A DIFFERENT GENEALOGY
ACT XI
~ THIS IS A RESCUE? ~
"Can we be certain she will have any effect on him?" Jirobo asked the medic.
The plan, they had learned of upon call to Orochimaru's quarters, made sense and would undoubtedly benefit Orochimaru if it played out the way they intended. That was if it played out though; there were no guarantees his team-mate could create the desired reaction from Sasuke even if it worked out.
"Konoha prides itself on its policy of encouraging relations between its ninja; unity is what makes them such a strong village, but we can use that to our advantage. Whilst another village wouldn't hesitate to ignore our threat, Sasuke will not," Kabuto explained.
"More that that, the Jinchuriki's hold on Sasuke is stronger than most, far stronger; it wouldn't be a long shot to say they were… like family. It is that strong bond that will grant me the power I need" Orochimaru chuckled, at his words and at the raised eyebrows of his four loyal drones.
"Permit me your ears a while before you leave"
Sasuke whirled around and flung a kunai into the darkness behind him.
"Who ever it is stalking me, get out her right now before I start throwing fireballs!" he yelled in an irritated voice.
His grandparents, surprised by Naruto's disappearance form their home, had insisted on sending him over to her flat with some of the Senbei from the shop. He knew Naruto wanted some time by herself to think things over, but you couldn't really argue with his grandparents when they looked so worried. He had resolved to simply knocking at the door, explaining, and then leaving.
As he had made his way through the village though, he'd felt eyes on him. And not the usual ones belonging to his hordes of stalker-girls, but eyes that emitted feelings of nothing but trouble. The bad kind of trouble.
He was proven correct when two figures shot out form the darkness, one landing in front, and one behind him. A kunai in each hand, he glared at the two-headed guy, then the large man behind him. He recognised them vaguely as two of the [people who had supported Orochimaru out of the village after the invasion.
"I don't care what you have to say; I have no interest in going to that disgusting snake" he spat at the two-head.
"Oh, you know what were here for? Seems you aren't so stupid after all, but if you think you have a choice in coming with us, you're sorely mistaken" two head grinned viciously.
"all I have to do is flare my chakra to signal level, and there'll be twenty ANBU within the minuet; I'm not stupid enough to think I can beat you, but I can certainly put up with you till they arrive" Sasuke growled warningly.
He hated being such a coward, but if these guys were Orochimaru's helpers, then there was a fair chance they were high Jonin level. Sasuke still could not get a decent hit on Kakashi when he put his book down, and Kakashi was a pegged future Hokage, even if he had not gained the position this time round.
"You might want to rethink that statement brat," a new voice stated, landing down on his right.
It was a redheaded girl, and she had an unnervingly smug look on her face, and was carrying something in her left hand, but the night time shadows hid the object itself from his view.
"You don't want anything bad happening to your little girlfriend do you?" she held up her hand and opened her fingers.
His blood boiled cold as the obnoxious yellow locks fluttered to the concrete of the pathway. Not even thinking of the consequences, he lunged at the redhead as black marks spread angrily across his skin. The burst of power was addictive certainly, but all he cared about was using everything in his arsenal to pound these snake dogs to the dirt.
No one had been stupid enough to try to touch Naruto in the academy - partly her own reputation, but mostly his. And that was when they were friends. When they started dating, no boy had dared come within ten feet of her when he was around except those from his own graduating class, but this was not the academy, and they were not simply dating.
Naruto was his sister. His younger sister and these sick fuckers had attacked her. He hoped that killing these people would not pose any problem for their new Hokage, but even if it did, he could care less. They were definitely dead; and if they did not die, he would give them to Itachi. He had no doubt anything Itachi could shell out would be twice what he could.
The power the cursed seal gave him was evident, and he began to think that maybe he could actually get rid of them as he pounded his fists, threw fireballs, and launched shuriken towards each of the three in his rage. Things went downhill when two head fatty and bitch activated angry seals of their own - different to his, but undoubtedly as equally powerful.
