Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/ Naruto: Shippuden or its characters.
The Setting: [SPOILERS: if you do not read the manga you may want to reconsider before continuing. If you don't mind spoilers, enjoy!] This story is after the second meeting of the Kages and after Naruto returns from the moving island.
The story differs slightly since the joint allied ninja forces have not yet convened and things are still being negotiated.
M Rated: It is rated M for a reason. Some swearing, LOTS of graphic bloody gory imagery and a few sexual encounters. The main reason for this rating (sex) will most likely only show later in the story. If you are not a fan of the lemony stuff but are enjoying the story, inform me and I will give pre-warning to explicit chapters so you can continue with the plot at a more censored level. This is NOT a yaoi fic. It may have a homosexual pairing somewhere but that is still to be decided. Most of the couplings will be heterosexual in orientation. I am not against homosexual pairings, I just find it hard to find gay couples in this anime, despite the obvious one pair (but I'm not going to create my own spoiler here, read to find out).
Please enjoy and please review. I LOVE input!
Okay enough rambling...
Fanfic Fact: A first attempt at drawing my OC's can be seen on my deviant art account. To see them go to my profile and find the link.
Chapter 1: Echoes
Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure, frowned down at the reports that lay on her desk. She really did not need more concerns now that she was having to prepare her ninja for war and having to create an alliance amongst nations that mostly hated each other.
But now this was adding to her worries. For the first time in awhile she was at a loss at the medical issue she was now faced with. A day ago, Team Kakashi had found four dead ANBU men. It was a complete mystery.
There were no signs as to how they had died. Not even a chakra signature as to whether a jutsu had been used. It appeared that four healthy men had just dropped dead without reason. The only physical abnormality apparent was the fact that their hearts were no longer beating. What was even more perplexing was the fact that the seal that was placed on every ANBU member when they went out on a mission was no longer anywhere to be found and it obviously had had no effect. The seal was designed to burn an ANBU body in the event of death. This was for various safety reasons, such as keeping the villages secrets safe as well as preventing enemies from obtaining Konohagakure techniques through analysing the dead body. So now two more questions were added to her medical ones. Why hadn't the bodies burned away? And why hadn't the enemy taken the bodies?
There was a way of answering all these questions, but the means was no longer available.
Tsunade sighed. "Where are they?" she wondered...
The team that had found the mysterious bodies just a day ago were not exactly as concerned as Tsunade over the situation. They were instead practising at one of the training fields.
"HAAAH!" Haruno Sakura smashed her fist into the ground causing it to shatter and crumble. It was enough to get her two Jonin opponents to take to the trees.
Hatake Kakashi and Yamato came to rest on opposite sides of the field in the trees from where they could observe the pink dynamite that was Sakura.
She let her eyes scan the field taking in the Jonin perched above her... and then smiled. The tree Yamato stood on began to melt into an inky-black liquid. Realising he was in trouble, he quickly fled his perch, only to be followed by inky beasts that morphed from the jutsu drawn tree. Kakashi glanced at Yamato's predicament. But his observations were short lived when the tree he was in screamed, "Gotcha!"
The tree suddenly transformed and revealed that it was, in fact, made up of a fifty Uzamaki Narutos. Kakashi mimicked Yamato's reaction by retreating only to have the swarm of Narutos pounce upon him.
And here we thought it would be fair with two jonin against two chuunin and a genin, Kakashi mused to himself despite his predicament. He had to smile at the fact that despite Naruto still being a genin, he was the strongest member of their team.
Just as the clones and ink beasts were upon the two elite ninja, they disappeared. The visible Kakashi had merely been a shadow clone while Yamoto had used his famous wood-clone technique.
Sakura who was watching from the ground still, grumbled as her two team-mates came to rest near her on the now broken ground.
"I told you two not to lose sight of them! Now we're sitting ducks!" she yelled at them. The high stress of the previous months had left the usually volatile Konichi with a short trigger which meant plenty more verbal, as well as physical, lashings that the boys had to endure.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto apologised scratching the back of his head with a meek smile. The exhaustion from all the drama was starting to wear him down too. The effects on him were different however, in the way that he had less of a spark than usual. Seeing this, Sakura calmed down quickly, not meaning to cause too much of a problem for her already burdened colleague. Sai however merely ignored them. He had tried coping with everyone's extreme emotions and had given it up as being too difficult for someone as socially inept as himself. As such the progress he had begun to make with his friends in social circles had dwindled drastically as he had withdrawn in defence of the stress.
He instead took the time to deduce where the missing jonin were.
At the last minute he realised where they were hiding. "Below!" he warned.
At that moment hands burst from the ground going for their ankles. Just in the nic-of time the three younger ninja leapt into the air, throwing kunai with explosive tags at the ground.
Yamato quickly performed a jutsu to create a wall of rocky ground to cushion the explosion. After that a full on attack ensued.
Kakashi used the smoke and dust to hide his presence as he sped at Naruto with a Kunai in hand. Naruto quickly reacted by dodging the first attack and at the same time fisting a kunai of his own. The blades then clashed as they both charged each other.
Meanwhile Sakura and Sai were captured in one of Yamato's wooden cages. Sakura made quick work of it, causing splinters to fly everywhere. Sai then attacked heading straight for Yamato, his short sword in hand. Yamato then moulded the ground to form slanted spiked that would impale the former ROOT member. Sai jumped into the air quickly to avoid them knowing his current speed wouldn't decrease enough to prevent injury on the sharp rock. Yamato prepared to take advantage of the opening to attack Sai but was distracted when Sakura's chakra blasted the spikes away and towards him. All the while they could hear the fierce strike of steel above them.
