Been a long time and I apologise for that, had gotten caught up in my story seeing is believing [ff7 link to it's account on profile] happy holidays
disclaimer : own no Naruto.
Chapter twenty-five: Moving on
At the cave where Sakura and the others had fought Sasori stood two people. One was a man that was split down the middle, one half white, the other black. He was surrounded by a vinous fly trap like head. He wore the Akatsuki cloak.
The second person wore regular ninja clothing and had an orange mask covering his face. He had a child dispassion to him.
"I found it, I found it Zetsu-sama" the person screamed in a child like way and the plant man, Zetsu turned to him.
"With this, I can become a member of the Akatsuki too right?" He asked the man/plant.
"Idiot, it's not that simple" the black half said "we can let him in" the white half argued.
"Tobi is a good boy" the person said before his voice deepened and he laughed.
He clenched the ring in his hand as he thought
Soon the Okami Iki's weapons would be his, the mission to Suna only been half a success, but at least they had gotten the Shukaku. Now it was time on the assassination process of the wolf pack. He had to move fast, the Okami's were actually beginning to catch on and had resorted to hiding, but he knew what their human form looked like and they couldn't hide in their elements forever. They would have to come out some time.
The only one's he knew he would have trouble with were the Kazkage's Okami Iki, Sasuke's Okami Iki and Itachi's Okami Iki. The other Okami Iki's with human children might be a challenge but most of them had adopted civilians as children, not ninja so they were removed from the picture quite easily.
He frowned as the ring slipped from his hand and fell in a crack, knowing someone who shouldn't be could be watching he reverted back to the Tobi personally and began to reach for the ring,
"Wait Zetsu-sama, don't leave me" the plant man was walking away, also playing his part well "Zetsu-sama"
Tobi cried out then gave up on the ring and followed the other man to find Deidarra, if he was still alive that is. He would have to contact his other subordinates soon, to start the assassination traps. He needed to round up the Okami Iki's quickly while the Akatsuki worked on getting the tailed beasts for the second half of his plan.
He frowned, that reminded him; he needed to contact Kisame on a update about Itachi and this 'Teishi.' It sounded as if Itachi was growing attached to the wolf. Itachi would already question him and the wolf would be able to smell the staff of fate and Okami blood on him. She had to be the first of the shinobi Okami Iki's that went, so she wouldn't find and tell the others. Not that, that would be easy, her son being a wanted, kill on site, criminal.
He chuckled in his head as they left the broken base, this would all work out nicely from him in the end, very nicely.
The villagers of Suna had stood outside the gate waiting for their Kazkage's return. Baki looked through some binoculars at the direction the others had vanished to. The sun rose in that direction as a black mass appeared against it. Despite the sun's glare he looked and cried out.
"The Kazekage is ok, he's alright" he shouted and the cheer spread.
Gaara stared in awe as the entire village stood and greeted him. He looked at Mamoru, whose tail was wagging happily.
"Welcome back Kazekage-sama"
"Welcome…"
"Welcome…"
"Ready to go home Gaara" Naruto said and he nodded snapping his eyes from the crowd. Kankuro and Naruto were helping him walk. He stopped them as they went to go.
"Wait, let lady Chyo go first" the others nodded and the ninja carrying a stretcher with a body bag on it went through, everyone bowed their heads as they past.
There was a massive funeral for one of the oldest woman in Suna. Everyone had left except the Konoha ninja, Chyo's brother, the sand siblings and the two Okami Iki's.
Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke stood directly in front of the tomb stone. Naruto turned when Kakashi called out
"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, we're about to leave now"
"Right" the three replied.
"Let's get going Sakura-chan, Teme" Naruto turned.
Sasuke placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder and followed Naruto. Sakura took one last look at the grave then followed after the two boys. The sand siblings led the teams to the gate.
Gaara and Naruto stood facing each other, as did Kaisen and Mamoru.
Take care Kaisen said to her.
You too, we're even now Mamoru smiled at him.
"See you" Kankuro said and Naruto nodded.
Gaara and Naruto stared at each other before Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly.
"I guess this is when you normally shake hands and part but, I'm bad at that kind of thing so…"
He trailed off as Gaara stuck his hand out to be shaken. The others smiled at the two. Naruto stared at the hand with a small smile, thinking of how far Gaara had come. His train of thought was interrupted as he felt his hand move on its own. He looked down to see sand pulling it up. He laughed briefly as their hands grasped one another; the two shook hands.
Mamoru and Kaisen smiled and Mamoru turned to look at Kaisen while smirking.
Keep and eye out on that son of yours, his hormones will kick in soon she laughed as did Kaisen.
So will yours he countered.
Kaisen then stepped forward and licked the she-wolfs cheek. Mamoru froze as the humans laughed and the Konoha ninja walked off.
