An: I would like to thank the people that have reviewed as always, your humble author S. o. t. A.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit.
Chapter 13: The battle for Kirigakure
A week had passed since the enemies attack on the capital and Kiri. As the sun rose over the horizon Shikamaru figured it was time to give the enemy a taste of its own medicine. As his forces set up having moved through the night to arrive where the bulk of the enemy's forces had set up its beachhead, he found it funny that despite having reputations as shadow warriors the bulk of their wars were fought during the day. He supposed it was simply that in the chaos of battle the inability to see hampered both forces to the point that it made it too troublesome.
Regardless, it didn't prevent them from making preparations something the enemy had become forgetful of believing that Kiri's defenders were forced into simply waiting for the next raid. At least he hoped that explained why the number of sentries they had encountered had been surprisingly small.
Looking down on the camp he prepared for the final fight for the Land of Water. Either they'd wipe the enemy out here or they'd be forced to abandon Kiri to the enemy giving them another major foothold in surrounding the Land of Fire.
Nagisa was just entering the control room to begin her shift. Telling the X.O. to get some sleep she swirled the cup of coffee she was drinking before looking through the large windows of the control room and staring at the beach that had become a permanent part of her view. She wondered how much longer the fight for the country would go on as it was beginning to become rather costly for both sides.
The sun had just crested the horizon when she noticed something traveling towards one of the ships. The rising sun highlighted one of their troop transport gliders which passed over the beach before slamming into one of the ships and exploding. Turning to where the glider came from she saw several Akimichi holding more which they threw.
"Take evasive action," she shouted to the helmsmen. However one of the gliders hit slamming into the side of the ship blowing a hole in in it. The hole was still above the water level so the ship wouldn't sink. But Nagisa knew in the newest battle for Kiri they were already at a disadvantage.
"What the devil is going on," Yato said appearing from his cabin.
"The enemy is at the gate sir," Nagisa said.
"How did they get so close without our sentries alerting us?"
"Unknown sir, but they are using our own gliders almost like kunai with exploding tags."
"The Nara," he growled out angrily. "Get me Shibuki on the line," he shouted to his comm. officer. Turning to his captain he said, "Get our flyers in the air to shoot down those gliders now!"
"Yes sir," Nagisa replied. But upon noticing he was making his way towards the flight deck said, "Sir where are you going?"
"To kill the little bastard behind this attack!"
Before he made it out of the control room the communication's officer said, "Sir, Shibuki is on the line."
Grabbing the mike he said, "Shibuki, what the hell is the situation?"
"Not good," Shibuki replied, "The enemy managed to eliminate our forward sentries somehow. They've set up a perimeter around the Akimichi to allow them to lob those gliders at the ships. What's worse is Gaara is here."
"What of the other fliers we've identified?"
"If they are here, I haven't seen them yet."
"Alright, use the prototype against the Akimichi. We'll give you air support."
"Understood."
"Captain, you're in charge."
"Aye sir." Nodding, he left the bridge to get in a flyer and kill the Nara that had already thwarted Sky Country once and would have to do so again over his dead body.
Karin ducked behind a fallen tree as a line of kunai embedded themselves where she had just been standing. Cursing she fixed her glasses and began running away since her role was to act as a combat medic. She had been on her way to a squad needing help when the section of forest she was in was overrun by Taki shinobi. She had tried to press on, wanting to prove herself to her new village, but despite her ability to sense enemies had been unable to avoid a squad.
Finding a suitable section of brush to hide in, she suppressed her chakra. Moments later the squad appeared nearby. The reason they had tracked her became apparent as one of the shinobi said, "Shit, I've lost her."
"How the hell did you manage to do that?"
"She must have the ability to hide her chakra signature."
"Well, why didn't she do that before?" a kunoichi of the squad asked.
"Because she was moving," the sensor said.
"Then be quiet," the apparent leader said, "It means she's close."
Reaching into her pouch she pulled a kunai not liking her odds as the kunoichi got closer to her. However the sensor saying, "We got another one incoming fast from the east."
The shinobi turned to face that direction, but didn't see anything until the sensor said, "He's coming from above." The squad looked up in time to see a white bird that appeared to be a moving drawing swoop down and grab the sensor before heading straight up. When the bird got high enough it wrapped its wings around the man and crashed into the earth.
While the squad stood around gapping at the sudden death of the sensor, a kunai buried itself in the kunoichi's neck. Appearing from out of the woods was the pale and handsome boy that had been on Sakura's squad, for a moment the scene sort of reminded her of how she met Sasuke. Pulling a tanto he engaged the other two shinobi briefly before jumping onto one of the branches of a tree.
"Giving up?" the leader asked.
