Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: As violent as someone with my writing skill can make it. Character death in this chapter or the next.
Can you HANDLE THAT?! The excitement! Suspense! My god!
Chapter title explained at the end
The Hush Of Mist Above Crimson
Chapter eight
LIE
"Right this way please,"
A pale woman with brown hair, gray eyes and white fingernails led Sasuke Sakura and Naruto down a dimly lit hallway in the morgue. She turned left down another tiled hall, her straight locks swaying silently behind her.
"It truly was a shame what happened to him. He's full of preservatives from the funeral but if you really must see the body we would love to be of service."
Stopping at a thick metal door, she turned the silver handle and walked inside.
"We already got him out for you, use the intercom by the door to call me when you're finished here. The door has to stay locked for security reasons."
"Thank-you," Sakura inclined her head, as did the woman before exciting the room.
Sasuke stood at the foot of the table. The outline of a body was scarcely clear under the pale blue sheet that draped over it.
Naruto stood quietly on the right side of him while Sakura slowly unveiled the body from the head down.
And there he lay. Azamaki Komotaro, a born leader and perfect target. He was handsome, his heavy eyelids sprouting thick lashes and his long brown hair framed his tan but drained face.
"He looks a lot like his brother," Naruto pointed out.
"Yeah," Sakura muttered distractedly. She was looking at something else.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke questioned as he walked up beside her.
Sakura began to peel back the decease's silk black kimono. She noticed how cold his skin was as her finger brushed against his shoulder. A small red oval came into view on the left side of Azamaki's chest. She regarded Sasuke who nodded for her to continue.
The red oval turned into a finger, which proved to be a hand print as the whole top side of his clothes were removed.
Naruto stepped closer. "It looks...like a burn."
"What could have done this? I don't know much about medics but I am aware that a burn of this degree couldn't be lethal, even if it was over your heart. The skin's not even blistered."
"Chakra."
"What?" Sasuke turned to Sakura.
"It was very powerful amount of chakra gathered into the hand. It penetrated the skin directly to the heart at such an intensity the skin was distressed. This technique used to be used for assassinations in this country since the level of chakra you needed to stop the heart was minimal if applied to the right spot with the right force. It..." She looked back to the mark with troubled eyes. "far more force than necessary was used on him if the skin left traces of the attack."
"That's incredible," Naruto said in awe.
"Too incredible."
"Huh?"
"I guess that's not the case if you're the son of one of the most powerful Mizukage's."
There was a pause as the three observed the imprint one last time. Perhaps too small to be the size of a full grown mans...
Sasuke smirked, "In any case, we have some role playing to do."
"Heh, right. This will be fun." Naruto walked to the door as Sakura placed the sheet back over the body after straightening the kimono. Sasuke leaned against the wall lazily waiting for her to do the honors.
"Let's go." She pressed the button on the intercom.
"Yes?" Came a woman's voice from the box.
"We're done in here."
There was a loud buzzing sound and then the door clicked open.
x.x.x.x.
Tabenomaru waited for them outside- as much as she had been around death, just the thought of seeing her friend colorless and forever unmoving made her stomach twist painfully. She wanted to remember Azamaki as he was- spirited and alive.
She walked to greet them when they exited the building, giving her thin cloak a light tug in the chilly evening cold. The gray stone walls of the morgue seemed out of place amongst the naked autumn trees, dead leaves of red and gold littering the dry earth around them.
"Alright, before you jump right into this let me tell you a bit about who you will be up against." she started, turning her deep green eyes toward soft lime ones. "Sakura, the night you battled Nyoko unfortunately, you did not witness her full abilities. Watch out for her nails, they can become like claws when she is angered and can change in length at any moment. Anyone from her clan can also produce a deadly poison from the tips of them. "
Tabenomaru's eyes clouded over for a moment as she said this, her long black hair shielding her eyes before she looked up again. "I've seen her murder a young village woman for talking back to her. She threatened her child before running her nail along the side of the girls cheek. That was all it took. And don't even think about breaking them," she warned, "they are like the thickest of armors."
Sasuke, I know you are most likely not worried but I'm telling you- Nikko is stronger than he appears to be. He is an expert in taijutsu and should not be underestimated for when his speed and stealth are combined with the blood-line limit of his clan he becomes the ultimate assassin."
After this, she straightened, stepping back from them as they absorbed her information. Then, she turned her gaze on Naruto and her eyes softened but her voice held its firmness, "Naruto..."
