobi, a strong one, and I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”
Giving another sigh, Tsunade knew it was going to be a verbal battle to get Naruto to accept this. “I’m sorry, Naruto. But my hands are tide in this case. As Hokage, my job is to ensure the safety of the village, so I cannot risk Akatsuki coming here to capture you. At the same time, as someone who cares for you personally, I will do everything in my power to also keep you safe. The only way I can do that is to have strong people to guard and help you, while you are away from Konoha central.”
“You’re sending me away?” Naruto’s eyes widened slightly at the implications of Tsunade’s words. “You don’t think I’m strong enough to hold off the Akatsuki? Don’t forget, I did just that on my own during Orochimaru’s invasion of Konoha all those years ago. I can...” Naruto’s words were abruptly cut off by the rest of Tsunade’s rebuttal.
“They were underestimating you at the time, Naruto. And they were also trying to get at you in a quiet manner. If they come to us now with guns a blazing and with no concern over the amount of damage caused or the number of lives lost, I know for a fact that we will fall just like the Kuunoki did!” All three teens winced at the mentioning of the fall of the Kuunoki. After all, if one of the oldest, strongest villages (small as it was) could so easily fall to the Akatsuki, what were the entire Akatsuki truly capable of? “I do not doubt your strength, but even you must admit you’re no where strong enough to face them, especially your aunt.” Naruto bit his lip in pain. “I want you to be kept safe while giving you enough time to get stronger. For now, I’m going to send you on an errand to the Fire Capital. It’s just a message delivery errand but once you get there, you’ll probably be called into a meeting with the Fire Daimyo. After that, I want you to stay in the Fire Capital and train. Train to become stronger, Naruto.” Tsunade pleaded with the young man, and even the Uzumaki heir had to eventually resign to his fate.
“Fine.” Lowering his head in surrender, Naruto tried to negotiate the terms of his being sent away. “But I want Akiko Kazeha (4) as the third member of my so called team. I want to work on my wind elemental manipulation ability.”
“Wind? What do you mean?” This time, it was Sasuke who asked. He hadn’t spent as much time with his team mates since Naruto’s return as he had liked, and he felt as if he was still missing a lot of information.
“I’m wind natured. I discovered that some time ago during my travels but I didn’t know how to train on it.” Naruto answered, see no reason to hold back his dilemma. “Akiko, being a wind mistress, would be able to help me greatly in cultivating that skill.”
“Wait a minute? You’re wind natured? If you weren’t training on that all this time, then what were you working on?” Jiraiya piped up, curious as to what his prodigy had been wasting the last 2 and half years working on.
“Control over Kyuubi’s chakra.” Naruto’s answered silently rocked the foundations of the entire room.
“Kyuubi? You’ve been working on drawing out the Kyuubi’s chakra on your own? That’s very dangerous, boy. You should have waited until your return, and have either myself or Jiraiya by your side when you start drawing out the Kyuubi’s destructive chakra. Don’t gamble your life or the lives of others like that.” Yamato’s firm scolding surprised Naruto. The younger man squirmed slightly as he had never been talked to in such a manner in regard to his using Kyuubi’s chakra before.
“Look. I had things under control. I went to a giant, deserted iceberg and trained there on my own. I needed to know my limits. I needed to know how much demonic chakra I can draw out while still remaining in control of my mind.” Naruto justified heatedly.
“So, what were the results?” Jiraiya waved the other’s concerns away, knowing full well how stubborn his student was when he felt he had done the right thing.
“At drawing out 10% of the Kyuubi’s chakra, my eye’s change colour (5). At 20%, I draw out one tail’s worth of chakra. At 30%, I have two tails. At 40%, three tails. But once I reach 50%, when I gained the forth tail, that’s my limit. I lose complete control of myself.”
A few minutes later, the meeting was concluded with a decision that Naruto, Yamato, Jiraiya and Akiko (who was absent during the meeting) would be sent on the mission to the Fire capital the next day. In return, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi had left with their new team member Sai, mentioning something about learning each other’s strength and weaknesses.
The former members of Team 7 found it curious that Sai hadn’t said a single thing in through out the meeting, but then again, they weren’t comfortable with Naruto’s replacement yet to talk familiarly with him.
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(Cloud Village)
Slamming both palms onto the sturdy table, a young man of 17 with short reddish brown hair pulled back by a bandanna forehead protector displaying proudly the symbol of the Hidden Cloud village, glared heatedly at the older, dark skinned man before him. “What is the meaning of this, Raikaga-sama!?” He demanded.
The older man, with a strange looking white moustache and wearing the traditional gowns of a Kage, glared just as heatedly back at the young Shinobi. “What the hell are you talking about, Waisa Bado? (6)”
“I’m talking about Nii Yugito! Why did you send her out towards the outskirts of the Hidden Cloud village on her own, when you know full well that the Akatsuki are after her! We’ve already received a message from Konoha confirming that they have the freaking Lady Oracle join their cause! We cannot take this information lightly. We should be double, no, tripling the number of guards we have around Yugito, not send her on her own!” Bado practically screamed his response right at the face of his superior, seemingly unafraid of the consequences.
