"Does this count as blue mana?" Anko asked as they came down from the mountainside and stepped into an overcast and gloomy land.
"Marsh," Xander said with a smile. "It counts as black and blue, making it very useful."
"Both of which you are lacking," Jiraiya noted.
"Exactly," Xander said. "The one swamp we hit on the way here helped but I am still low on black much less blue which this is the first one we've hit other than Konoha itself."
"What black techniques do you know?" Anko asked.
"Unholy strength and the reverse Weakness, which I should have figured out days ago," Xander replied. "Paralyze and destroy should be possible, but I'll have to experiment and haven't had the mana to try until now."
Anko left no trace as she walked even as Xander sunk ankle deep into the marshy ground.
"My contacts say our target will be patrolling the border with his team. Despite being promoted to Jounin he's still not completely trusted," Jiraiya explained. "I don't have any details on his companions but since they are from Rain expect them to have specializing in water techniques."
"What's our plan of attack?" Anko asked.
"Since we aren't looking to start a conflict with Rain it's vital that we don't cause any permanent injuries to them," Jiraiya instructed, "we need to distract them so we can take them down easy. Any ideas?"
"Attack them with summons and while they're dealing with that we ambush them," Anko suggested.
"Summons are too easily sensed," Jiraiya disagreed, "plus when they disperse the first one they'll know something is up."
"I can summon some animals and send them to distract them," Xander pointed out. "Mine aren't chakra constructs so they can't be sensed as anything but normal and won't disperse when killed."
"You can summon animals?" Jiraiya asked.
"Any animal I touch I can create a summon of," Xander explained.
"What are the limits of your ability?" Jiraiya asked already planning on how to use it.
"I can only summon three a day of any one pattern," Xander said, "and the more powerful they are the more mana it costs."
"And?" Jiraiya asked expecting more limitations.
"No 'and' that's the only limitations," Xander said.
"How intelligent can they be before you can't summon them?" Jiraiya asked, trying to recall if Xander had run across any nin-dogs.
"Why would their intelligence matter?" Xander asked.
"Well if you can't copy people only animals then there is probably a limit based on intelligence," Jiraiya explained his reasoning.
"Human beings are part of the animal kingdom," Xander assured him.
"You can copy people?" Jiraiya asked, stunned.
"They aren't copies," Xander said. "What do you know about growing crystals?"
"Almost nothing," Jiraiya said, "and what I do know is just about the crystallization of certain chemicals used for sabotage purposes."
"Ok, well even if all the ingredients are the same no two crystals will be. Each crystal is unique but follows a similar pattern," Xander explained.
"So, they wouldn't be complete duplicates?" Anko asked just to be sure.
"Not remotely," Xander assured her. "If I copied Jiraiya I'd be creating a high level ninja sage but it wouldn't have his face or memories."
"How much would it cost?" Jiraiya found himself asking.
"Let me see your hand," Xander said.
"You aren't going to copy me, are you?" he asked cautiously.
"No, I want to see your pattern so I can tell you the costs," Xander explained.
"Alright," the toad sage said extending a hand.
Xander took his hand and held it for a second before releasing it. "Six mana of various colors and I'd have to sacrifice an untapped land."
"Sacrifice a land?" Anko asked. "That doesn't sound good."
"I'm not talking about destroying it," Xander assured her. "Sages require a land to be a sage of, so I'd simply be releasing it to them."
"That is an insanely powerful ability," Jiraiya said.
"Planeswalker," Xander reminded him.
"Let's stick to animals for now," Jiraiya said.
"How much would a copy of me cost?" Anko asked with a grin, holding out a hand.
Xander took her hand. "Four mana," Xander replied. "While you aren't Jounin you are more skilled than that rank requires."
"You just learned our specialties," Jiraiya realized.
"I have to know what I am summoning to summon it," Xander replied.
"So, if we catch some local animals you can create copies of them," Anko said. "How much control will you have over them?"
"They are completely loyal," Xander assured her.
