IMPORTANT! I wrote most of this over a year ago and had no premonition of what was to come. I would have rewritten it, if it wasn't facilitating some important plotlines later. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone.
Note: I plan to publish a summary in the story that brings Naruto home (not next chapter) at the beginning so that people can start there if they don't want to read the entire series before that one or if they's forgotten some things. I really hope everyone likes the stories well enough to read the entire series, but I understand if when browsing, this is annoying.
Disclaimer: me no own Naruto (otherwise this is what would have happened inthe real story :)) so a bow my head to the master of Naruto)
Part of my series:
First story: True Friends Truly Believe /s/3953609/1/
Previous: The Pieces move into Place /s/5704283/1/
Swimming
From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. From the inside looking out, you can't explain it
Yuuki laughed as she followed Hanabi into the gardens. The youngster was giggling as she entered the area and located her sister. Hinata was going through a new exercise with Neji. She sighed, sending her thoughts to her cousin. He stopped, agreeing that they shouldn't keep the two tornados waiting. Over the last month, Yuuki had slid right into life in Konoha, but more then that, she and Hanabi had become fast and fun friends. Hinata often wondered if it was the lack of childhood Yuuki had had. Neji usually thought it was because they both enjoyed playing pranks as much as a certain blonde they all knew. Either way, the only non-familial people Hanabi hung out with more than Yuuki was Konohamaru and Co. They were still fast friends and had no trouble accepting Yuuki into the group a sort of mascot. Yuuki took it all with good humor.
She did have a break from the rambunctious children in the form of work and them school. She did water jobs for the village. Her elemental control over water and the flow and the temperature of water was probably the top in the world and the city plumbers were having the time of their lives learning from her. They had already found several potential problems in the city water pipes and corrected them. They didn't know about Seiryuu, but they did know she was brilliant when it came to water. Mui would just sigh and ask Seiryuu questions of her own. Mui, a much younger demon, had far to go before she could come close to Seiryuu's understanding of her natural element. Hinata was just glad to see her Bijuu so excited.
She smiled at the two as they erupted into a frenzy of words. She sorted out that there was to be a visitor visiting Tsunade next week. And there were two, a boy and a girl. They were supposed to be really cool looking. And they were from Suna.
The last bit caught her attention. She had been wondering how Suna was doing, having little contact with the village in the middle of the desert, they had settled with the occasional hawk bearing news. Nothing personal, but many of the Chunnin knew people from Suna. In fact the last group that had come back from visiting Suna and been talking about some friends they had made while there. Even Shikamaru and Ino and Chouji Had made friends while there. Something about protecting a woman from her abusive boyfriend. Hinata sighed and nodded and they went to change.
Neji smiled as they finished changing and met the two in front of the main estate for lunch before Yuuki escorted Hanabi back to the school and went to train. He couldn't tell who was more excited. He knew that Yuuki had a close friend who lived in Suna and that Hanabi was close to Temari. In fact, Hinata and Temari got along pretty well too. He was looking forward to this.
000
"Hey Ino, how's it going?" Ino was working with Miketsu on regaining memory. The three women Sakura had befriended during her capture were in one room. Sousuki, of course, was still in a coma and they were still waiting on Tsunade to find out if she knew Namikaze Nijikou as Dotsuko's mother. Ino had started working with the chakra in the pathways in the brain and they had teased a few memories forward. A walk around the village had helped much. Miketsu could remember much of the village. They had snagged Wakana and the kids of the orphanage where she worked and had wandered the village. Wakana hadn't interacted with the shinobi much when she was younger, but she recognized some of the structures Miketsu recognized or remembered. Placing her memories around 8, maybe 10 years earlier.
While this walk had introduced the two returners to the village and helped Miketsu with sporatic memories, they had yet to uncover any memories of people or someone that recognized her. Though, they would have to try again during a time when more of their jounin sensei were around, since with Wakana's knowledge they placed Miketsu in their generation.
Ino smiled at Sakura as the cherry entered. She was hoping to see her friend once she had settled with the others. She had heard about an extremely tough time for the Hyuuga in their group. It was tough for everyone. Naruto was due back soon and it was starting to wear on everyone. Sakura had kept herself busy with the hospital and Miketsu. Tsunade was busy with some new project called Project 9. She knew that Shikamaru knew what it was, or had at least guessed, but she would let him explain when it was important. She simply passed on all information she came in contact with and dealt with her own problems. The current of which was her best friend. They had had no contact from either Sasuke or Naruto and it must be eating away at her.
"We were just about to try a meditative exercise, where I entered her mind." Sakura frowned worriedly at her closest friend. Ino was the best, even surpassing her father at this tyoe of delicate working, but that was risky.
"Is that wise?" Ino smiled, worried herself.
