Unlucky

Chapter 8

Uzumaki Kushina was lost behind enemy lines.

Or so Uchiha Fugaku would have them believe. Fu didn't trust it for a second. She couldn't. Uzumaki Kushina was her hero since she was a little girl of age to believe in such things. So there was no way she was going to accept that their idol had fallen to a bunch of creepy, plant zombies.

She thought about telling Fugaku just as much, but before a single syllable left her mouth there was a sudden ruckus from just outside. They all turned to the entrance, unsure of what was happening. It was only when a clear scream for help reached their ears did things become clear; Danger had once again found them it would seem.

Fugaku jumped clear over his desk, racing outside to see what was happening. His son, Itachi, remained behind inside the tent with them. They had no need to run out, Neji already using his Byakugan to see and report on the situation.

"It looks like several Zetsu managed to deceive their way in." Neji explained simply. "I don't think it will last long. They'll have the situation under control in the next couple seconds."

"Then we don't have any time to waste!" Naruto ran around to the other side of the desk, scouring it for any indication of where his mother had gone.

"This would be ill-conceived." Shino warned, his voice the same usual monotone. "Why is that? Like it or not, Fugaku is now our commanding officer. To go after Lord Fourth would be a direct violation of the chain of command. At worst, we could be deemed traitors."

"You want us to do nothing!?" Fu yelled, in complete agreement with Naruto. She had already lost her mentor to this war. She wasn't going to lose the only other person she looked up to.

"What can we even do?" Neji asked her in return. "If even our Hokage couldn't stand up to whatever is behind enemy lines, how can we? There is too much risk."

"You guys stay behind then!" Naruto snapped. "Fu and I would be faster without you guys holding us back." Everyone knew he didn't really mean those words, but his emotions were running too high. This was his mother, after all.

"I think we need to calm down." Itachi said, stepping in between both groups. It was almost like they had all forgotten he was still here. In the first place, leaving was never an option with the commander's son still keeping watch over them. At least, that was what they believed. "In this situation, a risk is perhaps our best bet."

"You mean to let us go?" Neji asked, arching an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "But Commander Fugaku will never-"

"Let me deal with my father." Itachi cut him off. "He is a proud man, but even he realizes that we're up against a wall. Our Hokage is missing, and my father simply doesn't have the charisma to rally our forces. The enemy is everywhere and yet at the same time, seemingly endless. Meanwhile, we're being chipped away little at a time. Our only chance now is to make a big play."

"High risk, high reward." Shino mumbled, adjusting his glasses as the gears beneath his head seemed to turn.

"Exactly." Itachi said, pointing to the rear of the tent. "Sneak out the back. I'll cover your escape… just be sure to find Lord Fourth." He didn't wait for them to say anything more, turning his back to them and checking the chaos out front to ensure they had time.

"Thanks, Itachi!" Naruto smirked at the back of his head. "This is why I always thought you were cooler than Sasuke, by the way." He folded up the map, placing it in his back pocket before making his way for the back.

Fu was next to him a second later. As they lifted the bottom of the tent to roll under it, they turned back to Neji and Shino. The two logical members of their team waited several seconds longer, stuck in internal debates about the correct course of action.

"...Damn it!" Neji broke first, running up to them. "I know for a fact that I'm going to regret this." He went under, scouting the way ahead.

"This is still most irrational." Shino was quick to fall, even someone as antisocial as him not able to resist peer-pressure it would seem. He went next, ducking after Neji.

Fu nodded Naruto forward and he smiled at her. Glancing to make sure Itachi wasn't watching and that both Neji and Shino were on the other side of the tent, he then leaned forward and planted a quick peck on her cheek. Without waiting for a reaction he was gone. Fu joined them all a moment later, her face still flushed from the unexpected kiss. Not that she didn't like the gesture. She was just pleasantly surprised, was all.

"Let's go." Neji waved them forward. There was no one on this side of the camp, everyone's attention firmly focused on the front where the Zetsu were invading. Even the guards that should have been back here had abandoned their posts.

This made it all too easy for them to sneak out, the four Shinobi then jumping through the trees and heading further north. They traveled in complete silence for over half an hour. The sounds of the war eventually were gone completely, replaced by the gentle calm of nature. Yet the tension between them was thick and awkward.

This was the first time Fu had ever been a part of comrade infighting. Certainly, they had all agreed to come in the end, but not before some harsh words had been thrown around. After everything she had done to bond with them too. Just like her luck, really. Of course, she was also in a weird way kinda excited to be taking part in her first fight. Since she never had friends to fight with before now. All the same, she hoped they could make up soon.

