Warning: There is a scene with violent rape, those that are triggered by such things should not continue reading past the warning.
Author's Note: As this is an AU the age of graduation from the Academy is now 14 and the age of our hero at the start of this story is 17 as he/she was held back. At the start of this chapter, our heroes are now 18 and others are 17/18 depending on their birth month.
...
Reflections
Chapter 6
The blood of my Enemies
…
It was the next day when Asuma had agreed it would be the most likely time for an attack and had assigned team ten to the front of the column and seven to the back. The two Jonin would stay in the middle area so they could react to any attack.
With a screen of Naruto clones on both sides of the wagon column, Shikamaru was still telling everyone that they would have an early warning and relax. Nariko had said even the plans of a Nara fail sometimes and walked off pulling Naruto along.
Having read mission reports where a Nara had sacrificed teams working with them just to protect their own she didn't trust Shikamaru was truthfully working for the good of them all.
"Nariko-chan what is wrong?", said Naruto as he was pulled down the long wagon train to their assigned spot near the last wagon.
"I don't trust Nara, that clan has the blood of the village on them.", said Nariko thinking of all the war stories they taught her in root where a Nara's plan had insured victory but at a cost to those around them.
Naruto pulled free and stopped Nariko in her tracks, "No, that is not Shikamaru, he would only have a plan that works for everyone."
Putting his hands on both of Nariko's shoulders forcing her to look him in the eye he said, "This isn't your world Nariko-chan, remember what Kakashi sensei said we work as a team, we protect those around us and that includes team ten."
Looking around as if waking from a dream Nariko felt that she had gone and come back again. Yes, this wasn't her war-torn world where trust was a weakness and only the strong lived to see the next day.
"Thank you Naruto-Kun, I will do my best to protect everyone,", said Nariko knowing that in any real battle the best way to protect anybody was to kill all the enemies as fast as you can. Wishing Naruto understood that basic fact that every root member was taught she pulled free and walked back to the last wagon where Sakura was waiting for them.
"Sakura, have you seen anything,", asked Naruto leaving off the chan.
"Naruto you idiot, if I had seen something I would have said something,", said Sakura looking at the two blondes, she was still mad at what Naruto had said about only being friends not that she wanted anything more but it had been nice feeling desired.
Taking up their positions they could only wait for something to happen and that Shikamaru was right.
…
"Dam it Shikamaru get up and stop staring at the clouds.", said Ino kicking the Nara in the leg to get him moving.
"Sitting or standing doesn't make a difference Ino.", said Shikamaru not moving from his resting spot.
From his spot at the front of the lumber, Choji turned to look at his two teammates before looking down at the two drivers as they used a long whip to touch the back of the Ox to keep them moving.
Choji noticed they were exiting the forest into a more open field on both sides of the road giving him a view of the mountains they were traveling between. This was a change Choji wasn't sure Shikamaru had planned on.
Turning back once again Choji said, "Shikamaru you had better take a look at this.", as Shikamaru rolled over and got up to stand next to Choji he could see the open fields they were entering spread out on either side for a half mile or more.
"Didn't you tell Naruto to have his clones stay in the forest?", asked Choji as they entered the open fields with the line of trees moving farther away with every step of the Ox.
"Yes, yes I did.", said Shikamaru as he watched his grand plan fall apart.
"Ino, can you use your mind broadcast jutsu to tell the clones to come closer.", asked the worried Nara.
"It doesn't work on clones, all I would be doing is telling Naruto. His clones don't really have an interdependent chakra network, if they did he wouldn't be getting their memories back.", said Ino
"Can you go any faster?", asked Shikamaru to the drivers 20 feet below them.
"An Ox has two speeds, stopped and moving.", yelled back the driver laughing at his own joke.
"What do we do now,", asked Ino as she scanned the open fields trying to spot anything that would give them a warning.
"Let's just hope that Asuma sensei is right and Iwagakure hired a bunch of second-rate bandits", said Shikamaru
It had been midmorning when they first entered the open fields and it was now late afternoon as the last of the wagons left the forest. The wagon train was nearly a mile long as it spread out along the dirt road with the front of the train not in sight most of the day. Now with the whole caravan out in the open all the drivers were getting tense. The tall grass on either side of them could be hiding an army for all they knew as the heat of the full sun beating down on them and the waves of heat coming off the grass blurred their sight even more.
"Ino you're the closes thing we have to a sensor type. Do you feel anything out there.", asked Shikamaru, he was feeling a little upbeat now that the lowering sun was casting long shadows to the side of the wagon, shadows he could use to great effect.
"No, I don't feel anything but Naruto bouncing around behind us and Nariko is letting off enough killer intent for ten shinobi," said Ino, then giving Shikamaru a hard look she said. "She is really pissed at you so you better be ready to apologize."
Giving a grunt of agreement Shikamaru continued to try to scan every blade of grass for a sign when he heard an explosion behind him as the middle of the convoy was engulfed in a fireball. Running to the back of their wagon team ten watched as the wagon the two Jonin had been standing on was thrown high into the air covered in flames and broken lumber. It was 60 wagons behind them but the shockwave still pushed them back a step or two when it hit.
As he was about to run back Shikamaru felt the wagon push up before he heard the sound of a bomb going up under their wagon. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as he used a shadow jutsu to push all three of them up into the air toward the sun-shaded side of the wagon as the blood and guts of the two Ox and their drivers filled the air with an iron smell.
Landing hard but only getting the wind knocked out of them team ten took a defensive formation waiting for something or someone to make the next move. They didn't have to wait long as the ground around them erupted with dozens of shinobi popping out of spider holes and running full speed at them. The cloud symbol could be clearly seen on them as they grew closer.
Seeing they were outnumbered 20 or 30 to one Shikamaru said, "Ok team, don't hold back, take out as many as you can, Choji you're our heavy hitter you take the lead."
With that Choji pulled out his family's special pills his father told him to never use unless he had no choice and quickly chewed all three down. With a quick hand sign, he yelled.
"Full body expansion." growing to twenty feet tall. Picking up one of the beams from the burning wagon he used it as a club to smash into the first line of charging shinobi.
"Shadow spears,", yelled out Shikamaru causing spears to leap out of the shadows and killing the nearest shinobi.
