Welcome back to another chapter of 'Immortalized'! As always, loving the feedback you guys are giving me, that shit is great. Just as a little heads up, my update speed will be slowing slightly, so I won't be doing the whole one-chapter-per-day thing that I've been keeping to. It'll now more be like 2 or 3 days between updates, so just a bit slower. Anyways, hope you all enjoy the 18th Installment!
Chapter 18
Political Negotiations
The modified Team Seven, or Team Naruto as it was currently being led by none other than the blonde shinobi, moved through the desert at a leisurely, yet urgent speed. The four shinobi weren't moving at a breakneck pace, but at the same time they weren't taking their time either. This mission didn't really have a deadline, so to speak, but the sooner that they finished with it, the sooner they could continue on with the 'Outreach' Program that the Godaime was attempting to start, by moving on to the other hidden villages that they would need to make contact with.
The 'Outreach' Program was actually quite simple, when one were to think about it. It was often said that the 'Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend', and in this case, all of the major villages would be antagonists against the organization known as 'Akatsuki'. As of now, it was unknown what the groups true goal was, or what they were attempting to capture all of the great tailed beasts for, but whatever they were gathering the pseudo-nukes for, it obviously wasn't good. The Godaime was banking on the other Kage's caring about their ninja, and in turn their Jinchuriki, when he came up with the idea.
His whole plot was to pull the great five Ninja villages into an alliance, however temporary, to deal with the Akatsuki, and as several Jinchuriki were reported to have already been captured by the red-cloaked missing nin, he was more than willing to bet on it. The reason that Konoha was starting with Suna, instead of one of the other villages that were supposed to have more, or more powerful, Jinchuriki, was because of the alliance that the Sand and Leaf already held together, from the hands of the Sandaime Hokage and the Yondaime Kazekage themselves. It was more out of courtesy than anything else, and even if the Kazekage refused the offer, at the very least he would be made aware of the threat to his village and his son, if he didn't already know.
It had only taken the team of three men and one woman two days to reach River Country, and only a single day for them to pass South-West through it on their way to Wind Country, hitting the border to the large desert area on the morning of the fourth day. From there, it was only another day and a half journey to the walled village of Sunagakure, which as they ran they were now very clearly able to make out. It wouldn't be long before the modified Team Seven had reached the walls, though due to the lateness of the day they wouldn't likely have their meeting with the Kazekage until the following morning.
While that was mildly annoying, it would be nice to have a short afternoon off in a foreign village, which due to the allied nature of their own, they would be allowed to explore a small amount, instead of being confined to a small area like they would likely have been had they gone somewhere else, like the heavily militarized Kumogakure, for example. All in all, this was supposed to be a relatively easy political envoy that in all actuality could have been completed by the last Uzumaki alone, but the other members of his team also served several purposes. While Naruto himself would be working directly with the Kazekage and his advisors, Sakura was to head to the hospital of the village, and meet with the head Nurse there, where the two would swap various medical research and such, all in the effort of a betterment in lifestyle and standard of living for both villages. Sasuke and Sai were to be the medic's escorts for the duration of the mission.
Truth be told, Naruto didn't mind working with the three, and he had been contemplating telling them about his tenant for some time now. Of his Academy graduating class, only Shino and Kiba knew of his tenant, and that was because the two had figured it out of their own volition through various means. The young Aburame had been able to discern between the two types of chakra that flowed in his body through his Kikaichu, and Kiba, through his extremely heightened senses from years of running in a pack had been able to do much the same. Neither boy had thought anything less of their friend, and while Shino had just said it 'was illogical to discriminate over something one had no control over', the Inuzuka heir had made the boy something of an Honorary member of his pack, in his eyes, due to his affinity with animals.
All in all, the Last Uzumaki knew he could probably trust his teammates with the knowledge of his tenant, he had trusted them with his back during the war, and they had followed him into combat under little to no information, so there was little lost between the four friends. The blonde was pulled from his thoughts as he felt a small pulse in chakra to his left and right, stopping in his tracks, his movements immediately followed by those of his team. Holding up a his single right hand in a closed fist, he gave the un-worded signal for his team to hat and not engage, as two Chunin from the village they were approaching landed to either side of them, approaching quickly, yet cautiously.
Blinking slowly as the two went through their various paperwork, it stuck the blonde almost laughably that the two gate guards of Suna bore an almost striking resemblance to the eternal gate guards of Konoha, Izumo and Kotetsu. He didn't have long to lament on his thoughts though, as before too long their papers and rites had been stamped, and they were allowed through the great walls of the city concealed in the sands of the desert. The blonde had been correct, as it was now becoming later in the evening their meeting with the Wind Shadow would be taking place the following morning, leaving the four with the evening to do as they pleased.
Team Naruto would be remaining in Sunagakure for several days, so it wasn't as if they were in a rush.
The blonde Jounin walked through her village at an almost lazy pace. She was dressed in her usual attire, the same clothing that she'd wear daily about her life in the village, or to a spar, out on a mission, regardless-the people of Suna were a strong and hardy people, and even though she was one of the richer inhabitants, she wouldn't afford herself the frivolities of a separate outfit for each individual day. The woman, who was only a few days into her twenties, was currently clothed in a matte black battle kimono, a red sash holding it to her thin waist. Underneath that, it could be seen that she was wearing the mesh under armor that many shinobi chose to wear, with her feet being clad in a pair or simple combat sandals. The woman's hands each had a small, fingerless gray glove on them, and slung across her back was a very large and powerful battle fan, closed and locked close to her body.
