Naruto: Tornado of Souls Final
Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or RWBY
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Here is chapter 17. Enjoy!
Last time:
North Gate
"I see you have your Midnight swords today Hinata." said Shino. "I've often wondered why you usually have them sealed in a scroll."
Hinata sighed softly and said, "I mainly keep Midnight sealed for the sake of Nikos Pyrrha while I'm in the village. She has an understandable dislike of this weapon."
"What happened?" asked Kiba curiously.
The Byakugan Princess had regret in her eyes and said, "Fall Cinder ruthlessly killed Nikos Pyrrha with this type of weapon in its bow form. She and I were enemies then…We are friends now but it's understandable that Midnight would make her feel very uncomfortable."
Kurenai placed her hand on Hinata's shoulder. "She also has to realize that you are a kunoichi and need your weapons."
Hinata nodded. "She does but I can tell it still bothers her."
The red eyed jonin looked at her favorite student with sympathy. Then she noticed something. "Hinata-chan, where is your quiver of arrows? A bow isn't much use without them."
"Oh! That's right. I didn't tell you guys about the upgrades we made." said Hinata. "Naruto-kun added seals to the hand grips to store the arrows. I can make up to three steel arrows appear at a time just by channeling chakra through my fingertips. They can be regular arrows or I can channel flame chakra into them without difficulty."
"It sounds like Naruto is getting quite adept with seals." said Shino. "How many arrows are sealed in the bow?"
"Currently I can carry sixty arrows which is twenty in each seal." said Hinata enthusiastically. "Naruto-kun and Pyrrha-chan are both getting very skilled with seals."
"Pyrrha helped?" asked Kurenai surprised.
The Hyūga heiress nodded. "Pyrrha-chan made the basic seal design and Naruto-kun converted it to hold arrows and added them to Midnight. I'll show you." The Hyūga heiress unscrewed the hilt one of her blades and pulled out a small tube with a sealing scroll inside it. "These little cartridges hold twenty sealed arrows each." explained Hinata. "When I empty a cartridge I just swap it out for a new one. Naruto-kun and Pyrrha-chan are quite clever; wouldn't you agree?"
Kiba whistled. "As small as those cartridges are you could carry a dozen of them easily."
"How many spares to you have?" asked Shino.
"I carry twenty spare cartridges so I won't be running out of arrows anytime soon." replied Hinata as she closed up the sword hilt.
"Looks like our client is here team." said Kurenai. "Let's get going."
…
Chapter 17
The leader of the caravan Team 8 was protecting was led by an older man whose squinty eyes were basically hidden under his shaggy gray eyebrows. He said worriedly, "Are you ninja Team 8 that is supposed to protect us?"
Kurenai showed him her mission papers and the old man sighed. "I don't see how three kids and a woman are going to protect ten cartloads of supplies and twenty-five of my men."
The beautiful jonin's eyebrow twitched and Kurenai said, "I'm a jonin and my three genin are well trained and disciplined sir. Trust me; Team 8 will be sufficient."
The old man nodded warily and said, "I'm Nobuyuki but my men call me Jiji. Our lives are within your hands."
Introductions were soon made and the caravan got underway at a slow but steady pace…
…
Rice Country, Orochimaru's Northern Headquarters
Sakura made it to the Northern Base after a huge detour to avoid the Konoha forces. Her visible green eye glinted in the darkness of the tunnels. "I need a new jian thanks to that bitch Pyrrha." she muttered angrily to herself. "I wonder when Ino-chan will come out to join us. It's going to be hard linking up with her again." she said happily. Then she thought darkly. 'I hope Sasuke-kun isn't angry at me for not getting Ino.' "Who gave Sasuke the right to judge me anyway? He's so lousy in bed. He needs to be punished for leaving me so unsatisfied…"
As the pinkette wandered through the narrow passages to the rooms she shared with Sasuke, she ran into Kabuto who wore his usual disarming smile. "Ah, good afternoon, Sakura-chan. It's good to see you back safely. How did it go?"