Yamato came to rest a few paces away after avoiding the force of Sakura's last blow. He was panting and a little doubled over.
He glanced in front of him and saw that Sakura appeared to have used too much chakara and was also bent over, clutching her knees for support, her panting heavier than his own.
Sai had come to rest near Sakura but was down on one knee clutching his head. It seemed like the last blast had also reached him and he now was disorientated. Yamato then realised that the metallic clinks had also disappeared. He glanced off to the side and saw Kakashi and Naruto separated by some distance, hands poised in front of themselves, each hand holding a kunai. But they made no move to continue fighting. They were both panting and sweating from exertion. He also noted that Kakashi, who had moved his forehead-protector after the initial attack by the three, to uncover his left eye, was squinted closed. The sharigan had been causing him a lot of pain lately. Naruto, although not in pain seemed to lack his usual energy or interest in continuing with the fight.
"I think we can call it a day Kakashi-senpai," he called over.
Kakashi glanced over at the three to his right. "Hai."
The Team trudged over to the shade which had some undisturbed ground.
"Are we really this unfit?" Sakura asked gloomily as she flopped down on the cool grass.
Yamato and Kakashi shared a quick glance. It wasn't that their team wasn't fit, it was their lack of moral. The team had been effected greatly by the news of the war.
Sakura was greatly depressed about Sasuke being a contributing factor to the unrest across the great ninja countries. Naruto was frustrated that he was being prevented from fighting the war due to the fact that he was a target for Atkaski. Recently it had been discovered that a few of the former ROOT members, who had despised their former leader, Danzo, had defected to join the enemies forces. As such Sai was constantly monitored and distrusted by the elders and was starting to feel the strain. Yamato had been marked by Orichimaru's successor, Kabuto, as a fascinating subject and as such the Jonin with the abilities of the First Hokage had also recently been restricted to Konoho only as a field of operation.
And Kakashi was stuck contemplating how he was going to have to kill one of his students. Despite Naruto declaring he would be the one to finish off Sasuke, Kakashi could not stand by idly while Naruto went on a suicide mission. Unfortunately, he, like the majority of his team was also under restrictions. It had been decided that he was the next candidate to becoming Hokage. As such, the elders wanted him kept alive and did not wish to risk him to the approaching war.
"We are not unfit," Sai answered Sakura's question. "We just lack the reason to train to improve. None of us except you, Sakura-san, has the option of leaving the village."
"But we left the village just yesterday," Sakura pointed out.
"Hai, but then we were ordered to and we were still under restrictions to remain only a mile away from the village to only patrol the area."
Sakura was quiet for a moment as the group quietly sipped their water canisters trying to not meet each others eyes knowing that would only give away how depressed they really were at the situation.
"Those bodies," Sakura said quietly, breaking the tense silence that began to build, "They are really worrying Tsunade-sama."
"Its odd to find a dead ANBU agent," Sai added as a short explanation.
Naruto frowned slightly at that. "I know ANBU are good, but even they can get killed," he pointed out the mortality of the assassin group.
"Hai," Sai agreed, "But if they do die, there should be no body left to find. Their bodies should burn up not leaving a trace."
"Oh, so the fact that we found them is the problem then." Naruto connected the pieces.
"Not only that, but medically speaking there isn't any way of determining why they died. Its like they just dropped dead for no reason," Sakura added.
Naruto's eyes grew big, "What! That's just creepy."
"Its a complete mystery," Sakura encircled her arms around her knees, hugging herself as if fearing the unexplainable. "I can't believe we can't find out what happened. Surely there must be an account of this sort of thing before, or a way to work it out." She was in complete dissatisfaction at the fact that knowledge, books and scrolls could not explain the deaths. Her academic tendencies were overwrought with concern especially since her brilliant shishou was also at a loss of explanation.
"There used to be." Sakura glanced at her pale skinned companion. "There was?"
Naruto was also paying quiet attention to Sai, a rare occurrence in itself. Quiet and attention were not exactly his strong points.
"Hai, Konohagakure used to have a specific team responsible to determine unexplained yet possibly ninja related occurrences."
"Why don't we have a team like that anymore?" Naruto asked interested, after all, a team like that sounded really cool.
"I don't know. Records of them disappeared nine years ago."
"Nine years ago?" Sakura looked over at the two jonin that had been very quiet, and in her opinion had actually tensed when Sai had mentioned this mystery-busting team. But if it was nine-years ago, surely they knew about the team and what might have happened to them.
"Do you know what happened to them Yamato-taichou, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked as innocently as she could trying her best to make them answer her with words and tone alone.
Yamato gave a nervous glance in Kakashi's direction. Kakashi had whipped out one of his favourite Icha-Icha books the second they had sat down. Right now however, even without seeing his senpai's face, Yamato could tell Kakashi wasn't reading anymore.
"Well...," the wood-user began hesitantly, "They were the first and only team to deal with such occurrences and situations. In fact for awhile they were a chief source of income for Konohagakure. Their skills were out-sourced and even requested by countries that don't get along well with the Fire Nation. Nine-years ago they were sent on a mission by the Third Hokage. After that no one has heard from them since."
"So they are missing-nin?" Sakura asked concerned.
