This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Misaki, Kaede, Akihiko, Kazuhiko and the following unrecognizable are original characters of mine.
Also, comments, suggestions, criticism, even just simple messages are welcomes, please feel free to message me anytime.
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 1: Ill Fated Reunion
Wind blew past the four figures standing up on the edge of a cliff, the moon shinning so bright behind them, that the four figures were barely distinguishable other than shadows looming on the cliff.
One of the four figures looked up at the velvet skies.
"It's a full moon" the voice said contemplatively, another wind blew past them, and this time the wind was stronger, carrying petals of flower along with it. This stronger wind that carried the petals collected itself in a little tornado, the petals amassing itself until one whole figure had joined the rest.
"What news?" The tallest one had asked their latest member.
"The Akatsuki had managed to seal of two tailed beasts, particularly the seven and the five tailed beasts, apparently they are now on the move to make their third capture; the one tailed beast residing inside the Sunagakure Kazekage" the figure said and all five figures straightened up their relaxed poses.
"Then that is where we must go" the tallest one said and altogether the five mysterious figures had disappeared into the night.
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It was that time of the day where it had been too early for a new day to commence and too late for the previous day to end when Tsunade sat on her desk, doing her duties as Konoha's hokage when a hulking figure entered the room.
"I thought you'd have left the village by now" Tsunade said not even taking her eyes off the papers.
"I thought I'd wait till everyone was gone" Jiraiya said entering the room.
"So what news?" Tsunade said turning her chair around to face her old teammate.
"The akatsuki are beginning to get bolder with their moves; their taking on higher and higher profiled missions, missions that a hidden villages would decline, at a much lower rate" Jiraiya explained.
"You don't mean?!" Tsunade exclaimed, watching earnestly as Jiraiya slowly nodded in deep thought.
"However, I did find something very interesting." Jiraiya said and looked outside the skies to contemplate.
"Recently, their missions have been less than successful, in turn their covers are shaken to say the least, no longer can they roam and enter villages hidden or not without being apprehended" Jiraiya continued.
"You mean there is some sort of resistance against them?" Tsunade asked, thinking who it could have been brave, strong and stupid enough to go against a dangerous opponent such as the Akatsuki.
"Their pretty much as elusive as the Akatsuki, however, only one thing known. They are composed of five female members. Their so famous that everyone else have dubbed them the Kunoichi Five"
"Kunoichi Five huh" Tsunade glared at the blank space in deep thought. Jiraiya stared deep into the night skies as he remembered the village he and Naruto had once passed by. A village that had recovered straight from the ashes of their brothers and tears of the beloved.
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"Help! Somebody help us" a crying woman shouted as she huddled her gravely injured husband and crying children to her body in the midst of a raging fire. The whole village was burning; they had been attacked during the night, no one even knew they were infiltrated until a loud explosion broke out, and a fire started, engulfing everything in its path, swallowing the entire village.
A beam had fell inside their house, hitting the husband's head and trapping them all in, the room grew hotter and blurrier with every second that past and the children had passed out from the smoke. The woman cried harder for help, already losing hope.
Suddenly the front door that was barred shut by the beam crushed, open along with the beam and in walked several burly men with scimitars.
"Take anything that is still of value" the biggest one ordered and his men had dispersed into the burning house, taking everything that was still of use. The leader of the pact walked towards the small family.
"You would sell a fine price, as for your children, I'm sure slavers would be glad to get them off your hands" the man said pointing his weapon on the husband, who was breathing, but was still unconscious.
The woman's eyes widened as the bandit raised his sword ready to plunge it in her husband's neck, but a flying blade imbedded itself on his neck, killing him instantly. The woman looked around to see that the rest of the bandits had also died silently. There amidst the fire, a girl stood, with long red hair that seemed to mold with the burning fire.
'a flaming angel' was the last thing the woman thought before she completely lost hold of her awareness.
Outside the burning house, bandits chased citizens and looted properties as the fire raged on.
"Futon: reverse tornado technique" a voice said and a gush of wind rushed around the fire, stealing it of its oxygen, rendering it to nothing but smokes.
"Suiton: chilly blanket technique" another voice said amidst the scream and a gel like water engulfed the whole vicinity immediately quenching the fires with its chilly embrace.
Every single person, bandit and citizen alike paused and watched the scene in front of them as the flames began to extinguish into smokes.
"Damn it hurry, the fires gone!" one of the bandits said.
