What If
By: DisasterMaster445
Still having computer troubles, so updates will be few and far between, I'm afraid. Last time, Sasori was eliminated. However, he gave Kakashi interesting information regarding a certain informant of his. This informant had been spying on Orochimaru for quite some time, and was getting ready for a meeting with the puppeteer. But that ship has sailed. Meanwhile, Yuzaga and Naruto seemingly defeat Deidara, but the blond manages to live. He retreats with Zetsu and Tobi. Later, the Stone-nin and Leaf-nin leave the Sand Village. Yuzaga and his siblings decide to go with Kakashi's team back to the Leaf, hoping for a little downtime.
Chapter Eleven: Tenchi Bridge - Immortal Zombies?
"Cha!" The pinkette lunged forward, throwing punch after punch at her prey. The Dust-nin, Yuzaga, leaped back, dodging each punch with his hands nonchalantly in his pockets.
"Take me seriously, you bastard!" Sakura cried. "It wouldn't be training if I let you hit me." He laughed. "It'd be me in traction." She kept after him, and his siblings watched, bemused, from the sidelines.
"This isn't even training for you!" the girl panted, still swinging. "Why don't you find Naruto?!" "Because they demolished an entire training field yesterday, trying for that Dust-Style Rasengan." Sasuke interrupted. He appeared between the two shinobi, easily catching the bone-breaking punch from his teammate.
Yuzaga looked sheepish. "Think they were mad?" Naruto and the others had been back in the village for about a week, resting up. Kakashi had been in the hospital, and hadn't seen them in a few days. He'd seen the Hokage, and a few members of the ANBU though. The shinobi had been using the time to practice, feeling somewhat inferior after seeing the skills of the Akatsuki first hand.
"They can always fix it." Sasuke laughed, releasing Sakura's fist. The Uchiha had seen his two friends destroy the training field the previous day, attempting to recreate the jutsu they'd used against Deidara. He was somewhat overwhelmed by their combined power, and wasn't terribly fond of the Stone-nin staying in the village.
"Anyway, the Hokage called for everyone." He flicked his eyes at the Stone-nin. "Everyone."
"I've called you here to tell you that Team Kakashi will be heading for the Tenchi Bridge today." Tsunade said as the group entered her office. Naruto grinned. "Alright! Mission time!" Sasuke smirked. "So we're going. But what about Kakashi? Isn't he still laid up?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Don't you think I'm capable of finding a replacement?" A shadowy figure leaped through the window. He was wearing a Jonin's uniform, and a strange plate on his face. The plate was held on by an elastic band that wrapped around his head. His messy brown hair poked up around the top of the plate.
"Hello." The Jonin said with a wave. "My name is Yamato." Yuzaga, completely ignoring the man, decided to interject. "That's all well and good, but what's it got to do with us?"
"I've sent the Tsuchikage a message requesting your further assistance here in the Leaf Village. Because of Akatsuchi's injury, I decided that it would be good for the three of you to remain in the Village. Here, I can put Akatsuchi through extensive therapy he can't receive in the Stone Village. Plus, a little extra defense never hurt anyone."
At the same time, in the sewers of Kumogakure, a woman raced away from her two pursuers. She was tall, with straight blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She wore dark clothes with cloud patterns. She turned, quickly, and blasted a fireball at the entrance leading back into the tunnel. The room rocked as the entrance fell in on itself.
The woman ran into the next tunnel, darting off into a connecting one when she saw that this tunnel had collapsed too. She entered another room, ducking behind a piece of fallen ceiling. She heard another explosion. Probably her pursuers breaking through the barricade she'd left.
She wiped sweat away from her eyes, trying to make a plan. She knew the underground well, because of the intense training she'd went through in those very tunnels. She head the raucous footsteps of the first, the silver-haired man with the crazy eyes, and the calm steps of his partner. They wore matching robes…Akatsuki.
"Hey!" Called the voice of the first man. The splashes of his footsteps in the water were slower, but his voice echoed through the tunnel leading to the room she hid in. "Where are you, you little pussy!" He laughed loudly.
"Shut up, Hidan." Rasped the other man. "Fuck you." Was Hidan's response. "All this trouble fighting the bitch, and I don't even get to kill her? Jashin won't be happy with me about that, and you know it. Might as well have fun."
"All this religion isn't making me any money." The other man sighed. "Fuck money." Hidan cursed. "Jashin gives me everything I need." The woman narrowed her eyes.
"What are they doing? I thought they wanted to kill me? Well, if they're going to be distracted, I'm going to go for the kill." She grinned ferally, teeth sharpening and eyes turning white. Their footsteps stopped, but her sharp senses told her they were in th mouth of the tunnel.
