Chapter 29: The Coming of the Storm

[June 01; Naruko's Age: 16]

It was only a few moments after being thrown by the vixen for Naruko to wake up. Once she did, she noticed that she was in a bed, on the boat, and both her back and stomach where killing her…

"Damn it all to hell." Naruko moaned out while sitting up on the bed. Then, the stinging of her stomach struck in a flash of pain, but it left just as quickly. "Gotta thank high speed healing." the last Uzumaki commented as she looked at her bandaged midsection.

Upon farther inspection, she noticed that she was covered from the waist up in bandages. Then she observed the room noticing it was day thanks to the window and that it was the room she was given to share with Mjoll. Then she found her, fixed, cloths on top of a chair. As such, she got up to dress.

"At least they knew my clothes can be fixed by putting chakra in them." she commented, after putting on her black cargo pants.

Then, she carefully started putting on the long sleeved shirt, leaving the chainmail alone for now, and started tying the strings. But even as careful as Naruko was, she still flinched in pain from time to time. After that, she put on the blue tunic (1) and then carefully bent down to pick up her shoes. It was only when she was sitting on the bed did the door to the room opened…

"Valkyrie-san! What are you doing up?" young Mist inquired as she saw the injured woman putting on her shoes and already dressed.

"I heal fast Mist. I expect you to remember that after us working together for so many months." Valkyrie commented adjusting her leather boots.

"Then explain this needle we found beside you." the young healer questioned while taking out said item.

It was true that the tall blond healed fast and she had seen it many times during the training the blond had with her father and brother. Plus, there were the missions which sometimes resulted with Valkyrie getting back with something broken or bent in a way it shouldn't be only to be better the next day. But poison could be a whole other situation.

"The one that attacked tried to poison me but I managed burn the poison of me with chakra. Regretfully, I needed more concentration which was the reason why I fell unconscious to begin with." the last Uzumaki explain/half-lied to her healer while getting up from the bed.

"Anyway, how is everyone?" she asked while picking up Brave Vesperia from the foot of her bed and placing the straps on her right shoulder. After which she grabbed the belt that held her sealing bags and tied it around her waist. She walked over to the younger female and took the syringe to inspect it. Since her medical knowledge was very limited and her eyes weren't microscopes she couldn't really do anything with it. Still she sealed it in one of her three bags for later, if they come across a good hospital. It really would piss her off to learn that she could be done in by some stupid germs.

"Everyone is worried about you Valkyrie-san. We don't even know what happened to you." Mist explained with a worried tone.

"Gather everyone in the navigation room and I'll tell you." suggested/ordered the Uzumaki. The healer nodded and left in a jury to gather a group. Once Mist left Naruko sighed…

"Why is it that I can't ever have a mission that wouldn't scale into something drastically more complex and dangerous?" Naruko asked to no one in particular…

"Because you were born under the star Fortune, but it was during the very moment bad and good luck were shifting. As such, you ended up with having the best and worse luck a human can." Kyūbi's mocking voice echoing inside her head.

"It was a rhetorical question, Akane." the blond growled out. But then who wouldn't after hearing that bit of information from a being whose very existence defined reality itself?

"I know!" cheekily replied the vixen just to spite her host. By the increase growling, one could say it worked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

[Navigating room; Lower deck Lv1]

"Uzumaki are you sure you should be standing up?" Roy Mustang questioned immediately upon seeing his leader enter the room.

"Yes Roy now-" the blond leader started but was interrupted by a squeaky voice coming from her right…

"Are you sure about that, partner? You looked like someone put a meat grinder to your back and stomach." questioned a teddy bear size Mjoll from Elsy's left shoulder.

"I'm okay, chibi." the whiskered female responded with a smirk as she looked at the small griffin. Said griffin looked like she did not like being called that…

"DON'T CALL ME CHIBI!" thundered the ventriloquized voice of Mjoll through the room as her left eye twitched… "It's your fault that I'm like this anyway! How the hell did you even do this?" the griffin fumed. Most of the women presented actually found the angry look on the haft green haft white face of the teddy bear size griffin cute.

"I used the Transformation Jutsu on you. A while back I figured mine is an actual physical transformation not the genjutsu that's normally used as." Valkyrie explained to the griffin as well as everyone else who were trying to figure out why the, normally horse-sized, beast was now handheld size.

It was during her training with the Greil Mercenaries, one of her clones had decided to screw around with the Transformation Jutsu out of pure boredom and mischievousness. The end result was not only finding out that her transformations were authentic, but that she transform other things of her choosing. This included objects and people, although, when it came to people it took a hell of a lot more chakra considering she was practically bending their existence to her will. Of course, that discovery did come with the price of the clone going overboard and change about half the people in the fort into their opposite gender before Naruko "killed" it.

