Chapter 23 In the Night
The last rays of sunlight was cutting through the gathering darkness, that light went through a stain glass window with the symbol of the Leaf village on it. That window was one of a handful which ran it's way around the grand meeting hall of the Leaf village, the other windows used to hold the symbols from each of the great clans in the village. Those windows had not survived the fall of the village unlike the main window. Shizune looked up at that window, the only light came from that window and the other empty windows. The light came to rest on a large circle table that sat in a lowered central area of the hall. All around them where a ten rows of seats which ran around the circle room, so that the public could come to listen and ask questions to the elected council and leaders from the major clans. Those clans and council members where either turned, broken apart of in some cases dead.
"Shizune." came a voice as she turned to see the demon council had entered the room, the higher ups had a habit of holding their first meeting in a newly captured cities council room. Maybe it was their way of getting back at the ancient humans who had beheaded demons on the steps of the demon villages they captured. Even so it was in poor taste in Shizune's view as a the head of the demon Kitsunes, a white vixen sat down in one of the chairs. The other demons took their seats taking over the seats normally saved for the heads of some of the most important clans in the village. Some of the seats where not designed to hold the extra weight of the demons that took the seats. Somehow, the heavy wooden chairs used by the council held but they groaned under the pressure.
"Shall we begin?" asked the head of the bull like Ushi-oni's, Hypatos as he sat in the chair once held by the Hyuuga clan. The ornate chair with the Hyuuga clan symbol engraved in the back almost gave under the over 400 weight of the heavy muscled 8 foot tall beast. He was in fact closer to nine feet if you counted the horns that shot out to either side of his head before going straight up into two spear like points. "Where is Dan? He was the council member in charge of the integration of this village."
"Dan is still in the hospital from the gas attack," explained Shizune
"Then you will inform the council about the situation here in the Leaf." said the white vixen and current head of the kitsunes, Inari as she looked toward Shizune.
"Alright." Said Shizune as she took a breath and moved to stand beside the Hokage's chair, she had stood in this same spot so many times. One of those moments stuck out in her mind, the day this all started.
Flashback
The council of the Leaf village gathered in the hall, the room was illuminated from above the half circle table where the 15 members of the council sat along with the Hokage. Ten of the seats where held by the great clans of the villages, while the last five was held by elders elected by the people of the village and had no blood ties to any of the clans. Normally they would meet with the gallery open for the public to come and watch but for this meeting the doors were locked and the public was bared. The only people beside the council members themselves that where in the room was an aid to each of the members who stood behind their leader.
"So how bad is it?" inquired Hiashi Hyuuga as he sat for the Hyuuga clan, while not the oldest clan in the village it had risen to be the most powerful.
"Bad." answered Tsunade. "We have gotten reports of this virus sweeping through coastal towns in the south of the Land of Fire and in the North by the border with lightning."
"Any reports here?" inquired Inoichi Yamanaka, he was among the youngest of the men and women gathered around this table but his words where highly respected.
"Not yet but we have seen an uptick in flu cases." stated Tsunade as she turned to Shizune who handed her the report. "Flu cases are up, 15% higher than normal at this time last year. Now this could just be a bad case of the flu hitting us early, we have seen that before a couple of years ago. However with this new sickness spreading along the coast it has me worried."
"Is there any way to confirm if these sick people have this red flu?" inquired the head of the Hatake clan as Tsunade shook her head.
"No, not as yet." answered Tsunade "We only just found out about this sickness yesterday afternoon and we don't have any samples to work with. I have sent an ANBU medical team to the reported areas to get samples of confirmed cases of this new flu so that we can start working on a treatment and then a cure."
"How long will it take you to make a cure?" inquired another member of the council
"Depends on how complex the bug is, if we are just dealing with a new strain of flu then it shouldn't be hard but we can't know for sure until we start working." explained Tsunade as the council shared a look. "See bugs evolve just like everything else, so we need to see what we are dealing with before I give you an answer."
"Very well, what can we do?" inquired Hiashi
"Well, we need to stay on top of the situation so I am going to send medical teams out to monitor public heath and we need to start acting like we are in cold and flu season." explained Tsunade "Washing hands and the like should be advised to the public."
