Disclaimer: I didn't win the lottery and buy the rights to Naruto, dang it…
Sorry for the delay on the chapter, have been busy with personal and work related business. Also my great beta took his sweet time getting this done, just kidding, he did a great job. Now back to the story.
Chapter 24 – Conflict and confessions…
The man panted heavily, as he hung limply in the restraints. Paper seals hung around the room and off his body. A woman in a mask walked closer to him and smirked beneath her mask as the man visibly flinched. They had done nothing physical to the man yet, but he seemed ready to break.
She swayed her hips as she approached and said seductively, "You will tell me what I want to know, won't you?"
The man leaned his head back and screamed at the top of his lungs.
------------
Naruto's team wasn't happy, as they had been home for one day and then were sent back out on a patrol mission. The bright point was that Haku had accompanied them and was now wearing the Uzu headband.
Naruto understood that his village wanted the teams to get as much experience as possible as quickly as possible. He was just worried that the shinobi might end up with exhaustion quicker and have to rely more upon Iwa than was prudent. The five man cell continued to their circuit, as they had passed through the first village without incident. The border with Rice Field country used to be an easy job of chasing a few bandits here and there, but now with the formation of the Sound village inside of said country, border incidents were becoming a fact of life. While representatives of Oto (Sound) would tell Uzu that they had peaceful intentions, the shinobi were stealing people from the villages on the borders between the two countries.
Naruto halted quickly, as a smell assaulted his nose. Everyone turned to him, and he whispered grimly, "Blood, and lots of it. Sensei, send a bird and, we should head to the next village, since that's where the smell is coming from."
Kikiyo summoned a hawk, which took the message to Uzu, and the rest of the team scouted the area for signs of conflict. Naruto found a couple of bodies, women who had been assaulted then killed. He snorted in disgust, as he examined the bodies. Haku watched Naruto in morbid fascination, as he seemed to sniff over the whole body, and he didn't seem to be either flustered by the body's naked form or the smell of death that hung over them. After getting out of the general area of rancid smell he explained, "The women were raped and then killed. They have been dead for about ten or more hours, and they were sprayed with a solvent to cause decomposition to ensue faster than normal."
Haku was impressed, but also confused. "Why would they do such a thing? I mean raping the women is one thing. Why not take them back with them?" he asked, more wanting to know why they weren't taken than actually wanting to know why the women were raped.
Naruto shrugged, as he replied, "Raping women is the MO of Oto shinobi, well, other than the kunoichi. As for not taking them, they would slow them down. I hate to say it, but they also want to hurt our people by doing this, as they want to instill fear on the border, if the woman isn't strong then they are used for pleasure and then killed. I hate men like that."
Haku noticed Naruto's eyes showed not only hurt, but anger, as he noticed Naruto's eyes turn purple with slits for pupils. "Naruto-san? Why are you starting to go into your wild state?" he asked.
Naruto sighed, and asked, "You know that I can use a real transformation, correct?"
Haku nodded, as Naruto continued, "Well, to hide from Konoha, I had transformed into a girl, and was nearly raped by a Konoha chuunin. So, the wanton disrespect for women that this shows always gets me angry. Also, my wild state has heightened senses."
Haku nodded, as he walked next to a stream and used his bloodline to grab some water. Naruto raised an eyebrow, as Haku turned the water into two ice shovels, handed one to Naruto and began to dig with the other. "We should give them a proper burial," he explained, as Naruto assisted and they finally laid the pair of women to rest.
----------
Kikiyo couldn't believe that they had been ambushed. As Hinata was about to use her Byakugan to scan the area, Keiko collapsed, holding her ears in pain. Kikiyo activated her Sharingan, and saw the chakra coming from the arm of a Sound shinobi.
"So we have more women to have our way with?" the sound shinobi stated, as seven more came out of the woods to surround the group. The leader grinned, then added, "All females too! Aren't we lucky? If they're strong enough, we'll take them with us!"