“You listen here, you brat! I am the Raikage and what I say goes! Yugito practically volunteered to be bait for the Akatsuki! She wanted to challenge them on her own, wanting to prove that she wasn’t weak or needed protection. Had I not allowed her to do so, she would have done it even without my permission. Now, at least we know where she’ll be and if it ever came to it, we could aid her!” The Raikage screamed back at his unruly subordinate.
“We’ll be too late!” Bado insisted. “That girl and her god damn pride.” Bado cursed beneath his breath and was just about to continue his rant when the whole building suddenly shook as if an earthquake had occurred some distance away. “Shit! It’s begun!” Bado cursed as he immediately jumped out the window, instead of using the door, smashing his way through the clear glass window and steel frames, raining pieces of glass shards all over the floor as he passed.
“God Damn it! Bado! Haven’t you heard of doors?” Raikage cursed the Waisa clan heir even as his office door was slammed open to reveal several Jounin Shinobis wanting to check on his health. /You better get there in time to save her, Bado. Or else you’ll answer to ME! Damn it/
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By the time Bado, and his partner, Sakeyama Asahi (7) made it to the location of the fight, they barely caught sight of the unconscious form of their fellow Cloud Nin and team mate – Nii Yugito – the Jinchuriki of the Two Tailed no Nekotama, carried off by a two faced man in the infamous Akatsuki cloak. “Let go of her, you Akatsuki scum!” Bado called out loudly but he was too late to stop Zetsu merge fully into the ground with his burden.
“AHHH!” Bado smashed his fist against the rubble ground that Zetsu had just disappeared into in frustration. Behind him, Asahi finally caught up with the young man. Asahi was taller than Bado with his spiked up, dark blue hair and he still wore his forehead protector in a slanted manner similar to how Zabuza had his.
“It’s not over yet, Bado. Keep your head; we’ve still got some enemies to face.” Asahi cautioned his gaze focussed on the 2 figures in the distance, both wearing the Akatsuki cloaks. “If I summon some of my Cats to try and track that man who took Yugito, we may be able to find a trace of them, and save her before the extraction begins. You with me?” Asahi finally caught Bado’s attention with his words and even the passionate Waisa clan heir had to accept his partner’s advice.
“Right, let’s get to it. Summon your cats.” Bado wasted no more time in encouraging his long time teammate, having come to appreciate Asahi’s level headedness during missions. Well, Asahi was usually level-headed, the only time he wasn’t calm was when he had to deal with his alcohol obsessed family, especially his sister. Having worked with Sakeyama Saporo, Asahi’s half sister, for the first few years of his Ninja career, Bado could sympathise with the other man.
However, since returning from the Kuunoki Chuunin Exam, Bado had shed much of his arrogance and superiority complex. He was still loud and boastful, but now, he had the power to substantiate his boasts. He worked damn hard in the last two and a half years to become a Jounin. Not only that, he had also (with the help of the Raikage) managed to over throw the elders of his clan, whom had sanctioned experiments both on captives of other countries (Hyuuga’s included) but on their own clan members (himself included) all in the name of gaining power. It was disgusting, and after regaining his lost memories of living through that torture, Bado wasted no time in calling out the elders on crimes against humanity, with evidence to prove it. Eventually, many older members of the Waisa clan were executed publicly, creating a stain on the Waisa name. But regardless, Bado himself was seen in relatively good light, having been the youngest person to reach Jounin in many years.
In regards to Asahi, after he returned to Kumo, he was shocked at finding out his sister had suddenly retired from being a Shinobi, and took up the family business of running the sales of alcohol. This left him being the sole heir of the Shinobi branch of the Sakeyama family. Needless to say, it took him a while to get use to the responsibilities, but he stepped up and took on the role with minimal fuss or problems. Issues arose later when Nii Yugito was put on their team as their third member. After a few rocky starts, the three eventually put aside their differences and formed a solid team. This was why Yugito was important to them, and they would do anything in the power to keep her safe.
Back to the situation at hand, Asahi didn’t waste anytime biting into his thumb to draw some blood before running a few complicated hand seals and slamming his hand onto the ground. “Kuchiyose no Jutsu!” A large cloud of smoke exploded before clearing off to reveal twin looking house cats. Each had light grey coats, one eye green and the other a brilliant red. “Hey, Can you guys pick up the scents of the Akatsuki member who took away Yugito-chan. I know you guys loved Yugito-chan’s scent the most.” Asahi stroked the two cat’s head, appeasing them first before asking them for a favour.
The two cats meowed happily at being pampered before the started sniffing the ground for various scents. Eventually, they both turned to their summoner with quizzical expressions on their faces. “There were 3 scents other than Yugito-chans.” One of the identical cats replied.
“Yeah, 2 of them fought Yugito-chan. But after the battle, they left that a way.” The second cat pointed its adorably small paw towards the South.
“The third one took Yugito-chan underground. The scent has disappeared. I won’t be able to follow him.” The first cat sniffed with large tears developing in its eyes, hoping that its master will not be mad at their incompetence.
“It’s okay. You two did great.” Asahi patiently rubbed their heads and chins to bring up their spirits. Looking back at his partner, he stated seriously. “Seems like 3 Akatsuki members left this location after capturing Yugito, one escaped underground so we won’t be able to track their scent anymore, and another two by foot, travelling towards the Southern direction.”
