Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ Mission in Doubt ( Chapter 11 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
Team Gai arrives in the Land of Waves, but finds not all is as it appears.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.16.2008 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.0K | Visits: 994 | Status: Completed
Team Gai arrives in the Land of Waves, but finds not all is as it appears.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.16.2008 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.0K | Visits: 994 | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 11 - Mission in Doubt
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Sakura peered into the nursery mostly out of morbid curiosity. She saw Jiro playing with the baby while Ai was sleeping in a nearby chair. Neji and Tenten were standing guard, but their slightly confused expressions showed they still didn't know why. Rock Lee was twitching as he watched the family with a rather disturbed look.
"I don't suppose you can tell me what the deal is with Ai-chan's family?" Tenten wondered.
Sakura gave the other girl a look that said 'Are you stupid?' "And piss off Tsunade-sensei?"
Tenten let out slight chuckle. "Yeah, that wouldn't be healthy. Will we get to know why?"
"That wouldn't be for me to decide," Sakura answered. "What's the baby's name?"
"Shinobu-chan." Tenten sighed wistfully. "Isn't she cute?"
Sakura nodded. The baby girl was certainly cute, giggling happily with smiling brown eyes and shimmering black hair. Yet how the infant came into the world was testing her sanity. She shook her head and then announced, "The debriefing is about to start."
Jiro carefully put his daughter back into the hospital crib. The baby let out a cry and reached out for her father.
Ai roared out a yawn as she woke up to the sound. She walked over and touched the baby's lips with her finger. "Shhh... We'll be back. Mother promises."
The baby girl only cried louder as a response.
Tenten approached the crib and tickled the infant's stomach. "Don't worry Shinobu-chan, big sister Tenten will take care of you. Oh, yes she will."
Ai retreated with her husband. She smirked towards Neji. "Good luck. You're going to need it."
Neji pulled at his collar.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the comment, but then shrugged. "Tsunade-sensei wants one of you to help cover any details Ai and Jiro might miss," she informed Neji's team.
"Oh, no! Not again! I had enough debriefing of that mission already!" Tenten whined, but then had to go back to playing with Shinobu.
"We'll take Fuzzy Eyebrows," Ai muttered out sluggishly. "You just keep an eye on Shinobu."
"Why him?" Neji wondered.
Ai shrugged. "He apparently has some weird ideas, and we'll set him straight."
"Good. He needs it. He said something really weird to Neji's uncle," Tenten mentioned.
Ai laughed and began dragging Rock Lee away from the nursery by his arm.
"Na-," Rock Lee didn't get a second syllable before Ai stomped on his foot.
"Just shut up until we get to the debriefing room," the young mother hissed out.
Rock Lee nodded and let the girl drag him all the way to their destination. He was not surprised to see Jiraiya and Kakashi were in the room. When the door shut, he turned toward the girl still gripping his arm. "What the hell is going on, Naruto?"
"First off, my name is Ai now," the girl shot at him. "You can't call me Naruto because I'm not him anymore."
Rock Lee blinked. "But you ARE Naruto, aren't you?"
"I _WAS_, but I'm not him _now_," Ai stressed.
Tsunade cleared her voice. "For reasons that are top secret, Naruto had been targeted for death by a rouge ninja group called Akatsuki. As he had run into them before, they knew how to track him. To protect him, I used a forbidden jutsu to change Naruto's body. There were two scrolls sent, and he randomly choose between them."
Rock Lee nodded with a blank look on his face. "I had figured something like that. But that means Jiro is Hinata, right?"
"I was her, but as Ai told you, I'm Jiro now, not Hinata," the young father stated evenly.
"But what about the baby?" Rock Lee questioned.
"Shinobu IS my daughter," Ai told him firmly. "I rode Jiro like a horse, he planted his seed, and nearly ten months of hell later, I had Shinobu."
Rock Lee began twitching again. "That's... very disturbing."
"That's an understatement," Sakura muttered.
Jiro's face was deep red as he opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent.
"Almost ten months?" Rock Lee questioned. "But Shinobu-chan is six weeks old. That would mean..."
"I was already pregnant when you came to the Land of Waves in late January, yes," Ai confirmed. "I just didn't know that until after you left."
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There were reasons why Ai worked at the ramen shop at the end of the bridge and Jiro worked at the docks beyond needing the money to live on. From those two places they could watch those entering the Land of Waves and would be the first to know if the Akatsuki came to pay them a visit.
The cold January weather was threatening snow, but Ai's mind was on how Jiro would be keeping her warm that night. It was amazing how much she had changed since this mission had started. When she first took this body, it hadn't disturbed her because she had used Sexy no Jutsu to turn into a good looking girl before. As Naruto had no ability with Genjutsu, she really had turned into a girl back then. It was being attracted to guys that had upset her, but she had gotten used to those feelings. Probably a bit too well. Now if only she could get Jiro to be the aggressor like he had been their first night, as she had been the one to initiate all the other encounters they've had.
Ai snapped out of her thoughts when her boss, Yamamoto, called her attention to a group of people crossing the bridge. Being the first restaurant after many hours of travel, most people who arrived in the Land of Waves from the bridge often stopped there.
Ai looked at the group in surprise. Two of them were dress in matching green outfits and the exact same bowl haircut, while the other two wore extremely similar white clothes. The ones in green were often mistaken as being father and son, but she knew that those weren't related at all. Gai was the jounin leader of the group and Rock Lee was merely the prized pupil. The lone girl of the group, Tenten, seemed to have selected both Neji's and her own attire.
Without any signal or debate, the group turned straight for the ramen shop, causing Ai to put on a false smile. She tried to think of how to best talk to them without revealing that she knew who they were. Ai failed to account for her boss.
"What brings Konoha ninja to the Land of Waves? Are you passing through or are you here to see Ai-chan and her husband?" Yamamoto asked.
"Ai-chan?" Tenten wondered in confusion.
The purple haired girl seemed to trip, but kept herself from falling. Her face was flushed when she slapped the back of her boss's head. "Yamamoto! You can't say things like that!"
"Oops." Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I mentioned something I shouldn't have."
Ai folded her arms. "Damn straight you did!"
Gai gazed intently at the girl. "You do seem familiar... but I can't remember from where."
"Guess they aren't here to see you," Yamamoto chuckled.
"Stop talking and take their orders already!" Ai snapped at him.
"Why would he think we should know you?" Neji asked seriously.
"They don't know..." Yamamoto trailed off as the girl glared death at him.
Ai turned her attention to Team Gai. "I'm a genin from Konoha. I can't go into details concerning why, but my boyfriend and I were assigned to help keep the peace on the island."
Gai looked confused. "Konoha avoids giving out missions like that. Too many end in marriage."
"Well, if Jiro wasn't already milking the cow...," Yamamoto joked.
"Are you asking for an early grave?!" Ai shot at her boss.
"That still doesn't make sense," Gai muttered.
Ai folded her arms irritably. "Look, I know you're a jounin and all, but I'm not allowed to explain anything to you. I can, however, offer you some help while you're in the Land of Waves. If you want proof of my identity, I can show you that later."
Tenten's stomach chose to growl loudly. "Let's talk mission later. I want some food now."
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"Can we trust those two?" Neji wondered.
"They do own Konoha headbands and they do have papers ordering them on this mission signed by Tsunade-sama, herself," Tenten pointed out.
"And how hard would it be to forge them?" Neji retorted.
"How can you not trust them after asking them stuff only someone from Konoha would know?" Rock Lee returned.
"We don't know how far the kidnappers would go to hide Yashida. Those two might be working for them to keep us away from her. They could even be spies planted by the Hidden Mist Village, considering how close we are to their territory," Neji explained his apprehension.
"Ai and Jiro may be what we need to succeed in the mission. They know the island and the people in it," Tenten retorted.
"While it is good to be cautious, we are still on lands protected by Konoha and they are obviously hot blooded youth of Konoha!" Gai cheered out.
"Perhaps too 'hot blooded.' I think I remember seeing Ai back when we were at the academy. Jiro looks rather like he's an Uchiha. I bet the entire reason why those two were sent here was to keep him safe and make sure he has kids with an approved ninja," Tenten commented.
"Interesting theory, only there's no facts to support it," Neji retorted. "All I'm saying is that we don't tell them everything. Keep it to the basics of the mission."
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"So, you've been on a wild goose chase trying to find a kidnapped noble?" Ai asked them. "And why was there a debate on telling us that?"
"Obviously there's more to the mission than that," Jiro observed.
"Indeed there is. The kidnappers tried to erase her existence. Every picture and almost every written document of Yashida Kimiko has been destroyed. Accepting the mission was delayed because Konoha wasn't sure she ever existed," Gai informed.
"What group of ninja tried to remove any reference of her?" Jiro asked.
"You will know if you run into them," Neji said firmly.
"Always a stick up your ass," Ai muttered in a low voice that Neji didn't hear, but the quirk of Rock Lee's eyebrow showed that he did.
"So what do we know about this girl?" Jiro wondered.
"She's seventeen years old, black hair, and has been missing for a year," Tenten informed.
"Oh, wow. That's like, what? Two hundred possible candidates if she went through the Land of Waves. Hell, I can think of more than a dozen girls in the town right now who match that," Ai groused.
"Isn't there any mark or something that can help narrow it down? Eye color?" Jiro pressed.
"Her father said she had gray eyes, her mother said brown, which was part of the reason of the delay. If they couldn't agree on what she looked like, it raised more questions of her existence," Tenten added.
"Birthmark high on her inner thigh," Rock Lee mentioned.
"And how many times have I told you not to mention that?!" Tenten chastised with a blush.
"Ai might've seen that at public baths or something," Rock Lee defended weakly.
"Afraid not. I don't use public baths," Ai told them. She then had a thought of asking a certain pervert, but stomped that idea down. That was certainly a last resort to endorse Jiraiya to spy on bathing girls.
"But it does give us something to go on at least," Jiro commented. "Is there any reason to believe she might be in the Land of Waves?"
"Our last solid clue referenced the ship she had been put on being lost in this area," Neji informed. "Unfortunately, we do not know the ship's name. The kidnappers were careful to cover their tracks."
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The following morning Ai and Jiro woke up to the sound of Neji screaming. They rushed to put on some clothes and ran to the nearby shack that Team Gai had stayed in for the night. Entering through a hole in the wall, they found Tenten laughing hysterically, Neji was hyperventilating, while Rock Lee and Gai were nursing injuries.
