Man. You guys inspire me to write. So for the harem, three more spots will be made available. Konan, Kurenai, and Anko are in for sure so for those who wanted that, you got it. So in total, four spots are still left.
As a side note, if Tsunade gets picked, I will make her younger.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Okami. (Lawyers leave with their heads hanging in sadness.)
Chapter 4 – Allies
"Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru yelled. Asuma, Shikamaru, Izumo, and Kotetsu were fighting Kakuzu and Hidan. Well, more like Kakuzu witnessing Hidan pastoring the greatness of his religion to the Konoha shinobi.
"Now to kill him and praise Jashin!" Hidan exclaimed excitedly, ready to make his god proud as he licked the blood off of his weapon. The immortal lifted the spike and was about to shove it to his heart when suddenly he found that he couldn't move. Shikamaru successfully caught the crazed man with his Kagemane no Jutsu.
"I just need to move him out of that circle…" whispered the shadow user. After struggling a bit, Shikamaru moved Hidan out of the circle and shouted, "Now!" Asuma then sprang into action and threw a kunai, nicking his ear. Hidan moved to try and get back in the circle but found the bearded man running to him, trench knives in hand. In Hidan's surprise, Asuma rushed in and beheaded the man.
Hidan's body fell to the ground along with his head. The Konoha-nins turned to face Kakuzu when abruptly, the beheaded man's body moved swiftly, pulling the chain of the scythe toward Asuma. The jounin ducked but realized that it was going back to Hidan.
And Hidan's body was back in the circle.
Time seem to slow down before the Konoha shinobi. "Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru thought in terror, about to witness his teacher's death. As quickly time seemingly slowed down, time resumed the fast pace.
Just before the triple bladed weapon could pierce the body, a gloved hand caught the staff part of the scythe. Startled, everyone looked to see the new arrival.
A man of 5'11 that was wearing a crimson cloak and a black sash stood silently holding the scythe. Under the cloak was a white muscle shirt and black baggy cargo pants which was tucked inside his ANBU-styled boots at the beginning of his shins.
A black mask in likeness of a wolf, three white whisker-like lines on each cheek was over the mysterious shinobi's face. Beyond that, the man's golden hair defied gravity and went in every direction. Finally, on his back was a odachi with a small chain at the end of its handle that was almost as tall as him. At the end of the chain was a small orange circle with spikes going all around it, resembling the sun.
Hidan's body promptly took the scythe and moved back to Kakuzu, who held his head in his hands. Kakuzu hurriedly sowed Hidan's head back onto his body, his focus on the shinobi that interrupted the battle. "I thought you were dead!" The bounty hunter said in surprise, finding the situation going downhill.
Hidan, angered that he was stopped from ending the chain-smoker's life, growled as he shouted, "Let me fix that problem!" The immortal flung himself at the cloaked ninja, his weapon poised for the killing.
The man pulled the blade from his back and swung it vertically, destroying everything within its path. Hidan slid to the side only to see the swordsman coming at him at high-rated speeds. Hidan quickly raised his scythe and blocked the strike, feeling himself strain from the power behind the attack.
Kakuzu, looking at the situation, decided to enter the battle. "With this man still living, we need every advantage we can get!" Kakuzu said fiercely. Taking his cloak off, he unleashed the masks on his back into four separate entities and charged into the fight.
Hidan saw his partner interfering with the wind mask blasting air pressure at his blond opponent. "Stay the hell out of this, Kakuzu! I want him! He interrupted the sacred ceremony!" Kakuzu ignored him and methodically attacked with his masks. The swordsman blocked and dodged all of their attacks and finally decided to go on the offensive.
The shinobi swiftly threw his blade up in the air and rapidly gathered razor winds with both hands which spun chaotically, crouching to his left side. "Fuuton: Kamikaze no Jutsu!" He called out as he lashed his left hand forward, Hidan avoiding the attack as it destroyed the earth and water entities' respective masks. Kakuzu seethed, ordering the wind and fire masks to use a joint attack, which caused a huge Goukakyuu no Jutsu. The swordsman sliced through his fireball with some difficultly only to see all four enemies coming at him from different angles.