Looking to the side he could see Ino had taken out a couple of sound shinobi already and was in a fierce taijutsu fight with two more. Using a mind confuse jutsu she was able to get behind one and knife him in the back before getting kicked herself. Now with all three of them fully engaged they did their best to back each other up as more and more enemy shinobi came running at them.
A sound shinobi stopped just out of range of Choji's swinging club and yelled, "Resonating Echo Drill", blasting Choji in the chest with unstoppable sound waves pushing the large Akimichi back but doing no real damage.
Throwing the now bloody beam at his attacker Choji reduced him to a smear on the grass as the wooden beam reduced him to body parts. Picking up another beam Choji let out a scream as another sound shinobi cut open his leg with a sound blade jutsu.
Dropping to one knee he grabbed the sound shinobi and threw him at a group of ninjas that were trying to trap Ino against the wagon that had been close behind.
When Ino spotted the screaming sound ninja flying at her she backflipped up onto the side of the lumber wagon and using her chakra stuck to it as the screaming missile smashed into the three enemy shinobi killing them all instantly.
Now with a moment to think she looked around to see total chaos as every wagon, she could see was on fire with the men and Ox either dead or running for their lives into the tall grass. She could feel great waves of chakra coming from the end of the wagon train telling her that team seven was deep into their own fight. As for the two Jonin she felt nothing and couldn't see them through the smoke to tell if they were alive or not.
"Sorry guys if this doesn't work.", said Ino more to herself as she made the hand signs to a jutsu her father had been trying to teach her.
"Mind as One Jutsu", she screamed out hoping that the others would hear her and not fight the jutsu as she tried to join all three of their minds into one. After four heartbeats she thought it had failed when suddenly she could see the battlefield out of three sets of eyes.
"Shikamaru, I give you control.", she said as she used her chakra to change the jutsu.
Now with three bodies to control Shikamaru used his greatest weapon, his mind. The three formed into one as every blind spot the enemy tried to use was turned against them. Choji's wild swings turned into perfect hits on every target. The shadows leaped out of the grass to ensnare shinobi that had been hidden from his sight and Ino was throwing shurikens as if she was a master of the art.
Hope, it can be your worst enemy or greatest ally in a battle and team ten felt hope as they ruled the battlefield for the moment. With dozen of dead sound shinobi around them, they felt there had to be an end to them.
"Decapitating Airwaves.", scream out a sound Jonin as a wave of sound came flying at them cutting down some of his own men as it grew closer. Even the grass was cut into pieces giving Shikamaru a clear view of what was coming.
Using Choji's body he had him pick up one of the still intake wagons and throw it in the path of the jutsu giving them a chance to regroup. When the wave of cutting sound hit the wagon it exploded the wood into a rain of sawdust filling the air with a choking mixture of wood and grass.
"Shikamaru, I can't hold this jutsu much longer,", said Ino as she leaned on her knees trying to catch her breath.
Looking at Choji he could see he was growing weaker as he was slowly getting smaller and the cut on his leg had covered his pant leg completely in blood.
He could think of only one choice at this point and using Ino's jutsu forced all three of them to run toward the middle of the wagon train in the hope that the Jonin were still alive and if not they could join up with team seven a mile behind them.
"Sound confusion,", yelled out a sound ninja from within the smoke cloud,
"Sound: Breaking Worlds", yelled out another.
As the two jutsu hit them at a full run Ino's mind jutsu failed and as the ground around them broke apart they all lost their balance and fell on their faces into the dirt.
Shaking his head Shikamaru was able to stand up to only come face to face with a sound shinobi wielding a sword. Leaping back he wasn't fast enough to completely avoid the blow as the sword passed through his leg cutting it off right below the knee.
Landing on his back and slamming his head into a large beam he knew he has only seconds to live, Shikamaru put his hands together and said, "Shadow blades.", creating four blades out of the shadows around him to cut the onrushing shinobi into five pieces. As the body parts landed on and around him Shikamaru used the last of his chakra to create a shadow to tie off his leg to stop the blood before he felt himself going into shock from the concussion and the loss of his leg.
Choji stands up to look over at his best friend and sees him covered in blood and body parts cries out, he can't tell what is his friend and what is an enemy. Thinking the worst Choji tries his best to run over to help but still unable to walk hears a sound shinobi rushing at him.
"Wall of Sound", yells out the sound shinobi.
When the wall of sounds hits Choji he is picked up off his feet and sent flying back until he slams into the side of another wagon. The force of the sound holds him pinned to the wood as another sound ninja joins the first.
"Sound: Echo Blast", yells out this new shinobi as he sends his jutsu into a pile of wood that had fallen from one of the wagons. The jutsu shredded the wood into pieces and Choji was helpless as he watches long spears of wood flying at him.
Ino could only scream as she watched three long spears of wood pierce Choji and pin his lifeless body to the side of the wagon.
"Hey look what we have here.", said a black hair sound shinobi as he stood facing an unsteady Ino. Reaching for her weapon pouch she found she had used every ninja tool she had and trying her best to take a taijutsu stance she shook her head trying to clear it.
"it's all over blondie, you have killed all my friends and now it's payback time.", said the sound ninja as he walked right up to Ino and punched her in the jaw knocking her back into the scattered beams of one of the wagons. Hitting her head hard on the wood she was knocked out cold.
…
Naruto was bored, it had been a long morning sitting on the last wagon watching the trees slowly go by as the Ox took one step after another. When the trees stopped and he could see the wide open spaces with mountains standing tall on both sides it at least gave him something new to look at as the Ox took one more step after another.
Naruto noticed that Sakura and Nariko had started pacing back and forth once the trees fell away and the sun started to beat down on the grass around them giving in a shimmer as waves of heat raised up from the ground. He didn't know why they seemed to be getting upset but he was happy it wasn't with him for once.
"Nariko, come sit with me, it's too hot to be pacing around like that.", said Naruto getting tired of watching her with the heat of the sun beating down on his head.
"Naruto you idiot, don't you see what happen.", said Sakura pointing out into the distance.
"What? Well, the trees are gone and now there is grass.", said Naruto wondering why that seems so important.
Nariko walked over to him and shielded him from the sun so he could look up at her, "Naruto, with the trees gone, where do you think your clones are?", she asked hoping he would get it on his own. She knew he wasn't as dumb as some people thought, it was only that he just didn't try hard enough having been told to be quiet so many times in his life.