Hidan whistled. "C'mere, little pussy." He whistled again. She leaped from her hiding place, intent on burning the foul-mouthed man to a crisp. She roared, and blasted a huge blue fireball at the entrance. She landed, smirking. But when the smoke cleared, her pursuers were nowhere to be found.
"That wasn't too bad, bitch." Hidan appeared behind her, left sleeve of his cloak singed. He struck out, smacking her across the room. She hit the water and bounced back up, still carried by the force of the hit. Hidan's partner flashed into existence in her path, landing a punch with a hard, black fist.
She flew back toward Hidan, already letting blue flames engulf her. "I won't let them take me!" She thought as she landed in the water. The flames continued to rage around her, but she felt no pain, and they weren't affected by the water. These supernatural flames built up, taking the form of a gigantic two-tailed cat.
"So that's the Nibi." Hidan's partner said, thinking of the money he could get by killing this monstrosity. "I know what you're thinking, Kakuzu." Hidan muttered. "Fuck the money. To Jashin be the glory." And then…she pounced.
"Now…we only have a week to make it into Grass Country. So I'd like to start by learning a little bit about you." Yamato and his team were walking along the path that would take them quickest to the Tenchi Bridge. The three Chunin looked rather skeptical of their new Sensei, so the unmasked ANBU decided to show how serious he was.
"You'll learn that I'm different than Kakashi. I'm an easygoing guy, but I'm not afraid of more…draconian methods." He glared at them, face shadowed. Naruto began shivering, but Sasuke and Sakura weren't bothered.
"So." The Jonin said, face taking on a more normal expression. "My name's 'Yamato.' I was watching you three in the Chunin Exams. You did really well. I stopped the Sand-nin, Gaara, and the Stone-nin, Jikai, from transforming." Naruto's eyes widened, quizzically.
"You can do that?" Yamato smiled. "I inherited the First Hokage's Wood Style Ninjutsu." Sakura and Naruto's eyes popped open, and their mouths formed perfect Os, while Sasuke was inwardly impressed.
"Now that you three know a little bit about me, how about you say a few words about yourselves?" Sakura piped up first. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I like training my Medical Ninjutsu with Lady Tsunade, and honing my skills to become a great kunoichi."
Sasuke spoke up next. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I want to take down Orochimaru. He's the man that gave this to me." He pointed to his neck, where the Curse Mark was partially hidden by his jacket collar. "But my ultimate goal is to find my brother, Itachi, and make him pay for what he did to my family."
After thinking for a few seconds, Naruto began to speak. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Remember it. My only plan is to be a great ninja. And I'll become the greatest Hokage!"
"And so I told him, 'Hey, you! The freak with no eyebrows! Put this in your Bingo Book - the ninja that will become the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves - he never backs down! His name is Naruto Uzumaki!'" The blond ninja laughed uproariously, regaling Yamato with stories from the team's younger days.
Yamato smiled. "This kid's something else." They were resting in a spacious wooden cabin that Yamato had created with his Wood Style. There were four bedrooms, a living room, and a bathroom. Somehow, the bathroom had running water.
"Heh. Tell him about what happened after that." Sasuke said. "There was this crazy plan that involved Shadow Clones, a kunai knife, and a Demon Wind Shuriken." "Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, rushing into the rest of the story.
"Fuckin' Cloud Village whore!" Hidan cursed as he rose from his position in the bloody circle. He pulled his spear from his side, inhaling through his teeth in ecstasy. The Jinchuriki, Yugito, was laying close-by. Hidan's fight with her had destroyed the sewers, but they were far enough from the village that no one would find out for awhile.
"It's fuckin' stupid that we don't have a member from the Cloud Village. I seem to remember already catchin' my fuckin' target. That Han guy from my old village. Thought that was what we were doin'. Figured that's why Deidara went to Stone and Sasori hit Sand."
"Shut up, Hidan." Kakuzu said, picking up the unconscious body. Hidan continued as if he hadn't heard. "So here I am, pickin' up your slack by finishing your target. What's even left, anyway?!" He started ticking off his fingers.
"We've got Two, Four, Five, and Seven, right?" He turned to his partner, speaking sarcastically. "You're the numbers guy, right? How many does that mean we've still gotta catch?" He did some more thinking.
"And since Sasori fucked it up in Suna, there's no fuckin' way we're getting' One." Kakuzu's brow furrowed, struggling against the urge to try once more to kill his un-killable partner. He was interrupted in his musings by Zetsu materializing from the ground in front of them.
"The Leader sent me to collect the body. You two are to continue after your next target." He motioned to the body expectantly. Hidan narrowed his eyes as Kakuzu passed the woman to the plant-man.
"Just make sure not to eat her, you crazy flytrap motherfucker." He cursed. It seemed like Zetsu's white side smiled for a second before the strange man sank back into the ground.