"You could make your own hidden village in a week," Jiraiya realized.
"Easily," Xander agreed.
"Planeswalker," Jiraiya said.
"Exactly," Xander agreed.
Anko grinned and licked her lips.
OoOoOoOoOo
A grizzly bear dropped right on top of Soun, knocking him out and probably breaking some bones.
Suki immediately dove to the side, narrowly missing having a bear land on her. She flung a handful of poisoned senbons, but that only seemed to anger the bear which immediately picked itself up and lunged after her.
Aoi drew a bladeless sword hilt from his belt and then slowly keeled over with several needles in the back of his neck.
Xander called the bears off, distracting Suki who didn't even notice Jiraiya fade into sight behind her and knock her out with a single blow.
"He's going to need some medical attention," Anko noted as she examined Soun's limp form.
"Tie them up and I'll heal all three at once," Xander replied.
"Here," Anko said, passing Xander the hilt of the bladeless sword.
Xander examined it and began to grin. "It's a legendary weapon. Two red and two colorless." The hilt suddenly sprouted a blade of light and Xander gave it a few practice swings. "It's a god damn lightsaber… with some magnetic manipulation abilities." He laughed and extinguished the blade.
"Are they close enough?" Anko asked as she finished tying Suki to a tree next to the ones the others were tied to.
Xander looked at the three. "A bit wide, but I can get it from the side." He walked around the edge of the tree Suki was tied to, so all the trees were in a row. "Moon Healing Escalation!" he called out doing a bend and twist that made Anko snort as white light flowed through the forest around them.
The three Rain nin awoke instantly and took in their present situation.
"Fuck!"
"I see my reputation precedes me," Jiraiya said cheerfully.
"Or mine," Anko said, leering at the three.
"Definitely not mine," Xander said stepping forward and placing two fingers on Suki's forehead before doing the same thing to the other two.
"We'll tell you nothing," Soun said stoically, shifting in the ropes to see if they'd missed any of his hidden weapons and slumping as he realized they hadn't.
"Relax," Jiraiya said companionably, "we are here for information on a Leaf matter not a Rain one."
"I knew you'd come for me eventually," Aoi cursed.
"We're more here for The Sword of The Thunder God you stole and to get a statement so we can finish up some paperwork," Jiraiya assured him.
"If you tell them the full unvarnished truth I'll give you a shiny new chakra blade to replace the one we're retrieving," Xander offered.
The three captured nin gave him doubtful looks but Xander simply took a chakra blade from his pack and dropped it with their supplies.
"It's his blade and he is trading up," Jiraiya said at their confused expressions. "Now, in your own words, tell me about how you stole the blade and what happened to Idate Mornino."
One story later
"Ok, I'm satisfied," Jiraiya said, closing his notebook. "Aoi Rokusho you will be removed from Leaf's roles as a missing nin, however you are not welcome in Fire Country, have a nice life."
"That's it?" Aoi asked in disbelief.
"That's it," Jiraiya agreed. "We've retrieved Leaf's treasure and cleared up a couple of questions about the status of you and Idate. Good bye."
Xander waved at the three bears and they wandered off into the woods.
"Ibiki will be happy his younger brother has been cleared," Anko said, satisfied the job was done.
"Are we going to untie them?" Xander asked.
"The chakra seals will burn out in another two minutes and they can snap the ropes, they'll be fine," Jiraiya told him.
"Let's make tracks," Anko said.
OoOoOoOoOo
"OK, we should be far enough away," Jiraiya decided, slowing down and letting the other two catch up.
"That went a lot easier than I thought it would," Xander admitted.
"You dropped bears on their heads," Anko said. "Who expects that?"
"Australians," Xander replied.
"What's going to happen to the bears?" Jiraiya asked.
"I ordered them to go off and live their life as normal," Xander replied, "so they are going to go do that."
"So, you can summon creatures and then release them from your service?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes and no," Xander replied. "If I ever call them or run across them they'll still serve me."