"We're not sure, but we're going to give it a go." Miketsu's eyes were shining with anticipation. Sakura nodded and prepared for her usual role as medic on watch. She would observe, not only to help if anything should happen, but to collect notes for future use.
000
Ten Ten sighed in exhaustion as she gathered up her scrolls. She had decided some time ago that it was time to re-begin learning her family's most powerful jutsu. There were three scrolls that had been passed down to her when she graduated from the academy from her father. He said that he and her mother had decided she was ready for. He said that they had never been able to perfect them, but she might.
Neji was still worrying about her safety. She wanted to be close to him, but his family had him too scared right now. Plus something else was bothering him. She knew he liked saving her, but she was never a girl who would sit back and let someone else rescue her. Sakura and Ino were like that in their own way and Hinata had her own way of protecting herself, without stepping on the male ego of the heroes in the village, but Ten Ten was a kunoichi. She had been one all her life, and it was part of her soul. Sakura healed, she fought by helping those who did the fighting return to the battle and then return home. Ino gathered information. SHe trusted Shikamaru to direct her to some extent, but she was the type who told the fighters where the enemy was, who they were, and how to defeat them. Hinata was politically minded these days, taking after her father to an extreme. Her abilities in battle were the flow of battle, she could read who was winning and losing and how to tip the balance of power, but an out and out battle wasn't her strong suit.
Ten Ten was a weapon's mistress. Although she was capable of making weapons like her father, she mostly used them. She wanted to protect those close to her. It was hard being in a relationship with someone who didn't want her rescuing her, but the other way around. She loved Neji. She also was herself. She would get stronger and use these scrolls. She had finished the first and was still perfecting the second. She was supposed to come and talk to them about the third when she had perfected the second. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and was about to try the exercise again when Lee showed up with Gai.
000
Naruto stretched his arms over his head. Lunch was approaching. He had spent most of the morning with Shingo-sensei. He was methodically parading through all the possible weapons a shinobi could come in contact with, and Naruto was having a heck of a time keeping up.
-Flashback-
Naruto was yawning slightly as he left the breakfast area. He was getting used to these early mornings, but no amount of experience was going to make him a morning person. He had just opened his mouth again when he heard a mild whistle of a kusarigama. Flipping backwards and landing on the chain attached to the scythe, he looked at the thrower. Shingo was his teacher in various weapons. Various weapons at various weights and sizes. He had held a dagger against a sword the size rivalling the one Zabuza carried and a bow and arrow against kunai. He soon found that his teacher had no problem with him taking his teachers weapon to fight with, if he could. At first they had used the same weapon, but lately, Shingo had had a different weapon to Naruto and he felt a bit stretched to keep up with the jubilant youth, barely older then Naruto by a few years.
This time he noted SHingo carrying a long sword as he hooked the scythe on his toes to flip it up to his hand. He couldn't lie to himself, this was so much fun.
-End Flashback-
They had fought until Shingo got the upper hand. Naruto had only won once. That was with kunai. He had used them all of his life and when he used them against a larger weapon, such as a long sword, he was very capable. Mentally, Naruto began ticking off the weapons he had grown mildly proficient in; kunai, bow and arrow, spear, short sword, long sword, dagger, shurikan, staff, bladed claws, mace, nunchaku, bombs, makibishi, scythe, sebon, tantou, even a fan! He doubted that was going to be the end. Next he was going to eat lunch with Motoko-sensei and they were going to discuss the political situation in the Kirigakure. She was the person to teach him what he used to refer to as book learning. They had gone through history, science, and were now wading through politics of the hidden villages.
000
Sasuke smiled to himself as he watched the children run in the makeshift village. It had been put up only three days ago as his "master" had moved then. The "Migrating Village" followed him and he stayed with Orochimaru and Kabuto. He was spending the evening with Hiroto and Karin. The village was celebrating his visiting. He didn't really like the attention, but he found that they were very annoyed with him when he would protest, and then just celebrate anyway, so he sighed and bore it with as much disgruntled grace as possible. They handled his mood with good humor.
He sighed as he leaned back and closed his eyes. He could almost believe he was home again. That whiny kid was Shikamaru, and the girls over to the side whispering about him were Ino and Sakura. And there, Lee had challenged Neji to another spar and that chuckle was Kakashi-sensei reading. And that boy playing a prank on the adult watching them.
It was Naruto.
For just a moment he was home again.
His eyes sprang open. Home. How long had it been? When did home mean this? When did it stop being his reason for existence? When did the lack of family and home stop being his reason for vengeance? He was still angry about his family, but he looked around at the memories of them, of Ten Ten, Shikamaru and Chouji, of Ino, Shino and Hinata, of Lee, Neji and Kiba, of Sakura, of Naruto. They were his home now. His new family. When did that happen?
Teme!
He sat up fast at that. It sounded like...it couldn't be. Must be him thinking of home.
