A/N: Hi everyone, here we are with another chapter your favourite story, the Guardian of the Tailed Beasts. We are headed towards the Land of Snow to rescue Hotaru. And in this chapter, well, basically we encounter some issues en-route. And of course we have some action in this chapter.
Well, lets not delay any further and get on with the chapter.
CHAPTER 28: A GLIMPSE INTO THE 'ROOT' OF KONOHA'S PROBLEMS
*A day after Utakata's interrogation*
The group of Konoha shinobi had finally decided on their next course of action. They would have to split ways. Gai would lead Naruto, Hinata, Shino and Kiba to the Land of Snow, along with Utakata, while Tsunade, Kakashi and Shizune were to get back to Konoha together with Ranmaru, so that the Senju could look after those in Konoha, needing serious medical attention and also help Ranmaru settle into Konoha.
Utakata was conveyed the decision. The Rokubi jinchuuriki mumbled out a 'thanks' while also adding that he didn't really require any assistance, the ever so flamboyant Tsunade simply waved him off and knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere arguing with the Sannin and also that it wouldn't be good for his health if Tsunade began getting angry, Utakata simply shut up.
And so, the shinobi left, still completely unaware of the shadow of the ROOT trailing them.
For some twenty kilometres or so, they didn't need to part ways so they all travelled together.
"So, Gai-sensei, what's this Land of Snow like? Will it be really cold there?" Kiba asked.
"Yosh, Kiba-kun! You're right! As the name suggests, the Land of Snow is indeed a very cold place, it is said that they don't ever experience spring. We will need to buy appropriate winter clothing before we continue our journey. Especially you Utakata-san!" Gai commented with a grin.
"You don't really need to tell me that. I am not some kid." Utakata said looking sideways. He even stepped a few steps back to keep some feet between himself and Gai, so as to not be bothered by the eccentric taijutsu expert's loud and overenthusiastic voice.
"If I remember correctly, we will have to travel by sea to get to this Land of Snow, we'll be riding a ship, hime!" Naruto told his girlfriend in a low tone. "Have you ever been on board a ship?"
"No Naruto-kun, I haven't. I am looking forward to it." Hinata responded smiling.
"So am I, Hime, so am I…it will definitely be cool, riding a ship and all." Naruto said grinning.
For now, he had been able to set aside his stress over his (former) teammate's defection.
…His angelic girlfriend being by his side definitely helped…
"Naruto, it's a given that you will have to fight Snow ninjas to rescue Utakata's girlfriend. "Those ninjas can use Hyoton, the Ice-release." Kakashi commented.
Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Ice-release? You mean like Haku, Kakashi-sensei?"
The copy ninja nodded.
"Well yes, there is a catch though. Ice-release was Haku's bloodline, due to which he was able to use it anywhere he wanted. The snow ninja however can't really use Ice-release at places where there is no snow. And if you use fire release, you will be able to counter them easily. Their shinobi also use some sort of chakra armour, which can absorb most jutsu of B-rank or lower. However, I am quite sure, Rasengan will be able to overcome their armour."
"Got it sensei. In that case, me and Hinata-chan will just Rasengan their armours and then take them down with good old taijutsu!" Naruto responded.
"I am sure it will work." Kakashi responded.
"Will their armour hold against the 'Gatsuga', Kakashi-sensei?" Kiba asked.
"I am not too sure about that. But try to harden your limbs with earth chakra when you attack them. That will increase your chances of success." The masked jonin advised.
"Got it, sensei!" The feral genin responded.
"Arf!"
"I will need good enough warm clothing to make sure my bugs don't freeze in the cold." Shino mumbled to himself. He wasn't really sure as to how he will be able to help in a snowy land, but well, perhaps the training Kakashi gave him would help, instead of his traditional clan-based techniques. Or maybe he would be able to help by having his insects quickly devour their opponents' chakra once Naruto and Hinata destroyed their armours with Rasengans. If he would be quick enough, he would be able to ensure that the bugs didn't freeze.
And so, the group continued walking towards Yu no Kuni (Land of Snow), contemplating as to how they would be able to deal with the new terrain and climate.
But then suddenly, Naruto felt just a trickle a very tiny…almost unnoticeable spike of chakra. His negative emotion sensing ability wasn't going off but he could tell something was off.
'What the… what was that, Kurama?'
"I'm not sure, but I know I felt it…a very tiny tint of biju chakra, not from Saiken of course, but it was so small and so quick that it vanished before I could tell whose chakra it was." The Kyuubi commented.
