Took me a while to write this one. Blame school...
On a side note, check my Naruto Name Suggestion Forum. It could be useful if you're having a hard time naming a character (I personally am..)
Chapter 004 - Roots and Weeds
As lightning fell on the summit, snow continued to fall in the forest...
"If I can't take your eye, I'll just have to take your whole head back to Konoha."
"Are you going to kill yourself?" Ao asked in a surprisingly calm tone.
"No, I'll leave your body the moment your neck is cut. Anyway, you'll die...and I'll return to my own body. I'll come back later for your head." Fu explained.
"Whatever. You'd better be careful though...You don't want to make a mistake." Ao advised.
"What do you mean?" The confused Fu asked.
"If you get scared and leave my body too soon, I'll block the blade! And if I don't die, our positions will be reversed when you return for my head!" Ao explained, leaving Fu speechless for awhile.
"Hmph..." Fu grunted, before jumping towards the exposed blade of the kama. As they were falling, Ao tried to maintain his head clear, so he could block the blade as soon as the Root ANBU left his body. That wasn't needed though, since Temari appeared riding her wind chakra-infused fan, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket as his neck was about to hit the kama.
"What the hell happened?" Kankuro asked as he and everyone else reached the place where Temari and Ao landed.
"You saved me..." The panting Ao mumbled while he still tried to believe what just happened. "The enemy used a jutsu that made me lose control of my body...If you hadn't shown up, I would have died."
"Wow, that was really close." Akatsuchi stated as he stared into the blade.
"Was it some sort of genjutsu or something?" Darui asked as he remembered the effects of Madara's Mugen Tsukuyomi. Ao seemed to be struggling to find an explanation.
"It's a variant of the Mind Transfer Jutsu." He finally let out.
"He knows about the Yamanaka clan's jutsu? That's strange..." Yamato thought as he stared suspiciously to the Hunter-nin.
"I know you're a sensor and have much more experience than me, but I bet you were still worried we wouldn't get here in time, weren't you?" Chojuro asked to his partner.
"Sorry for worrying you..." Ao apologized, without noticing Chojuro's eyebrow twitching.
"Your right eye...They're after that Byakugan of yours." Mifune stated as he saw the tags covering Ao's right eye.
"Byakugan? He's not a Hyuga, that's for sure! So how...?" Yamato thought for awhile but then remembered the circumstances surrounding Kakashi's Sharingan. "Perhaps he fought a Hyuga and took his eye...Maybe he fought a Yamanaka too."
"They almost had it..." Ao said, before raising his hands, showing them to be tied together with ropes. "I'm sorry, can you please undo these ropes?"
"I'll do it. I'll break the jutsu on your right eye, too." Chojuro offered his help as he walked towards Ao.
"Thanks, that would help." Ao answered with a smile.
"What...is that?" Shi asked as he noticed a seemingly inexistent amount of chakra coming from a tree near them. Hanging in there was a puppet with an empty tag on its forehead, being held only by the kama that stabbed its torso.
"No! He hasn't reversed the Mind Transfer Jutsu yet!" Ao shouted, still trapped inside the puppet, but no one could hear him.
"This is going perfectly! If this kid can break the jutsu on this guy's right eye, all the better...I'll crush his Byakugan and immediately reverse my jutsu!" Fu thought as Chojuro grabbed Ao's hands.
"That's it! This chakra is from that guy from Konoha! The sensor!" Ao suddenly concluded. "When that girl of Sasuke's team sensed us, I saw him react like I had...He must have sensed them coming, too! That was what they were after, a chance to escape! Danzo fed the other Kages to Akatsuki, just so he could get his ass in safety!"
"All right!" Chojuro said as he tied the ropes tighter, instead of loosing them.
"What are you doing, Chojuro?" The surprised Kankuro asked.
"He's not Ao...I can't break the jutsu on his right eye, he is well aware of that fact." Chojuro explained to the others, who all instantly glared towards the impostor.
"Eh, you messed things up, kid! I would never apologize in front of Chojuro like that. Spoiling kids isn't my style." Ao mocked Fu, the only one who could hear him.
