Welcome back, another chapter for you to feast on. So please enjoy, this will be another light chapter and the boys will be getting their bodies back.
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-Chapter 33: Namikagure-
The group had stopped for the night and were making camp. Meanwhile Kyuubi/Naruto was walking through the forest quietly taking in the forest through all of his inhuman senses. He smirked as he caught the scent of desert lilies and cinimon, "It's dangerous for someone to be so curious, Temari-chan."
The woman frowned, "Are you really the great Kyuubi?" she questioned, "you seem a bit..."
"It's been a long time since I've walked in a forest," he interupted as he ran his hands over a tree, "smelled the air, and tasted the night." He vanished and reappeared behind the sand kunoichi, "Kit let's me experience things through his eyes, but it's simply not the same." He ran a clawed nail along the sand kunoichi's jawline and smiled as she stood firm, "I've said it once and I shall say it again, Kit has chosen well."
"What do you mean?" she questioned and spun around, but no one was there, "sneaky bastard."
Sakura came through a clearing to a river and saw that Zaiaku/Shiva was in the water waist deep, his clothing on the bank. She could only watch as the water and the moonlight reflected off of him, and with his white hair shimmering, she couldn't think of anything better to call him but beautiful. "Sakura-hime I had no idea that you were such a bold woman," came the voice of the Ice-queen.
The pink haired girl blushed, "Gomen, Zaia...er...Shiva-san." She quickly turned her back to the water as the heat continued to rise in her cheeks 'Now she thinks I'm a pervert!' she chided herself
"It is quite alright, we are both..." the ice-queen paused, then let out a laugh, "no I guess we are not both women are we?" After a moment Zaiaku/Shiva stepped out of the water and began to dry off, "You are being very quiet, there is nothing you wanted to ask me?"
"I..um...I don't know," she stammered. Then it hit her, "What does Zaiaku feel for me? Is it true or just-"
The ice-queen frowned, "Honestly, you young people always wanting direct answers to indirect questions." Once all clothing was properly adorned she stepped up to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Have you thought to ask him yourself?"
Sakura shook her head, "I'm too much of a coward. After Sasuke rejected me, and even used my affection for him to hurt Zaiaku, I've been sitting in a shadow cast out of doubt. I don't want to be hurt like that again."
"So then you wish to go through life alone?" questioned Zaiaku/Shiva, the kunoichi shook her head as tears started to form, "I will not tell you what my little-one's feelings for you are. I will tell you, however, that you are not the only one who is afraid."
"He's afraid too?" questioned the girl, wide-eyed and slightly hopeful. She recieved no response, only a cold burst of wind, Shiva was gone.
Gaara/Shukaku was currently hanging upside down on a tree limb, "HAH! This isn't so hard," he shouted triumphantly.
Hinata looked slightly irriatated, the tanuki was a stark contrast to her Gaara, and was currently annoying the crap out of everyone, "Shukaku-sama perhaps you shouldn't-"
Too late, due to his lack of concentration his feet released and sent him crashing to the ground, "SON OF A BITCH!" he shouted. Pouting as Hinata placed a green glowing hand on his head, to sooth the already forming bump, "Stupid tree," he mumbled
"Perhaps you shouldn't try anymore shinobi things," interjected Neji, "you seem a bit, clumsy."
"I'll show you clumsy!" he growled and prepared to charge
"Shukaku, calm yourself," came the growling voice of Kyuubi, "The boy is right, we are accustomed to using overwhelming energy, shinobi tactics and abilities are focused on using miniscule amounts of power in the most efficient way." He sighed at the confused look on the redheads face, "We are demons, not ninja."
"We should get some rest," interupted Momiji, "The sooner we get to wave country the better."
The next morning the group set out, as they continued their march something was becoming very apparent to Shukaku/Gaara. Finally he burst out laughing, drawing everyones attention, "What is it Shukaku?" question Naruto/Kyuubi
"Shiva," he replied clutching his sides, "She's a he!"
The ice-queen glared, "We have been over this Shuka-chan, what is your point?"
