Love & Truth
17. New Enemies, Old Friends
(Third Person's POV)
„Can't we stay here for a while longer?" Naruto whined.
„No way! I had not checked on your health for four months already! No way am I going to wait any longer! What if something is wrong, and we don't detect it soon enough?" Tsunade shot back.
Sasuke only sighed as this conversation has been going on for a while now.
Exactly one hour, twenty minutes and twenty-five seconds, which was only about ten minutes less compared to how long was Naruto awake.
And the raven was just about to strangle his beloved blonde because of it, as it already caused him a considerable migraine.
„Dobe!" He shouted, which – to mainly Tsunade's surprise – made the pregnant boy to get quiet. „Enough…" Sasuke added only, rubbing his temples.
After that Naruto talked no longer.
And so – thanks to a certain Uchiha Sasuke – the group of Konoha villagers said their goodbyes to the Kazekage and his newly husband and took off, heading in the direction of their home.
L&T
The young woman tried to calm the small boy, who cried in her arms, so did a new addition to their small group, a girl of about ten years of age. It seemed as wasted efforts though as the boy did not show even tiniest signs of intentions to stop.
The two females looked at the boy pitifully. They tried to calm him down even more so, when they realised, listening to the noise and casting glances through the cell's bars, just how unusually loud the underground around them is.
„Amaya [night rain]-nee-san…" The little girl sniffled, curling fearfully next to the young woman. „I think something bad is about to happen."
The woman – Amaya - only nodded sadly.
„We'll be having a new companion soon, I'm afraid."
L&T
Naruto agreed on being in henge while traveling. It did not lessen the weight he carried, but at least he was less conspicuous.
He complained a lot at the start of the journey, but he understood the need to go faster also and so the complaints lessened in amount with every passing hour.
After two days of travel, somewhere in the middle of the way, the group started noticing something strange.
Broken branches, random, yet way too noticeable steps... And all were in huge amounts as to say.
„What's the meaning of this?" Sasuke groaned as they stopped to take a better look at those strange signs.
„This is made on intent, no doubt about it… but why?" Tsunade said, as she took one of the torn leaves into her hand. As she did it turned into smoke… just as all the leaves in the nearest surroundings did.
„Shit… IT'S A TRAP!" The blonde woman screamed immediately.
Soon enough the group was surrounded by another group of who-knows-how-many-attackers.
Tsunade managed to take down one of them quickly, as did Sasuke, but then…
„SASUKEEE!"
The voice of the young Jinchuuriki was filled with so much fear that it was tearing the Uchiha's heart.
„Naruto!" he exclaimed, as he went through the smoke in the direction of his fiancé's voice. He did not get very far though, as two of attackers appeared with the intention to block him from going any further.
He fought deadly and precisely as he was boosted with anger and worry for his blonde lover. And so the fight ended pretty quickly.
When, however, he killed the second of the attackers, causing the smoke to lift, there may have been a battle plain visible, there may have been dead bodies everywhere, but - what brought Sasuke to immediate depression – there was no blonde anymore.
And so, with a sheer emotional exhaustion as a cause, more than the injuries would ever be, the high and mighty Uchiha passed out.
L&T
Tsunade watched the young raven's changes of expressions, going from anger to an utter and complete despair, catching him when he was about to crash onto the ground.
She watched the raven sadly, as his face did not show even hints of easing up even in the unconsciousness, and sighed, placing him gently onto the loft.
'Why?' was a question she wanted to ask herself, but did not even need to as she noticed what one of the men Sasuke killed had on.
A mask.
And not just any mask, when the woman turned it around she could see the number carved into it. Number eleven.
„Hiku [low], huh…" The woman could say only as she studied the mask further.
As for the other men, they were only pawns apparently, as their masks were blank, some of them not even having masks at all, probably being hired with money.
The woman searched "Hiku"'s body and found something interesting while doing so. It was a symbol carved on the back of man's belt.
„Rengoku [purgatory]…" the woman read as her face twisted in disgust. „Sick bastards…" She spat out, tossing the belt to her bag.
