Well, here's the next Chapter. I know its been a while, but I had some issues to work out. I was actually supposed to update this back in mid-May, but I ran into a few problems.
Chapter 8: Suna's Sealing Master
Chiyo had seen a lot in her long life. From her role in the Second Shinobi World War, to the death of her son and daughter-in-law at the hands of Konoha's White Fang, to her grandson's defection, to the sealing of the Shukaku in an innocent newborn by her own hands. After seeing this much, the old woman had had quite enough of the village and its corrupt principles.
But, it seemed she was being dragged back into the village's affairs with another order from the esteemed Yondaime Kazekage. And coincidentally, it happened to involve a Jinchuuriki. She had heard passing rumors that Konoha had gotten their hands on a never before seen Bijuu, but she didn't make much of them at the time.
That all changed when her leader ordered her to go with his sixteen-year old Jinchuuriki son as part of a trap to get Konoha's second Bijuu. Honestly, it was a crackpot scheme at its finest, and they would be lucky if they could avoid war with this plan. The Kazekage was hoping that Konoha wouldn't be tempted, because Suna would effectively be stronger than Konoha if they could get their hands on a second Bijuu.
Of course, she would play the role of the bait, working undercover while pretending to play along with a simple escort mission back home. Apparently, Gaara and his siblings would "ambush" them on the way back. Gaara had a reputation as being a kind of loose cannon anyway. He hated everyone and everything, including the village where he was raised. Especially the village where he was raised.
The Chuunin Exams were still a few months away, so she had all the time she needed to prepare for them. She would be sent to Konoha three weeks before they began, acting as the representative to their village.
She walked through the halls of the Kazekage tower, her brother absent from her side. He must've been at the fishing hole or something; that was where they usually spent their free time, now that they had lots of it. The old woman sighed.
"It looks like I'm going to be the cause of more death in the world..." she thought to herself, thinking back to when she sealed the Shukaku within Gaara all those years ago. Even back then she had lost a ton of faith in the village that she served.
She was already going over in her head how she was going to work this out. Extracting a Bijuu was strenuous work, often taking consecutive days to fully get it all out. The Jinchuuriki of said Bijuu died when extracted, though she heard rumors that the Yondaime Hokage's wife had survived getting her Bijuu extracted.
She ignored a couple of passing Chuunin who greeted her; she was done here for the day and just the feel of the place was making her sick. Plus, she needed to get back to her house, and see how she was going to go around this.
The previous two Jinchuuriki of the Shukaku were easy to remove, being that they were both shinobi of the village. This Jinchuuriki of the so-called Reibi was an enemy ninja, obviously not obligated to act in Suna's favor. She would have to be held down somehow after getting captured, and that was of course what Gaara's job was. It would be even better if he could somehow render her unable to move.
The streets of the village always calmed her down a bit, and it was a much more welcome place than the Kazekage tower. Civilians usually had a better, more polite disposition than psychopathic shinobi who had the corrupt policies of the village beat into them.
Her house wasn't very far away from the Kazekage Tower, and soon she had entered the place where she had spent much of her life. The place where she had raised her grandson, Sasori. Of course, it was years ago that Sasori could be called a part of the village.
As she walked upstairs to her storage room, she began to wonder about the sheer lack of information that they had on this new Bijuu. She had no idea what type of seal the Hokage had used on the Jinchuuriki.
As such, she was forced to go with her old standby seal and hope that it worked. The Kazekage was such a moron; what if they got everyone killed? Not like he would care or anything.
She picked up two bottles of ink and a few scrolls for the process; they were all the material things that she needed for the unsealing. The resealing she could do by herself if the Bijuu was supposedly weaker than the Ichibi.
When everything was ready for the mission in a few weeks, she headed back outside to find her brother at the fishing pond. Her ninja senses had picked on something, though. The villagers were giving a certain individual a wide berth as he passed down the street.
She narrowed her eyes, and a slight tinge of guilt struck her heart as she saw a red-haired teenager walk down the street, the cold expression on his face giving him away immediately. He made no indication that he was bothered by the heavy gourd strapped to his back.
Sixteen years old, and already one of the strongest in the village. Sabaku no Gaara, the living weapon for the village that loathed everything in the world minus himself. It was her fault he was like this way, but he didn't even spare her a glance as he passed. His role in the mission was probably the most troubling aspect of it, as well as the most risky.
There was absolutely no guarantee that Gaara wouldn't just kill the target on sight; they could say hello to a war directly after that. However, they needed one Jinchuuriki to lure out and capture another, so this was the only option. She just hoped that Gaara could finish up without using the Shukaku; a Bijuu fight could be seen for miles.
