CHAPTER ELEVEN

Yugito the Cunning

XXX

As a beautiful winter night turned to day, and days soon turned to weeks, the question of when to go east to Kumogakure began popping up more and more often. Gaara thought it would be best if they gave the Hidden Villages little to no time to mobilise an army, while Han was certain that they had already gathered enough shinobi to give them a hell of a fight, so it was better to wait until they were fully prepared for a battle.

Gaara, as always, was the most prepared for the battle that lay ahead. As influential as Emi's kindness had been, that rage, that killer instinct that drove him to mercilessly kill other shinobi remained, and he was going to need it for the upcoming ambush. After mastering his assigned ninjutsu, the Lightning Style: False Darkness, he used the three-week break to master the controlled tailed beast mode. The sand sibling was so close to perfection, he could almost taste it.

Fuu, on the other hand, had used the three weeks to join Roshi and Han at the table of perfection. Her mind, her body, and her soul were in tune with Choumei's, allowing her to not only control the powers of the Seven Tails, but become the beast itself. Combining that with her mastery of the Wind Style: Pressure Damage, if it weren't for her questionable mental assuredness for the battle that lay ahead, she would've been one of the deadliest kunoichi alive at that point.

Hinata, who had no tailed beast perfection to aim for, chose to use the three weeks to rank up her Byakugan and master her assigned ninjutsu. Seeing everything in a fifty-metre radius around her was helpful enough, but it was nowhere near the limits of the Byakugan's capabilities, with Hinata's own father, Hiashi, able to extend his vision to over a kilometre and pull out more Jyuken techniques than Hinata could name. At the moment, she was only able to extend it to a hundred metres but add that to her near mastery of the Fire Style: Searing Migraine and a few Gentle Fist techniques she'd managed to think up herself and she was as ready as she would ever be.

And Naruto… he was getting there. Tailed beast mastery was out of the question for him, so it only came down to whether he could master the technique Roshi and Jiraiya had assigned to him. The Rasengan. The power and rotation aspects of it were easy enough to master. It was the containment part that was getting to him. He could feel it. In his chakra pathways, in his fingers. He could feel the chakra being released and spun like an intense vortex but there was nothing there. And the fact that there was nothing there was starting to affect him. Naruto was the one who orchestrated this whole journey to the east debacle and here he was holding everyone up. No one wanted to admit it, but he was sure they all knew it. With each passing day, the Hidden Villages grew stronger, and without the Nine-Tails' aid, this technique was the only weapon Naruto could wield against the forces of Konoha, Suna, Iwa, and Kumo. He just needed to master this final step and the jinchuuriki could mobilise.

So, when Naruto finally burst into Han's room yelling, "I've got it! I've got it!" the very next day, the jinchuuriki were on the move. Next stop, Kumogakure.

XXX

"The gates to Kumogakure are just up ahead," Han warned as the team walked through a dense forest.

"Weren't you the one who was so worried about Kumo's preparedness for our arrival? Don't you think it's a bad idea to enter the village while the sun is still up?" Gaara asked. Night was only an hour or two away, meaning even if they entered the village now, they'd only be able to start gathering information when the sun finally set, so it seemed stupid to endanger their mission before it even began by entering Kumo when everyone could see them.

Han remained silent for a while before replying, "We're working under the assumption that they already know we're coming. Whether we enter the village in broad daylight or under the blanket of night, they'll probably have eyes on us the moment we set foot on Kumo soil… so, it's safe to say it doesn't matter what time we enter the village, but at least if we enter the village at peak hours, we'll have the security of being surrounded by civilians… civilians who I'm sure Kumo will think twice before attacking."

"You… you want us to take hostages?" Hinata asked, expecting the Five-Tails jinchuuriki to say something along the lines of 'no, of course not'.

But Han just replied, "Yes."

"That's a scummy thing to do, don't you think?" Fuu jumped in.

"… The last thing I want is a repeat of the Land of Iron. What lies ahead of us isn't going to be a sparring match. It'll be the start of a war, so I'm going to need you guys to get down and dirty with the enemy. Roll around in the dirt and throw some mud in their eyes. In a one-on-one combat situation, all five of us could probably walk out with little to no scratches, and they know that… so, they're going to throw hundreds of shinobi at each of us… so, if they're not going to play fair, neither are we… if it comes down to 'save civilians or save ourselves', I want all of you to promise me that you'll put yourselves first. Promise."

"Sure," Gaara replied.

"Yeah," Naruto sulked.

"I'll try," Fuu said.

Hinata exhaled softly before nodding in agreement.

They reached the Mountainous Stairs. A flight of stairs carved into a rocky outcrop that extended up into the clouds.

"Damn, they weren't messing around when they named it the Village Hidden in the Clouds," Naruto scratched the back of his head at the sight of it.

