A/N: С днём великой победы! урааа! (Happy victory day), Today marks the 78th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to allied forces, which happened on this day in 1945. Well, unfortunately 78 years later, our world is tense again. I hope that it doesn't boil down to something worse than imaginable. Having lived for 3 years in Russia, studying there, knowing the language, the country is no doubt very close to my heart, always has been even before I went there. I am well aware that many of my readers have different political views regarding the current state of world affairs. But regardless, I am certain that we can all agree that continued hostilities are not going to do us any good and hence on this auspicious anniversary of the victory over Nazism (at least in Europe), I pray that peace prevails soon.
P.S. I will very much appreciate if the reviews don't devolve into political debates or questions regarding which side I support or whatever. I don't want to do it here so I will appreciate it if politics is not brought into anime based fanfiction. And as far as victory day is concerned, paying tribute to the millions of brave hearts who either perished or got injured physically or psychologically for the rest of their lives, can never be politically wrong.
So, with that out of the way, lets get on to the newest chapter of Guardian of the tailed beasts. Our 'Hotaru rescue squad' has arrived in Yukigakure and are about to start the voluntary mission, they have taken upon themselves.
We indeed have some action in this chapter, so for those wishing that, your time of waiting for action is over! And good news, the next couple of chapters will all be having action to varying extents, before we finally finish this arc and move onto the next one.
Happy reading everyone!
CHAPTER 31: RESCUE UNDERWAY….
*Land of Snow, a day after the 'Hotaru rescue squad' had arrived in the loved down country*
The team woke up early, they had to scout. And for the job, the most suitable ones were Naruto and Shino. Within a day, the Aburame was able to get his bugs to adapt to the cold environment, even though they couldn't stay out for more than an hour outside, it was still an improvement, since they could carry out surveillance with nobody ever being able to notice.
Meanwhile, Naruto was about to put to use both the transformation jutsu as well as shadow clone jutsu for their original purpose of invention. Infiltration and intel gathering.
As for Kiba, Utakata and Gai, they were to observe the snow ninja, their new technologies, while keeping low.
Hinata would be able to a lot of things, she could keep an eye on the Snow's forces and alert her team in case they would appear to make any hostile moves and she could do advanced surveillance for any possible imprisonment locations, Naruto and Shino would find.
Having freshened up and prepared for the day, Naruto, Hinata and Shino left the hotel, they needed to identify possible targets for infiltration first. They scouted the city and observed the locations with the highest concentration of soldiers. Hinata made that job easier for them. They were done within half of the day, by lunchtime, they got back to the hotel, having completed their observations.
"Yosh! Youthful kids, what places require our attention!?" The bowl haired jonin energetically asked. Gai had recovered from his seasickness completely within a day of getting ashore.
"Four locations Gai-sensei." Naruto responded as his girlfriend laid out a map of the Snow country's capital that they had obtained from market. "First things first, the royal palace, here. If Doto wants to keep a prisoner close, he might decide to keep them confined within his palace. And this castle is really big and well-guarded, they are sure to have prison cells within." The blonde explained before moving to the next location. "This place is the army headquarters…well, needless to say it has a lot of the country's ninja here, many equipped with the snowmobiles and all and well-armed. If you wanna keep someone here it is indeed a secure location. Next, we decided to look outside the city limits. It seems that here is chain of factories where they produce all this stuff they have, those trains and snowmobiles. These factories are outside the city but not too far and are well guarded. We could only observe from afar today in order to not attract attention. We also know that this city has an underground sewage system. Who knows if they have some underground structures within that sewage network?" Naruto explained, pointing all the suspicious locations on the map.
"Hmm…" Gai thought for some minutes. "We also need to know if these sewers somehow connect to the castle. I think the castle is the most probable, it is the largest in size…yosh! Naruto! Transform some of your clones into rodents and investigate the sewage network, find out if it goes under the castle somehow and if it does, where the openings are!" The taijutsu expert ordered. An idea that was mad, but just mad enough to work.
"Also, we listened around to find out who were key to Doto's regime. Doto has three key commanders whom he trusts. Nadare Roga, Mizore Fukuyama and Fubuki Kakuyoku." The Hyuuga explained.
"Roga… that reminds me, Kakashi was involved in a mission here when Doto overthrew his brother and took over." Gai said pressing his thumb under his chin.