He was slammed into the pavement by the fat guy, and kept down by a massive hand around his throat. He did not bother to consider how demeaning it was to claw at the mans hand; he remembered there were four of them, which meant one of them was still with Naruto somewhere, and as much as he trusted her to get herself out of trouble he would rather be on hand top help.
"I told you it wouldn't work you fucking idiot!" the redhead yelled at the two-headed man.
"Not my idea, Kabuto's, you got the seishingan pellets? We'd better force one of them into him now"
Sasuke had no idea what Seishingan pellets were, but he definitely did not want to find out. The name sounded bad enough, never mind swallowing on of them. He clawed more viciously at the hand around his neck, trying to kick his holder off him.
Said captor was a rather large heavy man though, and his efforts were rather useless. The redheaded girl pried apart his jaws, and he tried clamping them on her hand, but she had brute strength to rival Ino and Naruto combined (and together those two could last against Choji for at least a few minuets longer than he could).
The two-headed man shook a small black pellet from a bottle, and with the redhead's aid managed to drop it into his mouth. A disgusting taste washed over the roof and back of his mouth as the thing began to mix with his saliva, but he refrained from swallowing. The brute girl kept his jaws closed, preventing spitting it into her face, and he two-head pinched his nose closed to block of all his airways.
If he was to breathe he was left with no choice but to swallow, and he figured he'd just deal with whatever happened, since Naruto would resurrect his soul then kill him again if he let himself be killed by a sound ninja (he didn't entertain the idea much himself). He regretted it as the almost instant scorching fire charred his bones, blood, his entire body.
Then everything turned black.
Kidomaru stared at the frizzy-haired blond strung over his shoulder. Mumbling seemed to have been coming from her the past few minuets, and he could not do with having her wake up. Then again, she seemed to be dreaming something, so it was not too bad.
New eyes stared at the chaos taking place around them; red liquid, chunks of flesh and bright bone were perceivable amongst the destructed buildings, not that the eyes watching new that was what they were to be called. A howling roar deafened fresh ears, and the wind rushed past on equally fresh skin, a feeling of flight emerging from the sensation, bangs crashes, and more voices - two new ones this time.
"You don't have to do this sonny; surely you don't want to leave her an orphan? Jiraiya could do it, or Hizuren!" a gargled, wet, grim voice stated - it was loud, nearby, but the eyes couldn't find it's point of emission.
"I know that, but… what kind of village leader would I be if I let someone else take my place? Besides, she wont be an orphan; she'll have Kushina, Fugaku, and she has three older brothers to look after her! I'll bet anything that old priest will keep an eye out too…" a second voice replied, from above this time.
Eyes glanced upwards and a bright spiky colour met them, and two smaller dots of a different brightness glanced at them. They glittered with something, a wet something. A cry wailed out when another roar echoed through fresh ears.
"Say that like you meant it will you Minato?" the gargled voice from below intoned loudly.
A loud roar crashed over the end of the wet-sounding words, and those bright dots looked down again, dribbling. Another loud roar, and the feeling of flight re-emerged, and the strangled young cries increase in volume to match the crashes around/.
"Gimme a break Bunta! I don't particularly want to say it!" the yellow voice yelled at the garbled one, before turning the bright dots back to the new ones below them.
"With any luck, you'll never reach eight tails of chakra, so I'm going to take this time to apologize for what I'm doing to you. Though if we do meet again, you'll probably kick me in the nuts for this anyway!" white teeth grinned down as the dribble of liquid splashed onto unsullied wrinkled-pink cheeks.
There was a brief crushing sensation, and the red swirling eye received a closer view of the spiky yellow brightness. A dampness on skin. A small hand reached up, crying ceasing to a lower register as it grasped the bright yellow.
"I'm so sorry Naruto, but there's no other way. Just stiffen that upper lip for Daddy okay? This won't take long, I promise!" larger fingers unwillingly unclenched the hand, before something was drawn on the infantile stomach with the red liquid.
"Forgive me… Reverse summoning: Flying Thunder God Technique!"
