Like I promised, chapter 4 will have some action finally. I've been wanting to just jump into the fights but I had to organize a bit of a plot first. Anywho, let's begin shall we? Starting where we left off with Ino and Jammer.
Chapter 4
"Don't you find it funny how we're both drinking this time?" Jammer asked Ino as she downed her fourth shot.
She simply grunted in response as she stared into space. She hadn't said a word to him since Itachi and the others left the house. Jammer already guessed she was thinking about the proposition Itachi gave them. He didn't think it was a bad idea himself, but it wasn't just his decision. They had to wait for Naruto and Gaara's okay.
"You know, you didn't even ask what it was you were drinking. Perhaps I put some date rape drug in it." Jammer joked.
"You're not that stupid." Ino said absent-mindedly.
Instead of waiting for him to pour her another helping she grabbed the bottle and took a gulp. Jammer's face was in awe at the scene before him.
"I ever tell you that you drink like a man?" The boy asked her.
"I ever tell you how annoying you are?" She fired back.
The two sat in another awkward silence after that. Jammer hated seeing Ino under so much pressure. He wanted to try to relax her somehow, but the girl didn't seem to want to be brought out of thought just yet. The boy checked the clock that was on Ino's purple colored nightstand.
"You know what we could do for fun?" Jammer asked again.
"We both better have our clothes on." Ino responded in an emotionless voice.
"Well you don't have to if you want. I'm thinking we could go out? That place that Ruto and Hinata went? It's only 9:30."
"We have no reservations."
"We're ninjas, woman! We can sneak in."
Ino stood up and walked to her closet. She pulled out her cloak and made for the door.
"Hold up. Where are you going?" Jammer called after her.
"I'm getting my brother. Something bad is coming. Why else would Itachi come all the way here himself?" Ino called back.
"Something bad? What you mean? Like a fight?" Jammer scrambled to his feet to meet Ino in her brother's room.
"Perhaps. Either way my brother's in trouble. I'm going to help him." She said as she grabbed a scroll from under Naruto's pillow, "If you want to help then go get the others."
"Others? Of Mirai, right?"
"Yeah, sure."
Ino walked past him without a second glance. Closing the door to the house, she began sprinting towards the restaurant. Ino had no idea what she was running so hard for, but she had a feeling that if she didn't run faster then something would happen to Naruto. And she'd rather die than have anything happen to her brother. She failed him during the fight with Danzo, but she was determined to never let that happen again.
Jammer watched in confusion as Ino ran toward the restaurant.
"She didn't even close the door behind her." He said to himself as he scratched his head, "I guess I'll get the oth-"
Jammer stopped in mid-sentence when he heard a faint whistling. He slowly closed the front door of the house as he tried to focus on where the sound was coming from. Once the door was closed he was able to hear the sound a bit more clear. Looking toward the kitchen, he could see that the kettle was not on the oven. The young shinobi shook his head and walked to the bathroom.
'Ruto probably left the water on in the sink.' He thought to himself.
Even though his thoughts were calm, his outward actions were saying otherwise. He grabbed a kunai from the holster on his right leg and silently walked toward the bathroom. The boy approached the closed bathroom door, took a deep breath, and opened the door swiftly as he brandished the kunai in front of him. His eyes scanned the bathroom for any running water, but it didn't take him long to discover that there was none in the room. However, he did notice that the strange sound disappeared.
"Nothing. There's nothing here." He said aloud as he placed the kunai on the edge of the sink, "I'm just overly paranoid after Itachi showed up is all."
Jammer turned the sink on and splashed his face with water. As the cool water touched his face the whistling picked up again. But this time it was different. Jammer paused with his hands over his face, water dripping down freely.
'It sounds like…hissing.' The boy froze stiff.
At the thought of snakes in their home, Jammer grabbed the kunai with his right hand and spun around with the blade pointing out. The hissing stopped once again. He wasn't sure if it was the water or nervous sweat that made his face so damp, but his shirt was beginning to dampen as well. He ripped the shower curtains off their hinges with his free left hand and threw the kunai into the empty tub.
