I do not own Naruto.
Zale trudged through the hailing snow Kurumi by his side, and she seemed to be faring much better than he was. "Come on Zale what's wrong?" Kurumi asked him as he had been in a sour mood since that morning when they had gotten off the boat.
"Nothing's wrong." Zale lied pulling his foot out of the snow, and advancing. It was true he had been in a terrible mood ever since that actress had put annoying ideas in his head that had immediately put him in a depressed mood. He still remembered it with vivid clarity, and if he tried to think more about it the cloud above his head would grow larger
-Flashback to that Morning-
Zale leaned back in his chair Yukie was sitting in her bed playing a card game he had no idea how to play with Kurumi. "I don't see why you're here all you do is sit there like a lump." Yukie said looking over the cards in her hands, and suddenly slamming one down victoriously. "Why can't you ninja be like Kurumi here she's nice, and doesn't sit there grumbling, brooding, or reading porn."
"That's because we have a job to do." Zale said staring out the ship's window. He had been thinking a lot lately, but not particularly about anything. "Besides if you didn't have such a tendency to run away whenever we take our eyes off of you then there would be no need to do this. Heck I heard Sakura has to sit in the shower because your manager was worried you'd swim for it.
"That happened once, and he's never let it go." Yukie said with a sigh when Kurumi slammed a card down seemingly in defiance to the one she had played earlier. "I still say you're cheating."
"I'm really good at that, but not this time." Kurumi said looking over her cards, and watching Yukie closely seeing the reflection of her cards in Yukie's eyes. "You know Zale I think she has a point a girl needs a little privacy every now, and then. I'm sure that all of you around constantly invading all of that privacy aren't helping anybody."
"Why can't you ninja be smart like Kurumi here?" Yukie asked slamming down another card, but this one seemed to be in defeat like she had accepted her loss.
'How did those two become such fast friends? I'd of thought that Kurumi would have torn her apart by now, and at this point I want to.' Zale thought to himself rubbing his eyes. There was a sudden whistle signaling they were docking, and Kurumi left saying that she had to go get her coat.
"Now how did a jerk like you become lucky enough to date a girl like Kurumi?" Yukie asked him as he grabbed his now dark orange coat.
"Well." Zale said coming to a halt realizing what a good question that was. Kurumi had no reason to stay with him after he had given her a new body. Sure she had said that it was because she wanted to become his empress, but would a girl give up her whole life for that one thing. Then again she had nowhere to go when she had been out, and it was unlikely that she had any money saved away. Had she only stayed with him because she had nowhere else to go, so was he only the meal ticket to her?
"Naruto, Naruto, NARUTO!" Yukie yelled snapping the boy out of his thoughts. "I asked you how you two met, and then you just zoned out on me."
"Oh well that's a long story." Zale said dismissively, but the more that he thought about it the bigger the cloud above his head became. 'Why did she have to bring that up I was perfectly happy being the way I was even if it was being an oblivious meal ticket.' Zale walked into his room, and grabbed the yellow cloak before putting the useless garment on. "Kurumi are you ready?"
-Flashback End-
"Well you've been in a bad mood since we got off the boat, and it's not fun hanging out with you." Kurumi huffed crossing her arms, and not looking at Zale who continued their walk in silence. "What are we even looking for?"
"Kakashi told us to look for any possible ambushes." Zale said bored tossing around rock after rock before he discovered an odd looking cave. "This cave wasn't naturally formed. The ground is too flat, and the walls are way too rounded. It was either made by jutsu by those ninja, or the Manipulation user put her talents to work."
"You're not getting out of discussing this Zale why are you so mad at me?" Kurumi asked angry at this point. "You shouldn't get mad at me for something I had no part in. I've been nice and supportive all this time I don't see anything that you can complain about."
"Look it's not about anything, so can we just stop talking about it?" Zale asked not wanting to discuss it.
"If it's nothing then you should be able to talk to me about it!" Kurumi yelled firmly placing herself in front of him, and moving so he couldn't walk forward. "Come on being in a relationship means talking about what's bothering each other; we are in a relationship aren't we?"
"I don't know are we?" Zale asked her finally reaching his limit, and this claim made Kurumi stop to look at him as if he was crazy. "Is the only reason you're staying with me because you want to become empress. Is it because I'm a meal ticket to you because if it is then I'll give you any amount of money you want. I don't want to hold you back."
