Hello everyone I'm back once again to bring you another chapter of my story; if you are enjoying it please keep on supporting me and my other works. Now with nothing else to say lets begin.
Sabaku no Kitsune: Chapter 37
Kirigakure; Council chamber: With Mei, Anko and Ebisu
Anko and Ebisu were standing in front of Mei Terumi and the Kiri war council explaining what they saw in the Land of Rice. Mei Terumi listened to every word without missing a detail as both Anko and Ebisu finished their report.
"And you say you counted over 500 Oto ninja" Mei said and Anko nodded.
"Yes Lady Mizukage" Anko said "and if I know my former master I can guarantee that these ninja won't be your run of the mill rogue ninja; they will most likely be upper chunin or Jon in level". "And that's not taking into account any other groups or reinforcements from Konoha or Taki" Anko said "it could be a lot more that we don't know of".
Mei nodded and folded her hands in front of her face "and what kind of support is Suna and the other going to send; as of right now Kiri has so many troops to spare" Mei said "we are expecting a contingent of Spring Ninja to arrive but they may not get here in time". "Kiri had five thousand ninja when hostilities began a week ago; and so far five hundred have been killed fighting Konoha and Taki ninja trying to infiltrate the country" Mei said.
"We have no concrete information, but as far as I know, Suna is going to send help" Ebisu said adjusting his glasses "Lord Jiraya told me and Anko here to stay in Kiri to assist you until help arrives".
"I appreciate your assistance" Mei said "I just hope that Lord Gaara has a plan".
Suna; Kazekage tower: With Naruto, Temari, Gaara and others
Naruto, Temari, Obtio, Kakashi, Kurumi and Karin were standing in front of Gaara, Tsunade and Jiraya as they just finished explaining what Jiraya found in the land of rice. Kakashi had a bandage over his left eye because 2 days ago he and Obito had their sharingan removed so Kurumi could get them implanted; Obito was fine as due to Hashirama's cells implanted into him his eye healed in a matter of hours.
"How many you say are prepping to go to Kiri" Naruto asked in concern and Jiraya looked at him.
"About 500 not to mention god knows how many ninjas from Konoha and Taki backing them up" Jiraya said "frankly we are in a real bind". "Suna and Kiri have about five thousand ninjas total; and that's not taking into account how many we lost so far" Jiraya said "meanwhile Konoha has more ninja than our alliance combined".
"Wait what do you mean" Temari asked "Konoha may be bigger than Suna and Kiri but their numbers cannot be that high". Tsunade shook her head at this and spoke.
"Konoha had a force of eight thousand shinobi when we left but that's irrelevant to the current situation" Tsunade said "when I had some of my anbu spy on Danzo and Root we expected no more than three to four hundred members". "However when they attacked us in Konoha we saw that there were more than we could imagine" Tsunade said "Danzo's root may be in the thousands for all we know".
"Which is why sadly Suna cannot send a large force to help Kiri" Gaara said; Naruto glared at Gaara and spoke.
"So what; are we just going to abandon our friends" Naruto said in anger and Gaara shook his head.
"No we will not abandon them" Gaara said; Naruto took a breath and calmed down as Gaara continued "we just cannot help them in quantity but we can help them out in quality". "So I have a mission for Temari" Gaara said.
"For me" Temari asked confused and Gaara nodded.
"Yes; I want you to lead a small contingent of Suna and exiled Konoha ninja to Kiri and support them against their upcoming invasion" Gaara said "Naruto, Kakashi, Obito, Guy, Kurenai and Tsume will join you to Kiri in order to help out the Mizukage". Kakashi raised up his hand and spoke.
"I recommend we take Sakura, Lee and Hinata along as well" Kakashi said "I think they can be invaluable additions". Tsunade seeing what Kakashi was doing nodded.
"I agree with that; Sakura and Hinata can provide medical aid while Lee can fight in conjunction with Guy" Tsunade said and Gaara nodded.
"Very well" Gaara said "you will leave in three days; get your affairs in order"; everyone nodded and began to walk out as they did Naruto looked over to Kakashi.
