Another very late update. I don't plan on placing this story on hold, but like I said dearest readers my updates will be taking some time, please don't lose interest and please review... otherwise I might consider holding this story.
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Hibiki-chan – Here's the update... enjoy
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Tsuki-no-Komoriuta doesn't own Naruto or any of the characters from that series featured here. She only owns those that she created.
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The Work of a Ninja is Never Finished
"Shimizu-sama; we have been able to arrange a meeting with Chiyo-baa-sama; its exactly one week from now. An escort will accompany you by her request; it will be Kankuro, you've worked with him already so there should be no conflicts." The elder of Kaze no Kuni met his age stricken eyes with hers, the kunoichi curtly nodded. She was glad she was familiar with the escort, it took a bit of weight from her shoulders. The council seemed to unanimously contemplate something, and after several moments one of the elders revealed several scrolls. As they made their way to her; Hitomi noticed that some of them held the Hi no Kuni mark. If her memory served her correctly, it had been Suna that had attacked Konoha with Oto. This was an odd sight considering everything that happened.
"Those scrolls contain the official pardon given to Sabaku no Gaara, as well as our surrender and peace treaty. Go over them in secret and return them upon your next report."
"Hai." Hitomi nodded and gathered up the scrolls; she left in medium spirits as far the amount of reading that she would have to get done, but this new content would undoubtedly be fascinating.
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Hitomi had for once, woken up remotely early, her meeting with Chiyo was at noon and she didn't want anything to go wrong. However, upon opening the curtains of her bedroom window, her jaw loosened a tad. The entire world outside that pane of glass was a sandy hue, and a strong wind indicated that a sandstorm had blown in over night. The kunoichi's head dropped, the only thing she ever learned about sandstorms was that the people of Suna generally didn't leave their homes, and if they did it was important to protect ones face. Hitomi sighed and continued getting ready; after a shower and breakfast she was hoping that the storm might have cleared up. But it only seemed to worsen, the girl bit her lip as she stared blankly from a window, praying to her respective gods that things would go as planned. It was almost on cue that a hurried knock tapped against the front door, raising the brow the girl rushed over, as she unlocked the door the caller opened then shut the door. A muffled complaint arose from the black clad figure, Hitomi instantly recognized Kankuro not from the black attire, but rather from the ribbon wrapped puppet he wore on his back.
"Kankuro-san, are you okay?" The girl raised a single ebony brow as the older nin turned to her.
"Morning Hitomi-san. I'm fine, this storms becoming a real threat." The male lowered the protective mouth cover that attached to his hood, grinning his hello and tapping his feet to try and rid himself of sand. Hitomi smiled back and stared at the cream color piece of cloth he had around his arm, Kankuro held up the garment for her.
"You'll need this if your still planing on going to that meeting." The kunoichi took the thick material and wrapped it around herself, nodding that not even this sandstorm was going to stop her.
"Yeah, Chiyo-baa-sama is waiting. Lets head out." Hitomi gave him a thumbs up; although it went unseen under the poncho. Kankuro shook his head; the leader of one the most influential clans on the continent and she was giving him a thumbs up.
"Alright, a couple of rules first. Keep up, I don't wanna have to hold your hand, so make sure you keep focused. If we get separated, stop moving, I'll find you, just sit still and if you hear me call out reply okay?" The face painted ninja took on the tone of an older brother, all things considered he probably never got the chance to lord his age over either of his siblings. Hitomi nodded, accepting that this information was for the best. Hitomi pulled up the mouth cover and hood; all wrapped up she followed Kankuro's instructions.
They made surprisingly good time, considering that at one rooftop Hitomi hadn't measured her jump right and almost fell to the ground; but caught herself by wall-kicking halfway down. When they arrived at the building, Hitomi fumbled to remove the off-white cloak and straighten out her hair. She took a deep breath as Kankuro returned from informing Chiyo of her presence. Although the elder already knew. Entering the sparsely decorated room Hitomi knelt across from Chiyo, who was holding a stick over what she guessed was a well.
"Fishing...?" Hitomi allowed her eyes to peek down as she bowed to the elder, who didn't seem to be paying attention.
"Chiyo-baa-sama..." The woman's eyes were shut and she seemed to be leaning forward a bit. "Ah... Chiyo-baa-sama...?" Hitomi leaned forward to try and perhaps shake her. "Are you okay?" As her fingers met with the cloth of her robes, the old woman burst out laughing, startled the fourteen year old jumped back and off her pillow.
"Ahahah... Did you think I was sleeping? Well thats a first, normally everyone thinks I'm dead... even Kankuro." Hitomi took a moment to allow her first impression to settle in, the elder who sealed away Ichibi no Shukaku was a prankster, granted that Hitomi wasn't some righteous priestess, there was still a level of seriousness that the girl carried in front of strangers. Straightening her posture, Hitomi leveled with the woman, their eyes met and they examined each other.
"So you're the current Saikyou Daitoku of the Shimizu Ichizoku... So young." Chiyo nodded, making sense of this. "I'm sure you were told, but Hiruko had no part in the sealing of Shukaku, Yondaime Kazekage wanted to be sure that the Shimizu wouldn't meddle." Her tone held a bit of bitterness, but Hitomi couldn't figure out whether it was directed at her family or the Kazekage.