Just then Kiba and Naruto both heard the faint sound of a very light and tiny object flying towards them at high speeds.
By that time, they were already spread out a little bit, Gai and Kakashi were by their sides, Utakatata was just a bit further to their back, Tsunade and Shizune were at the front.
But before Naruto and Kiba could alert anyone, Gai's eyes widened as he instinctively reached out to the back of his neck. But before the spandex clad jonin could say anything, he collapsed unconscious.
"Gai-sensei! /Gai!" Everyone screamed, and Hinata also immediately activated her Byakugan. However, she didn't spot anyone within her visual range. Then increasing her chakra flow to her eyes even more, she spotted a distortion, an ever so slight distortion rapidly approaching them.
"Everyone, alert! Something is coming from our 6!" She shouted and everyone heeded her words. Before they could do something, or anything at all, Shino collapsed on the ground as well, seconds after feeling like something stung him.
"It's a dart!" Hinata stated.
'Why can't I feel any negative emotions!?' Naruto internally cursed.
Just then some smoke bombs were thrown at them and the whole area was surrounded by smoke, Hinata felt a bit of frustration for being unable to spot anything other than a slight distortion. Naruto was frustrated at his negative emotion sensing not working.
But he did have a solution to their little smoke problem.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" The blonde called out before releasing a huge blast of air from his mouth, having powered it up by Kurama's chakra.
Just as the smoke cleared up, Utakata was nowhere to be found!
"WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto screamed.
Hinata meanwhile scanned around, she had to put more chakra into her eyes to locate that evasive distortion, with some effort, she did.
"That way!" She declared.
"Tsunade-sama, please check on Gai and Shino! Kiba! You guard this place! Naruto! You're with us! Hinata lead the way!" Kakashi ordered immediately.
"Hai sensei!" All the teens acknowledged and Kakashi immediately set off together with Naruto and Hinata.
'Why couldn't I sense any negative emotions! But why the hell could I sense biju chakra!?' Naruto mentally thought.
"Focus on the present situation son. Let us do the thinking." Minato calmly suggested from the mindscape.
'Got it Dad!'
Kakashi meanwhile had summoned his ninken Pakkun.
"Pakkun! Can you track Utakata!?" Kakashi asked as Hinata led them through the trees.
"No Kakashi" The summoned hound replied. "I can't get a scent."
"That means whoever took him, they must have knocked him out and sealed him into a prisoner scroll. I have to admit, knocking out Gai, deploying a smoke screen, knocking out Utakata, sealing him into a prisoner scroll and then getting away so quickly; that takes practice and planning. Our opponent is skilled and put together a well-made plan and executed it near flawlessly." Kakashi commented. Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement.
"She is getting away fast too!" Hinata commented.
'Damn if I use the chakra cloak right now, they might get alert, sensing the chakra. But if I use the gates to increase my speed, there is the risk of me getting tired out if the fight drags on. Damn it!'
Naruto began enhancing his chakra network with Kurama's chakra however, so as to gain some speed. He knew Kakashi-sensei could keep up.
"Hop on my back, Hinata-chan!"
"H-Hai." Hinata acknowledged and complied. "Now we'll increase our speed a bit. You can keep up, right Kakashi-sensei?"
The masked jonin nodded in acknowledgement.
And now with his Hime settled on his back, Naruto increased his speed, with the subtle chakra surge from Kurama.
"Are we gaining on the target, Hinata-chan?"
"Yes, we are, Naruto-kun."
"Then let's keep this speed, we will catch up."
"Hai."
And so, the chase went on.
*10 minutes later*
"We are catching up, Naruto-kun, we aren't too far now." Hinata told her boyfriend.
Naruto this time tried to focus on the slight biju chakra he had felt earlier and pushed his sensory abilities to the limit.
'Got it, I can sense it and I can home onto it!'
"Shadow clone jutsu!"
"Kakashi-sensei, I can now home on the enemy. Why don't we try a double pincer on her?" Naruto suggested as Hinata got off his back and they kept jumping through the branches.
"Nice idea, Naruto." The copy ninja acknowledged.
"Help Kakashi-sensei home onto the target." Naruto ordered his clone, who just nodded in acknowledged.
And then Kakashi, Pakkun and the Naruto clone separated from Naruto and Hinata who kept following their target.
*About 7 minutes later*
"We are almost on them, Naruto-kun!" Hinata whispered to her boyfriend.
"Yeah Hime, I can sense it too." Naruto responded in a low voice.
"The opponent is sneaky, we have to use something to take them by surprise, something fast." Naruto suggested.
