Ninja Day Care
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Team Awesome: Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, Kisame, Itachi, Suigetsu, and Hidan.
Team Best: Deidara, Jugo, Konan, Pain, Kakuzu, Zetsu, and Sai
Cool Team: Obito, Sakura, Kiba, Karin, Temari, Shikamaru, Ino, and Mirai.
Dream Team: Hinata, Shino, Choji, Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Kankuro.
Chapter 10
"What do you see?" Obito glances at Hinata and Neji.
The two Hyugas had the Byakugan. Which made them tremendously useful in scouting. So far, it had been about two days since their "Jail Break" as Hidan called it. Which meant the adults were definitely looking for them by now.
"A village." Neji blinks in confusion.
A village?! What was he talking about?! There shouldn't be any village nearby!
Perhaps not surprisingly, it was Konan who spoke up first. "The Sound Village. It has to be the Sound." The Sound? Well that was a really dumb name for a village, Obito decides.
"That's a dumb name, yeah?!" Deidara laughs and Temari just shakes her head.
He was giving blondes everywhere a bad name. Not that Naruto was really helping much, but whatever. It was time for her to prove that blondes weren't dumb!
"The name doesn't matter." She glances over at Shikamaru. "What matters is whether or not they're likely to tell on us!"
That kid was kinda cute. He was so lazy though! Temari just wanted to get some kind of reaction out of him! Any reaction!
"They're going to freaking notice us if we all hang around by them!" Hidan tears into a piece of jerky. "So we should freaking leave before they do!"
Neji frowns as he nods in agreement, looking back at Hinata and Tenten. His cousin and the girl who was arguably the most sane of all the girls in this group who wasn't related to him. It was important to protect them and obviously staying, here wasn't going to do that.
"Maybe, we should send someone to look around." Kankuro suggests as he stares longingly at some of Choji's chips. "Hey, can I have some of those?"
Choji nods. "Sure!" He gives the puppet master some chips.
Itachi shakes his head this. Honestly, now was not the time to focus on food. They had to strategize.
"Shino, your insects can be used for spying, right?" The elder Uchiha Brother glances at him.
The bespectacled child nods. "Yeah. I'll send some butterflies over." And with that, he unleashes a colony of butterflies.
Kiba looks at the butterflies in confusion as they fly off. He really didn't get what a bunch of pretty insects were going to do, but apparently they were supposed to be spies.
"Wouldn't it be better to just send Akamaru?" He tilts his head.
"Arf!" Just like that, Akamaru chimes in. "Arf!"
Sakura smiles at the puppy, but she sticks close to Lee. This was the strangest thing that had ever happened to her and for whatever reason, the bushy browed boy was willing to be her Knight and Shining Armor.
She liked Sasuke, but he didn't pay much attention to her. "A dog would be more noticeable than a butterfly." That and Lee was really strong!
"Well she's got a point." Karin looks around, her senses on high alert. "As long as we don't send Sugietsu, we should be okay from a stealth perspective though."
Suigetsu obviously didn't care for that comment too much. "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?!" Team A was such an explosive mix, the red headed girl notes.
How did one place the Uchiha Brothers on the same team as this guy? It just didn't make any sense. The only justification she could see was that someone hadn't wanted to split the brothers up.
"WILL YOU BE QUIET?! YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE OUR LOCATION AWAY!" Ino screams.
Sai blinks as he watches the pretty girl scream like a banshee. Whoa. Girls could be scary sometimes, but that was a powerful Jutsu. The Banshee Shriek Jutsu!
Hmm. That was a good idea. He quickly begins a new painting while everyone continues bickering over the best course of action.
Shikamaru yawns. "This is such a drag." He didn't see why everyone was freaking out. "At least wait for the butterflies to get back before screaming."
Zetsu nods in agreement. There was at least some good news. They were in a forest. So it would be easy to hide, if it really came down to it.
"If worst comes to worst, we can escape into the forest." He nods.
Kisame nods his head in agreement. "Yeah! Flowerboy has as point!" He laughs.
Zetsu twitches. Flowerboy?! Seriously, why did everyone call him that! Did he look like he was wearing flowers?!
"Well how long do you think it will take for the insects to get back." Jugo looks at Shino.
Shino pauses as if to consider the question. "I'm not sure. It depends if they find anything worth spying on." he shrugs.
Gaara nods at that as he edges closer to Hinata and further away from Lee. There was a chance those ninjas in that village were enemies. So he and Mr. Squishy would just have to protect the princess and his siblings.
The red head knew that Temari and Kankuro were kinda scared of him, but that was okay. He couldn't let the wind up dead. If he did, their father would be very, very angry with him.