As they raced ahead, all trapped in their own conflicting thoughts, they passed over a river. Fu didn't think anything of it for a second, but something about it caused her attention to lurch. Without even a shout to the others, she changed direction and landed near the bank of the river.

There was no mistake. This was it.

"Fu?" Naruto asked, landing next to her. Neji and Shino weren't far behind, all of them coming to a stop now at the river where it all began for her.

"This is the border." Fu said as if in a daze. "We're close now to the Waterfall Village." To her home. "The night the Zetsu invasion started, I fled under orders… and this was as far as I got." Now she had made it back here. To what was essentially her start line.

"This is where my mom saved you." Naruto realized, looking across the river. Fu followed his gaze and it was like she could see her now. Kushina, the Yondaime Hokage, standing there with her hands on her hips; The very picture of confidence.

"If we've crossed the border, it means we're in enemy territory now." Neji saw a very different sight than them. He saw it for all the danger that they were truly walking into.

"Enemy territory?" Fu asked, turning back to him. "But… didn't the battle start here?" She had seen it herself. It was the last thing she saw before blacking out that night. The Konoha forces charging across the border to take back the land of her people.

"That was only a small scouting force." Shino answered. "Our main armies only prepared for battle after we knew the scale of what we were dealing with. By the time that army arrived, the Zetsu had already pushed into the Land of Fire." So this whole time, her land had been hostile territory? Could she even say it was hers anymore, considering the enemy controlled it?

"We need to be careful from here on out." Neji said, using the opportunity to take control of the team again. "Naruto, let's take out the map and see if we can figure out where Lord Fourth was heading."

"Right." Naruto crouched down, pulling the map from his back pocket and laying it out for them all to see. As they all gathered around it, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry, by the way. About saying you guys were holding me back."

"The apology is unnecessary." Shino didn't even look at him. "Why is that? Because we already know you are prone to move your mouth without thinking. In this case, the concern for your mother makes it understandable-"

"I'm for real thinking about taking the apology back, y'know." Naruto cut him off, looking at Shino like one might an unpleasant pest.

Even still, the atmosphere around them seemed to return to normal. Just like that, and Fu also got to experience her first make-up. It was kind of disappointing. She had hoped for more crying and hugging than this.

"Focus up, everyone." Neji said with a snap of his fingers, pointing to a spot on the map. "This is where we are. And Lord Fourth went…" He trailed his fingers along a red line that had been drawn by someone else. "Here." He stopped over a red circle. Fu gasped the moment she saw where it was, drawing all attention to her.

"That's the Waterfall Village." She whispered. The enemy must have set up their base of operations inside the village itself after conquering it. That made sense in a lot of ways, as the village was ordinarily easy to defend. Provided you weren't overrun by plant zombies that could move through the earth.

"At least we know where Naruto gets his recklessness from." Neji cursed under his breath. It was exactly as he said. Charging into the strong-hold of the enemy with minimal support was beyond crazy. It was practically downright suicide. Yet if anyone had a chance at succeeding, then surely it was the Yondaime Hokage. Fu's idol.

"Do we really have to take digs at me while strategizing?" Naruto deadpanned. No one laughed at his obvious joke, the atmosphere too heavy as they all realized what it was they had to do. It wasn't just getting to the Waterfall village which was over several hours away even without interruptions.

It was several hours inside enemy territory, making their way closer and closer to their stronghold. Certainly, someone at the level of the Hokage could pull off such a task, even if by herself, but none of them were exactly her.

"High risk, high reward." Fu repeated what Shino had said earlier. The odds were against them no matter how you looked at this, but they had known that from the beginning. And if they succeeded, then they would be rescuing the Hokage. Fu finally had her chance to return the favor.

Knowing their destination and the dangers ahead, Fu took point as they set out once again. This was her home country and the route was her home village. She could get them there easily enough, at least until they got swarmed by all the Zetsu occupying the lands between.

Which to all their surprise seemed to never come. The four of them jumped through the forests and ran along the mountain paths for over an hour with no sign of the enemy. Fu wondered if perhaps the enemy was just waiting to surround them, or guiding them further into a trap. Yet neither Neji nor Shino could detect any sign of either possibility. Either this was a really good trap, in which case they were already screwed… or there was no enemy here at all.

Was it possible that Kushina had been wrong? Had she come up here in search of the enemy only to find they had all moved onto the Land of Fire already? No, if that was the case, then she wouldn't have disappeared like she had. Something else had to be happening.

They just had no idea what yet.

