The ships cut through the waters of the bay, plowing their way through the currents and tides towards the docks. The heat of the flames that ate away at the city stonework a stark contrast to the cool sea mist of the early morning breeze.
At the sight of the ships waving the Kumo banner high in the air, hundreds of people rushed across the docks, injured and soot covered, this group included children of all ages, some even gennin. But Gaara could not fault them for their fear. They were still young, still just children. Regardless of rank, sex, ability or age they all scrambled across the wooden platforms in a panic, with several people being thrown over the edges of the platform and into the beach. Those that weren't tangled in the sea weed continued their desperate run to escape by swimming for the ships rather than wasting time trying to get back onto the docks.
Gaara's eyes took in the chaotic scene, the fear etched onto the faces of the people, as if it had been carved there. The terror that shined in their eyes, and desperation hung over them like a miasma.
His gaze snapped over to the gate that served as the choke point from the dock to the city, where now, a swarm of Konoha ninja charged through in place of civilians, cutting down all stragglers that could not out run them. It didn't matter if they were women, elderly or even just children. They killed them all efficiently...murderously.
Rage boiled within him, twisting around his heart like a snake, coiling, searing a path, leaving its mark at the brutish actions of these ninja.
Jumping over the railing of the ship before a sand platform materialized beneath him, carrying him to the front of the beach, with the men fit enough to fight trailing behind him on the water's relatively shallow surface
The sand platform shifted with a swift jerk of his left hand the grains cupping themselves in front of him, guarding him against the kunai that were thrown in his direction. With a swipe of his left hand a sand claw rose from the beach, smashing away the Leaf ninja like a giant club, sending them crasing into the stone gate and across the beach.
"Through the gates!" Gaara yelled as the Suna and Kumo ninja caught up before rushing right past him, engaging the leaf ninja at the gate, while others scaled the walls to enter the city.
"Send these slaves back to their master in pieces!" Gaara hissed through his teeth as more sand rose from the beach at his back.
The wooden hallway of the ship seemed to groan and creek with every shifting movement of the hull, the candle light only providing the barest minimum of light necessary for humans to see.
Naruto skulked through the hallways in silence, avoiding patrols and still awake crew members with ease. He could kill them at any given moment. But he did not want another massacre, not tonight. The only men that need die here were the captain, and any man that was guarding Temari and/or Hinata, the others he could force to man the ship to take them back to the mainland. Then he could kill them all for their utter stupidity in crossing him. Even if they had succeeded, and vanished, once he won the war he would have Hinata's death investigated and would have sent his Anbu to hunt down these men for their transgression.
Doors were opened and closed in silence, rooms invaded and vacated without disturbance, their sleeping residents all but unaware of his presence, as they should be.
Finally he found one of his targets, within the lower deck of the ship, two guards hovering over her bed. Their poise lax and careless not believing any enemies could reach them, nor that their charge could threaten them in her current state. Foolish.
He dropped from the ceiling, landing be tween them. Barely an intake of breath from the two before one was dead, the other, merely silenced by the inability to breathe or exhale due to the hand over his throat. He squirmed and thrashed hands clawing at Naruto's wrist in panic. Naruto leaned in close, close enough so he would hear his voice despite its low volume. "Stop moving." The Jinchuriki stated, freezing the man in a second with the sound of his voice alone. "I will release you. When I do, do not attempt to call for help, should you do I will kill you before the breath enters your lungs. Do I make myself clear?"
Face turning red from blood pressure and lack of oxygen from the the man nodded quickly and Naruto released the strength of his grip enough to allow him to breathe, but only just.
"Now. Where is Sabaku?"
"L-l-lower deck I think. Main storage hold. We changed it around a bit, took all the junk out. Put a nice cot in there, Souka is in there with her. He's the only one who knows anything bout medicine on the ship. Just in case that cut on her neck starts bleeding again."
"How did you incapacitate Hinata?"
"Capn-" The man paused, swallowing thickly before he tried to take another breath. "Capn, had a drink with her, some kind of experiment type poison that only affects you ninja types. I don't know anything else 'bout it I swears."
The cogs in Naruto's mind turned slowly, deducing the possible targets such a poison would hit first if it were following the Chakra coils of the body. Perhaps the 8 gates were a guidance. He'd have to think on it later. The fact that the poison only targeted ninja severely depleted the chances that the captain would actually be smart enough to keep an antidote.
Without another word Naruto snapped the man's neck with a quick crunching sound, feeling the bones shift and grind together beneath his gauntleted fingers before he set him down on the floor.
The sound was low, too low to reach past the closed door and wooden walls. But it still caused a stir in the woman within.
Naruto's eyes shifted to her, once healthy skin now a sick pallor of pale, hair matted down and slick with a dark sheet over the cot she laid over.
Ghostly lavender eyes opened, breath labored as her pupils sought him out in the darkness, body shivering with fever.
Finally, she saw him and when she did she stared, stared with non recognition for several moments until he knelt at her side. Her eyes closed as a small smile tugged at her lips.
"You came for me."
