"Talking"
'Thinking'
Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons
Flashbacks, Letters, and Setting
I don't own Naruto
Chapter 55: Kusa's Hospitality Part 5
"Soon, we will have the power to bring Kusa to its former glory… To take its place above the 5 so called "Great Villages" that look down on us… no longer will they sideline us as "minor"…" A cloaked figure wearing an ox mask announced to his companions.
Another cloaked man wearing a monkey mask was getting antsy. "What is taking Mui so long?"
Just as he finished stating his worries out loud, the door to their chamber swung open, with the dark figure of Mui appearing at the door with a body over his shoulder.
"So, is that the Uzumaki?" A figure in a ram mask asked.
"Yes! That's the one! Bring him in!" The man in the ox mask shouted. "We've been waiting long enough! Let's begin the ritual right away!"
Mui didn't respond, simply walking in quietly.
"Sheesh Mui, what the hell happened to you?" A figure in a dog mask asked. "You look like you were in a sword fight or something."
"That doesn't matter right now." Mui responded. "Strap the boy down." He told the 4 masked figures as he laid Naruto down onto a table.
"I-I can't believe it… After all these years. I can't believe we're finally doing this." The one in the ram mask commented in disbelief.
"Don't get your hopes up just yet. You saw what happened with the last Uzumaki. There's no guarantee this will work." The man in the monkey mask reminded them.
The man in the ox mask shook his head. "No. This one is different. His chakra is potent. The chakra of that other woman is like a child's in comparison. I've never seen anyone quite like him…"
Mui let the others talk as he ran his fingers through his hair to resettle himself. This was the moment where everything would change.
"He's strapped in, Mui. Are you ready to begin?" The man in the ox mask asked.
Mui nodded. "I'll begin the ritual now. Stand back."
Three of the masked figures stepped back to give Mui his space. The one in the ram mask, however, stayed where he stood.
"Give the man some space, Ram." The one in the dog mask said to the still figure.
"Hurry up! We've waited long enough!" Ox shouted out.
"Are we sure about this?" Ram questioned to the others, puzzling them. "He's a high-ranking shinobi of Konoha. This could be tantamount to a slap to Konoha's face. This could be grounds for… a war…"
"And? Are you really bringing this up now? Did you think we didn't consider that when we came up with this plan? Didn't you?" Monkey responded.
"I mean… yes… but this is really the point of no return… Shouldn't we take a moment to reconsider? Konoha is said to be the strongest of the 5 great villages, while we're… you know…"
"Once we harness the power of the box, none of that will matter." Ox countered. "Besides, Konoha's time on top ended when the 4th Hokage died at the hands of the Kyuubi. It's now merely a shell of what it used to be. The Sannin have scattered to the wind and the next generation of shinobi haven't shown themselves to be a match for the previous one. Even the Senju and the Uchiha are all but extinct."
"The point of no return was crossed the moment we decided to frame a high-ranking delegate and imprisoned him." Mui pointed out. "There is no going back."
At that, Ram had nothing to say, and after a brief second to fully take in Mui's point, he stepped back to give Mui space.
The room was filled with silence as the four figures watched Mui get to work. The silence of the room was only broken by the sound of Mui working, starting with him pouring chakra ink into a small bowl.
Mui then drew the sword on his waist and walked over to Naruto, where he grabbed Naruto's hand and made a shallow cut.
Mui worked in absolute silence, watching Naruto's blood drip into the bowl. When he judged enough blood had been collected, he used the sword in his hand to make a shallow cut in his own hand to collect his blood as well.
He then used a brush to mix the concoction of blood and chakra, which he used to draw a complex array of seals on Naruto.
After a few minutes of silence as he worked with absolute concentration, the warden of the prison took a deep breath as he finished. It was now time. He held up his hands into a ram seal, as the four cloaked figures looked on in anticipation.
"Kai! (Release)" Mui called out, releasing the Tenro seal that was binding Naruto's chakra.