"What happened?" Ai wondered.
Tenten tried to reign in her laughter. "This swiss cheese shack offered no protection from the cold. Neji and I cuddled to keep warm as we fell asleep. Apparently Gai-sensei and Rock Lee decided to join us."
Jiro's mouth hung open as he stared at Neji, not believing he would cuddle with anyone, even a girl.
"Well, we're all up now," Ai snorted, trying to keep from laughing. "What's the plans?"
"Rock Lee and I will go to the docks and find out about any lost ships in the area, Neji and Tenten will see if she is living on the island," Gai informed.
"Then Jiro should go with you, as he works on the docks," Ai mentioned. "I'll ask around about recent additions to the Land of Waves who could be the girl you're looking for." She then glanced at the holes in the walls and ceiling. "And ask Tazuna about getting some guys to fix this place up for you."
"That would be appreciated," Neji muttered, glaring at the guys on his team.
Ai laughed and back flipped through one of the shack's holes. She then spotted Yamiko hunched over and throwing up into a ditch. "Are you okay?"
Yamiko brushed her long black hair back. "I'm fine. It's just this damn pregnancy." She stood up and towered in height over Ai.
Ai frowned. "If you say so." She gazed at the woman, and guessed her age to be around twenty. Too old to be the girl that team Gai was looking for, but three of the other former sex slaves did match. Not to mention one of the girls who left could've been her. As the woman turned to walk away, Ai asked, "Say, you wouldn't have happened to see a girl with a birthmark on her upper thigh?"
"I don't look for such things," Yamiko replied before entering her home.
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"Ai-chan?!" Tenten called out irritably.
The teenage girl turned around, but Inari and Keiko didn't stop sparring.
"Something wrong, Tenten?" Ai wondered.
"Didn't you say you were going to get us a list of teenage girls who arrived in the Land of Waves in the past year?" Tenten questioned harshly.
"By the time Inari is done training, his grandfather will have the list ready. Tazuna is one of the leaders of the town, and anything built to last was designed by him," Ai informed.
"And just why are you training two local kids to be ninja?" Tenten asked sternly.
Ai folded her arms. "Inari wants to be one, and Keiko needs to know how to defend herself. I do have the okay to train them, even though it's not actually needed."
"Excuse me?" Keiko called out.
Ai turned around and saw that her students had stopped sparring and were now looking at Tenten curiously. "What is it, kiddo?"
"Is there some sort of problem?" Keiko wondered.
"Not really. Tenten and her teammates are looking for a missing girl, but they don't have a lot to go on," Ai explained.
"Is there some way we could help?" Inari asked.
Tenten put her hand on her hip. "And what kind of help do you think you could offer? What would you do in the face of an enemy ninja?"
"Do everything in our power to run away and find Ai or Jiro," Keiko answered.
Inari frowned. "Yeah. We're not ready for a real opponent yet."
Tenten smirked. "Well, that's good to hear."
"As for what they can do, Inari has lived on the island his entire life. He knows his way around and the people of the Land of Waves better than most the adults. And while Keiko may be new to the island, she can hide with the best ninja," Ai boasted the children's talents.
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"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ai grumbled before sinking into a heated spring and was pointedly not looking at the naked girl next to her.
"Is there some reason you don't like going to public baths?" Tenten asked, moving in front of the girl to talk to her directly.
Ai laughed sheepishly, but kept her head turned away. "Let's just say that if my first love found out I was here, SHE would beat the shit out of me."
Tenten blinked in surprise and moved to cover herself. "You like... girls?"
Ai shrugged. "Guess you could say that. But those interests were before Jiro. Seeing girls naked now doesn't do much anymore."
Tenten relaxed a little, but still made sure her nakedness was concealed from the girl. "So you grew out of it, huh? What would your first love have to say about it?"
"Throw a party," Ai joked. "It was entirely one-sided."
Tenten stretched her tired muscles. "I can sympathize a bit. When I first became a genin, I spent as much time looking at guys as I did training. Now with Neji, I don't have to go looking."
Ai smirked. "Bet you still take some peeks."
"Well, a girl has to be a girl." Tenten smirked. "But I seriously doubt any normal guy could satisfy me. He'd have to be a ninja. And Neji certainly takes care of my needs."
Ai glanced at the girl suspiciously. "You don't mean the sort of 'needs' that Jiro helps me with at night, do you?"
Tenten grinned. "You'd be surprised what he can do with his bloodline limit in the bedroom."
"Have you tried it while transformed into the other gender?" Ai asked curiously.
Tenten stared at the girl. "Ah... no. You mean you and Jiro... switched?"
"Yep. Did that a few days after we became lovers. We had more reasons than just being kinky, but it felt kind of too weird. Like something was missing." Ai shrugged. "Still it was an experience."
"I seriously doubt Neji would go for being a girl," Tenten laughed.
"He should try it some time. Even lesbian sex can be fun," Ai pointed out devilishly.
Tenten edged away from her. "I thought you said you weren't into girls anymore."
"Only if the girl is Jiro," Ai replied firmly. "Now what sort of tricks do you and Neji use? I might want to try them out."
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"You're teaching them how to climb trees?" Neji asked skeptically.
Jiro stiffened hearing his voice. "Well, I was trying to figure out how to get them to best learn chakra control, and this seemed to be the fastest way."
Neji folded his arms. "While that certainly teaches control, but how much chakra manipulation have they learned? Have you tried teaching them basic Genjutsu or Ninjutsu?"
"I tried, but they don't have the control needed to even do them. It'd be different if we had years to slowly train them, but with their age, a more expedient route is needed," Jiro explained.
Neji frowned as Inari would run up three meters before falling ungracefully to the ground while Keiko reached four meters and landed on the ground like a cat. "You two, take a break from that," Neji ordered.
Inari and Keiko looked at him strangely.
"You aren't using your chakra correctly." Neji folded his arms. "I believe the issue is that you don't understand what it is. Chakra is the energy of life. A ninja can hone his energy to produce great effects, adapting it to suit his needs. The trees also have chakra, for they are alive. They use it to protect themselves, to repel unwanted intruders. Your chakra is most certainly unwanted as it interferes with its life."
"So we shouldn't be fighting the tree when trying to climb it, but try to work with the tree so it won't reject us," Inari surmised.
Neji smirked. "Indeed."
"Chakra is part of us?" Keiko wondered. "What happens if we use up too much?"
"You can deplete yourself of chakra, which would make you feel extremely weak. Where lifting your arms feels like there are lead weights attached. There is little risk in dying from that," Jiro told them. "What you have to avoid is pushing yourself beyond that point."
"What happens if we go beyond that?" Keiko asked worriedly.
"Whatever you were attempting would likely fail and you could die," Neji said flatly.
Jiro frowned. "It's nothing you should worry about. We train to learn our limits so we know what lines to never cross unless we absolutely need to."
"Like to save Ai's life?" Keiko questioned.
Jiro blushed as he nodded. "Yes. I would go that far to save Ai."
Inari pointed at the girl next to him. "Don't you dare push yourself that far for me! I'd rather die!"
Keiko turned and poked the boy in the chest. "Then you better not do that for me, either!"
"It's my duty to protect you!" Inari shot back at her.
"Then my duty would be to protect you!" Keiko returned.
Inari growled. "I don't want you to do that!"
"The same goes for me!" Keiko hissed.
The two kids rushed and tried to climb the tree, but Neji's words were lost on them in their haze of anger and hurt.
"What's wrong with those two?" Neji asked quietly.
Jiro gave a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"I've had that argument with Tenten. They seem awfully young to have a serious relationship," Neji observed.
Jiro sighed. "They both had a troubled past. Their innocence has been brutally taken by others, though in different ways. They both need each other to get through their pain. Inari watched someone he viewed as his father tortured and then murdered. And Keiko... was a sex slave."
Neji's clenched his fist. "What happened to her slave masters?"
"Most of them are dead, the rest are in prison with the key to their cell destroyed," Jiro replied.
"Good." Neji sighed. "There are too many kids out there like them. I can certainly relate to having my eyes opened by pain, particularly Inari's. But why would they use a girl her age for sex?"
"Some people have weird fetishes. Ai certainly has some," Jiro tried to joke, to get rid of the heavy air of the conversation.
Neji let out a short chuckle. "Tell me about it. Tenten can get some really weird ideas."
Jiro's mind froze at the apparent admission that the no-nonsense boy he had grown up with was the lover of a rather excitable girl. He then shook his head. If Neji was to learn that he was Hinata and that Ai was Naruto, the shock to his former cousin could be fatal.
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Team Gai, Ai, Jiro, Inari and Keiko sat in a circle on the field the youngest two typically trained.
"So, what do we have so far?" Gai questioned.
Rock Lee's hand shot straight up. "Three sunken ships in the last year. The sailors believe they know where one of them may be."
"Good, we can rent a ship and investigate that wreck tomorrow," Gai replied. "How is searching in the town fairing?"
"I have not seen anyone being restrained outside of the men in the town's prison," Neji informed.
"We've narrowed down the number of girls that have a strong potential to be Yashida to six, with another nine not as likely but could still be her. The ones we've ruled out don't have the needed birthmark," Tenten added, passing the list toward Gai.
Keiko grabbed the list to pass it, but she quickly looked it over. "You're looking for a mark on the inner thigh?"
Tenten reluctantly nodded.
"Michiro and Tomoyo don't have any mark there," Keiko told them.
"Are you sure?" Neji asked firmly.
Keiko blushed and turned away. "Very sure."
Ai was thankful to note that Inari seemed to be confused at the girl's reaction. She could guess that the young girl had been made to have sex with the older girls to satisfy some old fart's twisted pleasure. And if Inari didn't figure that out, chances were that Inari had yet to personally find out exactly what the girl had been used for.
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Team Gai took Ai and Jiro onto a short sailing trip. They were on deck talking to the ship captain.
"So this is where a ship sank six months ago?" Neji asked.
"How far down is the ship?" Gai asked.
"Hard to say," commented the captain. "The seas were very rough at the time."
"Byakugan!" Neji called out.
"Do you see the ship?" Tenten asked.
The captain looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"The water makes it difficult..." Neji's face clenched tightly, but then relaxed slightly. "It's a half kilometer that way, about seventy meters down."
"Captain, if you would be so kind as to take us that way," Gai requested.
"If you say so, but I don't get why ya listen to some kid saying something he can't know," the captain complained before signaling the helmsman to change their course.
