Because Im lazy. That answers everything :) And the fact my brother came home for the summer. And the fact I got a job. And the fact I have a porfolio project to finish. And the fact I need to find new music for a new (figure) skating program (Either the ending credits on the movie Serenity or some song called Sampson and Dalila). And the fact I go to Colorado this weekend. Joys :)
Nevertheless, I am sorry I took so long to update. Really. Look at it this way, Naruto's introduced in this chapter, yes? Have fun, my little kittlings :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. And it sucks.
King Kyuubi
Chapter 4
By Mirazhe1
Water surged forth below deck as cast and crew alike fought it back. In the disaster, the first hand, Gai, darted about, directing orders over the loud splashing water. Kakashi appeared in a poof, looking about.
"Any progress!" He managed to shout over the rush of water. Gai looked over his shoulder as he helped up a fellow crew member who had slipped in the shin deep water.
"NONE AT ALL, CAPTAIN KAKASHI! WE STILL TAKE ON WATER AND WE'RE STILLED ON THE ROCKS!" Came Gai's oddly jubilant reply. They both started as Lee appeared in a blur of green, looking ruffled.
"Captain, come quick!" They rushed to the deck, which was oddly titled being stuck on the rocks, and Lee pointed out toward the island to a little boat bobbing over the waves. Sasuke was in utter heaven, looking upon the evil looking island as they rowed closer and closer to it.
"Should we bring them back?"
"I don't give a damn," was Kakashi's lazy reply as he strode off, pulling out his ever familiar orange book. "We're leaving them."
Strong waves battered at the tall rocks as they jutted up over the raging tides. The little boat made slow progress but some, none the less. Hinata looked about warily at the oddly shaped rocks as they took on the form of one menacing creature to another. She shivered as she spotted an oddly shaped rock, grinning a vulpine grin at her, and leaned in close to Kiba's shoulder. Kiba also, along with Sakura, Neji (though not showing it), and Chouji (as he slowly reeled the camera, catching every little detail), looked on warily. Sasuke, however, looked about excitedly, anxious to arrive at the island.
And they did, departing from their little ship to cautiously walk through a large cave. All looked about warily at the skulls lined along the walls. As shinobi, a skull was not a grotesque sight, but the shape and alignment of these sent shivers up the explorer's spines. Some were close to human, merely sporting cracked horns or sharp fangs, while others were unrecognizable, almost animalistic but not in the form any of them knew.
They sped up, though it was still a slow pace for ninja, but made good ground. The place was oddly inhabited, considering the rickety, primitive, wooden bridge they had crossed. But then, rounding a bend around a dark stone mountain, this was proven.
Before them all stood a tall stone wall, complete with an even larger gate, higher than any mountain or sky scraper. Around it, scattered about, stood a small village like city, primitive and old from the small stone buildings and wooden structures. It seemed devilish, with the sharp wooden poles plunged into the ground bearing bodies stabbed and hanging at their tops. Luckily, they were long dead and decaying.
Hinata felt as though she had plunged into a black and white film. The entire place held no colour or life, looking evil in every aspect.
Sasuke looked on, interested, at the abandoned wasteland-like city as the ventured farther in.
"It's abandoned," Sakura observed.
"Of coarse its abandoned, idiot," Sasuke answered, looking about. "Use your eyes, no ones lived here for decades... at most." His dark orbs darted to the still decaying bodies critally. Hinata looked about fearfully as movement caught the corner of her eye along with a flare of chakra. Her Byakugan flared forth from years of practice and she scoped the area for life. Kiba's nose twitched and he discreetly took a whiff of the distilled air. Neji's own Byakugan appeared, along with Sasuke's Sharingan. Chouji continued filming, his camera swinging every which way for the movement.
There.
A small child stood at the end of the pathway, glaring up at the group menacingly through the shadows. Dark skinned and dirty, she was hardly clothed in her raggedy sticks and leaves. The ninja looked on, amazed that anything could live in such an environment. Hinata leaned forward, whispering in Sasuke's ear.
"Uchiha-s-san... W-we should g-go back..." Sasuke merely lifted an angry hand to silence her. The sky began to mist, rain steadily pelting down. The Uchiha seemed disappear, reappearing in front of the native, her wrist in hand and a kunai at her throat.
