…20 Miles From Konohagakure
A clearing in the middle of the woods 20 miles outside the walls of the most powerful shinobi village in the elemental nations was not the most ideal location for tense discussions about the history and future of a shinobi clan. But the impromptu meeting between the Uzumaki Clan head and a daughter of the clan was not as atypical as one might imagine. The life of a shinobi was chaotic at the best of times and survival meant being prepared and adaptable to odd happenings.
Despite her worry about the direction her mission had taken, Uzusane Karui was an excellent kunoichi and was prepared for all the possible reactions to her tale, including being forced to listen to the version the leaf village had, no doubt, created. She was not surprised that the leaf had manufactured a story to cover their betrayal as it was the logical way to gain the loyalty of, first Uzumaki Kushina and then her son.
What did surprise the adopted Kumo nin was the story they had fabricated. It was harrowing and did not cast the village hidden in the leaves in a positive light. In fact, Konohagakure had accepted its failure to do its duty to Uzu and carried it as a stain on its honor. Further, its demand to have all Uzumakis turned over to them had been, according to the Clan head speaking in the middle of the clearing, one of the ways it sought to address that stain.
Naruto explained further to the shocked kunoichi and her two teammates that Konoha even wore its disgrace for all to see and that was why all Chunin vests carried a red Uzumaki swirl on the back to represent the blood that still stained the core of the Konoha shinobi forces. With a gesture, both Hinata and Sakura rose and turned to show that they both wore the red swirl, though with their backs turned it wasn't the swirl that had Omoi's attention.
Togashi Samui was a friend of Karui. But she was also the leader of her team and that was a position she had earned and one she took very seriously. Everything about the story she had heard fit the facts and she knew that none of the evidence that her friend had would contradict anything that the Uzukage believed. She would not say it to Karui, since she could see her friend's refusal to accept the story she was hearing, but based on what she knew, Uzumaki Naruto's story made more sense than the one she had grown up being told.
Konohagakure's reputation for loyalty around the elemental nations was only second to Uzushiogakure's and every report of the leaf village before and after the destruction of Uzushiogakure had held true to that reputation. The report that the man in front of them was the only son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato also spoke to the truthfulness of the story since Konoha had not done to Kushina what her own village had planned to do to the Hyuga princess. Why conspire to destroy the village, claim the last Uzumaki female and then not breed her continuously from the moment she was able.
Samui looked over the third member of her team, Omoi, and when their eyes met, she could see that he was drawing similar conclusions. But they both knew that they had a problem in the form of their third teammate. She had been raised from birth to believe that her family had been betrayed by the leaf and one discussion in the middle of the woods would not change that.
Luckily for them Naruto also recognized this fact and after telling his story began to weave a compromise. "Uzusane Karui, we will not resolve this today to either of our satisfaction. But what can be said is that I recognize that you have done your duty to Uzu by finding me and telling me what you have. Your faithfulness and the faithfulness of your mother and grandmother to Uzushiogakure is appreciated and shall be recognized by the Clan and by your branch of the family in our rebuilt home."
Karui felt her face and heart warm in happiness at the Uzukage's words. The smooth baritone of his voice and the tenderness in his eyes help dull the anger and desperation that had been driving her during the mission and brought some rationality back to her thoughts. Having him acknowledge the story of her family and take her words seriously was really the most she should have expected from approaching him as she had. His next words, though, gave her true comfort and hope in the future for her clan.
"The Uzumaki Clan and Uzushiogakure continues and will continue to have a close relationship with Konohagakure, but blind faith and ill preparedness is what brought us close to extinction. And that is not a risk we will take again. Our clan will not be suborning ourselves to Konohagakure and will continue to be an independent allied clan and village." Naruto said. "We are heading their now and I invite you to join me so you can see our rebuilt home."
Samui was impressed by the Chunin shinobi that she believed had been made the Uzukage. He also worried her. He was very charming and she could see him slowly drawing her friend into his thrall and she was unsure what to do about it. She didn't think her grand uncle had fully thought this through and was worried that the man had set their village up to lose a powerful kunoichi. If Karui joined Uzushiogakure, Samui did not know what that would mean for her position as a Kumo nin. Divided loyalties were not generally allowed in the shinobi world.