He frowned. Why was he training with Orochimaru? He could've gotten stronger at home. So why?
Because he was too soft at home. He needed to be pushed hard. Yes! That's what he needed. He needed the suffering and pain, to see his victims writhe, to get stronger. That's right. They weren't his family. He had no family. His bastard brother saw to that!
Karin sighed as she saw Sasuke's eyes darken. He was here. They had quickly learned that if their friend was quiet too long, likely He had come out. He was cruel, focused, nothing like Sasuke.
She watched sadly as He walked into the forest back to his master. She swore that she would find a way to help her friend.
Somehow.
000
Ino expected the darkness, but it was disconcerting to Sakura at first, who had tagged along for this particular exercise. They hadn't been sure that she would be able to go along with Ino, but they were so close and Sakura was a mednin. They had been together since the first year of school. They had learned together, played together, fallen in love together, and still argued together. Both were exceptional at chakra control and their understanding of parts of the person, Sakura the body and Ino the mind was almost beyond measure at this point. Now they were working together to heal.
The darkness swirled into blurry colors. They shifted and turned, making Sakura feel slightly nauseous. She heard or felt or something, she wasn't sure what the sensation was. It was similar to when Naruto contacted her, but different, in that Naruto had a distinct bond and voice, even in her mind while Ino was everywhere. Ino was nudging their patient to remember Konoha, her childhood or young adulthood. Miketsu felt confused and a little lost until Ino mentally took her hand in a comforting manner. Sakura smiled mentally as she felt along and attempted to give Miketsu the same cmnfort as well as she could.
Slowly the colors formed a blurry picture. It cleared into training grounds. A much younger Miketsu was smiling and holding a young child. The boy couldn't have been more then two years old. They were both watching another boy, closer to sixteen, throw kunai at a target. When they all hit, Miketsu and the little boy cheered. She laughed as the older boy came over.
"Perfect son, now we just have to teach your brother." The younger reached for his older brother giggling. Chuckling the boy lifted the child up and carried him over to the target.
"Here Otouto, pull it out." The child frowned as the kunai remained stuck in the target. "You have to be able to pull your weapons out of your target before you try putting them in, silly." The child grunted unhappily at him. He knelt down and set the boy on the ground.
"Otouto, listen to your brother and mother on this okay. Never ever use a weapon if you can't restrain it. Never let a weapon be more powerful then the user." The mother was kneeling with them, nodding.
"That's right, and remember, never use people as weapons. They can be many things, but never ever weapons." She hugged her children.
"Mommy has to go away on another mission so she wants you to promise her. Promise that you will always watch each other." The two nodded to their mother. The three fell into a hug as the scene blurred and Ino and Sakura were thrown out of Miketsu's mind.
They blinked, trying to get their bearings as they looked at a teary Miketsu. Doitsuko was sitting next to the woman, holding her in comfort. She was old enough to have grown kids, if she had been quite young when she gave birth to the elder of the two. Her black hair and eyes were strong, usually no-nonsense, but right now she looked so lost. Miketsu was looking at her hands, shaking, almost too stunned to burst into the tears that were already pouring down her face.
"Sons, I have sons."
000
Yuuki was stretching on the edge of the village when she felt the feeling start. She stopped and looked out across the valley.
Seiryu, do you sense that?
Yes, but its' too faint. Mui might have better luck, being more familiar with this area then I am and she has better range.
I'm off
Yuuki didn't like the feeling of this. It was like a flowing menace, calm and peaceful. Smaller then it felt like it should be, like a bear who was asleep,or more so, like a river before a flood.
Yuuki dashed off in the direction she knew that Hinata and Neji had gone to practice. She hoped they didn't mind the interruption, but this wasn't going to wait.
000
Iruka was smiling a very silly smile. Most of his class knew it. He had sent all but one class with the other teachers to the mountain for training in the caves. It was getting to the time when they taught the students the evacuation drills for the older students and the youngest. The middle group knew what they had to do to evacuate, but weren't old enough to assist in the evacuation. They were still in the school, giggling at their goofy sensei.
Anko was probably smirking as she walked downtown. They had met and Iruka had blushed tomato red as he tried to ask if she would like to join him for lunch. She had been pursuing him on and off for some months, but only recently had he started to reciprocate. She was much more forward than he, but after watching her on the sly, he was beginning to appreciate her sense of duty and humor. Though the humor took some getting used to.
The one thing he was still worried about was Naruto. He was like a son to him and he wouldn't get involved with anyone who couldn't fit into that dynamic.
Speaking of brats, his group of kids had finally noticed his distraction. He sighed as Hanabi and Konohamaru smirked at each other. They were as bad as their role model. With their friends behind them, they were true terrors. Not that he would ever tell their parents or Hinata, that never worked with this type of prankster. The kids worked with him better if he met them without pulling authority figures into the mess. He separated the class into groups and had them cleaning for the day. He organized inside and left the yard for organization by Kiba and Shino who were helping out for the day.
