I for one have been severely disappointed with my work lately, which may be why it's been taking me so long to write these chapters. Here's to improving my writing this chapter, I'll try and make a real effort.
And so, with no more things to say, here's the next chapter.
Chapter Nineteen
"Sasori-danna…dead?"
Pein turned his eyes towards the blonde haired Akatsuki and gave no answer.
"But…but…how?" cried Deidara, his hands curling into fists. Deidara had spent five years with Sasori, and respected him, not only as his superior, but as a fellow artist.
"Kousou."
Deidara's fists clenched tighter as he tried to contain his anger. He looked at the ground as he silently fumed.
"We are now down a member," said Itachi, his voice and face completely impassive.
"Yes."
The Akatsuki were in one of their hideouts, discussing their next moves. The loss of a member always caused them to meet up and select a new member to be added to their ranks. As it was, there were eight members alive: Pein, Konan, Hidan, Kakuzu, Itachi, Kisame, Zetsu, and Deidara. Zetsu was their eyes and ears to the outside world, and worked alone. Deidara needed a new partner, and had an idea where he could find one.
Overcoming the shock of losing someone close to him, or at least as close as two S-class missing nin could get, Deidara spoke up. "I have a prospective member," stated Deidara quite plainly. The rest of the Akatsuki turned their attention onto the blonde. He had been missing for a week and had come back with a new member? "His name is Tobi, and he's been traveling with me for the last week that I've been gone."
All at once, the Akatsuki began to talk amongst themselves and shoot questions towards Deidara.
"Is he trustworthy?" asked Kakuzu.
"He's a little slow…I don't think he's really capable of betrayal."
"Is he strong?" asked Kisame with a sneer.
"Yes. He's strong enough to defeat me in one on one combat, though perhaps not as refined as he should be."
"Is he trainable?" All the Akatsuki stopped their banter at the sound of the leader's voice.
"…Yes…it just seems…that bad things happen to those around him. Unlucky things."
"I see."
After it seemed that Pein was satisfied with the answer, the Akatsuki once again began to chatter.
"Special abilities?" asked Hidan.
"None that I know of."
Itachi cleared his throat. Again, a hush came over the eight S-class missing nin. Their fear for the leader only slightly surpassed their fear for the strongest member of them all. "I believe that we must give this "Tobi" a test then. I volunteer to be the administrator."
Kisame began to chuckle. "Haha, then that kid doesn't stand a chance Itachi. Let's make it fair and let Kakuzu give him the test."
Itachi turned his gaze to Kisame, his sharingan spinning wildly. Kisame stopped laughing at once and averted his eyes from Itachi's sharingan eyes. "Ok, Itachi. Give the kid the test, I don't care."
Deidara paled. Usually the test consisted of some kind of mission or survival test. For Hidan it was not to get cut by his scythe for five minutes. For Kakuzu it was to destroy one of his masks. But Itachi was merciless. He would not hold back and would kill Tobi without a second thought. Poor poor Tobi…
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"Ahhh, gimme another old man!" yelled Naruto boisterously as he slurped down the broth of a bowl of ramen. He tossed it onto the growing stack of bowls that teetered dangerously beside him as he grinned at Teuchi. Ichiraku ramen couldn't be beat.
"Anything for my number one customer!" Teuchi yelled over his shoulder as he busied himself making another bowl.
Naruto patted his belly as he sighed contentedly. There was nothing like coming back from a long mission and going straight to Ichiraku's
Thirty minutes and fourteen bowls of ramen later, Naruto waved at Teuchi as he left the small ramen stand. Naruto put his hands behind his head as he walked down the streets of Konoha with a smile on his face. As he walked down the streets, he saw a flash of brown and white. Tenten! He smiled at the thought of his girlfriend. Life was good.
He maneuvered through the crowd until he was able to catch up with her. He quickly slid his hands over her eyes, causing her to flinch, obviously catching her off guard and snapping her out of her thoughts.
