Deidara's clay mount hovered in the air above the mine shaft entrance. "Yeah! I'll bury the entrance and that'll be the end of it!"
"No," Sasori said. "We couldn't be certain to kill a ninja like Jiraiya that easily. Besides, we need to interrogate the target first to see if she has passed on any information to anyone else."
Deidara looked over at the red head. "And I was wanting to show you some of my art. Yeah!"
"Do not mistake your childish explosions for real art," Sasori said with annoyance. "Now land so we can follow them in."
With a grunt Deidara complied.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Another one!" Karin screamed.
Jiraiya nodded and took them down a side shaft deeper into the earth. Behind them another puppet, this one with four huge scythes in four arms attacked the wooden support beams. Smashing them to bits the roof above caved in behind them.
"They're burying us alive!" Karin wailed. "I never should have come with you!"
Jiraiya looked at the annoying woman. "If you hadn't you'd already be dead by now." He had a firm hold of her wrist and was leading her down the tunnel at breakneck speed. "Any way they're not trying to bury us. They're trying to herd us to a spot where we'll be trapped."
Jiraiya was soon proved right as they came to a dead end. They began to double back only to find the two Akatsuki standing there with several puppets.
"I'm doomed!" Karin cried. "I can't believe I'm going to die a virgin!"
Jiraiya looked over his shoulder at her. "If you wanted to be deflowered couldn't you have mentioned it a bit sooner?" He grinned. "Oh well, I guess I can take care of it later."
"What later you idiot?! We're both going to die here!"
"Well you are," Sasori agreed. "However I am willing to spare you Jiraiya if you will simply hand over the girl to us. Otherwise I will have no choice but to kill you as well."
Jiraiya put his head back and laughed. "I wouldn't be so smug if I were you considering you've walked into my trap."
Sasori lifted a single ginger eyebrow. "I have fallen into your trap? As I recall it was my puppets that forced you to this location."
"You don't really believe I'd have trouble smashing a few toys do you? I let you drive us down here to get you as far away from the entrance as possible." He swiftly ran through some hand signs. "Ninpou Gama Guchi Shibari."
The instant the special summoning was complete the walls, floor, and ceiling of the mine shaft changed from grey rock to a rough pinkish substance. Sasori and Deidara immediately felt their feet being sucked in.
Sasori slapped his hands together. "Kai!" Nothing changed however. "This is no genjutsu, what is this?"
Jiraiya looked at them grimly as he took a hold Karin and pressed her against the side of the shaft. With a startled yelp she was sucked through. "Welcome to the esophagus of Iwagama the giant mountain toad! You are now trapped here with no hope of escape. Have fun being digested." He then also passed through.
Sasori immediately set his puppets to tearing out an escape route. But despite looking like soft pink flesh the material surrounding them proved impossible to damage.
"Ouch!" Deidara shouted. "I can feel the acid starting to burn my feet! Yeah!"
Sasori considered their options. They were much too far from the mine entrance to have any chance of making it back there in time. Cutting through was not working. Would poisons have an effect? The walls were living flesh after all.
As Sasori was thinking Deidara came up with his own solution. He shoved one of his hands into a bag filled with his special clay. His hand spat out a miniature falcon which he made life size. "Don't worry master Sasori! I'll save us with my art! Yeah!" The falcon took wing and headed for the dead end which was about fifty yard away.
"No you idiot!" Sasori shouted when he saw what his partner was attempting. "In this confined space…"
Focused on his art Deidara was not listening. The moment the clay bird reached the end of the shaft he made a hand sign. "Bang!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Jiraiya and Karin had only just made it out when they felt the ground shake beneath them. Out of the entrance came a huge gout of fire and black smoke. Knowing the distance it would have had to have traveled Jiraiya gave a respectful whistle. It must have been one hell of an explosion.
"I'd say we don't need to worry about our friends anymore." He turned to Karin with a too friendly look. "Now how about I help you with that problem you have?"
"Ewwww!" She backed away with a shudder. "Just get me to Konoha!"
XXXXXXXXXX
The rain ninja were flying through the strange forest chasing the retreating army of Konoha. Their leader was disappointed. They had beaten the leaf ninja and sent them running, but it hadn't been the total slaughter all the other victories had been. He had suffered forty losses, more than he had lost in the entire campaign up to this point. Worse they had not taken any prisoners to replace the losses. It was the first time his army was smaller following a battle than it had been before.
Even so, they had won and hurt the leaf nin much worse. If they could catch them as they were running maybe they could finish them off completely.
XXXXXXXXXX
In the shadows of a tree's branches he waited and hid his chakra signature just as Itachi-sensei had taught him.
"Find the target, take the target by surprise, kill the target with your first blow," Itachi would calmly tell him. "This is the way assassins kill."
He could sense one of the enemy coming fast. They were in a rush which meant they weren't bothering to try and stay hidden or look for nasty little surprises that might be waiting for them here. He didn't sense any of that monstrous chakra coming from anyone. It seemed all his opponents were back in their usual forms.
He smiled. That would make his job easier.
As the target approached he was ready. Just as he was flying past Naruto leapt down on him from above. There were no childish shouts or war cries as there might have been when he was a kid. He was silent as he plunged his kunai into the man's throat. Killing him with his first blow.
XXXXXXXXXX
A ninja with a scratched Grass hitai-ite was running along the ground as fast as he possibly could. His eyes were darting about looking for tracks and anything that might be suspicious. As fast as he was moving he had no trouble adjusting to follow the tracks. Being able to avoid trouble was another matter.
As he was running he saw something sparkle right in front of him. There was no opportunity to figure out what it was, much less avoid it.
The ninja wire cut clean through his throat and sent his head flying before he even realized it. His body traveled another twenty feet before crashing to the ground.