"Hey Kakashi sensei; how's the eye" Naruto asked and Kakashi touched the bandage.
"It's a little tender but it should be fine in a few days" Kakashi said "I feel a little bad for Kurumi; her transplant is worse since it was both of her eyes".
"She'll be fine" Obito said "She's my baby girl; she'll pull through and she'll be back in action as soon as possible".
Meanwhile with Kurumi, Karin and Sango
Kurumi was lying in her bed as both of her eyes were bandaged "this sucks" Kurumi said "bed rest for a week; what a crock of crap".
"Don't worry honey" Sango said patting her daughter's hand "you'll get your vision back and you'll be back in action in no time".
"Just be grateful for the time off" Karin said "so what do you want to watch a movie or…"; Kurumi frowned at this and Karin back tracked. "How about we go shopping and look at the…" Kurumi frowned even more at this "how about we go and see-".
"I'm blind you idiot" Kurumi shouted in annoyance "for the love of god just put on the radio".
Sango reached over and turned on Kurumi's radio "you'd have to see it to believe it everyone" the radio host said "tonight there will be a one of a kind moon color that you'll never be able to see again; watch as the moon turns a beautiful shade of turquoise from a passing meteor, if you don't see it you're a chump and a lose-". Kurumi slammed the radio shutting it off and huffed.
"Stupid Eternal manga-whatever sharingan" Kurumi said in annoyance.
Naruto and Temari's house; Later that night: With Naruto and Temari
"Wow you're right babe; the moon did look nice in turquoise" Naruto said as he and Temari walked in from the back yard; as they entered the house they heard a knock at the front door "huh, who's that". Temari shrugged and walked over opening the door revealing Kakashi and Sakura.
"Kakashi sensei, Sakura; what are you guys doing here" Temari asked and Sakura fidgeted while Kakashi rubbed the back of his head.
"Umm… can we come in; it's kind personal" Sakura asked and both Temari and Naruto welcomed them in.
"What's up Sakura; is it bad" Naruto asked and Sakura shook her head.
"N-no it's not that but… you might want to sit down" Sakura said Naruto and Temari sat down on the couch "umm… Naruto as you know… I'm a woman". Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion.
"Uhhh… yeah… I'd hope so; otherwise it'd be pretty awkward since I asked you out on dates like a hundred times" Naruto said; Sakura blushed in embarrassment, Temari slapped her forehead and Kakashi began to chuckle.
'Yep same old Naruto' Sakura thought; Sakura brushed off the comment and spoke "and as you know women and men like to be in each others company; so while you were presumed dead I went out and found companionship". Naruto looked at her with a look that said basically 'too many big words'.
'Oh god, he cannot be this stupid' Temari thought 'then again this is the same Naruto that tried to iron a shirt while he was still in it'. "Naruto; Sakura is trying to say she in a relationship" Temari said to Naruto in a simple way he could understand.
"Oh; why didn't you just say that" Naruto said and everyone sweat dropped "who is it; is it Lee, I bet it's Lee".
"No it's not Lee" Sakura said.
"Konohamaru" Naruto asked wide eyed and Sakura's jaw dropped.
"What?! No" Sakura shouted and Naruto flinched.
Naruto began to think until he realized 'wait… maybe it's not a guy; could it be…' Naruto snapped his fingers "It's Hinata wasn't it" Naruto said and Sakura paled. "I mean you two hang out a lot, and talk a lot; no judgement here, I'm not a homophobe or anything" Naruto said explaining his reasoning.
'Sakura and Hinata' Kakashi thought inside his head; a image of a naked Sakura and Hinata popped into his head and he began to giggle "I'd pay money to see that". Sakura elbowed Kakashi in the arm "ow" he said before he saw the look on Sakura's face "sorry".
"Naruto" Sakura said before grabbing Kakashi's hand "me and Kakashi here are boyfriend and girlfriend". "We've been together for a year and we haven't told anyone until now" Sakura said.
Naruto was wide eyed and was acting like a fish out of water as he pointed in between Kakashi and Sakura "wait so you… and you are together" Naruto asked and both Kakashi and Sakura nodded.
