Hello, everyone! I'm back with more about our favorite jinchuuriki and warrior twins!
* review response:
inuboy86, thank you. And right now.
Raidentensho, yes, this will Alicia/Naruto/Beth pairing story. Haven't I said this from the beginning? =)
Harteramo, Jimbobob5536, OBSERVER01, chaos5121, alice456, thank you!
InTheYearOfTheCat, sorry to disappoint (?) you, but that scribble was thought to be a part of a story with either hanyou-Naruto/human-Clare or hanyou-Naruto/human-Clare/Hilda story (Yes, I like Hilda too. She's really cool!) Teresa is only second plan character there.
DrunkManSquakin, 'bout #1/#2/#3 story I posted in russian. It's original (in english) is and protected by persons copyright. I'll try to contact the author, but until then you'll have to look for the story on that site. It's the only story under Alicia or Beth filter if I'm not mistaken... And Irene-raised Naruto story... for now I'll only post scribbles - I just don't want to start another epic story right now...
* jutsu list:
Kage bushin - (A-rank) shadow clone - do I need to describe it?
Katon: Riyuka - (C-rank) fire style: dragon fire - stream of fire
Rasengan - (A-rank) spiraling sphere - compressed ball of fast spinning chakra. acts much like drill.
Akai rasengan - (S-rank) red spiraling sphere - rasengan made of Kyuubi's yoki.
Unnamed wind-charged rasengan - (A border S-rank) - rasengan with wind-based chakra for more damage.
Unnamed yoki-burst shield - (unranked) - only Alicia and Beth can perform it. the technique itself is simply deflecting enemy's attack with a powerful burst of yoki
Unnamed yoki-amplified punch attack - (unranked) - only Alicia and Beth can perform it. the technique is based in amplifying the damage of attack with directed yoki-burst.
Chiyo's unnamed resurrection technique - (S-rank) - allows to return one back from the dead at the cost of jutsu user's own life.
* some translations:
Hyakki no Souen - Performance of the Hundred Puppets
Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu - Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu
chapter 3: On the way to finding self
When Naruto woke up next morning, Alicia and Beth were both up and, like yesterday, were sitting on the bed, facing each other, meditating. Though, something was telling the boy that this night the girls slept by his side. And if bed sheets were any indication, that was true, but, all in all, he didn't mind it...
After getting ready for the day, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki summoned single shadow clone and send it to find Jiraya. And just as the blond trio finished the breakfast Naruto made, toad sage landed onto kitchen windowsill, caring three extra, quite large, scrolls.
"Had a good night with your girlfriends, gaki?" Man asked, entering his apprentice's flat through the window.
"Wha?! It's not..." Naruto immediately responded with a noticeable blush finding its way onto his face. But Jiraya interrupted him.
"These are the seals you asked me to do yesterday. It took a lot of me to complete all three yoki analyzers in one day, so you better not waste any of them." Naruto nodded and took the scrolls from old pervert's hands. Laying the scrolls on the floor, blond shinobi unrolled them and took a quick glance at the seal to make sure that they were the same. Satisfied, he activated one of the seals and stepped into it, pouring some of Kyuubi's yoki out of his body. The seal sucked red energy into itself and glowed pale blue before returning to its original black color. Only now instead of empty place in the center, where Naruto stood, there was a complex diagram. Nodding to himself, blond jinchuuriki stepped out of the seal and rolled the scroll back. Summoning a brush and an ink well from the seal on his right hand, he labeled the scroll with his name.
"Thank you, Jiraya-ero-sennin." Ignoring man's comment on the lack of respect in him, Naruto turned to the girls, who had watched the whole thing with the scrolls with a hints of curiosity on their faces. "Alicia-chan, Beth-chan, step into the seals, please." The twin ex-warriors nodded and did as he said. "And can you channel some of your yoki now?" The girls nodded again and then closed their silver eyes, concentrating. As they accessed their yoki, it was immediately absorbed by the seals – Naruto and Jiraya could see it as a green mist-like energy being sucked into the complex array of symbols. "You can stop now." Kyuubi jinchuuriki said when the seals formed the diagrams. Understanding that they had to move out of his way, Alicia and Beth stepped out of the seals and walked aside as bond shinobi kneeled between the scrolls with the seals. Naruto looked through formed diagrams. At the first look they seemed exactly the same – which was to be expected since the girls were twins and, most probably, were given the flesh of the same yoma-... demon – but as he looked closer, he found small differences here and there. Nodding to himself again, Naruto rolled these scrolls too, labeling them with girls' names. "The first part is done..." He said quietly, putting all three scrolls against the kitchen wall. "Want some tea, ero-sennin?" Young jinchuuriki asked.
"That's Jiraya-sama, gaki! Thank you, but no, I have a research to do." The toad sennin replied, before vanishing in a swirl of wind and leaves.
***
'Is it even possible to get it out of this?' Naruto asked himself in his thoughts. It was already lunch time, which meant he spent at least four hours over his own yoki-diagram trying to find a way to comprehend what to do with this next. Surely, there were affinities, potential, effects and more about yoki on the diagram, but what wasn't there – how does all this is related with being human or not in the body... Finally deciding that it was enough for now, He summoned five clones to brainstorm the problem and then went to the kitchen to make a lunch for himself. One big bowl of instant ramen later Kyuubi jinchuuriki returned to the bedroom. The girls were still meditating, sitting on the bed, but as soon as he stepped through the door, they opened their silver eyes and looked at him. They wanted something, but... were they shy?
