Kaibunkage
Arc I
Chapter III
"If you've come to stop me, you might as well turn back around. I will not wait for Danzo to give me permission anymore. It's time for me to take lead, just like they did… I'm sorry Ino, but I can't let you stop me! I will bring them both back, shannaro!"
- Haruno Sakura
A large clay bird flew over the area quietly carrying two men on it.
"I don't see them." stated the blond. "Maybe the brat actually died in the explosion, hm."
"No. She survived." the second man, who was fully clothed in a black robe and a large conical straw hat, stated. "The man with her got her out in time."
"Wait, I got something, yeah." the blond said. "Five of them, moving in fast." A smirk came on the blond's face. "Time to show them my art, yeah!"
"You're right, to a degree." stated Deidara's partner. "But we should hurry. The longer we take the further she could have gone."
"Right, Master Sasori." Deidara responded.
Sakura gave a breath of relief, resting her soar arms. Rowing a boat a full strength from what was considered the 'midway' point between Kiri and Kemuri was tiresome, but she was close. She, along with Yukimaru and Sayuri, were no in the port at Uzushio no Sato, the tourist and commerce village of the Land of Ash.
Sayuri nodded at the man at a local stand before going back to Sakura and Yukimaru.
"The Kaibunkage has not been through here yet. We're too early." Sayuri said. Sakura's eyes showed Sayuri that those were the wrong words to say. "But… We're going to go ahead and go to Kemuri where you'll meet Old Lady Mei. From there, you're out of my hands."
Sakura smiled. "You're annoying, did you know that?"
"Bite me." responded the Smoke jonin. While she knew that Sakura could probably kill her on the spot, she would never let anyone get the last word. Not Mei, not Naruto, and definitely not Sakura. "Let's go. It's quite the journey."
Sakura raised an eyebrow before Yukimaru quietly followed Sayuri into the village. Seeing no other choice, Sakura began to follow the two younger shinobi.
Sooner or later she would be half-way done with her self-giving mission.
Naruto looked around. His eyes were slowly morphing into that of the cursed fox's eyes. He was trying his best to keep his anger in control, but that was easier said than done. Here he was, in his daughter's bedroom, staring at four down guards, blood splattered walls, and a bed that had been blown into two pieces. A hand rubbed the burnt sheets of his daughter's bed.
He closed his eyes, hot tears threatening to spill. That is, until a clone in a separate room dispelled, sending him some good information. Shiori had escaped with Jakken. Naruto then sighed. She was still being protected by Jakken, a man who Naruto trusted more than most of his ANBU. He figured his daughter and/or Jakken must have forgotten to take the special kunai he had given Shiori in their haste to leave.
"Hey Boss," stated another clone. Naruto turned to see his clone holding Shion's body. "I figured we'd take her back to Kemuri to have a proper burial."
"Hai." the young Kaibunkage said.
"There was a message," the clone continued. "Akatsuki has learned of Shiori's special abilities, but they do not know whether or not she is your- our- daughter. Joining up with Gaara has now become more of a necessity than a want."
Naruto nodded before moving towards Shiori's closet. He had given his daughter a handful of useful things that she thought were just cool trinkets. He searched until he found what he was looking for; a glass ball.
Concentrating like he once saw the Third Hokage do, Naruto closed his eyes and muttered one thing.
"Shiori."
The ball in his hands began to glow and show the little girl sleeping against Jakken, who was wide away looking around.
"Aku!" Naruto called. A man with long brown hair and golden eyes appeared at the door wearing white robes. "I'm going to take Shion's body with me. I need you to tell the Demon Country council that our alliance is still in tact. I don't blame any of you for her death."
Aku bowed. "Thank you, Uzumaki-sama."
"Shiori will stay with me for now." Naruto said. Aku knew better than to argue with the irate father, even if it was custom for the priestess to be taught in Oni no Kuni.
"I understand, Uzumaki-sama. She is your daughter first and a priestess second." Aku said.