Hidan with an insane smile on his face as he jumped from above. "Die!" All four individuals launched an attack, causing an explosion. With debris flying everywhere, the Konoha-nins covered their faces. When the smoke cleared, everyone was shocked. All of the attacks did connect, but on one fire puppet of Kakuzu. It cracked before fully breaking apart, its remains on the ground. Kakuzu shook as his rage began to boil.
Hidan looked with anime eyes. "What the hell! How! He was as good as dead, there's no way he could have dodged that!" The immortal yelled in disbelief.
The sound of metal clashed though the air and everyone turned to see the sight of a sword impaling the mask of the last elemental-masked beings. The golden-haired man was taking every opening he saw, trying to defeat his enemies as quick as possible. The zombie brothers attacked in unison with white hot fury in their eyes.
When Hidan looked to his left he saw that he still had the blood symbol on the ground. "All I need is his blood! And then I can finish the ritual and make Jashin happy!" The Jashinist said to the bounty hunter. At this point, Kakuzu didn't need to be told twice. They needed his guy dead.
"Hell, I might even start praising Jashin if we can get out of this." Kakuzu thought to himself before he rushed to the swordsman started with taijutsu. The mysterious shinobi blocked a fist for his chest before lashing out his foot to stop his opponent's foot. The money-loving Akatsuki shinobi slid the targeted appendage to the left before he gave a round house kick in retaliation. His enemy ducked before performing a sweep kick. Kakuzu was still in the air so the cloaked shinobi continued his spin, getting on his hands as he attacked with his legs. The former grass-nin gave a direct punch to the offending limb, using his other arm to rocket to the spinning blond. The attack connected, but the ninja disappeared in a plum of smoke. Kakuzu was stabbed through his chest by the mysterious ninja before a log replaced the bounty hunter.
The masked ninja felt hands clutch his ankles. "Doton: Shinnjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!" The threaded man called out as he began to pull his enemy into the ground below. Hidan, seeing his chance, ran to the swordsman and swung his triple-bladed staff at him. The masked shinobi swiftly escaped the head hunter technique and defended with odachi in hand as the two weapon clanged.
The masked ninja gave a palm thrust to the immortal's side, seeing him bleed from that point. In turn, Hidan pulled out the spike he used earlier and swung, prompting the golden-haired shinobi to grab the oncoming spike. Blood began to smear it, making the scythe user smirk. Hidan hastily licked the man's blood, leaped back to the blood icon. The leaf shinobi grimaced. This stranger was winning until now.
"Damn..." Asuma whispered, trying to get up and help the blond-haired shinobi.
"Sensei, Hold on. We shouldn't go. We would only get in the way." The genius said cautiously. "Something tells me that this is a setup..." The Nara thought to himself. Izumo and Kotetsu wanted to object, but only found truth in Shikamaru's words. They would wait.
"Now your finished!" Hidan spoke in hubris before he changed into his ritual form, stabbing himself to where his heart was. Silence reigned for a minute before Hidan screamed, blood seeping out of his mouth. "W-what's happening?" Hidan asked as he felt horrible pain. The swordsman pointed at the side wound of the immortal some of the blood still there. Everyone's eyes widened in shock. "My own...blood?" Hidan looked at the swordsman in rage before going unconscious.
Kakuzu was becoming frightened. "I have to escape!" With self-preservation kicking in, he turned to run into the forest. To his horror, his opponent was already starting to deliver a series of sword attacks that put them up in the air. With one final upward slash, he swiftly put the sword on his back, twisted, and gave a thrust with a ball of wind, fire, and lightning into Kakuzu's stomach yelling, "Goraikou!"
An explosion appeared in the air, the sky becoming orange. The attack finally dissipated, making the leaf-nins gaze at the mysterious shinobi with trepidation. "I pray he's our side." Kotetsu whispered, fatigue still on him. "Yeah." Izumo agreed. "With the way we are now, we wouldn't stand a chance against that."
Shikamaru stared at the cloaked shinobi in shock. "He...he just killed two of the Akatsuki like it was nothing..." Asuma, never took his eye off of the masked man. His eyes narrowed as he began to stand with a grunt.
"Whoever that shinobi is, he's powerful. Maybe we can recruit him." The former guardian suggested to his student as he gave a hand to his student. The shadow user nodded in agreement, accepting the help to get on his feet. It would be too troublesome to have him as an opponent at this point.