Mamoru watched them go, her head tilted to the side. Kankuro chuckled and said
"Got yourself a little crush there Mamoru, didn't you do the same thing three years ago when we left Konoha."
Mamoru growled at him, not really meaning it, and stalked back into the village. If she had been human, her face would have been red.
Kaisen growled as Naruto mocked him and his son.
"Got a crush on Mamoru Kaisen?" the boy said as they walked.
The wolf growled while Sasuke said.
"Shut up dobe."
"Oh, we probably shouldn't take a whole lot of trips to Suna with you Kaisen, don't want any puppies popping up" Naruto continued taunting the animal.
Kaisen snarled and lunged at Naruto. They rolled in the sand a bit before Sakura pulled Kaisen off Naruto but scolded the boy. She placed Kaisen down and turned to Naruto with her hands on her hips, her face stern.
"Leave Kaisen alone Naruto" she yelled at the bitten boy. He whined that she was being unfair. Kaisen snorted at him.
The moment was short lived when there was a yell from Kakashi and they turned back to see Kakashi was now riding Gai-sensei piggy back style and the two's packs were on Gai's chest. . Kaisen frowned at the disgusting sight while the others either shuttered, frowned or both.
Gai-sensei then took off at alarming speed, while yelling
"Hahaha can't keep up with me Hahaha" he left them in the dust, sweat-dropping.
Lee seemed to get an idea and looked to Neji who said
"Hell no"
After lee took off with peoples packs, the walk to Konoha was pretty normal.
The group smiled when the familiar trees of the land of fire came into view. They had been traveling at a lighter pace then when they had left and they talked with one another. Kaisen barked in happiness when his inner powers reconnected with the trees. Sasuke reached over and scratched him behind the ear before the wolf took off and barked around Sakura's ankles; who laughed at him. The gates of Konoha were up head and Naruto seemed to be walking faster then normal to get there.
"Slow down Dobe" Sasuke said from his spot near Sakura "the ramen stand will still be there five minutes from now"
Naruto drooled a bit at the mention of his favorite food but shook his head.
"I am not going to get Ramen" he then turned to Neji and asked "do you know where I can find your cousin?"
Neji narrowed his eyes suspiciously but he knew that Hinata would be upset if she didn't get to see Naruto when he asked for her so he said
"She should be at the Hyuga compound or meeting her team at the old tree by the ramen stand you go to." His white eyes narrowed by Naruto brushed the glare off.
Naruto nodded and took off into the village. Neji sighed and turned to Tenten
"We should go and find Gai-sensei, make sure Kakashi got to the hospital" the girl nodded and the two went off in search for their hyper teammates and to make sure Kakashi got to the hospital, he looked pretty worse for where when Gai had taken off.
This of course left Sasuke, Sakura and Kaisen alone. The wolf walked between the silent to and looked up them. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura said one another and he felt himself growing frustrated. Kaisen snorted and walked away from the two, heading home to sleep for a bit.
Sasuke watched the wolf leave him alone with Sakura. Sakura sighed and went to head home when she heard steps beside her. She looked up and noticed Sasuke was walking with her.
"Hey" she said and he grunted a response, she sighed at his lack of vocabulary.
For some reason the night he had tried to leave kept running though his head, what she had told him, did she still love him he wondered, had those words been real. He was so deep in his thoughts he hadn't noticed they had reached her house till she called out to him.
"We're at my house Sasuke" he heard her say and he snapped out of his thoughts. Indeed they were in front of her house.
"Thanks for walking me home, you didn't have to." She smiled at him gratefully.
He shrugged and said
"I wanted to" he shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away.
She nodded her face slightly pink. He paused and looked at her from the corner of his eye and said
"Sakura, about the night I tried to leave" he stopped unable to put together what he wanted to say and she said
"Just forget it Sasuke-kun, you didn't leave that's all that matters." She smiled at him.
"But I knocked you out and would have left you on that bench where anything could have happened to you and. and..." he sighed frustrated at his own lack of socialism.
She stopped him by placing a hand on his arm and smiling her smile at him.
"But you didn't and that's all that is important to me." She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek then went into her home, leaving Sasuke on the street with an almost smile, almost stunned expression on his face.
Sasuke walked home, holding his cheek in a daze. Inside, Kaisen watched him walk in, walk upstairs then vanish into his room. He sighed and rolled his eyes, humans, he snorted.
Naruto found Hinata leaving her home. She had groan since he had last seen her. Her hair was now long and down to mid back. She still wore a jacket but this one was purple and white. She had her back to him and he thought back to all those times she talked to him and fainted so instead of shouting her name he walked calmly up to her and tapped her on the shoulder while saying
"Hinata-chan?" he tried to keep his voice from shouting but a grin was still present on his face.