"Really!?" Naruto questioned; the rest of the group were interested as well.
"Yes. From what I know, the mission was to help the former princess escape the country. Doto wanted to capture her, the Sandaime being good friends with the former daimyo, and he responded to the coup by dispatching Kakashi to get her to safety. Kakashi did mention fighting Roga during the course of that mission."
"Regarding their armours, I believe my acid release could corrode them. Decently before the chakra absorption properties of the armours nullified my acid's effect." Utakata commented.
"It might work…yeah." Naruto acknowledged. "We also took a look at their transportation methods. It's really interesting. They've got trains, airships, and those snowmobiles. I wonder if they could be in our village and elsewhere as well." The blonde commented.
"Let's see about it once this mission is over, it will be very helpful to develop our infrastructure. Yosh!" Gai commented. "So, my youthful comrades! Let's check out the castle and underground sewage today!"
"Gotcha sensei!" Naruto acknowledged and the scouting team of him, Hinata and Shino were soon off to continue their work once having reported their progress.
This time, they split up. Naruto and Hinata, while the Hyuuga also had a shadow clone of hers accompany Shino.
The cute lovebirds snuck into the underground sewage system.
"Aarrgh…this place smells! The hell are they eating!?" Naruto grunted in annoyance as he and Hinata covered their noses and mouths with a piece of cloth each. Then they headed in the general direction of the royal palace.
Meanwhile, Shino with the clone of Hinata approached the castle, due to the harsh winter climate, they were dressed in warm clothing and were able to cover most of their faces with hoods and scarfs. Keeping clear of the guards and finding an appropriate spot, Shino released his kikaichu. The bugs spread out immediately and got to their work. The Aburame now only needed to wait for a while until they got some results.
*Meanwhile underground*
Having traversed the sewage system for quite a while, in the general direction of the royal palace, Naruto and Hinata were able to get closer. Hinata had kept her Byakugan active all this time to make sure that they were able to spot any hostiles in the area beforehand and were not ambushed.
As they were just about to make a turn to the right, she suddenly put her hand out signalling to halt.
"What's up, Hime?" Naruto whispered.
"Someone is here, not close, about 5 kilometres ahead, a female with jonin level chakra reserves."
'Why do we always have to fight enemies at least jonin level, all the time…' Naruto thought to himself in annoyance.
"It will be okay, Naru-chan. You will do fine. But in this situation, starting a fight won't be a wise thing to do, you are sure to attract attention from the Snow's army." Kushina cautioned from the mindscape.
'Got it mom and yeah…I don't wanna fight in this shitty place and get this filthy water here all over me…and I definitely don't want Hinata-chan to get all dirty here either…no telling what is in this water…' The blonde responded.
"You got that right 'ttebane." Kushina agreed.
The young couple proceeded with caution…they were not trained like jonins to reduce their chakra signatures, but did as much as they could manage. Hinata kept observing the target. She knew that if this ninja were to have any sensory capabilities, she was bound to sense them out at some point. And she didn't have to wait that long. The Hyuuga observed their probable opponent getting alert and starting to head towards them.
The couple took cover in the gutter leading sideways and waited for their opponent to arrive.
'It sounds unlikely for a snow ninja, this woman looked like she was scouting the sewage network like we are? She could be someone who intends to infiltrate the royal palace? What would she be? Friend or Foe?' Hinata thought to herself as her and Naruto waited for this mystery woman to show up. They knew that they wouldn't be able to outrun her. But Naruto had already taken the necessary measure by sending off a toad to bring Gai to their location ASAP, if it was to turn into an inevitable fight, they just would have to hold their ground until Gai arrived. But in all honesty, a fight was something that should be the last in their list of priorities.
'Would she really risk attracting attention by picking a fight with us?' Hinata thought to herself again.
"Naruto-kun. She might try to kill us with a single blow so as not to attract attention, but if we survive and have her convinced that she would have to fight us in order to take us down, she might stop her attacks and we might get some information out of her..." The Hyuuga suggested in a whisper.
"Gotcha…makes perfect sense." Naruto acknowledged.
And so, they waited for the rapidly approaching adversary with maximum alertness.
"Incoming, dodge!" Hinata warned in a whisper as she grabbed her lover's arm and jumped up quickly. Just in time to dodge huge spears of ice spawning from the ground out of nowhere.