The rosette growled. "Everything was fine until that whore Nikps Pyrrha intervened. She cost me my jian and prevented Ino from killing Ayano. I hate that girl!" Then Sakura's voice changed to a happy tone. "But I'm sooo happy to be back home with my Sasuke-kun!"
'She's erratic as ever….' thought Kabuto. "Well, I'll see about getting you a new sword out of the armory Sakura-chan. I'll need a written report from you on your mission for Orochimaru-sama of course."
Sakura's visible green eye turned hard as diamond as she glared at Kabuto. "I'll be interested in hearing how we lost Oto Village to Konoha. Getting around the enemy's forces was hell."
Kabuto said in a pacifying tone, "I'm afraid that we ran into a few…setbacks just as you did. Orochimaru-sama will be expecting a report from you though, so I ask that you take care of it."
Sakura glared and said, "Fine; I'll get a scroll. -Then I can see Sasuke-kun!" she said all too happily.
Within the hour Kabuto had a very concise report of Sakura's mission. As he read it he noticed something disturbing. 'There are two styles of handwriting here…When she's describing something positive her handwriting is very girly and rounded but when she's writing a negative comment her kanji becomes very stilted and blocky. Did the Curse Seal cause her to develop a split personality?! I thought she actually died but then she steadied out. This is distressing. If she's going to be my apprentice in the medical field I need to know what's going on inside her head.' Kabuto made some notations and took the report to Orochimaru.
…
"…And those are my findings my Lord." said Kabuto to his master. "I can't imagine anything else that would cause such a thing. Her inconsistency and erratic mood swings could be explained by a split personality. One seems to be extremely positive and the other is the polar opposite coming across as totally negative."
Orochimaru scratched his chin. "This is most interesting. I wonder if the chakra from the Cursed Seal triggered a preexisting condition or if she developed it afterwards. None of the other Cursed Seal users had a reaction anything even resembling this. What do we know about her 'switch?' Is there anything in particular that triggers the change?"
Kabuto sighed. "The only thing I've found that is truly consistent is she always keeps her sunny disposition when she's around Sasuke-kun. Otherwise she seems rather random although her negative side comes out more when she is alone. She often talks to herself as well although I don't know if she realizes this. Some of her comments I've overheard indicate a love/hate relationship with Sasuke-kun."
"Such as?" asked Orochimaru curiously.
The bespectacled nin sweat dropped. "Apparently Sasuke-kun doesn't live up to her expectations in bed…"
Orochimaru looked a bit dumbfounded for a moment and then roared in laughter. "My, my. It seems that Sakura-chan is quite the little spitfire. Keep an eye on her Kabuto. I'll be interested in seeing how this situation develops."
Kabuto bowed and said in a harried voice, "As you wish Orochimaru-sama…"
…
Sasuke's body skidded across the floor and he dropped his sword with a clatter. He groaned and Sakura cried out, "Sasuke-kun!"
"Oh please…" said Guren darkly. "Even with a sword you can't touch me Uchiha. This is a taijutsu only spar. You're as weak as a baby. Get up. We're not done sparring yet. And leave that sword over there with Sakura before you hurt yourself."
Sasuke coughed and got up on his hands and knees. "Bitch…I don't need my sword to defeat you…" He slid his sword over in front of Sakura and said hoarsely, "Watch over that Sakura-chan."
Sakura picked up the katana and sheathed it. 'Sasuke…this is pathetic.' she thought in a dark voice. Sasuke isn't worthy of me...' thought the pinkette darkly as she watched Sasuke getting his ass handed to him by Guren.
"Damn you bitch!" shrieked Sakura aloud as Sasuke hit the floor unconscious.
Guren chuckled. "If you want to help Sasuke then yapping like a pink Pomeranian isn't going to help much Sakura. You should focus on getting stronger."
