"It was my lucky day, Sasori my man... Three of them down in one go, mhm!" The blonde mans clay sure proved useful in transportation, carrying all three said Jinchuuriki. "The Kazekage was the only one that actually put up a fight though.. I caught the fire one off guard--and you all said I couldn't deal with her. Mhm."
"No one said you couldn't." Sasoris gruff voice responded. "... And don't let it get to your head. You made me wait forever, and you know I hate waiting."
"You hate a lot of things... You didn't even let me finish, the wind girl just kept eating air, anxious eaters are so stupid. She didn't do anything to fight back, a little boring; but I did it all myself, mhm."
"Only one fought you and you think you're all great..."
"I didn't see you do anything." The blonde crossed his arms, "Dealt with some guards--and you're the one from this place! A coward is what you were, my man."
Shisui was following them the whole time, in his invisible ghost form way, he hadn't been this way in a long time, because one-you always had him under your Jutsu, and two, you don't ever lose consciousness. But Shisui was angry, the one time he left you alone, you'd been attacked. And he believed the blonde when he said he took you down off guard, he remembered the first explosion he heard came from the area you were in, loud—and so big the ground rumbled from where he was, but he didn't get the chance to feel it—because your Jutsus effects were released at the same second.
Wendy went ahead of him—fast and with a purpose to make sure you and the Kazekage were okay. Shisui knew she wasn't much of a fighter, definitely more of a support. This was the consequence of his decisions, all three of you taken down—and now all he could do was tail and follow the group of you like an idiot.
"Huh, looks like we got company my man." The blonde turned his head, laying his hands against his clay bird. "...From the sand, too. I think I'll leave this to you." He grinned.
"No you won't!" Shisui recognized the voice, it was Kankuro—he had followed them out here. Most likely for his brother, and a little part for you. "I won't let you leave!" Kankuros puppets were by his side in a quick motion, his arms stretched out.
"A puppet user... Heh, this'll be easy for you, my man. Mhm." The blonde, stuck his tongue out, waving at the man as his bird rose higher. "Don't keep me waiting, hmm.. Bye, now." As much as Shisui would love to stick around and watch the fight that would most likely be one-sided, he went ahead—following the blonde one.
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I already sent Kakashis team on this mission, but I've decided that it's best to send back up." Tsunade initially had trouble choosing which team to send in for backup, of all the available teams, there was one that stood out. "This girl here is Tenten, we'll temporarily place her on this team, I've decided that your team, plus her specialities would be best suited for this..."
Neji and Lee looked over the girl silently, the only greeting was from Lee--a far to overwhelming greeting for the likes of the poor girl. Guy was listening closely to what mission he was given.
Tenten was starry-eyed, beyond honored Tsunade chose her of all people. From what she heard, this was an A-rank, nearing S-rank mission. She heard you left the Leaf a while back, and it looked like she had to fill the gap for this mission. "It's a retrival mission..." Tsunade only had one thing holding her back about choosin this team, and that was... Well, any personal connections.
We received a report saying the Kazekage of the Sand had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki..." Tsunade had been looking through the mission file, over and over again.The Kage of their supporting village going missing was a shock, but what shocked her even further was the fact that... You had been on the same page, you had gone missing, too. It was a relief at the same time, she felt guilty almost, denying your leave and having to put you on a list for pending 'betryal', since you left anyway. As far as anyone knew, it could be true, that you decided to betray the village.
But, Tsunade knew there was a difference between your leave and Sasukes, Lee had rushed to the Hokages office two days after you left, fussing about a letter you left. Which was very adamant to remind them that you'd return, in a year or two. Seeing your past with the Sand, and the recent orientation of a new Kazekage, it looks like you had been in the Sand at the wrong time.
"And two others; one unidentified... And the other, [Firstname] [Lastname]."
The already silent team went even more quiet, as if they stopped breathing in that moment. Their teammate that left over two years ago, had been kidnapped. Perhaps some sort of closure, but not the one any of them were hoping for.
"... Your mission is to retrieve and rescue them, whether alive, or dead." Lee gulped, the possibility of you being dead... It didn't sit well for any one of them. "... I didn't choose this team for personal connections, or because she was your teammate... But because all of your skills had been decided best for the task at hand, so I want you to treat this like any regular mission."
Shizune had advised against it, she already told Tsunade that Naruto wasn't suited for the mission, he himself had already gotten pissed at the news that you and Gaara were kidnapped... Now these were your teammates Tsunade broke the news to, she figured they'd be even worse. Especially Lee. "What? Then we have to go as soon as possible! There is no way I can stand by!"
