Ninjas of the Seven Seas
Ch.11-Capture

Hayate had been steering the ship for nearly two days without any sleep; it was killing him. They had been trying to find a small secluded island for weeks now, but still no luck. Hayate had his mind on other things though; like keeping this ship stable and that cute Yugao girl. He had had his mind on her for a while now. He let the thought slip away like the current and got back to his job as helms man.

Naruto awoke to nothing but pain, agony, a splitting headache and a sore groin. Although his injuries were still healing, that didn't stop him and Hinata from having some fun. He leaned over and heard a small snap and spike of pain. He only let out a quiet "OW" as he carefully removed his broken wrist from under Hinata and did whatever he could to keep himself from screaming in pain. He fidgeted and this unfortunately forced Hinata to roll over top of him. He was happy to have his hand back, but now her knee was sticking into his leg wound and that didn't help.
Hinata began to wake up when she saw her Captain in extreme pain. That's when she noticed she was hurting him; she squeaked and jumped off him, but not without putting pressure on his wounded arm. Naruto let out a small groan of pain and sat up.

"Naruto I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to hurt you," Hinata apologized

"Don't worry...Uhn, I'll be fine, just not so rough next time okay. When you're feisty you sure can bring on the pain," Hinata hit him in the face with a pillow and started giggling. Naruto did what he could to defend himself and was able to leap on Hinata. "Pinned you down."

"No fair you jumped me."

"All's fair when you're about make love," Hinata blushed and they began to make out when they heard a small giggle. They looked and saw little Haku and Kyuubi spying on them. Naruto froze while Hinata just screamed like a banshee. Zabuza and Gaara came running through the door to find Hinata hiding behind Naruto and Naruto still frozen in place. Zabuza saw Haku and gave him a stern look. Haku realised then that he had done something bad and apologized to Hinata and Naruto. After they left Haku went next to Zabuza.

"Daddy, what were they doing when you came in?" Haku asked.

"They were...uh...do-ing some...thing that adults do when...they...want to have...babies," Zabuza was not ready for this talk and he didn't want it to continue. He changed the subject. "Anyways; you shouldn't have been spying on them in the first place young man. I thought I told you not to invade people's privacy?"

"Yeah but...Mr. Fox told me to come help wake up Mr. and Mrs. Uzumaki so they could get back to running the ship."

"Mr. Fox told you," Gaara asked. Zabuza and Gaara looked at Kyuubi and both shrugged and left it at that. Ibiki was coming from below and had several others accompanying him. Hayate noticed one of them was the Uzuki girl.

"Um*cough**cough* excuse me," he asked. She turned with a surprised look on her face and pointed to herself. "Yes you*cough* would you like to learn how to steer a ship?" She smiled and ran up the stairs. Hayate told her the basics and she steered for about an hour, when Naruto on his crutches came out with Hinata helping him every step. Yugao let go of the helm and let Hayate take it back. Hinata saw this, and smiled in the corner of her mouth. Hinata wasn't a person who blabbed or spread rumours, but those who she thought needed to know would be told. Naruto limped over to Gaara and Zabuza, and they assessed the situation.

"We've got about three days left of supplies; a week if we ration it correctly," said Gaara. Naruto was not surprised. They had left with almost no supplies on board; to have survived this long was a miracle. Naruto was starting to lose hope of survival, but he had to try. He grabbed his telescope and had Hinata help him hold it up and saw a clump in the distance.

"Hayate, straight ahead 38*C west. Can you confirm?" Naruto asked. Hayate looked through his telescope and smiled.

"Aye, Captain its land in front of us, about a day's voyage." Everyone began to cheer. Hinata squealed in happiness and nearly broke one Narutos bones trying to hug him. "Shall I inform the other ships of our discovery?"

"Of course, tell them immediately," Naruto ordered. Hayate used a piece of glass he carried and signalled all the other ships of the discovery.