"What are Genjutsu anyway, Valkyrie-san?" Martel asked with crossed arms and the Valkyrie would have answered, but she was beaten to it by their resident shinobi scholar…

"Illusion technique that shinobi use to hide themselves. That was the thing which was probably used on us by whoever attacked Valkyrie-san." Kalina explained sitting beside Masaru who was sitting backwards on one of the chairs.

"You are right to say that, which is why I've gathered you here." Valkyrie confirmed with a nod and then directed her gaze at everyone present. "I want you tell you that I'm expecting to find people that can fight like shinobi inside the castle."

Once uttered, everyone fell silent. But how the hell could they not? The only person they've ever seen that could qualify as a shinobi was their Valkyrie. Even then she hadn't displayed the most propounded characteristic a shinobi was known for. Yes, she used jutsu, but they've never seen her display an unparallel level of stealth. They always could tell where she was even when her steps were very light.

Not once did they remember her actually vanishing from their sights like she never existed. Never had they witness Valkyrie simply be in one place and in another or had they ever seen her assassinate someone with the ability only someone that live in shadows could do. Sure, at time she showed as nimble and cunning as a thief, but she always fought head on against someone.

But there was one thing they feared most of all and that was demons. Almost all of them have heard the stories of the nine Bijū. Those nine demons, that each held enough power to create a village all their own, was something very unknown to them. Sure, they got the normal chakra mutation in animal sometime because three times their regular size or creatures that only mad science could produce, but nothing like Bijū.

But their real fear was not that those nine monstrosities existed, but the fact they only nine were known. To the veteran soldiers like Mustang, Hawkeye, Armstrong, Martel, Titania, and Masaru the idea that only nine demons existed was beyond stupid. From experience, they knew there will always be someone stronger out there. Then there was the fact that, if stories were to be believed, there existed humans with the nine-tailed demon inside of them.

The chance of finding one of these nine humans was slim at worst and a fantasy at best, but it could still happen. They knew their tall blond leader could fight and could probably beat a few of them with raw power, but none of them could imagine her taking down something like that. Sure the Titan was something incredible, but in the fight she was using a summon and she didn't have to worry about flattening someone on the battle field.

As such they really hoped not to end up fighting one of these nine people or worst someone with an unknown demon. After all if there was the possibility of more demons existing then there was definitely the possibility of more humans with demons in them. Fortunately (or unfortunately) none of them had ever heard of any human like that existing in Gaia. Still they need to see if their leader had a plan to counteract this new treat.

"How would we fight these shinobi then or anything that they could throw at us Valkyrie-san?" Titania questioned her leader before the other veterans had the chance. The second tallest blond in the group gained a hard look on her blue eye at the question. For a few seconds she was silence but then she directed her gaze at everyone in the room.

"First rule would be to forget most of your honor and fight as dirty as you can. Second would be to never let your guard down or turn your backs at the opponent. Third rule don't be a hero but protect each other if you can. Last rule is fuck order because when fighting a shinobi every rule is the first rule." Valkyrie spoke with a hard edge in her voice that none knew she could produce.

"Very clear on that, eh Val-chan?" Masaru joked, but his laughing was silenced by a kunai imbedding itself on the backrest of the chair he was sitting backwards on. Only Elsy, Riza and Mjoll noticed the Uzumaki's full throw, while the rest just saw her right arm blurred in and out for a second.

"If I had been an enemy you would be dead. So yes, keep in mind those rules." The blue eyed female ordered as her eye narrow at the rest. "Also genjutsu maybe illusion, but they are incredibly hard to get out of if you don't know how."

"Do you how to do that, Valkyrie-san?" Ike asked and everyone noticed that for a moment there leader actually looked hesitant for the first time since they've known her. Because of this, the only raven laguz spoke to respond the question the mercenary boy had asked.

"From my research, I've discovered that there exist three ways. One, is to suppress your chakra and quickly expel it outwards. Two, is to have a friend put their chakra into you to expel the foreign chakra of the genjutsu. Lastly, would be to cause yourselves a good amount of pain." the thin, violate eyed, raven laguz explained and Valkyrie nodded.

"Thanks for the explanation Kalina-san." the blond Uzumaki commented, but on her mind another conversation was taking place. 'You, this begs the question as to why you didn't teach me about genjutsu?' she inquired through the metal link with a level of annoyance towards tenant. 'Akane?' she asked again upon the vixen not answering the previews question.

