Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 17: Akatsuki's Revenge
Tsunade smiled at Shikamaru and Temari. The couple stood before her with anxious expressions on their faces. The blonde Hokage didn't know why the couple was so worried. Although the news of the Suna kunoichi's pregnancy was sudden, it wasn't exactly unexpected.
It was bound to happen sooner or later, she laughed.
"Nara Temari," she barked in her 'Hokage Voice.' "You are now a chuunin of Konoha. You will replace your husband as the Strategy and Tactics instructor at the Ninja Academy."
Temari noticeably relaxed at this and Shikamaru blew out a relieved breath.
"I understand that you are a jounin in Suna and I'd prefer to make you a jounin," Tsunade explained. "But since you're pregnant and probably want to spend the first few years of your child's life withyour child, being a chuunin teacher is the best alternative. You can choose to take the jounin exams whenever you wish after your baby is born, of course."
"Iie," Temari said, shaking her head and smiling. "Teaching will be fine for now."
"Well then," the Godaime clapped her hands and grinned. "This calls for sake!"
A commotion outside of the office forestalled any other conversation and soon six people burst through the door—two of which were unconscious. It took Tsunade several moments before she found her voice and when she did, it was a shriek that rivaled Yamanaka Ino's.
"UCHIHAS?"
Naruto winced at the scream and promptly dropped his hold on Sasuke. He made several seals and a red barrier surrounded the entire office, including the waiting room where Kotetsu, Izumo, and Shizune stood. The two male chuunin stared at the blonde in wonder. They knew Naruto was strong, but it seemed that their fate was to be forever surprised by his growth and power.
"I don't think that they heard you over in Bear Country," Gaara remarked dryly.
Tsunade pointed at the two unconscious men on her floor. "What is Uchiha Itachi doing here? And why is Uchiha Sasuke knocked out?"
"I'm afraid both situations are my doing," a female voice answered.
Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. The Konoha shinobi, including the newly appointed Temari and excluding Naruto and Sakura, raised their eyebrows in question. The woman had black hair with pure white bangs and tanned skin; a black bandage over her right eye, and her visible eye was the exact shade of purple as Sabaku no Kinabuhi's eyes.
"Forgive me," the woman apologized. "I am Jocelyn, Kinabuhi's cousin. I was a prisoner of Akatsuki for six years until Uchiha Sasuke freed me."
"Uchiha…" Kotetsu whispered.
"Sasuke?" Izumo finished.
Gaara nodded. "According to the Godaime's wishes, Uchiha Sasuke was banished from Konoha for six years after he was captured by Uzumaki Naruto, Sabaku no Kinabuhi, and myself," he explained. "He remained in Suna for most of those six years until he was placed as a spy within the Akastuki organization."
"Thanks to his efforts and contributions, three Akatsuki members are now dead and Uchiha Itachi is safely in the custody of Konoha," Jocelyn continued. "I believe that this redeems his name enough that he can return to Konoha permanently."
"Uchiha Sasuke has been able to return to Konoha for the past week," Tsunade responded. Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other in confusion. The story the Kazekage was telling was true?
A smile appeared on Tsunade's face. "In fact, Sasuke made a few calls on the village last week." She looked at Kotetsu and her smile grew. "I believe he made someone do a gerbil dance?"
Kotetsu looked at Sasuke in shock.
That was HIM?
A large boom sounded and Hyuuga Neji as well as Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, along with Akamaru, came into the room.
"Hokage-sama!" Kiba yelled. "What happened?"
Naruto frowned. "How'd ya get past my barrier?" he asked.
"That which is made with chakra," Neji began, his hands glowing a soft blue. "Can be destroyed by putting chakra into it."
"Or demolished by ordering chakra consuming insects to eat through your barrier's wall," Shino added. A swarm of bugs flew into the room and then disappeared into the man's coat.
"Huh," Naruto grunted. He tilted his head and Neji got the feeling that the blonde kitsune was storing the information away so that he could either strengthen his barrier or use the knowledge later in battle. Knowing Naruto the as he did, Neji thought that it was probably both.
"Who are you?" Kiba asked the only unfamiliar person in the room. Akamaru growled softly and he absentmindedly placed his hand on the dog's head to make sure he behaved. The woman he posed the question to turned around and he was mesmerized by the prettiest smile he ever had the pleasure to see.
