Ninja Tail
You probably thought that last chapter was rather amusing, am I right? Well, you probably won't think so about this chapter...it's going to be sad.
As such, I am going to be referring to this chapter as The Land Of Sorrow...you'll see why not too long from now.
Chapter 37: The Land Of Sorrow
Naruto smiled as he headed back home to the world of ninja.
Oddly enough, Kimimaro was there to see him.
"Hey there, Kimimaro! Why weren't you at the race?" asked Naruto.
"The race? I was sick..." spoke the bone ninja.
"Oh no! Was your illness flaring up again?" inquired the chunin.
"No no no. I was fine. I was already cured of it, remember? It was just the common cold, that's all." answered Kimimaro.
Naruto sighed in relief.
"That's good to hear." noted the chunin.
Curious, he decided that it was time for him to do a mission.
Much to his surprise, he found that there was another mission to visit the Land Of Waves.
"Hmm? I haven't seen one like this in a while..." spoke Naruto.
Shrugging, he decided to accept the mission, and went to Tsunade to talk about the subject.
"Hey there, Tsunade! I noticed that there was a mission to visit the Land Of Waves..." grinned the chunin.
"Yes, I know." nodded Tsunade.
"Funny, I already went there three years ago..." acknowledged Naruto.
"Did you now?" asked the Sannin.
"Yeah...it was quite a mission." noted the chunin.
"I bet it was...you were still a genin back then...and yet you went on an A-Rank Mission." acknowledged Tsunade.
"Yeah...they didn't tell me about that when I signed up." noted the chunin.
"If only the Land Of Waves wasn't so broke back then..." murmured the Sannin.
"Right...can you give me a mission briefing?" inquired Naruto.
"Sure...as you know, the Land Of Waves has been a valuable asset to us. They've been giving us quite a few goods and services." explained Tsunade.
"That's true." nodded the chunin.
"However, as of late...they've completely cut off all communications with us." spoke the Sannin.
"What? That's pretty odd..." questioned Naruto.
"We know...that's why we want you to investigate. I don't remember wronging them...but maybe you should talk to them anyway." suggested Tsunade.
"Maybe I should." nodded the chunin.
"You do happen to be a friend of theirs...are you not?" inquired the Sannin.
"Of course!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Good. That should make diplomacy a lot easier." acknowledged the Fifth Hokage.
"I bet so!" shouted the chunin.
"However...I can't help but shake the feeling that there's foul play involved." said Tsunade.
"What makes you say that?" inquired Naruto.
"Well, I won money at gambling today." explained the Fifth Hokage.
"Not again...do you think it was Gato's thugs?" asked the chunin.
"I think it's something much worse." answered Tsunade.
"That doesn't sound good..." noted Naruto.
"I suggest that you bring some of your friends with you..." suggested the Sannin.
"Good idea." nodded the chunin.
"I know! I'll bring Sakura with you!" exclaimed Tsunade.
"Huh? Oh, that's right...she went on that mission with me." noted Naruto.
"Don't worry...she won't just stand there and do virtually nothing like she did earlier." answered the Sannin.
"Right, of course..." nodded the chunin. This time they didn't have a bridge builder to protect...so hopefully things would be a bit easier.
Immediately, Sakura entered the office.
"You called?" inquired the kunoichi.
"I need you to go on a mission with Naruto." explained Tsunade.
"Sure!" exclaimed Sakura.
"Thank you, Sakura." cheered Naruto.
"You're welcome." answered the kunoichi.
"That still might not be enough, though...I suggest that you bring more friends." suggested the Fifth Hokage.
"Right...of course." nodded the chunin.
Immediately, he stepped into the interdimensional portal to look for his friends on the other side.
Sure enough, he found Lucy.
"Hey there, Naruto...is there anything you want help with?" inquired the kunoichi.
"I'm on a mission to travel to the Land Of Waves...apparently something strange has happened there." explained Naruto.
"Something strange?" inquired Lucy.
"They've suddenly stopped trading with us...and they didn't bother to explain why." clarified the chunin.
"That is rather odd." agreed the kunoichi.
"Tsunade said that I should bring friends with me...she said that she suspected something sinister has happened." explained Naruto.
"Yikes." murmured Lucy.
"Since you're about as strong as I am I figured you would be a good partner for the mission." noted the chunin.
"I suppose you were right...we do work rather well together." answered the kunoichi.
"I'm starting to see why people keep thinking that we're brother and sister." spoke Naruto.
"Well, we are brother and sister in a sense." noted Lucy.
