Author's Note:

Heyo everyone, sorry about the lateness. I had actually completed this on Sunday (22/03/15) but due to my schedule I could not edit it sooner.

Before we begin I need to address the recent flaming my fanfic has recently received. I honestly had been expecting it to have happened chapters ago, but it is now an issue I must address. Well, issue is a bit of a strong word, but I digress. The most common complaint is by Narutards who don't like their characters being manhandled. The reality of the matter is that the naruto characters are not that strong and in comparison to the Mugiwara, it's a very unfair match up. What I ask of you is to read my fic to the end before making snap judgements. If not, then please stop reading.

Thank you all who have been supporting this fic, and Happy belated High Feast of Ostara/Spring Equinox. Enjoy.

Pirates vs Ninjas: Battles of Love and Will Chapter 7: Hoist the Colours! Konoha Falls!

The sun had just broken over the horizon of Konoha, spilling its golden light over the still sleeping village. But while the villagers still slept soundly, their leader was wide awake. Or at least as awake as she could be given the fact she had been without as sleep for over 24 hours. Tsunade had had many intense shifts in the operating room during her time as a medical ninja, and especially when she was active during the many wars her country had taken part in. The stress of having as many as a dozen or more wounded ninjas with injuries varying from simple breaks or sprains, to life threatening nightmares that required quick meatball surgery in less than ideal conditions, would break even the most weathered medics.

Yes those had been hellish nights for her, but they felt like graveyard shifts in comparison to the past two days. The stress of having to deal with an unknown enemy with an unknown purpose in their midst, with most of them in custody but their leader at large with one of her village's heirs as a hostage, and she had said heir's clan running wild trying to find her, was beyond aggravating. To make matters worse, she had the second most powerful if not THE most powerful jinchuriki in tow, but one of Konoha's most notorious traitors Uchiha Sasuke as well.

While Killer B would be stable for now, she now had to deal with the pressure of dealing with Sasuke, as the council was divided on whether they should execute him, or pardon him to ensure the Sharingan would remain in the village's arsenal. Tsunade did not have any true knowledge on weapons, but she knew enough that a weapon that had a reputation to backfire was not a weapon worth having.

But for now she had to focus on the task at hand. She was making her way to the secret head quarters of the ANBU, a location so secret that only a small handful of officers knew of it; excluding the 300 elite ANBU agents that lived and trained there. The ANBU had been the secret army of the Hokage since before the founding of the very nation of Fire. They had been the eyes and ears of Konoha's leaders for generations, and if need be, their hands. It was here that war prisoners and other A-rank and above prisoners would be housed and interrogated. And in conjunction with the ANBU, was the Torture and Interrogation Force.

The TIF was as well known as the ANBU, but just as little was known about them. While the average ninja could spy, track, and even kill their targets in several ways, torture was not in their arsenal. In fact, most did not have the stomach for it. That was where the Torture and Interrogation Force came in. Whenever information was needed from sources that were not so forth coming, a trend that was becoming more and popular these days, Tsunade had to call on their services.

Although their leader Morino was not that terrifying of a man despite his profession, the knowledge that the TIF focused entering on extracting information with less that clean methods, made them an unpopular bunch. Nevertheless, they were good at what they did and Tsunade hopped that they would not fail her now, especially with Morino himself interrogation the green haired swordsman.

At the "front door" of the ANBU head quarters stood an ABUN agent to the right and a TIF agent on the left. They bowed in unison when Tsunade approached them and both turned to face one another allowing their leader to enter. Inside the HQ, Tsunade saw the familiar iron and wood interior that smelled both humid and damp, but clean and sharp. It was another thing that both the ANBU and the TIF were good at; never leaving any evidence.

The Godaime Hokage made her way through the base until she reached a particular holding cell; Morino personal torture chamber. It was known that Morino liked to sometimes torture certain prisoners personally and would spend a great deal of time "dealing" with them, even for days if need be. How the man could pass every single psych evaluation test she did not know, but she had the papers to prove it and she knew they were not forged.

As she neared the holding cell, the door opened to reveal the leader of the TIF. Tsunade was about to ask him what information he was able to extract from Roronoa Zoro, when she looked at the middle-aged Jonin more carefully. He breathing heavily and sweating profusely, and dare Tsunade say it, there face a look on his face that looking like fear.

