Hello, Warhawk talons here bringing you chapter 8. Please continue to support the story by commenting and reviewing.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material used in the story. All source material is owned by its respective companies.
Tales of EMN 2
Chapter 8: End of the sand part two, Nowaki's New Power.
Demon Desert, One hour until morning.
Team 10 and 11 were still fighting Itachi mainly Lee, Neji, and Tenten trying to hit him.
Tenten was using a chinese dragon quandow to try and slice him but to no avail. Just when she thought she had a good swing at him he suddenly disappeared in motionless speed. Before she could register what just happened Itachi appeared right behind her. "Tsukiyubi." Itachi poked her with his index and middle finger and send her flying forward hitting the sandy ground.
"Tenten!" Lee yelled out. Using his advanced speed Taijutsu Lee went for a severe Leaf Hurricane. but even with his speed he was still unable to land a clean hit as what he hit seemed to be an afterimage and Itachi was just a few steps to his right.
"Hadō #58 Tenran." Itachi said creating a widening tornado-like blast that hit Lee with such great force that he landed next to Tenten.
"Hakuda and Kidō? He's more dangerous than I thought!" Neji using Blazing Fist his own personal Gentle Fist style Launched a powerful fire fist blast that was nearly able to hit Itachi.
Although he countered with a quick Fireball Jutsu creating a smoke screen. "Bakudō #63 Sajō Sabaku!" Itachi Summoned a yellow energy that took on the form of rope that tide around Neji and instantly appeared in front of him grabbed the rope and threw him with such great force that he landed where his teammates were at.
Sakura and Ino were staying back to observe the fight and waiting for a chance to strike. Both girls were speechless at what they just saw.
"So this is the strength of Sasuke's brother? I can see how he was able to give our Sensai's so much trouble." Ino said Impressed yet frightened.
"It's so frustrating to admit but there's no way I'll stand a chance against him. Even if we have a technique that can take him down it would be nearly impossible to hit him with that level of speed." Sakura said balling her fist in anger. "Calm down Sakura, Remember what naruto always says. Expecting the unexpected and find a way deal with it. Easier said than done, what was that other thing he always said? Wait... That could work?! Ino quickly use the telepathy jutsu I need to give a message to them."
"Oh, sure alright." Ino said snapping out of her pause.
Back with team 11 they managed to pick themselves back up as Itachi just stood there ready for whatever move they were planning next.
"Dammit! What's with this guy and his speed?! He's almost as much of a speed demon as Guy Sensai!" Tenten shouted in frustration.
"I'm not one to complain alot but it is frustrating being toyed around with." Lee said.
"And the worst part is he's still holding back. He hasn't broken a sweat or used any of his visual techniques." Neji said staring at the rogue Uchiha. Then he and the others were given a telepathic message. "Not a bad idea. What do you two think, should we go for it?"
"If It's a plan from Sakura then I'm confident it will work!" Lee replied.
"Any plan is better than no plan at all. Also there's a new technique i've been itching to try for a while and it'll take me sometime so do you boys mind keeping him busy?"
"No problem!" Both Neji and Lee said.
"It seems you have come up with a plan, I assure you it will be a fruitless effort." Itachi said.
Sand Village, Half an hour until morning
The battle between the two Sand beast was raging on. Shukaku and Black Shukaku were pushing each other as if they were in a sumo match but Black began to slowly push Shukaku back, however Shukaku using Black's momentum was able to toss him to the right knocking him on his back.
He then used the sand on the ground to restrain Black with sand claws and turned 1 of his owned claws into an axe hand and with a karate chop motion cut into black's chest getting a roaring screech of pain.
Using nothing but pure strength Black freedom self got back up and delivered a send spiky knuckle punch to Shukaku's head knocking him down. It then began charging a blue electrical ball of energy.
"We can't let that thing hit us no matter what!" Shukaku said inward.
"I know!" Gaara replied.
Using more sand hands from the ground they manage to pull black backwards so the attack ended upwards as it unleashed a very power full blast of electrical energy. After the blast ended Black seemed like it was having trouble moving.
"Wind Style: Infinite sandstorm devastation!" Shukaku and Gaara said As multiple mouths appeared on its sand body and with a deep breath unleashed a powerful gust of sand wind that was able to push black a great deal as a landed herd on the ground.
"Wow! The doll man got blown off his feet literally!" Larxene said from small mountainside she was observing from. "So far the one tails is holding its own which is no surprise but I am surprised no one from the village has made a move yet." Larxene looked at the village and her eyes glowed yellow for a bit before sighing. "I see, clever kid. Might as well inform the boss of the situation."
"I'm well aware of the situation." A voice in Larxene's head spoke. "It Appears that Sasory is enjoying this fight too much."
"Oh Pain, figure you be observing things. Well boss as you can see things are going smoothly so far except that little inconvenience."
"It Is of no consequence but what I'm most concerned is that Sasory is prolonging this fight longer than it should be. It's time to collect the one tails's power and to destroy the sand village. Tell him to end this, now." The voice of Pain said. "Also there's something I need you to do."
"As you wish sir." Larxene said as she instantly appeared on Black Shukaku's shoulder in a flash of lightning. "Hey Doll Man, you in there?! Boss just called and he wants you to get on with it!"
