Everyone thank Islagatt for betaing this chapter, and for giving me some tips throughout. (some of his suggested sentences are changed very little if at all.)
A/N: Well given I always listen to music while I'm writing, I guess I may start doing something I saw another author doing, which is a "listening to" section in the AN. You may or may not find this even mildly interesting.
This chapter: Lilium (saint version), Elfen lied soundtrack
Canta per me, Noir soundtrack
and now reviewer responses.
Dragon man 180: yes, Rtas is half jaw. As for Tsunade, well, if anyone is very observant, they'd see what I have planned there, but if you don't see it on your own then I'm not going to tell you, just know I have something planned.
Islagatt: the ANBU ditched jutsu and tried to kill the elite the conventional way, the thing is, elites are really strong, so once he had started the hand to hand, he was stuck with it and kinda fucked, but he still almost won.
Causiambetta: good to be back
The mixed squad made their way through the corridor, they had come across more maintenance pathways shortly after their trek through the hole in the hull, and were currently following them till they found a path to the surface. It appeared these corridors were very old, as they seemed unused, and they didn't show up on the schematic, which complicated the squads efforts. Naruto was somewhat relaxed do to the lack of hostiles, and had his hands on the back of his head stretching his arms as he walked. He occasionally noticed flood growths on the walls and floor, similar to those encountered in the mines, though there were fewer of them, and they seemed, shriveled somehow.
"Hey, have you guys noticed anything odd about the flood here? Back where I came from the the ones on the walls and such looked a lot healthier, and we didn't have any of those really strong ones." Naruto said, omitting the gravemind from that statement, due to his apparent singularity.
Onis replied to his statement without facing him, "This has been noted since the disappearance of the gravemind. It seems the creature regulated their growth, and consumption of nutrients. Studies show growths like these to be malnourished, and many flood combat forms have been killed or rendered immobile by the extent of their mutations."
"Eh?" Naruto gave Onis a look
"The flood are dying." He stated simply, a hint of exasperation notable in his voice.
"So, that means if we kill the gravemind..."
"The flood will die out." Rtas finished, walking up to the door at the end of the hall, it beeped to indicate his arrival, but did not open. "Ugh, useless machines. Onis!" he called, the requested elite coming to the door controls and beginning to work on opening it. One of the blue security officers stood in front of the door, his plasma rifle ready to confront any threats that might be on the other side.
Naruto and the grunt stood in the middle of the group clustered at the door, the latter looking at the former occasionally. The grunt finally asked, "Why you so calm? Humans usually mean or scared of us."
"Well, you guys don't seem overly hostile, and I'm kinda used to your looks, so there's really nothing to get worked up about." Naruto replied. The grunt seemed to accept the answer, and went back to contemplating plates on the ceiling.
The door hissed open, revealing a pitch dark crossways. Suddenly a mass lunged out and towards the blue elite's head. The elite dodged to the side, and the creature landed on a shadow clone instead, dispersing it with a bite to its skull. Naruto quickly identified it to the group as the one that killed Ewch. It lunged at the group again, only to be impaled by Rtas's sword from the side, then incinerated by plasma fire from the grunt and blue elites. It was already annihilated when Onis had readied his needlers.
"What a filthy abomination that was." Onis stated. This was followed by some grunts of approval from the group.
Naruto suddenly heard a pained gasp, and felt something wet and slimy spray on his back. He reached his hand back and wiped some off, before bringing it to his face to reveal that it was covered in purple blood. The rest of the group saw this and slowly turned around, to see that the elite who had been guarding the door, was dead and being suspended in the air via a large tentacle protruding through his chest.
The group quickly backed away, before another tentacle lunged out and grabbed the grunt by its foot. Then a huge creature squeezed its way through the door, and revealed itself to be the owner of said tentacles. It was a juggernaught, it name fitting for its huge size and horridly disfigured body. One would have a hard time deciding wether it was human or covenant before its horrid assimilation.
The juggernaught dragged the squirming and screaming grunt along the floor, before picking it up and holding it upside down. Suddenly its tentacle fell in two, and the grunt tumbled to the ground before scampering back to the group. Naruto was in a crouch to the creatures right, a green stained kunai in hand. "Don't. Touch. My. Friends." he said in a low and angry tone.
The creature made no move to indicate it understood, but turned to face him. The elites took this time to open fire on the monster, and superheated ions of plasma and explosive needles buried themselves in the creatures hide. It let out a roar of pain, before flinging the elite corpse at the group like a rag-doll, and forced them to scatter. Naruto then let out a yell and charged the beast with his kunai.
His advance was stopped midair however as he felt a tentacle punch through his stomach, before hitting his spine and turning his world black.
Jira and Orda felt a sudden pang of worry in the warehouse as they inventoried the equipment in the smaller storage room. They couldn't place a reason for their worries however, and finished their work. As they left, they heard a couple of the warehouse workers over to the side gossiping.