"Can you transfer that loyalty?" the toad sage asked.
"I can order them to be loyal to someone else, but they'll still hold loyalty to me," Xander explained.
"What about their kids?" Anko asked.
"Depends," Xander said with a shrug. "They may or may not be loyal to me depending on how they were raised, etc… it's only the ones I summon that have absolute loyalty."
"Did you get anything interesting from the three when you acquired their patterns?" Jiraiya asked.
"Aoi is barely a Jounin, three mana," Xander said. "The other two were solid Jounin at four apiece, she has a specialty in poisons, and he has one in tracking."
"Make a copy of me," Anko told Xander, causing both of them to stare at her. "What? I've always wanted a sister."
Xander sat down on a nearby boulder. "OK, but remember, unlike your summons she's a real person."
"If I wanted an illusionary one I'd use a shadow clone," Anko replied, bouncing on her heels.
Xander pried his eyes away from her breasts. "Fine, one sadistic special jounin coming right up."
A young woman with dark purple hair and green eyes who looked like she could be Anko's cousin suddenly appeared in front of Xander. She was dressed similarly to Anko, but in darker colors and her Hitai-ate had a stylized X on it rather than the leaf symbol. "Lord Xander," she said bowing her head in acknowledgement.
"Tiamo," Xander named her, stepping forward and kissing the side of her neck and giving her Holy strength. He held out his hand and a copy of White Fang formed that he passed her.
"What's your favorite food?" Anko asked.
"No idea," Tiamo replied, "never eaten anything before. I was just created, all I know is my skill set."
"And what's that?" Anko asked.
"Hard in, easy out, and make it wet," she said with a smirk.
"Heavy assault, infiltration, and interrogation," Jiraiya translated.
"Along with some other skills, but they aren't nearly as fun," Tiamo said, making Anko laugh.
"We are going to get along just fine," Anko said brightly.
"If my copy looked like her, I'd have you make me one too," Jiraiya joked.
Xander nodded and a moment later a mature woman with long green hair and bright blue eyes was looking around herself curiously, a smirk on her face as she examined the toad sage closely.
"I dub thee Joan," Xander decided, thinking of Joan of Arc.
She nodded absently and adjusted her red and black kimono, lined with sections of chainmail, to show off a little more cleavage. "And who are you and more importantly how big are you?" Joan asked Jiraiya.
"What?" Jiraiya asked Xander.
"Some of the details I can fiddle with a bit," Xander replied. "Joan is the sage of the Forest of Death I gave her a wild growth forest in there."
"You have my skill set?" the toad sage asked intently.
"Let's grab a hotel room, order up a pair of girls and see," she told him.
"Two green mana instead of one has an effect on the libido," Xander said. "Holy or unholy strength?" he asked her.
"Unholy," she decided after a moment of thought, "I have a good healing rate thanks to the excess green mana so let's go with a little more… penetration."
"I don't know whether to be delighted of horrified," Jiraiya said as she pulled Xander's head down to make him kiss her cleavage.
Xander blinked as she released him. "And you can affect others with green mana by touch."
She smiled.
"And a White Fang for you too," he said, passing her a sword.
"We are getting separate rooms from her," Tiamo told Anko who nodded.
"Why haven't you made copies of the Raijin?" Anko asked.
"White Fang is on the edge of legendary but Raijin is legendary," Xander replied, "meaning one copy per world."
"Bit of a let down, but still awesome," Anko decided. "Can you summon snakes?" she asked Tiamo.
"No, I haven't signed the contract," Tiamo replied.
"Probably going to have to kill Orochimaru before that happens," Anko admitted.
"Then that's what we'll do," Tiamo replied.
Anko's bloodthirsty grin assured she was more than willing to help.
"Lord Xander, is it alright if I kill Orochimaru?" Tiamo asked Xander, pressing breasts to his side and batting her eyes. "Please?"
"If Jiraiya says it's OK," Xander said patting her arm. "He's our leader on all ninja matters."