"It's a special ninja skill, Captain," Ai explained. "Don't try to figure us out, or it'll hurt your head."
The captain laughed. "I've stopped trying to figure out you and your husband."
"Why does everyone think we're married?" Ai groused.
"You're not? Need me to fix that?" the captain returned.
"I'll get back to you on that," Ai failed to promise.
"The water is dampening my eyes. I can't see inside the ship," Neji told them.
"You wouldn't happen to know any water jutsu?" Gai asked.
"Afraid not," Jiro answered.
"I'm air," Ai grinned. She then grabbed Neji and jumped overboard. As they hit the water, a swirling mass of air encased them as they plunged into the water as if they were inside a bubble.
"Neat trick," Gai commented.
Underwater, Neji had a different opinion. "Couldn't you have warned me?"
"You needed to get closer, so I got you closer," Ai retorted. "Don't bug me as I've only started to learn elemental jutsu."
Neji growled and focused on using his bloodline limit. The sooner he checked the ship over completely, the happier he would be. After a few minutes, he started to feel strangely light headed, but his task was complete. "Let's go back to the surface."
"Take a deep breath, because we're swimming back. Ready? Go!" With no more warning, the ball of spinning air broke apart and Ai was swimming straight for the surface.
Neji scowled darkly as he chased after the girl. His lungs were burning when he made it above the water and gasped out for fresh air.
Walking on the side of the ship like it was the ground, Jiro and Team Gai helped the two water logged ninja back onto the deck.
"So what's the verdict?" Tenten wondered.
"The only skeletons I saw were on top of or near the wreck. There were no bodies inside the ship itself," Neji informed them.
"So there was little chance that she was being held on that ship." Gai rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, that was a good effort, and should be what we were hoping for. It means she may still be alive somewhere."
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee immediately agreed.
Jiro and Ai looked at each other and smirked. Some things never changed.
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Arriving at the dock, the ninja saw the official law enforcement of the Land of Waves waiting for them.
"Is there something wrong, officer?" Gai asked.
The lead officer, Gotoh, stepped forward. "There's been a murder inside the jail."
"That sucks. Who died?" Ai asked.
"I need to ask you all questions regarding it as the only possible suspects for the murder are fully trained ninja," Gotoh told them firmly.
"I would like to see the crime scene immediately," Gai ordered.
"Looks like our old friends may be back," Tenten complained sarcastically.
Rock Lee slammed his right fist into his left palm. "We'll be sure to teach them a new lesson about messing with the Country of Fire."
Gotoh glared. "In case you haven't realized it, YOU are the main suspects."
"Do not insult me or the ninja of Konoha!" Gai yelled out. "We do not resort to cowardly acts of torture and murder!"
"And what do you call the Anbu?" Tenten muttered under her breath, causing Ai to laugh.
"This is no joke," Gotoh demanded.
Ai stepped forward. "What are you going to do if it was one of us? You can't hold us."
"We don't have time to debate the issue," Neji growled. "Take us to the prison as we have our own questions to ask."
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"Ah crap, not more ninja," complained one of the prisoners.
"Don't worry, we're not here for you," Ai shot at him. "Sorry that this is the most female flesh you'll be seeing in a while."
"Ha, ha," the guy laughed sarcastically.
Arriving at the deepest cell, the ninja found a bloody mess smeared everywhere.
Gotoh went to one of the walls and pried out a shuriken from it. "We've been pulling dozens of these out."
"Man, the guy must have been pissed to be this sloppy," Ai observed. "This was a chain shuriken thing. Two Mist-nin nearly cut my head off with one of these things. And whoever used it sent it straight into a wall."
"Chief Gotoh, who was in this cell?" Jiro demanded.
"Captain Boujima," the officer answered.
"The captain of the sex slave ship?" Jiro asked in surprise.
"WHAT?!" Tenten cried out. "If the Mist-nin murdered him that means they used the noble girl for..."
Ai took off running, which the other ninja quickly followed, she then skidded to a stop in front of the cell of the prisoner she had taunted earlier. "Hey, limp dick! When you got your jollies off with the girls, did any of them have a birthmark?"
The man blinked. "Yamiko had a strange mark near her cunt. Why?"
"Fuck! I thought she was twenty, not seventeen!" Ai cursed.
"Ah, isn't she the girl that's pregnant?" Rock Lee asked in a confused tone.
The prisoner's eyes widened. "Hey, now! It probably ain't mine!"
Neji clenched his fist. "We've got to find her before those Mist-nin do. They will kill her this time."
The prisoner could only stare as the six ninja that had been in front of his cell disappeared.
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"Yamiko!" Ai cried out seeing the girl walk down the street. "Good! You're okay!"
Yamiko merely nodded, but did not look at the ninja.
Smelling a strange fragrance, Ai felt a little lightheaded. "You got a new perfume?"
Yamiko nodded again.
Ai frowned as her head started to hurt. "You going out looking for guys?" When the girl answered with another nod, the ninja kicked her in the chest.
"How did you know?" a masculine voice asked.
"After what you bastards did to her, the touch of a man is revolting to her," Ai spat.
"Good," Yamiko smirked evilly. "Can't have my cousin leave an heir. But it's too late for you. You are mine."
"Huh?" Ai questioned before her world began to spin.
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Rock Lee smiled when he spotted Yamiko, and she wasn't alone. Now all they had to do was safely get her back to her home island and the mission would finally be over. His smile fell as he heard Yamiko speak, and it was no voice of a girl he heard.
"A powerful Mist-nin is here to destroy you and all you love," 'Yamiko' said in a deep male voice.
"Kisame..." Ai muttered out as if she cursed. "Where's your butt-buddy, Itachi?" She growled viciously. "You damned Akatsuki keep taking away everything from me! I won't let you get away with it anymore! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Yamiko's appearance faded into a guy who did not look much different save his hair was much shorter. He laughed at the sight of a sea of shadow clones surrounding the surprised Konoha ninja. "My, what have I hit here? If she faced Kisame and lived to tell about it, there's little chance you can beat her. Now to find my beloved cousin so I can kill her personally."
Dodging the incoming attacks, the Konoha ninja asked, "I suppose telling you I'm Rock Lee won't mean much?"
"Where's your sword?" one of the Ai's asked. "Don't need it? Why you..."
"Guess not." Rock Lee frowned. "I hate Genjutsu. Please forgive me for what I have to do." And the battle was joined.
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Jiro frowned as he saw that he was not the first to find Yamiko. His reason to be upset had less to do with Neji beating him and more to do with clones of a Mist-nin surrounding his former cousin and the pregnant girl. It didn't help that the best ways Jiro could think of helping Neji would raise a giant flag over his head as being an Uchiha. Chidori and breathing out a fireball were completely out of the question. At least his fighting style was different enough from Naruto's that his plan shouldn't raise unwanted questions.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Jiro whispered as he approached the standoff. He and his clones jumped down into the street behind each of the clones and proceeded to assault them. In each case the surprised victim turned into water.
"Be careful Omizuka is a water element master," Neji warned.
A distant explosion made Jiro smirk. "And he's obviously not alone."
Yamiko cowered behind Neji as a rumbling noise approached them. "Save me!"
Neji grabbed the girl and jumped into the air, followed immediately by Jiro and his many clones. A second later a tidal wave of water rushed down the street. When the ninja landed, they were not happy with the now water logged road.
"You Konoha ninja don't know when to die," Omizuka spat, arriving on the scene while riding a meter tall wave of water.
"We try our best," Neji countered.
"Try your best against this." Omizuka's hands flew through a complex set of hand signs. "Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"
Jiro wished he had Sharigan active when he saw the giant water dragon launch from the nearby seawater. The dragon honed straight for Neji and Yamiko. The girl was promptly bodily tossed at Jiro, who caught her. The watery dragon still continued for Neji, who smirked as the attack descended upon him and exploded away harmlessly from the now spinning ninja.
Omizuka growled in frustration. "If only Yashida had us kill her from the beginning, we wouldn't even have to deal with this shit."
"Yashida?" Jiro blinked in confusion. "Isn't that Yamiko's real clan name?" His clones moved to attack the Mist-nin, but blades of water began to quickly cut them down.
"Her family controls one of the islands east of here. It technically belongs to no country, but has historically had ties to both Fire and Water countries. Her parents sided with Fire Country, but her cousin is a Mist-nin who wants the lands for himself," Neji explained.
"I have no family or lands," Yamiko retorted. "They disowned me and sold me off."
"Genjutsu," Jiro said simply. "They made you see what they wanted you to. It never happened."
"Thanks for giving me time," Omizuka gloated. "Suiton Ku Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Nine dragons erupted from the sea and menacingly towered over them.
"That should be a lesson at the academy, talk AFTER you've defeated your opponent," Jiro groused. "Stand back Yamiko, this is about to get messy."
The girl took a few steps back, but then suddenly screamed.
Jiro and Neji whirled around and saw Yamiko being dragged through a wall as if it wasn't there.
"Shit! Do you think you can take Omizuka?" Neji asked.
Jiro merely nodded.
"Don't think I'll let you leave here alive!" Omizuka shouted. "Dragons descend!"
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Jiro cried out while whipping out a devil shuriken, which he launched into the air. The single, enormous bladed throwing weapon suddenly became nine and sliced through the heads of the watery dragons, destroying half of them and damaging the rest. It was enough for Neji to give chase.
Omizuka chuckled coldly. "You are nothing but a hindrance."
"I would say that Neji and Yamiko were mine. Without them, my restrictions can come off," Jiro returned as he activated Sharigan.
"Empty boasts mean nothing," Omizuka shouted as he sent the remaining dragons to attack.
"Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Jiro cried out, spewing forth a fireball from his mouth and countering the attempted attack. "There is nothing empty about what I've become."
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Rock Lee quickly realized three things when fighting against one hundred copies of Ai. First, that fighting such a large number of opponents at the same time required him to fight in a different manner than he normally did. Second, that he could not let them pull off a combo move. And third, he had to deplete the number of clones as fast as he could.
As four clones of Ai ran for Rock Lee, he jumped to a handstand onto a nearby chair. Two of the clones crashed into each other in mid-kick, dispelling themselves. He then flipped to a standing position and used the chair to catch a hastily thrown punch and yanked the chair to send the girl off balance so he could send her away with a punch. The now damaged chair would be of little use so Rock Lee threw it at a pair of girls preparing something with their hands.
