AN: So I've realized since I "Finished" AVID that I've kinda lost an interest in writing, which obviously sucks. Though when I say finished I mean that as it stands the story isn't finished and in fact there's heaps of room for it to continue, but I don't know how to continue forward with the area of the story that would take place in Shippuden yet.

Chapter Title: Ume Would Be Proud
Part 3

"You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain. Huh, guess I'll have to find mine yet then won't I?" my words carried themselves quietly into the cool ocean air as the large ship traveled slowly across the slopes ever present in the waves.

"Talking to yourself again I see." Sensei's voice brought me from watching the endless horizon.

"It does seem to happen a lot doesn't it?" I said back turning to where he was standing, he was smoking like normal and his body language was relaxed.

"You'd probably know that better than I would Takezou, but it does seem to happen a lot yes." he gave a small smile.

"Sensei?" my voice came out oddly quiet, or more than I had intended anyway.

"Yeah what is it?" his eyebrows were raised as he awaited my question.

"... " I was lost for words, like someone had just whisked away my ability to think before suddenly finding it. "What's that Ku- Kurone? Lady like? Your girlfriend that is." I specified, I had forgotten her name among hundreds if not countless other things at this point.

"You mean Kurenai? She's alright I guess- why did you want to know?" his confusion was apparent.

"Asuma you forgot to deny that she's not your partner." I pointed out and he just shrugged.

"Why should I? It's not like it matters if you know, plus you guys are my team so it was going to happen eventually that you would have found out even if you didn't give me crap about it." Sensei shrugged again, he was right though.

"Fair, that's not actually what I wanted to talk about anyway." there was something else on my mind. "I'm not really sure how long it'll be until then, but I've been looking at going full time into teaching Kenjutsu and stopping my being a Shinobi."

"I know." Asuma said simply blowing smoke into the breeze.

"Wait what?" What did he mean?

"We already had this conversation don't you remember? You had me come over and meet Kazuko and you mentioned it." he paused for a moment, eyebrow raised again. "You didn't forget did you?"

"I might have." I answered truthfully. "I've been forgetting a lot recently, having trouble remembering much either- I'm hoping its just a phase of some kind."

"Oh… you might want to see a Yamanaka about that then."

"I thought about it." sighing to myself I stretched a little. "But I don't think that would help me all that much- anyway, would you be able to help me with the shadow clone?" I asked changing the subject away from my mental state or what have you.

"Sure we have a while before we need to be anywhere- so tell me where are you struggling?"

With that we began working on me performing a jutsu that no one was meant to know but everyone had and everyone knew.

In the end we couldn't quite find out what it was that was messing my using the jutsu up exactly, but I did manage to make one of the deformed dying ones like Naruto manage to do that one time I asked him to show me how he was doing for the academy three.

My meanderings on Sensei's help were cut short when the ship started rocking around and I was thrown into a wall in one of the corridors, Hinata would have done the same had I not caught her and set her right as we both looked at one another and rushed out onto the deck to help with what I assumed was the storm we heard about a few days ago.

There was heavy rain thrashing the ship and waves pounding at the hull as the dark sky blocked out by clouds loomed above us, the first thing I saw was a group of the circus people that Michiru had brought along with their animals trying to move said animals inside- Hikaru was being flung across the deck as waves crashed into the boat almost capsizing it.

Dashing forward I grabbed the kids hand and picked him up, as I did so I realised he was trying to help the tiger who was still stuck in its cage so I poured chakra through my body so it flash dried my clothing and made me a ever dry source of heat. Sliding across the wooden deck I grabbed onto the metal bar door and tore it off throwing it to the wind as the big cat ran towards shelter- Hinata was waiting there with Kakashi helping the animals and people inside. Following suit I rushed over to where they were and stepped into the ship as another enormous wave threatened to flip the ship as thunder sounded and the deafening tone of lightning shattered our ears- I was sure that in that moment I saw Kakashi catch so to say the lightning and redirect it.

Tumbling down into the ground with Hikaru still in my hands I let him go and let my back hit the wall of the hallway as the ship continued to rock around and shake.

Ugh I hated this sort of weather, the Ocean was as beautiful as it was horrifically dangerous so I probably should have expected it when I overheard that there was a storm at sea like that.