“Right, Konoha’s in the south. They’re probably headed there. I need the bloody Raikage’s permission to go after whose two. We’ll need more than the 2 of us to fight them.” Bado surmised.
Nodding, Asahi turned back to his cute summons. “I want one of you to follow the scent that travelled South; and the other to stay by my side to relay any findings. Go!” One of the summoned cats flashed away towards its destinations, already tracking the fresh scents of the Akatsuki members, the other remained with its summoner.
“Let’s go and report back to the Raikage. The faster we can scrounge up a team to hunt down Akatsuki, the better!” Bado commented, and the both of them quickly turned back towards the Raikage tower, hoping that they would be given permission to hunt down the bastards who had taken away a good friend of theirs.
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(Somewhere far away)
“So, you say that you witnessed the Akatsuki hunt down and successfully capture the Sanbi, is that correct?” A young, cold voice enquired.
An older woman with long blue hair was slumped against a tree, bruises and cuts littered her form as if she had just come out of an intense battle. “Ah. There were two of them, one who uses self detonating bombs and the other wore a strange orange mask, but he didn’t seem to use any recognisable technique.” She spoke softly through her gritted teeth, still reeling from the pain of having faced two Akatsuki members and survived the ordeal.
“What were you doing here in the first place?” The first speaker revealed himself to be a young, teenage boy with bi-coloured hair – mostly spiky red with highlights of black, held back by a forehead protector displaying the symbol of the Hidden Mist village.
“My name... is Guren (8). I was given a mission from Orochimaru... to capture the Sanbi.” Pausing to cough out some blood, Guren continued her story. “We had a child with us, Yukimaru, who could control the powers of the Sanbi. However, we did not expect the Akatsuki to arrive so soon. They killed Yukimaru, and all my other subordinates. I’m the only one left now.” She spoke with effort; it seems the internal bleeding in her lungs caused by a rupture from a broken rib had finally started chocking her with her own blood.
“I see. Thank you for the information, you have been a great help. I will now reward you with a quick death.” The young Mist Nin stated as he withdrew the Katana from his back, ready to end Guren’s miserable life.
“Wait. Tell me your name.” Guren’s eyes stayed calm, as if already accepting her end.
“Kapasu Juro (9), a new member of the 7 swordsman of the Mist.” The newly revealed Juro wasted no time in decapitating Guren’s head from the rest of her body, ending her pain once and for all.
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(Hokage Tower)
“I see, even that Chiriku...” Tsunade murmured slightly, eyes sad at hearing such news.
The monk kneeling before her had scratch marks on his face, as if having come out of a fierce battle. “I happened to be out on guard duty... and when I came back, it was already too late...” The man bit his lips hard to keep from crying.
Standing beside Tsunade, Shizune had a serious face. “They’re probably making a thorough search of any place in the Fire country for Naruto. They’ve come at last... Thank god we sent him away in time.”
Tsunade’s eyes narrowed in determination. “Don’t let them out of this country. Contact the newly organised Nijyuu Shoutai (20 squads) immediately.”
Less than an hour later, Tsunade could be found standing in front of 80 strong Shinobis, members of the newly formed Nijyuu Shoutai, specially formed to counter the Akatsuki. Among them were Asuma, Shikamaru, Kotetsu and Izumo.
Once Tsunade finished her mission briefings, she continued to say. “I would like to find out about their plans, but these guys are simply too dangerous. In the event capture becomes impossible, eradicate them. Don’t let them out of the Fire Country. Find them, no matter what. Go!”
With her words in their hearts, all 80 members of the Nijyuu Shoutai jumped away in all different directions, aiming for the Akatsuki.
“Tsunade-sama?” A voice called out to the Hokage from behind her. Tsunade turned to see Jubei (10) standing there calmly, still pale but with determined eyes. “I’d like to help in some way. I’ll send out my rings as scouts, and if I see either the Akatsuki, or if any member of the Nijyuu Shotai come to harm, I can instantly teleport a member of the my guardian teams to aid them.” Pausing slightly, Jubei continued. “I want to get back at them. They took away our home, our livelihoods, our history, but most of all, they took away our precious lady. For that crime, I will make them pay.” With that said, he turned away from the Hokage. Using one of his teleportation rings, enlarging it to human size; he lightly stepped through his ring and disappeared from sight. The ring too, immediately shrunk in size and flew away as if being pulled by an invisible string.
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(A few days later)
“Come in.” Tsunade announced as she looked up from her piles of paperwork. The door to her office opened as instructed.
“Umm. Tsunade-sama, there is someone here from the Hidden cloud village wanting to meet you.” Shizune hesitantly stated.
“Oh?” An eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “Let them in.”
Through the door, a female ninja entered. She had a bust as large as Tsunade’s own, with short, straight blonde hair and small, sharp eyes; the ninja bowed slightly in acknowledgment before introducing herself. “My name is Samui (11). And I have been sent here as a messenger from the Raikage. We wish to work with Konoha Ninjas in the hunting of two Akatsuki members.”
Now lifting both eyebrows in surprise, Tsunade asked for more clarification. “Oh, what is it that the Raikage is proposing?”