The most peculiar thing about the woman though, was her chosen hair style. Just above her tanned skin and teal eyes, was her sandy blonde hair that was pulled back into four spiked ponytails at the back of her head. Her villages Hitai-Ite was tied around her neck, proudly on display for all to see, just above her somewhat revealing neckline. All in all, the woman gave off a very powerful and confident aura as she walked the village of Sunagakure, where she had been born and raised, living her life among the harsh and unforgiving sands. After all, it wouldn't do for the daughter of the Kazekage to appear weak, and she absolutely refused to tarnish her family's name.
Sabaku no Temari sighed as she walked through the streets of her village. The next few days were going to be interesting, to say the least. There was a team from Konoha here at the moment, and while she was assisting in the negotiations between one of their Elite Jounin, her brother Kankuro would be working closely with the other members of the team at the hospital, his expertise on the various poisons of the region being near invaluable to the medical staff. Her other brother… the sandy blonde paused in her thoughts as an involuntary shudder ran down her spine, causing her to catch herself on a step before recomposing and continuing on her walk.
The Desert Flower was terrified of her youngest brother, Gaara, and for good reason. The boy had threatened to kill her and her brother on numerous occasions, and several times had actually tried, before being stopped and subdued by their father and his potent Gold-Dust Technique. She wanted to love her brother, she truly did, but the young boy just seemed too far gone in her eyes. It hadn't been too long ago, a few years at best, before her own father, the Yondaime Kazekage himself, had given up on sending the assassination teams against the small monster, after they continually ended up in failure. Though the blonde hated herself for it, she had noticed them in the nights when she was younger, praying for and giving them all the hope in the world to kill the metaphorical monster that lived under her bed and in her closet.
But they had all failed, and eventually, Rasa had given up on the assassinations, but also giving up on changing the nature of his youngest son, believing that the damage was too deep, his insanity too far set in his ways for him fully change. That isn't to say that he didn't love his son, though. And Temari certainly loved Gaara, but the younger woman was still scared of him. And honestly, how couldn't one be scared of someone when they had the power to crush you on a mere whim, their power completely unrelenting and absurdly strong, suffocating even. It was intoxicating, the strength tha-
The blonde was yanked from her thoughts as she stumbled into someone, her thoughts had so distracted her that she had been walking near aimlessly through the streets, a thousand yard stare written across her face as she fell to the ground, but never made it all the way, a small gust of wind ruffling her clothing before she felt herself being held in a pair of muscled, strong arms. Now back in a right state of mind, Temari looked up and to her left, her eyes widening at the sight of the man before her, looking down at her with concern and mild confusion, as if he had been doing the same thing before knocking into her.
Cobalt eyes met teal ones for the first time as Naruto looked down at the woman he had crashed into, the two whisker-like scars that had almost faded from his face giving him an almost feral look. He had been thinking about a lot of things as he went, mostly about the battles that would be in the coming months, his look a faraway one, before he had quite literally run headlong into the girl, knocking her off balance and down to the ground. It had only been though a very quick reaction of his, and coupled with his already incredible speed, that he had been able to maneuver himself to the falling woman's side and reach his arms out, catching her as she fell, one arm snaking across her back, the other falling around her waist. It was comical, really. It would have looked like he was about to dip her, had they been dancing and not fumbling around in the streets like fools.
"I'm sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, uhh…." Naruto began, sheepishly as he helped the falling woman back to her feet, a small blush creeping across both of their features as he helped her stand from the compromising position they had been in. Temari recovered first, pulling herself from her stupor to take in the man that had caught her, outwardly looking as though she hadn't minded, but on the inside cursing herself for being so careless, all while taking in the defined form of the man before her. Naruto had forgone his jacket for the hot and harsh climate of Suna, dressing only in his usual combat attire, his sword slung easily across his back as he dusted himself off, before offering a hand to the woman before him.
"Temari. Don't worry about it, I wasn't watching where I was going either." The older blonde woman stated simply as she shook the man's hand, only now noticing the Konoha Hitai-Ite tied around his waist, the other one with the kanji for 'Oil' held in place on the other side before she immediately put two and two together and realizing that he must be one of the liaisons that had come from Konohagakure. Returning her hand to her side after her brief introduction to the blonde, she looked up at him, the man being only just slightly taller than her before she spoke once more. "I didn't catch your name?"
"That's because I never said it. But since you were kind enough to give me the courtesy, I can do the same. Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." The blonde let out with a smirk, and a small laugh. The girl in front of him could certainly play games, that was for sure. At the same time, Temari was sizing him up, having confirmed his identity as the one, single liaison that was going to be meeting with her father the following day. This was a chance unlike many others in negotiation. She knew who he was, but at the same point it appeared that the man before her was unaware of her identity, even though they had both revealed their names. Perhaps she could glean a little additional knowledge for the coming parley tomorrow by finding out what she could tonight?
"Well, Uzumaki-San, allow me to buy you a drink or two, to repay you with a little 'Sunagakure Hospitality' after I so carelessly knocked into you." The sandy blonde offered, smiling up at the blonde. She had to sell this if she wanted it to work, so the woman was pulling out all of her charms against the equally attractive blonde. She knew that she was a fairly good looking woman, with her curves being accentuated by her outfit, and though her kimono hid it for the most part, she had a very Adonis-like body, which when applied in the right way, was a serious advantage to be had during a diplomatic relation, especially when her counterpart was a male.