"We just thought that you'd should know" Kakashi said as he wrapped his arm around Sakura "I love Sakura and I'd never do anything to hurt her; we just wanted to make sure you were fine with it".
Naruto rubbed the back of his head "well it's a little weird seeing my former crush and my former sensei together" Naruto said and everyone kind of agreed with that logic "but I'm fine with it; as long as you two are happy that's all that matters". Both Sakura and Kakashi smiled at this.
"Thanks Naruto; I knew we could trust you" Sakura said with a small smile "alright we'll be leaving now". Sakura and Kakashi both turned around and opened the door as Karin and Kankuro were about to knock "Kankuro, Karin what are you doing here" she asked.
"Umm well you see…" Kankuro said rubbing the back of his head.
"Let me guess you and Karin are dating" Naruto said as a joke and Temari laughed; after a few seconds they saw the looks on Kankuro and Temari's faces and they realized Naruto was right. "Oh my god" Naruto said; Temari stood up and began to walk over to Karin with an angry look on her face.
"You defiled my baby brother; I'll kill you" Temari said cracking her knuckled; Naruto ran up and grabbed Temari around her waist "Naruto let me go". Temari tried to break free from Naruto's grasp and Naruto looked over to Karin.
"Run; she can only be mad at me" Naruto said; Karin didn't hesitate as she turned around and ran down the street as Temari's shouts filled the air.
'Oh man; I'm going to hear about this tomorrow' Karin thought.
Meanwhile; In Konoha: with Shikamaru
Shikamaru was walking down a road in the middle of the night following 2 people who he did not want to be around; Orochimaru and Kabuto along with a random sound ninja were walking in the dead of night to an abandoned part of the village.
'They couldn't've gotten someone else to do this' Shikamaru thought 'It would've made more sense for Kiba to be here; I should be preparing for the invasion of Kiri not wandering around in the middle of the night'.
"I sense your unease Shikamaru" Orochimaru said looking at the Nara "don't worry; this will only take a moment of my time".
"I'm here to help; but that doesn't mean I have to like it" Shikamaru said as they continued walking; as they walked along the road they saw a old decrepit shrine "what is this; some kind of ancient shed".
"Watch you're tone" Kabuto said warning Shikamaru who glared at him.
"You watch who you're talking to" Shikamaru said "I can kill all three of you with minimal effort"; Orochimaru turned around and smirked.
"I have no doubt; you have an air around you Nara" Orochimaru said "anger, regret… lust; I can feel it". Shikamaru didn't say anything as Orochimaru walked into the shrine; upon entering Shikamaru saw various masks hanging on a wall. "To answer your question this is a shrine built by the Uzumaki clan" Orochimaru said "this is where Mito Uzumaki and Hashirama Senju got married; but also where they keep the secret to a certain jutsu".
"Uzumaki…" Shikamaru said before realizing something "Naruto had a clan; why is this not known".
"Because the clan is all but wiped out; out of a clan of one hundred there was only one verified survivor" Orochimaru said "she was here in Konoha and married to a certain someone". "Now's not the time for a history lesson; lets get started" Orochimaru said "go and get started" he ordered his ninja.
"Yes my lord" the ninja said as he opened a scroll and revealed 4 bound prisoners; the ninja went over to the wall and grabbed a specific mask putting it on before walking to the middle of the room.
The ninja began to go through hand signs before stopping "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper death seal; release"; the Shinigami appeared behind him and Shikamaru felt his stomach sink.
'No way' Shikamaru thought as the Shinigami looked at the Oto ninja who performed the jutsu 'what the hell are they planning to do'.
3 days later; Suna front gate: With Naruto; Temari and company
Naruto adjusted the fan on his back as he and the others were getting prepared; Temari was standing a little bit away and looking at her gathered team.
'Looks like everyone is here' Temari thought; the group consisted of herself, Naruto, Obito, Kakashi, Guy, Kankuro, Sakura, Lee, Hinata, Kurenai and Tsume.