The man failed to watch his opponents, as both Hinata and Kikiyo began to go through hand seals quickly. Kikiyo said under her breath, as she took a deep breath, "Fire Style: Fireball jutsu." A large fireball hit the man dead center, leaving only his smoldering corpse.
Hinata then said, "Water style: Water Bullet jutsu." She spat out a baseball sized ball of water at another of the sound shinobi, who collapsed as the water hit his chest and put a hole in it. The man was now lying dead against a tree.
Keiko began to recover, as she pulled the chakra from her ears. She couldn't hear and her balance wasn't back quite yet. She quickly used the distraction of her teammates to her advantage. The Senju girl grabbed a half a dozen shuriken, and threw them at three of their assailants. She actually hit two of them. She may have only wounded them, but she could most definitely say that those two wouldn't be fighting at full potential for a while.
-------
As Naruto and Haku finished burying the women, they felt a chakra spike from not that far away. Haku noticed the wild look in Naruto's eyes, as he shouted, "Hinata-chan and the others are in trouble!"
Both boys jumped off into the branches in the direction of the chakra spike.
-------
Hinata and Kikiyo had an advantage against these Sound shinobi, in that they could see the chakra and could dissipate it as it approached them. Keiko had no such ability, but she figured using her bloodline to block her ears would help. While it would cause her to lose one of her senses, she knew it would only affect her slightly, as Kikiyo had emphasized that relying on one sense too heavily would be their downfall, so she created some wooden earplugs. With that problem eliminated, she took cover behind a fallen tree to reassess the situation. Six against three were not good odds, even if the other side had two who were injured. Hopefully, her cousin and that 'cute' guy Haku would show up and help them out. 'Wait did I just think that he was cute?' she pondered, as she threw a kunai with an explosive tag near a couple of the enemy shinobi.
Hinata threw three explosive laden kunai in a triangular pattern, two on either side of a tree, and the third about ten feet up and on the tree behind the target tree which a Sound shinobi was using for cover. She smiled as the shinobi jumped up to avoid the two explosive kunai, only to be sent into an exposed branch by the third explosive tag. The man continued to writhe, in an attempt to extract himself off of the branch.
--------
Naruto grabbed a Sound kunoichi from behind with his hand on her mouth and his sword at her throat, as he whispered, "Surrender and you will be spared. I have a feeling I know what you've been through."
The Kunoichi had tensed at his touch, only to nod, and then lower her hands in resignation. This scene repeated with a clone doing the same thing to a second kunoichi, who was also wounded.
----------
Haku's eyes were hardened, as he watched the man salivating at the chance to hurt Keiko-chan. "I would ask you to surrender, but you appear to only think that women are to be used, and for that there will be no quarter given, Ninja Art: Demon Ice Mirrors!" he yelled as the area around the Sound shinobi and Haku crystallized into a dome of mirrors. Ten seconds later the man had breathed his last breath.
----------
Kikiyo stood above the last Sound shinobi, with her katana held to his throat. "Have you ever assaulted a woman?" she asked with her eyes activated.
The man shook his head emphatically, and said, "No. While the others did, I didn't. I did my best to try to help the women. I'm originally from Uzu, and have tried to stop them from attacking. Please take me in and subject me to any test you want. I would never hurt you."
She could tell that the man was telling the truth, as the man pulled his weapons pouches off and dumped his weapons out of his holsters. She looked around to see her team, specifically Hinata policing the bodies, as Naruto brought in a couple of Sound kunoichi, bound and ready for transport. She then noticed Haku tending to a wound on Keiko, and smiled, as the boy used great care to take care of her.
Naruto left a couple of clones to watch over the three prisoners, as he helped Hinata finish off the last Sound shinobi, who was about to free himself from his branch prison. Naruto recognized his scent from the murdered women.
Naruto sent a dozen clones towards the town to scout it out and make sure that this was the only group of Sound shinobi that were in the area. Hinata attended to the wounded enemy kunoichi and Keiko, as Haku watched and blushed at Keiko.