"Is that what you think; that I'm only staying with you because I have no other place to go?" Kurumi asked sad tones as she yelled and glared at him.
"Is it?!" Zale asked angrily.
"No it's not!" Kurumi yelled back tears in her eyes as she stomped on his exposed toes before running off.
"Kurumi wait its dangerous!" Zale yelled his worry for her overcoming the thoughts he had. He tried to catch up, but she disappeared quite suddenly. "Where the hell did she go?" He walked through the cave determined to find her, and apologize. After a few minutes the ground started to give off steam, and Zale wondered what was going on. "Why is the ground doing that, and what's that noise?"
There was a sudden noise as well as a bright light before he finally saw the odd contraption that sped toward him like a kunai. The metal and wooden tube was picking up speed, and he was forced to turn tail and run. "Hey there's another kid to get!" he heard someone yell and he could feel the contraption pulling closer.
'I have to use Kurumi's chakra.' Zale thought to himself a sudden burst of speed overtaking him as he charged forward barely leaping out of the cave in time to see Kurumi with a hand clamped over her mouth on the back of the train. The person that was holding Kurumi left into the tube leaving the others to deal with Zale. "They're not getting away!"Zale ran forward on all fours closing in on the train.
"Fire at the boy he could get in the way!" someone yelled, and a volley of arrows hurtled forward, and he was only able to block a few the rest piercing his legs keeping him from moving.
"You're not getting away!" Zale yelled reaching forward, and as gently as he could he ripped off the end of it making it so it stopped moving. "Where is she!" he screamed walking forward pulling one arrow out after the other. He walked over to the stopped tube one of which opened up, and hundreds of arrows came out all bent, and broken before they impacted. "I asked you a question!"
He placed a hand on the wall, and tore it right off with no trouble at all. Inside he found many people all wearing some kind of protection or another, but that didn't matter to him. "Get him he's only one boy!" one of them yelled, and they all charged forward only to be torn to shreds by Zale's claws.
His eyes were crazy, and he couldn't gain any focus there was a single thought running through his mind, and that was to find her. It was all of two minutes before he came upon the last compartment where one of the snow ninja the Manipulator sat huddled trying to disappear. "WHERE DID THEY TAKE KURUMI?" Zale demanded fury imminent in his voice his hand wrapping around her throat not at all caring if he killed her or not.
"They're heading for your team to kidnap Yukie, and get the necklace around her neck I swear that that's all I know." she said tears coming down her eyes, and Zale gave it a second's thought before dropping her on the ground, and tearing his way.
'I don't care what the hell happens. I don't care who gets in my way. I don't know who's taken her, but I won't stop until they're dead at my feet, and begging for mercy!" He charged forward on all fours his eyes slit as his emotions channeled chakra through the Hokage's and Chrome's seal from Kurumi's mass chakra reserves.
Without noticing a red cloak enveloped him as he charged forward the snow blowing out of his way. Finally he came upon the sight of his team mates charging forward trying to catch up with the train that sped away. "Naruto stop right now!" Kakashi yelled at him seeing the chakra of the Kyuubi thinking him dangerous.
His words hit deaf ears as Zale charged forward trying to catch the train that sped away. "I said stop!" Kakashi yelled charging forward a kunai in hand as he tackled Zale to the ground, and preformed a few hand signs. "Repression Jutsu!" he slammed his palm onto Zale's gut, and the chakra immediately died down. "Calm down Naruto we'll get her back."
"Who the hell cares about her they took Kurumi." Zale said struggling under Kakashi and Satsuki looked shocked at this. "Get the hell off me Hatake they're not going to get away with this!"
"Not until you calm down we can't let you go on a rampage." Kakashi said struggling with the blonde until he dropped to the ground defeated. "Good now can I trust you not to go on a rampage?"
"Probably not." Zale said simply, and Kakashi sighed before tying him up, and they headed back to the ship to figure out their next move.
-Scene Change- With Kurumi
Kurumi walked away absolutely furious with Zale, and she was about ready to kill him. "I can't believe him thinking that way! Who the hell does he think he is talking to me like that!?" she demanded of herself stomping forward her body giving off intense heat melting the snow.
