Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Maybe I can buy the rights if I win tonight's Tricky Two jackpot lottery extravaganza? That damn Tricky Two, always getting me with that third number.
Damn lottery… I ain't never won jack squattery.
Chapter 21: Trial By Fire
Naruto's time out and about on the town, small as it was, came to an end when Anko frantically called as many of the brain trust as she could back to the inn that served as their main base of operations for the time being.
Her reason for it all at first hearing sounded like: there's a strong-ass guy in town.
"Thank the princess here," Anko said, gesturing to a red-faced Hinata who bowed modestly at receiving the credit, "She's the one who saw him first. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have given him a second glance."
"It wasn't much," Hinata said humbly, averting her eyes away from everyone looking her way, "I-It's not even a significant gauge of his strength. All I could see was how much chakra he had and how strong it was."
"That's a pretty good gauge of how good someone might be," Tenten said, pointing out Naruto and Fuu, the latter of whom waved from across the room, "It's definitely better than nothing. So what are we dealing with here?"
At that, Hinata hesitated for a moment, not excited to further bring down anyone's mood, "The only two people with stronger chakra here are Naruto-kun and Jiraiya-dono."
That was not what any of them wanted to hear. The entire room fell silent until Naruto spoke up, expression the general consensus between the lot of them, "Well, hell then."
Anko walked over and set her hand on top of Naruto's head as he sat with Kanako sleeping in his lap, "With our lil' juggernaut here knocking on death's door, that means Jiraiya is the only one certain to be stronger than these guys. There are twelve by the way," She added after the fact.
Naruto swatted the woman's hand away for the sake of his dignity, "They're not gonna send all twelve at once, right?" He asked, "That's overkill if they're all that strong."
Tenten decidedly wasn't as positive as her best friend was, "Not if they think your dad is here. Let's be honest. If they're a group of badasses, they've probably got a bone to pick with Minato-sama or something," She reasoned, sighing as she slouched forward in her seat, cheeks in her hands, "Great, it's twelve powerhouses against the eight of us, maybe, because the Hyuuga Clan isn't going to risk starting a war with the daimyo, even for this, and Naruto's about as useful as a plague-filled meat shield. So that makes seven."
Naruto scoffed, "Screw you, panda-buns. I can still fight."
Tenten wasn't upset by the insult, challenging Naruto to prove her wrong instead, "Okay. Get off of that couch in one try."
The rebreather did a terrible job of hiding Naruto's struggling expressions as his body tried to comfortably move to stand, "I… I… I could," He said to save face after it became clear that it would take a massive effort to do so, "But I'd wake up Kanako, so I'm just gonna keep sitting here."
Tenten seemed satisfied with that despite the circumstances, "Guess those commandos you owe me are gonna have to wait until you can actually do pushups again."
Naruto opened his mouth to belligerently dispute his own physical weakness until Jiraiya put a hand on his arm, "If you say you can do pushups, she'll make you get on the floor to do one, and I sure as hell won't be picking your heavy ass back up."
"Okay, one of our potential deterrents is clearly handicapped," Tenten said, "What about Fuu?"
Jiraiya shook his head as Fuu kicked her feet from the arm of the couch she was sitting on, "I wouldn't say 'deterrent'. Her seal's different. It doesn't give her as much exposure to the raw chakra as Naruto's, but she gets more bonus benefits right off the bat," He explained as the resident seal-master on the premises, "Her thing is flight and a naturally super-tough and strong body," Fuu playfully flexed a deceptively frail-looking bicep for emphasis, "Now, she's good. Hell, she's great. I'm not sure she could count as ace-in-the-hole though."
"Sorry!" Fuu chirped in apology.
"For what? Not being a jinchuuriki/biju stereotype?" Naruto replied, getting a bright smile out of the girl, "I think not being an out-of-control raging chakra monster is a good thing since we're trying to live in this place."
Accidentally making it a giant, smoking crater in the ground with the forests around it burning probably wouldn't work out well. That kind of collateral damage wasn't good for future investment into the land.
"Do we really need that kind of firepower though?" Naruto asked, scratching his head curiously, "I mean, we're all well-trained ninjas here. It doesn't matter if we're outnumbered or can't go blockbuster in this place. We can totally take these guys!"
Anko did not share in his enthusiasm, "Kid, did you ever wonder why Hi no Kuni got the best end of the stick when it came to land in the Elemental Nations?" And it was true. Hi no Kuni had the best land for farming, the most plentiful and freshest waterways, the best access to the seas. Other than the fact that it was the main staging ground for most of the bitter ninja clan wars in existence, as a country it was by far the best, "…This would be one of the main reasons."
Politics were dirty enough when subterfuge, sabotage, and murder weren't tools that were not only expected to be used, but encouraged by feudal lords. The leader with the biggest set of deadly human weapons was often the one responsible for how the maps were drawn, and the ones that didn't have them could only do so by paying off the one who could with whatever they wanted.
"Huh," Tenten said, impressed at Anko actually having the dirt they needed to get "Didn't take you for much of a historian."
Anko chuckled and downplayed her own awareness of who they were facing, "Oh no, I'm just a connoisseur of people who fuck shit up. These guys fit that category."
Naruto punched into his palm determinedly, and flinched, immediately regretting the rash action, "Alright then, how do we stop them?"
"With violence?" Jiraiya ventured semi-seriously with a shrug, "No idea. They could be famous enough for me to know what their respective jutsu are, but no one even knows who the members of the Guardian Ninja are, so I couldn't tell you," He said, "When these guys get called in, nothing's left standing afterwards."
Therefore, no one survives to spread any rumors of their capabilities or any information that could help anyone else prepare for them in the future. It had been that way since the order was first established nearly a century ago.
If Jiraiya was saying it, it had to be true. Getting information was one thing in particular the man had a knack for.
Yet, looking across the room, when Tenten made eye contact with Naruto she could tell that he still believed they would come out on top. Complications aside, life-threatening illness be damned. There wasn't a doubt in his mind.
