Naruto followed behind the squad of Suna-nin that he was attached to for the day's exercise as they leapt through the forest, although his mind was only partially focused on staying in formation with his fellow shinobi. Something that the squad commander picked up, causing him to turn as the jinchuriki began to fall out of place and say, "Get your head out of the clouds, kid. I know our intelligence says that this area is clear of the enemy, but I don't want to get caught with my pants down. So tighten it up."
"Roger," Naruto replied as he did as he was told, but not without grumbling a little under his breath about how he needed to really think about raising his rank from genin as he was getting tired of taking orders from people he could probably handle with both arms tied behind his back. Naturally though with all that was going on inside his life, he didn't know if he could find the time to hit the two windows of opportunity presented each year to participate in the Chunin Exams.
However, such concerns fell to the wayside as he felt a pang of guilt hit him for worrying about his own career as his actions may have helped contribute to Pakura's almost destroying hers. He had known her story as it had been Temari, who had first recommended he attempt to seduce the green-haired kunoichi in the first place. Once Maki had joined his harem, and learned of his plan to do so, she had quickly agreed with the idea. That was why he had first had Sakura begin spreading the rumor of the perverted ghost that haunted the destroyed Chunin Instructor Examination Building. He felt the best way to get Pakura to open up to the idea of joining him was to get her to come to him. He figured it would be a slow process, which was why he hadn't even been using The Temptation's Touch on her when she had appeared within the summoning circle the night before. He believed something that he did had caused her to reexperience the painful memory from her past and as a result had been unable to keep her anger in check when one of her fellow Suna shinobi had taunted her.
Despite his focus not being at a hundred percent, he did notice that the area that he and the squad just entered had signs of a recent battle, and not the fake ones that had been happening all over the area as a late. "What happened here… my god," the squad commander said in shocked horror upon spotting the mummified remains of a squad made up of Leaf and Sand shinobi.
They all dropped to the ground and despite it being obvious the man closest to him was dead. The Suna commander dropped to his knee and pressed his hand against the throat of the corpse before he said, "The body's cool to the touch. It means that she did this a few hours ago."
"She?!" Naruto asked his tone confused.
"Pakura obviously," the commander said with a hint of surprise that he needed to explain considering the state of the corpses.
Naruto balked before countering, "There's no proof she had anything to do with this."
"Come on man," a Suna genin even younger than Naruto said, "That's Abiru's corpse over there. I knew it was a bad idea for Temari to put them on the same team. That bitch was crazy. She should've been locked up years ago."
"Fine," Naruto growled forced to admit that despite his earlier statement the evidence didn't look good. "Then let's get after her and see what really went down. Maybe she needed to defend herself from them."
"Forget it," the Suna commander said, his tone telling Naruto all he needed to know about what the man thought the chances of Pakura being innocent were. "We're heading back to base and if they want to chase after her then so be. I'm not tangling with her, unless it's with a full battalion of shinobi at my back."
Hearing the other men disregard their comrade, Naruto felt his anger begin to boil as he remembered seeing her look so vulnerable the night before. Watching the other men prepare to take to the trees, he said, "Sorry, I'm going to have to overrule you on this." He then leapt off in the direction that he believed Pakura had taken, or been taken.
***************************
Mikoto entered the cellblock of a group of kunoichi that had banded together in order to create a power structure within the prison's hierarchy. As she moved to the back of it, she could see the surprise on quite a few of the women's faces at her presence since she had refused several invitations to join the group. Coming to the end of the block, she happened upon the leader of the Kunoichi Alliance as well as her two teammates.
"Well what do we have here?" The silver haired woman said sitting back in her chair and putting her foot on the table they were using to play cards. "If it isn't the great and haughty, Triple Zero. Don't tell me that you and that bitch partner of yours are finding the current examinations too much to handle on your lonesome."
Mikoto gave the woman a cool smile as her eyes met each of the women's eyes before her. Looking last at a brown haired kunoichi who bore a scar across her throat and had the number KK – one-one-seven-six and was standing behind the Taki trio she refocused on the leader saying, "Not at all, TK – nine-zero-zero…"
The silver haired leader's eyes narrowed at her as she leaned forward as she said, "We might have to refer to ourselves by those numbers around that pig Akame. But, here you call me by my name."
Sounding disinterested Mikoto said, "Sorry, I never bothered to learn it."