Naruto merely grinned at this, he wasn't a fool, he'd been a part of this exact scenario before, though the roles were reversed and he had been in ANBU at the time. He knew the woman from somewhere, but at the moment he couldn't seem to place her, so why not? He could go for a drink anyways, and his team was all out and about in the village themselves, well almost all of them. Sai had elected to stay in, and Sakura had managed to actually drag Sasuke away to go look at something or another. The blonde laughed mentally for a brief moment. Sakura hadn't changed much, she still wanted after the last Uchiha with all she had, and though he knew he'd never admit it, Sasuke enjoyed the attention he got from his former-fangirl. The two would make a cute couple one day.
Turing his thoughts back to the matter at hand, the Last Uzumaki gave one of his trademarked foxlike grins, slipping both of his hands inside his pockets as he looked to the slightly shorter dusty blonde in front of him. He could have some fun, regardless of the ulterior motives of the girl. Hell, she'd probably loosen up too, and after everything he'd been through, he could kick back every now and then. "Please, call me Naruto, the honorifics make me feel old. And as for the drink, that actually sounds great. I don't know where anything is around here though, so you'll have to lead."
"Fine with me, Naruto, I know a nice little place just down the street…" And with the simple sentence, the two left the area they'd been, a Demon Fox and a Desert Flower.
"Jounin Uzumaki, please follow me to the Kazekage's Office, your scheduled meeting will begin shortly."
Naruto stood up from the chair he had been sitting in in the reception room of the Kazekage's building. Unlike in Konoha, where the Hokage had a large and visible tower, in Suna the building where the Kazekage did all of his administrative work and day to day activities was quite unassuming in nature, and had you not known what it was used for, it could even pass for another warehouse in the storage district of the village. As the blonde moved from his seat to walk across the room and follow the short secretary that had called to him, his thoughts were directed to the evening he had had the night before.
The Jounin from Konoha had been led to a small, unassuming bar on the eastern side of Suna by the blonde next to him, and in all honesty hed admit that he had a genuinely good time. It had become clear to the woman in his company that she wasn't going to get any information from him unless he willingly gave it up, that much the Konoha shinobi had made clear, and after an hour or so of trying to extort it from him, she had given up in the endeavor. The two had stayed at the little tavern, aptly named the Swooning Scorpion, and had even had a few drinks together, neither one overdoing it but at the same time enjoying themselves a fair amount.
Afterwards, when the blonde duo had left the building, they had realized just how late it had become, and with no ulterior motive in line, the Last Uzumaki had offered to walk the Sand Princess to her home, an offer that though she could have easily refused, being a powerful Jounin in her own right and fully capable of protecting herself, had happily accepted. It wasn't often that she was treated in such a way, due to her status and stature in the village hidden in the sand and her family relations did little to empower people to approach her, and she had to admit she did enjoy the feeling of being around someone other than her family or servants.
It hadn't taken the two long to come to the Sabaku Estate, a fairly large house, one that could almost be considered a mansion. The two had parted at the gates of her house, both parties admitting that they had had a good time, before there was a brief silence that both had stood still next to each other, face to face in the moonlight. Temari had sighed, softly. She loved the village at night, especially the way the stars shown down on the harsh and unforgiving forest, and she briefly looked up to them for a moment, before turning her head back to the Konoha Shinobi in front of her that she'd spent the night with, only to find him walking away from her already, a hand raised over his shoulder in aloof farewell. The sandy blonde woman frowned slightly to herself, before she entered the gates to her home for the night.
The blonde was pulled from his whatever musings he had as he walked through the final door to the Kazekage's office, stepping inside of it and after a brief adjustment to the brighter than normal lighting of the room, he was surprised to find the woman he had just been recollecting over standing just to the right of her Kage and father. Temari allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as she watched the barely concealed raised eyebrow of the blonde twitch in recognition as her briefly nodded to her, almost imperceptibly as he turned back to the man himself.
The Yondaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Rasa, was dressed in the typical green and white robes that all the five Kage wore, his dark skin and maroon hair being of stark contrast to the pristine cloth on his body. The man was older, only a few years his own Hokage's elder, if Naruto were to hazard a guess, and while the man seemed a little small behind his desk, he had no doubt the power the man possessed within him, he was worthy of his title, after all. The man cleared his throat briefly, before addressing the blonde man in the room, watching with mild mirth as the man pulled his eyes from his daughter to himself. He was still a dad, no matter how old his little girl got.
"So, Jounin Uzumaki, it is my understanding that your Hokage had something he wanted me to look over, and it was important enough that he couldn't just send his usual envoy or a messenger raven either. So out with it." If Naruto was unperturbed by the man's tone, he did a remarkable job of hiding it, pulling upon his training and experience from his time in the Seventh Division once more, the knowledge never seeming to fail him, even now after so many years being away from it all.
"Yes, Kazekage-Sama." Briefly reaching within one of his many pockets, the youngest blonde in the room produced a scroll, handing it over to the red haired Kage, before he retook his place at the center of the other side of the table. "Within that scroll you'll find all the intelligence the Leaf has on an organization that goes by the moniker 'Akatsuki'. This group on the surface appears to be nothing more than a mercenary group originating from Amegakure, however, it is underneath that that things become more sinister." At this, the Last Uzumaki paused to let his words sink in, before he started up once more.