Hinata looked at both Haku and Keiko sternly, and said, "Keiko, remove your pants so that I can finish the work done here by Haku-kun. Haku, I want you to watch, as I might need you to do field dressings if I'm unable to."
A smirk crept up on both Naruto and Hinata's face, as Naruto got a clue on what she was up to.
From what Naruto could figure, Hinata had noticed some attraction between the two, and she wanted to push it further to try and make both happy. Naruto just shook his head, as he knew that she would play matchmaker, and he would be taken along for the ride. He watched, as Haku's face turned beet red at the sight of Keiko's panties. Naruto walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You'll get used to it eventually. They have a way of worming themselves into your heart," he said, as Keiko blushed at Naruto's comment, and she knew exactly what he was referring too, though she didn't mind.
Naruto's face changed from happily teasing to serious. "There are at least four squads, if not more, in the town. They appear to be rounding up the villagers. My clones could delay and take out a few of them, but there is no way for my clones to win the fight. So far my clones haven't been noticed," he reported.
Kikiyo nodded at the information. "How close do they appear to being ready to leave the village?" she asked.
"It will be several hours, as they seem to be taking care to actually capture those who are still in the village instead of just killing them. I know they are killing those that escape, as Haku and I found a couple of women who had escaped and were given the usual Sound treatment," Naruto said, as the captured shinobi looked away in shame, and the kunoichi both went pale. He then continued, "They are putting them all in caged carts for transport."
"Okay, we'll interrogate the prisoners and wait for back up," Kikiyo said, and the team nodded agreement. She looked at the prisoners who just nodded at her glare and began to speak in turn to the questions asked.
Two hours later, four squads of shinobi appeared in the makeshift camp. Two were Iwa teams, and two were Uzu teams. Ichiro was there with his team, and they waited for the debriefing before moving out and attempting to recover the villagers.
The ultimate decision was that Haku, Keiko, and a couple of Naruto's clones would stay and guard the prisoners, while the rest of Kikiyo's team and the other four would free the village. Haku began to start a fire and prepare for wounded to arrive while Keiko prepared for more prisoners to arrive.
--------
As the five (well, four-and-a-half) teams arrived, Naruto created several hundred shadow clones and sent them to surround the village. One of the clones approached the group and gave his report, "There is one more team, bringing the total to five teams in the village, and they will be ready to leave within the hour. One of my compatriots was able to catch a kunoichi unaware as she was using the latrine, she didn't put up a fight, as she figured it was one of her teammates trying to get a little action." A look of disgust was upon his face, as he continued, "She has given us all the information I could think to ask her, and then some."
Kikiyo nodded at the information, as most of the females in the group were angered by the treatment of fellow shinobi. "Continue," she ordered.
"Well, the teams don't seem to get along well, but all the kunoichi will surrender if given the option, so I propose we take them first and hold them as prisoners. We then eliminate the others, most are chuunin level or higher in skills," the Naruto clone explained.
Kikiyo nodded to the plan of action. The next twenty minutes had the teams capturing the four other female Oto shinobi, and picking off four of the others. Actually, one capture was more like a rescue, as one of the Oto males had one of the female Oto shinobi tied, gagged and naked, ready to have his way with her. Naruto dispatched with the man quickly and released the woman only to give her clothes back to her and then take her prisoner. She found this better than the option she had before, so she happily accepted becoming a prisoner.
-----------
Kikiyo caught an Oto shinobi taking a leak and giggled, as the man stumbled in an attempt to attack her. Needless to say he was captured quickly and without much resistance, after she knocked him out and pulled up his pants.
-----------
Hinata stepped behind two Oto shinobi and tapped them at the neck. Both fell to the ground unconscious. She smiled, as she tied both men up.
-----------
Ichiro and his team were now in a fight with a makeshift team of Oto shinobi. The random thrown shuriken or kunai were supplemented by the occasional jutsu or explosive tag. Having pinned down four, if not more of the enemies at once, Ichiro was hoping the other teams were either eliminating or capturing the enemies while his team was drawing all the attention. He suddenly yelled, "Scatter!" as an explosive note and a fire jutsu hit the area.