"W-We need to train, N-Naruto-sama." Alicia said finally, after several seconds of awkward silence, causing blond shinobi to sigh. He really hated all this '-sama' stuff. Sighing again, Naruto ran this idea in his head. And it was a good idea. Shinobi world was unpredictable and if the girls were to survive there, they needed to be strong. Plus he himself was slacking too much recently. The three of them needed to train. Only where? Deciding that the best way was just to occupy the first not currently used by someone else they come across, he nodded.
"Let's go then, Alicia-chan, Beth-chan." Girls stood up and, after putting their boots on and securing claymores on their backs, followed him to the training grounds.
Luckily for them, the first training ground they went to was currently unused, so there shouldn't be a problem if they occupy it. Telling the girls that they could train here for the time being, blond shinobi sat on the boulder and watched twin ex-warriors to walk from each other till there was about fifteen feet between them. Alicia and Beth turned to face each other and drew their claymores. Then they became blurs of black, silver and pale blond. Only this and fountains of sparks from the claymores meeting each other... Naruto summoned some of Kyuubi's yoki to his eyes and world around became much more clear, he could now see girls' movement. He needed to see how they fought – Alicia and Beth were too dependable on him right now and if he was to go on a mission, they'd have to go with him. And while on a mission, you needed to know what to expect from the people you are teamed with, or...
"Mind if I watch the show too?" Male voice asked form behind. This snapped Naruto back to reality: he was watching the girls training so closely that he lost the awareness of what was going on around him.
"No, I don't mind, Kakashi-sensei." Blond shinobi replied, looking up at his mentor. Silver-haired jounin closed his orange book and uncovered Obito's gift – his own eye couldn't keep up with the girls' movements. There was a minute of silence as two ninja watched twins spar.
"Aren't they the girls that were with you two day ago, you know, when we had that bell test?" Naruto nodded. "They are really good swordsmen. Maybe, the best in the Konoha. I dare say any shinobi will have problems taking them on..."
"No, Kakashi-sensei. While in terms of strength you're right, Alicia-chan and Beth-chan were taught to never raise their swords against humans. Even if they only try to defend themselves. Their strength is only to be used to slay demons." Jounin nodded in understanding. The world where the girls came from was really fucked up.
"But, do you know, how strong they really are?" Naruto nodded.
"Even with three tails of Kyuubi's power all I can do against them – try to dodge Alicia's attacks." Young jinchuuriki confessed.
"Alicia's attacks? But what about the other girl?" Kakashi asked, confused a bit.
"Let's say that Alicia can turn into demon of incredible power. But to keep her heart human and to revert her back from demon form, her sister is needed – Beth can't fight while she tames Alicia." Blond shinobi sighed. "It is really hard to explain with words..." He looked at the girls and saw that they stopped their spar and secured their claymores on their backs. "Just watch." One of the twins – Beth – closed her eyes and concentrated, moments later pillar of green yoki exploded from Alicia's body. When it died down, Alicia was in her awakened form. While Naruto had already seen her like this, Kakashi hadn't. Silver-haired jounin looked interested in girl's transformation and afraid of it at the same time. "Watch closely now." As soon as these words left Naruto's lips, Alicia turned into the blur, advancing towards one of the single trees in the clearing at inhuman speed. And dashed past it. Second later poor tree fell apart as a rain of wooden debris. "This is their power." Kyuubi jinchuuriki said.
"Amazing." Copy-cat nin agreed, awestricken.
"But don't think that they got this power for free, Kakashi-sensei. Not only they were turned into half-humans half-demons, they were robbed of their emotions and their minds. They were created to be perfect war machines." Naruto watched awakened Alicia go through several more attack patterns. "But they are healing from those wounds and regaining their emotions now. They still can be humans in mind and soul..." He paused for a moment. "And just maybe I'll be able to do more for them. No one deserves the fate of living weapon..." Silver-haired jounin nodded in understanding. By this time Alicia finished her training in awakened form and, with Beth help, of course, reverted back to human from: first the blades that were in place of her hands morphed back to human hands, as perfect as the were before this training session; then armor plates that came from her head turned to those marvelous pale-blond locks and her almost doll-like beautiful face replaced the purplish-gray mask of demon's; the rest of her body too returned to human from. Alicia was again a beautiful girl. Naruto turned to Beth. While her sister was perfectly fine even after such a training, ex number two looked tired, she was trying to catch her breath and there was some sweat on her forehead – keeping Alicia's heart human while she was awakened wasn't an easy task after all...
"What are you going to do now, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, looking at his student.
"I was slacking off for far too long – need to train. Mind if we spar?" Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied.
"No problems there." Copy-cat nin noticed that Naruto was looking at the small lake that was a part of this training ground. "You want to spar there?" Blond shinobi nodded.
"Yeah, should be a good training." Two ninja walked to the lake and took their fighting stances, seven meters between them, on the water surface. For several moments they just stood motionlessly, and they sprang into the action. Maybe, they weren't as fast as twin ex-warriors that were currently resting under the tree, but they had their jutsu to make up for that...