'Calm down…just calm down.' He chanted in his head repeatedly, but it was doing nothing for his nerves.
The hissing began to resonate throughout the house now. Jammer's eyes darted all around the small bathroom as he looked for the source of the noise. His heart felt as though it was going to burst through his ribcage.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?" He shouted out.
The hissing stopped. Jammer fell onto his butt and put his hands over his head. The only thing he could hear now were his ragged breaths for air. His heart still racing as though he had just run a marathon in five minutes flat. He drummed his fingers on his braided hair as he tried to collect himself. The missing-nin stayed in this position (for what seemed like hours to him) until he felt calm enough to stand up.
He walked to the sink to turn off the sink he left on before his freak out. When he finally raised his head to look at the mirror above the sink he nearly vomited out of fear. The reflection in the mirror was partly his, but the right side of the face resembled that of his "father."
"Jammer." Orochimaru's side spoke calmly, "Give daddy a hug."
Jammer wasted no time in punching the mirror and running out of the house. Normally, he'd do something about his bleeding hand; but now was not the time to be concerned about the throbbing pain. He just knew he had to run. He didn't know where to, but running felt like the best option at the time.
"Then he started going on his rant about how I barely beat him at the first Chuunin Exams. I swear that guy holds grudges forever." Naruto laughed across from Hinata.
"Kiba does have issues in terms of forgiveness." Hinata laughed out.
Naruto stared at the girl in front of him in awe. The boy felt as though he was walking on air ever since the two had left for the restaurant. The whole night was just perfect. They arrived at the restaurant and were given amazing seats in a semi-secluded area at a table outside of the building. On such a nice night in Konoha like tonight, being outside felt amazing. Between the gentle warm breezes and his beautiful date, Naruto had to admit this was heaven on earth for him.
'I gotta thank Ero-sennin for this later. I might have to call him Jiraiya-sensei for this one.' Naruto thought to himself.
He was brought out of thought when their waiter brought them their main dishes. After ten minutes worth of persuasion, Hinata got Naruto to order the lobster instead of the seafood ramen. The blonde was saddened by his decision, but once he laid eyes on the lobster in front of him his mood quickly turned around. Hinata saw the excitement in his eyes and couldn't help but giggle. Naruto wasted no time in taking a taste of the crustacean and began to make a face of pure joy.
"I take it you like the meal Namikaze-sama?" The waiter asked the boy.
"Like it?! I'd kill for this lobster!" Naruto shouted.
The waiter immediately jumped back from shock. Hinata began to outwardly laugh at her boyfriend's antics.
"Naruto, you really shouldn't say that. You kill people for a living. It'll make everyone uneasy if you just blurt out killing someone." Hinata tried to explain but wasn't getting through to the boy as he began demolishing the lobster.
The Hyuuga smiled to herself as she began to eat her pasta. She was about to say something, but her attention was shifted to the yelling inside of the restaurant. Naruto heard the commotion as well and looked to Hinata with a confused look.
"Think the chef's upset about something?" He asked the girl.
She shrugged her shoulders and focused chakra to her eyes. Once her Byakuugan was activated she scanned the restaurant for the source of the disruption. Her eyes widened when she found what didn't belong.
"Naruto. Akatsuki." She breathed out, "I only see one though. How didn't we notice him?"
Naruto immediately jumped up and ran for the nearest entrance to the restaurant. Hinata kicked off her shoes and followed after Naruto. The blonde looked back to her with stern blue eyes from the door.
"Stay out here. You'd be useless in there with me. Get all them out of here then wait for a moment to attack." Naruto said as he threw off his coat.
Hinata nodded and ran to the other tables surrounding their's. Naruto opened the door and ran in to see all the civilian patrons hiding under tables, using menus and chairs to shield them from the rogue shinobi standing in the center of the room. Said shinobi had his hand around a Konoha nin's neck, lifting him into the air. All Naruto could see was the enemies black and red cloud robes. Due to the straw hat on his head, the man's face was undetectable. However, it was obvious that he noticed Naruto was in the room because he dropped the Konoha nin to the ground.
