It's the fourth day since me and Shikamaru got back to Konoha…or whatever's left of it. We've been on the run nonstop. Last night, we spent the night up on the Hokage Mountain, but somehow they found us. Again. We escaped, but now we have to be twice as careful, we can't get caught unawares like that again. What's perhaps even more unnerving is the fact that I saw some of the Kousou among the assailants. It sickens me to see them like that, but Shika says that he's working on an antidote; it's just going to take time. God…we still have no idea what happened…It's just like we left Konoha a healthy, vibrant village, and returned to this…ghost town. Got hit by a Gatsuuga today. Strange that they can still use techniques, they must still have some kind of awareness beneath all that rage. But at least that means that they're still in there…somewhere. Kyuubi won't talk to me for some reason either, but I'm still healing pretty quickly. Hiding out in the Forest of Death right now, but this isn't going to work out for long. The place is too dangerous, even for people at our level. I don't even know how we survived it when we were genin. Dear God, I'm surprised half of the kids didn't get killed by those giant rabid squirrels. That Anko chick is a psycho. Damn. It's almost night. Night is when they come out the most. I'm guessing it's because they think that we'll lower our guards at night, or be too tired to do anything about it. We're going to hide out in my apartment tonight. No one lives in that building except for me anyways…Sun's going down, will write more tomorrow…If we're still alive. P.S. Sorry for being so negative.
Naruto snapped his small book closed and slipped it and his pen into his special black chunnin flak jacket with a single green leaf emblem his shoulder, signifying his membership in the Kousou. He glanced over to his partner, who sat completely still under a tree, with his eyes closed, and his hands held out in front of him with only the tips of his fingertips touching. He had been in his thinking position for the last few hours. Naruto sighed as he watched his teammate desperately searching for a solution for their predicament. The setting sun cast a golden glow on Shikamaru and in any other situation, Naruto may have thought that such an image was the epitome of peace. But he knew better. Shikamaru wasn't in a state of inner peace. Rather, the image that Naruto took in was an image of inner turmoil. A state of desperation, worry, and fear. Naruto took a glance towards the village…his village. Villagers…or whatever was left of them under all that gruesome
"Shikamaru, it's almost dark," Naruto whispered quietly.
Shikamaru opened his eyes, revealing a hardened and determined expression, one that Naruto shared. "Right. Let's get moving."
The two moved through the village like wraiths, moving from one area of cover to the next. With the sun so low, shadows of the village stretched long, giving Shikamaru the advantage in stealth. He used his Shadow Walking technique yet again and the two black blurs made their way swiftly and silently to the rundown apartment where no one lived but Naruto.
Along the way, they saw several of the infected villagers wandering their way through the streets with no apparent purpose. Every time one of those emotionless white faces looked towards them, Naruto's heart skipped a beat. Not only for fear of discovery but also in sadness that his village had been
degraded so much. In fact, he was surprised that no other rival village had attacked during Konoha's time of weakness.
When the building was in sight, the two almost breathed a sigh of relief. However, just as relief began to fill their hearts, the ground before them exploded into a shower of pebbles and debris. Both leapt back by instinct, avoiding injury, but behind them a double layered tripwire had been set. They both noticed the first wire, expertly twisting their bodies and shifting their feet to avoid it, but were caught unaware by the second wire, painted black and hiding in the shadow of the first wire.
"What the hell…?" sputtered Naruto as he fell backwards, landing heavily on his back. A thump to his left indicated that Shikamaru was in the same position as he was. Then, before they could scramble to their feet, large, green vines burst from the street floor, holding them tightly to the ground with their arms pinned uselessly at their sides.
Out of a nearby alley two figures walked out slowly. One of the figures Naruto didn't recognize. His face was bordered by a metal helmet of sorts, and he also held his hands in a seal. Obviously, he was the one who used this strange technique that Naruto and Shikamaru were currently trying their hardest to free themselves from. But try as they may, the vines were like steel and would not budge even an inch for Naruto or Shikamaru to squirm out of.
The second of the two figures caused Naruto to stop in his struggling. Naruto's expression turned from frustration at the trap to complete despair at the sight of the one who had set up the expert tripwire and hidden explosive tag. Tenten.
"Nononononono…" he whispered to himself over and over again. The two figures slowly made their way over to Naruto and Shikamaru. Tenten began to reach her hand towards Naruto's face, but in that second, two things happened.
First, a voice rang out clearly in the small street.
"Kagemane no jutsu, successful."
Secondly, the Shikamaru that was covered in vines disappeared in a small pop of smoke.