"No, I merely needed to buy enough time for them to catch up," the pale boy said.
The leader was about to ask what he was talking about but was hit in the side by a pack of wolves that also looked like they had been drawn. The remaining member of the squad tried to get away, but was also caught by the drawn wolf pack and torn to pieces.
Giving the command for the ink wolves to spread out to kill any other squads in the area, he called out, "Please come out."
Leaving the brush she wasn't sure why she was blushing as the boy smiled at her. "Thanks, how did you know I was here?"
"We received a report that a medic was heading to my squad to treat our wounded, but was cut off by the enemy." Creating another bird he climbed aboard and held out a hand for her saying, "I'll see you get there safely."
"If you don't, I'll come back to haunt you," Karin said accepting the hand up and holding on tight as the bird suddenly lurched into the air.
Shikamaru was standing on the back-up plan to the one currently in progress. It was a launcher that should the Akimichi run out of chakra they could continue to launch the gliders although they would sacrifice accuracy. Chouji was standing in front of him and picked up another of the rigged gliders, which were filled with explosives that detonated when the nose hit its target.
"I can't believe this stupid plan is working," Temari said standing on the ground next to his perch.
Several of the shinobi near him began chuckling causing Shikamaru to say, "Nothing like building up the men's confidence in me."
"Sorry, I had no doubt this childish plan would work," Temari corrected herself.
Dropping down from the launcher for the glider bombs he said, "I told you. It's just like throwing a kunai once you get the hang of it. But now that we can hit those ships of theirs we have the advantage."
A loud crackling energy burst suddenly cut through the air hitting one of the Akimichi in the chest and easily passed through. "What the hell was that?" Temari shouted.
Although he felt bad about it all, Shikamaru could be glad for was that the blast hadn't hit Chouji as the dead Akimichi fell backwards probably crushing the launcher. The corpse definitely crushed one of the gliders as the area suddenly erupted into a fireball. He shouted out, "Send up the signal to shrink before they fire again." He noted that Temari had taken off, no doubt to find out what happened.
A red flare was shot into the air and the Akimichi al immediately shrunk down to their normal sizes. "Alright prep the launchers," Shikamaru shouted confident Temari would give him a report of what had just fired.
A moment later, she returned saying, "Sky Country has created some sort of canon. It looks like they took the one off of one of their bombers and mounted it on some giant platform with wheels. It's being guarded by Waterfall's leader."
"Chouji, take a squad and try to take that cannon out," Shikamaru ordered.
Chouji nodded pointing to the men who would accompany him before taking off. Turning to the rest he said, "We'll keep sending gliders, target them as best you can." Turning to Temari he asked, "What about Gaara?"
"He'll most likely move to confront Shibuki," Temari said, "He's had a bone to pick with him for a while."
"Yeah, no doubt he sees his joining Madara as a betrayal of Naruto. Well that should make it easier for Chouji." The sound of the launcher attracted his attention and he hoped the glider flew true as he could see that the enemy fleet was still relatively intact.
Tayuya shattered the kneecap of the Grass shinobi she was fighting and then as he grabbed it on the ground stepped on his throat killing him. Searching around she saw the rest of the man's squad had used the opportunity of his valiantly staying behind to escape her. Considering that her sound blades had decimated the two squads that had been with them she figured that was the best call.
The battle was almost a godsend for her as it allowed her to take her frustrations out on the enemy. She had finally received a letter from Kyo that told her, he was safe, but he wasn't going to be joining them in Kiri. She wondered if it was because he was with that pink-haired whore, and as soon as she thought it felt a little guilty since the girl had been nothing but nice the few times they had met. Yet, couldn't help it, as she was sure they had a past and the girl wanted to get with him.
She had almost left Kiri to go hunt him down, but figured Kyo would be disappointed so decided to stick it out. That didn't mean she had to like it though. When the energy cannon fired she had been ambushing enemies that tried to break through the Alliances lines since she didn't have a dedicated part to play in Shikamaru's plan. No doubt due to the fact he probably didn't trust her.
Figuring that was where she could do the most good, since it would free the Akimichi to begin throwing the gliders again she made her way towards it.
She really had to hand it to Konan as the woman had been quite the strict and competent teacher. Although not S-class herself, yet. She did find she could handle the chumps from the minor villages rather easily since she had increased her proficiency in taijutsu and ninjutsu. Her ability to actually harness sound to attack and defend being the most impressive ability she had gained thus far.
