Yay!! My life is finally back to normal. Or, as normal as my life gets. My mom is out of the hospital and is doing great. I am finally taking a well earned vacation from work. Shippuden comes out on DVD next month. Life is good. So here is the next chapter for your hopeful entertainment. :):):):);):P;D (Emotocon parade)
Wished I owned, but don't
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There was a large plaza in front of the Kazekage tower, used mainly for open air markets and when the entire village needed to be addressed for some reason or another. Naruto remembered it to be a lovely oasis in the normally stark village landscape, full of shady desert trees and tinkling fountains. It was into this plaza the Konoha team streamed.
Straight into hell.
The brick paved ground was torn to shreds from multiple douton jutsus, but it was the bodies littering the ground all around that made the scene surreal. Naruto had to forcefully block out the overwhelming smell of the blood trickling between the cobbles. Luckily, at first glance, the majority of them seemed to be wearing Iwa uniforms, but there sure were a lot of them. That there were so few downed Suna nin impressed him. They had the smallest number of active duty shinobi of any of the other four great hidden villages, but their strength and ferocity more than made up for it.
He felt his teeth and nails lengthening, his senses heightening in response to the carnage around him. For the first time in years, he let it. In these close quarters his sage chakra powered jutsus were a liability. It was time for hand-to-hand fighting now. He felt his seal tingle on its cord against his chest, reacting to the chakra of his crystal. It had taken him and Tenzou nearly a week to perfect this solution to his furry little problem, but between the two fuuin users, they had been successful. The red chakra flowed through his body and stopped just short of oozing through his skin. That was as far as it would go. He could dimly hear the fox roaring out its frustration at being held back by not one but two seals. "Yeah, well life's tough, furball."
The shinobi fighting in the plaza were just becoming aware of their presence as the Konoha team moved past their leader, the wind of their passing whipping Naruto's haori against his legs. They all had their jobs to do, and moved seamlessly to do them. The heavy hitters, Neji, Hinata, and Lee, went with Sakura and Ino to support and protect them as they tried to save as many downed Suna nin as possible. (Though Sakura's angry yell and the sound of a bone breaking impact as a Iwa nin got in between her and an injured Chuunin told everyone that this precaution was a bit of a formality at best.)
The rest spread out in support of the ones still fighting. Alarm was starting to spread through the remaining Iwa ranks as the Konoha reinforcements plowed into them. Some along the edges of the plaza began to make a concerted effort to retreat. "Leaving so soon?" Naruto thought.
"Keep them here! Don't let any get away to warn the rest of the army!" he roared.
His team responded with a fury. Sasuke's sword was in constant motion as he mowed a path through the crowd, every so often a burst of static would radiate outward from his position. A swarm of Shino's insects rose above his head before descending on three foes as they tried to get past a team of Suna Chuunin and penetrate the village proper. Soon they were chakra-less husks laying on the cobbles. Choji had planted himself before the widest of the egresses, expanded to a massive thirty foot height, his arms coming together to crush any who were unfortunate to come in range. Naruto saw that Tenten and Kiba had the other exits covered, as a winged shadow swept across the ground. Sai was still in his role as lookout, making sure no reinforcements were about to come pounding down on the rest of them.
Naruto caught motion out of the corner of his eye as one of Machi's giant fumma shuriken did some mowing of its own. Konohamaru had his staff out, legacy from his grandfather, the brass capped tips impacting with deadly accuracy. Gone was the slightly goofy teen that still insisted on wearing Naruto's old goggles around his neck. Now he was focused, his brown eyes flint hard. Naruto had never been prouder of his two Chuunin.
Naruto, Gaara, and Kankuro hung back slightly, scanning the mille, looking for one particular head of sand blond hair in all the confusion. It was surprisingly tough. Sand and dust kicked up from the various jutsues being used was further whipped around by the ever present wind. It was becoming hard to tell friend from foe. Suddenly a huge gust of wind emanated, not from the desert, but from the center of the plaza. They just caught sight of the edges of Temari's massive battle fan as she raised it for another strike. They could tell her movements were just a trifle slower and more strained than usual. "She must be nearing her limit,"Naruto thought. As one they started in her direction, as her opponents closed in on the exhausted kunoichi. Naruto started to form his hands into his signature jutsu as sand began to stream out of Gaara's gourd.
