Well peeps here it is! The next chapter of For the Greater Good. To be honest I think this is becoming my favorite work so far. I actually have the plot for this story planned out in head, and I want to write it out as soon as possible. Would you guys kill me if I started focusing more on this fic? (I'd still update Cold as Death and stuff…but would be updating this story more often.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Warhammer 40k.
For the Greater Good
Chapter 4
The stadium hung in silence, waiting for the two Gennin to fight. Beside Kiba, Akamaru growled in anticipation. Kiba and Neji starred at each other for a moment before Neji spoke.
"You should just give up now, loser." He said in a cold, arrogant tone. Kiba growled at him.
"Piss off bastard! I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to Hinata-chan!" he spat and slipped into a taijutsu stance. Akamaru barked in smirked.
"You cannot win. Fate has already declared me to be the victor. Give up now if you wish to retain at least a shred of dignity."
Now Kiba was red from anger, Neji's jibes riling up the brash Inuzuka. While most ninja would have shrugged off the insults as a ploy by an opponent, Kiba wasn't most ninja. Kiba growled and turned to Akamaru, who was waiting silently up oh his haunches.
"Let's get him boy!" he cried and then both dog and master charged at the waiting Hyuuba prodigy.
Shan'tei snorted in obvious disgust as the fire team watched the match begin.
"He is a fool, to let himself be goaded like that." The tau muttered. The other tau nodded in agreement. Naruto was starring at the match in silence, lost in memory.
'Kiba is still as brash as he always was.' He thought.
-Arena Floor-
Kiba grunted as he was hurled back, yet again, by the Hyuuga prodigy. Neji was still smirking.
"I honestly don't know how you got this far. Your attacks are pathetic at best." He sneered. Kiba was getting red with rage.
"Oh yeah? Try this!"
Gatsuuga!
Instantly Kiba and Akamaru launched into the Inuzuka move, drilling towards Neji at insane speeds. The Hyuuga remained unmoved as the duo approached.
-Stands-
"At those speeds, the pale eyed one could be killed!" Orez'va exclaimed. The others nodded, enthralled by the match. Naruto didn't really care that much. The Hyuuga was a bastard.
"Wait. Something's up." Shan'tei said suddenly.
-Arena floor-
Negi began to spin around rapidly until a chakra formed up around him.
Kaiten!
Kiba and Akamaru collided with the spinning Hyuuga, sending debris flying. Everyone in the stands tried to see through the smoke that had been kicked up around the Gennin. As the smoke cleared, Negi was standing completely unharmed.
The same could not be said for the Inuzuka duo.
Akamaru lay unconscious a few feet away, gashes and bruises littering his small body. Kiba was clutching his side, a trail of blood dripping from his mouth. The speed of his attack caused him to break a few ribs. He glanced over at his companion's form.
"You asshole." He grated out, trying to hide the obvious pain he was in. Neji simply raised a kunai and pointed it at Akamaru.
"Surrender or I kill the dog." He said coldly. There were a few gasps of horror from the stands, the same horror that was conveyed on Kiba's face.
"You wouldn't.." he started.
"I would. We are ninja. I will do what is necessary to win. I doubt you are in any state to stop me."
Kiba switched his gaze back to his friend's uncounscious form, before sighing and raising a hand in defeat.
"Fine. I surrender." He spat. Genma walked between the two Gennin.
"The winner is Hyuuga Neji!" he shouted. Applause thundered through the stadium Kiba stumbled off to the stands while a pair of medic-nins tended to Akamaru.
-Stands-
"A rather interesting match." Orez'va stated. His brother nodded.
"Yes. The pale-eyed gue'la has some skill." He said. Naruto just sighed. He knew that, one day, Kiba's brashness would be his downfall. And apparently he had been right. Shan'tie rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"These people have interesting abilities. No wonder you said to be wary shas'ui." He turned to Naruto, jerking the boy from his thoughts. Naruto nodded.
"And they were some of the weaker shinobi." He said. "That is why we must be cautious." He said, pulling his hood further over his face as a civilian glanced up at them.
"Yeah. Ya here that Neir'ah? None of your moods." Lyn'sir began chuckling. Naruto sighed in exasperation as Neir'ah beat down the talkative tau.
"Quiet." Shar'kan said abruptly. "The next match is starting." All the soldiers turned their attention back to the ring.
The fight between Temari and Shikamaru was….interesting to say the least. The tau twins had gotten a kick out of the way the fight ended. Naruto just shook his head.
"Same old Shikamaru." He said as he watched people boo and throw stuff at the lazy Gennin. For his part, the boy simply ignored the crowd and walked back up to the stands casually.
"He…..surrendered?" Neir'ah asked in disbelief. "But he had won." Naruto chuckled a bit at the female's reaction. Only someone who truly knew Shikamaru could understand his reasons. Naruto was hit with a sudden wave of loss. He missed the friends he had back in the academy.
Shikamaru, Chouji…heck even Sasuke was his rival. Naruto missed his old life a small bit.
