Hey folks Helghy here with another update to Reading: Shadow of Fairy Tail. Please Review and Enjoy.
Kurenai wasted no time in diving into the story, just like the rest of the room she was rather excited to get into more action and this chapter promised to be filled with it judging by the end of the last one.
In the sea, few miles off the coast from Galuna Island
A pirate ship was seen sailing right towards the cursed island, with its crew mostly beaten up and their captain fearfully was the only man standing sailing the ship.
Erza smiled bashfully as she realized what was going on.
The short eye-patched bearded man nervously turned around to his captor "Please reconsider, don't let us go to Galuna Island. I heard it was cursed."
"Someone strong enough to capture and control pirates through fear alone must really be something else. Do you think it could be more Missing-nin?" Sakura asked.
"I have a feeling it's something else entirely." Kakashi answered as he caught the odd smile on Erza's face.
"Just shut up and steer."
"At least drop us off somewhere and you can take the ship!" The captain pleaded while his crew started wakening up "Please I beg you, I hear that anyone who steps foot there will turn into some sort of demon."
"I'm willing to take that risk."
"Whoever it is is hardcore." Kiba said with a feral grin. He looked forward to more badass fighters showing their power.
"B-but why go there!"
"Because the guilty must be punished. And that is all I can tell you." Erza stated as she was not in the best mood. After finding out Natsu, Happy and Lucy took an S-class quest from the second-floor board, she took no second to spare and went off with the first train to Hargeon Town and hijacked the pirate ship she saw and forced them to sail right for the 'cursed' island.
Those not of team Erza looked at the woman in shock while the elder Kunoichi seemed to be appraising her. Kushina couldn't keep the grin off her face at the situation either. Oh she could get along with this girl.
Master Makarov had ordered her to go immediately to the island and do one simple task; find Natsu, Happy and Lucy to bring them back to the guild as soon as she found them. That counted the same for Gray who didn't respond either and given the nature of the rivalries between the fire and ice mage, it could've resulted in both of them trying to finish this quest. But that won't butch her as she was determent to get them all back to the guildhall.
"It's good to see such discipline among your people Makarov, especially among your more powerful members. They must help keep your guild in order quite a lot." Tsunade said in approval. Similarly to how she relied on the clan heads and elite Jonin in Konoha.
"Ha, Erza is the only one that keeps the guild in order and even then she breaks things just as often as the rest, maybe more." Makarov commented.
"Master!" Erza said in embarrassment while most of the guild just shrugged their shoulders. Being free and wild was kind of their thing.
Ignoring the comments from the pirates who were now willing to help her out, she was busy in her thoughts, thinking about how her master said that Naruto was on the island in an unrelated quest in taking out a smuggling ring.
"I did notice that Naruto wasn't one of those mentioned for her to retrieve." Sakura said.
"Makarov seemed plenty aware of Naruto's mission after all." Shikamaru pointed out.
'Naruto must've seen Natsu and the others, that island is not that big and with Natsu's ability to sense Naruto from a mile away it would be easy for them to come across each other.' But still, what was it with this smuggling ring that Naruto was going in alone? It wasn't the first time he went on taking down a criminal enterprise but this time he went off alone and Master Makarov did not give her any details about it.
Then out of sudden, the ground began to erupt, causing the seas to go wild and make the ship wiggle a bit.
"Wow, what was that? an earthquake?"
"It can't be, this must a first."
BOOM!
The top of the mountain suddenly had several fire bursts exploding into the air, like a volcano outburst it shot dozens of fireballs out in the air. Causing an immediate aftershock to occur and to many surprises the pirates. But Erza already thought who it could've been.
"Those idiots...what did they get themselves into now..."
"That's not fair!" Natsu shouted. He didn't do it.
"Maybe you didn't do it this specific time Natsu, but usually something like that is your fault." Gray said.
"Shut your mouth shiver-me-stripper, you break things just as often." Natsu growled back
"You wish coal-breath!" Gray shouted.
"Enough let the story continue." Erza commanded.
Only did Erza not know that it wasn't Natsu or the gang.
Natsu wildly waved his hands in Kurenai's direction as if to prove a point getting a few scoffs and eye-rolls.
A few minutes earlier...
Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy and one of Lucy's celestial mages called Lyra were seen hiding behind a few rocks, watching how a ritual was taking place to which they saw a group of cloaked and masked people who were in a circle and do what appears to be gathering the moonlight and concentrating it directly to the frozen monster, Deliora.
Gray couldn't help clenching his fists slightly though Juvia's hand on his arm helped him calm slightly.
