Island Hopping

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Tenjho Tenge

AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter focuses on Team 7 (in Uzu) and Team 10 (on Summoning Island) during the two weeks Team Kuro was travelling through the Land of Lightning. Here is chapter 54. Enjoy!

[ ] signifies hand signs

Last time:

Lightning Country, Valley of Clouds and Lightning

Team Kuro was racing across the water in the valley filled with fog that Kirabi called his home turf. It was a winding path but with Bee on point they were making excellent time. Under the cover of the deep fog they were well hidden from Kumo ninja patrols as well.

It was not an easy trip and took nearly two weeks but soon the small group of six ninja was nearing the northern border of Lightning Country. It was a very steep cliff face and they were at its base. Bee rapped, "Yo! This is a far as Aiko and I go. You've got to roam but this is our home." Then he said more seriously, "I'm pulling for you, Konoha ANBU. It's my dream that you save my team."

Aiko said, "The passage to Ōrora is believed to be in a cave straight up from here. It is supposed to have a waterfall coming out of it."

Team Kuro bowed to Bee and Aiko. "We thank you Bee-sama, Aiko-chan." said ANBU Cat. "We never would have made it this far without you. From here on out it's a road we must travel alone."

…

Chapter 54

Summoning Island

ANBU Brat Team 10; composed of Jonin Mitarashi Anko and her three Chunin students Nara Shikamaru, Isuzu Emi, and Yamanaka Ino were searching for the Dragon Flower on Summoning Island off the east coast of Fire Country.

The small ship that Team 10 was in came upon the volcanic island just after dawn and saw the smoke rising from the main volcano in the morning sunrise. The island had an aura of mysteriousness about it and all the team knew was summoning research was done there around thirty yeas ago by a group of scientists that had apparently vanished.

It wasn't until Team 10 landed ashore that the met some of the island's residents -giant animal summons with less than friendly attitudes- that they realized just how hostile the island was. Anko said, "Those researchers may have been wiped out. As much as I'd like to hang around and slug it out with these critters; we really need to find the base of the scientists and see if there is some reference that can help us find that Dragon Flower. Ino-chan reach out and see if there are any people around."

Activating her mind sensory jutsu; Ino reached out with her thoughts until she indeed found someone. The Yamanaka chunin said, I think I found someone but it's hazy for some reason. There is a kunoichi a few kilometers northwest of here."

"There's no time to waste then." said Emi. "I really don't fancy being eaten by a giant creature of any sort so let's make tracks."

Seeing Mitarashi nod, the team tool a diamond formation with Ino on point. They soon came upon the dilapidated remains of some sort of research lab where a very pretty red haired kunoichi was waiting for them. Anko immediately tried to greet the young woman only to find out that she didn't talk.

"Is she mute?" asked Shikamaru curiously.

Ino quickly answered, "This kunoichi is a spirit. She's no longer among the living. That explains why detecting her felt so foggy."

The spirit turned to Ino and nodded. "Can you tell us what happened here?" asked Ino.

The spirit kunoichi nodded again and led them inside the lab before pointing at a desk full of books.

The slightly spooked Shikamaru went over to the desk and started thumbing books while Ino attempted to make mental contact with the spirit.

The Nara heir read aloud, "This research Facility was built to study and control summoning creatures for shinobi. However, the demand was so high that we could not keep up with demands. We therefore decided to start creating summoning beasts be cross breeding and engineering them. Through this artificial evolutionary process; we believe that we have created the ultimate summoning beast that can adapt to the conditions around it."

The spirit nodded sadly and pointed towards another book that was filled with maps and the layout of a large lab facility that was inside the mouth of the volcano.

That was when Ino contacted the spirit directly and the spirit vanished suddenly… Anko said, "Ino-chan, what happened?"

Ino said, I've allowed the spirit inside me so she can talk to us directly. Her name is Uzumaki Honaka and she is a fuinjutsu specialist. She says that the ultimate summoning beast was actually completed and consumed her and all of the scientists alive. She's been alone as a wandering spirit on this island ever since."

Then Ino's voice changed to something softer and said, "I'm Uzumaki Honoka. This Island is extremely dangerous. Why did you come here?"

