Chapter 43 A Much Needed Talk
The new comers moved into the heart of the base, while some of them were just too tired to notice everything the skilled eyes of the higher-ranking ninjas noticed something.
"So that entry way is the only way in or out?" inquired Shikaku to his son.
"Yes." Confirmed Shikamaru to both his parents and everyone else. "The base is hidden under the base and with seals to hide it from detection, we are also tapped into the Nysa's police cameras so we have eyes in Nysa. There is also a hidden radio system which allows global communication. That is a risk because of triangulation but we did break it to contact you."
"With the state the world is in, the odds of having three systems up and running that could triangulate you is low." admitted Yoshino as she held her son close.
"This place has a full medical center where we are looking into a cure." explained Sakura "Did you get any blood samples?"
"I cut one of them, a water kami with my sword and we got a small amount of its blood on the blade." Explained Guy as he pulled out a small vile with a sample of blood in it. "It isn't much."
"Every little bit helps." Confirmed Sakura
"If this is the only way out then this place is a death trap." added Anko "How did you find this place?"
"Karin used to work for Orochimaru and he built the base." explained Sakura as Anko looked at the red hair woman who had been beside Sasuke. "She used to work here."
"Then she is lying to you." added Anko "Orochimaru is a snake and he always had an escape plan he wouldn't have built a base where he could have been trapped. There is another way out of this place."
"Karin?" inquired Sakura, the red haired woman who was sleeping with Sasuke simply shrugged.
"Yes, there is another way out." Confirmed Karin as everyone glared at the red haired woman. "Orochimaru was a snake, he always had a way out, but he was also a self-centered person who only cared about himself. He never shared his escape routes with anyone, he would escape while everyone else died."
"That does sound like him." admitted Anko
"We need to find this way out, we can't let Samui or…" Explained Shikamaru but before he could finish what he was saying a fully turned Hinata turned the corner and smiled at the group of humans. The smile showed her sharp canine teeth and her silted eyes were locked on her love, Naruto.
"Hinata?" inquired a stunned Kurenai who was stunned to see what her student, her pretty much adopted daughter. She was dressed in the most reeving outfit she had ever seen her in, even the times they practiced water Justus she was wearing a one piece swimsuit. Now she was wearing short shorts which stopped halfway between her hips and her knees and a shirt with a string top and was so tight that it looked as if it was going to burst at the seams. When she heard her name Hinata's eyes turned from Naruto and toward her.
"Kurenai-sensie." Said Hinata with respect, her voice did sound mostly the same but her eyes, her eyes where wild.
"Hinata." Said Hanabi as Hinata eyes turned to look at her little sister. "You are a demon."
"I am, you should join me." said Hinata "You should all become demons."
"We think Hinata's mental stability may have been affective." whispered Sakura to Kurenai only to get a death glare from Hinata.
"I heard that." snapped Hinata
"You have to forgive her." explained Meiko "The turn makes people of a certain age more sexually aggressive and…"
"And we all know how she feels about Naruto." added Hanabi "But how did she hear Sakura? I could barely make it out and she is down at the end of the hall."
"She is a kitsune and they have extremely good hearing." Said Naruto "In fact we need to keep her away from the office while we are getting your access codes put in. The sound canceling seals aren't good enough to prevent a kitsune from hearing."
"How do you know that?" inquired Sasuke
"Because I can hear just as well as a kitsune." Explained Naruto
"Wait…Meiko." Said Karin as she pointed toward Naruto's sister. "She was standing outside the door when we were putting in our codes."
"Yes, and I heard them all." confirmed Meiko as everyone looked at her, most of all Hinata. "And yet I haven't done anything."
"You want us all to become demons." counted Ino as Meiko nodded her head in confirmation.
"Yes, I want you to live, but I want you all to accept the change and if I force it on you then I would drive a wedge between myself and my brother." Explained Meiko before smiling at her brother "So I did nothing."
"Still we should all put in new codes." stated Yoshino Nara "And if the two demons can hear through walls, they need to be well away from here."
"Alright, I have things to do." said Meiko "But I didn't do anything with the passcodes before why change them now."
"It is called being safe." counted Anko as she glared at Meiko who simply walked away like any cocky 14-year-old would.
"I'll keep mine." said Naruto as he moved forward until he stood in front of Hinata. With her increase in height which came from the transformation they were now almost equal in height. "Hinata we need to talk."