"Right." Naruto said before he and his clone carrying Shion disappeared with a Smoke Shushin.
Aku raised his head before a hand came onto his shoulder.
"Leader-sama wants a talk with us." a mysterious man said from behind Aku. "Our next mission is to capture and seal the Ichibi. Sasori and Deidara can handle Shiori."
"Right." Aku responded.
Hokuto looked over her shoulder.
"Akane, how far is he?" Hokuto asked.
Akane's eyes now were golden with four black hooks around her pupil. This was known as the Katsugan.
"Four hundred yards and decreasing." Akane replied.
"Alright then," stated the Hoshikage's wife as she built her chakra up. Akane watched as four chakra wings sprouted. "Keep an eye on Sasori."
"Hai Lady Hokuto." Akane stated before Hokuto took off for Deidara.
Deidara mused at the sight. "So she can fly? This just became interesting, yeah!"
Akane kept focus on Deidara and Hokuto's fight until she saw something moving towards her at high speeds. She ducked beneath the sharp extendable tail of Sasori's Hiruko puppet.
"We can't seem to break that thing." the eagle-masked ANBU said.
"I don't really see a weak spot on it." replied the redhead. "We're just going to have to make one."
"Hai." the ANBU said.
Akane and the eagle-masked ANBU took off for Sasori who was sheltered in his Hiruko puppet. While the two ran, Akane thought about her true purpose on being out here. There was no sign of Shiori or her caravan, but Akane had a faint hold of the girl's chakra signature. For the time, Shiori was still alive.
Shikamaru stifled a yawn.
"As I was saying," continued Aburame Shibi. "The Akatsuki will soon become a threat to all of us, not just villages with jinchuriki. It is safe to say that we should have taken the Kazekage's offer."
Danzo gave a small nod. "I see." Danzo's visible eye then turned to Shikamaru. "And what about you Nara? Surely you have a plan about what we should do."
"…" Shikamaru would never forgive his dad for naming him head of the clan just so Shikamaru could attend these meetings while Shikaku stayed at home and rested. "Honestly, I don't really care about them." This caused the others at the table, sans Asuma, to frown in curiosity. "They're going around collecting biju. Konoha no longer houses a biju. Besides, after we rejected the Kazekage twice, I doubt he would be willing to take our helping hand anyway."
Inuzuka Tsume growled. "What kind of shinobi are you? There are men running around collecting the strongest bodies of chakra and all you can think of is sitting around and staying out of there way!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Actually, I did try to help out, ten years ago. Of course, I wasn't head of my clan yet, so my words meant nothing." Shikamaru's eyes then became cold and calculating. "But I did vote against Naruto's punishment. If you and the others would have listened, then he might have stayed and we could have had a legit reason in fighting Akatsuki."
"This is about some jinchuriki?" Utatane Koharu said. "Had we not restricted Naruto's movements, who knows what could have happened? Akatsuki would have found out where he is and came for him. The village would have been attacked like Suna or even worse!"
"And we would've fought them off. It's the common life of a shinobi." Shikamaru said.
"Your friendliness with the container is clouding your judgment. What we did was for the best of the village." Mitokado Homura said.
"You're right. Losing the Kyubi no Kitsune was the best thing for the village." responded a sarcastic Shikamaru. "We really don't need the strongest of the biju on our side."
Danzo raised a hand, stopping the argument from going on any further.
"You hold a strong point, Nara Shikamaru," Danzo stated. "However, what is done is done. No need in worrying over a traitor, jinchuriki or not." Shikamaru gave a small sigh. "As it stands, I am not a big supporter of alliances. I only look out for the best of my village."
"And what do you suggest, Lord Hokage?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked with a small hint of disdain. It was no secret that the Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Nara clans were not Danzo's biggest supporters in the village.
"We will renew our alliance with Sunagakure. But only until this Akatsuki is taken down." Danzo said. "We will use our resources from Nami no Kuni to aid us."
"You mean sacrificing their men for our war?" Inoichi questioned.