A roar of a giant beast was heard before a different kind of flying sensation was felt, and a dimly lit black room appeared. The howls were distant now, but still noticeable over the chatter of
voices - more unfamiliar voices talking nonsensical words.
"Make sure she's in the centre of the seal Deidara! If she's out by so much as a millimetre it won't work!" a soft, but orderly-harsh voice commanded.
"I know mum!" red eyes turned to meet pale-coral blue ones and movement was sensed. A tiny hind reached towards a different yellow, not quite as bright as that before, grasping towards the long strands.
"That's my hai-Ow! Mum, get her of my hair, yeah! Ow! Ow!"
A pair of rough, gentle hands removed the grip.
"Go sit down so you don't get in the way Deidara"
"Yes Mr. Uchiha" a pouting tone emerged from the less-yellow mass before it disappeared.
A bark - a dogs bark - penetrated all ears loudly.
"That's Tsume's signal! It's starting!" another unfamiliar voice stated.
Nothing for a few moments, then it appeared, large, pale, and hulking with a knife between its teeth. On one hand, it dragged a writhing red transparent mass, the figure forced it forwards, and then there was fire. Horrible burning fire, twisting, unrelenting and agonizing.
Another pair of red eyes watched for a few moments before orange blocked one, and they twisted into the air.
He stepped up his pace, egging the ninja behind him to keep following. He couldn't tell, but he was certain it would be the unconscious girls team-mate, that meant shed have used that telepathy Kabuto warned him about for back up.
Catching sight of the village border he stepped up his pace once again, ignoring the mumbling from the girl on his shoulder till she twitched in her sleep; a sign of wakening. He pulled a sedative hypodermic from his kunai pouch and forced it into the girl's veins, via one of the arms hanging over his shoulder.
The sedative was strong enough to knock out an elephant for a few days, but there were no taking chances with Jinchuriki. Their demons bolstered their immune system, and any foreign substances or poisons were worked through rapidly. He did not want her waking up, and this would keep her out of their hair of several days; it gave them more than enough time to reach the border between Rice and Fire Country.
Or somewhere she could prove her usefulness once and for all.
"What?! Naruto?!" Kiba asked, stumbling enough for Akamaru to near slip from the position on his head.
"Ino's following them now, you up for it?" Shikamaru asked.
"Do you have to ask?! I though you were a genius! Have you gone to Sasuke yet?" Kiba asked, grabbing sandals from the shoe holder by the door, pulling one on, and hopping out as he pulled on the other.
Shikamaru frowned.
"That's the thing; I went to his grandparents place to call him up, but his Grandma said he'd hasn't come back from Naruto's. I've looked all over the village, and I even asked Teuchi, but I can't find him" he replied, turning down the street at a quick pace.
"Think he's already gone after them? Hey, isn't this the way to the Aburame compound?" Kiba asked, noting the landmarks and shops.
"I'm calling up Shino - and no, Inoro went straight to the Hokage after Ino contacted them"
"Speaking of boar-head, why isn't he here?"
"Broken arm in the invasion, and not enough medics to heal it quickly" Shikamaru droned, stopping outside the Aburame compound and talking to the high-collared watcher.
Kiba considered all the facts he had so far and couldn't help but feel something was off about the whole thing; Sasuke had always had some sort of sixth sense when it came to his girlfriend, long before the term could be used on her. It was by no means on the Yamanaka level, but it was more than just a 'bad feeling', so his absence was glaringly abnormal to the boy.
Lifting Akamaru from his head, he brought the dog to the ground.
"Go sniff around for Sasuke, boy; I'll meet you at the gates if you can't find anything. Come get us if you pick something up while Shikamaru hires the rest of the troops! Go!"
The small dog yipped acknowledging before scuttling down the street, nose glued to the cobblestones.
Ino felt a feeling of dread wash over her as she caught sight of the ninjas forehead protector; the musical not was a sickening sight, not helped the mocking, triumphant smirk on the weirdo's face. Sound, as in Orochimaru. They were not after Naruto at all, they were after Sasuke! Now she was too far from the village - having chased the man since the small hours of the morning - to contact her brother!
