Part 12 (This part is to answer those questions about where Hiashi, Sasuke, and all the others went. Hope you enjoy!)
"Where the heck do these guys keep coming from?!" asked Naruto as he smashed a statue against a tree.
"I'd like to know that myself, Naruto," said Xela as he kicked a guy into a fountain and performed a freezing spell on him. "He's probably summoning them."
As soon as he said the word 'summon,' thousands of black-clad ninja appeared from puffs of smoke.
"You just had to say summon, didn't you?" asked Naruto. "How are we supposed to defeat them if, I dunno, one THOUSAND MORE NINJAS AND GUARDS TAKE THEIR PLACE?!!"
"Well, when I think about it, these remind me of a special kind of clone jutsu. If you defeat most of them, more take their place automatically."
"That would be helpful," said Sakura as she punched a guy halfway across the courtyard. "There's only one problem: these guys don't disappear like normal clones."
"Same for the clones I'm talking about. They can only disappear if you destroy them all at once. Best way to do that is with fire."
"Someone say fire?" asked a familiar voice. "Fire style: Demon Tail Flame Jutsu!!"
Next moment, pillars and twisting lines of flame hit every black-clad ninja there, causing them to disappear. Next came flying pieces of statues smashed off of the live statues, along with most of the animals being thrown over them. Several toads the size of a three-story house began to smash whatever and whoever was left of the guards. Naruto looked and saw Jiraiya on top of one of the toads.
"The pervy sage?" he asked himself.
He and the others looked behind them and saw Sasuke, Hiashi, and Lee fighting the rest of the guards there.
"Sasuke!" said Sakura as she hugged Sasuke and kissed him on the lips.
"Hey, Sakura."
"Where've you been?" Naruto asked with a smirk. "We were starting to miss you guys."
"We had a hard time convincing the Hokage to let us follow you guys," said Sasuke as he threw multiple shuriken at an animal.
"Where's my daughter, Uzumaki?" Hiashi asked as he thrust a guy in the chest with a Gentle Fist technique.
"She's in the castle," he said as he created shadow clones.
"Allow me to ask you something: what the hell are you still doing here if you know where she is?!" exclaimed Hiashi.
"Huh?"
"Naruto," said Lee. "As much as I respect you, you're a complete idiot. Your mission is to rescue Hinata. Fighting these guys off is just wasting time."
"What about you?" Naruto asked.
"We can take care of these guys," said Kakashi. "You and Xela get in there and find Hinata."
"Right," said Naruto. "Xela, let's go!"
"Got it!" said Xela.
Naruto and Xela raced through the battle field, evading weaponry going through the air and sending a few ninja to the side as they headed for the castle. After about five minutes of dodging shuriken, kunai, arrows, cannon balls, jutsus, and thrown bodies, they made it to the double doors of the castle. They tried to open them, but they were locked.
"They won't budge," said Naruto. "I'll try using a jutsu and-"
"Hold on, Naruto," said Xela as he observed the door closely. "I think I know the trick to this door."
"What? What's the trick?"
Xela merely knocked softly on the door and kicked it with a round house kick. Next moment, a portion of the door the size of a regular door opened, as a door, for them.
"What kind of a door is this?" asked Naruto, staring dumbfounded at it. "How'd you know of the door?"
"Old trick I used to play on my friends and my kids," said Xela.
"You have kids?"
"Yes, I do. Let's get going, Naruto. We've wasted enough time as it is."
"Yeah, let's go."
They ran inside, careful to stay in the shadows so as to avoid being seen. The foyer was huge, 50 yards by 50 yards by 50 yards big. The walls were dark blue. On one wall were so many paintings and portraits that you could barely see any part of the wall. The other wall was a huge mirror, going on and on throughout the room. In the corners and at the center of the room were statues of people, warriors with huge swords, axes, or other weapons. Hanging on the top of the wall with the pictures were human and animal heads on plaques. This scared Naruto and Xela.
"What kind of person hangs someone's head on the wall?" asked Naruto, looking away from the heads.
"A hunter," said a dark voice that echoed all around the room.
One of the center statues, a man in dark green with two hunting knives as long as Naruto's arms in each hand, came to life. Strapped to his back were a huge sword, a crossbow, a quiver with bolts, and a huge shuriken.
"And you are?" asked Xela as he readied his sword.
"I am the Hunter. I am a rouge ninja from the Hidden Wind Village. Emperor Dokueki promised me prey if I helped him. I love hunting prey. You two are the newest ones."
"If you think you can defeat us and cut off our heads as trophies, think again," said Naruto as he took out a kunai.
"Ah, I've heard of you. You're the host for the Nine Tailed Fox. I've always wanted to defeat and kill a demon holder. Please, don't die too soon."
"I'm not dying, you idiot! Cough, cough!"
He coughed into his hand. As he looked at it, he got scared. On his hand was blood mixed with spit. Xela noticed this and was horrified.
"Oh, crap!! That cancer is starting up!"
"IT'S WHAT?!!!"
Meanwhile, where Hinata was…
Hinata looked out the window, suddenly coughing. As she looked at her hand, she became horrified.
"B-blood?"
To be continued…
