Jutsu

Time or separate place

"Conversation"

"Thoughts"

Chapter 6: Mission: Find New Leader of the Sound

An evil entity, disguised in a baboon cloak, stood on the ground of an old but very devastated battlefield. He looked around, to see if any sign of life was about, but all he found was a skeleton. The bones seemed to have been saturated with some type of ink. However, even after death, the bones were still emitting a small trace of chakra.

"This person might be useful…" The baboon cloaked person took out from his sleeve a shard of the Shikon Jewel. He placed it in the middle of the pile of bones. Soon, flesh started to regenerate around the bones. The skeleton took shape and formed a new body. He then knelt down in front of the baboon cloaked person.

"How may I serve you…Master Naraku?"

"Heh, he, he…First, tell me your name."

"Kabuto, Master Naraku. I'm a jounin ranked medical ninja." Kabuto introduced himself.

"Tell me," Naraku started, "Where can I find followers in this strange new realm?"

"Simple, I'm from a village named Sound, but since our last leader was killed, there is a void left that needs to be filled by you. However, rounding up the last members of the Sound will be difficult, Master Naraku."

"Do not worry; eventually everything will fall into place…" Naraku chuckled. He found another body that was buried. He dipped his tentacles into the ground and dug up the decaying body. A jewel shard was placed in the heart. Like Kabuto before, the body began to regenerate. The completed body then became the obedient servant of Naraku.

"How may I serve you?"

"Tell me, what's your name?"

"I don't have a name, but people call me…Sai."

Konoha…

A few weeks have past since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke returned with their new friends. The first light of a new day shone upon the blond teen shinobi's face. Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see it was 6:00 a.m., but he was used to waking up this early, due to Ero-sennin's usual hangovers. He got up and did the usual morning business. After that, he dressed in his usual orange-black outfit. He set off to start his ninja training. Naruto figured that no one would bother him this early in the morning. In the early dawn, he set off to the training grounds. But first, a detour for him, Naruto stealthy leaped over the buildings and empty streets, landing on the Hokage Mountain.

Naruto stood on monument of Yondaime's head engraved in the mountainside and looked down upon the village. "Just watch me Fourth. Someday, I'll lead this village as the greatest Hokage, and make you proud that you chose me to be the vessel of the Kyuubi." As he was lost in his thoughts, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He was so startled that he nearly fell off the monument, letting some of his special ninja weapons fall out. He used his chakra to stick his feet to the mountainside and caught his gear that was falling. When Naruto recomposed himself, he aimed to see the intruder, who turned out to be Sakura.

"Hey Naruto!" Sakura greeted as she helped him regain his balance on the top of the monument. "What are you doing up here so early."

"Just to go training." Naruto said with a large grin on his face. "Why are you up so early?"

Sakura noticed something about him she never noticed before. "With that smile, he actually looks kind of handsome… What a minute! What am I thinking!" Sakura shook the thought away and answered his question. "I was discussing with Ino-pig about what had happened the past year over the phone. I didn't get much sleep." Sakura added to her reply with a yawn.

"So how have you been?" Naruto asked her as he took a seat on the engraved head.

"How nice to ask me now!" Sakura angrily shouted. "After ignoring me for the past year!" Sakura was completely enraged and threw a fist at Naruto. Unknowingly, Naruto somehow dodged her strike with blinding speed. She continued on her rampage on the blond shinobi, but to no avail. Each of her attacks was evaded. Eventually, Sakura tired herself out. She looked to see if her victim was beaten to death, but to her dismay, Naruto was still standing, without a scratch on him.

"How did you do that?" Sakura huffed. She noticed the special kunai in Naruto's hand. "What is that in your hand?" Naruto handed the kunai to let her examine it. It was trident shaped on the top, a littler heavier than regular kunai, and there was a special seal on the handle. Sakura had seen this before, but couldn't place it. Then, she looked under her feet and found her answer.

"Naruto…you know what this kunai is used for?"

"Yeah! It lets me use this cool jutsu that's even faster than Fuzzy Eyebrow's speed and Sasuke's Shunshin no Justu (Body Flicker Technique)! But, I even don't know its name."