Anko, Shikamaru and Emi all found the situation to be extremely creepy. Emi said, "We're looking for the Dragon Flower. The Withering has returned."

Ino/Honoka's expression turned to horror. "The Dragon Flower was only cultivated in greenhouses on Uzu Island itself. It never grew naturally in the wilds. There wouldn't be any here. There was a place they stored the medicine that cured the Withering though. Even if the flowers don't exist the medicine still might. It was kept in a hidden vault underground. If only I was still alive; I could leave this island and help you…"

"If Naruto-kun was here he could probably come up with something through fuinjutsu that would allow you to leave this island Honoka-san." said Emi.

Ino/Honoka's eyes lit up. "Uzumaki fuinjutsu: Body/Spirit Reformation could work but you'd need an extremely skilled sealmaster to bind my spirit to a new body. It's a kinjutsu known to a few in the Royal family. That's the only way I could think of to get off this island and help you."

"Body/Spirit Reformation?" asked Shikamaru. "What does it do exactly?"

"It binds a wandering spirit such as myself to a newly created body so they can live again." said Honoka. "It was supposed to be a benevolent seal to revive those who could not pass into the afterlife. Sadly, it was misused by its creator to try to live forever and it was labeled a Black Seal."

"A Black Seal like Black Gate and Mind Burner?" asked Anko.

"How have you heard of those?" asked Honoka suspiciously.

"My adoptive little brother Uzumaki Naruto is the last of the Uzu Royal Family and knows them both." explained Anko. "I've seen Mind Burner but I only heard rumors about the Black Gate. It is supposed to be beyond comprehension from what I've heard. Naruto-kun doesn't talk about it."

Ino/Honoka nodded grimly. "It was created to destroy the souls of evil beings. Such a seal has terrifying power. If this Uzumaki Naruto-sama can pull off the Black Gate then the Body/Spirit Reformation should be no problem for him. He needs to learn that seal and come here. If it works, I can come with you to Uzu and hopefully find the medicine you need to stop the Withering again. I don't know of any other way."

Honoka and Ino separated. The spirit let out a silent sigh.

For her part, Ino looked exhausted. "The strain of having two psyches in one mind is unbelievable. I've got to rest back on the ship where it's safe."

Honoka nodded and said mentally to Ino, "Good luck."

…

Back aboard the ship, Ino was resting while Anko, Emi and Shikamaru discussed what to do next. "Ino-chan is exhausted." said Emi.

"Our best option would be to contact Hokage-sama and get instructions from her." said Shikamaru.

"Then that's what we'll do." said Anko as she started writing a note explaining the situation to the Hokage. "I'll summon a messenger snake and send this parchment to Hokage-sama to get her input."

…

Konoha, Hokage's Office

Tsunade was working on the village repair plans when a snake summons from Anko appeared before her. The messenger snake deposited a scroll in front of Tsunade and said, "Anko-chan sends her greetings. She awaits your instructions Hokage-sama."

Tsunade said, "Please tell Anko that I will send a message back to her as soon as possible." The snake summons nodded and vanished.

The Fifth Hokage looked over the message and sent a runner to retrieve Jiraiya from the Senju Compound. Jiraiya soon was looking over the note from Anko as well. "The Body/Spirit Reformation seal eh? Well, Naruto has some of the Black Seals from Uzu in a special place but luckily, he allowed me access. "I'll give it a look. In the meantime, I figure we should let Asuma's Team 7 know to look for a vault of medicine as well as the Dragon Flower in Uzu…"

…

Summoning Island

An hour later; Anko saw a messenger toad summons arrive from Jiraiya. She quickly unfurled the scroll and read the message:

…

Jonin Mitarashi Anko:

You and your team are to go to Uzu Island and help Team 7 locate the Dragon Flower and the Medicine Vault if possible. It was very fortunate you found Uzumaki Honoka. Please inform her that Jiraiya is looking into the Body/Spirit Reformation seal for her as Uzumaki Naruto is out on a mission. We will do all in our power to help her.

If even a drop of that medicine is left, then we may be able to recreate it chemically without the flower. I've had a messenger toad sent out to Asuma's Team as well so they will be expecting you.

