Sorry for the long overdue update. I had started this right after the last Wind Lord update when I got into a car accident. After that, I couldn't find the time to write this due to dealing with the insurance company, three term papers due the same week, and final exams. To say that the end of the year sucked would be an understatement.
At least I have been able to read some new manga. Pretty Face is great with its combination of violent acts and comedy. But in the ending special, Rando should have put on his old face so he could spend some time with Rina. Then there's Buso Renkin, a great manga. But they stole Captain Bravo's look from me because he looks a lot like how Naruto does in Tails of the Fox Sage! For all you guys out there, read My Dearest Devil Princess. For the love of all that is unholy it is great! But when is the next issue of Fairies Landing going to come out? I NEED TO KNOW!
Also I was able to start playing the next expansion set to World of Warcraft. I might do a fanfic on it latter. But that will be in the future and will be staring…ME! Hey, who doesn't want to write themselves into a story?
Let's rock!
-x-
A cold wind blew across the land, kicking up loose flakes. Naruto had taken off his jacket, shivered for a bit, and then got into a fighting stance. Haku's hands were by his sides, ready to reach for his senbon needles at a moment's notice. Rin had already 'barrowed' some of Haku's senbon needles and was also ready for anything. The camera crew just kept on filming as the Konoha-nins waited for the Yuki-nins to move.
Nadare and Fubuki were the first to attack. Nadare began to jump down the side of the mountain ledge he was on while Fubuki took to the air on her wings. However, Nadare stopped suddenly as an ice mirror appeared in front of him. Then Haku stepped out of it holding his senbon needles between his fingers. Seeing the face of the true ice user, Nadare gave him a toothy grin.
"Been a while Haku-kun," he said as he took a stance. "I see you dropped your master to become a dog of Konoha. What happened? Did he die or something?"
"No," replied Haku with a frosty glare. "Zabuza-sama is alive and well. And I don't need to explain myself to the likes of you." He threw his senbon needles at Nadare only to watch them bounce off some kind of barrier.
Rin also noticed this when she threw several senbon needles at Fubuki, only to watch them bounce off an invisible barrier. Making the needed hand signs, Rin yelled out "Sen'eijashu" as her opponent came by. Yet when the snakes got close they were also hit by the wall and then vanished.
"That's an interesting trick," said Fubuki with a cocky smirk. "Now let me show you a real jutsu! Hyōton: Tsubame Fubuki!" Suddenly, dozens of ice shards flew out from in front of Fubuki and then began to take the form of swallows. Rin leapt out of the way, however it seemed that these swallows were also part homing pigeon because they made a U-turn. Fubuki's smirk grew as she watched them shoot right through the brown haired girl. That is until she saw Rin go poof and was replaced with a log with an exploding tag on it. A second later the log exploded, destroying the ice swallows and pushing Fubuki back a bit. Moments after the explosion Rin came out of the snow, shivering.
"D-Damn i-it's cold," she muttered.
Over with Naruto, he was waiting for his opponent to make the first move. He didn't have long to wait as a snowboard appeared under Mizore's feet. He then began to sled down the hill towards Yukie, going right past Naruto. Once he was close enough, Mizore's metal hand shot out at the star actress and grabbed her. But a second later the rope that connected his hand to his arm was cut by one of Naruto's bone blades. Mizore grunted at Naruto as he changed his direction.
Moments later Haku landed behind Naruto, their backs against each other.
"What's up with their armor?" asked Naruto as he remained in a defensive position.
"It's chakra armor," said Haku. "It increases their chakra and at the same time amplifies their jutsus. In addition it can block against ninjutsu, genjutsu, and form a chakra shell to protect them from projectiles. But it wasn't this strong last time."
"Last time?" asked Naruto. "Sounds like you have a history with these guys."
"I'll explain later," said Haku. "Right now we have to get out of here. Can you lend a hand?" Naruto thought for a moment before a wicked grin appeared on his face.
"Oh yeah," said Naruto as he began to go through several hand signs while sinking into the ground. Once Naruto had completely sunk into the ice, Haku turned towards the film crew.
"Everyone back to the boat now!" he ordered.
