The group trudged along, a merchant caravan of perhaps a hundred people traveling from the Cloud country to the Earth country. Ordinary humans, they were completely ignorant of the group that was watching them, even with one blonde-haired youth's constant groaning.
"I don't see him…"
"That's the idea, dobe."
"Teme…get over here and I'll-"
"Quiet, Naruto!"
"Ahhh! Why are you taking his side?"
"I found him."
The three startled at the sudden appearance of their sensei. He pointed to a dirty young man who was sitting in the back of a wagon, head leaning against a board, seemingly asleep.
"That's the missing-nin? He's kinda old…"
"Kakashi-sensei, I thought the missing-nin was a genin? He looks like he's in his twenties."
"Yes. Odd, isn't it?"
The four huddled together as Kakashi pulled a folded paper out that had the group's orders on them. It was straightforward: A genin had abandoned his village, murdering a jounin and stealing several scrolls with high-level techniques detailed within, heading west. Since the village's ninja were otherwise occupied at the time, the village's elders sent notice to their allies, asking them to be on the lookout for him.
"Age: Early twenties, short brown hair, hazel eyes, pale skin."
He pulled out a rough sketch of the Genin.
"Ha! His forehead is bigger than Sakura's!"
"Naruto…"
"He does look odd. Is he even from the cloud country? His features aren't from any countries' people I've seen."
"You're right, Sasuke. It lists his homeland as 'unknown.' Just that he's at genin level, and he answers to…Maikeru."
"Huh? What kind of name is that, Kaka-sensei?"
"Hmm…who knows? Regardless, we've found the target. At the caravan's next stop, we'll make our move."
"Uhh…when's that?"
"A few hours."
"Unnnggggg…"
Several hours and much groaning later, the caravan had parked by a river for the night, and the site bustled with activity as tents were set up and meals cooked. The team waited patiently until the young man was sent to find some water, keeping him just in sight.
"The information provided says that he is highly skilled with chakra techniques, but his taijutsu is lacking somewhat."
"And?"
"And what? You're all ninja. Think up a plan."
"Err…"
"Sakura, would you care to take charge?"
"Me? …Alright!"
This is my chance! Inner Sakura was pumped, to say the least. This was her big chance to impress Sasuke!
"Ok…Naruto, you go in first and get his attention. Then I'll ambush him once I've seen how he fights, and Sasuke-kun…you stay back in case anything unexpected happens."
Everyone acknowledged her with a quick nod.
Yeah! I can finally show Sasuke what I'm made of! Even Kakashi likes my plan! And maybe Naruto will get some sense knocked into him, kukuku…
Kakashi sweatdropped mentally at the bloodthirsty gleam that suddenly appeared in Sakura's eyes as Naruto and Sasuke took their positions. He wrote it off as her desire to impress Sasuke as the team surrounded the lone ninja. After thirty seconds had passed, more than enough time to prepare, Naruto leapt out of the trees, the target dropping the bucket he was carrying and whirling at the sound behind him.
"Surrender and I'll go easy on you!"
The sound of thirty Narutos talking at once was certainly impressive. The nin stopped and stared, his guard completely down for several seconds. Kakashi noted this with a mote of interest. The target was supposed to have killed a jounin and stolen several valuable techniques out from a hidden village. But from the way he moved…the nin regained his composure and assumed a fighting stance, again, far too simple, much too slowly for any self-respecting academy to let graduate. Not noticing or not caring, Naruto and his clones dashed forward. Surprisingly, the nin ran straight for the group as well. The first clone came close enough to raise his fist, and the nin exploded.
"Whoa!"
Naruto, at the back of the group, was tossed back but unharmed. Kakashi easily followed the nin back past the river, and judging by the steam in the air, he had switched himself with a water clone. He was now hiding behind a tree, leaving his shredded disguise behind.
"Slapping explosive tags on his clothes and trusting the replacement technique to save him…"
Kakashi shook his head with a tiny grin behind his mask, looking around. Sakura was still in position, Sasuke was tensed and inching forward, and Naruto was lying in a dazed, singed pile on the ground. The nin hadn't moved, waiting and listening for the next attack.
A moment later, Naruto stood on wobbly legs and dusted himself off. Kakashi saw the nin turn and climb up the tree, peering between the branches and looking around. Across from him, Kakashi could see that Sasuke knew where the nin was, though Sakura didn't seem to know his exact location. Naruto created a dozen more shadow clones, sending them into the trees to search. As the clones moved around, the nin seemed perfectly content to stay where he was, even though he had a clear shot at the real Naruto, another oddity. A slight shift from Sakura told him she knew where the enemy was, and she pulled out an explosive tag of her own, attaching it to a kunai.
"Very good, Sakura."
Even if Sakura hadn't known where he was, the clones' search had shown her where he wasn't, and now she had a clear shot at him. She took it, leaping from her hiding spot and throwing her kunai. It embedded itself in a branch next to the nin's head, and he jumped clear as it detonated, right into one of Naruto's shadow clones. It vanished as he turned and kicked it, but revealed his position in the process. Naruto and the rest of the clones converged on him. Shurikens dispelled most of them, but he was now in close combat.
