CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Shadow of the Blood Mist Awaits!
XXX
Being the most wanted group of people in the shinobi world meant the jinchuuriki didn't have many places to hide, especially not for three long years. They needed a place where they could not only train, but eat, sleep, and live comfortably knowing full well the other Hidden Villages weren't going to burst through their doors and take them away in the middle of the night. After a few moments of thinking, they settled on the Land of Hot Water, the land that forgot wars.
The only problem was that Yugakure had a 365-day rule meaning no shinobi who weren't citizens of the Land of Hot Water could stay in the village for longer than twelve months, even if they had the funds to. Rather they had to leave for a period no shorter than twelve consecutive months. This meant that they could stay in the village for the first twelve months and the third twelve months, but there was a period of twelve months in between where they had to leave and live with the Hidden Villages on their backs.
They chose to go north to the Land of Frost because a) it was freezing cold, which allowed them to get some cold-weather training, b) it was a thousand or so metres above sea level, so when they weren't doing cold-weather training, they were doing altitude training, and c) the country was so harsh that odds are the Hidden Villages wouldn't ambush them there.
Thanks to Yugito, Naruto had gone from a loudmouthed bumbling blonde idiot who could barely control his own chakra to a loudmouthed bumbling blonde idiot who could probably hold his own against anything short of the strongest jonin and the Kage themselves. Yugito was given the Two-Tails at the tender age of two, and to give her the skills to fight whatever was coming her way, she was put in a brutal training camp that turned her into a dangerous, killing machine. And now it seemed like she was taking it all out on the kids, putting them through training so intense they missed the days of doing chakra control, chakra manipulation, sparring and ninjutsu training, and calling it a day. But that brutal training managed to pay off. The result. Naruto was in his third year of the three-year break, and he was more prepared to take on the world than ever.
"… or at least, he would be if he took anything seriously," Yugito moaned explaining Naruto's progress so far to Han. The Uzumaki was fast asleep. If he wasn't snoring so loudly, Yugito would've thought he was dead. She could train him as much as she wanted, but Naruto was still Naruto. "I mean it's one in the afternoon. Why is he still asleep?"
"Leave him alone, Yugito. You guys were training all day yesterday, let him enjoy his Saturday however he wants to," Han reasoned. Yugito puffed up her cheeks before making her way to the door. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going shopping for supplies."
"We don't have to leave for another week or two."
"It's never too early to be prepared… I'm taking the girls with me too," she said, before closing the door behind her. They'd managed to rent out a house near the outskirts of Yugakure's residential area for the year thanks to Hinata's funds. They'd almost bled the Hyuuga heiress dry, but she insisted that the funds were there to be bled out anyway.
Yugito knocked on the door. She flung it open before giving them a chance to respond. "Ladies, let's move."
Hinata, who was sitting on her bed reading a book, turned to the older blonde woman in confusion, "Where are we going?"
"I wanna start preparing for us to leave, so I'm going into town for some supplies, like clothes, weapons, and non-perishables."
Fuu let out a loud groan, "I almost forgot we have to leave the village in a few weeks, ssu," she buried her head in her pillow, "Can't we just stay here for the rest of our lives?"
"Of course not," Yugito said leaning on the door frame, "If we even think about staying here for longer than twelve months, the Yugakure police will have our heads."
"They can try… but I'll fight them off," Fuu said throwing haymakers at the air.
"And then when the other five shinobi villages see that as just cause to enter the Land of Hot Water? Will you fight them off too?"
Fuu nodded.
"As if… now get dressed and meet me in the living room in thirty minutes."
XXX
Hinata arrived first. The sixteen-year-old heiress stepped into the living room dressed in her new lavender and cream hoodie with a pair of navy blue pants to match. She let her hair down allowing it to rest between her shoulder blades.
"Where's Fuu?" Yugito wondered.
"She's right here!" the Taki kunoichi yelled, bouncing into the living room. She'd gone back to her white midriff shirt and white apron skirt combo with fishnet armour along her arms, knees and under her shirt. "Now then, let's get going, ssu!" she said, just as the kitchen door creaked open.
Gaara, dressed in a crimson long-sleeve shirt and pants combo with a brown belt to match, slowly entered the room, pocketing his keys as he looked around. All three kunoichi were standing around him like some sort of intervention, "What has everyone gathered in the living room?" he wondered.