"Where to now, anyway, Kakuzu?" The taller man sighed. "I suppose we should go to the next Land." "Yeah, but the closest to us is the Land of Fire. Thought there was only one Jinchuriki in the Land of Fire. Nine, right?
"Itachi'd be pretty mad if we took his target." Hidan smiled. "I'd like that." Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Not that kind of target. We need to keep making money if we want this organization to prosper."
"Fuck the organization! Jashin's all about mass destruction! I just want the opportunity to kill everyone!" "Life doesn't work like that." Kakuzu argued. "Life is about money. So our 'mission' is getting the organization a little bit of money."
"Pfft. You know how I feel about that. Jashin provides everything I need. All your constant talking about money pisses me off. And when I get pissed off, I start to feel like 'I don't really care about the mission. I just want to break everything.'"
"Just shut up. Our 'target' is in a monastery in the Land of Fire. He has a bounty of 30,000,000 ryo." Hidan's eyes widened, shining with an unholy light. "Why didn't you say so? There's nothing I love more than bringing the heretics of the world to Lord Jashin's swift judgment!"
"So…my Wind Style jutsu is getting pretty shabby. I've only got a few in my arsenal, and Deidara saw all of them coming. Are there any Wind Style users in the Hidden Leaf?" Yuzaga was talking to Kakashi while the man was in the hospital. Surprisingly, the Copy Ninja liked the company of the would-be Tsuchikage.
"I would suggest Temari, the Sand's Ambassador, but she's not in the Village now. With the scare with her brother, she decided to stay instead of accompanying us back to the Leaf. But, with her unavailable, seek out Asuma."
"Asuma, huh?" Kakashi nodded. "He'll most likely be at the BBQ place, treating his team. Or you could just look for Shikamaru." Yuzaga cocked an eyebrow at the Jonin. "The guy from the Chunin Exams…"
"Ah-choo!" Shikamaru wiped his nose after the huge sneeze. He sat across from Ino and Choji, with Asuma beside him. They were chowing down on some BBQ at Choji's favorite place. Asuma's treat, of course.
"Bless you." Ino said. Shikamaru grunted thanks, eating another piece. She understood. With Choji around, you couldn't waste time with words if you wanted to eat. After a few more minutes, Asuma called the lunch to an end. When asked, he simply answered that he didn't want his wallet entirely empty.
"Hey!" The group turned, Choji still munching on a doggie bag. "What the hell's that guy doing here?" Shikamaru muttered. Asuma smiled, knowing the Shadow-user was still miffed about all his jutsu being broken by the Chunin that called them out.
"I guess you've gotta be Asuma, 'cause I know everybody else." The bearded Jonin nodded. "That's me. Asuma Sarutobi, at your service. What do you need?" "I need someone to help me with my Wind Style jutsu. I was told you're man for the job."
"Well, there's not much I can show you in the way of jutsu, but I do have something I think you might enjoy." They were at Asuma's house. 'They' being Asuma, Shikamaru, and Yuzaga. Choji and Ino had wanted to watch, but Shikamaru convinced them to go home.
"Gonna show off, huh Asuma-Sensei?" The bearded Jonin smiled, pulling out his trench knives. He focused, and a solid blade of chakra extended beyond the metal. Yuzaga's brow furrowed.
"That's not really anything new. I saw Sasuke Uchiha do that with a whole sword in the Chunin Exams. I used that to develop my Wind Style: Slashing Wind Scythe Blade." Asuma thought for a second.
"I'm not sure if you know this, but Wind Style is the most close-combat oriented chakra type." Yuzaga was intrigued. "Go on." Asuma chuckled, knowing he had the boy's attention. He whirled, throwing one of the knives. It shot straight through one of the trees in his yard, and shattered a boulder behind it.
Yuzaga's eyes were wide open - anime style. "That. Was. Amazing." Shikamaru had a smile on his face as he went to retrieve the knife. Asuma handed the other to the Stone-nin.
"Give it a shot." Yuzaga grinned with determination and began to focus his chakra. The blade vibrated in his hand as a thin film of chakra coated the blade. With another moment's concentration, the chakra flared up into a second blade, but much less stable. Yuzaga could vaguely sense Shikamaru beside him, doing the same exercise.
Yuzaga knew that if the Shadow-user had ill feelings about what happened in the Chunin Exams, it would be all too easy for him to run that blade through his gut. But he got the sense that the boy wasn't that kind of person.
He waited until he felt the chakra was powerful enough and let it loose. He saw the other blade flying beside it. Yuzaga's blade hit the tree, sinking halfway through. His spirits fell. However, as he watched, the blade sank a little deeper, slowly but surely wearing all the way through the wood. It fell to the ground behind the tree.
Shikamaru watched the knife disappear, then looked to the tree where his was stuck in the tree up to the second knuckle mark. He looked at Asuma, talking to the Stone-nin, and walked to the trees to retrieve both blades.
