Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 015: After the Amazeo Village Disaster!
The soldiers of Abraham and Tetsuga had murdered all of the villagers of Amazeo Village and had returned to Lazarus to report back to Antoine.
"I see, the spy was not there after all, oh my, and all of those people, dead for no reason." said Antoine with a look of sorrow.
"No, don't mourn them, they were dead long before we got to them." said Tetsuga with an emotionless look on his face as he walked by Antoine.
"In any case, we suffered no casualties ourselves, so now we can plan which village we attack next in the general area." said Greshem with anticipation.
"We do not just kill civilians for the hell of it, we do it, in order to allow them to leave this terrible world and be together in the afterlife." said Antoine as he held up a kunai to Greshem in a threatening manner.
"Sorry sir, you are right." said Greshem with a panicked look on his face.
"I suggest you and the others return to the barracks at once, before I kill you." said Antoine as he turned into a ball of plasma and drifted into the sky.
"Does he not like what we had to do?" asked a soldier standing near Greshem.
"I don't know, but why should he care about those villagers, they were nothing, it's like they never even existed anyway." said Greshem as he and the other soldiers returned to their post.
Seven in the morning came about, as Naruto was the first to wake up amongst his team.
"Man, morning has came, this is day two of our journey, it should only take us seven to reach the destination marked in this scroll." said Naruto to himself quietly.
"Though I do wonder who this guy is that wants to meet me so badly, what is he like, and why is he so intent on meeting me like this?" asked Naruto to Kurama in his mind.
"I do not know either, but I could sense nothing but ill will in those three men and soldiers when they invaded the village, so it cannot be something halfway decent." said Kurama with a scowl.
"That is what I was thinking, if their boss is my number one fan, I guess that could be interpreted a few different ways." said Naruto as Shikamaru woke up.
"Oh goodness, that was an uncomfortable dream, I was too worried about the chances of this mission going awry." said Shikamaru to Naruto as he stretched out.
"I am back, I woke up around six in the morning, figured I would go off a little and paint some of these trees around us." said Sai as he returned shortly after.
"Did you see anything suspicious out there?" asked Naruto.
"Well, this one flower was a cross between a daisy and a tulip." said Sai.
"That is not what I mean dammit!" said Naruto.
"I am awake now, one cannot sleep through all of this yelling." said Sakura as she was upset about the manner in which she awoke.
"Shikamaru, what do you think we should do now?" asked Naruto as the four shinobi packed up their bedrolls and tents and headed towards the Land of Wind's border, which would be their first checkpoint.
"Just do what you would normally do, Naruto." said Shikamaru.
"Ummm, okay, I guess." said Naruto who had the boss of the soldiers that invaded his village, on his mind.
"Hmmm, should we run into any opposition, I have finally stored enough chakra to surge my taijutsu and genjutsu to new heights." said Sakura to herself quietly as the four man team all hopped the trees of the sunny forest of the Land of Fire towards their next destination.
In Sunagakure, Temari and Kankuro had returned to Gaara's office a few hours after Sasuke left.
"So, there is someone around the Land of Earth that wished to invade the Five Shinobi Villages, who would wonder why this could be?" asked Kankuro with a look of confusion on his face.
"It is probably some extremists from minor villages, and other locations, that had banded together after the war ended, in order to take the larger nations down." said Temari to Kankuro.
"No, I don't think so, not from what Sasuke told me, it seems to be something more professional than that, seems more like an official army to me." said Gaara with concern.
"You mean these bastards could wage another war if they wanted to?" asked Kankuro with disbelief.
"Maybe, although I doubt that is what their goal is." said Gaara as he awaited for Sasuke to return with more information.
"All of our villagers and shinobi know of this, and now we will wait for Konohagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure to respond back in relations to this new occurrence." said Temari to her brothers.
"Yes, that is all we can do." said Gaara thinking of Naruto.
Sasuke had been using his Amenotejikara to rapidly advance throughout the land, and had arrived near the Land of Earth, as he planned on notifying the Tsuchikage next.
"I should be there in around twenty minutes, I just hope the people of this village have forgiven me over these past two years, but even if they have not, we still have a much larger threat to deal with." thought Sasuke to himself, thinking of when he attacked the Five Kage Summit.
