Chapter 7
(On the way to Konoha)
Tsunade, Kushina, Naruto, Hinata, Hikaru, Azure and a group of 30 Panther warriors were leaping towards Konoha to help their fellow Zoanthropes.
'If those bastards hurt one hair on their heads, I'll show them the demon they claimed me to be!' Naruto thought.
Similar thoughts raced through the minds of everyone in their group, save the Panther warriors since they had little idea of the 'who's who' in Konoha. They continued on their way and were only a couple miles from the village, when they were stopped by a group of ROOT ninjas.
"Halt!" one of the ninja said.
"What is this?" Tsunade asked.
"By order of Danzo and the Konoha Council, you are to be taken into custody at once!" the ninja said without any hint of fear in his voice.
Oh, so unwise.
"Let's go." Naruto said with a smirk.
The group suddenly transformed into their Zoanthrope forms and leapt at the squad of ninja before they had the chance to react. Tearing them up and leaving them, they team left for Konoha.
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(Konoha's fight)
Kenshin and TenTen were in their beast modes taking out anti-Zoanthrope and council-hired ninjas along with the others.
Kenshin gripped his large forging hammer and slammed it into the ninja, knocking them back. But he was so distracted by this that he didn't notice a group of ninja that attacked TenTen from behind, wrapped her arms tightly against her body with bolos, and started working her over before their leader approached her with a grin on his face.
"You got 3 minutes to tell me where the demon is." the leader said.
Though slightly injured, TenTen just started to chuckle. At this the leader was confused.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
She lifted her head and had a demented, bloody smile on her face.
"Did you say '3 minutes'?" She asked as a screeching was heard overhead.
The ninja looked up as a huge griffin swooped down and slammed into the ninja, killing the two that held the hawk-girl down and swatted the rest away with its claws. The griffin turned back into Kenshin as he grabbed the apparent leader of the group. Whether it was fear or desperation, the man lashed out and punched Kenshin in the face. The big man didn't even flinch, as the ninja leaders hand broke in five places. Kenshin then rammed his fist in to the man's chest and pulled out his heart. The man's eyes went lifeless as he watched his heart beat stop.
"Thanks's dad." TenTen said once she was free of her bonds.
"Any tyme, sweetie." Kenshin said.
Just then, the pair looked over and saw Musaka was in trouble, surrounded by ninja who were trying to overwhelm him.
"DAD! FASTBALL!" She cried, jumping into his arms. Curling her up into his right hand, he spun around in a tight circle and threw her like a baseball. She flew at blazing speed to where Musaka was and unfurled her wings in mid-flight, slashing down two of the attackers with incredible quickness.
"You have my gratitude" the Falcon samurai said and the pair were soon fighting side-by-side.
Across the way, another battle was taking place.
"Should we have called for reinforcements?" Inoichi asked as he kicked down another ninja.
"It would have served little purpose." Taicho said as she slashed down another ninja. "Everyone that could be called is here. We simply have to hold out more than we can."
"If we die.... I just want you to know...." he started to say, catching a thrown ninja star.
"I know." she said, deflecting a kunai with her sword.
"Really?" he asked. "Cause I was going to ask you out if we won this fight." he said, throwing the star back at the ninja who threw it, catching him in the forehead.
Taicho looked at Inoichi in surprise, even though she knew that his wife had been dead for nearly a year now. She smiled as she replied. "I would be honored." and went back to fighting the ninjas.
Anko and Tsume, in their viper and wolf Zoanthrope forms, were fighting harder against the almost endless hordes of fearful villagers, and even Ino, also in her tiger form, had gotten caught in a steel net by a squad of ninja.
She was about to be cut down by the ninja who caught her.... when a golden streak flew in and struck down the ninja holding her.
Ino gasped as she looked up and saw a humanoid kitsune standing on a tree branch looking down at her. He was dressed in a yellow trench coat over a tight black shirt, black leather slacks and boots. He was glowing gold, his nine tails was waving wildly.