"Well I don't really know about anyone else's feelings on the matter," he replied as he wiped a tear from his eye, "but if I saw a man swinging his hips like that I doubt it would intimidate me." He again lost it and hit the ground in fits, "OH OH...how awkward were you this morning?" he shrieked.
'EXTREMELY!' shouted Zaiaku
Shiva blushed crimson as she recalled having to deal with the morning 'condition' that effects most adolescent men. "Shut up Shukaku!" she shouted and balled up her fingers. Several of the men and women were now fighting back laughter, then instead of snapping the ice-queen merely smiled serenely, "It was quite the embarassing situation, thank you for pointing that out Shuka-chan."
Kyuubi/Naruto stopped laughing immediately, 'Now he's done it,' he thought as a wave of killing intent rolled off the form of the ice-nin. "Back away slowly," he whispered to everyone in earshot.
Gaara/Shukaku noticed everyone a good thirty feet from himself and the form of Zaiaku/Shiva, "Oh crap," he gasped as the ice-nin disappeared and reappeared behind him. "I...er...sorry?" he stammered as a fist collided with the back of his head and sent him into the ground.
Kyuubi/Naruto simply shook his head in embarassment, while everyone had the same thoughts, 'These are demons?'
"Ouch," came the voice of Gaara from the ground. He opened his eyes and coughed up some dirt, "Shukaku and I seem to have returned to our proper places." In his mind the one-tail was squealing like a girl at finally having his power and body back.
"What did you do?" questioned Kyuubi/Naruto urgently
The redhead screwed up his face in thought, "I realized that Shiva-san was going to strike my body, so I released some chakra and attempted to control the sand."
Jiraiya scratched his chin in thought, "The seal is made to filter out the demon's minds, not yours. The rush of power and the loss of conciousness due to the blow on the head caused the process to reverse," he gave a thumbs up, "it's that simple!"
"So to get Zaiaku and Naruto back we just have to hit Shiva and Kyuubi, while Naruto and Zaiaku release chakra?" questioned Zabuza with an incredulous look.
'Let's do it!' shouted Naruto
'Go for it kit,' replied the Kyuubi as his power rolled outward from his body, "Now this idiot has an incredibly thick skull, so you have to hit me hard-" He was cut off as Temari's fan slammed into the back of his head.
As his body came to a skidding halt, Naruto rubbed the side of his head, 'Yup I'm back.' He jumped up and scowled at the sand kunoichi, "A bit much, ne Temari-chan?" Then he turned to Shiva/Zaiaku and gave a thumbs up, "Your turn!"
With a tentative nod she began to let Zaiaku release her power, 'Alright now who is going to strike me?' No one would volunteer. Then Naruto leaned over and whispered something in her ear, her face turned crimson, but she agreed. In a flash she was behind Sakura.
The pink haired girl went wide-eyed and turned red, "PERVERT!" she shouted and decked Shiva/Zaiaku
Unfortunately the ice-nin regained control of his body just as it slammed into a tree, "WORST IDEA EVER, NARUTO!" he shouted in pain. 'That was single handedly the dumbest thing I've ever seen,' he grumbled as he attempted to clear his spinning head
'It seemed logical,' replied Shiva as she inspected her body for anything out of place
"What did you tell him?" questioned Zabuza with a curious expression
Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Sakura always reacts badly to perverts," he respondedly sagely, "so I told Shiva to grab her butt."
"Zaiaku-nii-san is a pervert!" shouted Momo, while pointing an accusing finger at the Ice-nin staggering out of the woods.
He glared at the small hand, "I am not!" He pointed to Kakashi, "That's a pervert," then Jiraiya, "That's a super pervert!" Both men glared at him, though they couldn't deny his accusations. He reached up and rubbed his bruising cheek, "Can we go please?" he questioned and stormed off down the road.
"Is he sulking?" questioned Ino
Shikamaru smirked, "He was just sent over twenty feet by a woman, his pride's probably taken a slight beating."
Sakura frowned, 'That doesn't seem like him,' she thought and sprinted to catch up to the shinobi. "Hey," she shouted and gripped his arm to stop him, "what was that about? You can't be mad becuase I clocked you, it had to be-"
"Don't be so shallow," he replied sternly, not fighting her grasp. He ignored the rest of the group catching up, "I was in a hospital bed for two weeks, on the verge of dying for that village." He gripped her hand and held it up to his left shoulder, "This scar and exile are my rewards for that."