As she made her way to the cannon, she once again let her thoughts turn to Kyo. She truly hoped that he was still hers for the taking. When she finally was reunited with him that was, as she found it too cruel that life would dump probably one of the greatest men she had ever met in her lap, only for him to end up snatched away by some pink-haired harlot by a cruel twist of fate. It was during the training for the mission in Grass that she first began to feel something for the masked man. The way he showed his concern for even scum like her and did his best to make sure she was ready for the tasks ahead made her feel special. He was the only reason she was here right now, as the truth was she didn't particularly care if the Leaf burned and the rest of the shinobi world did along with it. However Kyo did and so she would fight tooth and nail to ensure that both remained standing.
Another squad of shinobi appeared barring her path growling she said, "Get out of the way you fuckers, I don't have time to waste with shits like you." Brining her flute to her lips she thought, "Because the sooner we end this battle the sooner I can get back to him." Unleashing a flurry of her sound blades she set about doing her part to make sure that reunion happened soon.
Ino arrived at the site where the Akimichi had been hit by the cannon blast. Looking at the ruined lump of flesh that had been Chouji's cousin she could only thank Kami it wasn't him. She had met the young man when Chouji had taken her out to his family's restaurant to show her off to his families and friends since they had started dating. Ino knew that Chouji's mom had been a little uneasy about her dating her son having probably heard about her past dalliances from her mother. However, she had eventually warmed to the idea after seeing the two of them together.
But it was a sight like this that almost made her wish she was still simply bouncing around from a small list of lovers that ultimately didn't mean anything to her. She didn't know what she'd do if it was Chouji's smoldering corpse lying in front of her. A few of the men she had been with had died. But, outside of the usual feelings of loss due to it being a person she knew couldn't say it had affected her much. Not like it had been with Asuma, not like it would be with Chouji's cousin, and definitely not like it might be if she lost Chouji. Saying a quick prayer to every god she could think of, and a few she made up, she prayed that Chouji would be alright before focusing on the task of helping the injured that had been caught in the blast.
Directing the team of medics she led them in helping the moaning and screaming Shinobi, before she knelt down to help a young kunoichi whose face was badly burned. Already easing the girl's pain she pushed past her worries for herself and focused on helping the people whose lives currently rested in her hands.
Shibuki watched as the cannon team readjusted their aim trying to guess where the gliders were being launched from. Staring at the wrinkled man that sat inside the sphere who channeled the chakra to fire the cannon, Shibuki wondered how it came to this. Sensing the attack moments before it happened he jumped in front of the cannon summoning a wall of water which absorbed the sand which attempted to smash into the cannon platform.
As the wall of water receded Shibuki watched Gaara begin to descend to the earth. "Hello Gaara," Shibuki said calmly.
Crossing his arms upon landing Gaara said, "Shibuki…surrender."
"You know I can't do that," Shibuki said.
"This is how you would honor Naruto," Gaara said disappointed.
"No," Shibuki said regretfully, "However Naruto never entered into my calculations. What did, is the well being of my people. If you were in my position you would do the same."
"I would not turn my back on almost fifty years of peaceful coexistence with the Leaf for a madman like Madara," Gaara said.
"He may very well be mad. But he has been planning this for decades. Iwa is a smoking cinder, would you have me sit back and allow the same thing to happen to Taki," Shibuki said his temper rising.
"No," Gaara said as stoic as always, "However Taki will fall along with Madara."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Shibuki said, charging Gaara forming a hard water sword that he tried to bury into the Kage.
Creating a shield of sand Gaara, blocked the attack before lashing out with sand moving onto offense. Shibuki avoided the attack, and continued to dodge the sand until he landed on the ocean. Gaara was about to attack the cannon, but a hard water trident shot from the water piercing his chest. However, he began melting into sand before reappearing from the ground in front of the Taki leader moments later.
Gaara raised his hands and for a moment nothing happened till the water erupted around Shibuki as the sand from beneath him raised up in order to ensnare him. Shibuki avoided it and attempted to close with Gaara avoiding more and more sand as it tried to grab him. Getting close, he formed another hard water sword, but was rebuffed by the sand that rose up to protect Gaara.
Flipping backwards, he landed back on the water and created a vortex of water that hit Gaara's defense head on blasting much of the sand away before final defeating the sand barrier and hitting the Kazekage. Sent across the battlefield Gaara slowly got back to his feet and found himself surrounded by several squads of Taki Anbu.
The leader turned to Shibuki saying, "Milord, allow us to handle him."
"Very well Commander," Shibuki said, "You see now Gaara, without your Bijuu, you lack the power to stand up against Madara."
'I am not reliant on Shukaku," Gaara said preparing to defend himself, "I have something stronger."
"And what would that be?"
"Faith in my friends and people," Gaara said disappearing into the sand. The Anbu stood around confused before a shadow formed and a large round object smashed into the ground throwing the Anbu about. When the dust cleared, Chouji stood there and coming streaming out of the woods was the rest of his squad.