The Fifth Hokage,

-Tsunade Senju

…

"So that's it team." said Anko as she read the message aloud to the others. "We go inform Uzumaki Honoka of the situation and then we set sail for Uzu."

…

Uzu Island

Jonin Sarutobi Asuma was looking rather despondent at the scattered, burned out remains of yet another group of greenhouses that had been razed to the ground by those who had destroyed Uzu. Skeletal remains of a few Uzu ninja were there but there were ten times as many from Kumo, Kiri and other nations lying about. It was a grim reminder about how powerful the small nation of Uzu was at its height…

Amidst this desolation a messenger toad appeared and croaked, "Sarutobi Asuma-san?"

The cigarette smoking Jonin said, "Over here." and waved the toad over.

The toad summons dropped a scroll at Asuma's feet and said, "From Hokage-sama."

Asuma thanked the toad and the summons vanished in a puff of smoke. The Jonin quickly scanned the message over and said, "Gather around people." Sai, Choji and Sakura assembled in front of their sensei. Asuma pointed at the scroll. "We may have had a stroke of luck. There is supposed to be a medicine vault around here somewhere. If it's intact, then the medicine may still exist. Also, Team 10 under Mitarashi Anko is coming to back us up."

"That is good news." said Sakura. "If the medicine still exists then maybe it will be possible to synthesize more."

"Exactly." said Asuma. "Sai, we're going to be digging around for a while. I want you head back to the ship and wait for Team 10 there. They may be here as soon as nightfall."

Sai saluted, "Understood sensei. I'll wait on the ship."

Team 7 was soon back at work…

…

Konoha, Natsume Clan Home

Anbu Gazeru was helping Jiraiya look for Naruto's book of Black Seals as they were the only two that Naruto's many fuinjutsu traps allowed to pass. After finding the so-called Black Book, Jiraiya started thumbing it and saw the massive complexity of the seals involved.

"These seals are pure art Jiraiya-sama" said Gazeru. "They are forbidden but they are still beautiful pieces of work."

Jiraiya smiled at Hikari's excitement. "Gazeru, with your enthusiasm I believe you will surpass me someday. Here is the Uzumaki Black Seal: Body/Spirit Reformation. Let's see what we can do. According to this anyone can make the seal but it has to be charged with chakra by someone of Uzumaki blood,"

We are fortunate to have Karin-san and Tayuya-san in our forces then." replied Hikari. "Their help will be invaluable."

"First things first." said Jiraiya excited. "We have to learn this seal."

Two hours later, both Gazeru and Jiraiya had their swirls in their eyes at the intricacies of the Uzumaki Black Seals and were only beginning the second of eight layered seals that made up the Body/Spirit Reformation. Jiraiya said, "Let's take a break Gazeru. My head is spinning."

Hikari was soon at Yakiniku Q with Jiraiya enjoying a well-earned break when Tayuya and Karin came into the restaurant. Jiraiya invited them over and started explaining the situation to the two kunoichi. Tayuya said, "Oh yeah, I know about the Body/Spirit Reformation. Oro-baka was nearly driven insane trying to figure it out."

"You mean Orochimaru had a copy of the Black Book?!" asked Jiraiya in shock.

Tayaya nodded and laughed. "The Snake couldn't make heads or tails of it. It made him absolutely furious!"

"I wonder where that book is now…" thought Hikari aloud.

Tayuya replied, "I know exactly where it is. I was the only one who could open it. The best Oro-baka could ever do with it was clone someone like he did that Mikoto-girl. I remember him screaming and carrying on that he could have cloned her in his lab but his subpar seal still revived her memories and all."

"We need to see Tsunade-hime about this." said Jiraiya in a tone as serious as death…

…

Hokage's Office

Team Aka was gathered along with Jiraiya and Tayuya. Tsunade said, "So Uchiha Mikoto was created with Orochimaru's seal that was his attempt at recreating the Body/Spirit Reformation." ANBU Lynx was shocked at the revelation but it did explain why she remembered her original life from childhood.

"Team Aka, I want you to go to Oto and retrieve that Black Book as well as other sealing books that Orochimaru had in his library." said the Fifth Hokage. "Such valuable information cannot be left lying around. ANBU Lynx, do you want to sit this one out?"