Hinata's face lightened with a huge smile which was visible to all the humans standing behind Naruto. What was also visible was the angry and rage behind Naruto's eyes, but that rage was somehow unnoticed by Hinata.
"Of course Naruto-kun, let's go to my room." said Hinata with a smile on her face.
"No." said Naruto with such force that even Hinata took notice. "The common room."
Naruto and Hinata entered the common room to find it empty, everyone else was off either putting in new codes or in their own room. Once they were in the center of the room Naruto spun around and glared at Hinata, his blue eyes where silted just like her white silver eyes where. Even his teeth where sharp and the whisker marks on his cheeks had darkened. The sight of him so angry caused Hinata to take a half step back only to have Naruto take a step forward so that the distance between the two remained the same.
Fear ran through Hinata's body as all the fur on her body stood on end making her seam to puff out. In a wild animal that would make them appear bigger so that an attacker might be frightened off. It didn't work this time, as Naruto glared at Hinata with something that more then boarded murderous intendant.
"Listen, and listen good." said Naruto as he put his finger into Hinata's face, like her his nails had pushed out into sharpened points, only his where pure black while her own had turned a white. "I told you before that I don't love you and I see what you are trying to do, trying to get to me and that isn't going to happen."
"But we…"
"I said Listen!" snapped Naruto as his blonde hair grew and became more spiky and wild. "I didn't say talk, you can't get me to go to you by flashing your body or any other plans you may think of. It will not matter, I love Sakura-chan and she loves me."
"Naruto-kun she doesn't deserve you, we are meant to be together I am a kitsune." Said Hinata in defiance of Naruto's orders for her to remain quiet.
"And what makes you think that matters to me?" inquired Naruto as red chakra began to cover his body and it looked as if he was growing in size. "Any demon can be transformed into another demon and if the worse should happen and we fail to find a cure, if we decide to become demons either I will join Sakura-chan or she will join me. What you become matters not in any fucking way, Hinata do you understand me?"
"Naruto-kun?" inquired Hinata
"Do you understand me?" inquired Naruto
"I understand what is going on." said Hinata. Naruto growled a bit his nostrils flaring before he stormed off, with each powerful stride he became more human until there was no sign that he had demon chakra within in. That is when Hinata noticed that she had actually cowered a bit from Naruto's rage. She held her breath listening as his footsteps carried in away from her, finally when she couldn't hear his footsteps she finished what she was saying. "She has you under her control and I will break you from her so that we can be together Naruto-kun."
Naruto stormed down the hall, each step he was calming himself down all the while cursing to himself.
"I shouldn't have been so rude and threatening to her." thought Naruto only to stop mid step and grind his teeth. "But she may try to do something to Sakura-chan, I needed to make sure she doesn't try anything to hurt Sakura-chan."
"Naruto-kun?" inquired Sakura as Naruto looked up from his thoughts and saw Sakura standing by a doorway which lead down the hallway toward the guard room. "Are you alright?"
"I am ok, but Hinata she has really lost it." admitted Naruto as he shook his head. "Maybe I shouldn't have been so forceful maybe a more gentle touch could heal her heart and allow her to move on."
For a moment Sakura didn't say anything, instead she placed her hand under her chin and thought about it.
"I don't think anything you or anyone else could do will make that big of a difference right now." added Sakura "Maybe it was the mental changes that come from becoming a demon, maybe it was that she was so close to death and some her brain had already shut down but she has changed mentally."
"Well we have Ino and her father maybe they can help her, the Yamamaka's are mind walkers." Inquired Naruto
"Maybe, but Mr. Yamamaka is an intelligence gathering expert his training was focused on pulling information out of a captured subject, let's just say when he gets done most of the time the prisoner is not capable of putting two words together." Stated Sakura "We would need one of Ino's aunts or uncles who are trained to do that, Ino did do some work in that field when she studied under Lady Tsunade but nothing above basic and Hinata is not a basic case."
"We need to keep an eye on her." said Naruto
"She is trapped down here, we have removed her code and…" started Sakura only to stop when she noticed Naruto shaking his head.
"I am not worried about her trying to escape, she wants me and I am here no reason for her to do anything." explained Naruto "I am worried about what she may try to do to you and what could happen if that comes to pass."
