Of Demons and Gods

by AJ-Writer

Everything in this world will always have their opposites. Man and woman, good and bad, Demons and Gods. Pairings inside. New Chapt FINALLY up.

37. The Trap and the Revelation

Also read Samurai Seed and kind enough to leave a review. It's the prequel of this story. Go to my profile and you'll find it.

NOTE:

"Chidori!": normal talking

"Rasengan!": special case (Naruto Berserker mode, different language)

'Darn!': thoughts

GWA HA HA HA! : Giant creature speech

"Journal no bla bla": Renald's writing or other uses

Disclaimer: I own nothing… except the plenty of OCs in the story.

Chapter 34:

The Trap and the Revelation

"Journal Entry no 39, month 5"

"Naruto's unfortunate experience with the Mist nins, had brought about several facts about the Mist nins. I did hear that they suffered various problems and civil war. Apparently however, that does not stop them from advancing their own biological and mechanical technology. This can be seen by the advanced level of their ships, and also this. The laboratory which clearly has more secret than one can imagine. Drug tests conducted on convicts which-"

Reynald paused. "Hmm… what should I say about this?" And while the journalist pondered on what he had to write, the group's trip went pretty much unhindered. Taka the Eagle ninja continued to monitor the group's progress. Neji, Naruto and Yukiku supervise the trip. Naruto used his shadow clone skill to scout the long queue of villagers. Other nins too, particularly the Mist nins and the Rain nins also decided to help. The other ninja protect the party of interest: Ina and her remaining doctors. Since they also have to move the sickly and the injured, their progress is quite slow. Ina and the doctors had to frequently check on the injured. But they are progressing nonetheless.

Neji looked to the sky. Nothing but an eagle above. But he couldn't help the thought of they were being watched. 'Scouts maybe? Wait, eagle?' Neji jerked up and notice. He saw that same eagle flying around the settlement this morning. '…could it be just my feeling?' Neji decided to disregard that fact for now.

Soon, it was evening. The ninjas wanted to go on, but the refugees are tired and need rest. "They've been walking nonstop for 11 hours straight, sunrise to sundown! Let them rest."

"By nightfall this place will be swarmed by Rain nins! We need to move on."

Neji asked the Rain Genins. "Is this area is still Amegakure's territory?"

"No. We've put some distance, but it still close to the village nonetheless."

Neji turn to Doctor Ina. "3 hours. Let them rest."

"3 hours?" Ina grunted.

"We're gonna have to walk all night. The Kraken wouldn't stay waiting for us for long, at this pace, we'll never make it and then we have to take the long way around and trust me, they'll have even less chance of surviving that route."

Neji looked at other ninja and they had to agree. "That's settled."

And so the large group stopped and formed groups of circle. Some unload their meal, which, per Neji's instruction, must not be cooked with fire. They even have to eat it raw if they have to, much to Ina's disapproval, leading to another argument.

Meanwhile, all those time, the ninjas were also in their own sort of problems. Yukiku was still in state of shock and somewhat terror. Naruto, concerned, finally decided to ask her what's going on.

"Yukiku?"

"N… Naruto?"

"You know… I've seen a more cheerful zombie. Are you okay?"

"I… I…"

"Don't try to tell me you're okay. Cause you're not. Still…I'm guessing what this is all about. Neji told me about that… one of the people working on this… testing was your mother."

"Yes. T…the mother I knew of was… but… judging from the reports I've read… they condone testing some drug on humans!" She gaped. "I…. I just couldn't believe it! I… I… this… I…"

"…hey, she's your mother right? Your family?"

"Y… Yes?"

"The mother you remembered. What was she like? Was she the kind of person who would do such thing?"

"NO! She's kind and gentle! She taught me that all live is precious! She would NEVER agree with something like this!" She exploded.

"There's your answer."

Yukiku blinked.

"If that's the mother you believe in, and then believe in her. Believe in the image of the mother that you know is truly her."

The girl paused for a moment. And then smiled. 'I knew it… this guy can be cool at times… no wonder Hinata-chan fell in love with him.' "Y… yeah…"

Naruto however, still detected something else. "Hey… there's something else isn't it?"

"Eh…?"

"There's something else nagging you?"

"Y… Yeah… you know… the truth is…" Yukiku told Naruto about her relationship with Guccha. When she's done, even Naruto was left blinking in amazement.

"Talk about a small world we live in… Then… did he know?"

"No."

"I won't pretend that I understand your situation, having never experience it myself. But I do know this: it's no good to keep it quiet, sooner or later, either he'll find out, or you'll have to tell him yourself."

"I know."

"…though I personally hope he'll just forget and forgive." Naruto tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah, I wished." Yukiku appreciated the attempt and chuckled for the first time since that night in the mansion.

Naruto glad to see his friend's smile again also chuckled along. Just then, they heard Dr. Ina's roar.

"LOOK! THEY'RE NOT NINJAS! They're SICK people! You can't expect them to follow your standards!" The Doctor and Neji were still at it.

Naruto shook his head. "Come on. They could use some help."

"Yeah." Yukiku smiled.

From the distance Taka reported the situation, this time via a walkie talkie. "Shinja? You hear me?"

"I hear thee."

"Well, the villagers are heading a slow, but steady gait to the shores. No sign of any attempt of hostility."

"Verily. I shall wait thy next tale."

"Yokai- he?" Taka blinked.

"Something displeases thee?"

"Some of the Rain nins are coming at em!" 4 figures, unmistakably ninjas were sneaking behind the group.

"Were they warriors of our side or…?"

"Ours. Those idiots, what are they doing!?"

Taka watched as the Rain nins approached the group and apparently start manhandling a villager.

"Hey! What are you doing here!?" A rain nin lifted an injured old man. His wife came running.

"W… Wait! P… Please!"

"Shut up you woman!" The other ninja mercilessly kicked the woman back to the ground.

"HEY!" Ina quickly ran towards the commotion and helped the downed lady. "What are you doing!? Can't you see he's wounded!?"

"Irrelevant!" The Rain nin sneered. "This is still Amegakure territory! You want to even so much as to breathe in here you have to pay the tax!"

"Nanni!?" Ina growled. "You guys are no ninjas! You're THUGS and THIEVES!"

"EH? And whatcha you gonna do about it, eh onna!?" One ninja approached the doctor. The other ninjas quickly stood their ground. "Eh… aww, ain't that cute… you got Genins from every village as your guardian dogs…" The nin disappeared, and in a flash, a grass genin were pinned to the tree.

"We're jounins! Think a couple dozen Genins are going to be a problem for us!?"

Just then, an iron arrow pierced the nin who's holding the old man on the arm. "ARgh!" The sudden attack made the Rain nin dropped the old man. He looked at the culprit which is none other than Inari.

"I know you assholes! You guys tried again and again to get to the settlement, wanting kidnap little children for extorting money…!"

"Eh?"

"Ergh?" The rain nins, having been catch wet handed inadvertently showed their true face.

"I eavesdropped on you bastards a few days after I agreed to be Ina-sensei's guard! You coward lot of a nin are just army reject chuunins that pretend to be jounin to flaunt your authority!"

"Onore…" The Rain nin growled and stretched his hand forward. Just then, an iron clad hand grip stopped the hand in its tracks.

"Eh hem. I don't really care… whether you're real jounins or not really." Neji appeared. "But look. We don't want any trouble, so turn back, and just ignore us, even though this is not Amegakure territory, we're leaving your lands, with peaceful intention. Pretend this is never happened, and we'll keep our mouth shut."

"SHADDUP! YOU STUPID GENINS! Yeah, we're Chuunins! So what!? We still overpower you by a longshot!"

Neji sighed. "Naruto, feel free to go wild."

As if answering Neji's call, Naruto slammed his knee to the first nin's face, sending a few of his teeth flying. Both of his hands are glowing with a fully charged Rasengan. Before the other two nins could react, Naruto used the first nin's head as a stepping stone an dashed forward, slamming the two Rasengans on both of their stomachs. The blast sent them both flying through several trees, a few meters away. The first nin still half conscious and tried to lunge towards Naruto's open back. The boy, however, was still in his battle mode and the enormous killing aura was still eminent. This paused the nin for a second. Naruto turned around, his cold blue slitted eyes shining bright like flames, and shove another Rasengan to the startled nin's stomach and pressed him to the ground. The earth beneath the nin shattered, creating a small scale crater. Three chuunins are out and accounted for. Amidst the dust, Naruto gave a beastly snarl to the last nin.

Seeing the beast of a nin staring at him, the Chuunin resorted to the last measure: hostage taking, He grabbed the first person he laid his eyes on… and put her on a headlock "D… Don't MOVE! Or I'll break her neck!"

Upon seeing the hostage, Naruto and Neji paused.

"W… what's going on here!? A… Aren't you all supposed to be GENIN LEVELS!? T… That blond haired kid… No matter how you look at it, he's definite JOUNIN level!"

Naruto, upon hearing the word smiled like a little kid and scratched his head, looking embarrassed. "Hountouka? Aiyah! For the compliment, domo arigatou!!"

"S… SHUT UP! I GOT A HOSTAGE HERE! You're gonna do everything you can to protect her! RIGHT!?"