Luckily his team got out mostly unscathed, as one of his team limped behind a tree, and used it for cover. Using a water barrier jutsu he was able to reform his team and begin to return the attacks. 'This is going to be a long day,' he thought to himself, as he fired off a Water Bullet jutsu taking out an unaware Oto nin.
Naruto continued to find and eliminate Oto nin as he came across them. He refused to show any leniency, as he cut one clean through with his sword using wind chakra to enhance his sword. Naruto would leave a clone to police the bodies, as his body count continued to climb.
-------
Ichiro suddenly noticed that the attacks of the enemies had stopped suddenly, only to see Naruto standing over the dead forms of six Oto shinobi, with a huge grin. "Thanks for keeping them distracted, Pops," he said happily.
--------
An hour later, the village had been secured and eight prisoners were now being held in the makeshift camp outside the village. Also the wounded were being tended to by Hinata and Haku.
Fifteen minutes later another group of Uzu shinobi showed up along with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Tsunade immediately began to help heal the wounded, as Jiraiya got the status report from Kikiyo and Ichiro.
"Seven Oto teams either eliminated or captured. We took some injuries, but nothing serious. Whoever is the leader of Oto seems to have little care for women, as we have witnessed the males raping both villagers and their own kunoichi. We believe this is just a small attempt to bolster their forces, and we will need to send in teams to find allies," Kikiyo explained.
"Given that, my team and Kikiyo's team are going back to Uzu for rest and recuperation, then we will work on finding some allies in Rice Field country. The other teams should finish the circuit to make sure there are no more incursions," Ichiro ordered.
-----------
Takashi wasn't a happy man, as he had a meeting with two people he didn't want to see right now: the Daimyo and the representative from Rice Field country. 'Better to get this over with than to wait for it to fester,' he thought to himself, as he signaled for his ANBU to allow the men to enter.
He put on a happy demeanor, as he expected this to be more of a fight than a diplomatic event. "Welcome Toshiro-sama, and Sozuke. It is good to see you both, what can I do for you today?"
Both men took a seat and Sozuke immediately spoke up, "It has come to our attention that you have a few of our shinobi in jail." Takashi nodded to the comment, but he continued, "This is unacceptable, and you will immediately release them, as per the terms of our agreement."
Takashi gave Toshiro a weathering glare, and said, "Sozuke Hirako, your men were captured in the commission of crimes inside my village. They will serve their terms and either be released or executed per our law."
Sozuke stood, with anger wrapped around his face. "You dare tell the representative of Oto that you're going to execute one or more of our men?" he asked angrily.
"Think what you like, but your men are animals at best. One who will be released is only a crook, the others are murderers or just as bad. I will not bend on this point, as your men attacked and murdered several women from this village. They were also caught in the act of attempting to bleed several people for their bloodlines. What do you have to say for yourself?" Takashi asked, as Toshiro wore a look of shock.
Sozuke humphed at Takashi's comment, and said, "You may then kill them, but we require their equipment."
"No," was all that Takashi said.
"Why, their request is so simple?" Toshiro asked, confused.
"Because their 'equipment' also includes the vials of blood taken from the victims, and I'm unwilling to be a party to both assault and bloodline theft from my own village. Also representative Sozuke, I was wondering why your shinobi were crossing the borders and attacking our towns," Takashi asked innocently.
Sozuke had the intelligence to look surprised. "What… what do you mean? We haven't attacked any of your towns," he explained.
Takashi chuckled, as he pulled out a report written by his grandson. "Oh, so you deny your ninja attacking towns or my shinobi along the border with Rice Field country?"
Sozuke nodded, and replied, "Yes, yes I do deny that my people are attacking yours."
Takashi handed the document to Toshiro, who eagerly read the document and became pale. He then handed it to Sozuke.
Report on incursion at Hokkaido.