"Bring it on, we will kill her and put an end to her attempts to take Naruto-kun!" yelled Inner Sakura to herself
"Any fight between the two of us would cause massive damage, I know the walls are thick but if they gave under one of my chakra enhanced punches or any power justu that anyone uses then the water would rush in an we would all be dead." Confirmed Sakura "Maybe I should ask Tenten to make me some bronze close quarter weapons just to be safe, I know you and others need them more in case we are attack…"
"Do it, we can't afford to have you or anyone else go unarmed." confirmed Naruto as the mention of Tenten reminded him of something. "I need to ask her about what weapons I could learn fast enough to counter my parents preferred weapons. Dad likes a close quarter kunai and mom likes distance staff weapons, I am sure there is a weapon that will work and Tenten would know."
"Naruto-kun, maybe you should focus on something else." Advised Sakura "You have fought your parents before but do you really want to do it again, we have some of the best ninjas here now, Guy and Anko they could focus on dealing with your parents while you focus on something else."
"Sakura-chan." said Naruto with a smile as he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her back pulling her close, he was slightly taller than she was so she had to look up and he look down to stare into each others eyes. "Thanks for worrying about that, but they are my parents and if we have to I will face them."
He gently kissed her forehead, the source of all her childhood bullying issues was her large forehead but now she was grateful for it.
"Boy, we are going to make him very happy on his birthday tomorrow." Said Inner Sakura "Can we just do it now?"
"No." thought a hesitant Sakura debating if she was to agree with her inner self. "Let's wait, and make his birthday extra special."
The journey back to the land of swamps was the longest time in Konohamaru's young life, the 14 year old didn't know how many people tried to talk to him on the ship or how many times he had paid them no mind and looked straight ahead. When they had arrived he had gone to the small hut that the villagers had given him and Moegi onlyto stand outside and look at the items she had left behind. Finally only when rain began to fall did he enter and try to get some sleep, he failed. With that done he moved across a path which was more water then dirt to the old ship which was severing as the center of their operation. When he stepped below deck he was instantly greeted with a powerful stench of vomit, beer and body waste. The corridors where littered with drunk ninjas who had passed out where they had drunk too much, others had vomited as they woke up without even attempting to move.
"These are professional ninjas of the Mist?" inquired Konohamaru
"They are all that is left of the Ninjas of the Mist and maybe all that is left of any ninja forces east of the border of the Land of Fire." Said a voice coming from the nearest of the doors. Slowly he walked in to find the Mizukage herself standing there. His eyes scanned the room, it was simple a built in cot took up one whole wall but was still not long enough for a grown woman to sleep in. A folding card table was now a makeshift desk and was covered with multiple pieces of paper. A large map covered one wall, the only sign of any luxury was that this small cabin had its own bathroom with a toilet and a sink, not even a shower.
"Lady Mizukage." Said Konohamaru
"You did good on our raid." Said the Mizukage "I am sure that couldn't have been easy for you, what you did but she did…"
"I know what she did, but…" said Konohamaru before shaking his head. "I shouldn't have forced her to come along, I knew she didn't want to do this."
"She was a ninja; a ninja should expect to do some dirty things." said the Mizukage with a sad smile. "That is something that they never tell people when they signed up to be a ninja. Some villages are more upfront on the dirty actions that a ninja must do, the Leaf was never one of those. The world is not a peaceful place, we hit at the creatures who are behind. Your friend just had too soft of heart."
"Moegi always had a soft heart, I always loved that about her." admitted Konohamaru "I will miss that about her."
"Remember how she was, not what she was when she killed her fellow humans." advised Mei Terumi in a mother like tone. "In this world we need to remember why we fight, we fight so people like Moegi can have those kind hearts."
"Thank you." said Konohamaru as he took a breath "I would like to go out with you next time you attack the demons."
"Of course," said the Mizukage with a nod of her head. "We need to find a target first and we must be careful they will be after us, luckily they have no idea where we are."
Back in the demon village Moegi sat on a comfortable chair which was designed to allow her new wings to rest at her side without any pain or discomfort. Across from her sat a large man, well he was more of a deer then a man with a full rack of antler that any professional hunter would be proud to have on his wall. His silver white fur and overall stance said he was someone of importance and that he was someone to be respected.
"Moegi, my niece has told me you are a very brave young ninja." Said the demon deer, as Moegi blinked the one eye she actually had. "My name is Dan, my niece is someone you know well, Shizune."