Another set of Ai clones descended upon Rock Lee, and he made sure they kept their distance with a ladder. Only the girls grabbed and pulled it into two. This made the boy smirk as he promptly used the now double set of quarter staves as reach weapons to brain any shadow copies that came close. And then used it as stilts when five girls did get a bit too close. Unfortunately that left the long shafts of the former ladder exposed to attacks, which the girls hacked apart to remove the improvised weapon.
Rock Lee really hated that this wasn't one-on-one. His best moves were intended to take down one, and only one person. Though there was something enjoyable about this fight, and the way Ai came at him seemed more familiar than just being from Konoha. He wasn't about to let her complete a combo to put his finger on it.
"Oodama Rasengan!" a pair of Ai clones cried out.
"I'm sorry," Rock Lee apologized before picking up the nearest thing to him, a scared cat that had been trying to hide in the corner. He proceeded to throw the cat at the face of one of the clones charging at him. The result was what he was hoping for. The attack disrupted from the cat clawing one of the girl's faces.
A summersault and grab latter, Rock Lee now held someone's wet pants and used it like a whip to fend off one attack before latching onto a different clone and making her move in front of another Ai running at him.
"You're playing with me, aren't you?" Ai hissed out angrily. "Bastard."
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The Land of Waves looked like it had suffered a severe localized flood. From the harbor to deep into the island where Ai and Jiro practiced daily was now covered in water.
"I suppose you have some special trick with fresh water," Omizuka growled. "I did not believe Konoha had such an element master to use both fire and water."
"I couldn't use water jutsu until this fight," Jiro returned.
Omizuka scowled. "Are you Copy Cat Kakashi's son?"
Jiro frowned. "It would seem I was careless. I didn't need to set up your death."
Omizuka laughed bitterly, moving to stand on the pond. "The only one to die will be you. There is no way you can know my final technique!"
"As much as I'd like to learn it, I have to end this match now," Jiro retorted, standing on the other side of the small body of fresh water.
Omizuka went into a complex set of hand seals. Jiro grabbed his right wrist and focused his chakra. Lightning began to arc from his hand and across the pond's surface, stunning the Mist-nin. Jiro shot forward and plunged his electrified hand into Omizuka's chest.
Jiro pulled his hand free and watched in remorse as the dead Mist-nin sank into the pond.
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"He's toying with me," Ai spat, watching Kisame dispatching her clones with nonchalant ease. He taunted her as he sent volleys of watery spheres at her clones. She would make him and the other Akatsuki pay for messing with her life. She would not be in this situation if it was not for them. Because of them she was now the lover of a guy. While she might not regret her feelings for Jiro, the loss of her identity as Naruto was certainly crime enough.
"Why aren't you helping me?" Ai asked the kyuubi within her.
"Because you are a fool. Watch him closer," a demonic voice replied.
Ai had been watching the bastard closely. She didn't understand what she should be looking for. She had never fought fish-face before.
The demon sighed. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Does he fight like Zabuza or Haku?"
"No," Ai immediately replied angrily. "Why should that matter?"
"That's a Konoha fighting stance he uses, stupid shit. Kisame is a former Mist-nin. He would not keep falling back to the lotus stance," the kyuubi hissed out.
"Lotus...?" Ai questioned, staring more intently at ninja fighting her remaining twenty clones. "Fuzzy Eyebrows?"
Rock Lee missed a step and looked at the girl who said that with wide eyes. "Naruto?"
Ai clutched at her head. She had been trapped in some stupid Genjutsu. Jiraiya had given her a means of fighting this. She let out a roar as she let her chakra flare about her, disrupting its normal flow and breaking the control of the illusion that had entrapped her. She smirked upon seeing Rock Lee's confused faced and immediately dispelled her still deluded clones before they could attack.
"We've got to find Yamiko and make sure she's safe," Ai told him seriously. "And watch out for any strange smells."
Rock Lee nodded. "Are you really Naruto?"
"Of course not. Why would I be him? I'm a girl, if you hadn't noticed," Ai returned, but did not look him in the face when she said it.
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There had been no designated meeting place, but the Konoha ninja returned to the shacks. Neji and Yamiko arrived first, followed by Gai carrying the struggling Yashida Mist-nin as if he was merely luggage, then Ai showed up with Rock Lee, Jiro tiredly walked home, while Tenten was the last to show up.
Neji was immediately at the girl's side, helping her walk the rest of the way. He was relieved to note that most of the blood on her was not her own, but some of it was. "Are you okay?"
"You should see Seiju," Tenten painfully joked. "He won't be getting up again."
Yashida laughed. "There's no way you brats could defeat Seiju, Rei and Omizuka."
Jiro turned away. "Omizuka is dead. His body lies at the bottom of a pond."
"That's a poor lie! He's a water element master! He can't be defeated near water!" Yashida protested.
"I used a lightning jutsu on him," Jiro told him simply.
"Lightning?" Yashida questioned in disbelief. He then shook his head. "There's no way you could touch Rei!"
"I sealed his chakra with my own. Even if he survives the shock, he will lose the arm that is still in a wall," Neji explained.
"You couldn't have beaten my friends! They've survived too much, even graduation, to fall against a bunch of brats!" Yashida protested.
"You've lost Yashida," Tenten hissed out. "And you should curse your buddy Seiju. When you told him to hide Kimiko-chan, he sold her as a sex slave."
Yashida gritted his teeth. "That moron! He did worse than fail me! I had wanted her alive in case I failed to have an heir." He then laughed. "But now the Yashida heir is a whore. Unfit to rule. My wife will bring the new and rightful heir into the world!"
"We'll see about that," Ai groused dangerously.
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"So what happened?" Sakura wondered.
"Well, to summarize the events," Rock Lee began. "It began when Kimiko's cousin had her kidnapped and had her existence erased in order to become the next heir of his family's lands. Yashida used Genjutsu he learned as a Mist ninja to make Kimiko think her parents sold her off and to make her parents temporarily forget her. While her parents eventually remembered who she was, Kimiko believed what she had been made to see as being true.
"Kimiko, being the rightful heir of an entire island, even being held by Mist ninja did not stop potential suitors. Seiji in particular had wanted her, but she was disgusted by the violent weapon master. When Yashida ordered Kimiko to be hidden somewhere that no one knew who she truly was, Seiji took his last chance. She still rejected him, making him... upset. After beating and raping her, Seiji sold her as a sex slave."
Sakura looked sick. "How do you know so much about this?"
"Tenten found out about most of it. When they fought their last battle, he was threatening her with what he did to Kimiko. He was saying those things to make Tenten sloppy from anger, but Gai-sensei taught us how to slow ourselves down and use the anger to break our limits. To picture what we want to do to the one that made us angry, and then to execute it without fail," Rock Lee explained.
---------------------
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"You can come in now," Jiro announced as Yamiko lay on the floor in front of him.
Ai and Team Gai slowly entered the shack and looked at the girl with pity.
"All of that was an illusion?" Yamiko asked as she slowly stood up.
"Yes." Jiro nodded. "I can make you see anything I want. Just as your cousin did to make you believe your parents had disowned you."
"They certainly didn't," Tenten piped in. "You wouldn't believe how much they paid to have us find you."
Yamiko turned away. "I can't go back now. Especially not with some bastard child within me."
Ai folded her arms. "Actually that baby is your best revenge against your cousin. You will have an heir to make sure his child will never claim your island."
Yamiko frowned, but seemed to think that idea over.
"Our job is to take you home," Neji told her seriously. "It does not include making you stay there. If after seeing your parents you choose to leave, there would be nothing stopping you."
"You may find that going home may be the best thing for you," Gai told her. "You may find them far more understanding and helpful than you imagine."
"But what about the baby? I have no husband and no one to claim as the father," Yamiko reminded. "I was of noble birth, this child is not."
"There are ways to circumvent political issues. Much as you had been lied you too, you can lie as well. Claim the father was your husband and he died while you hid from your cousin who was out to kill you," Jiro offered. "There is enough truth in that to prevent issues, even from the Country of Water as you pin the blame on your cousin, not them."
"And what if I still refuse to go?" Yamiko threatened.
"Then you'll get similar travel accommodations as your cousin. Tied up and shoved into a room for the entire voyage," Neji told her seriously.
Yamiko frowned. "Fine, I'll go. But I don't promise to stay there."
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"She did stay there," Ai told them. "Her family was very understanding, and apparently one of her childhood friends had gone off to find her and he ran into the Mist ninja and was killed by them. So he was declared the father of her baby."
"And to add to the revenge, Yamiko, er... I mean Kimiko had a perfect little boy, while her cousin's baby was a girl who was born with facial disformities. After doing all these crimes against his cousin to gain her lands, he was left with nothing," Jiro added.
Sakura pouted, not sure who to feel the most sorry for: Kimiko or the deformed daughter of the noble girl's cousin. She even felt bad for the Mist ninja, who was not entirely guilty of the ordeals Kimiko had gone through, though he certainly held a lot of the blame.
"I can assume what happens next," Tsunade groused.
"Yep. Morning sickness," Ai chirped. "Though whoever termed it that deserves a kick in the balls. Because it sure wasn't a woman."
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Coming soon:
Chapter 12 - Naruto's Worst Nightmare, Ai's Greatest Joy
Ai discovers she is pregnant, but doesn't know how to deal with it.
I appreciate all the reviews I have been getting for this series. It is great to know that you are reading and enjoying my story. The progress I've made is thanks to your support. While there are elements of this story that some find questionable, I will not be changing anything that I've already planned. There is a method to my madness, and I hope you continue with me to see how the story unfolds.
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Rock Lee stood on the deck of a boat and watched the Land of Waves disappear as he helped escort Kimiko back home. He was puzzled over the seeming impossibility that Ai was in fact Naruto. The trick to break Genjutsu by changing your chakra would disrupt any type of henge, illusionary or transformational, yet Ai didn't change form. But the way the girl fought screamed Naruto and that nickname was something only the boy had used. It just didn't make sense.
"Is something bothering you, Lee?" Gai questioned.
"Gai-sensei, is it possible that Tsunade-sama could change someone into a girl?" Rock Lee wondered.
Gai appraised his favored student. "Lee, I love you like a son, but it can never be more than that. We'll speak no more of this."
Rock Lee's eyes went wide. "Gai-sensei!"
"No more!" Gai ordered firmly before trying to get away from his student.