“Right as we speak, I have a platoon of four ninjas currently following the trail of 2 Akatsuki members through Fire Country. They were responsible for the capture of one of our own Ninjas, and although we were unable to follow her scent and rescue her, we wish to capture one of these 2 other Akatsuki members and find out more information. Specifically, we want to know where they’ve taken their hostage so that we may go and rescue her. Since this is Fire country and under your jurisdiction; we would like to have your permission for us to hunt the Akatsuki in your region. And if possible, we can help each other out in the process.” The newly introduced Cloud nin explained with a blank, serious expression on her face.
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“Did you see that!? He freaking sewed that’s guy’s head back on to his body?” A female voice squeaked, slightly trembling in fear and disgust.
“Shut up!” A harsher, male voice countered the first. “I don’t know how the hell Samui puts up with you guys, but even you should know to keep your mouth shut in a serious mission.”
“Hey hey. Lay off man, it’s our first mission going up against guys this strong and freaky. I mean, what’s wrong with us being a little freaked out? We have the right to be, right? Or may be we should have expected something like this, something unexpected? Maybe...” A third voice mumbled off and on in the background, interrupting the first two voices.
“For the last time, shut up! You’re gonna give our location away.” The first male voice snapped at the other two before turning his attention to their forth member. “Do you have a good enough angle for a shot? Remember, we’ll only get one chance at surprise.” He reminded.
“Don’t worry. I’m ready. And when I see the chance, I’ll take it.” A forth voice, also male, but much calmer and concentrated than the other two replied back.
Down below them, the four figures continued to watch vigilantly as a squad of four Konoha Shinobis (one Jounin and three Chuunin) combat against the two Akatsuki members. One of the Akatsuki members was some sort of immortal. Even having his head cut off by the injured Konoha jounin, he could still talk. And just now, the other Akatsuki member somehow managed to sew the first member’s head back onto the rest of his body.
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“Your ceremonies are long, but your battles and speeches take forever. Take on the guy with the bounty, everyone else is mine.” Kakuzu chided Hidan after having to put his head back on to his body, literally.
Seeing their captain, Asuma, about to be killed, both Izumo and Kotetsu jumped into action. Kotetsu summoned forth a large, shell like hammer, before running forward with his weapon ready to bash the enemy in. Still standing a distance away, Izumo launched a jutsu of his own to accompany his partner. “Suiton: Mizuame Nabara! (Water Element: Syrup Snare Field)”
A large amount of syrup was spilt onto the floor by Izumi, flowing rapidly towards Kakuzu’s location. Kotetsu then jumped high before throwing his weapon at Kakuzu hoping to crush him in. In retaliation, Kakusu released his hands, flying through the air trying to stop the weapon; multiple vines made of metal ripped itself out of Kakuzu’s appendages to block the weapon’s flight. However, the strange looking shell weapon changed shape into a plane like shape, twisting and turning in mid air while avoiding all the metal vines that ripped out of Kakuzu’s hands.
The weapon smashed heavily against the ground creating a large crater, but when the smoke and dust cleared, it was revealed that Kakuzu had simply stepped aside, letting the weapon smash harmlessly against the ground he was recently standing on, the summoned syrup too fell into the newly created hole, not affecting Kakuzu at all.
“We’re not done yet!” Kotetsu yelled out passionately. It was then, that his weapon suddenly burst out of the ground behind Kakuzu and slammed hard against the back of the man, before flying towards its rightful owner once more. Glaring heatedly at them, Kakuzu was about to charge towards the two Chuunins when he found his feet was stuck due to the syrup that now submerged his shoes. Turning back, he finally realised that although the syrup fell into the first hole created by Kotetsu’s weapon, it followed the weapon all the way out of the second hole and surrounded him even without him knowing.
Just before Kakuzu was about to launch his counter attack, something happened. Someone from atop the nearby building shot something at Hidan, and with a large burst of blood and gore, Hidan’s brain had exploded into tiny pieces. “What the?” Quickly turning to look at the origin of the shot, Kakuzu suddenly noticed that they weren’t alone anymore. There were 4 new players in this game, and they each wore a Hidden Cloud Village Hitaite.
“Damn it. More bugs.” Not even caring about Hidan’s now brainless body, Kakuzu stripped away the glue that held him captive against the syrup and ran towards the new enemies at high speed.
“SHIT! He noticed us!” A female voice echoed loudly just before Kakuzu smashed his iron fist against the roof of the building where the four Cloud Ninjas had situated themselves.
Back at the scene with the Hidan and the rest of the Konoha Ninjas, Shikamaru quickly ran towards his old Sensei and checked over the man’s vital signs, although severely injured, he wasn’t at the point of death just yet. Shikamaru then turned his attention back at the seemingly impossible to kill Akatsuki member, Hidan. Even with the head cut off from the rest of the body, he had still lived and was able to talk and complain. But how, with the top half of his face blasted away as if a small bomb had gone off near his head, Shikamaru could finally feel as if they have an actual chance at stopping these Akatsuki monsters. Hidan wasn’t dead yet, his body and fingers were still twitching slightly, but without the top half of his head – the brain, the signals were obviously messed up, and therefore he was vulnerable to everything. Glancing at his fellow Konoha Ninjas, whom were preoccupied at watching Kakuzu fighting against the four member team of Kumo, Shikamaru finally made a decision on what to do.
