Chapter 14 Paths

Sakura just stood there dumbstruck as she looked at her childhood crush just standing a few feet away from her in the remains of a dirty man's roadside rest area. He was dressed in black and his shirt was button all the way up to his neck, aside from his face and hands every part of his body was covered and his hands were only semi visible through fingerless gloves. Maybe it was her medical training but he looked thinner than he had the last time she had seen him but then again none of them had been eating well lately. She had lost fifteen pounds since this whole thing started and as a doctor; she had access to better food then most. There were reports that some people had lost almost fifty pounds because of the lack of food.

"So no hug then." said Sasuke with a grin that sent a chill of fear down Sakura's spin.

"Good, I don't want her touching my man!" snapped the red haired woman as Sakura and Ino both looked at the red haired woman with chrisom colored eyes. "Yes, girls Sasuke-kun is my man so stay away from him or you will have to answer to me."

"Is she joking?" thought Sakura

"Yes, Sasuke looks just plan creepy now." added Inner Sakura as Sakura snapped to attention as she wondered why her inner self would say that. What surprised Sakura the most is that Sasuke did not seem to argue against the statement.

"Maybe some introductions are in order," advised Sasuke as he looked at the red haired woman. "This is Karin and she was head researcher for Orochimaru until I killed him and the man behind me is Suigetsu Hozuki formerly of the village hidden in the Mist."

"We had another member of our little merry band, Jugo but the red flue got him when this whole thing started. He didn't make it," stated Suigetsu as he leaned against the dirty bathroom wall.

"Three out of four people in a group living through the flue, that is very good." Stated Sai

"Not good enough for him." admitted Suigetsu before shrugging. "But if it your time it is your time and better to die as a human then become what they are."

"What are they anyhow?" inquired Ino

"You don't know," laughed Suigetsu only to get a death glare from Sasuke.

"Not surprising they have kept news of their attacks suppressed thanks to the red flue keeping us distracted." added Sasuke "Besides what would a normal person think in times like this when a village stops transmitting?"

Before anyone could answer, he answered it for himself.

"They would assume that the village had fallen to the red flue or the effects of the flue." answered Sasuke "No one would possibly guess it was the return of mythical demon races which where the stuff of legend and fairy tails."

"So you who what these things are?" inquired Neji as Suigetsu laughed before he instantly shut up as he saw Sasuke's glaring at him.

"From what we have learned these are what remained of races which predate humanity." explained Sasuke "They are the source of some if not all those stories about mythical creatures."

"Ok that doesn't makes sense how could they be around without us noticing them?" inquired Tenten

"Hedges." answered Naruto as Sasuke and his team looked at him. "Somehow I was able to see through whatever hedge justu they are using."

"Well that actually makes you useful for something," stated Sasuke "Now I recommend that we get going because sooner or later they will start their search out here."

"There is a city nearby if we move fast we can get there before it sunrise." Advised Karin

"If they are targeting people why hide in a city?" inquired Naruto

"I take that back you are next to useless." laughed Sasuke only to get a death glare from the others in the room.

"If they are searching for people and they have gone through this town then they will not be looking for us there." Answered Sakura

"Very smart Sakura." stated Sasuke "Also inside a city we have a lot of places to hide until nightfall."

"So we are going to move at night now?" inquired Neji "That would limit our ability to see them at a distance."

"True, but Karin can sense them at a distance but from the air they can spot us from a greater distance then what Karin can sense them at." explained Sasuke "At night, they can't see us at a distance that Karin can't sense them at. It is all about distance until we reach Lake Parime."

"Lake Parime why would we go there?" inquired Ino as she placed her hands on her hips "Better yet why would we go anywhere with you?"

"First we are humans and at the moment that means almost everything," stated Sasuke as if he was stating a fact, which was known by everyone.

"And most importantly Orochimaru has an old medical research base there." explained Karin "If there is any place we can find a cure for this stupid thing it is there. Also Orochimaru may have been many things but he was an expert of hiding things and they will not find us there."

"And what if Orochimaru is waiting for us down there?" inquired Shikamaru

"He is dead, besides right now there are more important things to be worried about then my old sensei," stated Sasuke

"I hate to say this but he may be right," stated Naruto as he moved to stand right in front of Sasuke. The missing ninja stood a few inches taller than Naruto but close enough that it had no mater. The two of the glared into each other's eyes. Through a small mirror over a sink, Sakura was able to see that Naruto's eyes had changed they were now silted like they always became when the Kyuubi was taking over, only just like all the other times they remained blue.

