Author Notes: This is my first submission, not my first story and certainly not my best story. The other story I have is called... 'Loving Eachother' (or maybe something else once I'm done fine tuning the details) and that one is very good. I actually had to rewrite this thing because I felt so badly about the first version. I feel alot more comfortable with the speed it's going at and it isn't as choppy. I hope you enjoy it and that you appreciate the hard work! I do plan on having this turn into an action based story of sorts, but it needs to start with a basic storyline set-up so that you can learn what exactly is going on. I don't think too highly of it, but if you do, please tell me, thank you and enjoy!
P.S. Ninja can be both singular and plural, despite the common use of the word ninjas, I am choosing to use ninja for the plural form.
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.
------------------------------
Everybody heard Shikamaru as he spoke to the whole group. "Just a few more hours and we'll set up camp for the night." And it's about time too... A few more waves of the enemy will probably be a bit too much, even for us. It had been ten hours, and the constant attacks had been slowly wearing everybody down. Even Gai and Lee had been too tired to be optimistic. Ever since a prisoner was captured at the land of Suna, problems had been so abundant it left everybody feeling a little cranky.
---Flash Back---
Gai's team as well as Shikamaru and Sakura, one for tactical analysis and the other for medical assistance should it be required, had been asked to go to Suna for an important mission. It had taken a couple days, but when they arrived, they were met about a mile away from the border by unknown forces ranging from simple thugs to expert ninja. After an hour of fighting and running through the various camps and they made it to Suna and after showing the guards the right I.D. they ventured into the City to see the Kazekage. Using more words than necessary, Gaara explained that there was a prisoner that they needed to transfer to Konoha. Although little was said about the prisoner besides his name, a few things were made crystal clear. One, this was a very influential prisoner who was not to be trusted in any way, shape, or form. Two, he has many men after him and the group would constantly be pursued to free him. Finally three, he was an evil man, and failure was not an option.
---Flash Back Ends---
That had been thirty four hours ago, and they were being led from village to village by Temari and Kankuro who were asked by Gaara to lead them through the Land of Wind until they could get back to land that would be more familiar to the leaf ninja. So far this had kept them from a few fights that would have slowed them down when they stopped in a village that had guards of their own that helped them take care of the attackers. They had to rush through picking up what little supplies they needed before heading out again into the desert to avoid plaguing the village with their pursuers. After that they had moved nonstop to stay ahead of the theives and ninjas that followed and had done such a good job of it that now they were followed by next to no enemies and only faced the few ninjas who were fast enough to keep up and strong willed enough to keep moving well past a day. It was again becoming dark and the sand siblings sans the youngest needed a break to rest and get their bearings straight.
"It's nice to finally catch a break," Kankuro had finally spoken up after the hours of quiet whispering between him and Temari about the directions of the villages and deciding the best route with her, "maybe those other ninja aren't as strong as we thought. We might just get out of this yet to see this bastard get his just desserts." He pointed towards the bound and gagged man Sakura had been carrying. "It'd be nice to see him being on the losing side for once." He said this with a smile that made all of the leaf ninja shudder.
Lee was the first to speak this time. "How can one man command such a great army? He is obviously not a Kage or a missing ninja, so what is he?" Both sand ninja stared at him like he had grown a second head. "You're kidding, right? You mean you've never heard of Tsurugi of the Wind? He's almost as evil as Orochimaru, hell he may be worse!" All of the shinobi's jaws dropped as if completely dumb struck. "What!?" Everybody jumped as they heard an impact, and everybody got into a circle formation as they all expected to face the new enemy, only to find that Sakura has lost her footing in the sand when she wasn't focusing and had fallen sending both her and her burden flying head first into a dune. Lee was the first by her side after realizing that she was the cause of the ruckus and was helping her out and brushing sand off of her back, a blush on his face as his hand accidently brushed the lower back of her clothes. After checking to make sure that Sakura and Tsurugi weren't hurt, they decided to set up their camp there since they had planned on setting up camp soon anyway.
------------------------------
After tieing the man down to a pole they half buried in the ground to hold him they started questioning the siblings again. "So, what exactly made him so infamous?" It was Neji this time who spoke up. Both siblings had a confused look on their face "What? Made who infamous?" Tenten answered, "Tsurugi. You said that he was as infamous as Orochimaru, but as far as I know, we've never heard of a man named Tsurugi before, so what made him so special? He doesn't even seem to have much skill as a ninja, if any skill at all." This earned a muffled indignate grunt from the bound man. "Oh yeah, well, he was a criminal from Konoha who moved to the land of Suna after being hunted." Gai interrupted before she could continue "But, none of us have seen him before. I have been keeping track of every criminal in the Hokage Tower, memorized every name, and Tsurugi isn't a name I have ever heard before in Konoha or the Konoha Police Station before the Uchiha Massacre." Temari answered this time "You shouldn't. He changed his name soon after he left Konoha. His name before he left was Tenzan Borgen." Gai turned incredibly pale "You mean, THE Tenzan Borgen? As in the guy who helped Orochimaru? The corrupted man who practically bankrupt Konoha?" Both sand ninja nodded. "He ran away with so much gold, I didn't think he would ever resurface! How was he caught!? When!? Where!?" "Gai-sensei!" Both Lee and Neji were trying to hold him down. "Please calm down and tell us who he is."
