Recommended Story: 'Love and Sacrifice' by Chris Uzumaki-sensei

Chapter Nine

"Well, here we are. Sea Country, where no one should think to look for us first." Tsunade told her company as they looked at the ocean. Technically they were still within Land of Fire, but the island for Sea Country could be seen on the horizon.

"But that doesn't mean trackers or hunter nin can't find us here, so we shouldn't stay long." Shizune pointed out.

Tsunade nodded. "True. That's why we're going to rest and plan out our strategy here before creating a few false leads to distract any followers from our real goal."

"Which is?" Sakura asked.

"I'll tell you tonight when we're somewhere private. Let's look for a hotel and get some much needed R&R."

"Don't get too comfy. We still have to treat her you know." Kushina said, signaling to the still sedated Tayuya.

"After how she reacted last time, maybe it would be better to just let her die in her sleep." Tsunade said, remembering what happened when they tried healing Tayuya.

Flashback

Kushina laid down the redhead she found on her way to Konoha. "While we're giving my son some time to come to terms with everything, could we work on getting her stabilized?"

"Considering she's connected to the enemy, I've got mixed feelings on that." Tsunade said. "However, I suppose we can't simply ignore our Hippocratic Oath. And she could provide useful intel." She knelt down. "Shizune and I will at least allow her to talk. After that, her behavior and cooperation will prove how far our hospitality will extend."

Kushina nodded. "I understand completely."

The two medics got on both sides of the unconscious kunoichi and readied a diagnostic jutsu. "There's a lot of damage done to her lower body. I'd say she's probably paralyzed and will never walk again without neural-focused medical jutsu. And it looks like there's been a good amount of internal bleeding. By all logic this woman should be dead by now. How on earth have you kept her alive all this time?"

"I placed her in a state of suspended animation. But if she stays in it too long she will die for real. It only delays death, it doesn't fix anything. That part someone else has to do, and sadly I never learned how to heal." Kushina explained.

"You better wake her up then. That way what you did won't risk compromising what I'll do. Medic jutsus work best when a second jutsu isn't already in use." Tsunade said.

Kushina nodded and put the tip of her index finger on Tayuya's forehead. "Erelum."

The comatose kunoichi lightly stirred, just as if she was waking up from a nap. "But suddenly she winced and grimaced as if in great pain. She opened her eyes and roared out in pain, sounding like she was giving birth and passing a kidney stone at the same time. Then she started flailing around.

"Restrain her." Tsunade ordered, and Shizune and Kushina grabbed an arm each to hold her down. Tayuya struggled against them both and flailed the rest of her too, though her legs didn't move as freely as the rest of her did. If anything every time she kicked at nothing the sound of bones breaking could be heard, making her scream even more.

"Gtuuxu!" Kushina said, and next thing everyone knew Tayuya was frozen solid. "There, now ready whatever you're going to do and I'll unfreeze her. But you better do it fast, this method doesn't last long and isn't ceasing her pain."

Tsunade nodded rather than ask questions. "I'm going to start by soothing the nerve endings in her legs and numbing her muscles. Her lower body has the worst damage so it's likely that's what's causing her agony."

"Tsunade-sama, look!" Shizune said, catching her mentor's attention. Despite her frozen state, Tayuya was activating her curse mark.

"Dsuuq." Kushina immediately said as she touched Tayuya's forehead again. The flutist became unfrozen but slumped on the ground, as if forced to sleep. Her curse markings began to recede. "She did that too when I found her and I didn't like the look of it."

"What's going on?" Sakura asked as she and the others came back to the clearing they all stopped in.

"We tried treating this woman but apparently she's in quite a lot of pain. We may have to wait until we can find a hospital or at least somewhere indoors before we can do anything more for her." Tsunade answered.

"She sounded like she was dying." Naruto commented.

"She probably is. She's got a great deal of internal damage so she probably feels like she's been stepped on like a bug. If we can't heal her the best we can do is take care of her pain as she passes on." Shizune told him.

