Chapter Twenty Seven: Preparing for War.
Naruto stood next to Sasuke as they watched the train leave from its new station, located an easy five minute walk from the gate of the village.
Naruto sighed as the train pulled away from the station, "Cya later Baa-chan. Tayu-chan." Naruto mumbled with a frown as the train left his field of vision.
Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Come on Naruto, we both have our assignments." He said as his body started to fade in his mirage shunshin.
Naruto nodded before turning to look back towards the village, "Right then, preparations for war." He muttered to himself as he glanced down at his casual clothes, "Clothes."
*FLASH*
Naruto appeared in his lounge room as Fuu walked out of her room in a Konoha Jonin uniform, "Naruto-kun, Dan-san sent your uniform here." She said as she placed the box she was carrying on the table for him.
Naruto smiled, "Thanks Fuu-chan, are the others training yet?" Naruto asked.
Fuu nodded, "Hinata-chan is helping the Hyuuga members who aren't qualified Shinobi fill any gaps in their training they might have since a majority of them are at least Chunnin level. And Tenten-chan is out trying to get used to the sword you gave her." Fuu said with a smile.
Naruto nodded, smiling at the memory of how Tenten reacted to receiving Shibuki and the resulting…love, that she showed him, "Well, as you know Fuu-chan it didn't exactly work with my fighting style." He said before picking up the large box, tucking it under his arm before giving Fuu a one armed hug with the other.
She smiled up at him, "Yeah I know. Are we going to train with our demonic chakras now?" she asked.
Naruto tilted his head down and touched his forehead to hers, 'What do you think?' he asked Fuu's demon.
He felt Nanabi smile through the connection, "Sure Naruto-san, though I know for a fact that this training will cause some damage, where will we be training her to harness my power?" Nanabi asked.
The Kyuubi took part in the conversation, "The sealed cave in the Cloud village. We shall use Killer B's training method since he was truly a master of it."
Fuu smiled, "This is so weird." She said, talking about the demonic chakra connection.
Naruto shrugged as he pulled back from Fuu, "Let me get changed hun, I'll be out in a sec." he said before walking into their room.
Fuu smiled before skipping in after him, "Let me help Naruto-kun!" she said as she closed the bedroom door behind her.
From behind the closed door, Naruto's yelp of shock was barely heard before their training was delayed for nearly an hour…
##########
Sasuke opened his eyes as he wielded his Kusarigama, "Go!" he shouted to his training partners.
*CLANG*
Sasuke ducked under Pikkon's sword strike as we twirled his weapon, knocking back Gaara's sand before Sasuke leapt up.
Pikkon aimed at Gaara as Sasuke moved out of the way, "ELEMENTAL SWORDS: WIND STYLE: AIR SLICE!" he shouted, launching a blade of wind from his single blade.
Gaara surfed across the ground, his sand acting like a wave that he controlled. He dodged the strike as he launched sand pellets at both Sasuke and Pikkon.
While in midair, Sasuke sent chakra into one of his seals, "SEALING ART: CHAKRA SEVER!" he said as the ball of his weapon clashed with the oncoming attack from Gaara, knocking the chakra from its physical construct, causing the sand to fall harmlessly.
Pikkon pulled out his second sword as he channelled wind chakra into the first, "AIR SLICE!" he shouted, launching a blade to cut the ball in half before he stabbed his other sword into the ground, "ELEMENTAL SWORDS! DEVASTATION!"
Spikes of earth began to shoot up towards Gaara and Sasuke, both of whom managed to stay up in the air above the spikes, Sasuke on his board and Gaara on his sand.
"SAND DRILL!" Gaara shouted as he launched his airborne attack at Sasuke.
Sasuke channelled chakra into his free hand as his curse mark travelled down his arm, "DARK CHIDORI!" Sasuke shouted as his technique was about to collide with Gaara's.
"OI!"
All three of them paused as Tsume walked into the clearing, "What did Tsunade say about training?! No potentially deadly techniques! We need everyone at full strength." She said with a smirk.
Pikkon nodded, "Yes ma'am" he groaned before Tsume grabbed his ear, "Ow! What the hell?!" he asked.
Tsume's smirk grew as she leant forward to whisper in his ear, "Iruka wants you to come by his house, he has to leave with the next regimen of ANBU so you should be quick." She said quietly.
Pikkon blushed before nodding, "Thanks Tsume-sama." He said before waving to the guys and running off.
Sasuke waved back as he and Gaara landed by Tsume, "What do you need from us acting Hokage-sama?" Gaara asked.
Tsume rolled her eyes, "Ah shut it." she said before pulling out a scroll, "Gaara, Jirobo needs your help in moving some stuff around so that he can toughen up the outer wall." She said before chucking the scroll to Sasuke, "And they need you to start sealing up those cannons and stuff so that we can take them to where the civilians will be. Even gennin can work them simply enough." She said.
Gaara bowed before disappearing in a sand shunshin as Sasuke opened up the scroll, "And then I have to cut off the train line?" he asked as he read the instructions.
Tsume nodded, "Kurenai will be there to assist you in setting up the Genjutsu. It's just so that no one follows it to find our location and subsequently the tracks that leads to the alliance headquarters." She informed him.
Sasuke nodded as his board lifted slightly into the air, "Hai Tsume-sama." He said before shooting off towards the wall.
Tsume sighed before pulling out her own scroll, "Okay, half way through the list." She whispered to herself as she crossed another thing off before reading the next one, "Chakra armour factory." She said with a nod before disappearing in a shunshin.