"The group itself seems to be comprised entirely of and only Missing Nin of S-Rank status. These ninja come from all over the elemental nations, and as each rank of them is assumed, it is also quite clear the amount of damage one of them, let alone all of them combined could cause. There numbers are currently unknown, but a few members have been confirmed and their identities revealed, their information in the scroll you're holding. While there have only been a small amount of them so far, it is highly likely that there are more of them, and that their leader is someone of immense power, if he is commanding them all with indifference."
The blonde paused once more as the Kage had finished skimming though the information, before he handed it off to his daughter, Temari, her brow wrinkling visibly as she went through the information. Before the Kazekage or his child could comment on it any further though, Naruto had decided to go for broke and push out his last point he wanted to hammer home into the minds of his nations allies. "Akatsuki's motives, while still largely unknown, are no doubt dangerous, and they have already begun taking steps to further their goal. These steps involve the Jinchuriki, every single one of them, and we have it on good authority that they have already captured and contained the Sanbi while it was in its normal form, and the Nanabi Jinchuriki."
The Yondaime Kazekage frowned, bringing his hands to rest in front of his face, crossing his fingers and narrowing his eyes at the blonde before speaking, only one question on his mind for this second. "You just said that this 'Akatsuki' is capturing the Jinchuriki, and that you still have no idea why. How do you even know that they are capturing them? Konoha has no 'demon-host', so they couldn't know if one of their own went missing. How do you even know that this group is doing these acts you claim?" Rasa's voice was calm, and collected, but his tone made it clear he wasn't really buying what the blonde shinobi was selling.
Naruto didn't blink, didn't miss a beat as he answered, and answered in a way that could have large negative repercussions for revealing what he was about to, as the events had been locked down to prevent disorder. "I know because I was there for both occurrences concerning the Sanbi and Nanabi. With the Sanbi, I watched, unable to do anything, as a man appeared from seemingly nowhere took the scroll that had the beast within it, and then vanished again afterwards. Before that, I was the one who killed and claimed the bounty on Akasuna no Sasori, who was dressed in the garb of this organization and in pursuit of the Sanbi itself."
The Kazekage was only just able to conceal the shocked expression at the blonde's revelation. He had heard tales that the blonde shinobi was strong, stories from his exploits in Konoha's most recent war had reached even Suna, but to think he was the one to kill Sasori so long ago… the man did the math in his head, and was made aware that if what Naruto said was true, then he killed Sasori when he was a mere fourteen years old! To his right, his daughter and advisor, the woman he was grooming for political power and training had much the same look, though she did a worse job of concealing her thoughts on the man she had met the night prior. Once again though, before they were able to comment, the Jounin spoke up once more.
"And as for the Nanabi, I defeated her in single combat, and had captured her. However when I went to retrieve her sealed body, a missing nin from Iwa known as Diedara joined the battlefield, and after my recent battle with the Jinchuriki I was unable to prevent her capture. Once again, the man was wearing the Black cloak and Red clouds of Akatsuki, and he had taken the Jinchuriki." Here the blonde stopped dead in his tracks, looking from the man to his daughter, as the full account of his strength was taken into account. Before them no longer stood a simple Jounin. Before them stood a man who had beaten two Bijuu and won a war on his own. He wasn't something to be taken lightly. Naruto himself was a master orator, and his ability to talk would one day become legendary as he turned enemies to friends, and talked nations down from conflict, and it showed as he spoke once more.
"I stand before you both today not as an envoy from the Hokage, but as my village itself. I ask that though we already have a steady alliance between Fire and Wind, that we strengthen it in our fight against a common enemy: the organization known as Akatsuki. They've already come for several Jinchuriki, and those are just the ones we know about, but what of the others?" Naruto paused, sucking in a final breath as he was about to deliver the punchline, the cornerstone that would be this negotiation. "What would be of your own son?" He looked to Temari, cobalt eyes meeting teal once more. "What of your brother?"
The Kazekage leant back in his chair and closed his eyes briefly as he began to think things over, and the room went silent. However, the silence itself wasn't to last as the door was haphazardly thrown open, the same secretary that had escorted the Konoha Nin entering the room quickly and all but yelling to her Kage. "Kazekage-Sama! There's been an attack! Gaara-Sama's quarters were assaulted before he was forced outside the walls, cause unknown." The man's eyes snapped open and he was sitting up properly in an instant, his prior laid back attitude forgotten as he stood up, every bit the leader of the village he was raised in. The man took a brief second to think, before he asked a single, solidary question.
"What did the assailants look like?" The woman before him quivered a little bit at the tone of his voice, before she stole her emotions and held back the fear in her voice, answering with confidence.
"Black cloaks with Red clouds, Kazekage-Sama." Before the final honorific was out of her mouth, the Kazekage was in action, his voice stern and terse, every bit the military commander he needed to be. The redhead turned to the only foreign ninja in the room, and began addressing him as if her were one of his own.