Admiral Orochimaru was sitting in his office enjoying a nice cup of tea. He was waiting for Commodore Kabuto Yakushi to report in about the latest updates on the Akatsuki, and his home Konoha. He heard a knock on the door.

"Enter," answered the admiral. Kabuto entered, he was wearing a purple coat that had various linens and decoratives on it, as well as several medals. He wore it over top of a grey shirt, and wore dark blue pants. He had one pistol on his left thigh and an extremely beautiful and well crafted sword on his right thigh. He wore brown boots and had a pair of glasses, but no hat. His hair was silver and had the smile of a Cheshire cat. "Ah, my old friend, what news do you bring from the front?"

"Good and bad my friend. Konoha has fallen, that's the good news, and the bad news is that Akatsuki have taken over Konoha."

"Oh dear; any survivors from Konoha?"

"Several dozen vessels escaped; including the Nine Tails."

"Curious; was it his son who was in command?"

"Yes, and he has an actual nine tails with him, and he has the Hyuga heiress as a Mistress," this caught Orochimarus ear.

"Really? Well we can't let them exploit such a creature now can we. I think it's time the nine tailed fox found a new owner. I want you to capture the girl and hold her for ransom. If he's like his father; he will come and rescue her, and I will take what now belongs to me," he chuckled

"Of course Admiral; it shall be done," with that Kabuto left for his ship and headed for the small island where he had last seen them.

Naruto was limping his way to the lifeboat, he and a small group of lifeboats from other ships would go and secure the island and see if there was anything of value or resourceful there. He was about to go on when he saw Neji geared up and Hinata in a white dress with a pistol in her stocking.

"Hinata I told you you're not coming," said Naruto

"And I told you unless you want to feel what you felt two nights ago, you'll let me come understood?"

"*gulp* Yes ma'am," said Naruto riddled with fear.

"Good," she smiled. She walked aboard the lifeboat and told little Haku to come sit on her lap. Zabuza was about to protest when she gave him that look (you know what look I mean). He stopped and went to Neji, Naruto, Gaara, Hayate, and Yugao.

"What did you do to my little cousin," Neji asked Naruto.

"Easy," Hayate interrupted. "She became a wife," everyone except Yugao laughed. She smacked Hayate upside the head and walked towards the life boat and sat beside Hinata.

"Nice one Romeo; you really won her over that time," Zabuza snickered.

"Screw you," Hayate replied. They all got on the boat and rowed towards the island. There they met up with Sasuke, Nagi, Genma, Sakura, Kankuro, Temari, Zukku, Kakashi, Iruka, Tsunade and Jiraya. All those except for Temari and Tsunade were recovering from wounds still. They all began searching for whatever they could use or build from. Naruto had a gut feeling that this was the place they would be staying for the next little while. Gaara, Naruto, Genma, Hayate, and Sasuke came across a small clearing, just big enough for several houses and a market. Naruto made a large grin and was about to head back to the beach when he heard someone whistling.

"Well I didn't expect someone to find this island anytime soon," said a voice. They looked up and found an old man sitting in a tree. He was bald except for around the sides and his sideburns connected with his bushy grey beard and moustache. He was relatively thin and was wearing a torn up red pair of pants, which were now shorts, a worn out old brown shirt and he was throwing a knife into the side of the tree he was sitting on. "Names Arthur Gumble. My friends call me 'Gummy'."

"Nice to meet you Arthur," Naruto greeted

"Again, my friends call me Gummy," Naruto smiled. "So what brings Konoha folks, such as yourselves, to a place like this?"

"Konoha was recently taken over by the Akatsuki. We just barely escaped," Genma told the old man.

"And from the looks of it, you got quite the beating defending it," they all nodded. Gummy jumped down from the tree and walked towards them. "You must be Minatos son," he was addressing Naruto; Naruto nodded. Gummy hugged him and said; it's good to see at least one of the family members made it out alive. Everyone else from that clan was killed that day, including some friends of mine. Your father was a good friend; I wish he was here to see how much of a man you've become. Naruto looked at him confused. You may not remember me, but I met you on several occasions when you were a little child, and had the honour of being your personal body guard. He stopped hugging Naruto and looked around. That day, during the attack, I was with your father. He was killed when he was fighting with Pein. Pein took Minatos sword and pistol and hung them up as trophies. He let me live, because he knew you were alive somewhere; he wanted me to deliver a message to you. "When you are ready; I will return what is yours, and the fight for the seven seas will begin," that was his message. Naruto shed a small tear.