"I forgot okay! Beside your chakra control is still piss poor at best right now. Now, could you please shut up now? I'm trying to find out what the hell happen to the seal. I could swear I've seen these markings before." responded the great demoness and cutting the mental link before Naruko could get one more word in. So with that, she returned back to the conversation with the group and said...

"Still, as I said, genjutsu can feel very real and more often than not they are too subtle to perceive. But if you do notice you're inside of one, do as Kalina explained." the Uzumaki princess ordered all of the people gathered there.

"Not to mention keep our guard up as much as possible." Major Alex Louis Armstrong added beside his wife Martel.

"Yes, you are right Major Armstrong. A true shinobi will use almost any chance to kill their opponent." Valkyrie nodded to the wise words from the physically strongest person among them. But then another not-so-wise voice spoke from the far back of the room.

"Just like the scum they are." a nameless soldier commented with disgust. But then everyone saw a sword that could only be Valkyrie's Brave Vesperia fully drawn against that nameless soldier's neck.

"Think what you will, but it means little if you're dead." Valkyrie coldly spoke from behind the shivering soldier. Valkyrie put on a proud and happy grin, while looking at the front of the room. "Did I get that right boss?"

"Yes." the original Valkyrie responded and the clone popped out of existence leaving everyone wondering when the hell their leader had created the clone. "As you can see, a shinobi could strike at any moment and, scum or not, the victor is the one that tells the story. You can fight with honor if you want, I will not dictate how you live. That is life's job. But know that honor has many different ways and significances depending on the person."

"Okay then! With that out of the way we can proceed onto making the plan for the attack on the fort in the next week." Roy announced much to the Naruko's surprise.

"Next Week?" the Valkyrie inquired upon hearing the time frame. Last she heard the ship was scheduled to arrive, at worst, five days.

"Ay, winds are not in our favor, my lass. If this keeps up we may not make it for when the siege starts." The Captain of the ship answered her question with some regret and annoyance on his voice. They watched as Valkyrie sighed in annoyance, while massaging the bridge of her nose. During the massage, she kept mutter things like "Fucking wind", "If only we could…" or "need a giant fan" among a string of curses that some of them didn't even knew existed, from her vocabulary. Then, everyone could practically see a light bulb flash above the blond's head. The smirk on her face and glint in her eyes didn't make any of them feel safe. Well, mostly everyone, since the teddy bear size Mjoll looked excited for some reason.

"What if I fix that speed problem?" Valkyrie announced while creating one clone. She started to walk up the stairs and Mjoll flew to her right shoulder. But before she was out of the room she turned her head towards them…"I'll leave a clone here to hear all of your ideas while I fix our wind problem."

With that, she left for the upper deck and left everyone wondering if they were about to die. Minutes later everyone (but the clone who used chakra to stick to the floor) was violently thrown to the side as the ship suddenly and rapidly jerked forward.

"What in Davy Jones' Looker!?" the Captain yelled out as he picked himself up and ran up the stairs to her upper deck. After all, that sudden jerk couldn't be anything good in his opinion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

"I can't believe it was that easy." the Captain said in complete astonishment at what he was seeing. The Valkyrie with her teddy bear size mount on her shoulder only chuckled with arms crossed.

"Over time, I've learned that clones fix a lot of things. Plus, having almost inhuman amounts of chakra and a real transformation, those help." The short haired blond said as she saw four clones with fans like Temari's, no pun intended, fanning the sails of the ship.

Naruko had been whishing this could have been like those small sail boat she played with on one of the ponds in Konoha when she was little. She remembered spending some time fanning the little sail boat to make it go fast and she wished to do the same for this ship. It was during her muttering that she remembered how Temari carried a giant fan on her back to help her produce gust of win

Once that memory came to her, the idea soon followed. Her idea was to try and recreate the way the sand kunoichi produce wind. Therefore she made 8 clones and had four transform into giant fans. Then she had the other four clones channel her False Gale Jutsu through those fans. End result, now they had their own personal wind propellers. This of course of course stumped the seasoned Captain until he shook his head.

"Ay," He chuckled, "with this we could very well arrive in 3 days from now." the man said, as he turned to look at the residing back of the wind mistress. "Where ya going?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Back to the troops, we still need to make plans, I have a few ideas." The blond said, but then stopped through the door leading to the lower deck. After stopping, she turned her head…"Hey do you have any spare rope lying around long enough to reach the water?"

"Ay, but why?" the confuse Captain responded. Then her saw Valkyrie create 10 more clones

"I need to learn how to walk on the ocean surface." she explained as five clones started to look for the rope.

"You do know how hard that's going to be, at the speed the ships going, right boss?" one of the remaining clones questioned their creator. Said creator only looked back with no interests and slight annoyance.

