The Clan Wars
Chapter 2: What the hell do we do now?
Have I ever said how much I hate being bored? I hate doing nothing and I hate having nothing to do. I was sure that by the end of the two days, Gaara was going to break out of his cell and kill me. An annoyed Gaara is not a fun one. Trust me.
But, it wasn't all bad. They gave us water, so the huge headache that was developing had diminished greatly. Scratch that. It was a nightmare. I was starving. You would think that after a few days without food my stomach would just accept that fact it wasn't getting fed anytime soon. But, no. It had to either ache, or keep growling, or make me dream of ramen in my sleep. Oh, the torture! And then I would be miserable and mope and then Gaara would call me a drama queen. It really hurt my feelings, you know. Having your only remaining friend call you a drama queen and tell you to shut up and deal with it. Personally, I think Gaara was hungry too and it was making him grumpy.
I did get to spend a lot of time with Gaara. Even if we only communicated through our bijuu we talked a lot. I don't know when it happened. Maybe it was when I thought Gaara had died all those years ago when he was kidnapped by Akatsuki. Or maybe it was when I became Hokage and we saw each other a lot more often for things like war meetings and solidifying our alliance. But somewhere along the way, I started thinking of Gaara as more than just a friend. I mean we were the best of friends but it was more like we had a connection of some sort. Now I sounded all mushy and fluffy. But, really, I cared more for him than just a regular friend would.
And its not like one of those bonds between brothers or something. Cause man, Gaara was hot! Yes, yes. I was greatly attracted to him. But who wouldn't be? Not only was he gorgeous, but he was the best friend I could ever have. He always seemed to understand my thought process. Which, by the way, there wasn't much rhyme or reason to the order of my thoughts. Things sometimes just popped into my head. I couldn't help it.
But, I was stuck. Not only were we in the middle of saving out futures but Gaara was clueless! I mean he was a total genius, a great leader, and fantastic friend, but he had the emotional intelligence of a baby! Sometimes he just didn't understand why people acted a certain way. It was probably because of his horrible childhood. He had no social interaction. Even less than myself. He had progressed greatly in the last couple of years, ever since he stopped going on killing sprees. He had made friends and reconnected with his family; gained the trust and admiration of his village.
So how was I to know if he was capable or not of returning my feelings or even understanding them? Despite how much Kurama insisted, it wasn't like I could just jump him or something. Yes, the demon trapped in my stomach was incredibly horny. Apparently, not having sex for over eighteen years does that to a person... umm... demon.
Now that I was sure of my feelings, I knew that I had to proceed cautiously. Who knew that being trapped for a couple days was so good for sorting out your emotions? Maybe I should try it more often.
I woke up to the sound of a door opening and a sudden brightness within our prison. Knowing Gaara, he was most likely awake. In fact, it was incredibly likely that he hadn't slept at all since our capture. But, he was more than capable of staying awake for this long. He had had plenty of practice.
It was the same three who had interrogated us two days ago: Aki, Hashirama, and Tobirama. However, they were accompanied by a woman. Her long, red hair was pulled up into buns and she wore a dark green battle kimono. Mito Uzumaki. I recognized her from the history books.
I suspected that the Senju wanted to examine our seals and determine their purpose since we were so reluctant to reveal it. We could only hope for the best.
Like two days ago, Hashirama bound us with his mokuton and we were escorted to the interrogation room. Hashirama maneuvered the roots so my stomach and Gaara's shoulder were revealed.
"Mito, could you take a look at these seals for us?" Hashirama asked.
Mito silently glided forward. "Remember that I am not yet a seal master. I may not be able to determine their full purpose," she responded.
"Try your best, Mito-chan. Anything helps," Aki reassured.
Mito examined Gaara's seal first, lifting his ripped seal so she could examine it more easily. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at it. "This one has two separate layers. The original was broken and repaired and the second layer is used for reinforcement. The original seal is poorly made but the second layer is incredibly complex and very similar to Uzumaki fuuinjutsu." She looked sharply at Gaara. "Who drew this second layer?" she asked.
