Chapter six
Kakashi had taken the second watch and was sitting peacefully before he heard a groan from the sleeping area near the end of his shift. He jumped down and checked Sasuke who was sleeping like a log and then he checked on Skylar who was tossing and turning, blanket thrown off of her flushed form with a thin layer of sweat coating her skin. He took her shoulders carefully and began shaking her gently. Her eyes shot open as she embraced him and the close clang of metal could be heard behind his head, Skylar had blocked kunai, flying right for him.
"You okay?" She asked breathlessly as she kept Kakashi close, still looking into the shadows behind him.
"Yes, thank you… Sasuke wake up, we've got company." Kakashi called and the Uchiha shot up and stayed down on his haunches, looking around with his sharingan as was Kakashi.
"There's three of them, pretty damn good amount of chakra as well but there's something off about them so be careful." Skylar sensed, the chakra felt off but some how familiar.
"My, you are good, no wonder Kabuto-sama sent us for you." One girl voice said from the shadows.
"Show yourselves, I know where you are, you can't hide." Skylar threatened as she put a hand on her senbon pouch. A movement caught all of their attentions and out stepped three girls, the same three girls seen with Kabuto. The main girl in the middle had shoulder length grey hair and wearing a black outfit of pants and a jaytee top, the girl on her right had black hair that was up in a spiky ponytail and a stubborn expression wearing a dark blue outfit and the last girl on the right looked exactly like Naruto's harem jutsu wearing a dark pink outfit. They were all dressed like shinobi and pretty fit and looking very smug.
"I don't fight girls." Sasuke muttered and the middle one with the grey hair scowled and sent a flash of lightning, which Skylar covered them for with her wind.
"I'll take sparky over there." Skylar said.
"I'll take blondie." Sasuke said.
"And I'll take the emo." Kakashi said. And instantly they spit up, leaving Skylar to clash, kunai to kunai with the grey haired girl.
"Who are you and what are you doing with a person like Kabuto?" Skylar questioned as they jumped back.
"You don't need to know, he's a better person than anyone has been to us you have no right to judge him!" The girl said furiously, charging with a Chidori? Skylar didn't have any time to think as she formed a rasengan and charged and they met in a huge explosion. Skylar landed against a tree and threw a senbon for the girl and flashed red and kicked her but she blocked and tired to nick her with something so Skylar jumped back quickly… It was a syringe senbon.
"So Kabuto wants to play with my blood huh? Well you won't get the chance." Skylar said as she pulled out her scroll and unsheathed her scythe. The girl smirked as red chakra began to bubble from her and one tail formed… Skylar was speechless.
"You're a jinchuuriki? Which beast?" She questioned quickly but the girl looked up and had the sharingan swirling in her eyes as she grinned manically.
"Niibi… My name is Gin, my emo friend is Kuro of the Yonbi and the blondie is Kiiro of the Nanabi, we have been sent by Kabuto-sama to bring you back with us… Now come easy or I'll beat you to a pulp and take you back half dead." She growled out as the second tail formed and she turned more feral.
"No holding back I guess… I won't come willingly so let's go." Skylar said, gripping her scythe and senbons. There was a fiery explosion and Gin launched for Skylar who launched a senbon for the girl and ended up behind her as she grabbed the senbon and swung her and wrapped her cable around the pissed off jinchuuriki who began flowing electricity towards Skylar but Skylar could let the lightning flow through her without to much damage. The girl just kept struggling and the three blades digging further and further into her skin, she wasn't stopping. Skylar tried the summoning jutsu but out popped Byakko.
"Where the hell is Seiryu at a time like this?" Skylar asked through gritted teeth as the jinchuuriki continued to struggle. Byakko noticed her situation and quickly wrapped around her to gather natural energy. "I need you to regulate it, I don't have the chakra supply to control it to the full extent yet." Skylar warned him. She had to retract her blades but as soon as she did, the girl was on top of her and poised for an attack, the scythe still retracting the blades, Skylar dropped it onto her back and ducked as the girl swung and Skylar unsheathed on katana and the girl had disappeared again into the shadows but Skylar still knew where she was.
"You should know it's pointless hiding from me Gin, come out and face me." Skylar challenged as sage mode activated and there was purple lightning forming around her from Byakko as he regulated the natural chakra. The girl stepped out of the shadows and with a flick of her wrist, broke her katana blade with lightning, still in two tails and wearing a feral look with yellow slitted eyes and canines protruding from her mouth, she had blue and red chakra lightning sparking around her and challenged Skylar with one look. Skylar sheathed what was left of her katana and stood at the ready, facing the girl with determination.