'No.' He crushed the thoughts fiercely. Naruto served Tau, and the Greater Good. He found a true purpose for living. And besides…..his team were his friends and family now.
"Shas'ui?" Shan'tei asked suddenly. The blond had gone silent, making his friend worried. Naruto turned to him.
"Yes?" the blond asked.
"Sir, we got a report from command. They are quite pleased with the data we gathered." The tau reported. Naruto nodded. He was sure they would be. Shan'tei seemed to hesitate.
"Sir…Shas'O Suam'ka wants to establish a base here. In the village." He said. Naruto froze.
In Konoha?
Naruto didn't exactly hate the village, but he definitely did not care for it at all. He had been treated horribly by its inhabitants, and Naruto was quite reluctant to stick around this place longer than necessary. Shan'tei must have sensed his uneasiness and said,
"The Shas'O felt that since you knew this place so well, it would be a good place to start our colonization." He said, trying to hide the worry in his tone. Naruto acted pretty weird when anyone mentioned his home town.
There was silence for a moment, then Naruto sighed. "Very well." He said shortly. Shan'tei nodded slowly.
"Sir, I-"
"Let's just watch the fights, Shan'tei." Naruto cut in before turning his attention back to the arena. Shan'tei shared a glanced with Shar'kan, who had been listening in. The other tau just shrugged and both turned back to the stadium.
Zan'kais sighed and lounged against a tree. He was perched up in a branch of one of the many large trees in the forests surrounding Konoha. He had been staked out here ever since Naruto and his team went in.
Naruto.
The boy was still quite the puzzle to the shas'vre. Zan'kais had saved Naruto that day, not really thinking ahead to the future. Now he was glad though. Naruto had turned out to be a good friend indeed.
Zan'kais briefly pondered what fate this world had, but banished the thoughts. Times like these, he could just relax and not worry about anything.
'I love this job.'
A sudden noise instantly brought the pilot back to combat readiness. He activated his stealth field and looked over the edge of the tree branch. He saw at least a dozen shinobi gathered in a circle below him. They had rolled out a bunch of odd scrolls and were kneeling, evidently concentrating on something.
Zan'kais thought about ignoring them, but shook his head. These guys screamed trouble and the tau's soldier sensed were buzzing. Zan'kais carefully leveled his rail gun on the head of the nearest shinobi.
'Aun'va give me strength.'
The next match turned out to be a complete disappointment. Kankuro had forfeited instanty, much to the chagrin of the audience. Naruto frowned behind his helmet.
Something was off.
The other sand-nin had fought with vigor, and Kankuro looked equally as able to fight. Plus….he looked nervous. Like one about to go into battle and could barely contain himself. He cast glances at the calm form of Gaara.
There was fear in his eyes. Naruto frowned.
What about his brother could scare Kankuro so much?
Unconsciously Naruto gripped the handle of his rifle. Something was going on. The other tau must have sensed it as well, for they too looked ready to draw their weapons.
"Wait." Naruto said. "Let us see how this plays out." The others nodded, but arranged themselves in a quick Kauyon formation. Naruto noted that Sasuke had entered the field, along with the mysterious Gaara.
-Arena Floor-
"Match between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara, Start!"
Sasuke immediately began launching into various taijutsu strikes at the red headed Suna-nin, only to have them blocked by an impenetrable wall of sand. Gaara simply stood with an emotionless expression on his face, arms folded across his chest.
Sasuke jumped back and flashed through some hand signs.
Katon: Houdenka no jutsu!
Sasuke inhaled deeply and spat out a series of small fireballs at the sand genninn. The sand shield blocked the fire, shifting around the flames and smothering it. Sasuke growled.
'Damn it.' He swore mentally. 'I didn't want to reveal THAT jutsu too soon. But it looks like I'm gonna need it after all.'
Sasuke pumped chakra into his legs and began running at Gaara. The unstable gennin gave no outward emotion, but sand began slithering up to greet the dark-haired boy. Sasuke charged directly at Gaara.
And then past him.
Gaara spun around and watched as Sasuke ran up the side of the stadium wall, and then used chakra to hang there. Many were looking at the Uchiha curiously.
Up in the stands, Gai frowned and turned to Kakashi standing next to him.
"Kakashi., did you teach him THAT jutsu?" The green clad man asked seriously. Kakashi nodded, never taking his eyes off the match.
"It was the only way I could think of that would get through that boy's sand defense." He replied. Now Sakura, Ino and all the other gennin around them were looking at the two jounin.
"Still," Gai continued. "It isn't something to teach a Gennin." He said, a frown marring his face. Kakashi glanced at him in annoyance.
"And that thing you taught Lee wasn't?" he said irritably. Gai got a pained look on his face and said no more.
"What jutsu, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura. Up above them, Naruto's team was listening in as well. Naruto was really curious about what his ex-teammate might have learned in his absence.
Kakashi just looked at the girl and gave her one of his eye…smile….things. "Just wait and see, Sakura." He said, then turned his attention back to the match, as did all the gennin.
