Scroll 5: Grave Interruptions
When Shozaku exited the station with the kids in tow, he told Joma and Skiminachi take the kids and get out of the village to join the others. He informed his two comrades of his detour in finding a place to mark the grave before he joined them. Shozaku also wanted time to be alone, at least away from all the usual faces. He'd been with them constantly for the past few months; and the only 'alone' time he got was to take a piss.
Being around the group of the people he led grated on his nerves after awhile, and he normally would've complained about it, but he was trying to be a good leader in lack of their previous ones place. The gambler first went in the direction that Yukari had gone, wondering if he might find the graveyard in doing so. He also wanted to see the town, wondering how it had changed since he last remembered it.
Yukari's reminiscing on comrades that fell in battle was a painful reminder of those who mattered more to her than names; friends and family that had either gone missing or had died. She made a quick stop at her half-newly finished apartment to pick up her nin-band, kunai and to show her neighbors she was alive and unhurt. Yukari then angled over to the Ninja Monument to pay her respects: Sudokari Misaruki, Maso Ankou and her missing sister, Raikanami. She knelt down in front of the angled shrine made of stone and carved names and closed her eyes in deep thought.
Shozaku eventually found the place he was looking for, and spotted Yukari as well. He noticed the way she was kneeling and the look on her face and decided not to bother her at the moment. He did look around for a suitable place, something out of the way, yet still close enough to the Konoha monument. If it was him, he would've wanted a grave enough so that anybody passing with-in sight would see it.
But alas, Kentarou was never one for extravagance. Finding a small spot, he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a mini-unicycle of which quickly grew into a normal sized one. He dug out a small hole so that he could put it in, and did so, burying it so that half of the wheel was underground and only one pedal stuck out at an angle. He then started talking to it, assuming that even if somebody noticed they wouldn't interrupt him.
"I don't really know what happened; we never did find a body. I can only hope that, even as I pay my last respects, they won't be the final goodbyes. I honestly don't know how we can keep going for long without you. I can lead for a bit, but I don't think it's my kind of life. Hell, if it wasn't for you, I'd probably be locked up in a jail somewhere for swindling too many stupid people out of their hard earned money. I heard you liked it here, so I'm glad we could leave you here. Everything just seems so…odd right now, if you're out there anywhere listening, give me even a fraction of your strength so I can do everything that may soon need to be done. I'll bring the others by soon. Goodbye Kentarou-sama…"
Shozaku stayed kneeling, silent for another minute or two.
Yukari had been the sort to eavesdrop, but she just stood there, watching for a few minutes before heading to the training ground. However, before she got there, her stomach informed her she skipped a meal.
'Baaaa-aaad Yukari-chan…' It growled. She blushed and slapped herself on the forehead. It was lunchtime and she had skipped breakfast.
"Hm…I wonder…where that really tall nin-ryou is…I hope he's still around…" Yukari mused to herself and headed back to the ANBU Way station to find him.
The ninja-chef Skiminachi had already left, along with Joma and the children. Minutes later, Shozaku passed by as he retraced his steps. He didn't have the village mapped out in his head yet so he just went back to everywhere he had been until he found the way out. He gave a polite wave to Yukari as he kept on walking.
She looked very odd at this point in time: she had her finger point back the way she came and then to the opposite direction and back again. Was this dude digging her? Stalking her even? Was she going crazy! Yukari shook her head and jumped onto a roof top and decided just to go to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch: it was god-sent and affordable.
A few minutes into Yukari's dining at the Ramen shop, a large procession of foreign ninja could be seen walking in a straight line towards the ninja monument area. At the front of the line was Shozaku, followed by Skiminachi. Wydra came next, holding Shozaku's hand, but the other two children were nowhere in sight. A civilian people whispered and wondered amongst themselves as to what exactly was going on. The group Shozaku led were traveling in to pay their final respects before they did anything else, whether it was leave immediately or not.
Yukari was on her second bowl of her normal trio of bowls when she spotted this scene, and promptly choked on a 'naruto'. Pounding her stomach, she coughed up the offending food piece and stared at the line.
"That's it, I've died and gone to limbo, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder…what IS it with these people! I swear…" Yukari paid for twice the amount to Teuchi, as per agreement with Naruto before he left, and ninja-ed her way onto the roofs, following the line of weird ninja. She wasn't the only one as a few or so odd ninja – chuunin level - were watching with mild curiosity. It was a sight to see in their eyes.
