Wow, it's been a while since I came out with a chapter this long. Guess I couldn't resist, but I think this one isn't too bad. Then again, if I thought otherwise I'd probably be reluctant to post it. In any case, I don't want to say too much. So here it is.
Disclaimer: Any guesses to who was there to make Madara look so mad? Heh, shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Scattered sand in a bitter wind
"WHERE'S GAARA?!" the man yelled, throwing his arms forward. In response, the puppet he was using flew at Naruto, its three eyes locking onto him as its thin wooden limbs spread wide. The woman used this opportunity to open up her giant weapon, which to Naruto's surprise turned out to be an oversized fan, and take out the Kage Bunshin with a blast of wind. The real Naruto dodged back as the puppet lunged at him, diving his hands into his sleeves. When he pulled them back out, he gripped a pair of kunai piercing explosive tags. He hurled them both at the puppet, before forming the same seal he had used just moments before.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called again, summoning three clones just as the explosion resounded. The group of Naruto's then split up in every direction, surrounding the opponent in a perfect square. The woman and the man pressed their backs against each other, watching warily as they kept their eyes on their opponents. The puppet had been pulled back in time and was undamaged by the explosion.
"Kankuro…" the woman whispered, turning her head ever so slightly. The man known as Kankuro gave a slight nod, before lashing out with his hands again. The ragged doll he controlled raised itself high into the air and turned its head down to the two, its mouth snapping open. Then came a hissing sound as a poisonous mist burst from its mouth and down to the pair below, hiding them in a thick cloud.
Naruto was well aware of this diversion; he had used it himself during his battle with Zabuza not too long ago. And so he sent his Kage Bunshin in, each of them channelling their chakra to their hands. In seconds, the cloud was destroyed by the powerful burst of wind, blown away in the ensuing gust. However, what was left was far from what Naruto expected. Where the man called Kankuro and the woman had stood, there was now a large wooden behemoth; a new puppet by the look of things. It seemed like an image of a large reptile, bearing a thick tail that curled around and a powerful set of jaws. Its back was snapped up, providing a wall between the Narutos and presumably their opponents.
"Go Temari!" he heard Kankuro call. In a sudden flicker, the woman darted up past the wall of the lizard-like puppet and appeared high in the air. She whipped out her fan, the three purple circles on it in full view up until she swung.
"Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" she cried, bringing her fan around with great force. Naruto could see the almost invisible blades of wind, and could predict the results fairly accurately. One thing he knew was that there was no way he was sitting still to get hit by it. He leapt back, but came to a stop just at the edge of the roof. Glancing back, he spotted the group that had been meeting hurrying away; the would-be-samurai guarding the suits had their blades at the ready. He quickly turned his attention away from this however, as the first puppet swooped in to attack. He let himself fall back and with his chakra he ran across the wall. He made his way around the corner of the building, before leaping back up and attacking. His hands were thrown together into a series of seals, ending with a deep inhale.
"Maybe they know this one?" he thought with a smirk, raising both his hands high above him in the serpent seal. Then, at the top of his voice, he cried out, "FUTON: RENKUDAN!"
Slamming his hands into his stomach, he forced all of the air out of his lungs in a single, massive shot. A missile of wind fired out from his mouth and charged straight for the point Temari and that large puppet were standing. They both leapt up out of the way, but the incredible force of Naruto's Jutsu broke straight through the thing roof of the building and caused it to cave in, giving them nothing to land on.
Naruto followed them in their descent, channelling his chakra as quickly as he could. He managed to change his position so he was falling faster than Temari, whose aerodynamics were hindered by her fan. He pushed through another series of seals, before running his right hand over his left arm, "If it's just for a second, I can get away with it right?"
The wind quickly formed around his arm, creating the violent cyclone of the Jutsu Kisame had named forbidden. Naruto kept his eyes on the falling Temari at all times, watching her worried expression as she watched him fearfully. In moments he was upon her, throwing his lethal arm forward, "KAZE-"
He stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in shock. He hadn't caught it before, but now he could see it clearly. Tiny pieces of dust and debris were passing through Temari like she was nothing, like she was a Bunshin.