"Kage Nui no Jutsu!!" an almost familiar voice suddenly roared out, making the people nearby jump and startling even Gaara out of his attack. Kankuro froze in mid stride, hands still reaching for his scrolls.
Naruto whipped his head around as a thick band of shadow shot past him and lifted off the ground. It broke into a multitude of tendrils that swept through Temari's opponents like a dozen deadly scythes. Naruto looked in surprise at the person before him. His normally mild brown eyes glittered, his teeth bared in a snarl of fury. For the first time since Asuma's death, they were seeing a truly pissed off Shikamaru.
A team of Jounin focused their attention on the enraged shadow user as he continued to pursue targets with his whips of inky black. One made for his back, until he was distracted by a kunai embedding itself into the top of his foot. He glanced down at it, shocked, and looked back up in the next second into a pair of solemn, red, slit pupil eyes. A tugging at his midsection made him look down again, at the tanto embedded in the front of his vest. He was dead before he had a chance to figure out what had happened to him.
Without looking, Naruto backhanded a Chuunin who was trying to circle around him, throwing him off balance. He responded with a flurry of kicks, all aiming at Naruto's face and chest. He ducked and wove, the Chuunin becoming increasingly frustrated by his inability to land a solid hit on the blond Jounin. Finally tired of their taijutsu match, Naruto's opponent backed up and began a series of hand signs that he knew would a douton jutsu, and a pain in the ass, just not one he immediately recognized. Unfortunately for the young man, his sign weaving was just a bit too slow. Pulling out another one of his special kunai, Naruto cast, made a sign, and teleported, all in one smooth motion. The Chunnin's eyes widened as realization struck him at about the same time as the fist to his head. There was a wet snap as his neck broke.
The remaining Jounin looked at Naruto, his eyes widening in horror. "It can't be. You're dead, everyone knows you're dead."
Naruto merely flicked a drop of blood from his sword. "It's true that the Yellow Flash is dead." The Jounin jumped as the blond disappeared momentarily, then suddenly reappeared over a kunai in the ground next to him he hadn't even noticed, and a soft voice whispered in his ear, "but his son isn't."
Naruto let the man drop as blood poured from the slit in his throat. He sighed mentally, as he did every time he killed. He looked around, but evidently word had started to spread, as everybody with a Iwa symbol in the immediate vicinity was either giving him a very wide berth or actively running away from him. "Boy, I could have used this reputation when I was a Gennin."
Soon after that, the fight was theirs. The Suna troops rallied and the remaining Iwa nin were hopelessly outnumbered. Without fanfare of fuss, they were all killed. There would be no one retuning to the main army.
The weary Konoha nin gathered in the center of the square, assessing personal injuries as well as those of their teammates while the Suna nin did the same. Lee had picked up a slight scalp wound that was bleeding all over the place, as scalp wounds usually did. Tenten was trying to get the still excited Lee to hold still long enough for her to bandage it until Ino or Sakura could look at it. One of Neji's Chuunin had a nasty gash in the side, and one of Hinata's had a dislocated knee. Aside from the usual bruises, nicks and cuts, that was it. All in all, not bad.
Shikamaru had a dusty, tired, Temari tucked securely under his arm, and for once her brothers didn't seem to mind. Naruto grinned at her as he let his features revert to normal. "Hey Temari-chan, how ya doing?"
"Would be a lot worse if you guys hadn't shown up when you did." She disengaged from Shikamaru to wrap her arms around Naruto. He was a bit startled at the gesture, but not too surprised. She had always been the more open of the three siblings. She had never really recovered from almost losing both of her brothers, and was a fierce supporter of both him and Sakura. "Hey big guy, thanks for coming."