…
Fire Country, Konoha, Mission Hall
The next morning Team 7 had a mission of their own assigned. Iruka said, "This came up this morning. It's a bandit extermination job to the east. A group has repeatedly raided the supply caravans coming from Otafuku Gai headed towards the Rice Country Border. Hokage-sama suggested I offer it to Team 7 first Anko. I would ordinarily assume a chunin squad would take this but it is still considered C to low B ranked. Do you want it?"
Anko looked at her team and say they all looked determined. They weren't being arrogant but had confidence in themselves. The purple haired jonin said, "This job will probably be bloody. We could get an escort mission instead if you don't feel you're ready for this."
Naruto, Blake and Pyrrha looked at each other for a moment and seemed to have a discussion with their eyes. All of them nodded and Pyrrha said in her always polite manner, "Team 7 will take this mission and do our very best."
Anko nodded. 'They really are in perfect synch with each other.' She said, "Pack for two weeks and meet at the Naruto's Apartment in an hour for a planning session. After that we'll head out. Bring a wartime combat load of weapons. Bring demolition tags as well."
As the three genin left to get their gear Anko received the maps of the areas that the caravans had been hit at as well as the information they knew. Iruka said, "This could be rough for those kids."
The snake princess nodded. "This sort of mission is something we all have to go through as ninjas Iruka. I'm confident they are ready. If it comes down to it, at least they've all seen heavy combat before."
…
Naruto's Apartment
Team 7 was gathered up around Naruto's kitchen table looking over the map around Otafuku Gai. "They've struck six times at six different points along the main roads in the area." said Anko as she pointed to six red x marks on the map.
Blake looked over the pattern carefully. "We may be dealing with two separate groups. These two strikes in the north are far separated from the four in the south near Otafuku Gai."
Anko nodded in approval. "What else team?"
"The attacks in the south were always attributed to small groups and were always near a body of water." said Naruto. "That could mean missing nins using water jutsus."
"It's possible." said Pyrrha. "The stolen goods also could have been shipped out over water indicating boat users are involved and are leaving quickly with what they can take."
Blake traced her fingers over the small rivers that dotted the area. "All these attacks have been near bodies of water that are connected to Kurai Lake. That's where we should look first. If the bandits have a base near there we could take it out quickly."
"What about the two in the north?" asked the jonin.
Pyrrha answered, "We take out the southern group first and then resupply at Otafuku Gai if necessary. Then we move northwards."
"Sounds like a solid plan." said Anko. "At a good pace it will take us two days to reach Otafuku Gai. Kurai Lake is slightly northwest of there. Let's move out team."
Soon Team 7 left the East gates. Destination: Kurai Lake…
…
Northern Fire Country
Team 8 and the caravan they were escorting pitched their tents for the night and settled down to eat some dinner. "Well, we've been out for three days and no one has attacked us." said Nobuyuki to Kurenai. "Here's hoping that trend continues."
Kurenai took a sip from her canteen and said. "With as many Konoha ninja and the Daimyo's Samurai in the area it seems unlikely that we will be attacked. I noticed you seemed very nervous when those samurai showed up to check on us earlier today. Why is that? Are you smuggling something?"
Nobuyuki sweat dropped. "I'm not a smuggler Kurenai-san. I was worried because they rode up so fast. I thought they were the Reapers."
Kiba asked; "Who are the Reapers Jiji?"
"You don't know much do you kid?" asked Nobuyuki obnoxiously.
"The Reapers are supposed to be a group of ronin that raid caravans and supply routes." said Shino. "Rumor has it they may be in Fire Country but it hasn't been confirmed."
"Rogue samurai…that can't be good." thought Hinata aloud. "What is their point of origin?"
"No one is sure." explained Nobuyuki. "Supposedly they first appeared in Earth Country and have gradually been moving eastward like nomads. They overwhelm small convoys with sheer numbers and by the time the authorities get there the bastards are long gone."
