Chapter 48: The Calm

Shikwa was a relatively small civilian village with fewer than two hundred residents. It existed at the south end of the Land of Fire, near the border of the Land of Tea... at least, it was.

The village lay in ruin, several buildings had been destroyed, some of which were still smoldering despite the recent rain. Clothing, food supplies, bits of debris and various other items cluttered the ground. It was simple to see that the village had been invaded, however, there was one strange issue...

There was a distinct lack of bodies.

"How depressing," Anko muttered softly to herself. Reaching down, she grabbed a muddied teddy bear and lifted it out of the ground, before holding it out to one of her teammates. "Here, see if you can get a scent off of this."

It was likely that the smoke and the rain had washed away any usable scents, but there was still a chance that they might be able to learn something interesting from the stuffed toy.

Grabbing the teddy bear, Inuzuka Hana took a single sniff of it, before holding it out to her three Ninken. The dogs immediately got to work, tracing whatever remained of the scent.

The two remaining members of the team hadn't stood idle either. Hyuga Iroha was using his Byakugan to search through the entire village and Aburame Shino was currently using his Kikaichu in order to search for anything that sight and smell couldn't find.

"I see a body," Iroha announced, pointing towards the smoldering remains of a house. "There's a Kunai buried into his back. Part of the wall seems to have collapsed on him, shielding his body from the fire."

Hana began to move towards the house, but Anko held her arm out, stopping her.

"Shino, have your Kikaichu double check the area. Iroha, check if the floor surrounding the body is stable," Anko ordered. "We don't know if there were any traps left behind."

Ultimately, Anko's caution had been for nothing. There hadn't been any traps left behind... There hadn't been much of anything. There were a total of five bodies recovered from the destroyed village with each of them left in a similar fashion. A Kunai was stabbed into their bodies and they were left to burn.

There weren't many clues to hint at what had happened to the villagers... The only thing they knew for sure was that none of them had managed to get away. From what the tracking team found, the villagers had all been herded towards the center of the town before the tracks went cold.

It was almost eerie how empty the village was. While it wasn't a particularly large village... Certainly not comparable to Tanzaku-Gai, there were still quite a few people here... enough to be comparable to the Hyuga clan in Konoha.

This hadn't been the only village affected either. There were a few more that had also been burnt down with the local residents disappearing. Though, it had only been small villages usually numbering under a hundred. This had been the largest village affected to date.

"Ma'am," Iroha began respectfully. "What are you thinking?"

"We should seal the bodies and report back to the Hokage," Anko replied, glancing at the corpses. "With any luck, we'll be able to learn something from the bodies that will help solve this whole mystery."

"If I could offer my own suggestion," Shino said, stepping forward. "Perhaps there is another method to discover what is happening here. I could plant my Kikaichu in the nearby villages. If another village is attacked, I will be able to track the culprits."

"You want to use the surrounding villages... civilians... as bait?" Hana asked incredulously. "These are our people, we should be protecting them, not dangling them in front of some unknown enemy. Who knows what's happening to the missing villagers."

"I am only suggesting the most logical course of action," Shino replied stoically. "As you said, we do not know who is doing this and what is happening to the missing villagers. This way, we could potentially find them and launch a retrieval mission."

"I don't like it," Hana muttered.

"It's the best we have right now," Anko interrupted before Hana could get even more heated. "With the nearing Chunin exams, Konoha doesn't have the manpower to spare in order to protect every minor village. With Shino's plan, we can potentially recover everyone that's gone missing... besides, we're not going to be staying here for much longer"

Inuzuka were more in touch with their own bestial nature and could often be ruled by their emotions while Aburame were pretty detached from their own. It was only a matter of time before their personalities clashed.

"I agree as well," Iroha added. "This isn't a perfect situation, but it's the best we can do. We could make our own recommendations to the Hokage, but it's unlikely that we will be able to do anything, at least until the Chunin exams have concluded... assuming that nothing goes wrong this time."

It said something when Anko was on the same page as the guy who's clan enslaved its branch family in order to prevent themselves from being overthrown... The sooner she finished this mission, the sooner she would get her old team back.

