Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto Franchise that belongs solely to Masashi Kishimoto; I do not own Heaven's lost Property, High School DxD or any other Anime I borrow themes from. The only thing I claim is my OC's and original Story Plot.
Author's Note (A/N): The next chapter... oh boy... this is quite the chapter incoming guys. The resolution of last chapter is handled in the beginning as it sets up quite a bit of story devices going forward. The story progresses quite a bit with this newest chapter as we get a small time skip to bring us to the next closest point after the very long Land of Snow Arc. The chapter has action, exposition, and a lot of progressive motions moving forward for the characters and their relationships as we see a newer side to Naruto and the others following his time away on his mission. We also explore more of the inner machinations of the shinobi world and how the shinobi system and military works, in particular we take a deep dive into how the Land of Fire and Hidden Leaf Village handles its broad shinobi force and how the mundane rank and file ninja operate on a day to day basis.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Chapter 91
The Bikōchū Beetle
A lot happened in such a short amount of time following the end of Naruto's climactic battle against Dotō the false Daimyō of the Land of Snow.
As it turns out expending such an enormous amount of chakra over the course of such a short period of time is hazardous to your health as Naruto soon found out as he passed out unconscious not even a few minutes after making his offer to Avalugg who agreed to the veiled notion of moving to Hōrai Island for the foreseeable future. Channeling his own potent chakra, the powerful chakra of the Nine Tailed Fox, his co-dependent Yōki reserves, as well as that of Sōkyoku's overwhelming Divine Grace would do that to a person.
Naruto was producing one high level technique after another and maintaining the Summoning Jutsu on a total of four various sized toads, two of which happen to be high level Battle Toads of Mt. Myōboku was damn near suicidal at best for Naruto's impressive capabilities and outright worst for anyone else who would dare try such a feat. Naruto was in a light coma for two weeks straight following the battle as his worn out and battered body had to stitch itself back together from excessively channeling all of his different energy sources throughout his body at the same time during the battle. It needed time to heal the extensive damage done to it and as such Naruto had spent that entire time unconscious in the care of his teammates and friends.
While unconscious he spent some much-needed quality time with Sōkyoku where they finally caught up with each other and bonded as they usually do. The massive bird spoke heavily about the decisions Naruto was planning to make regarding the Spring Fairy tribe and Avalugg.
Elated at the thought of having the great beast join his island that it completely slipped the young Chūnin's mind on how he was going to explain to his people that they would now have to make room and accommodate a being so large that it could be seen from any point on the island. It was a spur of the moment lapse in judgment that Naruto laughed off as he immediate began making plans on how to fit the giant living glacier onto the island and help the demon feel at home with everyone.
At the same time Naruto was also making major headway with his other resident residing inside of his body. Naruto and Kurama spent many times over the course of the two weeks conversing with each other at an increasingly regular interval as the fox revealed to Naruto more of its past regarding it and the Uzumaki Clan. Essentially by the end of the two weeks Naruto now knew everything that was revealed previously by the reminiscing minds of Avalugg and Kurama in the fight.
Naruto was astounded to learn of how deeply ingrained Kurama was into the history and culture of his clan going back over 300 years. In addition to formulating plans to make Avalugg feel welcomed onto the island Naruto was now revising those thoughts as he silently contemplating his promise to the Nine Tailed Fox to one day release him to live back on Hōrai Island which was its home from long before Naruto was even alive. The fox had its own living space on the island for more than 300 years which was why the young Shī-ō was making every effort imaginable to afford the powerful Tailed Beast space in its old home.
As far as the Spring Fairy tribe was concerned Naruto learned quite a bit from the chief after awakening from his long slumber. With two weeks of rest Naruto was back on his feet in no time as he spent long hours with the chief who revealed quite a bit to the young Shī-ō.
The Fairy Domain was in disarray following the death of the royal family in the Winter Fairy Tribe. Evangeline's mother, father, and older brother was all murdered in Lilith's uprising and many presumed that Eva had perished with them since nobody could be found and no one was there to witness Queen Neo's final act of transferring her Aqua Stone over to Eva before helping her cross over to the human world when young 4 year old Naruto accidentally activated the Transportation Seal in his unknown to him at the time workshop that belonged to his father.
Following the incident Queen Neo's younger sister took over the position of Chieftain of the Winter Fairy Tribe as well as its incumbent Queen, although without the overwhelming power that Neo commanded at her fingertips due to the Aqua Stone it was quite clear that the Fairy Domain was a shell of its former self. The younger woman was heavily depressed following the death of her family and she only had her other sibling which was the youngest sister of the three royal family still alive.
The Spring Fairy tribe was quick to come to the aid of the Winter Fairy tribe as they've always have in the past and the Autumn Fairy tribe while generally reclusive by nature even leant a hand in keeping the balance of the four tribes intact. The Summer Fairy tribe on the other hand fell into collapse due to infighting between the different factions and families within the tribe. Lilith is a Summer Fairy that belongs to one of the most influential families of the tribe and she was heavily at odds with the ruling family of the Summer Fairy tribe who condemned her actions immediately following the attack.
The fire controlling fairy tribes descended into a civil war which left the entire domain broken as Lilith who had grown powerful enough to fight Neo on equal footing launched devastating attacks against her own people leading to the collapse of the summer fairy tribes with it in a similar but worse off state than even the Winter Fairy tribe.
The fairy of destruction soon left the Fairy Domain after killing the Chieftain's family of the Summer Fairies. By that point she was no longer interested in ruling over the entire domain in the current state it was in as she wanted to obtain more power for herself. She began recruiting henchmen including the twisted Mummy and the Four War Gods. Before her uprising, she had become acquainted with Minos of the Fallen Angel faction. The powerful and twisted being whose master was also looking for pawns reached out to her.
Although she never agreed to work for him, she would on occasion work with him if her goals aligned with his. She wanted to have the Aqua Stone that alluded her following Neo's death. With it she would come back and conquer the Fairy Domain and subjugate it for all that it did to her including her own fellow Summer Fairies turning their backs on her from her own twisted point of view. She's coveted the thought of the Summer Fairies being the crowned rulers of the Fairy Domain. Instead the powerful Elemental Dragon that created the Aqua Stone from its tears bestowed a crystal stone for Neo instead that transformed into an Aqua Stone once it came into contact with the Winter Fairy's DNA. He had judged that Neo was worthy of ruling the entire domain as before that point the tribes were loosely united under the Chieftains and nothing more.
The dragon was called in as a neutral party to negotiate and mediate who among the four different races was worthy to lead. When it was chosen that Neo and the Winter Fairy race would lead the entire domain it was a bitter pill for Lilith to swallow. She couldn't exact her revenge against the powerful dragon who was involved in the whole affair. She wouldn't dare attack the great beast as she wouldn't even last 30 seconds. Instead she chose to strike out against a target that was well within her reach, her lifelong rival and nemesis Neo.
The rest was history as was written as in the past Lilith has even attacked Kushina and those closest to her when Neo would spend time with her host. Just like her daughter, Neo herself was bonded to Kushina in a similar contract like the one Naruto shares with Eva. Kushina and Neo were the closest of friends and the closest thing Kushina had to a sibling. There were times in which they would meet on the field of battle and Neo heavily suspected that Lilith had a hand in the initial invasion and destruction of the Uzumaki Clan and Land of Whirlpools as she was well aware of the fact that by this time she was in heavy contact with the Four War Gods.
If Eva was to return, she could take her place on the throne as the rightful queen of the Fairy Domain since she has the Aqua Stone inside of her. If Lilith was to extract it from Eva's body, it would turn into a Fire Stone that would grant her the same powers that Neo had. In her own twisted mind, the demented and jealous fairy rationalized that having the stone in her possession would make her the legitimate ruler of the Fairy Domain.
It was a lot to take in as Eva was ecstatic at the thought of seeing more members of her species, but she was absolutely adamant about not leaving Naruto's side. While distance wasn't necessarily an issue for the two the situation with them sharing their powers was. Neither one of the blonds would ever be capable of fighting properly if they were to live far apart as they wouldn't be able to function in such a capacity, not to mention the distance based strain that Iris and Chaos already puts on Naruto's body and that issue quickly became a major stopping point for the blond haired partners.
Eva didn't want to live a life that didn't directly involve Naruto in it as she boldly declared her love for him in front of Stone who was surprised to know that the crowned princess had fallen in love with a human. What was more was the fact that since they had a blood-based contract forged between them that it practically meant that they were already married in demon society. It complicated things but Stone was a reasonable enough man to realize that his best bet to appease Eva was to work with her.
He suggested that he would stick around in the human world from time to time on Hōrai Island while working towards setting up a meeting between Eva and the last of her living relatives. Eventually a compromised would have to be met when it comes to the state of the Fairy Kingdom. It's been changed ever since the death of Queen Neo, but it's been holding on the best that it could ever since. Lilith herself hasn't returned in years so as long as Eva remained in possession of the Aqua Stone then the deranged Summer Fairy wouldn't return until then. Throughout this entire discussion Eva never explicitly said she was against traveling to the Fairy Domain or ruling her people. That was an interesting point that Naruto picked up on as it was definitely something he and Eva would eventually have to discuss.
After concluding his business with the Spring Fairy chief Naruto turned his attention to the recently arriving reinforcements from the Hidden Leaf Village traveling on the back of Gōra who returned far quicker than what Naruto was ever expecting. On his back he had an entire platoons worth of ANBU Black Ops members which was about 32, technically 37 members in total. However, in this instance these agents were handpicked from the many different companies and battalions in the organization and quickly formed up into this special task force. The lead Captain of the Foreign Anti Country Black Ops Battalion was leading this group of agents and his code name was Zō. In addition to this was an impressive array of over 40 Chūnin and around 16 Jōnin class shinobi.
On the flipside Lord Dino also sent nearly 60 Mafia agents along with the shinobi who were acting under the capacity of the Mafia. They would be responsible for weeding out the Black Sun and other enemy criminal elements lurking around the capital city of Nova Auroras and the surrounding settlements in the small country. They would establish a friendly pro mafia outpost in the capital which would take over the underworld in the country. In the meantime, the Hidden Leaf Ninja would sweep through the Hidden Snow Village and rat out any supporters of Dotō's regime at the behest of the government and Koyuki and forcibly realign the allegiances of the small village back into the good graces of the ruling government.
On paper this was an invasion by the Hidden Leaf and the Land of Fire, and it was a bold move to make so soon into Tsunade's reign as the Fifth Hokage. This move did have the other countries shifting uncomfortably in their seats back home but in reality, this public operation was being sanctioned by Koyuki who was the newly inaugurated Daimyō of the new Land of Snow. Tsunade herself was even nervous about this move as she was already stretching the village's forces very thin as it is as she was still dealing with the cold war like tensions brewing between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice following the Hidden Sound Village's aggressive invasion months prior and the rapidly declining civil war like situation that was happening in the Hidden Sand since the Land of Wind's Daimyō would not allow the village to choose a new Kazekage.
It was a huge political mess which was causing the cold unforgiving gears of tension and war to whisper toxic words into the ears of the Great Five Nations. Another world war was not what anyone currently wanted and everyone would have to be very careful with the power plays and big public moves they were making which was why Tsunade was very cautious and somewhat reluctant to send such a huge force up to the north in the first place but in the end she ultimately stood by her decision.
The relationship between Naruto and Koyuki also improved greatly in that short period of time as well since it came to Naruto's attention that the new Daimyō had signed a personal autograph for him and with it was a picture of her giving him a kiss while he was unconscious in the hospital at the capital. On it was the actress's personal handwriting and a written message to the young Shī-ō. It said: "To Naruto Uzumaki: Never give up! Become Hokage! Signed: Koyuki Kazahana".
To say that the blush on Naruto's face was so bright it could be seen from space would be a vast understatement. Naruto was over the moon with this latest gift and he began treasuring the small postcard sized paper with his very life. He went out of his way much to the annoyance and bemusement of his teammates to buy a special picture frame to place the card in from a local store in the capitol. Afterwards he then sealed the item away inside one of his personal storage seals for safe keeping. The obsessive and fanboy like nature of Naruto's actions caused laughter from those that knew him, especially from his daughters as Chaos nearly got away with pulling a prank of her father with the portrait. The poor girl couldn't warp herself out of the area fast enough once Naruto caught on to her scheme.
ANBU Captain Zō brought along with him a proposed treaty to be signed by Koyuki to ally herself with the Land of Fire and the Hidden Leaf on behalf of Tsunade. But in reality, this was all back-door prodding from Saitou the Fire Daimyō who after giving Tsunade permission to send such a large shinobi force up to the Land of Snow learned that Naruto himself was a part of the mission. To the crafty and self-serving ruler of their country Saitou Madoka saw this as a golden opportunity to gain a new ally for his country. Thanks to Naruto's actions in the Land of Waves, Tazuna who was the new Daimyō signed a formal treaty with the Land of Fire months after Team 7 left. In that treaty the Land of Fire would get exclusive reduced prices from the many exports of the Land of Waves and in return the Land of Fire would provide exclusive protection to the small fishing country from now on.
It was a very lucrative deal from Saitou's standpoint as Wave Country had many skilled fishermen and craftsmen skilled in their trades. With Tazuna being a master architect Saitou was eager to call upon his fellow Daimyō for his services in many new projects around his country. Otaru Town was a prime example of these new business ventures as it was quickly constructed on the other side of the Great Naruto Bridge just weeks after Team 7's mission and the early talks Saitou had with Tazuna and the other representatives of the small trading country.
The Fire Daimyō was making a killing from the revenue that new town has brought in as it had many benefits that was going towards the rest of his country. If Naruto could somehow work, his magic and endear himself to another country's ruler and earn him yet another ally then Saitou would be salivating. The Land of Snow were innovators of technology being secluded away from the rest of the world up in the north pole. They were beginning to work on things that the rest of the countries haven't developed to yet. If he could gain an alliance and formal treaty with them through Naruto's actions, then Saitou was even afraid of what he'd do the next time he saw Naruto… he may just force the boy to marry his daughter on the spot to fully secure his loyalty to him.
The treaty signing was a preliminary affair which was mostly granting the Hidden Leaf permission to have their forces occupying the Land of Snow. The drafts were opened up to future talks where a formal ceremonial treaty between the two countries could be signed. One of Saitou's early stipulations was for Naruto to attend the private meeting and to sign his name on the documents Zō brought along with him. It came as a surprise to many including Naruto himself, but he also felt that nagging feeling of the Fire Daimyō's meddling nature rearing its ugly head once more. However, he was powerless to do anything about it, so he complied.
Captain Zō who was the highest-ranking ninja in the Leaf's forces attended the meeting along with Jean who represented the Mafia's interest in the affairs. Kakashi as the captain of Team 7 and the original leader of the squad assigned to the mission also attended where he brought Naruto along with him to perform his part. Koyuki along with Sandayū who had recovered from his mortal injuries along with a few representatives made up the Land of Snow contingent. The proceeds happened peacefully, and everything was finalized with a future date set for when Saitou and Koyuki would formally sit down for a real treaty negotiation meeting to take place. The actress fully intended to follow through with this endeavor as she was eager to have her country move forward.
In the end Team 7 and the others stayed for a week after Naruto had finally woken up to handle all of their affairs where he also handled moving Avalugg onto Hōrai Island that appeared far off into the harbor of Nova Aurora's. To say that the thousands of people who showed up to watch this spectacle were shocked would be an understatement. They were shocked enough at seeing Gōra showing up ahead of the island to drop of the Hidden Leaf Shinobi, but to see a massive moving island with smaller floating islands orbiting it show up over the horizon of their country dropped jaws for many people.
Avalugg was eager to start a new chapter in his life as he would return back to the Land of Snow one day in the far distant future. He was a roving traveler back in the day to begin with. He's traveled all across the planet in his many centuries of life. Laying his roots down in a new place to roost for a few hundred years was perfectly fine with him and the cherry on top was the fact he was under the banner of the Uzumaki Clan once more since they've treated him kindly in the past. This arrangement was perfectly fine with the docile demon who allowed Naruto to guide him over to the island that was sitting out in the harbor. The transition took nearly two hours as Naruto had a very long conversation with his people about all that had happened.
They've lived symbolically besides Gōra for hundreds of years as it stood already. Being in the presence of massive demons and creatures of other origin wasn't out of the norm for them. The island has had a very long and rich history of this practice in its culture. The only problem was finding a location on the island that could fit Avalugg. He was far too large to fit on any of the small floating islands and there wasn't a lot of space in the main section of the island where the old ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool Village was.
It was at this point that Naruto came up with the idea to place Avalugg in the small valley between Mt. Hōrai and the as of now unnamed secondary smaller mountain next to it. There was a deep valley that separates those two mountains in the large mountainous range that makes up the northern edge of the crescent shaped island. As it turns out there was just the perfect amount of space for the massive walking glacier to nuzzle itself into. It was such a tight fit in fact that Avalugg's body was connecting both mountains together with his flat large back acting as a giant bridge. If you were to hike up one of the mountains until you reach the height of Avalugg's back, you would be capable of walking directly onto his back with ease and cross it to the other side where you'd be able to walk onto the other mountain.
It was a tight squeeze and it took hours to finally get the great demon settled in since it had to be very careful and nimble with not stepping on any of the newly built settlements or with causing any harm to Ilex Forest. In the end things worked out for the best with Hōrai Island having a new permanent family member joining the small island country.
One Month Later / Land of Fire (Unknown Location)
Four high speed moving individuals were making their way through the dense forests of the Land of Fire. Three of the members of this shinobi team were male while one was a female. By the symbols of their headbands they were shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Two of them had the signature Chūnin flak jacket on over their clothes designating that the two of them as ranked officers of the shinobi military.
As it turns on it was Team 8 out on a mission with an extra tag along who just so happened to be Naruto. Kurenai was absent from the picture as Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and Naruto blazed through the tree tops at top speed heading off to their next destination. The mission they currently found themselves on was a bit time sensitive, with only a maximum of five days to complete the task before returning to the village.
Kiba's and Shino's appearances have barely changed in the months since Naruto's saw them last but Hinata and Naruto have certainly grown and matured a lot since the start of their own missions three months prior. They were now both 13 years old along with most of their other classmates who were all turning this age as well.
Naruto had on his new updated Chūnin outfit that he put together when he first got promoted. Since the vast majority of his clothes were torn and utterly destroyed beyond repair from the mission to the Land of Snow, he had to get a new replacement pair, including a brand-new issued Chūnin Flak Jacket. Naruto of course couldn't forego his favorite color of orange, so he got a replacement for his favorite sleeveless orange vest like hoody that was worn over a long sleeve dark blue shirt. His pants were the same dark blue color with a prominent neon strip of orange running down the hem of the shinobi brand clothing. Around his waist he had on his favorite custom-made utility black colored mafia belt that had several accessories and additional pouches secured to it that he could easily access in a moment's notice. On his forearms and shins he also equipped lightweight and somewhat thin but durable and flexible ANBU styled armored guards to increase his defensive and offensive capabilities. The typical tan colored oval shaped travel fanny pack was attached to the back of his waist and right below that in a thick holster strapped horizontally across his back attached to a clip was a small chakra conducting blade that was about half a length longer than the standard kunai but far shorter than an average katana.