"What happened? Did he tell you anything?" asked Tsunade rushing to his side. Morino shook his head and took a few deep breaths to steady himself.

"He did not Hokage-sama. I did everything I could long into the morning, but he never once broke" he admitted before looking at his Hokage right into the eyes. "Hokage-sama, there is something wrong with this man. He stared at me with eyes I have never seen before. Never have I seen eyes that pierced my very soul and make me feel as if my life was about to taken from me. His eyes are that of a man that has killed many and burn with the flames of a thousand fires. Hokage-sama, this man has the eyes of a demon bond in human form."

Tsunade stared at Morino with eyes wide. She had never heard or seen him like this before. How could a simple swordsman beat Morino at his own game? It didn't even seem feasible but here he was, shaken and nearly afraid. And then she heard laughter.

"Sorry for not breaking..." came Zoro's voice from inside the torture chamber. "I've been told I'm too hard-headed for my own good."

The middle-aged woman entered the cell briskly to look at the man who was taunting her and froze for a moment when she saw him. Zoro was bound to a metal chair that was bolted to the floor with his hands chained behind him to the chair itself. His shirt was torn and thrown aside revealing his blood soaked body. While he was covered with blood from many new wounds, the medic nin could see he had many scars that were as old as 10 years. He was used to pain and knew it like an old friend, but what stood out the most to Tsuande was the large scar that ran from the top of his left shoulder all the way down to his right hip. She had no idea what caused such a deep would but if she had to guess, it was from another swordsman. Though what bothered her was that it was so perfect and deep that she could not even image the man or the sword that gave him that scar.

"Damn you..." she hissed with a fist clenched tight, "How could Akatsuki have a member so loyal and resolute?"

Zoro looked at her with the eyes that Morino spoke of. "If someone questions loyalty, then that person has no idea what loyalty is" he said.

The Hokage's jaw tightened at those words as they were two degrees off from what Hiashi had said the previous day. Without hesitation, she dashed at the young man and punched the wall to his right distorting it horribly. "Listen to me you damn brat, you will tell me what I want to know!" she threatened. "Where are you from, who are you, and what is your mission here?"

To her horror, Zoro merely yawned.

"Don't bother trying to scare me. I already got a damn demon woman I have to deal with every day and she's far more terrifying. Now if ya don't mind, I'd like to get some sleep since that annoying old git kept me up all night" he said with his usual deep frown.

The two sleep deprived drinkers stared each other down right in their eyes before finally Tsunade was the first to look away.

"Morino!" she shouted at the torturer. "Take him back to his cell. We're done here." And with that, she left the ANBU head quarters no wiser than when she first entered. She had no other option but to continue to rack her brains to figure out what was really going on in her village, before something terrible happened.

xXx

Back in the holding cells of the ANBU headquarters, Nami sneezed awakening her from her less that pleasant night sleep. Her other crewmates were also waking up and like their navigator, none of them had gotten much rest. But who could blame them?

"Where's Zoro?" asked Chopper finally, seeing that their first mate had yet to return from his interrogation. But the rest of the Straw Hats were just as clueless as their doctor.

Suddenly, the door to the cells opened revealing a pair of ninjas carrying a blood soaked Zoro who looked barley conscience. The Mugiwara jumped up in horror as the ninjas opened the door to their cell and pushed the greed haired swordsman in. Usopp managed to catch him before he fell to the ground and quickly laid the man on the floor gently.

"Zoro! Daijoubu?!" he shouted trying to wake his friend.

"Move out of the way!" cried Chopper running to Zoro's side. "Oh no he's hurt really badly. Please, give me my medical bag or any medical supplies. If not me then send someone to tend to his wounds!" he begged the agents.

"Urusei bakemono!" shouted back one of the ANBU agents before slamming the door closed. His words struck a deep cord in all of the Mugiwara as they knew what it meant to Chopper. Usopp took it even worse than the others as he bolted at the door of his cell and grabbed the bars.

"You bastards!" he shouted at the ninjas, but he had no idea if they even heard his words. The rest of the crew looked at their doctor but were unsure of what to say to him when he didn't look up. Thankfully it was finally Chopper himself who broke the silence.