##########
Tsume's eyes widened as she appeared in the factory, "Well, I didn't expect that." She said as she saw how the factory was being sped up.
Almost the entire system was automated from the two engine turbines that were usually connected to a power source, but it seems the turbine had been modified a little for the overtime work.
"KEEP GOING LEE!" Gai yelled as he sprinted on the emptied out turbine as if he was in a giant hamster wheel, making the generators and the whole system work twice as fast as usual.
"YES GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled as he sprinted on the other turbine, doubling the already doubled output.
Tsume leapt down to land next to Kimimaro, "I see you're a little ahead of schedule." She said as she watched the machine working overtime.
Kimimaro nodded, "It wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for these four." He said, not taking his eyes off of the conveyer belt in front of him.
Tsume raised a brow, "Four?" she asked.
Kimimaro merely pointed to the start of the conveyor belt, making Tsume lean forward to look around the constructive machinery to see something she had never witnessed before.
Choji was stretching his arms back and forth from the supply boxes and placing the materials needed for the outer workings of the chakra armour as fast as he could.
Kurayami stood on the other side of the box pile, using her shadows to pick up the delicate pieces of the inner workings of the chakra armour and near instantly place them in the needed spots.
Tsume smirked, "Wow, how long can they keep this up for though?" she asked.
Kimimaro took a moment to glance at a clock on the wall, "Only another half hour before they each get a break for a few hours in which Shikamaru will be swapping with Kurayami-chan and Anko-sensei will be swapping with Choji." He reported.
Tsume tilted her head, "I'm guessing they won't be keeping this pace though?" she asked.
Kimimaro chuckled slightly, "Actually they set this pace. Anko's Shadow Snake Hand technique is faster than Choji's arms, but he can grab more, while Shikamaru's shadow manipulation is top notch." He reported.
Tsume grinned and smacked Kimimaro's shoulder, "Good work kids! I'll be back to check on you all later." She said as she pulled out her scroll and walked from the main factory to the connected warehouse.
"There is the basic armour available for everyone! Please stay in line!" Shizune shouted as she got all of the waiting Jonin to get in line for their armour.
Tsume raised both brows as she cut past the line and approached Karin, "You're already done with the ANBU?" she asked.
Karin nodded as she gave Ebisu a look over, "Large one for you." she mumbled to herself before grabbing a set from the second largest sized armour's rack, "We finished with the ANBU nearly half an hour ago and I do believe the Jonin that aren't already equipped with the armour are all here." She said as she passed it to Ebisu.
The ninja smiled, "Thanks." He said.
Karin nodded, "Go over to Ayame-chan and get your name marked off." She said with a smile.
Tsume's neck cracked as her gaze shot to Ayame, who stood with a few clipboards on the table in front of her, "Ayame? What is that civilian doing here?" Tsume asked Karin.
Shizune cut in as the woman made her way to the front of the line, "Tsunade-sama gave her permission since she's going to travel with Sasuke, she'll join up with the civilian escort upon arrival." Shizune informed Tsume.
Tsume nodded, "Well, if Tsunade-sama said so." She said with a sigh before checking her own list once more, "Thanks guys, I'll see you all later." She said before she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
##########
"Hiashi-dono." Inoichi said to the Byakugan user who was overlooking his clan's training.
Hiashi deactivated his Byakugan and turned his attention to his colleague, "Yes Inoichi-dono?" he asked.
The Yamanaka man smiled slightly, "I hear you will be leading one of the battalions alongside Kakashi Hatake, correct?" he asked.
Hiashi nodded, "This is true, both Kakashi's and my battalions will march together up until we meet with the samurai where the Hyuuga clan shall take up arms alongside the sword wielders." He said before looking out over his clan once more as they were being trained as a group by Neji and Hinata.
Inoichi nodded, "I will be the main communicator between the squadrons with my mind share technique." He said, slightly softer than he meant.
Hiashi looked at Inoichi and frowned, "All of them? Even your mind can't handle that level of strain Inoichi." Hiashi said.
Inoichi nodded, "I know that I can last for as long as I have to, that's why I need to ask you a favour." he said.
Hiashi's brow furrowed slightly, "You want me to look after her I assume?" Hiashi said.
Inoichi nodded, "When my brain stops functioning which I am pretty positive will happen, I need you to promise to look after Ino-chan for me. That little girl is my world." Inoichi said, showing his weakness to one who he considered his best friend outside of the Ino-Shika-Cho.
Hiashi nodded, "I will do all that I can. Though we are going to war, it is highly possible that I die as well." Hiashi said with a completely calm expression about his own death.
Inoichi watched the Hyuuga for a reaction but ended up shaking his head, "You aren't afraid of the ramifications of your death?"
Hiashi frowned, "It does not matter if I live or die in this war. Gaara and Hanabi are both great leaders and can help the clan survive and prosper." He said with a dead voice.
Inoichi smirked ruefully, "You know that is not the only outcome Hiashi." he mumbled sadly.
Knowing exactly what Inoichi meant, that their own children could very well die in this war instead of them, Hiashi just nodded as he tried to push the thought from his mind.
The two were quiet for a moment, but they turned to look behind them as Tsume appeared, "How are they doing Hiashi?" she asked.
Hiashi looked over the Hyuuga again, "All of them are ready, though I wish for you to carry on a request to Tsunade-sama for me?" he asked.
