Chapter 28: Trouble in the Land of Sea

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Beta: AwesomeA909

A/N:


(June 20th)

Naruto was sitting in a stand at Ichiraku's with Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino. Naruto had just finished describing his past two missions, the trip to the Gold Mine that Kiba had known about, and the capturing of the thief that Kiba helped with. Sasuke nodded his head as Naruto finished. "Well from what I hear, the Land of Tea is extremely pleased with Konoha thanks to your team. I actually have a mission with Kakashi-sensei, Tenten, and Neji. We are going to the Land of Birds. Something about a ghost warrior, but I don't actually believe in ghosts."

A light buzz seemed to come from Shino at that point, and Naruto could tell he felt a little agitated. The blonde guessed it was because his teammate was going on a mission without him. Before the blonde could say anything Anko appeared behind them. "Bug brat, blind brat, we have a mission to Sea Country. Meet me at the gate in thirty minutes." Just as quickly as she appeared, the purple-haired jonin was gone.

Naruto shook his head at that before putting enough money down to cover everyone's ramen. "Well I guess it was a matter of time before we were sent on separate missions again, I will miss you Kiba-kun." As Naruto stood he noticed that the buzzing that had been coming from Shino had stopped. Before either of them had the chance to leave, Kiba grabbed Naruto and kissed the blonde.

Kiba for his part put everything he had into the kiss and when he pulled away the blonde looked a little dazed. "At least I got to give you a proper good-bye this time."

Naruto nodded a little before leaving the stand. He didn't head home though. He knew that he could get called away on a mission at anytime and had decided to keep everything he needed with him at all times. Instead he headed to the Inuzuka Compound and found Tsume. "What are you doing here brat, I thought you were out with Kiba."

Naruto nodded his head. "I was, but I am being called on a mission to Sea Country. I am not sure how long it will take, and wanted to drop off a scroll that has a present for Kiba's birthday. It is still a couple weeks away, but we will need to travel by boat to get to Sea, so I am not sure how long I will be gone, and even if I do get back in time, I could be sent out again right away."

The woman nodded her head and took the scroll. "If you aren't here for his birthday, he probably won't open the scroll. When I have been gone on a mission, both Kiba and Hana would wait to open my presents. They would still celebrate with the clan, but I think this time around Kiba will just mope if you aren't here. Maybe you will get lucky and get sent on a mission together and the two of you could get to be alone for it."

Naruto blushed a little at what the older woman had been implying there at the end and quickly said his goodbyes. As he was leaving he could hear her laughing, obviously enjoying the fact that she had embarrassed him. Naruto left the Inuzuka compound and headed towards the gate. When he got there he noticed that Anko was there with Ino. Shino was only a few blocks away if his senses were right, so Naruto waited to ask for details of the mission.

When Shino got there Anko spoke up. "Alright brats, we are heading to the Land of Sea to investigate rumors of a monster that has been attacking trading vessels. They have been calling the monster the Demon of the Ocean, but our job won't be to just investigate. We are also to protect a ship to the Land of Water. The so called demon apparently have human and fish characteristics. It could be ninja using genjutsu or something worse."

Naruto noticed Anko's chakra change slightly when she said something else. "Anko-sensei are your worried about this mission?"

The woman tried to laugh it off, but her chakra didn't let her fool Naruto. "Something about the Land of Sea makes me apprehensive. I am not sure what it is though. Anyway we will head south into Tea Country and go to a small port town on the southern edge. There we will take a ship to Mother Island. That is the biggest of the three islands that make up Sea Country. The other two Jiro Island and Taro Island."

Naruto searched his mind and thought about the maps he had seen. "Isn't there another island in the vicinity?"

Anko nodded her head. "Yeah, you are thinking about Demon Island, but it is uninhabited. If our target turns out to be shinobi using genjutsu, that would be a good place to start our search. Our first concern will be guarding the trading vessel though."

With that in mind they sat out. They arrived at the port by sundown, but before entering Anko froze. Naruto noticed chakra coming from her shoulder and turned towards her. "Anko-sensei, your curse mark is acting up." The blonde was instantly at her side, running though several hand-seals. This version of the seal lacked the soul fragment, but it was designed to hide memories and cause pain. instead of restricting normal chakra.