"Hey did you hear, there was an explosion over on the west side this morning, and I heard one of those aliens was involved."
"Oh yeah I did, but you know, I heard he was attacked, and the attacker blew himself up. Least that's what all the merchants were saying, in-between trying to sell me stuff to make my boobs bigger."
"Well that's what you get for being so damn androgynous. I mean come on, you make guys stop conversation to stare."
"It never gets any less disturbing to hear that."
Orda stopped eavesdropping at this point, and opened communications with Qwaar, "Qwaar, report in."
"Reporting, all is clear at the apartment, but Zuka is taking too long to get back from escorting Kakashi. Requesting permission to search for him?"
"Denied, we are going to check his tracker ourselves then search for him. Be very vigilant, rumors are that he was attacked. If you are attacked at our quarters, immediately evacuate by whatever means necessary, we cant afford to lose two warriors."
"Affirmative, be careful."
Orda turned to look at Jira, who was currently clenching his fists and grinding his mandibles in anger. "Those damn ignorant humans not only insult Naruto's sacrifice, but they dare to attack our comrades in broad daylight!" Jira said, growling the whole time. "Maybe I should have just slain those damned counselors on the spot."
"Perhaps, but my orders to you are otherwise, and I wish for you to follow your orders over your emotions, there are still other lives which depend on our lack of retaliation." Orda reasoned. Jira relaxed and let out a sigh, relenting to his superior officer.
Orda motioned Jira to follow him to the phantom, ostensibly so they could check the ships computer. As they entered the warehouse, they saw everyone had left, as was understandable with them not having any more work to do. Jira still felt uneasy for some reason, despite the normality of the immediate situation. They walked up the ramp, and entered the phantom. Heading to the cockpit, they checked the computer, and found Zuka's beacon to be near where the incident was said to occur, thankfully his vitals where still transferring, showing him to be alive, if with a low blood pressure and being unconscious.
Orda set up a nav point, and the moved to the exit of the phantom, when they noticed a cloaked figure towards the main door of the warehouse, vigorously doing something with his hands. It only took a moment to realize it was a jutsu being performed, and he yelled to Jira, "Take cover!" The elites sprinted from the phantom, and dove behind a forklift, just as the ninja yelled and sent his jutsu in the form of a large fireball slamming into the innards of the phantom, before the fireball exploded and blew the phantom apart.
The cloaked figure turned to look at the elites who had climbed out from behind the forklift to view the burning remains of their ship, which now had no hope of being repaired. "That is just a fraction of my strength, you will die here demons, I will avenge my comrade!"
The ninja continued to monologue about his motives and plans for the elites, but Jira simply made a gesture towards Orda, who then returned with a nod. Jira then shouldered his carbine and put two rounds into the ninja's side, who collapsed from the unfamiliar pain of a gunshot combined with the burning heat and radiation from the rounds.
Orda then began briskly moving towards the writhing ninja, speaking as he went, "Now it seems you have attacked us without any motivation, and you are associated with the group who attempted to assassinate my advisor. This was an inconceivably large mistake for you to make. I expect you to cry for mercy, then tell us who it is that sent you, how many of you there are, and who your other comrades are."
Anymore questions that could have been asked where cut off though, by a flurry of smoke capsules exploding just in front of the elite, who could just make out a figure grabbing the wounded man on the ground, and escaping.
"Damn! Cowardly insects! Come back and fight proper! I will slay all who threaten those under my command! Tell your leader I shall not run, and I look forward to hanging him with his entrails!" Orda yelled after the duo, not knowing wether or not they heard him, nor caring.
Jira then walked to his side, and loudly clicked his jaws to get Orda's attention. "Sir, we don't have time for this, we must meet up with Zuka quickly so we can regroup. The enemy doesn't seem to worry about attacking us in daylight as long as they hide their features like that."
Orda looked back on the burning ruins of their phantom, a notes that at least the salvaged equipment in the concrete room would be fine. He pulls the fire alarm next to the door to start the sprinklers and put out the fire. "Understood, lets move." Orda calmly ordered, and the walked out to the street, and turned west to go and find Zuka.
The captain of the assassination squad was deeply angered by the unsanctioned actions of his subordinates. First Kawasaki had confronted the crimson armored warrior against orders, and then he had gotten to sloppy and let himself fight on the alien's advantage and he failed spectacularly. Then the mans brother, who had managed to not only be placed in the same squad, but had information passed to him on the incident, snapped and left unprepared and mindless to attack the groups commander.
Now the elites were likely on high alert, and another direct attack would be easily noticed by other operatives in the city, and would become a disaster for public relations for both ANBU and the councilors involved in orchestrating the incident. All starting with one mans inability to deal with a well placed insult.
The captain himself somewhat sympathized with the elites situation, and their devotion to their comrades and their honor. Being in his position however, he either had to work the situation so that the elites would be a noticeably minor threat so his orders may be called off, or he had to do as told and eliminate them.