"Naruto," Sakura started explaining, "This seal on the kunai is used for the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)."

"Really?" Naruto said astounded. "You know the name of it? Whoever used this technique must've been really strong."

"Do you know why Konoha's Yellow Flash got his reputation?" Sakura asked him, but Naruto shook his head. "It's because of this jutsu. Not many people know of this jutsu. From what I know, only the Sannins and older ninjas in this village know of this, and I learned about it from reading Tsunade-sama's old scrolls. How did you learn this?"

"Follow me then! I'll tell you on the way to the training grounds." Naruto said. Sakura handed the kunai back to him and followed Naruto along the way.

"Remember back when I died after the fight with Orochimaru?" Sakura nodded her head to his question. "You can say I was having a near death experience. All the events of my life flashed before me while I was traveling though the 'tunnel'. At the end, I found this kunai. I don't know why, but it seemed familiar to me. After that, I was alive again, but the image of the kunai was engraved into my memory. There was no way for me to forget it." Sakura continued to be amazed by his description.

"While we were on that training mission, I had an old friend of mine make me this kunai. He was a blacksmith I met while on my travels with Ero-sennin. He also made extra copies of it for me. From that point on, I continued to train by myself. I had to master it and find out it's meaning on my own." Naruto finished his explanation.

"Did you accomplish that goal?" Sakura asked him inquisitively.

"Only one-half of it. I still don't the meaning to it. I spent most of my time mastering it alone during the past year. I also kicked Sasuke's ass with this jutsu." Naruto said with a large grin across his face. Sakura couldn't help but giggle a little. Sakura then realized why he was never around during the year-long training mission.

Flashback…about half a year ago…

"Hey Sasuke!" Sakura shouted loudly and achieved his attention. They were in a forest far away from Konoha on their training mission. "Do you want have a spar?"

"Ok, at least it'll liven up this peaceful scenery."

Sasuke and Sakura fought their friendly match, but Sasuke was still as brutal as ever. After sparring from morning to evening, they were completely exhausted. Sasuke used some fire jutsu to start a fire and cook dinner. After their meal was finished cooking, Sakura took a seat next to Sasuke. To her surprise, Sasuke let Sakura get close to him. "Naruto has really changed Sasuke." She thought.

"Sasuke, do you know where's Naruto?" Sakura asked him.

"That dobe? Nope."

"That blond idiot!" Sakura shouted infuriated. "I haven't seen him all week, and the last time, he ran away from me! Why is that!"

"Because," Sasuke interrupted her moment of angry explosion, "He's needs to find something important by himself." Sasuke said, still as mysterious as ever.

End Flashback…

"I'm sorry if that caused too much trouble for you, but I needed to find out alone." Naruto added.

"No it's ok." Sakura replied. "This was something you had to find out on your own. I just wished I could've helped somehow."

"Well, actually, that's not the whole reason…" Naruto stated, but was interrupted by a huge explosion coming from their destination. Naruto and Sakura quickly sped to find out the source of the explosion. When they arrived, they found Sasuke and Inuyasha, with both their swords drawn. Kagome and their group were there as well, watching the skirmish.

"It's about time you made it here dope. I would like you to see how weak a half-demon is." Sasuke smirked.

Inuyasha was extremely ticked off by his comment and lunged forward at Sasuke. Sasuke got out of his fighting pose and waited. The Tetsaiga transformed into it's diamond form. The blade of the Tetsaiga turned into a large diamond and launched many sharp diamond projectiles. A Chidori surrounded Sasuke's body and deflected all the shots. Sasuke rushed forward at high speed towards Inuyasha, with the Chidori-empowered blade ready. Inuyasha held up the Tetsaiga and waited to use his ultimate attack. However, Sasuke's Sharingan saw through the attack. Inuyasha swung his sword down, thinking Sasuke attack him, but the Backlash Wave didn't activate. Inuyasha then felt a sharp sensation against the back of his neck.

"Looks like I win." Sasuke stated. He retracted his blade and sheathed it. Inuyasha growled irately, but admitted defeat and sheathed the Tetsaiga.