"Yeah..." nodded the chunin. Since they were both interdimensional partners, they were technically related to each other, albeit not biologically.
"Right...should we bring someone else?" inquired Naruto.
"Well, we could bring Gray and Juvia...they're sitting right over there." said Lucy.
Sure enough, Gray and Juvia were sitting at a table nearby.
"Do you two want to go on a mission with us?" asked the chunin.
"Sure!" exclaimed Juvia.
"That sounds like fun..." noted Gray.
"Alright then! I think we're ready now!" exclaimed Naruto.
Sakura approached Naruto a few seconds later.
"We're all ready?" asked the kunoichi.
"We sure are! We're a five-man band! Well, three women and two men..." noted the chunin.
"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.
Immediately, they stepped through the interdimensional portal.
"So...where is the Land Of Waves?" asked Gray.
"I don't think it's too far from here..." answered Naruto.
Curious, he pulled out a map.
"Nope, it isn't...we're going to need a boat though." noted the chunin.
"I'll take care of it! I have an underwater breathing spell..." explained Juvia.
"Oh...never mind then." said Naruto.
Immediately, they began to head towards the Land Of Waves.
"I have to admit...this does bring back memories..." acknowledged Sakura.
"It sure does." agreed the chunin.
"The Land Of Waves sure sounds like a nice place." spoke Lucy.
"Well, I would imagine so...we went out of our way to make sure it was a nice place to live." noted Sakura.
"Yeah..." concurred Naruto.
"That was nice of you." spoke Gray.
"Yeah...of course, if I had known that Tazuna had been lying to us...I might have been more hesistant to go on that mission." noted the chunin.
"A-Rank Missions are not for genin." nodded Sakura.
"Yeah...I guess not." acknowledged Lucy.
"You think we could go on an A-Rank Mission?" asked Juvia.
"Probably...we're pretty tough nowadays." answered Naruto.
Immediately, he began to flex his muscles.
"Real mature, Naruto." spoke Sakura.
"What? I've been eating my broccoli!" exclaimed the former jinchuriki.
"Well, that's true..." noted Naruto.
"I still think he's weak." answered Kurama.
"What about me?" asked Lucy.
"Well..." murmured the nine-tailed fox.
Sure enough, a body of water was within sight.
"I guess we should get going now..." spoke Naruto.
Apparently, they were on the right path, because they could view the Land Of Waves from a distance.
However, something didn't seem quite right.
Curious, Juvia encased Naruto and his friends in bubbles so that they could bounce across the ocean.
"This is fun!" exclaimed Naruto.
"It sure is." nodded Lucy.
"Thank goodness Natsu and Hinata didn't go on this mission." noted Gray.
"Yeah..." agreed Juvia.
"I'm not really in the mood for bouncing." complained Sakura.
"Relax...I don't think this is going to take too l-"
Suddenly, Naruto noticed something that alarmed him.
"What the-" exclaimed the chunin.
As it turned out, there was a corpse floating in the water.
Sure enough, Lucy noticed this as well.
"OK...this is a bit disturbing." murmured the kunoichi.
"I'll say." nodded Juvia.
"I wonder what happened. Was this an accident? Or was this something else?" inquired Gray.
"Either way, it looks like he's dead..." spoke Naruto.
Curious, Sakura began to perform an autopsy.
"Hmm...he hasn't been dead for too long. I think something swept him out to sea." explained the kunoichi.
"What could that have been?" questioned Lucy.
"I'm starting to feel a bit nervous...can we turn back?" inquired Kurama.
"That doesn't sound like something you would say..." spoke the kunoichi.
"I know..." murmured Kurama.
"Hearing you say that makes me feel nervous too." noted Lucy.
Something evil had paid the Land Of Waves a visit, it seemed.
She let out a sigh.
"I guess we should keep going..." noted the summoner.
"Yeah...we do have a mission to complete after all." answered Naruto.
"We wouldn't let to let Tsunade down..." agreed Sakura.
"It's true...we wouldn't." nodded Gray.
"Let's keep going." said Juvia.
Little did they know that was just a sign of what was to come...
Meanwhile...
As soon as Hinata and Natsu stepped out of the interview room, they were immediately approached by some hungry autograph hunters.
"Is is true that you sacrificed yourself for Natsu?" inquired an autograph hunter.
"It's true, I did." nodded Hinata.
Immediately, he wanted her autograph.
"Um...sure." answered the kunoichi.
Likewise, the autograph hunters wanted Natsu's autograph as well.
"Sure!" exclaimed Natsu.
"Funny...I wasn't really expecting us to be this popular considering that we lost the race." noted Hinata.