[Stumbling Up The Mountain]

The next day the weather calmed and the Ocean was back to its normal vaguely calm self as we traveled.

The island was pretty.

That wasn't really saying much considering all we could see was the beach and the dock at the port, there was an enormous forest that enclosed what looked like the gate that led into the city itself. Even from where we were as the ship closed in on the dock the city looked empty and like a void, Hinata used her Byakugan to get a better understanding of it and confirm for me before we went and told Asuma and Kakashi.

Asuma and Kakashi said that we should just go along with it all as normal until we got to the castle and see what happened.

I was starting to think that there had been a coup d'etat and the people were just hiding from whoever had taken over. Because of this though I asked Sensei if we'd be killing should we be attacked and he was pretty hesitant about it, but eventually he said that if it meant protecting Michiru and Hikaru then yes. I did hate that killing generally was the easiest way to deal with problems in our line of work.

Finally making it to the dock, people and cargo began being offloaded all the same, I was talking with Hinata about something when Sakura came over and got us to head through the town towards the lone building that stood on the hill behind the town. It was odd though, seeing paved roads, stone and brick buildings reminding me of a home or place long since lost to the annals of my mind that I could barely piece together. As the carriage of Michiru's slowly made its way through the streets even he commented on the fact that it was eerie how no one had come to greet them nor were there people just going about their day.

"Hey Kiba you smell anything off about this place?" I asked looking to him on the other side of the Princes cart, team seven was on its left and ten was on its right.

"Nah, nothing other than the people in their homes hiding but we already knew about that." his and my tones were hushed so that only us wearing these neat little com devices could hear.

We had been handed the com devices before we got off the ship so that if we got split we could just call in and check on one another, though I had a feeling it was also to make sure our Senseis could give orders and directions amongst fighting should anything start up.

The walk was just as quiet as you'd expect it to be as we slowly walked alongside Michiru's carriage and passed all the buildings, though I did notice a few shadows running around behind the buildings the closer to the back of the town we got. Obviously I wasn't the only one, its not like the two Jounin and a byakugan user were about to let something out of their view. In fact Hinata was the one to mention it to the rest of the group right after I noticed it the first time, though it only happened three times before we entered the woods and began heading along the beat path to the large mansion castle like thing at the top of the hill that was surrounded in high metal bar fences that had stone pillars at several intervals all designed with a grandiosity that screamed 'wealthy'. Nothing out of the ordinary for someone like Michiru's family basically, the castle- mansion thing was really weirdly designed though, it had a bunch of cylindrical building compartments that looked like someone hadn't thought about the practicality of it at all and maybe it was just that I was so used to seeing structures that made sense from all angles, but this one just confused me.

The large metal gateway sided with two stone columns that had these golden trimmings and long blue almost banner like bits engraved inside the gold trimming. The gates themselves opened like shutter doors by folding two pieces to one side each.

"Hinata keep your Byakugan going and give us details." Sensei said shortly as we passed the passage of the gates and headed along the path yet still to the large building of which was still a few minutes from us.

Over the course of the walk Hinata listed off numbers, positions and armaments. Michiru and Hikaru were none the wiser as Asuma and Kakashi formed a plan, they ended it with-

"Don't shoot to kill unless they come with that intent."

I probably looked the most casual next to our teachers as far as appearances went, though that was also because I had my hand casually resting on the hilt of the Chokuto the entire Journey so it wasn't like I looked any different. But Kiba and Akamaru seemed a little stiff and Sakura was acting like she just realized Shinobi killed people, Our Hime had her Byakugan on so it wasn't really like she could look very casual with the bulging veins on her head and eyes that packed a mean glare even if she more often than not looked like an adorable kitten.

Clearing my throat a little before we stopped in front of the big water fountain in the courtyard before the two large sets of stairs that led into the mansion before us, I noticed shadows in the windows of the highest point of the building presumably the shinobi Hinata pointed out earlier to us.

The doors that were up at the balcony of the stairs in front of us opened and a man who was rather rotund like our employer stepped forward with someone next to him, after a moment Michiru called out to the man-

"Ah! Shabadaba!" what a name, that mans parents must've hated him.

Before the man could respond to the prince I sneezed as loud as I possibly could in the process making both the prince and this Shabada doo guy nearly leap into the air, I pretended to wipe my nose on my shawl as I spoke.