Tsume nodded, knowing it would just be another thing added to the list, "Sure, what is it?" she asked.
Hiashi pulled a scroll out of his pocket, "This technique will cause many people to go blind, but since Tsunade-sama is one of the world's most powerful medics, I believe she can handle the strain and as such I would like her to use it if need be." Hiashi said as he passed the scroll to Tsume.
Tsume nodded as she glanced at the scroll, "What is it?" she asked.
Hiashi shook his head, "I cannot say, though she will know as she helped my father create the technique many years ago." He said as he turned to face the Hyuuga clan once more.
Tsume frowned but nodded as she pocketed the scroll, "Alrighty then, now Inoichi," she said, gaining the blonde man's attention, "I need you to lead the second civilian escort, the next train will be arriving in just over an hour so meet them at the gate alongside your old squad." Tsume said.
Inoichi raised both brows, "Ino-Shika-Cho are back in business?" he asked in disbelief.
Tsume chuckled, "I figure you guys will be enough to hold off any threats." She said before waving her arm at him, "Now you can get going Inoichi." She said dismissively.
Inoichi nodded and shared one last look with Hiashi before he disappeared in a standard leaf shunshin.
Tsume and Hiashi shared a look and after a quick glance around to see that the area was clear, Tsume stepped into Hiashi's embrace in a gentle hug, "Do you think everyone will be okay?" she asked.
Hiashi patted her head in a protective way, "We have to be Tsume-chan, we have no other choice." He said, his emotionless mask giving way to a depressed look.
Tsume sighed before stepping away from him, "Sorry Hiashi-kun, I know you don't care about me that way…" she said, trailing off and shaking her head, "Nevermind."
Hiashi pulled her back into the hug, shocking her as he kissed her gently on the forehead, "No, I am the one who is sorry that I cannot return your feelings," he said, purposefully lowering his voice, "You are still like my little sister, I won't let you die." He said before releasing the hug.
Tsume smiled as Hiashi bowed, "Yeah yeah, I'll see you at the war Hiashi." She said dismissively before turning and disappearing in the same fashion of Inoichi.
Hiashi's emotionless mask easily slipped back into place as he turned back to watch over the Hyuuga's training.
##########
"This is much harder than it looks"Fuu said as she floated in midair in her stage two demon's cloak, the chakra shimmering between the usual crimson red and a darker brown, though most of the chakra seemed to stay brown once it changed.
Naruto smiled at her with his golden cloak shimmering as he focussed on trying to better his own control with the Kyuubi's chakra, "Fuu-chan, you're doing better than I was. Though I guess that's because you guys have shared your chakra for a longer time huh." He said, mumbling the last part to himself.
Fuu closed her eyes as she listened to Nanabi's words, "My chakra is different to his in small intricate ways, his is overwhelming while mine is sharp like a stinger or a blade of wind. You must feel the very points of the chakra itself instead of just wrapping it like a cocoon and holding it, you need to wrap like a cocoon and then let the sharpness be guided throughout your whole system to rest at those key points we discussed."
In short, Fuu had no clue what she was doing and just went with following her instincts and trying to understand what the Nanabi was explaining to her. It worked for the most part as her new wood-brown chakra tails now naturally became an extra set of wings on her back as she got stripes around her body like that of a bee.
They had been training all day in the cave located within Lightning Country, and as Naruto glanced at the cave entrance, he noticed the sun was going down, 'I guess the third and final civilian escort should be leaving now. That means that with Lee-san helping like he wanted to that every ninja should have our standard chakra armour.' Naruto thought before closing his eyes as his golden chakra shimmered, protecting him from the chakra pulse that hit him from behind.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see Fuu's chakra flashed from brown, turning into a creamy yellow before settling on her in the fully controlled from of her new demonic cloak.
Fuu opened her eyes and grinned as she felt the chakra seemingly slip into place. Like Naruto, she was glowing with chakra and she had her own independent striped pattern which was that of a bee, though the two sets of wings came together on her back, forming a large pair of wings that looked like those of a dragonfly. The chakra formed two antennas on the top of her forehead, widening her senses as she could feel everything in the vicinity around her through them.
Naruto grinned as Fuu looked at him, "Well, here I thought I was talented when it came to handling demonic chakra, you mastered the cloak in a single day!" Naruto exclaimed.
Fuu shook her head, "I don't think I've mastered it yet." She said, feeling that she had to concentrate on holding the power in.
Naruto grinned, "Holding it in?" he asked, causing her to nod which made him chuckle, "In this case, I think you should let it go now that the cloak is in place." Naruto said.
Since she trusted Naruto, she didn't even hesitate to let her control go, but it still surprised her when the cloak stayed in place, "How?" she asked, not comprehending that she could hold so much power within her without having a conscious effort in it.
Naruto shrugged, "It works that way for me too, once the chakra finds the right place it'll gladly just stay there until it's called upon or receded." He explained before hovering slightly, "Now, how strong are your wings?" he asked as he floated outside the cave.
Fuu asked her wings to begin moving in the way that she was used to and they began to move at high speed, lifting her into the air much easier than her old wings did, "Where are we going Naruto-kun?" she asked as she circled him with a smile on her face.
Because the wings were so fast, from Naruto's point of view it looked like Fuu had two large flaps sticking out to her sides that were blurring in every movement, "We're going to see how far we can travel before the sun's shine is completely gone. Ready?" he asked as he floated out of the cave and up into the air.