He then placed his hand on Naruto's stomach.
The black Tenro seal on Naruto's stomach began to glow red before it faded away, once again leaving Naruto's chakra unsealed, and ready to be harvested.
Mui let out a breath he had unknowingly been holding in. Even though his stoic demeanor prevented others from really reading his thoughts or emotions, he had been quite on edge and somewhat anxious about the whole process leading up to now. Things finally looked like they were on track, and he would finally get what he wanted.
However, Mui wasn't granted the few seconds of peace he thought he would have to himself as he prepared for the next step, when Naruto's eyes shockingly shot open.
"What? Impossible!" Mui shouted out in disbelief. He had channeled enough chakra into the Tenro earlier to have nearly killed most other people! How was Naruto conscious?
Unbeknownst to Mui, Naruto's training to build up his tolerance to the pain of the Tenro and strong Uzumaki vitality had allowed him to recover faster than Mui had suspected. He had regained his consciousness while he was being brought to this chamber, but decided to feign unconsciousness until the time was right, trying to gather as much information as possible before he decided to take action.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" Naruto shouted out.
His absolute mastery of the technique allowed him to create 5 clones without any hand seals, and they sprang into action, each one heading for a cloaked figure or Mui.
The 4 cloaked figures were caught completely off guard, not having expected any of this to happen, and Naruto's clones quickly wrestled them to the ground before they ripped the mask off of their faces.
"Torika?" "Habu?" Two of Naruto's clones gasped in shock when they recognized the two familiar faces.
Their faces quickly changed from that of surprise to one of pure anger and malice at the discovery that this had all been a farce and they had tricked and betrayed him.
However, Mui was able briefly kick Naruto's clone off of himself before activating the Box of Ultimate Bliss with a series of rapid hand seals.
Rasengans began to form on the hands of the Naruto clones that were holding down the cloaked men.
"You'll pay for this, you bastards!" Naruto growled out as he prepared to strike.
Naruto's justice came to an unexpected and abrupt halt however, as the faces on the Box of Ultimate Bliss began to glow.
Starting from the blood seal that was drawn on Naruto's stomach by Mui, both Naruto and the clones began to glow, frozen still as the light began to consume them.
Naruto gritted his teeth in pain as the chakra began to be sucked from his body at an alarming rate, with his clones disappearing nearly instantly, as the chakra within them was absorbed by the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Mui looked on in awe at the sheer amount of chakra that was being drawn from Naruto's body.
"Incredible…" he whispered to himself as his 4 accomplices rose to their feet and put their masks back onto their face.
"What the hell was that!?" Monkey asked the others. "We almost died!"
"But we didn't. And things are going to plan." Dog replied.
Meanwhile, Ox and Ram watched as massive amounts of visible chakra were sucked from Naruto's body.
"No way… all this chakra? From just one person?" Ram said in shock.
"That other Uzumaki woman didn't even have a fifth of the chakra… and she dwarfed everyone in the village…" Ox commented.
The 5 conspirators watched in awe and silence as they waited for the seemingly endless amount of chakra to be sucked out of Naruto's body.
"So that's the room?"
"Mhmm. He's probably in there with Naruto."
"Hmm. Alright team, on me. Three, two, one…"
The 5 conspirators were caught completely off guard when the door of the room they were in exploded into pieces when the wall it was attached to was blown inwards by a wave of earth.
"What the hell is going on!" Ox yelled as he raised his cloak to his face to shield his mouth and nose from the resulting dust.
He wasn't able to get an answer, as his companions didn't have the luxury of having the time to figure what was happening as a purple cloud began to move in from the new gaping hole that now occupied where the wall once stood.
Ox went through a series of hand seals and slammed his hands hand into the ground, raising a wall of earth that separated them from the ominous gas that was billowing towards them.
This barely bought them any time to recover however, when several thick stakes of wood broke through the wall and slammed into the opposite wall.
"Wood? Is this Mokuton?" Monkey shouted out in shock.
