Special thanks again to Uzumaki Ricky for the Raisotsu clan introduced in this chapter
Chapter Thirteen
Team Eight and Team Ten were training together in one of the larger training grounds Konoha had to offer, other than the Forest of Death. This one was half that size and much less dangerous, but usually only used when multiple ninja needed to train together. Its size meant one person or one team using it by themselves was practically a waste.
So two teams were using it together. Team Ten was hiding while Team Eight was tracking them, all while Asuma and Kurenai watched. Kurenai watched her team with steel in her eyes while Asuma just looked bored.
"Remind me what the real purpose of this exercise is again?" Asuma asked, certain Kurenai wasn't doing this just for fun. Since the whole incident on their last mission she has been training her team nonstop.
"My team needs to get their coordination back now that Kiba's out of the hospital." The red-eyed jounin answered. She was still a bit grouchy since despite her many attempts she could not get the words written on her by Naruto and Hinata to come off. So she settled for make-up and genjutsus to cover them. She was seriously starting to believe that only someone like Jiraiya could remove these markings off her, and she'd rather keep them on then show them to a pervert like him.
"Ah yes, so he's uncastrated now? Or could they not save that part?" Asuma asked. Kurenai gave him a look that silently questioned how he heard such a thing. "You may not have intended for anyone to hear about that, but one of your students chose to tell the whole village. No, actually she told Ino and Ino told the whole village. Everyone in Konoha knows what happened to the Inuzuka boy."
Indeed everyone in the village knew what happened to Kiba. Tsume threw a temper tantrum, angry that her little boy may never be a man but also might never give her any grandchildren. Which ended up pissing Hana off more because her mother seems to now want twice the grandchildren from Hana, seeing Kiba for the foreseeable future can't be sexually active.
Kurenai sighed and closed her eyes. "Dammit, what's wrong with the girls in this village? We tell them to keep information confidential and they turn it into gossip. We tell them to train and they refuse to get sweaty. We try and show them how to be respectable kunoichi and all they care about is what a boy thinks. A boy who's not even a real person by the way."
Asuma frowned considerably. He soon started to smoke while thinking about who she was referencing, and drew a reasonable conclusion. "Still got your panties in a wad over the Hyuuga girl and her crush? I keep telling you to just forget about her. She chose what she wanted to do."
Kurenai turned her steel eyes towards her former boyfriend. Former partly because of his extended stay away from Konoha to be with the Twelve Guardians, but primarily because they disagreed tremendously regarding Naruto and Hinata. Kurenai made it clear that she thought Naruto wasn't good enough for Sakura let alone Hinata, but Asuma insisted that wasn't her decision to make, and the two never could restart their relationship after that argument.
"That boy has corrupted her. Hinata was the one girl in this generation that stood a chance at being better than all the rest, but she threw it away to be with him. How can you insist that boy has any virtue in him?"
"The one girl? Kurenai, I admit many girls here still need to grow up considerably. But that can be said for every generation, even our own when we were young. Like I keep telling you, you can't judge a kid like it's supposed to be an adult. Besides, where do you get off acting like your favorite is the only one that has a chance of improving? Are you saying that the only good thing Ino can ever do is quit and be a mere housewife? Some feminist you are if you think only one girl can accomplish anything." Asuma objected.
That sure hit a nerve for the genjutsu mistress. Kurenai was one of Konoha's most avid speakers regarding the worth of a kunoichi and once gave a speech to the all-kunoichi classes in the Academy to inspire them. Many called her a role model, but some also called her a female sexist or misandrist. Kurenai never actually said it, but to many she came across as the kind of woman who said women were just as good as men but believed that the worst woman was still better than the best man.
Because of their past history Asuma gave Kurenai the benefit of the doubt and he knew she could be courteous to men, but sometimes he wondered if she really did think this way.
"You wanna say that to my face?" Kurenai hissed.
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw that both teams of genin had stopped their exercise to watch the two jounin argue, and hid his smirk. "Actually, I'd rather say it to their faces." He then turned to the genin. "Hey Ino, Ami, you might as well turn in those headbands. Kurenai here says nothing you do will ever matter because you're not shy or part of the Hyuuga clan. So go ahead, resign, I won't hold it against you, really. After all, Kurenai says she knows what's best for young girls and thinks you two are just wasting everyone's time. Who am I to argue? I'm just a guy."
Ami and Ino, Ami in particular, gave Kurenai looks of shock and betrayal at this, while Kurenai herself looked at Asuma like she was willing his head to burst into flames along with his cigarette. "You son of a bitch."
"Don't get mad at me, I'm just telling these girls what you just told me."
"You're taking it out of context."
Asuma huffed and soon started to put the cigarette out on the ground. "Alright, then tell these girls that you didn't just say that Hyuuga Hinata is the only girl in their age group that actually has a future."
Kurenai looked at the genin kunoichi, who both hoped that she would refute such a claim. "Yeah, I didn't say that."
As a jounin, she figured lying to some inexperienced and mis-prioritized genin would be a cinch.
"You're lying Kurenai-sensei."
Too bad Kurenai overlooked the fact that Ami and Ino weren't the only genin there.
"Shino?"
"I have insects on all of us for tracking purposes, remember? The one I had on you just came back to me and has told me that you're lying." The Aburame heir clarified.
"You had an insect on me outside of a mission?" Kurenai asked, offended. "I told you that's for missions, not for training."
