Kisuke sighed morosely, absently dangling his leg over the side of the wall he was stationed at. Guard duty was a notoriously dull position to have as a Shinobi; for a profession that usually offered excitement and action, guarding a long length of wall was the exact opposite of that. What was worse was the fact that he wasn't even guarding Kusagakure soil like he normally might. No, instead he was in the ass-end of Hi no Kuni in a periphery town near the border between the two nations.
He wasn't usually the type to have an opinion on the various political shifts taking place throughout the nations but even he didn't see much point in this fruitless war with Konohagakure. He wouldn't comment though, that kind of insubordination was grounds for discharge or even execution if his opinions were found to be too traitorous. However Kusa had only barely recovered from the third shinobi war where the Yellow flash had decimated their ranks like cutting down blades of grass.
Still, he did his duty, sitting up on that wall as he lazily watched the sun begin to set behind the horizon; the next shift would be soon and he would be relieved. It was a good thing too, this dry heat was beginning to affect him; a few minutes ago he swore he saw faint crimson flashes in the forest the town bordered. He heard a scuffle on the stairs and swivelled in his position, a tired smile on his face as he awaited the shinobi who would be taking over for him.
However a few moments later when nobody emerged from the staircase leading down from the wall he cautiously stood up, hand naturally drifting to his kunai pouch. The hand dropped limply down to his side though when he caught a glimpse of what was going on in the town though, or more specifically, what wasn't happening. Where before he might have seen Kusa shinobi patrolling the rooftops, keeping the civilians the had barricaded in under curfew, he now only silent, empty streets.
"What the…" His eyes furrowed before flickering subconsciously to the side where this time he was sure he actually saw a bright red flash down a nearby alleyway. His brow creased as he stared harder only to be nearly startled out of his skin by a sudden scrabbling from the stairs. When he saw it was just another Kusa shinobi he lowered the kunai he had drawn, only for his frown to increase when he realised the man wasn't even looking at him. Instead he was clutching his bleeding arm, frantically looking behind him as though he was being chased by ghosts.
"Ah!" He jumped back when he caught sight of Kisuke, only to wince as his injured arm was flung back.
"Hey, what's going on?" Kisuke quickly asked, however the man seemed frantic and uncooperative, glancing this way and that desperately.
"H-He's coming, oh god he's coming." He raved, his words coming out jumbled and barely intelligible; it didn't even seem, like he was talking to Kisuke.
"What? Who's coming?" Kisuke grabbed his shoulders to stop him only to cringe back as his face was suddenly splattered with a warm, red liquid and the man he was holding fell limp. Cracking an eye open he had only a moment to query the strange three-pronged design of the kunai sticking out of the man's neck before a red flash encompassed his vision and his world went dark in a single blinding moment of pain.
Naruto stared grimly out over the small border town that his operation had just liberated, eyes glancing down to the two dead bodies by his feet, blood slowly pooling out from their clean wounds. Naruto made sure it was as painless as possible, but that was a hollow statement because he was still forced to take their lives all the same. The operational directives had been clear; no prisoners. This was how Konoha waged war, shock and awe to begin with and then they could worry about mercy when their opposition were in a more negotiable mood.
The redhead had never seen the Hokage look so grizzled or grim, his face like stone as he went about assigning the various missions to take back their lost territory and towns. It was as though the burden of leadership was actually visible on the man's shoulders; would that be him in a few years? Sending out men and women to mercilessly cut down the enemies on Konoha; the thought made him feel a little ill.
He pushed it down though, he needed a strong façade in front of the shinobi and Kunoichi he commanded; he knew they were thinking the exact same things and he needed to let them know all of this sacrifice wasn't pointless. That was why he set his face into a clean, expressionless mask, flicked the blood from his tanto and began walking to find some higher ground. He would have to find his kunai later.
"Higher Niisan! Higher!" Haya giggled excitedly as Naruto caught her in his arms again, cradling her like a new-born. A grin tugged at his lips, almost matching the one on the silver-haired girl's as he once again crouched down on the next branch, flinging her up and into the air with all his strength. Her cry of glee caused birds to scatter from their perches as she spread her arms out, for just a moment soaring through the air like one of them. Then she reached the crest of her flight and began to fall again.