"How is that possible? Only the Shodai of Konoha was able to use Mokuton and he's been dead for decades!" Dog added.
"But what does this mean? Does this mean Konoha had a secret Mokuton user in their ranks this entire time?" Ram asked.
"Konoha?" Mui's eyes whipped back at Naruto and the Box of Ultimate Bliss. If Konoha had sent its agents here already, that would mean news of their plot had gotten out. That would mean Kusa was soon to be invaded. This was going to end up as an absolute disaster… unless the box could be activated in time.
"Owl. Locate our targets." The ANBU captain commanded his subordinate.
"Taichou, the enemy targets are currently huddled together for defense at our 2, but…"
The ANBU captain in the dog mask raised an eyebrow. "But?"
"Naruto-taichou… there's a massive amount of chakra being pulled out of him into some… box-like structure of some sort."
'His chakra? So that's what they were after…' The ANBU captain thought to himself.
"Alright. Mantis, Tiger, Owl, and Shizune, I want you to capture the cloaked people. I want them captured alive. Izumi, Ryuzetsu, you're coming with me."
The 5 Konoha shinobi nodded as the ANBU and Shizune went off to follow the copy-ninja's commands, while Izumi and Ryuzetsu stood beside him.
"Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu (Wood Release: Great Forest Technique)!" Tiger recited as he turned his arm into several thick stakes to further destroy the earthen wall that stood between them and their enemies.
Mantis quietly whispered to his bugs as they followed suit and flew through the holes of the earthen wall.
Shizune noticed the bugs flying through the holes and was inspired to do the same.
"Ninpou: Dokutori no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Poison Bird Technique)!" Shizune called out, condensing her intoxicating gas into the shape of a bird which flew through the holes Tiger's jutsu had left behind on the earthen wall.
The Aburame's Kikaichou landed on Ox behind the wall and quickly began to absorb his chakra. He was too distracted by the chaos around him to even notice that the tiny insects had landed on him, and it was way too late for him to react by the time he felt like something was off.
"What the…" was all he managed to say before he collapsed.
With the caster of the jutsu falling into unconsciousness, the wall crumbled away.
"Ox! What's going on-" Ram shouted before he was hit in the face by a cloud of gas in the shape of a bird. "Pffftttt! What is this!"
The gas however, acted fast and ended his struggle when it quickly put him to sleep.
With the wall crumbling, Tiger and Owl quickly leapt into action to incapacitate the remaining two cloaked conspirators.
Dog was unable to even put up the semblance of a fight as the taijutsu expert in Owl completely dismantled him in seconds, shutting down his chakra network and collapsing him.
Monkey was shocked by the whirlwind that the Hyuuga ANBU was but was unable to truly appreciate the mastery of taijutsu due to the tendrils of wood that shot at him.
Unlike the animal his mask was inspired by, he was unable to navigate through the branches that formed the wooden cage that was closing around him and was soon captured by the man in the Tiger mask.
While all this was going on, Izumi followed closely behind the Dog masked ANBU captain with her Sharingan flashing with determination to rescue her best friend, with Ryuzetsu closely behind her.
The two Sharingan wielders drew their swords and rushed at Mui, who also prepared to meet them in battle. Having her chakra sealed and exhausted from what had happened earlier, Ryuzetsu instead went over to tend to Naruto.
The two Konoha shinobi showed surprisingly good teamwork, each knowing exactly what to do despite not communicating with each other. They attacked Mui ferociously to drive him away from the table that Naruto was strapped to, before the ANBU captain began to assault the warden of the Blood Prison alone, while Izumi rushed over to help Ryuzetsu with Naruto.
Ryuzetsu was looking around for something sharp to cut the bindings that shackled him when she couldn't get it off with her bare hands. Izumi ran over and freed him from his bindings with her sword while the fight between Mui and the dog-masked ANBU went on.