Gaara reformed between the Anbu and Shibuki, saying, "Take care of the cannon. I'll handle Shibuki"
Chouji acknowledge the order shouting orders to his men before smashing one of the Anbu into the ground with a large fist. Gaara again attempt to catch Shibuki in his sand but the man constantly kept moving often moving over the water to strengthen his jutsu to offset Gaara's control of the sand. Throwing several more hard water swords they buried themselves in the wall of sand that Gaara raised to protect him. A large explosion engulfed the protective wall due to the tags Shibuki had placed on the water weapons. As the dust cleared Shibuki was surprised to see that nothing remained of Gaara. However a cloud of dust passed over him before taking Gaara's form.
Smirking now that Gaara was on the water the Taki leader said, "I thought you didn't like to get wet."
"I don't have a problem with water," Gaara said before the cork popped out of his gourde and sand shot out to attack Shibuki. The sand was much faster since it had been infused with more of Gaara's chakra so caught the man in the chest carrying him a few hundred feet before implanting him in the ground.
Before Shibuki could recover another tendril of sand wrapped around his ankle pulling him from the hole and smashed him into the ground. Continuing to walk towards the leader of Waterfall with his arms crossed Gaara said, "Your lack of faith is what will lead your people to ruin. Madara plans to use the Bijuu to unleash the Ten-tailed beast and rob the world of free will."
"He's put that plan is on hold," Shibuki said attempting to stand, but was smashed down by another tendril of sand. "Naruto's death made it an impossibility."
"Perhaps, but when the beast reforms, what then?"
Shibuki attempted to get back up again and when Gaara's sand tried to force him to the ground he flipped out of the way. Standing Shibuki reached into his pouch saying, "Then Madara's victory will be complete. No different than now. Don't you see Gaara? He's going to win. The only difference is will Sunagakure be reduced to ash, or will you put aside your pride and accept that the only thing you can do to save your people is submit."
"The only thing I see it that you are a fool. Madara's victory is only certain if we refuse to fight him," Gaara said. "Now surrender, I will not ask again."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Shibuki said pulling out a vial of water.
"Is that…"
"That's right it's the Hero's Water," Shibuki said using his thumb to push out the stopper.
"I thought it destroyed," Gaara said.
"Oh most of it was," Shibuki said downing the contents. As his chakra flared he said, "But do you honestly think we would keep it all in one place."
Gaara sent his sand at Shibuki but the Waterfall leader disappeared reappearing in front of him and before his sand could defend him kicked the Kage in the chest. As he recovered he felt a wave of nostalgia as Shibuki moved almost faster than he could perceive much as Lee had during the Chunin Exams. He heard the impacts as Shibuki attempted to find a way past his sand which he had working overtime to protect him. Finally Shibuki managed to get inside his defenses but when he went to kick Gaara, the Kazekage's arm came up to block.
The Waterfall leader emitted a surprised, "How?" before Gaara pulled him off his feet and smashed him into the ground. The Kage leader recovered jumping back to land on the water of the ocean staring at the Kage in disbelief.
Answering the question he could see in Shibuki's eyes Gaara said, "I told you I do not need the Shukaku to be strong. My friends give me strength, and despite your increased speed you are still far slower than one of them."
"But can your friend do this," Shibuki asked taking a wide stance and channeling his chakra into the water he was standing on said, "Water Style: Sea Tsunami"
"No," Gaara said as the water rose up to swallow him, "But I can, Sand Tsunami."
The two jutsus clashed smashing into one another but in effect seemed to cancel each other out. The cannon began glowing as the chakra began to build up to fire a wide area blast into the area of forest that they believed the brains behind the attack was residing. Staring across the water at Gaara and breathing hard Shibuki said, "It's over Gaara."
Gaara spun to see that Chouji's squad was still not near the platform being pushed back by the Taki Anbu and several squads' worth of Grass reinforcements. Gaara was just about to move to help when a melody played and punctuated by a shrill note. From just inside the forest a barely visible blade of sound shot out and hit the cannon dead center slicing it in half. When the blade hit the man inside whose job was to channel and control the chakra the energy exploded out destroying the platform the cannon sat on, causing it to crash to the ground.
Recognizing the girl that had decided to join Naruto as a mercenary as she stepped out of the woods, Gaara turned back to the surprised Shibuki saying, "Do you see? Nothing is over as long as you are willing to fight."
Preparing to fight the Kage again, Shibuki said, "Sorry Gaara. I'm not willing to chance the future of my village on the hope of some last minute heroics derailing Madara's plans," and then charged.