Tenten's fingers stopped inches from Naruto's face as she was captured by Shikamaru's shadow replication technique. For a second, Naruto swore he could see a flash of sadness in Tenten's face, but in an instant the expressionless dead face returned. The vines loosened and Naruto ripped out of the now ordinary vines, no longer infused with chakra. He glanced over to the alley that Tenten and the vine user had come from, seeing Shikamaru standing there calmly, his hands held out in the last seal of the Kagemane. Naruto quickly stood and flash stepped to his side.
"Which one are you going to take Shika?" he asked in a soft whisper.
"We'll take the man. He seems skilled and one less strong person out on the streets trying to find us is a good thing."
Naruto nodded in agreement and flash stepped behind Tenten, carefully knocking her out with a single chop to the neck. The other man roared as Naruto and Shikamaru approached him carefully.
Shikamaru furrowed his brow and a single drop of sweat appeared on his forehead. "Ungh…he's struggling." Naruto nodded in understanding and chopped the man in the neck as well, sending him into the same unconsciousness that had claimed Tenten.
Shikamaru released his technique, allowing the two to fall to the ground, previously held up standing by his Kagemane. Naruto softly approached Tenten but Shikamaru called out to him before he could get too close.
"Naruto, leave her. We have to keep moving. There could be more in the area."
Naruto sighed in longing. If only things were back to what they were before. He nodded silently and the two of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
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Deidara looked up at the dark clouds in the sky as rain began to fall heavily. A bad omen. Deidara moved underneath a nearby tree to escape the torrential rain that had come so suddenly. He spotted his idiot teammate crawling on all fours out in the rain and mud doing whatever Tobi did in his free time. The one thing that Deidara was sure of was that it would annoy him. It always did.
"Tobi, get over here!"
Tobi looked up from his makeshift bouquet of flowers and saw Deidara calling for him.
"Deidara-sempai! Look what I made for you! Isn't it pretty? I think I'm an artist too!" Tobi squealed, running to his blonde-haired partner, shoving his handful of wet weeds and flowers into Deidara's face.
"Oh HELL no!" Deidara exclaimed, violently slapping the vegetation to the ground. "You are NOT an artist! That would be a disgrace to me and Sasori-danna!" He said his former partner's name with respect, as he had always done, in life, and in death.
"But Tobi's a good boy!" Tobi whined, letting his arms hang loosely at his sides while his body drooped.
"But Tobi's NOT an artist! Now come on! We have a meeting with Zetsu!"
"Zetsu-chan! He's the guy who looks like a big plant, right?"
"Right Tobi. And it would probably be best if you didn't call him Zetsu-chan either. Be more respectful to your Akatsuki higher ups!"
"Hai hai," Tobi said, waving his hand at his blonde haired partner. The two walked a bit until they reached a small cluster of trees.
"Ok, here's the place. Now we wait."
Tobi got down on his hands and knees as he began scrounging for new stalks of anything that appealed to him. "Maybe Zetsu-kun will appreciate my flower art!"
"No, he won't, and stop saying his name so casually! Zetsu is the eyes and ears of our organization and without him we wouldn't be able to operate as efficiently, so that means that he's yours and MY higher up, got it? Seeing as you're my partner and my student, what you do reflects on me, yeah? So do what I say and we'll both be ok!"
"Ok Deidara-sempai! Tobi will remember! Tobi's a good boy!"
"Ohayo, Deidara-san."
The two who had previously been yelling ceased their argument immediately and looked up at the mysterious Akatsuki member who never worked with a partner. Zetsu. Third in command of the Akatsuki and third also in terms of strength. From what Deidara had heard (he, and most of the Akatsuki, had never seen him in action), Zetsu had powers similar to the first Hokage of Konoha. But no one really knew.
"Ohayo, Zetsu-sama," Deidara called out calmly. It was the white side that had spoken so far, and it was always safe to act very respectfully to the seemingly bipolar Akatsuki member. When the black side of Zetsu started talking, it was time to run.
"Ohayo Zetsu-donoooo!" yelled Tobi at the top of his lungs with his hands cupped around his mouth. Deidara cringed at the volume of his loud partner and punched him in the back of the head.
"Dammit Tobi! Why are you yelling so loud?!" the blonde hissed as Tobi rubbed the back of his head.
"Deidara-sempai, why are you talking so quietly?! Zetsu-sempai has no ears!" whispered Tobi to Deidara.
Deidara opened his mouth but no words came out. He coughed, and again opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came from his throat. His eyes widened. He was literally speechless.
"It's ok Deidara-sempai! I'll talk extra loud for Zetsu-sama since you can't talk! Ohayo Zetsu-sensei!"
"You are…Tobi, are you not?"
"Hai!" Tobi yelled as he snapped his heels together and gave an exaggerated salute.