Naruto had been trying to find a way to remove it completely, but at the moment it would require a source of demonic energy to completely destroy, and it would be almost impossible to use the Kyuubi's safely to destroy it. After finishing his hand-seals he placed a hand on the seal. "Triple Layer Evil Sealing Method!" It was similar to a seal that Kakashi had first placed on Sasuke, but he had added two more layers. The original layer was simply a restriction seal that required a strong desire to keep whatever it was put over suppressed. Naruto had added a modified demonic suppressing seal which was capable of suppressing even the strongest side-effects and a seclusion seal that would keep any foreign chakra from triggering the seal.

Anko took a deep breath when the seal was applied before listening as Naruto spoke. "There is a small amount of Orochimaru's chakra in the air. He must have been in the vicinity recently, but he is nowhere nearby."

Anko lowered her head. "That much pain from simply a little chakra in the air."

Naruto turned and stretched out his senses. "Or something else. Maybe this place almost triggered a memory. It would explain the pain more then a little chakra." Anko eyes went wide at that before she simply disappeared. "We should charter a boat to take us to the Mother Island, and let her catch up. We still have a mission."

The two nodded at that, and Shino spoke up. "So Anko has a curse mark too, just like Sasuke."

Ino's eyes went a little wide, not knowing that Sasuke had a curse mark. "Anko's is different, but the restriction seal that I used should keep it from acting up again. I used a modified demonic suppressing seal. Normal it would be used to keep chakra like the Kyuubi's suppressed, but I modified it to work on any dark chakra, like what the seal puts off. Although Sasuke's seal is safe enough, with the differences in the seals, his can be used safely as a power boost."

Ino listened to Naruto talk about seals as they headed towards the dock. He voice carried the same passion that Sakura had when the pinkette talked about medical jutsu. 'Is this what it is like to actually enjoy what you do. Forehead and Naruto both have an aspect of ninja life that they love, but the only thing I act passionate about is Sasuke, and I have never been like they are. Was Sakura right, are my feelings for Sasuke holding me back?'

Shino nodded at Naruto's latest statement before asking a question. "Naruto, do you think you could expose some of my insects to your special chakra on the way back?"

The blonde male nodded his head at the request. "I don't Shino, although most of them will die"

Shino spoke again after a few seconds. "I understand the danger my hive will face, but in order to survive encounters with those like you, my insects need to be able to withstand the chakra, even if they can never absorb it."

After a little bit of searching the trio learned that there wasn't anymore boats heading to the Sea today, but luckily the harbor master was willing to lend them a boat. As the three were getting the boat ready, Anko showed up. "Good it seems you three were able to find a ship."

Ino turned to the woman. "Yeah, but one of us will have to-"

Anko smiled as she cut the blonde off. "Naruto. He has the most energy after all."

Naruto shook his head, but got ready to row the small boat, grabbing both oars in his hands. "Just don't expect me to know if I am going straight."

Anko's smile widened at that. "Oh dear, well it seems that Shino will need to stay up and guide you while me and Ino rest."

Shino just nodded, not really caring, while Ino's eyes went wide as she heard that. About halfway through the night, as the Mother Island of Sea Country came into view, the ship stopped. Naruto could sense two chakra signatures under the boat, two that he faintly recognized. Anko and Ino, who had been woke up by the ship's sudden stop, were looking into the water.

As a hand burst from the water, inches from Ino, it was stopped by a blue chakra chain. Before Naruto could wrap the arm up in his chain, the hand disappeared. However the ability that was used allowed him to remember the chakra signatures. "Misumi Tsurugi and Yoroi Akado, two traitors of Konoha. Yoroi sucks out chakra through physical contact and Misumi can stretch any part of his body through the use of chakra."

HISSSSSSSS

At that moment all four seemed to come to the same conclusion and jumped from the boat.

BOOM!

As the boat exploded the four Konoha ninja landed on the water. Moments later two sets of hands appeared from the water at that moment, one under Naruto and the other under Ino. Naruto lashed out with his chakra chains, wrapping them around the pair of hands attempting to grab Ino as he jumped into the air. Anko appeared where Naruto had been and slammed her hand downward, punching Yoroi in the face.

As Naruto landed he jerked his chains towards him, pulling a completely bound Misumi from the water. After a few second Naruto turned to the trapped man. "Your teammate has taken off, a bad mistake when we have a Yamanaka on our team. We will make this easy on you though. You can tell us what has been going on here, or Ino can rip the information out of your mind. Well she can once Anko gets through with you."

