"Kyuubi talking"
'Kyuubi Thinking'
"Regular Talking"
'Regular Thinking'
I Do Not Own Naruto
Naruto the Crimson Chain Wielder
"Wow this is a cool place you have here, Shibuki-sama." Ino said out loud while looking around not noticing that something was off or that Shibuki had run off afraid.
'Where is everyone.' Naruto wondered while looking to Kiba not noticing that Shibuki seemed to disappear. "Hey, smell anything you two?"
Kiba and Akamaru start smelling and Kiba nods and says, "A lot of civilians crowded together with some ninja in the mix, possible friendlies or enemies. I can't be sure though." He says pointing in the direction of the smells. "It also seems like our Oh so fearless friend has also decided to run and hide, though I can't smell him anymore."
"Damn." Naruto says while beginning to think while the others on the team begin to see this and begin to worry.
"Troublesome, what should we do taicho?" Shikamaru asks making his team look at him with slight surprise.
"Taicho? Since when did he become taicho to you Shika?" Choji asks while Ino nods in agreement. Kiba and Sai just smirk at them.
"Well, he already has his teammates loyalty down, so I figure he must be a good leader and knows what he's doing. Besides he is our captain as of now so we should probably just go with it." Shikamaru says to them making them look to Naruto's teammates and they see them nodding with smiles on their faces. In the end they decide to follow along with it.
"So, Taicho. What's the plan of action?" Ino asks him a bit teasingly.
"We have a possible ambush waiting for us up ahead, Kiba and Akamaru already sniffed it out and I'm not sure if the enemy knows our numbers or not." He says making Team Ten's eyes widen in surprise and slight fear. "The plan I'm thinking of would be for Kiba, Akamaru, Ino, and Shikamaru to go find Shibuki and guard him. I'm going to make kage bunshins and henge them into us and make them take the hit for us instead. I'll even make a Shibuki clone to throw them off with."
He said with authority making everyone smile and feel safer, even Team Ten. Though they do remember felling similar feelings like this when they were in the academy. Naruto always had an air of authority around him that makes them feel safe and want to help him in anyway possible. 'That sounds like a really good plan actually.' Shikamaru thought to himself impressed with his old friend.
"We'll split off here, you guys have to do this quietly and quickly. We were ordered to get him here safely so its going to be our job to make sure he stays safe here." He says as Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru, and Ino group up. "The rest of the team will hide while I send our clones into the ambush. Good luck guys and get it done." He says calmly and they smile at him.
"Hai taicho." They reply seriously and move out leaving the rest of the team to themselves. Naruto was about to make a clone of Shibuki when he heard a very faint sound in the distance.
"So were are we going to hide now taicho?" Choji asks but doesn't get to reply as some ninja jump down at them.
"Move guys." Naruto shouts. When they're all clear he beings to go through some hand signs and calls out, "Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu" (Wind Style: Wind Cutter). He sends a couple blades of wind towards them cutting them to pieces. In the end, three Hidden Rain ninja were dead.
Up in the trees nearby is Hisame and Murasame watching as three of their ninja just got cut down. "Well, well, well. It seems like we might have a challenge from that blond ninja. It seems like he is trying to play leader." Kirisame says with a cold smirk on his face.
"Well, it looks like we should report the cutie to Suien then." Hisame says back to him with a smirk.
"What, you don't want to test them out yourself?" He asks her with a cruel and sick voice.
"Our job is to get the hero's water. Besides, we have the hostages already, now lets go to Suien." She says and leaves with a reluctant Kirisame. What they didn't see was Naruto making clones of each member of the team and Shibuki.
Suien could be seen standing in front of an arch with most of the town's civilians tied up around him. Kirisame and Hisame appear in front of him and begin to explain what they saw making him smirk.
"So Shibuki has some Konoha ninja here does he? Well this should be interesting then." Suien says with no worry on his face.
"Can't we just go kill them now?" Kirisame asks making Hisame shake her head and sigh.
"What is it with you and always killing everything, don't you have a brain in that head of yours?" She asks but gets a glare for an answer.
"That's enough, we're going to wait here like I planned and then we're going to capture those three ninja. Shibuki's going to want to secure the hero's water first so we'll just take it when they get here."