"I know...it's really weird." agreed the male dragonslayer.
Apparently, the public was ecstatic to how much they were willing to sacrifice for each other.
"I'm starting to wonder if we're going to have more fans than Lucy and Shikamaru now..." questioned Hinata.
"We probably are." nodded Natsu.
"Wouldn't that be nice..." murmured the kunoichi.
"Yeah, it would." answered the male dragonslayer.
"I guess slow and steady really does win the race." noted Hinata.
"I guess it does." agreed Natsu.
"I wonder where Naruto is..." spoke the kunoichi.
"I think he went back home." noted the male dragonslayer.
"Really? I actually wanted to stay here a while..." answered the female dragonslayer.
"You do?" asked Natsu.
"Well, yeah...everyone here seems to be happy to see me these days...I might want to contact my father though." noted Hinata.
"You think he's worried about you?" inquired the male dragonslayer.
"Probably." answered the female dragonslayer.
Curious, she pulled out her pager.
"Let's see now...what is his phone number again?" asked Hinata.
She quickly remembered it.
"Oh, that's right...I should have memorized it by now." noted the kunoichi.
Immediately, she began to dial the phone number.
Hiashi answered the phone a few minutes later.
"Hello?" asked the Hyuga clan member.
"I just wanted to see if you were worried about me..." spoke Hinata.
"Not at all! I think it's great that you went on a race...how did you do?" inquired Hiashi.
"Not so well..." answered the kunoichi.
"What place did you get?" asked the leader of the Hyuga clan.
"I got last place..." murmured Hinata.
"Oh dear..." murmured Hiashi Hyuga.
"To be fair, I did sacrifice myself for someone else." answered the kunoichi.
"Very good. That is the Hyuga way." said Hinata's father.
"That's true." nodded Hinata.
"Good to talk to you. I'm always proud of you." stated Hiashi.
Immediately, he hung up the phone.
"How sweet..." murmured Hinata.
"What did he say?" inquired Natsu.
"He says that I did the right thing...and that he's always proud of me." noted the kunoichi.
"I guess I won't have to have a talk with him then..." answered the male dragonslayer.
"Thank goodness." sighed Hinata.
"So, what do you want to do?" asked Natsu.
"I don't know...maybe get something to eat?" asked the kunoichi.
"The cafeteria isn't so far from here...so, sure!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.
Immediately, Natsu and Hinata entered the cafeteria.
This caused the chef to groan. Feeding one of them was hard enough...but having to feed two of them? He was going to have to work overtime.
Shrugging, he decided that he might as well get started.
To start off their meals, he handed them some chicken wings.
"Delicious!" exclaimed Natsu.
"Uh-huh!" bellowed Hinata.
Immediately, they began to eat the chicken wings ravenously.
"Say...maybe we should challenge each other to an eating contest..." suggested the male dragonslayer.
"But I might get fat..." worried the female dragonslayer.
"It's OK...we can always use a treadmill." noted Natsu.
"That's true." agreed Hinata.
Immediately, they waited for the chef to give them a second course.
This time, he gave them some hamburgers.
"Sweet!" exclaimed the male dragonslayer.
"Alright." smiled the female dragonslayer.
Once again, they finished their food in seconds.
"We might want to wipe off our faces..." noted Hinata.
"Yeah..." acknowledged Natsu.
Immediately, they pulled out napkins to wipe their faces with.
"I'm feeling thirsty now..." said Igneel's foster son.
"There's a vending machine right over there." pointed out the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga.
Immediately, Natsu put in some jewels to get himself a soda pop...which in this case was Dr. Pepper.
"Is there anything you want?" asked the male dragonslayer.
"I'd like some Sprite, please." answered the female dragonslayer.
Natsu put some more jewels in the vending machine.
"Here is your Sprite..." said Igneel's adopted child.
"Thank you!" exclaimed Hinata.
Meanwhile...
Things didn't get any better as they began to approach the Land Of Waves. Pretty soon, they began to encounter more corpses.
"OK...something is definitely wrong here." noted Lucy.
"What's going on?" asked Sakura.
"Hmm...something tells me that they weren't just terrible swimmers..." questioned Gray.
"You're right...I think we might have a drowner here..." noted Naruto.
"We might have an arsonist too..." questioned Juvia.
"What?" asked the chunin.
Curious, he noticed that there was a lot of smoke coming from the Land Of Waves.
"That's not good...did a fire suddenly break out?" inquired the chunin.
"If so...I hope that they're trying to put it out..." answered Juvia.