Fuu followed a few meters behind him, "I'm ready, b-but won't we disrupt the chakra field around the village?" she asked, looking nervously between the mountains.
Naruto grinned, "There's no one checking it, they're all too busy moving over to the Alliance Headquarters." Naruto said as he began to charge large amounts of chakra through his legs, "Ready?!" he shouted again excitedly.
Fuu nodded, preparing to send extra chakra through her new wings, "Ready Naruto-kun!" she shouted in return.
"Let's Go!"
##########
Darui, who was in charge of the last civilian escort from the Hidden Cloud village, looked up at a pair of coloured streaks that soared across the sky, one gold and the other creamy yellow, traversing the distance from one side of his view to the other in only a few seconds.
Darui blinked with wide eyes, 'What the heck was that? That was faster than Raikage-sama…' he thought before being nudged by his partner.
Darui raised a brow at C, who shook his head, "Were you even listening to me?" C asked.
Darui shrugged, "Nope."
##########
Walking out of the factory, Lee was deep in thought as he wandered aimlessly, thinking of the secret weapons held in his scroll, 'I've been training with them for years, but I've only been forced to use them a handful of times…' he thought as he sighed.
Feeling someone's presence, Lee looked up to see Pikkon leaping out from Iruka's balcony door, he grinned as he came to a realisation, 'He is a Master Swordsman! He will be able to tell me whether I should use them or not.' He thought before moving to follow Pikkon.
Catching up to him in a few seconds, Lee shouted out, "Pikkon-san!"
Pikkon landed and turned to face Lee, "Yeah Lee?" he asked casually, not noticing that a hickey on his neck was clearly visible.
Lee's brow twitched at the sight before he crouched, "I need your assistance in overlooking a dual sword style that I have been utilising over the last few years! Please! I need to know if it will help in the war!" he said loudly but seriously, for once not focussing on the 'youthful' aspects of his skills.
Pikkon raised a brow, "Swordsmanship I guess?" he asked.
Lee nodded as he channelled a small amount of chakra into the scroll as he unravelled it, "And much more!" he declared as Pikkon's eyes widened.
*POOF*
##########
"NINJA ART: FILTER VIEW ZONE!"
"NINJA ART: AREA GENJUTSU ANCHOR!"
After Kurenai set up the Genjutsu that filtered the train tracks from any viewer's perception, Sasuke used some of his seals to anchor the Genjutsu to the area so that everyone who comes nearby is affected, unless the seals were removed.
Kurenai nodded at Sasuke's skill, "Very good Sasuke, it seems as though you are skilled at basically everything." She said with a soft smile.
Sasuke smirked slightly back at the woman, "Thanks for saying so Kurenai-sensei. I try my best as always." He said as he pulled out the scroll Tsume gave him once more.
Kurenai raised a brow as she glanced up at the trees, seeing how the sun was setting within the hour, "You still have another assignment?" she asked.
Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, but I have to wait for Karin to get it started. Then it's onto my last assignment." He informed her.
Kurenai nodded, "Wow, the village is really relying on your sealwork lately." She mumbled to herself.
Sasuke shrugged, "Actually, most of it was Jiraiya-sensei's sealwork, I'm just activating the seals." He said nonchalantly.
Kurenai was about to reply before seeing something high in the sky, "What the..?" she mumbled, drawing Sasuke's view to follow her own.
He frowned before blinking on his Sharingan, his eyes widening as his highly perceptive eyes saw what the 'something' was.
##########
"I'm gonna win!" Fuu shouted as she flew ahead of Naruto, her chakra made for flight and speed where Naruto's was made for power.
Naruto smirked as they neared the last stretch of their journey, spotting the massive snow clouds that shrouded the village. 'Except that unlike her flight which is sort of natural, mine is based purely off of the amount of power being channelled at the right time.' He thought before sending nearly double the amount of demonic chakra through his wind funnels.
*FWOOM*
Naruto shot past Fuu at ridiculously high speed, making what was usually nearly a three to four hour journey in just over two minutes.
Naruto let go of the demonic chakra, giving it back through Kurama as he flipped around, holding his arms wide as he sent chakra strings from his hands to wrap around as many trees as he could in the vicinity.
After the first few trees were ripped from the ground, Naruto began to slow down drastically, though he gritted his teeth in pain as his shoulders were nearly torn from their sockets.
'Hehehe, I hope I don't hit the wall!' Naruto thought with a pained and nervous grin as the village quickly began to become visible.
As he slowed, Fuu had dove downwards, using the descent to pick up more speed as she caught up to Naruto.
##########
"I can't believe this. We're about to go to war and the two of us are still stuck here until we make the journey." Izumo whined.
Kotetsu smirked as he used his scope to see what the odd cream and gold streaks approaching the village were, "Hey Izumo, what do you think will be the most powerful chakra we'll feel before this war?" he asked.
Izumo raised a brow, "I dunno, I'd say…probably Tsume-sama?" he asked.
Kotetsu shrugged, "Wanna bet on the top two? Twenty buck each?" he offered.
Izumo smirked, "Hell yeah! I pick Tsume and Gai!" he declared.
Kotetsu grinned, "I say the next two people to come past here." He said with a gesture to the space in front of them.
Izumo laughed loudly at the seemingly idiotic bet, "Sure! You got a deal!" he said before laughing more.