Lyra the celestial spirit explained to them that it was possible to destroy the sealing effect of Gray's former master by using a spell called 'Moon Drip' to try and disable the sealing spell, she wasn't for certain but it was a possibility. The celestial spirit also said that the Moon Drip spell could cause side effects, explaining why the villagers are in their current state. They have been contaminated with too much Moon Drip energy.
"Are they out of their minds?!" Gray grew angry "They haven't seen what that monster can do."
"Shhh! Somebody is coming." Lucy said spotting a few people coming from the stairs and walking up to the middle of the area. The most noticeable and possible leader of the group was the armor-wearing masked Reitei. Standing behind him were the dog look-a-like Toby, the blue-haired Yuka and the woman Sherry.
"What a waste, I've lost so much precious sleep for nothing." Yuka complained, "We've searched all they for the intruders but never found a trace of them."
"Maybe there weren't any!" Toby yelled at him, already deprived of his sleep he really needed.
Sherry walked up to Reitei "I'm afraid I have some bad news, cold emperor. We thought we had intruders during the day, but it seems they got away somehow. I cannot speak of love in such a situation."
"Again with the love thing." Sakura mumbled in confusion to what the odd girl was talking about.
Natsu got his eye on the masked one "That guy must be their leader."
"Trying to act all high and mighty with that stupid mask," Lucy said staring at them.
"I don't know, I think it looks cool."
Reitei asked Sherry for a status report "Has Deliora been awakened yet?"
"It should be later tonight or tomorrow, sir," Sherry answered, much to Toby's anger who asked her precisely when.
"They may be your enemies but they are honestly a colorful bunch at least." Kushina said with a laugh at the interaction of the weird dog boy and love obsessed girl with a giant rat.
"Yeah, though they're our friends now and in a guild allied to our own." Lucy pointed out.
Reitei nodded "The time has almost come, if you see those intruders again, kill them. I don't anyone getting in my way." That voice for some reason became very familiar to Gray, who couldn't think of someone who he knew precisely. No, it couldn't be, he wouldn't do that.
"It was hard to imagine Lyon doing such a thing, and it's still hard to think the man I know could do something so cold while trying to wake Deliora." Gray commented.
Natsu stifled a snort before laughing. "Cold, huh"
"Idiot." Gray scoffed though he smiled slightly and many others chuckled at the unintended joke.
Sherry thought of the possibilities "Maybe it were the villagers. Or even the smugglers in the dock. They did not like my Angelica."
"Maybe because no one likes rats, Sherry."
"Enough," Reitei stopped their bickering "It couldn't be the smugglers because they haven't been spotted anywhere around the island, so it must be the villagers. Destroy them."
"How terrible." Hinata whispered getting a sigh from some of the Fairy Tail members.
"Lyon isn't like that now." Lucy hurriedly mentioned.
"True, and earlier he did seem to dislike the idea of killing at least." Kushina added.
"Understood." All three of Reitei's followers complied.
"It's a shame there has to be bloodshed." Those last few words caught Gray's full attention, there was no doubt in his mind anymore. He knew exactly who this person was.
Then suddenly the earth started shaking violently, causing everybody to lose their balance.
"What's going on?!" Toby demanded, "I thought there were no earthquakes here!"
Lucy landed on her bottom and looked around "Where's that coming from!"
"No doubt from the fight at the docks. It must be getting really intense." Iruka said in slight knew Naruto was strong but he still worried for the boy's safety.
BOOM!
They turned to where that loud explosion came from and saw that it came from the big mountain in front of them, dozens of fireballs shot out and a reddish inferno spread out in the air like a volcano outburst.
Yuka realized where it came from "It's where the smuggler's dock is at!"
"Fools!" Reitei shouted, "What are they up to!?"
"Getting thrashed?" Shikamaru quipped, getting several laughs.
The Fairy Tail members shortly knew who it could be behind that explosion.
Lyra was slightly shocked by that explosion and was shivering "T-That was a loud one."
"Yeah," Lucy agreed to hold herself together while turning to Gray "You think Naruto's behind this?"
The room chuckled lightly at how fast even the newcomer to the group came to the conclusion that Naruto would be involved.
"No doubt about it. that's the same direction where he was going. But there's no time worrying about him." Gray turned to the enemy wizards "We need to stop them before they attack the village."
"Very good Gray. Keeping your priorities straight and focusing on protecting the defenseless shows your character well." Jiraiya praised getting a smirk from the ice make wizard.
"ALRIGHT NARUTO!" Natsu exclaimed as he breathed out a whole lot of fire from his belly into the air "I'M FIRED UP!" Lucy and Gray were left dumbfounded by Natsu's antic while Lyra disappeared and Happy was...well, he was being Happy.