Kurenai adjusted her backpack and looked over to Hinata; Kurenai looked at the look on Hinata's face and felt horrible. Kurenai may have lost Asuma but Hinata lost her only remaining family member; Kurenai walked over and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Hinata are you ok" Kurenai asked "we will understand if you don't want to go on the mission"; Hinata shook her head.
"I'm not ok Kurenai sensei" Hinata said "but… Hanabi wouldn't want me to wallow in self loathing; I believe my time will be better used fighting than sitting in my room"; Kurenai smiled at this and was about to speak until another voice spoke up.
"That's the way Hinata" Lee said in a chipper tone "use your fist to bring justice to those in need"; Hinata smiled slightly at this and Kurenai had an idea.
"Lee is right Hinata" Kurenai said "Lee if you would be so kind to be Hinata's battle partner; it would be wise since you are both taijutsu users". Lee nodded at this and spoke.
"Excellent idea Kurenai sensei" Lee said "hope you are ready for battle Hinata; for you and me will defeat one hundred enemies by ourselves". "And if we cannot do that then we will have to defeat two hundred the next time" Lee said.
Hinata giggled at this and spoke "I look forward to it Lee" Hinata said as she felt a small sliver of happiness.
"Ok people listen up" Tsume said gaining everyone's attention "ever since we got here I realized that we have a problem"; Tsume grabbed her forehead protector and showed it off. "If we wear our leaf headbands we might be mistake for the enemy; so I came up with an alternative" Tsume said as she brought out a box "I spent all night making these; sorry if they're not perfect".
Kakashi, Sakura, Hinata, Lee, Guy and Kurenai all walked over and looked inside the box revealing several new forehead protectors; Sakura picked one up and looked at the plate. Instead of the Konoha symbol in the middle there was Kanji for Teiko or 'resistance' and the cloth was black instead of the standard blue.
"Wow these actually look good" Sakura said as she took off her leaf protector and put one of Tsume's on "how does it look".
"Like we mean business" Kakashi said as he did the same as he replaced his and angled it so it covered his eye.
Everyone from Konoha put one on and Naruto smiled "hey pup" Tsume said gaining Naruto's attention "you're from Konoha too"; she threw a forehead protector over and Naruto caught it. He rubbed his fingers over the kanji and smiled; Naruto tied it around his right bicep as he already had his Suna one on his forehead.
"Thanks Tsume" Naruto said and Tsume gave him a thumbs up; Temari smiled as well as she was happy her boyfriend.
"It looks great babe" Temari said as she gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek "alright everyone; lets go, we have a boat to catch". Everyone nodded and they all ran out of the village and headed south to Suna's southern port.
Kiri port; 3 days later: With Naruto, Temari and others
Naruto and the others on a unmarked merchant vessel walked to the top deck and looked at the approaching land mass "finally we arrived" Naruto said as he stretched his legs "I can't wait to get off this boat".
As the boat approached the harbor Naruto and the others gathered up their gear and waited; when the boat docked Naruto and the others disembarked the boat and were greeted by 3 individuals.
"Hello Naruto, Temari" Mei said greeting them with a smile "nice to see you again after so long".
"Mei, hows goes" Naruto said as he went in for a hand shake.
"Oh come on Naruto; no need for that" Mei said opening her arms for a hug; Naruto gave Mei a hug before Mei looked over to Temari "you to Temari" she chirped and Temari blushed.
"W-what" Temari said before Mei pouted "fine" she said; Mei and Naruto broke their hug and Temari went in for a hug.
"There we go" Mei said giving her a squeeze for a few second before letting go "I'm glad to have you all here". "Naruto; there is someone you need to meet" Mei said as she led him over to one of her 2 followers "Naruto this is Utakata; the container of the six tails".
Naruto went wide eyed as he looked at the man in front of him he was a little taller than him with with neck length black hair and wearing a blue Kimono.
"Hello Naruto; Mei has told me a lot about you" Utakata said "I must say your willpower is something to behold; to endure what you did takes a lot of courage". Naruto gave him a foxy grin.