The man spit in Naruto face when the blonde finished talking. Naruto wiped the spit away before seals spread across the man's body. "I have sealed his chakra network, and most of his moments, we can deal with him on dry land. Once we get the information we need from him we can turn him into the authorities until we are ready to head back to Konoha."

With the boat destroyed the ninja were forced to water walk the rest of the way. When they got to the Mother Island, Ino dropped to the ground panting. "How can... you guys... still have chakra left... after we have had such a long day?" She asked as she tried to catch her breath.

No one responded to her question though as Anko went to drag Misumi off, only to realize he was dead. "Damn, he must of had a poison pill hidden in a false tooth. Extremely useful for spies like him." Naruto sighed as he dropped the dead ninja on the ground. "We should rest here for the night. We will go into town in the morning and report in. Naruto will take the night watch seeing as he is chunin."

Naruto nodded and settled into place. He kept his chakra sense open, and before to long, he felt a presence close by. Creating a Shadow Clone, he sent it to investigate. Afterwards the rest of the night was spent in silence. As he kept watch, the clone was moving to the presence, and once he got a little closer, he sort of recognized it. It was the girl from the port, but her chakra was different. Moving to stand behind a large stone, he noticed the chakra change within her. It was similar to the way Choji's chakra changed when he transformed. When it finished changing he noticed that it was back to normal. 'She must have a bloodline that allows her transform too.'

After she headed off the clone went through some hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu: Giso!" The young fox appeared in front of the blonde and Naruto spoke instantly. "Giso could you connect your sight with mine. I am investigating something." Giso instantly agreed and linked the two's sight. It was then that Naruto noticed that their wasn't a boat anywhere near them. 'Did she swim here from that port town?'

Slowly the blonde followed after the girl until he came to a run down shack, one that was covered in graffiti. Different words like monster, freak, Demon of the Ocean, and various slurs were written on the outer wall of her home. 'They seem to think she is the Demon of the Ocean. Could she be using that bloodline of hers to attack ships. If her transformation changed her into a human-fish hybrid it would explain how she swam here from the port town, the human features of the monster, and how the monster targets ships. Living here she would know when important ships were leaving.'

Walking to the door he knocked softly. "Giso be ready to dismiss yourself back to the summoning realm." The fox nodded,but didn't say anything as Naruto himself had been quiet the entire time. When the door opened the blonde saw that the girl had yet to reapply the bandages to her legs (1), of course she couldn't know that he could see. The purple-haired girl had scales covering her entire leg, and most likely under the rest of the bandages. "Umm, excuse me, my boat was attacked by something and I was separated from my team. I was wondering if someone here could tell me how to get to the nearest village."

The girl in front of him didn't say anything at first, but after a few seconds of silence she spoke. "You want to head north-east along the ocean, the closest town is a port."

Naruto smiled and went to step back, missing the step and stumbling a little. "Well thank you miss..."

The girl hesitated for a minute before speaking. "Isaribi"

He nodded his head. "Well thank you Isaribi, my name is Naruto." Instead of replying the girl shut the door in his face. After walking a ways away from the shack he spoke. "Giso thank you for your help, but you can go now. I am going to dismiss myself as well." A second later both of them had disappeared. By dawn the real Naruto had finished explaining what he had learned to his team. "What do you think Anko-sensei?"

The purple-haired woman thought about it for a moment before her eyes went wide. "It couldn't be..." All three genin waited for her to continue. "We will head to the town and talk to our employer. Afterwards Ino will most likely stay in town, keeping an eye out for any clues while the rest of us pay Isaribi a visit."

A few minutes later Anko sighed as Ino complained about the shipment they were to guard being moved up. Naruto sighed as the girl complained more. "Ino, it is a good idea to move the shipment date. What you should do is keep an eye out for anyone leaving town towards the area we camped at last night. We will be back as soon as possible."

With that the three that were leaving rushed towards Isaribi's shack when they got there they saw kids yelling at her. Naruto could sense guilt coming from her, and when a little kid through a rock, Anko moved to intercept it. The kids glared at Anko. "Why are you protecting her, she is the Demon of the Ocean!"

Naruto could sense the girl's guilt rising and spoke up. "Konoha is here to investigate the so-called Demon of the Ocean. Why don't you leave this to us, miss Isaribi is actually helping us." The kids eyes went wide hearing that Isaribi was trying to help find the Demon of the Ocean. However hearing the ninja were here to handle it, they ran off. Isaribi for her part was looking a little worried at the group of ninja.