"Guess who's back?" he called out in a singsong voice. Tenten smiled to herself. Was she making the right choice?
"Naruto!" she turned to face him and slid her face to the side as he moved in to plant a kiss on her lips. Instead, she moved into his body for a hug.
Naruto looked down at her confused, but he wrapped his arms around her too. "Ano…is something wrong Tenten?"
Tenten separated herself from him as she looked at the ground. "You see Naruto…I've been doing a lot of thinking…while you were gone…and…it's just that…"
"Uzumaki."
Tenten jumped at the voice behind her. ANBU.
"Uh, yeah, that's me," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Mission briefing in the Hokage tower. Time sensitive." After he relayed that information, the ANBU disappeared in a quick whirl of leaves.
"Another one? Geez, gotta go babe, we'll talk when I get back!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran towards the center of the village.
Tenten stood in the middle of the packed streets, her hands held together in front of her and her head down. Small leaves danced by her feet as a gust of wind blew through the street, making her clothes billow and flutter. "It's just that I think I'm in love with Neji," she whispered to herself, her soft voice lost in the hustle and bustle of the villager's everyday lives.
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"Tobi has to fight that scary man?" Tobi asked, pointing over at Itachi.
"If you want to be in Akatsuki, you have to beat him, yeah! I think you can do it Tobi! Just remember what I taught you, yeah!" Deidara exclaimed cheerfully. To be honest, he just couldn't bring himself to telling poor, innocent Tobi that he was about to die. There was no way he could beat Itachi! Of course…Tobi was a wildcard…who knows? Deidara laughed to himself. Look at him! Actually believing for a second that Tobi could win!
"Are you ready for the test?" asked Itachi, impassively, his black eyes emotionless.
"Tobi's a good boy!"
"…" Itachi looked at the boy, still unreadable, but inside, he was curious. Just who was this boy who could look into his eyes which promised nothing but death and not show fear? Perhaps this would be a worthy adversary after all…
Then, without warning, Itachi flashed forward, a volley of three kunai flying ahead of him at Tobi. "Don't hurt Tobiiiiiiii!" squealed Tobi as he ran in the opposite direction, screeching at the top of his lungs as the kunai and the much deadlier Uchiha approached him. "Tobi's a good boooooooy!"
Itachi sweat dropped as he used a quick shunshin to appear in front of the fleeing Tobi. Tobi, who had been looking over his shoulder at the incoming kunai, impacted into Itachi's chest and fell onto his rear end. Itachi looked down in what seemed like pity at the strange orange masked man. Tobi began to scramble on all fours away from Itachi, but the first of the three kunai embedded itself inches from his face. Tobi turned to his right, only for the second kunai to land, almost slicing his mask in half. Tobi turned to his left, and the last kunai impacted in front of him yet again.
Tobi sweat dropped and slowly turned to look up into the Uchiha's eyes. "TOBI'S A GOOD BOY!" he bellowed at a precise frequency that just happened resonate in a nearby grizzly bear's ears, throwing it into a crazed state.
As Itachi raised a fourth kunai to finish off the orange and black clad maniac, the enraged bear erupted from a nearby bush and tackled Itachi to the ground, taking out its frustration and anger on the nearest living object, which just so happened to be the unfortunate Uchiha. Itachi landed on his face, unprepared for wild animals to make their sudden appearance in the test. The bear then continued to swing its massive claws at Itachi, who was eventually able to squirm out of the bear's grip, albeit, with some injuries.
"What the hell?" muttered Hidan, his jaw, along with most of the other Akatsuki's jaws, on the floor.
"Did…did Tobi do that?" asked Kisame, eyes wide as he watched the bear rear back on its hind legs.
Itachi rolled to avoid a claw swipe and slid a kunai from his sleeve into his hand. As the bear charged him, bloodlust filling its eyes, Itachi aimed his deadly kunai at the crazed bear. One shot should do it… However, just as Itachi began to flick his wrist to launch the deadly projectile, Tobi slammed his shoulder into Itachi, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Don't hurt bear-san! BEAR-SAN IS A GOOD BOY TOO!"