"Well I wasn't on my own" Naruto said as he wrapped his arm around Temari's waist "Temari and her brothers helped me get back on my feet; I wouldn't be here without them". The other person in Mei's group began to laugh.
"You are an exception; not everyone is so fortunate" he said as he walked up and Naruto saw the strange looking man; he had blue skin and hair, what looked like gills on his cheeks and a giant sword on his back. "My name is Kisame Hoshigaki; former rogue ninja of Kiri and one of the seven swordsmen" Kisame said.
Kakashi, Guy, Tsume and Kurenai all got on guard "wait you're the Kisame Hoshigaki; the S-class missing ninja" he said and Kisame nodded.
"That's me in the flesh" Kisame said as Mei got in between the 2 groups.
"When the war broke out Kisame came back to Kiri in order to defend his former homeland" Mei said "while we cannot ignore his past crimes he services are needed; upon the end of the war he will once again become a missing ninja".
"And that's just how I like it" Kisame said "even a low life like me has a sense of duty; once I know Kiri is going to win, I'm taking my happy ass out of here".
Everyone in Naruto's group looked towards him in suspension but Naruto didn't "glad to have you until then" Naruto said as he shook his hand "hey technically I'm a missing ninja too; so we are in the same boat kinda". Kisame laughed heartily at this.
"I like you kid" Kisame said with a shark tooth smile.
"Ok enough talking" Mei said "are you ready to go; our camp is in the eastern marshes, we can be there in about a day if we are fast enough.
"Lead the way Lady Mizukage" Temari said as she and the others followed Mei towards the eastern edge of Kiri.
Eastern Kiri: 1 week later
A fleet of 10 ships were sailing through the misty waters of Kiri's eastern sea carrying a large invasion force were slowly approaching the shore; on one of the ships Kabuto Yakushi was standing on the top deck with his 3 commanders, one from Oto, one from Taki and one from Konoha.
"Are the troops ready" Kabuto asked his Oto commander.
"Yes sir" the commander said with a nod "all one thousand Oto ninja are ready; along with the five hundred test subjects from the eastern hideout.
"We are ready as well" the Konoha commander said "one thousand Root and Konoha ninja are standing by for action".
"Taki is ready as well" The Taki commander said "half of our five hundred hundred troops are in reserve; the other half is in the water disabling the enemies sea mines".
"Very good" Kabuto said as he looked at the approaching shore of Kiri "send in the first wave to secure the beach" he ordered and the Oto commander nodded.
"Yes sir" the Oto commander said as he walked away.
On the shore: with Naruto, Temari, Kakashi and Obito
Naruto, Temari, Kakashi and Obito were all hiding along the shore line with the rest of Kiri's ninja as they saw the enemy invasion force approach them "goddamn" Naruto said looking through his binoculars "there's so many".
"We are definitely out numbered" Temari said "we have two thousand here with us".
"We may be out numbered but we are not outclassed" Kakashi said and Obito nodded.
"We also have the element of surprise and a hame field advantage" Obito said "we got this".
A few seconds later Mei snuck over to Naruto and the others; Mei was wearing Kiri armor instead of her regular dress "three ships are approaching the shore" Mei said to Naruto and Temari "one they get in range let them have it; hit them with all you got".
Naruto and Temari nodded at this 'Fox are you ready for this; I'll need your help' he thought.
"Hehehe of course brat" The Kyuubi said "I wouldn't miss a chance to cause some carnage" it said. Naruto looked over to Temari and he spoke.
"The fox is going to give me some help" Naruto said and Temari nodded.
"Ok" Temari said as she looked and saw the ships were now in range "they're close; lets do it"; Both Temari and Naruto got up and began to calmly walk onto the beach; both Naruto and Temari grabbed their large fans and opened them.
Temari bit her thumb and drew a line of blood along the fan.
Naruto felt a surge of chakra as his eyes turned red and slitted and he began to charge his fan with the Fox's chakra until it began to glow red.
"You ready" Temari asked and Naruto nodded.
"Lets do this" Naruto said.