Rock Lee followed him, trying to explain what he meant but Gai never let him.
Chapter 11 - Mission in Doubt
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Sakura peered into the nursery mostly out of morbid curiosity. She saw Jiro playing with the baby while Ai was sleeping in a nearby chair. Neji and Tenten were standing guard, but their slightly confused expressions showed they still didn't know why. Rock Lee was twitching as he watched the family with a rather disturbed look.
"I don't suppose you can tell me what the deal is with Ai-chan's family?" Tenten wondered.
Sakura gave the other girl a look that said 'Are you stupid?' "And piss off Tsunade-sensei?"
Tenten let out slight chuckle. "Yeah, that wouldn't be healthy. Will we get to know why?"
"That wouldn't be for me to decide," Sakura answered. "What's the baby's name?"
"Shinobu-chan." Tenten sighed wistfully. "Isn't she cute?"
Sakura nodded. The baby girl was certainly cute, giggling happily with smiling brown eyes and shimmering black hair. Yet how the infant came into the world was testing her sanity. She shook her head and then announced, "The debriefing is about to start."
Jiro carefully put his daughter back into the hospital crib. The baby let out a cry and reached out for her father.
Ai roared out a yawn as she woke up to the sound. She walked over and touched the baby's lips with her finger. "Shhh... We'll be back. Mother promises."
The baby girl only cried louder as a response.
Tenten approached the crib and tickled the infant's stomach. "Don't worry Shinobu-chan, big sister Tenten will take care of you. Oh, yes she will."
Ai retreated with her husband. She smirked towards Neji. "Good luck. You're going to need it."
Neji pulled at his collar.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the comment, but then shrugged. "Tsunade-sensei wants one of you to help cover any details Ai and Jiro might miss," she informed Neji's team.
"Oh, no! Not again! I had enough debriefing of that mission already!" Tenten whined, but then had to go back to playing with Shinobu.
"We'll take Fuzzy Eyebrows," Ai muttered out sluggishly. "You just keep an eye on Shinobu."
"Why him?" Neji wondered.
Ai shrugged. "He apparently has some weird ideas, and we'll set him straight."
"Good. He needs it. He said something really weird to Neji's uncle," Tenten mentioned.
Ai laughed and began dragging Rock Lee away from the nursery by his arm.
"Na-," Rock Lee didn't get a second syllable before Ai stomped on his foot.
"Just shut up until we get to the debriefing room," the young mother hissed out.
Rock Lee nodded and let the girl drag him all the way to their destination. He was not surprised to see Jiraiya and Kakashi were in the room. When the door shut, he turned toward the girl still gripping his arm. "What the hell is going on, Naruto?"
"First off, my name is Ai now," the girl shot at him. "You can't call me Naruto because I'm not him anymore."
Rock Lee blinked. "But you ARE Naruto, aren't you?"
"I _WAS_, but I'm not him _now_," Ai stressed.
Tsunade cleared her voice. "For reasons that are top secret, Naruto had been targeted for death by a rouge ninja group called Akatsuki. As he had run into them before, they knew how to track him. To protect him, I used a forbidden jutsu to change Naruto's body. There were two scrolls sent, and he randomly choose between them."
Rock Lee nodded with a blank look on his face. "I had figured something like that. But that means Jiro is Hinata, right?"
"I was her, but as Ai told you, I'm Jiro now, not Hinata," the young father stated evenly.
"But what about the baby?" Rock Lee questioned.
"Shinobu IS my daughter," Ai told him firmly. "I rode Jiro like a horse, he planted his seed, and nearly ten months of hell later, I had Shinobu."
Rock Lee began twitching again. "That's... very disturbing."
"That's an understatement," Sakura muttered.
Jiro's face was deep red as he opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent.
"Almost ten months?" Rock Lee questioned. "But Shinobu-chan is six weeks old. That would mean..."
"I was already pregnant when you came to the Land of Waves in late January, yes," Ai confirmed. "I just didn't know that until after you left."
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There were reasons why Ai worked at the ramen shop at the end of the bridge and Jiro worked at the docks beyond needing the money to live on. From those two places they could watch those entering the Land of Waves and would be the first to know if the Akatsuki came to pay them a visit.
The cold January weather was threatening snow, but Ai's mind was on how Jiro would be keeping her warm that night. It was amazing how much she had changed since this mission had started. When she first took this body, it hadn't disturbed her because she had used Sexy no Jutsu to turn into a good looking girl before. As Naruto had no ability with Genjutsu, she really had turned into a girl back then. It was being attracted to guys that had upset her, but she had gotten used to those feelings. Probably a bit too well. Now if only she could get Jiro to be the aggressor like he had been their first night, as she had been the one to initiate all the other encounters they've had.
Ai snapped out of her thoughts when her boss, Yamamoto, called her attention to a group of people crossing the bridge. Being the first restaurant after many hours of travel, most people who arrived in the Land of Waves from the bridge often stopped there.
Ai looked at the group in surprise. Two of them were dress in matching green outfits and the exact same bowl haircut, while the other two wore extremely similar white clothes. The ones in green were often mistaken as being father and son, but she knew that those weren't related at all. Gai was the jounin leader of the group and Rock Lee was merely the prized pupil. The lone girl of the group, Tenten, seemed to have selected both Neji's and her own attire.
Without any signal or debate, the group turned straight for the ramen shop, causing Ai to put on a false smile. She tried to think of how to best talk to them without revealing that she knew who they were. Ai failed to account for her boss.
"What brings Konoha ninja to the Land of Waves? Are you passing through or are you here to see Ai-chan and her husband?" Yamamoto asked.
"Ai-chan?" Tenten wondered in confusion.
The purple haired girl seemed to trip, but kept herself from falling. Her face was flushed when she slapped the back of her boss's head. "Yamamoto! You can't say things like that!"
"Oops." Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess I mentioned something I shouldn't have."
Ai folded her arms. "Damn straight you did!"
Gai gazed intently at the girl. "You do seem familiar... but I can't remember from where."
"Guess they aren't here to see you," Yamamoto chuckled.
"Stop talking and take their orders already!" Ai snapped at him.
"Why would he think we should know you?" Neji asked seriously.
"They don't know..." Yamamoto trailed off as the girl glared death at him.
Ai turned her attention to Team Gai. "I'm a genin from Konoha. I can't go into details concerning why, but my boyfriend and I were assigned to help keep the peace on the island."
Gai looked confused. "Konoha avoids giving out missions like that. Too many end in marriage."
"Well, if Jiro wasn't already milking the cow...," Yamamoto joked.
"Are you asking for an early grave?!" Ai shot at her boss.
"That still doesn't make sense," Gai muttered.
Ai folded her arms irritably. "Look, I know you're a jounin and all, but I'm not allowed to explain anything to you. I can, however, offer you some help while you're in the Land of Waves. If you want proof of my identity, I can show you that later."
Tenten's stomach chose to growl loudly. "Let's talk mission later. I want some food now."
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"Can we trust those two?" Neji wondered.
"They do own Konoha headbands and they do have papers ordering them on this mission signed by Tsunade-sama, herself," Tenten pointed out.
"And how hard would it be to forge them?" Neji retorted.
"How can you not trust them after asking them stuff only someone from Konoha would know?" Rock Lee returned.
"We don't know how far the kidnappers would go to hide Yashida. Those two might be working for them to keep us away from her. They could even be spies planted by the Hidden Mist Village, considering how close we are to their territory," Neji explained his apprehension.
"Ai and Jiro may be what we need to succeed in the mission. They know the island and the people in it," Tenten retorted.
"While it is good to be cautious, we are still on lands protected by Konoha and they are obviously hot blooded youth of Konoha!" Gai cheered out.
"Perhaps too 'hot blooded.' I think I remember seeing Ai back when we were at the academy. Jiro looks rather like he's an Uchiha. I bet the entire reason why those two were sent here was to keep him safe and make sure he has kids with an approved ninja," Tenten commented.
"Interesting theory, only there's no facts to support it," Neji retorted. "All I'm saying is that we don't tell them everything. Keep it to the basics of the mission."
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"So, you've been on a wild goose chase trying to find a kidnapped noble?" Ai asked them. "And why was there a debate on telling us that?"
"Obviously there's more to the mission than that," Jiro observed.
"Indeed there is. The kidnappers tried to erase her existence. Every picture and almost every written document of Yashida Kimiko has been destroyed. Accepting the mission was delayed because Konoha wasn't sure she ever existed," Gai informed.
"What group of ninja tried to remove any reference of her?" Jiro asked.
"You will know if you run into them," Neji said firmly.
"Always a stick up your ass," Ai muttered in a low voice that Neji didn't hear, but the quirk of Rock Lee's eyebrow showed that he did.
"So what do we know about this girl?" Jiro wondered.
"She's seventeen years old, black hair, and has been missing for a year," Tenten informed.
"Oh, wow. That's like, what? Two hundred possible candidates if she went through the Land of Waves. Hell, I can think of more than a dozen girls in the town right now who match that," Ai groused.
"Isn't there any mark or something that can help narrow it down? Eye color?" Jiro pressed.
"Her father said she had gray eyes, her mother said brown, which was part of the reason of the delay. If they couldn't agree on what she looked like, it raised more questions of her existence," Tenten added.
"Birthmark high on her inner thigh," Rock Lee mentioned.
"And how many times have I told you not to mention that?!" Tenten chastised with a blush.
"Ai might've seen that at public baths or something," Rock Lee defended weakly.
"Afraid not. I don't use public baths," Ai told them. She then had a thought of asking a certain pervert, but stomped that idea down. That was certainly a last resort to endorse Jiraiya to spy on bathing girls.
"But it does give us something to go on at least," Jiro commented. "Is there any reason to believe she might be in the Land of Waves?"
"Our last solid clue referenced the ship she had been put on being lost in this area," Neji informed. "Unfortunately, we do not know the ship's name. The kidnappers were careful to cover their tracks."
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The following morning Ai and Jiro woke up to the sound of Neji screaming. They rushed to put on some clothes and ran to the nearby shack that Team Gai had stayed in for the night. Entering through a hole in the wall, they found Tenten laughing hysterically, Neji was hyperventilating, while Rock Lee and Gai were nursing injuries.
"What happened?" Ai wondered.
Tenten tried to reign in her laughter. "This swiss cheese shack offered no protection from the cold. Neji and I cuddled to keep warm as we fell asleep. Apparently Gai-sensei and Rock Lee decided to join us."