What on earth was she supposed to do?! On the one hand, Naruto was clearly in need of help, and on the other the rest of the sound entourage were likely just as far away with Sasuke, if things had gone their way. She hoped someone noticed something was off before they all came chasing after Naruto; she would likely need a bit of backup, but if Inoro had told the Hokage properly, then there would be a whole squad on the way!
Gritting her teeth, she pulled out one kunai from her holster, and flung it towards the sneering man. He dodged easily, flinging her friend to the earth to allow a proper battle. He lunged towards her, and she dodged just as easily - she had a team of two Sharingan users! Dodging this guy was easy compared to when Naruto and Sasuke fought her all out.
A long hard needle shot from his mouth and she quickly swerved out of the way. She did not like the odds that that was a one-throw shot at all, and considered all her options. The man had left a kind of sticky gungy substance on her leg as she dodged him the first time, and avoiding that was probably in her best interests until she could figure out what it did.
Mind transfer was completely out of the question right now; she couldn't hold anyone off for any lengthy period of time with it just yet (further highlight how suicidal it had been to use it on the snake man), and it would leave her vulnerable to his companions should they arrive. The mind-body disturbance… it took up half her chakra in a single shot.
Ino cursed her lack of variety; she could use a shadow clone a few times, but other than that, some pretty lame illusions, and he fists she had nothing! Damn it, why couldn't she have some kick-ass techniques like that Hokage lady, or even her team-mates?! The though of the new Hokage brought an image of the fight that had played out between her and Naruto prior to the creation of the bet, particularly the woman's strength… Sasuke had said something about pushing the chakra out of her fists…
Ino gave the six-armed man a shit-eating grin ash she lunged towards him.
"Akamaru said what?!" Shikamaru asked, voice raising perhaps an octave.
"There are two trails for Naruto, and Sasuke's scent is with one of them but it's a fake! Ino isn't following him, but she's got a strong smelling guy in her direction; Sasuke's scent has three strong ninja with him but Naruto's scent is so faint its like he just came into contact with her for a while before she disappeared!" Kiba replied waving his hands in the air.
"I don't like the sound of this" Neji grumbled, frowning in concentration.
Shikamaru couldn't help but agree with the older boy; that meant Sasuke had run off, he was dealing with two kidnappings at the same time, or Naruto had run off. In any situation, it was not a positive outlook. Kidnappings, ninja's gone rouge, and the presence of enemy ninja were not welcome thoughts.
"I hate rescue missions…," he complained lowly, unheard by the gathered Genin.
"Can you tell what village theyre from?" Choji asked.
"Akamaru just says there was a lot of snake in their scents; it grossed him out a bit" Kiba replied, an affirmative bark from his young dog.
Snakes. Great, snakes meant Oto ninjas. Oto ninjas meant Orochimaru. In Shikamaru's book, Orochimaru meant a god damn troublesome pain in the rear-end. He had gone against Oto ninjas before, and they were far from being pushovers; they weren't even on the pushover scale.
"Shikamaru, didn't Inoro say something about that Orochimaru guy doing something to Sasuke? He was complaining about it because Ino tried possessing the guy or something else stupid like that…"
Shikamaru stiffened at Choji's words and all his other theories flew out of the window. This was not a kidnapping, it was a diversion! Sasuke had been the target all along; Naruto was just a form of insurance. No doubt, Sasuke had objected top that but the fact his trail left the village meant he had been overcome by the other ninjas.
That meant he had a rescue attempt to accomplish in two different directions with four Genin (six if he included the already pursuing Ino).that meant splitting up; he couldn't let Ino handle the ninja who had taken Naruto by herself, but he needed all the help he could get with those who had taken Sasuke.
Never mind that splitting up was one of the worst situations to be found in, who on earth was he supposed to send without knowing of the enemies capabilities. He wished Ino had been a little more specific with the details. He didn't expect a biography, but something on the one she was following would have been helpful.
He could send Neji after her, but he needed the manpower he provided against the other three. Choji was no good for pursuing (there was no secret his tracking skill were barley above abysmal), he was immediately ruled out for sake of lead ninja scenarically going with the larger force, and he needed at least one tracking ninja to follow Sasuke's trail.
