The Wanderers
Chapter 39 – Kiba – Icy Prison
A/N: I would warn against some gore, but there has been worse earlier in the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the minor villages would be more than background.
***Previously-On***
After escaping the Hidden Village of Sound, the group was accosted by a warrior covered in white armour, bearing a frightening resemblance to the warrior from Kakashi's memories. After a short monologue, in which he confessed to compliance in the destruction of Konoha, the warrior dispersed the Konoha shinobi under orders from a mysterious leader, causing all of them to be sent to different parts of the world. Now, separated from their friends and comrades, each of the surviving Konoha shinobi are struggling to find each other again before they are found again by the group that had caused them so much grief.
Waking up on a snow-covered mountain, Kiba and Akamaru found themselves unsure of what had happened to separate them from their companions. Once they found shelter in a cave from a deadly snowstorm, they were confronted by a Snow shinobi who Kiba was forced to kill in self-defence. After a day of trudging through the horrible weather, Akamaru and Kiba decided to take a 'leap' of faith, moving down the mountain at a frightening pace, straight into a ice-covered lake. After recovering from his injuries, Kiba retrieved a strange ice block from the bottom of the lake, and to their surprise it contained a shinobi he hadn't met before, Inuzuka Nagisa. She was confused at first, but after an explanation she understood what had happened from fifteen years ago with her mission with Kakashi. She decided to travel with Kiba, and during their descent of the mountain they found a wolf cub that took a liking to Nagisa, who joined their odd group. Just as they had set a decent pace, the group was surrounded by Snow shinobi. Nagisa talked Kiba down from fighting, and they surrendered to their forces.
***End Summary***
***One Week after Separation***
Kiba grimaced as he was pushed to the ground, his eyes still covered by the blindfold they had put on him when they had surrendered.
"Oh, tough guy huh?! Take off my cuffs, and let's see how much of a badass you are! Go on and do it! I'll kick your…"
"He's gone, Kiba" came a soft voice near him. He recognised Nagisa's voice, and then wondered why he hadn't smelled her scent until she had interrupted him.
Flipping around while trying to maintain his balance, Kiba tried to find the source of her voice. "Can you see? I've got this stupid blindfold on, and my hands are cuffed."
He felt a soft pair of hands on the sides of his head, but he didn't recoil as Nagisa removed the blindfold from his face.
She stepped back with the black cloth in her hands with a tired smile. "Maybe you shouldn't have bitten that shinobi, Kiba."
Kiba grinned wildly in response, "He was searching places that shouldn't be searched."
Nagisa gave him a stare, but understood his frustration. She hadn't been cuffed like Kiba until they had gotten close to the shinobi village, but she had suffered some of the more…enthusiastic types of searches.
Looking around Kiba could see that he had been shoved into a moderately sized prison cell. There were three walls covered in ice-like concrete, and a wall of prison bars that Kiba recognised as the type that prevented chakra from passing through them.
He frowned when he thought it was only the two of them in the cell, until he saw Akamaru lounging in the corner with Yuki sitting on top sleeping quietly.
"Did I…miss something?"
Nagisa shook her head and leaned against the nearby wall, pulling his jacket tighter around her shoulders. "Not really. It's difficult to tell where they took us since I was also blindfolded."
Kiba swore under his breath and turned to face his back to her. "Can you get these off?"
She looked down at his hands, seeing that his hands were bound by a pair of chakra-dampening handcuffs, though the design was far more complex than she remembered. "Um…doubtful. Considering how annoyed they were with you, these will probably hurt you if I try."
"Fantastic" said Kiba sarcastically. He glanced over at their animal companions, finding it difficult to get worked up when he looked at their peaceful expressions. "How is it possible for them to be so calm in this situation?"
"The guards gave them something to knock them out. Apparently Akamaru is more like his partner than I initially thought."
Kiba walked over and sat down beside the animals, grimacing as he scraped his hands on the wall. "Yeah, that sounds like him. What about Yuki?"
His clansman shrugged and stared out at the bars. "No clue. So…what are we going to do?"
Kiba stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're asking me? You're the Chuunin; shouldn't you be taking charge, or something?"
There was a look in her eyes that he couldn't quite place, though he could tell he had unintentionally hit a nerve. Nagisa reached out and rubbed Yuki's fur affectionately, as if to try and put her mind in a different place.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get an answer, Kiba let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. In a quick motion that hurt his shoulders something horrible, Kiba jumped through the gaps between his arms, pulling his hands up to his front.
He flexed his hands through his cuffs and showed them to Nagisa. For some reason it reminded her of when Yuki had attempted to give her a 'present' of a dead hare. She gave him a tired glare, but Kiba refused to curb his enthusiasm.
"Alright, so let's start our plan to escape."
He attempted to mould a small amount of chakra, but a large jolt of electricity shot straight up his spine, causing him to seize slightly before wavering on his feet. "Okay…so that isn't going to work."
Nagisa sniffed at the air, ignoring the smell of Kiba that had been surrounding her since he had refused to let her give it back to him when they had started travelling. She figured it was some kind of bravado since Kiba felt the cold as much as she did, but she appreciated the sentiment.
"Someone's coming."
"Yeah. Can you move?"
Nagisa stood up and flexed a hand. "No problem."
A few minutes later a loud group of footsteps came towards their prison. They revealed themselves as three tall Snow shinobi, who appeared extremely serious despite being concealed by ANBU masks.
They didn't seem to care that Kiba had shifted the position of his hands, though it did cause them to be a point of interest as they opened the cell door.
The middle ANBU pointed to Kiba with a gloved hand. "You. Come with us."
Kiba looked over at Nagisa for a second before nodding slightly and turning back to the ANBU. "Fine. But leave the others out of this."
The ANBU reached out and grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt. "Don't try to order us around, punk. This isn't your little cave. We hold all the cards."
The Inuzuka heir looked down at the hand on his shirt, and then stared straight into the ANBU mask with a grin that showed his long teeth. "Didn't the other guards tell you?"
