The next morning, Naruto awoke to the sound of birds chirping. The sun was out, and its rays were piercing through the building's tall glass windows into his eyes. Everything was still wet from last night's downpour. Tiny drops continued to trickle past them after getting caught in the leaves of the trees that grew from the top of every building in the Village Hidden in the Mist.
The mist had dissipated. Naruto could see the village clearly from up here. His cerulean blue eyes drifted across the street to the big vertical billboard looming over him.
'Do Not Fear, It's Just Kiri Beer – Strong Style: Now with 5% More Alcohol'
He vaguely remembered falling asleep under the Kiri Beer Woman's warm neon glow, so they must have switched it off at some point in the night. It was a miracle, they were able to sleep with such a huge neon sign hanging across from them, but somehow the warm red light lulled them into a deep slumber like a photonic Nyquil.
He exhaled softly. A trail of condensation left his mouth.
He looked over at the woman lying next to him.
Kaede was propped up on her elbow, staring past the Uzumaki. Her gaze extended for thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of yards. Past Naruto, past the buildings, past Kiri, past even the ocean maybe. She just continued to stare at something that Naruto couldn't see.
Naruto took this moment to compose himself, lean up and give her a kiss on the cheek, which finally snapped her out of it. He could see her pupils gradually constrict as she was brought back to earth. She stared into Naruto's eyes before caressing his cheek with one hand and giving him a kiss on the lips.
They held that position for a few minutes before Kaede finally pulled away and got up out of bed. She intertwined her fingers and extended her arms up high into a long and powerful morning stretch. After stretching herself into a new dimension, she threw on a robe to warm herself and made her way up the ladder into her loft.
"What time is it?" Naruto wondered.
"10:30… aka, the perfect time to go to the beach."
Naruto sat up. "Oh yeah," he yawned. He looked over at her as she checked on the clothes that she'd hung up for them overnight, i.e., Naruto's hoodie and pants, and her cloak. "Is it still okay if I bring my teammates with me?"
She looked back at him, "You wanna bring all of them?"
"Well, not all the ones you saw back at the hotel. Just Gaara, Fuu, Hotaru, and Hinata. I know you guys got off on the wrong foot, but I'm sure that if you got the chance to sit down with them and talk, you'd really love…" Naruto looked up. She was standing behind him.
Her cautious expression slowly moulded into a smile. She dropped the Uzumaki's bright orange hoodie and black pants onto his lap before replying, "Of course, I'd love to actually meet them. Hopefully, things will go better this time."
A foxy grin formed across the jinchuuriki's face in response, "Great. Then let's get dressed and go meet them, dattebayo."
XXX
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Turtle of Three Tails!
XXX
As the day went on and morning turned to midday, the sun's warm gentle rays turned to raw unadulterated heat. The type of heat that Naruto was more used to, growing up in the Village Hidden in the Leaf. It really was the perfect day to go to the beach. Kaede had to stop by the Mizukage's office again, but once they were done, they made a beeline for Naruto's hotel and as they neared the room, butterflies began to well up in her stomach.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Kaede stopped the Uzumaki from turning the knob on his hotel room's door handle. All of a sudden, the mednin was a little shy and nervous. She stood in front of the door, twiddling her thumbs, and fidgeting with her toes. "I don't know how I should do this. Should I just jump straight to it and say 'sorry' or should I… I don't know."
Naruto brushed her fears off, "Don't be worried about these guys. As I said before, they're the kindest shinobi I know, the moment you tell them that it was all a misunderstanding, they'll soften right up to you…"
Naruto was interrupted by the door almost being ripped off its hinges by Fuu. "Naruto, you're back, I thought… oh," her manic outburst was stopped in its tracks by her locking eyes with Kaede.
"Fuu," Naruto greeted.
"Hi," Kaede did the same.
"Hey," Fuu replied, opening the door more.