"I see. Deidara, what is the report of the missing-nin organization you were told to destroy?"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Tobi cried, raising his hand as far in the air as he could, hopping up and down on one foot. "Tobi knows! Tobi knows! Ask Tobi!"
Seeing as Deidara was still speechless (now just staring blankly off into space), Zetsu nodded silently to Tobi.
"Tobi used his new original jutsu to KILL THEM ALL! AHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" he cackled maniacally to the heavens as thunder rolled and lightning struck behind him.
Zetsu sweat dropped. That mood swing rivaled his own dual personality. This Tobi character truly was a strange one. Perhaps he should tell Pein about the strange member…it was, after all, his job to alert their leader of potential threats.
"Eek, a squirrel!" cried Tobi, jumping several feet and latching onto Deidara. Deidara snapped out of his stupor at this contact and immediately elbowed Tobi in the face.
"Baka! What the hell do you think you're doing grabbing onto me like that Tobi?!"
"But…but…Tobi saw a squirrel!"
"I don't care if you saw the Yondaime Hokage coming at us with a legion of Hiraishin kunai at his back, you DON'T. TOUCH. ME."
"Tobi's starting to think you don't like him very much," Tobi huffed, crossing his arms indignantly.
"First intelligent thing I've ever heard you say Tobi…" muttered Deidara.
"Eek! A squirrel!"
Deidara deadpanned as Tobi again leapt into his arms, frantically craning his neck to find the elusive squirrel that tormented him so.
"GET OFF MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Deidara screamed as he hurled Tobi towards the nearest tree. Tobi collided heavily and slid down the trunk, his legs dangling in the air and his head pointed to the ground.
"Couldn't you go check Deidara-sempai? Please? Tobi is scared for his life!" whined Tobi, still upside down.
Deidara glared at the orange and black clad man. "If I go check and there's no squirrel, are you gonna fucking grab onto me again?"
"Tobi wouldn't dream of it! Tobi's a good boy!"
Deidara raised his eyebrows but said nothing more. Huffing, he turned towards the tree line behind the trio and began to walk towards it, mumbling profanities about his meaningless task. Of course there weren't squirrels out to get Tobi! And even if there were, Tobi was pretty tough. What the hell was his deal with squirrels anyway? Traumatic experience? And now he was getting wet, searching for imaginary squirrels that were apparently dead set on killing Tobi. Tobi sighed as a loud burst of thunder exploded in his ears. At the same time, lightning struck, illuminating the dreary forest in an unnaturally white light. The area of impact was apparently right behind him, as the force of the explosion actually lifted him off his feet and blew him into the nearest tree where he held on for dear life. The wind and
debris continued to blow, several second after the lightning had struck. After the miniature storm had subsided, Deidara sank to the ground, looking at the crater several feet in front of him.
"What the HELL?!" yelled Deidara, his ears still ringing from the deafening thunder and subsequent explosion. "What kind of FUCKING lightning was that!? Fucking blew a fucking crater into the ground, fucking made me deaf, and FUCKING LASTED FOR EIGHT SECONDS!" Deidara stopped his rant and glanced around. "Tobi? Zetsu-sama?"
A voice came from above him, making him jump a little. "Whoo! What a BIG lightning bolt! Blew Zetsu-chan to smithereens! Wow!" Tobi clung desperately to the branch of the tree Deidara too had held onto during the explosion.
"What?! Zetsu's DEAD?!"
"Tobi found his ring!"
"Where?"
"It's in Tobi's nose!"
"…How did it get there?"
"Tobi doesn't know!"
"Tobi, you have a fucking mask on, how the hell did it get in your nose?"
"Tobi's mask fell off! And then the lightning struck! Maybe Tobi has magic powers! OoOoOoOoOoOohhhhhh!" Tobi waved his hands mystically at Deidara.
"Shut up Tobi…" Deidara muttered. By now, it had become a habit. Deidara shook his head, still in unbelief. "Holy shit! Zetsu's dead! We've gotta tell Pein!" yelled Deidara as he ran off.
"I hope Tobi doesn't hurt him with his magic too!" Tobi cheerfully said, sliding down the trunk of the tree. Tobi paused as he looked at the crater where the tree that Zetsu had stood on once was. As soon as Deidara was out of ear shot, he pat himself on the back. "Tobi's a good boy..."
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Naruto watched anxiously as Shikamaru slid his glowing hands over the tied up leaf-nin. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Shikamaru sighed and released his diagnostic jutsu.
"Well Shika? What's the verdict?" he asked immediately.
Shikamaru sighed again, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "I'm no medic-nin, but from what that basic diagnostic jutsu told me, they're under the influence of some kind of water-borne virus."