The newly freed shinobi gasped for air as he rolled away from the Akatsuki nin. Naruto had never seen the Leaf nin before, and since he was in civilian clothes it was even harder for Naruto to identify him. Once their eyes locked the Konoha nin shouted to Naruto.
"Namikaze! Leave quickly! We'll distract hi-" He tried to shout but was interrupted when a kunai was lodged into his head.
Before Naruto could react, a large fireball was sailing from another end of the room toward the missing nin.
"Idiot! The civilians!" Naruto shouted over the screaming from the men and women ducking for cover.
The Namikaze heir made the ram sign and sent Kage Bunshins to all of the civilians to act as human shields. Naruto was expecting the Akatsuki nin to use a simple Kawarimi, but was surprised to see the nin take the attack head-on. The building soon filled with smoke after the attack hit. Instead of looking at the damage, Naruto had all his Bunshin take the civilians they were guarding to safety outside. The blonde then raised his left hand into the air and made a Rasengan. All the smoke in the room flowed into the swirling ball of chakra, turning the normally blue ball into a nasty black one. Naruto then released the Rasengan, making a small black cloud flow into the air once it was free from the vortex.
Once everything in the room was visible, Naruto saw the Akatsuki shinobi standing in the spot he was previously occupying. The main difference between before and now was that his hat was thrown off his head as a result from the impacting fireball. The Konoha nin that used Gōkakyū no Jutsu stood at the entrance of the restaurant and adjusted his sunglasses.
"Namikaze-san. You should leave immediately." The man stated as he stared at the missing nin in the middle of the room.
"Ebisu, what the fuck was that!? There were defenseless people in here!" Naruto shouted to the man.
"I knew you'd protect them so we didn't have anything to worry about, right?" Ebisu stated snottily.
"So you ARE Namikaze Naruto." The Akatsuki nin said, "Thank God. I thought you were just some other blonde, but after seeing you protect all those people there's not mistaking it."
Naruto shifted his attention to the original threat and stared at the gruff voiced, missing nin before him. He had cool blue eyes and slightly tanned skin. He had a black ponytail that traveled to the end of his neck and bushy black eyebrows. The man looked as though he was in his early thirties, and stood at about 6'2". He was indeed a bit intimidating, but now wasn't the time to be in fear.
"I'm sorry, where are my manners?" The man bowed to Naruto, "My name is Hessei Mushra. Forgive my lack of manners. Gosh, it's not every day you meet a Namikaze."
"Just what are you doing here?" Naruto spat out.
"Oh my, straight to the point. Well, I'm here to check out the sites. Konoha is an amazing little village compared to the rat holes I'm used to. I also had this secondary project of capturing you and extracting your demon, but I'll get around to it eventually." Mushra responded with a toothy smile.
At this time Ebisu decided to strike Mushra with an axe kick to the head while his back was turned to him. Mushra caught Ebisu's dropping leg with his right hand and sent a crushing palm strike to the Jounin's abdomen. Ebisu instantly fell to the ground unmoving. Naruto rushed toward Mushra and did a sweeping kick at the man's legs. Mushra simply skipped backward and began bouncing on the balls of his feet, prepared for the melee-fighting blonde. Naruto ran toward the man again. When he was directly in front of Mushra he jumped straight into the air, leaned back and pushed his legs forward, trying to catch the man in the jaw with his heels. The attack missed, but Naruto rebounded by landing on his hands and springing off of the ground. The Toad Sage in-training caught Mushra in the chest with the attack, pushing the missing nin back a few feet.
Naruto landed on the ball of his right foot and performed a spinning axe kick. Mushra saw the attack coming and jumped back to evade the attack. Naruto saw this and smiled.