"You've got amazing control already." Asuma commented. "That was something we call a slow kill." Yuzaga looked confused. "What that means is that your chakra was enough to carry the blade into a fatal wound. But, you had enough chakra left in the blade for it to continue."
"That sounds easy." Yuzaga said. "You'd think so, but it's actually harder than just an outright pierce. Most people either put in enough to go all the way through the target, or they only put in enough to leave the blade deeper than it normally would." He thought for a moment.
"You said you'd seen Sasuke Uchiha use a blade like this?" Yuzaga nodded. "He called it a Kusanagi. Snake Sword." Asuma nodded. "I've seen it. Made from the same kind of chakra metal my trench knives are. Tell you what: I've got a Sarutobi Clan heirloom left to me by my grandfather." He walked into his house, coming back moments later with a long wooden case.
"My grandfather commissioned this in the Mist Village nearly 70 years ago. Got if from one of the last members of the Masamune Clan. They're the Clan that forged the Seven Swords of the Mist. I take it you've heard of them?" Who hadn't? Asuma passed the case over to Yuzaga.
"Go ahead. Open it." The Stone-nin pulled the lid off, staring with eyes wide open at what was inside. It was a long saber, sheathed in sturdy black leather. It had the hilt of a rapier, with a gold D-guard, but a simple, wooden handle. Yuzaga set the case on the ground, pulling the saber out.
He unsheathed the sword, revealing a three-foot blade of solid, polished chakra metal. The blade had no blemishes, and no rust. At the base of the blade, just above the guard, the kanji for Monkey was engraved.
"Channel your chakra into it. See if it accepts you." Yuzaga cocked his head. "You'd give this to me?" "It isn't doing me any good here. God rest my grandfather's soul, but swords aren't my thing." The Dust-user held the blade up in front of him, both hands on the handle, and began forcing his chakra into the blade. It glowed, and the metal where the kanji was engraved started to bubble.
"What's happening?" Shikamaru asked. The metal returned to normal, but with one change. The Monkey kanji had transformed into the kanji for Dust.
"That settles it." Asuma said. "The blade chose you. I'll teach you what I can about chakra metal, but maybe when Sasuke gets back from his mission he can teach you some Kenjutsu."
"Now, I don't know your fighting styles well, so we should take this last day to train and get to know each other better." Yamato had set up another of his special wooden buildings, but this time as a training facility. It only had one room, and was completely soundproof. He'd built it in a place where it wouldn't easily be seen.
"I think you've gone over this with Kakashi, but I want to make sure. If you don't come at me like you're trying to kill me, you'll never succeed." Naruto smirked. "We understand. I'll kick this party off! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Between Kakashi and Yuzaga, I've got all the information I need to mimic Sasori. Using this information, I hope to be able to fool the spy. After I get the information we're after, I'll quickly silence him, and we'll be on our way." Yamato had already hidden himself in a copy of Sasori's puppet body that Yuzaga destroyed in the Stone Village. He was practicing the voice.
"If I need you, you'll know. Join the fight only when you get the signal." When they nodded, he spoke up in his own voice. "Let's get this bastard."
"Heh. That wasn't nearly as hard as you said it'd be, Kakuzu!" Hidan exclaimed, pulling his triple-bladed scythe from the chest of the head monk, Chiriku. Kakuzu growled, retracting several hundred black thread-like entities from a group of the monks.
"I never said it would be hard!" He said. The entire temple was destroyed, and the dead bodies of hundreds of monks were scattered around the stone floor. "Whatever." Hidan said. "I got to kill this one, and give Jashin proper tribute. I'm perfectly happy." The silver-haired man's skin transformed from black back to normal as he left his cursed form.
On the other side of the castle, one monk survived. He was terribly battered, but had escaped the worst of the fighting. He didn't feel bad about escaping. Chiriku had told him that the first thing he had to do if the temple was attacked was to get to the Leaf Village and find the man called 'Asuma.'
So…that's it. Very sorry about the lack of updates, but my computer is such a retarded piece of machinery. I've decided to mix two different arcs together. The Hidan and Kakuzu arc is being mixed with the Tenchi Bridge arc, and Sai is being written out altogether. Hate that guy. Well…he's alright, but I don't want to write him into this story. I've already got a lot going on. I decided that I want Yuzaga to continue being part of the story, and the fact that I had Akatsuchi's arm taken off, I figure that gives me the opportunity. Since Naruto has already learned the Rasenshuriken, he already knows the weaknesses. He won't be using it in the fight against Kakuzu, but maybe he'll pull something else out of his hat. So I decided to have Yuzaga go through some training with Asuma instead. Tell me what you think. Ja Nae. BTW, sorry about the shortness of this chapter. I'll make up for it.