"The reason we're here is to train for better performance in future missions. To train better in all aspects, are we not? That therefore applies to me keeping track of the entire team, including you." Shino defended. "Besides, you're not the one who's owed an explanation. They are." He pointed to the two girls, who looked irritated at their senior officer.
"So what were you saying about us, Sensei?" Ami asked, her voice bitter. Ino looked as bitter as Ami sounded.
"Yes, what were you saying?" Asuma repeated, enjoying Kurenai's anger.
In that anger, Kurenai lost it. "You girls have no business being kunoichi. You're just kids pretending to be ninja but neither of you care about what the job is really about. You think it's just a game and when things do go bad some knight in shining armor is going to save your sorry ass and carry you away to a fairy tale life. You don't want to be ninja, you want to be pampered and spoiled, living a good life without responsibility at Prince Charming's expense. The only reason you two are here is because you think this work will make Prince Charming come to you instead of someone else."
Taking a deep breath Kurenai then looked at Ino, who looked shocked and appalled to hear this from a woman who once spoke of every girl's potential in the Academy. "You, you're the sorrier excuse of the two of you. A clan heiress, daughter to one of the more respectable men in the village, and what are you? Close to anorexic and a compulsive gossip, both of which make you bad as a person and terrible as a ninja. Have you ever seen a ninja that's skin and bones? Have you? And with your father you should know damn well that information and secrets are supposed to be guarded and handled carefully, not given away like free samples in a market. Yet you seem to make it a point to tell everything you know simply for the sake of a reputation as the first one to know something. You may see it as harmless, but it isn't, and someday you're going to see just how harmful being a gossip really is. And you'll have no one to blame but yourself, and others will blame you too. And it will all be deserved, because you put your vanity above the security of the village or the people in it."
Ino was silent, taking this in and trying to refute it. "No, that can't be true. Gossip can't hurt anyone."
Kurenai crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "You are pathetically naive, among other things. Did you think about how Kiba felt when you told the whole village of his injury? You think he wasn't hurt by people jeering him for what you spread around? You think he just laughed that off with you?"
Kiba literally growled at Ino. "Not even slightly. Worst part is that you never even apologized for it or came to me asking if I was okay, as if I'm nothing but a subject to you, not even a person." Ino had the good grace to look ashamed of herself.
Kurenai then turned to Ami, who looked just as mad as the jounin felt. "As for you, you weren't supposed to be on this team in the first place. You're just a place filler for the girl who was meant to be on my team, Hyuuga Hinata. She was the one girl in your class who actually had potential to be more than just cannon fodder, and yet she too gave up her future to be with a boy. The worst boy in the village, nay, the entire gender, for that matter. You have no skills, no respect for others, and you have no dreams other than to find Prince Charming. No one would miss you if you suddenly disappeared or died on a mission."
All of the genin looked shocked to hear this, especially the genin of Team Eight.
Ino frowned at the red-eyed kunoichi. "Bad as a person and terrible as a ninja? I'll show you." Without waiting for approval, she walked off into the village.
"Ooh I'm so scared." Kurenai said sarcastically, then looked to Ami. "You gonna show me too?"
The purple-haired girl still frowned deeply but she also shrugged. "In a way." She walked off too, heading in a different direction than Ino.
"Kurenai-sensei, that was really cruel." Kiba said. "And after having my private parts mutilated I have a whole new definition of cruel."
"I was just being honest Kiba. For those two, quitting this work will do them and everyone else some good. If they don't, the only thing they can accomplish is getting themselves or others here killed. It's only a matter of time regarding when." Taking a deep breath she turned to Asuma who remained quiet but in truth she hit a sore spot for him. "Reminds you of another classmate, doesn't it?"
"Yet the shy Hyuuga girl wasn't just as likely to be a liability if she were still around?" Asuma questioned. "This isn't honesty Kurenai, this is favoritism. Your favorite kid is gone, beyond your control, and you're taking it out on the girls who are still here. But you drew the line on what you did, not me."
"You're an ass." Kurenai huffed.
"I'm just being honest." Asuma jested before signaling to Shikamaru and Chouji that practice was over and they could leave.
'If someone had told me years ago I'd be coming to Kumo of my own free will, I'd have called them crazy.' Hinata said to herself as she sat at a campfire within the borders of Shimo no Kuni. Joining her as always was Naruto, but like with Suna Kushina was accompanying them as well. At Hinata's request mostly.
Wanting to help Naruto, Hinata confided in the older woman about her son's concerns, telling her what Naruto was afraid to tell her. Kushina was surprised about it, and worried that Naruto might take things the wrong way in the future. So she was making an effort to spend time with him, to let him know he really was loved and not just tolerated. But in truth she is happy that Hinata trusts her that much to let her know what is going on with her son.
"Son, I can't deny that I'm attracted to Kurama-kun, and if he did ask me to be his mate it would be hard for me to say no, but never doubt that I love you. You're my son, and that will never change." Kushina told Naruto as they sat together by the fire, finding the atmosphere perfect for their talk.
"But Mom, if that's true, then why don't you ever refer to me by name?" Naruto asked. For as long as Kushina had been around she had always called him 'Son', but never Naruto or even Kuramamaru.
Kushina wrapped him in a hug. "My boy, that's for two reasons. I thought if I called you son, you'd see me as your mother more. Also, keep in mind to me your name is Kuramamaru, but I know you don't think so, so I was a bit afraid to refer to you by name. I thought it would make you uncomfortable if I ever called you Kuramamaru by accident. I was afraid that if I did the wrong thing, you'd not want to be with me anymore."