"Help me clean his wounds and make sure the bleeding has stopped" he said. They all nodded and began helping him though it was not an easy task without the right tools. "His wounds aren't life threatening but I need to bandage them. Do we have anything we can use?"

The crew began to check if they had any clean material for the doctor to use. What they didn't see however, was their cook removing his double-breasted coat and unbuttoned his shirt.

"Here, use this" said Sanji holding out his shirt in front of Chopper which made him look up at the blond-haired man. Chopper as well as the crew knew the intense rivalry he and Zoro had, mostly resulting with both of them fighting and a lot of bickering. While they knew both men respected one another and would fight till the end for each other despite their fighting, it was still surprising to see the "ero-cook" acting this way.

"Arigatou Sanji" thanked Chopper taking the shirt and began to rip it carefully into strips.

"Don't mention it" replied the cook adjusting his suit and handing Chopper his tie. "Just don't tell him I did this or I'll never hear the end of it."

The reindeer nodded and swiftly got to work. Sanji looked down at his rival and saw the state he was in. He'd seen the swordsman take a lot of damage during their voyage and it always amazed him how he just kept on going. But these weren't wounds gained in battle, these wounds were caused by torture and had nothing honourable about them. As much as he thought that Zoro was too proud for his own good, and this was one of those cases, Sanji still felt that he deserved better than this. And why was he allowing himself to be tortured? Because he was following his captain's orders.

Sanji gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Fuck!" he shouted spinning around and punched the wall as hard as he could with his right fist. The crew froze. Sanji threw a punch. He had never done that before. In fact, Sanji had a very important reason to why he never threw punches and why he fought with a kicking fighting style. As a chef, his entire life revolved around his hands. If he broke them in combat which could lead to them being permanently damaged, his life as a chef was over. So for him to punch the wall, meant he was beyond angry about what happened to Zoro.

"Damn you Luffy..." cursed Sanji under his breath. The first time Sanji had met Luffy, he had no faith in his ability to captain a ship and a crew. But after sailing with him for this long, he knew that as much of an idiot his captain was, he knew he could handle himself and look after the crew. This time however, he had no idea what Luffy was doing. They had given up without a fight, they were now in custody, and Zoro had been tortured for information. What the hell was he thinking?

Then from the other side of the cells, came the same low sickening laugh.

"Not so high and mighty eh you green haired bastard" mocked Sasuke with an arrogant smile.

Faster than the eye could see, Sanji sent a power kick at his cell door causing a loud metallic bang to ring throughout the holding cells. Amazingly it didn't blast off its hinges but it did bend the door to hell with a few of the bars stretching out like a rusty knife.

"Shut your fucking mouth you piece of shit!" growled Sanji, eyes burning with anger. Sadly with his eyes covered, Sasuke could not see the damage the cook unleashed and imagined he only kicked the cell door hard.

"He brought me here to collect my bounty, and then he gets betrayed and tortured" the Uchiha continued. "This place has many secrets and they are willing to do anything to keep those secrets hidden. Feels great doesn't it?"

Sanji gritted his teeth and was about to kick through his cell to beat the every loving crap out of the traitorous nin, when a wheezy voice stopped him.

"Oi...why are you getting so worked up Ero-Cook?" said Zoro. The rest of his crewmates gasped that he had awoken and huddled around him to ask him questions.

"Don't waste your breath Marimo. Take it easy."

"Pot calls the kettle black. Don't worry about small fry like that brat cuz it ain't worth it" Zoro replied. He was breathing heavily and sounded very tired, but his eyes showed that he was still quite alert. The swordsman then looked down and recognized what his bandages were.

"The hell is this Ero-Cook? You worried about me?"

"Don't flatter yourself asshole" shot back the cook with a smile. "I need a good laugh every one and a while so I'd rather keep you around. Don't get used to it."

"Same here. And what's this you throwing punches?" said Zoro smiling back "You stupid? I don't need to deal with a starving captain. If you thought he was hard to deal with now, try when he hasn't eaten in a day." Zoro couldn't help at laugh his own joke, but it caused him to start coughing.

"Zoro! Don't talk, just rest!" cried Chopper making sure that none of his wounds had opened. In the cell opposite them, Nami watched the entire scene but didn't say a word. All she could do was cover mouth with her left hand, and beg for Luffy to come back and save them. She didn't need to have faith in her captain, she HAD to have faith.

xXx

"Report" demanded Tsuande from behind her new desk.

