Daze
Chapter Nine: Order and chaos
A/N: Ice here hope you guys enjoy this week's story, I'm having a bad case of writer's block acm but I'll fight through it for you guys.
X X
Karasu followed the Akatsuki members to the perimeter gate.
There was a large stone wall surrounding the compound with four guards outside the gate two inside, and countless others patrolling the area.
The head guards were two men one shorter and of a large build, with long black hair and a bushy beard, with deep black eyes.
The other was tall and lanky with long blond hair and black eyes.
They both held spears and watched the area lazily giving off a shady vibe.
They waited for another guard to pass before resuming their lazing.
The blond guard cleared his throat and turned to the brunette resuming their talk.
They talked for a few minutes about something asinine.
The blond gestured and they both began to laugh.
Itachi motioned for them to stay put and they waited as the evening sun gave way to dusk and the minor guards began to switch.
Itachi nodded to Sasori and they struck.
Itachi turned to Karasu.
"Formation B!"
The boy nodded and as Sasori rushed the gate they each hopped to opposing walls.
Itachi and Karasu made hand signs and Itachi shot a set of fire shuriken which Karasu grabbed with a palm of green wind chakra igniting them and causing a massive explosion.
The guards directed their attention to the sound and Sasori wrapped chakra strings around their necks snapping them and using the men as puppets to kill the other guards.
Itachi gave Karasu a nod, vanishing to deal with the Daimyou while Karasu jumped down from the wall joining Sasori in the frey.
As reinforcements arrived and managed to mutilate the head guards beyond use Sasori groaned in annoyance and pulled a scroll from his cloak.
While Karasu battled the guards Sasori unfurled the scroll and bit his thumb.
"Karasu-kun, keep them occupied this'll take a second."
Karasu gritted his teeth, nodding to the man while keeping his attention on the guards.
Karasu managed to parry two blade swipes from two guards ducking and slicing their throats, they fell back on the ground still.
He narrowly dodged a strike from a long ono kicking the wooden handle and sending the man back into a stone wall.
He took a moment to breathe when he heard the sound of a bell whoosh by his ear.
He dodged a strike from a kanabo slicing at the man who hopped back and parried the blade.
"Pfft, you're just a child and here I expected a challenge."
The man ran his fingers through his long grey hair which was tied in a bun his storm grey eyes glowed with years of battle experience.
"Do you know who I am, I am Hotaru, first disciple of Mifune and head of the water daimyos personal guard."
He chuckled, twirling his kanabo as his blue and green scale armor glinted in the moonlight.
"You thugs picked a horrible time to attack this compound. The daimyo is here on personal business and all eyes are on this compound."
He lunged forward in an instant smacking the tanto out of Karasu's hand and sweeping his legs.
Karasu rolled backwards on his shoulders, rising to a crouched position but in an instant the man was upon him with a straight strike aimed for his throat.
"It's over!"
Karasu paled, he couldn't react in time and the studded staff would cave in his throat.
He was saved by a sudden ripping in the air as the man hopped away a golden arrow shooting past him.
The man grunted in annoyance, turning his attention to the source of the projectile.
Sasori smirked two purple robed puppets standing before him.
"Behold, my newest additions, Kumo, and Tsuin!" (Spider, and Twin)
Karasu recognized them as the puppets Sasori had been working on the week prior though there was a second level of familiarity buried deep in his mind.
They were wearing bluish purple sleeveless v-necked robes with purple rope obi's around their waist and wooden geta sandals.
The six armed puppet had a corpse smile and was wielding a bow of strange gold material.
The conjoined blue haired one looked annoyed and charged the man with a series of spinning punches and kicks.
The ronin grunted narrowly dodging the strikes and countering with a spinning strike from his staff which caused the puppet to jump away.
"If you think I'll be bested by some two bit hunks of wood think again!"
He pulled the helmet on his back on, pulling the visor down he began to channel chakra into his staff which lit aflame.
The white plumage on his yellow and green helmet flowed in the wind as he got into a fighting stance, his legs bent and spread apart his body turned sideways.
"Come at me weaklings!"
Karasu was startled as he felt Sasori attach a chakra string to him but nodded silently.
Standing up Karasu charged in channeling wind chakra into his tanto he fought the man alongside the puppet as the second one fired a volley of arrows.
The arrows bounced harmlessly off the man's armour but interrupted his movements buying the combatants precious seconds to avoid strikes.