However unlike most children she wasn't scared, she knew her Niisan would always be there to catch her. Sure enough in the next moment a flash of red seemed to engulf her and suddenly she was back in his warm, strong arms; it only made the grin on her lips stretch her cheeks farther. With the grace of a cat Naruto deftly landed on the next branch, keeping Haya safe and secure the whole way down. Then it began all over again as he reared back to throw her once more.
Haya definitely couldn't be called a normal child. Where they enjoyed safer, more grounded games where the worst they might do is scrape their knee, she much preferred to have adrenaline pumping through her veins, the wind in her face and the world buzzing by her in a bright blur of colours and shapes. It was the curse of those who could move as fast as her, she just always needed to be moving; the more dangerous and exciting, the better.
Finally though even her supposedly boundless energy had to run out and she found herself sprawled on the grass, head resting on Naruto's chest and he lay down beside her. She was unendingly grateful to have found such a wonderful family after being torn away from her clan.
"Your Hiraikin is amazing Niisan!" She exclaimed suddenly, throwing her arms up into the air in a typically childish manner to punctuate her point. Naruto simply chuckled, the reverberations from his chest carrying through Haya and making her giggle.
"Hiraishin Haya, it's called the Hiraishin." The little silver-haired girl simply nodded emphatically as if that was what she had said all along.
"Right! And it's awesome! You can go woosh and zoom and be everywhere at once!" She continued to exclaim, waving her hands about to accentuate her sound effects. She missed when Naruto's face briefly turned down.
"Yeah… pretty great isn't it." He agreed half-heartedly, supressing the urge to look down at his hands; he knew he wouldn't like what he saw there. A moment later though and it was replaced with a bright grin as he suddenly swivelled to his feet, picking up Haya in a smooth swooping motion, much to the little girl's delight. "Come on then, I bet Anko's cooked us something really delicious."
Anything to take his mind off it really.
Darks shadows flitted silently through the night, the stars and the faint crescent moon the only light to guide their way. Their target became obvious quickly, a large bridge spanning an enormous gorge. They paused at the treeline, unwilling to cross the no-man's land of felled trees and grass that had been cleared around the perimeter of the bridge. It was obviously to aid the patrolling shinobi stationed across its length in spotting intruder's faster.
A silent hand gesture was made, answered by a subtle nod; a moment later and a small, fizzling package was flung across the space, soaring in an arc right over the bridge. Just as it was about to fall down the gorge on the other side it erupted into a bright sphere of light, enough to grab the attention of every guard in the vicinity. In that single second though another object was thrown on roughly the same path, however its arc took it a little shorter, landing on the wooden surface of the bridge with a dulled thud.
The closest guard had only just turned around when his neck was cleanly sliced through by a well-maintained Tanto, the grim face behind it grimacing slightly. It was his body slumping to the floor that really alerted the rest of the bridge's occupants. However by the time they turned Naruto was already halfway through a set of well-practised hand signs.
"Wind release: Vacuum scythe." He whispered into his hands, in the same breath exhaling a deadly stream of sharpened air that rocketed down the length of the bridge with nothing but a faint whine to herald its path. The first three it came across were felled instantly, the look of shock on their faces managing to survive the bisection of their bodies. The kunoichi a little further down was slightly luckier, feeling something coming and ducking down instinctively; it saved her neck, quite literally.
However as she scrambled to her feet she found Naruto already in front of her, having already begun to move before his Jutsu had even finished forming. She barely pulled out her sword before she was forced to block the clean edge of Naruto's tanto with it. The force of it, mostly from the speed of Naruto's approach, forced her back. In her shock and confusion at the rapid turn of event she managed to trip over her own feet.
Unfortunately that was the last straw; she could only scrabble uselessly as a knee was pressed on her sternum and cold steel to her neck. Her last sight was of two stormy violet eyes looking into hers, as if engraining every detail of her face into his memory. Far from the cold eyes of a killer though she only saw sadness and reluctance in those purple orbs.
