Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 249 CRAP

For a people at supposed war, the average person was taking it very well. We passed through small town after small town and no one was panicking or reacting at all. I guessed that Shinobi Wars meant they were super secretive. So secretive people didn’t know they were happening. 

Many people we had traveled North with opted to stay. Our caravan was much smaller now. We moved more quickly South. I didn’t understand how these higher ups in the village got anything done. They latched themselves onto the Hokage, and demanded ninja guards at all times. But it wasn’t like the Hokage could be seen running across the country by herself. She was the leader of the greatest nation in the world. Not some pauper that ran across the countryside sleeping in a tent. 

I understood it was an image thing, but it was still annoying. Adding days to our travel back to Konoha as well as drama from the nobles themselves. One of my initial goals when traveling was to visit the Watanabe brothels. Familiarize myself with the people that ran them. But the trip was 90% traveling so I would have to do that at a later date. 

The nice thing was my relationship with Hinata had become better. She hadn’t said definitively that she was fine with me being with other girls. She was happy to act like no one else existed. At least that’s what I thought. 

“So all this time you’ve been sleeping with a lot of women?” She asked as we walked around the perimeter of the camp. 

“Is 4 a lot?” I asked. 

“Yes,” she confirmed, her hard eyes giving me the look. “What do you expect to happen?”

“What do you mean?” 

“The Mizukage literally kissed me on the lips. What is going on with that?” 

“Mei is a little bit…maybe a lot a bit bisexual,” I admitted. Hinata gave me a confused look. “She likes to sleep with women.” 

“Thats-” Hinata’s face turned bright red. “That’s not a thing.”

“It is,” I assured. “There is a reason that her village was called the Bloody Mist. They were known for their savageness. Mei told me that a lot of the girls in the ninja course were subjected to rape and other forms of torture. They were told it would toughen them up. After that she had trouble trusting men. But then her biological clock went off, and she kind of forced herself to look for a man. That’s when I came along.” 

“We live in a sick world,” Hinata mumbled. 

“I agree,” I said. “It’s not normal to train 12 year olds to kill, Hinata. I don’t want that for our kids.” 

She blushed deeply again, but pushed through. “Our kids?” She asked, a smile on her face. 

“You asked what I expected to happen. I expect that to happen. When you’re ready. But I also want Reina, Hina, and Shinju to be involved.” 

“I always knew there was something more between you and your maids,” Hinata mumbled. “I didn’t expect that.” 

“Honestly, I couldn’t have survived without them,” I said. “When I awoke the Chikyugi, it was like I couldn’t control myself. That happened just before the Chunin exam. It was a struggle to say the least.” 

“I would have helped…”

“Hinata, you were 12. You barely talked to me the entire exam. Do you really think you would have helped?” I asked. She frowned but shook her head. “My family was pushing for our union because they were hoping your eyes and my Chikyugi would mix somehow. I’m not all that interested in that. I simply want to be with you. Treat you like my partner. You are a trained ninja just like me. I am aiming for something big. I want you with me. Would you be happy staying at home, popping out a couple of kids, and letting me do what I need to? Or would you want to join me? Work with me to try to achieve something great.” 

“Take over the world?” She whispered. 

“I have no idea. My ideas could work, but Akatsuki was founded on the idea that the current system is broken. The problem is they are all fighters and that is all they know. We need a future built on thought not fists. We need to bring the villages together somehow.” 

“Then how does it start?” She asked. 

“With the leaders, or those close to them,” I admitted. “I already have the Mizukage on my side…and someone close to the Kazekage.” 

“Who?” 

“His sister.” 

“Temari?” Hinata asked. She slowly understood as she grabbed my arm. “You didn’t sleep with her, did you?” 

“No,” I said. We had slept in the same room more than once, but never gone much past that. “But something could form there. I didn’t get a chance to talk with her back at the Summit.”

“When did that start?!” Hinata asked, more than a little upset. 

“Back at the Chunin Exam,” I said. 

“They were trying to kill us!” 

“How do you think it started? She tried to kill me, then it kind of devolved from there.” 

“My god, it’s like you’ve been living this secret life I knew nothing about,” Hinata said as she sped up her walk. I grabbed her arm, pulling her back to me. 

“Hinata, I’m trying to be an open book here. You have questions, ask. I want you to be my partner. Not some in the dark house wife. What do you want out of life? What drives you? I will do whatever it takes to make you happy. Do you want me to give up on this? Would you be happy if I just ran a bunch of brothels and a spy network? I could take over for my father. I know he would be happy. I wouldn’t try for anyone else. I’d be happy with you…and Mei, Reina, Hina-” 

“Stop, stop,” she said quickly. “You were doing great there until you started mentioning other girls.” The dark haired beauty gave me a wry smile. “I never really thought about it. Back when I was a kid I was expected to run my house, until it was proved that I don’t have the skill my sister does.” My hands were on her shoulders, trying to comfort her a little. “Now the boy I was told I would marry wants me to accept that I won’t be the only one.” 

I frowned. About to say something she stopped me with a glare. “I fell in love with you back when we were kids. Back then I said I would do anything for you. I am still willing to do that. So…” she whispered, staring up at me. “If I am supposed to be your wife, then I want a say in everything. No more secrets. And…I want it to happen sooner rather than later.”

“Which part?” 

“Becoming your wife,” she mumbled. Her face red as she said the words. “I want to get to know the others around you. Then once this Akatsuki business is over. I want to stop having to worry if you will come home. You go on a trip to another village, I want to be there. You were gone for over 2 years, Weston. A letter was sent at the beginning and that was that. I was convinced you were dead. I expected to receive news that I had a new fiancee at any time. You becoming just another ninja who disappeared on a mission outside the village.” She had tears in her eyes by that point. 