Leader, we have stemmed the incursion on the village of Hokkaido. The teams we have assembled here have either eliminated or captured about seven, yes seven squads of Sound shinobi. Those who were guilty of heinous crimes were put to death immediately. Also it appears that the Oto nin were trying to capture civilians for experimentation. The leader was a jounin, but unfortunately he was dispatched while trying to assault one of his own kunoichi. All others were either genin or chuunin level shinobi.
We captured nearly two squad's worth for interrogation, and are bringing them back with our wounded. Obachan and Jiji are here and have healed the injured, but we are bring those that were injured back for some rest.
Genin Akemi
Sozuke smirked wryly. "So how can we trust this genin to give an accurate report?" he asked hoping to poke at the credibility of the source.
Takashi began to laugh, which caught Sozuke off guard, and then he noticed Toshiro snickering.
"You don't know who Akemi is, do you?" Toshiro asked with a wide grin.
Sozuke shook his head, but also asked, "No, should I?"
Toshiro nodded, and replied, "Akemi is Takashi's grandchild. Why would his own grandchild want to lie to him?"
Sozuke stood, bowed and said, "My humblest apologies, Takashi-sama. I was unaware of Oto troop movements that crossed the border. I will take this up with Oto's leader when I return later today."
Takashi stopped laughing and wore a serious look. He then said, "See that you do, otherwise this will be a sign of war and we will bring Stone into this war with us, as they want us to prosper."
Sozuke paled yet again at these implications, and he needed to report to Orochimaru that one of their gathering patrols had been caught. "I will take my leave of you gentlemen and you have my apologies for any trouble this may have caused," he said, as he left the room.
Takashi turned to Toshiro and said, "You know this is only the beginning, don't you?"
Toshiro nodded, and replied, "This does not bode well, with Konoha, and now Oto. I just hope that the negotiations with Kumo go better than with Suna. It strikes me as odd that the Kazekage would one day he would nearly agree with the temporary alliance and then turn it down and offer a new one with worse terms for us. It is almost as if he were a different person," His face turned from serious to a more playful smile, and asked, "So how is your grandson's relationship with that pretty Hyuuga going? And are Ichiro and Kikiyo going to finally admit they care for each other?"
Takashi chuckled at his friend's questions, but replied, "Akemi and his fiancé are doing fine, as for Ichiro… I have no clue. The two of them seem to need more time together to make a relationship work."
Toshiro nodded and rose. "Well I have a country to run, hopefully my Iwa handlers will allow me to do my job," he joked, as he left the room.
------
Two days later the teams entered the village with their prisoners. They took them to the interrogation area of ANBU only to be stopped before leaving. "Akemi-sama, we need you to come with us to see leader-sama," a bear masked ANBU said.
Naruto nodded, as he hugged Hinata and Keiko. "Now be nice to my cousin. She likes you, so if you hurt her I'll make your life very difficult," Naruto whispered into Haku's ear.
Haku blushed at the statement, but then bowed and said, "You have my word, Akemi-sama, that I only have the best intentions for Keiko-chan."
Keiko blushed at the admission, and then asked, "When did you start having feelings for me Haku-kun?"
Haku smiled warmly at Keiko, and replied, "We can discuss that over dinner, and also discuss your recovery schedule, as Tsunade-sama has asked that I become a medic-nin."
Keiko nodded and took Haku's hand, as they walked off together.
Naruto, Hinata, Kikiyo and Ichiro walked to the leader's tower after Ichiro dismissed his team.
A/N: Well conflict is beginning between Sound and Whirlpool, how will this end? Has Orochimaru made a mistake? Will he try to conscript Naruto and his team from Uzu to Oto? I won't tell…
LestatV3: As for strength, I believe that this team just needed the right instruction to shine. Yes you did catch me in a writer's slip of sorts.
Cbadgr: I will take that into consideration, as I still have more chapters to write.
Until next chapter… Chapters over the summer will be sporadic and come in clumps, as my beta and I get the work done. I have four kids and a wife to support, so work comes first, then home, and sadly writing takes last place, but them's the breaks.