Chapt. 29
Naruto groaned as he woke up on the boat. He was getting tired of the constant rocking motion and cramped quarters. That and not sleeping with one or both of the girls. The one silver lining was they were going to dock in one of the small port towns finally.
"Gods if I never ride a boat again, it'll be too soon," Naruto put both hands over his stomach. "Shouldn't being part of mom's clan make me immune to this?"
"Stop bitching," Sasuke yawned as he got up. "Anyone would get sick after several days on this thing."
"You're fine," Naruto glowered at the dark haired boy.
"I'm an Uchiha," Sasuke snorted.
"Turn your eyes off then let's see how you do," Naruto growled back.
"Yeah, not gonna happen," Sasuke chuckled. "I'd rather not be seasick. Besides it's only a couple of more hours."
Naruto burped slightly with his hand over his mouth before he started to gather the rest of his things. He finished by throwing on his heavy coat and followed Sasuke up onto the deck. He breathed in a deep breath of fresh air and headed over to where Kakashi was looking out over the bow.
"So, any idea what to expect," Naruto asked by way of a greeting.
"Nope, after that ambush two days ago we know they know we're in the area," Kakashi shrugged without looking up from his now present book. "We can assume that Nadare's two subordinates didn't make it though. You blew the guy on the snowboard away, literally, again, and the woman Kurenai's group was facing was unconscious and out of chakra." He looked up and smiled. "That's not really saying Nadare couldn't have saved her, however he's not the type."
They watched Koyuki come up onto the deck frowning at everything.
"What about her?" Naruto whispered.
"Place a tracking seal only you can follow on her," Kakashi advised. "I've told Hinata and Ino to keep an eye on her once we hit town. Kurenai is having Shino do his bug tracker thing and Sasuke will be doing his own watching."
"Right," Naruto nodded. "You think she'll make a run for it."
"Sandayu hired us," Kakashi reminded his student. "She's made it abundantly clear she doesn't want this. Koyuki hasn't realized she doesn't have a choice in the matter now. Until she does, she's a flight risk."
"That makes sense," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "But, she has no idea of the layout of this land, where would she go?"
"She's scared, Naruto," Kakashi sighed. "Scared people don't think rationally. All that matters to her is hiding from her past and all the pain it holds."
They paused as a sailor on watch called out that port was in sight. Naruto sighed before pulling out a specific small sealing tag, walking up to the princess and slapping it on her ass as hard as he could.
It was just after midnight in Konoha when Minato stepped out of his residence. He'd assigned four times the normal amount of ANBU to watch over his family, all fully vetted as never meeting Danzo or anyone near him. He'd ramped up their number over the last two days hoping to cover the larger number.
Tonight however was the night they'd decided on the assault on the old man's compound. Minato and his commanders had pulled together some eight hundred jonin with another four hundred in reserve in case of trouble. Knowing Danzo, there was always a possibility.
As he entered the area surrounding Danzo's compound he passed dozens of civilians being ushered out of the area along with a few who were being detained. Several ninja saluted him as he walked by.
"Minato," Shikaku's voice caught his attention.
"How's the operation going so far?"
Shikaku started walking beside his leader. "That was the last group of civilians that needed to be cleared out. So far we've captured nearly two dozen sleepers Danzo had in the area."
"Have any talked?" Minato asked in interest.
"There's a seal on their tongues that prevents that," Shikaku snorted in disgust. "One of the Hyuga tried undoing it, but it activated a suicide counter measure that turned the prisoner's brain into liquid."
"Right, have Jiraiya try one," Minato sighed.
The two men turned into a three story building near Danzo's wall and made their way to the roof.
"The diversionary force should be starting about now at the west wall," Shikaku cracked his neck. "The main forces will begin their assault as soon as the enemy engages there. Varied units of Uchiha, Hyuga and Aburame will infiltrate the main manor and attempt to take it."
An explosion went off and they watched half the west wall blow inwards, followed by a few earth and fire dragons. They saw dozens of masked ninja exit the building and engage the Leaf nin.
"We're lucky none of the Hyuga joined him," Minato grimaced as he heard the screams of the dead and dying. "It might have to do with that seal you found."
Shikaku chuckled darkly. "Probably saw the seals on them whenever one of Danzo's men offered one a spot and refused instantly."
Their attention was drawn to the east end of the compound where the bulk of their forces jumped over the walls. One hundred went to attack the rear of the defenders at the west wall the rest rushed the manor house.
