Chapter 12-
It hadn't taken long for the group to assemble. No there was no need for any sort of discussion. Everyone was going to be on this mission. Everyone. They left almost immediately.
Everyone had fanned out. The forest was a rather large place to search, even with five three-man cells. With Shikamaru leading the group and coordinating with four of the others, their movements were were calculated and organized. Their sights were set on the wilderness because the village was all but an impossibility in Shikamaru's mind. The Dark Five wouldn't have been able to hide there with everything going on; so short term was impossible.
They couldn't have been hiding in Konoha before all of this, because someone would have noticed them; thus long term was just as unlikely. That left the terrain outside the village. With miles of woods, hills, fields, rivers, lakes and ponds there was an endless list of possible hiding places. Of course the lazy genius knew exactly how to narrow down their search area. "Alright, everyone! Listen up! I'm not repeating myself! We're gonna search grids fifty-three through one-twenty-five! It's unlikely they'd be anywhere else!"
"Why's that?" Kiba inquired over the headphones.
"Several reasons. One- they need proximity to Konoha, so they can't be too far away. Two- Suna was recently under attack, so they would probably need to be in an area between us and them. Three- If they're the ones who took Naruto, then they'd have to be reasonably close to him as well. Finally- they can't be too close to the village or they'd be caught before they finished whatever it is they're planning."
"How do you want to organize?" Yosei chirped.
"Team Kurenai and Team Guy!"
"Hai!" Shino and Neji spoke.
"You're in front! Move a reasonable distance ahead, and spread away from each other. Have Kiba and Lee change places on your teams! I want an even distribution of skill and power!"
"Hai" Lee rang out.
"Gotcha!" Kiba followed after Lee's response.
"Team Yamato! You and Yosei take a northerly direction and search grids Eighty through Ninety! Team Asuma-KKakashi! We're going to search grids fifty-three through sixty!" Shikamaru smiled at his team-mates.
"Guess that leaves us with the south!" Konohamaru stated.
"Smart kid. Everyone is to rendezvous at grid seventy if they can't find anything!"
"Right!" Everyone was off!
'Hang in there, Naruto. You're a troublesome guy, but it'd be even more troublesome to lose you.'
"The children seem to be combing the area. they've figured us out rather quickly."
"...Possibly..." Zōo looked to Osoru. "...Or they could just be lucky. Either way it doesn't matter."
"They're barely a threat!" Gekido fumed. "We haven't had a decent challenge in years! It really pisses me off!"
"Always the pain, Gekido. Why don't you count your blessings?" Itami needled at the red-clad man.
"Shut your--" Gekido didn't have time to finish. It was faster than the blink of an eye. Zōo was face to face with Gekido. Itami's straw-hat had received a slash at the brim, just above the right eye. He then turned around and continued to walk their path. He gave them their final warning.
"Not. Another. Word."
The two remained silent for the remainder of the walk. Setsuna and Osoru, were anything but.
" Zōo? It's almost time." Osoru cautioned. "We should hurry."
Zōo nodded. The four of them leaped away as he continued to walk.
"Soon, Oji-san... very soon."
Hinata's hair whipped in the breeze, as she flew. Leaping from tree to tree, she could find no trace of Naruto, or the Dark Five. The sun was beginning to set, and it was time to call it a night. Her heart wouldn't let her quit. Her mind refused to to give it up. Her body was willing to go through the night. Her team wasn't.
"Hinata, you must rest. What good will it do, if you are too tired to help Naruto?"
Well, she could certainly see the sense in Shino's logic. She knew he was right, well before he said anything. She just didn't want to give up on the blond man who stole her heart. Once again, he needed her. How could she let him down?
Still she didn't have much choice. If after all this time they couldn't find anything, then they weren't going to find it tonight. A fresh mind, and revived body would make all the difference tomorrow. She finally stopped, and turned around to go back Shino led the way. As the auburn light slowly faded from the forest, the five teams met at their rendezvous.
They couldn't quite see each other's faces in the twilight of the forest, but they didn't have to. The aura of disappointment said everything.
"Let's make camp." Shikamaru ordered. "Lanterns only. No fires."
Everyone silently pulled out their lanterns and lit the wicks. Light illuminated the area, as they each turned to hang them on nearby branches. Kiba was the first to notice something was off. His sense of smell alerted him to the scent of ink. Ink and blood.