Hinata on the other hand has changed in the three months Naruto's been away. Naruto only saw her once in her new Chūnin outfit when they first went on their patrol missions a while back but even then, it didn't look the way it does now.
First and foremost, the thing that changed about Hinata the most that had Naruto distracted when he first saw her at the beginning of this mission was the fact that she's grown out her hair from her old style. Her hair was now straight and carefully manicured, and it flowed down to her shoulders in straight bangs while two thicker side locks of hair framed her face beautifully. Her hair was now at a longer length than even Iris's whose hair while of a similar length was also wavy and slightly curly while Hinata's on the other hand was straight and smooth while no longer being in that short bob style haircut that she's had most of her life.
Two lilac colored artificial roses that acted like accessories were clipped to the side bangs of her hair adding to her aging beauty. For clothes she's changed them once more, now she had on a light purple colored short sleeve jacket that had a zipper in the front with a darker shaded hoody attached to it. Underneath her jacket she had on a thick white collared shirt with cuffed sleeves that was tucked into her dark navy blue tight capri pants that much to Naruto's growing delight showed off her very shapely rear. As much as it embarrassed him to notice that fact he was learning to not be as ashamed of it… he was blatantly cutting himself some slack since he hasn't had the pleasure of seeing his beloved girlfriend in just over three long months.
Over these clothes she had on her forest green Chūnin Flak Jacket that was fitted to be worn on her body. Despite the heavy body armor and padding in the Chūnin vest Naruto was still able to see the bulge of where her breast are supposed to be which were clearly more prominent as of now. Naruto's hormones were at an all-time high the second he laid eyes on his girlfriend, unknown to him in his distracted state Hinata was well aware of the eyes her boyfriend had on her and it was filling her with feminine confidence that their time away has increased his feelings of attraction towards her. She was going to milk this new information for all that it was worth.
"I still can't believe you've grown out your hair Hinata…" Naruto mumbled as they transitioned over from the trees to running through a massive wide opened field of grassland and vegetation. They were travelling in the open plain fields and farmland of the rich and fertile country side to the Land of Fire. It was a beautiful province of their country and it showed in the picturesque scenery.
"… And I still can't believe you of all people had to tag along on this mission." Kiba mumbled out in distaste from the front of the pact. In Team 8's standard formation Kiba would always be first giving the fact he is a member of the Inuzuka Clan and is a natural born tracker. He can pick up on any incoming scents that normal people would never be able to smell coming. It makes him perfect for when they are either tracking down an enemy target or for when they need to scout ahead for traps. Next in line is Hinata as with her Byakugan placing her in the middle of the formation and line would allow her to cover everyone from a 360-degree angle while also allowing her to respond to any threat the fastest. The last in line would be Shino who with his bugs can cast a wide area net around the squad with two extra bugs attached to his teammates incase for the worse-case scenario if one of them is separated from the squad. At the end of the formation or at the front of the pack depending on the circumstances would usually be Kurenai who as a Jōnin can fulfill all of these roles at once and is more than capable of responding to any threat when necessary.
That wasn't the case however as Kurenai wasn't present for this mission. She was stationed up at the border between the Land of Fire and Land of Rice. Hostilities were still at an all-time high between the two countries and Tsunade wasn't taking any chances of Orochimaru sneaking more spies and personnel over the border again.
With Naruto added to this team the formation has changed now with it being Kiba in the primary position followed up by Hinata, then Naruto and finally Shino bringing up the rear of this single file style formation. A twitch of Naruto's eyebrows was his physical indicator that he heard what his jealous and irritable teammate had to say. The Inuzuka male was quite upset upon learning Naruto would be joining them for their mission. Hinata had just returned from her long-extended deployment to the Land of Wind about two weeks before Naruto and Team 7 returned from their mission. For those two weeks she was allowed off time as she was off duty as a result of such a long deployment. The most she was able to do was to spar with her family members and that was it. Shino, Kiba, and Kurenai were all off on missions during this time when she had returned. This was now their first mission in over three months and also their very first mission without Kurenai leading them.
"Oh… you say something Kiba?" Naruto taunted back with an air of innocents around him as while he was happy to be out on a mission by Hinata's side once again after so many months apart he was in a slightly foul mood considering he was assigned to this mission on the same day he returned to the village. He wasn't even allowed a full days of rest or even extended leave on the off-duty roster like the rest of his team except Kakashi got. Team 7 had reached the village at the crack of dawn early in the morning and had spent several long grueling hours in a debriefing meeting with the Hokage and the higher brass because of how radical and extreme their mission had become. It quickly escalated into an international incident that required the Hokage to make such a bold move in the first place. While it looked like the Land of Fire and Leaf Village were going to be gaining a new ally from all of this trouble, it still didn't excuse the fact that a curse was seemingly placed on Team 7's head as trouble seemed to find them on every mission they went on.
A growl from Kiba was the response Naruto received for his cheeky response as the feral boy looked over his shoulder to the back of the line at Naruto. "You damn well heard what I said Naruto! This is the first mission our team has gone on together with Hinata in a long time instead of with Sakura filling in as a replacement for us. I didn't think we'd need to share her attention with you!" The jealous and overprotective boy growled out in distaste as while for the most part the animosity between the two boys has calmed down since the Chūnin exams, its hasn't actually gone away. Now it was rearing its head once more.
A similar growl escaped Naruto's lips as he narrowed his eyes at the Inuzuka boy in annoyance. He understood where Kiba was coming from… he did understand the embers of jealousy the boy must be feeling as well as the general annoyance of having someone you dislike hanging around the girl you liked but it wasn't like he had complete control over his assignment. Tsunade had blindsided him with the request for him to join in on this mission and to use his Shadow Clone Jutsu to its maximum potential to get it done as quickly as possible.
Now of course as soon as he heard that Hinata was on the mission it made him far more inclined to agree to the task despite his general fatigue and desperate want to be placed on the off-duty roster, but it wasn't like the decision was completely voluntary on his end. It was a mission assigned directly from the Hokage and it was of vital importance to the village. As a Chūnin it would be considered insubordination or worse if he outright refused to go on it just because he wanted off time. His hands were tied.
"Oh… I'm sorry Kiba. I wasn't aware I was in a relationship with you too. I didn't know I had to share Hinata with you either." Naruto fired back with snark in his voice as he was tired of the general attitude and cold shoulder that he was receiving from the tracker ninja. It wasn't an entirely favorable situation for any of them, but it was something you had to suck it up on and do your job.
"That's it!"
It looked as if Kiba was going to turn around right then and there to confront his temporary teammate, but it was at that moment that Hinata chose to speak up. "That's enough from the both of you. No more fighting! We have a mission to complete!"
Naruto knew better than to argue with Hinata on the rare occasions when she would decide to put her foot down. He did not want to cross her, especially in this setting since they've just reunited after so long. He would hate for their first reunion to be tainted by them having an argument.
But more importantly, Naruto understood the importance of not arguing and becoming distracted during missions. You leave your personal issues and dramas outside of the atmosphere of your mission. He learned that lesson the hard way during the Land of Snow mission. His feelings and emotions were all over the place on an emotional rollercoaster ride. The rift that had formed between him and Sasuke and the silent building of tension and stress that had been accumulating within him for the past few months came to a boiling point during the mission that caused him to act irrationally and to do things he never would have done. Despite the positive ending the mission ended up having Naruto still critiqued himself as having done a poor job overall. He could have made better decisions that in the long run would have done more… but that was all hindsight now.
Kiba on the other hand didn't have this lesson instilled within him yet as he still decided to speak up unperturbed.
"No! This jackass can't just barge in on our mission out of nowhere just because he wants to spend time with you! What about us! We haven't seen you in the same amount of time!" Kiba angrily yelled out as the entire team came to a halt in a grove of wheat fields. Akamaru could be heard whining pitifully in the hoody of Kiba's jacket. "Really! That's the card you're going to pull?" Naruto yelled back as his own temper began to rise. He was trying, and albeit failing with his own taunting to take the higher ground in this conflict, but he was never one to back down when someone tried to confront him. He also felt a little defensive in Hinata's stead as well.
"That is enough! Naruto don't encourage this argument. Kiba I understand your frustrations right now, but nothing can be done about it. We need Naruto for this mission since it's so time sensitive. He's already completed some of it for us so you should be grateful instead of starting arguments with him." Hinata snapped as she's been listening to the two boys throw jabs at each other for several hours straight. It was grating on her last nerve as she was initially happy to see her boyfriend joining her and her team on their mission, especially since this was the first time that she's ever led a squad as a Chūnin officer; especially her own team to boot.
But now… now it was just starting to turn into a living nightmare as she could sense the animosity which initially originated within Kiba starting to boil up between the two boys as it spread to Naruto who initially in the beginning was trying to ignore the sulking boy eventually got dragged into his sphere of negativity.
"Of course, you'd take his side Hinata. It's typical whenever he's a part of the equation!" Kiba yelled back angrily in Hinata's face getting her to take a step back in pause while Naruto himself started to growl in anger. He was fine with Kiba going at it with him, but the second he started to take out his anger on Hinata then all bets were off.
Hinata could already sense Naruto's impeding explosion and Shino himself was moving in to restrain the volatile blond when Hinata sharply raised up her hand getting Naruto to stop whatever tirade was about to leave his mouth. "Kiba… that is enough." The gentle voice that was usually associated with Hinata was gone in the face of a much darker and thoroughly frustrated growl as Hinata grabbed her close friend and teammate by the collar of his jacket shocking everyone into silence.
"Listen Kiba… I do not want to get into this silly argument about your jealousy and feelings for me on such an important mission… a mission that need I remind you is the very first one I've ever led. I would have thought you've be more supportive of me for that." Hinata began as she had frustrated creases in her skin around her forehead and eyebrows. She was trying her hardest not to let any angry tears accidently leak out of her eyes. She didn't want to seem weak or soft in front of her teammates anymore. She wasn't the same shy girl from the beginning of their career or even from back in the academy.
Hearing such a statement coming out of his long-term crush caused an ache of pain to spasm through Kiba's heart as he never meant to hurt Hinata in all this. Just as it looked like he was going to respond to this emotional outburst from his teammate, Hinata cut him off with a cross look.
"Kiba! I do not want you fighting with Naruto over me anymore! I'm sorry that I had to turn you down all those months ago during the Chūnin exams, but my heart has always and will always belong to Naruto. I love him and I know it's hard to accept and as your friend I'm truly sorry to have cause you such pain. But now is not the time to be delving into this kind of thing on such a mission. In case you've forgotten we're in a cold war right now with the Hidden Sound Village for what they did to us all those months ago, and the Hidden Sand Village is falling apart in its own right because of their stupid Daimyō. We can't afford to be picky with the missions we're assigned or about who's assigned to them. I saw far too much during my time in the Hidden Sand to ever take for granted all that we have here and all that we have to protect. Once this mission is done, we will all sit down and clear the air between the three of us because I refuse to be stuck in the middle of a tug of war between two boys that I care about with all of my heart… do you understand?" Hinata demanded in a calm but commanding tone of voice that brokered no room for argument in anyone else.
Never before did either Naruto or Kiba expect Hinata to be capable of putting her foot down in such a manner but it definitely left a deep impression on both boys who fell silent immediately following her words. 'You've grown so much Hinata that it's honestly scary. I'm so proud of you… but I'm also sorry for having put you into this position. I hope you can forgive me.' Naruto silently thought to himself as he looked directly into her eyes carrying out a silent conversation with the girl he loved.
'I forgive you… everything is ok.' That was all the reply needed on Hinata's end as her pearlescent lavender colored eyes met Naruto's in mutual understanding. "We're only two hours away from the first of the many outposts we're scheduled to stop off at on our itinerary. For the remainder of that time we'll travel in silence and I want you two to reflect on what I've said." Hinata commanded as she could plainly see the embers of pride and guilty remorse shining in the eyes of her boyfriend, but she didn't bother changing her facial expression. As the commanding officer of this mission she had to be decisive… at least that's what she's told herself.
"Yes ma'am!" All three boys responded but Hinata could hear that Naruto had spoken up first. His own experience and training as a Chūnin shining through just like with her but she could also hear Kiba not far behind in responding. The shame and inner reflection shining in his eyes tore at Hinata's heart, but she couldn't bend or fall apart now.
"Ok… let's move out." Hinata commanded and with that the four-man squad disappeared into a blur of speed off into the thick brush of the wheat field.
2 Hours Later – Land of Fire Military Outpost #11
"We've made it…" Hinata mumbled out as she and her team left the brush of open plains to come upon the sight of the large outpost that was the size of a small village. High walls that were nearly 30 feet in the air with guard overwatch towers extended out at the perimeter of the installation in all four cardinal directions were the very first thing the team was greeted with. Giant wooden gates reinforced with steel rebar and struts could be seen on all four sides of the base as well in between the guard towers. From the knowledge both Hinata and Naruto have gained as new Chūnin they knew a lot about the installations that protect their country from foreign invaders. For one they knew that the walls and gates were reinforced to absurd levels by reinforcement seals and preservations seals to reinforce the integrity of the structure from outside damage and the weathering of nature. Security seals and proximity seals were also present on all of the structures to add to the defense of the base. Lastly, they also knew that the outside walls had chakra negation seals that prevented the usage of chakra on the outside surface of the base which would prevent anyone from wall walking up the side of the defensive walls.
In total there were 32 of these massive bases spread out across the vast territory of the Land of Fire. They were expensive to maintain and all combined took up about half of the military budget with the Hidden Leaf itself taking up about a huge chunk of the other half.
Per base there was a total of 37 ninja present. 32 of the ninja were Chūnin rank while four of them were Special Jōnin in rank while the final member was a full Jōnin. Accompanying these shinobi were a rounded-up total of about 500 Fire Country Samurai Soldiers who were the civilian military branch of the country who could not wield chakra but were more numerous in number in comparison to ninja. These samurai were highly trained for civilians as they typically patrol backwater small villages and towns and help the local police forces in keeping order. You would never see these samurai in the Hidden Leaf Village for obvious reasons as a major shinobi village would have no need for civilian soldiers who would never be able to stand up to shinobi let alone outsmart them.
Each base was broken down into an organizational system that the Lord Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju had implemented when he created this program that later Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Third Hokage streamlined and maintained to the standard seen decades later today.
There are four overarching squads of shinobi comprised of two teams of four Chūnin each. These two teams of Chūnin are led by a commanding officer in the form of a Special Jōnin who specialize in a chosen field. Leading the entire base is a full ranked Jōnin who sends in monthly reports back to the Hidden Leaf Village for the Jōnin Commander Shikaku Nara to review and file away. Each of the four squads have specialties that contribute to the functions of the base as a whole.
Squad 1: Short range attack squad that intercepts incoming enemies within range of the base. They are also responsible for patrolling a five-mile radius around the base. This squad takes on short range patrol and request missions to local towns within range of the Outpost.
Squad 2: Long range attack squad that intercepts incoming enemies within range of the base. They are also responsible for patrolling a ten-mile radius around the base. This squad takes on long range patrol and request missions to local towns within range of the Outpost.
Squad 3: Garrison squad that man's watch towers and guard posts entrances. They are responsible for securing the base and manning its defenses. They are responsible for monitoring the traps and passageways leading up to the base. They specialize primarily in Defensive Ninjutsu.
Squad 4: Garrison squad that specializes in staffing the base and providing medical assistance and logistical support to the entire staff. They also train aspiring Genin recruits and sends them to the village to receive their final training. They also support the garrisoned Fire Nation soldiers who share the base with them.
So, per base there were 37 ninja in total and all combined for all 32 bases spread out across the Land of Fire there are 1184 ninja in total. It can easily be considered quite the significant force to be reckoned with for an invading enemy force to contend with if they wanted to completely destroy and take over the Land of Fire. Including the 500 samurai soldiers per base then you'd have a total of 16,000 samurai in the bases which is a staggering amount to contend with.
Hinata would be lying if she said she wasn't a little nervous about coming to such a place. This would be her first time entering one of these bases. They weren't covered much at the Ninja Academy since Genin level shinobi weren't allowed to even be stationed at them to begin with. Only once you've become a Chūnin are you allowed inside of one, let alone the inside knowledge about some of its inner workings.
"HALT! STATE YOUR NAME AND AFFILIATION!"
A loud warning that blared out over an intercom system startled Team 8 who were about 50 meters away from the walls of the base. "Well this is a warm welcome…" Naruto mumbled out as the team revealed themselves to the sentries manning the guard towers who were looking through binoculars to see them even more clearly.
"We are Team Kurenai Squad 8. I'm Chūnin Squad Leader Hinata Hyūga requesting permission to enter your base for our mission." The heiress of the Hyūga clan squeaked out to the best of her ability. A combination of a bundle of nerves and the fact her voice wasn't naturally very loud made Hinata sound slightly unconvincing but the sentry could tell right away who she was based upon her physical description and the fact for that in a 100 meter radius around the walls of the base there are chakra dampening seals that are meant to disable low level chakra emissions which in theory would cause a ninja's low level techniques such as Substitutions, Transformations, and Body Flicker Jutsu's to stop working.
You wouldn't be able to fool the guards manning the base with a basic transformation or Genjutsu field as the seals which unknown to a vast majority of people were of Uzumaki origin would prevent those tactics from being used. It only took a few minutes before the gates were opened up allowing the small four-man team inside.
The scenery that greeted the young squad was not what any of them were expecting. The entire camp was militarized with all of the buildings being modular and made of tougher brick, cement, and wood than buildings back in the village. The architecture was also more modular and uniform as opposed to the free flowing and unique variated style of the Hidden Leaf. The dirt roads were well manicured and maintained with everything built in a grid patterned with only four main roads leading to each of the four gates situated in the cardinal direction. Smaller roads broke off from the main path to different sections of the base while all four main passageways led to the center of the facility were a taller four story building that was about level with the main walls could be seen which by logic would dictate that as the main command center of the base as the rest of the buildings were only two stories tall with only three to four buildings having three floors.
"Wow…" Kiba gasped as he could see dozens of Fire Nation Samurai marching and traveling to different sections of their home away from home. The occasional shinobi could be seen intermingled within the mix as well as there were 37 ninja per outpost after all.
'This is certainly different. I can't believe places like this exist. It's a real shame this wasn't covered in the academy. What do you think of this girls?' Naruto conversed to his two daughters who were transformed and hidden away on his body for the duration of their travels. They were mediating and conserving their energy for Naruto's benefit considering the specifics of their mission. While Naruto was busy getting replies from his daughters, he walked absent mindedly with the rest of his team to the command center to inform the base's commander about their mission.
Command Center – Land of Fire Military Outpost #11
The interior of the command center was very spartan but welcoming in design aesthetics as there was a lot of opened spaces and small tighter corridors which in a tactical sense Naruto and the others could understand would allow the defenders of the base to funnel in their enemies in the worst case scenario of the outpost being successfully invaded.