'Ice release…like Haku's…not much of a surprise there…I hear that it can be used by people in snowy environment without ever having the bloodline…' Naruto thought to himself.
The attacker didn't let up; Naruto and Hinata saw a large number of sharp shards of ice flying towards them, they were hit…
After that, a pale woman appeared with significant traits like curly black hair, a wooden mask with a hook pattern painted on it, and clothes coloured white as snow making her standout even more…she looked like a 'Yuki Onna' mentioned in those horror stories of old
Naruto's eyes widened in recognition. This woman had many traits resembling Haku for some reason.
"W-Who are you?" The blonde asked with a bit of nervousness.
"Who I am is of no importance to you, shinobi of Konoha. What matters is this: I can't let anyone discover my presence here and since you have seen me, I can't let you live and jeopardize my mission. Please don't take it personally." The woman stated in a cold and emotionless tone as she went through quick hand signs.
"Ice release: Earthen Consecutive Chains of Ice" She uttered as shards of ice began forming at the places where Naruto and Hinata had been hit.
"This technique is used to immobilize opponents, but if enough chakra is put, it can kill with frostbite, you will soon freeze from inside, don't even bother to struggle." The woman stated as she turned back.
The ice shards were cold, the couple could feel their insides freezing… they could feel their bodies refusing to move, they tried to warm themselves up using chakra. Alas, they were not adept with the art.
"N-Naruto-kun…this…I can't do…anything…" Hinata said in a helpless tone, trembling with cold.
"N-Neither c-can I…Hime…looks like this is…it…" Naruto said in an equally helpless tone.
The woman sighed, she didn't like killing children, they hadn't done anything wrong to her, but she had a mission to carry out and she couldn't afford leaving witnesses. This was a cruel world, and sadly, she had no option but to kill these children.
A cruel world made monsters of everyone. People who should have been neighbours made to hate each other for being born in the wrong country or with the wrong blood in their veins and demonized or lionized for it.
When you had been alive in it long enough, the hate seemed meaningless but you still followed old trends out of sheer habit.
She had to complete her mission, she needed money, her child was sickly and money was always needed for treatment and shinobi work was the only thing she was good at that paid decent without crossing more personal lines…and her current mission promised a good payment so she couldn't afford to leave any loose ends. 'In your next lives, please be born as civilians and be as far from this bloody shinobi life as possible…' The woman wished mentally as she prepared to leave.
"As if we would be done with just that." The masked woman turned back upon hearing the challenging tone of the blonde boy, she saw the two teens smirking at her and they both vanished in puffs of smoke…
"W-what? Shadow clones?" The woman uttered in surprise, she couldn't ponder for long though...a small piece of rock just by her leg suddenly puffed and transformed into the blonde kid, with a violently spiralling orb of concentrated chakra in his hand. The woman hastily put up a wall of ice before her which was shattered as soon as the orb of chakra came in contact with it, she jumped back and a mirror of ice sprouted out of the ground. But before she could jump into the ice mirror and get away though, Naruto threw a kunai at her, at binding speeds.
"One thing I learned early on was that Transformation worked a bit different for me than most people: I transform myself into objects and other things rather than creating an illusion; and after realizing that talent I worked to improve it…like learning to transform other people into objects too…eat this!" The jinchuuriki challenged with a smirk and the 'kunai' transformed into his lovely girlfriend, who wasted no time in landing quite a number of precise jyuuken hits on the woman's body and pushed her away from her ice mirror. Before she could fully recover though, the masked ice release user found Naruto behind her as if he had teleported, he was surrounded with a reddish glow and his skin looked tensed and darker. The inner gates were open…the flurry of kicks and punches that followed would have been enough to make most individuals a sack of broken bones. But this particular woman was skilled, she defended herself admirably, only taking a few hits, but those that landed definitely did serious damage even if she managed to form a thin layer of ice to serve as extra protection, at least a bone or two were broken…
Naruto landed and took a Goken stance as Hinata took a jyuuken stance from the opposite end. They had her in a bind. One thing was clear, these kids wouldn't be killed just like that. It was going to be a drawn-out fight. Then Naruto spoke up.
"So, Miss…Mrs. or….err… whatever, by now it should be clear to you that you can't just take us down with one swift blow. And from the looks of it, you want to conceal your presence and drawing attention to yourself would be detrimental." The blonde explained.