Almost hour later Beth watched as a bit beaten and positively tired silver-haired jounin walked towards the boulder near the tree under which she and her onee-sama were sitting. Naruto – and several of his shadow cloned – were still training. Still standing on the surface of the lake... This ability of his made her ...curious. Not seeing any way he could do this with what was visible, Beth came to conclusion that he had to be using yoki ...no, not yoki, chakra. Concentrating, she tried to sense Naruto-sama's chakra. This was much harder than sensing yoki of awakened beings, but still possible. What surprised her, was the fact that certain and almost constant amount of chakra was concentrated around Naruto's feet. So simple thing that allowed much greater mobility, yet no one at the organization ever thought about it! The skill of water-walking seemed to useful, so she and onee-sama should learn it... Having the idea, how to do it, Beth walked to the waterside and called her yoki forth, sending it to her feet. It was a hard task, but she could do this... Next she placed her right foot on the water surface and tried to find out the amount of yoki needed to do water-walking. This was even harder, but finally she found the right amount – not too small and too much, just enough to make water surface feel solid. Memorizing the feeling of her yoki, Beth attempted to make a step forward – towards Naruto-sama – and, with a bit of difficulty, succeeded... By the time Beth did fifth step, blond jinchuuriki finished his clones and turned around.
"Oh, Beth-chan?" He asked, really surprised to see her water-walking towards him. His voice broke ex-warrior's concentration and water exploded under her feet, sending her unbalanced up into the air. But before Beth fell into the water, Naruto caught her – in an almost bridal style, which the girl immediately found to be comfortable – and looked into her silver eyes: she was scared, even if only her eyes betrayed this. "Shh, It's OK... Don't worry..." He soothed her while caring to where Alicia was sitting – Kakashi-sensei was already gone long ago. Ex number one looked at him as he sat her sister by her side, but said or did nothing.
"Oh?" Alicia suddenly breathed out a second later as Beth sent her through soul-link all of her experience of water-walking, unintentionally complete with being carried in Naruto's arms. Sisters looked at each other before Beth cautiously placed her hand over Alicia's – she longed for human contact now and, as she felt through the link, her sister was too, after experiencing her memory... "You should have just asked me to help you, Beth-chan. Don't hesitate to ask something if you need or want it." Ex number one nodded. "And you too, Alicia-chan, m?" Moment later second twin nodded too. There was a silence for several seconds.
"Can we practice water-walking, Naruto-sama?" Beth asked, making blond jinchuuriki sigh again at being called '-sama'. But he nodded.
"Of course."
***
Naruto entered flower shop owned by Yamanaka clan. And immediately he was greeted by Ino, as usual with her long blond hair made into a ponytail and in her purple attire.
"...Naruto? What can I do for you? Which flowers do you need?"
"Sorry. I just need to speak with your father. Is he home?" Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied. Ino sighed – no one wanted to buy flowers today...
"Yeah, he is here. And about what if it's not a secret?" She asked.
"I need to ask for some more help with ...interesting medical case I came across." The girl nodded.
"OK, I'll ask if he will speak with you now." And not waiting for his response she flew away into the house of Yamanaka clan. Three minutes later she returned. "Father said that he can speak with you now. I'll lead you to him." This was the first time Naruto was in any clan's house. Yamanaka weren't that big clan, just three families, but their clan compound was rather large – mostly because of greenhouses they owned. Ino led him into a big house behind greenhouses. It was built in a rather simple, western style with its wooden walls painted white. Inside the house was light with birch parquet floor and walls made of some light wood panels. They entered large circle library that was the study too. Yamanaka Inoichi was already there, sitting in one of the armchairs.
"Good afternoon, Yamanaka-san." Naruto said with a slight bow.
"Good afternoon, Naruto-kun." Man replied. Then he turned to his daughter. "Ino-chan, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak with our guest in private." Ino pouted, but nodded and left the room. "I take it that you wanted to talk about your girls, Naruto-kun?" Inoichi asked and young jinchuuriki nodded, blushing a bit.
"Yes. You see, they are too dependant on me right now: they neither have social skills nor they have any knowledge about life in Konoha. Soon I'll have to go on a missions again and I'm afraid, they won't survive here without me." Yamanaka patriarch nodded in agreement. "Beth-chan explained me and e-... Jiraya-sensei, that warrior like them can't kill or even wound humans, no matter the circumstances. What I wanted to ask, can you at least weaken this 'moral' block? I think, I'll have to take them on missions with me, but the way they are now – they'll be useless." Inoichi nodded again.
"I see. You want me to weaken or remove their 'moral' block about not wounding or killing people, so that you can take them with you on missions and not be afraid about them being the dead weight." Naruto nodded: this was exactly what he wanted. "I think I can do this, but, unfortunately for you, not for free."
"How about B-rank mission payment? I can't pay more now, but if you want, I can make payment by installments..." Inoichi laughed.
"No, B-rank payment should be enough."
"Then... When can you do this?" Naruto asked.
"If Tsunade-sama doesn't give me any missions, I'm busy only on Wednesday mornings with all that council, quote Shikaku, troublesome stuff. I think tomorrow afternoon here will be OK? I need some time to think about the approach to the problem solution." The man said.
"Thank you. ...Um. And when I will have enough money, will you break blocks on Alicia-chan and Beth-chan's emotions?" Kyuubi jinchuuriki asked.
"No problems. And yes, this offer is just too interesting to pass by." Inoichi replied with a smile.
"Thank you and have a nice day, Yamanaka-san." With this Naruto stood up and formed a cross-shaped handseal. Moment later he disappeared in a poof of white smoke.