There was a lot of greenery as to be expected from a location in the Land of Fire as the team was led upstairs to the commander's office from a receptionist at the main desk. Reaching the main office and entering they were greeted to the interesting sight of what was clearly an Akimichi clan member sitting behind the desk in the office.
This particular Akimichi was an elderly man who by appearance alone had to be as old as the Third Hokage and those from his generation. He had very thick bushy grey hair sticking out from underneath his bandana styled headband which was fashioned like a hat with two-pointed triangle shaped cat like ears on the top. On his cheeks he had to large pink dots as his personal symbol which was a custom of the Akimichi's. Around his eyes he had dark eyeshadow like markings that with his advanced age has only darkened more making his eyes look particularly ghastly and drawn with the many wrinkles and fat built up on his face. For clothing he had on the signature metal plated armor that was custom of their clan which consisted of several metal segmented plates of armor wrapped around their body with a large printed on kanji for food situated on the front torso breast plate. While underneath that was the typical Hidden Leaf uniform only in black minus the standard green flak jacket.
The four kids didn't know it at the moment, but they were standing before a living legend. This man was named Torifu Akimichi who was the 14th Head of the Akimichi Clan and Chōji's grandfather. He was old Genin teammates with Danzō Shimura and Kagami Uchiha who were all apprenticed to Tobirama Senju the Second Hokage. This man has survived all three World Wars while accumulated a staggering and impressive enemy death count to his name while also surviving the dreaded attack by the Hidden Cloud Village's Kinkaku Force that claimed the life of the Second Hokage on perhaps one of his most important missions in Torifu's long and extremely distinguished career. He even participated during the Nine Tails Attack on the village 13 years ago and fought besides Hiruzen and his old teammates side by side while they all worked to repel the strongest Tailed Beast from the village.
"Welcome young ones… my name is Torifu Akimichi and I am the Commander of Outpost 11. I'm sure you've traveled very far and long to reach us out here. I commend you on your prompt arrival. You've gotten here faster than I had originally anticipated." Torifu greeted them with a warm joyful smile and hearty laugh as the four members of the team all dropped to one knee with a fist planted firmly on the floor as was the universal sign of shinobi military respect in all villages across the world.
"We are reporting in with the supplies this base needs as per our mission sir." Hinata respectfully announced as she rolled up her sleeve and charged a small spark of chakra into a storage tattoo on her wrist causing a large sized storage scroll too appear in her hands in a burst of white chakra smoke. Torifu's old eyes widened in delight as he leaned over his desk in amusement. "Oh… to make Chūnin at such an age and to have working knowledge on Fūinjutsu is quite impressive young ones." The elderly Jōnin complimented as Hinata got up and grabbed the massive scroll which was quite thick and painted red with black outer edges and placed it on the desk in front of her. The scroll had several security seals on it preventing just anyone from opening it.
"Very good… very good indeed young ones. Can you please show me your mission scroll so that I can mark it off as complete?" Torifu requested as the young Hyūga girl squeaked before quickly taking out the mission scroll and passing it over the commander whose eyes widened upon seeing how much was completed.
Docket A – Rank Mission #(HLV): 1008476 {Hidden Leaf Village}
Team Kurenai: Squad 8
Hinata Hyūga – Leader {Chūnin}
Shino Aburame – Squad {Genin}
Kiba Inuzuka – Squad {Genin}
Naruto Uzumaki – Second {Chūnin} (Additional Requested Support) -Transfer-
~ Complete Mission Parameters within predefined time slots. Mission is time sensitive. Mission Time: Five Days.~
(C – Rank) Secure Bikōchū Beetle for Aburame Clan Heir: (Rite of Passage) – {Location: Dorama Wildlands – Land of Fire / Land of Gardens Border}
(C – Rank) Deliver Annual Mercantile Permission Grant to: (Midway Town; Otaru Town; Shukuba Town; Otafuku Town; South Fork Wharf Town)
(C – Rank) Deliver Medical Supplies to Midway Town: (Soldier Pills; Plasma Pills; Morphine; Ryll; Sansanna Spice)
(B – Rank) Resupply Firebend Town Forward Operations Outpost Garrison with: (Storage Scrolls; Shuriken Packs; Soldier Pills; Plasma Pills; Morphine; Flak Jackets; Jutsu Learning Scrolls)
(B – Rank) Resupply Outpost #11 – 14 with: (Storage Scrolls; Shuriken Packs; Flak Jackets; Soldier Pills; Paper Bombs; Precut Lumber and Steel; Jutsu Learning Scrolls; Medical Supplies: Plasma Pills, Morphine, Ryll, Sansanna Spice)
(A – Rank) Eliminate Recognized Bandit Tribe: (Location: Bandit Camp in Dorama Wildlands – Land of Fire / Land of Gardens Border)
"You've completed this much of the mission so fast!" Torifu exclaimed in shock as several of the locations already had a stamp of approval located in their checkmark boxes. Realistically it would have taken them more than two days to travel to all of these places in a timely manner without utterly exhausting themselves before reaching his base. All of the mercantile permission delivery missions were completed, as was the delivering of supplies to both Firebend Town and Midway Town. It was nothing short of impressive to have this much already completed in such a short amount of time. It was a very long distance to travel in between these towns and to get them all finished within a day and a half was absurd.
Not to mention the fact that this mission was a Docket Mission. Docket Missions are a list of assignments that must be completed in a time sensitive manner and are actually common in the shinobi core for the rank and file ninja to complete. These tasks are normally carried out by multiple teams of ninja or even individual Jōnin who are deployed on long term deployments where they can have additional assignments and tasks stacked onto the current preexisting one that they are maintaining. This knowledge made what Team 8 was able to accomplish all the more impressive in the eyes of Torifu or any competent commander. The team didn't know it, but they've set a record with this stunt.
At this exclamation of shock Naruto and Hinata who had twinkles in their eyes shared a quiet laugh at the expense of the elderly man. It was for precisely this reason why Naruto was added to this mission at the last minute since Tsunade was initially worried about Team 8 being able to complete the mission in the time allotted, among other reasons. To speed up the process of the mission there was no other shinobi who could claim to be in several different places at once and hold those positions for a long period of time. Naruto's broken usage of the Shadow Clone Jutsu was the ace in the hole that Tsunade was banking on to complete this mission in its entirety.
"We have an ace in the hole on our team sir." Hinata whispered out meekly in a sweet kind of way as she passed off a meaningful glance towards Naruto who blushed bashfully at the compliment given to him. Panning his own eyes over to Naruto at this prompt Torifu's wrinkled lips curled into a joyful smile as he recalled all that he knew of the young Jinchūriki. He was well aware of many of Naruto's secrets, except for the once pertaining to his daughters or Hōrai Island. So, he knew that as a Jinchūriki the young Chūnin would have the immense chakra reserves necessary to create the Shadow Clones he's so fond of to travel to the other locations independently of the main team. It was an ingenious move and one that's never been done before by anyone, not even by his master Tobirama who invented the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"I see… most impressive Team 8. I will be sure to write this down positively in my own report of your mission so far. You've all done very well." Torifu praised as all four kids raised their heads in happiness to this positive reinforcement. Placing the massive scroll to the side of his desk the plump old man smiled appreciatively at it. Inside of the giant scroll was enough raw materials and supplies to last the entire base another six months. Six months from now another team would perform the same mission that Team 8 was currently performing, though usually it was completed by an actual team of Chūnin and not this mixed team that was before him now. Due to the shortage of manpower and the tense cold war like standoff happening between their country and that of the Land of Rice the Hidden Leaf's forces were spread pretty thin. Torifu completely understood Lady Hokage's reasoning for including Naruto on this particular assignment.
"Uh sir… you wouldn't happen to be the Torifu Akimichi right… did you know my surrogate grandfather? The Third Hokage by chance?" Naruto shyly spoke up as he could see the gears spinning in the older man's head before a blinding smile crossed the perpetually happy man's face. "Why yes I did little one. Hiruzen and I were the best of friends. We would always compete with each other to see who was the better Bōjutsu master… he would have never admitted it, but our score is 78/79 in my favor. Of course, he doesn't need to know that I cheated in one of our little spars when we were kids. Hah! Ha! Ha!" Torifu joked in a boisterous manner as most Akimichi are known for being as a small warm if not a little teary-eyed smile worked its way onto Naruto's face.
He hasn't had a lot of opportunities to sit down and ask a lot of people about Hiruzen and how he was when he was alive. After his death and all of the emergencies that happened afterwards Naruto's did not have a proper time to truly mourn and move on from his death. He only ever really speaks to Lord Dino about Hiruzen and even that hasn't been for quite some time since he's been away from the village for a long while. It was nice to see another surviving member from Hiruzen's generation looking back on him fondly.
"Thank you, sir…" Naruto quietly stated as the commander went over a few more questions and inquiries for the team before dismissing them. "You can rest for an hour at our barracks before taking off once more. I know you have a long journey ahead of you. Dismissed." Torifu graciously recommended to the team who took the man up on his offer.
Shinobi Barracks – Land of Fire Military Outpost #11
"I need to rest for a few minutes. I'm starting to get the memories back from the other clones I've sent out to the other cities. Their fatigue is killing me." Naruto mumbled out in fatigue as he plopped down onto a nearby couch in the reception area with a groan. The place was empty except for Team 8 as the rest of the shinobi were out and about performing tasks.
"Here Naruto, come lay your head here." Hinata offered sweetly as she lifted Naruto's head up off the couch before sitting down in his spot and placing his head back down into her lap. A blush immediately came to Naruto's cheeks as the softness of Hinata's thighs in her new pants was something that he couldn't possibly ignore even if he were to be unconscious. This scenario immediately reminded him of the time they were in the forest of death for the Chūnin Exams and he had woken up from his unconsciousness after Hinata and the others had knocked him out when he had undergone his demonic transformation for the first time. He awoke in the central tower with his head resting on her lap. She had explained to him everything that had happened to him while he was blacked out.
That similar warmth was now back again as a genuine smile etched itself onto Naruto's face. He could see a faint blush on his girlfriend's cheeks as well but the warmth and care in her eyes was enough to briefly take his breath away. "You're so beautiful… you know that?" Those words escaped Naruto's lips before he could even catch himself as his inhibitions were lowered for that brief moment and he spoke directly from his heart. A squeak of embarrassment escaped Hinata as her face invented a new shade of red while Naruto had a mortified look to match.
It was at this point that Eva had fallen out of Naruto's hair in hysteria as her laughter filled the barracks hall with its squeaky sound. Iris and Chaos in particular summoned themselves into the room from Naruto's body with peals of laughter escaping their lips as well. Their father's embarrassment was their lifeblood, especially Chaos who was absorbing the sweet tasting emotions she was granted from both her parental figures.
Curling a hand through her hair in feminine embarrassment Hinata leaned down and placed a chastise kiss directly on Naruto's lips in appreciation for the genuine and loved filled compliment. "I love you so much." Hinata giggled out.
She knew that he sometimes couldn't control himself and his emotions around her. Particularly whenever she changes up her appearance or catches him off guard with an action he wasn't prepared for. Because of his background Naruto was very sensitive and paid hyper attention to fine details in many things in his life. He knew every physical and personality trait detail of her and because of his sensitivity he could sometimes shoot off his mouth without thinking. It was honestly one of the most purest and most endearing qualities of his that she loved the most. He paid very close attention to her, long before they were romantically involved, and it honestly made her inner feminine pride feel like she was the center of his whole universe.
Grinning goofily up at his girlfriend Naruto kissed her back just as Kiba and Shino returned to the room. "I love you too." The young couple could see their two teammates standing in the doorway to the room with Kiba having a pained expression on his face. He was silent as Naruto met his eyes and was about to jump up to go confront him peacefully but Hinata stopped his motion. "Kiba, Shino come sit and talk with us… I was just about to ask Naruto about his mission, and I was also going to tell him about mine."
The dog loving boy looked ready to decline among other things but a gentle yet firm hand on his shoulder from Shino stopped him in much the same way Hinata did for Naruto. "We would love to Hinata. We haven't had a chance to ask you about it either. Come Kiba." Shino insisted as he pushed his friend into the room while Naruto politely got up from Hinata's lap much to both of their silent dissatisfaction, but he didn't want to needlessly antagonize Kiba any further with his displays of affection towards his girlfriend.
With Iris and Chaos snuggled up into Hinata's sides since they've missed their closest mother figure for so long Hinata, and the members of Team 8 listened to Naruto retell his adventures and misadventures during the long mission to the Land of Snow. The tracking squad were flabbergasted by the many perilous situations the team was placed in. It was utterly ridiculous how much danger spawned off from the mission. Some of the key points that had Hinata especially concerned was the fight between Naruto and Sasuke, the multiple times Naruto was rendered unconscious, his kidnapping at the hands of the enemy, and of course him facing off against a millennia old great demon that's been alive long before the time of the Sage of Six Paths. Of course, any girlfriend would be worried if their boyfriend told them they were involved in such an event. The fact that Naruto tried to downplay the severity of some of these events earned him a harsh glare from Hinata.
"I can't believe you tamed a Great Demon that's arguably far more powerful than Gōra and brought him to Hōrai Island." Hinata whispered out in shock as she couldn't believe the notion that Naruto had to battle such a foe. Deep down she already accepted this token as fact as she knew her boyfriend to never be a liar and if he could reclaim Gōra as the guardian of the Land of Whirlpools then he could most definitely do something of a much larger scale. It was just hard to believe his luck sometimes.
"Yeah… it was crazy up there. But we got a new ally in the Land of Snow to join us now. Avalugg wanted a change of scenery since the Spring Fairies had terraformed his nest into a new biome with their powers. They told me it would last for the natural duration of the season of spring, but the old demon decided that it wanted to live somewhere else for a while." Naruto explained as Avalugg could have continued to live in his natural spot, but it had decided to change homes for a while.
Of course, as the Shī-ō of the Uzumaki Clan and Land of Whirlpools Naruto wasn't about to ever refuse. With such a powerful ancient Great Demon like Avalugg on the island alongside Gōra who at this point is already the sworn Guardian of the country no one would ever dare try to invade again like they had done the first time. His people would be infinitely safer in comparison to his ancestors of the old country. As the leader of his people he had a duty to ensure the safety of every islander on Hōrai Island. It would be better to have such a heavy hitter permanently on the island from now on.
"Only you Naruto…" Hinata sighed as she gave Naruto a peculiar look that meant that they were going to discuss a lot of the finer points of this mission in private at a later time. There was much that she wanted to say to him that she didn't want to say in front of the others. Naruto understood this well enough as he nodded back in understanding.
"Just how powerful are you?" Kiba mumbled out in a loaded question with lots of hidden connotations attached to it. It was a very layered question for him to ask and you could hear the inferiority and insecurities bubbling up beneath the surface that he was trying his hardest to push down. Shino casted a sideways glance to his best friend and teammate while Hinata tensed up as she wasn't sure how this question would be received. Naruto on the other hand could sense all of the emotions Kiba was trying to hide as he articulated the words in his mind carefully.
"I'm as strong as I need to be in order to protect those that I love… and I never stop wanting to get stronger Kiba." Naruto said softly but with a powerful and undeniable conviction in his voice that shook Kiba and Shino silently. Hinata on the other hand just smiled softly as this was what she would expect for Naruto to say. He was straight forward with his beliefs and convictions. "I see…" The Inuzuka clan member could say nothing else to that declaration as the conversation began to shift again.
"I just need a little while to rest before continuing on. Those new Divine Vessel Shadow Clone variants that Iris and I came up with on our last mission transfer back twice the amount of fatigue than the regular Shadow Clone Jutsu does. But its affects are worth it. I've gotten the missions to Otaru Town, Shukuba Town, Otafuku Town, and South Fork done. We can cross all of those off the list." Naruto cheered as he leaned his head against Hinata's shoulder in a lethargic manner.
Those clones powered by Iris's grace could act independently of Naruto's will at a level that a normal clone couldn't. It didn't have to worry about popping after just one hit and it shared a constant mental connection with Naruto as their host at all times. Unfortunately, those added mental connections added to Naruto's already overly populated and stressed subconscious that was inhabited by several entities to begin with. "That's good to hear, but you can take a rest now." Hinata cooed as she gently raked her fingers through his spiky hair. Eva who had returned to her favorite resting place was enjoying the treatment her pseudo girlfriend was giving her as well. Both blondes were lost in a world of bliss while Iris gently played with Akamaru all the while Chaos was warded off by the little puppy everytime she tried to go near it. As an animal he could sense her dangerous aura around her, even though he knew she meant him no harm.
"Oh, before I forget… I got you a present for your birthday like I said I would." Naruto quickly jumped up as the errant thought crossed his mind. Eva was none too pleased by this action, but Naruto wasn't concerned about that at the moment. If he had let Hinata continue with her gentle actions, then he would have completely forgotten all about this important task. Her ability to make him feel like that must be what Chaos goes through every time he combs his hands through her hair. She turns to jelly everytime and now he knew what she felt. It was like he was in a trance.
The lavender eyed girl perked up at this topic as well since she had let this important task slip her him as well. Looking on in curiosity and anticipation Hinata watched as Naruto summoned a small case from a storage tattoo seal on his forearm. The little box looked like it was for jewelry which immediately got Hinata's heart racing as it was handed to her. A muted silence overtook her as she looked to Naruto who had a nervous but small smile on his face. "Open it."
With this prompt Hinata slowly opened up the jewel box and gasped upon seeing what was inside. A small amethyst colored hexagonal prism crystal was inside that glowed with an ethereal ambient light to it. A black chain cord was attached to the crystal that formed a necklace for it. 'There's Yōki coming out of this crystal. Amazing.' Hinata was floored at how Naruto could have gotten his hands on such a thing as the closest thing that came to mind was Eva's Aqua Stone, but that thing couldn't be removed from the little fairy's body.
It was at this point that a key memory from the story Naruto just told to the group surfaced back into her mind. "Naruto… is this Princess Koyuki's Hex Crystal?" Hinata exclaimed in shock as this was the only logical conclusion she could come too. It matched the physical description that the blond haired Shī-ō gave earlier and the fact that she could sense copious amounts of Yōki coming from only solidified her train of thought. A chuckle escaped Naruto's lips at this as he had already predicted that this might be Hinata's immediate response, but he couldn't help but still think her reaction to be funny.
"Close, but not quite. Koyuki still has her crystal but I mined this one and a copy of it off of the top of Avalugg's back where these originate from with his permission. These crystals are actually called Bergmite. They store and collect Yōki in large quantities at a time, but they also function as conversion crystals as they can convert and filter Yōki into Chakra and vice versa. I would assume it can work for other energy sources as well, but I haven't had the time to check." Naruto explained to the stunned group as he gently placed the necklace around the girl's neck and immediately Hinata could feel a slight drain on her Chakra reserves as it started to naturally filter into the crystal. Even her Yōki which she keeps stored away in her special conversion storage seal on the back of her neck started to get siphoned into the crystal.
