Next Day, 0008, Temporary Kumo Council Chamber
Orochimaru put his legs on the table and put his hands behind his head with a twisted smile on his face. It amused him to see the Raikage and his councillors sitting opposite to him glaring indignantly at his blatant disrespect to the great hidden Cloud village.
The Kumo welcome wagon was expectedly large when his carryall transport Dragon touched down in the village. Of course, the genius Sannin expected such a welcome party, and he knew well that the whole village had been illuminated and mobilized. All the village searchlights were now focusing on his Ancor Vantian while the fortress searchlights scanned the village in return.
The Dragon was a large dragon-wing-styled flying machine, developed by Otogakure and another technologically-advanced hidden village. It could carry at least 20 ninjas and large equipment, but the self-claimed Supreme Commander of the Neo-Combine had only brought his elite Sound Four bodyguards. Being escorted by a small bodyguard detail like this into a wolf's lair with 20,000 strong ninjas would ordinarily be suicidal, but not when he had an Ancor Vantian hovering above the village and 10,000 strong ninjas aboard to back him up.
If Kumo did something very foolish like attacking him, Jugo and the rest of the 800 Berserkers stationed on the fortress would be simply let loose to tear apart every man, woman and child in this village. Destruction was undoubtedly guaranteed, and the great Kumogakure no Sato would be the first superpower wiped off the map, instead of Konoha.
It seemed like hours were passing as the two parties looked at each other carefully without a word. Even the Raikage was unusually silent, so Orochimaru decided to "break the ice."
"No refreshment offered to your guests? I should have known that you barbarians would show no courtesy to your guests, kukuku…"
The Kumo leader's scarred face twisted, and his left fist raised in the air. "WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT OROCHIMARU!?" A shouted as he smashed the table apart.
The Sound Four and the Kumo ANBU immediately took combat stances. Both sides were surprised at what they saw.
'The Raikage is a she-male!?' Kimimaro and his peers noticed the Raikage's voice, and the nice bouncy boobs he had when smashing the poor table.
'A Kaguya!?' The Raikage saw bones sticking out on one Sound ninja's body.
The Snake Sannin lazily held up his hand, motioning to his bodyguards to stand down. Orochimaru was sure that the thought of attacking him wouldn't even cross the Cloud leadership's mind. The village was in the worst shape, and she desperately needed an alliance and a way to get out of this political and military crisis. It was all caused by Naruto Namikaze, the son of the one who took away his rightful Hokage position. His assessment was proved correct when the Kumo leader grunted and signalled his ANBU to stand down.
People had said peace had finally arrived when the Third Shinobi World War ended, and it was exceedingly boring for Orochimaru until his sensei's tongue slipped regarding the boy's heritage in the aftermath of the Kyuubi's Attack. Rearmament quickly ensued and a new entry appeared on every village's Bingo Book with a baby photo. His former associate Kakuzu often bombarded him with questions about the boy, demanding to know if the boy had truly disappeared, or it was a Leaf trick to ambush her enemies. It was very amusing to see that the greedy Taki missing-nin begged him for information about Naruto Namikaze. However, the world suddenly went quiet when Kumo kidnapped the boy and the Hyuuga heiress 10 years ago, and the Neo-Combine effort became difficult.
Now the boy was back, and so was the great opportunity for the traitorous Sannin to begin his revenge on the Leaf village using Minato's enemies. The world was sitting back on a powder keg again and it could not be any more interesting. The boy's victory over his other associates, Itachi and Kisame, sent shockwaves to many hidden villages. They wouldn't ignore the potential threat the boy posed offered very good opportunity to enlist them into Neo-Combine. Thus, the Snake Sannin begun with Kumo first.
"My, my, such a violent outburst; it just proves me right that you are a barbarian, Raikage… And it is very 'un-ladylike,'" Orochimaru mocked while the raging Cloud leader gritted his teeth at the insult. Dodai put a hand on the Raikage's shoulder to calm him down. "I've told your pretty secretary that I knew what actually happened in your village, and that I know who was responsible: Naruto Namikaze."