Neji was the second to become alert. His eyes, combined with with experience and instinct, alerted him to a presence. Immediately, he whirled around and set himself into Juken stance. This alerted everyone else. They were ready for anything.
"Hello, everyone." Except that.
"...Sai?" Ino asked of him.
No one could believe what they were seeing. There he stood. Sai; real name unknown. Special ANBU operative. Third member of team Yamato.
Missing in action- presumed dead. He wasn't dead. he was very much alive. His clothes her a little worse for wear, but otherwise in relatively good condition. His hitai-ate was missing, and that wasn't all.
His arm. His right arm was now missing. He wasn't exactly his normal self either. His voice was as calm and emotionless as ever, but his face showed every single ounce of emotion within him. Real emotions. That would be enough to cause worry, but there was much more.
He'd been altered. His eyes. Those deep deep eyes, which Ino had fallen for so long ago, had been changed. Their whites had been filled in. They were pitch black.
His brown irises couldn't even be seen in the dim light. His skin, which had always been somewhat pale, was now more so. Sai had been without sunlight for weeks. This of course, highlighted his most gruesome new feature.
His veins- all his veins and arteries- were now visible. Like the lines of a map, they flowed up and down his body in streams of blue and black. It was as if someone had removed the blood from Sai, and refilled him with his own ink.
"Oh, Sai..." Ino began to cry, and reached for him.
Sai's right shoulder let out a sound. Dripping liquid. Black ink was pouring from his body, and beginning to take shape. It rose up above them all, and began to split into multiple tendrils.
"Get away." Was all he could say.
Absolute fear was on his face; it was their only warning. It was enough. Shikamaru dived for Ino, and he managed to drag her out of harm's way. The rest scattered a split second before Sai's attack swept around cutting the tree's into stained pieces of mulch. Tears of ink flowed down his cheek as he wept his apology.
"I'm so sorry."
His attack had put out the lanterns. They were now in the forest at night without a light, and Sai was a man of black ink. He had the advantage here. He had surprise, unknown abilities, equal knowledge of the terrain to the rest of them, and the best method of concealment.
"What the hell are you DOING?!" Sakura screamed at him as she stepped out from her cover.
A scythe of ink bisected the pink-haired kunoichi. Then said kunoichi's image shifted to a small shrub. "A kawarimi. You were always good at that." Sai stated.
Behind a tree, Yosei sobbed slightly threatening Sakura. "My best banzai!"
The next to reveal himself was Shikamaru. "Yo."
Sai looked up. "Shikamaru. I'm sorry. I don't have control."
"I know." Shikamaru spoke with forgiveness.
"I thought you'd like to know, Ino's safe. She's gone home."
"Thank you." Sai stated. Unfortunately his words and his actions could not meet. Multiple spears of ink solidified behind Shikamaru, and they launched toward the leader of this mission.
"Kagekaiten-suru no Tate no jutsu!" (Shadowspin Shield Technique!)
At that moment, a black circular mass rose from the branches and spun like a wheel, deflecting the ink spears in several directions. Shikamaru smiled down at Sai. Sai looked up with a soft smile of relief. That smile disappeared quickly. The ink retracted back to Sai, and then reformed.
Now it burst forth shaped as a whaling harpoon. The ink impaled a large tree-limb and then shifted in shape once again. The ink's mass pulled on Sai's body and reeled him upward as though it were a pulley. With enough force launching the mutated young shinobi in the air, the ink softened once more shifted back into it's black formless tendrils jutting from the side of Sai. He landed on another tree limb and immediately charged toward Shikamaru.
"Kage Ashipasu!" (Shadow Footpath!)
Shikamaru's shadow reshaped from the spinning shield and dropped formlessly to his feet. It then expanded as a platform between branches. The young man simply lit a cigarette as he dodged the multiple attacks from Sai. The shadowy platform shifted as he walked, directed by Shikamaru's own mind. He moved left and right, up and down, at a faster speed than Sai could manage.
Eventually, the attacks from Sai's ink-swords ended. He looked at Shikamaru blankly. "Ah, very clever. You use your shadow to create a pathway that allows movements your opponents cannot utilize in such terrain."
Shikamaru puffed on his smoke, as he asked his next question. "Sai. Do you know where Naruto is?"