They didn't need to be told twice. With great speed, everyone began to pack up what they needed and raced back to the ship. Sandayuu picked up Yukie who was screaming to leave her be. Only the director and the camera man refused to help in the clean up as they continued to do their job. Seeing no other option, the crew moved them while they continue to record the fight.
"Keep filming!" yelled the director. "Give up your lives for the gods of cinema!"
Meanwhile, the Yuki-nins had regrouped and were going for another pass. Mizore had reattached his hand and was ready for round two. Fubuki was flying through the air as she planned to catch the little princess in an ice prison. Nadare was planning on crushing the ship with one of his biggest jutsus. However, these plans never came to be for Naruto had yelled out, "Sawarabi no Mai!" With that, bone spikes began to pop out of the ground in front of the Yuki-nins. Sensing the danger, they began to run away as more and more spikes began to appear.
Back on the boat, the film crew watched in awe as the island of ice grew a bone forest. After a short amount of time, Naruto stepped out of one of the bones and walked onto the water towards the ship.
"Cut!" yelled the director.
-x-
"Come on you little fucker," swore Tayuya. "It's only been twenty miles."
Her victim…eer…student was Shikamaru who was currently coming to the absolute conclusion that Kami hated him. Today's work out had consisted of getting up at dawn and having her working him like a dog around the house. He had to use his shadow to clean toilets, wash the kitchen floor, and do other chores. Then he had to climb pine trees without his chakra and these weren't the soft kind. Then she had him running laps with weights on all his limbs and a backpack full of bricks.
"I (pant) hate you," panted Shikamaru as he fell to his knees. Tayuya smirked as she walked over to him with her flute in one hand.
"For such a smart guy you really are stupid," she said.
"What are you talking about?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Chakra is a mix of physical and mental energy," said Tayuya. "You may be ahead of everyone in the mental department, but physically you are a little better than shit. Couldn't you see the problems with this earlier one?"
"Yeah," he replied. "But it seemed too troublesome to do anything about it." Tayuya then grabbed Shikamaru by his soaked shirt with her free hand and pulled him close to her.
"Well tell me then," she said with a heated glare. "Will it still be troublesome when your friends get killed because you couldn't pull your own fucking weight on a mission? Will it still be troublesome when you know you could have saved them if only you had a little more chakra? Well?"
Shikamaru looked away while he thought about it. She did have a point, as much as he hated to admit it. If he had only built up his reserves more before the chunin exam he would have won. And after the exams were over he should have worked on it as well. But he didn't. And because of that people got hurt and nearly died on a mission.
"You're still troublesome," he said as he pushed her off of him. Tayuya smirked.
"That's why I'm in charge of your training," she said. "Now start running or I'll use my flute to beat the shit out of you! NOW RUN!" With a groan, Shikamaru began to run once more. 'I think I'm going to like it here,' thought Tayuya with an evil grin.
-x-
Down in the sewers, a team of ANBU was outside of the porn store. Behind them was Tsunade with tick marks all over her face. They could clearly see into the building which was full of all kinds of…adult merchandise. Jiraiya and Kakashi could clearly be seen sitting in the middle of building, naked, their backs turned towards them while watching a porno on a large screen TV.
"We've tried everything," whispered one of the ANBU to Tsunade. "But it's like they're in some kind of trance. Nothing seems to get their attention."
"I guess desperate times call for desperate measures," muttered Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama?" asked the ANBU.
"Alright," said Tsunade. "What I am about to do will be labeled a triple S-class secret. If anyone ever utters a word about this I will personally kill them myself! Is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," said all the ANBU. They then watched as Tsunade took a few steps forward. Slowly she cleared her throat. She knew this was the only thing now that could get their attention, but she had prayed it wouldn't come to this.
"Jiraiya! Kakashi!" yelled Tsunade. "If you come out now then I'll let you see by bare breasts." The ANBU face faulted.
"These are bigger!" Jiraiya yelled back.
"WHAT?!" screamed Tsunade. Then tick marks appeared on her face once again. "Fine then. I guess I'll have to get you out myself." With that she cracked her knuckles as she walked towards the building.
-x-
Yukie lay in bed, asleep after the whole ordeal. No one could deny that it had been a horrible experience, so no one bothered her about it.
Her dreams were not all that comforting. At first, she saw herself as a child standing in front of a mirror. Her father was there, smiling at her. Then the flames came, burning everything. She was then carried away by a shinobi with a blurred face.