One of the silver-haired woman's Taki teammates cracked her knuckles menacingly, but relaxed as her team leader held her hand up in front of her while saying, "Relax Tifa, let's not rearrange her face just yet. She obviously came down here for a reason. Let's hear what she has to say." The Taki-Nin gestured to a nearby chair before leaning back in hers while introducing herself and her team. "My name is Yuffie Kisaragi and my associates here are Tifa Lockhart and Aeris Gainsborough. Now what brings you down to my little corner of the world?"
Grabbing the chair that had been offered, Mikoto dragged it in front of the three women before taking a seat. Watching them carefully, she collected her thoughts for a moment and thinking of a way to approach the subject said, "I'm here to talk about our futures or lack thereof."
Yuffie smirked at her before asking, "What are you talking about? The only chance we have for a future is to follow through with this plan of Akame's."
"Come now," Mikoto said leaning forward conspiratorially, "I thought you were smarter than that. You have to able to see the writings on the wall, whatever he has planned involves his new freaks."
Yuffie didn't look convinced as she said, "How do you know that, a little inside information from your new buddy?"
"Hardly," Mikoto said, her tone making it sound like she should be insulted by the suggestion, "I'm fully aware that she's reporting on me to her master." Sitting back in her chair, the Uchiha with a scoff added, "You know what, forget it. Perhaps it was foolish of me to think you wanted to get out of here. If you really think Akame has your best interests at heart then keep on following him, right up to the point where he has one of his little pets rip your throats out."
Mikoto could see that at least her words seemed to have some effect on Yuffie's two teammates and the Mist shinobi behind them. However, she didn't see any concern in Yuffie something which told her she may have made a mistake in approaching the woman for an alliance. She didn't let the concern reach her face, and felt some of her worries fade with a small crack of uncertainty appeared on the older woman's face as she looked at her two subordinates. Aware that she cared a great deal for them, Mikoto figured she was just presenting a strong front.
Yuffie appeared to weigh her options before with a nod that conveyed she was of the opinion that the Uchiha wouldn't be wasting her time she said, "Alright, say I'm interested in an early parole. What's to make me believe that you can deliver on it better than the man that is running the place?"
"Theoretically speaking of course, let's say that in another life a woman knew a thing or two about the seals used to control our chakra. Let's also say, that over the course of her stay at the prison she's seen the hand signs that the guards used to turn on and off the seal…"
"Which does us no good," Yuffie interrupted, "because her chakra is off with the rest of ours, and even if it wasn't there would be nothing to stop the guards from simply reactivating the seals after she turned them off."
Mikoto gave a tight smile that suggested she had knowledge that Yuffie didn't, but instead of making the other woman ask shared it by saying, "There is something to prevent that. You see the hand signs can be changed. It wouldn't do as much of a deterrent if some outside shinobi could simply learn the hand signs to switch the seals off. Back before we were asked to join the rebellion they would change the signs during the monthly checkups we would receive at the infirmary. But since coming up here those checkups have stopped, and therefore they have remained the same as it was changed to the current hand-signs during the first check-up every new initiate to Akame's plot receives. This is so that all of our chakra restraint seals react to the same set of hand signs.."
She could see that Yuffie and the others were interested, but the silver haired woman pointed out, "You still haven't told us how you would gain access to your chakra long enough to change the hand signs. Even if you did it during one of our training exercises, the guards would know something was up as soon as the exercise ended."
Mikoto paused as she considered whether or not to tell the Taki kunoichi about Seven's ability to still harness a little of her chakra even with the seal turned on. Yet something held her back causing her to say, "I don't think it's wise to give away all my secrets when you haven't even told me if you'd sign on."
Yuffie shrugged, and looking at if she was about to turn her focus back to the card game that Mikoto's arrival had interrupted said, "Then it appears we are at an impasse, because all's I've heard is a lovely theory. But, how can you ask me to sign on, when you can't even prove you can do the most crucial part?"
Aware that the risk she had taken couldn't be undone at this junction, Mikoto gave a chilly smile as she said, "If its proof you need, then meet me in the kitchen area after lights out." Standing and without waiting for Yuffie's acknowledgment that she would come, Mikoto headed back to her cell to see how the dice she had just cast would turn out.