"You, Konoha-Nin. You come here under talks of allegiance to this enemy, and claim to have already fought in battle against them. You will assist my son in battle outside of the walls against this 'Akatsuki', call it a gesture of good faith from both villages, as well as to support your commitment to this treaty. I will organize the defense and mobilization of the ninja, of which Temari will assist me with. Am I clear, Uzumaki?" The two locked eyes for a brief moment, and even as a bystander Temari could feel the tension. It was quite clear that the Konoha Jounin didn't take kindly to someone who wasn't his Kage ordering him around.
After a brief, tense moment, the aura of the room relaxed, before Naruto put a terse smile on his desk as he pulled a single kunai from his pocket, opening the window and throwing it outside with force, as he turned to look the Kazekage dead in the eyes once more, speaking solemnly. "If you required a gesture of faith, Kazekage-Sama, all you had to do was ask nicely. However, you had better hold up your end of the bargain. Am I clear?" The Last Uzumaki gave neither of them any time to respond as he disappeared from the room in a bright flash of blue, the intent behind his words quite clear in the room.
Neither occupant of the Kazekage's office moved for a brief moment, despite the danger to the village that was currently happening. The two had just witnessed the technique of a man long dead, a move that had destroyed armies and been pitted against legends, before diving into the realm of legend itself. Temari was dumbfounded, her father much the same for a brief moment in time before he forced himself back into action, the words of the Last Uzumaki forced to the back of his mind as he moved though the building, and out to the streets.
He had a defense to organize.
It hadn't taken the blonde shinobi long to traverse the village, using his method of flashing to a kunai, and then hurling it as far as he could before repeating the process, and it had only been a few minutes from the time he had left the Kazekage to the time that he landed outside the village, spinning his head around before he found the source of the issues, namely, the giant sandstorm brewing off to the west. Alright, guess that's where shit was going down, then. Time to move.
Throwing his kunai yet again, the Jounin disappeared in his trademark flash of cobalt, reappearing on top of the knife buried in the sand, creating a rough trifecta between the four men. In one corner stood the Akatsuki members, two men wearing the red clouds adorned on black clouds of their organization, but that is where the similarities stopped between the two. While both were men, the one on the right was the only one with any revealed weaponry, a large scythe held in one hand, while the other laid bare. But that isn't what began to throw Naruto off, that right was reserved for the man's visage. Underneath his silver hair and laid bare upon his fair and unblemished skin, was a maniacal, gigantic grin that spread from ear to ear, revealing his blindingly white teeth.
The other man was taller by at least several inches, his Hitai-Ite covering his forehead, and a black-colored mask covering his lower face, allowing only his eyes to be seen. There was also a white hood that covered the top of his head and all of his hair, the rest of his body hid by the large cloak he wore. Most notably was the slashed Takigakure headband that he wore, showing his status as a missing nin. And then there was the man that Naruto could only assume to be Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, standing across from the two men, them having clearly been in the middle of a conversation just before he had arrived.
The blonde shinobi glanced quickly to his right, taking in the form of his would-be ally in the coming fight as he readied himself for the coming combat. The Ichibi Jinchuriki had donned a long-sleeved crimson coat and full-length dark trousers with a pair of black combat sandals. Over the coat the redhead wore two buckled belts, with a grey vest held in place by a single strap over his left shoulder, and two more belts which he was using to carry the rather large gourd on his back, the cork having been long removed from the top, sand flowing freely from the top of it. But the boy's eyes were different than most, while green in nature, he lacked pupils, or even eyebrows for that matter, and on the left of face, on the man's forehead, was the kanji for 'Love', apparently having been carved into his skull long ago.
Naruto nodded briefly to himself, before moving towards the person he had confirmed as Sabaku no Gaara, walking calmly towards the man who only raised one of his nonexistent eyebrows at him as he moved, the redhead's arms crossed over his chest in a seemingly disinterested manner as he spoke. "You…you are like me. I can feel it. Who are you?" The Jounin of Konoha sighed as he walked, mentally chastising the man as he did so, revealing his identity to everyone in the area like that wasn't exactly a good idea. The blonde hadn't made it more than six feet before a wave of sand moved to intercept him, forcing him to jump back, an angered look on his face as the two members of Akatsuki watched on in disbelief.
"Calm down, Gaara. I'm your back up. The Kazekage sent me to help you fight these two." But the words fell on deaf ears, apparently, as the chakra infused sand from the redhead Jinchuriki continued to attack the blonde shinobi whenever he attempted to advance, the man himself seemingly struggling with something deep within himself. As Naruto watched the spectacle, he was still consciously aware of the two sure enemies in the area moving to either side of Gaara and himself. This wasn't good, not good at all. He'd read reports on Gaara, of course, and from them it looked as if the man were only a few steps from completely insane.
If the youngest son of the Kazekage lost control here, in the middle of the desert, when his primary skill was controlling sand, Naruto was in quite deep shit. He couldn't seal the man's power back within his body, not when he was in combat against two unknown and quite dangerous enemies, and if Gaara lost control, then he would also have an enraged Jinchuriki to contend with, something that he had done before and had honestly hoped to avoid. The blonde ducked under yet another wave of sand, hoping against hope that the crazed man would come to his senses as he moved. Fuck, this was supposed to be a diplomatic mission and here he was about to get into a fight with a goddamn Jinchuriki and two S-Class criminals!
