People can see a spine, ribs and arms forming in that black aura. As soon as Fuji lands on the ground, two giant arms are spreading to the sides and are stopping the flow of the lava. The people who were being burned by the lava are now able to escape. With one hand sign, Fuji infuses her own chakra into the flowing lava and easily cools it down and solidifies it. While she does that, Sakumo is evacuating the rest of the people, makes a Shadow Clone who goes with the crowd to safety and rejoins Fuji.
"What's going on, Fuji? Is this one of the people from your clan?" Sakumo asks.
"I think so… This chakra signature looks familiar, but I can't quite place it." Answers Fuji. Sakumo is still amazed at how masterful Fuji is with her Sharingan, despite not being from Konoha nor a full Uchiha. After the lava is totally solid, the two ninjas begin to move forward. After they exit what's left of the building, Fuji and Sakumo arrive on the street and it's chaos, melted rock, dead people, a very hot air surrounds everyone, people screaming in pain.
Fuji and Sakumo can't believe what they see… But they immediately react. They get serious, Sakumo's body feels colder and it's full of sea blue markings. His eyes get blue and a flow of water is surrounding the Hatake. It's like he is one with nature.
With her Sharingan activated, Fuji is impressed, "That Sage Mode never ceases to amaze me, Sakumo. Let's fix this, quickly. ANBU style!" They smirk at each other, they bump fists and jump. They are working together with the local shinobis, saving the people who are still alive, and taking them to the safety points.
They are very competent, as they are leading the local rescue teams flawlessly and finding everyone in a very quick manner. Sage Mode gives Sakumo the ability to sense other's chakra signatures and the Sharingan gives Fuji the ability to see the chakra flow of people who are buried by the debris.
After a while…
"Fuji, I've finished this sector of the city and the rest looks under control, I'm going to your location." Sakumo communicates.
"No, go check on the girls, make sure they are safe. This could be a plan to get to them." Fuji stops him. "Good idea. Be safe." Sakumo responds.
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Fuji sarcastically says. "Ha, well, don't get carried away, Limpy Girl" Sakumo mocks.
"Yeah, piss off" Fuji says as she laughs. "All right, Fuji out." And she hangs up her earpiece and removes it from her year. After a few minutes, after checking all parts of town, it seems that part of town is clear. She deactivates her Sharingan and starts walking towards the Chief Ninja of that city and starts to hear crying. So, she heads there.
She rushes over to the cries of the crying. She hears a female voice crying and shouting for help. Once she arrives at the local, she sees a young woman with black hair crying at a ledge of a building. She sees that woman stuck on a very small piece of rock that can fall of the building at any moment and when it does, if nothing is done, that woman dies from the fall.
Fuji thinks that she needs to operate this with caution. One small miscalculation and the whole thing falls. She can't use the same power she used inside the fansign, because the building can collapse.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" She used a simple jutsu to create a wall and used the focused chakra on her feet to climb the wall and grab the woman. "Grab on to me!" Fuji shouts. The woman tried to obey, but when she moved, the ledge she was on started to shake and only stopped whenever she stopped moving.
"I can't move! If I do, I will die…" The woman desperately says.
Fuji calculates the distance between her location and Konoha and determines that Garuda still hasn't arrived. She can't summon her falcon, and she can't force her to move. Fuji is looking below and sees that there is no room for another Earth Style, without disrupting the balance between the building's debris.
The young shinobi is frustrated and is looking down, she doesn't see another alternative. She looks up with the Mangekyou Sharingan activated and summons the skeleton arm enveloped in the dark aura, grabs the young woman and leaps onto the floor with her. She puts her down and she is surprised to see her power. However, she is thankful and hugs her tightly, "Thank you so much, shinobi-san! I was so afraid…" the young woman says.
Before she could even answer the rescued person, someone says, "Awww that's cheating, Fuji-neesan… I didn't know you were an imposter…" Fuji felt a chill on her spine and immediately disengaged with the young woman on her arms, however, the attacker didn't give them a chance and immediately leaps with them and kicks Fuji and the woman to the floor, with incredible force.
Fuji is hit, but she has enough reaction skills to rotate and protect herself and the woman with the same ribs she showed in the fansign location. "That power isn't from our clan, Fuji-neesan. Have you always been cheating? Is that why you are stronger than the members of our head clan?"