Han took the first step, "There's officially no turning back now. So, might as well enjoy Kumo, but stick to Gaara's plan."

"Uh… yeah… definitely, let's all stick to Gaara's plan. Don't deviate from the plan at all… it's a solid plan, so let's all stick to it," Naruto said.

"You forgot the plan, didn't you," Fuu sighed.

"Of course not, but can you just repeat it, because I'm sure some of you must've forgotten the details and are too embarrassed to ask for yourselves."

"They'll be looking for a group, so to buy as much time as possible, we'll split up and book three separate accommodations. Uzumaki, you'll be with me. The Hyuuga heiress will be with Fuu, and Han will be on his own," Gaara explained, "When the time to search comes, we'll split up further into four pairs with you supplying us with one clone each. A shadow clone will be better than any earpiece since shadow clones can't get hacked or traced… plus, you can transfer information and relay it through your clones meaning if someone makes a discovery, they can share it with everyone else. Han will lay low for a while since he's a six-foot-tall behemoth with a massive furnace on his back, but the rest of us will search different parts of the village for information. Quick, in and out. If we can't find them or if they don't want to come with us, we'll leave before sunrise tomorrow. Do you think everyone remembers the details now?" Gaara asked, staring at Naruto.

"Seems like it," the Uzumaki flashed a foxy grin.

They finally reached the main entrance to the Hidden Cloud. The village was nice and lively, with no border guards to check the jinchuuriki's identities. Perfect. They threw hoodies over their heads and disappeared into the crowd.

XXX

They had promised to get a few hours of rest first before heading out into the village, but neither Fuu nor Hinata were tired enough to fall asleep, so they just sat there in hotel room waiting for the moment it felt right to leave the room and head out into town.

Fuu glanced over to the Naruto clones, who were both fast asleep. "It's incredible… how does that even work?" she wondered aloud.

"What?"

"Perfect clones that cannot take damage and deal damage, but can eat, sleep, and create other clones. I tried to get Naruto to teach it to me back in Iwagakure but…" Fuu paused for a moment. She pulled her legs closer and wrapped her sinewy arms around her kness, "Man, Iwagakure… it feels like a lifetime ago."

Hinata, who was busy staring out the window at the village below, turned her head slightly to stare at the jinchuuriki. It'd been two months since they were crammed in that shady love hotel room together. "Yeah… I'm surprised we all got along so well considering we knew nothing about each other. Even Naruto was nothing but a goal for me, back then. I couldn't spend a minute with him without fainting… and now, I can dance with him under the moonlight."

"True. I guess you can just chalk it up to us being four kids who didn't know where we were going but knew we couldn't go back. I don't know what the future holds for us, but I'd rather be living on the edge in a Kumo hotel with you than living in luxury in some small Taki house."

Hinata returned to the window, "The same goes for me, I'd rather be fighting for my freedom in Kumo with you than be caged in some Hyuuga compound back in Konoha."

"By the way, how did things end up going between you and Naruto… last I saw of you that night, you were off to help Naruto find a yukata."

"For that night, it was beautiful. But… all good things must come to an end. The very next day, I think Han told him he needed to master the Rasengan before we could continue our journey. He always tells me about how he's constantly stressed from having the weight of the whole team on his shoulders, so I felt it'd be better if I gave him some alone time."

Fuu shrugged, "I guess that makes sense… according to Gaara, it was Naruto's idea to gather all the tailed beasts and go east, so I can only imagine how much stress he's under," she said staring at the sleeping clones in the corner. "I've been under a bit of stress myself; you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sometimes I feel like I don't bring anything to the team. I mean, two months ago was the first time I ever left the Land of Waterfalls, so I have no knowledge on other countries, I have no knowledge on other shinobi villages, I don't even have any knowledge on other shinobi, like what type of jutsu they're likely to use… I feel like I'm just a sightseer latching onto you guys for new experiences." Fuu's emotional monologue was punctuated by Hinata bursting out giggling.

"It's amazing that you say that because I've felt the exact same way," she said wiping a tear from her cheek, "I always feel so insignificant around you guys. I don't have as much chakra as you guys, I'm not as fast, not as strong, not as tough… it always feels like I'm letting the group down."

"No way! As Han said, you're the most normal one of all of us. I think I would've gone crazy if I was stuck in hotel rooms with Naruto, Han, or Gaara, for the last two months. Don't undervalue yourself."

Hinata hid her face so Fuu wouldn't see the red hue forming across it, "The same can be said for you… you might not be street smart but you're pretty book smart. I mean, without you I would've walked right past Han in Iwagakure. Plus, you're a perfect jinchuuriki… how can you feel useless to the team when you're one of our strongest weapons?"