"We have all learned alot about Orochimaru, he's done terrible experiments on human beings, attempted to destroy Konoha, and even killed the Third Hokage..." At this everybody nodded, some with sad looks in their eyes. "Well, Tenzan is the one who made Orochimaru what he is. He might have eventually followed the same path, but Tenzan took Orochimaru under his wing and made it his purpose in life to use Orochimaru as a crooked ninja who would protect him and hide the traces of his dirty dealings. In exchange for Orochimaru's protection, Tenzan gave him the money he needed to create his labratories and even helped him find civilians who had an idea of his deal so that he could protect Orochimaru from the public eye and protect himself as long as possible." Seven pairs of eyes bore down on the man who was now tied to a post, wishing the worst kind of death on him humanly possible. "But, that is not all." All eyes focused back on the usually over-enthusiastic jounin as he continued his story. "When Orochimaru was caught red-handed and ninja were sent to try to catch him, Tenzan took all of the gold from the Konoha treasury he could using a few corrupt ninja to help him carry the ill-gotten gains out and away from Konoha. The last anybody had heard, he was being chased by some trackers who were after the missing ninja that were with him. But they were unable to find any of them."
Temari continued. "And that's where our story comes in. He continued his criminal life under a new name and took control of many villages while hiring hundreds of ninja, thieves, and mercenaries to keep control of the villages. We rarely find out about villages under his control because the people are rarely ever able to accumulate money for our services, and even fewer are able to get away without being killed in the process. About two weeks ago we received a mission from a village nearby, requested by an 'anonymous citizen.' Apparently there had been fleeing criminals who left with large amounts of gold and jewels from the village's richer district. Although the money would have supposedly been hidden so that they could eventually come back for it, the criminals were wanted killed by the employer. They weren't criminals though, and the chuunin team we sent was able to figure it out. After placing the fugitives from the crime lord into a nearby outpost of Suna, they went back in and captured Tenzan. His employees soon learned about it and chased after the chuunin and employer all the way up until they reached our walls. We've been holding off their attacks and sent a messenger bird as well as a few courier ninja to get the message to Konoha, and were then ordered to stay there until Tenzan was brought to Konoha."
"How is it that so many remain loyal to him after he has been captured. Most men, ninja and mercenary alike, are smart enough to realize when it's pointless to chase after an uncertain flow of money. Why would they chase him still?" Neji asked, this time staring at the man in question.
"Unlike most crime lords, he didn't lie, threaten, or pretend to be something he wasn't with his employees. He controlled them with money. When he left Konoha with the ninja, he didn't carry gold like most would, he carried it by sealing bricks of it in scrolls, and carried the scrolls in backpacks, he left with more than a Kage's ransom worth of currency." Gai had spoken grimly this time, suprising his students. "He crippled Konoha like none but Orochimaru himself. It wasn't recorded in our history and was hidden from the public, but most Jounin and higher knew about it. I learned about it from my sensei after complaining about the many missions we had to endure at that time."
After recovering from his shock, Neji spoke up once more "But you still didn't answer the question, how could that affect what's happening after he was captured?" It looked like a fire inside of him cooled slightly when he heard the question again. "He set a bounty for his own life just in case something like this happened. It states that if he is ever captured, the person who frees him will receive Two-hundred million yen."
"We had trouble with guards trying to rescue him after he told them about his offer to save him. Kankuro and I were told to keep guard since we could be trusted not to take him up on such an offer. We requested the most loyal of Konoha to aid us in his transfer. I'm glad it was you six." Temari added with a sincere smile. "I'm sorry, but we should rest for the night, Shikamaru, I'll trust you with deciding the night watches, goodnight." With that Shikamaru quickly gave everybody their orders for the night and went to talk with Temari, while the rest went to sleep except for the two who had begun their shift of the night watch.
-----------------------------
"I know that we haven't seen the worst of what's to come..." Shikamaru spoke sadly. "Damn lazy ass... So you figured it out too, huh? You're right. We've faced a few enemies, but it's nothing compared to what's to come since we still have to get to the next two villages and I doubt enemy ninja will just let us walk in."
"So what kind of traps are you expecting? Explosive tags, weapon traps, or simply more ninjas?" Temari gave him a sigh and gave him a sad smile.
"Probably more ninja, but they would be able to ambush us easily. We're in a group and moving slowly. They can't use explosives or they might hit the bastard we're carrying, but that doesn't mean that they can't use other deadly tricks. Genjutsu and sand based ninjutsu will probably be the biggest problems. Besides them, we might not have to worry too much. But again, only the smarter ninja would come out this far which means we could be fighting alot worse odds and alot stronger opponents, you might even see a couple blood limits from Suna out here." Shikamaru paled, this was more troublesome than he expected. Although he expected this, hearing another confirm it was just as much, if not more, disturbing.
"Thank you Temari, you and I should both try to find an easier path or think of another option tonight, we'll discuss what we can in the morning. Goodnight" He smiled warmly and bowed before leaving to get some rest. She smiled as he walked off thinking of what she would do to him if they were left alone, which was quickly followed by a blush when she caught herself. "Goodnight Shikamaru."
------------------------------
That is it for this chapter! I hope you have liked it. The next chapter is well under progress (more or less) and there is an action scene either in the next chapter or the one after it. This is not exactly a great start (it's pretty slow I admit), and I'm open to criticism/advice if you can give it without turning it into an all out flame. PLEASE REVIEW!!!