Lynx shook her head and said, "No Hokage-sama, I want to go. I feel a need to be involved."

Tsunade nodded in approval. "Team Aka, Uzumaki Tayuya, consider this an A-ranked retrieval mission. Seal up Orochimaru's old sealing library and return with it to Konoha. You set out at dawn tomorrow for Rice Country."

"What about the revival of Uzumaki Honoka?" asked Gazeru concerned.

The straw blonde Hokage smiled. "I'll keep Jiraiya working on it Gazeru. Right now, this mission is your top priority."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" said Gazeru.

…

Uzu Island

Anko's Team 10 arrived early in the morning at Uzu Island and found Team 7's ship docked with Sai waiting ashore with the ship's crew. When their ship docked, Anko led her Team down to meet up with the pale skinned young man. Anko saw Sai's sleeves were rolled up and that he had an ANBU Brat tattoo on his right shoulder which was a black gauntlet clutching a red lightning bolt. The left shoulder was blank presumably for a standard ANBU tattoo in the future.

Anko dreaded asking her team, "That tattoo…?"

Shikamaru, Emi and Ino all rolled up their right sleeves showing identical tattoos and the resident Nara mumbled, "Troublesome… We all got these to celebrate the end of the Oto War and to commemorate the ANBU Brats being promoted to chunin."

Anko asked seriously, "Whose idea was it?"

Emi blushed, "It was mine Anko-sensei…"

"That's my girl!" said the Snake princess as she barked out a laugh. "I don't know what the other sensei will say but I like them!" She turned to the pale skinned young man and said, "Lead us to Team 7 Sai."

…

Teams 7 and 10 soon were exchanging greetings and Asuma was talking with Anko. The bearded Jonin said, "Yeah, I like the tattoos myself. They show unity. Gai thought they were youthful but Kurenai-chan was less than thrilled about Yakumo-chan getting a tattoo."

Anko grinned. "Nai-chan is pretty strict Asuma. You should know that by now. What about Yūgao?"

"I never heard." Replied Asuma. "Given her kids have a tattoo on both shoulders I doubt she complained too much."

"True." Agreed the snake mistress. I wonder if they'll all end up as ANBU at some point in their careers as ninja."

…

"So we start at a group of six large greenhouses on the west side of Uzu village." said Ino. "Honoka told me that they were domes arranged in a circle. I the center of that complex should be a vault underground where they stored medicinal compounds and medicines."

Sakura pulled out a scroll with a map on into that Sai had been drawing. She pointed at a circle of remains and said, "It's got to be there. The ground was covered in wreckage, so we assumed that nothing was left there."

"We never thought about looking there for an underground vault." said Choji. "We may end up needing a seal master just to open it."

"Hopefully that's not the case. But if it is; we need to find the vault regardless." said Shikamaru.

Emi cracked her knuckles and said, "It looks like we have some debris to clear then."

Sai marked the spot on the map with an x and said, "Maybe we'll get lucky…"

…

Rice Country, The Village of Oto

Team Aka infiltrated Oto Village quite easily as it was mostly abandoned. The Konoha Crush turned out to be such a devastating defeat that without any Kage to keep them cohesive the few remaining ninja simply drifted to other villages or quit being ninja period. The overwhelming fear was Konoha was going to invade Rice Country to seek vengeance but the Fifth Hokage had no desire to do so.

When Team Aka showed up, they were given wide berth. No one even said anything to Tayuya despite the fact she was in a full Konoha chunin uniform. The few people left that knew of her figured she had done the same as the other Oto ninjas and changed alliances. "I kind of expected there to be hostiles here." said Lynx.

"These people's spirits are broken." said Bear. "They don't want to fight anybody."

Tayuya snorted. "Without the Snake-baka calling the shots the place collapsed into shambles. Let's look around and see was hasn't been broken into."

As it was; there were two areas that had been in Orochimaru's private hands that hadn't been looted: Orichimaru's experimental labs where Kabuto had often worked and his library which few knew existed. Luckily no one had stumbled across either place in the last few months so Tayuya simply deactivated the traps and let Team Aka in where they could seal things up.

"Look at all these book and scrolls." said Gazeru in amazement. "It's a shame Orochimaru didn't use his knowledge for good instead destruction."

