Chapter 43 The Calm before the Storm
"Naruto-kun what happened?" asked Sakura as Naruto walked in, the wound had healed but Naruto had refused to wash the blood away he just wanted to be back with his family as soon as possibe. His mom, seemed almost as worried as Sakura at the sight of him holding his hand up to his forehead with dried blood on his face and hand.
"Had a little run in." explained Naruto as he looked toward his father, sister and younger brother. They seamed strangely calm.
"The villagers?" asked Minato as Naruto lowered his head. "If you had been in a fight with royal guards your would have gotten hurt more."
"They threw a bottle at me." explained Naruto
"Well did they know you where you?" asked Adria
"They first saw me in my normal form but when I turned human they threw the bottle." explained Naruto
"His normal form…see Naruto-kun, doesn't think of himself as human anymore then you do." said Inner Sakura
"The villagers did this to you?" growled Kushina as she looked to Sakura expecting her to be as upset as she was however Sakura was busy cleaning the blood using an old medical justu that removed blood and healed the wound heal. "Why aren't you as upset?"
Sakura didn't know what to say, she knew she hadn't told Naruto's mother about how the villagers used to treat Naruto and she believed neither had Naruto. Minato and Adria knew but it seemed that he had never told Kushina.
"Because for the longest time things like this where common." explained Naruto
"What?" asked Kushina
"They saw him as a demon and treated him as such." explained Minato
"I had my apartment broken into many times, setting it on fire once, spat on me in the streets, some stores refused to sell to me." stated Naruto "More than a few times I went hungry and had to get things out of the trash."
"Naruto-kun." said Sakura as Naruto looked to see the tears in his mom's eyes, even his father,
"Sorry mom, you didn't need to know any of that." explained Naruto
"Why…why would they do that? You weren't a demon." stated Kushina as she mixed her sadness with anger that her kit was treated like that.
"It's alright mom, they haven't treated me like that in years." stated Naruto as he put on a smile for his mom.
"They treated you like that today." stated Seth "Why do you even support them, they hate you."
"This is my village." explained Naruto but it seemed weaker than normal.
"A village is a community and from what you describe it sounds like you where more of a prisoner." stated Seth before turning to Sakura "And you let this happen to him, I thought you loved him."
"Leave Sakura-chan out of this, the worst she ever did to me was ignore me but that was pretty much everyone for a long time." stated Naruto as he came to her defense. "Besides we have more important things to worry about then the past."
"What?" asked Minato
"The demon army is gathering outside the Leaf at this very moment, they plan to attack just outside 24 hours." stated Naruto as he took a deep breath but before he could finish his dad stepped in.
"That is sooner than expected." stated Minato "That would make it five no six days since the attack on the Sand, I thought they would wait at least a week."
"It gets worst." stated Naruto as his family looked at him. "Apparently there is a group that wants to execute us."
"What, why?" asked Adria
"Because they are humans." answered Seth
"Won't happen." stated Sakura "It can't Lady Tsunade will not allow it.'
"I will not allow it." Stated Naruto as his father nodded his head "If it comes to that, I will kill them myself."
"Does he mean that, would he really fight and kill Leaf ninjas?" thought Sakura
"He is defending his pack and the women he loves." answered Inner Sakura "Wouldn't we kill to save Naruto-kun."
"Ya…I would." answered Sakura as the door opened as Lady Tsunade and Ino walked into the room.
"Sakura we need you back in the lab now." ordered Tsunade
"Why should she listen to you human, you want her dead." stated Seth
"She is like a granddaughter to me, I wouldn't hurt her." stated Tsunade as she noticed that the Namikaze clan seamed more distance and mistrusting, she was losing them.
"The sample will not be ready to make a defense, maybe and I stress maybe I could get the transformation agent separated before they attack but there will be no time to work on a defense." said Sakura "And the computer can do most of the work."