Behind Skiminachi was a ninja with fire-red hair that blew in the wind behind her. She wore a pair of earrings that had the symbol for the Sand-village on them, to indicate she had lived there a long time ago. Joma walked silently behind the woman. Next came a tall and skinny person that was dressed all over in stripes, and the stripes seemed to continue along the rest of his body as well, ranging in all the colors. Behind them were a small group of four ninja that were riding along on unicycles. At the end of a line was a ninja that was dressed all in black, the cloth covering his entire body. No visible holes were left, so it was a mystery he was able to breathe.
They continued marching by, not even paying enough attention to ignore the stares. Wydra could tell what was coming, and was already starting to cry. They continued until they made their way to the little wheel-in-the ground that Shozaku had set up.
As they made their way to the half-buried cycle wheel, Shozaku moved to stand behind it. He nodded towards Joma and the last ninja in line, who both did a few quick, hand signs. To those with good eyes, whether chakra-related or not, they could tell that something had happened. It was a bit more evident when, as Shozaku started talking, no sound could be heard. He continued on for only a few short minutes, before nodding back to Joma and the other, who snapped their fingers again.
"I've already said what I wanted to say, and as bad as it may be to say it, it makes me sad to be here much longer so I'm going to go on. We'll meet up at camp later tonight with the rest."
Shozaku started walking away as Skiminachi and the fiery-haired woman walked up and knelt in front of the grave. Wydra stood off to the side, unsure of what to do herself, but she was evidently torn up about the whole thing.
Yukari wasn't one to butt in when it was apparent that her ears didn't need to hear things, but she did understand the body language and bowed her own head in respect.
"Oy, Yukari-chan what's all this hub-bub about?" A grey-suited ninja appeared next to her and lightly tapped her on the head.
Former ANBU ninja 'Otou-sensei' stood next to his new student. Like Akanchi before him, he had the job of training genin. However, unlike Akanchi: this nin would not betray her to the scum of enemy ninja. ANBU often were given code names and Yukari was all too happy to call him by his: Otou.
Being clad in grayish blue instead of the normal chuunin green, Otou looked at the scene and chuckled. This had nothing to do with him or his job. No, he wasn't even mildly curious. He was here to train the young Uzaruki to become a deadly ninja in her nature-based chakra: which was earth and wind. He also assigned to keep an eye on the curse-mark that plagued her. Kind, grey-green eyes glanced back and forth from Yukari to the mourning group of mix-mashed ninja below. He had his kekkai genkai, a bloodline limit that gave him a third, purple color eye, hidden behind a shaped-to-fit headband. It was something his clan had, and only he and his brother, Okamizu, were publically known to have it. The rest, whoever they were or even if they existed, had theirs hidden under duty and secrets.
"Otou-sensei! This has to be the oddest thing ever! I mean look at them! They are so…colorful!" Her voice was low, and raspy; as if she was making herself whisper.
Shozaku looked over and nodded towards Yukari as he shuffled along, hands in his pockets as his mind was in deep thought. He kept on walking, eventually the little girl Wydra running to catch up with him and jumped onto his back.
As the last ninja in line walked up to speak his piece, a loud roaring noise was heard from far off in the woods outside of Konoha. Trees fell, scattering birds into the wind. Each of the foreign ninja closed their eyes and sighed; all were thinking: 'Will there ever be a moment's peace?'
"What the hell is that!" Yukari's red eyes went wide; her body posed; as if she was hesitating to use her kekkai genkai to investigate the source. "Do you need me to see what it is, Gambler-san!" She offered as she landed next to the tense ninja.
"No thanks. There's somewhere else I should probably be or I'll get hell for it later. You should probably concentrate more on protecting those that matter anyway. Yo!" Shozaku turned towards the rest, running up to Skiminachi, who was eating an odd bag of god-knows what.
"Catapult in the direction of BaRoKenDo, everybody move into battle mode!" He hopped on to one of Skiminachi's outstretched hands, which had grown in size. Alongside him, a couple of ninja jumped, and were instantly tossed high and far out of the village like being shot out of a catapult. Wydra tried to jump along, but Skiminachi stopped her and pointed towards Otou and Yukari.
"NO FAIR! I WANNA FIGHT!" she screamed at him. The cook stood silently and shook his head, saying only a few choice words:
"If you go now and die, what person then would Kentarou have raised?" That shut her up. Wydra began crying as she whirled and tackled Yukari, clinging to her.