"Didn't you say this flu is deadly?" inquired Choza Akimichi
"We have gotten mix reports on that," admitted Shizune as she lied to the council and to Tsunade. She knew what was happening and that the false reports where spread by her demon cousins. "Some have said only a handful died and those where the already sick and the elderly. On the other hand we have also gotten claims of whole towns being killed but I personally don't believe in this. A whole town dying overnight is so unlikely that I would need more then some fisherman's stories to believe it."
"So we need to be on guard but we should go about our normal lives?" inquired Hiashi Hyuuga "Push for people to act like we have entered cold and flu season. Washing hands and the like to help prevent the spread of this thing."
"Generally, we should have more information in a couple of days." explained Tsunade
"Then I recommend we meet again in say four days?" inquired another council member as everyone nodded their heads. By the time they meet again, the infection was already in the village and over a hundred people where dead. A week after that the first bodies would be thrown onto the fires as there was too many people to place in the ground.
End Flashback
"Shizune take a seat." ordered the head of the demon Bakeneko, Zarola. She was leaning back in the Hatake clan chair her tail touching the ground. Her short sand color cat like fur stood out against the dark oak of the chair.
"That is the Hokage's chair." Countered Shizune
"Who knows if there will be another Hokage so take the seat," ordered the head of the council, an elderly Jorogumo named Khaalida. The blood sucking Jorogumo had become more bat like as it aged and since Khaalida was almost a hundred, he looked like walking skeleton with skin stretched over the bones and with sharp white teeth in his jaw. Even after all these years the teeth where bone white and as sharp as a razor.
Shizune lowered her head and took the seat that every Hokage since the founding of the village had used. It felt strange to sit in the chair that she had no right to sit in but then again she had no right to be in this room in the first place.
"So what percentage of the village was taken?" inquired the water Kami, Naiya. Like all water kami's her natural home was in the water and it showed that she was not comfortable on land. She had bluish skin with plates on the neck. The scales protected her gills while she was on land and running down her arms and legs where other armor plates that protected fines that would extend from the sides of her arm and legs. All over her body was patches of scales along with flesh.
"We are still in the process of finding out who was all turned and who still awaits to be turned but our early estimates are that 70% of the living population has been turned." Reported Shizune as the demon council shared a look among themselves.
"We were expected a higher number then that, in the other major villages such as Kirigakure in the land of Water and Kumogakure in the land of Lightning had between 85 and 90 percent of those left alive taken." stated Jaecar as the leader of the Inugami showed his wolf like teeth at the drop in capture rate. Since the Leaf was the most populated village and had taken in the most refugees that drop of 15 to 20 percent meant a lot.
"Sir, unlike the other villages the ninjas here had warning of the attack. This gave them time to form a defense and the virus wasn't as effective here because the skilled medical ninjas had contained it." explained Shizune
"I was looking down the list of people who are main targets to be transformed and there are many who are listed as alive but missing," stated Naiya as she folder her webbed fingers together as best she could. "And looks like Dan, sent teams looking for a lower level target one Iruka Umino instead of more valuable people."
"Why did he do that?" inquired the male Yosei demon, Bakula. Even the males of the Yosei race was abnormally thin and feminine looking with their fairy like wings coming out their backs. The quickest way to tell the difference between males and females was to look at the color of their wings, males generally had darker colors in their wings while females had brighter colors. Bakula's wings where a dark navy blue with black and with his semi bleach white skin gave him a semi grave look.
"That was my doing." admitted Shizune as the council looked at her. "Iruka is…well I hope he still is someone I care a lot for and I wanted him to be found. I asked my Uncle to find him and he gave the order."
"Ah, boyfriend?" inquired Yosei
"In a way." admitted Shizune "We have gone out a few times and had a single night together before this all started but I hope it would go beyond that."
"I see." said Inari as the vixen leaned back in the chair. "I can't say I approve of sending a team to find this man while more important people need to be found, but I and I think everyone else understands why it happened."
"And there is the issue with one Naruto Uzumaki or is it Naruto Namikaze?" hissed Sephtis as he sat there shaking a little from the cold, the snake like Nure-onna where cold blooded and winter was coming fast. "According to the report I read he can see through our hedges and there was something about the Kyuubi dying within him. I must admit I find that highly unlikely."
There where nods around the table by the other members of the demon council.
"I admit that it sounds odd but from our limited evidence that seems to be the case." explained Shizune as she remembered those silted demon eyes of Naruto's. "He is also somehow able to produce a giant blast of pure chakra energy that flattened between a half a mile and three quarters of a mile radius."