"It's a long road to Kirigakure, we're heading into town to get some supplies," Yugito informed him, arms folded over her chest, "You wanna come along?"
Gaara turned to Fuu, who was begging for the fellow jinchuuriki to come along. "No thank you," the One-Tailed jinchuuriki said rushing past the kunoichi. Fuu reached out to grab him, but he pulled his elbow away in time. He was out of there.
"What? Come on! It'll be fun," Yugito promised.
It probably wasn't going to be fun. Similar to Han and his fatherly role in the group, Yugito Nii had become the team's mother figure, which was great when it came to protecting the teenagers, but she knew nothing about having fun, especially with people nearly half her age.
"No thank you!" Gaara repeated as he threw his keys on the kitchen counter before turning down into the hallway and made his way to Naruto's bedroom.
"It'll be fun, right?" Yugito asked Hinata and Fuu as soon as she heard Naruto's bedroom door slam shut. Hinata nodded obediently, Fuu rocked her hand slightly in a 'so-so' gesture. Yugito let out a soft sigh, "Whatever. Let's get going."
"I'm still curious as to why we can't just stay in the Land of Hot Water forever," Fuu wondered as she stepped out onto Yugakure's heated cobblestone pathways. "I mean, I know we can't stay here for longer than twelve months if we're not citizens, but what's stopping us from becoming Hot Water citizens?"
"Other than the fact that we're the most wanted group of people in the shinobi world?" Hinata asked.
"Eh…" Yugito replied.
Hinata turned to the older kunoichi. "Eh?" What did she mean 'eh'? This was the One-Tails, the Two-Tails, the Five-Tails, the Seven-Tails, the Nine-Tails, and the Hyuuga Clan's lost princess they were talking about. All six of them together were worth double their weight in gold. Nations would kill to have them in their possession, and the fact that the Land of Hot Water housed all six of them made it the most powerful country in the world, so once again, what did she mean 'eh'?
"Eh as in, exactly what you think 'eh' means. We're no longer the most wanted group of people in the shinobi world, at least not in the eyes of the Shinobi Villages… and we haven't been for quite a while now."
"Who could be more wanted than the jinchuuriki?" Fuu asked.
"The world outside of Yugakure has changed drastically in the last year or two. With Konoha, Suna, Iwa, and Kumo all at their weakest, it's left a power vacuum that could be the spark of the next Great Shinobi World War," Yugito explained. "A war where the prize for the victors could be us, the jinchuuriki."
"You're saying rather than come after us, the Five Shinobi Nations are going after each other?" Hinata asked.
"No… of course not. I wish. They're more united now than they ever have been," Yugito chuckled. "In fact, it's who they're up against that could be the cause of the next Great War."
Through the process of elimination Hinata wagered, "Kiragakure?"
"No. Kiri is siding with the other Shinobi Nations on this one or is at least neutral."
Hinata and Fuu were stumped on this one, "Then who?" Hinata wondered, "Who could be strong enough…"
"… or stupid enough," Fuu added.
"… to take on the Five Shinobi Nations?" Hinata wondered.
Yugito looked around. There were a lot more people in the village than they were used to. They were all probably refugees, fleeing from the impending war. Little did they know, the prize money was walking amongst them. She returned to her teammates, "They call themselves the Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki? Fuck, that's a cool name… I keep telling you guys we need to come up with our own group name, ssu."
"Fuu. Language," Hinata scolded the mint-haired jinchuuriki, "The Akatsuki?"
"Yeah. They're a dangerous organisation made up of the ten most powerful mercenaries the world has ever seen. They don't care about borders or laws. They go where they want, do what they want to, to whoever they want to. Their mission is to collect all nine tailed beasts… and who knows what they'll do with them."
"Ten?" Hinata paused. "All this drama is over ten shinobi?"
"I wouldn't underestimate the Akatsuki if I was you," Yugito warned.
Fuu spoke up next. "How do you know so much about them?"
"The key to being a great shinobi is not just strength, but the art of espionage and deception. I'm a respected kunoichi of the Cloud and a jinchuuriki. Even though, I've been exiled by my village, I still have a small group of supporters, sympathisers, and spies who feed me information about what's going on in the world and with the Five Shinobi Nations," she explained, "And from everything I've heard about these guys. They're destruction personified. Everywhere those dark trench coats with blood red clouds go, death follows."