"We better hurry up and round this people up!" another said and they started chase the citizens once again, only a woman appeared, stepping in between them and their prey.
"Katon: Fury of hell technique!" the girl said and altogether a demon like blue flame emerged and swallowed the bandits. The citizens collapsed in the mixture of relief, exhaustion and the adrenaline wearing off.
Another girl had jumped in and examined the fallen bodies that lay huddled against each other, soon three more girls had joined the other two.
"How are they?"
"They're all fine, probably just exhausted having spent their adrenaline" the girl examining the citizens said and made a few hand signs before slamming her hand on the ground.
"Ninpou: mass hospital technique" she said and a warm green light emitted from the ground and engulfed every citizen, immediately healing the injured.
"That should do it" she said and walked away, followed by the rest of the girls. Unbeknownst to them, the leader of the village had opened his eyes long enough to see five female figures walking away in the dead of the night after saving them.
"Five Kunoichi" he muttered before falling asleep once more.
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Jiraiya had long since left the building to leave Tsunade to her thoughts. It had not occurred to her how long she had been immersed in the silence of her troubling thoughts until…
"Excuse me" a female voice broke her reverie as a knock came from the door. Once it had opened, there stood a person that she had not been expecting to see.
For there on the doorway stands a woman where a girl once stood. Long gone were the 'too excessively designed to be a ninja outfit' clothes, replaced instead with more practical and simpler, yet yukata inspired ensemble. Long hair was longer and blue eyes seemed deeper, yet the familiar shade of red and the smile upon that face still remained. Finally, Namikaze Misaki was home.
"It's been a long time Tsunade-sensei" Misaki said as she entered the room casually as if this was not the first time they were seeing the other in a couple of years.
"I wish it had been on lighter terms, but I am afraid that I have grave news" Misaki began as she stopped to stand in front of the hokage's desk, smile had been replaced with a serious, yet unreadable expression. There are a million things that both older shinobi wanted to ask the girl; like what has she been up to for the past couple of years, has she encountered dangerous foes, what had she learned, did she know anything about what is happening outside, however, all of these questions were pushed down their priority lists of 'to ask Misaki the moment we see her,' when they saw the mask of seriousness on her face.
"What is it?" Tsunade asked, her attention, solely focused on the girl, Misaki had a serene personality, something that she inherited from her father, along with the face that is rarely seen not smiling.
"I don't know the specifics, but the Akatsuki had infiltrated Suna deep into the night and apprehended the fourth kazekage, Gaara, my best guess is that he is the vessel of the one tailed beast, a messenger falcon should arrive early this day. The akatsuki are getting bolder with their actions, frequently taking high profiled missions, and rumor has it that they had managed to capture and seal two of the tailed beasts out of their human vessel" Misaki explained without beating an eyelash.
The fifth hokage carefully regarded Misaki as she told them of the very reason why she had even returned to the village. She had suspected Misaki and her group, whoever she was travelling with had managed to go as far as to connect the disappearance of random ninjas and the abduction of jinchuriki. How deep exactly is Misaki digging, she doubted even Jiraiya might know, but she couldn't bring himself blame the girl who is doing everything in her power to make sure her brother doesn't get hurt.
"Tsunade-sama!" a lone kunoichi violently and unceremoniously opened the hokage's door ran inside and handed her a scroll, one which Tsunade quickly opened to read through its contents, frown growing deeper by every word the passes through her eyes. Her eyes widened as she made sure to read the scroll twice, Misaki had been spot on, not a single detail out of place
"How did you get hold of this kind of intel?" Tsunade asked, such information of this caliber would be hard to come by and to garner information this fast, even Jiraiya has problems regarding this sort of information gathering.
"Easy, I was there" Misaki simply said, earning a frown from the two.
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The five figures arrived at Sunagakure silently, in fact, standing on top of the village borders, one would think that a hidden village would have it heavily guarded, and as a matter of fact it is.
Well, was.
They arrived to a graveyard, bodies littered everywhere, murdered and without resistance, it was a pretty safe assumption to make that they were very likely murdered by their comrade, someone that didn't need to be too strong, only someone they can easily make the mistake of trusting.
Above them, a blond member of the akatsuki flew high above the entirety of the hidden village of the sand, the tails of the bird firmly holding a helpless Gaara.
