Hello again. There's not much to say so... enjoy!
P.S. Teen Wolf fans are going to see a reference in here.
Being a buffer and advisor for the Allied Forces meant two things. 1) I was always busy, all the time. Even with my level of stamina, I was exhausted by the end of each day. 2) I oversaw everything. Before meetings, I would relay issues to the five Kage, that way they remembered to bring it up. I also took part in a lot of decisions. For example, while Shikaku Nara organized the battle units, I had to review his plans before they were sent to the five Kage. It was tiring and tedious, but I enjoyed doing my part.
Currently, I was trying to judge the loyalty of those who would serve under foreign commanders. So far, they all seemed to respect their fKage and would follow their orders to the point. Still, there were a few who might cause problems, but I just noted their names and would give the list to the Raikage after I came up with an idea of how to ensure their obedience.
"Nari! I didn't expect to see you here," an all too familiar voice called out. I turned my head and watched as Sadao, dragging along a less excited Dai, came running towards me. "You're not part of the long-range unit, are you?"
"No. I'm just overseeing a few things."
"Oh, that's right. You're some high and mighty council member now. But you're still going to fight, right?"
"Only if it's absolutely necessary. The Kage are hesitant to put me in a fighting group because of my history."
"Miu and Takeo coming back to haunt you?" Dai chimed in.
"Always," I sighed. "But Lord Kazekage believes that the position I've been given suits me better anyway."
"I still can't believe you left the Leaf for the Sand," Sadao whined.
"She never really belonged to the Leaf. Even when she was on our team it was obvious to see that her thoughts were in Suna," Dai argued. I laughed a little and rubbed the back of my head. As I watched the pair, I couldn't help but to reminisce on the fights we had shared. Dai and Sadao always worked as a team because their water attack was hard to execute unless said enemy was already distracted. Sadao was the distraction and Dai performed the jutsu while hidden elsewhere. It was usually effective, though there were times when their skills became useless. I wasn't sure how much they could do in the upcoming war.
"Well, anyway…" All of a sudden, Sadao froze. I glanced at Dai, and he, too, was frozen. Their eyes didn't blink. They didn't even breathe.
"Look what we have here," a malicious voice growled from behind. My heart stopped for a split second before doubling its speed. I could feel the cold metal of a kunai pressed to my throat. How did he sneak up on me? I demanded. Why can't I hear his thoughts?! "You must be a member of the Mayona clan, not falling under my jutsu." I surveyed my surrounds with my eyes and saw something I could hardly believe. Everyone was frozen. Everyone and everything.
"What is this?" I hissed. "What do you want?"
"As a matter of fact, I came looking for you." I couldn't see the face of my attacker but his voice sounded vaguely familiar. It wasn't one of the Akatsuki, though. I would've known exactly who it was had that been the case. "And this jutsu you see, is the World Petrification Jutsu. Impressive, isn't it? Don't worry, it won't last much longer and your friends will be fine. If you just come with me, nobody will get hurt." I gulped but agreed. My chances of escape were higher if I wasn't worried about others.
Calmly, we walked out of the Village Hidden in the Clouds and towards a small canyon. Why he led me there of all places, I wasn't sure but I didn't care. Suddenly, I heard as water began to tricked again and the wind picked up. My ebony locks whipped about in the wind. Using the distraction as he struggled with my hair, I turned around, launching a chakra-infused hand at his face. I felt the sharp knick of cold metal piercing my skin, but the wound wasn't deep and the man shot away from me, covering his face with his hand. That blow should've been enough to knock him out, I growled.
My attacker turned around and when he again revealed himself, a Hidden Mist ANBU mask hid his face. For whatever reason, a nagging sensation told me I knew who this was. Still, the gray cloak that draped around his shoulders and the white and red mask gave no answers.
"I was wondering when you'd fight back," he said calmly. "You must be very arrogant to think you can defeat me on your own." The momentary flutter of his heartbeat told me that he wasn't so sure I wouldn't be a match for him.
Hesitantly, I pulled three shuriken out of my pouch. He responded by producing a single kunai knife. "Perhaps, you're the arrogant one," I spat back, launching my weapons as a diversion so I could slip underground.
"You can't hide from me!" he called. I ignored this statement, producing a clone and letting her return to the surface as I attempted to slip underneath of him. As I shot my hand out, a kunai knife plunged into it and the man dragged me into the open.
"Who. Are. You?" I hissed between clenched teeth. He didn't grace me with a reply. As I feigned a struggle to escape him, my clone attacked from behind to no avail. Once I finally managed to rip from his grasps, it came to me. "You're a nine-tailed ninja," I exclaimed. His laughter was all I needed to confirm my suspicions. Well, if that's the case, and you can read my mind, try to avoid this attack.
"Blast style: myriad of dragons!"