"And if you choose to fight us, at some point someone with a decent sensory ability is bound to take notice. And since we know that we could lose in a long-term fight against you, we will make sure to let out enough chakra that snow shinobi would surround this place, making your escape extremely difficult, something I am certain you would very much like to avoid." Hinata added.
"Also, let's consider for a second that you do take us down within five minutes, though we will make sure that it will never happen, but even then, you will have a problem. Do you really think its just the two of us who are all by ourselves? We have two jonins accompanying, who have been alerted of this location and you, a mysterious, possibly even hostile entity. They will be here in seven minutes max…wanna find out who is stronger after that?" Naruto challenged with a smirk.
"And if you still want to fight, ma'am. We are prepared to entertain you." Hinata stated in a determined tone.
"Or we could stop this and you can begin talking, since we can't just let you go without knowing what your objectives here are…" Naruto offered.
"Clever kids aren't you…" The woman acknowledged. "I should have known, Hyuuga. I should have known that there was no way I could have pulled a surprise attack." She said shaking her head. "And I can see that you are not bluffing regarding a jonin and even if you were, it will at least take me an hour before I can defeat you…at least that's what it seems to me at this point. By that time, Doto's forces would be swarming this place, that much is certain." The masked shinobi admitted. "Fine, I will talk…but I have the same demand, you must tell me what your mission is, otherwise you are not getting a word out of me, we can all happily share a prison cell in some dilapidated and rotten Yukigakure prison." She said with a borderline giggle.
Naruto and Hinata glanced at each other and nodded, the deal here was clear and obviously none of them wanted to have a long-term tour of a Yukigakure prison. Or at least a long and close inspection of one cell.
"We are here to free a woman from Doto's captivity." Hinata stated. "We are here on behalf of Senju Tsunade-sama to fulfil an obligation on her part that calls for the rescue of our target from Snow's captivity." The Hyuuga girl added.
"So you were sent by none other than Tsunade of the Sannin…interesting. What's more interesting is that my mission is to also free a woman from Doto's captivity." The woman responded making Naruto and Hinata raise their eyebrows. "Next question then, what's the name of your target?" The woman asked again.
"We can answer only if you remove your mask and I can make sure that you are not lying about your mission." Hinata responded.
'Really wise…she's trying to make sure I'm not one of the Yukigakure ninja, and have a memory to use in case I betray them…' The woman thought to herself. "You two really impress me…" She stated and took hold of her mask. Hinata had her Byakugan activated and was fully on guard.
The wooden mask came off to reveal an almost ethereal, pale face, dark eyes… a face which had an uncanny resemblance to Haku…
'It was that woman at the harbour, the one that looked like Haku? Is she really from that clan…is she really a 'she' even?' Naruto thought to himself.
"Are you from that clan of Ice release users in Kiri?" He asked in a serious tone.
The woman's eyes widened in surprise…before she quickly regained her composure but her momentary uneasiness gave Naruto and Hinata the answer.
The woman sighed, she knew the stakes, 'answer truthfully or we begin fighting and we all go to jail.'
"Yes. The name is Kahyo. I had Yuki as my maiden name." The ethereal woman admitted.
"So, it's correct then, you are from Haku's clan." The blonde stated.
Kahyo was confused, she didn't really know that name, though it sounded somewhat familiar but she couldn't remember exactly where she had heard it. It had been very long since she had left Kiri and had started a new life elsewhere with her now deceased husband. But she did know who Naruto Uzumaki was.
"And you are Uzumaki Naruto, aren't you? You came to Wave and fought with Gato…a while ago." She questioned.
"How did you know that?" Naruto asked in surprise.
"I live there." Was the reply.
"What the-!" Naruto was shocked and immediately another question came up in his mind…
"IF YOU WERE THERE THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER HELP THOSE PEOPLE! YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN DOWN GATO!?" The blonde exclaimed…
"Sorry…I couldn't. Firstly because, had I gone against him by myself, they would have killed my son, I have already lost every single member of my family: parents, sister, and husband. I have a… brother… somewhere…doing Kami knows what, my son is all I have and I am too afraid to put any risk upon his life. And secondly, I had to do odd jobs including mercenary work to get money, my son is a sickly child. Almost all the time, I need to sneak out of wave to find doctors for his treatment since there are not many doctors in wave and those that were there, Gato had bought off their services and used to charge unimaginable amounts from people in case they sought treatment." Kahyo explained. "When your mission happened, I was out with my son, seeking treatment since he had taken ill once more. An allergy to a particular type of wasp that, surprise, inhabits the islands that make up Wave. Had that trip not happened, my son would be dead and I would be without the purpose that motivates me to do anything anymore, and I know from experience that people like that usually end up with the wrong people going down paths filled with pain for themselves and grief for others" The Yuki woman added.