This back and forth continued for several minutes as the ronin began to wonder why his reinforcements hadn't arrived.
Sasori smirked.
"You're wondering where your men are right?"
Sasori chuckled darkly, seamlessly continuing his finger motions as he spoke.
"Itachi has already neutralized them and is currently dealing with the councilor."
The man's eyes widened and he growled.
"A diversion!"
He turned his attention to the castle catching a strike from the puppet which knocked his helmet off.
"It's not wise to lose focus in battle, surely a great warrior such as yourself should already know that."
Hotaru nodded chuckling.
"You're right how foolish of me, allow me to finish things before I deal with your accomplice."
He growled in rage slamming his staff towards Karasu who couldn't react in time as he had suddenly shifted his movement away from the puppet.
"Die and give way to order!"
Sasori paled and had to make a split second decision to sacrifice his puppet or let Karasu die.
He groaned in displeasure but moved the puppet into the path of the attack a massive hole was blown in its chest cavity sending scrolls and canisters flying everywhere.
Karasu smirked, his eyes widening in realization.
They glew with mischief as he saw an opportunity.
Slashing his blade at the man's staff the man looked at him with a mix of shock and annoyance.
"You stupid gaki your wind is going to ignite my flames and blow us both to hell!"
Karasu nodded.
"I'll live... probably!"
He continued his strike and Sasori acted quickly moving his strings to pull Karasu away and knock the man away with the puppet.
The puppet was completely destroyed, shards of wood and metal flying everywhere as Karasu's jacket was encased in a bevy of flames.
He fell to the ground tumbling for a few feet and tossed his jacket off rolling to snuff the embers which had spread to his pants.
Hotaru, on the other hand, had been hit by the full force of the explosion; his left arm and right leg were blown off by the shockwave.
He was tossed into a wall breaking through it, his armor shattering and falling off of him in pieces as the rubble crushed his torso and limbs.
He screamed in agony writhing on the ground as flames consumed the left side of his face.
At that moment Itachi crashed through a window slipping a scroll into his pocket he dashed towards them.
"We need to go, now!"
Karasu obliged, chasing after the man.
Sasori lingered a moment sealing the remnants of his puppet and taking off after them.
As they ran they heard the water daimyo' guards give chase.
They made it to the edge of the woods where Sasori had his mole activate a trap.
As they entered the forest the seal around it activated it's recognition seals deactivated so that two of the guards were incinerated by the barrier.
As the guards worked on deactivating the barrier this bought the shinobi enough time to make it to the edge of the forest.
Sasori reverse summoned them back to a puppet he had placed in the base.
They arrived at the base out of breath as Itachi clutched his face, his eyes leaking blood.
Karasu looked at him concerned.
"Aniki are you okay!?"
Itachi nodded wakly coughing.
"Yes it took more chakra to cast genjutsu on the guards then I thought it would."
Sasori looked sadly at the scroll which contained his ruined puppet.
"Karasu that was foolish, don't do something like that again, all that work…"
He sighed.
Karasu scratched his hair bashfully.
"Sorry Sasori-san."
Sasori looked at Itachi.
"You two need to rest, I'll deliver the body to Kakuzu."
Itachi nodded and handed the scroll to the man.
"Thank you Sasori."
Sasori shrugged and left for the nearby trading post where Kakuzu was waiting.
Six months later...
In a rural town in the land of water Jiraiya and co. had stopped to rest.
Kakashi had realized the strain the Mangekyo had put on Sasuke and declared it off limits unless it was a life or death situation.
Sasuke had been against the idea but begrudgingly agreed when his vision began to blur.
Jiraiya had managed to teach him how to use Needle jizo now that his hair had grown to a reasonable length, (Post Shippuden)
and oil to amplify his fire jutsu,
him and Kakashi had also managed to awaken Sasuke's third doton affinity.
They had taught him the mud wall, dark swamp, and headhunter jutsu's.
They were currently working on awakening his fourth Suiton affinity but even for a prodigy he was still just a high chunin level, low jonin level ninja.
Anko had immunized him to several poisons by subjecting him to them, she had also taught him striking shadow snakes and let him sign the snake contract.
Jiraiya, and Kakashi were unsure if he would be able to as he had already signed the dog scroll but it worked.
He had familiarized himself with his summons and began running exercises on how they could work in conjunction with each other.