Itachi was knocked to the ground for the second time that battle. The unfamiliar sensation was beginning to really get on his nerves. The Akatsuki took a collective gasp as they saw Itachi's face as he lifted himself up. His usually impassive face was contorted into an expression of rage that promised death to anyone who got in his way. But what really frightened them was not his expression. No, it was his eyes. The Mangekyo Sharingan.
As he looked at Tobi, malice and killer intent leaking from every pore of his body, Tobi cheerfully began to chat incessantly. "Ooh! Itachi-san! Itachi-san! You have these really cool things in your eyes! You HAVE to see them! Here, I'll show you what they look like!" he babbled, rummaging through his weapons pouch.
"Tsukuyomi."
"Here!" yelled Tobi, looking up and holding a mirror out in front of him to show Itachi his new marvelous eyes.
Then, after a short pause, Itachi fell to the ground, motionless. The mirror had reflected his attack back at him, forcing him into the same torturous experience that he was just about to subject Tobi to.
"What…the…fuck…" mumbled Hidan, his brain going into shock.
"…Tobi is the winner…" Pein said, the least affected out of all of the Akatsuki members. He was shocked, but refused to show his disbelief. Silently, he motioned to Konan and walked away.
Tobi looked up from poking Itachi with a stick. "Tobi's a good boy!" he yelled, giving Deidara two thumbs up.
Deidara couldn't decide whether to kill the orange clad man just because he had the ability to defeat THE Uchiha Itachi, or to hug him. He settled for staring and drooling.
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"Hey! Tsunade-obaachan!" Naruto yelled boisterously as he entered the Hokage Tower. Shikamaru followed him through the door, hands in his pockets and yawning deeply.
"That's Hokage-sama to you Naruto…" muttered Tsunade, busy filling out a form on her desk. After so many years of being subject to Naruto's nickname, her scolding was simply a habit she had developed.
"Hai, Hokage-sama…what's the mission?" asked Shikamaru.
"Cutting straight to the point I see. The mission you are assigned is a covert operations mission. You are to infiltrate and observe one of Orochimaru's bases that we have gotten information on."
Naruto's ears immediately perked up at the sound of the sannin's name. "The snake bastard? We'll take it!"
Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "Kousou missions are not up to you to accept or not. Anything I say goes, and since Kousou is a special task force of the Hokage, you cannot decline my orders. Furthermore the mission is to infiltrate the base and OBSERVE Naruto, and that's IT. I don't want to hear any reports of strange, unexplainable explosions in Rice Country while you're there, got it?"
"Hai!" Naruto yelled dramatically, saluting with flourish. Tsunade rolled her eyes and tossed Shikamaru a manila folder.
"There's the information Shikamaru. Keep the idiot in line, and good luck."
"Arigato Hokage-sama. We'll do our best." Shikamaru walked out of the office, followed closely by Naruto.
"So Shika, what's the mission look like? Is it a good one?"
Shikamaru cursed his luck in getting the loudest of the Kousou on his team. "It's a good one," he responded plainly. "Pack for a four day trip Naruto. Greens, browns, and blacks, it's a covert mission, ok?"
"You got it Shika!" yelled Naruto over his shoulder as he ran to his apartment. "I'll meet you back at the gates in ten!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome."
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10 Minutes Later
Naruto approached the gates and saw Shikamaru waiting in the shade of a nearby tree. "OK Shika! All set!"
"OK. The target is two days away. When we get within four hours of the target, we will maintain complete silence."
"HAI!" Naruto yelled.
"You can't yell like that Naruto…you'll alert the enemy to our location…"
"I KNOW, I'M JUST GETTING IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome…Let's move."
