Remember, all reviews, positive and negative are appreciated.
---
Chapter 25 : Don't make me think of any more titles...
---
Both Kirbie and Eddie stared in disbelief at what happened. The bone seemed to break itself apart in midair, and fly back into Kimimaro's shoulder. Before they could even run, Kimimaro picked them both up and slammed their heads together, knocking them out. He grabbed their legs and started dragging through the forest, away from the hideout.
A number of miles to the north, the army had put up camp until Eddie and Kirbie returned from their scouting mission. Kenshin threw more sticks on the fire, trying his best to keep it alive. "I still don't get why we have to get the firewood." Sano mumbled as he started pounding on a tree. An axe imbedded itself on the tree, near Sano's head. "Use that, dumbass." Saitoh said calmly. Sano cursed under his breath as he pulled the axe out and began to chop at the tree. Kenshin sighed at their bickering and turned back towards the fire. He failed to notice the kunai coming in from behind him, as it flew over his shoulder and into the fire. He was about to grab his katana and spin around, when he noticed there was a small leather bag hanging from the end of the kunai. Realisation swept over him and he brought up his arms towards his face, right before the fire exploded and sent him crashing into a nearby tree.
"Kenshin!" Sano yelled as he dashed towards his friend, while Saitoh went to inspect the fire. However, he never got the chance to get a good look at it. "Charge!" A voice cried out, followed by hundreds of battlecries and ninja's attacking the camp. "Aw crud." Saitoh and Sano mumbled at the same time. Sano quickly flung Kenshin over his shoulder and ran towards the medic, his retreat covered by the various ninja flooding out of their tents towards the opposition.
Kirbie rubbed the bump on his head as he woke up, trying to remember how he got it. The pieces came together in the dusty cave he called his head and he jumped up, and instantly fell down again. He rubbed his head and opened his eyes, noticing he was in a small cave, together with Eddie. The cave was just deep enough for two or three people to lay in, but not high enough to sit. "What happened?" Kirbie asked as he slammed the top of the cave, making dust fall into his eyes. "When your done cursing at the ceiling, I'll tell you. After we put our heads together, Kimimaro dragged us towards a cliff, and chugged us in. Luckily, I awoke and managed to grab onto the side and drag you in here. Here comes the bad part, Kimimaro is out there and waiting for us to show our faces, playing some sort of waiting game." Kirbie said, panting slightly after that huge explanation. Kirbie poked his head out of the hole, and there he was, waiting for them at the top of the cliff.
Tsunade leant back into her chair, she had just completed the negotiations with Akatsuki, and they had left to complete their part of the deal. She sighed, this was getting to much for her to handle on her own. The First had his brother to help, the Third learned from both of those and the Fourth had the Third to help him, but who did she have? Perhaps she should learn from the past, and appoint a Sixth hokage to help her, but who? She didn't wanna be stuck with Jiraiya for days. She would probably end up pulling Kakashi's mask down from frustration, ruining his image. Gai was, disturbing. Asuma would end up burning half the files with his constant smoking and Kurenai didn't have the right qualities. Ebisu was a closet pervert, at least that's what Naruto kept telling her.
Naruto... Well, even though his dream was to become Hokage, she couldn't make him one yet. He was young, and becoming the Hokage was basically giving up your personal life. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't bring herself to do that, at least, not until he had settled down. All of a sudden, the door burst open, almost being torn out of its hinges, as Shikamaru ran into the room. Tsunade sighed, another ruined door, this was probably bad. "Tsunade! Your not going to like this!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "It must be really bad for you to be so upset..." She mumbled her response. "The council has decided that Naruto has to be under ANBU guard around the clock, and he is to avoid public areas as much as possible. Now, before you go on a rampa---" "Those old geezers think they can take away Naruto's freedom and the chance he has to settle down!? Over my dead, frozen and buried body!" The Hokage yelled as she ran out of the room. "A lot of blood is going to be spilled..." Shikamaru mumbled as he chased after Tsunade.
Naruto cursed. Luckily Sakura had left to get something before she 'punished' him, but now, he had to find a way out. His eyes scanned the room multiple times, but he failed to find a way out that was failproof. 'Need a hand?' Kyuubi growled inside Naruto's head. 'And where the hell have you been?' Naruto asked. 'I like Sakura's mind better, no dank, empty hallways there, but a meadow.' 'In other words, there are some frisky kitsunes running around?' 'That's beside the point! Do you want my help or not?' 'Alright, alright, what do I do?' 'Did you forget that Shizune forced you to hide some needles under your tongue, in cases like these? If your head wasn't stuck to your neck, you'd lose it...'Kyuubi mumbled as he turned around, finishing the conversation. Naruto felt under his tongue, and sure enough, he found a couple of short, but very sharp needles. 'How the hell did I get those in there without cutting my tongue?' He asked the Kyuubi as he took one between his teeth with a number of tongue movements and brought the needle near the rope, slowly but surely cutting through them.
Kimimaro sighed, the blundering duo were still in that cave, and he wasn't in the mood to go get them, so he decided to see who could wait the longest. The long waiting was interrupted when Kimimaro felt a small stone slam into the back of his head. He spun around, sneering, only to see somebody leaning against a tree with another stone in his hand. "Who the heck are you and what do you want?" Kimimaro growled as he took his bone sword. The man stepped forward, revealing his original shaped mask. "Akatsuki member, Tobi, and I want those two in the cave, alive."
Orochimaru stood on top of a hill overlooking Root, by his side was Kabuto. "See Kabuto? The plan worked. While our pawns are destroying the Konoha/Root army, we shall burn Root to the ground, in it's time of weakness." "So, that was your plan." A voice said from behind the duo. Kabuto spun around while Orochimaru took his time, and stared straight into a pair of red eyes. "Well well, Itachi, Kisame, what brings you here?" The snakeman asked, calm as ever. "We thought this would be a good time to kill you, since your bodyguards are still in Sound." Kisame snorted. Without warning a man appeared in front of Kisame and punched him in the gut, then withdrew to Orochimaru's side. "I'd like you to meet my newest bodyguard, Haruno Hattori."
After minutes of cutting, Naruto was finally free. He scanned the room once more, seeing nothing he could use as a weapon or as clothing. In desperation, he took one of the needles in his right hand, and used a pillow to hide his privates as he ran out of the bedroom. When he made it too the stairs, he saw Sakura behind the corner, reading something. "Sakura! What has happened to you!?" Naruto yelled, tightening his grip around the needle and the pillow. Sakura turned around and just started laughing.
---
Phew, lots of cliffhangers here, huh?
AnkokuSama : Thank you for the compliments, I do my best at entertaining the readers. And about Naruto's mother... Well, sometimes people do strange things.
Android84 : Hope it didn't give you a lasting trauma, but I suggest you keep reading, even if it creeps you out!