All in all, the trip from the Land of Fire to the Land of Moon went rather uneventfully. Apart from the storm they encountered halfway through the voyage, the cruise was actually quite enjoyable. With plenty of delicious food prepared by professional chefs, free entertainnt in the form of a troupe of dancers and singers, and no enemies to fight, Sakura could almost convince herself she was on vacation!
Sadly though, all good things must co to an end, and after a few days out at sea, Crescent Moon Island finally ca into view. As the na suggested, the landmass was shaped like a waxing crescent moon, with a shallow lagoon of pale blue water filling the inner curve. A city had been built along the outer edge of the crescent, while the much larger royal domain occupied the inner side of the island, encompassing the entire lagoon.
…
After such a long journey abroad, Prince Michiru dearly missed his father, the king, so he decided to return to the royal palace without delay. Within minutes, the horses were hitched to the stagecoach, and Prince Michiru and his son set off through town with Team Kakashi in tow— while the dockworkers remained behind, unloading from the ship the mountain of souvenirs he'd purchased, to be delivered to the palace later.
"I thought this place was supposed to be lively," said Sakura curiously, as she followed alongside the carriage. "Where did everyone go? Bingo?"
The streets were devoid of people, but they were anything but quiet; the air buzzed with the blaring of casino advertisents. It was probably great fun for gambling-addicted tourists and the Tsunades of this world, but for the locals, hearing the sa ads day after day had to be grating…
"Stay on your guard," Kakashi spoke in a low voice into his portable radio. "Sothing's not right."
Soon enough, the carriage passed beyond the city limits and entered the forest to the north, following a paved road that led to the royal residence. Within minutes, they reached the end of the path, and the palace gates swung open automatically as the carriage approached.
Once again, Sakura noticed that no one had co to greet them, despite the fact that the heir to the throne had just returned. Given Prince Michiru's general incompetence and his tendency to squander the country's wealth, she wouldn't be surprised if a military coup was already in the works...
"Oh, Shabadaba!" Prince Michiru joyously called out, as a couple appeared on the palace's balcony overhead. "Say, things in town seem strange. Did sothing happen?"
It was a man sporting a walrus moustache that connected to his sideburns, and presumably his wife, who appeared to be suffering from an early onset of male pattern baldness.
"Well, if it isn't Michiru and Hikaru!" said the moustachioed man, bowing slightly. "You must be tired from your long journey…"
"Say, where's papa?" said Prince Michiru, glancing around. "Why hasn't he co out to say hello?"
The man with the ridiculous na took a suspiciously long ti to answer.
"Well…" he said at last, as if he'd been waiting for sothing to happen before responding. "…that's because he's dead!"
Soldiers— ard with spears, double-edged swords, and shields— poured out from the depths of the palace behind Shabadaba, racing down the stairs in an attempt to encircle Sakura and her companions.
"Kill them!" ordered Shabadaba.
"Naruto! Sakura! Sasuke!" barked Kakashi, tacitly granting them permission to engage the enemy.
"Water Style: Starch Syrup Capturing Field!"
Sakura imdiately jumped into action, spitting out a large globule of sticky syrup over the leftmost set of stairs. Thinking she had missed them, the soldiers advanced through the syrup covering the stairs… only to end up with their feet glued to the ground.
"Wait, wait!" the first soldiers down the stairs cried out. "Oi, stop pushing, behind!"
Unfortunately, their comrades reacted too slowly— crashing into them, tumbling down the stairs, and getting completely covered in the sticky syrup. Unwilling to use their fallen teammates as human bridges, the remaining soldiers had no choice but to double back and take the rightmost staircase, causing a traffic jam in the process.
"Let's do it, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto eagerly. "Our ultimate combination Ninjutsu!"
"Nah, too much of a drag." said Sakura lazily. "Besides, we'll have to tie them up one by one once we're done, so no thank you."
With her Kurama clan Kekkei Genkai, Sakura would easily be able to incapacitate these soldiers in a more lasting manner than ordinary Genjutsu users, but why do that when she could simply bind them with a single Ninjutsu?
Besides, the more minds she affected, the more chakra she'd have to spend. No matter how well they trained, ordinary n were no match for those who could mould chakra, so using that much chakra on them was a total waste. Better let that infinite chakra battery Naruto take care of the rest and let him grind so exp on trash mobs…
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
More and more soldiers continued rushing out of the palace, tangling with Naruto's Shadow Clones in lee combat. Sasuke was tempted to explode them all at once with a single Great Fireball Jutsu, but he abstained.
It was not a shinobi's place to conduct massacres outside of war ti… or at least, that's what Kakashi-sensei had taught him. Even in the original tiline, Sasuke would refuse to kill, even after defecting and training for three years under Orochimaru…
That is, until he learned the truth about his father and went mad for a while, at any rate.
"You— turn this carriage around!" Kakashi shouted to the driver. Then, turning to Michiru and Hikaru, he added, "Get on board and go. We'll handle things here!"
Suddenly, an armoured carriage crashed through the gates behind him.
"Reinforcents?" Kakashi muttered to himself.
A man wielding a sabre jumped out of the armoured carriage and started attacking the soldiers encircling the Leaf shinobi. He was wearing the sa armour as the soldiers, so perhaps he was a loyalist of the royal faction, Kakashi surmised?
"Korega, that traitor!" fud Shabadaba up on the balcony. "Slay him!"
That settled it—and thanks to the tily backup, the princes' carriage easily broke free of the half-hearted encirclent and sped back down the road. Seeing their masters making a break for it, the armoured carriages sharply wheeled around in a sharp U-turn and took off after them.
"We're leaving!" shouted Kakashi.
"Got it!"
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke flickered away in pursuit of the prince's carriage, while the loyalist soldier scrambled to climb back aboard the armoured vehicle. Kakashi, anwhile, stayed behind, rapidly weaving hand signs before slamming his palm to the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Wave Jutsu!"
The pavent before him exploded, churning like a roiling sea in a fierce storm, and stones and earth surged upwards into a makeshift embanknt that blocked the road. Satisfied with his work, Kakashi flickered away after his disciples. Until he knew exactly what he was up against, he would not spend another drop of chakra on Ninjutsu. If he exhausted himself fighting ordinary soldiers, he would have nothing left to defend against enemy shinobi…
"We could have taken them easily, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura complained, as Kakashi caught up to her. "Why didn't we stay and fight?"
Kakashi couldn't fight as effectively as he could while his clients remained within the enemy's range, but nor could he afford to let them slip out of his sight without being absolutely certain they would be safe.
"Never fight on the enemy's terms!" said Kakashi wisely.
Better to wait and see!
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