"You're seriously overestimating me," Tenten said, before Naruto could launch into some kind of rah-rah, 'kick their asses' speech, "I'm not a powerhouse. Neither is Anko, no offense."
"None taken."
"-And neither is Shino, Hana, or the Hyuugas," Tenten continued, "Face it. As far as heavy-hitters go, we're down to Jiraiya-sama and Fuu."
Speaking of members of the team, they had been talking for quite some time, and the straggler of their group still had not turned up yet, "…Where the hell is Shino?" Naruto eventually asked.
XxX
A part of Shino wanted to flee, but his logical side figured that it would be no good. The woman who had come out to confront him had done so for a reason. His insects could feel the potency of her chakra, 'It was foolish to venture this far out alone. Even if this place was peaceful.'
His opponent was powerful, and he wasn't the quickest on his team by a long shot. If he tried to run, he had no doubt that she would catch up to him in short order. To get himself out of this situation, there was no alternative other than going straight through her.
Very well then.
"You've made a mistake, thinking I'll be so easy to defeat," Shino said, kikaichu flying from his sleeves as he readied himself for combat, "You should never have come here."
"A fight?" The woman giggled, "You misunderstand. Here, let's try again. My name is Fuuka, and all I want is a kiss. Does that really sound so bad?"
Her answer came in the form of a wave of insects flying right at her with the intent to overwhelm her and drain her dry of chakra.
She let out a laugh as she avoided Shino's initial kikaichu swarm, "Do you think your mass of bugs is supposed to scare me?"
Shino was not deterred by her taunts or her evasiveness, "Whether you're afraid or not is irrelevant. Why? Because regardless, they'll be the reason you're defeated in the end," He retorted, using his hands to direct the movement of his insects.
"You have a lot of energy," The woman said as she formed hand-seals in the air, "I like that in my men. Well I've got a little fire in me myself! Katon: Gokuen no Men (Fire Release: Flame Prison Mask)!"
From her mouth, she fired several compressed balls of fire that turned the insects caught in them to ash, but that was simply because they didn't hit anything solid enough to cause the true reaction meant for them. As they passed along toward Shino, they landed on the ground nearby and proceeded to explode on impact.
Fuuka chuckled darkly to herself, even as the smoke cleared to show that there was no blown up corpse anywhere near where her attacks had landed. If the boy wanted to play hard-to-get, that was fine. Sometimes the chase was just as fun, "You can't hide from me," She called out warningly, "So mysterious with those glasses of yours. I'll bet you're a real looker under that hood and collar."
There was no fun to be had from Shino's end. He had nearly been killed, suffering the same fate as so many of his kikaichu.
Now out of Fuuka's sight, he took the advantage to try and set up several countermeasures for whenever she found him again. It didn't take long for her to get her intended target in sight.
Fuuka emerged from the ground within his line of sight, attracting his attention. She had no flirtatious quips for him, only a smile that promised nothing good for him. She raised her arm and pointed in his direction, prompting him to jump away quickly from whatever was to happen next.
"Doton: Ganchuusou (Earth Release: Stone Column Spears)!"
Several sharpened rock pillars emerged from the ground where Shino had been standing, coming just short of skewering him where he'd stood. Fuuka didn't let up however. Shino's trajectory didn't take him in the direction of a tree trunk where he would have been comparatively safe. Instead, he was headed straight for the ground again, making an easy target for her.
Another set of spiked pillars ran him through gruesomely, catching him as he plummeted to the forest floor.
Fuuka was pleased with her work until she saw Shino's body break down into bugs and fly off. Her gorgeous features morphed into a wretched scowl. Tricky brat.
The insects formed into an organized swarm and quickly pursued Fuuka, trying to press their numbers advantage to drain her of her chakra. Instead of showing any kind of fear in the face of his onslaught, she pulled out a scroll, unfurling it around herself in a quick movement. Her movements were concealed enough to make a break for it, but Shino's kikaichu weren't fooled.
"They won't be thrown off so easily," Shino warned her as he could see his insects begin to land on her and siphon her chakra.
Fuuka laughed, despite her predicament. Making a short chain of hand-seals, she extended her hands, "I hope you didn't send your entire bug collection after me! Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)!"
As if flying into a bug-zapper, Shino's insects were killed. He could feel the little lights of each of their lives black out as they dropped and hit the ground. There was no time to dwell on their loss however, as the lightning was quickly turned onto him.
Shino dropped a smoke bomb to disrupt Fuuka's aim and used the opening he'd given himself to put some distance between himself and the deadly kunoichi.
'Why didn't she use the same jutsu as before to defend herself?' He wondered to himself. The fire jutsu from before would have done effectively the same thing in killing his insects, unless she wanted to show off by using multiple elements.
"Hi there, handsome," Shino lashed out with a backhand strike in midair upon hearing Fuuka's voice, but missed and turned around to the sight of the woman grabbing his shoulder, "Raiton: Hiraishin (Lightning Release: Lightning Rod)."
Electricity caused Shino's body to seize up violently. His muscles couldn't even loosen up enough for him to let out a scream of pain.
Fuuka grinned evilly at the pain she was clearly causing her enemy and punched him down to the ground. Following behind, she landed seated directly on his belly as he spasmed underneath her.
She let out a sigh as she straddled Shino's stomach and leaned forward, stroking his face as she hovered over him provocatively, "This could have been something more enjoyable, you know. But you just had to go and play hard-to-get. Oh well. We're here now, aren't we?"
With that, she pressed her lips to Shino's and put her jutsu to work. Shino's skin began to glow blue in the pattern of his body's tenketsu as his life energy was slowly drained from his body. All he could do was choke and gasp as Fuuka drained him dry.
The deadly kiss was interrupted however when Fuuka pulled away with her hands to her mouth. She thrashed about on her feet, muffling her own screams. From between her fingers, insects crawled out of her mouth, doing to her what she had intended to do to Shino.