Gaara's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent. Mito's eyes tightened with annoyance.
Aki shifted impatiently. "But what is its purpose?" she asked.
"I think it is meant to suppress or contain something," she responded. "It is difficult to read the original seal because it is so poorly made."
"Contain or suppress what?" Hashirama asked.
"As far as I can tell... chakra."
Suspicion showed clearly on their faces. It made no sense to them. Why would anyone want to suppress their chakra?
"What about that one?" Aki asked jerking her head in my direction.
Mito bent down slightly over my stomach and pulled up the bandages to get a better look at the seal. Her eyes widened and I heard a sharp intake of breath from her. Shit.
"Who placed this seal?" she demanded forcefully looking upwards towards me.
"Why does it matter?" I asked stalling. No way in hell was I telling her anything.
"Why does it matter? Because that it based of an Uzumaki fuuinjutsu that is forbidden! And it has been turned into something so complex and powerful that I could barely determine what it was based off of!" she ranted becoming angry. I kept my mouth shut, refusing to answer.
The others within the room looked taken aback at her frustration and anger.
"Forbidden?" Hashirama asked. "What does it do?"
"Yes, forbidden. Only the Uzumaki royal family even knows about it. I can't tell you what it does because it is a secret," she explained.
"So what do we do?" Tobirama asked.
"I don't know. Whatever you want," Mito sighed waving them off.
"Hmm... Let's just get it over with and execute them," Aki said.
"No!" Mito exclaimed. "Not that! This one," she said pointed at Gaara, "has what it likely a containment seal for chakra. If he dies it could all explode out! And that one," she continued point at Naruto, "cannot be killed no matter what! That is the worst thing you could do with his type of seal!"
Well, for the most part, it appeared that they weren't going to kill us. Or, they could just decide that keeping us alive isn't worth the risk. But, from the way they were looking at us, I didn't expect to be set free at any point. Great. I could also see a look of curiosity eating away at Tobirama. Apparently, he really wanted to know what my seal was for.
Mito Uzumaki ushered her companions into a private room. They had just returned from the interrogation and they were all on edge, especially with Mito's reaction.
They entered a small room with a table and several chairs around it. They all sat down except for Mito who paced anxiously.
Aki propped her head on her hand and sighed, bored. "If we can't kill them, then what are we to do?" she asked.
Hashirama glanced at Mito. "If we knew what the seals were for, then we could plan accordingly," he stated. "Are you sure there is nothing you can tell us?"
"Not with out permission from the Uzumaki clan head," Mito stated bluntly.
"What's the worse that could happen?" Tobirama asked.
Mito sighed wondering how much she could say and not reveal the secret. "Let's just say... that if we make a wrong move, we could have the wrath of the Shinigami come down on us."
"That bad, huh? Wow," Aki commented appreciatively, not seeming worried in the least.
"Can you obtain permission from your grandfather to reveal the secret behind the seal?" Hashirama asked.
"I could. But, that would require showing the seals to him. I'm sure that you don't want to drag them across Hi no Kuni to get to Uzu no Kuni."
"It might be the best option that we have," he mused.
"So it's settled! I'll go obtain permission from father to go to Uzu no Kuni," Aki exclaimed. Tobirama rolled his eyes at his older sister's antics.
We had been traveling for several days now towards Uzu no Kuni. Unfortunately, our guards wouldn't remove the chakra collars making is difficult to travel at a fast pace. However, despite not being able to enhance our muscles with chakra, Gaara and I are still incredibly strong and able to keep up.
Mito, Tobirama, and Hashirama were escorting us to Uzu no Kuni. Aki had been forced to stay behind by order of her father, the Senju clan head. I had seen her mutter angrily to herself as we had departed in the dark of the early morning.
We eventually stopped for the night and began to set up camp. Gaara and I were carefully watched and always accompanied by Hashirama or Mito where ever we went. At least we were being fed. Almost a week without food had nearly driven me insane!