"Shit!" he thought, quickly cancelling his Jutsu. He turned around in the air just in time to see Temari's fan float overhead, with both her and Kankuro looking over it with confident smirks. The latter gave a wave of his hand, but Naruto could tell it was more than a goading movement. He snapped his elbow back into the face of the puppet behind him, cracking the wood and causing it to shatter.
That was his mistake. The puppet, unaffected by the attack, wrapped its thin arms and legs around Naruto's body. Six limbs bound him tight to the puppet's chest, pinning his arms to his side as the puppet then began to move rapidly downwards.
"Damn it!" Naruto thought, as the puppet turned in the air. From the angle they were falling, striking the ground would mean a pretty serious blow to the head, something he definitely couldn't afford. It was troubling, since he couldn't gather the necessary momentum to use the Reppusho and he had already lost the means of using the failed Jutsu from a moment ago. That meant he had only one option, but he would need to act fast. Channelling chakra to his feet, he watched one of the steel cargo containers down below, "Come on… come on!"
Just in time he managed to kick off the side of the container and turn in the air, slamming on the puppet's back. He felt the wood crack again, but nothing much more happened as the grip remained as tight as ever. He began to struggle for a way out, for some reason all the cover provided by the caved in roof seemed a very homey place right now. But he spotted the fan appear from behind one of the stacks of crates, and knew he'd lost the chance. However, at the same time he couldn't deny another opportunity.
With some difficulty, he raised himself onto one knee just as his two opponents landed on the ground. Temari took her fan and closed it, a cool and confident look on her face. Naruto had to resist laughing at the certainty he could see in the eyes of those two, it made him shiver trying not to.
"Strong, but stupid." Temari muttered, as Kankuro stood beside her. The slight appearance of enjoyment she had disappeared, as once more she glared at the kneeling boy, "Now you're going to answer our questions!"
"Man, is that it?" Naruto asked, with a slight look of disappointment. That seemed to catch the two off guard, neither seemed to understand what he was saying. He let out a weak sigh as he bowed his head, shaking it in light exasperation, "Just skip the foreplay and get to the point, that's pretty boring."
He was suddenly taken by surprise however as he felt something make contact with his face. It wasn't until he was thrown aside and sent stumbling across the floor that he realised Temari had given him a sharp kick. He now lay on his side, looking at the two with an aching neck and look of annoyance. However, it didn't last long as he felt a shard of metal but into his hand. He cracked his neck to the left with a wincing expression, looking at Temari with a cocked brow.
"We can make this painful if you like." she offered, her expression failing to match her words. She stood with her leg still in the air, her foot pointing at Naruto almost threateningly.
"Y'know I can see your panties right?" Naruto asked, with an unthreatened look. Temari's face suddenly brightened as she spluttered, hastily straightening up. Though in truth Naruto was a little embarrassed too, he was fortunate enough to have the fact hidden behind the dirt on his cheeks.
"Enough screwing around!" Kankuro exclaimed, lunging down at Naruto and hauling him to his feet. He gripped the haori tight and slammed Naruto into one of the containers, making the blond grunt as pieces of broken wood jammed into his back, "Where's Gaara?!"
Wincing from the pain in his back, Naruto hung his head. He could see these two had no intention of going easy on him just because he knew something they needed. That was good, he was glad of that. He'd have hated it if they were holding back for that reason, "Still… wish I could say the same."
"We're not going to ask you again!" Temari snapped, gripping her fan threateningly. Naruto cocked a brow at her, hadn't they asked him a few times already? He decided not to make things too difficult however; he did need to get out of this mess after all.
"What're you guys looking for him for anyway?" he asked, with a dark look. Neither of the two in front of him were the least bit intimidated by his expression, but they did pause as he spoke, "From what he told me, Suna was just itching to get rid of- HOOAH!"