XXX
There was a knock on Naruto's bedroom door.
"We're not hungry," Naruto replied, still a bit groggy from his slumber. He scratched the back of his head before wiping a trail of drool from the bottom corner of his lips. That was a good sleep. He looked across the room at a full-body mirror to see his face covered in grooves and indentations. That was a really good sleep.
The knock came again.
The Uzumaki turned to Gaara, who simply shrugged. Perhaps Han hadn't heard Naruto through his muttered post-sleep voice.
"We're fully dressed, you can come in," Gaara replied. He made sure to raise his voice a bit this time.
Silence.
A third knock.
Annoyed, the redhead hopped off his bed and marched over to the door, "I said you can come…" his speech broke when he yanked opened the door and was met with blood red clouds and pitch-black trench coats that echoed nothing but darkness. He tilted his head to stare at the two men in front of him.
On his right, a very tall, blue-skinned man with small, round, white eyes, and gill-like markings on his cheeks. He towered over the jinchuuriki and had a bandaged sword strapped to his back.
On his left, a shorter, fair-skinned older man with jet-black hair, onyx eyes and long, deep grooves running under his eyes. They both stood there in silence. Trench coats covering their bodies. Kasa, lined with tassels, covering their faces, hiding their identities.
Fear became Gaara.
He didn't know these men. He didn't who they were, where they were from, or what they wanted. But he didn't want to be there. He wanted to run. But he was struck, stuck in place, by fear. Him, Gaara of the Desert, the One-Tailed jinchuuriki, paralysed by fear.
Who are these monsters?
"Naruto Uzumaki… Gaara of the Desert… both of you, come with us," the shorter man requested in a soft, tranquil voice.
Naruto rolled off his bed in confusion. "Oi, oi, oi! What's going on here?"
Gaara finally mustered the strength to take a step back.
"You see what asking nicely got us, Itachi? He's about to make a run for it," the blue-skinned man noted, "I say we grind their legs off and carry their bodies back to the hideout. Lord Pain asked us to bring them back alive, he didn't specify if he wanted them in one piece or several."
Itachi, the shorter man eyed his partner for a moment, "You realise cutting people up into several pieces kills them, right?"
"Not the way I do it. See, the key is too…"
"Naruto! Run!" Gaara yelled before throwing up a sandstorm to distract the pair.
The shark-skinned man reached out to grab Gaara by the throat, stopping him from escaping. Gaara was frozen. A shield of sand had burst out from below to protect him, but the man just punched through it to grab him by the neck and squeeze. He'd gone through it like a freight train through a wet piece of paper. Who was this guy?
Naruto didn't need to be told twice. He turned for the window, but a third man appeared from the shadows. It was a clone of the shorter onyx-eyed man.
"There is no need to worry about them escaping, Kisame."
"Naruto! Gaara! What's wrong?" Han came running down the hallway.
"Is that… is that the Five-Tails?" Kisame asked in amazement. "Hehehe, will you look at that. Three for the price of one?" he grinned, throwing his right hand over his shoulder to clutch his sword.
Gaara bit down on Kisame's hand. He bit down like his life depended on it… in fact, it did. So, he tightened his jaw muscles and didn't let go until the taste of blood trickled down his tongue. Kisame finally let go.
Naruto used the confusion to tackle the Itachi clone and run with him through the window. They crashed through the glass before rolling down a hill and crashing into another building. The force of all that dispelled the clone. Naruto got up and started running. He ran and he didn't stop running until his legs and his lungs gave out.
Gaara did the same. He followed Naruto through the window and vanished with the crowd.
"Look what you've done, you piece of…" Kisame was interrupted by Itachi sticking his arm out and holding him back.
"Be careful now, Kisame. This one has bountiful reserves of strength he can call upon."
"You two are members of the Akatsuki, aren't you?" Han noted, "I knew you didn't care about national laws and borders, but even I'm surprised to see you willing to cause a scene in the Land of Hot Water."
"Our mission to ensure world peace goes beyond laws and borders," Itachi assured him.
"Well then… if that's the case!" Han filled the hallway with steam.