"Hey did you hear that?" someone said, and she gasped when they found her grabbing her by her hair. "Oh you're with those ninja we saw the other day. I'm sure that you're going to be a nice bargaining chip." They pulled Kurumi onto the train which she recognized from a long time ago. "Alright just stay quiet, and everything will go great for you, or maybe you won't die at least."
Kurumi watched Zale try to keep up before she was taken toward the front of the train, and thrown into an empty compartment toward the front. "Stupid Zale, this is all his fault." Kurumi said struggling to get to her feet, and hopping over to the window. She was just in time to see the army get slaughtered, and Yukie get captured a few minutes later. "What the heck are those useless ninja doing to help?"
Looking out the window she turned to see Zale charging with on tail of chakra to aid him, and for a second she forgot all about her anger, and only got happier when he took out the second one gaining on the train. That was ruined when Kakashi tackled him to the ground, and let the train get away.
About an hour later Yukie was tossed into the room missing a necklace, and with a few new bruises. "I can't believe Naruto let them get you." Yukie said sitting up her back pressed up against the wall.
"Well to be fair I sort of ran off." Kurumi said with a sigh looking her friend in the eye. "Still he was being a jerk about it. He came up with some crazy story that I was a gold digger, and that I should just leave if I wanted to, how dare he think that I would do that?!" Kurumi slammed her bound feet against the compartment wall. "Still if it wasn't for Kakashi then we wouldn't be here. Naruto would have stopped the train, and saved us."
"That little brat could have done that?" Yukie asked with a snort. "I think you give your boyfriend a little too much credit Kurumi even if he is a ninja."
"Naruto has a lot more to offer than people give him credit for. He's not one to be taken lightly." Kurumi said with a sigh her anger dying down to her exhaustion, and slight annoyance. "I'm going to take a nap."
"Yeah it doesn't seem like we're going anywhere fast." Yukie said with a sigh leaning her head back, and allowing her eyes to drift closed. "I hope those leaf ninja know what they're doing because if they don't then neither of us is getting out of this alive, and I doubt the snow village will let them go peacefully."
Kurumi didn't respond instead letting herself drift off into unconsciousness.
-Time skip a few hours later-
Kurumi's eyes opened groggily, and she felt new restraints on her wrists.. "Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up." Yukie said, and Kurumi looked up to see her in the same chains, and in another steel cage. "They brought us here about an hour ago, and I've just been waiting for you to wake up so we could have some idle chitchat."
"Oh this is really good." Kurumi said shifting uncomfortably in the chains, and wiggling around.
"How is this good; now we're not just stuck in a box we're officially prisoners." Yukie said.
"It's good because this lock I can pick." Kurumi said wiggling around a bit more before her picks were shown in her shirt which she struggled to grab with her mouth. A few minutes of expert lock picking later her hands were free, and she began working on her legs.
"How did you learn to do that?" Yukie asked watching the skill with fascination.
"Hang out with enough ninja, and you'll learn a few things." Kurumi said with a smile as her legs got free.
"Don't try the doors they're electrocuted." Yukie said, and Kurumi nodded. "How are we going to get out of this prison?"
"When do the guards do their next rounds?" Kurumi asked her feet free.
"In five minutes." Yukie said a bit proud that she had memorized the guard rotations in the few hours they were here.
When the guards came around a few minutes later they found Kurumi's cell empty. "Where did the prisoner go?" he asked Yukie who shrugged, and he opened the door walking inside. Panicked as he was he didn't notice the key being lifted from his belt, and the door closing behind him. "What the heck?"
"Glad to know that I haven't lost all of my tricks." Kurumi said happily outside the cage holding the key. 'I can't believe that the Kitsune art of Disappearance still works in this body. It'll definitely come in handy later.' She ran over to Yukie's cell, and unlocked it freeing the snow princess before they snuck off.
"They should have hired you to protect me Kurumi that was amazing." Yukie said as they snuck past a few guards. "That disappearing thing you did was really interesting."
"Let's talk about it later; for now let's focus on escaping." Kurumi said making her friend be quiet. "We've got to find a way out of here without announcing our presence."
"Attention all crew members our two captives have escaped their prison keep an eye out." a voice said over the intercom.
"Crap." Kurumi said.