"Let's go!" Happy cheered on as he flew up in the air.
"At least they are positive in mindset." Asuma joked at the excitement of Natsu and Happy.
Lucy sighed "There goes nothing." She sees Gray go forwards but briefly glances at the mountain, wondering what happened there.
"Lucy have you been paying attention at all?" Happy teased.
Lucy fought down the urge to berate the flying pest of a cat and instead settled to huff, with a bulging vein on her forehead showing just how easily annoyed she was.
A few minutes earlier
The smuggler's dock was already on fire as it was in the midst of a battle. The sound of blades clashing against each other and the sight of dead bodies already laying fresh on the ground. With fires already spreading around as the scent of alcohol was strong in the air.
The group grew a little quiet. The jokes about the fight dying away as they saw actual dead bodies and Naruto and the others engaging in life or death battle with dangerous criminals.
'CLASH!'
Two figures flew straight head on to a single one before dropping back down on the ground, revealing to be Tayuya fighting head-on two Kiri rogue Shinobi, both wearing masks to conceal their identity and they both were wielding swords.
While the first Kiri nin landed without a scratch, the other had to land on his knee, seeing he took a hit in the neck and was bleeding a lot. But then he collapsed fully to the ground as his back was revealed to be bleeding also. Dying a slow death with fatal injuries.
"Impressive Tayuya." Kushina smiled the girls way.
Tayiuya turned away from the elder redheads look though a very faint dusting of a blush spread across her cheeks at receiving praise. Not a common thing in Oto.
The wizards of course remained uncomfortable with the acceptance the shinobi had of death, though by now, the shock and worry that perhaps the shinobi were vile because of such actions had largely dissipated.
Tayuya smirks while turning her bloodied kunai "Looks like your friend is done for."
"You bitch!" the first one said as he ran towards her with his blade. Tayuya went to the offensive and went for the first Shinobi with her own kunai.
While on the other side, Chojuro was surrounded by three of the former Kiri ninja who he once saw as comrades when he was just a genin. Now he was fighting them as traitors.
"Get the little shit!" They all three went for him all at the same time.
SLASH!
SLASH!
SLASH!
They all had their swords inside the blue-haired swordsman until the body disfigured into a mass of water.
Juvia grew interested, the ability was somewhat similar to her own. Though she could simply transform her own body into water, this instead seemed to be a copy of Chojuro.
"A water clone!" the water soon surrounded the area around their feet and looked up to see Chojuro going through multiple hand signs.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" a giant water dragon emerges from the water from the sea behind blue-haired swordsman and it was aimed directly at the three Kiri rogue ninja. It crushes upon them, taking them out in an instant with the only thing left was the screams of pain being silenced by the masses of water entering their lungs.
"A powerful ability indeed." Makarov commented.
"He likely has to be of considerable skill even if he is not yet very experienced. He is one of teh seven swordsmen of the mist." Kushina explained.
Chojuro lands on his feet and took some deep breathes "I used a lot of chakra for that." Without noticing, from behind a rogue Kiri nin with a kunai tried to stab the swordman in the back.
Some of the readers gasped.
"Kid shouldn't let his guard down like that. Especially on a battlefield." Tsunade growled.
From a pipe, a couple of bubbles were flying towards the shinobi.
"Water Style: Bubble Jutsu!"
"Good thing that other guy was there." Natsu said.
"Yeah but are bubbles his only way to attack? It's kind of an odd method." Lucy said tilting her head at the thought of blowing killer bubbles.
A bubble exploded right behind Chojuro, taking out the rogue ninja and making the swordsman turn around to see an enemy ninja was taken out by the same person who summoned those bubbles. It was the man in the robes with the pipe.
"Utakata-sensei!"
"Sensei? Surprising, this man dosn't look much older than Chojuro himself." Kurenai commented.
"Please drop that title, Chojuro. And thank me later," The robed man swiftly turned around blocking a leg kick from a rogue shinobi "we've still got a fight on our hands."
"R-Right!" Chojuro nodded as he unsheathed his sword from his back and runs towards a group of smugglers who were on one of the ships.
A series of explosions occurred as two figures jumped in the middle of what's left off the camp. It was Naruto and the guy he just freed from the wooden pole.
"Yes! Kick ass boss!" Konohamaru shouted only to get a pop on the head from his uncle with a look.
Ao had his back against Naruto's and was breathing hard "You're a shinobi, no doubt about it. But who are you?" no one else would use a kunai or move like a shinobi that fast.
"Not a good time." Kushina laughed. This guy was supposed to be a veteran. Her son was clearly the superior of the two despite the age gap.
