Chapter Twenty Nine
I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd have more cars.
Heyo welcome back AGAIN to me story. Anyone watching Fire Force? I enjoy it. Anyway, hope y'all checked out those pictures of my Naruto! Welp, here's the story, enjoy.
The sun shone brightly through the window beside Naruto's bed, stirring the blond from his sleep. He sat up, and groggily looked over at the sleeping form of his wife. A grin split his face, as he remembered that after a quick one day visit with the Daimyo, he and Rikka had gone on a date. With the operation to take back Takigakure soon, they decided it would be good to spend time together. That said, in the throws of passion, they had broken in the new bed sheets the bluenette had recently purchased.
The jounin made his way out of bed, and formed a shadow clone to prep his gear. He and Rikka had been lucky to get time together, as the operation was pushed back a day to account for more Konoha shinobi coming back to the village to stand guard while the strike force was gone. The strike force consisted of four battalions, which in total was around two thousand shinobi. The battalions were made up of mostly chunin, with a fair number of jounin throughout to lead them.
He was pleased when he found out that not only would Rikka be in Kakashi's battalion, she was actually in his squad as well. This put to rest any worries he had about his wife being wounded in the battle. This was not to say Naruto wasn't confident in his wife's abilities, he just worried either way. She was a frontline fighter after all, her skill in Fire Style ninjutsu was staggering. Kakashi himself said she may have the strongest fire chakra affinity he'd ever seen.
The Nine Tails' jinchuriki sighed as he began making breakfast. He wouldn't be fighting with the main force. He would be leading a platoon of ANBU, but he would not be donning a mask, not that one could even hide his bright blond hair. His objective was to reach the main village, and garrison the mission center. (Pretty much a Hokage tower, but not for a kage.) while this took place, the strike force would battle the enemy throughout the country. Sasuke would also be leading a platoon of ANBU, and would be linking up with his own at some point.
Before the invasion, some of Takigakure's ninja killed a rogue Konoha nin by the name of Rokusho Aoi. This man had stolen an important weapon from the village: the Raijin no Ken, or the Sword of the Thunder God. It was sealed away, but before it could be returned to Konohagakure, Iwa had attacked. Once Naruto's ANBU had secured the mission center, Naruto would retrieve the sword, and return it to Konohagakure. The sword that had once belonged to Senju Tobirama was not something they wanted to possibly make its way from Iwa to Kumo.
Luckily for the people of Takigakure, many of their shinobi had fought a retreating battle as they left the village. By doing this, they managed to keep most of the fighting outside of their village. It was Naruto's platoons' job to clear the village with minimal damage and civilian casualties. To top things off, the jounin commander of Taki (the leader of a minor village) had survived and managed to retreat to Fire Country with his forces.
All in all, if things went in Konohagakure's favor, Taki would quickly be rid of Iwa forces. Worse case scenario, Han and Roshi would show up, in which case Naruto was to immediately meet up and engage them. If it came down to it the rest of his original genin team would join him.
The minute this operation began, the war would be on. Thus, Konohagakure had sent plenty of shinobi to the border of the Land of Hot Water. In the last wars, Kumo had made use of boats and water walking to transport their nin and supplies into the Land of Bones. (Country where the mountain graveyard sits.) This time, while the Land of Frost had always been allies with Kumo, it seemed they would invade the Land of Hot Water. Considering Iwa's move to grab up land, and the fact that Kumo had already been poking around, it could be argued that they would start by invading the minor nation. They would most likely march straight through their allies' country, and into the Land of Hot Water.
Konohagakure would be fighting a multi front war, just like the last ones. Kumo had been rapidly increasing its forces since the Hyuga incident, and that meant that they could very well have quite a manpower advantage. That said, they may even come through the Land of Bones just to get two entry points into the Land of Fire.
In Konohagakure's advantage however; once they pushed Iwa out of Taki, they would likely only face off with them in Kusagakure, and Kusa would be ready. The Iwa front would also be significantly held down by Sunagakure's forces. Gaara would surely do his utmost to keep Iwa focused on defending against his village, instead of going after Konohagakure. At least until Konoha could knock one of the two opposing nations into submission.