He exhaled all the air from his lungs as Kankuro's fist was thrusted into his stomach. Kankuro held his head next to Naruto's teeth clenched in anger, "It's our mission to get him back, both as Suna Shinobi and his elder siblings!"
Naruto's brow creased in shock as he raised his head to look Kankuro in the eye. Elder siblings? Had he heard right?
"What?" he breathed, giving an incredulous look. He turned his eyes to Temari, judging between her and Kankuro's expression it was definitely true. But it was something he had far from expected. However after a moment's thought he recalled something else Gaara had told him, and suddenly he couldn't contain himself.
He bowed his head, shoulders shaking as he suddenly began laughing heavily. Kankuro glanced back at Temari cautiously, neither knew how to take this reaction. They both looked at Naruto like he was out of his mind, yet neither dropped his guard for a second. He looked up again, his eyes welling up slightly as he grinned broadly.
"So then… you're "that idiot doll-user"?" he asked, before hanging his head again. Kankuro's eyes just about popped out of his head as he was hit with a sudden desire to kill. He raised his fist menacingly, and was about to smash Naruto in the face when Temari suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Wait." she said, her eyes fixed on Naruto as she frowned at him. The boy's laughter soon subsided and he gazed at her, a questioning look on his face, "Look at that."
Kankuro lowered his eyes to the place she was pointing to, his brow creasing in confusion and bewilderment. Naruto looked down too, but the place they were looking at was out of sight for him due to the puppet's arms. Judging by the looks on their faces, and the general area, it could be one of two things. And as far as he could tell from where he was, only one of those things was on display… he hoped.
"What is that?!" Kankuro asked, looking to his sister with a creased brow. However it was Naruto who decided to reply, he was ready anyway. He let out a faint chuckle that attracted the attention of the two siblings, who still wore incredulous looks.
"I'm stupid huh?" he asked, as a puff of smoke appeared. Before either of the Suna nin could react, Naruto's hand gripped Kankuro's throat. He didn't give a tight grasp however, but used just enough Futon chakra to give the man in front of him a cut of warning. Temari saw the trickle of blood on her brother's neck and realised the situation, and so she remained still too. Behind Naruto, the smoke dissipated and revealed the puppet to be gone. All that remained as a seal marked with Naruto's own blood drawn onto the container he had been pressed against.
"Bastard!" Kankuro grunted, wincing from the pain in his neck. Naruto kept his head down, his fringe hiding his eyes from view. Temari watched the two carefully, trying desperately to find a way out of this situation.
"See… here's the thing." Naruto said, his grip tightening slightly. Kankuro let his hands drop to his side, he knew trying to resist would be dangerous, "I've been a little… curious about something."
* * * * *
"Hnn…"
Strange… hard… wooden? Was he… lying on the floor? What was he doing there? It was dark, wasn't it? Had he been sleeping then? That made sense, he certainly felt like he could just drift off again. But that wouldn't do, he was in the middle of-
"Hah!" Utakata gasped, suddenly snapping up to a sitting position. His breath was heavy and his eyes were wide, he still hadn't quite woken up yet. But after a few seconds of collecting himself, he started to recall. He remembered being down in a dark room, before the statue of an old man. And he remembered Hidan, who…
He placed his hand on his stomach, lowering his eyes as he looked for what he hoped wasn't there. But to his surprise, what was there wasn't a gaping wound, but a thick layer of bandages. He lightly ran his hands over them, before realising to his shock that one of the hands wasn't his own.
"You shouldn't be moving."
Utakata looked to his right, his brow rising at the person next to him. For a horrified second, he had thought it was Hidan who possessed that delicate hand, but he was met with an immense feeling of relief as he realised it wasn't. but who it was, it took him a while to realise. Her skin was pale and soft, and her hair long and dark. She looked Utakata in the eye, with the sharpness of someone much exceeding her young age. For some reason, he felt more like he was being observed rather than cared for. Nonetheless, he settled his eyes on her dark brown ones, allowing her to look for whatever it was she sought.