"We need you to write down every theory you have on the transformation agent and prepare samples.' stated Tsunade
"Why don't you have Shizune prepare it, I am sure she is double checking everything I do that is why you have Ino with me." said Sakura "Sorry Ino but you are not a medical ninja anymore, you're an interrogation specialist now. You where there not only as my friend but to see how I was mentally."
"Sakura…Shizune isn't in the Leaf anymore." stated Tsunade "You are preparing everything for her."
"You don't plan to stand and fight." said Minato
"We do, we hope to get over fifty percent of the villagers but probably only around 30% will get out." stated Tsunade
"What about us?" asked Adria
"You are staying here." stated Tsunade
"But we betrayed the demons, who knows what they will do to us?" asked Adria
"Kado in a little speech he did to the village, he ordered us not to harm you." said Tsunade
"Because they want to." stated Adria
"That is your own kind…they are on our side." stated Seth
"Maybe not, Naruto is a 12 tails they would want him and his pack alive…wouldn't they?" asked Ino
"Pack?" asked Tsunade "Why don't you call it clan?"
"I got used to calling it pack around Sakura." explained Ino "Now forehead we need you get those samples ready."
"Alright." said Sakura as Kushina stood up.
"Lady Tsunade if it is alright I want to go with Sakura, just to make sure she is safe." explained Kushina
"No…I'll do it." said Naruto
"No you stay here and protect your siblings." said Minato "Lady Tsunade if possible I would like to talk to you in the Hokage's office."
"It will take some time to get more security up there, give me ten minutes." said Tsunade as Minato nodded his head.
"I'll take Sakura and her….do you call it future mother-in-law or does it have a special name in demon fox culture?" asked Ino
"No, and she won't be by daughter-in-law until after she becomes the mate in a ceremony or they have a kit together." explained Kushina as Sakura smiled, they way Kushina had said it was more of a when she would be official member of the pack instead of an if. The three of them headed toward the medical bay and Tsunade walked off to get some more guards to help escort Minato to his old office.
"There is something you didn't tell us Naruto." said Minato as Naruto looked up into his father's eyes.
"I'll tell you later, but don't worry it isn't a threat to the pack or the village." explained Naruto as Minato nodded his head.
Meanwhile along the outer wall of the Leaf village Shikamaru Nara climb a large ladder to one of the lookout towers. There was eight towers spread out along the walls mostly around the four gates and the four main roads leading out of the village. The towers where built during the war to give Leaf ninjas some extra height over the enemy. When he reached the top he spotted four leaf ninjas three with binoculars marking the location of demons they say on a map. The fourth had her eyes closed as she used her special justu, the Mind's Eye of the Kagura. This justu allowed one of the newest members of the Leaf village Karin to sense enemies. While she served most of her life either Orochimaru or Sasuke, she had joined the Leaf near the end of the war. She was only a chunin but that was mostly do to the fact that the leaf upper command didn't trust her.
"I sense another fifty three enemies to the right three hundred yards to the north west." stated Karin as she pushed up her glasses up closer to her bright red eyes.
"I got a group of snakes." stated a jonnin as he marked the position on the map.
"They are not even trying to hid themselves are they?" asked Shikamaru as he looked out on the quarter of a mile clearing between the outer wall and the forests that surrounded the leaf. It was clear as day as the Demons moved into positions; some setting up makeshift defenses but most just watched the humans watch them.
"I don't understand why would they want to be seen." stated a ninja "The first rule of any attack is to have surprise."
"Surprise isn't important anymore." Stated Shikamaru "They want to intimate us make break."
"That will not happen." stated a ninja
"How many do they have?" asked Shikamaru as he looked toward Karin.
"I had to limit my range to get an accrue number since they are physically so close together." stated Karin
"How many?" asked Shikamaru
"Within a 1,000 yards of his position." started Karin "Just over three thousand and they are bring in more by the moment. An hour ago they had only three hundred, they are pouring in fast. It is pretty much the same around every tower."