"I am Jocelyn," she answered. Her one purple eye ran over the three men as if they were pieces of delicious candy. She swept her long hair over her shoulder in a way that the females in the room immediately identified as flirtatious.
"You must be Neji, Shino, and Kiba," she purred. "I've heard so much about you."
She was about to slink over to Neji when a hand grabbed her wrist. Jocelyn looked down and saw that Sasuke was conscious and was sitting up. Without taking his eyes off of the floor, he signed a short sentence to her and then promptly passed out again.
The woman pouted at Neji, but then proceeded to visually molest Shino and Kiba.
Everyone remained silent during the exchange, but as soon as Sakura knelt to monitor Sasuke's life signs, the men burst into action once more. They shouted at each other while the women quietly conferred over the bodies of the Uchiha brothers.
"How long will he be knocked out?" Tsunade asked, gesturing to the elder Uchiha.
"Should be about two months," Jocelyn answered. "Kina and I put him in his own torture genjutsu for five days." She looked over when a chair crashed next to her. Akamaru sat still as soon as the woman looked at him and gave a small whimper.
"Can we keep him in a coma?" Sakura asked. "Chemically?"
"It's possible," Tsunade frowned. "But we don't have those kind of resources here."
"Sound has the best technology for that sort of thing," Shizune supplied. "But asking them is out of the question. The next best thing is Suna's hospital."
"Their medical program is very advanced," Sakura explained when Jocelyn looked intrigued by the comment. "Kinabuhi has given them many hints and suggestions."
"She would," she nodded.
"What about Sasuke?" Temari put her two cents in. "He'll want Itachi dead."
"Sasuke decided to let go of his thoughts of revenge," Gaara stated.
The women turned around and found that the shouting was finished. Since it was mostly Kiba and Naruto shouting, Shino solved the problem by ordering his bugs to cover their mouths with the order to suck their chakra dry if they so much as whimpered.
"He willingly refused to kill his brother?" Neji questioned.
"Yes," Sakura beamed. "He's decided to go on to the second phase of his dream."
"And that is?"
The pink-haired kunoichi blushed and unconsciously brushed her hand through Sasuke's raven hair.
"Sasuke's second phase is to ensure the revival of his Clan by repopulating the village with little Uchiha brats," Jocelyn smirked. She nudged Sakura with her elbow. "Three guesses who he's gonna ask to help him with that task."
Silence descended on the group once more, but this time it was broken when Itachi's body began to shake and convulse.
Jocelyn turned and placed a glowing lavender hand on Itachi's head. Her visible eye began to glow purple as well. When she was finished, she stood up and stared intently at the Godaime.
"My previous estimate was wrong," she stated. They all stared at the suddenly serious side of the woman. "Uchiha Itachi will only remain in a coma for a few more hours. The Mangekyou Sharingan is stronger than we thought and he is a genius. Unless he's attended to regularly by either myself or my cousin, he'll be lucid by nine o'clock tonight and be at battle strength by eleven."
"The best place to keep him would be Suna, then," Temari said. "At least until the council here decides what to do with him. Kina-chan and Jocelyn can alternate shifts in watching him."
"Why not bring Kina here?" Kiba asked, Shino's bugs gone now.
"Because she gave birth to twins last week," Shikamaru spoke for the first time. "You can't ask a woman who just gave birth to leave her home and children."
"And there's also the other matter I spoke to you about, Hokage-sama," Gaara said. Tsunade knew he meant the problem about the Akatsuki rings. "I will need Jocelyn's help in securing and binding the locations."
"My help?" she asked. "I'm not a ninja."
"Yes, you are," Gaara responded. "Kina and I talked about it and we agreed. If I found you competent, then I am to give you this." He held out a forehead protector on a dark purple cloth. The symbol of Suna was etched deeply into the silver metal.
Jocelyn took the hitai-ate and stared down at it. (1) She took the bandage off of her right eye. Gasps sounded as she swept her long bangs behind her ears and the scar Sasori gave her was truly revealed in the sun for the first time. The scar was stark white against her naturally tanned skin.
It began an inch above her right eyebrow, slashed through her right eye and continued downwards, touching the corner of her mouth, traveled down her chin, onto her neck, and ended at her collarbone. Knowing that their pity would only grow if they saw her wounded eye, she kept her eyelid closed over the totally black orb.