With Kabuto
"Lord Kabuto" the root commander who was looking through a pair of binoculars said speaking up gaining his attention "take a look". He handed Kabuto the binoculars and Kabuto looked through them; Kabuto saw 2 figures on the beach holding objects.
"Who are they; some kind of scouting party" Kabuto said; he focused the binoculars and saw it was Naruto and Temari holding their fans "oh shit". "Tell the ships to stop! Now" Kabuto ordered.
With Naruto and Temari
"Wind Style: Wind combine jutsu" Naruto and Temari shouted as they swung their fans at the same time; Naruto and Temari fired an insanely powerful wind jutsu that roared across the sea to the 3 ships at break neck speed.
The 3 ships were defenseless at the jutsu hit them tearing apart the hull and the body off the ship; Naruto and Temari saw timber and men fly off in different directions as they witnessed the power of their combined attack.
"Holy shit" Naruto shouted in surprise as he looked at Temari "that was awesome".
Upon seeing the 3 enemy ships be hit by Naruto and Temari's jutsu, Mei stood up and shouted "Shinobi of Kiri; stand by" Mei said as the entire force of Kiri shinobi and it's allies stood up "ADVANCE".
With Mei's command the entire force charged into the sea to meet the the enemy in the water where they'll be at a disadvantage due to all Kiri ninja being trained in sea warfare and water ninjutsu.
With Kabuto
Kabuto was furious as 3 ships carrying 300 men were taken out before they made it to shore and now a force of Kiri ninja were making their way towards them.
'Damn it; how did they find out where we were coming from' Kabuto thought.
"Lord Kabuto; what should we do" the Taki commander asked "should we retreat".
"No, we should fight them head on" the Konoha commander said and Kabuto nodded.
"Yes we should" Kabuto said as he reached into his pouch and grabbed a scroll "we are using to much resources to support this invasion; we need to act now". "So it looks like we need to tip the scales" Kabuto said as he opened the scroll and there came 4 poofs of smoke appeared.
"N-no way" the Konoha commander said in astonishment; in front of him were the Edo Tensei bodies of Hasirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato Namikaze.
"What the hell" Hashirama said looking around and saw his brother "Tobirama, where are we; last I remember we were in Konoha fighting-". Hashirama began before he saw Hiruzen as well "crap" he said.
"I believe this is the Edo Tensei, elder brother" Tobirama said looking around before finding Kabuto "and I think it was him who brought us here".
"How right you are Lord Second" Kabuto said with a smile "we are in Kiri and Lord Orochimaru wishes to take it over; and we require your assistance".
"Damn Orochimaru" Hiruzen said in anger "even in death he is still causing me trouble".
"I do not wish to do this" Minato said "Mr. Kabuto I beseech you; let us rest, there is no need for this, war is not the answer". Kabuto began to laugh as he looked at Minato.
"Well how about this then" Kabuto said before pointing at his Konoha commander "Konoha has allied with Oto in the invasion of Kiri". Minato and the others looked on in horror as the Konoha commander nodded; Kabuto then decided to go in for one more blow "and also just a little fun fact about the enemy; Lord third, Lord fourth… Naruto is with them".
Minato and Hiruzen looked at Kabuto in shock "you're lying" Hiruzen said "Naruto is a proud Konoha ninja; he'd never betray the leaf". Kabuto laughed at this.
"You're right, he wouldn't; Konoha betrayed him" Kabuto said "they tried to kill him for killing a traitor; so he escaped and ran off to Suna like the coward he is".
Minato clenched his fists at this 'Konoha… the village I sacrifice my life for… tried to kill my son'.
"And it's all thanks to you and the Fox, Lord Fourth" Kabuto said.
"You bastard" Minato said and Kabuto smirked.
"Enough talk; go and dispose of them" Kabuto said as he made a hand sign "and Lord Fourth; say hi to Naruto for me".
Minato and the other Hokage all jumped away as Kabuto looked on with a smirk 'looks like this battle is going to be interesting' he thought.
Ok another chapter done I hope you all enjoy it; if you did please like, comment and share with your friends. And until next time bye.