Naruto invited Karui and her team to join them since they were heading to Uzushiogakure. It would allow Karui to meet more members of her displaced family. Samui accepted on behalf of her team recognizing an opportunity to gather more information on the village before word of its return truly spread across the elemental nations. Samui saw when her friend started to feel conflicted about her love for Kumo and her desire to reconnect with her family.
The two friends looked at each other with a bit of trepidation for the future and what would happen to their friendship. Karui knew that Samui was planning to spy on Uzushiogakure and she knew that it would be expected of her to gather as much information about the new power as well to report back to the Raikage. "Do not worry, Karui" Naruto said, breaking her spiraling thoughts. "I know that the Raikage and your adopted home, will expect you to report on what you learn and you should do that."
Naruto's seemingly uncaring acceptance that the Kumo team would be spying on him for the duration was disconcerting but it allowed the Kumo team to put off the difficult discussion for later and so they all agreed. Naruto's Uzumaki wives each gave him a kiss before vanishing in puffs of smoke. As usual, Inume was the last to leave, giving Naruto the most passionate kiss of the bunch.
Naruto allowed himself a moment to be dazed by the ten, gorgeous fox-women that had just kissed him and the fact that half of them were now all carrying his child. He was brought back to the real world when the two human women that were also tied to him came to his side. It was really the smell of their arousal from seeing him act as a powerful clan head that brought him back but the reason was unimportant.
With a quick nod, the six shinobi lept into the trees and were off at shinobi speed.
…Gates of Uzushiogakure, Uzu no Kuni
Team Samui had been in constant silent communication the entire 5 day long journey to the rebuilt Uzushiogakure. Karui had put aside her worries about where her loyalty would eventually be and honored her commitment to the village that had raised and protected her. It was a fool's hope that Naruto would hear her story and immediately become a missing nin, and similarly it was unfathomable to her to abandon her own home.
The discussion had revolved around gathering information on the three Konoha Chunin they were traveling with as well as teasing out as much information about Uzushiogakure as they could. For their part, Naruto's team found the efforts of their fellow Chunin adorable. Soft gathering of information was a skill that combined seduction and interrogation and the Kumo shinobi were not that good at it. Perhaps their "innocent" probes would have worked on some but no one who had passed Anko's class would fall for it.
But Naruto and his girls had also been in constant silent communication. After deciphering the silent communication technique of their traveling companions, Naruto had informed his girls about how much information he wanted them to "let slip" and what information he wanted to tease out of them. The three of them were much better at the game than their companions and by the time they reached the gates of Uzushiogakure they knew practically everything about the three Kumo shinobi, their skill sets, and their mission goals.
…
Uzumaki Naruto was received in the rebuilt village with a huge fanfare. It started with 20 kitsune guards that met him when the large gates had opened. Naruto already knew who they were as they had been specially selected by Inume to serve as the village guard. They were dressed similarly to ANBU, except that all of them had fox masks. The really odd thing was that despite never having met two kitsune with the same color fur, the 20 guards in front of him all had the exact same red-orange and white fur ears sitting on the top of their head.
They were also missing their tales. A thing Naruto thought to himself should have been the first thing he noticed. He looked to Inume who gracefully strode out of the gates behind the 20 guards and saw the mischievous glint in her eyes that told him she was waiting for him to ask how the women that were kneeling before him had been masked.
He decided to not give her the satisfaction. He knew who made up the team and had met them all before. and could not deny the effectiveness of the anonymity provided by having the same color fur and not displaying how many tails each member of the guard had. So instead he stepped to the lead kneeling "ANBU" and said "Report".
"Uzukage-sama, every approved member of the Uzumaki Clan has arrived and reported in. They have been shown to their respective branch compounds and kitsune have been assigned to help them settle in. 14 un-approved people claiming to belong to one of the branch clans are being verified and one Iwagakure spy has been executed. He arrived claiming to be an Uzumaki."
Naruto's chakra spiked for a second, in anger. Iwagakure was doing its best to become a mortal enemy of his and he was beginning to wonder if, once he got strong enough, he would be forced to destroy the entire village. Shocked at where his mind had gone, he quickly calmed himself while worrying about what the brutal nature of his thoughts said about him.
