Five, black cloaked nuke nin stood upon the wooden platform of the Dais, watching as the individuals around them worked meticulously, carefully. Drawing the runic seals throughout the expanse of wood, trailing the black seals up the lengths of the massive chains that held their prisoner above them.
The ninjas drawing the seals finally reached him, spreading the runes onto his bound hands and arms, interlocking them with those already drawn onto him when Konan captured the Kage of Konoha.
It was with slow deliberate calmness that Konan took this all in, everything seemed to be coming to a close. The pieces falling into place as per Pein's designs.
They were close now...so very very close.
She looked to the other four, the orders unspoken but clear as they all moved to their respective locations onto the five pentacle star seal, molding their chakra and channeling it into the runic marks, making them glow with faint purple light.
The Ice along the far wall cracked away as the glowing seals reached it, layer after layer of cool, frozen water vanishing to reveal the gaping maw of a statue with nine eyes.
Konan placed her hands into a seal, beginning to channel her own chakra through the mediums that were the runes at their feet.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
"Pakkun what are you doing!" Kakashi spoke, with the harsh bite of anger lacing his voice. "You're taking us in circles!"
"Its not my fault!" The dog cried, annoyed as he raised his snout higher into the air and back down over the edge of the battle fan. "The chakra's feel and scent is somewhere nearby!"
"There's nothing here!" The Copy cat yelled, his anger growing with the increasingly desperate situation.
"Do you think I'm blind!" The dog yelled back with an angry snarl. He didn't work well under pressure.
"You two do realize that I cant keep going around in circles like this forever." Temari said, quickly growing annoyed with the voices growing louder and louder behind her.
Kakashi fought the urge to tell her to shut up and let him think. Fact of the matter was, with this fan, they needed her cooperative, pissing her off even more would only hamper the situation and make finding Naruto all the harder.
"How could the chakra scent be around here if he's not? Is there any way they could have left something behind? Something to confuse us?"
"No." Pakkun said with a shake of his stubby head. "The chakra signature is unique to every individual, maybe with a clone or something but from what you told me Naruto was in no condition to make a clone and he wouldn't have made one to hamper our finding him."
Kakashi suddenly straightened, Sharingan eye scanning the forest canopy below, piercing the veil of shadows and greenery before he quickly leapt over the edge of the fan, startling Temari, and nearly toppling Yoshihiro as the Kunoichi momentarily lost balance on the fan with the sudden lack of weight.
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Akina watched from below the tree line breathing heavily, sweat marring her forehead from the exertion it took to keep up with the flying ninja. Many times she would have lost sight of them if not for their frequent pauses to stay on some kind of trail. At least thats what she discerned from the small bits and pieces of conversation she could hear from this distance.
As it was, if they continued their current course, the trees would soon thin away into nothingness, and whatever stealth she had would be gone, already the normally rich green of Konoha's oak forests were beginning to give way to scarce snow licked pine trees. Only a mile or so left before they reached the frozen wastes of the northland, and further out into the great Ice lake, a mass of water that was perpetually frozen even during the summer.
She wasnt sure what she would do at that point, but she needed to follow for as long as possible.
Maybe she would even go as far to expose herself. But she was getting too far ahead of her own actions, she would cross that bridge when she got to it.
It was a confusing thing. This urge that she had, this...compulsion. She knew somehow, that he, Naruto, was in some sort of trouble. And though she knew that their past interactions hardly prompted her to help, she couldn't, for the life of her, turn back around and leave him to this fate.
It was something that she simply couldn't...wouldn't do.
She didn't know why. She held no illusions of who he was. What he was...what he had done, all those he had killed, how many more he would kill.
She did not hope, that by helping him they would reach some kind of friendly truce, that this would be the beginning of an amicable relationship, or at least tolerable one. She knew very well that he may very well kill her when he saw her.
But there was something here...something wrong...something that pulled her to the north, something that tugged at this compulsion, this...urge.
Maybe it was because they were twins...maybe it was because they shared the same bijuu, maybe it was simply because the fates were fickle and cruel things that chose them, these two siblings to play games with.
Maybe it was because she was well and truly insane by this point.
She didn't know. And her lack of knowledge, did nothing to deter her from her current course of action.