"No problem, but you really should be thanking your boyfriend over there."
She gave Shikamaru a coy look over her shoulder. "Don't worry, he'll be getting his reward later." Naruto chuckled as the genius turned slightly red.
"Temari, " Gaara said, bringing her attention to him as she released Naruto. "How did these forces get in?"
She ran her hands through her sweaty hair, which, with all the dust in the air, was more mud colored than sand colored. "As far as we can tell, they got in the east gate. It would seem that Iwa has been continuing their trend of quantity over quality. Our guards at the gate were overrun, simple as that. But then something weird happened. Once a certain number gained entry, the ones you see here, the rest of the army abandoned them, pulled back, and formed that wall across the pass. If they had simply sent the entire army in, they would have swamped us and it would have been all over hours ago. But these poor bastards were just enough to make sure we were kept busy for a while."
"It did seem like that wall was more to keep people in than out. Maybe they're planning a siege, to starve us out or something," said Tenten.
Shikamaru shook his head. "You can't lay siege in a desert, Tenten. There's three hundred of them out there. They're going to run out of supplies faster than we are. No, they're planning something, something that could take out everyone in this village, so long as no one can leave."
Silence fell over the group as the implications hit them. Gaara finally spoke up. "Alright, we need to regroup and think about this some more. Rest, get treated for injuries and meet in my office in an hour. Naruto, keep your people away from the gates and under cover. There is still a good chance that the rest of the army is yet unaware of your presence."
There were some grumbles among the Chuunin at that, but pointed looks from the four captains stilled them. "That goes double for you, Gaara. I don't think they know you're here either," Naruto said with a slight grin.
Gaara blinked, as if that fact hadn't occurred to him, then nodded in agreement. "Temari, are all of the civilians safe?"
"As safe as they can be hiding in caverns while surrounded by douton users," Temari answered, ruefully.
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A cold wind blew through the dark deserted streets as Naruto returned to Gaara's office. With all of the civilians evacuated to the caverns that were their refuge during attacks, it looked like a ghost town. He had just made sure the rest of the Konoha team were settled into their temporary quarters and that some of the Chuunin, certain members of his team especially, were behaving themselves. Most were not happy about their forced idleness. The Suna nin were posted on rooftops across the village and along the cliff wall, watching the too quiet Iwa encampment.
Sakura had started nodding off partway through their strategy meeting, her head slowly drooping onto Naruto's shoulder. Gaara had called for a futon to be brought to his office, and Naruto had carefully tucked his wife into it, where she had instantly dropped into exhausted sleep. Choji had scooped up a lightly snoring Ino a few minutes later and had quietly asked directions to their rooms. There had been some interesting looks exchanged among the rest of the twelve after he had left the room. No one said anything about it though, even the Suna Jounin. Sakura and Ino had worked tirelessly to the point of near chakra depletion, but every injured Suna nin, as well as the injured among the Konoha team, was now either stable or back on their feet and ready to fight.
Naruto glanced down at Sakura as he walked in the door and smiled. Drawing off his haori, he draped it over her, chuckling as she sleepily pulled it up against her chin. Gaara was sitting behind his desk, silently watching the exchange. Naruto sat down across from him and accepted the offered cup of tea. They sat in companionable silence for a while, before Gaara asked about the rest of the team.
"Everyone is settled in, though I had to threaten to tie up a couple of the hot heads to keep them from going to the walls."
Gaara raised an ironic eyebrow. "Not too long ago, you were one of those hot heads. It's interesting to see you like this, my friend."
Naruto cocked his head. "Like what?"
"Being a husband. Being a leader. Your peers respect you and trust you to lead them well. No offence, but to be honest, I would have expected the Hokage to put Hyuuga or Nara in the position."
Naruto laughed softly. " Trust me, so did I. She has a lot of faith in my abilities."
"Not to change the subject, but I have a question, " Gaara said as he pointed with his chin across the room. "Is he always like that?"