"I told them to stay in the trees so they are over there,", he said pointing to the distant tree line now almost a half mile away.
Nariko waited, and waited some more until Naruto jumped up and said, "We don't have any clones to warn us of an attack."
"Yes", said Nariko walking back to the edge of the wagon to look out into the distance.
"Well I can just make more.", said Naruto as he jumped up and formed his trademark hand sign but just as he was about to yell out his clone jutsu a massive explosion rocked the wagon train, and a towner of fire and broken lumber shooting up into the air.
"That was Kakashi sensei's wagon.", screamed Sakura pointing at the fireball that was still growing.
As they look up the length of the wagon train they heard another explosion at the front of the long line of wagons. This one was much smaller but they could still so pieces flying up into the air.
With his hands still in his clone jutsu sign, Naruto yelled, "Multiple Shadow Clones", creating hundreds of shadow clones and sending them running toward the burning wagons in the middle. As the clones reached the halfway point the grass around the wagon opened up and hundreds of sound ninjas came running at them cutting them down but losing many of their own as the clones fought back.
Naruto was having his own problems as around their wagon more sound ninja were attacking them as he created more clones to hold them back.
"Nariko, look! What is that.", screamed Sakura as she was still standing next to the blonde girl.
Nariko threw a dozen shurikens and yelled "Fire clone Shuriken Rain", turning her dozen shuriken into hundreds, each of them covered in fire and spreading out into the onrushing shinobi.
Looking at where Sakura was pointing she froze and said, "That is the curse seal markings.", as she could see at least twenty or more Shinobi growing larger and their bodies distorting as they were being covered in black markings with their skin turning grey. Each was running at Naruto as if he was the only enemy they could see.
"Naruto, don't hold back, use the kyubbi,", yelled out Nariko as she reached down into her own seal to come face to face with the Nail-Tail fox caged within her.
"Fox, I know you can see what is happening, help me!", yelled Nariko feeling something she had never felt before, fear not for herself but for someone else a fear that she couldn't control.
"Why my little kit should I help you now.", said the fox crossing its paws and spreading its tails out behind it.
Thinking of the only thing that the fox would care about she said, "Uchiha, it is the Uchiha bastard and his army. You want him to win? If I die he will surely take control over you just like his type did before.", said Nariko knowing of the fox's history.
The great fox's eyes glowed brightly at the thought of the Uchiha winning and said, "Use your anger child, and take all my chakra that you can control."
Returning back to the real world Nariko could see only a second had passed and Naruto was covered in red bubbling chakra as he fought the curse seal monsters she refused to call shinobi.
"Sakura, you stay here and try to protect the wagon.", said Nariko hoping the pink-haired girl would survive this day as she covered herself in red chakra and ran to the edge of the wagon and jumped off into the burning fields of grass. Using her speed and the extended reach the red chakra gave her she cut down shinobi after shinobi with body parts flying as sound jutsu bounced off her form as she ran.
"Cutting Wind Blades.", screamed Naruto overloading the jutsu with chakra and cutting to pieces a dozen shinobi all around him. Taking a blow from a now eight-foot tall curse seal enhanced shinobi he went flying backward into the wagon almost knocking it over and sending Sakura flying into the grass field on the other side.
He bounced off the wagon's side and using a flying kick sent the large shinobi up into the air. Leaping after him he kicked him again and again until at last he lost his momentum and fell back to the ground.
Nariko seeing the large shinobi falling from the sky rolled under a wild punch from another sound shinobi and laying on her back yelled out, "Great Fire Ball", sending a fox-powered fireball up into the sky and burning the shinobi into a blacken charred mass as he fell.
As she rolled to get up she was kicked in the side and flew off into the still burning grass to be surrounded by dozens of sound shinobi that tried to pile on top of her.
"Rasengan", she yelled with a ball of blue and red chakra in each hand basting apart three of the charging shinobi sending their body parts in a spray of blood into their companions. Looking off into the distance she could see Naruto with a giant ball of chakra in his hand smashing it into a charging group of curse seal-covered monsters. When the blast wave from his giant Rasengan cleared she could see him covered in his enemy's blood and running toward her.
Her rage was replaced with pride as she could see he wasn't holding back.
"Nariko-chan are you all right.", said a fire-red Naruto as the chakra from the nine tails ate at his skin and turned his eyes from sky blue to fire red. She knew she looked no better and they both would pay the price later but for now, they still had hundreds of enemy shinobi to kill.
"Yes, I am as fine as you, now let's show them what it means to attack US,", said Nariko.
"Great Phoenix Fire Balls,", she screamed as dozens of winged fireballs came flying out of her mouth.
"Great Wind Tornado Blades,", yelled out Naruto as a matching dozen spinning tornados joined with the fire phoenixes to spin off into the grass fields cutting and burning everything and everybody in their path.
The carnage was unbearable and Naruto knew he would never get the sight of so much blood and guts flying into the air burning as it fell to the ground. They had practiced this jutsu a hundred times but never using the Fox's chakra.
A grinning Nariko turned to him and said, "Good job, now let's finish them."
Running into the field she didn't notice Naruto pause and watch her as she attached anything that moved. He knew this was the only way but he wasn't going to enjoy it like her.
As Nariko ran wildly farther into the fields she outran the effect of their combination jutsu and right into the second wave of fresh sound shinobi.
"Sound Waves", yells one of the sound Jonin as he spotted Nariko hitting her squarely in the chest sending her flying backward. If it wasn't for the nine-tails chakra she would have been torn to pieces. Even then she felt like she had fallen off the Hokage tower in her sleep.
"Who the hell is this bitch. We were only supposed to be fighting one Jinchuurki." said a Jonin as he made hand signs for his personal favorite jutsu.
"Decapitating Airwaves", again hitting Nariko sending her flying back to land spinning and tumbling out of control into the burning grass.
"I have no idea but a mission is a mission and you don't want to go back a failure.", said the first Jonin as he ran to find the blonde girl and finish her off before finding their real target.
"Thunder Sound Wave", yelled out another sound shinobi reducing all the grass to a cloud of fine dust and revealing Nariko laying on the ground face first, the cloak of chakra had started to fade and her turn form could be seen.
"Dam bitch, sure is tough, she should be a bloody smear by now.", said one of the Jonin as he walked up to her.