Dove said, "Be impressed later Gazeru; we have a ton of work to do."

Pointing towards the back wall, Tayuya smiled. "There is the fuinjutsu section."

The ANBU Sealing Team had created special sealing scrolls for the job so rather than stacking books on the scrolls themselves it was a simple matter of sealing up the entire library one row of shelves at a time. The fuinjutsu section was sealed up separately from the rest because it contained material Naruto and Jiraiya would be reviewing rather than the general researchers.

Most important of the fuinjutsu books was a complete copy of Uzu's Black Seals that once belonged to Tayuya's Grandfather. The fact was Naruto's Black Book was a reconstruction from many sources rather than an original copy so there were several seals Naruto didn't know about contained within… and Tayuya was more than happy to have the book back in proper Uzumaki hands…

It took Team Aka hours to seal up the library but they were able to pull it off with Tayuya's directions and Gazeru's help disarming the many fuinjutsu traps…

"A job well done Team Aka; Tayuya." said Dove. "All we need now is to seal up the entrances to the experimental labs. A forensics Team is needed for that place, not us."

ANBU Gazeru put seals on the few entrances that Tayuya knew of to keep anyone from accessing whatever horrors lay within. Team Aka and Tayuya achieved their goals by nightfall and left under cover of darkness…

…

Uzu Island

Asuma an Anko's two teams worked hard clearing the area the vault was supposed to be in and wished they had a construction crew with heavy moving equipment It took until dusk to get half of the area cleared off.

Asuma wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "It's getting dark guys. We need to stop for the evening. With all the jagged metal around it's dangerous enough in the sunlight. Let's clean up a bit, eat and set up camp for the night…"

…

Soon Teams 7 and 10 were conversing around a campfire about Uzu itself. "The people of Uzushiogakure were noted to have notoriously long lives, so it gained the epithet The Village of Longevity." said Asuma.

Ino was looking in her mind's eye at what Honoka's memories were of Uzu. She said, "When this village was at its height, Uzu was composed of several high-rise buildings with a wide river running through it spanned by large bridges. The surrounding countryside was dominated by steep hills. It looks like those hills are all that's left standing now."

"What happened here was a tragedy." said Anko. "A half dozen nations banded together because they feared the ninja of Uzu and their fuinjutsu."

Sai said, "Judging by the remains we've found it seems that Naruto's ancestors were just as fearsome as he is."

"I'll say." agreed Choji. "The battle that took place in this place must have been horrific."

Sakura nodded. "Considering what little is left standing I'm surprised that anyone got out alive. The Uzumaki Clan must have been incredible…"

…

Konoha, Konoha Hospital

Early the next morning Team Samui, Tsunade, Hanako and Hiruzen were all getting a checkup by Kato Shizune. She was taking copious notes and gave them each a chakra infusion just in case.

Omoi was the first checked upon and came out of his examination feeling good. "I'm really shocked. I thought we were goners but now I feel like I'm in good health. I figured I would be taking a dirt nap by now. The Raikage-"

"The Raikage wrote us off and left us to die." said Karui with bitterness in her voice. "We actually got lucky that we were sent to Konoha. When the Withering is cured; I want to let Bee-sensei know that we are alright somehow."

Samui came out of the exam room and spoke to the redhead. "You're next Karui. Go on in."

As Karui entered the exam room, Omoi asked, "How did it go Samui?"

"Everything is cool." replied the blonde. "They don't take health lightly here. Shizune-san said they have Teams out everywhere looking for a cure to the Withering. I originally had my doubts but I really believe we're going to get through this Omoi."

"I am glad to see you have faith in my medical staff." said Tsunade. "Some of our own have the Withering so it's only natural that we'd want to help you as well."

"Tsunade-sama, we can't thank you enough for helping us." said Samui sincerely. "I know that Karui and I were weakening fast and Omoi was already nearly dead. As uncool as it sounds; we would be history if we were still in Kumo."

The Fifth Hokage sighed. "Raikage A obviously doesn't care much for his ninja outside of their fighting abilities. As a medical nin it's my duty to help those in need. Besides, you three kids seem like loyal, hardworking types. I hope you'll consider joining Konoha when this is all over. We could use a team like yours in our ranks."

