Naruto: The Forgotten Nation

Wings and the Beautiful Summer

(song - Lacrimosa )

Chapter 67 - Wings and the Beautiful Summer

Esunea

"Why did we stop again? Are there more Edo Tensei?" Ichigo asked from my shoulder. Her little black and white head was stretching so I could see more of her white neck.

"Hush." I told her, pushing her head back down with my right arm. Reluctantly, she shrunk back. "Hide on my back, underneath my hair so that you won't be seen." I whispered so that only she could hear me.

"But why?" Ichigo cocked her head to the side, her confused little eyes staring up at me.

"I don't want you getting hurt." I murmured back. "And if I get into a tight situation, a secret weapon is good to have."

Her eyes lit up in excitement at saving me from some future disastor so she followed my order and vanished. She weighed next to nothing, so I hardly felt her hanging onto the back of my jacket. I turned my attention to in front of me, where more enemies were approaching our group.

Seven coffins rose in front of us on the bare ground. Everyone stiffened as one by one the lids fell in front of the boxes and the figures inside stepped out.

"Nagato!" Naruto almost cried out, but he managed to muffle his voice before the sound reached the other side of the field. "And Konan too?" he added in a whisper.

I noticed a man with white hair on the other side of the field. He was litterally skin and bones and the black with red cloud cloak he wore was torn on the left side, exposing that part of his chest, shoulder, and arm. A woman in a black and red cloud cloak also stood beside him. Her hair was deep purple, a section of it put up in a bun with a paper flower in the center. After closer analysis, I realized she was helping him stand up.

Thinking back, they were two of the Edo Tensei that Madara had had with him back at the lake. He had surrounded me with several of the reanimated ninja so I had no method of escape. Except for the loophole that he had no knowledge of. The Riubi had been sealed underneath our feet and I had lead him into the perfect trap. I had meant to pit the bijuu and Edo Tensei leader together, hoping that the wolf would annialate Madara, but things had never turned out that way.

Now I was staring at two of the faces that had been at the lake. The other Edo Tensei I didn't recognize, but the others did. There was a man wrapped in bandages whose chakra I couldn't sense. Another man looked like he could be Killer Bee's father. Beside him, there was also a man with sleeked-back blonde hair and a thin mustache. At the front of the line, there was a man with redish brown hair. The red in his hair wasn't as obvious as Garra's. It was more or less a rusty color.

All of the Kage's eyes were wide as they recognized each person. Few of them could even bring themselves to talk. I heard Garra whisper father to himself as he stared at the man with redish brown hair. Now that I noticed him, I could see the family resemblence between the two. And thinking about him and his father, my eyes were almost too frightened to look at the end of the line at the seventh, and final, Edo Tensei. Slowly, I started to turn my head to face that last person, only to feel as if the world was going to give out on me.