"If that's what you want to call it, then yes." responded the Hokage. "They are still debt with us."
"The Third-"
"Is dead." Danzo finished before Inoichi could argue any more. "And I am now Hokage. We will do it that way." Inoichi only nodded. "Now, I will send a team to Wave to let them know of our deal."
Shikamaru only glanced at the others around him. While a handful of them actually agreed with Danzo's ruling, the rest clearly expressed differently.
"Troublesome…" the Nara muttered beneath his breath so that no one else would hear.
Hokuto panted as she looked around. She had dodged a handful of Deidara's Exploding Clay that he had shaped into a variety of birds and insects. She had used the Mysterious Peacock Method: Beast twice to shield her from the explosions and now her chakra was beginning to thin. She did not have the reserves her husband did.
The sound of metal slapping skin caught her attention and she watched Akane tumble on the ground after being slapped away by Sasori's tail. Two of the three ANBU members were now dead and the last one, the dragon-masked ANBU, was currently aiding Akane to her feet.
"We should've waited." Hokuto said to herself.
The dragon-masked ANBU ran through four seals before inhaling. He fired a fireball into the air which branched off into smaller fireballs, raining down on Sasori (Fire Release: Hell's Rain Jutsu). Hokuto watched as the attack landed on the puppet user, the area around him becoming engulfed in flames.
"He's still alive." Akane said to the ANBU before the tail shot from the flames towards the two. Akane and the ANBU dodged the tail and charged towards the flames, Akane doing hand seals. "Harpie Transformation!"
In a puff of smoke, Akane had gone through a quick transformation. She now sprouted two green wings from her back, her arms covered by green fur up to her elbows. Her nails and canine teeth had grown longer as well as her red hair.
Akane knew that even in her transformed state, she would not be able to defeat Sasori. But her main job was to get the Kaibunkage's daughter to safety. And she would. Even at the expense of her own life.
Sasori swung his tail for the redhead through the flames, only for Akane to skillfully dodge it with a twirl. The Star Nin flew into the air, drawing attention to her. She spotted Sasori turn towards her before firing several of senbon needles from the mouth of Hiruko. To counter it, Akane inhaled before exhaling a loud, supersonic screech that knocked the senbon away (Hyper Howl).
Explosions caused Akane to focus on the fight to her right.
Hokuto rolled on the ground before standing up slowly. She was breathing heavy and her hair was free of the ponytail style she had it in earlier. Obviously, dodging Deidara's explosions was some kind of disrespect to the former Iwa Nin and it only further irritated him.
Hokuto smiled slightly. If she lived this, she would beat the hell out of her husband for putting her in this position in the first place.
"Now it's time for some real art, hm!" Deidara shouted from above.
Hokuto's eyes caught something coming for the blond. It appeared to be a kunai falling from the sky behind Deidara. Hokuto's eyes widened once Naruto appeared above Deidara.
"Rasengan!"
Deidara was able to move at the last moment, but it was at the expense of his left shoulder and arm.
"Shit!" Deidara cursed as Naruto descended towards the ground. "That brat just ripped my arm off!"
Hokuto watched the ground beneath Naruto crater as he stood up. She stared into the eyes of the sage before he glanced over his shoulder at Deidara, who was holding his left arm in place with his right.
"Are you alright?" Naruto asked Hokuto.
"A little tired and a few burns, but I'm alright." Hokuto said.
"Shiori was led that way," stated the blond as he pointed. "Please, go find her."
"Hai Lord Kaibunkage." Hokuto said. This was no time for casual talk. She was on duty as was Naruto.
Deidara watched Hokuto run off before turning his attention towards the angered man.
"You Akatsuki bastards killed the mother of my child!" Naruto shouted with anger. "For that, I'm going to make you pay!"
"Naruto-sama! Watch out!" Akane called before Naruto turned and grabbed Sasori's tail. Akane gasped. "N-no way…"
Naruto gave Sasori's tail a pull, yanking the puppet user towards him. Akane watched the Kaibunkage land a bone shattering punch on Sasori, sending him flying the opposite way now. Deidara watched in awe as someone he admired was just manhandled by, what appeared to be, a whiskered Yondaime Hokage.