Soon after she did that she turned around and got herself to the job of waking up the still-out-of-it Uchiha.
L&T
„But if they knocked Naruto unconscious… wouldn't the henge be lifted?" Sasuke asked worriedly, as he tried to think of plan of any sort with the Hokage.
'Don't worry bud, Kyuubi's taking care of that…' his ever-present companion in his mind said.
'What do you mean by that?'
'Told me herself…'
'Care to explain?'
'She said that she'll supply the blonde with chakra so that he won't turn "back"... She said that maybe then, they would think Naruto miscarried or something... You know, when he would not change at all... He's really obvious with it at the time... They'll probably think that since he's normal "again", he's not carrying anymore. They might not want to show their opinions on him that much... That's what Kyuubi sad, more or less...'
'So the fox decides to help, huh?' Sasuke said to himself, cutting the conversation with the seal demon off, to pay attention to Tsunade, who stared strangely at him, once again.
„The seal idiot says that Naruto should be okay..." He stated simply.
The blonde woman nodded, but looked at the raven funny still.
„What?!"
„I'm just trying to figure out how does the connection between you and Naruto work... well yeah, he filled me on with the basics, but..." The woman trailed off, knowing the smart Uchiha would get the rest.
„Simply, if one of us is awake, we can't talk. If Naruto disables the connection, we can't talk..."
„That's all I need to know for now..." The woman stopped him, standing up.
„What?"
„Tell Naruto to fill us on the location once he finds out something."
And then, sooner than the Uchiha was able to defend himself, the Hokage gave a well-aimed press on the raven's neck, sending him unconscious once more.
„And hope that he's there..."
L&T
Sasuke appeared on the field in the whirlwind of flowers.
He immediately spotted the pregnant blonde who sat under his heart tree, hugging his body, shivering wildly. It was not until Sasuke came closer that the boy registered him.
„Sasu-teme..." He voiced almost inaudibly, biting his lower lip, tears streaming down his face. „What will they do to me?... What will they do to them?" He sniffled, tilting his head slightly in the direction of the smaller sakuras.
„They won't know about them for a while... I'm more worried about you at the moment." The raven admitted as he took the shivering blonde in his arms.
„Won't... know?" Naruto asked, not understating the statement.
„The seal demon told me that Kyuubi will feed you enough chakra for you to not need to lift henge for the time being... They might think you've lost them so... if they ask, just don't answer okay?" The raven asked silently, placing a kiss atop the blonde's head.
„Okay..." Naruto said, leaning into the embrace.
The two of them stayed silently like that for a while, until he noticed his fingers getting transparent.
„I'm being woken up... I need to go... I'll come by during the night again... try to get some information about where you were taken by then, okay? We'll be able to get to you sooner then..."
„I'll try to."
„Good... Goodbye for now." Sasuke said, kissing Naruto on the lips softly, then disappearing, leaving the silently crying blonde there.
„I'm scared."
L&T
Grumpy Sasuke woke up to being shaken wildly by the Hokage.
„So what did you get?"
„Nothing really, he did not wake up since being taken, as far as I can tell... And I've given him the message." He added.
„Ah, sorry about that, I just thought that it would be the best and the fastest possibility." The woman excused her actions.
The raven only nodded... there was some truth in it after all.
„So... what are we going to do now?" Sasuke asked, as he got up from the ground.
„I need to go back, but as for you... I think it would be best if you went back to Suna and informed the Kazekage... I told him about the group and such, but with Naruto taken he might be a next target, we don't know how many Jinchuurikis they might already have. The village's heads seem sensitive about the topic after the last shinobi war..." The Hokage sighed. „This is getting out of hand once more... First it was Akatsuki and now... the Rengoku..." She said with disgust.
„Rengoku?" The raven asked, not knowing about the Hokage's founding after all.
The woman only showed the belt she had to his palm.
„Sickos..." Sasuke muttered, seeing it. He made no further comment however, seeing that there are not really words that would explain all this madness that always surrounded the Jinchuuriki... more like the Bijuu themselves, but he did not pay mind to that at the moment.
