~Naruto: Iridescent Beginnings~

[King Sora X]

They have been traveling for a while now. It wasn't too long, but Jaakuna was feeling restless. He wasn't feeling this because of the strain of his overall stamina when going long distances, but more like he was excited about the current mission he, Kaito, and the arrogant, but respectful, Arashi were given.

Just like Arashi's younger sister, Ayumi and her group, the trio of Kaito/Arashi/Jaakuna had to investigate what could be information about Son Goku or any of the other tailed beasts. Rumor has it that there was leftover chakra and there could be chakra-physical manifestations of the tailed beast around.

Continuing a very long walk, the trio found themselves within a forest area. Or at least an area that had a decent amount of trees. There a tailed beast that seemed to be a little version of the one-tails. Jaakuna might not know what the one-tails is, but based on his view at this current moment, it has one tail. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that much.

On the further examination, Jaakuna noticed that the one-tails was taking it to Arashi full on, and Arashi was giving it back to him. When Arashi felt like he needed help, he called out to such a request and asked for 'team support'. Right away, Arashi was acting like he's the leader. An automatic response from Jaakuna would be to knock Arashi aside the head, but given the current situation, Jaakuna withholds his initial response, and springs into action.

At the moment he did that, Kaito was already giving a dose of his awesome ninjaness to the miniature one tail thing. First there was two gusts of wind to dizzy it up, which Jaakuna was enjoying, but he was really looking for the perfect chance to go in for his turn. This would come up when Kaito, impressive one should mention, used three exploding tags on its back and both legs. This made the perfect opportunity for Jaakuna to strike.

"Lightning Clone Jutsu" Immediately, Jaakuna jumped up creating three clones which proceeded to hop off of surrounding trees to deliver a series of upward kicks that were able to launch the miniature one-tails upward which at this time the original Jaakuna was waiting for him with his hands together(like a kamehameha) which by this time he had already gathered enough chakra.

"Fire Style: Sea of Flames Jutsu" Sending it outward, a stream of red chakra as hot as an active fire came into contact with the one-tails, which sent it back downward to which the lightning clones used the same jutsu only it wasn't as strong. They all kept this up for a few more seconds until the real Jaakuna had launched himself downward completely cutting off the stream of chakra from his hands to deliver a thunderclap jutsu which sent the one-tails plummeting down to the ground creating a shockwave from the impact.

 

[SSLaertes]

Sanosuke felt like stepping back several hundred feet as Daaku questioned the recent discrepancies Shira (as the Raikage) preformed in behalf of the village. It was all in good will, though, answers were needed but the pressure between the two was intense. He was just as curious he had to admit.

"First of all, Daaku-chan, young Kaito-san left the village without consent. We were still testing whether or not we had genin suitable for the exams." Shira seemed a little urked by the repeated "shinzo". "Unfortunately, the last past few years haven't been so kind to this village."

The tall, dark haired man gave her a puzzled look. What had she meant by not so kind he wondered. The pressure continued to bog down, and Sanosuke felt as though his head was going to explode and he could only imagine how Shira was feeling.

"Population issues..." Sano mumbled as he looked into the woman's eyes.

"Many of our young are just falling ill of this strange virus, and worst of all every time we have thought we had it under control, another breakout occurs with that is alarmingly stronger." She looked puzzled and the two ANBU at her sides nodded. "Someone or something is out there threatening the very future you speak of Daaku."

It was odd to hear about the village of Kumo being under a biological attack since the village was once made-up of sturdy individuals do to the living locations.

"You need to understand, we are doing the best we can."

Sanosuke patted Daaku's shoulder and eased his way over to his ear.

"It looks like we are going to be here for a little while, a bit of an investigation is at hand." He whispered to his ally.

 

[King Naruto]

~Normatsu~

There stood Normatsu and Orochimaru before a centuries old ruin deep within the mountains of Kumo. It was shrine-like in appearance and covered in moss. The ruins wasn't overtly destroyed or looked rundown like many other places but, it looked fine like it was still being used to this day. Taking their time, Normatsu and his son analyzed the area, noticing the many symbols of the sage. Finally both men made their way into the inside of the ruins, passing many a rooms that were lit up by torches. Normatsu was curious on the many things he saw throughout the place and he wanted to study this place. They came upon a large door with the image of the nine-tails on it, an image that caused a chill to roll down his spine.

Orochimaru slowly opened the door with a big smile across his face. As the door opened, it revealed a medium-sized room that wasn't too extravagant. A black haired figure sat on the floor in the middle of the room before a large fountain that was still spewing water amazingly.

"I see you've come, father and brother." The black haired man said.

"Didn't believe you would still be here, Izuna." Orochimaru snake tongue spoke.

Izuna looked back toward his brother and father, Sharingan peering deep into their eyes while responding, "Nor did I think you would come brother but, father surprises."

"Why Izuna? Why abuse the power bestowed upon you? Madara....." Normatsu said as he took several steps closer to his offspring.