Oddly, the Land Of Waves' citizens weren't making an effort to put out the fire.
"That's pretty odd..." noted Gray.
Shouldn't they be trying to put out the fire?
"I sure hope they have a fire department..." questioned Lucy.
"I would imagine that they had one..." noted Naruto.
Curious, they decided to continue heading towards the Land Of Waves.
Eventually, they reached the bridge.
"Well, here we are...now to head to their town and-"
The five immediately gasped in shock.
The bridge had completely collapsed, and there was blood everywhere!
"What the hell?!" screeched Sakura.
"Who could have done this?!" bellowed Lucy.
"Naruto...is that you?" inquired a voice.
Curious, Naruto looked around, and gasped in shock.
It was none other than Tazuna...and he had no less than six kunai in his back. He was lying on what was left of the bridge.
Unfortunately, it appeared that he was beyond Sakura and Juvia's help. Even their healing abilities had their limits.
"What's going on?!" exclaimed the chunin.
"We were visited...by Kenichi." explained Tazuna.
"Kenichi?! The Dragonrider?! Scourge Of The Ninja Villages?! Last Ninja Of The Chikawa Clan?! You mean him?!" bellowed Naruto.
Tazuna nodded.
"Impossible! Everyone said that he was just a myth!" exclaimed the chunin.
"That's what we thought...until he came." said the elderly man.
Things were going very well for the Land Of Waves. Thanks to the bridge, the Land Of Waves was now very prosperous.
In fact, they had just successfully pulled off a very big sale.
Best of all, Tazuna was now rolling in cash.
He was almost a billionaire.
"I'm so glad that I built this bridge..." spoke Tazuna.
At that very moment, Inari paid him a visit.
"Greetings!" exclaimed the preteen boy.
"Good to see you!" bellowed Tazuna.
"How are things going?" asked Inari.
"Better than ever!" answered Inari's grandfather.
"I'm so happy to hear that..." said the boy.
"And it's all thanks to Naruto!" exclaimed Tazuna.
"Yeah...Naruto rocks...and quite frankly, Gato sucked." noted the preteen boy.
"It's true...he did." nodded the elderly man.
"I'll see you later, grandpa!" bellowed Inari.
"Goodbye!" exclaimed Tazuna.
Immediately, Inari left, and he felt that it was the best day of his life.
However, about fifteen minutes later...he began to hear the sound of wings flapping.
"Hmm? That's odd...Konoha has never visited us by air before..." noted Tazuna.
This was very strange.
Curious, he looked up, and noticed that there was a dragon approaching them.
All of a sudden, he began to feel rather nervous.
"Um...I don't ever recall them using a dragon either..." thought Tazuna.
This kept getting weirder and weirder.
Curious, he began to wonder what was going on.
Immediately, a man that he had never met before jumped off of the dragon.
It was Kenichi Chikawa.
He raised an eyebrow. Oddly enough, he could have sworn that he had heard of the man somewhere...weren't there rumors going around the Land Of Waves about a man riding a dragon?
Apparently, there was some truth in those rumors.
"Can we help you?" asked Tazuna.
"Oh, I'm here for only one thing..." answered Kenichi.
"Only...one thing?" inquired the old man.
"I'm here to kill you all and raze this land until nothing will ever prosper here again!" bellowed the ninja.
"What?!" screeched Tazuna.
"Shinsui!" bellowed Kenichi.
Wondering what was going on, he suddenly noticed tentacles emerging from the water, causing him to gasp in shock.
Immediately, they grabbed onto some unfortunate Land Of Waves villagers, causing them to scream in terror.
They had been eaten by Shinsui, who eagerly enjoyed the taste of her victims.
They were pulled down into the water...and then they knew no more.
At this point, Tazuna had been stunned into silence.
"Did you really think it was that easy to save your precious village, Tazuna? No bridge can save you from me...nothing can!" exclaimed Kenichi.
Immediately, he had Kaishi pick up Tazuna and lift him up in to the sky.
"Let's watch as I destroy your precious bridge, shall we?" asked the ninja.
"No! Stop!" begged Tazuna.
Shinsui struck the bridge with a tidal wave, sweeping away several more unfortunate villagers to their deaths.
Tazuna tried to cover his eyes, but Kenichi reopened them.
"Have you all lost hope yet? No? Alright then!" exclaimed the ninja.
Immediately, he began to summon another creature.
"Rainu! Kill!" bellowed Kenichi.
A ferocious-looking lion appeared in a burst of electricity.
Letting out a roar, lightning bolts electrocuted more of the villagers, reducing them to ash.