That caused the demons around the table to look at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"A blast of pure chakra that size is impossible, not even demon chakra can do that and this Naruto is a human." Stated Sephtis
"Our best theory is that since Naruto's mother was a container for the Kyuubi and then he held the Kyuubi for so long he was naturally born with a large amount of chakra." Explained Shizune "Then when the Kyuubi died in him the Kyuubi's chakra went to him already adding to the massive amount he naturally has."
"His mother was the container for the Kyuubi, you are talking about Kushina and Minato Namikaze." stated Inari, Shizune nodded her head to the white vixen. "So we have his parents does this Naruto know this?"
"He does and it appears that he and a small group of Leaf ninjas including some of the prime candidates to be turned," explained Shizune "He has also captured his sister Meiko Namikaze."
"A captured demon that is unexpected as well." said Naiya "Do we know if this Meiko is alive?"
"No." admitted Shizune "But I know Naruto very well, I don't believe he will hurt his sister."
"Either way a human with that amount of chakra and the ability to see us is dangerous," stated Inari "It is also an opportunity when we turn him he could be a huge boost to us."
The other council members knew she meant that he would be a boost to the Kitsunes but let that go. They knew that they would do the same thing in her place.
"Do we know where he and the others who are with him are?" inquired Inari
"No and with that addition of demon chakra he is likely going to die from it in a few months from chakra poison, he has about the same amount of time left to live as those he is running with." explained Shizune with a lower head. "That is unless we turn him before it is too late."
Across the street from the meeting hall sat the Leaf village hospital, Minato Namikaze opened his eyes to see the white washed ceiling. It took him a moment until he saw that painted onto the ceiling was the Leaf symbol. It took his mind a moment for him to remember the flash of chakra and the howling wind, which had flung him like a leaf in a strong wind. The next thing he remembered was seeing two figures one was Sasuke and the other was a women he had never seen before. They picked up his childern and Sakura Haruno all of them where knocked out before disappearing. He had a blurry memory of seeing Shizune but nothing else came to mind. He tried to move only to wince in pain. He looked down to see his arm was in a sling and both of his legs where in casts.
With a lot of effort, he sat up in bed and looked around at his surrounding. The room had two beds and the sound of two heartbeats monitors filled the air. Outside the window, he could see his own face along with the faces of the other Hokages of the Leaf village. In his mind, he knew he was home but he did not have time to think about that. His wife was across the room from him in her own bed. She was still out but he could see that her wounds where almost as bad as his own, her arm was wrapped up tight and so was one of her legs. The largest wrapping was around her chest showing that she had at least one likely more broken ribs.
Forgetting his own pain, he forced himself out of bed and struggled on his two broken legs to get to his wife, the woman he loves. He bit down hard more than a few times with his new Kitsune teeth before he finally reached her. He sat down on a chair that was not designed for someone with a tail. He reached over and wrapped his hands around his wife's hand, their fingers joined together. Maybe it was his touch or fate but her eyes began to open.
"Minato-Kun?" inquired Kushina as she tried to speak with half her head wrapped up in a thick bandages.
"It's me." confirmed Minato
"Where are our children?" inquired Kushina
"I don't know," admitted Minato as Kushina eyes began to water a bit.
"Do we even know if they are alive?" inquired Kushina fearing the answer.
"I just woke up," answered Minato as he told his wife the truth, he did not really have a choice. Kushina had a way of telling when he was lying instantly. "I don't know."
"Please God, let them be alive." Pleaded Kushina as she winced in pain, seeing his wife in pain caused Minato to push his own pain aside as he stood up and pulled his crying wife to his chest as best as he could with his own injuries.
"Don't worry Kushina-kun," promised Minato as his wife cried as best she could into his chest. "We will find them both and bring them home; we will get our family together."
They had stopped at a small stream to refill their water supply and rest a little bit, the forest was dark but the light of half a moon filtering down through the branches provided enough for everyone to see. Sakura looked around and saw Naruto at the base of a tree with his back pressed against the hard bark. She moved toward him causing his eyes to snapped open as she came closer.
"Sakura-chan?" whispered Naruto; they had kept notice to a minimal in case there was demons in the area. They had Karin's ability to sense chakra, Kiba's nose to smell scents, Shino's bugs to scout a head and two people with Byukugan eyes but they still kept it up.