As Shizune expected, it was Lee who had the first comment. Nejis face never let his emotion show, but she was sure she saw the slight quirk of his lips, and the small furrow of his brows. He had faith in you to return, it was often he thought of you, and a reunion by rescuing you and two others didn't sit well with him. First it was the Mizukage a few months back, and now you, the Kazekage, and one other he'd assume was a Jinchuuriki, seeing as the rest were. It couldn't have been a single person that took the group of you down, he'd seen in person how strong Gaara was—and he knew how talented you were. It had to be a group.
And it frustrated him that right now, you were out there—in the possession of some random people. He looked over at Tenten, a girl from his class long ago. He wasn't sure of her capabilities, he hadn't seen her since he graduated. As far as he was aware, the girl hadn't even made it to the Chuunin exams. But, if Tsunade decided she'd be the best fill-in, Neji would have to trust her judgment. Though, as far as he was aware, Kakashis team was missing a member too.
So he naturally had to ask; "And team sevens missing member... I'm assuming they got a fill-in for Sasuke, too?"
Shizune tensed. She told Tsunade they both had to get a fill-in, or they'd assume things. "No, they didn't get someone at the time that can be a suitable replacement." Shizune squeezed Tonton more, she also advised against using the word 'replacement'.
'Oh, Lady Tsunade!' She closed her eyes. 'I don't know who to pray for, for Lady Tsunade to not be yelled at, or for Lady Tsunade to not yell at them!'
"A replacement?" Neji raised a brow. "...Well, I don't know what a replacement is needed for. Unlike Sasuke, [Firstname] isn't a traitor to this village. I won't question why you gave us a fill-in, Lady Tsunade. We'll take your word for it and trust this girl." He put a lot of emphasis in the words, 'replacement' and 'fill-in.' And Tenten sure looked awkward now, the last time she spoke to you was when you were both... Twelve. And you left when you were fourteen, you were nice--and you were buying gifts for your teammates.
It sure seemed like you all got along...
"We'll retrieve them," Guy spoke up, stepping forward. He had faith in his student, too. When you had left, and weren't given a retrieval mission like Sasuke did, he was nearly pissed. Kakashis student had put all three of his students in danger, yet you were gone without a word. Maybe that was because Tsunade didn't deem you a threat, but this was as much your home as Sasukes. So now that he had the chance, he'd rush forward and get you back. "We'll stop at nothing."
"Leave it to us, Lady Tsunade! I'll bring her back, no matter what!" Lee stepped up.
Neji nodded, "We'll retrieve all three." Oh, he didn't care about the other two all that much, but he had to be professional. Since he had become a Jounin. He wondered, how would you react to that? Maybe you'd have that smile of yours, the genuine, happy one, that he saw so much of... Now that he thought back on it, the last time you spent with him; your smile was a sad one.
He wanted to see you again, and he wanted to see your real smile. He also wondered what you looked like now, he remembered the letter you sent a year ago—he was so relieved, he almost believed it wasn't real. And Lee had been so adamant about keeping the letter, which Neji didn't argue against. After all, you sent him another letter when you first left—where you told him that you'd return, and you'd think of him.
Well, Neji thought of you too. Which was why neither three of them said a word and rushed again, Tenten struggled--but kept quiet. She saw their desperation, and decided complaining now wouldn't get her on their good side.
'Just a little longer, my love!' Lee rushed ahead, even after so many years apart, he didn't drop the name he made for you. Maybe it was a result of all the memories he had with you—ever since you were seven... Now it's almost been a decade since you became friends, he missed two years of time spent with you, which was why he wouldn't stop now.
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"You need to calm down, Naruto. We need to get as much support as we can, and Sakura needs to help Kankuro—don't you understand?"
Naruto didn't understand, hearing that Gaara had gone missing had already pissed him off, but to then hear that you—the one he had been wanting to see most of all, had not only left as well, but got kidnapped—his anger was bubbling over. "That support needs to come faster, that's their Kazekage out there and they're doing nothing! They're all standing around! And what about [Firstname]? I can't stand by another second and let another person important to me be taken!" He was surely referring to Sasuke—who Naruto believed was taken by Orochimaru.
And now he was stuck here, waiting for some support I show up, that was taking their sweet time.
"It is their Kazekage, which is why they're getting us the best support they can. So that this retrieval will go smoothly... They're sending in even more support from the Leaf for this, and if it's the team I think it is—they'll get here even faster than we did."