"Your wound will open." she said, in a soft but stern voice. Utakata felt her hand press on his shoulder and he allowed himself to be laid back down. It wasn't until then that he realised he was no longer in the tunnels below, but inside one of the buildings of the shrine grounds. He lay on the hard floor, a blanket covering his body and keeping him warm. The woman knelt beside him, her eyes still on his even now. From here, he could see the white kimono and red hakama of a shrine maiden.
"So then you're that woman from before?" he thought, settling his eyes back on hers. He lay there for several moments, before thoughts of his partner cam back to him. He glanced around, but there was no sign of the Jashinist anywhere, "Um… where is…?"
"Have no worry, I have slain him." the maiden replied, with a look that didn't offer comfort, or anything else. Utakata glanced back to her, so she didn't know then? That could be troublesome, he wasn't sure just how Hidan would take being "slain". His bet was that the Jashinist would be pretty mad, "Your problems are much greater than that."
"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Utakata asked, with a look of confusion. But then he got another brief flicker of memory, one that had escaped him before.
"Let me give you a choice then."
His eyes widened as he recalled those words, followed by the pain that had fired through his gut. He remembered landing on the cold stone floor, that light… but that was all.
"What did he do to me?" he whispered, words that were intended only for himself. But the priestess took them as directed at her, and placed her hand on the wound again.
"You have been marked with something dark and evil." she explained, running her fingers across the white gauze. Utakata watched the ever so slightly troubled look on her face, and couldn't help but feel worried from it, "It is inside you, a darkness that is growing. And- AH!"
She suddenly drew her hand back, looking at her fingers as if she'd just been burned. Utakata looked at her hand with a cocked brow, taking a moment to realise what had happened. With a faint and insincere chuckle, he sat up once again.
"Yeah…" he murmured, resting his arm on his knee. He looked over at the doorway ahead of him, his eyes distant and sad, "There's a lot of darkness inside me."
"What… what was that?" the priestess asked, as Utakata raised himself to his feet. The Jinchuriki looked down at the maiden with a faint smile, both grateful and sorrowful at the same time.
"Maybe it's better that you think me as a demon." he said, in a small voice. He then turned his head, making his way slowly to the door, "Thank you, but I won't defile your grounds any longer."
The priestess stood up as Utakata left through the door, hurrying to follow him. She seemed unwilling to let him leave just like that, but at the same time made no direct move to stop him. Utakata could clearly see her uncertainty, it made him smile again. It looked like his suggestion was sticking in her head, just like he had expected it to.
"Wait, you-" the priestess began, but she was cut off by an incredibly loud yell.
"HUN OF A HISH!"
Both Utakata and the priestess whipped their eyes towards the shrine, the former raising his brow while the latter looked in horror. Hidan slowly dragged himself out from the shadows, one hand on his reformed scythe and the other on what looked like a bloody arrow.
"Im- impossible!" the priestess breathed, taking a step back as her hands raised to her mouth. The Jashinist glared at her hatefully, slowly pulling himself towards them. Utakata could tell from a glance what had happened, it looked like whatever poison had been on the arrow had acted only to numb Hidan's body. As such he was having difficulty moving at all, a point which probably added to his anger, "What is he?!"
"Don't worry about him." Utakata replied, rubbing his neck wearily. The Jashinist continued to curse loudly and claw his way towards them in his militant rage, but his position made him appear not quite so terrifying. Granted, there was something scary about an enraged body dragging its way from the shadows, but his limp expression made him seem much more of a drunkard than anything else, "I'll take him and leave you in peace."
The priestess watched warily as Utakata left her and made his way towards the swearing immortal. He reached Hidan and helped him to his feet, ignoring the protests that came along with it. He then gave a wave to the maiden, before turning around and leading Hidan to the trees. The priestess watched as they left, a sad and worried look in her once cold eyes.