What he was referring to was Naruto's stubborn brother, who was sleeping propped up against the wall near the head of Sakura's futon. His head nodded over his crossed arms and his sheathed sword was across his lap. His face was obscured by his long bangs. Naruto rolled his eyes slightly. Sasuke had refused the offer of a room when Naruto had said he was planning on staying up with Gaara, who was still something of an insomniac, (old habits die hard) and discuss the upcoming battle.
Naruto grinned as he took a sip of his tea. "Yep, afraid so. It's a little annoying sometimes, but I can't tell him to just stop being overprotective."
"Why not?"
"Have you managed to stop Temari and Kankuro yet?"
"Good point."
"He's lost so many people in his life that, as much as he tries to deny it, he can't stand the thought of losing us. We're the only family he has left. Kakashi told me that he didn't sleep once while Sakura and I were missing after that tsunami on Crescent Moon. You have no idea how serious that is for him." Naruto smiled at Sasuke's slumped form. "Not that its changed our relationship or anything. He still never listens to me."
Gaara shook his head. "You know Naruto, I got ahead of you when I became Kazekage, at least in the responsibility department, but hearing you talk like this, I think you're going to surpass me now that you're married and will probably be Hokage soon."
Naruto chuckled again. "Hah, I'm not in that big a hurry to replace Baa-chan."
Gaara actually looked surprised. "I'm shocked to hear you say that. I thought you wanted to be Hokage as soon as possible."
"Nah, I'm young. I'll have plenty of time to wear the hat. Not that I'm ever going to wear the damn hat. I want to have a bit of a life first. Work on my family. Make more of a name for myself."
Gaara snorted at the thought that Naruto needed even more of a reputation than he already had, but asked curiously, "What made you think this way?"
"One word : paperwork. Like I want that right now when I have to hear Tsunade-baa-chan bitch about it all the time."
Gaara did something that almost knocked Naruto out of his chair. He looked at his own paper covered desk and laughed, a short barking laugh. " Temari was right. You actually are getting smarter the older you get."
Sakura smiled from her corner as her husband's bright laughter filled the room.
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Tsunade sneezed as she sat at her desk, finishing the last couple of reports before retiring for the night. "There, done," she said with satisfaction, trying not to think about the fact that the pile of papers would magically reappear on her desk tomorrow for her to do all over again. "This calls for a celebration."
She was pouring a nice cup of sake when her moral conscience, otherwise known as Shizune, came walking through the door. She took one look and rolled her eyes.
"Tsunade-sama, it's midnight. Are you really going to start drinking sake at midnight?"
"Sake? Who said this was sake? I'm just having a nice refreshing cup of tea before I go off to bed and you're not buying a word of this, are you?"
"Nope."
"Damn."
Shizune's smile gentled a bit and she walked over to her mentor and friend's desk, took the cup out of her hand, and downed it in a single gulp. "It's alright, I'm worried about him too."
Tsunade pulled another cup out of her drawer and topped off both. She sighed as Shizune sat across from her. They stared at each other for awhile, lost in their own thoughts.
"I've just had this feeling-"
"That something bad is going to happen? Join the club." Tsunade grimaced slightly. "We just have to trust the brat. And the rest of them."
The Hokage looked out the window into the still night. The rest of the war party had left that morning. She hoped they made it in time.
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"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!"
Naruto woke with a start from where he had fallen asleep next to Sakura sometime in the wee hours and looked blearily up at Kiba. He dimly noticed that it was right before dawn, judging from the scent of the air. "Wha-?"
"You've got to come to the gate right now!"
Naruto's eyes hardened as he levered himself up to stand nose to nose with Kiba. Or, as Naruto was a few inches taller than he was, nose to forehead. Akamaru whined softly as Sasuke stood up silently and came near, listening. Naruto stared into his friend and subordinate's eyes."You want to tell me why you decided to go to the gate even though you weren't supposed to."
"Trust me man, right now it doesn't matter if they know we're here or not," Kiba said with a touch of fear in his voice.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. Something must be up if Kiba was this freaked out. He didn't scare easy.