"See now that's your biggest mistake." The hostage, which is none other than a furious Yukiku, muttered. "Thinking I need them to protect me."

"Eh?" nin blinked.

Yukiku grab hold of the Dragon's Tail on her waist, and the blade quickly snake around them, and the edge stopped at the nin's throat. "Let's see which one's faster: my blade cut your throat, or you broke my neck." Yukiku gave the nin her cold demonic stare. The nin was clearly scared out of his wits. Just then the hostage smelled something. 'Sniff… sniff… what's this?' She looked below. Her lower clothes are wet… and it smells. Upon realizing what happened, the hostage went berserk altogether. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!"

With a roar that could rival even Naruto's, Yukiku start beating the hell out of the Rain nin to the inch of his life for pissing on her pants. It took Neji and Naruto to restrain her from killing the poor nin.

"Yukiku! Get a hold of yourself; if you kill him you'll attract more attention to us! Come on now, we don't need that!"

"Maaa…just think of it as a rather nasty experience like being pissed on by a dog or something!"

"Naruto, I don't think that's a very good analog."

"WRAAAAAAAAAARGGH! Grr… Grr…" Yukiku calmed down and get another look at the half naked, and barely recognizable nin. Well, she had done enough damage anyway. But then, the nin had one final stroke, the piss spurted out one last time at her FACE!

"Well… I guess 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' is a fact…" Naruto restrained the furious girl one more time.

"I'M GONNA CASTRATE HIM! I'M GONNA SLAUGHTER HIM!! I'M GONNA ARGH! HRAAAAGH!"

Neji looked at the furious kunoichi and realized the girl had changed. 'Well… for one, she's definitely in a better mood than this morning.'

Taka observed at the event, smiled nervously and coldsweated. "…This is Taka. Anyone you hear me?"

"This is Juuou. What is it?"

"Juuou? Oh, good timing. Listen, I'm just reporting this, in the worst case scenario where we have to engage them."

"Oh?" Juuou's voice didn't hide any excitement behind.

"The other nins, I wouldn't bat an eye. They're just Genins alright. But watch out for the three from the Konoha , especially the one with blond hair… they're the real beast."

Juuou, a giant man grinned as he and the other rain nins and Hanzou heard the report from Taka. "Oh, a real beast, ye say?"

"Damme da yo, Juuou." Hanzou gave a stern warning.

The giant man back to his seat.

Hanzou asked. "Did they kill them?"

"No. They just beat them to the inch of their lives."

"Well… those idiots gave us one thing though: who to watch out for in the future encounter. Leave them be Taka. I don't think, strong as they may be, they intend to create any trouble on this soil. And besides, they're standing on neutral ground, it doesn't really matter who died there."

"Of course not my lord."

Back to the group…

Naruto finished tying the Rain Chuunins to the tree; Naruto even added some warning signs: here lies a bunch of idiots with dysfunctional male ejaculation system. "Done. What now?"

"Inari-san… you told me they're army rejects?"

"Yep. Heard it from their mouths. The army wouldn't take em because they're too weak, so they start pretending to be Jounins." Inari snickered.

"Well… if they're not part of the army, others won't look for them. BUT, to be on the safe side, let's rest for fifteen more minutes, and we'll be off before more comes in."

Ina nodded. "So be it." She replied with a tired voice.

Fifteen minutes later, the crowd continued their trip.

A few minutes later, only the four half dead thug nin remained. And that's when Taka decided to reveal himself before them.

One of the nin recognized the man and gasped. "T… Taka-sama!"

"Well… this is something… I was hoping one of them will kill at least one of you right off, at least I won't have to dirty my hands too much."

"W… Wait! We can explain! Look! The Konoha Genins are jounins in disguise! They-!"

"And you Jounin wannabes are an insult to us, to our village, and worst of all, to Amekage-sama. There's only one appropriate punishment for that."

"N… NOO-!"

Taka released a small white feather, the feather multiply, to 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, countless. And the feathers start slicing them piece by piece. The nins all squirm futilely as blood start pouring out of them at a faster rate. The feather continues to multiply and cut them apart. "The more you move, the faster they'll tear your body apart, but, even if you don't move, they'll still do the job and they'll get faster still. Your choice." Taka walked away, leaving the screaming nin to their feathery deaths.

00000000000

Meanwhile, the villagers continued their trip throughout the night. Naruto supported them by using his Kage Bunshin to carry the elderly and sickly on their back. By morning, they've travelled quite a distance, though the shores are still nowhere in sight."

"We're not lost are we?" A sound nin groaned.

"Well… if we follow the map… it shouldn't be much further…" Yukiku replied.

"You sure you can read that map?"

Vein popped on Yukiku's temple. "Listen you stupid Sound nin! 16 hours of walking from that village since yesterday and you've done nothing but whining around. If you got time to do that, then you can at least take example from Naruto like everybody else?" Indeed, Naruto's effort to safeguard the villagers had inspired some other nins, even those who initially opposed the idea of bringing them along. The nins take turns on guarding the doctors while the nins did what they can. The Grass nin collected medicinal herbs on their way to be made medication. Sand nins used their sand techniques and puppet playing technique to entertain the children and encourage the others to go on. Others, whose skills are not suited decided to take example of Naruto, aiding Dr. Ina and sometimes carrying the elderly on their back.

The Sound nin was clearly ashamed at this and groaned away. 'Just wait until we get our 'trump card' at you bastards.'

After a few more hours of walking, they finally reached the shores. "We're here!" Neji announcement was welcomed by a wave of cheers of the refugees. Reinvigorated, everyone hasten their pace. And finally, they've arrived at the destination point.

"De? Where's the ship?"

Neji looked around. That was a damn good question: where's the ship? Being a ship of such enormous size, it seems impossible for it to completely disappear from sight completely. "Could it be… that we're too early?"

Just then, something burst out from the sea. It was huge! At first, it looked like a mountain, but then, upon closer inspection, it was actually a submarine. An enormous submarine. The frontal half looked like a giant semi conical structure, while the rear half was composed of eight parts attached to the frontal part. Naruto recognized the submarine all at once. "It's the Kraken!"

Truth be told, inside the Kraken…

Fujiki gave another order after he finished his nth ramen. "Disengage cruiser mode, begin deployment."

"Yokai! Cruiser Mode disengage."

"Deactivate engine 13-35, reroute all power to engine 45-65."

"Takogiris, prepare for blooming!"

"Activating tower thrusters!"

"Tower! Lift up!"

Several holes opened on the Kraken's forward body, and something burst out from them, propelling the tower, raising the front part while sinking the rear part. The process continued until finally, the whole structure is now upright: the frontal part stood upright above sea surface while the lower parts, the Takogiris were sank.

"Takogiris! Surface!"

And then, the lower part of the Sub which was drowned began to rise up above the sea surface, one by one, until finally when the eighth Takogiri had surfaced. The central tower sank just a bit, followed by a clanking sound and steam burst out from the intersections, signifying that its transformation is complete. The Kraken returned to the eight pronged snowflake form which was used for the Preliminary exam.

At this show of technology, even Renald dropped his book and fell backwards. He knew that Kirigakure's ships were advanced… but he had no idea it was THAT advanced…

Naruto and the other ninjas had their mouth opened aghast.

Inside, Fujiki zoomed at the shores via the monitor and looked in glee at the shocked Chuunin exam participants. "Heh. When I became one of the Seven Devil Swordman the Kraken was initially given to me the Mist engineers… but I don't really like its feature and so I did some major modification, including this transformation capability, which cost me the better part of my personal funds. The investment wouldn't be worth it if they're not the least bit surprised." The Swordsman zoomed at one particular blond and activated his speaker.

"Naruto! Thank goodness you're still alive you pineapple head of a devil!" Fujiki's voice boomed.

Naruto gaped and laughed nervously.

The Sound nins however, were shocked. "The captain… knew him!?"

"Anyway, that aside… what's with the crowd? The note only stated that I'll be picking up what's left of the Genins and about 16 doctors and humanitarian workers. I only see… 4 of them… and many… MANY villagers… refugees. What's the big idea?"

"Well… there's a little bit of a complication here…" Naruto replied.

Fujiki sighed back.

"What do you think, Fujiki-sama?" Namimaru approached his captain.

"Well… I'd say, if I knew Naruto, he must've thought up something rash or… moral reasons. I was kinda expecting that there should be less than 16 doctors… but the number I had in mind was 10-8 doctors left… But four doctors is just… oh well… detach Takogiri-I once I'm on board."

"Very good sir."

And then, outside, one segment of the Kraken detach itself and sailed towards the shores. Once it landed, a familiar 10 year old boy landed, along with a one eyed man. Every female nin in the group, ones who didn't know the boy's 'true' form, all fawned and awed at how cute the boy was.

Naruto chuckled, knowing full well how disappointed they will be if they know the truth. And then, all the sudden, the sound nins rushed towards the nin, knocking Fujiki down in their stride. "Those guys…"

The sound nins run towards Namimaru. "Excuse me… are you the captain?"

"No I'm not."

"Please, we have something the captain might find very interesting."

"Well, tell him then. You just knocked him down."