"Is this just me or are his whisker marks darker too?" inquired Sakura to herself as she noticed that Sasuke's eyes had also changed into the three-comma sharingan. Those black and red eyes looked straight into Naruto's Blue slited eyes.

"If this is a trap then I will end you." growled Naruto in a deeper then normal voice.

"Right now death is better than becoming one of them." stated Sasuke as Naruto's eyes narrowed and he looked as if he was about to rip Sasuke's throat out with his own hands. "However I understand."

"Good." Said Naruto as all at once his eyes turned back to normal and the whisker marks had returned to their normal shade.

"So where on Lake Parime are we going, it is a rather large lake," stated Sakura as she tried to remember just how big the lake was on a map.

"The base is in Nysa." explained Karin as Ino's eyes became as wide as dinner plate.

"Nysa? Orochimaru placed a base in Nysa?" inquired Ino stunned at the idea.

"What is Nysa?" inquired Naruto confused about why some city he had never heard of mattered at all.

"Nysa is the playground of the rich and famous, golden sandy beaches, large private yachts, the best shops and five star restaurants," explained Ino as she remembered all the photos she had looked at before the flue came. "I have seen it countless times on famous magazines, each year they hold the top fashion show. There is an island in the lake which as possibly the best hot spring spa in the world. I have been saving up to go there on my honeymoon there when I get married."

"You have been saving money for a honeymoon when you don't even have a boyfriend," stated Sakura to her best friend. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Do you know how much a night a place at the hot springs cost." countered Ino as she tried to defend herself. "It is almost the price of two S-ranked missions per night."

"Well I wouldn't worry about that right now, blondie," stated Suigetsu with a laugh. "Last I heard that like every other city was falling apart."

"At least it hasn't fallen to those things," stated Karin

"As far as we know." countered Suigetsu as the two of them glared at each other for a moment.

"We need to get going, ever moment we are here the chances that we are found goes up and the likelihood of getting to Nysa unnoticed goes down." ordered Sasuke

"I hate to say this but Sasuke is right," confirmed Shikamaru

"Lead the way," offered Naruto

The bells which had rung as the Leaf village was attacked had finally fallen silent as the village came fully under the control of the invaders. There was the occasional sound of battle as a single ninja or a small group kept fighting but for the most part the village had fallen in a single night with hours to spare before sunrise. Squads of the creatures which had invaded the village moved through the streets and apartments searching for anyone they missed. Here the medical seals which the Leaf village own ninjas had done most of the work for them. When the ninjas had emptied an apartment of the dead, they had placed seals around the doors and windows to attempt to prevent entry. This was working against the villagers in hiding now since the demons would search apartments where the tap was removed.

"We need to get out of the village," stated Hana Inuzuka

"Under statement of the year." stated Anko as she looked out of a small hole in empty rooftop water tower which was their current hiding spot. The streets where still full of those creatures and ever so often one of those damn flying kind would land on the roof to take a short break before taking off again.

"We got this close," countered one of the young ninjas who had been crammed into the water tower.

"And do you see all those things walking along the wall?" inquired Iruka "In order to get pass them that way we would have to climb the stairs which are in the open, then jump down from those walls and get into the woods which are a quarter of a mile away from the wall."

"What about the gate it is right there." offered the same young ninja as the gate suddenly began to open. Everyone was on edge as the large oaken reinforced gates slowly opened, before whenever the gate had opened it was only to allow more creatures in.

"We need more help here!" yelled one of the creatures; this one looked like a lizard of some kind. It walked on two legs but its tail was long enough to drag behind the creature. It was dressed in scaled armor of some kind and the scales, which made out its real skin was a deep rich copper color with black highlights. Around its face and down its neck the scales where lighter. The thing that made it really stand out was that unlike any lizards any of them had seen it had a cobra like hood, which came off the sides of her head and fanned down behind where her ears should have been. Standing beside the snake lizard creature was a woman, who looked very normal but unlike any truly normal person, she was not freaked out about being surrounded by unhuman creatures.

"Isn't that Kakashi on the ground there?" inquired Hana as Iruka looked and there was another human down there. There on the ground lying on a makeshift stretcher was Kakashi Hatake, his leg was bound in heavy wrappings but even from this distance, they could see that a large amount of it was stained red with blood. The woman was holding his hand as she held a large bag full of something with the other hand. A tube ran from the bag she was holding down to Kakashi's arm.