Yukari was nearly bowled over by Wydra as Otou-sensei bowed to Skiminachi in agreement and disappeared for action. Yukari quickly took Wydra onto her back and fleetly made her way back into the safe zone of the village.
"Um…want some chew-gum?" Yukari looked down at the girl and remained slightly perturbed. Did the Cook-san just shove a kid onto her? Talk about lousy bets. Her tri-eyed sensei was gone too; most likely getting to the bottom of the scary roar that echoed out moments ago.
The young kunoichi nodded her head and continued to bury her face into Yukari's stomach/side. The girl was muttering about how mean they were and how she missed him too, and how she wanted to 'kill those bastards for what they did…'
XXX
Seconds later elsewhere, Sakura could be seen dashing towards Tsunade's office, looking worse for wear, but well enough to run. She slammed open the door to the office and paused, catching her ragged breath.
"What is the problem, Sakura-san?" Tsunade-sama's brow rose as Sakura entered her office.
"Tsunade-shishio, I need…medical…attention and Kakashi has been…captured…" She said as quickly as she could between breaths. Sakura, having relayed the message, collapsed from combined lack of energy and damage to herself.
Outside the village perimeter, a lot of what the responding ninja would see: would be a huge, black flowing mist. Within the mist, sounds of battle between multiple ninja emanated – the clang of metal kunai against metal kunai and sharp, quick cries of bodily contact. The black mist was beginning to circle around the west gate of Konoha very slowly. By the speed it was going; the mist wouldn't encircle the entire village until a few hours after nightfall, and it was still mid-afternoon. At one point, someone that looked like Kakashi was thrown out of the mist close to the outer wall to land on his back. The person looked extremely wounded.
The gates had been closed, as the ninja were evacuating nearby civilians into the hidden-houses scattered throughout Konoha. This had happened once before, during the Sand-Sound Invasion. And just like before, things went smoothly as ninja prepared themselves for a fight. All types of nin were reporting in and out of the Hokage office, and their respective stations. Yukari herself had barely made into the safe zone before things got hectic. Otou-sensei reappeared and smiled kindly at Yukari and Wydra.
"Yukari-chan, please come with me." His left hand had a large, boulder-sized shuriken as he held his empty right hand out to his student and Wydra.
"What in the name of the Hokage is going on!" Yukari had Wydra on her back and instantly wondered where the two other kids were; and if they were ok or not.
"Now's not the time to talk, Yukari-chan, we are currently moving west-side civilians into the hidden houses, and I want you in one as well, until further notice."
"I'm a god-damned CHUUNIN, sensei! I can't be shuffled around like a puppy."
"I know, I know…" Otou-sensei had led them to a dragon-carved statue outside the closest district – Yurimi – and made a series of quick hand signs before pushing once then pulling back on the dragon's left ear and right eye. The statue slid aside to reveal a staircase going down into the earth.
While she was watching her sensei, Yukari's shadow grew a fraction bigger as it connected with the shadow that the statue was casting off.
XXX
Outside the village wall, and within the mist, both Joma and Shozaku were sprung high into the air. Joma was attached to Shozaku's back and glowed with charged chakra. When they were high enough up, Joma shoved all his gathered chakra into Shozaku via his hands that were placed on the side of the gambler's head. It was a strange sight to behold for any of the assisting Konoha ninja. Gigantic cones of light shot out of Shozaku's eyes and into the black miasma.
As the cones of light touched the black fog, it blew away the black, inky mist like salt on ice-cream. Now that the assailants were visible, the battle paused momentarily. A very large man, one that stood in the light only long enough to be glimpsed, stepped back into the black mist.
Visible too, was a wiry looking man that looked like he'd been jig-sawed together. His hair was static-y and spiked on one side and not the other; half of his face was lit up in a huge smile with wide eyes while the other half was closed, and one arm was gigantic while the other was normal in size. The two-parted man looked into the sky, noticing what Shozaku was doing, and slammed his fist onto the ground twice before running off.
The black fog quickly withdrew itself into the distance, until as the Leaf Ninja could see; it was being sucked back into a single ninja. Shozaku and Joma were still high up, seemingly kept there at the amount of chakra both were expending, as Shozaku's Cone-eye-jutsu scanned the area.
Seconds later, Shozaku and Joma dropped out of the sky, into the arms of Skiminachi. Most of the ninja that had been seen visiting the grave were either knocked out, or leaning against a tree and recovering.
Just like that, the battle had ended; or did it?