Speaking of whom, Shino backed away from her on the ground, regaining his bearings and trying to recover as best as he could from the loss of chakra. But now his bugs were getting vengeance on his behalf in kind.
"Where did you think my insects came from, I wonder?" He asked Fuuka rhetorically over the sound of her screaming as his kikaichu swarm began to drain her dry of her chakra from the inside, "Did you think it was some kind of summoning jutsu? No. They come from inside of my body. I can send them out from anywhere."
Even from inside of his mouth, and into Fuuka's own. She got more from her little chakra-stealing kiss than she probably ever wanted.
He watched until Fuuka fell to the ground and lay motionless, his insects finishing the job of stealing her chakra away. At that point he silently got up off of the ground and began to leave.
Why had that deranged woman attacked him out of the blue? Were the others in danger?
"Fuuton: Hanachiri Mai (Wind Release: Flower Scattering Dance)!"
A cyclone of flower petals hit Shino from behind and smashed him into a tree hard enough to crack the entire trunk. The jutsu vanished and allowed Shino to fall to the ground. He landed on his feet, but his legs weren't stable in the slightest. Bones in his body had broken due to the force of the technique and the impact his body had against the tree.
His left shoulder had been jarred out of the socket, and three of his ribs shattered on the backside. He could feel all of it.
Turning around, he saw Fuuka standing once again, enraged. It didn't make any sense.
"W-What?" Shino mumbled weakly, "…How are you-? My insects-."
"You disgusting brat," Fuuka snapped, cutting Shino off as she stalked toward him, "You thought you were so clever, siccing your little pets on me. You should treat women with more respect," Forming a dragon hand-seal, another cyclone of wind blasted forth from her hands, aimed directly at Shino.
His mobility severely affected by his injuries, Shino tried to time his dodge to compensate, but it wasn't enough to avoid all of the cyclone. It hit him just enough to send him flying through the air and bouncing off of the ground.
Shino's nails gripped the dirt as though he were trying to grab onto the ground to push himself up, "Why are you doing this?"
"Because we were ordered to," Fuuka said, before blowing into the palm of her hand. She formed a small whirlwind ball that spun rapidly in her grasp, "Don't worry. Your friends will be joining you soon enough, sweetie."
With a flick of her fingers, she fired the ball Shino's way, intending to do away with the young insect-user.
As the attack flew his way, Shino estimated his chances of surviving it from his position. They weren't good.
Fuuka covered her face as a small explosion threw dust and debris her way from the impact of her jutsu. She chuckled to herself at having finished off another enemy. If this was the best that this upstart little contingent had to offer, she could probably finish them all off by herself.
"Damned boy," She said to herself as she waited for the dust to clear so she could confirm her kill, "Now I have to find someone with a lightning chakra nature to replace what I've lost."
The theme of her day was unpleasant surprises, as she received another one once she was able to see Shino's body. Where she expected a corpse, she saw a young man with long brown hair, near-solid white eyes, and long flowing robes.
"Well, I'm certainly entertaining quite a few gentlemen today," Fuuka sneered in the direction of her new enemy.
Neji ignored her, instead choosing to tend to Shino who was still on the ground, finding it hard to so much as move. Neji could see the physical damage done to him as well as the low amount of chakra he had left because of his Byakugan.
"Don't worry," Neji told him, "This will be over with in just a moment."
Fuuka began to laugh at Neji's assurances to Shino, but stopped when she could feel the wind shift behind her. She leapt into the air as four large buzzsaw figures rolled past her, trying to tear her apart. The four living weapons turned around and launched themselves at Fuuka's tree, slicing it to ribbons and tearing it down, forcing her to jump down again.
They all came to a stop alongside Neji and Shino, revealing Hana and her three ninken partners, "You were right about one thing," She said, "His friends would be joining him soon."
Fuuka flipped her hair back over her shoulder as she carelessly regarded the new arrivals, "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to do anything other than help me pad my body count today."
Hana and her ninken growled at the woman's challenge, only for Neji to step forward instead, "Hey. What are you doing?"
"Inuzuka-san, please see to Aburame-san," Neji requested, moving ahead of his allies to take on Fuuka by his lonesome, "I will deal with this myself."
Hana wanted to fight, but didn't need to do much prodding of Shino to find that he had been severely injured during his fight with the red-haired woman before them. She was the only healer present, so it was up to her to fix Shino as best she could on the spot, "Be quick. We've got to get him somewhere more suitable for treatment."
Fuuka squared off with Neji who didn't seem to be regarding her with any fear, "Ooh, a Hyuuga. It's been a long time since I've taken a soul from someone in your clan."
Neji narrowed his eyes and slid into his Gentle Fist fighting stance, "I don't know why you've come here or why you've chosen to target one of my allies, but it will be my pleasure to show you just how much of a mistake you've made."
Fuuka blew into her hand, forming a miniature whirlwind ball like before, "We'll see about that," With a flick of her wrist, she sent the jutsu flying directly at Neji. He avoided it by the slimmest of margins and rushed directly at Fuuka.
She wasn't enough of a fool to engage a Hyuuga Clan member hand-to-hand, working to keep her distance away from his deadly fingertips.
"That's the problem with you Hyuuga men," She taunted, making a few hand-seals, "So eager to finish. Selfish. None of you are prepared to play with a girl like me for the long haul. Fuuton: Hanachiri Mai (Wind Release: Flower Scattering Dance)!"
She attacked with the same jutsu that had devastated Shino, forcing Neji to break off from his pursuit and take the time to try and dodge the cyclone of flower petals sent his way. He picked up on the angle of its movement and moved past it at a degree that let him continue closing the distance against Fuuka.
A smirk came to her makeup-covered lips as she gauged Neji's speed and allowed him to come nearer before slamming her trap shut on him.
