Naruto and Higure both stared at Miko with the same blank, disbelieving stare. They blinked over and over, wondering if what they were told would somehow change before Naruto opened his mouth, "Say what now?"
Miko sighed and looked down at the ground, "Shion had a vision that you would be killed in battle before she could seal Moryo..." Both shinobi looked at each other, Naruto a bit frightened while Higure was worried about the young man. Miko sighed before turning around and staring at Shion, who stared out through the clearing in silence. "This vision is...unusual to be honest though..."
"Why, I thought the Priestess always predicted people's deaths accurately," Higure questioned, eyes narrowed.
"She does...but how her visions work, is the Priestess's soul, when it leaves the body, travels back in time to warn the Priestess of her impending doom," Miko explained, clearly worried. "The only reason she can accurately predict who will die in her place, is in the visions it shows the Priestess who is around at the available time, and she warns her charges of her death and they sacrifice themselves to save her..."
"S-so what, she tells people to die in her place," Naruto asked. Miko sighed and shook her head, giving a soft, apologetic smile to Naruto.
"No, her charges are all very loyal to her, and will gladly give up their lives for Lady Shion's. It's the custom of this land, to give one's life for the Priestess's." Miko closed her eyes and sighed before opening them back up to stare at the ground. "The fact she received a vision...about somebody besides herself being killed is...curious..."
Higure looked at Naruto, who seemed to be a bit more than frightened. The Commander closed his eyes and sighed through his nose before looking at Shion. 'Her future self went through the trouble of sending her soul back to her current self to warn her about Naruto's death...'
"W-well isn't there something we can do," Naruto asked Miko worryingly. "I mean, maybe I could be somewhere else at the time instead of, well, dying..."
"Where exactly did he die?" Higure turned his eyes from Shion to Miko. His emerald eyes were firm, analyzing the information as best as he could. "And who killed him?"
"Moryo," Miko stated bluntly. This seemed to surprise both Naruto and Higure, simply by the name alone. Miko closed her eyes, trembling softly as she repeated the Priestess's words. "According to Shion...Moryo will be released...and when he is..." The Priestess's aid stared intently at Naruto as she finished her sentence, "You will die, Naruto Uzumaki..."
The blonde swallowed a nervous lump in his throat. Higure closed his eyes, trying to keep himself calm with the recent information, despite the fact his emotions were screaming at him to save the son of his two childhood friends.
"We need to go now then...we need to get the Priestess to Moryo to seal him off permanently before he's released," Higure stated simply. Naruto and Miko turned to him before he looked back at both of them, eyes firm and hardened. "If we can get the Priestess to Moryo and if she can seal him off before the demon is fully revived, then we can easily prevent Naruto's death."
"It may already be too late," Miko stated, adjusting her glasses on her nose. "For all we know, Moryo could already be fully revived. Plus there's no accounting for the fact that maybe the Ghost Army may just be waiting up ahead for us."
"It's a chance we'll have to take. I'll go with the Priestess to confront Moryo instead of Naruto, so hopefully he won't have to sacrifice himself."
"Fate demands that during the time Moryo is confronted, that someone loses a life."
"Then that's just one less asset the Alliance will have on Naruto here," Higure stated, patting the Jinchuriki on the shoulder. Both Naruto and Miko seemed shocked by the Commander's choice of words. Higure's expression, as well as his seriousness on the matter, were indiscernible, causing Miko to question his loyalties.
'He's an Alliance Commander...but he truly is against the Alliance itself...then why? What could the Alliance possibly have to use against him like this...?'
"Hey, don't talk like that," Naruto muttered, looking at Higure's hand. The Commander looked down at Naruto, who beamed his blue eyes back up at him. "Sakura needs you if I can't be there." The older shinobi blinked at this before giving a softened smile as he removed his hand from Naruto's shoulder. The Jinchuriki seemed a little bashful about this, a faint pink coloring to his cheeks before he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean come on, you can't be that selfish."
"Alright, alright, fine, if you really wanna die in my place Naruto," Higure said, leaving things at that before walking away. Naruto's face fell in shock as he forgot that detail already.
"H-Hey wait, maybe we can talk about this more?!" Naruto chased after Higure while Miko simply just watched the two walk away in silence. Higure laughed and then teased Naruto, who angrily shouted back at him, causing the older man to laugh again.
'They're on opposite sides of a war...yet these two, Naruto and Higure, act as though they're best friends...they're truly an odd pair.' Miko stared walking towards the two shinobi, but continued past them without a word before kneeling down to Shion. "Milady, come, we're moving on ahead." Shion nodded and stood up with Miko's help. The aid walked alongside the Priestess while Naruto and Higure brought up the rear, the former grumbling angrily while the Commander giggled a bit to himself.
An explosion went off as Rin slid out from the smoke. She turned her head quickly to the left as the smoke broke, and Ishidate came lunging at her. Rin used her forearm and pushed Ishidate's unusual gauntlet away from herself, making sure to avoid direct contact with it, before kicking the man in the side. Ishidate hit the ground and rolled over a few times before slamming his gauntlet into the ground. The man sneered wickedly while Rin gasped as several chunks of rock popped out of the ground, hovering around Ishidate before he launched them forward. Rin held out her arm, and then braced herself before swinging her hand once, slicing through all of the rocks with ease. The medical ninja stood unscathed while the split rocks crashed before her.
Ishidate chuckled as he stood up, flexing his gauntlet, "Quite impressive for the Medical Butcher..."
"I can't tell you how much I hate that name," Rin replied, flexing her hand as her eyes sharpened dangerously.
Ishidate laughed before holding both arms outward, "You were smart that you managed to identify our performance hindering powder, and that you actually avoided it this time along with that Iwagakure woman. However...your green haired friend seems to be a little bit worse for the wear." Rin scowled as she looked over as Fu was sent flying through a thick tree on the shoulder of the muscle bound mercenary, Kongo. Ishidate smirked at the sight before turning back to Rin, "And Karenbana is the most skilled in our group, under myself of course."
"You don't seem all that skilled to me to be honest," Rin stated. Ishidate's eyes narrowed a bit, but he maintained his smile. Rin brushed a loose strand of hair over her ear before glaring daggers at Ishidate. "You and your team are cowards, who have to dull their enemy's senses before actually fighting them. Frequent tactics like that are easy to counter." Ishidate glared at the medical ninja with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Rin returned the stare before pulling out a pair of kunai and twirling them in her hands. "Come on, I'll show you what a real shinobi can do."
Kurotsuchi clashed her kunai against Karenbana's, watching her movements closely while the shorter woman just laughed while blocking and dodging her attacks. "Oh come on little girl, you've gotta do better than that!" Kurotsuchi huffed and then swung her kunai, which was blocked, before following through with her strike and swung her leg at the girl's head. Karenbana ducked under the strike and trotted backwards, laughing obnoxiously, which made Kurotsuchi want to kill the girl even more. "This is getting boring, I'm gonna end this fight here and now little girlie!"
Karenbana giggled as she formed a hand sign that caused rose pedals to appear around Kurotsuchi. The kunoichi from Iwa looked around in shock as the pedals swarmed around her before she steadied her gaze on her enemy, who started to seemingly become one with the swarm of pedals.
"Obviously genjutsu...interesting..." Kurotsuchi's thoughts were cut short when she received a strong slash across her shoulder. The kunoichi cried out in pain and stumble around before being slashed across the left collar bone, once to the right side of her hip, and then once more on the right side of her torso. Kurotsuchi stumbled back, groaning as her wounds bled profusely now before she pulled out a kunai, "Damn it...she's fast..."
