'Thoughts' "Speaking" Author's Notes "Bijuu Speaking" "Telepathic Talking"
=Chapter 24: The Quest to get Leader-sama!=
=Naruto's Mindscape=
"Naruto."
Drip.
"Naruto," spoke Kurama trying to wake his Jinchuriki up.
"He's really out this time isn't he?" commented one of the bijuu currently sitting in Naruto's mind.
"Ooh, I wanna wake him up! Ahem, Naruto, there's some people to kill right now!"
"You really think that's going to wake him up, plus, I don't think you can talk since you got absolutely shredded by that Otsutsuki."
"Let me try. Fishcake, wake up!"
The fox only snorted at the other bijuu's attempt to wake their father's legacy up before deciding to show them who's boss. "Fishcake, there's a bowl of Ichiraku's in front of you."
The Jinchuriki stirred in their sleep before rubbing their eyes in the dark sewer that he lay in. "Ramen?" They looked wearily in front of them before looking up at the giant fox looking down on them. "What's going on? Where's my ramen? Wasn't Ryutsuki just- Kakashi-sensei?"
"He's really gone and done it hasn't he?"
"Who's gonna tell him?"
"Kurama, he's your responsibility so you do it."
Naruto looked around blankly before staring straight into the fox's eyes. "Well what are you waiting for?"
"How to put it... you've been captured." The other bijuu took this cue to retreat as Naruto processed the words in his mind.
"Oh please don't tell me." Naruto groaned out load as memories from the fox's mind streamed into his head, then the current of what's happening. "Stupid Konoha. Stupid Danzo. Stupid non-existent ramen!" Naruto personally eyed Kurama at the last statement, the old bijuu only puffing out smoke.
"If I'd guess anything, Danzo would want to turn you into one of his goons or even extract Kura over here. I don't think he knows about us existing in your mind," spoke up the four-tailed Monkey, Son Goku.
"Naruto, let me out and I'll kill them! I'll bury them miles underground never to be seen again, and then slowly suffocate them!"
"I'd probably let you but..." Naruto looked up and saw a small piece of paper hanging from the roof. He summoned the water in his sewer mind and lifted himself up, grabbing the piece of paper but wouldn't budge. "Just as I thought. Middle-class Jinchuriki suppression seal. Reinforced? I can't tell..."
He traced his hands and opened the roof, seeing pieces of paper and ink lines running through it. "Chakra suppression seal, back-up suppression seal, what an array just to stop me? I could probably disable these from in here. Maybe they'd notice but who knows?"
And with that, Naruto set off to disabling the sealing tags dotted all over his body so Danzo could continue with his plans.
=Orange Flames=
Trees set alight both left right and centre, as well as being frozen straight down to the ground as the pair of Orange Flames jumped straight through the thrush towards the party of Konoha who were currently on their way back to the refuge of their village.
"Attack plan?"
"Destroy them! Ice Style: Icicle Blizzard!" Spikes and shards formed on the branches of trees and in the sky before vibrating and launching themselves towards Konoha.
Danzo's ANBU appeared in the paths of the ice, knocking the shards down to the side with their weapons and throwing their own chakra-enhanced weapons back.
"Lava Style: Scorching Stream Rocks!"
Danzo stopped his teleporting and barked out his commands to his ANBU. "Capture them! Yuhi, Gai, Hatake, Fuu, get Uzumaki back to Konoha!"
Danzo's ANBU swarmed out of every corner around the two Orange Flames as ice started rising up around in defence. The ground soon opened and trees set alight from fire licking up the dirt. A bird cawed above the dome before realising bombs of ink upon the barrier.
Tigers of ink crawled out of the trees and tore apart the icy dome, the two Orange Flames inside of it gone and jumping out of the trees above Danzo's ANBU. The weaker ANBU easily got dispatched with a large blast of ice, some of the 'elite' protecting themselves with fire.
"Elite ANBU, attack!"
A type of purple bug started crawling around the trees and all around the falling Orange Flames, retreating at the sight of lava but buzzing back into the battle on command.
"Poison Cloud Jutsu!" A large smoke screen of purple bugs soon filled up the forest as ANBU wielding swords rushed straight into fight. Wind howled through the forest, the bugs being blown away and sparks being created from weapons clashing left and right.
"Aburame Swarm!" A legion of different bugs filled up the battleground one species after another some of them making past the raging fires and landing a few bites before being called back and dragging the laying bodies of ROOT ANBU with them. A sealing barrier spread over a hole with each bug retreating inside and feeding on the bodies of the dead ANBU.
A light blue glow moved left and right, the light trail being left behind its swiping movements. A bright red glow joined it as steam filled the sky and chaos starting to ensue. More and more strikes could be seen as jutsu after jutsu was fired randomly around the midst, blood splattering around the trees.
