I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money off of this.
"talking"
'thinking'
Flashback/Memory/Dream
Chapter 21:
Most of the teams were having no luck. They couldn't find a trace of Naruto anywhere. Only Sasuke's team found something interesting, the dead bodies of Orochimaru and Kabuto. Black and blond hair was also on the ground. Sasuke kicked Orochimaru over and gasped. In the snake's hand was the necklace Sasuke had given Naruto before the welcoming party.
Kakashi walked over to Sasuke and put a hand on the raven's shoulder. "We'll find him."
"Over here," Kankuro called. "There are footprints going in the other direction. Someone must have taken Naruto from those two dead guys."
"Where are the headed?" Sasuke asked.
"Looks like they are headed back towards the Namikaze kingdom," Kankuro said. They followed the footprints to a small forest. It was Kakashi that noticed the hoof prints. That meant whoever took Naruto had a horse. So, that means they were long gone.
A sullen look appeared on Sasuke's face. It was soon replaced by one of anger. He looked ready to kill ad Kakashi knew he was. Orochimaru and Kabuto were lucky that they were already dead. If Sasuke had gotten ahold of them, they'd beg to die. The person that now had Naruto was going to wish he was never born.
A hawk flew over head. Kakashi stretched out his arm, letting the hawk land on it. On the leg of the hawk was a note. Kakashi took it off and read it. A smile appeared on his face. "Sasuke. You may want to read this." Kakashi handed the note to Sasuke.
The anger Sasuke was feeling suddenly vanish. A smile replace it. "Let's got back." Kakashi and Kankuro agreed. There was no more they could do there.
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Naruto rode with Uen on his horse. The horse was going as fast as it could. Once the horse stopped ten feet in front of the castle, Uen got down and helped Naruto get off as well. There was no need for Uen to tie his horse to a tree. Uen walked up to the entrance of the castle. With a raised fist, he banged on the door.
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Ruby's expression changed to one of pain and sadness. "King Akunin." Everyone gasped.
Tsunade rose to his feet. "That bastard! How dare he!"
"How do you know?" Jiraiya asked. "Are you sure it was Akunin?"
Ruby nodded. "It was in his journal. Along with some other plans. He knew about Naruto and tried to get rid of him. He still wants him gone."
"What should we do?" Iruka asked.
"We wait until the others come back," Shikamaru said.
"Then we confront King Akunin," Ruby said. She still refused to call Akunin "Father" or "dad."
"Agreed," Tsunade said. A knock on the grade door drew everyone's attention from the Akunin matter. Ruby got up and walked over to it. She opened it and blue eyes met black. Ruby then saw someone behind Uen and smiled. She stepped back and let the two men into the room. Iruka and Tsunade instantly got up and ran over to the smaller man. They hugged him and brought him before the others still sitting.
"Welcome back, Naruto-san," Shikamaru said.
Naruto grinned. "It's good to be back." Then the smiled fell from his face. He looked around to make sure Akunin wasn't around. "There is something I need to tell you."
"You know," Ruby said. Naruto looked at her. "That King Akunin hired someone to kidnap you."
Naruto nodded. "Twice."
"He hired that snake bastard Orochimaru," Tsunade snared. "Didn't he?"
"Yes," Naruto said. "But Orochimaru is dead, along with Kabuto." He pointed at Uen. "He got rid of them and saved me."
"Thank you," Tsunade said.
"No problem," Uen said. "I couldn't let anything happen to the future Queen of the Uchiha Kingdom."
"Who are you?" Jiraiya asked.
"Uen Uchiha," Shikamaru said before Uen could answer. "You were banished from the Uchiha Kingdom. Why would you help us?"
"I have my reasons," Uen said.
"Hm..." Shikamaru said. "Troublesome." He got up. "I'll send out the hawks." He left quickly.
"So," Tsunade said. "You're King Fugaku's brother?"
"Yes," Uen said.
"Interesting," Jiraiya said. "Very interesting."
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Hours later, everyone was back in the dinning hall. Food was on the table as everyone ate. Sasuke held Naruto's hand the entire time, not wanting to let him go. When he had seen Naruto, Sasuke kissed Naruto until the younger boy needed to breathe. Then Naruto's stomach rumbled. Everyone had laughed and decided to eat. Uen was allowed to join them. He sat next to Ruby. Itachi and Sasuke took seeing their uncle really well. Sure Itachi wanted to kill the older Uchiha, but he let him live since he helped protect his brother's heart.
"Well isn't this lovely," Akunin said walking into the room. "Naruto-san is back. That's good. I'm glad you found him." Everyone saw through him. Ruby had shown them Akuin's journal. Akunin saw the journal and glared. "So you know." Some nodded. "Then I guess I can't let any of you live." Everyone got into a fighting stance. Several soldiers suddenly came into the room. "I figured you'd know everything when I discovered my journal was missing. These men are loyal to me. And they will do anything I say." He pulled out a sword. "Kill them. Leave only Kurama alive." The soldiers moved. Akunin attacked Naruto.
Naruto grabbed Uen's second sword and defended himself. He used the small amount of knowledge of the sword he had learned by watching others to fight. He managed to fight evenly with Akunin.
Meanwhile, Sasuke, Itachi, Kurama, Kakashi, Uen, Lee, Shino, Kiba, Deidara, Sasori, Kankuro, Gaara, and Neji were fighting the soldiers. Temari, Tenten, and Jiraiya were defending those that couldn't fight. Tsunade was taking care of a wound Ruby had gotten when she was suddenly attacked. Shikamaru was trying to come up with a plan. They were outnumbered.
Luckily, numbers didn't matter. Those on Naruto's side were far stronger than those on Akunin's. Uen was fighting against the leader of Akunin's men. Itachi was facing off with the second strongest. The others were almost even with each other. A sword nearly stabbed Sasuke in the stomach as his eyes kept glancing at Naruto. Kurama had managed to help Sasuke out by pushing him out of the way. Sasuke let slip a smile at the two faced their new opponents. The two fought back to back as comrades in arms.
Naruto managed to hold Akunin off really well. A few times, he had gotten close to slicing Akunin's arm off. The King was covered in several large cuts while Naruto only had some small ones. Akunin's sword managed to slice into Naruto's cheek. Blood dripped down, but Naruto just whiped it away. He grinned at Akunin.
Suddenly, Akunin was slammed into. Naruto slammed a fist into the King's nose. Akunin became distracted by his broken and bleeding nose. Naruto raised his sword and swiped down at Akunin's hand.
The sound of a sword hitting the floor grabbed everyone's attention. There was silence as everyone noticed that Naruto had Uen's sword at Akunin's throat. Akunin's sword was on the floor a good ten feet away from him. "Lower your weapons," Naruto ordered. "Or I'll kill him." the soldiers obediently dropped their swords to the floor. Uen helped Naruto restrain Akunin. Each soldier was also tied up. Those loyal to Kurama took the threats to the prison. Akunin was given his own cell. Since Kurama was the rightful heir, and Akunin was just a fill in as King, all Kurama had to say was that Akunin had endangered him. Kurama's Council, Tsunade and Jiraiya, would decide Akunin's punishment by the next day. But everyone already knew what the verdict was going to be.
The fight with Akunin may seem a bit short. I may end up adding more later. As for what's in Akunin's journal, let's just say that you really don't want to know. However, if curiosity killed the cat, then let me tell you that the journal may show up in WWC.
There is still one more chapter to go!