In an action that in hindsight wasn't particularly smart, Kiba leaned down and sank his teeth straight into the ANBU's hand.
The Snow shinobi cried out in pain and tried to pull his hands away from the animalistic shinobi. Unluckily for him, Kiba shifted his mouth with his hands and tore off three of his fingers, taking particular care to spit them into his mask, causing them to bounce onto the ground.
Kiba grinned with the shinobi's blood dripping from his mouth. "I'm a biter."
His joy was short-lived as the other two ANBU slammed their fists into his face, driving him into the hard ground. The ANBU he had maimed fell back out of the cell as his companions stomped on Kiba's head angrily.
At the other side of the cell, Nagisa immediately leapt to defend her clansman, but with a turn of his head Kiba gave her a look that told her to stay back.
She snarled and clenched her fists at her sides in frustration.
This better be part of your plan, Kiba. I can use chakra…so I could take them out before they could do anything about it. This better not be just your bravado. That's what got my father killed.
One of the ANBU picked up Kiba from the ground and held him at a length cautiously. The Inuzuka heir still had his insane grin on his face, despite being covered in cuts and bruises from their beating.
He spat a glob of blood into the ANBU's mask. "Is that all you've got?"
"Take him to Huron" demanded the maimed ANBU, walking back into prison cell to pick up his slightly chewed fingers.
Nagisa could only watch as they dragged him out of the cell and slammed the door shut. One of the ANBU stared at her for a few seconds before joining his companions down the corridor.
The young Inuzuka brought up her knees and bit into her leg in a vain attempt to keep herself from worrying about the stupid shinobi that had saved her life.
He's such a typical Inuzuka. He's going to get himself killed…and us too.
From his travel between the prison cell and the room he had been taken to, Kiba didn't struggle one bit in the ANBU's grip. They had beaten him pretty badly after he had bitten off the ANBU shinobi's fingers, and when they strapped him into a chair in the middle of a darkened room they had been extra cautious when removing his handcuffs.
After they had secured him to the point that he couldn't move even a finger or have a dirty thought, they left him alone in the room. Kiba snarled and tried to struggle against his bonds, but was still unable to mould any chakra.
Okay, maybe this wasn't a good idea after all…
For two hours he sat in the room by himself, unable to break himself loose. His stomach growled loudly; they hadn't been given any food or water during their travel to the prison, which Kiba had figured was a tactic to make them more vulnerable and willing to cooperate.
It was a shame he didn't like cooperating with authorities.
Just as Kiba felt like he was going to fall asleep from boredom, the door opened and a bright light shone straight onto his face, blinding him temporarily.
"So you are the shinobi who killed Rouga Nadare."
Kiba squinted his eyes to see a blurry figure standing in the light, closing the door behind him and lighting up the room with a flick of a switch.
"Don't know who you talking about" he said with a bored tone.
The Snow shinobi frowned and walked over to a table to Kiba's side. "Indeed. So, we have many questions for you. However we are not new to this game."
He produced a large curved blade and showed it to Kiba with a sadistic smile. "You will surely resist. This is good. I enjoy a challenge when it comes to my art."
Kiba gritted his teeth and stared at the closed door, not giving the torturer the satisfaction of his gaze. The Snow shinobi let out a short laugh and began his work.
Nagisa had just woken up from a troubled bout of sleep when two ANBU shinobi opened the door to their prison cell and through Kiba's body into it without any resemblance of ceremony. Jumping to her feet she caught the Inuzuka heir in her hands and grimaced as she slammed into the wall, his body was heavier than she would have expected.
"Kiba? Kiba!" She laid him on the ground and looked over his body in horror.
A long cut ran across his forehead, with a cross-section on his left cheek and a cut over the side of his right eye, all bleeding heavily into the ground beneath him. She didn't have to look to guess that he had similar wounds on his chest and other areas as well.
She put her head on his chest, sighing in relief when she heard a heartbeat coming from him. Looking up she nodded to the recently woken Akamaru and Yuki, who both expressed their relief as well.
Nagisa leaned backwards and placed a hand on Kiba's head, running it through his spiky hair, taking care not to touch his ears that had had their ends cut off.
"Stupid man…why didn't you just answer their questions…"
Kiba groaned in her arms and opened his eyes slowly. "They…didn't…ask any…"
His clansman shook her head and shifted back so that he could sit up, though Kiba chose to simply lie on the ground in pain.
"Are you going to be okay?" she asked, concerned. It wasn't because she was particularly attached to the Inuzuka heir; she didn't get close to people on principle.
Kiba brought up one of his hands, flexing his fingers slowly. "I've been better. It…argh…my face is killing me."
His companion grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "You aren't going to be winning any modelling contests any time soon."
From the ground Kiba grinned tiredly and turned his head slightly to see Akamaru walking up to him with a slight whimper. He rolled his eyes, which was extremely painful, and turned his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Didn't need to know that, Akamaru."
"Did you find out anything? I assume that's why you went crazy on that guy."
Kiba shrugged with a groan, "Not really. All I know is that they seem to really hate us for some reason…and I think I unintentionally killed one of their leaders."
Standing up to check if anyone is coming, Nagisa propped Kiba up and placed his jacket over his shoulders. "Are you going to be able to stand?"
Kiba put a hand on his face, nearly jumping when he saw how much blood was on it. The torture had lasted for such a long time that Kiba had passed out from the pain, but as he struggled to his feet he realised that he was stronger than he thought.
"I…think so. Do you have a plan?"
Nagisa nodded and went to tell him, but stopped herself when she looked at his body. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Kiba…your tail…"
He nodded grimly, "Yeah…I know."
At the back of Kiba's pants was a short bleeding stump that was barely three inches long, with virtually no fur left.
Akamaru moved through the prison cell and sniffed at his long-time friend's rear end. He looked up at Kiba with a sad-sounding bark, but Kiba simply smiled and rubbed his head.