The entire Kumo leadership froze at that name.
"H-H-How do you know it?" C asked nervously.
"Iwa, people there have been talking about their kidnapped girls who came home a few days ago," the Sound leader answered. It amused him to see the pale face of every Kumo leader here. "Kukuku, and you should be very worried about this, because soon after the Chunin Exam in Konoha, Leaf and Rock will come to knock on your doors and have a talk with you. I doubt they will talk in a gentlemanly manner like I do."
The Sannin then stood up and looked outside the window; it was clear that most of the hidden Cloud village was still heavily damaged, despite two weeks of 24-7 repair efforts.
"Just as I've told your pretty little secretary," Orochimaru spread his arms out like a saviour. "I am here to offer you an alliance and a way to save your little village, and I personally came all the way from my flying fortress to this room for your answer: Yes or No?"
"And what good do you get out of this?" Dodai asked. His good eye narrowed at the snake; he must have wanted something in return.
"First, Kumo can give me a hand to help destroy Konoha… Second, you provide your Hell Storm secret weapon for use in my operation against Konoha."
The Kumo leaders' eyes widened at the mention of Hell Storm. 'How does he know this!?'
Orochimaru pointed his slender finger at Dodai. "Annnnd you, you tell me the boy's weaknesses. You trained him, didn't you, Dodai the Third Raikage's right-hand man?"
Naruto's victory over Itachi Uchiha was alarming to Orochimaru too, for the Snake Sannin had lost to the Uchiha Butcher before. The boy was definitely the number 1 threat to his Neo-Combine; he needed to know everything about the blond.
"What do we get in return?" A Kumo councillor asked.
Orochimaru gave another sinister chuckle laced with contempt. "Survival isn't good enough for you? You are greedy… Kukuku… Very well, if Kumo commits Hell Storm and three-fourths of her 20,000 ninjas, that's 15,000 strong, I will give you a share of Konoha when it's destroyed. You can then reclaim your Hyuuga heiress and the boy's second testicle. Someone has already staked a claim on the boy's head in return for his support and I have dibs on the first testicle. Sooooo, we have a deal?"
The Raikage and the rest of the leadership sat deep in thought. 'The deal is too good to be true, but our village is in a very dangerous situation. We can't survive alone…'
"Make your decision quickly," the Sannin said in a singsong voice. "And the clock is ticking: Konoha and Iwa are coming…"
A looked at his councillors for advice. They all nodded to him and their eyes sent him the message: We will ally with the snake for the time being… Once Konoha is done and Kumo is secure, we will turn on the snake and take over this Combine.
The Raikage sighed and stood up. "Yes, we will join the Neo-Combine."
"Excellent!" Orochimaru stood up and cheerfully offered his slender hand to the Raikage, who shook it a bit reluctantly.
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Thirty Minutes Later
The engines on the Ancor Vantian were live. It was ready to move towards its next destination: Flower Country, the country that hosted Kusagakure no Sato. Orochimaru was going to link up with his Sky Marshal there.
"Lord Orochimaru, ETA 8 hours," the captain on the bridge announced to his supreme commander.
"Very well, I am going to retreat back to my quarters and I'm not to be disturbed. Let me know it when we arrive there." The Snake Sannin instructed. "And, Kimimaro, update our Sky Marshal that Kumo has agreed to join the Neo-Combine."
"Hai!" Both men received their orders.
Once back to his private chamber, the snake took a saucer cup, and filled it with the most expensive sake in the world before taking a good sip. He walked towards the windows and enjoyed the views as the fortress had ascended above the clouds. With the entirety of Kumo and rogue Iwa elements joined, the Neo-Combine had become twice as powerful as the old Combine. Not even Akatsuki could stand in his way and Konoha was certainly doomed.
There were photos pinned on a wall in this chamber, and all of them were of Sasuke Uchiha, Daisuke Uchiha, and other Uchiha children. Orochimaru licked his lips with his long tongue.
"Soooon, your bodies will be mine, kukuku…"
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At the same time, Hozuki Castle, Flower Country
Tayuya wasn't the only one with the Heal Bite ability; there was another one in Kusagakure.