-Scene Change-
Zale struggled in his binds tied to the bed Kakashi, Satsuki, and Sakura standing over him. "What should we do?" Satsuki asked.
"We should be out there trying to kill them!" Zale yelled pulling on the ninja wire only for his wrists to be cut then healed a second later. "The longer we wait around her talking about it the farther they get, and the less chance I have of finding Kurumi!"
"Naruto calm down, I know that you care about Kurumi, but going crazy over this isn't going to help anyone. If you can't stop yourself from unleashing the Kyuubi's chakra then I'll let you go, but it doesn't look that you're going to be doing that." Kakashi said the secret of how Naruto used to be a Jinchuriki known to team 7.
"Piss off Cyclopes!" Zale yelled at him.
"I thought so." Kakashi said looking out the window to see a snow storm had brewed in the time it took to come up with a suitable course of action followed by night. "Sakura come with me; Sasuke stay here with Naruto, and stop him if he gets out." Satsuki nodded as the two of them headed out, and she looked at Zale who struggled.
"Satsuki let me out of here." Zale said struggling desperately.
"I can't do that Naruto." Satsuki said turning so she wouldn't have to look at his pleading eyes. "You're too dangerous, and too valuable to be let out in this mission. The snow people have seen you, and if they get a chance I'm sure they'll force you to become one of their ninja."
"Screw what the hell they'll do they have Kurumi, and we have to get her back." Zale said angrily, and he decided to appeal to her more sympathetic side. "Come on Satsuki you know Kurumi; she's your best friend, and you want to help her as much as I do. You can't say that you want to leave the fate of her to that stupid silver haired fool, and that pink haired banshee."
"What can we do; they took off in an aircraft, and Sakura and Kakashi took the only hot air balloon in a hundred mile radius." Satsuki said finally breaking down.
"Just untie me, and I'll get us there no problem." Zale said, and Satsuki gave up resistance cutting him free with a spare kunai. "Come on we need to get to a high point." They got onto the top sail of the ship where she pointed to where the hot air balloon had floated off. "Alright then, I'll get us there no problem." Zale closed his eyes focusing the best he could before slamming his palms together.
Satsuki watched shocked when two buds ripped through his jacket, and then two full blown black wings with a wing span of ten feet cut through the air making a horrible ripping noise. Zale looked no worse for wear when he grabbed Satsuki his new wings started flapping lifting them both off the ground. "How are you doing this?" Satsuki asked completely shocked to be flying through the air.
Zale didn't respond focusing on the effort it took to fly through the air. "Birds make this easier than it looks!" Zale yelled over the wind and Satsuki laughed slightly. "We got to catch up to them!"
"Follow the smell!" Satsuki said reminded of the awful smell that the balloon had brought with it.
They found the balloon a few minutes later, and Zale couldn't remember a time he had been so relieved to see such an ugly contraption. "How are we going to get in?" Zale asked looking over the exterior barely seeing anything in the darkness the rain pounding down on them, and making it hard to see.
"There's a vent!" Satsuki yelled pointing it out, and Zale flew over to the small metal grate that was quickly taken care of. "Come on!" she yelled.
"No I won't fit with these wings you go on, and I'll find another way inside!" Zale yelled forcing her into the vent, and she had no choice, but crawl into the ship Zale flying off careful to avoid anything that could send him to the ground.
"Hold on Kurumi we're going to have you, and Yukie out of here in no time." Satsuki said to herself wiggling forward. Kicking open the grate at the first opening she found she saw Sakura on the floor in tatters. "Sakura what happened, where's Kakashi sensei?"
"They came from out of nowhere, and they took Kakashi sensei." Sakura said weakly. "Sasuke please stay with me." Satsuki let out a sigh how could she expect her to stay with her when their squad leader had just been taken.
"I'll be right back try not to die Sakura." Satsuki said before running off in the only open door in the entire area.
-Scene Change with Kurumi and Yukie-
"This just became a lot harder." Kurumi said running over to a door, and making quick work of its lock. "How the heck are we going to get out of here?"
"They have to have escape ships on here somewhere we just need to find them." Yukie said trying to remember what she had seen of the ship when they had brought them aboard. "We've only been in the upper levels, so they must me in the lower levels."