Is that.... Naruto? She questioningly thought. Though Tsume and Anko had told them what Naruto now turned in to, it was a bit of a shock to see the figure in person. "Naruto?" She asked as he looked at her with a grin. He then leapt down and attacked the other ninja who were shocked to see so the new arrival.
While Naruto took care of the ninja, a female panther rushed over and freed her.
"Who are you?" Ino asked as soon as the panther had cut her free of the net.
"It's m-me Ino-c-chan." the panther said.
"Hinata-chan?" the tigress gasped, recognizing her speech pattern.
Once freed, the pair looked over and saw that Naruto had already defeated the ninja.
"Come on! We have to find our mothers!" Naruto said and took off.
"Right!" Hinata said, taking off after him.
"Your mothers?" Ino gasped and followed them.
Meanwhile Kushina, Tsunade, Hikaru and Azure were tearing through ninjas and ROOT members while 30 Panther Warriors were aiding the other clan members, such as the Takeuchis, the Kinzous, the Yamanakas and the Kintoboris.
It was because of the small gap in the quartets defenses that two things happened.
1-a certain emo-ninja with a kunai leapt into the fray to try and kill Azure from behind, only to have Hikaru jump into his path and take a stab wound to her arm. And 2-Danzo had shown up, sword gripped tightly as he lunged at the cheetah Zoanthrope from behind, ready to kill her.
"DIE DEMON!" Danzo shouted as his sword was aimed squarely at her back. However, before he reached the cheetah woman, he saw the Uchiha fly away from his target before he himself was body-checked into a tree, his sword taken from his hands and jammed into his shoulder, pinning him.
"You Tried To Kill My Mother! Die You Pathetic Meat Sack!" the golden fox snarled as he fiercely brought his claws across Danzo's neck, beheading him.
Within mere seconds of Danzo's death, the battle was finished. The remaining ninja and villagers had been routed. It was right then that Jiraiya and the members of the Ninja Council arrived with the captive Civilian Council members.
"Sorry we're late. Had to wrap up some important business." Jiraiya said to the Zoanthropes.
The tightly bound members of the Konoha Council were surrounded by the Zoanthropes and the few good ninja, while Tsunade reverted back to her human form, staring them down all the while.
Before she could speak, (or in her case 'shout') a battalion of red armored warriors arrived.
They were the Fire Lord's Knights.
Jiraiya and Tsunade walked up to them.
"Hokage-sama?" the lead knight asked.
"That would be her." Jiraiya said, pointing to the blond hokage.
"Yes, Captain?" Tsunade asked.
"Battalion Epsilon, reporting!" the lead man said with a salute. "We're here under orders from the Fire Lord to arrest the Konoha Council, on charges of assault, attempted murder, and conspiracy to overthrow the current Hokage."
"Too bad they couldn't arrest them for hate crimes and being a bunch of cowards." Jiraiya muttered under his breath. "They're right over there." he said, pointing to the tied up council.
While the Fire Knights were taking the council into custody, Naruto approached their leader.
"Excuse me, sir?" he said to the man.
"Yes, Master Naruto?" the Fire Captain replied.
"I was wondering, may I keep his head?" he said, holding up Danzo's decapitated head by the hair with his left hand, "and arm?" he said, holding up said appendage with his right hand.
"That's a highly unusual request. Why on Earth would you want to keep his head and arm?" the man asked. "Not as trophies."
Naruto removed the bandages revealing the Mangekyou Sharingan in his head, as well as all over his arm.
"That's gross!" a human Ino gasped, meaning the eyes and not the decapitated head and arm part.
"Very well. We'll let you keep the head and rip out the eyes in the arm." the Fire Captain said.
"Thank you. I don't want them to get into the wrong hands." Naruto said.
However, as Naruto started pulling the Sharingan out and putting them into a scroll he had with him, a rather irritated emo-ninja approached the group.
"I demand you give me your power and those Sharingan, or I'll-urk!" Sasuke started to rant, only to be cut off when a human Naruto grabbed his throat and lifted him off the ground easily.