Sasori rose to his feet. "So you're the Kaibunkage? A little young, but strong nonetheless." Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Deidara, go retrieve the target. I'll catch up to you soon."
"Right, Master Sasori." Deidara said before the clay bird flew off.
Naruto gave Akane a glance the told her to chase after Deidara, which she did.
"Uzumaki Naruto," began Sasori. "The Kyubi no Kitsune. I'm impressed that you've grown this strong. A sage. A kage." Sasori watched as Naruto took off his kage robes, revealing his black shirt and orange pants beneath them. "Not wasting time, huh? I like that."
A red chakra cloak outlined Naruto's body as he glared at Sasori.
"You murdered the mother of my daughter. That's something I will never forgive you for." Naruto said. "Then again, I wouldn't expect you to know the love of parent."
"Enough talking. You're delaying me from my mission." Sasori said.
"Fine then!" Naruto called as he took off for Sasori.
The Village Hidden in Smoke was by all means a large village, possibly on par with the Hidden Leaf. However, there were many differences that Sakura spotted instantly. First off were the many districts in the village which Akane referred to as 'rings'. Second and most noticeably, were the three mountains that formed the northern barrier of the village, the center one actually being a dormant volcano.
Currently, Sakura was waiting patiently as Sayuri went in to talk to the acting leader of the village. The door was closed, but Sakura could still hear bits and pieces of the briefing/argument. Finally, Sayuri came to the door.
"She's ready to see you." said the Smoke jonin. "Tread lightly. I doubt you're strong enough to take on a full fledge kage."
Sakura did not respond as she stepped into office. Mei sat at Naruto's, leaning back in the chair. Sakura looked at the older woman carefully. She had not heard much about this Terumi Mei, next to the fact that she was from Kiri and was denied position of Mizukage for some reason.
"Sayuri tells me that you're here looking for Naruto." began the temp Kaibunkage. "Why?"
"I'd like to tell him that when he gets here." Sakura replied.
Mei arched her visible eyebrow. "Do you think that you'll be able to? You are a wanted shinobi and the Hokage would pay high dollar if we were to return you on a silver platter." Sakura glared at Mei. "It is in your best interest to tell me what you want now or be held in a prison until Naruto returns and decides what your fate should be. Your choice."
Sakura closed her eyes to maintain her calm. She knew that if she lost her cool now, it would be a while before she had another chance to confront Naruto, if ever. But she still did not want to give in to this woman so easily.
"Fine."
Mei frowned. "Fine?"
Sakura raised her hand. "Lock me in a prison." This caused Mei to sit up. "But, when Naruto does come to see, I want to talk to him one-on-one. No one else."
"You do know that I can't change his rulings," Mei said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "If, and I do mean if, Naruto agrees to those conditions then fine. You will have a private conversation with the Kaibunkage." A small smile formed on the pinkette's face. "I'm only going to warn you of this once. The Kaibunkage I know and the Leaf Nin that you remember are two different people. Don't take him for the dead-last of Konoha."
"Trust me. I won't." Sakura replied.
Sasori was not surprised that Naruto had forced him to use his most treasured puppet; himself. In fact, Sasori was actually prepared for the moment. Whether or not he would admit, Sasori was curious as to how the so-called kage of the Hidden Smoke would do. Plus, it was also a plus that Naruto was the Kyubi container. Whether or not there was an actual order in how the biju were to be captured did not matter at the moment. The Nine-tailed Fox presented itself. He would take the opportunity now.
"I'm surprised that you're still alive. You've been hit. Twice." Sasori said.
Naruto grunted, his eyes now blue while his left hand was on his right shoulder. The hits Sasori were talking about were now direct blows, but they were enough to do the job. Naruto could feel the poison going through his veins. But he would not die. Not today at least.