"So you can really see almost 360 degrees?" He smiles at Hinata.
Hinata nods. "It's a B-Byakugan thing." The young girl said as if that explained everything.
Sasuke nods at that. "It's a good thing." He glances at Naruto. "And don't do anything stupid while we wait for them to come back!"
Naruto flails. Why did Sasuke always have to be such a bastard?! Why couldn't he ever be nice to him?!
"Jerk!" He grumbles.
Itachi shakes his head. "Well all we can do is wait for now." He sighs and blinks as Kisame was messing with his hair again. "Kisame, my hair is not your toy." He sighs.
Honestly, he was surrounded by crazy people. He really needed to get to the bottom of all this and get Sasuke (and Obito) out of here. Who knew? The craziness of the group might actually be contagious!
Meanwhile Kakashi was on the case and looking for the children with Guy at his side. They had been searching for days, but he was determined to find them. He wasn't going to fail Obito again!
"So do you have any idea how he's still alive?" Guy glances at his friend as they flit off, side by side.
No. He didn't and judging from what he had gathered so far, Obito had no memory of his "death" or much of anything beyond the physical age he was still at.
He shakes his head. "No, but I'm going to find out." Assuming that they could ever return everyone's memories to them.
If Obito didn't know, then no one else would either. Though that was a secondary consideration. Right now, they just had to find them!
"Whoever did this is likely still out there." And probably biding their time to get their hands on the children! "We have to hurry."
He was most worried about the Hyugas and Uchihas. Those kids had bloodlines. It was quite possible that whoever was behind this just wanted their eyes.
The very thought made the silver haired ninja shutter. It was one thing for ninjas in the midst of battle to face such a threat, but children? This had gone too far!
Guy nods his head in determination. "Don't worry, we'll find them." The two continue their search. "The Power of Youth is on our side!"
Kakashi still didn't understand the Power of Youth thing. Still, it was important to his friend and apparently highly motivating. And at the end of the day, that was all that really mattered.
"You're right." They couldn't give up. "Besides, they're children and loud ones at that." How well could they really hide?
There were over twenty of them. Twenty children who were all age ten or under. That didn't exactly lend itself to stealth.
That's when his eyes widen. "Guy! We have to hurry!" They might run out of food. "They could be starving by now!"
While grown ninjas were often accustomed to going without food or very little food for a day or two, children weren't. They were still growing and someone could have gotten seriously hurt by now!
It was one thing for them to bicker with adult supervision. It was another for them to all be living together without any. The amount of fights that must have broken out by now, well that was utterly horrifying to contemplate.
"I know what you're thinking." Guy looks at him. "Don't worry. Those kids stole a lot of food. They should be okay."
Kakashi wasn't so sure about that. Even if they had stolen a lot of food, what about water? That and assuming that somehow they had managed to gather enough supplies, that didn't necessarily mean they'd distribute them wisely.
"I hope you're right." He sighs.
Saiden smirks back in the Sound. Everything was going according to plan. The Leaf would be crippled without their Tailed Beast and the Sand would be wondering where their Kazekage went.
"So the plan was that you turned them into brats?" One of the Sound Ninjas look at him in utter bewilderment.
"Of course." He nods his head as if it was self-explanatory. "Some of those kids used to be fearsome Criminal Ninjas. The Leaf will have their hands full trying to figure out what to do with them.." Saiden pauses and adds. "Not to mention, we've taken some of their strongest fighters and turned them into little more than toddlers."
What better way could there be to handicap the Leaf than that? Soon, he thinks to himself. Very soon, Saiden would wrest control of the Leaf away from Tsunade and from there, some more experimentation should unlock the secrets of immortality!
The Sound Ninja bats at something by his head. "Makes sense." He nods in agreement.
"Of course, what are you doing?" Saiden raises an eyebrow at his henchman's unusual behavior.
He shrugs as if it was all perfectly normal. "Eh there was a bug. Just swatting it away." Saiden nods in understanding.
That was one thing that always annoyed him about life in the Sound. There were far too many insects buzzing around.
Oh well. No matter. He had more important things to focus on at the moment than pest control. Surely, by now the Leaf was in utter chaos and the time to strike was near.
"What are we going to do if the Uchiha Brothers find out the truth about the Massacre?" Jira looks at him with wary eyes.
Saiden shrugs at that. "Doesn't matter, they're children. They have no memory of that and we can always ensure compliance later." He smirks. "Every single one of those brats is going to make an excellent addition to our kingdom."
That's what it would be. A kingdom. He would be the ruler of course, but every King needed a set of Royal Guards. These brats would grow up one day and make excellent ones.