Jiro's mouth hung open as he stared at Neji, not believing he would cuddle with anyone, even a girl.
"Well, we're all up now," Ai snorted, trying to keep from laughing. "What's the plans?"
"Rock Lee and I will go to the docks and find out about any lost ships in the area, Neji and Tenten will see if she is living on the island," Gai informed.
"Then Jiro should go with you, as he works on the docks," Ai mentioned. "I'll ask around about recent additions to the Land of Waves who could be the girl you're looking for." She then glanced at the holes in the walls and ceiling. "And ask Tazuna about getting some guys to fix this place up for you."
"That would be appreciated," Neji muttered, glaring at the guys on his team.
Ai laughed and back flipped through one of the shack's holes. She then spotted Yamiko hunched over and throwing up into a ditch. "Are you okay?"
Yamiko brushed her long black hair back. "I'm fine. It's just this damn pregnancy." She stood up and towered in height over Ai.
Ai frowned. "If you say so." She gazed at the woman, and guessed her age to be around twenty. Too old to be the girl that team Gai was looking for, but three of the other former sex slaves did match. Not to mention one of the girls who left could've been her. As the woman turned to walk away, Ai asked, "Say, you wouldn't have happened to see a girl with a birthmark on her upper thigh?"
"I don't look for such things," Yamiko replied before entering her home.
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"Ai-chan?!" Tenten called out irritably.
The teenage girl turned around, but Inari and Keiko didn't stop sparring.
"Something wrong, Tenten?" Ai wondered.
"Didn't you say you were going to get us a list of teenage girls who arrived in the Land of Waves in the past year?" Tenten questioned harshly.
"By the time Inari is done training, his grandfather will have the list ready. Tazuna is one of the leaders of the town, and anything built to last was designed by him," Ai informed.
"And just why are you training two local kids to be ninja?" Tenten asked sternly.
Ai folded her arms. "Inari wants to be one, and Keiko needs to know how to defend herself. I do have the okay to train them, even though it's not actually needed."
"Excuse me?" Keiko called out.
Ai turned around and saw that her students had stopped sparring and were now looking at Tenten curiously. "What is it, kiddo?"
"Is there some sort of problem?" Keiko wondered.
"Not really. Tenten and her teammates are looking for a missing girl, but they don't have a lot to go on," Ai explained.
"Is there some way we could help?" Inari asked.
Tenten put her hand on her hip. "And what kind of help do you think you could offer? What would you do in the face of an enemy ninja?"
"Do everything in our power to run away and find Ai or Jiro," Keiko answered.
Inari frowned. "Yeah. We're not ready for a real opponent yet."
Tenten smirked. "Well, that's good to hear."
"As for what they can do, Inari has lived on the island his entire life. He knows his way around and the people of the Land of Waves better than most the adults. And while Keiko may be new to the island, she can hide with the best ninja," Ai boasted the children's talents.
---------------------
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ai grumbled before sinking into a heated spring and was pointedly not looking at the naked girl next to her.
"Is there some reason you don't like going to public baths?" Tenten asked, moving in front of the girl to talk to her directly.
Ai laughed sheepishly, but kept her head turned away. "Let's just say that if my first love found out I was here, SHE would beat the shit out of me."
Tenten blinked in surprise and moved to cover herself. "You like... girls?"
Ai shrugged. "Guess you could say that. But those interests were before Jiro. Seeing girls naked now doesn't do much anymore."
Tenten relaxed a little, but still made sure her nakedness was concealed from the girl. "So you grew out of it, huh? What would your first love have to say about it?"
"Throw a party," Ai joked. "It was entirely one-sided."
Tenten stretched her tired muscles. "I can sympathize a bit. When I first became a genin, I spent as much time looking at guys as I did training. Now with Neji, I don't have to go looking."
Ai smirked. "Bet you still take some peeks."
"Well, a girl has to be a girl." Tenten smirked. "But I seriously doubt any normal guy could satisfy me. He'd have to be a ninja. And Neji certainly takes care of my needs."
Ai glanced at the girl suspiciously. "You don't mean the sort of 'needs' that Jiro helps me with at night, do you?"
Tenten grinned. "You'd be surprised what he can do with his bloodline limit in the bedroom."
"Have you tried it while transformed into the other gender?" Ai asked curiously.
Tenten stared at the girl. "Ah... no. You mean you and Jiro... switched?"
"Yep. Did that a few days after we became lovers. We had more reasons than just being kinky, but it felt kind of too weird. Like something was missing." Ai shrugged. "Still it was an experience."
"I seriously doubt Neji would go for being a girl," Tenten laughed.
"He should try it some time. Even lesbian sex can be fun," Ai pointed out devilishly.
Tenten edged away from her. "I thought you said you weren't into girls anymore."
"Only if the girl is Jiro," Ai replied firmly. "Now what sort of tricks do you and Neji use? I might want to try them out."
---------------------
"You're teaching them how to climb trees?" Neji asked skeptically.
Jiro stiffened hearing his voice. "Well, I was trying to figure out how to get them to best learn chakra control, and this seemed to be the fastest way."
Neji folded his arms. "While that certainly teaches control, but how much chakra manipulation have they learned? Have you tried teaching them basic Genjutsu or Ninjutsu?"
"I tried, but they don't have the control needed to even do them. It'd be different if we had years to slowly train them, but with their age, a more expedient route is needed," Jiro explained.
Neji frowned as Inari would run up three meters before falling ungracefully to the ground while Keiko reached four meters and landed on the ground like a cat. "You two, take a break from that," Neji ordered.
Inari and Keiko looked at him strangely.
"You aren't using your chakra correctly." Neji folded his arms. "I believe the issue is that you don't understand what it is. Chakra is the energy of life. A ninja can hone his energy to produce great effects, adapting it to suit his needs. The trees also have chakra, for they are alive. They use it to protect themselves, to repel unwanted intruders. Your chakra is most certainly unwanted as it interferes with its life."
"So we shouldn't be fighting the tree when trying to climb it, but try to work with the tree so it won't reject us," Inari surmised.
Neji smirked. "Indeed."
"Chakra is part of us?" Keiko wondered. "What happens if we use up too much?"
"You can deplete yourself of chakra, which would make you feel extremely weak. Where lifting your arms feels like there are lead weights attached. There is little risk in dying from that," Jiro told them. "What you have to avoid is pushing yourself beyond that point."
"What happens if we go beyond that?" Keiko asked worriedly.
"Whatever you were attempting would likely fail and you could die," Neji said flatly.
Jiro frowned. "It's nothing you should worry about. We train to learn our limits so we know what lines to never cross unless we absolutely need to."
"Like to save Ai's life?" Keiko questioned.
Jiro blushed as he nodded. "Yes. I would go that far to save Ai."
Inari pointed at the girl next to him. "Don't you dare push yourself that far for me! I'd rather die!"
Keiko turned and poked the boy in the chest. "Then you better not do that for me, either!"
"It's my duty to protect you!" Inari shot back at her.
"Then my duty would be to protect you!" Keiko returned.
Inari growled. "I don't want you to do that!"
"The same goes for me!" Keiko hissed.
The two kids rushed and tried to climb the tree, but Neji's words were lost on them in their haze of anger and hurt.
"What's wrong with those two?" Neji asked quietly.
Jiro gave a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"I've had that argument with Tenten. They seem awfully young to have a serious relationship," Neji observed.
Jiro sighed. "They both had a troubled past. Their innocence has been brutally taken by others, though in different ways. They both need each other to get through their pain. Inari watched someone he viewed as his father tortured and then murdered. And Keiko... was a sex slave."
Neji's clenched his fist. "What happened to her slave masters?"
"Most of them are dead, the rest are in prison with the key to their cell destroyed," Jiro replied.
"Good." Neji sighed. "There are too many kids out there like them. I can certainly relate to having my eyes opened by pain, particularly Inari's. But why would they use a girl her age for sex?"
"Some people have weird fetishes. Ai certainly has some," Jiro tried to joke, to get rid of the heavy air of the conversation.
Neji let out a short chuckle. "Tell me about it. Tenten can get some really weird ideas."
Jiro's mind froze at the apparent admission that the no-nonsense boy he had grown up with was the lover of a rather excitable girl. He then shook his head. If Neji was to learn that he was Hinata and that Ai was Naruto, the shock to his former cousin could be fatal.
---------------------
Team Gai, Ai, Jiro, Inari and Keiko sat in a circle on the field the youngest two typically trained.
"So, what do we have so far?" Gai questioned.
Rock Lee's hand shot straight up. "Three sunken ships in the last year. The sailors believe they know where one of them may be."
"Good, we can rent a ship and investigate that wreck tomorrow," Gai replied. "How is searching in the town fairing?"
"I have not seen anyone being restrained outside of the men in the town's prison," Neji informed.
"We've narrowed down the number of girls that have a strong potential to be Yashida to six, with another nine not as likely but could still be her. The ones we've ruled out don't have the needed birthmark," Tenten added, passing the list toward Gai.
Keiko grabbed the list to pass it, but she quickly looked it over. "You're looking for a mark on the inner thigh?"
Tenten reluctantly nodded.
"Michiro and Tomoyo don't have any mark there," Keiko told them.
"Are you sure?" Neji asked firmly.
Keiko blushed and turned away. "Very sure."
Ai was thankful to note that Inari seemed to be confused at the girl's reaction. She could guess that the young girl had been made to have sex with the older girls to satisfy some old fart's twisted pleasure. And if Inari didn't figure that out, chances were that Inari had yet to personally find out exactly what the girl had been used for.
---------------------
Team Gai took Ai and Jiro onto a short sailing trip. They were on deck talking to the ship captain.
"So this is where a ship sank six months ago?" Neji asked.
"How far down is the ship?" Gai asked.
"Hard to say," commented the captain. "The seas were very rough at the time."
"Byakugan!" Neji called out.
"Do you see the ship?" Tenten asked.
The captain looked puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"The water makes it difficult..." Neji's face clenched tightly, but then relaxed slightly. "It's a half kilometer that way, about seventy meters down."
"Captain, if you would be so kind as to take us that way," Gai requested.
"If you say so, but I don't get why ya listen to some kid saying something he can't know," the captain complained before signaling the helmsman to change their course.
"It's a special ninja skill, Captain," Ai explained. "Don't try to figure us out, or it'll hurt your head."