"Shizune is your niece?" inquired Moegi as Dan nodded his head.
"Now, I need you to be brave yet again." said Dan "Where is the base that they launched this attack from?"
Moegi hesitated as she lowered her head, her bright neon colored hair covered her face but not the battle raging inside of her.
"I understand that this is hard." reassured Dan. "When someone joins the ninja core they never tell you that it sometimes requires you to harden your heart, you must do so that others don't have to be cruel. Now please you have seen for yourself what they did out there, help us bring them to justice."
"I don't know where they are." said Meogi as Dan frowned slightly but before he could push Moegi went on. "They never told us the name of the small fishing village that they are based out of, all I know is that it took us an entire night to get her and it is somewhere in the Land of Swamps."
"Land of Swamps." Said Dan with a nod of his head as he stood up. "Thank you, that has been very useful."
"What will happen to me now?" inquired Moegi "I can't be a ninja, not with one eye and…."
Dan placed a hand on her shoulder, and smiled down at her like a father would.
"We are building a new world, we will find a place that makes you happy." said Dan "If you want, I can arrange to have you return to the Leaf."
"My Lord Councilman." Said a voice behind him as Moegi looked to see Sister Yue standing there. "I am afraid she still needs time to recover before she can make the flight to the mainland."
"Flight?" inquired Meogi
"Yes, your wings can take you to the mainland with only a few layovers at small rest islands." Explained Sister Yue "It will be good for you and a trip on your wings is a right of passage for young Yosei and for some reason Yosei's are bad when it comes to getting sea sick. You will not fly alone so you have no reason to be afraid."
"Thank you." Said Meogi as she leaned forward and took a cup of tea in her thin hands and lifted it to her lips and drank deeply. With that done she stood up and looked at her two guests. "If you need nothing more, I would like to get some rest."
"Of course." Said Sister Yue as she and Dan left closing the door behind them. Once they were clear of her room Sister Yue spoke up again. "I am sorry that she couldn't be of much help, sometimes the change and affect short term memories most of all when it happens so close to death."
"She helped us out a lot actually." Countered Dan "We know the top speed that the boats they used can go and we know the weather conditions and the time they took to travel. We should be able to get a range of area from where they launched from and then we can search from there."
"I am happy to have been of help." Said Sister Yue "Do you have any news about her family in the Leaf, I am sure she would have asked but she is still shell shocked by the change."
"Sadly her father died from the flu and her mother was killed in the battle for the village." explained Dan "She is an orphan."
"So sad." Said Sister Yue "There will be a lot of orphans and new families formed from the remains of the old."
"Yes, there will be." confirmed Dan "I have seen it for myself in the Leaf, people are adopting the children of their friends, families or even total strangers who have lost everything. Family means everything no matter what race a demon or a human is. It is very beautiful to see what they are building a new society will grow from the burned remains of the old."
"I will do my best to guild young Moegi while she is hear, hopefully someone in the Leaf will be there when she returns." Said Sister Yue "She is young, but I think her wings and her spirit is stronger then it looks."
"I will leave her in your care." Confirmed Dan as he stepped out into the remains of the village which he had given so much of his life to serve. The village was a husk, multiple buildings where burned down to nothingness. His ancestors had made this place into their sanctuary during the purges when they were being hunted by humanity, they had made it through the purges here. They had weathered storms both from nature and from a handful of humans which would show up after a ship would disappear. Over the years, they had grown, a few trusted humans had been turned mostly those who had fallen in love with humans on the outside.
Dan closed his eyes and thought about her, Tsunade the woman he loved. He remembered her smile, her laugh even the way she would playfully punch his shoulder.
"She would have been a wonderful wife and mother." Thought Dan as he imagined Tsunade not as a human but as a Bai Ze, with golden blonde fur which matched her naturally human hair. As he walked down the streets he thought about what would have happened if he had told Tsunade the truth about being a demon. "I am not sure she would have agreed with what the council was planning when it came to the virus, but she may have found a better solution then killing so many people. Shizune is good but Tsunade was in a league of her own, too bad she loved the toad sage not me."
"Sir, shall we go over possible rebuilding plans?" inquired an aid who had walked behind him the entire time.
"No, the plan was to have the population here move to the mainland and mingle with the newly turned humans." stated Dan as he looked at the buildings which been their home. "If we stay here anyone who is found will be known to be a pure demon."