When Anko didn't speak up right away, Naruto did. "So do you want to explain to us what is going on here?"

Instantly she transformed and headed towards the ocean, but Naruto caught her with a chakra chain. "Let me go!"

Naruto sighed and asked again. "You can transform into a fish/human hybrid. It is obvious that you have been attacking the ships. Now-"

Anko cut in here. "Is anyone still at that lab on Demon Island?"

Isaribi went wide-eyed at the question before the dam broke. "A scientist, Amachi. He is going to turn me back to normal for helping him attack these ships. You can't understand what it is like living like this. The kids think I am a monster just because of the bandages. If anyone knew the truth they would chase me out of town. I was kidnapped as a little girl and experimented on and they hate me for surviving. This is my only chance to get back to normal!"

Anko closed her eyes and sighed. "Naruto can your seals do anything that would allow us to keep her in town."

The blonde shook his head. "Not really, but I can seal her within her home. No one would be able to get in or out. To be honest I am unsure if her condition could be solved by a scientist. I don't think even Lady Tsunade can reverse this alone. The change has effected her chakra as well as her body. It has become something akin to a bloodline. With Lady Tsunade's help it might be possible for me to seal it off, but sealing a chakra based bloodline that effects the body to this level would be dangerous. More so since the bloodline is artificial as part of an experiment."

The girl stopped struggling as the blonde talked. "You think you can get me back to normal?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulder. "I can try, but even with a medic of Tsunade's caliber your chance of survival will be fifty percent. I doubt this Amachi could succeed in transforming you back." She wanted to say that the blonde was lying, but found herself unable to talk or move. "Seal!" Naruto called as she reverted to her mostly human form. After Anko placed the girl inside her home, Naruto placed a few seals on the walls. "Anko-sensei, now that she is sealed inside, how did you know about Demon Island?"

Anko frowned and looked towards the island. "Orochimaru had a lab there. Sea Country is where I was marked with the curse seal and abandoned. This is where a team that your father sent found me. I had somehow found my way to Mother Island, although they are unsure from where."

With a somber mood settling over a group as they headed towards Demon Island. They had decided to water walk there since Ino wasn't with them. It would be quicker and all three of them had the stamina. When they got to the shore of Demon Island Naruto spoke. "There are several presences here, but only two humans. It seems that Yoroi is one of them. The rest of the signatures are distorted, most likely experiments. I just hope none of them used to be human."

With that they started looking for the entrance. After walking around for a while they found it, and saw Yoroi there to meet them. "Well it seems that the Konoha ninja found our hide-out. Good that just means I get to drain you dry."

Shino stepped in front of the man. "You two go on, I can handle him."

Naruto and Anko nodded, knowing that Shino was best suited to handle and opponent who drains chakra. "Your teammates are leaving you to your death. I was holding back a lot in the preliminaries."

Shino said nothing and instead charged at Yoroi, who was shocked at the action. He had studied Team Seven before their first exam and Shino never started a fight with taijutsu. He lifted his arm up and caught the Aburame's fist, but then Yoroi was shocked further when Shino dissolved into swarm of bugs that started draining his chakra.

He let out a curse as he jumped away from the bugs, only for Shino to appear behind him. Shino kicked the man in the back sending him back into the bugs. By the time they moved back to Shino, the man was almost completely drained of chakra. Of course Shino left him with just enough to live.

Meanwhile Naruto and Anko found Amachi in a room with a dozen of mutated animals. They looked like lions for the most part, except for the fact that they had a two other heads. The first was a goat head over the lion head and the third was a snake that was in the place of a tail. All around them were mutated humans suspended in green goo, but Naruto couldn't sense anything from them. "Anko-sensei I can take care of these creatures, but be careful Amachi's chakra is similar to Isaribi's."

Anko looked at the man. "I see so you turned yourself into a monster." As the purple-haired woman attempted to skewer him on her Kunai, Amachi jumped back before leaving the room. He figured that it would only be a matter of time until his pets killed the blind brat, but he needed to get to the ocean to fight Anko.

