Here's the next chapter it takes place in Spirit World with Kou and the Spirit Elders. Thank You for all the reviews!
Kou sat beneath the Buddha statue cross legged and placed her hands in front of her like she was praying. She focused her chakra to the gate in the Buddha's hands and chanted a mantra. Her eyes began to glow and the seal on her back began to burn as the marking spread across her arms and legs. Her mind went blank and she felt like she was being pulled from all sides. When she opened her eyes she could see the room she had been transported to.
She always marveled at how she could actually see in this place. For some reason when she entered Spirit World she got her eye sight back. The trade off was she could not form jutsus while here. She took in the room it was like a banquet hall and had a large, fancy table with equally large and fancy chairs surrounding it. There were five chairs and they were a dark wood color with a maroon cushion. The table had intricate designs on the sides and legs. It matched the chairs with its dark wood.
Kou too her place and stared at the giant chandelier hanging on the ceiling and centered on the table. It was bright and began to glow blue. There was a flash and as the smoke cleared four figures also sat at the table with Kou.
To Kou's right was a Tiger looking creature who had white fur and green robes. He was Jian the guardian of the Demon Realm and all its gates. He had yellow eyes and a hardened face. The demon realm was the hardest control, because it had the greatest number of inhabitants although they were typically weaker than the other realms. Many demons escaped passed Jian's watch and entered the human world. Demons loved to reek havoc on the weak humans, and it was Kou's job to send them back. Jian was not evil or mean, but he was a tad grumpy and reminded Kou of Sasuke. You'd be grumpy too if you had to constantly deal with those stupid demons, thought Kou to herself.
Across from Kou was the Phoenix spirit elder, Mei. She had red and yellow feathers and wore a white robe. Her eyes were an electric blue and Kou knew for a fact her talons and beak were among the sharpest weapons between all the realms. She was the guardian of the realm of the punished. It was her job to enforce the gates, but to also provide the punishment to the evil souls that resided there. Because of her duties Mei was a fierce being and could sometimes be too hard on the people around her. She sometimes came off as insulting, but Kou knew to take whatever she said with a grain of salt.
To Mei's right was the Turtle spirit elder Ru. He had a large purple shell on his back and had black skin. He wore a dark purple robe, but his shell remained exposed. He also wore glasses and was considered one of the best scholars in all of spirit world. He was the guardian of the realm of the pure. His main job was to make sure those who reached the realm were sent to their proper place in the afterlife, along with protecting the various gates of the realm. The Spirit World was not the end stop for the souls of the dead, unless they were sent to the realm of the punished. It was more of a gateway to the unknown world that the dead rested in peace.
Finally at the head of the table was the mighty dragon Longwei. He was blue and had a white belly. He had a light blue robe and was considered the leader of the spirit elders. He was the guardian of the Spirit Realm. He allowed many of its inhabitants to enter the human world and take various forms of life. Spirit Realm and Demon Realm were known enemies and he was the main reason they remained balanced and at peace. Longwei stared at the four beings in front of him and nodded his head, "I believe it is time for us to begin." His voice was deep and calming. "Welcome Lady Kou. I trust there were no problems getting here."
"None at all Master Longwei…so why am I here?" asked Kou. She was a little impatient today. She knew her body was vulnerable while her soul was here in spirit world. If her body on earth was moved away from the Buddha statue she would not be able to return home. Sasuke better not try anything funny, but I know Master Daichi will take care of me. Then again I don't think he's any match for Sasuke.
"Impatient aren't we little brat!" snapped Mei.
"Grouchy as always fire bitch," replied Jian rolling his eyes.
Kou knew a fight was about to erupt and crossed her arms with a sigh. She waited for the two elders to stop glaring at one another. Ru held his hands in front of him and begged his fellow guardians to remain calm.
"Jian you know what the doctors have said about your blood pressure," said Ru with a hint of fear.
"Oh shut it four eyes I'm in peak condition!" yelled Jian across the table.
"Your demons don't seem to think so if you had any power what so ever they might actually fear you and stop escaping. How many got out today my brother?" asked Mei with an evil smirk.
"My siblings please we must speak to Lady Kou about the situation at hand. Leave your personal battles for another day," interjected Longwei he held his hands to his head rubbing his temples.
"Fine," sighed the other elders. All four faced Kou.
"Lady Kou it has come to our attention that Sasuke Uchiha is living in your house," said the dragon with a hardened voice.
"Yea, and…?" said Kou with little interest. The elders were beginning to test her patience.
"What the hell is that murderer doing near the temple? He could kill you and steal the statue. Or take you to Madara. We lose you we lose the war you brat!" yelled the Pheonix
"Oh yes Master Mei one man could move a three ton statue by himself," replied Kou sarcastically.
"Hold your tongue you foolish girl do not underestimate an Uchiha," spat Jian.
"I'm afraid Jian has a point Lady Kou according to history the Sharingan is quite possibly the most powerful kekkei genkai," said Ru hiding behind his hands slightly.