Fuji is hurt but it could've been a lot worse. They are completely intact, thanks to the Uchiha's strongest ability, the Susanoo. It is still unclear how Fuji has access to such incredible powers, being a member of an Iwagakure clan, but she uses it to it's fullest extent. As soon as she is able to recollect herself, Fuji looks at her attacker to see a young woman with red hair, with green eyes and a small scar on her cheek.
"Shiomi, of course it's you…" Fuji recognises immediately her head branch cousin from the Kazanrai clan of the Iwagakure. Shiomi is a strong Lava Style user with a bit of a temper. She has always been the second strongest of all the Kazanrai Clan, being second only to Fuji. Ever since the branch member was recruited to ANBU, Shiomi went on a rampage and tried to kill every branch member she could. In fact, she was the responsible form Fuji's grandmother's death.
Fuji is feeling the anger as the memories of that day come flooding in… She puts her hand in her pocket, picks up her hotel room card and gives it to the woman she is protecting. "What's your name?" the shinobi asks. "My name is Isa." The woman answers.
"Isa, go to this hotel and proceed to enter room 306. You'll be safe there." Fuji instructs.
"But, shinobi-san…" before Isa was able to continue her sentence, Fuji tells her to go again, with a more serious tone and adds, "This will get ugly, I don't want you to witness it."
Isa looks to the hotel logo printed on the card and starts to sprint out of there.
"Now, Shiomi, before we start this, tell me. Why are you doing this?" Fuji asks.
Her red headed cousin starts to laugh and answers, "Well, can't you tell? I love chaos and showing people that YOU are the harbinger of that chaos, Fuji-neesan." Shiomi is being sarcastic, trying to get under Fuji's skin, trying to anger her. Fuji is boiling, but keeps a cold look on her face. She's playing it tough, however, she is deeply affected by this event. A member of her own clan is sabotaging her mission, just because she is from the branch side of the clan.
In a desperate attempt to bring Shiomi out of her balance, she starts to bluff and with a well acted fake laugh, she responds, "Well, little cousin, I'm not surprised. After all, you have ALWAYS been jealous of me…"
Fuji struck a nerve. Immediately, Shiomi falls for the taunt and starts attacking Fuji. At the same time she is pouring chakra out of her body, Shiomi launches a powerful attack. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" A mud dragon emerges from the ground from where she is standing and is shooting a barrage of earth bullets.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Fuji erects a wall between her and the incoming bullets, however, the wall is easily destroyed. When the wall is penetrated by those bullets, Fuji isn't there. Shiomi isn't a sensory type, so she can't figure out where she is, until she sees a hole on the ground.
"Lava Sty-" Shiomi tries to use her specialty, however, she is too late. "Fire Style: Hell Fire Eruption!" Fuji uses a fire style with flames that are so hot she melts even the ground below Shiomi's feet and erupts from the ground. She barely dodges it, however she gets burned in her arm. She shrieks in pain as she leaps back, however, she feels a chill on her spine, as if she is being observed from behind.
When she turns, Fuji is there, prepared to take her out. "Earth Style: Earth Fist Impact!" With her whole fist covered in rocks, the ANBU punches Shiomi so strongly that the head clan member goes flying against a building. Shiomi is passed out in the middle of the rubble, completely immobile.
Fuji is walking towards Shiomi to arrest her and bring her in, but she is hurt and breathing heavily. Four jutsus in a row is no easy task for an injured shinobi. Fuji didn't activate her Sharingan. She doesn't want Shiomi to know about her secret lineage and consequent powers. But that also leaves her more vulnerable to surprise attacks. Sharingans are known for their capability of breaking down motion into slowed down frames, allowing their users to dodge incoming attacks, a little easier than others.
Since Fuji didn't activate, she didn't notice the incoming attack as another shinobi is able to sneak on her and take her out. Suddenly, it's Fuji who is passed out and when she comes to her senses, Shiomi isn't there anymore.
She activates her Sharingan to try to pursue her chakra signature, however, it seems that she is long gone. When she is looking around, the ANBU receives a call from Sakumo. She quickly explains the situation, however, Sakumo advises her to return to the hotel, for them to regroup and think about a strategy.