Yamato glanced yet again at the book cover concealing Kakashi's face.
"From what I understand of it," Yamato continued, "No. There was never a specific time-frame given to them to perform the mission in. In fact, the general description is that the mission would require as much time as needed. There is no way to determine if they are alive though because part of the mission required too much risk to report in."
"So basically, the team that deals with mysteries became a mystery themselves?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"But," ignoring Naruto, Sai asked, with a frown on his usually expressionless face, "I can't imagine the elders would be pleased with such a powerful team of Konohagakure missing."
"Your right." Everyone's heads snapped towards Kakashi as he finally spoke.
"The Others, as they were called, have been marked to receive missing-nin status in a years time. The elders wanted it to be activated last year, however, Tsunade-sama was able to reason that the mission they were sent on would take a decade. As such, even if they are still alive, there is a good chance they will be marked for death by the end of this year."
"But...," Sakura's eyes filled with terror, "if they are powerful enough to solve mysteries no one else can, and they are still alive, why would we deliberately label them as our enemies?" Sakura began to blink back tears. "We can't aff-afford to ha-have more powerful comrades turn against us." She was referring to Sasuke of course, but she made a good point. Kakashi looked over at his female student. Despite her emotions constantly hindering her, she was still the smartest of his students, and considering his own emotional baggage surrounding the topic his heart went out to her.
"Even if Konohagakure goes against them, they will not turn against us. At least two of them are safe." He didn't stay for their reactions. He just walked off away from them, not wanting to talk about the subject any longer.
Meanwhile at the gates of Konohagakure...
"Okay, is it just me or has the whole village shifted to the left?"
"Yes. It got destroyed."
"What!"
"Relax Kei. I think it looks better."
"Oi! Thai! How is the village getting destroyed a good thing?"
"Well, for one thing, all those ugly-ass faces look better," Thai replied referring to Hokage Mountain. "Minato's face looks like him finally. Its weird seeing a woman's face up there though."
"Don't be sexist, you jackass! Besides you seem so calm about it all. What if they haven't gotten around to rebuilding the brothel?"
"What! Don't joke about such a sensitive subject!"
At that moment they arrived at the sign-in desk.
Kotetsu and Izuma who had been playing shogi, both looked up at the approaching ninja in a bored fashion, after all they did this most of the day.
Initially their eyes were drawn to the woman amongst the two men. It was hard not to be, she was probably the best looking creature to have ever crossed Konohagakure's gates.
She looked to be in her twenties and was of average height for a woman. Her perfect balance of slender and curvy was complemented by her black capri-pants and dark-blue halter shirt which accentuated her cleavage and had bits of ribbon in the same fabric crossing her midriff which formed into a large bow just above her rather firm posterior. If her body wasn't something to look at, her face sure was. Given she had both in her court, her bright, deep-blue eyes framed by thick lashes, a delicately formed nose and full pouty lips, all positioned perfectly on skin that had a hint of honey glow, surrounded by golden locks which were pinned up at the back, with the strands falling out of their hold, artistically forming a slight waterfall feature of blond hair. But she wasn't just a beauty, the small sword fastened to her lower back in a horizontal fashion where the thick bow was fastened, the armband of senbons and the thigh-strap-on of small assassination kunais definitely gave the impression she was a kuniochi.
As her feet held in black sandal-heels, came to a stop in front of them, they had to quickly try and remember their job and that this women was not alone. In-fact her companions were just as deadly looking as the weapons she wore and just as well armed too.
The one man was striking in his appearance as well, especially since he had electric-blue hair and wore only a flak-jacket that exposed the ripped muscles of his chest. Aside from that he had straps of black-leather around his left arm which shone in the sun revealing thin wires following the pattern of they formed. He also had the general kunai satchel strapped to his right thigh.
The last companion was also something to look at, but rather from terror than awe like the last two. This man was covered in scars. The whole left side of his face was severely scarred, all the way from his temple to his chin leading slightly down his neck as well. To hide the scaring to his face, the left side of his brown hair hung over that half of his face while the other half was left parted to allow clear vision for his only visible eye. He wore a ninja net vest that did a poor job at hiding the scars on his chest and arms. Like the other two he was armed, most notably with a long sword held by a holster to his side.
"H-eh? Kotetsu? Izuma? Is that really you two?" The gorgeous woman exclaimed once she was up close and analysed their profiles.
The blue-haired man ambled over before resting himself onto his thick muscled elbows on the sign-in desk so he was staring at the two chuunin face-to-face.
"Hmm, whatdaya know. It is. You haven't changed at all brats," he said with a charismaticlly slow grin.
"Thai! Don't start bullying people before we even get home!"
"Relax woman! Honestly Kei, the past nine years have made you such an anal retentive. And we're already home."
"Actually," spoke up the Scarred one, "We are only considered home once we sign the log-in book. And Kei can't be anal retentive since she..."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it already Zee. Jeesh, can you just STOP being so literal! It's been killer being around you constantly!"
While the three bickered amongst themselves the two gate-keepers picked the names out and realisation began to dawn on them.
"Wai-wait!" Kotetsu yelled causing the new-comers to stop their arguing.
"What is it?" Thai asked who was trying at that moment to lean away from Kei's angry face which was inches from his own due to her killer grip on his flak-jacket that was starting to strangle him. Kei also looked at the spiky-black haired man while Zee glanced at him also through the small gap between his travelling companions.