"That's pretty good Shika, maybe you should be a medic-nin after all!" Naruto said cheerfully.
Shikamaru smirked and shook his head. "I'm sure you could have done a comparable job Naruto. After all, we know it's water-borne, seeing as we're not catching anything from contact with them, and it's not air-borne, seeing as we're not getting sick from the air we breathe. Just be thankful that we brought so much water in canteens for our mission."
"Well, do you know if you can fix it?" Naruto asked with a bit of hope.
Shikamaru paused, thinking it over. "Ye-…well…Yes. I believe I can. What I'm going to have to do is create my own virus, one that will infect the Konoha population."
"What!?" yelled Naruto, jumping off his chair in alarm. "Isn't that kind of counter-productive?"
"Well, you see, here's my hypothesis. This virus is infecting them, but our bodies know when things aren't right. So, maybe this virus has a certain way of blocking the body from realizing it's being infected by this virus. So, if we create our own virus, something that can contaminate the population, then their bodies will react to THAT virus, and hopefully, in reacting to that virus and creating extra white blood cells, it too will fight the first virus."
Naruto nodded, trying to understand it all at once. "You seem hesitant, what's bothering you. Seems like a good plan!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Well, we have to be able to decide what virus to release into the populace. It can't be insignificant, because basically the antibodies and disease fighting substances their bodies are creating are going to be fighting TWO viruses. But we don't want it to be too strong either, because then the body could get overwhelmed. It's a bit of a predicament…"
"But…you'll figure it out, right Shika?"
"Again, I'm no medic-nin, so this isn't my specialty, but yes; I do think that with enough time, I'll figure it out."
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!"
The wall of their hideout shattered in a splintery mess as two spinning vortexes blew their way through it.
"Shit!" yelled Shikamaru. Glancing over to where Naruto was trying to pick up the leaf-nin, Shikamaru shouted, "Naruto, forget the guy, we got what we needed from him!"
Naruto nodded and formed several kage bunshin without using seals. Each scattered, running in different directions through Konoha. Shikamaru simply touched the wall and disappeared into its shadow. Kiba looked around, before giving out a bellow and checking the leaf-nin who was already struggling against his bonds.
Naruto and Shikamaru met back up in an alley they had decided upon earlier as their rendezvous point if they should get separated.
"Naruto, I think I got it. I just need a few hours to complete the virus."
Naruto smiled. This was it. Just a few hours before they could cure the village.
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"Hidan, stop fooling around," grouched the large man covered in robes. Hidan lay on the ground with a sword through his stomach, completing his ritual to Jashin. "I want to get this missing-nin. He's got quite the bounty on his head."
"Yeah yeah, just hold on a minute. How come you have to disturb me when I'm doing my ritual to Jashin-sama? Don't you know that this is a holy and pure time?"
Kakuzu looked down at the shirtless man who lay bleeding in the middle of a large seal smeared in the blood of his last kill, the missing-nin who now lay headless at his feet. Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Yes, holy and pure, now get on with it."
Hidan glared at Kakuzu before he removed the sword and stood up. He slid his Akatsuki robes back on and picked up his scythe. "Ok, I can finish the ritual after we get that other missing-nin. Let's go Kakuzu."
Kakuzu nodded and leapt into the trees, Hidan hot on his heels. "The next target is quite formidable, if what the information I received is credible. Kage level, at least. Master of wind and fire, as well as master of his own taijutsu form. He calls himself the "Rising Dragon". How cliché."
Hidan nodded, licking his lips at the prospect of killing a strong opponent. His last kill had left a bad taste in his mouth. How a missing-nin could survive out in the wild being so weak completely astounded him. But that was how the world worked for missing-nins. Eat or be eaten. The strong preyed on the weak for money, until one even stronger came along and became the new predator.
After several minutes of high speed travel, Kakuzu came to a stop. "My info says he's in this town. Generally, he's at his dojo, training the villagers to protect themselves. The dojo is at the far north of the town; from here on, we travel in silence." Kakuzu vanished in a blur of speed followed immediately by Hidan.
They landed on the roof of the dojo simultaneously, jumped down to the door, and knocked. After all, their team wasn't dubbed the "Immortals" for nothing. Their jobs were carried out with a bluntness that teams such as Itachi and Kisame lacked. Hidan smirked, the anticipation of battle almost more than he could handle. But no one answered. Kakuzu sneered. "Playing hard to get, hm?" he mocked, kicking in the door.
As they stepped in, they noticed a slight squishing noise. The floor was slick with blood. After their eyes had adjusted to the dark room, they noticed a single figure sitting next to what seemed to be the corpse of their target. Perhaps more disturbing was that the floor was littered with the bodies of villagers, weapons clutched in their hands, even in death.