Taking a deep breath she looked to the fire, remembering the night when Naruto was born. How before she was killed, she feared that the truth of his origin would turn him away, make him think he was a mistake, that she wanted him gone.
Naruto was shocked. 'All this time, I was afraid she'd lose interest in me. I never thought she was afraid I'd do that to her.' He returned the hug, and both Uzumaki silently shed a tear. "Mom, all I ever wanted was someone to call my family. I don't want to lose you." He paused to take a deep breath. "Especially since I just got you back in my life."
"You're not going to, Naruto." She said gently, carefully adding in his name to show how much he meant to her.
"Mom, if you want to call me Kuramamaru, you can. I know what you mean when you say it. Besides, I don't hate the name. I'm just not used to it." All his life he went by his name but in truth it was a name given to him for people to have plans with him. But as he thinks of Kuramamaru, it's a name that has a family. A name that has a best friend and a girl whom he cares for. Truly an identity to him he can have for people to see who he is.
"Though we did use it in Nami no Kuni. And good choice too, since Konoha nin were in the area." Hinata added in, glad to see her crush, no, he was more than just a crush to her now, her loved one reconciling with his mother.
Kushina smiled at the white-eyed girl then looked back to her son. "You are always going to be part of my family Son, even if that family does someday get bigger."
All of a sudden there was a blast in the distance, loud and within range for their kitsune hearing, but not immediately close to them. Right away Hinata activated her byakugan. "There's a fight going on over there." She said pointing to the northwest. "Two groups are involved, one big one and a small one. The small one is from Kumo, but the big one doesn't have any hitai-ates identifying them."
"We should probably go while they're distracted." Kushina claimed.
"Wait, one of them is a jinchuuriki." Hinata added.
"You sure?" Naruto asked.
Hinata nodded. "I know how to recognize the chakra of one thanks to my time watching you, and by noting the chakra signatures of the others we've met. There's definitely a jinchuuriki there in the fight, fighting with Kumo. It's an adult woman by the looks of it."
"So what do we do? Finding Kumo's jinchuuriki is the point of us coming here." Naruto asked.
"You're right, but we can't approach them in battle. It would never work, and they'd have support. Our only chance to get their attention in a good way is to approach them when alone." Kushina countered, knowing how Kumo nin are in fights.
Naruto nodded. "It was easier to get to Gaara than it was to Yagura after all."
"But what are the odds that the jinchuuriki will be left alone before they take her back to Kumo?" Hinata asked.
"Hmm... good point." Kushina replied. "Okay, I've got an idea, but we'll have to act carefully."
"Don't let up Yugito!"
"Wasn't planning on it." The blonde kunoichi said as she charged at the enemy in front of her. She didn't really know why they were fighting these people, other than the Raikage ordered their elimination. But Yugito usually only bothered to learn two things when going into a fight, who to target and how to best take them down. It was much simpler that way and left her free to strategize without so many factors clouding her mind in the process.
Here were the two things she knew about her current target. They were the Raisotsu clan, once part of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, but now separate from it. The entire clan had up and left the village during the time between the Sandaime Raikage and the Yondaime Raikage, taking with them everything they had ever contributed, and were still searching a new place to call home. They were said to have very high lightning affinities, all of them, and some people claimed they were able to manipulate natural lightning instead of just chakra-generated electricity. The full extent of their talents were unclear, but everyone agreed that lightning was the Raisotsu's bread and butter.
'Since they favor lightning so much, they must be vulnerable to wind. And with the two best wind users in Kumo here to weaken them, then power up my already strong fire jutsu, this renegade clan is going to be toast.' Yugito mentally purred. Despite the fact the Raisotsu had the advantage of numbers, she had all the advantage she needed to take them down.
The plan was simple, they had found eleven members of the Raisotsu clan here in Shimo no Kuni. Not the entire clan by a long shot, but enough to get the attention of the rest. Yugito's team had started the fight but made it look like the Raisotsu were winning and they were pulling back, but all the while she was leading them to a spot where all eleven would be in front of the Kumo nin and thus targets for the final attack, with minimal chance of dodging it.
'Just a little bit more, and then we'll be in position.' Yugito told herself while attacking an enemy, withholding her better attacks just in case this strategy failed and she needed something to rely on. Glancing back she saw the foundation of her plan, a bridge across a chasm. 'We get them on that bridge and they're sitting ducks.'
One of the Raisotsu clan members managed to hit one of Yugito's team, knocking them down and out. Yugito fumed but believed her strategy still had merit, so she picked them up and gave a signal for retreat to the other. The Kumo nin began to cross the bridge themsevles, with Yugito intending to get to the other side and attack while the Raisotsu were still crossing it.
Halfway across the bridge the structure suddenly exploded, catching the Kumo nin by surprise. They were supposed to be the cause of the detonation, not the victims. Nevertheless Yugito and her companion tried to make it to the other side of the gorge by jumping from fragment to fragment in the air, and if they had to they'd just walk up the cliffside.
In midjump something came right at Yugito, and with one of her comrades in her arms she couldn't exactly deflect the attack. 'No choice.' The blonde rued before throwing her injured teammate ahead, hoping that they were able to grab ahold of something and save themselves, while giving Yugito a chance to defend herself.
