A/N:-The side arc and current arc are going side by side at the same time. I didn't want to post everything separately and thus will post side chapters in between. At one point, both side arc and the mc arc will converge. Also, don't forget to vote with power stones.
Also, if you have spare change; then sign up on my pa treon to read up to 40+ advance chapters of this series and around 40 chapters of another series Naruto: The Weapon Shop Owner. Pa treon is a monthly subscription system now which counts the number of days rather than the first of each month. So, if you sign up on 30th of a month, your subscription will end on 30th of next month rather than 1st of each month like it used to charging you twice.
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"Ino! Sakura!"
Whoosh… whoosh…
Naruto, Sasuke, and the rest of the group flickers towards them.
They notice Sakura and Ino trembling in fear.
"What's the matter, Sakura, Ino?"
Sasuke flickers in front of them.
"Sasuke-kun!"
Both girls sprint and hug him. Sasuke flinches at this, but he places a hand on their back to calm them down.
Tch…
"Popular Guy!"
Naruto clicks his tongue.
"Have you calmed down?"
Sasuke asks them.
"Now tell me what's the matter?"
"There!"
Both girls point towards a cavern.
"Another passage?!"
Sasuke slowly pushes them away and walks towards the cavern.
He activates his Sharingan and unsheathes his katana.
"This is…"
Sasuke's eyes widen in horror.
Click…
He clicks his tongue and looks away.
"What's the matter, Sasuke?!"
Naruto places down Sora and walks towards Sasuke.
"See for yourself?!"
Naruto enters the passage and notices the strewn pieces of flesh, organs, bones spread across the cavern. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the caverns are painted with the blood of the dead bodies.
AH!
Naruto's expression freezes and his legs tremble in fear.
Gulp…
He gulps his saliva.
"Demons! It must be demons!"
He continues to shake in fear.
Sigh…
Sasuke sighs and pulls Naruto with him.
The rest of the people also gather in front of the cavern.
"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Kakashi asks him.
"Sensei… it's"
Swish… swish…
Multiple kunais fly towards them.
Clang… clang… clang…
The group easily deflects the kunais and raises their guard.
Whoosh… whoosh…
Multiple figures in a dark blue uniform with gold trimmings surround them.
"FREEZE!"
They place blades around every member of the Konoha group.
A tall and slender woman walks out of the dark blue uniform group.
Shiing…
Sasuke activates his Sharingan and places a hand on his katana.
"Are you trying to exploit the current situation and rob the treasures of this village?"
"WAIT!" Kakashi waves his hand to stop his group.
He turns to the woman and answers her.
"NO! We are here at the request of your village chief. We are shinobis from the Hidden Leaf Village."
Kakashi inserts his hand in his pocket.
"What are you trying to do?"
The woman places her blade against Kakashi's neck.
Swoosh…
Kakashi takes out the scroll and throws it on the ground.
"This is the distress letter sent by the village chief of Tonika village. We are here to investigate."
Swish…
The woman pokes the scroll with her blade to check for traps.
"Bring it to me!" she signals to one of her men.
One of the blue-uniformed guys cautiously picks up the letter and passes it to the woman.
The woman skims through the content of the letter and nods her head.
"This is indeed the writing of the village chief!"
She waves her hand and the guards lower their blade.
"I beg your pardon. We are aware of that request."
The woman lowers her head and apologizes.
The Konoha group lowers their guard.
"And you are?" Kakashi turns to the woman.
"I am Shiseru. We are a security unit from the neighboring village of Hachou. Tonika village and our village have a pact of friendship."
"I see." Kakashi nods his head.
"Please come this way. I would like you to meet someone."
The woman leads them away.
"Shiseru…"
An elderly man with yellow eyes, a gray beard, and dark brown eyebrows turn towards the group.
There are multiple guards around them, digging graves and burying dead bodies.
"Who are they?"
The elderly have a friendly smile as he turns towards the Konoha group.
The group introduces themselves.
"I see."
The elderly man nods his head.
"I am the Village chief of Hachou Village. I appreciate your quick response. Yesterday, a few who escaped death, came to the village seeking help, and the situation came to light."
The elderly man sighs and remarks.
"Tonika village is isolated from the rest of the world by a barrier. It took us a while to realize the tragedy that happened in the village."
He closes his eyes to pay his respect to the dead.