It had been a little over a year since Naruto's death.
Sasuke was fourteen now quite bulky in muscle and had continued to grow in height now standing just under Kakashi's height at 5'6-5'7
Kakashi had continued to spar with him on a regular basis noting his improvement and it had gotten to a point where he now had to use his sharingan and would work up a sweat fighting him.
He was confident he could win a deathmatch nine times out of ten but that tenth one was iffy.
Kakashi smiled and chuckled that his student being able to kill him was a good thing.
He saw a dango shop and gestured to the others.
"Let's stop here."
Back at the leaf village...
The chunin exams came again the rest of the rookies passed and another round of celebrations were in order.
This time they decided to throw a beach party.
They invited the sand trio who were here helping with the exams, their senseis, and a friend of Sakura's.
She was a pretty purple haired girl with a calm persona, named Oltier.
She wore a black and blue kimono with a white hitai-ate holding back her hair.
She was quiet, and wouldn't talk to anyone except Sakura, and to a lesser extent Ino.
Ino, who decided to reveal her grand idea, looked to the quiet girl expectantly.
"Let's go swimming!"
The other girls chimed with agreement wanting to enjoy the water.
They left to change into swimsuits while the boys continued to chat and Gai and Lee toiled away at the grill.
A few minutes later and most of the boys with the exception of Shino, Gaara, and Kankuro, felt their jaws drop.
The girls who had grown in the last year were rocking brand new stylish bikinis which they had bought the week prior.
Even Shikamaru, and Neji hid uncharacteristic blushes as they respectively saw Temari in her green and black striped one piece,
and Tenten in her red and yellow chinese themed two piece.
The girls blushed at the attention and Rock Lee ran over giving Tenten a thumbs up.
"Yosh you're youth is ablaze in your new swimsuit Tenten!"
She smiled.
"Are you saying I look good?"
He nodded.
"Your abs and muscles are looking quite strong!"
Tenten sweatdropped as Gai smacked Lee in the back of the head.
"You fool you are supposed to compliment her womanly charms not her physical prowess!"
Lee nodded writing quickly on a notepad as comical tear streams ran down his face.
Neji facepalmed stepping over to Tenten and smiling slightly.
"You look beautiful Tenten."
She blushed thanking him and smiled.
"Let's go swimming!"
He went to protest but she grabbed his hand and practically dragged him to the water.
Shikamaru sighed.
"How troublesome."
Temari smirked, drawing his attention.
"I'm gonna go tan on the beach can you help me apply sunscreen to my back."
Shikamaru sighed but she grabbed him by the ear and pulled him along.
Kiba approached Hinata who hid timidly behind the crowd.
She was wearing an elegant blue one piece with chibi Akamarus on it.
Kiba chuckled when he saw this but walked over to his crush and offered her a hand.
"Hey Hinata let's go swimming!"
She nodded smiling shyly but took his hand.
"H-hai."
Gaara, Kankuro, and Shino stood awkwardly snacking on food.
Choji tried to make small talk but aside from half hearted mmhmm from Kankuro it was dead air.
Annoyed by this static, Ino and Sakura went over to pull them into the fun.
Ino smirked grabbing Choji, and Kankuro by their ears and pulling them to the water.
Sakura took Shino's arm pulling him with her to sit on the beach.
Oltier awkwardly offered a hand to Gaara.
As the last two without a partner.
"Do you want to go swimming?"
He looked embarrassed.
"I don't know how."
She smiled softly.
"It's fine I'll teach you."
He blushed and went along with her.
Lee and Gai adjusted their red headbands tossing meat into the air and tenderizing it with nunchaku.
Kurenai and Asuma sat curled up on a beach towel drinking sake and reading a book together.
Tsunade sat with an old friend playing shogi and watching the rookies with interest.
The old man chuckled.
"This new generation is really something eh Tsunade-hime."
She nodded.
"They're all already great shinobi, with them guarding the will of fire, the future is warm, and bright."
The man nodded in agreement moving his game piece.
"I win again."
Tsunade growled.
"You cheated you geezer!"
He smirked, his brown eyes glinting with mischief.
X END X
A/N: For anyone confused about the timeline it's been a year and three weeks since Naruto "died" the rookies are fourteen Kankuro is fifteen, and Temari is sixteen
2/2/21: Chapter nine revised.