And the shout out goes to Kazumalteractiver! He guessed it first, but I had a feeling people would get it! I'm excited about Konoha having Airships! Let's get started on this! I don't own Naruto, just so you know.
Normal speech: "..."
Thoughts: "…"
Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"
"I hope you understand that this ability of yours kind of demands further explanation." Kakashi said causing Gaarnetto to sigh. She figured they would want to know about her ability. She tried to keep it a secret, but with the Black Waltz after her, she could afford not to use it. And if the first one was after her, then surely the other two will be as well.
"Yes I understand... You see-" Before she could explain, the ship began to rock. From out of nowhere a huge beast raised from below and attacked the ship! Its body was made of ice and it looked like a huge sealion with wings. The Black Waltz returned and had summoned a creature to do its bidding.
"Resistance is futile, now attack my Sealion!" the Black Waltz commanded! The sealion roared mightly before sending shards of ice from its wings at the deck of the ship. Tenten took out a scroll, unraveled it and applied chakra to it, "Tetsu hogo kabe (Iron Protection Wall)!" a iron segmented dome projected around her and team seven, protecting them from most of the onslaught, but the dome was damaged afterwards. Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke all went through hand seals at the same time showing just how well they worked as a team even stopping at the same time.
"Katon: Gookakyuu no jutsu(Fire Release:Great Fireball technique)!" Kakashi and Sasuke chanted as one unleashing twin balls of intense fire at the ice creature.
Fuuton: Nastu no Kaze (Wind Release: Summer Winds)!" Naruto chanted unleashing a heatwave of winds that combined with the twin fireballs and not only increased their heat but their speed as well. The Sealion used its wings to guard but it still recieved some damage and howled in pain as its wings melted. The Black Waltz casted a strange jutsu and ice surrounded the Sealing and shattered, restoring its wings and even making them bigger than before. Seeing how their combination attack didn't work, the team decided to focus on the summoner while the doll the princess animated held back the ice creature with strange fire jutsus. Tenten masterfully threw kunai at the Black Waltz who deflected them with his staff. Naruto decided to get up close and personal via his clones. He made a ladder out of them and threw himself at the enemy much to his team's disapproval. When he got to the Black Waltz, he was instantly frozen in a sheet of ice and feel to the ground below.
"NARUTO!" His team called out.
"What? I'm still on board the ship. You didn't think I was dumb enough to throw anything but a clone at the guy did you?" Naruto asked. Everyone chuckled nervously and Naruto grew several tick marks on his head! Did they really think he was that stupid? The guy understands fuuinjutsu and Suiyakuton; cut him some slack! A barrage of ice shards forced the team to scatter to avoid being impaled. Naruto took out a large wad of a pink substance and molds it into a kunai using his chakra.
"Tenten-chan you have the best aim out of all of us. Do you think you can hit that guy in the wing with that?" Naruto asked. Tenten scoffed at him, "Did you just ask me IF I COULD hit his wings? There's no if about it." she took the strange kunai and noticed it was light and took careful aim in the span of a few seconds. With pinpoint accuracy, she threw it at the Black Waltz faster than it could react and struck its wing. The kunai burst into a sticky mess and coated his wings, sticking them together and forcing him to fall. The Sealion caught its master with its tail and perched him on its shoulder before roaring at the team.
"Gaarnetto-hime, do you think your doll could conjure a fire jutsu? We need to finish this before the ship is knocked out of the sky." Kakashi said noticing how the attacks were damaging the ship, which was smoking at this point; who knew how much longer it would remain in the air. Gaarnetto nodded and added more of her black and white chakra to the doll, who conjured up a massive fireball and launched it at the Sealion and its master.
"Fuuton: Daitoppa(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!" Kakashi chanted unleashing a squall of wind aimed at the fireball.
Fuuton: Hirameki no Nami(Wind Release: Wave of Inspiration)!" Naruto chanted clapping his hands and unleashing gusts of wind at the already empowered fireball. The combination of fire and wind made the fireball turn into a sea of flames that overwhelmed the Sealion as it roared in agony and melted. In a last ditch effort, the Black Waltz sent a gust of bone chilling wind at the ship and froze its engines. With the last of its energy depleted, the Black Waltz disappeared into thin air. The crew tired to unthaw it, but to no avail. The once proud theatre ship crashed from the sky and into a dense forest below. Kakashi and his team went inside the ship to try to hold on to something to keep from being ejected from the ship. Everyone braced themselves as the ship tore through several trees and left a deep trench from where it dragged against the ground before it finally came to a halt.