They were arguing now. She could hear their voices, loud and agitated. She closed her eyes, tried to listen, but it was difficult, a low thrum at the back of her mind, of which she became aware of then, was making it all the more difficult to concentrate on what was being said.
"Do-ou-'m-ind"
"I-an't-keep-is-for-ver"
What were they saying? Were they lost? Did they even know where they were going? What they were looking for?
"How-cou-th-cha-ent-out-ere-"
Why was it so difficult to hear them? This pressure on the back of her mind...urgh. What the hell was going on? What was wrong with her?
The sound of broken twigs and rustling leaves alerted her just a little too late as Kakashi suddenly descended from the forest canopy, fist smashing into the side of her face, sending the Jinchuriki plummeting down to the earth below, Kakashi following a moment later as he leapt off the tree.
She landed with a thud, rolling to the side she swiveled up onto her feet just as he landed with a forward roll.
He drew a kunai, giving her nary a moment to catch his wrist before she attempted to deliver a punch to his face, only to have her own wrist caught in his hand.
She looked into his eyes then, the multi colored irises widening in surprise as a choked gasp escaped his lips.
"You."
The statement was simple, but just as quickly as the shock had come, it passed and his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, shoving her hands down, he released the kunai in his right fist before he moved faster than what she could readily comprehend, seeking to strike at key nerve points along her body.
She dodged, awkwardly, as best she could, but was still hit by several of the strikes, retaliating with her foot she caught the copy ninja in the face, sending the masked Konoha ninja stumble backwards, almost requiring the use of his hands to avoid falling.
She straightened, a slight limp in her now, slack leg. She moved to take up her fighting stance when a massive hammer was suddenly drawn in front of her, the shaft of its metal grip pressing against her throat as it was pulled back, shoving her against the unyielding surface of Yoshihiro's armor as he pulled back on the hammer almost to the point of suffocation as it pressed into her throat.
A rustle of snapping branches and leaves alerted her to their third and fourth arrival, with Temari folding the fan with practiced ease before landing at a crouch, the dog at her side.
The Jinchurikki, face growing red from the pressure on her neck swallowed thickly as she watched Kakashi straighten and Temari come in closer.
Pakkun trotted forward, sniffing deeply and his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Kakashi...what is this?" The canine questioned
The masked ninja's features visibly tightened beneath his mask, wondering if he should reveal the knowledge that, besides Naruto, only he and Jiraiya knew. To not one, but two other foreign ninja.
In the end he decided that the risk wasn't worth it. "What does it look like. An enemy ninja sent to stall us."
The summon apparently couldn't take a hint though, sniffing once more before speaking. "Her scent. Its almost the same as his...and...the chakra feels the same well just less...potent. She's the reason we've been going in circles." The dog accused.
"How's that possible?" Yoshihiro questioned, struggling for a moment as Akina tried to shove the hammer away from herself with his momentary distraction. After a moment of Kakashi's continued, tense silence, the Tsuchikage looked to the young woman currently pressed against him, squirming in his unyielding grip.
"Well since you're not saying anything. How bout you sweetheart, you have something to explain?" He questioned, releasing her from his hold before shoving her forward, making her stumble with the jarring motion, rubbing her throat as she coughed a few times to clear her airway.
"You're looking for him aren't you?" She questioned, coughing several more times before she straightened "Naruto I mean."
"Are we that obvious?" Yoshihiro drawled sarcastically. "Now explain. Before I start thinking you got nothing to say. Why do you-"
"I'm his sister." She interrupted.
Yoshihiro reeled as if struck, while Temari's gaze was fixed to this girls profile, mouth agape and eyes wide.
Yoshihiro was the first to recover, glancing at Kakashi's unflinching gaze before narrowing his eyes. "You knew!?"
Kakashi's lips curled beneath his mask. "What does it matter if I knew. The fact remains that now, because she's here this whole pursuit has gone to hell, we'll never be able to track him down the trail now with her chakra and scent all over the place."
She looked to the copy ninja now, blue eyes wary, aware of how tenuous this temporary ceasefire was between them. "What happened? Where did he go?"
Kakashi's sharingan eye spun rapidly in its place as he marched up to her. "You tell me. Its awfully convenient that you, you who's been missing from our reports since the naval battle just 'happen' to show up here. Right on our tail, ruining our only shot of finding him. You either know where he is or you know where the Akatsuki base."