"Shadow clone?" Still smiling Inoichi said to himself. 'Interesting... He maybe right, that girls won't survive without him for a long time, but not to leave their side even for thirty minutes? Looks like our 'demon-brat'...' Yamanaka patriarch chuckled. As a master of mind techniques he, of course, knew that Naruto was his own person and not the demon, that was sealed in his body. '...has a thing for two beautiful demon slayers just as much as they fell for him and neither of them know it, heh. It'd be an interesting relationship to watch.'
***
Several days later Naruto, Inoichi and the girls were standing in front of Godaime Hokage.
"So why did you wish to see me, Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking straight into blond jinchuuriki's eyes, making him feel a little uneasy.
"Um… Well, ba-... Obaa-chan..."
"Show me some respect, gaki!" Hokage immediately threw thick scroll from her table at Naruto, but Alicia caught it easily. The girl looked at her 'master' and as Naruto nodded, tossed the scroll back to Tsunade.
"Um... Inoichi-san fixed the 'moral' problem of Alicia-chan and Beth-chan two days ago... So I think, we can take some missions now, perhaps even B-rank ones." Young jinchuuriki looked at Inoichi for some support.
"As Naruto-kun there said, I did work a little bit on the girls. True to the report, they had moral block that didn't allow them killing or even wounding humans and, while I couldn't remove it completely, now they can at very least raise their blades to protect themselves or others."
"And, Inoichi-san, what would you say about allowing the girls go on mission with our blond ball of energy?" Tsunade asked, going through some papers that Yamanaka patriarch brought with him.
"I'd say that they can perform escort or reconnaissance mission with little to no problem, but missions that will certainly require going into fights are not what they should take." Hokage nodded.
"Thank you, Inoichi-san. If this is all, you're free to go." The man nodded. "You are dismissed then." Inoichi bowed a bit and left Tsunade's office. As soon as the door was closed, Hokage looked at Naruto once again. "And how is your little 'research' going, gaki?"
"I almost finished interpreting Alicia-chan and Beth-chan's yoki diagrams, but that's all for the time being. As I said, even with clones, it'll take month to create the seal." Tsunade nodded again.
"Are you sure, you want to go on a mission? Maybe you should stay in the village and continue your work?" She asked then.
"Don't I need money to live, obaa-chan?" Female Hokage sighed.
"OK, OK... How about escorting caravan to River country and back; B-rank, starts in two days? You, girls, as you made a point that they are too dependent on you to leave them alone in the village, Kakashi-san and Sakura." Naruto nodded eagerly.
"We will complete this mission!"
"Good..." Hokage said, writing something on the one of many scrolls on her table. "If this is all, you're dismissed, gaki." Naruto nodded and started walking towards the door of the office. Alicia and Beth, who never said even one word during the whole 'meeting', silently followed him.
***
Mission took fifteen days to complete and went without any problems. On one hand Naruto was happy that everything went smoothly, but on the other... he wanted to fight some bad guys. And he still couldn't catch the girls sleep by his side, though, judging by Kakashi's giggles and strange looks Sakura was giving him, he was the only one who couldn't...
Banishing the thoughts about pretty twin warriors and himself out of his mind, young jinchuuriki concentrated on pushing more wind-natured chakra into the tight ball of energy that the rasengan in his hand was. Thinking, that he charged the jutsu enough, Naruto dismissed his assistant clone and dashed towards the closest boulder, trying to reach it before he lost control over his technique. And he made it to the boulder, but as soon as the wind-charged rasengan touched the rock, it went out of his control. It drilled almost foot into the boulder, before exploding, luckily for the blond shinobi, not in his direction. Unluckily... In the direction where Alicia and Beth were doing their own training. And currently ex-number one was performing controlled awakening – more precisely, she was building her yoki up to needed level.
Sudden movement caught her attention and Alicia saw stone debris that was flying in her direction. And while awakening she couldn't move, so she had only two options: either she tried to complete her awakening before she is hit, something that seemed to be impossible in this case, or she could release all the yoki she had built by now at instant and try to dodge incoming "projectiles".
Raw, untamed energy exploded outwards Alicia's body, creating pale-green "shield" around the girl. The warrior readied herself to dodge stone debris, but to her surprise found out that the yoki she just had released already knocked "projectiles" away from her. And, as soon as she understood what happened, she sent this "experience" to Beth through their soul-link. This "shield" might be useful after all...
"Alicia-chan, are you alright? Thank God!" Worried Naruto landed in front of her. "I'm so sorry, I just never..." Even being as they are, the girls could feel, that their "master" was on the verge of going into self-loathing for what happened, and decided to interrupt him.
"I'm fine, Naruto-sama. Do not worry about it." Alicia replied in her usual next-to-emotionless voice. Deciding that she was right – no damage was done, he just should be careful next time he tries new or powerful jutsu – young jinchuuriki allowed himself to ask the girls about the yoki release Alicia performed, that protected her.
"Umm... If you say so... If I can ask, was that the yoki burst that protected you, Alicia-chan?"
"I believe it was." The girl replied and Beth nodded slightly in agreement with her twin. Naruto remembered the expression on Alicia's face when she saw her yoki knock away "projectiles".