Danzo was sitting behind his desk in his bunker reading through the varied reports his operatives had brought in. He still couldn't figure out why Minato had added so many guards to his home protection. Then there was the secret meetings that only clan heads were invited to.
He turned to his two most trusted subordinates. "Fu, Torune, have you found out anything about those meetings yet?"
"No, lord. My cousin has been extremely tight lipped about who he shares that information with," the dark blond man spoke.
"I have the same report, sir," the Aburame looking fellow replied. "Something is happening and I believe it'll be soon."
"The fact that they're withholding information from both of you in and of itself is telling," Danzo growled. "That fool Yoshinobu apparently kept some of the papers I told him to destroy." He sat quietly for a few moments pondering over this new information. "Make ready to depart, I believe our time in Konoha is done."
"Where do we go from here, sir?" Fu asked.
"We'll pull back to site number four," Danzo replied curtly. He'd just opened his mouth to say more when an explosion showered dust and debris down on them. Alarms started ringing out and the sound of ninja responding could be heard.
"It appears we are to late," Danzo growled out. "We need to leave. The men will cover our escape and see to the destruction of anything important."
The three men stood and headed toward one of the darkened tunnels.
Itachi was leading one of the squads moving through the manor. They had already run into several enemy nin in ones and twos and killed them all when they refused to surrender. A few of them had been setting off explosive tags in several rooms attempting to destroy the manor.
"Ko, are your eyes working in here?" Itachi asked the lone Hyuga in his squad.
"For the most part," the man answered. "Several areas are blacked out and a few are completely empty."
"Are they in any kind of a pattern?" Itachi asked in interest.
"they're mostly in the basement," Ko shrugged. "Good place for an escape tunnel, don't you think."
Itachi chuckled lightly. "Any sign of Danzo?"
Ko peered around looking for the old cripple. "None. So I'd venture a guess that he's in the basement."
Deciding quickly, Itachi radioed in their findings and had Ko lead them down. Three flights of stairs later and they were in a sub-basement that was more sewer than part of the manor.
"This seems more like a villains lair," a jonin with black hair in a pigtail joked.
"Is this really the time?" Itachi groaned.
"No, but is anytime the right time?" the only woman in the group smiled. "Lighten up Itachi. If your so tense all the time you'll start to miss out on somethings."
Shikaku listened in on all the reports of the squads as they called in. Minato looked out over the compound watching as the battle outside wound down in intensity.
"Koharu surrendered willingly," Shikaku relayed the information. "They found a suicide note near her, but apparently she couldn't go through with it."
"That's good," Minato nodded. "It seems the fighting is over. Let's head down and see if we have anymore prisoners."
Shikaku nodded and followed the blond man toward the compound. The sounds of men and women in pain and medics going about their duty reached them as they made it to the front gate. They found Itachi's squad waiting for them.
"Did you secure the building?" Minato asked the teen.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Itachi bowed. "Most of the enemy rushed outside to deal with the attack. The few left inside were rushing about trying to destroy the files and other items of interest inside. Luckily our forces were fast enough to prevent most of the damage."
Ko stepped forward as Itachi motioned for him. "Most of the rooms inside weren't sealed against the byakugan. A large area in the second sub-basement was however. Itachi had me lead the squad down there." The Hyuga shivered slightly as the memories of what they'd seen played out in his head. "We found a large group of rather spartan barracks and a training area on the way down. The barracks seemed to hold a group of children all between five and ten." Ko choked a bit. "Th, they were all dead in their beds. The throats on all of them had been cut."
"None of them came from any clans in the village sir," Itachi picked the narrative up as the female team member put an arm around the distraught Hyuga. "A seal on the door activates when it's closed and puts anyone in the rooms to sleep for several hours We found the body of the one responsible next to the last bed, he'd committed suicide when he'd finished."
"In the sub-basement that was blocked from Ko's sight, we found tunnels leading off in several directions. No sign of Danzo or any jonin under his control could be found. Near as we can tell all the enemy forces here were only of chunin level," Itachi finished his report.
"That seems to back up the reports from the battle," Shikaku shrugged.
Minato nodded. "Ko report to the medics. Itachi you and the rest of your squad will take Shikaku to their data. I'll start sending squads down to explore those tunnels."
Kakashi sighed in his room. They hadn't gotten out of the port town. The director had thought it was a great location for a couple of scenes in the movie, so they'd spent the day setting up the equipment and called it a day. Sandayu had suggested this inn since the owner was a member of the resistance against Doto Kazahana, Koyuki's uncle.