"Gaara!" one of the female figures lurched from her spot, this time under the bright moon, the five figures were visible. Ayako, the very girl that lurched from her spot was a girl with a long blonde hair and violet eyes. She didn't get very far since she was held back by a girl with long red hair; Misaki held her tightly in her arms as the girl struggled against her.
"Ayako, calm down" the oldest one said, holding the blonde's shoulder, effectively calming her. The tallest and oldest girl, Yoko, the one with the long dark blue hair and mint green eyes, stared at the youngest member of their group in empathy, out of all of them, the situation will be the hardest for her.
First is due to the fact that Ayako hailed from the hidden village of the sand, and this was her kazekage being taken from her. Second is that Ayako grew up shadowing the very person who is currently being chartered off, god know where, and the third one, is due to the fact that wherever Gaara is going to be taken, one outcome is known, he would die from the beast being taken from them, just like the first two jinchuricki did when akatsuki had rid them of their tailed beasts.
"We must inform the other villages of this, with Gaara captured, there are only six left before Akatsuki completes the preparation for whatever they're planning" another member, Natsumi the girl with long black hair and icy blue eyes said. Ayako didn't manage to hide the conflict in her eyes, but was easily eased up when another hand patted and ruffled her head.
"There's still time, if we play our cards right, we might be able to save Gaara, but our top priority is stopping akatsuki" Kazumi the girl with long brown hair and motherly green eyes comforted their youngest member and Ayako's mask of doubt and worry and anger was joined with determination.
"What are we going to do now" Ayako said as Misaki slowly let her go, feeling her resolve strengthen in her arms.
"Ayako, right now your village needs you most, survey the area and see if there are still people who are alive, give them first aids, enough to last until they are able to receive proper medical attention. Kazumi is also right, if we play our cards right, we still might be able to The one that lurched from her spot and save Gaara, The rest of us will have to inform our respective villages of what is happening, get help if possible, remember Ayako, help the living first" Yoko ordered and the five immediately dispersed into the night.
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"It's been a long time since I've had a mission, I'm so excited!" Naruto cheerfully said as he walked along with Sakura and Kakashi, the two could almost the hum in his voice as he walked at a gleeful pace.
"Naruto, accept the mission without complaint. These are our orders, got it?" Sakura said already looking suspiciously at Naruto.
"I understand" Naruto said, however Kakashi was already dreading the meeting with the hokage, knowing exactly how Naruto would react despite Sakura's warning.
The three of them were already expecting what this day is going to be from the moment they enter the office all the way to how they are going to report their accomplished mission, but everything flew out the village, the moment they opened the hokage's office and set eyes inside the hokage's office, when somebody they weren't expecting to see stood right before them.
"MISAKI!" all three said in unison as Misaki turned to look at the latest arrivals, heart fluttering as she saw her brother for the first time in so long.
"Naruto!" Misaki's eyes visibly brightened as she approached Naruto who caught her in a heartwarming embrace, making sure to spin her around above ground before setting her back on her feet to look at her.
"Oh, you've grown!" they said in unison and laughed in unison, and an image of them as kids flashing before everyone's eyes and a foreshadow of two familiar people right behind it as Naruto and Misaki reunited, playing a game of spot the difference against each other's persons.
Tsunade wanted to smile at the double nostalgia, but now is not the time, as much as it pains her to break their sweet reunion, they had more pressing matters to address. Clearing her throat she slammed her hand on the table, garnering everyone's attention.
"Sunagakure's kazekage had been abducted by the members of the organization called akatsuki" if anyone was not paying attention to Tsunade earlier, this time, she had the unparalleled attention of everyone in the room.
"We have acquired more information regarding the akatsuki and so the sunagakure has officially requested our help. Your mission is to go to Sunagakure immediately, find out what's going on and report back to Konoha immediately, from then on, you will follow orders from Sunagakure and provide them with back up!"
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Wasting very little time Ayako had surveyed Sunagakure's perimeter, in search of survivors, no matter how grave their conditions may be, applying immediate first aid treatments exactly how she was taught by Kazumi and carrying them where they can be quickly seen and treated by the rest of the villagers.
"Wind Release: Boulder of Winds!" Ayako yelled as she erupted strong winds from her fists to crush the rocks standing in her way. She wanted to get this over as quickly as she can, as much as Ayako hated to admit it, Natsumi was right, there was no certainty that Gaara may still be alive, so she must focus on whom she can save at hand first before chasing after Gaara. However, that didn't stop the strong urge for her to forget everything else and chase after Gaara.