The girl froze at his voice, epped, and turned to him. She took one look at him then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out. Naruto caught the girl and sighed, how was he suppose to talk to her if she kept fainting. He propped her up on the fence and waited. A few people stared at him as they passed but he paid them no mind. He just squatted and stared at the girl waiting for her to come to.
About half an hour later she awoke and he smiled at her. This of course caused her to faint again at his close proximity and he sighed in frustration. He rubbed his hair and dragged a hand down his face. Was it really supposed to be this complicated?
Twenty minutes later she awoke again and he said
"Please don't faint Hinata-chan I have to talk to you" he mustered up all the seriousness he could.
The girl took a deep breath and looked at Naruto, trying with all her might to look him in the eye and not faint like he asked.
"H…HI N...Naruto-kun" she stuttered out, tapping her pointer fingers together. Naruto silently thanked Jiyraya and said
"I am glad to see you Hinata, are you doing well" a smile spread across his face.
The girl nodded, blushing twice as hard and said
"I…I am doing w…well in my...TR...Training" was Naruto-kun really asking how she was doing?
Naruto nodded and said
"That's good, listen, you know how I was gone for three years" she nodded "and I just got back from a mission and both made me rethink a lot of things in my life, and I was wondering if…" he got nervous here and rubbed his head; looking at the street while saying "would you like to go out some time" he blurted looking back at her..
To his utter disappointment her face turned red and she passed out again. He sighed and cursed fate. Didn't her passing out all the time when they were little mean she liked him, that's what Jiyraya said, oh the sage better not be pulling his leg. He huffed and glared at nothing while he waited once more.
Twenty minutes later Hinata awoke to see Naruto still looking at her and she realized it wasn't a dream.
"Well" Naruto said some what patiently; he really wanted an answer.
"Umm….o…ok" she managed to get out. Inside her head, her heart was dancing; Naruto had just asked her out…and she had said yes. She had a date with Naruto!
Naruto grinned and said
"Sweet, I will find a place we can go that we both like and come talk to you, how does this Saturday sound?"
She nodded not trusting her voice and he grinned again,
"Thanks Hinata, you're the best," he then walked off with the biggest grin on his face she had ever seen. This made her smile, knowing she brought that grin to his face. She bit her lip, now to work on not fainting every time he talked to her.
She stood and went to go find her teammates to tell them the good knows, her dream was coming true, she had a date with Naruto!
Itachi, Kisame and Teishi had made camp near a river a few miles from a town. She was munching on a cooked fish while Itachi made more, Kisame had vanished off somewhere, not that she really cared for fish face all that much. Teishi finished her fish and was gnawing on the bone, her tail swishing back and forth behind her as she rolled onto her side; bored.
She stretched as she spat out the bone, thoroughly gnawed, and watched Itachi. However an odd sent reached her nose, a foul sent. Her nose wrinkled and she growled.
She stood and Itachi took notice, he turned to her.
"Teishi" he asked
She ignored him and walked off into the woods, following the water, sniffing. Itachi was following her, she could smell him.
Itachi followed the she-wolf through the brush, pushing branches out of his way. Teishi had her nose pressed to the dirt and the fur on her back stood up on ends. A sign something was agitating her.
She went a little further to discover the smell came from behind a grove of trees. She walked around them and paused at the horrific sight.
A whole pack of river Okami Iki's lay on the ground, their blood dried and caked the ground. There faces frozen in a mixed of pain and horror. Itachi walked after Teishi and froze as well at the sight. It brought back small flashes of the massacre. He shook his head from those dangerous thoughts and then noticed the bands on their legs. Though they were a light blue he knew they were of the same breed as Teishi.
He looked at the wolf to see her nuzzle one of them but they both knew they were dead. He sighed and moved to one. He knelt next to it and Teishi stood beside him, her eyes sad. He placed a hand on her head.
"It will be ok Teishi" he said in tone much like when he comforted Sasuke "It will be ok" then the EX-AMBU began making graves for the dead wolf pack. Just as he began to dig one hole, every single one of their bodies turned to water and sunk into the grass, making the blood come to life and mix with one another. Itachi stood alarmed as the freshly animated blood mixed with the dirt and flooded the grass. He took a step back trying to keep memories locked where they belonged.
Itachi frowned as did Teishi, this was a fresh kill. To the Okami Iki those slash marks in their bodies looked like the staff of fate; she growled, this was not good.
Mamoru was laying in the shade as Gaara and Matsuri trained; a rare thing now a days, him being Kazekage and all. But Gaara had escaped the council men, who were overprotective since the banishment of Shukaku and tracked down the former student. Gaara had wanted to test if he could still fight as well as before.