Kisame tightened his grip on his sword.
Itachi dropped his guard.
When the steam dissipated, Han was gone.
Kisame dropped his dominant arm, "What's the plan from here on?"
"Yugakure shinobi are no joke… we do not need the whole village on our tail. Our mission was to retrieve the Nine-Tails using stealth… we've failed. Now, we return to the hideout."
XXX
Gaara didn't stop running until his legs started aching with every step and his lungs started burning with every breath. He gradually slowed to a halt and doubled over in pain. That feeling was still there. That ever-growing feeling of malignant eyes looking down at him.
Itachi Uchiha.
Kisame Hoshigaki.
Whoever they were, Gaara hoped he'd never see them again.
"Gaara?" a hand landed on the sixteen-year-old's shoulder. He fell to the ground, arms extended in front of him, begging for mercy. He opened his eyes to stare at Emi's concerned face.
There was so much fear coursing through his body, he was holding the tears in his throat. Everything hurt and he didn't even have time to think. He breathed a sigh of relief. But then again, if it was Itachi or Kisame, the sand would've rushed to his aid.
But wait… back then, the sand did rush to his aid and Kisame reached through it like it wasn't even there.
Gaara looked back into Emi's eyes. She'd never seen him in this state, "Gaara?"
The younger woman carried him inside. She placed him on the couch before rushing into the kitchen to get him some water. Takahiro, her father, came rushing down the stairs upon hearing Emi's frantic movements.
"What's going o… oh? Gaara… to what do we owe the favour?" he asked casually before Emi came speeding past him with a cold glass of water. "Hey, who died?" he chuckled before seeing Gaara sitting on the couch, paler than usual, "Wait, did someone actually die?" he asked, a more serious expression running across his face.
"I don't know. I found him outside, terrified within an inch of his life."
"Hey… Gaara… what's wrong?" Takahiro asked, placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Gaara finally came back to reality. "Naruto!" he yelled, jumping to his feet.
Takahiro pushed him back down, "Calm down, son. You're in shock. Drink some water and tell us what happened."
Gaara massaged his temples as he tried to calm himself down. He'd been running for about thirty minutes, if those guys wanted to catch him, they would've caught him already. He took a gulp of water before finally answering the pair. "What happened? What happened is that I haven't been completely honest about who I am," he said before standing. He took a deep breath and admitted, "I'm a jinchuuriki."
.
.
.
"Yeah, I knew that," Takahiro shrugged.
"You did?" Gaara asked.
"You did?" Emi asked.
"You didn't?" Gaara turned to Emi.
"Of course she didn't. Emi's never left Yugakure and she doesn't watch the news. Your faces were everywhere a year or two ago. You, Naruto, the tall one, the blonde girl, Fuu, and the Hyuuga girl."
"And you didn't mind?" Gaara said.
"Personally, I think you guys haven't done anything wrong… and you don't seem like a bad kid, so why should I?"
"Because there are strange men after me."
"I'd hardly call the Five Great Shinobi Nations strange."
"No, not them," Gaara tried to explain it, "They're worse…"
"Worse than the Five Kage?"
"I don't know, but they attacked me… and Naruto… and Han. Here! In the village," Gaara shook his head and motioned towards the door, "I shouldn't have come here. I don't want to put you guys in danger."
"But Yugakure is the safest place on earth," Emi reasoned.
"Not with these guys running around. I can't explain what I felt back then. I've only had two moments in my life where I've seen it flash before my eyes… three years ago when I was standing ten metres away from a tailed beast explosion and thirty minutes ago when I saw those black cloaks… and red clouds… and empty black eyes." he said before stopping at the door. Gaara returned to the duo. "We'll have to keep going East."
"Where to? Kiri? They'll be after you too."
"I don't know… but we can't stay here. Not when we have people like the Akatsuki who are willing to start a skirmish while we're in the Hot Water Village. We'll probably go to Kiri to get the last two jinchuuriki then look for a place where we can be safe thereafter. Honestly, I don't want to be in the same village as those monsters…"
Emi grabbed Gaara's hand, cutting him off. The jinchuuriki stared at her tiny palm. He looked up into her eyes… "But I'll see you again, right?"
"Of course," his eyes darted to the floor, "soon."