"Sorry." His whisper was the last thing she heard before the sword fell and her world was taken away from her. The redhead simply stayed there for a moment, still kneeling down on her body, watching with dulled eyes as her blood slowly seeped out on the ground beneath them. His hand, braced on her shoulder, could still feel the warmth of her body, now fading in the frigid night air. Then it was gone, he blinked, reset his face, righted himself and joined the throng of shinobi that had been flitting past him.
Anko's laughter was like music as they rolled about on the bed, wrestling for control with twin grins. The bed sheets were in a shambles at the foot of the bed, forgotten in their raucous fun and the pillows were looking to join them. Finally though Naruto managed to get on top, adjusting so that his knees were holding down her legs and he had both of her arms captured above her head. Anko made a few more playful struggles, smiling coyly all the while, before 'giving up'; she had to blow a few strands of hair out of her face though.
"Alright lover, you got me." She leaned up, licking her lips slowly and nipping playfully ay Naruto's nose. "Now what are you going to do with me?" Her only answer was a foxy grin before her lips were suddenly taken away from her, sealed within a passionate kiss that a moment later she happily joined. Her eyes closed as she tried to press her body flush against his, only to be counteracted by his firm grip, keeping her in place as the kisses slowly trailed away from her mouth, down her jaw and finally stopping at her collarbone.
The atmosphere was slightly ruined though when Naruto suddenly blew a rather large and loud raspberry on her chest, the vibrations causing her to let out a sudden and very involuntary laugh. Her body shuddered as Naruto moved further down, still occasionally blowing into her as he moved down her body, moving from sensitive spot to sensitive spot until finally coming to a stop at her stomach. For a moment, with him looking up slyly and her looking down with wide eyes they both froze, Naruto's grin growing at the same rate Anko's face contorted into a look of horror.
"You wouldn't dare." Once again her answer was not with words but with the biggest and wettest raspberry yet, causing her entire body to squirm uncontrollably at the sensation. At some point Naruto had managed to tie her hands to the head of the bed with a bit of the pillow; she hadn't even noticed. It meant she could do nothing to stop him as he continued his torturously ticklish ministrations.
"A-Ah Ah, A-Ah o-okay I g-give, I give!" She finally relented, sighing in relief as Naruto stopped. He quickly moved up her body until they were face to face again, giving Anko a good look at the mischievous smirk on his lips.
"Oh? And what do I get?" Not one to be easily defeated Anko returned his smirk in kind, wiggling her hands and grinding her hips up to his.
"I don't know, you'd have to untie me to find out." Before she'd even finished her sentence though the bindings holding her wrists were suddenly gone in a flash, making her blink in surprise. It didn't last long though before they fluttered close again as Naruto caught her lips in a searing kiss. When the redhead finally released her though, moving back with lidded-eyes and a serene grin, he paused. For just a moment it hadn't been Anko lying underneath him, but that kunoichi, slowly bleeding out. He shook his head and it passed, but Anko was now looking up at him curiously.
"Are you okay?" She questioned wearily, making Naruto realise that his features had twisted into a look of mute shock. He quickly composed himself and grinned easily, hiding his tumultuous feelings behind a grinning mask.
"I'm fine; what do you mean?" He shot back perhaps a little too quickly; the violette scrutinised him for a few more moments before internally shrugging. It had only been for a moment anyway; she might have been imagining it. Besides, her loins were practically aching at this point, they needed their sweet release that only Naruto could provide.
"Nevermind." She amended slowly, placing a sultry look back on her features as she captured Naruto's head between her hands. "Now, you mentioned getting something?" Suddenly she turned the tables, flipping them both over until she was straddling his chest, both of their smiles growing as she began moving down his body, hips swaying rhythmically. "I think you'll like this."
Moments, it was over in just moments; the Konoha shinobi standing on the edge of the battlefield almost couldn't believe their eyes. What should have been a long, bloody and violent battle was over and finished in mere seconds, if that. The field stretching out in front of them bore all the signs of a terrible and catastrophic battle, bodies littered everywhere, blood staining the muddied soil, huge spiralling burn marks scored into every surface. However the true sign of the battle were the unique three-pronged kunai scattered everywhere.