"Then let's stop talking about it, and find it." Kurumi said with a nod opening the door. To their surprise someone bumped right into them knocking them both off of their feet. "Oh shoot!"
"Kurumi!" Satsuki whisper yelled hugging her friend tightly, and when Kurumi realized who it was she hugged back. "I'm so glad you're okay we almost didn't come."
"What do you mean we?" Yukie asked seeing the boy was alone, and she was slightly worried by his sudden mood change.
"Naruto came too; he's trying to find a way in." Satsuki said, and immediately she saw Kurumi get an annoyed face. "Did you two fight Kurumi?"
"Yeah, something like that." Kurumi said angrily before they all got up. "We need to find a way down to the lower levels; there should be some escape ships to get us off of here."
"Well that means that we have to go back for Sakura, doesn't it?" Satsuki asked, and they all looked at each other briefly before nodding. "Too many people would notice her not being there."
"And weep in relief." Kurumi said getting a snicker out of all of them. "Okay how are we going to get down?"
"Well going right over the edge wouldn't be an option, but I think I saw a stairwell back there, and it's on the way to getting Sakura, so it's best." Satsuki said, and they reversed her steps picking up the pink haired girl before creeping down the stairs. "You don't think that they're stupid enough to put one of those directory things up do you?"
"Apparently so." Kurumi said opening up another door to find a map of the entire ship. "Looks like the ships are on the lowest level, and we can get there by following the staircase."
"Then let's get going." Satsuki said, and they all nodded before continuing down the stairs.
"Attention guards the prisoners have been spotted on the staircase, so if you want to keep you jobs get on it." a voice over the intercom said, and the girls scowled.
"They're going to be flooding this place." Yukie said a bit horrified. "How the heck are we going to get out of here?"
"I might have a way." Kurumi said, and they turned to her the unconscious Sakura letting out a groan. She placed her hands on them, and closed her eyes. 'Kitsune art of Intangibility.' They all immediately felt lighter, and they started to sink through the stairs slowly leaving the guards flooding the empty stairway. "I can't believe that worked."
"I'm going to ask you about that later, and for right now just be grateful." Satsuki said checking to see that everything was where it was supposed to be. "Why is there only one escape ship?"
"Who cares let's just get out of here." Yukie said running over to the escape ship.
"Wait Yukie you have to be careful!" Satsuki yelled running over only for a knife to be stabbed through her stomach when she got to the boat.
Yukie was grabbed, and out of the boat popped Doto who had done the grabbing pulling her into the boat. "You don't mess with me, not you ninja, not your women, and not a god damn wannabe princess!" he yelled, and he held up a small button that he pushed, and immediately the ship lurched as well as a loud explosion sounded. "Now when I kill you all of your rebellion will stop!"
The floor underneath them opened up, and the ship dropped away. Unfortunately Kurumi was too preoccupied with Satsuki was bleeding on the floor. "You're losing too much blood." Kurumi said putting pressure on the wound not daring to remove the knife. "I've got to do it, but boy is it going to hurt." Kurumi flinched when her hand started to glow red but pressed it to the wound causing Satsuki to scream in absolute agony.
"IT HURTS!" Satsuki screamed withering under her touch.
"I know, but if I don't do this you will die." Kurumi said desperate to calm the girl down. She placed her hand on the knife, and closed her eyes. "Make it quick like a band aid." She yanked it out causing Satsuki to scream again, and Kurumi quickly seared the wound closed. "Are you okay?"
"Barely." Satsuki breathed panting unable to move the pain so great. "Thanks not a lot of people would do that for a friend."
"Come on we're practically sisters." Kurumi said with a smile. "How the heck are we going to get off of this ship?"
"Naruto!" Satsuki suddenly gasped, and Kurumi suddenly nodded.
"We need to find him too." Kurumi said,
"No Naruto!" Satsuki said pointing out the opened hatch, and she turned to see him flying up through the hatch carrying a knocked out Jounin. "Where'd you find Kakashi?"
"He found me." Zale said rubbing his back. Suddenly he noticed Kurumi, and he attached himself to her his arms firmly locked around her.
"I'm still mad at you." Kurumi said trying to get him off, but relieved.