Karenbana's laughter echoed around Kurotsuchi before the little girl appeared before her in the swarm of rose pedals, "And what's best is the performance dulling poison is on my kunai too! Your senses are gonna be slowed down every time I slash you!" Karenbana disappeared into the swarm of rose pedals with her laugh.
Kurotsuchi looked around cautiously, holding her kunai up to defend herself. Out of the rose pedals came a swarm of shuriken from all sides. Kurotsuchi jumped out of the way of most of them, while blocking a few more, but one shuriken grazed her outer left thigh. She landed and skidded across the ground, kneeling as the pain from her fresh wound forced her down. Kurotsuchi then performed hand signs for a ninjutsu.
"Water Style: Water Trumpet!" Kurotsuchi jumped into the air and fired a stream of water from her mouth. The water hit the ground with great force, and slowly spread out from there. Karenbana's laugh could be heard as Kurotsuchi kept the jutsu going.
"Oh, what's wrong? Are you just trying to fire in some stupid attempt to hit me?! Dream on little girl!" A kunai flew out from the rose pedals at Kurotsuchi. She noticed the knife in time and stopped her jutsu, but she didn't have nearly enough reaction time to dodge or block it. The kunai stuck in Kurotsuchi's stomach, causing her to cry out before she went plummeting towards the ground and hit with a hard thud.
"D-Damn it," Kurotsuchi groaned. Karenbana laughed as she once again appeared out of the rose pedals, a wide, stupid smile on her face. Kurotsuchi spat out a mouthful of blood and then started to bring herself up off the ground.
"Is this really all you can do," Karenbana asked, her tone a little disappointed. "Honestly, for the granddaughter of old man Onoki, you're not much of a challenge." Kurotsuchi gasped before snapping her head up at Karenbana. The rogue grinned as she read Kurotsuchi's face with a smug expression. "Oh, what, you expected us to be unaware of our very own enemies? Ishidate, Kongo, and I are all rogues from Iwagakure."
"Yo-you what," Kurotsuchi muttered as blood trailed down the corners of her mouth.
Karenbana laughed and clapped her hands as she vanished in the rose pedals. Kurotsuchi immediately pushed herself up off the ground and tensed up, ready to defend herself. The kunoichi groaned as her wounds pounded painfully at the quick movements, but she stood firm. Karenbana's laugh came from behind, prompting Kurotsuchi to face that way.
"We're rogues from Iwagakure, under your grandpa's rule, way before joining the Alliance! Honestly, Ishidate kept waiting and waiting for Iwagakure to rebel against Konoha and the Alliance, simply so he could join the Alliance to crush Iwa." Karenbana held her stomach and laughed, hunching over as she did. Kurotsuchi scowled, clutching her kunai tightly as the white haired woman went on. "But then your old man died, and Ishidate was so happy! He finally expected things to go how he predicted!" Karenbana stopped laughing and opened her eyes into narrow, dangerous slits as her grin was plastered on her face. "But then, something very unexpected happened...Iwagakure stayed in the Alliance after some touching bullshit from two little girls. One of them Sakura Haruno, daughter of one of Iwagakure's most famous enemies. The other, old man Onoki's granddaughter herself!"
"What's the point," Kurotsuchi questioned before spitting out more blood from her mouth.
Karenbana giggled before pointing at her fellow kunoichi, "Ishidate wanted revenge against Onoki for betraying him. And in the end, you gave him exactly what he wanted!" The white haired woman started to laugh again, which only aggravated the Iwa kunoichi more. "I mean, come on, there was no way Onoki would stay in the Alliance after they attempted to kill him! Nobody expected though, that he would've lost, and then even then his village would have remained loyal to the people who killed their leader!" Karenbana shrieked with laughter, holding her stomach with one hand and planting her other hand on her face. Kurotsuchi growled furiously, tearing up a bit at the rogue shinobi's words.
"Shut the fuck UP!" Kurotsuchi lunged forward and swung at the white haired woman, who immediately exploded harmlessly into a swarm of rose pedals. Kurotsuchi scowled as she looked around, but Karenbana didn't appear anywhere else.
"Why did you stay with the Alliance exactly," Karenbana wondered aloud. A shuriken grazed Kurotsuchi's cheek from behind. The Iwa kunoichi spun around and saw nothing. Kurotsuchi scowled angrily until she felt several sharp pains stick into her right shoulder from behind. She dropped her kunai and fell to her knees as nearly five shuriken stuck into her shoulder. Kurotsuchi cried out softly in pain, clutching her shoulder while blood poured down her back. "Did you do it for that one friend of yours? Sakura? Maybe you never loved dear old grandpa to begin with."
"SHUT UP!"
"Oh come on, we're all curious as to why you convinced the village to stay!"
"Grandfather always told me...the village comes first," Kurotsuchi shouted, staring at the ground as a few tears rolled down her face. She closed her eyes tightly, stopping the tears before reaffirming her beliefs. "He was obsessed with revenge against Konohagakure...maybe he was justified, but he had no right risking the lives of every single person in that village!"
Karenbana laughed again before throwing another kunai at Kurotsuchi. This time, the young kunoichi rolled out of the way, only to see that there was a paper bomb at the end of the knife that exploded shortly afterwards. Kurotsuchi was thrown back by the explosion, and landed hard on her side, skidding across the ground. She groaned and pushed herself up off her right side, her arm now completely numb on that half of her body before Karenbana appeared on the opposite side of the flurry of rose pedals.
"That sounds nothing like the old man or village we knew." Karenbana slowly started walking, visibly, across the flurry of rose pedals, grinning the entire time as Kurotsuchi tried to stand. "Back when we were in the village, Iwagakure was proud of their leader, and many would die for him and his beliefs. That was how warped and brainwashed that village was. Now, you spit on your old grandfather's name by being the cause of working close with the Alliance. Pathetic! You honestly believe you're helping your people like this?! Iwagakure needs to be wiped off the map, as Ishidate wishes!" Kurotsuchi finally managed to get up on both feet, body shaking and trembling from pain and blood loss as she looked at Karenbana. The rogue kunoichi glared at Kurotsuchi, all pleasantries from her face gone. "You'll be the start to how we wiped that stupid village off the map..." Karenbana disappeared in a flurry of rose pedals again, now only silence surrounding Kurotsuchi.
The young woman sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to repress her feelings of guilt that she had tried to bury already. Her breathing became heavy as blood trickled down her back, face, arm, and legs. Kurotsuchi swallowed before opening her hazy eyes as she remembered her father's words to her shortly after the Fourth Tsuchikage was chosen.
Kurotsuchi sat in her room, on her bed and stared out of the window as the sun began to set. She heard her mother downstairs cleaning the kitchen after they had both eaten dinner already. It wasn't uncommon for Kitsuchi to be late or held up by something concerning the village before, and even now it wasn't unusual. Kurotsuchi heard the door open, causing her to keep an open ear as she wondered who it was. Judging from the muffled sound of happiness from her mom, Kurotsuchi assumed it was her father. The young woman curled up a bit and stared down at her feet, as she wondered to herself why her father was home so early. Her eyes sunk with depression as she answered her own question with a smart-ass remark.
After a few minutes, Kurotsuchi's door opened, and her large, burly father stepped inside, "You're stll awake? Your mother thought you would be asleep after your long day." Kurotsuchi shrugged, forcing a smile as she looked over at her father.