"Give us another mission besides this boring crap!"
Yukiko hung her head in slight embarassment as Konohamaru shouted his grievances with all the D-rank missions that they've been doing these past few weeks. The old woman over to their right winced at the loudness of his voice, while Yukiko shot her an apologetic look. Hinata smiled nervously as the Yondaime regarded them carefully.
"Idiot! You're fresh from the academy, and not ready to go on a more dangerous missions. Your inexperience is the exact reason why you're being assigned D-rank missions!" Iruka shouted from his post after getting to his feet. Konohamaru pouted at his former teacher childishly.
"But, all we've been doing is boring crap lately! How are we supposed to gain experience like this?" he countered back.
Iruka moved to scold him again, but Minato, who was overseeing the entire process, held him back.
"Konohamaru-kun, it seems that I need to explain the concept of missions to you," he began. Konohamaru tuned in reluctantly to the blonde man.
"Everyday, we receive a multitude of requests from all over the Elemental Countries. These requests range from simple chores to assassinations. Based on the danger and difficulty of the mission, we give particular ranks to the missions and assign them to ninja whose abilities allow them to complete it. Since you three are fresh from the academy, D-rank missions are most suitable for you," he explained, holding up a scroll with a list of D-rank missions on them.
Konohamaru wasn't paying attention, finding an unusual amount of interest in a moth that had found its way into the room. Minato sighed, before he turned to look at the old woman.
"Well, if you insist, I can give you a C-rank mission," Minato said, much to the protests of Iruka beside him.
"Your timing couldn't have been more perfect. Chiyo-baasama, our representative from Suna for the Chuunin Exams has requested an escort back to the village. Moreover, she has requested a Hyuuga in order to promote maximum security." The group was now fully focused on the old woman beside them.
She didn't really seem to have that much of an interest with the group of three genin and one jounin, but Hinata was a perfect fit for the job, and it was an easy C-rank mission for the rest of them.
"Hmph, I suppose they'll do..." she muttered under her breath, which everyone except the Genin picked up upon.
"My name is Chiyo of the Sand Village. As Hokage-dono has made clear, I am a representative of Suna in the upcoming Chuunin Exams. Now that my business here is concluded, I need an escort back to my home village. I am getting old, and can no longer make the long journey alone, so I'll be expecting you young'ins to get me there safely."
Hinata twiddled her thumbs a little bit nervously.
"Of course, Chiyo-san. As you are a guest to the village of Konoha, you will receive the same escort treatment we would give to one of our own," she said.
She nodded simply, and chose not to exchange any more words with her prospective protectors. She rushed out the door the fastest a woman of her age could, leaving the genin team alone with the Hokage.
"Meet as the western gate of Konoha in approximately three hours. That should give you enough time to prepare for everything you'll need for this mission. Good luck," Minato said, more so to his daughter than the other two Genin.
Hinata bowed to both the Hokage and the sensei, before she left the building with her Genin in tow. Minato simply stared at their retreating forms. He just couldn't settle this feeling he had in his gut...
Approximately one-hundred miles outside of the village of Konoha, three shinobi stood on stand-by just barely outside the borders of the Hi no Kuni. Two of them bore looks of smug satisfaction, while the one that seemed to be their leader had a cold, emotionless expression on his face.
The one on the left, and the only girl of the group seemed to be the oldest at around nineteen years of age. She was wearing a modest black kimino, and had her blonde hair tied into four buns. There was a giant metal fan strapped to her back, which was clearly her weapon.
The one on the right was slightly younger, looking to be around eighteen years old. He was dressed in the stereotypical garb of the bunraku puppeteers, complete with facepaint and hood.
The one in the middle was the youngest, appearing to be only sixteen years old. Yet, he was actually the most striking of the bunch. A shock of red hair, a tattoo for "love" on his forehead, and a giant gourd on his back. In addition to that, he had bizarre black markings surrounding his eyes. It didn't look foreign, like it was a type of mascara or any other make-up. It looked so...natural on his face.
They had been briefed on what they were supposed to do, a fairly simplistic plan, but one that should be effective none the less. That is, if Konoha were stupid enough to fall for it, and they most definitely were. They were easily the most arrogant village, with a bunch of narcissists who staunchly believed in the "Will of Fire" nonsense.
It was a mission that the three Suna shinobi had agreed to effortlessly; the older of the two because they were loyal to their village, and by extension their father. The younger accepted the mission because of the chance to kill something. There was also the direct details of the target that they were after.