She tied the purple sash around her head and slanted it over her injured eye. Jocelyn felt the hitai-ate begin to slip and hooked the lower part over her right ear. It seemed to stop the sliding, but it was uncomfortable. Akamaru felt her unease and bravely licked her hand from his position on the floor.
"Now that I'm officially a shinobi of Suna, what's my mission?" Jocelyn asked after she patted the huge dog on the head.
"It will be explained in detail once you've settled in Suna and seen your cousin as well as your nieces and nephew," Gaara answered.
"Nieces and nephew? I thought you only had twins."
"Kina and I have three children. Lilith is our eldest. Maayo and Ayo are the newborns," Gaara explained.
"Gaara," she drawled, her good humor restored. Jocelyn bumped her hip against the Kazekage's and the others noted that she looked like an older version of her cousin. "You stud, you!"
"Sasuke's waking up," Saukra said, watching his face and noticing the frown that etched his features.
Groaning, Sasuke sat up slowly and stared at Jocelyn and Gaara.
"Do you feel that?" he asked, Sharingan activated. He had a sense of foreboding and rubbed his forehead.
Gaara frowned and Jocelyn tilted her head, as if listening for something. Naruto stared at the wall and suddenly let loose a loud growl. The others looked on as shadows passed over the faces of Sasuke, Gaara, Jocelyn, and Naruto as they yelled out in anger and denial. But Gaara's voice was easily the loudest.
"Lilith, NO!"
00000000000000000
Lilith looked at the rings on her father's desk. They were inside a glass box that had all sorts of writing on in and gave off a weird glow, but the three-year-old ignored all of that. She wanted one of those rings—they were pretty.
The red one, she decided, reaching for the box. I want the red one.
The redheaded daughter of the Kazekage grabbed the box and opened it. Her latent powers automatically broke the seals placed on it and her demon started yowling in her mind. She paused with her fingers curled around her prize.
What's wrong? Lilith asked her cat demon, Akakuro. (2)
Let me out! Akakuro shouted. The red and black demon slashed at the air in the girl's mind with sharp claws. Give me the ring and LET ME OUT!
"Lilith!" Kina shouted from the doorway. "What are you doing?"
The girl jerked at the mixture of disapproval and fear in her mother's voice and turned, dropping the box of rings in the process. However, her grip on the red ring tightened and the jewelry slipped easily onto her thumb.
She had a strange feeling of sinking before her vision blurred and red ears and a black tail appeared on her small body. Her canines sharpened and her nails grew into small claws. Lilith stared at her mother through slit eyes and vaguely heard her scream.
"Lilith, NO!"
00000000000000000
"We have to get to Suna, NOW!" Sasuke demanded. He jumped up and looked at Tsunade.
"My apartment's closer than the cave," Sakura said, grabbing his arm. "We'll use the archway there."
"Neji, Kiba, Shino," Tsunade stated. "You will accompany them and follow Uchiha Sasuke's orders. Naruto, you're the fastest. Find Kakashi and join the others as soon as you can. Shikamaru, you will be the fourth member of Neji's team."
"What about Sasuke's team?" he asked.
"That's why Naruto's getting Kakashi," Gaara snapped. The blonde was already gone and if they didn't leave soon, the kitsune would get to his daughter before Gaara himself did.
"What about him?" Kotetsu wondered, pointing at Itachi.
"Send him to Rock country for all I care," Sasuke snarled, as impatient as Gaara. "My goddaughter is in trouble, so let's GO already!" No one argued when he burst through the window and headed for Sakura's apartment.
"Temari," Gaara ordered as they jumped over the rooftops. "You will take the twins to Kankuro's and stay there with them."
"But—"
"I agree," Shikamaru said. He shot a stern look at his wife. "It's troublesome, but you need to be safe. The twins need someone and you're it. Don't argue with me on this, Temari."
The blonde kunoichi shut her mouth and nodded.
When they reached the apartment, Sakura took the curtain off of her wall and ordered everyone to cut their thumbs.
"So that's what was under there," Shino murmured.
"Shut up and give me your blood," she growled. They pooled their blood onto the palm of her hand and she slammed it onto Suna's symbol.