End Flashback

"I know it might be less painful to let her die, but the information she has could help us out quite a bit." Shizune added.

"Would she even provide it?" Naruto asked.

"Hard to say. The odds aren't in our favor, but we can be persuasive if we have to be." The slug sannin told him. "Now let's get a boat and head for the island. Best place to go right now."

A quick trip to a marina with a payment and they were out on the sea. The words of the boat provider bothered them though. "Be careful how far you venture. Plenty of people lately have been seeing something weird in the water." Naturally the ninja were undaunted, but they did keep the warning in mind.

"What do you think that guy meant?" Naruto couldn't help but ask.

"Probably just a shark or something." Ayame casually answered. "I wouldn't give it much thought. There have been tales of sea monsters as long as people have been aware of the ocean."

A few moments of silence before Naruto spoke up again. "I think I saw some kind of shadow move in the water."

Hinata activated her byakugan to settle his concern. "I don't see anything down th-wait!" All attention was on her now. "There is something strange down there. Something human-sized."

"Okay everyone, be on your guard just in case. Hinata, keep an eye on it." Tsunade ordered.

Everyone got some kunais in their hands, even Moegi courtesy of Naruto, and waited while the boat continued forward. Hinata kept trying to see the apparition underwater, which moved around enough to be difficult for her to focus on. "It's hard to see, but it appears to only be observing us. Maybe it's trying to decide if we're food or a threat."

"Let's not provoke it then." Kushina said.

Nothing happened, but it wasn't until Hinata next spoke they relaxed. "It's gone out of my range. I guess it lost interest."

Five more uneventful minutes passed until they reached the shore of Sea Country right by a seaside town. There was no dock so they had to come to shore directly, and without an anchor or something to tie the boat to, Tsunade had to use her strength to pull the boat away from the water so the tide wouldn't take it away later, leaving them stranded.

"So what are we doing here again?" Sakura asked.

"We're going to find someplace to treat our captive, get as many supplies as we can, decide our next destination, and get some answers." Tsunade told the pinkette, giving Kushina a brief glance when she said the last part.

"I'll tell you everything, but I also want to know why you all had to leave Konoha and what your plan for being away is." The Uzumaki matriarch told the slug sannin.

"I'll tell that too, but first let's find shelter."

"Excuse me." A stranger's voice called out. Everyone turned to a small alcove dune, and from behind it a girl's head stuck out. She had short purple hair that looked like she cut it herself, though two locks were long enough to frame her face. Her face also had medical wrap across her forehead and under her left eye, making her almost look like a Danzou-wannabe if it weren't for the fact her eyes and smile radiated warmth.

"Yes?" Kushina asked.

"If you need shelter, I know where you can find some."

"And who are you exactly?" Tsunade asked.

"Nobody important, just a simple diver who lives in the area. My name's Isaribi."

"A diver?" Naruto asked, unaware anyone could do such a thing for a living.

Isaribi nodded. "Yeah, I dive and gather things like lobsters, oysters, coral, and occasionally wreckage that still has value. Not always easy or profitable, but I love my work."

"Are you in need of treatment as well?" Tsunade asked, eyeing the bandages.

Isaribi shook her head. "No thank you. I've already been treated."

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"I ran into some jellyfish on my last dive. I'm fine now, but my skin's still a little sensitive."

"I better take a look at it then. Jellyfish stings often have residual damage." Tsunade said.

Isaribi looked nervous. "No, really, I'm fine."

"Please, if you're offering us help, the least I can do is return the favor."

The purple-haired bandaged girl then ran off.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"There's something suspicious about her. She was afraid of me inspecting her body. My guess is jellyfish weren't really the cause of her trouble." The slug sannin thought out loud. "But for now, let's focus more on our own group."

An hour later the Konoha refuges had found a hotel in the town. Kushina, Tsunade, and Shizune were in the room tending to Tayuya while Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Ayame, and Moegi were at the beach killing time. None of them had brought swimsuits so none tried to go swimming.