"Water style: water wall!" I smirked, knowing it wouldn't have any affect. Despite appearances, the tiny dragons bombarding my target weren't made of flames. They were chakra-infused pebbles moving at incredible speeds. It was my chakra that gave them the illusion of fire. The force of their impact against his skin was audible. His ANBU mask cracked.
"That's a formidable jutsu you have," he admitted. "I doubt anything but an earth wall could block it." Even that wouldn't be sufficient with the amount of force and speed backing up my rock dragons. The only way to avoid my jutsu was to disable them with another Myriad of Dragons Jutsu or to use a teleportation technique. He grimaced, obviously hearing my thoughts.
We remained at a stand-still for a few moments. While he did whatever he needed to, I was trying to contact Lord Raikage with my mind. It was of no use. Just as he had blocked me from reading his thoughts, I was unable to touch the minds of others, making my set of jutsu related to the Mayona Clan kekkei genkai useless.
Finally, wanting to get this risky battle over with, I launched another attack. I didn't know why it hadn't happened yet or what my opponent was thinking, but the idea of one of us absorbing the other's chakra downright terrified me. I wouldn't have it. Gaara still needed me too much for me to allow myself to die.
Here goes nothing, I thought, picking my most powerful technique. "Blast style: firestorm jutsu!" Only, it wasn't just my voice that shouted this. Our jutsu met in the middle, causing a fierce explosion to radiate throughout the entire canyon. We jumped back and neither of us had so much as been scratched. If he knows that jutsu, than what other techniques is he capable of?
"Shadow clone justsu! Nine tails jutsu! Nine-tailed replication jutsu! Blast style: mountain ash jutsu!" I rattled them off in rapid succession, creating a massive barrier of defense. One-hundred and fifty shadow clones made a wall in front of me. Wrapping in a tight circle around me were nine tails made of wind. Two nine-tailed clones were in front of my shadow clones and in between them and my clones was a line of what appeared to be normal ash. If anyone tried to cross it without my consent, the wall would erupt in flames. I'd like to see him try and get to me now.
As he began to beat at my defense, I took a breather. Such complicated jutsu such as the nine-tailed replication jutsu and the mountain ash jutsu required a lot of chakra, even for me. I had to rest a little before I returned to the offensive.
The other nine-tailed ninja had just finished off my second nine-tailed replication when I glanced up again. My shadow clones were quick to react, jumping over the line of mountain ash without worry; it wouldn't burn them. The man wasn't going easy on them. He used numerous jutsu attacks, all of which were overpowered. I saw the likeness between us then. Perhaps it was something in common of all nine-tailed ninja, but we both used extremely powerful attacks. It might have had something to do with our massive chakra stores.
By the time he finally defeated the shadow clones, I was ready to fight again. I hadn't bothered laying a trap since I knew he would've read right through it. Instead, I'd be taking a head-on battle strategy. Hopefully, it'd work. The man shot himself over the line of mountain ash, only to erupt into flames. His cries were muffled but he hurriedly pulled back, casting a water jutsu over himself to ease the burns. Then, he cast the same jutsu over the mountain ash. I smiled.
The mountain ash jutsu, like most of the blast style jutsu, incorporated earth style. Water was only helping me when the ash wasn't ignited. My opponent realized this too late as his water allowed the ash to cover a wider area. Now, the once thin line of defense, was nearly a foot across.
Patiently, I allowed him to exhaust himself as he fought my powerful defense. As I studied the man, I realized he only had three nature releases: water, fire, and wind. How unfortunate it is that they're all right in a row. At least, with my earth style, I can beat any form of nature release. Hit him with earth and he's screwed. He doesn't have anything to overpower it. Eventually, he paused. The other nine-tailed ninja was panting, and, to my surprise, I was too. This fight was dragging on too long. We'd run out of chakra before we defeated each other.
If I could just knock him out… I let my nine tails jutsu drop, pulling out a kunai. I took a deep breath, focusing my area of attack. If I did it quick enough, only a great taijutsu master would be able to avoid me. I doubted my nine-tailed ninja enemy had such skills. Throughout the entire battle, he had relied solely on ninjutsu. I hurled over my ultimate defense and struck right in the middle of the crack I had formed earlier. The mask shattered and I jumped back, hiding behind the mountain ash again.
Two black eyes peered up at me, calm and collected. I gasped, taking another step back and dropping my weapon. "No. It can't be…" That face, so kind and yet etched with misery. Large eyes like charcoal and shoulders carrying the weight of the burden passed onto him by some unknown force. Short-cropped, midnight black hair that swooped to the left a little. Small nose and lips that were tainted a permanent, blood red. "You're dead," I whispered. "I watched you die."
Aiyota smiled sadly, running a hand through his hair. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Nari. It's been so long."