Outside of the dream world, Haku stood next to her bed. He then looked at the night stand next to the actress's bed and saw her necklace. He picked it up and began to examine the crystal on it. He then looked at Yukie before sighing.
"It looks like we are going to be getting more than we bargained for," said Haku.
-x-
"Allow me to explain," said Sandayuu. Team Anko was all gathered in the mess hall along with Sandayuu, the director, and his assistant. "Please forgive for all this but it was the only way to save Yuki no Kuni. I had to get the princess to return to her homeland."
"I thought that Yukie-san only played the part of a princess," said Rin. Sandayuu only dropped his head a bit.
"It happened years ago," he said. "Back when Koyuki-hime was just a little girl. Back then, I served her father Kazehana-dono as a member of his cabinet." At this point, tears began to roll down his face. "Those were such peaceful times. And Koyuki-hime was such a wonderful little girl. But then her uncle, Kazehana Doto, had him killed and tried to do the same to Koyuki-hime. After that, his Yuki-nins helped him seize control of the capital and killed anyone who opposed his rule. I managed to escape and began to travel around aimlessly. Then, one day, I found Koyuki-hime. She had changed her name and had become an actress. You have no idea how glad I was that she was alive."
"I should have died," came a voice from the doorway. Everyone turned their heads and saw Koyuki standing at the doorway. "You have no idea how many times I wished I had."
"Koyuki-hime!" exclaimed Sandayuu. "You shouldn't say such things! You have no idea how worried we were."
"It doesn't matter," she replied with a sigh. "A part of me did die that day, my heart. Ever since that day, all my tears have run dry."
"Let me get this straight," said Rin as she pointed to Koyuki. "She's a princess who plays a princess in the movies and," Rin then pointed at Sandayuu, "her manager used to work for her father. So why are you bringing her back to a place where she'll most likely be killed?"
"The people need her to stop that bastard Doto," said Sandayuu. "She is our country's true ruler and it is time that she took her rightful place."
"So you were just using us," accused the director's assistant.
"It was for our people," said Sandayuu as he got up and walked over to Koyuki. He then got down on his hands and knees and bowed his head. "Our people are waiting for your return, princess. Will you answer their prayers and stop that madman who murdered your father? Will you bring honor back to a land that has lost it?"
There was silence in the run. Every breath and muscle twitch amplified. Koyuki just stared at the man before her with her cold, blue eyes. Then she turned her head away from him and crossed her arms.
"I don't think so," she replied.
"But--but what about your people?" asked Sandayuu.
"I could care less about them," she said. Sandayuu was about to say something, but the princess cut him off. "Would you give it a rest already?! We lost! There is no hope left! There's no way for us to beat Doto so just give up already!" She would have said more, but this time she was cut off by a fist slamming on the table. Everyone turned their heads to see Naruto, gritting his teeth and staring at Koyuki.
"I don't believe you!" he declared. "This man is risking his life to help his people and you could care less. So stop disrespecting him or else you'll have to deal with me!"
"N-Naruto-san," stammered Sandayuu, moved by the boy's passion.
"Where there is hope there are dreams," said the director suddenly. "And those dreams will become the future. I like it! It's the perfect them for our movie. From now on, THIS will be the movie!"
"But director," said the assistant. "Think about this for a moment. Given everything that is happening…"
"Baka," said the director. "We will be filming a movie with a real princess, in a real struggle to save her homeland. How many chances do you think we'll ever get like this?"
"You're right!" exclaimed the assistant. "Even the making of will be a hit. We can't lose!"
"Hey wait a minute," said Koyuki.
"Sorry to but in," said Haku. "But now that Doto knows that you are alive, he will hunt you down till the ends of the earth until he has you locked up or killed. Face it, until he's dead you'll never be able to make another movie or go out in public again."
"WHAT?!" yelled a voice from outside. Naruto's eyes became dish plates as he realized whose voice that was a moment before Hisame punched a hole thought the wall and entered the run. Upon seeing her, Team Anko got out of their seats and was prepared to fight.
"Who are you?" demanded Rin.
"That's Hisame," said Naruto. "She's that crazy shark girl who tried to capture me and rape Lee." Rin blinked at that and then stared at Hisame.