A knock at the door brought Kakashi out of his thoughts. "Enter."
Ino walked in with a stormy look on her face. "Can't we immobilize her? We just had to stop her from making another run for it."
"No, Ino, there's no way we can do that," Kakashi sighed. "It is tempting though."
"Fine, it's your turn to watch the bitch."
"Yeah, yeah," Kakashi sighed as he got up. Following Ino out of the room he headed towards the room Koyuki was staying in. He'd thankfully gotten her into a windowless inner room, so they only had to worry when she was going to and from the baths and restroom.
Naruto waved as Kakashi took up his position mirroring Naruto's by the door.
"Is the barrier seal still up around the building?" Kakashi asked quietly.
"It's pissing the owner off, but Sandayu explained the need," Naruto shrugged. "I still don't see why he thinks she can rule a country. She barely has control of her own life."
Kakashi didn't answer for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to best phrase his answer. "He has faith that she'll return to who she was before, hope for who she can be, and belief that she can actually pull it together."
Naruto grinned slightly at that. "Huh, that might be interesting to watch."
On the other side of the door Koyuki's thoughts were in turmoil. On one hand, she was scared to death after the attack on the iceberg. However hearing what Kakashi had just said gave her a strange feeling in her chest.
She reached a hand to her eye to brush something away and was surprised to find a tear as she took it away.
Minato groaned unhappily as he took a seat behind his desk. It had taken two days, and several deaths, but they'd finally worked out a counter seal to the curse mark placed on the root agents. Kushina had been the one to find it after hours spent pouring over her clan's scrolls. Unfortunately only a dozen of the prisoners were still alive and none of them were jonin and only one was a chunin.
To make matters worse, of the two ANBU who had been guarding Koharu, one was dead and the other had assassinated her. He'd added the perpetrator to the bingo books immediately.
A knock on the door made Minato curse. "Oh, what now? Enter."
To no surprise, Ibiki entered the room. "Hokage-sama, further interrogation won't help us."
"I figured as much," Minato sighed.
"The chunin knows nothing," Ibiki shrugged. "After the removal of the seal he spilled all he knew. It seems part of the seal has a mild mind control effect, and apparently helps to indoctrinate the person it's placed on."
"Would explain why his subordinates are mostly fanatically loyal," Minato grumbled. "I'm guessing the mind control part could be fought?"
Ibiki nodded. "Yes, like most mind altering techniques if you have a strong enough will, it could be fought. Most of them wouldn't know it's there until they were already under it's full sway though. According to the chunin it's placed on them when they turn three."
"Why are we calling him the chunin?" Minato asked with a puzzled look. "What's his name?"
"Poor kid doesn't have one," Ibiki grunted. "Only children who came from clans retained that privilege. The rest of them were taken from orphanages in the Land of Fire."
"Do we have any idea how many soldiers Danzo has?"
Ibiki snorted. "Inoichi has a few dozen men going through the chunin exam records since Danzo started sponsoring people and the death records. We're thinking at most he has two thousand ninja under his control."
"Two thousand rogue ninja?" Minato paled. "How have we not noticed?"
"Two thousand ANBU trained rogue ninja," Ibiki nodded. "And we haven't noticed because they are most likely listed under long term out of nation missions, or missing and presumed dead."
"Great, this'll look good internationally," Minato put his head in his hands. "Has Inoichi or Shibi had any luck with their clansmen that they captured?"
"The Yamanaka and Aburame clans waited until after the counter seal was found before they started, so we have heard nothing yet."
"Of course."
Naruto awoke as a small explosion happened outside the inn. Running out into the hall he saw Kurenai and Sasuke still standing guard outside the princess' room.
Kakashi's door exploded outward and they watched as the jonin barely made it out followed by a veritable avalanche of ice.
"Sensei," Naruto shouted.
"Kurenai," Kakashi shouted as the balance of their teams rushed out into the hall. "Take your team and get her out of here. Use any means necessary."
Kurenai nodded and as Sasuke kicked the door in and team eight rushed in.
Ino and Naruto rushed to a second door and took up defensive stances with kunai in each hand. Kakashi eye flaring as he looked for the threat.
"How'd they get through the barrier?" Ino shouted.
"It had to be done from our side," Naruto answered. They must have gotten to one of the crew."
"They're coming," Hinata said tensing. "There's about four enemy teams. The man sensei fought is out there."
Kakashi motion to Naruto, who pulled out a stack of kunai with paper bombs attached and handed them over. Kakashi started flinging them into his destroyed room.