As he came closer Nariko crawled to her knees and then to her feet, swaying back and forth she could see a blurry vision of the sound shinobi standing in front of her. With her ears ringing she didn't know if she would throw up on them or fight.
"Ok, so you just stand there nice and still for me.", laughed a sound Jonin as he started to make hand signs.
"Sound of the Executioner", he yelled sending a thin cutting wave of sound aimed to cut off her head.
"Nariko-chan.", screamed Naruto as he jumped in front of his counterpart taking the full force of the jutsu.
Nariko was in shock, with what had just happened, she could feel blood running down her face, blood that wasn't her own as Naruto dropped to the ground. Looking down at herself she could see she has a spay of blood covering her from head to toe.
"NO!,", screamed Nariko as she looked down at an unmoving Naruto laying on the ground before her. Red, she could only see red as the foxes chakra flooded her system and she grew the first one and then three more tails of chakra in a matter of moments.
Now with four tails lashing behind her, she leaped at the sound shinobi ripping them to pieces with chakra arms that came out of her back, and using her own bare hands she pulled and punched in a blind rage chasing down any shinobi she could find until there wasn't anyone left to fight.
Stumbling back she searched for Naruto having lost him in her rage. After a few minutes, she found him still unmoving laying where he had fallen protecting her from what she knew was her own foolishness.
Dropping to the ground next to him with her own skin burning off her body as the Kyuubi's chakra faded away she rolled him over to see he was cut from hip to neck across his whole body. The blood had stopped but she didn't know if it was because he had no more or if the fox had stopped it.
"Naruto, oh god Naruto please can you hear me.", said Nariko feeling tears run down her burned cheeks as she held him to her chest.
…
**** Warning Start ****
The two sound Jonin stood over the fallen Ino as they look up the long lines of wagons. All the drivers had run off into the grass as was expected and the sounds of a massive battle could be heard at the end of the line of wagon nearly a mile away.
With the screams of curse seal powered shinobi alone with a massive wide area jutsu being used they both stood still watching for any sign of what is happening.
"Sounds like the main force found the Jinchuurki.", said one not taking his eyes off the smoke-filled sky. After losing all of his men in this battle he really didn't want join another fight that included a Jinchuurki.
"We had orders to remove this team from the battle, I don't see a reason we need to do anything more.", said the other Jonin as he looked back down at Ino's prone form. He was alive and that was all that counted in his mind, some called him a coward but he didn't become a Jonin by running blindly into a fight.
"You know when Kabuto said in the Jonin debriefing that he knew how to get the target out of the village I didn't believe him at first.", said the first Jonin
Kicking Ino's leg and seeing she wasn't moving the other Jonin said, "I know, it's hard to believe that a village elder would betray his own people like that."
Squatting down next to Ino the first Jonin rolled her over onto her back and took a good look at her.
"Will you look at this, what a fine piece of ass we have here.", he said totally forgetting about his orders.
"Oh come on don't start that again, we don't have time.", said the second, ", besides I like mine a little more lively."
"Suit yourself I am going to have some fun.", said the first Jonin as he started to pull and cut off Ino's leggings and using a kunai opened the front of her top laying her bare.
"God now that is what I call fine.", he said getting between her legs.
Ino feeling someone touching her body opened her eyes and realized what was happening. All her training and warning from the older kunoichi came rushing back doing as her training told her she took a deep breath and screamed as loud and long as she could. At the same time, she slashed out with her nails cutting long bloody lines across the face of her attacker.
"Hey, we got a fighter.", laughed out the Jonin as he slapped Ino across the face so hard she almost blacked out. Grabbing her arm he pushed it down against the beam of wood she had landed on and nailed her hand down with a kunai driving it through her palm deep into the wood, pulling another kunai from his pouch he did the same to her other hand spreading her arms wide and holding her down at the same time.
The shock of the pain and the ringing in her head prevented her from doing anything else as he spread her wide and entered her all at once.
Letting out another massive scream Ino could only hope that someone, anyone would come to help her.
Shikamaru woke up with a start, pushing away half a dead body that had landed on him during the fight. Something had pulled him back to the world but he didn't know what until he heard it again. The worst sound he had ever heard in his life. Ino was screaming not in anger but in total agony.
Trying to sit up he looked over to see a sound shinobi standing up and pulling his pants back on.
"Will you look at that, she was a virgin.", said the shinobi, the words echoing in Shikamaru's ears as he tried to clear his head and do something.
The other sound shinobi looked and with a grin dropped his pants and lowered himself down.
"I guess I will take a turn before we kill her.", he said getting another scream out of Ino. He pulled a wakizashi blade out from behind his back and with a swift motion ran the knife across Ino's neck.
"There that will stop your screaming.", he said moving forward into place.
Shikamaru pulled out an old dirty chakra pill out of the bottom of his pocket and swallowed it whole. As the rush of chakra hit his system he formed his hand signs.
"Shadow Lariat", he said sending out two very thin lines of shadow that crawled up the back of the two shinobi and wrapped around their necks. Now with his jutsu in place he pulled on the shadows with pure willpower alone.
As they both fell back garbing at their necks, kicking their legs, and rolling around on the ground trying to get free. Shikamaru knew that dying from suffocation was one of the worst ways to die and held the jutsu tight but just tight enough to draw it out.
Once he was sure they were unconscious he sat fully up and looked at his missing leg, forming a new set of hand signs he looked at the two fallen shinobi.
"Shadow Guillotine", he screamed out with all his anger for his fallen teammates. With a sickening sound, the shadow blades chopped down removing the heads from both sound ninjas at the same time.
With slow steading motions, Shikamaru crawled over to Ino's body. With only one leg and having lost a lot of blood he wasn't sure what he was planning to do but he couldn't just leave her laying there like that.
Reaching Ino's side he pulled her clothes back into place as best he could with tears running down his face he could barely see in his grief. Brushing the hair out of her face he could only think of the future that could have been when she blinked her eyes at him and took a breath.
He could hear the sound of blood in her lungs but she was alive. Putting his hand over the cut on her throat he used what little medical jutsu he knew to try to stop the blood.
"It's Ok Ino, I am here, I will figure something out.", said Shikamaru not knowing what he could do but be with one of his best friends.
****Warning End*****
Hearing footsteps he looked over to see a burnt and torn Naruto come stumbling out of the smoke. Knowing at once this was a shadow clone by the blurry edges Shikamaru at once came up with a plan.