"I'm okay, buddy. I'll figure something out."
He turned to Nagisa, flexing his hands painfully. "I don't have much chakra, so I don't know how much use I'll be to you."
She understood, but indicated to his jacket pocket nonetheless. "There is a soldier pill in there. Eat that, and you should be right until we get out of here."
Reaching into his jacket that had been around her shoulders, Kiba produced the pill with a look of suspicion on his face. "They took all our weapons, how did you keep this?"
"You don't want to know" was her response, turning away from him to hide a slight blush, fingering her own soldier pill in her hands.
Kiba wasn't going to complain, though if he found the bastard that cut off his tail and did all the torture to him, he had plenty of things he wanted to talk to him about.
"So what's this plan of yours?"
oOoOoOo
Kiba stood in the corner of the prison cell with his arms crossed. The cuts on his face had stopped bleeding, though he knew they were going to scar horribly, but Kiba was attempting to convey that he was more injured than he really was.
Akamaru and Yuki were lying in the same position that they were in when they were drugged, the two of them working under the assumption that the Snow shinobi were underestimating the two animals.
Nagisa was nowhere to be found within the prison cell.
A pair of ANBU guards came around a nearby corner and looked into the prison cell, noticing that Kiba was huddled in the corner and shivering.
"Who does he want next?"
"He wants the girl. Something about a special…wait…"
One of the ANBU unlocked the door and stepped in with his fists clenched. "Where is the girl?"
His companion came into the cell as well and slammed an arm into Kiba's front, pushing him up against the wall. "Where did the other Konoha shinobi go?"
Kiba opened his eyes to give the ANBU a dead-looking expression. He wasn't much of an actor, but he figured he was giving off a good enough image of a broken man when the ANBU turned to his companion and said that he wasn't going to get anything from him.
"She didn't just disappear…"
The ANBU holding him up looked back at Kiba and placed a hand to his throat. "Then I'll take out this boy and…"
Through his mask Kiba couldn't see the ANBU's face, but judging from the hand protruding from his chest, he guessed he was in a lot of pain. Nagisa removed her hand as Kiba pushed the ANBU off him and faced the other shocked ANBU shinobi.
He snarled under his mask and went to place his hands together into a handseal, but was bowled to the ground by a large white bullet that bit into his chest. Before he could try and fight off Akamaru, the wolf stood on top of his mask and with a tooth-filled grin bit down onto his neck, killing him instantly.
Kiba rubbed his neck sorely, still feeling the weight of the ANBU's hand. "Well that worked. I've never heard of an Inuzuka that could turn invisible."
Watching Yuki eating part of the ANBU's chest loudly, Nagisa turned back to face Kiba, feeling Akamaru come up beside her. She put up an arm near Kiba, letting it slowly cover itself with black fur before disappearing completely as if it was never there.
"It's not invisibility. Like your t…it's a transformation, of sorts."
"That's odd. Wait, is that why you were an outcast?" She hadn't given him details, but given his mother's attitude as the clan head, he could see why someone quiet like Nagisa wouldn't be welcome.
Nagisa turned away from him and put her hands on the bars. "I don't want to talk about it."
Patting Akamaru with a smile, Kiba walked past her and bumped her on the shoulder before walking out of the prison cell. "Well, as the current head of the clan, consider yourself fully reinstated. Now get Yuki off that guy so we can get out of here."
His female companion looked at him arguing with his white dog outside the cell with a mix of confusion and admiration. He was exactly like the clan head that had essentially thrown her out of the clan, yet he treated her like blood. It wasn't romantic, she knew what that was like and Kiba didn't treat her the way Inuzuka's generally did when they were looking for a partner. Rather it was like how he acted with Akamaru, and how she was with Yuki.
I reckon Riyo and Yakiro would have loved him. They were always so adventurous.
She was brought out of her memories as she felt a pressure against her leg. Looking down she saw Yuki standing beside her, licking her paws innocently like she hadn't just eaten her fill of a human being in a few seconds.
Smiling in a way she hadn't done since they had been taken prisoner, Nagisa whispered to Yuki quietly before the two of them followed the only male survivor of the Inuzuka clan.
Nagisa and Yuki ran down a corridor quickly, following Kiba and Akamaru's scents as they looked for their first objective. Despite both of them having taken soldier pills, they weren't particularly high on strength since they had been starved for a long time, and when Akamaru had suggested they find some food first they all agreed quickly.
The female pair rounded a corner and skidded to a halt when they saw Kiba and Akamaru hiding behind a wall, indicating for them to be quiet and join them.
"What is it?" she asked with a whisper.
He indicated with six fingers before pointing to the area in front of them. Nagisa nodded in acknowledgement and signalled back with a question.
Kiba shook his head and bit at his lip, "No, there are no other ways. Akamaru says the food stores are through there."
He turned to her as an idea popped into his head. "Can you?"
She was already gone.
Kiba chuckled silently and leaned back on the wall, placing his hand on Akamaru's head. His body was still aching in pain from his torture session, something he wasn't going to forget anytime soon. It seemed like a good idea at the time to try and get some information from an interrogation, but he hadn't expected the Snow shinobi to be so quick to turn to torture, without even asking any questions.
He placed his hand at the back of his pants, feeling that the stump had finally stopped bleeding, though it stung like nothing he'd felt before. Despite not being born with it, Kiba found himself grieving for the long bushy limb.
A shape suddenly appeared in the corner of his eyes, causing him to jump in surprise as Nagisa knelt down beside him with a grin.
Kiba shook his head and stared out across the corridor, "Are we clear?"
She nodded and helped him to his feet, smiling to Yuki before indicating for them to continue onwards.
As they passed the six bodies on the ground, Kiba had to admire her handiwork. They were all killed cleanly and he hadn't heard a sound through his highly tuned ears. He was grateful that they hadn't been cut off like his tail, though they still stung from the tips being 'trimmed'.
Kiba let out a low whistle and turned to his clansman. "You are pretty useful in a dodgy situation."