It was Fuu's turn to hide her face. The pair's therapy session was interrupted by incoherent mumbling coming from outside. Fuu's eyes widened. She'd overheard some Kumo shinobi drunkenly rambling about ambushes and war. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so she bid Hinata adieu, woke her Naruto clone up, and rushed out of the building after throwing on a black hooded robe.

"Slow down," a groggy Naruto clone moaned as he pushed open the hotel's glass doors and strolled out into Kumo at night for the first time in his life.

Before he could even grasp the beauty of the buildings around him, Naruto came to a sudden realisation. His lungs weren't filling up. The difference was slight, but he could definitely feel it. Just running down a few flights of stairs began burning his lungs. He was struggling to fill them with every breath. What was happening to his body? He looked up and around him at the clouds floating through and between the buildings that had been built into the peaks of mountains. Damn. It was the altitude. Kumo was built within a mountain range, with rocky bridges connecting one peak to the other. At around 2000 metres above sea level, it was a completely different climate from his home, Konoha, which sat at a few metres above sea level.

It was only when Fuu wrapped her hand around his wrist and dragged him through the village's streets that he finally returned to reality and calmed his mind down enough to get back in the game.

His body would just have to adjust.

"There they are," Fuu whispered before diving behind a set of boxes.

Well, Fuu had heard right. There was indeed a group of four Kumo shinobi sitting near the centre of the alleyway, surrounded by empty bottles of liquor. They were playing some card game and sitting under the alley's sole streetlamp. Unfortunately, they weren't spilling the beans about an upcoming ambush or war as Fuu had hoped. In fact, Naruto couldn't even understand what they were talking about, to begin with. The alcohol had tied their tongues together, meaning to each other they were probably speaking coherent sentences but to Naruto, Fuu, and everyone else, they were speaking absolute gibberish.

"It's no use," the Uzumaki said, getting up off the cold concrete floor, "They're out of it."

Fuu grabbed the Uzumaki clone and yanked him down to the floor, "No! I promise you; they'll start talking soon enough," she whispered.

The men played for another two minutes until someone finally won. Evident by how the man closest to the jinchuuriki raised his fist to the sky and celebrated with a beer whilst the bulkiest man of the group grabbed the whole deck and started shuffling. His celebrations were cut short by the bulky man making a wager. "If I win this one, I don't have to pay for the next round of beers."

"You want another round of beers? Do you really want to get shitfaced when there's an ambush just around the corner?" the shortest man warned.

Naruto sat up. What was that? "There's been an ambush around the corner for the past month. I don't want to hear anything about tailed beasts and jinchuuriki until those bastards are standing right in front of me."

"Keep your voice down," a skinnier man with glasses advised. "You never know who could be listening."

"I don't give a fuck who listens! I don't care about the jinchuuriki!"

"Speaking of jinchuuriki, I really do feel sorry for Yugito Nii though," the short man interjected, "if we've been on alert for a whole month… that means she's been held up in prison for the last month over something she can't even control."

"There you go again, Omoiyari. Yugito Nii this, Yugito Nii that. You realise she's not gonna fuck you, right?" the burly man asked, throwing his cards on the floor.

"Calm down, Ji. Am I not allowed to feel sympathy for a fellow Kumo shinobi?"

"Not when that Kumo shinobi's a potential traitor that you've been visiting for the past month!"

"Who told you about that?!"

Naruto and Fuu had heard all they needed to know. They backed away into the shadows before exiting the alleyway. "You got that?" Fuu asked as they rushed through the half-empty Kumo streets.

Naruto nodded before disappearing into another alleyway and dispelling. Sending all his memories to the real Naruto and his clones.

XXX

"Hm!" Hinata's clone came to a sudden standstill.

"Are you okay?" the Hyuuga princess enquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he waved her concern away whilst holding his head, "I just got Fuu's clone's memories… Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails jinchuuriki, is being held in some prison, and has been for the past month."

Hinata's eyes widened. She couldn't begin to imagine how horrible an experience that must've been. Being dragged from your home and thrown in a jail cell for no reason other than because the jinchuuriki from three of the other five Shinobi Nations have escaped. "Hopefully, that means she'll be on our side then."

"We can only hope. Gaara and the real me have decided to go hopping from one prison to the other in hopes of finding her."

"Hm, best-case scenario, they find both the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails," Hinata flashed the clone a warm smile.

"Yeah, but in the meantime, let's do a bit of bar-hopping. Apparently, Fuu found a group of Kumo shinobi who were so drunk they didn't even realise they were giving away precious intel. Maybe, we'll stumble upon the same bit of luck."