Mui was one of the finest shinobi Kusa had produced in a long time and was famous in Kusa as a skilled taijutsu fighter and was even known to be skilled with the sword, though it wasn't his main fighting method. His clan's unique ninjutsu also rounded out his repertoire of offensive skills under his belt.
As such, he was able to put up a decent sword fight against the Konoha ANBU captain using Naruto's sword… at first.
"Naruto!" Izumi yelled, trying to catch his attention while she cut him free. Naruto, however, remained unconscious as the Box of Ultimate Bliss continued to suck his chakra from him.
While Mui was fighting for his life, the silver-haired ANBU was merely probing out Mui's skill with the blade at first. He was rather impressed at the skill of the warden, but when the dog-masked ANBU began to get serious with his blade shimmering with white chakra, Mui was quickly put on the back foot.
'I'm entirely on the back foot right now. Even with me going at my hardest, I'm having trouble defending all of his attacks, let alone having the luxury of having the chance to strike… It's clear he's the superior swordsman.' Mui realized. 'If I can't beat him at his game, I'll need to switch things up where I'll have an advantage. And quickly too…' Mui thought as he barely dodged the sword which nicked his cheek and drew blood.
Mui ducked quickly and swept at the ANBU's feet which the man easily dodged with the slightest of steps.
However, the attack served its purpose, as it distracted the ANBU captain just long enough for Mui to roll away to put some distance between them.
Mui began to chain together three hand seals rapidly to attack the Konoha shinobi in front of him with ninjutsu.
"Katon: Onidoro (Fire Release: Demon Lantern)!"
Dozens of fire balls in the shape of a demonic face began to form around the prison warden.
He, however, did not notice the Sharingan spinning in one of the eye holes of the ANBU captain as he formed his jutsu.
'Interesting jutsu… So, he wants to try me in ninjutsu, huh…' Inu thought to himself.
In the second that it took for Mui to form the demon lanterns, the silver-haired ninja in front of him chained together a series of hand seals faster than he had ever seen before. The ANBU's hands moved so fast that it was a blur, and Mui wasn't even able to tell if he had made 3 hand seals or 30 in that split second.
Mui was completely caught by surprise at what happened next. Each of his demon lanterns that were launched at the ANBU captain were intercepted by a shuriken made of water, causing them to explode prematurely before they hit their target.
'What?! How was he able to launch his attack so fast!?' Mui thought to himself in shock. It wasn't even as if his speed in hand seals were subpar. He had just never seen anyone's hands move so fast before.
The clash of fire and water created a small cloud of mist that briefly blocked Mui's vision. As such, he put up his guard, and waited for the mist to dissipate, waiting to see what happened.
When the mist began to clear up Mui saw the silhouette of his opponent on the floor.
'Perhaps the explosion was still able to reach him…' he thought to himself, thinking he had somehow won his fight.
However, his delusion was quickly shattered as the form of the ANBU captain quickly turned into mud.
"What?!" was all Mui was able to say before he was pulled into the ground, up to his neck.
The silver-haired captain arose from the ground beside Mui.
Though Mui's stoic face did not falter on the outside, in his mind, Mui was absolutely flabbergasted. What kind of shinobi was he dealing with? The man not only was capable of using multiple elemental releases, but casually used 3 jutsus in the time that he was able to use one. And Mui was supposed to be an elite shinobi himself. He had to accept that he had no way of winning this fight.
Ryuzetsu was an ANBU of Kusa and was quite a formidable kunoichi as well. However, she knew that Mui was a step above her. When she saw him get easily dismantled by the Konoha captain, she was shocked at the gap between the elites of Konoha and Kusa which was made painfully apparent to her.
"So, have you had enough? Ready to stop this madness?" The ANBU captain asked the buried prison warden.
Mui kept his mouth shut, which annoyed the silver-haired shinobi.
"I see. So, you've chosen the hard way." He told Mui before forming a few hand seals which resulted in his fingers starting to buzz with electricity.