"But I'm not done testing my new power yet!" Sasory said through Black Shukaku. "I'll Finish him when I'm done showing the Kazekage and the sand village just how futile their efforts are as they struggle to fight me! Sooner or later the the ninjas of the sand will come to a there Kage."
"So that's what you're waiting for huh? Will I hate to break it to you but." Larxene began to explain something to him through a whisper.
"So that's it. I was wondering why it was taking so long but if that's the case then there's no point. After all a show nothing without an audience." Sasory said before looking back at Shukaku. "Very Clever Kazekage! Quite noble but foolhardy, Your father wouldn't have even considered doing something like this nor would any of the other Kazekages. But to think you would have the entire village evacuated."
"So he noticed." Gaara said as it was revealed that behind him the hidden sand village was empty. Before he and Kankuro left to go after Black Shukaku he called Alexander to bring his army to evacuate the entire sand village which they were able to do during the night. "I Wanted to make sure I could go all out without worrying about my people's safety."
"I see that, But now I have some good news and bad news for you. Good news is that you manage to save the lives of your people, But unfortunately there will be no home for them to return to!" Sasory said as he began charging another electrical blast Intending to aim for both Gaara and the village.
"This is bad! We need to dive under we can't let that hit us!" Shukaku yelled out.
"No Shukaku! We need a shield strong enough to defend ourselves and the village!"
"We can't do that! I can create a sand cocoon strong enough to withstand the blast but there's no way I can defend both us and the village at the same time! Even if I do that it would take too much Energy to do and we need to conserve as much power as we can for my magnet release technique attack. And What I've seen of the ratio of the attack the area of effect is massive so there is no way the village will survive a full hit, there'll be no trace of it left." Shukaku explained.
Gaara thought heard about this. "What If we use the technique now to intercept his attack before it gets close enough to us?"
"If we were to do that and our attacks collide It could amplify the effect of my magnet release but at the same time the massive power release will hit both of us. The village won't be Completely annihilated and this will weaken the Faker definitely, but we'll also suffer damage. I'm just crazy enough to do it but are you sure you want to?"
"Do it!" Gaara replied As they began to charge a ball Black ball of Chakra that had yellow stripes with black lines inward that resembled the lines of Shukaku. "Tailed Beast Magnet Bomb!"
Both Tunukis Launched their attacks at each other and when they collided a massive blast of yellow and blue electrical energy Ingulf the area around them.
Data World, the 5th day
It was the 5th day In the data world and Nowaki was right now standing In front of in front of an unconscious elephant, lion, and bull that were all quite big. They soon deteriorated into data particles as Nowaki fell backwards to sit feeling a bit winded.
"And that's the last cyber beast and I managed to beat them with Haki just like you wanted Kal'tsit. Man What exactly did you make those things out of?!" Nowaki yelled out in complaint.
"Quick complaining and be glad that you managed to beat them at all. Considering they were data spirit beasts the only way to beat them was through Haki." Kal'tsit said wearing her usual lab coat.
"But on the bright side your proficiency with Haki has improved greatly along with your other abilities as well." Amiya said.
"So does that mean I'm ready for Black Shukaku now?" Nowaki asked hoping for a positive response.
"We will konw after you take a nap." Kal'tsit said getting a confused look from Nowaki.
"Take a nap? But I'm still good to go another day. Just let me review my skills one more time then I'll take a short break." Nowaki requested.
"No, you reviewed enough and you been up all throughout the 5 days, you're spending the remainder of this day resting. Then on the morning of the sixth day we'll review then we'll let you out." Kal'tsit stated.
"But I." Nowaki said wanting to continue.
"Please Nowaki, We still have plenty of time before we reach the sand village, So it's ok to take a little break. After all we don't want you pushing yourself too hard out there." Amiya said walking over to Nowaki and getting on her knees and motioned for him to lay down on her lap. "Just take a nap and by the time you wake up we should be at the sand village."
Nowaki was a bit hesitant but he could feel himself feeling fatigued. "Oh alright you girls win." Nowaki said laying down on Amiya's lap. The moment he began to relax he found himself drifting off to sleep.
After making sure he was sound asleep Amiya looked at Kal'tsit giving her a serious look. "How close are we really to the village?"
"12 Minutes but I already gave Yato a message to let us out in 40 minutes." Kal'tsit answered.
"You set this data world to be three days an hour. So Every twenty minutes is a day in here. Since you're saying to let us out in 40 minutes you're going to have him spend the rest of the fifth and the sixth day here and let him out on a seventh day. You are aware things could escalate greatly in forty minutes."
"He's been training for 5 day straight, He'll need this half day and full day to rest up. Luckily it's hard to tell day and night considering we kept everything in daylight so he won't be able to tell the difference." Kal'tsit said.
"He's might be upset when he finds out."
"I know but I don't care, all that matters is that i'm not throwing him out there until he's one hundred percent ready." Kal'tsit said.
"Quite heartless that you would risk the sand village and the Kazekage's life like that." Amiya said rubbing Nowaki's head. "But honestly I probably would to have done the same considering I'm not too fond of the ninja villages myself while you flat out just hate them."
"True. If it wasn't for the fact that I see Nowaki as family I wouldn't have even bothered to help." Kal'tsit said coldly. "But enough talking I have something I need to discuss with someone, Just make sure he stays asleep." Kal'tsit said while walking off.