The group of four clones were close to arriving at the town square after a few minutes of walking. The entire walk in that direction was completely silent, but since they suspected it was an ambush they figured it would be.
A laugh was heard, it was hard and cold, menacing in its tone. "So the coward returns." A man in his late thirties said to the team. The man was grinning arrogantly.
Besides him were the two men and the woman of their team. "I would say that it's good to see you again, Shibuki." The name was spat from the leader's mouth, "but it would be a lie, I only came here for the water and nothing else, so if you would be so kind as to give it to me."
The Taki leader was shaking in fear as he gazed at the group in front of him. As if a nightmare had come to life and was haunting him at the moment. His head shook mutely from side to side and he backed up a bit, taking cover behind Naruto.
The woman grinned, as did the man with a line on his face, as they started to weave through hand seals, "Well, if you aren't cooperating, we'll have to take you by force."
"Suiton: Suiben" (Water Style: Water Whip) and from the small stream nearby formed two cords of water that flew into the hands of the waiting missing-nin. The whips were spun a few times, before launching themselves at Choji and Sai who were caught by surprise of the speed the whips moved.
'These guys aren't anything like those weak ninja I killed earlier. They're a lot quicker.' Naruto thought to himself.
A third water whip came towards him but he simply cut it with his katana making the missing-nin smirk at him.
"Well, you might just be a challenge after all, I was hoping to have some fun killing you." Kirisame said to him from behind as he went in for the kill shot at Naruto making his eyes widen slightly.
Naruto spun around and clashed swords together but he saw that his opponent had some type of water sword in his hands. Snarling at the nuke-nin as he followed up with a few more quick slashes making the nuke-nin jump back. "I will fight back, even if I am the only one to do so." He said proudly.
The missing nin fell in with their leader, "We have your teammates hostage now. What can you do now?" He said smirking at him thinking he has the upper hand.
"I'm sure they'll be just fine." he said to Suien. He then turns to Shibuki and says, "We'll retreat for now." Then him and Shibuki jump away as the missing nin stay behind.
"Shouldn't we follow them them," said Kirisame, "Kill them before they can lick their wounds to health?"
"No Kirisame, I want to crush them after I drink the Hero's water; show the world that we are to be feared. Besides, we captured two of them and that blond looks like he would fight for his team so I'm sure he'll be back for them." Suien said and then looked at the man with the blue stripe on his face. "Murasame, gather the other ninja and get them in gear, we'll need them as cannon fodder."
"Hai Suien-sama." said Murasame and he left to do that.
The siege for the control over Taki and its treasure, the Hero's water, had begun.
Back with the real Naruto, he is sitting with Choji and Sai, he looks at them and says, "the clones of you two got captured so I had my clone with Shibuki retreat. They think that they have leverage over us so we can use that to our advantage in the next step of the plan. I just hope the others find Shibuki soon and we can defeat these guys." He says to them still completely calm making his new team nod at him.
'Man, I knew Naruto was smart but this is crazy. He seems to know exactly how to trick these guys and make it look easy. I'm glad were on the same side and with him because this could have been much scarier without him.' Choji thinks to himself while sighing in relief.
'With taicho, we can do this, I'm sure of it.' Sai thinks as he continued to get emotions back and he had faith in his leader.
'This is so troublesome.' Shikamaru thought as he led the others to find Shibuki. Kiba had finally picked up Shibuki's scent and they had just begun to follow it. Shortly later they are now stuck on the outsider of the great tree at the center of the village.
"Well it seems that he is inside of this tree somehow. Any ideas on what to do now Shikamaru?" Kiba asks him as he was put in charge by the other two as they were not really leader material.
"Well there must be some kind of underwater opening leading to a patch of ground or something under the tree. I think we should all look for that opening and then we would probably find Shibuki." He said making them nod and begin searching for this opening ignoring Ino's whining and complaining.
Kiba then says to the two, "hey, me and Akamaru found an opening." Following him they all went down the hole into the water and surfaced inside the massive tree roots that made up the great tree. Kiba and Akamaru then led the way as they had picked up the sent of Shibuki again and the others followed behind and they soon found him watching the hostage situation under them.