"I'm aware of all the possibilities…"
Kou couldn't finish her sentence before the three spirits began shouting at her and each other. Kou sat back in her chair and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Brothers! Sister! Please let's hear what the spirit guardian has to say. After all she and Sasuke were once very good friends," said Longwei sternly. He gave a glare to his siblings before gesturing Kou to continue.
"As I was saying, I'm very aware of all the possibilities that could arise from Sasuke being allowed to stay in the village. Master Daichi and I are keeping an eye on him and the other ninja monks have been supportive in the effort to contain him," said the kunoichi calmly.
"Why would you even allow a traitor like him to stay in the village? He is a cold hearted murderer he is not the same Sasuke you once knew," shouted Jian.
"How do you Know! You haven't even thought about the possibility of him turning out alright! I want to help him! I want to teach him that power stemming from love is more powerful than hatred. How am I to do that if I just let him rot in jail or be killed. He could make an important and powerful ally in bringing Madara down," Kou finished this statement and leaned back in her chair waiting for the reply.
"Lady Kou do you truly believe you can change a man who has based his entire life on seeking revenge?" asked the wise dragon.
"I…I know that there is some of the old Sasuke in there. He has had a few opportunities to simply knock me out and haul me to Madara's lair, but he hasn't. He wants to learn my techniques because he is blind…
"So he can use them against us!" argued Mei.
"No! Uchiha men have never been the type of people to ask for help. He is different. He's in there somewhere I just want to help him. Plus he's an incredible training partner. I think he could help me more than Naruto did," Kou finished and let the decision be made. She had nothing left to say. She knew Sasuke was a murderer and a traitor and she could never forget that, but she could forgive him if he proved he could rise above his hateful ways. She knew she could help him through her teachings, and Master Daichi knew it too. He would help her, he trusted her judgment.
"I think we should kill him!" stated Mei
"I agree with the flaming bitch for once," sighed Jian. Mei glared across the table.
"I think Lady Kou has presented a valid argument, but I am hesitant…What do you think Longwei? Asked Ru
There was a long pause and everyone turned to Longwei. He sat in thought and stared at Kou.
"If Daichi trusts your judgment then I will allow you to continue in your quest to help Sasuke, but he must help you learn the sealing technique. The war will begin in five months; you have very little time to be distracted," stated the dragon. "We also have new information for you. Master Ru please explain."
"Right… well we have information from allied spies that Kabuto, Orochimaru's most loyal follower has somehow absorbed a part of the sanin. He has joined forces with Madara Uchiha."
"What!" yelled the kunoichi she was growing nervous.
"He has learned the impure world resurrection technique and who knows what else. The technique brings people back from the dead and the summoner can control the dead's bodies." Ru hid his face once more.
"What does this have to do with me?" asked Kou.
"It means not only must Madara be killed, but we must also take into account Kabuto," said Longwei.
"We have also learned Madara's plans for this war. He will be using the Sharingan and the Rinnegan together, along with the power from the nine tailed beasts to create the ten tailed beast. He then wishes to become the ten tail's jinchūriki, which will give him the power to project his Sharingan on the moon. By doing this he can control every living creature on the planet," continued Ru.
"The bastard revealed his plan to the kages at the kage summit," scoffed Mei.
"So now it is even more important to learn the sealing technique. If you can seal the beasts in demon world temporarily until you can find other jinchuriki, then we can prevent the Eye of the Moon technique from taking place. The next step would be to kill Madara before he could gain access to the tailed beasts again," explained Longwei
"You would also have to destroy Madara's body once you kill him," added Jian.
Kou sighed and rolled her eyes, "Great just more work for me and Naruto."
"You awful spoiled child! Yelled Mei.
"Oh calm down Master Mei, if I can get Sasuke on our side we'll stand more of a chance," shot back Kou.
"Everyone calm down. Lady Kou we will give you some time to take this all in. You must master the sealing technique first after that we can go from there," stated the dragon calmly.
Kou took this all in and closed her eyes. She sighed, lifted her head, and gazed at Longwei. He looked sympathetically into her eyes. She nodded and understood this was just how her life was supposed to be. "I will do what is required of me," said Kou feeling exhausted.
Everyone at the table nodded and stood. They bowed and suddenly there was a flash of light, Mei, Jian and Ru disappeared from the room. Longwei lingered, "Lady Kou I am deeply sorry that we have placed such a burden on you." He bowed once more and left Kou standing in the room.
She formed a few hand signs and yelled "Return!" there was another flash of light and she felt her body being pulled towards earth. She blinked, everything was black and she knew she was back in her regular body.
Kou stood and wiped the tears from her face. She certainly couldn't let Sasuke see her crying. There was a lot of pressure on her and sometimes she just couldn't fathom it. The kunoichi got a hold of herself and walked to the door. When she opened it she saw her teacher meditating on the floor and Sasuke leaning up against a wall, "Bout time," he said with annoyance.
Kou was already pissed off from her encounter with the elders, now she was about to explode. She took and deep breath and slapped the Uchiha across the face. She had been so quick and it was so unexpected he had, had no time to react. Daichi looked up from his meditation and stared at the two with interest. Sasuke stared in shock at the woman in front of him.
