Rebirth of Legends

Chapter 14: Transformation, But Love Stays the Same

[Three weeks later]

Yugito ducked under the fist surrounded by lightning aimed at her head and drove her wakizashi into the Hidden Cloud ninja's chest. She pulled it out and turned, surrounding the blade on fire. Behind her, Gentaro blew fire out of his mouth, catching another enemy ninja in his Dragon Flamethrower Jutsu. He drew his sword out of the ground and readied for the next attack. Nearby, Hinata and Naruto fought alongside Kushina, who was wearing a Leaf headband, a black bodysuit and arm guards. Naruto and Kushina's katanas were moving like liquid steel, doing their best to slip past they enemies guard. Hinata fought with kunai in both hands.

Yugito sighed. It had been a simple recon mission. They had been watching the border between Fire and Earth for a week and had just been relieved the following morning. Kushina, who had recovered, had tagged along to test abilities. Now, they were testing their abilities against two squads of ten Hidden Could ninjas. They had recognized Yugito and were intent on either killing or capturing her. Team Naruto and Kushina were equally intent on keeping her alive and with them.

Now, seven ninjas were dead and the other three were cornered. One struck low at Yugito, but she blocked him. Gentaro struck over her and his sword went through the ninja's neck. Another tried a wind style jutsu, only to be struck by a water jutsu from Hinata, which knocked him out. The last ninja was struck down by both the Uzumaki and Namikaze katanas. Naruto sighed as he cleaned his blade.

"Everyone all right? Let's get cleaned up and get going."

They all nodded, but Yugito seemed depressed. Gentaro came over. "You okay?"

Yugito shook her head. "This is my fault. If it wasn't for me, you guys wouldn't have had to fight them because they wouldn't be here."

Gentaro put an arm around her, fighting the blush on his face. Yugito's own face was suddenly bright red. The two of them had grown close and were the best of friends. But neither had told the other their true feelings. They both feared that the other would reject them.

Gentaro shook his head. "Yugito, it doesn't matter. We may had to fight them for a different reason. And without you, all of us may not have survived. Don't think this is your fault, because it isn't."

Yugito smiled, but the sadness was still there as the five of them left the area.

Tsunade sighed as she read the mission report. She looked at the ninjas before her. "You ran into a Cloud Ninja patrol and were forced to kill them?"

Naruto nodded. "The minute they saw Yugito, they just attacked. Didn't say anything. We weren't about to let them kill one of our teammates."

Tsunade nodded slowly. "I understand, Naruto. She is officially a memeber of the Leaf, and you were in the right. But the Raikage won't give up on demanding we give her back. It may lead to war and they will have the Hidden Rock Village with them."

Mere days after Yugito's defection to the Hidden Leaf Village, spies of the Hidden Cloud Village had informed the Raikage that Yugito was in the Hidden Leaf Village. He had immediately demanded Yugito's return. Tsunade had refused, saying that Yugito is a Leaf ninja now and that the Raikage gave up any rights to her when they betrayed her. This had led to tension and several Leaf squads had been attacked by Hidden Cloud ninjas.

Yugito lowered her head as Tsunade went on. "We have Sand, Waterfall, Star and Snow on our side, so the war will probably end in our favor. But the aftermath would be devastating to all involved, especially the lesser nations."

Yugito slowly began to cry and suddenly ran. Gentaro bowed and quickly went after her. Naruto turned to Tsunade. "Why did you keep going and say all that? She already felt it was her fault we were attacked. You didn't need to add on!"