I'm sorry for not posting and neglecting the set date.
I was kind of busy with 'life' and such, for example: Chinese New Year.
So here it is the latest chapter of 'The Last Laugh'.
Recap:
Sai's story was answered with silence as he picked up his dinner again.
Naruto suddenly jumped up and hysterically screamed: "Then where the hell is the rest of you guys?!"
"Naruto, calm down." Yamato commanded "Don't you see that he doesn't know, besides let him rest he needs to recover his strength."
The loud boy sat down with a grunt as he began to stare into his stew.
"Could you guys tell me why you are here?" The new boy asked.
The team began to explain their story, except Naruto who was the whole time staring in his food.
"Could you give me that piece of textile?" Sai asked as they finished their story.
Shikamaru unsealed it and handed it over to him. The boy took it in his hand while he took a scroll out with his other hand.
He quickly began to paint a drawing on the scroll. It became alive and popped from the paper. It was a dog.
He handed the piece of clothing to the ink dog to sniffle on it, before the dog ran away.
"What did you just do?" Ino asked.
"I just gave him a scent to follow, he probably will be back in the morning."
"But that's an ink…" She tried to argue.
"Why would you think they don't have the same properties as a real one?"
The team woke up as a loud bark was heart from outside the house. A small black and white dog was making loud noises as he tried to get their attention. His barks were like the screeching of a rooster at six in the morning.
Grunts erupted from the rooms as people woke up and got ready for the day. Zombie like creatures walked through the house, tiredly putting their clothes one while small grunts left their mouths. That all happened in the first five minutes of waking up, before they took their first cup of coffee.
The moment the caffeine took their wished affected , their brains once activated again. Slowly starting to register the meaning of the loud barking. Their zombie like behaviour got quickly replaced when they spat their coffee out like a fountain spray, running and panicking around like a Jiraiya, who's getting chased by an angry mob of women, they quickly got ready. Gathering their belongings like a woman, who's ready to chase a pervert, as they were trying to make up for the lost time.
Once they were done, the team immediately left. The ink dog ran in front of them as he quickly led them to his discovery. "Guys, help me remember to give us a 'morning-wake-up-and-reaction-time-training'." Yamato commanded.
Receiving several nods, as the rest of them tried to eat their breakfast during their running. Crumbs flew everywhere while pieces of cheese got passed around.
An hour later of throwing cheese around, smoke started to rise from the horizon. It was like a dark cloud hovering over the sky, marking the territory of the dark side.
"What's that?" Naruto asked as he pointed towards the smoke.
Hinata follow his finger as she activated her Byakugan. "It-it-it's a small village nothing more than a small clan compound."
Yamato cursed under his breath as he commanded that they needed to speed up.
Once they arrived at the scene they dog disappeared in a splash of ink, leaving only a spatter of two marking his existence. The team stood there with their mouths wide open as they took in their surroundings. The little rays of sunlight, which got through the thick layer of smoke, lightened the in darkness covered village
The village looked like the Uchiha compound as it had the same architecture and layout, but the resemblance didn't stop there.
Red were the walls and streets as the bodies lay on the ground. Blood silently still streamed over the floors and out of the citizens, indicating that it couldn't have happened less than a day ago. Smoke rose from the buildings alongside the smell of the metal, iron -the smell of blood-.
"Wh-what happened here?" Ino stuttered out, horrified by the scene.
"It's a massacre," their captain answered as he relived the Uchiha massacre through his mind, he took a deep breath and walked into the compound.
They slowly began to move as the shock ebbed away. The team walked through the blood soaked streets when Sai called out: "Guys, look at their faces."
The rest of the team stopped as they looked at the faces. Each of them froze as they saw the injuries each one of them sustained.
"Hohoemi." Yamato slowly spoke out, disgust and terror clearly visible in his voice.
The faces of the fallen men were all the same, forever altered into that horrible smile. The skin around their mouths were red as the foreign chakra still ate away the many layers of the skin.
"They all have those wicked looks." Hinata commented as she looked over the whole area with her kekkei genkai, before she puked her breakfast out by the horrifying sights.
After her stomach calmed down, every member of their team took their headgear of and hold a minute of silence as they showed their respect for the fallen.
The minute was filled with soft praying and wishes, once the 60 seconds were over Shikamaru asked: "Captain why didn't you sense the chakra?"
Yamato looked thoughtfully before he answered: "She's probably getting better at controlling it. She won't leave anymore chakra on them than necessary." He let out his breath while he put his headband back on "It also leaves me no reason to keep up my clones." Holding his hands in a particular sign, he felt his chakra return as soon as they were all dispelled.