"You…you could have saved Haku…" Naruto said in a low and sad tone. "He was from your clan…his own father killed his mom and tried to kill him…but Haku killed his dad instead and was adopted by Zabuza…he had lost hope…perhaps you could have…only if he had known you…he was there in the Wave…so were you…only if you two had seen each other…"
"I am sorry…I never knew there was a member of my clan in wave…I never got to know till now." Kahyo apologized.
Just then…
"YOSH! Naruto-kun! You called for help!" An enthusiastic and loud voice stated… "Don't fear for the noble green beast of Konoha is here!" Gai entered the scene with a thumbs up and his usual shiny smile. Followed by a sighing Utakata.
"Couldn't you be a little quieter…" The rokubi jinchuuriki complained. "I'm still dealing with headaches from the Slug not shutting up about Katsuya behind that GODDAMN DOOR OF HIS! I don't need more cause for ache right now…"
Kahyo's eyes widened as she recognized the man who himself was surprised when he saw her.
"A… Yuki…It seems my guess was correct… you were on the ship, weren't you?" The black-haired man asked.
"And you…former Mist Jonin Utakata…you are quite famous on your own right." Kahyo responded with a serious tone of her own. "Why are you here? And don't even think about doing something in line of those bloodline purges…" The Yukina woman warned.
"Calm down! It is very unyouthful to trade insults and threats like that!" Gai exclaimed…making Utakata and Kahyo mutually sweat-drop.
"So, what happened, Naruto-kun! Hinata-chan!" Gai asked again.
"We were scouting these sewage networks and ran into her. She seems quite strong and was probably scouting this place as well. It appears that she has a similar objective like us." Naruto responded.
"Interesting." Gai commented before turning to Kahyo. "So, I believe that we might have to know what your mission is here, Madam…with all due respect." Gai stated.
Kahyo sighed again. "The kids have made clear just as much…and they are strong enough to hold out until help arrives…so I have no way of getting out of this now."
"Of course…they are well trained." Gai stated with a grin. "Now then, let's get straight to the point…what is your objective, who is your client? Since it is quite clear that you, madam, are a mercenary." The taijutsu master stated in a serious tone.
"And you are quite perceptive…appearances, or rather reckless words, can be deceiving it seems." Kahyo commented. "Fine…I'll talk. I am here to rescue the princess of this land, Kazahana Koyuki, currently under Doto's captivity, somewhere in the royal place. I was hired by her assistant, Asama Sandayu." The Yukina woman stated.
"The princess…" Naruto and Hinata mumbled to themselves.
"She is nowadays known better as Fujikaje Yukie, or princess Fuun." Kahyo added.
"That actress!" Naruto exclaimed. "She is super popular, back in Konoha! She is the one Kakashi-sensei rescued from here, Gai-sensei!?"
"That certainly appears to be the case." The jonin with the bowl haircut commented.
"And why are you here?" Kahyo asked Gai. "This should be a fair trade after all."
"We are here to rescue, Hotaru-san, to fulfil an obligation on Tsunade-sama's part." Gai commented.
"And what would your interest in it be…Utakata?" Kahyo asked turning to the rokubi jinchuuriki.
"She's his girlfriend! Although he doesn't really like to admit it." Naruto replied for his fellow jinchuuriki…making him turn sideways and groan. "Oh…come on, Utakata, don't be a tsundere." He teased.
"And you can stop acting like a loudmouthed idiot for a change." Utakata shot back in a low tone. A part of him was questioning if it would be worth it to melt the boy with acid.
"Anyways." Kahyo cut in. "So, it appears that our objectives coincide, so I believe we can cooperate with each other." She commented.
"Certainly, a reasonable proposal." Gai commented with his thumb pressed against his chin.