After a few seconds, an overwhelming chakra signature suddenly hit their sensory ranges and a mere second later, they could feel that it was two different sources once the stronger of the two had faded. Before Izumo could venture a guess on what it could be, Naruto and Fuu came into view. Naruto managed to slow down enough so that as he finally stopped, the very tip of his nose was pressed against the front gate of the village.
Fuu dropped her demonic cloak as she used her own natural flight capabilities to come a more controlled stop. She landed softly before letting out a tired breath, "H-hey! Did you h-hold back on me Naruto-kun?" she accused Naruto with a cute frown.
Naruto let the chakra strings go before he fell on his back, pretending to be much more exhausted then he really was, "No, way," he said heavily before swallowing, "Geez you, fly, really fast." He said with a smile up at Fuu.
The insectoid Jinchuuriki smiled softly before kneeling to help Naruto up onto his feet.
Izumo blinked with wide eyes before realising that he had been had, "Son of a bitch." He grumbled as he slapped two twenties into Kotetsu's waiting hand.
Kotetsu grinned before grabbing a scroll from the table in front of him and Izumo, "Hey Naruto!"
Naruto turned in time to catch the scroll, raising a brow at the scroll's layout, "A mission scroll? Who the hell gave me a mission at a time like this?" he asked.
Kotetsu shrugged, "Dunno, but it's got the Hokage's official stamp and all. My guess is that you'll be part of a pre-emptive strike squad, they did that last time as well." He said.
Naruto nodded though his face turned into a frown, "Alrighty then," he said with a sigh before turning and taking Fuu's hand, "Let's go home Fuu-chan."
Fuu nodded, "Okay!" she said happily before walking alongside Naruto through the new gates of the village.
##########
The sun had gone down a few hours ago over the village of Winter Leaves, letting the frost harden over the treetops and cause the snow to lose any sight of making its journey to the ground.
"Yawn!" Naruto yawned as he finished doing stretched in the middle of a training field, 'Right, so this is it. The only time I have to really check this.' He thought before taking the basic academy fighting stance.
He took a deep breath as he focussed the absolute pinnacle of his chakra control, curling his chakra throughout his body as he felt the elemental chakras he was capable of using.
Naruto took one more deep breath before his chakra came to life, 'Fire!' he thought as he moved through the basic stances.
Naruto's palm thrust shot a small stream of flames from the mouth on it, before he moved into a sweep kick, the fire following his movement like metal following a magnet.
Naruto's foot stopped as he stomped on the ground, 'Earth!'
The block of earth Naruto stood on rose up a meter or so into the air before he rolled in a mastered dodge off the side, landing facing away from the earth block as he sent his wind chakra along the length of his forearm, 'Wind!'
He swung his arm in a parry, letting the wind chakra cut through the rock in a clean slash.
He clapped his hands before raising his arms up, 'Ice!' he thought, sending his chakra into the snow and ice along the tree tops, turning it to water which fell around him.
He span as he twirled his arms upwards like an uppercut, 'Water!' he thought, bending the water into an upward arc that reached towards the sky before he focussed on his next elemental chakra.
Moving his pointer and middle fingers past his head, Naruto took control of the electrical energy, 'Lightning!' he though, sparking a small bolt that he shot from his fingers into the earth block he had cut in half earlier.
He took a deep breath before feeding wood chakra to his lungs, 'Wood!' he thought as where the air from his lungs touched, the grass began to grow healthier.
Naruto paused as he stood in a power up stance, legs shifting into a wide squat as he screamed in his mind, 'Let's go Kurama!'
"Got it!"
A golden flash appeared from Naruto's spot, clearing in a matter of second to show Naruto in a long golden cloak of chakra, but Naruto wasn't done yet.
His cloak began to show the look of cracks running all the way through the chakra, but on closer inspection, the cracks looked like scales.
Two small horns came from Naruto's head as his eyes snapped open, showing a large slitted fox eye with the smaller slit of a snake at its center, 'And nature!' he thought as the area around him began to be blown away from him just from the power pouring from him.
Naruto smirked as he mentally controlled the chakra into forming three hands while forming Ninjutsu around the chakra hands as well as his real hands.
'Rai-sengan, Rasenova, Rasenshuriken, Rock-sengan and Rasen-Uzi!' Naruto thought as each elemental rasengan formed.
He held them for a second before using each of them in as least destructive ways as possible, launching the Rasenova and Rasenshuriken high into the sky with his two real hands as he ran forward, his chakra limbs stretching out to different thirds of the clearing's trees.
The Rasen-Uzi became in inversed rasengan, creating a horizontal whirlpool that sucked the tree into a focussed point, crushing it under the high pressure into little pieces that were discarded thoughtlessly.
The Rai-sengan impacted like a spear, piercing the tree through as lightning strikes began to shoot forward at impact, the single line cutting off far into the distance.
The Rock-sengan hit the tree with the force of an explosive note, but entirely contained within a single impact point. The rotation of the rock gouged deep scars throughout the area in a wide radius rather than a long distance attack.
Naruto nodded to himself before letting the demonic chakra fade, letting his pale scaled skin show as the red marks of Hashirama's sage mode moved over his face. his legs became a single snake tail as he shot across the clearing at extremely high speeds, moving into the bush before darting between the trees.
After a minute, Naruto recognised that he was close to his target point. So he quickly flipped up into a standing position as his sage modes wore off.
He quietly gathered his breath as he looked down at the outfit he was wearing for the mission. He couldn't look like a ninja in any way, nor leave any trace of who he was so he wore plain grey slacks and a plain grey t-shirt.