"Is everyone alright?" Kakashi asked trying to salvage the situation as best as possible. He did a head count and noticed that the princess was missing, most likely falling out of the giant hole in the room. Things didn't look good for this mission if the princess hadn't survived the crash. His team picked themselves up and Tenten let out a scream when she noticed Naruto had been impaled by a piece of debris. Naruto, though in obvious pain, pulled out the debris and watched as the wound closed and started to heal on its own. Not wanting to arouse questions, he asked Hinata for some of the cream she made and applied it to his wound, then he took out a potion and drank it. His healing factor, coupled with the cream and potion ensured he was out of danger and the wound would be gone by tomorrow.
"Wow I'm amazed at what your potions can do Naruto-kun. That was a serious injury you had and yet that potion sped up your recovery." Tenten observed. While the wound was still tender and bled a little it wasn't a gaping hole in his side and luckily missed anything vital like a kidney. "It still hurt like a bitch!"
"All kidding aside, we have a serious problem. The princess is missing and without her this mission is a total failure..." Kakashi said. No one noticed that the doll the princess had reanimated was still around and had a worried look in its yellow eyes, "Gaarnetto-hime is still alive." this shocked everyone, seeing as they didn't know the damn thing could talk. The doll sweatdropped at their gaping expressions, "Yes I can talk but that isn't important at the moment! I can lead you to Gaarnetto-hime. Since she animated me with her chakra, I am linked to her and can sense when she is nearby. I can also fill you in on what her powers are and how they work; this is not my first time being animated, I am quite familiar with her powers." Seeing as they had no other choice, they all agreed to follow the animated doll into the forest to find the princess. The forest itself was teeming with noises and the scent of blood and death. It had an evil glooming feel to it and the fact the trees were tall enough to block out the sun didn't help much either.
While they were walking, Hinata decided to get a closer look at the doll through her Byakugan. With her enhanced sight, she wasn't too surprised to see that the doll didn't have a chakra network or even chakra points. It was basically like a tailless Bijuu, which Kakashi told them about during one of their trips to the library. He informed them of Bijuu and their Jinchuurikis just in case they ever came across one. These trips had a second purpose, for them to connect the dots about Naruto. The moment Hinata read about red chakra being related to Bijuu, she discovered that Naruto was the Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi as did Sasuke. The Uchiha couldn't see Naruto's chakra system, but he did witness Naruto using it against the female Anbu in their earlier years when they thought she was trying to kill them. Naruto was truly grateful to have found precious people who could tell the difference between him and a giant furball.
"The princess has access to both Yin and Yang chakra which allows her to bring her imagination to life with Yin chakra and then breathe life into it with Yang chakra. The problem is that she lacks the training necessary to utilize this gift to its full potential. She can really only animate inanimate objects she comes into contact with. Still, even with such limitations, her mother has exploited her gift to the fullest. The Black Waltz are an example of this, but is not the end of the exploits. She has forced the princess into making a literal army of mindless dolls not that different in appearance to me. It is unknown what she wishes to do with these dolls, but it can't be good." the doll explained.
"I noticed that you don't have a chakra network or anything of the sort. What is the best way for us to defeat these dolls?" Hinata asked. If they were going to have to face these animated dolls, then they needed to know all about them. Before the doll can explain, the team comes across a weird plant creature that has the princess trapped inside of its cage like body. The team took up stances and prepared to fight the creature, being extra careful not to injury the princess; so jutsu were out. The creature lashed out with its tentacle like arms, but Tenten unsealed a kodachi and slashed it off. Then creature simply regenerated a new one and lashed out again, this time the team dodges. Hinata activated her Byakugan and noticed the creature had a chakra network. Dashing through the creatures attacks, Hinata unleashed pinpointed palm thrusts that closed off the chakra points in its tentacles rending them useless.
Just as they go to finish it off, another one swooped down and snatched the princess up and carried her away deeper into the forest. Meanwhile, the remaining creature unleashed a poisonous gas that everyone managed to get away from just in time. They all chased after the plant creature, only to be stopped by a pack of monstrous wolf pack. The wolves growled and circled around the team, who stand back to back with one another.
"This will be good practice. Aim to kill, do NOT let any of these things live or we will regret it..." Kakashi said darkly, knowing that there could be more wolves in the area. The calm didn't last long as the wolf pack attacked the team as one. Hinata, with her Byakugan blazing could see all the vitals of the wolves and with a somewhat heavy heart aimed for the sweet spots and dropped two wolves dead. Sasuke used his Sharingan to predict there lunges and sliced their throats open with a kunai. Naruto and Tenten unsealed a volley of shuriken and kunai at them, turning them into pin cushions, bloody pin cushions. Much to their frustration, more wolves leapt from the forest intent on taking them down.