"Let's just walk down the street and see if we can find some clues. Hinata, I guess you already know what's in those houses."
"Y-y-yes." She stuttered out. They walked further into the village, till they reached the main square. Gasps left the younglings mouths while their stared with horror towards the messages.
"Why would she do this?" Ino asked. Nobody answered her as they all looked at the blood covered wall. The inscriptions were messy like they were handmade.
Just keep smiling
Die with a smile
Laugh till the end
No matter what keep smiling
Happiness for all
This world is one big joke
Smile till the end
Just get the joke
Smile, laugh and joke
The last laugh
Believe it
Horrified as they read the words one the wall get sharper and more clumsily written, like a writer losing control of his hand.
" 'Believe it.' Wasn't that a word you used to say?" Sai commented, as he remembered one of their shared stories. No answer ever came as Naruto looked with a faraway gaze at the words, like he couldn't believe it was true.
Naruto expressions were like a virus, effecting everyone around him. Like they were possessed they walked out of the village. There gazes looked far away, as they didn't try to think about it. Even Sai, the normally emotional noob, looked paler than normal. 'Even the Root can't prepare you for this.'
Once they were far enough not to smell the iron they stopped and turned around to pay their last bit of respect. Finally they let out their long held breath as the adrenaline flowed away.
"Troublesome," was the first word they heard, " however I suggest we go to the nearest village, to rest and go over our discoveries."
"Alright, if I'm correct. There's a town a bit more north from here." Their captain said.
Three hours later they arrived at the main road of the town. The town was pretty busy as it was stuffed with all kinds of restaurants, casinos and inns. Unlike Konoha, the streets were filled with innocent citizens instead of ninjas of the leaf.
"You guys can eat your lunch here, while I will be buying some necessary equipment." Yamato suggested as he pointed towards a small restaurant.
Nods were exchanged as the hidden meaning behind his words were noticed. The teenagers walked into the building, towards a table in the far right corner. They just sat down as a waiter came by.
He placed a teapot down and asked: "What would you like to eat?"
"What would you recommend us?" Ino asked.
The waiter's face lit up as he started to brag about their famous sandwiches.
Slowly but steadily veins popped up from everyone, except for Hinata and Sai, as his speech dragged on and on.
"They are like angels walking over your tong, as the cheese melts in your mouth and the meat fills your mouth with taste while the lettuce sings, like a Siren who's trying to lure more into your mouth; don't forget the sauce which…"
"We head like to have six plates of your famous sandwiches." Ino interrupted him. The waiter quickly noted everything down, before he left.
"Thanks, that guy was such a drag." Shikamaru claimed as he started to pour everyone some tea.
Once everyone took a few sips Hinata started to talk "So, w-what do you guys think?"
"It's a little bit too hot, but nothing a bit of patience can't change."
"Naruto you moron, she didn't mean your tea, but the village." Ino said frustrated.
"Aaah, I get it." He said while sheepishly rubbing his head like the idiot he was "I think it was a bit unsettling to know who did it, and that we're friends with her 'brother'"
"Me too," she commented "it's just weird to think about it."
"You know," Sai began "it's pretty weird to know who that person is. Especially knowing that she probably still suffers from amnesia."
He received a small sigh from Shikamaru as he put the pieces together "It's a pain to think about it, but see it like this. We know that she's lost her memory and is now wandering around this area like a maniac. But isn't it a bit weird to make a total 360 from the description of a lovable sister?"
"M-maybe it's partly caused by the Kyuubi's chakra. It could be corrupting her thoughts."
"It could be, but why would she even have access to it?" Ino asked.
"I know one guy who had access to it." Naruto said slowly, like he was bringing out a painful memory "His name was Sora."
Four confused gazes looked at him as they couldn't remember that person.
The blonde quickly caught their problem and explained: "He was thy monk from the Fire Temple, who also had wind chakra." Getting no reaction which indicated a clue he continued on "You know, the one idiot who besides me that called Tsunade old and got slammed through a door." Still no reaction "The monk who was the secret weapon of bringing down the village."
Receiving several nods for understanding he continued "You see, he got the left over chakra from the Kyuubi's attack sealed inside him. Maybe that also happened to her and the darker side of the chakra started to cloud her judgement."
"It might be," Sai commended "I wonder how she got it?"
Their conversation was interrupted as the waiter was back with their order. With that their discussion was finished as they enjoyed their meal in silence.