"You got me, fish face." Fu nearly hissed, while he glared to the young Swordsman of the Mist. Using Ao's body, Fu backrolled and charged towards the trio of samurai. As they drew their swords, Fu attempted an axe handle like maneuver, so he could use Urakaku's sword to cut the ropes, but both Temari and Kankuro stepped between them.
"Not that easily." Temari said with a smirk. As Fu turned, he found himself surrounded by a total of six shinobi.
"Tsk, for even you to be here...Sai really failed us. You did a good job in brainwashing him, Tenzo of the Wood Style." Fu said with a furious look on Ao's face, his free left eye fixed on Yamato. "With him there's six, so where's the fat one?"
"Got ya!" They all heard as two hands emerged from the snow to grab Ao's ankles. Immediately after, the hands turned into stone.
"Tsk, a stone clone! No choice!" Fu thought as he couldn't move. Shi clapped both hands together, making Akatsuchi reappear between both Kumo-nins. The giant Iwa-nin charged towards the immobilized Ao, preparing a powerful punch while doing so.
"How did it go?" Danzo asked as the man who was being carried on Torune's shoulders awakened.
"Sorry, I failed." The upset Fu revealed. "When we transfer to other bodies, our sensing abilities are disabled until we return to our own body."
"You mean he had backup?" Torune asked, while Fu jumped to his own two feet.
"The Kages sent almost everyone, even the three samurais who were at the meeting. Plus..." Fu turned to his master, looking as if he was the one responsible for the next bad news. "Tenzo of the Wood Style is here too."
"For him to pass by our men, he must have had help...Sai failed me by the last time. I'll punish him severily once we get back." Danzo assured before the Root trio continued towards the bridge which was only a few meters away from them. When they reached it, a white kunai appeared at Danzo's feet, getting stuck on the blue stones that composed the bridge, causing the bodyguards Fu and Torune to step forward to protect their master.
"Well well, look who we have here!" They heard a female voice say. Sitting on top of one of the closest pillars of the bridge was Kurotsuchi, who seemed delighted about what she had just found. "Danzo! Since the meeting, isn't it?"
"One of the Tsuchikage's bodyguards! You didn't tell us they were this close, Fu!" Torune scolded his partner.
"Calm down. She was the only missing in that group, she's alone. Still, for me to sense her only now, she must be quite skilled in suppressing her chakra." Suddenly, a drop of sweat fell across Fu's cheek, as he felt a nice amount of chakra behind him. "The kunai! MOVE!"
"Bang..." Kurotsuchi whispered with a smirk as the kunai she had thrown before exploded.
"Tat...wa...me..." Ao mumbled, while he layed on the snow with his face swollen and his left eye blank. "What a right hand..."
"You had enough time to stop your fist, Akatsuchi." Shi sighed while he healed Ao's face.
"Eheh, I didn't notice he had come back. Sorry!" Akatsuchi excused himself while he rubbed the back of his head, making the others wonder how childish Akatsuchi was.
"Tenzo, huh? Is that your real name?"
"Yamato is my ANBU codename. Please keep calling me that way." Yamato asked to Mifune, who still failed to trust him.
"What about the Wood Style? You from the same clan as the First Hokage?" Darui asked, while he and everyone else waited for Ao to be fully healed.
"One's abilities shouldn't be talken too lightly. Sorry, it's confidential Konoha matter." Yamato immediately tried to avoid to speak of himself.
"If it's something confidential, then...?"
"Yes, Kankuro-kun. Whoever did this, is from Konoha." Yamato confirmed the Sand Jounin's suspicions.
"It was the sensor, I recognized his chakra. A Yamanaka clan member, I'm sure." Ao revealed.
"That Byakugan of yours..." Yamato started, upset that Ao revealed the Mind Transfer Jutsu to be one of the Yamanaka clan's abilities.
"Is something that shouldn't be talken about too lightly, right ANBU-san?" Ao answered and stood, beginning a staredown between himself and Yamato.