XXX

What was taking Gaara so long, Naruto wondered as he leaned against a low wall, making sure to check his watch every few minutes. They'd been through three prisons already and found nothing. No Eight-Tails, no Two-Tails, not even another group of Kumo shinobi babbling about the whereabouts of either jinchuuriki, nothing. Going from prison to prison in search of someone they'd never seen before was proving to be a) too tedious and b) too dangerous. If Gaara didn't return in two minutes, Naruto was going to have to run in there and drag him out himself.

But he didn't want to get caught. What if Gaara had gotten caught? There's no way… Gaara was a powerful shinobi. But then again, they didn't need power, they needed stealth. How stealthy was Gaara?

Naruto slapped his cheeks. He's a pale redhead with a giant gourd on his back and a bright red tattoo on his face. What was he thinking allowing him to go into that prison on his own? Then again, Naruto was kitted out in an orange and blue attire. Neither of them should've been prison-hopping. It was such a stupid idea!

"Good evening," a crowd of elderly women greeted in unison as they walked past the Uzumaki. He made sure to swap his concerned expression for one of warmth and happiness. He pushed himself off the low wall and bowed for the women as they strolled past him and disappeared around a corner.

Except for one old lady who stopped a few metres short of the corner, looked around and then returned to Naruto. "Hello?" the Uzumaki took a defensive stance.

"It's me, you idiot," she groaned, as her skin began to crack and turn to sand. Her hunched back wore away to reveal a sandy gourd, which popped open to allow the sand around her frame to float in.

"It's actually impressive what you can do with your sand, dattebayo," Naruto acknowledged.

"We'll stroke each other's egos later. I searched that place from top to bottom… no sign of any blonde women."

"Any sign of the Eight-Tails?"

"Considering how the only intel Han gave us about him was that he had dark skin… I don't know."

Naruto sat back on his low wall, "Then where to from here?"

"We walk around until we find another prison, I guess. I say we head to the centre of the village and look for prisons near the Kage's headquarters. Only problem is, I'm pretty sure those will be more heavily guarded than these prisons on the outskirts of the village."

"Sounds like a plan. If anyone asks any questions, you can turn us both into old ladies," Naruto chuckled.

XXX

Naruto and Hinata took a seat on a bench near Kumo's main square. They'd been searching for hours, hopping from bar to bar, listening out for any drunkards who felt like spilling state secrets. But nothing.

"My feet hurt," Hinata groaned, removing her sandals and massaging the tender skin around the bridge of her foot.

"Same," Naruto chuckled, "And I'm already breathing heavy from this altitude," he complained.

"Hehe, if a jinchuuriki's complaining, you can only imagine how I feel," the Hyuuga heiress laughed.

"Good point… a part of me wishes we were still in Yugakure."

Hinata stopped massaging her feet to stare at the Uzumaki. They were in total agreement, but it appeared to be for differing reasons. Naruto missed the Village Hidden in Hot Water because he didn't have to work this hard to find people who could be on the enemy's side. Hinata missed the Village Hidden in Hot Water because she wanted to be back in Naruto's arms, slow dancing in the moonlight. The Hot Water Village represented a moment of peace. A calm before the storm. It felt like they were in the eye of the hurricane. Either way they looked, they saw violent winds, torrents of clouds and walls of water. But in Yu, in that specific spot, everything was still, the sun was out, the birds were singing. It was tranquillity… it was a mirage.

"Oi!" Naruto's yelling broke Hinata's train of thought. The Uzumaki called a young kunoichi over to their position. What was he doing? "What's your name?" he asked.

"Hikari!"

"That's a nice name. Nice to meet you, Hikari. My name's… Naruto," Hinata palmed her forehead. The idiot couldn't even come up with a fake name. "My sister and I are on holiday here in the Hidden Cloud and we're trying fill this holiday bingo card out. The next slot is to 'find the Eight-Tails and take a picture with him', but we've been searching all day and we can't seem to even find him. Do you know where he is?"

No way this works.

"You must be looking for Killer B! You came at a horrible time because since the Raikage's gone, B's been in the Raikage's headquarters holding everything down for him. He never leaves that place."

It actually worked?

"Aw man. And there's no way to get into the Raikage's headquarters?"

"No, even us genin have been getting our missions from our jonin teachers because they're the only ones who have access to him."

It actually worked!

"Oh man. Oh well, we'll try again next time," Naruto nonchalantly shrugged. "Thanks for helping us."

"Anything I can do to help," she giggled before running off.

"H-how did that work?" Hinata wondered.

"You forget, I'm not just incredibly powerful, I'm also incredibly smart," he smirked.

Hikari returned. She leaned over the bench and whispered into Naruto's ear. "You should probably take that headband off when you're moving around the village." Naruto's eyes widened. He unwrapped his headband and stared at his reflection in the scarred protector. She bawled her right hand into a fist before pressing it against her heart and punching the air.