"Oh my god!" exclaimed Tazuna.
"Well, now for the bridge..." spoke Kenichi.
"Nooooo!" screamed the bridge builder.
Snapping his fingers, Raini and Shinsui worked in tandem to destroy the bridge...which they did within a few minutes.
Kenichi smirked in satisfaction.
Immediately, Tazuna began to cry.
"Right then...I guess it's off to your hometown next..." said the ninja.
Tazuna gasped in shock. Was the bridge only half of what he intended to do?
"Too bad you won't live to see me destroy it..." spoke Kenichi.
Tazuna's eyes widened.
Immediately, he dropped Tazuna onto what used to be the Great Naruto Bridge, causing him to break his leg in the process.
He then opened his palm, and launched six kunai into his back, making him scream in pain.
"It's so pleasurable to see you die nice and slow." noted Kenichi.
It was only what he felt that he deserved.
Dismissing Shinsui and Rainu, he decided it was time to use some different summons.
"Wakaze! Chuma!" exclaimed Kenichi.
Immediately, an enormous eagle and a colossal bear appeared with a sudden gust of wind and tremor respectively.
"Kill everyone on this island!" bellowed the ninja.
Wakaze and Chuma nodded, and they began to head straight towards town.
"I can't believe it..." murmured Naruto.
"Neither can I..." answered Tazuna.
He began to cough up blood.
"Naruto...I want you to stop Kenichi...or failing that, get as far away from him as you can..." spoke Tazuna.
"I will." nodded Naruto.
"Thank you...for saving the Land Of Waves...I couldn't have done it...without you." murmured the bridge builder.
With that, he drew his final breath.
"Tazuna? Tazuna!" screamed the chunin.
"Is he..." asked Sakura.
"Yes, he is." answered Naruto.
"Kenichi, you bastard!" screamed Gray.
Naruto began to cry.
Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder. This had hit her as hard as it had hit Naruto...though she wasn't crying as much.
"He...he said that Kenichi was going to attack the rest of the Land Of Waves too...Inari and Tsunami may be in danger..." said Naruto.
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Juvia.
"I guess we can check for survivors...though personally I'm not counting on it." spoke the former jinchuriki.
Immediately, Lucy began to cry as well. Now she knew just how evil Kenichi was...and why they needed to stop him.
Sighing, they decided to continue onward...expecting even more bodies.
Meanwhile...
Hinata let out a sigh as she drank the Sprite that Natsu had provided.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"I think something horrible has happened." said the kunoichi.
"What makes you say that?" inquired the fire dragonslayer.
"I just think that there was a great tragedy..." explained Hinata.
"I'm starting to feel it too..." murmured Natsu.
"You are?" asked the kunoichi.
"Yeah..." nodded Natsu.
At that very moment, Erza paid them a visit.
"What's the matter? I was expecting you to eat more than this..." questioned Erza.
"Hinata said that something terrible occurred..." explained Natsu.
"What happened?" asked the knight.
"I don't know for sure." answered Hinata.
"Hmm..." pondered Erza.
"Maybe we should head back to Konoha to investigate?" asked Natsu.
"I guess I'll go." said Hinata.
Immediately, she went to the interdimensional portal to head back to the world of ninja.
"Bye!" exclaimed the kunoichi.
"Goodbye." answered Natsu.
"Oddly enough I'm starting to feel it too..." noted Erza.
Natsu began to frown.
"What exactly is going on at the world of ninja?" inquired the fire dragonslayer.
"It can't be anything good..." acknowledged the knight.
"Yeah..." agreed the fire mage.
"Personally I wonder if I should head there myself..." spoke Erza.
"But you haven't been to the world of ninja before..." answered Natsu.
"Yeah..." acknowledged the knight.
"By the way, I think I've overcome Hinata's initial shyness as of late..." spoke the fire dragonslayer.
"That's a relief." nodded Erza.
"Yeah...I feel so much better now..." said Natsu.
Erza sighed in relief.
"Well, let me know if it starts flaring up again." spoke the knight.
"I will." nodded the fire dragonslayer.
Personally she wondered if Naruto was OK. She wouldn't want anything to happen to him.
She actually wanted to do a mission with him again to be honest. It was always that much more enjoyable with him around.
At the outskirts of the Land Of Waves...
"Well, it looks like a job well done." answered Kenichi.
From what he could see, he had left no survivors. Everyone was dead, and he was responsible for every single death.
However, he wanted to make sure.
"Why don't I send out a clone?" asked the ninja.
He was about to do so...when he remembered what had happened last time.