So, Shino or Kiba? Then again, he didn't know how much back up Ino would need. He didn't like the idea of loosing manpower, but someone would have to go after Ino and Naruto along with one of his two trackers. But who? He paused for a long moment, considering his options, before reaching a quick decision; he didn't know how effective it would be, but they were already a day behind, and time was of the essence.
"Shino, Neji, I want you two to go after Ino's trail and help her. Shino can use signal three to let us know when you finish up, and two if you need back up. The rest of us will join when we can later on, or vice-versa. This is a rescue mission now, so move wit that in mind; if you have to let the sound ninjas off, do it. Naruto and Sasuke are the priority," he instructed.
After checking their supplies, Shino and Neji sped off to the west after Ino, following the trail with the aid of Shino's minute exoskeletal residents. After forming a line up with the remaining two ninja at his disposal, they too darted out of the village - heading northeast. Shikamaru remembered with a sinking feeling geography lessons, and that northeast from their current location led to Rice Country, and Otogakure.
Ino balled her fists as she lunged at the spider-like ninja, gathering as much chakra as she could into them. She was by no means certain of how the technique was done, but when in doubt, improvisation was key. She pushed out her chakra in a short quick blast, and noted it didn't nearly have the same destructive force as that of their leader.
However, that was to be expected. It was good enough to create a small crater though, despite the burning skin on her knuckles; the expulsion of chakra and the impact on the earth had not fared well on her fist. She had seen worse injuries on her team-mates though, and was by no means going to allow them to steal all the thunder.
The man hurled spiked yellowish needles towards her, and she winced as one tore lightly into her side as she attempted to doge, he had fast accurate throws - disgustingly better than her own. Ino desperately wanted to scramble the mans mind to jelly, and gathered her chakra in her fists once again, moving a portion to her feet as well
More blows were exchanged, and she managed to cause something to crack in the man's shoulder (with one well-aimed kick) as she dodged the globs of sticky gunk almost completely (some spots still found their way onto her clothing and her short pale-straw coloured locks). This rendered on of the man's arms useless, but he was still left with five others.
'If I disable all his arms, he won't have anything to make those weird spikes with…' she thought to herself, panting slightly. The expulsion of so much of her (admittedly increased) reserves of chakra was catching up quickly, and she was no closer to finishing the man off. Her knuckles were in tatters from the impact on the rocky ground, but that wasn't quite yet a problem.
She lunged again, ducking to avoid a spray of sticky web from the man - there had not been many, but it made finding her balance difficult. It seemed to be made of the same stuff as the gunk on her clothing, and she didn't dare think what would happen if she landed on one of the nets. Her fist bloodied connected with the creeps' shoulder, and she heard a crack. He hissed loudly, and after backing up in could see another arm dangling uselessly.
'Yahey!' she cheered to herself silently, breath coming less easily after her last punch. She charged again, twisting her leg to crash it into the side of his head. He smirked, grabbed her leg in a deathlike grip with one of his supposedly useless hand. She felt the gummy substance emitting from his skin piercing her lower calf - thin needles sinking down into the bone of her leg and ankle as she was flung backwards.
Shikamaru frowned once again as Kiba's voice faded behind him; he had already left Choji behind withy the chakra-sucking fat guy in order to get this far. He seriously hoped that he would be able to catch up with the redheaded girl carrying the ominous feeling container soon. He didn't know what it was, but he was certain that whatever it did would be in Sasuke's disinterests.
Pausing to lay down several exploding tags with haphazard haste, He formed a series of hand signs and a plain clone appeared beside him. There was another poof of smoke as it took on a transformation before disappearing onto the undergrowth. It reappeared up ahead, under the guise of Naruto, much to the surprise of the redheaded girl. Closing up behind her, he formed the hand sign for the shadow possession technique with time bought by the clone, dodging the redhead's blows.