More tigers charged out of the trees, a bombardment of ink bombs from the sky supporting the ANBU as fire jutsus were fired up to their targets. A blast of ice countered each one soon with the ground quickly erupting up and spewing up rocks and fire.
ANBU scattered to escape as the ground frosting up behind and the trees' leaves frosting up in front of them. The ANBU's leader growled and released a massive blast of fire, melting the ice and turning up the temperature a few degrees.
The two Orange Flames remembered their goal, being distracted and leapt through the trees, disregarding Danzo and his troops where they stood previously. Branches of the trees multiplied and swarmed all around the legs of the fleeting Orange Flames, effectively restraining them and making Danzo smile inwardly within.
"So much for the legendary Orange Flames of the Sun, falling from Konoha. I think you'll regret at the first meeting. Bring them to Konoha, Tenzo."
The ANBU revealed themselves by forming out of a tree with their hands clasped together. He flew through a series of hand signs as the trees released the bundle of Orange Flames where Tenzo picked them up with his arms.
"It will be interesting to see if I could duplicate your Kekkei Genkais back at Konoha, where you will be under my jurisdiction." The Hokage looked at both of the Orange Flames and commanded his minions to bring them back to his village, even if they were a couple days travel away.
'I have finally captured these annoying rogues. After all this chasing I've got at least some of them in my grasp.' Danzo walked forwards towards Konoha, ignoring the grunting sounds of the two rogues in his grasp.
"Bastard!" In that very instant, Danzo's elite surrounded him and protected their leader as fire billowed into the sky and the wood restraining the two Orange Flames burnt into a crisp as steam and smoke raced over each other to spread out over the area.
'I guess I spoke too soon.'
"Ice Style: Dual Black Dragon Blizzard!"
The smoke swirled around as two dark dragon heads roared and charged towards Danzo, combining themselves and creating a massive whirlwind. ANBU rushed desperately at it and summoned their combined wind to knock it back, only for that to fail and for it to continue on its path.
Its target, Danzo, flew through a series of multiple hand seals as their bandaged eye spiralled into life, analysing the situation and glowing green.
=Jonin Team=
The three Jonin and Danzo's elite Yamanaka ANBU darted through the forest with their precious cargo, slowly inching their way closer to the distant town of Konoha. Their so-called 'precious cargo' was unconscious on the outside but on the inside, in a certain seal, something was taking place that was going slightly noticed by the team of Jonin as it became slightly more visible.
Every so often, one of the pieces of paper would just start to fall, unnoticeable as the team were speeding through the forest but now some of the more complex restraints were glowing red and burning up. The sensory ninja could start to feel chakra flow back into the system, although getting larger and larger by the second. Not that large, but definitely growing.
Danzo's ANBU, Fuu, motioned for the team to jump down into a clearing and inspect the restraints they had set on the Uzumaki. The three Jonin now knew that this was the son of the heir of Uzushio, Uzumaki Kushina and that any Uzumaki was an expert in seals. That question was though, how good?
"Yuhi-san, the knock-out vial please," said the Yamanaka in their monotone voice, void of emotion. The Genjutsu mistress handed them a small vial, along with a needle as the ANBU reached down and sent some of the fluid into Naruto's body.
"His chakra is still building up, but at a much slower rate than before. You don't think that he's mentally getting rid of these?" questioned Kurenai, sticking yet another piece of paper to Naruto's back.
"You don't think that- no, that's impossible..." thought Kakashi, thinking of possible solutions as to this problem. 'What has truly happened in the span of a couple of years?' He saw the ROOT ANBU go into their deadly mind-transfer form, pondering over if he should stop them. There would be no telling what would be inside that mind, especially with the Kyuubi roaming around, hopefully in a seal.
"Yamanaka-san, I'd advise you not to-"
"I've got this Kakashi-san. I can retreat if needed. The Kyuubi will be inside a seal, so there is no danger for me. Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
=Naruto's Mindscape=
"What is this mindscape?" The Yamanaka looked around in the yellow-stained, stinking-water sewer of the Uzumaki's mind.
All of it seemed to be flowing in one way, down a hill and with more flowing out of other paths and out of pipes jutting out of the walls. Water splashed all over the Yamanaka, them ignoring it as it wouldn't affect them in real life.
He stood by the side of the main river and watched as it fell down into a massive pit where the water lay still and calm, with more tunnels branching out elsewhere. This was definitely no normal mind.
One thing Fuu did notice though at the bottom of the pit was a door, slightly larger than the others and on top of it marked '封'. He walked to the other ones but gates slammed down on them, with the one marked '封' staying wide open. He looked and a vast majority of the pipes led into it, running over each other. They would use as little force to infiltrate the mind as he wouldn't risk breaking through by force at the risk of losing memories and the like.