…

Uzu Island

Ino awoke with a start. She'd had terrible nightmares about the battle of Uzu that took place on the very spot she'd been sleeping upon. She saw visions that reminded her of the Forest of Death and the Oto War.

"Are you alright Ino-chan?" asked Sakura. They'd shared a tent last night as the were old friends. Ino was shaking and the pink haired kunoichi ran a medical diagnostic jutsu to make sure the sassy blonde was all right. "You seem okay physically anyway. Was it a nightmare?"

The blonde nodded. "I think I'm okay Sakura. Being a telepath has disadvantages when the spirits are so restless. I don't know if this place is haunted but this land is not at peace. I dreamed of the battle that took place in this clearing last night. A lot of Uzumaki seemed to be able to use chakra chains and literally sliced up everything around them. That's why there is so much jagged metal and bone fragments around this area."

"They said Uzumaki Kushina-sama could use chakra chains." replied Sakura. "She was supposed to be Kage level."

Ino cringed and said, "The Uzumaki kunoichi that held this spot diced up at least three dozen Kumo and Kiri ninjas before they could even wound her. She-"

…

…Ino watched in horror as bits of metal, bone and blood swirled about the dying Uzu Jonin kunoichi. The red-haired woman crawled over the medical vault's entrance and painted an Uzumaki swirl on her hand in blood before placing it upon the vault and saying, "Uzumaki blood seal, FUIN!" Then she smiled as she coughed up her lifeblood. "Only those of Uzumaki blood may pass this seal…" then she expired…

…

"I know exactly where the vault's entrance is." said Ino. "Come on Sakura. We've already cleared that spot."

The two young kunoichi got up and Sakura trailed Ino over to an area they'd cleared the day before. Marching to a certain spot from within her dream Ino said, "Right here. This is the spot. It's sealed with an Uzumaki blood seal."

Asuma came over from his spot by the fire where Choji and Emi were cooking breakfast. He asked, "What's going on ladies?"

Sakura explained, "Ino had a vision that this spot is where the vault's entrance is. She said it has an Uzumaki blood seal on it."

"Which means only an Uzumaki can open it by swiping their blood across it." said Asuma. "We need Uzumaki Karin or Uzumaki Tayuya to open this since Naruto is unavailable."

The others had gathered around by that point. "So if we try to force the vault's door it will set off an Uzumaki seal trap." said Sai.

Anko said, "Mark the spot with a kunai and I'll send a request out to the Hokage. We may need a seal master as well."

…

Konoha, Hokage Tower

Tsunade was waiting for reports on Team Aka's progress when Anko's summons for assistance came in. The busty Hokage immediately called her husband Jiraiya and Uzumaki Karin to send them to Uzu instead of Summoning Island. Several hours later Jiraiya and Karin left for Port City to hire a ship to Uzu Island. Now all Tsunade could do was wait…

…

ANBU Headquarters

Shortly after Jiraiya left ANBU Team Aka and Tayuya returned and reported into ANBU Dragon. Dragon said, "Report Team Aka."

ANBU Dove saluted. "The mission was a complete success with Uzumaki Tayuya's help. The fuinjitsu section was kept separate as ordered."

"Were there any problems with Oto ninja?" asked the ANBU Commander.

The group shook their heads. "It would appear that the Oto ninja forces have largely disbanded." replied Dove. "We met no resistance though we did se a few here and there. Chunin Tayuya theorized that their ninja forces power structure collapsed without Orochimaru there to run things."

ANBU Commander Dragon nodded. "That is good news. I'll send a preliminary report to the Hokage while you all complete your full written reports. Chunin Tayuya; stick with ANBU Gazeru. When the Sealing Team starts unpacking the Uzumaki fuinjutsu scrolls I want you on hand."

Tayuya grinned. "It will be my pleasure to get my Jiji's books and scrolls back in the right hands Commander Dragon…"

…

POSTSCRIPT:

Thing are moving slower than I'd like but this was mainly a transitional chapter. Next chapter we'll finish up the side stories with Teams 7 and 10 before we return to Team Kuro's adventures in Ōrora. See you next time. Blue out. 9/16/23