"Naruto, come here.", he yelled getting the clone to walk over and look down at them.
"What happen?", yelled out the clone, not believing what it was looking at.
"Don't worry about that now, can you pull the kunai free.", said Shikamaru pointing to Ino's hands.
Once she was free Shikamaru looked over at Choji still nailed to the wagon.
"Naruto, can you free Choji", he said again pointing the clone to Choji's body.
The clone ran over to Choji and pulled the long spears of wood from his body until he dropped to the ground letting out a groan.
"Choji, Choji you're alive,", yelled out Shikamaru not yet willing to believe it.
"Naruto, in Choji's back pocket, find a wooden box with red and black lines on it. Inside you will find a black pill, feed it to Choji.", said Shikamaru hoping beyond hope that Choji still carried his family's forbidden jutsu.
The clone held up the box and pulled out the pill, forcing Choji's mouth open he pushed it in. As soon as the pilled touched Choji's tongue it dissolved and flooded his body with chakra converting almost all of his body fat into chakra, Choji healed instantly and sat up.
He looked at Naruto who waved and then had a shocked look on his face saying. "the boss is hurt bad", with those words the clone didn't pop but faded away unlike anything team ten had seen before.
"Choji, come over here quickly Ino's hurt bad.", said Shikamaru getting Choji to focus on him. He knew that the power pill would not last forever and its side effect are extreme.
Choji walked over and looked down at both of his best friends, to see what had happened he started to cry and was at a loss for words.
"We don't have time for that now,", yelled Shikamaru
"You have to pick her up and run as fast as you can to the next valley, there will be an Anbu team there, they always have a trained medic on their teams now.", said Shikamaru, knowing that if he lived to see the village again he would thank the Hokage a thousand times for adding medics to every team.
"I will not leave you behind.", said Choji as he made a dozen hand signs in his family's secret jutsu.
"Full body, giant Expansion", he yelled growing to twenty feet tall. Bending down he put both of his friends in the palm of his hand, taking a moment to look around and seeing that all the fighting had stopped nodded his head, and he started to run as fast as he could away from the burning wreckage in the hope of finding help.
…
Naruto could at first only hear the sound of dripping water, then the feeling of floating as if he was on a lake in total darkness. Opening his eyes he could see nothing, he tried to sit up and after a couple of attempts found enough willpower to sit.
A soft glow formed around him as the water pulled away and a thin redheaded woman in a long brown dress came walking out of the darkness to knee next to him.
"My poor boy, what have they done to you.", she said brushing the hair from his face and pulling him into a hug. Naruto spent a moment enjoying the feeling of being hugged as he felt loved and safe in her arms, unlike anything he had felt before.
Pulling back he said, "Who are you, am I dead?"
Letting Naruto sit up on his own the redhead allowed him to look at her, he noticed she looked a lot like Nariko but with redhead and some lines around her eyes.
"I am Kushina your mother Naruto, I am so sorry for leaving you alone.", said Kushina placing her hands in her lap expecting Naruto to yell at her.
Naruto leaped forward and hugged his mother all the while crying and laughing as he held her close. Kushina did the same, happy that her son didn't hate her, finally pulling apart Naruto to look at her again saying, "So I am dead then, I guess I don't get to be Hokage."
"No you are not dead, this is the between land where you get a choice, you can join me in the afterlife or go back.", said Kushina not giving a hint on what she wanted him to do.
"I can go back to Nariko?", said Naruto with a giant grin.
"Yes you can go back to my daughter,", said another redheaded woman but this one was dressed all in white and walked over to them carrying a ball of light in her hands.
Looking between the two women Naruto said, "How did you get here, Nariko said she was from another universe or something."
"A mother's love knows no boundaries, a piece of my soul was placed in her just as a piece of your mother's was placed in you.", said Kushina in white.
Not really understanding what was being said but knowing he wanted to go back Naruto stood up and helped his mother stand next to him. As the three formed a circle the Kushina in white said, "You house the fox as did I and your mother before you. Nariko is the same as you but knowing the fox was divided in two in both our worlds we now can see that together you both can unite him back into a whole."
"Unite the fox, but why would I want to do that.", said Naruto
"Because there is good in him and united that good will help you save the world from what is coming.", said Kushina getting a nod from her counterpart in white.
"Save the world, save it from what, and how do you unite a fox.", said Naruto getting more confused and wishing Nariko was here to explain it to him.
Holding the white ball of light in front of her Kushina in white said, "This is the missing piece that the death god could not take as it was protected by the Fox God, with this you can unite the fox and with Nariko make him whole again.", with that she pushed the ball into Naruto's chest where it vanished into him.
"Now it's time for you to go, even the death god will not wait forever.", said Kushina giving Naruto one last hug as he started to fade away.
"I only wish Nariko could meet you.", said Naruto
"We will all meet again, here or in the afterlife. Tell her I love her.", said Kushina in white as Naruto's world turned dark and his whole body began to burn as the real world came into focus.
With his skin on fire and a long cut across his body he had a second of doubt, maybe he should have stayed and gone with his mother. Opening his eyes all he could see was blonde hair.
Picking his arm up he dropped it around Nariko's shoulders as she half held him in her lap and laid across his chest. He wasn't sure but he thought he could hear her crying.
"Nariko-Chan, are you OK", asked Naruto getting the blonde girl to pop up off his chest and stare at him with big sky blue bloodshot eyes. She had lost her mask and head covering at some point in the battle, her face was red and blotchy as the burns from the kyubbi chakra healed. Naruto knew that he looked worst than her with all the blood but he didn't care.
"You look beautiful.", he blurted out without thinking as she cried out and wrapped her arms around him. She was flooded with feelings, feelings she had never had to deal with before.
"I thought you were dead.", said Nariko as she lifted her head up from his shoulder.
Trying to rub the back of his head and failing he smiled at her and said, "Well I kind of was, well almost, you see I met my mom and she said I should go back to you, OH and your mom was there too but all in white. You look just like her you know but for the blonde hair, you know hers was red right.", he rambled on not able to stop talking and wanting to tell Nariko everything.
"Yes my mother's hair was red as flame, I remember that much", said Nariko not questioning him on any part of his story knowing he would give her more information when he could. She was patient and willing to wait.