Their journey through Fu's home country continued in the same way up until the end. When Fu began to recognize the familiar landmarks of her home and saw the cliffside with the waterfall that gave her village the name, she knew the moment of truth was nearly upon them.

What a long strange trip this had been. From her home to Konoha and now back again. Yet everything was completely different.

Fu and her team landed at the ground just below the cliffs. From here, the only thing left was to go behind the waterfall and then take the secret passage that would lead them into the village. It was hard to believe it, but she was nearly home.

As they approached the base of the waterfall there was a sudden quake. As if a volcano was erupting, there was a wave of heat that washed over them, coming from the secret passage that they had just been making their ways towards.

"The hell was that?" Naruto yelled, but there was no answer. The only thing they all knew was that this was no force of nature. It was a Shinobi battle. One involving someone incredibly powerful.

That meant… the Yondaime!

Realizing this all at once they started to run for the waterfall. That was when their luck finally ran out.

"Hello again!" From the cliffside a dozen Zetsu began to rise out of the wall. They fell out from it as if worms without limbs, flopping down onto the ground in between their team and the waterfall. It was an oddly terrifying sight, watching them flounder around on the ground.

"Look at this! The other two Jinchuriki came to us… hehehe!" One of the Zetsu cackled gleefully as they all began to rise. It was like a scene straight out of a zombie flick. The others all snickered along with him, the crowd stalking forward and towards their prey, joints popping into place with every move they made.

"So it was a trap after all." Naruto grit his teeth, the golden aura of his Biju mode exploding outwards and transforming him. His blond hair was now like an actual sun, emitting a warm light as if a beacon to guide those who were lost. The Chunin vest too was radiating pure light, except for the whirlpool crest on the back which had been dyed a deep eternal black. The same black as his whisker marks which had grown thick and pronounced, like someone had given him war-paint. His eyes had turned blood-red, the irises slit like a fox's. And finally his tabi, lightning still flickering off the glowing sandals and static electricity swirling around him from the ground up.

He was ready for battle, not willing to let anything stand between him and his mother.

"No, I don't think so." Neji shook his head, looking behind them with his Byakugan. "There would be more of them if that was the case. This is more like… a last line of defense."

"They're gonna need more than this to stop us!" Naruto vanished. There was a flash of lightning and the clap of thunder. "Raikiri Issen!" He roared, the lightning blade in his hand slicing through the throat of the nearest Zetsu.

At least, it should have. His blade never met its mark, instead being blocked by a wall of sand.

"The hell?" Naruto jumped back, the sand attempting to close around him. He was too fast for the sand, but that wasn't the only thing he had to worry about. A second Zetsu had jumped in the air, spitting a barrage of blue fireballs.

"Naruto!" Fu shouted, wings sprouting from her back. She flew in, snatching Naruto out of the air and banking hard to dodge the blue flames.

She had difficulty controlling her flight while holding someone else and the hard maneuver just now caused them to spiral out of control. The world spun, coming to a sudden halt as they crashed onto the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Neji and Shino couldn't come to their support either, the majority of the Zetsu sprinting at them like an angry mob. They had no choice but to jump back or risk being overwhelmed. Neji unleashed his Jyuken strikes and Shino his insects, but something about these Zetsu were more organized than the massive mob they had been fighting out on the battlefield. As if they knew because of their smaller numbers, they had to be more careful.

The remaining two Zetsu walked towards Naruto and Fu, standing before them.

"...What the hell?" Fu asked, not even aware of the words as they slipped past her own mouth. She was too busy staring at the Zetsu before her. She and Naruto stumbled to their feet, both of them trying to figure out just what it was they were looking at.

These two Zetsu were completely unlike anything they had seen before. One of them was muscular and completely bald, like some kind of warrior monk. The other had two cat ears sticking out of his moppy moss-colored hair, and his fingers were like long, razor-sharp claws. However, the big giveaway for what they were: The seals on their abdomen.

"Ah hell nah!" Naruto mumbled in complete disbelief.

There was no denying it, however. Sand swirled around the bald Zetsu, almost like he was controlling it using some kind of magnetic Kekkei Genkai. The cat Zetsu gave a small burp, letting out a puff of the blue fire that had just almost incinerated them.

The enemy hadn't just kidnapped the Biju and sealed them…

"They made fucking Zetsu-Jinchuriki!"

Chapter 8: End

Author's Notes: Hey again!

Quick update this time. For the record, I'm guessing canonically it wasn't possible to make the White Zetsus into Jinchuriki, but I'm taking a liberty with that here.

Next time, I'm expecting to write this fic's first proper fight. So I hope you'll look forward to that!