Yato saw his prototype cannon get destroyed and begin falling to the ground, biting back a curse as the Akimichi began sprouting over the forest again he ordered his gliders to concentrate on them. However, he noticed that another of the behemoths was missing besides the Akimichi they killed. Figuring that was where Shikamaru was, he banked his glider for that area and found the Nara he sought. However he was spotted by a blonde kunoichi who pulling her fan sent a huge gust of wind that blew him off course.
Figuring an air assault was out of the question, he ditched the glider dropping into the trees. Landing smoothly he began heading towards the launch site. As expected the Nara and his shinobi were waiting for him.
Shikamaru really missed the days of when all his enemies were troublesome women as Yato burst out of the woods, especially when the trap he prepared proved ineffective. It was supposed to activate a group of exploding tags when he entered the perimeter and although it did. He spun emitting chakra from his pores in a smaller weaker version of the Hyuuga rotation.
As the smoke cleared Yato stood unharmed saying, "Pathetic, all you have are traps and strategy. To scared to fight like a man."
"Men do fight with their brains," Shikamaru said trying to goad his opponent into attacking, "but if you want to fight hand to hand, well I'm not going anywhere."
Yato stared at the Nara and a smile split his face as he stared at the rest of the shinobi standing behind him. "Good, four to one," he said, "you might put up a decent fight."
"Well here's hoping," Shikamaru said pulling the trench knives Asuma used to carry. He was vaguely aware that Temari opened her battle fan and that the two Kiri chunin with him pulled their swords. Talking to his squad he said, "Remember stick to the plan."
However no sooner did he finish saying that then the two chunin charged the man behind the devastation visited upon their home. Shikamaru was tempted to stop them using his shadow but felt that they would actually be a hindrance to his plan since they were obviously hotheaded. Besides, if Yato stayed true to form he'd hurt them but probably save killing them for after Shikamaru himself was dead. Sure enough a devastating punch to one, followed by a kick to the other sent the pair flying. It looked like one tried to get back up before collapsing again.
"Not going to use the time they bought you to run this time I see," Yato said walking towards Shikamaru and Temari.
"Usually, I need the right motivation to run," Shikamaru quipped causing Temari to role her eyes.
"Let's see if I can help you find it," Yato said charging the pair.
Temari sent a wind scythe at Yato who rolled under it coming up in front of the kunoichi who closed her fan to black the attack. Despite the hardened steel of the frame, Yato's punch actually dented it and knocked her over the launcher. Shikamaru came in with the knives attempting to slash at Yato with them. Yato caught the right wrist of Shikamaru bending it back painful but was forced to let go as Shikamaru attempted to bury the other one into his forearm.
Yato lashed out with a kick that Shikamaru blocked but was sent skidding into the loaded launcher which in truth looked like an overgrown crossbow. Recovering, the strategist leapt onto the front of weapon and wasn't surprised as Yato leapt up to join him. The two swung at each other several times neither landing a clean hit until Shikamaru ducked under one and using the knife struck his true target Yato's shadow. Rolling off the launcher Yato said, "You little bastard how?"
"A little known fact is these knives belonged to my teacher and can absorb the user's chakra nature," Shikamaru said stifling a yawn. "You're a smart guy so I think you know what that means."
"Bastard," Yato said through clenched teeth. "So come on finish it."
"Well I'd love to, but this plan was to give you guys back your gliders. I think we'll send them their commander back as well. What do you think Temari?"
Standing near the lever that would launch the glider Temari smiled at the Sky Country Leader and gave him a little wave saying, "Buh-Bye." Pulling the lever the glider launched and since the majority of it was canvas Yato easily passed through the front of it being tossed about until he smashed into the back. Trying to stand. He could see that the frame was covered in exploding tags, eyes widening in shock. He only had enough time to look through the hole he made to see the surprised face of Nagisa staring back at him, as he crashed into the control room of his flagship before the glider erupted into a fireball.
Nagisa felt as if every bone in her body should be broken. But by the simple fact she could move knew that they weren't. Looking around the ruined control room she knew something was instantly wrong as only the left half of the room was visible. Holding her hand up over her right eye she didn't see anything so figured it was gone.
Ripping a torn piece of her uniform off she fastened it around her head covering the ruined eye. A moment later men entered and helped her to her feet.
"Orders Captain?"
"Yato's dead," she said, still a little shell shocked.
One of the men, who she recognized as the flight deck officer, stepped in front of her saying, "Then you are admiral now. Orders ma'am."
Pulling herself together and closing her remaining eye she said, "Kiri is loss. Order the rest of the fleet to retreat. Get word to our allies, we will pick up all we can at point Bravo. Use the equipment in the secondary control room."