"Yes. They took him." Sai closed his eyes.
"The Dark Five?'"
"Yes. Shikamaru, you can't beat them. They're--" Sai's mouth stopped moving.
"They're not going to let you say anything else?" Shikamaru plucked the cigarette from his mouth and puffed out a smoke ring.
Sai shook his head.
"Okay, then." Shikamaru closed his eyes.
BOOM!
Naruto stared daggers into the iron cage of the Kyubi. He wasn't leaving this time, and Kyubi wasn't going to force him out. Not this time. Naruto had had enough. He was going to get at least a few answers.
The Kyubi ignored him at first. Uninterested in his little game. After a while though, he began to grow more interested in what the blond youth was attempting to do. There was a quiet dignity around Naruto. A quiet anything with Naruto was rare.
'At least it used to be.' The Kyubi thought to himself.
They were now looking each other directly in the eyes. Naruto wasn't blinking. Kyubi sighed.
Very well, kit. I think you've earned at least a few answers.
Naruto blinked.
"Out with it."
Remember what the old pervert once told you?
"About what? He taught me a lot of things."
Fair point. Kyubi admitted.
About summoning.
"Sure, I remember."
Good. Well basically it happened in reverse.
"You're telling me someone reversed the summoning technique, and instead of bringing something to the regular world I was brought to this world."
Not quite, but you've got the gist of it. Now leave. I'm sick of looking at your stupid face.
"Yeah, like you could win a beauty contest." Naruto shot back. But he closed his eyes and returned to consciousness. He was rather sick of the fox, himself.
'Finally some answers. At least now I know a little more about what happened. I still don't know how to get out of here though.'
"Plus it's getting really hard to breath..."
The dark night in the woods was momentarily gone. A loud burst from around the area caused a blinding flash of light. Multiple flash bombs had been set off, which blinded Sai, and gave Shikamaru the chance he needed. A few hand signs, and the smoking shinobi was ready. He released his technique.
"Kagekoushou no jutsu!" (Shadow-arsenal Technique!)
The light did not subside. It lessened slightly, but it remained bright. Sai's eyes were now covered in a film of ink to compensate for it. Then he saw the change in his fortune. All of his former comrades had him surrounded.
They were wearing sunglasses to compensate for the bright lights. The very lights they had set up. This of course increased Shikamaru's shadow capabilities. Sai looked at his current opponent. Shikamaru looked quite formidable.
He stood there. A stretch of shadows was across his eyes, serving the same purpose as the sunglasses on his comrades, or the ink film over Sai's eyes. His jutsu was living up to its name. Shikamaru's body was covered with weapons formed by shadows. He was a one-man arsenal.
Hanging from his left side, was a pair of shadow-blades; one katana, and one wakizashi. Around his wrists were small shuriken formed of the mysterious substance. Wrapped around his torso seemed to was a whip made of shadows. Slung on his back were two pole-arms. His hand held a shadowed jitte, not unlike one Sai used to carry.
"Armed for bear." Sai commented.
"Or worse." Shikamaru replied. Now it was his turn to attack.
"Why aren't we helping Shikamaru?" Sakura questioned.
"He told us not to." Shino replied.
"But... what he's doing. It's foolish." Hinata replied back, agreeing with Sakura.
Yosei settled the argument.
"He is team leader. We follow his orders. Besides, your little genius seems to be doing well."
It would seem so. Shikamaru continued to keep Sai at bay, and return any assaults with counterattacks of his own. His shadow weapons were quite effective against the ink for some unknown reason. When he lost his jitte, he let fly his shuriken. They swirled and rotated in the air according to his movement, and kept Sai on the defensive.
"Hai." Lee concurred. "He is doing remarkably well."
"I was wondering why he wanted to practice weapons with me..." Tenten smiled as she observed him.
"Do not concern yourself, Sakura." Sasuke kept his eyes on the fight.
"He'll call us when we are needed. He is not a fool." Neji affirmed Sasuke's comment to Hinata.
It was then that another light caught their attention, and the fight between Shikamaru and Sai ended. Five lanterns in a semi circle were lit, and five figures stood underneath them, in a semi-circle on the tree limbs.
"Hello, children."
Shikamaru left Sai, who was at this moment "non-functioning." He stepped forward in front of the others. "The Dark Five?"