"Wow… Naruto I love it. This is amazing." Hinata expressed as she fiddled around with the crystal in childish delight. "I'm glad you like it so much. Happy Birthday Hinata." Naruto gently said before becoming blindsided by a lightning fast peck on the lips from Hinata who was already bring out her own gift for him in return. "I didn't have a lot of free time on my hands while in the Land of Wind considering how volatile it is over there, but I was able to snag a few things for all of you."
Pulling out a green colored scroll wrapped in gold tassels Hinata passed it over to Naruto who examined it with the curiosity only a child his age could possess. "It's a Jutsu learning scroll filled with ten different Wind Chakra Nature Jutsu's and extra bonus chakra control exercises to help strengthen your Wind Nature." To say that Naruto's jaw dropped would be an understatement since getting your hands-on Wind Chakra learning scrolls from anywhere outside of the Land of Wind was incredibly rare. Wind Nature is the rarest of the Five Chakra Natures with the smallest percentage of the shinobi population of the world being born with a primary affinity for the type. Most of those ninja resided in the Hidden Sand Village and only small pockets of them could be found in the other villages.
From what Naruto remembered there was only about 10 or so shinobi listed in the active duty roster of the Hidden Leaf that had Wind Nature as their primary affinity and not as a secondary affinity that they later learned through decades of hard practice. His squad captain Hayama Shirakumo was one such shinobi. Another shinobi named Kokage Yanagikage who was a fellow Chūnin was another. Asuma Sarutobi was a prime example and the elder Danzō Shimura was one of the strongest Wind users in the world, his prowess with the art was even stronger than most shinobi from the Hidden Sand. A few others were among that list including Naruto himself. It was a very short list of users so to find a scroll like this while in the Land of Wind was a gold mine.
"Holy cow! Hinata this is amazing!" Naruto cheered as he opened the scroll and saw that there were even a few A – Rank techniques in the mix which nearly made him squeal like a little girl. "I know how much finding new techniques mean to you. You've been stuck using only about four Wind Style techniques in your arsenal for years now, even when we were little kids. You haven't had a chance to expand your library so I thought that this would help." Hinata explained as now it was her turn to receive a peck to the lips which was a lot longer and more aggressive considering how passionate and excited Naruto could be.
"How did you get your hand on this? Who gave it to you?" Naruto questioned as he knew not many ninja would like for their village's techniques to be given out… even if it were to an ally. "Surprisingly enough it was Gaara who was involved. He pulled some strings and then Temari passed along some scrolls to me. She and I became quite close while we were over there." Hinata explained to Naruto who perked up upon hearing Gaara's name mentioned. "Gaara… how is he doing?" It's been a long while since their battle and he's wanted to know how his fellow Jinchūriki was doing.
"He's doing quite well. He's even learned how to sleep thanks to the charm Iris gave him months ago. I was told it freaked half the village out when he first fell asleep and didn't go on a rampage. I also gave him your letter. He was very happy to receive it." Hinata explained as a gentle happy smile came to Naruto's face at this revelation. He was happy his brother in arms was doing so well. There was so much he wanted to know about what was happening over in the Land of Wind.
"There's a lot I need to tell you about that went on in their country, but I'll tell you later. It's quite a lot that we in particular have to discuss." Hinata explained as she sent another pointed look towards Naruto who immediately picked up on the hidden message. There was some information that only needed to be shared between them discussed in private. It must have been important, but Naruto wasn't going to let that dampen his mood as he shook in place like Chaos.
Naruto wasn't the only one to receive a present however, Hinata also had presents for her two teammates waiting to be gifted when she returned. For Shino the Aburame heir received a rare species of desert cicada bug that had a special pattern on its hard-shell. To say that the bug loving boy was ecstatic would be an understatement as the loud buzzing sound coming from the tallest member of the team was an Aburame's way of expressing 'loud' emotions.
For Kiba the tracker in training received a pair of armored gloves that had attached claws to the end of the digits were the fingers rest in. The claw like gloves were coated in the specific kind of chakra acrylic metal that the puppets in the puppeteer corps uses in on their creations so that the automatons can stream elemental chakra from their users to their assortment of weapons. The dog loving boy was also over the moon for his gift as he took practice swings with the claw like gloves in childish glee.
"You know I was going to save this surprise for later but I'm so happy now. I wasn't sure what kind of mood you'd be in after I told you the story of my last mission, so I had a secret back up plan to get back into your good graces if I ended up in the dog house." Naruto explained as he clapped his hands together to focus his inner energies. He was going to wait for another time to do this, but he was too pumped up to care. Hinata on the other hand was curious and amused at Naruto's antics since she could honestly say she wasn't pleased to hear about the dangers he faced on his mission, so she was curious to know what her boyfriend had up his sleeve.
"Contract Magic: Familiar Summoning!"
A gold, white, and blue summoning glyph appeared on the floor at everyone's feet causing Shino and Kiba to jump back while Hinata who was more familiar with this type of power leaned forward in anticipation. A blinding white flash stunned the room for a brief moment and in its place an excited yip could be heard.
Opening her eyes from the blinding light Hinata was immediately tackled by a very cold and quite big animal. It was the small arctic fox that Naruto met in the Land of Snow. Its sparkling frost covered fur caused a chill to run down her skin. It's extremely cold body temperature caused a sparkling light blue mist to waft off its body into the room as it meshed with the warmer air-conditioned temperature of the reception room. "Oh my… Naruto is this the little creature you met on your mission?" Hinata questioned as Naruto did include that part in his story from earlier. The relatively little fox was waging is uniquely shaped tail in excitement as it turned around to look at its master from Hinata's arms with a sparkle of happiness in its eyes.
"Yep… he won't leave my side and as I've found out he's my familiar. I accidentally created him many months ago when I was practicing with this particular kind of magic. Remember when I ended up in the hospital with you when you were recovering from your match in the Chūnin Exams and Eva was mad at me for my reckless actions." Naruto suggested as he tried to jog his girlfriend's memory and in a few seconds the heiress remembered this particular time as it was also that same moment where Neji had come to her hospital room and a skirmish had broken out between him and Eva.
"Yes, I remember… but Naruto… you never described him as being so cute!" Hinata squealed as she let her inner feminine side kick in at full force. She didn't particularly mind the mind-numbing cold body temperature that the creature had. It was going to take a lot for her to get used to but after spending most of her life in close physical contact with Naruto and Eva who have colder body temperatures due to their natures it made this adaptive task a lot easier. She could easily get used to this little fox in due time.
"Well yeah… but I wanted you to meet him since he's now a part of our family. We already have a bunch of kids and now a family pet." Naruto joked with an adorable grin on his face that got a rich laugh out of Hinata who hugged the fox closer to her chest. A tiny blush was hidden from view at Naruto's other words as Hinata discreetly panned over to Iris and Chaos who were watching the scene play out. She truly considered those two girls to be her daughters since she's had a hand in being in their life since they were newborn infants. She already had a lot of experience in raising babies since her own baby sister had been born the year before them, so her invaluable experience was a god send to Naruto back then in their early childhood together.
She loved them dearly and to hear Naruto refer to them and the others as their children sent a special tingling sensation up her spine that she's never experienced before. In her naïve pubescent mind, she was sure she was falling even more in love with her boyfriend than she currently was.
"What's his name?" Hinata asked as Shino curiously petted the large fox but pulled his hand back a bit at the extremely cold temperature its skin was giving off. The bug that he attempted to place under its skin immediately froze on the spot. Such a phenomenon hadn't occurred to one of Shino's bugs since their time in the academy when he would attempt to place one of his tracker bugs on Naruto to learn more about him, but they would always fall off frozen and dead due to his special nature.
"That's the thing… he's been with me for a few weeks now, but I haven't been able to come up with a name. I was hoping you'd be able to." Naruto admitted with a sheepish laugh as Hinata rolled her eyes in amusement to this admitted fact while Kiba shook his head in disbelief. "Are you kidding me man! I named Akamaru in the first five minutes of knowing him!" Once more Naruto could do nothing in the face of this accusation as he for some reason would just draw a blank when trying to form a name for the little fox and for the few that he did manage to come up with the little creature wouldn't like.
"Hmmm? How about Izō?" Hinata offered and almost immediately the fox began to rustle around in her arms while its tail wagged a mile a minute. "Oh my… you seem to like that name huh?" Hinata sheepishly stated as it was just the very first one to come off the top of her head. It was short, simple, and sweet, but she had a few others stirring around in her brain she would have loved to go through. She wasn't expecting the little fox to react so positively to the very first suggestion.
An excited freezing cold lick to her cheek was the response the now named Izō gave to Hinata as it hopped out of her arms and began to dance around the room in excitement. "Well that solves that issue of mine. Izō huh… I like it." Naruto smiled as he felt a wave of happiness come to him from the bond he shared with the little creature.
"Kiba…" Hearing his name called by Naruto caused the dog loving boy to turn around and face his superior. "Hey man… I was wondering if you're up to it can you help me train with Izō sometime. I'm not really familiar with cooperation style fighting like your clan is. I'd like to know how to sync with this little guy like you do with Akamaru. If that's ok with you?" Naruto was being extremely humble in this occasion, but it really wasn't a case of him having to swallow much of his pride. He was trying to extend an olive branch to Kiba so that they can eventually move towards burying the hatchet between them.
It was a solid moment of silence in the room especially between the two boys as Kiba recalled what Naruto said earlier. 'I'm as strong as I need to be in order to protect those that I love… and I never stop wanting to get stronger Kiba'. Those words resonated within Kiba's head in that moment as he could understand the kind gesture that Naruto was offering for what it was. He has his pride instilled in him from day one as an Inuzuka but also as a member of that clan Kiba had a strong pack mentality. The pack was only as strong as its individual members and if there was discord within the pack it makes them weaker. That was something that was unacceptable within the Inuzuka Clan. Kiba knew he'd be a fool if he didn't take this opportunity. "Yeah… I'd like that sometime."
It was small but this one act would definitely improve their friendship in the future as Kiba allowed a small smile to finally come to his face. He would be the first to admit that Izō was probably the coolest little animal he's ever seen before. He'd love to find out what the little guy was capable of. It would be awesome to see. Naruto thought the same as a similar smile worked its way onto his face. He could also tell that Hinata and Shino were pleased by this new development.
"Hinata so how about you tell us about your mission. I'm dying to know more about it." Kiba pleaded as he wanted to know more about what his teammate went through on her own deployment to the Land of Wind. She was sure have interesting stories to tell. Naruto was also quite interested to know about his girlfriend's mission. They had a lot that they wanted to discuss about her time over in the currently unstable country. "I'm sorry to interrupt Kiba, but that won't be possible now." Shino interrupted as while he would have loved to also hear about his teammates exploits their current team needed to stick to their schedule.
"Hinata… it's been about an hour now. I hate to cut our resting period so short, but we must get going if we are to maintain our schedule." Shino cut in as a lot more time than they had realized passed by with them trading stories. They were slightly ahead of schedule due to Naruto's usage of clones, but certain aspects of this mission were going to take an unspecified amount of time which was why it was for the best if they headed out as soon as possible.
"I see. I guess you're right Shino. We should head out as soon as possible. Finding your Bikōchū Beetle is going to take quite a while. I want to make sure you have all the time you need." Hinata replied sweetly as it was a rite of passage for the heir of the Aburame Clan to receive such a rare insect which had the ability to track any scent in the entire world no matter the distance as long as it's the only scent it smells.
"Don't forget about the bandit camp we're supposes to find. We're going to have to kick a bunch of punks asses for this." Kiba boasted but he missed the cross look that Naruto and Hinata gave each other. They knew that what they would have to do when they find that bandit camp was not going to be easy. Eliminate could have several different contextual meanings to it but as shinobi they practically understood what was being asked of them. They would have to kill those people. Kiba didn't understand this concept yet as Team 8 has done a few similar missions in the past given their specialty and in those they were often small nomadic tribes of bandits that they would neutralize and leave for the authorities to arrest. They never had to kill anyone in those. But this mission was different.
"Come on team, let's go."
Dorama Wildlands – Land of Fire / Land of Garden Geological Border (17 Hours Later)
A lot of time has passed since then as the young squad traveled to Outpost's 12, 13, and 14 and dropped off their needed supplies without much trouble or downtime in between. They were blazing a trail through the northwestern country side of the Land of Fire and now they found themselves in the Dorama Wilds. It is the geological border between their country and that of the Land of Gardens which is better known as the Land of Waterfalls because it hosts the Hidden Waterfall Village. Minor countries in just everyday pop culture and relevant circles are often referred to by the hidden village that resides in it rather than by the original name of their country. It's meant to help prop up their country and add to its fame since they normally can't compete with the Great Five in terms of popularity and renown.
As it stood the Hidden Grass Village was actually inside of the Land of Jungles, but their country was often referred to as the Land of Grass. The same could be said for the Land of Rain which hosted the Hidden Rain Village. Its actual name was the Land of Storms because of the perpetual and never-ending tropical storms that batter that small region of land.
Right now, these wildlands were the place Team 8 currently found themselves in. Interestingly enough they were only about 100 miles east of the location Naruto and his squad fended off the fake stone ninja in the False Invasion that happened months back. These were the same borders that that conflict took place in.
"So, where are we going to find these bandits? I'm ready for some action!" Kiba wondered as they've been searching for over an hour and haven't quite found the camp they were looking for. They found earlier signs of a small patrols worth of civilian footprints heading north more towards the border. They've been following that particular trail for some time now.
"Kiba… this camp was reported to be quite large filled with a lot of bandits. The fact that we as a pulled together Chūnin lead team is being asked to take care of them instead of a more experienced team of full Chūnin led by a Jōnin or even a full Jōnin team should speak volumes to the state our village is in. We're understaffed with what granny Tsunade has had to do with our forces." Naruto explained as he had Izō out searching alongside Akamaru and Kiba's sense of smell. These bandits were proving harder to find which could only mean that they were being backed by shinobi. A normal bandit camp would have been found by a tracker team like them a long while ago.
"With the amount of shinobi that she's had to dispatch to places like the Hidden Sand, and to or northern border at the Land of Rice, and even more recently with the force she sent up to the Land of Snow we're severely undermanned with our forces. This kind of mission would have never been given to us as a mixed team between two rookie Chūnin and two Genin. So, I don't want you getting any delusions about what we're going to have to do once we find these guys."
Naruto spoke this shred of truth as a warning in a foreboding tone as he didn't want the naïve Inuzuka going into the coming operation with any delusions or unrealistic expectations. Tsunade never mentioned specifically how they were to dispose of the bandits and that was only because this wasn't a part of Team 8's original mission. This part of the assignment was Naruto's and it was added at the last minute after Team 8 had already gone and made their way to Firebend Town.
Naruto was pulled aside in Tsunade's office and debriefed on the fact that brand-new intel that had just came in that very morning placed a recently discovered bandit camp in the same location that Team 8 was supposed to be heading for. Only general information such as the size of the camp and number of bandits inside were known but the fact that they were located so close to the border with the Land of Gardens and just a few dozen miles west of the border of the Land of Rice had the Hokage concerned for Team 8's safety.
The mission was originally a B – Rank Docket mission but with the addition of this search and destroy bandit mission added on in what could be technically considered hostile territory it upgraded this particular aspect of the mission from what would normally be considered a B – Rank Mission to an A – Rank one due to the unknown extenuating circumstances. With this addition of a typical B – Rank turned A – Ranked mission added onto Team 8's docket mission it created a whole host of new problems. A docket mission's rank is determined by the highest-ranking mission on the list. What started out as a B – Rank mission for the Team with barely any chance of them running into any trouble has turned into an A – Rank mission with considerable difficulty added to it.
This was essentially a trial by fire scenario since Tsunade couldn't scrape together another team of veteran shinobi to take over this aspect of the mission on such short notice. No rookie Chūnin team was ever allowed to go on A – Rank missions without the supervision from Jōnin level commanding officers. Especially if that team in question had Genin on it. Only in tense times like these were to rules bent to allow these circumstances. Genin typically weren't expected to eliminate bandit camps of this size and kill the offending members inside until they were in the second or third year of their career and it was usually a high C – Rank or B – Rank mission when such situations arise. This was an abnormal situation outside of official war time and that had both Naruto and Tsunade concerned.
It was one of the main reasons why he was being assigned to the mission. Tsunade knew that Naruto would have less of an issue dealing with bandit camps as opposed to the members of Team 8, even Hinata to a certain extent. She was well aware of his history with criminals and the total death count on his head. It saddened the gambling queen immensely to know that a child as young as Naruto had such blood on his hands, but it was for precisely that reason why she was sending him along on this crucial mission. He wouldn't hesitate. Tsunade also felt guilty for this assignment as she's read up on the psychological report and the oral report given to her by Team 7 during the briefing. To hear that Naruto had a major panic attack and has been suffering from PTSD nearly broke the Hokage on the spot. She was just counting her luck that Shoko wasn't present in the room at the time or there would have been hell to pay.
Tsunade wasn't comfortable with having Naruto take care of this task, but she couldn't leave this up to anyone else on such short notice. She could see the fatigue and tell-tale signs of deeply repressed depression, anxiety, trauma, and so much more buried deep within Naruto's eyes and body language. She felt disgusted with herself for putting this responsibility on Naruto's shoulders, but this was a sin she was going to have to bear as Hokage.
In the end Naruto left the village and rendezvoused with Team 8 who had already arrived in Firebend Town where he had created his new special shadow clones to carry out the other aspects of the mission. It was all in their hands now to complete this monumental and difficult task.
A shiver traveled up the dog loving boy's spine at the tone his classmate took as he looked over to see a very dark look in the usually calm and cheerful blond haired Chūnin's eyes. Kiba didn't like the direction this conversation was turning to as his mouth suddenly felt dry. "What are you talking about guys…?"
A brief silence followed as Naruto and Hinata shared a quick glance with each other in concern and pity. This wasn't a conversation that they wanted to have with their classmates. Outside of Team 7, Hinata was the only one to have made a kill on the battlefield and she's also been the only one to torture and interrogate a prisoner as well. Oshimo Ringo, the now dead ex-mayor of Firebend Town immediately came to mind for Hinata as that was her very first kill and it was extremely personal as she tortured him alongside Naruto before executing him herself; albeit she was in a bit of a trance due to her powers activating but the principal was still the same. The young couple wasn't sure if Shikamaru has overcome this threshold since neither has seen much of the lazy shadow boy since right before they started their separate missions but as a Chūnin they would expect the Nara heir to be farther along than the rest of their class.
"I assume you mean we will have to kill these bandits… am I wrong?" Shino took the burden of answering this question away from his teammates as he could tell this was a touchy subject that they didn't feel comfortable broaching to begin with. He himself was very unsure about the next turn of events that might transpire but as a member of the Aburame clan he dealt more with logic instead of emotions. With his high IQ Shino was beginning to put together the larger picture that Naruto was fretting over since their mission began. All of the behind the scenes circumstances were being revealed to the hive child who came to the grim conclusion that they would very likely have to kill these bandits.