"Aye ma'am," the men said.
Turning to look at the still fighting forces she swore that the Alliance would burn or she would, before joining her men in the secondary control room to oversee the retreat.
Shibuki was sent back flying as Gaara's sand smashed into him. Feeling his chakra almost depleted he sank to his knees. Most of his Anbu were dead or captured and he was about to join them. Looking up he was about to admit his defeat when he saw Gaara's eyes go wide in surprised. A hand clamped down on his shoulder and he heard Madara say, "Ah Kazekage, you're looking a lot more alive then you should be. You fought well here and I'll admit defeat today but this isn't over yet."
With that said he used his space time jutsu to warp Shibuki and himself out of the area. Chouji came up behind him saying, "Looks like we win this round," and motioned to the Sky Country ships that were preparing to leave.
"So it would seem," Gaara said before a Sand Anbu appeared in front of him and knelt.
"Lord Gaara, the enemy is retreating from all sectors. Your orders?"
"What is Shikamaru's suggestion?"
"He suggests we let them go, as this maybe a feint to draw us away. And says that even if it isn't since the enemy is retreating in a controlled way to pursue will lead to unnecessary loss of life."
"I concur, pass the order on."
"Is that really wise," Chouji asked, "we have them on the ropes."
"True," Gaara said, "But the leaders have escaped, so the fighting will simply continue somewhere else."
Chouji nodded before leaving to see to his wounded and the prisoners that they did catch. Gaara looked out over the ocean as the remaining Sky Country ships began traveling along the coast no doubt to pick up what shinobi they could. He began to wonder what it was the battle had bought Madara. If there was one thing Gaara had come to learn about the ancient Uchiha, it was that even in defeat he tended to come out ahead. Figuring they'd find out soon enough he decided to enjoy the moment of joy their victory had given him.
Tayuya walked away from the celebration not exactly wanting to be around the ecstatic shinobi. However, she had showed up in hopes of uncovering some information about Sakura. It had gone better than she could have hoped as she now believed she had the name of Kyo, Naruto Uzumaki.
It had been a Leaf shinobi name Aoba who had provided her with the name. It had been all too easy to get him to talk about the boy who had saved the village and then been killed by the tool that she had once been charged with collecting. She vaguely remembered the boy who had snatched the coffin from her during the mission. Remembering the way he taunted her and the character he had displayed she was positive that Uzumaki was Kyo. Especially due to how everything had went down between Naruto and Sakura, as it would explain why Kyo had been wary of her.
But what could she do with that information. It was obvious Naruto didn't want anyone to know he was Kyo. Plus it sort of made things more difficult for her as she was partly responsible for Sasuke making it to Orochimaru. But if he blamed her, he had never shown it and now that she was thinking about that truly made him different from almost any shinobi she had known before. Granted the shinobi of Sound were all for the most part scum bags, but still she imagined even Konoha shinobi could carry a grudge. Also, instead of taking her on the mission in Grass unprepared and letting her die. He had put time and effort into training her skills up and even now was looking out for her well being.
She wondered why he had decided to in a sense abandon his village. Was it Sakura? As according to Aoba she had tried to manipulate him into giving up on recovering Sasuke right before their last fight. While that may have been a part of it, she believed the main reason was because as a jinchuriki he would have been sent to the same island as the eight-tail jinchuriki. Something told her that he wasn't the type to sit back while others were fighting and dying. So why hadn't he come charging to the rescue here, as she didn't doubt this battle would have been over a lot sooner had he arrived?
Leaning against a tree and looking over the Mist village she guessed she could see the reason as the shinobi were celebrating their victory. Not one that Kyo had delivered to them. But there was a part of her that was worried it was simply because he and the pink-haired whore had gotten past their differences and were now too busy with each other.
Sakura threw her head back sending a silent scream towards the ceiling and grabbing her lover's knees behind her as her body went taut due to the orgasm passing through her. Collapsing forward onto his sweat soaked chest as Naruto's own orgasm finished sending his seed into her she placed light kisses along his neck and jaw.
Still breathing hard she felt him soften within her until he was no longer connected and said, "Finally satisfied?"
"Me?" Naruto said a little surprised at her accusation, "I'm beginning to think you're a nymphomaniac."
Giggling lightly and beginning to cool as a result of her own sweat covered body. She said, "Maybe a little." Sliding to her right, until she was resting along his side she said her mood dropping slightly, "So what's going to happen once we go back?"
"Well I'd suspect we'd be wearing clothes more often," Naruto said jokingly.
Hitting his chest lightly and leaning up to look into his eyes she said, "I'm serious. Am I supposed to simply pretend we aren't together?"