"My my, it seems you've come too late," came a soft voice.
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "You have something that belongs to us."
"I'm sorry, but finders keepers my good Akatsuki."
"How the fuck do you know about us?!" yelled Hidan rashly.
"Oh, I know a lot about you, Hidan. And you're partner too," said the mysterious figure, still shrouded in shadow.
"Then you know that we're not ones to be trifled with," interjected Kakuzu before Hidan could respond. "Hand over the missing-nins head and we'll be on our way."
"I think not. I think what's going to happen is that I'm going to walk out that door. If you're alive when I do that…well, that's up to you."
This time, Kakuzu couldn't respond before his hot headed partner began to yell. "Don't try to pull the tough guy routine on me! I'll fucking kill you!"
"For Jashin?" the man asked mockingly, followed by a slight chuckle. "My my, aren't you the comic. Now leave me be child, or are you going to throw a temper tantrum?"
"Fuck you!" Hidan yelled as he hurled his scythe at the man. The man simply raised his arm, and caught the blade with his hand, resulting in a sharp metal on metal sound. He shifted his arms, allowing sunlight to reflect off it, showing his metal gauntlet.
"You'll have to try harder than that, oh mighty worshipper of Jashin," he said, this time with a soft laugh.
Hidan screamed, charging the sitting man, pulling out his sword that he usually reserved for his ritual. The man stayed sitting, raising the scythe with one hand, parrying a flurry of sword strikes. He raised his other hand to his mouth and yawned.
He looked up into Hidan's eyes with a dangerous glint. "Done?"
"Hidan, down!" yelled Kakuzu, his hands held in a seal. Hidan reluctantly dove to the side as Kakuzu released his jutsu. "Futon: Atsugai (Wind Release: Pressure Damage)! Katon: Zukokku (Fire Release: Intense Pain)!" Two of Kakuzu's most powerful attacks were released from the masks that held hearts of Kakuzu's victims. He collected the hearts of the powerful people he killed and used their elemental affinities in battle.
While the wind jutsu and fire jutsu were quite formidable on their own, when combined, they created a truly devastating force. The fire generated from the katon jutsu was exponentially increased by the wind from the futon jutsu. The combined attacked blew up the small dojo into a smoking crater moments later.
Kakuzu stood calmly, his Iron Skin technique that he received from his earth affinity heart able to prevent any damage from the explosion. Hidan too was uninjured…well, you can't really be injured if you're immortal, can you?
"Fuck that bastard. He got what was coming to him," said Hidan as he spat to the side. Kakuzu only remained standing still, his eyes intently gazing at the spot the mysterious man was a second before. This seemed…too easy. The same annoyingly soft, sarcastic voice drifted to them from behind them.
"An impressive technique Kakuzu." The man softly clapped his two gauntlets together mockingly. "You really showed that dojo who was boss." The man, finally, stood in broad daylight. He wore a completely white trench coat, with golden pattern tracing intricately up the cloth. Several silver colored belts wrapped around his waist and stomach, keeping his coat closed. His hands were covered in two gauntlets which gleamed in the bright sun like two miniature suns. He had red hair and his face seemed to be locked in an eternal smirk. A silver and gold cross hung from his neck loosely, swaying in the wind. In such a pristine condition, one would have never thought that such a man had just completed a bloody massacre of over thirty men in the dojo. Not a hair was out of place, not a drop of blood showed on his blinding white coat, and not even a speck of dust marred his shining bronze gauntlets.
After taking in his opponent, Kakuzu calmly stepped forward. "You know of the Akatsuki, and I swear to you, you do NOT want to make us your enemy. Should we cross paths again and you show such insolence again, you will pay. Come Hidan. We'll let the boy have his prize this time." And with that, Kakuzu turned and walked into the adjacent forest. Hidan glowered at the man before he followed his partner.
The man watched uninterested as the two S-class missing-nin fled. He sighed thoughtfully at their parting words, but gave it no more thought. He had work to do. One target down…thousands to go.
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Shikamaru tightened his goggles around his head. He certainly didn't want to catch this virus. The virus was one that he'd heard of…somewhere. He wasn't really sure where, but as he had been meditating on his problem, the chemical formula popped into his head. He must have seen it somewhere and it ingrained in his memory. Regardless, it was the perfect one for the job. It was a virus that attacked the chakra pathways in a person. It wasn't fatal, but usually resulted in people losing their ability to use chakra for several days. The perfect solution to their problem. The virus was dangerous enough for the body to react with deadly force, but not dangerous enough to severely or permanently damage the Konoha populace. Shikamaru gently tilted a test tube, allowing its contents to slowly mix with the solution in the beaker. He released the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding as the two seemed to combine perfectly. Shikamaru then transferred the virus into a small device, which would explode, releasing the air-borne virus into Konoha after a countdown. Removing his goggles, he smiled to Naruto.