"Naru?" Sakura's voice came groggily from the tangle of blankets at his feet. "What's going on?"
He knelt down and helped her pull the hair from her face."Go back to sleep, love. I need to go see what everyone's wigging out about."
She gave him a withering look as she pulled her self to her feet, clutching his arm as she shook the last bit of fatigue out of her mind. "Like hell, I'm fine."
He shook his head. He knew a lot of shinobi who were insanely jealous of how fast Sakura recovered from chakra exhaustion. Their old sensei was definitely one of them.
"Alright, lets go."
Seeing as there was no longer a need for secrecy, the four of them left directly from the windows and started across the rooftops. "Who's there already?"
Kiba, in his usual spot astride his partner, glanced over at Naruto, as if scoping out his mood. "Gaara, Kankuro, Hinata, and Team Gai. Gaara had sent Lee to go get everyone else up when I got there. He told me to go get you guys. He looked sort of concerned, well you know, concerned for Gaara."
That gave Naruto something to think about as they approached the north gate. Naruto had rarely been in this part of Suna, as Konoha lay to the east. This was more of a gate, as Naruto thought of one, than the narrow pass that served for the east. It was a massive wood and metal affair, made of logs that must have been transported across the desert from the forests of River Country. The logistics of such a construction must have been unreal.
Lined up along the top, behind a rail of sorts, was the Kazekage, his siblings, most of his Jounin, and the majority of the Konoha team. Kankuro had one of the powerful little spyglasses that Suna manufactured trained on a spot just past the main Iwa encampment. Naruto noticed a faint glow from the area in the pre-dawn light. It was an unsettling color, one he associated with wounds and bruises, a greenish, purplish color. Naruto landed lightly next to the puppet master, and got little to no response, he was so focused.
"What have we got?"
"I don't know, I only work here," Kankuro responded with a shrug. "Here, you take a look, you're better at this stuff than I am."
Naruto took the telescope and focused it on the area of the strange light. What he saw shocked him. Outlined in the sickly light was a huge seal. The figure of a young man, bound hand and foot, was lying in the center. Men in the robes of some sort of priesthood were moving around him in a set pattern. From what Naruto could see, they were still working on the sealing diagram, drawing in the illuminated lines with strange staffs.
"What kind of seal is that?" Kankuro asked. "I've never seen anything like it."
"The only figures I can make out at this distance are for containment. A couple of them are the highest level you can have. What the hell are they doing?"
As Naruto watched, the priests finished with the diagram and gathered in a circle around the motionless form of the young man.
Naruto was starting to get a really bad feeling.
Focusing chakra to his eyes, Naruto could just make out the expression on the face of the prisoner. It was one of ultimate pain and terror. The priests were swaying slightly, and Naruto had the suspicion that they were chanting something. Suddenly one raised a spear over his head, and Naruto sucked in his breath as he plunged it into the prisoner's chest.
The bruise colored chakra rose out of the seal, forming a pillar two hundred feet tall. All within, the priests, the prisoner, were instantly incinerated. Slowly a form began to take shape inside, massive and indistinct. All Naruto knew was that the scent of the chakra emanating from the seal was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up and causing something inside of him to sit up and prick its ears.
The form began to coalesce, and Naruto dimly felt Sakura clasp his arm in shock. Standing within the seal was a massive, red furred ape. Eighty feet tall, it stood on all fours, its knuckles digging deeply into the sand beneath it. It looked around it suspiciously, its human-like eyes narrowing as it survived its surroundings.
Four tails twitched behind it in agitation.
"Oh shit," Naruto groaned.
Naruto and Gaara traded looks, realizing the implications of this.
Konohamaru , standing nearby, looked at his captain in confusion. "What? Just what the hell is that thing?"
"The Yonbi," Naruto said, his heart sinking in his chest."They've just released a bijuu."
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This seemed like a good place to stop. I have most of the next chapter stored in my head, so I can say with absolute certainty that it won't take me another two months to put out.(Maybe it just seems that long)
Thanks for reading, Cheers!