"Since we are in agreement. Then I will show you the path I found into the palace from these sewages." Kahyo commented.
"Really!" Naruto stated excited.
"Yes…apparently the path was built decades ago as an escape route. And from the looks of it, the current Daimyo seems to be unaware of its existence." The Yukina stated as she began leading the Konoha shinobi and Utakata to the opening.
*Meanwhile with Shino and Kiba*
When Gai and Utakata left upon receiving Naruto's distress call, they had Kiba meet up with Shino, who was with the shadow clone of their former teammate.
"You find anything yet, Shino?" The Inuzuka commented as he met up with his teammate.
"My kikaichu have infiltrated the palace, I am waiting for their return…it seems that the palace is quite extensive. Why? Because they are taking too long to return." The Aburame stoically replied as they observed the palace from afar.
"I hope Naruto and Hinata are okay though, wonder why Naruto sent that toad." Kiba mumbled.
"They are strong enough to deal with an emergency situation until help reaches them." Shino commented.
"Yeah…that's true. Hey…clone Hinata, can't you tell what's going on there?" Kiba asked turning to the Hinata clone there, who shook her head.
"T-they are outside my visual range."
"Fine, I guess we have to just hold down and wait for Shino's bugs."
Just then, one of the kikaichu returned and landed on Shino's index finger. The Aburame took his finger close to his face.
He nodded to the bug… "Hmm…I see." He said in a low tone. "Good job."
He then turned to his companions.
"My kikaichu have indeed found prison cells inside the palace. However, they were too dark so even they couldn't observe the prisoners there. However, they did detect two people in a prison cell, females."
"I-I will try to confirm it with the Byakugan." The Hinata clone suggested.
"Most appropriate." Shino stated and began leading the way to a point from where the clone Hinata could observe without drawing attention. As soon as they had reached such a spot, she activated her Byakugan and began observing in the direction, Shino's bugs and pointed out. (Shino had all his bugs return by that point.)
"Shino-kun is correct. There are two females in the prison, one adult and one late teen. The teen appears to be of the same age and build as the description of Hotaru-san that we have received and appears to have an energy collection seal on her back consistent with the seal mentioned by Utakata-san's description." The clone Hinata commented.
"Alright. Could you let the original know?" Shino asked. The clone nodded before dispelling herself.
*With Naruto, Hinata and the rest*
As they were heading towards the secret path to the royal palace, Hinata raised her eyebrows for a moment.
"Hime?"
"They found prison cells in the palace and my clone observed two female prisoners there." Hinata stated.
"Great!" Naruto cheered. "Way to go, Hime…and I didn't expect any less from Shino as well."
"Do you know the position of the prison cells?" Kahyo asked.
"More or less. My clone observed the prison from another direction, from inside the city." Hinata explained.
Kahyo nodded as the group reached the opening to the palace. Hinata immediately began observing the surroundings.
"You are correct, Kahyo-san." She commented. "This part of the palace barely has any guards, if at all."
"Yes, it seems to open into a storage room, long discarded." Kahyo responded, earning a nod from Hinata who confirmed the general status of the room on the other side of the opening with her Byakugan.
"We can raid it past midnight, tonight." The Yukina woman suggested. "Check where the prison is." She added. Hinata was already on it.
And in almost no time, she had found it.
"Found them! We are almost 1.5 kilometres from the prison. And we have to go past four corridors. The gate to the prison has some guards…at least five at the moment. Inside there are some as well, I can currently see three guarding one cell each." The lavender eyed girl described.
"Yosh…a youthful and stealthy night raid it will be then!" Gai commented with a grin and cracking his knuckles.
'I am afraid the raid will be as far from stealthy as possible.' Anyone, present there thought to themselves.
"I will need to let my client know about this course of action then. We should regroup here at 2:30 tonight." Kahyo suggested, earning a nod from everyone present.
And the stage of the youthful rescue operation was set.
*Concurrently elsewhere in Snow*
The team from Ame shivered as they crossed the frozen wasteland.
A team of four a jonin and a genin team.
The genin had participated in the exam in Konoha mere three months prior, but they had equal amounts of luck and misfortune to be knocked out during the second exam.
Luck as it spared them from the bloodshed unleashed by certain participants…
Misfortune as they got beat by someone their sensei knew of as a talentless brat.