"Oh, that's right...I better send out two rather than one in order to make sure." noted Kenichi.
Immediately, he summoned two different copies of himself.
"Make sure that nobody's still alive, would you? I'm just double-checking..." said the ninja.
The clones nodded, and began to search for survivors.
"Well, I think I'm done here for the time being..." acknowledged Kenichi.
This time, he decided to use Shinsui as transportation...as she could hurtle through water like nobody's business.
"Where to go next..." thought the ninja.
Immediately, he leapt on top of the octopus and began to ride towards where his conquest would take him next.
"I don't know where to go next..." spoke Kenichi.
Once again, he began to flashback.
"Where are we going?" asked one of Kenichi's friends.
"Oh, just a small forest outside of town..." explained Kenichi.
Sure enough, it was in sight.
"Is there a particular reason you wanted me to come here?" asked the teenage boy.
"Just one..." answered Kenichi.
Immediately, Kenichi's friend began to feel rather nervous. Something just didn't seem right about this.
Sure enough, they arrived at their destination.
"There...now nobody can see us..." spoke Kenichi.
Kenichi's friend raised an eyebrow.
His suspicions were confirmed when suddenly Kenichi drove his fist through his chest.
He collapsed on the ground and died instantly.
Kenichi smirked in satisfaction. Now there were one less weak ninja in the world.
Still, he hoped that he would be able to do more one day.
Of course, back then, not even he knew that he would go on to become a missing-nin, arsonist, and mass murderer.
It was always nice to have flashbacks like that.
Immediately, Kenichi sped off into the distance, crossing off the Land Of Waves on his map as he did so.
Back at the Land Of The Waves...
Things did not look any better at the urban part of the Land Of Waves itself. It looked like everybody had been killed.
"I feel sick..." murmured Juvia.
"So do I." nodded Gray.
Curious, Naruto decided to visit Inari, expecting the worst.
Sure enough, there was no sign of him or his mother.
Naruto let out a sigh.
"I guess that's it then..." spoke the chunin.
Suddenly, he heard a voice.
"Naruto? Is that you?" asked Inari.
Naruto gasped in surprise.
"Inari! You're alive!" exclaimed the chunin.
"Yes...I am...I don't know where my mother is though." said the preteen boy.
"Me neither." answered Naruto.
"I can't believe that someone would do this..." spoke Inari.
Inari wondered what was going on. He had heard screaming coming from the bridge.
He personally wanted to go to investigate, but Tsunami held him back.
She said that something bad was happening and that it was too dangerous.
She was right on her ryo.
"Kill them all! Leave no survivors!" bellowed Kenichi.
Sure enough, Chuma was creating an enormous fissure to kill the citizens of the Land Of Waves.
They were falling into the cracks in the earth one after another, causing them to scream at the top of their lungs.
"Goodbye!" exclaimed the ninja.
Inari couldn't believe what was going on. He felt like he was having a nightmare.
Suddenly, he heard his mother scream.
Curious, he looked around, and screamed as well.
Wakaze had grabbed his mother with her talons.
"Inari, I love you!" exclaimed Tsunami.
"Mama!" bellowed Inari.
Immediately, Wakaze took Tsunami away.
Frantically, Inari fled to the basement. Hopefully Kenichi or his summons wouldn't find him.
Still, he was worried about his mother's safety.
Was she going to be OK?
"I'm afraid that you were visited by Kenichi..." spoke Naruto.
"Kenichi Chikawa?!" bellowed Inari.
"Yes...I'm surprised that he paid the Land Of Waves a visit myself..." spoke the chunin.
"I don't believe it...when I first met Gato, I thought that he was the worst person that I have ever met...but now...I think that he was an angel!" exclaimed the preteen boy.
Immediately, he began to cry.
Naruto placed his hand on his shoulder.
"It's OK...we'll find you a new home..." spoke the chunin.
"Thank you...I appreciate it." answered Inari.
At that very moment, Sakura entered the household.
"Um, Naruto...I'm afraid that there's something that you need to see..." spoke the kunoichi.
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
Curious, he went outside...
...and gasped in shock.
Sure enough, there was Tsunami, ripped in half by Wakaze and one of her wind jutsus.
"No..." murmured Naruto.
"We need to tell Inari about this..." spoke Sakura.
"Yes, we do." nodded the former jinchuriki.
Immediately, Naruto went to tell Inari the bad news.
"She's...dead?" inquired the preteen boy.
"Yes...I suggest you cover your eyes when you go outside." said Naruto.
Lucy entered the house a few seconds later.
At this point, Inari was bawling.
Fortunately, she was there to embrace him.