"Before I come in, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I was just a bit panicked because I was surrounded by so many people and my anxiety got the best of me," Kaede actually apologised, "I hope we can wipe the slate clean and start over."
Fuu's brow furrowed. She eyed Naruto for a second, who had a smile plastered over his face. She returned to Kaede. She could tell this had all been orchestrated by Naruto, but seeing as she seemed sincere in her apologies, Fuu figured she'd accept it. "… Yeah, of course. I can see how that'd be a bit nerve-inducing… my name's Fuu," she finally introduced herself.
"My name's Kaede, it's nice to finally meet you."
"Who's at the door?" Hotaru walked in wondering.
"It's Naruto and Kaede."
"Kaede? Oh! Kaede!" Hotaru said as the duo made their way into the hotel room.
"Yeah, she just wanted to apologise after what happened yesterday."
"And we wanted to invite you to the beach for the day," Naruto said.
"The beach?" Fuu turned sharply.
"Yeah, the beach. Since Han and Yugito told us that we're leaving soon, she suggested we head down to the beach as like a little farewell and I wanted to know if you guys wanted to come," Naruto explained.
"Would I? I'd love to, ssu! Wait, but I don't have beach clothes," Fuu said.
"We'll go buy them," Kaede said.
"In that case, perfect. Come," she said, rushing past Hotaru, "Hinata! Get ready! We're going to the beach, ssu!"
Hotaru followed after her. She paused briefly before realising she'd forgotten to do something. She turned to the pair, who were still standing by the door and bowed, "My name's Hotaru, by the way."
"Hotaru. I'm Kaede."
"Kaede. Nice to meet you."
"HOTARU!" Fuu's voice echoed from down the hallway.
"Coming…"
"She has a very loud personality," Kaede noted, "Is she, like, the leader?"
Naruto shook his head profusely, "No, there's no leader here. We're just a bunch of kids who share a goal is all… right, Gaara?"
Kaede almost broke her neck, turning to stare at Gaara. He was leaning against the wall just outside his room with his arms folded over his chest. "… Yeah."
"Are you coming to the beach with us?"
He slowly shook his head, "I don't tan well."
"Don't lie, you lived in a desert for thirteen years."
"And I spent all of those thirteen years fully covered up from head to toe."
"I'm sure we can find you full-body swimwear," Naruto persisted. "Wait, you said 'yes' yesterday. What happened?"
"I was lying," Gaara admitted.
"Well, I'm holding you to your lie, right now. Go get ready."
"You're not gonna let me say no, are you," Gaara noted. Naruto nodded. The One-Tails jinchuuriki sighed before admitting defeat, "Fine. I'll be ready in a few minutes."
Naruto placed his fists on his hips, "I don't know about you, but that went better than I expected," he said before looking down at the shorter kunoichi. She'd wrapped herself around his arm again. She was staring off into the distance again. Getting lost in your own train of thought wasn't an unusual occurrence but for it to happen twice in a few hours. "Are you okay?" he wondered.
She shook her head quickly. Kaede stared up into his eyes. A faint hue formed across her nose and cheeks, "Did I blank out again? Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind," she said, palming her own face. She looked around, "Wait, what happened to the others?"
"The others?"
"Yeah, like… uh… white eyes, black hair…"
"Hinata? She's in her room."
"No, the guy version."
"Neji! Oh, like with Rock Lee and Tenten? The guy in the green suit and the lady with the massive scroll on her back?"
"Yeah!"
"They've probably already left. They weren't part of our group. They were just old friends from the Leaf."
"Oh? Then what about… uh, tall and muscular… short and blonde…"
"Han and Yugito? They probably already left for their little special mission. We're all gonna leave when they get back, so probably sometime tomorrow," Naruto reasoned. "They're probably somewhere out there having the time of their lives."