Cackling to herself in the face of danger, she bent the trajectory of the cyclone around, aiming it at the charging Neji's back and leaping out of his direct path just as he was about to reach her with his deadly Juuken style, "Ooh, look but don't touch, honey."
Instead of the dreadful expression that Fuuka expected to see on Neji's face at being outmaneuvered, she saw a confident smile, one that removed most of the confidence from her that she would end the battle right then and there.
"Whatever you say," Neji said, expelling chakra from every tenketsu on his body and spinning around rapidly, "Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven)!" The chakra turned into a rotating shield that protected him from Fuuka's jutsu, as well as did him the service of tossing the dangerous woman away from him forcefully.
Getting close, even if it was still far enough to be out of Neji's reach, was still far too dangerous to bother attempting without a real plan to protect yourself.
Neji's rotation came to an end as Fuuka hit the ground a ways away from him. From the sidelines, Hana let out an impressed whistle as she continued to try and patch Shino up as best as she could. She had been watching and figured that Neji had been screwed, "For a clan of prissy noble wannabes, you Hyuugas have a few sweet moves up your sleeves. Your long, loose, flowy sleeves."
"I aim to please, but this isn't over yet," Neji replied to the girl, before turning his attention back to Fuuka who was still on the ground, "Did you think I didn't see that, just because I wasn't facing you? If so, you must need a refresher course in what the Byakugan does."
"No idea what you're talking about, hon," Fuuka said, her confidence somewhat restored as she picked herself up.
"How about the fact that you unsealed that body from a scroll and replaced it with the one I just damaged?" Neji told her, his smile widening at quick flash of fear he saw from her, "These eyes see everything, including the change to your chakra nature."
"You should stop talking now, boy!"
"It was wind before. When I located you during your earlier fight with Aburame-san, it was lightning, but he destroyed that body, didn't he?" Along with Fuuka's growing temper, Neji could see her heart beating faster due to the nerves she felt at her jig being up, "Now it's water."
She had to kill Neji now; him and the rest of them. She had to. If she retreated and allowed the secret to her most protected technique to get out, she would lose the valuable trait that ended with her getting such a sweet position as a member of the Guardian Ninja.
No more scrounging around taking the scraps of jobs that fell between the cracks of the bigger clans. No more hoping for open war between clans to be hired on as extra muscle for a pittance, just to be used as cannon fodder on the front lines of fights she had no stake in.
She had worked so many years to procure the chakra natures she had using the method she'd developed. She couldn't roll over now and let that hard work slip away.
No one who had ever learned the secret to her chakra nature switch had survived to tell the tale. This time would be no different.
A murderous look in her eyes, Fuuka kneeled and placed her hands on the ground forcefully, "Suiton: Haran Banshou (Water Release: Stormy Blockade)!"
Neji saw what was coming before it was even upon him, or upon them, as it was not a jutsu that would leave Hana and Shino safe lingering along the sidelines. With a grit to his teeth, he turned to the Inuzuka girl and shouted in warning, "Get yourselves to a higher elevation, now!"
A massive wave of water crashed down from the sky, moving around Fuuka and flying toward Neji. Taking his own advice, he jumped onto the trunk of a tree, sticking to it with chakra. He could hear the creaking of wood as the impact of rushing water smashed against the sturdy flora.
He was able to keep track of Fuuka's movement despite the water that would have obstructed a normal shinobi's vision, but the problem with a wide-area jutsu of that nature was that it was a very effective corralling tactic. Even if he was able to see how she was moving, he was also heading exactly where she wanted him to be.
His timing was just off in his reaction to her launching at his tree. As he moved to intercept her with a Juuken attack, her hair extended and wrapped itself around all of his limbs, keeping him from using his powerful taijutsu to deal with her, "What in the world?"
"No one who discovers my secret has ever survived! I'm not about to let that change now!" Fuuka bellowed, making eye contact with Neji. Despite his efforts to struggle, he felt as though he were constricted by metal wire, and it wasn't just because of the hair holding him in place, "Die!"
"Gatenga (Fang Rotating Fang)!"
Two of Hana's ninken sprang into action to protect Neji, their buzzsaw-like attack missing Fuuka, but severing the length of her hair where it was connected to Neji.
Fuuka let out a blood-curdling scream of pain as she continued to hurtle in Neji's direction. His limbs no longer tied, and her concentration broken, neutralizing her paralysis jutsu, Neji wrestled one hand free of Fuuka's red tresses and extended it her way to meet her as she got within arm's reach.
His index and middle fingers extended, he tapped her on the forehead.
From the sheer amount of chakra he put into just that movement, her brains were turned to chunky stew on-contact.
She dropped to the ground lifelessly and hit with all of the grace of a weighted ragdoll. It did not make a pleasant sound for Hana, nor a pleasant sight for Neji with his Byakugan. The important thing was that she did not move again. It was hard to consciously change to an undamaged body when the brain in the last one was destroyed.
Hana held on to Shino from the safety of a sturdy tree branch and nodded to her ninken, "Check her."
"She keeps her extra bodies in a scroll. Make sure they take that," Neji informed her as he jumped down to the ground and brushed some of Fuuka's stray hairs off of his clothes, "Thank you for that."
"We came all the way out here to make sure one of us was safe," "It wouldn't have done much good if someone else died while we were trying to save him."
"I have to thank you both as well," Shino said, his voice still weak from the damage he had incurred, "She was… a dangerous opponent."
Hana grinned toothily at Shino at his gratitude for the save, "Thankfully, we offered to come and find you, because it would be the easiest for us," She explained, "I didn't expect you to be this far away. Then again, I didn't expect it to lead to a battle either."
That led to another question from the injured young shinobi, "Why did you come to find me?"
This time, Neji answered, "Because there's trouble afoot, and you've clearly had the first run-in with our enemy," He said, with a pointed stare at the telltale sash around Fuuka's waist, "Keep your head up, Aburame-san. We've survived a battle with a member of the Guardian Ninja."