"Sasuke, why are you up so early?" Sakura asked the Uchiha. Sasuke walked over to Shippo, glaring at him with a large amount of killing intent. Shippo clenched to Kagome's shoulder rigorously, but Sasuke easily removed the young demon.

"This little punk ate my rice balls this morning." Sasuke looked directly at Shippo with his Sharingan. "Since that half-breed lost, here's your punishment." Shippo covered his head, thinking that he would get hit. Instead, Sasuke sent a small amount of chakra through his arm into the young demon, electrocuting him. Sasuke dropped the body, allowing it to twitch and simmer.

"Hey dog-ears! Are you ready to get your ass kicked a second time?" Naruto challenged the Inuyasha.

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you first!" The battered Inuyasha drew the Tetsaiga and stood in a fighting stance. However, his left knee gave way and he toppled over.

"Inuyasha, I believe you should stop." Miroku helped him up. "You're too exhausted from that match with Sasuke, but I still can't believe that you stood up for Shippo before."

"Feh, don't get used to it." Inuyasha smirked. "Kagome would 'sit' me to death if I didn't." Miroku burst into laughter. Soon, the contagious laugh caused everyone around to laugh for a little while, except of course for Sasuke. However, their time of merriment was cut short when someone arrived.

"Shizune?" Sakura asked as she ran to help the panting Shizune, with Tonton by Shizune's side.

"Naruto…" Shizune huffed. "Tsunade-sama wishes to see you in your office now for a mission."

"Huh? Why only me?" Naruto asked her. "It better not be another D-ranked one."

"I don't know, but I do know it's pretty important." Shizune appeared to have caught Naruto's attention. Naruto waved good-bye to his teammates and left with Shizune to see the Hokage. When they arrived at the Hokage's place, Naruto found his other teammates for this mission.

"Kiba? Shino? Hinata?" Naruto said completely shocked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"The mission you brat!" Tsunade shouted angrily. "Normally, I wouldn't gather ninjas this early for a mission, but this one is of utter importance. It concerns the Sound." This statement shocked everyone. "Since you're all here now. I'll fill you in on the details. From what we have learned from Jiraiya's information gathering, it appears that the Sound have regrouped after the demise of Orochimaru. Not only that, they have a new leader. One that is believed to be stronger than Orochimaru."

"How's that possible!" Kiba shouted. "Orochimaru is as strong as they come. Who can be stronger than him?"

"We don't know." Tsunade sighed. "But what we do have is a photograph of the target from Jiraiya." Tsunade took the picture out and let the ninjas look at picture. From what they could see, it was a man in a baboon cloak concealing his face. "We don't know his objectives yet. Your mission is to track down this man and send anymore information back. This is a B-ranked mission that will have your team go to the Wave Country, with no time limit for the mission. We were informed the Sound was heading there next."

"The Land of Waves…" Naruto thought for a second. "That's where I had my first mission, and where the Bridge of Naruto is located. Cool! I can see Inari again!"

"Woah, wait a minute." Kiba interrupted. "You mean you have a bridge name after you? Since when!"

"That doesn't matter right now." Tsunade ended their conversation. "I chose this team because Team 8 is the best at tracking a target, and Naruto here because he's most familiar with your destination and Sound. One more thing." Tsunade pulled a kunai from her desk and threw it at the ceiling, causing the tiles to fall. Several bodies fell along with the tiles. They were Inuyasha and his crew "We have rats snooping about".

"Who are they, and why does that one stink so badly?" Kiba and his rather large ninken, Akamaru, covered their noses. Kiba pointed at the one in a red robe and silver hair.

"Hey! If anyone stinks in here it's you!" Inuyasha pointed back. Kagome took a glance at the photograph on the desk and knew exactly who he was.

"You guys, they have a picture of Naraku." Everyone immediately silenced at her statement. Inuyasha jostled threw everyone in the room to get a closer look. "Yep, it's the bastard alright."

"You guys know him?" Tsunade questioned.

"Yes," Sango replied. "He's our mortal enemy. He'll do anything for power, but why is he here?"