"What was that about?" Hinata wondered as the kunoichi, probably a few years older than her, skipped away into the darkness.

Naruto swallowed hard, "I… I don't know… but I have to tell the others," He realised before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

XXX

Naruto slowed his walking to a halt. Gaara stopped a few steps in front of him, "Something wrong?"

"No… Hinata's clone just dispelled. At least we now know where the Eight-Tails is," he said before restarting his journey down the stairwell.

"And where is that?"

"The Raikage's headquarters. He's keeping things under the control while the Raikage's out of the village."

"How do you know that?"

Naruto shrugged, "I asked."

"Well, did you bother to ask why the Raikage's out of town, or which prison the Two-Tails is in, or whether the Eight-Tails was in favour of or opposed to our attempts to save him?"

"I feel like you're asking a lot of questions right now," Naruto whispered.

They exited the stairwell and reached the prison's bottom floor where there was only one long corridor visible and two guards guarding it. Fortunately for them, both guards had fallen asleep.

"Because this is the first bit of intel we've gotten about the Eight-Tails all day," Gaara whispered back.

"And it's the only bit of intel we needed. We know where the Eight-Tails is…" Naruto whispered as they slipped past the guards and deeper into the mysteriously dark hallway, "… and now we know where the Two-Tails is," he concluded as they reached the end.

There she sat. In the corner of a dingy, damp cell, with nothing but a bowl of sloppy muck and a bottle of water at her side. An older blonde woman, dressed in the tattered remains of a purple blouse and black pants, with her hands chained to a nearby wall and her feet chained to a wall opposite her. This was Yugito Nii, Kumogakure's strongest kunoichi, locked away in some windowless, lightless cell, nearly a hundred metres underground.

"What have they done to her?" Gaara showed an ounce of concern. He wrapped his fingers around the bars and called out for her. "Yugito… it's us…"

"The One-Tails and the Nine-Tails… yeah, I know… I heard you coming from across the hallway," she muttered softly.

"That's some impressive hearing," Naruto said.

"What do you want?" Yugito asked.

Naruto and Gaara traded stares. "We're here to save you." That should've been obvious.

"Save me? Save me? Don't you see… it's because of you that I'm in this mess. I have fought so hard and sacrificed so much for this village to treat me like a human being and not like the monster they believed my predecessors to be. I was so close… but because of you and your antics, they didn't trust me to not get kidnapped by your team… so, I'm stuck here… and I've been stuck here for days… weeks even. All whilst B gets to live it up in the Raikage's quarters."

"Killer B… that's the Eight-Tails, isn't it? Why does he get to stay in the Raikage's quarters while you rot away in some jail?" Gaara wondered.

"Because he's the Raikage's brother… or half-brother… I don't know and I don't care. All I do know is that I wasn't afforded that luxury."

"That's not our fault," Gaara said bluntly, "If anything, this gives you all the more reason to fight for your…"

Naruto shut the redhead up and pulled him back, away from the bars. His heart was in the right place, but Gaara didn't have much going for him in the tact department. So, Naruto stepped up and lowered himself to Yugito's level.

"We haven't come to kidnap you… we're not here to bribe you… in fact, we're not even here to convince you to come with us. I'm here to tell you that the option exists and by the time the sun rises, we'll be gone. Gaara and I, plus Fuu, the Seven-Tails, and Han, the Five-Tails, are all here… not to build an army of jinchuuriki, but to disappear together and create a place where we can live not as jinchuuriki, not as weapons, but as human beings. I can't promise you that it'll be easy… I can't even promise you that such a place even exists. What I can promise you though, is that with us, you won't have to earn your humanity. With us, you won't be locked up for months because of something you might do or something you could do. You'll be free. This is freedom extending its hand out for you… will you grab it," Naruto asked as his right hand reached through the bars and out to the kunoichi.

"Come on, gents! At least pretend like you care about your job!" a voice laughed from behind them. Naruto and Gaara looked over their shoulders. A slightly intoxicated third shinobi had made their way down the stairs and was conversating with the two guards manning the Two-Tails jinchuuriki's cell.

"Omoiyari… it's a bit late for one of your visits, isn't it?"

"I like chatting with her, okay. Is it a crime to talk to someone more than twice a day?"

"Are you drunk?"

Naruto turned to Yugito, whose face was being illuminated slightly by Omoiyari's lantern. His heart sank into his stomach as Yugito took a deep breath in, "Reach for it," he tried one last time, but it was too late.

"THEY'RE HERE! THE JINCHUURIKI HAVE ENTERED THE VILLAGE AND THEY'RE TRYING TO KIDNAP ME!"

"This bitch," Gaara whispered.

"What was that?" the guards came charging down the hallway. "It's them! Sound the alarm! Quick!"