"Can we leave the introductions for later?" Naruto blocked a flying kunai with his own "How many enemies did we take out, I've lost count."
"No please battle time chats make you look cooler." Jet whined slightly.
"They aren't very efficient though." Kakashi said getting a huff from Sakura. "Yes?"
"Nothing it's just half the time you are just as chatty in battle." Sakura pointed out.
"Yes but the other half I'm pure efficiency." He countered.
"That's not something that can be argued against." Jiraiya said softly. He and the others had seen the side of Kakashi that was usually kept hidden behind his famous eye-smile. The one that had the moniker of Cold-Hearted Kakashi before his Sharingan gave him his more famous Copy Cat Kakashi name.
"Right," Ao nods as he blocked an attack by a rogue ninja and stabbed him in the chest before kicking his body away "We've must've taken out thirty of these scumbags now, including some of Kenji's men. Especially with that explosion of yours. But you're lucky you didn't hit the main depot." He said referring to the big pile of unopened boxes that laid against the wall behind the camp "If that explodes, the whole dock will crumble down on us."
"Thirty enemies down and some of them ninja? That's good, but the remaining missing-nin are no doubt the strongest of their group." Kakashi said.
"True but that just means we'll get to see them smash these guys ourselves!" Natsu cheered getting a few looks of amusement as Kurenai began reading again.
"Then we have to get out of here quickly." Naruto said looking around "Where is that girl who was with you?"
"Her name's Hotaru," Ao said blocking two shurikens coming at them "Let me see." He focuses his chakra in his patched eye as veins began to pop up and a strong surge of chakra was concentrating in his patched eye.
Several eyes narrowed among the shinobi.
"...Byakugan."
"Impossible!" Neji cried out.
"What do you mean?" Happy asked.
"The Byakugan is a Hyuga clan only bloodline trait. For him to have a byakugan eye, especially a single one. He likely stole it from a Hyuga or killed them for it." Kushina explained as Neji and Hinata were calmed by their friends.
Theft of the Byakugan was among the largest fears for both branches of the Hyuga clan as the sacred eyes were a huge part of their identity.
Naruto froze when he heard that and slightly turned his eyes on the guy behind him.
'He possesses an Byakugan eye...'
"I wonder if Naruto will take issue with him?" Erza asked seeing as two of his friends were Hyuga and this man seemed to have stolen something so important from them.
"Wait, you don't think this guy could possibly have taken it from…" Kiba asked in worry as he glanced toward his teammate.
"No, don't worry about that. It's more likely he got it during or after the third war. Plus we know Naruto is in contact with Jiraiya through his summons. He probably would have been told if something major like that happens." Kakashi said, though he glanced at Jiraiya's thoughtful face in mild worry.
Maybe he wouldn't tell Naruto of something like that after all.
Ao looked around and turned his head up to see something and points "Up there!"
Naruto turns around to see where Ao was pointing at and saw that Kenji was standing in one of the entrances of the tunnel above them, with three of his men standing by him and the girl named Hotaru held in an arms lock.
The readers glared at the missing-nin for handling the girl as he did. It was clear she was effectively his hostage now.
"I must say, you've successfully found this place, I give you that." Kenji stated slightly choking the girl as he pulls out of his patch a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it "Let's see if you can escape from it!" he said throwing the kunai.
Ao and Naruto watched as they saw where it was going and; for the crates.
"Damn it! we've got to run, NOW!" Naruto said sprinting for the exit "Tayuya!"
"Like I don't already know dumbass." She scoffed.
"Hush, my baby is just looking out for his family." Kushina chided, making the girl shift uncomfortably at the thought of family.
"Chojuro! Utakata!"
They all started running to the ground level exit just when the kunai hit the crates, and in a matter of seconds, it exploded.
BOOM!
The explosion hit the ceiling as the whole place was going to crumble down.
"No wonder everyone else was to see it from where they were." Mira said as the group nodded. The explosion was impressive.
"Shit!" Tayuya jumped off the ship and started running for the exit "Blue brains, run!"
"I'm running!" Chojuro said running as fast as he could. Utakata was nowhere to be seen as the earth started crumbling down upon the ships, destroying them with the crew on it.
The whole place soon was filled with falling rocks as the Chojuro was the last person to make it out before the exit was fully blocked off.
Several grimaced at the loss of life, though the more hardened simply pondered where Utakata had gotten too and if he had escaped the collapse as well.