"You guys better stop this. We've all been ordered to find that Danzo guy. We've all been ordered the same. So, if you guys cause any problems that can put this mission in risk, I may have to cut you down..." Darui threatned while pulling out his cleaver sword. By instict, Yamato pulled out a kunai, while Ao pulled out a kama.
"Could you guys just shut up..." Temari asked as she moved between the three, before getting her folded fan stuck on the snow. "...and start to move? You're sounding like babygirls..."
"Sorry, I never intended to start a fight." Yamato immediately apologized, while Ao simply put his kama back inside his jacket.
"Phew, I really didn't want to get involved in this..." Darui quietly brought his sword to his back, with a drop of sweat slowly falling down his face. Everyone looked at eachother and nodded, before jumping to the woods to resume the hunt.
"You're awfully slow today, Fu." Torune continued to scold his partner, as they emerged from the cloud of smoke caused by the explosion. Danzo was visibly faster than them, considering he was already waiting when they reached him.
"There wasn't chakra in that kunai initially, but suddenly it appeared and started to raise at an unusual high speed." Fu explained.
"Fu, Torune, you must be careful against her. She's perhaps the strongest of all the bodyguards present in that earlier meeting." Danzo told to his own bodyguards, surprising them. "She's one of the Tsuchikage's grandchildren, which means she has unlimited potential."
"What do you mean by unlimited, Danzo-sama?" Torune asked.
"The Tsuchikage is the only known shinobi to be in possession of a Bloodline Expansion, something even more complex than the elemental combinations that are Bloodline Limits." Danzo revealed. "A Bloodline Expansion is the combination of three elements into one. It is unknown if Onoki's children and grandchildren are able to do it, but there's the chance they can combine two elements if they are unable to do it with three."
"Oh? And what do you think that was? The kunai got pulverized to dust..." Kurotsuchi remembered and winked, before getting on her feet.
"So she can do it..." Torune mumbled.
"Baka! Just because that happened, it doesn't mean it's Dust Style! I just made it explode!" Kurotsuchi provoked the Root ANBU, before putting her tongue out to him.
"Made it explode? I guess that makes some sense..." Danzo thought, before he stared to his sensor bodyguard. "Fu, how much time will it take for the others to reach us?"
"Hmm...Considering we'll have to deal with her, we won't have time to run so...about 5 minutes, maybe not even that."
"Then cover me, you two. I'm going to use that time to release the seal on my right arm. Then, I'll wipe all of them together." Danzo's words came out in a whisper. Before both ANBUs could question him, he continued. "We'll put those white monsters we sealed in the scroll by the side of their corpses. That way, the Kages will blame Akatsuki for their deaths. Then, once we reach Konoha, I'll order every Root to find and kill any messenger that tries to inform Konoha of what happened in the meeting. Once I become the official Sixth Hokage, I'll do something about the other villages."
"Since there will be twelve powerful opponents including Tenzo and this girl, we might need Danzo-sama's powers to win." Fu said to his partner, who nodded in agreement.
"Hey, will we do this or what?" Kurotsuchi asked as she spinned another kunai in her left hand, before throwing it with a flick of her fingers. The kunai landed right between the three Konoha shinobi before exploding. From the smoke cloud raised, Fu and Torune rushed towards the stone pillar, climbing it in a zig-zag motion. The masked Torune jumped high into the sky and unleashed a barrage of kunais. Kurotsuchi dodged with backflips, before noticing Fu behind her.
"Mind Transfer..." Fu intoned as he performed the characteristic hand seal of the Yamanaka clan, but interrupted himself as Kurotsuchi started to melt. "Is that a lava clone?"
"Can you still sense her chakra?" Torune asked to which Fu just smirked.
"Of course I can! She's hiding in stones!" Fu shouted as he turned to slash Kurotsuchi who just appeared behind him. The tanto however was stopped when she ducked out and grabbed the handle of the sword. With Fu open to an attack, Kurotsuchi prepared a punch but before she could unleash it, a kunai thrown by Torune stabbed her in the forehead. To the surprise of both, she smirked and moved her fist anyway, causing Fu to release his weapon. By the time Fu joined his partner, Kurotsuchi once again started to melt, dissolving the sword in the process. "She can use Lava Style."