The line up was impressive. A former (or future) Kage, three Uchihas, two Hyugas, the Akatsuki, Guy's Team, and the Rookie Nine. He'd be unstoppable!
"How long are they going to stay that way though?" Jira looks at him.
Jira was asking far too many questions, but he would throw him a bone. "The Jutsu currently is only temporary." He shakes his head. "It'll last long enough for our attack though and I can always hit them with it again."
The butterflies all look at each other with wide eyes as they fly off. They had learned what they needed to know. So this was the person responsible for Shino being a child again. Interesting. Very interesting.
At that same moment Tsunade sighs as she pours herself another glass of sake. Fortunately, all the Jonin and Chunins had been briefed on the situation. Unfortunately, they still didn't know where the children had gone.
"There has to be somewhere." Kurenai sighs as she looks at the other woman.
Indeed. There did. That many children shouldn't be able to stay hidden for so long. Granted, Itachi had had already graduated the Academy by this point, but still. Most of them weren't that far along yet.
She takes a sip of her drink and eyes the Genjutsu Mistress. "I suppose we should be grateful that they at least didn't take Mirai with them." That would have ended in disaster.
A toddler with that many other children unsupervised. That wouldn't have ended well. Thank goodness for small miracles.
Kurenai gasps at the thought. "You're right, but we'll find them." She smiles at Tsunade. "They're clever and hyper little things, but they can't outrun all of our best people."
Tsunade sighs as she takes a gulp of her sake. "That's the thing, most of them are some of our best people." This wouldn't end well. She just knew it.
Iruka peeks in and sighs. "Still no luck then?" Tsuande shakes her head.
The Academy Instructor's eyes narrow with worry. "That's not good." No kidding!
What were they going to do, if the Jutsu wore off? What would happen if all those children, got their memories and their adult abilities back at once? When they were alone?!
She winces. "A bloodbath." Tsunade couldn't help, but voice the thought on her mind as she pondered the situation.
"We won't let that happen, Lady Tsunade!" Iruka and Kurenai assure her.
The Hokage could only hope that would indeed turn out to be the case, but she couldn't be sure that it was. The medic had a bad feeling about all of this. A very, very bad feeling.
A short while later, Suigetsu grins. "Hey, the butterflies are back!" That of course, got everyone's attention immediately.
"Mr. Squishy wants to know what the butterflies have to say." Gaara looks up from his position of his sand castle. "It could be important."
Hidan smirks and shakes his head. "Mr. Squishy?" The red head twitches at being laughed at. "That's so lame!"
"SAND COFFIN!" He immediately sends his send at the loudmouthed boy!
Hinata's eyes widen. "No! Gaara!" The young girl was horrified. "Don't hurt him! He's just being dumb!" She pauses somewhat nervously. "And he's jealous that you have a Mr. Squishy and he doesn't!"
Lee nods his head energetically. He had been eating some candy with Sakura when the butterflies came back. He was happy to see them of course. Not only were they very beautiful and youthful, they were also useful!
"Oh alright." Gaara sighs and retracts his sand.
"Ha!" Kisame laughs. "You looked so scared! You should have seen your face, Hidan."
Itachi shakes his head at all the mischief going on, but he couldn't disagree with Kisame's sentiment. Hidan had been scared and for good reason. Everyone was now fully aware of what Gaara's sand was capable of.
"You did deserve it, for taunting him in such a fashion." He shrugs.
Hidan didn't like that very much. He was about to go over to the Uchiha Brother and give him a piece of his mind, before Deidara covers his mouth with his hands.
"It's not worth dying over, yeah?" His hands which had mouths on them!
Hidan suddenly looked rather green around the girls and Ino laughs. "Well I guess the loudmouth finally bit of more than he could chew!"
Karin nods in agreement. Though really, she wanted to know what those butterflies saw. Currently, they were making their way over to Shino and appeared to be communicating with him somehow.
She wasn't really sure how. Unlike regular Summons, these butterflies couldn't talk. Well at least, she didn't think that they could.
"What'd they say?" Naruto grins at the insect lover.
Shino blinks and frowns. He looked torn between shock and anger, Kakuzu decides. That probably wasn't a very good sign. It was rare to see BugBoy flip out or show much emotion over much of anything.
"It seems that inside that village, the man responsible for our childish state is plotting to take over the Leaf." He pauses, wondering if he should say something to the Uchiha Brothers about the "Massacre."
He had never heard of any Uchiha Massacre though. So if they stopped the bad guys, that probably wouldn't happen. For now, they needed to focus on turning back.
"NO WAY! THOSE CREEPS!" Naruto and Kiba flail loudly.