"Kenichi makes me sick." murmured Kurama.
"I'm with you there." agreed Lucy.
Suddenly, they began to hear footsteps outside.
"Hmm?" asked Lucy.
Curious, she let go of Inari and went to investigate.
She gasped in surprise.
"Not again..." murmured the kunoichi.
Sure enough, Gray, Sakura, and Juvia were waiting outside.
"Has Kenichi sent another clone after us?" asked the ice mage.
"I think he's sent two of them after us this time." answered Lucy.
"What?!" bellowed Juvia.
Sure enough, there were two of them this time.
Immediately, Juvia went to protect Inari from the two clones, encasing him in a bubble.
"Will this...keep me safe?" asked the boy.
"Hopefully." answered the water mage.
Naruto, Lucy, Sakura, Gray, and Juvia got ready to fight.
Granted, they were able to defeat one clone...
...but would they be able to defeat two?
Meanwhile at Mana City...
Chiyoye happily drained the life of Mana City's citizens...
...only to notice that there appeared to be having a meeting at the town center.
"Curious..." thought the female mage.
She went to investigate, and gasped in surprise.
It was none other than her old mentor.
"Greetings, everyone. As we all know, my former apprentice Chiyoye Headstone is wreaking havoc on this city...fortunately, I have come here to stop her." explained Professor Fumbledore.
The civilians let out a sigh of relief.
"To be honest, I can't help but feel partly responsible. I taught her too much too quickly...if I ever take up another apprentice, I'll have to see where their loyalties lie. Chiyoye's only allegiance was to herself this whole time." spoke the professor.
The civilians sighed.
"But no matter. I can't run away from my past...I have to face it. It is time for me to deal with my former pupil...once and for all." said the elderly wizard.
However, at that very moment, one of the civilians noticed Chiyoye out in the distance.
He immediately spread this information to the rest of Mana City's citizens, who snarled at her in rage.
"What's this? They appear to have spotted me." noted the sorceress.
"Now now now. Let's not do anything hasty. I'm going to deal with her my-"
However, the civilians weren't going to listen to reason.
Immediately, they began to charge towards Chiyoye, ready to make her suffer for what she had done to their family and friends.
"Well well well. It looks like they're actually fighting back this time." acknowledged the necromanceress.
Immediately, she began to smile.
"Perfect." murmured Chiyoye.
Sure enough, one of the civilians lunged at her with an axe.
In retaliation, she incinerated him with a lightning bolt.
"This is still too easy." spoke the sorceress.
Of course, more civilians were beginning to attack, some from a distance.
"Trying to gang up on me, are you? I guess I'll have to do something about that." noted Chiyoye.
Immediately, she began to summon some of her undead...in this case, skeleton warriors.
Sure enough, this allowed her to gain the advantage.
"You're going to have to do better than that..." spoke Chiyoye.
Suddenly, one of the civilians began to drive a truck towards her.
"Oh dear...wouldn't want to be hitting me now..." noted the sorceress.
Immediately, she teleported towards a building, causing the truck to crash.
"Still too easy." smirked Chiyoye in satisfaction.
However, the civilians weren't done yet. This time, they were attacking her with a helicopter that was loaded with a turret.
Quickly, she shot it down with another lightning bolt.
She began to yawn shortly afterwards.
Looking down, she noticed that the civilians were entering the building she was in, hoping to reach the roof so that they could kill her.
Sure enough, there was a door on the roof that they could use to approach her.
"I guess I might as well come up with a strategy when they show up..." noted Chiyoye.
Curious, she noticed that there were several gargoyle statues on the roof...and suddenly, she got an idea.
"I know exactly what to do..." said the sorceress.
Snapping her fingers, the gargoyle statues came to life, becoming actual gargoyles.
"What is your request, mistress?" asked one of the gargoyles.
"Oh, it's rather simple...I want you to kill everyone that comes out of that door." explained Chiyoye.
Sure enough, the gargoyles began to surround the door, ready to ambush any unsuspecting citizens.
Immediately, they burst through the door, ready to attack Chiyoye...
...only to find themselves being clawed to death instead.
"Hahaha." laughed the necromanceress.
However, some of the citizens managed to break through. One of them even pushed her off the building.
"Yes! I killed her! She's-"
"No, I am not." interrupted Chiyoye.
Unfortunately for the civilians, their nemesis was capable of flight.
"Did you think I would teleport to the top of the building without a flight spell?" asked the sorceress.
"Well, that makes sense..." noted the civilian.
Chiyoye launched a fireball at the citizens, and then they were no more.