They looked at him. "Very perceptive." The one in black replied.
"Where's Naruto?!!" Hinata yelled, quite angry.
"Well, well. I think we got his concubine angry." Gekido smirked at her. His comment was returned by some very angry looks from half the group. The sharpest of which was Neji.
"Don't be disrespectful, Gekido." the one in yellow warned. "He's made his choice, now."
"Quite right, Osoru." The one in black confirmed. "It would not be wise to make him angry."
"Where. Is. Na-ru-TO?!" Hinata repeated, her byakugan activated.
Neji followed her example. The rest of the group followed his and began to prepare for a fight. Suddenly lines of kanji began to form in mid-air. They spider-webbed out and crackled with energy. Then a familiar figure fell through the rift created, and plummeted to the ground.
"Ah." the one in purple commented. "Speak of the devil. Here he is now."
"Naruto!" Hinata and Sakura screamed.
Naruto hit the ground with a thud. He wheezed the air into his lungs, happy to draw a real breath from the air. He looked up, and saw his friends.
"Hey, guys." He stood up.
"Welcome back, boy." The one in black said.
Naruto immediately turned to look at other group. "I suppose you're the ones who reverse-summoned me?"
'Hmmm. Interesting.' Yosei thought to himself.
"Not quite. I'm sad to tell you that it was far more complicated than that." The one in blue wept.
"More complicated?" Naruto crooked his head.
"I hate it, when people need it spelled out for them." The one in black sighed.
The one called Osoru smiled as he began to explain. "Long ago there was a demon. The mother of all monsters. She was eventually destroyed by the divine beings, but a small group of her children were able to save something of her. Using the power of a summoning contract, they saved something that could make one final monster, when it was needed. Unfortunately, the divine beings stole the scroll and placed a spell of protection around it. Thus in order for it to be summoned, something of greater power would have to take its place in the pocket dimension."
"And you managed to summon it using Naruto as the replacement." Yosei finished. "Fascinating."
"So why am I back?" Naruto inquired.
"Simple..." Osoru shrugged. "The great womb has made the last of its monsters."
As if on cue, the ground began to shake. Up from the earth rose the aforementioned 'great womb.' Seen once before only by the Dark Five and their intended victim. It was swollen with its contents. No longer gray, it was a putrid mixture purple, black, and a slimy green, with grayish white puss erupting from boils on its flesh.
The ninja scattered the immediate area. The monstrous uterus erupted and all it's demonic fluids spilled over the ground. The dark, embryonic puss dissolved all living matter that stood in its way. Plants from grass to trees were reduced to viscous goop. At the last of its eruptions a lump of something solid spilled from inside, and then the flesh whithered away, never to be seen again in this or any other world.
The solid lump moved and stirred, and a body broke through it's embryonic sack. It stepped forward, naked and dark. The whole scene was quite revolting. Some of the ninja had trouble keeping their meals down. Kiba, whose sense of smell was better than anyone in the group, failed to do so; his gut had an eruption of its own with his body unable to cope with the horrible smells.
"Kanaye?" Naruto looked at the body.
"Not anymore." Gekido grinned.
"He was the material from which the great womb made its last monster. How painful." The one in purple eyed the former Kanaye, with a look of curiosity.
Kanaye began to shake.
Jiraiya, injured as he was, rushed through the forests. He snuck away while the rest were dealing with other problems. He was not going to leave Naruto to that kind of fate. Not if he could help it.
Flashback-
Ino had run right past the guard, and into the village. She didn't stop until she had reached the restaurant which housed the Hokage. She sprawled in and nearly collapsed. She was exhausted, and in tears. She instantly let go the moment she had to look into Tsunade's eyes. It had taken some time and effort to discern what it was she was telling them through her sobs.
Jiraiya had heard more than enough when he left.She had been crying about Sai. What she had seen of him. What they had done to him. What Sai was doing. Tsunade watched him leave; she didn't try to stop him.
"Jiraiya's gone to back them up." She stated. "That's the best we can do. Someone take care of her."
End Flashback-
'No...' Jiraiya mentally declared. 'I will not abandon Naruto to this fate. If I have to die to save him, I will.'
Kanaye's body shook. It pulsed. It quivered. And then it bent forward. It began to change.