"I…can do something of a downgraded version of the chidori, due to my lightning affinity. Should I try it?" Hinata asked.
"That's amazing, Hime. Perhaps you should, but I know that you need to lock onto the target for using something like the Chidori. Can you get a lock for it?" Naruto asked.
"Not exactly. For some reason, I can't see the enemy with my Byakugan, rather I can only see a distortion at the spot where the enemy is supposed to be."
"And I can't feel their negative emotions. Rather a small tint of a biju chakra, which one I don't know, but they HAVE to have been in contact with some biju before." And then an idea clicked on Naruto's mind.
"Can you match my speed, Hime, let's try homing in on the target together."
"Hai, and I'll use chakra control to match the chakra we are putting on the attack."
"Yeah! Let's do this!"
And with that Naruto and Hinata grabbed each other's hands. Hinata began charging up the blade of lightning, she had been able to form just before her departure for the Tsunade retrieval mission and Naruto began powering the blade up as he began rotating it with the chakra rotation aspect of the Rasengan, which made the blade begin rotating.
'What do you know we just formed a new combo attack it seems!' Naruto thought to himself as he and Hinata matched their speed, breathing, chakra and the lightning blade on their joined hands became a violently rotating drill as they pushed their target locking abilities to the maximum.
'Locked' Both mentally acknowledged.
And then they charged in. As they emerged from the branches, a masked woman came to their view, her outfit being a crop-top, with one side full-sleeve and the other side-sleeveless. Their opponent had perhaps sensed their attack just in time since she had turned back to face them by the time the couple had emerged from the trees behind her.
They didn't really have the time to even get surprised over the fact that the woman's mask, a strange hybrid of a lion and a turtle with lenses that didn't allow the pair to see her eyes, had the Konoha's symbol engraved on it.
The masked woman proved to be extremely agile as she sidestepped just a bit to avoid being hit by the combo attack, something that would have definitely killed her had it hit a vital spot.
Naruto and Hinata separated just a bit as they landed, so did their opponent.
"Hand over Utakata now!" Naruto exclaimed. No reply came.
Meanwhile, in his mindscape, Minato and Kushina were cursing their luck, since unlike the young couple, they knew very well what a Konoha ANBU mask with those extremely small kanji of 'ROOT' meant.
"I can't believe one of Danzo's minions ambushed us." Kushina commented.
"And I can't help berate myself for never getting to destroy them in their entirety. I have to hand it to Danzo, he really knows how to lay low." Minato begrudgingly admitted.
Back in the real world, Naruto and Hinata prepped themselves for a drawn-out fight. They knew, their opponent had to be tough.
Naruto then spotted a scroll tied on the woman's belt. Just once glance at Hinata was enough to get her attention on that scroll as well. They knew they had to get it by any means. Both gave a small nod to each other.
"It would be better if you two just stepped back. We are not enemies." The ROOT agent commented.
"Oh really, then you shouldn't have ambushed us in the first place." Naruto retorted immediately.
This time no reply came.
And neither party moved as a calm descended upon the clearing. However, having already been intercepted, the ROOT agent was at a disadvantage. If she didn't make a quick escape, there was a lot of chance that opponent far more dangerous than the two currently facing her would descend upon her and as skilled as she was being one cream of the top in ROOT, she knew very well that she wouldn't be able to face Tsunade, Gai and Kakashi simultaneously. Even worse, each of them could actually defeat her one on one. At least with these two, she stood a definite chance.
Some seconds passed while Naruto and Hinata mentally set their priorities right. They had to buy time for Kakashi to complete the pincer and in the meantime try to knock the scroll off their opponent. They were under no illusion that they might actually win this fight.
And then with a small gust of a wind, a leaf fell onto the ground, swinging in random directions due to the wind.
As soon as the leaf touched the ground, the two parties charged at each other at full speed.
As soon as they came close, Sogeki tried a roundhouse kick on the two, but before her kick could connect,
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" Hinata launched her attack, at an extremely close range, throwing Sogeki's leg and thereby her back by a foot or two. The ROOT immediately gained fer footing back but had to take a roundhouse kick from Naruto, though she blocked it, thereby lessening the impact, but the kick with two inner gates pushed her back by another couple of feet as Naruto landed. By that time, Sogeki was already flashing through hand-signs.
"Water Release: Wild Water Exploding Water Colliding Wave!" Sogeki inhaled deeply and then launched a large amount of water from her mouth, which took the form of a wave and crashed upon Naruto and Hinata.