"Skylar-sama, can I suggest you don't do this, your friends are close by." Byakko said, looking into the darkness by a fallen tree.
"They'll be able to regulate their chakra as lightning affinity people… Push up the power to full, let's blow her away." Skylar said with a smirk as both of them turned it into bolts of lightning, red, blue and purple mixing together dangerously close.
"Don't sister!" Two girl voices called out but it just seemed to egg her on and throw all she had at Skylar and Skylar retaliated, huge sparks of yellow met in the middle as the chakra collided, the sound was worse than a pile on exploding above you, the power was so deadly. Two powerful bolts collided and exploded, sending the two girls flying backwards. Kuro and Kiiro grabbed their sister mid flight and ran for it while Skylar threw a senbon and dodged the explosion and ducked until it calmed down.
"Dammit!" Skylar snarled, punching the ground, looking around, not finding the girls but she found her teammates and smelt blood, heavy blood and began running for them and skidded down next to Sasuke holding Kakashi who had a deep slash across his lower abdomen. Skylar worked quickly as she unzipped his flak jacket and pulled his top up and began healing him just to close the wound for now.
"What the hell was that?" Sasuke finally questioned.
"Three jinchuuriki's loyal to Kabuto, also having the sharingan making it worse… we need to get back and report this but Kakashi's in no state to move right now. Let's find camp quickly so I can finish with this wound." Skylar said placing gauze across the wound and roughly bandaging it for now and Sasuke carried him bridal style. They reached an area and Skylar lay out Kakashi's sleeping bag and Sasuke set him down and went to get clean water for Skylar as she removed the bandages, quickly made a rough fire and burned the old bandage and continued healing.
"How's the pain?" She asked as she furrowed her brows in concentration.
"Not to bad surprisingly… When did you learn medical jutsu?" Kakashi asked hoarsely with a slight wince.
"During my training… didn't you think I spent to much time in the infirmary?" Skylar asked rhetorically with a smile at him. He eye smiled and Skylar could see how pale he was. "So what happened on your side?" Skylar asked as she reached into the water Sasuke just brought for her and sat down on the other side of Kakashi.
"The girl I was fighting had the lava style and fire based attacks, she set a trap for me and I jumped right into it." Kakashi explained as he winced when she cleaned him with the small cloth.
"Blondie had wind attacks and reminded me of how Naruto fights." Sasuke said.
"How old do you recon they were?" Skylar asked.
"Fifteen at the most, perhaps younger." Kakashi said as he sat up with Sasuke's help as Skylar began bandaging.
"All three of them are jinchuuriki, I suppose you didn't talk very much during your matches?" Skylar asked at the shocked expressions and they shook their heads as a 'no'. "The one I was fighting was named Gin of the niibi, emo girl is Kuro of the yonbi and blondie is Kiiro of the nanabi. That girl likes to brag and she went into the cloak form of her bijuu, she's also a lightning nature. and the sharingan that she could activate and deactivate… How the hell they ended up with someone like Kabuto, I don't know." Skylar said as she removed Kakashi's jacket and shirts and reached into his bag for a new shirt for him and put it on him carefully. "Get some rest, I'll keep watch with Byakko here." Skylar added as she leaned up against the tree by Kakashi and sighed as Byakko released her sage mode and became tangible again.
"You should also get some rest Skylar-sama, you're pretty worn down, I don't mind keeping watch." Byakko said with concern after Sasuke and Kakashi had fallen asleep.
"I'll stay awake but please keep watch if I do fall asleep." Skylar said, looking down at herself and discarding her destroyed gloves and began healing the cuts and bruises on her body with the little chakra she had left. Byakko curled up next to her and put his head in her lap as she watched the two sleeping, Skylar began to over analyse things again about the mysterious three girls. She vaguely remember shouting 'sister' but that could mean nothing as they could just be really close like sisters, obviously being young enough to have a bijuu sealed into them… Why does Kabuto want her or a sample of her blood and what did it involve the jinchuuriki. She kept running through everything the girl did and said.
She had grey hair, black eyes with the active sharingan, she used lightning techniques and even knew the Chidori, is a jinchuuriki to the niibi, had a cocky attitude and never backs down from a challenge. The black haired girl has the yonbi, lava style and fire jutsus and the blonde has wind jutsus and the nanabi but why did they seem so similar to people she knows, even nearly felt like them but… different, not a cause by the bijuu they housed. Kabuto must have tricked them some how like Orochimaru did to people all the time, like sensei like student.
