I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Abduction
Menma stared out the window, then down at his clothes. Upon reaching the Land of Snow, he had traded his black trench coat for a white one. However, where his last had had short sleeves, this one had long ones, so he kept them rolled up to just below his elbows. The temperature control seal was working beautifully. While everyone else was cold, he was comfortable.
Menma closed his eyes, making sure Yukie, or rather, Princess Koyuki Kazahana, was still with them. When they had reached shore, Sandayu had explained the true identity of Yukie Fujikaze. She was once, and still was, the rightful heir of the Land of Snow, Yukie Kazahana, and he had been in service of her family. However, while she was still a child, her uncle, Doto Kazahana, had staged a coup with the Hidden Snow Ninja, and had murdered her father, Sosetsu Kazahana, taking the throne for himself. Then, Kakashi, who had been an ANBU at the time, had smuggled Koyuki out of the Land of Snow. The reason Sandayu had brought Koyuki back was to take the throne back form Doto, which meant that Menma and friends would be fighting. Koyuki was very displeased. She didn't believe her uncle could be defeated. And she didn't believe happy endings were possible. When her father had been killed, the trauma had caused her to repress her memories of being Koyuki, until the fight on the glacier. The trauma had also caused her to become cold and emotionless.
Suddenly, Menma's truck slowed to a stop and Menma looked toward the driver.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Pee break," the driver said simply, climbing out.
Menma sighed, getting out as well to look around. Ahead of the convoy of trucks was a large tunnel, big enough that it was probably a train tunnel. However, the tracks had long since been buried by the ice and snow.
"Our hideout is not far from here," Sandayu said. "We'll pass through here and take shelter there. Then, our my people can rest easy. We'll finally have our Princess back."
"How long is the train tunnel?" Menma asked.
"It's about a mile," Sandayu said.
"Alright!" the assistant director called out. "Everybody load up!"
They all got in, the trucks heading into the tunnel. Inside, it was dark, with several paths branching off of it at first before it narrowed into a single tunnel, narrow enough that two trains wouldn't be able to pass each other. After a bit, they exited the tunnel, slowing to a stop. Instantly, the assistant director burst out of his truck. Menma instantly guessed why.
"Mr. Makino!" the assistant director shouted. "We've got a bit of a problem!"
"What is it this time?" the director demanded.
"Yukie has up and vanished again!" the assistant director shouted.
Menma sighed. Kakashi and the others all nodded as Menma closed his eyes.
"I've got her," Menma sighed. "I'll be back in a bit."
Kakashi nodded and Menma left, eyes closed, sensing Koyuki's chakra as he followed her. When he found her, she was lying in the snow, having apparently tripped.
"How many times are you going to run away from your fate?" Menma asked as she looked up at him, but received no reply. "Come on. Everyone's waiting."
He picked up her in a piggy back, carrying her back up to the road and then to the tunnel, walking into it.
"Why?" Koyuki asked. "Why do you always come looking for me?"
"Cause it's my mission," Menma said. "You can run as many times as you want, but I'll keep coming after you. Just try to hide. I'm going to find you."
After a moment of silence, Koyuki said, "You can drag me back if you like. All I'm going to do is act for the camera."
Menma snorted in amusement just as a train whistle blew behind him. He stiffened, Koyuki doing the same on his back. He looked down. The ice on the train tracks was melting, rapidly. In seconds the tracks were there, chakra running through them to keep the ice off.
"Shit," Menma growled. "Hold on!"
He sprinted forward, the tunnel slowly brightening before the whistle blew again, very close behind them this time.
"It's gaining on us!" Koyuki shouted, as though the fact that he could barely hear her over the train's engine bearing down on them was completely lost on him.
"Relax!" He shouted back. "We'll be fine!"
"We'll never make it!" Koyuki cried out.
"Would you shut up already!" he snapped.
"It's over!" Koyuki shouted. "We're finished!"
"This isn't over!" He snapped. "I'll be dead before I give up!"
He could feel the train now. Instinctively, he could feel that when his feet went back, they came within an inch of the train. Unacceptable. He leaned forward, pushing his legs until they burned. He sped up. Faster. He leaned forward more. Faster. He pushed harder. Faster. They began to pull away from the train, miraculously. But he couldn't keep it up. He could feel his legs could give out at any moment. Then, a light appeared in front of them. He began to slow. The train began to catch up to them, fast. Then, just as they left the tunnel, Menma hurled himself and Koyuki to the side, the train shooting past, barely missing them, and slows to a stop in front of the trucks. Two people appeared at the back. One was the ninja Kakashi had fought on the iceberg, Nadare Roga. The other was larger, looking to be very muscular and broad-shouldered with a square jaw and a hard face. He wore an expensive-looking cloak suitable for royalty.
"It's been a long time, Koyuki," the man said.
"I knew it," Koyuki breathed. "It's Doto."
"It's been ten years," Doto continued, staring directly at Koyuki. "Come now, don't be shy. Let's get a look at that face."
Menma stood in the way, staring into Doto's eyes. Even without his senses he knew. Doto was powerful. Menma closed his eyes and his senses confirmed it. Doto was a ninja. And wearing Chakra Armor like the three Hidden Snow Ninja Menma and the others had fought, except Doto's barrier seemed a lot stronger.
"Sorry," Menma said. "No faces today. But you'll be seeing my mask again. When you die."
"Big talk from a child," Doto said.
Suddenly, dozens of logs began to slid down the steep incline on one side of the train, crashing into it and burying two cars in snow and logs. They all looked, seeing fifty men wearing samurai armor, with Sandayu at the front, also dressed in armor.
"There you have it men!" Sandayu shouted. "Our beloved Princess has returned to us! With her at our side, victory is ours!"