"Well, really preparing supplies and scouting missions aren't too terribly difficult father. I'm tired, just not...sleepy." Kitsuchi nodded, though his eyes narrowed skeptically. Kurotsuchi had never before known her father to accept such a half-assed response before in her life. "If mom wants me to help clean the kitchen, I can..."
"No, don't worry about that," Kitsuchi stated. "I'll be eating and messing it up again anyway. No need for you to get out of bed." Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes and threw her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Just because I'm in pajamas doesn't mean I'm in bed or anything..." Kitsuchi sighed and gave a firm, yet somehow soft stare at Kurotsuchi. The young woman lowered her head and nodded before turning back into bed, curling up into a ball.
Kitsuchi groaned and rubbed the back of his head, looking to the side. Kurotsuchi turned to her father and saw this, her heart skipping a beat out of shock. She had never known her father to look so unsure or, dare she even think it, nervous before. Kitsuchi looked back at his daughter and lowered his hand, removing his bandana with it as well.
"Look...I've been meaning to talk with you about...about Onoki..." Kurotsuchi felt as though a knife had been plunged into her chest. Though she put on a face for the public, she was always worried, paranoid about what people truly thought about Onoki's death. Worse yet, she was terrified about what her father must have thought, as he was Onoki's own son and strongest supporter. "I don't want you to blame yourself..." Kurotsuchi gasped softly in confusion. She blinked over and over again before looking up at her father. Kitsuchi closed Kurotsuchi's door and stepped further into her room and then crossed his arms. "I know...I know it must be weighing on your conscious about his death...how your friend was the one that killed him..."
"Dad..."
"Don't think that just because he was my father that I didn't want to wring his neck when he stabbed you in the back," Kitsuchi exclaimed loudly. Kurotsuchi jumped a bit, tensing up out of fear with her father's tone. Kitsuchi saw his daughter's reaction and groaned before placing his hand over his face. "Sorry...I didn't mean to yell." Kurotsuchi nodded dumbly, not sure exactly how to respond. Kitsuchi grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it towards him before sitting down across from his daughter. "Look...you're my daughter, and I feel I raised you right...so I'm going to be honest with you Kurotsuchi."
"Oh crap," Kurotsuchi said to herself, barely even a whisper in volume.
"When Onoki...betrayed you, like I said, I wanted to kill him myself. When that little girl brought you back from the brink of death...well, I can still say I'm not sure how I would express my gratitude towards her. But afterwards...I wasn't sure what to do." Kitsuchi rubbed the side of his head with a groan, looking as awkward as he felt. Kurotsuchi simply watched and stared at her father, simply dumbfounded that they were having a heart-to-heart conversation for once. "Part of me wanted what Onoki wanted...to war with the Alliance. Maybe that's just my stubborn way of thinking, but it doesn't make it any less true. But..Mao spoke truth, that we were oppressed because of my father's lack of cooperation with the Alliance. I still argued against it, but your mother...well..."
Kurotsuchi huffed with a smile on her face as she nodded in agreement, "Yeah. She's scarier than you sometimes."
Kitsuchi grinned and grunted before turning to his daughter, "She's definitely scarier than me all the time." Kurotsuchi's father shook his head before turning his face back to something more serious. "But, my point is, your mom, as always, gave me her opinion on the state of the village, as a civilian. With my father in charge, your mother had known many people who were poor, homeless, or starving. We were about as good as Sunagakure before they joined the Alliance. She said that after Onoki's death, and the Alliance's willingness to help us, the village has flourished like never before."
Kurotsuchi's smile wavered a bit as she looked down at the ground, "So, it's a good thing grandpa is dead..." The young kunoichi huffed and shook her head, depression and guilt washing over her. "What a morbid thought..."
"Don't think like that. We are better off with this new age, both shinobi and civilian. Our village is slowly becoming stronger again, and it's all thanks to the example you set for us." Kurotsuchi turned to her father slowly with a curious look in her eyes. "For so long, Onoki led our village properly, in the way our two previous Kage had wished. We were strong, and proud. Now I see we were too proud. After suffering a defeat from the Alliance, we clung to our old ways, and because of it we began to weaken as a village. We were encased in iron, stuck in our beliefs and our way of life, which was exemplified by Onoki's leadership. We were incapable of change. But you..." Kitsuchi sighed, a smile forming on his face. "You inherited your mother's way of thinking...your example broke through the iron encasing our heart and heads, and opened up new possibilities to us. Because of you, Iwagakure will be strong and proud once again."
"At the cost of our way of life the village itself was founded on," Kurotsuchi questioned.
"Now don't start thinking like me. The world is changing, and in order to survive, changes must be made as well to us. We're stones, not mountains, we can't endure an ever changing world on our own. I'm sure if our ancestors had it their way, we'd all still be a bunch of split up ninja clans running around killing each other." Kitsuchi stood up and walked towards his daughter before placing one of his large hands on her head. Kurotsuchi blushed a bit and looked up at her old man, who smiled down proudly at her. "Remember, as a shinobi of Iwagakure, our duty is to make the village stronger. And you have done just that my daughter. Onoki forgot to put the village's interests first instead of his own bitter agendas. Never forget that you have changed us for the better."
"I'll try...thank you father..." Kitsuchi nodded before turning around and walking out of his daughter's room. Kurotsuchi smiled to herself, looking down before staring out at the village. "Maybe I should be a little more proud of myself..."
Kurotsuchi's eyes hardened as she looked around at the ground. She saw the water from her jutsu earlier had turned the ground into mud basically and smiled. Kurotsuchi then looked back and forth between areas on the ground before she saw a footstep sink into the mud. She immediately threw a kunai with her left hand at the area. A loud, high pitched cry of terror was heard as the kunai flew past the area and stuck into a tree. Kurotsuchi grinned as her plan worked before pulling out three shuriken.
"Oh well look at you," Karenbana shouted angrily, clearly upset at the kunoichi's tactic. "You're still slow as a slug!"
"And you still can't move without my knowing where you are," Kurotsuchi replied. Karenbana screamed angrily before running along the left. Kurotsuchi followed her with a smug smile on her face, causing another furious growl from Karenbana again.
"Well you can't just ninjutsu with only one hand! I've just gotta wear you out and you'll be done for!" Kurotsuchi huffed and then threw the shuriken to where Karenbana would have been, prompting the rogue to slid to a stop, slip and fall into the mud that covered her. "Ew, this is so gross!" The rogue turned to Kurotsuchi who reached into her pouch and pulled out a scroll. 'I would have been dead if I hadn't stopped...did she already predict her reaction time with my speed just from that one kunai?!'
"You really shouldn't underestimate Iwagakure's shinobi!" Kurotsuchi bit the end of the scroll and pulled her arm out and tilted her head back, unrolling the scroll as much as she could. Kurotsuchi spun around and threw the scroll up into the air. "Ninja Art: Kunai Rain Shower!" Several dozen clouds of smoke appeared all along the unraveled length of the scroll, and with them kunai were shot out all around Karenbana's location.
"Oh damn it," the rogue shouted as she scrambled about in the mud.
While she was distracted, Kurotsuchi groaned in pain as she lifted up her arm, forcing feeling back into it and causing more blood to gush out of her shoulder and arm wounds. She slowly began to perform hand signs with her right arm trembling as she did, just as the last kunai hit the ground. Karenbana's genjutsu was broken, as she was too focused on dodging the kunai. She panted heavily and looked over at Kurotsuchi, terrified that she had formed hand signs. Kurotsuchi grinned before slamming her hands on the ground as she fell to one knee.