"Your just a clone now go do your job." Valkyrie order and finally left to the lower deck.

"Fucking sadistic, masochist, bitch with suicidal tendencies." Commented one of the other clones as they also started to look for the rope. Seriously, what was their creator thinking? Was tying rope around their waist and later throwing them overboard to learn how to run on the ocean really safe?

"Maybe she just wants to see a new way to commit suicide." Clone 3 added.

"Or maybe she wants to learn to run before walking!" Clone 4 joined in.

"Whatever it is we're screwed either way if don't do this, so move your asses!" Clone 5 ordered out to the complaining clones as she started to tie a rope around her waist. "Seriously! How the hell is it the every clone boss makes takes on their own personality if left alone for too long?"

"Maybe is because we are an extension of the true self of our creator, we just have some emotions more predominant." Clone 6 tried to explain to her sister.

The Captain for his part just shook his head and didn't even try to understand the magic or ninjutsu, Valkyrie was using. She was using it to help them and that was enough for him. Who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth? So long as they didn't blow up his ship he would let her do her thing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

[June 01; 9:30pm]

"Log-fucking-dammit." Mjoll heard her tunic wearing partner curse out for the one hundredth time in the night.

"Still trying to understand the seal on that kunai?" the griffin questioned from her spot on a chair at the back of her blond partner. Said partner was sitting crosses-legged on her bed while inspecting a trident like kunai with inscription on the handle resting on her naked palm. Around the bare feet of the blond where books and scrolls littering the bed.

"Yes, but this thing is just unreal." Valkyrie sighed in frustration while spinning the kunai by its ring. "When I see the seal on it the thing feels familiar, but I can even make out the first thing about it!"

"Who the hell made it anyway? That thing is more complex than anything I've seen in Celestina." Mjoll commented because, while she was not versed in seal crafting, she could still tell an approximation of the level needed to make a seal. As such, about four hours ago, when the Uzumaki had taken the kunai out, she had been able to tell that one needed to be at the very least an Expert level seal crafter.

"It was made be my old man. Apparently this was the medium for his famous Flying Rajin Jutsu. But I just can't get the thing to work." At this point, she stopped spinning the kunai and returned to looking at the seal on its handle. "As far as I get is that this kunai is suppose to be a rod or stabilizer for the technique to work, but that's it. The actual usage, concepts, and mechanics eludes me completely."

"Maybe you're just thinking too hard. It's too bad you can't ask that Lowell hatchling to teach you." commented the small griffin as she flew to the bed and get a better look of the books and scrolls around her summoner/partner. 'Let's see jutsu rules and mechanics, chakra theories, seal crafting, metal forging and what appear to be personal letters. If I remember correctly she took the kunai out of that blue scroll. Heh, she really wants to figure this out. I wonder just how strong this jutsu is.' she thought upon seeing the little collecting of reading material in the bed.

"Well, we had to leave the Lowell family in that port town. It was part of the deal we made with them." the blond responded to her half green-faced griffin as the summon inspected her books. Then she added…"But I feel that asking the kid to tell me how this works is not only cheating, but also a personal failure. Not to mention sitting on my old man's grave… Not that I have much respect for him right now."

"Why don't you rest for now, eh partner? If the answer didn't appeared after staring at the thing for 4 hours it won't during the next few minutes." The small griffin suggested and for a moment it looked like the Uzumaki princess would not relent, but she sighed in defeat nonetheless.

"I think you're right Mjoll." The whiskered female as she started to seal the books, scrolls and the tri-kunai. It was slow, methodical and calculated as if she was planning something. After that the tall woman started to take off the blue tunic and white long sleeve shirt after untying the strings. Then she put the clothing on the chair Mjoll had been, but the she stopped with her back to the griffin… "Also I…" She sighed, "I think it's time I show you something."

"Like what?" Mjoll questioned as the Uzumaki turned around, walked to the bed and picked her up.

"Something that, as my partner you're entitled to know, but don't tell anyone except you. I'm already taking a chance with letting you in as it is." Valkyrie said with a serious gaze in her blue eyes while looking at Mjoll's yellow ones.

"Don't worry partner, I know how to keep a secret." the half green face summon proudly announce. Valkyrie looked at her eyes to make sure and later nodded. With that, the tall female moved so that both were under the covers of the bed and Mjoll rested between the impressive valley of the summoner. "So I'm guessing it's in dreamland then." she commented far getting comfortable between her summoners breast. 'None of the guys even know she has such gorgeous double Ds on her thanks to the clothes she wears. Heh heh, I'm really lucky to see this part of her so I guess being this small has its advantages.'

