Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Aliens/Predator/AVP.
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Kage no Oni
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X+X+X Chapter 12 X+X+X
Glancing over the map set out on the metal table before him in his labratory, Naruto fiddled with the metal ball, idly pondering it's purpose. The map showed all of the Elemental Countries with a transparent map set on top of it that showed where each of his hives were, only two being active. Naruto sighed as he took notice of how short his reach was.
The Branch Hive in Wave was steadily growing thanks to the Empress, the hive spanning across every one of the islands that made up Wave. The Main Hive here in Konoha was contained within the village's walls with a portion of it being in the Hokage Mountain, the elevator shaft in his home having been converted into an access tunnel for his Ghosts to head straight to the Main Hive.
He may have 'eyes' in other countries, but Naruto barely had control over half of Fire Country; most that control revolved around Konoha and the south eastern coast near Wave Country. Honestly, Naruto could completely conquer Fire Country and possibly the smaller countries along the border, but it would cost dearly and it would only draw the attention of the other shinobi settlements. That alone would spark a war between man and alien.
"Any trouble in Wave?" Naruto asked out loud, already aware of the presence hidden in the shadows behind him.
"...Warriors and several eggs have been going missing..." The person replied, his voice grave and emotionless. "...Almost 5% of the hive has disappeared in the past four days..."
"What?" Naruto snarled as batted away the metal sphere, said object ricocheting off of the wall. "What the hell do you mean they 'disappeared'? Warriors and eggs don't just vanish into thin air, damn it!"
"...We believe Danzo is behind this..." The person replied, his tone unchanging. The name alone was enough to set Naruto off. Slamming his fist down on top of the table, the metal buckling under his might.
"Fuck!" Naruto snarled as he kicked the ruined table away from him. The Cursed Seal on his chest flared momentarily before black tribal wave designs started spreading across his body. "Do we have ANY information on that bastard's location?"
"...Stalkers have noted an increase in activity near the Dark Lands..." The voice answered. "...We are not sure if Danzo is there..." The voice paused, almost as if contemplating something. "...but We strongly suspect he has operations going on out there..."
"Grrrr..." Naruto growled quietly as clenched his fists, his tail swinging angrily. The Dark Lands! Of all the places he could go, Danzo had to go to the Dark Lands? The man was a fool to go there. Not even Naruto was foolish enough to just go strolling through the Dark Lands. Unnoticed by either Naruto or the other person in the room, the markings on the orb started glowing a faint red before the markings vanished all together.
"Ready the Hive and..." Naruto paused mid-order, debating whether the pros outweighted the cons in terms of taking them with him. No, he couldn't tip his hand just yet, no matter how furious he is with the man. "Just ready the Hive! We make our move in four days!"
"...As you command, Our King..." The voice answered back before the owner of said voice vanished from his place in the shadows. Unconsciously, Naruto extended his hand in front of him, palm down. Instantly, the metal orb shot to his hand. Gripping it tightly, Naruto looked at the orb and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"That's new..." Naruto mumbled, his anger momentarily forgotten as he noticed the lack of markings on it and the fact his hand had acted of its own accord, summoning the orb to it. Dismissing it for now, Naruto pocketed the orb and turned to leave. Just as he reached the door, Naruto looked down at the slumbering Yugito a few meters below the suspended catwalks that took the place of the nineth floor, his labratory.
They had spent another night together, but not as long as the many nights before. It was more of a night of love and passion, not of lust and carnal hunger like it usually is. Rare for the two of them, but that only made it all the sweeter for them. Smiling softly at the memory, Naruto went down to his home to spend some time with Temari.
It had been two weeks since he and Temari had first been married and the blonde woman having moved in with him. While a bit rough at first, their relationship has smoothed out a little. They had spent the first day together getting to know each other better while the rest of the first week was spent getting used to their new way of living. The second week went by without any serious problems other than mild complaints about menial things that were solved within minutes.
"Hey, Naruto-kun." Temari greeted as she looked up from the scoll on wind manipulation she was reading. She was wearing her usual lavender skirt and top with a fishnet body suit underneath and was currently lounging on one of the couches.
"Hey..." Naruto greeted back tiredly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Temari looked curious at his tone and moved to question him about it, but kept quiet. A few days after they started living together, Naruto had told her that it was him that had her, her brothers, and the rest of Suna's shinobi involved in the invasion captured. He had also explained to her that the creatures that had captured them were part of his hive. He wouldn't tell her much more than that no matter how much she questioned him about it, so Temari left it at that.
"I'm going to be requesting a few weeks off from the Sandaime tomorrow for a trip out of the village. I just wanted to let you know." Naruto mentioned as he glanced at Temari, who looked back at him with a cocked eye brow.
"Business or pleasure?" Temari asked, referring to Naruto's hive as 'business'. Naruto scratched his cheek in thought, already knowing why she was asking.
"Both, I guess, but I'll be busy most of the time." Naruto told her calmly as he sighed softly and closed his eyes. He heard the slight rustle of parchment as Temari rolled her scroll up before she moved over to where he was and sat down on the couch beside his head, which she then placed in her lap. Cracking an eye open, Naruto raised an eye in curiousity. Temari just giggled slightly at his look and smiled.
"What? Can't a wife spend some time with her husband?" Temari asked rhetorically, causing Naruto to smirk slightly and close his eye again, relaxing. He mewled softly when Temari cupped his cheek with one hand and stroked his hair back. Temari smiled at his reaction.