"Earth Style: Earth Dome!" Karenbana's face twisted in confusion before the earth around her lifted up and encased her completely.
"Hey! What the hell?! Let me out if this thing!"
Kurotsuchi limped forward towards the half sphere of earth, panting heavily with each step. When she finally arrived, she pressed her hands against the dome to hold herself up, panting still before taking a deep breath to regain her strength. She formed a single hand sign as she heard dull thuds and screams from Karenbana to let her out.
"You insult me...and my village...that's unacceptable..." Kurotsuchi formed one hand sign and placed her hands on the ground, "Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!" The thuds and cries stopped when four pillars of rock came up from the ground within the dome, and through the top of it, the tips covered with blood. Kurotsuchi fell backwards onto her butt before falling again onto her back, panting heavily as she closed her eyes, letting the sunlight shine down on her. She smiled before opening one eye to gaze directly up at the sun and grinned, "That's one down..."
Fu screamed furiously as she slammed her fist into Kongo's face, sending the man stumbling backwards. The oversized rogue threw his fist back at Fu, who took it with full force. The two panted heavily, standing across from one another panting and sweating.
"You can take a beatin' for a little girl," Kongo stated.
"You haven't even seen the half of it..."
"Oh will you just use my damn chakra already?"
'No,' Fu shouted defiantly. 'I can take him myself!'
"You're not even having a pissing contest! You're letting him beat the shit out of you because you still feel bad about the whole Takigakure incident!"
'Shut up you stupid fuckin' bug! I don't need your lecturing!'
"Whatever, if you're about to die soon, I'm jumping in whether you like it or not, got it?"
'Oh just try it!' Fu was punched in the face, sending her flying back and smashing into a tree. The Jinchuriki groaned as she fell to her hands and knees while Kongo chuckled, cracking his knuckles as he approached her. "Damn it," Fu said as she spit out some blood from her mouth.
"Will you stop having such a fuckin' god complex? There's absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help you stupid moron!"
'When I have to ask you for help, yeah, there's a problem!'
"This man is going to kill you! Stop thinking you have to be punished for what happened in Takigakure!"
'I could care less about that fuckin' village, or those people who died!'
"I know that's not like you Fu, you know that too!"
The Jinchuriki scowled as Kongo threw his fist at her again. She quickly jumped up and bounced off of the tree and slammed her knee into the man's face, growling as she then used her other foot planted on his head and jumped off of him, landing a good distance away. Kongo spat a bloody tooth and then chuckled again before turning to Fu.
"Come on ya ugly son of a bitch, let's tango!" Kongo shot forward, laughing as Fu rocketed back towards him as well. Fu and Kongo both threw their fists forward at the same time, connecting with one another, causing a crater to form beneath their feet.
Fu screamed as she flipped upwards, slamming both of her feet into Kongo's chin. This did little to stop him as Kongo simply kneed Fu in the back, causing her to cry out loudly before being launched forward. Fu bounced off of her face, and landed on her front before rolling head over heel a few times before coming to a stop.
The Jinchuriki coughed and spat on the ground angrily as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Kongo ran forward at his slow pace, laughing as he charged. Fu groaned with frustration before standing up and turning around.
'I could beat him if it wasn't for that stupid gas!'
"But that gas is in your system, meaning you need help." Fu huffed before readying herself on the defensive against Kongo. "Fu, you've got to stop this! Just because you screw up once or twice is no reason to ask for a beating damn it! Are you really going to let yourself be beaten by this oversized moron?!"
'Fine! Just fine! Give me your damn chakra if it'll shut you the hell up!'
Fu was then quickly covered in a shroud of red, bubbling chakra. Kongo stopped himself and stared in confusion and fear as a tail and two wings of chakra formed behind Fu's back. The Jinchuriki glared angrily at Kongo, her mouth pressed in a firm line, before she shot forward, slamming her fist into the man's stomach. Kongo cried out, blood shooting out of his mouth as Fu's blow broke several ribs and ruptured the man's organs. Kongo was sent flying back through a couple of trees, until Fu came down from the sky behind him. Fu clasped both hands together and raised them high above her head before crying out and slamming them down onto Kongo's head. The impact when Kongo hit the ground caused an enormous crater to form beneath his corpse.
Fu fell to her feet, and as the Nanabi's chakra dissipated around her she collapsed onto her front. Fu panted softly as blood ran down her face, and her body ached with bruises and swells. "I got him," Fu said out loud, directing the comment towards the Nanabi.
"Yeah, and it nearly killed you...if you weren't having such a pissing contest while allowing yourself to get beaten up-,"
"I get it, you were worried about me," Fu said, cutting the demon off. The Jinchuriki closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh before drifting off into a light sleep. "Thanks...Chomei..." The Tailed Beast inside of Fu was silent before letting out a soft huff as it let the Jinchuriki take a brief nap.
Ishidate and Rin clashed before the former bounced back on his feet. He looked out into the forest and scowled bitterly, "Those two idiots...I can't believe that they're dead..."
"Well what do you expect from Amegakure's Jinchuriki, and the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage," Rin asked mockingly. Ishidate's face twitched when he heard Jinchuriki. Rin noted that clearly he wasn't expecting such resistance. The man huffed before turning towards Rin.
"I've got half my payment for this mission, and lost two of my comrades...even the rest of the money I'd receive isn't worth all this." Ishidate threw his kunai on the ground and then turned around, "By all means, move ahead and finish what Yomi started for all I care. My goal is to crush Iwagakure, and I intend to do so, and not by dying in this country!"
"Crush...Iwagakure...?" Ishidate stopped in his tracks before looking up at the sky with narrowed, anger filled eyes.
"Iwagakure, Onoki specifically, betrayed me. We were sent on a mission into the Land of Fire, in an attempt to destroy the Alliance in a long term strategy. Our mission was to destroy an Alliance outpost in the Land of Fire, and what ended up happening is that we destroyed an outpost that Konoha set up for Iwa itself within its own country. Onoki tried to use the situation to blame Konoha for attacking their outpost, but we were captured by our own forces after we discovered the outpost was one of our village's very own. We were brought forth to Onoki, and he had us tried and sentenced to execution. We managed to break free, and I stole this forbidden gauntlet of the First Tsuchikage's for myself." Ishidate turned around, grinning calmly, seemingly pleased with himself before extending both arms outward. "I did many things to get back at Iwagakure. I revealed the forbidden kinjutsu that allows a person to kneed their chakra into substances to Deidara, causing him to go rogue, but he failed to destroy the village. I revealed to the Alliance that Onoki had dealings with Akatsuki, and I succeeded in killing the old man! Now all that remains is to destroy the village itself."
"You're just a revenge driven little brat," Rin stated sourly, clenching her fists. "Destroying Iwagakure would be damaging for the Alliance, and I won't allow you to do that!"
Ishidate grinned as Rin charged him. He slammed his gauntlet into the ground and was immediately swallowed by it. Rin stopped in her tracks and formed a hand seal, attempting to sense Ishidate. The rogue was far off, and moving through the ground faster than she could catch him. Rin turned and then headed towards Kurotsuchi's direction, worried as to why neither she nor Fu were moving.
Ameyuri skidded back against the ground while Kiriya charged her with her old blades. The swords wielding woman dodged the first strike and used her foot to Kiriya's wrist, and then used the hook sword to block the next strike. Ameyuri spun her body sideways, sending Kiriya sliding back before she landed perfectly on the ground.