"I think so," confirmed Iruka "They got him too."

"Great if the copycat ninja couldn't get away then how are we supposed to," asked one of the younger ninjas

"We will get away." reassured Iruka

"Or we will take as many of these things down with us." added Anko as a figure came running from one of the alleyways. Like the woman holding Kakashi's hand she was human in fact she was someone everyone knew well. He short black hair still framed her face like it always did and that worn smile was something she always gave to her friends whenever she was coming off a double shift at the hospital.

"Shit that in Shizune." cursed Iruka as he moved to make for the hatch, which was the only opening large enough for a man to get out. Hana grabbed him to prevent him from going out.

"You can't save her and you would only doom all of us," cursed Hana "Think with your head, not your dick."

"Shizune has done so much for us, we have to try to save her and we can make a break for the gate at the same time." Snapped Iruka "She broke cover and gave herself over to these things to save Kakashi, her kindness is going to do her in."

"I don't think she has to worry about that," countered Anko who was still looking through the small opening in the metal. "Look."

Iruka looked through an opening to see Shizune had walked past the guards without even getting a second look. Iruka looked on confused as Shizune moved to kneel beside Kakashi, he watched as she went to work on his leg. Then suddenly before Iruka's eyes Shizune changed, her skin was changed into black fur with patches of white. Her face changed and aside from her cloths, he could not tell the difference between the women who he had been on a handful of dates with and one of the creatures which was now walking around the village.

"She is one of those things?" inquired Iruka

"I was about to ask you if you knew?" inquired Anko "But your question kind of answers that question. So she is a traitor."

"All well and good that we know that but we still need to get out of the village." Stated Hana "Since Shizune is a traitor they likely know all the ANBU tunnels, which means we have only one real choice left."

"What is that?" inquired Anko

"One of the clan tunnels but the nearest one I know of is almost a quarter of the way around the village." Stated Hana "But it may be our only chance."

"Lets do it." ordered Anko as they quickly left the water tank and moved toward the secondary hiding spot where the rest of the group of them where hiding in the rooftop storage area. They quickly explained their plans and moved to the street level. While this slowed their movement, it prevented them from getting spotted from the air by those creatures. As they moved through the streets they came across creatures who were patrolling the streets, some of them where leading prisoners to some other location in the village. Still ever so often, a scream could be heard in the distance as someone was found hiding in whatever place they had believed to be safe before they were discovered.

The woods where passing fast as they moved through the darkened woods, the tree branches where worn by countless other ninjas who had used them over the years however the branches above provided some cover from above. The red haired woman Karin was in the lead along with Sasuke, behind the two of them was the man with the giant sword on his back. Sakura pulled back a bit as she moved back away from the center where she was until she was running side by side with Naruto.

"Naruto, how are you doing?" inquired Sakura as Naruto turned his head and looked at her.

"I am as fine as I can be," answered Naruto before laughing a sad laugh, which caused Sakura's heart to break. "Well Sasuke's back so that is at least some good news."

"Naruto, I don't think that is really that important right now," countered Sakura

"It is somewhat, it means I kept my promise to you Sakura-chan." said Naruto with another sad laugh.

"I know it may not be something you want to talk about but do believe that man?" inquired Sakura as she decided to change the subject away from their black haired teammate. Naruto turned and looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I don't believe those imposters where the 4th Hokage and this Kushina Uzumaki." said Naruto as he flicked his hand to show how much he did not believe them. "Just some demon pretending to be my hero and another one using my last name trying to make me believe it's my mother."

"Kushina," inquired Sakura as she searched her memories, Naruto turned and looked at her slightly confused at the pause. "I have heard Shizune talk about a woman named Kushina in the past whenever we went out to eat. I would say this is the best food I ever had and she would say that it is good but it isn't the equal to Kushina's cooking."

"Maybe this is the same demon thing," noted Naruto

"Maybe, I must admit that man who claimed to be the 4th looked a lot like you," admitted Sakura as Naruto shrugged.

"And Shizune looked human even though she wasn't. Easy enough to look at a photo of the 4th before doing a hedge." said Naruto as he shook his head. "I must admit the girl we ran into first; Meiko I think that was her name did look a lot like Kushina."

"I didn't see her." said Sakura as something crossed her mind but she didn't say it outload.