000
Sakura sighed as she replaced the book in the protected box. They had been through five years worth of graduates, but none of them had been the one they were looking for. She started back towards the lobby with Miketsu to meet up with Ino and Doitsuko. They were going to take a break and volunteer in the children's ward.
She had to talk with Ino. She hadn't told her best friend about her link to Naruto. Partially because she wasn't sure how to, but partially because they hadn't talked much since the link was created. Also, neither she nor Ino had had much time off together recently. The Konoha ten hadn't even been able to meet in the last two weeks. The refugees from the camp were in the village still, the jounin were all busy prepping for this project 9, thus leaving the mission to her friends and the new gennin, whom couldn't go unsupervised yet. She knew that Shikamaru had even volunteered to help more with the gennin to take the work load off of the jounin. Shikamaru never volunteered for anything.
Kakashi had been doing a lot of missions out of town, taking Asuma and Hiashi, strangely enough. Hinata had mentioned it in passing that her father was actually a jounin, and had probably been an anbu at some point before clan politics took over his life, but Sakura hadn't internalized it until this last month. Gai had been taking over a lot of Kakashi's normal functions in the village with Iruka's help. All the chunnin were aware of this shift and had taken on more duties. Shino and Kiba had started helping more in the academy to give Iruka more energy to help Gai, and to allow Hinata to cover for her father at home. Neji's group had taken over many of the duties of the jounin so that the few still here could be used for the imperitive mission that could only be given to jounin. Neji and Lee had already left twice with genin teams and Ten Ten was supervising one next week. Even Sakura, she had taken over much of Tsunade's work in the hospital and INo said she was leaving much of this research to mer father as she could so that she could fill in for Ibiki when needed.
It felt mildly as though they were preparing for some sort of quiet war.
000
Yuuki landed next to Hinata out of breath. Neji was panting off to one side as Hinata walked over to her, they never seemed to get any time to practice these days. They had sensed her approaching and Mui was agitated, something was out there, a menace, and Seiryu was worried.
"Hinata-san!" She panted as she approached the Hyuuga, "Beyond the forest...do you sense it?" She couldn't get a sentence out with her loss of breath. Hinata focused in, letting Mui spread her senses out over the land.
Neji was in awe of the power that flowed around him. It was as if he was submerged in an ocean and rolled through a wind funnel. He sighed, realizing he had held his breath to not disturb the feeling of power. He looked at Hinata, expecting a look of confidence with such greatness, but he only saw her pale. Her eyes sprang open and she swore so fluently Neji was sure it was Mui speaking. His cousin didn't really swear.
"Water, lots of it! We've gotta go!" She jumped towards the village as fast as she could, Neji and Yuuki trailing after her in haste. They headed to the hospital. Tsunade should be there.
000
Ten Ten hurried to the for end of the market. Lee had come to tell her that there had been an accident. Two of the walls in her parents shop had exploded. Gai and his student had followed the worried kunoichi as she hurried to her parents, trapped in the crushed building. They hadn't been hurt when Lee had left, but that could change any minute.
000
"You don't understand the magnitude of this water and the speed its moving at!" Hinata was getting very annoyed as she tried to explain herself to the village counsel, sans Tsunade, who was in another meeting. They weren't believing her and the water was coming.
"What water?" She turned in relief to her Hokage. Tsunade entered with Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Asuma.
"A wall of water is coming. Its massive and it'll be here in less then half an hour. You need to evacuate the city!" Tsunade looked at the heir in confusion as one of the counsel spoke up.
"This village can handle a bit of water." Yuuki finally spoke up, sick of these pitiful whiners.
"This is no mere bit of water!" Her sneer left no doubt to what she thought of his retort. "This is three waves of water, enough to cover the entirety of this valley in five stories of water before it drains. They will hit in less than half an hour and you are all squabling about a little thing like your day getting interupted? Some buildings might survive, but people won't!" Tsunade looked at Hinata for confirmation. When the Hyuuga nodded, she turned to the Anbu in the room.
"Sound the evacuation, get all the civilians out of the village and onto highers grounds, Send those far away onto the roofs of their homes and businesses, now!" She looked at the three water shinobi in front of her. "What can we do?" Hinata looked to Yuuki, her control and understanding of large amounts of water was greater.
"Nets with floatation implements, they can catch the civilians who can't get to safety. Those of us with ability with water can stave off some of it, to give the village more time." Tsunade looked at Kakashi and Asuma.
"Kakashi-san, gather the rest of the water users and send them to the wave front, they report to Hinata. Asuma, you and Shikamaru find nets and get them throughout the village. Get!" She looked at Yuuki. "Your help is appreciated." She nodded to the Hyuuga and called as they left. "Sakura! Ino! Start evacuating the hospital!"