Her stare made him uneasy,
"I do not agree with your decision to fight Doichi alone."
Naruto was a bit put-off by this, but recovered quickly, "So what if he can control fog, so can everyone else in the water country."
Tabenomaru's green eyes flashed before they fell to the ground. "Not like this...he is different than the others. Colder, crueler and most importantly, much more powerful."
The nine-tails roared with excitement inside Naruto and he found himself saying, "Trust me, I will kill Doichi."
Bringing her eyes back up to meet his she came to a conclusion.
There was no stopping this boy.
"Alright," she smiled at him. "I guess I have no choice but to believe in you."
"Heh." The Jounin grinned.
"So you said before that when you were Akina, you were almost always posted behind the Mizukage?"
"That is right Sasuke, and when one of us were sent away on a mission or when new ninja are entering the village Doichi is alerted and sent on a silent guard."
"So now that Akina is gone," Sakura said, "Doichi should be with Yukio, Nikko and Nyoko in the office."
"Yeah, but how will we be able to subdue the three guards without Yukio noticing? We can't just barge in there."
The four pondered Naruto's point until Tabenomaru spoke, "A distraction. We need something big enough to draw more than just the guards at the front doors to the diversion."
Sakura half-smiled, "It's perfect."
"And I have just the thing. Go now to the government building, you have only until sunset."
"Right!"
"Hn."
"Yeah."
"And I wish you three the best of luck." she said.
Naruto waved, "Thanks for all your help Tabe-san."
And with that, they were gone.
The sand nins mouth melted into one thin, determined line and she quickly thought of a good place to start. "I believe the sky is showing sings of a shower," she whispered into the cold air before, she too, was gone from the front doors of the morgue.
x.x.x.x.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura waited against the chill stone walls of the building. They could hear the guards at the door complaining about the drop in their salary after the new rule, what they had for lunch and the upcoming ninja exams."
"What's taking her so long? Do you think that something-" Naruto was cut short by a deafening booming noise in the distance. Then there was another, and another.
"What the fuck was that?" He muttered, clenching his fists to keep from covering his ears as the steady noise continued.
By now the men posted at the door had stopped talking and stared with a mix of curiosity and fear into the distance. The street before the building was empty as a lone leaf blew past them, scraping on the pavement.
The sky began to darken as the thundering quickened. They could see the deep gray clouds expanding overhead. Stretching, fattening with power.
"Rain...clouds?" One of the men said as the weak sun was smothered in pools of darkness.
"No." The other replied slowly before a massive wave of energy was splashed across the whole city. For a second, everything stopped- breathing, the tiny gusts of wind, the trees silenced their whispers and the leaf halted in its trail on the pathway.
They felt it in their core after the noise stopped with one final crash. They felt it all around them-no above them.
A grain of sand fell at Sasuke's feet...followed by three more.
"It's sand!" The guard called, terrified as some landed around him too before the sky broke.
"What the-"
A light rain of gold sand came, as the clouds opened up and released what was inside them. It began to pile up on the ground all around them, like a thin sheet of ice. It brought confusion and chaos, made the roads slippery, made people rush about for cover in the main city.
The three ninjas had already pressed themselves hard against the wall.
"We must be under attack from Suna... Alert Mizukage-sama, I'm going to the source!" One of them said, taking charge immediately.
"Hai!"
One sprinted inside, and the other, disappeared down the street.
"Now is our chance." Sasuke whispered, "Let them come to the very bottom floor before we attack."
Minutes later, the quick footsteps of the guard could be heard from inside, the door smashed open and then he slid in the sand before jumping high into the air and vanishing into the streets. The sand continued to fall, burying the ground beneath it.
They listened through the hushing of the rain for the sound of three footsteps coming down the stairs before stepping inside, shutting the main doors behind them.
Sasuke quickly took care of the two men by the doors and let their unconscious bodies slump in the corner of the main lobby.
"Tabenomaru is pretty amazing, I mean, that rain of sand was awesome. She probably has the whole city thinking they are being invaded." Naruto gushed, cracking his knuckles beside Sasuke.
"Well, she does seem to be Gaara-san's best." Sakura patted the pouch on her waist, then quickly checked the weapons on her thigh. She shifted her weight around absentmindedly."Everyone ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be."
"Let's do this."