*****************************
Seven frowned as she stared at the rock beetle that she had created in order to communicate with Mikoto. Unaware of what the errand was that the Uchiha had said that she needed to run which would delay their usual nightly planning session. She began to worry as it was now several hours pass when they usually talked and she couldn't think of anything that would delay her that long. Her worry stemmed from the fact that although it had been frowned upon to attack any of the other inmates outside of training, ever since the Animal Curse Mark had been given to most of the prisoners that rule had seem to fall to the wayside. What was worse was that since Akame had done nothing to the few that had been caught attempting to impose themselves on the men or women that had yet to receive it the attacks had increased.
She cut her chakra to the stone beetle in her hand causing it to crumble and decided to go in search of Mikoto. Making her way through her cellblock, she could hear people snoring contently or making the groans and grunts of those losing themselves to pleasure. Stepping into the hall that connected to several of the other cellblocks she was trying to decide which way to go when she saw a shadow detach itself from the wall. She immediately recognized the Kirigakure kunoichi that had first freed her from her isolation cell after she had joined Akame's plot.
She paid her no mind as outside of the few times where they had been pitted against each other during training there had been no altercations between them. That, plus the woman never struck her as the bloodthirsty type; she just figured the woman was out running errands for the leader of the Kunoichi Alliance. She had just settled on the direction she was going to head when to her surprise the kunoichi bumped into her and muttered, "Sorry my mind was elsewhere."
What stopped Seven from firing a nasty retort was that she felt something being pressed into her hand. The Bijuu watched her go a moment longer and aware that cameras were everywhere in the hall headed back to her cell. Unfolding the piece of paper she had been given she read silently, "Mikoto came to us with a plan to escape. However, Yuffie had already made a deal with Akame and they've taken her down to the punishment level. If you are her friend as I believe then please save her and when you make your escape take me with you. I only wish for my freedom and have no desire to take part in this plot."
Seven sank into her bed as she felt her legs go weak. She was surprised to find that her first concern was for Mikoto; however soon the implications of what she had been given hit her. She had no doubt that the note contained the truth about where her friend had been taken. But what she wasn't sure of was whether or not it was hoping to smoke her out as a traitor. "Shit, what should I do," she thought to herself. She considered calling out to Kiyomi, but doubted she would get a response.
She got up and began pacing her cell trying to come up with something she could do to save Mikoto and herself. However, without access to her chakra she realized there was pathetically little she could. She began to feel queasy and placed her hand over her stomach to settle it. At that moment she was hit with a sense of clarity that although she probably can't save both of them, she could at least save one of them. She pulled open her shirt and channeled the little chakra she possessed into the hidden seal on her stomach. The beetle designed seal appeared and having studied it at great length during her period of isolation, knew that although she would be able to undo the safeguards that Kiyomi placed in the formula to prevent her from accessing her Bijuu chakra. By tampering with it, she would alert her sister that she was trying to. The downside was that her consciousness would be expelled from the body, and without her old one to return to she would quite literally die.
Seven felt a small sad smile tug at the corner of her lips and felt that if that was how her existence ended then she was glad it was for a selfless reason. She also felt that if her father was watching he would be proud.
Pressing her hand to her stomach, she attempted to modify the seal and almost immediately her body collapsed as if she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. Kiyomi's response was immediate as she appeared in the cell and to Seven's surprise what she could see on the redhead's face was concern. "You fool," she said panicked although her lowered voice made Seven aware that she knew shouting would attract attention that neither of them wanted. Helping her fellow Bijuu sit up, Kiyomi continued to berate her as she said, "I told you exactly what would happen if you tried to tamper with the seal."
Seven nodded weakly as she felt her consciousness fading, but smiled softly feeling touched by the concern Kiyomi was showing for her. "It was the only way to get your attention. I know that you somehow learned I wasn't being completely honest about how far I've infiltrated Akame's group." Tears began to gather in her eyes as she continued, "I'm so sorry that I hurt you again. I know I don't deserve it, but please forgive me."
"Don't talk, let me fix this." But Seven tried to speak regardless prompting the Nine-tailed Bijuu to say, "Shhh, quiet," and then proceeded to place her hand on her sister's stomach. She channeled chakra to her fingertips and began drawing over the seal. The seal morphed from a normal beetle into a miniature copy of Seven's original Bijuu body.
For Seven the effects were immediate as one moment everything was going dark and in the next raw power was coursing through her veins. Seven looked down at her stomach and saw that the seal had faded completely now that its task had been completed. She looked up to see her sisters green eyes were watery and surprised couldn't help but ask, "Why?"