Kurenai was flipping through her bingo book and said, "Most of these so called Reapers are considered a C ranked threat but there are an estimated twenty or thirty of them. They actually have large bounties on them because of all the disruption they've caused in the last six months. Interesting."
Nobuyuki grunted. "Interesting or not they are damned dangerous and I doubt you kids would last long in combat with that many men."
"It all depends on how well trained they are." said Hinata. "A well-trained samurai is a serious threat but if they are just a bunch of poorly organized ronin then I doubt they would be able to overwhelm us."
"Be that as it may; hopefully we won't run into any trouble, Reapers or otherwise." said Kurenai.
"Do they have an insignia?" asked Kiba.
Kurenai nodded. "Two crossed scythes in white on a red field. They have them on their armbands."
"We will just have to be diligent then." said Shino…
…
Eastern Fire Country, Kurai Lake Region
Early in the morning Anko and her team arrived on the western end of Kurai Lake. The lake was foggy and the area was generally overcast. Team 7 was down in the reeds observing things from a distance. "There is a lot of noise coming from the northern edge of this lake." said Blake as her ears swiveled about. "We should do some reconnaissance before we make a move."
The snake princess quietly listened as his team brainstormed. "If two of us travel north through the trees we can see what's going on land side." said Naruto. "The other two can water walk over and see what's going on from the lake side. What do you think Anko-sensei?"
The purple haired jonin said, "Blake-chan and I will head up over the land route because we're the fastest. We'll stay low because the fog will cover us. Naruto-kun and Pyrrha-chan can go over the water and observe. Tune your radios to channel 126 and signal when you get in position. Let's move team."
…
Naruto was quietly observing from his position on the lake. "I see eleven of them in the boathouse on the shore." said Naruto over his radio. "The boathouse isn't overly large but crates of supplies are stacked all around it. There also are two flat bottomed boats that look ideal for carrying river cargo tied off near the boathouse. Hmmm…It looks like they are wearing rebreathers. They are probably from Rain Country…I- Well, shit!" said Naruto as he went horizontal on the water with a splashing sound. "There's two more out here on the water!"
Naruto quickly found himself at a distinct disadvantage. Not only was he outnumbered and caught by surprise; he was in the water -the territory Rain ninjas were at their best. The two he was facing wasted no time stacking the deck in their favor. One was portly and obviously was a chakra powerhouse. He made a dozen water clones and didn't seem winded. The other was a lithe kunoichi with a rapier. Naruto flipped backwards into the fog and made a dozen shadow clones to face his opponent's water clones. The cacophony of kunais clashing rang across the water in the fog as the clone armies battled for supremacy.
Pyrrha heard the battle explode from her position and spotted the portly ninja who had a spiked mace drawn. The big ninja was looking for the original Naruto because the endless sea of orange clad shadow clones was too much for him to keep up with. Pyrrha saw him make another batch of water clones to join the battle and zoomed in on her target with her blade Miló drawn. He heard her footfalls on the water and turned to defend as her sword scarred the edge of his mace. Sparks flew and the big ninja wasn't expecting such strength from the red haired kunoichi.
"Damn it!" yelled the big man. "There are more of them Hotaru! Watch your back!"
Hotaru managed to sneak up on the original Naruto and stabbed him from behind. "One down…." she whispered. "Then 'Naruto' burst into smoke. "A clone? But he was separate from the others…" That's when Naruto's wind chakra covered fist hit her in the ribs and sent her skipping like a stone across the water…The whole battlefield heard her cry out in pain from the impact…
…
With Anko and Blake…
Blake heard Naruto over the radio fall into some sort of ambush and wanted to run to him but that would mean exposing herself and Anko to the enemy. She heard Anko whisper, "Steady Blake-chan. Naruto can take care of himself." The two tree hopped over to the roof of the boathouse in silence and heard the Rain kunoichi Hotaru scream and then saw three of the Rain nins run out onto the lake. Anko signaled Blake to stay on the roof and attack in 60 seconds. She nodded and Anko vanished in a body flicker.