"Damn those freaks, they took my brother!" the wounded man said, "I WILL get vengeance for this."
The captain shook his head, "Save your dramatics for a novel, there is no room for it in this squad or in ANBU. How you managed to become part of this unit with your emotion immaturity is beyond me, and WE are the ones who have to deal with your foolishness."
The brother stopped talking for a moment, before saying in a quieter voice, "Wasn't as if we didn't pre plan it at all. We even tested their leader's strength last night to finalize our strategy."
"I fail to see any strategy or planning in standing in the open ranting while the enemy takes their precious time to nearly kill or capture you. What's more, the fact you premeditated this without consulting me first is even more infuriating. Don't you realize this is a black op! If you are captured, or if some of your equipment was used as evidence against ANBU, it would stain our reputation and honor forever."
The wounded ANBU considered this a moment before he decided to remain silent. If he pursued the matter anymore, it was likely his captain would ensure he never got the chance to avenge his brother. He would wait obediently for the proper chance. Until then, all he had to do was follow orders.
Naruto woke up in an all too familiar setting, the grimy sewers of his mind scape. He heard a buzzing sound behind him, much like that of a swarm of bees. When he turned around he saw a dark cloud, not resembling anything in particular, but his subconscious told him it was an intruder and a dangerous one. He didn't bother with how he knew that, more concerned with the fact it was moving closer to him
He reached a finger out to touch it, but quickly pulled the hand back when it burned like acid. The cloud seemed to feel the finger, and began rushing forward. Naruto responded by turning around and running as fast as he could down the tunnel, the cloud close behind.
All to soon he came upon the huge bars of the Kyuubi's cage, and a subsequent dead end. Kyuubi was visible just beyond the bars, beginning to snarl at the intruding presence. The cloud soon washed over Naruto, who began screaming, and it continued into the Kyuubi's cage. The kitsune attacked the invader with a wave of demonic chakra, and the mixing energies struck the paper seal holding the cage shut. Suddenly the intruder was gone, and Naruto was unconscious in his own mind scape. Kyuubi was going to try to wake him when he felt his mind being pulled elsewhere.
Rtas and the others looked on in shock, as the human boy who had quickly befriended them had been impaled upon the creatures tentacle, which had apparently tapped his spine due to his unconscious twitching. Rtas was the first to change his mood, as he began to growl in anger and readied his plasma sword. Suddenly though he noticed a noise coming from the boy, whose right hand rose and grasped the appendage in his stomach. The spec op commander subconsciously identified it as a growl, despite the implausibility of a human making such a noise. More pertinent however was the boy's movement after a grievously fatal wound.
Then the boy quickly ripped his hand back, and tore the end off the tentacle, before removing it from his abdomen. The juggernaught screeched in pain, before the boy dug his fingers into its chest, and forced strong chakra into the creature, who's mutated body couldn't cope with the intake. The force of the energy ripped a hole in the back of the monster, and sprayed its innards over the wall. The creature began to slump over and die, when the boy grunted, then violently threw the body at the far wall, getting it out of the way of the door.
Rtas took a step, before Onis placed his hand on his shoulder, "I know not what that is, but my instincts tell me it is no longer the boy, be careful."
Rtas continued over to place his hand on the boys shoulder. The boy immediately backhanded the elite with enough strength to knock out his shields and slam him hard into the bulkhead they had been using as cover. The elite slumped to the ground dazed by the blow. The rest of the squad quickly gathered around him, checking that he was alright.
The remaining security elite yelled, "Naruto! What is the meaning of this!"
The boy replied with a chuckle, the voice much too deep to be the boys, then said "Well this certainly is amusing. That foolish parasites invasion into the boys mind seems to have affected the seal, quite interesting. It has been far too long since I was allowed into the outside world." he began to chuckle again, and a red mist was faintly visible around him for a couple moments, before it dispersed. At this he stopped chuckling. "Damn, so it is only temporary. It must be the seal using me to keep the body alive. No matter, this may become useful in the future."
The elites readied their guns at the apparently insane human, who turned to face them. They were all felt a instinctual fear when they felt his glare and noticed his eyes. His eyes were now a deep crimson, and had elliptical pupils. Their training had never prepared them for a threat such as this, and the elites were motionless. JuJu, not having much of said training was significantly worse off, and he was shivering from the killing intent coming from the human who had shown him such mercy less then an hour before.
"I apologize for my hostility a moment ago, I was not in the best of moods, nor was I totally coherent with the world around me." He calmly stated. He then finished with a grin that emphasized his rather prominent canines. "I would like your assistance."
A/N: now, some of you may be going wtf at the mindfuck moment with the flood, I just put that together with thinking of Naruto's messed up mind and seal, and also the flood attack on Cpt. Keyes mind in the halo books.
Shorter chapter, but at least I got this one out in an acceptable length of time. The next one will be longer due to what I want to accomplish with it, but it may take awhile.