"WHAT?" That same reality was quickly catching up with the brown-haired boy while Hinata and Naruto released sad sighs in response. "Yes… we very well may have to kill these bandits and erase their entire camp. I don't like this anymore than you do but it needs to be done and it has to be done by us." Naruto explained as he placed his hand against a nearby tree and closed his eyes in silence.
"This can't be right. All we have to do is kick their asses and that's it." Kiba argued as Naruto and Hinata could quickly see where this conversation was headed if they let the boy continue on. "NO! Kiba… it has to be us. The closest reinforcements are the patrols a few dozen miles east of us near the borders of the Land of Rice and I for one know for a fact that granny Tsunade would not want any of her teams assigned to that area pulled away leaving a gap in our defenses. Outpost 17 and 11 which was the first one we visited are also the only ones in this region. But the closer of the two is still over 20 miles away. We aren't interested in taking prisoners when the man power is needed elsewhere." Naruto quickly dashed as he put his foot down on the matter.
He didn't want a long-winded argument over the morality of this whole issue when the situation already sucked to begin with. If it was just him and Hinata or more seasoned veterans joining them on this mission, then he would be fine with proceeding along. Of course, he would never truly be fine with killing off so many people, but he would have a better time stomaching it surrounded by people who have all gone through the same thing. He did not want to experience this with his still mostly innocent classmates. He would rather bear this burden for them in their steed to protect them for just a little while longer.
"You can't be serious…? This is wrong…" Kiba whispered out as more rebuttals were on the tip of his tongue but Naruto further dashed his hopes. "Kiba, you can't expect to be a combat shinobi and never take a life. That isn't how our stupid world works. This is much earlier than I would have liked for this to happen to either of you, but this is how it's got to be. Hinata and I will be here for the both of you once this is all over." Naruto comforted while trying to place a supportive hand on Kiba's shoulder, but the more feral boy shook it off in denial.
"Wait, what in the hell is that supposed to mean?! You're telling me that you've killed before Hinata? When? How? Why? Why didn't you tell us about this?" A million and one questions were flying out of Kiba's mouth at a million miles an hour but this time Hinata was the one to speak up. "None of that is important right now Kiba. I know this is hard for you to take in right now, but we have a job to do." It was like a hard dismissive slap to Kiba's face to hear Hinata shrug off the very topic of killing someone so nonchalantly and he felt a range of emotions building up inside of him that was desperate to be released but it was at that moment that his own teammate Shino decided to enter the conversation.
Shino who was standing to the side watching the back and forth sighed silently to himself as he decided to interject into the argument to hopefully dissipate it. "Hinata… if I may. We should also take into account of the fact we are in the nesting grounds of the Bikōchū Beetle. What if the bandit camp has disturbed or destroyed this fertile area?"
It was a very valid and logical question to ask and one that Shino was banking on to help steer the conversation in a different direction. A contemplative look was earned from the two Chūnin leaders of the team as it only served to raise their concern even more. "This could be a problem Shino… you're right." Naruto mumbled while Hinata stared off into the sky as she saw that a lot of clouds were gathering to the far direct west and was quickly moving east towards them. The rest of the sky was also overcast with quite a bit of cloud coverage overhead. It was then that an idea sprung up in the young squad leader's mind. Turning to Chaos Hinata's eyes ignited with an idea.
"Chaos sweetheart. I need you to come here really quick." Hinata cooed to her at this point surrogate daughter figure. The tiny terror perked up upon hearing her name called by who was arguable one of her most favorite people in the whole world. In the blink of an eye the little terror teleported herself and was plopped down into Hinata's already outstretched arms who anticipated Chaos's actions. "Yes?" A giggle escaped Chaos's lips at her own dry one-word response as her large purple eyes shined in anticipation and childish excitement for what her mother figure had requested of her.
"Hinata what are you up to?" Naruto questioned in confusion as he was glad for the change in topic. He could tell Kiba was still stewing in the background about the impending assignment, but nothing could done about it now. Naruto was more curious about what his girlfriend had in mind concerning his beloved daughter.
A comparable giggle escaped Hinata's lips at this question as she shook the smaller girl in her arms to emphasize her point. "Silly… it would seem that after all this time you've forgotten about some of the other powers you and Chaos share together huh Naruto?" The heiress hinted at as she could see the confusion becoming more rampant within her three male teammates. "Chaos can you please scan the local weather patterns in our region. We need to know if it's going to rain soon. From what Shino told us the other day the Bikōchū Beetle only hatches after a rainstorm." Hinata requested which caused a look of understanding to cross Naruto's face a moment later. "Of course, why didn't I think of that?"
Snickering at the dumbfounded look on her father's face Chaos activated her internal scanners which turned her eyes to its familiar robotic red with the digital markings swirling around inside them. Holding her hands out the long-haired blond used her powers to generate what could basically be constituted as a 3D hologram made out of her Illusion Magic. The map showed the northwestern region of the Land of Fire as well as the surrounding borders of the Land of Gardens which hosts the Hidden Waterfall Village, the Land of Jungles which hosts the Hidden Grass Village, the Land of Storms which hosts the Hidden Rain Village, and finally the most western half of the Land of Rice to their east.
A large storm system originating from the Land of Storm which wasn't much of a surprise was moving eastward from the far western edge of their country where the two countries meet. From Chaos's images the storm would reach them within an hour as it was quite a large weather system, so a lot of rain was to be expected.
"Now we know that we're going to be getting rain really soon. Now can you search for this bandit camp as well?" Hinata concluded as she further asked another request from the random and picky girl who would on occasion be helpful in important situations while in others, she would act aloof and oblivious.
Smiling in comprehension Chaos's eyes internally changed over to its Emotional Sensitivity Spectrum setting that allows her and to an extent her father when he's channeling her power to see the emotional light spectrum. Human emotions show up like different colors in this mode for Chaos allowing her to detect lifeforms from far distances and learn insight about them as individuals. It was a very useful ability that Chaos didn't vocally display often but unbeknownst to most people was the fact that she used it all the time to scan her potential victims for the best way to scare them.
"Scanning Region: 33 Targets detected. Three and a half miles northeast of our position. We are approximately Five Miles away from the national border." Chaos called out as she deliberately panned her head over in the direction of where this supposed base was located. She could detect a great amount of animosity, greed, lust, and anger and many more emotions swirling around their camp and it was all permeating from that direction.
That toxic mix of emotions were drawing the psychotic little girl in like a moth to a flame. She wanted to go there right away and if it wasn't for the fact that she knew she'd get in big trouble with her father the little girl would have taken off already.
This revelation by Chaos really made Naruto feel slow as this wasn't an ability Naruto has had to use in well over three months. The last time Naruto used Chaos's radars was on his very first mission as a Chūnin in which they encountered the fake Hidden Stone Shinobi. But the last time he's used Chaos's ability to see emotions was perhaps years ago by his own memory. He just hasn't thought of that particular ability of hers in a very long time. It did however warm his heart to know that Hinata remembered such a minor detail as that for Chaos. To know that Hinata knew that much about their daughter was very flattering and heartwarming for Naruto to know.
"This could be tough depending on how we approach this. If it's going to rain soon then the beetle will be hatching in the next day or so. A fight at that time would completely screw us over as the beetle might pick up a smell and ruin everything, and that's if it's not accidentally killed in the fighting." Naruto mused to himself as this was quite the tricky situation that they found themselves in. If they were going to engage the camp, it would have to be sooner rather than later if they wanted to preserve the integrity of the Bikōchū Beetle.
"The rain will wash away their scents if they begin to scatter after we attack them, I don't know if Chaos will be able to track all of them at once after that happens. I know I won't be." Kiba stated as he decided to contribute to the conversation although there was a very visible scowl on his face that spoke volumes of his current feelings and mindset. He had a chip on his shoulder and it probably would only get worse if they went through with this assignment.
Naruto himself frowned at this logic as he turned to Chaos and could tell from the peculiar look in her eyes that she would be of no further help if that were to happen. In fact, she probably wouldn't assist in anything beyond this point since if she were capable of finding the Bikōchū Beetle then she would have done so already. This must be something she wasn't going to interfere on.
"We must ensure that no serious collateral damage occurs to the surrounding forests as it will only serve to hamper our objectives later on." Shino added in as he fixed his shades. If they decided to attack, then they would have to be very restrictive in what they did to ensure the fertile lands of the Dorama Wildlands weren't damaged severely.
Hinata on the other hand was silently taking all of this in as she began to formulate a plan inside of her mind. Leading her very first mission as a rookie Chūnin squad leader was daunting and it was only enhanced further by the fact she was leading her own teammates and boyfriend into a battle. That only served to make the pressure more intense for the soft and kind hearted heiress, but it also had the unintended side effect of hardening her resolve. She's been changed by her time being deployed to the Land of Wind just like she could tell how much the mission to the Land of Snow has affected Naruto.
She was placed into quite a few skirmishes and actual battles during her three month stay in the dysfunctional Hidden Sand Village. The place was in chaos and because of that she had to quickly step up to the plate when it began to dawn on her that the world wasn't going to wait for her to find her resolve and will to fight. Hinata's main motivation to push herself far past her limits in confrontations and conflicts in the past had always been because of Naruto being a large influential figure in her mind.
Her will to stand up to Neji in the Chūnin Exams, her will to travel to Hōrai Island to rescue Naruto and their children, her will to partake in the darkest aspects of being a shinobi with him in Firebend Town, the will to face off against Kisame Hoshigaki of all people and later Kabuto Yakushi and many other instances over the years could all be tied back to her will to fight for a loved one… a loved one who just so happened to be the person she was falling madly in love with.
However, Naruto was nowhere to be found during her deployment. It was just her and her squad that was doing joint exercises with Gaara and his siblings along with a few native Hidden Sand squads who all avoided the resident Jinchūriki like the plague. When battles broke out, Hinata had to dig deep and pull on the same strength of will that made her bold and brave enough to fight against those overwhelming odds that she would usually only do for Naruto's sake. She had to find the strength to fight for herself and her survival. In the end it only made her stronger and more decisive. Even if her shy, demure, and submissive personality was still intact, it still didn't change the fact that she's been changed by her experience.
For that reason alone, she was quickly reaching a conclusion on what she wanted to do and how she wanted to handle the situation. She knew that Naruto would easily be on board with her plan, she would just have to bank on her two teammates falling in line.
"I think we should attack during the storm. The heavy rain will not only mask our own approach, but it will help wash away the smell of battle and blood that will inevitably happen leaving the area purified and clean for when the beetle eventually hatches. Also, the rain will greatly enhance Naruto's and I's ability to call upon our Water Style Ninjutsu. We'll have the elemental advantage as well as the terrain advantage since as Leaf Shinobi we are masters at battling in tropical and forested biomes. As civilians they won't be able to match us." This suggestion was quickly met with a nod of approval by Naruto as the heiress expected while Shino also drew comfort in this idea as well. It made the most logical sense after all. Kiba despite his gripes also couldn't find any fault in this planning as the squad of young shinobi took off for the camp that was well within their range.
Identified Bandit Camp – 1 and a Half Miles from National Border
"I smell blood, iron, and human scents. They're here right through this clearing." Kiba whispered as he and his team had just arrived and could hear the sounds of human life a few hundred yards away. The camp was quite large for its population size as a large wooden makeshift fence was erected around their encampment that stood about 4-foot-high that had barbed wire woven into the barricades that formed the perimeter of the camp. Over twelve large wooden huts and smaller fabric made camping tents could be seen in the camp as well. Several fire pits and other stalls were set up in random areas as grizzled and dirtied men could be seen walking to and from their own areas carrying out tasks to maintain their camp, especially in light of the incoming storm that was minutes from being upon them.
Situated on an outcropping of raised hills on the southern end of the camp was Team 8 who was spying on the camp waiting for their impending assault. "It's just as Chaos stated. 33 individuals are in this camp right now. Luckily, I don't see and prisoners or captured innocents among them, but we do have some bad news." Hinata updated with a frown on her face as her Byakugan was on and scanning the entire camp with her invasive sight beyond sight.
"What is it?" Naruto whispered back in concern as the last thing they need right now was for more unneeded complications to arise. He was hoping that his seemingly cursed luck for missions didn't come to haunt Team 8 and their mission. It would certainly suck.
"I can detect at least 5 chakra signatures in this group that are clearly at the level of a ninja. Two of them are quite refined yet dark in nature while the other three are quite average in size, around Chūnin in overall capacity." Hinata revealed causing Naruto to sigh in dread while Kiba and Shino tensed up in anticipation and anxiety. This complicated things and added even more unneeded variables. 'Just my luck.' Naruto internally sighed as it appeared like his bad luck was being brought to bear once more.
"Can they detect us?" Shino inquired as a trail of bugs could be seen leaving through his coat sleeves. He was preparing for battle on the chance that they were spotted prematurely. They were definitely in the danger zone. "No, my new Genjutsu that I learned is cloaking us from detection. We should be fine. We should focus on the few guards strolling on the outside of their fence. If we can take them down swiftly then we can proceed with our actual attack." Hinata suggested as she spied at least 5 individuals scattered about outside of camp.
"As a reminder we'll need to contain this battle as much as possible… but if shinobi are involved then that will become increasingly difficult." Shino advised as a hint of stress and worry could be detected in his voice. He was worried for the Bikōchū Beetle and the natural habitat of their environment. It was a rite of passage for Aburame heirs to receive one, he didn't want to fail in such an important cultural ceremony for his family.
"Don't worry Shino… I'm on it. I'm going to create a large barrier around the campsite to prevent any of the bandits from escaping. They won't be able to climb up the sheer size of the encampment I plan to make. The only ones we'll have to worry about are the shinobi." Naruto reassured the bug loving boy who nodded his head in appreciation. This knowledge would surely ease his heart in the long run.
"Shino and I will get the stragglers on the outside of the camp. Naruto get ready to trap everyone in the camp and Kiba you will be going in with Naruto when this happens." Hinata ordered before taking off with the silent bug boy before Kiba could protest this assignment. The sound of thunder overhead eclipsed any words that came out of the Inuzuka's mouth as the Hyūga heiress purposely paired the two boys together to help them mend the antagonistic friendship they had together while also using this as an opportunity to help ease Kiba into what was about to happen. Naruto while kind would also help peel off the Band-Aid in a metaphorical sense.
Sighing in melancholy for the task at hand Naruto sat on the floor while concentrating his chakra. He had to keep in under wraps until the last second. He had already returned Iris and Chaos to their transformed states. This much bloodshed was something he didn't want them experiencing yet again so soon after the massacres and devastation in the Land of Snow. For Iris, she can feel the death of every single individual and lifeform in her immediate vicinity as they use her body as a medium to cross over to the other side since her presence is so overwhelming on the cosmic scale. The princess feels the entire lifespan and experiences of that person pass through her mind in an instant as it happens which is a daunting experience for the six nearly seven-year-old. As for Chaos… well it was self-explanatory. That much chaotic destruction would only invite disaster if she were to go on one of her rampages.
Naruto didn't want Chaos involved in any of this whatsoever. He couldn't prevent her from inevitably absorbing the ambient negative energy in the area during the attack, but he could prevent her from joining in and interfering. Izō on the other hand was out and ready to pounce the moment its master ordered it too. The little arctic fox was eager to please its new master by showing off its razor-sharp predatory skills.
"Naruto… you can't be okay with going through with this can you?" The sigh to come out of Naruto's mouth upon this question was entirely predictable at this point but it didn't stop the real genuine emotions from seeping into his voice as he spoke up.
"If I could keep you and Shino from having to go through with this then I would. Except that the longer this part of the shinobi life is kept from you the more it will hurt you in the long run. It could even get you killed…" Naruto began as he continued to mold his chakra at a careful and steady rate. The rain was beginning to fall now which would help lighten the burden of what he was about to do. "…Honestly, if I could just take care of this mission on my own and bear this burden myself then I would be totally okay with that. This wasn't even a part of your original mission. Tsunade sent me after you guys because she was afraid you would be walking into a trap up here. She wanted me specifically because she knew that I could carry this team through this ordeal."
Kiba would be lying if he said he didn't feel anything from what his blond-haired teammate said but a sliver of stubbornness was still gnawing away at him as he pushed forward still to make his point. "You still didn't truly answer my question."
It was a long pause after Kiba's rebuttal before Naruto spoke again, but his voice was thick with emotions that Kiba hasn't heard from Naruto's for quite a long time. "No… I'm not. I can never be ok with all this killing. With all of the killing that I've done. I've killed more people than I've made friends with back in the academy. I don't like it… it makes me feel like the monster that the rest of the villagers all treated me as and still some do till this day. My experience with this matter was the primary reason why granny sent me on this mission. It pained her to do it I can tell… but she still did it anyway. My only hope is that I can help you both get through this ordeal together because despite what you might think of me Kiba and our very antagonistic relationship you're still at the end of the day my classmate and friend. I will be there for both you and Shino once this is over."
Not even a single sound came out of Kiba's mouth after this admission from the boy that has captured the heart of the girl, he's been crushing on for almost two years. Due to the rain falling down on them now, the feral boy couldn't quite tell if it was tears that he was seeing trailing down Naruto's cheeks or raindrops but based upon the slight shaking of the blonde's shoulders he could hazard an educated guess as to what was the real cause.
"It's time." Naruto announced after a long pregnant pause between the two boys as he could sense Hinata and Shino were finished with their task at hand. The rain was now coming down at a steady and consistent pace which was drowning out a lot of the ambient sounds of nature around them. The bandits were all scrambling to rush inside their makeshift abodes to ride out this heavy storm and it would only take a few short minutes for them to realize that some of their members were missing, but with the addition of a few ninja among them then that meant that this window of observation would be even shorter. Shinobi are trained to be natural observers.
Whoever was a shinobi in this camp would notice the missing members faster and raise the alarm which was why the Hidden Leaf team had to move now. Their window of opportunity began to drop as soon as Hinata dropped the very first bandit.
"Do not hesitate, do not fear, and do not break down until all of this is over. Be strong Kiba, and after this is all over, we'll all be here for you." Naruto promised as his chakra that was being carefully suppressed and kept under wraps exploded from his body in majestic waves as his recent ordeals in the Land of Snow have made him far more powerful than he was before.
"Ice Style: Ice Glacier Jutsu!"
It was an immense discharge of chakra unlike anything Kiba was used to seeing as the entire atmosphere around the camp became saturated with Naruto's potent chakra blanketing the area with the dense feeling of the young Chūnin's powerful energy.
Thick walls made entirely out of chakra enhanced ice began to form around the perimeter of the camp with the assistance of the rain falling above them helping in the creation of the glacier walls. The water was being transmuted into ice through Naruto's chakra at an alarming rate taking the burden off of the young Uzumaki who didn't have to expend as much chakra as he would initially if it wasn't raining. The massive growths of glaciers rose up at an unprecedented rate catching all of the bandits and hidden ninja inside of the camp off guard.