“Kotetsu! Izumi! We need to secure this guy first! Don’t give him the time or ability to heal himself! While he’s still in this state, we need to capture him!” Shikamaru ordered as best as he could even while he cradled Asuma’s unconscious body against his own. Even if he had wanted to help out the unexpected Cloud Ninjas with their fight, he couldn’t, simply because he was completely out of chakra. And even before that, he needed to secure the immortal one as well as his own team’s survival first. /Thank you. Whomever you are. I swear, I will come back to help you guys out./ Shikamaru swore silently to himself.
Behind him, Izumi and Kotetsu quickly placed ready made seals on Hidan’s body, cutting off chakra circulation and immobilising his body completely.
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“Everyone, stay back! I’ll take care of this guy! Asahi, back me up from a distance.” The team leader of the Cloud ninjas ordered as he rushed forward to attack Kakuzu head on.
“Is he crazy? What was he thinking, taking that guy on his own!? I’m gonna back him up.” The only female member of the group, a dark skinned girl with spiky black hair exclaimed before trying to join the battle with her commander.
“No, Karui (12), stay back. We’d only get in the way if we step in this time.” Another dark skinned male Shinobi snapped back at the female ninja, holding her back from entering the fray.
“But Omoi! Bado can’t handle that guy alone!” The girl, Karui argued back, struggling to escape the dark skinned youth’s grip.
“Karui, there’s a reason Bado’s a jounin while we’re just Chuunins. Not to mention, he even asked Asahi to back him up. He’s not alone.” Omoi, surprisingly the more restrained member of the two didn’t let go of his teammate. While the two dark skinned cloud Ninjas stood aside and watched, Bado was fighting in a fierce hand to hand combat with the enemy.
Punches, elbows, kicks turn sweeps, jumping and somersaulting away only to run back into the fray and start the whole process again; Bado was keeping Kakuzu heavily occupied with his outstanding Taijutsu and Lightning armour. Each time Kakuzu tried to gain an advantage by extending his hands and releasing the metallic wires embedded within his body to wrap around Bado’s form, Bado releases short bursts of electrical charges through his lightning armour (13), which travelled down the wires and causing Kakuzu to have mild heart attacks. They were at a stalemate as their abilities comfortably balance each other’s strength and weaknesses. Bado was fast, with stronger defences, Kakuzu was physically stronger, with greater offensive powers. However, it didn’t help Kakuzu that his main elemental affinity was earth, while Bado’s was obviously lightning.
After a few minutes of constant running around, dodging and attacking, Kakuzu decided to up the anti. Jumping away to put some distance between himself and the stubborn Cloud Nin, Kakuzu pulled his Akatsuki cloak away, ready to release the other creates hidden inside him.
However, his goals were cut short slightly when he felt something burn right through his heart as if a gun had shot a small bullet of compact fire across his body, all the way through from the front of his chest out of his back. Indeed, when he looked down, he was slightly shocked at the gapping hole he found in the middle of his chest, where his heart would have been located. /Well, at least now I know what it felt like for Hidan when his head suddenly exploded./ He thought mildly to himself.
Looking back up and focussing on the remaining Cloud Ninjas, he finally found his culprit. Asahi was kneeling on one knee and held his oriental staff up like he was holding a sniper, his eye level with the opening on the end of staff from where the ‘bullet’ obviously came out of. In fact, a small amount of smoke was still flowing out of the opening. /So he’s their long range fighter, no wonder Hidan didn’t stand a chance. A team leader with exceptional Taijutsu skill and another member good at long distance assassination, just the two of them makes this team a formidable foe./
Kakuzu fell forward onto his knees first and then his face. He completely ignored the sighs of relief from the other Cloud ninjas, as he concentrated on replacing his ruined heart with another one from his collection. Within a few seconds, he was climbing back up onto his feet and glaring at the shocked expressions on both the Kumo and Konoha Shinobis.
“No way! Asahi shot right through that guy’s heart! I saw it with my own eyes! I did! There’s just no way... How can he still be alive!?” Karui screeched in fright, her eyes were wide as can be.
Beside her, Omoi wasn’t much better, having turned a sickly pale colour upon seeing the animated corpse. “Asahi never misses... Asahi never misses...” He tried to console himself but it wasn’t working.
“Che. It’s time to get serious.” As Kakuzu spoke those few words, his back literally ripped open and four giant black masses burst out, forming individual creatures, each with a strange mask for a face. However, one of those masks was broken and even before it fully formed; it dissolved into a puddle on the floor.
“What the hell are THOSE!?” Karui couldn’t help but scream, scrambling further away from the twisted creatures as Kakuzu’s back miraculously sewed itself back together again.
Without any prompting, one of the masked creatures (the one with strange wing like contraptions) opened its mouth and a large gust of wind suddenly formed in front of it. “Fuuton Atsugai! (Wind Element: Bleeding Force)!”
The cloud ninjas barely had time to hightail it out of the immediately area before it was completely engulfed in hurricane strength winds ripping everything apart within a circular perimeter. Even Shikamaru, Kotetsu and Izumo had to move Asuma’s body carefully as well as carry their prisoner while they fled the battle field, cursing that they should have included a Medic Nin in their group.