The captain laughed. "I've stopped trying to figure out you and your husband."
"Why does everyone think we're married?" Ai groused.
"You're not? Need me to fix that?" the captain returned.
"I'll get back to you on that," Ai failed to promise.
"The water is dampening my eyes. I can't see inside the ship," Neji told them.
"You wouldn't happen to know any water jutsu?" Gai asked.
"Afraid not," Jiro answered.
"I'm air," Ai grinned. She then grabbed Neji and jumped overboard. As they hit the water, a swirling mass of air encased them as they plunged into the water as if they were inside a bubble.
"Neat trick," Gai commented.
Underwater, Neji had a different opinion. "Couldn't you have warned me?"
"You needed to get closer, so I got you closer," Ai retorted. "Don't bug me as I've only started to learn elemental jutsu."
Neji growled and focused on using his bloodline limit. The sooner he checked the ship over completely, the happier he would be. After a few minutes, he started to feel strangely light headed, but his task was complete. "Let's go back to the surface."
"Take a deep breath, because we're swimming back. Ready? Go!" With no more warning, the ball of spinning air broke apart and Ai was swimming straight for the surface.
Neji scowled darkly as he chased after the girl. His lungs were burning when he made it above the water and gasped out for fresh air.
Walking on the side of the ship like it was the ground, Jiro and Team Gai helped the two water logged ninja back onto the deck.
"So what's the verdict?" Tenten wondered.
"The only skeletons I saw were on top of or near the wreck. There were no bodies inside the ship itself," Neji informed them.
"So there was little chance that she was being held on that ship." Gai rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, that was a good effort, and should be what we were hoping for. It means she may still be alive somewhere."
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Rock Lee immediately agreed.
Jiro and Ai looked at each other and smirked. Some things never changed.
---------------------
Arriving at the dock, the ninja saw the official law enforcement of the Land of Waves waiting for them.
"Is there something wrong, officer?" Gai asked.
The lead officer, Gotoh, stepped forward. "There's been a murder inside the jail."
"That sucks. Who died?" Ai asked.
"I need to ask you all questions regarding it as the only possible suspects for the murder are fully trained ninja," Gotoh told them firmly.
"I would like to see the crime scene immediately," Gai ordered.
"Looks like our old friends may be back," Tenten complained sarcastically.
Rock Lee slammed his right fist into his left palm. "We'll be sure to teach them a new lesson about messing with the Country of Fire."
Gotoh glared. "In case you haven't realized it, YOU are the main suspects."
"Do not insult me or the ninja of Konoha!" Gai yelled out. "We do not resort to cowardly acts of torture and murder!"
"And what do you call the Anbu?" Tenten muttered under her breath, causing Ai to laugh.
"This is no joke," Gotoh demanded.
Ai stepped forward. "What are you going to do if it was one of us? You can't hold us."
"We don't have time to debate the issue," Neji growled. "Take us to the prison as we have our own questions to ask."
---------------------
"Ah crap, not more ninja," complained one of the prisoners.
"Don't worry, we're not here for you," Ai shot at him. "Sorry that this is the most female flesh you'll be seeing in a while."
"Ha, ha," the guy laughed sarcastically.
Arriving at the deepest cell, the ninja found a bloody mess smeared everywhere.
Gotoh went to one of the walls and pried out a shuriken from it. "We've been pulling dozens of these out."
"Man, the guy must have been pissed to be this sloppy," Ai observed. "This was a chain shuriken thing. Two Mist-nin nearly cut my head off with one of these things. And whoever used it sent it straight into a wall."
"Chief Gotoh, who was in this cell?" Jiro demanded.
"Captain Boujima," the officer answered.
"The captain of the sex slave ship?" Jiro asked in surprise.
"WHAT?!" Tenten cried out. "If the Mist-nin murdered him that means they used the noble girl for..."
Ai took off running, which the other ninja quickly followed, she then skidded to a stop in front of the cell of the prisoner she had taunted earlier. "Hey, limp dick! When you got your jollies off with the girls, did any of them have a birthmark?"
The man blinked. "Yamiko had a strange mark near her cunt. Why?"
"Fuck! I thought she was twenty, not seventeen!" Ai cursed.
"Ah, isn't she the girl that's pregnant?" Rock Lee asked in a confused tone.
The prisoner's eyes widened. "Hey, now! It probably ain't mine!"
Neji clenched his fist. "We've got to find her before those Mist-nin do. They will kill her this time."
The prisoner could only stare as the six ninja that had been in front of his cell disappeared.
---------------------
"Yamiko!" Ai cried out seeing the girl walk down the street. "Good! You're okay!"
Yamiko merely nodded, but did not look at the ninja.
Smelling a strange fragrance, Ai felt a little lightheaded. "You got a new perfume?"
Yamiko nodded again.
Ai frowned as her head started to hurt. "You going out looking for guys?" When the girl answered with another nod, the ninja kicked her in the chest.
"How did you know?" a masculine voice asked.
"After what you bastards did to her, the touch of a man is revolting to her," Ai spat.
"Good," Yamiko smirked evilly. "Can't have my cousin leave an heir. But it's too late for you. You are mine."
"Huh?" Ai questioned before her world began to spin.
---------------------
Rock Lee smiled when he spotted Yamiko, and she wasn't alone. Now all they had to do was safely get her back to her home island and the mission would finally be over. His smile fell as he heard Yamiko speak, and it was no voice of a girl he heard.
"A powerful Mist-nin is here to destroy you and all you love," 'Yamiko' said in a deep male voice.
"Kisame..." Ai muttered out as if she cursed. "Where's your butt-buddy, Itachi?" She growled viciously. "You damned Akatsuki keep taking away everything from me! I won't let you get away with it anymore! Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Yamiko's appearance faded into a guy who did not look much different save his hair was much shorter. He laughed at the sight of a sea of shadow clones surrounding the surprised Konoha ninja. "My, what have I hit here? If she faced Kisame and lived to tell about it, there's little chance you can beat her. Now to find my beloved cousin so I can kill her personally."
Dodging the incoming attacks, the Konoha ninja asked, "I suppose telling you I'm Rock Lee won't mean much?"
"Where's your sword?" one of the Ai's asked. "Don't need it? Why you..."
"Guess not." Rock Lee frowned. "I hate Genjutsu. Please forgive me for what I have to do." And the battle was joined.
---------------------
Jiro frowned as he saw that he was not the first to find Yamiko. His reason to be upset had less to do with Neji beating him and more to do with clones of a Mist-nin surrounding his former cousin and the pregnant girl. It didn't help that the best ways Jiro could think of helping Neji would raise a giant flag over his head as being an Uchiha. Chidori and breathing out a fireball were completely out of the question. At least his fighting style was different enough from Naruto's that his plan shouldn't raise unwanted questions.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Jiro whispered as he approached the standoff. He and his clones jumped down into the street behind each of the clones and proceeded to assault them. In each case the surprised victim turned into water.
"Be careful Omizuka is a water element master," Neji warned.
A distant explosion made Jiro smirk. "And he's obviously not alone."
Yamiko cowered behind Neji as a rumbling noise approached them. "Save me!"
Neji grabbed the girl and jumped into the air, followed immediately by Jiro and his many clones. A second later a tidal wave of water rushed down the street. When the ninja landed, they were not happy with the now water logged road.
"You Konoha ninja don't know when to die," Omizuka spat, arriving on the scene while riding a meter tall wave of water.
"We try our best," Neji countered.
"Try your best against this." Omizuka's hands flew through a complex set of hand signs. "Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"
Jiro wished he had Sharigan active when he saw the giant water dragon launch from the nearby seawater. The dragon honed straight for Neji and Yamiko. The girl was promptly bodily tossed at Jiro, who caught her. The watery dragon still continued for Neji, who smirked as the attack descended upon him and exploded away harmlessly from the now spinning ninja.
Omizuka growled in frustration. "If only Yashida had us kill her from the beginning, we wouldn't even have to deal with this shit."
"Yashida?" Jiro blinked in confusion. "Isn't that Yamiko's real clan name?" His clones moved to attack the Mist-nin, but blades of water began to quickly cut them down.
"Her family controls one of the islands east of here. It technically belongs to no country, but has historically had ties to both Fire and Water countries. Her parents sided with Fire Country, but her cousin is a Mist-nin who wants the lands for himself," Neji explained.
"I have no family or lands," Yamiko retorted. "They disowned me and sold me off."
"Genjutsu," Jiro said simply. "They made you see what they wanted you to. It never happened."
"Thanks for giving me time," Omizuka gloated. "Suiton Ku Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Nine dragons erupted from the sea and menacingly towered over them.
"That should be a lesson at the academy, talk AFTER you've defeated your opponent," Jiro groused. "Stand back Yamiko, this is about to get messy."
The girl took a few steps back, but then suddenly screamed.
Jiro and Neji whirled around and saw Yamiko being dragged through a wall as if it wasn't there.
"Shit! Do you think you can take Omizuka?" Neji asked.
Jiro merely nodded.
"Don't think I'll let you leave here alive!" Omizuka shouted. "Dragons descend!"
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Jiro cried out while whipping out a devil shuriken, which he launched into the air. The single, enormous bladed throwing weapon suddenly became nine and sliced through the heads of the watery dragons, destroying half of them and damaging the rest. It was enough for Neji to give chase.
Omizuka chuckled coldly. "You are nothing but a hindrance."
"I would say that Neji and Yamiko were mine. Without them, my restrictions can come off," Jiro returned as he activated Sharigan.
"Empty boasts mean nothing," Omizuka shouted as he sent the remaining dragons to attack.
"Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!" Jiro cried out, spewing forth a fireball from his mouth and countering the attempted attack. "There is nothing empty about what I've become."
---------------------
Rock Lee quickly realized three things when fighting against one hundred copies of Ai. First, that fighting such a large number of opponents at the same time required him to fight in a different manner than he normally did. Second, that he could not let them pull off a combo move. And third, he had to deplete the number of clones as fast as he could.
As four clones of Ai ran for Rock Lee, he jumped to a handstand onto a nearby chair. Two of the clones crashed into each other in mid-kick, dispelling themselves. He then flipped to a standing position and used the chair to catch a hastily thrown punch and yanked the chair to send the girl off balance so he could send her away with a punch. The now damaged chair would be of little use so Rock Lee threw it at a pair of girls preparing something with their hands.