His female companion smiled with thanks and opened a nearby door, poking her head in before coming back out and indicating to him quickly.
Kiba grinned wildly and slapped Akamaru's back happily. "I'm gonna stuff my face!"
Akamaru barked out in unison and bounded after his companions, wondering whether there was any dog-appropriate food in the storage room they had discovered.
Nagisa took a slug of her water bottle and swung her legs on top of her box like she used when she was a little girl. They hadn't covered their tracks particularly well, but they had trapped the door in case they were discovered.
Walking up towards her, Yuki growled softly and indicated her head to the door.
Her female companion nodded in understanding and turned to their teammates. "She's right. We should keep moving."
Both Kiba and Akamaru turned around with sad expressions, legs of meat hanging out of their mouths. Kiba tore a chunk out of the ham and swallowed it loudly.
"Really? But we aren't full yet."
Nagisa gave him a look that only someone who had been an older sister could perform. "It's pretty difficult to see the difference between the two of you."
Akamaru barked happily, while Kiba grinned and began stuffing chunks of meat into his jacket. "I take that as a compliment. Apparently Akamaru is insulted though."
They disabled the traps on the door and checked the corridor before moving through the halls again. Akamaru was at the front, followed by Kiba, since they figured they were the quickest attackers in the group, though he didn't know too much about Nagisa's abilities. Behind the two of them ran Yuki, who had proven herself to be a formidable ally despite not being a chakra-using creature like Akamaru. Nagisa brought up the rear, using her Chuunin training to set small sets of traps behind them so that if they were followed it was not going to end well for the Snow shinobi.
oOoOoOo
After an hour of moving through the prison walls, the group skidded to a halt as they discovered some of Nagisa's traps in front of them.
"We are going in circles" she observed quietly.
Kiba swore and looked back at the corridor they had just come through. "All these damn hallways look the same. I haven't seen anything resembling an exit."
Just in front of him, Akamaru barked twice and scratched at his head.
"He's right; it's strange that we haven't found any other shinobi since breaking out."
Behind them Nagisa placed her hands together in a handseal and tapped herself on the shoulder. She let out a long sigh and shook her head. "It's not a genjutsu. We are just…lost."
Kiba sighed and sniffed at the air. "There are no enemies around here."
He ruffled his hair in frustration before clapped his hands together and summoning up a moderate amount of chakra. "Akamaru!"
The white dog barked in acknowledgement and moved to his side.
Nagisa looked confused as she saw the two of them turning to face the nearby wall, until it clicked.
"No wait…"
"GATSUUGA!"
The two whirlwinds slammed into the walls, driving straight through to the other side. Nagisa and Yuki stared at each for a second before the young Inuzuka shrugged and began crawling through the hole created by Kiba and Akamaru.
The two of them emerged in a large courtyard covered in a thin layer of snow. Nagisa took in a deep breath of the fresh air when she saw Kiba and Akamaru standing in the middle of the courtyard with grins on their faces.
"Well that worked" said Kiba.
Nagisa sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair. "I'm pretty sure everyone heard that, Kiba."
He looked back to her and chuckled while looking around the area. "Totally worth it."
Both Akamaru and Yuki warned the two of them as they sensed a large group of shinobi heading their way. Kiba extended his claws and widened his grin.
"I could use a good fight" he said happily.
Nagisa went to tell him that they shouldn't, but when looked at his back and saw his stump even someone like her felt her blood pumping. Her own hands matched his as they stood back to back and let Yuki run to her side as Akamaru stood beside Kiba.
A dozen Snow shinobi appeared from on top of the buildings around them, holding a collection of kunai and swords against them with hate-filled expressions.
At Kiba's side, Akamaru growled softly and picked out his first target.
"Yeah, I'm getting that impression as well" agreed Kiba.
He turned his head slightly to say something to Nagisa, but only grinned when he saw her on all fours beside Yuki growling angrily, in a move that was very familiar to him.
"I guess you can't always do things from the shadows, huh?"
Nagisa didn't look at him as she nodded in reply. "My father used to say sometimes you have to get your claws bloody."
Kiba bared his teeth at the Snow shinobi coming towards him, feeling his adrenaline spike as his own beast technique activated.
"Smart man."
The two Inuzukas leapt at their opponents with glee, their animal companions quickly following in step.
oOoOoOo
Kiba moved quicker than the Snow shinobi were able to track, slamming his shoulder into the closest shinobi. The Snow shinobi fell back with a roar of pain, but before he could pick himself up Kiba had moved on to the next shinobi as Akamaru leapt on the fallen shinobi and tore into his front with his own claws.
Three shinobi working in unison clapped their hands together and sent a massive dragon-like creature made of snow straight at Kiba. The Inuzuka shook his head in amazement and simply ran away from the seemingly straightforward attack.
The Snow shinobi snarled at him and all placed their hands towards him, directing the dragon attack towards him. As they forced it to follow him, the attack gained speed, to the point that it was catching up to Kiba's enhanced speed.
The other two shinobi that had squared off against Kiba were fighting against Akamaru, and were struggling against the white dog's speed and ferocity.
Seeing as he wasn't going to be able to get away from the attack without confronting it, Kiba skidded along the snow-covered ground and clapped his clawed hands together quickly before aiming himself at the dragon coming towards him.
Kiba flared up with fire as he span into a whirlwind straight into the dragon's head. The fire tore straight through the snow-like attack, but as Kiba went a third into it he hit solid rock and bounced back to the ground holding his head gingerly.
"What the hell?"
Turning to the shinobi that had made the attack, Kiba saw that they were already replicating it by running through the same handseals as before. It was difficult to make out at first, but Kiba noticed them running through several Earth-element seals.
An attack within an attack. They knew I was going to attack it head-on with a fire-based attack. These shinobi are smarter than we thought, and they can clearly tell what my strengths are.
