Bab 30: Chapter 30

Flying above the silent village, Deidara and Hidan watched the horizon. As soon as the last sliver of light ate itself, Deidara dropped the strange looking creature from his hand. As they watched it fall to the ground, Hidan leaped from his own bird towards the target they were told to retrieve. Deidara just watched on as his creature suddenly expanded into a very huge blob of white that looked like an incredibly obese bird. Before it even hit, he could hear the screams and a small smile teased on his face.

When his creation impacted, there was nothing but silence. Then a flash of light blinded him momentarily, followed by a booming explosion that he could feel from his bird. He smiled seeing ninja rally to the point of impact to recover survivors. Jerking his hands forward, he threw out two more creations. Both of which expanded into different creatures that shot forward like missiles in a nose dive straight for the bulk of the people.

No longer needing cover, he swooped down on his clay bird and began throwing out smaller creatures that still packed more than enough bang to decimate a target and then some. He swiveled and swerved away from the pitiful jutsu thrown his way as he continued attacking shinobi and civilian alike.

He jumped off of his clay bird just as two earth spears impaled it. Quickly, he created another and looked towards the origin of the attack. He saw none other than the Yondaime Tsuchikage herself, Kurotsuchi. Deidara grinned and dodged her next barrage of rock missiles, countering with a barrage of his clay creatures.

-break-

Hidan used his sickle to climb up the side of the mountain. When he made it to the top, he ducked down in the bushes as a group of individuals were being escorted towards a shelter away from the village by two Chunin. The two ushered the group into a cave and prepared to shut it with a boulder. Before they could do so, Hidan had decapitated one of them with a clean strike with his sickle. The other one he only managed to nip his arm. Sadly for the unaware man, that was all he needed. Performing hand signs, his body turned black and the outline of an apparent skeleton appeared over his skin. He pulled a black rod of some kind from somewhere on his form and impaled his own heart.

The man grabbed at his pouring injury and Hidan turned to the cave. With his sickle dragging behind him, he strolled casually inside. When there, he could see a few wealthy looking civilians, and a few who seemed to have been luckily close when the attack began. The people gasped at the sight of him as they could just tell he was an enemy.

"Good evening yah pompous pricks." He said with a strangely excited tone. "I am here to retrieve someone important." He said casually. "Since this seems to be the VIP bunker, I just know she's here." He clicked his tongue in thought as he casually paced back in forth, looking into the fear riddled eyes of everyone there. He seemed much creepier as he just ignored the rumbles and booms of explosions in the distance.

Feeling the tension getting to them, a middle aged man wearing expensive looking clothes tried to make a run for the exit. Being the closest to the mouth of the cave, he felt he had it. Before he took more than two steps, Hidan's sickle impaled him through the back. The bottom blade pierced directly through his chest and the second sliced through the base of his neck, protruding out the front of his face, leaving the top blade dug within the very top of his skull.

"Uh, uh." He said waving his finger as he continued looking around. "Can't have you fuckers leaving on me now.. Not that I couldn't let you go… I just don't want to." His eyes stopped on a woman nearing her early twenties with long brown hair and green eyes. She looked to be a fairly rich girl and exactly who he was looking for. "Ah." He said stepping around the people to get to her. "Makatsuchi?" he asked.

The girl quickly shook her head no and pushed back further, trying to sink into the rock behind her. Her eyes were darting everywhere, trying to focus on something else, hoping he would leave her alone.

Hidan could tell she was lying and he could've just taken her, but he decided to have a bit more fun. "Well… that's really too bad." He said standing up. Everyone else was afraid to move so no one else tried to dash for the door. Hidan leaned his sickle against his shoulder. "I guess I'll just have to start killing people until I find out who Makatsuchi is." He said with a shrug.

He turned to the man closest to the exit, other than the one he had already killed. The man saw his intention and tried scrambling away. "n-no, it's her- NO!" he yelled before Deidara cut his head clean from his body. The others screamed in horror at seeing it roll across the floor.

He looked around for an answer to his unasked question. With a chuckle he held his hands out. "Really? No one?" Not a single person moved. "Well fuck me, I thought you people cared." He said shaking his head. "How inhumane." As he was saying this, he brought his weapon up again and prepared to bring it down on the next individual which, to everyone's horror, happened to be the previous victims shell shocked son, not even ten years old.