Another set of Ai clones descended upon Rock Lee, and he made sure they kept their distance with a ladder. Only the girls grabbed and pulled it into two. This made the boy smirk as he promptly used the now double set of quarter staves as reach weapons to brain any shadow copies that came close. And then used it as stilts when five girls did get a bit too close. Unfortunately that left the long shafts of the former ladder exposed to attacks, which the girls hacked apart to remove the improvised weapon.
Rock Lee really hated that this wasn't one-on-one. His best moves were intended to take down one, and only one person. Though there was something enjoyable about this fight, and the way Ai came at him seemed more familiar than just being from Konoha. He wasn't about to let her complete a combo to put his finger on it.
"Oodama Rasengan!" a pair of Ai clones cried out.
"I'm sorry," Rock Lee apologized before picking up the nearest thing to him, a scared cat that had been trying to hide in the corner. He proceeded to throw the cat at the face of one of the clones charging at him. The result was what he was hoping for. The attack disrupted from the cat clawing one of the girl's faces.
A summersault and grab latter, Rock Lee now held someone's wet pants and used it like a whip to fend off one attack before latching onto a different clone and making her move in front of another Ai running at him.
"You're playing with me, aren't you?" Ai hissed out angrily. "Bastard."
---------------------
The Land of Waves looked like it had suffered a severe localized flood. From the harbor to deep into the island where Ai and Jiro practiced daily was now covered in water.
"I suppose you have some special trick with fresh water," Omizuka growled. "I did not believe Konoha had such an element master to use both fire and water."
"I couldn't use water jutsu until this fight," Jiro returned.
Omizuka scowled. "Are you Copy Cat Kakashi's son?"
Jiro frowned. "It would seem I was careless. I didn't need to set up your death."
Omizuka laughed bitterly, moving to stand on the pond. "The only one to die will be you. There is no way you can know my final technique!"
"As much as I'd like to learn it, I have to end this match now," Jiro retorted, standing on the other side of the small body of fresh water.
Omizuka went into a complex set of hand seals. Jiro grabbed his right wrist and focused his chakra. Lightning began to arc from his hand and across the pond's surface, stunning the Mist-nin. Jiro shot forward and plunged his electrified hand into Omizuka's chest.
Jiro pulled his hand free and watched in remorse as the dead Mist-nin sank into the pond.
---------------------
"He's toying with me," Ai spat, watching Kisame dispatching her clones with nonchalant ease. He taunted her as he sent volleys of watery spheres at her clones. She would make him and the other Akatsuki pay for messing with her life. She would not be in this situation if it was not for them. Because of them she was now the lover of a guy. While she might not regret her feelings for Jiro, the loss of her identity as Naruto was certainly crime enough.
"Why aren't you helping me?" Ai asked the kyuubi within her.
"Because you are a fool. Watch him closer," a demonic voice replied.
Ai had been watching the bastard closely. She didn't understand what she should be looking for. She had never fought fish-face before.
The demon sighed. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Does he fight like Zabuza or Haku?"
"No," Ai immediately replied angrily. "Why should that matter?"
"That's a Konoha fighting stance he uses, stupid shit. Kisame is a former Mist-nin. He would not keep falling back to the lotus stance," the kyuubi hissed out.
"Lotus...?" Ai questioned, staring more intently at ninja fighting her remaining twenty clones. "Fuzzy Eyebrows?"
Rock Lee missed a step and looked at the girl who said that with wide eyes. "Naruto?"
Ai clutched at her head. She had been trapped in some stupid Genjutsu. Jiraiya had given her a means of fighting this. She let out a roar as she let her chakra flare about her, disrupting its normal flow and breaking the control of the illusion that had entrapped her. She smirked upon seeing Rock Lee's confused faced and immediately dispelled her still deluded clones before they could attack.
"We've got to find Yamiko and make sure she's safe," Ai told him seriously. "And watch out for any strange smells."
Rock Lee nodded. "Are you really Naruto?"
"Of course not. Why would I be him? I'm a girl, if you hadn't noticed," Ai returned, but did not look him in the face when she said it.
---------------------
There had been no designated meeting place, but the Konoha ninja returned to the shacks. Neji and Yamiko arrived first, followed by Gai carrying the struggling Yashida Mist-nin as if he was merely luggage, then Ai showed up with Rock Lee, Jiro tiredly walked home, while Tenten was the last to show up.
Neji was immediately at the girl's side, helping her walk the rest of the way. He was relieved to note that most of the blood on her was not her own, but some of it was. "Are you okay?"
"You should see Seiju," Tenten painfully joked. "He won't be getting up again."
Yashida laughed. "There's no way you brats could defeat Seiju, Rei and Omizuka."
Jiro turned away. "Omizuka is dead. His body lies at the bottom of a pond."
"That's a poor lie! He's a water element master! He can't be defeated near water!" Yashida protested.
"I used a lightning jutsu on him," Jiro told him simply.
"Lightning?" Yashida questioned in disbelief. He then shook his head. "There's no way you could touch Rei!"
"I sealed his chakra with my own. Even if he survives the shock, he will lose the arm that is still in a wall," Neji explained.
"You couldn't have beaten my friends! They've survived too much, even graduation, to fall against a bunch of brats!" Yashida protested.
"You've lost Yashida," Tenten hissed out. "And you should curse your buddy Seiju. When you told him to hide Kimiko-chan, he sold her as a sex slave."
Yashida gritted his teeth. "That moron! He did worse than fail me! I had wanted her alive in case I failed to have an heir." He then laughed. "But now the Yashida heir is a whore. Unfit to rule. My wife will bring the new and rightful heir into the world!"
"We'll see about that," Ai groused dangerously.
---------------------
---------------------
"So what happened?" Sakura wondered.
"Well, to summarize the events," Rock Lee began. "It began when Kimiko's cousin had her kidnapped and had her existence erased in order to become the next heir of his family's lands. Yashida used Genjutsu he learned as a Mist ninja to make Kimiko think her parents sold her off and to make her parents temporarily forget her. While her parents eventually remembered who she was, Kimiko believed what she had been made to see as being true.
"Kimiko, being the rightful heir of an entire island, even being held by Mist ninja did not stop potential suitors. Seiji in particular had wanted her, but she was disgusted by the violent weapon master. When Yashida ordered Kimiko to be hidden somewhere that no one knew who she truly was, Seiji took his last chance. She still rejected him, making him... upset. After beating and raping her, Seiji sold her as a sex slave."
Sakura looked sick. "How do you know so much about this?"
"Tenten found out about most of it. When they fought their last battle, he was threatening her with what he did to Kimiko. He was saying those things to make Tenten sloppy from anger, but Gai-sensei taught us how to slow ourselves down and use the anger to break our limits. To picture what we want to do to the one that made us angry, and then to execute it without fail," Rock Lee explained.
---------------------
---------------------
"You can come in now," Jiro announced as Yamiko lay on the floor in front of him.
Ai and Team Gai slowly entered the shack and looked at the girl with pity.
"All of that was an illusion?" Yamiko asked as she slowly stood up.
"Yes." Jiro nodded. "I can make you see anything I want. Just as your cousin did to make you believe your parents had disowned you."
"They certainly didn't," Tenten piped in. "You wouldn't believe how much they paid to have us find you."
Yamiko turned away. "I can't go back now. Especially not with some bastard child within me."
Ai folded her arms. "Actually that baby is your best revenge against your cousin. You will have an heir to make sure his child will never claim your island."
Yamiko frowned, but seemed to think that idea over.
"Our job is to take you home," Neji told her seriously. "It does not include making you stay there. If after seeing your parents you choose to leave, there would be nothing stopping you."
"You may find that going home may be the best thing for you," Gai told her. "You may find them far more understanding and helpful than you imagine."
"But what about the baby? I have no husband and no one to claim as the father," Yamiko reminded. "I was of noble birth, this child is not."
"There are ways to circumvent political issues. Much as you had been lied you too, you can lie as well. Claim the father was your husband and he died while you hid from your cousin who was out to kill you," Jiro offered. "There is enough truth in that to prevent issues, even from the Country of Water as you pin the blame on your cousin, not them."
"And what if I still refuse to go?" Yamiko threatened.
"Then you'll get similar travel accommodations as your cousin. Tied up and shoved into a room for the entire voyage," Neji told her seriously.
Yamiko frowned. "Fine, I'll go. But I don't promise to stay there."
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"She did stay there," Ai told them. "Her family was very understanding, and apparently one of her childhood friends had gone off to find her and he ran into the Mist ninja and was killed by them. So he was declared the father of her baby."
"And to add to the revenge, Yamiko, er... I mean Kimiko had a perfect little boy, while her cousin's baby was a girl who was born with facial disformities. After doing all these crimes against his cousin to gain her lands, he was left with nothing," Jiro added.
Sakura pouted, not sure who to feel the most sorry for: Kimiko or the deformed daughter of the noble girl's cousin. She even felt bad for the Mist ninja, who was not entirely guilty of the ordeals Kimiko had gone through, though he certainly held a lot of the blame.
"I can assume what happens next," Tsunade groused.
"Yep. Morning sickness," Ai chirped. "Though whoever termed it that deserves a kick in the balls. Because it sure wasn't a woman."
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Coming soon:
Chapter 12 - Naruto's Worst Nightmare, Ai's Greatest Joy
Ai discovers she is pregnant, but doesn't know how to deal with it.
I appreciate all the reviews I have been getting for this series. It is great to know that you are reading and enjoying my story. The progress I've made is thanks to your support. While there are elements of this story that some find questionable, I will not be changing anything that I've already planned. There is a method to my madness, and I hope you continue with me to see how the story unfolds.
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Rock Lee stood on the deck of a boat and watched the Land of Waves disappear as he helped escort Kimiko back home. He was puzzled over the seeming impossibility that Ai was in fact Naruto. The trick to break Genjutsu by changing your chakra would disrupt any type of henge, illusionary or transformational, yet Ai didn't change form. But the way the girl fought screamed Naruto and that nickname was something only the boy had used. It just didn't make sense.
"Is something bothering you, Lee?" Gai questioned.
"Gai-sensei, is it possible that Tsunade-sama could change someone into a girl?" Rock Lee wondered.
Gai appraised his favored student. "Lee, I love you like a son, but it can never be more than that. We'll speak no more of this."
Rock Lee's eyes went wide. "Gai-sensei!"
"No more!" Gai ordered firmly before trying to get away from his student.
Rock Lee followed him, trying to explain what he meant but Gai never let him.