Sasuke torched a few of them with the Phoenix Flower jutsu, Tenten was dropping them like flies with her kunai and shurikenjutsu. It was almost scary how accurate she was with the things. A wolf would leap at her only to get a kunai or shuriken lodged in between their eyes or where their hearts were.
"Chakra Hari (Chakra Needles)!" Hinata chanted using great chakra control to turn her chakra into fine needles. She threw them at the wolves' brains and hearts completely bypassing their exteriors and aiming straight for the interior. This allowed her to cut off the chakra in those areas resulting in death. It worked much like the gentle fist, except that it had better range.
"Fuuton: Kaze Shuriken (Wind Release: Wind Shuriken)!" Naruto chanted making disks of wind out of his chakra. The disks of razor sharp winds were sent out in a gust and shredded the wolves to chunks. With the wolves taken care of, the group raced off to find the princess. The doll simply reverted back to its handheld size and stowed away in one of Naruto's pouches. The team tree hopped through the forest until they came across the princess being held up above an enormous plant creature. The creature attempted to eat her, but Hinata had other plans. Swiftly taking out a scroll, she unsealed a large amount of water and turned it into a whip and grabbed the princess and yanked her over towards them. The doll grew to the size of a child and carried the princess to safety while the team prepared for a fight.
Tenten unsealed one of her latest weapons simply named Jidanda a giant, spiked, iron ball with a stretchable handle. Tenten grabbed the handle and swung the giant flail like it was nothing! One of the spikes opened to reveal exploding tags on it that went off and gave the sphere more power behind its attack as it slammed into the creature. The creature tried to crush Tenten with its massive tentacles, but Hinata threw some of her chakra needles at it, hitting specific chakra points in it and it crashed to the ground useless. Sasuke performed a small katon and burned the useless tentacle to a crisp, much to its owners agony. From its other tentacle, lightning raced down on the group faster than they could react and gave them all, minus Kakashi, a good shock to their systems. Just as the creature was about to crush them under its tentacle, they all used a swift Kawarimi to replace themselves with some of the nearby roots. The tentacle combined with the ground and roots started to sprout from the ground trying to impale them. It was a game of Kawarimi as the shinobi continued to replace themselves again and again to avoid the swift roots.
"We need a plan here!" Sasuke yelled, flipping over a root since he didn't have time to replace himself. He ran around going through handseals, "Katon: Joonetsu no honoo (Flames of Passion)!" from his mouth unleashed a jet of flames that burned the roots in his path.
"We can't all use katon jutsu ya know!" Naruto said, before he used the Daitoppa to rocket himself into the air and used it again to get even more airborne. Seeing his plan, Sasuke went through the same hand seals before using the Kawarimi to replace himself with Naruto and then unleashed a massive jet of flames in the face of the creature. The roots withered away as the creature screeched in agony. To add it's pain, Naruto threw in a Natsu no Kaze (Summer Wind) and Kakashi a Gookakyuu(Great Fireball) finally putting an end to the plant creature. Everyone sighed in relief believing things to be over; how wrong they were. The entire forest seemed to be turning to stone at the death of the plant creature. They didn't understand it, but they grabbed the princess and ran for their lives!
Meanwhile, back at Gaarnetto's kingdom, the Queen was busy plotting her next move. She sat on her throne when her two jesters came in. They kneeled before their queen, "My queen the princess has defeated our Black Waltz no.1, but rest assured no.2 and 3 are more than enough to retrieve her."
"They better be. The animated dolls are just the tip of the iceberg. With Gaarnetto's power, even the elemental nations will bow before me! Ready the Red Rose, we depart for Rinduburumu immediately! It's time to unleash the Nightmares. With Rinduburumu's technology we'll be one step closer to our goals." The Queen ordered. The two jesters bowed and left to do their tasks.
Once outside of the forest, which was completely petrified, they set up camp to allow themselves a breather after their ordeal. While not on the verge of chakra exhaustion, they were tired and hungry. Sitting around the campfire, eating various types of food, Naruto decided to tell a joke he had heard.
"Ok, so a group of Jounin (I hope I'm spelling this right) are at a bar after a mission when this chick comes up to them. She's hitting on them big time, but they notice she has an adam's apple. They kindly tell the drag queen they're not interested and go about their business. One of the Jounin goes to the bathroom and when he comes back a Chunin friend of his comes over all excited and says 'DUDE! There's this chick giving blowjobs for 51 Ryoo ($5)!' the Jounin is shocked and confused and wisely says 'Wha?' the Chunin, still excited, informs him of the girl, who happened to be the drag queen from before. So the Jounin says 'Awww dude that's a guy!' then the Chunin says 'But... 51 Ryoo MAN!'" by the end of the joke the entire group is dying of laughter!