"And it was the first time something like this happened?" The girls simultaneously nodded. "Then you just found a good shield, though it may not work very well against heavy projectiles or continual attacks." Twin warriors nodded again. There was a short pause, before Naruto decided to continue. "And if you can create directed bursts of yoki from your hands, you'll have another good offensive move. Your swords are good and all, but what if you don't have them with you?" Of course, neither girl answered the question, but Beth walked towards what was left from the boulder Naruto tried his new rasengan on. She stood over it for some time, concentrating. Then, with a speed he barely could follow, she brought her fist down, sending a wave of greenish yoki down into the rock. And as a shockwave passed through it, it turned into tiny chips, and a decent crater appeared under Beth's fist.
"Like this, N-Naruto-sama?" The girl asked and young jinchuuriki nodded uneasily.
"Remind me to never be on the receiving end of your punches, Beth-chan."
***
During the next week the girls if not mastered their yoki-shields and enchanted punches, at very least brought them to the level where they could be used in the real combat. Naruto would let them perfect the techniques on his shadow clones, but with more than a hundred of them working almost nonstop on the seals, he was a bit short on chakra for that.
Naruto and the girls were walking towards training grounds for their morning training, when Kyuubi jinchuuriki spotted big brown hawk, looking rather tired, flying towards Hokage tower. And on the queue he remembered that a cup dotted in his hand earlier in the morning.
'Something bad happened. But what? The messaging hawk looked tired and it flew from the west. Only neutral River country and allied Wind country are in that direction... Suna... Gaara! Shit!' A dark feeling that he was right and something bad happened to his fellow jinchuuriki stooped blond shinobi dead on his tracks.
"S-Something happened, N-Naruto-sama?" Beth asked with concern, even if only Naruto could hear and understand it, in her voice.
"I fear, yes. Follow me, Alicia-chan, Beth-chan." And he dashed towards Hokage tower with all the speed he could master.
"Something happened, Naruto?" Tsunade asked, looking at heavy breathing jinchuuriki who stormed into her office less than a minute ago. The girls, who followed him, although, looked perfectly fine. Naruto looked at Hokage. Apparently, the message was still on its way to Godaime... "What do you want, Naruto, I don't have time to play with you!" Oh, God, Hokage was pissed now!
"Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama!" But Shizune entered the office, caring small scroll with Suna insigne on it in her hands. "Urgent message from Sunagakure. Gaara-sama was kidnapped by Akatsuki!"
"Naruto?" Hokage looked at him.
"I just felt... that something bad happened... and wanted to find out what. But looks like I arrived a bit too early." Kyuubi jinchuuriki replied, still panting a bit from his run.
"Hmm... I take it, you want to go on a mission to rescue our Godaime Kazekage?" Tsunade asked. Naruto nodded.
"And Alicia-chan and Beth-chan are going too: they can sense yoki. It'll be much easier to find Gaara with their help. And the ban on hurting people placed on them was lifted. They can fight now." Hokage listened to his reasoning and couldn't help, but agree with him: with someone, who can sense yoki, finding jinchuuriki, as long as he is alive, should be much easier.
"OK. Sakura, Kakashi and one ANBU operative will go too. You'll live village in two hours. Tomorrow team Gai will return from their mission and I'll send them to assist you. Questions?" Naruto shook his head. "Dismissed."
"Alicia-chan, Beth-chan, let's go, we have a friend to save." And three blonds went out of the door...
Two hours later Naruto, the twins, Sakura and Kakashi, along with brown-haired man in ANBU clothes, but without mask, were standing in front of Konoha's west gates. Silver-haired jounin was explaining the plan for the mission, and Kyuubi jinchuuriki didn't agree with it.
"But, Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't it be better if we split? I, Alicia-chan and Beth-chan will go look for the Akatsuki base, while you, Sakura-chan and Tenzou-san will head to Suna to help there. Once we find where Gaara is, I'll send you shadow clone and another one to Gai's team." Naruto said.
"Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you, Naruto..." Kakashi replied. "But we don't know how many Akatsuki agents will be around Gaara when you find him. I might happen that you and the girls won't be able to defeat or run from them. Plus your shadow clone may be destroyed before it gives information to us or Gai. We will proceed in one group." Blond genin sighed, but Kakashi-sensei was his superior and he could do nothing...
"If there are no more questions about the mission right now, let's go, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou said. After waiting for several seconds Silver-haired jounin nodded. The mission began.
***
In first two days, the six covered all the way to the border of the Wind country. It was decided to take a short rest in one of the inns in the village, but, by chance, they ran into Temari, who was returning home from some kind of diplomatic mission. And as soon as she heard that her brother was kidnapped by Akatsuki, the chance for rest for Konoha shinobi was hone – wind mistress dragged them out of the inn and all the way to the Hidden Sand with not even one halt. As they entered the village, Temari was told that her other brother, Kankuro, was wounded and dying in the hospital... It took Sakura several hours, but she saved the man. The rest of that day the Konoha shinobi were resting – finally – and readying themselves for the oncoming fights. In the morning Naruto, the twin ex-warriors, Sakura, Kakashi and Tenzou were joined by short old woman named Chiyo, while Temari stayed behind to help with Sunagakure no Sato's defenses. The seven, using Kakashi's dogs and Alicia's and Beth yoki sensing quickly found the trail to the Akatsuki hideout where Gaara should be... It was hour past noon and the seven already entered River country, when single man in black with red clouds cloak walked in front of them.
"Uchiha Itachi..." Growled Kakashi, uncovering his left eye.