Fuji is frustrated, but she agrees and starts heading back. She is a bit shaken by what happened. She and Shiomi never had a good relationship, however, she never thought Shiomi would do this terrorist act. She only realises she arrived at the hotel, when she hears Sakumo's voice. "What's wrong, Fuji?" He asks.
Fuji then proceeds to explain everything to his partner, how she rescued some civilians, and when she heard Isa's voice calling for help, and how she got attacked by her cousin and how she got taken out after defeating Shiomi.
"Sounds like you had quite a day… Are you sure that Isa didn't lure you? Sakumo suspiciously asks. "That's what I'm about to find out…" Fuji answers.
While Fuji walks back to her room, it's good to know that she isn't very proficient with Genjutsu. While she does have the Sharingan, she never really clicked with the illusion side of the Uchiha genes, even with the help of Uchiha Sasuke (her master). She excels at Ninjutsu, fancying a more long range fighting style, although, she can get up and close with her opponents if needed.
Now that she arrived at her room, she knocks to check if Isa is there and the young rescued woman immediately opens the door and greets with a relieved smile. But before she can even speak, Fuji asks directly, "Isa-san, did you lure me to that place? Do you know Shiomi?"
Isa is confused and is denying with all her existence. "No, shinobi-san, I don't know what you're talking about…"
"I'd hate to find out if you're lying. If you have another truth to tell me, because, I'll find out either way…" Fuji says. At the same time, Fuji activates her Sharingan and uses it to scavenge Isa's memories. Although being suspicious of the young woman, Fuji doesn't find any evidence of Isa and Shiomi being related. So she drops her suspicions.
Fuji concludes with, "Isa-san, sorry for being so rough with you, but being suspicious needs to be a shinobi's nature…We never know when someone wants to attack us."
"Shinobi-san, I totally understand. I'm only thankful you saved my life. Is it okay if I ask you your name? I don't like calling the person who saved me shinobi-san." Isa says with a joking tone.
"My name is Fuji. And you don't need to thank me, I mean, saving people is the duty of a shinobi." The young ninja answers. "Well, do you have any place to stay? I hope your house wasn't destroyed in the chaos…" She continues.
"Actually, I was coming home from work when the chaos began, I don't know if my home was affected by all this or not…" The mood changed when Isa said this. Fuji could feel through her voice that she was deeply worried about her house. She needed to sit down, due to her troubled mind. As it is expected, any person would be worried their house would be burned to the ground when a river of lava was flowing through the city, out of nowhere.
Fuji sits down next to her and tries to comfort Isa. She puts her hand on Isa's shoulder and says, "Everything will be all right. Come on, I'll escort you home." Isa looks at her and tries to tell that her escort isn't needed, that she will be all right on her own, that she couldn't ask her to walk her home with those injuries. Fuji brushes off that thought and insists that she can walk her home and be back to take care of her injuries.
Isa feels touched with Fuji's words and actions. She doesn't know how to react. The mood changes once again. From a joking tone to a sadder note and now, they are feeling a connection. Isa puts her hand on Fuji's face and leans in for a kiss. The shinobi is surprised and lets it happen, she doesn't know how to react, so she goes with the flow. As they keep kissing, things between Fuji and Isa are starting to steam as Isa sits on Fuji's lap and they keep the momentum going throughout the night.
In the next morning at 8 o'clock, Sakumo knocks on Fuji's door. The shinobi awakens with Isa beside her. She goes to the door and answers Sakumo, saying that she will be out in 15 minutes. He answers by saying that he'll wait.
Isa wakes up with their conversation and feeling that post "spending a one-night stand with someone" embarrassment, she rushes to the hotel room bathroom and gets dressed. After 10 minutes, both women are ready to leave the room.
Fuji insists in walking Isa back home, however, she refuses saying that she needs to go to work, so there is no need for her to escort her. Fuji agrees and both of them walk out of the room, facing Sakumo. As he looks at them both, Fuji and Isa avoid eye contact with Kakashi's son and Isa leaves, saying a very rushed goodbye to Fuji.
Sakumo is looking at Fuji with a curious look on his eyes, but she brushes it off by saying, "Don't ask…" he responds by saying, "I wasn't going to ask."
That awkward moment has passed and a new day began. Fuji is still hurt but she is doing all right. While they are at a meeting with the band's members and their manager, the two shinobi explained what that chaos was all about. The members and manager were shocked, but their attention was rapidly shifted back to their mission, since today was a big day.