It was a Jinchuuriki, similar to the young man with the gourd. Normally, Shukaku's blood-lust was very high, spurring him to commit violent acts and suffer through insomnia, which only worsened his mental state.
But now... the Shukaku's blood-lust was palpable in its origins, and the other Jinchuuriki could practically taste it. The suffering of his target, the thrill of killing his own kind. It was intoxicating, and he couldn't take it.
The young man shuddered in place, before he roared in what seemed to be a mix of both agony and pleasure. He clutched his head in his hands, cursing that he had to wait for the blasted girl. The two other shinobi looked at him with concern and more than a little fear.
"Gaara!" the girl cried, as her youngest brother went through his spasms. Gaara shot his head up and looked at her intensely, his eyes flashing with unrestrained hatred.
"Shut up, Temari..." he hissed.
Gaara's siblings backed up, trying to get away from the crazed Jinchuuriki. This was the exact reason why they hated going on missions with Gaara. Even though they were all Jounin now, they would sometimes be placed on missions as a group. Gaara was obviously unfit to be a Jounin sensei, with his lust for blood taking over anything else in his life. He was a weapon of the village, and a defective one at that, whom they couldn't seem to get rid of. Time after time, Temari wished there would be someone who could snap Gaara out of his selfish and destructive tendencies. Sadly, no such person had ever appeared.
And so, the village had essentially created a monster far past their expectations. Gaara was definitely one of the strongest ninjas in the entire village, surpassed only by the Kazekage, most likely...
This Namikaze Yukiko girl didn't stand a chance...
"Well, that took you long enough." Chiyo's snide comment rang through their ears as the three Genin and their sensei exited through the western gate of Konoha.
Yukiko glared at the old woman; she had not liked her ever since she had opened her mouth. There was something about her that set her on edge... A very aggressive, almost hostile edge. Yukiko surprised herself as she felt the urge to rip the old woman apart enter her head. It even overrode the concept that she had never been outside of the village before.
"W-Well Chiyo-san, we are prepared to protect you to the death. We may leave whenever you are ready," Hinata stated. Chiyo nodded, before she began walking down the main road.
"Yeah, let's go already, Hinata-sensei!" Konohamaru said excitedly. Hinata held out her hands in a placating gesture, trying to calm the excited younger boy. Inside though, she was very happy to be called sensei.
Chiyo glared at the loud boy, her cranky old self hardly being able to tolerate such loud youngsters. At least the Jounin was quiet, if not a pushover. If she really had been requesting an escort, she would totally hire these guys. It didn't matter though, the redheaded girl was their target; she just needed to get her over the border. And with a rookie Jounin that didn't seem to realize what was going on, this would be one of the easiest missions she had ever gone on.
She just wished she didn't have to deal with two annoying brats the entire way there. The Jinchuuriki herself was bad enough, but then there was the apparent Sandaime Hokage's grandson, who wouldn't stop talking about who he was going to beat up and how. At least the orange haired girl was somewhat quiet and courteous.
The group continued on through the western part of the Hi no Kuni, gradually getting closer to the border. Konohamaru and Yukiko would occasionally make ridiculous comments that went ignored by the rest of the group.
They stopped at a short hotel about 30 miles away from the border of the Kawa no Kuni, where they were the only visitors there for the night. The hotel didn't usually get many guests anyway, and they were told they were free to have more than one room for the same price. It was very rustic, having old oaken floors and walls, and very amiable owners who held great pride in their small business.
Chiyo couldn't settle the uneasy feeling in her stomach as she sat on the simplistically designed tatami mat in the center of her own personal room. She didn't feel right about this, not one bit. She didn't want to be responsible for a war between Konoha and Suna, nor did she want to condemn that child.
Her eyes became lidded, as she thought about the corrupt ways that Sunagakure had always endorsed. How they had made her lose both her son and grandson.
She turned her head to the left, and a shock of red hair entered her vision. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly, trying to comprehend what she saw in front of her.
"Sasori?"
She thought it was her long-lost grandson that had entered her room at first; the shade of red was indicative of his hair color. But, a few seconds later, Chiyo realized that Sasori's hair was never long. Nor was Sasori a female.
What she saw standing in the doorway was Namikaze Yukiko, the Jinchuuriki that she had been ordered to extract the Bijuu from. The hair had created the illusion that it was her grandson.
"I truly am getting senile.."
"Um, Chiyo-san, may I speak to you?" she asked. That was strange to Chiyo; she didn't remember this girl ever being so shy or formal before. She definitely hadn't been while they were on the road.