The younger blond woman backed away before straightening, almost physically growing before their eyes to stand equal to Kakashi. "I dont know anything. I came because your little takeoff from the village was hardly the most subtle of exits." She looked to Temari for the first time. "You were the one that brought the most attention. You're from Suna and you're helping two Konoha ninja."
Though she wasn't sure of her hunch, Temari's wince at the accusatory tone was more than enough confirmation. "I came." She continued. "Because of you and...I had a feeling." She admitted, almost with a guilty air.
"You had a feeling? Kakashi questioned incredulously, and the sudden spike of chakra alerted everyone that he was getting very ready to use more violent means to extract the information he sought.
She nodded, her own guard coming up as she subtly backed away from the copy ninja, giving her enough room to react just incase. "I...I could sense something was wrong."
Yoshihiro, recovering from his shock sighed and shook his head. "Don't bother. She doesn't know anything."
Kakashi's eyes snapped towards him, raising his head slightly to stare down on the Kunoichi from the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me you're buying into this innocent I had a feeling crap?" He questioned without turning to face the man. "She's been his enemy for the last ten years. She's the "Angel of Suna" for christ sake. And has been a thorn in our war effort ever since.
Now that, the Tsuchikage didn't know, but in his own mind, these facts meant little to nothing at this stage in the game, more circumstance that surrounded her motives.
So with a shrug he spoke. "Either your right and she knows something. Which is unlikely due to the fact that she didn't attack us while we were going around in circles, and the fact that she hasn't used the Kitsune's chakra when you attacked her. She let herself be subdued.
Both Akina and Kakashi looked to the purple armored male. "How did you-"
"The dog said your chakra is similar to Naruto's just less potent. Naruto has the Kyuubi, no way a single human's could feel the same." The Tsuchikage interrupted with a shrug. "It's only simple logic that you'd have at least a portion of that chakra in you in order for your chakra to feel like his."
There was a pause between them before Yoshihiro continued his previous statement. "So either you're right Kakashi, or she's telling the truth and she does have a feeling. They share a Bijuu so its not entirely out of question."
"So ho does that help us?" Temari questioned with an air of impatience. "Either way we cant track him now so we're still screwed."
Yoshihiro shrugged again , face coiling in something akin to a wince. "Its a long shot...a very very long shot. But the most I can suggest right now if you trying to track him." He said gesturing to Akina with a jerk of his head."
"Her?"/"Me!?" Both Kakashi and Akina questioned at the same time.
Yoshihiro shrugged. "Best thing I can guess. You both share the same Bijuu. Just because of that there's a link between you two. Maybe you can follow that link back to its source.
She shook her head. "I..." The throbbing in her mind returned, stronger now. A pulse...a...signal...a call?...was he calling her? Was Yoshihiro right?
She opened her eyes, shaking her head to clear the fog and dismiss the thoughts she spoke, carefully, cautiously. "I...I dont know where he is...But...I just think we should go north. Straight north."
"Straight north is the great frozen lake that guards Yuki. Nothing but three hundred miles of desolate wasteland. There's nothing out there."
"You got a better suggestion." Yoshihiro stated before looking to Temari. Looking to Akina he spoke. "I assume you're coming.
The young Jinchurikki hesitated for a moment, pausing as she considered the dangers of going with these people. But...then again...this is what she had wanted was it not?
It was with visible trepidation that she slowly nodded.
Looking to Temari he jerked his head to indicate he was speaking to her. "You got room for one more on that fan?"
Temari looked hesitant and eventually shook her head. "No...there's too much weight."
Unfurling a scroll from his pack Yoshihiro quickly sealed away his warhammer, and then proceded to do the same with his shoulder and knee pauldrons, leaving him with nothing but his curiae and shin guards.
"That cover it?" He questioned.
Temari bit her lower lip, frowning worriedly before she gave a single, hesitant nod. "I...I think I should be able to get us off the ground with a strong enough wind. If the wind dies though you may have to loose more of your armor.
Yoshihiro nodded, watching as Temari once again leapt up through the trees, unfurling her fan and taking to the skies.
Akina looked to the two men, clearly unsure of turning her back to them before she too, turned resolutely, and leapt through the trees to join the Sabaku.
Pakun, Kakashi and Yoshihiro remained on ground level.
"I don't like this." The dog piped up.