"What?" The Sound nins paused. They turned around and saw Fujiki stood up, cleaning the sand from his clothings. With trembling hands, one of the nins pointed at Fujiki. "T-t-t-that b-b-b-boy… I-i-i-is t-t-the c-c-c-c-c…"

"Yes. I'm the captain, and I know I looked like a 10 year old brat. I got teased a lot so please don't add to my misery." Fujiki smirked 'playfully (read: devilishly)'.

"A… Anoo… you see… w… we catch some of the Konoha nins… killing Mist Jounins. Yeah. Three of em. Yeah."

"Hoo? That's a fact? Proof?"

"We bring the bodies for you, if you want…" One of the Sound nins handed the scroll containing the Jounins bodies. Fujiki chuckled, understanding where this is going. He fetch it and tossed it to Namimaru.

"Unseal the body and start autopsy." He turned to the Sound nins. "Who did it?"

"The blond haired brat."

Fujiki turned to Naruto and laughed. "Naruto? What? You guys are survivors from other ships during the preliminary aren't you?"

"E… Eh… yes… ergh…" The Sound nins were confused.

"Well, Naruto killed a bunch of my jounins when he was on my ship. I'm not that surprised he could kill just a paltry three Jounins."

"Haaa…" The sound nins flabbergasted.

"Still, I do wonder… why did you do it, Naruto?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "Do what?"

"These three gentlemen here said that you killed three Mist jounins. May I inquire why?"

"Self defense. End of story." Naruto replied short.

"There's your answer." Fujiki swing his hand. "Now if you'll excuse me I have something more consequential to attend to." And with that, Fujiki went to Naruto and the other nins. "My notes told me there are 16 humanitarian workers. Yet you only managed to rescue four… and a whole bunch of people. Anyone care to explain?"

"When we get there, there were only 9 left. The rest were already dead. We only managed to bring four, but the remaining chose to stay because there's still a lot more people wounded in there."

"I see…" Fujiki looked at the doctors, specifically to Ina. "I don't mind bringing everyone on my ship. But I just don't think I can bring them to Mist, our capacity is at 300 percent there's a barely a place left in there."

"Bring them back to Wave. That's the best option."

Inari roared. "What? Naruto-nii-san, you realized why these people ran from Wave, do you?"

"Yes. And the reason is called the Royal Skull Gang, and I tell you people, as I have told you, my worst half had already massacred his entire crony, and tore him apart limb by limb. The Mayor Tazuna now own one third of the city. If you don't believe me, go to the police station there, and ask for a literally legless, armless convict named Zhuya the former Executioner."

Fujiki winked and smiled rather sadistically. "Armless? Legless? You're serious?"

"Yeah. I rip them apart myself with my bare hands. Great isn't it."

"You and I, we're gonna have a little talk about this." The berserker chuckled sinisterly.

"You're sure about this? You're sure we can return to Wave safely?" one of the villagers wondered.

"Trust me. The other two powers who owned the city weren't as bad as Zhuya, that's for sure. And the Mayor now owned a certain amount of authority. So, how bout it? Would you like to give it another try?"

The refugees looked at each other. For a moment, they were a bit uncertain, but they finally agreed. Fujiki noted this. "ALL ABOARD!"

Taka smiled as he saw the refugees proceeding to enter the Kraken. "This is Taka, anybody read me?"

"This is Ankou, kero."

"Ankou!? Where are the others?"

"Listening, kero. Fire away, kero."

"Well… I'm on the shores, I think it's safe to assume we no longer need to worry. The refugees are being moved to the ship as we speak and I'd say they'll be leaving in 30 minutes time. On safety side I'll remain on watch for a little while longer."

"No can do! You gotta hit them hard kero-"

Anjou's rambling replaced by a short static and then replaced by Shinja's elegant voice. "Thou do what thou must. We shall await thy next tale."

00000000000

30 minutes later, every villagers are aboard and counted for.

"You're not gonna do that transformation thing with this many civilian inside right?" Naruto asked rather nervously. "I don't think they know about wall walking."

"Hell no. They might vomit, and I will not have short-circuited components because of someone's vomit on my ship. Namimaru, get the villagers on Takogiri 5 and 6, and then send them on their merry way to Wave."

"Very good sir." Namimaru turn to the villagers and showed them the way. "This way ladies and gentlemen."

The villagers followed the vice captain while Fujiki addressed the survivors of the second exam. "…117… wow. Talk about record. You started of 128… you only lose 11 people. Wow. Maybe another elimination exam is necessary."

Those who survived Fujiki's preliminary spontaneously yelled a ceremonious "NO!"

Fujiki chuckled evilly. "You guys don't get it do you? By sending you greenhorns to real life battlefield, we were expecting to reduce your number to two digit number, or even better, single digit: no bigger than 20 or 12… If I can, I'll do the elimination here and now, but the last time I did that in this exam, I get a beating of a lifetime, and it took me a full week to bring this ship back to full working order, and it is a royal sum pain I don't want to repeat very often. Besides, even if I don't perform preliminary now, the other Jounins are probably gonna find some way to reach that mark." Fujiki laughed Dracula style.

00000000000

While Fujiki debrief the Genins, Namimaru was supervising the boarding of the villagers. Down on the Kraken's medical bay, the three dead bodies of the Jounins were unsealed and autopsied. The Medic Nins began removing their equipments first and then their clothes and all. Two medics were assigned to each body. They then begin by removing the cause of death: the first one, removing the bullet from the brain, the other, removing the iron arrow from the dead body's neck. The third team was a bit confused on how they should handle the third body. "This one looked like he was being stabbed by a chain saw…"

"Oh well… I need an X-ray! We gotta figure out how deep the bullet goes."

"That Saizen is a real dumb idiot. What's the point of using a gun if it's gonna shoot yourself?"

"Hahaha." And then, when they X-rayed the body, they found something really weird.

"Hey… this is the bullet right?" The medic pointed at a spot on center of the brain. "Then… what is this web like thingamajig scattered all over the brain? Tumor?"

"If it is, this guy doesn't need a bullet on his brain to be dead!"

The medic nins were too excited to observe the deadman's brain to realize one tiny seemingly insignificant detail:

The supposedly dead man's eyes are twitching.

Back to the Genins and Fujiki.

"Anyway, get some rest, we're heading to Mist as soon as I sent all the refugees on their way. And the doctors, I'd like to debrief you guys personally if you don't mind? Please follow me to my quarters?"

Naruto secretly sighed in relief.

"You seem glad." Inari blurted.

"You had no idea how he act in battle. Anyway, what are you doing here young man? You're supposed to be on the ship with the other refugees."

"I… I just don't think I'm not ready to face them just yet…"

"Oh for god's sake. That's it. Reynald, Neji, Yukiku, you three go ahead and get a room. I'll take this bozo and make sure he gets on a ship."

"Wha… wait a minute-"

"No buts no whats. And shut up." Naruto plucked the boy off the ground and carry him squirming on his back.

In the meantime

The doctors followed Fujiki to his quarters as the captain requested. But when the time has come to come in, only Ina did so. Fujiki was the least bit surprised.

"Dr. Ina." Fujiki bowed down.

"Spare the pleasantries. I'm guessing what this is all about."

"Well… Sure the nin involved were basically taken from Chuunin exam, but the mission was not. I can give you a name if you want. Our client who requested this mission."

"Thrill me?" Ina bent her head forward and let Fujiki whisper the name. Once he was done, Ina could only shake her head. "Geeze… what a troublesome person."

"Can't blame him for worrying about you. Though the mission stated to rescue all 16, in reality we knew, when he made the request, specifically he was asking for you."

"And I thought he and Hanzou were old warbuddies."

"They were. But Hanzou was involved with infighting within his own village, a war with a party that pretty much gave him plenty of reason to worry, hence the mission to bail you out." Fujiki produced a folder and unravel its content. He pointed at a particular picture. A red cloud on black background.

"…Akatsuki?"

"We even have a rather credible Intel, that the Akatsuki involved in Amegakure's civil war is one of its top ranking member. Plenty reason no?"

"What are they up to?"

"We don't know that, and we decided not to take any chances whatsoe-" Fujiki's comment was cut short when alarm sounded. He quickly opened a monitor. One of his crew at the main bridge looked panicked and somewhat disoriented. "Talk to me, what happened? What's that alarm?"

"I… We're not sure sir… sensors indicate we're under attack but… the source…"

"What?"

"It's not from outside! It's from inside… starting from the medical ward."

"We have the countermeasure for this! Activate the damn thing!"

"That's the thing sir, we tried but the system just won't activate. Something is clogging the mechanism."

"What about the surveillance camera?"

"Sending the last images sir… you're not gonna believe this sir."

Another picture show up, displaying what happened a few minutes ago. Fujiki had to check his eyes to sure if he wasn't dreaming. It started out that the medic nins were checking the bodies of the dead. One of them suddenly opened its mouth and the screen went static for a moment, but he can see 2 medic nins were screaming, holding their heads. And then their bodies suddenly start exploding and fleshy tendrils suddenly burst out. The other two bodies too began trembling and then their innards exploded and tendrils burst out. The remaining medic nin tried to run to the intercom, but the tendrils get to them first. It went through them and abnormal veins grew at their bodies. And then, like a puppet, the medic nins walked to the door, and they opened it, allowing more tendrils to burst out. One of the tendrils slithers around and then smashed the camera.