"How could you betray us like this Suien, you were once our most respected shinobi." One man yelled.
"Are you taking over the village?" A woman asked angrily.
"What would I want with this weak village, no ninja in this village are any good. Most of the ones in the village were no match for my troops. The best of Taki barely scratch the borderline B-Rank, while my followers were either a firm B-Rank or a borderline A-Rank." He said to them cruelly. "Not to mention that all the other ninja aren't here in the village now or are searching for your weak village leader to do anything. Plus you lovely hostages prevent them from helping anyway." He laughed evilly.
"I only came for the hero's water."
"Lord Shibuki would never give it up to you!"
"He would pour it all on the ground before he did that!"
"You forget that I taught him all he knows, I know he would never pour that water out. He's too much of a coward." He tells them yelling civilians while they shout their protests as the clones of Sai and Choji keep struggling in their ropes trying to make their part look good.
"Hey there Shibuki-sama." Ino says happily despite the situation scaring the man they had just found.
"What? How did you guys get in here?" He yelled in fright but he knew to keep it down enough not to alert his enemies.
"We we're poking around under the roots of the tree and Kiba led us to you with Akamaru." Shikamaru explained with a bored expression but if you looked carefully you could see some fright on his face at the situation that was unfolding.
"Never mind that, who are these guys down their?" Kiba asks as he looks out of the whole in the tunnel.
"The spiky haired older guy is Suien. He used to be a ninja of this village." Shibuki says grimly.
"So he's a missing nin with some followers?" Ino asks him.
"Yes."
They get cut off as Suien yells, "hey Shibuki. I know you can hear me wherever your hiding, now don't be shy. Come out and bring the hero's water. Don't make this village suffer anymore because of you." He finishes loudly.
Shibuki begins to breath more heavily and shake holding the water in front of him to hide himself.
"Is that the hero's water that you have their?" Shikamaru asks him studying the jug of what looked like ordinary water.
"Yes, and making sure it is protected is the most sacred duty of the village leader." He tells them, "this water is drawn from the sacred tree only once every one hundred years. When some one drinks it their chakra with go up ten fold, maybe even more." He says shocking the group.
"Ten fold?" Shikamaru says stunned.
"There are no shinobi in our village that are as strong as the other villages so we have no one to really call a kage. In times of trouble we have to rely on the hero's water to defend our self. In the last great war the water was the only thing that saved us from destruction, but the hero's water is a double edged sword."
"Why is that?" Kiba asks quietly while Shikamaru decides to give his guess.
"I would think that anything that can increase chakra that much would have some bad effects on the body due to stress from the expanding of the chakra coils. But that's just my guess." He says making Shibuki nod at him.
"Mostly. The person who drinks it has his life shorted to the same degree as the chakra increase. Many of our shinobi died not from the battle but from using the water. Since then we hid the water away to keep it out of people's hands, it was made the duty of the village leader to guard it."
"We were attacked some years ago by distant ninja and my father did what he felt he had to do and drank the water and fought off the ninja. My father was a fool, he was too old and couldn't handle the power. He performed his sacred duty and was hailed as a great leader because he drank the water and died."
"I know I'm the village leader and I must guard the water at all costs but if I let them take it I will have betrayed my people's trust and doomed my village." He says as he begins to shake even more.
"Times running out, you can't just sit out there forever. Hand over the water now, or I'll start killing your villagers, very slowly and painfully." Suien finishes coldly.
"Don't do it Lord Shibuki, don't come out." Shouts the young boy from before they entered the village.
"That's right, you can't let them have the hero's water no matter what happens." The girl finishes but gets slapped by a water whip from the blood thirsty Kirisame.
"Quiet you brats." He yells as he hits them some more.
"We have to do some thing." Ino says horrified turning to Shibuki. "You have to do something."
"Leave me alone." He says while holding a picture of him and his father.
"Those kids told us you were strong, they look up to you like a hero." Kiba says to him angrily.
"That's because there only kids and they have it stuck in their heads that the village leader has to be a hero." He says to them making them all pity him but also get frustrated at him.