Just before the water was about to hit them,
"Hime, hold your breath!" Naruto told his girlfriend as he quickly went through hand-signs.
"Wind Style: Wind Prison!" And he captured Hinata and himself inside the prison as the water crashed upon them, but the dome of wind kept them from being swept away with the wave. Within seconds, the water stabilized, and to the young couple's great relief, the water level was not as high as their heads. Naruto dispelled the wind prison as he and Hinata stood on the water. But they knew, with the surroundings covered by water, their obviously water style favouring opponent had a distinctive advantage over them. And they didn't have the elemental advantage over her, since neither of them knew any earth jutsus.
Now Sogeki flashed thorough hand-signs again,
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!" The ROOT moulded the water into the shape of a large dragon and launched it at her opponents, Naruto and Hinata jumped out of the line of attack at the nick of time.
They knew they had to fight up close, since almost all of their techniques were for close range fighting only.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto made about a hundred clones pop into existence, and had them all charge at the ROOT.
Sogeki almost got momentarily overwhelmed, but then with she raised a wall of water and made it crash upon several of the clones, then some were taken out by a fireball released from her mouth.
'So, she knows fire style as well.' Naruto and Hinata thought to themselves begrudgingly. They had been fighting shinobi far more powerful than their own calibre ever since they had begun their mission to retrieve Tsunade. First Kisame and Itachi, then Kakuzu and Raiga and now this one. And they couldn't even understand why a Konoha shinobi would act against her fellow comrades.
But right now, they didn't really have too much time to ponder over those things, since the attack of the shadow clones was just a distraction, by the time they were all dispelled, Naruto and Hinata were upon Sogeki, Hinata at her back, Naruto in front and then they both launched their attacks simultaneously with perfect timing.
Hinata immediately launched a barrage of jyuuken strikes, not the 32-palms though, but still her attacks closed at least 5 tenketsu points, while Naruto launched a barrage of kicks and punches in accordance with the Goken. But most of their attacks were blocked as Sogeki proved to be quite the agile one and really good at taijutsu as well. Naruto and Hinata had to take some hits as well, but their main objective was to not let their opponent gain any distance, close range fighting was their only option at the moment and then again, they had another objective, an objective that was already right in front of Hinata, the scroll attached on her opponent's belt.
"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" She launched another air palm immediately and this one managed to send the scroll away, flying.
Naruto saw the scroll flying away as he had just jumped up to avoid a kick from Sogeki and deliver a kick of his own.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A Shadow clone appeared and jumped for the scroll as Naruto's kick was parried away.
Finding herself an opening Sogeki quickly flashed through hand-signs.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!" She launched several fireballs at the clones that was rushing to grab the prisoner scroll, containing Utakata. But she had failed to notice Naruto's slightly bloodied thumb.
As the fireballs hit the clone and made it dispel in a puff of smoke;
"Gamakichi! NOW!" Naruto screamed and the small orange toad jumped up, grabbed the scroll with his tongue and then vanished in a puff of smoke.
This double bluff totally got Sogeki by surprise and then again, a small part of her subconscious actually praised and congratulated the two for pulling such a clever move on her, which confused the ROOT more than ever.
"You are making a big mistake." The ROOT warned as she managed to push her two young opponents away. But her warning was met with smirks.
"Says the one who dared attack her comrades." Naruto responded.
Just then, the area was filled with the sound of a thousand chirping birds and Kakashi burst through the trees, aiming straight at the ROOT's heart.
Unfortunately, Sogeki was an extremely agile individual, she sidestepped in time to avoid the fatal hit, she just received a minor shock, which she immediately overcame.
"That Chidori…it really makes my heart throb with both ache and dread and my chest feel as though its being carved open, Hatake." The ROOT monotonously commented.
As soon as Kakashi heard the words Chidori and heart together, his mind immediately gave him a flashback of Rin's death years ago for some reason, and for a moment the copy ninja got completely unnerved.
As he landed on the water. He turned back at the ROOT with wide eyes, he was finding this opponent extremely unnerving. But alas, that momentary mental distraction proved to be Kakashi's undoing as a dart hit him as soon as he had turned to face his opponent.
The dart had a paralyzing drug. Kakashi immediately felt spasms of extreme pain all over his body for a second and then his limbs went numb.