"I don't care I'm just so happy you're okay." Zale said hugging her tightly to his chest tears almost spilling from his eyes. "I'm so sorry for what I said, I'm an idiot, I'm a terrible person, and I was being the biggest jerk in the world, but when I saw you get taken I couldn't take thinking that they might have taken you." Eventually Kurumi hugged him back, but they were separated.
"Okay now that we've had our reunions, how are we going to get them?" Satsuki asked.
"How willing are you guys to die?" Zale asked looking at the only two conscious people in the room who nodded silently confirming that they would agree to whatever he had in mind. He raised his arms, and immediately a thick orb started to wrap around all three of them one piece at a time. "Alright this is the final layer, and be prepared for a rocky path." Zale's arms swung up, and the metal sheet under them wrapped around them leaving only the top open.
They plummeted to the ground at high speeds thrashing around before they stabilized. "How are we going to steer this thing?!" Satsuki screamed over the air.
"I have keep this thing stable, someone needs to peek out over the edge, and tell me where to Manipulate to!" Zale yelled, and Satsuki nodded peeking over the edge to see a feint dot in the distance. "Where to Satsuki?"
"Take it three hundred yards west!" Satsuki yelled, and they all felt a sudden lurch as it moved. "Can't you smooth out the ride a little?"
"Not unless you want this thing to break apart!" Zale yelled a vein bursting in his eye at the focus that it had to take to keep the sphere from breaking apart. "I can't do it we can't take an impact to the ground take us to a snow filled area!"
"Three hundred yards north!" Satsuki yelled, and it lurched again. "Twenty yards south!"
"Don't push yourself Zale." Kurumi said pumping demon chakra into Zale's bleeding wounds trying to heal them as best she could. "Just keep us alive."
"Ten yards east!" Satsuki yelled, and he complied. "We're about to hit!" They all curled up as little as possible, and they hit with a solid thump bouncing a bit. "Anything broken?"
"We have to get to Yuki." Zale said launching the metal sphere away, and running at full speed toward the fast melting snow.
"Take care of Sakura and Kakashi." Satsuki said following Zale, and leaving Kurumi with the bum job.
"Is that playing a movie?" Zale asked shocked seeing what appeared to be ghosts act out a rather touching scene. Two swords formed in his hands from the ice, and Satsuki started to power up her most powerful jutsu.
"Is this it, you're father was a fool, and you will die to pay for his reckoning!" Doto yelled out slamming his hand against her cheek causing her to fall to her butt. "Get ready to die!"
"That's my line!" Satsuki yelled her fist charged with lightning that she slammed into Doto's chest causing the man to stumble back a large crack forming in his armor.
"You brat!" Doto yelled slamming his fists over her head knocking her out cold. "You brats aren't respectful of you betters, and you'll pay for it."
"You'll be eating those words!" Zale yelled slamming his blades straight into his armor, and finding them shatter into a million pieces.
"Get ready to die!" Doto said punching Zale straight in the stomach sending him flying across the grass field. "I'm going to be happy to do this."
"And I'm going to enjoy doing this." Zale said a rainbow rasengan forming in his hand of course it was unstable, but nonetheless he had it at least to the second stage. "Rainbow Rasengan!" he thrust it into the large crack, and Doto was sent flying away. "God that sucked."
-Time skip 3 days later-
Kurumi, Satsuki, and Yukie were standing in a circle. "You know what I do think that I'm going to keep up my acting career. I think I'm going to produce a movie actually." Yukie said taking a sip from her drink.
"What's it going to be?" Satsuki asked.
"Ninjas Clash in the Land of Snow, and I want all of you to be there acting right alongside me." Yukie said, and they giggled, or in Satsuki's case just laughed. "I need to tell Naruto about this, where is he anyway?"
"I don't know; Chrome showed up yesterday, and they disappeared about an hour ago." Kurumi said looking around to find her boyfriend gone.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it; I doubt he'll get into anything he can't handle." Satsuki said, and they nodded before continuing their conversation.
-Scene Change-
Zale, Chrome, and the new Manipulator Chrome had found named Kira whose specialty in Manipulation was fire. "How long has this chick been out here again?" Kira asked pulling up his foot.
"Three days." Zale said simply.
"Wouldn't she be dead in this cold?" Kira asked.