"In case you didn't notice, Sasuke, the mood has changed." Naruto glared hard at the Uchiha. "The council is no longer around to kowtow to your selfish demands. And I have no intention of giving you what you haven't earned. Especially after you tried to knife several of my friends during the fight against Danzo and his cronies." he said, turning Sasuke to the right to reveal a slash-mark across his cheek. "Who do you think gave you that mark?"
(Naruto had actually struck down Sasuke with blazing speed after he and Hinata had saved Ino)
"It was you?" Sasuke gasped.
"You'll stand trial with the council for your betrayal of this village, and it's defenders." Tsunade said as Jiraiya came over and placed a seal upon the boy.
"There! Your chakra powers are sealed. Makes you as harmless as a newborn babe." the Toad Sannin laughed.
It was just then that Hinata came over to Sasuke, and punched him hard in the face, causing blood to gush from his nose.
"That was for hurting my mother, you selfish coward!" Hinata spat before going back to her mother.
Naruto handed the boy over to the nearest Fire Knight and went back to sealing up the Sharingan eyes. While he was doing that, Hinata was tending to her mother's wound.
"It's just a scratch, dear." Hikaru said while Hinata gently bandaged the kunai wound. "You don't need to fuss over it."
"Would you do any less for me?" Hinata asked, resisting the urge to turn into her panther form and lick the wound.
"I am sorry, my lady." Azure bowed to her deeply. "It was my fault. If I had been more diligent..."
"Azure, stop." Hikaru said. "You did your best, and that is all I have ever asked of you. Especially in the middle of a fight. I was just out of shape. It's been years since I was in a good fight. This was my fault, and I will hear no more of this. Understood?"
"I.... yes, my lady." the panther knight said with humility.
Naruto finished up his sealing of the Sharingan before he turned to Tsunade and Jiraiya.
"So.... what do we do now?" the foxy ninja asked.
"We assemble the clans, and have one final meeting." Tsunade said.
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Once all the mess had been cleaned up, Naruto and the others talked to the Zoanthrope members of the village, making them an offer to come and stay with them in the Kingdom.
This included The Takeuchis, The Kintoboris, The Kinzous, and Ino Yamanaka.
Tsume had told her clan that she was planning on establishing a home in the Kingdom and if they wanted to come with her they could. They agreed, not wanted to leave their 'pack leader'.
Hiashi was temporarily reunited with his wife, who was overjoyed to see the rather dour-looking man. It was much of a surprise to both Neji and Hanabi that Hinata was a Zoanthrope that Hanabi wondered when her powers would develop. Hikaru was naturally shocked to find out about Hanabi, and Hiashi had to explain that situation to everyone, that she was actually the daughter of a branch member who Hiashi had adopted after her widowed mother died.
As a result, Hanabi had the traits of a Hyuga, but not that of the Zoanthropes. This naturally made the younger girl upset.
Taicho had decided to send her son and most of her clan ahead of her so as to establish her family in the Kingdom while she remained in Konoha to oversee the well-being of the other Zoanthropes. This plan was mostly two parts, since she wanted to make sure the Zoanthropes had a representative, and because she wanted to spend time with Inoichi who had made her a rather nice dating offer.
A representative from the Kingdom, a wolf named Yugo, actually came to Konoha and together with Tsunade announced that they now had a pact between the village and kingdom.
Naruto was made a Chunin of both the village and kingdom, and then announced his retirement from the village in order to commit himself to the Kingdom and the Zoanthropes. The ninja council had agreed to this, and bid the group a good farewell once they were all packed and ready to go.
As for Tsunade, she continued to leave the running of the village in Jiraiya's hands, as she decided that she needed to take care of some things in the Kingdom, as well as help oversee Naruto's training alongside his mother and Anko.
But it was Naruto who actually took pity on the Ero-Sannin and told him the secret to defeating the dreaded paper work. Two words: Kage Bushins!
Jiraiya screamed at not being able to have figured that out by himself.
TBC