"All set Naruto," he said, barely able to keep the joy out of his usually monotonous drawl.
"Yatta! Konoha, we're gonna save you!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist into the air. However, their joy was short lived. For what seemed to be the hundredth time, their plans were disturbed. A crash resounded through their makeshift lab as a fist crushed its way through the brick wall. A flash of red and pink told Naruto that Sakura had found them. Turning towards the threat, Naruto didn't realize when several kunai with explosive tags imbedded themselves between him and Shikamaru. An wall of fire erupted behind Naruto, sending him forward several feet, although by using chakra, he was able to keep his footing. However, Shikamaru wasn't quite as fortunate. He caught a face full of the explosion, sending him flying into the wall behind him. At the same time a large swarm of bugs surrounded him, making sure to avoid the flames that licked the now ruined lab.
Shaking the cobwebs out of his head, Shikamaru yelled at Naruto. "Naruto! The virus!"
Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the small, delicate bomb fall from the table. Forming a Kage Bunshin immediately, he was able to prevent their hard work from going to waste. Sighing in relief, Naruto was on his feet in an instant and running, dodging vines coming from the floor, searching out his legs. Naruto leapt high into the air but was met by Lee, who appeared behind him, wrapping his bandages around Naruto's body, keeping him immobile. Naruto's eyes widened when Hinata and Neji appeared before him, their hands mere blurs as they sealed all his chakra points faster than the eye could see.
Naruto fell to the ground hard, but twisted at the last moment to absorb the impact, rather than let the bomb take any jarring hit. His entire body ached, and his chakra points were sealed. There was only one more option, and he lamented having to use it against his own friends, but he'd do what he had to do to save Konoha.
Drawing his twin swords, Hirameki and Fumetsu, Naruto called upon the demonic chakra within them, as well as the demonic chakra inside of him. Growling deeply, Naruto braced himself to have the demonic chakra flow through him and rip his tenketsu open forcibly. But nothing happened.
"What the hell…?" Naruto muttered as several vines tried to sneak up behind him. But Naruto noticed them at the last moment and managed to roll away. Naruto growled. His trump cards weren't working. Perfect time for the demons to decide they didn't want to help him. He'd have to rely on his own strength then.
Forcing his chakra to flow through his system, Naruto screamed as his blue chakra ripped through him, blowing tenketsu after tenketsu by sheer volume of chakra being forcibly pushed through the chakra coils. Falling to one knee, Naruto held one hand to his chest to check on the virus. Feeling that the small plastic device was still intact, he disappeared in a flurry of leaves.
Shikamaru was pinned to the wall, his arms and legs held by vines and Kikai, as he watched Naruto escape with their last chance. "Troublesome." he muttered before Sakura walked over to him and touched his temple. And then, everything went black.
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Naruto frantically made his way across Konoha, bounding at a break neck speed from rooftop to rooftop. It was nighttime and he was able to move like a shadow, avoiding detection even from the several ANBU stationed around the village
"Shit shit shit!" he yelled as he stopped in a nearby ally as he caught his breath. Searching all around for potential threats, but finding none, Naruto pulled out the virus that Shikamaru himself had developed. "I'm gonna get you back Shika, right after I set this off."
Naruto slid the bomb back into his front pouch of his chunnin flak jacket as he leapt back onto the rooftops. He finally reached the place that Shikamaru had told him they should set it off. The Hokage Tower. Central hub of Konoha and the perfect place to release the virus. He landed on the roof and pulled out the plastic device, entranced by the green liquid that would cease this nightmare. As he held the device, something suddenly began to bother him. In the battle he'd just fought, Lee had wrapped his bandages around him. And filled with rage or not, Lee's signature move, the Primary Lotus, was one of his most devastating and most unique. Feeling those bandages wrap around him but not feeling the hard ground on his head moment later was surreal to Naruto. Something was off. Come to think about it…no one used any lethal moves against them. Ever. Sasuke hadn't used Chidori…Hinata and Neji could have just as easily blew up his internal organs rather than seal his tenketsu.
Naruto scowled. He felt a little lost without Shikamaru, the strategist of their team. Perhaps…perhaps beneath all that rage, they still could control themselves slightly. And he knew that none of his friends would ever try to kill him if they had any semblance of control over themselves…Yes. That made sense.
Looking down at the device he held in his hand, Naruto noticed another disturbing thing. His hand was trembling. Raising his hand to his face, he was surprised to find that his hand had a full on twitch which stopped when he brought his other hand over to stop it.
