I wanted to do more with this, but I'm being pushed for time as it is. Hopefully this will ne enjoyable though, there are some things in here I didn't consider before. I know this isn't the first time I've said that, only some of this story is planned. Anyway, I also have to get started on the next chapter to day if I want to get back on schedule, so I'm gonna get to that.

Disclaimer: Anyone else kinda hoping Kirabi was literal with his final words in chapter 495?


Those unspoken words

The third Shinobi team reached the point of conflict, where the explosions could still be heard ringing out. They had split up in several directions to confuse the enemy, of whom they still had no idea of number or strength. One Shinobi in particular leapt down into the narrow gaps between the buildings, looking up as he caught the faint light of an explosion somewhere around the corner. He studied the size of the blast, it wasn't the sort created by explosive tags.

"Katashi here, approaching enemy from the south side." he called, his voice muffled slightly by the bandages wrapped around his entire head. He crouched low as he listened out for any other sounds, only a thin strip allowing his eyes and ears access to the world around him. He caught nothing however; it seemed the enemy was moving away from him. "Moving forward to-"

His words were cut short as something close by drew his attention. He felt something gripping his leg, something rough and warm. Looking down, he realised both his legs were in the grasp of what seemed to be a tendril of sand. His eyes widened as the sand suddenly pulled at him, dragging him off into the shadows.

"Oof!" he gasped, as he was thrown against the stone wall. His transceiver fell from his ear and hit the ground, where it was subsequently stepped on by someone approaching from the darkness. Katashi narrowed his eyes at the red haired stranger who came close to him, the pair looking with cold eyes. Before Katashi could do anything, his arms were bound to either side of the wall by the sand, he was completely defenceless.

"Where is the Gobi Jinchuriki?" asked the stranger, cutting straight to the point with his harsh voice. His pupiless eyes met the irisless ones of the Iwa nin, waiting for the slightest hint of truth or dishonesty. However what he received was something else altogether; a sneer of anger came from Katashi's face.

"You mean Han, right?" he replied, giving the stranger a superior look. The stranger seemed to think nothing of this look however, but that didn't deter Katashi. "So you come attacking this place for that guy then? Guess he's even more trouble than we thought."

"That isn't what I asked." the stranger said, his left hand tightening into a clawed shape. Katashi winced in pain as his bonds tightened; his hands and feet would go numb if this continued for much longer. "What I need is whatever you can tell me about the Jinchuriki; his name, his ability and his location."

Katashi lost his arrogance as he realised how this situation would go. He gave the stranger a dark look as he opened his mouth wide, forcing his bandages apart so that his lips were now visible. "And what if I tell you huh?" he asked, his lips peeling back as he bared his teeth. "I tell you what you want to hear, you kill me then be on your way? Well FUCK YOU!"

He then spat at the stranger, his saliva flying at the face of the stoic boy. The gesture made no impact however, more sand got in the way, creating a small wall between the faces of the two. Katashi watched with a glare as the sand slowly crumbled away, his expression fading as he realised there was something wrong with the strangers eyes; they had completely changed colour.


The aviary lay in ruins, the two Shinobi dead and the birds terrified into flying away without a given direction. By this point it didn't really matter where they went; Naruto and the others were going to have company soon enough. To that end, Naruto and the dogs rushed towards the place Deidara and Gaara was. They weren't using transceivers at this time, so he had no choice but to meet with them in person.

He could see the destruction Deidara had caused just by his passing through. Bridges made of both wood and stone had collapsed, and segments of buildings were now missing. Smoke rose from craters and rubble crumbled down into the chasms below, it really did look like a war zone out here.

"He wasn't kidding when he said he was gonna create a commotion." Naruto thought, as he landed on a wall and bounded straight back off. He could see the people inside the buildings running around in a panic, trying to find the quickest and safest route from wherever they were. Of course, their progress was hindered as they froze in shock from the size of the giant canines passing by; their understanding of this conflict was steadily decreasing. "Why do I get the feeling there was a quieter way to do this?"