"I just can't stand waiting around like this!" Naruto balled his fists, Kakashi had long seen the way Naruto's natural whiskers had gotten rougher around the edges. And well, Naruto didn't have red eyes—so Naruto didn't have to tell him he was angry for Kakashi to know.
And Kakashi didn't want to lie to Naruto's face, Jiraiya told him everything he knew about the Akatsuki—they were after the Jinchuuriki to take their tailed-beasts, or dragons too, in this case. To reassure Naruto and tell him that you'd be okay was something Kakashi couldn't say with certainty. The possibility of you being dead at that very moment was high—Gaara as well. "Waiting for this support will make the chances of the mission going smoothly higher. If you rush ahead by yourself, it's even more probable that we'd fail."
"And they'd want you too, getting you alone is exactly what they want."
Naruto thought back to Gaara—a boy with such a similar story to him. He had just become Kazekage, he was just beginning to get accepted by his village. And he thought to you, the first person to ever show interest in befriending him, you were similar to him, too. No family, a beast, and being an outsider. You were the first person who accepted him, who understood him.
And he had to wait around for some lousy support, instead of rushing ahead and rescuing the two of you then and there. He shut his eyes tightly, clenching his jaw in an attempt to calm himself.
'[Firstname], Gaara.... Just wait a little longer, I'll rescue you!'
'Right when I thought we were going home, this happens...' Shisui was hidden behind a rock, he wasn't sure why he did, it could've been the atmosphere of the place, but seeing as you were unconscious on the floor, no one would see him, since he was invisible. He eyed you from his position, the other two were floating in the air. Something natural from Wendy, and wouldn't concern him in any way if it weren't for the fact that, well, it quite literally looked like their souls were being sucked out of them. Gaara was going through it alone, his force sucked into a single spot, while Wendys was connected to you.
He had to activate his Sharingan to try and identify what it was, his first assumption was that it was because the two of you were Dragon Jinchuuriki, but that didn't make sense. Why were you on the floor, while the other two were in the air? Well, his most important conclusion was that you were safe for the most part. Your life force, or maybe, the beast you carried with you, wasn't being removed. That was the best theory; seeing as all three of you, plus the Mizukage that had gone missing months ago were all Jinchuuriki... It's what you said, too, this was the Akatsuki, and they were after Jinchuuriki. Well, it didn't answer the final question, why was Wendy connected to you?
... He got closer to you, kneeling. You were faced down, your back facing him. And he couldn't do anything. This reminded him of his past hopelessness, he always stood by and did nothing. Because there was nothing he could do as a ghost, even after years of being with you, someone that had so much experience with dealing with ghosts; he didn't learn anything that would make him more useful. There was nothing he could do in this dark place, he couldn't pick you up and run, or do the best he could to get the others down, as well.
He looked up, at Itachi amongst the crowd. Maybe this is what Itachi felt during the massacre of his clan, hopelessness, and thinking it was the only answer. That's what Shisui felt to an extent, there wasn't anything he could do now, as a ghost, he couldn't even make sure you were safe. His eyes wandered toward the girl beside Itachi, from this angle, he was sure it was a girl. With [color] skin, well, it was all he could identify from where he was, not to mention all of them were flickering.
"... I think someone's here..." The same girl muttered, her eyes looking down at him. He felt himself freeze. He was a ghost, nobody but you could see him.
"Hmmm? I think you're hallucinating, yeah." Another one responded, and Shisuis eyes hesitantly flickered toward the voice. He recognized it, it was the same guy that knocked Gaara, and you, out.
"No! I'm telling you, someone's here! A ghost!" She denied. "Weren't you the one to knock her out? You'd think you'd have half a brain to get that the other guy that disappeared was a ghost!"
"You weren't there, so how would you know what I saw? You're such a brat, mhm. I'm real glad I ended up getting my man Sasori instead of you as my teammate."
"It's mutual!" She responds, and the blonde only yawned, clearly mocking her.
"Listen to the damn kid before she grates my ears more... Can't deny the legitimacy of what a [Lastname] sees if we can't see it." Another one, this guy was from the Sand—which is why he respected the word of a supposed '[Lastname].'
"Well, I can't see it, so why would I accept it? Hmm?"
"Because... You're seriously getting on my nerves. You don't know a thing about the Sand."
"When have you been such a big fan of them? Hm?"
"Calm down..." A gruff voice added, a man with [Color] hair. "The word of a [Lastname] is always trustworthy."