"Yup, but is that it?" The kunoichi asked as she emerged from the pillar once again. "Unfortunately, neither me, my brothers or my father can use Dust Style, but we can combine two of the three elements into other natures. Now, the question is: how many combinations can each of us use?"
"So that's what Danzo-sama meant. There's the possibility she can use up to three advanced natures..." Fu concluded.
"Make that six. Don't you know that each pair of basic natures can be combined into two different ones? It's just a matter of which one is the individual's affinity, but considering my family is a bit special..." Kurotsuchi added with a smirk.
"That's a bit too much, but after thinking about it, it's possible. The way she made the kunais explode hints for another combined nature." Torune told to his partner.
"Most likely it's just an attempt of intimidation." Fu answered and stared to the woman in front of him. "This seems to be another clone. The amount of chakra is considerably inferior to the one of that woman. She's below."
"Then, you attack. When you feel she's about to appear again, block her and I'll finish her off with my jutsu." Torune suggested.
"My Mind Distraction Jutsu should be enough for that. Let's do it." Fu agreed and rushed towards the woman in front of him, while Torune used his teeth to remove his gloves. Something seemed to be covering them entirely. Fu attempted to slash Kurotsuchi with a kama but she blocked it with one of her white blades. Knowing what that meant, the Yamanaka clan member dropped his weapon and performed one of the specific seals of his clan. "Ninja Art: Mind Distraction Jutsu"
"Oh! You stopped my clone! You're skilled." Kurotsuchi once again emerged from behind her opponent, but this time he was fast enough to turn, grabbing her by both wrists. Suddenly, his triumphant expression changed to a shocked one.
"No! Don't do it, Torune!"
"Disperse..." The Kurotsuchi who had just regained control of her body whispered, causing the one between both Root members to disappear in a puff of smoke.
"Can't stop!" Torune shouted as his fist collided with Fu's left arm, while the latter still tried to avoid him. Both fell into the floor, with the sensor grabbing his arm in pain. The skin of his left forearm was swiftly corroding, with the same starting to happen to the muscle tissues. "She tricked us with that Shadow Clone! That's why her chakra was so much lower..."
"Oh! That seems to be the same jutsu Onoki-jii once told me about in his tales, the one used by one of Konoha's Aburames...What was his name again? Huh, Shiruno...Shiruko...Maybe Shikuro...Whatever! The guy who once fought Shodai Tsuchikage, Daibachi Kamizuru-sama." Kurotsuchi thought as she saw Torune using some sort of antidote to stop the infection. "If I remember Onoki-jii's story correctly, that was a rare jutsu that consisted in sending nano-sized poisonous bugs into somebody to destroy his cells...Gotta be careful, I don't want my skin to be scarred because of that! How in the hell am I gonna find a boyfriend that way?"
"Sorry, Torune. I should've guessed." Fu excused himself while he held his injured arm. Then, another white kunai passed right between them and exploded.
"How much time left, Fu?" Danzo asked as his men once again joined him.
"None." Fu revealed with a smirk. The cloud of smoke that resulted of the last explosion dissipated, revealing eight shinobi behind Kurotsuchi.
"Thanks for the backup, but I don't really need it guys." The seemingly upset Kurotsuchi said as she turned to her allies. "I can take care of them on my own."
"Really? The way you've been using clones, it looks more like you've been trying to stall them until we arrived." Ao countered, with Kurotsuchi showing a true angry look for the first time in a long, long while.
"Geez, not again..." Temari sighed and traded a worried look with her brother.
"Well, if you guys want to fight between yourselves, then go ahead." A white-haired young man said as he appeared on top of the pillar parallel to the one where the bodyguards were standing. "I thought Sasuke was here, but since he's not, I'll capture Danzo myself and give him to Sasuke. From there, he can do whatever he wants to him."