The walls began to curve in on themselves forming the shape of a dome preventing any of the civilian bandits from scaling the walls. The ninjas were the first to react but even still they were caught completely off guard by the unexpectedness of the leaf shinobi's attack. Naruto's overwhelming chakra had paralyzed them the very second that they felt it as the overall capacity and density of his chakra was beyond Jōnin level.
"Kenjutsu: Accelerated Decapitation!" In less than a second the closest bandit near one of walls had his head decapitated by Naruto's swords as the superior young Chūnin touched down on the ground with over a dozen of his Shadow Clones at the ready without so much as a warning. The friend to the bandit who was standing close to his fallen comrade roared in pain and rage as he lifted up a massive axe onto his shoulders as he prepared himself to swing the heavy weapon at the murderer of his friend but he would never get the chance as Naruto pointed his finger directly at the man's forehead before he could even react. "Ice Style: Icicle Bullets Jutsu!" A dome shot to the ruffians' skull by a small sharp icicle spike ended both his pain and misery before it could fully settle in.
'Why me…?' Pain was etched into the soul of Naruto but none of those emotions showed up on his face as watched Hinata who was on top of the large ice dome finish her set of hand signs while Shino's colony of bugs swooped into the camp in smaller clumps seeking out single targets to devour.
"Water Style: Water Senbon Jutsu!" Over fifty small water needles formed out of the rain droplets and Hinata's chakra appeared overhead above Hinata who using her normal Byakugan pinpointed the very weak and underdeveloped chakra nodes on the civilian bandits who were all too old to utilize their chakra now that they've aged out of the normal range in which a person can train and manipulate their chakra. In an instant the young team leader launched her technique simultaneously alongside the other attacks of her teammates.
Almost sixteen individuals were pierced by these densely packed aquatic senbon which plunged straight through any of the armor, clothing, and into the skins of her victims. These strikes were targeted at critical points along the chakra pathways offering a near fatal to outright fatal outcome to the bandits in question. "Hidden Jutsu: Beetle Sphere!" Four individuals found themselves besieged by festering clouds of insects that shrouded their bodies amidst their screams of fear and agony. The similar sounds from the rest of the camp were all blending into each other just as the enemy ninja made their moves.
Kiba had just leapt over the wall landing on an unsuspecting bandit who was distracted seeing his comrades cut down by Hinata's technique. The man was slammed to the ground by Kiba's descent who had his new armored claw gloves like gauntlets worn over his hands. It was a brief moment of hesitation and grief on Kiba's face as his arms fell slack with indecision. He couldn't find it in himself to kill the man below him in this kind of situation. Sensing the hesitation of his attack the grunt who was a large burly man shoved Kiba off his back before pulling out a large machete like blade from his hip pouch. Akamaru was by his side in an instant as he snapped his jaws shut around the wrist of the man causing the bandit to scream in pain from the small puppy's strong jaws.
It was now or never as the man slammed Akamaru to the ground in an attempt to get the ninja hound to release him from his grip. The yelp of pain from his beloved partner was enough to get Kiba's body to act on its own as he found his clawed metallic hands buried in the man's throat before either of them could even realize what had happened. The gurgled choked up sound of the man drowning in his own blood reached Kiba's sensitives ears as he watched the man slump off his extended hand in slow motions.
The prideful Inuzuka male just stood there in a daze with shock written all over his face. In a situation like this shock would begin to set in along with a whole host of symptoms and after effects but none of that was allowed to happen in this chaotic setting as a man with a large mace was behind Kiba with a look of murder in his eyes. "YOU KILLED MY FRIEND YOU BASTARD!" This man's cry of vengeance startled Kiba out of his mind as he turned to see the man descending with his mace, but it was at that moment that a clone of Naruto appeared in the bandits blind spot plunging his sword through the man's back and out through his chest. Izō simultaneously had viciously chomped down on the exposed neck of the taller man ripping a chunk out while freezing the body on the spot due to his powers.
"Don't freeze up Kiba! Don't hesitate! It's either you or them!" The clone coached as it was immediately taken out by a fast-moving barrage of kunai from two ninja who revealed themselves to the group while in another part of the camp the other three shinobi showed themselves as most of the bandits were already wiped out in the opening barrage of the attack.
The three-man group of shinobi actually turned out to be a three-woman group of kunoichi who hailed from the not so distant faction of the Hidden Waterfall Village just over the border in the Land of Gardens. These three kunoichi were a famous female only infiltration and espionage trio from their village who have completed quite a few dangerous high-profile missions for their village that have earned them a reputation as highly competent Chūnin's. It was even rumored in their village that they were soon being put up for review to be promoted to Special Jōnin who specialize completely in infiltration for their deeds.
The three kunoichi were wearing the current standard uniform of the Hidden Waterfall Village. All of them wore a light blue trim and thin fitted flak jacket with two buttoned up pocket pouches on the lower stomach area, a sword holster on their backs which was optional, wrist guards and it was all worn over a short sleeve dark navy blue bodysuit that was split into a shirt and typical shinobi pants combo.
While all wearing the same uniform with their village symbol handing from their headbands around their foreheads the three-woman had different appearances. The leader of the trio had short cropped silver shaggy hair with a sadistic look on her face while the next woman had short honey brown hair and an arrogant yet aloof expression on her face. The last of the trio had long burgundy colored hair down to her mid back with a look of confidence etched onto her face.
The silver haired leaders name was Sumadera Fujiko; the honey brown haired woman's name was Yazawa Satsuki; while the burgundy haired woman's name was Kanda Saya. They were all 20 years old and experienced Chūnin which would not make this an easy task by any stretch of the meaning.
As for the two other ninja who revealed themselves it came as a shock to Naruto and the others to discover that it was actually two Sound Village ninja in the camp. The two men had on the familiar attired of the Hidden Sound Village. The two men had on a light grey shirt with the tiniest hint of purple mixed in with brown bandages tied around their waist. Dark purple straps wrapped underneath their armpits to their backs. Over these shirts they had on the flak jackets of the Hidden Sound Village, these military vests were pitch black in color. They come with typical shoulder padding which is fastened on by steel buttons and a neck guard. They are also fastened on by three metal clasps on the left side of the torso area and have a medium sized pouch in the front just over the stomach. They also had snake camo patterned scarves wrapped around their necks and black pants. They both had black full-face masks on which only had a single opening for their eyes. On their foreheads stitched into the masks were their metal plates that displayed the musical note symbol of their village.
These two men were Chūnin also who were deep undercover within the Land of Fire using this bandit camp as their home away from home as they threw away the concealing ragged beige colored cloaks hiding their appearances. "WHAT!? What are Sound Shinobi doing here?" Naruto exclaimed as he immediately started to contemplate and digest this new development at breakneck speeds. He was quickly putting together a hypothesis within his mind along with an end game. It would be ideal to capture these ninja alive but, in the end, they had to die… after being interrogated first of course.
"Quick we have to take out these brats!" The sound ninja wailed as their cover was prematurely blown with this unexpected raid. They had to kill their enemies quick before any potential reinforcements showed up. If they ran, then the leaf would be notified of their presences almost immediately and security at the border would be doubled. If they killed them now, then that would give them an extra buffer of about a day or two before any search parties came looking for the missing team which would give the sound ninja time to complete their tasks and retreat back over the border.
"Naruto!" Hinata called out as the young couple shared a split-second look between them that carried with it a thousand worded conversation. A quick decision and understanding came to the lifelong friends as Naruto released the restraints he was holding on his chakra as it came pouring out in waves that froze the incoming combatants. He couldn't afford to hold back when they were outnumbered against the enemies of their country. The same could be said for Hinata who released the lock on her storage seal allowing powerful dosages of her potent Yōki to flood into her chakra system causing the rain around her to begin to swirl around her in dazzling ribbons of cerulean colored enhanced water.
"Guys! Don't hold back! Take them down quickly!" Hinata ordered as loud as she could given how naturally soft and mellow her voice was as she saw the three Waterfall Chūnin racing at her and Naruto while the two-sound ninja charged at Shino and Kiba.
Disappearing into a lightning fast Body Flicker the young heiress met the sword charge of Sumadera head on with a glowing palm strike who grinned down at the child before her. "You've got guts little girl. It's quite impressive to be a Chūnin at this age and leading your own squad. But Chūnin or not… Hyūga or not… it won't save you from your demise." Sumadera threatened as her eyes darkened in murderous intent. "I've faced down opponents far stronger than you and survived… you'll find I won't go down so easily!" Hinata challenged as Kisame and Kabuto were much scarier opponents and although she never beat either of them, she was still able to impress them both with her skills and that was before she was officially promoted. She's been in several battles in her tour of the Land of Wind since then… it worried her how she was starting to become use to battling. She pondered if this sensation was what Naruto has felt.
"Water Style: Tearing Torrent Jutsu!" Her execution of her technique was flawless as a rippling torrent of swirling water formed in the palm of Hinata's hand that was in contact with the Sumadera's sword causing the blade to rattle around inside the woman's hand. "Gentle Fist Art: Tenketsu Needle!" With precision and execution that surprised the older Chūnin Hinata pushed up with the hand holding against the flat side of her sword causing the woman's arms to raise into the air. Then with her opposite hand she took her pointed finger and targeted the wrist holding the sword in one lightning quick strike.
Sumadera's entire wrist completely went numb in a split second upon Hinata's strike causing her sword to go slack in her grip. This one act was all that was needed for the sword to go flying out of the kunoichi's hands because of the propulsion of Hinata's water technique and spin in the air. The tip of the blade swung around and slashed into Sumadera's shoulder and neck causing blood to gush out of the new wound accompanied by the elder ninja's screams of pain.
"Suma!" Yazawa and Kanda yelled in distress as they saw their leader and close friend take a damaging blow so soon into the opening act of the battle. They weren't expecting the finesse of skill that Hinata displayed but now they knew they had to take the much younger squad seriously.
Appearing near Hinata in an attempt to attack her vulnerable exposed side the two kunoichi were met by Naruto who had his swords out blocking both of their strikes. "I'm your opponent. Kenjutsu: Arctic Blade Dance!" This declaration by Naruto was met by sneers of contempt from the two older women as they clashed several times with the smaller but unknown to them far superior swordsmen. "I recognize you kid! You were in this year's last Chūnin Exams held in the Leaf Village. You made it to the final round and won your match against a Hyūga." Kanda observed as her team alongside another was sent to the village to observe the Chūnin Exam finals to gather information for their village about the state of affairs the much stronger village was in. Their secondary objective was to also recover Fū and bring her back with them after the finals was complete.
Unfortunately, both teams lost track of Fū once the invasion kicked off and their partner team of Chūnin were killed off in the hectic crossfire of the warring factions. Their Jinchūriki was last seen accompanying a redheaded young girl who was previously seen in the company of Naruto's squad and his classmates. After the invasion those two girls fell off the face of the map as unknown to them the two in question Fū and Karin were now residing on Hōrai Island which was inaccessible to anyone. Their only lead was Naruto and he was in and out of the village constantly for the next several months following the invasion. To run into him here of all places was a blessing.
"It's nice to know my face is starting to become known to other countries… but I can't say I'm too fond of the recognition. I'd like to know why Waterfall Kunoichi are operating in our country while getting into bed with bandits and our sworn enemy the Hidden Sound?" Naruto sneered as he pushed against both women's swords simultaneously getting them to take steps back but not by much.
It was clear that the two older women took offense to Naruto's accusations as they pushed back with twice the amount of force as Yazawa growled in Naruto's face. "Since we're asking questions now how about you tell us where our damn Jinchūriki is? All of our sources tell us that she was last seen with distant associates of yours." The infiltration specialist probed in a demanding tone as Naruto narrowed his eyes at this revelation. 'So, they know of my connection to Fū. Or at the very least they are scratching the surface of it. She doesn't want to return to her village anymore and like Karin has sought asylum on Hōrai Island. If they find this out, then it will create problems for us later… not that I'm going to let them leave here with this information willingly.' Naruto's thoughts were taking a darker tone as he couldn't afford for more problems to befall the village with the precarious position the world was in right now.
A real full blown war could break out between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice at any time with just one wrong move and with their former closest ally in the Land of Wind in turmoil it meant that the Leaf Village had no strong allies to fight by their side in any major conflict. While the Leaf had absolutely nothing to fear from such a smaller village like the Hidden Waterfall Village even on their bad days in the grand scheme of things adding more potential enemies to their plate was unwise.
"How should I know…? Whether I know anything or not is irrelevant. It's not like your village actually needs a Jinchūriki. You guys have always held the boastful title as the only Hidden Village to never be successfully invaded or dragged into any of the previous World Wars. A Jinchūriki is useless and unnecessary for you guys." Naruto pointed out with a snarl as he felt some of his inner animosity at the treatment his fellow Jinchūriki had suffered through leak to the surface. The Hidden Waterfall Village had no use for a Jinchūriki. Especially not to one as powerful as the host to the Seven Tails. Their village has not instigated or participated in any of the previous wars and they've never been invaded. Having such a powerful hidden weapon is useless and impractical when no one bothers their small country. Not to mention the resources it must take to maintain their Jinchūriki as everytime the Tailed Beast goes on a rampage Naruto was sure that it must cost a lot of lives and collateral damage to their already small village.
To treat Fū with discrimination, scorn, and abuse when she was your secret weapon that you actually didn't need was the height of stupidity as far as Naruto was concerned. It made him resolute in his stance of protecting Fū and her life. From one Jinchūriki to another he would protect her, even if it was against all the rules.
"Why you!" Yazawa screeched in rage as she channeled chakra into her arms to increase her strength, but Naruto wasn't budging as he repulsed the two older women with swings of his swords. "You know nothing boy! Ninja Art: Multi-Phantom Shuriken Jutsu!" Yazawa and Kanda both went through a rapid sequence of hand signs before throwing out several shuriken that multiplied into a hundred easily between the two of them. 'That technique… it's a variation of the old man's…!' Naruto blinked as his instincts took over and he went through a quicker chain of shorter hand signs before throwing out a single shuriken that rapidly multiplied into almost 200 copies. "Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
These two extremely similar techniques collided in midair between the opposing factions with Naruto's technique easily overpowering the combined efforts of the other two women through sheer force of numbers. "Acceleration!" In the blink of an eye Naruto was behind his two opponents who gawked at the sheer speed the boy had over them in spades. "Ice Style: Ice Kunai Barrage Jutsu!"
While this battle raged on Kiba and Shino were having a tough time of subduing the duo of sound shinobi who were viciously attacking them with extreme prejudice in an attempt to quickly silence their opposition. "Stay still mutt!" One ninja yelled as he took repeated swipes at Kiba who with his superior agility was keeping out of the man's range of attack. "Earth Style: Earth Mud Wave Jutsu!" The enemy Chūnin was quickly becoming tired of Kiba's evasive skills as he turned the earth beneath his feet into a shifting surface of mud that surged out towards the young Genin who was already getting into the swing of things. His first kill was fresh in mind, but his body was reacting more on instinct at this point as he got on all fours.
"Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry – All Fours Jutsu!" The Inuzuka techniques excelled in this arena as Kiba traversed the uneven and slippery surfaces of mud with ease on all fours as Akamaru was already transformed into a copy of him in advance for this assault. "Fang over Fang!" Both dog men began to spin like a drill as they soared through the air straight at the man who slammed his hands into the ground for another technique. "Earth Style: Bottomless Swamp Jutsu!" Using the previous mud already on the ground the Chūnin made the substance thicker and deeper as he himself started to sink underground in order to avoid the impeding assault which was successful as Kiba and Akamaru slammed into the mud-covered ground stopping their momentum and missing their target completely.
"Foolish child!" The Chūnin goaded as he rose up out of the mud behind Kiba's prone form with a kunai in hand ready to impale the young ninja through his back, but it was at this moment that Kiba made his move. Swiping his clawed hands through the mud he splashed it into the face of the Sound Chūnin who howled in pain and humiliation at having his own technique work against him. "Tunneling Fang!" As it turns out Kiba was standing just on Akamaru's back who was transformed into him allowing him the footing needed to move around freely. Slamming into his foe with a drilling tackle Kiba sent the ninja through the thick wooden walls of one of the few constructed tents of the camp who crashed out the other end with splinters and cuts across his body.
"Let's go Akamaru! We're not done yet!" Kiba howled as he charged in with his faithful companion at the enemy who was getting to his feet. "Damn this kid! Genjutsu: Optic Delusory!" Immediately the surroundings for Kiba changed before snapping back into reality but with his sense of smell he could already tell some things were off. The smell of the charcoal and wood burning from the recent put out campfires by the rain were missing as well as the smell of moisture in the air due to the weather. These were some of the most important features that Kiba noticed right off the bat. Being trained by the foremost Genjutsu user outside of the Kurama Clan in the general forces had its perks as despite not having a particular skill in the branch of ninja techniques Kiba was an expert at detecting Genjutsu and dispelling them.
"Oh no you don't. Get him boy! Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Dynamic Marking!" Kiba coached as his companion transformed back into his canine form before spraying pee all across the area until it splashed up on the enemy Chūnin's body causing him to screech in disgust and rage. "You damn bastard! I'll kill you for this boy! "Earth Style: Stream Jutsu!" It was the most basic elemental technique out of all Jutsu's but even the basics can be deadly as a thick stream of mud and gravel shout out of the Chūnin's mouth that could punch a hole through a tree in the hands of an expert.
The attack was traveling fast but even under the effects of the Genjutsu Kiba wasn't worried as he could track his enemy thanks to Akamaru's scent marking. "You're too slow! Get em' boy! I've got a finisher waiting for him!" Kiba ordered as he slowed down allowing Akamaru to take the lead who slipped into a Tunneling Fang technique to distract the ninja with while Kiba took a moment to break the illusion over him so that he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Channeling chakra to his hands Kiba activated the first of his signature created techniques that he came up with many months ago.
"Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Beast Mimicry – Man Beast Hone Claws!" It was a technique that hasn't had time in the spotlight since the Chūnin Exam's preliminary match between Kiba and Naruto months ago. This and the follow up techniques were Jutsu's that Kiba developed all on his own after taking inspiration from Jūra the Great Tiger Demon who attacked them on the Great Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves. Taking the principals of Jūra's own claw like attacks Kiba developed his own in the following months leading up to the exams as a trump card and ace in the hole. The technique was so impressive and revolutionary that he was able to easily convince his mother the Clan Head of the Inuzuka Clan to enter this set of techniques into their family's Secret Clan Scroll. Other members of the clan since then have learned this technique and added it to their arsenal including his mother and elder sister.
The effects were immediate as a red glow surrounded Kiba's metal claw covered hands which helped stream the dense chakra better than before. Kiba was pumping out a larger dosage of chakra than he did all those months ago as his power has increased since then.
"Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Beast Mimicry – Man Beast Hound Claws!" It was go time as far as the tracker was concerned as a large shell of dense chakra in the shape of red claws shrouded Kiba's hands and feet. "Now I'm ready!" Cracking the ground beneath his feet Kiba was like a missile as he took off at his enemy who saw him coming out the corner of his eyes. "Stay away! Earth Style: Bottomless Swamp Jutsu!" Creating another swamp of mud that swallowed up the shack he just plowed through the sound ninja managed to catch Akamaru in his trap or so he thought as it was all a part of the partners plan as Kiba once again used his beloved pet as a springboard to jump the distance by a fair margin. "I'm not done yet!" Kiba roared as he cleared the swamp in one giant leap.
Now the sound ninja was panicking as he summoned his other Jutsu once more in nervousness. "Earth Style: Earth Mud Wave Jutsu!" Pumping a significant amount of his remaining chakra into this technique the desperate man sent a larger wave at Kiba this time in an attempt to swallow him whole, but it proved useless as Kiba's enhanced claws allowed him to plow straight through the sticky and restrictive substances with little resistance all together. He tore through the ground with ease as the ninja had one last Jutsu in his small library to pull out in the face of this relentless assault. He was just a regular average Chūnin, he had neither the diverse library of techniques in his arsenal or a large chakra capacity to pull them off back to back like clan born shinobi with extensive family backgrounds could who are born with massive chakra reserves.
"Earth Style: Terra Shield Jutsu!"
A relatively thick wall of earth rose into the air due to the Chūnin's efforts after slamming his hands into the ground in desperation as the construct stood in Kiba's way as he was only feet from his target. "This is it! It's over for you!" Kiba roared as Naruto's warnings chimed in his mind. It was either him or the enemy and Kiba had no intention of dying leaving his team to fend for themselves. He could feel tears stinging at the corners of his eyes as he felt the loss of the last remaining vestiges of his innocents draining away. He already killed one-man minutes ago and he could tell he was about to kill another. 'I wonder how Naruto felt after his first kill?' Kiba thought in a moment of clarity before he completely smashed straight through the wall of earth in his path with explosive power he's never displayed before.
"Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Brutal Pursuit – Hound Claws Tunneling Fang!" The attack was as its namesake as Kiba annihilated both the defensive barrier in his way and tore into the defenseless body of his target who couldn't dodge in time as his entire lower abdomen was torn to shreds by Kiba's powerful attack that gave no quarters in the face of defensive tactics.
The Chūnin was dead before Kiba and his now limp body slammed into the ground causing a dust cloud to rise up into the air. Blood was splattered on Kiba's jacket as he stared into the dead lifeless eyes of his first enemy ninja kill with eyes of bewilderment. 'I killed him. My first enemy ninja kill.' Deep labored breaths were coming out of Kiba's mouth as he looked over to see Shino wrapping up his own battle with the other sound Chūnin who was covered in hundreds of his Kikaichū bugs. The man was still alive, but his body was drained of most of its chakra and he was now unconscious. Shino thought it would be better to leave one of the men alive so that they could learn any information about what the Hidden Sound's interests may be.
"Kiba it's ok. I'm here." The comforting hand of his ever-faithful teammate was on Kiba's shoulder as he looked up to see Shino staring down at him with what he could tell was the Aburame's brand of sympathy and support. The sounds of the remaining battle filled the two teammates ears as they turned to see Hinata and Naruto in sync with each other in such a way that it was simply mesmerizing to watch. "Impressive." Shino complimented with an adjustment of his shades. "Wow… look at them go. Shino… just how close are those two? Why can't we be like that together?" A lost look was in Kiba's eyes right now as Shino sighed in pity.
"Those two have known each other for most of their lives Kiba, for well over six years now. They've been through far too much already long before they met us. They hold a special bond together along with the family that they've created that neither you nor I have a place in. Hinata has given her heart to Naruto and that is something you're just going to have to accept Kiba." Shino softly placated as he didn't want Kiba spinning down a hole of pinning after their teammate when it was a useless endeavor. Not only would it lead to further jealousy and heartbreak, but it could potentially ruin their team dynamics and friendship which was something Shino absolutely didn't want for his two teammates.
With Naruto and Hinata they could sense an ending coming to their fights as the young couple managed to regroup after a failed attack by the older woman missed its target. "Enough of this! We're going to kill you brats if it's the last thing we do." Sumadera growled as she ran through a chain of hand signs which quickly prompted her teammates to do the same in a collaborative technique. Sumadera winced at the pain from the large gash around her lower neck but she pushed through her pain to drive her attack home as she was out for blood at this point.
"Fire Style Combination: Grand Garuda Jutsu!" All three Chūnin had synced up their chakra's perfectly as they blew out long thin and powerful streams of fire that combined ten feet in front of them into a massive dragon that caused heat and water vapor to rise into the air from the rain pouring down on everyone. One look was all it took from Naruto and Hinata for them to be on the same page as they matched hand signs at a pace that shocked the older combatants at the skill and perfect coordination these two children were showcasing.
"Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" Both young Chūnin yelled as they used the downpour of rain to aid in creating their technique faster than normal. The massive wall of water was finished quicker that the dragon of fire could fully form due to the weather advantage the younger combatants had. The two techniques met in the middle of the camp with thunderous force and it only took seconds for everyone to see who had the advantage. The Garuda Dragon already wasn't as powerful as it could naturally be thanks to the rain falling down on it and with the rain constantly adding to the raging wall of water sweeping across the camp it only took a few seconds for the dragon to be extinguished causing copious amounts of steam to raise into the air.
"We need to fall back!" Sumadera growled in distaste as she was beginning to see that despite being far older and more experienced, they were at a heavy disadvantage against what was clearly very powerful young Chūnin kids. She hasn't see talent like this from shinobi this age in quite a long while and definitely not from any of her own ninja. "They're still coming!" Kanda yelled as she took out her sword and channeled a large dosage of chakra into it alongside Yazawa who could see their enemies racing towards them. "Water Style: Water Forge Jutsu!" Both women announced as rippling torrents of water began to swirl around their swords enhancing their capabilities far surpassing what they could do on their own. "Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu!" Sumadera wasn't one to be outdone as despite being injured, she was determined to aid her teammates.
No words were spoken between Naruto and Hinata as they each planned out a combination that would stun everyone watching. "Kenjutsu: One Slice!" Naruto adopted a single sword stance as he ran before disappearing in a blur of speed so fast that he appeared behind the three Waterfall Chūnin before they could properly track him. The swords Kanda and Yazawa were holding snapped near the hilt leaving very little of the blade intact as Naruto dissolved the ice sword in his hand while Sumadera threw out her whip in the hopes of capturing Hinata who surged a potent amount of Yōki into her palms. "Eight Trigrams Gentle Step: Water Covalence!"
Catching the whip of water in her hand Hinata surged her Yōki into the water allowing her to take full control over the water she was connected to causing Sumadera's whole body to seize up as Hinata remotely shut off the Tenketsu in the woman's hand just like earlier. In a split second now that the whip of water was under her control Hinata ripped the technique from Sumadera's hands and spun the whip around and managed to wrap it around all three Chūnin's bodies before they could properly react. A substitution would be the next logical choice in this moment, but it wasn't to be as Izō chose this moment to make his presence known as he unleashed a freezing breath directly at the three tied up Chūnin that froze the whip of water around them freezing them together.
"This is the end now." Hinata declared as her eyes evolved right before everyone's eyes as they took on a radiant golden hue that caused Naruto's body to react towards it. He could feel the divine energy inside of his body stir and awaken at this phenomenon as Hinata's hands rippled with the glowing energy of divine grace.
"Overdrive!"
The powerful technique hit center mass as massive ripples of golden energy rippled across Sumadera's body that was transferred over to her two partners who were in physical contact with her causing all three kunoichi to scream in pain as they felt their entire chakra network become flooded by their foreign energy that paralyzed them on the spot. The dosage was just strong enough that it knocked the three-woman unconscious on the spot. "And that's that." Hinata sighed in relief as she allowed the chakra and Yōki to drain out of her system and back into the special storage seals put in place for them.
"Just like old times huh?" Naruto smiled softly at his partner in crime as he took out a spool of ninja wire and tied up the three enemy Chūnin to secure them. Placing Paralyzing Seals and Chakra Disruption Seals on their prone bodies Naruto then froze them with a thin sheet of ice for added protection. He sent a clone over to tie up the Sound ninja that Shino capture as well.
"Exactly… it felt nice to finally fight by your side again Naruto." Hinata cooed sweetly with a small gentle smile on her face as she pecked his cheek in delight. She's been yearning for over three months to fight by her boyfriend's side once more as they are quite the dynamic team when together as their powers complement each other greatly. They are so attuned with each other that they knew each other's mannerisms to a fine point. They were as close as close could be in their situation.
"Hopefully we'll get into more action in the future. But now we need to find out what they are doing on our side of the border then call for reinforcements. We might have to send them down to one of the outposts while we complete the last leg of our mission." Naruto advised as he watched Hinata adopted a thinking pose just as Kiba and Shino walked up. "I think we need to find out what we can from them as soon as possible. You can send a clone down to Outpost 11 for reinforcements while having it transport these guys after we're done with them. We have to be certain that this activity isn't a precursor to anything bigger in the near future." Hinata judged as she turned to see Kiba with a distant look in his eyes. Blood was all over his clothing and seeing the state he was in it caused a pang of guilt and sympathy to roll through her heart.
"Kiba… how are you?" The kind hearted girl asked as she brought the clearly distraught boy into her arms who started shaking with tears falling not to long after. "I don't know… I don't know." These whimpers from her dear teammate was enough to cause Hinata to squeeze him to her side as she allowed the boy to cry out his inner turmoil.
"I'll go take care of the prisoners…" Naruto whispered as he backed away from the scene out of respect. He could tell Kiba needed a minute to compose himself after his ordeal. "Wait… Naruto are you sure you'll do all that? I'll help." Hinata offered as it was four prisoners in total. They could split the numbers and get the process over with quicker since they are the only ones with experience interrogating captured suspects but a quick nod from Naruto dissuaded this notion in Hinata.
"It's ok Hinata. I've got this. Your team needs you." Naruto said kindly as he created over two dozen clones to go stand guard around the camp site in case anymore bandits or worst yet, ninja show up. A mutual look of understanding was shared between the two Chūnin as Naruto got to work leaving Hinata to care for her two squad mates.
It took Naruto just under an hour to get everything relevant out of the Sound Ninja while it took him over four hours to crack one of the three Waterfall kunoichi's. Their training was tough and solid as they were determined to not part with their information, but after some rough treatment from Naruto and later Hinata who by this time had calmed Kiba down managed to pry what they needed out of Sumadera who Hinata personally worked over.
Six hours later reinforcements from Outpost 11 and another close base in Outpost 17 showed up to relieve Team 8 of their duties in the area. They took the captured and now battered ninja with them back to their base with Torifu Akimichi personally congratulating the team on their tremendous efforts when he showed up in person. As it turns out the Hidden Sound was negotiating for information that the Hidden Waterfall team had collected on the Hidden Leaf's patrol routes and movements in the area over the last few weeks. Using the bandits who have been blending into nearby towns the team was able to monitor the military movements of the Hidden Leaf. The Sound Village was also fishing for a new ally to aid them but from what Naruto was able to discover the Hidden Waterfall was on the fence with wanting anything to do with Orochimaru.
One of their two teams that were observing the Chūnin Exams were killed by Sound Ninja fighting against Leaf Shinobi. Not to mention the whole world was watching as the Hidden Leaf completely repelled a combined joint invasion from two villages, one of which is one of the Great Five. The Hidden Waterfall were very weary to go against such a superpower, especially now that both Sannin were back in the village full time and Shoko as a Legendary Titan has returned from retirement to join their ranks once more. With Tsunade as Hokage she's been making bold moves in the months following her coronation to flex the might of the Hidden Leaf. Those tactics were enough to instill an air of caution into the Land of Gardens as they had no intention of breaking their near century long streak of never being involved in a war. The only thing that dug at them was the fact they mysteriously lost their Jinchūriki.
This team managed to uncover the brief and circumstantial evidence of Naruto's connection to Fū during their mission. This was the only evidence that they had to go on. This information was very valuable to the Leaf as Naruto explained all of this to Torifu who wrote this down in an official debriefing at the camp. He promised Naruto he would leave out his possible involvement with Fū out of his official report as Naruto was already adamant about talking to Tsunade about it personally on his own.
With the last leg of their mission in sight the team took off into the surrounding area in search of the Bikōchū Beetle for Shino to collect. A day later the team was still searching the Dorama Wildlands now that the rainstorm has lifted, and they still couldn't find any evidence of the beetle. They were starting to fear that they had missed its hatching or that the area was too disturbed from human activity in the area which the team was detecting a few miles from the bandit camp.
It was a delicate and quiet time around the team as Kiba was very silent along with the others. They all needed time to recover from the ordeal they had walked away from. "Shino have your bugs detected anything yet?" Naruto questioned as the team was settled down in a small clearing of flowers just near the border of the country.
"I'm sorry but I'm not. I'm starting to think we may have missed out window of opportunity." Shino stated but if you listened closely you could detect the bitter sound of disappointment and irritation in his voice. He was not happy about this developing situation as even Chaos wasn't helpful in detecting any traces of the bug after Naruto released his daughters. Of course, he and Hinata had to wrestle Chaos down after she went into one of her patented rampages from absorbing so much negative energy from the fight the day before.
"We'll keep looking for another day or two, but any longer than that and we'll have to return to the village since the time limit for this mission will be up by then." Hinata added in as they were approaching the five-day limit to their mission. They couldn't afford to be out any longer than that.
"If it helps… I'll come back out here or leave a few clones in the area after we head back. I won't give up so easily Shino." Naruto said softly in support as he could see the tenseness in Shino's shoulders lighten ever so slightly at his words. It must have had an effect on the stoic boy. "Thank you, Naruto. I appreciate the sentiment."
"I'm going to go look again with some clones and…" Naruto began to say before his breath hitched in his throat. He had just sensed something extraordinarily powerful… powerful and familiar. "What happened?" Shino questioned in concern while Hinata looked over to her boyfriend to see his body tensed up with a peculiar look of fear and apprehension on his face that she's seen before. Kiba was roused from his own inner muse once Akamaru squirmed around before jumping into his jacket to hide. Izō on the other hand began to growl in the direction of the opposite end of the field of flowers they were in causing Hinata to instinctively snap on her Byakugan in response.
Not even a second later a startled gasp left Hinata's lips as her eyes widened upon seeing who stepped into the clearing with her familiar confident, sadistic, and commanding smile on her face. It was Balalaika and the familiar aura of power that she brings with her was in full affect as all four kids felt their bodies tense up in fear. 'It's that woman again.' Kiba trembled in his mind as the last time he saw her was almost a year ago when Team 8 was sent to back up Team 7 alongside Team 6 in the chaotic mission to the Land of Waves. They briefly saw the powerful woman leaving the village the same time they were and the aura she had then terrified everyone present including Kiba.
'My colony is becoming erratic once again. This woman terrifies my insects.' Shino contemplated to himself as beads of sweat poured down his face in a discreet manner. "Balalaika." Naruto firmly stated as he climbed to his feet while flexing his chakra reserves both as a warning and in an effort to stave off the effects of the woman's overwhelming killing intent. "It's been a while Lady Balalaika." Hinata respectfully greeted with a bow and nervous flare to her posture as she gazed into the woman's piercing blue eyes that looked nothing like the familiar inviting blue orbs of her boyfriend.
"Indeed, it has my children… my have you two grown splendidly since last we met. You've made me proud and done as I instructed." The mob boss purred in a very satisfied and proud tone of voice that sent shivers up both Naruto and Hinata's spines in particular. They weren't entirely comfortable with dealing with the unpredictable woman, but they also knew it was a fact that they were in her crosshairs. She was always watching them.
"Hinata how do you know this lady!?" Kiba stuttered with a fake facade of bravado leaking into his voice. He wasn't really feeling it on the inside and this fact was apparent for anyone to see but that wasn't a major concern for anyone present as Hinata maneuvered herself in front of her teammates in a subtle or not so subtle manner considering the context of the situation in a protective stance. Naruto joined her in this effort while standing slightly forward in front of her as well.
"Not now Kiba…" Hinata whispered as she never took her eyes off the most powerful woman on earth. "What do you want this time Balalaika?" Naruto questioned as he had a more direct approach to the woman in comparison to Hinata's more respectful tone with others. A chuckle at this fact came from the blond-haired woman's lips as she slowly pulled out an object from her massive oversized green trench coat like object getting the leaf shinobi to tense up instinctively in fear.
"I've come all this way for a few reasons little one, but the main ones are because I need to have a quick talk with you about business… my personal business and it concerns us a bit. That and if you behave and do as I say I'll be more than happy to give you this long-awaited gift that you've been seeking for some time now." Balalaika explained as she pulled the item from her coat and it turned out to be a clear glass jar with a closed lid on top. The jar itself wasn't what was most important in this singular moment though. It was what was inside of the jar that caused all quartet of leaf ninja to gasp and tense up in anticipation.
Inside of the jar was a freshly hatched… Bikōchū Beetle.
"Now… my children. Let's talk."
To be continued...
Jutsu Library
1.) Divine Vessel Clone Jutsu - A Shadow Clone enhanced by Divine Energy that has its connection to its creator severed allowing it to become self-sufficient and sustaining is brought under the control of Sōkyoku to become a vessel for any number of tasks. This clone is immune to the effects of Naruto running out of chakra to sustain the technique or of him being incapacitated or sealed away in any way as the clone is now a separated entity and not an extension of himself and his chakra anymore. The clone can perform techniques on its own and concentrate solely on it for long periods of time and it is also highly proficient in gathering and storing energy within itself over extended periods of time. It's final usage allows another entity to inhabit the clone via the method of possession at Iris and Naruto's discretion.
2.) Contract Magic: Familiar Summoning -
3.) Ice Style: Ice Glacier Jutsu - A powerful and upgraded version of Naruto's Ice Style: Ice Wall Jutsu. Naruto goes through a quick sequence of six hand signs before clapping his hands together in his signature pose for his Ice Style. Naruto then slams his hands into the ground where a giant structure of ice is formed from the water vapor in the surrounding atmosphere and goes up to the bare minimum of at least 100 feet in the air. It is mainly used as a defensive technique, but it can also be used as an offensive technique, because of the sharp ice that it forms on its surface. It can tank many techniques, even Fire Style Techniques. The barrier comes up rather quickly but takes a lot of energy from the user.
4.) Kenjutsu: Accelerated Decapitation - Shrouding himself in his Accel Cloak, Naruto who has a sword or bladed weapon in his hands disappears in a burst of speed granted to him by his Accel Turn and swiftly decapitates his target in one fluid and quick motion. The victim will have no time to react since this technique is used at point black range and it is used during the element of surprise which will catch the opponent off guard.
