Chapter 73 – Mission to Takigakure III

"Talk"

'Think'

A/N: Many appreciations to Aaesha Virgo Black and alejandro005678 for your supports, as well as to MattKennedy and Guest for your comments.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.

Ten minutes after they had sent message to Konoha, Noriko said "A bald man is approaching Suien… ….they are talking… … …Suien seems angry… … …they are moving now"

"Why Suien is angry?" asked Tenzō while walking.

"He expected the bald man to bring money. The bald man said that he needs to check that the body is indeed Kakuzu's before he pays for it. He can only check the body properly in a Bounty Station. There's one close by" explained Noriko.

"Are we going to get the body back?" asked Sasuke "Our mission was to escort Suien back to Takigakure. However, he seems to have his own plan. If we wait any longer, we'll get embroiled with Akatsuki, or civil war in Takigakure, both of which is out of our depths. I proposed we take the body and make our way back to Konoha"

"How about people of Takigakure?!" asked Naruto.

"We have done what we could. We have asked Hokage to inform them. If they need help, they'll ask" answered Sasuke.

"Sasuke's right Naruto" said Tenzō "I understand your points, but that is not our mission and Sasuke is being logical about it" seeing that Naruto was about to make another protest, Tenzō added "On the other hand, if we got Kakuzu's body back, Suien has no money to pay Akatsuki. Potentially, we could prevent the civil war from happening"

Naruto closed his mouth and looked at the ground. Noriko reached out her hand and touched Naruto's shoulder "I understand Naruto. You want to see the Nanabi jinchūriki. How about, we deal with this mission first, then we ask Hokage if we can go to Takigakure to meet the jinchūriki on a pretext to warn him or her about Akatsuki?"

Naruto turned to Noriko and nodded "I like that, Noriko. Now, let's go and kick some butts!"

"How are we going to do it, Tenzō?" asked Noriko.

Suien and his team were about to approach the Bounty Station when they heard "Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu!"

A large toad appeared on top of the Bounty Station and smashed it to smithereens. Grinning, Naruto said to the toad "Thank you, Gamahiro" before he jumped off onto the ground.

Gamahiro nodded and returned to Mount Myōboku, leaving behind clouds of smoke.

Capitalizing the chaos (where Suien and his team just stared in horror at the smashed Bounty Station), Noriko whipped out her first flute and started to cast genjutsu on her opponents, thus paralysed them.

"Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu!" Tenzō's hands turned into woods which branched into more woods and wrapped around their opponents, except for two.

Murasame ran from Amegakure no Sato with his teammates, Hisame and Kirisame, since Suien promised them large amount of money if they help him.

When he saw the Bounty Station smashed by the large toad, all he could think of 'Money's gone...money's gone...money's gone...' when he heard a sound made by a flute.

'That's odd' thought Murasame. He wanted to investigate but for some reasons, his body refused to move.

'Genjutsu!' Murasame put two and two together. Pulling himself up, he formed a hand seal and shouted "Kai!", just in time before he saw a wood coming at him, to which he evaded.

The moment the large toad appeared, Suien kept his guard up. When he heard the music from the flute, he knew something was up.

He realized that he got caught under genjutsu when he tried to move but his body reluctant to move.

Without hesitation, he took out his kunai and stabbed himself on his thigh. When he saw an incoming wood, he performed hand seals and said "Suiton: Suijinheki!"; Suien shot water on the ground which rise up and created a wall.

Sasuke was about to help Tenzō securing the prisoners when he saw that two had managed to break Noriko's genjutsu.

"I'll take him" he said to Tenzō while pointing to a member of Suien's team since Naruto was facing Suien, who tried to escape.

While blowing her flute, Noriko focused her chakra on the remaining prisoners, so that they remained immobile while Tenzō secured their restraints.

During his fight, Murasame casted a genjutsu that creates afterimage of himself to confuse his opponent, only-

"Genjutsu doesn't work on sharingan" said Sasuke as he attacked Murasame with his sword.

"Suiton: Suiben" cried Murasame as he counter-attacked with a whip made out of water, which immobilized Sasuke's sword.

'I guess I can try that' thought Sasuke; he performed hand seals which produced lightning element and casted it on the water-whip.

"Argggghhhh!" yelled Murasame as electricity ran through his body.

Naruto was blocking Suien's water-sword with his right hand when a cried from an opponent distracted Suien; Naruto quickly formed a chakra ball in his left hand and shouted "Rasengan" as he attacked Suien.

Suien flew backwards and skidded on the ground. Before he could pick himself up, he found himself being wrapped around by an iron-tail.

The Konoha shinobi (and their prisoners) found themselves staring at a blonde figure (Male? Female? None of them could figure that out) who threw multiple spiders into their direction and shouted "Art is an Explosion!"

End Chapter 73

A/N: According to NarutoWiki, Murasame was skilled at genjutsu thus he was able to recognize and break himself free from it.

Amegakure no Sato – Hidden Village of Rain

Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu - Summoning: Bring Down The House Jutsu

Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu – Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique

Suiton: Suiben – Water Style: Water Whip

Suiton: Suijinheki – Water Release: Water Formation Wall