Skylar's mind was so tired that she fell asleep thinking up the possibilities in her dreams as she scrunched her eyes at the light hitting her eyelids and opened her eyes. Kakashi was even paler in the light but still looked fine as his breathing was steady and he lay still, Sasuke looked a bit uncomfortable though as he twisted to get comfortable. Skylar was still pretty tired but she would be fine until they could rest again as she stood up and grabbed Sasuke's shoulder but he shot up and whimpered in pain as he gripped it. Skylar got down next to him and unzipped his collared shirt and carefully slipped it off of his shoulders and noticed the huge cut and it was bruising badly all over.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Skylar asked as she forced her over worked mind to concentrate on the healing.
"One was enough for you to work with and worry about plus, it didn't hurt that badly last night." Sasuke said with a bit of embarrassment.
"Still, I wouldn't have minded, I may be tired but we need wounds like this taken care of quickly so it doesn't slow us down, especially if we get into another fight… Get yourself cleaned up and I'll bandage it so it won't strain it too badly and I'll wake Kakashi up." Skylar said as she finished the healing. Sasuke stood up and zipped most of his top back on and moved to the near by river he got water from the night before as Skylar moved to wake Kakashi up, clean and redress his wound, dress Sasuke's wound and get moving back to Konoha again.
The journey back to Konoha took the group just over a week with Kakashi and Sasuke's physical state and Skylar's mental state as her mind couldn't stop running, having been awake for most of the trip back. Now they had just arrived in Tsunade's office and she looked at the state they were in.
"I take it the mission didn't go very well?" Tsunade asked.
"It was okay, not a complete failure however we ran into Kabuto's very powerful friends." Skylar said.
"Explain." Tsunade asked calmly as she linked her fingers together and held them up by her mouth.
"We very quickly came across information that Kabuto was working with three girls… We got close to following and capturing Kabuto but to my mistake, we lost him. Just over a week ago, the three girls ambushed us and attacked us." Skylar explained, handing Tsunade a drawn and coloured in picture of all three of them. "I fought the grey haired girl who took on the demon cloak of the niibi up to two tails with a lightning affinity and… The sharingan, which she can both activate and deactivate and her name is Gin. The black haired girl is jinchuuriki of the yonbi and uses its lava style and fire jutsus her name is Kuro and the blonde named Kiiro is a wind natured and jinchuuriki for the nanabi, all aged between twelve and fifteen and extremely loyal to Kabuto, which is how I came across one pissed jinchuuriki." Skylar explained and Tsunade's eyes were wide and shocked with worry.
"Are you telling me Kabuto has the secret to the sharingan and three powerful bijuu under his hand?" Tsuande asked with restrained anger.
"Yes." Skylar said and in a flash, Tsunade's table was smashed in half. Skylar and Kakashi both flinched at the cracking noise it made as Tsunade removed her fist and was chewing on her thumbnail and looked out over Konoha.
"He also wants me or my blood for some reason." Skylar added and Tsunade turned back to her with a furious look.
"What?" She hissed.
"The girl, Gin, I was fighting tried to stab me with a syringe senbon and threatened to take me back with her half alive." Skylar explained and swallowed under the killing intent Tsunade was letting loose.
"Great at a time like this… The Kages want another summit but they want both you and Sasuke to plead your cases, they're not letting shit pass through easily after the Akatsuki, Gaara has agreed to back you up with me but as for A and Ohnoiki, they can be stubborn bats sometimes and Mei might be a bit forgiving but I can't promise anything. And with the council poking their noses into things they shouldn't as well…" Tsunade stressed.
"So things aren't looking to good right now… Let's deal with one problem first… The Kages, we need to clear our names first then handle the council then take out Kabuto and the girls." Skylar said soothingly and tried to stifle a yawn and Tsunade turned to worry right away.
"You're right, the Kages can wait a few days while you recuperate then we'll talk in more detail about this… What injuries have you sustained?" Tsunade asked.
"Sasuke has a dislocated shoulder and a cut to it and Kakashi suffered a deep gash on his lower abdomen." Skylar explained, stifling another yawn and wiping the tears away.
"And you Skylar, you look worse than these two?" Tsunade asked with worry.
"I had a few cuts and bruises and I used quite a bit of chakra after the fight and healing these two plus I haven't been able to sleep… To busy… (yawn)… Analysing everything." She explained and shook her head and wiped the tears from the yawn away again.
"Okay then, take these two to Sakura, she's on duty and then go home and get some rest. Then go to see Shikaku to help you focus on your analysing. Dismissed." Tsunade said with a fond smile. Skylar nodded her head and dragged her two teammates with her to the hospital and left them in Sakura's care as she dragged her feet and yawned as she began walking home.
She finally made it, dumped her bag down and went to the shower and sort of cleaned herself as best as she could without falling asleep and dressed in a jaytee and underpants before she fell onto her bed, asleep instantly.