Ayako felt tears run down her cheeks as she aided the people from her village as quickly as she can. She couldn't stand to lose Gaara, not now, not when there are still so much left unsaid.
'The things you'll regret most in your life are the ones you did not say or do'
Misaki's words rang inside Ayako's head, along with hundreds of scenarios that circled around her what ifs and what could have beens.
"You can't die yet Gaara, I won't let you" Ayako convinced more of herself than anyone else as she asserted her work before jumping down the wall perimeter and running off into the desert, disappearing in the form of a small petal filled hurricane.
Ayako went on for quite some time until she stumbled upon a clatter of debris, amongst those debris was a black unmoving figure that was all too familiar to her. The small hurricane stopped beside this fallen form, petals coming together to form a body. She knelt down beside the figure, turning him over to inspect if he was alive.
Ayako confirmed the dreaded truth that the person lying amidst the sand was indeed Kankuro, who was barely clinging on to life as he lay there in the dust.
"Kankuro!" Ayako said cradling his head in her arms, shifting to the person in her arms and to the direction where the track leads.
"A-ya-ko?" Kankuro muttered before succumbing to unconsciousness. Ayako quickly laid him on his back against the sand and inspected the damages done onto him. He had a wound on his chest, but it wasn't deep to cause any serious damage, however, the discoloration surrounding the wound dictates that a poison had entered his bloodstream through the wound. Ayako gave one last look at the direction of where Gaara was dragged, before pulling Kankuro up and placing him on his back before sprinting as fast as she can back towards the village.
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Once they were disbanded to quickly collect their things before proceeding with the mission, Naruto had asked Misaki if she'd like to come with him, but she cordially turned him down, with a gentle smile.
"Well, see you at the gates then!" Naruto said as he waved good bye, sprinting into the village crowds on the way to his apartment.
"You're going to visit your mom aren't you?" Kakashi said behind her with a knowing smile as Misaki sweat dropped while rubbing the back of her head.
"Yeah, she'll probably go ballistic if she finds out that I returned to the village for the first time in years and left once again without seeing her" Misaki said as the two of them walked towards the direction of the Namikaze household. Kakashi stared at the red haired kunoichi who walked in front of him, no longer the mischievous little girl, but now a strong young lady, who was already beginning to make a name for herself. Her hair was longer, and although she was still short for her age, she had already grown taller, with a little assistance from the heeled feminine ninja sandals she wore.
Kakashi froze in shock when Misaki suddenly halted and turned to face him, her face a mask of frowning seriousness as she walked towards him and stared him in the eye in a scrutinizing manner.
"Kakashi you" Kakashi's began to feel himself sweat even more as Misaki began.
"Have you already made me an imouto or an otouto?" Misaki said, her face bouncing to it's sparkling smile of innocence as Kakashi literally hit the ground.
'I guess she still the young mischievous girl´ Kakashi thought as Misaki resumed her walk back to the Namikaze compound.
"Here we are" Misaki said, stared at her home, regarding that not much had changed structure wise.
"The house hasn't been suffering Kaede's wrath much lately, so nothing much has been renovated" Kakashi explained, easily reading the amusement in Misaki's eyes as it roamed the exterior.
"Well here goes that record" Misaki said moving to open the door.
She had only managed to open a fraction of the door before senbon needles came her way, barely registering in time to dodge. Inside the dark halls glowering eyes emerged from the shadow and lunged outside.
"How dare you not go to your mother first the moment you returned the village! Why you?!" Kaede growled as she leapt to the air, fist ready to hit Misaki, who kept dodging and evading her hits with an amused smile.
"Sorry mom," Misaki disappeared from in front of Misaki and reappeared behind her mom, engulfing her in a tight hug. At that moment, Kakashi looked at mother and child, no words were exchanged, but the tightness of the hug had said all that Misaki wanted to say to Kaede.
"Tche, little brat, you think you could get off easily with just an apology and a bone crushing hug" Kaede said, but her face showed the complete opposite, as she place her arms on top of Misaki's.
"I missed you too mom" Misaki said smiling, despite their time apart, Kaede had not yet changed.
"Sorry to break the reunion apart, but we're kind off on a schedule here" Kakashi said approaching the mother and child, making Kaede look at him in question.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I sort of returned here with a distress signal from Gaara, Tsunade-sensei has given us orders to aid Sunagakure in whatever they may need, so we're kind off in a rush" Misaki explained, her eyes casting a sincere apology of not being able to spend more time with Kaede upon her return.