"Good day to you too, Kakashi-senpai. Naruto-kun, you are there too? – what a pleasant surprise." Then he looked at Alicia and Beth "And who might these beauties be? They have an aura of strength, yet I never even heard about them..."
"What do you want?" Silver-haired jounin said angrily.
"I just have to delay you. We almost finished the procedure and your interference isn't what we need right now." As Naruto heard him, he felt hot waves of malice wash over him. His eyes turned crimson with slitted pupil, his fangs and nails elongated and sharpened... The ex-warriors felt the increase of yoki level in their master and got ready to draw their claymores, but were stopped.
"Don't. I'll be fine." Kyuubi jinchuuriki roared. "Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, cover me." Two shinobi nodded and got ready. "Alicia-chan, Beth-chan, your help will be needed too." Moment after twins confirmed that they understood him, Naruto dropped from everybody's sight. When this happened, Sakura brought her fist down, causing the ground to tremble. And Itachi to lose his balance.
"Katon: Riyuka!" Kakashi exhaled a long stream of fire, exploiting the opening. But, of course, Itachi wasn't S-rank ninja for nothing and evaded the attack.
"Akai rasengan!" Six Narutos with dark orange rasengans jumped at Akatsuki member from all directions from beneath the ground, but again, Itachi dodged all attacks. "Now!" Naruto's demonic voice said from behind, forcing Itachi to turn around. Last thing Itachi saw were grinning Naruto and two yoki-amplified punches from Alicia and Beth. The girls that were standing with the rest of the group exploded into clouds of white smoke, revealing themselves as henge'd shadow clones.
"Good work Naruto. You'll be good team leader." Kakashi praised his student. Then there was another poof of smoke and Itachi's body, broken by girls' attack, changed into the one of Suna ninja.
"Yura? I'd never guess that he was working for the Akatsuki..." Chiyo said, looking at the man.
"Umm... I think, we should hurry and try to save Gaara until it's too late." Naruto interrupted her and everybody agreed with him. The seven continued on their way to save Gaara.
An hour later they finally reached Akatsuki hideout. It was a cave with the entrance blocked by seal-reinforced giant stone. Just several seconds after them team Gai arrived. They looked like they too had a fight with a strong enemy. And they had it worse than the seven, but still they were ready to go on with this mission...
"Kakashi, my eternal rival, you arrived here before me? Now I'll have to run hundred laps around Konoha on my arm to restore my flames of youth!" Joinin in green spandex shouted.
"I'll join you, Gai-sensei! And if I can't do this, I'll do one thousand push-ups!" His chuunin 'clone' named Rock Lee joined him.
"Of course, my youthful student! And if we..." Kakashi coughed, interrupting the duo.
"I think, we should save Gaara-san first." Silver-haired jounin said, earning a nod from everybody.
"The entrance of the cave if blocked by Five seal barrier. In order to remove it, all five seals must be removed at the same time." Naruto said, deep in his thoughts. "I can do this with my shadow clones, but the seals might be guarded and we don't want anything attacking us from behind..."
"My youthful team will take care of the seals. We should use radio to remove the seals simultaneously." Gai said. "Neji, can you find four other seals for us?" Hyuuga boy nodded and, activating his eyes, gave the coordinates. Naruto, Kakashi and team Gai put radios on. The blond shinobi instructed Alicia and Beth to destroy the rock as soon as he removes the seal from it... Minute later all members of team Gai reported that they were in position. Kakashi did the count down and the seals were removed. Naruto immediately jumped from the rock as two yoki-amplified punches turned in into a pile of chips moment later. Unfortunately, they were late, as inside the cave there were two Akatsuki members, Akasuna no Sasori and Iwa missing-nin Deidara, sitting on the dead body of Godaime Kazekage.
"Hmm... And which one of you is Kyuubi jinchuuriki?" Deidara asked, placing his hands into his pouches.
"Itachi said, that he must be blond. There is only one blond male among them." Sasori replied in mechanical voice, baring his scorpion tail.
"Can I turn the rest of them into the art, Sasori no danna? Can I?" Mad bomber asked, creating big ugly clay bird and making it swallow Gaara's body.
"There is only one form of the art in the world. And it is my art. Now be gone, you'll hinder me there." Deidara let out 'Hnn' sound, jumped onto his bird and flew out of the cave.
"What will we do now?" Kakashi asked.
"I, Alicia-chan, Beth-chan and, I suppose, Chiyo-san will stay here and fight Sasori. You, Tenzou-san and Sakura-chan should go after Deidara." Naruto replied.
"Can I ask, why?" Silver-haired jounin inquired.
"It's simple, you three are the best against him: Deidara uses Earth-style attacks, so your lightning jutsu will be most effective against him, Kakashi-sensei. Tenzou-san will provide you with defenses against his bombs and Sakura-chan will heal any wounds you'll receive." Kakashi nodded.
"All right. Let's go,"
"Wait a second." Sakura gave Naruto two cylindrical objects. "Use them wisely. They are working for only three minutes." The blond jinchuuriki nodded.
"Thank you."And then three ninjas were gone.
"So, this means, I'll fight you four. Not the best case scenario, right, baa-san?" Sasori said, before launching several kunai at Naruto, the girls and Chiyo. In a blink of an eye Alicia drew her claymore and swung it in a full circle, knocking all the projectiles away. "So, we have a good swordsman here. Nice. My collection needs more puppets." This time Akatsuki puppet master launched a hail of senbon needles from the device on his left hand. Now Alicia and Beth had to work together to deflect the attack with their yoki-bursts.