"Katana Rasengan!" The blonde called out as he brought the kick down.
A thin blade of chakra sliced through the air and flew straight forward to Mushra, whom was unprepared for the ninjutsu completely. The attack caught him across the chest and he was propelled out the building, taking the brawl into the streets of Konoha. Mushra felt his chest to see a bloody gash going across from his right shoulder to his left hip. The nin looked up to see Naruto flying towards him with his left fist cocked back. Just before Naruto's fist connected with Mushra's face, Ino leapt through the air and tackled her brother to the ground. The two blondes rolled on the ground then jumped back up with their eyes on a smiling Mushra.
"Ino, what the hell?" Naruto questioned his sister.
"Don't touch his skin. I'm not sure why, Gaara just said to not touch it." Ino replied sternly.
Upon mentioning the Kazekage's name, two tendrils of sand wrapped around each of Mushra's hands. A third tendril wrapped around the man's waist, pinning him to the ground. Gaara jumped off from the top of the restaurant to in front of the blondes.
"Nice try, Mushra. I've been studying you for the past few weeks. Every shinobi that made skin contact with you has died. Care to explain how." Gaara demanded more than asked.
"The Ichibi too? Man this has got to be my lucky day. I take you two to Pein-sama and I'm sure to get a promotion of some sort." Mushra laughed out, "And Kazekage-sama, I'm flattered that you've done so much research on me. I tried so hard to stay under the radar too."
Gaara glared at the man and the sand tightened around his body.
"I don't like being ignored. Answer my question. Is it poison?" Gaara asked.
"Nope, just my Kekkei Genkai. It's a nasty little one it is. Took me years to get it under control."
"Kekkei Genkai or not, you're about to die so you may as well tell us what we want." Ino spoke up.
"Do you really believe you're safe here, Namikaze Naruto?" Mushra ignored Ino.
"What do you mean? I kicked your ass pretty easily. Pein can't be that much tougher, right?" Naruto said.
Mushra began to laugh at Naruto's words.
"I have a message for you Namikaze-san. We're not ready for you just yet. We need the other tailed beasts before extracting the Kyuubi, but once we are ready where do you think you'll be hiding? Konoha? You just saw how easy it was for me to lure you out. If I had a partner with me, you'd be as good as caught right now."
"So you suggest we run away from the sanctuary of Konohagakure? What sense does that make?" Ino questioned.
"Oh, it wouldn't be a problem for someone like you I guess. But for him," Mushra looked to Naruto, "He can't stand all those people dying in vain so that he'd live a little longer. Is that what you want Namikaze? You want them to end up like that Ebisu man I just killed? Effortlessly I may add."
Naruto looked as though he was just hit with a shovel. He was amazed that he ignored the fact that he was using Konoha as a shield. He was simply sacrificing all these ninja, his friends, as shields.
"Who's the next one to die because of you Namikaze? That Hyuuga girl? The Kazekage? Or perhaps your beautiful sister. I didn't think you could be so heartless." Mushra began shrieking with laughter.
Gaara heard enough at this point and covered the cackling man with sand. The Kage closed his hand and crushed Mushra's body. When the sand retreated back into the gourd it could be seen that the only thing in Mushra's place was a puddle of water.
"Dammit. He escaped." Gaara muttered to himself.
"If that was even him to begin with." Ino added.
Naruto shook his head and ran back to the inside of the restaurant to Ebisu's body. He saw Hinata was already there and the look on her face said it all. Ebisu was dead the moment he hit the ground. Naruto knelt next to the man and touched his face.
"His face is really dry." Naruto said aloud.
Ino crouched down next to her brother and stroked Ebisu's cheek. She felt the man's gritty face and brushed her hands off onto her pants.
"It's…dried skin. He's got a lot of dead skin on his face. Is it always like this?" Ino asked her brother.
"No, not tonight." Hinata spoke up, "He…was here on a date, right? He would've looked his best."
"So this Mushra guy can dry out people's bodies? Is that his Kekkei Genkai?" Ino asked the group.