XXX
Han and Yugito
Trying to find the lost village of Uzushio would've been hard enough for just two people. But trying to find the lost village of Uzushio with a thick blanket of fog reducing their visibility was nigh-impossible. Yugito knew the general area of the former village just because Kumo used to be Konoha's rival state, Uzushio's number one ally. From what she remembered; it was an hour's boat ride off the coast of the Land of Fire. Unfortunately, Yugito was not a sailor. She didn't know how far from Kiri that would make it. Whether it was north or south of the Land of Water's Island Chain. Whether one hour east off the coast of the Land of Fire meant one hour in a large, slow-moving boat, or one hour in a speedboat. There were too many variables for them to triangulate the position of the island based on what they had.
"Can't we just head to the Land of Fire, and then head east?" Han wondered.
"The ocean is a massive place. It'd be very easy for us to miss the island using that method," Yugito replied.
"Then we'll just head east for one hour, then keep heading south until we hit land," he figured.
"What if we're not east enough and we just drift off into the Greater Ocean?" Yugito said trying to use her cat vision to pierce the thick fog. They'd been going at it for about an hour. If it wasn't for Han's massive stamina reserves, who knows where they'd be?
"What's that?" Han asked as something large drifted past them. Yugito looked over her shoulder at the object. It looked like a chunk of earth jutting out of the water. She turned to scan the area.
"They're everywhere," she noted.
Thick, long chunks of earth coming out from under the water's surface. Some were so tall that they loomed over them, some barely broke the ocean's surface tension to peek out and taste the misty air.
She covered herself in a layer of tailed beast chakra, activating the chakra cloak, and reached out to grab one of them. They were nailed to something below. She yanked on it. Ripping a piece off and bringing it closer before reverting to a regular form. She sniffed the thing, then she ran her tongue along it.
"Ew," Han retorted.
"It's just a rock… it's charred though," she noted.
Han looked left, then right. Pieces of rock landed around him as the small boat's wake disturbed the surrounding landmass. He looked up. He could see trees, charred pieces of bark and… fragments of unlit paper bombs.
They were back.
Utakata's island.
Their minute of silence said it all.
They both knew.
Three days ago, they were here, drinking tea, and eating curry over rice with a new friend, a new member of their group of jinchuuriki. They'd spent the whole night discussing how they'd run from the Akatsuki and what travelling arrangements they'd take to find the Three-Tails and disappear forever.
Three days later, they were surrounded by ruins. A heroic final sacrifice that, apparently, didn't even pay off.
"It's amazing that he was able to do this much damage," Yugito said.
"What amazes me is that the world drove him to the point where he was content with this," Han said.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Think about it, lacing your whole island with paper bombs is not an easy task. One day, Utakata must've woken up and realised that the people who are coming after him will eventually find him. And if that moment came, he'd need to sacrifice himself in order to save the people he loves."
"So is the life of a jinchuuriki," Yugito shrugged.
"And yet, here we are about to create another one."
"Don't tell me you're actually taking Naruto's side on this matter."
"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just… meditating on his words."
Yugito looked up one last time as they left the island behind them. "Hinata has spent the last three years surrounded by jinchuuriki. She's always been the slowest, the weakest, and the quickest to tire between us," she was willing to admit, "I can imagine how strange it must've felt for her. My best guess is that she believes once she's become a jinchuuriki, she can finally be on the same level as the rest of us, especially Naruto."
"…"
"I realise there are some heavy cons that come with being a jinchuuriki, but I think for Hinata, the pros outweigh them. And better her, who we know is a trusted member of the group, than anyone else to bear the burden of being the Three-Tails… what's that?"
Suddenly, a large wave split the boat in half, sending metal flying everywhere, and Yugito and Han crashing into the ocean below.
A dark shadow loomed over them.
XXX
The Kids
"Can't we just get changed at the beach?" Fuu asked Kaede as they wandered through the women's section of the store in search of swimwear.
"Why on earth would you want to carry all that extra baggage to a place where you're supposed to be relaxing?" Kaede asked.
A harsh blush formed across Hinata's face, "So, we're going to walk across the entire village wearing nothing but our swimming outfits?"