The other masked creatures weren’t idle either. Having noticed that they had captured his partner as a prisoner, Kakuzu had no choice to go after both teams. Two of the three creatures split apart and flew towards their respective prey, trying to do as much damage as possible.
“Raiton: Gian! (Lightning Element: Mock Darkness)!” One of the black creatures with a horned mask shot out a horrifying amount of lightning at Shikamaru and his compatriots, exploding the ground beneath them as they desperately made their escape.
“Katon: Zukokku! (Fire Element: Cranium Carver)!” The Cloud teams weren’t faring much better, each making their way dodging shrapnel and bursts of fire from every angle.
When the two teams coincidentally met up in the same area, and the two masked creatures that followed them also arrived, they knew that they each had to help each other in order to survive. Bado jumped in front of the Konoha Ninjas, his hands outstretched, ready to absorb the enormous amount of lightning energy being released at their combined group.
On the other side, Kotetsu and Izumo had jumped in front of the Cloud ninjas, and both were quickly forming seals to counter the large firestorm coming their way. “Suiton: Suijin Heki (Water Element: Water Barrier)!” They both yelled in unison as they both summoned forth a large amount of water to create a tidal wave, obstructing the fierce fire from reaching them. Back on Bado’s side, he barely managed to hold back the massive bolts of lightning all on his own. He knew that his hands were burning due to the intensity of the energy being absorbed and redirected to the ground through both his natural chakra circulatory system as well as his artificial one, and although it was still taxing he couldn’t stop.
Eventually, the attacks died down, revealing an unharmed Kakuzu with all three of those masked creatures by his side. “Shit. Anyone has any idea how we kill this guy?” Omoi muttered, hoping for an answer.
Gasping slightly for breath, Bado was the one to rise to the occasion. “I can take him one on one. But it’ll be too much if I have to worry about the mask creatures too.” He admitted, even as he unleased a scroll and summoned forth a large hammer.
“We need to somehow split them up and stop them from working together.” Shikamaru concurred, having recognised Bado and Asahi as fellow examiners from the Kuunoki Chuunin exams some years ago, but still surprised at their growth compared to his own. “If one of you has a soldier you’re wiling to share, I can probably ensnare one or all three of them at one go. But someone’s gonna have to be play distraction.”
“Here.” Asahi pulled out a small pack of soldier pills for Shikamaru. “Me and the other two can play distraction for you, right guys?” He directed his question at Karui and Omoi.
“Yeah sure.” Karui shrugged hesitantly. Standing beside her, Omoi nodded in acceptance.
“Good.” Swallowing the soldier pill, Shikamaru could feel his chakra revitalise. “Kotetsu, Izumo, you guys guard Asuma-sensei and that Hidan guy.”
“Hai. The two Konoha Chuunins agreed without protests.
“Good. Let’s dance.” Pulling the giant hammer behind his back, Bado rushed forward towards the calmly standing Kakuzu. As he ran, Bado rotated the hammer via the handle before swinging it up and slamming it down onto the ground with a mighty heave. As the giant hammer impacted the ground where Kakuzu once stood (he jumped away obviously), Bado shouted out the name of his weapon: “Raikanazachi! (Lightning Hammer)(14)” Lightning erupted from the hammer surging across the ground in all directions, forcing Kakuzu to jump onto a near by tree.
Bado barely paused long enough to pull the hammer back up as if it weighed nothing at all, before rushing off towards Kakuzu’s new location. While Kakuzu jumped away from the tree that Bado had quickly incinerated with his lightning hammer, two of the masked creatures - wind and fire – suddenly flew in front of Bado, stopping him from going after Kakuzu. The two creatures merged into one large being with two masks. Suddenly, both masks opened its mouths, and out came a combined attack of both wind and fire.
Bado did his absolutely best to avoid being blasted either by air bullets or fire balls, or a combination of the two. While the merged masks were preoccupied with chasing Bado, Omoi and Karui suddenly appeared besides the flying being. And in an orchestrated dance, both pulled out their katanas and sliced at the merged creature with high speed sword swings. By the time, both Karui and Omoi landed back on the ground, the black thing that was once a creature with two masks crumbled into a multitude of pieces. “Well, at least we know it can still be cut.”
On the other side, Asahi had been leading the Lightning oriented mask creature all over the battle field playing bait and avoiding the flares of lightning shot at him. Upon crossing paths with Shikamaru, the Konoha Chuunin suddenly performed a technique and ensnared the creature’s shadow, immediately halting its movements. Swiftly turning around, Asahi fingered his staff back into a rifle position once more. Muttering softly to himself, Asahi released his now infamous assassination technique. “Fushichou Seikatsuba. (Phoenix Sacred Fire Spit) (15)”
The now easily recognisable fire bullet spat out of the staff that was held by Asahi, traversed the air at high velocity before smashing itself all the way through the Lightning oriented creature’s mask, killing it instantly.