"I am glad to see my cute little Genin are alive.", said Kakashi as he walked over to them, he was half carrying Asuma who seemed to have a broken leg while Kakashi's left arm was hanging from his shoulder limp and useless.
The two blondes helped each other stand as their respective foxes worked to heal them from their burns. Nariko was almost back to normal while Naruto still had a hard time walking over to Kakashi.
"Where is team ten,", asked Nariko reverting back to her training and trying her best not to think about her face being bare. That was the least of her problems at the moment.
"I saw Choji running off to the south.", said Asuma as he allowed Kakashi to lower him onto some unburnt lumber beams.
"Why would they do that.", asked Nariko as she walked over to check on Kakashi and helped him sit next to Asuma. Both Jonin looked like hell and she didn't know if they had any unseen injuries as she checked them both.
"I know,", said Naruto in a shaking voice as the memories of what his clone had done came to the forefront of his mind. All the other clones and there actions were a blur of but for this ones.
"Ok, what happen?", asked Asuma worried about his team and there action of leaving an active battlefield.
"This had better be good for running off like that.", said Asuma thinking they may have lost their nerve and ran away. It had happen before to teams in their first real battle and it wouldn't be the last team to break and run.
"I don't know how to say this but…. It was Ino, she got raped.", said Naruto as quickly as he could. His words froze all of them as they looked at him not even blinking as they waited for him to say something more.
"How bad was she.", choked out Asuma vowing to hunt down and kill whoever had done this.
"My clone didn't see how it happen but she looked really bad, and Shikamaru was missing a leg so he couldn't help.", said Naruto trying to remember more details but his clone has been busy trying to help and not stare.
"Choji, what about Choji.", asked Asuma not wanting to wait for Naruto to get his thoughts together.
"He had been pinned to a wagon by three wooden spears but once he took a black food pile he was healed in seconds. It was Shikamaru's idea to run to the next valley to look for an Anbu medic.", said Naruto as that was one of the last things his clone remembered before fading away.
"The Akimichi forbidden black pill. He is going to have a hard time recovering from that.", said Asuma knowing of the family's secret jutsu.
Looking around Nariko turned to face Naruto to get his attention.
"Where is Sakura?", she asked Naruto thinking the worst for her loud teammate, she only hoped she died quickly and didn't suffer the same fate as Ino.
Naruto formed his Kage Bunshin hand seal and said, "Shadow clone jutsu", as he created a dozen or more clones that quickly ran in every direction looking for the pink-haired girl.
They waited for news and waited some more as the clones ran in wider and wider search patterns trying to find Sakura or any sign of her remains.
Some of the clones came back to Naruto and said, "Sorry boss we can't find any sign of her, not even a pink hair on the ground."
"Keep looking", said Naruto
"Check under all the wagons, she could be hiding.", said Kakashi hoping he was right but knowing that for all her faults Sakura wasn't the type to hide in a fight.
Nariko started walking around looking at the wagons and seeing some of the drivers walking back she noticed that almost all the wagons were intact but for the few that got caught in the battle. Even the Oxen were still in their harnesses waiting for a driver to tell them to start moving again.
"Why I don't get it, why did they attack.", said Nariko pointing out all the wagons still waiting in line as if nothing had happen
"My clones heard a lot of them saying to find the target, I thought that was me.", said Naruto getting worried that Sakura was gone.
"Yes I heard them say that to but I always thought it was Naruto they must be after.", said Nariko.
"With Sakura gone and the fact that they blew up team ten and our wagons tells me she may have been the target all along.", said Kakashi
Not one to leave information unfound Nariko Marched off into the grass looking for any sound ninja that may be alive. She was headed toward the area were Naruto's clones were first attached know that if there was any chance find some alive it would be there.
It didn't take her long to find a group of sound ninja beaten but alive all slowly trying to crawl away without being seen.
She kicked the first one in what looked like a broken leg causing him to scream out and freeze the others in place.
"Tell me who the target was.", she said looking down at them.
"Fuck you bitch,", spit out one of them as he tried to stand.
Without even looking Nariko buried a Kunia in his forehead, as his very dead body landed in a pile she asked again. "Tell me who the target was."
"We can't.", said another one, "He will kill us if we talk."
Seeing all three of the remaining sound shinobi nodding there heads in agreement she moved to the closes one and broke his neck with one quick movement. Kicking his body to the side she looked at the other two and said, "I will asked you two more times, then I will just go find more sound scum to question."
The two remaining shinobi shared a look and then both of them said, "It was some pink haired girl, he wanted her and said he would kill anyone that returned without her."
"Who", said Nariko now that she had confirmation that Kakashi was right.
"The boss's pet Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha.", said one of them as he relaxed into the grass. Now that he talked he started making plans on how to leave and never come back.
"How did you know we would be here,", asked Nariko now hovering over the two sound shinobi.
"We are only Chunin, they don't tell us much, the boss said to be here so we went.", said the bravest of the two.
Nariko walked over and pulled her Kunai out of the first kill's head and without even thinking about it cut the throat of the remaining two before walking back. She found Kakashi waiting for her not to fare from the newly dead shinobi, he held up his hand to stop her.
"You know we don't approve of that.", said Kakashi pointing with his head at the dead bodies behind her.
"Never leave a live enemy at your back, it was rule number one of the Hokage,", said Nariko staring back at Kakashi, her blue eyes unblinking as if she was daring him to do something. With her face bare she looked like an angel, an angel of death.
"This isn't your world, we don't follow your Hokage orders. Those tactics ended in the second world war.", said Kakashi.
"Don't you tell us all the time that those that abandon a teammate are less than scum. I will not leave Sakura to the sound.", said Nariko eyes blazing as she thought about what happen to Ino.
Not having an answer to her challenge Kakashi turned with his one useless arm still flapping at his side and started walking back to Naruto and Asuma.
"I wouldn't tell Naruto how you got your information.", said Kakashi right before they entered hearing range.
"I do not lie to Naruto, if he asked then I will tell him.", said Nariko as she marched back ahead of Kakashi,
Thinking about the response from the blonde girl they walked up to Naruto who was talking to some of his clones.
"Ok guys, we got to look at every wagon again she may be hiding under the lumber or be unconscious in the grass.", said Naruto ordering his clones to search everywhere once again.
As the wave of orange shinobi spread out Naruto turned to Nariko with a determined look on his face.