"Are you quite done misusing my swords," Ameyuri asked. Kiriya screamed angrily as he slammed both Kiba swords into the ground, sending a shockwave of lightning through the ground. Ameyuri placed both of the hook swords in the ground, absorbing the lightning from the ground into both weapons.
'Damn it, how is she able to do that?!'
Ameyuri twirled both swords casually, sending out discs of lightning at Kiriya with each twirl. The assassin swung the Kiba blades through each disc, cutting the lightning in half each time until Ameyuri ran out of lightning charged through her blades.
"You swing the Kiba blades around like they were mere tools," Ameyuri stated bitterly as she walked around the side of the assassin. "You're truly a shameful swordsman. You remind me of my old disciple, Raiga Kurosuki. He was a spineless man, who used the Kiba blades as tools, only utilizing half of their full potential." Ameyuri twirled the hook swords once, causing Kiriya to tense up cautiously. The kunoichi continued walking a circle around Kiriya, eyes on the ground as she paid attention to nothing. "He had the capabilities to be stronger than me, but in the end, he used a coward's tactics to render me helpless, and then took both of my swords from me." Ameyuri turned to Kiriya as she kept walking. "Tell me, who in Akatsuki was it that killed Raiga Kurosuki?"
"Hana Inuzuka," Kiriya stated as he held up the Kiba fangs. "She used these very swords to do it as well." Ameyuri smiled and nodded, looking at the ground as her head swayed back and forth with each step.
"I owe her a favor then if I ever encounter the young lady..." Ameyuri turned to Kiriya, her smile holding as she pointed a hook sword at him. "You though, I can't forgive misuse of my swords. I'll cripple you and leave you for dead when I retrieve them."
"You'll have a hell of a time doing it," Kiriya replied calmly as he lowered himself into a fighting stance.
Ameyuri's smile vanished as her eyes scanned the boy carefully. 'He had no chakra signatures before...and now he's using lightning based attacks...most interesting...perhaps he can absorb chakra somehow like the Chakra Leech can...' Ameyuri charged forward, dangerously close to Kiriya. The boy jumped back as Ameyuri swung the swords twice at the boy's chest. Kiriya stumbled back as an X-shaped opened on his shirt and cloak were revealed. Ameyuri tilted her head a bit, seeing an odd object in the boy's chest. Ameyuri grinned as she nodded in understanding. "Ohhh, that explains it then...you have a device in your chest that absorbs and distributes chakra throughout your body...so then the Kiba swords being imbued with lightning chakra, you take what you want and use it for your own. Quite the little thief, aren't you?"
"I simply use what's available to me, and what I can use to my advantage."
"Ah, so a thief and a coward. Quite the combination."
"I've stolen nothing, our organization took the spoils of war after defeating Raiga's so called family," Kiriya explained. Ameyuri laughed and shook her head with disbelief. Kiriya narrowed his eyes angrily, "Not like any of you could talk about being cowards. Nothing but cowards with swords who hide in the mist and strike an opponent from behind."
Ameyuri pointed her sword at Kiriya and shook her head, "Yet I'm here out in the open, attacking you head on. Don't try to goad me. That's the tactic of a true coward." Ameyuri turned and spun her swords in her hands, facing Kiriya. "Enough talking, it's time to reclaim what's mine."
"Very well then!" Kiriya became a blur that appeared in front of Ameyuri.
The kunoichi spun around the forward stab gracefully before slamming the hook around the back of the boy's neck. Kiriya cried out before Ameyuri spun around behind him and pulled the sword back just under the boy's jaw while dropping the other and placing her hand on the back of the boy's head. Kiriya froze, completely still. Ameyuri cooed mockingly and chuckled.
"So you know what I could so easily do to you. Just a little push of your head and pop." The silver hair assassin tremble and growled angrily. Ameyuri simply laughed before kicking one of the boy's knees from the back, causing him to kneel. "Drop the Kiba blades, now." Kiriya stalled for a moment before reluctantly releasing his grip of the blades.
Before they hit the ground, Ameyuri released the hook from the boy's throat and spun around in one fluid motion. She grabbed both of the swords with the hook sword before tossing them up into the air. She quickly kicked Kiriya down to the ground before he could retaliate, and then slammed the hook sword into the ground and then stomped on the bladed hand guard, imbedding the sword into the ground from both ends and ensuring Kiriya's head was pinned to the ground. She stepped on the silver haired boy's head and reached up, catching both of the Kiba swords in her hands, grinning maliciously as she looked at them.
"Oh, how I've missed these..." Kiriya groaned as he grabbed the handle of his hook sword and pushed up with his body, pulling the sword out of the ground. He quickly jumped back and grabbed his other sword before squaring off with Ameyuri. The kunoichi didn't seem to even notice the assassin anymore, too busy marveling her long lost blades. Ameyuri chuckled softly, happily, as the swords crackled with lightning around them. Light flickered across the kunoichi's face as she turned to Kiriya, a bloodthirsty look in her eyes and a wicked sneer across her face. "You still want to play, eh? Fine by me little man."
Yahiko's chest rose up and down slowly as he stood across from Kushimaru and Mangetsu, both of whom were in about the same condition as he was. The Akatsuki leader had knocked Jinin out awhile ago, and was now faring as best as he could against the two remaining swordsmen.
Their three heads turned when they heard a loud crashing of lightning that shook the ground. Mangetsu and Kushimaru both chuckled darkly, prompting Yahiko to stare at them. "Sounds like Ameyuri has her blades back," Mangetsu stated.
'Damn it, did Kiriya get those swords from our vault without permission?!'
"Well, that means she's probably done playing," Kushimaru stated. "It'd be a shame if she showed us up, eh Mangetsu?" The younger swordsman laughed softly before the two turned back to Yahiko.
'Damn it...stay alive Kiriya...'
The group of four arrived at the mountain containing Moryo's body. Higure took point, bouncing around between several large rocks for cover while looking around the area, keeping his eyes and senses open. Behind him, Miko and Shion followed closely in his tracks with Naruto bringing up the rear.
"This is too weird," Higure murmured when everyone moved in on his position. "There's no way that they wouldn't have any defenses here at the entrance..."
"Maybe our groups together are just that good," Naruto asked hopefully. Higure shook his head, unconvinced as he kept looking around.
"They have an entire army...there's gotta be something we're missing..." An odd shockwave rippled off of the rock Higure had his hands on, causing him to stand up and take several steps back. Miko and Shion stared in shock, both of them gasping while Naruto began looking around, seeing that the other large rocks were giving off the same shockwave effect. "Well...that might be what we missed..."
"Is this that Ghost Army," Naruto asked as he formed his hands in the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu seal.
"It has to be," Higure replied as he reached for a kunai. The Commander cringed as he felt nothing but an empty pouch, remembering that he spend all his kunai and most of his shuriken on the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and the wooden clones after them. "Son of a..." Higure looked up as the stone soldier stood nearly a whole head taller than him. The Commander watched as the soldier raised up a large battle axe and then brought it down towards him. Higure jumped back to dodge the strike, bumping into Shion and Miko. "Damn it, there's not enough room!"
"Take the Priestess," Miko said, pulling Naruto back by his cloak. "You must protect her!"
"Alright, I got it!" Naruto formed four clones, all of which surrounded the Priestess in a circle.
"You all need to get out of here, quickly," Higure ordered as he dodged yet another attack from the stone soldiers.
"Are you stupid or something," Shion shouted angrily, "I'm the only one who can stop Moryo!"
"And it's going to take more than the four of us to take out this big of an army!"