Shikamaru did a quick mental count the demons already had over 24,000 demons and they had only been spotted a little over an hour ago. From the reports that came out from Sand and from Earth country, Shikamaru had estimated that at the least the demon combined military strength to be at least a million and a half ground forces. That was only a few thousand more than the total military force of the remaining ninja villages including the smaller ninja villages at the height of the war.
"How long can we hold out?" asked a Leaf ninja as Shikamaru looked a behind him, he had almost 750 thousand people to be reasonable for. Normally the Leaf village population was only around 450 thousand, which was the largest of any village in the world. Add the thousands of people who came in from the sand and the rest of the people from fire country coming in, they had added almost 300 thousand more souls and only around a quarter of all of them where trained in the ninja arts.
Ino sat in an accord position as she helped her friend get the different samples ready but at the same time Naruto's mother Kushina was in the room. Kushina watched with some interest but she never had a great interest in medical information. She walked around the room slightly board.
"So Kushina how are you doing?" asked Ino she didn't really know what to ask, Kushina Uzumaki as she was known to the ninja core since her marriage to Minato couldn't be relieved during the war was a heroine to the kunoichi. She had severed on the frontlines of many battles during the world war only to die in childbirth, now for the longest time it was recorded that the child died along with her. That was done mostly to protect Naruto from any attacks from the Rock village who hated her almost as much as Minato.
"Pretty good, wish I could go outside." stated Kushina "Kind of miss the fresh air, that is one of the things good about the fox village, you are never far from nature."
"Sakura said you lived underground?" asked Ino
"Ya, but it is different." said Kushina "Here the entire place is made out of concrete and metal, not wood and rock. It just seems cold here."
"I know what you mean." added Sakura as she prepared the samples for transport. "It is also stuffily down here too."
"I can agree to that." said Ino
"So Ino Yamanaka is it?" asked Kushina
"Yes." answered Ino "You knew my mother Lys, she said you where friends."
"I thought you looked familiar." laughed Kushina "You two look a lot alike. I mean Lys has brown hair and deep brown eyes I guess that threw me a bit."
"I don't blame you." laughed Ino "I mean it isn't like your daughter looks like you, I mean you two look like twines."
"Ya, that is what Minato always says." said Kushina "I responded saying Seth looks like him."
"What about Naruto?" asked Ino "He looks more like his father then Seth does."
Kushina lowered her head a bit, she didn't know how to answer.
"Ino…remember Naruto-kun was taken from them for two decades." said Sakura as Ino's eyes widened as she realized how it must have felt.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Said Ino
"It's ok, I mean he is with us now and he even brought someone else with him." laughed Kushina as she looked toward Sakura. "Not that I want grandkits any time soon."
"You sound like my mom, she keeps telling me to wait a few years before having kids." laughed Ino
"Well your mom is forty four now." said Kushina "I don't really feel that old."
"Well you where a year older then my mom that makes you forty five." said Ino
"Ino, demons age differently to the demons she is basically still twenty five and will not be twenty six until a million years has passed." explained Sakura "I won't be twenty one for a million years now."
"So your just a hair older than your future daughter-in-law?" asked Ino
"It isn't uncommon." stated Kushina "However what is uncommon is to have three kits so close together. Most demons have kids millions of years apart, we didn't wait. We are waiting now."
"Wait your planning to have more kids?" asked Ino
"I came from a big family so that is common to me and Minato always wanted at least four." answered Kushina "We are demons now we planned to wait longer, we have more time."
"I see." said Ino
Outside the walls of the Leaf village Itachi sat on one of the logs that had been placed so that everyone had a place to sit while they ate.
"I brought some food." said Fay as she sat down beside Itachi with two trays of food.
"Thanks." said Itachi as toke a bit of his food, it was simple military rations but it was better than nothing.
"So when do you want to do the ceremony?" asked Fay as Itachi smiled before laughing a bit. "What?"
"We have been engaged less maybe a day and already planning the ceremony?" laughed Itachi "Sorry but it just seems funny to me."