“And now, there’s only one.” Bado shouted triumphantly as he swung his hammer over and over again in an intricate dance to try and smash Kakuzu to death. However, the Akatsuki member was nothing if not swift and he managed to avoid most of Bado’s attempts at his life. Truthfully, although Bado was dangerous at close hand combatant, Kakuzu was more worried about Asahi and his assassination technique from a distance. If he put all his concentration on avoiding Bado, then he would be showing openings for Asahi to take advantage of. However, due to him concentrating on both Asahi and Bado at the same time, he never noticed until too late that he had been captured by one of Shikamaru’s shadow binds.
“Gotcha!” Shikamaru smirked in tiredness at finally capturing the other prey. Shifting one of the hand seals, he changed the Shadow neck bind to a Shadow sewing technique, creating many multiple shadow tentacles stabbing and holding Kakuzu’s body in place.
Now, with only one heart remaining inside his body, Kakuzu was a little bit too preoccupied with using his own internal wires to counter Shikamaru’s own. “Damn. I underestimated you guys too much. To have taken out all four of my collective hearts... I will not forgive you for this transgression.” The rest of Kakuzu’s threats were cut short as a lightning laced hand stabbed through his chest, crushing his heart all the way through.
Behind him, Bado stated angrily. “This is for my team mate, Nii Yugito. Remember it as you pass into hell.”
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx
Kageru stood before a large area that was once the base of Orochimaru’s hideout. There were craters, blood stained sand, uprooted trees and debris littered everywhere. However, it seemed all the bodies of the dead had already been burnt and or dumped in mass graves since she could still smell the combined scent of burnt, rotting flesh.
Sensing a few live chakra sources, she followed the trails left by the surviving members of Orochimaru’s once large army, before coming to a small encampment, which held less than a dozen former Sound Ninjas, including the one she was looking for. However, upon entering the tent, her priorities shifted.
“Just look who the cat dragged in, you fucking whore! Where the hell have you been? We fucking needed you and you weren’t here to help, you piece of shit!” Immediately, Hito launched into a series of foul mouth swearing at her former comrade in arms. What had once been a proud member of the infamous Sound Four, Gojou Hito had become bitter and resentful of the entire world as a whole.
Lying beside her was the dying form of Kimimaro. How he had survived these last few days, she didn’t know. But the bone user had lost a lot of blood with the loss of his left arm. Luckily, Juugo had fused with Kimimaro’s body, providing his own flesh and chakra to stop the continual bleeding (16). Unfortunately, the onslaught of illness followed due to Kimimaro overexerting himself during the fight. Sitting on the other side of Kimimaro, a younger looking Juugo hugged his knees, trembling in fear at the thoughts of his best friend’s potential death.
Sighing slightly at the sorry state of her former comrades, Kageru knelt down next to the prone form of Kimimaro. Placing her hand gently against his feverish forehead, Kageru concentrated, wanting to transfer some of her own bodies’ immunities as well as basic strength into Kimimaro’s body. While doing that, she asked for a status update on their troops, as well as an explanation of what happened.
“Akatsuki happened, that’s what. That Lady Ruri bitch, the one who betrayed her village and joined up with the Akatsuki showed up suddenly, summoned a massive skeleton dinosaur thing and had us completely destroyed. While we were trying to survive that thing, she went into the base and killed off Orochimaru. Orochimaru’s dead and it’s your entire fault! Now, you tell me where the fuck were you when we needed you?!” Hito condescending voice echoed loudly.
“I was away at the Southern Hideout. And I couldn’t care less if Orochimaru died. Now, where is Kabuto?” Kageru answered succinctly.
“Wha...” Hito was about to launch into another full blown argument, when Juugo interrupted.
“He left. He abandoned the base and everyone here. He took some of Orochimaru’s experiments and just left us here to die. Some of the troops have left as well, while others, the ones that still feared us, stayed.” Juugo mumbled softly, his eyes never leaving Kimimaro’s sickly form.
“I see. This would actually help my situation. Listen up you two. From now on, I am the leader of the surviving Sound Village. Anyone who does not wish to follow me, you may leave, but the next time I see you, we will be enemies. For those who join me, I can promise you that you will not regret it.” Rising to her feet, Kageru gave a commanding presence while the others could only watch and gulp in slight hesitation, wondering what a ninja army ran by Kageru – the Snake witch would be like.
End
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(1) I’ve got a picture of this on my website; go to my profiles page for links.
(2) I know that some of you will be wondering about Ruri’s sudden change in personality, so I wanted to give this explanation on why I suddenly changed her serious nature to this rebellious, childish one. Sometimes, people change due to whatever reason. A perfectly well behaved person would be tempted to be rebellious when given the chance, and that is what Ruri had been given; hence her wild and slightly callous behaviour.
(3) Inspired from the manga/anime Soul Eater, where the witch Medusa was able to force another witch to swallow her snake curse and then control the witch victim as she wishes.
(4) Kazeha Akiko is the wind mistress of the Kuunoki Gate Guardians. She’s the one with the long red hair tied in a braid, often seen wearing a green tank-top and short blue shorts. She also carries with her a giant Boomerang. She first appeared in Restoration of Faith, as one of the Kuunoki Gate Guardians saving Naruto from the clutches of Akatsuki during Orochimaru’s second invasion of Konoha. She then reappeared as an examiner for the Kuunoki Chuunin Exams. And she last appeared in Trials of Faith, trying to stop Akatsuki from entering the Kuunoki to capture Ruri.