Kiyomi cupped her cheek as she answered, "Because you're my sister and I shouldn't have put you in a position where you thought I was as much against you as the people I asked you to keep tabs on."
The seven-tailed Bijuu's eyes began to get watery themselves, but remembering what had prompted her desperate action shot out of Kiyomi's arms as she said, "We… we have to hurry. Those bastards could be turning her into one of their beasts or worse even as we speak."
"Calm down Chomei," Kiyomi said trying to remind her sister of their need for quiet.
"Please call me Seven," the brown haired Bijuu said absentmindedly while taking a few calming breaths. Once she was centered, Seven laid out all that had happened recently before reiterating, "We have to help her…she's my friend and if this note is a trap then it means she hasn't given me up."
"We will I promise," Kiyomi said stepping before her sister and began to button her shirt backup. "However, what this situation calls for his discretion."
"Discretion, even as we speak…"
"Seven, I can understand your concern but if you act rashly than all you may do is doom yourself along with her," Kiyomi warned. "Danzou has kept her alive this long and I foresee no reason for that to change as from everything you told me she was never truly interested in following their plan. I doubt either of them thought that would change so…"
Seeing where Kiyomi was going with her logic, Seven finished, "So, it's likely that for the immediate future no harm will come to her. But, how long will it take for you to be ready to move? Because even if he needs Danzou's permission to do anything to Mikoto, it might not take that long for Akame to get it."
Kiyomi took Seven's hand and began to draw another seal in the palm of it. Her sister looked at her in confusion prompting the redhead to say, "Oh, I think you'll find that we are rather prepared now and I wouldn't be too worried about Akame having any time to oversee Mikoto. I think you'll find that tomorrow, he'll have much more pressing things to deal with." Kiyomi then filled her sister in on what she had planned as well as the Seven-Tailed Bijuu's role in it.
*****************************
It was dark outside as Pakura began to regain consciousness. She was unsure of her surroundings, not that they were stationary as she was tied to something moving at a great pace. Through the haze, she heard a voice say, "We'd already be back home San if you'd just fly us there."
"We'd also be easier to spot by any pursuit, Ni," was the reply. Not that Pakura was listening as hearing the woman's voice caused her to recall how she ended up tied to the armored looking canine.
After a night of thinking about the person she was becoming, Pakura had been considering thanking Temari for intervening in preventing her from hitting Abiru. However, that nearly went out the window when she learned the following morning that she would be put on the same squad as the bastard. The only saving grace she felt upon learning that, was that her team would then be linking up with another to complete a shared objective and that Naruto was a part of the other team.
/]
[/Yet as her team traveled to where it would meet Naruto's, she was entertaining serious thoughts of ensuring that Abiru didn't see another night fall. This was because as they traveled the man would continuously make snide comments that tested her resolve not to use her bloodline limit to silence the remarks forever.
/]
[/Much to her surprise the squad commander called for a halt after a particularly scathing remark and standing on a tree branch spun to point at Abiru while saying, "Shut the fuck up. Don't think for a moment that I will not be reporting your behavior to Captain Temari. Honestly, if I was her I would have killed you a mile or two back."
/]
[/Abiru smirked at the squad commander before replying, "What makes you think you'll be reporting anything at all."
/]
[/The commander, as did everyone else in the squad instantly went on guard as they knew Abiru's words were not just a threat. Still, before anyone could do anything a snakelike creature appeared from the canopy of leaves above the commander and bit deeply into his neck. It lifted him off the branch that he had been standing on and to everyone's shocked revulsion he began to mummify as the fluids were removed from his body. The snake tossed away the commander's body before retracting back into the canopy of leaves only for a man to drop down next occupying the spot the commander just had been.
/]
[/Pakura as the ranking jounin quickly took charge shouting to the only remaining member outside of Abiru who was obviously working with the enemy, "Get out of here. Report this to Captain Temari or Asuma!"
/]
[/"What about you?" The Leaf genin asked although she could tell all he really wanted to do was follow her order.
/]
[/"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
/]
[/The genin nodded, and took off leaping towards the main camp, but only made it a few meters before another man, who looked like an exact copy of the first to appear except he had three purple rectangle tattoos on his forehead, snatched the genin out of the air by grabbing him around the face. He held the struggling boy easily as he said, "Sorry, but for our plan to work it's imperative that your squad dies here and it looks like you're the killer." With that said, he tossed the Leaf genin to the man with the single purple rectangle tattoo on his forehead whose arm morphed into the snake from before launching forward and snatched the genin out of the air.