"You're lying," she noticed, drawing him back, closer this time.
Gaara pulled his arm back, away from her. "Listen, Emi… we won't be able to run away forever. I've got some battles ahead of me… big battles. Battles even I'm not sure I'll walk away from…" his voice sounded so shaky. He gripped the back of her head and leaned his forehead against hers, "But I promise… I'll be back for the next Heiwa Festival. And I never go back on my word…"
XXX
Han came sliding off a roof to land next to Yugito Nii. The blonde jinchuuriki jumped a little as the larger man's breathed hot air down her shoulder. "Do you mind?" she asked, looking up at him.
"We've got to get out of here," he said as Fuu and Hinata walked out of a nearby store.
"I know… why do you think we're grabbing supplies?"
"No. Now. We need to get out of here now. Our homebase has been compromised."
"Compromised? Like a burglary? No way, Fuu put a barrier jutsu over the whole house, remember?"
"No, not like a burglary. Yugito, look at me," the kunoichi finally put her bags down and turned to the taller man. He was breathing heavily. She could smell the scent of tailed beast chakra leaving his body. Finally, she straightened up a bit. "… like these dangerous guys… two of them, in black trench coats with red clouds somehow got through Fuu's barrier without us noticing. They almost got Naruto and Gaara, but I think… I hope… both of them escaped."
"The Akatsuki are here?" Yugito's eyes widened.
"You know about them?"
"I've had my spies feeding me information about them."
Han's brow furrowed, "Since when did you have spies?"
Yugito smirked, "There's a lot of things you don't know about me…"
Hinata finally interrupted their little moment to ask an important question, "Wait, where's Naruto? What happened to him and Gaara?"
"We got split up in the attack. My best guess is that Gaara found his way to Emi's place… Naruto, I have no idea."
Yugito turned to Hinata and Fuu, "Fuu, you go with Han to check up on Gaara. Hinata and I will hunt down Naruto. We'll meet up at the hideout," she commanded.
"Sure," Fuu and Han nodded before flashing away.
Yugito sniffed the air to try and separate Naruto's scent from the thousands of people around her. "I've got him," she noted before flashing away.
XXX
Naruto had collapsed on a pile of wet boxes in an alleyway between two industrial buildings. Yugito and Hinata landed at the boy's feet. He was on the opposite side of town, he was on the verge of consciousness, and nearly out of chakra. Even for Naruto, one of the most dramatic shinobi out there, this seemed a bit extreme. How long had he been running?
"Has he ever reacted like this to anything before?" Yugito Nii wondered, staring at Naruto's barely unconscious body. His harsh breathing broke the silence as Hinata racked her brain for an answer. He didn't have enough chakra running through his pathways to speak. All he could do was close his eyes in relief. Yugito looked down at Hinata, who slowly shook her head no. "Damn… if only two members of the Akatsuki can scare our One, Five, and Nine-Tailed jinchuuriki into submission… then what chance do we have?"
Naruto couldn't even begin to explain how close he came to death. He was lying there in a puddle of his own bodily juices, boxes, and dirty water. It wasn't a great situation to be in, but if it weren't for his status as a jinchuuriki… he might not even be there. Naruto made a rookie mistake. When Itachi's clone appeared from the shadows. He made the mistake of looking up at the Uchiha's face. Staring into his eyes. And when he looked up into Itachi's eyes, death stared back at him. Blood-red eyes. No matter how much he willed it, Naruto couldn't move a muscle.
It was only when Kurama released him that he mustered the strength to just run forward and break through the window. Once again, Kurama, who'd promised he'd never intervene in another of the blonde's activities again, had saved his life. But he was still exhausted. Where would he be without that stupid fox?
"Let's get him back to homebase," Yugito said, looking around. "I can organise a boat for us by tonight. We'll have to move out quickly for Kiri and the Six-Tails."
"Yes, ma'am," Hinata nodded before throwing Naruto's arm over her shoulder and side-eying the jinchuuriki, "It's okay. You're safe now," she assured him.
They flashed away.
A pair of red eyes watched on from the shadows, "… You've got company on the way. The One, Two, Five, Seven, and Nine-Tails are making a bee line for the Hidden Mist."
"… Then it's a race for the Six-Tails, is it?"