"Don't worry Nariko-chan we will find her.", said Naruto giving a thumbs up.
Walking up to Naruto until she could feel his breath on her face Nariko said, "The sound has her, she was the target."
Naruto blinked a couple of times as he thought about what she said, Nariko never lied and always told him in the simplest way what he needed to know. It was one of the things that he liked most about her. But how did she know? He wanted to ask but not knowing he knew would be better as she did things in ways he would never approve of.
Taking a deep breath Naruto said, "OK, so what do we do now.", pushing to the back of his mind any questions he may have about Nariko's methods.
"We find her even if we have to search all of sound, we do not leave a teammate behind.", said Nariko sounding more like Naruto than the ex-root member.
"That all sounds good but we have to find team ten, get back to the village to heal up, and report this all to the Hokage.", said Asuma still sitting down on the lumber beams with his broken leg outstretched. He was worried about his team but also knew that this still could just be an elaborate trap to pull forces away from the north before Iwagakure attacked.
Before Naruto could start yelling Kakashi said, "I agree, we need to get back to the village. It will not do Sakura any good if we die looking for her."
"Kakashi sensei we can stay and search.", said Naruto looking to Nariko and getting a nod of agreement. The fact she wasn't wearing a mask was getting to her, it felt unnatural and made her feel vulnerable in so many ways.
Kakashi shaking his head walked up to Naruto and without any warning kicked the feet out from under him. As Naruto lay on the ground he had a hard time getting up finding his body wasn't recovered from using the fox's chakra and almost dying had put a strain even on the fox's healing power.
"Sorry, but in your and Nariko's current condition you wouldn't last in another fight. Even if you could use the Nine-tails power again it would burn you out or worst.", said Kakashi.
As Nariko helped him stand Naruto had a feeling Kakashi was right.
Hearing heavy footsteps come toward them they all turned to see the wagon master walking slowly over the destroyed wagon and spilled lumber until he stood facing Asuma.
"I see most of you are still alive, we lost 17 wagons out of the 200 and the oxen pulling them but only 9 of my people. What do you plan to do now.", said the wagon master with his hands on his hips he looked like one of Naruto's old school sensei about ready to start yelling at him.
Asuma said, "Get you people moving, we have to get to the next valley as soon as possible, we have people waiting for us there that can help."
"Ok, you heard the man, GET MOVING", yelled out the wagon master to the half a hundred men that had gathered around them as he moved to talk to them.
Ox are slow and dumb animals but with the smell of death all around them, they almost ran to the valley. It was later that night as they stopped to rest and get some food that an Anbu stepped into the light of their campfire.
"Report captain,", said Asuma as soon as he spotted the mask of the Anbu.
"Your team is alive, barely alive I should add but our medic was able to stabilize them before we started to move them to the village.", said the Anbu.
"Good to hear, what is the status of your team.", said Asuma.
"We sent a message hawk to the Hokage, she is sending replacement teams so you can all head back to the village in the morning. I have orders to stay with the wagons until your replacements arrive.", said the Anbu.
With the Anbu medic working on his leg Asuma thought with them having traveled south for some time, he hoped it would only take them a day or two to get home. Looking to see that the two blondes were dead asleep off to the side and knowing Kakashi was sleeping in a tree somewhere, he figured he should get some rest himself.
…
Reaching the last bend in the road the remaining members of the mission could see the great gates of the village hidden in the leaves only a short walk away. It hadn't taken them two days to reach this point but three as they were all barely able to move the day after the battle.
The trauma to their bodies was greater than they had first thought, sound jutsu affected the body much more deeply than normal jutsu. Walking into the village Naruto headed straight to the Hokage's office hoping to get help in searching for Sakura. It was all he had thought about for the last three days.
Bursting into the Hokage's office without even knocking Naruto stopped himself from yelling as he saw Shikamaru standing in front of Tsunade on a pair of crutches missing the lower part of his leg.
"Good to see you're alive.", said Shikamaru on seeing Naruto and then Nariko walk into the office. Their respective sensei had both headed to the hospital to check on team ten.
"Granny can't you like you know grow his leg back or something.", said Naruto as he came to stand next to his old school friend.
"It's not that easy brat, I am afraid Shikamaru's days as a shinobi in the field are over.", said Tsunade.
"What about the others.", asked Nariko not wanting to outright ask about Ino but the fate of her fellow blonde had been on her mind for days now.
"Choji and Ino are alive,", said Shikamaru moving to take a seat next to the Hokage's desk seeing now that he was going to be staying here for longer than he planned.
"Choji's secret family jutsu did save his life and mine and Ino's as well but his father says he will not fully recover, Ino is still in the hospital, physically she will make a full recovery but emotionally the Yamanaka psychologist says she will need therapy maybe for years."
Shikamaru looked over at Nariko now with her hair and face fully covered and said, "Ino asked that you go see her when you returned. She seemed pretty adamant about it too."
"Me? Don't you mean Sakura", said Nariko.
Shaking his head Shikamaru said, "No she wants to talk to you. I think she believes Sakura is dead."
"We have no proof of that yet.", said Nariko using that emotionless voice she uses when she doesn't want to feel anything.
Now that Sakura had been brought up Naruto yelled out, "Granny we have got to save Sakura, the sound guys took her!"
Putting her hands on the arms of her chair Tsunade leaned back knowing this wasn't going to be easy as Naruto was bouncing around the front of her desk.
"We can't afford to send teams to sound right now, Iwagakure has attacked the northern mines and we need to defend the northern reaches or lose our source of chakra metal.", said the Hokage.
Not knowing what Chakra metal was and not really caring Naruto said, "No we have to save her, that bastard Sasuke has her."
"There are times you have to put the village's needs before any one person. You know that Naruto, now go get some rest and get cleaned up. As soon as we can I will send teams to search for her.", said Tsunade knowing that the chances of finding Sakura were slim at best.
Her old teammate wouldn't have approved of using so many of his men unless Sakura was worth it. What that could be she had no idea and that worried her more than anything else.
"Come Naruto, we need to get cleaned up and go see Ino.", said Nariko pulling Naruto out of the room. She needed to think and yelling at a Hokage she learned long ago never got you what you wanted.