"Of course Doctor Kal." Amiya said before looking down at Nowaki with a loving smile and giving him a kiss on the forehead. "I Hope you rest well my precious master. Because no matter what enemies you make I'll always be on your side."
Demon Desert, Dawn
Back with Sakura and the other leaf ninja with her they were still fighting with Itachi was fighting Lee and Neji but was able to keep up with them.
He didn't use any of his Genjutsu mainly because Lee never made eye contact only focusing on his body language, Neji's Byakugan made it so he could his surroundings so he didn't have to make direct eye contact either.
Itachi took a look at the rising sun before speaking. "Morning already, Well I guess it's about time I put an end to this little scuffle."
"You call this fight a little scuffle?!" Lee replied angry. Neji for his part was noticing an X made of metal that just appeared in a puff of smoke. "Your right, It is time to end this! Now Lee!"
"Alright!" Lee yelled as he focused his Chi Into his fists and punch the ground unleashing a green wave of pleasure energy that if you look close enough took the form of a hoard of bulls. "Maximum Stampede!"
Itachi Quickly jumped backwards and used another Kidō shield and was able to block the attack mid air. Once he landed he landed on the X which summoned 5 white glowing chains. Itachi was able to speed his way out of it just by a few inches until he felt he couldn't move and was now restrained. Then from behind him Sakura's mental clone appeared and put him in a choke hold.
Itachi flipped over to sea the three girls of Sakura, Ino, and Tenten completing hand signs indicating they were responsible. "A trap hiding behind an obvious trap. You knew I would have instantly avoided it but I would be just distracted enough to noticed you two preparing to restrain me." Itachi said.
"Sometimes the most obvious traps make the perfect bait. Something I learned on my first team exercise." Sakura said through her mental clone as she was still in a meditation stance. "Now we have you as a prisoner and you're gonna tell us everything about what the Akatsuki are up to!"
"And what If I don't talk?" Itachi asked.
"This." Neji said getting Itachi attention as He held up what looked to be a fire spear and ready to throw it at him. "Now talk."
Itachi was silent for a moment. "Sorry but you just ran out of time, but I will give you a gift for your efforts, good bye for now." Itachi through sheer strength forced his way out of the hold forcing Neji to throw the fire spear piercing Itachi as he fell on the ground.
Everyone was shocked obviously of what the older Uchiha did. "I can't believe he just did that!" Ino said shocked.
"I know, I definitely didn't see that coming. To think an s rank rogue like him would choose to hack himself off like that?" Tenten said.
"But on the bright side that's one less dangerous Rogue Ninja to worry about." Lee said.
Sakura however wasn't too sure. "No way, An S rank rogue like him wouldn't be taken out this easily, Especially if they're on the same level as Kakashi Sensai."
"Everyone come over here you have to see this!" Neji who was closer to the body called everyone over.
Once they came over they all gasped at what they saw. What was suppose to be Itachi's body was instead the body of Saya who laid on the sandy ground dead.
"We were fighting a fake, No way?" Sakura not believing what she was seeing. "The way they were fighting couldn't have possibly have just been her imitating him. It felt so real."
"My thoughts exactly." They all turned around to see Shikamaru and Koinzell with the latter holding the body of the boy member of team Saya.
They were soon joined by Araya and his group with Kiba carrying the last member of team Saya. "Looks like All of us have been tricked into fighting impostor Akatsuki members." Araya said.
"But what kind of technique were they using to do this and why?" Hinata asked out loud.
Karin who was taking a look at all three bodies came up with a possible theory. "It's just me speculating but this seems to be a Possession/Transformation Jutsu, a technique that allows the castor to possess a body and at the same time transform it into themselves to talk and fight through them. It shows some similarities to the Dead Soul Jutsu but way more advance."
"But why were they attacking us in the first place?" Sakura asked.
As if to answer her question they all saw a blue light appear from far away. "I guess they wanted to keep us away from whatever that was." Araya said.
Back at the Sand Village
Sin who moved away from the village was now on top of a hawk looking down at the destruction before her.
"And another village bite the dust." Sin said looking at the village.
The blast did serious damage to the sand village as buildings were barely standing and the wall that surrounded it was reduced to rubble. And at the entrance was Shukaku on its back trying to get up as Black Shukaku was marching towards them.
Black Shukaku was moving very slow as if It was struggling to keep itself together as bits of iron sand was falling off it. "I can't believe I let them do this much damage. That last attack managed to disturb the Magnet style that is keeping this body together. It doesn't matter I still won and the one tails is now defeated as well as the sand village is now destroyed." Sasory was now in front of Shukaku and lift up his left i'm preparing to strike. "Now It's over!"
"Not yet!" Gaara said as he and Shukaku got back up and struck at black with a sand axe arm that cut through it's arm Cutting it off as it fell on the ground. They then claw stab Black Shukaku in the chest and was preparing to unleash another Magnet release but Black managed to pull away as the wound in his chest closed up.
"You! How are you still able to fight?!" Sasory demanded annoyed.
"You Shouldn't underestimate me just because I'm rumored to be the weakest tailed beast you fakers!" Shukaku yelled out taking control for a bit to help them recover faster.