"What the hell? I knocked you out bitch!" the red head screamed at the clone moments before his shadow caught onto hers. The moment she froze, the clone grinned before dispersing into the air amidst a puff of smoke. Feeding chakra into his shadow, and keeping her in her frozen state, he quickly unhooked the casket from her back.
It was leaking ominous looking fumes.
The moment his shadow disconnected hers, he let fly a hurl of kunai with attached exploding tags, and received loud swearing in response from the Oto ninja. He funnelled chakra into one of the pre-laid tags with his foot, and more yells told him it had activated bang on schedule. His joviality was cut short when a sickly-looking white-haired ninja appeared on the branch in front of him.
"Shit; I miscalculated" Shikamaru grumbled as the new ninja threw a red-ink exploding kunai into the air.
'Shit! He was just pretending after I got the first arm! I was careless!' Ino berated, aiming a punch onto her own foot. Her eyes widened when it did not shatter as it was supposed to. She tried again as he came down upon her with one of the larger yellowish needles, rolling to one side to doge before trying to release her foot once again.
Failing, she dropped the task, standing on her feet and ignoring the biting pain that shot through her every time she moved her foot. She had little chakra left, and could barley stand; it would be a good point for some back up to arrive. A loud bang somewhere to the east captured both their minds for a few moments; a red cloud of smoke billowed above the trees.
Dashing towards him as he was distracted, she decided to try something else; she sharpened her chakra as best she could to a fine point on the tips of her fingers, and pulled them directly over the mans face, aiming for his eyes. He dodged, and the thin points tore at the skin of his cheek and neck instead. As she was thrown back once again, the faint spots of chakra finally registered within her parameter.
Back up had finally arrived, the tiny flittering told her one was an Aburame and… a Hyuuga! Oh, this was perfect! She pulled herself back to her feet with a newfound hope; all she had to do was keep him from leaving until they arrived, and then she could get to Naruto. Before she could prime herself for an attack, the man slammed his hands into the dirt shouting something that sounded not promising.
A thick barrier erected itself over her, and one brush with her damaged hands was enough to send a current of lightning through her. Picking herself up from the ground blearily, she watched through the dim violet glow as the man threw a blue outlined exploding kunai up into the air (creating similarly coloured smoke) before turning to her unconscious team-mate.
He did not pick her up as she expected, but pulled out three needles containing clear liquid with increasing degrees of cloudiness. Ino gathered her chakra and pounded her fist into the barrier once again, feeling a small leeway before her body crackled with frizzy light once again. The barrier obviously wasn't that strong if there was a gap between contact and reaction; if she kept up her attack, she might be able to break out.
However, she could not keep her chakra punches up for ever. Physical attacks would have to suffice for now. She pounded the barrier, barley pausing to recover from the shocks it sent through her as she watched the cloudy substances being forced into Naruto's veins. She could feel the leeway getting larger.
A black ring-like mark was appearing around Naruto's neck, and Ino had no desire to find out what it meant or did. She increased he barrage on the barrier, throwing kicks into the mix. She let out a scream when her spiked foot made contact with the barrier, but it seemed to do the trick as the barrier burst and she collapsed to new dirt.
She struggled to a crawl position, strength sapped from her body, and glared at the new presence - a white haired freak carrying a giant bucket on his back. He took Naruto's stirring form from the spider-like freak, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Don't you dare you bastard!" she hissed.
"You can still talk? What is it with you Konoha ninja and the refusal to die? That's the same problem I had during the invasion"
"Konoha ninja are notoriously stubborn - it has to do with their religious beliefs I believe" the white-haired mad informed him calmly, turning his gaze on Ino.
The allusion the 'will of fire' struck a chord inside her, and she dug around inside the donkey pocket of her shirt, pulling a vial of a thin, watery - with an oily sheen - pale violet liquid. She broke the seal on the cork with a swipe of her thumb, and quickly swallowed the liquid.
It was something of her own creation, with aid from her father's medical neurology books, and her brother's team-mates - her cousins. After strenuous research she and Shikamaru had finally come up with a formula similar to the Akimichi Triple Threat pellets; greater power for a limited time, but with side effects.
