Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Written In Ink ❯ Chapter 19

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 19


“Alright, Sumi.” Tsunade shouted, “Now that you have the tiger under control, try to send out the vines..”

“But I’m already looking through the tiger’s eye’s.” She responded. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Channel your chakra. I know that Sakura went over it with you.” Tsunade explained. “You aren’t using it yet are you?”

“Not that I can tell, I’ve never tried to use it outside of the clone jutsu.” Sumi replied.

“Concentrate on channeling your chakra into your arms. Imagine it flowing through your body like a river.” She watched as a look of concentration crossed Sumi’s features. With her pupil-less eyes looking out it was a very intimidating site. “Direct that river into your arms, Feel the vines become solid.”

Sumi’s arms began to glow lightly with the power she was putting into them. Suddenly, her eyes shut, and her brows knit in obvious pain. Her legs seemed to give out and she stumbled back a bit. The tiger seemed to sway a bit as well. Tsunade made a move to catch her, but stopped when she regained her own footing. Sumi brought her hands up to the side of her head and shook it as if something was trying to escape. The Tiger was repeating a similar motion, though its large paws stayed firmly planted on the ground.

“Come on Sumi.” Tsunade called, “You can do this. Concentrate.”

Sumi’s head suddenly snapped up as if she had forgotten there was anyone else around. When she revealed her eyes, they were no longer their usual pale blue, but black, lined in red.

“You.” She rasped out. She brought down her hands and took two steps forward. The tiger fell in step beside her. Both of their gazes seemed to look just past Tsunade as if they were seeing something that she could not.

“Sumi, what’s wrong?” Tsunade asked. A look of pure hatred crossed the young girl’s features.

“You killed my father!” She screamed. “Why?” She seemed to hear a response to her question, though nobody spoke. The answer only seemed to upset her more and she charged. Tsunade stepped to the side to get out of the way and watched as Sumi attacked the air. Both releasing her knives and shooting out the vines. While at the same time having the tiger attack. It seemed that she was about to hit her mark when she suddenly stumbled, and all of her tattoos, including the tiger retuned to their original places. Tsunade made it just in time to catch her body before it hit the ground.


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“I didn’t notice it when your other comrades were around, but you don’t speak very much do you?” Dmitri asked Garaa. The youth had chosen to walk next to the ringmaster on this particular trip.

“I’m just completing my mission.” He answered in monotone. His eyes never moved from the horizon.

“You’re a strange boy.” The man commented.

A safe distance away, Shikamaru and Temari were tracking the caravan.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to find out about something that happened ten years ago by following them around.” Temari commented.

“Don’t just assume.” Shikamaru answered. “Solutions sometimes come from the least like likely places.”

Suddenly, a loud rustling was heard in the bushes. A group of birds flew out from the underbrush. The couple could sense the large animal’s approach, but were helpless to stop it unless they wished to blow their cover.

“We’ll have to leave this to Garaa and the others.” Shikamaru whispered. To remind himself just as much as Temari. They watched as the large cat jumped from the bushes with a loud growl.

The animal was gigantic. It loomed over the caravan as it pounced. The entire group screamed and ran to escape the titanic monster’s wrath. Garaa simply glared at the creature before encasing it mid-pounce in a cocoon of sand and easily ending it’s life. Witnessing this feat, an evil glint entered the ringmaster’s eyes.

“Methuselah, I believe we’ve found our next act.”

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Shikamaru and Temari watched as the giant cat pounced on the unsuspecting travelers. However, when everyone ran away from the cat there was a lone figure that made a bee-line for the forest. Intrigued by this person’s behavior, the two decided to pursue the fleeing figure.

When they caught up, they found an older man huffing and puffing his way through the bushes. Shikamaru snuck up on him and grabbed him from behind while covering his mouth. Temari jumped in front of him so that he would know there was no use in escaping.

The man began mumbling behind the hand that covered his mouth so Shikamaru brought it away from his face.

“Do whatever you want with me, just don’t make me go back there.” He pleaded. This caught both of his pursuers slightly off-guard.

“What do you mean?” They both asked.

“My name is Gilbert. I used to be the ringmaster, until those two monsters took over.”

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“Please, I want to learn a new technique.” Naruto pleaded. “I need to get stronger!”

“No.” This was answered by all three men sitting at the table. Kakashi, Iruka, and Jiraiya continued their card game. Naruto turned his back to the group and pouted.

“I heard you’re coming out with another book soon.” Kakashi commented, ignoring Naruto’s little outburst.

“Yes,” Jiraiya answered. “I got quite a bit of inspiration on that last mission.”

“Doesn’t take much to inspire a pervert.” Naruto grumbled. Iruka gave Jiraiya a stunned look.

“Don’t tell me you took him into one of those scenes your always writing about.” He chided.

“It was all for the sake of the mission.” The elder man just smiled and blushed slightly.

“More like I had to get you out.” Naruto turned and shouted at the man. “Now stop being a dirty pervert and teach me something!”

“You know what you have to do if you want me to do that.” Jiraiya simply stated. Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.

“Sexy no Jutsu!” He went up in a puff of smoke and in his place stood a very beautiful and very nude woman. “Please teacher,” he said in his sexiest female voice. “come help me become stronger.” Then he blew a kiss in Jiraiya’s direction.

“Okay, let’s go.” He stood up and left his cards on the table. Iruka and Kakashi just stared.

“I never thought to use that move against him.” Iruka stated. “Jiraiya is wiser than I thought.”

“Or he’s just a dirty old man.” Kakashi stated.

“That too.” He replied.

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“Those he could not get to join him were hypnotized, enslaved, or killed.” Gilbert said. “I was made to clean up after the horses and elephants.”

“When did you manage to break the hypnosis?” Temari asked.

“That was their idea of a sick joke.” He replied. “I never was under hypnosis, but they said if I ever tried to escape, they’d kill me.”

“How long ago did they take over your circus?” Shikamaru asked.

“A little over ten years ago.” He replied.

“Do you know what happened to Sumi, then?” Temari jumped in before Shikamaru asked.

“That poor girl.” Gilbert hung his head. “Not everyone can just be hypnotized. They have to break you first, and my did that girl have a lot of spirit to break.”

“We know that she was found on the street, but beyond that, we are trying to find out what happened.” Shikamaru told him.

“That’s not true.” Gilbert said. “He saw the girl playing in her yard as we went through her village. The night we left, he broke into her house and took her away. I know they made the mother think she had thrown out the child to avoid having it reported, but they didn’t think there was a father. He came, and as part of their horrible torture, they killed him right in front of the poor girl. Then, they made her strip the body of all its valuables. As if that wasn’t enough to break her, they kept her locked in a trunk until there was no more spark left in her eyes. That sort of thing makes it easier for them to take hold of their victims, Once they had her, they created whatever memories they liked for her and had them using her power for whatever they could think of.

“One time, she escaped, tired of whatever they were doing to her. I was happy for her. Hoped she could get away. Didn’t work though, and she came back with these tattoos, that caused them to make her their main attraction. Still, you could tell that she wanted out. I’m surprised they let her go this late in the game. What changed their minds?”


“Well, most of these villages are full of ninja.” Shikamaru explained. “In fact, that’s why we’re here now. We were sent to find out what’s really going on in this circus and stop them from doing anything else.”

“I wish you luck, but is there anything you can do to help me?” Gilbert asked.

“I’ll take you back to my village.” Temari stated. She turned to Shikamaru. “Then I’ll come back and rejoin you.” He just nodded in response.

“Thank you so much, and good luck.” The old man followed Temari as she lead him away from the caravan.

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Thank You, gazer of life for reviewing. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!