The Oto corp had never even had a chance; one moment they were holding down entrenched Konoha shinobi, the next a rain of kunai falls over their position and everything ends in a flash of red. Watching it from the outside was even more incredible; the Konoha troops had literally seen Naruto moving through their ranks like some kind of wraith. He moved so fast, blinking between different points and sometimes even the length of the battlefield, that it appeared there were more than one of him.
"I-I've never seen anything like that." A Konoha chuunin muttered, his eyes still wide as he stared out over the carnage a single shinobi had wrought. Beside him his companion just nodded mutely.
"I know, I mean… I heard stories about the Yondaime but I never imagined…" He couldn't find it in him to express the end of that thought, also captivated by the bloody yet entrancing sight of the now silent battlefield.
"Quiet! He might hear us." A third whispered hoarsely, motioning with his head over to where the redhead himself was sitting on a log nearby. Unlike them he wasn't looking at the battlefield, in fact he was staring down at the kunai in his hands, rotating it slowly between his fingers.
"But, he's on our side though right?" The second chuunin questioned; the sight of Naruto just sitting there, so quiet and calm after what he had done; it was unnerving.
"Yeah, I really get why the call him the bloody flash now." The first agreed; although it was a bit of a misnomer because there wasn't a drop of blood on Naruto's body; he had been moving too fast for any to hit him.
"Blink of an eye…" The second muttered with a gulp; around fifty enemy shinobi taken out in less than the time it took for him to even have that thought.
"He's really his father's son." The third piped in, an indecipherable look on his features; at that moment all three of the chuunin started as Naruto suddenly got to his feet. His hair swayed in the light breeze as he surveyed the battlefield with cold violet eyes before finally glancing over at the small group of chuunin.
"Call in the clean-up squad and get ready, you're moving out to the outpost by Muraku Gai." He calmly intoned, not a single inflection in his voice; it was the tone of a proper shinobi, unweighted by emotion. The three men quickly nodded, anything to get away from the scene of carnage spreading out before them. As they scurried about their duties Naruto watched them, some emotion finally seeping back into his stony, hardened face. It was better that he do this than them, they were just chuunin; it was his job as their superior to spare them this kind of bloodshed.
"Well, aren't you guys a sight for sore eyes huh?" Naruto exclaimed cheerily as he spotted Sasuke, Sakura and Ami walk into their old training ground; it has yet to be repurposed what with the ongoing war and still bore a few scars from their training sessions. Blade marks littered a small copse of trees where Ami practised her Kenjutsu as well as scorch marks occasionally marring the grass, now unable to grow back thanks to Sasuke training his Ninjutsu.
"Tell me about it sensei; it seems like months since the last time we were all in the same place." Ami agreed with a slightly tired smile; there seemed to be a subtle change about her that Naruto couldn't quite pin down. She had grown a bit, beginning to better fill out her red dress; he also noticed she wore her sword with a great deal more confidence than before and had moved on from the one she had trained with, now proudly carrying her sister's old blade.
"That's because it has been months, dead-last." Sasuke quipped with a roll of his eyes, however the half-hearted insult carried no venom and the slight quirk of his lips showed his real feelings. All of them felt a little relieved by this; the familiarity of the old team was a nice break from the monotony and slog the war posed. However Sakura couldn't help but chuckle.
"Are we sure this is a good idea though? Whenever we get together we only ever seem to attract trouble." She joked smoothly, a bright smile on her face; out of all of them Naruto thought she had changed the most. He heard she had left the main chuunin corp a few weeks into her rotations along the border, instead opting to join the med-nin. Her hair had been tied back into a neat pony-tail and there were a few extra pouches over her body.
"I'm sure Kami will let us off this one time." Naruto shot right back with a grin, hopping off the boulder he had been perched on. It really did him some good to see his team like this, healthy and not too weighted down by the burdens of war. He figured it did them some good too to see each other; as a chuunin even teams weren't sacred. He wouldn't be surprised if they had never been rotated onto the same squads throughout their entire time in the war.
"Well" He started with a grin, clapping his hands together and plopping down on the grass, inviting his team to do the same. "Who has stories to tell?" Ami quickly joined him, a mischievous grin alighting on her face as Sasuke and Sakura made to do the same, but slower.
"Well, I could tell the one about how Sasuke nearly got sent back to the village while on patrol along the Taki border." She announced in an almost conspiratorial manner, making Sasuke's head jerk up suddenly.