But if the rest were anything like this woman – or worse yet, even more powerful – it wouldn't be an easy task whatsoever for the lot of them to continue surviving.
XxX
(Kaze no Kuni – Sora-ku)
The medical witch of Sora-ku was a bust. At her age, playing her morbid little games to amuse herself was more important to Chiyo than trying to come to a reasonable compromise.
Kushina sat on the railing of an observation ledge in the city, overlooking the busy streets out in front of her. It was just a throng of activity, from people on foot, to animals pulling carts and carriages. Sora-ku was so noisy and congested. It was a head-splitting mess.
How anyone could live there and feel any sort of day-to-day peace was beyond her. It wasn't distracting, it just made her homesick. And since she no longer had a traditional home, she thought of her family. Her children. Namely, the one they had come all the way to the desert to try and save.
Minato walked up behind and stood there, without saying anything else. Kushina didn't need to turn around to know he was there, and he didn't need to speak with her to know that she wasn't exactly encouraged by what had happened today.
At least between the two of them, the feeling was mutual.
"Hey."
"Hey."
Minato wrapped his arms around her from behind as both looked out at the hustle and bustle of the city.
No one was really in the mood to talk, at least until a solution to their problem was found. When Kakashi arrived to report back to Minato, he found himself intruding on a moment between husband and wife. He was normally the one to spoil such a thing, but in this instance, he waited.
He had his decent side, after all.
"I'm not giving up on him," Kushina eventually said, determinedly, "If Chiyo wants to play games about this, who needs her? There has to be someone else who knows enough about medicines to help us."
Kakashi's brow furrowed in thought as he wracked his brain thinking of another viable solution. He came up with one, but not one that he particularly liked, "There is, but it might come with just as many problems as trying to appeal to Chiyo. Maybe more."
"A chance is a chance," Kushina declared, "If I'm not willing to try and move heaven and earth for my son, what kind of mother am I?"
It didn't matter what the chance was. Risking her life for one of her children was well worth it, if that was indeed the cost.
Minato's face brightened up once he realized what Kakashi was alluding to before he even got to explain, "Of course," He said, with a cheery laugh, "I don't know how I overlooked them before."
"Because they don't like us, Minato-sama," Kakashi pointed out matter-of-factly, "And their alliance is fairly dangerous to make an enemy of."
Kushina put her hands on her hips and scowled at the men, "Are you two just going to keep it up with the back-and-forth like I know what you're talking about, or are you going to let me in on what's going on?"
Minato and Kakashi looked at each other before the latter gestured for the former to explain things to his quick-tempered bride, "Well, there's a clan that may not have a lot of medical expertise, but they have knowledge on plants and herbs that's second-to-none."
A swell of hope blossomed in Kushina's chest. This was wonderful news. They weren't out of luck after all, "That's great! They can at least point us in the right direction of the ingredients for the antidote!"
Kakashi nodded, "The Nara Clan. They have a long-standing alliance with two other clans that specialize in other professional fields and focuses in the ninja arts. Each of them covers the other's weaknesses. A lot of the time, they even work together on contracts and split the take."
Kushina nodded, still following along with a bright smile, "So far, none of this is sounding bad. What's the problem?" She asked eagerly as she got up from off of the railing.
Minato let out a sigh, "I visited those clans once before to figure out how they got along so well despite being so different. It was research," He scratched the side of his face hesitantly, "It didn't work out so great."
Kushina's expression twisted into one of confusion. Getting others to talk to him was normally the hard part. Oftentimes, when Minato was allowed to study the culture of other clans, it was smooth sailing from there, "Why?"
"There were a few reasons. Jiraiya-sensei was one of those reasons," He added, putting an outright frown on Kushina's face, "…While I was doing my research, he was too. They caught him."
"Another reason?" She asked, droning in a deadpan tone. Of course it would have had to have been something.
"They're a Hi no Kuni clan, and this was long after I'd been blackballed by the Senju Clan," Minato said, prompting Kushina to curse under her breath, "So when they figured out my real name, again, thanks Jiraiya-sensei, I had to get the hell out of there."
So even though these clans had enough of an alliance going to get Minato's recognition, it wasn't strong enough for them to avoid the 'go along to get along' atmosphere that permeated the country thanks to the power of the two strongest clans.
Nothing to upset that gentle status quo, of course. Never that.
"Okay, so what if you don't go at all?" Kushina ventured as a solution, "I'll just go myself. I'm not as well-known as you or Kakashi."
"I really don't like the idea of leaving you alone."
Since getting her back into his arms a few years prior, he hated the thought of sending Kushina off on her own to see to their business. He knew that she was a perfectly capable kunoichi, experienced and powerful, but after learning about the time she'd had raising Naruto alone and the trouble that had befallen her after Naruto had become a jinchuuriki, it was hard to send her into danger without standing right by her side.
Kushina knew this, and thought it was sweet that her man was protective of her, but she didn't need it. Nor was this the time for it, "I know, love. But if it's the best way to keep a fight from kicking off, this is how it has to be."
Kakashi shook his head and walked over to the couple, ready to get moving, "So… I guess we're teleporting to another country now?" He asked, "I hate traveling."
"Really? You got into the wrong business then," Minato said, putting a hand on both Kushina and Kakashi, "Right. Let's see where I put my closest marker to them."
The group disappeared in a flash of gold, their business done in Sora-ku.
XxX
The monk that had been spotted by Hinata in the village wandered into the mouth of a cave, miles away from the settlement, ignoring the sealing wards that were set up on the walls near the entrance.
There were lights set up along the walls as he went farther inside to help find his way, but it was still poorly lit when compared to the sunlight outside. It was dark enough to conceal a figure inside in the monk's blind spot.
A slight glint off of the metal of a deadly weapon was his only warning before an attack was launched his way. As it went for his neck, the monk reached out with one hand to stop it, grabbing his assailant by the wrist, just out of strike range.