In the end however he didn't continue that train of thought. There was too much going on around to think of the things they could have or should have done. He caught his first sign of enemy Shinobi; there was a pair of them running ahead with their back to him. Naruto made to grab Eko, but after a moment's consideration decided against it; he needed to find something out about the Gobi, killing these guys right away would be a waste.

He hit the angled rooftop of one of the shorter buildings hard, using the gathered force to make a greater jump over the two Shinobi. He whirled around in the air and channelled Fuuton chakra into his hands, preparing to knock them down before doing anything else. Unfortunately however, his damn shadow gave him away, and alerted the two Shinobi below.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" ordered one of them, while whipping out a scroll from his pouch. His partner bought him some time by assaulting Naruto with several shuriken. Naruto was forced to expend his gathered chakra to move out of the way, using his Fuuton: Reppusho to knock himself off course.

The first Shinobi bit into his thumb and ran it across the spread open scroll. Then taking the thick part in both hands, he began spinning on the spot with his arms outstretched. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he called, putting great effort into his spins. Smoke burst from the whirling scroll and from it, several dark things flew out at high speeds. The dark things struck the surrounding walls hard, causing dust and debris to fall down below. Naruto landed on one of the roof of one of the still-intact walkways connecting the buildings, looking up at the clouds of dust as they settled away.

Many strange creatures clung to the walls, unlike anything Naruto had ever seen before. They looked like pale apes, their greyed fur marked with tints of a mouldy green. The beasts held onto the stone by long, hooked claws, hanging limply as they looked down at Naruto. There were about seven of them, each with flat looking faces wearing listless expressions. For some reason, despite the way they looked they failed to give off the slightest sign of a threatening aura. But still they surrounded Naruto on either side of the bridge, blocking his path in either direction.

"Ninpou: Hyorogan Salvo!" called the second Shinobi suddenly, clasping his hands before his mouth. He then threw them out in two directions, sending out several globules of something dark. Those objects splattered onto the walls nearby the strange creatures, sticking fast and catching their attention. Naruto, keeping an eye on the Shinobi, also watched the creatures warily. The beasts idly reached out fro the globules, scooping them up in their claws and slipping them into their mouths. They crunched slowly, their attention returning to Naruto. Then, simultaneously, they let go of the walls.

Naruto shook in shock as the beasts hit the bridge, cracking the stone with their sheer weight. Instinctively he grabbed hold of Eko, though he wondered if there was any point to it with creatures this bulky. Instead he turned his attention to the two Shinobi, who were already well into their next move. They darted up onto the bridge with him, taking positions on either side.

"Beast Art: Sloth Reversion Technique!" called the one responsible for summoning the creatures. The apparent "sloth" that lay just behind him reacted to his ram seal, hastily dragging itself over and onto the Shinobi's back before clinging on tight.

Naruto looked between him and the other Shinobi, who was running his hands through a series of seals. Unwilling to let this go on any further, it was this person Naruto decided to attack. He dashed towards him and pulled out the Ekokaeten, before swinging hard and fast. The giant blade whistled through the air towards the Shinobi, who saw the blade yet made no move to stop what he was doing.

SHLIKT!

Naruto stared in shock as the gap between the Shinobi and Eko was suddenly filled by one of the sloths. The large creature stood on its hind legs, gripping Eko between the claws on its arms and holding the blade in place. Though it had suddenly appeared from nowhere, it slowly drifted its head to look at Naruto again, it's dumb looking face meeting Naruto's stunned eyes.

"Doton: Earth Corridor Jutsu!" called the second Shinobi, planting both his hands on the ground. Naruto tensed as the entire bridge shook, threatening to collapse. But before he knew it, two large stone walls erupted from the floor to either side, closing the ten beings inside a tall and dark hallway. Naruto struggled with the sloth gripping onto Eko, but its grip was like a vice. In the end he was forced to release the blade and dart off, taking to the walls were he could face all the enemies.