"You said you wouldn't say anything." He growled, eyes narrowed; however any tension was immediately cut as Sakura bobbed her head, eyes gleaming with mirth.
"Ooh ooh, I haven't heard that one yet!" She piped it, amusement clear in her tone as Sasuke tried to sink farther into his high-collared shirt like a turtle. Ami simply grinned at Sakura, holding her hand out as if asking for money.
"Quid pro quo Sakura, what do you have in return for this juicy story?" She shot back, a true barterer in the making. Sakura placed a finger to her mouth and looked up thoughtfully.
"Well, I do have one about Okamura-sensei accidentally ordering three crates of ero-manga instead of hospital scrubs." At that the trio paused before each bursting out laughing in their own way, raucous for Ami, giggles for Sakura and a quiet chuckle for Sasuke.
"No way?! How did he manage that?" Ami blurted out, quickly descending into a heated discussion with the pinkette about signing the wrong order forms; naturally Sasuke had his own two ryo to throw in when the topic finally turned back to his embarrassing blunder. All the while Naruto sat back with a content smile on his face, simply enjoying he peaceful company of his students again. He knew he had to make it last as long as he could.
It was hard to believe but Naruto could in fact get tired, exhausted even; there were times when he was young, especially after Itachi's abandonment of the village, that he would train himself into the ground and be unable to move for hours. It was rarer as he got older and less reckless like that, but it still happened from time to time. As he jumped between trees in the ass-end of nowhere, somewhere north of the Taki border, this was one of those times.
He had been on a solo operation around the area Konoha assumed Takigakure to be located setting up a grid of long-distance hiraishin markers. They were more draining to set up that their kunai-attached counterparts and he had been working on them all day in massive, kilometres wide radius. Just as he was finishing up though he was contacted by Inoichi and informed that a small Tokubetsu squad that Anko was leading had been ambushed while performing a similar scouting mission.
The Yamanaka had barely finished relaying their location before Naruto had bolted off, barely a blur as he ran through the trees so fast he was leaving small footprint-shaped craters in his wake. The surrounding forestry became a barely cohesive blur and he even stumbled a few times, almost losing his footing before catching himself to continue his reckless sprint. He probably confused a few Taki patrols as he raced by, nothing more than a vague crimson blur as he bolted past.
Finally though he emerged into the general vicinity of the coordinates Inoichi had given him, eyes glancing around wildly. However one sniff of the air made his heart sink into his stomach, the stench of blood was permeating the air. Swiftly following it back to its source Naruto located the overgrown forest path where the ambush had taken place. The sight that met his eyes was… confusing, to say the least.
The unconscious forms of the Konoha squad were placed neatly to the side, propped up as though they were just resting. The ambushing group from Taki on the other hand, they were strewn about the path in varying states; all of them were dead though. After glancing over and making sure Anko's chest was still rising and falling he looked toward the culprits, a small group of four wearing strange renditions of Konoha's traditional ANBU uniforms and equally odd blank masks.
"What's going on here, what squad are you from?" He asked cautiously, stepping into the clearing and grabbing the small unit's attention. They immediately turned to him, gazing at him evenly behind their masks before the tallest, apparently the leader spoke up.
"Naruto Namikaze." He stated in a dull monotone, not asking so much as confirming to himself the redhead's identity. Suddenly his hand lifted up, creating a signal Naruto didn't recognise from the standard ANBU sign language. "Our mission is complete, pull back." Naruto blinked before stepping forward, brow furrowed.
"Wait, what's-" However the group had already left; however one had lingered just a fraction of a second longer than the others, regarding him with an ever so slightly tilted head in what seemed like curiosity. She seemed rather young for an ANBU, no older than Naruto's genin at the moment. However he got little time to ponder that before she darted off to follow her squad, spiky blonde pony-tail bouncing along behind her. Before he could make after them though he heard a groan to his left, glancing over he saw Anko stirring and was by her side in moments.
"Hey hey, easy." Her eyes blinked open in confusion before softening as she saw his concerned eyes looking down at her.