"Yeah? Other people do it too. Kiri is a seaside village, it's not unusual to see people walking around in just bikinis and swimming trunks, especially on days as hot as today. Plus, your hotel is right next to the beach, it's obviously a tourist hotel created so that outsiders have easy access to the ocean."
"I don't know, it still feels a bit… out of the ordinary for me," Fuu said, "Don't you think so, Hotaru?"
The blonde woman shook her head, "Not really. Then again, maybe it's just a Land of Water thing."
"You're from the Land of Water?" Kaede asked.
Hotaru nodded, "Yeah, I was born in a little village called the Tsuchigumo Village. You might not know it."
"I don't, but still, initially, I thought all three of you were from the Land of Fire?"
"I'm from the Land of Waterfalls, ssu!"
"Really? It's my first time meeting someone from the Land of Waterfalls," Kaede said. Last, she looked at Hinata and made an educated guess, "And I'm guessing since you're a Hyuuga, you're originally from Konoha."
Hinata nodded.
"You've got a pretty diverse group… a little Land of Fire-heavy, but diverse, nonetheless. That's good," Kaede said, stopping in front of a row of bikinis and giving the ladies a chance to search, "If I could have my own team, I'd fill it with people from all over, the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Earth…"
"Oi! The Land of Waterfalls, and Rain, and Grass also exist, ssu," Fuu protested.
"Do they even have shinobi villages?" Kaede wondered.
"Where do you think I come from?" Fuu cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't know, you don't have a headband on, so I assumed you'd moved to Konoha or Iwa when you were old enough."
"Haven't you ever left Kiri?" Hinata asked.
"I have, but my missions are very structured. I also have handlers who need to know my location all the time when I'm outside of the village, so I don't have time to actually explore those villages."
"Structured missions? Constant surveillance? What do you do?" Hotaru asked.
"I'm a medic," Kaede responded.
"Hinata's a medic too, and a princess at that, and even she was given some freedom on missions," Fuu noted.
"You're a princess?" Kaede asked. Fuu realised she slipped up.
"Like… as in her personality… in her family, she was treated like a princess, not an actual princess," Hotaru jumped in. Fuu wanted to hug the blonde woman for saving her bacon.
"Oh? That must've been nice, especially considering how rich and fancy the Hyuuga Clan is."
"But that still makes me wonder," Fuu began, "What kind of medic do you have to be to have such a rigorous schedule?"
"I shouldn't tell you this… but… I'm the Mizukage's personal medic," Kaede explained, "Wherever the Mizukage goes, I go, because I know more about her personally than anyone else could possibly know."
Hinata thought aloud, "The Mizukage was up in the Land of Lightning though, why didn't you go with her?"
"…" Kaede looked around to make sure no one was in the immediate vicinity. She leaned in, prompting Hinata, Fuu, and Hotaru to do the same, "The Mizukage has a special deal with the Hidden Leaf Village and their Hokage Guard Platoon. They have this cool jutsu called the Flying Raijin Formation that allows them to instantly teleport her to the village. If anything goes wrong with her or with the village, they can instantly bring her to my side," she said before lifting her cloak to reveal the teleportation mark on her inner thigh.
'Sword of Shinobi's Love'
"Wow," was all Fuu could bring herself to say.
"I know right, look, I can even move it around," she said, still holding the cloak up. True to her word, she slid the markings across her skin until they were on her outer thigh, "It takes quite a bit of chakra though."
"Do you guys need any help?" an older lady, who worked at the store, asked.
"No, no, we were just trying to decide which swimsuit looked better on each other," Fuu said, "Oh look, I think it's this one," she said, pulling out a white and red striped bikini and holding it up to Hotaru's frame, "Go try it on."
Figuring, why not, Hotaru grabbed the bikini and walked into the changeroom with Hinata, who also wanted to try out her own piece of swimwear. Luckily, the changeroom featured a bench that Fuu and Kaede could sit on while they waited for Hinata and Hotaru to come out of their stalls.