000
Gai and Lee perked up at the evacuation alert. They were helping Ten Ten to dig out her family. She looked at them, they had just broken through and were helping her parents out.
"Go, I can get my parents out." Gai and Lee nodded to her and leaped off. Gai had made sure there was a clear path for the adults before leaving. He wondered if this had anything to do with the inch of flowing water in the village. The message he was passed and passed along stated that to get everyone to the mountain or on roofs within twenty minutes. He didn't question, he just started organizing the genin and chunin in the area.
A few mintues later he was informed to start attaching nets around the village. They had a jounin in the village with a spider summons who was mass producing webs with slippery surfaces to avoid sticking. He had no idea what was going on, but he trusted his leaders. Still, he felt more comfortable when he saw Kakashi nearby assisting.
000
Hinata and Yuuki rushed ahead, leaving Neji to direct any water element shinobi after them. They approached the water, which was still moving slowly, gathering water and speed as it arrived. Yuuki sensed dry lakes and streams within the area. The water level where they were was to their ankles and rising fast. The water was moving as fast as they could run. Yuuki let her eyes relax as she gazed into the wall of water. It was several meters thick, each of the three wave she could sense. As they were, they would crash into the village and sweep it away.
"Hinata, pull the water here, I"ll freeze it into a wall." Hinata nodded and started to pull water to them. Yuuki slowly started freezing the water in a thick wall. They were joined by other shiobi and they all worked to build a thick wall of ice.
000
Naruto halted in his lessons on medical treatment of cuts with Hanako-sensei. He felt Hinata pull on her chakra reserves sharply. Bowing respectfully to his teacher he requested a break to assist his mate. Haneko frowned, but nodded. Haruka sat with her and explained what she felt from her nephew as they waited.
Haruka had to grit her teeth. She couldn't do anything from here. All her bonds had been cut when she was trapped all those years ago. She hated this. Her home, her family was in danger and she could do nothing but sit by and waited and pray. Haneko put her worn hand on that of her student.
"Hope is a great strength and help as well, young one. Pray for your family and believe they are strong."
000
The ice wall trembled when the first wave struck it. It was half a meter thick, but it wasn't enough and it wasn't going to hold. Yuuki looked down at the water that was pushing against the ice wall. She placed her hand on the top of the ice and gave a cry.
"Kyaaa!" Seiryu soared through the ice, freezing much of the water trapped behind it. Below the shinobi stared at the display in wonder as the wall quadrupled in thickness. Hinata was at the bottom and felt that the bottom hadn't been thickened. She placed her hand against it and slowly carved structured holes in the bottom to drain the water slowly into the village. Hopefully this would slow the water and lower the sheer amount of water that hit the village at once. It gave the draining system of the village a chance to deal with the liquid.
The water at their feet had risen to their waists as the second wave hit the wall and went over it. It pulled the shinobi along with it.
000
Iruka heard the evacuation sound about the time the water level hit knee deep. Opening the door cause the water to flow in and rush some of the students back into the building. He shoved the rest of the students out the door and let the water sweep him back inside to collect the rest of his students.
Ten Ten had just gotten her father and mother out the building when the water level rose to waist level. They quickly started making their way to a tall building, but with two injured adults, it was slow going.
Sakura carried the last of the child patients out to the roof when she looked across the village and saw a wave ten meters tall heading for the village. (this is roughly 30 feet or 3 stories and change)
"Sensei!" Tsunades eyes went large as she ushered the last of her patients out of the building.
"Everyone find something to grab!"
Gai grabbed the last of the civilians and jumped out to the way just in time to avoid getting hit in the back with the wave as it crashed through the village. He placed the woman on the roof as the wave caught his foot and pulled him under.
He grabbed a breath and felt himself tumble head over foot. He braced himself to hit something hard that could get him to the air, but it wasn't necseassary. A hand clasped his wrist as he fought the current. When he was safely on the roof, he looked up in relief into the eyes of his best friend. Out of breath, he forwent his usual method of gratitude for simply nodding.
Kakashi couldn't describe the panic that gripped his heart when he saw his best friend go under. He was over the side and holding the wrist before he even knew it. He had grabbed the side of the building and pulled them back up, thankful when Gai had forwent his normal method of thanking. He didn't think he would be able to stop himself from returning the hug from another friend he almost lost.
Hinata felt herself spin underwater and out of control for a bit before Mui took over and helped her navigate the currents. She saw Neji fighting to get to air and went towards him. Yuuki had already disappeared, but she knew the jinchuuriki could breathe underwater fairly well. She caught up to Neji as they hit the nets put up in the area. She pulled air down with the water and surrounded his head in air.
Neji coughed a bit in the air, but his discipline took hold and he took a steady breath and then another, giving his cousin a grateful look and swam for the surface on the net they were next to.