"I too would prefer if we could do more for these villages," Shino added. "But statistically we can't."

Hana let out a deep sigh as one of her Ninken nudged her with its nose. "...Fine."

"Great, we're all on the same side again," Anko cheered. "Then we can go around, leaving Shino's Kikaichu at the villages that are more likely to be targeted and head home. Let's get this show on the road."

Hopefully there wouldn't be any further arguments between the duo... at least until they got back to Konoha. It might be best to keep Shino away from Hana... or at the very least make sure he doesn't say something that borders on being rude.

"It seems that everyone's here... and on time too," Tsunade hummed, glancing towards Team 10. "Asuma, do you think your team is ready for today?"

Currently, all of us stood a few dozen Kilometers outside of Konoha in a completely uninhabited forest. Tsunade had her clones sweep it in order to make sure that no one was living here. A lot of planning had been put into today.

"I do, Hokage-sama," Asuma answered respectfully.

"Good," Tsunade nodded, before turning back towards team 10. "As I've told the Jonin, today's test is going to be a little different compared to last time."

"Great," Shikamaru muttered.

"Shut up and let her explain," Ino hissed, elbowing him in his ribs.

Seeing that the duo were done, Tsunade continued. "…Instead of fighting Naruto, your main goal will be to escape this forest. You'll need to make your way towards a safe zone," she explained, pointing towards a mountain in the distance. "At the peak of that mountain."

"So Naruto will be hunting us then?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes and no," Tsunade smirked. "Today is going to act more as a simulation for what could potentially happen during the Chunin exams."

I zoned out as Tsunade began to explain just how the simulation was going to work today. It was simple, I was going to be playing the part of an Akatsuki member and fight off the three Jonin while Team 10 fled, that is, if they were able to flee.

Team 8 and Gai's team were positioned at the safe zone in order to give support… at least that's what they were told they were there for. In truth, they were there to see what a fight with someone at the Akatsuki's level would look like.

"Now, I believe I've taken up enough time," Tsunade finished. "The moment I dispel marks the beginning of this little simulation."

"This all seems a little too easy," Shikamaru mused aloud.

"Shikamaru, don't take this…" Asuma began, only for Tsunade's clone to dispel. "Run!"

Crossing my arms, I began to flex my Chakra. The air grew thick and the ground began to shake and crack while Team 10 froze under its weight. The three Jonin took a defensive position.

Ino was the first one to force herself to move. Grabbing Choji and Shikamaru, she gritted her teeth and slowly began to drag them towards the forest, away from the impending fight.

"Hm, it seems being exposed to my presence has done her some good after all,"Kurama commented idly. "She's the only one on her team that doesn't lock up when in the presence of a large amount of Chakra."

I hummed in agreement and focused my attention on the trio of Jonin. Breaking Kurenai's Genjutsu, I slipped a Kunai into my hand and blocked several of Asuma's fast moving Shuriken.

"You know, Itachi is part of the Akatsuki and he'd be able to effortlessly see through that level of Genjutsu," I said, before pausing for a moment. "He'd also be able to turn it back on you as well."

Lifting my arms, the ground cracked underneath me as I blocked a kick from Gai. Stepping back, I lashed out with a punch, before the world was swallowed in shadows and everything went dark.

A fist collided with my face, sending me reeling backwards.

Pulling away, I jumped back and looked for any hint of light, only to find none. Flaring my Chakra, the world around me remained unchanged.

It didn't take me long to realize what this was. The Bringer of Darkness was a Genjutsu created by the Senju clan that was specifically tailored to counter the Sharingan. Dispelling it would be difficult… It would probably be a little easier than dispelling Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

It was a potent Genjutsu, but it also had its flaws. It took a large amount of Chakra to use, it only took out one sense and it would be dispelled if I took out the user.

Kurama could always help me out and break this Genjutsu, but this was actually a great opportunity to test how well I could fight without relying on my vision.

Moving on instinct, I jumped backwards as several Shuriken whizzed past me. Sending several back, I heard the ground crunch under their foot as they jumped out of the way.