"Sorry I've been holding that in-" I sniffled and I could hear Kiba stifling a laugh, the scooby-daba-who person looked annoyed and also super anxious as sweat beads rolled down his face. "Well don't let me keep you waiting, pardon my interruption and all that..." I made myself look like I was sorry for interrupting their reunion.

"R-right well Prince-" Scooby snacks got cut off as Sensei spoke.

"Er you don't mind if I smoke do you? It's been awhile since my last-" the Prince said it was fine and despite not understanding what we were doing assuming this was just natural had a bit of a smile on his face.

Sensei flicked a cigarette directly into his mouth from the carton and turned his thumb into a lighter with fire nature chakra, Hinata was in the midst of looking about as uncomfortable with the awkwardness of our plan as the Shada-daba person and his servant seemed to be. Slowly though as things settled again and Michiru looked to the man stood above us as if he thought he was above everyone present, the prince just seemed to become nervous or worried when he realized his father hadn't come out to greet him and right before he could mention as much.

"Cease them- and kill Michiru!" Shagabada-goo said furious with us, messing with his evil plan or whatever he had planned.

It was comical really, how Sensei and Kakashi were on top of the guy the moment he finished his sentence. They were clones of both our teachers I was sure seeing as both of them were still standing next to us, the problem came when three Ninja broke out from the highest window and came down upon us looking to kill the Jounin- an explosion happened near Shabadaba.

"EVERYONE THERE'S AIRBORNE POISON WATCH OUT!" Kiba howled at us all as the three Shinobi stopped their descent standing on parts of the mansion that jutted out from the main tower.

"Good work Kiba, we could have gotten taken out here if you hadn't caught on" Kakashi's came on the coms in a hushed tone.

"Actually it was Sakura, I just relayed for her" said Pinkett was blushing slightly at the praise and attention for the smallest moment she could afford before jumping in to protect the Prince and his son.

"What?! They already figured us out!" one of the Ninja said sounded disappointed as she then jumped down to fight.

Closing my eyes and focusing I went into a familiar stance with the Chukuto at my hip and used a technique I had been taught but never actually used in combat, raising the blade so that it's hilt was near my face and the blade was pointed at the woman-

"Tsubame-Gaeshi" the words left my mouth in a guttural deep gravel tone that seemed to shake my opponent to their core, it was one of the three Ninja- this one had pink eyes and was a woman, really it was all I cared to remembered of her appearance before my blade found its purchase and sunk its teeth in as the gaping maw tore her apart despite the almost serene nature of the move.

The problem with the technique was that naturally it was made for something with the length of a Nodachi or preferably maybe even my Miaodao. Despite that though it still worked a charm on the woman as she was suddenly overcome with despair and terror- her face showing all the emotions in one instance before she was nothing but a bloody mess on the ground and it was left unrecognizable.

While I had taken to dealing with her the rest of our team had dispatched a good hundred of the guards that had appeared out of the woodwork to attack us and that I actually hadn't noticed because I was so focused at the time. Sensei had burned this big guy alive and knocked him out with a clone standing at the ready to attack while Kakashi with the help of Hinata and Kiba had disabled this guy who had a weird gauntlet that seemed to be the case of Hinata's worry when she had scouted the building earlier with her Byakugan. Sakura was running around checking everyone to make sure we weren't being done in by the poison, I was feeling a little slow, but I also hadn't ever used that move in combat like that so I wasn't sure if it was that or the poison. It seemed to be that our teacher's clones had gotten the short end of the stick as Asuma's ash clone? Dissipated and Kakashi's lightning clone having been half turned to stone somehow ended up shocking the guy who he had been standing over when the clones popped the Jounin both made what I guessed to be a shadow clone each standing them over the bad guys while the rest of us helped Michiru confront his usurper.

It was at that point though that a cart came thrashing in through the gates rolling to stop behind Michiru's cart, a man leapt out of it wielding a saber ready to fight and realized that everything was fine. He looked dejected that he didn't get a chance to fight but quickly made his way to the prince who was still a little shocked at the pace of how fast everything had been. I decided to go and stand next to Hinata while we all waited to hear our orders and see where this went.

AN: I was glad that I finally got around to using one of Take's skills that I've been waiting to use for a while, this had seemed like a good time for it.