Dōkutsugakure no Sato

Chapter 6: High Tension

(Flashback)

"So, how did the meeting with the Third go?" Aki asked when Aku got back home.

The male twin sat on one of the couches before speaking. "Seeing that no civilian is willing to adopt Naruto, and the clan heads are getting stonewalled by the civilians and their own people, we're adopting Naruto."

Aki's eyes widened at this. "Wait, we're adopting him? Are you sure about that?" Aki questioned. "You already have so many responsibilities right now Aku, and Seimei and Daria are handfuls as it is."

"I know. But one more can't hurt. And it's not like we're lacking room," Aku countered calmly. "Plus, he needs help. We're one of the few who don't hold a grudge against him, and the only ones who haven't gotten stonewalled yet."

Aki sighed. If it wasn't for the fact that her brother thought these things thoroughly before making a decision, she would've accused him of being soft. Still though…. "What about the civilians and shinobi? You know they might try to target us."

"And as soon as they do, they are going to regret it." Aku said seriously. Then he smiled slightly. "Besides, I know that as soon as they try to hurt any of us, you are gonna bring that pain back a thousand fold."

Aki snorted. Out of the entire kunoichi population in Konoha, she quickly became known as the one you do not want to piss off. "Well, when you put up a good argument, I don't see any reason not to keep the kid with us. Daria-chan seems attached to him already."

"Yeah, that's what I thought to." Aku said, his smile getting a bit bigger. Aki returned it with a grin of her own. "By the way, we'll need to make sure that Seimei, Daria, and Naruto are in bed in a few hours. A few ANBU are going to be here; those that protect Naruto."

"Who?"

"Kakashi, Yugao, and Itachi." Aki perked up at the mention of Itachi and a small blush appeared on her face. Aku noticed that and smirked. He was very aware at the crush Aki had gain for the Uchiha.

"Don't worry Imoto. I'm sure you'll have time to talk with your crush." Aki blushed even more before looking away and letting out a huff.

"Shut it Aku. And besides, you're only a few minutes older than me." Aku chuckled in response before getting up.

"Alright. Let's check up on the three, then prepare for the meeting."

(Flashback End)

Soon, the sun began to set. When they were three-fourths the way to their destination, as well as found a good area to rest, Aku and Aki had everyone take a small break. While he knew the Konoha shinobi, and possibly Iwa's, would be looking for them, he knew that they could only run for so long before passing out in exhaustion. They needed to rest and get back their stamina for the rest of the trip, in case anything else happened.

Plus, the fact that the two shinobi factions got distracted by fighting one another helped matters.

Now, the group was resting up, with Hinata and Aku fixing some rice balls for a quick bite for the group. Aki and Anko had their eyes on Kurotsuchi while Kotetsu and Izumo were keeping watch. Everyone else was sitting down and waiting for the food.

"Alright then. After we all eat, we should continue towards our destination. Once we get out of Hi no Kuni, we'll find a place to sleep and recuperate our strength fully." Shikamaru instructed, getting nods all around.

Aku turned his eyes to Kurotsuchi. "And after we get out of the country, we're going to talk."

Kurotsuchi grunted, but didn't do anything else to show her displeasure. "By the way, why are you all running anyway? Or am I the only one that has to answer any questions?"

Aki send a questioning look to her brother, to which he shrugged. "I don't see the harm in telling her. From the looks of it, she won't be reporting to her village anytime soon."

Aki nodded and sighed. "The reason we all left was because the council of the Leaf Village decided to exile our brother, the blonde over there, from Hi no Kuni," She explained, causing Kurotsuchi's eyes to widen. "None of us were going to allow that to happen. So the rookies here got him out of that farce of a trail, and we all gathered up to get out."

Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow. "Why? Why would you all go to such lengths for him?" she asked snidely, jerking her head towards Naruto, who stiffened in annoyance.

"He's our friend," Lee said with a tone.

"And I'm not sure how Iwa does things, but Konoha nin, at least the good ones, don't abandon one of their own," Ino said tonelessly.

"Then why did they banish him?" the Iwa kunoichi asked.

"Bureaucratic nonsense," Seimei snapped. "Because he tried his damnedest to bring back the 'last LOYAL Uchiha' and failed." He scoffed. "Idiots wanting a traitor back. Konoha's civilian council is a backwards and more crooked than a snake, which says a lot because I've met Orochimaru."

"Ok, but why him?"

"None of your business," Hinata snapped. She wasn't liking this girl's tone and the day's events were pushing her already thinned patience to the limit.

"Hey, I just asked a question!"

"It's because they think I'm the Kyūbi," Naruto said. Everyone looked at him in shock. "It's because I hold the Kyūbi inside of me, and the civilians were afraid of me."