I plopped down on the ground next to Gaara who has leaning against a tree. I sagged against him feeling tired and beginning to drift off into sleep. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Gaara glance at me, but he made no move to push me off. I was glad for that.
Even if it was just leaning against him, being in contact with Gaara made me calm down. I felt constantly nauseous from the mokuton restrains that Hashirama had placed on us. I know Gaara felt just as bad.
Tobirama frowned as he entered the clearing with a pile of firewood and saw how tired we looks. "You guys can't honestly be that tired?" he asked in disbelief. "You said you were travelers!"
I glowered at him in annoyance. I roughly tugged at the chakra collar around my neck. "Yeah, well, it's kinda hard to travel at your pace with no chakra," I pointed out. I didn't bother mentioning that the mokuton restraints were the real problem. It would cause too many suspicions. I'd rather that they not find out about of being Jinchuuriki. I huffed with annoyance and slouch over even farther, letting my head fall into Gaara's lap.
Hee-hee. I've been trying to get a reaction out of Gaara the last couple of days to see if he had any feelings towards me. So far it hadn't been working. Gaara was perfect at hiding his reactions as usual. Or maybe he didn't fully understand normal social conventions and didn't think my actions as odd. Everyone else certainly noticed it. Tobirama had been shooting me wierd looks and Hashirama had trying his best to ignore us. I had seen Mito blush a couple of times at some of the less subtle things I had been doing. Huh. I never would've seen her as a yaoi fangirl type.
This time, however, as I rested my head in Gaara's lap I felt him stiffen. Internally, I smirked. Outwardly, I remained calm even as I saw Tobirama shoot me a look of embarassed confusion. He just didn't get it. I sighed and closed my eyes, beginning to drift off into sleep.
I wasn't particularly worried that something might happen to me while I slept. I knew that Gaara was still not sleeping. He was just too paranoid to sleep in the proximity of the Senju since they could still possibly mean us harm.
We had just finished crossing through a large area of land owned by the Takezashi Clan which bordered the sea between Hi no Kuni and Uzu no Kuni, Senju land, and Uchiha land. We quickly approached a port by the name of Suizan where we would be able to take a boat to Uzu no Kuni.
Mito, Hashirama, and Tobirama were on edge as we crossed through the land and Gaara and I immediately went on guard. It had me worried since they had said that the Takezashi Clan was an ally of theirs.
I hated boats with a passion. I had the worst case of motion sickness. I could see Gaara's amusement at my predicament.
"Ha ha," I said dryly, catching his attention. "You're one to talk, sand boy!" He raised a thin, non-existent eyebrow in question. "Don't you dare mock me," I groaned. I was in a really bad mood. The combination of sea sickness and feeling of the mokuton was making be incredibly sick and grouchy.
Hashirama watched my rant ing amusement. Tobirama watched in confusion. "But... Gaara didn't say anything," he said uncertainly.
"He doesn't have to say anything!" I exclaimed. "He had that superior look about him," I huffed. "He can't even swim!"
Gaara grimaced and looked over the edge of the boat and into the water. "Don't remind me," he said.
"You can't swim?" Hashirama asked. He seemed genuinely curious. It was strange to run into someone trained in the shinobi arts who couldn't swim especially since shinobi had to learn water walking at some point.
"I don't like the water." Gaara didn't say anymore on the matter as if that was a good enough explanation. I smirked at the curious and confused expressions on Tobirama and Hashirama's faces.
Shukaku was the reason why Gaara didn't like the water. But, they didn't know that. Also, water destroyed Gaara's sand armor so he avoided it as much as possible even though he currently wasn't wearing it.
Mito stepped out of the main cabin on the boat, having just finished a conversation with the captain. She had a look of distaste on her face as she came stomping out. I heard her muttering curses and something about a perverted, old captain. Great. I just needed more perverts in my life.
"We'll reach the port in Uzu no Kuni in about five hours," she told us still scowling fiercely. I inched away from her, having no desire to deal with an angry woman. Uzumakis were unpredictable when annoyed or angry. I would know. I am an Uzumaki!