Aggravated Sasory responded. "Give up Gaara! look around you! The Sand Village is gone so you're title as the Kazekage is meaningless! So why? Why do you still fight?!"
"The Sand Village may be gone, but it's people still live. So as long as me and shukaku still have power we will take you Down! This my last act as Kazekage!" Gaara replied.
"So be It!" Black Shukaku yelled as it lunged at Shukaku biting down hard on it's neck causing it to scream out in pain. "It's time to strip you of that power!"
"Gaara! He's absorbing my power we have to shake him off!" Shukaku yelled out.
"I'm Trying!" Gaara replied Struggling to break out of Sasory's grip but was feeling weaker by the second.
Back with Gaara Who was barely hanging on to consciousness Could see from the distance something being summoned in a form a pixels before blacking out.
"Good! Soon I'll have more than enough!" Sasory said continuing to absorb Shukaku's Chakra when suddenly he was hit from behind by something powerful forcing him to let go of the one tails. "What the hell hit me!" Sasory demanded turning around.
"Me!" The voice of Nowaki was heard as Black turned around to see what look to be a giant brown fur rabbit monster with 3 small spike horns on its head In a triangle formation and at the center of that triangle was a boy wearing a black and teal colored overcoat with a hood and underneath it was a matching color body suit.
"And just who might you be!" Sasory demanded.
"I don't see a reason to give out my name so no dice. All you need to know is that i'm here to make you pay for what you've just done to not only this village but to the Kazekage." Nowaki said remembering what Kal'tsit said before coming out of the cube.
"Okay Nowaki, Before you go out there I need to make this clear, it's essential that you don't reveal your face or your name to whoever is out there." Kal'tsit stated.
"Huh? Why exactly?" Nowaki asked.
"We can't have people knowing that you're a steel humanoid, especially with the possibility of so many people watching." Kal'tsit said.
"Then What name should I use because if people do see me they'll be expecting to call me somethin?" Nowaki said.
"That up to you, but don't make it too obvious."
"But If you want to call me something call me Terren!" Nowaki called himself.
"Taking on the name of our planet huh. Well then Terren I don't know what village you're from but you made a grave mistake coming here to play hero!"
"We'll See about that!" Nowaki said before looking down at Shukaku "Hey Amiya, I'm going to go check on Gaara, Do you mind holding this guy off for a bit?"
"I'll do more than hold him off!" Amiya said revealing to be the giant rabbit. Her size and body shape was similar too Kurama eccept with rabbit feet. (As for the hands and head think of Andiramon) With one clear jump Amiya Close the distance between them in seconds Is appearing mid air in front of Black Shukaku and delivered a sucker punch to its jaw Sending it Flying backwards and landed hard on the ground.
"Wooow! You're even more amazing than I thought!" Nowaki said beyond impressed as he jumped off.
"Oh my! If you keep telling me stuff like though i'm not sure what to say!" Amiya said as her giant form actually blushed.
Nowaki quickly went over to Shukaku. "Now let's see how-"
"You Bastards!" Sasory yelled out in anger unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts at them.
Amiya stood in front and blocked the bolts Before dashing over to deliver a frontal push kick to Black Shukaku. "Don't Interrupt my master you brute!" Black was once again on it's back with obvious damage. as it got up the damage seemed to repair itself and the iron sand that fell off began to reattach itself. "So it's self reparable, meaning it truly impossible to defeat it through brute force. Nowaki, Prepare yourself while I create an opening for you!" Amiya said Jumping in to continue the fight.
"Of course!" Nowaki said as he ran over to Shukaku's head. "Hey Gaara, are you ok? I'm here to help you beat this guy." Nowaki said although got no response.
After a few seconds he finally heard a reply but not the one he expected. "Gaara can't talk right now, But I do appreciate you showing up leaf ninja." Shukaku said in a low voice.
"I Guess you must be Shukaku. Wait how do you know it's me?"
"Your energy signature is way to unique to mistake it for someone else's. But anyway you came at a perfect time. I need to tell you something and also a favor to ask of you." Shukaku explained.
"What might that be?" Nowaki asked.
"They're are two critical spots where you can hit that could destroy Black Shukaku. One in its chest and the other in it's head."
Nowaki used his cyber vision and looked at Black Shukaku. "Yeah I see what you mean. The core at the top Is giving off an electromagnetic wave that's attracting the black sand, while the core at the center of its chest has strings coming out of it that's moving the parts like veins... wait they look like Chakra threads."
"That's because the person controlling it is a puppet master we tried to destroy it but the iron sand around the chest is the most sturdy and although my magnet release affected somebody and wasn't able to reach the core." Shukaku explained.
"Ok so I just need to aim for either those two spots and I'll take this guy down. Sounds simple enough. Now what's the favor that you want to ask?"
"Help me aim for the chest and you go for the head." Shukaku began. "I can tell you have the power to stop Black Shukaku but as long as that puppet master is still calling the shots It may all be in vain."
"That sounds like a good plan but how exactly do you plan on fighting in your condition? You look like you're barely able to hold yourself together." Nowaki said.
"With this." Shukaku summoned a uniquely shaped sand spear from its forehead. "Think of that spear as an extension of my body and mind. You just have to throw it at its chast and I'll do the rest then get on his head and do your thing."
"Sure, you can count on me!" Nowaki said grabbing the spear. "Amiya, how are things on your end?"