The S-rank mission was to take down the minor hidden village, The Village Hidden on the Shore.
The village originally seemed like the most likely minor village that would be persuaded to join with the Mist Village considering their close proximity, but as of the day before, it was official.
Naruto stepped out of the tree line to look over the small team he had been assigned to lead. Their purpose: to destroy The Village Hidden on the Shore within the next thirteen hours and make the survivors join the alliance.
Naruto came to a stop at the center of the clearing before looking at those who surrounded him. Kimimaro Kaguya, whose face was covered with makeup to hide his clan origins, dressed in plain light brown, long sleeved clothes. Rock Lee, who wore a light brown beanie that hid his recognisable hair and eyebrows, wearing the same pants as Kimimaro but with a green shirt. Gaara Sabaku, who wore the same outfit as Kimimaro, but with a beanie much like Lee's only that his was grey.
Naruto took a closer look to see if there was anything on them that was unacceptable. The mission parameters said that they cannot be recognised by civilians as ninjas, though as long as all of the ninjas were killed, it didn't matter what the ninjas saw.
Looking over Kimimaro, he didn't stand out and he seemingly had no weapons on him at all. Moving his glance to Lee, all Naruto could see was the smallest hint of a storage seal on the collar of his shirt. Taking a look at Gaara, the Sand ninja's body was covered in an extra layer of his sand armour, though none could tell the fact unless they knew what to look for.
Naruto nodded, "When we arrive, Gaara will go to the beaches and gain control over the sand, taking out any and all ninjas from the village's outskirts. Kimimaro and Lee will find all of the ninjas who are within visibility of civilians and draw them away before dispatching them. I will go and kill the ninja council and this village's Kage. This is stage one." he explained as he held out his arms, showing that he literally had no weapons at all while offering his hands to the group.
"Stage two, by this point it will be midnight and the village's curfew will be instated. This means that all of the civilians will be sent to the inner quarter while the ninjas will begin night patrols. It is at this point that I will make a large destructive signal at the 'Kage Cliff' as they call it. It is at this point that Gaara will raise the sand that is already there into a massive wall to hold all of the ninjas in the village, except for a direct line of site to the Kage Cliff. I am ninety nine percent sure that all of the ninja will be running to their Kage to aid him at this time, which is when Kimimaro and Lee will be attacking subtly from behind, taking out all the stragglers and any of those ninjas who ignored the curfew."
"Gaara will overlook the wall and make sure that no ninjas escape while also being our escape route. If needed I will do as many large scale attacks as I can to decimate their force, then we will do what we can to end it as fast as possible and instil the thought. Got it?" Naruto asked.
Kimimaro, Lee and Gaara nodded immediately, placing their hands on Naruto's as he searched with his chakra.
*FLASH*
##########
*FLASH*
"Wha?" a ninja said with wide eyes as Naruto and the gang fell from the seal hidden above them on the cliff face.
Before the four ninja could react to the sudden arrival, the leaf ninjas were already taking action.
"BONE BULLET!" Kimimaro said, launching the projectiles straight through the skull of the first ninja.
"INSTANT QUICK SAND!" Gaara said as he landed, pressing his palm to the ground and causing the second ninja to be sucked a mile underneath the sand.
"GREEN LIGHTNING!" Lee shouted, darting past a ninja as clothes lined him, his speed breaking the ninja's neck in a single blow.
Naruto shot out chakra strings from one hand, grabbing the last ninja and yanking him forward, "ONE FINGER NUKITE!" he said before using the sharpness of his lightning attack to behead the ninja as the corpse moved past him.
The four of them nodded to each other before Naruto pulled out a small slither of paper, "Finishing touches." He said as he sent chakra to the seal.
*POOF*
##########
"SAND BURIAL!"
With his fake Akatsuki cloak billowing in the wind, Gaara looked like the spitting image of Sasori, sitting in the shadows as he took down every single ninja standing along the southern beach, dragging them to impossible deaths under the sand.
He moved around to the eastern beach, the second out of the three beaches surrounding the village and its main defence. Gaara let himself slip under the sand as he turned the corner, almost being seen by the ninjas before he got to work stretching his chakra throughout the beach, 'One third down…' he thought as he closed his eyes.
##########
Kimimaro calmly walked out from a little alleyway, making his way through the town with a calm look on his face.
"You there!"
Kimimaro turned to the Shore ninja running up to him, "Yes sir?" Kimimaro asked.
The ninja came to a halt, "The civilians have all been taken to Mizugakure for safety, why are you still here?" he asked.
Kimimaro blinked innocently, "I just came out to get some shopping for the wife, why has everyone left?" he asked curiously.
The ninja stared at Kimimaro incredulously before hearing someone land behind him. The ninja turned to see his Shinobi partner, "Tifa, this guy-"
"BONE BULLET!"
The ninja watched as Kimimaro's attack shot over his shoulder and gouged out Tifa's neck, but before he could turn or even react-
*SHLINK*
Kimimaro's bone sword tore through the man's heart, killing him in a few moments before he fell to the ground.
Kimimaro smirked, 'No civilians in the entire village? No holding back.' Kimimaro decided before he let out a shout of pain and ducking back into the alleyway, pulling on his Akatsuki cloak and slicking back his hair as much as he could.
In a few moments, there were around thirty Chunnin level ninjas arriving to look at the bodies, which is when Kimimaro felt his chakra spike.