He began to reach for Mui's forehead, when he suddenly felt a shift in the atmosphere.
"Kakas- I mean, Inu-san!" Izumi called out as she looked to him for answers when the Box of Ultimate Bliss began to glow even brighter and began to vibrate.
The entire room began to shake violently as the box began to rumble with more intensity before it suddenly ripped itself off of the floor and smashed into the ceiling.
"We got our target! Let's get out of here!" The dog-masked captain called out to his team when the ceiling began to cave in on them. Izumi and Ryuzetsu slung Naruto over their shoulders when the Box of Ultimate Bliss appeared to stop absorbing Naruto's chakra as it shot up into the ceiling.
The ANBU grabbed their captives and began to follow their leader out.
Shizune slung her opponent over her shoulder and was following the ANBU out as fast as she could. However, the cloaked Kusa conspirator with the ram mask was much heavier than she was, and she was struggling to follow her comrades.
The ceiling of the chamber continued to fall apart at an accelerated rate as the structural integrity of the room had been compromised.
Shizune was trained mostly as a medic, and though she was a capable Jonin, strength was never her strong suit. As such, she was straggling behind when a chunk of the ceiling broke off and fell towards her.
Though Owl was ahead of her, his Byakugan saw the situation unfold, and he acted quickly. He bolted towards her and was able to pull her out of harm's way just in time, as the huge chunk of concrete fell right where she had been standing.
Shizune was fortunately pulled to safety, but the sudden jerk caused Owl to drop his captive behind him, and he was soon put out of reach when a piece of rubble got in between them.
She was shocked at how close she had come to death, but quickly snapped back to reality.
"Oh no!" She shouted out as she reached her arm out towards the rubble. "I'm so sorry! I made you drop your captive!"
"We don't have time to retrieve him, Shizune-san! We have to get out of here before we are buried in the rubble!" The Hyuuga ANBU reminded as he took Shizune's captive and slung him over his shoulder as he pulled her towards the stairs that would lead them out of there.
Though she was disappointed in her failure causing them to lose a valuable captive, she had to come to grips with the situation and nodded as she followed out the ANBU.
In the Courtyard
The prisoners had been in the courtyard of the prison for their time out of the cells when the Box of Ultimate Bliss suddenly burst from the center courtyard.
"What the fuck?" "What the hell is going on?" Some of the prisoners shouted out at this completely unexpected happening.
Both the guards and the prisoners were utterly silenced by something they couldn't have expected in the slightest, and looked on wondering what was going on and what would happen next. They began to grow uneasy and the silence broke into murmurs of prisoners asking each other what was going on and what they should do when nothing seemed to happen for several minutes.
"Where the hell is Mui-sama?!" Some of the guards wondered as they began to feel nervous at the tense atmosphere and situation. They needed some sort of order, and now.
"Mui-sama!" Some of the guards called out with hope when they saw their leader emerge from the hole.
Mui knew the situation was dire and that he had no time to waste. He began to promptly weave the hand seals that only the keepers of the Box of Ultimate Bliss knew to activate it.
Separate from the happenings in the courtyard, the Konoha party emerged from one of the towers that overlooked the courtyard, led by Ryuzetsu who was familiar with the layout of the prison.
The team looked over the railing on the balcony to see what was happening in the courtyard.
"Taichou! Look!" Owl called out as he pointed down at the courtyard.
The dog-masked ANBU looked down and saw Mui and the cloaked conspirator with the dog mask emerging from the hole the box had left behind.
'Damn. I should have finished him off when I had the chance.' The ANBU captain thought to himself. 'And why does it have to be another dog! I'm Inu!' he thought to himself as he pouted under his mask, chuffed at his scoundrel of a counterpart in masks when he saw the dog-masked conspirator.
"It's time! We need to get the box under our control right away!" the dog-masked conspirator told Mui as he limped out after him.
"Oh, Box of Ultimate Bliss! Please grant us our wish!" Mui called out as his hands settled on the final hand seal.