Amiya who was still fighting Black was dodging the lightning bolt casually and Landing multiple hits on the Iron sand monster but was still able to recover. "I'm more than able to match it in strength and my speed far surpasses it. However it's endurance and self repair abilities makes it so that any physical damage I do is healed instantly."
"I see."
"Would you like me to start using my Arts? Using them will cause more lasting damage so it won't heal as quickly." Amiya suggested.
"No, Kal'tsit said No matter what you shouldn't use you're Dark matter arts In this battle no matter what. She wasn't specific in the why, but if she thinks it's dangerous for you to use it here then that's enough. Besides I already have a plan, So braise yourself i'm coming back on." Nowaki said As his body glowed a Dark purple aura and was able to make it to Amiya at such a fast pace. He jumped up and landed on her head although when he stopped needed a minute to get his bearings. "Wow, Still not completely used to this yet, by the way was that as fast as Yuyake?"
"I'm afraid not." Amiya replied.
"Well I guess I'll have to work on it later, but right now this guy's the priority." Nowaki said looking at Black Shukaku who was beginning to reassemble its left arm. "First we need to weaken its outer shell to weaken its durability, so let's use that combo attack."
"Ok!" Amiya said Jumping into action literally.
Amiya dashed forward and delivered a knee strike to black's shoulder And then A right spinning hook kick to its face putting it on the ground again. She then Jumped up as Nowaki began to charge a ball of blue plasma energy that began to grow in size as the three horns on Amiya's head added some of her energy to it. The ball increases to the size of a tail beast bomb.
Sasory grew worried and began charging another electrical ball.
"Wait for it." Nowaki said as Black Shukaku launched the attack at them only to be a surprised that they were able to dodge it effortlessly mid air. "Now! Plasma beam!" Both of them said as they unleash the ball of plasma into a beam that struck Black doing serious damage and weekend it's iron sand body.
"Now take this!" Nowaki Jumped off and Skydive towards Black Shukaku. He used his cyber vision/analyzing vision To zoom in on the weak spot in the chest and noticed a weird red mark on it (Sasory's body puppet) Realizing that must be the core he Threw the sand spear at it.
The Iron sand try to cover up the core but the spear managed to raise it as it fell next to it. Sand spear then merged with the iron sand surrounding the core and now black was acting out of control as if Is two people were fighting for control.
Nowaki still in the air looked at Black Shukaku's head and once again charged his right fist with Plasma. "Just Like naruto said, aim for the head! Plasma Fist!" Nowaki said as he struck it's had while releasing his Electromagnetic power into it.
Everything seemed to stop as no one made a sound as if all motion ceased and Black Shukaku completely stopped motionless.
"Did it work?" Nowaki asked himself Only to be surprise of the iron monster began to fall apart with himself falling off only to be caught by Amiya who Is jumped backwards towards where Shukaku was as Black Shukaku turned into nothing but a pool a black sand. "It worked... It worked!!" Nowaki yelled out in Victory.
"Thank You, and please accept this gift." An echoing voice said. Nowaki Was confused but then he noticed he was holding well up to be a puppet with black hair.
"What the? When did I grab this thing?" Nowaki said as they landed and Amiya turned back to her smaller humanoid form.
"Finally! I thought that thing would never go down!" Nowaki and Amiya turned to see Sin casually sitting on the head of the motionless Shukaku. "Congratulations Wood for brains despite all your tendency to screw up you manage it to pull out a win. Too bad the sand village still got totaled."
Nowaki looked around at the devastation around the village or what was left of it. "I can't believe it, even though we stopped the Akatsuki the sand village was still destroyed in the end. All those people lost their homes and who knows how many people died."
"Relax Kid no one died." The voice of Shukaku was heard bringing their attention to the motionless Shukaku As it's body crumbled away to sand revealing Gaara and a mini size Shukaku. "Gaara was thinking a few steps ahead and have the village evacuated so it was empty long before the battle even started.
All 3 of them was surprised And said nothing until Sin literally laughed hysterically. "Hey! Who do you think you're laughing at!" Mini Shukaku yelled out.
"What the heck happened to you?" Nowaki asked.
"Well That stupid puppet master took so much of my power and I used almost all the last of it to make that spear. So this is what ended up happening." Shukaku explained feeling slightly depressed. If the other tailed beast saw him they would laugh at him.
"I'm sorry for your misfortune." Amiya said.
"Well I'm not! This is hilarious!" Sin said continuing to laugh. She soon stopped when she heard her phone ring and answered it. After talking with someone for a few minutes she turned to Nowaki and Amiya. "Ok Kiddies it's time to go back." Sin said while opening a portal.
"And where exactly does that lead?" Nowaki asked.
"This Portal will lead you right back to the Demon Desert. After all you don't wanna be here when The huge army of salmon just come back to check on the Kazekage." Sin explained.
"Why leave? Someone needs to explain what happened here." Nowaki said.
"Do You really want to be the one to explain all of this to the sand people?" Sin asked getting a nervous look from Nowaki.
Now that he thought about it he would be surrounded by lots of accusations and questions and he would surely get in trouble with his sister for everything he did without her knowing about it. This actually made Nowaki sweat a bit. "Okay then let's head back Amiya our job here is done. See you later Sin I owe you and dome head one."