Turning his still spinning sharingan onto the Tsuchikage the copy nin spoke. "You do realize...that if your wrong this is a trap."
"You didn't protest." He said with a shrug. "So you realize that, trap or no, we have no choice now. If we really do want to find Naruto."
Kakashi said nothing before he dispelled Pakkun, and followed the two females, Yoshihiro soon on his heels.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
It was a jarring thud of a body impacting a icy grit covered wood that brought Konan's gaze over her shoulder, finding none other than Sasori standing along the edge of the dais, the unconscious, limp body of the Kazekage laying at his feet.
Konan turned her eyes back to their still hanging prisoner, returning her mind to the task at hand, listening as Sasori began shuffling back down the stairs towards his quarters. Not having a physical body to produce the normal amounts of chakra, he had a very small amount. For chakra strings, which took next to nothing with his precise control, his limited amount was not normally a problem, but for extracting and sealing bijuu, the Pupeteer was most useless.
The runes beneath their feet began to pulse, the faint purple haze of chakra washing over everyone within the elevated plateau.
Itachi, Kisame, Deidara and Tobi all maintained their stiff posture, each holding their own handseal as more and more of their chakra seeped into the massive written symbol at their feet.
The purple glow of the runes was halfway up the chains now, gaining more and more ground, coming steadily closer towards the devil king. The seal was smoking now, the deep purple glow making the distortions of air seem more like a poisonous miasma than simple steam and heat.
Soon. It will all be over soon.
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"Pick up the pace people we don't have time to waste here!" Kankuro yelled at the lagging Anbu behind him, the whirring engines which powered the wheels along the bottom of his suits feet propelling him forward throwing out snow and ice behind him as he used his chakra to power his motor through the increasingly thickening blanket of white.
They had been running for days on end, not even stopping to eat, and barely pausing for five hours worth of sleep. The Anbu were tired, as could be seen by their increasingly faltering steps. Even Yugito was beginning to feel the strain.
Unlike the Anbu however, she was not afraid of facing down the obviously, emotionally driven Kankuro.
Picking up her pace the Nibi Jinchurikki came to a halt in front of the puppeteer. Bringing his wheels to a screeching halt as his chakra instinctively triggered the air brakes.
"What the hell are you doing!" The Sabaku male yelled, voice emerging as a deafening boom from within his suit.
She stared up into the T shaped opening that was the suits vizor. "We're stopping here."
"We have no-"
"Look at your men." The Kumo Kunoichi stated with a jerk of her head, bringing Kankuro's massive bulk to swivel around and look at the dozen or so Anbu that stood behind him.
They were all breathing heavy, and though some remained firmly upright, several more were leaning on their knees for support.
"Even if we catch up we' have no idea how many enemies there are, or what their skills they have. If we show up tired coupled with these two disadvantages we may as well slit our own throats." The blond continued calmly. "We need to rest, at least for four hours. Then we can continue."
"Every second we spend here is a second lost. A second where they're gaining more and more distance from us. We wait here and Gaara could die."
"We get there like this and Gaara will die." The Nibi Jinchurikki stated.
Kankuro paused, as though weighing the statements and the facts in his own mind, he nervously licked his lip within his suit, knawing on his lower lip with uncertainty.
"Three hour rest." The Puppeteer said. "No more."
Yugito nodded, watching as all the Anbu simultaneously sat down to rest, with one lighting a small fire, using some dry tinder they had taken from the forests as it became clear they would be moving north towards the frozen wastes on the outskirts of the great ice lake.
Yugito watched as Kankuro went off to the side, breathing a sigh before she allowed her mind to wander, eyes clouding over in uncertainty before they rose to the bleak, grayish sky.
She had seen Zhuge Liang before they left. Seen his condition. He looked ill, deathly so, and the smell of poison hung thick in the air.
Had he made it? Was he even able to get to Suna after she had left?
Would it have made a difference?
She didn't know, and she shook her head to banish these thoughts. They would do nothing but distract her on this mission.
So, stepping closer to the flames she too sat down, joining the Anbu, and watching as they continued to check, and recheck their gear, with the few who knew medical jutsu channellings their chakra to soothe their muscles and ingesting several energy bars and supplements for additional proteins and energy.
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"Something's wrong." Akina said, a hand pressed against her forehead, her face altered between flushed and pale sporadically, the cold of the high altitude winds whipping at her face like scratching claws.