Outside the gates of Hozuki Castle, also known as the infamous Blood Prison, Karin Uzumaki was quietly looking down on the ground, unlike her fellow Grass genins who were all chatting pleasantly while waiting for the village's newest allies. It was not that she didn't want to talk, because she didn't have a friend in Kusa, and all of her fellow ninjas treated her coldly as a foreigner and a refugee. In fact, they took her ability for granted as a payment for staying in their great village.
She was handpicked by the battalion commander Zosui for this mission, considering the danger of this mission. She knew her role: if something went wrong and many soldiers were heavily wounded, her body would provide a great service to them, just like her passing mother, Nori Uzumaki, who had died 5 years ago.
The red-haired girl never knew of her father. Her kind mother was the sole precious person she had in her life. The mother and daughter had lived in a run-down house, but that was enough for little Karin.
A decade ago, the bespectacled girl saw her mother was saving money and the curious little girl asked her about it. The elder Uzumaki smiled and told her it was for a trip and started to tell her everything about her life in the destroyed Whirlpool. Nori was one of the few Uzushio survivors separated from the main refugee group and was stranded in the eastern mainland region.
In the end, she had no choice but to take residence in Kusagakure, even though it was a village member of the Combine forces that destroyed her home village. "The most dangerous place is the safest place" was her reasoning. The mother finished her story with a revelation that she had learned the existence of a boy: Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, son of Kushina Uzumaki the Whirlpool Princess.
Nori had secretly planned to take her daughter to the hidden Leaf village for a better sanctuary, but her plan was ruined when Naruto disappeared 10 years ago.
Some said he was abducted, but others believed it was a trap set by Konoha to ambush Iwa. Later, Nori tragically died from overtaxing herself to heal many people at once. It was then the eight years old Karin took over her mother's job against her will. The girl had lost count of bite marks on her body and the number of times she cried in her bed at night alone.
Back in the present, Karin raised her head and saw Zosui. The loathsome jonin was her mother's murderer and a cold-hearted tormentor who treated them both as nothing but chakra batteries that could heal any severe wounds, while ignoring their cries of pain. But there was nothing the helpless 13 years old Uzumaki could do. While Kusa was cruel to her and her mother, the world was even more cruel and unforgiving and there was nowhere else she could go to. Her mother had mentioned that the main Uzumaki group might be in the west, but the passage was too dangerous for a little girl to trek there. She wanted to escape to Konoha with a pretext of participating in the Chunin Exam in Konoha, but Zosui simply rejected her request. He said the few Kusa teams sent to the exam were just scouts and distraction, and there would be no exam in the end.
Scouts? Distraction? No exam? What the hell was he talking about?
"W-WHAT IS THAT?" Several genin said in shock. Everyone else turned in the direction of the vast ocean of whirlpools. Their eyes widened at what they saw. Scores of strange golden winged devices were flying in from the ocean, and purple-clad ninjas were piloting those devices.
They were now flying in around the castle and the Kusa group like hawks circling their prey. The Grass senior ninjas looked on impressed at the squadrons flying in finger-four formations, while their genins including Karin froze in fear.
Several Dragons came in and one of them descended in front of the people. The transport headed toward the ground, spattering mud in a 30-meter radius before touching down. The entrance was opened, and a dozen ninjas marched out with M-47 kunai launchers in their hands. The Uzumaki recognized and was immediately terrified of the insignia on their headbands.
It was the symbol of Sky Country.
"No way… Doesn't history say they were destroyed by Konoha as retribution for the fall of mum's village?" She trembled.
A very strong man with long brown hair came out of the transport. He sported two large scars: one from his right neck up all the way to his left eye, and the other was a horizontal slash across his throat. Judging by the fact this person was flanked by the other Sky ninjas, he was obviously their leader. His chakra was so powerful and dark that it made Karin tremble more.