The bottom of the staircase was straight ahead of them and in anticipation, they waited.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap...tap...tap- "You again." Nyoko spat, jumping the last four stairs. Nikko and a young man with shoulder length silver hair in a quiet tow. "Are you three responsible for all this commotion?" they watched her steal a glance to the two men slouched over in the corner. Actually, you don't need to answer that because since you're here," She smiled at this, "Why not make things easier for ourselves and just kill you?" Nyoko laughed wickedly through thin red lips, her violet kimono and eyes shining while she advanced.
"That's much easier said then done." Naruto reminded her defiantly.
"Is that so little fox?" A strange voice sounded in the lobby and even Nyoko had to turn back to look at him as he narrowed his black eyes on Naruto. He went down to stand beside Nyoko who reflexively moved out of his way. "I will be sure to make you suffer just for saying that."
"I'd like to see you try." Naruto responded, on the brink of laughter.
Sasuke and Sakura didn't move. This was all part of it, analyze them. Note how
Doichi's arms uncrossed, the way Nikko's jaw tightens when he looks at him and how his sister immediately silences, settling to shooting daggers at Sakura with the intensity of her eyes.
"I wouldn't make him angry." Nikko's warning seemed pointless with his indifferent tone.
"Why is that?" Sasuke pushed.
"Well if you're really that interested in why you shouldn't play these little games with us, we can show you firsthand!" On the last word, he raised a finger elegantly towards Sasuke his nail growing long and sharp so quickly it smashed into the door behind him. Splinters of wood fell to the floor when just as fast, it was gone.
Nikko flicked his wrist.
Sasuke stood there, a smirk playing on his white lips on as blood dripped down his cheek. So he's quick to become violent.
Sakura immediately felt panic. The poison..."Sasuke!" she called. Immediately she jumped back, narrowly avoiding the shuriken aimed at her head. While she skid to a stop she kept her eyes fixed on Nyoko walking towards her. Sakura glared furiously when she chuckled, flexing her long thin fingers. "Let me finish what I started."
x.x.x.x.
Doichi raised his arm, palm out, in Naruto's direction. The corner of his mouth turned upwards.
Naruto tore his eyes from Sakura just in time to be blasted through the door by a massive spray of water. It soaked and froze him in the outside weather as he coughed on the wet sand, standing.
'He's high level...using a water jutsu with no water around.'
Doichi was no where in sight.
"This will be fun." Came a chilling voice beside Naruto's ear. He turned around and hopped backwards with a slightly arched back right before a kunai slashed in the empty space he had created. It came again at him seconds after his toes touched the ground so he jumped to his left, watching as Doichi's sliver hair swung in front of him. His black eyes widening on Naruto as his head turned to see he had missed again.
"You're quite good at running away." Doichi taunted after Naruto had back flipped, coming up meters away from him.
Naruto pulled three shuriken from his pouch running back towards him, "Haaaaaa!" he yelled throwing them angrily as his opponent became a blur of sliver, white and black, as he drove him towards the empty streets in a spar.
- - -
Inside, Sasuke and Sakura had their hands quite full.
"Hosenka no jutsu!" Sasuke's onyx eyes narrowed on Nikko as fire flew mercilessly from his mouth.
Nikko dodged each one expertly, wasting no movements by advancng forward instead of away from his target.
He made a move to punch at his stomach, putting all his weight into it, when the fireballs had stopped but Sasuke was much clever than that and saw it coming. He stepped to the side letting Nikko skid to catch himself before he kicked him dead-on in the back, sending him flying towards the banister.
Nikko twisted, becoming a flash of red as he managed to land on his toes. He wiped away the blood from the side of his mouth and quickly created a number of buushins, but Sasuke was already one step ahead of him.
He jumped over the replicas to land for a brief moment behind all of them on the railing. In seconds he had weapons shooting towards him in a wall of metal. He deflected them with his kunai, the black silk tied to the end whiling around violently as he kept pressing forward even when a throwing star slipped through his eye sight and made a slit in his sweat pants.
"What?" Nikko whispered as Sasuke's sharinghan eyes bore into his own. He descended from the air over him as the last of his own replicas finished Nikko's, having each one disappeared in a soft poof.
Feeling uncomfortably threatened he directed the blades on his hands upwards, as to pierce Sasuke's chest. He can't go against gravity. Its finished.
Sasuke spread his arms out and twisted rapidly in mid-air to land on all fours not far from him. Outraged Nikko stretched his hands.
Right after landing Sasuke felt the air shift so he moved his head to the left, than right, then jumped his whole body back to avoid being impaled by Nikko's attacks. So what if he was good at Taijutsu? Sasuke could see through nearly everything with a little bit of effort.