"Shut up! I stuck up for you! they wanted to kill you and would have had no problems accomplishing that task. Stop it with this tough guy attitude I know you're just hiding behind it." Kou was breathing heavy from frustration.
Sasuke's shocked expression disappeared into an angry one, but before he could respond Kou disappeared into a pile of pebbles.
"That's her transportation technique. They must have really bothered her about the sealing technique," said Daichi as he rose from his seated position. He sighed, "She's under a lot of pressure from them and if they had truly wanted to kill you they could have done it easily. The four Spirit Guardians have power even greater than the tailed beasts."
Sasuke looked to wall across from him, why does she keep doing things to help me?
Daichi stared at the boy in front of him. Between himself and his student they had certainly started placing some doubt in the Uchiha's brain in a very short amount of time. "Fetch her for me will you. You both need to sleep to keep up your strength."
Sasuke was shaken out of his thoughts, "Where is she?"
"I suggest you turn off that sharingan and sense her out. It won't be too hard to find her if she's upset." Daichi turned to leave and gave a wave behind him to Sasuke.
"Stupid old man ordering me around," whispered the Uchiha under his breath. He turned down another hallway and found himself outside the temple. He did as he was instructed and turned his sharingan off. He concentrated and opened his senses. That's when he heard it… huge crashes coming from the east. That's where the waterfall was in the forest, and he had a good idea that it was Kou. He turned towards the direction of the noise and began to walk.
It didn't take Sasuke long to find a very angry kunoichi in the waterfall's clearing. He had walked through the village and ran up the side of the canyon. He entered the woods and continued to follow the sound of crashing that became louder with each step. He stood behind a bush and re-activated his sharingan. Kou was standing on top of the pool of water that formed at the base of the water fall. She was summoning rocks from beneath the water and throwing them through the waterfall where they hit the stone behind it.
Kou knew he was heading her way and didn't care. If he spoke to her in the same manner he had back at the temple she would surly throw the largest boulder she could summon and make sure she didn't miss.
"What do you want spoiled?" asked the blind kunoichi in between breaths. She was almost panting. She was furious and using a lot of energy.
"The old man sent me. Said I should bring you back to the house so we can rest. Apparently we have training to do tomorrow," replied Sasuke as he walked out from the bushes.
Kou sighed threw one more rock and began walking towards the Uchiha, "I'm sure the doctors won't be too happy about that." She gave a small smirk.
Sasuke responded with a slight chuckle and began walking back into the woods.
"You found me without your sharingan… that's pretty impressive. You're learning really quickly. It took me much longer than you to get to this point," said Kou rubbing the back of her head with her hand.
"Further proving I am better than you," he replied with a smirk.
Kou returned this with a smile and laughed, "You know you actually just made me feel better whether you meant to or not. You always were the best at that."
"Hn."
"You're not so tough I could kick your ass any day. I always could," she said as they both began to walk through the woods. Sasuke had deactivated his sharingan.
"I let you win," scoffed the Uchiha.
Kou laughed and smirked, "Yea…right." Her expression became more serious, "They really did want to kill you. They were afraid you planned to take me to Madara." Kou stopped and looked in his direction.
He also paused and could feel her stare, they know. He kept his heart rate under control, but he knew he was slightly panicked, and hoped she didn't notice. "Why didn't they just do it?" he replied without emotion.
She smiled, "I told them the old Sasuke was still inside you."
He looked at the ground, "It's not wise to lie to people that powerful."
"I don't think it's a lie. Like just back there you could have snuck up behind me and knocked me out. You know how to now, but you didn't." Kou sighed and continued walking.
She's right I could have. Why didn't I? I just stood there and stared at her…idiot. It won't happen again. Sasuke looked up from his thoughts and followed the kunoichi to the village.
She created her earth elevator and they hopped off and headed toward the house. The villagers were closing up their shops and things were beginning to quiet down. The stars and moon were already out and both ninja could feel a drop in temperature.
When they reached the house they were greeted by Daichi who simply asked Kou if she felt better. She nodded her head and everyone headed for their bedrooms.
Just before Sasuke and Kou split up Kou turned, "Your brother contacted me through a dream last night. He wants to talk to you."
Sasuke didn't face her. He hid his shock from her despite knowing she couldn't see his face. "When?" he asked calmly.
"In two weeks. The moon will be full then, that's when my connection to the spirit world is at its peak," she responded with some sadness. She knew what this was doing to him. She knew how messed up he was after he found out what his brother had done for the Leaf village. She hoped this meeting would bring Sasuke and his brother peace.
"Thank you." Sasuke almost never thanked anyone, but he didn't know what to say. He truly was thankful that she would do something like that for him. He closed his door behind him and found that he was more exhausted then he thought. The Uchiha fell asleep quickly and dreamed of Itachi all night.
Kou also fell asleep exhausted, but she had hope. Something she hadn't had about Sasuke for a long time. She whispered to herself, "You're welcome…Thank you for helping me more than you know."