A wave of hot air and ash hit me. Realizing what was happening, I brought my hands together and formed a large amount of water that wrapped around my body just as the darkness suddenly lit up in a fiery explosion.

Asuma and Kurenai worked together quite well. While one distracted, the other attacked.

Catching sight of Gai, I shot a Water bullet towards him and launched forward, catching a winded Kurenai before she had the chance to flee and use her Genjutsu again. Bringing my hand up, I quickly knocked her out before I was forced to take a sudden step back in order to avoid a slash from one of Asuma's Chakra blades.

Having recovered from my earlier attack, Gai rushed by and grabbed Kurenai before fleeing into the forest with her unconscious body.

Asuma gave me no time to recover and attacked, his Chakra blades hummed as their sharpness increased several times over. Deciding to humor him, I grabbed a pair of my own Kunai and coated them in a stream of Wind Style Chakra.

Meeting Asuma's attack head on, our blades collided with one another. A sharp ringing sounded through the forest as wind fought against wind.

"You know… when I first started taking my training seriously, I emulated the Sandaime and decided to learn all of the elements," I began, pushing back against Asuma's blade. "It was mostly to make sure that I would always have a counter and it's helped me out quite a few times already. Being able to use multiple elements really is a handy thing to know."

"Unfortunately not everyone is blessed with the ability to grow as strong as my father," Asuma said, straining as his arms shook from exertion.

"I'm sure the Sandaime put a lot of effort into his training in order to grow as strong as he was," I pointed out. "Just like my own father. Genius or not, if they didn't put in the work, they wouldn't have become Hokage."

Jumping back, Asuma brought his hands together and exhaled a large fireball that scorched the ground as it flew towards me.

Countering the fireball with a stream of water that continued to push Asuma back, I flashed through several seals. Placing one of my hands in the water that coated the ground, lightning sparked into existence and sparked across the field.

Asuma's body locked up as electricity coursed through it. He took a stumbled step forward, collapsing onto the ground.

Releasing my hold on the Lightning Style Chakra, I walked up to Asuma's twitching body.

"Are you really happy with your current level of strength?"

"I… I know my limits," Asuma said, struggling to form words. "I… can never be as strong as my father… but I don't need to be. What's… important is that I entrust my Will of Fire to the next generation. All that matters is that we protect the King."

"I really don't think the Sandaime would want you to just… be happy to die for the next generation… especially when it could be prevented by doing some training," I muttered, before sighing. I really didn't want to get into this whole thing with Asuma. "Just… look at where you are now. How will you protect anyone if you can't even protect yourself?"

There was a soft crunch as Gai landed on the dry ground behind me.

"I will take Asuma to get treatment and then we can continue our fight," Gai announced.

"I've got it," I replied. Forming a clone, it grabbed Asuma and instantly disappeared. Out of everyone, Gai was the one I was most eager to fight.

"Ah, yes. The Hiraishin," Gai commented.

Digging into my pouch, I rapidly brought my hand up, scattering a dozen Kunai throughout the forest and clearing.

For a moment, we simply stood in the clearing. A gust of wind blew by, before I suddenly launched myself towards Gai.

Ducking under my sudden attack, Gai shifted and brought his leg up, only for me to suddenly disappear in mid air. Reappearing behind him, I landed a punch and disappeared again when he turned around.

Flashing to Kunai as was needed, I managed to land several more blows on Gai without getting hit once. Each time he came close to landing a punch or kick, I simply used the Hiraishin to avoid it.

Landing on a tree branch, I took a moment to recollect myself. Using the Hiraishin so many times in a row could be incredibly disorientating. Readying myself to continue, I was hit with a wave of pressure before I found myself face to face with Gai, his skin having turned red.

Flashing to a different point, I found myself standing on the ground, watching as the tree I had just been standing on shattered.

The ground shook and shattered as Gai launched himself towards me at high speed. Flicking a Kunai to the side, I waited until he neared me, before using the Hiraishin to flash just far enough out of the way to avoid his attack while still being at an advantage.

My fist collided with his face, but instead of being thrown to the side, he simply latched onto my hand.

"Crap!"