Back to the others
Gray was now in a standoff against the self-named Reitei who in actuality was his old friend Lyon, a fellow Ice magic-user and someone who also was a student under his master, Ur. It was quite a shocker when he found out Lyon was behind all of this. He was trying to resurrect the monster that not only killed his family and village but also their master who sacrificed her own life to seal the monster. They were alone as Lyon's people were sent to try and destroy the village, Lucy and Happy were trying to stop them and Natsu...well let's say he was busy trying to get out of a situation he got himself into.
Sasuke gave Gray a glance, one filled with conflicted understanding. Others scowled lightly at the actions of the boy's old friend Lyon.
Lyon was more focused on the smoke that was smoldering from the mountain "Hmmm, something must've happened..." Not knowing that another Fairy Tail member was responsible for that explosion with some others.
"That would be Naruto's doing..." Gray answered it has to be him since he was exploring the tunnels and must've come across something that triggered that explosion.
"Naruto you say, like Uzumaki?" Lyon said turning back to Gray "He would be lucky if he survived the people he came across."
There were some snorts at such a claim by Lyon.
"Hey he doesn't know Naruto is a shinobi so it's not really fair." Konohamaru argued.
"This has nothing to do with being a shinobi or not Konohamaru-kun. I can tell you right now that Erza over there could clean plenty shinobi's clocks especially if they underestimated her for not being a shinobi. It's more that Naruto is simply far more skilled than this fool Lyon is giving him credit for. It sounds like Naruto is still classified as A rank according to Gray's other, but he trounces other A-ranks with ease so I have no doubt he is truly S-rank." Kushina explained.
"More than likely true." Makarov added with a nod.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not wasting my time explaining it to you." Lyon got in his battle stance "I won't let you stop me from reaching my goal."
"Stop acting like you're my senior, Lyon." Gray warned him taking his own stance "We're not Ur's students anymore."
"I'm well aware of that, painfully aware." Lyon took off the mask revealing his face to him "Our beloved teacher is no longer on this world."
"Her final act was sealing that monster away!" Gray shouted at him furiously "You're trying to destroy of what's left of Ur?!"
"That's a good question." Kiba said.
"Going out on a limb and guessing the reason why is all sorts of backwards nonsense." Sakura grumbled.
"What do you mean?" Ino asked.
"Trust me, it always is. Every tyrant, cult, crime boss whatever, they all make some complex delusion about how what they are doing makes sense. Then they just keep repeating it till they convince themselves it does." She complained.
Several of the younger shinobi and wizards were surprised by the agreements with her words from their more experienced comrades.
"Don't delude yourself," Lyon glares at him "You're the one who killed her. and yet, you don't seem to feel any guilt."
"That's unfair and vile to say to Gray-sama!" Juvia cried.
"It might just be her devotion to him talking but I think we can all agree she's right." Lucy said.
"No kidding, Gray lost her too right? So Lyon should see he's the one that best understands his pain." Konohamaru said not seeing Sasuke's eyes trained upon him. Or the faint guilt that stirred in them.
Gray gasped as he sweats from his brow.
"How cruel..."
"It is cruel of him to say such things. It's not your fault Gray." Kakashi said. It had taken a long time for him not to suffer the same pitfall of blaming himself for all his losses. He hoped even a little support or a kind word could help the younger man avoid similar problems.
"Thanks, I know that. It doesn't make it sting less though." Gray replied.
"Nothing truly heals the pain of losing someone you love. However that feeling is more a reminder that you loved them than anything." Kakashi added getting surprised looks from the others but plenty of approving ones mixed in.
Kushina and Gai especially were happy, they knew all too well about Kakashi's own struggles with grief.
Inside the mountain
After the underground dock was fully destroyed, the four shinobi were seen walking through the only tunnel that some burning lights.
Tayuya was sitting on the floor with sweat dripping from her forehead "Shit, that was close." A moment later and she could've been under a rock "Hey, you think anyone survived it in there?"
"Let me see." Ao was using his Byakugan to see through the boulders and scan the area that was once the dock "I don't see any life forms breathing. No one could've survived that."
Neji looked agitated at the man but kept his calm.
"You think Utakata is dea-Agh!" Chojuro stopped talking when he felt a horrible pain in his leg. He was laying against the wall and was being checked by Naruto. He narrowly got out but his leg got caught by a boulder and made sure he couldn't feel his feet now.
"That's definitely not good. I hope someone can heal him nearby." Wendy commented.
"If they treat it basically he won't be in serious trouble, but without a healer he will be in serious pain and out of the fight." Sakura added.
"I don't see his chakra signal, so I assume he made it out," Ao said knowing that Utakata's chakra was very different than that of a normal shinobi since his are larger.
The older shinobi turned to Naruto and asked "How is he?"