"Wait!" yelled a feminine voice. Hidan looked over to the girl he knew was Makatsuchi to begin with. "i-It's me!... please, it's me…" she said with fear oozing from her tone. "Please… don't hurt me." She was clearly on the verge of hysterical tears.

Hidan was still holding his sickle up above his head. He looked around the room at all of the hopeful faces. He then looked down at the kid with his head down who he was seconds away from butchering. "Eh, what the hell. I already brought it up." With a disgusting sound of impalement, he split the kid's skull in half.

The room fell quiet at the horrific act. Even after he got what he wanted, he wouldn't spare a child. Now, their brief moment of hope when Makatsuchi gave herself up was squashed.

Hidan sighed as if the task was so taxing. "Huh, believe me yah little shit. I did you a favor." He walked back over to the girl who was now regretting ever giving herself up as she cried vehemently on the ground, trying to scramble away. Hidan came up and squatted down in front of her. "Oh stop your crying already damn it." He muttered before putting her to sleep.

With his handiwork complete, he stood up and looked around at the rest of the people who were either crying or dead silent, frozen in shock. He slung Makatsuchi over his shoulder and turned to leave.

"Well, it's been a shit load of fun, but I've got to make my exit. You fucks have a nice day!" he called out on his way out. The people were still shell shocked by the events that just took place, but in a selfish way were glad they'd live to see another day. "Hope you die!" or so they thought.

With a whizzing sound, the people looked up at the top of the cave to see paper tags that were seconds away from blowing. Their screams were silenced with a boom that Hidan could feel even in mid-air as he dropped off the side of the cliff with Makatsuchi slung over his shoulder.

Kisame smirked as the sun disappeared. He looked over to Zabuza who nodded his head. The two men jumped away, ready to begin their mission.

Kisame shunshinned into the very center of the village. He looked around at all of the stunned faces looking his way in both fear and amazement. Finishing his hand signs, he opened his mouth and a continuous stream of water came shooting out, filling up the area incredibly fast until the surrounding, unlucky, civilians were all drowning within an unnatural bubble of water. It was huge and seemed to envelop a few blocks.

Kisame smirked as his form seemed to bulk into a more shark like appearance. From within, he went through hand sign after hand sign, sending off random attacks that burst from the bubble of water that some of the civilians were drowning within. Water dragons, shark bombs, shock waves, they were all being thrown around the village in different directions, drawing the attention of more than a few shinobi.

He watched as those outside of his bubble were trying to save some of the civilians within the area of battle, and those idiotic enough to jump in tried to save the drowning victims. Then, he was greeted by a few ANBU who seemed to believe they were proficient in fighting within water. He smirked and swam faster than they could keep up with, ripping them to shreds with ease.

He went through hand signs again and sent more and more deadly jutsu, shooting from the sides of his bubble. A sick chuckle accompanying his destructive reign of terror. He swam up to the surface, seeing someone he was actually eager to battle. Shark skin in hand, he stared across at the Mizukage, holding his bulky blade in his hands as well. Kisame smirked and sunk back down.

-break-

Zabuza sliced through yet another guard as he rushed towards his destination. Just a while ago he watched the new Mizukage, a young blue haired man with glasses, walk out the building giving instructions to 'protect her with your life' so he knew he was in the right place.

He was disappointed with the skill of the shinobi he's run into thus far. Only one of them was able to put up a somewhat adequate fight that lasted all but twenty seconds. Rounding another corner, he dropped into a slide, avoiding the sword slash that was inches from taking his head off.

He turned around and looked the young swordsman in the eyes. The young man was holding his shaking blade in Zabuza's face, trying to keep his composure. Zabuza slowly stepped forward until the man finally decided to try his luck. Zabuza pulled his giant blade up and blocked the strike with absolute ease. "You are unfit to be a swordsman." He said slicing his body in half straight down the middle.

With that finished, he turned and continued running, ignoring the tremors of the building as he threw his sword forward. It impaled whoever was on the other side of the wooden door with a grunt. Zabuza ran forward and kicked the door open, gripping the handle of his blade to pull it out. He flicked the blood off of it and ignored the now dead man who slumped down behind the door. He jumped, avoiding the slash from the man to the left of him.