Kiba grinned when he saw Akamaru dispatching his two opponents, causing the young Inuzuka to rethink his strategy so that he didn't look bad in front of his companions.
Okay Kiba, new way to fight. Ignore the attack, and go straight for the users.
Leaving out his fire element from his chakra, Kiba pushed as much chakra into his legs as possible and activated a taijutsu technique he had learnt from Lee. He vanished from sight, causing the Snow shinobi to cancel their technique and search around for him in the courtyard.
Kiba stood behind them with an amused look on his face, resisting the urge to stand right next to one of them and yell boo.
It would be a useful technique if it didn't use so much chakra.
Seeing no sense in wasting time, Kiba silently took out three kunai that he had taken from the bodies within the building and threw them at the Snow shinobi, hitting each of them in the back of the neck, killing them instantly.
Kiba breathed out slowly to re-centre himself and moved to the bodies to see if they had anything useful on them. He couldn't smell any enemies nearby, and if they had any soldier pills he figured it was worth the effort.
oOoOoOo
Unlike Kiba, even though she was using the Shikyaku no Jutsu, Nagisa still used her head in battle rather than relying mostly on instinct to make up for her immense speed.
The six Snow shinobi facing against her and Yuki threw a hail of projectiles at the two of them, holding nothing back as they attempted to hit the fast-moving shinobi.
As they ran towards the Snow shinobi, Nagisa growled to Yuki to tell her to move out of the path of the projectiles, thought the snow wolf simply let out a howl in response and began running quicker, easily able to dodge the shuriken and kunai.
Nagisa moved to a path that wouldn't be hit by the projectiles and used her claws to catch a pair of kunai, throwing them into the path of two shuriken that were about to hit Yuki in the side.
The young Inuzuka crossed her hands across her chest as she jumped high into the air and moulded chakra straight through her arms.
"Inuzuka Ougi: Juuji no Kuuki. (Secret Inuzuka Technique: Air Cross)
Two dark claw-like shadows slammed straight into three of the Snow shinobi, causing them to fall apart where they had been sliced.
The other three Snow shinobi hesitated as they saw their companions torn to shreds and in that moment the two females struck.
From behind Yuki sprung onto the back of one of the Snow shinobi, roaring as she clamped her jaws around the shinobi's throat.
Nagisa snarled and dropped to the ground, using her hands to leap off the ground and dodge a kunai thrown at her, as the two shinobi put up their swords in defence. In a showy move that would have made her teacher from twenty years ago cry in his grave if he had been buried, Nagisa used a Bunshin to force the first shinobi to strike it with his sword.
As the sword destroyed her clone, Nagisa jumped up and used the sword as a stepping stone to leap straight at the shinobi, placing her clawed hand on his face lightly before appeared on the other side with a stoic expression.
The Snow shinobi's companion stared at him for a second, wondering what effect the attack had on him, though it became clear as Nagisa ran towards him and he saw one of her hands was drenched in blood.
The Snow shinobi's companion's head bounced onto the ground as Nagisa disappeared from sight and appeared in front of him, driving both her hands into his chest and causing him to fall back with blood spurting out his front.
Nagisa stepped back from her fallen opposition and looked over at Yuki, who was walking up to her with a blood-covered grin. She barked at the Inuzuka and cocked her head slightly.
She reached out and patted the wolf's head with a smile. "Yes, I'm very proud of you."
Turning around she saw Kiba walking towards the two of them with his hands in his jacket pockets, Akamaru barking at him by his side, causing Kiba to laugh in response.
"You guys done?" he asked as they came up to their companions.
Nagisa nodded and nearly jumped when he threw a soldier pill at her. She looked down at it with suspicion. "What's this for?"
He shrugged and looked around at the buildings. "Precaution. Where do you think we are?"
The snow-covered courtyard held three large buildings that all appeared similar to ones she recognised from some of her old missions, though they seemed out of place on the back of a tall mountain.
"Maybe a small village, though we travelled too long for it to be close to that mountain we were on."
Kiba acknowledged her point, though upon jumping towards the nearby cliff's edge he saw that they were both wrong.
Just below their position was a large collection of buildings, spread out across a wide area at the base of a familiar-looking mountain. The Inuzuka heir's eyes widened at what he saw, causing him to wave Nagisa and the others over to take a look.
"What is it?" she asked, jumping over to stand beside him.
She didn't bother waiting for a response when she saw what had been so concerning to him.
Staring up at them was nearly two hundred shinobi, with a full contingent of ANBU warriors preparing to jump up and attack them.
Almost like he was in slow motion, Kiba flipped around and motioned for the others to follow him.
"Run, run, run!"
The four of them sprinted away towards the buildings in the courtyard as fast as possible as the first group of Snow shinobi leapt up and began their pursuit.
"Any ideas where we are going?" asked Kiba as they leapt off the building towards the mountain neither of them really wanted to go to.
Nagisa ducked under a thrown kunai and leapt from one rock to another up the mountain. "We need to hide and regroup."
Kiba spun around and saw over fifty Snow shinobi preparing themselves to follow them up the mountain side. He gritted his teeth and stopped running to let the other three pass by him.
"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Nagisa as she ran past him.
Kiba pulled out a soldier pill from his jacket and threw it into his mouth, clapping his hands together into a handseal. "Covering our escape."
Sasuke this better work or I'm going to kick your ass.
He placed a hand to his mouth and brought up his chakra from his stomach.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
A wide spread fireball emerged from his lips, covering the village below him quickly. Kiba nodded in agreement when he saw the shapes within the flames falling back to avoid the attack.
Not bad for a first try.
He turned around and sprinted up the mountain to catch up to his companions, pushing what little chakra he had left into his legs to increase his speed.
Nagisa didn't agree with his methods, but when they moved around the snow-covered slopes to the side of the mountain she had to admit it was the perfect distraction for them to hide in the mountainside.
The four of them tried to put as much distance between them and the Snow village as possible, but it became quickly apparent that the mountain was far too long for them to find a field to properly utilise their speed advantage.