Despite his semi-happy mood, Naruto was still seething on the inside, already planning his first series of moves against Danzo. The man had escaped him once before, but he won't get away a second time. Naruto was inwardly angry with himself as well for not giving chase that night, believing Danzo wouldn't live through the night with his injuries. He won't make the same mistake twice...
Especially when Naruto had the home field advantage in the Dark Lands...
But for now, Naruto felt it was about time that he just relaxed for once and forgot about the world around him...
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"So where are we going, Naruto-kun?" Temari asked as she leaned against Naruto's side, her head resting on his shoulder. While they may not have an intimate or romantic relationship, Temari had made it clear to Naruto that she wanted to at least give it a try. If not for each other, than for the betterment of the alliance between their respective villages. Because of that, she would occasionally snuggle up against him at night or hold his hand when they were out in public or simply lean against him like they are now.
As to why she was with Naruto, Temari had spent an hour asking him if she could go, not even caring where they were going. She had been cooped up in that building for nearly two weeks, despite being able to leave the house, since she had nothing to actually do.
"Sea Country is the first stop, but we'll only be there for about a day to rest and gather supplies. I have important business to attend to in different lands." Naruto explained as he wrapped an arm around Temari's shoulders, who smiled softly and snuggled closer. Their mode of transportation wasn't anything normal, by any means. Usually, shinobi traveled by tree jumping in Fire Country while civilians walked or went by horse-drawn carriage if they were rich enough.
Naruto and Temari were traveling via Dracus, a massive draconic Xenomorph. While massive and imposing, the flying Xenomorph was the only one of its caste and as such, Naruto had named it Dracus. Less than three weeks ago, one of Naruto's 'sleeper' hives- small groups of Stalkers sent into other countries with a handful of eggs- in the north western mountain ranges of Earth Country had stumbled upon a single dragon, a being long thought extinct. The Stalkers had tracked down where it's den was before hiding an egg in the beast's cave. Less than twenty hours later, the young winged Xeno flew out of the cave and in search of food and shelter.
Being roughly three hundred feet long from 'nose' to the tip of it's tail with a three hundred fifty foot wing span, Dracus was by far the biggest Xenomorph in the hive. Dracus was also far more heavily armored than any other Xenomorph and far smarter than most others as well. Unfortunately, Dracus didn't have any unique abilities apart from being able to fly, but even that wasn't so unique because of the Banshees.
Dracus currently had a special harness strapped to its upper back and shoulders that allowed Naruto and Temari to sit comfortably during their travels on the great winged beast.
"What kind of business?" Temari asked curiously, deciding to push her luck a little in trying to figure out what her husband did apart from his shinobi career. Naruto smirked, knowing what Temari was trying to do. His smirk then died when he remembered what a certain cripple had been doing to his Branch Hive in Wave Country.
"A rat that refuses to die has been stealing from me. I plan on exterminating that rat and his kin." Naruto growled quietly, his dark hair dancing in the wind as Dracus flew above the clouds to avoid being seen by the people below.
"Calm down, Naruto-kun. There's no point in upsetting yourself." Temari whispered softly in his ear as she sat up and pulled Naruto close, resting his head on her shoulder. Sighing softly, Naruto closed his eyes and leaned against his flaxen haired wife, calming down slightly. It just upset him knowing that someone was interferring with his plans and stealing Warriors from his hive.
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"Stay close to Dracus. I don't know much about this land myself, so we have to be careful." Naruto told Temari as he removed his cloak and sealed it away. They were currently hiding in a large crater on the north western coast of the Dark Lands, a place where the ground was black rock and ashen dust, craters peppering a majority of the uninhabited terrain, and caves riddling the subterranean section.
Temari nodded, looking around nervously. She had heard stories about the Dark Lands when she was a child, none of them good. They mostly consisted of mysterious disappearances, deaths of unknown causes, and many other things. The only story she could confirm right now was that the place was forever veiled in darkness due to thick cloud coverage despite it being around noon.
At first, Temari was just as scared as any other seven year old, but as she grew older, she grew out of her fear for this place. Now, however, those old childish fears were coming back to haunt her...
"Eep!" Temari squealed as she latched onto Naruto's arm, burying her face against his shoulder. Staring at her in confusion, Naruto hesitantly wrapped an arm around her.
"What is it, Temari?" He asked, prompting Temari to mumble something into his shoulder. "What was that?"
"Something crawled over my foot..." The blonde mumbled. Looking over his shoulder, Naruto saw a few small lizard-like creatures scurrying across the ground. They were dark grey with course scales that made them blend in perfectly with the rocky terrain. Naruto narrowed his eyes at them, his suspicioun growing. And he had good reason to be.
"Relax, Temari. It was just your imagination." Naruto lied as he calmed his wife down. "No, just stay here with Dracus. You'll be safe with it."
Nodding against Naruto's shoulder, Temari reluctantly let go and went back to Dracus before climbing back into the harness on the massive creature's back and shoulders. Pausing a moment, Naruto summoned two dozen Ghosts and a handful of Banshees. As the smoke cleared, Naruto took a moment to reveal his Xenomorph traits.
"Let's move..." Naruto ordered quietly as he took off into the darkness, his Ghosts following him on foot while the Banshees took to the skies. As he and his Ghosts camouflaged themselves, the black figures of the Banshees blended in perfectly with the dark sky.
Naruto had a bad feeling about this place...
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