To his surprise however he was disallowed the opportunity to do even that. The moment he turned around his view was filled with that of one of the sloths, who was swinging its claw around to slash at Naruto's chest. The blond boy was just able to jump back, his skin barely missing a long and bloody gash.

He landed on the top of the corridor, crouched down as he looked at the group down below. "Man, I'm wasting time here." he thought, conveniently forgetting that he was the one who started this fight. His first thoughts came to just running off, maybe collapsing the walls to crush the enemy in the process. But he soon pushed that idea aside; Eko was still down there, lying uselessly on the ground. "These things are fast, can I summon him and escape at the same time?"

That question was answered for him however, with a negative reply. Two of the sloths appeared to either side of him, each coming to a sudden stop once they reached the peak of the corridor. Naruto looked between them, why were they stopping like that? Whatever the reason, he needed to get out of this situation fast. And so, with a quick breath, he hopped down into the darkness and brought his hands together in the cross seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he cried.


Yagura stepped slowly through the quiet forest, his eyes and ears pretty much shut off as he wandered almost aimlessly through. He had a distant look about him, but there were few thoughts going through his head at that time. All he really noticed was the softness of the earth and the cool damp feeling of the trees as he absent mindedly touched them. He didn't really know where he was going; he just hoped it was the right direction.

He came around the base of a particularly large tree, pausing for a moment with his hand pressed against the bark. He could see not too far away the familiar form of a tan skinned girl, sitting hunched over on a fallen log. He looked at her bowed head and slumped shoulders. Though she didn't seem her best she at least seemed to be in a stable mood. Uncertainly, and carefully, Yagura stepped out from behind the tree and quietly headed towards her.

She seemed to notice his presence; the faint sound of his footsteps on the moist earth gave him away. But whether she knew if it was actually him or someone else, Yagura didn't know. All he could say for certain was that the way she was acting was far from what he had expected of her; he didn't know what she was going to do.

He reached the log that she had sat herself upon and came to a stop, looking down at her pale green hair with a half sorry half wary look. In truth he wasn't sure what he was doing here, what he could do. He wasn't the sort to console people with words, nor was he the kind of person to apologise. But here he was, in a situation completely alien to him. There was no turning back now.

Turning on the spot, he quietly lowered himself onto the log, sitting right behind Fuu. He rested his arms on his knees and leant forward, feeling far from comfortable as he was. It felt like everything he did here only implicated him more, his desire to leave was ever growing. But Fuu was waiting for him; he had to say something now.

"Hey… I-" he began, before faltering mid sentence. He really wished that he had left this to Utakata; he knew better how to comfort people than he did. Yagura hung his head as he tried to collect his thoughts, wondering if Fuu was planning on running off again. It was that idea that solidified him, making him more certain that he needed to do something at least. "So… uh… are you… ever gonna give me back my muffler?"

He flinched the moment he finished that question, knowing he'd just said something stupid. He gave a quick glance over his shoulder, and was fairly certain that Fuu was growing hotter and hotter. He misguidedly mistook that for anger, and quickly came out with what he was trying to say. "I'm… I'm sorry about back there." he muttered, letting his head hang again. Though it was a fairly simple thing to say, he could feel himself growing quite hot too. "It was wrong of me to expect- to ask so much of you."

A pair of birds flitted through the trees, chirping to each other as they flew by. The two of them filled the silence created by Yagura's words; Fuu was yet to say anything in reply. Letting out another sigh, Yagura figured he should continue. "… I'm… gonna be honest here." he said, in a quiet voice. "When I went with Utakata, Gaara and Naruto to Taki, my only thoughts were convincing the Nanabi Jinchuriki to betray the village that person belonged to. So I had prepared myself to do or say whatever it took to do that… so I'm sorry."