Finally, the already once considered Hokage candidate was ripped from his focused thoughts by two slender arms wrapping around him. He smiled as he was broken from his trance, and enjoyed the feeling of his wife's perfect chest pressing against his back.
"You're going to burn the toast." She said blankly with her face pressed into his back.
"Oh! I almost forgot about it!" He said, frantically reaching over and turning off the toaster. (It had broken the day before, and would stay on until turned off.) He still just hadn't had time to get a new one. "Actually, why do we even have a toaster dear? You could literally toast bread in your hands at any time."
She smiled at his words and released him. The woman pushed him slightly aside and took out the toast. With a blank tone she replied as she began buttering the crisped bread. "Are you stupid? Because no guest would ever want their toast cooked in my bare hands. Plus, it's a bad practice to use Fire Style in the home. Haven't you heard the old tale passed down from the Sarutobi clan?"
Naruto had long gotten used to her asking him if he was stupid. It was almost more of a verbal tic of her own than it was an actual insult. "Ah yes, the one of the man who tried to cook a whole meal with his jutsu, but ended up burning down the building?" He questioned after raking his mind for the memories of the story.
"That's the one." The bluenette replied.
"Hmm, I'd say that's a fair point then." The male Namikaze replied, content with his wife's explanation.
He could almost hear the smile in her response. "I knew you'd see it my way." After all the time they'd spent together, her blank and static tone of voice had started to show more and more emotion when she was around him. Sometimes, the villagers who'd known her would be shocked when they went out into the village. He would take her someplace, and if he managed to get her excited, she sometimes had quite the outburst of emotion.
"You're wise beyond your years love." He said almost sarcastically.
"Oh? Have you been doubting me darling?" She said in mock hurt. That was another thing, when she wanted to fake any sort of emotion; she was very good at it. The blond figured it was due to many years of observing and not consistently participating.
Just then, he saw the eggs were finished, and moved the pan to a separate burner. He quickly turned off the stove, and as soon as he saw her put the toast down, he grabbed the woman. Her world spun as her husband twirled her around in his arms. His lips impacted her's, and he lifted her up. She found herself sitting on the counter opposite of the stove, with her brain tuning out everything but the affection she felt from her lover.
Naruto soon pulled away and set her back on her feet. As he did, she moaned in disappointment at the loss of the feeling of his lips. "The eggs will get cold dear." He stared with a smile. The pair then sat down and ate their breakfast, talking about different things that had gone on in the village, and chatting about their meeting with the Daimyo. After sometime, the blond gained a look that conveyed that he was deep in thought.
"What is it Naru?" The bluenette inquired.
"Well, I've been thinking-.." The man started.
"That's a shocker." She joked, cutting him off.
"Ha ha." He deadpanned. "Very funny. Anyway, you have an extremely strong affinity for fire. Do you have any other nature affinities?"
"Actually, no I don't. Just an extremely potent fire affinity. Why?" The woman informed him. At this point, she was curious where he planned to go with this.
"Hmm… if you trained hard to learn wind style, couldn't you form a bastardized version of the scorch release?" He said, his eyes narrowing in thought.
"Actually I did train to gain hold of wind style, even though I don't have it naturally. So in theory, yes probably. Again I ask though, why?" She had a feeling she knew where he was going with this.
"Well I want you to be as strong as possible for this war. And I think it would be worth it for you to be able to mess with it and make your own jutsu." The second yellow flash replied.
"Ah I see. Yes I suppose I could do it." The woman responded, resigning herself to Naruto's idea.
"Rikka… you know you have fairly high chakra reserves right?" He questioned.
"Well yes. With the amount of high level fire jutsu I throw around in combat, I have to." She responded before throwing back her own question. "Why?"
"Well your reserves are higher than even Kakashi-Sensei's. Thus, if you're willing to work hard today, and borrow some of my chakra, you can make a technique overnight." He said with a cocky grin.