"Are you the only one here," He questioned forcefully. The girl hadn't even moved. "Answer me." Finally the girl responded, thrashing about wildly now. Sasuke held a firm grip...
That is until she sunk distorted and unevenly yellow teeth into his hand.
The Uchiha let go, and the devilish little girl ran into one of the buildings, Sasuke following soon after.
Only to retreat as an old woman, clutching the little girl protectively, hissed, yes hissed, at him.
Sasuke stumbled back, slightly dumbfounded. At this, man more people appeared, crouched in the corners of buildings, all hissing at the group.
"They're all harmless, just women and children," he pointed out, just as a shinobi would. He sounded oddly disappointed; women and children held no challenge. Hinata looked on, wide eyed, but broke away at a strange sound next to her. The person next to her, Hana, she recalled embarrassingly, blinked down at the sharp, bloodied steak protruding through her chest and fell to the ground with a gurgle. Hinata shrieked fearfully, stumbling back. For a moment, the only thing answering her shriek was the soft pitter patter of rain.
Until a terrifying roar, behind the wall, answered her call for a good minute. Desperate and longing, it answered her call. Had Hinata not been so petrified, it would have been comforting.
"Tore Kyuubi," Muttered the old woman fearfully. "TORE KYUUBI!"
The ninja, their world now rushing back as they forgot the roar in the direness of the situation, whirled about to see a city full of men, growling and crouching like tigers, gazing upon them. The men rushed forward, easily outnumber the small band of shinobi. They fought back desperately, with their highly developed techniques and jutsu, but to no avail.
Hinata struggled about, as the men held her hands firm. She looked around, desperately, for anyone to help, anyone at all, until she laid eyes on the old woman, standing alone in the horrid mass of chaos.
"Oh sano Tore... Mehore haka la... Hore yorne hana ka... Tore Kyuubi!"
Sasuke struggled desperately as the men thrust his head lay on the stone table. They seemed to laugh, in their own evil way, as one lifted a bloodied club above his head, ready to bring it swinging down. Was this it? The end of Uchiha Sasuke? So pathetically murdured by a group of untamed savages? If he couldn't kill primitive men that should hold no challenge, how could he ever defeate Itachi?
"Dari husa Tore... Tore Kyuubi..."
A sharp whistle cut through the air, and the man holding the club was thrown back, a kunai plunged straight through his eye socket. Kakashi and his men stood in the chaos of it all, quickly and efficiently assassinating each and every native close enough to be in range of a kunai or shuriken. The natives screamed fearfully, running away like a horrid mob.
The small, now even smaller, band, seemed unharmed, apart from an unconscious Kiba and a very dead Hana.
Rain and ferocious waves battered at the ship's deck that night as the crew threw almost every piece of luggage or furniture overboard.
"Lighten the ship," Called Kakashi through the pelting rain. This could all be seen through the fogy window panes of the navigation room, were Chouji, Sakura, and Sasuke sat, rather shooken up.
"We got away," Muttered Sasuke drunkenly around his bottle of sake. "We should be grateful." True they had lost the battle, but the war was far from over. No silly primitive natives would stop him. Not ever.
"What about Hana!" Sakura screeched hysterically. "She didn't get away! Shes still on that island, probably steaked up on one of those poles!"
"Hana died for what we believed in," Sasuke staggered to his feet woozily as the ship rocked violently. "We're going to explore and defeat whatever's on that island for her, in her memory!" He took another swig of sake. Apparently the Great Last Uchiha was a rather loud drunk. "Cause she's a hero... and deserves nothing less."
Sakura and Chouji looked on wondrously, wondering when the snake-like Uchiha had gained such a sense of honour.
"Here here!" Agreed Chouji loudly as he popped a chip in his mouth.
Hinata turned about in her room, wide eyed as the old native woman's words echoed menacingly in her ears like a curse. Her hands wrung themselves dry and red from clasping one another so hard. She whirled about again, Byakugan flaring weakly and receding back again as she had a moment of panic. Her senses heightened as adrenaline continued to pump through her veins.