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata tapped him on the shoulder and got his attention. "Who are they?"

"You can explain everything later Naruto." Tsunade stood up from her seat. "It appears our guests know more about this guy than any of us. If it's not too much trouble, Shino, Kiba, Hinata, and Naruto, you'll be accompanied by our guests on the mission. Is that clear?" Everyone in the room nodded in response. "Good, your mission begins here! Now go!"

Naruto, Inuyasha, Hinata, Kagome, Sango, Shino, Kiba, Miroku, Akamaru, Shippo, and Kirara exited the Hokage's room. The ninjas quickly packed up their gear and led their guests to the gates that exit Konoha. The guards opened the gates for them, and they were off. Naruto, Hinata, Shino, and Inuyasha with Kagome on his back leapt on the branches of the trees. Kiba rode on Akamaru running on the forest floor, and Kirara had Miroku, Sango, and Shippo as her usual passengers on her back.

"Naruto…" Shino mumbled under his large neck collar. "Who are these guests of ours?"

"Them? We found them being attacked by some ninjas on the way back to Konoha. Don't worry; I'm pretty sure they'll be useful, somehow." Naruto answered.

"Then, why does he smell no horrible!" Kiba inquired. Akamaru barked in agreement. "He, that small guy and that overly large cat don't smell human."

"They'll tell when they want to Kiba-kun." Hinata said. "Please, don't go into people's business so often."

They traveled through the forest until it hit dusk. They decided to make camp before it got too dark. Shino and Miroku helped set up the tents, one for the guys, and another for the girls. Kiba, Akamaru, Sango, and Kirara went into the forest to fetch firewood. Shippo decided to tag along with Inuyasha and Kagome to find water, leaving Hinata and Naruto to find the food.

"So Hinata…How's life been treating you?" Naruto asked, trying to strike up a conversation with the shy girl.

"Well, it's been great. I've been training with Neji-ni-san and Hiashi-sama. My sister, Hanabi, was the top graduate from the academy when she became a ninja." Hinata softly replied, trying to hide the blush on her face.

"Cool, so when did you become a jounin? You must be pretty strong now! I'll have to watch my back!" Naruto said as he picked more berries from the bushes.

"While you were away for that, very long year." Hinata's voice sounded depressed when she said this.

"Hey, Hinata, is there something wrong?" However, he was cut short when an explosion went off from the camp site. Naruto and Hinata quickly ran to see what had happened, but they were to far away to make it on time.

Seeing that he had no choice, Naruto pulled out his special kunai and grabbed onto Hinata's wrist. Hinata was startled at the fact Naruto grabbed her so suddenly. She then saw what appeared to be an air void and Naruto dragged her into it. In a split second, they arrived at the battle scene.

Two gigantic monsters were attacking their comrades. One of them looked like an enormous plated lizard that towered over the trees with spikes on his back. His whipping tail toppled the forest under him. The other was a massive flying creature with a body of a dragon, and a head and legs of a bird. The flying creature spat fiery saliva that deteriorated anything that it touched.

Shino and Kiba were having a tough time trying to damage the plated lizard. Shino's bugs found no opening to drain chakra along the plated skin, and the tough skin and spikes also repelled Kiba's and Akamaru's Gatsuuga. Kirara had Sango and Miroku riding on her back, trying to defeat the flying beast. Sango's Hiraikotsu did minor damage to the beast, but not enough. It was even strong enough to escape Miroku's Wind Tunnel.

"Shit! Nothing's working." Kiba shouted as he tried a Gatsuuga again, but to no avail. The plated lizard whipped its tail and knocked Kiba away.

"Hinata." Shino called for her. "Use your Byakugan. Try to find any weak spot on this creature."

"Byakugan." Hinata used her bloodline to look into the two monstrous beasts. However, these creatures did not have chakra circulatory systems. It actually looked like the only thing in their body was chakra. The whole body was just skin, a thin middle layer, and an energy core.

"These things…aren't even alive." Hinata stumbled to find the correct words. "They have neither chakra circulatory systems nor even a single organ in their boy. Just skin and chakra."