And then, all of Naruto's hopes were thrown to the wind as Gaara looked up to him, his green eyes making contact with the blonde's own electric blue, a grim smile set upon his face as he took in the bloodshot irises of his supposed ally. "I can feel it! I can feel your strength! All of it, all of you, I will prove my existence through your death!" And then, all hell broke loose. The silver haired member of Akatsuki that Naruto had heard called 'Hidan' brandished his scythe, screaming a vicious battle cry and sprinting towards the Ichibi host, as the man behind him, Kakuzu, if he remembered correctly from the bingo book, shot his arm forward at him, black threads bursting from his severed limb.
The blonde shinobi cursed briefly, jumping out of the way and turning to face the cloaked man, his eyes narrowing as he moved. Hopefully Gaara would stay occupied with the other man for now, and give him time to deal with this one, after that he could worry about the Jinchuriki, but for now he had his own problems to deal with. He wasted no time in beginning to channel his chakra and flash through hand seals, before he was abruptly slammed into from behind by a wave of sand, the particles constricting around him and threating to crush the life out of him before he managed to flash out of the situation, barely dodging a wild strike from Hidan's scythe.
He grit his teeth, they wanted a three way fight? Fine. He could do that, it wouldn't be easy, but he could pull it off. Naruto wasted no time, every second counting as he formed several Kage Bunshin, their roles already known to them as they poofed into existence, the original already ignoring and blocking out the words of his three opponents, no longer caring for what they had to say as all three had made themselves a threat. Gone was the happy, if still broken man that had been the Last Uzumaki, and in his place stood Lynx, former Captain of the Seventh Division of Konoha's ANBU Corps, the legend himself.
Several things began to happen at once, the first and most prominent one being that the original Naruto had pulled his sword from its scabbard, moving to intercept the running and screaming Hidan, and engaging him in a fierce battle of Kenjutsu. While the man before him wasn't particularly skilled, his wild moves were absolutely hard to predict, and so far he had seemed to car whenever the blonde managed to get a cut on him. Behind him, his clones had already begun their assault on the other two people in the area, their hands flashing through the seals for their deadly combination jutsu as they moved.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!)" "Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku! (Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!) "Katon: Hiendan! (Fire Release: Soaring Flame Bullets!)" "Futon: Diatoppa! (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!)" "Futon: Renkūdan! (Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet!)" The clones screamed their techniques, dispersing as they did so, the now absurdly large and volatile wall of chakra induced flame covering a great area as it flew towards both Kakuzu and Gaara, with the latter simply raising a solid wall of sand to cover himself, the former attempting to move out of the way.
The other several clones the blonde had made had launched themselves into the air, allowing a rain of their kunai to fall across the battlefield, greatly opening the blonde's avenues of attack against his enemies, before they also landed on the rough sand of the ground, their hands also a blur as they flashed through seals of their own, their goal clearly in mind as they moved, surrounding the form of Hidan as the original pulled back, catching the man in a rough cross, one bunshin on each side of him, all thrusting their hands out and calling out in unison.
"Fūton: Fuujin Seiken! (Wind Release: Divine Fist of the Wind God!)" Hidan's eyes could only briefly widen as he screamed out in agony, beautiful agony as the four large compressed blasts of overcharged wind slammed into his body, crushing his bones down to a pulp and reducing the man's body to a compressed blob, every bone in his body broken from the impact. The jutsu normally had the force to crush incredibly large and dense boulders, and was capable of leaving a large and lasting imprint on a mountain itself, and Hidan had just taken four of them at once, his body caught in the middle. It was amazing he was able to even scream.
The crazed and nearly destroyed man didn't even had time to lament in his pain though, as the original had already launched himself back towards the compressed man, Kaze no Karitoriki gleaming in the sunlight as he moved, appearing in the front of the man, then vanishing, and showing up behind him, flicking a small amount of blood from his blade. A second later Hidan's severed head fell to the ground, a look of shock upon his face for a mere moment, his eye twitching. Naruto turned around as he moved to face his other two enemies, already attempting to plan a way to subdue the Jinchuriki before he was frozen in his tracks as Hidan screamed.
The Last Uzumaki turned his head over his shoulder, looking on in abject wonder and horror as the severed head on the ground cursed and screamed and yelled. He quickly created more clones, their purpose set to buy him a little more time as he moved back to the head. He had to stop this thing now, he didn't know if it could regenerate or whatever abilities it had, but if the crazed man would live through a bone crushing combination attack, and then get decapitated, he didn't want to know what else it could do. Kneeling down next to the fallen head that was cursing him to hell and beyond, Naruto channeled his chakra into his blade, forming it to the cutting nature of the wind, and brought it down.
Hidan's severed head was separated into two pieces, and then four, as it was cut in two and then two again, the screaming finally stopping. Whatever this man had been, Naruto doubted that he could regenerate from that, and if the scythe wielder did, he wasn't sure what he could do to kill him. But the blonde would worry about that later, as he felt the last of his clones die in their fight against the remaining member of Akatsuki and the enraged Ichibi Jinchuriki. He still had a fight to finish.
As he moved back towards the other two fighters, Naruto became aware of a few things, both from his own observations and from the memories of the kage bunshin he had previously send into battle. The worst of these, was that Gaara had apparently lost himself even more to the beast he carried within him, having formed the left arm and torso of the tanuki inside him, his visage that of crazed bloodlust. It also appeared as though Kakuzu had wounded him at some point, if the blood coating his side was any indicator.