They turned to Joan and Jiraiya who had both pulled out notebooks and were discussing story ideas.
"We'll ask them when we get to wherever we're staying for the night," Xander decided. "I'm assuming killing him is going to be a big deal and not something as simple as sending him a bomb in a box."
"He's one of Konoha's greatest traitors and a sage himself," Anko replied. "I was his apprentice and he's the bastard who stuck that seal on me."
"OK, then as soon as-" Xander was tackled out of the way of a spray of kunai trailing explosive tags by Tiamo.
*Boom*
The trail flooded with attackers.
"We were too involved in our art," Joan complained throwing up a wall of stone.
"We got sloppy," Jiraiya agreed stomping his foot and causing spikes to spring out from the ground skewering several nin.
"Who are these fuckers?!" Tiamo demanded as she snapped the neck of one while kicking another in the balls.
Xander simply grabbed one of the attackers and used him as a bludgeon on the attackers nearby.
"I'm seeing Root and some music note group," Anko said as she sent a series of venomous snakes into the ground.
"That would be Sound," Jiraiya said. "I guess it's confirmed, Danzo is involved with Orochimaru and my old traitorous teammate is running Sound village." His hands flickered out and almost casually sent a spray of poisoned senbons back at their owner.
"Does this mean we can kill him?" Tiamo asked hopefully.
"If we can find him," the toad sage confirmed as dozens of nin came out of the weeds around them.
"Oh goodie!" Anko said and clapped her hands like a little girl, distracting the nin in front of her as Tiamo sliced his head off with a glowing white blade.
"Lord Xander, we need some options," Joan said as she whipped her long hair about and it carved off half the face of a nin behind her.
"Time for a little hocus pocus," Xander said, "everyone watch closely, since I can only do this once."
Nearby nin frantically threw themselves towards Xander trying to prevent him from getting whatever technique he was using off, only to be cut down by two very sadistic kunoichi.
Xander brought his hands in front of him a ball of blue/white energy forming, then he gave a girly spin, crossing his arms and flinging them outwards filling the air with a cold mist. "Shabon Spray!"
The effect was immediately apparent as the nin surrounding them stumbled around stabbing the air randomly.
"You have the most powerful girly looking attacks ever," Anko decided with a grin as she flung edged and scaly death around with abandon.
"Yeah, but man is it effective," Tiamo said as she cleared out all the nearby nin with her sword.
Jiraiya and Joan cleared large swaths of the forces with large scale water jutsu followed by lightning jutsu, followed by fire jutsu, followed by an ability she called Tangle Wood.
Anko idly stabbed a groaning nin. "Is that all of them?"
Jiraiya and Joan both closed their eyes and took deep breaths, after a couple of heartbeats they walked to several spots on the killing ground and stomped, indenting the earth. "That's all of them," they chorused.
The mist slowly faded away revealing a small army of corpses.
"Cool, free gear," Xander said. "I wonder if any of them were carrying cash."
"You have a kunai in your shoulder," Tiamo noted.
"And some senbons in my back," Xander added.
"We either need to get you more Taijutsu training or some nice thick armor," Jiraiya said.
"Armor, that's what I forgot," Xander complained smacking himself on the forehead as Anko and Tiamo started removing sharp bits of metal and drawing poison from wounds.
"Another thing you haven't mentioned?" Jiraiya asked.
"No, one I forgot to apply," Xander replied. He summoned another White Fang and gave it to Anko. I can create artifacts easily and have plenty of mana… or I did. Anyway, I could have created that green crystal plate mail I was wearing at the castle."
"Next major battle, remember to put that on first," Jiraiya suggested.
"I will, those little needles itch," Xander assured him.
"That's the cobra venom," Anko and Tiamo replied in unison.
Typing By: fyrewolf5
TN: Oh god, two Anko's, and two Jiraiya's, one of which is a female, did you find a real copy of one Jiraiya's Icha Icha Paradise somewhere?
AN: OtteryLexa requested a new chapter and my Muse agreed!