"Excuse me!" The trench-knife user started. "Thanks for saving our asses. I was sure I that I was as good as dead."
Picking up Hidan's scythe the cloaked man replied in a deep baritone voice, "No problem. I had a score to settle with them anyway. Now, how are your injuries?"
Asuma winced as he held his side. "We will be fine. Are you going to collect the bounty on them?" The masked figure nodded. A smile graced the Sarutobi's visage as he offered, "Why don't you come with us? I'm sure Hokage-sama would accommodate you with that."
The blond man knew that the bearded man was trying to appeal to him. He could get hired to do some mercenary work for Konoha, more than likely related to Akatsuki missions. The swordsman seemed to think for a minute before he answered, "Alright. I got nothing to lose." The swordsman walked to Hidan ans swiftly cut him to pieces, pulling out a special scroll as the immortal's body was sealed into it. He tossed the scroll to Shikamaru, who caught it.
"He's immortal. That scroll is modified to hold Hidan and keep him unconscious." The golden-haired man informed. Everyone nodded. The shinobi then walked to Hidan's scythe and sealed it within a normal scroll. He pulled out another scroll, beheading Kakuzu before he sealed it. With everything set, the swordsman walked over to them and said, "Ready when you are."
Shikamaru had been staring at the masked blond for a minute. "Why does he look familiar?" The Nara began to recall the bingo book before the realization dawned on him. "Wait... The White Ghost..." Everyone turned to the genius. "There was a man who devastated the Sound Village...you fit his description...Shira Yuurei." Shikamaru finished in caution. Everyone gazed at the masked ninja in apprehension.
"I won't deny that." The swordsman said calmly. "Orochimaru wanted me to be a shinobi for his village, saying that my skills were 'useful'. I refused him and whatever is in the bingo book is the aftermath." Everyone nodded, a mixture of shock and unease weighing on them for a moment.
As they walked back to Konoha, Kotetsu said, "How did you know to have Hidan take his own blood?"
The ghost shinobi looked up for a moment. "It took blood to activate his voodoo technique. I wondered if his own blood was an exception..." He looked forward once more as he lightly laughed. "Personally, I think it was a fluke." Asuma chuckled.
Izumo posed another question. "How did you get his blood in the first place?"
The ninja-swordsman replied, "When he attacked after Kakuzu put me underground. He was bleeding on his side from the wind jutsu I used. I attacked his there and used the same hand to block his spike. He took the bait when he saw the blood."
Shikamaru watched the masked man in silence. The shadow user didn't know what to think of him. He sighed to himself, letting his thoughts go. They were too troublesome to deal with now.
They finally reached Konoha's gates, taking about a half an hour to make it to their destination. Two chunin guards stopped them and said, "Who is the masked shinobi?"
Asuma took the lead as he replied, "He is here to meet Tsunade-sama and collect the bounty for two S-Ranked criminals."
The guards' eyes widened and nodded. "Alright. Two of our ANBU will escort you. Standard procedure."
The ghost shinobi nodded. "That fine."
The guard nodded as the other guard signaled the two ANBU operatives. One had a tora mask and brown hair and the other had a neko mask and purple hair.
The phantom ninja smiled tenderly for a moment before it slowly fell off of his was glad to see her, but he was still banished. Returning to Konoha like this could get him killed. Still, he needed to see the Hokage to give her this information.
"Hello." The tora ANBU politely greeted. "We will escort you back to Hokage-sama so that you may discuss whatever business you have with her."
"Thanks." The swordsman said queitly, becoming nervous as he saw the populace around him. "Can we travel on the roofs? I rather not deal with the villagers. No offense." The ANBU nodded, understanding him.
The neko operative finally spoke, "Alright. Let's get going." The two ANBU, Shira, and the rest of the group jumped on the roof tops to get to their destination.
The neko ANBU looked at the Yuurei as they jumped from roof to roof. The woman could not put her finger on it, but she felt close to the masked swordsman. "He's…familiar to me. Almost as if I've met this person before. And that mask…" The kunoichi thought in a quieter tone. The ghost shinobi, feeling someone stare at him, looked to his left and saw the violet-haired woman looking his way.
"Yuugao...You were always curious…" He thought to himself.