5.) Shadow Clone Jutsu - A Jutsu invented by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. The technique was created to be used to spy on an enemy without fear of going in person. The Jutsu works by splitting the chakra of the user evenly in two which makes the clone have half of the user's chakra. By creating multiple clones, the fraction in which you have to split your chakra becomes larger. The clones can think independently of one another and can use any technique that the original can use as long as they have enough chakra to use it. A clone can feel pain and can even bleed, but it will be dispelled if it is hit hard enough. The unique ability of the Jutsu is that during the clones' entire life span it is recording everything that its five senses experiences and upon dispelling all of that information is transferred back to the caster of the Jutsu. Because of this training or learning something new that would take an extended amount of time can be cut down to a fraction of the time depending on the number of clones you use. Because you have multiple people learning the same thing at the same time and having all of that knowledge compiled into one person it can speed up the time it takes to learn something.
6.) Ice Style: Icicle Bullets Jutsu - A move that Naruto created that allows him to form thin icicles that he can launch at incredible speeds that most people can't track. It has a massive amount of penetration power since it was able to shoot straight through Mizuki's shoulder blade despite the fact that he had on his flak jacket. It pierced through the bones in his shoulder.
7.) Water Style: Water Senbon Jutsu - Using the chakra control granted by the Gentle Fist, Hinata concentrates her chakra until water vortices are created around her. Those vortexes shoot water blasts which turn to needle-like water. By using the Byakugan, this technique can be used with great precision to hit very small targets such as bees which Hinata developed and practiced the technique on with Naruto's help or in this instance of the chapter to match objects of similar size such as Evangeline's ice Senbon needles.
8.) Hidden Jutsu: Beetle Sphere - This technique covers the enemy's entire body with the kikaichū living inside the Aburame clan members body. The chakra-sensing kikaichū spread over a wide range, and the moment they locate the enemy, the insects, following the user's orders, gather at once. The insects completely surround the target, making a globe. They then attach themselves to the enemy and begin eating away at their chakra bit by bit. Before long, death will arrive. Even if the target manages to escape, the insects will immediately follow it.
9.) Body Flicker Jutsu - A high speed ninja technique that allows the user to travel at high speeds in short microbursts. Usually the technique is accompanied by a special effect that masks the movement of the user.
10.) Water Style: Tearing Torrent Jutsu - This technique creates water that spirals in the user's hand and fires at a high speed at the enemy. The overall amount of water formed is large enough to help extinguish even large-scale fire style techniques. The technique however will do no damage to an enemy if connected.
11.) Gentle Fist Art: Tenketsu Needle - Targeting a single chakra point, the user delivers a two-fingered strike at the opponent, in an attempt to plug the chakra that's being used and halt its flow.
12.) Kenjutsu: Arctic Blade Dance - Naruto's own version of Shoko's Hazard Blade Dance. By using his twin swords made of ice Naruto reenacts the same attack as Shoko but the difference is that crescent waves made of ice are launched from his swords with each swing and they will flash freeze anything they come in contact with.
13.) Ninja Art: Multi-Phantom Shuriken Jutsu - This technique is very similar in both execution and result to the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique. It is a cooperation ninjutsu where three users, after throwing shuriken at their target and forming the necessary hand seals, can create corporeal replicas of the shuriken — turning a small amount of shuriken to a large amount in an instant with which to bombard the enemy. Unlike the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, however, this technique makes no use of the Shadow Clone Technique.
14.) Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu - The user creates a thousand shadow clones from one shuriken, striking down the enemy. This is a technique that combines ninja tools with Ninjutsu. Compared to normal shadow clones, clones of material objects are said to be on a far higher level. There is no need for preparations beforehand, like stocking up on shuriken, or kunai, yet since the shadow clones are real and not illusions, all the shadow blades that fly around are equally lethal. Because the clones form in just an instant, completely evading them is next to impossible. This technique can also be used on Fūma shuriken, increasing its lethality.
15.) Acceleration - Accelerating Turn works by storing Kinetic energy in one's own body, reinforced by their own internal energy (Chakra, Yōki, etc.), and then releasing that kinetic energy through an opening in the shielding their internal energy is creating at the bottom of their feet allowing the user to reach and utilize explosive high-speed movements.
16.) Ice Style: Ice Kunai Barrage Jutsu - A Jutsu that allows Naruto to create dozens of ice kunai in midair and telekinetically control them and launch them at a target.
17.) Earth Style: Earth Mud Wave Jutsu - The user slams their palm onto the surface below their feet, making it move, akin to waves. This technique is said to require a considerable amount of chakra.
18.) Ninja Art: Beast Mimicry – All Fours Jutsu - This technique grants animal-like accelerated fighting instinct and reflexes to the user. By enveloping their entire body in chakra and moving on all fours, they can obtain high speed movement and reflexes like that of a wild animal. Taught only to the members of the Inuzuka clan, this technique forms the basis of a Inuzuka clan members taijutsu fighting style, and will add even more to their feral-like appearances; their canine teeth, their finger and toenails grow to claw-like length, their eyes also become more wild with their pupils becoming slits. When under the effects of this technique, an Inuzuka will display great feats of physical strength, speed, agility and endurance. The form is best suited for using and supporting the ferocious "hit-and-run" tactics that the clan is well known for, leaving the enemy barely any time to launch a counter attack.
19.) Fang over Fang - The user and their ninken partner spin at a ferocious speed and deliver many powerful beast-like attacks when contact is made with the target. The force of this attack is strong enough to drill through stone. When this attack is done alone, it is called Tunneling Fang.
20.) Earth Style: Bottomless Swamp Jutsu - The user turns the ground around a target into deep mud, causing the target to sink into it until reaching their neck. The mud is very thick, making it difficult for the target to free themselves.
21.) Tunneling Fang - The user moves at a target at high speeds and delivers a body slam. Because of how quickly they move, the user travels in a fairly straight line, necessitating that they anticipate the target's movements in order to ensure a successful strike. As they move at the target, the user spins rapidly in order to pierce targets, drilling even through stone. Unlike the Fang Over Fang, this technique is performed alone; users therefore require additional training to raise its attack power enough to compensate for this.
22.) Genjutsu: Optic Delusory - A Genjutsu that allows one to trick others into mistaking the place they're in for another. This technique's main feature is that it can be cast over an extensive surface, therefore any and all who step into the illusion's area of effect will fall under the spell. That said, it might not work so well on people who are well-versed or otherwise skilled in Genjutsu.
23.) Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Dynamic Marking - While spinning through the air, a ninken starts urinating, scattering the urine across a wide area. Any opponents that the urine sprays are likely to be confused, embarrassed, and, if it gets in their eyes, temporarily blinded until they can flush it out. More useful to the ninken and their Inuzuka partner is that they can easily track the urine scent, allowing them to locate anyone who has been marked by the urine regardless of where they are or where they go. This is an essential prerequisite for the Fang Wolf Fang technique, which makes users so fast that they can't see where they're going, necessitating that they locate targets by scent instead.
24.) Earth Style: Stream Jutsu - The basics of Earth Style. It is the exact same as it's other elemental counterparts such as the Wind Style: Stream. The user exhales a spray of mud, dirt and clumps of solid rock from their mouth in a sufficient quantity that allows them to sweep targets off their feet and push against objects as well as neutralize elements like basic Fire Style Ninjutsu do to the dirt in the Jutsu snuffing out the fire. It is the gateway Jutsu for each element that leads into many advanced Jutsu's of the same form and makeup.
25.) Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Beast Mimicry – Man Beast Hone Claws - A secret technique of the Inuzuka Clan that Kiba created all by himself after gaining inspiration from Jura's attack on the Great Naruto Bridge. Kiba gathers a sizeable amount of chakra into the his hands and in particular his claw like nails which causes them to glow a faint red hue. Kiba achieved this by taking the same principals behind the All Fours Jutsu that grants a significant boost to all of a Shinobi's physical attributes but condensed it down to only his hands and fingernails causing any strike he makes to be far more potent. With the amount of chakra being surged through his body and in particular his hands Kiba's accuracy and dexterity is drastically increased and the potency and attack power as well receives the same drastic boost.
26.) Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Beast Mimicry – Man Beast Hound Claws - A secret technique of the Inuzuka Clan that Kiba created all by himself after gaining inspiration from Jura's attack on the Great Naruto Bridge. Taking the stat boost gained from the Hone Claws Kiba can form a shell of dense chakra around his hands and feet that embodies all of the raw power Hone Claws gives Kiba. When this Jutsu is activated any attack Kiba makes with his hands or feet will be have it's power increased nearly three times that of his normal physical strength.
27.) Earth Style: Terra Shield Jutsu - The user slams his hands into the ground with a forceful shove. The strength of this slam is great enough to rip open a section of the earth in front of him and leverage it up into a wall. This wall of earth shields the user, usually from projectile attacks; but it can also be used against approaching physical strikes.
28.) Inuzuka Clan Secret Technique: Brutal Pursuit – Hound Claws Tunneling Fang - One of Kiba's strongest techniques and most brutal hence the naming of the technique. This technique can only be activated after the Inuzuka clan member activates both the Hone Claws and Hound Claws abilities, once this is done the user can utilize the basic techniques that are unique to the clan. When using the Tunneling Fang or Fang Over Fang technique the usually grey colored twister that is created turns a blazing scarlet red due to the glowing claws on the user. The impact upon a target is explosive and vicious in nature as a human body is torn and annihilated to shreds by the high speed twisting nature of the assault.
29.) Fire Style Combination: Grand Garuda Jutsu - Three users each breathe a long stream of intense fire, which combine to form a flaming dragon.
30.) Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu - This defensive technique creates a wall of water around the user. Enemy attacks are completely intercepted by a fence of water blown out from the mouth and is raised from below with tremendous might. The water is blown out in the form of a circle around the user, and it makes for a defense without openings. It is also possible for the user to control the amount of water and duration at will. The wall's strength and resistance change following the quantity of chakra poured down into the water, so a skillful shinobi will be able to build a sturdy one. Furthermore, because the field of vision is maintained even while defending one can easily go on to the next move, which is a great advantage. The wall can also be formed from a pre-existing water source.
31.) Water Style: Water Forge Jutsu - By gathering water around the user's sword, it generates a rapidly swirling stream. Once striking with it, it unleashes a strong surge of water to launch a target.
32.) Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu - The user creates a whip made of water that can wrap around the opponent. The user can also channel lightning chakra to shock anyone wrapped in it. This technique seems to be known by the Hunter Ninja Division of the Hidden Mist ANBU Black Ops.
33.) Kenjutsu: One Slice - A sword technique where the user slashes their sword in front of them and a cut will appear on the target even though the sword never touched the target. This is a long-range attack that cuts the opponent with the same cutting ability as the actual sword that is used.
34.) Eight Trigrams Gentle Step: Water Covalence - A special technique developed by Hinata combining the Water Nature Ninjutsu applications of her special Gentle Step variation of her family's Gentle Fist Art with her own unique Yōjutsu skills to produce a special technique that allows her to subvert and convert the control a ninja has over their Water Nature Chakra to bend it to her will. When she comes into physical contact with a Water Style technique, she can channel her Yōki into the water allowing her to surge a probing burst of her own chakra back to the caster of the technique. This burst targets the closest Tenketsu points on the enemy user allowing Hinata to paralyze them remotely from afar while stealing the technique they are using at the same time.
35.) Overdrive - Hinata fuels her fist with her holy magic that is stored inside of her body causing the palms of her hand to glow a purifying and tranquil white color. To utilize the full capabilities of her Light-Based Powers Hinata has to come in physical contact with an object through which she can transfer her Holy Magic into the target in the form of a rippling wave like energy. Once she connects with a target Hinata releases a massive burst of light that shoots off in an omnidirectional rippling and pulsating wave. This wave can purify anything it touches with darks beings such as Demons, Yōkai, Devils, and even Fallen Angel's being the most susceptible to feeling the absolute brunt on this devastating attack. Unlike her normal Gentle Fist attacks an Overdrive pulse will diffuse itself across the entire surface of a person's body sending a rippling wave of energy throughout the person's chakra network that will temporarily block the body's ability to produce chakra from any point in their body. However, if Hinata were to infuse her Holy Grace with her Gentle Fist techniques then she could shut down an entire persons Chakra Network in one strike. Once she connects with her strike the person is launched away from Hinata in a disorienting spin much like how Naruto's Rasengan affects a target.
Author's Note (A/N): So... how was that humongous chapter and cliff hanger? Naruto manages to move Avalugg onto his island with the help of the villagers as he settles down in the large valley between Mt. Hōrai and the unnamed secondary smaller mountain next to it. Naruto also takes this down time to bond more with both Kurama and Sōkyoku which will be showcased in upcoming chapters.
Naruto also takes this time to speak with the Chief of the Spring Fairy Tribe about the affairs of the Seasonal Fairy Domain and Eva's heritage as the princess of their species. Naruto learns quite a bit about the inner workings and recent history of the Fairies and Lilith's toxic involvement in the whole affair. Stone informs Naruto and Eva on the importance of the true ruling heir being eventually needed in the Fairy Domain if it is to return to its former strength especially since Eva has the Aqua Stone inside of her. There was a lot to be digested from that conversation but Naruto silently noted that Eva was never opposed to eventually going back to rule her people, even though she said she'd want him by her side as always.
Reinforcements from the Hidden Leaf show up during this time consisting of ANBU Black Ops and normal forces with a lot of personnel in total comprising this pseudo invasion force. Koyuki authorizes the leaf shinobi to occupy the Land of Snow as she transitions into power and to help her regain control over the Hidden Snow Village. This move does have tensions raising even further back on the main continent as the elemental countries are in a tense state of cold war as the Land of Fire and Land of Rice are in a dangerous standoff while the Hidden Sand Village is on the verge of collapse following the failed invasion and the subsequent punishment and actions of their Daimyō.
On the other hand Saitou wants to form an alliance with the Land of Snow which prompts him to have a preliminary treaty created and sent along with the hidden leaf forces up to the Land of Snow to be signed by not only Koyuki, but much to his surprise Naruto himself. Saitou is up to his usual schemes as he's seen the profit that Naruto's generated him with the Land of Waves and now more recently with him freeing the arctic country. He's trying to groom Naruto and use him as his loyal pawn.
A month later Naruto alongside Team 8 are on a Chūnin level mission with Hinata leading her two teammates with Naruto acting as her number two second in command as a fellow Chūnin. Hinata has changed up her physical appearance in the time that they've been away from each other such as her longer straight flowing hair as opposed to her old typical style and newer clothes that show off her more mature body as puberty has really kicked in for the heiress. Hinata's time in the Hidden Sand Village has changed her personality wise as she has become much more confident and bold in herself due to the turbulent nature the Land of Wind is currently in. Reminiscent of a civil war like setting the desert village is in a state of chaos leading to many conflicts and life and death battles Hinata has had to participate in alongside Gaara and his siblings. This volatile environment has brought out the inner fire of Hinata who is more confident in her own fighting abilities and is more willing to engage in fights as opposed to shying away from them.
Kiba on the other hand is showing his hardened jealousy at Naruto's presence on the mission which causes a lot of friction between the two boys which eventually Hinata has to stamp out as she takes complete control over the conflict with her more assertive dominance showing a shift in how she's grown as well as how her two teammates have not since they're still Genin and haven't experienced the same things she's now facing. Hinata once more turns down Kiba and his feelings for her as she works to help her close friend and teammate understand the complex and rich dynamic between her and Naruto and how things are.
We get a deep dive into the military system of the village and country as a whole and we meet Torifu Akimichi who is a character from the manga who fought alongside Hiruzen and Tobirama in the First Shinobi World War. I decided to expand upon his character a lot to give him more of a presence that could be felt while also rooting him down as a staple and old guard like character. We explore the nature of Docket Missions and how common and vital they are to how the village operates and thrives on as they provide a bulk of the income generated for the village at large and it's also how the general forces stay busy and occupied.
Once the team decides to take a break we get to see a more closer and intimate interaction between Naruto and Hinata as well as the others as the two exchange late belated birthday presents and stories of their missions although Hinata doesn't get a chance to share hers at this time. Naruto also introduces Hinata to the arctic fox familiar he created which she names Izō. This has been a name that I've had in mind almost since the time I had originally thought up this whole concept for Naruto over two years ago. I'm glad that I can finally name him and add him as a character to the story.
The major conflict of this chapter revolves around a bandit camp that needs to be eliminated and the stark contrast between how Naruto and Hinata now think mentality wise and how Kiba and to a lesser extent how Shino think with regards to death and being ordered to kill your enemies. With Naruto's high dead count and Hinata having an expanding experience in this field especially with her recent deployment it becomes quite clear where conflict arises as Kiba is vehemently opposed to taking the lives of civilians while Naruto and Hinata try to warn him and ease him into the realities of ninja work. Hinata shares a moment with Chaos in which we get to see the excitable girl use her powers once more for very helpful purposes.
Naruto and Kiba also share a moment in which Naruto opens up about his own personal stance on killing and how its affected him mentality in a rare moment of vulnerability for him which moves Kiba so much so that it leads him to gaining his first kill of not only a bandit but of a enemy shinobi as well as their are five hiding out in the camp. Three kunoichi's from the Hidden Waterfall Village right across the border from them and two Hidden Sound Ninja who were meeting with the kunoichi's.
A massive fight breaks out between the two forces as Naruto and Hinata do most of the heavy lifting and manages to kill the majority of the bandits off at the very start of the attack before proceeding to take on the three Waterfall Kunoichi who are characters who appear in (Naruto Shippūden Episode #178) as one off characters. However, for the story I gave them more depth and they will be making future appearances as they ask Naruto about the whereabouts of Fū. Naruto has had the green haired girl living on his ancestral home for a few months now alongside Karin. He is determined to protect his fellow Jinchūriki against all odds as he doesn't want her to be mistreated any further by her own people even though he knows that this decision can create further conflict with another country.
Despite being older and more experienced the team from the Hidden Waterfall Village pound for pound aren't as strong or as multi-talented like Naruto and Hinata are as the two show off their perfect coordination and tag team like fighting skills that haven't dulled in the slightest during their time apart. Naruto and Hinata manage to overpower and defeat the enemy team with Hinata delivering the final blow while with Kiba he kills his first enemy ninja in a brutal way by using a new technique he has developed which leaves him in a state of shock among many other feelings.
Naruto interrogates the surviving prisoners before friendly reinforcement arrive and learn of the Hidden Sound's interest in the Hidden Waterfall. The kunoichi have extensive data and intelligence on the military movements of the Hidden Leaf along their border which is information the Sound wants along with a potential alliance which understandably the smaller remote village is weary of. The enemies are taken away by Torifu and other reinforcements leaving Naruto and the others to finish up the last leg of their mission which is to find a Bikōchū Beetle for Shino which has been proving to be very difficult for the team for a while now.
There's only one problem... the beetle is in the hands of Balalaika who makes a surprise appearance in a cliffhanger at the end. What could the Kingpin of Hotel Moscow want now with Naruto and Hinata? What are her motives and intentions? I hope you stick around and find out in the next chapter!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Next Chapter: Chapter 92 (Royal Heritage)
That's the end of Chapter 91 I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it.
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Published: 12/25/2019