"There has to be more to it than that." Gaara commented, "Where does the moisture go? Does he absorb it?"
"We can ponder over this more later. We have to talk to Tsunade-sama about this." Naruto said before he and the others made a silent prayer for Ebisu.
Tsunade's office was eerily quiet as Naruto paced through the room. Gaara stood by the window, staring at the stars while his friend walked a hole into the floor. Ino sat in a plush red chair across from Tsunade's desk. Her legs hanging over the left arm of the chair. Hinata sat in a similar chair to the left of Ino, her head turning to check on Naruto every ten seconds.
Tsunade told them to wait in her office as she went to chew out the guards of the village and find out what killed Ebisu. Naruto had been quiet ever since they arrived at the Hokage's tower, and it didn't seem like he wanted to talk for quite some time. Ino sighed and decided to start the impending conversation.
"You think leaving Konoha will help any?" She asked her brother.
"You know that's what I'm thinking. What do you think Gaara?" Naruto stopped pacing and looked to his friend.
"That decision is only yours to make Naruto. Akatsuki could just use Konoha as ransom until you return from hiding. You saw how easily they could get into the village." Gaara replied, not removing his eyes from the stars.
"But…what of Mirai?" Hinata spoke up.
"We'll just all have to leave together. Mobilize the militia and move out." Ino responded.
"We can't do that. Akatsuki wants the Jinchuuriki. They said they couldn't extract the Kyuubi til they get all of the others. We should just hide Gaara." Naruto said.
"We're already hiding a Jinchuuriki." Gaara pointed out, "There are two ways we can stop this Naruto."
"Oh no. We said we're not resorting to that. We all agreed." Ino jumped up from her chair.
"Plan B would solve this whole issue with Akatsuki, Ino. It's also a lot quicker than finding Pein and killing him." Naruto shot at his sister.
"Wait…what's plan B?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
Naruto looked away from the girl. They never talked about plan B for a reason. Like Ino implied, it was an awful plan…but it was still a logical plan.
"Plan B," Gaara began, "Is killing one of the Jinchuuriki. That plan makes even more sense than it did before seeing how they can't get Naruto until they get the rest of us. I volunteered but-"
"I told you that you can't. You're the Kazekage. I should be the one. We can't just ask another person to die so we can keep living." Naruto spoke loudly.
"You're not dying either way." Ino said, "You see Hinata, this argument is what made Mirai in the first place. If it wasn't for my stubbornness then these two idiots would be dead."
"Who thought of this idea?" Hinata asked.
"Shikamaru." They all replied simultaneously.
They stopped the conversation when they heard yelling outside of the door. One voice obviously belonged to Tsunade, but the second was a new one.
"I don't give a damn! I told you I have too much to deal with than a crazy shinobi! Akatsuki waltzes in, kills my shinobi and then walks out like nothing happened!" Tsunade shouted.
"I have stuff to do too! I'm not babysitting him!" The voice shouted back.
"He's under YOU'RE care Anko! YOU look after YOU'RE brother!"
"He clearly stated that he didn't want to deal with me! He won't talk to me if we tortured him. He's always been like this, even when he was little." Anko shouted back.
"This is an order Mitarashi. You find him and sort him out. If I get another report about a crazy shinobi running around the village and it's him, I'm going to kick him out of the village. I know you care about him, right?"
"…"
"Fine! Don't do anything. You can explain to the Namikazes and Jiraiya what happened to him."
Tsunade kicked the door to her office open, leaving Anko staring at her blankly in the hallway. Tsunade walked past the teens and went straight to her chair behind the desk.
"Gaara, you were right. It seems that our friend, Mushra, can drain liquid from a person's body upon skin contact. Upon Ebisu's autopsy we were…amazed at the damage. Dried blood on the inside of his body and the organs were just a mess. Now we just have to figure out if the moisture was absorbed or burned out." Tsunade plopped her forehead onto the desk, "Gaara, you and your sister will be taking a few shinobi as escorts to Sunagakure. You want Mirai or Konoha?"