"More or less, now go to sleep." Ordered the summoner, not knowing what her summon could be thinking. As such, both females, slowly but surely, let glorious sleep take a hold over them…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

[Inside Naruko's Mindscape]

Once Mjoll opened her eyes, she noticed she was in a forest with some dead trees, a giant mountain that pulsated blue with whips of orange and random crystal trails. The next thing she noticed was that she was in her human form, and dressed in a simple white summer dress.

"Not really my thing, but at least its comfy. Plus my wings and tail are fine to." Mjoll commented as she flexed her wings and waged her lion tail. Then, she looked around the world she was in again. "Where is here anyway?"

"Inside my mindscape, and before we start this I would like to say that I'm doing this so we can work better together. I'm not looking to be friends with you, but I know we need to connect better to fight better. I have to win this war if it's the last thing I do." Valkyrie explained in serious voice from behind the humanoid griffin woman.

The blond griffin turned and came face to face with her partner. Said partner was dressed in the full set of the Sky Champion's Tunic, had her arms crossed, and had a pair of wings on her back. One wing was as that of a dove, while the other was that of a raven.

"Heh, okay partner whatever you say, but I warn ya. I get people to like more often than not." the yellow eyed female chuckled and then smirked. She transformed into her griffin form and spread her wings. "Now why don't we see who is faster by having a race from here to that mountain, eh Valkyrie-sama?"

"Naruko, my real name is Uzumaki Naruko, but you're only allowed to call me by that name when we're alone." Naruko announced as she prepared for the small challenge presented to her.

"No problem, Naruko-chan." replied Mjoll, and with that, they both took off to the skies.

Neither of them noticed the Hyūga princess hiding behind a bush. Hinata had gotten their around the time Mjoll was looking around the world a second time. She had been meditating in her bedroom, when a portal opened inside her mindscape. Remembering that the last time a portal opened in her mind, it had let her inside Naruko's mind, she quickly took it. As she suspected, it had let her to the waterfall inside Naruko's mindscape.

Noticing this, she quickly can out of the water and searched the forest for her love. Her search was cut short once she felt someone other than Naruko and Kyūbi inside the inner world. As such, she quickly hid behind a bush and used her Byakugan so see around her. Therefore, she was able to see the whole conversation and know what was been talk about thanks to lip reading.

She sighed, "At least I know that person is not competition. But now I know she really is heading to a fight and I can't do anything to change her mind." Hinata commented, while turning her Kekkei Genkai off and her tiger ears flattened slightly.

"Then again, I'll be leaving on a weeklong mission tomorrow. Worse is that I have to work with Haruno." The tigress complained, she still had not forgiven Sakura.

Plus, after the things she heard from Naruko last night, she was sure it would take even longer. What kind of monster asked for a child to be killed? Apparently the pinkette did and if it wasn't because murder is illegal, she would have killed Haruno the moment she had woken up this morning. Not to mention that if Sakura Haruno turned up dead on the street, she would be the prime suspect considering everyone knew how she felt about the pink haired medic-nin.

"At least Kakashi-sensei will be there as the senior joūnin. Come to think of it, this will be perfect time to ask him why he never told me about Naruko."

With that said, Hinata got up and started racing towards the waterfall and her inner world. She needed to prepare for both the mission and the confrontation. She considered Kakashi a great man and a valuable friend, but no way in hell is she going to let him out so easily about lying to her all of these years. Friend or not, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXX

[June 04; 3 miles away from the cliff where Fortress of the Witch is located]

A problem had arisen just when they got to the starting point. During the voyage here everything had been going well even though the Captain had warned them that a storm was heading their way. Regretfully, not even Naruko's fanning clones were able to better the speed of Mother Nature. Now, they were in the middle of the storm with the heavy rain falling without remorse.

"Guess it's time for plan B" Naruko mentioned to Mjoll who was sitting on her right shoulder.

"Looks like it, partner." Mjoll confirmed.

After all, with the weather creating such a downpour on them it would be impossible for even the light armored units to climb the wet stone. For them to even try would just be suicide considering none knew how to climb such a dangerous cliff. Therefore, Naruko went with something she knew would help with their problem…

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"


Next Time: The Valkyrie commences her siege but along the way the monstrosities of war raise and two women question their choices in life.


Story Facts:

(1)

Sorry for the mistake on Naruko's clothing. I finally remembered that Link wears a tunic not a shirt. But I really hope that mention it's like Link's clothing helped visualize it.


A/N:

Well, here is the new chapter. Sorry it took so long, but finals started full force now and I've been swamped. But hopefully after May 13, I will know freedom, which means more chapters!

Oh and I saw Iron Man 3 on May 07, 2013. It was AWESOME!