24
"If the other Jinchuuriki, or Bijuu for the matter, isn't anywhere we haven't already been, I have no idea where it is." Naruto sighed as they began to make camp along the south-eastern border of Takigakure's Hidden Waterfall village. Sasuke and Naruto hadn't led everyone into the village only for the fact that they had promised during that mission so long ago that they wouldn't, but just being in the vicinity had allowed Naruto to check for the missing Bijuu's presence. They'd already travelled through nearly every country between Wind and Rock and there was still no sign of the tailed-beast Gaara had spoken of.
A week ago, they'd stopped at an Uchiha hideout just outside of Taki before checking out the Waterfall Village, and they'd found an extravagantly supplied mansion that was tended by a clan of ninja felines. They'd all managed to find clothes and weapons to replace the ones they'd worn out, although Juugo had to get his clothes specially tailored, and they'd been out by the next day. The Uchiha brothers had assured the rest of the Nigasu group that their clan held at least one such hideout in every country in the continent, and even some off of it. Handy for a bunch of wanted ninja.
Konan had wondered aloud one day whether Konoha would begin seizing their property, and Itachi had explained that any and all Uchiha estates, or at least the land for them, had been legally claimed before the founding of Konoha, which put them out of reach of Konoha's governmental reach. This had reassured them all. But now, they were all well out of Taki and finally on their straightaway route, along the edge of the Fire Country around the Rice Country and through two other somewhat negligible countries to Kumo in the Lightening Country.
"Maybe it's moving as we are?" Konan asked.
"Maybe, but Kyuu's told me that she would be able to sense a Jinchuuriki or Bijuu's presence within the limits of about a month, because they leave such a strong presence and signature behind that it lasts for a long time. Although since Kyuu is the strongest Bijuu in terms of chakra, only she can sense the signatures. If they were moving ahead of us and we were just missing them…"
"Kyuubi would still be able to sense its presence." Itachi completed as he materialized from the dark of the woods around them and joined them, sitting down next to Deidara.
Naruto nodded.
"Then the Bijuu is either not in any of these countries or it's way ahead of us. How far do Kyuubi's senses stretch?"
"Well, really, since it only applies to the tailed-beasts…" Naruto paused, searching for a reference point he could use to explain. "Ah, well, right now, Kyuu can feel Killer Bee's chakra."
Karin whistled. "Assuming he's in his village, he's still at least a hundred miles away!"
"So there's no way that a tailed beast has been anywhere near where we've gone in the past month." Sasuke clarified.
"Right. Whoever or whatever it is must be in the southern countries or in the outskirts of the Fire, Wind, or Earth countries, because they are each well over the size of a hundred miles wide." Naruto said.
"Most likely." Suigetsu chimed in unnecessarily.
"Well, we should be able to get to Kumo if we hurry tomorrow. We can consider the trip to be stealth endurance training. And Sasuke and Naruto can practice their Hiraishin technique." Itachi said, looking down at Deidara who had fallen asleep the moment his head touched Itachi's lap.
"That sounds good." Sai said, nodding his head from his perch on a tree limb high above their heads.
"I think you're messed up in the head." Suigetsu shot at the ex-ROOT member. "No one could possibly enjoy Itachi's training- OW! - um, no offense Itachi!" Suigetsu gulped as he turned eyes to the man. Karin had kicked him in the leg to remind him of his loudmouth tendencies and he cowered. Itachi didn't say anything, merely basking in amusement.
The group had grown even closer than they imagined they could in the time they had left Gaara and the Wind Country. With the training they were doing daily, they got to know each other's tactics and personalities through their personal techniques and even through their weaknesses. And even when they weren't training, they swapped stories during their travels and when they readied themselves to eat and sleep.
A most extraordinary example was how outgoing Itachi had become after gaining Sasuke's forgiveness and being around Deidara. Itachi no longer gave off the feeling that he was unapproachable. And though he could still manage to make Naruto and Sasuke cry mercy in a spar, who he had easily admitted were stronger than him (Power-wise, at least), he made them laugh just as often.
Everyone in the group wondered when Karin and Suigetsu planned on opening up about their relationship, considering it was now more than obvious to everyone. But they still hadn't said anything and were acting like the times when they went off together to 'scout' were anything besides make-out sessions.
And everyone had long-since traded the stories of how they had become rogue ninja, minus all the anger, or bitterness, that had accompanied the circumstances. Even Naruto had finally elaborated to Sasuke exactly what had happened after he had been taken in by Orochimaru. And Sasuke had told everyone about his own dramatic exit from Konoha, even going so far as to boast about his victory over Naruto at the Valley of the End, which even Itachi and Sai hadn't heard about.