"Naruto?" She chuckled weakly before wincing and clutching her ribs; she hadn't been in the best shape before those weird ANBU turned up. "You look like hell." She muttered meekly with a good attempt at her usual cheeky smile; the comment did bring one to Naruto's features though.
"Yeah, and you don't look much better; at least I can sleep mine off." For the comment he got a playful slap to the chest.
"How are my squad?" She asked suddenly, eyes widening; Naruto just pushed her back down.
"They're fine, all alive by the looks of things, now stop moving." He ordered sternly, earning a pout from his girlfriend that he promptly ignored. As he went about checking her wounds she glanced around curiously, mostly at the dead bodies strewn across the path.
"What happened? Did you do this?" Even as she spoke her voice was unconvinced, it didn't look like Naruto's handiwork, not clean enough. The redhead just shook his head slowly, pulling off a roll of bandages to deal with Anko's cracked rib.
"No, I got to this party after everything was over, there was some squad of ANBU here." He muttered, his lips turning down; Anko just stared at him incredulously for a moment.
"You of all people, were late?" At that the redhead's eye simply twitched, his face slipping into a frown; Anko quickly noticed this and had the decency to look sheepish. "Ah, sorry." He just shook his head; she was right, he had been late. If it weren't for that squad of weird ANBU then who knew what could have happened to Anko; he couldn't be everywhere at once.
He still wasn't fast enough.
"Are you leaving already?" Anko's sleepy voice made Naruto freeze in the doorway of their bedroom before turning slowly to see her lifting her torso with her elbow and rubbing wearily at her eyes. He didn't blame her, it was only five o'clock in the morning.
"Yeah, another mission, I might be gone for a few days this time." He reluctantly admitted; he didn't exactly like being separated from Anko either. However the sleepy pout she gave him had to be one of the cutest things he had ever seen and actually made him consider just crawling back into bed with her.
"It's not fair they make you do so much." She tiredly grumbled, her eyes already struggling to stay open; Anko was definitely not a morning person, never mind pre-morning. Naruto could only shrug sheepishly though.
"The more I do, the less others have to and the faster this war is over." His answer was a rather obnoxiously loud raspberry that Anko blew into her free hand.
"It's still not fair; I hardly get to see you anymore; Haya hardly gets to see you." She sat more upright, letting her loose purple shirt fall down one arm to expose tantalisingly creamy skin. "It's not as though you have to take the entire burden of this war onto your shoulders you know. I hear people talking, about how you seem to be on every front at once, in every camp, on every mission. You're going to drive yourself insane or become so exhausted you'll make some stupid mistake if you keep this up." Naruto's eyes turned down at that but again he could only offer up a rather pathetic shrug.
"I have the power to make a difference; if I did nothing then I'm no better than the people who started this damn war." At that Anko could only frown, childishly throwing a pillow across the room; Naruto didn't bother to dodge and simply allowed it to impact harmlessly with his chest.
"I'm not asking for nothing, just less! Come home more, maybe not take every mission you can. Be a little bit selfish for crying out loud; you have a family!" Naruto winced with every accusation but managed to stay resolute, his voice sounding tired and down-trodden.
"And what kind of person would I be to that family if I let this war go on for any longer than it has to?" He replied morosely before simply walking from the doorway, leaving Anko still sat there, both their expressions reflecting the sombre atmosphere.
Naruto shook his head as he dashed through the trees but try as he might he hadn't been able to get that conversation with Anko out of his head. Even now, crossing into Taki no Kuni's territory it was still rattling around in his skull. It made him lose focus, so much so that he very nearly got his head sliced clean off by a near-invisible blade of wind. He didn't though and rolled right off the branch he landed on, coming to a skidding stop on the forest floor below.
Instantly thoughts of anything before a few minutes ago vanished from his mind and with that new clarity he was just about able to make out a faint buzzing accompanied by the gentle hum of wind. A moment later and he jumped back, avoiding similarly lethal scythes of wind that scored rather impressive marks into the earth. The humming grew louder as a figure alighted on a nearby branch, green insectoid wings slowing down from their agitated buzz that matched the shade of her mint-green hair.
Naruto frowned as he recognised the caramel-skinned woman above him, her vivid orange eyes narrowed in an indecipherable expression.
"Fuu?"