Not far off, the ship's crew scrambled to throw everything overboard, which in turn woke a rather irritable Kiba as Shino yanked the table he had been passed out upon out from under him. He stumbled to his feet and managed to make it out on deck for fresh air to clear his aching head. It didn't help, though, that the sea decided to batter him as he got out, along with the frantic shouts of the crew all around him. Groggily looking to the floor as his world spun, a small object caught his eye.
A small thread, beaded with bones and one, tiny, misshapen skull.
Shit.
He sniffed about for a moment, but all he could smell through his headache and the sea's foam was salt and the far of stench of burning coal from the ship's engine. Damn.
Hinata.
He had to find her, she could be in danger. Heaven knows where she had turned up after the attack on the island. He had been rather unconscious most of the time.
Kiba practically flew down the corridors of the ship, headache all but forgotten. The ship took this moment to unlodge itself from the rock, and come rocking back down into the sea. Kiba could hear the jubilant cheers far off as he stumbled and fell to the end of the corridor, spotting Hinata's door swinging open and closed.
The inside was a mess, with clothes and furniture, if not the smallest bit of blood, strewn everywhere.
Damn.
He wrenched himself to his feet and quickly made his way back down the corridor and down some stairs. His nose twitched, wrinkling at a horrid stench.
Blood.
Kiba slipped and slid, catching himself on the wall as his sandals lost traction in the large puddle of blood pooling around some unfortunate crew member. He spared it a small glance and was on his way again.
Finally, oh finally after what felt like an eternity, Kiba made it to the captains deck to find Kakashi fighting with the wheel.
"Stop!" He called. "We have to turn back! They've taken Hinata!" Kakashi's single eye widened as he turned and looked back to the island, just visible in the pouring rain. The city, or what was visible of it, and the huge gate was bathed in the glowing red light of fire.
Hinata struggled desperately against her captors as the dragged her through the city. Her coat, unzipped and open, was soaked through and clinging to her skin, as the rest of her clothing was. The natives hadn't even bothered to take her kunai (which she kept with her at all times), but did bother to keep her hands in a firm grip away from them.
They stumbled along quickly, surrounded by the natives as they chanted "Kyuubi, Kyuubi, Kyuubi," and cackled loudly. They finally came to the old woman, sitting regally at the end of the path.
"Lavitu sano Tore!" She called as the natives danced about. Devil worshipers, was Hinata's stray thought before it was cast away to the back of her mind. "Pure, hone, mare hat lam! Tore Kyuubi..."
The ships crew was in chaos once again, as life boats were uncovered and various ninja weapons were unpacked.
"Jump to it, my friends! MAY THE FLAME OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY THROUGH THE RAIN OF DESPAIR!"
Not far off, Sasuke looked about cautiously. In the growing chaos, no one even spared him a passing glance. Signaling, he advanced, and quickly found his rightful place on a life boat. The boats were lowered and everyone jumped in, rowing tirelessly through the rough waters to the red island.
Just past the huge gate, the natives danced and chanted quickly working themselves into a certain ecstasy. Like a drug, each and every native seemed addicted, in their own little euphoria, high and in a frenzy. Some pounded on stones and logs, creating a horrid, menacing beat for the rest to chant, dance, moan, or scream to. Others helped with the ceremony, strapping a struggling Hinata to some odd contraption. The vines-made-ropes were so large, her hands were lost in the intricate nods.
The stage became even more hellish as the flood gates were opened below them and molten hot lava poured into the ravine below. All began to sweet in the heat of it, despite the rain, and this only seemed to make the natives more high with delight.
Like a dream, Hinata could hear far of the chanting of the old woman. "Yore Tore halararr..." Too desperate, she hardly paid attention to it when an odd spiked necklace was placed over her head. Years of practice let her shrink back into her shoulders, trying to avoid the horrid thing, but it was inevitable. "Tore Kyuubi..."
The dance became even more frenzied as not far off, on the other side of the great ravine, the dense trees swayed and waved as something large moved through them. Well that couldn't be good.