"What do you suggest?" Her eyes narrowed in supspicion at her sometimes goofy husband.
"I'm going to teach you shadow clone jutsu." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he spoke.
She recoiled in mild surprise before responding. "Oh?"
"Yeah. So, are you on board?" The man asked.
With a shrug, his lover replied. "I suppose."
"Alright." The man said. "Let's go get dressed."
Twelve hours later found Namikaze Rikka breathing heavily. Her clothes were charred and burned in many places, and she had quite a few burns on her skin that she would need Sakura to take care of before the day was over. She looked over at her lover, who smiled at her. "Good job, now we know you can use it in combat." One hundred shadow clones, all training for twelve hours, was a lot. It was extremely taxing on her brain, and had no doubt caused a small amount of harm. On the bright side however, this was a one time thing. Naruto told her she wasn't to ever train like this again. The only reason he had her do it was that the war started tomorrow.
"Thanks." She said, her breathing beginning to steady.
"Let's see it one more time."
"Right." She said, then the woman sped through hand signs, and called out her new technique that she and her husband had developed entirely that day. "Scorch Release: Scorch Phoenix!" As she called this out, her body was enveloped by a cloak of scorching hot flames. "Yup, it's perfect. I don't even get burnt anymore."
"Good! I'm very proud of you Rikka." The woman's new technique made her an extremely dangerous taijutsu fighter now, and any fire techniques she used would be enhanced by the flames already surrounding her. The only downside was that it was fairly taxing on her chakra reserves. The woman would first envelope her body in a very strong and thick coating of wind chakra. The way it surrounded her was almost like the Nine Tails' chakra cloak, albeit without the tails. Immediately after it surrounded her, she would light it ablaze with her fire chakra. This cloak was almost like a fire version of the Raikage's legendary lightning cloak. It was to be her trump card in battle, and Naruto had no doubt it would help keep her safe. At times, the flames burned so hot they were able to melt kunai on contact.
His lover soon let her cloak fade away, and smiled tiredly at him. "Can you take me to see Sakura?"
"Yes, yes I can." He wrapped his arms around his wife, and flashed into existence outside Sasuke's home.
"Naru, this is Sasuke's house."
"I know, they're having dinner together."
"How did you know she was here?" She asked, before answering her own question. "Oh right, you're a sensor."
The blond lightly knocked on the door of the home, and only a minute later they were greeted with the view of a very relaxed Uchiha Sasuke. "Oh, hey Naruto." He greeted, before taking in Rikka's appearance. The bluenette held her usual blank look on her face as she leaned against her husband. "Jeez, what happened to you?"
"I can explain, but could Sakura look at her?"
"Sure, I don't see why not. Go get settled on the couch." The raven haired man said, opening the door all the way and moving aside. Naruto had spent more than enough time at the Uchiha's home in the past month, preparing for the once possible, but now guaranteed outbreak of war. The Uchiha had sold away the land of his once proud compound, and had decided that if he was to rebuild his clan, they would live amongst the villagers as equals instead of an outside clan. As the married couple walked past him, he yelled down the hallway to his kitchen. "Sakura! Naruto and Rikka need to see you!"
"Naruto and Rikka? I'll be right there!" She yelled back. Soon she arrived in the room, and got to work on the female Namikaze. Meanwhile, Naruto explained Rikka's new technique to his former teammates.
"It's a wonder she didn't incinerate herself." Sakura said.
"Agreed, if she'd have lost control of the wind chakra in full then she would have been cooked." Sasuke said, remembering the heat of some of he and Naruto's combination jutsu.
"That's why I was there, with the Nine Tails' constantly healing me, I was able to bare with the heat any time the fire took full control, and lend my wind chakra to her as well." The cloak of wind the woman created around herself not only boosted the heat and potency of the flames, but it was what kept her safe from being cooked alive. Naruto being a sensor, was able to closely replicate the flow of her wind chakra to allow him to add his own. Thus, if it looked as if she would lose control, the blond would either put her back on track, or in bad cases, he would overpower her fire with a massive amount of wind. Usually so much that it blew the flames away from her body entirely.