"Hahaha ah man that's sick! I'll keep my money thank you." Sasuke said getting nods from Kakashi and Naruto.
"I don't know, I mean 51 Ryoo is one hell of a deal and I know how hard it is for at least two of you to get girls." Tenten said looking at Kakashi and Naruto. Kakashi just giggled perversely, "You don't make it to the title of A rank shinobi without tapping some ass. Why I remember the time Anko and I got hammered and-"
"You know we're still prepubescent teens?" Naruto deadpanned not in the mood to hear about his sensei's conquests. He had already gotten the talk from Kyoodoo and that guy was REALLY detailed when it came to the act. "Nonsense, you're all shinobi now. Old enough to kill, old enough to know about the joys of sex. Of course I don't think you should have it until you're a bit older, but BOY when you do have it." and so the rest of the night was spent being forced to listen to Kakashi pantomime his sexual escapades and by forced I mean tied up with ninja wire and injected with chemical adrenaline so they wouldn't just go to sleep; hey he had to defend his honor as a man dammit! The next day, the princess came to just as Kakashi was going over the map to see how to get back to Rindburumu.
"There should be a small farming town not too far from here. There should have an airship there that can take us to Rindburumu." Gaarnetto suggested pointing to the town on the map. Deciding to go with her suggestion, they walk towards the town just a few miles away from them. Naruto decided to get some information from the princess that had been bugging him.
"Hey Gaarnetto-chan, how did your mother exploit your power in the first place? I mean it's your power right?" Naruto asked her. The princess was a little surprised he addressed her in such a informal manner but secretly found it refreshing. She didn't have too many friends her age and the boy did save her so she could let it go. "Well... To be honest, I was afraid of my powers. I once had a nightmare about a dragon and it came to life and attacked me. Ever since I was terrified of what my powers could do. So I sealed them inside a gemstone called the Falcon Claw, a heirloom passed down through the generations. My mother took the stone and used it to make the army of dolls, but the gemstone ran out of power shortly after."
"I see. Well here's some friendly advice: Stand up to your fears. Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it. You have a great gift, a gift that others will wish to exploit much like your mother." Naruto said sagely. Gaarnetto was taken aback by the wisdom he showed. She felt great shame and guilt for letting things get this bad.
"I know from the way I speak that my Kaa-san sounds like a greedy and manipulative person, but she wasn't always so. She used to be kind and a fair ruler content with what she had. It was after tou-san died and my powers developed that she was twisted; sometimes I think it's my fault." Gaarnetto said with tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. Naruto sighed, "Sounds more like she let her inner darkness win over her heart. Even if you never developed your powers, it may have happened another way. No use crying over it now, what's done is done. If it helps, I'll make sure your mother doesn't exploit you ever again." the conviction in his tone spoke volumes to the princess as she blushed. He was like the knight in shining armor she read about in books. Naruto cursed his luck for seemingly attracting women, what was it about him that was so damn attractive? He wasn't complaining, but maybe if he knew he could tone it down a bit. The two continued to talk and get to know one another a little better while they walked to the town. Kakashi was busy reading his Icha Icha, while Tenten read up on the latest weapons from all over the Elemental Nations. Sasuke was reading a scroll on raiton jutsus, while Hinata was paying close attention to her client and teammate.
Soon they reached the town, only to find it overrun with animated dolls. Kakashi quickly took the princess into a nearby house and told the owners to keep quiet. He applied a quick Henge to the girl to change her appearance, much to the shock of the home owners before leaving the house. Unfortunately, it seemed the dolls had the same ability as Gaarnetto's doll.
"Princess... Princess..." the dolls chanted as they crowded towards the team.
"How do we stop them?" Kakashi asked, taking out a kunai along with the rest of the team.
"I don't know. I can usually just redraw the energy, but there are too many of them. How did kaa-san make so many without me noticing?" Gaarnetto asked in fright. Not having any other choice, the team launched their attack on the animated dolls! Naruto unleashed the contents of a scroll, unleashing a torrent of flames to gush out. Tenten unsealed a katana and slashed at a few of the dolls, Sasuke unleashed a katon jutsu, Hinata used the Mizurappa (Water trumpet) and Kakashi channeled raiton chakra into his kunai and slashed at them. Their attacks didn't keep the dolls down for long as they seemingly regenerated after each attack. The dolls launched their own attacks in the form of various jutsus from fire to ice and even lightning. The team were forced to dodge or kawarimi to avoid anything fatal. The princess hid with one of Naruto's shadow clones, who sealed her inside a stasis scroll and ran outside of the town to keep her safe. That's when it finally occurred to Naruto that they were mini Bijuu and the only way to beat a Bijuu was to seal it; duh!