"Kei as in, Hou Kei and her team of specialists?" the two Konohagakure ninja stood gapping slightly at the three people before them holding their breath in anxiety for the response.
The blond woman dropped her team-mate from his strong-hold, making him stumble and responded with a bright smile and , "Hai."
A second after he regained his balance, Thai turned on them and yelled, "Hey, I'm team leader!"
Zee just calmly nodded with Kei's reply.
Kotetsu's and Izuma's eyes zeroed in on the lovely woman before them before blushing and saying simultaneously, "Kei-san!"
Thai was left arguing to no one as the two dashed around the desk to hover by Kei.
"Kei-san, its been years! You have really grown," Izuma greeted with blushing happiness.
"We've grown a lot too since you saw us last, we're Chuunin now," Kotetsu added throwing his chest out proudly.
"O-ha, you two have been busy," Kei smiled at them proudly, "that means everyone in our year made chuunin. Didn't I say we were a bright bunch. Hey! We must go for drinks sometime!" Both men eagerly agreed.
"Oi! Can we JUST focus on what is important for a moment!" Thai yelled over the group. "I am team leader!"
"Actually signing in is," Zee calmly corrected. Agreeing with Zee the three went through nine years of log books trying to find the log-out record of Team X. All the while they ignored Thai's rants.
Kakashi walked along to his favourite spot in all of Konohagakure. It seemed morbid that the Konohagakure-memorial of deceased ninja was his favourite, but it was quiet and solitary, the best atmosphere for thinking things through or calming thoughts. It was also proof, proof that his team-mates had once existed and impacted this world, and proof that he had not always been alone.
I wonder if her name will be put here soon? He thought absently eyeing the few inches that still had space for a name or two. Usually such brutal yet honest things depressed him, but never really hurt. So it shocked him when it did. He sat before the monolith a headache forming behind his temples and the familiar throb started behind his left eye. The pain intensified with the worry and fear he had now induced within him. The pain ebbed briefly at the shock he experienced just by the fact that even after all the pain and loss he had endured and had to survive and adjust too through the years, that he could still feel such emotions as clearly and as fresh as if it were the very first time.
The pain returned and he rested his tensed fore-head against his raised knee. He was restless.
At this point he was only too eager for the orders to go to war. He had lost hope, so there was no longer any reason to keep his promise.
Lost in the misery of the moment, Kakashi noticed too late that the scenery to his right had changed. He spun his neck towards the intruder so fast that there was an audible 'crack' sound. In an instant he was paces away from the intruder with a kunai in hand, poised to strike.
Kakashi's heart raced in apprehension. He hadn't even sensed a slight flux of chakra from the figure, this adversary was skilled and most likely dangerous.
From where he was positioned Kakashi now took in the identity of the other person before the memorial... and found his deductions were correct. This person was skilled and dangerous.
Kakashi lost his battle stance as he fell over, startled and disbelieving. His eyes gawked and his unseen mouth gaped.
The figure raised a hand in greeting, "Kakashi-san."
Tsunade marched back to the Hokage tower in a bad mood that afternoon. She had been called to a number of odd disturbances throughout the village that day.
The first had been complaints by shop-keepers and shoppers along the main street who claimed to be disturbed by two rickshaws racing each other down the road. However, the rickshaws could not be found anywhere after the incident.
Next had been a complaint from the most famous brothel in Konohagakure. Although Tsunade-sama was against the establishment, it was run by a Madam Hisana. She was as old as the Hokage herself, and more stubborn and terrifying to deal with, so naturally it had never dared been closed down. Madam Hisana had reported that four of her very best working girls had gone missing. Being the terror she was, Tsunade had had to go directly to the brothel to calm the situation, or rather its dangerous owner, down.
Next had been at the hot springs. Apparently a woman, some described her as being drunk, others described her as being insane, waltzed into the establishment and jumped into the spring fully dressed, shoes and all. The matron reported trying to yell at the woman to come to her senses and use her logic. To this the women replied that she was. The women went on to explain that at present she had no hot water at home and that, in this way, she was washing herself and her laundry at the same time for the price of one. Therefore it was logical and cost effective.
After this caused an uproar across the establishment, the woman in question, disappeared.
Tsunade trudged into her office and heaved herself into her chair. What on earth was wrong with this village today?
As she was about to consider getting herself a calming cup of tea with something extra special added, the door to her office burst open.
"Tsunade-sama!" It was Shizune, Tsunade's most trusted advisor, assistant and best friend. "Tsunade-sama, you won't believe who is down in the morgue!"
Hearing the word 'morgue', Tsunade leapt up in concern. "What? Who?"
"Kei-chan."
The colour washed out of Tsunade's face instantly as her worst fears were realised. She collapsed in her chair with defeat.
"H-", before Tsunade could croak out the question, 'how?', her office door burst open yet again.
"Tsunade, I'm back!" sang the woman who stood there. The woman who just happened to mirror what a twenty-six year old version of the young little Kei Tsunade had once known would appear like today if she were alive.
In response Tsunade slipped off her chair in a dead faint.
Meanwhile in one of the residential streets of Konohagakure...
"They dropped dead from nothing?"
"Nothing, I tell you! Nothing!"
"That sounds made up, Naruto."
"Oi, Shikamaru! Are you calling me a liar? Sakura said Tsunade-bachan doesn't have a clue either."
The brown-haired tactician stared at his dramatic, whiskered companion.
"That sounds rather troublesome," was the reply he used. After all, it was a Shikamaru classic.
