A/N: Hey cuties, sorry for the delay. Next chappie has arrived! :3 This is kimd of a special update, so please have fun, leave a nice review and feel free to check out my other works if you so desire. Thanks to all who faved, followed and reviewed, every single one of you is da bomb.
This chapter is dedicated to my anon reviewer, an unknown person. Sorry the ending of the last chapter disappointed you, maybe you'll like this one better? Also, please don't call me a shithead. C:
Infinite Katalyst: I know how you get the squees going for GaaHina.
Stallion6: Ahh well it might be cliché, but familial bonds happen to be an important theme for this fic. Besides, Kinrei and Setsuna have different problems than Uchihas.
Sensuto: Why, thank you!
Big Announcement Time!
Since it's almost my birthday, I'm having Big Update Time! You may have seen that I updated both this and Grief, but I also posted my brandspanking new fanfic also! It is a Fullmetal Alchemist fic, and it is called The Gateway Alchemist. Feel free to check it out if you like the Fullmetal Alchemist manga or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I know I said i'd wait until I finished Heartbeat, but eh, I lied.
Setsuna glared as her once loyal ANBU shoved and prodded her towards Shimogakure's prison. Kinrei and Byakuren gazed with gloating looks, and civilians watched with mixed expressions.
Byakuren wiped some blood off of her face, and looked at a strand of hair that was also botched with red, despite her hair being such a pale lavender it almost appeared white. "I bet that young girl has bled out in the snow already," she mused, "She wouldn't have lasted long in these temperatures with an injury such as that. Stupid thing, willing to die for you of all people. Must've inherited it from her father, he was willing to lay down his life so that she could escape to help you."
Setsuna froze, and turned to face the couple. The ANBU kept prodding her, but she resisted, meeting Byakuren's dark eyes.
"What did you do to Nadare and Hatsuyuki?!" the arrested woman demanded. Her brother's girlfriend grinned, and showed her sword of ice, stained red with fresh blood.
"Three guesses."
Despite wishing to remain strong for her people, who certainly couldn't all be brainwashed by Kinrei's nonsense, Setsuna felt her eyes grow misty. She felt overwhelming guilt for showing mercy to Kinrei when he first left the village, as it had resulted in the deaths of many loyal subordinates.
"Now, now, Setsuna, don't cry. It'll just freeze on that face of yours." Byakuren cooed, approaching the woman and gesturing for the ANBU to stop prodding her.
Setsuna lunged forward, attempting to strangle her taunter with cuffed hands, but was swiftly sent backwards by a kick to her abdomen, courtesy of Kinrei. He kneeled and grabbed her neck, pulling her forward to meet his eyes.
"You were always the smarter one, sister, it's so shameful to see you acting like an emotional Genin. You reek of desperation," he spoke, his silver eyes glinting with mirth. Her own silver eyes were filled with terror, as he seemed to be slowly crushing her wind pipe. "Can't say I'm surprised though, those chakra cuffs on your hands prevent you from doing anything useful in this situation."
She struggled to get loose from his hand, but he tightened his grip, laboring her breathing even more. He stood, pulling her to her feet.
"I should just put you out of your misery now, it'd be poetic, you meeting your demise at your own brother's bare hand. But then the people of Shimo wouldn't receive their justice against a leader who rolled over and allowed the great ninja nations to destroy our land." His voice had become louder and his hand became like a vice, before he finally dropped her at his feet. Setsuna began to hyperventilate, clutching her throat and looking up at him, eyes watering from the pain.
He turned away, muttering "Get her out of my sight."
The ANBU brusquely grabbed her up and continued shoving her into the prison, directing her down hallways and into a cell. She had barely been tossed onto the cold ground and had the door slammed, when one of the ANBU returned and quietly killed the gaurd standing in front of her cell. The masked nin took the keys and opened the door, gesturing for her to follow.
Nearly crying with relief, Setsuna followed as the ANBU slowly led her down a hallway towards the prison kitchen, pausing every so often to hide from a passing gaurd, and out a door used for supply delivery. The pair made it into the alleyway, and crouched for a moment of rest, Setsuna's savior removing their mask to reveal the young face of Hatsuyuki.
"Setsuna-sama, we need to get away from here," the girl spoke, holding her stomach. Blood oozed from the wound, presumably inflicted by Byakuren.
"Hatsuyuki, I have a few questions for you but we need to get out of here first. Do you have a plan?" Setsuna asked, her voice hoarse from nearly being strangled.
"Yes, we'll take one of the tunnels to outside the village wall," Hatsuyuki said, referring to a series of antiquated tunnels running under some branches of the village. It provided helpful escape points, in case a large village like Kumo ever tried to invade.