Kazuo, the main Kusa leader, and his entourage stepped in to greet the Sky leader and offered him his hand. "Ah greetings, Shinno, so you are the Sky Marshal that Orochimaru talked about? But rumour said you were dead five years ago… Kumo has crossed you out on their Bingo Book. How are you alive?"
Shinno shook the hand and gave a very dark chuckle. "It would be a sad error of judgment to mistake me for a corpse."
It was all thanks to a reincarnation jutsu that allowed him to cheat death, and the subsequent rescue by the rogue Sannin. The constant irritating pain from his scars reminded him of a certain whiskered blond boy and his jutsu acquisition team hunting him relentlessly.
The medical ninja could easily remove the scars, but Shinno kept them as a reminder of that blond brat who posed the great threat to his world domination due to his Uzumaki and Senju blood, jinchuuriki status and a potential wielder of the fearsome Hiraishin. That was why he accepted the Snake Sannin's proposition to form the Neo-Combine- the boy had to be killed before he mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Where is Orochimaru?" Mui, the Blood Prison warden, asked while still looking for the Sannin.
Shinno's mood turned dark, he was not pleased that Orochimaru had gone to offer the Combine membership to the village which attempted on his life 5 years ago. Even less so when Orochimaru used his Ancor Vantian to "convince" them. Yet the hard fact was that Kumo was the only superpower that shared the mutual goal with the Neo-Combine.
The Snake Sannin had assured him they could end the alliance and turn on Kumo later, but it still left a bad taste to his mouth. While the Neo-Combine was powerful enough with Sound, Sky, Grass and other minor villages, it would be more powerful when a superpower village joined in.
Suna was happy with its Konoha alliance, and there was no sign they wanted to betray their ally. Kiri was bogged down in her own civil war. Iwa would not want to attack Konoha now, not when the brat had rescued their little girls from the Cloud village's clutches, but some people in the hidden Rock village might disagree.
"He went to make another ally," the marshal answered with anger in his voice.
"General Hattori again?" A Kusa councillor guessed. "Nah! No need! The Last Hattori will change his mind this time! The news of the return of the Yellow Flash's son has reached every corner of the world, and we even heard about his victory over Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki in Wave Country. The man will pledge his Juggernauts to the Neo-Combine, he is the one who wants that boy's head the most after all!"
Shinno nodded in agreement about that Iwa general and spoke. "In fact the Last Hattori and his followers have already pledged their support. So no, Orochimaru doesn't go to Iwa."
The whole Kusa leadership raised their eyebrows. "What!?"
"Then where?" Mui asked with a slight impatience in his voice. The warden balled his hands. The snake had promised him something in return for his cooperation. Now he wasn't here!
The single word "Kumo" from Shinno sent a shockwave through the whole Grass leadership.
"We heard there was some ruckus in the hidden Cloud village two weeks ago… It was on complete lock down. Do you know what happened there exactly?" The Kusa leader asked.
'Served those fuckers right!' Shinno gave another dark chuckle before he answered. "I will tell you later… Anyway, I have received a message from Orochimaru confirming that Kumo has agreed to join us."
Smiles came to those Kusa leaders' faces. "Then Konoha is certainly doomed… even the son of the Yellow Flash can't save her. I am right, this coalition will be very beneficial to us- with the might of Neo-Combine we can definitely overthrow the hegemony of the Five Shinobi Superpowers, starting with the Leaf and the Uzumakis sheltered there…"
The Grass leader turned around and nodded to Zosui, who promptly snapped his fingers. Two Grass chunins standing next to Karin immediately sprung to action, and they quickly grabbed her.
"Let me go!" The Uzumaki struggled in fear. She tried to break free, to no avail. She attempted to bite the ninja on her right but was only backhanded by Zosui. A big bruise appeared on her left cheek.
Mui appeared in front of Karin and unceremoniously put his right palm on her chest. The red-haired girl instantly felt heat on her torso, and she dropped to her knees breathing hard.
"My chakra…" She felt her chakra had drained severely. "What… What… happened!?"
"You won't escape from us. Let me show you what will happen if you do." The warden snapped his fingers and pointed towards his castle. "See that bound one on the tower?"