"I am only asking because the moment we get home and my mom finds out she will rush to our apartment and ask these questions and force us to answer them." explained Fay
"At least there is no dress shopping." explained Itachi
"What is that suppose to mean?" asked a confused Fay "Is the dress a key part of human mating ceremonies?"
"You could call it the star of the show." explained Itachi as he suddenly tensed up.
"What is it?" asked Fay as she noticed Itachi's eyes where looking toward the group of wolves which had just entered the crowed eating area; there was three that jumped right out to her. One was Raeni; however right behind her where two older wolves, the female looked like Raeni and the male which looked a lot like Itachi. Her eyes widened as she realized who they were.
"Your parents?" asked Fay as Itachi nodded his head, as he looked at his parents for the first time since the Uchiha massacre. They had not come to see him since he had been turned; there was no communication between them.
"I think we should go." said Itachi but it was too late, his folks where moving toward them. Not because they wanted to but because there was no place else to sit. His parents and sister didn't even notice that he was there until they sat down across from her son and Fay. It wasn't until his mother looked up to see her oldest son sitting across from them.
"Itachi?" asked Mikoto as his father Fugaku and his sister to look up to see him.
"Mother, Father." answered Itachi
"I am no longer your father and you are no longer part of this pack." stated Fugaku as he crossed his arms. "You lost the position in the pack when you grabbed for your own power."
"I am a member of the Uchiha pride not pack." answered Itachi as he looked toward Fay and smile "In time that pride will grow."
"So this is your mate." stated Fugaku as he glared at Fay "Be warned he will kill you at any moment."
"I did what I had to do." explained Itachi "I couldn't let your need for power plunge the world into war and the destruction of the Leaf village."
"Under our leadership the Leaf would have risen to new heights." stated Fugaku
"And you call Itachi a power grabber." stated Fay "From everything I saw in the reports about that night and from Itachi he did it not for power but to stop you from grabbing power."
"You dare, he drove my other son to become a snake." snapped Fugaku as Itachi closed his eyes.
"What do you think of that little brother?" asked Itachi as his families head snapped around to see snake Sasuke behind them. His deep black scales covered almost his entire body only his chest and belly which was a slightly lighter shade of black. There was some patches of lighter black on his back and tail which formed a slight pattern. At the tip of his tail which made up the majority of his body was a rattle.
"Sasuke." said Mikoto as she looked at her second son.
"What do you want?" asked Sasuke as he slithered the end of the table. Like all demon snakes he didn't use chairs, instead he wrapped his tail into a makeshift seat and sat down. He placed his food which was a piece of raw meat about the watermelon. His family watched as Sasuke opened his mouth, showing his forked tongue and two long poisonous fangs. His jaw actually came unhinged growing even larger as he took the piece of meat in a single bit.
"How are you doing little brother?" asked Itachi
"I get to help destroy the Leaf and hopefully kill Naruto, Sakura and his entire family." laughed Sasuke "Only if I could kill you."
"I would help you in killing him and making you into what you are now." stated Fugaku
"Like I would want your help." stated Sasuke as he looked at his father "You are as pathetic as a demon as you where as a human."
"What?" asked Fugaku
"I should actually thank you Itachi, if you hadn't shown me how weak the Uchiha clan is." stated Sasuke "Luckily I went out to find power and now I am among snakes who feel the same way. Now I will use that power to burn the past into nothingness."
"You are a fucking monster." stated Fay as Sasuke smiled.
In the Leaf village Minato looked out the massive window in the Hokage building. Before him the village was in a state of martial law. Over a half of the ninja force was at the ready to stop any riots or attack.
"The last time I was here, I got word that Kushina had been kidnapped by Madara so that he could gain control of the Kyuubi." stated Minato, the village had changed so much almost everything had to be rebuilt when Pain destroyed it and then there was the massive amount of dirt which had been removed by the attack.
"You must of missed this place." said Tsunade
"It isn't the place I miss it's was my son and the people." answered Minato as he noticed a ninja patrol moving past. "You will need them to get some rest; they will launch an attack probably around nightfall tomorrow."