"If any of the 14 are found to not be part of the clan, interrogate them. If they check out, offer them the opportunity to live in the village under the rules we have established." Naruto said after a moment and smiled when the masked kitsune replied "Hai, Uzukage". He still wanted to be the Hokage of Konoha but he was starting find an appeal in being the Uzukage of Uzushiogakure. He looked over to Sakura and had a brief fantasy about himself as the Uzukage and her as the Hokage and how sexy the fight between them could be.
Another moment passed and he dismissed his "elite guard" and smiled as the all shunshined away in a small swirl of water that fell to the ground and almost instantly evaporated. He was not aware Uzu had its own shunshin and he looked to Inume and saw her sparkling eyes. She had won their little battle of wills and they both knew it.
There was no way he could ignore that last bit and Inume knew that she would be able to demand much sexual satisfaction in exchange for teaching him the whirlpool shunshin. He could figure it out himself but that was not how the game was played. He sent her a smile that bared his pointy teeth and Inume forced down the spike in horniness that it elicited, determined to keep secret how easily he now controlled her desire.
That was when Jiraiya and his four companions arrived. Omoi was the only male on his team but he was not the only one overwhelmed by seeing the leadership of the Hentaishindo up close. Jiraiya, the Shodai Ero Sennin radiated sex and power and both Karui and Samui wet themselves from the spike in lust they felt in the man's presence. Omoi felt the wave of lust but his attention was on the three Hadakashi. In an instant the erotic pressure vanished but it still took the three Kumo nin a moment to regain their balance.
For Naruto and his two ladies, as well as Inume, they simply smiled at the arrival of the perverted sage. They had all felt his perverted aura but were not as affected by it as the visiting shinobi. The four shinobi in Jiraiya's group almost instantly focused on the Kumo nin but a small movement from Naruto caused them to settle. Then Naruto snapped his fingers and two of his "ANBU" appeared. That caused a raised eyebrow from Jiraiya but he and his companions stayed silent.
"Show Ero Sennin and his companions to guest quarters in the Uzumaki compound, please and I think our Kumo guests would appreciate quarters in the Uzusane compound." Naruto said and received a second raised eyebrow when the masked kitsune said "Hai, Uzukage." The kitsune lead them through the gate, but just as Jiraiya passed Naruto he whispered, "I cannot wait for this explanation". Hinata and Sakura heard him and both sniggered. Naruto did notice that one of the Hadakashi passed Sakura a note as she passed her and found himself also awaiting an explanation.
…Guest Quarters, Uzusane Compound, Uzushiogakure, Uzu no Kuni
The tension from earlier in the day returned as team Samui settled in their quarters. The "ANBU" had introduced Karui as an Uzusane and she found herself reconnecting with the people she had met a week previous. Her family. One young man was the grandson of her own grandmother's sister; a revelation that had the Karui in tears. Samui had watched as the group of people figured out where in the family tree Karui fit and Samui had not seen her friend as happy as when they had called her itoko-chan.
Eventually they had made it to their quarters and the three friends had settled into an uneasy silence. Finally, Karui said "I will not war against my clan but I intend to stay in Kumo." Her words were met by a brief silence and then a sharp nod from both Samui and Omoi. Nothing else was said but the tension had relieved itself. Inter-marriage between allied shinobi villages was relatively common and the stipulation Karui had made about her ancestral home was not unusual for someone in her basic situation.
The three shinobi got back to business and quietly began to exchange hand signals and other secret communications to discuss what they would do. They believed they had gotten some good information from the Uzukage and his girlfriends but they were sure they had not pried any secrets from them. Still, the next day would see the official re-opening of the village hidden in the whirlpools and the three agreed that after the tour they had received, there was not much more for them to discover. They would leave in the morning and report back to the Raikage.
…Amegakure no Sato
The young woman arrived as part of a caravan from earth country. For civilians around the elemental nations, such caravans were the most economical and safest means of travel through the roadways that connected the nations and the various villages and towns. Escorting caravans was considered a C-rank shinobi mission and was typically done by the minor shinobi villages.