"What is it?"
Yukiko fidgeted, and suddenly found her toes very interesting for some reason.
"What is it like... being a shinobi of Suna? Of being in a different village?" she said, a question that Chiyo hadn't really been expecting. No one cared about her life, so why was this girl taking such an active interest in it?
"You're interested?" she asked.
Yukiko nodded.
"Yeah, I talked to my dad about this a few days ago; he said that people in different villages were a lot different than those in Konoha." she said.
"Hmph, I hope you realize that your village has a vast reputation for being arrogant."
That response seemed to catch the girl off guard, as her head jolted up and she looked at Chiyo in surprise. Her mouth tried to work and sound out a response to that, but there came none.
"You seem surprised, but I guess that's to be expected. Your village is always preaching about how you're the best, so it's no wonder that you would feel the same. I stand by my statement, there. You are hands down the most eccentric, arrogant, and pushy hidden village on the continent. That "Will of Fire" nonsense is an overly sentimental propaganda message that tells you to believe and cherish your fellow villagers. What flies by you Konoha shinobi's heads is the fact that this propaganda spells out that you should care about nothing else but your precious little village. The rest of the world doesn't matter; you are above them. In addition to that, the Will of Fire also states that absolutely everything you do must be for the village's sake; there is no sense of individualism in your village in the slightest," Chiyo explained.
Yukiko was doing her best impression of a fish; someone who had grown up with the village's philosophy was not ready for it to come under attack.
She grit her fingers against the tatami mat and bit her lip, suppressing what she was going to say back to Chiyo. The old woman noticed this and sighed, her expression softening.
"The other villages are not as different as you might think. We have civilians, we help each other out, and we care for each other. In that respect, we are not different. Yet, we are no different in the policies we have either. Sunagakure no Sato is just as corrupt as any other hidden village; I am not going to sugarcoat that. But, if you think Konoha has a better policy than us, you are sorely mistaken. Absolutely every hidden village is corrupt; Konoha is just better than others at dressing it up."
"...I see." Once again, Chiyo was caught off guard by this girl who seemed to be bipolar or something. At one moment, she was hyperactive and bouncing off the walls. Next thing anyone knew, she was quiet and reserved.
"Don't look so sad. I'm not ridiculing you for being born in Konoha. I just think that you should possibly be a little more open to the possibility that people from other villages may not be different from you at all."
Yukiko smiled lightly, though she still looked slightly disturbed at the prospect of her village being anything but perfect. The thought was a little terrifying to be honest, though she didn't necessarily have to believe what Chiyo said.
She brushed a lock of red hair out of her face, an action which made Chiyo balk for some reason. She looked at the old woman questioningly.
"What is it?" she asked. Chiyo shook her head before she regained her calm demeanor, casually rising from the tatami mat that she had been sitting on.
"That red hair of yours, it's a pretty rare shade isn't it? Very vibrant, and you have so much of it for such a young girl. I've seen that red hair before, and it reminds me of someone that was very special to me." Chiyo actually started to get a little bit emotional near the end of her speech.
"If you would like to talk about it..." Yukiko said awkwardly. Again, Chiyo looked at her in surprise. There was no one who cared about her feelings other than her brother, and she couldn't rely on him for everything.
Chiyo cleared her throat, and began speaking.
"That red hair of yours... it reminds me of my grandson, Sasori. When my son and daughter-in-law were killed by one of your shinobi in the Second Shinobi World War, I took responsibility of raising him, but the corrupt ways of Suna got to him. He defected from the village over twenty years ago, becoming a missing-nin. I have not seen him since, nor has he been caught by our Hunter-nin."
Yukiko looked at her sorrowfully, and Chiyo felt something strange inside. She shook it away though; she couldn't afford to get attached to her.
"I'm so sorry for your life, Chiyo-san." The old woman chuckled in response to that.
"Look at me, I should be ashamed of myself. Here I am, pouring out all my issues to you, a stranger from another village who doesn't have anything to do with this. I'm sorry I had to bring your village into this," she said.
Yukiko nodded slightly, before she turned away to go back to her own room.
"Still, it was nice to know that someone cares about me as more than the "retired councilwoman of Suna". Thank you for listening to me," she muttered, just as Yukiko was leaving the room.
Yukiko smiled.
The group was up at 6 o'clock the next morning, and by noon they had reached the borders to the Kawa no Kuni. Hinata bowed to Chiyo, who nodded and took up the rear behind the shinobi, who breached the border first.