"Good to know, Cause we're not shy about collecting what's owed to us." Sin replied.
"Wait a minute!" Shukaku yelled out getting Nowaki's attention. "Why Exactly did you want to go so far just to help the sand village? My reason for helping was just to keep Gaara alive but what about your reason? This Village attacked yours and played a part in the death of your previous Hokage, And you weren't that close to anyone from here to begin with."
"Well you're right about me not having any personal reason to want to help the sand village, But I still have two important reasons. The first was Gaara Is a good friend of Naruto so of course I would help him."
"And The second?"
Nowaki closed his eyes to think for a second before giving the small one tailed beast a smile. "We'll Obviously, Saving someone who is in trouble is just common sense." Nowaki said But from Shukaku's Perspective for a minute he looked exactly like someone from his past that made him gasp a bit. Their face was cut off from shadow but it was female and they had long brown hair that was shoulder length.
"Well Anyway see you around. And also you're not as bad as everyone make it out to be." Nowaki said as he and Amiya went through the portal and as they were going in Yuyake came out as the portal closed.
"So how'd he do?" Yuyake asked.
"Not bad, Amiya Carried most of the physical fighting and the sand shrimp over there gave a little bit of his support. But wood for brains played his part in finishing it." Sin explained.
"So pretty good then." Yuyake then looked at the direction of the black sand. "But It looks like the Akatsuki member escaped. How much of your power did they take?" Yuyake asked Shukaku.
"Enough to the point that they won't come after Gaara again." Shukaku answered. "I know what you and that bunny girl are, and that Steel humanoid kid Nowaki... It all make sense now, you 3 are just as a part of this as me and the other tailed beast."
"I'm aware of that, But just focus on yourself and Gaara. You guys have a lot of rebuilding to do." Yuyake said as he and Sin left.
Now alone Shukaku who was sensing A lot of loyal sandings as well as Tamari Heading this way began to head back into Gaara's seal. "Kaguya's Successor has finally come. Guess this means things are gonna be a lot more hactic."
Leaf Village, The next day
After the event in the land of wind the Chunin exams were officially over and all foreign ninja returned home. News of the destruction of the Sand village spread like wildfire as well as the news of the Tschikage Onoki being arrested had everyone talking. The official News that was given to the public was that the Akatsuki attacked the village during the exam and despite the damage done to the sand village the Kazekage was able to defeat them. As for what the village would do now Tsunade was In a conversation with Tamari on that matter.
"So with Everything that's going on we decided to make a new village closer 2 our civilian city. Alexander and his men plan to Merge with our ninja's to help fund the reconstructions." Tamari said In the office of the Hokage with Tsunade, Shizune, Shikaku, Shikamaru and Koinzell.
"Once again you have my condolences one says on what happened to your village. But why exactly move it instead of trying to rebuild? As the information says Lord Kazekage Was able to keep the village from being completely destroyed."
"The Reason for that was because for a while now. We've been thinking about why our village has lost so much popularity over the years, and what we discovered was that we've become too detached from our people outside the sand village. We've always had plans of merging ourselves with the other forces of the land of wind. Building our new hidden village near our civilian city and surrounding Small villages will give them better security and more work for our ninjas to do." Tamari explained.
"Sounds good but won't it be tough starting with so little? I mean how much of your equipment was destroyed during the attack?" Koinzell asked.
"You don't have to worry. During the evacuation we put oliver scrolls and important resources and equipment in a bunker deep in the village underground. The reason Gaara was so adamant of protecting the village from so much damage was to keep that supplies from being damaged which he managed to do." Baki said coming in with a clipboard that he handed to Tamari. "We Just got word that the supplies have been safely transported to Windmill city, Are earth style users and sand bendors that we asked to assist us are ready to start constructi of the refugee camp they just need to know the details of what to start with."
"Wow you guys seemed awfully well prepared for this?" Shikamaru said.
"Gaara and the council were already preparing countermeasures in case something like this were to happen. Ever since the failed invasion of the leaf village that we were fooled into participating in we felt the end of our village was inevitable We're using this chance to start over and Remake the sand village into something better and hopefully a little less Corruptive." Tamari said.
Everyone in the room knew what she was referring to. "I Still can't believe the Akatsuki had moles in your village without them even knowing they were moles to begin with?" Shizune said with Tonton onking agreement. "Not to mention that weird shape shifting technique and that army they used. If i'm to be honest it's frightening to think what else they may be capable of."
"Well we knew so little about this organization to begin with and Prepared as best as we could for what they would throw at us. But it looks like we underestimated just how much they would throw the first chance they got." Tsunade said sounding a little bit upset. "I can't help but apologize for how little of assistance we could provide during this crisis especially since this was a hosted by both our villages."
"On the contrary I feel I should thank you for allowing your younger brother to be a part of the exam. If it wasn't for his visions we wouldn't have gotten the heads up we needed to evacuate the village or the name of the council men in the capital that was conspiring with The Akatsuki. That boy has some extraordinary abilities." Tamari commented.
"I'm sure the kid would appreciate your kind words. It's astonishing just how much potential that Nowaki still has. But if we're not careful with his powers his existence as a Steel humanoid might be Exposed." Tsunade said inwardly. "So how is Gaara's condition as wel las Kankuro?"