While in the air, he scouted the room. There were three remaining enemies and the chair of the desk was spinning, meaning someone jumped out of it. He used the hole in his sword to wrap around the neck of the man that tried to attack him. When he landed, he dropped down, avoiding the overhead slash from the man behind him. He yanked the man in his sword over top of him causing the man who slashed at him to catch him. When he did, Zabuza had already kicked his sword through both of their bodies.

Before he could collect his weapon, the last wannabe swords man rushed him, swiping his blade wildly at him with a war cry. It was an extremely pitiful attempt at wielding a weapon of any kind. Zabuza grabbed his wrist and kicked his leg over the man's arm. He then brought the appendage back around his neck and put him in a sort of reverse arm bar. Then, he dropped down to the ground, bringing him with him. The man's face was pressed to the ground beneath Zabuza's legs. With a jerk of his body, he broke the man's arm, causing him to loosen his grip on his sword.

Zabuza rolled to his feet and grabbed the screaming man's sword, impaling his head to the floor. Silence enveloped the room as Zabuza sighed and plucked his bloodied weapon from the bodies of the two men laying lifeless on the floor. He leaned it up on his shoulder and followed the muffled breathing of fear he heard. With ease, he flipped the wooden desk over, revealing the frightened woman beneath. She tried to scramble away from him and Zabuza just stared at her, before stabbing his sword into the ground next to him.

Jumping towards another roof, Ino planted another paper bomb before heading to another one to repeat the process. It was almost sundown and she had planted hundreds around the city. They were needed for her plan. When she was set up and ready, she headed back to the rendezvous with Pakura.

"You ready?" Pakura asked her timidly, afraid she was still a bit touchy about their previous conversation that ended in a heated declaration from the masked blonde.

"All set!" she said with a smile and a thumbs up. "Let's have a blast!"

Pakura looked at her strangely but nodded none the less. There was but a sliver of sunlight remaining. "I'm going." Pakura said jumping off the wall in the direction of her target. Ino didn't respond as she sat on the edge, swinging her feet to a tune in her head, watching the sunset.

When it was time to act, she stood to her feet and stretched her body out. "Ok! Time ta make my love proud!" she said looking down at the village. Performing a few hand signs, she pulled her mask up slightly so that her soft lips were exposed. With a deathly innocent smooch to the air a condensed ball of light shot out of her mouth in an arch that traveled high and far towards the center of the village. For a second, it seemed to just disappear within the city.

Ino waited casually for the final product. Then, with a flash of light, an explosion erupted followed by a very deafening boom that rocked the ground she was standing on. She cheered loudly at the destruction until she was spotted by a patrolling Chunin. She stopped her shouts of praise and pulled a scroll from her pouch. Unsealing its content, a sword appeared in her hands. She rushed the boy who was trying to form hand signs. Before he could finish she threw her sword into the center of his chest.

Rushing forward, she plucked it from his body before jumping and shooting off a fireball that was a fairly decent size at the village below. When it hit, she jumped from her high vantage point avoiding the puppet that shot towards her. Looking for the assailant, she saw none other than Kankuro utilizing his personal puppet. Ino smirked beneath her mask and took off through the village, letting off more and more deadly attacks as she went along.

-break-

Pakura jumped through the window of the building she assumed the target to be in. Walking further in she performed a few hand signs and three balls of flame surrounded her body as she walked. As she ran down the hall she was in, she could hear footsteps rushing down the adjacent path. She simply willed one of the balls forward and it cut the man off, slamming straight through his form. He fell to the ground looking as though he was drained of all of the moisture in his body. She picked the carcass up and quickly threw it into a nearby closet.

She could hear multiple steps from above her, but assumed them to be soldiers based on her time here. As she continued running, she jumped up to the ceiling, avoiding the detection of a voice she was sure she knew. It was the Kazekage, Gaara. He was heading down the hall in the company of his apparent advisor, discussing the current attack.

"How much damage has been done?" he asked urgently.

The brown haired man quickened his pace to keep up with the red head. "The assailant has destroyed a very great chunk of the market district. There are a heap of civilian casualties and a few shinobi as well." He debriefed. "Kankuro-sama is currently giving chase." He finished as they rounded the corner.