"WHAT IS YOUR WISH?" the box replied in an inhuman voice that seemed to echo.
Mui took a breath to finally say what he had been planning to say for years now.
He was finally about to speak when Dog suddenly pushed Mui aside to stand in front of the box.
"Give me power!" He shouted out with his arms spread wide. "Power to crush all of our enemies! Power to conquer the world!"
"WISH. GRANTED." The box replied in a low voice that sounded like it was echoing through a cave.
"NO! Give my son back to me! Let me see Muku again!" Mui shouted out with an uncharacteristic desperation.
Dog smiled under his mask having gotten what he had wanted. He had always wanted the power of the box for himself and had wondered how he could control it without sharing it with his many co-conspirators, but he had really lucked out with the Konoha ANBU thinning out the competition for him. Now all he had to do was wait for Mui to unlock the box and then swoop in with his own wish before Mui could make the wish. And it was a good thing too, now that Mui revealed what he had been planning to wish for. Foolish man.
"Now give me what I seek!" Dog demanded as he stepped closer to the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
"WISH. GRANTED." Was the box's only reply as it began to glow again.
For a few seconds nothing happened, but the silent courtyard was thrown into chaos when the faces on the box opened up their mouths.
Dog awaited with glee as he expected to feel some sort of power to course through him. However, the smile on his face died immediately when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
"W-what is this?" He choked out as blood trailed down the side of his mouth. He looked down and saw a black tendril of chakra from the box penetrating his stomach, causing him to bleed heavily before his eyes rolled over and he collapsed.
Mui's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly backed up from Dog's body. What was going on? This wasn't what was supposed to happen!
Dog's body began to twitch in an unnatural way, with his shoulders seeming to jolt up to pull him back up onto his feet like a rag doll. His body began to bulge uncontrollably all over, before his mask fell off his face.
His face hung back on his neck, with his face facing the sky and his mouth open wide… unnaturally wide. His face seemed to tear at the seams starting from his mouth before he exploded into a massive being.
Mui continued to back up in fear as he wondered what he was seeing. It was honestly a hard thing for him to come to terms with. One moment, he saw his traitorous comrade, and the next moment, he had exploded into some giant, black, winged demonic being that had no real head or face, but instead had a mouth in what appeared to be its torso, with some of what looked to be ribs sticking out of that mouth like long fangs.
"Wh-what are you?" Mui whispered somewhat rhetorically as he looked up in fear and confusion. "This isn't what was supposed to happen… I just… I just wanted to see my son..."
The giant demonic being roared as it spread its wings and the courtyard exploded into chaotic activity with guards and prisoners alike running around looking for some semblance of safety as the mouths of the faces on the box began to indiscriminately suck people into the box.
"AHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY, ANYBODY! SAVE US!"
Prisoners and the occasional guard were being gobbled up by the box by the dozens, and each new person the box swallowed made the box shine brighter.
The guards slammed the gates to the courtyard shut in an effort to save themselves from being caught by whatever it was out there that was swallowing people up.
"Wait! Let me in too! I'm a guard too, you bastards!" A guard yelled as he slammed his fists on one of the closed gates, as some of the unluckier guards that were locked out in the courtyard formed a perimeter around the gate trying their best to keep the rest of the prisoners away.
However, despite being armed with clubs and the prisoners being unarmed and having their chakra sealed away, the sheer number and desperation of the prisoners made them buckle under the wave of people that were gathering at the gates.
"You, selfish pricks think you can save yourselves and leave us here to die? And you think we'll go quietly? Nah! Fuck that!" Hanayama yelled as he picked up a screaming guard and threw him into the gate.
The guard slammed into the gate with such force that the gate was smashed open, and the prisoners began to surge forward.
The guards inside the smashed gates, however, were waiting for the prisoners with spears, standing side to side in a phalanx-like formation to keep the prisoners back.