"That's obvious." Yoshihiro said, hands held out in front of him, ready to catch the younger woman if she keeled over. Which seem to be a rather distinct possibility judging by the fact that she looked as though she was about to throw up for some reason.
Kakashi stood at the fans edge, on the other side of Yoshihiro, also positioning himself to catch the swaying girl if she fell. Temari, looked occasionally over her shoulder back at them, but kept her focus mainly on keeping the fan steady at the wake of the rapidly shifting winds. Updrafts and downdraft's beat against them, rocking the surface of the fan like a ship in a storm.
The sister of the Demon king was sweating, shivering with the cold , the hand at her head doing little to help fully steady her.
Yoshihiro looked to the copy ninja. "You got anything Kakashi?"
Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan the red iris watching with increasing trepidation as he watched the faint red of Kyuubi's chakra pulse around her now, but it was strange, distorted, unfocused, as though someone were trying to release water from a bent faucet. It shuddered and dissolved to nothing shortly before it left its seal. What was happening to her? When she had fought him at Suna the Kyuubi chakra was controlled, focused, almost harmonious with her system.
The woman's hands suddenly flew to her stomach, and she doubled over, knees losing their strength afterwards, eyes rolling to the back of her head, barely giving Yoshihiro and Kakashi enough time to catch her before she fell over the edge.
The two men pulled her safely into the Fan's surface
"What the hell is wrong with her!" Temari yelled over her shoulder once again.
Neither of the two men answerd, holding the woman firmly in place as she began to convulse, going into something akin to shock.
Kakashi however, noticed something.
The chakra, it thinned out in one particular direction, ending at a point...as though...it were reaching out to something...
"Temari! Change direction thirty degrees to the left!" The copy ninja called out to the blond woman.
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"We're moving out." Kankuro barked, marching up to the Anbu, watching as they all shuffled to their feet, putting out the fire by heaping snow onto it, smothering the flames while others picked up their equipment and camping gear.
He began to march ahead, revving up the engines in the suits "calves" bringing the wheels to life.
The thick legs of the suit plowed their way through the snow, allowing passage for the Anbu behind him to be easier.
He knew he was pushing them, and he knew Yugito was right when she stopped him, and he knew that the men definitely needed more rest. But she just didn't understand.
This was Gaara...
He'd already lost his mother, his father...his sister. He was not going to loose his brother as well. Not here, not like this. And he didn't care if he had to run every Anbu and the whole of Suna to the ground to save him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Now!" Konan roared out, spreading her hands wide apart, a burst of chakra leaving her in a single, strong pulse, followed shortly by the other four conducting the sealing.
Above them, Naruto awoke with a groan, dull, hazed blue eyes peering from recently closed lids. Reaching the realm of consciousness in time for the pain to hit him
The purple glow of the seals spread further, moving across his body, shifting from purple to red as the demonic chakra was forcefully extracted from him.
The searing burning agony left him reeling, hands clenching into tight fists , muscles coiling and tensing beneath his skin. He growled low in his throat, eyes shifting from blue, to red, to purple, and back to blue.
The red chakra trailed down the chains, overtaking the deep purple as it did, soon spreading throughout the entire seal. The appearance of miasma, bleeding away into a hellish hue of red,as though they were standing in the pits of hell itself.
The seals bubbled, and the ice around them, now melting, cracked and buckled. The red demon energy rose, coalescing into a single mass before them all.
Throughout the process Naruto's muscles wound themselves tighter and tighter, pulling the massive chains taught as they held him fast, the inner burn spreading to engulf every fiber of his body.
Everything burned as though he were lit aflame, and the strain of his tense muscles was so great it was physically painful in and of itself.
The chakra massed into a hazy ball, before it began easing its way to the great open maw of the statue. A hollow howl echoed through the carved out ice cave, a ghastly moan that spread through their chests and down to their knees.
Naruto's body began to convulse, and shudder, violent spasms ripping through his body. So violent he dislocated one shoulder with the abrupt, physical force alone, his eyes rolling upwards, reddish chakra seeping from his tear ducts and mouth towards the great statue.
As the last of the chakra was entering the statues wide mouth, Naruto's body tensed one final time, fists clenching before he fell completely still.
Still several miles away, a blond Kunoichi woke with a blood curdling scream.