"When did you find this all out?"
"Just now when I was training with my team and Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taichou mentioned something about there being a team that used to deal with mystery's like this."
Shikamaru frowned slightly. He preferred that Naruto just considered it to be from the mention of a mystery team. But the truth was he was concerned about his team.
Like the others they too were training and improving their skills for the upcoming war. But unlike the other teams they no longer had an experienced older jonin with them. It had been a year now but it still hurt that Asuma wasn't with them. On occasion Kakashi did lead their team missions but that was only if he wasn't already assigned another mission on his own, after all he was in demand as being the famous Copy-nin and the next possible Hokage. Also it wasn't fair to think that Kakashi shouldn't train with his old team, after all, he was tied to Naruto and Sakura first as their sensei. But Shikamaru was, as always, practical as well as logical. At the rate him, Ino and Choiji were training they still wouldn't be ready or fit enough to have a chance at surviving this war.
"Mystery team, eh? Sounds interesting," Shikamaru said without much feeling to the words.
The two broke off their concentration, all be it on different thoughts, when they heard loud giggling from in front of them.
Shikamaru and Naruto looked up to see four women wearing revealing kimonos giggling. A man with shocking blue hair was in the middle of them and was smiling at the joke he had obviously just told. Since his eyes were only on the women and he was technically the one leading the group with his arms draped over a woman on each side he didn't notice the two boys in his path till he was a few feet away. Both Shikamaru and Naruto hadn't moved from the middle of the road. When they had seen the obviously powerful ninja they did not recognise they had tensed on instinct. Recognising the hostile chakara's of the two before him, Thai looked up. Seeing the boys he smirked, since they were not a real threat until he took a better look at Naruto. Leaving the working girls without a word he walked up to the Nara and Kyubi.
Ignoring Shikamaru's further tensing at him nearing them, Thai came to a stop in front of Naruto. Crouching down slightly till they were the same height, Thai evaluated the boys face.
"Hmm, couldn't be," the blue power-house muttered. He then glanced from the blond boy's face to the Hokage mountain and back.
"Thai-sama?" Asked one of the working girls, curious by his strange behaviour.
That reminded the blue-haired man what he had set out for after leaving the sign-in desk earlier. Giving up on the mystery before him he turned back towards the women waiting behind him.
"My apologies ladies. I thought I saw a ghost but I was mistaken," he gave his charming smile which caused women from every ninja country to fall weak kneed before him. The women quickly forgot the disturbance and continued with him down the lane.
"Oi, what was with that guy?" Naruto asked, annoyed.
"I don't know," Shikamaru glanced at the Hokage mountain, and silently admitted that maybe he did. "But I got a feeling would should stay far away from him. Maybe we should report this to Tsunade-sama."
"Why?" As usual Naruto was clueless when it came to matters concerning him. It was concerning when some random person showed interest in Konohagakure's Junjurikki. It was even more concerning when that random person appeared to make a connection between Naruto and the Fourth Hokage.
"It's dangerous times and on the brink of war. Its concerning when unknown ninja walk freely around Konohagakure." Naruto seemed to accept the explanation and began to lead the way to the Hokage tower.
"Zee-senpai!"
"You look surprise," the scarred man said simply. Kakashi could only imagine that as being an understatement. He was on his knees, staring in awe at the man before with his visible eye peeled open in shock.
"But...," Kakashi had no words to make up the rest of the sentence. With this man being in front of him, did it mean that...?
"Nine year absence does not mean death, Kakashi-san."
"Then...?"
Zee turned his face to the younger jonin. He was not the most emotional of beings, he rarely showed any at all. It made it harder for enemies to find your weaknesses. As long as he had known Hatake Kakashi, the genius boy, he had seen a similar defence build on the Copy-nin's features. The fact that the silver-haired man preferred to keep the majority of his face covered was a clear sign of that. But at that moment his emotions were so naked to the scarred fighter, it would be easy to break him in that moment. He read the excitement, the hope, the fear, the anger and hurt in that single charcoal-grey eye.
"Our mission has ended. We came back to join the war." In other-words, Kakashi-san, we have come home to stay.
The extra words were not needed as Zee knew. In an instant of that reply Kakashi had vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Zee turned make to the monolith. We are home sensei.
"Oi, Tsunade? Are you okay?" the blond sannin, crinkled her face as she felt droplets of something wet drip onto her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand only to be replaced by a few more. Wondering what the source of wet was, Tsunade slowly opened her eyes. Slowly her eyes cleared the picture in front of her after a few blinks. The woman who had burst into her office a moment ago was leaning over her with a questioning look on her face. Next to the women stood Shizunai who looked very worried.
She realised now why she was lying on the floor.
"Kei?" She whispered in fear.
The woman above her smiled brightly in response, "Hai!"
"But you were..."
"My apologies Tsunade-sama!" Shizunai bowed above her master and friend, "I wasn't clear before. Kei-chan was in the morgue dealing with those mysterious ANBU bodies."
Tsunade looked from Shizunai to the woman again to digest this reality.
Kei was not dead. She had returned. As the joy and embarrassment mixed, there was only one emotional response she could give this situation.
"Where have you been!" Tsunade's voice boomed, filling the room and no doubt half of Konoho as well.
She got to her feet and glared down at the blond before her. She noticed that the glaring down distance had gotten smaller over the stretch of years.
"Around."
"Don't give me that, you little brat! I had to put my arse on the line for you with those old-farts!"
"Sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it! Do you know how many problems you have caused me over these few years! Do you even know that war is upon us!"
"Yes!"
"Good because I will not be left without my best ninja in a situation where there are plenty of unknown jutsu being used against us!"
"Question?"
"What?"
"Can I be assigned a new team?"
"You have been gone nine years and you think you can just traipse in here and ask for a new team!"
Shizune quietly smiled at the scene before her. It was reminiscent of the good old days. The difference this time was that there no longer stood a little girl of twelve before Tsunade-sama but a grown woman. She also marvelled at the similarities between the two. Their outfits looked slightly similar in design, they were both large breasted women. They were also both blonde but with different shades.
During their argument Tsunade suddenly started smiling evilly. "You want a new team, fine. I have an opening as it were."
Kei's eyes narrowed, not trusting that look at all while the older woman sat behind the Hokage's desk. "I'll take it then," Kei smiled with confidence. Tsunade was a little taken aback by the strong reply. But that was Kei, she loved a challenge despite being a lazy and impulsive person, Tsunade knew.
Speaking of challenges, "Did you find anything on those bodies?" Tsunade asked back to extreme business, face serious, elbows resting on the desk with her hands inter-linked.
"Hai. I've been seeing these cases in random small villages for the past few months. Apparently it was create by some boy named Kabuto."
"Kabuto...," Tsunade growled at the familiar name.
Noting Tsunade's suddenly rigid frame and expression of hatred, Kei dialled down her attitude.
"Mm, I heard he was Orichimaru's apprentice."
"That's correct," Tsunade answered through clenched teeth.
To calm the situation down, Shizune brought the subject back to the jutsu itself. "How does this jutsu work. Or is it a jutsu at all?"
"You most likely were not able to find anything because the seals are too small. The problem lies in the blood itself."
"The blood?"
"Hai. The seals are miniscule and are formed on each red blood cell."
"What...," Tsunade looked completely shocked, "Ho-how is that even possible, to perform such a seal on so many objects that are practically smaller than the eye can see, how! Not even you can do that, and your our greatest specialist in that area!"
"The seals are not created at the scene, he comes with them ready made. You see the way to initiate the jutsu is through blood transfusion or contact with blood that already has the seals present. Kabuto uses syringe-like senbon's to infect the individuals. The initial interaction with the blood at point of entry closes the puncture mark leaving no trace as to its point of entry. But that is only the one way which this jutsu can infect individuals."
Kei instantly became very sombre which was odd for her.
Tsunade and Shizune shared a fearful look before they both stared back at Kei.
"What is the other way?"
Kei closed her eyes as if her head hurt, sighed then took a step towards the door. "You two should come with me and see for yourself."
Tsunade walked with a slight sense of dread towards the morgue. She was extremely concerned about this situation. It was strange that now that she was actually finding out the truth, it seemed far more terrifying than the state of unawareness she had been in.
"Tsunade-baachan!" I do not need this right now, Tsunade thought with regret as she turned towards the only boy in the entire village who would dare call her granny.
"What is it Naruto?" She asked tiredly seeing the blond boy run up to her while a lazy Nara followed behind him looking annoyed at the fact that he had to run to keep up with him.
Just then she heard someone jumping down from a nearby roof towards them. Since she recognised the chakra she didn't attack, although why Kakashi would willingly come looking for her she had no idea. The silver-haired ninja landed a few steps in-front of her.
But that was not the last of it. A little to her left a bang and smoke manifested itself into a green clad man. "Tsunada-sama!" boomed Might Gai, "I just heard the best news from the sign in desk!"
Ah, so these two are here about those three, she glanced at Gai and Kakashi, or rather should I say just the one.
To give herself a bit of fun out of the situation, she ignored the two older jonin and instead focused on the younger boys.
"What is it Naruto?"
"There's a weird blue haired ninja guy walking around the village and we don't recognise him!" The boy didn't exactly scream it but his loud voice did a good job at giving that impression.
"He also seemed to show some interest in Naruto," Shikamaru added since that was his main concern about the previous incident.
"Oh did he now," Tsunade said in a voice that was kind of sinister and made the boys look slightly nervous. However, her next reaction was not what they expected.
"Kei! Your team-mate is causing trouble again! I expect you to have a good talk to Thai about leaving innocent bystanders out of his deprived interests!"
"Huh," the gorgeous women being yelled at popped her head out of the door that lead to the morgue. "Anything concerning him I disown just as I have disowned him." Kei glanced at Tsunade before she noticed the boys standing behind the Hokage.
As her eyes focused on the orange clad boy her irritated expression was replaced with one of amazement. "Is that Naruto?" she asked moving forward to get a better look.
"KEI!" A booming voice disturbed the current atmosphere and the woman was tackled by a wall of green.
"Kei! Your back! You are blooming with youthful beauty! You are in the springtime of your life! You are so wonderful!" Gai held on to the slender form of the woman called Kei with bone crushing intensity while thick tracks of tears ran down his cheeks.
Needless to say Kei did not receive his energetic welcome with grace. In seconds she was pushing his now slimy face away from her and trying to push his body away from her with her foot wedged in between their bodies pushing against his chest. "Gai, get off."
"Oh, is that anyway to greet a good friend Kei," came a teasing voice.