(5) Inspired by the manga/anime Claymore. The half human half Youma Claymore warriors change their eye colours from silver white to brilliant gold when they use 10% of their Youki. After that, their bodies start bulging with veins and or deforming towards their Youma half instead of staying in their human form.
(6) Waisa Bado was the original character introduced in Restoration of Faith, chapter 28. He was the arrogant, obnoxious, self-absorbed cloud Nin that battled against Hinata and hurt her badly with his own form of Absolute Defence. In the second round, he fought in a 4 way battle against Neji and lost. Although he likes to portray himself as a powerful offensive fighter, his true abilities lie in his defensive power. At the end of the Chuunin Exams, Waisa Bado was punished by Naruto for inciting a fight among the contestants which resulting in some property damage in the Kuunoki. Having suffered the affects of the Tenkun no Buki (Kurei Hiraisho), Bado’s mind shattered, releasing hidden and forgotten memories of how he was experimented on by his own family in order to perfect their absolute defence. He left the Kuunoki village a changed man. Since then, Bado has worked his way quickly to the top, becoming a Jounin at 17 and then supporting the new Raikage into power, while overthrowing his own clan elders in a small Coup etat.
(7) Sakeyama Asahi was another original character introduced in Restoration of Faith, chapter 28 He was the self-conscious, quiet guy in the background of the Cloud team, terribly embarrassed by his alcohol-obsessed sister, and his other arrogant, self-righteous teammate. After spending several months in the Kuunoki under the apprenticeship of one of the Kuunoki members, Asahi was welcomed by the Hidden Cloud village a hero. It wasn’t long before he was proclaimed the new heir to the Shinobi branch of Sakeyama clan. Upon that announcement, his sister (Sakeyama Saporo) immediately gave him her summoning contract for the Nekos and started getting really into the Business branch of the Sakeyama family, running the sales of alcohol all over the country and beyond.
(8) Yes, this is the same Guren from the Sanbi arc in the Naruto Cannon. I wanted to state briefly that Akatsuki had captured the Sanbi as well as introduce future characters that may come into play. And what better way then to show that Guren (and the host of other characters, Yukimaru included) had tried to get their hands of the Sanbi, but instead of Konoha disrupting them, it was the Akatsuki, with devastating consequences. I never really did like Yukimaru, he annoyed me. So yeah, both are dead now.
(9) Kapasu Juro, is an original character that participated in the Kuunoki Chuunin exam some years ago, he first appeared in Restoration of Faith, chapter 28. He was the grandson of a former Swordsman of the Mist, but due to certain circumstances, he was a weak and useless Ninja for most of his life, having been protected by his other 2 teammates. However, at the end of the Kuunoki Chuunin exams, one of his teammates was killed in front of him by Hoshigaki Kisame, and the other teammate fell into a deep coma. Since then, Juro had become an avenger, obsessed with killing Kisame.
(10) Dokudes (Hyuuga) Jubei, the older half brother of Hinata and Hanabi. He was the unregistered son of Hyuuga Hiashi, conceived due to an affair with a Kuunoki Shinobi. After the betrayal and death of Jubei’s mother, there’s been bad blood between the Dokudes clan and the Hyuugas’. He has long lilac hair, pale eyes of the Hyuuga, and often seen in a white sleeveless shirt and long white pants. He wears hundreds of rings around his body (ears, neck, arms, wrists, ankles and waist) which are also his weapons. The rings can be used to fight, lift him into the air and or teleport things from one ring to another instantly, regardless of distance. It can also be used for spying. He first appeared in Restoration of Faith, as the leader of the Kuunoki Gate Guardians saving Naruto from the clutches of Akatsuki during Orochimaru’s second invasion of Konoha. He then reappeared as the instigator examiner for the Kuunoki Chuunin Exams. And he last appeared briefly in Trials of Faith, trying to stop Akatsuki from entering the Kuunoki to capture Ruri. He was the one who led the Kuunoki refugees to Konoha after their home was destroyed.
(11) One of the new Cannon characters introduced in the Naruto Manga. Please note, this is NOT an Original Character.
(12) Karui and Omoi are both new characters introduced in the Naruto Manga.
(13) Lightning armour is an absolute defensive type technique that only Bado can use, he basically uses the artificial chakra circulatory system created by the sashes and clasps he wears around his body to fuel an invisible armour of lightning, preventing both chakra attacks from hurting him as well as minimizing the force of any physical attacks. This technique was described in Restoration of Faith, chapter 30 when Bado was fighting against Neji in the Chuunin Exams.
(14) To read about the Lightning Hammer, please go to the character profiles page for Waisa Bado on my website, links are in my Profile’s page.
(15) To read about the Lightning Hammer, please go to the character profiles page for Sakeyama Asahi on my website, links are in my Profile’s page. This technique was also described in Restoration of Faith, chapter 35 when he fought against Kageru.
(16) In the cannon manga, Juugo fused his flesh and chakra with Sasuke, saving Sasuke’s life. But as a result, he changed into a child-like state. That’s what happened here between Juugo and Kimimaro.
Yay! Another chapter finished!
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