/]
[/"No!" Pakura shouted as she attempted to save the youth, however Abiru chose that moment to attack forcing her to leap away. The Suna kunoichi backpedaled on the branch she landed upon as Abiru continued to press his attack swinging his kunai wildly at her. Bending nearly in half when the man tried to bury it in her chest, she kicked up catching him in the chin and after back flipping in order to get to her feet again. She charged forward forming a small ball of fire in her hand, which she buried into his chest. She kicked him from the branch as he began to smoke and shrivel, but to her shock after his face smashed into the trunk of a nearby tree a silvery blue liquid was left behind as the body continued its tumble to the ground.
/]
[/The liquid grew and shifted until a pale but gorgeous woman stood glaring at her as she stood on the tree trunk. "I wasn't done wearing that form," the brown-haired woman said while wearing the same smirk Abiru had been sporting recently. Understanding that this was the true person who had been pushing her buttons lately; Pakura leapt from the tree branch to land on the same trunk as the woman and began to attack her while several of the miniature suns that represented her Kekkei Genkai swirled about around her. Pakura was forced to abandon her attack though, when the twins decided to intervene.
/]
[/Ichi having finished draining the genin, discarded the boy, and then pointed his snake arm at Pakura. The snake head opened its mouth and two more snakeheads shot out which in turn open their mouths. The process repeated several times until there appeared to be hundreds of them. Pakura avoided them as they tried to capture her with many of them missing her to instead bury themselves into the tree trunk. Flipping away, she landed on the ground and threw an exploding kunai which impacted the branch beneath Ichi's feet. The man leapt away, but was still caught up in the explosion which tossed him off into the woods.
/]
[/A snarling attracted her attention, causing Pakura to spin to the sound to reveal that Ni had used the time that Ichi bought her to summon her armored canines. The two creatures tensed as they brought the spear like protrusions from their backs in line with her, which then launched forward. Pakura managed to slip through the projectiles and sent two of her suns at them. The beasts jumped away before her jutsu could connect causing one to hit a tree which withered and died and the other to hit the ground which resulted in the grass to brown as it shriveled up.
/]
[/Pakura was about to send another of her suns after the closest armored summons. But she was forced to jump back to the trees as a whip cracked where she was standing. Landing in a crouch, she directed her ire to the kunoichi wielding the whip who said, "We'll have none of that now. I can't have you hurting mommy's precious puppies."
/]
[/Pakura was about to retort, but something passed by her face just as the sun was blotted out. Looking up she saw a large armored birdlike creature that as it flapped its wing sent more of its feathers towards the earth. These, along with the ones that had already completed the journey suddenly exploded engulfing the area Pakura currently occupied.
That was a last thing Pakura remembered before finding herself in her current situation. "Where are you taking me?" She asked raising her head as best she could as her hands were tied to her feet around the torso of the armored canine she was riding.
The group came to a stop before a large gate which from the surrounding terrain she guessed was at the base of some mountain range. The two men ignored her, but Ni turned to face her as the gate opened to say, "Let's not ruin the surprise. But after we pass through the next two gates you'll be granted the great honor of becoming a part of something special."
"I think I'll pass," Pakura replied.
"What a shame, but I'm afraid we're really going to have to insist. Besides what do you have to go back to? There's no one and nothing back there for you. Well except for the life of a missing-nin since I don't think anyone is going to doubt that you were responsible for killing those shinobi that made up your squad. Not after the display you made of yourself last night." Ni lowered her face to just in front of Pakura's as she snidely added, "I doubt anyone is coming after you either. Suna probably figures it is just better to wipe its hands of you."
"Pakura!" A voice shouted and the Suna kunoichi although just as surprised took a measure of satisfaction in seeing the look of shock on Ni's face.
San looked back and only seeing a single shinobi dressed in orange ordered, "Deal with him."
"With pleasure," Ichi responded as his two teammates along with the bound Pakura entered the gate which began to shut behind them.
Pakura kept her eyes glued to the young man as he got closer and closer. Although not sure why, she felt a sensation of happiness that her would be rescuer would be him. The gates closed casting the cave they had entered into darkness, but as the sounds of battle reached them she felt a small light of hope begin to illuminate her path.