Pakura was impressed by her partner's destructive capabilities. She had assumed she'd be a bit more dainty in battle. Maybe relying on speed rather than power to handle a fight. She actually doubted she had the ability to play the role of the distraction, but clearly her unease was misplaced. If the Kazekage was on his way however, she'd have to do this quickly.

Dropping back down to the floor, she ran down the hall at full speed and rounded the corner. At the end of this hall was a room reserved for important meetings that could not be discussed around prying eyes. The perfect place for the Kazekage to hide valuables.

Before she reached the door, she threw a kunai with an explosive tag on the end of it. The door was blown open and within, still sitting in their seats were the elderly council members. These were the same fuckers that tried to kill her years ago.

Ignoring that fact, she had a mission to do. One of them saw her rush in from the smoke and immediately grew worried. "No, wait! Paku-.." he stopped as she jumped over their table and blew the door behind them off its hinges. Within was a woman nursing a child. The men at the table stood to their feet seeing her intentions. "She's after the Kazekage's nephew!" one of them yelled.

Pakura had no time for any sort of pleasantries as she reformed the balls of chakra around her. She sent one out and drained the woman who had set the child down to face her. The woman's drained body fell to the ground and she quickly rushed to the crib she had just laid the baby in. Picking him up, she turned around and sent another one of her balls into the room. She stepped to the side of the door and waited.

The ball she sent into the room burst into a sort of mist that quickly drained the life of the five remaining men within. As soon as it did, she took off, staring down at the disgusting men on her way by. Rushing back down the hall, she busted out of the first window she saw. Covering the baby to protect it from any sort of injury, she jumped away from the building.

As she ran along the top of the wall of the village, she looked in at all the damage that had been done. The city was in utter destruction. In the distance she could see sand tendrils chasing after the masked blonde who was too quick and nimble for the Kazekage to catch. She created a clone and sent it that way to inform her that they were done and needed to escape. She didn't want to alert the Kazekage of the true purpose of this mission. She couldn't let him see the bundle for fear of him giving chase.

-break-

Pakura's clone reached the center of the commotion and threw an explosive kunai at the sand tendril coming down on the still recovering blonde. Ino looked up to see Pakura empty handed. The green haired woman just nodded at her and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Understanding the message, Ino came to a stop in a crouch. Looking across at the sand wielding man, she smirked beneath her mask.

"This was fun, Kazekage-sama." She said in a cute tone that was eerily unsettling considering how many people she killed. Gaara looked absolutely furious as the sand seemed to just bubble along with his anger behind him.

"Why have you done this?" he demanded.

Ino just shrugged. "How about I tell you later." She said using her hand to gesture herself blowing a kiss to him.

"You're not going anywhere!" he said bringing his sand up in a threatening way.

Ino smiled and made a hand sign. "Oh, I think I am." Gaara's eyes grew as he was unsure if she was bluffing or not. "You've got a village to save." She simultaneously set off the tags she had placed all over the village before taking off.

Gaara turned around to see all the explosions. He peered back over his shoulder, tearing himself apart on what to do. Should he go after her? Or save his people? Begrudgingly, he made his decision and flew towards anywhere he could hear people calling for help. He order every shinobi near him to assist in recovering the injured.

Pakura waited on the other side of the wall until she heard the massive amounts of explosions. Ino came jumping down and began running with her, giggling in excitement. "Hehehe! We did it!" she cheered happily as they made their exit. Pakura remained cautious of the girl, but ran alongside her regardless.

The five higher ups who had all returned from a mission complete, lounged around in the meeting room, talking about how great it felt to take action. It has been a week since their simultaneous attacks and they were still waiting on the ladies to return.

Naruto was absent from the group, opting instead to sit on the throne overlooking the main room with a book in his face. He was planning the next move in his head. There was one more task to complete before they were ready. It would be the most taxing of course, but the most satisfying to complete. Getting to a section in his book that made him think, he read the section out loud. "'War is but a mere stepping stone in the struggle of humanity. A struggle to survive, not only in the basic sense, but to survive in comfortability… survive with pride'… huh…"

It made sense. Humanity is selfish. Arrogantly driven by a need to have more than the next man. More power, more intelligence, more money, more land, more lovers, it was all just a pointless objective to blind every one of the truth. That truth being…

"Hi love! We're back!" Ino's voice yelled out as she landed in the throne next to his.