Gaara began reverting to sand. Naruto fell to his knees, still reaching through the bars, "Oh Yugito, why?" Omoiyari grabbed the Uzumaki by the back of the head and slammed his face against the bars.

Naruto dispelled.

XXX

Han woke up to the sound of sirens. His Naruto clone had fallen asleep. "Oi, Naruto!" he grabbed the clone by the collar and shook it. "What's going on?"

The memories hit the clone like a truck. He took a moment to blink and gather his thoughts. Whoa! "Yugito Nii gave away our location… the ambush! It's started!"

Han threw the clone aside, "Damn it, you were supposed to wake me up!" he roared. There was a knock on his front door. He definitely wasn't going to answer that. He stumbled over to the back window and looked down. Kumo shinobi were waiting for him to jump out. He needed to think on his feet.

Was he going to brute force his way out?

"Open the door or we'll break it down! Five… four!"

Han began producing steam.

"Three… two… one!"

The door flung open, knocking the Kumo shinobi back. Hot steam singed their exposed skins, but they didn't let that stop them from forcing their way into the room.

Han was gone.

They rushed over to the back window.

"Where'd he go?"

"What do you mean?"

"He's not in here."

"Well, he didn't come out this way."

Bewildered, the Kumo shinobi pulled his head back away from the window and turned to his teammates. They were all unconscious. "How did he…?" Han's hand emerged from the steam to grab the man's mouth. He shot volumes of hot steam down the man's throat. Searing everything from his tongue to his stomach. He collapsed at the jinchuuriki's feet.

Han leapt out through the front door, dropping several storeys to land on the cobblestone pathway. His clone had burnt up in the steam. They had agreed to meet at the town square if things went wrong, so that's where he was going. Hopefully, everyone else was okay.

"Kokuo…"

The streets were blanketed with steam.

XXX

"Do you hear that?" Fuu asked. Hinata lifted her head off the bed slightly.

A siren.

"Yeah," the Hyuuga heiress confirmed it.

"This might be bad…" Fuu chuckled nervously. There was a sharp knock at the door, "This is probably bad, ssu."

"We know you're in there! Come out with your hands up or we'll knock this door down! Five… four!"

"This is definitely bad! Hinata, babe, get in front of me," Fuu hurriedly pulled the princess off the bed and placed her in front of the door. "When that door comes down, I want you to close your eyes and charge."

"Me? Charge?"

"Three! Two!"

"Yes! Eyes closed!"

"One!" they destroyed the door and threw a net into the room.

Hinata did as was instructed of her and charged. Eyes closed. Ignoring what ever had been thrown on her.

"Secret Ninjutsu: Scaled Sneak Jutsu!"

Light!

The Kumo shinobi were blinded. Hinata charged through them and took one with her as she flipped over the railing.

They hit the ground. Hard. But whoever Hinata landed on broke most of her fall. The Hyuuga heiress threw the net off and made a break for it.

"Great idea, Hinata!" Fuu yelled as she came charging out. She threw her arms out and caught the two shinobi on either side of the door as she flipped over the railing and threw them to the floor. She landed on one of Kumo's many concrete bridges.

A group of Kumo shinobi came running down the stairs to engage the kunoichi. "This is what you've been practicing for," she whispered to herself when she noticed that they were all bunch together.

She took a deep breath in.

They tried to scatter.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

Her breath turned to destruction. Fuu didn't even need to aim. The technique spread out in a conical shape as a tornado-like mass that took out everything in its wake. No matter the material, bricks, wood, concrete, flesh, nothing was safe from the violent winds as they cut through everything indiscriminately. She took out the bridge. She took out the Kumo shinobi. She took out a chunk of the apartment and the rocky outcrop it sat on. Nothing in her path survived. That was the power of the Wind Style: Pressure Damage.

She would mourn their deaths later. Now, was the time to fight.

XXX

"On our left!" Naruto called out as they jogged through the empty streets of Kumo. Most of the civilians had been evacuated, so that meant Han's 'save us over them' plan was out the window. What did he expect? Konoha had a similar plan. In case of invasion, they'd pack all the civilians into tunnels that led into Kage Rock… but it had only been a minute. How did everyone evacuate so quickly?

Three Kumo shinobi rushed out of an alleyway.

A wave of sand rushed them. Capturing them. Crushing them. Gaara returned the sand to his gourd.

"I'll take care of this guy," Naruto said as a drunken shinobi staggered out of an empty nightclub. Naruto birthed a clone, which sprinted up to the shinobi and tackled him.

"Naruto! Gaara!"

"Hinata?"

"Hyuuga heiress!"

Hinata leapt onto the scene from above and started jogging alongside the jinchuuriki. "What happened?"

"Yugito Nii gave away our location. The ambush has started."