"QUIET! You get no say in speaking that name. The beasts will bring about those that threaten us all." Izuna retorted with a degree of anger.

The roar of the tailed beast could be heard as space began to distort around the outskirts of Kumo. Izuna stood up from his spot and began walking as to leave. Just then Normatsu grabbed his second son's wrist with intent to break if he attempted to pull away. "This is not the way. I understand you want his blood but, " Normatsu was cut off by Izuna's instant usage of his eyes. His body distorted and warped to the door.

"And what would you have me do? Nothing I suppose. You act as his friend but, continue that path and i'll make sure to kill you in the process. Farwell Normatsu and take care Orochimaru, atleast you are welcomed company." Izuna spoke before leaving both men's vision.

"I always love family reunions. Though the last one was far...." Orochimaru's words were stopped by a kunai flying past his head.

"Watch your words boy." Normatsu's serious side took precedence as he glared at his youngest.

Meanwhile the tailed beast drew closer then expected, roaring and ravaging the land with Izuna's eyes taking shape within it's eye sockets.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Confused.

This was a feeling that Ayumi didn't experience on a regular basis. She was often much like her father and did things in stride. Each time something happened the young shinobi simply got over it. So now she was confused and trying to explain to herself just what was happening with Shinji. Never before had Ayumi been unable to defend herself, nor had she been beaten so easily. It was obvious that as a genin she had much room to grow but defeat wasn't something Ayumi had ever gotten used to. Ayumi figured that it wasn't a great idea to act in a manner where she showed her rapidly developing feelings for Shinji, it wasn't an obsession but for some reason knowing that he had saved her life gave her a security blanket that wasn't like how Ayumi normally felt around others.

If it weren't for Daaku being so hard on her during her earlier childhood, there was a chance that she'd be unable to fend for herself. It was a fact Ayumi could admit to quickly because she was a brat and knew all too well how her behavior often made her appear. "Okay I won't tell daddy if you don't want me to Shinji but ONLY because you asked me so nicely." Her voice sounded sincere enough to where the pitch of her voice wasn't off or strained. There was really no point in trying so hard when all she was doing was staying in a controlled state. All with the truth in mind. It shouldn't have mattered because as a ninja Ayumi was supposed to be conditioned to not allow situations such as heat or cold get to them on the job. At least that was what she had learned. It was too bad the heat hadn't increased any less in the time being in the desert.

The sun had only gotten brighter in the sky and Ayumi continued to get more annoyed with doing a lot of nothing and Rayex deciding to just stand around and not talk to anybody. He seemed to be such a loner. It made her wonder a bit more about who he was and what his life was like. Being heavily pampered had lessened the exposure of some of the expenses of the world, yet with the impact that could have on her future sometimes Ayumi felt the need to not think about it and focus more on her training.

Still Rayex puzzled her. His reasons for being so quiet were anyone's guess. There was a chance that Ichigo probably had a bit more information on everyone there than they realized. He was a member of the Kissui Tensai and this fact alone made her question what other things that her father knew and what types of things he was really involved in. When he'd been Tsuchikage Ayumi had been a bit younger but even then it seemed Daaku was less brash and more proper. It probably didn't mean anything and Ayumi's mind was just over-analyzing the situation. Either way she didn't care.

"This heat really sucks, I don't see any monsters or anything like that around here. I see desert, desert and even more desert. This is lame." She moved closer to Shinji and smiled an inch or so from his face, "I didn't mean to like make you feel uncomfortable but its funny anyway, you should have seen the look I gave you. Anyway, can we leave now??"

Ichigo opened his eyes and laughed, hearing one of the genin speak to him again after Shinji did, had snapped him right out of his meditation. "Okay we can go do something else. While I was in town I saw this woman I knew from three or four years ago. It was interesting because I remembered her from being in Konoha. Anyway, she asked me if I knew any users of the Jokiton or if I'd heard of it so I looked in the Bingo Book. You can find anything in there. Well not really but it still works." That certainly was a perk of the Kissui Tensai, you were able to obtain quite a bit of information that otherwise wouldn't be so easily exposed.

"Anyway I read your file since the last update and remembered the info. Tell us what its like to have control of such a unique bloodline." He'd completely gone off on a tangent in trying to start the mission but it was worth it. "The client Tizera Omaki asked that I and my squad retrieve a package that was previously buried and return the contents to her. Its really simple but the contents alone have raised this to a B-rank mission." Ichigo clicked his tongue.

"Shinji why did you save me??" Ayumi felt the need to question his motives.

Ichigo stopped and peered at the ground. From Ichigo's perspective he'd seen a lot of reasoning that many ninja both and young and old had for saving a life. He'd also seen the opposite too and watched many people die. "I feel this will strengthen the bond between you two." There was no reason that Ichigo could think of that would cause Shinji to not answer, so Ichigo sat on the ground and placed his palms face down.

"I did have some other plans but this can come first." the smirk on Ichigo's face grew as his palms continued to press on the ground.