"T-that's...Suigetsu-san?" The shocked Chojuro thought as he saw his former comrade in front of him. Then, another man arrived, joining Suigetsu in the pillar he was standing in. This one was taller and had orange hair.
"I guess the samurai aren't worth that much these days..." Kankuro let out.
Flashback
"I'm sensing two men behind us. They're the ones who came along with Sasuke to the summit." Shi shouted to his companions.
"We'll stop them." Mifune offered. "By what you sensor shinobi said earlier, it's likely that Danzo headed towards the Blue Samurai Bridge. We'll join you after taking care of them."
(...)
"Oh shit..." Suigetsu thought as three samurais appeared in front of himself and Jugo.
"What's the situation back there?" Urakaku asked to the duo wearing samurai armors.
"Everyone but us was killed." The smaller figure answered.
"Two of Sasuke's minions are still around somewhere...You didn't see them?" Okisuke inquired in a very calm tone of voice.
"No, we didn't...Are you sure they're not dead? It's totally destroyed back there." The nervous Kirigakure missing-nin tried his best to sound normal.
"No...One of Kumogakure's sensors confirmed they were still alive. We changed our path just to find them..." Okisuke continued in the same calm tone, doing a silent iai to draw his sword of his scabbard.
"You two, take off your armor." Mifune ordered with a smirk, while the three pointed their katanas to the impostors.
"My my, I guess you've got us. It seems this wasn't a very good plan." Suigetsu admitted as he removed his helmet. Suddenly, he charged towards Mifune, only to get stabbed in the stomach. To the surprise of the swordmasters, Suigetsu's body changed into water and came out of the armor by all of its openings, before reforming behind the samurai, allowing him to escape. As the trio was about to follow the younger sword specialist, Jugo's armor exploded, revealing a brown skinned monster.
"Kill..." The anxious Jugo erupted in laughs as he rushed towards his opponents.
End of Flashback
"So, you killed them?" Suigetsu asked to his partner.
"No."
"No?"
"Sasuke placed a seal on me. When I start to transform, the seal activates and I'm put under Tsukuyomi. From there it depends on my will: if I'm the one who starts the transformation, Tsukuyomi won't do anything, but if my urge to kill overpowers my rationality, Sasuke's image will appear in the world of Tsukuyomi and calm me down until I'm back in control." Jugo explained and pointed to his own eyes. It seemed to Suigetsu that Jugo's irides were the Sharingan's red instead of the regular orange supported by the man with double personality. "I just incapacitated them. It was more important to get you some help."
"Gee, thanks. I'm starting to kinda like you, Jugo." Suigetsu smirked as he drew his broken Kubikiribocho, pointing it towards the larger group, before changing its direction towards the Candidate Hokage. "You better get out of my way, boys and girls! The old man is mine!"
"Hmph...Should we start to get serious, Danzo-sama?" The unimpressed Fu asked for his superior's authorization. His left forearm was already wrapped in bandages.
"Sure. I'm about to do so myself." Danzo gave his permission to his men, just as the three metal locks covering his right arm opened and fell to the floor.
"What's up with his arm?" Kurotsuchi's thoughts surely matched the ones from the other non-Roots. Danzo's right arm had a much darker skin tone than any other part of his body and the wrinkles covering it were much more as well, making it seem like the arm was rotten. More shocking however, were the spheres that spreaded throught it. "It's covered in...Sharingans! Gross..."
Next Chapter - Despair! Illusion or Reality?.
-Nawirama13
-NawiramaWikia-
1. Jutsus:
1.1 - Lava Style: Lava Clone Jutsu - The user can make this clone dissolve with a hand sign, that's especially useful if the clone is in contact with the opponent, meaning it can melt him as it crumbles.
2. Characters:
2.1 Daibachi Kamizuru - First Tsuchikage, grandfather of those bee-users of the Kamizuru clan that appeared in the anime.
2.2 Kurotsuchi - As of this chapter, her only confirmed advanced nature is the Lava Style.
-Nawirama13