"… By the way, I'm sorry for saying I didn't trust you yesterday," Fuu said softly, "Last night was just a rush of emotions."
Kaede turned to her. "It's understandable, I can see Naruto's like the little brother, and I can imagine that if I had siblings I'd be just as protective of my little brother." A smile formed across her face, "Apology accepted. I'm just happy to start from scratch on a clean slate."
"Yeah, little brother…"
"Speaking of little brother, let me go check up on them and make sure they haven't burnt anything down," she giggled before leaving the changeroom.
"How's this look?" Hinata wondered, walking out of her little stall. She was wearing an orange one-piece that showed off way too many curves, in her opinion, but it was the best they had.
"Turn around," Fuu suggested.
"No," Hinata shook her head.
"Come on, baby, give me a little spin," Fuu teased.
Hinata was already reluctant to show off any part of her bathing suit, the last thing she wanted to do was turn around and give her a whole show.
"I couldn't find them but…" Kaede burst in through the curtains, "What's this? A one-piece? You're not twelve, Hinata. Come, let's look for something that shows off more skin," before the Hyuuga heiress could argue, Kaede grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her into another section of the store.
"But I…" was the last thing Hinata mustered as she left the changeroom.
The younger kunoichi picked out a black two-piece for her and held it in front of the woman, "Plus, a darker shade of colour would better suit how pale you look… take it from me," she grinned.
"I… yeah, I guess," Hinata didn't want to be confrontational, so she just held onto the bikini while Kaede scanned through the aisle for another colour that would better suit the Hyuuga. Maybe a navy blue… or a dark purple?
"By the way, Naruto told me about your secret," Kaede whispered with her back to the Hyuuga.
"What? My secret? What secret?"
"Don't get freaked out. He just told me about you and him, and the rest of you guys," she looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, "I know you guys are jinchuuriki," she said.
Hinata's eyes widened. Only the world's most hyperactive loudmouth would spill such a dire secret to his girlfriend of two days after Han had specifically told him not to. "When?"
"Last night, we were having a bit of an intimate moment where we told secrets about each other and he told me he was a jinchuuriki and you guys were too, but it's okay, I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone," Kaede said crossing her finger over her heart. "It's just so cool to be around jinchuuriki and I didn't want to tell all of you at the same time, in case you blamed him or attacked him, but I wanted to say I'm on your side, I sympathise with you guys and how the villages have been treating you."
Hinata had to gently push the Kiri kunoichi away from her, "Thank you, but I'm not a jinchuuriki."
"You're not?" Kaede couldn't hide the disappointment on her face as the light died out of her smile.
"No, only Naruto, Gaara, and Fuu are."
"What about Hotaru?"
"No, she was just a student of the Six-Tails."
"Oh, I heard about what happened to him. Sorry for your loss."
Hinata shook her head, "No, no, it's not me you should be handing your condolences out to. Reserve those for Hotaru," she replied.
"Yeah, sorry to bring it up so suddenly, I just never thought I'd actually meet the jinchuuriki in person is all, let alone be dating one, but… let's get back to the group. I think you should wear this one by the way," Kaede said, handing her a dark purple two-piece bikini.
They returned to the main changeroom to see Fuu waiting for them and Hotaru showing off her swimsuit. Hinata went in to go test out her new swimwear. Kaede turned to Hotaru and just stared at her with her fingers on her chin.
"What?" the blonde woman shrugged.
"I think you need to show some more skin," she noted, circling the older kunoichi, "I mean, at least find something that shows off your back."
Hotaru shook her head furiously, "You really wouldn't want something that showed off my back," she said.
"Why not? You have such a beautiful back," she said, looking at her from behind.
"But I also have this," Hotaru said, removing her bra to reveal a small blue gem between her shoulder blades, surrounded by girthy veins.