Fuu turned her head ever so slightly, Yagura's words taking her by surprise. Her hands tightened on her knees, she was steadily feeling worse about her own situation. Whether Yagura was aware of that or not, he continued on regardless.

"For the past… I don't know how long, I've been the Mizukage of Kirigakure." he said, a small smirk appearing on his lips. "But I don't know anything about that. I was under a Genjutsu the whole time, the only memories I have are about Utakata, my training, and the way the village treated me. Those are all I have, so I understand that life must have been hard. However Taki treated you… I only have an idea."

He fell silent again, but this time he wasn't waiting for a reply. He bowed his head further, shame filling his face as his hair hung down either side. "I was the one who said that no one can take our freedom…" he whispered, staring blankly at the dirt between his feet. "But here I am doing the same thing as Kiri; forcing you to become a weapon for some cause I don't even know about!"

He ended his words with a grit to his teeth, his hands clenched into fists. Fuu looked over her shoulder to him, a sad but worried look on her face. She turned her eyes back to the woods ahead, unsure of what she should say. But in the end, she just decided to go with the flow, and say the first things that came to her mind.

"Back when I was younger, all the other children would call me "Nanabi"." she said, in a soft, pensive voice. "Their parents would call me it too, the store owners, even my cousins. It was a funny nickname, Nanabi… I couldn't really understand it. My mother and father were the only ones who never called me it… but then they never really called me anything.

"Then when I became a Genin, my mother suggested I find a place of my own. My dad had already packed my things away. They both gave me some money for rent, and closed the door before I was even in the street."

Yagura looked over his shoulder; this was the second time Fuu spoke about her past. But unlike before, she had a more sombre tone to her, more forlorn. He almost flinched as she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tight. "I hate that place…" she whispered, her voice quivering faintly.

This time Yagura really did flinch, his eyes widening and his lips parting. But this expression was only fleeting, soon replaced with a grimace of anger as he turned his attention to the front again. He tried to contain himself, but soon failed, slipping onto his hands and knees as he punched the ground. "DAMN IT!" he yelled, startling Fuu into whipping around. He pummelled the ground again and again, his anger only growing with the pain in his fist. This went on about four more times, ending with him gripping the earth hard, his teeth bared and his eyes glaring. "I'm… the same! I did that! Am I just like them, those judgemental bastards?"

Fuu stared at him in shock; she had never seen him so angry before. She watched as he stayed still like that for several moments, before slowly pushing himself up to his feet. However, even when he had straightened up, Fuu couldn't help but see the despair and self loathing inside of him, how small his back looked right now.

"Fuu… I really am sorry." he said, in a quiet voice. He blinked a couple of times, but found himself unable to focus on the here and now. He took a few limp steps forward, his hands clenching and unclenching as he once more found himself unsure of what to do. "I asked you if it'd be so bad to leave Taki… but I'm keeping you from being happy here, aren't I?"

He had begun to turn around as he said that, wanting a response from Fuu to solidify his thoughts. It was for that reason he was shocked when instead of words of confirmation, Fuu threw her arms around him. He took a step back in surprise, but she was holding on tight, her head buried in his stomach.

"I'm happy!" she exclaimed, her voice loud but unsteady. Her eyes were shut tight and her face was flushed, but she refused to let go of her grip to Yagura. Though she wasn't sure she could feel more embarrassed than she did now, she knew she needed to speak fast to keep Yagura from getting the wrong idea. "I'm grateful to you, to everybody! I don't feel lonely anymore!"

Yagura had been shocked by her sudden hug, her words had nearly put him over the edge. He was filled with a sense of embarrassment; trying to distract himself with the fact that though Fuu's head was in his stomach, she was also on her knees. But he shook his head, his own lacking height was far from the issue at hand. "Fuu, I-" he began, before coming to a sudden stop. He could see her shaking lightly, faint tears brimming in her squeezed shut eyes. This was as difficult for her as it was for him it seemed. However, he noticed that his anger had faded, and was replaced by another feeling altogether. He lifted his hand and placed it on her head, a small smile appearing on his face. "Sorry."