…
Later that day they found Asuma sitting on a chair in the hallway of the hospital. Ino's room was behind him as he played with his cigarettes. He had tried to see her but Ino wouldn't allow any man into her room. The look on her face when he opened the door still haunted him. To have one of his own students look at him with such hate and fear cut him deep.
"Asuma Sensei is this Ino's room.", asked Naruto looking at the door number.
"Yes but she will only allow Nariko in so wait here.", said Asuma
Opening the door slowly so as not to surprise Ino, Nariko found the mind walker laying on the bed with her hair down around her shoulders wearing one of those strange hospital gowns. Ino's neck was wrapped in bandages and so were both her hands. The small red marks on the back of her hands showed that she had yet to fully heal.
Ino seeing Nariko looking at her hands, then holding them up and said in a hoarse whisper, "They say it was a poison blade but I think it's because I am weak."
"You are many things mind walker but weak you are not.", said Nariko deciding not to treat Ino like she was broken. It's how she would want to be treated if something happen to her.
Getting a small laugh from the bed Nariko walked closer until her leg touched the bed frame.
"Did you return Sakura's body.", asked Ino not looking up from where she put her hands in her lap.
"We did not find her body, the sound took her, it seems that the Uchiha wanted her for some reason.", said Nariko getting Ino to look up at her with a little more life in her eyes.
"Sasuke? Why would he want Sakura?", said Ino now thinking she had a chance, even a small one of seeing her best friend again.
"I do not know, I was thinking that you would know a reason.", said Nariko not moving from the side of the bed.
Shaking her head Ino couldn't think of anything that would cause Sasuke to do so much for Sakura, it's not like there was any love between them. Would hate drive him to do this but even then he didn't hate her that much Ino was sure of that.
"I was sure she was dead, without Naruto focused on her day and night to protect her.", said Ino not thinking anything of it but a spark of emotion ran down Nariko's back thinking that Naruto cared that much for his old teammate. She would have to talk to him again about it.
"They said you wanted to see me.", said Nariko pushing thoughts of Naruto to the bad of her mind.
Smiling a little Ino said, "That's my Nariko, always cutting to the heart of the issue." Taking a breath as if to calm her nerves Ino reached over and touched Nariko's arm as if to check she was really there.
"All those nights we talked on the mission when I told you that you needed to show your emotions, be more open and trusting,", said Ino, now holding Nariko's hand as if to pull her closers, Nariko allowed it but moved no closer.
"I do remember our conversations, as I said, I have emotions but I choose when to show them.", said Nariko not understanding why Ino would want to talk about this again.
Still holding her hand Ino looked up at Nariko until they locked eyes, Nariko's cold blue eyes looked down into Ino's pale eyes with no judgment. This seemed important to Ino and she would allow this for now.
"Well, I wanted to say you are right. I need to change, I want to change, I can't continue to feel like this.", said Ino with some tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
"I jump at every sound, I can't even look at my own father without screaming. You need to teach me how not to feel Nariko, I want to be like you.", said Ino now with tears running down her face.
'This is Ino Yamanaka the heiress of the Yamanaka clan, the mind burner, the soul crusher. I dream of pulling your throat out and you ask me for help.", thought Nariko as she looked at the frail girl crying in the bed.
"What you ask is not easy.", was all Nariko said seeing her tormentor and her want-to-be friend laying in front of her.
"I know and I will do whatever you tell me.", said Ino in her painful whisper wiping the tears from her face with her free hand.
Pulling her hand free Nariko placed her hands on Ino's shoulders and leaned forward until she was staring eye to eye with the heiress.
Squeezing her shoulders harder and harder Nariko was looking for the spark that would tell her this could be the mind burner she knew.
Ino waited for Nariko to say something but as her fingers dug deeper and deeper into her flesh and the pain grew until she couldn't take it anymore, Ino threw her arms up and she slapped her palms into Nariko's chest pushing her away.
"Good, there is still some fight in you.", said Nariko stepping away from the bed but not turning her back, old habits she knew were hard to break.
Ino seemed pleased with herself knowing that she passed some kind of test. She pushed herself up some and sat taller in the bed.
"I will return in the morning but until then you will leave your door open so Asuma Sensei can talk to you.", said Nariko without letting Ino say a word she walked to the door and used a kunai to nail it open before walking out.
"Talk to her.", said Nariko as she passed Asuma still in his chair by the door.
Walking down the hallway she locked arms with Naruto and pulled him along. They needed to talk and Ino didn't need his type of energy in her room right now.
"What happen Nariko-chan.", asked Naruto kind of enjoying his arm being pressed so tightly into Nariko's chest.
"She is broken and asked me to fix her, I agreed.", was all Nariko said not wanting to share Ino's pain with him until later when she could let down her own emotional walls.
….
The next morning after having spent the night curled in a ball next to Naruto as he held her tight the two of them stood on top of the great wall looking out into the endless forest.
"You sure this will work?", asked Naruto for the tenth time that morning after Nariko told him her plan.
"Yes, now do what I told you before someone comes and asked us what we are doing here.", said Nariko scanning the guard towers for any sign someone was paying them any attention.
"OK Nariko-chan", said Naruto as he walked to the edge of the wall.
Making his trademark hand sign and taking a deep breath he started to yell out his jutsu just as Nariko put her hand over his mouth. Even with a muffled jutsu, it worked as dozens of Naruto's started to appear in the distant tree line. As each one landed it turned and ran into the forest.
"Did you give them the orders we talked about.", said Nariko not wanting to have to do this all over again.
"Yes they will hedge themselves into villagers and then travel to sound to look for Sakura", said Naruto very proud of himself.
"Good,", said Nariko, and giving Naruto one of her rare public hugs turned and walked away leaving Naruto to run to catch up.
"What are we doing now.", asked Naruto as he started to walk beside Nariko.
"You are going to find Kakashi sensei and get him to train you in one of his wide area jutsu and I am going to train Ino.", said Nariko stopping to look at Naruto to check he was paying attention.
"As soon as one of your clones reports back then we will go to the Hokage, now go train.", said Nariko as she backflipped off the hundred-foot tall wall and landed on a building below.
…
I put a lot of effort into this chapter trying to make a battle with truly evil people and how even the most pure of heart can be broken. If you read this before I have made some edits to make it clear what is happening, Tell me what you think, did I go to far or not.
As for why Sasuke took Sakura I would like to see your best guess. Please review it helps keeps me motivated