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One Day Later
"….SIX THOUSAND AND FIFTEY FOUR BOTTLES OF SAKE ON THE WALL, SIX THOUSAND AND FIFTEY FOUR BOTTLES OF SAKEEEE! YOU TAKE ONE DOWN; PASS IT AROUND! SIX THOUSAND AND FIFTEY THREE BOTTLES OF SAKE ON THE WAAAAAAAAAAALL!"
"This is hell."
"SIX THOUSAND AND FIFTEY THREE BOTTLES OF…what was that Shikamaru?"
"Nothing."
"SAKE ON THE WALL…."
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Two Days Later
"ONE BOTTLE OF SAKE ON THE WALL, ONE BOTTLE OF SAKEEEE! YOU TAKE IT DOWN; PASS IT AROUND!"
Shikamaru smiled to himself. They were exactly four hours away from the supposed location of the hidden base. "Initiate complete silence." Finally…
"…no bottles of sake on the wall," whispered Naruto to himself as they continued. While he enjoyed messing with Shikamaru, he would never endanger the mission with his mind games. Yes, that was one of his many hobbies, one of the ones he picked up while travelling with Jiraiya. Poor, poor Jiraiya.
As the two shadows dashed through the rice fields of Rice Country, almost no sound was made, only the occasional rustle of the grass, until finally, they reached the specified location.
Shikamaru held up a fist, the signal for a halt. Naruto skidded to a stop beside Shikamaru. "What's wrong Shika?" whispered Naruto.
"It's almost dark. I'm going to activate a special genjutsu to hide us." Shikamaru flashed through a few seals and a black color filled his eyes. "Shadow Walking," he muttered. Naruto watched in shock as their own shadows rose from the ground and covered them, making them completely covered in black. Naruto had to squint to actually see Shikamaru's body against the dark surroundings.
"This is a special genjutsu Naruto. It's a self sustaining jutsu, which means that it feeds on your chakra to keep itself active. As long as you're alive, it will stay active. Nothing short of you blowing up all of your chakra will make it disappear. In fact, it's so hard to detect on someone that even the person that it's affecting sometimes doesn't know that they have a genjutsu on them."
"Cool…" muttered Naruto as he waved his own hand in front of his face.
"Ok, let's move. The base is two clicks to the north."
The two shinobi moved like shadows…literally. In the blackness of night, they were near invisible. Naruto's jaw clenched as the base came into sight. It was a small outpost, with two or three guards at the main gate. Chunnin, most likely. He glanced over to Shikamaru…or what he thought was Shikamaru, and saw the outline of a fist. Naruto nodded emphatically so that Shikamaru could see that he understood and then disappeared in a flurry of leaves.
Naruto reappeared in the top branches of the tree they had been crouched under. He pulled out a small pair of binoculars and began to scope out the base. Yep. Three chunnin on the main gate with several other genin and chunnin patrolling the inside. There was something in there that Orochimaru didn't want discovered.
Naruto used a quick shunshin back to ground level where Shikamaru was waiting. "Just as we thought, they have way too many guards to take out without alerting the base."
"I see. Plan B then," Shikamaru whispered. Shikamaru pulled out his two knives and began to channel chakra as discreetly as he could. "Hanzatsu…release." As he slammed the hilts of his two trench knives together, the blades quickly formed Shikamaru's released Hanzatsu, a long black katana radiating what seemed to be shadow energy. "Kage Ninpo: Hayameni (Ahead of Time)!" Shikamaru looked at Naruto who simply nodded. He had sent several kage bunshin into the forest and set the necessary seals around the complex, which made it possible for Shikamaru to utilize his greatest weapon: time itself.
As Shikamaru activated his jutsu, black beams of energy shot from several points around the complex and joined directly above it, creating an outline of a half sphere. Then, the spaces in between the beams filled in and the area in front of Naruto and Shikamaru became a black sphere. At once, everyone in the complex froze. Time in the shadow sphere stopped moving, and only Shikamaru himself could manipulate it. Shikamaru grabbed Naruto and pulled him into the sphere, dashing towards the center of the base. Once inside, Naruto stopped in wonder at the strange new surroundings. Everything was black, with only slight white borders around objects. It was like seeing the world if it was a negative of a photo.