Minutes passed before the distinctive bell of a restaurant rang and a ninja walked in. He walked towards the far right corner and sat down, takin the sixth sandwich in his hand.
"I've gotten some information about her whereabouts." Yamato whispered out as he enjoyed his lunch. "The pharmacist said that a suspicious woman with a bandaged face walked into his shop to buy some makeup. He also added that she was heading northeast." A few nods indicated that they ate the rest of their meal in silence in order to sort out their thoughts.
After they paid for their meals, they left towards the northeast. Jumping from branch to tree they continued onwards.
"T-t-there is an unknown entity 75 meters before us." Hinata informed them.
The team quickly increased their pace as they leaped forwards. Less than a minute later, they saw a man lying limply against a tree with an all too familiar red and black cloak.
"Akatsuki." Ino spat out as she walked up towards the man. The man didn't move and just laid there like a lifeless doll, face turned away from her, the cloak soaked in red. Ino suddenly stopped as one of her medical instincts kicked in 'There's no movement in his chest, could he be?'
She slowly grabbed his face and turned it towards her. The moment she saw the face, she let stumbled backwards with an orange mask in her hands.
"Ino, are you alright?!" Naruto asked/screamed while he ran towards her. He tried to calm her down till he looked at the thing that terrified her, he immediately froze while clutching onto his friend. "No way, it can't be possible…"
The rest of the team also took a good look at the person
The Akatsuki member was lying there lifeless on the ground while his normally masked face was visible for the world. The face was unrecognizable as wicked smile adorned it. The wound was bleeding like a waterfall, the red liquid poured out of the scars as the Kyuubi's chakra was still eating away the skin around it, not only bubbling it off but it was literally removing it like acid.
"How did she accomplish this?" Yamato voiced out his thought. 'A dead Akatsuki member, how in the world did she do this?'
A long paused followed his question as they stared at the dead foe while trying to comprehend was could have happened. The newly added member of the team was the first one to speak up.
"I don't know," Sai admitted "but I've a special body scroll. Maybe Konoha is able to examine it?"
He got the approval to seal up the body. When he was done the body was gone only leaving a blood splatter as reminder. He was storing the scroll up when he heard a loud rumble in the skies up ahead of them.
They looked towards the loud sound and saw dark clouds forming over an abandoned building. Moments later a thunder like creature erupted from the clouds as it descended towards the earth.
The ground shook as it hit the ground. The team was trying their best not to stumble while observing the gigantic clash of power. The earth shook like during an earthquake, loud electric shocks echoed through the forest while panic seemed to rise around them.
Sooner or later the roaring thunder stopped and was replaced by the silence of the speechless gazes of the seven men. The silent was like the calm before the storm.
"What was that?!" Naruto screamed/asked.
"I'm not sure, but whatever it may be we need to investigate it." Their captain answered, while he ran off towards the scene. Trees passed by them when Hinata noticed something.
"G-guys there are four unnatural obstacles on our left side." she informed them. Like a trained unit they ran towards the left while still proceeding forwards.
They slowly slowed done when they reached the location. The normal green coloured grass was red as four bodies laid spread out over the ground. One of them was easily recognisable with his red and black cloak.
"Isn't that Kisame?" nobody dared to answer Sai as the reality of two dead Akatsuki members was lying there in front of them.
"No, not again." Ino pleaded as she collapsed onto her knees. Before her lay four bodies with identical wounds like the few previous casualties "She was here, wasn't she." Fresh blood seeped through the cuts as the disgusting smiles were engraved into their faces.
Her companions weren't in better shape either, all shocked by the abilities of one woman. As the smartest among them Shikamaru took the burden of breaking the ice "Troublesome, but isn't Kisame Itachi's partner?"
His question was left unanswered when the blond friend, the one with a promise to full fill, snapped his neck towards the area, where the gigantic amount of energy was last sighted. Trails of smoke rose from there as the area recovered from the damage, damage that could only be caused by a powerful being…or two twisted brothers.
Like his mind was set on autopilot, he stormed away while screaming his best friend's name.
"Sasuke!"
"Quick," Yamato commanded " Sai store the bodies away, we need to catch up with him."
Alright then…how to say this…
-This will be a semi au.
-Madara and Tobi will never play a roll.
-There won't be a war. Why? Because I don't feel like writing a whole war.
-It will follow the storyline till the Pain arc.
What more to say?
1: I will try to post the next chapter a little faster.
2: Please tell me if there are any typos.
3: reviews are always appreciated.
See you later!