It was as if every type of relief and gratitude a human could feel was poured into those four words. And no longer was she ill, with fever and possibly dying. She seemed to glow for those few moments before her head slumped against the small mass of cloth that acted as a pillow.
Naruto stiffened, leaning a little closer while channeling chakra to his already sensitive ears, listening for a heartbeat.
When he heard it, it was still strong. She was only unconscious, her energy sapped from the poison.
He reached down, hands reaching behind her knees and cradling her neck and upper back before he lifted her off the floor.
She groaned at the movement, hands unconsciously reaching for her stomach. The poison was affecting the chakra coils around the stomach...or was it afecting the fifth gate? Damn it!
With the Hyuuga cradled in his arms he marched through the groaning wooden halls, his steps just as silent as before as he made his way down the hall towards the lower deck.
His nose took in the scents, trying to filter out the heavy stench of alcohol, sweat and the pirates general body odor, cringing slightly at the fowl stench.
But soon he found hers, eyes traveling towards a door on the other side of the hall, where the flickering orange of a candle light filtered through the lower cracks of the door.
'There she is.' The red robed ninja thought to himself before channeling chakra through his ears, listening for any movement in the room. Hearing two distinct heartbeats he pin pointed their positions in the room after a moment of concentration. Assessing her to be the one unconscious, her heartbeat was identified as the slower one. So he naturally zoned in on the faster one. But just to make sure the Kage stepped forward before lightly tapping his foot against the door, just loud enough for the occupants to hear it.
"Yea?"
The voice was male. And it was all the confirmation he needed.
A wind blade was manifested, the razor edge passing through the door with virtually no sound before it pierced the mans heart through and through.
A thud was heard within the room, and Naruto adjusted Hinata in his arms quickly before opening the door and slipping in.
Hinata groaned and hissed at the movement before Naruto readjusted her, finding Temari's equally unconscious body in the room. Naruto put the Hyuuga on the floor as gently as possible.
"Hmmr" Temari suddenly groaned and Naruto's still sensitive ears quickly picked up the sound of her increasing heartbeat.
Quickly deducing that she would more than likely not keep her mouth shut, possibly in some panicked, delusion that the pirates would be able to harm him, or distract him long enough for her to harm him, Naruto quickly marched across the room, cold metal gauntlets quickly covering her mouth.
The cold metal jostled whatever sleep was in Temari's system right out of her, her eyes shooting wide open before her two hands wrapped around his wrist, clawing at it.
"Stop moving."
Temari froze, eyes adjusting to the darkness as she caught sight of him.
He could practically feel the rising panic already swelling up from her body. It did not take a genius to figure out why.
"If you believe your, near death experience on that ship is my doing you need only remember that if I really wanted you dead. You would be dead."
She seemed to calm minutely at that, though she was still breathing heavily through her nostrils
Though the statement allowed her to calm down and not make this situation more troublesome than it had to be it also allowed her to think clearly.
And thinking clearly was just as dangerous as panic. Already he could see the cogs turning in her mind as she formed her conclusions.
He was keeping her quiet. Now, he'd do that normally, but not in this way. He'd either just tell her to shut up or he'd launch enough killing intent at her to keel over a horse
So since he was silencing her like this...then that meant he wanted to do it without making a scene. And if he didn't want to make a scene...that meant that whoever was on this ship wasn't a friend of his...and if they weren't friends of his...that meant they were probably friends of hers.
Noticing the path her thoughts had taken Naruto spoke. "If you are thinking of making a racket so that a would be rescuer will come to save you then don't. There's not one person on this ship that can threaten me. The only thing these worthless pirates can threaten is Hinata. As well as yourself if they get truly desperate." He said, gesturing the Hyuuga behind him. It was then the Sabaku noticed her. The sickly visage making her eyes widen only slightly. More surprise over her condition than actual presence.
Undeterred the blond continued. "If however you still wish to make an attempt to call for help. Know that the only one of these fools with even an iota of intelligence to his name; I killed three minutes ago.
Ishio sighed as he read over some of the maps, plotting the best course to take to arrive at Suna, as well as where they should dock once they arrive.
He rolled his eyes before reaching for the alcohol bottle at his side tilting the opening to his lips. When none of the warm liquid entered his mouth however, he stared at the bottle with a disappointed growl. "Why is the rum, always gone?"
He sighed before standing and making his way to the door, this ship had three Sake, wine and rum cellars, one of which just so luckily happened to be right outside his room.
Clicking the lock to his room open he opened his door, only for a hand to reach out of the darkness, the metallic claws slashing the side of his neck wide open.
The pirate captain gasped, choking as his legs carried him back, stumbling over his desk, blood pouring over all the maps in the room, eyes wide and disbelieving, he knocked down several of the candle stands along the side of the room, their lights flickering before regaining their strength while some turned off entirely.
He reached the end of the room, eyes wide as his back slid down the wall, hands clutching the side of his open throat staring up at the Kage that now stood over his dying body.