This particular caravan was made up of 16 carriages that would carry 80 people on the 4 day journey from the capitol of Earth Country to the Capitol of Fire Country. The stop in Amegakure was typical for the transport company and was an economic boon for the rain village. First because it was their shinobi that escorted the caravan and secondly because the regular trips brought travelers with goods and services to trade.
When the young woman exited the carriage she had been traveling in with 4 other travelers, she stiffened for a moment at all the attention her appearance garnered. She had become used to that reaction from the beginning of her trip. The purpose of her trip was obvious to everyone who saw her and her bright red hair.
Word of the revival of the Uzumaki had hit every corner of the elemental nations as had the call made by the clan head for every surviving member to come to Konohagakure. Since her journey had started, word had begun to spread rapidly that not only had the clan returned but so had the small village that had been its home. The caravans that had left Konoha carrying the confirmed members of the clan under guard by the Kitsune had been told they could tell any they wanted where they were headed. The official announcement had just been made but word of mouth had been going for a few days.
Many of the civilians and shinobi in the rain village did not believe all the stories coming out of the land of fire and instead most just thought the village was trying to extend the reputation they had gained from their most recent victory. The Uzumaki may be coming back but the "rumors" about the re-opening of Uzushiogakure was likely a smoke screen or an incentive to try and get more of the roaming clan to come to Konoha.
One Amegakure Jōnin was sure of this. He had seen more red-heads roaming his streets in the previous 3 months than the village had seen in 3 generations. He knew how the leaf shinobi thought and the victory over their "greatest" traitor and three separate villages was exactly the type of event that would spur them to try to gather the "lost" Uzumaki back to themselves. They were that arrogant and easily spurred to action. He knew because he used to be one of them.
Rokushō Aoi had once been a Jōnin from Konoha. His betrayal of his village had come as a surprise to most and, even now, he doubted any in the village who remembered him understood why he had defected. In truth, he did not really know, either. He simply saw an opportunity and took it. The Raijin no Ken would make him powerful and so he took it. By the time he was torturing Morino Ibiki he had simply committed to the decisions he had made and discovered that he liked the feeling of having power over the people that had once been stronger and had power over him.
His triumph over the current T&I commander rated so high in his life that it had grown to a feeling of triumph over Konohagakure. A feeling he wanted to repeat. His inflated ego did not make him stupid, however, and he had been looking for an opportunity and the beautiful young woman with long straight red hair presented that opportunity.
She was the third red-head to pass through Amegakure since he had decided on "stealing" another "treasure" from Konohagakure, but was the first that he was convinced was an actual Uzumaki. A fellow Amegakure Jōnin had informed him that the previous two "Uzumaki" did not have the high chakra level typical for the clan. Something his cohort would know as the man was a skilled sensor.
But the woman who Aoi was stalking silently through his village was different. Her chakra levels were impressive. Even better was that it was clear that she had only had the very minimum in shinobi training. In fact, he would not be surprised if she had been trained by a samurai. She clearly had access to her chakra and was unconsciously using it, but she had no real training in its proper use, something he could tell by the way she moved.
His plan was simple. He would kidnap her, torture her till she broke and then kill her. Since his victory would not mean anything without acknowledgement, he would send notice of his capture of her to Konohagakure. He would send the notice to Ibiki. He did not know why he had latched on to that man for his games, but he had and over the years he had sent taunts about the fact that he had suffered no consequences for his betrayal of Konoha, his stealing of a priceless artifact or his torture of the man himself.
He would not sign his name, but he knew that Ibiki would know who had done it and he imagined Ibiki having to inform the Uzumaki about what had happened to one of his clan members. He also knew that without more evidence, the Hokage would not risk a war with Amegakure based on the suspicions of a Tokubetsu Jōnin. And if Ibiki pushed, the Sarutobi Hiruzen he remembered might actually hand over Ibiki to Amegakure if his past actions regarding the Hyuga was evidence of anything.
The girl was heading back to the caravan and Aoi positioned himself to snatch her up. The constant rain in the village made hiding the coming kidnapping easier and he had called in a favor and knew that none of the Ame ANBU were in the area. In truth it was a minor favor. It was known he intended to do something and the Amegakure leadership tacitly approved tweaking the noses of the larger villages as much as possible as long as they had plausible deniability.