"I am aware that the Kazekage didn't want our clan to preform the sealing, however I want to ask you about the ceremony. It's my intention to try to find some way to help Gaara-san." The girl spoke with a different kind of wisdom, one that only showed itself when she presented herself as Saikyou. There was also a change in her presence, she carried herself with more arrogance than ever before.
"As the council asked you too no doubt, but Gaara-san has lived with that presence for almost 13 years-" Why is Shukaku's being so aware of itself?" That was the most important question Hitomi had, and despite her respect for Chiyo, this was a question that needed to be answered first.
"That is how the Kazekage ordered it." Hitomi's eyes widened slightly at Chiyo's response.
"Was he aware of how dangerous that decision was? Yondaime placed all of Sunagakure no Sato at risk. What if something had gone wrong? What if Gaara-san had been killed?" The Shimizu heiress was suddenly livid.
"Then you're aware of why Kazekage-sama didn't want the Shimizu to seal the Biju. I think he was aware of the risks, but the seal placed on him is more than capable of holding back Shukaku." Chiyo nodded, Hitomi thought back to when she'd secured his seal. There had been something about its construction that had surprised her, but this was shocking.
"There is no way that a seal like the one you placed on the Jinchuriki could ever hold. I'm certain you know that he doesn't sleep, that is the strongest weakness in the seal. Also you failed to properly separate and secure Shukaku's consciousness, and as a result you have the Sabaku no Gaara that exists today." Hitomi stood, bowing to Chiyo. Without another word the young girl left, silently ordering Kankuro to take her home.
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"I think I might know a way to help you..." Hitomi trailed off joining Gaara on the moonlit roof. His jade eyes shifted at her statement, what help could she offer, but considering what she'd already done for him, he didn't doubt it as much. Silently taking a seat next to him, Hitomi checked his expression for some sort of reaction. Recently she'd learned that he was always listening, even if he didn't acknowledge the speaker.
"I already know that with time I can easily fix your seals. The only question is if you're willing to go through the sealing process, and accept the repercussions." Her eyes wandered over the village; it was too familiar now.
"What repercussions?" Gaara had to admit that this was interesting, if she could pull off whatever she was planning it would amaze even him.
"You and Shukaku would be totally separated, meaning that you'd lose a significant amount of your power." Hitomi stated noticing suddenly that Gaara was no longer wearing the black attire that he wore when she'd first met him, he was now in a brown long-sleeved jumpsuit, a small amount of the protective fishnet layer peeked out, she smirked, it made him look older but he was still shorter than she was.
"Don't waste your time." The tone he spoke in was somewhat haunting and sad, as though he liked the thought but not the effects, even if it meant he could sleep.
"Very well, Gaara-san; if you ever decide to change your mind I'll be willing to complete the preparations." Hitomi replied quietly; she wondered what motivated this boy, he was much stronger against Shukaku than she's originally given him credit for.
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"Konohagakure? They're sending us there?!" Itsuki met his team leaders gaze; she was as entertained as he was. Along with this weeks report she'd been handed a scroll, indicating that team Nozomi was being assigned to another mission with team Baki, although that last part came as little surprise.
"According to them, it seems Konoha is at risk for another attack, we're being sent over as allies." Hitomi had only been briefly informed of what was going on, but the elders of Tsukigakure had apparently permitted the council of Suna to assign missions to them, as long as they were paired with a Suna team.
"I'm guessing team Baki is joining us?" Mitsuki wasn't as bothered, in fact he was quite thankful to finally have something to do. Nearly two months without a mission was something he wasn't used too.
"Yeah, and we should be ready to go in... an hour and a half. So pack up, and meet at the east gate." the kunoichi nodded leaving them to go and prepare herself. She had been planning on visiting Konoha in the next few months, she wanted to check on the Jinchuriki of Hi no Kuni. This presented a nice opportunity, for just that, so she had something to look forward to.
"Its everyone ready?" Kankuro tapped his feet with slight impatience, he was the kind of shinobi that liked to know about his mission at least a day in advance. They all nodded; and departed to the Fire country. A three day journey across sand, rivers, and forest where they had been ordered to stay several kilos away from Hidden Leaf. It seemed Godaime Hokage had no intentions of letting her enemies know who her allies were. They'd been ordered to wait for a signal, which came two days after their arrival. Itsuki had taken the post above the trees, his opaque eyes waiting for some sort of distress; and when he spotted black smoke rising from the direction of Konoha he went on alert.
"Oi! It's time to move!" Itsuki yelled; catching both Gaara and Hitomi's attention, they joined the older twin and assessed his statement.
"Tell the others." Gaara clenched his fist as his mint eyes watched the curling smoke. Itsuki disappeared to tell his twin and the sand siblings.
"We'll make it in at least thirty minutes if we rush." Hitomi speculated estimating the distance.
"We can't rush, we're going to be heading towards a battle. It'll take us an hour at half speed." Gaara knew better than to hurry to the scene, he turned to the girl who thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"Alright then, lets get outta here." They nodded as the others joined them. Bounding from across the forest limbs they made it 45 minutes into the attack. The allies of Konoha split up as they had before and when in search of the most powerful enemies.
--------------------Tsuki-chan's afterword-------------------
Whoo alright this upcoming chapter is gonna be full of action... definitely not what everyone expects of XxOC stories huh? Well sorry if you're getting a little tired of it... I'll try and work closer to what your guys want... It will be awhile though. Sorry!!!
BTW I think this chapter jumps around a bit too much... but I can promise that after this next chapter it will start to flow a little better