The Yamanaka reached for their katana behind their back, held it tightly in their hands and loosened his kunai pouch. They grit themselves and walked down the long passageway, as it opened up into a massive room, extending left, right and a bit up. A small hole opened up in the roof with a white cloak waving slightly and grunting noises coming from it.
He could see drops of... ink falling?
"You there!" yelled Fuu and threw their Katana, only for it to be knocked back with some sort of defence.
The cloaked figure stopped whatever they were doing and jumped down onto the ground, with the mis-matched eyes watching Fuu. "Who are you? Wait, let me guess... Yamanaka? Danzo's special guard that's supposed to be all so powerful."
Fuu looked straight back at Naruto, eyeing the completely dark background. This was when he realised. Something was missing. Something very important. "Where's the seal?"
"What seal? I need you to specify please!"
"You know which one I'm talking about."
"I really don't. There's that chakra suppressor one you stuck on me, back-up suppression seal, middle-class Jinchuriki suppression although I can't tell if that's reinforced or not... And then we arrive at the Eight Trigrams Seal!"
The mind shook and Naruto rose up into the sky on top of a brown-orange furred creature, sewer water dripping off of the fur and rising higher. A bright red, blood-shot eye opened with a black slit going straight through it.
"Kurama! Look's like you predicted right, the Yamanaka arrived here with us!"
'Kurama?'
"Oh that's right. You all think bijuu are dumb, mindless creatures of destruction but Kurama here is actually a giant furball!"
"Naruto, is this a snack?" Fuu backed up in fear as they primed their hands, ready to release the jutsu.
"Don't kill him. Just send Konoha a message if you please- actually, on second thoughts... let the whole gang come here!"
Eight more pairs of eyes appeared in the dark void behind the now-laughing Naruto, killer-intent blasting out of nowhere.
"Release!"
And all that was left was Naruto laughing and composing themselves before snickering and writing again all over the seals, this time at a much faster rate.
=Outside=
As Fuu returned into his body, sweat poured out all over him as he eyed the unconscious figure of Naruto laying down on the ground. The three Jonin were looking at him confused and fearing the worst.
"Kakashi-san, we need to get to Konoha now."
"What happened in there?" questioned Kurenai as the team set off once more.
"He's friends with a bijuu! He called it Kurama!" This sudden burst of emotion shocked the three Jonin as their minds rattled to process it. Number one, bijuu have a name. Number two, this ANBU of Danzo actually managed to show some shock!
"Kurama?"
"Bijuu have a name?"
"That's right." A soft voice whispered in the wind as the team bounded through the trees faster and faster. "It's just that... you've never taken the time to analyse their behaviour..."
=Orange Flames VS Danzo's Army=
Danzo flew through a series of multiple hand seals as their bandaged eye spiralled into life, analysing the situation and glowing green. The three red tomoe shifted into something different, a four pointed pinwheel. Danzo flickered to the side, out of the path of the attack, barely dodging it and with the bandages covering his right eye loosening.
The bandages fell to the ground as blood leaked out of the right eye socket, Danzo closing his eye and looking around his field of view. He knew his targets, although question was... which one?
Which was rarer, Lava or Ice Style? He watched as his ANBU were taken down waves and waves of lava, then being rapidly cooled by ice and clouding up the atmosphere. They all seemed to work flawlessly together, but one simple interruption could do the trick. No, never mind that. Which was stronger?
"Elite ANBU!"
"Aw, please tell me these truly are strong. Not like those pathetic ones that you said were strong a while back."
"Although, they did present a little challenge in their numbers..."
Cloaked ANBU wearing black marks with white patterns appeared out of the trees once again, sending a different atmosphere out. Tenzo and Sai were still visible in the battlefield, obviously still not being taken down by the Orange Flames.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!" Layers of ice rose out of the ground, only to be sliced directly in half by Danzo's attack for the jutsu to tear through the cloaks of the two Orange Flames.
"Hare, we're getting distracted!"
"Ice Style: Hawk!" Out of the steam, a sky-blue bird, icicles gathering at the edges shot up into the sky as it flew towards Konoha. Danzo's ANBU chased after it as they arranged themselves into a trapping formation, all too familiar to Naruto.
"Lightning Style: Four Pillars Trap!" The bird turned around, almost crashing into a rocky pillar rising out of the ground and found itself surrounded with the pillars shooting lightning bolts at each other.
"Up!"
"Earth Style: Mud Fall!" A giant portal opened up in the sky with large drops of mud falling down to the ground and the hawk being struck down by chunks of softened earth landing on it. It disappeared in a puff of smoke as the two Orange Flames landed on the ground and a protective layer of rock crawling up in defence.
