I do not own Naruto. Speaking/Thoughts
"This lifestyle's gotten old quick." Zale mumbled to himself with his left eye lid twitching which he found odd considering that he always assumed his right eye would twitch. They were sitting down to a tea ceremony with several other people that were considered of importance to his followers. Normally being worshipped or feared Zale was used to, but these people did neither of those things. They spoke in a way like they were superior to him, and deserved his respect.
"Yes I'm sure that being pampered gets tiring after two days." Kurumi muttered back sarcastically. She hadn't felt the same annoyance that Zale had, and liked the lifestyle of not having to do anything even with having to deal with these people. "Look just deal with this for now according to Gomu we only need to have a few meetings with them every now and then."
"Still some of these people seem just a little too much like Danzo for me to be comfortable around them." Satsuki said bowing her head when everyone else did.
"Thank you all for coming, and if there is nothing else to discuss then this meeting will now officially conclude." Zale said bowing down in a traditional manner that to him felt degrading. 'These people might be a little dangerous in the future; Gomu says that they have quite a bit of money invested in the religion, and they threaten to pull their funding to get their way. If they demand something outrageous then I might have to give it to them.'
"Great Emperor I hope that this meeting did not bore you it seemed like you were particularly distracted all throughout it." Gomu said stroking his long beard.
"Yeah well I can't be expected to like everything that I need to do." Zale said with a shrug of his shoulders. He received a tap on the shoulder from the one that had been kneeling right across from Zale a tall man with broad shoulders and a stern face. Although he wore a smile on his face you could tell that he had seen his fair share of battle by the scars that covered his exposed skin. "Hello Mr. Akiyama."
"It is an honor Great Emperor; it's nice to know that our faith has grounds. In all honesty there was some doubt regarding your return for a good chunk of time." Mr. Akiyama said with a laugh shaking Zale's hand with a bone crushing grip. "Would you be open to a spar among allies, it would be a nice way to prove your power."
This was said loud enough for others to hear and that left Zale in a position where he couldn't refuse the fight less the people's opinion of him be tarnished, but he had no idea what Mr. Akiyama had to gain from wanting to fight. "I suppose that it wouldn't be a problem I don't have anything of importance going to for the rest of the day."
"But Great Emperor the hot spring grand opening was going to happen today." Gomu said clearly disappointed by this. "I will make the arrangements, and it will be quite interesting to see you battle Akiyama-sama he's an infamous warrior with many years of fighting under his belt."
"Yes well just be sure not to destroy this old man." Akiyama said pulling his hand from Zale's, and they shared a laugh. They moved to a dojo with a wooden floor, and plenty of areas for observers that wished to witness the fight. "How do you wish to fight?"
"A hand to hand combat will do the first one to get a solid hit will be the winner." Zale said and Akiyama nodded taking off the upper half of his clothes revealing his muscular figure as well as a tattoo of a dragon across his chest. People had gathered now, and were excited to see such a strong fighter facing off against the Great Emperor.
Zale ran forward intending to end the spar quickly, but was caught off guard when Akiyama parried the attack with the exact right defense. "Is there a problem Great Emperor?" Akiyama asked standing up straight. "I hope that I didn't hurt you."
"No you just caught me off guard." Zale said adjusting his stance for the estimated weight that he assumed Akiyama was. He ran forward once again parrying every blow that Akiyama made; Akiyama doing the same to his own hits. Neither of them looked like they were going to give up or tire any time soon each hit deflected by the other who would strike back.
"It's like a dance." Satsuki observed watching them attack and defend stepping rapidly around each other no movement wasted. "Still if Zale were to use Manipulation then I doubt Akiyama would stand a chance."
"No." Kurumi said shaking her head. "This man uses a taijutsu specifically made to counteract Zale's and I'm sure even if Zale were to use Manipulation in this fight he would be hard pressed to bring Akiyama down. In an all-out fight with each other Akiyama would lose by a narrow margin he might even win depending on the circumstance."
"Could Akiyama really be that much of a threat?" Satsuki asked turning back to the battle. Both of them has sweat poring off of them, and as hard as they tried to stand straight in front of the other there was a slight slouch in both of their posture.
"Ha that is a fine a spar as I ever had; I hope that you see me as a worthy fighter Great Emperor." Akiyama said with a smile shaking Zale's hand.