Neji was amazed that Hinata had not only kept her head, but she was controling enough water to funnel a current of air down to them. When the water had hit them, he had leaped for Hinata to help her, but she ended up helping him. He frowned at this. She was helping him a lot these days. He would have to think about how much he was helping her later.
They helped others they met on the net work their way to the surface to breathe. Since they had landed quite near the academy most of these were children.
Coughing as they gathered the children and directed them to a nearby roof. The people already there helped them to climb on but it was tough since the water was still several feet lower then the roof of this building. Neji finally climbed up and pulled up the children by sticking to the wall.
"Udon-kun, where's Iruka-sensei?" Neji knew that the sensei would be able to tell them if any children were missing.
"He's still inside with Konohamaru-kun, Mimichi-chan, Hanabi-chan, and Kotetsu-kun." The boy was shivering as he answered. Neji looked at Hinata in fright. The academy was nearly underwater at this point. "The wave pushed Hanabi-chan and Kotetsu-kun back. Konohamaru-kun and Mimichi-chan went after them. Iruka-sensei went after them." Neji reached down and grabbed the last of the kids and dove back under water, follwoing Hinata to the school. A genin had arrived to help with the kids.
They went in the side window that Iruka should have used that day. It was completely filled with water. They swam through, the third room they found a bit of air for a break. Hinata funneled some more air into the room and they continued. The school looked so bizarre with everything floating and empty. Even when school wasn't in session there was usually students workingon their skills, teacher preping for class and parents walking around. This was a busy place.
Hinata jerked her thumb towards the stairs and they went up. She assumed they would have looked for higher ground. With the windows holding out the water until they broke the only air would have been upstairs.
Since the first floor was extra tall there was only one other story to the building. They spotted Iruka swimming at the end of the hallway.
000
Yuuki had been at the apex of the wave as it had been created and had nearly crashed into the ground with the rest of the start of the wave. She grabbed the other shinobi who had been with her and surfaced them all. Once on the surface she let go so the current could work on them. Fighting a current was a stupid thing.
"Help those who can't swim!" She shouted at them as they all disapeared. She didn't know if they heard her as they disappeared between buildings. She had found one of the nets that had blown lose and reattached it and helped those around her to air.
"Hold on to something, the next wave is coming!" She was pushed into the market district with that wave. Now she was in the market district helping others out. She had just helped a family of five when a building upstream of them collapsed from the water stress. It hadn't been the first and it wouldn't be the last. The problem was that this building had had people on the balcony.
She was to them in an instant, creating ice under the struggling children. The ice would naturally float to the surface, taking them with it. She spotted Ten Ten with two adults underwater. She sent the last of the children to the surface and went after the adults. Both were injured and caught under rubble. She joined Ten Ten in trying to move the rubble, but it was way too heavy.
Up until this piont, Yuuki hadn't brought out enough of Seiryu's chakra out to notice by the naked eye. She had gills and protected, slited eyes, but that was it. That wasn't going to cut it with these heavy bricks. She brought out more and more of her chakra as she lifted the stones.
Ten Ten pulled her father out of the ruins. Both family members turned to the remaining to help but Yuuki shoved them towards the surface. Ten Ten needed air and her father was injured. Ten Ten eventually got the message and pulled her father to the surface. Letting his wife go was probably the hardest thing he had ever done.
Yuuki was removing the next of the boulders when the woman pointed behind her. She turned in time to catch the sharks teeth on her ribs. It threw her several meters back. She looked up in pain to see the other shark of water circling the injured woman. One went after her, but Yuuki ramed him herself. She looked at Ten ten, who had rejoined them underwater. She motioned for her to get her mother to the surface as she faced the circling sharks.
Yuuki recognized Isonade in an instant. This wasn't good. She transformed entirely into the fourtail. Her hands formed scaled claws, webbed wings grew from her back and long, flexible tails separated from her body. Her fangs lengthed and her breathing increased as she fought the two circling sharks. She dodged as best she could as they came again and again.
Itsuki watched as this child transformed into some sort of creature and saved her life, spilling her own blood in the process. If she wasn't a jinchuuriki, she would be surprised. She grabbed a hold of her daughter as Ten Ten pulled them to the surface. After she hit the surface she whistled back down to the dragon-child. She took off like a shot, two sharks following her, for another part of the village.
000
Neji and Hinata followed Iruka back into the far classroom to find the four missing children standing on desks to stay up. Hinata hugged Hanabi and Konohamaru tightly before turning to Iruka. Just then the entire building creaked.
"That's the second wave. I don't think this building is safe anymore." Neji nodded in agreement with his cousin.
"We can follow our path back out. There should be enough spots for air." Iruka nodded to Neji to lead. Kotetsu and Mimichi went first with Neji and Konohamaru and Hanabi followed with Hinata and Iruka. Konohamaru was injured and needed help. They made it back to the first classroom before they had to take a break.