Skylar wiped the drool from her chin as she woke up with a pounding headache that always happens when she doesn't sleep enough and after she's been stressed for a while. She messily dug into her bedside table draw and pulled out some painkillers and reached for her bag she dumped at the end of her bed and took out her water bottle and downed the painkillers before falling limp, holding onto the bottle over the side of the bed.
"I'm not cut out for this kind of shit." Skylar groaned into her bed as she dropped the bottle down onto the floor carefully and twisted again as she got back under her blanket to sleep some more. She nearly fell asleep again when there was knocking at her door, remembering Kakashi was still at the hospital, Skylar shouted that she was coming as she got up and pulled on some shorts and dragged her feet to the door with a yawn. She opened the door and she instantly gave into the warmth that had surrounded her protectively.
"Mmm, I missed you." Skylar said sleepily into Naruto's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Missed you too. I heard it was a tough mission." Naruto said, steering them inside and closing the door with Skylar still attached.
"Yeah it was… News gets around fast huh?" Skylar said in sleepy sarcasm. Naruto toed off his shoes and picked her up and carried her back to her room and lay her down again and her eyes finally opened. "What time is it?" She asked, feeling a little more awake now.
"It's eight in the morning." Naruto told her as he sat down next to her on the bed.
"Wow, never thought I could sleep that long… Lay with me for a little while?" Skylar asked sweetly as she held out her arms and Naruto smiled as he took off his jacket and lay next to her and she instantly lay her head on his chest as his arm wrapped around her. "So what have you been doing?" She asked as Naruto played with her tangled hair.
"Some pretty easy and normal missions… I'm surprised Tsunade-obaa chan sent you and Sasuke on such a mission so early when you got your sight back and up and going again. Especially with Sasuke back and trying to gain the villages trust again." Naruto added and Skylar hummed in agreement. "You can't go back to sleep again, Tsunade-obaa chan sent me to fetch you so come on." Naruto said, sitting up with her as her eyes opened tiredly.
"Right, rough day ahead." Skylar mumbled as she got up and stretched and left towards the bathroom and dowsed herself with cold water that woke her up and she got dressed and Naruto escorted her to Tsunade's office and excused himself to meet with his team.
"What can I do for you Tsunade-sama?" Skylar asked as she entered the office.
"Kakashi and Sasuke are on light duty for a few days and have been released this morning. I want you to visit Shikaku this morning to help with your analysing abilities and then you have a lesson with Iruka… I talked to Kakashi and Sasuke about your state and it seems your still not 100% fine yet so you'll be placed on light duty until the summit one week from today, we'll be leaving in five days time so be prepared, Sasuke has been alerted of this as well… It looks like you didn't sleep at all last night either." Tsunade pointed out worriedly.
"I'm still a bit tired, I made it straight home after the meeting and slept right through until Naruto woke me up, I'll be fine after a while and I'll get some more sleep after my lesson with Iruka." Skylar promised.
"Alright then, just take care of yourself, you'll need your wits about you against the Kages, dismissed until five days from now." Tsunade instructed. Skylar gave a slight bow and left for the Nara complex and bumped into Shikamaru.
"Whoa Skylar, you look like shit." Shikamaru pointed out and Skylar gave an annoyed pout.
"Thanks, is your dad here, I've got a meeting with him I guess?" Skylar asked him.
"Yeah, he's relaxing in the shogi room, see you later." He said, walking off again. Skylar sighed and followed his chakra signature and sure enough she found him in the shogi room.
"Shikaku-san?" Skylar asked into the room and he looked up from his game and smiled.
"It's good to see you again Skylar, ready for your lesson?" He asked and Skylar reluctantly nodded and moved to the other side of the shogi board.
Kakashi and Yamato both entered Tsunade's office with concern at why the meeting was called and stood at attention and waited for their Hokage to speak.
"Kakashi, Yamato, thank you for coming on such short notice." Tsunade said.
"No problem especially when it concerns Skylar." Yamato said with a smile.
"Kabuto is after her and will stop at nothing to get her and we'll be travelling to the summit in five days, I have no doubt in my mind that if these girls are as powerful as you said that he wouldn't avoid attacking a summit for her, I want both of your teams to come with and…" Tsunade hesitated.
"And?" Kakashi urged.
"And if things go… wrong, I want you to get Skylar and Sasuke out of there and run, the world needs the girl, rogue or not, we cannot let her die just yet, I place my bet on her being the key to something bigger." Tsunade said and Kakashi and Yamato flat out agreed, she was like Naruto, someone the world needed again.