"He's still on bed rest but he's conscious and Kankuro Is up and ready to continue his duties." Baki said. "If I may ask a question, I would like to know more about that mystery team that was in the exam. The one that had the black and light blue uniforms."
"They're a small organization That wanted to make a day view with the exam. Think of them more of an adventures guild than a Ninja Corp. I met with their leader a few days before the exam and gave him the green light, we don't have to worry about them for now."
After Discussing a few more things the meeting was finally over and those that were left the office were Shizune and Tsunade.
"So In regards to these new developments where do we stand with rhodes island?" Shizune asked.
"From what Kal'tsit said, she's willing to be our allies but she has made it clear that she hasn't given up on making Nowaki Inherit Koharu's company. Not to mention she expects us to complete our end of the bargain." Tsunade said.
"You mean that field trip she managed to get the school to agree to." Shizune said sounding a bit worried. "My lady we could still assign Nowaki a mission that would be a reasonable excuse for him not to attend. With what Sakura found on the fake Itachi's body a mission in the UN nations might do great for his development."
"Shizune we come so far with our plan and for it to continue we need Rhodes Island. Any attempt to hinder them could lead to distrust. There's also the fact that they're more suited for helping Nowaki develop his other powers. So that's an added bonus." Tsunade said in response.
"I know, It's Just worried some to have Nowaki Interact with a woman that closely associate with Koharu. She's clearly dangerous and could be just as powerful as Koharu except she has no loyalty to the leaf village." Shizune stated. Sure Koharu Is a statistic, cruel and an extremely dangerous person who a lot of people have a justifiable right to be afraid of but there's no denying that she was loyal to the leaf village, but Kal'tsit whose considered her partner and possibly could be the same has no loyalty to the leaf so it's hard to say where you stood with her.
"Her connection to the leaf village is Nowaki so we have to capitalize on that. I know from the memories i've seen that she won't hurt him and that's enough of a standpoint for now." Tsunade reassured her long time assistant.
"Do you know why she hates the ninja villages?"
"That... That may be the fault of my grandfather." Tsunade said thinking about some personal things.
Speaking of personal things. "Also lady Tsunade It's almost time for another check up into that matter as well as the matter of Danzo. His final interrogation and execution Report should be should be nearly finished. Ever since we were forced to miss both you've been eager to read it." Shizune said.
"Good, I'm at least glad that Shikaku was able to handle it in my absence." Tsunade said. "So Anything else because I like to finish off this work so I can go have a drink and relax."
"Yes, Lastly what should we do about the Promotional review of our participants?"
"Oh that, I'll take a look at the Overall scores but I'm pretty confident about those who deserve to be promoted to Chunin." Tsunade said.
"Oh, and one more thing we got news about The waterfall village missing its three contestants for the exam. During the 2nd portion of the exam three waterfall ninjas disappeared during a train ride." Shizune said passing 3 photos to Tsunade.
"They just Vanished?" Tsunade Said looking at the photo and in particularly at the photo of Fū
The next day, Blaze City, Scientific research facility.
"I Can't believe everyone got Promoted to Chunin and Neji became a Jonin!" Xion said as she Nowaki and Bronya were in the latter's Personal room.
"Yeah everyone except me, and after everything I did during the exam!" Nowaki complained.
"Well to everyone who doesn't know what you did behind their backs all? You did was be a camera man and that's not enough to be promoted." Bronya explained.
Nowaki signed in defeat. "Don't remind me. I can't believe the moment I got back to the leaf village big sis Instantly knew everything I was doing. I'm lucky she didn't ground me for a week."
"I say the moment you told Shikamaru and the Rest of the prompters what you did she was going to find out eventually too. And the part about you Not being grounded was probably your reward for defeating that giant iron Mostrosity." Xion said.
"Yeah but I say my real reward was this!" Nowaki Said getting up from his chair to Summoned the iron sand that quickly surrounded his his body minus his head in a black slim suit. "This thing is just amazing I feel like i'm spider man with the black suit. I mean look at the things I can do now!" Nowaki said Turning his fist into an axe hand and his other hand into a hand cannon. The axe hand glowed orange on the sharp edges and the arm cannon fired a purposely weak blast of solar energy. "And the best part is I can control it all with electromagnetism and I can even do this now!" Nowaki said firing a blast of blue focused Plasma at the wall. "I feel like i'm mega man!" Nowaki yelled out In complete excitement.
"Oh Kami! Now he can blast lightning! Doesn't he have enough of a swallow head already?!" Xion said annoyed.
"Where exactly did you get this sand from again?" Bronya asked with scientific curiosity.
"Oh from that puppet I grabbed from the head of Black Shukaku. I could have sworn it said thank you and accept this gift. After I got back to the Demon Desert I felt like I should barry it, And after coming back to the village I found I was able to summon iron sand." Nowaki explained.
"I see, I wish you had brought the puppet back with you so I could study it but I'll settle for studying you with it." Bronya said with a looked of a predator on her face. This made Nowaki sweat drop.
"Okay that aside there is something I want to know." Xion said.
"What might that be?"
"You spent a week in a data world with this Amiya girl who i'm just hearing about. You didn't mention you had another girlfriend." Xion said with a slightly irritated look.