'Now then,' he thought as his Curse Seal spread over his skin while he stepped into the moonlight, causing those nearby to turn with wide eyed shock, 'Let's see what these ninja can do.' Kimimaro thought as he ran at the group, looking eerily like Hidan used to when his own curse technique began to overtake him.
"WATER STYLE: WATER BULLET!" the first ninja reacted.
Kimimaro easily danced around the projectile before whipping out a bone scythe from his spine and shoulder blade, causing the ninjas to flinch in shock and fear as he began to tear through them.
##########
Lee took a deep breath from his place in an empty house. He glanced out the window to see the one side of the village that wasn't surrounded by sand, noticing how there was around eight Jonin or Tokubetsu Jonin standing along the wall as the only lookouts. They were busy looking out over the clear field that stretched between the walls and nearly five hundred meters before it hit the trees, they didn't notice that Lee had come in from the beach and stealthfully moved around to have a look.
Lee put on his Akatsuki cloak before pulling out bandages, wrapping his lower face while he kept the beanie on to cover his memorable traits, 'I may not be able to look the part entirely, but it's entirely believable that the bad guys would try to recruit more people before the war.' Lee thought before moving back to the window.
Pulling himself out of the window without chakra, Lee lifted himself onto the roof before moving his hands to the seals at his collar, 'From now on, I will use these to their maximum!' Lee thought as he channelled a miniscule fraction of his manually created chakra.
*POOF*
Feeling the spark of chakra, they all turned to see Lee already bisecting his first opponent with Kiba; the Thunder Fangs of the Seven Swordsmen.
The swords took a spark of the now dead ninja's electrical nerve pulses, using it to suddenly spark up Lee's next attack, using literally no chakra on his part as the other ninjas turned to him, "LIGHTNING STYLE: LIGHTNING FANG!" Lee shouted.
The bolt shot through the first six men's chests, grazing the seventh's as he dove over to a gong, punching it as sending the alarm across the village.
Lee appeared in a green blur, beheading the ninja who barely even registered his presence before disappearing behind the large gong.
In less than ten seconds, a collection of ninjas began to come towards the wall, causing Lee to scowl, 'Uh-oh, I can't let them leave the village!' he thought as he tried to come up with a solution to the problem.
"C1: EXPLOSIVE DRAGON FLAME BOMBS!"
##########
Naruto had used the transformation jutsu to appear like a pelican, flying over the water and the beach to come to a stop on one of the watch towers, pretending not to notice the bored as all hell looking ninja on guard at the only watchtower atop of the village's Kage Cliff, where information says that the Hokage lives along with the highest respected (or richest) families of the village.
The Pelican turned to the ninja, who raised a brow at the bird, used to seeing them everywhere in the area, "What?" he asked it, expecting it to fly away as did most birds when they realised that there was someone watching it.
The Pelican spread its wings, catching the ninja off guard as two human mouths opened at the end of the wings of the bird. The bird smirked before it said in Naruto's voice, "DECAPITATING AIRWAVES!"
The ninja was blown straight through the weak barrier atop the tower, blowing him off of the cliff completely and over the Village below.
Naruto dropped the transformation jutsu, putting his hands onto the wooden tower below his feet, "WOOD CLONE JUTSU!" he said before flying up over the Kage Cliff.
In twenty seconds, the entire sector atop the mountain was surrounded by nine Narutos, all of whom channelled demonic chakra into the mouths on the hands to make the explosive chakra present near twenty times more potent as they all formed the same hand seals.
"C1: EXPLOSIVE DRAGON FLAME BOMBS!"
**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM**
With the entire area destroyed, Naruto turned to look over the village as Gaara's wall rose up at the signal, 'Good, now to finish the stragglers.' He thought before diving down into the Kage Cliff's remains, his clones falling back into wood to be destroyed among the flames.
Naruto was about to land on a large piece of stone, when suddenly a man of at least forty years of age appeared, a white light glowing from his fists as he addressed Naruto, "Who are you to attack my village?!" he shouted in anger.
Naruto kept his face blank, trusting that the make-up on his face covered any distinguishing features other than his blonde hair, "Just taking you out since we of the Akatsuki don't need you anymore." Naruto said.
The man's eyes widened before rage seemed to enter his expression, "Akatsuki?! You aren't Akatsuki! The only man from that group with blonde hair is Deidara the Bomber!" the man accused, not knowing of the ninja's death, just like every other minor village in the world.
Naruto shrugged before showing the man his hands, "What? I can't get a haircut once in a while yeah?" he said with a very Deidara like smirk.
At seeing the evidence and hearing Naruto's words, the Kage become even more enraged before attacking Naruto, "I'll kill you traitor!" he said as he charged at Naruto while forming hand seals.
"WIND STYLE: COASTAL WINDS!" the man shouted, making the air come up from the Cliffside and move at Naruto at high speed.
Naruto kept his face blank as he focussed his own wind chakra over the sharp bone that began to protrude from his wrist, his Hidden Bone become so sharp that with a single swipe, he cut a hole in the approaching attack.
That didn't deter his opponent though, "WIND STYLE: SANDSTORM RISING!" he said, using the coastal wind to begin bringing sand from up the coast, picking up speed that would hopefully shred Naruto.
He waited til the last second to flex the boundary with his explosive chakra, "EXPLOSIVE WAVE!"
*BOOM*
The focussed explosion disrupted the attack, but it faded as the supposed Kage of the Shore threw a strong punch at Naruto.