She looked shocked for a moment. Heck, Naruto was shocked as well. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to share that, but it came rolling out of his mouth unbidden. He was contemplating why he said that when she spoke up again.

"You're a jinchuriki? Then why the hell are you defying your village, dammit?"

"What the hell are you talking about, brat?" Anko demanded.

"He's a jinchuriki! He's a weapon for his village! He should just take what his village says, and do it! He doesn't deserve to do anything else!"

The temperature dropped rapidly around the group, even the fire seemed to drop a few degrees. "What did you just say?" Aki quietly hissed, the anger evident in her voice. In the corner of her eyes, she and Aku noticed Naruto stiffen.

Kurotsuchi wasn't intimidated in the least. "I said he is a weapon for his village! Nothing more, nothing less!"

That did it for Hinata. Before anyone could blink, she slapped on the Iwa kunoichi across the face, hard enough to make said kunoichi lose her balance. While Kurotsuchi recovered from the sudden smack in the face, Hinata glare at her fiercely. "You heartless bitch!" Hinata shouted in pure anger, her Byakugan flaring up. "He's not a weapon for anyone! Especially not for those corrupted civilians!"

"Is that what all of you Iwa nin think of jinchuriki?!" Daria questioned, obvious anger on her expression. "If that's the case, then you Iwa nin are all heartless warmongers!"

That angered Kurotsuchi. "How dare you?! Iwa is a great village, with each of our ninjas ready to defend the village! Even our jinchurikis are loyal, while the leaf's jinchuriki is merely disobeying his users!"

By now, many in the group are really starting to hate her. The group's more hot-headed and temperamental shinobi, as well as Hinata, looks ready to tear her apart, while the calmest of the group merely look very pissed off. Naruto himself was shaking in pure fury.

Luckily, before anyone could try and kill her, Aku spoke up. "If that was the case, if Iwa is as great as you say, along with their shinobi, why are you running?"

That shut Kurotsuchi right up. Aku gave her a stern glare. "You're on thin ice Kurotsuchi. The only reason I'm not throwing you to the wolves is because we need you, for right now. And you need us. But there isn't anything stopping us from restraining you. Best remember that."

Kurotsuchi felt her blood ran cold, especially when looking into Aku's eyes. It was a look colder than ice. "Fine," She spat, turning away so she wouldn't show any fear.

Aku nodded. "Alright." After that, he quickly finished the last rice ball. "Everyone come and get a rice ball. We leave after we finish eating." The former Konoha nin nodded eagerly and grabbed a rice ball. Hinata and Aku were well known for their cooking skills, and a meal from the both of them together was something they wanted to try.

(Iwa)

"What?!" The Tsuchikage, Onoki, shouted at the news his two shinobi gave him. He was just told that his granddaughter was kidnapped by Konoha nin, and he was immediately infuriated. "Are you sure?"

One of the Iwa nin nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. We saw her surrounded by a large group of Konoha dogs. We attacked, and Kurotsuchi tried to escape from them, but one of them recaptured her. A large group of them ran away while we were fighting the rest."

The Tsuchikage growled, his hands clenching into fists. "Those damn Konoha shinobi! It's bad enough they killed many of our shinobi in the war, now they kidnapped my granddaughter? I'm not going to let this slide!"

"Do you want us to continue our mission Lord Tsuchikage?" The ninja asked his leader.

Onoki nodded. "Those Konoha shinobi are not going to stop us from getting my granddaughter back. Rejoin your group at once, and maybe try to capture one of the Konoha shinobi. Our T & I will break through them." The two rock nin grin darkly at this and nodded before they shunshined out of the room.

After they left, Tsuchikage scowled to himself. "Those whippersnappers have made a fool out of us for the last time! Time to show the might of Iwa once again!" And promptly, his back broke once again, causing his face to twist in pain. "Ah! My back!"

(With Tsunade)

"They what?!" Tsunade shouted, slamming her hands on the table. "Are you serious, Danzō?"

The man nodded. Once he got into Tsunade's office, he began to tell her about what happened. "I'm very serious Tsunade. Our nin and Iwa's fought one another, while the group escaped, bringing the Tsuchikage's granddaughter."

Tsunade groaned. "As if we didn't have enough to deal with. First several heirs and heiresses of different clans run off, not mention a few more of our own, and now we have to deal with a possible war."

"We might be able to avoid the latter, Tsunade." Danzō suggested. That caught Tsunade's interest.

"How do we suppose we do?" Tsunade questioned. Wordlessly, Danzō pull out a scroll and gave it to Tsunade. When Tsunade read it, her eyes widened in shock and horror. "This is barbaric! Where on earth did you get this info Danzō?"

"Does it matter?" Danzō rhetorically asked. "Either way, this will stop any war brewing between us and Iwa, if they don't want this information getting out."