"Why would she do that?" Hinata wondered.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is getting out of Kumo in one piece. It appears the ambush is already at full force," Gaara replied.

"Not really at full force…" a voice pointed out from right behind them. All three shinobi leapt into the air and took up defensive position. How had these guys managed to sneak up on them? "We didn't really expect you guys to enter the village at night, you see. So, our forces are stretched a bit thin."

"Who the hell are you?" Gaara asked.

"Oi, my name's Omoi."

"You can call me C."

"The name's Darui. We're the first line of defence… or rather, we're the guys who are supposed to slow you down until the other villages' fleets arrive. At least, the Raikage said all we should do is slow you down… I don't want children's blood on my hands, do you?" the man in the middle asked nonchalantly. Who were these guys?

The one in the middle, Darui, was a young black man in the classic Kumo attire. A white flak jacket with a loose-fitting black attire underneath. He had a bored expression on his face, with a clever-like sword over his back.

On his left, stood Omoi, who was also a young black man dressed in the traditional Kumo flak jacket with a long sword on his back. The only difference was unlike Darui who looked like he didn't want to be here, Omoi seemed to be in deep thought whilst sucking on a lollipop.

To the right of Darui stood a pale blonde man in the exact same attire Kumo attire as Darui and Omoi, just this time with no sword on his back. Whereas his partners seemed either laid-back or deep in thought respectively, C had a readied stance to him.

Just from looking at them, Naruto knew these guys would be trouble.

"The only one who'll be bleeding tonight… is you," Gaara warned.

Darui removed his sword from its holster. Omoi did the same. Gaara glared at Hinata for half a second. The Hyuuga heiress nodded.

A column of deathly red chakra came down from the heavens a few blocks away. All three Kumo shinobi looked back over their shoulders as the sound of chakra coming down from above and causing haphazard destruction echoed throughout the village. Hinata used this moment to grab Naruto and make a break for it.

"Oi! What's going on?!" Naruto yelled.

"You and I are the only who can't use tailed beast chakra, so it's probably best we stay out of this until we have to get involved," she explained. "I'm sure Gaara can handle this on his own."

"I wonder what that is," Darui squinted, "One of yours… I assume."

"Don't take your eyes off me."

A burst of sand. Darui slapped it away. Gaara's eyes widened. He flashed behind the jinchuuriki, "Don't take your eyes off me…"

Sand.

Darui's slice was interrupted by a grainy tentacle reaching out from Gaara's gourd to protect the sand sibling.

Darui leapt away.

Only now did Gaara notice Darui was behind him.

"This guy's quick," he noted. "Let's figure out just how quick."

Sand tendrils exploded into reality from Gaara's gourd. One for Darui. One for Omoi. One for C. Omoi got caught in his sand. C evaded. Darui went through some hand seals, "Water Style: Water Wall!" the sand turned to clumps of mud forcing Gaara to dash away. The older man went through a second set of seals, "Gale Style: Laser Circus."

Gaara was caught in the beam.

His absolute defence came apart as torrents of lightning shot through his earthen shield sending him flying through the air. He landed with a thud.

"Oi! You almost hit me!" Omoi yelled as the sand loosened around his frame. He hopped out and landed next to C.

"Don't overthink it next time. Just move."

"Yeah, yeah."

"No matter… that's one down," Darui slotted his hands into his pockets, "I told you Lord A was overreacted when he thought we needed a whole army to…" his rant was interrupted by a sudden release of toxic air.

They both covered their noses and mouths.

Darui slowly turned to meet Gaara's gaze. His skin was falling apart. Cracking before turning to sand. A bloodthirsty grin formed across the Suna nin's face. His lifeless blue-green eyes turned golden with a black star for pupils.

"What on earth is…" Darui had to dodge a wispy red arm. He leapt onto a flagpole and sat there for a moment. "What the hell are you?"

Gaara was lifted to his feet by bubbling orange-red chakra. This was his first time using a regular demon cloak in combat. There was nothing like it. The feeling of unadulterated powered mixed with the adrenaline of battle. It burned. He let out a hellacious roar before jumping across the street and landing on Darui, destroying a sizeable chunk of the building as he dug through it. Darui's eyes widened as Gaara tore through his flak jacket and begun eating away at his organs.

"Release!"

Gaara was breathing heavily. He'd actually missed the Kumo nin. He looked back over his shoulder. C had placed a genjutsu on him and he hadn't even noticed. Luckily, Shukaku could release him when he felt a change in chakra flow. Gaara turned to stare at his opponents. He couldn't allow himself to wildly swing at his opponents. The thinness of the oxygen around him, plus the fact that he wasn't used to using the chakra cloak meant he wouldn't be able to last as long as he usually would. He needed to think this through.