Kei looked around Gai to see Kakashi casually standing with his hands in his pockets. Kei noted that her was wearing Jonin attire and not the ANBU uniform she had last seen him in. "Yo," he greeted with a eye-crinkled smile. That's not your real smile, you bastard. Just for that, I think pay-back is in order, Kei thought mischievously.
At that moment Gai tried giving her a kiss hello. Kei leaned even further back in distress.
Naruto and Shikamaru watched the scene in front of them in confusion.
"Well," Tsunade said next to the boys drawing in their attention, "I suppose I might as well take the opportunity to introduce your new team Captain, Shikamaru."
The Nara boy looked at the Hokage in confusion for a moment before his quick brain caught on. "She's our new captain?" Shikamaru asked. He wasn't exactly impressed with the choice as was evident in his expression.
In a second a slender elbow was leaning on Shikamaru's shoulder.
CRACK! Shikamaru and the others turned to the struggle in front of them to see that Gai-sensei had finally won and made contact with his lips to the form he embraced. Everyone gaped at the scene. This was mainly because the scene had had some drastic changes to it. At that moment Gai was kissing the masked face of Kakashi-sensei. Gai's eyes were still closed while Kakashi's visible eye was peeled back in horror.
"Nani?" screamed Naruto.
Gai sensei opened his eyes only to see what he was kissing. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The men screamed shrilly as they pushed away from each other.
"KAKASHI! Yo...you, it was..." Gai-sensei spluttered. In the moments following the realisation Gai passed out where he stood, not being able to take in what had happened a moment longer.
"Kei! That wasn't funny!" Kakashi screamed pointing at Shikamaru's shoulder. Shikamaru looked next to him and realised it had been the woman who had been leaning against him.
Naruto stared in awe. He had seen two extraordinary things today. First had been the two legendary rivals kissing, the second was Kakashi losing his cool.
His sensei had always had a cool aloof way of handling things, but right now he was yelling at this woman as if he was ... well, Naruto himself!
Kei laughed from where she stood. "Stop laughing! Its not funny!"
Shikamaru was staring at the woman that was his new Captain in shock. He hadn't thought much of her a moment ago. But she had just managed to slip out of Gai-sensei's firm hold, that had become legendary enough to have rumours that if he got his hands on you there was never an escape, ever. It wasn't just talk either.
Next she had performed a replacement technique using an object that was at least twenty meters away from her at the time. And her subject for the replacement just happened to be one of the elite ninja, not only of Konohagakure, but of all the ninja nations. Plus Kakashi was renowned for his fast reaction time, how quick did this woman have to be to pull such a move on him. The most frightening thing of all was that this had all been in fun. It chilled Shikamaru to think what she would do to a real enemy. Maybe she could help his team.
Kei grinned at the copy-nin. Seeing it put Kakashi on alert. But he failed again. In a second she was in front of him giving him a bright smile. "What you complaining about. Gai kissed your mask so your virtue is technically still in tact."
"Kakashi-sensei! Who is that?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi turned his attention to his student trying to cool his now hyper-mood. How come whenever this girl was around he resorted to the quick-tempered boy he use to be?
"This is Keiko. She is part of that group we were speaking about this morning." Kakashi resented a bit that he had to admit in front of her that he had actually even bothered talking about her but he was at a loss really of how else to get Naruto to make the connection.
"Really! That's amazing!" Naruto beamed in excitement at the concept of meeting one of the 'mystery-busters'.
"Oohw, you must be Uzamaki Naruto. You seem to be very famous in most of the ninja nations." She grinned at him and he grinned back.
"Don't you mean infamous," Tsunade commented, "This rascal has been giving me more problems than you."
"Aw, baachan!"
"Hmm, I can tell. He has the same mischievous smile as his mother. You must be fun to have around," Kei winked.
Naruto blushed at the compliment from the beauty before him. "You knew my mom?"
"Hai, she was my sensei."
Naruto's face brightened.
"Okay, the two of you can talk about this later and get to know each other. Right now Kei has some information to share with us about those ANBU bodies. So everyone, in the morgue now!" Tsunade ordered.
"The seals are on the blood cells and they are transferred through blood interaction?" Kakashi asked back to business.
"Not exactly, for some reason penetration into the body is necessary. The second the blood is exposed to air the seal vanishes. Also it depletes chakra, which is why people with the seals die. It is also why the ANBU fire-seal was negated. Unfortunately this means that chakra won't work to revert the process of contamination once it has begun."
Shikamaru felt a shiver at that bit of information.
"But why would Kabuto go to such an extent just to kill people? It doesn't sound like something more effective than a Kunei really." Kakashi asked.
"That is what I'm about to show you," Kei replied. She lead them to one of the autopsy rooms.
Inside was the regular medical equipment used for dissection, but most obvious was the cage in the centre of the room.
Inside was a body dressed in the ANBU clothing. What freaked Naruto out was that it was one of the corpses they had found. The difference now was that it was leaning in an upright position on its hunches its chin resting on its chest, leaving the face in shadow.
It was completely still until they moved further into the room.
There was a grunting sound. The head slowly lifted. Before anyone could comprehend the shock that the corpse had just moved, it lunged forward.
Its face was torn from scratch-marks and the white of its eyes had turned completely red. The rest of his skin was also ripped and torn, exposing muscle and bone in places. It lunged at the bars trying to get at the people now present in the room. It pushed at the bars of steel that were as thick as a grown man's thigh, till they gave way. Now lose he leapt forward at them, only to be deterred as another set of bars materialised to prevent him from progressing. At the sight and initial attack from the corpse, Shizune shrieked in fear.