Hinata's eyes glanced around as the group took a mile or two into the country. Something was very wrong in this situation, and she was the only one who picked up on it. It was like a heavy fog had transpired over the entire world, like their safety was gone as soon as they crossed the border into a completely foreign country.
"There it is!" Hinata's shyness melted into determination as she picked up a completely different chakra signature hiding in the trees a short distance away. There were three of them, to be exact, who were clearly ninjas and not just everyday bandits.
"Careful, we're being watched," she said stoutly to her team and the old woman they were escorting.
"Take the discussed position around Chiyo-san. Do not let her come to any harm, do you understand me?" she said, as the three genin formed a triangular position around Chiyo.
Hinata pulled a string of three kunai from her pouch, and let them fly into a tree that was about fifty feet away from their position. Two of them bounced off the largest branch, while the third flew right past the tree. There was a rustling noise followed by the sound of movement, and three heavy footfalls landed on the ground in front of the group.
The four leaf shinobi tensed as they came under attack from what appeared to be three missing-nin. She could see the slashed hitai-ate of Sunagakure on two of them. The one in the center didn't have one.
"Missing-nin..." Hinata thought, as she tried to rack her brain for their particular ones. She wasn't an avid studier of the bingo book or anything like that, but she at least gave it a once over.
"Was this where you were hiding the whole time?" Chiyo said, trying to throw the pretense that these three were really missing-nin. The fake hitai-ates were good enough, but she couldn't be sure if Gaara was going to blow the mission or not.
The sand siblings ignored her, instead focusing on the Konoha Jounin of the group.
"Chiyo-san, you know these three?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, they're well known throughout the village as powerful missing-nin who defected approximately three years ago. Be careful, they are not to be taken lightly," Chiyo lied.
"I was wondering when you were going to get here. I've been waiting far too long. Mother has been getting very restless; she needs blood... And not just any blood... she requires blood from one of my own kind," Gaara said, his voice so low and malicious that the Genin trio flinched.
Gaara clutched his head in his hands, as he shrieked and roared.
"Soon, mother... Very soon... I'll get you that precious blood that you love so much..." he whispered soothingly. Kankuro and Temari had since backed away from their brother, their expressions unnerved.
"What's with this guy?" Konohamaru whispered to Yukiko, who merely shook her head in confusion. Chiyo was getting increasingly worried.
"Gaara is getting very unstable. Could the Shukaku have something to do with it? It would make sense; I would think that being around another Bijuu would make it far more restless. It's probably talking to Gaara right as we speak..." she paused in her thought.
"...The plan may be ruined like this, though. We need to knock her out so I can begin the extraction, but under no circumstances can the girl be killed before that!"
She cut off the thought that she was almost unwilling to go through with this mission.
Gaara's eyes shot open, their ferocity and bloodlust untamed and wild. The cork on his gourd came loose, and it shot into the air and fell down as sand poured out of the gourd.
Hinata tensed, thinking he was going to aim something at her, but she balked when a wave of sand came crashing towards the rest of the group.
The children screamed as Chiyo jumped into the nearest tree, and the three of them struggled to avoid the sand. Moegi squealed and flopped over to the opposite side of the road, away from the killer sand. Konohamaru wasn't as lucky as she was, as he was grabbed by a wayward tendril of sand by his right leg and swung around in the air. The wind was knocked out of him as he was thrown into a tree, and he slumped down in pain.
"Konohamaru!"
"Konohamaru-kun!"
Yukiko grit her teeth, noticing she hadn't been targeted yet, until she noticed that the sand ninja's insane eyes were focused solely on her. Her breath hitched in her throat as fear overcame her, and a primal instinct of something new entered her very being.
She could feel the beast inside her thrashing in its cage as its instincts overrode hers. They were telling her that the shinobi in front of her was another of her own kind, a Jinchuuriki. That apparently wanted a piece of her. Or to be more accurate, their Bijuu wanted of piece of each other.
"Mother wants your blood. She's screaming for it harder than ever," he moaned, readying his sand for another attack.
"Yukiko!" Hinata cried out, pulling out a kunai and rushing over to where Gaara was. The Jounin was halted in place by another kunai hitting hers. Temari had halted her in her tracks, an overconfident smirk on her face.
"Don't you interfere with Gaara's fight. This is where it starts to get fun. Don't worry, we'll make sure to take care of that little Bijuu you've got there."
Temari used her free hand to clutch her battle fan, drawing it loose and swinging it at Hinata. A small gust of wind knocked the younger girl back a little ways.