"Do you have any idea who the assailants were?"
Kakashi questions him.
"The escapee from the incident stated that the village was attacked by demons. But most of them are a bunch of small kids thus the validity of their claim is questionable."
"DEMONS?!" Kakashi's eyes narrow as he hears this term.
"Village Chief, if you don't mind, then can we meet the survivors?"
Kakashi requests him.
"Sure! Please follow us to the Hachou village."
The elderly man nods his head.
"Everyone! Let's follow them." Kakashi instructs his group.
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High up in the air,
Flap… Flap…
Four shinobis in white are standing on the back of an invisible bird.
Slick…
One of them licks his lips and stares at the Konoha group with a hungry gaze.
"Brother! I can't hold myself. Should I take a go at it!"
"Wait up, Gitai! It's still too early. We have yet to get our hands on the remaining keys of the Saezuri. After overturning this village, we could only find four keys. The rest three keys are still missing. I suspect the remaining keys are with those survivors."
Tch…
"If not for that darn old fart! We would have already completed our task and pleased our master." Shizuku clicks her tongue.
"Who would have known that the old man had a weapon which could harm us?" Kusuna shakes his head.
"Damn that, old man! It took us three days to recover from those injuries." Setsuna cracks his neck.
"We got to loosen up a little with those shinobis from Konoha. They were a bunch of pathetic weaklings!"
Gitai has a wide smile on his face.
"For now! Let's follow these people. Once we get our hands on the keys, we will lay waste to this Hachou village. It will serve as an offering for our Lord." Kusuna lips part in a wide smile.
Hmm…
Kakashi raises his head and stares at the sky.
He shakes his head and continues to move forwards.
"Kakashi! Do you also feel like we are being monitored?"
Guy whispers to Kakashi in a feeble voice.
"I do! It must be the enemy who attacked the Tonika village." Kakashi gestures to him.
Kakashi turns towards the rest of the group, who are following the village chief without much of an expression.
'It's better we don't alert the enemy yet. I want to lure them away from the Hachou village.'
Shiing…
Kakashi's left eyes changes into Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan"
He sneakily casts a genjutsu on the village chief and the security unit of the Hachou village.
Whoosh… whoosh…
The group continues to flicker through the desert. Soon, a forest appears in front of them.
"It's about time."
Swish…
Kakashi takes out a kunai from his holster.
Chirp… chii…
He infuses lightning chakra in the kunai and throws it at the sky.
Fwoosh…
The group comes to a halt and stares at Kakashi with confusion.
"Get ready for a fight! They are enemies on our trail."
Kakashi warns them and dispels his Genjutsu.
Scree…
A shrill cry echoes in their ears.
A gigantic dark black bird with two faces and six eyes appears in the air. The bird has white vertical curse marks spread across its body.
A kunai infused with lightning chakra is stabbed in one of its eyes.
"I have been waiting for this!"
Naruto pumps his fist.
"Yeah! These guys had been patiently following us for a while now." Sasuke nods his head.
"Wait! So, you knew about them?" Sakura questions them.
"Yes, these guys were hiding in plain sight. They didn't even bother to hide their sinister chakra signature." Naruto nods his head.
Tch…
"Brother! We should have finished them earlier. Later, we could just torture one of these villagers and get the direction from him." Shizuku scoffs at the group.
"Brother, hurry up!" Gitai cracks his knuckles.
"Haha… what's the rush? We can take our time with them." Setsuna cracks his neck.
The group stares at the Gang of Four riding on top of the bird.
"Are they the so-called demons who attacked the Tonika village? They don't look that demonic!" Sakura and Ino speak in unison.
Fwish
Kusuna releases three dark purple snakes from his body.
Slither…
The snake slithers over to the rest of the group and enters their body.
Aah… Argh…
Curse marks appear on the three people and they transform.
"You both have to jinx it. Don't you?" Shikamaru wryly raises his head and stares at the transformation.
"And here I thought it was a normal investigation mission. What a drag?!"
"Everyone! Get ready for the battle." Kakashi instructs them.
BANG… BANG… BANG…
The three people jump down from the top of the bird. They smash into the ground and raise a cloud of dust.
Swish… swish… swish…
The three of them make some hand signs and slam their palm on the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu"
A giant summoning seal appears in the air behind the group.