Expecting a lightning attack from a hidden Raisotsu who beat her to her own strategy, Yugito instead got entangled in a set of ruby chains emerging from the smoke of the blast. 'What the heck?' Even weirder she could actually feel her chakra be suppressed, as if her chakra itself was being chained up. As a jinchuuriki that was a very unpleasant experience.
She tried to resist, but before she could attempt to call upon her bijuu's chakra a series of hits to the back of her head knocked her out.
When Yugito regained consciousness, her natural instinct was to not make it obvious while secretly scoping out her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was a bunch of red bars that looked like an unnatural type of metal. Being careful not to move too move she looked around and took notice that she was still outdoors, but it looked like she might not have been in the same area she had been originally. Also the position of the sun was different meaning she hadn't been unconscious for just a few moments. More likely a couple of hours.
"Awake now?" A woman's voice asked. "Don't bother pretending otherwise, you're not breathing the same way you were a few moments ago."
Seeing any trickery was pointless, Yugito attempted to sit up. She could, telling her that her cage had enough room for her head, but her hands and feet were shackled with red cuffs, which were doubling as chakra suppressors. "Who the heck are you?"
"This may be a shock to you miss, but we're not your enemies."
Yugito rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so I'd hate to see how you handle people you do consider your enemies."
"If things go well you'll live long enough to get a chance to. By the way, my name is Kushina. What's yours?"
"Nii Yugito, jounin of Kumogakure and closely connected to the raikage. Kidnapping me was a terrible idea."
Kushina knelt down so now Yugito could see her face. "My dear, who said this was a kidnapping?"
"Well this sure is no tea party."
Kushina nodded. "True, but this is just a way to get you to listen. As a former jinchuuriki I'm well aware that our kind isn't the most trusting of strangers."
The blonde kunoichi arched an eyebrow. "Former jinchuuriki? If you're not one anymore, how are you alive? I heard in the past when a biju is removed from its host they die."
Kushina nodded. "Normally yes, but I didn't. I know you're one too, I'm just not sure which. Given your home, I'd say you hold either the Nibi or Hachibi, but that's not important. I didn't come here to do anything to you."
Yugito frowned. "Why should I give a crap about anything you have to say?"
"Because your life depends on it."
Yugito turned away. "Like I've never heard that before. And why can't I use any chakra? How are you suppressing me?" She couldn't even use her bijuu's chakra to break free of her shackles.
"Oh these things here are physical manifestations of my chakra. Usually I only make chains, but I can make solid things too if I need to now. Anyway, my chakra's strong enough to hold down the Kyuubi, so it's definitely strong enough to hold down your bijuu."
Yugito turned enough so that half of her face was visible. "That implicates you're from Konoha."
"Originally, well, technically. I don't want to go into the specifics of my origin. What I want is to alert you of an imminent danger to your well-being." Kushina replied.
Yugito looked away again. "Right now the only threat to me is you."
"That may be, but what about when I'm gone? Don't you want to know what the threat will be then?" The redhead countered.
"Not interested." Yugito firmly claimed.
"Alright, I can wait for you to change your mind. It's not like you're going anywhere."
Dressed in her Kiri hunter nin uniform, mask included, Haku was trying some espionage work in the dead of night in Konoha. More specifically, she was in the Uchiha section of Konoha, where there was surprisingly little Anbu around.
'Strange, even for an empty neighborhood you'd think they'd have some night guards here. Do they consider it a waste of manpower or do they assume no one would even consider setting foot on this compound without permission?' She asked herself, wondering why not even one Anbu was patrolling. 'Doesn't matter, I'm not going to slip. Keep to the plan and move as if every Anbu was here. Now, where would a shrine containing important relics and knowledge be? Obviously more to the center of the compound than at the outer rim, to keep it from being a first casualty in an attack. I should start by trying to separate the residences from the other buildings.'
Haku moved through the shadows, noting that despite the tales of a brutal massacre that there was no property damage. 'They must have quickly refurbished the place to make it look as if the slaughter never happened. Not the best decision, pretending something bad never happened. It's like I told Zabuza-sama, what Kiri should do once the war's over is create a monument or something to act as a reminder of it. That way future generations will never forget the genocide and bloodshed, and that reminder will tell them why such an event must never happen again. Because once people forget a terrible thing was real, what reason do they have to not repeat it?'
Haku was snapped out of her inner musing by the sight of someone else in the area, making her stop and hide. 'Someone's here. An Anbu?' She took a better look. 'No, a girl? What's a girl doing here at midnight?' The girl in question was looking at a piece of paper. 'Did someone call her out here?'
"Sasuke-kun? I'm here. But why midnight? Couldn't this have been done earlier?" The girl asked.
A boy started walking up to her. "Hi Ami."
The girl smiled. "Hi Sasuke-kun. I'm glad you wanted to talk to me. I really needed this, after my own sensei called me worthless."
Sasuke came next to her with a smile. "Well they're right." He then pulled a kunai out and stabbed her several times in the stomach.
Haku gasped as she saw this act, especially when Sasuke became covered in smoke and turned out to be Sakura under a henge covering Ami's mouth with a cloth to silence her screams. Sakura held the purple-haired girl still and kept stabbing her repeatedly until Ami passed out. Then Sakura dropped her.
The impact jostled Ami back into consciousness. "Why?" She weakly asked.