"Wow now! She's not my girlfriend if that's what you're implying! She's just Kal'tsit Adopted daughter who I just so happened to make a summoning contract with a long time ago!" Nowaki replied but quickly covered his mouth knowing that could be misinterpreted in so many ways.
"A summoning contract! That practically make you two master and servant!" Xion yelled out. "What all did you two do while you were in there?!"
"We we're just training and getting reacquainted with each other!" Nowaki in a nervous blush replied as he unsummoned his iron sand suit.
"Oh really and what about you and Sveta? I heard from Ino that she was there. I'm Sure you 2 spent a lot of time Reacquainting with each other too." Xion said with an interrogating look.
"What do you from me?!" Nowaki called out.
"I believe she wants details of how far your relationship is with those two so she could better plan on how to improve her relationship with you." Bronya explained calmly.
"Bronya!" Xion yelled out not wanting that said out loud.
"Oh Is that all, why didn't you just say so?" Nowaki said a little bit relaxed now.
"Speaking of which." Bronya said walking over to the young Senju and with out hesitation kissed him deeply on the lips before separating from a flabbergasted Nowaki as Xion looked just as surprised. "So now that we've kissed that should deepen our relationship now."
Both of them were at a lot for words and Xion finally had enough. "Oh screw subtlety!" Xion said as she pushed Nowaki down to sitting on the couch and got on his lap to kiss him further shocking him.
Before he could do anything to react Bronya joined in too and they both went back and forth kissing him from his mouth to his neck and cheek. "Well as Naruto says expect the unexpected and find a way to deal with it and there's only one way I can deal with this." Nowaki started to kiss back and pulled both girls in.
In an unknown cave
16 holograms appeared In an empty cave with the exception of two people that being Larxene and Sasory In his hunchback puppet.
"Before we get started I would like to say congraduations are in order for everyone who played their part. We've not only achieved our goal of getting the necessary energy from the one tails but we have shown the power of our organization to the world by destroying the sand village." Pain said.
"Well what did you expect with having me a part of your plan!" Deidara said boasting to most of their annoyance.
"I Wouldn't act so smug Deidara considering I heard you were dispatch quite easily." Itachi said causing some of the less serious members to laugh.
"Oh yeah! Do you want me to fly over there and blow you up you red eyed Bastard!" Deidara said enraged.
"I Hope you remember the last time you said that." Itachi said almost like a warning causing the mad bomber to be quiet. "Sorry for the interruption leader please continue."
"As I was saying, it's time to Continue the hunt and our next target will be the eight and three tails." Pain said surprising some of the other members.
"I Understand going after the 3rd tails but why the 8th?" Luxord said. "Why not the 2nd considering we know where she is."
"That's Exactly what they expect us to do and If Things play out as we hope this might be what draws out the two tails host." Pain explained.
"The Eight tails and it's host are formidable. Who should be the ones to go after them?" Konan asked.
"Me." Xemnas replied. "Xigbar will be my partner on this mission."
"Great, just when I was getting bored with spy work." Xigbar said.
"Hahaha! So the black and white king plays himself and early then expected." Kisame said out loud.
"Catching Killer B will Not be easy as his brother the Raikage Limit his movement both inside and outside the village. We're only gonna get one shot at this Especially with how busy the Raikage has been lately." Siax said.
"What about the 3 tails?" Axel asked.
"Demyx this is your chance to show that you haven't been just lazying around. Konan will be your back up." Pain said.
"Oh great I get stuck with the bird mom." Demyx complained. Konan's hologram looked at him with a glare. "Not that I have any problem with that!"
"And with that this meeting is adjourned." Pain said As the hologram members disappear leaving only Pain's and Xemnas with Sasory and Larxene. "So Now that we're alone can you tell me about this person that interfered? Terren his name you said."
"I Don't have much to say others that keep posses Conquerors Haki and he has a rabbit summon. He managed to destroy my third Kazekage puppet which destroyed Black Shukaku. If it wasn't for fact I was keeping the Chakra absorbing tube on a separate string I might have lost it along with the power I took from Shukaku." Sasory said taking out a large black cylinder tube with a needle at the end.
"The fact that he interfered with us directly is concerning. Let's wait to see if interferes with either of our attempts towards the 3rd or 8th, if he does then we may have a pest on our hands." Xemnas said before turning to Larxene. "So, Larxene did you get the casket?"
"I got it right here." Larxene said Summoning a casket with the symbol of 4th on it.
"Good. Sasory for the time being your aunt construction duty. After seeing how good your Black Shukaku was I'm interested in seeing how strong a gold one is." Xemnas said.
End of Chapter
And Done! This took Way longer did it need it to, But I persevered and got it done.
I'm sure there's a lot of things to unpack here considering I left plenty of clues especially at the end. The main goal of this arc was three things.
First was to get the Chunin exam out of the way as well as the growth of the Konoha Youngsters known. Second was to move things forward with Nowaki and establish rhodes island Into the story because it will play a big roll going forward. Third Was to show the power of my new Akatsuki and to show how much of a threat they are.
Just if you're wondering about Fū and why herald was so small Just know that I have a little surprise in the next chapter.
Speaking of next chapter, Now that we've gotten through the Chunin exams we can now focus on the lives of the Konoha 11 as well as settings up for the Next event.
So Until next time please leave reviews!