…
Haruno Sakura was excited. True she had not been able to see her Naruto-kun achieve one of his dreams and officially re-open his ancestral home. She had also had to leave and missed relaxing for the week exploring that home. That also meant it had been almost a week since she had felt his beautiful, strong body on top of her stretching her open every time her chakra aided healing made all her orifices virginally tight again.
Thinking about it made her angry as her tsundere personality asserted itself more and more each day of her mission. The thought of Naruto taming her again gave her a constant thrill, but that was not why she was excited. She was excited because she had been chosen to execute the very first B-rank assassination mission. And it even had a secondary recovery component to it. It was also the first solo mission outside the village that any of her team had been given.
The mission briefing, she had received from Jiraiya had included a message from Asuma-sensei as well. Naruto and Hinata had been jealous and proud of her and had sent her off with a memorable night of pleasure. She calmed herself as she felt herself snatched up, smiling internally at how predictable her target had been and how careless he was in the way he had been talking about the migrating Uzumaki Clan hopefuls.
She would have killed him already if not for her secondary mission to recover the Raijin no Ken. He kept it in a security storage seal on his person at all times and Sakura was not the seal mistress that Hinata was and she definitely was not in the same class as Naruto, Uzumaki Sutairu Fuin no Masutā. The skill level she had achieved to seal Gaara was probably enough to break Aoi's seal but she did not enjoy sealing and so decided to execute her mission differently.
Her plan was to cause him to draw the weapon against her before killing him and taking it. Getting him to draw his weapon was very easy as reports said that he had grown dependent on the power the weapon had granted him. He used it in every battle he was in, even ones against opponents he could easily defeat without it. For those opponents he would "monologue" about the history of the weapon and how he had stolen the "great treasure" from Konoha.
She was pretty sure that she had the power and skill to openly challenge Aoi in the middle of Amegakure, defeat him and then defeat the Ame nin, ANBU included, that would likely appear to try and stop her. She was interested in testing herself in that way but the mission parameters required a "close to 0" political impact and a Konoha shinobi attacking a Ame shinobi in the middle of Amegakure no Sato, even if he was a Konoha missing nin, would be anything but a "close to 0" on the political impact scale.
So, she had arranged for the missing nin to do the work for her. His reaction to her higher than normal chakra levels, that she was allowing to be detectable, plus her apparent lack of shinobi skill and the beautiful face she had modeled after a combination of Uzumaki Kushina and Uchiha Mikoto, was very predictable. And as suspected, he had started to tail her after she had traveled a block from the caravan. By the second block, she was able to sense that there were no shinobi, besides him within 6 blocks of her.
Her kidnapping was quick. That was the only good thing she could say about it. He had tied her up but she had seen better restraints done by second rate bandits. He had not even gagged her until she started screaming, something she did only to maintain her cover. And even though the on-duty shinobi were "helping" him, he still should have made some attempt at being discreet. He was carrying her openly and her inner tsundere was disgusted at the weak, pathetic man carrying her into one of the Ame training grounds.
…Haruna Sakura vs. Rokushō Aoi
Sakura's plan had been to wait until the man had dumped her to use her strength to break free, but by the time they were approaching the small cottage he intended to use, her disgust with the man's abilities had left her in a controlled rage. So instead she spiked her chakra and when the "Jōnin" paused in surprise, she leapt off his shoulder, broke her bonds in midair and flipped landing in front of him with a scowl on her face.
Despite the fact that her movements obviously showed her to be a kunoichi, the man looked at her with confused eyes and Sakura's temper exploded at him. "Oh Kami, are you a moron. I. am. a. kunoichi." She said and then sighed exasperated when he finally got it and his face went from confused to arrogant. "He might be worse than the Uchiha" she mumbled.
The fact that the kunoichi seemed to have so little respect for him angered Aoi greatly and he quickly released the seal holding the Raijin no Ken. When it activated and started to glow with lightning chakra he looked at her with sinister intent, but was surprised to see her unimpressed by both him and his weapon.
Aoi did not know who this girl was, or why she was after him. She did not seem like a hunter nin, which wasn't surprising as he was barely a C-ranked missing nin, protected by a ninja village, so did not make for an ideal target. Hunter-nin were typically ANBU on special assignment and as she fumed, he was pretty sure, she was no ANBU.