Sakura smirked in a sinister way. "Why? Because Sasuke-kun wants to be a merciless killer. And the only one who can support him, or the only girl he'd therefore take an interest in, is a merciless killer like himself. You may be worthless and no one will ever know I did this, but at least it's a start. Sasuke-kun will be with me, even if I have to spill blood to make it be so." Sakura then wandered off, leaving nothing behind as evidence.
Haku then came up to the downed girl, but Ami was already dead. Feeling guilty, Haku closed her eyes. 'I should have acted against that... but I thought there had to be some hidden guard who would have done something. Is there truly no one guarding this part of Konoha at night? And if this part of Konoha is being ignored, what else here isn't being watched either?'
Not wanting to be out anymore, Haku stealthily left to vacate the compound and returned to her apartment. 'I can't even report this murder. What am I going to say? That I was sneaking around the Uchiha area trying to find a hidden shrine and saw someone being murdered in cold blood? Yeah, that will work. But I've got to do something.'
As soon as she got to her apartment she sat down, thinking about what Sakura said. 'Who will be her next victim?'
As it turned out, Kushina hadn't been bluffing. Yugito tried several times to break free but the bars kept strong, and the shackles prevented her from using chakra, be it her own or the Nibi's. Kushina made regular contact with the cage but not constant, and the next morning Hinata was watching her while Kushina was scouting out the surroundings.
Seeing just a child, Yugito gave a smug, almost victorious look at her current captor. "You can't keep me prisoner forever. I'm a valuable asset to Kumo and practically a sister to the Raikage. He won't let you get away with this."
Hinata shrugged, ignoring the threat. "With all due respect Yugito-san, I haven't exactly seen any search parties out looking for you." She had been looking around and checking with her byakugan every couple of minutes. No one has come searching for her yet.
"Well, that's because he has faith in me to make it back." Despite this, Yugito was a bit bothered by the implication. 'I was supposed to be back in Kumo yesterday and I'm always punctual, surely they suspect something foul by now.'
"You said you're like a sister to him. Faith or not, wouldn't he want to make sure that you're safe? Especially if you fail to come back from a fight?" Hinata countered. "Unless this brother of yours has something better to do or maybe he sent you to kill each other. Two birds with one stone."
Yugito lightly narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about siblings?"
Hinata's eyes were almost full of pity for the one she was talking to. In a way she looked at Yugito almost seeing herself in the same position. "Not as much as I should. I had a sister myself, one I was willing to sacrifice my inheritance to protect, but to her, I was the definition of insignificant. I don't think she would have sacrificed a piece of bread to protect me. And my cousin whom I saw as a brother saw me as the bane of his existence, all because of what your village did to me when I was younger."
"Ah, so you're that Hyuuga A tried to take."
"Thank you for admitting that it was his intention and not something the acting ninja decided on his own. Anyway, when it comes to siblings I only know one thing for certain from my experience, love isn't guaranteed to be mutual." Hinata commented.
This did nothing to change the Kumo kunoichi's conviction. "Well you had bad luck. A cares for me and if he's not searching for me it's because he knows I don't need it. He knows I can get the job done."
Hinata's eyes were now full of reluctance rather than pity. If their situation was reversed Hinata wouldn't have said what Yugito just did. "Or maybe he doesn't care if you come back or not."
Yugito frowned. "Impossible, as a jinchuuriki I'm too valuable for the village to lose."
"So he'll look for a jinchuuriki but not for his sister?" The former Hyuuga asked, mentally laughing at the irony.
"What are you implying brat?"
"I'm implying that your Raikage may not value you as much as you think he does. For all we know he's declared you dead and spent the past day selecting the next person to contain your bijuu. Someone new for him to sweet-talk into liking him."
Mildly offended, Yugito scoffed. "Sweet-talk? You think I was tricked into liking him?"
Hinata shook her head. "Yugito-san, you yourself said you're too valuable to risk losing. The village and your Raikage need to ensure that you can never leave of your own free will." Yugito scowl seeing her twist her words. "Isn't it at all possible that they tried to raise you in a way to ensure that such an idea would never cross your mind?"
"They did not brainwash me. Where do you even get such an idea like that?" The Kumo kunoichi hissed.
"They tried that back in Konoha. The Hokage acted nice to the jinchuuriki there and filled his head with promises of grandeur, but all the while he had nothing good in mind for the boy. The Hokage acted nice and encouraged the jinchuuriki to love Konoha no matter what happened to him. Is there really no chance that maybe, just maybe, the Raikage is doing the same to you?"
The former Hyuuga paused for a moment to throw a piece of wood into the fire. Watching the flame strengthen from the offering, she felt her heart ache for her love.
"There is no chance, because I'm one of his most powerful ninja and there's no way such a thing could be hidden from me forever." Yugito firmly insisted.
"But yet they trained you well enough seeing how much you are needed. They need you as a jinchuuriki more than as a kunoichi or as a sister." Hinata countered, hearing Yugito click her teeth together. "A kage will always hide secrets that are related to the jinchuuriki, especially from the jinchuuriki."
"But sooner or later I'd find out and that would only spell trouble for him. A isn't as stupid as you think he is, he knows he doesn't need to brainwash me to have my respect so he never had to." Yugito countered insistingly.
Hinata stood up. "Alright, if you're so convinced I'll let you stay that way. But keep in mind Yugito-san that just because you can't see something that doesn't mean it isn't there."
As she walks away Yugito heard something. Turning her head she saw Naruto sitting in front of the fire in Hinata's place.