"No! It can't be! I killed you!" I produced three more shuriken. Whoever this was, it wasn't Aiyota. It couldn't be. He had burned into ashes. I had watched him… "This is some sort of transformation technique. You're a nine-tailed ninja. I can sense it."
"Yes, I am a nine-tailed ninja. Though, I don't amount to much compared to you. In all of the centuries I've roamed this earth, I've never met a nine-tailed ninja with blood as pure as yours. To actually hold the eyes of the beast, even in human form, it's amazing. But I guess that's what happens when two nine-tailed ninja breed."
"You're lying again. Both of my parents were nine-tailed foxes, not ninja. Who are you? Show your true self!" The man frowned, a crease forming on his forehead.
"Narimi, if you want the truth, all you have to do is read my memories." Suddenly, his thoughts were open to me. In fact, they were flooding in at an uncontrollable rate. I walked through the forest, following the scent of the young nine-tailed ninja. She appeared laying in a tree, watching me…
If she could learn this jutsu, then she wouldn't need me anymore. I stared down at the bright-eyed child. Oh, how I was jealous of those ruby gems and yet, she was clueless to how lucky she was. Your blood is so pure it makes my chakra tingle. You'd think you were the child of Kurama, not myself. Still, her innocence and lack of respect for power had to be changed. Though I'd love to train her myself, I couldn't only assure that she'd survive on her own. The world would have to teach her the lessons I didn't have the ability to…
To my utter disbelief, fire launched itself at me in massive torrents. I closed my eyes and reappeared hidden in a tree. If it wasn't for my substitution jutsu, I would've been dead. After calming my racing heart, I glanced down at the girl. "Sensei?" she called. I was half-tempted to reveal myself, but I did not. This was perfect. This was my chance to let her go.
"Sensei!" This time it was a scream. I could hear her tears as she searched frantically for me.
"Forgive me, Nari," I muttered and took off, shifting forms as I went. The ground felt better under padded paws…
I pushed the memories away, forcing myself to reenter the present. My jaw clenched of its own accord as I stared at my first sensei. "My parents weren't both nine-tailed ninja. That's impossible," I said, unable to grasp all the truth he was thrusting into my face.
"But it is. I am the first nine-tailed ninja, if you haven't already guessed." That I could believe. He was extremely powerful and his control over everything was impeccable. I'd love to learn how to control my mind reading abilities as well as he could. "In my time, I've come up with a way to control our devious chakra and contain it within myself entirely, as most humans contain theirs. Therefore, I can spend time with any nine-tailed ninja for as long as I want without worrying about one of us stealing the other's chakra."
"So, you're saying you taught that trick to my parents?" He refused to answer.
"We'll save that particular conversation for another time. I know you have other questions that you'd rather ask about." Flickers of memories from all the times that I had been at Death's gates and had pulled through despite it all flashed across my thoughts. I growled, trying again to dislodge him from my brain. I didn't like him there, especially since I could tell what he was doing.
"Get out of my head," I snapped.
"Fine. I'll just tell you myself. It's about your inability to die." I froze, curiosity finally getting the best of me. The mystery did taunt me. "A nine-tailed ninja can only die three ways that I know of. A) their heart explodes, B) their brain loses its connection to the rest of the body, or C) chakra poisoning. The first two are pretty self-explanatory. These are how most nine-tailed ninja die, especially when they blow themselves up. Chakra poisoning is simple as well. Since we are unique in our chakra due to our variations in blood purity, we cannot accept chakra from anyone else. Once foreign chakra is in our system, it eats away at our natural chakra and, eventually kills us. Medical ninjutsu is different, of course."
"You mean to say that I'll live indefinitely?"
"You? Probably. Most other nine-tailed ninja die in their two-hundreds." I grimaced. I didn't want to live that long, watching my friends and family perish. I didn't mention that to him.
"Is that really all you came here for? To tell me about how I can and cannot die and that you're still alive?"
"No. I came to assist in the war. Since the Land of Fire is involved, it's my duty to protect it. That and I did wish to see how far my student has come. You're powerful, but not so intelligent. Blast style is supposed to be the combination of wind and fire. Your combination of earth and wind should be named something else entirely. But, I suppose that's what happens when an uneducated ninja creates their own techniques." I scowled at my old sensei.
"Why should we trust you?" This took him aback.
"Now, now, Nari. Don't let your temper misguide your judgment. You know that I'm trustworthy and that I'll be a great help in the war. My chakra control is better than yours after all."
"Fine, Aiyota. But, if you so much as threaten…"
"Gaara?"
"The five Kage, I will take you out." His darks eyes flashed with amusement.
"You can hiss at me all you want, child. I know, deep down, you're glad I'm alive and well." This I couldn't deny. Though I was wary of him, I was happy to have my sensei back. He was a good man. I had always known that.
I know he seems kind of random and childish in this chapter, but you'll come to love and respect Aiyota in time. Trust me. You're also going to really like the next chapter. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!