Using nature chakra, Naruto's arm became slightly harder and tougher as he caught the man's punch above his head, but before his opponent could do anything, Naruto's other hand had already formed a single seal, "LIGHTNING ARMOUR!"
The Kage screamed out in pain as he was electrically charged, he tried to escape with a substitution, but Naruto had a tight grip on the man's hand and wouldn't let go, causing the blonde to be pulled through the substitution with him.
Before the Kage was able to come up with some kind of counter, Naruto threw the Kage away after the third substitution, causing the man to fall through the air as he got his bearings back.
Unfortunately for the man, Naruto had thrown him within sight of Gaara.
The Sand using ninja caught the Shore ninja, wrapping him in inescapable sand as Naruto began forming chakra in his right hand.
"W-wait! I can be useful to the cause! I can work with Akatsuki!" the Kage yelled as he was held not far above the village in sand.
Naruto formed a normal rasengan as he flew so that he was hovering in front of the Kage, but it began to glow white as he imbued explosive chakra into it, "Yeah well, thanks for saying that." Naruto said before plunging his hand forward, through a self-making gap in the sand before drilling the rasengan into the man.
"KATSU!"
The man screamed in pain before the sphere compacted, giving Naruto a second to move back before the fully controlled explosion destroyed everything down to the air molecules with ten meters of the original impact point.
##########
Lee and Kimimaro came to a stop next to each other as they were surrounded by nearly fifty ninjas.
Lee grinned, ignoring the mass amounts of blood dripping from his blade, "Kimimaro-san, let us finish this as soon as possible." Lee said.
Kimimaro nodded, "I agree, let's kick it up a notch."
Kimimaro's Curse Seal reached its second stage as Lee took the lightning from his swords into his body, kicking it into overdrive in a way which no other person's body could handle, except by a person who had experienced the same feeling thanks to using the Eight Gates.
The two began to blur around the area, causing those to follow and attack or be herded into the village center. They had taken down over half when they came to a stop again, hearing a shout from above.
"W-wait! I can be useful to the cause! I can work with Akatsuki!"
Everyone looked up to see the perfect fraud taking place, all of the surviving ninja watched clearly as Deidara placed a bomb inside the chest of their Kage, moving back through the air as he held a (fake) hand seal, "KATSU!"
'Deidara' looked down as he landed on a rooftop, "Hidan, Kazuya, let's get goin yeah?" Naruto said before running out of view and disappearing in a yellow flash.
In the moment where everyone had looked up, Lee disappeared in a green blur while Kimimaro formed the head hunter jutsu, using it to follow behind Lee as they fled the village.
Gaara let his wall fall over the city, crushing all buildings and killing anyone who wasn't in the village center. This left only fourteen ninjas left, ten of whom were injured slightly and all who knew one thing.
'The Akatsuki betrayed us!'
##########
Naruto appeared back at the seal they had originally landed at and quickly took off the Akatsuki cloak, throwing it on the ground over the corpses of the first four Shore ninjas to have fallen.
Less than a second later, Lee had done the same. And twenty-thirty seconds after that, Gaara and Kimimaro appeared, throwing their cloaks down as well.
Naruto clapped his hands, "Ready?" he asked.
The three men placed their hands on Naruto's back, """Hai Taicho."""
Naruto readied his explosive chakra, setting up 'evidence' that it was Deidara who had attacked the village, "EARTH STYLE: EXPLOSIVE STONES!"
All of the loose stones and rocks rolled towards the area Naruto had channelled his chakra to, glowing white as he quickly swapped techniques.
*FLASH*
The Leaf ninjas were gone.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
##########
*FLASH*
Naruto and the others appeared in the streets of Konoha, it was still night time, about six hours until the battalion moved out towards the Alliance headquarters.
Naruto sighed as he glanced over his shoulder at those who had taken their hands away, "Good mission guys. Let's hope it's not our last one yeah?" he said, instantly reminding them all that they had a war to march to the next day.
"I will see you tomorrow comrades." Lee said before blurring off home.
Kimimaro bowed to Naruto, "I look forward to fighting by your side again Taicho." He said before leaving in a standard shunshin.
Naruto glanced at Gaara, who smirked slightly back, "We will win this Naruto. I hope to end this as fast as possible though." Gaara said before walking off home.
Naruto nodded at the back of Gaara's head, 'Still, I feel a little uneasy.' He said before channelling his chakra again.
*FLASH*
##########
*FLASH*
Naruto sighed as he de-clothed himself, walking into the bathroom to rinse off before he lay to rest.
Exiting the bathroom, Naruto closed the door behind him only to pause as he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist. Naruto glanced down to see Tenten's brown hair, untied and hanging loosely as she hugged him.
"Ten-chan, why are you up still?" he whispered softly.
Tenten smiled tiredly before yawning, "Waiting for you." she said as she pulled him throughout the tree-house.
Naruto let himself be dragged to bed. Tenten pushed him down first and as soon as he lay back, Hinata rolled up closer to him, seeking his warmth.
Naruto smiled as Tenten rolled into the same position on his right before looking over to where he was used to his other wives being.
He frowned as he remembered that Tayuya was already gone with the first civilian escort and that Fuu was now in the ANBU barracks for the night, settling in for the first scout team for the battalion.
Looking back over at Tenten, the two shared a soft kiss before she seemingly snuggled up to him more, resting her head on his chest as the two of them slowly joined Hinata in sleep…
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WAR IS COMING!
Please R&R, Alky out ya'll