Mamoru sighed as she opened one eye to watch her son and his student. The two were talking now, taking a water break. She closed her eyes when suddenly a shock went through her body. A cry wrung in her ear that had her head shooting up. She narrowed her eyes and stood, sniffing the air. She moved past Gaara and the two looked at her strangely.
"Mamoru?" Gaara called, only to be ignored. The two stood when suddenly Mamoru took off running towards the village gate. "Mamoru" he called, chasing after her.
The guard gave them strange looks when the Kazkage's wolf ran by, followed by the Kazekage him self and his student. Mamoru frowned as she sniffed along the village's wall. The scent she followed was one she was familiar with and it scared her.
"Mamoru" Matsuri called but the wolf did not stop, at least not till she rounded a corner.
The wolf screeched to a stop and both her tail and ears sank low as she wined. Gaara and Matsuri shared a look before speeding up. They ran to Mamoru only to stop and stare as well.
In front of her was a pack of desert Okami Iki's, all bleeding over the golden sand. Their faces were twisted in panic and pain. Limbs trapped in a running position. Not only were they a whole pack; they were her pack, the pack she left when she went to Suna.
Gaara and Matsuri stared at the gruesome sight, unsure of what to say or do. Mamoru whined and nudged one of the dead wolves but sighed when he didn't move. Matsuri bit her lip and frowned at the sight. Gaara stared at Mamoru as she checked each one of the dead wolves.
"Help me Matsuri" he said walking forward "we need to make them graves."
Matsuri nodded and the two set to work before any other desert animal got a hold of the scent and came looking for food. Mamoru let out a low howl in sorrow. Gaara reached for one but it melted into sand, the others turned to sand right after.
Matsuri and Gaara shared a look; Gaara wondering if this was what happened to Okami's when they were killed. He looked at Mamoru staring at the sand, her eyes wet. He reached over and rubbed her ear as she cried for her lost pack.
Kaisen walked with Sasuke and Sakura through the training grounds, Naruto had gotten lost somewhere and wasn't answering their calls so he was following the boys scent. Suddenly a shock went through him and his ear twitched when a howl echoed around him. A foul scent reached his ears and he whined.
He frowned when the scents of Naruto and the foul thing intercepted. He followed it deeper into the woods and stopped as he stared at Naruto who was standing in a clearing frozen. It wasn't really Naruto he was looking at though; it was the pack of dead Okami Iki's around him. His pack he recognized the wolves and the bands.
Kaisen walked forward and nudged one of the other ones and Sakura and Sasuke walked forward.
"Dear Kami" Sakura gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Naruto, what happened" Sasuke said moving forward.
"I don't know I stumbled upon them; some guy ran off that way" he pointed to the left ", I think they are the pack Kaisen belonged to" he said looking at the wolves then back at Kaisen "they've got the same bands."
"Someone needs to go get the Inuzuka clan" said Sakura as she bent down next to one of the wolves.
Naruto nodded and turned and ran.
About 20 minutes later Hana and her mother returned with two others they didn't know. Kiba took up the rear with Akamaru.
"Dear Kami" Misses Inuzuka said staring at the wolf then at Kaisen. She had never seen a animal massacre like this before. She looked at the whining wolf next to Sasuke.
"Hana" she snapped "get to work" she ordered the others to check for survivors then start to dig graves for them. Hana went around looking at the wounds.
"It looks like some sort of spear or dagger did this" Kaisen's head short up that those words.
The staff of fate he wondered as the Inuzuka dogs came over to him, telling him sorry. He ignored them and walked over to his son who had moved to stand near Hana.
Sasuke ran a hand down Kaisen's back as the wolf laid down.
"It will be ok Kaisen" he said unconsciously echoing his brothers words "It will be ok."
Kaisen let out a small howl along with the other dogs. Suddenly all the dead wolves turned into twigs and leaves.
"The hell" Kiba said staring at the leaves "what kind of wolves are these" he picked up a twig, a little more than creeped out.
His mother stared at Kaisen who had his head in Sasuke's lap, yes what kind of wolves indeed?
That night nature shifted as thousands of Okami Iki packs ran for cover. The ones with human children were taken easily; the ones who fled to the nature they were born from were driven out. In a span of two days almost every Okami Iki pack was gone, slain with their souls stolen, taken for later use or had fled so deep into nature they now slept. The woods seemed quiet; the desert was still and the waters motionless. Other animals fled, sensing the change.
These events were causing a butterfly effect, nature was out of balance and no one was around to fix it. Soon the humans would be affected, they would notice the imbalance and become un-balanced themselves, and chaos would descend on the land and all would be un-well and wrong.
When the three Okami Iki's; of the ninja villages plus one outlaw awoke, they would get the shock of their life. And there children were about to get a nice history lesson, straight from the wolves mouth.
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