"Only during the day," Naruto said, "I'll leave a shadow clone in the apartment I was given at night, and my nights will be yours."
"Why?"
"Because Sakura, right now I'm supposed to remain Kyo. If the Raikage finds out who I really am he'll ship me off to that island where they are keeping Bee."
Looking worried Sakura said, "Maybe that's for the best."
"We'll probably still not be together then," Naruto said, "because I doubt they'll give up one of their best medics."
"I didn't say that because of you and me," Sakura said her concern easy to hear, "I said it because you are what Madara's after."
"And right now he thinks I'm dead," Naruto replied gently tracing a finger up and down her spine. "How long do you think that will last if it was uncovered who I am? Because I don't doubt Madara knows where Bee is. He simply doesn't need him bad enough right now to stage a assault on the island. But that may change if they learn I'm alive."
"So then why can't I be the mysterious Kyo's main squeeze," Sakura said bringing the conversation back around to its original point.
"Because then my enemies may target you," Naruto said. Before Sakura could say it was a risk she was willing to take he added, "Also, it may imply we had a past which others may trace back to who I really am since most people while trapped on an island wouldn't spend the time trying to start a relationship."
"Fine," Sakura said pouting slightly, "But every night better be mine."
"As long as I'm not on a mission," Naruto said.
"Nope, even those," she said snuggling into his side feeling sleepy.
Naruto chuckled as she settled in to sleep. In the week since their leaving the island, he had trained Sakura in the art of summoning. However she needed very little due to her chakra control picking it up almost as fast as she had tree climbing, which left a lot of free time for more pleasurable pursuits.
Just thinking about some of them caused a stirring within him, but seeing Sakura slumbering beside him pushed the images out of his mind before he got carried away. In truth, he felt almost like a newlywed couple. The small home that sat at the base of Mt. Myoboku that had been built by Jiraiya had proved the perfect atmosphere for such thoughts. He wondered if this cabin was where Jiraiya first thought up his Make-out Paradise books. Feeling sleep creeping up on him, he decided to give in as tomorrow they'd be returning to the Five Element Village
It was Sakura's first official day back at the Hospital having been given a week off due to the stress of being trapped on the island, she was currently on her lunch break at a small restaurant that had just opened. The first, but most likely not the last since many people no doubt were hoping to make some money despite the danger of the village being attacked.
Upon returning, Naruto and her had fudged a few parts of their report about where and how they escaped, since telling they had been reversed summoned to the home of the toads would pretty much ruin Naruto's cover story. She had taken the time off of course, but had been pretty much stress free due to the time spent at Jiraiya's old home. Feeling her cheeks heat up at the memories, she pushed them aside since she was already dodging Avaron's questions about what they had really gotten up too during the almost two months alone together. Plus, since Naruto was on a mission so he wouldn't be there to put whatever fires her memories started out and found doing it alone lacking.
She was a little worried due to the fact Tayuya was with him on the mission, since she was sure the Red-head wanted Naruto for herself. However she trusted Naruto, so didn't dwell on it. She was surprised that she didn't feel all that jealous when Tayuya had crushed herself to him when they had first entered the village. She guessed it was simply because, she could understand that Naruto was just that special. Before she could think on it more she felt a cold gaze settle on her. Looking out the window she saw a dirty and angry looking Hinata staring at her, but the woman moved on heading to the tower where the Raikage resided.
Hinata had felt a small pang of hunger upon passing the restaurant that had apparently opened in the three months since she had last been in the village. Yet, upon seeing Sakura, she had lost her appetite. She knew she must preset quite the sight as she was filthy, but considering that she didn't doubt that the Raikage believed her and her squad dead found it quite appropriate.
She forced herself to calm as she made her way to the Raikage, seeing Sakura sitting in the restaurant without a care in the world made her want to go back and hurt her. She idly wondered if that was how Sasuke felt, an empty hollowness that was all too easy to fill with hate and rage. She had been like that ever since she had heard about how Naruto had died. Killed by a bastard that didn't deserve to remain alive, and because of a selfish bitch that had been given the one thing Hinata herself wanted, but would forever be denied now. That was one of the reasons she refused to stay in Konoha, as she couldn't trust herself not to take her rage out on Sasuke and Sakura, and therefore felt it was better she direct it at the enemy.
Entering the tower she said, "Hinata Hyuuga of Squad forty-three reporting."
The secretary she reported to looked up in surprise since her squad had stopped reporting in five weeks ago while patrolling the Land of Fire and Land of Sound border. "We thought your squad lost," the secretary said.
"For the most part it is," Hinata replied, "I'm all that's left."
"The Raikage will wish to speak to you," the woman said waving Hinata to follow.