"Tomorrow we are moving the villagers into the bunkers and the ninjas on patrol will sleep then." Explained Tsunade "Now what did you want?"
"A few things actually, when you evacuate that base I want you to lock the door and leave us." stated Minato as Tsunade's eyes widened. "When the demons reach our cell they have to think we were forced to help."
"Trying to save your family?" asked Tsunade
"Yes, the higher ups may not believe it but it will help them sell a cover story to the lower packs." stated Minato
"Will they do anything to you?" asked Tsunade
"They will not kill us if that is what you mean….Naruto is a twelve tails they want him to have kit with Sakura, Adria and Seth are pure demons and Kushina and I have had a lot of kits for them." explained Minato "They may try some form of punishment but not death."
"The second thing?" asked Tsunade
"I would like Naruto and Sakura to have a chance to go to their apartment and grab whatever they want." said Minato
"I will arrange it." said Tsunade "I'll also get your clans items from the archives."
"Thank you." said Minato
"You could have asked this down stairs why come up here?" asked Tsunade
"I wanted to be in this office and see the Leaf on more last time." explained Minato "When I took this job Hiruzen told me that as the Hokage I was the protector of the soul of the Leaf village. The Leaf village's soul isn't made out of stone, lumber and metal it is the people who live in those buildings that is what needs to be protected."
"I don't feel that I am protecting it." explained Tsunade "I have forced marshal law on my village, stomping on the freedoms which was the founding principles of the Leaf village. Then there is what I will be forced to do."
"You mean sacrificing some of the people you mean to save?" asked Minato as Tsunade nodded her head.
"We can't get all of them out and where would they live?" asked Tsunade "Most of your villagers have never lived off the land and would only cause problems."
"So you are picking who lives and who gets turned?" asked Minato
"Yes, we have selected groups that will head out and form a resistance." stated Tsunade "However the problem is that whoever is left behind will help form the force they are fighting."
"The demons have list of people they are after and it is those people who they want first." explained Minato "People, who are strong, or have a special skill those are the people they will check that they have first."
"If we leave them behind the demons will grow stronger but it will let people get away unnoticed." stated Tsunade
"The choice is yours I am just telling you what the demons will do, they have a list of top targets who they will go after first and they will not stop looking for them until either they are found or confirmed dead." explained Minato
"But we don't know who is all on the list, the one we have is very old." stated Tsunade
"Who are the top ninjas that come to your mind?" asked Minato as Tsunade made a quick mental list "You can bet that those names are on that list."
"A lot of them are your son's friends." explained Tsunade
Later that night Hinata Hyuuga walked down the hallways of the house she had grown up in. While all her friends had moved out into either their own apartments or shared apartments with their friends and or lover. That wasn't the Hyuuga way; no members of the main house lived in the main house until they were married. Since her father had no male heir preparations were also underway for when Hinata and Hanabi were married and no longer members of the clan, the top contender to take over when that happened was Neji however they couldn't worry about that now.
The place was strangely quiet, only the sound of the running water and fireflies filled the air as Hinata walked past the small indoor garden. She paused for a moment just looking out over the garden. Her eyes widened as she thought she saw a blonde haired man sitting on by the edge of the garden.
"Gamba?" asked Hinata as the image disappeared. "I am just tired."
Hinata walked into her own bedroom falling down onto the bed, her head resting on the pillow. The moment she closed her eyes she felt an arm around her waist.
"Hinata." whispered a voice into her ear as a chill went down her spine as she rolled over to see Gamba's smiling face. She smiled back as her lips moved toward his they where only inches away. Suddenly her eyes opened and she was looking up at her bedroom ceiling. She sat up and looked around the room. There was no sign of any intruder; suddenly she remembered she had gotten ready for bed only to find herself walking the house.
"It was a dream." answered Hinata as ran her fingers though her air as mentally hit herself for having a dream like that about a demon. "God damn it he is a fucking demon, why am I dreaming about him? What is wrong with me?"
Well I hope you liked this chapter. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75.