For the moment, she referred to it as a Brain Juice Boost; increasing brain activity and forcibly creating substitute physical energy by increasing the mental energy to form pure chakra. She was still working on the mix, but even at its current level it had its side effects; once it eventually wore off, she would be trapped in a coma for days, possibly months from the neural and psychological damage.
Inoro had been the insistent guinea pig, and her father was under the impression he had come the wrong side of a botched interrogation technique. It was a feasible lie; she was nowhere close to understanding the first stage. Feeling her strength flowing back, her injured dimming in intensity, she pulled herself back to her feet and charged at the white haired man, sensing Neji and Shino coming upon tarantula man behind her.
He dodged her, twisting gracefully on the palm of his foot before darting in the direction of the border. He was faster than she was, but she could tell from his body movement he was in pain, maybe from an old injury. In a battle of stamina, she wasn't going to go down for two days without some serious chakra expulsion.
She'd run him to the ground. If she caught up to him before that though… There was a forbidden technique of her fathers she had been forced to swear would never be used on someone undeserving. She was itching to try it out, and in her book, the white-haired freak more than met the requirements.
Neji watched Ino breaking out of the barrier with one final enhanced punch - enhanced with her chakra. He could tell with the milky coloured bloodline that the hard yellow casing on her left ankle was sending pointed spikes from within into her limb. Her knuckles were bloodied, and there was evident damage from chakra to her finger bones.
He did not profess to know Ino very well, but he had heard talk of the female clan heir; while rather frivolous outside of the job, she usually kept a cool head. He had seen so observing the battle she had against her brother, and earlier in the Chunin exams against the sound ninja with her twin's team.
This Ino was far from cool-headed; he supposed that the sayings about the Yamanka Clan were right. Removing a pebble could bring down the whole mountain. Naruto and Sasuke were two of Ino's pebbles.
He watched, increasing his pace with Shino as she swallowed a liquid thick with chakra enhancers. The primary creator of the mental chakras glowed brighter almost instantly, and her depleted reserved rapidly began to increase. He did not know what she had just taken, but her pathways, almost drained before, were now drowning in chakra - different from the usual but looking more malleable to his eyes.
He and Shino tackled the man with six arms as Ino clawed at the white-haired one; Neji wondered how he was standing with his body in such a state but turned his focus back to the sound ninja. Even in the state she was in, Ino was fit enough to chase after and permanently deal with the sickly man.
Or rather, he was not suicidal enough to get in her way; she looked angrier than Hinata did during PMS.
"What?!" Itachi growled in horrified anger, dropping the head-hunting scroll in his hand to the floor of Tsunade's office.
The room, empty of anyone else, was covered by a shattered silence, and Itachi did not think to remove his mask.
"Ino used the Yamanaka telepathy to inform her brother yesterday; he came straight to me with the news of Naruto's abduction. Shino Aburame, Choji Akimichi, Neji Hyuuga, Sasuke and Kiba Inuzuka were dispatched to bring her back under the command of Shikamaru Nara yesterday morning. I'm awaiting relayed information from Shibi Aburame via his son's colony" Tsunade expanded her previous statement to the horrified Anbu.
Itachi blinked in surprise.
"Sasuke?"
Tsunade smiled.
"You didn't expect him to let someone else rescue your sister did you?" she asked with a smirk.
"How did you-" Itachi began; rather surprised she knew Naruto's exact relation ship to him and Sasuke.
Tsunade laughed.
"Well for one thing, Jiraiya was spying on them as they raided the medical record room yesterday afternoon. For another, I was the doctor who signed her birth certificate"
"She knows then?" he asked, no longer fazed thanks to the given explanations.
"more like deduced; the certificate in the records room was heavily edited to avoid other ninjas discovering her existence; why they didn't destroy it I have no idea, but it is not the
original. They figured it out thanks to your mother's death certificate, but theyre still looking for hard evidence," Tsunade explained.
"Why don't you just tell them?" she asked then, surprising Itachi a small amount.