"Did you want something Neko-chan?" The golden-haired man asked her. Slightly startled, the purple-haired woman paused in her thoughts as she looked down.
"...Do you know someone by the name of Naruto?" Everyone now was interested in the conversation.
"Actually, that is one of the reasons why I want to meet Hokage-sama." Everyone snapped their heads to him.
"Is he alright? Is he alive?" Shikamaru asked, the question plaguing his mind for years.
"Yeah. I asked him if he wanted to come. He wanted to, but he said he couldn't. He was banished for some reason, but he wouldn't say why." The swordsman replied in a reserved manner.
"He brought back Uchiha Sasuke in critical condition. The council didn't like it and the rest is history." Tora said with bitterness.
Kotetsu snorted in irritation as he added, "The villagers had the nerve to celebrate afterwards! Needless to say, a lot of people had an appointment with Ikibi." All of them, including Shira, shivered at that thought.
That was as fate far worse than death.
After reaching the tower everyone started to go their separate ways. Asuma and his group had to write their reports down as well as take the Sarutobi to the hospital, so they said their goodbyes and left. Tora had to get ready for his next mission and departed in a plume of smoke.
"Well," Neko started, "I guess that leaves just you and me." Shira nodded, following the ANBU.
When they finally reached the Hokage's office, the female ANBU knocked on the door. "Enter." A soft voice answered. The phantom shinobi opened the door and looked at the violet-haired woman, bowing his head in a gentlemanly manner.
"After you, ANBU-hime." He said in a warm tone. Yuugao felt heat rise to her cheeks, not expecting him to flirt with her.
The violet-haired kunoichi thought to herself in amusement, "Thank Kami for this mask. I'm sure that I'm blushing right now. Still..." She placed an elegant hand on the ghost-nin's mask before letting the hand slide down his chest, walking by as she softly replied, "If you don't mind, then thank you."
Shira's eyebrows rose as he felt heat threatening to color his face. He thought to himself, "I didn't expect her to say anything back..." A smile began to surface on his masked face. "I wonder how things would turn out if she knew who I really was."
Leaving his musings, the golden-haired man looked at the blond Hokage and thought, "You haven't changed I see…" A sleeping Hokage and one Shizune later, the female fire shadow was awake with a hole in the wall.
"Poor guy…" Shira whispered. Yuugao and Shizune nodded in agreement. A ninja ran in to report his mission to her when she punched him through a wall.
"Okay. Neko, you are dismissed." The slug princess said, ready to get this over with. That nap was getting good.
"Hai Hokage-sama." Yuugao replied, bowing respectfully. She turned to leave before Shira grabbed her hand. Surprised, she turned back to see him get something out of his pocket.
"Here." He said, placing a moon flower in her hand. The flower was beautiful as its fragrance was soft, making the ANBU kunoichi lightly blush from the gift.
Silence reigned for a moment before she looked at him and quietly asked, "How long are you here for?"
"Maybe few days if Hokage-sama allows it." The wolf-masked shinobi replied in a reserved tone.
The cat operative nodded, heat beginning to color her cheeks. "...Should that happen, I would like to meet with you again before you leave."
Shira smiled warmly. "Gladly. Maybe we could see each other without our masks. I'll show you my face if you show me yours… "
Embarrassed, the purple-haired just looked down and lightly blushed. She quickly turned to leave. When she reached the door, Shira said, "See you later, Neko-chan." At this, her blush increased before she closed the door.
Tsunade and Shizune gaped at what just happened. This guy just flirted with an ANBU personnel. "Alright, who the hell do you think you are? Do you know her?" Tsunade questioned.
The ghost shinobi chuckled. "Yeah. But then again, you all know me too."
Shizune asked in apprehension as she subtly readied herself, "Do we?" Shira nodded, grinning under his mask.
"You do. I would've just sent you a message, but the information I have is too sensitive for that." He said, taking off his mask. "You know, I'm not allowed to be here..."
Both the Hokage and her assistant looked at the man's tan skin, golden hair, azure eyes, and three whisker-like marks on each cheek. "Naruto…" They both said in shock. The jinchuuriki gave them a grin.
"At your service."
There's the fourth chapter for you. I hope you all liked it.
Please review. Thanks for your time.