Suien grabs the young girl and calls out one last time, "Shibuki, I'll kill this young girl if you don't give me the water, then I'll move on to all the other children. So hurry up already." He says while grinning coldly.
'Crap, we have to save that girl and quick.' Naruto thinks as he, Choji and Sai look on in alarm. "I'm going to go out and save that girl, I'm the fastest one to do it. If what that guy is saying then the others are nearby. Hopefully they'll jump out and I want you two to go to them and tell them this plan." Naruto says to them seriously and tells them his idea making both of them nod back.
"We got the plan down taicho. Good luck out there." Choji says while Sai just nods as he has faith in Naruto.
"Alright, I'm going." He says as he moves higher into the trees.
Back with Shibuki's group the others are looking on, all scared and scrambling for a solution. "Shikamaru, do something already." Ino says loudly while shaking.
"I'm thinking over here." He says trying to keep it together. 'I've never been in a situation like this, troublesome. I need to plan this just right or that kid could die.' he thinks to himself as he calms himself down and putting his hands into a weird shape.
"And you Shibuki, why don't you do something, if your father was such a good leader what's wrong with you." Kiba asks him a bit forcefully.
"You don't know anything about my father." Shibuki says to him angrily.
"I know he sacrificed his own life to save his village, that's not something an ordinary person would do. To do something like that, that's a hero. He seems just like my taicho, Naruto." Kiba said angrily to him while smiling thinking about his taicho/brother figure.
"20 seconds left." Suien calls out.
'What did this Naruto even do? Why do they have so much faith in him?' Shibuki thinks to himself.
Outside Suien is counting down from three, when he finishes one everyone hears a loud shout.
"Hey."
Everyone looks over and sees Naruto standing tall on a really high tree making all his teammates look at him in shock.
'We should just back him up in with his distraction. thank Kami that he bought us some time.' Thought Shikamaru. " Guys, lets get down there behind them and back taicho up from there." He says as they nod and leave Shibuki to the safety of his tree.
"Let the kid go you pathetic excuse of a ninja." Naruto shouts at the mad man.
'Well, there's the cutie trying to play hero again. It's too bad we'll probably have to kill him. Oh well.' Thought Hisame to herself slightly sad at possibly having to kill the handsome guy.
'I can't wait to fight that guy.' Kirisame thought with a cruel smirk.
"Lets see you stop me then." Suien yells and raises his hand to stab the girl with a kunai as she screams. Naruto begins to jump down and move towards him at high speeds.
'I have to make it in time.' He thinks desperately. 'This is probably going to hurt though.'
Suien then thrusts his hand down but Naruto knocks the girl away and gets stabbed in the back instead shocking everyone around.
'Wow, the cutie is fast.' Hisame thought with a smirk.
'Taicho!' Thought the rest of Naruto's squad in alarm.
'Wow, to go that far just to save that little girl, he really is a hero.' Thought the women in the village with blushes on their faces and concern in their eyes.
'He saved her.'
'Thank Kami that boy was fast enough.'
'I knew when Shibuki went to Konoha it was a good idea.'
'I hope that the hottie is okay. After he saves us, maybe I can take him out as a reward.'
Thoughts like those were swimming through the heads of the civilians and captured ninja alike as they all saw Konoha ninja in a new light and Naruto just a bit more than the others.
"Naruto-nii-chan" the girl called out in alarm.
'What? Why did he do that? He doesn't even belong to this village.' Thought Shibuki as his world was breaking down in front of him.
"Shit, guys lets go. Ino take possession of the woman." Shikamaru tells her quietly trying to keep the element of surprise.
"Got it," She quickly goes through some hand signs and whispers, "Shintenshin no Jutsu." (Mind Body Switch Technique) Her body then slumps behind the trees they were hidden behind as he goes through some hand signs as well.
Naruto jumps up, ignoring the pain in his back and looks angrily at Suien. Hisame, who is under Ino's control, sends a water whip that hits Suien in the side making him wince and jump back while turning to her in anger, "What are you doing?"
Kirisame and Murasame go to move but find themselves somehow frozen in place, along with the last of the remaining ninja that they brought along. "Wha- Why can't I move my body." Kirisame calls out in anger while Murasame looks a little nervous.