Naruto removed his hand and held his hands in front of him. A ball of fire formed in his left while a ball of wind formed in his right. He smashed his hands together before thrusting his right hand forward, a spiral the blended elements shooting towards Sasori in a the form of a slender white dragon (Fire and Wind Release: White Dragon Flame Bullet).
Sasori was able to dodge the attack, but the large dragon only turned into the air and dove for Sasori. The Akatsuki member dodged a second time, this time the white flamed beast dispersed, sending white flames everywhere. He caught onto Naruto sending a kunai towards him. Sasori's mind instantly knew what to do next seeing this strategy before. A strategy used by the Fourth Fire Shadow, of course.
Sidestepping the kunai, Sasori waited for Naruto to teleport to the location of the kunai, only for the kunai to whiz by and embed into the ground. Sasori turned towards Naruto who was now running for him. When Naruto was in punching range, he threw a blow at Sasori. The redhead arched his head back to dodge the blow, only for a slash to come across his left cheek. Sasori immediately backtracked before he glanced at Naruto's hands.
Naruto held red trench knives similar to those of Asuma.
"More surprises," the Akatsuki member stated as he retrieve a scroll from his back.
Naruto glared. "No matter what you do, I'm going to kill you."
Naruto ran for Sasori once more before several of explosions erupted in front of him, causing him to halt. Naruto covered himself momentarily before the smoke cleared. His eyes were now morphed into that of the mixture of Sage Mode and his jinchuriki formation as he watched Deidara fly off with Sasori.
Naruto was seconds away from going after the two before something caught his attention.
"Daddy!"
Naruto paused before turning towards his daughter. He knelt down and hugged her tightly and her arms went around his neck just as tight. Naruto stood up before his eyes caught onto Hokuto, Akane, Ranmaru, and Guren.
"Deidara got away," explained the violet hair teen. "As well as all three ANBU dying. But the two knights and Jakken are safe."
"Naruto-dono," Jakken stated with a bow. "I'm sorry for my incompetence. I was unable to protect Lady Shion."
Naruto eyed the black hair man before sighing.
"It is alright. Rise." Naruto said. Jakken stood up before pushing his glasses towards his face. "We'll return to Kemuri." Naruto looked at the knights. "You two should return to Demon Country. I can handle it from here." The two knights gave a salute before walking away. "Hokuto-chan, thank you for your help. Tell Sumaru that I'm not waiting for Gaara's response. As soon as I get Shiori-chan calmed, I'm going to Suna and I will literally kill anyone who tries to stop me from speaking to the Kazekage."
"Naruto-kun…" Hokuto paused before sighed and bowed, realizing that this was still one of those times where friendship was not going to interfere with politics. "Hai, Lord Kaibunkage. Is that all?"
"Yes… I would like you guys to be there for Shion-chan's…" Hokuto nodded at the pause.
"We will." Hokuto stated.
"Alright. I hope you two make it back safely." Naruto said. "Guren. I'm ready."
"Hai." Guren said before a large pink dragon rose behind her, this one nearly twice as large as the first one she had created.
Naruto waited until a clone arrived, carrying Shion's body. While Naruto shielded Shiori from view, the others saw the priestess's corpse. As the clone boarded the dragon, Naruto gave Hokuto one final nod before the crystal creature flew off.
"Let's go." Naruto said.
The large dragon flew off leaving Hokuto and Akane behind, the latter ending her transformation and dojutsu.
"He left his hat and robe." Akane announced as she went to retrieve Naruto's kage hat and robe.
"He has extras of those." replied Hokuto. "Come on. We have quite the journey back to Hoshi."
"Hai Lady Hokuto." Akane said.
Yamanaka Ino had dismissed her students for the day and had joined her two former teammates at their usual table at Yakiniku Q, a rack of ribs being cooked in-between Shikamaru and Choji while Ino sat beside Shikamaru with a bored stare.
"Why did I have to volunteer to be a jonin sensei?" questioned the blonde.
"Just what could a bunch of kids do to you Ino-chan?" Choji responded.