"Wait, if they used a photo of the 4th to make a hedge it wouldn't explain how Naruto-kun looks so much like him, they couldn't fake that. Also If this Kushina looks like Meiko and Meiko claimed to be Naruto-kun's sister how could the demons make the two demon human form look like without planning ahead." Thought Sakura as her mind began to follow the train of thought. "It is highly unlikely that they could have set it up so fast and we ran into Meiko by a twist of fate. Would not that make it likely that Meiko and Kushina are mother and daughter and she called the 4th Dad right away before they even tried to get Naruto-kun to come with them. That is either something they planned very well or it is possibly the truth. Could they really be his parents?"

"You know what the truth is?" said Inner Sakura with a knowing tone of voice.

"What?" inquired Sakura hoping for some insight from her inner self.

"I know you called Naruto, Naruto-kun three times," reported Inner Sakura as Sakura forced her inner self back into the corner of her mind.

"Sakura-chan are you all right?" inquired Naruto as Sakura shook her head.

"What sorry I didn't hear what you were saying." Admitted Sakura

"No problem, I asked if you would want a blood sample of one of the demons?" inquired Naruto as he reached into his pack and pulled the bloodstained weapon. "I got one of the demons and wouldn't knowing what they are help you find a way to beat them?"

"Of course." Said Sakura as she reached out and took the weapon from her teammate. Suddenly Karin raised her hand and instantly everyone came to a stop.

"What is it?" inquired Naruto

"We have company in the town up ahead." reported Karin as she closed her eyes and did a hand sign.

"Can you tell how many?" inquired Sasuke

"Five of them and from this distance they seem to have human chakra," explained Karin

"You can tell that there are five people in that village?" Inquired Neji as he moved forward and stood beside Karin. "We have to be at least three kilometers outside the village, I can't even see anything that far away with my Byakugan."

"I actually knew that someone was there about half a kilometer back but I didn't have enough details to know if the chakra sources where human or demons. I couldn't even tell if they were really there or just chakra ghosts." Explained Karin

"Chakra Ghosts?" inquired Naruto confused.

"Just my nickname for when I sense someone at a distance but I can't tell how many people are there and where they are." Explained Karin "I still don't really know for sure if there are five or six people, they are so close together that their chakra is blending together so it is possible how many are really there."

"Well lets go see who it is." said Naruto as they kept moving toward the nearby village.

The first rays of sunlight where just poking their way through the low lying clouds on the horizon filling the abounded farming village with shadows. The shadows came to rest over what had once appeared to be a model small farming village. It sat on a crossroads with about four dozen buildings in the surrounding area. Most of the buildings where classic looking farmhouses with a bank, police/fire station and bar in the center of the village. The tallest buildings in the town was the city hall bell tower and that was only three stories tall. Once you looked past the buildings the real state of the village came into focus. The streets had weeds growing between the coble stones, the windows on the handful of stores where covered up with boards and wild animals could be seen moving between the buildings.

On the outer edge of the village sitting by the window of a long abounded farmhouse sat Kiba Inuzuka, his hand ran down the back of his ninja hound Akamaru.

"We should be heading out soon," said Kiba as he looked over his shoulder to where the Kumogakure ninja Karui lied on a couch. Her leg was wrapped from knee to ankle in blood stained wrappings.

"Wonderful another day of pain while I try to walk on a bad leg." Cursed Karui

"I don't know what you're complaining about; I am the one who has to carry you." countered Kiba only to a death glare from Karui with those deep golden eyes, which along with her bright red hair jumped out to the Leaf ninja. Knowing that he had to change the subject or deal with her, he changed the subject. "Either way, at least Hinata was able to find some chicken eggs so we will have something fresh for a change."

"Yes, that is something," confirmed Karui not wanting the fight, suddenly Akamaru barked softly causing Kiba to turn to the window. He jumped to his feet when he saw movement in the street in front of the house. By instants, he reached for this weapon pouch only to stop when he saw the man who was in front of the group was Naruto. His eyes looked down the line to see his friends where outside, then he saw two people he did not know and one which caused him to reach for his weapons again. There standing beside his friends was Sasuke Uchiha.

"We have company." explained Kiba as he moved toward the door and opened the front door. "What the hell are you guys doing with Sasuke?"

"Good to see you two dog boy." Said Naruto "And at the moment being a human is more important then anything else."

"Naruto-kun." Said a female voice behind Kiba as he looked over his shoulder to see Hinata standing there with an iron frying pan which they had found. The five small eggs they had found where still sitting in the pan.

"We need to get under cover before any of those things fly by." Ordered the red haired woman as the group moved into the house.

"What is going on?" inquired Kiba

"Your village has fallen hasn't it?" asked the other Kumogakure ninja Samui as she entered the room as well.