Both the guards and the prisoners that were out in the courtyard were forced to choose either being stabbed to death by spears or being snatched up by some demonic box, and many chose to try their luck with the guards, running into their deaths.
The other gates of the courtyard were also just as chaotic, and the Box of Ultimate Bliss continued to suck people up from these crowds, only sowing more fear and chaos amongst them.
Ryuzetsu, who was the only one who had any knowledge about the Box of Ultimate Bliss from the escaping group of shinobi, was shocked to see that this is what the box unleashed, and her face paled. Why were the Grass Fruit faction so bent on releasing this into the world?
"No… this will destroy Kusa…"
Izumi saw the concern on Ryuzetsu and frowned. Having gone through the Kyuubi attack and having lost the majority of her clan in the past, she was able to empathize with the fear that Ryuzetsu had about the destruction of their village.
The silver-haired ninja placed a hand on Ryuzetsu's shoulder. "We need to get out of here and get to safety."
Ryuzetsu shook his hand off of her shoulder as she turned around sharply to face him. "Safety? I can't just leave without doing anything when this could lead to my village's destruction!"
The ANBU captain looked down at the courtyard as people continued to be sucked into the box.
'What's the worst that could happen?' He thought to himself before the black demonic creature flew into the air and started throwing its feathers like kunai which effortlessly pierced the guards that tried to fight it while it effortlessly dodged all of the projectiles and jutsu that were thrown at it. The situation went from bad to worse when some of the people swallowed by the box began to reemerge as mindless, zombie-like beings that attacked anyone in sight.
'Ah. Shit.'
He crossed his arms and pointed at the creature with one of his thumbs. "Have any specific plans on how to deal with that then?"
Ryuzetsu opened her mouth to speak but realized she had no real plans. "Umm… well… no… but I still have to try something! I can't just sit still and do nothing while this spreads to my village!"
"Maybe we could try warning the village so they could evacuate before this reaches them?" Shizune suggested.
Izumi shook her head. "A village wide evacuation is not something that's feasible on such short notice. The shinobi may be able to escape in time, but there's no way that all the civilians, including children and the elderly, will be able to just pack up everything and move out before they're overtaken. Besides, even if they were able to escape, which will force them to leave with nothing but their clothes on their back, a whole village of refugees are going to require a lot of resources they don't have to keep alive. People will die by the hundreds unless someone helps them, and it will be an extreme strain to any village that decides to undertake such a task, and it would soon bankrupt them. No village would risk their own security so altruistically. If anything is to be done, we need to prevent the situation from getting out of hand before it's too late."
The dog-masked captain had to agree with Izumi's point. "She's right. There's no way to help this village unless we're able to stop that thing here and now."
Ryuzetsu's eyes widened. "So you'll help us stop this then?" With the help of Konoha, perhaps it would be possible to end this threat to her village. She looked up to the masked shinobi with hope in her eyes.
"Help? Did you see what's going on down there? That's way beyond the scope of our mission. We're not risking the lives of Konoha shinobi to help a back-stabbing village that used one of our highest-ranking shinobi to bring this trouble upon themselves. No, we're leaving. If you want to come with us, you're free to come with us, but there's no way I'm risking the lives of my men for a problem you guys made for yourselves."
Ryuzetsu's shoulders fell with despair at the news. "But… but… this was the work of a few men! The rest of the village is innocent! Do they all deserve to die?" She asked.
"They don't deserve to die." The ANBU captain responded. "However, my priority is in protecting Konoha and its shinobi. I'm sorry, Ryuzetsu-san."
"You fucking bastards! You always act so high and mighty and so self-righteous, but at the end of the day, you're no different from anyone else! You're only looking out for yourselves! We were right not to trust you!" Monkey shouted out at the Konoha ANBU from Tiger's wooden bindings.
Owl struck him in the back of the neck, knocking him out.
"Is there nothing we can do for them?" Shizune asked, seeing Ryuzetsu in despair.