Hatsuyuki handed Setsuna an ANBU cloak and mask, before putting her own back on and leading her down the street unsuspected. The pair walked a considerable distance away from the prison, before opening a cellar door outside of an abandoned building, and heading into the tunnels. Most villagers had no idea the tunnels existed, as knowledge was limited to elders who remembered them and higher ups within the village government. Even still, many younger citizens took the stories of them as urban legends.
"Hatsuyuki, before we proceed, please remove my cuffs." Setsuna commanded, looking at the much smaller girl. The chakra cuffs had begun to chafe, and the former leader worried she may need to fight her way out of the tunnels.
Once she her subordinate had removed the cuffs, Setsuna removed her mask and looked at the girl seriously. "I'm sure they've already discovered I'm gone. We need to hurry, but I've noticed you're injured."
"I'll be fine, I know some rudimentary healing jutsu, I just didn't have time to use it before. My dad commanded me to go help you."
"Where is your dad, Hatsuyuki?"
The girl teared up, her hands preforming a medical technique on herself, beginning to tremble. "I don't know. He may well be arrested or dead at this point. I want to go back for him, but it's too much of a risk and he would be furious if I risked your life despite his sacrifice."
Setsuna squeezed the girl's shoulder reassuringly. "Sounds like Nadare. I promise you, we'll come back for him, but first we need to get out of here and plan our next move."
"R-right, Setsuna-sama. This way then."
Naruto peeked into the hospital training room, seeing Sai standing by the doorway as Shizune and the Ryu transfer Aya worked with Karin.
"Sai! Long time no see, how have you been?"
The former ANBU met Naruto's eyes and raised a hand in greeting. "I've been better."
"How's Karin and the baby?" the temporary Hokage asked, stepping into the room.
"It's two babies now."
"WHAT?!" Naruto exclaimed, but was quickly shot down by a look from Sai, reminding him to keep his voice down.
"Mebuki-san said she was expecting twins," Sai spoke lowly. Naruto couln't help but detect a clip in his voice, as if he was very frustrated.
The blond opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Shizune looking up and greeting him. "Naruto! I'm sorry I haven't welcomed you back sooner, I've been pretty busy over here. How's Kakashi and Sakura and the others?"
"They're fine, busy helping out Ryu. I actually wanted to tell Aya something though," he replied. The Ryu girl looked to Naruto and nodded for him to elaborate.
"Mana and Yoichi are bringing the kids to visit. I know you're related to them too, so I thought I'd let you know."
The girl's aqua eyes lit up, and she jumped up to her heels excitedly, causing her voluminous hair to bounce. "Really? That's great news! It'll be so nice to see some familiar faces, I mean it's been great with Shizune-sensei and Karin and Toshiro, but I've been a tad homesick!"
"Toshiro?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow. "You mean Toshiro Haruno?"
Aya nodded, once again making her large curls bounce. The Hokage fill-in couldn't help but wonder if they ever stopped moving. "He's my guide while I'm here."
"What's it to ya, Naruto?" came the voice of the mentioned Toshiro, standing behind him in the doorway.
"Nothing, I just thought it was interesting is all," he replied, meeting green eyes so similar to Sakura's he started to miss her a little.
"You haven't soiled my sister's honor, have you? Long nights in Ryu, far away from home," the Haruno teased.
"Do you honestly think I would be alive if I tried to do anything like that before she was ready?" Naruto asked, shaking his head.
"He's telling the truth," Karin said, coming to stand by Aya, a hand protectively rubbing her belly. Naruto smiled at her in greeting.
"I hear you're expecting twins, Karin."
"Yes, it was quite a surprise. But it does explain why I've gotten so big so fast." The redhead wasn't as big as she would be, but her stomach certainly noticeable, and not easily concealed by her clothes any longer.
"Isn't it great? I'm sure you and Sai will be awesome parents, Karin." Aya said, a friendly smile gracing her features. Karin blushed in surprise, and Naruto noticed Sai's eyes flick away quickly in annoyance as he turned to the door.
"Why don't we go, Karin. I'm sure you're hungry after your lesson?" the artist said, already exiting the room. The girl followed behind, a resigned look meeting Naruto's eyes.
"The 6 of them have made excellent progress," Kakashi remarked, looking to the Jonin sensei of the 6 Chunin, Miyako Hoshiyama and Rai Hotaru.