Sasuke shakes his head and gags Naruto. "Will you just shut up and let him explain things?!" He twitches.
What was it about blondes? Why did they never shut up? It looked like the only normal blonde person in the group was Temari and Sasuke was pretty sure that she was planning to kidnap Shikamaru to play house with him. So even calling her normal was a bit of a stretch to put it mildly!
"Alright." Tenten frowns. "So we know who the bad guys are, but what are we going to do about it?"
Sakura frowns as well. "That's a good point. We can't possibly expect to win against an entire village full of adults." That thought troubled her deeply.
Jugo glances at the butterflies and sighs. They were all missing one very important piece of information though. Maybe, their odds of defeating the Sound were low now, but that might not be the case, if they were adults again.
"Did they say how long we'll be like this or of it's possible to change back." He asks softly.
At hearing that question, everyone's eyes immediately turned to Shino again. Even Neji couldn't help, but bite his lower lip at this and he notices that the older kids were just as enthralled as he was.
Shino nods at this. "I didn't get a timeline, but apparently it's going to wear off." A timeline would have been nice! "Fairly soon at that. They feel like they'll be able to attack the Leaf before it happens."
Kakuzu frowns. He didn't give a damn about the Leaf one way or another, but he knew a set up when he saw one. And the fact they had targeted a bunch of people to make their plans easier, didn't sit well with him.
That and well there could be money to be made off t his. "If we save the Leaf, we could probably get lots of money for candy." He smirks.
"Hell yeah!" Hidan grins. "Candy!" He swats Deidara away from him. "Keep those creepy mouths away from me!"
Sai tilts his head innocently. "What creepy mouths?" Upon hearing this, Deidara grins and shows him his hands.
Suddenly, the other artist looked more than a little green around the gills. Not that Hinata could blame him. It was rather strange to say the least.
Of course, she knew that it was wrong to judge someone based on their looks. After all, Kisame had been pretty nice and he looked like a shark! Though she suspected that was mostly because he liked Itachi.
"You're all missing the point!" Pain twitches. "The point is we're going to change back and there's going to be an attack on the Leaf and it's up for us to stop it!"
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. "Who made you the boss of everyone?" Pain gives him a dirty look.
How dare this mortal threaten him! "I am Pain! I am God! I'm clearly the best suited to lead us!" He smiles. "With Konan by my side of course."
That was the wrong thing to say. Suddenly, lots of fights broke out over who should lead them. To say the least, it was complete chaos.
"STOP IT!" Gaara feels himself twitch as he sends out his sand and ties everyone up, well except Hinata. "It doesn't matter who the leader is! What matters is that we all get out of this alive! And that includes Mr. Squishy!"
Hinata smiles and kisses his cheek. "That was really brave." Thank goodness for Gaara's sand, she muses.
Gaara's eyes go comically wide when she kisses his cheek. The poor boy had absolutely no way to process the fact hat a girl had just kissed him! He had been kissed by the Princess.
Thud! So his body just shut down and he fainted. Everyone blinks.
Naruto walks over and pokes Gaara with a stick. "Hinata, I think you killed Gaara." He pokes again.
"Oh God!" Hinata starts bawling. "I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry." She starts panicking and running around in circles. "I'm a bad person!"
"Hinata, wait!" Sakura tries to calm the panicking girl down. "It's okay, he's not dead."
Honestly, what the heck was Naruto trying to do, scare Hinata to death?! The pink haired girl would deal with the blonde's stupidity later though. It was more important to calm their Byakugan Girl down first!
"He's not?" Hinata sniffles hopefully.
Ino grins at the bluenete and walks over, patting her on the back. "No. He's not." She smiles at her reassuringly. "He' just fainted." The blonde kid pauses and adds. "He'll probably wake up soon. So don't worry."
Suigetsu and Hinata both sigh in relief upon hearing that. "That's good." Suigetsu shakes his head. "Sandy is one of our best fighters. We can't afford to lose him."
Kankuro raises an eyebrow. "What did you just call my brother?" Unbelievable. This kid clearly didn't know who he was dealing with!
If he had any idea what Gaara was capable of, he would never give him such silly nickname. That or maybe, he was just stupid. Kankuro suspected the latter option, really.
"Sandy." He nods as if it was perfectly logical to call Gaara that. "He uses sand and he's from the sandy. So he's very Sandy." The sword lover winks. "Get it?"
Everyone shakes their head and groans at this. Well, Obito thinks to himself…at least they were bonding as comrades. Now, all they had to do was get bigger again and save the Leaf Village! That should be easy for a bunch of cool kids like them!