The contraption binding Hinata began to creak forward, dragging the fearful ninja along with it. Her bare feet skittered across the wooden deck desperately looking for leverage to push against, but it was as smooth as stone (if not a little dirty), and she began slipping forward. Finally, she came to the end of the deck, and gasping desperately, she was pulled off, hanging by the lowly strands of vines that served as ropes around her hands. She swung violently, jarring her shoulders and arms, as the contraption continued swinging forward, until it finally rested on the other side of the ravine.
For a moment, Hinata calmed, glad the painful pressure on her arms was gone, before she began thrashing to escape once again. She felt like a deer, caught in a trap and seeing a hunter on the horizon, thrashing about so.
Hinata paused for a moment, though, gazing through the smoke mingled with mist as the sound of creaking wood and snapping branches met her ears. Her wide eyes gazed about fearfully, slowly, too stunned to even contemplate activating her Byakugan to see what might come for her. It was about that moment she realized something that had surpassed her in those last few minutes of chaos.
She was meant to be a sacrifice.
Kiba left off the boat and near flew through the cave toward the city as soon as the boat meet shore. Many more qualified ninja followed behind.
Hinata's eyes widened as a dark form finally breached through the trees, standing before her in the misty smoke.
Despite herself, as a long, red and snarling face rose above the smoke, she screamed.
The huge thing stepped forward, a large, clawed, yet hand-like paw crushing many lesser stones beneath it's mighty self. Nine sleek and pluming tails swayed and played with the smoke, creating artistic swirls through the air. This was all lost to Hinata though as her pale eyes gazed upon the red furred face before her. Bright blue orbs gazed back, surrounded in dark, almost black, fur. The long fox, as she concluded fearfully, face blinked at her curiously, yet at the same time menacingly.
Bowing down, the huge nine-tailed fox seemed to sniff, air puffing into it's large black nose and lifted a dark, also almost black, paw to caress Hinata's cheek curiously. She couldn't help but try to pull away from the touch, missing the despairing look in the large fox's eyes.
Not far off, the crew scoured through the city and along the huge wall for the female Hyuuga. Red flares were thrown into the sky for light and many of the natives fled to a dark a cove to curl in.
The nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi, Hinata once again concluded, didn't seem to like the sounds coming from the other side of the wall. It snorted, long snout curling to revile long white fangs at least the length of her arm, and it's large black hand-paw curled around Hinata's waist and pulled. She groaned as the vines held firm and instead pulled at her already aching shoulders. Finally, it was her shoulder that gave away, dislocating, but fortunately the vines decided to snap a snort moment later. She screamed, this time in pain as her arm hung limply.
Her reply was a much louder roar. He broke his little human!
The natives scrambled away while the crew members staggered in awe at the sound.
"What in Gods name was that..." Murmured Kakashi. Kiba's eyes widened.
"BEHIND THE WALL!" He leapt forward, quickly scaling the black stone. Sasuke followed after, taking a different route to look through the gate. This roar.. it came from something with great power...
Sasuke's eyes widened at the sight of the giant fox. He barely registered it as it transferred the unconscious Hinata to one of it's tails. It paused, and looked back, blue eyes boring directly down at Sasuke's black ones. They glared, the black furr around blue orbs spiking as if to make rough whiskers extending from it's eyes and down it's furred cheeks. The slitted eyes blazed, as if to say "Teme..." before the fox whirled and retreated into the forest, Hinata in tow.
Sasuke stood stunned, before backing out of the gate and back onto open ground, eyes wide. He faintly heard Kiba cry, "Shes gone," but ignored it. Who would have known... a being- a demon, with such power. It's red chakra nearly radiated off it's body, not to be contained. If he had such power...
Kakashi tries not to care, but you know hes a big softy on the inside :D Coming to save Sasuke and all. You can just tell my favourite way of death is kunai to the eyesocket, yes:D
Yes well, I felt really dumb writing out the whole gibberish worshiping stuff. My appologies if its wrong (which it probably is) but I just wrote down what I thought it sounded like in the movie. And thus it looks like idiocy. But oh well :). My new favourite word is levitu :). Tell me, did you all like our lil' Naruto?
But just wait till next time. The crew will follow Kyuubi, and our fox demon will proove his not the mindless beast he appears to be.