"What in God's name was that?" Ina turned to Fujiki, whose expression was the face of a man relieving a nightmare.

"…My God… they still did it… that abominable research…"

"What?"

Fujiki weaved through his purple hair. "How could they… how could he… her legacy… he did this… that bastard already get this far… that bastard…" He banged his table several times.

"Sir! Sir what are your command? Sir! SIIR!" The voice from the com fell on deaf ear. Fujiki was lost in his own mind.

"How did he get it…I ordered its destruction… how… how… unless…"

"FUJIKI!" Ina roared at his ear, snapping Fujiki back from his stupor.

Fujiki blinked several times. He realized what was happening and quickly opened channel to all stations. "FIND OUT HOW FAR THE INFECTION HAD SPREAD! SEAL OFF ANY SECTION THAT GOT INFECTED! NOW!"

"Sir? What are we dealing with here?" Namimaru appeared on one of the screens.

"A loose end. My mistake. Make sure every villagers board the ship."

"But sir…? Erhh… this thing… it's occurring from there too!"

"WHAT!?"

Truth be told, on the Takogiris and on every part of the ship, several shinobis start holding their head in pain. One start opening their mouth and though no sound come out, the other shinobi start exploding into masses of tendrils that went through others as well. Soon, massive fleshly tendrils exploded on every part of the ship, and the tendrils start swirling with the Kraken, even the Takogiri 5 and 6, which supposed to carry the villagers.

Naruto was horrified when one nin next to him got run through by a massive tendril. Inari screamed in terror. "What the hell is going on here!?" Naruto ran towards section 5 and 6, and found several villagers were being surrounded by the tendrils. Creating a handseal, Naruto sent a stream of flame to burn through the tendrils. The tendrils burned down… but then it quickly regenerates.

Just then, Fujiki's voice roared from the intercom. "Everyone! EVERY NINJA! LISTEN UP! TO FIGHT THIS THING, USE EVERY LIGHTNING JUTSU YOU HAVE IN YOUR REPERTOIRE!"

Naruto blinked. "Lightning?" He made the necessary seals: "Raiton, Raikouben!" the lightning whip lashed at the tendrils, electrocuting them. And then, funny enough, the tendrils went rigid, and then shrunk down altogether before blue fire burst out and burn the tendrils to nothingness. "Wow… but how did he knew about this? Oh well. You folks! Come with me, it's not safe here!"

Meanwhile, Neji, Yukiku and Renald had also aware of the bizarre tentacles that swept through the ship. Neji, the adept lightning element user of the group heard the instruction and quickly cast: "Raiton, Raijin Tsurugi!" Swords of lightning shot out, cutting as well as electrocuting, every tentacle in its path.

"What should we do?"

"Rendezvous with Naruto, we have to find out what's going on!"

"He'd be near the Takogiri 5 or 6 I reckon!" Renald dodged a tendril sprouting on his back.

Just then they saw Guccha and several ninjas from other village came running towards them, the tendrils are close on their heels. Neji made a few handseal: "Raiton, Rairyuuha! (Lightning Dragon wave)" waves of lightning went past the escaping shinobis and blast the tentacle monstrosity. "Neji-san!"

"Guccha-san! Where's the other ninja?"

"Excluding us, some were gathered in the mess hall! Several Mist ninjas start screaming and a few start exploding tendrils and sort… they don't make it."

"We gotta get to the surface, that's the only way to find to find out what's going on!"

00000000000

However, in various parts of the ship, mist nins were trying to escape the horrid monstrosity. But the infection is quick to spread, and those who were run through became some sort of relay station where more tendrils spread out from them. At this point, almost everyone in aboard the ship is infected. From the outside, the Kraken had turned into a crimson floating monstrosity with tentacles sprouting here and there. Taka checked his eyes several times to see he wasn't dreaming. 'What… the…'

And just when things couldn't get worse, some of the infected nin inside start loading warheads into missiles.

Fujiki fought his way through the monstrosity with a taser gun and his sword all the way to the main bridge while protecting Ina. When he get there though… the door to the main bridge was crawled by the zombie nins infected by these tendrils. Gritting his teeth, he slaughtered his infected subordinates and burst through the door. The main bridge was no more. Several of his subordinates had flipped their tables, making them shield. They were glad to see their Captain.

"Captain!"

"My God… Where's Namimaru?"

"H… Here…" a weak voice responded.

"NAMIMARU!" Fujiki was horrified to his vice captain. The one eyes man had lost one of his arms and one of his legs.

"What happened?"

"One of our men start screaming… and then another one start bursting those tentacles… hit my arm and my leg… had to cut them, lest I'll turn into one of these… monsters…"

"Well done, my lad. Well done."

"I'm sorry… but I fear we're all that's left."

"No… there's one person who can probably get us out of here… if I knew him, he's probably trying to save as many civilian as he can!" He roared to another of his surviving subordinates. "FIND ONE SECTION THAT HASN'T BEEN COMPLETELY INFECTED!"

Truth be told…

That one person let out his ferocious battle cry, and together with his clones, he sent lightning after lightning at the impending tentacles. Inari and Naruto quickly secure the villagers and several surviving shinobis, or what's left of them once the tentacles was taken care of. The Takogiri 5 was hit first, and unfortunately, most of the villagers had already gone in there when the outbreak started. Right now, Naruto and Inari focused their attention on Takogiri 6, the only section of the ship that apparently escaped total infection, thanks to Naruto's effort.

"Get out! NOW!"

Just then, they heard another alarm bell. "Now what the hell was that?"

00000000000

On the main bridge, Fujiki recognized that bell. Horrified, he went to the only computer still functional and checked on his ship's status. "Oh no! NO, NO!"

"What is it?" Ina asked, not sure she'll like the answer.

"Some of those infected nins had activated the missile launch sequence!"

"WHAT?"

"The target is… oh God… Oh My GOD!"

Ina looked at the screen and realized the target with a horrified expression. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

00000000000

Meanwhile, Neji, Yukiku, Renald and the rest of the shinobi survivors had managed to get to the surface, and were observing with horror, that almost all parts of the ship had became infected by this crimson tendrils and monstrosity. Just then, a clanking sound can be heard from three sections of the ship. A set of silos opening up from the three sections. And then a few moments later, hails of missiles shot out to the skies.

"Missiles!" Renald exclaimed.

"Missile?"

"Long range ballistics… that doesn't look so good…"

Neji looked at the missiles and then to the central. "Come on, we gotta get to the central section."

00000000000

Several areas in Amegakure territory…

The salvo of missiles bombarded several areas with crowded population, destroying a couple of blocks and several civilian complexes. Death toll in thousands.

00000000000

In the village where the remaining villagers and doctors had decided to stay, they go on with their lives.

Not knowing how short it will be.

The hail of missiles came as sudden and ended their lives. The rain of destruction levels everything: houses, graves, the mansion, the cliff, the human… all turned to dust and leveled to the ground. Wiped off the map.

00000000000

Ina fell on her knees, crying, thinking how she just lost all her comrades, the villagers and the wounded they've left behind… everyone, all gone. Fujiki slumped to his chair, shocked and horrified. 'What have I done… you warned me… I didn't listen… a moment of laxity… and now this…'

"…is there any system left in this ship that are still operational? That is still in our control?"

"…none… sir… the Takogiri 6 is still sending their signal but… we can't reach them remotely."

"That's because our control in here is busted." Fujiki growled. "We have to go there, and control it manually…and there's definitely one control that those tendrils or zombies can't access."

The Captain tapped a few commands into the remaining computers. "Voice recognition and password required."

"Davy Jones Locker." Fujiki answered. And then, from the wall, three terminals with three screens popped out. Namimaru recognized what it was.

"What are you doing?" Ina frowned.

Fujiki pressed the password for each terminal. When the last password is keyed, a controller popped out of the Captain's chair.

"Self Destruct sequence ready." The computer answered just as the nins came inside.

Fujiki turned and saw Neji and the other nins. "What's going on?" Neji was the first to ask.

The swordsman smiled bitterly. "A loose end." He thought for a moment. "You should go. All of you. Your friend, Uzumaki Naruto, is probably defending the last section not entirely consumed by this infection, Takogiri 6. Go there. ALL OF YOU!" Fujiki was referring to the last of his subordinates. "I'm the captain with this ship. I'll go down with it."

The subordinates looked at their Captain. Namimaru thought for a moment, and then… "Uh… Neji-san? Could you help me, I only have one leg now…"

Neji ran to Namimaru.

"T… Take me to next to the Captain's seat? That was my position when I serve aboard this ship… that was always my position."

Fujiki quiet down.

Neji looked at Namimaru's single eye and realized what the lieutenant is trying to do. He helped the Lieutenant to his 'position' and Fujiki stepped forward.

Namimaru offer the captain his last salute. "Serving under you has been my life's honor, sir." Other subordinates followed the superior's example and saluted. Tears swelling up in their eyes.

Fujiki also offer his vice captain a salute.

And then…

"It's an honor but… shove it up your ass." Namimaru suddenly jammed a needle on Fujiki's shoulder.