"Wow!" Kaede said, looking at her back.
"Wow!" Fuu said, looking at her front.
"What is it?" Kaede wondered.
"It's my clan's secret technique, the Fury Jutsu," Hotaru explained.
"Fury? What does it do?" Kaede asked.
"When activated it releases a blast that can cause untold destruction, even going as far as to destroy an entire village in moments. It's so powerful that the Third Hokage personally declared it a forbidden jutsu, too dangerous for anyone to learn… to protect its secrets though and, if the time came, my clan, my grandfather implanted the technique in my back."
"That's insane. You're pretty much a living weapon…" Kaede noted.
"It's the first I'm hearing of this," Fuu said.
"Well, I don't like to talk about it because … I don't really know how to use it."
"What?" Fuu yelled, "You have a super weapon on your back, and you don't even know how to use it, ssu?"
"No, only one person from my village knows how to activate it, and I didn't bother asking him before I left," Hotaru admitted.
"When this is all over, we're marching back to your village and demanding he spill the beans," Fuu said.
"Yeah… we really should," Kaede said, "Anyway, I should really go check up on Naruto and Gaara," she said before walking out into the men's section of the store. She immediately bumped into Gaara.
"You scared me," she yelped, with her hand on her heart.
"Did I? My apologies," he said.
She looked around, "I've been looking for you guys. What are you wearing to the beach?" she asked. He was still in his regular crimson shirt and pants combo, with a brown belt down the middle.
"Naruto has my swimsuit, he said he'd pay on my behalf."
"What? No, I told him I'd pay for it," Kaede replied.
"You can go convince him otherwise if you'd like."
Kaede was about to leave but then she noticed something else, "Why do you have that massive thing on your back?"
"This is where I carry the sand that's had time to mix with my chakra. It makes it easier to use…"
"No, I mean why did you bring it along, we're going to the beach."
Gaara stared at her. He shrugged, "You can never be too careful."
"You are definitely leaving that back at the hotel before we get to the beach. I was just telling Hinata, Fuu, and Hotaru the same thing. We're leaving everything at the hotel, we're not going to the beach to be shinobi, we're going to the beach to have fun at the beach."
She didn't have time for this. She did a little jog through the store's aisle until she found Naruto. Gaara just watched her go as he leaned on his wall. "… Fine…" was all he could say. He cleared his throat one last time before entering the women's changeroom to tell them he and Naruto were already done. He was promptly kicked out, but he was tired of standing there.
XXX
Han and Yugito
Yugito finally managed to swim to the surface. She took a deep breath in to fill her lungs with fresh air before tossing her wet hair back to try and at least see what was going on. What had just hit them? Could it be? Had the Three-Tails managed to find them before they found it? Waves lifted her up higher before sending her back down. With the waves came the remnants of her boat, in the form of metal shrapnel floating past her.
A hand plunged into the deep and lifted her out by the wrist.
It was Han. He'd managed to land on a large piece of metal to steady himself and hop away.
The mist broke apart behind him as the massive shadow looming over them drifted closer through the water. They both channelled chakra to their feet and landed on the water's surface before spreading out.
It slowed down.
"Oi! You almost killed them!"
A woman's voice.
The mist was clearing fast, being blown away by people standing on top of the structure. It was just a large black ship.
"Hey! Over here!" someone called. Yugito's eyes followed the source of the voice until she saw an older woman leaning over the rails at the front of the ship. This woman looked familiar. She was dressed in a long, blue cleavage-exposing dress with a slit along one leg. Her eyes were a bright green and her hair, auburn, tied into a top knot and then allowed to run all the way down to her ankles. "It's me, the Mizukage!" she introduced herself.
"You almost killed us!" Yugito yelled.
"I know, that's what I told these idiots! I didn't expect to see you guys here, but Ao spotted you from a mile away thanks to his Byakugan. Where are the others?"
"The others?" Han wondered.