"Don't you think, it is our turn to attack now, oh, great Sasori no danna?" Naruto asked mockingly, flashing through short sequence of handseals. "Fuuton: kaze no yaiba!" A pale ark of wind blade was sent in Sasori's direction, but Suna missing-nin jumped out of the jutsu's way with no problem. "Chiyo-san, can you sidetrack his attention for several seconds? Something doesn't feel right about him and I want to find out what." Old woman nodded and produced five kunai on a string. Kunai hanged in the air for a second, before being launched by invisible force into Sasori. Again, Akatsuki puppeteer dodge the attack.
"What did you find out, Naruto-san?"
"What we see is nothing more than an outer shell, puppet, controlled from inside. In it, there is another puppet-like body. Actually, the only living part of him is chakra core and the bare minimum needed for it to be working." Blond jinchuuriki replied.
"Very good, you are the first one to find out my secret so fast. But will it help you?" Sasori said.
"Of course." Naruto replied, forming cross-shaped handseal "Kage bushin!" Two dozens of shadow clones appeared in front of the four. And were almost immediately wiped out by the hail of kunai. When the smoke from clones dissipated, there were no one there. Suddenly Sasori had to block with his tail single kunai aimed at Hiruko's midsection, where his 'real' body was. Turning around he saw Naruto and Chiyo there. Before he could move out of their way, Alicia and Beth attacked him from the sides with yoki-amplified punches. Just a blink of an eye before Hiruko was destroyed, Sasori's 'real' body jumped out of now useless puppet.
"I see... I had underestimated you, but this will never happen again." Sasori, who now looked like redhead teenager, still in Akatsuki cloak, said, summoning a big puppet in dark cloak.
"I-Impossible! You... You killed Sandaime?" Chiyo asked, recognizing missing Kazekage in the puppet. Akatsuki puppeteer replied nothing.
"Sandaime Kazekage of the Iron Sand?" Naruto asked with slight fear in his voice. Chiyo nodded. And at the same time gray metallic sand, that was appearing out of nowhere, started forming hanging in the air blades. "This is very bad. Alicia-chan, treat our enemy as if he is the demon. Very strong demon. I and Chiyo-san will protect Beth-chan." The girls nodded.
"Yes, Naruto-sama." Beth moved behind her master and his ally and concentrated. Moments later green yoki exploded out of Alicia's body and when it died down, ex number one was in her awakened form. Choosing her to be his primary target, Sasori sent iron sand blocks in her direction, trying to crush her. But Alicia sliced them with her scythe-like blades like hot knife slices butter.
"My, my, you are really interesting girl. And you will be very strong puppet once I finish with you." Suna missing-nin said, sending a hail of conjured kunai into Alicia, but she dodged all of them and started advancing towards the puppet of Sandaime Kazekage. Sensing that his precious puppet was in danger, Sasori was sending attack after attack into Alicia, but she either evaded them or sliced her way through... "You, damn monster!" Now clearly seeing that he won't be able to save his piece of art, Sasori decided to self-destruct the puppet. Unfortunately for him, Alicia's blades cut it into pieces before his command reached it.
"If that was your best puppet, Sasori no danna..." Naruto mocked Akatsuki puppeteer. "...you've already lost the battle." Redhead only laughed in response.
"Don't be ridiculous, Naruto-san, my best puppet is... myself!" Dodging Alicia's attack, Sasori threw his cloak away, finally showing what was hidden under it. In place where normal human must have guts, he had coiled hose with sharp needle-like tip. Right side of his chest had an opening, covered with a lid and in the left side there was installed cylinder, that contained all his biological parts. On his back Sasori had two sets of big blades and three sealing scrolls. The top scroll glowed dangerously and, seeing that, Beth told her sister through the soul link to get the hell out of there. Only this 'message' save ex number one from being incinerated by the fire that came from Sasori's palms. He kept Naruto, Chiyo and Beth hiding behind the rock and at the same time tried to burn Alicia, but the girl was too fast for him... Deciding, that it'd better to have her on defensive too, Sasori switched to water cannon and attacked three other opponents with thin stream of water, the one than was able to cut through stones.
"Shit!" Naruto jumped away, trying to avoid being cut in two by the water, still, he got rather bad wound on his side. From behind him Beth hissed in pain as she just lost her right wrist to the attack. Thankfully, at the same time Alicia managed to get inside Sasori's defenses and destroyed his fire/water stream launchers. As soon as redheaded puppeteer was temporary, even if for just a second, without any means to attack, she fell back to her sister and released her awakened form.
"Iron sand, fire, water... What else does he have?" Chiyo asked aloud, opening a scroll with ten seals. Ten puppets in white clothes appeared from those seals.
"Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu? Ten puppets with which you once took over a castle, baa-san?" Sasori asked. "Meet my Hyakki no Souen, With them I can take over entire country!" Final scroll form Akatsuki puppeteer's back disappeared, while the lid on the right side of his chest opened, and one hundred puppets, clad in crimson, appeared.
"One hundred puppets? Is it even possible to control this match?" Naruto asked, surprised. Sasori's puppets 'warmed up' in response. "Apparently it is... Alicia-chan, Beth-chan, are you two alright?"