Naruto spun around, his fists held at his sides, ready to lash out. But no one was there. He could have sworn he heard someone. Glancing at his fists, he noticed that they continued to shake uncontrollably.
Naruto again spun around, swearing he heard someone say something. This time, standing in front of him, was Tsunade herself. She growled quietly as Naruto slid into his stance, holding out the small explosive device.
"Stay back. Do you understand that? Stay back," he said as he held the bomb out warding her away.
Tsunade stood still, not reacting as if she heard or not, but Naruto assumed that she understood the concept. Naruto glanced at the green vial. Something was so…captivating about that green liquid. It glowed eerily, illuminating Naruto's face with an unnatural green light. The green light revealed heavy bags under his eyes and rough patches of facial hair on his face.
Tsunade looked at him, tilting her head before she took a step towards him.
"I said stop! Wait! Wait!" he yelled, forming a fist against his forehead. "Just…Wait!"
Tsunade continued to walk forward steadily towards him. "Do you wanna die?" he yelled. "I said stop! Stop! Please! Stop!" he pleaded. He formed a rasengan in his left hand, holding it out in front of him as he pulled the precious virus closer to his body, protecting it from harm.
However, Tsunade ignored his pleas, walking slowly and steadily towards the blonde haired shinobi. As she approached, Naruto looked at his right hand, then to his left. The pure blue orb of chakra was a fitting counter for the sickly green virus that he held in his right hand. Memories flashed through his mind as he sank to his knees as she continued to walk towards him.
She stopped several feet in front of him, as Naruto breathed heavily, still maintaining his rasengan in this left hand. Naruto suddenly stood up, causing Tsunade to take a step back. Naruto looked into her eyes, determination in his eyes. He raised his spinning rasengan, and, before she could react, slammed both of his hands together, completely destroying the virus.
Tsunade dashed forward and touched Naruto's temple, and his world turned dark.
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"Well, you see, here's my hypothesis. This virus is infecting them, but our bodies know when things aren't right."
His trump cards weren't working. Perfect time for the demons to decide they didn't want to help him.
"This is a special genjutsu Naruto. It's a self sustaining jutsu, which means that it feeds on your chakra to keep itself active. In fact, it's so hard to detect on someone that even the person that it's affecting sometimes doesn't know that they have a genjutsu on them."
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He slid through the window like a wraith. Silently, he made his way to the cash register. Pulling a small piece of metal out of his mouth, the shadow gently picked the lock separating him and the money. Sighing in relief when he heard the familiar click of the lock, he turned the knob carefully, pulling out the drawer. His gaunt eyes widened in surprise at the amount in the drawer. Trembling slightly, two skinny hands ran themselves over the many paper bills that filled the cash register. This could feed him for months…
The man pulled his hands back quickly. He couldn't think like that. Take what you need and get out. He grabbed enough for him to eat for the next few days and stuffed them into the pockets of his tattered pants. He closed the drawer gently and slipped out the same way he came in, quickly heading towards his favorite alley. Sitting down with relief on a cardboard box, the man leaned against the brick wall and closed his eyes. However, his eyelids opened with a jolt when he heard a small cry. He stood up quickly and disappeared into the shadows as he searched for the cause of the sound.
He jumped from building top to building top, forcing his ears to pick up the smallest of noises. There was the sound again. He landed in a tree as he looked down onto the street. A girl was sprawled on the
ground, cuts marring her otherwise beautiful face. The man looked up at the other figure, which was twice the size of the young girl. The large man stumbled forward to the girl who sobbed softly and picked her up off the ground. He was obviously very drunk, judging by how unstable he seemed when he walked. He pulled the girl up to his face and began to whisper into her ear, eliciting another soft cry from the girl. But before he could do any more, a sharp stone struck him in the eye, creating a fountain of blood and causing him to roar in pain. A second stone struck him in the other eye as the man fell to his knees.
"Please…stop…" the man moaned. The girl had fallen from his grip when the first stone hit him in the eye and was watching in horror. However, her vision was soon filled by black. She looked up to the face of her savior and saw two green eyes staring down at her. He had a black mask on, as well as a black hood. The rest of his body was also covered in black, making it very hard to distinguish him from the night around him. What she also noticed was the condition his clothes were in. Several holes and cuts marred his clothing and she could see where he had tried to repair them.
"Who…who are you?" she asked.
"I am…not important," he whispered as he picked up a small leaf from the ground. She looked at him in confusion as he seemed to be concentrating on the leaf very hard. But she let out a stifled gasp as the black clad man spun around, throwing the leaf at her tormentor. The leaf cut straight through his throat and actually shot out of the back of his neck as well.