The leader among the genin, a young shinobi named Oboro, shook with rage: 'mark my words, Kyuubi brat, next time won't end the same way.'
"Oboro, come on. We don't want to freeze out here."
Oboro nodded: "Yes, Aoi-sensei."
Aoi nodded appreciatingly. He might not have had a sensei job in mind when he left Konoha, but he could appreciate the genin he had been handed. They were much like him. Eager to grow strong and be recognized, not afraid to do what must be done, and quick to grow frustrated when something appeared to be holding them back.
Those same traits were why Aoi left Konoha. Very few ninja outside of the major clans were recognized and celebrated like they should be. At least that was what he told himself.
The team had been sent in response to a lead regarding the Tsuchigumo forbidden technique.
Aoi suspected that Pain wanted the girl for some plan he had concocted, but it was equally likely he wanted the Jutsu and wanted to use it to gain Jinchuriki.
Snow didn't understand the value of what they held.
Aoi was happy to steal it, literally or otherwise, right out from under them.
One of the other genin gasped. "Sensei!"
Aoi turned and saw what startled his student.
It looked like a jellyfish with the top as some kind of orb situated on a pedestal of bone like metal from which tentacles sprouted and ended in bone like tips.
The orb was misty and hazy but a single Rinnegan eye stared back from the orb.
Aoi knelt and his students looked perturbed by the actions but they soon followed his lead.
They looked up at the creature and the haze in the orb caused the eye to vanish and once it receded, the visage of Pain stared back. "Aoi."
Aoi nodded in acknowledgement: "Pain-Sama."
"The mission is to proceed as planned. Gain the Tsuchigumo girl in Doto's custody by any means necessary, though be warned. We have reason to believe that the Rokubi Jinchuriki has managed to track her to this country with the aid of Konoha Nin and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Attempt capture only if you believe you can succeed. That is all."
Aoi nodded: "Understood."
The haze in the orb covered Pain's features and soon receded to reveal the singular eye once more, before departing.
Aoi turned to his team: "It's too late to break camp and move now. Rest up, we take shifts, and then move at first light."
The genin acknowledged, but Aoi didn't tell them that he was planning on avenging both himself and his team upon his former village.
'Say your prayers, cause its Fox Season and Slug Season.' The former Konoha swordsman thought darkly as he idly grabbed the hilt of the Raijin Sword.
Editor's note: two things need to be clarified. Yuki Kahyo is a canon character, she is from the 'Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Sky' novel, one of the novels that didn't get adapted by the anime. Kahyo only appears as an active character in that novel and gets a mention in Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4's Adventure Mode during the DLC campaign for Shikamaru. She is criminally underused by the fandom as far as I have seen, and for the record I have only seen her utilized in ONE fic out of the dozens of Naruto fics I have read. So, pulling her in was a no brainer for us, and we kept her backstory fairly in line with her canon counterpart but had to work our brains to come up with an explanation that would work regarding why she acted as a bystander to the Gato crisis. Two, the Animal Path summon that approached Aoi is based on the Seer Grimm from RWBY. Performs the exact function as seen here and looks the same for the most part but given a slight redesign to fit in with the Animal Path summons. If you want animal like abominations and have no problem building off of pre-existing ones from other franchises, then I give a recommendation that you look into the Creatures of Grimm from RWBY…some of them range from unsettling to downright horrifying. It's hysterical to me that the My Mix playlist that I turned on to type and edit to at 1:00PM on 5/7/23 happened to pull up two RWBY songs [specifically the Volume 4 and 6 openings, Let's Just Live and Rising (Like the Moon) respectively] to play as I typed up the clarifying note. That's all from me. RaNK?
A/N: Nothing much to say, GBAboy313 clarified it all pretty well. In this chapter, we are assuming that Pain has already taken over Ame, a timeline of which was never really made clear in the anime. And if Pain has taken over Ame, its easy to also assume that all the uniformed shinobi of Ame also report to him and are loyal to him and act as some sort of official cover behind which the Akatsuki are able to do whatever they want.
I hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter. Allow me to again express my heartfelt gratitude for all the love and appreciation you have given to not just Guardian, but all my published works. I am certain that our journey will be long, fruitful and amazing. We still have a looooooonnnnngggg way to go and explore much more amazing things in this fic and the others.
And with that, lets end it here. See ya all in the next chapter. Cheers and peace. RaNK001 out.