"Please Akiyama call me Zale." Zale said returning the hand shake. As nice as their words sounded the message that Akiyama wished to send was clear "If you cross me know that I can kill you." "I say we call it a day for now no need to scare everyone."
"My, my, the presence of those two in the same dojo is simply overwhelming." Gomu said stroking his hand clutching the staff tightly. Despite saying this Gomu seemed to be the only one that wasn't physically trembling from the pressure that they were producing making them think that Gomu was more than just an old man with a wise looking beard.
"I hope we can have more spars in the future." Akiyama said pulling his shirt back on. "Have a good day Zale it was a pleasure meeting you."
*With the others*
"Sasame do you know where we're going to go, or are we just wandering around aimlessly?" Chrome asked tired from the hike that had been going on for what seemed to be forever even though it had at most only been a few hours.
"Of course I know where I'm going." Sasame said coming to a sudden halt. "Still we should take a break it wouldn't do to go in there tired I packed us all lunch." Sasame reached into her pack and set up a lunch looking at the other expectantly as she knelt down grabbing a rice ball.
"I guess she's right, take a knee guys." Chrome said and they took off their gear sitting down to the meal that was well prepared. "You really know how to cook this stuff is really good."
"Thank you, it's an honor to know that I'm useful to the subordinates of the Great Emperor." Sasame said with a smile watching them all with an intuitive eye. "Would any of you like some tea?" Everyone took some except for Gaara. "Are you sure that you don't want any Gaara?"
"No thank you, I never cared for tea." Gaara said his eyes closed as he bit into a rice ball.
"Gaara that food made me sleepy." Shiki said yawning and rubbing her eyes. She dropped snoring softly followed by everyone else.
"Just as I thought, you drugged the food." Gaara said getting to his feet unsteadily.
"Why aren't you going down?" Sasame asked slightly shocked to see him standing even though it was shaky. "You ate just as much as everyone else even if you didn't drink the tea."
"I'm a Jinchuriki the demon chakra that runs through my veins will burn these drugs out of my system in five minutes I'll be at full fighting capacity, within ten they'll wake up, and within fifteen they'll be ready to fight." Gaara said his power increasing even as he spoke.
"Then we'll make the most of the time that we have." someone said their voice coming from everywhere as webs shot around them cutting off escape routes, and leaving Gaara with little option to fight. "You won't be able to use your taijutsu thanks to my webs limiting your movement, and any ninjutsu would be caught up in my webs."
"You're an idiot our power is not limited to such pitiful ninja techniques." Gaara said purple chakra pumping out of him making him more aware. Someone launched at him intent to take him and the others out before they were at full power. Without warning an earth spike shot up right through his stomach leaving him stuck there.
"You bastard you killed Kamikiri!" the same voice from before yelled angrily. It was an exaggeration with modern medicine it would be easy to heal such a wound. "I'll destroy you and then the Great Emperor!"
"Over there!" Gaara yelled his sand launching at a spot in the webbing filled with darkness. "What the?" Gaara was thrown into the webs by the fist of a bald man with a scar over his right eye. His limbs were stuck as if superglue was holding them in place, and the bald man stood over him holding a kunai ready to end Gaara's life.
"Hi-ya!" Shiki yelled a spinning kick knocking the man to the side using his kunai to Gaara free.
"You cut that pretty close Shiki." Gaara said grabbing the kunai when one arm was free.
"I was tired!" Shiki whined dropping to her knees the little demon chakra she had was working rather slowly to cleanse her system.
"It doesn't matter just stay back now, and leave the rest to me." Gaara said, and she nodded yawning cutely. Gaara waved his arm and from the earth hundreds of spikes raised intent to take out the spider ninja wherever he may be. There were no screams of agony telling him that they were not killed. "They can't penetrate these spikes you'd need to be a ghost to get through here."
"Or a spider!" someone yelled calling Gaara's attention to see the bald man with long spider like limbs expertly maneuvering through the spikes. More spikes sharper and longer than the ones before went to rip him apart, but he avoid them easily crawling over.
"I'm getting tired of this!" Gaara yelled sand flying off the spikes after Jigumo. Spider webs shot out of Jigumo's mouth wetting the sand making it too heavy for Gaara to use. 'I might have a chance of getting away or even winning, but they'll only drag me down and waiting for them to recover isn't an option here. What do I do?'