* * * * *
"What I wanna know is…" Naruto muttered, his jaw tightening in anger and his teeth clenching, "With you two calling yourself his siblings, how is it… that he turned out… LIKE THAT?!"
Kankuro suddenly whipped his arm around, and before Naruto could react he was struck hard by the tail of the large puppet from before. He was sent flying through the air, striking one of the cargo containers so hard he left an indent in it. Kankuro stumbled slightly from the attack, grabbing his throat as he winced in pain. Naruto fell onto his feet, his face pointing to the ground as he stood limply.
"I won't forgive you…" he breathed, the dust around his feet suddenly scattering in every direction. Kankuro and Temari both stood at the ready, the former with his puppet and the latter with her fan. But neither were truly prepared as Naruto slowly looked at them, his blazing eyes releasing a wave of killer intent, "Right now… in this very moment… there's no one I want to kill more than you."
"You're…" Temari breathed, her eyes widening as she felt a cold sweat coming on. Her brother shared that expression, though there was still some anger in his eyes, "You're… like him?"
Naruto glared at Temari, looking deep into her eyes. He could read her entire expression, and see the fear she had. She was easy to read like this, so easy. But at the same time, something felt wrong. Why did she also look sad too?
"Enough of this!" Kankuro cried, throwing his hands in front of him. His large puppet turned its head to face Naruto, and its powerful jaws opened wide. Inside its mouth there was a metal tube, which suddenly burst out a cloud of smoke as a black sphere rocketed straight for Naruto, a fuse on the end hissing angrily.
The explosion resounded, but it was too little too late. Naruto had already disappeared, sprinting off to the pieces of wreckage all around. He ran up a large piece of corrugated steel and leapt high into the air, both Temari and Kankuro barely able to follow him as he moved.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried, creating three clones behind him. Temari reacted as quickly as she could, whipping her fan around and sending the several blades of wind straight for the Naruto's. But the four identical ninja threw their hands up high, using their own wind to knock them out of the path.
They disappeared once more, leaving Temari and Kankuro to do their best to defend. However, just as Temari pulled her fan back, Naruto appeared below her. He rose up fast, slashing across the surface of her fan with his clawed nails. The paper tore apart instantly, and her weapon was rendered useless. Left stunned by the sudden attack, she was defenceless as Naruto returned the kick she had given him not two minutes ago. She flew through the air and hit a rusting beam hard, feeling a couple of ribs cracking in the process.
"Gah!" she cried, her eyes snapping open as she fell back down to the ground. She struck the dirt hard, clinging to her sides with her broken fan discarded. She lay curled in a ball, unable to think from the pain.
"TEMARI!" Kankuro called, hopping behind the defensive wall of his puppet. It proved to be a foolish mistake however, because instead of defending him, it was used as a place to hold him against as one of the Kage Bunshin appeared behind him. Then the other two showed up, grabbing his hands from either side.
The real Naruto straightened up, ignoring the pained cry as Kankuro's wrists were snapped. He looked over to Temari, who had her eyes fixed on him, wincing from her own injury. He looked at her single open eye, and was made even angrier. Why the hell did she still look like that?!
"Damn it…" he thought, dropping his gaze to the space between his feet. The look that she gave him made him stop and think, and in that moment he decided on what he had to do. He glanced over to the Kage Bunshin, each of whom were still gripping Kankuro tight. They looked at him and nodded, their red eyes fading to blue as they dropped their target onto his puppet. They moved over to Temari and picked her up, ignoring her groans of pain as they placed her down beside her brother. Then they disappeared, leaving the two wounded ninja to look at the original who walked towards them.
"Don't bother." Naruto said, slowly reaching behind him. They both saw that his eyes had also reverted, yet neither were comforted by this in the least. They were surprised however, when he pulled out a scroll on tossed it to them, "Your puppet's in there."
"What d'you think you're doing?" Kankuro demanded, wincing as he pushed himself to a sitting position. Temari raised her head as high as she could, her teeth clenched as she tried to maintain her composure. He watched as Naruto turned away, making to leave, "I though you wanted to kill us!"