The two of them stood there, panting for a couple of seconds. Sasuke's vision went out of focus, then back again as he felt the poison spread in his body. It was only two minutes into the fight and Sasuke realized that he was wasting time. Those three Jounin were not their mission, just obstacles that needed to be removed as quickly as possible. It was time to kick it up a notch.
Nikko's eyes darkened into pools of deep burgundy. This boy was causing more trouble than he was worth and Yukio would not be pleased with this nuisance taking so much of his energy.
And with a determined intent to kill, they came at each other once again.
- - -
On the other side of the lobby Sakura was trying to successfully land a hit on her opponent. She seemed to be just as nimble as her brother but for what Sakura lacked in speed, she more than made up for in strength.
"What you saw before was nothing," she cautioned as she punched into the ground where Nyoko once stood, leaving a large crater in the dull and dirty tile. "I'm not scared of you anymore."
"Hmph," violet eyes flared, her words coming out in a rush, "for your own good, you should be."
The chunnin summoned all of her concentration on the deep red nails that shot out towards her at a ridiculous speed. There were four, there was only one direction to go.
And don't even think about breaking them, they are like the thickest of armors
Moments before striking her, Sakura's feet left the ground, letting the nails dig deep into the floor . Landing on one of the thin blades, she sprinted towards Nyoko who was attempting in vain to pull herself free but in her rage she had used too much force. Like the hand print- that's what almost always led to someones finish. Letting yourself go a little bit too far...
Sakura's super strength was a direct hit.
"No..." she whispered before being flown backwards immediately unconscious and smashed through the wall of the government building. The washed out sun could be seen between the last tiny grains of rock that fell from the clearing sky as it filtered through Nyoko's wake- it was almost time.
Nikko and Sasuke both stopped at all the commotion from the right side of the lobby just in time to witness the crumbling hole in the wall and hear the light tapping of Sakura's shoes as she ran towards the gash. She took a kunai from her pouch and hurriedly bolted after her to finish the job.
"Sister!" Nikko screamed, turning from Sasuke and dashing after them.
"Huh-stop!"
He barely made it to the other side of the building before getting cut off by Sasuke's threatening eyes and weapon hurling towards him.
Nikko avoided the threat by bending into a bridge and jumping back up by his hands. He grunted as he scrambled to regain his composure before Sasuke coldly reminded him why he was here,
"Your fight is with me."
- - -
Doichi and Naruto's movements were so incredibly fast that anyone trying to watch them would have been lost immediately.
Now, beads of sweat trickled down Naruto's neck as he crouched in the sand, seemingly alone, on the front walkway. The odd rain had stopped but it remained gray and weak with light as sunset approached.
He dug his feet in to find stability, quickly glancing through the hole in the door for Sasuke or Sakura. Neither were in view. The only way he knew they were still alive were Sasuke's angry yells and blasts of fire coming from inside. But where was Sakura?
Before he had much longer to ponder that, something caught his eye and snapped him back into his own battle. There was a fog thickening all around him. Did this man think he was stupid?
Naruto tried not to smile cockily at the thought of his opponent trying to conceal himself and attack from within the mist. He delt with this stuff back when he was genin!
Naruto felt obliged to share this with Doichi when- He stopped.
He couldn't breath.
Naruto's skin was tingling with the murderous intent surrounding him. But with what?
All he saw around him was fog.
Fog.
A sick realization struck him. Doichi was not controlling this fog, he became it. Chocking him and chuckling quietly as he mingled with the air Naruto wished he was breathing.
He couldn't hold up for much longer of this and Doichi knew this quite well,
"Good luck getting out of this one little fox." came a cool voice from all around him, "No one has been able to escape this technique. Your overall strength weakens by the second with no oxygen coming into your lungs."
Naruto cringed in spite of himself. It was true, he couldn't think straight with this suffocation and was soon becoming desperate as his eye sight went fuzzy and his heart beat loudly in his chest.
This was not going the way he had planned.
- - -
Sasuke dragged Nikko's limp body across the floor and through the hole on the side of the building to lay it with his sisters. This act alone, was enough to exhausted him completely and he collapsed to the sand, tired of fighting the chill that coursed through his veins.