"NAMIMARU!! Y… YOU!!!"

"It's a drug that will loose your entire muscles sir. Remember? Back in the earlier days, you always told me to use it whenever you went rampage out of control."

"Namimaru!"

"Look at me. I'm a cripple now. I will only slow you down. And besides, in case you haven't noticed, those tendrils turn our men into zombies. Not intelligent but… smart enough to fire a missile on a designated target, and-"

Namimaru's words were answered with banging from one of the doors.

"Smart enough figure out that we're going to destroy this ship, along with them in it." He turned to Neji. "Neji-san, please take Fujiki-dono to safety."

"Are you sure you can hold them alone?"

"He's not gonna be alone." A mist nin suddenly stepped up. "Hell it Namimaru you're one handed, one legged and one eyed freak of a man. What could you possibly do by yourself?"

"We're staying too. Captain! You leave this place. We'll get your back." The remaining subordinates too decided to stay.

"E…Everyone…" Fujiki, limp as he may, couldn't hold back his tears. "I… I'm sorry."

Namimaru smack the Captain on his face. "What was that? You're sorry? Get your act together for the love of God! You're one of the seven devil swordsman! You are the Captain of the Kraken! The greatest of the 7 ships! You can do this! See you in Hell, Capt!"

Fujiki groaned but smiled anyway. "I see you anywhere near Hell, I'll shit kick your ass out!"

Neji, Yukiku, Reynald and the other nins bowed their gratitude one last time and then they ran towards the Takogiri 6, Fujiki on Neji's back.

Namimaru turn on the Intercom. "Naruto-san! Naruto-san? Do you hear me? I don't know if you can but if you do, listen: Takogiri 6, the only section in this… Hell on earth that has you inside, are the ONLY section left that is still relatively clean. That section is the only hope for the survivors to leave this place alive. If you can hear me… listen. Fujiki-sama and your fellow shinobis are heading there now. Please. Guard it until they arrived."

End of transmission.

Just then, the banging on door reached its peak, and every shinobi left inside prepare for their last stand.

00000000000

Inside Takogiri 6…

Naruto had heard Namimaru's last transmission. Now he's using every ounce of strength he had left in him to defend the last lifeline.

The remaining villagers cowered in fear as Naruto, using his Kage Bunshin tried to hold off the tendrils with a barrage of Raiton Jutsus. Several Mist nins had been infected and turned into those Zombie nins. He had to use his Bunshins to scour the ship inside out, but even though he managed to defeat some of them, the collateral damage on that section had made the ship somewhat worse for wear. What's worse, constant use of Kage Bunshin, coupled with constant use of high level lightning jutsus, and compounded with the wound on his shoulder which haven't fully healed yet… he's running out of stamina fast.

"I gotta keep those damn tendrils off this ship!" Just then, he heard another alarm bell. 'Oh no, not again!"

00000000000

Outside on the surface… several infected sections of the Kraken began to open up their silos.

"Oh no… they're gonna shoot their missile again? Where to?" Guccha gulped.

The limp Fujiki groaned as he realized the next target. "…us."

"What?"

"…they're gonna blow off section 6 so that we can't escape…"

"We gotta stop them!"

"It's impossible… some of the Zombie nins had overridden the control… The master control in the central is busted, so it has to be done manually from each ship, and we can't do that."

"Then we have to destroy the missile. It's the only way!"

"Only Neji here is strong enough to shoot them down. And he's only one person against enough payloads to level an entire country…"

"If we're going to survive this… there's only one way." Neji remember a past accident. "Yukiku, we can only rely on your blizzard power now. You can create a blizzard big enough to knock those missiles down?"

At this, Guccha perked up.

"Y… Yeah?" Unaware, Yukiku replied.

"Really? You can use that to freeze the rockets! Create a snow storm strong enough to freeze the rocket's propulsion system! Freeze down its guidance chip!" Renald added.

"I don't know if I could do that… without killing you all!"

Neji looked at the other nins: Waterfall, Grass, Sound, and Sand nins. None of them are even remotely capable of what Yukiku can do. "Yukiku, is that, or we're dead. It's our only chance."

Yukiku contemplated and then she realized she had no choice. She removed one of her glove. And suddenly, the temperature dropped a few degrees and their breaths turned to fog before their eyes. Yukiku's hair started shining white. "You should be running right about now… and Neji? In the case I lost control again? Don't look back."

The group quickly ran towards section 6. Yukiku, once ensured that they're on a safe distance, removed her other glove. At that instant, the upper portion of the Central section was frozen solid. Fujiki widened his eyes at the phenomenal blizzard. 'She… could she be…?'

Yukiku gritted her teeth as her cold aura began to spiral out of her. "You… are mine… You're inside me… so listen… to ME!" She balled her fist as the cold energy gathered around her. With each of her step, the land froze.

Just then, one of the section sent out their first volley of missiles. Yukiku quickly gathered a ball of blue energy in her right hand. "Hyoton…" Just as the missile was on the collision course to section 6, the girl shoot out the freezing burst towards the missiles. "REIDOUHOU! (Absolute Zero Cannon)" The burst froze all the missiles, shutting down its engine, and froze the warheads. Unbeknownst to all, the energy burst slightly resembled the head of a hound. The missiles were frozen in the sky and then start falling back to the ground. The broke like glasses upon impact with the sea surface.

Guccha gasped at the enormous ice power. 'Y…Yukiku…san?'

Yukiku knelt down, trying to contain the blizzard power raging within her body. Her eyes turn azure blue and her hair start flowing. She banged her fists on the floor, further freezing the surrounding environment.

Other infected sections noted the first salvo had failed. And so, they shoot their payload as well. Yukiku roared and this time, she shot out no less than 3 Reidouhou streams that slither around all the missiles, freezing and breaking them like glass. At this point, Yukiku felt the blizzard within her is raging ever greater, and she start losing what little control she had over them. Unconsciously, she starts floating and cold energy continued to spiral around her. Her eyes and her hair are now glowing bright blue white.

Neji and the rest of the nin went down to Takogiri 6 to find several Naruto fried the last of the Zombie nins.

"Naruto!"

"Neji!" The blond, the real one, gasped.

"We have to get out here."

"I don't know how to drive this bloody damn thing."

"I can." Fujiki had regained a slight bit of his mobility. "Help me. We need to detach this section from the rest. Reynald, Neji! I can't move yet, help me with this."

And while Neji and Reynald helped Fujiki in completing the sequence for detaching the section, Naruto wondered what's going on outside and climb up. There, he saw Guccha, standing, anger and fear mixed in his eyes.

"Guccha?"

"It was her… the witch… it was her…"

"What?" Naruto turn to what the sand nin was looking. "…oh no."

Mixing in an eerie harmony with the crimson tendrils that infected almost all ship, now ice crystalline structure burst out here and there. And at the center of it all, the squirming and grunting Yukiku. Icy wings burst out from her back, in a bizarre image of an angel. All infected section then opened all their silos and a few moments later, sent out their entire payload on one target: Yukiku.

At this, Yukiku screamed. "!!"

Three giant burst of Reidouhou streams, this time taking a shape of a hound altogether exploded from her figure. Each blast was surrounded by a catastrophic blizzard roaring around them. The Frost hounds made a short work on all the missiles, freezing and shattering them all, before they turn on their environment. The first that got hit were the silos. One hound headed right towards them, right towards Guccha. Naruto summoned every ounce of strength he had left in him and sent out the strongest fire jutsu he can think of.

"KATON! GOKURYUUHA!! (Hell Dragon Wave)"

A giant demonic dragon like it was sent from hell spiral out from Naruto's mouth. The blast managed to divert the hound, sending it to the sea. The sea was frozen but the attack still went on, the hound seek another target. The noise of their roar cover the voice of Yukiku's own screams of anguish and pain. No one heard it… save Naruto.

"Argh… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Her scream vainly attempt to pierce through the roaring blizzard she had created.

"I gotta stop it… I gotta get to her…"

"No… that witch will kill you too!" Guccha grab hold of Naruto's shoulder. "She'll kill you like… like she did to my brother JUST LEAVE HER BE!"

Naruto groaned and grabbed hold of the Sand nin. "Look at her! LOOK! Does she looked like she's enjoying whatever she's doing!?"

Guccha looked at Yukiku floating at the center of the disaster. She couldn't hear her voice… but the expression was unmistakably was that of pain. He then turned to Naruto. "You knew this? All along?"

"There's more to her… than what's going on between you and her. I had to save her. She's sick… and she needs help." And with that, Naruto charged towards the raging blizzard, towards her. Several ice pieces pierced through his skin. He could hear voices in the blizzard.

"HA ha ha.. hahahahaha… look mom! Look, I created an ice sculpture!"

"Teheehee… Yukiku the ice witch: a house, a dancer, a horse, you name it, I'll carve it!"

"Hahahaha! Wow! Look mom! I created this many statue in one go! Ahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!"

"Ahaha… y… what? Wait…"

"Aha… no…"

"I shouldn't have laughed… I SHOULDN'T HAVE LAUGHED!"

"I… I KILLED THEM?"

