Naruto Shippuuden: A Time to Harvest
The team from Konoha leapt through the village on their way to the outer rim. Multiple thoughts raced through Aoba's mind that this attack was an act of sabotage from within the ranks of the village. Was someone trying to instill terror in the rest of the community? Were they extremists pursuing some as yet unknown agenda and hoping to extract a measure of conciliation from the Hidden Crystal? If so, how far were they willing to go for their cause? Was their team or even Konoha in danger? That this was the second such rescue mission they had mounted since arriving in the system was also a point not lost on Aoba.
The first time, they arrived as soon as they could and the result of their lateness resulted in the loss of a few villagers. They saved most of them but they could've saved more if they had gotten there sooner. A sour taste filled Aoba's mouth at the thought of those they had failed to save; a feeling that had not lessened no matter how much he had tried to dwell on the others they had saved.
We'll just have to do better this time, won't we?
Further complicating things for Aoba was their absent friends. They had the majority of the team but Gin and Satori were out in the village somewhere. They weren't at full strength but they could make do with out them, hopefully.
They cleared the tree line and to their shock. They all halted and stared in horror.
"What the hell?" Aoba said.
"All those people." Hanako said.
The entire area was flat and structures were destroyed. Nothing remained. Aoba turned to Yukino who was scanning the area with her Sekigan.
"Anything?"
She shook her head without looking to him. She kept her gaze fixed on the scene.
We were too late.
Nidan stood with a group of his subordinates on top of the highest point of the island. From this spot he could see the entire village. He did more hand seals and ended the sequence with a clap. He then raised his hands into the air and more lightning shot down. The lightning didn't strike the village, it struck his subordinates. They all transformed from humans into dark skinned creatures with wings; almost devil like. The only human like form they kept were the two arms, two legs and one head. Instead of vocalizing words, all they did was screech and howl. They were no longer humans.
"Now go, my minions. Go and eliminate the team from Konoha." Nidan said.
The black beasts lifted into the air and flew towards the village.
On the occasions that he had been taken hostage during his career, Shiranui Satori had been thrown into all manner of holding cells. This one in particular was made of a special stone that prevented chakra use. He liked this idea better than the idea the Rock had by implanting something in his chest to prevent chakra use. He therefore considered himself at least somewhat of an informed authority on what it was like to be detained by a hostile party.
Comparatively speaking, the space he and Gintokin found themselves in now was an utter pit.
"I see they spared no expense with our accommodations," Satori said as he paced the length of the room, which he had already measured to be five steps.
Following their capture, the two ninjas were stripped of their weapons and brought to this place. Satori had not been able to ascertain their location. Satori noticed that Gin wasn't as calm as he usually was. Something was stirring within him and Satori wanted to know what. They had time so there was no time like the present.
"Gin, what's going on with you?"
"That's the first time you've called me by my real name."
"What are you talking about? We call you Gin because it's short for Gintokin."
"But when I'm in my normal state I usually like to be called Kin. Because of my relaxed state it doesn't really bother me. However, when I'm like this I want to be called Gin."
"Ok, note to self, Kin when he's relaxed and Gin when he's angry. Got it." Satori said.
Satori got a good look at Gintokin's lowered face and saw that his normally half open eyes were fully opened and almost like they were full of rage.
"What is it, Gin?" Satori asked.
"They took it."
"Took what?"
"My love."
It took Satori a moment to realize what he was meaning. It was his Katana.
"Yeah, they took both of my sai. We'll get them back."
Gin looked up at Satori as if he was a little kid and had just been promised to go to the toy store if he ate all of his vegetables.
"Now talk to me. Why are you Gin now instead of Kin?"
"I get like this when people touch my love. No one is allowed to touch it."
Satori remembered at the island of Soukutsu that Gin nearly freaked out when a Mist ninja touched his sword.
"Why is that?"
"Because it was the last."
"The last what?"
"The last thing she ever gave me."
FLASHBACK
Five year old Gintokin walked down the streets of Konoha. He walked by himself with his hands in his pockets. He really wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere other than to get home on time for dinner. His sister's cooking was second to none in Konoha, in his opinion. Everything his sister made was exquisite and nothing short of that.
He turned the corner and the next thing he knew was the ground coming up fast to meet his face. As soon as he recovered from his fall, he rolled to his side to see how he had fallen. A group of boys that were not much older than him stood there, pointing and laughing.
"How are your parents, Gin? Oh that's right, you don't have any." One boy said.
In a flash, Gintokin was back on his feet and the others were on their backs. They attempted to get up and run but Gintokin was too fast for them. He grabbed them and slammed them up against the wall and beat all of them into submission.
Later that night, he stood with his head down and on the verge of tears. His 16 year old sister stood in front of him and relentlessly yelled at him.
"I HAVE ENOUGH GOING ON WITHOUT YOU BEING A PUNK AND GETTING TO FIGHTS FOR STUPID REASONS."
"But, Nee-san, they made fun of me because I have no parents."
"SO WHAT? YOU SHOULDN'T GET HYPED UP ABOUT SOME LITTLE THING. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE HERE DON'T HAVE PARENTS? I LOST COUNT.
Everything Gintokin could come up with to defend himself against his sister's onslaught was immediately shot down by his sister.
"YOU CAN'T GET INTO FIGHTS JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE MAKES FUN OF YOU. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
Gintokin nodded. His sister handed him a plate of food.
"Here. Go eat in your room tonight. I'm so disgusted with you right now I don't even want to look at you."
Gintokin took the plate and headed to his room. Hearing his sister's harsh words caused more tears to fall from his control and onto his plate.
I promise, Nee-san. I promise not to fight out of anger again. I'll make you proud of me.
As he headed up to his room, his sister leaned against the counter with her head down, collecting her thoughts. Then without warning, her body convulsed viciously as she went into a tangent of coughs. When she stopped cough, she lowered her hand and noticed a small pool of blood rested in her palm.
"Damn."
END FLASHBACK
The group from Konoha walked through the village. The sky had become overcast and it looked as if it was going to storm. Lightning even came shot through the sky. They didn't talk much due to their latest failure of getting to the outer rim on time to save those people. Then they heard a bunch of screeching and howling.
They turned around to see a group of winged humanoid bat creatures headed their way.
"What the hell?" Aoba asked.
The creatures swooped in as the Konoha ninjas leapt out of the way.
"What are those things?" Hanako asked.
"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like them before." Aoba said.
The creatures turned and headed back towards the Leaf team.
"They're coming around again." Junshin said.
The team launched kunai and shuriken at the creatures but they were more agile than they appeared. They just maneuvered around the weapons as they got closer to their targets.
"Let's try this." Aoba said as he did a series of handseals that ended with Tiger.
"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." (Fire Element: Great Fireball Technique)
Aoba blew a giant fireball at their attackers and hit three of them dead on. The three winged creatures flew right through the fireball and continued on their course towards them.
"Damn it. It didn't even faze them."
The Konoha ninjas dove out of the way again as the creatures swooped through and back into the overcast sky. They disappeared just as the lighting flashed again.
"Why didn't your Katon jutsu work on those…whatever they are?" Junshin asked.
"I don't know but I don't like it." Aoba said as he continued to walk towards their original destination.