"He's going to be alright," Naruto examined the leg and shook his head "but he will be out of action, for now, foot is obviously got the worst and is fractured but not too much. And his leg has taken a bad hit."
"He's pretty knowledgeable in the field. It really is too bad he lacks the chakra control to take up medical techniques." Tsunade said with a small pout.
"So he basically cannot fight now..." Ao listened to his dismay as he turned to Chojuro and berated him "Look what that clumsiness has gotten you too."
"Hey, he got hurt saving you jerk!" Natsu shouted in anger.
"Hey speak for yourself," Tayuya suddenly spoke and was speaking back against Ao "I don't know if you realized it yet but just ten minutes ago you were a prisoner to these bastards."
"The pink dumbass over there had it right afterall." Tayuya huffed.
"Watch your tone, girl." Ao barked at the redhead with a glare "The boy knew the risks of this mission, if he's stupid enough to get himself hit by a boulder then he shouldn't be in this mission in the first place!"
"Oh, I really don't fucking like this asshole." Tayuya snarled.
"How can he be so careless about his comrade's health? Chojuro got injured saving him." Hinata said in a surprisingly loud tone.
"Some people are just bastards like that." Kiba said.
"Enough!" Naruto shouted to stop the bickering between the two and mediate "We got no time for this crap, we need to track down the remaining rogue ninja and take them out. The risk they will leave the island and relocate to the mainland is not that I am willing to take." Naruto said walking up to Chojuro.
He bends down in front of him and pulls from under his coat a sealing scroll and opens it for them to see it was indeed a sealing scroll, taking the interest of the elder Kiri shinobi. Especially when they saw the small insignia on the scroll that resembled a whirlpool that was on all of Naruto's scrolls.
'That cannot be, they are extinct...'
"Ha! You wish, the whirlpool will rise again!" Kushina crowed with a slightly mad gleam in her eye.
"She didn't even raise him and he still got her personality. How does that even work?" Sasuke groused getting a terrifying glare from the woman.
From the scroll appeared a few packs of bandages and some medicine and he turns to Tayuya with the material "Use this to try and ease up the pain. You learned from those medical-nin scrolls I gave you?"
"Oh they do have a medic, or at least a medic in training with them!" Wendy said happily. She hated seeing others in pain.
"Girl, you want to learn medical jutsu? If your other is able to pick it up from scrolls alone you might make a fine one." Tsunade said.
"Considering I'm dead you bloated bimbo, no I would not." Tayuya snarked.
Realizing that she'd rather not fight about it when the truth was Tayuya was right she was already dead, Tsunade simply waved Kurenai to continue reading as she rolled her eyes at Tayuya's words.
Tayuya nodded, after since she got defeated by one of Naruto's friends a few years ago she decided to broader up her abilities, this included learning medical jutsu "Yeah, I did."
Shikamaru smirked until Tayuya coughed in such an odd way that sounded like 'Suna'. Troublesome red-head why couldn't she let him have this.
The sudden searching look he got from Kushina killed any mental conversations he had with himself as he began to sweat.
"Good, because he's your first patient." She took the material out of his hands and he stood up "I'm going out and track them down."
SHINK!
"Not so fast," Ao said stopping Naruto from moving as he suddenly pulls out his kunai and had it pointed under Naruto's chin who didn't move an inch. Taking everyone by surprise.
"Kill him and take that eye!" Neji shouted causing those next to him to jump from the sudden volume. Blushing slightly Neji quickly retook his seat and adjusted his clothes. Then adopted his normally stoic expression.
"Ao, what are you doing?!" Chojuro asked his comrade "He's a friend!" Tayuya was about to stand up but stopped when Naruto motioned her to stop.
"Don't Tayuya, let me handle it." The blonde man didn't seem to look intimidated and questioned the Kid nin "Any reason for why you are pulling a blade on me?"
"He's handling it better than I would with a knife to my throat." Macao idly mentioned getting several nods.
"Those scrolls you contain," Ao pointed at the scroll he just opened in front of them "has the insignia of the Uzumakis, a clan that was renowned for the arts of using Sealing jutsu and having close ties to the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
"Kiri…" Kushina practically hissed.
"What's the problem with her?" Natsu asked. It seemed like more than just her son being threatened.
"The majority of the Uzumaki clan was exterminated by an army primarily composed of ninja from Kiri. The only reason, beyond being Konoha's allies was their fear of Uzumaki Sealing. They were legends at the art. Kushina and her husband were the same and Naruto soaks up sealing knowledge like a sponge." Jiraiya explained.
Naruto saw where this man was going and decided to play it along "So?"