"Ah I see. Well that makes sense. Anyway, let me check your hands as well." Sakura replied.
"Why? I just told you-..."
He was cut off as his pink haired teammate gave him a glare. "Knowing you, it's still a good idea to check. You and Sasuke are too stupid to know when you have minor injuries, and even those can cause problems down the line. Also, I have to scold you for doing this kind of training right before the start of our invasion."
"I know, I know, but I wanted to make sure Rikka had a trump card incase something went wrong."
"Well, that's fair." Sasuke commented.
After a short chat between the four friends, Naruto and Rikka took their leave. All four had an early morning tomorrow. Himself and Sasuke's ANBU platoons would be in Taki before dawn, and they would be leaving Konoha shortly after midnight. The main strike force would be hitting the Takigakure border around first light. Thus, the still newly wedded couple were in bed by eight.
Naruto kissed Rikka goodbye as he moved to leave the house. The woman was currently double checking her gear, as she would be leaving in the next couple hours as well. "I love you."
"I love you too, Naruto. Come back to me." She said with a smile.
"I always do. Stay safe love." He replied before sliding out the door. In mere seconds the man crossed the distance of the village and was at the gates. The platoon of ANBU flickered into existence in front of him, all on one knee.
"Captain Namikaze, we're ready when you are." Said one ANBU.
"Well, let's not waste any time." The blond replied, turning and disappearing into the forest, the platoon quickly following suit. The group was inside the borders of Waterfall Country by four in the morning, and were steadily making their way toward the village. They breached through the underground caves, and killed off the Iwa guards.
When the group came to the opening that lead to the village, Naruto held his hand up and signaled for the group to hold. The jounin crouched and placed his finger on the ground, and stretched his chakra around the village. "Looks like we're dealing with about a battalion of Iwa nin. They're spread out around the village, but there's about a company guarding our target. With any luck, they haven't found out about the sword yet." The blond stated, standing to his full height. "Alright then, separate into squads. Divide and conquer. Three of you come with me."
"Yes sir!" The ANBU replied. The platoon quickly split into groups, and each squad began making their way into the village in different directions. Three figures stood behind the tall man, still awaiting his orders.
The jounin made a gesture with his hand, and the four of them disappeared, body flickering into the village. They quickly carved a war path through Taki, heading straight for the mission center. With the chaos ripping down the village, many of the Iwa nin on the outskirts of the village moved to support their allies. As soon as their attention shifted, they were ambushed by the separate ANBU squads Naruto had sent out.
The Iwa Commander was ripped from his concentration when a tri-pronged kunai burst through the window and pierced the wall in front of him. The man quickly reached for the radio, attempting to warn his superiors. His attempts to call out were silenced as another kunai impacted his side just after Naruto appeared in the room. He flashed again to the blade inside the man's ribs, and appeared on his back, plunging a kunai into the base of his neck, severing the ninja's spine.
The blond jounin collected his kunai quickly, and took a moment to congratulate himself and his platoon. They had managed to breach an enemy controlled village and kill the commander within minutes of first contact, and before he could send a radio distress signal. He knew not to be naive however; the enemy would definitely have more security. Somewhere out there were most likely sensors, or forward observers who had seen the assault and would report back to their superiors.
"Now let's find that scroll." Naruto said, cutting away at the wall. He could have taken the time to gently remove the cover, but it was a long process, and his mission objective was clear. Once the wall was out of his way, the Namikaze was greeted with the sight of a fairly sizeable vault door. With a wide grin, he spoke aloud. "Jackpot." He activated the chakra key given to him by Taki's jounin Commander, causing the door to unlock itself. He could have broken through the sealing arrays by himself, but that would have made it so he could not reseal the vault. He looked over the wall of lock boxes, which were each locked with separate chakra keys. He pulled out the second key he'd been given, and opened one of the smaller ones. Inside sat his objective. He pulled out the scroll, and at that moment one of the three ANBU he'd brought with him entered the office.