The snake princess appeared outside the entrance of the boathouse and ducked in. '10 seconds…' There was only on ninja inside as the others were outside on the dock. The ninja had his attention riveted to the battle outside and wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings. It was child's play for a jonin of Anko's caliber to slip up behind the ninja and slit his throat in silence. '40 seconds…. Anko lowered the body to the floor and positioned herself to strike through the door she cracked open…
Blake's amber eyes flashed in the sunlight. '60 seconds…' She launched two handfuls of senbon needles into the backs of the necks of two of the Rain ninjas. As their bodies lurched forward into the water; Anko exploded out onto the dock and took a ninja with a kunai in the spine...
The four remaining Rain nins were totally shocked at the sudden attack and jumped into combat ready stances.
'Two on one odds…' thought Anko. 'This shouldn't be an issue…'
…
Meanwhile out on the water…
Hotaru was gasping for breath. With one brutal hit the orange clad ninja had knocked her completely out of the fight. She knew her ribs were shattered. One of her comrades arrived and was trying to get to her as Naruto charged in from the other side to finish her off. Two other Rain nins ran out to help her partner Oboro who obviously was in trouble from the way he was yelling and screaming…
…
Oboro was in bad shape. He never dreamed Pyrrha would be so formidable. Figuring he was bigger and much stronger the big man tried to simply overpower her. He soon found her odd round shield Akoúo̱ was as big of a problem as her sword. Pyrrha deflected his mace to the side with the Miló and smashed him rapidly with her shield. He was disoriented and made a wild downward strike with his mace that hit the water. Pyrrha countered him and Oboro tried to block on reflex…His armguard was no match for her sword Miló and he lost his left hand at the wrist. Oboro screamed bloody murder and Pyrrha followed up by smashing her Akoúo̱ into his already mangled left arm causing it to break…
…
Naruto had to abort his attack on the downed kunoichi Hotaru because of another Rain ninja attacking him with a senbon launcher. As Naruto skidded across the water to avoid the spray of senbon needles when he noticed the Rain nin had a scratched out forehead protector. 'Missing nins…Not that I'm surprised…' The orange clad nin rolled to his feet and whispered. "Multi Wind Slash."
Hotaru was horrified as her friend standing over her protectively exploded into bloody chunks of meat from the overpowered wind jutsu that cut him down in an instant. Gore rained down upon her from the horrific spectacle. She felt herself coughing up blood into her rebreather from Naruto's hit earlier and realized her lung was punctured from her shattered ribs. Naruto came into view and Hotaru said weakly, "I'll die before I let you take me alive monster." She then slit her own throat with her rapier. Naruto shook his head as she collapsed lifelessly into the water…
…
Miló tasted Oboro's blood a final time as Pyrrha took the big man's head off at the neck. She'd already defeated him but with two others coming the redhead couldn't risk letting him live. A tall and skinny Rain nin yelled "Oboro!" just as his friend's head separated from his shoulders. "Damn you fucking bitch!" screamed the ninja at Pyrrha. He drew kunai and charged her in a rage. Pyrrha reacted like lightning on threw Akoúo̱ at the angry nin. The shield hit him in the neck before ricocheting back to her arm in a fluid movement.
The angry nin was choking and gasping for breath as two orange clad shadow clones splashed out from under the water and pulled the missing nin under the surface forever…
The original Naruto arrived just in time to see Pyrrha run the last Rain nin though the heart with Miló. Naruto sighed as she whipped her blade out of her enemy's body. He walked up slowly to the redhead and said, "Are you hurt Pyrrha-chan?"
"I'm just tired Naruto-kun." said the exhausted redhead. "Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be fine."