"Sora," The monk greeted with a nod, ignoring the razor-sharp triple-bladed claw pointed at his face. It didn't even leave a nick on his hat.
The weapon belonged to a young man with blue-gray hair that went down to his shoulders. He wore simple dark clothes that wouldn't have distinguished him from a regular civilian in any way. There weren't even any supply pouches visible on his person. Other than the sharp look in his eyes and the Guardian sash around his waist, he was entirely unassuming.
"Chiriku. Well, you're the first one who actually went scouting who's come back," Sora said matter-of-factly, folding his claw and hiding it inside of the long sleeve of his tunic, "Come on in. Fuen, Fudou, Kitane, Nauma, and my father are still doing recon. Seito, Tou are asleep. But Asuma and I are keeping watch."
Inwardly, Chiriku rolled his eyes, but on the outside he held a stoic demeanor. Sora was second-generation, basically raised amongst the Guardian Ninja during his father's tenure as a member. While he had been asked to join by the Fire Daimyo, a lot of the existing members felt he had too many weaknesses of youth to be an effective operative. Thankfully, his father had been able to keep an eye on him more often than not.
"One of us won't be coming back at all," Chiriku said as the cave corridor opened up into a chamber, "Fuuka went and got greedy. She was taken down by some of the shinobi we're supposed to be disposing of."
"Fuuka was killed?" Another man asked from where he was relaxing on a rock formation. He lit a cigarette hanging from his lips as he leaned back and relaxed, "Huh. That's hard to believe. Well… shit."
The man had messy dark hair that matched his cool demeanor, as well as a comparatively neat beard. He wore an open black jacket with fur around the collar and bandages around the biceps of the sleeves
The monk took off his hat as he sat down near the rest of his present comrades, "Impatient woman. We were only meant to observe for now," He said, "If they didn't know what we had planned after the Hyuuga girl got a look at me in town, they'll definitely know now."
Sora scoffed as he sat down in his own little corner of the cave, "She just got a look at you. She didn't catch you actually doing anything. She knows you have a ton of chakra. So what?"
"Don't be ignorant," The calm man chimed in from his own seat, his eyes focused on the roof of the cave as he leaned back and enjoyed his cigarette, "Between that and a run-in with Fuuka, they know. No one on the planet would be dumb enough to think the two aren't related," With a huff, smoke flew from his nose and up toward the ceiling, "Well, our element of surprise is blown. I was just going to have us set up Limelight around the village and turn it to rubble, but they'll see it coming now."
Chiriku smiled at the calm demeanor of his teammate, breaking his indifferent façade, "They would have always seen it coming, Asuma. Hyuuga Clan, remember?"
"Oh, shut up," The smoking man replied with a smirk, "I'm assuming you have a better plan?"
"We're going to need one now regardless," Chiriki pointed out, getting an annoyed grunt out of Asuma, "There's good news though. The Yellow Flash, his wife, and Hatake Kakashi aren't here. Jiraiya is still around, but our odds are much better now. Aside from the six Hyuuga Clan members, we're dealing with a mishmash of children, no older than Sora."
Asuma's eyebrows rose up on his face in interest at that nugget of information, "Well, well, well," He said, his tone laced with newfound positivity, "That makes this significantly easier. When everyone returns, we'll take what they've all found out about our enemy and our surroundings and come up with a plan. Let's go ahead and get this over with."
XxX
(With Naruto)
"This is bullshit!" Naruto hissed under his breath as he stood by Shino's bedside.
After Hana and Neji had brought Shino back from the site of the battle he'd fought in the woods, Hana had been able to properly finish treating him. He would be fine with rest, but for the time being, he was out of commission.
In this situation, that wasn't exactly good news. Things could have been worse, but it was hard to consider that when they were down a very important player in their little war game.
"It took three of us to put down one of them without anyone getting killed!" Naruto wanted to break something, but Shino was sleeping and he needed to recover.
"Naruto, he'll be back on his feet soon," Tenten said calmly from where she was seated by Shino's bedside, "Hana and Neji got him out before anything really bad could happen. Relax."
Naruto puffed himself up and released a deep breath before collapsing his body against the nearest wall, "I know. It's just, I'm stuck in here, looking out the window while these guys get ready to tear us apart. I hate it," He groused, "I'm supposed to be responsible when dad's not around. But we had to call Jiraiya just to have someone with enough stroke to run things around here."
Sometimes he felt like he really was only good for fighting everyone else's frontline battles. He'd been put in charge and done what? Led his team from disaster to disaster, gotten himself infected with a deadly virus, and taken them all to a place where the Guardian Ninja would do their best to slaughter them and wipe the village from the face of the map.
So now, the one thing that he could say without question he excelled at, he couldn't do to help the people that he should have been accountable for.
"I'm supposed to be some kind of walking ninja bulldozer," Naruto said, tilting his head back against the wall to stare up at the light, "I'm not even good for that right now."
Tenten scoffed, getting Naruto's attention from across the room, "Now that's not fair to you, and you know it," She said, "Shino and I believe you're more than that, even if other people don't. And if that's the case, you just have to show them, right? You're not just a dangerous ball of chakra, or Minato-sama's son. You're special all on your own. You would be somebody even if you weren't one or the other."
Naruto stared at her before letting out a little laugh for her troubles, "Well look at you, little miss pep talk."
Tenten gave him a lopsided grin in return, "I'm serious. You don't have anything to prove to anyone. And you're not by yourself. You've got everyone else here, and you've got me… for what that's worth," She finished, her mood dropping a bit.
Naruto perked up like a dog hearing something suspicious in the distance, only in this case it was coming from the girl in the room with him, "Are you kidding?" He asked rhetorically, "Tenten, you're my best friend. I couldn't imagine doing any of this without you. I don't want to do any of this without you."
He could never figure out where her low self-esteem came from. Yes, she wasn't born to a family who would pass down hidden techniques to her. She wasn't born with some kind of special bloodline or with a pedigree of outstanding shinobi behind her. That was precisely why Naruto thought she was such a good ninja.