"Although, I don't know how much time we'll save since Kakashi went on his way to accompany me here" Misaki wondered, as she pinched her chin in between her index finger and thumb. Kaede and Kakashi both froze at Misaki's remarks, they had forgotten to tell Misaki about that little detail over the years.
"I don't mean to be an ingrate, but really Kakashi, we could have saved more time if you had just gone on back to your flat and left me to deal with mom, however, you do have a bad habit of leaving a few things behind, so I'm not surprised if you have a few things stashed here, but I doubt it would be enough for a mission of this caliber, with a unforeseen duration, then there is also…" Misaki continued on rationalizing, or rather over rationalizing the situation,
"Umm, Misaki, he sort of lives here already" Kaede said, nervous at how Misaki is going to react.
"Well, you can borrow some of mom's stuff, I think she wouldn't mind, I'm just not sure, how her equipment is going to suit you, you have different tactics after all but I think you- WHAT?!" Misaki exclaimed as Kaede's words finally sunk in her mind, making her look at both Kaede and Kakashi and vice versa again and again, just to make sure they weren't getting back at her for teasing them. However, the mixture of serious and nervous looks on their faces had told her everything she needed to know. Misaki's face mask of surprise gradually returned to her amused and contemplating face.
"Well I suppose it makes sense, with the sexual tension between the two of you, I think what surprises me the most is how long you two held out" Misaki wondered, not really aware that her thoughts had all been uttered out loud.
"Why you brat!" Kaede said lunging to punch her, but Misaki ducked out of the way, leaving the exterior of the Namikaze household to the mercy of Kaede's ridiculous strength and anger.
"Well, there goes the house had not been suffering under Kaede lately" Kakashi said scratching the top of his hair.
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Naruto and Sakura had already been waiting at the village gates accompanied by the fifth hokage who was ready to see them off when Misaki and Kakashi arrived at the gates, Kaede still in tow.
"Oi, Misaki, Kakashi we're about to leave without you!"Naruto yelled out as he waved his hands towards them, urging them to walk a little faster.
"Idiot, as if we'll ever leave without either of them" Sakura said hitting Naruto in the head.
"Sorry. Sorry we were just a bit caught up" Misaki said not really wanting to explain that it had taken them this long because they had to calm Kaede down from destroying the whole compound. Misaki ran towards Naruto and made a fist bump, one which Naruto accepted eagerly.
"Okay we're off!" Naruto announced as they looked back at the people who went out of their way to see them off. Kakashi stared at Kaede's eyes, a conversation that only the two of them would ever know. Without any hesitations, Kakashi nodded, with fierce determination barely poking its head behind the usual lazy and calm façade of his barely revealed face.
"We'll be back Master" Sakura saluted, and there they began to set off for their mission.
Imagine the surprise when a figure with unruly long hair jumped in front of them, simultaneously blocking their way.
"Oh, Naruto, are you about to go on a mission now?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto simply nodded with glee.
"But more importantly," Jiraiya said walking past them to talk to Tsunade.
"Tsunade I've got some information for you, the Kazekage of Sunagakure-" Tsunade didn't let him finish to save some time and pointed towards the group of shinobi he had just passed.
"I know, I'm just about to send them off to Sunagakure now" Tsunade explained making Jiraiya make a double take with an unexplainable reaction before leaning to whisper in Tsunade's ear.
Misaki regarded the two Sannins carefully, already having a good idea of what Jiraiya was whispering in the lady hokage's ear.
"It's an emergency decision you see, I just made the best one I could" Tsunade explained, but Misaki had approached the two, placing a reassuring hand on the bulky man's shoulder, that would have been impossible if Misaki had not been wearing a heeled sandals.
"It'll be alright Jiariya-sensei" Jiraiya froze as he heard the familiar voice, turning to see a nostalgic vision, one not of her mother who she resembled so closely, but a picture of her father, so clear in her shadows. Jiraiya gave the nostalgic sight a contemplative stare before smiling, regaining confidence in the will of the next generation before him.
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Note: First Chapter of the next installment, if you have managed to make it here, you have my most sincere gratitude, I am so sorry it took longer than expected, but I promise to make it up from here.
Once again thank you for reading until next time!