"Manipulation users are a little more stubborn than that." Zale said his eyes scanning the area. "She has control over ice, and we could really use that.
Kira suddenly hung back, so he was in step with Chrome. "Hey Chrome, this guy's nuts no one can survive that long out here. Let's waste him right here, and we'll take his girl, and do this without him." Kira whispered barely above a breath. Chrome immediately leapt away from him, and Kira felt two spikes launch through his hands and one through each leg. "AGH!"
"It seems that Chrome was too lenient on convincing you to join me. Trying to waste me won't work because you're a hell of a lot weaker than I am, and neither of you could touch me. The simple fact is that you're here to serve me, and if you ever betray that then you'll die immediately. You're not so important to my cause that I won't kill you." Zale said standing in front of Kira who stood bleeding from the wounds. "Don't worry you're a Manipulator you'll heal, but do you understand that I won't tolerate any disloyalty from you. Do you understand that?" Kira nodded, and the spikes melted away instantly leaving Kira looking like Swiss cheese. "Get up we have work to do."
Kira got to his feet glaring at Zale, but not doing anything. They walked for another half hour before finding an arm sticking out of the ground frozen over. "Is she really still alive?" Chrome asked.
"Yes, she's a clever girl. She's completely frozen her body, and in that way sustained herself until she's dug up, and revived. She probably thought that her teammates would come looking for her." Zale said grabbing the arm, and pulling up violently the girl completely frozen over. "Give me a second she's going to need somewhere to warm up." An igloo formed, and they brought her inside placing her in an ice chair. "Heat her up."
Kita glared at him, but nonetheless sent a wave of heat through the girl her layer of ice going away her feet stuck in hot water. "Where am I?" she asked shocked to see Zale, and she tried to get away only for Chrome to hold her down. "You Leaf village scum won't get anything out of me!"
"That's great because we're not from the Leaf Village. I work for them out of obligation, and by obligation I have to give you to the land of spring, but I'm going to give you a choice. That ability that you have is something that I want really badly. Now if you stick with me then you get to never be found, and we'll give you a new life with my buddies here, and in exchange for it you'll be loyal to me. You'll do what I say when I want, where I want, whatever the hell it is."
"I think I'm getting the short end of the stick here." the silver haired girl said.
"Not at all, you see I'm going to conquer the world one day my friend, and when I succeed if you were there standing by my side as a general like these two then you'll have a nice powerful place in the new world." Zale said seeing his personality of a natural leader starting to convince the girl. "Think about this offer my friend; it's a life in jail, or serving some family that bought you, or a guaranteed spot of power. I promise you my boys here won't touch you."
"My name's Aria." the girl said, and Zale smiled knowing their deal had been made. She was about two or three years older making her seventeen, and now he had her in his army. "What's yours?"
"It's Zale in private, and around guests it's Naruto Uzumaki." Zale said leaving the girl to Chrome, and Kira.
-An Hour later-
"Hey Naruto, where were you?" Kurumi asked as he walked over a drink in his hand.
"I was just taking care of some business." Zale said simply a smile on his face.
"Really Naruto I have to thank you for what you did, can I repay you in any way?" Yukie asked.
"Actually there are two things." Zale said pulling out a piece of paper, and a pen. "First the thing that made me hate you when we began this journey." This got a laugh out of the three of them. "Go ahead, and sign it to Kurumi."
After signing it Yukie looked back up. "Okay then what's the second thing?" Yukie asked handing the paper to Kurumi who was happy.
"Do you have some kind of device that allows you to chat with someone over a very long distance like a few hundred miles?" Zale asked, and Yukie got a pondering face before smiling.
"I think we have just the thing." Yukie disappeared into her mansion, and came back a few minutes later holding a box that she opened up.
Zale looked at the device it was a small rectangle with rounded corners, and the size of his kunai pouch. It had a hinged lid that he opened up, and inside there was an odd crystal, and a screen. "Just synch them up like this, and you'll have contact with anyone who's on the same frequency." Yukie tuned two together, and turned them both on holding one to her own face. Zale was shocked when Yukie's face appeared on the screen, and her voice came out of the little lines. "Take the box my father made a lot of these."
"Thanks." Zale said grabbing the box, and handing one to Kurumi.
"I'm so happy we're going to be home soon." Kurumi said with a bright smile.