There hadn't been a single word uttered in bitterness.
All had been forgiven and Nigasugakure had become a family. But they were still a little shaky on the details of what exactly it was they were doing. And their plans for the long-term. Creating a new village wasn't simple, after all.
"So we'll meet Killer Bee tomorrow. Then what?" Naruto asked, directing the question to the entire group.
"We'll need to start gathering allies." Juugo said, stirring something in a pot that he'd pulled out of a storage scroll, something Itachi had shown them all the wonders of long ago. The roll of paper could hold the contents of a small house and not weigh any more than its original weight. After the stop at the Uchiha hideout, they each carried one.
"Yes, and we'll still have to find the tailed-beast." Sasuke added.
"For specifics, I think we'll have to wait until we reach Kumo." Karin threw out, looking at Itachi for his opinion.
As the most experienced of the group, albeit not oldest (Konan, unsurprisingly, took that title, being 35), the elder Uchiha had become something of a strategical consultant for Nigasu's actions. In addition to that, thanks to the discovery of Karin's healing abilities, he had been steadily regaining his full sight and previous strength, so he had also become the team's primary 'trainer'. Along their travels, Sasuke had had the idea that, although conventional healing methods had not been successful, something different, like Karin's Heal-Bite ability, which dealt with chakra directly, could possibly work. When Itachi took the suggestion at Karin's enthusiasm for the idea, he'd immediately reported that he could see better than before. From then on, Karin had prescribed weekly doses of her Heal-Bite.
Itachi regarded the group as he thought. "I think so as well. We really can't do much until we can talk to Killer Bee."
"Maybe if he agrees to our proposal, we can go see my parent's house before we go search further south?" Naruto suggested hesitantly.
"I'd like to go see it too, actually. Maybe we can find out more about some of your father and mother's jutsu. Or even something about Madara." Sasuke added, giving some reason to the argument. It was dangerous for them to go back near Konoha, after all.
"…I agree with you on that, Sasuke. Namikaze might have found something about him. And, if we're lucky, we can use the place as a base. He might have put a blood seal around it so that only Naruto could get in. That would make it one of the safer places for us to be, actually, like the Uchiha estates." Itachi said thoughtfully.
"Food's ready." Juugo called to the group, effectively ending the conversation.
xXx
"Killer Bee's on the move!" Naruto announced after suddenly stopping and startling everyone of the group into battle stances. They decided to take a quick break after Naruto assured them that there were no enemies coming to attack them. Naruto told them about what he'd sensed. "He's going straight towards Konoha and he's moving really fast."
"If Killer Bee is heading directly to Konoha, then he will be passing within twenty miles of us." Juugo said slowly.
"Right. He's moving extremely fast and his chakra isn't agitated, so I don't think he's being chased or attacked. But maybe he's just in a hurry. And why would he be going to Konoha?" He directed the question to Itachi.
"How far is he to Konoha?" Itachi asked instead of answering right away, as the others had quickly discovered was his habit. "And when did he start moving?"
"He's seems to already be near the Lightening Country's border and he only started moving a few seconds ago but-" Naruto paused. "Yeah, he must have the same abilities Gaara does, to be able to move his body through his country's element, supposedly Lightening if the speed was any clue, or maybe something else. He just slowed down drastically. He must have passed out of his own country and into the Frost Country, but he's still moving fast.
"Well, Bee isn't the Kage of his country, so I can't be sure, but he could be going in his brother's, the Kage's, place to take part in the Chuunin exams, since they start within the week."
"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised.
"Why would Tsunade host the exams when Konoha was in such a bad state?" Konan asked.
"My guess is to show that Konoha can fend for itself." Sai answered.
"Yes. Akatsuki received word of Tsunade's request to host the exams a few months ago and had planned to infiltrate them. I assume that she has not given up on her plans, even with the threat another attack would pose on the stability of the village." Itachi said.
"Well then. That solves our issue of what to do after we meet with Killer Bee." Naruto said, standing and putting his fists on his hips.
"It does, doesn't it?" Deidara said sarcastically, having grasped Naruto's line of thinking.
"Would someone care to translate from the blond-speak? I'm confused." Suigetsu said. Naruto looked at him amusedly.
"You're always confused." Karin said dryly.