Sakura calmed herself and then spoke. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I am a Chunin of Konoha and you have the pleasure of being my first B-rank assassination mission." She smiled at the emotions that appeared on her opponents face as he processed her words. She could see the shock that she, a Chunin, was attacking him, a Jōnin. More shock that her presence was sanctioned. Confusion about the existence of B-rank assassination missions. Offense that his death had only been valued as an B-rank assignment.
Sakura was a bit surprised at what happened next. She expected him to monologue. Either about her youthfulness, anger that his death order was only B-ranked, or droning on about the sword he carried. It was how the reports on him had portrayed him. Instead he attacked. For a moment she considered that intelligence on him had been wrong. But his slowly developing attack and the pathetic job he had done kidnapping her confirmed that the situation had simply pressed all his buttons.
He made a diagonal slash at her when he arrived and she danced around it. He had over extended and so she stepped on his ankle and broke it, before jumping away and looking at him. The abilities of the sword were well known and was weak against Taijutsu and speed. It could cut through chakra and s-ranked offensive jutsu as well as having telekinetic abilities and, of course, the ability to channel and direct lighting.
Sakura was further disgusted that it only took high Genin speed to stay ahead of the supposed Jōnin's attempts to capture her in one of the powerful sword's lightning attacks, as long as she didn't attack him directly. She supposed she should take into account that she had shattered the fool's ankle in the opening moves of the fight but she didn't want to.
For his part, Aoi was angry. The "Sword of the Thunder God" was supposed to make him unbeatable. That had always been an exaggeration and the sword was keeping him from suffering an instant defeat by limiting the girl in front of him to Taijutsu as it was able to deflect or cut through any other jutsu. It had even disrupted a genjutsu that Sakura had tried to sneak unto him.
In truth the sword had been aiding him more than he would appreciate. His attacks were limited due to his own lacking skill but the sword enhanced his ability to defend by an order of magnitude. The normal flow of information for a reaction, is for first the brain to recognize the action it is to react to, figure out a response, transmit that response to the appropriate muscle groups, and then the body would respond. Masters of a martial art develop muscle memory through training that allowed their body to react without needing the brain to process what was happening.
Aoi was not a master of kenjutsu. In fact, he had achieved the rank of Tokubetsu Jōnin while in the leaf by doing the bare minimum and was not a true master of any martial form. He had been promoted to full Jōnin when he joined Amegakure purely as an incentive from the smaller village to acquire the missing nin.
Luckily for Sakura's target, the Raijin no Ken had the ability to enhance the reaction time of its wielder. It would make a grand master of kenjutsu, virtually invincible, a master into a grand master, and a novice into a master. Aoi attacks were limited to his basic sword skills but his defense, aided by the sword was polished and impressive.
None of this mattered against the powerhouse that was Haruno Sakura. Her increased strength and durability plus her speed allowed her to step through the perfect defense of the sword and strike the improper grip Aoi was using causing his primary defense to fly away from him. Aoi looked at her in shock. She had a slice down her arm and he could see her muscles twitching from the electric shock but what should have been a devastating injury did little to slow the "bitch" in front of him and now he was disarmed.
He tried to fight. He was a Jōnin after all, but without his sword he was defenseless against the kunoichi. Each moment brought more and more pain as Sakura shattered his collar bone, broke his other ankle, and cut open the arm he usually wielded the sword in, all the way to the bone. He did not know why he had not already died from the gruesome injury but the pain had sapped all his energy and he was left kneeling in the middle of the clearing, his brain unable to think clearly.
Over the next two hours, Sakura applied every torture to the defeated shinobi that he had done to Morino Ibiki and a few of her own. That was also a part of the mission parameters, added by Anko as a "bonus" objective. Ibiki's torture had not broken him and he had not only survived and escaped but had become a better shinobi because of the experience. Aoi' s was not so resilient and his mind broke. Still Sakura did not stop till the broken man could not even whimper any longer.
She removed his bloody head and burned his body. The head went into one storage seal and the recovered Raijin no Ken went into another. With a happy smile Sakura finally released the henge before she vanished into the woods and made her way to her rendezvous with Naruto and Hinata.
…Haruna Sakura Wins
…Fatality