"We are sorry Hokage-sama" said an ANBU agent with a dog mask. "We have not been able to locate the leader of the invaders nor have we found the location of Hyuuga Hinata."

"Damn it" growled Tsunade tightening her fists, making the ANBU member ready to leap out of the way if she began throwing punches. She was not in any better mood than she had been this morning. Roronoa Zoro had not buckled and given them any information. Uchiha Sasuke who had been interrogated shortly after Roronoa had been returned to his cell also told them nothing, much to the irritation of Morino. The downed teams had been found but it would still take them several more hours before they returned to Konoha and giving her the reinforcements she needed. And finally, she had to keep tabs on several loose cannons: Killer B, Naruto, and the Hyuuga.

Thankfully Killer B remained in his hotel room, granted to him by Tsunade herself; though she did not have much of a choice. Naruto too seemed to be staying put in his apartment and had not come to bother her about Sasuke. The same went for Sakura who was being confined by her order in the hospital. And lastly, the Hyuuga were still running around Konoha and the surrounding area for their missing heiress. Tsunade secretly had a soft spot for Hinata as she was a rare flower in the world of ninja. She was genuinely kind and just as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside. If she had been born to a house of simple folk, she would be leaving peacefully and enjoying life like a regular young woman her age.

Instead she was the heiress of Konoha's most stubborn clan, second only to the Uchiha. This made the main reason why Tsuande had a soft spot for her less realistic. Hinata had genuine feelings for Naruto, and for a boy who had never been loved by anyone, it was a god send. Unfortunately he was more interested in her student who was more interested in a violent and dangerous traitor. It drove Tsunade insane sometimes when she saw how imperfect this perfect storm was.

And then it hit her.

The red-haired girl. She had been found inside the Hokage building whereas the rest of her associates were out in active combat. Why was that the case? What was she doing here? Was she looking for something? These questions needed to be answered.

"Shizune!" called Tsunade loudly, and in a heartbeat Shizune opened the door of her sensei's office.

"Hai Tsunade-sama!" she said politely.

"About the red-haired woman that Genma captured. Do we know why she was inside the building?"

"Ano..." mumbled Shizune as she flipped through the pages of her clipboard. "According to Shiranui-san, he found her trying to escape after defeating Sakura. After we had her in custody, her personal affects as well as those of her associates were sifted through and we found a map taken from our own Map Room."

"A map?" echoed the Gokdaime Hokage confused. "Why found they need a map? Are they lost?" Tsuande frowned as she once again had more questions than answers. She began to think aloud to make sense of the new information she had been given. "She was in the Map Room to find a map which means she was either lost or trying to get a layout of the village for an attack. But the skeleton swordsman claims that he was only trying to find directions so it is possible that they were lost. Are they even members of Akatsuki then if that's the case? They operated for the most part in two man teams just like Akatsuki but they aren't wearing the cloaks or rings that the rest of the members do. Could they be extra hired mercenaries then?"

"Well they aren't in any Bingo Book" added Shizune flipping through her clipboard. "I received a replied from both Mizu and Tetsu. The office of the Mizukage claims they have never seen Roronoa Zoro before and have never heard of such a sword style. Amazingly enough Tetsu also replied back to us and, forgive me Tsunade-sama, they merely laughed at us and wished us luck. And when we are finished with him they would like us to give him directions to Tetsu."

"Of course they would say that" sneered the Senin looking at Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui that lay on her desk. "So no one has heard of them?"

"No, I'm sorry to say that neither I nor our spy networks have found any information regarding any of these people. I'm sorry Tsunade-sama."

The Godaime leaned forward in her chair with her finger interlaced, placed under her nose. "No information about them whatsoever...who are they?" she said quietly. The two medic nins stayed quiet for a few moments as they both thought on what options they had left. It then came to Tsunade.

"Shizune..." she said getting her assistant's attention, "Bring me the red-headed girl.

xXx

"So it really was an 8 foot tall skeleton swordsman that attacked you?" said Tenten in amazement.

"It was more like 9 feet actually" answered Temari "But yes it was."

"All of this sounds so unbelievable" said Choji.