Above them, Naruto frowned. 'A dangerous technique? Figures he would teach something like that to Sasuke.' He couldn't help but feel bitter. Kakashi always had favored the Uchiha over his other students.
It wasn't that Naruto hated his team, he didn't really hate anyone. Well except maybe the villagers. More so he felt a sense of abandonment. Zan'kais had said that Team 7 had left Naruto's body on the bridge. But still, Naruto didn't hate, he simply didn't really want to have anything more to do with Konoha.
He had found a home, friends and a new cause.
"Ko'vash Tau'va." He whispered to himself. For the greater good.
-Arena-
Still hanging from the wall, Sasuke flashed through more hand signs. After he was finished, a loud screeching sound began filling the arena. As if a thousand birds were all chattering at once.
Lighting formed into an electric ball in Sasuke's hand. He began running back down the wall, electrified hand out in front of him. Gaara's eyes widened slightly as he saw the attack coming at him. Still he did nothing, confident in his sand to crush the weakling Uchiha.
As he got near Gaara, Sasuke let out a roar, yelling out the name of his new jutsu.
Chidori!
-Stands-
Naruto clenched his fist at the site of the lightning jutsu. He recognized it all too well. Images flashed through his head.
The bridge, Kakashi, blood, darkness.
Naruto took a deep breath and steadied himself. Orez'va took a step towards him.
"Shas'ui, are you unwell?" asked the tau. The other warriors were looking at him too. They were worried for their leader. He had been acting off ever since they arrived in Konoha.
Naruto waved Orez off. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, Orez." He said in an entirely unconvincing tone.
The tau would have said more, except a bloodcurdling scream broke his words. Everyone looked back down at the two combatants, and the source of the horrible noise.
Gaara was clutching his shoulder in pain, blood oozing from the wound. Sasuke stood a few feet away, panting heavily. The attack had drained him. Gaara was screaming in pain.
"BLOOD! MY BLOOD! I HAVE BEEN WOUNDED!" he shouted. He turned and stared at Sasuke, madness rampant in his eyes. "MOTHER WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD, UCHIHA SASUKE!" he roared. Gaara took a step forward, then stopped and grabbed his head, groaning as if in a trance.
In the stands, Temari's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no. Not now." She said, fear creeping into her voice. Kankuro remained silent, but was just as afraid.
Elswhere, Kabuto watched the scene from his ANBU disguise. "I guess it is time then.." he began forming hand signs discreetly.
Naruto and the tau stared at Gaara in confusion. The boy's personality had done a complete U-turn. First he was calm and aloof, now he was a freaking psycho.
"That gue'la is not stable." Shan'tei said. Lyn'sir snorted.
"Way to state the obvious."
"Shut u-" the tau was interrupted when white feathers suddenly began drifting across his vision. Shan'tei opened his mouth to say something, but found himself unable to. A wave of exhaustion hit him and the tau's eyelids began to close.
Naruto tried to blink off the fatigue that had suddenly appeared in him. 'What the hell is this?' he looked around sluggishly. Shan'tei and Neir'ah were already passed out. Shar'kan was struggling.
"shas'ui…what..is going on?" he muttered, trying to fight the inexplicable fatigue. Naruto looked out to the crowd. Everyone else was similarly affected. All the civilians and some ninja were passed out in their seats. Most shinobi, however, were wide awake.
And fighting.
Everywhere, Konoha shinobi were engaging other shinobi, all bearing a strange musical note on their foreheads. Smoke was rising from beyond the stadium in the village.
Naruto's eyes widened. Now he recognized what was wrong.
"Genjutsu." He muttered. Naruto had been one of the worst students in the ninja academy, but had still managed to retain enough information to help in this certain situation. He formed his hands into the appropriate hand sign.
"Kai!"
Instantly the drowsiness left him. Naruto stretched for a second, then ran over to his teammates and repeated the action.
The tau all stood and yawned collectively.
"By the ethereals!" Myr'ez said as he looked out at the combat. Shar'kan shifted into a combat stance unconsciously.
"Sir. What should we do! The village is under attack!" Lyn'sir exclaimed. Naruto stood silently.
Konoha under attack. The notion struck a chord deep within the blond haired-fire warrior. All his life, Konoha had been in peace-time and to see it in such a new light was surreal. He stared out at the fighting in an almost trance-like state. Vaguely, he could here a deep growl eminating from….somewhere deep inside. The carnage, the destruction, it almost….
"Naruto?"
The sound of his name brought Naruto back to reality. Shan'tei was staring at him. Even behind his helmet, the tau's worry was obvious. Shan'tei never called him by his actual name on a mission. Even then…
Naruto took a deep breath. "Well, it seems our future colony is under attack." He said. He gripped his rifle. All the other tau brought theirs up proudly. "It seems our time to remain hidden is over!" Naruto yelled, taking aim at his first target.
"Pick your targets! For Zak'n Va and for Tau!"
An: Yeah, kinda another cliff hanger. BUT on the bright side, the invasion is here. Well hope you like the new chapter! Be sure to review! The Ethereals command you to review!
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Well guess that's all folks, until next time,
-TheHiddenAssassin