"Hey, I have an inherently stupid question."
Nagisa turned to him with a frown, jumping along the snow with little effort. "What is it?"
The Inuzuka heir turned to their two animal companions, indicating to the grey wolf running alongside Akamaru. "How can Yuki keep up with us? Akamaru I can understand, because he's a chakra-user. But Yuki's just a normal wolf, right?"
Looking over at the grey wolf, Nagisa wondered about that as well. It had been bothering her since it became clear that Yuki could understand them talking, but as they moved considerably faster than a normal shinobi could she found it peculiar.
"I'm not sure…" was all she could respond with as she saw a frozen waterfall a few hundred metres away.
Kiba noticed it at the same time she did, recognising it as a good place to get their bearings before they ran out of steam. He patted Akamaru to indicate for him to follow him, while Nagisa let out a low growl telling Yuki to make for the waterfall.
The four of them moved quickly under the frozen water, discovering a small crevice large enough to fit ten people. The two animals stood prepared for any intruders while the two Inuzuka set up traps with what little gear they had.
Once they had secured the location, Kiba let out a silent sigh and leaned back on the cold wall behind him, stretching out his legs. "It's just one thing after another. I need a vacation."
Nagisa smiled and rubbed her legs sorely, thankful that their animal companions had offered to take the first watch to ensure that no Snow shinobi found their location. "I know how you feel."
"They are going to find us eventually. They seem to really hate people from Konoha. I got that much from the torturer."
"We need to find a way out of this area, without being pursued by those shinobi" said Nagisa.
Kiba let out another sigh and stared up at the makeshift roof. "We don't know the area though. They have all the advantages."
Scratching at the side of her neck, Nagisa found herself agreeing with him. However when she looked over at him and saw the marks on his face that were beginning to scar, an idea came to her.
"We need information."
Kiba stared at her with a confused look, "What's your point?"
She stood up from the ground and patted Yuki on the back. "We should capture one of them, and get them to tell us how to escape."
"That's not a bad idea. Give me a few minutes and I should…"
Nagisa shook her head and indicated for him to sit back down. "This is my area of expertise, Kiba. Leave it to me."
He went to argue with her, but she gave him a look that reminded him of the last time his mother had gotten angry with him.
"Ok…okay then. Will you be okay?"
Nagisa grinned and threw the soldier pill he had given her into her mouth, biting into it with her canines. Her skin began to turn into black fur as she disappeared from sight.
"I'll be back soon."
Kiba shook his head and scratched at one of the wounds on his face. "I guess I should get used to that kind of thing."
Akamaru turned around and let out a slow growl in judgement.
The Inuzuka heir rolled his eyes and placed his hands behind his head. "It's not like that, Akamaru. She's…"
The white dog barked twice.
"I suppose that's accurate. Though I doubt she'd like your labelling her like that."
Akamaru barked in response and went back to smelling the area for any unknown scents. Beside him, their grey companion cocked her head slightly before going back to covering her area.
oOoOoOo
Two hours later the two animals growled at Kiba, waking him up from his slumber. The Inuzuka heir rubbed his eyes tiredly as he saw Nagisa slowly appear between the animals, dragging a Snow shinobi by the scruff of his neck. He had short red hair and a terrified look in his eyes, but it was clear that he was a shinobi by his forehead protector.
Nagisa had taped his mouth shut, and when she threw him onto the ground Kiba could see that he didn't have a scratch on him.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side" he said, standing up beside her so that they were both looking down at the Snow shinobi.
Nagisa grinned showing her teeth down at the shinobi, "I'm more Inuzuka than you might think."
Extending the nails on her hand and placing it at the shinobi's throat, Nagisa leaned down and put on her scariest face.
"If you scream, I will slit your throat immediately. Do you understand?"
Seeing the look in Nagisa's eyes, the redhead nodded in compliance. The female Inuzuka reached down and tore the tape away from his mouth, keeping her claws near his throat to maintain the threat.
Kiba grinned at the success and crossed his arms in an attempt to look more threatening. "Okay, let's start with something simple. What's your name, kid?"
"Azuma…wait, why should I tell you anything?" His voice trembled at the look Nagisa gave him, so he directed his gaze at the decidedly less-threatening face of Kiba.
Nagisa conceded his point, waving her free hand at Yuki and beckoning her over. The grey wolf trotted over to the interrogators and bared her teeth threateningly at the Snow shinobi.
The female Inuzuka grinned wildly in a way that made Kiba extremely proud as she indicated to her female companion.
"If you don't talk, then I'll have my friend here bite off your favourite bits and upwards from there until there is nothing left."
He was trying to put up a serious façade, but Kiba couldn't help but grimace at Nagisa's threat. Even at the edge of their small cave Akamaru grimaced in turn and turned away from the others.
The redhead nearly choked on his tongue as he stammered his understanding of the situation. He wasn't restrained in any way beside her claw at his throat, but it had the same effect as when Kiba was strapped to the torturer's chair.
Nagisa leaned down closer to the Snow shinobi, "Now that we have come to an understanding, why don't we start again. Who are you again?"
The redhead stammered initially, but relented and began explaining himself.
"My name is Azuma Hiriko. I'm a Genin at Yukigakure. I…um…I'm not a very interesting person…"
"We figured as much" said Kiba with a tsk.
Ignoring Kiba, Nagisa continued her interrogation. "Why do Snow shinobi hate us?"
Despite his situation, the redhead changed his expression to one of pure hatred. "Because it was people like you who stole our princess away! We swore to never forgive Konoha for this transgression!"
The two Inuzukas looked at each other with confusion for a few seconds before turning back to their prisoner.
"When did this happen?" asked Kiba.
The redhead bulked slightly under his gaze, "A…about ten years ago…I think…"
Nagisa frowned, as it was after she had been frozen, while Kiba had no idea since he was only five at the time. Having gotten that out of the way, they turned to the main reason for capturing the Genin.