"Mirai. I already sent Temari to retrieve Team Gai." Gaara replied, "As a matter of fact, they're at the village gates right now. Anything you want to tell me?"
"Other than be careful, no." Tsunade said while resting her head.
Gaara nodded to the group and left the room.
"Hinata, you and Naruto did excellent work. Thank you for saving the villagers. As for you Hinata, Hiashi isn't liking your moving to Mirai very much at all. Just a warning to you when you go home. If you don't have any questions, I'd like to talk to the twins."
"No Hokage-sama. I'll…just be going then." Hinata walked to Naruto and kissed him on the cheek, "It'll be okay. I promise."
"You sound like me." Naruto gave her a weak smile.
Hinata returned the smile and left the room, closing the door behind her.
"Jiraiya left for recon on Otogakure. He told me to tell Naruto to continue his combination jutsus with the toads. You are both to train together as well. He said don't separate from each other for missions anymore. Secondly, Jammer is running around the village in frenzy. I sent Anko to calm him down so don't worry about it."
"Why Anko?" Naruto asked.
"If you don't know then you should ask Jammer about it when you see him next. Now, what are you two thinking?"
"We should leave." Ino spoke up.
"Not we. I should leave." Naruto snapped.
"Didn't you hear Oji-san's message? We're stuck together."
"I don't care what he said. They're after me, not you."
"Itachi said they're after me too. I'm a target."
"…When did you talk to Itachi?" Naruto stared at his sister blankly.
"Itachi was in the village too?! What the hell are those lazy guards doing?" Tsunade punched her desk, cracking it down the middle.
"Wow, only a crack? Your self control is truly amazing Tsunade-sama." Ino complimented the Hokage in a poor attempt to change the subject.
Tsunade and Naruto simply glared at the girl and she caved.
"He came to the house after you and Hinata left. He wants to help us destroy Akatsuki. He has information on them that he'll give to us if he's allowed to join Mirai." Ino said calmly.
"Absolutely." Naruto said.
"Not." Tsunade added, "Or have you two not had enough betrayal from Uchiha?"
"Mirai isn't a part of Konohagakure. That's our decision to make." Naruto said staring at Tsunade.
"Okay, fine. If you take Itachi then our agreement is void. You'll have to leave Konoha." Tsunade glared at Naruto.
"Works out fine to me." Naruto snapped back.
"Both of you! Calm down a bit. Tonight's been a mess and tensions are high. Let's just call it a night. We can continue this conversation tomorrow or something. 'Kay?" Ino compromised quickly as she pushed her brother toward the door.
"Fine, you two get some rest." Tsunade stood from her seat, "I think I'll get some sleep too."
"Night Obaa-chan." Ino called out as she dragged her brother to the outside of the tower.
So that's it for this chapter. Tensions are high indeed. I know what you're thinking, 'Is he gonna kill Jiraiya?' Honestly, I don't know. I may just flip a coin. Heads he dies, tails he lives. Yes, Naruto did indeed get a good hit on Mushra (whom is mine btw. Stole the name from Shinzo though) but the last hit that Ino stopped him from making pretty much saved him from what happened to Ebisu. Next chapter we find out what Hanabi's plan for Mirai's expansion is, Konohamaru learns of his sensei's death, Naruto contemplates leaving Konoha, Jammer suffers a mental breakdown aaaaaaaaaaand I'm not sure what else. We may check out how everyone is doing in Suna, but it's gonna be primarily on Team Jiraiya. Thanks for the love on the story guys. I had to disable my anonymous reviews cause of some…people, but I'm gonna enable it after this chapter. I don't want the relationships in story (like the dating) to overshadow the story itself, but it's still nice to hear how everyone likes the relationships. My favorite is GaaraxYugito cause I based them on myself to some extent. Okay, enough ranting. Keep an eye out for the next chapter. R&R or whatever. Peace!