"You have weird tastes," stated Rin.
"Tell us," said Haku, "why are you here?"
"I'm here on a mission for the Akatsuki that doesn't involve the Kyuubi-Jinchūriki," said Hisame with a smirk as she crossed her arms. "I heard the whole thing from outside and I won't let those bastards wreck this movie! I need to see what will happen next to Fuun-hime or else I'll go insane!" At that, everyone sweat dropped.
"Too late for that," muttered Naruto.
-x-
It took several hours for the boat to reach the port. After they arrived, transportation to get farther into the country was arranged several large snowmobiles the size of RVs were rented. Naruto sat next to Rin while they both sat across from Haku. Hisame was currently taking a hot shower.
"OK, I think it's about time you told us how you know so much about these guys," said Naruto.
"Oh that," said Haku as he laughed nervously. "Well, it was several years back with Zabuza-sama. We had just left Kirigakure and we were in need of some money. So we were hired to find and eliminate a resistance group that the Yuki-nins couldn't find. After we got paid, Nadare and Zabuza-sama got into a fight as we were leaving. I believe Nadare mentioned something about losing his balls to an outsider and Zabuza-sama thought it was a good idea. It the end, we had to make a quick getaway."
"Great," said Naruto. "Well, at least you know more about their armor. So maybe we figure out their weaknesses."
"That will be hard," said Haku as he brought a hand to his chin. "They have made several improvements since I last saw them. The biggest one seems to be that they can now block any incoming projectile."
"No they can't," said Naruto. "My Teshi Sendan got through that fat guys armor." At this, both Haku and Rin blinked.
"OK then," said Haku. "What's the difference between our weapons and Naruto's?"
"Simple," said Rin. "That armor must be able to tell what is organic and what isn't. That way it can block any long range attack. It might also explain how they are able to even wear them. If they repelled everything then the wearer could never put them on. However, it also means that they can't protect themselves from our taijutsu or Naruto-kun's kenjutsu."
"That does make sense," said Haku. "But it'll still be a challenge. Most likely they know about the flaw in their armor. And even if they don't, they still have the advantage in ninjutsu and genjutsu."
"So what are you saying?" demanded Naruto. "That we should just give up?"
"No Naruto," said Haku. "I'm just saying that it will be very hard for us. We need to figure out a plan if we are going to win."
"I know that but…"
"Naruto," said Haku sternly. "We are chunin on our first major mission alone. We don't have Anko-sensei to guide us with her experience. We can do this if we just remain focused and go over what we know." Haku took a deep breath. "Ok. Nadare, the guy I fought, is their leader. His attacks are the most brutal I have ever seen and has the highest chakra storage that I have ever encountered. He also likes to fight close to mid range."
"I fought the girl," said Rin. "She seems to be a mid to long range fighter. Her armor is different from the others allowing her to fly. She also has a jutsu that can redirect itself if it misses."
"The guy I fought is pretty fast," said Naruto. "Also, his armor seems to be designed to capture people. He didn't use any jutsus on me so I'm guessing that he was saving up all his chakra so they could get Koyuki and get out." Haku nodded.
"OK," said Haku. "Let's come up with a plan."
-x-
It was a little later and everyone was taking a much needed bathroom break. Hisame and Koyuki had both used up all the water in the snowmobiles, leaving nothing for the rest of them. The director and Sandayuu were looking at a cave that was nearby and covered from wall to wall with ice.
"Crap," said a stage hand as he came running towards everyone. "Koyuki has gone missing again."
"This is horrible," said Sandayuu. "All we had to do was go through that cave and we would have met up with the resistance."
"Go on ahead," said Naruto as he began to walk away. "I'll get her." With that, Naruto jumped away from sight.
"But," began Sandayuu. However, Rin grabbed his arm gently.
"Don't worry," she said. "When Naruto-kun says he'll do something, he'll do it."
"Unless he screws up," said Hisame.
Over with Koyuki, she was running like her life was on the line. The only thoughts in her head were those of getting as far away from her homeland as fast as possible. However, at the speed she was going was not recommended so when she continued to run down a hill and tripped, eventually rolling down to the bottom. When she looked up, there was Naruto.
"Time to go back," he said with a sigh.