"We will be all right, Naruto-sama." Ex number one replied – her sister was too concentrated on regenerating her lost wrist to respond. Blond jinchuuriki nodded and turned to Chiyo. "We need to strike his chakra core. I can do this, but I'll need his puppets to be taken care of." Woman nodded.
"Ten against hundred isn't the best match, but he for sure will find it difficult to control all the puppets at the same time effectively. We have a chance." And then she made her puppets attack... Naruto summoned shadow clone to create wind-charged rasengan. As soon as the jutsu was charged, Chiyo-baa-san cleared the way to Sasori's 'body' for him, and blond shinobi charged. With some problems on his short way, Naruto still reached Akatsuki puppeteer and tried to hit his vital area with the rasengan. The luck, though, was on Sasori's side this time, as he managed to partially evade the attack – his puppet body was ruined, but his chakra core survived the attack without a scratch and successfully moved itself into another puppet.
"Damn you all!" Sasori tried to regain his control over the Hyakki no Souen, but his opponents decided to exploit his interim defenselessness.
"Alicia-chan, Beth-chan, can you hold him down for a moment?" Naruto asked, seeing that ex number two finished regenerating. The girls nodded and dashed towards Sasori, trying to reach him before his puppets made this impossible. And they made it in time, capturing man's arm, so that he had no way to run away or evade attacks. Sasori tried to break free from the girls' grip, but even his puppet body was too weak against these ...monsters. He got ready to switch 'body' again, but Naruto chose this moment to hit him with a wind-based rasengan, albeit rather weal one... But still, entire chakra system of his was damaged beyond repair. Sasori was dying... Even his perfect art wasn't able to last for the eternity... Sasori called all the power that was left in him and spoke: after all, the blond kid and the girls with him deserved a prize for defeating him...
"You wanted to find out more... about Orochimaru and Sasuke... eh, Naruto-kun?.. Listen... to me... in twenty three days... I had a meeting... with my spy in... snake's den... on the bridge of... earth and heaven... at noon... be there..." Using all of his willpower, Akatsuki puppeteer continued. "This... information is... my prize to you... for defeating... me..." And Sasori closed his eyes for the final time in his life... Second later his 'body' became nothing more than a puppet with its strings cut...
"Thank you... Sasori-san." Naruto said quietly.
The four, led by Beth, followed weak trail of Shukaku's yoki, some of which was still in Gaara's dead body... Chiyo was looking more tired with each passing minute – her age was finally catching up with her... or was it poisoning from evaporated toxins that were on all of Sasori's weapons? Naruto offered her antidote several times, but she refused to use it... Finally, they found Kakashi, Sakura and Tenzou in the large clearing in forest not far from, now destroyed, Akatsuki hideout. Three nins were surrounded by numerous craters from explosions, rocks and chunks of wood, created by jutsu and just various debris. Gaara's body was intact and with them.
"Can you help me, Naruto?" Chiyo asked, walking towards Godaime Kazekage's body. "I used too much chakra to pull this jutsu off on my own." She sat on Gaara's side and placed her hand on boy's chest. Kyuubi jinchuuriki nodded and and took his place on the opposite side of his friend's body, placing his hands over Chiyo's... Blue glow surrounded them.
"Is it medical jutsu?" Sakura asked. "Gaara is dead. It won't work."
"No. It's resurrection." Said Neji, who along with the rest of team Gai – all members of which looked worse for wear, entered the clearing. "Chiyo-san is exchanging her life for Gaara's." Hearing this, Naruto looked at the woman.
"Is this why you refused to use antidote?" She nodded.
"Why should you try to save someone, who will die soon anyway." Small tears appeared in Naruto's eyes.
"W-Why are you doing this?" Chiyo sighed.
"I'm old... I'm very old... And it's well past the time my generation was governing. You showed me, that we need to give a chance to the young ones. Tell Gaara that... This is his time to live... And tell him... that I'm sorry... for the Shukaku... I placed in him... Goodbye." And as the last word left her lips, she left this world.
"Rest in peace, Chiyo-sama..." Blond jinchuuriki saw Gaara returning to life and quickly helped him to sit up. "Welcome back to the world, my friend.".
***
"Is everyone ready?" Inoichi asked, looking at Beth, Naruto, who had his hands protectively on girl's shoulders and Alicia, who had her twin's hand in her own. At their nods Yamanaka patriarch entered Beth's mind. Today was the day when she - it was decided that they will do the same for Alicia later - will get her emotions back... Half an hour later, the man returned. "operation was successful, but she will be out for some time: her mind will need some time to adapt to the emotional block being removed." Naruto nodded.
"Thank you." Inoichi allowed them use one of the guest rooms in the compound for the time being, so the three moved there... It was almost sunset, when Beth opened her silver eyes.
"Onee-sama..." Moments later she enveloped her sister in a hug, crying silently, events of the mission they completed just three days ago still fresh in her mind. Beth looked at the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and then brough him into the hug too. "Naruto-sama..." The blond shinobi placed his hands around her, trying to sooth the girl.
"Shh... We are here... everything will be alright..." Finally, Beth looked up at him, tears still in her eyes, and smiled.
This is all for now, sorry, but no updates here until after New Year... so, Merry Christmas and Happy New year everyone!
But "Konoha's young sage" will be updated before the end of december, on Christmas eve most probably, so stay tuned!
But right now, this is all, guys. bye!