"Watch out Priestess," Naruto shouted. Shion turned her head just as one of the Naruto clones got hit with a giant stone battle hammer. The real Naruto quickly jumped towards Shion and grabbed her, taking the rest of the force from the blow against his back, sending both he and Shion off the edge of the mountain, and plummeting into a lake below.
"Lady Shion," Miko cried out in fear. Higure turned his attention towards the two young blondes flying off of the cliff's edge
"Damn it!" Higure took Miko by the wrist and then ran back the way they came, "We can't fight them here! We have to retreat!"
"We have to save Lady Shion!"
"I know that much," Higure stated, turning his head to the side of the cliff that Naruto and Shion fell off of. 'Please still be alive...Naruto...'
Moryo chuckled darkly, catching Kin's attention away from her notes. "There were some...interesting guests. The boy with the Kyuubi inside of him, the Alliance Commander, the Priestess and one of her aids came to stop us."
"Are they coming here, now?" Moryo shook his head, dismissing Kin's worries. The young woman sighed and then went back to her notes. "What about Madara...is he still on his way...?"
"He's been held up by Akatsuki forces," Moryo stated, his smile vanishing in the blink of an eye. "Though the seal will be undone soon...and I won't have to worry about him anymore."
Kin stared at the demon for a prolonged moment, noting the changes his soul inside of the clone had done. The copy of herself was still just as pale as before, but now had odd, dark markings around its eyes and face. The eyes had long since become two glowing red orbs, due to Moryo's power, and the clone's hair had become strung out, messy, and split all over the place. Part of her wasn't sure if it was due in part to Moryo's soul entirely, or if the affects of Dark Chakra were simply that severe.
Kin placed a few tiny pebbles on the grid she drew out before her, deciding to take more direct action herself against Madara, and while she was at it, Akatsuki too.
Higure and Miko hid on one of the mountain's many crevices on the side, having finally outrun the Ghost Army. Higure's eyes scanned the area closely just in case before turning back to Miko. The woman's features were calm as she stared back at the Commander, expecting a plan of action from him.
"This is ridiculous..." Higure sat down on the ground, resting his arms on his knees. Miko scoffed with disbelief, tensing her arms at her sides and balling her hands into fists.
"This isn't the time to be loafing around!"
"We also can't rush into the enemy's territory blindly without a proper plan," Higure stated as he stared blankly at the ground.
"We could at least look for the Priestess, and for Naruto if we're going to spend time sitting on our asses though!" Higure sighed and then turned on his rear, facing outward at the entrance. Miko stared at the man in upset silence. The Commander moved, slowly standing up to his feet as Miko's eyes stayed on him while he rose up.
"They're both alive. I can sense their chakra," Higure stated calmly. Miko let out a relieved breath, placing her hand over her chest. "Since we're out of the way, Miko, perhaps it's time you explained who you really are..." The Priestess's aid froze before turning her attention back slowly to the Commander, after taking her eyes off him for but a moment. Higure's back faced her before he slowly turned his body halfway to her, staring at her evenly with his emerald eyes. "You're too calm, skilled, and knowledgeable about other lands to simply be Shion's aid...you're clearly a shinobi, or have at least had more advanced shinobi training, the likes of which you couldn't find in the Land of Demons..."
Miko lunged forward, crying out angrily as a kunai flew out of her sleeve. Higure's eyes darted to the kunai before he shot his hand up and grasped her wrist firmly. The aid coiled upwards, pulling her knees up to her chest before throwing her foot at the Commander's face. Higure quickly jerked backwards and grabbed Miko's foot, before she pushed herself against his hand, doing a graceful back flip several feet away from Higure.
"Calm down! I'm not going to reveal any information to Shion or Naruto! I just want to know so we can at the very least trust each other!"
"And why the hell should I trust you?!"
Higure blocked Miko's swing, and quickly disarmed her before shoving the aid away. Miko adjusted her glasses and scowled, clenching her fists with frustration as the man had taken her weapon away. Higure simply stared back at her, displaying no hostility before tossing the knife on the ground between them.
"My niece, my only living relative, Sakura Haruno, is in this country with me on the same mission to stop Moryo." Miko's eyes widened a little, a soft gasp escaping her lips. The Alliance Commander turned his head, shifting a bit anxiously. Miko narrowed her gaze, realizing that Higure was exposing his main weakness to her in a sign of trust. The aide figured that the man was either extremely trusting, or extremely desperate to tell her this. "If you were to take her, hold her hostage, whatever, you'd have me in the palm of your hands." Higure turned back to Miko, his eyes sharp, but showing a twinge of regret. "That's how I was brought out of retirement...Danzo blackmailed me with Sakura's safety and with..." The man sighed again, looking down at the ground. Miko stood in silence as Higure clenched his fists tightly. "With another threat..."
The cave echoed silently as neither Higure nor Miko looked at one another. The Priestess's aide stepped forward slowly, her footsteps soft and silent before she kneeled down, picking up her kunai off the stone floor. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...bring up such sensitive issues." Miko put her kunai away and stood back up, adjusting her glasses and clasping her hands gently in front of herself. "Truth be told, I would very easily do the same for Lady Shion...even if I'm not from this country..."
Higure huffed, growing a smirk on his face before he looked at Miko, "I gathered that much. You're not Alliance though...and you're way too far out for Kumogakure or Kirigakure to care about...I would think at least."
"I was originally Alliance," the woman admitted, a frown forming on her face. "I was used and betrayed one too many times before I fled." Miko turned her head before walking over towards and sitting on a flat rock before looking up at the Commander. "You probably wouldn't have known about me. I was a member of Danzo's Root organization." Higure stared in disbelief when she admitted her former affiliation with Root. Even though the ANBU were under direct command of the Hokage, many people, even in Konohagakure, thought that the Root subdivision of the ANBU was nothing more than a myth. "I was an intelligence gatherer, a spy in all the other countries I could infiltrate my way into." Miko took a deep breath before looking over at Higure, "I fled and found my way into Akatsuki's ranks...I learned their ideals, and eventually grew to share them. I joined the organization willingly, using my vast amount of information from various villages, Konoha in particular, to aid them. I was sent to the Land of Demons as a spy, to gather information and potentially forming an alliance with the country."
"How long have you been here," Higure asked as he soaked in the whole story.
Miko hummed thoughtfully before looking up, "At least a decade I suppose." The Commander's eyes widened in alarm, but the spy seemed to take the fact lightly. Higure had been apart of a few missions where he had to act as a spy, but nothing so long term as this. "I knew Shion's mother, Miroku, and practically raised Shion as one of my own..." Miko huffed lightly, raising a finger up just under her eye, wiping something Higure couldn't exactly see away. "She was my...second adopted child, so to speak. When Miroku died, I sent back information to Akatsuki when I could, but I couldn't leave Shion alone. She may appear to be a cold-hearted, spoiled child, but in reality she uses that to keep people away, to keep herself from getting too attached. For she knew if they did, they would end up dying to save her...like Taruho did. Just like how Naruto will..."
"Don't count that kid out yet," Higure snapped. Miko turned her attention to Higure, who simply stared her down with a confident look in his eyes and a smile on his face. "An Uzumaki doesn't die so easily." Miko gave the man a puzzled look before he made way towards the exit. The spy wondered if there were greater meanings behind Higure's words. Miko stood next to Higure at the entrance and looked to see soldiers from the Ghost Army approaching them. "We'd better get moving," Higure said before heading in the opposite direction. "Good thing these guys are as slow as zombies, right Miko?"