The flesh ripped and mended. Kanaye was growing from the inside out. He emitted the same chakra as he had when he drank the Hero's Water, only now it seemed tainted. The two Hyugas could clearly see a mixture of black with the copper. It was a mottled abomination of power.
The earth beneath them shook as well. Kanaye stamped his feet, slammed his hands to the ground, writhed in pain and screamed as his mutation took place. He shifted as he his naked body began to absorb the earth beneath him. The soil beneath them moved and flowed into his body, at first into his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Then all the orifices.
Eventually he was covered in a mound of dirt. Buried by the earth. The massive pile grew to the size of small hill. Then a large one. All the while it seethed with chakra.
"Everyone get ready!" Naruto screamed.
The chakra infused earth shifted once more, and began to form a body. It had grown to the size of Shukaku of the Sand. Naruto could remember his fight with Gaara when they first met. The giant body changed in shape; becoming more defined, more detailed. The soil had turned a copper brown, with streaks and swirls of black running throughout the body.
At first it had turned into a giant image of Kanaye. But once again, the soil began to shift. Kanaye's mouth shifted. What was once a man's jaw changed into the elongated snout of a wild boar; complete with the tusks. Teeth of hard white rock jutting out to gleam with a razor sharpness.
The forearms remained as hands, with claws, but the giant legs shifted into the standard boar's legs, hooves included. Kanaye grew no tail, but his torso began to swell. His massive body had become something between man and boar. His hair had turned black and formed rigid spikes down his back. Thus, came into existence Inoshishi no Tsuchi- Nashide no Shippo.
(Meant to be "Inoshishi of the Soil- The The one without tails" Best I could do for translation.)
The newly created demon let out it's first roar, pushing the ninja back several paces.
"Alright." Naruto crouched low, looking the final form of Kanaye directly in the eye. "LET'S DO THIS—TEBAYO!!" He launched himself upward into the air, ready to take on the infant demon.
His friends moved to help him. Hinata was the first, followed by Sasuke and Sakura. The rest fell behind them. Unfortunately they were cut off. Sai burst through the trees and with a pair of ink batwings, flew ahead of them. He landed right in Hinata's path, spreading his wings wide and expanding them to block any further progress.
"Forgive me everyone." Sai said with a bowed head. "Kanaye is Naruto's opponent alone. You will all have to settle for me.
Author's Section
I wanted to make this chapter longer, but honestly, i just would have been carrying on and on. This was the place to end it. So I did.That out of the way, I thought I might take this time to explain things a little. In this story of mine, I have somewhat cherry-picked elements from the Naruto Universe. Anything found in the manga is canon here. Period. As for the anime, that's where I did a little selective choosing. Most of the filler arcs did not happen here. The tea-country arc most definitely did not occur. I hated that arc. Just wanted to get that out of the way.The Bikochuu arc DID occur but happened differently, as there was no Revenge of Mizuki arc. The Konoha moving arc, also occurs here but much sooner than the rest of the arcs. I'm allowing for the one episode Onbaa story, simply because I find it hilarious (primarily from Hinata's reaction, I actually had to pause the episode and go pee). Of course the Shiitenshounin also occurs, as it is the introduction of Matsuri. Other than that however, none of the other filler arcs occur; or if they do they happen without Naruto (and consequently, occur differently). The reason the filler's occur is the same given in the anime. Jiraiya goes to find a little extra information on Akatsuki, before taking Naruto along with him. It's simply that the time he spends doing this is much shorter. Jiraiya is a much more responsible person than the filler makes him out to be.At this point I would also like to call attention to the Hero's Water. Some of you know where it comes from, others don't. It came from the anime special, that they aired in the middle of the Search for Tsunade arc (for some stupid reason. never made sense why they'd air it THEN). I had to think about it for a while, and decided that yes. This event DID occur briefly. It happens just before Itachi shows up. That's where I put it. That's taken care of.I also want to call attention to the movies. None of them happened. Period. Those movies stank. Well actually, that's a bit harsh. I just don't think they belonged. The first one was okay, but it's still not quite up to snuff for what i think Masashi-san would have written if it had been canon with the actual story. Ah, well.So that's my explanation. I know, I know, it was all very long winded, but you did get something out of it here. Well thanks again for reading my story. Your patronage is appreciated. I'm working very hard to finish this little project. Please read and review, now. Chapter 13 should be coming soon.
-bakagaijin