…
The Boathouse…
An unspoken signal sent the four Rain ninjas and two Konoha ninjas exploding into action. Two of the missing nins (a kunoichi and a shinobi) went after Anko from either side and the two others leaped up to the roof to go after the still unseen Blake. Blake's cat like reflexes were too much to be caught off guard and one of her assailants ended up with four senbon needles sticking out of his eyes and face. He screamed and fell back off the roof. The other ninja dodged easily. He chuckled and said, "You're pretty good little girl; but I'm a jonin and I'm too fast for your little needles." He produced a barbed whip and said. "I hope pain gets you off girl. You'll never reach me with that katana on your back." He cracked his whip dangerously.
That was when the feline faunus girl pulled her Gambol Shroud and spun it in its kusarigama form. She hissed, "You're not the only one with range…"
The jonin took a step back and started to sweat…
…
Anko flipped completely over her kunoichi opponent and got both of her enemies in front of her. About that time Blake's target with senbon needles in his eyes came screaming off the roof in between the combatants. All three were a bit dumbfounded as he fell onto the deck face first. Any chances he would have lived were ended when the needles were shoved completely into his brain. His neck snapped as well in a gruesome display as the blood poured out of his downed face and flooded out around his head on the deck.
"Nori…?" asked the Rain kunoichi.
"I'm pretty sure he's dead…" said Anko with a sweat drop as the blood pooled. "At least I hope he is for his sake…"
…
Blake made a clone and dodged a whip strike as the barbs destroyed her clone. The jonin leaped back as her Gambol Shroud cut a deadly arc through the air. He counter struck in an effort to catch Blake's ankles, but she did a handless cartwheel over the strike. The jonin laughed and said "Not bad but you can't change directions like I can." He almost grazed her arm but Blake was just quick enough to avoid a nasty gash. The jonin ducked another slash over his head that he agilely ducked. "How long can you keep dodging me girl?"
Blake growled, "You talk too much." as she sent a chakra burst down the Gambol shroud causing a chakra charge in the head of the Gambol Shroud to detonate. The blade changed direction mid-flight and the jonin barely had time to turn his head as the Gambol Shroud wrapped around his neck.
He choked out, "Wait!" as Blake pulled the blade back towards herself and took his head off in a geyser of blood that rained down on the deck below.
The jonin's head hit the deck and bounced into the water before his spasming body hit the deck as well. Blake appeared at Anko's side in a squat. She was coated in blood and hissed, "Who's next?"
The Rain ninja and kunoichi were shaking in fear and snake princess said, "You know, surrender is an option. I can only hold Blake-chan back for so long…"
The two missing ninjas dropped their weapons and held their arms up in defeat…
…
The wet and bloodied Naruto and Pyrrha soon water walked up and found Anko talking to two tied up missing nins and Blake looking just as bloody as they did.
"How come Anko-sensei doesn't have a speck of blood on her?" asked Naruto dumbfounded.
"I'm just that good." preened Anko as her bloodstained genins all sweat dropped. "Once we get semi cleaned up we'll be escorting our two new friends the Otafuku Gai where they can stay with the authorities."
"Are you sure we shouldn't eliminate them?" asked Naruto plainly. The two prisoners shivered.
Anko said, "These two are D-ranked in the bingo books. Given they are just runaway genins I think we can forgive them."
The three genins of Team 7 nodded. "Let's wash up and head to Otafuku Gai." said Pyrrha. "We're all filthy."
…
Northern Fire Country
While Team 7 was escorting their two prisoners back to Otafuku Gai; Team 8 and their clients ran out of luck. A group of men rode over the ridge west of them on horseback. They had a banner much like one would expect from a Daimyo's samurai. It was red with a white image of crossed scythes on it. These were the self-proclaimed Reapers…
"Can you see them clearly Hinata-chan?" asked Kurenai as she looked into the distance.
Hinata zoomed in with her byakugan and said, "It's the Reapers we've heard about. I count twenty two of them and they are armed and armored as samurai. I have no doubt they are trained ronin. Their formation is in a perfect line ahead…Most are pulling longbows! Everyone needs to take cover!"