"How are we supposed to take them down?" Kiba asked.

"Simple." Naruto smirked. He bit his thumb and performed the necessary seals. "Fight with something just as big. Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" Naruto slammed his hand into the ground. A giant puff of smoke blasted everyone away to make room for the Frog Boss, Gamabunta.

"Huh, what?" Gamabunta opened his eyes to see what was going on. "Oh great, it's you. Don't you know how late it is? I was sleeping you know."

"Come on Frog Boss! Fight with me!" Naruto pleaded. "Those guys are way too big to fight on my own." Gamabunta inhaled in some tobacco, and blew out right in front of the plated lizards face.

"Fine, fine." Gamabunta grumbled and pulled out his dagger. Down below, the rest watched in awe at the giant frog Naruto summoned.

"Hey Inuyasha, what's that up ahead?" Kagome asked while riding on Inuyasha's back with Shippo on his shoulder. They came back as quickly as they found out what was happening. It appeared to be a gigantic bird, a large lizard, and an overly huge frog. Inuyasha sped up to see what the deal with the three beasts was.

"Hey, would anyone mind telling us what is going on?" Inuyasha asked as he arrived on the scene, letting Kagome and Shippo off his back.

"Those two demons attacked us, but that Naruto guy summoned that frog to aid us." Miroku explained the situation.

"What! You're telling me that whisker-face over there pulled out something as big as that!" Inuyasha said astonished.

Meanwhile, Gamabunta launched to first attack. He pulled his dagger and jumped up to stab the flying demon, but it flew out of Gamabunta's range. Gamabunta then attacked the plated reptilian demon. Gamabunta dodged its spiked tail and made for its head. Gamabunta's blade was actually able to impale the demon's tough skin, but got stuck in his head. He had no chose by to leave it. The plated demon roared in pain, having a sharp object stuck in his head. Gamabunta leapt up and landed on top of his blade. His weight caused the dagger to slice straight through the demon. The demon was finally beaten. His body started to fall apart and melted.

However, there was still the matter of the flying demon. It swooped down and grabbed Gamabunta by his shoulders. "That's it!" Gamabunta used his feet to form a seal. "Kid, I need you to use a fire technique, or something that can ignite oil." Naruto nodded and pulled out a regular kunai with an explosive tag attached. "Katon: Gamayu Endan (Fire Element: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)!" Gamabuta spat oil, and Naruto threw his kunai simultaneously. The tag blew up and ignited the oil, producing one powerful fire attack. The combination fire jutsu roasted the flying menace. The demon shrieked in agony as it freed the Frog Boss. It struggled to maintain flight, until it ultimately exploded in midair. Gamabunta and Naruto safely landed away from the explosion.

"Naruto-kun…you did it." Hinata stared at Naruto's accomplishment. Gamabunta sheathed his dagger and went poof. Naruto jumped off the Frog Boss at the last second and landed next to everyone.

"Nice job!" Kiba punched him lightly on the shoulder, showing his gratitude and congrates. Akamaru also showed his appreciation with one long, sloppy lick.

"Feh…" Inuyasha grunted. "I could've beaten those two easily."

"Don't be so down Inuyasha." Shippo said. "He just got here first."

"What were those two creatures?" Shino demanded their guests to answer. Sango and Miroku were the ones to answer.

"From the spider marks on their backs, we deduced that they are detachments from Naraku." Naruto, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino gave a dumbfounded look at her statement. "Naraku is a demon. He possesses the ability to make other demons to do his bidding by detaching body parts. He probably sent those two to stop us, but why?" Miroku pondered.

"Who cares…" Naruto yawned in the middle of his sentence. "Time to get some sleep." He went into the nearest camping tent and tucked himself in.

"You know that's the girls' tent right?"

Chapter 6 is finished. How do like this? Naraku will play a much deeper role later. Please RxR. I don't know what I'm doing wrong to get more of those. Flames are alright. They tell me what's wrong. I might but in a few OC's, I'm thinking of three Akatsuki members based on other characters from different shows. Tell me what you guys think.