It took awhile, but Naruto was finally able to get her onto his back. Now they were both slowly walking through the cave. Naruto was using chakra so he wouldn't slip.
Personally, Naruto wasn't as happy with this situation as he would have been. If someone had told him that one day he would carry his favorite actress on his back he would have been so happy. However, now that he knew what kind of person she was, he wasn't happy at all. He wasn't carrying a princess, like he had always dreamed of doing; he was carrying a spoiled brat who was trying to run away from all of her problems.
"Hey," said Koyuki suddenly. "Why did you come after me?"
"It's my job," said Naruto. "No matter where you go, I'll go to the ends of the earth to get you and bring you back." Koyuki just looked away.
"You can drag me back," she said. "But all I'm going to do is act in front of the camera. That's it. You got me?" Naruto just snorted.
Suddenly, there was an odd noise. Naruto was sure he had heard it somewhere before. It was like a whistle. And there was another noise, like an engine of some kind. Then the ice on the ground began to melt to reveal four iron bars on the ground. At the sight of them, Koyuki gasped.
"A train is coming," said cried.
"What's a train?" asked Naruto. Then two things happened that jogged his memory. The first was a quick flashback of some of the images Kyuubi had once shown him. The other was that the train was coming right at them. So Naruto did the only thing he could think of:RUN LIKE HELL.
"We're never going to make it!" yelled Koyuki.
"I'm not giving up!" yelled Naruto.
"We can't make it!" yelled Koyuki as the train appeared right behind them.
"Just shut up!" yelled Naruto.
"This is totally pointless!" cried Koyuki.
"Maybe you're ready to call it quits but not me!" yelled Naruto. "I'll never give up! Just watch what a person can do when they refuse to give up!" With that, Naruto began to pump more chakra into his legs. It was slow at first, but soon Koyuki could see that they were gaining some distance from the train. She looked down at Naruto and was amazed that he was actually doing it. Soon, they reached the end of the tunnel and Naruto jumped to the side as the train passed them by. For a moment, he just lay there panting. "Told ya I could do it."
"Nice to see you again Koyuki-chan," same a voice from behind them. They both turned their heads and saw that Doto was standing at the end of the box car. In his hand was a microphone and next to him was Nadare. "It's been ten years. Come; let me see that face of yours." Naruto then stood up and blocked his view of Koyuki, causing the dictator to growl a bit.
What happened next caught everyone by surprise. Several logs were sent down the nearby hill and slammed into the side of the train. Everyone looked up and saw a large group of people in samurai like armor. In the middle of them was Sandayuu.
"Doto!" yelled Sandayuu. "This is the end of your evil rein. Now that our true ruler is back, we will remove you and your evil from our lands."
"I thought we had gotten rid of rodents like them," said Doto casually to Nadare.
"I apologize," said Nadare. "Shall I take care of them?"
"No," said Doto. "Lets us that."
What happened next was all caught on film by the movie crew who were hiding in the snow. The samurai ran down the hill, yelling their hearts out. Then, suddenly, the doors on the sides of the train opened up to reveal some kind of device. It filled the entire doorway and looked like a square beehive. Then, it began to fire a hail storm of kunais at the resistance. Wave after wave was fired by that dreaded weapon until everyone in its path was dead and the white snow turned red.
-x-
Well, I need a vote here. Should Anko have her wedding and baby before this mission is over or should they make it in time. Also, will Anko marry into Iruka's family or him into hers?
-x-
Omake: The Mirror part 3
Anko was at her favorite dango shop having her usually lunch. Then, all of a sudden, she was grabbed by the side.
"Anko-chan, I found you," said the stranger.
"Get the hell off of me," growled Anko. "Hey, aren't you that gaki that I scared shitless at the last chunin exam." It was true; it did look a lot like Naruto. Except that he wasn't wearing any orange and his hair was longer. This Naruto wore white baggy pants and a cloak like the Yondaime wore that said 'Kaze-shu' on the back.
"What are you talking about Anko-chan?" asked Naruto. Then he blinked. "Hey, how did you get so old?" Tick marks appeared on Anko's face.
"What was that?" she demanded.
"We need to find Baa-chan right now," said Naruto as he ignored the anger from Anko. Quickly he moved behind her, grabbed her around the waist, and then flew off into the sky.