I pulled her close. Letting her cry it out. Rubbing her back as she sobbed into me. “I was so scared. Then you left for dangerous mission after mission. No time to talk or see you.” 

“If you’re my wife, I expect you to talk to me then,” I said. “I promise I will make time for you once this craziness is over. We can figure it out about the wedding. I mean, we are 16.” 

“I don’t care,” she said, shaking her head in my chest. “I’m sick of being nervous you’ll leave me and never return. I want to make it official.” 

“Fine,” I said. “We can ask the Hokage to do it now then.” Grabbing her hand I pulled her with me back toward camp. 

“What?!” Hinata stammered. 

“Let’s get married now. The Hokage can do it. We can make it nice and simple. Then when we are older do something more grand.” 

“But-” 

“But what?” I asked, giving her my best smile. 

Her lips compressed as she thought. “Fine,” she said. “We can do it now.” 

“Perfect, then we can start sleeping together,” I said, winking at her. 

“Uh-I-what?” 

“You know, like man and wife,” I said. 

“I’m a little young for kids,” she mumbled. 

“That won’t be a problem,” I assured. “Come on. I love you. You love me. Let’s set it in stone. Get it out of the way. Do something crazy. We do this and I will take you with me everywhere, Hinata. No more questions.” She still appeared very nervous. I took a chance and pulled her in for a kiss. 

Hinata melted into me as our kiss became more heated. Moaning in my mouth I could feel her excitement as her body quivered under my touch. For long seconds we kissed. My hands on her rump as she held onto my face, keeping me there. 

When I pulled away she had a distant look in her eyes. “Okay,” she whispered. Pulling me back for another kiss. “Let’s do it.” 

“You’re so beautiful,” I noted, kissing her again. I picked her up in a princess carry as she giggled. “Come, future wife.” 

“Yes, future husband,” she said, her eyes focused on me. I could actually feel the love from her as she said it. I began walking us back to camp. Hinata light in my arms her eyes never strayed from me as her hand moved to my face, happy to touch me. We made it to the main camp. A few eyes on us, I ignored them.

Heading to the Hokage’s large tent I was stopped by her assistant, Shizune. The black haired woman said, “Weston, finally there you-” She stopped noticing me carrying Hinata. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, setting Hinata down. The mood gone as I felt the fear radiating from Shizune’s Spiritual Energy. 

“It’s the Kazekage,” she said. She waved us inside the Hokage’s tent. Once inside I noticed all of the higher up ninjas already there. Centered around the table once more they were studying a large map. They stopped talking as Hinata and I walked in. 

“Weston, there you are,” Tsunade said. “The Kazekage was kidnapped.” 

“Shit,” I said as I pushed my way to the table. The map had markings where we and the other Kage caravans were located. “How? When?” 

“That Obito took him. Appeared next to Gaara and took him into that spiral dimension.” 

“Goddammit,” I spat. “I didn’t think of that. When?” 

“A few hours ago,” Kakashi said. He pointed to their camp close to ours. “They requested help in finding him. But you had said he could travel far distances. Any idea where he could be?”

Closing my eyes I thought of Obito. “He’s off to the East.” I pointed in his direction. I had no idea where the hell the final battle took place. I had always assumed it was the Land of Fire, but I remembered it was a barren wasteland, and my home was most all greenery. 

One of the Sand Ninjas nodded and was soon out the door. Relaying the information to the search parties most likely. 

“This is not good,” I said. “The 2 tailed beast is to the East as well. In the Land of Lightning. If he grabs all of the Jinchurikis, we could be screwed.”

“We can’t let that happen. How much time did you say it would take for them to extract the tailed beast?” Tsunade asked. 

“Days, that’s with all the members,” I said. “With Sasuke and his team they have the shark guy, the yinyang Zetsu, Obito, and…Kabuto. That should be it. Is Naruto safe in the Land of Toads?” 

“I have no idea when his training will have completed,” Tsunade admitted. I remembered in the manga he trained it really fast, but time wasn’t relative in canons. It all happened at the author’s whim. It had taken me months to learn Kame Mode. I hoped it was the same timeline for Naruto, but I doubted it. 

“We need to assume he can grab all of them,” I said. “I don’t think he needs the full chakra from the tailed beast. If we can stop him early, then we can hopefully prevent the awakening of the 10 tails.” 

“How early?” Tsunade asked. 

I looked around. “We strike now,” I said. 

“But you said we will have to fight a hundred thousand of those things,” Kakashi said. 

“I have a plan for that…but we will need Pain,” I said. 

Tsunade frowned. Studying the map for a long time. “Why Pain?” She asked. She had been hesitant to use him after he said he would help us. 

“He destroyed our village in a few seconds,” I admitted. “And after the tailed beasts are Obito’s, he will want the man’s eyes. I was hoping to not need him, but we have to risk it. No one else can do what he can.” 

Tsunade continued to think. Everyone stared at her as she did. Playing through scenarios in her mind, she knew we were blind. We were grasping at straws, and if we had to attack now, then our chances were much more slim. 

“Send runners to all the Kages. They are close still. Weston, I want a firm location on where Obito and this supposed 10 tails statue is.” I nodded. Making 10 shadow clones they filed out of the room, heading East. I turned to see Hinata behind me. Our good mood broken, she didn’t look sad. Putting a strong face on, she nodded. Ready to do what needed to happen. 

I walked over and kissed her on the cheek. “Later, future wife,” I promised. 

“Later, future husband,” she whispered back and I was out the door.