Island of Storms [Sakura]

Chapter 64 | Matatabi

Truthfully, those who had gone to the Land of Fire were surprised that the meeting did not last a few days. Sakura had made a big enough impression on the Fire Daimyo that he felt no need to convene with his advisors. She actually could have acquired an unfair deal that was in her favor had she introduced one, but she had nothing she wanted from the Land of Fire other than to be left alone.

One night after about a week of being back from the Land of Fire, Sakura woke to a puff of smoke erupting in her bedroom in the middle of the night. In her tired state, she got ready to attack but was able to stop in time when realizing it was one of the elders of Hachidori's flock.

"An attacker has entered the wall!" she called, startling Sakura into putting on enough clothing that she would be able to fight in. Once she was finished, she realized she was able to hear the sirens from the rest of the village and made a note in her head to extend them to her place of residence. In fact, she wondered why they weren't there already. What an oversight.

She rushed to the Kage Tower through teleportation to find many others in either their sleeping clothing or fully dressed. Some were like Kakashi, who was in just a pair of pants and a shirt sitting on the floor putting on his boots.

"Situation!?" she demanded, causing the room to fall silent before she realized that the three brothers were nowhere to be seen.

"Kurama identified his sister Matatabi and a person who seems to be controlling her," Shikamaru reported.

"Controlling? Then this is similar to what happened with him in Konoha?"

"He thinks it might be the same person."

"Great," she said sarcastically. "Everyone, block them from getting to shore no matter what. We can't have them wrecking the village."

Kurama, Shukaku, and Isobu had taken their full forms and were sitting on the water blocking their sister's path to the island.

"Damn cat won't listen to us," Shukaku grumbled as Sakura arrived on Hachidori.

"I already told you she can't hear us," Kurama muttered in annoyance. The cat lunged forward, swatting at the bird, though she dodged easily.

"My Lady, if I may?" the hummingbird started.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, keeping her attention on the cat.

"While I specialize in storm and wind jutsu, I also can see seals when they have been placed, even if they are hidden," she said, blue eyes focusing on the person standing on the massive cat's head. "Both have seal's on their minds and both seem to be hypnosis."

"Hipnosis? Then they're probably being used as well?"

"That is likely the case."

"How do we undo them...?" Sakura wondered out loud. She would have to get close to them and have them stand still for her to be able to undo them and having that happen was almost impossible. If she were to try and release Matatabi the person would attack her. Maybe that was why they were there in the first place.

"I can release them," Hachidori announced.

"Please do!" Sakura requested as they dodged another attack from deadly force and claws. The hummingbird gave a quick squeak before chakra formed around her wings. Slowly tornadoes reached out from the tips of her wings and Sakura was surprised to see they were made from pure chakra. They then shot out like bullets toward the person. He raised his hand to block the oncoming attack, successfully brushing it to the side.

He wondered what kind of leader the opposing force had, seeing as all of the chakra beasts were obeying their orders. He had gone there to attempt to free the chakra beasts from whatever control they were under and seal them for the Akatsuki. His plan would be easily taken care of if the last attack sent was all that the Namikage was capable of.

He paused however when he found the chakra from the last attack was lingering on his hand. His eyes grew wide as it seeped into him, sending immense pain through his body as it pushed through his chakra ducts. He attempted to expel it but found it impossible through the pain. Something in the back of his mind suddenly shattered and his thoughts became clear before he blacked out.

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Matatabi regained consciousness on a sandy beach with the sun beating down on her. She opened her massive green and yellow eyes to see a large expanse of ocean and a wall of rain. She sat up with a bit of struggle and realized she could see Isobu swimming around in the distance.

"You're awake!" She looked to the right to see a gigantic tanuki sitting on the beach next to her. She went to stand up. "Woah, woah!"

"Shukaku?" she asked in confusion.

"Yeah?" he asked stupidly.

"Where is this?" With a short explanation of what happened, she was sitting down on the beach, looking over what she could see of the island. "A hidden island?"

"That's right."

"And you live here?"

"That's right."

"With humans?" He gave a large nod. She looked out over the water to Isobu who seemed to be enjoying his swim. "Isobu does as well?"

"And Kurama."

"How?"

"Well, you see," he started. It was another long explanation about how he and his two brothers came to live under the Namikage. He explained what they did every day and what they would help Sakura with. He explained who those closest to him were and how he was treated around the village. In the end, Matatabi found herself wondering if it was too good to be true.

"And she's not using you for military power?" she asked, suspicious.

"Well she is, but only when we want to help. We're not allowed to take missions that are below A-rank," he explained looking at his fingers. "We have to help out with wars and attacks on the village, like with you. But she's not going out of her way to attack anyone using us."

"And you're not being sealed..." she muttered.

"Right!"

"How do you go around town? You're too fat." The tanuki huffed and performed a hand sign before erupting in a puff of smoke.

"Like this!" a small voice came from the ground. She lowered her head to the ground to see he had turned into a human man. "Try it!"

He was cheering while laughing. She hummed before looking over to see Isobu had crawled up on the beach. He too erupted into a puff of smoke and she saw he had also turned into a round man like their brother. The cat hummed before thinking about the situation.

This place was somewhere away from the rest of the world like she had always wanted, but she would be able to stay with her brothers. Would this really work out?

With one last look at her brothers, she gave a huff and also burst into a puff of smoke.