"Have a nice night ma'am." And then he was gone.
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Naruto sat up quickly, his eyes flying open with shock. The hospital…that means he was right.
Genjutsu. Naruto shook his head. The most powerful genjutsu he'd ever encountered. So powerful that not even Kyuubi had been able to break it for him. Usually the fox kept him free from genjutsu, but for some reason, this time the fur ball hadn't done anything.
I would have done something, but I can't remove genjutsus from you if you don't realize your under genjutsu. Brat.
Kyuubi? What the hell? I've been trying to contact you forever!
However, Naruto's conversation was interrupted as a young nurse walked in holding a clipboard. She was engrossed in the paper as she didn't even look up at Naruto until she was right beside the bed. She put the clipboard down and yelped as she noticed two blue eyes looking at her questioningly.
Smoothing her dress out, the nurse coughed slightly, as if recovering from her recent shock.
"Uzumaki-san, I am glad to see you have awoken."
Naruto smiled at her. "I am too. You have no idea the hell I've been through these past few days."
As the nurse began to check his vitals, a familiar face peeked into the room.
Naruto's eyes lit up. "Sakura-chan!"
Sakura walked in and smiled at the blonde haired man. "Ah, Naruto-kun. It's good to see you're awake."
The young nurse bowed to Sakura before leaving the medical tests to the more experienced Sakura.
"Sakura…can you tell me what's been happening these last few days? From your perspective, that is. I'm still a bit…unsure about what's going on."
Sakura nodded, her face going grim. "You two returned from your mission, but seemed a bit…off. Well, at least from what Iruka and Tsunade said. They said it seemed like you two were afraid of them for some reason. We were sent out to find you and succeeded several times. You two were in some of your favorite places so it wasn't too hard. But every time we found you, you two seemed to be in your own world. Several times you'd actually start to fight us. You gave Hinata quite a scare when you almost hit her with a rasengan."
"I what?!" yelled Naruto.
"Calm down, you missed. Frankly, your combat abilities were severely dulled while you were under that genjutsu."
"Genjutsu…so I WAS right…"
"Yes Naruto. But it turns out you figured it out, so it all turned out alright!" Sakura said happily.
Naruto's face went serious as Sakura looked quizzically at him. "What's wrong Naruto?"
"The virus Sakura. What was the virus?"
Sakura looked at him, as if trying to decide what to say. "Well Naruto…let's just say…it was a fatal virus."
Naruto cursed as he leaned back into his pillow. "We almost killed Konoha Sakura!"
"But you didn't!" Sakura said, touching him lightly on the shoulder.
Naruto shook his head. "No, you don't understand Sakura. Konoha is the place I swore to protect. And if I can't…then I have to get stronger. Because I've failed, I have to do something to get stronger. Whether it's going out on another training trip or making a deal with this damn demon in my stomach."
"Naruto, stop."
"No Sakura! I almost destroyed the place I love the most! And it was my fault!"
"Naruto…you keep saying "I". But you have to realize, that you have us. The Kousou. We're here for you, because we know you're here for us. We watch each other's back and, when the need arises, fix each other's messes. You are not alone in protecting Konoha Naruto."
Naruto looked up into Sakura's piercing green eyes. He nodded slightly as he closed his eyes. "I understand Sakura. And…Thank you." And with that, Naruto fell asleep.
"You're welcome Naruto…" Sakura whispered as he squeezed his hand.
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"Orochimaru will see you now," said Kabuto to the sound nin before him. The sound nin nodded respectfully as he walked into the room and bowed.
"Ah. Misuke-kun. Why have you requested to meet me?"
"Orochimaru-sama, I have made a significant breakthrough. You see, I was able to steal one of the Kousou's swords."
Orochimaru suddenly began to pay more attention. "One of their swords? Which one?"
Misuke shook his head. "I do not know Orochimaru-sama, but the sword was actually a small trench knife that, after much analysis and experimentation, used some kind of shadow based chakra."
"Ah…the Nara then. So very careless of him to lose one of his trench knives. Continue."
"Hai, Orochimaru-sama. You see, we've been experimenting on these knives and found that the only chakra that they utilize is the unique chakra that the user has. However, we can mimic his chakra by using several different techniques. What I'm trying to say is…"
Orochimaru smiled as his tongue licked his lips. "We can use this sword."
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I'm back….during finals week no less. Whoda thunk it?
Hinata-
Hyouden (Field of Eternal Snow)- Hinata's sword is ice based, showing her water and wind affinity. Hinata's sword has a sister sword: Hotaru, Ino's sword. Hyousetsu, in its released form, can, with a single touch, turn objects or even people into solid blocks of ice.