'This is… her memory when she committed her first kill… the memory of that accident…' It was just like that time in the forest of Konoha. Only this time, there's no hellfire to protect him. He can only rely on normal human fire, which unfortunately is easier to freeze in this kind of weather. "YUKIKU! WAKE UP! DON'T FELL TO THEIR CONTROL!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGH! AHAHAHA… AHAHA… I SHOULDN'T HAVE LAUGHED… I SHOULDN'T HAVE LAUGHED!"

"Yes, you bloody shouldn't!" Naruto struggled as he fought his way through the blizzard storm. "No good… I need something to blast through… wait… there may be a way…"

Meanwhile, on the central section, sitting on piles of piles of dead zombie nins, Namimaru had seen the proceedings on what's going on out there. "Hang in there miss Yukiku… and hurry up damn you Captain!"

On the Takogiri 6, Neji and Renald struggle to finish the last sequence. "Is everybody on board!?"

"N… Naruto-san head back in there… he's trying to save that witch!" Guccha replied.

"Witch?" Renald looked at Neji.

"…Yukiku."

Suddenly, a crimson burst of flames burst out from one of the sections of the ship. The blast knocked away the cold air for a moment.

On the surface of the Kraken central section, Naruto and one of his clone smirked. "Aw it went better than I expected…" The clone prepared another set of handseals, and Naruto ready his palm for a Rasengan.

"Katon!" the clone burst a flame from his mouth to Naruto's palm, the exact moment when Naruto start constructing Rasengan.

"Fukanzen, Katon Rasen Ensho! (Incomplete, Fire Element, Spiraling Heat wave!)" The Katon Rasengan exploded the moment it was completed, and the resulting explosion sent forth a spiraling wave burst of hot air that plow through the cold blizzard. 'Not bad for something I made on the fly but… Why do I feel so tired?'

YOU IDIOT! Came Kyuusei's voice. DON'T OVERESTIMATE YOURSELF NOW! HOW MANY LIGHTNING JUTSUS AND SHADOW CLONES YOU HAVE USED IN THIS WHOLE ORDEAL?

"Hoo? Nice to hear you, you haven't spoken to me for 9000 years."

SHADDUP! YOU BETTER GET THIS OVER AND GET YOUR GIRL! I'M NOT DYING HERE FOR YOUR PERSONAL ROMANCE!

"WHAT? NO!" Naruto roared. But he climbed on nonetheless. At this point, every frost hound suddenly went towards him. "Stupid iced up mutt! Katon, SOUGOKURYUUHA!!" Two hellish dragon burst out and spiral around the tower, preventing the blizzard from entering there… for a moment. The flames quickly freezing up and Naruto realized, his strength is starting to fail him, and in a moment, the blizzard will came crashing down, freezing him and Yukiku. Forcing the last bits of strength he still had in himself, Naruto ran towards Yukiku, took one jump and roared.

"MEZAMEYO, OMAE OOBAKAYAROU!! (WAKE UP, YOU BIG IDIOT!)" And with that, Naruto decked her on the face, snapping her back to reality.

The first thing that Yukiku saw after she regained consciousness was Naruto fainting with a smile before her and start falling down. "NO!" She screamed and stretched out her hand, catching Naruto's. The flame Naruto created died out and the blizzard rages on. Yukiku finally realized what just happened. She lost control… again. And Naruto just risked his life to stop her. Again. She had no time to grieve as Neji's voice echoed from the speaker of the remaining ship.

"YUKIKU! GET NARUTO BACK TO THIS SHIP! HURRY! WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!!"

Yukiku wondered on how she can go to that ship in such limited time. She looked around and saw the frost hounds, still swirling around the ship. Now that she's back to her senses, the blizzard was gone now. And she thought up an idea. "Listen… listen to me now!" She mustered every last bit of her will and try to gain control on one of the Frost hounds. A mental backlash informed her that she failed. Yukiku redouble her effort. "Listen to me NOW!!"

The frost hound winced and then obediently came before her. Carrying Naruto on his back, she hopped on to frost hound's back. The hound quickly flew them to the surface of the Takogiri 6. The hound disappeared as soon as they arrived at their destination. Neji noted this and roared. "Alright! Everyone's on board! EJECT! NOW!"

Renald pushed the enter button, and a series of explosion can be heard as the Takogiri 6 separates from the Central section. Or at least… it should've. The ship is still attached to the central section.

"What happened? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED? Shouldn't we detach right now?" One of the frustrated Grass nins yelled.

"The tendrils…" Fujiki gritted his teeth. "The tendrils are jamming the mechanism…"

"Leave that to me!" Come Yukiku's reply from the surface. The girl concentrate and the remaining frost hounds finally fell under her control. She instructed them to ram themselves at the rear of the Takogiri 6. The two hounds did so, and the entire rear section froze. Unsheathing both of her swords, Yukiku charged towards the frozen portion and slammed both of her swords on the spot. The fragile part shattered in an instant, releasing the Takogiri.

"Activate emergency booster!" Renald punched the instruction and for a moment, the ship burst away from the rest of the Kraken.

Namimaru watched happily as he saw his master left to safety. "Bravo young lady. Bravo." He turned around to see hordes of zombies standing around him. "…" he lifted the controller for the self destruct. And then, in an instant… he suddenly remembered the day it all started.

"Alright! Who's the captain here! His new ace has arrived!" The younger, cockier Namimaru hit a purple haired boy aside as he walked towards Enshin.

"Namimaru? You just knocked him down."

"What?" Namimaru paused. He turned around and saw Fujiki stood up. With trembling hands, he pointed at Fujiki. "T-t-t-that b-b-b-boy… I-i-i-is t-t-the c-c-c-c-c…"

"Yes. I'm the captain, and I know I looked like a 10 year old brat. I got teased a lot so please don't add to my misery." Fujiki smirked 'playfully (read: devilishly)'.

'Yeah… if I remember… I was just like those sound nins… same reaction too…heh…'

"So! You're my new vice Captain? I'll warn you before hand: I'm a hell of a taskmaster. Nice to meet you!"

"A… AHAHAHAHA… N… nice to meet you too…"

'Captain… serving you was the most fun I ever had… I'll serve you another cup of ramen in the afterlife…' He lifted the controller and took one last look at the screen, and roared with all his might just as the zombie nins charged at him. "LONG LIVE KIRIGAKURE!"

And he pressed the button.

The central section exploded first. The entire dome burst into flames. Following, a series of explosion occurred in every nook and cranny of the ship, every window burst into flames. The surface of the ship followed soon after, and a series of enormous explosion blow through the rooftops. Pretty soon, the giant ship turned into a gigantic inferno as it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

On board Takogiri, Fujiki banged the side of the wall in frustration and let a tear fall.

Taka, the spectator of the whole ordeal almost forgot to breathe. "…w… I… I gotta report this to Hanzou-sama before he-"

"Before he assumed that Amegakure was under attack by Kirigakure?"

A sound from his back alerted the Rain nin. He saw a silhouette of a figure. "Eh?"

"I'm sorry. But I cannot allow that." And then, in a flash, a katana went through Taka's head, killing him instantly in a single stroke.

Taka the Eagle died before he could send a report that could prevent an incoming disaster.

00000000000

Takogiri sailed calmly, though the atmosphere was clearly gloomed. Neji had the count, of 178 nins get on board, only 23 survived, including Doctor Ina and Fujiki, they managed to rescue quite a few villagers: 97 villagers… but they've lost hundreds… probably even thousands… Fujiki was clearly the most miserable looking person on the ship, and no one tried to talk to him whatsoever. None of his subordinates survived and his prized ship now at the bottom of the sea. Ina was still mourning the death of the villagers and her colleagues. Guccha was no different. Having discovered that the woman in which he had shared was actually the witch he had been hunting, he confronted her the moment things had calm down.

"YOU! You murdered my family, my friends, my village… and my little brother… YOU!!" He pushed Yukiku to the wall. She seemed resigned herself.

"Yes. It was me. And you heard me correctly, at the time… I was laughing."

Guccha couldn't hide his anger anymore. "My brother's… REVENGE!!" He pulled out his sand sword and charged at Yukiku. Before the blow was struck, Naruto jumped in between them and grab hold of the sand katana.

"Naruto-san! Please! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Didn't I tell you? There's more going on with her than between you and her."

"She killed my family."

"When she was six! She didn't even know how to use to a kunai at the time and already she became a mass murderer. Do you have any idea what that could do to you when you were that age?" Naruto pushed away the blade and grabbed Yukiku's hand. He showed the suicide scar on Yukiku's wrist for everyone to see. Guccha shrunk back upon seeing the scar.

Neji frowned. 'Suicide scars…'

Yukiku retract her hand back.

Naruto glared at Guccha. "I know you suffered. I know it's hard for you to lose your family. But she had suffered more than you think. You have friends. Comrade that can support you. She spent years ALONE! No friends no family. With only occasional visit from her mother who died when she needed her the most. And if you feel that she doesn't know how you feel losing a brother, guess again." Naruto pointed his chest. "You're looking at the person who killed the last of her family member: her brother!"

At this Guccha had nothing to say and back away but still he looked at Yukiku with a certain degree of contempt.