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto chanted summoning a legion of over 100 clones. Each clone pulled out a sealing scroll, unraveled it and slammed it on the dolls' chests. It worked like magic, the dolls were sealed inside the scrolls and then they threw them into the air, "Sasuke turn up the heat!" The Uchiha used the jutsu his clan was known for and ignited the scrolls, burning them to ash. The dolls were taken care of and the townspeople rejoiced as they left their homes and thanked our heroes for their help. They explained how two jesters came to town looking for a girl and when they said they didn't recognize her, they decided to leave an army behind while they left for Rinduburumu just in case the princess came through there.
"That can't be good... If they made their way to Rinduburumu it can only mean trouble. Are there any airships and pilots in this town?" Kakashi asked. A young man volunteered as a show of gratitude. They were led to a cargo ship but before they could board, another Black Waltz blocked their path.
"How many of these things do we have to get rid of?!" Naruto yelled fed up with all the animated dolls. "Tis foolish to compare me to No.1. I am No.2 and I far outclassed that weakling. My mission to to bring back the princess, you lot are of no concern. Hand over the princess and your deaths will he quick and painless."
"Yeah how about no." Naruto said readying another scroll. The Black Waltz unleashed a storm of lightning at the team far too swiftly for them to even hope to dodge. They all screamed in pain as the lightning courses through their bodies only for them all to go up in smoke. Before the Waltz could ponder what happened Naruto slammed the scroll into his back and started to seal him. To the blonde's surprise the Black Waltz was too much for the scroll to contain and it lit up into flames. The Black Waltz sent a bolt of lightning at Naruto who was sent flying across the field and slammed into the cargo ship. Sasuke unleashed several fireballs at the Black Waltz, who glided through them like a bird. It grabbed Sasuke and took him high into the sky before observing at a alarming rate.
"Doton: Doryuu Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)!" Kakashi chanted turning the earth beneath the freefalling Black Waltz into mud. No sooner afterwards Sasuke was slammed into the mud harshly. The mud saved his life but did little to stop the pain and concussion he suffered. The Black Waltz soared towards Hinata intent on tackling her but the Hyuuga Heiress dodged out of the way. She knew her Gentle Fist was useless against something with no chakra points but maybe her newest jutsu would be of some use.
Crafting her chakra needles, Hinata pumped them full of chakra and then launched them with precise accuracy. The Black Waltz was nailed in the head down to its solar plexus with a cry of Kai the needles exploded! The Black Waltz was healing from the damage when Naruto rejoined the fight. He handed Tenten a windmill shuriken with a tag on it and she knew what to do. Tossing the shuriken at the Waltz it spun fiercely at its target. The Black Waltz recovered in time and sent a bolt of lightning at the projectile only for it to be absorbed and added to the shuriken's cutting power and speed. The Waltz flew high in the air to dodge but the shuriken just followed it.
Sasuke pulled himself out of the mud and smirked. He had wrapped some ninja wire around the Waltz while it had him and connected it to one of Naruto's seal shuriken. The shuriken itself had elemental seals to draw in specific elements, this one drew in lightning. It was also made from chakra conductive metals to allow it to augment the shuriken. What appeared to be a shuriken following its prey was really Sasuke manipulating the wire of the shuriken like a puppeteer. With a hard tug, the shuriken sliced the Waltz in half.
Hinata launched some of her exploding chakra needles at one half of the doll, Kakashi, Tenten and Naruto launched kunai with exploding tags on the other. The result was a massive explosion that stopped the Waltz from recovering. Tenten and Naruto swiftly sealed both halves into scrolls and had Sasuke light them ablaze. With the threat neutralized, the clone returned and unsealed the princess, who adamantly forbid Naruto from sealing her away again. It was and I quote "The closest she's ever felt to being dead." the team hopped abroad the cargo ship and made their way to Rinduburmu.
In the distance, they could see the kingdom of Rinduburumu up in flames as air ships hovered over head. A massive dragon flew over the kingdom and rained down fire causing total destruction to the once proud kingdom. Gaarnetto could only cry in sheer horror at what her powers had conjured and the team could only look with dread as they approached the kingdom. One thing was for sure, things were definitely going to be interesting...
Man this one was tough, stupid writer's block... Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as they last. Please keep reviewing!