Whipping me off of my feet, Gai buried his foot into my guy, sending me flying backwards.

Contorting my body, I fought to right myself, before I suddenly felt a fist smash into my side, sending me flying into a different direction.

Using the Hiraishin, I flashed to one of my Kunai that had been left back in the destroyed clearing before Gai could continue to use my body as a pinball.

Halting my momentum, I glanced around and finally caught sight of Gai who was rushing towards me. Briefly closing my eyes, I shifted my body to the side, avoiding Gai's strike.

With the Gates, Gai was far faster and stronger than I had expected, but he wouldn't be able to match me as I was now.

Raising my hand, I skidded back slightly as I caught Gai's next strike. Letting go, I threw a punch that Gai managed to redirect, only for the blow to still land, sending him tumbling backwards.

"You're not going to be able to beat me with that speed, Gai," I said, stepping towards him.

"Then I guess I'll just have to bring out the next me and move even faster," Gai announced.

Launching himself high into the air, Gai crossed his arms. A violent vortex of wind blew through the forest, originating from Gai as he spread his arms out.

Realizing what technique Gai was going to use, I took a low stance and held one arm out as I prepared for the coming onslaught.

At first, it didn't appear as if Gai was going to do anything, but suddenly a portion of the sky turned red as high speed shockwaves coated in fire rushed towards my position.

Taking a breath, I threw several strikes of my own, using Natural Energy to extend my range. There was a loud crack as the shockwave met Natural Energy enhanced strikes.

The ground shook as dozens of Gai's shockwaves impacted it, punching deep fist sized holes into it. Trees broke apart and some even caught alight.

The exchange seemed to stretch on for minutes, but in reality it had only been a handful of seconds at best. Gai soon finished his attack and landed.

My hands shook from exertion as I readied myself for Gai's next move.

"I believe this is as far as this match will go," Gai announced, panting slightly as his skin returned to its normal hue. "If we go any further, this will no longer be just a friendly spar and we may end up wounding each other."

Letting Sage mode fade, I relaxed my stance. "Alright."

Gai was right, this was just a friendly spar to show everyone what they could expect from the Akatsuki. If we continued, Gai likely would have used the 7th gate and I would have ended up entering Kurama mode in order to match his power.

The Chunin exams were coming up after all, we would have plenty of opportunities to use our full strength against the Akatsuki if they decided to show up.

Looking around the devastated clearing, I was suddenly glad that we hadn't done this in one of Konoha's training grounds.

A wind blew past me, rustling the leaves of the nearby trees as I slowly made my way towards the main entrance to Konoha.

Work on Tsunade's seal had been a little slow going and more than a little mind numbing. I found that taking a break every so often where I didn't focus on the Fuinjutsu script ended up helping me gain a new perspective.

"Name and reason for leaving Konoha," Kotetsu asked, not looking up from his clipboard.

Looking up, I blinked and took in my surroundings. When had I ended up reaching the main gate?

"That's what happens when you're not paying attention to your surroundings," Kurama chided.

"Uzumaki Naruto," I answered. "And I'm not leaving Konoha. I'm just… waiting for someone."

I'd picked up on her Chakra signature heading for Konoha about an hour ago… at this point it was a little hard to miss, even the weakest of sensors would be able to detect her.

"Did he just say Naruto?" Izumo called out as he exited the booth stationed at the entrance. "Well damn, man. It's been a while. The last I heard of you, you'd been sent to Kumo on some kind of diplomatic mission."

"And you guys are… still guarding the gate," I noted.

"Hey, we've got a great thing going here, tell him, Kotetsu," Izumo defended.

"Do I really have to?" Kotetsu deadpanned.

"Yes, Damnit!"

Kotetsu turned towards me almost mechanically. "I love working at the gate, it doesn't get boring at all. We play cards all day and sign people in and out of Konoha," He said in a monotonous tone.

"We also get to relax all day and we don't have to worry about getting into any major fights," Izumo continued. "We're perfectly safe here."

"Wasn't this the main area that was targeted when Suna and Oto attacked us?" I asked. "And didn't Itachi pass through here and place everyone under a Genjutsu sometime after the Sandaime died?"