„I'll send warnings to the other villages as soon as I get to Konoha... As for you... If you get some clues about Naruto... send them to me first... and then if you'll want to go for Naruto, and I know you will, I won't stop you. I just want to recommend you that you better not go alone... at least take the Hyuuga with you. The most powerful of them are still alive after all, that is if we can believe those mask... They seemed pretty accurate so far, I think." The blonde woman muttered to herself.
The Uchiha sighed only.
„Yes, Hokage-sama..."
After that the two of them split, heading into the exactly opposite directions.
L&T
Naruto was brought to the cell while still unconscious.
Amaya placed him on the only blanket in the cell and checked on his injuries.
„Is he all right, Amaya-nee-san?" The girl asked worriedly, seeing the blonde's paleness even in the dim light of candles only.
„I hope he is... He does not seem to be seriously hurt." The woman said seriously, brushing the few strands of golden locks away from the boy's forehead. „He's a weight to carry though." Amaya added chuckling softly. „He looks way thinner than he actually weighs."
As the two females engaged in the silent conversation the little boy sat next to Naruto, poking on him clumsily.
The boy sat next to Naruto like that, until the blonde woke up, which caught the females' attention.
Naruto blinked confusedly, not being able to focus his eyes at first, but as he got used to the light, he saw that there is not really much to focus on.
„How do you feel?" Amaya asked.
Naruto only mumbled "okay" and then looked around the cell once more.
„Where are we?"
„Underground." Was Amaya's short answer.
„And why are we here?" Naruto asked, hesitantly.
„To get killed." Amaya said in grim tone.
Naruto did expect such an answer, but once hearing it said out loud - and still being over-emotional as he was - it made his eyes fill with tears.
As he silently sobbed Amaya shook her head.
'A weakling.' She thought bitterly.
However as the blonde started muttering to herself she got curious.
„Not now… why does it have to be now? I can't die now… just not now…"
As the wailing got louder Amaya took a closer look at the new addition to their miserable group.
'There is something strange about this last one.' she thought.
„Why not now? What's the importance of time here?" 'We're going to be killed anyway…' She added to herself.
„You won't understand…"
„And you dare to say that to ME? I'm here the longest! I'm here for a fucking month already! You think I'm calm about this?! I'm rotting here while I should be home… And just when little sis finally got herself a boyfriend… what a sister AM I?" Suddenly the anger turned to sadness and Amaya's tears run in stream.
Naruto felt sorry for the young woman, who seemed only about a year or two older than he was. [makes her about 20/21]
„Tell me about your sister..." Naruto whispered softly, taking the woman into his arms, running hand through her shoulder-length hair.
Amaya looked at Naruto as if he just went mad, but then sighed only, finally calming down a little.
„S-she's younger than m-me, she just turned fifteen... and just few days before I was ambushed on my way back to Nami..."
„You're from Land of Waves?" Naruto interrupted her, getting a nod as a response, the woman then continued.
„... Sis told me that she just got herself a boyfriend... She told me that he's a bit younger than her. That he also babbles about being a hero for her and that once sis introduces me to him he'll know two Jinchuurikis already." Amaya chuckled heartily. „She told me that he was really brave and that he would do anything for her... His name is..."
„Inari." Naruto completed her sentence whispering.
[Ok... so to say it here, I have no idea how old Inari was when he met with Naruto so I'm making him like seven and some]
As he did Amaya's head turned quickly to look at him.
„How did you..." Then suddenly a light of understanding lit in her eyes. „Wait, wait, wait... You're here with us, which means that you're a Jinchuuriki also... You know about Inari, which means that you must be the one he was talking about, right? OH MY GOD! You're the Uzumaki Naruto!"
„I don't think I deserve the "the" before my name." Naruto said quietly.
„YOU DO! You did so much for us, I remember how disappointed I was that I did not get to meet you back then..." The woman continued, excited.
„Ah, what a rude person am I... I know your name, but you don't know mine... I'm Amaya." The woman said, taking Naruto's hand to shake with it.