"Wait Higure." The Commander stopped and looked back, at first glancing at the Ghost Army before turning back to Miko. The spy/aid sighed before giving a wary smile and turning to Higure. "My real name is Nono..." She turned and headed towards the Commander before taking the lead ahead of him. "I would like if you could call me as such. I haven't heard my true name nearly as much as I would have liked."
Higure laughed softly before following Nono, giving her a nod of approval, "Alright, Nono it is."
"We should set up a few traps while they follow us," the Akatsuki spy advised. "Thin them out as best as we can before heading back to confront Moryo..."
"I'm sure we can whip up something for these bastards," Higure stated confidently. Nono smiled and nodded before she and her new ally went down the side of the mountain together.
The surface of the lake broke as Naruto's head whipped back, water droplets flying from his hair as he quickly jumped up onto the water's surface with Shion in his arms. The Priestess was unconscious, worrying Naruto as he quickly ran towards the shore and gently set her down on the ground.
"Oh crap, oh crap, what am I supposed to do here," Naruto asked himself in a frantic panic. He looked up at the mountain's cliff where they fell from and saw no sign of Higure or Miko. "Dang it..." The blonde looked down at Shion's motionless body and swallowed nervously. 'Well...here goes nothing...'
Naruto leaned down and moved to put his lips around Shion's before he felt a sharp, sudden slap across his face. The Jinchuriki cried out and hit the ground as Shion shrieked and backed away, "You pervert! Trying to take advantage of an unconscious woman like me!"
Naruto growled and sat up, gently rubbing his now red cheek with pain, "I was trying to make sure you could still breathe, you psycho!" The two glared at each other intensely, angry sparks flying between their eyes. Naruto huffed before standing up and walking towards the lake. "Whatever, just get yourself ready to seal Moryo when we gt back up there!"
Shion hardly believed what she had just heard, and stared at the back of the blonde in shock. Naruto mumbled something to himself as he undid his headband and wrung out the water from the cloth as best as he could before taking off his cloak and flapping it about a couple of times.
"Are you insane," Shion questioned, "Don't you remember that you're going to die when we reach Moryo?!"
"That was just one outcome from the future," Naruto replied as he started to twist his cloak as best as he could. "I don't plan to die just yet though!"
"You can't change fate! It's useless!"
"It's not useless," Naruto stated calmly. Shion looked at him, still utterly surprised and baffled by the young man's stubborn refusal to fight against his fate. "You and me, we're going to go into that mountain, and we're gonna stomp on anyone or anything that gets in our way!"
"Stop trying to act like a big hero, you stupid idiot! You can't beat Moryo! On top of that, you can't fight against what has already been predetermined!"
"The future hasn't been written yet," Naruto shouted as he spun around. Shion's eyes widened and her mouth fell agape a little as the boy's damp hair covered what the Priestess thought was an attractive, fairly charming face. She made a small, meek sound and turned away, closing her eyes and showing a stern expression.
"Why do you even bother fighting when you know that you're just going to lose?!" The Priestess felt something close to her now, and gasped as she turned her head, eyes wide with alarm to see Naruto's face inches away from hers.
"It's not pointless! As long as we've got life in us, we're gonna keep fighting, got it?" Shion's eyes widened, her body trembling a bit as she stared deeply into Naruto's eyes, unable to turn her head. Deep inside, she felt hope and confidence well up inside of her.
"W-we can't...M-Moryo is-,"
"Enough about this Moryo guy, alright?" Naruto poked his chest with his thumb and grinned, "If I gotta, I'll just fight a demon with another demon, and then you can seal em both!" Shion let out a soft, alarmed gasp. Naruto's tone and expression gave no sign of doubt or reluctance towards the proposition, which surprised Shion more than anything else.
"H-how...how can you be so confident...wh-when you know there's a chance that you'll die..."
Naruto laughed a bit before standing up, turning his head and gazing up at the crimson sky, "I keep fighting so that I can make the world a better place. Where there won't be any more wars, no more evil beings like Moryo. I want a world where kids can grow up with different lives from mine, alone and hated by everyone just for something I was given with no say in the matter." Shion's body shook as her mind flashed with imagines of her, Taruho, and Miko walking through villages and towns together, while the people avoided her because they were scared of her ability to predict the future. Naruto grinned happily before turning back to Shion, beaming his feelings to Shion. "For a world of peace, I'm willing to fight and fight until I can't fight anymore! I'd lay down my life for that ideal, and for my friends who carry that ideal." The Jinchuriki turned towards Shion, his blue eyes staring into her purple ones as he held a hand out to her, to help the Priestess on her feet. "And I can't beat Moryo on my own...I need your help Shion. I'll protect you no matter what."
Shion trembled a bit before reaching out her hand and placing it in Naruto's. She felt a chill run through her arm. The young man's hand wrapped around her smaller, more delicate hand and pulled her slowly up to her feet. Shion blushed as she stared at Naruto, at he simply smiled back at her.
'W...what is this feeling...?' Shion swallowed nervously and shivered as adrenaline coursed through her body. Naruto tilted his head a bit, now slightly worried because it looked to him as though Shion was having a heartattack.
Impulsively, Shion threw herself onto Naruto, pressing her lips against his. The Jinchuriki tensed as rigidly as stone as the Priestess kissed him. The boy literally had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, if anything by this point. Shion leaned back, unwrapping her arms from Naruto's neck and stepping back, blushing furiously and staring at her feet.
The two stood in an awkward silence, Naruto rubbing his arm, "U-um...wh-what was..."
"I don't know, okay?!" Shion snapped, her heart feeling as though it were breaking apart. She closed her eyes, feeling tears brimming up.
Naruto stepped forward and placed his hand on Shion's shoulder. The Priestess once again lunged at the boy, hugging him close as she cried into his chest. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, holding her firmly. "I'm uh...sorry if I was..."
"You weren't leading me on," Shion said between sobs. "Honestly I could barely stand you up until two minutes ago!" Shion clung to Naruto's wet shirt, tears rolling down her face. The Jinchuriki rested his chin on top of Shion's head, letting her cry all she needed. "I'm so sick of this...I'm so sick of everyone dying for me! I hate it! I hate myself for letting them die!" Naruto's eyes softened as he wrapped his arms tighter around her. "I've lost my mother...so many people who have died in their line of duty...and I lost Taruho too...I can't keep living like this! I can't keep letting people die for me!"
"I'll prove you wrong then," Naruto whispered, holding the crying Priestess against his chest. "I'm going to survive, and we're going to beat Moryo together Shion..."
"Please..." Shion murmured, clinging on and not letting go of Naruto's shirt. "Please don't die...please don't throw your life away for mine Naruto..."
"Nobody is going to die today Shion, I promise," Naruto said. The Jinchuriki's face hardened as he vowed to himself to keep his promise to Shion, and to stop Moryo for the sake of peace. The boy closed his eyes and then composed his face to a more calming expression before stepping back, smiling at Shion. "Come on, the world can't save itself, now can it?" Shion wiped away her tears and huffed, shaking her head.
The young man then turned around and grabbed his still mostly damp cloak before shaking it out and throwing it on his body. He turned around and stood in front of Shion, who gave him a small smile. Naruto grinned and picked up the Priestess, causing her to cry out with shock before Naruto jumped off back towards the top of the cliff. Shion clung to Naruto, burying her head into his chest, feeling safe in his arms. She closed her eyes, praying that he wouldn't die as she predicted.