"So you think you are needed?" Naruto chuckled, seeing Yugito's confused reaction. "At least you had a decent childhood, with people helping you and caring for you. That's great and all, but..." He moved in closer, noticing Yugito's curiosity. "You can deny everything as much you want, but deep down truthfully you know what you are to the village. And your kage. And you know what they see you as."
"What is that supposed to mean?" The blonde woman pressed. "What they see me as? They see me as a person who keeps the Nibi locked away. I protect the village and get respected for it."
Naruto merely chuckled, then sat back down and looked to the stars. "You said it yourself, as a jinchuuriki you're too valuable to lose. But as Yugito you are practically expandable. Just like any other and every other ninja." The redhead boy then looked to her. "Everything they did for you, the time they spent training you, the expense to keep you alive and educated, it was all for the village but also for the Raikage. But also for you to be a usable jinchuuriki."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Don't you get it?" Stopping for a moment he gave the older woman a hardened look. "Or maybe you refuse to see it? That everything they did was not for you. The acknowledgement wasn't for you. They gave you the time but also recognition, but in truth all that time wasn't for you to have, but to have Matatabi under control and ready to have that power at your so-called brother's disposal."
Yugito continued to sit there, not moving a muscle. Everything he said, was it all true? The long hours of training but also missions away from Kumo, was it really just part of a ploy to solidify her loyalty to Kumo while allowing her to to have Nibi's power be controllable?
"I suggest you think long and hard. But if that's still not enough to make you wonder what your worth is, ask yourself just one thing. If the Raikage was willing to go that far to capture a Hyuga, why he hasn't coming for you?" The renown prankster let out a smirk. "He denied everything involving the Hyuugas, so what are the odds he won't do the same thing regarding you if you end up compromised?"
Yugito remained silent and just looked patient, as if she were done with conversing.
"Anyway, want to know the real reason we did all this to you?" Naruto continued.
That sure cracked Yugito's resolve. "You mean other than to make me doubt my position in Kumo?"
'Sounds to me like she already is even if she doesn't want to admit it.' Naruto thought. "No, though that will help you decide what to do when you hear this. Someone wants to kill you and take your bijuu out of you."
The blonde kunoichi rolled her eyes. "You say that like it's never happened before."
"This time the threat is someone the Raikage considers a worthy adversary. That serious enough for you?" Naruto added.
'Really? The only one I know that A would say that about is the Yellow Flash but he's dead. Does that mean someone else knows the Hiraishin now and isn't afraid to show it off? But why would such a person want to take a bijuu too?' Yugito wondered.
Seeing he had her attention, Naruto nodded. "Yes, you see someone wants to kill all jinchuuriki and steal their bijuu so he can become the single most powerful ninja in the world. And since he's no fan of Kumo your village might be the first place he goes for. I can't make you do anything, but I can let you know some of us are working on a sanctuary for the jinchuuriki to hide and train in."
Yugito narrowed her eyes. "You expect me to run like a coward."
"It's more of a tactical retreat to a hidden bunker in order to properly create a counter measure. Once created you'd have all the freedom in the world to enact it and kill this guy."
"And who exactly is 'this guy'?"
Naruto sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you his name. But he's the leader of a terrorist group called Akatsuki. And they want you dead. Your only chance is teaming up with other jinchuuriki and countering them while we undermine them first."
Yugito simply snorted. "Couldn't you have at least tried to make a believable story?"
"You think we would have bothered you over a lie?" Naruto asked back.
"All I know is that so far the only people I should avoid are you guys."
Conversation pretty much ended there, and when Kushina came back with food for breakfast no one bothered to resume it with Yugito. They offered her food and she accepted, but nothing more was said.
Before they finished eating, all three of the kitsune hanyous tensed up, sensing a new presence in the area. There was a new scent to the air, a scent of ozone that was not natural, along with sweat and in one case a hint of iron.
Then all of a sudden three bolts of lightning came at them from three separate directions. Acting quickly Kushina, Naruto, and Hinata jumped straight up into the air, dodging the strikes. However, Yugito's cage caught one of the attacks and took the brunt of the damage for her, and then shattered. The fragments dissolved like most chakra constructs did when they lost power, and the same happened to her shackles on her wrists and ankles.
'I'm free!' Yugito quickly thought before dashing away from the area as fast as she possibly could. The collateral damage from the multiple lightning attacks gave her the perfect cover to do so.
Naruto, Hinata, and Kushina landed and immediately got their backs close together, looking around the area. Hinata had her byakugan around and Naruto was trying to see if he could find anything. After having the rinnegan for this long, he had learned that it could see chakra much like the byakugan, but not in several directions unless used with clones. Luckily that wasn't the only thing he had learned about it.
"I see three people." Hinata whispered. "They're chakra levels are high, I'd say chuunin at lowest but average jounin at highest. But they're running after someone. Yugito! She's trying to get back to Kumo."
"We can take them all." Kushina said before the three of them disappeared from sight again.
"Raiden, Yugara, do not lose her." A tall man ordered while giving chase to Yugito. He was quite in shape from a lifetime of fighting but wasn't a body builder, more like Gai had in terms of muscle definition. His hair was electric blue and spiked, like most men in his clan, and his eyes were electric yellow with a blue ring around the pupil, not unlike Kurenai's eyes. His strangest features were his facial marks, which were two lightning bolts crossing like Xs on each cheek.