"I'm very proud of Kamenosuke, Hideki and Umeko. Ino-san assisting with Umeko's chakra control even improved her shield technique and Kamenosuke and Hideki are even better pinpoint aimers with their bamboo style." Rai spoke, looking fondly at his pupils who seemed a bit roughed up and tired, having just finished their final day of 'extreme training' as Kiba liked to call it.
Miyako nodded, casting a glance to her own students. "Nozomi's genjutsu has improved, and Hoshi and Daisuke learned new techniques for their elements. I'm impressed."
"Kakashi-sensei taught them to us," Hoshi chimed in, wringing some sweat from her navy braid. "He seems to know a lot of jutsu."
"They don't call him the Copy Ninja for nothing," Kiba said, scratching Akamaru's ears fondly.
"It's a shame Naruto-san wasn't here for us to thank as well," Rai noted, knowing he seemed to tire the Chunin out the most during training.
"If it makes you 6 feel better, your next task of this extreme training will involve a team of powerful taijutsu and weapons users." Kakashi said, referring to Team Gai who was en route to Ryu. Kiba and Ino exchanged a worried glance.
"Enjoy the break while you can, guys. I'm sure your senseis will want to test your new skills out but seriously, take it easy you want to be well rested against these people." Ino warned.
"Yeah, seriously, these guys are hardcore." Kiba added.
"Kiba, I'm scared. You won't let them hurt me, will you?" Umeko whined, clinging to his arm with a vice grip. Her teammates rolled their eyes. Umeko's newest infatuation with Kiba hadn't quite faded yet.
"The pain will help you improve," Ino said, noticing Kiba mouth the words 'Help Me' as he tried to get the redhead off of him.
"We can still see each other, right?" Umeko asked, her navy eyes looking up to the Inuzuka. Hoshi and Nozomi pried the girl off, also rolling their eyes at their friend's antics.
"Umeko, stop molesting Kiba-san!" Hoshi scolded, as Nozomi exchanged a look with her boyfriend Kamenosuke.
"Looks like someone has a crush," Ino teased in a low sing-song voice.
"Yeah, reminds me of you as a Genin, always pouncing on Sasuke," Kiba retorted, causing the Yamanaka to blush angrily.
"Anyway, I'll be going now. It was nice working with you all," Kakashi said with a wave, before poofing away.
Rai turned to Kiba and Ino, still standing there. "Truly, thank you. You guys may have given them a skill to save their life one day."
"It was no trouble, they helped us too." Ino said with a smile, before waving goodbye herself and walking away. Kiba joined her, Akamaru at his side.
"That girl's been making googly eyes at me this whole time, it's kinda gross."
"Why? You're only a year or so older than her." Ino replied, trying not to meet his eyes, knowing they were looking at her.
"Yeah but she isn't really my type. Her friends said she gets like this a lot, so hopefully she'll stop ambushing me during the training sessions now that they're over."
"Trust me, I don't think she'll be able to escape Team Gai." Ino said, causing them both to chuckle.
"What's the status, Ogi?" Kaede of Kusa said, looking from her office window at a riot in the streets. Katsutoshi's ideals were spreading, and her people were starting to get angry. According to reports, several of her ninja had defected to Tani in the past few days.
Her trusted subordinate looked to her. "The ANBU and Jonin are trying to keep the peace, but it isn't only a civilian riot. There are ninja in the crowd too. I guess rabble rousers have been meeting in bars village-wide for months now, and the takeover in Shimo is making them brazen."
"Damn it, I figured that was the case. I suppose I'll come down myself to help neutralize the threat in a moment." Kaede said, twirling a green strand of hair as she pondered Katsutoshi's next move.
Her other bodygaurd, Chiba, entered the room hurriedly. "Kaede-sama, the Eastern Sector has caught fire."
"Alright. Ogi, go get the fire squad and set them to getting the fire out, if we aren't careful they could burn down the whole damn village and spread to the savannah. Chiba, I need you to leave right as soon as possible for Amegakure to alert Amaya-san. Shimo is now out of the neutrality pact, and the situation is tense here. While you're there I want you to send a hawk to Ryutsuki in Getsugakure with the same message. Now, go, we're wasting time." Kaede commanded, the two nodding and setting off.
She looked out the window again, before opening it and jumping out, determined to take back control of her village. She wasn't going to allow the same thing that happened to Iwa and Shimo to happen in Kusa.
A/N: And that's the end of that! How did you like this chapter? Feel free to let me know in a nice review! Although, it'd be kinda nice not to be called a shithead again, lol.
Like I said, I had Big Update Time in honor of my approaching birthday, so leave nice reviews, and enjoy Grief and my FMA baby also!
MyHikari