"Go ahead! Send out the military! See if I care!" exclaimed the sorceress.
Sure enough, police officers were arriving on the scene.
"Freeze!" bellowed one of the cops.
"As you wish." smirked Chiyoye.
Chiyoye snapped her fingers, and the cops were frozen to death in a block of ice.
"So much for their police force." said the necromanceress.
More police officers began to arrive on the scene.
One of them pulled out a loudspeaker.
"Come down with your hands up!" exclaimed the cop.
"Personally I think you should be surrendering to me..not like I'm going to grant you mercy." answered Chiyoye.
Casting another spell, an enormous zombie hand crushed the police officers to death.
"They think they can just put handcuffs on my wrists and shove me in a prison cell? Surely the police chief at Elm Town must have taught them something..." noted the sorceress.
Getting desperate, one of the police officers pulled out a sniper rifle.
In retaliation, she made his head explode.
"Trying to shoot me in the head, are you? Sorry, but it looks like I already beat you to the punch." noted Chiyoye.
Getting desperate, the remaining police officers put on their riot control gear.
"What a riot." smirked the sorceress.
Shrugging, she decided to head back down to ground level to confront them up close and personal.
Unfortunately, their police batons weren't doing any good against her at all.
Nor were their shields...they simply could not protect them from her powerful spells.
And to make matters worse, Chiyoye's gargoyles had joined the fray.
"Get them off us!" exclaimed the riot control force.
However, they were able to harm the gargoyles with their police batons.
"Well, I guess they aren't invulnerable...though they're serving me well regardless." acknowledged the mage.
The gargoyles seemed competent enough...though she still had a ways to go before she was ready to conquer Fairy Tail.
Now that she thought of it...was it possible that Fairy Tail had sent her former mentor to take her down?
If so, she was looking forward to battling him.
"I've been waiting so long for this..." said Chiyoye.
Maybe if she vanquished all the citizens, maybe Professor Fumbledore would battle her himself.
After all, that was his original intention...to battle her one-on-one.
"I suppose if I can reach him...my undead and my summons can make sure that this is a one-on-one fight..." spoke Chiyoye.
Personally she felt that she could slaughter Professor Fumbledore even if he had the entire city backing up...but she felt that it would be more exciting to save him for last.
Curious, she noticed that he appeared to be summoning a creature of some kind.
"Pegasus, attack!" exclaimed Professor Fumbledore.
"Oh, would you look at that. He's sending a pony after me." spoke Chiyoye.
Immediately, the pegasus began to fly towards the sorceress.
Chiyoye struck him with a wicked lightning bolt, but this didn't hurt him that much.
"Well, I didn't want things to be that easy..." acknowledged the necromanceress.
The pegasus charged straight towards Chiyoye, hoping to impale her with his horn.
This did not work out at all.
"Trying to attack me at close-range? Surely you know better than that." questioned the magician.
Immediately, she grabbed onto the pegasus and drained the life out of it.
She then reanimated it and began to use it as a mount.
"I've always wanted to ride one of these when I was little!" exclaimed Chiyoye.
Professor Fumbledore snarled. He was well-aware that Chiyoye's greatest strength was her profound ability to use her enemies' resources against them.
Immediately, he decided he needed to summon something more powerful.
This time, he decided to summon seven dwarves.
"What's this? Let's see now...I'll call you Eviscerated, I'll call you Disemboweled, I'll call you Bloodstain, I'll call you Mutilated, I'll call you Decapitated, I'll call you Rotting Corpse, and I'll call you Butchered." taunted Chiyoye.
The seven dwarves began to glare at her. Off to work they went.
Granted, they would rather take a trip to the mines than actually hunt someone down...but Professor Fumbledore was counting on them.
They did not want to let him down.
"Gather round, boys!" exclaimed the leader of the dwarves.
Immediately, they got into a battle stance.
"Hmm...that's an interesting formation you've got there." noted Chiyoye.
Shortly afterwards, they began to pull out dynamite.
"Oh, what's this? It appears that you've got explosives..." spoke the sorceress.
Immediately, she used her undead pegasus to fly into the air so that they would have a harder time hitting her.
Sure enough, they began tossing the dynamite...but they were having a hard time hitting her.
"This is just too much fun..." murmured Chiyoye.
This was a sad chapter, wasn't it? That's right...Kenichi actually destroyed the Land Of Waves. I believed I already foreshadowed this.
In the next chapter...well...we're going to see some more action. I'm sorry if I made you all cry...but Kenichi and Chiyoye should have never been born...
Again, Merry Christmas!