Today would be the day, the brand's CEO would meet with the Hokage, so he could decide what band he would hire to host the Music Festival in Konoha. The plan needed to be perfect. Sakumo said that he would call the Hokage in a bit so they could do a plan. Of course, Sakumo was going to make a proposition so that he or one of his Shadow Clones transformed into the Hokage and attend the meeting, as the manager and the band's members agreed.
"Humm, I just have a quick question…(long pause) Are you going to be okay, Fuji-san? You seem a bit affected by yesterday's events." Sal is worried and asks this question to the Iwagakure Ninja. It looks like this band member is somewhat attached to Fuji and expresses that concern to her.
"Thank you for your concern, Sal, but a ninja is expected to be ready for action at any time. Don't worry, all will be fine. I won't let another person hurt you. (She looks at the other members) Any of you!" Fuji is determined and it can be felt in the whole room, bringing a feeling of safety and reliability to the members and their caring staff.
Sakumo smiles in relief and calls the Hokage. After the plan was approved, they agreed that the two shinobi would summon the Hokage at the designated time and for now, they would rest until the members had the rehearsal for their next concert.
That day was calm for a change, despite the rehearsals, they had wardrobe tryouts, microphone checks, sound tests and all the other needed things for the concert to go well. Fuji and Sakumo are keeping a close eye on all the members, doing their job like always.
Despite Fuji being a bit antisocial (or so it seems), she and Sakumo are very close friends. They met three years after the Fourth Ninja War, where the Konoha and Iwa ANBU went on a coop mission in the Land of Wolves. They were young and hadn't fought in the war, but were already recruited to their respective land's ANBU. In that particular mission, they had to cover Uchiha Sasuke, who was investigating a rare Ohtsutsuki artifact. It was then that she showed Sasuke her hidden powers and told him her story. It was decided then, that the Last Uchiha would help Fuji master her Sharingan.
After that, she would be requested for many missions in Konoha and well, that's how she and Sakumo became friends. They trust each other with their lives, that's why Sakumo even dared to ask, "So, were you able to determine if Isa was a spy or not?" Despite the cold look, Fuji answered that she used her Sharingan to investigate her memories and realised that she was was not acquainted with Shiomi. "Okay, good. All I need to know." He smiles and the finishes the conversation. Sakumo knows that Fuji has a harder time opening with anyone and that the events with Isa must've been very hard for her. Despite that, as her friend, Sakumo is happy that Fuji was able to open up with someone, besides him.
That end came to an end and finally, Sakumo, Fuji and the band's members and staff were able to rest with no additional stress. Of course, Fuji and Sakumo revised the plan for tomorrow's meeting five or six times, trying to find loop holes, while the band's members and staff that know the plan are very very nervous.
After their final goodbye for the night, the shinobis and the crew all go to bed and spend a peaceful night, for a change…
The next day, at 7:20 in the morning. It's almost time to summon the Hokage. Fuji and Sakumo are already in the room where the summoning jutsu will be performed. Soon after, Minni, Soo, Roe and Sal arrive at the location. Everyone is trying to be in good spirits. The girls are nervous, Jin is too, however, they feel at ease knowing that these two shinobis are protecting them.
Suddenly, Sakumo receives a signal on his Ninja Watch and it begins. Fuji takes out her Flying Raijin mark and places it. Suddenly, a cloud of smoke appears, but unlike with Sakumo, this one is calmer, yet more intense. When it disperses, a blond, blue eyed man appears, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I am the Hokage of Konohagakure. Nice to meet you all."
The members look at the man and look at the two shinobis next, and they see the utmost respect coming from those two. They realise that this man, the Hokage, is very well respected, so they show the same respect.
"Hokage-sama, thank you for assisting us on this mission." They both realise that this Hokage is a Shadow Clone, I mean, of course, Uzumaki Naruto is one of the busiest people in the world, so of course he can't come personally. Despite that, they are very thankful.
"Don't worry, happy to help. So, let's begin our plan and show that a Shinobi's Duty hasn't changed, dattebayo!"
Author's note:
Probably the next chapter will be final one in this series, but I'm already thinking of new content for introducing more characters that work with Fuji and Sakumo.
Stay tuned.