"Yes." confirmed Shikamaru "and who are you?"

"Another refugee like you are now." answered Samui

"First we hid, we could be spotted from the air if we move in daylight." stated Sasuke

Minato Namikaze was running as fast as he could in the direction, which he believed his son had gone, he was hoping to get something that could lead him on a path to find him. He watched for anything that could be a sign of movement in the woods. A broken branch, foot prints on dirt or even the smell of humans on the wind. As he ran, he could not help but remember how his wife cried at how close they had come to getting their son back only to have it ripped away from him. Kushina had regained her composure and along with Meiko had joined him the search.

"I will find him." Said Minato to himself as he looked down, he stopped in his tracks and looked down at the tree branch.

"Stop!" yelled Minato as Kushina and Mieko who were about a 100 yards away from him stopped and moved to his side.

"What is it dad?" inquired Mieko before waving her hand in front of her nose. "What the hell is that smell?"

"Human waste." answered Minato

"Isn't there a rest area down that way?" inquired Kushina as she pointed over her shoulder.

"I believe so but we are up wind from it," explained Minato "So the smell shouldn't be coming from that, but someone who was using that as a shuttle would pick up some of that."

"Look here." stated Meiko as she jumped to a nearby branch and pointed at a mark in the tree bark. "The bark here is broken like someone's foot slipped on it. Looks like it is going South West, whoever left these marks are following the road."

"Naruto?" inquired Kushina

"Or someone else." Admitted Minato before looking into the eyes of the woman he loves, there was a sadness there, which broke his heart. "I am sorry Kushina-chan but I will not lie to you about something like this, but it is also the only clue we have found that anyone was in the area."

"Lets go." ordered Kushina as she moved down the path which she hoped would lead her toward her long lost son.

Well I hope you liked this chapter and that I have joined up Naruto's group with Hinata's group. Now a few weeks ago I announced that I was going to do a sequel to my Black Fox story from a few years ago. Here is a clip of that story idea that will start sometime around the time I finish with my other Naruto story the Ark.

Possible Clip from The Black Fox 2:

Pitch-black Chakra danced around the large dome like ceiling of the massive cave, it was quickly joined with deep purple chakra. The addition of a second chakra color caused Airi Namikaze to turn her gaze away from the dancing chakra. What she saw amazed and confused the 16 year old chunin of the hidden Leaf village. There was suddenly another one of those crazy death priests praying from that damn book with two cloaked figures on either side of him. Behind those figures where more figures, all these had Leaf headbands on them. One of them was a person she knew was Konohamaru Sarutobi but he was dressed differently then she had ever seen him. The three younger figures standing around him where three she had never seen before. There was also another exit tunnel which had appeared, it was as if she was looking into a mirror of the chamber but aside from the Death priests none of the people where the same.

Of three figures, two of them where boys and one of them was a girl all of whom where about the same age as herself. The first boy wore mostly blue with impossibly pale skin. The other was a young woman dressed in a red top with red-rimmed glasses and lastly the boy had a jet black jacket with the same shade of blonde hair she had. For a moment she thought it was her father or little brother but his hair style was very different. She studied the strange team across from her, the girl with jet black eyes must have sensed someone looking at her and turned her gaze toward Airi. The two girls just looked at each other, for a moment and she looked just as confused as Airi.

Both young women looked up and away from the looking at each other, the sound of clashing metal filled the air. Airi looked up at the dancing chakra, the black chakra and the purple chakra had formed two figures, which were now fighting against each other across the ceiling. It was as if she was watching a recorded battle only on fast forward. The speed kept getting faster; it was a strange effect because as the speed increased the figures came into better view. The black one was large and seamed to have horns while the other, the purple one was smaller. Finally the battle reached its peak as the smaller one slashed through the larger one. The black chakra was then consumed by the purple chakra, the figure just stood there.

Airi's eyes widened as the chakra figure began to take a more solid shape, first the it was the hands which was holding onto a thin sword which had snakes engraved on the metal and on the handle. The figure wore demon snake armor including chest, legs and arm armor.

"That can't be…" stuttered Airi's as blue eyes widened as she realized who it was, standing there in demon snake armor was the man her father had killed almost 15 years ago. There back from the dead was the demon Snake Summoner, Sasuke Uchiha.

Yes I plan to have a sort of cross over between my story and the official cannon. Now I hope that gets you interest and until next time please keep reading thanks. Wilkins75.