"Lightning Style: Sixteen Pillar Jutsu!" The four pillars retreated back into the ground as pillars of iron rose all over each other, wood quickly coating them in a second layer. All the ANBU then arranged themselves around the trap as they all cast the same jutsu.
"Fire Style: Biscuit Firing Jutsu!" The trap burst into flames on the inside, hardening the mud and roasting any other living being that wasn't sheltered from the heat inside of it. A small orb stuck out in the mud, before disappearing and the mud crumbling away.
"Capture them!"
Out of the tough ground, cracks ran across all of it as trees rose up and formed a defensive barrier while still allowing the few numbers of ANBU to rush in. They approached the place, finding that their targets had finally disappeared somewhere.
Danzo grit himself, he should've just put one of them under his control while he could. Why stay and wait for which was stronger and just pick one damn person. He tied his bandages back on top of his adopted right eye before turning into the direction of Konoha and disappearing in a gust of wind...
=Bird and Hare=
"They really gave up didn't they?"
"Think so. One thing for sure is, I'm amazed Danzo didn't use that eye of his. It's almost like he restrained it for something." Bird double checked behind them but felt the fading signatures of Danzo as they took a slightly longer route to Konoha.
"You don't think that..."
"He's going to use it on Naruto-san? Of course he is. That's Danzo. He's going to try anything to control him."
The two continued running through the forest as the trees' leaves turned greener but with the sky starting to darken. They stopped near a cave until Hare realised something.
"What happened to Horse? She said she would be with us soon."
"You don't think that... no. If anything she's suddenly changed her plans, you know her. Maybe gone to Gaara or something like that, just as a quick check around our sandy fortress."
The two sat down on some rocks and started a small fire, eating off some berries from plants nearby.
"We don't have any way to get back to Myoboku do we? We couldn't use the emergency rods as those summon us straight to Naruto-san and then things will get messy. Real messy."
"So it's another long-term mission huh?"
"Almost. Except this time, there's more at stake. Anyways, doesn't this remind you of the times before we were 'rogues'?"
"Oh so you mean before we got almost destroyed by Danzo's ANBU a year and a bit before now, just because they sensed we were different? Who could?"
"Another night without food and no blanket, just a cloak and relying on the wild berries. I'll take the first night shift. We need to leave early if we have any chance of catching Naruto-san tomorrow."
"Our best choice would be go back to Sunagakure. No doubt Konoha ninja will soon be swarming this place until there's nowhere to hide."
"So? We'll just take them down. My swords need a bit of attention as well. I can't always rely on Lava Style to destroy them, just like how you should use your Wind and Water Styles more."
"Ice Style's so much better, it has the best of both! As long as I watch my chakra, I'll be fine. How about you actually practice Fire and Earth Styles more instead of using your Lava Style!" retorted Hare, standing up and going toe to toe with her companion.
"Because, Lava Style is stronger than both of those! I at least have other options to switch to if I need!"
"Hah, so you admit that Wind and Water Styles are better! You have to rely on a separate weapon to your own nature! At least mine's used to channel my power!"
"You're saying that my Lava Style's weak?"
"I'm not saying it's weak, I'm saying it's off less importance than Ice Style!"
"Alright. When we get back to Myoboku, fight me. Ice and Lava, the two opposites. You agree?" challenged Bird as sparks were created from the rising tension.
"Once we get Naruto, you're so on!"
The two continued to bicker for a while over more useless competitions before Bird sighed out loud, "Good grief, this is why our clans never got along in the past..."
Hare took her hood off and swiped her hair, jumping on top of a tree and making herself comfortable in the tree leaves. "Suit yourself taking first watch."
"Don't you even dare waking me up with freezing temperatures first thing in the morning, Yuki!"
=Mount Myoboku=
As the sun set over the mount, the roads went into their houses but a group of cloaked rogues stay awake, taking shifts and watching what would happen. ROOT ANBU has started their outpost near the mount, across the hills as reinforcements arrived every so often from a Hiraishin mark placed down somewhere.
Danzo had ordered for the jutsu to be learnt, transportation across dimensions in the blink of an eye, although it was never mastered to its true potential with just ANBU doing it. Only people with the power of a Hokage could even think about mastering it.
The poisonous toad stools released another load of deadly potions into the air, the particles further adding to the defence. They couldn't be more ready. War was coming and Konoha would be the start of it.
So... How'd I do? Good? Bad? Awful? Trash? Amazing? Tell me!
Early Merry Christmas to everyone since I'm probably not going to release another chapter of this book for another week or so but anything can happen but still!
Well Naruto's going to be back in Konoha. Danzo's going insane. Sunagakure is recovering. Who knows where the Otsutsuki have gone and why am I still writing this.
If you have any suggestions, let me know and I'll incorporate them if I like them!
And that's all for now!
See you later: Ja ne!