She built herself up from basically nothing and had been by his side through all of the craziness they'd experienced since they'd met. She had always been there for his problems, but she wouldn't let him help out with her confidence issue. He tried, but she never wanted to talk about it.
"You've had my back for the last five years. Why in the world would you think that's not worth a lot?" He told her, "It means everything to me."
Tenten got up from her seat and began walking around the room uncomfortably, "It doesn't mean anything in the field. I'm not like the rest of you guys. Everyone else brings something incredible to the table. I've got weapons," She said derisively, "I'd be a nameless grunt to you if it wasn't for the fact that we both met when we were sucky little kids just starting out."
Naruto rolled his eyes, bluntly summarizing the girl's point for her, "So because you can't level a tenth of a kilometer without a ball full of explosive tags, you think you don't measure up?"
"I'm trying to be realistic. We're going to be butting heads with the big dogs here, Naruto. When push comes to shove, I'm not sure how much I can really do to help out in a fight."
"I'd smack you if I wasn't sure it'd hurt me at least half as much as it would hurt you. Look, I'm dying. Humor me here. Tell me why you think you can't be just as good as dad is. He wasn't born with it either."
Tenten didn't have a concrete reason. But she knew that compared to many of the ninja that she'd seen, in her own mind she just couldn't compare, "Some people have got it. Others don't. It's just that simple."
"Well if life doesn't give it, go ahead and take it," Naruto said, not willing to let her teenage insecurity put a cloud over her talent. She didn't let his get to him, so it was only right to return the favor. And he could never do anything half-assed, "Goddamn it, you're my partner. We're supposed to run this thing together someday. You, me, and maybe Shino if he feels like it."
Tenten snickered at the thought of Naruto standing at the head of every clan and wayward shinobi that would one day come together to form the village. It was quite the idea, "Oh really? Is that the way you always saw it in your head?"
"It is," Naruto's unashamed concession got an honest laugh out of her.
For some reason, Orochimaru had seen it that way as well when he'd spoken to her in The Deep, even when she'd tried to tell him how she'd really felt about her standing in the organization. Both times, it had been a little too far out of her expectations to agree with as a future possibility.
"Yep, that's the way I always saw it. And I'll be damned if I let a little thing like you being modest mess up my big, big plans!"
Tenten lightly brushed her fist across Naruto's cheek with a playful punch gesture, "Let's just worry about surviving the Guardian Ninja and getting you past the Five Elements Virus first, okay?"
XxX
(That Evening)
Kushina had requested that Minato and Kakashi let her be after they had used Hiraishin to move somewhere closer to their area of interest in Hi no Kuni. Kakashi was easy to convince; he simply muttered his agreement and sat down, pulling out a book and reading to pass the time.
Minato had been a little harder to convince, but she had been able to get her way in the end. He was probably still pacing around in concern, wearing a trench into the ground at the meeting point even then.
She had been traveling for about an hour after separating from her party, and the sun was setting. If she didn't get to Nara Clan territory by the time it was all the way down, there would likely be trouble. Nighttime was dangerous enough, and you couldn't trust anyone that you didn't know in this world.
Either way, Kushina was on the clock. Naruto's chances of survival weren't good without the antidote.
She'd risk having some evening guards at her throat if it came with the opportunity to get what they needed. And it looked as if she would get to put that mindset to the test. Upon landing from one of her jumps in the trees onto the road she had been following, she froze inexplicably in place and stayed there. Unable to so much as turn her head.
"I can't move," Kushina said quietly, an uncomfortable smile slowly spreading across her face, "I guess I'm in the right place."
Looking down, she could see a shadow that she'd previously mistaken to be that of a tree branch connected to her own shadow. What an interesting technique.
"Uzumaki Kushina," A man's calm voice said as he and several similarly attired men and women came out to confront her, "Now why on earth would you ever want to come here? I figured your husband would have told you that he wasn't exactly welcome here."
"And here I was hoping that you wouldn't know who I was," Kushina said loudly enough to be heard by everyone, "Well, nothing I can do about that now. I need something from you. Something that you're good at."
Another of the Nara Clan members spoke up at that, "We're not joining your ninja coalition. Way too much trouble for us. It's nice and quiet here. No Uchiha. No Senju. No one bothers us, and we make a good living."
They all seemed to share the same general demeanor. Interesting, and that also made them easier to deal with as a whole. As long as they weren't trying to fillet her where she stood, there wasn't a lot of reason to be concerned with them holding her in place.
"I don't want you to join anything. I'm not quite like Minato where I think everyone should get onboard. If you don't want us, we don't need you," She said, finding no give whatsoever to the jutsu. She couldn't budge without being allowed to move by a Nara clansman's movements, "No, I mean I need a few ingredients for something very important. Aren't you the people to see for that sort of thing?"
"Are you armed?"
"What the-? Yes! Of course I'm fucking armed! You know I'm armed! What kind of question is that? Everyone is armed, all the time, 'ttebane!"
XxX
(With Naruto – Yu no Kuni)
"Oh man," Naruto said, lying down on a long couch in his parents' inn suite. Holding up his hand into the air, he could see it involuntarily shake, more violently than ever. He didn't know who he wanted to beat down more, Orochimaru for making the Five Elements Virus, or Sasuke for infecting him with it.
"Is it getting worse?" Anko asked, sitting off on the side, checking over her supplies, taking inventory and making sure everything was up to snuff for a fight. It was just something productive to do while they waited for the inevitable battle to begin.
"It's been getting worse all day," Naruto said, finding it harder to hold a decent fist together, "I can feel the difference from when I woke up this morning."
Anko winced at the thought of someone as spirited as Naruto going out with such a whimper. She always thought a kid that loud would die in some kind of earth-shaking event they would tell cautionary tales about for decades to come, instead of on a sick bed, "Sorry, kid."