'Oh NO! I got distracted and let myself get hit! Naruto! Hinata! Now they will be at her mercy! Why! Why! IT shouldn't ever have been like that! Get up Kakashi! Get Up!' The copy ninja mentally screamed as he forced chakra into his paralyzed organs. All ANBU knew this trick, if they had enough chakra, if the paralyzing drugs were weak enough, they could regain control of their paralyzed organs by forcing more chakra into them and forcing nerves to reactivate with that chakra. It took significant effort though. But Kakashi sensed that his efforts were paying off. But it would take some time. He only thanked his fortunes that the dart used upon him was not laced with a knock out drug like the one that had taken Gai out.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed in concern, but then Hinata pulled him away just as a water dragon almost hit him.
"He'll be okay, Naruto-kun…we need to hold this ninja for some more minutes before Kakashi-sensei can take this over." She reassured as she observed the copy-ninja's chakra coils with her Byakugan.
"Got it Hime."
Meanwhile, Sogeki knew that her mission was done for, there was simply no way she could chase a toad to Mount Myoboku. And the more she was saw Naruto and Hinata in action, the more her mind got torn apart. As if a part of her mind was screaming to her that this was not who she was.
That something was wrong with all of this and Sogeki was doing the wrong thing.
*Meanwhile in Naruto's mindscape*
"Finally, I identified which my siblings it was whose chakra traces are left in this woman's network." Kurama said, he was a little embarrassed that it took so long for him to identify, but then again, the trace of the biju chakra was extremely subtle in its integration into the ROOT's network and the ROOT's mask apparently had some seals which could suppress one's chakra signature, at least that's what Minato had theorized.
"And?" Kushina asked.
"And it is exactly as you feared." Came the response of the gigantic fox.
Minato let out a deep breath, looking down.
After contemplating for a bit, he gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Kyuubi.
*Back in the real world*
Naruto and Hinata looked on at their opponent determined. Then Hinata glanced at Naruto, who just gave her a nod.
Naruto suddenly charged in, Hinata quickly followed suit. And then again, Naruto engaged the ROOT woman in taijutsu, however, in seconds, he was sent away flying.
But that was the plan all along.
As soon as he was in the air, Naruto made the cross hand-seal. And then Sogeki was assaulted by a hundred clones once again. But the assault didn't last long. Sogeki had hardly dispelled just twenty when the rest dispelled themselves, but the simultaneous dispelling of clones, covered her with smoke. But then Hinata shot through, this time with a Rasengan in hand. Sogeki barely managed to avoid being hit by the jutsu on her throat, but sidestepping led to it making a very deep cut on her shoulder. The ROOT couldn't really help let out a scream as Hinata backflipped and landed on the water again.
But the ROOT didn't have any respite as she was suddenly face to face with Naruto with a Rasengan in hand. And this time there was no escaping, the spiralling sphere was slammed on her mask, but Sogeki's impressive agility ensured that the Rasengan only hit the top portion, ripping it away. But she definitely was pushed back, which gave an opening to Hinata already at her back to deliver a vicious kick, pushing the ROOT towards her boyfriend. However, by this moment, Sogeki had recovered a bit form the assault, so before Naruto could land a hit on her, she hit him with a flurry of punches, pushing him back.
The blast hadn't destroyed her mask but did cause the lenses to shatter and some of the mask itself to break off.
But she couldn't push her gain forward as Hinata charged just as she had pushed Naruto back, jumped over her head, backflipped and rotated herself and delivered a jyuuken hit on her stomach.
It was at this moment that the couple got a good look at the now visible eyes of the ROOT woman and their eyes widened.
One eye was a rather normal colour, a hazel brown eye.
The other however was the cause of their surprise.
A unique color, white with just a hint of a lavender tinge.
"A-a B-Byakugan!" The two stuttered out in surprise.
Seals were engraved onto the chakra coils and veins feeding into the eye.
A brief glow came off the seals before the coils activated and the veins going into the transplanted eye bulged as the Byakugan's telltale activation signs appeared with the eye going bloodshot and bulging in the socket as contrasts formed on the iris to give the appearance of proper pupils.
And this enraged Naruto even further as he understood that this woman might have stolen a Byakugan from some Hyuuga, a comrade. Even if the Hyuuga were assholes in his opinion, it didn't mean that one could go around ripping their eyes off.
"DAMN YOU!" Naruto growled as this time he charged up a chakra cloak and opened up the third inner gate and then he blurred. The taijutsu bout this time was even more vicious, Naruto wasn't a master of taijutsu, but Gai had trained him in several basic Goken katas and had demonstrated him some tricks like the front and reverse lotuses, the tree leaf drop etc. This onslaught was enhanced by the Jinchuriki amping himself with Kurama's chakra as well as the inner gates, the sheer speed he gained made those basic hits far more dangerous and damaging than they should have been in theory.