Tayuya had thrashed, screamed, and fought back during her treatment, and if not for a sound barrier in place it was likely the local authorities would have shown up. But finally, she stopped and passed out, her pain relieved.

Tsunade wiped her forehead with her forearm. "There. She's out of danger and can in time be fully recovered. I patched her up enough to talk but not walk or use her chakra effectively. For now, when we question her, she will only be able to answer or stay silent, nothing else."

"What was that you used on her Kushina?" Shizune asked, having never gotten around to asking that the other night.

"Mana spells. Think of it like jutsu but requiring incantations instead of handsigns and it uses mana instead of chakra."

"What exactly is mana?" Tsunade asked.

"The best way I can describe it to you is it's an energy like chakra but not identical. Like chakra, it's based on physical and spiritual power and can have elemental attributes. Unlike chakra, it's more focused on the spiritual part so it's strength is determined and tied to one's will power over physical strength, so being fit like a ninja is not required to wield it. Also, it does not act the same way elementally. A person's mana can only be used one way elementally, or neutrally for non-elemental spells, so unlike chakra, which has a single affinity but doesn't limit a person to just that one element, mana does."

"So... you can use mana and chakra together?" Tsunade asked.

"I used to be able to, long ago. Now I can't. Now I'm limited to just mana. All jutsu I used to know are useless."

"Why are you limited?" Tsunade asked.

"I had access to a chakra source when I was younger. Messed up a lot about my growth and development as a succubus, but it allowed me to use chakra. Until it was removed and I was stuck using mana only again. For a brief time there was some residual chakra in me, but I used it all up in the Kyuubi resealing." Kushina answered.

"Wait a minute, resealing? What do you mean by that?" Tsunade asked.

"Where do you think the kyuubi was before it appeared in Konoha that day?" Kushina asked back.

Tsunade shrugged. "I never thought about it. I did know it had been sealed in my grandmother one time, but I was never told where it went after that. I thought it was restrained in some sort of sacred object for a time. My grandfather's necklace couldn't have been the only special item he had after all. My granduncle had a special sword too. I figured there was some special object the Senju owned that contained the Kyuubi until the day it escaped. The ichibi was rumored to be contained in an iron teakettle for a time so it made sense to me."

The redhead sighed. "Tsunade, the kyuubi was sealed in another person after Mito-sama but before Naruto. That person was me."

Tsunade was wide-eyed. "You?" Shizune was equally surprised. "Why?"

"Because Mito-sama had faith in me being able to contain the fox and not be influenced by it. I asked her not to, because I wasn't so sure I could handle it, but she told me I had a loving heart and love was the best way to keep the kyuubi contained. Something about that stuck with me and... I ended up becoming the second jinchuuriki of the kyuubi."

Tsunade was momentarily silent. "Why wasn't I told this?"

"Did you ever ask?"

Tsunade thought it over. "No, I guess I didn't. As long as there was no threat I didn't ask why. But why couldn't you have told me?"

"I heard stories of jinchuuriki's getting hostile treatment in their own villages. Some better than others, but usually friendless. Why would I go announcing that I was one?" Kushina asked.

Shizune nodded. "Don't forget Tsunade-sama you criticized the Sandaime for telling the public about Naruto being one, so how can you be upset for Kushina preferring her secret remain a secret?"

The slug sannin sighed. "You're right. But... if you're a succubus, how could you even contain the kyuubi?"

"I guess the sealing was done really well. Or maybe my mana countered it's chakra. My mana was mistaken for a special anti-bijuu chakra after all, so maybe they were partially right. I don't know, but all I wish is it was strong enough to prevent the fox from escaping while I gave birth." Kushina said with a sad sigh. "At least while I did have the fox in me, I was able to use chakra successfully, but I haven't been able to since it escaped. The bad news is the fox's chakra screwed up my natural growth. I grew up like a human rather than a succubus normally does, and apparently I didn't need to orgasm to regulate my powers like normal succubi do. I didn't even realize this was unusual since I was raised by the Uzumaki clan more than the succubi race."