"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Jutsu) is a success," Shikamaru calls out as he is now in the open along with Kiba and Akamaru. 'Although I wish that Ino hadn't moved the leader away, now he's too far for me to catch him.' He thought to himself nervously.
The clones of Choji and Sai then disperse, as they jump out and land behind Naruto, shocking everyone present, other than the Konoha ninja.
"Ha, I'm in control of the girl now so just give up peacefully." Ino spoke through Hisame's body in a fake tough tone as she is actually really scared but it works in making Suien even angrier.
Everyone became silent as the tension rose quickly while Shibuki was having a mental battle with himself.
'They don't even know the people here, they shouldn't have to fight. But why are they? They are fools just like my father.' He thought to himself as some tears fell. But something Kiba said sparked a memory in him.
'I know he sacrificed his own life to save his village, that's not something an ordinary person would do. To do something like that, that's a hero. He seems just like my taicho, Naruto.'
That along with the two kids that believed in him are what made him finally see the error of his ways and his eyes flashed with a new determination. 'I can't let this continue, I have to fight just like these Konoha ninja are. I have to be a better leader to my people.' He thought to himself with determination as he prepared to move.
"Alright you fool, why don't you just give up. There's nothing more you can do to this village." Naruto calmly says to Suien as he pulls the kunai out of his back ignoring the awed looks he's getting from the people of the village.
"Fool... I'm no fool boy, I'm older and more experienced than you are, I am superior to you." Suien yells angrily at Naruto.
"Hey bastard, he could kick your ass any day of the week." Kiba yells at him defending his best friend/brother figure with Akamaru growling along in agreement. Sai nods as well as he doesn't like it when Naruto is insulted. Even Team Ten nod along with the group.
"Oh, really... well let's see then." Suien says as he suddenly charges at him at a high speed, faster than anyone but Naruto and his team could track.
'On no, why did he have to jump back?' Thought Shikamaru in surprise. 'Troublesome.'
'Crap, I'm too slow. I'll never make it in time.' Thought Choji while moving towards him anyway but it seemed like the world was going into slow motion.
'Oh no, what can I do?' Thought the last member of Team Ten standing in fright at the blur heading towards their chosen leader while the teammates also looked a little alarmed but not overly so.
"Take this!" Suien barks out as he forms a water sword at Naruto while he pulls of his wakizashi from behind his back to parry the blade.
But Before they could connect a large spiral tornado of water came out of nowhere and hit Suien in the side sending him away as well as heading towards the other three main members of the enemy group.
"Shika, Ino, release them. Quick." Naruto calls out in alarm worried for his team. Luckily they let the jutsu go and get out of harms way as the jutsu knocks the three of them out.
"Shibuki, you came out to save us." The little girl that was saved from Suien yells happily. "Yea, he came just like I knew he would." The little boy off to the side said as well.
"Well, the weakling has come out at last." Suien says after getting up. "I also see that you drank the hero's water, but surly not all of it. So where's the rest of it.
"It wouldn't help you at all anyway, I've already drank some of it and you didn't." Shibuki says calmly.
"You could increase your chakra 10 times or even 20 and it still wouldn't match the chakra I already have. You were always weak." Suien taunts back.
"Well see about that," he says as the three other ninja jump at him with kunais. Shibuki goes through some hand seals and calls out, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Technique). The water shoots up into the air and forms a massive dragon that chomps down on the three ninja and sucks them into the lake. Suien doesn't seem worried for them at all as Naruto scowls at this.
'Some leader he is.' He thought in disgust.
Shibuki goes through some more hand signs and calls out his new jutsu, "Takigakure-Ryū: Mizukiri no Yaiba" (Hidden in a Waterfall Style: Water cutting Sword)
"Suien smirks and makes the same sword without hand signs showing he is more proficient with the technique and they charge at each other. They quickly connect slightly shocking Naruto and the group that he actually appeared to be skilled.
They locked water blades and glared at each other. "Even with the added chakra, you still can't beat me Shibuki. You never could and you never will." Suien taunted as Shibuki just grit his teeth.
This was just the beginning.
Chapter End