Naruto had little time to go over these facts though as he began to rapidly flash between the kunai imbedded in the sand, noting that their positions were constantly changing as the sand shifted with the Jinchuriki's rage, throwing the particles around and even absorbing some of the tri-pronged kunai themselves into his body. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki collected his thoughts and narrowed his eyes. That wasn't good, once again, the Hiraishin was being somewhat neutralized by his opponents, the jutsu in reality wasn't the end all to be all of jutsu like many people believed it to be, and while it was certainly useful, it still had multiple drawbacks.
But still, he had many left, and hed take advantage of them as long as he could. As the blonde moved, he was idly aware of the masked former Taki-Nin yelling something about 'how a young brat like him couldn't hope to kill someone who had fought the Shodai Hokage and survived', but he wasn't really paying attention. The former Captain had a job to do, and he would complete it or die trying. In a burst of speed, he appeared behind Kakuzu, just narrowly dodging a wave of sand from the enraged Jinchuriki as the masked man turned on a dime, and thrust his hand forward and through the blonde's chest, grinning beneath his mask as he did so, before it slipped from his face as a chakra laced blade pierced his chest form behind, slicing his heart in two.
Naruto jumped back once more, dodging yet another blast of sand from the Ichibi, who was by now quite pissed that it was being ignored and seemingly forgotten about during the brief conflict the other two had had. Once again, for the second time that day and in just a few minutes, the blonde's eyes widened in surprise as Kakuzu's form shifted from his spot in the sand, before he ripped his cloak from his body, revealing his upper body to the world for the first time in many years. His torso was covered in black threads, revealing all the stitches on his torso. Upon his back were four masks, and they vibrated briefly before they all launched from the man's back, forming into creatures next to their master.
The Uzumaki heir was briefly aware of Kakuzu explaining his technique, and about how each one of the masks had a clear element, and he explained to the blonde that he would more or less have to kill him a total of five times for him to stay down, as each beating heart gave him life and vitality. Running across the sand, the Jounin made it his immediate mission to kill the additional member of Akatsuki first, before he moved to deal with Gaara, his mission was to provide support and protect the man, after all, regardless of whether the demon host wanted to kill him or not.
He moved quickly, replacing his katana in the sheathe upon his back, his hands already flying through seals for jutsu as kage bunshin appeared on either side of him, taking in the new appearance of the masks before him and guessing at their affinities. The first heart had a fire affinity, and took on the shape of a demonic tiger, while the second one appeared to contain a lightning affinity, and took on the shape of some sort of deformed bipedal figure. The one he could only assume that he had previously killed was the water affinity, and he watched as it crumbled into a mass of black tendrils on the sand, while the fourth he guess was the wind affinity, and formed a strange four-legged body with thin wings. That left Kakuzu himself with the wind affinity.
Forming a few more clones with the mission to evade and keep the Suna Jinchuriki busy, Naruto began his assault, watching in interest as the Fire mask and Wind mask combined into a large mass, their forms merging as it let out a combination attack of its own to combat his technique. "Katon: Zukokku! (Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work!)", "Fūton: Atsugai! (Wind Release: Pressure Damage!)". The masks both opened their large mouths, and the ensuing firestorm that ensued would have burned down the entire surrounding area, turning the sand beneath them all into glass had the blondes own technique not stopped it in its tracks.
Three identical cries of "Doton: Doryūheki! (Earth Release: Mud Wall!)" rang out, and the sand below him parted even as his clones dispelled, the fire from his opponents breaking easily through the first wall, crashing briefly through the second, before it was finally held back by the third. But by the time the wall fell, Naruto had already moved, noting that the clones he had created were being slowly whittled down by the Jinchuriki in blood rage a short distance away. His hands blurred once more as he appeared near the combined form of the wind and fire masks, his hands stopping as he called out into the heated air.
"Raiton: Jibashi! (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!)" His hands had already begun blurring again as his first jutsu completed, the man calling out the techniques name in a low growl as he continued to move. "Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu! (Wind Release: Wind Cutter Jutsu!)" The effects were immediate, the lightning moving along the ground at a rapid pace, before making contact with the beast and destabilizing its transformation as the treads holding it together loosened, before the multiple blades of wind launched and sliced it down the center, nearly severing the two masks from each other, and then the final portion of the blonde's plan came into action, as a single kunai pierced the haze, stabbing into the center mass of the two.
There was a brief flash of blue, and then Naruto himself appeared where his kunai had been, a Rasengan already formed in each hand as he forced each of his palms into the porcelain masks on either side of him, his cobalt eyes staring straight at Kakuzu as the two forms next to him crumbled to the ground like their water styled counterpart. As the swirling balls of energy in his hands died down, the blonde was about to move forwards once again before his head snapped to the right and he flashed out of the area, a literal waterfall of sand cascading down on the area that he and Kakuzu had been before, the masked man also managing to escape from the attack, though the final mask wasn't so lucky, if the screams coming from inside were anything to go off of.
Naruto leapt back, dodging once again as the sand came at him from seemingly all angles. A quick glance was all he needed to know that the Ichibi had completely taken over Gaara's form, the man himself fast asleep on his head as the beast itself roared about how it would kill its older, nine-tailed brother, attempting to goad the blonde Jounin into calling upon his tenant's power. The blonde was still keeping with his calm façade, though on the inside his mind was going a mile a minute, the situation was seriously going downhill fast, though he had already dealt with one of the threats already and the other wasn't far off.