XXXXXXXXXX
In another section of the forest a Rain ninja stepped on a trip wire. Again they were moving too fast to watch out for traps. The explosive tags went up with a huge fireball blowing the poor ninja to bits and badly hurting two others that had been following.
XXXXXXXXXX
The enemy leader shouted for a halt when he heard the large explosion. He swiftly had his men form back up in case this was the start of some kind of ambush. As his men came back together he quickly received word of booby traps and assassins waiting in the trees or hidden in the bushes. From the reports he quickly realized he had lost at least another ten dead with five more wounded.
"Damn it!" He growled. He did not have a huge army to being with. He couldn't afford these pointless losses. If he slowed down enough to check for traps and ambushes that would ruin the entire purpose of the pursuit by allowing the enemy plenty of time to escape. But if he pressed on he would suffer more losses he just couldn't afford.
"Tell the men to pull back the way we came," he ordered.
XXXXXXXXXX
From a branch one of the many hidden assassins watched as the enemy halted. He watched with even more satisfaction as they began to retreat. He vanished in a puff of smoke.
XXXXXXXXXX
The original Naruto was at the head of the army with a weary Kakashi riding on his back. Kakashi found it humiliating but had no choice as he did not have the stamina to keep up any longer. Gai was in even worse shape, being unconscious. Tsunade had checked on him and assured everyone it was a simple case of exhaustion due to using the gates, he would be fine after a few days of rest. Assuming he got a few days of rest of course.
With his shadow clone dispelled Naruto got all of its memories. "The enemy's broken off pursuit," he told Kakashi.
"Are you sure?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto nodded confidently. "I've still got plenty of shadow clones keeping an eye on them. If they change direction I'll know."
Kakashi nodded. When Naruto had suggested leaving some shadow clones behind to try and delay the enemy Kakashi had been unsure it would do much good. He had agreed only because they were in a desperate spot and Naruto still seemed to have no shortage of chakra. Now not only had the enemy been slowed down, Naruto had actually convinced them to give up the chase all together.
"You've done an amazing job Naruto," Kakashi told him.
Naruto looked back at him and grinned. Despite some hard feeling she did still respect Kakashi and hearing his praise meant a lot to the blond ninja. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei."
"I mean it, if it weren't for you we'd be in a lot worse shape than we're in."
The smile on Naruto's face flickered and went. "It wasn't enough though, Shikamaru…"
"I know," Kakashi said. "But this is the price of war. He wasn't the first good person to be lost and I'm afraid he won't be the last either. All we can really do is fight as hard as we can to make sure all these sacrifices aren't for nothing."
Naruto nodded solemnly.
"Since they've broken off pursuit we'll stop now and rest for a few hours."
XXXXXXXXXX
Once the army was halted the senior ninja came together to talk. They would have to make some hard choices.
"We have ninety one confirmed dead," Tsunade announced with a grimace. "We have another sixty who are seriously wounded, of whom seven or eight aren't going to make it."
"We got mauled," Asuma said as he lit a cigarette. "Our Jonin can stand up to them and most of our Chunin. The Genin who went against them were slaughtered like lambs."
"I know," Kakashi said quietly. "We got beat pretty badly and that was with a two to one advantage and with our secret weapon."
"You mean Naruto?" Tsunade asked with a smirk. "I noted that his platoon was the only one that didn't suffer a single casualty. Everyone in it is talking about him the way they used to about Minato."
"I can believe it," Kakashi said. "I'm very glad we have him with us."
"I am too, but it wasn't enough." Asuma took a long drag and expelled it. "So what now?"
"Naruto was able to make them break their pursuit and his shadow clones will act as scouts keeping an eye on them. I don't want to take the chance of facing them again at our current strength. We'll retreat back into Fire country and send to the Hokage for reinforcements."
"If we do that then the next battle will be on our home soil," Asuma said.
"I know that, but we don't really have a choice."
XXXXXXXXXX
After a four hour rest the army got moving again and headed back across the border to their homeland.
XXXXXXXXXX
Karin stood there nervously. She had always heard that the Third Hokage was a terribly soft and kind hearted man. The way he was staring at her with those unforgiving eyes she couldn't imagine it.
"What do you want?" Sarutobi asked her in a cold voice.
Jiraiya, who was also present, didn't think it was an act. Given what she was a part of he could believe the cold and harsh attitude the old man was giving her.
"All… all I ask for is clemency and asylum… Hokage-sama." Karin answered. Any thought of asking for some money fled the moment she saw her reception.
"Done, though it sickens me to agree. In your own way you are every bit as monstrous as Orochimaru was."
"I am only a researcher," she said defensively. "I only study what my employer want s me to. I have no part in how my discoveries are put to use."
"And how did you think your creation would be used?" Sarutobi demanded harshly. "For that matter exactly what sort of, 'research' did you perform? I saw with my own eyes the kind Orochimaru practiced. Was yours similar?"
She looked down fearfully. She knew this was very dangerous territory. "I did what was required to gain knowledge. If… if you grant me clemency and your protection you cannot punish me for what I did before."
"Unfortunately you are right, though saying so leaves a bitter taste in my mouth." He looked at her with those remorseless eyes. "I grant you a pardon for any crimes you have committed prior to this moment. I will permit you to live in this village and grant your request for asylum; no harm shall be done to you. On condition you commit no further crimes and cooperate with us fully."
She nodded eagerly. "Of course! The disk I provided will give you all the raw information on the curse seal. And naturally I'll be happy to answer any questions."
Though unhappy the Hokage nodded. He had often had to commit evil to protect and serve the greater good; this was one of those times. "My own researchers are eager to speak to you, but first I want you to tell me everything you can about this seal."
She nodded obediently. "Yes Hokage-sama."
She began to tell him the horrible truth about this terrible new weapon.