The woman knocked on the door and receiving permission to enter did so, leaving Hinata in the hall. A moment later she exited and told the young Hyuuga to enter. Doing so Hinata felt anger at the man staring at her due to his attempt to once try and possess her and what it had done to her family for a time. However she pushed past it since technically they were allies now. Standing at attention she said, "Hinata Hyuuga of Squad Forty-Three reporting in Lord Raikage."
"Well I suppose the most pressing matter is. Where have you been for the past five weeks?" the Raikage said.
"Evening the score, sir," Hinata said coldly pulling out two scrolls. Placing them gently on the desk she said, "One contains the remains to my squad and the other is the squads that ambushed us."
"I see," the Raikage said, "Why did you not simply return?"
"They assumed they got us all," Hinata said, "I trailed them back to their camp and extracted revenge from them for the death of my squad mates."
"Well good, your squad leader was a friend" the Raikage said watching the Hyuuga wishing he had a hundred just like her in Kumo. "Take some time off, at least a month and come back when you are ready."
"I'm ready now sir," Hinata said not wanting time to be by herself and her thoughts.
"That may be," the Raikage replied, "but I'm sure your Hokage would be upset to know I sent a woman we thought was dead, back out into the field without giving her time to even shower and grab a hot meal."
"Very well sir," Hinata said disappointed wishing the Hokage would leave her alone as it wasn't the first time she'd heard that excuse. Between him and her father they had forced her from the frontlines on several occasions.
Guessing there was nothing to be done about it, she headed to the small apartment that was empty and lifeless. Stripping, she stepped into the shower and felt the hot water wash away the grim and dirt. She began to flash back to her stalking and killing of the squads that had ambushed hers. She supposed her skills in stealth and observing were results of her spying on Naruto when she was younger. Glad that her timid and shy nature resulted in something she could be proud of.
She wondered why it was she felt so empty as it wasn't like she had spent an incredible amount of time with Naruto having loved him from afar. Sitting in the shower she wondered if the pain she felt would ever fade and what she'd have to do to make it.
Naruto was standing in Wind Country at a base manned by Suna. However outside of Tayuya and a team of shinobi led by Kankurou nobody else was alive. Turning to Kankurou he asked, "What do you think happened here?"
"Beats me," Kankurou said, "Maybe they dropped their guard or something and an ambush squad took advantage."
Naruto looked around the ancient looking fortress and was about to say he didn't think so but was beat to it by Tayuya who said, "Did you put any fucking thought into that theory? It would take more than a fucking squad of ambushers to kill all these shinobi. Not to mention, where are all the tracks?"
Before Kankurou could responded angrily Naruto said, "So what are your idea's then Tayuya?"
Tayuya smiled at him, and she blushed slightly, something she had been doing a great deal more lately, before saying, "This was done by a small group of heavy hitters. Not to mention due to the complete lack of tracks leading to and from the base makes me believe they were teleported here somehow."
"Most likely by Madara," Naruto said, "Maybe as retaliation for his defeat in Kiri."
"I don't think so," Tayuya said correcting him. "Madara seems to like plans within plans. I think this was a test, maybe of some sort of super shinobi or cursed mark warrior."
"Shit," Naruto cursed. Turning to Tayuya, he said, "They may have finished Project: Resurrection."
"No offense," Kankurou said, "But I doubt if they managed to resurrect the jinchuriki they captured they'd be working for Madara."
"Not willingly," Naruto said, "But the Mizukage said that the fourth Mizukage was being controlled. It's possible Madara has some sort of ability to control jinchuriki or their Bijuu."
Before Kankurou could respond one of the Suna shinobi said from a tower near them, "Sir, I think you are going to want to come up here."
The three shinobi quickly made their way up to the young man with Kankurou saying, "What is it?"
The shinobi simply pointed to the ground by where they had been standing. Looking to where he was pointing Naruto said, "I think we can assume that the jinchuriki are back in action," as a giant paw print that resembled a cat's lay in the dirt.
"Alright Kankurou, I'll leave you to report this to Gaara," Naruto said dropping to the ground again followed by Tayuya.
"Where are you going?" the puppeteer asked.
"To Rain," Naruto shouted back, "That was the place where they were conducting the experiments into reviving the jinchuriki." As Tayuya followed him he said, "I don't suppose I could convince you to head back to the village."
"You could try, but you would fail," Tayuya said.
"This could get pretty messy Tayuya," Naruto said, "Almost as bad as Grass."
"Kyo, we'll just have to kick whatever freaky experiments they throw at us asses then. Won't we?"
Naruto nodded and hoped it would be as easy as Tayuya made it sound.