About twenty arrows were unleashed and hit at the front of the caravan where Kiba was. He heard Hinata's 'take cover' and tackled the lead driver Nobuyuki back inside the front cart to shield him. The cart was peppered with arrows and Kiba was hit clean through in the shoulder. The old man was unharmed though. Kiba winced and said, "Are you alright Jiji?"
Nobuyuki's normally squinted eyes were wide open now. "Never mind me boy! What about you?!"
Kiba growled, "My team will patch me up. The battle has just started." Kiba made the hand signs to turn Akamaru into his twin with his man-beast clone. "Cut off the rear end of the arrow and pull it through Akamaru!" said the dog user. "Jiji, can you bandage me up? There is a lot of work to do."
…
Outside, Shino unleashed a massive swarm of insects in a black cloud that rushed towards the front of the Reaper's line. Hinata pulled her Midnight swords and formed them into a bow. Channeling chakra into the seals on the hand grip; three arrows appeared with flaming tips. "I hate to hurt animals but…" She unleashed the three flaming streaks into the leading horse and rider. Both of the targets were traveling at high speed and went down violently rolling end over end. The ronin behind them were caught off guard when their vanguard fell and a good third of them crashed into one another as they piled up trying to avoid each other.
Kurenai cast a wide area genjustu of a massive return fire of arrows the horsemen tried to desperately avoid. Shino's kikaichū beetles swarmed among the men and horses into their eyes causing the group to break out into a panic.
Seconds later a bandaged Kiba and Akamaru were amongst them in a violent fang over fang jutsu that caused a great deal of damage and knocked the remaining riders from their horses. The Reapers were disoriented and half their number was already down. Kurenai slipped among the confused brigands and started slitting their throats.
Hinata stayed with the caravan and picked off the confused stragglers with her arrows. 'Cinder's aim was always superb but combined with Hinata's byakugan I can be even more lethal.' thought Hinata to herself as she carefully shot down another Reaper with deadly precision.
By the time the remaining Reapers regrouped a mere eight of them were left standing and were being harried by kikaichū beetles. Their horses had scattered to the four winds in fear and their remaining comrades were either dead or unconscious.
Kurenai saw Kiba's bandage and was concerned but Kiba signaled he was all right. Kurenai signaled Kiba to hold his position. 'He's already done a fang over fang wounded. There's no need to further aggravate his injuries.' Kurenai threw a kunai with an exploding tag into the middle of the remaining Reapers. They avoided the kunai easily enough but it was too late to avoid the explosion. Though they were wearing armor, the brigands couldn't survive being at point blank from the detonation.
…
A bit later; Hinata was patching up Kiba properly after the fight. "You are very lucky this was just a flesh wound Kiba-kun. When we get to the Rice Country border we need a medic nin to have a look at this. I've cleaned it well but we can't risk an infection." She gave him a blood pill and said, "Take this and ride with Nobuyuki-san the rest of the way."
Shino was reporting to Kurenai. "Seventeen of the Reapers are dead and the remaining five are badly injured. Should we bring them with us or eliminate them?"
Kurenai answered, "I'll talk to Nobuyuki-san. If we can; we'll load the injured onto the flatbed cart and haul them in under arrest. The seventeen bodies we'll seal in some scrolls to collect the bounties later. "These Reapers had big prices on their heads according to the bingo books. What about the horses?"
"The men of the caravan collected up nine of them." said Shino. "The remainder fled or died of injuries."
"Shame about the animals." thought Kurenai aloud. "Once we get everything secured, I'll talk to Nobuyuki-san and we'll get back underway."