"We don't have much time Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled, interrupting Naruto's shock. "I can't sustain this large of a radius for long, and your presence simply complicates matters!" Shikamaru yelled as they ran full speed down the corridor of what seemed to be a lab of some sort. "Right!"
Naruto immediately turned to his right and they continued down the new branch off. "Wait!" yelled Naruto, stopping dead in his tracks.
Shikamaru too stopped, looking at Naruto expectantly. "What is it Naruto?"
"I…smell something…familiar. Come on! This way!" he yelled.
They ran down the hallway and took several turns, but eventually, they entered a huge chamber that glowed with an eerie green light. Shikamaru looked around in wonder at the sheer complexity of the chamber. Computers lined the sides of the walls completely, with hundreds of screens and monitors on the walls. But what was most captivating was what was in the center of the room. Machines and tubes came from the ceiling and floor to converge on a single glass cylinder. It was filled with a liquid that seemed to be the source of the dull green glow that filled the laboratory. However, that was not what Naruto had smelled. Inside of the green liquid was a familiar figure. The last Kaguya. "Kaguya Kimimaro…" gasped Naruto under his breath. Shikamaru only looked at him in confusion.
"Who is that?" he asked, sweat drops forming on his forehead from the strain of keeping such a powerful jutsu active.
"He…he was going to be the vessel of Orochimaru, but had some kind of crazy disease. It took both Gaara and Rock Lee to just slow him down and stall him long enough for him to die of whatever was killing him from the inside…but…but he's still alive…"
"It looks like this base's purpose is to heal Orochimaru's next host. The Kaguya bloodline is a deadly one, from what I've read. Now come on, we have to go."
"Leave? We can't leave! We have to kill this bastard before Orochimaru-teme takes his body and his bloodline!"
"Naruto! Hokage-sama explicitly told us to infiltrate and observe! We can't act outside her orders!"
"I'm no one's lackey Shikamaru! The orders she gave means shit to me right now! You know that we can't afford to let him live!"
"That may be so, but if we can escape without being detected, then I swear to you that I'll get Hokage-sama to send a team to destroy this base. As it is right now, we have less than two minutes to escape before my technique runs out!"
Naruto looked towards the glass cylinder and then back to his friend. It was obvious by his demeanor and body language that he was in serious pain from the effort of keeping his Hayameni technique protecting them from discovery.
"Alright, let's get out of here," Naruto said blandly, running towards the door, followed closely by Shikamaru.
The two ran and ran, but as they reached the final hallway, the hallway suddenly became the right color again, instead of the black and white that they had become accustomed to.
"Shit!" yelled Shikamaru as he continued to run. Just twenty more meters…fifteen…ten…
However, as they neared the exit, a person walked out of a hallway into their path. Naruto crashed into him heavily and they both fell to the ground. Shikamaru gripped his trench knives. They had been discovered.
"Hmm? Intruders? How did you get in here?" The man waited for an answer but got none from the black silhouettes that he could see before him. "No matter." The man was obviously some kind of scientist, judging by his long white lab coat and clipboard. The scientist watched in amusement as one of the black figures fell to one knee. "I see you are quite exhausted from whatever you did to get in here. I commend you for your effort, but I'm sorry to say that I cannot allow you to live." However, his eyes widened as he instinctively moved his body to the side. A black trench knife buried itself in his side, narrowly missing his heart. The man fell to the ground, and cursed at his enemies.
Then, the second of the two figures dashed forward, fist drawn back. The scientist only chuckled at his arrogance. "My my, aren't you a hot head? Rushing into battle when your friend is a sitting duck!" As he said that, he threw a senbon at the first of the black figures, who was on his hands and knees, obviously completely immobilized from chakra exhaustion. He had to admit, the disguise technique that they were using was quite effective, not only as a stealth measure, but also as a combat technique. It made it very hard for him to distinguish different body parts, but he was reasonably sure he had thrown the needle at his enemy's neck, one of the body's vital spots.