"We can go to Konoha, talk to Killer Bee, stop Akatsuki- assuming they haven't changed their plans-, search for the missing Bijuu, go to my father's house, and me and Sasuke can finally earn the rank of Chuunin in name, at long last!" Naruto said, dramatizing the last bit. The rest of the group - who realized exactly how irritating it was to be more powerful than a Jounin but classified as a Genin - laughed, but accepted it as a good enough reason to add to the list.
"Geez, speaking of birds and stones, that's five nice little pheasants we're gonna have for dinner, ain't it!" Deidara giggled.
"Well, what do the rest of you think?" Naruto asked.
They all agreed. There was a feeling going around, though, that they would need to be on their heaviest guard in Konoha.
xXx
"I don't need to tell you all what to do. We'll scatter once we reach the gates. Once Naruto finds Kakashi and moves towards the meeting spot, he'll signal us with some of his clones. Meet at the south end of the Forest of Death." Itachi informed the rest of Nigasu. "Remember: Don't approach Bee if you see him. We'll deal with him later. For now, we need to find Naruto's home and make sure we can get into it. Otherwise we'll be keeping up our guises for quite a bit longer than we need to."
Everyone chimed in with a sloppy affirmative (well, all except Sai, who nearly snapped off a salute before settling with a strong 'understood!'). Itachi nodded and the group slowly dispersed into the crowd that made their way into Konoha to observe the Chuunin exams that were due to begin the next day.
It was always a tense affair for ninjas to go through the intense screening of a village (even if it was their own village) that had recently had an attack, even just the common enough assassination attempts. However, with the way Konoha had been attacked, twice consecutively (one of which had even happened during such a time as this, when the Chuunin exams were up and running), the security was nerve-wracking.
But Nigasu wasn't worried in the slightest. They had a tried and proven method of getting through security without incident.
Naruto.
The moment they stepped just beyond the boundaries of Konoha, Naruto had worked his Kekkei Genkai over them. In the process of his training, Naruto had already mastered three techniques by trial and error, and the help of Kyuu, who could somewhat sense the abilities his bloodline limit held. One of these was the ability to create something similar to a genjutsu and use it to veil not only his, but also other people's chakra and presence. Even someone who had known him and his chakra and bearing for years would never be able to tell it was him. He didn't even have to consciously change his bearing or voice; to someone else, he was simply not Naruto, even in mannerism.
The reason it could only be likened to the art of illusion, however, was because this technique could not be penetrated, period.
Nigasu had already tested this technique a few times under duress, such as when an uncommonly large party of hunter-nin had found and questioned them at one point during their travels. Naruto had only barely had time to cloak them in hopes of avoiding a fight that would undoubtedly leave the hunter-nin dead, and, even though the group had included a Byakugan user, Nigasu had been able to pull off the guise of a small travelling circus just starting off in their career. (The size of Juugo, and the odd assortment of hair colors, which Naruto had let be, had certainly helped their story.) Suigetsu had even been able to pull off the trick of swallowing a knife, which had caused a few raised eyebrows after the hunter-nin had left.
Another good thing about this technique was that, at his will, the people cloaked in this technique could be seen differently by each person who saw them- not drastically, but enough so that they couldn't be singled out of a crowd by someone who was looking for them. And, in addition to that, anyone cloaked in the technique could see the true visage of another person cloaked in the same technique. That was particularly helpful when the group was pulling off a large-scale reconnaissance mission, which they had done in the Earth Country when they'd gone just beyond its borders and into a rather large town to gather information.
In short, Naruto's Kekkei Genkai was invaluable. It led to a truly effective method of stealth and information gathering. In each village they passed, they spent maybe an hour or so separately listening at each of the taverns and central squares for news of the war. It had gained them a fairly accurate understanding of the standing of the different villages. Consequently, they knew that all the villages save Madara and Orochimaru's were to be attending the Chuunin exams, though any of those villages could have ties with either of the two traitors. Consequently, they knew that there would be far too many Genin teams to screen accurately this year.
Once they came inside the walls of Konoha and past the mix of ANBU and Jounin doing checks for suspicious chakras, they all set off towards their various destinations. With Juugo and Sai as a group, Sasuke, Itachi, and Deidara as another, Konan, Suigetsu, and Karin in yet another, and Naruto by himself, they went after their targets. Naruto pointed them all in the right directions. Konan's group took off to find Jiraiya, Sasuke's to find Gaara, and Sai's to find Iruka. Naruto set off at a slow pace to where Kakashi's chakra signature was.
Sadly enough, the man was at the Memorial Stone.