The men began to cheer and Sandayu drew his sword.
"Here me Doto!" Sandayu shouted. "We have waited a long time for this day of reckoning to come! Sandayu Asada and fifty loyal warriors stand before you to avenge our fallen leader Lord Sosetsu! On this day you will breathe no more!"
The men cheered then began to charge. Doto smiled. Menma did not. The train was curved on the tracks so that the entirety of that side was aimed toward the men. That side of every car suddenly opened, revealing dozens of square slots along their side at the same time as a single Snow ninja rose out of a round section at each end of each car with a box in front of them with numerous similar slots and a crank handle on the back right side. Menma's gut dropped. The men were about to be slaughtered.
As the men approached, the Snow ninja began to turn their cranks, the trains each beginning to fire wall after wall of kunai, hundreds of kunai flying across the gap and beginning to tear into the men in under a second. Blood flew in every direction. Bodies fell. Some were even torn into pieces by the knives.
The bloodbath lasted seconds. Maybe thirty. While it played out, Doto began to laugh. Then, the trains stopped, smoke rising from the cars. Menma looked to Sandayu's men. Of the fifty one that had started the charge, only Sandayu was left. There were kunai stabbed into his body practically everywhere. He was finished. But he was miraculously still on his feet, even if he was swaying slightly. The train car directly in front of him fired one more time, a wall of kunai flying at him. But before it could reach him, a Fuma shuriken shot down in front of him, blocking the kunai that would have hit him. Then, Sasuke darted between two ice boulders, hurling a kunai with an explosive tag, the explosion doing absolutely no visible damage to the train. Then, Sakura dropped a ball of paper bombs, starting an avalanche, beginning to bury the train. Doto and Nadare stepped into the train as it began to move again. As it began to cross a bridge, the bridge collapsed, the train beginning to slide into it. However, the front two cars detached from the rest and left, going around the next bend and disappearing from view.
Menma stood, walking over to Sandayu, who had finally collapsed. As they walked, Koyuki began to speak.
"That's what comes of never giving up," Koyuki said bitterly. "If they hadn't stood up to Doto, then none of this bloodshed would have happened."
They reached Sandayu and he looked up at Koyuki.
"My...Princess," Sandayu said, struggling to do even that. "Please, forgive me. I...I never shoulder have, gotten you...involved in all of this. It's just...that every one of us here...were able to keep believing in spite of everything, because...We knew, you were alive. When you were little...and even now...you have always been...just as I...your loyal Sandayu believed...So too must you believe in yourself...You have always been our purest hope Princess...Please...do not waste...your tears...on me."
Then, his head fell to the tide and the tanto that had Koyuki's eyedrops tied to it fell to the ground. Koyuki sat there, staring at him in silence.
"You are such a fool, Sandayu," Koyuki said quietly. "I can't cry. You have my eyedrops."
For a moment, Menma thought he might have detected a trace of sorrow in Koyuki's voice, something she claimed to no longer be able to feel. But then, it was gone and she was glaring at all of them again.
"Are you all satisfied?" Koyuki asked. "Let's go back. If you stay here your lives will be in jeopardy. Let's go home already."
She turned, beginning to walk away and Menma turned to her.
"Go home to where?" Menma asked, making her stop. "I thought this was your home. What the hell do you have to go back to? Your place is here!"
"You know absolutely nothing," Koyuki said. "Spring doesn't come to this country. Our tears have frozen over, and our hearts hardened with the cold."
"But, aren't you the only one with the ability to change that?" Sakura asked. "I mean at least...at least, that's what Sandayu believed, wasn't it?"
"I've had enough of this nonsense," Koyuki said beginning to walk again.
"Hey!" Menma shouted. "Hold it!"
Koyuki ignored him and Menma sighed, closing his eyes. Good thing too.
He sprinted forward, tackling Koyuki to the ground just as a massive balloon attached to the top of one of the two train cars that had escaped rose above the cliff, Mizore's metal hand narrowly missing Koyuki, blasting Menma into the ground instead.
"That's twice punk!" Mizore shouted, his hand grabbing Koyuki as it retracted.
At the same time, Fubuki flew past, hurling a dozen kunai, ice spikes exploding out of the ground where they hit. As she began to fly past a massive pile of snow, Menma stood from his, his coat having disguised him, and leapt onto her back. She shouted in rage, beginning to spin and flip, trying to shake him free. He held on until they were close to the train car then leapt off, shoving her away from it and landing on the platform at the back. He kicked the door inward and stepped inside, ducking under Mizore's mechanical arm.
"Lights out!" Menma shouted, slamming his fist into Mizore's face, knocking him out.
A moment later, Nadare was behind him, his hand slamming into Menma's neck, dropping him. Menma stirred a moment later in a different room. He was bound in wire and Nadare was standing in front of him with a metal object with a red and blue yin-yang symbol in the middle and six grooves on the outside. Nadare pulled the device into two pieces, electricity connecting them for a moment before he moved to slam half of it into Menma's abdomen. Menma could feel the metal hand gripping the back of his coat. Good. He really didn't like Mizore. At the last second he jumped, barely getting out of the way in time. Nadare slammed the device into a stunned Mizore instead of Menma and six wires shot out, driving themselves into Mizore's abdomen before electrocuting him, Mizore shouting in pain before dropping.
"Great," Nadare sighed as Menma slipped out of the wire holding him.
"Hah!" Menma laughed. "I think I'll pass on that."
"Is that right?" Doto asked from behind Menma.
Menma spun just as Doto slammed the second half of Nadare's device into his abdomen, the same thing happening as with Mizore. The pain was excruciating and he felt his chakra being pulled away instantly. His vision went dark almost instantly and he collapsed, blacking out.
Read and review. Which filler arcs/movies should I do?