Instantly, the one who had been recklessly charging him turned around and flash stepped in front of his downed friend, grabbing the senbon out of the air and throwing it into the wall. Naruto glared at the downed sound nin, a red tint in his eyes, the only thing visible through the genjutsu disguise.
Shikamaru gently tugged on Naruto's shirt, trying to keep him focused. "Naruto…we gotta get out of here!" he urged, before passing out completely. Naruto nodded and began to form hand seals. The sound nin noticed and began his own set of hand seals.
Naruto finished moments before the sound nin and called out his jutsu. "Sunaarashi (Sandstorm)!" Instantly, gale force winds began to swirl around in the small hallway that they occupied, picking up sand that had appeared on the ground and creating a miniature sandstorm. The sound nin finished his seals just as the sandstorm began and called out his attack. But the sound of the winds completely muffled his voice, and when the small tornado finally died down, the two intruders were gone.
The sound nin slowly began to limp back into the laboratory, and pulled the black knife out of his side, a fountain of blood leaking into his jacket. A chakra enhanced knife? No…there's something more to this weapon…and I intend to find out what.
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"C'mon Shika! Wake up!" yelled Naruto as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch at a frantic pace.
Naruto had removed their disguises as they ran and was happy to see Shikamaru's eyelids flutter for a second before opening in startled shock.
"What happened?"
"We got out, but they have to be following us. Can you run?"
"I think so." Naruto stopped on a branch and put Shikamaru down. As they once again began dashing from tree branch to tree branch, Shikamaru suddenly remembered something. "Naruto, we have to get back to Konoha, I think I may have made a mistake…"
"Mistake?"
"Did you…happen to get my knife back?"
"Oh shit."
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"Tobi likes his new ring! Don't you like it Deidara-sempai?" Tobi asked, shoving his hand into Deidara's face.
Deidara made a face and pushed Tobi's appendage away. "Yeah Tobi, it's great. Now come on, we have a mission to complete."
"Oh, you're so smart Deidara-sempai! Tobi wishes he could be half as smart as Deidara-sempai! Even one fourth!"
Deidara scoffed. Tobi and him were currently on their first official Akatsuki mission together, and things were not going well. They were supposed to kill a big clan of strong missing nin who were trying to form their own organization that would rival Akatsuki. Sounded easy enough, but some guy who was a master at fuuinjutsu had sealed his hands and now he might as well be useless.
"Tobi, keep it down! Those guys are coming back!"
"Don't worry, Tobi will protect you! BECAUSE TOBI'S A GOOD BOY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, striking a pose at the same time.
"Hey, they're over there! Get those Akatsuki bastards!" yelled one of the missing nin.
"Oops." Deidara sweat dropped at the sheer idiocy of his orange clad teammate. Deidara watched as the missing nin swarmed their location. So this is the end huh?
"Don't fear! Tobi is here!" yelled his lunatic sidekick. Deidara looked at Tobi who stood in a half crouch, his hands flashing through hundreds of hand seals at breakneck speeds. Deidara couldn't even keep up with half of the seals being formed and could only wonder at what kind of ace Tobi had hidden up his sleeves. "Tobi Ninpo: Good Boy no jutsu!" he yelled, clapping his hands together mightily, creating a miniature shockwave in the air. And nothing happened. Deidara sweat dropped again, ashamed at himself for expecting something amazing.
But then, as death seemed imminent, with the missing nin mere feet from their position, the earth in front of them simply sucked everyone before them into the ground, removing any trace that there was ever a threat. A moment passed where Tobi and Deidara just stared at the now empty space before them before Tobi began to break out into his celebratory dance and Deidara began to check the ground for any sign of the missing nin they were assigned to kill.
"Holy shit Tobi…what was that?"
Tobi stopped his herky jerky dancing for a moment to shrug his shoulders. "Tobi doesn't know!"