"Let me see your hand." ordered Sakura as Naruto nodded as he extended his wrapped hand. Slowly and carefully, she undid the bindings; the healing chakra had done some of its job. The blisters while still there had gone down, the skin in his palm was still red and tender. The good news was that the black 3rd degree burns had disappeared leaving only 2nd and 1st degree burns.
"I thought about putting my hand in the water," admitted Naruto as he looked toward the water, most of the group was filling up water bottles and other containers with the water. They dropped purification tablets in the bottles but they only had so many of those.
"You should." answered Sakura
"I don't want the water to taste like blood," answered Naruto
"Baka, go down by Kiba then." ordered Sakura as she looked over her shoulder, a little bit down the way from them Kiba was dipping a straight edge razor into the water before shaving the fuzz off his cheeks. That was one of the things that stood out in Sakura's mind when the outbreak first started normally clean shaven men started to have stubble on their faces, it wasn't because they wanted it. It was because water in the village had become more valuable. Over time people stopped washing cloths regularly, stopped showering and in time water was only used for drinking. They didn't have the people left alive to keep the water system going, so while the village had water they had no way to transport it to the homes of the villagers. There was also the belief among some even after it was disproven that the virus could transmitted by water.
"And get hair on my wound, no thank you." laughed Naruto quietly as he rubbed his chin with his good hand. "I could actually use a shave but I have needed one for weeks and it hasn't grown. I could never grow a beard to save my life."
Sakura chuckled a bit as she looked at his face, she could see some blonde fuzz on his face but Kiba and Shikamaru had more. Kiba had started shaving sooner than any of the other young men and he always seemed able to grow a beard whenever he wanted. She could even see some stubble on Neji and Sai's face, Naruto's face was still smooth enough.
"Hell, I need to shave my legs," said Sakura, she instantly blushed it as she realized that she had meant to say that to herself not outload to Naruto. Naruto chuckled a bit himself.
"They still look good to me." explained Naruto as Sakura blushed a bit before gently play punching him in the shoulder.
"Pervert." said Sakura as both of them laughed.
A couple of yards away his younger sister Meiko Namikaze was leaning against her own tree watching her brother talk to Sakura in low tones but thanks to her demon hearing she heard it all. She was tried and wanted to close her eyes, holding the hedge that made her look human was taking a toll on her. She didn't have one of the seals which would make it easier, she was about to closer her eyes when the sound of footsteps caused her to look over her shoulder to see Hinata Hyuga standing by the tree.
"Hello." greeted Meiko
"If it is alright with you can I ask you something?" inquired the Hyuuga woman
"No problem." answered Meiko
"Naruto-kun, didn't know I have a sister did he tell you why he didn't know?" inquired Hinata as Meiko noted the additional kun to her brother's name from this quiet woman. She looked at the women with an eye to detail, she was a little taller than she was and had a chest, which would have made most women envies, she had long raven colored hair and eyes that looked silver in the moon light.
"Um…basically he said that he doesn't know you that well." explained Meiko as Hinata lowered her head. "He did say you were nice, very kind, great cook but very shy."
That caused Hinata to raise her head again and give her a slight smile. That is when Meiko decided to ask her own question.
"Can you tell me something, is my brother and Sakura in a relationship?" inquired Meiko as Hinata eyes widened before shaking her head. "That is what he said, but I halfway thought he was just embarrass to admit it to his little sister."
"Why did you think they where together?" inquired Hinata her voice breaking a bit.
"Well, it's just he looks at her like Dad looks at mom and I have seen her doing the same. Both of them check the other out when the other isn't looking." explained Meiko before looking back at the Sakura and her brother. "They do look good together don't you think? Also she kind of reminds me of mom and what is that saying you end up with some like either your mother or father."
Hinata didn't answer instead she walked away leaving Meiko alone again, who shrugged before looking back at her brother and Sakura.
"Lets get moving." ordered Karin as the group got back up and moved off into the darkness.
Almost fifty miles down river another group of Leaf ninjas was at the same river, only here the river was wider instead of being able to walk across it with ease by stepping on stones sticking out of the shallow water the river was wide, fast and deep.
"Make sure your water is full," said Anko as she dipped her own water bottle into the water. They had left the village with next to nothing and water was something everyone needed.
"I may not be a ANBU ninja but I am a jonnin." snapped Iruka as he put his own water bottle into the cold river water. Even as he did his eyes where scanning the woods for any signs of those creatures.
"So what is the plan beside run for our lives?" inquired Hanabi Hyuuga as she sat on a nearby rock with her feet in the water.