For clothing he sported a long-sleeved faded dark blue-black shirt, pants the same color, open-toed heelless shinobi boots, and fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back. On his back there were dual-ninjato strapped in an X fashion, and two katana at one side similar to the way a traditional samurai keeps his blades on him. And if that wasn't enough, there was also a dark electric blue kunai holster attached his right leg and a weapon's pouch attached to his belt on the same side.
This man was Raisotsu Rairo, the current head of the clan and a man who meant business in every fight he went into.
"Yes Tou-sama." Two people said simultaneously. They were two of his three children, Raisotsu Raiden and his twin sister Raisotsu Yugara, ages twelve going on thirteen.
Raiden looked like a kid version of his father without the facial marks and much less equipped. He only carried one weapon on him, a simple katana at his right side. He was a modest and mischievous boy, extremely talented and a prodigy in his clan's arts, but he was very humble and hated to be called a prodigy or a genius. Not only that, but he was slightly perverted, and claimed as a teenager it would have been bad if he wasn't instead.
Yugara looked a lot like her twin brother but her hair was longer, reaching down to the small of her back, and straight rather than spiked. For weapons she carried a bow on her back, but no quiver or arrows to accompany it, and she had a dark electric blue kunai holster on both of her thighs. She was a serious sort of person much like her father, though in private she was quite relaxed and uninhibited. She was the kind of girl that didn't mind being caught in her underwear, but she was embarrassed that as a A-cup she didn't have much to show in the first place.
"No matter what, we must capture a live Kumo nin." Rairo insisted, greatly bothered by the fact that Yugito's two comrades had been found dead after the bridge exploded. None of his clansmen had been wounded, save for one guy getting hit by some stone shrapnel, but they were enraged that their targets had died in the blast.
Up ahead Yugito was trying her hardest to lose them. Then she surprised them by turning around and running to them. Now that her chakra was free, she was itching for a fight. Her nails grew out in a threatening manner, and she pounced like the cat she was so closely connected to.
The three members of the Raisotsu pounced in response, chakra brightly blaring making it look like all three of them were covered in lightning cloaks.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Before the two sides could clash, they both felt as if they had been hit by some kind of unseen wall rushing at them from the side. The force threw them off trajectory and made them loose any sense of balance in mid-air, as if there was briefly no possible way to correctly determine which way was up or down.
The force wasn't overly strong, in fact the element of surprise probably made it feel worse than it otherwise would have been, but it did it's job and downed three of the four fighters. Yugito regained her balance sooner and landed on all fours, whereas the Raisotus weren't as lucky.
'The hell with this, I'm outta here.' Yugito thought before fleeing again.
Naruto, Hinata, and Kushina came to the fallen fighters. "Damn, Yugito got away."
"Maybe we should just let her go." Hinata suggested. "I mean, we did warn her. And it's not like forcing her to agree would make us-" She was cut off by a sudden lightning bolt that grazed her left shoulder, cutting her jacket but doing no more damage than that.
Yugara was sitting up, holding her bow like an archer but without the arrow. "You just made a huge mistake interfering in our fight." Behind her Raiden and Rairo were getting up too, looking just as eager for a fight.
"We want no trouble with you." Kushina stated, showing no fear.
"Well you've got trouble." Rairo said, on his feet and holding out one of his swords. It quickly became covered in lightning like Tobirama's famous sword, only it didn't look like it was made out of lightning itself. He then charged right for Kushina.
The redhead woman braced herself and pulled out a kunai, charging it with wind-based chakra. 'Ever since my kidnapping I made sure to defend myself against lightning users. This guy's going to see how well I learned to do so.' She blocked his blade with her kunai and actually managed to chip the metal of her weapon but it did not break.
While Kushina was blocking, Yugara pulled back the string on her bow. Between her two hands sparks started flying then formed a small lightning bolt right where an arrow would be, and she was aiming for Kushina's unguarded middle.
"Oh hell no!" Naruto declared as he moved in and tackled the girl to the ground. She let the electric arrow loose but it went nowhere near Kushina. Hinata meanwhile moved in to Rairo's unguarded middle and started hitting him with her juuken rapidly, forcing him to back up and several of his muscles to convulse.
"Don't count me out." Raiden proclaimed, coming at Naruto's back with electricity-covered fists. He managed to hit Naruto in the back, forcing Naruto's back muscles to briefly seize up and lock in place. With his opponent briefly immobile, Raiden grabbed Naruto by his hair and threw him off Yugara. "I don't want to kill you, but if you're with Kumo I'm left with no choice." He told Naruto, sending pulses of electricity into Naruto to keep his muscles below his neck frozen but not the ones in his head.
The whiskered redhead blinked. "No I'm not with Kumo. Do you see a hitai-ate on me?"
Raiden looked him over. "I guess not. Then why are you attacking us?"
"We need the Kumo kunoichi alive." Naruto answered. 'This is very uncomfortable. It's exactly like that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep but it's my whole body.'
"Well so do we. She can help us get back something Kumo stole from our clan."
Naruto smirked. "Since we want the same thing, maybe we can work on a deal."
Raiden narrowed his eyes but the pulses of electricity stopped. "Such as?"
Meanwhile, Yugara saw her father being hit by a girl and widened her eyes momentarily upon identifying her. 'A Hyuuga? Here? And unmarked?' She then narrowed her eyes. 'We can use her as leverage over Kumo and that smug SOB Raikage.' Taking aim she charged another lightning arrow and fired.