"Now," Hinata shouted as the first team of enemy nin cleared the outer wall and landed in the room.
Naruto smirked as he flared his chakra causing the room to explode in a ball of fire. He sent four kunai into the wall in front of the destroyed room before signing and a glowing wall of blue energy formed.
"Sensei one of the teams has burst into the lobby," Hinata shouted out.
"Right," Kakashi yell before encasing his right hand in lightning and ramming it into the floor. "Follow me," he ordered before jumping down the hole.
The three chunin quickly followed with Naruto coming in last and setting a string of seals around the underside of the hole in case they were followed. They stopped at a corner and prepared while Hinata looked ahead to see that the enemy was taking up defensive positions. Looking behind she could see the two other teams that had been making the attack were helping the survivors of the first team.
"Kurenai's team is right behind us," Hinata whispered. "They couldn't get out in time and more Snow ninja are converging on our location."
"This position will soon be untenable," Kakashi muttered. "Ino get Kurenai's team, we'll have to try and break out a side wall and make a run for it. Hinata, which area has the weakest enemy presence?"
Hinata looked around keeping track of enemy movements as Ino went to get team eight.
"Are we trapped Kakashi?" Kurenai asked as she stopped next to him.
"Not yet," Kakashi murmured a reply. "Though according to Hinata there's enemy reinforcements on the way. I need you to lay an illusion over the lobby, can you do it from here?"
"Of course," Kurenai sniffed in offense.
"Sensei," Hinata gasped. "This is their weakest point from what I can tell. However there's a large balloon headed this way."
"Great, more issues," Kakashi thought quickly. "Okay, Naruto, you and Sasuke follow me. Hinata you come next. Kurenai, you Sakura, Ino and Shino protect the princess. We're going to force our way through."
The assembled ninja nodded as the one civilian looked terrified and ready to faint. Kakashi grabbed two kunai and charged out followed by the two boys each of whom had pulled their sword. Kakashi rounded the corner launching his kunai into the lobby.
The jonin went down the center of the room with Naruto going right and Sasuke going left. Noticing the enemies slow reaction to their charge out, he quietly thanked Kurenai's abilities. Looking around again Kakashi spotted one of the enemy shinobi staring blankly forward. Kakashi teleported behind him and rammed a kunai into his head.
Naruto charged toward another enemy ninja and sliced him cleanly in two, before looking to see Sasuke lopping the head off another.
"Hinata, capture her," Kakashi shouted pointing to the last enemy.
Hinata giving no notice that she heard assaulted the woman's chakra points.
Several hours later they stopped running after confirming there was no pursuit. Ino, Sakura and Koyuki all collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Kakashi, who had been carrying the princess bent over and took a couple of breaths before standing back up.
"Right Kakashi pulled out a map and handed it to Hinata. "Try to find us a place to hole up for awhile."
"Yes, sensei," Hinata said and reactivated her eyes.
"At least we got away from the sninja," Naruto growled. "They really piss me off with their fake ice techniques."
"Yeah," Ino said from where she was on the ground. "Wait sninja?"
"Snow, ninja, sninja," Naruto replied.
"I'm pretty sure most of their techniques only work in this country and other polar areas," Kakashi sighed. "It's the reason you don't see too many of them outside of the northern regions. Their armor helps them by adding in the needed wind element. Much like Rain and Mist, most of the snow ninja are naturally born with water chakra."
"Sensei," Hinata broke in. "There's a cave three miles northwest of here."
"Right," Kakashi sighed. "Let's head there."
The remaining snow ninja were bowing before a large man in lavender robes and slicked back hair.
Nadare Roga moved slightly forward. "Kazahana-sama, we apologize, but it appears that Koyuki and the Leaf ninja got away."
Doto glared at his subordinates. "You had over twice their number, how did you let them get away?"
"Kakashi Hatake and his subordinates are rather talented," Nadare grovelled. "We lost six ninja in their escape."
"You think that's a fitting excuse for your failure?" Doto roared conjuring two black dragons made of wind. "Failure wasn't an option for this mission, Roga. You had only to eliminate eight Leaf ninja, most of which are brats, and bring me the girl. How was that so difficult when you had a small army."
Nadare and his subordinates kept quiet, knowing nothing they could say would suffice to calm their leader.
Doto held onto his dragons a moment longer before letting them dissipate with a deep breath. "You get to live, if and only if you bring me the girl. Don't come back without her."
"Sir," the assembled ninja bark out before quickly disappearing and leaving their fickle Daimyo before he changed his mind again.
7-15