Meanwhile, Yukiko was hardly faring well against Gaara. The youngest Suna shinobi was doing his damnedest in killing the fresh Genin, which meant that Yukiko was pretty much getting trashed.
The twelve-year old girl bounced away from a rapidly approaching wall of sand, darting to the side and throwing four shuriken at Gaara. The other Jinchuuriki's sand shield protected him easily.
"How can his defense be so good?" she wondered. She didn't know much about the other Bijuu; was this ability tied to whichever one he held? She kept her distance from the older boy, throwing more ninja weapons that were effectively useless against him.
"Run away, Yukiko! You're no match for them! All of these guys are clearly Jounin-level at least!" Hinata cried from somewhere over to her right. She looked over, seeing her sensei having serious trouble with the blonde missing-nin.
"Run away? That's not an option; they would just find me and kill me..." she thought. Plus, it was their mission to protect Chiyo; they couldn't leave all that on their sensei.
She threw a few more shuriken, followed by a couple kunai, which were all deflected by the sand. She took out a couple more kunai and slashed the sand that came her way. The substance fell to ground useless, before it was assimilated back into Gaara's gourd, and used for a fresh attack.
"Bunshin no Jutsu," she cried out, using her superior but not outrageous chakra reserves to create twenty clones, a vast number. Her control was surprisingly good for how much she had, but these were just simple illusions.
She was swept off her feet by sand before she could even move, Gaara's jutsu covering her in a coffin of the minerals. There was a slight puff of smoke, before Gaara crushed nothing more than a log.
The real Yukiko was hiding up in a tree currently, surveying her opponent nestled down below. Hinata was losing against Temari, her Jyuuken having very little effect against the Suna ninja's superior ninjutsu.
There were still a few clones that hadn't been taken out by the sand, but with her Kawarimi, it was obvious that the real one wasn't down there. Gaara didn't seem to care though, as he relished in crushing every one of her clones.
She was running out of options. Taijutsu would be virtually ineffective against such a strong defense, and that was her main strong point. She knew absolutely no genjutsu, so that meant ninjutsu was her only option. The thing was, the academy E-rank ninjutsu would be too weak to use on such an opponent, which meant that she had to use jutsu that were taught to her personally by her parents.
She wasn't her sister though, she had graduated along with everyone else and was by no stretch a genius like she was. This was going to be tough.
She knew one C-rank jutsu that was taught to her by her mother, and it was probably the only one that would be effective on him. The Suirou no Jutsu, a classic in her mother's old village.
She jumped from her perch in the tree, trying her best in intercept Gaara. Another wave of sand crashed over to where she was once standing on the branch, but she had already flashed into close range. She threw a punch, which was effortlessly stopped by Gaara's shield. It was now or never.
She made a few quick hand seals, then spread her arms out in front of her opponent. Water began to flow around Gaara, catching him off guard for a short while, before he thrust his arm out in front of him.
"Suna Shuriken!" he cried, as mounds of sand appeared from the ground and launched themselves at his target. Yukiko was impacted by two of them, creating a heavy wound and breaking her concentration. She flew back and luckily avoided being crushed by Gaara's sand.
From her perch over to the side, Chiyo watched the battle unfold. As this rate, Gaara was going to win easily and she could begin her part of the mission, but if Yukiko drew on the power of her Bijuu...
"She knows a C-rank jutsu, but her planning skills are reminiscent of a below-average Genin. With a head-on rush like that, it's no wonder her attack was doomed to fail."
The old woman grit her teeth. Gaara was already taking things a little too far; he didn't seem to understand that they wanted to girl alive. She would have to interfere if things got too heavy. And if Yukiko brought out her full Bijuu without Gaara there to fight, the mission would be a bust.
Yukiko clutched her arm, the Suirou no Jutsu took a lot of her chakra, and now she was wounded on top of it. She breathed in heavily, trying to rack her brain for anything that could be used in this situation. She clutched her hands together in a Ram seal, trying to mold even the slightest amount of chakra that she could use.
"Yukiko, are you all right?" Konohamaru's voice came from a distance away. He was trying his hardest to hold off Kankuro, who had gotten bored and started to gang up on him. Moegi was helping as well, but they were getting outclassed even with Kankuro not using his puppets.
She grunted as she exerted more chakra from her system; the sand wave was getting closer, and Konohamaru and Moegi's grunts of pain as they were beaten by Kankuro were getting louder in her ears.
She felt something ignite on her skin, and in bewilderment she looked up at her arm. There it was, coated in a layer of golden chakra far feral and animalistic than her own. It seemed much stronger as well. It took her a little longer for her to realize that she was calling on the famed Bijuu's chakra.