"Sir." The shinobi said. "Are you finished?"
"Quite. Can you fix this wall? Like, a perfect copy?" The platoon leader inquired.
"Yes. Wood Style: Wood Wall Jutsu!" The man said quietly but with the intensity most shinobi had when they executed a technique. The wood grew in place of the old wooden wall, Tenzo's chakra forming it to match the rest of the wall.
"Heh, looks like they'll need to rip that one down before they can put up a new removable one." The teleportation expert joked. "Let's go Tenzo."
"Sir, you're not supposed to use that name. I've been rebranded as Yamato." The ANBU said.
"Ah, but Kakashi says you should get used to it. Eventually you'll have to come out of ANBU y'know." The blond retorted. "Anyway, I need to get this back to friendly lines. Hold out until then alright? I'll be back in an hour tops." The blond said absentmindedly twirling a kunai around his finger.
"Understood." The wood user replied.
"Good luck, Tenzo. I'll be back in a flash." The Namikaze said, and as soon as he finished the last word, a flash of yellow filled the room, and he was gone.
As the blond sped through Waterfall Country, he realized he was close to the home of the old man who had helped team Ebisu. He smiled, knowing he had some extra money on him. He figured it would take all of two seconds to drop off a gift to the family.
He changed course slightly, and quickened his pace. If he was going to detour from his mission, he would at least be fast enough to make up for it. He burst through the trees into the farmland of the man's home, and had been immediately assaulted by the smell of smoke and decay. He came to a stop in front of the home, and for the first time in a while, the Namikaze shed a tear.
A sad scene played out before the shinobi, reinforcing the harshness of the world he occupied. The home sat charred and burned, the roof having collapsed in on itself. He could smell the burn flesh wafting out of the home. What saddened him the most was that he knew no one escaped. Every exit to the home, all the windows and both doors were sealed shut but rock walls that jutted out of the ground. "They didn't deserve this." He said quietly, while holding back his rage. "You Iwa bastards…" His fists shook at his side, and his teeth clenched. The man took a few deep breaths before shaking his head. "If I ever find you, I'll kill you. This world has no room for humans who act like animals." The blond leapt to the trees once again, after saying a prayer for the late family.
"Congratulations on a complete mission." Said Shikaku. The jounin Commander and other strong ninja had met him at the border to retrieve the scroll. "Good luck, Naruto."
"Thank you Shikaku. There's a war to be fought, and I intend to fight it." The teleporter responded. With that, the spiky haired Nara pocketed the scroll and watched in amusement as his comrade disappeared in a flash of yellow.
Unfortunately for Naruto's ANBU platoon, only minutes after the jounin left they were attacked by Iwa reinforcements. They fought from the mission center, using it as cover to fire off jutsu and kunai. Any enemies that managed to get close were dispatched by the blades of swords and kunai alike.
The platoon finally had a crack formed in their resolve however; when three full companies of Iwa nin descended upon their garrison. They fought valiantly, and managed to take out an entire company. Tenzo had been forced to go all out, draining his chakra further than ever before as he ripped apart the streets of Takigakure with his Wood Style techniques. Finally the remaining companies of Iwa nin withdrew, to collaborate in the largest Earth Style Jutsu he'd ever seen.
They all slammed their palms into the ground, spikes ripped up from the earth, a massive forest of them coming at the Konoha shinobi at a ridiculously fast pace. They ripped through streets and buildings alike, and the ANBU were sure they couldn't outrun it, let alone stop it. Just as Tenzo resigned himself to his fate, a voice ripped through the air, accompanied by the familiar chirping of birds.
"Chidori Impact!" The Uchiha called out as he burned the blade of his sword into the ground. Lightning split through the earth, tearing up the ground as if Sakura herself had punched it. When the earth techniques inevitably clashed with the current of electricity, Sasuke's over charged Chidori won out. With earth jutsu being weak to lightning, Uchiha Sasuke was the worst match up the super combo jutsu could ever encounter. Well, other than the Raikage of course, but he sided with Iwa.