"We should probably try to find Higure and Miko first," Shion whispered as a suggestion. Naruto nodded as he started to run up the vertical slope.
"There's no way we can do this without Uncle Higure!" Naruto chuckled and then went the opposite way from the entrance where he knew Higure and Miko would undoubtedly be.
Shizuku and Setsuna panted heavily as they were forced into a corner by the two kunoichi. Anko and Sakura both smirked with a similar, cocky smile. The two white draped shinboi growled angrily before their odd, enhanced features began to fade away.
"I'm out of chakra," Shizuku murmured angrily, clenching her fist.
"I am too," Setsuna said as he fell to his knee.
Anko cracked her knuckles and craned her neck from side to side, "Well, well, well, looks like we just got a couple of liver-lily bitches now!" Sakura huffed before shifting her eyes to Anko. She never really got use to her sensei's foul mouth, but ignored it as she stared at the two in front of her.
"Brother," Setsuna shouted loudly. "We need more chakra!" Anko and Sakura both tensed and looked around, waiting for some form of sound or movement. Both Setsuna and Shizuku also searched for their brother, worried and confused.
"B-brother?! Where are you? We need more chakra!"
"Did he leave them to die," Sakura questioned, staring carefully at any areas that could be used to hide a person. "Or maybe Dosu got him already...?"
"No," Anko stated smugly, with a bit of disgust on her face. "He knows our plan, and isn't taking the bait..." The dark haired woman grinned before pulling out a kunai in her hand and twirling it about in her hand. "I guess we'll just end them here..."
"Right," Sakura murmured as she pulled hard on her leather gloves. The two kunoichi charged their defenseless enemies. Shizukuk and Setsuna stumbled back in fear, both of their faces painted with terror of their impending doom.
"BROTHER!" Sakura slammed her fist into Shizuku's face, releasing a burst of chakra from her the blow. She felt bone crunching under the impact before the orange haired woman was sent flying, crashing through a few rocks before grinding and skidding across the stone ground before rolling to a stop.
Sakura looked at her fist and flexed her hand. She felt the same impact as when she dealt the final blow to Onoki, as if a small bit of chakra was compressed in her hand and then released all at once out of her fist. Sakura clenched her hand into a fist, wondering about the limits of what this technique could grant her.
Anko threw the kunai at Setsuna, who barely dodged. Before he could defend himself though, Setsuna couldn't see Anko at all. He looked down in horror tough, seeing that several snakes were wrapped around his body. A few of the snakes loomed over the man's panicked face, hissing loudly at him before they lowered themselves down on him, mouths wide open as they began to devour the screaming man to death.
Anko flicked a piece of dirt out from under her nail before looking out at the woods, knowing that somewhere in there that the leader of the four was hiding.
In one of the tree tops, Kusuna crouched in the leaves, seeing the death of his two comrades before huffing indifferently. "You damned fools...you shouldn't have wasted all of your chakra at once..."
"And you should know better than to make a sound," a voice whispered venomously behind Kusuna. The man spun around, releasing a large chakra snake from his palm to bite the masked boy behind him. Dosu groaned and cried out while Kusuna grinned.
"With this injection, you'll be dead within minutes," Kusuna exclaimed gleefully. Dosu erupted in a cloud of smoke before Kusuna's snake was revealed to have bitten a log. "Wh-what?!"
Dosu appeared behind Kusuna, flicking his Melody Arm. The man tensed up, letting out a stifled breath before he fell from the tree branch. The man hit the ground, landing on his neck with a loud, sickening crack. Dosu jumped down to the ground, standing over his target with cold eyes on the corpse to ensure that he was indeed dead. The boy huffed before heading out of the woods to rejoin Sakura and Anko.
The two kunoichi smiled as their masked comrade walked up to them. Sakura ran up to him eagerly before the two stopped in front of each other, exchanging a silent stare. The kunoichi looked Dosu over, ensuring he wasn't hurt. The masked boy gave his partner a confused stare before realizing what she was doing.
"I'm fine," the boy said, "the guy didn't even touch me."
"What about Zaku," Anko asked.
"What about me?" The three turned their heads, seeing a slightly beaten and tattered Zaku strolling up confidently towards them. The boy grinned before crossing his arms, standing tall and cocky, "You really didn't think that that guy would be a threat, did you?" Dosu closed his eyes and shook his head while Sakura giggled and Anko smirked with pride. Zaku rolled his arm a bit before looking back to the mountain. "So, we're off to Moryo next right...?"
"We should have heard from Rin and her group by now," Anko said, putting a hand up to her chin. "Splitting up the enemy was successful...I don't know why they haven't joined us..." Just as Anko finished her thought, an orange flare from the woods popped up, catching everyone's attention. The three younger shinobi stared in confusion, unaware and confused about the meaning of the flare. Anko's eyes narrowed before she started to head towards the signal before stopping herself. "Damn it..." The jonin knew that Rin lit off a flare for help, but they couldn't afford to backtrack at this point with the threat of Moryo being revived. Anko turned her head and pointed to her students, "You three are going to head on ahead! Rin needs help, but we need to know the full situation with Moryo."
"Wait, we're splitting up now," Zaku asked, highly confused. Sakura stared in worry for Rin, Kurotsuchi and even Fu.
"It's not a question," Anko stated firmly. "Dosu is in charge! You three are only going to scout out ahead, but if it looks like Moryo is about to be revived, I want you all to go in there and smash up everything to prevent his revival! You hear me?"
"You got it sensei," Dosu said with a firm nod. The masked boy smacked Zaku's shoulder and motioned for Sakura to follow him as he immediately took charge towards the mountain.
The other two chunin followed him with no arguments. Anko simply smiled again at her students with pride. If nothing else, she taught them cooperation. The jonin turned her head back to the flare and moved to rejoin Rin as fast as possible.
"We're totally gonna smash crap anyway, aren't we," Zaku asked with a grin on his face. Dosu huffed and nodded, much to Sakura's shock.
"Anko said only if Moryo was about to be revived were we to directly intervene," Sakura said, reminding her two teammates of said fact. The two boys looked to Sakura, both of them smirking to her.
"You really think this Yomi guy has just been sitting on his thumbs while we've been screwing around with his guys," Dosu questioned. Sakura sighed, knowing full well that Dosu was right. She just didn't want to risk any of their lives without backup.
"Hey, come on, you know your uncle is likely up ahead too, right?" Zaku smiled calmly before looking up at the mountain ahead. "That's why he was picked for this mission, remember? He's a master of sealing ninjutsu, which is why even without the Priestess, your uncle might have a chance to seal Moryo." Sakura nodded, looking up ahead with her green eyes with worry that her uncle would somehow be neck deep in trouble already.
"Alright," Sakura said firmly. "Let's go break some faces! CHA!" Sakura slammed her fist into her open hand. She received two grins of approval from her teammates as the trio headed towards Moryo's Seal Shrine.
Sorry about not updating in June. I got behind, caught up in hecticness, and didn't realize I neglected an update last month. In exchange, I'll update twice in July, this one and then the next chapter. I won't be as many chapters ahead anymore, but that's my fault for not keeping up with my writing. Blame The Last of Us. It's a great game. Addicting, but only because it's great.
Also, I will say in an effort to kick-start my muse for this story, by the end of chapter 12, I did something I never expected to do for this story. A lotta you fans will be happy, and it's gotten me in the mood to do focus on WoF a lot more lol. It also took my story in an entirely different direction with certain character plots. So, I hope you all will enjoy. And no spoilers until chapter 12 comes out lol.
