A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
I guess readers really waited for last chapter, got one of my best hits/visitors score since a long time with 6,120 hits and 1,470 visitors for Sunday.
Now onto the reviews I had for that chapter, I was quite surprised at the general consensus about Sakura. She clearly has little to no fans even though I tried to give her some screen time and show her progress after the timeskip. I don't blame you, I really think it comes from the original manga and how Kishimoto sabotaged any kunoichi with potential from reaching greatness. We'll see more of her later.
I'm glad you enjoyed the twists in the previous chapter, I still have some more that will hopefully have the same effects.
Sorry about the extended time since my last release but well work is work :)
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 33: The Red Dawn
Kumogakure – Raikage Office
A, the Yondaime Raikage was sitting behind his desk, going through his daily paperwork. His eyes fell on a scroll sent to him a month ago by the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade. The message mentioned the existence of a secret organization named Akatsuki, exclusively composed by S-Rank missing nins, whose goal was to kidnap and extract the bijuu from all nine jinchuriki. Tsunade offered a temporary alliance to deal with it, information gathering, joint trainings of the remaining jinchuriki and asked for a meeting with him.
The Raikage was a very cautious man, behind his external rough appearance, he was also a very intelligent man. He was of course aware of the past tensions between Kumo and Konoha, with the Hyuga incident. He even had to face their famous Yondaime Hokage when he was younger and Tsunade was someone he respected for her strength and skills.
All those things made his decision harder, whether to believe what the scroll said or not. On one hand it could be a ploy from Konoha to have their own jinchuriki trained by his brother, as it was well known that Killer B had completely mastered his jinchuriki powers. On the other hand, the threat could be real, Tsunade didn't strike him as someone who would use such a lame strategy and it was his brother's and adoptive daughter's lives he had to protect.
Would he take the risk of refusing Konoha's help, putting his family at risk, and for the sake of what ? Past grudges and irrational fears ? He didn't have much time to think about it as he was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a kunoichi in his office.
She had had long, straight, blonde, hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse, black pants both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of white beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo forehead protector, sandals and kunai holster which was strapped to her right thigh. She also wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.
The kunoichi was trying to catch her breath, something very unusual coming from her as everyone knew she had an almost endless stamina. A immediately knew something was wrong and his eyes widened as he looked at the scroll in front of him again.
"Yugito, what happened ? Why are you so tired and where is B ? Weren't you supposed to train with him today ?" The Raikage asked her.
"Intruders Raikage-sama … They were after B and me and he stayed there to hold them back while I escaped to warn you about them." Yugito said.
"How many of them ? Did you recognize any of them ? Where are they right now ?" Asked A, already fearing the worse for his brother.
"There were three of them, all wearing the same strange dark robes with red clouds. I didn't recognize any of them but they are very strong and they're most likely still fighting at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning. I ran straight to here from there, after B ordered to fall back and call for reinforcements." Replied the blonde woman.
"Very well, you stay here. I'll go help him. ANBU !" Yelled the Raikage as he jumped through the window, not caring that it was still closed. One squad of ANBU followed after him as fast as they could since the man was actually the fastest man on Earth.
"But I left him there, I have to go back too ! He stayed there all alone to save me !" Yelled Yugito but the Raikage didn't flinch and didn't turn back.
Yugito cursed her lack of strength, the kunoichi was too tired to go home and chose to lay down in the Raikage office's couch. Yugito then closed her eyes, and slowly fell asleep victim of chakra exhaustion.
Valley of Clouds and Lightning
When A and his men arrived, all they could see was the destruction and chaos the fight between Killer Bee and the mysterious invaders had caused. The Raikage could not feel the chakra from his brother nor from the intruders, only evidence of their fight remained on the ravaged battlefield.
"Raikage-sama, there are strong evidence of Killer Bee using his youki and his transformed state." Said one of the ANBU specialized in tracking.
"Impossible ! Who could be strong enough to push Killer Bee to release his bijuu form ? Only Raikage-sama is powerful enough to match him in that state." Replied another ANBU.
"I can see traces of high level elemental jutsu from every element, there's also blood samples we can take back with us to Kumo for further analysis." Said a third one whose specialty was forensics.
"I can only detect our chakra signatures in the area, no trace of Killer Bee or the intruder's chakra in my range of detection." Reported the last ANBU on the squad, as their sensor expert.
The Raikage gritted his teeth, cursing his dismissal of the warning note from Konoha. He knew his pride may have cost him his brother's life. He didn't have enough forces to go against multiple shinobi with enough strength to match Bee's and Yugito's nor the logistics to track them outside Lightning Country as they no doubt already crossed the borders.
