Chapter 194 - Cap 180: Kya~!

"Sir... we have discovered that Sasuke-sama is nowhere to be found," said one Otonin as he entered the tent where Menma was.

"What are you waiting for?! Look for him again!" - Menma exclaimed angrily - "If you don't find him within five minutes, I want you to extend the search range to five kilometers!"

"Hai!" - exclaimed the Otonin as he left the office.

"I hope that's more than enough time..." - murmured Menma as he frowned - "Just a little longer and I can live for another year... I can't fall so soon..."

* * * * *

"See? There hasn't been any problem," Lee said with a smile, only to be silent when he heard someone approaching at great speed.

"You were saying?" - Neji asked sarcastically as he watched as a girl with two shinobis and by their front protectors, it was obvious they were from Iwa. She was a young woman with an athletic figure, short black hair, and bright pink eyes. She was wearing a red shirt and skirt while wearing a brown vest over her clothing, with an Iwa protector over her forehead.

"I finally found you, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g shitty redhead!" - roared the girl as she watched Kurama.

"I see she is a friend of yours," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"You'd better keep quiet," said Kurama in annoyance. "What do you want, Kurotsuchi?"

" I want my honor back!" - exclaimed the Iwa girl - "This time I'm going to succeed!"

"Haven't you learned from the last 99 times?" - sighed the redheaded man as he looked at the girl - "It's for reasons like this that everyone says you have a rock head"

"Don't call me a rock head!" - roared Kurotsuchi - "And as a matter of fact, it's only 98, once you've given up and walked out of the place"

"I didn't give up, I just got bored before I knocked you out" - said Kurama as he rolled his eyes again - "And before you say something stupid, I just left you in that state because that area was dangerous, if you were unconscious at that moment, then you would have ended up being cat food".

". . ." - Kurotsuchi was only silent when she heard this as her anger grew.

"That's depressing..." - thought those present except Lee, who was looking at the girl with emotion - "You're brilliant! Not everyone can resist the constant pressure to be beaten again and again, and then have the strength to get up and keep losing!"

"I'm not crying!" - said Kurotsuchi as her eyes blurred with sadness - "I won't be depressed!"

"Wow... that was super effective..." - said Sasuke as he watched the girl turn around so no one would see her expression full of pain at the words of the boy in green.

"We'd better get on with our mission," sighed the redhead as everyone, even the Iwa shinobis, nodded.

* * * * *

"See? Nothing went wrong!" - exclaimed Lee as he heard the sound of an explosion in the distance - "Oops?"

"We'd better go and investigate..." - said Kurama as he gave Lee an annoyed look - "We are near the Fire Temple, so it is our duty to help in case of an attack"

"Okay" - the kids nodded as they ran in the direction they heard the explosions. When they reached the place, they noticed how everything seemed to be completely destroyed, and how the bodies of a group of men dressed as monks were scattered all over the place.

"This is bad..." - Neji said as his expression changed to one of terror. He could only see dismembered or completely scorched bodies in the vicinity.

"Even in Iwa we're not that savage..." - Kurotsuchi said with a scowl - "I don't know who the bastard responsible is, but what I do know is that whoever it was is a f.u.c.k.i.n.g monster..."

"This way!" - exclaimed the red-headed man as he heard someone seem to be breathing heavily. Quickly the group moved through the massacre that had taken place until recently and reached the side of a monk who was virtually unrecognizable.

"How can he possibly still be alive?!" - exclaimed Tenten who was feeling that she could hardly resist the urge to vomit. The poor monk was completely burned out and had no arms or legs.

"Listen... I don't know... whoever you are... but... I need you... to go to Konoha..." - said the monk as he felt the presence of someone nearby - "We were... ambushed... by a guy... with... a black... robe... with... red clouds... he... had... a... spiral... mask... he was... immune to our attacks... mask... orange mask..."

". . ." - those present were silent as they listened to how one of Akatsuki's members had caused all this disaster. They watched as the monk took his last breath as he completed his mission.

"Why?" - they all thought when they didn't understand the reason. Akatsuki was a criminal group but they did not attack randomly, so the monks must have had something in them that made them targets for all those S-rank Nukenin.

". . ." - Kurama's expression froze when he felt like a familiar aura was in the area - "Impossible..."

He quickly ran in one direction before the surprised gaze of the others.

"What happened to Kurama?" - Lee asked in surprise as he saw everyone following him. He looked around and clenched his fists with fury, deciding that before following his friends and fellow travelers, he would give all these innocent men a dignified burial.

* * * * *

"Dobe..." - said Sasuke seriously as he watched his friend stop in the middle of a crater - "Tell me what's going on"

"I feel my chakra in this place" - answered Kurama coldly - "It is impossible for me to be confused, someone from the Fire Temple possessed the chakra of the Kyubi no Yoko..."

"!" - Sasuke was surprised when he heard this because if this was true, then it was more than enough reason to be attacked by Akatsuki - "How?!"

"I don't know" - answered Kurama as a cold expression appeared on his face - "If I had to give an explanation about how it happened, I guess it must have been when the accident happened 16 years ago... I have a possible theory but I'm not sure how true it can be..."

Kurama was thinking that during the incident with the seal that got out of control, a part of his chakra must have been ejected and by coincidence it was assimilated by the person who was kidnapped, although it seems too much of a coincidence to be a feasible thing but it's the idea that made the most sense to me right now.

"It doesn't matter anymore how it happened, the problem is that Akatsuki now has part of my chakra" - said Kurama seriously - "We don't know if they got enough chakra for their plan or not, so we can't make a countermeasure..."

"What do we do now?" - asked Neji, who had been listening to everything in silence.

"Go to Kakashi and inform him" - said Kurama seriously - "I will leave a clone so that Lee can come back"

"I will stay with Lee to help him," Neji nodded seriously.

"Okay," the redheaded man nodded as he looked around, even at the shinobis of Iwa. "Hold hands and get ready because I am going to use the Hiraishin to go directly to Konoha's Hokage mansion"

". . ." - The Iwa shinobis made a dark expression when they heard the redhead's words but quickly shook their heads. While the Hiraishin was a jutsu that brought them nightmares, it did not compare to the current situation.

"Hiraishin no Jutsu!" - exclaimed the redhead as the group disappeared in a red flash, leaving only Neji who walked to Lee's to help him bury the bodies.

* * * * *

"How I hate this job..." - Kakashi murmured with a scowl - "How I wish everything had gone well"

"Everything went well even though we have bad news" - said a voice behind him, making him do only one thing, let out a masculine cry full of manhood out of surprise - "Kya~!"

"Ugh..." - complained the newcomers as they felt everything moving, at least all except Kurotsuchi, who was practically immune thanks to all the attacks he had received in his short life.

"Pff~" - Kurotsuchi couldn't contain his laughter when he heard the princess's cry from the Godaime Hokage - "Oh... this will be pure gold when the other leaders find out"

"Please don't say anything" - said Kakashi while moving his hands erratically, although after a few seconds, he calmed down - "If you came so quickly, it means something serious happened... and please tell me it has nothing to do with Lee and Neji..."

"No, they're just giving a dignified burial to some monks from the Fire Temple," replied the redhead.

Kakashi's expression changed when he heard this. He quickly sent Yugao to find all the clan leaders as well as a messenger to send a report to the Fire Daimyo, then prepare to write - "I want all the information you have and I need you to leave nothing out"

"Hai!" - exclaimed the shinobis, even the Iwa ninja nodded firmly, Akatsuki was a general foe of the Elemental Nations, after all.