"I promised my father I wouldn't till they were sixteen. I had every intention of breaking it, but now…" he left it hanging.
The Hokage gave him an understanding gaze before Shizune burst into the room with, in Itachi's opinion, an unusually frazzled Aburame clan member. Closer inspection revealed it to be Shibi.
"Shibi, finally! What's happening? I've already sent out an extra squad, but I'd love to know what were dealing with right now!" Tsunade greeted harshly, her tone turning to a business one.
The man gave Itachi a questioning look before shrugging it off.
"Shino just sent word to me with one of his females; Naruto's abduction seems to have merely been a diversion by the sound ninja to coerce Sasuke Uchiha, but he witnessed one of the abductors continuing on towards the border with her. Ino Yamanaka is injured, but in strong pursuit. Neji Hyuuga believes she has taken a forced chakra enhancer. The status of the remaining team members are unknown due to a necessary split up" he droned professionally.
Itachi's knuckles turned white; sound was the equivalent to Orochimaru. He knew why the snake man wanted Sasuke, but Naruto? She was of no interest to the man, even with her own share of the bloodline.
"Thank god I called up that extra insurance," Tsunade growled with relief.
Was the team on par with the Sannin themselves? He hoped so; Orochimaru had connections to Madara, close ones if his father was to be believed, but Orochimaru was not the type to blindly obey anyone from what he remembered of the man. In addition, from what his father had told him, Madara could care less if Orochimaru obeyed him or not.
So why Naruto?
He waited until Shibi was escorted out of the office before pulling of his mask and looking the woman square in the eye, pitting his request.
"Gather Kakashi Hatake, Tsume Inuzuka, and Inochi Yamanaka. I want all those kids back in Konoha before the night is out Itachi"
"As you wish Hokage-Sama"
Tsunade could have sworn she saw a smirk on Itachi's face before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
When Naruto awoke, she knew she was a long way from Konoha and that her kidnapping was about to take a sever turn for the worst. Something was boiling under her skin, she felt horrible, and it only seemed to get worse. She could feel the tags that drained her own chakra to keep her restrained on her wrists and ankles, and man with white hair was busy injecting a substance of some sort into the junction of her neck and shoulder. She could not see the colour, but she was certain it would not be good whatever it was.
There was an ominous chakra somewhere beyond her vision, but she was more focused on the seals being drawn on her neck with the man's blood. He did not look right, and if she sniffed, there was a faint smell of hospitals around him. Either he was a doctor, he was ill, or he was both. Whichever way, the shit was about to hit the fan.
"What the hell do you creeps want with me?" she hissed, trying to keep her chakra suppressed.
Not only would it help with getting the tags off her, but she could tell her reserves were low from the length of time they had been siphoning it from her. The sun was low in the sky; she had been taken long after sundown. Almost an entire day of chakra siphoning meant any chakra usage would come from the fox and in her current state that would be bad. She used her own chakra to hold back the fox, if they took too much she would not be able to rein it in if it emerged.
"Sasuke is very attached to you; in order to gain power Orochimaru-Sama insists that you be taken care of" he replied, administering another drug.
"Sorry, but I'm not following that; you kill me, and the Kyuubi goes with me" she protested.
He gave her a speculative look as he removed the needle from her neck, which did nothing to ease her curiosity or her worries. She really did not like the look he was giving her; it was as if he was amused by the whole affair.
"You do not know of it I see"
"Well duh bozo; I wouldn't be asking if I did now would I?"
The chakra oozing somewhere beyond her head was getting more portentous by the moment; what on earth was it? She hoped to god it had nothing to do with Sasuke, but she somehow doubted that was the case.
"Then I will give you a short brief before I go keep your mind reader friend occupied; to increase the potency of his bloodline, Sasuke is going to kill you."
I hate reading cliff-hangers, but god I love writing them! It fills the twisted and immoral part of my mind with tormented twisted happiness. Go throw your knifes at someone else! I will not give them back! I'm like the grouchy old man who lives in the creepy mansion who won't give back the football; you will never see your knives again. Capise? Good.
Hope you liked.
Nat.
xxx