"Take every sample you need and prepare to go back." A ordered his men.
"But what about you brother Raikage-sama ?" Asked one of his operative.
"We do not have the means to follow after them right now, we have to regroup and think of a solid plan first." Replied a dejected A.
After the ANBU gathered everything they needed, A and his men left the scene and made their way back to Kumo.
Rice Country – Forest
At the exact same time, on a cliff stood three Akatsuki members looking down towards the entrance of Otogakure's main base.
"What's taking him so long, Un ?" Yelled Deidara.
"Will you calm down, he should be back soon." Replied the ever stoic Itachi.
"Tobi is a good boy so he won't whine like Deidara-sempai." Said the third member, behind his orange mask.
"Will you all shut up, I swear I could hear you from the other side of the base." Said a fourth voice.
They all turned back to see Zetsu slowly rising from the ground.
"What do you have on them ?" Asked Deidara.
"I've marked the strategic positions you will need to bomb, the explosions should be enough to make several of their tunnel collapse and it will make it easier for Tobi to make his way to the room we need to access." Replied Zetsu.
"Orochimaru was really retarded to build his base like this, I will show you all why art is a Bang !" Announced Deidara.
"I'll be the bait as planed, I'm pretty sure my foolish little brother will blindly follow me once I show my face at the entrance of his base." Added Itachi.
"You should all get in position, I'll deploy clones with you all to synchronize our actions. We should engage at dawn, it is the time their security is the most vulnerable." Announced Zetsu.
Every member nodded and left with a clone to their designated positions.
Otogakure's Main Base
Sasuke made his way to the medical wing of his base, wanting to check on the progress his latest ally made. As he entered the room, he saw Sakura working behind her desk.
"Sakura, report." Said the Otokage.
"Sasuke-kun ! I mean Otokage-sama, I've started to administer the proper treatment to Subject X. His body is responding quite well and he should be completely healed in a week at most." Proudly replied the new head of the medical staff of Otogakure.
"What about Subject Y, how is the treatment going for him ?" Asked Sasuke.
"He is still in an artificial coma as you ordered, but why do you need to keep him in such a state or even alive for that matter ?" Asked the pink haired medic.
"He is of no consequence, his adoptive mother though, holds great power. She will follow my orders as long as I keep her little pet alive." Replied the avenger with a smirk.
"I see. I wanted to ask you, will you go on a date with me ?" Asked the delusional kunoichi.
Before Sasuke could reply, a loud sound of explosion resonated through the entire base.
"Protect the patients and stay here !" Ordered the Otokage, while running out of the room.
Once Sasuke made it to his control room, he saw Kabuto with a panicked expression on his face.
"Report, Kabuto !" Yelled Sasuke.
"We're under attack, Uchiha-sama. There are at least two enemies, we managed to identify one of them though ..." Said Kabuto.
"Well, who the hell dares to attack me ?" Asked the Otokage with venom in his voice.
"It's your brother, Uchiha Itachi has been spotted near the main entrance. We don't know who his accomplice is yet though." Answered Kabuto.
Sasuke's eyes widened at the news of his brother still alive. He thought that the blond Uzumaki idiot already killed him. This made his blood boil and he immediately ran to towards Itachi's position.
"You're in charge until I come back, have our troops move out and engage my brother's accomplice outside the base but whatever you do, do not get in my way !" Yelled the avenger as he left the room.
With Itachi
As soon as Sasuke reached the base's entrance he saw his brother, waiting for him outside. The younger Uchiha activated his Sharingan and ran outside, the Kusanagi in his hand covered in lightning chakra. As he was halfway from his target, another round of explosions could be heard. Sasuke looked back for half a second before continuing on his path to kill his brother.
"You are still foolish as ever, my younger brother." Said Itachi as he saw Tobi discretely going inside the Sound Base.
"Shut up, you don't know anything about me !" Roared the Nidaime Otokage.
Itachi easily evaded his brother's sword and jumped back. Of course Sasuke followed without a care in the world for his base or his men.
"I know all about your little coup and the death of the sannin Orochimaru at your hands." Replied Itachi while dodging Sasuke's attacks and going further away from the base.
"So you know about Orochimaru, I killed one former member of your secret organization quite easily, just as I'm about to kill you." Sasuke said with a smirk on his face.
"How naive of you, Sasuke. He was only interested in you because he couldn't get me. I am the reason he left the organization all those years ago, he lost a fight against me and vowed to get the body of a full blooded Uchiha with a fully developed Sharingan after that." Replied Itachi in his usual calm voice.
"It doesn't change the fact that I beat him !" Yelled Sasuke.