"Uh… uhhh… Hotaru, Naruto, Hinata, Fuu, and Gaara," she listed them off.
"… How do you know about them? Wait, how do you know about us?" Han asked.
"There's no time! Are they back in Kiri?"
"… Yeah," Han replied.
"Well, hop in! They're running themselves into a trap!"
Yugito's eyes widened, "A trap?"
"HOP IN!"
XXX
The Kids
After a lot of convincing, Kaede finally managed to get everyone to leave their clothes, weapons and everything else behind at the hotel. It felt so strange walking through the village in nothing but bikinis and swimming trunks. Everyone felt so naked, aside from Kaede of course, who walked in front of the group with confidence as they approached the thick forest that stood between Kiri and the beach.
"Are you okay?" Fuu asked, looking back at Gaara. The Sand shinobi didn't even notice it, but his skin had gone deathly pale, and he was beginning to sweat.
Kaede was leading them through the patch of forest that separated Byakuren Beach from the rest of Kiri. She quickly turned back to the group before deducing, "Don't worry, he's fine," she said before charging on, hopping over a log.
"I don't know, he looks pale," Fuu noted.
"He's always pale," Kaede replied.
"Paler than usual," Fuu said, slowing to a halt.
Gaara shook his head, "I… I'm okay, I think. Perhaps I ate something off last night," he didn't want to make a scene. Everyone had come to a halt all of a sudden, except for Kaede, who walked a few more steps forward before pausing to turn around.
Hotaru put her hands on her hips, "I made dinner last night, so what's that supposed to mean?"
Trying to get the group moving, Kaede finally stopped to make sure he was alright by coming back and placing the back of her hand against his forehead. She cocked a brow. He was boiling hot. She looked at him.
Gaara's eyes slowly lifted to stare into hers. She was freezing cold.
"It might just be the sun getting to you," Kaede suggested before continuing down the path, "The beach is literally past this bit of shrubbery. You can lie down under an umbrella once we have everything set up."
"If you're that sick then maybe we should reschedule the beach day for another day," Hinata thought aloud.
"There is no 'another day' though," Kaede reasoned, "Aren't you guys supposed to leave when you find the Three-Tails?"
Everyone turned to her. Then to Naruto. "You told her about the mission?" Fuu yelled.
She looked back at them over her shoulder.
"No! I didn't!" Naruto protested. He turned to his girlfriend of two whole days, "Kaede, how did you know about the Three-Tails?"
"I mean you told her we were jinchuuriki, maybe you let the mission slip at some point," Hinata said.
Naruto's eyes widened, "I didn't tell her we were jinchuuriki."
"Then how did she know?" Hinata wondered. She turned to the kunoichi, whose back was towards them, "How did you know?"
Kaede let out a soft sigh, "I'll explain it to you when we get to the beach."
Gaara put his hand out to still the group. "That's it," he looked around, "Uzumaki… wouldn't you say it's a pretty nice day?"
Naruto looked around too. Yeah. There was a nice breeze running through the trees creating an ever-lasting flow of rustling leaves. The sky was nice and blue. Not a cloud in sight with the mist being nothing but a memory. "Yeah. It is."
"Yesterday when we were here, it was a lot more miserable than it was today, but there were so many people on the beach you could hear it before you even entered the forest," he remembered.
Naruto paused. Yeah. All he could hear was the sound of waves crashing onto the shore. No sounds of food cooking. No people chatting. No children playing. It was just silence, other than the echo of the waves. "What are you trying to say, Gaara?"
"I'm trying to say… this isn't food poisoning that has me sweating… the hardest minerals beneath us are being grounded into sand by Shukaku… it's chakra deprivation. Kaede, what's behind those bushes?"
The woman still had her back to them.
Too many things were unfurling all at the same time. How did she know about the Three-Tails? How did she know they were jinchuuriki? Where were they going?
"Kaede," Naruto's voice was shaky at first, "What's on the other side of those bushes?"