"Oi!" interupted Naruto with a large frown, "you can't think like that, all our friends here helped us escape and became missing nins for us."
"Yea and now what Naruto?" he shouted in reply , "We have no idea how to run a village." He glanced around at the twenty or so people that had helped in the escape: Shino, Hinata, Zabuza, Anko, Kiba, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Gai, Kakashi, Rin, Momiji, Sakura, Temari, Kurenai, Asuma, Jiraiya, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, and even Momo, "We've ruined your lives too."
His head jerked to the left as Momiji's hand came into contact with his face, his chakra flared as he rounded back on her, "We didn't risk our lives to stand around and listen to you angst away. My daughter has faith in you, so do I, and now we've bet our lives on your freedom. So cut the crap!"
He searched her face for a moment, he was right about this woman, not a person to be messed with. He turned his head to the side and pouted, "You didn't have to smack me."
"That was for grabbing my daughter's butt," she replied smugly as she shifted Momo's weight on her back, 'She's getting too heavy.'
He noticed this and grinned, "I'll take her." Once the blushing little girl was positioned properly he turned to Naruto and Gaara, "Sorry about that, you know I get carried away," his two friends waved him off. He crouched low, causing a squeak to emit from Momo, "Hold on tight little-one, we're going to go scouting." Emitting a large amount of energy, he turned and gave a grateful nod to everyone, then exploded forward and vanished.
"He was right about one thing," stated Asuma, "the old man never showed me much about running a village, we're gonna be running blindly."
"You are incorrect," stated Gaara with a smirk, "I think I have SOME knowledge in the area."
An hour later they were standing at the Great Bridge, "Where's Zaiaku and Momo-chan?" questioned Naruto. His response was a small pebble hitting him in the head, "ITAI!"
"That didn't hurt that bad you baby," shouted Zaiaku from atop one of the bridge supports, Momo clinging to his neck and grinning like a fool, her hair was completely wind blown. They vanished and reappeared on the ground, "We couldn't see anything from up there, where ever the village is, it's not in plain view."
A loud boisterious laugh came from all around them, then a door in the side of the support Zaiaku was just on, opened to reveal the bridge builder Tazuna. "Of course it isn't," he replied as if the most obvious thing in the world, "wouldn't be much of a village hidden in the waves if you could see it from the bridge." He signaled for everyone to follow him into the huge rectangular room situated inside the bridge. He threw a switch and the room began to feel like it was slowly falling, "It's hidden in the waves after all."
As he stated this the room came to a halt and a door slid open, "Holy..." stammered Asuma as his cigarette fell from his mouth
"Shit on a stick!" shouted Anko.
Tazuna let out another laugh, "Not the wording I was expecting, but it seems to fit." He stepped out of the elevator and bowed, "Welcome to the Village Hidden in the Waves." The group could only stare in wonder as they took in the sight, small, medium, and large bubbles of what looked to be glass. The amazing thing was that there were houses under them, "It took us quite a while and we're not done, but it's ready to be lived in. It's the pennicle of my engineering career, unfortunately only a handful of people know about it." The group followed him down the clear tunnel, "The domes are made from a material that our scientists are calling plexiglass, it's an amazing substance really. Even if someone were to discover the location the dome, at it's weakest point, can sustain several direct explosions." He gestured to several places where large tubes were extending from the domes to the bridge supports, "That's the oxygen supply, those pipes run directly to the surface through the bridge." As they made their way past workers they came to another tunnel, "This leads directly to a man made cave behind the city above, should the bridge become comprimised." He turned and gave them a warm smile, "Welcome home."
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End Chapter 33: Namikagure
Read and Review - HAH! A village underwater, I couldn't help it! I hope you like the idea. More details about the underwater city will come as the group gets settled. A bit Zaiaku-centric again, but i felt that he had somethings to get off his chest. Next chapters will encompass everyone as a whole and individually.
Preview Chapter 34: Where is Home?