"You'd be surprised at how effective our spying network is. I know all about Orochimaru's state after his fight with Naruto-kun. All you did was waiting for him to weaken enough to attack like the coward you are, I bet you even needed help considering the hickey he left on your shoulder." Said Itachi with a rare smile on his face.
That was it for the younger Uchiha, he lost all inhibition and blindly charged at his older brother.
Seeing no point to this fight, Itachi prepared his Mangekyo Sharingan but before he could launch any jutsu, he was interrupted by the arrival of a Zetsu clone.
"The operation is a success, follow the plan and meet us at the hideout." Announced Zetsu.
Itachi nodded before he disappeared in a high speed movement from Sasuke's view. The younger brother only had the time to turn back when he came face to face with Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Tsukyomi !" was all he heard before the world became red …
With Deidara
The mad bomber from Iwa was currently fighting against a kunoichi from Oto. She had fair skin, dark eyes and light blue hair which she kept in a spiky ponytail with long strands of hair framing her face. Her outfit consisted of a green dress with a long left sleeve and a short right one, a red turtle-neck which had a white, fluffy collar and brown gloves. Under the dress, she wore a one piece red suit. For shoes, she wore calf-length brown sandal boots.
All around them were countless corpses of the victims from Deidara's bombs. There were also lots of collapsed tunnels and rooms that could be seen from the surface.
"You guys are so weak, it's a wonder how Orochimaru survived so long, Un." Taunted the blond shinobi.
They were interrupted in the same manner Itachi and Sasuke were, as Zetsu made his presence known.
"Retrieval is a success, proceed to the next phase." Said the plant like shinobi before disappearing again.
"It's your lucky day, Un. We will meet again but I'll leave you a present." Said Deidara to Guren as he made the Ram hand sign.
"Don't forget that art is a blast !" Yelled the Akatsuki member as a new series of explosions detonated all around them.
Guren immediately yelled "Shoton : Suisho Ro no jutsu !", she had to use one of her jutsu to protect herself from the blast as she was completely covered by a crystal wall.
When she dispelled the jutsu, the intruder had already vanished.
Kabuto appeared in a Shunshin a couple of minutes later, with a unconscious Sasuke on his shoulder.
"We're moving to another base Guren, this one is compromised we can't stay here any longer." Announced the second in command.
Konoha – Hokage Office
It had been two weeks since Naruto went off on his training trip, Tsunade was worried about him but she currently had bigger issues to deal with.
On her desk stood a reply letter from the Raikage, a reply she did not expect anymore since her original scroll was sent more than a month ago. She thought that he wasn't interested in her offer but apparently things changed, not for best though, if the contents of the letter were true.
The Yondaime Raikage was asking for a Five Kage meeting in three days in the land or Iron, a neutral country known for its Samurai. Each Kage was allowed to have two bodyguards and the subject of this meeting was Akatsuki and the kidnapping of his brother, Killer Bee the jinchuriki of the eighth tailed Ox.
"Bad news Tsunade-sama ?" Asked her assistant Shizune.
"See for yourself Shizune ..." Replied Tsunade as she tossed the scroll to her apprentice.
The brunette read the scroll and her eyes widened at what she saw.
"Who will you bring ? I mean apart from me, of course." Asked Shizune.
"You're not coming Shizune." Replied Tsunade and before Shizune could protest she added "You will act as the Hokage during my absence, I don't want Danzo or anyone else trying to get any funny ideas while I'm away and you're the only one I trust for this job. I would have bring Sakura and Kakashi but ..." finished Tsunade.
The lost of her last apprentice was still a sore subject for her, the chunin Sakura assaulted were clear in their reports, Sakura had betrayed the Leaf and openly attacked them before leaving the village.
"I understand, Tsunade-sama. Who shall I summon to go with you then ?" Shizune said.
"Get me Kakashi and Gai." Replied the blonde Hokage.
One hour later, the Godaime Hokage was gone, her escort being Konoha's taijutsu and ninjutsu specialists.
Namikaze Compound
A poof of smoke suddenly appeared inside the Namikaze training ground. As it cleared out, a tall blond man could be seen.
"Home sweet home." Said the blond with a happy tone.
Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is finally back.
A/N : What do you think ?
Akatsuki's operations both went perfectly fine. They managed to get both a ring and they kidnapped another jinchuriki, or did they ?
The Kage meeting is next, what do you think will happen ? I have no idea where Iron Country is located in the Naruto world. Any input or suggestion ?
We know more about Sasuke's 'staff' and guess who's back ?
Did Naruto finish his training and what can he do if he did ?
Find out by reading the next chapter :)
As usual please Read and Review.