"We need a place to hid and find out what is going on." Advised Kiba's sister Hana as she and one of her ninja hounds leaned against a tree. "We don't even know what all happened, did anyone make it out beside us? We need radio contact."
"Thing is Shizune knows all our emergency radio broadcast channels plus our codes so the radio is out." stated Shikaku Nara as he and his wife Yoshino stood in the moon light looking over a map. While Yoshino was not at the same ninja rank as her husband having stepped down to raise her son, she was at an equal if not better mind then her husband.
"And all the villages are likely either hit by these things or by the virus." stated Yoshino as she forced the question of her only son's location out her mind.
"What about the old war bunkers?" inquired Inoichi as he tried to force thoughts of his daughter out his mind, his wife had died in the first wave of the virus and his little girl was all he had left in the world.
"No, Shizune knows about them and so does the demons." Stated Iruka as he bite his tongue. "We need to regroup and most of all we need to spread word about what happened."
"Well we have two choices." advised Yoshino as she looked at the map. "We can either head North West toward Nysa, there is a radio station there but it is a civilian only station and doesn't have the range to reach any major village not likely fallen. The other choice is to go south west toward the Daimyo's summer home. He has a military grade radio system that is capable of reaching every spot on the globe."
"Which one is closer?" inquired Hanabi
"Nysa we could be there by sunrise but that would take us closer to likely demon controlled areas and away from any possible allies." explained Shikaku "Nysa may be closer by the summer home is our best chance to make contact with the rest of the world and spread the word."
"Then that is where we have to go." said Iruka as he moved to stand up only to have Inoichi place his hand on the shorter man's chest. Iruka's eyes widened as he looked up at the older man with his long dirty blonde hair.
"Sorry but I have to ask, you and Shizune?" inquired Inoichi
"Yes, we were together." admitted Iruka "But I had no idea she one of those things, I didn't even know there where such a thing as that."
"You said you were together, did you sleep together?" inquired Hana as Iruka blushed giving his answer.
"If you where together then how couldn't you know?" inquired Hanabi Hyuuga
"It isn't like the first and only time we were together she turned into that?" countered Iruka "She was or at least seamed as human as you or me."
"But she wasn't." countered Hanabi Hyuuga in a cool voice. "How do we even know if you are human?"
"I saw his reaction to see the traitor, he is human and I believe him." defended Anko as she came to Iruka's defense. "This talk isn't helping anyone we need to start heading south so we can get in contact with the rest of the world."
"Alright." said Hanabi as she and the other members of their small group which numbered less than ten people most of them young chunnins who had been afraid to speak up to these ANBU and Jonnin level ninjas moved off South into the darkness. They were unaware that at that same moment another group of ninjas including some of their own family members were heading North toward Nysa.
The sun was beginning to rise in east as they came to a stop again to rest. Only this time instead of resting by the river they where in the trees in the middle of one of the many large forests which was common in the Land of Fire.
"Neji what do you see?" inquired Tenten as she jumped up beside her teammate, in the distance she could just see a small village sitting on the edge of a massive lake. Wrapping around the lake where clusters of buildings all trying to get beach front land. To the south the buildings where small and the larger ones where clearly hotels, to the North the buildings where larger and more spaced out clearly the mansions. The mansions where once the playground of the rich and famous of the world who used this massive fresh water lake as a playground and the world famous hot spring spa on the large forest covered island in the center of the lake as a get away from the rest of the world.
"I see what we expected, no sign of life but it is kind of strange I don't see any sign of heavy looting." stated Neji as his byakugan eyes scanned the village in more detail than any regular eye could. "I see some boarded up windows and trash in the street but none of the buildings are burnt down. It is like this place was abounded in orderly fashion."
"Well this was one of the first places hit outside of the coast;" stated Tenten "If it was cleared out by a local ninja force the evection may have gone smoothly."
"Maybe." admitted Neji
"Kiba has smelled nothing, Shino's bugs and Hinata's Byakugan has seen nothing and Karin has sensed no demon or even human chakra aside from our own. With so many people dead there has to be more than a few ghost towns in the world now." countered Tenten as she raised a finger and Neji lowered his head conceding the point.
"Alright tell everyone we should be there in about an hour." ordered Neji as the sun rose behind him.
Well I hope you liked this chapter, I consider this a sort of transition chapter and I hope you liked it. Now until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.