"Neji will go through first and be there to help the rest of you." Hinata sent Neji on ahead. With the creaking of the building, the doorway had been filled in mostly with rocks. Iruka stayed with Hanabi and Konohamaru while Neji and Hinata got the other two through. Hinata returned while Neji was helping those two to the surface. She and the others were nearly flat against the ceiling for air.
With a deep breath, they all submerged. Hinata went thorugh and accepted Konohamaru next. Iruka saw the doorway start to crumble and shoved Hanabi through. Hanabi felt herself move through the opening as rocks came down. When she found herself safely on the other side, she turned and saw Iruka caught in the doorway under rocks. She sped to him to help when Hinata grabbed her and shot to the surface.
They were all sputtering as they broke the surface. Neji grabbed the two children as Hinata let go and dove back down followed by Anko and Asuma, who had come to help. Shino and Kiba had blown away with the initial wave and had found them. They had all slowly made their way back to the academy. With his Byakugan, Neji had been watching the movements below, and had told them when the doorway had trapped Iruka. He held Hanabi to him as she sputtered hysterically.
"Don't worry, Hanabi-sama. They'll help Iruka-sensei. Shhh, it'll be okay." He rocked her and joined her classmates with Kiba and Akamaru.
Iruka knew he was running low on air when lips forced air into his lungs. He opened his eyes to see Anko in a liplock with him. After giving him all her air, and a wink, she went for the surface for another breath. Asuma was looking at the doorway, frowning. Iruka already knew what he was thinking. The doorway was weak to begin with so any violent motion could bring the entire building down on all of them. But the rocks were too heavy to move with out an explosion.
Hinata could also see what Asuma and Iruka knew. She looked at her sensei. He had taught her, all of them, so much. He had been there on her first day to tell her that she was actually a very good kunoichi. He had stood by Naruto throughout all of his life. He had placed her with Kiba and Shino. He had protected Hanabi when she was gone. He was the only grown-up she felt she could trust with that secret.
If it took trusting him with another secret to save his life, then so be it. She motioned to Asuma to go to the surface and take Anko. The kunoichi had returned to give Iruka's nearly crushed lungs a refill. Asuma gave her an odd look, but after a worried glance at Iruka nodded and shot off the ground. She could hear Anko protesting, but she was no match for Asuma's sheer strength and power.
She looked at Iruka and smiled hesitantly. She wondered distantly if it would ever get easier showing people that she was a Jinchuuriki.
Mui are you ready? The Bijuu had been paying attention and answered affirmative. They were surrounded in water so that would make things easy. Hinata bit a small cut in her thumb to mix some blood with the water.
Iruka didn't know Hinata could possibly be planning, but he gave her an encouraging look when she gave him a hesitant smile. Suddenly a hawk formed around her and rushed him. He felt the hawk push the doorway back into the building and lift the doorway. Hinata's hand wrapped gently around his arm and guided him back out of the building and towards the surface. He looked at her in amazement to meet slitted eyes. He felt the chakra and it hit him like a punch in the stomach. Hinata was a Jinchuuriki, like Naruto.
A million question circled his head, but they would wait, as Asuma and Anko pulled him onto the building and Neji and Shino helped Hinata up. When she opened her eyes next, they were normal again. He was about to thank her when she looked out towards the market ditrict frowning.
"Ni-san, stay with Hanabi-chan please. Finish the evacuation." She dove in the water just as something rammed the building.
000
The two Jinchuuriki sped towards each other. They were going to intersect above the old market that had turned into apartments. Tsunade, who had sensed them moving together had already made her way towards them. She was waiting when they both leaped from the water and landed on a rooftop.
"Report!" Hinata nodded to her.
"Academy has been taken cared of. There is an ice wall staving off the first wave. The second and third wave have both hit. The force behind the first will not abate, it will eventually break through the barrier." Tsunade nodded and, following Hinata's cue, turned to Yuuki. She sighed as she spoke, still looking decidedly more dragon-esk then normal.
"I can feel it cracking, but there is another problem." Hinata nodded, confused.
"The sharks." She had noticed the shark following her and the two folloing Yuuki. Yuuki nodded.
"Its Isonade. She's the power behind this, and one of us is probably her target." Tsunade's eyes widened in alarm. Yuuki nearly bit her tongue, she had forgotten that Tsunade may not yet be aware of Mui. Thankfully, Tsunade focused on a more important part of the sentence.
"We have a bijuu lose in my village?" The two turned to her. Yuuki frowned as Hinata spoke.
"I don't think so. Seiryu thinks she is sealed much as Seiryuu and Youko." Tsunade didn't seem terribly relieved at this. An anbu landed next to her.