"… Naruto, let's go to the beach," she said.
"Kaede. Tell me what's on the other side of those bushes."
"Please… please, come with me to the beach," she begged.
"Your begging's not gonna work this time. Tell me what's going on," Naruto said.
"Never mind her," Hinata said before activating her Kekkei Genkai. The veins welled up along her temples as her white eyes constricted. She could see everything, including, "A trap? Those Kiri shinobi are waiting for us, aren't they, Kaede."
"…"
"Kaede, why?" Naruto asked.
"Because you trusted someone you met only two days ago is why," Fuu said reaching for a pocket. Only then did she notice that she didn't have any pockets. Kaede had convinced them to leave all their clothes and weapons in the hotel. "Lies. All these damn lies. Are you really the Mizukage's personal medic? Are you even a medic? Who the hell are you?"
"Naruto… please… trust me."
"There's nothing you can do to make me follow you onto that beach, Kaede."
Kaede finally turned back to stare at the jinchuuriki. Her eyes were puffy and red, with streams of tears running down her face. "Then it's death, I fear."
"Don't do this, Kaede, we can sort this out, you know we can," Naruto said, taking a defensive stance. Gaara, Fuu, Hotaru, and Hinata all did the same.
"Not for you. But for me… Naruto, I'm marked for death," Kaede said. "I mean… I was just a kid when it all happened. How was I supposed to know that it would come to this?"
Hinata took a few steps back, "They're running away. All of them," she stated, in reference to the Kiri shinobi.
"They're running away?" Fuu asked.
"Kaede? What's going on? Look, you can talk to me…"
"Not another step forward," Gaara warned Naruto.
"My seal. It's programmed to release the Three-Tails whenever they want. It'll kill me instantly…"
"Three-Tails?"
"Three-Tails?"
"Three-Tails?"
After all this time, it turned out the Three-Tails wasn't swimming around in some ocean off the coast of Uzushio. It was right here, sealed within this kunoichi. They'd found it.
It'd found them first.
"You're the Three-Tails?" Naruto paused, "We're jinchuuriki, we can help…"
"Gaara! Gaara! Gaara!" Hinata went into panic mode. Kaede's chakra was doubling in intensity, tripling, quadrupling. "Gaara!" everything in the woman's body was rushing toward her heart.
"Shush! I don't have much time left. Naruto, listen to me and don't speak. When Utakata's island went down, Kiri knew you'd be coming here. They sent me on a mission to get to know you and lull you into a sense of comfort, so they could trap you and use you as a weapon. Us meeting in that ramen shop was not an accident but what happened afterwards can only be described as serendipity. From the moment I met you, I don't know, something about your smile, your energy, your aura, I knew… you were meant for me. That moment in the ramen bar was the moment my life began. My life began and ended with you, and I'm glad to say there's no one I would've rather spent my last few days with. I just hope that somewhere, in an alternative universe, things are a lot more different and we're living our lives together, growing old together, and having kids in our image, but this current world is just far too cruel to allow such happiness. So, please go east, go west, go south, go north, go anywhere you can to ensure that what happens to people like us can never happen to other people ever again. Since I was three, Naruto, for twelve whole years, I was a weapon to these people… I've been a spy… I've been a bargaining tool… I was an object. I've done things to this day that I am ashamed to take to my grave. To them, I was a thing, to you… with you, Naruto, for the first time in my life you made me feel like something no one else ever has. You made me feel like a human being, and for that, I will be eternally grateful in the afterlife. Naruto Uzumaki. I love you," the earth shook violently. Chakra gathered around them. Kaede's skin began to peel off and lift to reveal deathly red chakra. For a few seconds, the shuddering was ear-splitting. Then, there was silence. "Bye-bye," she mouthed.
"Gaara!"
And then there was light.
"NOOOOO!"
The light swallowed all of them whole. It pierced through the trees. Illuminated the village. Drowning everything it touched in a blanket of warm nothingness.