"There aren't any Uzumakis left, not in great numbers of course." Ao held the kunai closer to his chin "but I remembered there was one Uzumaki that lived once in Hidden Leaf village..."
Kushina's eyes widened as she dropped back into her seat. "I thought he was just antsy about Naruto being Uzumaki. Turns out he must know about him being a technical missing-nin."
There was a moment of silence to where Ao was going to, no doubt in his mind that this boy was that Uzumaki "and he was also part of the team that took out the rogue ninja from our village, Zabuza Momoichi and his pupil, Haku Yuki."
Chojuro was too frozen for words when he heard those two names. Zabuza was once a member of the seven swordsmen of the Hidden Mist and one of the most feared shinobi of his village who turned rogue after an attempted coup d'etat. He'd learned he died a few years ago in a confrontation against a couple of Leaf ninja that included the legendary Copy ninja Kakashi Hatake and a few of his genin.
"Ah the good ole' days." Kakashi dramatically waxed getting a small smile from Sakura and an annoyed glance from Sasuke.
"In Hatake's team was a young boy," Ao's face inched closer to Naruto "who didn't have the red hair of the Uzumakis but sure had the family name. To which we found out had later gone rogue after he was found out planting a bomb trap to kill the members of the Civilian and Elder councils of his home village..." he now stated clearly as he was directly talking to the young man in front of him "And now I am talking right to that person standing in front of me. Naruto Uzumaki, rogue Shinobi from the Hidden Leaf village."
Naruto just stood there before answering in one single line "...So you guessed who I am."
"So nonchalant. Still, Naruto wouldn't have done all that stuff without a reason." Sakura said with a determined stare.
Chojuro just felt frozen when he heard Ao reveal this guy's full identity that he was a rogue ninja, Tayuya, on the other hand, was ready to reach for her kunai and take necessary measures if needed...
"Well done Tayuya, I think I would have liked if you and Naruto could have met in our world too. I think you would have really torn it up together." Kushina said with a smile.
Tayuya couldn't bring herself to disagree either. Her other seemed to be in a much better place than herself.
"Okay, I am Naruto Uzumaki. But now I got to ask you this," Naruto countered with a different question to the veteran shinobi "what are you going to do now since you found out I am a rogue shinobi from a different village? Because even if you decided to kill me you would be stuck in a bad situation."
"Leave it to the dobe to talk his way out of a good fight." Sasuke drawled.
"It's usually better to find a peaceful means to end a situation than to fight about it." Makarov remarked, shooting a glance at some members of his guild who looked mildly sheepish.
Ao frowned "Explain?"
"I know you possess the Byakugan, and that it is an Dojutsu that is known in the Hidden Leaf that only the Hyuuga clan has. And by the looks of it, you ain't no Hyuuga. So you must've possibly taken it from one."
"I took it as an-"
"Doesn't matter much if the word would go back to the Hidden Leaf village if they heard who my alleged slayer was and what he has under that patch." Naruto points his finger at it "You must've already known what happened last time when someone tried to steal the secrets of the Hyuuga Dojutsu, as the Hyuuga-Cloud incident rings you any bells? How that almost ended in a war between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud?"
Ao's eye began to open up from realization, this kid was making sense.
"Yeah he is. That was Kumo not even getting the eye too. Should they find out Kiri actually has one…" Asuma mentioned.
"I doubt Kiri could handle a war with Konoha either. They just ended their own civil war they must still be suffering." Tenten remarked.
"What would you think will happen when the Hidden Leaf finds out that someone from a different village had the Byakugan?" Naruto said not needing to answer since he already knew what the veteran was thinking.
"It could lead to war." Chojuro figured out with his face almost turning white "and that's the last thing the Mizukage wanted..." The status of the Hidden Mist's military was still unclear to most villages, but in reality, they were low on Shinobi. After the civil war ended they only had 1/3 of their forces left and their best swordsmen were almost all deceased with some of the legendary swords still missing. Meaning that the Hidden Mist was at its most vulnerable point now and could not sustain any more damage or even fight any wars in the near future. So they had to avoid major conflict at any cost if they wanted to retain the status as one of the five strongest nations of the Elemental continent.
"That's honestly worse than I had thought. With the purges and civil war I would have thought they were teetering on the edge of becoming a minor village. That being said I'd argue they are now the weakest of the big five." Jiraiya said.
"Not only that, you are currently outnumbered. With four against one if you killed me and my partner right there." Naruto points to Tayuya "and for as far I know, that other shinobi who was with us may not be here right now. So now it's only you against four former ANBU hunter-ninjas." Naruto pointed out the final fact "It's your call."
"Ballsy." Kiba chuckled.
"Reckless." Kurenai corrected.