And right now, Sogeki found herself at the receiving end of it all.
But she responded in kind as they launched a flurry of kicks and punches at each other. But then Hinata joined the fray and that immediately tilted the tables in the couple's favour. Fighting up close, the two lovers got a small glimpse of the ROOT woman's cheeks through the rapidly degrading mask's cracks and they could see she had some very distinct purple marks there.
A very distinct feature but in this instance, it was not something either of them recognized, something they might have to think over later.
But after two minutes of being pushed back, Sogeki got an opening and pushed the couple away, just a bit anyways but enough for the moment.
But her momentary relief didn't even last a full moment.
Kakashi got on his feet, having forced the effect of the paralyzing drug down and this time he was letting out some very serious killing intent as he began going through the hand signs to form the Chidori.
This time, Sogeki knew that the fight was as good as over for her, waste one more moment and the lightning blade was going to do its job.
But that very moment was enough for the well-trained ROOT make her escape. A smoke bomb got dropped just as Kakashi launched his attack, only to meet empty space.
'That drug definitely slowed me down.' The masked jonin begrudgingly thought.
"Damnit!" Naruto groaned in frustration. Hinata's face also showed frustration. But she quickly grabbed her boyfriend's hand, so comfort him as well as herself.
*In Naruto's mindscape*
Inside the mindscape though, Minato already had all his suspicions confirmed. He was looking down with his fists clenched.
"I can't believe it." He said in a low tone, which didn't really hide his anger and frustration.
"I can't believe it either." Kushina agreed with a tone showing both sadness and anger.
"Do you think we should let them know?" She asked again.
Minato shook his head.
"It's another dark story, Naruto and Hinata are too young, the truth of the Uchiha massacre was enough of a shock to them, we shouldn't let them be burdened any more than they need to be. And right now, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it, they need to be much stronger." The yellow flash explained. Kushina nodded looking down.
"Naruto, you did really well. Also give my congratulations to Hinata-chan for working out that lightning jutsu. Also, the combo you came up, right on the spot, it was really good. Hone it more and you won't miss anymore. Don't worry too much that the enemy escaped, we'll get her and those behind these soon. And you two managed to save Utakata, so that's definitely a reason for celebration." Minato reassured his son with a smile.
'Thanks Dad. It was really frustrating that she got away, but yeah, we got Utakata back. But did you figure anything about the biju chakra I sensed on her?' Naruto responded mentally.
"I am sorry son. The chakra we sensed was so small that we really couldn't recognize which one it was."
'Umm…fine.'
"We'll find out next time for sure, Naru-chan." Kushina reassured.
'Yeah Mom. We definitely will. She has stolen an eye of a comrade and she attacked us too, totally unprovoked, even if she seems to be a Konoha shinobi. That's unacceptable!'
"I agree. We'll get her." Kushina responded with clenched fists.
Once they were sure that Naruto was now focused on the real world again, Minato turned to Kurama.
"I am really grateful that you gave us all this chance, Kurama. But the cost of playing with time, it really has led to everything becoming unpredictable. Now we can't assume anything about the future anymore."
"Yeah, it's a mess. But it's a mess I was willing to make for the kit. He deserved happiness. And now we just have to make sure that he and that vixen of his are strong enough to take on whatever is thrown at them. I am sure that we will all come out on top in the end." Kurama commented. Minato and Kushina nodded. Their son's happiness was definitely worth it all and they would make sure that their son and their (future) daughter-in-law came on top of all the challenges coming their way.
A/N:
And done!
Phew, close save for Utakata isn't it? And poor Naruto and Hinata just had to keep facing one jonin level ninja after another. Many might raise questions about Kakashi and Gai being knocked out or rendered immobile in the former's case before they could do anything, well regarding that, Sogeki had prioritized the threat levels of the individuals in the group she was facing, so she knocked Gai out first.
And well, she managed to make Kakashi recall one of his most painful memories, which distracted him momentarily, giving her the opportunity to put him down. Well, suppressed painful memories of the past can be triggered easily at times and I think those of you who already have deduced who Sogeki is can understand (Did I just give a very obvous hint? Well, I guess this chapter has made her true identity obvious enough.. and maybe those of you who were unhappy about our focusing on Sogeki can now understand why she is important to the story.)
Well, that's all from me for today. Thank you very much for all the love and appreciation and the valuable feedbacks.
See ya all in the next chapter. Cheers and peace.