The rest of her body became coated in the substance, her Zero-Tailed Form coming out to play, which was in actuality her only form other than full Bijuu, which she had yet to master.
It was her first time even using her Bijuu's chakra, and she already felt different. Things were far hazier; it didn't seem like anything else mattered. She was overcome with a considerable bloodlust to rip apart anything that stood in her way. She almost couldn't control it.
Her teammates were looking at her in horror, and then she realized what she must've looked like. Although she couldn't see it, her nails had lengthened to become lizard like claws, much pointier and pronounced than her sister's mammalian fox claws. All of her teeth become enormous reptilian incisors capable of tearing meat, and her eyes became perfectly round, with the slanted iris and pupil indicative of a reptile.
She growled and looked at her opponent, the cause of all this ruckus. Her face of emotionless stoicism had caved to became a truly psychotic stare. He was breathing far heavier, and within that face there was nothing more than the desire to rip her apart and prove himself to be the superior animal. It was no longer a fight between shinobi, but rather a fight between Jinchuuriki. And those fights were of a far different caliber.
Yukiko rushed forward at a speed that her teammates couldn't even comprehend, a scowl plastered on her face as she planned to rip open Gaara's sand shield with the power of claws and chakra.
She slashed at the sand instinctively, all pretenses of intelligent attack replaced by pure power. After a little bit of hacking and slashing, she broke through the sand before Gaara could keep up, preparing to eviscerate her opponent.
Gaara was shocked for a second, before he melted into a pile of sand. A Suna Bunshin had prevented the Reibi Jinchuuriki from succeeding there.
He was standing ten feet away, but Yukiko's attention was not on that. She was focused on the apparent rain of sand that was forming over head. The sand rained down in small bullets but she dispelled them all with her chakra. After she was done with that, she shot her chakra over to the Shukaku Jinchuuriki, breaking his concentration and preventing him from getting her ankles from underground.
She shot forward towards Gaara, breaking through his sand shield and drilling right through his sand shield. She apparently hit some sort of armor, because her slash was ineffective, and she could see cracks forming where his face was.
Gaara however, had had enough fooling around. Yukiko's eyes widened as he retreated into a dome of sand, thoroughly blocking off all methods of attack for the time being.
"Yukiko!" cried Hinata, seeing her student in the monstrous form she had only heard about. Temari had apparently backed off after she had been had been hit by a strong strike from Jyuuken.
"Are you alright?" she asked in concern, but she balked when she took a look at Yukiko's face. Never before had she seen something so wild, only having heard about her best friend Haruki's Jinchuuriki forms.
"Y-Yeah." Hinata shuddered at her student's voice; it was so much deeper than normal, and overall sounded so out of place on a girl so young. Clearly, the use of the Bijuu's chakra was taking its toll on her.
"Hinata-sensei, what's he doing. What's going on in that sphere of his?" she asked her sensei. Hinata looked over to where Gaara was hidden; there was a small hole in the center of it.
There was some rustling inside the sphere, and Yukiko and Hinata were focused on the tiny hole that Gaara had made. Too small to make an attack, but they could see something moving inside.
Hinata froze and Yukiko growled as a large eye peered out from underneath the dome of sand, and it definitely wasn't Gaara's eye. The sclera was black, its iris an ugly, mustard yellow, and its pupil a four-pointed star.
A boyish shriek was emitted from the dome, freezing everyone in the vicinity other than Yukiko. Even Gaara's siblings were rooted to the place in fear, too alarmed to even move.
The dome of sand began to dissipate slowly, and Yukiko's instincts were on overdrive. Standing there was a completely different Gaara; one that was clearly using the power that Shukaku was giving him.
The sixteen year old's body was one-half a human and one-half a sand tanuki. He was literally becoming a miniature version of his Bijuu, a level which Yukiko wasn't even close to breaching. Not to mention, his Bijuu was stronger than her own by default. She didn't know which tailed beast he actually held, but she hoped that it was a low number.
A single, sandy tail sprouted from Gaara's backside, becoming a weapon on its own.
"One tail? That's good news at least; it means that this is the Ichibi, so his Bijuu is not much stronger than mine..." Somehow, that hardly calmed her down.
The Shukaku half of his body definitely made him more intimidating. His teeth were far sharper, he seemed bulkier, and he was drooling madly. He let out another low, animalistic growl, and charged at his fellow Jinchuuriki.