"Tch." Naruto grunted, coming to a stop. It was true, thinking about it still made him mad as hell, but at the same time he knew what he needed to do. He took a deep breath, raising his head to the fading sunlight. He took a few moments of silence, before replying, "If I did that, I wouldn't be able to face Gaara again."
Temari and Kankuro both stopped their mild movements, their brows creasing as they frowned at Naruto in confusion. Temari made to sit up, and was assisted by Kankuro who she chose to lean on. She held a hand across her stomach while the other supported her. Then, with a shaky voice, she spoke, "What do you mean?"
Once more Naruto took a pause, slowly looking back at the pair behind him. Neither were in any condition to fight, Temari could hardly move while Kankuro lost his means for using his forte. From a glance they were no threat to him, but that didn't make him lower his defences. If anything else, he felt nervous, though he couldn't explain why.
"Gaara… isn't done with you." he said, finding himself unable to make eye contact. He looked ahead again, clenching and unclenching his fists, "He told me that there were some people back in Suna, people that were holding him down."
He then fell silent, dropping his head to the floor. Temari and Kankuro continued to watch him, unsure of what to say or how to take what they had been told. But then he began to walk away, and it seemed the chance had left them.
"You can use the blood to track me if you want." he said, as he slowly got further away, "But if you jump me, or any of my comrades, you'll probably die."
And with that he disappeared amongst the rubble, vanishing from sight completely. Temari and Kankuro watched the spot where he had been, their eyes wide and their brows creased as they gaped slightly. Just what who was that person?
* * * * *
"So that's how it is huh?" Utakata asked, sitting back from the campfire and resting his head against the tree behind him. Not far from him sat Hidan, who looked oddly self satisfied for a person affected by a poison as such.
"Yep." Hidan replied, the shadows and firelight recreating the image Utakata remembered before he passed out, the black and white face. He still spoke with a slight slur, and movement was a little strange for him, "S' long as you keep sacrificing for Jashin-sama, no one's gonna be able to kill ya. Ya don't have to thank me, just consider my debt cleared."
"Thank you?" Utakata replied, with a cocked brow. He let out a long, harrowing sigh as he reached into his kimono, "Immortality…"
"Sounds pretty sweet huh?" Hidan asked, with a weak but full grin. He seemed to have his own perception of what Utakata's reaction was, and didn't seem to acknowledge the atmosphere in the slightest. But he did raise a brow as Utakata pulled a phial out from the folds of his clothing, and rose it to the light to study the red liquid inside, "What's that?"
"Hm?" Utakata glanced at Hidan questioningly, cupping the phial in his hands before smiling to the Jashinist, "Here, it should help get rid of the poison."
Despite his confusion, Hidan accepted the phial silently. He gave it a look himself, but his knowledge of herbs and such were nonexistent. It could have been rusty water for all he knew. Still, what doesn't kill you right?
Hidan chuckled faintly at his private joke, flicking the cork out of the phial and throwing the contents into his mouth without another thought. He frowned slightly, swallowing the solution hard. Then, after several moments, he looked at the phial with a startled expression, before dropping it and grabbing his throat.
"Oh, I should've warned you." Utakata said, his eyes losing quite a bit of the previous innocence, "It tends to cause some pretty strong acid reflux. Still, you'll live right?"
"FU- FUH-" Hidan gasped, as he fell onto his side. Saliva spilled out of his mouth and onto the earthy ground. After several moments of grasping at his own throat, his eyes rolled back into his skull and he began spasming out of control.
Once more Utakata sighed, though this time it was much more content. He rose to his feet and wandered off at a leisurely pace. He had no particular desire to be anywhere in the vicinity when the other side effects kicked in.
"UTAKATA!" Hidan yelled, gaining enough control to cry out, "I'LL KILL YOU BASTARD!"
"How?" was Utakata's simple question. With that, he disappeared into the shadows with a cruel smirk on his face.