"He's got us there, Izumo," Kotetsu hummed. "Come to think of it, this is actually one of the most dangerous places to be. IF there's another invasion then we would come face to face with an ar…"

"Don't jinx us, Kotetsu," Izumo said suddenly. "Konoha's already gone through enough crazy crap as is. Things have finally calmed down, so we don't need to worry about anything else."

"My bad." Kotetsu held his hands up in surrender.

I suppressed a chuckle as I watched the duo's antics. There had been a point where I didn't want to deal with everything that was coming, but I didn't have the luxury of letting others deal with everything. Now however… I'd already put in a ton of work, I'd be damned if I let it all go to waste.

Feeling a shift in the wind, I turned to see a rapidly approaching blur kicking up a massive trail of dust.

"Hm, it seems that they've finally sensed us."

"What the hell's that now?" Kotetsu muttered softly.

"Not what, who," I replied, moving to stand in the middle of the entrance. "You two might want to take a few steps back for this."

"Fine by me," Izumo said, already retreating back to his booth. Kotetsu took a moment before he decided to follow suit.

Already knowing what was coming, I held my arms out and braced myself just in time for a mint green blur collided with my chest, sending me skidding backwards.

"Naruto!" Fu cheered excitedly. "You're back! I haven't seen you in so long… I mean, it's only been a few months, but it feels like a long time, you know what I mean, right?"

"Yes Fu, I know what you mean," I chuckled as I felt my ribs compress.

"Great. I need to tell you about this awesome mission we were just on. We had to save this Daimyo of a minor nation and we ended up fighting this team of Jonin from Kusa. Kakashi-sensei took on two of them while Sasuke and I used a combination technique to handle the others, it was awesome… Then there was this…"

"You don't need to rush your story, Fu. I'm not going anywhere for a while," I said as she released me from her death grip.

"Really?" Fu asked. At my nod, she cheered once more. "This is great! We haven't really had the chance to hang out together since we were learning how to properly use our Biju's Chakra."

"What's this?" Kakashi asked as he arrived on the scene. "My missing student has finally found his way home."

I smiled. "What can I say, I was just a little lost on the road of life."

"Fair enough," Kakashi nodded sagely. "I was originally going to scold Fu for suddenly running off, but, considering the circumstances, I've decided to let that go."

The air shifted, kicking up a whirlwind of leaves as Sasuke arrived, followed shortly by Sakura. For the first time in about half a year, Team 7 was reunited.

"So you've finally returned to Konoha, Naruto," Sasuke idly noted, his Sharingan spinning lazily. "And it looks like you've grown even stronger since last time."

"Hello to you too, Sasuke, Sakura," I greeted the duo. "I heard that you had a tough mission fighting off Jonin."

"Tell me about it," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"They were just Jonin, there was nothing tough about it," Sasuke smirked. "It's odd for you to look for us for once. I take it that something is going on."

I Shot a quick glance at Kotetsu and Izumo who were watching our exchange with interest. "I had some free time and sensed Fu's Chakra heading this way…" I trailed off. "So, how have you all…"

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted. "Not to be rude or anything, but do you think we can talk while we make our way to the Hokage's office? We've been out of the village for a few weeks now and I really want to get some rest."

"Right… sorry," I apologized.

With teammates that had natural advantages like Fu, Sasuke and Kakashi, it was likely exhausting for Sakura to keep up with them. She lacked Kakashi's experience or the Sharingan that would make fighting easier or the insane stamina that comes with being a Jinchuriki, thus she had to push herself harder.

"Let me just sign us in quickly," Kakashi said. "And then you can tell us what you've been up to since your return to Konoha."

"…Well," I began.

And that's Chapter 48.

A bit of a calmer chapter that finishes setting up the first arc of the timeskip. Anko's team investigate the disappearing villages. Team 10 kind of passes on virtue of Naruto being more interested in fighting the Jonin. Naruto gets to experience what it's like fighting someone that uses the gates and team 7 finally returns.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 55 on the spooky P word website.

P
A
T
R
E
O
N

I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 29th of November.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.
Have a great day/night.