'Naruto…' Yukiku looked at Naruto's back. She touched the boy's shoulder. Naruto looked at her and shook his head, but she nodded. "I'm through running. Let's just finish this." Gently pushed Naruto aside, Yukiku stepped forward. "…I killed your brother. And that time I was six. I had no control over my power and I had no idea what I was doing. But that doesn't cleanse my sin. I'm not going to hide or run. Your brother's killers is right in front of you, do what you want."

Several times Guccha looked at the gourd on his waist, to Yukiku's wrist, and then her eyes. There's no fear in those eyes. The sand nin pointed his sand katana right in front of her face to measure her reaction. A few seconds, he finally dropped the katana and left without another word.

Fujiki saw all this and looked at Yukiku. '…she's…' he took a deep breath and then approached the girl. "…"

"What?" Yukiku looked at him.

"…who are you people?" Fujiki finally asked.

"What?"

"You guys are definitely NOT an average ninja. I keep thinking about it… and truth be told, this question had been hanging at the tip of my tongue since the first time I look upon you guys. I also found it weird, why three booby trapped Mist jounins would want to kill you Naruto. Who are you people?"

Yukiku and Naruto looked at Fujiki. The two then looked at Neji and Reynald.

"Give us a second." The four convene.

"What do you think?"

"Isn't it obvious? Whatever party booby trapped those bodies… the booby trap were set to do its job the moment they board this ship, dead or alive… in another word… they want him dead. If they want him dead…" They looked at the last survivor of the Kraken.

"Somewhere private. We'll tell you everything." Neji stated.

Fujiki nodded. "Captain's quarter."

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In the Captain's quarter…

"Here's the deal. We'll tell you some of the things we know, you'll tell us some of the things you know. We don't want to sound egoistical, but you have to understand. We don't fully understand our findings either."

"Here's the deal: I lost all my man in one day. You'll talk, or I'll kick your ass off my ship."

Neji nodded. "Initially, we were Konoha Genins set forth to participate in the Chuunin exam. On our way here, we prevented an assassination attempt on the Mizukage, Enshin Kirimaru. After that, your Kage, acting as a client hired us. So you see, we're secret agents sent here by your Kage to root out the traitors that attempt on his life."

Fujiki eyes widened for a moment and then nodded in understanding. "I see… he couldn't trust us… so he hired outside people… alright. And what did you find?"

"A great confusion and a bunch of suspects." Neji continued. "Containing three names: Shu the Stingray, the pirate, Fudou Touzou, the whale and Saizen Miyamoto, the new swordsman. Though we seem more focused on the latter two at the present. We managed to contact Enshin-dono, and he told us a great deal about the history Murakumo and the Kaguya. During the first exam, with some help, we found out that an enormous number of people were kidnapped, and replaced with fakes. We do not understand why or how, but we do understand, they were used on some sort of drug testing. The replacements are happening in waves. The first only a few dozen, and then a few hundreds, and finally a few thousand. We realized the pattern resemble-"

"Drug testing on humans." Fujiki finished. "The first few dozen, was to point out any errors. Fix it, and then do it again. The second wave is to test its effectiveness. The last phase was to see if it's plausible for mass production. I know that."

"Yes. And then, during this exam, Naruto was getting shot at by those three fellows, which we suspected, given the fact they're using firearms are Saizen's men. Naruto found them ransacking the archives of a lab in a mansion's basement. We know not what they're looking for. But we do found… you. Your names. Your photo. It seems you were involved in this… drug testing. But we don't know… the link… between the attempted murder of Mizukage… and this."

Fujiki nodded. "You just mentioned however… the reason why they want to kill me. I was part of that research… that abominable research, hence I know too much, and they want me dead because of it. The missiles shot from the Kraken, one salvo was aimed at that mansion to destroy everything: the archives, the proofs, and witnesses as well."

"Not exactly everything." Yukiku suddenly spoke up.

"Hm?" Fujiki looked at Yukiku. The girl timidly gave the Swordsman the photo. Fujiki's eyes widened. "This photo…"

"There's a picture of you and Touzou in it."

"Yes. It's pretty nostalgic. Team Lab 404." Fujiki smiled as he rubbed his face on the photo. "That was the name we go by, when we form this team 18 years ago."

The three nins went silent and gave the Swordsman their undivided attention.

"If you already know about the civil war between Murakumo and Kaguya… then you know that the root of it all was Kaguya incurable deadly disease. Team Lab 404 was formed at the time, to find the cure for that disease. I was part of that team…At that time I was still a Chuunin, but I was known as a prodigy of mechanic and physics. Touzou was a veteran scientist in biology and genetics."

"What about my mother?" Unable to contain her curiosity, Yukiku blurted out.

"Your mother?" Fujiki bent his head, slightly bewildered.

Yukiku pointed at a woman standing between Touzou and Fujiki. The swordsman's eyes widened. "She's your mother!?" Fujiki chuckled. "…so she was carrying twins…"

"You knew her?"

Fujiki nodded and smiled kindly. "To explain about your mother, that will be the same as to explain the entirety of this project. You see, your mother was at the center of it, right to the very end."

Yukiku listened carefully.

"She was an incredible scientist. Her specialty lies in miniaturization. To be more specific, she called it: Nanotechnology."

"Nanotechnology?" The three nins echoed.

"It's a technology in which you miniaturize a machine to become almost as small as a human's cell." Reynald explained. "Which is very very tiny." The three nins nodded.

Fujiki proceeded with his story. "Western educated, she was a brilliant as she is dedicated woman of science and as such she was the head of team. She's the only one who managed to bring me and Touzou together. Without her, we probably would've killed each other before we produce any results." The swordsman chuckled. "She could probably miniaturize every invention I can think of, and she still can improve its performance ten times over. She oversees my rehabilitation, and she's the reason I become a gourmand."

Yukiku asked out of curiosity. "Do you… have a crush on my mother?"

"I was 8 at the time; your mother was no pedophile!"

"Sorry. Forget I asked."

"I respected her, as a dedicated scientist and I learnt a lot: nanotechnology, engineering, and a scientist' pride and etiquette. If you're asking about a scientist who had a crush on her, ask Touzou." The way Fujiki spat at his name clearly showed his hatred of the fellow swordsman.

"One question! Did Touzou ever…?"

"NEVER! You mother was also a kunoichi. She'll cut off the man's manhood before she let her do anything like that to her."

"Oh, good. Continue please." Yukiku felt a little more at ease.

"Anyway, let's get back on the track. Lab team 404. Our mission, at first, was to find the cure for Kaguya's deadly disease… but there's one problem: Kaguya are very-very hard to control and they are raving mad! For every Kaguya we captured to be tested, 2 or 3 scientist got torn to pieces every time the experiment failed. They were… beyond control. Soon, many scientists began to lose sight of the goal… and they start to think: the hell with Kaguya! Let them die off! That's a lot of load off our shoulder!"

Fujiki sighed. "I was one of the voices who sounded such opinion. Your mother against it. But in the end… unanimously, everyone agreed to let them go. But instead of being closed, lab 404 understood that if they lose the Kaguya, our army will suffer greatly. So instead, we start searching for other alternatives. It came in form of what we call…The Super Soldier Solution AKA TS3 project."

"TS3 project." Everyone echoed.

"How do you define talent?" Fujiki suddenly asked. "How come, people like me… or your mother, seem to be so capable… or even more capable, than people much older than us? Some of use theorizes it came from genetics; that the knowledge from prodigies of old, of the great warriors that came before us, was passed on to us through genetics. The TS3 project seeks to find a way to give that talent of old to average soldiers. Turning them into super soldiers. In fact, the TS3 project goal was to make a soldier super fast, super intelligent, super strong, super… everything."

Neji raised his hand. "How is this…had anything to do with the Mizukage?"

"He spearheaded this project. He was still a Jounin at the time and he was the one who gave us the go ahead and the funding. Some of our… research… are quite taboo in the eyes of the public. Hence we were designated as a top secret. We have to open up graves of the previous Kages and other fallen ninjas just to extract their genes." Fujiki sighed.

"Did you do it then? You managed to create them? The Super soldier drug?" Naruto got a little excited at the thought of a drug that can make you super intelligent.

"We did. Or, to be more accurate… your mother did it." Fujiki looked at Yukiku. "It's not exactly a 'drug'. It's a package of Nanomachines, or Nanites, your mother's creation, carrying the genetic mutator that will bind and change your molecular structure. In theory, the Nanomachines will be inhaled via normal breathing. The nanites will then went straight to your brain gave a series of instruction via electromagnet pulse into your spinal cord that will force your entire body to change in accordance to what was programmed on the Nanites. The intention was basically to make your body stronger: sharper eye, stronger lung, faster reaction time, faster regeneration, denser bones, tougher skin, increased muscle mass and strength, elemental mastery and immunity… the basics of a superman. The nanites also carried the genetic codes of the Kages and the warriors we extracted and then implement them on your DNA. The final product would be a powerful super soldier with incredible talent which is the culmination of the strength of every talented and prodigious warrior of the past. At least…in theory."

"You spoke of in theory… you mean it was never been tested?"

"We tested it… it's just that no one ever survived the procedure. They all suffered heavy mutations that turned them into mindless monsters, similar with those bloated monstrosities you saw on my ship. And then they fell dead. Your mother estimated that the Package has a 98.9 percent fatality rate. And, she never sanctioned any human testing when she learned that fact on the clones she tested on."