"Is there a way out of this area without going through the village?"
The Genin trembled slightly, "I don't know what…"
He cried out in pain as Nagisa drove her nails deep into his legs, causing blood to trickle onto the floor below.
She didn't like this part of being a shinobi, but as a veteran of the War she understood why such measures were necessary at times.
"Let's try that again. How do we escape this place?"
The redhead went to stall again, but when she dug her nails in again he relented and stared at her animalistic eyes. "From here, the only way out is up and around the mountain. Not that it'll work, since we know this area better than you ever could."
Kiba placed his hand to his chin and considered their situation. "Well that's not an option. We spent all that time coming down that monster; I'd rather not go back up it."
His female companion nodded in agreement. Her journey up the mountain fifteen years ago hadn't been easy either, though with Mikoto controlling the winds she'd had an easier time of it.
"Agreed" nodded Nagisa.
She turned to Azuma. "There are no other ways out of here? Does your village not have escape tunnels in case of enemy attacks?"
Her prisoner shook his head under her grip. "We don't. Our village was built over the ruins of a destroyed city, so we evacuate in other ways."
Nagisa looked up at Kiba, "What do you think?"
"It could work. It'd mean fighting our way through, but I reckon we could do it."
"I think it's worth the risk."
Azuma frowned, unable to understand what they were talking about.
Nagisa turned back to him and removed her nails from his leg. "Where is the entrance to this city?"
oOoOoOo
Kiba bit at his thumb, smelling a large group of shinobi near their position. "We need to get moving" he said quietly.
His female clansman nodded in agreement and placed the tape back over Azuma's mouth. "Yeah."
"What are we going to do with him? We can't leave him here; he might tell others where we are going."
The Snow shinobi's eyes widened and he struggled to speak under the tape.
Drawing back a hand, Nagisa quickly dragged her claw across the redhead shinobi's neck, causing him to choke on his own blood and die.
Kiba recoiled slightly at the action, wary of the fact that it wasn't the first time she had done something like that. "That was…sudden."
"Do you disagree?" she asked, wiping her hand on her shirt.
He gave her a disapproving look and crossed his arms. "Well, no. But…"
Nagisa stood up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You lived in times of peace, Kiba. This is how the world really is."
Remembering their battle at the Village of Whirlpools, Kiba found himself understanding her position. "You have a point. I don't like it though."
"Neither do I. But this is the world we live in. Can you take care of the body?"
Kiba nodded, preparing to place his hands together until he realised that it would draw attention to them. "How are we going to get there? It's right in the middle of the village."
Nagisa placed her hands together and transformed into a woman in her thirties with a Snow shinobi outfit on. "When we were fleeing I saw several of the shinobi using wolves as their companions. I think Yuki and I can sneak through."
Kiba turned to their animal companions, watching as Akamaru transformed into the redhead Nagisa had just killed. It wasn't a perfect transformation by any stretch of the imagination, but Kiba would have struggled to tell the difference without smell, and that was good enough for him.
"The two of you should move out first, so that we don't draw suspicion" said Kiba, running chakra through his hands slowly.
Nagisa and Yuki both bobbed their heads in acknowledgement. As she walked past him, Nagisa patted him on the shoulder and left their dwelling with her wolf companion.
Kiba looked over at his transformed companion, seeing Akamaru growl a question to his with the Snow shinobi's mouth.
"She's nothing like her. And remember, we aren't to talk about her like that."
He placed a hand on the body, setting it on fire with his chakra before transforming into a generic Snow shinobi.
"If we start talking about her, she'll come out of her grave and hunt us down."
He shivered at the thought and indicated for Akamaru to move out, as the fire on the body was already melting some of the waterfall. It was unspoken between the two of them, but they wished each other luck and went their separate ways, so that they could each make their way to the target area.
Get there quickly, Akamaru. You too, Nagisa…and Yuki. I lost enough family when Konoha was destroyed; I'm not going to let you die either.
Kiba had to supress a grin as he walked through the Snow village. He hadn't been challenged once, not even a shifty look from the few Snow shinobi that had remained in their village. It seemed to him that almost every shinobi in the village had left to pursue them, which seemed irresponsible to the Inuzuka heir.
They must really hate us, to nearly empty their village. Or they are desperate.
While walking through the village, Kiba had to admit it was starkly different from what he remembered of Konoha. Each building was placed close together with bridges going from one to the other, in a way that seemed very accommodating for their surroundings.
Despite himself, Kiba stared up at one of the buildings as if he wasn't in the middle of enemy territory.
If I was a passive observer, I wouldn't think this is their main village. In fact, I doubt it really is.
Remembering where he was, Kiba took an account of where he was in relation to his goal and kept moving through the village. He bit at his lip as he felt his chakra reserves dipping slightly, the soldier pill having worn off a while ago.
Seeing a small courtyard near a well, Kiba recognised that he was close to his goal. He couldn't see the others, but their plan had been for them to go on ahead, and he would catch up.
Even through his transformation, Kiba still had his heightened sense of smell, so when a Snow shinobi followed him even when he made several 'wrong' turns, he knew it was something he wasn't going to be able to shake easily.
"It would appear we have underestimated you people."
Kiba turned around slowly and went to finger the kunai he had in his back pocket. Down near one of the buildings was an ANBU shinobi who had the visage of dragon with a dark red edge around his mask.
Baring his teeth, Kiba undid the transformation and squared off against the Snow shinobi. "When did you figure it out?"
The ANBU shinobi scoffed and clenched a fist in his direction. "Since the beginning. I was curious to see what you were up to, and it's clear you don't have particularly evil intentions."
"Then why do you pursue us? Why did you torture me for a crime committed by someone else?"
Placing his hands together slowly, the ANBU shrugged in response. "This is how the world is. I am curious as to how you escaped your village's destruction, but I think a little test is in order."
Kiba had to resist the urge to groan, he always seemed to find the most troubling opponents at the worst time. His chakra was frustratingly low, but it wasn't the first time he had been driven into a corner.