Izumi was torn. Part of her sort of wanted Kusa to pay the price of what they put her best friend through. However, another part of her reminded her that the majority of the people of Kusa were innocent and played no part in what happened. Besides, there were other things they needed to consider.
"Inu-san…" Izumi called out.
"Hmmm?"
"I was thinking about it, and I couldn't help but wonder… is there any guarantee that this can't become Konoha's problem? How would we make sure this problem stays contained within Kusa's borders?" Izumi brought up.
"Hmmmmm…" The ANBU captain thought. She was right. Kusa shared borders with Konoha, and any issue could easily spill over to the Land of Fire, whether it was the demonic being that came with the box, or the refugees that could result if Kusa was destroyed.
Now he was torn on what to do. He wanted to get back to Konoha as soon as possible and get Naruto to safety. Part of him wanted this treacherous village to suffer the consequences of its own making. However, he knew Izumi had a point. This could easily result in disaster for Konoha if it spilled over. It would be more pragmatic to take care of the problem when the collateral damage would be in foreign soil rather than at home.
"We're putting an end to this right now." A weak voice declared.
"Naruto!" Izumi called out when she saw her friend conscious again.
"Naruto/ Taichou!" The ANBU called out when they saw Naruto recovering.
Naruto tried to walk on his own but stumbled from a lack of chakra.
"Damn bastards took my chakra…" Naruto grumbled.
Shizune ran over to help him and tried to give him some of her chakra so that he could have enough strength to function.
Naruto grabbed Ram by the throat and ripped off his mask.
Izumi was shocked to see Ram's identity. "H-Habu-san?"
Naruto went to Ox and ripped off his mask too to reveal Torika.
"I'm going to make you pay for your treachery." Naruto growled out in the most threatening voice that any Konoha shinobi had heard him speak in.
"We were simply acting in our village's best interests as you do for yours. It was nothing personal." Torika replied.
Naruto could feel his blood boil, almost quite literally, at Torika's completely unapologetic attitude. His blue eyes turned icy cold. He crushed the Ox mask in his hand as steam began to rise from his hands.
"I'm sure you're quite happy with the results then. Surely this is what is best for your village." Inu chimed in sarcastically as he pointed at the pandemonium below.
"We had no idea this is what would happen! We simply wanted to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other major villages!" Habu responded.
"And you decided you would do that by betraying us? By setting up my friend?" Izumi asked accusingly. "Now look at what you've unleashed on your village!"
"It… it was the only way. I had nothing against him. It was simply the price we had to pay." Habu responded, though not confidently, seeing the consequences of their actions. "But this isn't what we wanted! We just wanted some security! Safety for our village! Safety for our families! Safety for my son!"
Naruto grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "And now you'll see the true price you'll be forced to pay for your actions."
Blood was on his mind. And there would indeed be blood before this was over.
*Author's Notes*
And that was the latest chapter of the Jinchuuriki's Brother!
Wow. That was a long break from writing. Sorry everyone! I really don't have an excuse. I just didn't feel like writing for a while. But even if I don't upload in a while, this story will not be abandoned! I'm determined to make it past the Chunin Exam curse!
Anyway, if you guys didn't catch it in the chapter, I changed the circumstances around the death of Karin's mom. Karin thinks she was drained of her chakra by being forced to heal people, but in reality, she was drained of all of her chakra when they tried to open the Box of Ultimate Bliss before.
Also, some of you were wondering why he couldn't undo the Tenro when Naruto could access some of his chakra. This is because only the caster of the jutsu can undo it. It's supposed to be some hiden jutsu of a warden family, so I think it makes sense that it's pretty powerful.
I tried to wrap up this arc in this chapter, but I couldn't fit it all in one chapter, and I really wanted to get a chapter out before the end of this month. So you'll have to wait for one more chapter! Sorry to those who want the arc to end soon!
Anyway, thanks for reading everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter! Let me know what you thought of it!
I hope you guys all stay safe and hope you have a great day! Until next time!