Everyone saw two guards holding a trembling prisoner on the top of a castle tower from a far distance, at least 500 meters away.
"The jutsu I did to you is called Fire Release: Heavenly Prison. A self-descriptive name that is for jail, just like the Caged Bird Seal from your clan. It makes subjects unable to escape from the caster without death, and if the subject is 500 meters away from me, like that man is, nearly…" Mui then quickly walked over to the cliff in the opposite direction and made certain that he was over 500 meters away from the prisoner on the tower.
The guards quickly left the prisoner, who dropped to his knees. He was crying and begging for mercy. The rain and the thunders prevented everyone from hearing what the man was shouting about. To Karin's and the other newbies' horror, the begging prisoner quickly burst into flames, and it took a minute for him to be reduced to ashes.
"That is what will happen if you try to escape..." The warden warned coldly.
'A very brutal demonstration from Mui. A father is willing to do anything for his child.' Shinno thought about the execution before asking "Now, where is that Kumo spy?"
Zosui snapped his finger again. In a moment, a badly beaten and bound Maroi came into the Sky Marshal's view.
"You have to thank Kabuto. He discovered this son of the bitch spooking around your ultimate weapon." Shinno told the Kusa leadership, before turning to his lieutenant and issued an order "Take him away for interrogation, make him spill every bit of information about Kumo, and then we will use him as a sacrifice."
"Hai!"
With the Kumo spy being dealt with, Mui turned to a shaking Karin. "Take this girl away too, but no harm comes to her. We need her alive; we will use her against him." He ordered coldly. He would do anything for his wish and nothing would stand in his way.
"Someone… Please… Please… Help me!" Karin begged softly with tears flowing her eyes. She even begged Kami for miracle, but there was no divine intervention. No one there wanted to help her as everyone watched indifferently as the poor Uzumaki girl was taken to another Dragon.
The light raining weather worsened- the ocean of whirlpools become very violent, big thunderclaps were cracking the sky and gigantic waves kept crashing the castle cliff violently. Mui and other several ninjas close enough to the cliff were splashed by the waves. The Kusa leader dismissed this phenomenon as bad weather, before he spoke again.
"We have provided our ultimate weapon and this Uzumaki girl to take his head. They are our most valuable pieces, not to mention we will release the convicts to join Neo-Combine. Kusa has made lots of contributions… I expect to be well rewarded-"
"You bet you will," the Neo-Combine Sky Marshal said. He started to walk towards the Blood Prison. "Now the ultimate weapon of yours… Take me to the box, so we can make history and let nothing in this world stand in our way."
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Author Notes:
Beta: Illuminated.
Proofread and consultation: Ookami88.
*Dragon carryall transport is a modified Flying Destruction Machine shown in the movie, co-developed by Sky and Sound.
*Kimimaro's disease was fully cured by the combined effort of Sound and Sky doctors, and it made him more deadly. Someone will have to fight him.
*Due to Kumo's baby boom policy started since the Namikaze-Hyuuga incident, the Cloud ninja population had reached over 20,000. Naruto killed 2,000 of them in Chapter 7, and Orochimaru didn't know the exact casualty, but 18,000 is still a formidable number.
*There will be character deaths in the next book; no plot shield BS.
*The next chapter ends Book 1 Namikaze of Cloud, another father who was willing to do anything for his children, going so far as to betray his passing friend.
*The backstory of Fu on Chapter 13 is critically important in this story. Not only does she serve as a bridge between Naruto and K-15, she will play a very important role in the later chapters.
*There has been an interesting question lingering here: would Fu return to Taki when Naruto returned to Konoha? Ask Danzo Shimura if she could go back to Taki.
*Also, Fu's friendship with Sakura recalls Kushina's with Mikoto. History repeats that a foreign female jinchuuriki had a best friend that was an Uchiha matriarch. This story is of canon pairings, and yep, Sakura will eventually be the next Uchiha matriarch. SasuSaku fans will enjoy some SasuSaku moments in this story.
Review please! Reviews make my writing feel rewarding and make me continue writing.