"Yeah, but you'd think that after dealing with legendary demons, lab monster created by Orochimaru, immortal beings, and other otherworldly events, we'd be unimpressed with this" said Shikamaru taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Including that weird Tanuki thing" added Choji.

"Tanuki?" repeated Gaara, his ears perking up.

"Ya it was really cute" said Ino.

"It does not matter" cut in Neji, "They are going to Konoha and we have to go there now."

"We would if these idiots would hurry up" half-shouted Temari so that the rescue team could hear her. "We camped out instead of pushing onward at dawn."

"We should leave right now!" said Lee standing up, but winced immediately in pain and fell back onto his seat.

"Don't move like that Lee!" scolded Ino walking over to him. "I just set that arm."

"What I do not understand is why did that creature not kill us?" asked Gaara with his arms folded. "And not only that, why did he carry us out of the dessert to safety?"

"They aren't bad people!" defended Lee. "I know you are all having trouble believe me, but I am telling you that it is true. We need to get back to the village as fast as possible or else something horrible will happen."

"Will you all shut up!?" shouted Kankuro with a brush in his hand. "I'm trying to fix the scroll that skeleton fucked up!"

"We've got more important things to worry about Kankuro!" Temari snapped back. "I'm going for a walk."

The group continued to talk amongst themselves for a short while as the older kunoichi walked away. However, the only one who did not speak was Shikamaru, who was more focused on the now missing Temari. He waited a little longer before leaving the group in search of the young woman, which earned him a slightly cocked eyebrow from Gaara.

It wasn't long before he saw her resting in a tree, looking into the distance.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked finally.

"It's the 3rd time you've ask Shikamaru" she replied a little more harshly than she intended. "I told you I'm fine. And why are you so worried anyways?"

The Nara heir looked away to hide the slight blush in his cheeks. He was racking his brain for a different answer than the truth. What could he possibly say instead of admitting something that he knew she would laugh at?

"Well...we're friends aren't we?" he finally managed, looking up with a frown and blushing even more. "Friends worry about each other, right?"

Temari looked at him in surprise. He had never acted like that before and she could not help smiling at him being embarrassed. "Well if that's the reason..."she said sliding off her perch and walked towards him. Shikamaru refused to look at her for fear that he would crack under the pressure. She paused to stare him down for a few moments which started to make him sweat. A grin began to spread across her face.

"I never thought I'd say this...but you're pretty cute when you try to act like a man."

The shogi prodigy's cheeks flared up immediately, but before he could say anything, Temari kissed him on the cheek. He stared at her in confusion as she walked past him back to the group, but didn't turn round which did not allow him to see her blush as well. He instead brought his hand slowly up to his cheek and touched where she had kissed. He smiled.

'She's the most bewitching woman I have ever met' he thought.

Back with the group, they were still debating on what course of action they should take.

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Choji.

"We head for home" said Shikamaru from behind them. "Grab your gear. We move now."

The group immediately rose to their feet, relieved that someone had made the call. Of course their rescue team was not so happy with their decision.

"You will stay here until we get new orders from the Hokage" said one of the Chunin.

"Not anymore" said Neji coolly. "I outrank you, therefore, I order you to move out of our way."

"In any other case yes, but for this special situation I answer solely to the Godaime Hokage and her orders are for us to wait until further orders are given. Do not make us detain you for disobeying those orders."

"You can try" said Gaara calmly, sand spiralling around his raised right hand.

The chunin, as well as his associates took a step back. "Y-You will be charged once we return to the village! You must know this?"

Shikamaru took a step forward and looked him in the eye before pushing past him.

"If there's a village to go back to."

xXx

"How are you feeling Zoro?" asked Chopper. "I wish I had some painkillers to give you."

"Don't sweat it. I'll live" replied the first mate.

Suddenly, two ANBU members entered the cells grabbing their attention.

"What happened to the cell door?" demanded one of them.

"What do you want?" asked Sanji in a less than pleased way.

"We need to take her to the Hokage for questioning" he answered pointing at Nami. "Now what happened to the door?"

The cook's eyes sharpened like a kitchen knife. "The same thing that's gonna happen to your spine if you even lay a finger on her you piece of shit" he growled. The ANBU stepped back feeling his killer intent fill the room and they could have sworn that they saw the aura of his rage around him. Then from the entrance, Shiranui Gemna walked into the holding cells rubbing the back of his head.