"How long do the cages last Zee?" Kei asked still staring with a frown at the frantic corpse.
"About five minutes," replied a figure from the shadow of one of the walls.
The group turned to the shadowy figure but they were unable to distinguish the man from the wall. This was one of the rooms that was out of use as it had poor lighting. The lights flickered but left alot of shadow which just added to the current horror of the situation.
"Is...is that...?" Tsunade tried to ask her question but words failed her as she stared at the manic grotesque being within the cage.
"Yes. That's the real effects of the jutsu."
"They become... zombies?" Naruto asked. He had gone completely white in the face.
"Pretty much," Kei confirmed. "The second way a person can become infected by the blood-jutsu is to be bitten by one that has reached this phase. There is only one way to kill them once they become like this..." The cage began to screech in protest as the ANBU zombie began to desecrate it as it had the first. "Zee, let him out."
The shadow by the wall moved slightly and the cage dematerialised. The zombie rushed forward at an intense speed towards its prey. Shizune shrieked again while the others panicked. The creature leapt for the kill.
A moment later the group stared at the bloody mess on the floor. A headless body crashed forwards spilling bloody liquid at a rapid rate. The head rolled across the floor till it was stopped by the foot of the shadowed man.
Kei stood calmly, flicking blood off her short-sword which had just dismembered the zombie.
"Beheading them, is the only effective way of stopping them. Once the blood-jutsu takes over the heart the process of turning into a carnivorous zombie begins. The jutsu is unique in that it forms a rock hard wall around the heart preventing us from attacking the source of the zombie's fuel to continue attacking. The time it takes for a zombie to transform after being infected is around thirty minutes after being bitten and fifteen if injected."
"But... these bodies have been here for over a day now," Tsunade pointed out.
"Hai, these were extra specially made for Konohagakure. I was also shocked to find it had taken them this long to transform. When I analysed the three zombies earlier I noticed that their blood-jutsu also contained a time jutsu upon it. It would appear that Kabuto attended for them to make it into Konohagakure before transforming."
"That bastard!" Tsunade growled clenching her fists.
"But this jutsu is so complicated and complex, how did he figure out how to make such a thing in a short space of time?" Kakashi pondered aloud with a deep from of his face.
"He has been working on this for a year now. On the way back to Konohagakure we found various small villages that were infected by this blood-jutsu," Kei informed them, her arms crossed as she stared with anger at the corpse that lay before her.
The head was kicked from the shadows and Kei stopped it easily as if her and Zee were playing some sick form of soccer. Kei nudged the head back to the fallen body, then stepped back. In a moment blue jutsu-flames consumed the figure and combust the form till there was nothing but a burn mark on the floor.
"When you kill them, the original chakra returns?" Shikamaru asked sullenly.
"Hai, but now, it is pointless." Kei turned swiftly and left the room, her shadowy companion left with her ever careful to keep himself mostly shrouded in darkness.
Kakashi soon followed, watching Kei's back, knowing that her anger was at ten-fold in that moment. Kei was passionate about saving innocent people. If they had met entire villages under this jutsu who were innocent bystanders and she had not yet been able to negate the jutsu herself yet, she must be completely livid.
Tsunade left next knowing that despite the fact that Shizune was terrified she still would not leave this god-forsaken room without the Hokage. Tsunade also felt the bitter taste of anger and hate that filled the younger woman who had left before her. It was the only emotion she would truly let herself feel. If she were to dwell on the possibility of Kei and her team not arriving in the village when they had and what would have become of the people under her protection and responsibility, there would be no doubt that should would crumble in panic.
Naruto and Shikamaru were now the only ones left. Shikamaru eyed the burn mark on the floor. Shikamaru felt very weary and conflicted. His new Captain slayed things that were out of nightmare as if it were second nature. As much as that impressed him it also terrified him. He would have to keep an eye on this woman, she was dangerous.
He glanced to the side to see that Naruto was having a hard time processing what he had just seen. The blond junjurikki was clutching his fists and staring with a gaze that mingled fear and anger.
"Come on Naruto," Shikamaru gently placed a hand on the boys back and pushed him gently towards the exit. Naruto complied but his face remained in the same contorted expression.
"What kind of war have we gotten ourselves into," the blond spoke with acid dripping off each word.
Shikamaru eyed him with added respect. For once the fool of the class had gotten the point with extreme clarity and put it bluntly out in the open as only he could.
Echoes- Universe
Even if my voice dies out,
I will sing, even here,
And my song will be heard here!
The troubled night is buzzing in my ears
I will continue running after my uncertain future
But my hands only close in air again,
Listen to it, Listen to it,
The melody created from our confrontations.
Listen to me, Listen to me,
I will turn it into sound,
My voice remains fragile,
But one day, it will blare with force!
Listen to it, Listen to it,
The melody that you will wake up gently,
Listen to me, Listen to me,
Continue to you as you imagine.
In the next chapter:
How will Team Asuma handle having a new Captain?
Just what have The Others been up to the past nine years?
Why is Kakashi so conflicted about their return?
Can the remaining ex-ROOT members be trusted?
And who exactly does Ino have a crush on?
All answered and more.
Please Read and Review... Also if you have questions about your favourite characters being in this story, ask and i will let you know.
My first Naruto fanfic, Woohoo!
Also for those that are interested and read/watch Bleach, I am currently writing a story called The Ronin and the King's Key.