Hinata of course saw the attack and moved away to dodge, but that was exactly what Yugara had wanted. Now she was away from Rairo, allowing him to focus on just Kushina who now had to use a second kunai to defend herself. Yugara charged another arrow and ran up to Hinata, trying to hit her at point blank range in a non-lethal spot. Kumo wouldn't be interested in a dead Hyuuga after all.
"Take this!" Yugara said before firing her arrow. It hit Hinata in her right shoulder, leaving no wound but the voltage spread to her entire right arm quickly. Hinata yelled in pain and her arm acted as if dead, but her left arm was still good. Angry, she charged in. 'Archers work best at mid to long range, but close range puts them at a great disadvantage. But it puts a taijutsu user like me at a great advantage.'
Hinata came right up to Yugara and tried hitting her with just one arm, which sadly was her weaker arm. Yugara had enough time and mobility to try what she really wanted to do. She lifted her bow over Hinata's head and brought it down before pulling the bow itself against her neck, choking the white-eyed girl. Hinata gasped and had to cease her attack to try and stop her, but with just her left arm she couldn't do it.
"You Hyuugas aren't so tough, but Kumo wants you and maybe if we offer you to them they'll give us what we want." Yugara taunted as Hinata started to lose consciousness.
"Yugara! Let her go!" Raiden told his sister.
Yugara turned to her twin. "But Raiden-"
"No buts. These guys can do what we need done, but you need to release that girl."
"But she-"
"Yugara I said no buts!" Raiden repeated.
Sighing, Yugara released the pressure and withdrew her bow from around Hinata's neck and head. The white-eyed girl nonetheless collapsed, breaking heavily like she had just been underwater.
"Hinata-chan!" Naruto went right up to his one and only real friend, checking up on her. "Please tell me you're going to be okay." He was already starting to tear up with worry.
"She's not dead, she'd be of no use to us if she were." Yugara reassured, only to receive a nasty look from the whiskered redhead.
"Tell the old man to stop." Naruto ordered.
"You make it sound so easy. Besides, why should I?" Yugara responded sarcastically.
Raiden leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Because these guys might agree to do what we needed the Kumo nin to do, which let's face it would be better than our original plan if it works."
Yugara frowned. "What's in it for them?"
"They just want two people, but not the same ones we want. It's at least worth hearing out Sis." Raiden answered.
Yugara sighed. "Fine, you usually have good judgment, but I hope this time isn't the exception that proves the rule." She looked to her father. "Now how to get him to listen?"
Rairo was still fighting Kushina, and she had backed away, both of her kunais now cut in half by his blade despite her chakra reinforcing them. 'He's good, I'll give him that, but I'm not through yet.' Kushina thought before doing some hand signs. "Wind Style Cyclone Shuriken Jutsu." She swung both of the arms in a cutting fashion and several air projectiles that looked like discs spun through the air right at Rairo.
The lightning-cheeked man responded with a swing of his sword well before the attack got close to him. "Lightning Style Thunder Beast Slash Jutsu." The lightning dancing around his blade then leaped off the blade in the swung and took on an animalistic look, like a cross between a reptile and weasel, and it intercepted the wind attack. But Kushina's jutsu was powered up by demonic chakra, making it stronger than a normal human jutsu so the wind discs sliced his lightning jutsu and hit him in both arms, cutting him deeply.
Rairo roared in pain and dropped his sword. 'How? My affinity for lightning is too strong to be overpowered by a small wind jutsu. Same principle as trying to put out a house fire with a bucket of water. Nothing short of an A-rank wind jutsu could counter my lightning, did she do that and just make it look weak?'
Before Kushina could follow up with more, Raiden got in front of his father to defend him. "Wait, we'll agree to a ceasefire. Tell us, do you want to get into Kumo?"
Kushina looked curious. "We could. That part would be easy for us. But once we're in there we'd have no idea where to go. Not right away at least."
"Then we can benefit from an alliance. You see, we want to get into Kumo and we know exactly where to find everything, but we can't get inside. All the guards and security measures are against us. If you can get us in, we can get you to what you want." Raiden told her.
Kushina went right to Naruto and knelt down to check on Hinata, who was fine now but had a big bruise on her neck. "What is it you want in Kumo?"
"The Raikage has stolen clan property and even clan members." Yugara answered while checking on her father's wounds. "Our little brother Ryuge was one of the victims. We need them back, but it's impossible for us to get near Kumo without every shinobi there finding out before we even breach their walls."
Kushina growled. "Again?! That Raikage does not know when to stop."
"I see you're no fan of him either." Raiden commented. "You see, our clan used to be part of Kumo, but the Sandaime Raikage tried to turn us into his personal tools and when it was clear the Yondaime Raikage was going to be no different or better we as a whole abandoned the village. But he's not just going to let us go. He's determined to get us back or kill us off."
Yugara nodded. "And now that he has some of our members and weapons, he's gone too far. We're going to meet him head on this time."
Kushina looked to Naruto and Hinata. "They have a good cause, and they can help us find both jinchuuriki. Should we help them?" She whispered.
Hinata couldn't answer, but she nodded. Naruto saw this and cleared his throat. "I'd be cautious, but this could work."
Kushina nodded and looked to the three ninja. "Alright, we'll help you. But if you attack us, you're on your own."
Rairo looked at Kushina and to her surprise he smirked. "If you're good enough to hurt me, I'd love to see what you can do to that pompous punk A."
"Trust me, when it comes to Kumo I don't hold back." Kushina promised.