"What? What do you mean you don't know!? What was that technique!?"
"Tobi just made random hand seals and used a bunch of chakra!"
"…."
"Tobi's a good boy!"
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One Day Later
Naruto and Shikamaru appeared before the gates of Konoha and dropped to their knees. It had been a long, hard journey, but they had made it. They had to warn Tsunade that one, well, half, of one of the Kousou swords had been lost.
Shikamaru looked up at the gate in confusion. "Something's wrong here…why is the gate closed. And why is it so quiet?" Naruto perked his ears up at Shikamaru's pondering. He was right. It was midday and usually the village was bursting with the sound of people doing their day's work. And the gate was never closed, unless there was some kind of war…or epidemic.
Shikamaru made a quick motion to his mouth, signaling Naruto to go into a complete silence. Naruto nodded and ran to the wall, pressing himself up against it. Shikamaru followed a moment later. Shikamaru pointed up to the sky and Naruto nodded yet again. They had been practicing their silent communication during their free time and had gotten quite good at it. Silently, they both climbed the wall, using their hands and feet covered in chakra to stick to the wall
When they reached the top, they saw a figure with his back to them. Shikamaru glanced at Naruto and Naruto formed several shadow clones. Several dashed in different directions while a few stayed and surrounded the person in front of them. Naruto glanced at Shikamaru, signaling that his clones were in place. "Hello?" asked Shikamaru, still crouched warily in his battle stance. His voice made the man in front of them turn, and both gasped at the sight. Some of the attributes seemed familiar, while the other attributes just made their lives seem like nightmares. Brown hair, tied up in a spiky knot. Leaf forehead protector. Chunnin flak jacket. Scar running across his nose. White, dead eyes. Pale, wrinkled skin. Open mouth with drool coming from it.
"Aaaaargggggh!" the monster yelled. Both Naruto and Shikamaru drew back at the ear piercing scream.
"Is…is that Iruka?" asked Naruto silently. Iruka ran forward, his arms held out trying to grab Naruto, but he nimbly dodged out of the way, kicking the zombie off the top of the wall. "Sorry Iruka…" muttered Naruto.
"It seems like there's been some kind of disease...come, let's see if we can find someone who can tell us what's going on."
The two jumped over Iruka and dashed across the rooftops of the village. It was surreal; there were no people in the streets, no people in the stores. The only signs of life were the occasional cat or dog that would walk across the empty streets. Naruto dispelled his clones and his eyes widened at his newfound knowledge. "Shika…the whole village is like this…"
"This is impossible. What kind of poison can make people into mindless zombies? I've never heard of anything with those properties…It must be Orochimaru's doing. Or Akatsuki. Hell, it could be any one of the other hidden villages; we're not really on good terms with any of them except Suna."
"What do we do?"
"Let's go see if the Hokage is alright…she IS an expert on poisons. Maybe she was able to protect herself from the effects."
"Good idea."
Naruto and Shikamaru landed inside the Hokage's office moments later. The chair was turned to them, and the dared not approach any closer. "Baa-chan?" Naruto asked quietly.
In a split second, the chair spun around and a fist plowed through them, blowing the two figures into smoke. Nearby on a rooftop, Naruto and Shikamaru watched in horror as Tsunade looked around in confusion. She too had the same dead eyes and grey skin that the rest of the villagers had. And if the Poison Mistress herself was infected…then what hope did they have?
Shikamaru looked at Naruto, his eyes wide. "This is not good Naruto."
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Meh. I had to change some stuff around, and sorry about this update, it took freakin forever. Some real progress has been made though!
And, here's one of the sword summaries:
Hotaru (Firefly): This is Ino's sword, which reflects not only her fire affinity, but also her own fiery personality. In its released form, it no longer is a blade of wood and steel, but a blade of fire. In addition, it can absorb any fire attack and return it at its user, but at triple the strength, an ability she calls "Okibi", or "Blazing Fire". Any other abilities of Hotaru are as of yet unknown.