"You'd be surprised." Ino said. "I see why Asuma-sensei bribed us so much." Ino glanced over at Shikamaru. "Hey, Shika, what's wrong with you?"
Shikamaru sighed. "We're going to try to renew our alliance with Suna." Ino and Choji gave Shikamaru a curious glance. "By we, I mean Choji and I now have a mission with Neji to go to Suna and get the Kazekage to come back to Konoha. Danzo wants the alliance done on his terms in his village."
"I don't trust them. The last time those Sand guys were in our village was during our Chunin Exams. They nearly destroyed the village." Ino said.
"Yeah. Had it not been for…" Choji paused as he glanced at Ino. For one reason or another, speaking about any of the 'Unspeakable Three' caused Ino much grief. Therefore, Shikamaru and Choji did their best to steer away from the subject until now.
"I don't want to meet that troublesome woman again." Shikamaru stated.
Ino frowned. "What are you talking about Shika? Last time you could've taken her down. There's no way that she could beat you now."
"Not on her own," replied the Nara. "But I doubt that I could defeat the Kazekage, who is her brother. Man, this is such a drag."
Ino smiled softly. "You two can do it. And Shika?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Shikamaru said.
Chuukan Point was the current location the three Leaf shinobi sent to find Sakura were at. While Kiba and Akamaru sniffed around, Tokuma used his Byakugan to search the ground.
"She was here," announced the dog-user. "Two others were here with her. But they're scent gets distorted with a few others. Like a sick gas or something." Torune and Tokuma frowned. "Either way, it's going to be hard tracking them down now. I'm getting sick just by smelling the stuff."
"My guess is that they continued south." Tokuma said.
Torune retrieved a map that he had gained from the resting area on the small island.
"The Land of Ash is down there." Torune said to his two teammates. "Rumor has it that they don't like trespassers on their land."
KIba nodded before coughing heavily. Tokuma glanced at Kiba, studying the coughing man with his Byakugan.
"Poison." Tokuma said.
"We'll return to Konoha." said Torune. "There is no need to pursue her any farther. The Smoke shinobi will most likely kill her."
"Hai." Tokuma said as he went to help Kiba onto his feet. "Do we have anything to stop the poison?"
"No." replied Torune. "The closest hospital is in Wave. That's where we'll go."
"C- (coughs) Come on, Akamaru." Kiba said.
The dog staggered behind Torune and Tokuma, just as poisoned as its master.
"Do you think that Sakura did go to Ash Country?" Tokuma asked Torune.
Torune shrugged as the trio and dog neared a boat.
"It is a good guess." responded the Aburame. "Of course, knowing who she is, there has to be a reason that she would go down there."
"And this poison? What do you make of it?" Tokuma questioned.
"Strong." Kiba coughed.
Torune remained silent. He was not known to fail missions often and the ones he did usually involved an outside force interfering with said mission. This was just another one of Sakura's tricks that they had fallen for. He made a resolution. He would return to Konoha and get permission to investigate within Kemuri. He just needed a new Inuzuka to do the job.
Sasori watched as Kakuzu stitched Deidara's arm. The four were in a hideout on the outskirts of Wind Country.
"Zetsu told us to leave. It wasn't like I ran away out of fear, hm." Deidara responded to Sasori's earlier question. "Leader-sama wants us all at the base."
Sasori glanced at Hidan.
"You and Deidara will attempt to capture the Ichibi again while those new guys will go after the priestess's daughter." It was Kakuzu that began with the explanation. "The one known as Aku has the Kaibunkage's trust. He can get into the village."
"But when he went to move the girl, her necklace burnt his hands. He can't touch her as long as she wears that bell around her neck." Sasori said.
"It's not our problem." said Hidan.
"I'd like to blow that damn prick into oblivion, yeah!" Deidara said angrily.
"We'll deal with him later." Sasori said. "For now, we'll rest for a few weeks before going after Gaara again. I'm nearly dying to kill my dear grandmother."