"Course you say that, you banged the head of their clan, and then killed them all! I know my fair share of crazy, but I'll never understand why you and the emo did that if it wasn't just for blood." From all the fuzziness, Shisui could only tell the guy was shirtless, but his fashion choices were beyond Shisuis worries, what concerned him more was his choice of words. "But hey, family reunion, eh? Heh, a pretty shitty one."
"Shut up!" The girl spat, "You're as annoying as you are hideous! We aren't family."
"And you're as stupid as you are a bitch!" He spat back.
"That makes no sense!"
"Man, it was bad enough with the emo band, but now we have kids on a personal mission to be free birth control."
[Color] hair, and the same shaped nose as you, 'banged' the head of your clan. And then the other girl, with [color] skin, and the same last name as you. Oh, and the personality matched up he supposed... The girls bratty sure fit the diary entry he read two years back; 'I met a man today, he said he really liked dragons. I do too, so when he asked me if I knew where the one with the dragon was, I told him that it was me."
No doubt about it, it was your biological father, and your half sister. The answers you had been so desperately looking for presented themselves here now—when you were out cold, he wondered how you'd feel if you were awake right now.
"Quiet." The one in the middle demanded, his once-shut eyes opening. And Shisuis own eyes went wide, he recognized it as the Rinnegan. "Get rid of it." He demanded. The 'it' being Shisui.
"Right," The girl nodded, and the sound of a Poltigan being activated was unmistakable to Shisui. He looked back at your sister, meeting her eyes. Her Poltigan was different than yours, no doubt she achieved the fifth stage—beyond that was even more probable. Shisui knew a lot about the Poltigan, and it meant that this girl, the same age as Wendy—had gone through a lot of suffering. His stiff shoulders relaxed, when he looked at your sister, it reminded him of you. And the image of you, to him, was a safe one.
Though, even for the dead, the word 'safe' is not to be associated with the Akatsuki. Although there wasn't much of a hope for a ghost against a [Lastname], Shisui couldn't do anything from the Jutsu she pulled, making him dissapear. An exorcism from such a distance, respectable, yet it had gotten rid of your best friend.
"... You did say someone was there with her, right?" The girl asks.
"I went and knocked her out first since you were all so fussy about it. Even if she fought me, I'm sure she wouldn't have put up much of a fight. Mhm." The blondie nodded, "I didn't see the dude. But maybe there was someone there." He thought back to his arrival, he had immediately gotten caught by the Kazekage. A little embarrassing, seeing as he was supposed to sneak into the sand... But it didn't help much, anyway. Of course, he knew 'dragon slayers' ate elements, and his explosions had more than a lot of firepowers, but the impact was more than just heat. When the Kazekage came to confront him, his luck just so happened to be out of this world, because there were two others. Perhaps hard to deal with all at the same time, but when you plant the first one with a poltigan with bombs before they can react... And then the wind one doesn't do anything but anxiously eat air, it was like a dream!
Of course, both the Kazekage and the bomb freak held back, but it was a spectacular fight nonetheless. Definitely worth making 'his man Sasori' angry.
"Sasori my man did some medical Jutsu, she won't be getting up for a while... Mhm. You could even mistake her for dead! That'll lead all the other Jinchuuriki right to us, mhm."
"Oh yeah, why aren't we just killing her again?" The shirtless one asked.
Your father answered his question. "To make the perfect dragon slayer, she's the only suitable one, and we'll get her under our control."
"How are you so sure? A deadbeat dad is someone no kid listens to." Shirtless man excused. "She left the sand and the leaf, no guarantee she'll stick around here, too. Besides, how'll she live through it?"
The ginger silenced them by opening his mouth alone. "She'll be our biggest bargaining chip, if she lives through this transfusion... If these three were close, she'll even unlock the fifth stage of her Poltigan. Nothing will stop the peace we're looking for."
There was one thing wrong with that statement; you'd lose people close to you, but it'd all be for nothing. The fifth stage meant killing someone close to you. You always had a tender heart, you wouldn't be able to do it. Well, your sister thought so atleast.
______________________
lee and naruto: hold on a lil longer
gaara and mc: 😵😵💀💀☠️☠️🏺🏺
Officially in Shippuden era😞 feeling emotional fr... but finally the big shit gonna happen ☺️ oh dont stress...
these past few chapters i've been writing by pure memory cuz i've been doing lots of traveling w zero wifi so pls forgive me if things arent making sense i cant double check 😞