"And once the little chemical which makes the newly turned like being a demon fades they will want revenge against pure demons." Stated the aid
"Yes, while the rank and file civilians who are not known have a chance to lie about where they are from originally we of the council do not." stated Dan "We will pay for the sins we have done, but in the end our races will live on and that is all that matters. Prepare the population for movement to the mainland."
"Yes, sir." confirmed the aid
Darkness was falling over the land as underground the new arrivals began to settle down for the night. Sitting at the central table in the breakroom just looking at his daughter was Inoichi Yamamaka, his eyes watered a bit as he looked at her, aside from the color of the hair and eyes she was almost a perfect image of her mother at her age.
"Dad is something wrong?" inquired Ino as she looked up from the bowl of soup, it was a thick rich soup with plenty of meat, potatoes and vegetables. It would have been worth four or five times it's weight in gold back before the fall of the Leaf.
"No." said Inoichi as he shook his head. "It is just you look so much like your mother."
"I wish she was here now." Added Ino as she tried not to think about her mother, of all the people they had lost. Slowly her Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out a wedding ring, it was golden with three diamonds in the center with roses engraved onto the outside of the ring. "Mom's ring?"
"I took it off her before they…." said Inoichi before each of them got quiet, both of them knew that protocol for removing the dead was to burn everything that the person had on them at the time of death. No personal items where to be removed so that germs from the red flu wouldn't spread. "I bribed an ANBU officer with two weeks' worth of food to let me take this off her before they…."
"Tossed her into the fire." said Ino with tears in her eyes. "She loved the ring."
"She did." said Inoichi as he remembered the look on his wife's face when he had given her the ring. The smile that light up his world, everything was in front of them then and he had taken the ring back from her as she lied in a couple of garbage bags which was being used because they had run out of body bags. "She would have wanted you to have it, wear it and keep it safe."
At the same moment, only a few feet away Sakura walked into Meiko's room after knocking first. She walked in to find, the young kitsune sitting on her bed with a pencil in her clawed hands working at a drawing pad.
"Meiko can I talk to you for a moment?" inquired Sakura as Meiko looked up at her before putting down the pad.
"Sure." said Meiko
"Can you do a favor for me, if you wouldn't mind could you sleep in my room tomorrow night?" inquired Sakura as Meiko tilted her head a bit before laughing.
"Sure, I guess I wouldn't want to hear whatever you and my brother end up doing on his birthday." chuckled Meiko "I would also ask him to put on extra sound canceling seals, I could still hear you guys last time."
"I can handle that, I am not as good as Naruto-kun but I can handle it." added Sakura with a blush, "Thanks."
"No problem." Said Meiko before she moved to pick up the drawing pad again. "Funny thing is that tomorrow is the major feast day back home."
"What?" inquired Sakura
"October 10th, is the feast day of Vulpecul Jing, the first kitsune." said Meiko before smiling "It is considered a sign of great luck and a great destiny for a kitsune to be born on that day like my brother."
"Well Naruto-kun is a human." countered Sakura before she tilted her head. "Wait, this Vulpecul Jing the first Kitsune how did he come to be?"
"She." Corrected Meiko "She just like all the legendary first demons where born from the flower the Holy Furutsubaki which gave them knowledge and rule over plant and animal life." Explained Meiko before shrugging "It is kind of strange story, demons coming out of plants but we have the modern day Furutsubaki which turned me into a kitsune."
"Where was humanity in all of this?" inquired Sakura as Meiko placed her drawing pencil under her muzzle as she thought.
"You know, I don't know. Humanity doesn't really play much of a part in the religious texts until he launched his massacres against the ancient demon civilizations and destroyed them." Admitted Meiko "Why do you ask?"
"Something has never sit right with the samples I have, Meiko your Kitsune DNA is as human as Samui's Rhyuu DNA but when I compared the two of you to each other there is a greater difference then between you and any human." Explained Sakura "You are closer to a human then you are to a Rhyuu yet a human can become either of them."
"Well a Rhyuu is very different then a kitsune, scales compared to fur and other things." Stated Meiko with a shrug.
"There has to be something more to it than that." countered Sakura "We just need to figure out what it is."
Well happy new year and I hope you all had fun, now I hope you enjoyed this chapter and until next time please keep reading. Thanks Wilkins75.