Kakashi watched the fight carefully. Naruto and Sakura were occupying the nin's attention while Sasuke moved closer. The fight carried them onto a river, or rather, Kakashi noted, the nin had lead them onto the river. As he watched, hand seals were formed.
"Suiton! Daibakufu no Jutsu!"
A wall of water slammed over the two teammates, tossing them onto the shore and leaving them coughing and bruised. The nin paused and took in their condition before leaping away. He was interrupted in mid-air by a kick from Sasuke, knocking him back down and under water. He quickly rose onto the surface and stared Sasuke down, allowing a good look at him.
His clothes were all black and quite loose, but strapped down tightly in places so as not to hamper movement. Besides that, he carried the usual assortment of holsters and pouches for his tools, and most importantly, a scroll case strapped to his back caught Kakashi's eye. That was the real target of this mission. As he watched, Sasuke struck first and easily held the upper hand, scoring several heavy hits and forcing the nin back. Rushing forward a second time, Sasuke suddenly stumbled, and received a kick to the face that flattened his nose and sent blood flying. He seemed to be stuck in place, and Kakashi saw what was wrong. Two hands made of water were holding his ankles tightly. The nin got some distance between them, casually pulled out some shuriken, and threw them.
Sasuke brought his arms up, but the shuriken were intercepted. Looking to the side, he saw Sakura grinning like an idiot.
I protected Sasuke-kun! WHEEEEEEE!
The nin made more hand seals, turning to face her.
"Suiton! Teppodama!"
A ball of water flew at Sakura and Naruto, and the two dodged easily.
"Burst!"
The water bullet exploded, sending smaller pieces everywhere like shrapnel. Sakura was hit on one leg, sending her tumbling. Naruto was hit on his side, and he dropped, clutching his side.
"Katon! Gokakyu no Jutsu!"
The nin turned just in time to catch the full brunt of the jutsu. He jumped out of the flames covered in burns, quickly diving into the water. Sasuke could move again, and quickly jumped away from the river.
"Sasuke-kun! Are you alright?"
Sasuke gingerly touched his nose, wincing as he did.
"I'm fine. Where is he?"
"Right here. He tried to swim away."
The three genin turned to find Kakashi holding the unconscious nin over one shoulder and the scroll case with his other hand. He dropped the ninja to the ground, taking away any weapons or tools he could find and binding his limbs with wire.
"Everyone, good work. Sasuke, that should be looked at. Naruto, Sakura, set up camp here and we'll head back in the morning."
With the nin tied securely and his wounds bound, the team sat down to eat, Naruto finishing quickly and heading over to the still unconscious missing-nin.
"Naruto, what are you doing?"
"What? Don't you want a closer look at him?"
Sakura huffed but followed him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and tried to ignore his itching nose under the bandage on his face, but wandered over with an expression of disinterest on his face.
"Hey, what village is this?"
Naruto held up the nin's forehead protector. It had a single wavy line between two straight lines that bend towards each other at the top. Kakashi answered for him after he took a look at it.
"That's the village hidden in the cliffs."
"Where's that?"
"It's a small village on the border of the Cloud country, allied with the Hidden Lightning. It sits on the mouth of a large river that flows between two steep cliffs and reaches deep into the Cloud country. It's also a trade center. Even though it's a small village, it sees a lot of travelers. It's odd, though…"
"What is?"
"You were right before, Sasuke."
Drugged to keep him asleep, the nin didn't respond as Kakashi reached down and lifted his face up to see him clearly.
"He's not from any country I've visited. The skin is too pale, the bone structure too angular."
"He almost looks like he's from the Earth country."
"No, the skin tone is wrong."
"So where is he from?"
"Hmm…I don't know."
"What? But you've been everywhere, right?"
Kakashi simply shrugged and walked back to his bedroll, leaving a frustrated Naruto behind. Bored, Sakura walked away as well, followed by Sasuke. After a final look at the unconscious nin, Naruto headed back to the others.
"So what's in the scrolls?"
"Supposedly high-level, secret techniques that he stole."
"Yeah, that first water jutsu hurt. And that other one…"
"A water bullet. But having it explode like that is something I haven't seen before. Anyways, once we're back in Konoha, we'll send the hidden cliff a message telling them we've completed the mission, and wait for them to send someone to collect him. Sakura, would you take first watch?"
As goodnights were said and eyes closed, Kakashi mulled over the events of the mission in his mind. He had been sent on more than one strange mission in his life, and he had developed a sense for this sort of thing. A genin whose skill was far behind his age, but who had somehow managed to kill a jounin. A face that didn't fit the country he was trained in, and hidden villages never trained foreigners. He used an A-rank technique with ease, and had unique variants of more common ones. Something didn't add up, and in the ninja world, that was never a good thing.