A few more hours passed, as Naruto and his team had arrived at the border of the Land of Wind.
"I wonder why these directions did not have us just travel through Kusagakure, instead of taking the long way around through the Land of Wind, then Ishigakure, and finally the Land of Earth?" asked Shikamaru to himself.
"That is a good question, but at least we bought plenty of rations with us to accommodate the long journey." said Sakura.
"Naruto, why don't you just fly, and have that Nine Tails carry the rest of us?" asked Sai, knowing of what Naruto was really capable of.
"I have to spare as much chakra as possible, plus we would be spotted a hell of a lot easier too Sai, come on you were in the Root once, use your brain for once." said Naruto as he felt good returning a joke at Sai for all of the times he was pestered in the past by the former Root member.
"Goodness you two, relax, but that is a good point, Naruto had shown that he can fly when that Kaguya had teleported us above the lake of lava, but I just assumed that power came from the Sage." said Sakura.
"No, I can still use the Sage's Six Paths Senjutsu, though only in the most dire needs, let's just hope such an occurrence does not take place on this mission." said Naruto with concern.
"You mentioned Ishigakure earlier, I have never been there myself, it goes by another name, the Village Hidden in the Stones." said Shikamaru.
"Sounds like the name that Iwagakure goes by." said Sakura.
"Both villages have similar terrain, but the climate for Ishigakure is usually always rainy and foggy, unlike the sunny weather in Iwagakure." said Shikamaru.
"I see, well, nothing to do now but continue along this road surrounded by oil derricks." said Sai as the four shinobi traveled down a long road on the side of the desert surrounded by power lines, oil derricks, and construction sites.
Sasuke had arrived in Iwagakure around one in the afternoon, and was quick to arrive at the Tsuchikage's mansion.
Kurotsuchi spotted him, but was unable to recognize him.
"Oh my, who is this handsome fellow?" asked Kurotsuchi to herself as she walked towards Sasuke.
"I need to speak with Ohnoki on the manner of Konohagakure being attacked by soldiers from the city of Lazarus, which resides in your own country." said Sasuke with a serious tone.
"You serious, well, gramps is bored to death, he will be happy, well I mean upset to hear this, hehehe." laughed Kurotsuchi as she and Sasuke arrived in the Tsuchikage's office.
"Hey geezer wake up, some kind of messenger is here to tell you something of great value." said Kurotsuchi loudly.
"Eh, what, what the hell is with all of the damn commotion, jeez!" yelled Ohnoki as he fell from his chair and all of his paper work flew around the room.
"Once you are comfortable, I wish to speak with you about a threat that I believe to be in your own country, a place called Lazarus." said Sasuke with his Sharingan and Rinnegan de-activated.
"Hmmm, this kid looks familiar, but I cannot place it on my mind who he is." said Ohnoki to himself.
"W...wait, did you say a threat resides in our own country?" asked Ohnoki with surprise.
"Yes, I am Sasuke Uchiha, I act on behalf of Kakashi Hatake, the Sixth Hokage, and I have already spoken with the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara on this manner as well." said Sasuke with a calm tone.
"Oh, I remember you, good to see that you and Naruto had resolved your issues after all, hohoho." laughed Ohnoki with a jolly laugh.
"But, if this manner is as serious as you say, and if this city called Lazarus resides in our own Land of Earth, I will personally escort a brand of soldiers from the Alliance around my own village to investigate." said Ohnoki.
"I heard this information from Orochimaru, and although most of the world hates him, I have a deep connection, a honest one with him, and he is also trying to stop this Lazarus from carrying out whatever goal they have in mind." said Sasuke firmly.
"I see, Orochimaru must be more interested in what you do, rather than attacking the Leaf again." said Ohnoki.
"Well, our village was attacked, but these Knights of Dawn, eight shinobi who work for the city of Lazarus, each one of them is on the level of a member of the Akatsuki, I believe." said Sasuke thinking back to his fight with Jesei Leikough.
"Damn, I would have never guessed, any idea on who could be the mastermind behind this whole thing?" asked Ohnoki with shock.
"He goes by the name, The Apathetic Judge, and his is the leader of the entire city, and he also commands these Knights of Dawn as well." said Sasuke.