Ao was struggling with the points the young man made and knew that what Chojuro and this kid said is true, he had no other choice but to take the risk working with this rogue ninja.
He lowered his kunai and asked him in a stern voice "What's your plan?"
"I'll go track down Kenji and his men while you go back to the village and protect it in case someone wants to destroy it, I assume you know where it is..." To which Ao nods as he turned to the others "Tayuya will help out your partner to get down the mountain towards the village. And Tayuya, once you're there, I need you to go and join Ao and help him. Can you guys do that?"
"Will do," Tayuya nodded "You can count on me."
"The two of you make a good team. I need to think of something else or I'm going to be depressed that my son's chance of being around other family are gone." Kushina said with a frown.
Kurenai continued the story hoping it provided the distraction needed.
Then the ground began to rumble again as some dust fell down upon them.
"Looks like the party has begun. I'm going now." Naruto turned around and starts running "Let's go old man!"
"Wait for me kid!" Ao shouted as he began running after Naruto as Chojuro watched them go on without them.
"Awfully good terms with one another after holding a knife to Naruto's neck a moment ago." Wakaba said in surprise.
"Well, Naruto is a missing-nin. He probably expects that response." Choji said casually.
The swordsman looked down muttering to himself "Damn it..."
"What's the matter?" Tayuya asked him while bandaging his leg "you're not growing soft on me, are you?"
A glint appeared in Kushina's eyes. One that had Tayuya unsettled.
"Does it matter, Ao-sensei's right," Chojuro said staring to the ground "look at me, I'm useless now. I even failed to notice you guys were shinobi."
"Ex-Shinobi." She corrected him "We are ex-shinobi, Naruto and I left that life when we arrived in Fiore and built up new lives."
The shinobi collectively frowned at that except Kushina and Tayuya. Kushina didn't care as long as her son was happy and healthy, and Tayuya was at most a little jealous of her other for getting a chance at a better life.
"You were a Hidden Leaf ninja?"
"Nope, Hidden Sound. I was an underling for Orochimaru."
"One of the three Sannin?" Chojuro guessed until something came up to his mind "But wait, didn't your village go to war with his during the finals of the Chunin Exams?"
"Yep, I was there."
"Then why are you two friendly to each other?"
"Look, kid, when I said we left that life, we left everything." She added to her argument "the grudges, the vendettas, everything. We both lost people fighting each other. Like I lost my friends, he lost his apparent grandfather." She tried not to bring up the fact they were family "so we both agreed to drop those grudges and move on with our lives." remembering the feeling of relief from her gut that she had someone related to her was actually very uplifting. After all, she grew up without anyone looking out for her or giving a purpose and now with Naruto as her cousin and the guild she joined a few years prior. She felt like there was a reason to be happy "Honestly, now I am living in Fiore I feel much better."
"I'm happy for you Tayuya...or I guess other Tayuya." Mira said before blinking and correcting herself.
"Don't you miss it?" Chojuro asked curious "The life of a ninja?"
"I do some times." She smiled pausing as she tapped her arm where her guild stamp was "but after meeting people who now look after me like a family, I feel like I have a purpose again."
Several people smiled, even among the shinobi. It seemed Tayuya had really gotten a second chance in Fiore. Tayuya sighed internally, artly happy at least some version of her had eventually gotten to a better place. She was plenty jealous of the other her though.
Chojuro was honestly stunned by that comment. He had heard there were people who were living in Fiore and the magical continent after leaving the Shinobi life, but he had never met someone who actually done it. his dream was to be the Mizukage and to be one of the Hidden Mist's strongest swordsmen. He couldn't imagine a life without it. He'd wondered if there were Kiri ninja also living on this side of the sea, after the civil war and the Bloodline purges many civilians and ninja disappeared and were never seen.
"A lot more than he could ever know." Lucy commented.
The tunnel began to shake again and he felt suddenly lifted up by the redhead as his arm was over her shoulder.
"Let's go." Tayuya said stepping forwards "before this tunnel collapses above us."
"Yeah...hey,"
"What?"
"...Thanks." Chojuro said nervously while trying to avoid eye-contact "for the help, I mean."
Tayuya didn't help but smirk and a slight tint of shade turn up her cheek "Your welcome." grabbing Chojuro's blade they were stepping slowly towards the end of the tunnel.
"Oh my Tayuya. That blush, and no foul language. I could almost say your other is smitten." Kushina teased getting a scoff from the younger girl, though a small blush heat up her cheeks and the majority of the room couldn't help but smile at the rough and tumble girl being so easy to tease.
"That's all for this chapter." Kurenai said as she marked the spot.
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