"Thank you; I needed to hear what happened to him," Naruto thanked him and shook his hand. Suddenly a small head popped out of the bush.

"Daddy, daddy; I found them," yelled little Haku. The rest of the landing party came through the bush and saw the small group of men. Hinata proceeded forward and saw the old man.

"Naruto; who is this man," Hinata asked.

"That man is Arthur 'Gummy' Gumble. The deadliest bodyguard in Konoha and Narutos old bodyguard," Jiraya answered. Zabuza went wide eyed and Hinatas mouth dropped.

"You mean the same Gummy that boarded and defeated an entire Akatsuki ship on his own," Hinata gapped.

"The very same," answered Gummy. Zabuza ran to him and shook his hand violently.

"It is an honour to meet the famous Cerberus Pirate," Zabuza complimented.

"Always a pleasure to meet a fan," Gummy replied. They all got a good look of the area and decide this was the place to settle for the time being. Everyone didn't see this as a new beginning, but more like an expansion of Konoha territory. Everyone from the boats came ashore and began building a new village for the country of Konoha.

It was nightfall and Kabuto was in a life boat with Orochimarus personal bodyguard. They were coming to southern side of the island. They saw smoke and small flames through the forest and went to find a hiding got up and grabbed a bucket.

"My lady where are you going," Neji asked.

"To get some water from the stream near the rocks; its fresh water and we need some."

"Allow me to accompany you then."

"No, no, I'll be fine Neji; it's a little ways into the forest, and besides we're the only ones here."

"Very well, but be careful, and call if you need help," she nodded and walked into the dark forest. When she got there Kimimaro was already waiting behind a tree. The second she turned her back, he punched her in the back of the head and she fell to the ground unconscious. The other five emerged from the trees, tied and gagged her, and then ran for the boats.

"Sir, what about the ransom," Tayuya asked.
"The Admiral wants to try some new experiments on her; when he's finished we'll give them the ransom. Besides in not like they'll know we did it; they'll just blame the Akatsuki and go get themselves killed over nothing; no biggie," Kabuto snickered. They arrived at the life boat and began rowing back to ship.

It had been almost an hour since Hinata had left. Naruto was worried; she wasn't the kind of person who kept people waiting, or took her time with something like this. Naruto got up.

"I'm gonna go look for her," he said

"Don't bother, she's not on the island anymore," said a voice. Everyone raised their swords and pistols in the direction of the voice. A figure with green hair and a white and black painted face emerged from the darkness. He was wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it, he wore black shoes and blue pants; everything else was covered by the cloak.

"Who are you, Akatsuki scum," Gummy asked.

"I am Captain Zetsu of the Sweet Grass. I know were Ms. Hyuga is and where she is being taken," everyone lowered their weapons and listened. "She has been captured by Admiral Orochimarus men. Their reason for doing so; I haven't the faintest, but they are headed for the Sound Nation."

"Why are you here," Sasuke asked.

"I was ordered to follow you and report back to Pein, but now I have an ultimatum for now. I will help you retrieve the Hyuga girl and never reveal this location to Pein. In return, you must eliminate the sound five, and kill Orochimaru or sabotage his fleet and personal ship."

"Why would you do this," Naruto asked.

"Orochimaru is a pain in the Akatsukis ass. He must be dealt with, if not then at least crippled. So do we have a deal," Everyone looked at Naruto; it was his call. He clasped the man's hand.

"Deal," the Akatsuki smirked.

"And don't worry; I abide by the pirate code, unlike my comrades," for some reason that didn't make Naruto feel any better about this.