„I'm Hitomi [pupil(of the eye) – usually used for beautifully eyed girls]." The small girl beeped, not sure whether she's allowed to step into the conversation.
„I understand the reason for that." Naruto praised the girl's big light brown eyes like that.
Then the three of them turned to the small boy. He, however, only looked to the ground and sniffled.
„I don't remember it..." He whispered, saying his first words from the time he came. „No one ever called me by it..." The boy cried.
Naruto kneeled next to the boy and hugged him.
„How about we give you a new one then? Would you want that?"
As Naruto said that the teary-eyed boy's eyes lit up immediately.
Naruto looked at the fair skinned boy with long, dark hair and dark eyes it reminded him of someone he met so many years ago…
„How about we call you Haku [pure / white]?" He asked, after giving it some thinking.
„Wasn't that Zabuza Momochi's right hand man?" Amaya asked, confused.
„He was, but he was also the most loyal person I ever met, with the soul as pure as the just fallen snow." Naruto smiled sadly at the thought of the young masked shinobi, but then he turned to the boy. „Would you want to carry his name?"
The boy looked at Naruto in awe, he could almost see the emotions flowing from the blonde, showing how much he thought of the "Haku" he mentioned.
„I'd be proud to carry the name." he said quietly, for which he earned a hug by Naruto.
The group of Jinchuurikis stayed silent for a while, until Hitomi spoke.
„So… Haku, is it?" She said, offering her hand to the boy, which Haku took gratefully.
Once the momentary euphoria passed, the group realized the dire situation they were in once more.
„Which one do you have?" Naruto asked suddenly.
No one needed to ask what was it that he meant.
„Nibi, the two-tailed cat." Said Haku.
„Gobi, the five-tailed dog." Said Amaya.
„Yonbi, the four-tailed reptile." Said Hitomi.
„And as at least one of you knows I carry Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox." At this statement Haku widened his eyes.
„So you're the strongest?"
„Technically speaking yes, but I'm here aren't I?" Naruto sighed, scratching the back of his neck.
„You still did not answer my question." Amaya reminded. „What's the deal about the time?"
„And how come they caught you, when you're the strongest?" Hitomi asked.
„And what's with this ring?"
At Haku's question everyone turned around, as if wanting to scold him, however Naruto only burst out in laughter.
„You really deserve the name…" He said once he stopped, ruffling the boy's hair. „And actually it all has something in common… First the ring… it's an engagement ring I just got engaged, few days ago…" Naruto sighed, sitting down.
„Who's the lucky girl?" Amaya teased.
„When you take it like that? Me…"
At this the three listeners stopped. „Huh?"
„I was the one proposed to…"
„…by?" Amaya dared to ask.
„Uchiha Sasuke…"
That shocked the three even more. They were struck speechless once Naruto said that. Everyone has heard about the Uchiha clan at least in passing.
Naruto used the opportunity to continue.
„That leads me to the first and second question… but first, do you think you could make sure no one comes for a while? Even a minute would be fine."
Hitomi went blank for a while, then "returned".
„You've got about two minutes…" She said „… before the next guard in the corridor comes."
Naruto decided not to question her power for the moment and sighed, lifting his hands to lift the henge on him for a while. Once he reappeared in the puff of smoke, the three of his new friends almost fainted.
„This is the answer…" Naruto said quietly, cradling his swollen belly with his arms.
Amaya was the first one to speak. „You're pregnant? How is that even possible?" She asked touching Naruto's swollen mid-section, only to get her hand kicked.
„Kyuubi's gift… but I'll talk about later."
Then he, knowing that the time was almost up, quickly turned himself back into his "flat" version.
„Now, where did we end?"
Cliff-hanger~
I'm sorry people, but I have to stop here (^^;) Hope you'll patiently wait for the following chapter, which will start where this one ends :p
Also... about the "Haku" thing, I KNOW some of you may think that it is stupid, but I really liked Haku TT^TT, he still is my most favourite character, and so I wanted to show it at least somehow... hope you won't mind it that much (x.x)
As always Reviews are Appreciated °(^O^)°
See ya~ ( "-.-)/