…
Both Team 7 and Team 8 had earned their pay that day…
…
Fire Country, Otafuku Gai
Team 7 was relaxing at the Mitsubachi Inn. The adrenalin rush from earlier that day had worn off and they were worn out. After the grisly task of collecting the heads of the missing nins they'd killed the group went to the Bounty Station in Otafuku Gai and turned in their prisoners. They also collected the bounties on their targets. Anko questioned the two runaway Rain genin and as Team 7 suspected they had nothing to do with the bandit raids to the north. Once the situation was explained, the authorities at Otafuku Gai quickly dispatched teams of laborers to recover the stolen goods from the boathouse on Kurai Lake. After that Anko took her tired team to the inn to rest and recover.
The Mitsubachi Inn had a restaurant attached to it and Anko found herself very amused at the rate her team was eating. They all were starving. The purple haired jonin said, "You three are acting like you've been on a religious fast for a month. Slow down and enjoy the food."
Blake looked up from her third helping of sushi and said, "Considering that we did most of the work it's no wonder we're starving Anko nee-chan!"
Naruto was eating oden with Pyrrha. He said between bites, "We traipsed all over Fire Country before we came here to eat. It was like a religious fast. We're are ninja, not monks!"
Pyrrha refilled her dish and said politely, "I'm forced to agree with Naruto-kun and Blake-chan. We should have eaten hours ago."
Anko swiped some of Blake's sushi which made the faunus growl at her. The snake princess said with a smile, "You guys were all filthy dirty. I was tempted to eat but given I was the only one presentable it would have been bad manners to eat inside while you all starved outside."
"You could have brought some takeout food to us, sensei!" growled all three genins as one.
"You know, that's an excellent idea kids." said Anko thoughtfully. "Shame I didn't think about it hours ago."
The three genins sweat dropped and Pyrrha said, "You are incorrigible sensei."
"Why thank you Pyrrha-chan." said Anko brightly. "I do try." Pyrrha just face palmed and went back to her meal…
…
Northern Fire Country
Team 8 and Nobuyuki's Caravan were making good time though the sun was starting to set. The old man chuckled at the bored looking Kiba who was riding with him. "Kiba; I thought you kids were all talk but since you took out the Reapers I feel like I can relax and actually enjoy this trip."
Kiba looked a bit nonplussed. "Well Nobuyuki Jiji, there's still three days before we make it to our destination. We can't afford to drop our guards." 'Damn I wish I could be up running around with Akamaru. Hinata-chan and Kurenai-sensei are really being strict with me over this shoulder injury.' the Inuzuka boy pouted mentally.
Nobuyuki smiled and said, "You'll be up and around before you know it Kiba. The ladies are mother-henning you just because they care. My wife does the same thing to me when I'm sick or hurt. Just sit back and take it easy."
"I wish it was that easy." grumped Kiba. "Kurenai-sensei might as well have eyes in the back of her head and Hinata-chan basically does."
"At least they're both quite easy on the eyes." said the old man as he waggled his shaggy eyebrows.
Kiba sweat dropped. "Hinata-chan is like a sister to me and Kurenai is my sensei…For all that matter they're both way too young for you dirty old man!"
Nobuyuki's laughter carried across the caravan…
Kurenai radioed her students. "The sun is starting to set. We're going to break for camp soon so be on the lookout for an area that is easily defendable."
Hinata saw the orange in the sky as the sun set and thought of Naruto. 'I wonder how Naruto-kun is doing…' Activating her byakugan; the Hyūga heiress saw a hill beyond the next ridge they could camp at. "I see a hill about a kilometer ahead of us Kurenai sensei." she said over the radio. "There is a large area of high ground that would be good to camp at."
Kurenai replied, "Excellent. Once we get there we'll set up some basic defenses and see about hunting down some dinner."
"Can Akamaru and I do the hunting?" asked Kiba hopefully over the radio.
"NO KIBA!" replied Kurenai and Hinata in unison.
The dog ninja just pouted as he cried anime tears at the injustice of it all…
…
POSTSCRIPT:
See you next time. Blue out. 4/18/22