"Jigumo stop the deal was to take them to Orochimaru not kill them." Sasame said watching her bald clan member preforming a jutsu that would undoubtedly kill the group. "He was going to talk to them, and then we would still be able return to the Great Emperor."
"Screw the Great Emperor; he let the Fuma clan lose their power, and now one of his own killed Kamikiri! I'm going to kill them all no matter what Orochimaru says!" Jigumo prepared the final hand seal and launched a destructive fireball that would incinerate them on impact.
"No!" Sasame yelled suddenly throwing a kunai wrapped in paper through the fireball cutting it in two leaving Gaara and the others safe if only slightly singed. "That wasn't the plan, and I'm not going to let you kill them!" Sasame grabbed his arm trying to hold him back from preforming another jutsu.
"Get out of my way Sasame." Jigumo by now had lost his patience, and had thrown Sasame off of his arm intent to kill the Manipulators.
A pillow of sand caught Sasame bringing her to the location where Gaara and the others were holding up. A sand shield rose up consuming a great deal of whatever chakra had Gaara left, a great deal of his mind was occupied trying to retain it leaving him no room to process an attack. "I'm sorry I had no idea that they would kill you I was told that they would only take you to Orochimaru, not kill you."
"He's a vile person that has killed thousands in genetic experiments, and has even taken some of your own clan members what do you think would happen?" Gaara asked in a monotone voice causing Sasame to flinch. "It doesn't matter now anyway; you did the right thing in the end and for that I'll forgive you, but I can't say the same for the others."
"Thank you." Sasame said tears in her eyes. Gaara's eyes closed creating his third eye technique outside of the sand dome watching Jigumo treat the injured Kamikiri. "I never thought that those three would resort to anything like this even if Orochimaru ordered it killing you all is beyond the question."
"Wait a second three?" Gaara asked looking around violently with the third eye trying to locate the third ninja who was nowhere in sight. The question of where he was was answered when a hunchbacked man slammed down into the earth blowing away the sand shield as well as leaving them exposed. "Oh crap."
Kagero turned to look at them his big buck teeth accompanied with a large hump disgusting Gaara and Shiki who instinctively took a step back. "Sand coffin!" Gaara yelled trying as a last ditch effort entrapping the brute in sand, and closing his hand. There was a sickening crunch, but neither blood nor screams of agony came to sight leaving him to wonder what had happened.
"Antlion Ninja Arts: Ephemeral." a soft voice said causing Gaara to spin around. It was a pasty faced green haired girl with four glowing chakra wings on her back radiating power. She flew at Gaara intending to get close before trying her ultimate technique.
Gaara intended to block with a sand shield, but that option was stopped when she teleported right in front of him easily penetrating his defense and knocking him back off his feet. "Ouch." Gaara said rubbing his stomach which was already healing. "What is she doing?"
"This technique will destroy you, I have no doubt that these words are true, and I am glad that I was the one able to defeat those that opposed lord Orochimaru." Kagero said in her same soft voice her four wings folding in to form a single pillar that sent of destructive energy at them.
"Demon jutsu: Raccoon's Claw!" Gaara yelled out his form cloaked in chakra one arm shooting out to intercept the beam both chakra forces fighting for dominance. "AHHH!" he yelled sweat forming in beads dropping off his face putting as much into the attack as he possibly could.
In the end neither attack one both dying out leaving Kagero to fall to the ground in a near death state, and Gaara's body tearing itself apart then healing. Sasame ran forward catching the girl in her arms and delicately maneuvering her onto her back. Jigumo was torn knowing if he tried to fight especially with the others Manipulators looking like they would wake up soon that he would lose, but if he left with just Kamikiri then Kagero would be in their hands. "Forgive me Kagero." he muttered under his breath grabbing Kamikiri before running off.
"Gaara what happened?" Chrome asked seeing the torn apart landscape and the damaged Gaara.
"Some enemies drugged the food that Sasame prepared somehow, and they attacked when you fell asleep." Gaara said his story excepted by the others who believed that he had no reason to lie to him. "That girl's name is Kagero, and she's used a jutsu that's left her in a near death state. We need to get her back and have her taken care of."
"Isn't she an enemy?" Kira asked. They turned to Chrome letting him make the decision in the absence of Zale.
"She's also been Manipulated by Orochimaru, and from what I've heard about him he can manipulate people pretty well. We'll take her back and get her in the right state of mind if she still sides with Orochimaru then we'll take care of it." Chrome said the others nodding before going back.
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