Sakura was at his side in an instant. Judging by his size and how long he held his stamina for she hastily thought out the amount of poison he could have gotten from the wound, she pulled out a fitting antidote and hoped for the best. He stirred in a matter of minutes after she fed it to him. As Sasuke stood, she noted that he wouldn't be at one-hundred percent yet, but it would have to do.
She brought her hand down to touch Sasuke's forehead and he flinched, but then felt the strange sensation of chakra on his skin.
The cut was gone.
"Gah-"
Naruto chocked out the last bit of what remained in his lungs. His teammates' heads turned in unison towards the noise, and without thinking, hurried off towards the front walk.
Naruto fell to his knees, and with his last bit of strength thought through his panic. If this didn't work, nothing else would. His hands formed numerous seals...
Just die! It's too late...
The voice only fueled his need to overpower him. The last sign formed and the leaves danced as a massive gust of wind came from behind Naruto, viciously blowing all fog away from him
Naruto remained on his knees, gasping- not hearing or seeing anything else but just breathing in the air like it were life itself as everyone fumbled for their footing around him.
Sasuke and Sakura tried to block out the wind with their arms as the force of it nearly knocked them over. They ducked back behind the corner if the building.
'What strong chakra...and it's intent isn't of the nine-tails.' Sasuke thought as his hair whipped around his face, 'Kakashi was right when he said that wind techniques were his thing. He controls it with such ease...'
Naruto stood once again, Doichi before him. He was noticeably trying to contain his irritation.
Ignoring this, Naruto exhaled slowly, beginning to form other seals:
boar,tiger,lion,snake,rabbit,snake,sheep...
His words floated like whispers into their ears.
Sakura's eyes grew wide "Sasuke, let's go!" She yelled, grabbing onto him by the arm and darting around the corner. She ducked them behind Naruto and shoved them both back into the building.
Doichi tried to ignore the little exchange but couldn't help but feel the slightest bit uneasy at the abnormal amount of energy emanating from this man. It was slowly building, becoming nearly touchable around them when he heard the whisper,
"You'll regret what you just did to me," Naruto promised.
Bird.
"Heh," he spread his hands out at his sides, "Wind element: Black dragon technique."
There was a stir in the air around them. The sky roared and two gray dragons with deep red eyes came from Naruto's palms to soar up into the air, twisting, dancing with each other before pummeling down towards Doichi. Their red eyes locked on his, their mouths wide open, exposing jagged teeth. The trees shuddered all around them and the sky immediately darkened.
"Hah! You expect to kill me with this?" Doichi yelled over the howling winds and his foot skid back in the sand. "Water element: Dragon of the Mist." He boomed and a beast of water swirled up from behind him towards the two monsters of wind. "Just one should be enough," he smirked.
His confidence drained when the two dark beasts shot straight through his own creating a wide spray of water as it was twisted apart. It cried out in rage as it was ripped to pieces, falling over them all like rain.
The sand hardened into mud and splattered the walls of the building when Naruto's allies transformed into a commodious tornado, picking up Doichi and throwing him violently up and around in the air.
"Release." Naruto muttered, slamming his hands down and feeling the wet sand stick between his fingers.
The dragons disappeared and now, all that remained in the now clear sky was Doichi's falling form, getting larger and larger as it approached the ground.
Unfortunately for him, the sand was dripping and hard from his mangled water dragon. There was nothing to soften the ground for his fall.
Shhff
Naruto bounded up, meters high, to wrap himself around the enemy, making sure the Jounin was head down and unable to move. After coming in contact with the ground, Naruto quickly spun off of him.
Doichi's legs stiffened, protruding from the sand, then went limp as the soul left his body to be swalloed by the evil it welcomed there.
Finally, the first part of their mission was over.
Naruto breathed out his frustrations before running inside to join the others. Sakura and Sasuke were already on the stairs.
"Nice work everyone." He said, standing in the space between them.
"Are you alright Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"More or less Sakura-chan," he smiled.
"Good, then lets get to it. We only have about twenty minutes until dusk. This will all be in vain if we don't get what we came for," Sasuke reminded them.
"Right."
"TRANSFORM."
.x.x.x.x.
(( This chapter is called "LIE" referring to that very last part when they transform to deceive the Mizukage. In a sense, it's a terrible lie. To me, this seemed a key point in the chapter since that's why they're are fighting there in the first place so I named it lie. Make any sense? Haha
Autumn fortress: Thanks for reading this chapter. It was a lot of work and I tried my hardest on it. Fight scenes are difficult to write for me, ahah. Well, please review, perhaps I will update this again.))