"Why am I always the errand boy?" he asked himself aloud. "Please calm down sir. We only want to speak to her and she will be speaking to the Hokage directly in her office."

While he was speaking the truth, Sanji was not having any of it. "I don't believe you and I'm gonna fillet you all" he snarled back.

"I believe you."

"Sanji-kun, it's alright" spoke up Nami, surprising everyone. "I'll go with them. I have a feeling that they're telling the truth." The rest of her crew looked back at her worriedly, but Nami returned their worry with a look of reassurance. She then noticed Robin was giving her a nod of approval, confirming her suspicions.

Genma nodded himself at the navigator and had one of the ANBU unlock the door to her cell. Silently, the four of them left the remaining Straw Hats alone in their cells once again. Why did they feel that something was going to happen?

xXx

It was not long before Nami and Tsunade met face to face. They quickly looked each other over as their brief encounter did not allow them to evaluate one another. And they were surprised by what they found. Nami had not expected the leader of the village to be a woman; especially one that did not look like a combatant. Likewise for Tsunade, she was surprised by Nami's appearance. While she was having her doubts that these people were Akatsuki agents, she had expected that at least she would have looked like a fighter. But if she had managed to sneak into the Hokage building, then it was more likely that she was a stealth centred character.

"You wanted to ask me some questions?" said Nami firmly.

"Yes. I would like to know what you were doing in our Map Room" replied Tsunade calmly.

"Just trying to find my bearings. I needed to directions" answered the navigator honestly.

"So instead of asking for them you broke into my office?"

"I did ask around and no one seemed to have the information I was looking for."

"And you broke into our Map Room and then knock my student unconscious?" repeated the Hokage incredulously. "That is how you chose to get information? I'm finding this a little hard to believe."

"Says the woman who ordered my friend to be tortured for information" shot back the red-head angrily.

"Fair enough" admitted the Senin, "But when the security and safety of my village and country are at risk I have to take appropriate measures. Especially when the threat of a terrorist attack by the Akatsuki organization is at a constant. I hope you understand."

"Are you expecting me to take that as a worthy apology?" asked Nami is angry disbelief.

"No, but I'm hoping you'll take it as the truth for why I did what I did" shot back Tsunade who was growing angry herself. "I don't know who you are or what your purpose is, and I have yet to get even the smallest sliver of information. No one has heard of you nor has anyone heard of anything even remotely related to you. I have enough to deal with as it is and another band of warriors attacking my men is not making it any easier."

"Brook fought back in self-defence and didn't kill anyone!" defended the navigator.

"Yes I know. I've received confirmation that all of my men as well as our allies are alive."

"They why have you detained and tortured us?!"

"Because your leader, Monkey D. Luffy-Taichō, has kidnapped one of my kunoichi and heiress, Hyuuga Hinata!"

"Senchō" corrected Nami. "And I don't know why he has one of your men but he wouldn't just kidnap someone." 'Then again...'

"Senchō?" repeated Tsuande confused. 'He's a sea captain? So they are from Mizu? But if that is the case, why would they be so far from the sea?' Now she was even more confused. Just who were they?

"Tsunade-sama" said Shizune entering the Hokage's office. In her hand was a file folder and handed it to Tsunade. "We've received a strange report from the east coast. I honestly thought it was nothing and it could wait until things have been taken care of here, but then the photographs arrived and I think it's relevant to what is going on."

Tsunade opened the folder and began looking over its contents. Nami tilted her body just enough for her to see a few of the photos inside the folder and her eyes widened when she saw one of them. It was the Thousand Sunny!

The Senin flipped through the pages of the report detailing an abnormally large ship anchored in the bay not far from the former Land of Whirlpools. She didn't understand the importance of this report, until she noticed the flag that was flying atop the main mast. It was a skull and cross bones wearing a straw hat.

'They're pirates?' Tsunade asked herself in disbelief. She had never heard of pirates operating in Hi no Kuni, let alone pirates that sailed on ships of that design. What was going on here?

Suddenly, a massive explosion sounded across the village.

"What the hell was that?!" shouted Tsunade. Before she could get her answer, the war siren began to ring once more and made her feel the same dread that she had felt when this all began. Was this finally the end?

Next Chapter: Kaizoku vs Ninja.