"Godiame-sama. The village has relocated to the rooftops and total evacuation is underway." She frowned at the anbu as he left to continue the work, before she turned to the two kunoichi.
"This village could not stand up to another 10 meters of water. That would cover even the mountains." Hinata looked at Yuuki as she returned the glance.
"We could summon the Bijuu in their full form." Yuuki's hesitant voice gave them a clear idea of what she thought of this suggestion. Tsunade was opposed to it as well.
"We don't need the panic a Bijuu appearing would cause." Yuuki shrugged, she had known it was a bad idea, but wasn't sure what else to offer.
"What about the water cycle?" Yuuki looked at Hinata as the Hyuuga Heiress spoke. " We could use the natural water cycle to return the water to where it came from." Tsunade looked at her confused while Yuuki nodded.
"That might work. We would require a wind user, I think." Hinata smiled and gave her a thumbs up, reminding of the other two of her mate.
"Check one wind user." Tsunade looked at Yuuki.
"I don't understand." Yuuki looked at the leader.
"Naturally the water would evaporate, move and then rain back down. we can speed up this process." Tsunade blinked.
"I thought you froze water." She frowned.
"If I can remove heat, I can certainly add it. Hinata will blow the steam up and away before it can create the rain it most surely will."
"What about the shark things?" Yuuki shook her head.
"They are made of water, they should evaporate too." Tsunade pursed her lips in thought. Finally she nodded.
"Alright, but for heaven's sake, try to keep it from looking like a bijuu!" Yuuki nodded and Hinata giggled mentally to herself. Her leader was getting very exasperated with them. Naruto's chuckling inthe back of her mind told her what he thought of that. She smiled as he sent more chakra her way to aid in this endeavor. Tsunade waved to some shinobi and leaped off to join them. Hinata looked at Yuuki as they were left alone to perform this task.
000
Naruto tried really hard to focus on the cooking, but he couldn't drag his thoughts away from Konoha and his mate. He had given his chakra over to Hinata, with Youko and Haruka's blessing. His after dinner lessons had turned into before dinner lessons with cooking with one's chakra. This required heat control, the ability to sense characteristics about the food and multitasking. This was only his third night at it, but he was sure that they would have a hard time convinvcing themselves to eat his cooking again after this. He simply couldn't concentrate.
Kazeko had worked his through molding his charka to a dish to clean it, drying it through heat, puttingit away with a small amount of chakra to cushion it. He had graduated to real dishes instead of the wooden ones eventually. THe first dish he tried to clean, he ended up scrapping hte top layer of wood away with his chakra. Now he was to cook. He rolled his eyes at the lessons he was getting. He hoped his teacher explained how this was supposed to help soon or he might go batty.
000
Neji looked up as he felt the familiar chakra wash over him. He had assisted the children in migrating to the mountains and had hooked up with the Hyuuga clan and some of the Jounin sensei. He could already see his sensei, who had been in the market, hookup with Tsunade and the hospital section. Most of the village had evacuated at this point.
All the shinobi felt the air tingle as the chakra in the center rose to the brink of insanity for a few minutes. They all sighed as it crashed over the village, almost as if the tension of holding it was more devastating and impressive then the sheer amount flowing through the village. He recognized Mui immediately. He could tell by Hiashi's reaction that his uncle also recognized his daughter's companion.
He felt the second Bijuu rise up and together they swirled the water towards them, forming a water funnel of immense proportions. It was quite a sight actually. The tunnel was gushing water at the ground, but near the top it was evaporating into wisps of cloud, blowing back the way the water had come.
He nearly jumped as the rumble of the last wave came to the village with the collapse of the ice wall. The water went right up the tunnel with the rest of the water. He could see a dragon slither around the funnel from bottom to top and if he looked closely, he could also see a hawk. He prayed he was the only one.
000
Asuma headed for his friend as they watched the spectacle. He could sense his goddaughter down their and was worried. The spout had just died down, but he wanted to make sure they weren't endangering Hinata by returning to the village. He knew she had some sort of secret.
"Hiashi?" The man looked like a swift breeze would knock him over, so in shock was he.
"When did I miss this?" He looked at Asuma, completely lost. "I raised her to be a clan leader discreetly, to avoid the manipulations of the council, but when did she actually get this powerful?" Asuma looked out across the village, sighing.
"Well, you remember what Haru-chan used to say." Hiashi looked at Asuma a moment before firming his face. He remembered all right.
Where there is a hope there is a will
WHere there is a will there is a way
and when there is a way, you will find the strength of hope.
Hi guys. This will probably only have two more chapters. And no Naruto isn't back quite yet. Countdown is moving though, only two monthes story time.
alsp: a repeat of what I said in the beginning, i wrote the flood portion of this well over a year ago, I never dreamed anything like this would happen in Japan. Thankfully none of my friends over there were hurt, but still. I send all my prayers to them still.