The rest of Sasuke's platoon showed up at that moment, landing in a defensive perimeter around the absent Namikaze's garrison. A few of the Iwa ninja recoiled in fear shocked at his arrival.
"No, it can't be! Sasuke of the Lightning Style!?"
"No it's the second coming of Shisui of the Body Flicker!"
"Well, he's not alone. Tenzo, we were supposed to cause minimal damage to the village y'know. Look what you did y'know." Came a familiar voice from the rubble behind the enemy companies. Naruto stepped out from a ruined building, absentmindedly twirling a kunai around his finger.
"No! You! You're...you're Konoha's second Yellow Flash!"
"Look, surrender now, and none of you will have to die." Sasuke said loudly. The jounin presence of both the Uchiha and the Namikaze put unwinnable odds in the hands of the Iwagakure shinobi. On one hand, they could try to escape, most likely losing at least half of their force. On the other, they could stand and fight, and most likely be killed. Or, they could take the easy road and surrender.
"The rest of our forces are battling their way here at this very moment, you don't really have a chance here." The blond jounin said. The ANBU encroached on the enemy, intent on subduing them if they did choose to surrender.
Just as it looked like they might give in, one man's bravery, or maybe it was foolishness, had the entire group reignite the battle. The man leapt forward quickly drawing his blade and railing it through the nearest Konoha ANBU. With a roar, he called out, "die you tree hugging scum!" He was however; silenced as the ANBU he had stabbed turned into a log and appeared behind him, shoving his blade into the nin's neck.
Like sharks after blood hits the water, the Iwa shinobi responded in a frenzy. They stuck out, attacking any of the Konoha shinobi that were close. They even managed to bring down a few of the ANBU who had been too close at the start. The black and blond haired jounins soon dove into the fray as well, trying to protect their comrades.
"Let's show them, Naruto!" Sasuke called out with a smirk as lightning sparked down his blade.
"Right!" Naruto called back. If they wanted a fight, they'd give them one. He jumped high into the air, and launched a barrage of his famous kunai into the battle. A sad and doubtful thought crept into the back of his mind, but his focus was on the battle. "It's less of a fight and more of a slaughter… they're defenseless to Sasuke and I… just like Ryuko was to Han." His shinobi training and his commitment to preserving the lives of those under his command pushed the thought to the back of his mind.
Suddenly, the ridiculously torn apart main street of Taki was filled with rapid yellow and blue flashes. The yellow happened at a much quicker pace, and the blue were long and sustained. Naruto flashed between enemies, slamming kunai into their vitals with ease. The Uchiha's sword would light up, slashing men in half, and sometimes bolts of lightning would fire from the swords tip. The ANBU also participated, but with their speed Naruto and Sasuke did most of the work.
Quickly, the fighting stopped, the dust settled, and the shinobi relaxed. Blood and bodies littered the main street of Takigakure, an image that would be forever scarred into the minds of not only Naruto and Sasuke, but Iwa's forward observers as well. The best friends would never forget the awful stench of nearly one hundred dead or disemboweled shinobi. They ordered the ANBU to seek out any survivors, and joined in as well. The Konohagakure shinobi mercy killed anyone beyond saving, but anyone who could possibly make a recovery had their wounds tended to immediately.
While the others patched up the survivors who would live, Naruto simultaneously placed high level chakra blocking seals. They could be healed just fine, but if they themselves tried to mold chakra, it either wouldn't work, or if they managed to force it through, they would simply die.
When Konohagakure's main force arrived, Takigakure was devoid of any combat capable Iwa shinobi. Some of the main force stopped to help guard Taki, and any Taki nin who had participated in the opening act of the war began to clean up their village.
Throughout the night, Naruto, Sasuke, and their ANBU held back a few half hearted counter attacks. Meanwhile, the main force continued on, attempting to put Iwa on a full retreat.