THROOM!

Wreckage flew everywhere in a storm of dust as Naruto leapt out of the stone corridor, facing the enemy with Eko in hand. The rock walls crumbled apart, shining light on the sloths and Shinobi who made to follow him. The two Shinobi, and sloth clinging to the first Shinobi's back, followed him into the air while the other beasts darted across the walls.

They each had irregular movements, disappearing one place and reappearing in another, before moving again. Each time they stopped, they would cast a look at Naruto right before moving again. Neither Naruto nor Eko could find a reason for this, but it was getting to be pretty worrisome.

"You're just as bad as Kisame no Danna, you know that?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to think!" Naruto yelled back, as he landed on the wall of a building at the end of the street. Though the sloths were taking their time to get over, the two Shinobi were already on top of him. The one carrying the sloth was weighed down a little, landing several feet below Naruto. But he wasted no time in charging straight up, the animal on his back slashing out for the blond boy with his claws.

"These things are fast, so why's this one being given a lift?" Naruto thought, as he defended against the slash with Eko. Knowing that the blade would be difficult to use in this situation, he jumped off the building and threw Eko hard, embedding him into the wall of another structure. He then landed on a building on the opposite side of the street, facing all of his opponents once more. "Guess I'm gonna be late… let's see what they can do."

Readying himself for a fight, Naruto raised his hands in a basic Taijutsu stance. He wore a slight smirk of anticipation; now that he had accepted this battle it was easier to slip into it. Now that he was in the mood, he had no desire to wait any longer. And so with no more hesitation, he sprung from the spot he stood and dashed at the enemy.

The sloths were first to intercept him, their unusual speed leading them to close the distance in no time. They seemed to continue their irregular movement pattern however; Naruto had little trouble evading their swipes and slashes while dealing some of his own. He hopped around them and threw his open hand out, striking them with the side of his palm and slicing with Fuuton chakra. However he found that their fur was surprisingly thick, all he really seemed to be doing was giving them a light trim.

But then one made an attack at him, bringing its claws down hard. Naruto reacted quickly and grabbed the claws before they could connect, gripping them and using his Fuuton: Wind Palm. Like expected, he felt the claws shatter in his hands, startling the sloth as its arm came loose. It hit the wall lightly as it tried to cling on, apparently it wasn't the most intelligent of beasts. Fortunately it told Naruto a lot; now he was ready to act.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called, with his hands held in the cross seal. Behind him, five copies flickered into existence, as combat ready as he was. The six Naruto's split off in separate directions, four headed to distract the sloths while two moved to the Shinobi. The real Naruto met the Shinobi with the sloth on his back midway, ducking under the attacks of the sloth and the kunai wielding ninja as he aimed to make some of his own.

It was unfortunate though that this Shinobi was quite proficient with his close combat, able to block attacks while his partner used its long reach to dice the enemy apart. This wasn't enough to stop Naruto however; he just needed a moment's preparation first. And so he clung to the wall, swiping at the Shinobi's legs. As expected, the ninja pushed himself back to avoid the attack.

That was the opening Naruto needed, now the game was set and match. He let himself drop off the wall and fall down below, allowing gravity to take care of him. The Shinobi was quick to follow, running down after Naruto while staying wary to trickery. It was to that end that he acted carefully when Naruto released another blast of wind, knocking himself into one of the openings in the stone wall. Instead of following him straight in, he came to a stop just a floor above, perching on the sill of the window there as he waited cautiously.

"Aaah-eeeh!" the sloth groaned, lightly hitting the Shinobi with its arm. The Shinobi batted the beast away; the Hyorogan tended to make them a little antsy. However, hen the sloth persisted, he too became uncertain, he looked back to the animal on his back with a frown, realising only too late the sloth's cause for concern. Most probably, it was the giant pair of jaws bearing down on them.