Darui had barely managed to dodge the attack, even in reality. When he landed in front of another building, he realised his flak jacket had been torn. "You're not gonna make this easy for me, are you?" Sand wrapped around the shinobi's ankles. An opportunity. Gaara lunged. "Shit!" Gaara cut through the building, decimating everything in his path before circling around to where Darui once stood.

All that remained were his shoes.

"Can you throw those back to me when you're done?" The Kumo shinobi asked, reappearing across from the jinchuuriki.

"Can you please take this seriously?" C yelled.

Darui chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

Another opportunity.

Gaara let out another roar. Darui threw his arms over his face as a wave of hot air launched him off his feet. He crashed into another building through the window.

They were underestimating him. He needed to use this to his advantage.

Omoi made his move.

"Lightning Style: Flash Pillar!" C blinded the jinchuuriki.

Gaara blindly swiped at the air in front of him. Catching Omoi and sending him flying into a bar.

"Release!" Shukaku pulled Gaara out of another genjutsu just in time for Omoi to groggily push himself off the crumbling rubble.

"I thought you said you'd use a genjutsu to cover me."

"I did… the One-Tails must've pulled him out of it."

"Why didn't you tell me it could do that before it sent me flying into Souka's?"

"You didn't know tailed beasts could pull their jinchuuriki out of genjutsu? You're supposed to overthink everything, I assumed you already knew."

Gaara had to think. He had to calm down and then he had to think. This wasn't going to be as easy as throwing sand at them and breaking every bone in their body. These guys moved faster than him and his sand. What were they? High-ranking chunin? Jonin? It didn't matter…

Gaara crossed his forearms in front of his face and built up a steady stream of chakra. "Huh?" his blue-green eyes locked onto his forearms. They were shaking.

Darui landed behind the jinchuuriki. Hands in his pocket. "The other villages are here. Time to switch things up," he informed his teammates.

Gaara looked back over his shoulder.

"But we've already got the One-Tails pretty much captured… I say we take him out here and now," C advised.

"No, stick to the plan," Omoi said, cracking his back, "We don't know what the One-Tails could be hiding… our jinchuuriki are safe. Rather let Suna and Konoha deal with their jinchuuriki."

"Gaara!" a black-red blitz came out of nowhere to deck C. The blonde shinobi crashed through a building, tumbled over the furniture and was launched out the other side via another window.

"Fuu?" he asked as the translucent chakra dissolved around him. He was breathing heavily. The kunoichi stood up straight as her deathly red aura did the same. She'd had to go Version Two to escape her pursuers.

"I can tell you're having fun, but we need to get to the village square," the mint-haired kunoichi reminded him.

Gaara stared at his hand. He was still shaking. He looked over his shoulder again and around at the battlefield. Both Omoi and Darui had disappeared. "Yeah… I guess so."

XXX

Fuu and Gaara were the last to reach the meeting point. The closer they got to the centre of the village; the less shinobi chased after them. When they arrived, Han had taken the form of Kokuo, whilst Hinata and Naruto were distributing ninja tools evenly between each other. The Kumogakure Central Square was the highest point in the entire village, aside from the Raikage's offices behind it, meaning from this vantage point they'd have the advantage of fighting from an elevated position.

"What do you see?" Gaara asked the twenty-metre-tall horse-whale spirit.

"They're there. Less than I expected… but they're down there alright. Maybe a thousand of them, some from Konoha, some from Suna, some for Iwa… boy, can they plan an ambush." Since it was only a controller transformation whenever Kokuo opened her mouth, Han's voice came out.

"What about the Kage?"

"No Raikage, no Tsuchikage… so I can assume the new Hokage and Kazekage aren't here either. That just stacks things in our favour."

"This is it then, we're leaving the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails and making a break for it?" Fuu asked. Gaara nodded in agreement. "In that case, Han and I will try to thin out the forces ahead of us using our tailed beasts. Gaara, you stay back here and protect Naruto and Hinata. When we've got a good enough opening… we'll come back and…" Fuu's train of thought was interrupted by someone running out of the Raikage's offices and making a bee line for the group.

"Who's that?" Gaara asked.

"… That's the Eight-Tails jinchuuriki," Han noted. A muscular man in white and red, draped with swords and swagger. He slowed his run down as he neared his fellow jinchuuriki.

"Killer B!" Naruto called.

"Does that mean he's on our side?" Hinata wondered.

"Killer B?" Naruto repeated.

Kokuo's eyes widened, "Gaara!"

Killer B's eyes and mouth lit up.

Fuu was immune to the blinding light. She had to stand there and watch as perfection took the spark from her eyes.

There was nothing Gaara could do about it.

Naruto was stunned by it.

Hinata threw her hands over her eyes.

Kokuo reared.

It turns out he was not on their side.