"How did you even come in contact with the Uzumaki's if you came from a different world?" Shizune asked.

"It was mostly chance. My dying caretaker was taking me away from a revolution and we went here to Midgard to escape. She... didn't make it, killed in Yggdrasil, so I was left here alone with no idea how to get back to Alfheim. I was really young at the time, and the Uzumaki were fleeing the destruction of Uzushio at the time and in the confusion I was mistaken for a member. With nowhere else to go, I didn't bother correcting them. I just waited until the fight ended and someone would come back for me."

Kushina then sarcastically laughed. "How ironic. As a kid all I wanted was to go home and fit in here until I did. It wasn't until I decided this was my home that I was brought back to Alfheim against my will and without my family. The Fates have a sick sense of humor."

"Why did you have to leave... this other world?" Tsunade asked.

Kushina looked down, avoiding eye contact by focusing more on the sleeping Tayuya. "I'd rather tell that to my son first if you don't mind. It's part of the reason why I was taken away from him too."

"The sun sure feels nice." Sakura said lying on her back, her arms folded above her head. "Too bad this isn't a vacation."

"I hope we can go swimming while we're here." Moegi commented. "Can we go get some swimsuits Boss?"

"Does anyone here have money?" Naruto asked, not sounding like his heart was in the subject.

"I do, but I'd rather save it for an emergency." Sakura answered.

"I only have what's left of my last mission pay on me." Hinata added.

"I've got plenty, and I suppose I could spare a little for some fun while we're out and about." Ayame said. "I just don't know where to shop."

Sakura got on her feet. "Let's go ask someone."

Naruto sighed. "Why not?"

No one asked about his mood. They knew he was trying to act like he was back to normal, but he was still coming to terms with everything he learned. The identity of his father. The fact that the Sandaime had to yield on his safety a few times. His lack-for-a-better-term demonic mother and his own apparent demonic nature which had nothing to do with the Kyuubi. And that was only the stuff he had already learned. There was bound to be more he had yet to be told.

At least now he had been able to apply a henge to hide his tail so he didn't feel like a sideshow freak on display.

The group walked down the beach trying to find someone, Hinata having her arm wrapped around Naruto's and her head resting on his shoulder. Sakura sent them a friendly smile, but she couldn't help feeling slightly jealous.

"Go away!" A girl's voice shouted, drawing their attention. Up ahead they saw a girl being chased by a trio close to her own age it seemed, and they were throwing rocks at her.

"Freak!"

"Ugly!"

"Hobo!"

Naruto got flashbacks to his own youth at hearing and seeing this, and his blood began to boil. Hinata could feel him tense and get angry and let go so he could react as he wanted. In no time Naruto ran forward.

The bullied girl fell onto the sand and her harassers didn't stop stoning her. They even started kicking her. Before someone could try something new, Naruto and many clones had grabbed ahold of them all. "What gives?"

Naruto glared. "I should ask the same thing. Is there a reason you're doing this? Or are you just picking on someone who won't fight back?" Out of the corner of his eyes he saw his friends run up to help him.

"Why do you care for this human garbage?" One of the bullies asked.

"You've got three seconds to give me an answer instead of a question." Naruto demanded. "One..."

"She's an eyesore to our town. We have a duty and a right to get rid of her." A different bully stated like he was fighting for a righteous cause.

"Funny. People say the same about me back home. But even I have friends."

"So what?" The third bully asked.

Hinata struck one from behind with her juuken, making him unable to stand. Sakura hit the second one on the head, making him skid across the sand and pass out. Ayame simply kicked the third bully between the legs from behind, making him fall to his knees screaming in a high octave.

"That's 'so what'." Naruto said with a hint of a laugh. He then turned to face the victim. "You're okay no... wait. You're that diver girl from before."

Isaribi blinked. "What do you want?"