"I have a scroll that will tell you more information in detail, I must head towards Kumogakue next, and notify them, it should only take me one day with my teleportation." said Sasuke as he started to leave the office.
"Sasuke wait, if Gaara had not already suggested it, we could hold a new Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron, to discuss this new threat." said Ohnoki.
"Gaara already suggested the idea, and he agrees as well." said Sasuke as he was determined to get the word out to all of the Kages.
"He just disappeared gramps, wow, he was hot too." said Kurotsuchi who was blushing.
"You stupid young people, just remember everything that Sasuke told us, if Lazarus is close by to our home territory, we are in the most danger." said Ohnoki thinking of who this Apathetic Judge could possibly be.
Elsewhere, Lehourihm Nante and Dreatoen Morea were standing on one of the balconies located on the Castle of Leviticus discussing their next move.
"Naruto Uzumaki should be here within the week, six days to be more exact, and I wonder if he will bring any friends with him?" asked Dreatoen with a smirk on his face.
"Perhaps, but why are the directions to our village so out-of-the-way, it just makes the journey for Naruto longer and more inefficient." said Lehourihm to Dreatoen.
"That is a good point, but our boss wanted it that way when he created the Invitation, besides, Jesei has left for Ishigakure, the place where Naruto and his lackeys should be arriving at soon anyway." said Dreatoen as he walked back into one of the towers on top of the castle.
"I just don't see the point of beating around the bush, if this Naruto is as special as The Apathetic Judge said, then why put off the onset of meeting him?" asked Lehourihm to himself as he hopped down the various walls of the castle in order to head towards the center of the city.
Jesei was traveling to Ishigakure on his own, hoping to arrive there before Naruto and his team would.
"Heh, I wonder how the mission at Amazeo went, hehehe, I have my own mission to worry about anyway." said Jesei to someone on the other end of a radio call.
"The proceeds of the mission went well, all of those godless heathens got what was coming to them, breaking down the will of the Land of Earth will benefit us greatly." said a deep, seemingly psychotic voice on the other end of the radio.
"Yes, boss, I understand, who is with Naruto, if you do not mind me asking?" exclaimed Jesei as five in the evening of Naruto's second day on his journey rolled around.
"Sakura Haruno, apprentice of Tsunade Senju, Shikamaru Naara, son of Shikaku, and Sai, son of Leihon and Amizu Orisha, although Danzo killed them and took him into Root himself." said the Apathetic Judge across the radio to Jesei with a deep, booming tone.
"Okay, I now know what to expect, I will use my Sacred Sword of Rah'Zuh, Kommittomentto, to help me." said Jesei as he had his scroll with him.
"That is all well, test out the abilities of Sakura Haruno, see if she is worthy of being a shinobi on Uzumaki's team, be sure to look out for other intrusions as well." said the Apathetic Judge as he ended the call.
"I will boss, I will." thought Jesei to himself as he ran in a valley full of oak trees on his way through the Land of Earth, on his way to Ishigakure.
"This will be of the most amazing caliber of battles I could dream of, I cannot wait." said Jesei to himself as he was excited at facing Sakura in combat.
A team of Iwagakure Shinobi had arrived at the town of Amazeo Village, only to see the dead three hundred civilians with vultures picking away at their dead bodies in the sun-baking heat.
"What the fuck, what happened here?" asked one of the Hidden Stone Shinobi.
"Who ever did this is a dead man!" said the captain of the platoon of seven Iwagakure Shinobi who had Shinobi Alliance headbands on.
"Hira is dead, and your wife too, you do not want to see the bodies, sir." said one of the shinobi with tears in his eyes.
"Hira, Isa, no, nooooooo!" yelled the father with agony as he fell to his knees, the other six shinobi also kneeled with him and placed their hands on him for comfort.
"Isa, Hira, I swear, I will kill whatever motherfucking bastard did this to you, do you hear me!" yelled the man as his eyes were bloodshot and tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Joakim, don't worry we will avenge these villagers, the killers did not do a good job of covering their foot steps." said one of the shinobi as he pointed at foot prints in the dirt leading west of Amazeo.
"Good, now, to do the same to them as they did to these poor villagers." said Joakim as he had a Kunai marked with a symbol in his left hand.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 016...-