"Jikoku Tabi no Jutsu!" (Instant Journey Technique)
They appeared in the dojo of the Kazekage Mansion. Temari immediately ran out a side door and headed for the nursery. If the twins weren't there, she'd head over to her brother's house. Kankuro might already be there guarding the twins.
Screams and the sound of breaking furniture echoed through the building and the group ran to the source of the massive chakra they were all feeling. When they reached Gaara's office, they were stunned to see Kina in her half-demon form facing a transformed, twenty-year-old Lilith.
Lilith's red hair was as long as her mother's and rippled down to her ankles to cover her new, mature body. Her violet eyes had black, slit-like pupils and sharp canines slipped over her bottom lip. Red cat ears lay on the top of her head and a silky black tail whipped back and forth behind her.
Kina folded her left wing over her body as Lilith yowled at her, blocking the shockwave of her daughter's voice. Her purple-black wings gleamed in the late afternoon sun as she stood her ground. She looked at the group by the door and gave them a fanged smile.
"You might want to turn into your half-demon forms as well," she said to Gaara and Jocelyn. Her voice echoed with the power of her demon, Tsubakiri. "Things are going to get serious soon. Where are Naruto and Kyuubi?"
"They're on their way," Sasuke yelled to his foster sister. Kina nodded in acknowledgement and turned to her husband.
Gaara nodded and let Shukaku take partial control of his body. Sand collected around him and created a long raccoon tail and ears on his body. Claws and fangs soon sprouted and he grew taller by several inches. His light green eyes became translucent as he stared at his daughter.
Jocelyn closed her eyes and concentrated. Her white bangs became streaked with lavender as white and lavender wings tore through her back. She felt her hair brush her ankles and her hands become talons. Her eyes became tilted in the same way Kina's were and she noticed that her eyesight sharpened as well.
They stood next to Kina and looked at the cat demon in front of them.
"She's gone into a berserker rage," Gaara noted. Shukaku gave his voice extra weight as the dual tones reached the shinobi still by the door. "Where's Kankuro?"
"With the twins at his home," Kina answered. She looked over at Jocelyn and grinned. "Sorry we couldn't have a nice quiet reunion, but this needs our attention."
"I understand," Jocelyn replied. "Tsubakikan was anxious to see her sister again anyway."
Kina nodded and ducked as Lilith sent another shockwave at them. This time, it was Gaara's sand that protected them.
"I'm sorry that my daughter isn't more behaved," she said, sending a score of feathers with binding seals on them at her enraged daughter. Lilith cut through them with a swipe of her claws and sneered at her mother's pathetic attempt to bind her.
Jocelyn nodded and blocked a shockwave that was aimed for the group behind the demons with her right wing. The lavender-white feathers absorbed the energy before shooting it back at the girl with twice the force it had before.
"I remember some of the more spectacular tantrums we threw," Jocelyn said, narrowing her eyes when Lilith dodged the blast and blew a large hole through Gaara's bookcase.
"Sabaku Kyuu!" (Desert Coffin)
"It's not her fault," Gaara said, trapping Lilith in a cocoon of sand. "Shukaku says that she's wearing one of Akatsuki's rings."
Everyone ducked when Lilith broke through her father's sand coffin and covered their ears when she shouted again.
"Oh, yeah," Jocelyn told her cousin. "She's definitely your daughter."
"Welcome to the family, then," Gaara said. He ran forward and dodged his daughter's claws. He almost got close enough to take the ring from her, but hesitated when he looked into her purple eyes.
Her mother's eyes.
"GAARA!" Kina screamed.
Lilith screeched at her father. The force sent him flying back and slammed him through the wall of his office and into the hallway.
Kina turned to her daughter and frowned.
"That is it missy!" she yelled. "You are so grounded after this!"
Lilith laughed and smirked at Kina. "There is so much power here," she said. Akakuro's voice was smooth and sweet when joined with her host's. "Mother, put on one of those pretty stones. We can take everything we need." Harsh laughter sounded through the room. "And everything we don't."
"I'm taking that ring from you, Lilith," Kina said. She ran to attack her daughter when she heard Naruto's voice behind her.
"Don't!" he yelled. "Don't touch the ring!"
A/N:
Another cliffhanger…I'm evil.
(1) Hitai-ate is the forehead protector. Hitai means "forehead." The suffix –ate means "addressed to."
(2) Lilith's demon is a demon cat called Akakuro. Aka is "red" and kuro is "black."