He briefly took the masked member of Akatsuki into account, the man had yet to do anything other than dodge and attempt to engage him in Taijutsu, leaving his formerly alive masks to do the jutsu work for him, though now that was subject to change as they had all been killed by either Gaara or himself. In addition, he knew the man could harden his skin to a near impenetrable level, regardless of whatever Ninjutsu he knew. It could be worse, he mused. He still had a good third of his chakra left, which was nice considering the sheer amount of clones he had made prior, in addition to all the high level Ninjutsu he had been throwing around without regard.
While it was true that he had large chakra reserves, everyone had their limit, and Kage Bunshin were labeled a Kinjutsu for a reason. Still though, if he was careful, Naruto was sure he could come out on top. In a high stakes battle like this, any thoughts of failure could result in the loss of the battle, and possibly even death. The blonde shinobi breathed heavily, wondering to himself for a brief moment just how long it would take for the Kazekage to mobilize his forces and come to his aid, as fighting a Jinchuriki and two S-Ranked Nin wasn't an easy task. Collecting his thoughts, the Konoha Jounin launched himself forward again, ducking and weaving around the various sand attacks that were thrown his way.
Kakuzu himself was doing much the same as he was, though it appeared as though he was a little worse for wear than the blonde shinobi. The man had already lost all four of his masks, and was now only relying on his final heart of earth affinity. Fighting not one, but two Jinchuriki was definitely taking its toll on him, and it was showing, even though one of the men had yet to call on his tenant's power. This wasn't going well for him, and as his partner had been immobilized, he wasn't going to get any backup either. The self-professed treasurer of the Akatsuki knew he was looking at his grave in the sands of the desert, and strangely, he wasn't afraid, but more calm looking into his final moments.
His thoughts were on the long life he had lived when the short, but intense Taijutsu battle he was having with the blonde ended abruptly, a fist exploding from the ground underneath him and catching him in the jaw, momentarily breaking his concentration and loosening his hold over the skin hardening technique he had been holing, his skin momentarily returning to normal before he began to reaffirm it. That was all the opening that the elite Jounin of Konoha needed, as he flashed behind the man, and taking no chance, muttered the words for the technique that would end the old man's life.
"Katon: Hi no ken. (Fire Release: Fist of Fire.)". His fist rapidly became enshrouded in flame, the fire licking and burning his hand as the double edged sword of a jutsu swung around, penetrating the now unshielded skull of Kakuzu, pushing through from the back and out of the front, burning everything in between to ash. Naruto turned, grabbing the man's shoulder and pushed off on it as he yanked his now extinguished palm from the deceased man's skull, watching briefly as the body fell to the ground.
He was given no respite though, as he was now getting pushed back by the large frame of the beast that was Shukaku, the One-Tail, between the beast massive sand attacks, physical swings of its limbs, and the Ichibi's lethal wind chakra. Naruto cursed as he moved, dodging constantly and evading what he could, a substitution here and there, he just had to fight the one person in the world who controlled sand in the middle of the fucking desert. Sometimes, he swore he had the worst luck.
The blonde could have been in a worse bind, though. He could plainly see the redhead on the top of the giant tanuki's head, and if he could guess all he had to do was wake the bastard up before this thing could be put back under wraps like it was supposed to be. Thinking on his feet was a specialty of the blond shinobi, and he'd make great use of it here, a plan already formulating in his mind as he ducked and wove, moving towards the beast in an abrupt change of pace, already channeling his chakra into his limbs in preparation.
Naruto dodged yet another giant fist of sand, ignoring the particles that flew past his face, cutting it slightly as he moved, his legs were a blur, before he launched himself straight up, flashing to one of the kunai the man had absorbed into his body, appearing just on top of the beasts shoulder and sprinting towards its head, noting that the sand was collecting around his sandaled feet, slowing him in an attempt to stop him completely. The blonde Jounin forced the chakra in his feet to overload, launching him off of the beast in a small burst, as if he had messed up on the tree climbing exercise, throwing the second motion into action.
In the air, being launched from the large tanuki, he created a clone, it grabbing his arm and spinning, throwing him towards the beasts head, his fist outstretched and his fingers closed, teeth grit for the punch that was about to ensue, before his plan was forced onto the backburner. As Naruto had crossed the distance through the air towards the sleeping Gaara, he had forced himself to focus to much that he didn't notice the large approaching fist of Shukaku until it was nearly too late, and as such he was only barely able to block some of the force of the blow, though it still launched his airborne form into the unforgiving sands below.
The last Uzumaki coughed briefly, noting with a small amount of alarm that there was blood in the mix, before he stood up, and his eyes narrowed as his vision cleared, noticing that Shukaku was no longer focusing on him. No, the beasts rage was elsewhere, and it only took the blonde an instant to realize who it was on, the small, flickering particles of Gold-Dust flipping through the air, mixing with the sand and holding it down, the small form of an older man with red hair facing down the large sand covered beast itself, not a lick of fear in his eyes.
The Kazekage had arrived.
Author's Note:
Annnnnnd that's that for this chapter, bit of a longer one, and actually the longest one I've ever wrote. I apologize in advance for the combat scene, I actually wrote and rewrote it three times before I was even mildly satisfied with it, and even now I feel it could be better, but oh well, I'll get better as time goes on. Anyways…
That's all I got. Out.