Tsunade nodded. "For once, I agree with you." Tsunade said, rolling up the scroll. "Assuming that the info you got is trustworthy, we can a send a letter to the Tsuchikage about this, and stop any war from brewing."

"I can assure, this info is indeed trustworthy." Danzō assured. "You know as well as I do that I don't give any information that isn't hundred percent true." Tsunade sighed. Despite Danzō's questionable methods, she couldn't deny that.

"Very well then. Once I finished this damn paper work, I'll start on that letter." Tsunade said. Danzō nodded before getting up and leaving the room. Not soon after, Shizune enter the room. "Is there something you need Shizune?"

"Yes milady. Iruka want to see you."

Tsunade wasn't surprised at this. She expected him to come here. "Alright. Bring him in." A second later, Iruka walked into the room. "What is it you need Iruka?"

The chunin took a deep breath before speaking. "I would like to join the search for Naruto and the others."

(With Kakashi)

'Never thought Team 7 would end up like this.' Kakashi thought as he walked through the village. He couldn't focus on anything, not even on his favorite series, due to the shocking news he had been received. And since Tsunade-sama had forbidden him and the other senseis from chasing after their genin teams because of the possibility of conflict of interests between them, he decided to take a stroll before the sun sets. 'First, Sasuke left the village and joined Orochimaru. Now, Naruto left the village to escape banishment. Can't blame him for that though.'

He was glad that Naruto's adopted family, along with the rookies and other shinobi, stood by Naruto's side and helped him. While it was odd that all of them were willing to leave their families to save him, he was glad that they were not abandoning their comrade. Like the council was about to do.

He was a bit disappointed in Sakura, though. Not just because she decided to not join the rest of the rookies, but because of how she treated Naruto when he got back. 'I hoped Sakura and Sasuke took my nindo to heart. Guess I was wrong.' Hopefully, when she thought about her actions, she would realize how badly she treated her teammate and friend. She would have to, considering all of her friends left with Naruto.

When he got near the village gate, he saw Iruka starting to head out of the village. "Iruka." Kakashi called out. The man turned around when Kakashi called him. "You're planning to go find Naruto and the others, aren't you?"

Iruka nodded. "Maybe I could talk to them about coming back to Konoha. See if we can stop the council from banishing them."

"Are you sure you can convince them?" Kakashi asked him. "And even if you do, are you sure you could stop the civilian council, the stubborn people they are, from banishing Naruto?"

Iruka closed his eyes. "I have to try." Iruka said quietly. "And if I can't, well, I wish all of them the best of luck. But I at least have to try." Kakashi nodded.

"I wish the best of luck to you Iruka." Kakashi said. Iruka nodded before turning towards the gate and walking out. "Be careful out there."

Iruka didn't respond, merely kept moving. After Iruka was out of site, Kakashi went back to his house, to hopefully catch some sleep. But he could not shake off the bad feeling that crept into his heart.

(With the group)

Naruto and the group has been running for a whole night straight. They occasionally took breaks, but other than that, they didn't let themselves stop for too long. Too long might have Konoha or Iwa catch up to them.

"How long until we get out of the borders of Hi no Kuni, Shikamaru?" Aku asked the instigator of the entire plan.

"It shouldn't be long. We're almost there." Shikamaru answered. "Once we get to the borders, Konoha will have to stop chasing us. And since we will be in Oto, Iwa will have to hold off for a while, otherwise they risk a war with Orochimaru."

"That'll give us a lot of time to rest." Ino said in exhaustion. "I'm getting tired of running."

"I agree." Yakumo agreed with her fellow kunoichi, the same amount of exhaustion in her voice.

Seimei grinned at his female teammate. "Come on Yakumo, show some more stamina! The rest of us are only a little bit tired!"

"Well excuse me that all of you focus on ninjutsu and taijutsu, abilities consisting of moving around a lot!" Yakumo snapped at the young Chōwashibō male. "I can only focus on genjutsu!"

"That's not a good excuse, considering Anko put us through a lot of vigorous training, even with your weak bod." Tobia spoke, getting a glare from the girl. "In fact, since your body is getting stronger due to said training, Anko is considering increasing it near our level."

Yakumo paled. Especially when she saw the sadistic grin on Anko's mouth. "Get ready for harder training girly!" Anko said sadistically, earning a whimper from the genjutsu only user.

"We're almost there!" Aku announced to everyone, getting their attention and their focus. "Let's pick up the speed!" However, before they could go any faster, something stopped in front of them, causing all of them to stop.

They were tense, ready to face the person in their way, when they recognized who the person in front of them was. Everyone's eyes widened. Especially Naruto's. "I-I-Iruka Sensei?" Naruto stuttered out.

The chunin smiled at his surrogate younger brother. "Hello Naruto. Chōwashibō family."

Dragon: Things are heating up. Just what's going to happen next?