The next morning, Naruto rose slowly, but when a radio nin showed up, he got worrying news. (Radio nin! My own creation! So, I know radios are kinda canon, but for purposes of this story and my fourth shinobi world war, radios will be like that of the actual radios used by the US in the real world Second World War. Look them up if you'd like to know what I'm talking about. They require someone to strap the big ass thing to their back to be mobile.)
"Sir! I've got a message for you!"
"Let's hear it." Naruto said with a commanding tone.
"Sir, Commander Hatake has requested your assistance with his battle group. They've encountered heavy resistance, and he said he needed you there. He also mentioned something about Jounin Namikaze." The nin reported.
"Fuck! Did he say anything else?" Naruto said, pushing the panic that rose within him back down.
"No sir."
"Thank you, radio back, tell him three minutes tops." Naruto commanded turning his back to the shinobi and waving for Sasuke, who was one a rooftop across the way from him to come over.
"Understood sir!"
"Naruto what's up?" Questioned the Uchiha.
"You'll have to hold out here. Kakashi and Rikka need my help. Keep my platoon here, and carry out our original orders." Naruto said quickly.
"Hn. Who made you boss? But I understand, I'll handle things here. Go get your girl, and save that pervert."
"Later S'ke. Don't die." Naruto said walking away.
"Hn. You too Namikaze." The Uchiha said, crossing his arms with an uncaring look.
"Like hell I would." The blond replied. He walked toward the edge of the roof, and held out his hand above his head before giving his best friend a thumbs up. As soon as he hit the edge, he took a step and disappeared in a flash of yellow.
Rikka scorched the vitals of the nin in front of her. When she had jabbed a kunai into his gut, and ignited her scorch style, he was done for. Lucky for him, she still had compassion for those she killed, and it was not a slow death. She fried him from the inside out so quickly he most likely barely felt it.
Another Iwa nin appeared behind her, throwing a hail of shuriken at her back. The flames engulfing the female burned even hotter, melting the ninja tools as soon as they touched. "Scorch Style: Solar Flare!" She yelled after moving through hand seals. A large part of her cloak flared up, before bursting off of her body. And igniting not only the Iwa shinobi, but the surrounding forest as well.
As the flames burned around her, she was brutally smacked to the side. Seconds away from hitting a large tree, she felt herself stop gently. The familiar warmth spread through her body as she realized her husband had arrived. "Naruto? What are you doing here?" She questioned. He said nothing as he landed, still carrying his wife bridal style. She watched in curiosity as he held her tightly and cast a glare over his shoulder at her attacker. Not once had she seen such a cold look in the eyes of her lover.
"I'll be back for you, Han." With that, the blond tossed a kunai into the air. He flashed away, appeared beside Kakashi. "Sensei. Watch after her, I'll handle the jinchuriki."
"Right. Be careful Naruto." The masked jounin said as the blond set his wife back on her feet. Before she could ask what they meant by jinchuriki, the blond kissed her deeply, before disappearing once again.
"What do you mean jinchuriki? Is one of Iwa's jinchuriki here? Is he going to fight them alone?"
"Yes He is. You know Naruto is stronger than all of us at this point Rikka. The only one who can go toe to toe with a jinchuriki is either himself, Sasuke, or me. I have to keep commanding this unit, and Sasuke has to oversee defense of the village."
She cast a worried look to the area where she had ignited a forest fire, knowing her husband was fighting alone in that raging inferno. Kakashi caught her attention once more, and she ignited her cloak. She leapt back into the fray with her comrades, intent on doing her share of the fighting. The quicker she finished up here, the sooner they could help Naruto.
Han watched as the kunai was caught in the hand of the yellow flash before it could hit the ground. It was one on one now, and Han knew only one of them would leave the burning forest alive.
"You almost hurt my wife. I'll kill you this time Han." Naruto said, glaring at his nemesis with enough intensity to light the man ablaze.
"You'll die here, Nidaime Kiiroi Senko."
Whew, that's a wrap. Nidaime Kiiroi Senko means Second yellow flash. Exciting things coming next chapter, so please stay tuned! Thanks for reading guys! Darling in the Fox out!