"Clones?" Naruto and Reynald blinked.

"Oh yes. I forgot to mention that. She was also a genius in the technology of cloning. Originally she intended to use that technology to reduce the need of Kaguya subjects. But since that project was closed before she can implement the idea, instead she used the clones to conduct her experiment on the TS3 project."

"Clones… Touzou wouldn't happen to learn how to do that, would he? Because that would answer how and with what he replaced those 4500 people."

"Funny you ask that. I think that was the reason that old geezer interested in her in the first place." Fujiki sneered. "Fucking old pervert!"

"B… But… back in the lab… we found notes of human testing… on convicts!" Yukiku exclaimed.

Fujiki frowned and glared to Yukiku, as if to emphasize a point. "Your mother is a dedicated scientist with good conscious. Believe me when I said this: it wasn't your mother's doing. It was Touzou's."

Yukiku inwardly growled. 'Him again!'

"Touzou, having a certain amount of moral ambiguity in his methods, never could follow your mother's etiquette. He conducted the experiment on his own on those convicts. When your mother found out about it… the last time I saw her being that furious was when she found out I've been sneaking drugs into my dinner. But I quit soon after, hence she calmed down considerably quicker. But with Touzou…Your mother threatened to kick him off the team if he still continued his private research. When that didn't work, she brought the case to the council, threatening she'll go public. Something the council came up with managed to shut her up and she even had to tolerate Touzou on the team. Ever since that, she's been bitter with her work."

Naruto looked at Yukiku and noticed the girl was furious. She was gripping her swords tightly, no doubt itching to hack them on a certain swordsman.

Fujiki sighed and thought for a moment and clearly he's choosing his words carefully. It seems this part was the hardest part for him to explain. He raised the photo. "…this photo was taken 15 years ago. Your mother left the team, exactly 4 days after we took this photo. We don't know who's the father… she was suddenly pregnant for three months when she told us she'll quit the team for permanent maternity leave." The swordsman rubbed the picture of Yukiku's mother, specifically at her swollen tummy. "Last I heard, it was her son who died on the bridge construction… never imagined she gave birth to twins."

"So… my mother left the team… because she was giving birth to me and my brother?"

Fujiki realized, what he was about to reveal will be a great shock for the girl. "No. That was just to sweeten it up before the council. The real reason is more awful than that. Touzou had done an unforgivable treachery at her."

That was it. Touzou is officially her mortal enemy. "What. Did. He. Do?"

"…before your mother left, she had contemplated of stopping her research altogether. Her conscious seem just can't handle it anymore. Before that though, we managed to produce two, ONLY two doses of what we call the Perfect Super Soldier Nanites. Any person injected with this package, if it's successful, will became the true super soldier we all yearn for. However, we simply cannot risk another failed experiment, lest we lose such precious sample. Hence two alternative methods on how to use this package was proposed. I propose one, Touzou proposed the other."

"What are they?" Reynald pondered.

"The first… mine… was to use your mother's cloning technology to create a genetically engineered clone. One that is compatible with the drug. So instead of creating the drug which is compatible with the human, we'll create the human which is compatible with the drug. When the clone is in its embryo state, we'll inject the nanites, and let them change the embryo into a super soldier of its image. That was my idea, though it's easier said than done. Touzou propose a similar idea… but in his style of lack of moral etiquette: inject the nanites on a pregnant woman. The nanite will then affect the embryo on the woman's womb, and the woman will probably die at child birth; but the child born from it will be affected by the Nanites. Hence, the baby will be born a super soldier."

"B… But that's not unethical… that's inhuman! The council, no, a human being with a heart would never allow that!"

"That's the problem." Fujiki mourned. "Touzou is a man of action. His philosophy is: try it first, report it later. Before he even proposed his idea, he already infected a pregnant woman with the first dose of the Super soldier nanites. Regretfully I didn't find out about it until much later."

Yukiku's eyes widened. "…and the p-pregnant woman was…?"

"…yes. It was your mother."

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"Well, Kira, I've done what you've asked. Garous… first in Konoha… and then Mist… I guess it only make sense that there might be a group of them around the Suna as well."

"We took care of both locations… but just in case…"

"No worries my friend. The Kappas were already on it."

"Good. You're the man!"

Athrun chuckled and with that he ended the transmission. He looked at the sack, which contain the half dead Deidara. He then turned towards the suspect. "So… let me get this straight… you… have sex for one last time… with your brother's dead body?"

"Y… yes… y… you want me to…"

"NO! That's the line we're not gonna cross. Too much of those gay lewd shit and Ajwriter will be furious and cut the Minichapters Deidara's Days in Interrogation entirely and this is my only screentime!"

"Whoa! He didn't even write the title and he skipped the number altogether!" Kankurou looked at the above line. Indeed, beneath the triple rows of zeroes there is no title!

The Tragedy of Chicken Soup

Minichapter 18:

The Accident

In the desert of the Wind country, far from the preaching eyes of mortals… a battle was fought.

An army of Kappas charged towards the seemingly infinite number of Garous.

Meanwhile, some distance away, in the peaceful village of Sunagakure…another battle was fought in the bowels of Sunagakure poison division.

An army of Suna's greatest poison checkers and makers… against a single bowl of what quite possible the deadliest poison known to men

The Kappas, loyal servant of Genbu of the Northern Cardinal Gods, a fierce warrior, loyal to a fault

Garou, one of the nine Youmaou, three tails, capable of splitting to three offspring every time they were killed, and capable of traveling in between shadows

Suna's poison division, an assembly of Sunagakure's most revered poison experts, led by Chiyo

The soup, a horrifying amalgam of unknown substance of malignant effect, constant contact with its very fume had killed the delivery nin that carried it to the village, while sending many others into coma

These two battles will collide… all because of a single accident.

In Sunagakure…

In the mess hall during lunch, the Poison Experts were discussing about the Chicken Soup, as they code name it so, ever since they found out it contain the chunks of chicken as its ingredient. "It was incredible… what kind of method used to turn chicken into that deadly of a poison?"

"That's just a proof of how incredible that poison is." Chiyo stated. "They didn't use normal poison ingredients. Instead, normal household ingredients is used, normal people wouldn't have guessed how effective it was until they took a bite."

Meanwhile, one of the Poison expert secretly sneak out.

"NYihihihihi… Forget that old hag Chiyo. If I got this bowl away, I could culture it and create my own brand of poison, and once I sell it to the black market… and then I, the great Dokumaru-sama will be bloody rich. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Dokumaru get to the Poison Division, there he saw the Chicken Soup, lying ever so innocently in a triple layer of see through glass. Dokumaru quickly get into a lead suit and confidently walk towards the poison. When he opened the first glass however, the fragrance of the soup had spread. When he opened the second layer, his lead suit started to melt.

"NANNI!?" Dokumaru took a few step back. He looked at the lead suit. '…incredible… no wonder even Chiyo had this much trouble…' "BUT! I'm not gonna give up! All I need is one sample!"

And so Dokumaru resorted to take a vial. Using a doll he carefully opened the third glass, and the odor spread out altogether. Even the wooden doll start to rot. "UHIIII! I have to hurry!"

In a flash, the doll quickly took a vial full of the soup and put a gobstopper on it, plastered with many, many isolation. "Alright! Close it! Close it!" Quickly, as Dokumaru's nose administer the first scent of the soup, he desperately closed the soup back into the confines of the glass walls.

When it was done, Dokumaru swept the sweat from his forehead… "Unbelievable… the kind of trouble he had to went through just to secure a vial… say… why do I feel so lightheaded? Ah this must be the taste of success!" Dokumaru laughed again when he looked to the ceiling he realized he was looking… at the sky. "Heh?"

He looked below… and saw his own body, lying cold on the floor, pooled with blood. "Eh… I only took one sniff… and I WAS ALREADY DEAD!?"

The vial containing the poison fell off his hand and rolled over, out of the room, falling through the stairs, snapped and fly out of the window. It landed on a tent, catapulted into a palm tree, where it slide to the river. The river carried the vial, and its abominable content across the desert…

In Kappa village, the warriors had just returned after a successful slaughter of Garous…

Saizou was commenting on Himizu's progress. "Not bad. You've improved Himizu, but when you thrust your spear you still tend to use only the strength of your elbow. Keep that up, you could break your joint one day."

"It doesn't look that much different though…"

"Well… get some water for my plate and I'll explain."

"Okay." Himizu went to the river. He filled a basin with the water and he was about to fill his own when he saw an innocent vial. "Hm?" The appa took it and opened the gobstopper. 'Hey… it smell kinda good…' Himizu sniffed it several times, and then he drink it. "The taste is… the taste is… the. Taste. Is…"

Himizu trembled for several seconds and then he turn red, and then he turn blue, and then he turn green, and then he turn yellow, and then he turn white. ";……!"

The Kappa start jumping like a rabbit, somersaulting 6 times in a row, jumping and hopping around on his head, turning again he had a tap dance before he spins out of control, spitting fire from his ears and noses.

Saizou dropped his katana altogether. 'What the…'

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This got to be in for the record. The fastest chapter I've ever wrote!