Naruto watched as the blood slowly flowed across the floor. It reached his boots, before he heard the thumping of footsteps down the hall, along with the curious shouts of "Captain" from the men that now came closer.
Naruto turned from the dying man, facing the men as they entered the door, freezing at the sight of him and the dead captain slightly behind him.
"This ship." Naruto began. "Belongs to me now. If you value your lives you will sail this ship back to the mainland immediately. You will also provide me with the antidote for whatever poison was used on Hinata. If none of you know, then you will show me the poison."
Before anyone could respond a low, grating sound rolled into his ears and Naruto turned eyes finding Ishio's face. A smile, taunting and smug tugging at his lips. Then Naruto's eyes found their way to the man's hand, where a single explosive tag, one of the four dozen or so he'd taken from his men along the upper deck earlier, lit aflame...about to detonate.
The Kage vanished in a cloud of smoke before a bright flash of light.
The real Naruto's eyes snapped open, acting fast as he stood fully, ignoring Temari's startled gasp.
His hand extended towards the far wall, a shock wave of pressurized wind blasting the wooden obstruction wide open. Since they were in the lowest deck water soon flooded into the compartment.
"What the hell are you doing!" Temari yelled as she scrambled to her feet.
Naruto didn't allow her to reach her feet on her own, hooking an arm along her waist and lifting her with a single arm as he made another clone to grab Hinata before the water could wet more than her sleeve.
Rushing through the hole in the wall, the heat of a deafening explosion nipping at his heels. He marched along the shallow surface of the ocean, stumbling like a drunk as he tried to keep himself standing over the rapidly shifting currents.
He spared a moment to look behind him as an explosion tore the ship apart. If everyone wasn't dead they would probably drown, and if they didn't drown he'd kill them himself once they reached the shore. With no ship they were useless to him.
He felt Temari's nails digging into his skin and brought his gaze back to the heavily breathing Sabaku, the sudden adrenalin rush causing brief trembles, along with a slight flush to her cheek.
"What the hell...just happened?" She questioned glaring at him before looking over his shoulder towards the now sinking ship.
Naruto ignored her question as he looked to the clone holding Hinata. The clone nodded, indicating she was still alright, for now.
Turning his gaze back to Temari he spoke. "It appears we will be in eachothers presence for quite a while, miss Sabaku." Before he began to make his way back to the island.
Gaara hissed as he willed another wall of sand to rise from the earth, blocking a fire Jutsu from striking the civilians that were currently making a mad dash to the docks. They were several yards away, but they weren't the only people he was guarding. It was as if the Kazekage had made it his own personal mission to guard as many civilians as he could. Often sacrificing even his own defense to their aid. Much to the frustration of his older brother who had taken it as his mission to protect Gaara.
They had managed to push into the city streets from the docks, pushing back the enemy enough to link up with the remaining defenders in the tower where they were now proceeding with the evacuation. But now with their forces spread through the city rather than as a single concentrated force their advance had been ground to a halt and they were now being slowly pushed back, the fire and the determination that had spurred them on at the beginning was now slowly dwindling. Leaving weak, faltering, fearful soldiers in place of men and women driven to save their families.
"Gaara!" Kankuro yelled, launching several Shuriken from his wrist launchers as his left arm opened up into a wooden shield, marching up next to his brother, the T shaped visor of his head armor turning to face the young Kage. "We have to go. We've saved as many people as we can. Now we need to get out of here before we're all killed!"
The Kazekage did not even hesitate in his answer as a quick, firm "No!" escaped his lips. "There are still civilians in the city!"
"We cant save everyone!" Kankuro yelled moving to grab his brother before looking to the side. "Chouji, Sakura, Ino we-"
Gaara wrestled from Kankuro's grip, blocking an incoming kunai before he launched a sand spear at his attacker, killing him before he raised himself to his full height. Kankuro's words long silenced.
"Get the women and children out! Get them out!" Gaara yelled at the top of his lungs at the ninja fighting in the street. His voice was as loud as a thunderbolt ringing clear through the ears of all who heard it, spurring them on to fight. Reminding them of just what was at stake other than their lives.
Several hundred feet away a single, spinning sharingan eye stared at the red head Kazekage as he rallied the men at his side.
"Hmm...troublesome guy that."
"Sabaku no Gaara. Jinchurikki of the Ichibi no Shukaku. Has extensive control over sand. Defense near impenetrable. Offensive capabilities, slightly above average." Kimimaro recited his intelligence on the Kage.
At the side of the Copy nin and Bone wielder were Jirobu and Tayuya. Sakon, Ukon and Kidomaru were busy assaulting the Kage tower.
"Shouldn't be too much of a problem for you three to deal with." The copy ninja stated.
"You're not coming?" Tayuya questioned
"No no." Kakashi said waving her off as his eye traveled towards the nina fighting in the tower. "I have a date with a certain 'Dragon.' Which I would just hate to miss"
The three nodded before they lept from the edge of the building, making their way toward the battlefield.
Kakashi ignored their absence as his eye continued to scan the battlefield. "Come out come out wherever you are." He sang to himself.