The Inuzuka heir bit his lip until he drew blood, reaching up to swipe it onto his thumb. He was running a gamble, but if his guess was correct, he wasn't dealing with the average ANBU shinobi.
As if that was something he could stand up against in a one-on-one battle to begin with.
Adopting a wild expression his mother had taught to him at the tender age of two, Kiba ran through the handseals rapidly and placed his hands on the ground.
"Ninpou Kuchiyose: Kakekomi no Ookami!" (Summoning Technique: Stampede of Wolves)
A large cloud of smoke appeared in front of Kiba as dozens of black and grey wolves ran straight towards the ANBU shinobi.
The wolves dove at the Snow shinobi, trying to bite at his throat with extended fangs. Scoffing again under his mask, the ANBU warrior simply shifted his position and dodged the wolves' attacks. Weaving his hands dramatically, he reached out and touched the wolves lightly, causing them to dissipate into small clouds of smoke.
"Is this it?" he said with a bored tone.
As the last wolf fell to his effortless blows, the ANBU looked over the battlefield through his mask. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing nothing out of the ordinary left behind.
He cracked his knuckles in amusement. "Clever girl."
Running through a quick set of handseals, he extended one of his hands. A long sword of ice appeared in his hand, which he twirled quickly before running deeper into the village.
oOoOoOo
Kiba's back slammed against the wall as he clutched his side painfully. Across from him the ANBU warrior licked his blood off his sword and stood opposite him.
"You have some interesting abilities, boy. But you cannot stand up to a real shinobi."
The Inuzuka heir snarled at the insult and swiped at the ANBU with a claw, but his attack was easily batted away.
The Snow shinobi pulled up his sword and aimed it at Kiba's throat. "It's a shame. You were amusing, while it lasted."
Kiba eyes widened as he felt fear for the first time in a while, sensing that there wasn't a way for him to get out of this situation.
Just as he could feel the weight of inevitability crash into him, Kiba's nose picked up a scent he had become familiar with. A grin came across his face, the confidence allowing him to stare straight into the ANBU's mask.
"It's been a pleasure, ANBU man. But I think this fight is over."
Even without an obvious facial expression, he could tell the ANBU shinobi was confused by his sudden confidence. He didn't have time to wonder though as an arm appeared around his throat.
In one quick motion Nagisa slit his throat, jumping back as the ANBU's death throes nearly decapitated her with his sword.
Kiba breathed out in relief and sank to the ground, looking at Nagisa with a tired smile.
The female Inuzuka wiped her hand on her shirt and walked up to Kiba, offering her hand to help him up. "So much for the quiet approach."
"He had me tagged from the get-go."
"Can you move?" she asked, pointing to his injured side.
Kiba heaved one foot in front of the other, grimacing at the pain shooting up his side. "I'll live. The others?"
Ignoring the Inuzuka's injured pride; Nagisa placed his arm around her shoulder and helped him walk towards their goal.
"If my mother could see me…she would roll around on the ground with laughter."
Nagisa grinned as they came up to the well. "Tsume always had a twisted sense of humour."
"You knew my mother?"
"Another time, Kiba. Another time."
She reached into the well and removed the lid covering it, helping Kiba to climb down the ladder that was revealed within. The Inuzuka heir climbed down carefully, before Nagisa followed afterwards and closed the lid behind her. They knew they were likely going to be followed at some point, but they were betting on the confusion giving them enough of a head-start.
After a painstaking fifteen minutes descending on the ladder, Kiba's feet hit solid ground, though he couldn't see anything at all.
Taking care to feel his way around the solid ground, Kiba stepped back from the ladder to allow Nagisa room to follow him down, though he was nearly barrelled over as a large white dog tackled him to the ground.
Kiba chuckled in relief and patted at the figure licking his face, trying to force his eyes to adjust to the dark. "It's alright, mate. I'm okay."
"Do you have any chakra?" asked Nagisa, landing behind him softly.
Kiba shook his head, and then realised she couldn't see him either. "Bone dry. I had thought of lighting the area with a fire technique, but I'm coming up empty."
He heard a soft sigh as Nagisa sat down beside him, smelling Yuki patrolling the area with her heightened senses. "Then let's…just…rest for a few minutes."
Kiba chuckled in amusement, "So even you run out of steam eventually?"
"I'm…not a machine, Kiba. I just…need to sleep for a…"
Her sentence trailed off as Kiba felt her head land on his shoulder. He smiled as his own fatigue threatened to overwhelm him, placing his arm around his clansman so that they were both comfortable.
"We've got it tough, don't we, Nagisa-neesan?"
With their eyes better at seeing in the dark, their animal companions shared a look at the odd image in front of them.
Akamaru barked happily and settled down next to Kiba's legs.
Yuki growled softly and pawed at the ground before turning around to look at partially destroyed city they had arrived at.
It expanded far beyond the wolf's sight, and looked entirely out of place to be underneath a snow-drenched mountain. There were dozens of rundown grey buildings that seemed unlike anything that she had seen before. She turned to ask Nagisa if she had seen anything like it before, but remembered that the Inuzuka girl had fallen asleep.
Seeing little else to do except wait and patrol the area, Yuki went about her duties, taking care to kick Akamaru as a reminder that he had to protect the two of them while she was gone.
The white dog glared at the wolf before letting out a mumble that was close to a sigh, standing up and stretching his stiff legs. As Yuki began searching the area, Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba and began climbing back up the ladder to seal it up.
He had to protect his family after all.
Author's Note:
That's all for the Inuzukas, at least for this part of the story. I could write their travels in the city, but it wouldn't justify another chapter, and when they come back into the story it's much more interesting this way, in my opinion.
Oh, and I may have called the Snow shinobi Azuma because I was watching Yakitate! Japan at the time.
The next two chapters are Kakashi's. His story does draw away from the main story quite a bit, but screw it this is fanfiction. We have fun with these kinds of things.
Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.