Naruto for his part didn't waste and time. "Mille Fulgar Sagittas (One Thousand Lightning Arrows)!" He called as he thrust both hands out towards the beasts. Lightning seemed to arc between his fingers for a few seconds before arrows of lightning flew from them. The arrows were small, each one about the size of one of the blonde's fingers, but they traveled fast and pierced through the monsters. When the spell finally ended and all one thousand arrows had been sent out, all twelve of the creatures looked like swiss cheese.

Naruto for his part sighed. The spell could tear through almost all organic material, but Naruto couldn't move his hands once the technique started until it had ended. It was impractical to send out more then ten arrows against a human opponent, but against the mindless beasts in front of him, a large scaled version was just what he needed. Leaving the room he followed Anko's signature and arrived outside.

He noticed that Amachi had completely transformed and was underwater, but Anko was unconcerned. When Amachi burst from the sea attacking the woman she simply disappeared, before reappearing underneath him. A single punch launched the man through the air before Anko simply appeared behind him and kicked him back down. Instead of aiming for the sea though, she kicked him towards Demon Island. Amachi crashed a few feet from Naruto. The blonde simply wrapped the man up in his chakra chains and prepared to carry him back to Mother Island.

As Anko walked over to Naruto the both noticed that Shino had managed to recover a boat and was heading towards them. They ended up heading back to Mother Island on the ship, all a little tired. When they got back to Isaribi's hut they unsealed it and brought the girl with them. They stopped in the town and explained that Amachi experimented on people and turned himself into a fish/human hybrid, it explained the Demon of the Ocean and the abductions that had been happening over the past twenty years.

The next day the group were preparing to head home except for Anko, who had disappeared. Naruto knew that she got information about what happened between her and Orochimaru, but knew that she would make it on time. A few minutes later he was proven right when she appeared on the ship. Her chakra was light, almost like it would float free from her coils, and as bright as he had ever seen. With a smiled she poked her head over the edge of the ship. "You guys ready to leave?"

Ino glared a little. "We were waiting on you!"

Naruto shook his head and stepped onto a ship. Later that night, as they were about to dock he moved to where Anko was standing. "What has you so happy sensei?"

Anko grinned and looked to the sky. "I remembered what happened when Orochimaru brought me here. He showed me the experiments and when I wasn't okay with them, he marked me with the curse seal. He figured no matter what happened to me, it would at least give him data to work with. When I survived he offered to take me with him, and I declined. I wasn't abandoned by him, I left. I always wondered what would have happened if he had taken me with him, would I have turned into a twisted creature like he is."

Naruto scoffed at that. "Anyone who knows you, knows you wouldn't have."

Anko lightly laughed. "I didn't go with him back then. Back when I would have done anything to please him, I didn't go with him. I never ever would have become like him." Naruto smiled and walked away, knowing that this mission had been good for Anko.

After getting to Konoha and explaining what had happened to Tsunade. Once everyone except Naruto had left, the woman sighed. "I am sorry Naruto, but we can't help Isaribi. You are right that without a talented medic her chance of survival would be non-existent, but as sad as it is, she is a criminal. She will be tried and most likely jailed. I can't help her if that happens. The fact of the matter is, she attacked those ships." Naruto nodded his head in understanding and went to leave the office. "She isn't like you Naruto." When the young blonde froze and tensed, Tsunade continued. "She took the easy way out, sure there are some similarities, but in the end, she chose the easy way out. Her condition shouldn't mean that we treat her different otherwise half the people that turn to banditry during wartime would use the same excuse. Just because you see no other way, doesn't mean there isn't one."

Stepping outside Naruto felt the warmth from the last rays of the setting sun, he shook his head a little and started walking. He needed to clear his mind and didn't even bother to pick a destination. Before long though he was standing in front of the Inuzuka compound, it had only been three days since he left, and he silently wondered if Kiba was on a mission. Feeling for his boyfriend's chakra Naruto could sense him sleeping already. He could also sense a large amount of Tsume and Kiba's chakra in the air around the compound, most likely from a spar.

Thinking on it for a minute the blonde made his way to the compound before scaling the walls and slipping in through Kiba's windows. Slipping into the brunette's arms, he heard Kiba sniffing for a second before relaxing. Naruto smiled and feeling the familiar warmth from Kiba's chakra, he fell right asleep.

A/N:

(1) Keep in mind that she could see Naruto before she exited the house. She had just swam from the port town in Tea to the Mother Island. If i'm her and some blind guy comes knocking, I am not going to bother finishing putting the bandages back on. Now if Naruto could see then yeah, 100% get them on first thing.