Disclaimer: Own Naruto I do not.

Speech

Thought

Tailed Beast

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Wolf In Fox's Clothing

Chapter 14: Tale of the Sand's Bloody Rose

"FINALLY!" Naruto gasped as he and Yugito trudged their way up the gates of Suna after a day and a half in the scorching desert. Though since Nibi had a knack for flames, the heat didn't quite bother her as much as it did him.

"So this is Suna? Doesn't exactly seem all that lively from here." Yugito said, shaking some sand from her hair.

"Halt! State your name and purpose!" A Suna-nin barked, suddenly appearing in front of them, "What are Konoha-nin doing out here?"

"Some of your village's council sent for us." Yugito responded, watching another shinobi show up.. The new one seemed to be a captain some kind of higher rank since the first quickly snapped to attention at his presence

"So you're the ones they sent, huh? Well, let's hope you two are up to the job." He said, sending the other on his way and motioning for them to follow.

Naruto noticed that everyone around them, civilian and shinobi seemed to look a tad uneasy. Some where even glancing around as if they were worried someone was going to pop up on them, "Yugi, you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah, it's like a fear of attack." She said, watching a chunin nervously finger a couple of kunai as they walked past.

The Jounin spoke up, "Three more people died early this morning. The idiots thought they could launch a surprise attack and catch her off guard. All we found of them was a puddle of blood"

"..." Was the only thing Naruto and Yugito could respond with.

"The council'll tell you more." He continued, not saying another word.

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Both of them had been expecting a full room when they reached the council chamber; instead all that greeted them was less than half a dozen people. Even their kage was absent.

"What the heck's going on?" Yugito said, both blonds tensing up.

"Welcome. You must be the shinobi Konoha sent." One of the men said, gesturing to a couple of chairs, "Have a seat and we will explain why we called for you."

The duo looked at each other for a moment before slowly getting into the chairs, Naruto setting his sword on the table just in case.

"First of all, Kazekage-Sama is currently visiting Mist so he has no knowledge that you are here, nor do the majority of the council." The man told them.

"Hold up, just you 5 asked Konoha for help?" Yugito asked, not really believing it herself.

One of the other members, a slightly elderly woman, nodded, "We did not know what else to do. Too many have died already, mainly from their own foolishness, but still." She shook her head, "I take it the Hokage has informed you about who we are talking about?"

"Yeah, the Kazekage sealed the Ichibi no Tanuki into one of his own kids." Naruto said with a bite of disgust in his voice.

"Sadly yes. The being was sealed into his youngest child, his newborn second daughter, Kijo. However the process of sealing a tailed beast requires a human sacrifice to work..Rose's mother was that sacrifice..."

"What the hell's wrong with that guy!?" Nibi hissed, wishing she was out so she could give the Kazekage a one-way ticket to hell herself.

"Damn lunitic as far as I'm concerned." Yugito replied.

Kyuubi and Naruto were thinking the same thing, "What the hell possessed him to do that??" Naruto demanded.

"He felt that Suna needed a strong weapon. He also felt performing the sealing on his own child would make it more controllable. Unfortunately, the way he performed it was flawed." The councilwoman took a drink before continuing, "None of us are sure exactly what happened, but shortly after the sealing was performed, half the people present were slaughtered by a wave of sand surrounding the child."

"It was then he considered the attempt a failure and decided to have her put down.." Another chimed in, causing an inhuman snarl to escape Naruto's lips.

"That BASTARD!" He growled, his lycan voice taking over for a moment, briefly startling them, "She's a human being, not some rabid animal or something!"

"Kit, if we ever meet that son of a bitch, I say we kill him! Slowly and painfully as EFFING POSSIBLE!" Kyuubi roared, already picturing ways to make the man suffer.

"That order never came to fruition. Having the one-tail sealed in Kijo gave her an almost living defense. There have been countless attempts, by both civilian and ninja, to end her life. All have been intercepted by the sand." The third council member sighed, "What makes it worse is at first, she was a surprisingly pleasant child. All she seemed to really want was a few friends. However, those that didn't fear what she carried, hated her for it..even her uncle: the one person she thought truly cared about her. She changed the day he tried to kill her himself. Now she is colder than ice, killing any just about everyone who crosses her. Even her brother and sister are lucky to have lived this long."

"This is why we called Konoha for help." The councilwoman cut in, "Kijo is well aware of what Suna shinobi are capable of, but she knows nothing of the Leaf. It's our hope that you can possibly catch her off guard, and if anything at least try to stop her blood lust. We're praying you can do whatever is possible before the week is ou, that is when Kazekage-same will return. Should he learn of this, he will have all of us executed for treason, and possibly you two as well since you came without his permission."

The two Jinchuuriki looked at each other for a moment before facing the councilmen, "We'll do what we can." Naruto said.

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Short chapter, I KNOW. leave it at that. This was mostly a little thing for some backstory on Kijo.

I understand Kijo means demoness, but that had no bearing on why I picked the name. I tried rose at first, but none of the Japanese words sounded right for naming a girl.

Next time: Meeting the Sand Siblings.