It was all she could offer. Anko wasn't great at sympathy to begin with. Fortunately, Naruto didn't really want anyone's pity.
"Hey, you didn't do it, and it's not like anyone here can actually fix it. It is what it is," He said, shifting in place with great effort to sit up on the couch, "I've just got to not be wuss and stick it out, at least until this whole thing with the Guardian Ninja is over."
Anko hummed in agreement and packed her tools and weapons back up, "Well idle hands and all that. I guess that makes sense in this case, you goddamn busybody," She said, rising up from her seat, her break over with, "You need anything?"
Naruto waved her away, "Just let me know when stuff starts going down."
"Sure. We're going to need all hands on deck anyway," Anko said, walking out and leaving the door open.
Minato and Kushina's room had become the unofficial mission control area for the time being in their absence. It was the most spacious and convenient place for everyone else to gather without discussing their business in public in the pub portion of the inn or compromising anyone else's privacy.
After Anko left, Naruto noticed his little sister peeking around the door frame at him, unsure if she could come in or not. She seemed nervous. About what, he didn't know. She'd been napping through most of the talk of battle with the Guardian Ninja and an injured Shino's return from battle against one of them.
Even if she hadn't been, he didn't think she was old enough to understand the real concept of mortal danger. They had done the best they could to keep her away from the bad things that happened out in the world. They'd tried to keep her from seeing them fight, or seeing anyone die. She didn't need to learn about any of that until she was old enough to truly begin training, which would be soon.
She needed to be able to protect herself and at least run away on her own if need be. But until then, she didn't need to deal with all of the ugliness that came with being a shinobi just yet.
"Hey," Naruto said kindly, trying to smile at her as best as he could with the rebreather on his face, "What's goin' on?"
Kanako ignored the question and ran up to him, putting her hands on his lap to try and boost herself up to sit. She looked up and saw him cringe the moment she put her weight on him and backed away fearfully. Naruto noticed and quickly tried to play it off, "No-no-no-no. It's okay, Kana. I promise. Come here."
He didn't want to scare her. It was the entire reason why no one had told her he was sick in the first place. It was only a matter of time until he became too far along to hide it any longer. He just hoped he'd have had a little more time before it came up.
Instead of letting her get up by herself, Naruto lifted her and deposited her on her intended seat. It hurt, but as long as he could still lift Kanako, he would. Even though she was sitting with her brother, Kanako still looked downright miserable. Her tiny hands reached up and touched Naruto's cheeks. The marks that she'd come to know and associate with his smile were covered up by the facemask that his rebreather was attached to.
Naruto put his hands over Kanako's and held them in place on his face, "I didn't want you to see me right now, Kana," He said quietly, "You're not supposed to see your big brother like this, you know?"
"Ruto-nii's sick."
"Who told you about that?"
"Nobody. You don't feel like you always do."
It wasn't even worth denying. She knew something was wrong. For some reason, she always knew that something was wrong. Most of the time, she didn't know what it was, but could oftentimes tell that things were amiss.
"Well, I am sick. Really sick. It's… not good, and I don't know what's gonna happen," "But I can tell you one thing. I promised mom and dad I was gonna protect you no matter what. So even if I'm not as strong as I could be right now, I'm gonna fight. Nobody's gonna hurt you."
"You gonna fight the bad people?"
"You know about them too?"
"They're strong."
Yes, Kanako was a sensor. The thought had come up when she'd seen certain things coming before others had, but it couldn't be chalked up to some kind of clarity of intuition any longer. There was no doubt about it now. She had to be.
"You can feel how strong they are?" Kanako nodded, worried if she'd made Naruto mad from his initial surprised reaction, "Are they stronger than me?" She seemed unsure of how to answer, "How many of 'em are? Can you count for me?" Naruto asked encouragingly. Kanako's brow furrowed in intense thought. She took the time to use her fingers to help her out, eventually holding up the number she found appropriate, "Three of 'em. Okay. Do you know where they are?"
This time she shook her head no. Oh well. What they had now was more than they did when all of this had first come to light. Naruto didn't want Kanako to have to deal with this any more than she already had. It wasn't her job to face problems like that. It was his.
"Kana, when I tell you to, I want you to go to Shino and stay with him. He'll keep you safe, okay?" Even injured, Shino could do something to protect Kanako. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that, "I love you."
"Love you too."
"Give me a hug," Kanako didn't need to be told twice, throwing her arms around Naruto's neck. It hurt, but he still chuckled and returned the little redhead's affection, "Heh, I'd give you a kiss too, but the mask's kind of in the way. And I don't want you gettin' what I've got."
And that was that. But one thing grated his nerves about what Kanako had told him.
When she said that they were stronger than him, did she mean stronger than him at the moment, or stronger than him at full health?
Either one was bad news, but one was significantly more so than the other.
Major Clan Information
Nara Clan
Leader: Shikaku Nara
Population: 1/5
Military Strength: 1/5
Economy: 3.5/5
Notable Traits: Notable intelligence. Serious lack of aggression. Special relationship with Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans. Members, both men and women alike, favor wearing their hair in ponytails. Skilled in the area of pharmacology. Affinity for raising deer. Main business comes from more mundane missions, usually light bodyguard work, wild animal control, etc.
Area of Operations: Northern Hi no Kuni.
That's the chapter.
It's been a while since I've updated… well, anything, because life is kicking my ass. Good lord, I miss not having responsibilities. I should have put in more work to get rich before things were actually expected of me.
Goddamn, I miss being a kid.
But you don't care about that. You care about content; the amount of which I've just provided hopefully suffices for now.
I'll be back with more stuff later. I hope you enjoyed.
Kenchi out.
P.S.: If you want to know if I sound like as much of a jerk as you think I am from reading my words, you can hear me and find out for sure! Just check out the Fandom Flux channel on Youtube!
There, Casey. I did it. Promoted the podcast… again. Now shut your facehole, man!
…Okay, now I'm done for real.