His speed had increased dramatically, and his powerful tail caught Yukiko directly below the jaw, propelling her backwards farther than before. Gaara touched down to the ground, before he smacked Hinata away like she was a fly.
"Hinata-sensei!" her three Genin called out at once, as she smacked into the nearest tree and laid there. Her normal human durability was no match for a Jinchuuriki.
Moegi and Konohamaru were both crying at this point; they would've never imagined being a ninja was about this. All the time they had cheered Yukiko for her Bijuu, but they could never imagine what monstrosities the Jinchuuriki could be on the battlefield.
Gaara's attack did far more damage to her than Yukiko thought it would, even in her Zero-Tailed State. However, she got up anyway and faced her opponent. It was up to her to beat him now.
Gaara opened his mouth, before he aimed it at Yukiko. Yukiko winced as he fired several volleys of Suna Shuriken at her. Luckily, he missed all of them, allowing her to get underneath his guard. She punched and kicked, but the Shukaku's defenses were just too much for her to break through.
She was knocked away yet again by Gaara's giant tail, and she flew back, her coating of golden chakra fading as she began to lose consciousness. It had been such a one-sided battle, and in the end her lack of experience had been what made her lose.
But, she wasn't about to give up yet. Her seal was designed the same way as her sister's; if she called on the absolute full power of her Bijuu, then the Reibi would be released. That was what her training to suppress the Bijuu had been for; if she could subdue her Bijuu, then it wouldn't be released if she called on its full power.
But, she was out of options in this situation. She would have to settle for using her unmastered, miniature Bijuu form, rather than bringing out the whole Bijuu.
She tried her hardest to mold her Bijuu's chakra, yet it seemed like absolutely nothing more would come out. And Gaara was almost on her as she tried, grinning and yelling as the drooling beast was ready to tear into her defenseless form.
However, Gaara was kicked away before anything else could happen. The half Shukaku form flew into a row of trees very far away, and Yukiko was left at the mercy of her savior.
"C-Chiyo-san?" she wheezed. The intense look on Chiyo's face made her halt her speech.
"I'm sorry about this, little girl. It was the village's orders, but I'm afraid I'll be unsealing that Bijuu of yours. Try not to struggle too much; it will make the experience far more painful than it needs to be."
"R-Remove... my B-Bijuu? What are you talking about, Chiyo-san!" she cried. Chiyo sighed lightly, before unsealing a scroll and producing a large, ornate teapot from the scroll.
Yukiko looked to her right, seeing Gaara calm down slightly. Apparently, the old woman had attached some kind of seal to him which would suppress his Bijuu.
"I'm afraid you won't survive the unsealing, girly. It's a shame too; it was nice having someone to talk to about my endless problems..." Chiyo said, as she began to draw symbols in a wide circle on the ground around them.
Yukiko's eyes widened; the seals were beginning to glow with greenish chakra. Whatever the case, this had been an ambush from the very beginning. Chiyo didn't need to be escorted back to Suna; it was just a part of her plan.
She panicked as Konohamaru and Moegi rushed to her aid and tried to attack the old woman, but she batted them away like they were flies. Both were easily knocked out by Chiyo's punches.
With her distractions gone, Chiyo continued to work on drawing the giant seal around her. Yukiko was beginning to feel desperate in her situation, and she began molding the beast's chakra yet again, so she could stop the old woman that was trying to kill her.
Chiyo scoffed at her situation, before she performed a few handseals, effectively starting the process of whatever the seal on the ground would do. While she was doing that, Yukiko's willpower had allowed a few tiny smidgens of Reibi chakra to be molded.
"Too late, little girl. I'm almost done with this seal," she said.
She dipped her fingers in ink again, lifting up Yukiko's shirt and eying the seal on her stomach. She drew a few more symbols on Yukiko's body, mostly around the seal itself, but there were a few on her legs and shoulders.
Chakra was now pouring from Yukiko's body at a greater rate. Chiyo put her hands in one final seal, activating the second seal that was put over Yukiko's own.
After she had done that, Yukiko's eyes rolled to the back of her head. She had lost consciousness, and golden colored chakra began to flow from her mouth and eyes like a waterfall...
Whew! Chapter done! It's a long one, and its important to the plot, so hopefully that should make up for the long wait, right? If it doesn't, whatever then.
Translations and Other Features
Kawa no Kuni: River Country
Bunshin no Jutsu: Clone Jutsu
Jyuuken: Gentle Fist
Suirou no Jutsu: Water Prison Jutsu
Suna Shuriken: Sand Shuriken
That's all for now, so see you next time.
Alban55